#i worked hard on them and they all have distinct musical inspiration!!!

[monalisahyperdrive]

Primarchs and Christmas Classics - christmas songs and festive primarch/legion headcanons.

The final week of the winter semester has run me over so I'm blasting Christmas music to cope & inspire fuzzy warm feelings. This is once again entirely subjective and largely based on my (British, somewhat Catholic) own Christmas experiences. All good fun while I avoid working on these essays. I struggled with some of these so they might be a little off. ⇒ divider by @/cafekitsune

Alpharius & Omegon / Alpha Legion

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Jackson 5. The most confusing Christmas possible. Don't worry, Alpharius will be home for Christmas! Several dozen of him. You get the distinct feeling that the Alpharius who sat and laughed while playing charades earlier (you lost, badly) is actually not any of the Alphariuses sat at the table for Christmas dinner... but you just can't prove it. Is Omegon there? Of course he is. Which one is he? Good question.

Angron / World Eaters

Lonely This Christmas - Mud. Attempts a quiet peaceful Christmas, fails miserably every year. His sons love him very much, in their own way. He just sort of disappears into his home over the festive period. They come find him anyway. Small groups, well spaced out. They send one or two marines with gifts from a dozen or so every few hours. They don't get invited in, he greets them at the door, often gritting his teeth from the pain. He gets his rest, but he'll never be truly lonely on Christmas. Not anymore.

Corvus Corax / Raven Guard

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Jackson 5. The Raven Guard just sort of... show up to Christmas. Was there even a knock at the door? Well, they're here now. You think. You were sure you just saw Corvus but you've lost him again. The whole thing is a relatively private affair, no real coming and going... as far as you can tell. The Raven Guard present seem to dissipate some time between late afternoon on Christmas Day and the morning of Boxing day. The presents are all freakishly accurate to what was wished for. Don't worry about it.

Ferrus Manus / Iron Hands

Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) - The Darkness. (subject to change) Christmas with Ferrus and the Iron Hands is a rather rudimentary affair. 'For morale', they say. Admittance of actual celebration would be an admittance of weakness. Christmas dinner is served in a mess hall, and largely differentiates itself from the typical nutrient paste with... something that might be mashed potato and the slice of what seems to be the idea of turkey... if turkey was suspiciously nutrient dense and stiff. Presents are largely ignored, as are any decorations beyond the occasional string of lights. Time off is necessary in order to maintain efficiency. They're watching Die Hard for morale. Ferrus is watching along with them... for morale. Shut up.

Fulgrim / Emperor's Children

All I Want for Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey. Of course it's Mariah. The only way it wouldn't be Mariah is if it was Jingle Bell Rock, Mean Girls style. Yes, with the outfit. The Christmas decorations have gone up early and it all matches, right down to the last detail. Think those gorgeous monochrome Christmas trees you see on Pinterest. The table all set for Christmas dinner is both the most meticulously and yet effortlessly breathtaking you've ever seen. If anyone's got festive charger plates, it's the Third. There's singing, there's dancing. There's an elaborate charcuterie board for snacking on on Christmas Eve. Good luck going five minutes without your wine/champagne/juice glass refilling while you're not looking. Matching outfits for the Christmas cards but in an incredible chic way. Probably the classic matching pyjamas approach. Perfection is a must, and Christmas is no excuse.

Horus Lupercal / Luna Wolves & Sons of Horus

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Dean Martin. Cue shit eating grin, singing along, grabbing Lady Lupercal and- oh is that mistletoe up there? He hadn't even noticed. Well since you're already there... might as well? 30k Luna Wolves Horus is leaning full tilt into the Hallmark movie Christmases. The Mournival are even here for Christmas dinner and look they brought presents - isn't that cute? Post Heresy Horus (copium) is still just as meticulous with Christmas but it's a little more... off the rails. Everything is perfect, come sit down for Christmas dinner! Don't worry, he'll do the talking. All of it.

Jaghatai Khan / White Scars

Driving Home for Christmas - Chris Rea. One of the biggest and warmest Christmases, up there with the Salamanders and the Space Wolves. Everyone - and I mean absolutely everyone - is home for Christmas. Don't know anyone's names? Doesn't matter. The driveway is absolutely packed. They're parked out front all down the street, too. The living room barely fits everybody. There's not even nearly enough space for everyone to sit. It's cozy.

Konrad Curze / Night Lords

Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney. Vague lyrics, nonspecific, bang on. It sure is a wonderful Christmastime, just... not what you might be thinking of. Merry Christmas from Nostramo. Please don't call. Sevatar is there. Christmas dinner is... meat, for sure. The fact there's so many Night Lords in the same place not snapping at eachother like a pack of unruly dogs is actually pretty impressive. Don't ask what the wrapping paper is made of. The first rule of Night Lord Christmas...

Leman Russ / Space Wolves

Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade. Primarily inspired by my drunken male relatives stopping everything to sing along and start dancing around the living room. Of course a Space Wolves Christmas would be boozy, it's a celebration isn't it? Feasting and drinking and laughing is the name of the game. All the presents are surprisingly thoughtful. Leman awkwardly hovers in the back while some of the presents are opened and suspiciously vanishes off into the next room with some of the wrapping paper and reemerges with presents wrapped in what he'd scavenged. After that is totally the type to sit by the youngest on the couch and be overly eager to offer his knife for them to use to get into their presents easier. Asleep the second he gets back to the couch post Christmas dinner.

Lion El'Jonson / Dark Angels

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love. A man who frankly needs to sit down over the holidays but physically cannot do it. Christmas? Stupid meaningless holiday. You're staying over though right? People are coming for dinner though right? No he's not going to decorate the tree. He's going to stare at you doing it though, and then he'll complain when he has to get up to help you place the star on the top. Acts entirely unbothered by Dark Angels showing up. Would be pacing and staring out the window all day if they didn't.

Lorgar Aurelian / Word Bearers

Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord - Boney M. Yeah, you're going to church for the Christmas service. But so is everyone else! And I mean, everyone else. Midnight Mass, Carol service, the whole shebang. Lorgar, however, is absolutely overjoyed! He has several Nativity sets he brings out every year. There's an angel for the top of the tree. He delights in listening to the carollers that come to the door. Has the whole family over for the holiday. Yes, including Kor Phaeron. There's no avoiding it. Picks out a new special ornament each year. Decorating the tree is a family activity that takes hours due to all the reminiscing over all the different ornaments that have been collected over the years and the story that has to be retold after they get carefully unwrapped before they can be hung on the tree. It's sweet, it just takes a while to get done.

Magnus (the Red) / Thousand Sons

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - Wizzard. Ah, the bane of my existence at school around Christmastime growing up. The Christmas quiz. If you don't think the Thousand Sons are having the MOST intense Christmas Quiz fighting tooth and nail (intellectually) for those points every year, you may be kidding yourself. Everyone knows exactly who won the year before. And the year before. And the year before that. Need I go on? Magnus himself writes and reads the questions, and it's Magnus who decides whether an answer gets a point or not. Christmas boardgames include Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, and so on. Scrabble gets heated. The dictionary gets brought out. And a second if the first isn't convincing enough. Every year it's declared to be banned from Christmas. Every year it gets brought out again.

Mortarion / Death Guard

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid Before Nurgle there is no way in hell Mortarion celebrated. After being taken under Grandfather's metaphorical wing? Oh absolutely. There is nothing Nurgle would delight in more than getting the whole family together. Eat, drink, and be merry! Don't... don't worry about the food, sweetness. Even Typhus has come for dinner, isn't that sweet? Poor tired Mortarion. Best keep him looked after. Not to worry, Grandfather has it all under control!

Perturabo / Iron Warriors

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Perry Como, The Fontane Sisters. It's a stupid holiday. What? Of course he's celebrating this year, are you mad? Didn't seem excited for the festive season? Oh he'll show you excited. The lawn, the house, everything is absolutely plastered in decorations. Is this enough Christmas lights? No. No it's not. Hang them on that tree, too. Absolutely has the light up sleigh and reindeer on the roof with the Santa decoration climbing the chimney. Absolute chefzilla in the kitchen cooking Christmas dinner. Best turkey you've ever eaten. Don't worry about the way he'd been fiddling with the oven for the last couple days. In fact, don't even step into the kitchen. He's going to feed his stupid sons who he hates. Spends the rest of the day sat on the couch doing a jigsaw on the coffee table. Don't talk to him, just let him have this.

Roboute Guilliman / Ultramarines

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses. Respectfully, I don't think Guilliman - especially 40k Guilliman - would have the energy or time to be particularly festive. Any time off would be spent napping in an armchair in the corner dad style. Do NOT let this man take on any of the Christmas dinner cooking stress, but let him cut the turkey so he can still feel important and valued. He deserves a nice sit down in front of the tv and a glass of Baileys. His sons will handle the rest, and they'll do a damn good job of it, too! Seasons Greetings from Macragge, here is your festive email with an attached picture of Guilliman asleep on the couch in his sweater.

Rogal Dorn / Imperial Fists

Baby It's Cold Outside - Idina Menzel, Michael Bublé. No seriously, baby, it's cold outside, this is Inwit. Dorn's house is the safest possible place to spend Christmas anyway, fortified beyond belief. The Fists show up for Christmas. Sort of. Mostly they come and stand around awkwardly. The most active things get is when Jenga gets brought back out its box - winning is of course a point of pride. Gift favourites are of course, various iterations of building blocks.

