#i also tried to limit myself to 1 album per artist | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

coffeeandcalligraphy · 5 years ago

Text

Moth Work Intro + False Idol | Writing Update

Hey People of Earth!

Today I thought I’d do a writing update on a project I’ve mentioned a lot in my vlogs but haven’t mentioned as of yet on here! This is a personal ‘passion project’ that I’ve been picking away at since January and have recently taken on as my transition project from Rewired to my next book.

So yee! MOTH WORK (or ‘boys on a boat’ for those who keep up with the vlogs lols) has been my current project for the last few weeks since finishing REWIRED. I didn’t really mean to expand it as much as I have as it simply started off as a spinoff story of my boys Lonan and Harrison which I write every few months when I’m having a breakdown and need something to cheer me up. :-)

I’ve mentioned a few of these stories in the past (like Fishbowl and Mandarin), though this story is a bit different, as I’ve expanded it quite a lot more than I intended to! If you aren’t super caught up with Rewired, I’d definitely scroll through a few of my last updates so this one will make more sense!

What’s it about?

Moth Work is a FOSTERED spinoff story following Lonan and Harrison (dumb+dumber) at the peak of their relationship. I *was saying* that the plot went loosely as follows: after finding a photograph of a woman in Lonan’s father’s dark room, they set out to find her, HOWEVER, because I never stick to plans, I have yet to follow through with this main plot thread, lol. Vaguely, I’d just say the most important part of this story is their relationship at its most fragile because who is plot I don’t know her.

Moth Work follows the events after REWIRED, and is a bit of a bridge between it and the next book. This makes it kind of hard to explain because a) it’s in a different POV, and b) context, but hopefully that makes sense! In essence: Lonan + Harrison’s relationship is big sad and Harrison tries to make it less big sad and it gets even more big sad.

I’ll share a very quick profile of both of the boys so there’s some context for the following excerpts I’ll share!

Harrison

My boy

Generally very outgoing, tho around Lonan this fizzles. Only wants the best for Lonan despite their history. He’s the ‘main’ narrator of the piece (third limited to him though I’m guilty of head hopping lol), so the work has a softer tone than I’m used to. Though Harrison tries to be a Macho Man, around Lonan he’s most himself--mellow, a lil stupidly romantic, and vulnerable.

Lonan

My problematic son/probably should be cancelled

The “issue” in the relationship loool. He’s emotionally immature and lacks accountability, but because of his past, lacks the ability to recognize these faults and work on them. Because of this, he’s fundamentally stayed the same for the last few works he’s been in (if not gotten worse). Lonan requires a lot of emotional assistance, though he isn’t self-aware enough to recognize this. This is often the cause of much conflict.

Conception:

Like I mentioned, I often write short spinoff stories following these boys because it’s a safe happy place for when I’m feeling stressed. This is basically how this piece started, though I’ve continued it for different reasons which I’ll get into. I don’t remember how the first scene was brainstormed, but I do know when I started writing this a few months ago, I wanted it to be a lot longer than my previous stories--a place where I could just dump my writing, even when it wasn’t good. I think I did this to cope with the stress of my writing class honestly, lol, I think I needed a break from ‘serious’ writing AKA a place I could just goof off and have some fun.

The writing bit:

Writing this story has been a bit inconsistent. I’ve been drafting it in little pieces since the beginning of the year, and only recently picked it up as more of a ‘full-time’ work. This is subject to change depending on whether or not I get more of book 7 done. I’ve gone from writing 20 words a day to 0 to 1000--there’s really no consistency with the drafting process here.

I have recently decided that I’ll most likely expand this into either a novella or novel itself because there is literally so much tea left to explore and it’s surpassed 10k words. Drafting Moth Work has been so helpful in easing me back into the world of FOSTERED and piecing together the huge time gap from the end of book 6 to the start of book 7. I’ve been a bit anxious to really dive into book 7 for the fear of the unknown, so inching myself closer to that timeline through this project has been very helpful!

The editing bit:

I recently did an edit around the line level for this entire piece (it’s about 12k words right now) because a) it really needed it b) I was losing steam/starting to get embarrassed and c) I needed a refresher of what had happened because je suis tres forgetful. This edit made me feel so much better about the project. It initially started off as a work where the writing didn’t actually matter and this mentality was working until I got so embarrassed of the prose I found it difficult to read through old scenes to refresh myself and thus couldn’t productively draft.

This project isn’t written exactly in my usual style--it’s pretty stripped back and actually reminds me a lot of how my style would’ve been in book 3 had I been a better writer four years ago lol. I think the looser style works for the voice/the story itself but I def wouldn’t categorize this as litfic (what I usually write). Although the prose isn’t very complex, it took me a really long time to get comfortable enough to edit?? But once I got into the rhythm of it a few days ago, I completed the edit fairly quickly, and I’m 100% feeling better about the project overall! Though the prose is still not my top priority I’m not as embarrassed of it currently lols.

I also divided the project into chapters because it was getting pretty long to just be one mass of text. I currently have 3 chapters. This update will cover chapter 1.

Playlist:

Yo this is literally the best part of writing this project, lol, I get to listen to so much different music?? I’ve made a comprehensive playlist for this story with a character by character breakdown (if anyone wants to see that/highlights, let me know!). This playlist pulls from every song from my library, so we span genres and artists like crazy. Nothing But Thieves has been the primary artist for this story (specifically their self-titled album). These songs (all NBT oop) are the most relevant if you want to get the general tone lol (anything with a star has explicitly inspired the project):

Excuse Me*

Honey Whiskey*

Tempt You (Evocatio)*

If I Get High (II)

Gods

Lover, Please Stay*

I Was Just A Kid*

Get Better

Hell, Yeah*

Afterlife

Reset Me

Particles

Sorry

Number 13

Excerpts:

I don’t have *many* because prose hasn’t really been a top priority for this project, but I’ll try to include at least one per scene.

This is one of the opening paragraphs from chapter one which I’ve titled ‘False Idol’. In short, the chapter follows the boys first attempting to destroy the dark room and then getting distracted and eventually not pulling through after Harrison finds a picture of Ominous Lady.

The chapter’s chronology is wild so we can break it up as follows:

Scene A

The boys enter the dark room with the intention of burning it down

Harrison reaches for his lighter and drops it which prompts him to find the photograph of Ominous Lady

Him and Lonan mildly argue about Ominous Lady until Lonan takes it too seriously and throws a tantrum :-DD

Scene B

Not really a full scene, just a bridge between scene A and C.

Harrison has been waiting for Lonan to return to their campsite for the entire day and he decides to at the very last moment

“hey so i’m unable to apologize for anything but also! cigarette! let’s share it! lungs!”

Scene C

The boys exercising their canoeing skills

This leads us to our first “beat”.

Lonan interrupts Harrison’s peaceful evening by having a mild crisis

This takes place right after the events of Lolita, Lolita (chapter 16 of REWIRED). We then jump back to the fictive present.

This alternates like 5 more times lol then the chapter is done!

The following excerpt describes their entry into the dark room. Don’t know how smart it is to be smoking in a room full of highly flammable material but we out here.

I don’t think she’s particularly special but I also don’t hate her so!! hoping an aesthetic photo will make it read better :’)) I ! don’t ! think ! it does ! but !

Harrison shoulders the door first, traps it open with the clip of his boot. Dust and streaks of light rake behind him as he pushes through cardboard boxes, mountains of photo paper on the ground. Lonan follows silently, still wearing Harrison’s jacket. Trails of smoke from his cigarette catch in the negatives hanging by the clothespins, chemical peel between the layers of ink. In one hand he tends to his cigarette, and in the next, lugs in the canister of gasoline they found in the cabin’s cellar. As Harrison fumbles for his flashlight, Lonan sets it down by the table so it sloshes like the Pacific.

This is a bit of when Harrison finds the photograph of Ominous Lady:

He turns the photograph over, and shines the flashlight on it. It’s scratched and developed wrong, little bits of orange obscuring the woman’s face, but it’s very much a woman. A dark bob and bangs in her eyes, jewelry hanging from her septum. Sunshades enough to reflect the European street behind her. The discreet jet of ink on her skin, blues and greens peeking out from under her sleeve. Izzy, he recognizes. Lonan’s mother.

Nudging Lonan with an elbow, “I didn’t know your mom has tattoos.”

