#flareglow

[change-name-later]

Poor SMG4... His music career ended before it started....

[midnight1nk]

well chat, here's some updates on the flareglow situation:

spotify, the last of the available platforms, has officially unlisted the song (still has the cover art as pfp rn lol)

no official statement from the Team... yet

managed to get the audio before The Extermination (TM) and still testing it as a spectrograph through a visualizer and photoshop (*sigh*)

my brain, jellybeans

[therantingsage]

SunClan's resident jerks! Or at least these two were the only ones with the 'bloodthirsty' trait for a while. I think Flareglow lost it actually? Crookedmurk definitely still has it and isn't subtle about it. I usually think of these two as a pair in the aggression department regardless.

[change-name-later]

Hey Ben. What do you mean by this????

So uhhh

This coupled with some of the recent tweets by team members are somewhat ominous what the fuck is going to happen this year

[funkii4-blog]

oh WHAT

First flareglow now this what is going on

[34saveme34]

wait I just saw. a theory right

and like it's probably not this, somehow I always think of the worst most angsty case scenarios up

but

flareglow lyrics about making it (also regardless of how much it has to do with actual stuff it's still.... really odd that it all happened pretty recently back to back. it's.......sus)

steam name going to SMG3

and

and

what if. something happens to SMG4 soon and it has to do with him becoming a Puzzle minion like Meggy did?? and so 3 has to fill in 4's shoes despite knowing how difficult it actually is

it probably won't happen but

what if it did

[mikchi8]

BAHAHAHA WTF

I’m really confused right now

[catburgerhelper]

I love how this fandom loves to exaggerate stuff i find it so funny tbh

Like yeah cube literally said "Oh flareglow and the smg4 steam page getting it's name changed to smg3? its nothing lol!" and yall are literally going insane and telling it's a lie like go you!!!

(I forgot but, if its not clear no, this is not hating on anyone T_T)

[rammington]

wait

guys since the team made the flareglow cover their pfp I think the guy on the cover might appear in this week’s episode..?

WAIT WHAT IF THAT GUY COULD BE LIKE BOB’S MORTAL ENEMY/ OPPONENT AND THEY HAVE A SUPER EPIC RAP BATTLE??

[midnight1nk]

...what. in the actual. fuck.

this is the most implausible statement I have ever seen, and I'm gonna debunk what Cube said (more below cut)

"doesn't mean anything significant" — if it were an honest mistake, then they would've changed it back to "SMG4" instead of "Not SMG3. Stop looking too deep."

The wording on that too, as in a warning/giant stop sign. Also it's giving off

[and a whole month in between these my god]

And ah yes, my dear enemy Flareglow. Time to Logic Chess.

The implication is that Cube (or someone on the Team) uploaded the song and didn't notice it was labeled as SMG4 (not a hack) — let's get the basics down. Yes, you can upload your own music on said platform for your use only, not on the artist page. HOWEVER, for it to be uploaded on MULTIPLE platforms and stay for 6 DAYS straight, now that's weird when you have two DIFFERENT processes for uploading songs.

If that person accidentally went through the public process, you would have to enter the credits manually (other than it needs to be approved by spotify ofc). That's when you are like "oops, looks like I was about to send this on the artist page lol". Even if you forgot how to do the private process, you can GOOGLE IT.

IF it was Cube, then it would totally contradict an earlier tweet "what the hell is flareglow?"

IF it wasn't Cube, it still wouldn't make sense. Ben was the first to point it out on Jan 4. Now you would think a discussion took place in their group chat as soon as Ben tweeted that and go something along the lines of:

"man this is sucks" [*posts a pic of the cover*] "wait is that on our page?" "yeah lol" "that shouldn't be there. who did that?" "oh sorry that was me, my bad" "let's just take it down" (before some fan goes insane over this, sorry what)

It wouldn't take Cube 5 days (Jan 9) to just notice that song to be on the artist page to then claim you are starting to fix it a week later

"Trying to fix that one" — now that is strange because as soon as Cube asked/pointed out about Flareglow, the song was suddenly taken down from multiple platforms (on the same day). If it was a mistake, then it should be all good. Hell, even the Spotify pfp is back to normal. Then tell me, Cube, what more do you need to "fix", hmmm?

(also that "lol" at the end of the sentence before it)

Yeah, i pronounce this as "deflection" and I'm still on to you, Cube. And no, I'm not gonna think about how this tweet was reposted by Shadow (no qrt), gotta focus here.

Maybe it convinced some people that there was nothing suspicious but I'll still be here in my seat with a bag of popcorn bc I KNOW this isn't the end of it.

i did not stare at this for hours for nothing, you hear me?!