Sanguinius / Blood Angels

A Spaceman Came Travelling - Chris de Burgh. Slightly more niche but the one that makes me think of Sanguinius the most. Christmas with the Blood Angels isn't the warmest fuzziest thing around. There's a difference between being revered and truly beloved and Sanguinius knows it like the back of his hand. It's comfortable, it's quiet. Dante is there. The Blood Angels all show up bearing presents on Christmas day. They fawn over him. He speaks to each and every one of them with a smile on his face. Eventually the knocks stop coming and the doorbell stops ringing, and he can collapse onto the couch and relax. He spends the season with his nearest and dearest. He takes a walk after Christmas dinner. He gives up Christmas day to being humble, and he lets himself be selfish on Boxing Day, with several glasses of... something red and some truly terrible Christmas movies.

Vulkan / Salamanders

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams. And he damn well means it! Christmas with the Salamanders is incredible. Got nowhere to go for the holidays? Now you do. Decorating starts the second December does. The actual event starts bright and early Christmas Eve morning. Vulkan truly comes alive during the holiday - so many loved ones around! Christmas Eve is all movies and food and board games and jokes and stories by the fire. People even sleep over into Boxing Day. He greets each and every one of the people who'd attended personally, waving them off at the door with a big grin on his face. All his sons have Christmas sweaters that match his own. Expect some incredible Christmas cards in the mail with a whole host of posing Salamanders on the front. Oh well since you're all here already... you might as well stay for the New Year? Outstaying your welcome? Don't be silly.

[t-t-tau-me]

Burning Bitterness: Cha 1 (White Lily Cookie)

Burning Bitterness (Divide)

The past affects all cookies. Young and old, strong and weak, even species outside of cookie kind. The past causes everyone to fear the future…But what if you could control it?

Special thanks to @brittle-doughie for inspiring/helping make this fanfic, You're awesome!

The Silver Kingdom was filled with merriment and the sugary smell of sweets. In honor of White Lily Cookie taking up the role Elder Fairy Cookie had left behind, the fairy cookies insisted on celebrating. White Lily Cookie was against the idea at first, but you promised to be by her side during the event...And yet, they seem to be absent. An uneasy feeling brewed like a cauldron in White Lily Cookie’s stomach, gradually bubbling as the combination of social exhaustion and your absence made it hard to appreciate the party thrown in her honor. 

Silverbell Cookie: “White Lily Cookie…is everything alright, Your Majesty?” In the brief moment White Lily Cookie had lost herself in her thoughts, a familiar fairy guard had flown by her side, a look of slight worry on his face.

White Lily Cookie: “Ah! Silverbell Cookie…My apologies, I guess I let my mind wander too much.” She said with the slightest blush highlighting her cheeks, holding her Lily staff closer. A month of being the ruler of the Silver Kingdom and she was still making the same mistakes…

The fairy archer merely chuckled in response 

Silverbell Cookie: “It's quite alright, Your Majesty. I've known you for long enough to know that you have a lot on your mind, So there's no need to apologize…although…something seems to be troubling you.”

White Lily Cookie couldn't help but hang her head in shame a little. Had her worry been so plain to see this entire time? 

White Lily Cookie: “Well…I suppose there is something…Y/N Cookie said they would be here, and yet they seem to be absent…This isn't the first time they've disappeared without a trace, But they've never broken a promise before.”

Silverbell Cookie: “I would be more than happy to retrieve them for you, Maybe they just lost track of time?” Silver Bell said with a warm smile. 

White Lily Cookie met the fairy cookie’s smile with her own, pausing for a moment to think. 

White Lily Cookie: “No need, I'll go and find Y/N Cookie myself. The fairy cookies have been working tirelessly and deserve a break. Besides, This may be a good opportunity for me to talk with them…they've been strangely distant lately.” 

Now that White Lily Cookie had formed a plan, her worried expression had been replaced with the more familiar resolve that the guard fairy was familiar with. Even though White Lily Cookie could seem meek at times compared to The other ancients, there were times when her resolve rivaled that of Dark Cacao Cookie.

Silverbell Cookie: “As you wish, your Majesty…just try not to take too long, this party is in your honor after all.” With a quick bow, The Fairy Archer flew back into the crowd.

With Silverbell Cookie’s worries sated for the time being, It was time for White Lily Cookie to locate where you had disappeared to.

With her staff clenched anxiously in hand and her growing desire to find the cause of your broken promise, White Lily Cookie found herself in the Faerie Library. The music from outside was nothing but a low hum that leaked from the windows, and the enchanting aroma of food was left at the party. The metallic scent of silver made the fairy kingdom quite distinct compared to other places on Earthbread. To many, the absence of flavorful senses would be quite haunting, But within the continent of Beast-Yeast, it was a welcome haven from the overwhelming atmosphere.

White Lily Cookie couldn't help but find her eyes wandering the library. Her thirst for knowledge had brought her to this place many times…So many memories…So many regrets…for the time being White Lily Cookie pushed the nostalgic memories away, she needed to find you to make sure everything was alright! 

Luckily for the ancient hero, she wouldn't have to search much longer for her close confidant. Sitting at a table with music sheets spread across it, you stare out a nearby window with disinterest and irritation. You could already tell by the footsteps echoing in the empty library that she had found you…A heavy dread finds itself in the pit of your stomach, making it near impossible to meet eyes with the ancient hero.

She calls out your name, face beaming as she begins quickly making her way over to you. Her tone is that of someone filled with overwhelming joy, most likely because she had scared herself with the possibilities as to why you weren't at the festivities…The combination of guilt from past actions and The curse of her imagination made for a sour blend of anxiety.

As White Lily Cookie made her way closer, she felt herself stop in her tracks. A wave of unease hit as she took a closer look at you. You looked exhausted. She saw the way you shifted in the chair when she came close, the way you stared at the window aimlessly as if you were hesitating about something. You looked so… fragile. The ancient hero began to worry, running through all the scenarios in her head…something felt wrong.

White Lily Cookie: “Y/N cookie? Is everything okay? You weren't at the party so I began to worry.” her hands absentmindedly fiddled with the powerful staff she held, her features softened as she readied herself for whatever burden was resting on your shoulders.

Y/N Cookie: “Do you believe freedom is a good thing, White Lily Cookie?” You say in an ominous tone, one that White Lily Cookie rarely ever heard from you, Your tired glare still fixed on the nearby window. 

White Lily Cookie: “Huh? Of course, Y/N Cookie! Freedom is what allows cookies to be who they are! It allows them to love, create, and discover brand new things.” White Lily Cookie's answer was somewhat hesitant. not out of disbelief of her own words, but rather the sheer Perplexing nature of the question you proposed. 

Her words still shined true with the light of freedom, As rich as the very soul jam that represented this virtue…You can't help but grimace at those words, a burning mixture of emotion seething underneath your dough.

Y/N Cookie: “Is that truly what you believe? The ultimate conclusion you've come to despite everything you've done?” A sour strip of malice lingered on those words

White Lily Cookie was taken aback at your strange hostility, But before she could begin to question it, you continued.

Y/N Cookie: “The Blueberry Yogurt Academy, The deal with the legendary red dragon and...Dark Enchantress Cookie herself. The more stories I hear, the more I question if freedom is really a virtue...and not a curse” You can't help but hear your own grief within your voice. The mere mention of the past events threatens to melt away your mask and leave you a weeping fool…But you would not allow such weakness to occur while faced with the ancient hero, as you couldn't afford your words to be tainted by her pity for you.

White Lily Cookie: “Y/N Cookie...I had no idea you felt such a way. You had always been so supportive...I never could have imagined you had such thoughts" she spoke somberly as she mauled over your statement. The sins of her past acted As a judge's gavel, a haunting tool that threatened to sentence her to a life of self-loathing.

For a split second, White Lily Cookie heard the sadness in your voice, and that was all she needed to realize how rich your despair was. Cookies that had been crumbled…civilizations that were destroyed…You have been secretly grieving these haunting events without her knowing, chipping away at you and corroding the friendship you both shared. A part of White Lily Cookie wanted to turn away, to avoid the pain and to ignore yours…But she refused.

Back when she had reawakened, White Lily Cookie was nearly swallowed by the guilt of her past mistakes…But thanks to her old friend Pure Vanilla Cookie and his new companions, she found new strength to try and forge a better future. She couldn't afford to let grief hold her back, and she wasn't going to allow it to do the same to you.

White Lily Cookie: "I've done...Many unforgivable things, But the light of freedom allows me to try and repent for my mista-”

Y/N Cookie: “Enough already!” Your voice boomed across the empty hall of the library, causing the walls to shake and White Lily Cookie to flinch. “All you ancient "heroes" ever do is rely on your virtues, but where is that led you!? All you've done with your "freedom" is destroy!” 

The spice of rage…The bitterness of hatred…The two vile ingredients performed a malevolent dance as they mixed into one another, becoming near indistinguishable from one another. You can practically feel it eating away at the sweet empathy you had for your “friend”, like a greedy cake monster devouring everything in its wake…..and yet...

Y/N cookie: “...How can I trust you, let alone be at your side when everything around you crumbles away?” You finally turn to look at White Lily Cookie, Your fear of seeing the hurt on her face having prevented you from looking until now…You were both just cookies at the end of the day, ones who cared deeply for this world…Making your actions all the more necessary.

Each word was like a sharp knight penetrating White Lily Cookie's heart. She had these thoughts hundreds of times, But to have a cookie so close to you say it with such...Vitriol…Whatever words white Lily may have wanted to use to defend herself, dissolved away in a soggy clump of despair...Could this be his doing?

