#hear me out- immaculate art talents

[thesinglesjukebox]

LADY GAGA AND BRUNO MARS - "DIE WITH A SMILE"

14 years after "Grenade," Bruno finally found someone who would do the same...

[5.70]

Kayla Beardslee: Hey, when is that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars collab being released? [5]

Ian Mathers: Mars and Gaga are both skilled at their craft in a way that often seems like a throwback to an earlier era of the art/industry, taking the biggest swings possible in terms of seeking mass appeal without feeling like they're compromising or calculated, talented mimics and style chameleons when they want to be. Working together on a big, heartfelt, suitable-for-all-occasions ballad actually feels perfect along those lines. The result is the kind of sturdily good (or "good," depending on your sensibilities) song that, if it catches you at the right moment in your life, might make you bust out crying. [7]

Joshua Lu: This collaboration would've been unthinkable in 2010; now that their careers have somehow converged, the outcome feels weirdly predictable. The emotional heft, vocal runs, and vague nostalgia are there, even if all it does is fill that "Perfect Duet"-sized hole in pop radio. "Die With a Smile" can't help but feel underwhelming in the context of their career trajectories — the kind of corny balladry that Bruno's outgrown and that Gaga mostly uses just to recapture the general public — but it's impossible to wholly reject when it's this nicely crafted. [6]

Grace Robins-Somerville: Most Obamacore song of 2024, hands down. "Die with a Smile" is this very specific meld of the era when you couldn't go to the supermarket without hearing a Bruno Mars ballad and when Gaga was doing a country pivot (although this is far blander than anything on Joanne). It's been a while since I've heard such blatant Grammy bait. [3]

Jackie Powell: Entertainment Weekly's Joey Nolfi wrote that “Die with a Smile” is a song that recalls “the emotional bravado” of “Shallow,” the Grammy- and Oscar-winning smash from Lady Gaga’s A Star Is Born. He’s correct. “Die With a Smile” thrives upon accented and intentional dynamics while making vague and simple lyrics mean more than it they do on the page. That’s also what made “Shallow” so convincing. The difference on “Die With A Smile” is that Bruno Mars is more Lady Gaga’s equal than Bradley Cooper ever was. Mars has more to sing on a song that has Gaga’s name billed first, but both artists shine without the other having to sacrifice. Gaga’s part, which begins at around a minute and a half until the song's end, transforms this from a Silk Sonic B-side into something that’s much more memorable, emotionally resonant and cinematic. It's a song that makes me wish I had someone to sing it to.  [9]

Katherine St. Asaph: So old-fashioned that YouTube's preroll ad recommended me Botox, and so definitively a Bruno Mars song that I'm genuinely unsure why the credits are in the order they're in. It works, albeit in an unexciting way, because Bruno and Gaga have practiced melodrama for years -- see "I'd take a bullet straight to my brain" and "not even the Gods above can separate the two of us," respectively -- and have also practiced singing pretty then belting big. [7]

Jeffrey Brister: When it comes to Bruno Mars, I want immaculately executed genre pastiche, something that sounds like the past but keeps a thrilling modern affect. Gaga, for all of her artsy subversion and slight avant-garde leanings, has just as much of a traditionalist impulse, if not stronger; under the right circumstances, the results can be explosive. That alchemy is present here: two artists synced up and bringing out the best in each other’s performances. There is absolutely nothing new here, but it’s polished and perfectly executed. I’m a mark for that sort of thing. [7]

Jonathan Bradley: It's not right to say Bruno Mars is so adept with pastiche that he transcends it; pastiche is his artform, his milieu, the genre that this genre artist seeks to perfect. "Die With a Smile" has two ideas: the first being the familiar terrain of the Bruno Mars ballad, and the second being "What if a Bruno Mars ballad was Jeff Buckley?" Even a few years after the 1994 release of Grace, pop music seemed like it only had room in its past for an artist like Buckley: a soulful and beautiful singer-songwriter who leaned toward rock-god charisma rather than folkish introspection. Mars has Buckley's swooning fragility as well as his stormy squalls of guitar, but for all that Buckley represented the last of something, he never sounded like he was going over someone else's territory. That fundamentally does not work for Mars's attempt to recreate the sound; navigating someone else's territory is Mars's entire point. If "Die With a Smile" has a third idea, it's the addition of Lady Gaga, who is herself no stranger to pastiche (see the Madonna-isms of "Born This Way," the heartland rock of "You and I," or the way she slipped effortlessly into the Hollywood prestige turn that was "Shallow"). Here, she delivers only competence, as if she'd been asked to sing backup on a new recording of "When I Was Your Man" and found out at the last moment that the assignment had changed. [5]

Harlan Talib Ockey: Once you get past the surprise of "Die With a Smile" being a Jeff Buckley impression, it's remarkably insubstantial. "If the world was ending I'd wanna be next to you" sounds clunky and hyper-literal next to, say, "I'd catch a grenade for you". At least the harmonies are nice. [4]

Iain Mew: Bruno Mars's progression makes it a fruitful idea to go back and invert "Grenade" from a distance. Back then, he took the prospect of death as an opportunity to bitterly prove his unmatched love. Now he meets no less than the end of the world with smooth certainty that it's a chance for mutual togetherness. Lady Gaga's way with projecting intensity and sincerity in the most extreme contexts makes her the perfect foil, and for two lines after she comes in, it's transcendent. Then Mars comes back in, and not only is there not enough space for Gaga to shine, there's barely any space at all. Maybe the old anxiety hadn't gone away completely after all. [7]

Alfred Soto: Bruno Mars hasn't sounded this convincing a love man in years, if ever. Too convincing: Gaga is a backup singer on her own single. Mars sure would fuck himself if he could. [5]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Someone pointed out recently how absurd it is that Lady Gaga's Twitter bio is literally advertising for the HBO Chromatica Ball special, Haus Labs cosmetics, Joker: Folie à Deux, and now "Die with a Smile." That sums up my feelings toward this entry into the Gaga canon: random and indicating a certain directionlessness—or perhaps overdirection?—in her career. She sounds great, and the bridge is perfect TikTok fodder, but she and Bruno Mars sound like they have as much sexual chemistry as brother and sister.  [4]

TA Inskeep: Mars and Gaga sound nice enough together, but there’s no frisson, no spark; they’re just two famous singers, singing a duet for you to stream and buy.  [5]

Scott Mildenhall: To the song's great benefit, the annihilatory proposition is underblown. Instead, its precise lilt is folded and finessed throughout, heading hither and thither without over-accelerating or escalating. It's a fine balance between ostentation and undulation. There's minimal vocal chemistry, but the blend is happening elsewhere. [7]

Hannah Jocelyn: I was with family over the weekend, and my brother asked “who is this??” like it was two stunning new artists on their debut single. Upon learning it was Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, his excitement dissipated. Only Andrew Watt could make two of pop’s best vocalists sound anonymous (don’t get me started on that weightless drum sound he's inexplicably made his signature). I can’t tell where Gaga ends and Bruno begins, which is a horrible mental image. [5]

Taylor Alatorre: The drums treat every other measure like it's a climax because the entire song, or more precisely its billing, is one undifferentiated climax. Which means no build-up, no peaks or valleys, no memorable grooves or meaningful sense of release. It's just those two names together on a lighted marquee, a chart-watcher fanfic straight out of 2012, What Could Be measuring short against What Must Be, which in this case is the greatest common denominator of softer-than-talcum piano balladry. At least "Grenade" had cartoon bloodletting on its side, and "Shallow" had the benefit of context. "Die with a Smile" reaches for that old doomsday rhetoric out of sheer reflex, even when the prophesized end is painted in washed-out watercolors, like a dream whose outlines dissipate five seconds after waking. Andrew Watt's approach to retromania is less playful than the Smeezingtons' was, but also strangely less reverent, since if you truly revere the music of the past then you don't try to half-seriously Mandela effect yourself into its hit parade. [2]

Nortey Dowuona: Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga getting to coast by cornering the market on having both vocal talent and a modicum of charisma -- you know, the old-fashioned model -- would be frustrating, but at least Watt's patient hand is keeping this over there next to the white Broadway crowd. Anything but more Bruno funk. [7]

Mark Sinker: Obviously I want to claim I’m only onboard with Bruno as a project at last thanks to Gaga’s in-video cigarette — casually centred, disgustingly compelling — but I have to admit it’s something entirely more wholesome: the actual topic, the actual melody, the actual delivery! He got me in the end! (Also, I like thinking of him as a little monster. He is a little monster….)  [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Would be a [6] with flipped Mars-Gaga ratio, but even then this would not quite get to the force of melodrama that would allow it to reach exit velocity and escape the great and depressing middle ground of tasteful 20th-century pop pastiche. These two have taken enough stabs at staid, boring pop songs for all occasions that they have become the legacy acts they once aspired toward and collaborated with. Good for them; bad for us. [4]

Kristen S. Hé: As much as I wish this Venn diagram had produced something more adventurous, it's arguably harder to write a song like this -- one that'll probably be on radio rotation for decades, and that I'll never object to hearing in any context. I've often found Bruno's schtick cloying and insincere, but here, I'd believe it even without Gaga's added star power. Bruno, please stay in this lane forever. (Gaga, please don't!) [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[tojisrealwifey]

ok, first things first: that work of art you call your mind has made me feel things I didn't know I was capable of feeling. saying im invested in the crybaby series is an understatement. im counting the seconds for you to bless my lovesick mind with (hopefully) a cathartic chapter.

next, I wanna know the inspiration behind the series. did you hear a song or maybe watch a scene that spurred on this beautifully painful heartbreak?

lastly, I just wanna say, as a fellow writer, the angst is immaculate. I struggle in that department because I believe angst needs a hint of romance in order for it to work, but you, you, my dearest, you do it flawlessly.