Lonan takes the photograph cautiously, holding it by the corners like it’ll burn him. His brow trembles, but it takes him only seconds to say, “That’s not my mom.” He takes the flashlight from Harrison and examines it closer, fingers nimble and tracing the edges. In the grey light of the dark room, he looks nullified. Just a monochromatic hum of chromosomes and skin.

that’s not my MOM

After the boys find the photograph, Lonan gets triggered at Harrison’s suggestion to find the woman (he presumes her to be someone involved with his father) and promptly has a tantrum and exits. This leads us into the next scene where the boys! actually! get! on! boat! In this scene Lonan tries to say sorry for his tantrum by offering Harrison a cigarette (lol) and because Harrison is hopelessly romantic and also hopelessly dumb, says yeeeees sir! They go for a canoe ride on the water. Thought it was going to be sweet, ended up being a shitstorm but!

This paragraph is kind of toast but:

The canoe isn’t hard to get into the water. After a few nudges from the dock into the slow dip of tide, it stabilizes easily. Harrison is convinced it will capsize but Lonan knows it won’t. They take one ore each, and ignore the life jackets at the back of the shed.

The moon is large and mesmerizing. As Harrison and Lonan take turns pushing the canoe into the water, mast first, then its entire belly, it colours them silver. Lonan’s protected the cigarette in the pocket of his shirt. Harrison stares at its faint outline stretched under the fabric. Lonan steps into the canoe first, rocking with the current, and extends a hand for Harrison. He pulls him in and they row until the cabin is the size of a fingernail, the wave steady and dense. Each cut of the paddle feels like plunging a scalpel into flesh and Harrison watches Lonan do it easily. In the distance, the cabin doesn’t look so menacing. Reeve has left the lamp on by the loft, and it glimmers back like an eyeball, effervescent and tiny. Nothing but a reflective penny in the distance.

Here’s some Harrison being lame:

The water laps at the base of the canoe, and Ris reaches over and touches it like it’s holy. He makes the sign of the cross and it feels perverse, cold water dripping from forehead to chin.

For a while it’s quiet. Just the distant hum of crickets, the slash of the paddle, and the off-chance flash of something in the distance; an animal, a flashlight. Ris tries not to think about Lonan’s dad, like a dead man slithering through the water, following their boat. He picks at a saltine, sucks it between his tongue meditatively. Against the sky, Lonan is backlit and lovely and flecks of his hair peek up from around the jacket’s collar. Harrison wonders if as a child, everyone said he looked just like his father.

On top of lacking accountability, Lonan is also a professional canoeist so he takes over while Harrison eats saltines and reminisces about an encounter they had weeks prior. This leads into the solid chunk of backstory that I weirdly jump in an out of for the entire chapter. :)

Backstory consists of drunk Lonan having a crisis while Harrison tries to have a peaceful evening of taping up his drawings to his bedroom ceiling. The following excerpt describes the moment right after Lonan enters the room.

Harrison’s lips secured around his cigarette, his hand mid-air with packing tape and line drawings of the moon. A tinny country song dribbled through the radio. The minute-meal he’d heat up in the microwave lying forgotten and cold on his desk. Harrison set the pile of drawings down and turned off the music.

“Emily left?” Lonan asked. He kept his face upward, stared clumsily at the ceiling. Harrison watched his eyes trace the new drawings, following the uncalculated pattern.

This paragraph is made up of 5 similes and this is the only reason I’m sharing it :)))):

Lonan has stopped paddling. The canoe sits in the middle of the lake, lifeless, like a bone in the water. He’s turned so Harrison can see him in profile, and Ris can’t tell if it’s relieving or worrying to see his face. Lonan’s jaw is taut, like there are words he wants to say there but can’t. Filling up the hollow bone. He blinks slowly, like he’s trying to re-centre himself, his chest quivering with breaths meant to steady him. The water laps at the base of the canoe, whirling. Dark hair tangles down his cheeks like the fingers of a poltergeist.

I think that’s a pretty good way to end this post lol! How many similes have you put in one paragraph? What’s your record lol this is probably mine!

Hope y’all enjoy the intro to MOTH WORK. I have two other chapters already written which I’ll update on in a separate post! For now I hope you like this more laid back project, let me know what you think!

---Rachel

#writing #writingupdates #writeblr #amwriting #writerblr #fostered #mothwork

57 notes · View notes

alethia000 · 5 years ago

Photo

[TRANS] Nichkhun's Interview with OK! Magazine Thailand (July 2019)

SO PROUD OF YOU, NICHKHUN.

Behind of the scenes of idol life that are not as perfect as you think,

Challenges that dare a man to prove his capabilities,

And looking at life from a different perspective through the eyes of ‘Khun’ Nichkhun Horvejkul, a K-Pop idol from Thailand who has been the pride of the whole nation.

Nichkhun Horvejkul is the name of a Korean artist who is well known by Thai people. For over 11 years, he has been famous as an idol in Korean boy band 2PM. He has also become a real idol for new generations for his success and his impeccable demeanour as a representative of Thailand. Although Nichkhun has settled in South Korea, every step that shows his development has been obvious to everyone.

Currently, Nichkhun has stepped closer to becoming a true actor through his third Chinese series ‘Shall We Fall in Love’ which would be shown on WeTV. On this occasion, Nichkhun flew back to Thailand to attend the official launching of WeTV application on June 14, 2019. He talked with OK! about new steps, challenges, and projects that were beyond his expectation, behind the scenes of idol life that several people deemed perfect, and his viewpoint on love, from a direct and honest perspective filtered through his 31-year experiences.

Q: We are used to seeing you promoting your works in Korea or Thailand. Can we say your work in China seems to be a new development?

Nichkhun: Thai people may not know I have worked in China often. When I went to award ceremonies in China, I met Mike (Pirath Nitipaisankul) because he also attended these ceremonies quite often. This is the first time I have an opportunity to promote my Chinese series in Thailand. It is a refreshing feeling. As a matter of fact, ‘Shall We Fall in Love,’ currently aired on WeTV for Thai people, is my third Chinese series. WeTv is a new online platform that will satisfy customers’ demands or requirements. I believe there will be more collaborations in the future. Thais will be able to see another aspect of me when I speak Chinese or English in my series.

Q: What is the appeal that will make viewers fall in love with the series?

Nichkhun: The goofiness of the male lead, Jiang Yinan. He is cheerful and cute. He doesn’t care that he may be a loser. He is content with who he is. When he meets the female lead, he tries in every way to make her happy even though she doesn’t love him.

Q: Jiang Yinan is a character full of positivity and liveliness. How much is he similar or different from you?

Nichkhun: This role is similar to me to a certain extent. I like to be a giver and at times I don’t care about other people either. Nonetheless, I am a star so I have to maintain my image a bit. Sometimes I ran around and hang out with my friends in the middle of the streets too. I want some freedom and want to express who I am as well. But I may not be as expressive as this character.

Q: Jiang Yinan is a joyful and lovely boyfriend. In real life, what kind of a boyfriend are you?

Nichkhun: Goofy. When I am being with someone, I will adapt myself to suit that person. It depends on the character of the person I am dating. If she likes someone who is boyish, playful or goofy, I will be like that. If I am dating a woman who is more reserved, I will try to tease her from time to time. I like making people around me laugh, with my facial expressions, remarks, or gestures.

Q: The Thai title of the series is “กล้าไหม... มารักกัน” (Do you dare to love me?). Do you have such experiences in real life?

Nichkhun: I guess so. Even though I am ‘Nichkhun,’ it doesn’t mean everyone will fall in love with me. Fame makes people cautious to be closer to me. Some people may talk to me but they may not dare to love me. I think if we decide to fall in love with someone, we are taking a risk. We need to be daring too. With a woman I don’t think of her that way, I will be able to playfully talk to her or even hug her neck. But with a woman I am interested in, I will not dare to approach her to say “Hello. Can I have your phone number?” I will nudge my friends and ask them to help me. (laugh)

Q: You have worked with Korean, Thai, Japanese, and Chinese production teams. Can you tell us the differences?

Nichkhun: Chinese production teams have limited the filming to 10-12 hours per day, including makeup and hairstyling time. In China, I would have a one-day break per week. It was quite comfortable because it’s guaranteed that I would have time to sleep and rest truly. (laugh) Chinese and Thai production teams are similar when it comes to cordiality. Actors would come out to sit, talk, or have a meal together. Korean and Japanese teams are similar when it comes to maintaining their privacy.

Q: Even though you debuted as an idol, you have proved yourself as an actor in several roles. Do you feel like you are getting closer to becoming a true actor?