You finally stand from your seat, filling White Lily Cookie with a raw unease she had never felt from you. You begin to approach the anxious ancient, causing her to step back in response and to hold her staff more defensively. This action doesn't phase you As you make your way to White Lily Cookie, the rhythmic tapping of your approaching footsteps seemed almost like a defiant response.

There's a few feet between the two cookies standing in the library. The damage that your words had done was visible on her face, trying her best to wear a mask of somberness to hide the herd from such heinous words...You find it strange you can still feel some empathy towards the cookie who had caused so much destruction…This is the only way to make it to your solution.

Y/N Cookie: “The light of freedom has proven itself to be far too dangerous…..I might have a solution.” Her face of woe turns to one of confusion and you take this as your cue to continue. “Freedom allows cookies like dark enchantress and the beasts to do horrific deeds, for cake monsters to consume cookies...And for evil to run wild.....But what if...We use the power of your soul jam to bring in a new era of order? No more fighting, no more chaos…just peace.” Even though your tone had softened a bit as you went on, the severity of what you were asking wasn't lost on you…The real question is was she willing to do what it took to protect all of Cookiekind?

White Lily Cookie's eyes widen with terror, were you suggesting what she thought you were?... How could the cookie closest to White Lily suggest such a horrid thing?! Taking freedom away from anyone, regardless of their actions was...monstrous. This HAD to be the work of Shadow Milk Cookie! The magic she had used to reseal the tree wasn't nearly as strong as the witches, But she had truly believed she had bought everyone time…

And yet…she remembered how showboating and impatient Shadow Milk Cookie could be, as being sealed away left him starved for attention…could this truly be your own decision?

[End of part one]

The Fates of cookies are as malleable as fresh dough, with the smallest addition changing the entire recipe…What flavor would you like to try?

[blackout-crypt]

Killjoy design masterpost (see reblogs for more)

I've been thinking for a while that it may be hard to come up with ideas for your Killjoy and you might need some inspiration! So I've been compiling a long list of designers and people to look at for help with you designs. Before you continue reading, THIS IS A LONG POST. It's also PART 1 because I can only have 30 images on one post. (If you want alt text on the images, reblog and I'll add it later, it been a Long Week)

1) Vivienne Westwood/Malcolm McLaren

Vivienne Westwood is often credited as the Godmother of punk. She ran a shop in London with Malcolm McLaren called "Sex" and their designs influenced punk as we know it today. If you want outrageous anti-fascist designs, look towards her and Sex Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren.

2) Disco

That's right, I see your disco OC's, and I ADORE THEM. The Disco has a few distinct styles and pictured here we have a mix of the more casual style that you'll see dotted around and the outrageous designs that we know and love. (Yes, that's a screenshot from Mamma Mia, fight me. Also if you take inspiration from that movie I love you)

3) David Bowie

How do you even begin to define someone so incredibly iconic as David Bowie? His extreme makeup and style has wowed and wooed the world throughout his life and since his death. He's inspired countless artists, including Gerard Way, in both musical style and outfit choices, so he is the perfect person to model your OCs after.

4) Marc Bolan

Often referred to as the man who invented glamrock, Marc Bolan has a style that Killjoys would absolutely adore. He blended a sexy mix of feather boas, androgyny and mismatched fabrics that he made work. In fact, while we're at it, look at all of glamrock! It's like a Killjoy haven.

5) Hot pants

Hot pants were a brief 70s fashion piece characterised by being VERY SHORT SHORTS. They were seen both with layers underneath and without (although I think our dear Killjoys would appreaciate the sun protection and the style offered by the layers).

6) Psychedelia

I know, I know, it doesn't exactly scream Danger Days, but I feel like some Killjoys would find some of these dresses and cut them up and make them their own. They're bright, they're fun, and they're certainly weird.

7) Betsey Johnson

Betsey Johnson's designs seems to emulate this mismatched style that's often perpetuated by other Killjoys. Fabrics, colours, and themes that aren't typically seen together with an overall fun atmosphere, it's perfect - especially to a young Killjoy.

8) Madonna

You're trying to tell me that there AREN'T any Killjoys that took a few fashion tips from Madonna? Be for real. Madonna's regular use of lace, fishnets and a general edgy vibe make her more unique take on fashion would most definitely be seen somewhere down in a Killjoy's closet.

9) Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision is an alternative fashion brand that is all about the weird and wacky. Their website spans from more normal outerwear to more extreme styles, some of which is the more mis-matched style you see often in OCs.

10) Biker style

It's honestly so goshdarn hard to find decent pictures of biker gear online, but here's a couple. There are a large number of OCs who have motorbikes, but !! they don't have appropriate gear !! Please dress them well my babies do not want to die in a motorcycle accident!!

[ughmerlin]

✨ fave creators art challenge ✨

starting with the one and only @nataliescatorccio

becca, you have been my inspiration and my idol for years and years now. i don’t even know where to start because you’re just on a whole other level. seriously, you are the definition of talent and hard work, and every time i think i’ve seen your best, you go and make something even more breathtaking. you’re constantly setting new trends in the gifmaking community, inspiring the rest of us to think outside the box. i mean, how do you do it? it’s like you have a never-ending well of creativity and magic, and i’m honestly just lucky to witness it.

you have such a distinct style that always feels so effortless—but i know better than to think it’s really that easy. the way you color and blend is pure magic. more than that, you always seem to pull these brilliant concepts out of nowhere, and i have no idea how you manage to bring them to life with so much precision and detail. i can never get over the way you make every single gif feel like a piece of art—and i'm not just talking about coloring and blending, but the emotion you infuse in each set. it’s always so personal, so heartfelt, and it resonates in a way i can’t even describe.

so, without further ado, here are some of my favorite sets of yours from this year! (i had to limit myself to this year only otherwise we would be here til next year at the very least.)

alicent appreciation week: this one is fresh in my mind, as i've just made a set inspired by it! and for a good reason. it's seriously one of my all-time favorites from you. the way you wove these scenes together is just magic. you matched the young and old alicent scenes so well, i can only imagine how long it took. the soft green tone you used gives the whole thing such a calming yet melancholic feeling, and i think that perfectly captures the heartache of the scenes. it’s so beautifully painful to watch, but in the best way possible.

jackieshauna + good luck, babe: fun fact, this set sent me down the chappell spiral! even tho i was already loving the song, i simply couldn't stop thinking about it after i've seen your set and started to make connections to jackieshauna in my head. then i ended up fixating on chappell's music for weeks and that's all on you <3 i’m absolutely in love with the pink and mint combo, it feels so fresh and vibrant! and the lyric arrangement is so simple yet totally unique. love, love, love!

annabeth chase + nikita gill: from the moment i first saw it, i knew this was going to be one of my favourite sets from this year. and i wasn't wrong! the way you combined so many amazing effects and techniques without it ever feeling overwhelming is beyond impressive. the use of shapes, especially the little heart and dagger doodles, is brilliant, and the way the text warps around them is so creative. the geometric b&w elements? my mind was blown. then, there's the sick glitch effect in the middle and the last gif where the squares appear one by one—i can’t even imagine how much time and effort went into this. this set seriously belongs in a national history of gifs museum.

yennefer + all-american bitch: i feel like this set captures your artistry like none other. just one very simple font and yet you made it look like a masterclass in typography?? i bow down to thee. and all the scenes and coloring are so well balanced and just incredibly pleasing to the eye. the rich red coloring feels so deep and powerful, and you really brought out the intensity of the character with it. truly, the whole vibe of the set matches yen’s sass perfectly!

yellowjackets as yellowjackets species: i am obsessed with this concept! it just feels like one of these things that simply HAD to be made. the colors you chose for the set were absolute perfection, and that little bee detail? too cute for words. but honestly, what really had me blown away was how each gif really embodied the essence of the characters. this set felt so thoughtful, and i love that it doesn’t just look good but also tells a really cohesive story.

the crows as species of the crow family: you know i'm a sucker for a gif series! after falling in love with the yellowjackets set, i was so excited to see this one, and you absolutely nailed it! the blending, the coloring, it's all there in a perfect becca fashion. i will never get over how you chose the hooded crow for inej—such a perfect fit. also don't think i forgot this little series was supposed to have a third installment… just saying!

rhaenicent + say don't go: becca, this one is on a whole other level. i'm pretty sure i screamed when i first saw it. you managed to incorporate so many scenes from the show that it feels like a beautiful, exhaustive tribute to rhaenicent. i was blown away by how you combined all those effects and overlays so seamlessly. the shattered mirror in the first gif? genius. and the way you used the ripped pages with those perfect fonts? perfection. and the taylor swift lyrics just sealed the deal for me. i’m honestly in awe of how much heart and soul you put into this one.

jaskier in daffodils: this one was another showstopper for me. i love how “j” stands for both jaskier and joker—it’s such a clever little detail that you just nailed. the shades of yellow you used here? pure magic. you really turned these similar tones into something that feels dynamic and mesmerizing, and the way you played with color is honestly next-level.

jackieshauna + you can't catch me now: i can't get over how haunting this set feels. it's truly as if jackie's ghost is tied to it, ready to remind anyone who sees it of the lesbian high school drama of the century. i love how the first forest gif feels so ethereal, and the footsteps vector is another incredible detail. the black and white gif adds a whole other layer of mystery, and it feels like the perfect visual for shauna seeing jackie everywhere!

rhaenicent parallels: i don’t think i’ll ever get over this one. the merlin quote? chef’s kiss. i didn’t expect it, but it fits so perfectly with rhaenicent, i’m in complete awe. the coin motif was brilliant—it felt like such a personal touch to show the duality of the characters. the way you worked the paper ripping effect in and connected it to their younger and older selves was genius. the whole thing feels like a powerful emotional punch, and i can’t even put into words how much i love it.

becca, to say that you’re one of my absolute favorite creators is an understatement. i’m constantly in awe of your work, and i feel so lucky to witness it all! i'm sorry to see you struggling with inspiration and/or motivation these days, but hopefully this little love-rant of mine will remind you that everything you make inspires and resonates with so many of us here on tumblr.com/hellsite. love you loads <3

[tomorrowxtogether]

Tomorrow X Together: “The fact that you always get a new tomorrow is a miracle”

On their sixth mini-album ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, the Big Hit boyband continue their group mission to create a better future, while looking back on their story so far

Tomorrow X Together (aka TXT) have always been a group that looks to the future. That forward-looking essence is built into their name, which stands as a promise to work as a team to create “a better tomorrow”. On their sixth mini-album, fittingly titled ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, they take that approach and feed it into a narrative that looks forward to a new day when they can reunite with a long-lost companion from their past.