I love you and everything you do. 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾

FIRST. i love you.

i'm glad to know that my fic has made you feel such things. i was under the belief that that part of my talent had been lost, but i'm glad it's working again hehe.

i hope this story continues to sate your lovesick mind because by some miracle it has managed to do so for me 😘

to answer you question, there were a lot of different inspirations that led to them accumulating into this series.

for instance, there is a song that has a huge hand in this concept, which is glimpse of us.

it was a song that made me cry the moment the music started despite its lack of relatability to me.

there was something so sad about the fact that this person couldn't help but be reminded of his previous lover while he was with his current lover.

and to add to my angsty nightly 3 AM crying sessions, i would put myself in the place of the woman who's being compared to an ex (i'm delusional and i like to cry) because in my mind, being in her position is much more depressing.

when i started this series, it wasn't a series at all at first. it was going to be a one-shot of sorts with multiple characters, like those:

"JJK men when they first find out you're pregnant"

type fics.

the one i had in mind when i began was "things JJK men do that unknowingly hurt you" yeah, something along those lines. i got this idea when i thought of toji staring at another woman at a festival (which is how the story starts) but then i couldn't help but add more as i kept writing.

like adding that the woman looked like his ex-wife, and that he might be attached to her in a way still.

originally it was just like he was watching her cause she was another target for his job blah blah blah.

then my brain happened and wanted to make it sadder.

i'm actually so shocked to know you like the angst cause the ones i used to write before would like not be sad at all. i myself have trouble understanding if what i've written is a tearjerker or not, so i'm happy to know my work is improving, even just by a bit.

this truly made my entire month! muahh i love you so much!!

[helena-thessa]

Just dropping in to say that Silent Night has me in a chokehold I will likely never recover from and that you are awe-spiringly talented!! (new chapter is *chef's kiss*) I believe I speak for the damirae fandom when I say the wait for your updates is sweet torture and reading is an absoLUTE delight 🩷

If you don't mind questions ofc, I am super curious as to how you found damirae and got inspired to write for it! The DCAMU community size has nothing on popular anime fandoms, so I'd love to hear how it started 🥰 Your grasp on their deep and compelling characters is so immaculate (+ the heartwrenchingly articulate writing style??🩷) 😍😍 ugh love it to the moon and back!!

ahhh hi !! Thank you so much. It's pretty much terrifying posting a new story in a new fandom, so I really appreciate this. 🖤

yes! Always open to questions. :] the various algothirms must have targeted me, because I've always seen such great art for damirae, I didn't realize it was a smaller fandom and something of a rare pair on Ao3. Silent Night definitely draws inspiration from gorgeous artwork by @kasieli.

Looking back, there's a chance that damirae was my first childhood OTP? I grew up watching the early 2000s Teen Titans and shipped Raven and Robin before my little kid brain could properly understand anything about romance. I have not rewatched the show as an adult, but this is such a fantastic edit by @unlikely-alliance. I mean, it's a cartoon but their chemistry and closeness is out of this world.

Then sometime last year I got hit hard with the Marvel fatigue. (DC too, but admittedly, I didn't give the Titans live-action show a chance, too afraid they botched Raven.) The comics, movies, and animated shows were such a quintessential part of my childhood, so it was kind of upsetting to realize I was so tired and uninspired by it all. Trying to reclaim some of that old joy, I guess, led me to start rewatching Justice League and working through the DC catalogue on HBO/Max. Instead of watching in order, though, I went straight for the Teen Titans movies, knowing ahead of time from tumblr that Robin/Raven would be canon this time. 😏

Probably my writing of them is more inspired by the old cartoon, but we only get the complexity of Robin-Damian Wayne because of the DCAMU and I am so grateful for it. The way it makes them make so much sense as the only two people who could properly understand and deeply care for the other creates such a dream pairing.

Thank you again 🥰🖤 this is the most absolutely self-indulgent fic I have ever written and posted, I'm so surprised and grateful for such a positive response.

[fastcardotmp3]

🎊 december bookshelf 🎊

november recs | recs tag

Happy (almost) New Year! Here are some bits of brilliance I'm closing out the year in reading, and here's to everything that you guys have made this year. I'm so grateful to exist in a space with so much talent and so many big hearts willing to share in it, and I can't wait to read what you have cooked up for 2024 🥂 love, dot

🎊 INCENDIUM by @stargazersteddie- I have always been and will always be a weird dragon kid at heart and this fic was tailor made for the weird dragon kids of the world LIKE! dragon shapeshifter eddie is SUCH a concept and then to add dragon hunter steve to the mix? to add a genuinely intriguing corrupted corporation claiming to help people? to add ronance espionage and secrets in the woods and-? you know? a treat of a journey really and truly.

🎊 captain's log webcomic by @rogue-alien - That sweet spot where beautiful, perfectly representative art meets a brilliant premise in which Dustin finds a bunch of old "Captain's Log" tapes Eddie recorded before he died and things develop from there. Truly makes my day every time I see this has updated with a new page and as a comic book lover I'm fully enamored with everything about this

🎊 if you wanted, you could do no harm by @eskawrites - I'm a lover of a road trip story in which everything becomes clear because the scenery has changed and this is SUCH a beautiful depiction of that. getting to live inside Nancy's head as she goes from knowing she has to get out of Hawkins but not necessarily why to finding this sense of peace within herself and the things she both can control (kissing the girl who made sure she wasn't alone for the journey) and can't control (the big unknowable that is life) was a delight and a joy <3

🎊 mark it on the starmap with an x by @cheatghost - the Eddie POV "show me the place (where he inserted the blade)" sequel/ companion piece of my DREAMS. I love an Eddie character study with my whole heart and the way lou explores him in this particular circumstance, being blocked off from the joy he built for himself and leaning on Wayne and almost being forced into adapting without getting a say in the matter? Brilliant, immaculate, perfect, HELP ME.

🎊 max the bloody handed by @hellsfireclub - KAS!MAX!!! Beautiful Lucas POV as things fall into disarray, as his sense of something's wrong gets proven right, and with such a cool and eerie tone the whole way through. also Lucas with a crossbow which you KNOW is everything To Me.

🎊 this time of the year by @gothbat99 - robin HEARS nancy even when nancy isn't saying anything aloud and robin KNOWS that nancy needs a moment to let her brain go quiet and just be and I'm beside myself!! sweet and warm and tinged with the inevitable grief of the holiday season what if I cry huh?

🎊 The Future is the Same (but i have to try) by @fragilecapric0rnn - such an intriguing world built in so few words but the thing that has me on the FLOOR is the nancy and steve reckless grieving power duo of it all LIKE. designed for me specifically perhaps??? the characterization, the looming danger of every choice they make, the impulsive nature of it all!!! brilliant!

🎊 crash by @cheatghost (yes, again! sue me!) - i say 'designed for me specifically' a lot but this time it's actually TRUE and let me tell you!!! the psychic damage incurred was IMMENSE!! the nancy character study of all time, the cyclical/non-linear journey through grief and catharsis and hope and acceptance of my dreams, i'm never going to stop thinking about this fic you HAVE to read it, it's imperative To Me okay? okay. okay okay.

PS. don't forget to tip your writer in kudos and comments if you read and enjoy these! it's talking to each other about the works we create that makes this fandom world go round 💖

[pink-vacancy]

who's in the vacancy supergroup line up the people must know

Ok so this ask has put me into a group building spiral. I have chosen my roster and drafted a logo and I'm building the debut concept

PVE (Pink Vacancy Entertainment) presents:

I want to add a music note icon and sword icon with similar styling to the text so the icons combined can also be like a little mini logo.

The visual concept is y2k armored gals with colored transparent 2000's technology weapons and armor. Like the transparent mac book type look except cool armor outfits. Pretty ladies with sword.