Nichkhun: We just sent Chansung, 2PM’s last member, to the army. We will have to wait for 2 years to be able to come back together. For the present, I am changing my role between being an actor and a solo artist. I will hold a solo concert in Thailand on July 27. Composing music, practising, playing musical instruments, and performing on stage has a certain appeal. When I asked my fans to scream, I would have a feedback immediately. For acting, I would have to wait for 3 or 6 months or 1 year for feedback. They are different but both are fun to work on. At the moment, I still don’t consider myself an actor. I have only worked on some acting projects. Almost every role I have played is quite similar. They are warm, lovely, or nice. I would like to play a different role which will prove if I will be able to do it well.

Q: Most idols who have become actors have often been subject to criticism about their talents. Have you encountered this problem?

Nichkhun: All the time. In fact, I have wondered whether I performed my roles well. That’s why I have often asked people around me what they thought about my performances in certain scenes. I want to do it well. I don’t mean acting merely. I mean singing, dancing, and playing instruments too. All of them are a challenge for me in each step. Acting is not easy. It depends on your experiences how you will portray each role excellently. You have to make the character on the papers come alive and live inside your body. It doesn’t mean there is only one way to play a character. It depends on how well we can create the character and make him more alluring.

Q: Several people consider you their idol and expect everything you do to be great. Do you feel pressured for carrying everyone’s expectations?

Nichkhun: In the beginning, I felt deeply pressured. Before BamBam (GOT7’s Kunpimook Bhuwakul) and Lisa (Blackpink’s Lalisa Manoban) made their debut, I was the only Thai idol who was successful in Korea. Everyone thought Thai people must be like Nichkhun. It was a burden I have carried for a long time. In the past, people tended to think that Thailand was an undeveloped country or Thai people still rode elephants. I have told people there are several great aspects of Thailand and invited them to visit Thailand. More tourists started to come to Thailand and there have been continuous promotions. Thailand in the eyes of foreigners has changed and I have carried a lighter burden in this regard. But importantly, I have begun to let go and to think we are not robots or printing moulds that will be perfect perpetually. If we make a mistake once in a while, it’s because we are human. I have tried not to tell myself I have to be perfect. Instead, I have told myself I have to be a good person. I must not betray people. What I have spoken must be true. Otherwise, I must not say it or do it.

Q: Are you a perfectionist?

Nichkhun: Pretty much but not all the time. I like my house to be clean and organised. But there are times when I let it go and don’t clean at all. After that, I would have to spend the whole day cleaning. (laugh) When I began cleaning vigorously, I would kneel down to scrub the floor.

Q: Do you scrub the floor by yourself?

Nichkhun: Of course. I don’t hire anyone to clean my house in Korea because I don’t want people I don’t know to come into my house. Thus, I do all the cleaning, laundry, cooking, and dishwashing by myself. It makes me happy that I have my own house. After finishing cleaning everything, I feel great that my house is clean. Am I getting old? (laugh)

Q: Can you share with us how is your social life in Korea like?

Nichkhun: Actually, I seldom go out for a meal or go to parties. I only go to the gym, play golf and badminton. Or I go out to do some errands or for work. Most of the time, I stay at home, cook, invite my friends to come over, drink wine, or play games just like normal people. I want to rest. If I go out, some people may ask for my signature or take my photos. Sometimes I had to refuse their request because I didn’t have any makeup on. I stay at home to avoid these problems.

Q: You have often said you are fortunate for having a chance to be in this position. Besides opportunities, what do you consider the important driving force that makes you have everything today?

Nichkhun: My fans, my friends in 2PM, my family and Thai people. I still think of myself as a Thai person. I must not do anything to damage my country’s reputation. That’s the reason I still work hard, want to improve, and keep on fighting today.

Q: In your opinion, how cool is Nichkhun Horvejkul?

Nichkhun: To a certain level. I will give myself 6-7 out of 10. There are many things I have to improve. However, what makes me proud of myself is the fact that I have done things I previously thought I wouldn’t be able to accomplish. Releasing my solo album ‘ME’ is an example. After making a debut for 11 years, I had never thought I would be able to do it. When we released our albums or when I performed in concerts with 2PM, I didn’t have many singing parts. Occasionally I had some rap parts. Several factors inspired me to release my solo album. I told myself to give it a try and do my best. I wanted to see whether I would be able to do it. After finishing making the album, I knew I could do it. I may start from zero but if I pour my heart into it, I can accomplish anything.

Q: What was your inspiration for releasing a solo album?

Nichkhun: We held some concerts since Taecyeon, 2PM’s first member, went to the army. Our fans were sad that it would be our last album before five of us would be discharged from the military. I didn’t know what came over me. I spoke into the microphone and told our fans I would release a solo album so our fans would not be lonely. I said it without consulting with anyone. Our staff was half delighted, half stunned. They were not certain if I was being serious. That’s what forced me to make my album. (laugh) In fact, my true inspiration was my fans and other 2PM members. All of them had their solo album and composed their own songs. I thought, as a member of 2PM, I should be able to do it too. That was an important inspiration for me to work hard on composing, singing, and performing on stage.

Q: Idol life may sound beautiful and luxurious but life behind the scenes is full of pressure, disappointment, and loneliness every now and then. How do you handle these feelings so that you can keep going?

Nichkhun: I think I am a man who works in the entertainment industry. Being a star is not my whole life. It is my job and my responsibility. When I have free time, I live with myself and do things I want to do. I exercise, play golf and badminton, play games at home, or go out for a meal with my friends. I have to learn to adjust my life. I work when it’s time to work and I take a break when it’s time to do so. I was not born to be a star. I was born to be a human being. Therefore, I have to live my life as a human being, not a star. I can be a star while I am working but I must realize what goes up must come down. When my popularity peaked, it seemed like everything would stay like that permanently. But when my popularity has lessened and fluctuated over time, it is fun and challenging for me. I think my life should not cling to being a star and to fame. I have to talk with my family very often and find one or two friends whom I can trust. Sometimes you can have a wrong idea if you stay alone. When you were used to standing in front of ten thousand people and suddenly there were only hundreds of people, I understand that it hurts. However, basically, we are a human being. Our daily life is just like other people. We have to eat, drink, and sleep. We have to truly understand this fact.

Q: It is difficult to get into the entertainment industry in any country. Do you agree it is more difficult to maintain popularity for as long as possible?

Nichkhun: Yes, I do. I think the important thing is our effort. We also have to be a good person and we must not lie to the media or our fans. We may not be this popular forever. Fame can go up and go down. But we will survive. People’s age and thoughts rapidly change. New artists are only 10 years old. They are less than half my age. Fans are getting younger too. Will they like someone who is the same age as their uncle, their aunt, or their older sibling? They may like artists who are the same age. We have to know and understand these things.

Q: Age is a limitation for most boy bands. Are 2PM members worried about their age?

Nichkhun: No, because we have never created a cute image for our band. We have been known as beast idols since the beginning. We have shown masculinity and maturity. I believe 2PM can keep going. We will sit down and sing if we cannot dance any longer. There may be dancers performing behind us. We have talked about the time when we reach 40 or 50. There will be no dance songs and we may sing ballads or slower songs.

Q: News and celebrities go hand in hand. But we have rarely heard negative news about you. Is it because you always live your life carefully to avoid such news?

Nichkhun: Maybe because I try to be careful. I try to be a good person and I don’t lie to the media and my fans. I let my fans know the kind of person I am. I didn’t smile when I didn’t want people to take my photos. Once in a while, I was in a dark mode or upset. I scolded my fans if they crossed the line. To be a good person, I don’t do anything immoral and illegal. Fame can drive people crazy sometimes. It is fortunate that I have great friends in my band. We have warned each other not to do certain things if they were not right. We have supported each other to do good things. Most of the time when we came back to Thailand or went to other places, the questions we asked were: What are the opening hours for the fitness centre and swimming pool? What is the WiFi password? (laugh)

Q: Can you list work, family, and love in order of importance?

Nichkhun: Family, love if I am in love, and work. Most important are my family who will be with me for my whole life. Then there are people I love, my friends, my girlfriend, my wife or my children. People may think stars must be rich and busy with works constantly. That’s not true. Being a star is among the most unstable jobs. We will have work when people hire us. If they don’t hire us, we won’t have any work or income. There was a period last year when I tried to focus on making my solo album. I didn’t accept any job because I spent a lot of time at the studios. For the whole month, not a single baht was transferred into my bank account. I was so shocked. (laugh) That had never happened before. I have realized stars don’t have salaries. How much money you have depends on how much you work. People rarely know about this. They may think every star must be wealthy.

Q: We have often seen your conversations with your sisters on social media. We know you are very protective of your sisters. Are you going to be this protective of your girlfriend?