It’s a record that’s full of optimism, and as singer Taehyun tells NME two weeks before its release, the boyband hope its story will “make people excited about the future and their tomorrow”. On ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, the idea of the future is both a motivating force and a notion filled with anticipation. In the bright, energetic ‘Quarter Life’, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai use it to keep themselves going through a quarter-life crisis.

‘Deja Vu’, meanwhile, looks forward to reconnecting through an intriguing concept. “Not knowing the reason of my tears, my anemoia,” they sing in its first verse and that last word – a reference to a nostalgia for a time you’ve never known – crops up again in the title of the remix that closes the mini-album. “[The lyrics] say that the expectation of meeting ‘you’, which feels like a far-off future, is really big,” Taehyun explains. “But we’re so anticipating and excited for that moment of our reunion.”

As our protagonists look forward to that reunion, they take stock of what they already have on ‘Miracle’ – a sublime piece of glimmering electronic rock – and take a moment to remind themselves and us not to take those around us for granted. Soobin, Yeonjun, Taehyun and Hueningkai participated in the lyric writing – although Taehyun is quick to point out all five members worked on the theme of the track – filling it with reflections from their own experiences over the years.

“We mostly focused on two overarching themes – the little miracles that we face in life and what’s invisible to the eye but is still important,” says Taehyun, ever keen to dive into the discussion. The second, he notes, was harder than the first because “everything seemed like it was visible”. Eventually, though, it was this release’s title – and their band name – that provided inspiration.

“At the end of the day, we thought of tomorrow or the future – the fact that you always get a new tomorrow seemed like another miracle to us,” he added. To the 22-year-old, there’s something almost magical about the group experiencing those new tomorrows together, too: “The fact that all five members are always together to this day seems like a miracle to me.”

If there’s one thing you can rely on TXT to do as they move forward, it’s to always be creating something new. Across their journey so far, they’ve made it their M.O. to tackle a broad spectrum of genres – from acoustic ballads to raging emo-rock and almost everything in between – and make them feel distinctively, inimitably their own. That’s an approach that extends to ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, charting new ground in UK house and Afrobeats. The mini-album also offers up new combinations of sub-units, the three youngest members taking on ‘Quarter Life’, while Soobin and Yeonjun share ‘The Killa (I Belong To You)’.

The stories behind these songs embody the passion and hard work that Tomorrow X Together put into their music, with each team having to adapt to new sounds and arrangements. “I had to fit my key to the other two [members], which was a little higher compared to my most natural range,” Beomgyu recalls. Rather than complain or be easily defeated, he adopted a determined attitude to help him: “I approached it with the mindset of, ‘I’ll make it happen in my 101st attempt if not [on] my 100th’.”

Soobin had his own struggles on ‘The Killa’. “It’s not my go-to genre, so I had some trouble singing the song in the beginning, and it took me quite a while to wrap my mind around the vibe of it,” he shares candidly. In the studio, the producer suggested he use what Yeonjun had recorded to guide him in creating his own take on the track. “In a way, he was like my bible, my reference, so I think I learned a lot from him this time,” the group’s quiet leader says, gesturing to Yeonjun with a small but grateful smile on his face.

‘Minisode 3: Tomorrow’ might form another commitment from TXT to keep looking to the future, but it also throws its gaze backwards. Its plot line references back to the promise shared in the video for ‘Nap Of A Star’ to “meet again, even if we part ways”, while the record’s second track brings back the morse code that’s appeared in the band’s work since their debut. ‘Deja Vu’’s lyrics, too, call back to songs from throughout their story so far, with nods to the likes of ‘Run Away’ and debut single ‘Crown’.

Diving back into the past wasn’t just a nostalgic exercise, though, but a tool to help them push on. “As we were preparing for this album, I did look up many of our past performances from our albums,” Hueningkai says. “I was inspired a lot while listening to our songs from the past as well.”

Now is a perfect time for TXT to review everything they’ve done since they first introduced themselves to the world in 2019. Just a few weeks before we speak, the group celebrated the fifth anniversary of their debut – a milestone moment that follows plenty of big achievements over the last half-decade. As the five members indulge NME in reflecting on their time together so far, the overarching mood is not one of boastful pride but of immense thankfulness.

“I never expected that I would make it this far, so I only feel a huge sense of gratitude for the fact that I’m standing here right now,” Hueningkai says as his bandmates nod in agreement around him. “I just want to do my best to make sure that I live up to everybody’s expectations.” Next to him, Yeonjun casts his mind back to their pre-debut days. “Our trainee days were rough,” he begins, causing Hueningkai to throw his ashy blue hair forward in gentle laughter. “But we went through challenges together as one team, so I’m grateful for what I have right now. I will never take anything for granted and keep on doing my best.”

Of all that TXT have experienced in the last five years, it’s some of the stages they’ve been given the opportunity to perform on that have surprised them the most. “Like Lollapalooza, or our stadium concerts and dome performances,” Taehyun lists. “I never imagined that would happen, so I have to say those moments kind of blew my mind.” After the translator finishes conveying his words, he switches to English: “Seeing crowded stages was really special.”

Last year’s Lollapalooza headline set, in particular, felt like all of the group’s drive, appetite and raw talent all brought to fruition wider recognition of a very special act. It was TXT’s second performance at the Chicago festival, seeing them level up from a late-afternoon slot on a small stage to main stage-topping glory in just one year came with much more positive feelings than their Lolla debut.

“The only thought in my mind was just happiness – I was so, so happy throughout,” Beomgyu recalls of their time on stage in Grant Park last August. “I could see this never-ending wave of light flashes that people were radiating with their cellphones, and it just gave me the feeling that we were the stars of the evening, which hyped me up so much.” Even after the performance was long over, that warmth remained: “I kept on having this lingering happy feeling with me.”

Over their first five years together, TXT have earned themselves many other titles than just bona fide festival headliners. They’re regularly referred to as the it boys and leaders of K-pop’s fourth generation, and now, no longer new faces on the scene but established stars, they’re thinking about what they might mean to those who follow in their footsteps.

“We had our own role models in our minds from the beginning, so we know how much that means to somebody,” Yeonjun says thoughtfully. “I just hope that we will become positive influences and hopes for up-and-coming artists.” Meanwhile, Hueningkai adds that “as an artist, I want to become someone who can be respected and admired by other people. Just becoming somebody else’s role model itself would be great.”

As TXT continue to look to the future and move forward with their adventurous music and affecting storytelling, they have other ambitions they hope to fulfil, from small but important things to grander aims. “As a group, our biggest priority is always to remain healthy and happy at all times,” Taehyun notes. “We have our third world tour coming up, so we just want to enjoy those moments fully. I just want to impart messages of hope and positivity to everybody and just fill everybody’s head with optimism.”

Tomorrow X Together’s new mini-album ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’ is out now

[crystallizedtwilight]

Hello!!!! I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I was just wondering if you’d be willing to share any of the inspirations or design choices behind your designs for various Shakespeare characters?

I’ve been a fan of your work for a while, and I was mostly just curious about how that process was for you? + Perhaps any characters who you found easier / more difficult to make designs for? Sorry for the long ask, I hope you have a good day/night!!!!

Sure! It will be quite long so I will put it under the cut:

My Designs for Hamlet:

[Reference Sheet]

Designing difficulty - Easy/Medium. I felt like I had a good vision of what I wanted these characters to look like since their personalities were all so distinct.

Hamlet - The platinum blonde hair is inspired by the the 1996 movie actor

Horatio - I designed Horatio to look very studious, since the first thing they do in the play is shove him out to talk to the ghost because he 'went to college' lol. I wanted him to have a soft, gentle, almost sad look to him, since we know what he will bear witness to

Ophelia - I designed Ophelia as a traditional goth because I figured if she was dating hamlet, as macabre/fascinated with death/moody as he is, perhaps she also had an interest in the beauty of darker aesthetics and subjects.

Laertes - As Ophelia’s brother, I wanted him to look very similar to her. He also has a canon fan club, so I tried to make him look quite dashing with his long, tied back hair.

Polonius - Goth dad

Rosencrantz - In the play, everyone keeps mixing up Rosencrantz and Guidlenstern so I wanted to design them both in a way that was extremely similar. I did this by switching the color palettes of their hair and eyes so they look somewhat different...but it might take you a moment to remember which is which.