I'd also want to do a winter sports videogame concept like 1080 avalanche or SSX Tricky as the concept B for the album.

Soundwise, I'd want to replicate the fast pace beats of those video game soundtracks with some Jungle Beat/Hip-Hop and Pink Pantheress type songs. I'd also want some early '00s sounds like Britney and NSYNC lol.

Here is our 10 gal roster. I stole six of JYP's girls (basically my 2 bias lines lol) and I broke it down into 3 medieval military themed sub units:

The Command Unit

2. The Artillery Unit

3. The Melee Unit

Park Jihyo - The hardest part about making the group was choosing a leader and I realized I'd be so nervous if anybody but Jihyo was the leader. Also I want to hear her on a Britney Spears type track!

Myoui Mina - Wow! A huge surprise right? But honestly Mina brings everything to a group. Vocals, dancing, elegance, humor, Minecraft. So choosing her is a real no brainer even besides the fact that she is the love of my life. She's the face of the group for sure! I didn't make her leader cause she needs her gaming laptop time.

Minatozaki Sana - Sana is another obvious choice to me, bias aside. She has such mass appeal and talent for entertainment that she would create so much success for the group just by existing. And girl groups gotta have someone who will just full on smooch the other members.

Hwang Yeji - The second in command. I imagine her as being in charge of the younger half of the group. JYP holds this gal back possibly most of all. Here at PVE, we are giving her all those louis vuitton deals and what not, cause that will translate to bigger success for her and the group (JYP is certified big dumb). Plus she is an S tier performer, leader and visual.

Shin Yuna - Yuna is obviously another of my all-time favorite gals but hear me out. After seeing her live I know now she is an all around ace. She can sing, dance, and you can tell when she is on stage she is loving life! Also her rap from 'Twenty' is one of the few K-Pop raps that i actually enjoy and doesn't make me wanna kms lol.

Lee Chaeryeong - Chaeryeong is honestly such a talented singer and dancer. She’s super sweet and charismatic interacting with the crowd! And she is so funny just by being herself in the ITZY reality content. One of my all time fave idols and a must have for the group.

Miyawaki Sakura - Sakura would be the leader of the third unit. She's an incredible multi talented idol and her vibes are immaculate. She's super funny and beautiful and sweet. Plus she and Mina could be gamer friends together. I feel like she would really kill they2k aesthetic with like some cat ear headphones like she likes.

Jeong JinSoul - Jinsoul's voice has always been really soothing to me. Like it always sits very nicely within the melody of the song. I want that kind of sound for choruses on softer and popier songs. And she is a visual queen so she is a lock for the group.

Cho Miyeon - I wanted a group with two ultra feminine gals in it. Plus her and Sana are already friends so it works out very nicely. She has an amazing voice and is one of the prettiest idols out there!

Lee Saerom - I am honestly just starting to get into Fromis 9. But I have watched enough performances to understand the Saerom has incredible stage presence and has an awesome physique! Her muscles and her charisma will add to the groups flavor for sure ^^.

Maybe i'll do some concept art later to illustrate some ideas. If you read this far you are allowed to be a hater on the group. It will help me prepare for the debut.

[pixyys]

Ello pixyys! I have a request BUT PLEASE DO THIS AFTER YOU'VE FINISHED ALL OF YOUR HOMEWORK AND FINALS!!! AND TAKE YOUR TIME PLEASE I DON'T WANT YOU BURNING OUT!

so for my request, can I request the Flags with a reader who really likes classical music and hates any sacrilegious-ness and they are able to play the piano and other instruments too? And they have really good classical music knowledge and can name any piece in like a few seconds- wait why am I sounding like I'm describing myself ;-;

ANYWAYSSS stay safe drink water get enough sleep I love you mwah

— artistic elegance.

bsd characters with a reader who likes classical music, plays various musical instruments and despises sacrilege. (fellow twosetters, iykyk👀)

ft. the flags + some small extras at the end :)

warnings/notes. gn! reader

💌HII SILVER!! thank you for the request!! and aa tysm i love you too <33 i love that gif! bsd wan gives me life (´͈  ᵕ `͈ ) also! i'm still not that familiar with the flags' personalities, so they might be a bit ooc :" but i hope this is up to your expectations!

piano man

piano man is a cultured gentleman! he may not be as well-versed in classical music as you do. but he might know one or two of the popular pieces.

this man is a man of whimsy and cruel elegance. needless to say, he respects art and delicacy. and more than all, he is drawn to your immaculate and refined taste in music.

he loves hearing you talk about your interest! from your long rambles about a particular piece to small trivia about concerts and the likes.

he will reassure you that he's not using piano wires to strangle people (lmao)

please please please make a joke about how "piano man" can't play the piano (silver iykyk haha)

if you're willing, piano man will be interested in learning the piano from you. at least to honour his name (it's just his ploy to spend more time with you <3)

he'll come to your concerts and see you play if you're performing in one <3 alternatively, you both go to orchestras and classical music concerts together

he's also canonically fastidious, so he respects perfection. he's inwardly proud if you're very dedicated to your practices. he likes hardworking people.

however! he'll know when to stop you when you're overworking yourself. when your eyebrows start to crease and that gleam in your eyes whenever your fingers dance on the piano keys fades away, he'll silently approach you, gently reaching for your hand and pressing a kiss on your cheek.

"you've done enough, love. you're amazing. you'll do splendidly."

does stopping you from practising 40 hours a day count as sacrilege? probably. as much as he hates upsetting you, piano man is willing to commit any sin if it's meant for your well-being and safety </3

‎ ‎ ‎

lippmann

another chap who's fairly familiar with classical music. i'm sure some of his movies use classical music as soundtracks, and at some point, he has most likely acted as a musician character.

very intrigued by your extensive knowledge of musical instruments and classical pieces. he will definitely ask you for some pointers for when he has to act in a musical performance scene.

oh boy. the poor guy doesn't know what he signed up for.

"your wrist is too low. your bowing looks off," you comment as you both watch a particular scene where he act-plays the violin.

from then on, he takes your suggestions and corrections very seriously, which he is very grateful for because they help his acting career too.

more than anything though, lippmann doesn't want to upset you by committing "sacrilege"—as you like to call it.

you can teach him, let's say, a violin, or any other musical instrument. alternatively, you can take crash courses together as cute little dates <3 (all the more opportunity to flex your skills and impress him haha)

he's doing it very well, though. he's a fast learner. it's almost unfair how he has a natural talent for almost everything; from acting to negotiation skills.

he is.. very pretty.. regardless if people recognize him as a popular actor or not. so you may start regretting it when everyone from the course is starting to crowd him lmao. maybe this is not a very good idea after all,,

but! imagine this:

it's well-known that lippmann's music-acting is getting more realistic and accurate. there's this particular scene in a romance movie he starred in that causes quite a ruckus among his fans: the character he acted is playing a piece dedicated to his beloved. but his act-performance is just so 'full of love' and everyone goes crazy over it. when an interview session asks him about how he did this, he just smiles into the camera and,

"oh, i did picture a special person during that scene. they've helped me a lot, and i'm very grateful for them. you can say that 'performance' was dedicated for them."

i digress. but i'd simply die lmao

oh well, the internet will go crazy, again. "hit actor lippmann's secret muse!?" as said by the headline of the tabloid magazine. but eh, as they said, all's well should end well.. probably.

‎ ‎

albatross

no matter how i see him, albatross is a menace (lmao)

he's likely to not know a lot about classical music and musical instruments in general. but hey! trying is also a love language.

probably gets curious when you are practising. after you explain to him the basics, there is a high chance he'll go "oh! as i expected, you're very amazing! i think i'll go for the triangle instead." 💀

he's just very impressed at whatever you're doing. you pulled off a particularly difficult, or just a so-so piece? "woah! that is so cool!" you somehow manage to name any classical piece playing within five seconds? "what kind of sorcery are you doing?!" you're going on a long ramble about how a movie depicted orchestras and piano-playing very very wrongly? albatross has no idea what you're talking about. but whatever you're doing, don't stop. he likes seeing you all happy and enthusiastic. there's something about how your eyes light up or how a smile bloom on your lips. they never fail to make his day brighter.

this man is competitive. at one point, he will start listening to classical pieces and make it a competition on who can name a piece's title whenever there's one playing. of course, he loses, every time. can't forget that time he called Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 "that one tom and jerry song."

"it's a piece, not a song, albatross."