[midnight1nk]

how did i get to this point in my life, chat? *sighs* flareglow is now my mortal enemy [achievement unlocked: theorist insanity]

UPDATE (link)

[midnight1nk]

I CAN FINALLY WORK ON GOOP!4

FUCK FLAREGLOW🎉

hold on, i'm getting a call

...uh-huh

...wait, what do you mean the About section on SMG4's Spotify page is completely gone?

FUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK

[midnight1nk]

Helloooo while I'm here I wanna ask so- the song that was out of nowhere released on the smg4 spotify

I didn't see anything (also can't check twitter rn if anything's on there about it) and I listened to it right and it's.... odd? I wonder if it's like, intentional. As in that they meant to put it out, especially cuz to me, as I think about it.... it feels- AI generated? I mean, hopefully it's not but there is a chance that it could be.

BUT if they weren't hacked on spotify, something I've never heard before- but if they weren't hacked and it isn't AI generated, what could it be possibly for? Especially because it's so different from music they released before.

ah yes, the flareglow situation, hmmm. Haven't heard anyone from the Team come out with an official comment, so we're gonna have to make some concrete "assumptions"...

Scenario 1: Spotify Sucks

We all are no strangers to social media platforms glitching out/not working. There were even several times when all the songs disappeared from the SMG4 profile. So the simple answer is: Spotify just sucks.

Plus, I did look around and, according to @/Minions_Fanboy on twitter, the real artist is smgwave/smg4wave on tiktok. I haven't been able to find the user (yet), but we'll see.

In other words, the assumption that most people had about the "account got hacked" is completely valid.

Scenario 2: The Strangest Clue

Everyone, put on your tinfoil hats because we're about to get silly! :) If this was meant to be intentional, then this is definitely the strangest puzzle (haha get it) we had so far.

(more below cut)

the cover looks like it was made in GMod

all the artist credits say that it's "Smg4"

song is posted on spotify, apple music, heart radio, and youtube (those topic channels but no the SMG4 one)

4. then we have the lyrics, which I tried my best to decipher:

I know (we got); I know (we got); I know you train so hard, We got to save the world; We won't win if we don't (play/plan???) now, I know you have to change around; (x2) Can you please (live??) some more, thank you; (Stewey/steady???) unless; I know you stand for something; I know you train so hard (x4), So hard, so hard (wow); I know you train so hard, We don't (play??) if we don't get; I know you train so hard (x4), We don't win if we get

(I had to listen this on loop to get it close enough holy shit) ANYWAY I can totally see the AI vibes coming from. Since no one has come out to confirm if this really was AI, either way I say "ew". If this is the Team trolling/teasing us (which they kinda have been), then this is one from the music department going "lmao gottem".

But if this is supposed to be part of a puzzle.... (oh no, not the FNAF box goddammit)

Would it be weird for me to say that the beginning of Flareglow is a slower arrangement to Mr Puzzles "It's TV Time" theme??? (ok you can boo me off the stage now) I listened to it side-by-side and some of the beats sounded familiar but maybe my mind has really gone coo coo crazy

apparently someone said that there was a bit of Mario 64 motif in it, especially at the end (not confirmed and still searching)

Not that I support AI (and don't think anyone in Team does) but having it sound like AI may communicate that "something is wrong" and that we the audience would suspect it. Plus the electro beat gives off the glitch effect.

Cover's obviously made in GMod but somehow it's both unassuming and bizarre. We are all familiar with how the SMG4 show uses GMod and their song covers, but you wouldn't think this cover and song would belong to SMG4. It's meant to throw us off and perhaps ignore it entirely. Make us forget about it. The logic is:

SMG4 characters on cover = song's from SMG4

Based on the (awful) lyrics, the singer (Person A) is in the perspective of uplifting someone else (Person B) against a common enemy, final-battle sort of situation. Alluding to a future arc perhaps?

Whoever Person A is, they have been observing how much Person B trying to improve themselves/their powers ("training" being emphasized so many times). Whether it's to level up their skills or to control them, and yes they're two different things. The first people you could think of are SMG4 & 3, it's been a while since they have done some meme guardian power training, and are likely to have character development/arc. And personally, it's giving IGBP vibes. BUT it could also be Melony with her God powers and we did see her God form in the WOTFI '24 arc, but wasn't able to beat against Mr Puzzles (Maybe it was due to her lack of training?)

Regardless, Person B would have to face a moral dilemma. In the events within the song, Person B might have to make a choice that may be out of character for them to do, but for the sake of the world, they have to. Person A reminds them that it isn't out of character at all, and it's based on what Person B believes in. And Person A knows them too well to know that.

