#for the record this is a semi-joke like I always feel weird saying HES 100% GAY like obviously idk and I don’t want to be creepy

[27-royal-teas]

new religion is pretty gay

I was going to write a full essay about this but you see, i do not care, so im just going to point things out for shits and giggles

before i take a deep dive into the gayness of this excellent song, what the fuck is up with so many male artists featuring other guys when they’re singing about sex. waterparks did it with blackbear. Idk if youve ever listened to fuck about it but that shit is NOT hetero. Anyway

i had always read this song as gay or at the very least not straight so it was kind of weird when i was talking about it to my friend and she was like ‘really? Id always read it straight but now i kind of see your side’ so my goal here is to corrupt everyone

Lets start (first of all) with the entire title in itself. Like, NEW religion. Why new? Why not old? Why not just religion? A lot of different musical artists have compared their partners and slash or sexual endeavors to church and god and religion in the past (see: “if you were church, I’d get on my knees” “take me to church I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies”, the entirety of your body my temple by will wood, at this point my friend has actually created a playlist of horny songs to anger the church). all time low has decided to join this list, apparently, because new religion (not old, not just religion) implies a switch over from something. It’s new, not old, it’s not defined. Reportedly and publically alex has only ever been with lisa (his wife) and i believe jasey rae who is the girl he named the song jasey rae about (which is a FANTASTIC song too). 

New religion paints alex as unsure about where he stands sexually but its for sure that he’s positive about whatever he’s doing. The entire first verse implies it: i never thought myself a believer, but tonight, i believe in you. Alex is using the entire concept of god as metaphor for sexuality. Sub out the word believer for homosexual. See what i mean? Later, in teddy’s verse, he says, ain’t no questioning my faith, implying that he’s sure about where he stands. The next line, which is my favorite, goes could be a sin to want you but worse to walk away.

This is my favorite line in this song because it’s so OBVIOUS like DUDE. the choice of words here. ‘Could be a sin to want you’ like this just stuck out to me so much because guess what’s regularly called a sin by specifically churchgoing homophobes? HOMOSEXUALITY. This could not be more rainbow flag. 

so my proof in ADDITION to the fact that they got a MALE SINGER to feature on their one very sex related song on the album in conclusion alex gaskarth i know what you are

[sandsunseagrapes]

ok ok ok hear me out: claire introduces cas to spotify, right? bc she’s sick of riding w him on hunts and all he plays is the hot 100 station. she loves megan thee stallion obviously, but there’s only so many times she can hear the 3 songs the radio plays. so, she bribes dean to help her install a new stereo in cas’s car that has an aux cord, and she commandeers it at every chance. (dean will never admit it, but the reason he “couldn’t find” an authentic™️ 1967 chevy impala stereo to replace the one he “broke” is bc he gets jealous claire always says yes to a hunt when cas is driving. he wants to hang out w his semi adopted/stolen daughter, too! but i digress) anyway! one day cas asks her to find his favorite song

and she goes, sure, who sings it?

i don’t know her name.

well, how’s it go? i can look up the lyrics

*cas sings a few bars in a foreign language*

claire is like, dude i only speak english. i dropped out of hs bc u broke my family (it’s ok, they joke ab it now. cas doesn’t even feel that bad anymore. but every time she makes a joke like that, he does smth nice for her the next day. the last chocolate muffin at the buffet at the shitty motel is hers, even though she knows cas is Obsessed with chocolate. or he leaves a book in her bag he knows she’d like -- she doesn’t joke so much ab that anymore, even though she loves the presents. she doesn’t love the way he always looks down and to the left though after he smiles bc he never wants her to feel like she has to hold back, and he likes the way her smile makes her gold hair just a little brighter. she likes the way he always pays attention. but i digress again!) anyway!

claire wants to find this song for him, it’s the first one he’s ever asked her to play (it took him an embarrassingly long time to figure out claire was controlling the music. how was he to know this thin strip of rubber-coated string made the stereo play her favorite songs? he just figured she was lucky she could always find the right radio station. explaining what a queue is takes 2 hours. claire is incensed on dean’s behalf when she realizes cas didn’t realize what The Mixtape meant. after she explains that to cas, nobody sees her weird dads for a full day. sam and eileen take her and jack out for lunch, a movie marathon at the local theatre, dinner, midnight bowling, and stargazing bc -- ew!!! but i digress) anyway!

so she’s like, cas, what language is that?

it’s the first one.