"but it's still in tom and jerry."

well, he's not wrong, technically.

albatross will probably get excited (and be embarrassing), gushing over you if he ever comes to see you perform in a concert or the like. "look at them! they're so cool!" he'll half-whisper to anyone sitting close to him until he receives several warning glares for being noisy. oh well, at least he knows not to clap during auditions.

please prevent this man from doing any more sacrilege (lmao i keep on slandering him, sorry albatross you're a real one for this </3)

‎

iceman

this man canonically likes to drink coffee and listen to records—a side only a few people know, and you're one of those few people.

he listens to a variety of genres, and classical pieces vinyl take up considerable space in his collection. he may be the closest to being fairly knowledgeable in classical pieces as you are.

he might not be the type to play a musical instrument himself. instead, he adores hearing you play. not that the recordings are bad, but your playing is just much more relaxing and the sounds flow better to his ears.

maybe above all, it's your presence that he finds peace from. either way, iceman is glad he can know someone who shares an overall similar interest with him.

you both can go to a record store! watch him just chuckle in amusement whenever you perk up as the store plays a classical piece, then immediately recognize the piece's title. he finds your enthusiasm cute. and not to mention, that broad knowledge is impressive. even he can't remember that many classical pieces.

he will be very grateful if you shove a good amount of music recommendations to him, or make a playlist for him! iceman might just listen to it in his free time because they remind him of you <3

in terms of sacrilege, he doesn't really mind much and leans on the more chill side. oh? that movie you're both watching is playing a very badly acted orchestra scene? he finds the way you internally cringe amusing. but iceman understands how such things really upset you, so he'll be there to listen to your rambles and criticisms.

all in all, he's a very chill but loving guy <3

‎ ‎

doc

he is mostly ambivalent about classical music and musical instruments. but as a doctor, he knows well that classical music is scientifically proven to be able to reduce stress and alleviate anxiety.

for that reason, he might know one or two things about classical music. but nothing too in-depth besides the fact it has some therapeutic effects to it.

hence! it's the perfect opportunity to tell him everything you know! (and flex when you're at it)

"doc! don't you know that not all classical music is relaxing? for example this one-"

he watches curiously as you show him a recorded piece, the '1812 overture.' he did expect and somewhat know that there are fast-paced and energetic classical pieces out there. but he did not expect canon fires incorporated into the piece.

"this sounds like it'll give people from the mafia anxiety instead."💀

but yeah. as someone who studied a lot, and used to be a student before being a doctor, he seems like the type who appreciates knowledge very much. he is intrigued by the tidbits of occasionally out-of-pocket trivia you casually bring up.

all the same, he likes listening to you play after he's done with his work, or during his day off. being a doctor can be more stressful than being on the front lines, as there are many injuries he had to treat as soon as possible, and he has to handle occasional foolish and careless individuals who don't heed his warnings. 

but! doc, hence his name, is a doctor. he will not take it kindly if you're pushing yourself with your practice, or being too anxious about an upcoming concert or performance. while not musically adept enough to help you with practices, doc will try his best to calm you down, reminding you that fatigue can ruin your concentration too. he's heard you play and practice multiple times, so he reassures you that all you need is just rest and you'll ace the performance.

all things considered, he just really cares for your well-being <3

‎

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 ♡ extra! ♡

adam will take you to a museum of musical instruments. fascinating. you can see not only today's instruments, but also pianos, violins, and cellos over the years. this man can and will give you elongated lectures about each instrument. fun and informative! 

chuuya is very extra himself, and he will do the same in handling your interest; if you want, he'll take you to equally very extra operas and concerts, where you all dress up fancy and wear those nifty galilean binoculars to see the stage. classy!

verlaine probably doesn't understand why or how you grow to like music, particularly classical music very much. but! he is fond of how you're very passionate about it, and not sharing the same interest won't stop him to ask you for a dance—a slow waltz only yours and your own to share with him. during late nights after private dinners, he sways you gently, holding you close; whether with a piece playing in the background or just the sound of your hums and heartbeat. your steps may be clumsy or hesitant, but he will catch you before you stumble. 

end notes. aaand that's a wrap! not me imagining date scenarios with each one of them lmao. was in a very fluffy mood haha! had a lot of fun writing this

[rabbitechoes]

waaaaaah i got way too busy over the last few weeks to fully keep up with this stuff, but i managed to throw together my thoughts on a few really noteworthy tracks over the last two weeks!!

for last week's post click here! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

"Holy, Holy" - Geordie Greep

🥇 BEST SONG OF THE MONTH

◇ released: Aug. 20, 2024 ◇ featured on The New Sound (not yet released) ◇ genres: jazz-rock, progressive rock, art rock

After what seems like months of denial over the continuation of black midi, the band have officially confirmed that they're on an indefinite hiatus. I'm disappointed, but I can't say I'm surprised. It just seemed inevitable at this point. I was annoyed with Geordie Greep as it seemed like his abrupt announcement of the band's hiatus on IG live blindsided the other band members - but then I realized I was being parasocial so I chilled the fuck out. Even if I find his social media presence annoying, he's still incredibly talented.

As made evident by this new single, the lead to his upcoming solo debut. "Holy, Holy" is magnificent, one of the finest moments for Greep as a songwriter and an instrumentalist. It sounds like Donald Fagen if he had an evil heart. He details the unraveling of a pathetic and hedonistic ladies man in uncomfortable, but incredibly compelling and unique ways. The way he's able to tell a story with not just words, but instrumentation is nothing short of amazing. If this is any indication of what we're going to be dealing with when The New Sound drops, I'm all in.

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"Masc" - Chat Pile

◇ released: Aug. 20, 2024 ◇ featured on Cool World (not yet released) ◇ genres: noise rock, alternative metal

Chat Pile have returned with another new single and it's pretty great. Everything sounds so crushing, like every piece of instrumentation is just hammering you over the head. I love the way this track is mixed, it's so disorienting. Disorienting, yet riveting. Everything the band does both lyrically and instrumentally paints such a vivid picture. Everything is visceral even if you don't understand what's going on. "Masc" is one of the band's finest songs and I can't wait to dive into Cool World.

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"booboo" - Yaeji

◇ released: Aug. 21, 2024 ◇ genre: jersey club

"booboo," the new single from electronic producer Yaeji, is a really slick jersey club banger. It's simple, yet effective. A strong hook and some punchy percussion that amps up at just the right moments. Just a fun track to throw on. I hate the word "vibes," but this song has some good ones.

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"No One's Gonna Love You Like I Can" - Laura Marling

◇ released: Aug. 22, 2024 ◇ featured on Patterns in Repeat (not yet released) ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, impressionism

The second single from Laura Marling's upcoming new record is another short, but shining moment for her. Her writing has matured, which isn't to say her music in the past has been immature, it's just these are songs written by someone who has lived more life. Marling knows what's important and she cuts right to the heart of the matter. There's such strong conviction here that comes through in such a beautiful way. A really nice acoustic number. I can't wait to hear this record.

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"Ocotillo" - Floating Points

◇ released: Aug. 22, 2024 ◇ featured on Cascade (not yet released) ◇ genre: progressive electronic

Cascade is one of my most anticipated records of the year and this new track "Ocotillo" further fans the flames of my excitement. This one is decidedly less dance-y than the other singles, but it's just as intricate and striking. Samuel Shepherd's production style is just mesmerizing. He implements so many cool sounds that never feel gimmicky or tacked on, they all feel like part of the experience. The slow build up to this track exemplifies that greatly, but it's just as present in the big breakdown in the latter half. Just another immaculate song. I can't wait for this record.

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"WE PRAY" - Coldplay, Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna & TINI

◇ released: Aug. 23, 2024 ◇ featured on Moon Music (not yet released) ◇ genre: pop rap, alt-pop, UK hip hop

What are we doing? It's cool Coldplay are working with these artists, especially Simz I'm always rooting for her, but this track just sounds awkward. Chris Martin sticks out like a sore thumb and he delivers one of the weakest hooks of his career, which is saying something given the lows of the last record. Everyone else outshines him, but not in a way that makes this a satisfying listen. This definitely could've used some tightening up.

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"GREY RUBBLE - GREEN SHOOTS" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor

◇ released: Aug. 28, 2024 ◇ featured on "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD" (not yet released) ◇ genres: post-rock, chamber music

Post-rock stalwarts Godspeed You! Black Emperor have announced a new record titled "NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD," referencing the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, alongside the closing track "GREY RUBBLE - GREEN SHOOTS." In a statement from the band, they write "NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall?  what context?  what broken melody?" I encourage everyone to read the full piece here, it's incredibly poignant, but that line in particular stood out to me. The human suffering can get lost in flowery statements and gestures, what gestures make sense? State it plainly, face the reality. The song itself is absolutely incredible too, there's an urgency to it that a lot of their previous work doesn't have. Just a striking piece of music.

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"Foreign Spies" | "Zero Sum" - The Smile

◇ released: Aug. 28, 2024 ◇ featured on Cutouts (not yet released) ◇ genres: ambient pop, art punk, progressive electronic, math rock

The Smile have returned with two more songs and the announcement of a second new album this year. The appeal of this side-project hasn't worn off of me yet. Three very talented musicians just doing weird new things they wouldn't do otherwise. "Foreign Spies" is a really cool electronic track, like the previous single "Don't Get Me Started, and I love this sound. "Zero Sum" is decidedly more frenetic and crazy, seeing the band do full on art-punk. Absolutely wild sounds on it too. I'm loving these new songs and I can't wait to hear the rest of this album. This has proven to be a more than fruitful detour for all three invloved.