They're both running out of time and Person B may feel insecure about using the skills/powers they have been training for, but the choice Person B makes would be to save everyone. Person A & B together. If they lose, it would really be over.

Watch it be entirely wrong by someone from the Team LOL. Well anyway, those are my thoughts and if anyone has anything, send an ask/comment!

If we strangely get a confirmation that it was intentionally released by the Team, I might make this song an honorable mention to the goop!4 website ig

[midnight1nk]

... *clears throat*

I uh. I was looking back at my reblogs from earlier today and realized that this theory was pretty close to one of my scrapped drafts for a Concept (nicknamed "the masked assistant timeline"). It, well, instead segway into the goop!4 arc in the Ep Concepts series. Listen, if we got to have lobotomized Four and possessed/goop Four, why can't we have controlled Four?

Now, with steam and flareglow, I wanna know if you guys would be interested in this "masked assistant" timeline??? Still got the ideas from my birthday poll but willing to make an exception by adding this one to the list

Angst? Oho, the masked timeline isn't even the worst one yet :)

[midnight1nk]

So, this week's episode...

[spoilers below cut]

oh boy, the first episode (+ review) of the year! i am SO EXCITED what they have in store for us for all of 2025, i'm SCREAMING!

(the following is my live reaction:)

god i missed the intro

"...but you can watch the other episodes" no no it hits different

OH we're doing transitions, huh?

he's so silly 💙

MARIO HI

quite a resolution but mario please drink water

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING, FOUR

just love the small bits of smooth animation, fantastic

HOLY SHIT FUEGO you came back

and we still got James to voice him, let's gooo!!!

well uh, i didn't expect that song

WHEEZE he's going full-on Mary Poppins, bye bye

if you're gonna make it, don't jinx it mario

sure, we ran out of water, but at least Luigi is supportive :)

HUH what do you mean we're sold out of water? how convenient

...mario don't you dare even think about it

NO NO NOOO

and it exploded, wow

oh HI SMG3!!

*inhales* Three... honey.... can i ask why?

is it bad to say that this feels out of place? idk maybe that's just me

then again, welcome to the SMG4: where literally anything can happen

also great to see the Crew here 💙 hi to all

enjoy the salt! :D yummy yummy

goddamn we started a whole dry-out apocalypse

*ghostbusters theme* 🎶 when it's the end of the world and you're about to die, who are you gonna call? the military! 🎶

worse than death? oh, tummy aches. understandable have a great day! *mary-poppins out of there*

i find it peculiar that we're getting a lot of moments with jesus hmmmmm....

not even God could save us

desperate times call for desperate measures

...well all that just happened and still nothing? maybe throw some explosives to crack the bottle?

damn Three, whatever's going on with this idea of yours, it's not working

but it's nice to have Eggdog helping his dad out

y'know Mario can be a great salesman (learned from the best by Nintendo)

eh close enough, welcome back Sonic Adventure 1 *explodes*

and you got your water Mario, i see no problems here :)

oh plot twist! i didn't think we were gonna get another scene with Fuego tbh

🎶you drink. must drink. you need your zinc—🎶 oh Mario c'mon, that song was really getting into my head

and as always, a chaotic ending

Congrats to Axel (who's indeed here on Tumblr) for your art featured at the end credits 🎉 love your Saiko art 💙

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

I gotta say, this has been a good start for 2025! I'm so glad the Team was able to get a break before then (which they honestly deserved) and now we have a silly little episode today, you just gotta stick with the chaotic vibes of the show :D

And WOW Fuego's return was not on my bingo card but here we are. That was a nice surprise. Plus, some of the creative choices made really went well with its funny moments. It just spices it up, y'know.

Just learned that Shadow sang the song bit at the beginning of the episode and voiced the one fish guy (I FREAKIN KNEW THAT VOICE SOUNDED FAMILIAR) which is awesome fun fact!

And apparently there was an extended scene that was trimmed for today's episode by Star, that you can see the full version (here's the link for you to check it out!)

It feels great to watch an episode that feels like it belongs in the show itself. And no, i haven't forgotten the Dasani x SMG4 lol (ah yes, the true ship of the show) Like I said, it's a good start and I'm so excited what they got for us bc I know the Team's scheming something, I can FEEL it. 4 dollars, bet on it!

And an extra certified point from me FOR NOT ADDING FLAREGLOW OMG I WAS WILLING TO ALLOW IT IF IT WAS GONNA BE A JOKE BUT IF IT WAS A LEGIT SONG I'M GONNA GO INSANE GONNA GO CRAZY I WILL TAKE THE DRINKING WATER SONG ANY DAY THAN THAT PIECE OF—

thanks for stopping by and remember: numbers go first! :) and I'll see you in the next one!!