Nichkhun: We just teased each other. I have let go. In the past, I was more protective. I didn’t want them to wear short skirts. When I saw them with a man, I wanted to know who the man was. Nowadays, if my younger sisters are ready to date anyone, I just ask them to bring the guy to see me. If they wear short skirts, I may tease them or find something to cover their legs. I don’t ask them to change their outfit. On social media, we just teased each other playfully. I am not that protective in real life. With my girlfriend, shouldn’t I be more protective of her than my sisters? (laugh)

Q: You have lived alone for a long time. Are you lonely?

Nichkhun: I have many friends. And I have lived abroad since I was 11. I have not lived with my family for 20 years. I have frequently travelled and worked in several countries so I don’t feel lonely. There are many things I can do. That’s why I like to play golf. I can play it by myself. When I stay at home, I watch movies or play games. I just live with myself and think of what I want to do in the future. That’s why I don’t have time to be lonely.

Q: You have said you wanted to get married when you reached 32-33. Do you still have the same thought?

Nichkhun: At first, I even said 30. Now I still haven’t thought about wanting to get married. There are still so many challenges that I want to give it a try. If I really get married, I will possibly quit show business and live in a quiet town in America in order to spend time with my family.

Q: Haven't you found anyone that attracted you?

Nichkhun: I don’t want to be a burden for the person I have a relationship with. Even though I have settled in Korea, I don’t spend much time there. In one year, I may stay in Korea for 6 months or less. From July this year, I will come back to Thailand very often because of my work.

Q: This question may sound repetitive but many people want to know what kind of girl are you attracted to.

Nichkhun: I don’t have a certain type. Perhaps, I like women who are naturally cute and lovely with facial features that are not too sharp. Actually, physical appearance is just a part. The most important thing is her characteristic. I like people who love their family. I like the kind of person my mother will like after I introduce them. The kind of person who respects older people. I just want her to be a good person. Because if I start to have negative feelings or things change, no matter how beautiful she is, it doesn’t help at all.

Q: You have fame, wealth, and many people who love you. What is the next happiness that you are looking for?

Nichkhun: I have never thought about it. (laugh) I am happy with my life each day. The next step is probably building my own family but I don’t know when or whether it will happen.

Q: When do you want to get married then?

Nichkhun: Let’s say 35. When I am 35, I will probably say 40. (laugh) Right now, I am enjoying my work. I want to spend time with my family and my friends for the time being. Getting married to someone is making a promise that I will spend the rest of my life with her. It is meaningless if I can’t keep my promise.

Q: What are your future goals that you want to achieve?

Nichkhun: If it is possible, I want to make it in Hollywood as an actor just once. In fact, there have been auditions and I have sent my videos. There were some interests but due to time and other factors, it didn’t work out. I am waiting for the right time. Mike (Pirath Nitipaisankul) has already joined a Hollywood-production movie entitled ‘The Misfits.’ It will be fun to work together.

Q: Do you have anything to say to your fans who have always supported you?

Nichkhun: From now on, we will see each other often, on TV, in my concert, and through my solo album. I will keep working on more projects but I won’t make a specific promise. Thank you for following and loving me. It has been 12 years in Thailand. In the future, I will produce works that are better, more mature and perfect for you to see and listen to. Let’s get old together. Thank you. (smile)

[Thai-Eng Trans by Daffodil0624]

Please take out with full credit.

#2pm #nichkhun #OK Magazine Thailand #interview #Daffodil0624 #OK! Magazine Thailand (July 2019)#magazine

20 notes · View notes

askpetethelibrarian · 6 years ago

Text

Arrr! The Pirate Library

Yesterday, someone over at King Shot Press found himself in a little hot water over some tweets that were...not pro-piracy, I guess, but not AS anti-piracy as some people wanted.

It turned into a whole thing. Because this is the internet, so one person’s opinion on piracy shatters too many worldviews or something.

Frankly, it turned into a big mess. I wouldn’t want to get involved, until...

And when someone said “I honestly don’t see the difference with a library” I felt compelled to say a few things. And to ask myself: Why is checking out a book from the library different from piracy?

Before we get into it, however, I just want to say that the opinion of someone at King Shot isn’t something that induces anger in me. I think it’s an opinion that I agree with in some ways and disagree with in others, and I’m not looking to pile on here. After the library bit, I’ll share some of my opinion on piracy, in general.

1. Scale

When piracy puts a book up online, an infinite number of people can download, possess, and read it simultaneously.

When a library buys a print copy of a book, that’s obviously not true. That book can only go out a limited number of times (50 checkouts is usually too many for most books, physically). It can only be held by one person at a time. And, it can only be in any person’s possession for a limited period.

When a library buys an ebook, similar rules will apply. Overdrive/Libby, the most popular library ebook service, does require us to buy licenses for every copy. Not every title, every copy. So, if we have two copies of something, we bought two. If we have one copy, only one person can have it out at a given time.

Hoopla, another service, has a different model. We don’t buy individual licenses for individual items, and any number of people can have it at the same time. However, the time period is limited, and users are limited to a given number of titles per month. So, one can’t use library service to stockpile a bunch of books that they keep forever.

Piracy and borrowing might not look different from a user POV, but from a view that’s bigger than the individual, the difference is big enough to start having its own gravitational pull.

2. Purchase

It certainly seems like I can check out something from the library for free, so what’s the difference between that and downloading it for free?

The library isn’t “free.” It’s a pre-paid service, meaning you’ve already paid for it, it’s just a matter of whether or not you make use of it. Much like a road, street lamp, or public park. You pay for those things, and then you choose whether or not to make good use of your money.

You’ve also paid for ebooks held by your library. Your tax money goes to the library, the library buys ebook services.

Now, in theory, SOMEONE paid for a copy of a book at some point before it was up for free online. So there’s a similarity here. However, let’s look more closely:

If a library buys a title and it’s very popular, they will buy more. Our system has a policy that says we’ll buy another copy of something for every 5 simultaneous requests placed. If 50 people requested The Martian when it came out, our guiding principle is that we should have at least 10 copies.

There’s no such system in piracy. That one copy is all that’s ever purchased.

To cross over with the above argument about scale, let’s say that my library system bought 10 copies of The Martian. Consider that this is ONE library system serving a portion of one U.S. state. Even if we were overly generous, we could say we cover a quarter of the state. Multiply our purchase four times to cover Colorado, then multiply times 50 to cover the U.S., all of a sudden you’ve got 2,000 purchased copies of The Martian. This is very quick and dirty math, and it’s almost certainly a lowball.

Also, you need to factor in that libraries will be replacing copies of books. So, in the 5 years or so since The Martian came out, the initial number has likely doubled.

There’s another effect here. Once The Martian is a hit, you’d better believe libraries are all over Andy Weir’s next book, Artemis. Pre-orders play a big part in sales. Pre-orders count in the first week of a book’s sales, and large pre-orders help a book climb onto bestseller charts.

You might not care about putting money in Andy Weir’s pocket, and I’m not here to argue about that (for THAT portion, see below). It does warrant talking about, however, in terms of the difference between pirating material and borrowing it from the library. The library is a positive factor in the economics of books. Piracy is not.

3. Mutual Support

There is oftentimes an argument for piracy that’s about piracy being a positive force for folks who can’t afford books. Let me tell you why using your library is better.

The library works like this: you support us, we support you.

You come in, check out some stuff, and that gives us better stats to take to the local government and say, “See, this is important. The community needs this.”

When you pirate something, we lose out on those stats. We become less busy. The local government sees that the library needs less cash. And then, that economically destitute person who can’t afford books? Where do they go now? Piracy? Bad news, economically destitute people are far less likely to have a computer, an internet connection, and maybe even a place to plug a computer in if they DID have one. Oh, and they probably don’t have a fancy-ass e-reader either.

Piracy may be an option for some people who can’t afford books, but if you are concerned with the availability of books to all, the library is a better solution.

Let’s talk about some of my personal feelings on piracy, in general.

We Hurt The Ones We Love

I spoke to a very well-known author. This author told me that they’ve had some contractual trouble with their publisher because this author’s books are VERY frequently pirated, which means that the books are popular, but the publisher won’t pay as much because they will have a hard time getting a return on their investment.

Pirating material can have a ripple effect that makes it more difficult for the artists we love to put out more of the material we love. Some might see it as hurting a large, faceless company, but the truth is that we’re hobbling someone whose work we love.

The Money Question

When talking about piracy, there’s always an element of class warfare going on. Why should someone pay the multi-millionaires like Metallica for an album they had to work 2 hours to afford? Why do I care if Harper Collins loses out on a few bucks?