claire’s like, oh. dude. i -- i’m sorry, that’s not here.

what do you mean? you said this “website” has every song known! this is my favorite song.

uh, well, cas -- when i said ‘every song known,’ i didn’t think i’d have to specify within this millennium? you know people didn’t, like, have recording equipment until 100 years ago?

that’s outrageous. you are missing out on so much. he’s thinking about how he would like to hear that song, again. he hasn’t thought of it in -- well, hundreds of thousands of years. and what’s a millennium to an angel?, he catches himself thinking (he no longer is one).

i’m sorry i couldn’t play you the oldest song ever (sarcastic frosting on a real apology)

i’m sorry you couldn’t hear it

what is it?

it’s a lullaby. i didn’t even... i hadn’t paid attention to life on this planet since the fish on the beach; i was busy with another solar system after that --

doing what?!

well, i was making it. (delivered with such dispassion it throws her again. this is her dad??? how fucking cool is that)

oh. oh! (5 minutes of silence after this. she knew he was older than everything she knows, but he doesn’t talk much ab it)

it really is a lovely song. i wouldn’t even know it, if not for my sister, anna. she made me watch it. and i -- i always wondered...

what?

i always wondered... what could make you invent something so beautiful? i didn’t know, how could i know, until -- he has been driving this whole time, but he seems now to focus on the road even more.

claire wouldn’t know this, except she steals a glance. then stares just as determinedly out her passenger window. she thinks he might be saying that --

well, i wondered before you, and before dean, and jack, and sam, and everyone (their family, she knows who everyone is, because they’re her everyone, too) but i can see now. (a beat) why you would invent something so kind. i would like to hear that song again. but it’s okay that your friend spotty doesn’t know it.

she’s almost crying, and then she has to laugh, and then she cries, for real. cas pulls over on the side of the road and they both silently get out of the car so they can properly hug. her face is crushed in his shirt (dean’s actually, but no one keeps track anymore) and his left shoulder is soaked with saltwater and maybe hers is too and maybe. maybe, claire thinks (for the first time), this was maybe all worth it.

cas knows it was.

[queerdilf]

My own speculation, subject to change in the future, from left to right:

1. Travis- Tiefling Warlock- Everyone is saying this is Tal, and while that’s totally plausible, I actually stand by the fact that this is Travis. I was also briefly thinking this was Sam in an attempt to have him playing a more serious character, but more on that later. I don’t think Tal would play a tiefling in this campaign, they’re generally too edgy, and Tal said he wanted to try something new. Travis on the other hand, totally wants to play a smart character, that’s just a fact. First off, tieflings automatically get a few cantrips, so already he’s handling spells which is different than before, and since I’m pretty sure that baby’s a warlock or paladin, I’m more tempted to go with warlock because I can see Travis playing an almost Percy-esque character this time around, an egg head with issues, which hypes me up.

2. Marisha- Human Monk- My first reaction to this was Laura, honestly, cuz I felt Laura trying a more physical class would be a cool change and also I wanted to see her taking on a Ray from Star Wars type character, but the more I thought about it, the more likely it was that this is actually Marisha. Marish is a very “Let’s fuckin’ go!” type player, quick to action, excitable and powerful. I think monk would be super cool to see Marisha explore. I myself am not very familiar with monk mechanics, as my least favorite of the classes, but I love the idea of Marisha playing this rough and tumble, knock me down get back up again type character, and I also like the idea of Marisha playing a semi religious character.  I also bounced Ashley around in this spot because of reasons I’ll get to later. 

3. Sam- Human Fighter-  Okay, when thinking about this one, I at first was approaching this like Sam was making the character, and I thought he’d want to maybe play something a little more serious, and I automatically went to the tiefling on the far left. Then, people began saying he was the small one, which also makes sense, he likes being small, but then I remembered a crucial detail. Sam isn’t making the character, Liam is. I actually saw a post on here, I cannot take credit for this viewpoint, but I don’t remember who gave me the idea, but it said that since last time Liam gave Sam the “lamest” combo, this time around, its likely he’ll try to theme it like that again and give him the most “boring” combo. It seems everyone and their mother is playing a human fighter and it would be interesting to see what Sam does with something so generic. Could also be a paladin or half- orc (cuz its mega tall and idk I could just also see paladin), but then that doesn’t really support the “boring” theory.