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"Exhilarate" - SOPHIE & Bibi Bourelly

◇ released: Aug. 28, 2024 ◇ featured on SOPHIE (not yet released) ◇ genres: alternative r&b, bubblegum bass, alt-pop

Well, this is definitely a bit of a step-up from the last two singles, but god, I wish I loved these songs more. I understand expectations need to be tempered, this record was always going to be less experimental than her debut, but there's so much restraint here. Cool ideas sometime manage to break through, but not nearly enough. These songs aren't even bad by any means. They're just fine for the most part. Praying that they click for me in the context of the record and not on their own, but we shall see.

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"Dafodil" - Jamie xx feat. Kelsey Lu, John Glacier & Panda Bear

◇ released: Aug. 29, 2024 ◇ featured on In Waves (not yet released) ◇ genres: future garage, UK bass

Another banger from Jamie xx leading up to his third studio album. This time featuring Kelsey Lu, John Glacier, and Panda Bear from AnCo - I popped big time when I saw he featured here. I'm loving this track. Everything is just so easy to get sucked into. Both like your spacing out laying on your bed and as if you're on the dance floor. Amazing stuff, further proof that he's one of the best producers going today.

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"Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart" - Stevie Wonder

◇ released: Aug. 30, 2024 ◇ genres: pop soul, smooth soul, folk pop

On his first song since 2020, Stevie Wonder makes a plea for peace. He's no stranger to this kind of song, but this one feels a bit clumsy. It's a cute sentiment, but he revels in the unspecific. People are in the streets protesting, what are they protesting about? People not hearing other points of view, what other points of view? It's far too flowery and toothless. A call for peace for those who are already comfortable. I appreciate the sentiment, Stevie, and you're a legend so I'll let it slide a bit, but this falls flat. Also, sidenote, is his new logo in the Weezer font?

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"Tailor Swif" - A$AP Rocky

◇ released: Aug. 30, 2024 ◇ featured on DON'T BE DUMB (not yet released) ◇ genres: trap, east coast hip hop, cloud rap

A$AP Rocky has released another decent cut in the lead-up to his next record, which just got delayed into the fall. Unfortunately, this one doesn't feature Jessica Pratt which sets it beneath "HIGHJACK," but I'm still pretty impressed by Rocky's performances on these tracks. I've never been the biggest fan of his, besides the LiveLoveA$AP tape, but these songs are making me want to give him another shot. Also loving the beat on this thing, kinda excited for DON'T BE DUMB to be honest!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thanks for reading :3

[stelaernis]

idk if that matters but for me you are literally goals. your art is immaculate and you progressed so much throughout the years. as somebody who’s been doing art for years i can distinguish the natural talent you clearly have. the way you perceive the aspects you draw being so inherently artistic; to the graphic design. you learned to design in the blink of an eye. you learn everything so fast and effectively.

message from the eyes of the stranger. what you achieved and the deserved recognition that followed it is no small thing. you’re definitely too harsh on yourself and i wish someday you see yourself for who you really are - an inspiration and person who achieved something way above others.

⋯ ✦ ad anonymous.

i have read over this message a myriad of times now, unable to put into proper words of how grateful i am. i truly am vehemently appreciative over the kindness of this message. i wish i could respond in a way that won't come off as anything but.

it is extremely hard for me to accept compliments; it's not that i don't believe people but i just cannot see to accept them for myself ? does that make sense aa. regardless, i want to say thank you so very much. i don't know how to respond to people saying i am these very cool things !! whilst i believe that everyone progresses and improves in different paces no matter what, i can't really feel like i have natural talent for it, but i know i've torn myself apart trying. graphic design was a bunch of hours trying to figure out how or what it is, to deconstruct something. yet i can only say thank you, i really do mean it. i feel like i am somewhat of a fraud, i have always learned things very slow and can't take directions well, but i am honoured to hear that you feel that way. i still feel i am far behind often, that i have done nothing significant; but your words is one of gentle solace. even if my work is some conglomeration of ' i must absolutely produce this perfectly and there may be no mistakes or i will quit ' vs ' i just want to do it because it is fun ', my ultimate goal was always to simply be able to connect and form a message through anything i make. and your response in itself resonates deeply.

i am eternally beholden to you, stranger.

[headingalaxys-spicy]

yandere china with a pop star/idol darling?? 🥺

✨Sorry it too me forever to get to this ask but here we go! ✨

At first this old man will not talk to you. He will simply observe you. Yao stumbled upon your musical talents on TikTok one morning. He passively watched and didn’t interact, but it sparked his curiosity. After a month of just hovering he will start to like and actively follow your page. The video that got him was one where you were filming with tons of cute stuffed animals, kittens, bunnies, and puppies. The epitome of cuteness. Yao was now hooked onto the [insert nationality here] pop star that had international appeal.

Yao now sits in his kitchen nook every morning and evening to watch what's on your various social media pages. He will be content for hours commenting, liking, editing, etc content that is all based around you. This marks the beginning of his addiction to you. It will grow. Then on his breaks from arduous meetings negotiating trade and numerous other matters, Yao is in the lobby resting his aching head and watching something that is soothing to his mind. A few sprouts of interest have appeared. Simply hearing your voice over the loudspeaker at some department store or in the air from a distant radio puts him at ease. Your songs were catchy and super upbeat. How could it not put him in a better mood.

He starts dedicating more time in his day just to be able to catch up on all of your new updates. He wanted to see which concert tours he could go see, which fashion line of yours looked the cutest, and how he could get his hands on a rare perfume that was only available in Europe and Canada. (He’s already planning out how to approach Canada and how to get the rare perfume.) He has your music set to play all the time while he’s at home. The house to him gets warmer and feels like there is sunshine when he hears your music play.

The seedlings from before now have enough energy to become vegetative orchids that will eventually consume his heart entirely. The next stage is that Yao will take time to meticulously learn your choreography to your songs. He has an active stan account on Twitter, Weibo, Youku, IG, etc. Yao’s obsession is continuing to bud. He takes some time out of his schedule to attend some of your concerts. Seeing you live pushes him further in the highs that he feels. When he sees you he loves it. He loves you. His feelings will begin to have lovely orchid buds that are just about ready to burst open. Spreading the hyper fixation to the deepest depths of his soul. This stage means that his yandere tendencies will finally start to manifest.

Yao will start to send you flowers after all of you shows and they will have tiny microphones hidden within the middle of the stems. He needs to know what you like, dislike, if there is any competition that he needs to get rid of. Those kinds of things. He intended on using whatever he finds from these sneaky bouquets to craft a cute room for you to stay in until you feel comfortable enough sharing a bed with him. He will have some of his secret agents follow you around even internationally. He can’t allow anyone to hurt his precious darling. Eventually after continuing to consume more of your art, merch, and fashion projects you’ve taken on. Yao’s inflation is at an unhealthy level now since:

He has a shrine of you in a hidden room in his house. It’s immaculate like Forbidden City and it has some rare items he or some of his agents helped him collect. There was a T-shirt that you took off during a festival and tossed into the crowd. It also had other miscellaneous items that his agents were able to gather like a Hydro Flask you left behind accidentally.

Since he’s in the flowering stage that means he’s planning your kidnapping.

You’d been escorted back to your dressing room by your two guards. It was another great show despite you falling over in the beginning and one of your backup dancers broke their leg in the show stopping closer.

“Thanks Julian and Max. Let me take these hellish heels and corset off and I’ll be ready to go back to my hotel.” They nod and you head into the room. Once in you try to turn on the light with no luck. But a small flame of sorts lights up from the deeper part of the room. A small red candle that was lit beside him.

“Yao?” You say with surprise and anxiety in your voice. The darkness that had a multitude of hands waiting for the signal. They waited for the man that had toxic ripened orchids, to say the two magic words. The orchids had devoured his entire being.

“Hello, [Stage Name] we’ve met before. I’m quite a huge fan, my love. But, let me cut to the chase. Marry Me.”

And just like that the hands captured Y/N the [nationality] the idol and took her to be wed to her biggest stan.

[kassandras-one-braincell]

🧵

did ya miss me?

jokes aside, hiiiii kinda fell off the face of the earth but I'm back and wanted to say hi to my fav fandom lesbian <3 <3 hope you've been doing well!

anyways! wanted to drop some of my ac ladies brainrot (that I may or may not be turning into a fic... lord knows when the writing bug will bite me again), but the premise is set in the wild west where you're the heiress of a highly successful ranch. Eivor wants to gain control over your town for her brother and teams up with Soma to try to kill your father and marry you to gain ownership of the ranch, and in your suspicion towards the newcomers in town you hire an outlaw your daddy doesn't like to resort to, though she's never not made good on her promise — Kassandra. The rest of the story plays out like your typical wild west action drama, but Gayer and Cowboy-ier. Also please do not question me on historical accuracy I'm just here to save a horse and ride a cowboy.