Guildenstern - See above

Gertrude - Honestly I had just finished designing Sonia’s mother and that “older royal woman” hairstyle was still on my mind lol

Claudius - I think I had Théoden on my mind at the time

Fortinbras - His green eyes and curly hair are based on the 1996 movie actor, but I tried to make him look slightly more modern with his haircut and earrings

--

My Designs for a Midsummer Night’s Dream (Fairies):

[Reference sheet]

Designing difficulty - HARD. I redid Oberon's color scheme, like, 3 times. I wanted to design versions I had never seen before and that was not an easy task.

I am quite pleased with how these designs turned out as they took a lot of thought, are 100% original (uninspired by any play or movie version), and turned out pretty much how I'd hoped!

Titania - Colors Based on a rosy maple moth. I wanted her to be etherial but have something memorably absurd about her, hence, how I came up with the idea that spites hold up her hair so it does not collect leaves on the ground. Looking back, the one thing I think I would change would be the shape of her wings. I designed her before I designed Oberon, so I wish I had given Titania wings that matched the rosy maple moth's shape and let Oberon be the sole design with the luna moth shape.

Oberon - Based on a Luna moth

Puck - Based on a roseate skimmer. I wanted to design Puck in a way that was different from any version I had ever seen. Many performances give him an earthy color palette with many browns and greens and I wanted something totally different.

--

My Designs for Romeo and Juliet:

These designs are all simply based on the actors from the 2010 French musical. I exaggerated them a bit, such as making Mercutio’s hair purple, but all in all they are meant to represent the designs of the actors in this particular performance.

--

My Designs for Macbeth

[Reference sheet]

Lady Macbeth - I based her long, red hair on the 1971 movie actress

Macbeth - idk I just made like the most generic Macbeth ever lol, I don't really plan on drawing him again so I was lazy

--

Much Ado about nothing

[Reference sheet]

Designs loosely based on the actors in the 1993 movie

[nsuyeula]

Personal Hazbin Hotel Song Ranking bc I ain't sleeping.

1. Stayed Gone

Look - I don't know why - but this duet is just an absolute banger. It establishes so much of Vox's character and his one sided rivalry, as well as shows just how effortlessly Alistor can overpower him. Just is oozing with character and is catchy af.

2. Loser Baby

Not had this on loop as some other songs but I cannot deny just how brilliant this song is in the context of the show. It's the most distinct of all songs in Hazbin, and the message is just a really positive one if you're not someone who struggles with media literacy. As an survivor, it's resonates a lot. The jazz just makes the whole song super comfy.

3. Respectless

This might be a bias pick because I am a huge fan of the musical SIX and this feels heavily inspired by some of their songs. It's a song that utilises it's medium of musical to get a lot of exposition across quickly and rather cleverly. And it just fucking slaps, I almost wish it was longer because I just have it on loop.

4. Hell is Forever

Song two of the show, and it is a great one. Starting the song with the same sounds from Happy Day in Hell to feel very traditional musical while Charlie is talking, and then transitioning into the guitar when Adam starts talking, perfection. It introduces certain characters being associated with certain styles which get utilised throughout the shows. From a narrative perspective, the hard guitar sounds and lyrics get across Adam / Lute / Heavens perspective on Hell and extermination, making them dislikable even while you bop your head along with their singing.

5. You Didn't Know

Another bias pick, but some of my favourite songs in musicals are ones that incorporate songs that have come before into somthing new (Chant from Hadestown and Non-stop from Hamilton), so this song is right up my alley. The constant changing of the music depending on who is talking just amplifies the conflict unfolding onscreen. Was it the most well executed? Perhaps not. But I think summarises really why the music in Hazbin is brilliant and on par with Broadway / West End musicals.

6. Hells Greatest Dad

Omg this whole song is just a Jam. Another rival duet, and it's so over the top, boisterous and silly. Watching Lucifer and Alistor battle it out in a competition of egos, trying to wind each other up, only to be interrupted by Mitzy just yelling at full volume. Not as high because it is rather silly and I think the others utilise the medium of musical more effectively. Still so glad this was included.

7. More Then Anything + Reprise.

One of the few ballads in the show, and it works really well unlike Whatever It Takes (which I'll talk about later in the list). The music itself is simple, and I think that is a positive, it really allows for Lucifer and Charlie's voices to carry the emotional weight, painting a clear picture of their past and them reconnecting. It's emotional, and beautiful.

I'm including the Reprise here because unlike other musical reprises, it doesn't really change much except it being Vaggie and Charlie singing this time around.

8. Poison

When they released Poison I was originally like "Oh they are trying to replicate the success of Addict," and in a way I wasn't wrong. Addict and Poison are great portrayals of Angels character struggles, but unlike Addict, Poison isn't as pleasant a listen without the full context of the scene its attached to (which sounds wrong given the subject matter).

Poison works best when it's being a exploration of Angel trying to cope with the abuse he suffers, but the feel and initial release before the show aired makes it feel like it was designed as a pop song first and a musical song second.

It's still a catchy listen, and works within the confines of the show itself, but that's why it's quite low on the list.

9. Ready For This

My personal favourite of all of Charlie centric / traditional musical style songs. Part of Charlie's over optimism can a little grating at the times, but this song finally is able to present that optimism and the hidden insecure that comes with it wonderfully, and actually makes Charlie feel charming. You can believe this song could rally an entire town, especially with the nods to world war / military numbers. Its a pure musical number that feels like a twisted version of a Disney number - which fits Charlie perfectly.

10. Welcome to Heaven

God so many of songs are bangers. Welcome to Heaven is a number that truly feels like somthing you would hear at a hip and modern church with the electric organ in the background. It has two main problems that kinda contradict eachother. One, it's way to short and two, you could cut it and it wouldn't change anything in the episode, it's rather irrelevant as a musical number. But god does those electric organ get me tapping my feet.

11. It Starts with Sorry

This song falls somewhere between endearing and silly, which I think it's main problem. The music is so gentle and swells in all the right places to elicit emotions within the listener, but outside of Charlie, all the other singers voices sounds like they are attempting to be silly. So the song fails to be a pure balled but isn't chaotic like Hell's Greatest Dad, making it kinda forgettable except for it being Sir P's only song.

12. Finale

Finale is so low because its just...generic.

The sudden change between soft and gentle to loud and powerful is jarring and could have transitioned a lot better. The only interesting part is with Alistors and his spiralling mental state, but again it's such sudden change, especially when youre listening to the song without visuals. It serves its job of wrapping out the final scenes of the series, but it just feels like it's ticking off a checklist rather than being anything.

13. Happy Day in Hell

I genuinely feel nothing when I listen to this song, maybe some mild irritation. Unlike Ready For This, Charlie's blind optimism is grating, and yes I know its her before development and she's suppost to be like that, but you can do optimistic and preppy and it not be annoying, and this song doesn't change that. It's very traditional musical, nothing interesting and honestly very forgettable.

14. Out for Love

You remember how earlier I said Poison felt like a pop song first? Well Out for Love also falls into that pitiful. But unlike Poison, which becomes somthing special and fitting when it's placed in context of its scene. This song just feels random. Overall this scene feels messy and conflicting to what was happening minutes earlier. The song is suppost to show Carmilla deciding to offer her services and Vaggie finding her motivation to fight, but you could have done so many different songs / styles that would have worked better. This would have worked better as a Duet between Carmilla and Vaggie! Instead we just get a song to choreograph a fight scene too - go check out the RWBY soundtrack, it does this so much better with songs that offer so much for character motivation.

15. Whatever It Takes

This song was the only one I didn't save into my Spotify likes. It is the most mismatched, misplaced, and miss potential song out of them all. It's start with an emotional Carmilla explaining what happened during the extermination, turns into a power balled - and then Vaggie joins out of nowhere!!!! It's so jarring and doesn't fit at all, they aren't in the same room, and outside the thin connection of "protecting their loved ones", the circumstances are completely different and even in song form they just don't line up. This should have been a pure Vaggie song or a pure Carmilla song, not a duet. Keep it to purely giving exposition or to explaining character emotions or modifications, blending the two doesn't work.

[technicontrastron]

I think with a lot of Visual Kei it's important to make a distinction between genre (as in musical category and history thereof) and scene (as in label environment, the production conditions, the musicians they work with and inspiring each other, the media and festivals and concerts and venues they appear at, fan culture, and such) because Vkei is a music scene without an underlying music genre tying it together, that's what makes it so hard to define musically.

Like yes a bunch of them play straight up dark wave and goth rock and post-punk, but have no points of contact to the goth scene, they're fully embedded in the vkei scene instead so i don't consider them goth. And then others are so very clearly visual, but have barely any contact to the vkei scene and are therefore not - Soft Ballet is in here, they're coming from a New Romantics background iirc.

It's not that easy with Buck-Tick though. Whether they can be considered vkei is muddy at best - very influential of course, but are you part of the scene you helped inspire? Andrew Eldritch would like a word with you.

And the ties to the goth scene are very clearly there. Not only because of Sakurai, Toll is also well connected (just watch his interview with Genet about this very question, even if i have a low opinion of that guy you can't deny Auto-Mod is central to the Japanese goth scene). And probably lots via Imai, though i don't know enough to continue here.

And sure some Buck-Tick albums have the goth sound, but not all. But then again, neither do The Cure.