I’m about to enter some uncomfortable territory because the stats are impossible to find. Because, frankly, piracy is something that many people wouldn’t admit to doing. It’s pretty difficult to get a good bead on this whole thing. I tried to find out whether or not piracy is a result of economics, and I could find no evidence supporting or denying that. What I will speak from is personal experience. Because that’s all I’ve got.

Yes, there is probably some kid out there who is economically destitute and the only way he’s getting his hands on sweet books is through piracy.

However, my personal experience tells me that a whole lotta piracy is committed by people who could afford the things they’re pirating and end up stockpiling things they never use.

Let me put it like this: I don’t really have a problem with an individual sneaking into an art museum because they can’t afford to pay their way, and they really want to see the art.

But I think it would be wrong, while sneaking into the art museum, to grab yourself something from the gift shop. Even something small you don’t need.

My morality on this is somewhat flexible, and somewhat capitalistic. If you genuinely can’t afford books AND you’ve exhausted the options to come about them legitimately (libraries, friends, etc.) then I don’t think I’d have a problem. However, if you, like most people, justify the collection and hoarding of electronic files that you could afford to come by legitimately, you’re in a bad moral spot.

Short version: If you are that person who can justify piracy because you pirate only that which you actually view, and you wouldn’t be able to experience art otherwise, you get a pass. But if you’re the person justifying it because someone else is probably too broke to buy books, therefore it’s okay for YOU to pirate, I respectfully disagree.

The Value of Art

Some piracy is justified through saying that pirated things don’t necessarily equate to income loss because they wouldn’t have been purchased anyway. In other words, maybe I would pirate a movie I would never actually pay to see.

*Ahem*

Sure, like Speed Racer. Maybe I wouldn’t pay a single dollar to see it, but I would watch it for free. This means that the makers of the movie don’t really lose anything. Maybe I wouldn’t PAY for a new Metallica album, but I would listen for free.

For books, I don’t know that this is nearly as applicable. Who is going to put in the effort to read a book that they wouldn’t pay the paperback price on? It’s not a passive medium the way movies and music are. The book isn’t just going to happen in front of you. You actually have to do some shit to get the information inside your head.

The real issue on this point is that of de-valuing of art.

Writing a book is hard work. Damn hard work. I think writers deserve to be paid for their work.

There’s a long-standing tradition of de-valuing artistic work as work. Because artists aren’t out there busting concrete.

But I’m here to tell you, art is work. It’s not a blast to sit down and type out a couple hundred thousand words, edit them, re-edit them, send them out for publication. No part of this is more fun than watching Speed Racer.

The writers you want to read, while you’re enjoying a book, binge-watching something, doing whatever you like to do, they are working, many of them doing so in addition to their regular day jobs. Many of them in addition to being parents, partners, and doing all the same bullshit we all do every day.

I also feel, in this time of plenty, that there’s really no need to watch movies you hate, listen to albums you don’t like, and read books that’re no good. If it’s not worth the cost of admission, it’s not worth your time either. Just leave it be and move onto something else you’d pay for.

10 notes · View notes

yeehawnarrie · 5 years ago

Note

what are your top 10 yeehaw songs?

anon, this is the weirdest most unprompted ask i've gotten (just after that one anon that came and tried to prove to me taylor swift was a kkk supporter just because and all their sources where fucking facebook posts made by alt-right and neo-nazis lol) and i'm so happy you asked. i know i do talk a lot about country music in a joke like manner but i do really, really, love the music genre. it's the music i grew up listening to along with 80's and 70's rock and i’ve never felt ashamed of it, i still don’t know why it’s an internet joke as a whole but whatever...

Edit: as i was compiling this list i realized most people dislike country because they only know the post 9/11 country that is pro-war and pro-military. that’s not what country was about when it began, it was a protest movement, early country was anti establishment, sometimes anti-government because the people who started were southern “white trash”. they were the poor americans working the farms that were often forgotten by the big city folks and used the music to talk about their sorrows and life. i could write an entire essay about how country music betrayed itself and it’s own ideals in the last 20 years by becoming the “all-american” music genre when it’s a cousin of folk and blues, and very much a protest sound but that will be in another occasion.

now as for my top 10... man, that’s a hard one and i’m sure as soon as i’m done posting this ask i’m gonna think of other songs i feel should be here, but going by gut, limiting myself to one per artist and in no particular order:

I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash, not only is this an iconic country song, it’s probably the most iconic Johnny Cash song ever probably only second to Folsom Prison Blues which is amazing too. i remember listening to this one with my dad

Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette, i can’t begin to tell you how much i listened to that song when i was a child. i love Tammy Wynette as an artist a lot, but this specific song it’s 1) fucking iconic, and 2) just pure gold. sure, the overall message it’s outdated, but the song is amazing. d-i-v-o-r-c-e is a great one, too.

Please Help Me I’m Falling (In Love With You) by Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loreta Lynn, okay so this one is Tammy again buuuut it’s from the Honky Tonk Angels collab so like, it’s technically a different artist lmao. i don’t have anything to say other than i love this entire album but this specific song it’s incredible. that’s it, that’s my reason lol.

Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton, everyone loves Jolene and I Will Always Love You but this one is my personal favorite. it’s also from my favorite Dolly album and i just really love it, it makes me feel super happy and like bubbly which makes no sense cuz it’s a sad song lol

Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley, yep you read that right, Elvis himself. little fun fact but a lot of Elvis music is actually considered country music because back then rock and roll was being born and there wasn’t a defined different genre for it, so much of it fell under country. and i love this song, so i’m gonna use that loophole to include it here lol

Runnin’ Just In Case by Miranda Lambert, it was a challenge limiting myself to just one Miranda song cuz she’s probably my favorite country artist, i’ve been listening to her since she released Kerosene in 2005. a lot more recent than the previous ones, it still has that soulful sound of early country, and it even touches on that outlaw, unwanted feeling of early country. anything from her album The Weight of these Wings is good country, give it a listen to the entire album.

Girl Crush by Little Big Town, that you probably already know thanks to our Harry’s cover but the original version is so good and like... actual country lol no shade to H. it also was an outrage on the country community when it came out because people though they were singing about being lesbians on their good ole southerns radio lol

Merry Go ‘Round by Kacey Musgraves, this one from her country debut spoke to me a lot when i first listened to her, and i feel like her rebelliousness to conform to modern country standards is what Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette fought for. she’s taking country to the pre 9/11 country and that’s so badass of her.

Sixteen by Thomas Rhett, Thomas is the only man i kinda, sorta, but not really respect in country music (until Niall Horan finished his country transformation and joins the genre!). he decided he was gonna make country on his own terms too and i appreciate that, and i really like his style. this song reminds me of myself even tho it’s written from a man’s perspective but i love it. it’s youthful and cute and really good.

Red by Taylor Swift, of course there was gonna be a song from Taylor’s country time lol it’s me. Taylor never really committed to the country style, let’s be honest, but even tho her first three albums were more country sounding, this one from her last wave at it is my favorite country song of her. it’s not my favorite song of her, but it is my favorite of that country pop rock she tried in Speak Now and RED that i wish she came back to. actually, this one and Treacherous are both great.

And that’s it lol most of them are by women, specially the modern country ones, because they’re least likely to fall into that patriotic, pro-government, pro-military country that started post 9/11. I have a lot more, 300+ more according to my own Spotify playlist of country favorites, but those are the ones I feel like at the top of my head. If you listen to them, have a good listen! If you don’t... well I recommend you do, they’re good music, give them a chance!

#lillie replies #about me #about music #music rec #country music #yeehaw tag #(that's a thing now lol)#Anonymous

3 notes · View notes

cassie-babyz · 7 years ago

Text

[170922 Kstyle] B.A.P, New Single「HONEYMOON」- “It feels like we’ve worn new clothes with this song”

B.A.P have released their new single “HONEYMOON” on September 20. This song is a shared lead track, being also featured in their 7th Korean single “BLUE” that was released on September 5. We talked to them regarding their first Japanese-Korean same-month release, behind the scenes stories about the song and music video, and their goals for the future.

―― “HONEYMOON” being released in the same month in Korea and Japan has become a hot topic. It’s a first for B.A.P, how did you prepare for it? ZL: We always try our best at every moment, but we were really excited whilst preparing for “HONEYMOON” in anticipation of what new sides we could show. Being also the conclusion to the colour series and a new beginning, we worked hard to show an even more complete performance. DH: Our views are expressed through the songs, so I don’t think having a dual release in Korea and Japan changes anything. However, to be able to release the song at almost the same time to the Japanese and Korean fans is nice. I say this because by promoting at almost the same time, we get to meet the Korean fans, and also the Japanese fans at an earlier date. YJ: We work hard at making the album when we’re preparing for it since we believe we need to create a good album, so we didn’t particularly focus on the fact that it was to be released simultaneously in Korea and Japan. However, we did take in account to do the recording and music video filming at the same time for both versions.