Here's a snippet for your enjoyment:

Soma was eerily observant of the mansion. Despite having been invited for the first time, it seemed she knew exactly the layout of your home, and her eyes slowly shifted across the room as if she were looking for something. You'd wonder what, but you caught her gaze. Steel-grey eyes lock onto yours, and her hands tense up ever-so-slightly. She studies your face with meticulous detail, before moving on to your hair, your clothes, your hands, your skirt, your shoes. You'd dolled up immaculately for the event (your father had insisted on it), but you felt utterly naked under her watchful eye. Vulnerable. Something turned in your stomach.

Trying to shake it off you avert your eyes and flick them towards Eivor. She looks considerably relaxed, and seems as though she's engaged in whatever tale her friend must be re-telling, but her eyes flit towards your father all too often, as if reading him like a book or piecing him together like a jigsaw puzzle. She notices exactly when you turn your attention to her, though, and reciprocates.

Ever the gentleman, she turns her body towards you and smiles gently. Heat rushes to your cheeks. "How rude of us," she rasps. "I apologize for my brother, he tends to forget other people know how to talk."

That's all! Hope life has been treating you well, or at the very least you are. Take care <3 <3

— tailor!anon (back from the dead)

YOU'RE BACK

I hope you've been keeping well love! It is always a treat to hear from you. You have been dearly missed ❤️

If you'll excuse me, it's really hard to type while fucking hyperventilating. Your BRAIN. All dramas need to be gayer and cowboy-ier and I fear this may be the gayest and cowboy-iest. I'm so fucking invested. Gripping the table and shaking maniacally. If you ever decide to write a fic on this (absolutely no pressure, you come first) please know it would be worshipped like holy scripture. All of your writing is art. You have such a TALENT

Hearing from you just brightened my whole month. Take care my dear!

[aberfaeth]

top five fics (ever. for a fandom/pairing. by people you know. by strangers. whatever u want go crazy) ORRRR top five fob songs bc I know u and ilu and I wanna hear ur thoughts

hi sav. hope you know what you've unleashed here.

TOP FIVE FICS.....EVER

tell me about the big bang (star wars sequel trilogy, Finn/Poe, 37.8k.) i made my mom read this fic and that's not a bit i literally had her read this. and she isn't even a star wars fan. like she's seen tfa but she wasn't even that into it i just made her read this because it's one of humanity's greatest literary achievements and she still brings it up to me in conversation that's how much she enjoyed it. sorry this turned into more of tmatbb being one of my mom's top five fics but yknow. context. anyways i don't want to say too much about it because i don't want to spoil it for anyone who might check it out which Please Do That but suffice to say. it is a work of fucking art and i can only hope to someday write with half the talent nina varela possesses in her pinky finger

darling i'd wait for you, even if you didn't ask me to (the great pretender season 1, Laurent/Makoto, 11k.) swear to god this isn't me sucking up it is still the best gift i have ever received in my life. hey you reading this have you ever conceptualized a fic and went "boy i wish i could feed this into a machine and it would execute the idea perfectly in a way that managed to surprise and delight me as i read it" well you simply must get yourself a sav. because she will do that for you. anyways watch tgp season one literally just to read this fic.

Be Gay; Solve Crime (american vandal, Peter/Sam, 9.2k.) this fic has everything--outsider POV! perfectly in character banter! angie and michael who are real and canon to me! mr fernandez did you eat shit! gay lou carter! do your string thing man! MING, EVEN!!!!!! consider this a rotating spot for the work of my lovely lovely friends in the hanover high AV club, who have churned out some of the bangers of all fucking time which i talked about some of those in a top five ask four calendar years ago

Over & Through (dimension 20 fantasy high, gen, 62.7k.) also made my mom read this. she got the riz chapter first and said it gave her horrifying acid trip dreams. which is honestly so fair. if you are a dimension 20 fan and you haven't read this fic what are you doing. the form is inventive the prose is stunning the characterization is painfully sharp. if you've been watching neverafter going hey i wish this was actually horror READ THIS RIGHT NOW THE HORROR IS IMMACULATE

If You Could Let Me Inside Your Heart (leverage, ot3, 2.5k.) remains my favorite leverage fic of all time and also my favorite group character study. what a lovely premise and executed with such grace and perfect understanding of character and pacing like so much work is done for its length and GOD IS IT ALL GORGEOUS

okay haha onto the fall out boy--JUST KIDDING. I HOPE YOU HAD YOUR WEAPON READY TO TAKE ME OUT BECAUSE ONE TIME I SAID IF I EVER MADE A RECLIST WITHOUT I HATE TO LOOK INTO THOSE EYES AND SEE AN OUNCE OF PAIN YOU WOULD HAVE TO SHOOT ME BECAUSE I'D BE A POD PERSON. SO HERE'S ME DOING THAT, PLEASE READ IT, READ IT NOW. WHAT FANDOM OR PAIRING OR LENGTH? YOU GET TO FIND OUT WHEN YOU CLICK! THAT! LINK!

okay haha onto the fall out boy. so i earnestly did try to come up with my top five fob songs on my own. then i had a breakdown and filled out the whole damn fob song sorter yes all 500 battles. heres my top 25. note the repetition of numbers indicating my inability to make decisions

elaborations on the medal winners:

THE KIDS AREN'T ALRIGHT: when this song came out i was thirteen years old (in middle school) (did not have my own itunes account) (did not have spotify) and as all songs do it was released at midnight (i was thirteen) (supposed to be asleep) (it was a school night) i hid under the covers with my ipod touch on the lowest brightness setting (supposed to be asleep on a school night) midnight arrived and i could not buy the song on itunes because then my parents would get an email about the purchase and know i had stayed up (i was supposed to be asleep) so i just listened to the 30 second preview on itunes for like an hour straight (i cried) (a lot)

THE (SHIPPED) GOLD STANDARD: me for real bc im literally no good at math

(COFFEE'S FOR CLOSERS): also in middle school i used to doodle song lyrics to keep myself focused during class and my history professor was taking a walk around the classroom and spotted my doodle of a little coffee cup with the lyrics "i will never believe in anything again" and went "aw why not," clearly concerned for my mental health and wellbeing. and despite that horribly traumatizing experience, coffee's for closers remains one of my favorite songs in the world. so thats proof that its really very good

OF ALL THE GIN JOINTS IN THE WORLD: you only hold me up like thiiiiis cause you don't know who i really aAAaaAAAaam

PAVLOVE: sorry its the quirky girl tendencies again. when will they put this on spotify so i can scream my little heart out to I WANT TO MAKE YOU AS LONELY AS MEEEE SO YOU CAN GET GET ADDICTED TO THIS YOU CAN GET GET ADDICTED TO THIS! anyways folie >

now, a disclaimer: this sorter is obviously older than two weeks and thus does not include the songs off SMFS. i feel like recency bias means i can't accurately fit them into the list but i will say that there is no universe in which hold me like a grudge doesn't make top fifteen

if you've reached the end of this post, thanks for going on this journey with me. i meant to be asleep an hour ago. but i did this instead. was it worth it. well whos to say. if you ended up reading IHTLITEASAOOP then yes it was.

[joyful-enchantress]

If you get this let’s spread some positivity 🌈

Link the 4 writers with whom you chatted recently and say what makes their fics special ^D

@lokisgoodgirl - where do I even begin? Her Loki stories are amazingly detailed and the unique situations she can put our favorite trickster into, and the different personas she can have him assume, are limitless. What amazes me the most is that, even with all the different situations and personas he assumes, he is always so fully Loki. I can hear his voice and see him so clearly throughout all of her work. And the smut? Don’t even get me started. Absolutely scorching, deliciously filthy, and always leaving me wanting more 🔥🫠

@sarahscribbles - Sarah, my love! Not only is she one of the sweetest people you could ever have the pleasure of getting to know, her writing is just immaculate! The prose, the imagery, and the way she weaves words together to form literal art is nothing short of masterful. I feel like I’m reading beautiful poetry when I read her fics, truly. And she knows exactly how to tug on my heartstrings (in the best way) and fan the fire in my loins 🔥🥵 Her Dom!Loki stuff is some of my favorite stuff I’ve ever read!