[d1gnan]

some thoughts abt aesthetics, the way people engage with my art so far and also stuff youll be seeing from me in the next year..

first off i wanna say im not actually educated on any of this and its all just coming from personal experience/ its kind of just a mad mans rambling

im the kind of person who is always curating, always putting like with like (on a consistently changing/personal/almost random metric that spans like any kind of media , things tangible and abstract, my memories, yadda yadda (everyone does this to some degree but as an artist and an introspective person, i find it hard to just let stuff go once i form a connection. (and im sure a lot of u guys reading this are like this too, tumblr is like The website for people like this) im hyper aware of everything that ever happens to me and im always trying to connect everything with everything else

(forgive me too in advance cause ive never been satisfied with my ability to explain myself and usually i just let everything i do speak for itself/dont bother trying. im really really visual and i usually think of things In pictures too so it just frustrates me to try and describe something thats worth a thousand words..

jewelry came pretty quickly to me as a favorite art form because its a way to convey some of what goes on in my head when i engage with the media i like , being able to turn all these pretty abstract feelings into colors shapes symbols.. a lot of times when i listen to something or watch something, i get almost itchy with the feeling of needing to get the way i percieved it out into the world in a visual and tangible way asap before it loses its original shape or before i forget how it made me feel. (dementia runs in my family so a lot of my art is trying to archive my feelings since i know i wont have them forever.. its almost a frantic need to be seen/known by others before its too late.

a lot of the jewelry ive custom made for people has been specifically music and film related, and thats been a great thing because i can both 1) make something that satisfies my own vision of the thing but 2) it is still easily readable by others as related 2 the source material because the design language usually is distinct enough to withstand being skewed too much by my own personal associations

moving forward tho, i have a TON of ideas for way more personal/abstract/highly conceptual projects, and have been slowly gathering pieces so that i can do full justice to my vision for them.

doing this has first and foremost always been an art form/way to express myself . i do it because of the ideas, i do it because i have to do it, and then im left with a bunch of stuff that i would like way more to be in the hands of someone who relates to it. and, i do it in a way thats not at all good for being a business owner. if i'm going to create a product, i would be going against my ideals if i didnt try to battle with all the things i hate about products. fast fashion and aliexpress craft supplies and mass production.. (to have a successful business you need a lot of the same product, it needs to be easy to make and you need to be able to get your materials cheap. all of which i can't and wouldn't do, so it's a very shit thing to attempt to make a living off of..

maybe this sounds a little funny too when you look at my work and then at what i have to say about it.that i think about it so seriously since it's something any one can do. my kid sister makes jewelry, it's a pretty accesible hobby. the idea of making jewelry based off of media is also the furthest thing from unique, which brings me thinking about the reception of my art online so far, and some weird stuff i've noticed.

when you're making anything that you mention is directly "inspired by" something else, you run into some pretty weird habits from others online, and a kind of unique way of engaging with "aesthetics" thats started in the past couple years. what im talking about now is less movies/music. its stuff that blurs the line between an existing body of work to reference and just a concept. ( y2k, fill in the blank-core, frutiger metro/aero).. i'm really into most eras of these fashion / design trends/aesthetics in a historian/archivist kind of way, and i really enjoy to do work inspired by things like this, but these are always way more personally influenced than anything made for a movie/music. i went semi-viral (feels so dumb to say seriously lol) on tiktok for a frutiger metro/sleepyhead by passion pit inspired bracelet.

i get hate on most posts on tiktok since its a gigantic platform(as well as praise) but the majority of comments always tend to be people correcting the authenticity to the aesthetic ive listed as an inspiration. people way smarter than me have way better things to say on this, and if i tried to go too into detail with it this post would be even crazy longer, but ive seen people call it "what aesthetic is this" culture, (some examples of this: " "this aesthetic is called this, not that" "this aesthetic is from this time frame only" xyz

i never know what to do, because i want to respond by explaining that i see these aesthetic names/labeling system solely as a tool. to help people find and connect like with like. labeling aesthetics is just recognizing a pattern. knowing the "name" of an aesthetic can help you find similar things, but there are no set time periods to any of this unless you are specifically making something that is an exact recreation of something else or making a period piece. everything comes back in some way over and over again. rigidly defining aesthetics is flawed/missing the point because aesthetics are completely individual/unmeasurable/skewed by experiences/memories/opinions. its a little different too when it comes to stuff thats actually like made For marketing cause that Will have an exact language that goes with it or whatever, but most of the time i see people arguing about an aesthetic thats not even applicable. there are genuinely no rules to what fits an aesthetic because anything you create, you add your own experiences to and are effectively continuing these patterns in a new way/ sometimes creating a whole new movement or sub category if you are really into labeling it as something directly. peoples personal art is definitely affected by their time/whatever the common design language was at the time, so thats where a lot of the names get born, but when you make it this rigid thing , "this needs to be more like this.. this needs to be more like that.." you'd be right- but only in the sense that yes, it IS that way, For You. in your mind you experience it that way, it is your personal relation to seeing these patterns. and you can use these aesthetic tools to expand on what was done before you, you can use these images to convey your own perspective so that i can try to understand it.

marketing vs personal aesthetics is a different thing that idk how to tackle with my like super limited language but for example, when someone is using a popular aesthetic to sell you something, you can tell. it's shallow and impersonal. looking back on ads that are dated and use a certain aesthetic usually tinges them with nostalgia that you can take and make into something that it wasn't because you have this priceless new angle to look at it with. if you believe in aesthetics as being this rigid thing, you dont get new ideas, you dont get new sub aesthetics, you dont get new movements, you get a copy of a copy, you get shein clothes. and! anyone can call anything they want an "aesthetic" ..any collection of things together influenced by anything in the world can be an entirely new aesthetic.. and im so sick of typing the word aesthetic

but i know that if theyre commenting something like this, they r so fundamentally different from me/ engage with the world in such a different way then i do that it would be a waste of time to try to explain..

i am a little scared when i launch some of the new projects i've been working on they'll be met with this kind of reaction. maybe ill try to write some kind of TLDR, some kind of zine to send along with any of my bracelets, some kind of manifesto about sustainability/personalization/mindful consumpution.. but it takes a long time for me to feel good about explaining myself, even this post ive deleted and restarted countless times.

ill post some more about some of the "aesthetics " (i gotta figure out better language for this shit i swear to god) ive found inspiring that have heavily influenced these upcoming projects, as well as scans from books ive collected that match the design language and i definitely want to release kind of a companion zine with the collections that include music/fashion/home photos etc...

if u have any thoughts or anything about any of this id love to hear it, or answer questions or expand on shit, this is kind of just like a word version of me throwing mac and cheese up at the ceiling and seeing if anything sticks.

thanks to anyone whos said anything nice about my stuff, i love u guys more than lyfe

and if you read all of this youre a g

💚

[the-least-undefinable-ordinal]

video game recs?

Most of these games are on steam and their devs will probably do a better job selling them to you, the only exception is Nethack, it's open source though.

I'll also include games that are fairly popular, just in case you hadn't heard of them or they just happened to fade into the background noise of all the popular releases at the time.

Battle Brothers: Turn based low medieval fantasy strategy game. It just feels good to play on a moment to moment basis, the writing is great, if a bit misanthropic at times.

Darkest Dungeon: Turn based dungeon crawler with a setting heavily inspired by Lovecraft's original works. It explores the mental toll a life of dungeon delving would take, it doesn't have an explicit morality system but you end up making hard choices nonetheless.

Deep Rock Galactic: Co-op (up to) 4 player FPS where you're dwarves in space working for a laughably callous mining corporation. The game is great on its own but the devs stand out by being great to their players too (I don't think I've got the space to elaborate here though).

Disco Elysium: One of the best RPGs I've ever played, great writing, you play a drunk amnesiac detective who can plausibly get a heart attack from sitting in an uncomfortable chair.

Dredge: You have a fishing boat and you eventually start finding fish that were better left at the bottom of the ocean.

Dwarf Fortress: Masterwork of a game with a steep learning curve, a colony simulator where you manage dwarves. I went to war with two neighbouring civilization because (a) I have no distinction between police and army and (b) my army has very little understanding of the concept of "non-lethal force".

Euro Truck Simulator 2: Relaxing to play while listening to some albums, I've recently enjoyed David Bowie's first album.

FTL: Faster Than Light: Sci-fi roguelike with a wonderful combat system and great music. It's a really hard game though, I've got like 130 hours in it and like 4 victories (a good run is at most 2 hours long).

Hacknet: Puzzle game where you play a hacker, I love how the devs bothered to leave interesting files to go through in the computers you hack.

Hades: Roguelike with fun writing, pretty character designs and great voice acting.

Hollow Knight: Metroidvania with a gorgeous world to explore and a sublime soundtrack. I've heard it compared in atmosphere and world building to Dark Souls, which is great because my laptop starts to overheat in protest as soon as I start typing "Dark souls torrent " in my searchbar.

Kerbal Space Program: You are in charge of a space program, I'm currently doing small suborbital flights but I'll eventually have to send a rocket to the Mun (its in-game spelling). The physics are simulated in loving detail, the game includes a watered-down introduction to aerodynamics and orbital mechanics.

Nethack: An AD&D inspired roguelike that is older than I am, its systems are delightfully complex, it has ASCII graphics but you get used to them pretty quickly. My thesis advisor used to play this when he was my age.

[espithewarlock]

Some end-of-2023 asks that didn't get asked but I'm answering them anyways! Some are from AO3 Wrapped and some are from the more general 2023 reblog.

How many works did you publish this year?

20! It's so much more than I thought I would post, let alone write!

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Bittersweet, That Glitter (aka, Dragon!Pierre) by a long shot. I love the fantasy & worldbuilding and it's some of my best stuff. (I also loved dropping it on Sol unexpectedly and having her start shouting at me within a minute of posting it. Seriously, AO3, you chose then to be speedy with email notifications??)