4. Liam- Human Bard- First things first, I automatically thought Liam when I came to this one, the outline looks so much like him in my opinion, but I’ll break down better reasoning for this one. First, evidence for the bard, you can see the tip of an instrument sticking out from the person’s back, and the boots just remind me of a bard. Now, I also think this is Liam for a better reason. I personally think Liam just wants to play something light and funny. No Raven Queen, no impending time clock, just song parodies and dick jokes. Also, I think since he told Sam to play a bard, he wants to give it a try now. Could also be a half- orc, giving another look at the ear areas, but that I feel is unlikely. As someone who plays a human bard, I’m obviously super excited for this one, oh my gosh I’m shaking just thinking about it.

5. Taliesin- Kobold Rogue- This one actually has some good reasoning behind it. Taliesin has gone on record saying he wants to play something totally different this time around, and I think this would be a really cool combo in order to do so. Taliesin also stated in the PAX Unplugged interview that his character would be the most likely to use the cantrip “massage”, which I feel just fits for this little monster type character. The other option for race is halfling, but I feel like Tal of all people would probably be the one to just play the out there member of this party, I feel like he’ll continue to play with races or classes outside the core PHB and try something weird and see what happens. (Also, I’ve been imagining him playing a small, weasely rat of a character for months now and it’s all I want)

6. Laura- Tiefling Cleric- So first off, Laura had talked about wanting to play a cleric before, which is mega exciting, because I honestly think she’ll make such a good healer, she has such good group instincts. This character is like a weird mix of Zhara and Lyra and I really am excited for her design. I remember Laura absolutely falling in love with Zhara and tieflings, so I can see her using one now, and I feel like Laura’s Kobalds and Catacombs character was a bit of a trial run for this one’s personality. I like the idea of this character being like a “you are more than your blood” type character and totally defying all tiefling stereotypes and becoming a sweetie pie cleric 

7. Ashley- Elf Barbarian- I’ve been bouncing back and forth on this one all night, and I’m still not totally 100% on this one, but hear me out. For player, it could be any of the girls. St first I felt Marisha cuz it looked vaguely like her and I had this idea of her playing a caster to say "Fuck you" to all her haters, however you'll see in a moment why I changed who was playing this character once I changed my idea of which class the character was. For race, it could really be anything, I just feel like she has an elven body type. For class, it could also be anything. I at first was bouncing around some kind of caster, then someone brought up barbarian, druid and ranger came up, necromancer was the one I found super likely, but the one I’m going with is barbarian for one reason. Ashley always wanted Pike to be physically stronger. This is the reason I actually toyed around with Ash being the monk for a little while, because she always wanted Pike to be physically strong. She was always saying she wanted Pike to be a “monstah”, and now she gets the chance to be. 

Sidenote: This actually was taking into account that some of the cast may play other genders,  I just matched the characters with what I felt best fit and it just so happened all the characters seem to present themselves in correspondence with the stereotypical body language of the gender said players identify as. Trust me, I play guys all the time in dnd, I totally understand playing as other genders, I just feel these fit the best for each person.

Thanks to @lupinsfurrylittleproblem for helping me talk through this list!

[yessadirichards]

‘Schitt’s Creek,’ ‘Succession,’ 'Watchmen' top Emmy Awards

LOS ANGELES

“Schitt's Creek,” the little Canadian show about a fish-out-of-water family, made history at Sunday's Emmy Awards with a comedy awards sweep, something even TV greats including “Frasier” and “Modern Family” failed to achieve.

Zendaya, 24, became the youngest lead drama actress winner for her role as a troubled teenager in “Euphoria."

“I know this seems like a really weird time to be celebrating,” Zendaya said. “But I just want to say there is hope in the young people out there. I know our TV show doesn’t always feel like a great example of that,” but thanked young people out there “doing the work.”

“Succession,” a family power struggle over a media empire, was honored as best drama series, and creator Jesse Armstrong used the opportunity to offer “unthanks,” including to President Donald Trump for what Armstrong called his “crummy” handling of the pandemic.

“Succession” star Jeremy Strong won the drama actor trophy for his role as an aspiring heir.

The awards for Pop TV's “Schitt's Creek” included best comedy series and trophies for its stars, including Catherine O'Hara and father-son Eugene and Daniel Levy.

“It is absolutely incredible. I think my dad said it best earlier this evening: it’s a dream you don’t want to wake up from, to be honest. What an absolutely unbelievable way to end our series,” Daniel Levy said backstage.

In his acceptance speech, he said the sitcom was about "the transformational effects of love and acceptance, and this is something we need more now than ever before,” encouraging people to register and vote to achieve that goal.