@muddyorbsblr - Ally is just outstanding! She has such a big heart and, also a huge master list! I still have so many pieces to work through, but the fics of hers I’ve read are nothing short of amazing! I love that she writes for several other Tom Hiddleston characters besides Loki, for one thing, and every time I read something she wrote I’m amazed at how immersed I become. Her writing just rolls off the page and into my brain like it is my own stream of consciousness and in those moments I AM the character in the fic. I love! 🥰

@youlightmeupfinn - last on this list but definitely not least, my best friend. Taylor is just something else, on another level. I am amazed constantly by the sheer quantity of fics she is able to pump out, and also the number of fandoms she spans (fellow Hiddleston Lovers, be sure to check out her archived/retired master list!). On top of all that, she is so talented. My favorite thing about the way she writes is how she writes the main character’s inner thoughts and inner dialog. It really lets you get inside the character’s head and understand them more fully and I LIVE for it. It has been such a pleasure reading her work, getting to know her, becoming best friends, and even collaborating and editing some of her writing, too! I can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on with the world, an original novel called “Love Me While You Wait” — I love you, Taylor!! 💕🥹

[jamiwrites98]

Prompt Exercise

Prompt

Person A: I would tear down the very sky itself for you.

Person B: I would miss the stars.

The worst part about death is the smell. Flesh lays everywhere, covering bone and dirt. Rotten, bleeding, decomposing, burning. What once were the bodies of my friends are now simply pieces, scattered about like broken building blocks. I lose my footing as I make my way toward the imposing figure in the center of the carnage, catching myself by placing my hand on what I can only assume is a piece of my loved ones.

Bile rises to my throat as I feel the blood on my palm, warm, sticky, vile. Rocks scrape up my knees as I rise, adding a part of me to the mess, solidifying my place in the slaughter. Part of me has died with them, it’s only fitting. Brushing my hair out of my face, I feel the blood from my hands smearing across my forehead, homemade warpaint. His hands twitch, his chest heaves as the fight begins to leave him, his rage utterly palpable all the same. A faint hum hangs in the air, his magic lingering as the spells fade. I used to love watching him work with magic, a true master of the arcane arts. He was beautiful, talented, and awe-inspiring. Now, he disgusts me.

He turns to face me, his eyebrows pulled together, a sneer on his face. He is angry, in pain, but his features soften when he realizes that it’s me. His shoulders fall and he breathes out a sigh of relief, opening his arms, inviting me in. I can feel my meager breakfast quickly rising to my throat and thankfully find a bare patch of grass to empty the contents of my stomach on. He inhales sharply, understanding now that I am not happy with him.

“My love… I know it is not ideal, but they were wrong. They intended to harm you,” his voice is calm, calculated, but I know him well. I can hear the slight tremor that gives away his nerves.

“They were my friends, our friends. They would not have hurt me, love. You know this,” I responded, my voice soft, sad, full of regret. “We had our disagreements, but it wasn’t… How could you do this?”

He says nothing, simply turns his head away from me. He surveys the ground around him, littered with the lifeless corpses of our once-cherished companions. He is flawless, of course; not a speck of blood nor dirt mars his immaculate form. His pants, unassuming black slacks, are perfectly pressed, and the top button of his white shirt is tastefully undone. Just another day at the office.

He is frantic now, stalking towards me, desperate to explain himself. To make it make sense. I take a step back and feel a bone crunch under my foot, and struggle to keep my tears at bay. His arms wind around my body, crushing me to him, caging me. He runs one slender finger up my arm, my neck, tilting my head up. His eyes bore into mine, and I feel as if I’m drowning in the blue sea of them.

“Don’t you understand? I would tear down the very sky itself for you.”

“I would miss the stars.”

[lizzygrantarchives]

The Telegraph, January 24, 2012

As the controversial Lana Del Rey prepares to release a new album of voluptuous and bittersweet pop, she reveals what it’s like to be suddenly both fêted and vilified.

Lana Del Rey is the girl of the moment. On a freezing New York afternoon, wind-chill factor -8C, she breezes into the lobby of an exclusive members’ club with the untouchable aura of someone transported within their own micro-climate. She looks immaculate, as indeed she has always looked since the world first sat up and took notice – perfectly turned out in tight blue slacks, green shirt and a suede jacket, like a beatnik princess. Long auburn hair falls in perfect lines around her face, deep brown eyes casting a frank, steady gaze beneath long, false lashes.

In the flesh she still has a girlish slightness of frame, but in front of cameras she is capable of shifting swiftly from a kind of coltish innocence to vampish knowingness. It’s a quality that is hard to pin down but is present in the videos, songs and photo shoots that have suddenly and dramatically elevated her from the obscure margins of the internet to the centre of the pop zeitgeist, a kind of doubleness, a sense of duality and merging contradictions. She is a person into whom you can read a lot.

Which is what the world has been doing. In May 2010, the unsigned Del Rey posted a home-made video on YouTube of a deceptively simple song called Video Games, in which she sang in a low, sultry voice about a remembered moment of idle and possibly idyllic love to an achingly sad melody, set to found footage of old Hollywood and sun-bleached shots of Del Rey. It’s a clip that has a strange, otherworldly power, emphasised, perhaps, by the absence of beats, the quiet poise of its artful construction, allied to intense yet understated emotion.

By the end of the year, it had been viewed 20 million times, become a top 10 hit single on British indie label, Stranger Music, earned her a big deal with Universal Music, put her on the covers of magazines and at the top of ones to watch polls, and helped make Del Rey the most talked about new star of the year, hailed, in her own pithy phrase, as the “gangsta Nancy Sinatra”. Yet a lot of what was being said wasn’t particularly nice. She was accused online of being a fake, created by backroom Svengalis in some kind of nefarious pop conspiracy, a Botoxed, manufactured, spoiled, super-rich airhead being sold to a gullible world as an indie pin-up. Insults flew fast and furious, as commenters called her authenticity to account. It was as if Del Rey was too good to be true.

“Its funny,” says Del Rey, although she’s not laughing. “I don’t really have any gimmicks. I don’t actually do anything that’s strange. I don’t even wear weird things. I have taken taking my music to labels for years, and everyone just thought it was creepy. They thought the images with the music were weird and verging on psychotic. And then, one day, its like people decided it wasn’t actually too strange, it was actually too perfect. The fact that it could even be considered pop is a revelation to me. You know what changed? It got played on the radio.”

Behind a poised, deadpan expression, Del Rey shifts subtly between bruised defiance and vulnerable anxiety. These are qualities you can hear in her music. But the surprise is that, beneath the artfully composed image she has presented to the world, her sensitivity is so close to the surface. Because it turns out that there is nothing ironic or conceptual about Del Rey. “I’m 100 per cent sincere,” she asserts.

On January 30, Del Rey will release an album, Born To Die, which should establish her as not just a big star, but a real talent. It’s a literate, emotional collection of beautifully crafted, pithily memorable songs about good times and bad love, teenage drinking, existential angst, memory, loss and revenge. It has sinuous, clever lyrics set to dreamy soundscapes, lush melodies and trip hop beats. “I think it’s beautiful. I think it’s gorgeous. This album is my self in song form. So if they sort of sound like everything fits perfectly together, it’s because it does. There is nothing altered, nothing compromised, they are perfectly me. For better or worse, it’s like a person in song and video form.”

At the album's core is a kind of dichotomy - a quality of being sad without being unhappy, that is reflected in the title song. “There is a sense of loss underpinning things. I used to wonder if it was God’s plan that I should be alone for so much of my life. But I found peace. I found happiness within people and the world. So there is a sad tone, but also real joy. It seemed like a mix of two beautiful worlds coming together.”

So does she really think we are born to die?

“No, I think we’re born to live.”

Del Rey’s given name is Elizabeth Grant. She was born 25 years ago, and raised in the small town of Lake Placid in rural New York State. Her father is a real-estate investor, her mother an advertising account executive and, while they were comfortably middle-class, she snorts that, contrary to internet speculation, “they’re not millionaires. There wasn’t any money. It was just a life.” Despite the setting, it would appear that Del Rey’s inner life, at least, was anything but placid. “When I was very young I was sort of floored by the fact that my mother and my father and everyone I knew was going to die one day, and myself too. I had a sort of a philosophical crisis. I couldn’t believe that we were mortal. For some reason that knowledge sort of overshadowed my experience. I was unhappy for some time. I got into a lot of trouble. I used to drink a lot. That was a hard time in my life.”

She often alludes to teenage drinking, and says she hasn’t touched a drop in eight years. Pressed on how bad it got, she replies: “Bad enough that I had to stop.” When she was 15, she was sent to boarding school in Connecticut, an event that she recalls on the closing track of the album, This Is What Makes Us Girls, reminiscing about her schoolgirl gang, “a freshman generation of degenerate beauty queens”, and the moment she found herself on a train platform, waving them goodbye, and “crying ’cos I know I’m never coming back.”