―― What meaning is there in the title “HONEYMOON”? The lyrics have a very positive impression too. What’s the direction and concept like? DH: Firstly, the colour series started with black, then red, and finally blue, and I feel like with each step we took, the message conveyed became lighter. There’s a common idea that runs through the colour series, but there was an intense impact for “SKYDIVE”. “WAKE ME UP” further magnified that message, whilst “HONEYMOON” expresses it in a softer manner. We have discussions with the company when we’re creating a song, so there are views from both sides included. From there, various ideas are formed. YJ: I think marriage is the start of a new life. And since the honeymoon that the the 2 go on after their marriage becomes that starting point, “HONEYMOON” has the meaning of “a new start”.

“The reactions to the new hairstyle was split 50-50 so I cut it!”

―― The melody that revealed its grandeur and whistle-like refrain is memorable, but what image did you have in mind whilst creating the song? DH: This song was from a foreign composer, but Yongguk and Zelo had participated in the lyrics. From there, we were able to add our own touches to create this piece. There was the connection to the black and red from the previous colour series’, and I think we were able to express that in this song too. ZL: I think the messages embedded in B.A.P’s music is very important. I’ve been able to form my own thoughts and values as I’ve promoted as B.A.P, but it’s great that I’m able to communicate that to the fans in this generation. The theme was already decided for this number, so I wrote the rap lyrics in accordance to that. YG: That’s right. I think we were able to thoroughly express it well to the song’s theme.

―― The times that you receive inspiration for compositions are? YG: I’m the type to compose late at night. Then I’ll go to sleep when it’s light.

―― The clothes, hair and makeup concept for this has changed quite a bit from B.A.P’s image till now, how did the fans react? HC: The ones with a drastic change in hairstyle was Jongup and I, and the reactions were split 50-50. And so, I cut it! It’s a different style to what’s in the music video and teaser photos. The preferences were evident so...... I believe I need to listen to the public’s views and thoughts. Whilst there are non-negotiable things we have as artists, I will keep my ears open to the responses and reflect that in my own style.

―― Do you personally like the mullet style? HC: I don’t think it was bad. It was nice visually, but I think it was a bit too long. JU: I personally liked it too, but it was a style that garnered a lot of reactions so I cut it. Even so, to challenge a new style and showing something eccentric is good.

If you were to “paint the world with my own colours” as per the lyrics...?

―― There are the lyrics “dance wildly to the reality you can’t accept”, but has there been any reality that you couldn’t accept recently? ZL: These are the words I wanted to write so I wrote them and realise it myself, but it means to have fun if you can’t escape from reality. Instead of treating it as something you can’t accept, it means to rap and dance when that reality comes along. DH: Lately, there’s an issue that’s come up as I’ve learnt the new dance. We learn the dance from our choreographer and his team, and then gather together to dance it. Since I’ve been in the dance studio often lately, I asked the choreographer directly about the dance’s image, and so whilst I have a clear image of what it should be in my mind, I get various images when I’m dancing with the members. This was an exact moment of “dancing wildly to an image differing to reality”. I had that image distinctly from what the choreographer told me, so I tried to bring that forward and in the end, it matched well. HC: I can’t accept Jongup’s common sense (laughs) JU: I’m me after all! HC: I wonder what it is. It feels like he doesn’t know what he’s saying himself (laughs).

―― There are the lyrics “paint the world with my colours”, but what is “my colour” for everyone? YJ: If I had to “paint the world with my colours” as per the lyrics, I think it’d be black. When I’m given something or doing something from my own volition, I’m the type to work with that on the limits I set rather than within the set parameters. Black is the result of various colours mixed together, so resonating with how my own parameters don’t change, I think it’ll be black. JU: My colour is white. It’s easily coloured and will accurately display whatever colour is added to it. HC: I think I’m gold. Since I’m a star. Worldwide star! DH: I’m rainbow. I often want to express myself musically and have many dreams. I’m in the process of creating my own colour. It’s not rainbow yet, but I want to continue adding more colours. ZL: Sky blue. Like Jongup with white, it has that same quality of bringing out other colours. With blue being the theme colour for this album, I want to show that with sky blue. YG: Black and white. Good and evil, I have both sides so I think it’s black and white.

Episodes from filming the “HONEYMOON” MV at Jeju-do?

―― There are various items (goldgish, flowers, pills) and numbers (16, 5, 1, 3, 5) scattered throughout the music video, and images of “violence” & “dark” from the lyrics are reflected. Is there a deeper meaning hidden? YJ: We made it so that the music video itself is a representation of the “BLUE” theme. Regarding those elements, since it’s in the figurative realm, there were ideas to put in multiple elements that couldn’t be understood with just one viewing, and so various items were included. What we want people to focus on is that whilst the music video is colourful and refreshing overall, there are items with a slightly heavier quality like pills and numbers submerged in red water. The fantastical yet deep message borne through those elements is also included.

―― Were the numbers a sort of puzzle for the fans? YJ: Yes. The hint is the alphabet. HC: Since it’s a colour series, in it’s construction, there a some elements from “WAKE ME UP” brought on through. As such, I think it’ll be interesting if you watch it with the “WAKE ME UP” music video too.

―― How was the solo filming for each member? DH: I was filming by the seaside and although it was a little dangerous in order to get a nice picture, I also filmed on the rocks. I went to the very end and since I was barefooted, I got a few cuts. The filming was completed as I was doused by the strong waves from behind me.

―― Did you catch a cold from being wet? DH: It was really hot so it was actually refreshing. ZL: The place I filmed at night was a cultural property. There was a rice field nearby so there were many big bugs which the staff worried about. I danced whilst worrying about how to get a good picture, and when I looked at my hands after finishing filming, there were many green things stuck on them (laughs). I didn’t know if it was grass or something else, but it was a little gross. There were lots of bugs and there were many spider nests too. Not only me, but the staff went through a lot too. HC: I was in the middle of a diet when we were in Jeju-do, so I couldn’t eat much. We could finish filming earlier since I filmed at the same place as Yongguk, and the abalone congee that we ate afterwards was memorable. It was really delicious. YG: Back then, Himchan didn’t want to shoot in the morning and wanted to delay it, so I asked him to eat with me if we finish filming earlier. HC: When I told him “I’m in the middle of a diet though”, he invited me with “it’s early in the day so you can eat” (laughs). JU: When I was in Jeju-do, there was a day where I had no filming at all so I went to a seafood & galbi restaurant near the hotel. It was really delicious. I couldn’t order for 1 person, so I had to get the 2person serving but I ate well and even used the remaining sauce to make fried rice (laughs). HC: After after eating with Yongguk and going to see Jongup, what really surprised me was that the restaurant [he ate at] seemed to be famous, and since there wasn’t much seating, there was a line outside. They were in pairs or with family, and Jongup was the only one by himself making fried rice. Seeing that, I thought he was an amazing child. YJ: The weather was beautiful the whole time when we were filming, but when it was my turn, the weather made a turn for the worse. It got cloudy and we had to film with that weather.

―― How was filming at Jeju-do like? Have you been to Jeju-do before? DH: We still haven’t gone to Jeju-do together for a holiday before. However, we have been to Okinawa with all the members previously. It was the only private holiday we’ve had. It was a very lavish trip. DH: We ate lots and rested lots. [T/N: Not sure if it’s a editing miss that both answers are Daehyun]

―― What was the most memorable about Okinawa? HC: The American Village was memorable. We wanted to try the teppanyaki restaurant that was famous there, but there was a line for it. The 6 of us aren’t good with waiting, and on top of that, it was really hot, so we gave up on that restaurant and ate lobster instead.

―― The most delicious thing you ate at Okinawa was? DH: Lobster. YG: Yakiniku! HC: Yes, yakiniku! There was this casual home-like restaurant. We didn’t really know so we just ordered various things, and when we thought this was nice, it was galbi. It was really delicious. DH: It really was a lavish trip.

“Being together in 10, 20 years is difficult... being together forever is our goal”

―― What sort of song is the 2nd track “ALL THE WAY UP”? DH: It’s a little brighter than “HONEYMOON”, and conveys a softer message in sync with this concept. With a light and cheerful sound, I think it’s a song that completely represents freedom. There’s also a strong vocal line as well as rap. I think you’d feel refreshed after listening to it.