Other winners, including “Watchmen” star Regina King, made a point that the Nov 3 general election was near.

All the winners accepted their awards virtually in the pandemic-safe ceremony, including O'Hara, but she wasn't alone.

“Though these are the strangest of days, may you have as much joy being holed up in a room or two with your family as I had with my dear Roses,” O'Hara said, surrounded in a decorated room by mask-wearing co-stars who play the Rose family members.

Levy called it “ironical that the straightest role I ever played lands me an Emmy for a comedy performance. I have to seriously question what I've been doing” for the past 50 years.

Moments later, his son won the award for comedy writing for “Schitt's Creek” episode, then shared a directing award and captured the supporting actor comedy trophy. The supporting actress trophy went to his co-star Annie Murphy.

Daniel Levy thanked his father and O'Hara for teaching an extended “master class” in comedy. The show's sweep came for its much-acclaimed final season.

References to coronavirus were an ongoing part of the ceremony, with essential workers — including a teacher and a UPS deliveryman — presenting awards and Jason Sudeikis ostensibly getting a COVID-19 test onstage.

In a year with a record number of Black nominees, 35, there was a notable lack of diversity in the show’s early going. With “Schitt’s Creek” gobbling up comedy awards, that left “Insecure” and creator Issa Rae empty-handed Sunday.

That was also true of Ramy Youssef, creator-star of the semi-autbiographical comedy “Ramy,” about a young Muslim American’s love and religious life. Yousef tweeted a video of a haz-mat suit-wearing person clutching an Emmy and waving goodbye after he lost the lost the comedy actor category.

There was a sign of change with the drama awards, which came in the latter part of the ceremony.

The powerful series “Watchmen,” a graphic novel-adaptation steeped in racial pain, was voted best limited series and King won lead actress for her work on the HBO show. She was showered by confetti as she accepted in an armchair, wearing a T-shirt that honored police shooting victim Breonna Taylor.

“This is so freaky and weird,” said King, who regained her composure and called on viewers to vote and, backstage, explained why she wore the message shirt.

“The cops still haven’t been held accountable," she said. "She represents just decades, hundreds of years of violence against Black bodies. Wearing Breonna’s likeness and representing her and her family and the stories that we were exploring, presenting and holding a mirror up to on ‘Watchmen,’ it felt appropriate to represent with Breonna Taylor.”

Her co-star, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited series. Uzo Aduba won the counterpart actress award for her portrayal of Shirley Chisholm in “Mrs. America.”

Anthony Anderson, a nominee for “black-ish,” came on stage to make his disappointment vigorously known, saying the awards should have been “Howard University homecoming Black.”

“This isn't what it should have been. ... But Black stories, Black performances and Black Lives Matter,” he said, urging host Jimmy Kimmel to shout with him.

Tyler Perry, the actor turned media mogul, accepted the Governors Award.

Supporting drama awards went to Billy Crudup for “The Morning Show” and repeat winner Julia Garner for “Ozark.”

"Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” was again honored as best variety-talk series, with David Letterman announcing the award after being abandoned roadside by an annoyed ride-share driver.

Oliver joined the ranks of winners calling for Americans to vote, as did Mark Ruffalo, who won the limited series acting trophy for “I Know This Much is True"

Kimmel opened the show with a monologue that appeared to be defiantly delivered in front of a packed, cheering theater — until it was revealed they were clips from past Emmy shows.

“Of course I’m here all alone. Of course, we don’t have an audience,” he said. “This isn’t a MAGA rally. It’s the Emmys.”

With more than 100 long-distance video feeds with nominees ahead, “what could possibly go right?”

A minor gaffe marred Saturday's virtual Emmys for technical and other honors, when Jason Bateman's name was announced for a guest acting award that belonged to Ron Cephas Jones of “This Is Us.” Other guest acting honors went to Eddie Murphy and Maya Rudolph for “Saturday Night Live” and Cherry Jones for “Succession.”

Bateman was one of the few people on hand at the Staples Center for Sunday’s show, sitting in the audience during Kimmel’s opening monologue. Bateman sat stone faced amid a collection of cardboard cutouts, trading jokes with Kimmel after the host pointed out he was there.

Online: https://www.emmys.com/

[oneweekoneband]

PLAY (2017)

While streaming a still-ongoing series of mini-episodes showing the preparation, planning, and recording of a new album, Super Junior released their eighth album, Play, on November 6, 2017. It blew me out of the water.