[midnight1nk]

well, dear fellows, I've spent days on blinding spectrograms and the song stuck in my freakin head for it being on loop. And with the next episode just dropping hours away, I thought to share this.

Did I really do this? Yes.

Was this completely pointless? Oh, absolutely—

Picking Apart the Flareglow Audio

⚠️ DISCLAIMER IN INTRO POST ⚠️

CONTEXT

if you somehow did not see what was going on and probably questioning "what the hell is flareglow?" (exactly like Cube tweeted), I'll give a quick rundown:

News of a new song "Flareglow", appearing on the official SMG4 artist page on multiple platforms (spotify, apple music/itunes, iheart radio, amazon music, and others) on Jan 4.

The song itself (here's my basic analysis) sounds nothing like the Team has done before in every way you can imagine, from the gmod-made cover art to AI-sounding lyrics

fans started to speculate rather or not this was another hack or if it was an intentional by the Team, who have not confirmed anything about it. y'know it's bad when casual viewers are pointing it out

then there's people like me that suspected that the Team was scheming for some future thing

Ben tweeted about it (the first one by the Team as far as i know)

Cube was the next one to bring it up AND on that same day, the song gets slowly taken down by the multiple platforms it was on

a week later giving out a comment to clarify (quote on quote) this as well as the SMG4 Steam strangely changing its username (ft. Shadow reposting)

Now, you are valid in what you want to believe here while i suspect Cube with every inch of my mind palace. and since you're reading this...

AUDIO INVESTIGATION

Clues and codes can be hidden in multiple ways and one of those is through audio files, most commonly found in video games.

If you play a coded audio file, it might sound distorted and weird. But if you manipulate it as easily as putting the audio in reverse, you might've found a clue. Images can also be hidden and be seen through a spectrogram. This is considered one of the more fragile ways of coding since any small alterations to the file could change the image.

Before it got taken down, i managed to snag a copy and send it through a visualizer. ofc the image can't be seen right away and have to toy with the settings for it to work.

Admittedly, this was the most frustrating part of the whole investigation, constantly zooming in and out of the spectrogram preview, going back and forth to some classic photoshop photo manipulation. Hours and hours. So here's what i got:

zoomed in i found what looked like an "e" in 39 seconds (yeah not sure what past Ink was thinking there)

having it squished kinda forms a word but it's not clear enough to distinguish

(take it with a chunk of salt that it said "Princess", well i found the letter "P" ok)

photo manipulation cleared to "a image" of a series of almost identical corridors

honestly it could just be nothing lol

yeah i might be reaching at this point, starting to see things too. I really did try everything, including using a backwards copy of it to use it as a filter on top. Like I said, it may not be nothing and that's okay. At least I gave it a shot. i know it must be disappointing.

But it's not over just yet. Have you found it strange that the title "flareglow" isn't in the lyrics itself? Even knowing what the lyrics may be about, it doesn't make sense. "A glint of bouncing light, can be captured on camera" hmmmm.

"But some songs are like that?"

True, but knowing the Team and the Steam mystery going on, yeah no. Not to mention the song being a one-sided convo perspective AND a theory that 4 may turn out like Leggy and be pushed to be an assistant to Mr Puzzles due to a grudge. Clues based on 2 of Ben's tweets,

4 being the second minion. Hence doing the idea of the copied spectrogram.

Then there was the other idea, what if there's 2 songs? we got one half of the code, there might be another.

I guess I should clarify: maybe "Flareglow" is the title for song 2 while the song 2 title is the true title for this one.

Anyway, it would be too early for us to figure it out.

if there is, we need to be on the lookout for that one bc overlapping them might show the full image.

Two halves of the same coin :)

close enough, welcome back 4 & Puzzles being narrative foils

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

well uh this was something.

But for real tho, I have absolutely no idea what's gonna happen and this is just for the sillies 😋 either way thanks chat for listening to my ramblings for the past couple of days, I must've looked insane.

Now, that's a lesson to learn: sometimes it's okay to overanalyze stuff as nourishment for theorist brains and for me to morph into matpat

If anything does come up, I'll be there with everything I have and can totally count you guys being there too 💙

and on that note,

oh my god i'm never gonna listen to that song ever again not even a single second this better be a joke bc i swear i will crawl through the screen and into my spotify account and burn the entire platform on sight and maybe strangle that fuckin cover art while i'm at it as my body's decomposing into pixels watch me—