―― There’re the lyrics “let’s aim higher”; please tell us what you’re aiming towards as B.A.P or personally. DH: We’re into our 6th year as B.A.P, and I think it’d be difficult to be together in 10, 20 years. And so, my goal is to be able to be together forever. I have bigger dreams, but I want to realise them one by one at the moment. ZL: I don’t think anything lasts forever, but I want to be together with these members forever and aim even higher. HC: Personally I want to win Jongup. DH: Are you losing to Jongup right now? HC: Personally I think I’m losing in all fronts (suddenly starts singing “makenaide” [Please don’t lose] by ZARD) Excuse me. All the B.A.P members have unique personalities and I respect everyone, but Jongup is the only one who acts against the norm and that’s something I can’t respect. Excluding that, I think we can realise all our goals (laughs). DH: Those actions against the norm are things that normal people won’t usually do. They aren’t wrong (laughs). They are actions that something only Jongup would consider. HC: They’re actually really good. There are times when they’re excellent and come in handy, but there are times when they’re just poison and that’s concerning (laughs). JU: Because I’m white.

“Buying our own CD on LINE LIVE... it was very memorable”

―― Previously, when you released your album “UNLIMITED”, you went on live with Kstyle LIVE with birthday boy Daehyun being the King and such. How was that? DH: To be honest, it was a shame that the King didn’t have many powers, but I was happy alone that they celebrated my birthday. Also I was very disappointed in the cake that the members made for me. JU: Gochujang cake? DH: Yes that. HC: It was really prettily made right? DH: It tasted terrible. Was it wasabi? HC: Mustard. DH: To play with food like that. HC: It’s a work [of art]. A creation. JU: The theme was rose. Beautiful, but there are thorns. DH: Ok ok (laughs). But I was happy. It was a meaningful day with many fans watching on LINE.

―― Do you usually play pranks between the members? DH: We don’t usually play pranks using food, though we do fool around with jokes. We pick up food and eat it even if it’s dropped [on the floor], so we definitely don’t play with food. HC: Do you eat food that’s dropped on the floor? DH: You always give me food that’s been dropped right?

―― Who pulls the most pranks? HC: Daehyun. YJ: It seems like Daehyun knows no limits. DH: That’s right. I often blow a fuse so I play pranks and throw water on them (laughs).

―― Himchan and Jongup went to Tower Records, how was it like to buy your own CD for the first time? JU: It was very memorable. HC: When we went into Tower Records, I was really happy that our album was there. It was our first time buying our own CD. Though we have gone to see our own album in the shops before. It felt very interesting. There were panels displayed too.

―― The CD from that time was delivered to a fan and they were very happy. HC: Ohh that’s great! It was a huge limited edition wasn’t it. It was expensive (laughs).

―― You also reached 10,000,000 hearts for the free live broadcast. There were many comments from the fans who worked hard for the hearts saying “my fingers hurt”. DH: It was such a difficult task, I’m really grateful. HC: At the end of the show, there’s a ranking that shows how many hearts they gave, and our manager was in the top 100. He gave around 90,000 hearts. ZL: 90,000? I pressed around 10,000 times. I pressed subconsciously. I couldn’t control myself. After pressing it, it was more difficult than I thought. HC: I’m very thankful to everyone’s hard efforts. We’ll work hard in response to that. DH: Please invite us to LINE LIVE again!

Dramas, movies, games... What’s B.A.P into lately?

―― In our previous interview, Zelo said that he was obsessed with watching “Fight for My Way”, but is there any drama, music, manhwa or movie that you’ve been into lately? HC: Afterwards, I got into it too! DH: I’m been into the drama “Game of Thrones”. I’ve finished watching season 7! It was very interesting. But since there are members who still haven’t watched it yet so I won’t talk or it’ll be a spoiler. I really want to talk about it but... The dragons! I’ll stop there (laughs). ZL: I stopped at season 2 or 3. I feel like I watched something I wasn’t supposed to... DH: You’re already an adult! ZL: No, I watched it on the plane and I was conscious of the people around me. HC: Youngjae and I are into the drama “Stranger” [Secret Forest]. We/I watched all 20 episodes in one go, nonstop. It was really good. JU: I like “Kimi no Na wa.” [Your Name]. It was interesting. I watched 2, 3 times. I’d actually wanted to watch it in the cinemas, but I couldn’t make the time and wasn’t able to. I like emotional Japanese animes such as “Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo” [The Girl Who Leapt Through Time] and “Kimi no Na wa.”. The movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was also memorable. I’m also playing the mobile game “kyou mo yomigaeri” [resurrected today as well]. ZL: I’ve watched “Fight for My Way” from episode 1, but I haven’t watched the last 2 episodes. I know what happens already, so I didn’t watch the remaining 2 episodes and watched movies at the cinemas. YG: I bought a scooter lately so I’ve been obsessed with that. HC: Yongguk bought the Italian scooter (Vespa) that was in Jude Law’s movie “Alfie”.

It feels like we’ve worn new clothes with “HONEYMOON”

―― Since debuting in Japan in 2013 with “WARRIOR”, 4 years have passed and this single will be your 8th one, how does it feel? DH: I think we’ve been steadily releasing CDs after our debut. Compared to our promotion periods, we’ve really released a lot of CDs. And so, with each new release, you can see more and more of our past, and the areas that we need to improve on and develop are clearly visible. That way, there are more challenges open to us and more things that we want to try.

―― Now, a message please to the fans waiting in Japan. DH: Let’s go on a “HONEYMOON” together. HC: With this song, it feels like we’ve worn new clothes. I hope you have many fun and happy memories from this song. I wish this to be a album full of love and happiness. JU: As usual, I want to meet with the fans and create good memories, and treasure those memories for life. YJ: We worked hard this time too, so I want to show a good stage to everyone. Please give us lots of love and support. Thank you very much. ZL: I’m happy that “HONEYMOON” gives us the chance to see everyone again. I hope this will be a good memory when you look back on it. YG: I’m hoping this promotion will allow us more chances to meet with fans. Please give us your support. Always, thank you very much.

Source: Kstyle Translation: cassie_babyz

Please take out with full credits

#b.a.p #bap #online interviews #honeymoon (jpns)

191 notes · View notes

tariandlenasmusicblog-blog · 6 years ago

Text

25 Most Influential Songs

L: A few years back, during a summer when I was on the road quite a bit and people I loved were moving in all directions, I decided to ask a handful of friends to make me a playlist of songs that influenced them in some way. The only 2 limitations I put on the playlists were 1) No more than one song per album and 2) no more than 25 songs. I tried to emphasize “influential” over “favorite” because I thought it allowed for more freedom to think about the time or space you heard something in, rather than just how many times you’ve listened to it. From some people, these playlists came with lengthy explanations of what each song meant and some playlists came without annotations, and either way, I felt a deep connection to these people listening to these thoughtful, intense, and fun playlists. Of course, I had to make one of my own as well.

T: I was so glad when Lena asked me to make this playlist. It feels like a return, in a way, to a practice I left by the wayside a while ago. 9 years ago, when we first became friends, I used to give people playlists on CD-ROMs as parting gifts. I’d try to describe our relationships in some way - maybe through songs we’d sung together, or through soundtracks to important milestones in our friendships. It was corny, and wonderful, and helped me process the complexity of leaving friends that I did not know that I would see again. I continued making playlists long after that time (go look at my Insta if you want more), but it became a solitary pursuit in a way - a way to show off my present mindset or to expose others to how awesome my music taste is (heh). This playlist feels different - it feels like I’m sharing myself and my interior journey to whatever self-actualization that I can claim.

So first to how we chose to arrange the playlists. When Lena tasked me with making this playlist, I figured that it would be easy – a quick 25-song jaunt that combined the obvious (some Kendrick Lamar here, some Alexisonfire there) with some deep cuts to make me seem more interesting and musically promiscuous than I really am. On the contrary, I’ve devoted at least 10 hours to making this playlist, and it still doesn’t feel complete. After much deliberation, however, I chose to place mine in chronological phases - from a childhood listening to Fela Kuti and Lauryn Hill, to an adolescence filled with 80s hardcore and mid-00s emo, to moving to UWC and discovering the wonders of Fleet Foxes, and then to Quest, where pivotal events like the Ferguson protests completely changed my listening habits. I end off with me now - sometimes melancholy, often questioning, but mostly calm.