I should mention that 95% of the other content posted this week was written before this album was released, and that I was not paying much attention to the episodes as they aired because I am not in a Korean time zone and also have ADHD which makes me forgetful. All of that might make this post a little bit weird.

On paper, there is no obvious reason I should have been so impressed by this. Ryeowook is absent due to military and Kyuhyun mostly is; he recorded vocals for two songs (out of ten) before joining the military. Kangin and Sungmin continue to be on personal hiatus. Of the remaining seven (Siwon, Heechul, Donghae, Eunhyuk, Leeteuk, Shindong and Yesung), only one of them is well-known for his vocals and I'd only rank two of the others in the top half of SJ vocalists. I misread the arc of Super Junior's album history, or maybe just spent too much time wallowing in early SJ. I had somehow decided this was going to be something super trendy-sounding, to take advantage of dancing skill over vocals, or alternately, in an attempt to "act their age", it was going to be a ballad album. What a moron I was.

"One More Chance" breaks my heart into a million pieces, because unlike their other breakup sad songs, this one feels they're not playing characters. Siwon's walking through camera flashes; Heechul's surrounded by TVs displaying static; Yesung, whose solo debut single was "Here I Am (Open The Door)", is in a hallway full of red doors that just lead to more red doors. They gaze directly into the camera, close-up, with tears streaming down their faces, moreso than they did in other fantastic breakup videos "It's You" and "Evanesce." They chase desperately after a girl who never turns around to look at them. "Where am I going? When will this end?" asks Yesung. "Even though I was in the rain, I liked it / Because there were traces you left behind / Because longing is beautiful pain / I thought I could endure / I had many mistakes, many scars," mutters Eunhyuk, in a self-written rap that rhythmically reminds me of Dear. Two. "Is that love even love?" whispers Donghae, who wrote the song. The chorus features a lyric including the Korean title of the song: “idaero bicheoreom gaji mayo, oh / nan  oneuldo ireoke jeokshyeojin / jeojeun heunjoekdeul sogeseo geudaereul chatgetjyo.” “Don’t go away like the rain / once again today, I’m drenched / and I’ll find you inside the wet traces.”

This is a continuation of the messages sent in songs like "Superman" and "Mamacita." This is a breakup song written to ELFs; specifically, to the ELFs who have abandoned them and/or are responsible for the various petitions about Sungmin, Kangin, and only13.

While they’re able to go on shows like Knowing Brothers and Weekly Idol and have a great time because (aside from Donghae and Yesung) they are so very comfortable and experienced guesting on and hosting variety shows, I keep spinning around the idea in my head that Super Junior’s relationship with ELF at this time, from their end, is very conflicted. They appeared onstage at SMTown this summer as a foursome, unfocused and in tears because of the ongoing Sungmin mess and because of being so small of a unit, and they’ve put out multiple songs now addressing ELFs in not 100% positive terms, first hinting, then pleading for the return of their “dream”. In the planning sessions during SJ Returns, Heechul was pushing for “One More Chance” to have been the single, and mentioned that he wanted it to be a song that “sends a message to our fans” (he didn’t say it in an aggressive way, but the word choice was interesting). Yesung tweeted on November 8th, in English for some reason, anxious about performing again with missing members and asked for ELF support. On the 3rd, he tweeted this billboard; it says “To ELF: Thank you. I’m sorry. I love you. From SJ.” Leeteuk on Instagram described the feeling of performing with so few members as a “burden” he’ll be relying on ELF to get him through. Eunhyuk, as the acting leader during the Zhou Mi/Henry petition in 2013, seems to have been particularly broken by all of this; he’s just come back from the military, to be promptly greeted by Sungmin stuff. He seems a little uncomfortable and slightly more mean, and though Leeteuk claims that Eunhyuk just hasn’t adjusted back to civilian life yet, I don’t think that’s all of it. Jessica and I both touched on the idea that there is some small subset of ELFs who seem to be exacerbating all the drama (I don’t at all mean that SJ members have had nothing to do with any of it), seemingly under the pretext that the SJ members belong to them, like pets or something. This is one of the best ballads Super Junior has ever put out, but I’m not sure it’s worth the heartache. 

The mini-series demonstrated that they had two choices for lead single, “Scene Stealer” and “Black Suit”, with “Black Suit” narrowly winning out in a vote. And I’m damn glad it did, because despite Eunhyuk’s lyrics and unabashed love for its funkiness, “Scene Stealer” sounds almost exactly like “24k Magic” and that would have gotten all the attention. It is not a bad song, because “24k Magic” is not a bad song, but I have to wonder why Super Junior keeps releasing songs that sound like popular Western artists. I really hope it is because they like the sound, as opposed to because they think it’ll help them sell better.