What work of yours has the most hits?

My Pierre/Charles/Max Soulmark AU. Probably because it's one of the few chaptered fics that I have and probably because it's lestappen tagged. Of my oneshots, Omega!Pierre just beats OnlyFans!Charles by a few hits.

What work was the quickest to write?

I started Take, Take Me Over at 6:30am, wrote 1.9k words, edited, and posted it by 8:30am. (Then I went to the gym and found the perfect song inspiration. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

What work took you the longest to write?

Another Deep Dive All The Way Down (aka, the Carlando Coffeeshop AU that's a companion to Mermaid!Charles) probably had the longest time start to finish because I kept procrastinating writing the ending.

What’s your shortest work of the year?

I wrote exactly 1,016 words for the short-fic prompt challenge, Trading Controllers, and I'm impressed at how much story I squeezed into just over a thousand words.

How many kudos in total did you get this year?

I'm sitting at 2,307 while I'm writing this and that is simply insane! I'm done posting Coffeeshop and I'm hoping to get a few more on that one since it's now 100% complete. Honestly, the fact that over two thousand people have liked my stuff enough to say they like my stuff is incredible!

Which work has the most comments?

By sheer number? Soulmark AU at 66 comment threads, but that averages to 3.9 per chapter. Mermaid!Charles has 4.1 per chapter, for comparison. Of my oneshots, Nymph!Pierre has 8 (including an ESSAY that makes me 🥰), Baker!Pierre has 7, and OnlyFans!Charles has 7.

What do you listen to while writing?

I actually usually listen to Twitch streams. The video game music + the commentary/content gives me something to flip back to while I'm thinking over story ideas and doesn't pull me out of the writing flow like listening to distinct songs.

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

It's so hard to pick just one! Here's some of my favorites: 1. The 'little squid' bit from Nymph!Pierre 2. The whole meet-cute scene from Baker!Pierre (+ Kimi's "But that did not go well") 3. The line from Dragon!Pierre after he leaves ("Now that he knew the warmth of Charles' hands, of his mouth, on his body, there was no way the sun could compare.") 4. The absolute heartbreak of Pierre saying goodbye to Mermaid!Charles 5. OnlyFans!Charles pointing to himself ("what a coincidence! I also like your shirt.")

Talk about a new friend you made this year

Literally everyone in the Calamar's Club, but especially Logan & Sol. Sol for being the sweetest person ever, letting me be insane about dragons, and inviting me to the server after seeing me shout into the void for friends. Logan for dragging me into the chaos, the constant encouragement of everyone, and for making me melt every time they react to anything I post.

How was your birthday this year?

Excellent! I visited my sister, went to her wedding dress fitting, and we saw the musical Six! It was my first time seeing it and it was AMAZING.

Favorite book(s) you read this year?

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune & The Near Witch by VE Schwab

What are you excited about for next year?

Posting my PWFE fic, meeting up with a local-ish fandom friend, and hopefully planning my first overseas trip!

If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

Read your fucking comments, Espi! You could have been making new friends and having fun conversations all year and you were too much of a coward to try that until ~September~. Most of them are lovely and you should ignore the ones that aren't!

Did you keep any New Year’s Resolutions?

Yep! I resolved to start lifting at the gym (instead of just doing cardio) and I've made pretty good progress! Going to continue into next year for sure!

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Talking about the things we can't talk about

In the following thread (which I think was the first thread on Cafe Chesscourt to begin with), Salby is arguing with "rtho" about the Caves fandom. I have not bolded the differences of opinion yet, but will do so in my later posts.

rtlhs (4/16/15)

Lads, I'd hate to butt in here, but it seems to me there's a simple, widely accepted distinction between Salby as a writer and Salby the person. As a writer, I think it's obvious that Salby was an exceptional talent -- one who produced works which stand apart from anything else in the history of Western literature, and I don't use those words lightly. However, Salby the man was a human being, and the two were clearly not identical. The Salby who now resides in my computer is nothing like the Salby who was alive twenty years ago. And the Salby who is alive now might be nothing like the Salby who is alive one hundred years from now.

placid giant (4/16/15)

rtlhs,

I don't think this is a useful way to think about the issue.

salby-as-writer did not spring out of nowhere; he was a man with a personal and public life. as you say, a talented man. but also a very strange man, with a very strange private life and a very strange reputation even before he died. Salby-as-writer is the same way.

the act of creating and performing art is a deeply personal act, which touches upon the essential qualities of the artist as a person, and one doesn't have to look very hard to understand that salby-the-writer was formed in large part by salby-the-person. conversely, a corollary: most if not all of the people who have found inspiration in Salby-the-writer find it because, on some level, he seems like them to them -- a part of themselves. a part of who they want to be, or a part of who they still hope to become.

think about A Dance to the Music of Time, which I'm assuming you've read. think about all the different ways people have been inspired by it -- because the book has significance to them, capturing something important and unique to their experience of living.

those kinds of connections are a big part of why the humanities exist. not just as a guild. but as an expression of a fundamental human bond. people are moved by the lives and struggles and friendships and romance and tragedy and comedy of other human beings, because it's all the same stuff that we face every day.

my point is: that's what we've found in Salby.

no, I don't mean the objectionable parts. I mean the novelty, the life, the tragedy. the flawed yet heroic figures. the sense that we could be there, doomed and alone. we could be him, could be her, could be them. we could, and we must.

eccentric-nucleus (4/16/15)

Finally someone says it.

grimdark (4/16/15)

seconded.

rtlhs (4/16/15)

Yes, I've read the novels, of course. My point is that the novels are not about Salby, except in the sense that anything about human experience is "about" Salby.

The North Central Positronic Metapolice Officers' Mess (4/16/15)

Ha, we can talk about Salby the person as long as we like. What's the matter, rtho? All of a sudden you don't feel like discussing the topic that started this whole conversation?

rtlhs (4/16/15)

*sigh*

Moderator: This topic is dead. Please don't resurrect it. It's not hard to ignore the things you don't want to think about.

theboest (4/16/15)

rtlhs is still the Moderator. You can't get away with this shit now.

rsl21 (4/16/15)

No, because we all know RtLhs doesn't "mod" for me.

theboest (4/16/15)

fuck you

rsl21 (4/16/15)

who was that?

RtLhs, can you answer for yourself?

RtLhs (4/16/15)

2nvrmr, 1 don't.

placid giant (4/16/15)

right, but i'm not the only one who enjoys rtlhs as a persona. isn't there some sort of rule against that? that he shouldn't mislead readers as to who he is? he's the moderator here, for fuck's sake.

rsl21 (4/16/15 16:14:25)

Or even a rule that, as an admin, he has to answer to the Board of Directors about anything relating to moderatorship?

torgo (4/16/15 16:15:11)

No, that's not really relevant here.

rsl21 (4/16/15 17:00:48)

(And what rule would that be?)

rsl21 (4/16/15 20:51:47)

(And what rule would that be?)

------------

[Also please reblog if you use or like this stuff, it really helps!]

[fpjaysangprobinsyano]

Since it was a shame let’s call it even with selcas today.

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ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Hey, this is your boy JAY. The events that occurred during the FATE World Tour in various countries that we visited over the last few months have been exhilarating and have given me goosebumps. It would be a shame if I hadn't come today with images after such a large event occurred over the course of several months. I submitted numerous photos that ENGENEs acknowledged. I guess we all want to relax, especially if we have a lot of duties and work in our field. It was a huge relief to have ENGENEs as a reassurance for all of us. As I merely supplied different images that are engaging and visually attractive to the perspective of it. We experienced far too many feelings of joy, achievement as well as and closeness among our cherished members regarding the manner in which we prepared really hard for this month's shows. Each of the FATE photos that I have captured make it even more significant, as does preserving the best countries throughout the world with ENHYPEN. How many has it been? We spent months rehearsing choreographies for our various eras and displaying them in our concert. By the end of the first portion of FATE, I considered that we had done an excellent job in achieving the best time possible.

Let us return to the initial part of January, when the FATE in TAIPEI was completed in the third week of January. In TAIPEI, I had a great time and will cherish the recollections I acquired on the musical stage. Maintaining memories with ENGENEs will inspire us, ENHYPEN, to return to TAIPEI for future events. Let us continue to hope and do our best for future performances. Next stop! SINGAPORE! Singapore struck me with emotion and thankfulness for how great SG ENGENEs were throughout the event. In addition, I performed Justin Bieber's Love Yourself with my guitar mate and Jake. Our performances undoubtedly benefit everyone. Thank goodness it was a simple chord to perform. Next stop: MACAU! FATE in MACAU brings up a variety of feelings and recollections from the three-day concert. According to the News, ENHYPEN, which, it was a three-day sold-out concert in Macau and around the world. One of the concert's attractions were the special stages and partnerships. We captivated the audience with intriguing solo performances that demonstrated their flexibility as artists. We also encourage our performers to join us on stage, resulting in memorable moments of musical synergy and collaboration. This is the last stop for the FATE Concert. FATE in the Philippines. Make some noise! The participation of Filo ENGENEs in the final concert of the first section of FATE Concert will undoubtedly be memorable for us. The amount of work and effort spent with ENGENEs on their Carnival Event outside the arena creates a compelling ambiance that makes the ENHYPENs event visually appealing for the whole FATE event. The combination of music, images, and stage presence resulted in an immersive event that left an effect on everyone who attended. As the concert came to an end, we offered a touching closing speech expressing their gratitude and affection for ENGENEs. The members' genuine emotions and earnest statements resonated strongly, resulting in an emotional mood in the venue. The concert closed with a strong encore performance, leaving the audience feeling fulfilled and excited for future performances.