At 18, she moved to New York, studied metaphysics at college, and taught herself guitar. “I’ve always written. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at. It’s not difficult, like math. I’m not bad at it, like I am with everything else. But it didn’t have to be music. I like to sing. I also enjoy editing, splicing films together. And so I’ve been doing all those things, but my only ambition was to be a great writer.” Her subject matter has been her life, particularly a relationship that went sour, and that infuses songs like Off To The Races (“I’m your little harlot, starlet, Queen of Coney Island”), Blue Jeans (“You fit me better than my favourite sweater”) and National Anthem (“We’re on a quick, sick rampage / wining and dining, drinking and driving / On our drugs and our love and our dreams and our rage / Blurring the lines between real and the fake”).

“It’s not my fault that love went bad. I met this person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. We were both clean and sober. We lived together and then he started getting into trouble, and he had to leave. There’s a lot of facets to my life, they don’t all seem like they would come together. It’s been a strange ride.”

In her years in New York, working “odd jobs” and “helping out in the community, in alcohol and drug awareness programmes” and playing the singer-songwriter open-mic circuit, Lizzy Grant reinvented herself as Lana Del Rey. But there is a sense in which this was not so much the arch self-marketing, suspected by her internet detractors, as the normal, youthful process of self-discovery. “It’s not like I’m torn between two personalities. There’s no distinction. Not even a little bit. I wanted a name that sounded as beautiful as the music. Just like the only reason I use old footage of Hollywood was because I like the colour and texture, not to give subliminal Americana messages, or hint at the glory of past decades. I don’t feel the need to slip into another world or character, because I’ve inhabited the same world and the same person for a long time. I’m very happy with it. Anyone will tell you that.”

Del Rey could have been invented by the internet, and in a way she was. She is a child of these times and this technology. She took an identity that suited her and discovered a way to present her inner world in music and imagery, compiling clips of old images. She released an independent album in 2008 that sold so badly that the record label withdrew it: “There was no money to support it, so they just thought they’d save it for another time.” She had been telling her own story, in her own unique way, to an audience of herself and her peers. And then the world spotted her, exalted her, and then, in the accelerated mania of new media, a backlash started before she had even begun.

It gets colder in the room as the interview progresses, as the New York chill penetrates. “I know what people think about me,” says Del Rey, pulling her suede jacket around her shoulders. “I don’t understand it, I don’t see why that’s the angle. And I’m a smart person. I mean, like, why that?”

What the gossip-mongers and trolls of the internet haven’t seen is the effect all this cyber bullying is having on the person at its centre. Del Rey has made a record that deserves to be heard, but says she doesn’t want to tour, doesn’t want to leave New York, that she wants “to keep things small. All I wanted to do was make something beautiful, and I think I’ve done that.”

Her nervous appearance on popular US TV show Saturday Night Live last weekend led to more internet abuse. But the thing is, Del Rey is nervous, and with good reason. “I don’t want to talk about how it made me feel because I think it’s disrespectful to God to go to a dark place with this kind of thing. People just want to see me go off the rails. That’s the only reason they’re watching. They just want to see what happens.” Her critics have questioned her authenticity, but Del Rey seems all too human. I ask if she is afraid of what she has unleashed. “Do you think I am?” she ponders, voice trembling, hand dabbing at her eyes. “Well, you might be right. But I wouldn’t tell.”

Originally appeared on telegraph.co.uk with the headline Lana Del Rey interview: new album Born to Die is 'a beautiful thing'.

[guste-disgusted]

who is your audience?

Whenever we work on a design project, my design tutors welcome us in an auditorium and give us some direction, always emphasizing "think about your audience", and I do this through bitten teeth. And now, when I am writing something and do it without anyone looking through my shoulder I dismiss the good old tip about audience, and I am sure that my tutors would like to choke me with a Macbook charger for doing it. But to keep them from committing a crime against a 21-year-old I would like to say that even though I don’t think about people who will read me potentially, I am considering how to communicate with them. My choice is to talk to them as if they were my little sisters. And as the oldest of the three I got into a role of delivering the bitter truth when needed, and wiping their tears when no one is there to do it and biting them slightly - not out of maliciousness, but out of love, because according to three of us, the sisterhood is all about teasing, stealing lipsticks and hugging right the second you see each other. Therefore, it seems fitting to say something I said to my sister some time ago.

The bitter truth that I have shared with my sister who tends to idealise others time and time again is that “no one is as flawless as you think”. But she still believes that everyone gets things done easily while she has to grind for each task. She looks at me with some slight jealousy every time I had to do something related to art, as everything gets done “perfectly” (if such thing even exists” without the smallest hindrance. And she didn’t see the hours I spent by an easel or hoovering above some old table in art school, how many times I spent £20 on a boring exhibition and the amount of books I had to read just to finish a sentence in an essay. She doesn’t see how miserable I am in the kitchen from time to time, or how bad I am with sports, can’t tell which side is left or right, and that I am so pathetic with everything related to driving that I have decided not to even try to get a licence. In spite of the fact that she seems to focus on my better side (owning 6 fur coats and looking amazing in them), I have faith that one day, she will internalise what I say and understand that everyone struggles.

I actually believe that before we draw the first breath upon arrival into this world, we get a set of tools. And each day we use that set to overcome unavoidable obstacles.

Imagine a competition between two people: one has a teaspoon, the other has a shovel, and the first task is to dig a hole. Sure, the shovel is better suited to that, but what happens when the next day comes and you both compete in dessert eating? Do you think the person owning a shovel doesn’t envy your elegant, engraved silver spoon?

And my little sister doesn’t hear me when I praise her for her ability to understand chemistry and her skills to keep every single plant on this planet alive. But she likes my self-cut little fringe even though she has fabulous hair herself. Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side, but I hope that one day she realises the beauty and potential of the grass on her own side, especially considering her immaculate talent to keep every small plant flourishing.

[justanothercloudinthesky]

Hi! are matchups still open? If they are, can I request an MHA matchup?

Here's my info:

Gender preference: Male

My love language: acts of service

My age: 18

Dislikes: unsolicited advice, sudden loud noises, being interrupted

Likes: art, plushies, books, nature, music, animals

Few of my hobbies: writing, reading, listening to music, playing video games

Why I like my hobbies:

• All of them are relaxing and fun to do.

• Another reason I like writing is that I can express myself freely; also, inspire others.

• Listening to music and reading gives me story ideas also, inspiration.

My appearance:

I have long, straight black hair also brown eyes. My height is 4'9" and, I have tan skin. I have a small face and thick hair.

Clothing style:

It depends on the occasion but, I usually dress casually. The colors I mostly wear are dark. Also, I sometimes wear both light and dark colors.

Personality:

I'm an ISTJ and a hopeless romantic. Strangers think I'm shy or aloof. Friends describe me as trustworthy, smart, kind.

I describe myself as patient, funny, sensitive (at times I cry when yelled at), reserved.

Sometimes I feel insecure.

I overthink too but, it happens rarely.

Few random facts about me:

• Plushies are a comfort object to me.

• I have two pets (one cat, one dog).

Hi, Thank you so much for Checking The Weather, Your forecast is...

Mezo Shoji!

I realize he isn't the most popular of characters, but please hear me out, as I think that this would be an amazing couple. Shoji is intimidating on the outside but frankly a sweetheart within. I think maybe at first he was a bit intimidated by you but was drawn in by your resourcefulness and wit during a mission. You truly inspire him, especially if your quirk is unique/hard to control (which, with your description, I think is highly likely, you go!)

I absolutely think that you and Shoji would be friends first, he'd start by asking you questions regarding the mission, and soon just love your company altogether. I also don't think that his demeanor would be a problem and he really enjoys listening to what you truly have to say. One thing I think helped turn it from a friendship to a more romantic one would be his helping to ground you after a particularly tough day.

Shoji would protect you with his life, and honestly, he thinks you being shorter is cute, but he'd never mention it unless you asked as he's so scared of offending you. piggy back rides are an absolute yes if you'd like them! I honestly think that Shoji is also a romantic at heart. I just get that vibe

I can't quite tell what his love language is, (I'm guessing quality time), but he'd be attuned to your appreciation for acts of service. Given the information on his wiki page, I'm not quite sure if he would get your plushie or music appreciation. I do however think that this wouldn't be so much of a dealbreaker as it is a place for you to teach each other new things.

Second: Tokoyami, It was super duper close, He would be your best friend I believe. Y'all would bond over music and stuff, but you might find your similarities and his lack of romantic aptitude puts a strain on a romantic relationship. I also believe that he is a deep overthinker and in the rare cases, you both got insecure/overthinking it could be difficult to pull each other out. An absolutely fantastic friendship tho!

Third: Kirishima, He was my immediate thought, and I still think he'd have a huge fricken crush on you, but I genuinely don't think that he could get far past the friendship stage as he constantly interrupts you/is yelling. It could potentially work, but not without some struggles and long, late-night talks. He would really like you as a teammate no matter what tho!