"Black Suit" has a video I can honestly take or leave, because it's a "character/story" video much like "Devil" or "Mamacita” but I just don’t see the heart in it. The only bit of it that looks like normal happy Suju to me is Shindong dancing in a goofy way toward the end. Eunhyuk does a wink, smirk, and point at about 1:22 that he's done in lots of other videos and performances, and it feels like acting. As a song, it's better than both "Devil" and "Mamacita", mainly because of that fantastic pre-chorus that transmutates into a whirling black magic spell of a bridge. Also, because of so many people being absent, we get a lot more Heechul, Shindong, Siwon and Leeteuk than we usually do, and Eunhyuk does more singing than normal, which is nice because he did a very good job on Mamacita and his continuing to do a good job on Play is fantastic, though it looks like the extra singing effort wore him out.

Speaking of that. As the two non-Yesung members above that I would have ranked as "in the top half of SJ vocalists", Donghae and Heechul stepped it the fuck up for this album. Honestly, all of them did, but especially Donghae and Heechul. As may have been obvious, I don't speak Korean at all, and in general don't pay much attention to SJ lyrics (I sing along semi-phonetically), but during Heechul's rap in the last track of the album, "I Do," I burst into surprise tears. I didn't expect to feel that emotional about that song, and it's not like Super Junior hasn't done a marriage song before or like Heechul hasn't rapped before, and plus I didn’t even know what he was saying!

But, after looking up lyrics and credits on that song and listening again, that's what makes it for me. It's not just that I like the sound of "I Do" way better than "Marry U" (it sounds like the wind blowing in from the ocean at sunset). It's that even though Heechul says "One More Chance" is his favorite song on the album, "I Do" is his personal development song. First off, there’s the fact that the recording sessions in SJ Returns all have untouched audio, so you hear the vocals warts and all, and I’ll cut Donghae some slack because he was sick, but of the others that were filmed, Heechul was absolutely the most in tune (and he definitely was not always: I linked “Disco Drive” earlier this week, from 2009, and I don’t even know what the hell that was coming out of his mouth). 

Keep in mind the fact that Heechul clearly did not have as much fondness for "Marry U" as the other members did; he's all "yeah sure I love ya baby" in the video, and in the tour where they all cried while ELF sang this to them, he looked much less emotionally affected than the others. Nowadays, he’s maybe not ready to completely settle down but he’s a lot closer than he used to be; they used a laugh track in SJ Returns when he said “I don’t really know these lovely emotions. I’m a man thirsty for love” but it doesn’t sound like he was joking to me. In "I Do," his self-written rap directly quotes his own "Marry U" rap, as in "I heard in a song once that..." His tone of voice is self-deprecating and a little laughing, but on "tteun. dae. do." at the end of the rap, he suddenly sounds intense and honest. And who gets the very last chorus in the song? Heechul, ten years after "Marry U", belting out his commitment with his heart audibly wide the fuck open, the only one in the entire song to use the word "pyeongsaengeul" ("for a lifetime"). Cue me bawling all over myself.

Aside from me having cardiac meltdowns about "I Do" and "One More Chance", the rest of the album is solid as well:

"Too Late" is one of the songs Kyuhyun is on and it's better than the other one ("Girlfriend"); they drag their feet tenaciously toward far-off piano chords, never quite making it in time to that E flat major the chords keep circling around.

“Runaway” is fun and brassy and sounds like a D&E song, and check out Eunhyuk getting all the high notes on this song!

“The Lucky Ones” lets SJ walk down an empty boardwalk with their girlfriend on a starry night.   

"Good Day for a Good Day" sounds like all the MTV interstitial music around the time I graduated high school: some kind of Daft Punk-Junior Senior hybrid. It would have been high school-era for SJ too, though who knows what kind of music they were listening to at the time.

And through all of these, you have Donghae steadily keeping up with Yesung as essentially the acting #2 vocal. This is a very Donghae-heavy album, as it should be, given that even aside from his songwriting, he’s also the member of the group who is most passionate about them acting as a family, and not just coworkers. This album sounds like Donghae giving the rest of the group a big goddamn hug, and I can’t tell whether it’s intended more as a friendly, affectionate hug or as a sob-it-out hug.