ENGENEs, your affection and encouragement have been extremely valuable throughout our journey. You've been by our side since the beginning, encouraging us through both good and bad times. Your unshakable faith in us gives us the strength to overcome obstacles and achieve new heights. We are forever grateful for your consistent presence in our lives. Please understand that we value each and every one of you. Your distinct stories and relationships to our music move us deeply. I appreciate you guys.

[orgelposting]

bc of my idol spinterest i am quite fond of when jpop starts referencing kpop or the other way around i just think theres a point where it starts feeling more like youre trying to make money off a trend (this is with jpop referencing kpop in specific) rather than just like an Homage and it starts being deeply annoying to look at

i think a good example of doing it in a way thats Right is probably shhis bc their music is #1 good(for the most part fuck oh my god) #2 its not limited to just that one specific genre of terrible fucking edm #3 listening to their music you can pinpoint their influences and these choices that are made feel like theyre done by people that actually know what theyre doing. fly and flys intro being most likely a reference to after schools bang is so COOL to me because not only does imas actually have connections to after school (one of the members being on imas kr) but also referencing something as old as that feels like an actual appreciation rather than just a money grab compares to like oh my god just being a worse version of aespas black mamba

i need to edit this to include Motto which is essentially just a twice homage with the choreography referencing twice choreos and the mv having a location quite similar to one in the likey mv(iirc) and the song being so distinctly early twice that when i heard it for the first time my brain automatically put the TWICE! in the intro. and also idolish7s poisonous gangster which i dont actually care a lot for that song but its made by someone who worked with shinee in the past and the song is very obviously inspired by THE SHINEE WORLD DOO BOP out of all songs and its really fuckig funny to me

on the other hand theres like countless examples both in real and multimedia idols that are either Objectively good but have that distinct Youre trying to make money off of me feel (eg enstars' ruby love which if you listen to it its very obviously meant to be kpop inspired and is made by someone who has worked with nct but also it leaves me with a weird taste in my mouth bc it feels like You Are Trying Really Hard To Market To Me) (or like ldhs iscream whose music i really enjoy but it still leaves me with a weird feel) or the worst outcome which is Terrible song AND youre trying so fucking hard to market to me (48gs trying to do kpop inspired singles, criminally dinner, that one love live song i forgot its name for some reason my bad, etcetc theres way more im too lazy to think of them right now)

also like deresute doing the sheincore kpop gg outfits for fav+rica even though 1 of these characters dresses in decora kei and another is a FARM GIRL still pisses me off so bad like are you insane

[nbrory]

idk if it's just me but my top two fandoms (bts, dnp) all have a distinct style of fixation that, when combined, manage to make life a lot less confusing to exist in. sorry mbav and heartstopper, i was obsessed with you for a few months because i so badly wanted to live in your universe but you haven't stuck with me for 5+ years like these two did :/

for example:

bts are the biggest celebrities on the planet who absolutely deserve all the recognition they've received and more. they work so hard and go through so much in order to create beautiful music that spreads deeply meaningful messages. they are relatable and human and went through their respective emo phases like i did, yet they have still achieved insurmountable success. knowing that i could make an impact just like them one day is equally inspiring as it is daunting. the fact that they reference things such as lgbtq+ history, feminism, and Palestinian support in subtle but indisputable actions with their massive platform comforts me in knowing that there is hope for the world.

dan and phil, on the other hand, make me feel free. being a trans-masc/enby person stuck in a conservative family is terrifying sometimes, but watching dnp never fails to wash my fears away. it's like im sucked into their world whenever i watch a video, one where everything is ok and i only have to focus on two soulmates playing a game or going about their day. their refreshingly explicit advocacy for queer people and mental health make them the only people who have ever made me feel like I truly belong.

ok rant over I just wanted to get my thoughts out there because none of my irls would care and I know this is the sentiment some other ppl share so. you're not alone if that's the case!

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

Nightwish's Floor Jansen: 10 records that changed my life

Eurythmics - Touch (1983)

"Growing up, my parents used to listen to Here Comes The Rain Again by Eurythmics, so that’s how I got in touch with it. Of course, Annie Lennox has a very distinctive voice and that was one of the first things I really started singing along to, so in that sense it’s a part of my own musical development.

Throughout the years I’ve started to appreciate her as a songwriter more and more. These are very old songs, and yet everybody still knows them – they’re timeless. They’ve been covered to bits, and unfortunately the covers usually aren’t better, but it says something about how good this song is and how timeless it is."

Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill (1995)

"Like Annie Lennox, Alanis Morissette formed me and my interest in singing. I was about thirteen when I first heard You Oughta Know. She has her heart on her tongue and she always puts it right there as she means it; it’s very to the point.

The funny thing is now she’s been part of a little film about highly sensitive people [Sensitive: The Untold Story]. She’s in there, talking about the combination of being a highly sensitive person and an artist and of course, as an artist and a highly sensitive woman, I could really identify myself in her stories and reconnect with her at a much later age, in a sense. She came back into my life through that."

Roxette - It Must Have Been Love (single, 1990)

"It Must Have Been Love by Roxette is great sing-a-long music. It’s pretty uncomplicated, super Swedish, very well-written, very well-performed, and one that I just sang and sang! This was also played a lot in the car – you’d have to ask my mum and dad what those journeys were like, my sister and I sang their ears bloody [laughs]! It’s definitely true that the Swedes are great songwriters. It was hard to choose just one song, but this one is as good as any from that time, I think."

The Gathering - Mandylion (1995)

"I first heard The Gathering on the radio. I was listening to a lot of grunge and rock but not much metal yet; that came with Pantera and Machine Head, bands that I really liked, but nothing with a female voice that could really work for me.

There were some female singers, but they were all high and operatic, and I was missing that power – until I heard The Gathering. Strange Machines  just did it for me. That was the first step for me in thinking, I wanna sing in a metal band too! Anneke [van Giersbergen] is opening a few of my solo shows for me this year."

Skunk Anansie - Paranoid And Sunburnt (1995)

"When Weak by Skunk Anansie came out, everything about them was revolutionary. Skin was Black, bald, and gay, a lot of things that people have issues with, but the way she kicked against that – 'I am the way I am and if you don’t like it, too bad for you' – that in itself was so inspiring for a young girl growing up.

But what she did with her voice, those long howls and the effortless highs, that was right up my alley. Back in the day I played that album, Paranoid & Sunburnt, until it was just threads."

Halestorm - The Strange Case Of... (2012)

"I’m not sure exactly how I stumbled upon I Miss The Misery, but that was the first thing I heard from Halestorm. The first thing Lzzy Hale does in the song is this howl, and she really got me on the first note – that’s rare. I was like, “okay, damn!” It’s very American-produced and that hook of “whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh” is pretty cheesy, but it totally works!

I’ve seen her live and all I can think is, how on Earth does your voice survive? She screams and kicks and grunts and everything she does is super cool. Lzzy is a powerhouse, she stands for being feminine in a man’s world and describing her feelings quite to the point in her lyrics."

Evergrey - A Heartless Portrait (The Orphean Testament) (2022)

"Every day on tour in Europe with Nightwish I’ve played Midwinter Calls by Evergrey when I’m putting on make-up. I started listening to them in their early years, when they were still full-on prog.

But what I really appreciate is how every album has something different, how they as a band and Tom [Englund] as a singer-songwriter keep evolving. He has a lot of pop influences in how he sings, and soul and jazz. The common thread throughout this list is singers – you can write great songs, but if the singer doesn’t work for me, I probably won’t last throughout the song just because I can’t get over a voice that I can’t appreciate."

Symphony X - Underworld (2015)

"Without You by Symphony X is a very emotional song, but it’s a great example of what I really appreciate about Russell Allen, which is that he manages to be the glue in a prog song that can otherwise be incredibly complex, by making melodies that are followable and even catchy, and that has made it for me.

That’s why I can listen to Symphony X. He has this full-bodied rocky sound, and his biggest virtue as far as I’m concerned is that he can sing from his heart. You can hear that he means it. I’ve learned a lot from him, he gave me some really wise lessons that I will never forget: that even in stage performance, you can’t always just give everything away. Build it up."

Sam Ryder - There's Nothing But Space, Man! (2022)

"Sam Ryder has an amazing voice, it’s quite diverse: he can go from almost Queen-like singing, to very poppy, to something more like Muse. What inspires me about him is that he’s a self-made man in the modern days, singing his head off on the Internet for God knows how long without anything really happening for him until he was just lifted up and thrown into the world, and seemingly just being the same guy throughout it all, you know?

I hope he can stay himself throughout the whole pressure that’s on his shoulders, as it is right now. I hope he survives the madness of that."

Queen - Innuendo (1991)

"If you make a playlist where singers are your common thread, you can’t really make one without Freddie Mercury. It’s hard to choose one Queen song, but The Show Must Go On is one that we once covered with After Forever.

Speaking about singing from the heart, his vocal interpretation is still one of the best that has ever been. That’s not something you can learn, it’s just something you have – something that he had. This song stands for pushing through even when things are shit, and that sentence often goes through my head when I’m thinking that I don’t know if I can do this: the show must go on.

It’s empowering. It’s so beautiful. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, as music should be. That’s the beauty of writing. If I didn’t have the list I’ve just presented to inspire me, where would I be? I’m very grateful there are so many that went before me.