A lot of the songs on here take on a yearning, mopey quality. That’s unsurprising – I am, after all, a retired emo kid – but even still I do think that the extent of the mournfulness is worth noting. Take for example the Attack in Black song “If All I Thought Were True”, a dusty gem that sat quite far back in my figurative musical catalogue to add here. The juxtaposition between skinny 14-year-old me sitting down in Milton Keynes and the slide guitar and gruff vocals is hilarious. I’ve been doing this whole existential wondering thing for a long-ass time.

L: I chose to arrange my playlist chronologically. It starts with Swallow Tail Jig, the first song I fell in love with as a fiddle player. It goes through my early discoveries in the most emo of years (though I stand by my emo kid decisions!), the rediscovery of folk music through bands like Modest Mouse and Bon Iver. I love that my playlist overlaps with Tari’s here- I have a distinct memory of his excitement when the first song on the new Fleet Foxes record was titled “Montezuma,” the name of the small town where we lived. My weird college phase makes a brief appearance with Xanakis’ musique concrete masterpiece. I was studying the history of electronic music, which I found academically fascinating, but ultimately very few pieces moved me in the way that I know music can. So, I found myself diving back into the angst. The second half of the playlist explores a broader range of styles, definitely delving into more electronic-influenced stuff and a tendency towards complexity either in music or production. The mold of highly emotional, lyrical songs is hardly broken, though. Where Tari may call himself a retired emo kid, I’m more partial to calling myself a grown-up emo kid, and it’s not something I’ve ever grown out of.

I also want to address something Tari mentioned to me when he was creating his playlist- the glaring lack of diversity. The racial diversity and the gender diversity on my playlist is truly abysmal, but its an accurate reflection of my listening habits throughout the years. I can count on one hand how many female or POC artists I listened to before I got to college. I studied music, and I can count on one hand how many POC or female artists I was taught about prior to taking a feminist musicology class. I’m starting to realize how sexism in the industry that I’ve internalized has impacted the way I think about my own music, and so the last few years I’ve tried to branch out and find music created by a wider range of people and appreciate the new connections that’s brought into my life.

T: My first draft of the playlist had two women on it. Two. That’s not good. I think it says a lot about my listening habits, and I suspect that I am not alone. Unconsciously, I think that I have been conditioned to take music made by men as more reflective of my personality than music made by women. Following on from some of Lena’s thoughts above, the brooding male troubadour with an acoustic guitar is an archetype that is commonplace and fits preconceived notions of what #meaningfulart sounds like.

It is, simply put, bullshit. It’s an insidious form of sexism that I have to work harder to unlearn.

Once I twigged to that impulse, I thought deeper about some of my core life experiences. I thought about wandering around Nairobi listening to Erykah Badu, dancing in dorm rooms to Lauryn Hill and getting over my first real breakup while listening to Laura Stevenson. Those songs are vital to me and to my self-expression. Leaving them off a playlist like this would be absurd.

My playlist does not reflect shared experiences at all. In fact, it’s all a reflection of a deep interior world that I often retreat to. I think this task was so difficult because I use music to complement and to complete my emotional expression. Songs aren’t just songs to me – they are experiences, memories, dreams and fears. So trying to pin down 25 songs that are influential to me feels like trying to pick my 25 favourite brain cells – the point is that they all work together to create a vital part of what makes me who I am.

L: I could drag out this post into a series of overwrought sappy stories, but I’ll spare you and summarize the trend. Very few of these are songs I’ve “discovered” on my own. They are shared with me, either in dorm rooms or on USB drives and mix CDs like the ones Tari gave me back in the day. Those that aren’t are songs I’ve seen in incredible live performances, or maybe played covers of in one of the shortlived cover bands I’ve graced with my skills. The shared experience of music is so powerful as both a listener and a creator, and in the hours and hours that I have spent creating this playlist, I’ve come to one that’s 90% about those communal moments. Blasting Noname driving around Logan Square, windows down with my friends for an entire summer. Doing a crazy arrangement of Chicago with more than a dozen musicians in high school. Seeing Bon Iver debut 22, A Million in a field in the middle of Wisconsin with my closest friends next to me. The music that influences me is as much about the music as it is about the connections it’s helped me build with people and places, and, in a phrase, that’s why I love music.

#music #ramble #nostalgia #emokids #25mostinfluential #hiphop #folk

0 notes

brandbaylis · 8 years ago

Text

CULTURE: COMMITMENT V. CATCHPHRASE

Almost 2 years ago, a 1-part exhaustive, 1-part energetic interview took place between Dame Dash, Charlemagne the God, DJ Envy, and Angela Yee on nationally syndicated The Breakfast Club, where Dash referred to certain individuals in the music industry as ‘…vultures’. While I don’t have an opinion on his emphatic charge, I have failed to escape the chord he struck with myself and fellow colleagues with whom I watched the entire interview. We were not alone. Since then there has been an oft-miscued catchphrase circulating through music, and thumbtacked to the strategic marketing and messaging of various artists. Dame Dash was effectively…saying something. And it wasn’t for show or popularity. It was ‘for the…’ CULTURE Milestones in academia, development and common exchanges of intellect, and even celebration of the arts or the concerns of any given society are the components that have historically defined this one term, which also distinguishes us and our uniqueness to each other as an entire body, humankind. #CULTURE Somewhere on a long distance highway where studious journalists and artistic expressionists travel with no final destination, where a gridlock of findings and ideas are welcome, I believe that individuals from extremely differing vehicles of academia and modes of thought like Anthony Bourdain, Sonia Sanchez, and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to name only a few, have and continue to guide us down this highway either uplifting, entertaining, or educating…pushing us and culture forward. Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee…Bryant Gumble and Bob Costas, Winfrey and Walters, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan…hell, James Brown, Bon Jovi, Madonna, and Bruce Springsteen…all agents of culture that have exploited their varied platforms through their work or clout, which in some way has assisted us all in learning about each other. Although the constituents are absent of perfection, the conventional characteristic of any sector of culture is that it is unflawed, and there is beauty in this very commonality. Identifiable, but not limited by namesake, language, cuisine, garb, and art, culture transcends trend and abides not by any period of time, and it’s lifeline is humanity. Heroic academicians who are rightfully celebrated as critics and scholars are only such because of their public venues. However, we are all humble citizens of and counsel to our culture, with an equal duty to embrace our origins, to celebrate our contributions and to pursue the promises of diversity by welcoming the differences of our neighbor’s culture. As a first generation offspring of music’s last gift, which birthed its genre of fashion, art, and dance, my social contemporaries and I continue to enjoy all that hip hop has given to us. It is this music once rebuked that eventually bullied its way into corner offices of not just record companies, but in and throughout corporate America. It is this culture that continues to hand out parachutes of redemption for so many of us that could not imagine traveling outside of the inner cities of which we were born and bred. This is the culture that has converted hustlers and nerds alike into catalysts of the culture itself. KRS-One, Nas, J. Cole, Common, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Nick Grant, Lauryn Hill, Talib Kweli, Odd Future, Mannie Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Drake, Ice Cube, Cypress Hill, Twista, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Buckshot, Dr. Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, Outkast, David Banner, Jidenna, MURS, Rapsody, Run DMC, De La Soul, UGK, Master P, Queen Latifah, Will Smith, Crooked I, and Public Enemy…these are only a few wildly listed names that may either resonate with or confuse you as to what qualified some to be recognized in the same thought space as a Gumble, Winfrey, or Spielberg. A colorful gumbo of personalities, and maybe to you, a puzzling spectrum of musical content, indeed, but in their own rite have been present and generous of themselves by exploitation of their platforms, or by lining their lyrics with the food…the fuel required to mobilize a culture as it goes forward. FOR THE CULTURE The day that I heard the lyrics, “I do this for my culture…” by Shawn Carter in 2001, his sincerity resonated acutely with me, at a time in my life when I was figuring out my next vocational opportunity. I took those words personally, and have heeded the entire verse as somewhat of a challenge. That second verse of “Izzo” wasn’t just poetry. It was a prophecy stated during the beginning of an end to music’s so-called golden era. Over fifteen years later, Nas continues to maintain the same declaration as he states, “…I’m assistin’ to push the culture forward…” on last year’s Major Key album by DJ Khaled. These aren’t coincidences nor should they be reduced to cool catchphrases. Shawn and Nas surely aren’t necessarily inventive in their commitment to the culture per se, but their influence within and regard for the culture is unremitting. While I am a staunch opponent of censorship and a feisty proponent of free expression, I doubt that I am without company in witnessing the sometimes cringe-worthy, covetous…possessive culture this and culture that slangin’ of late, guiding us to a suspect exit off this highway I mentioned earlier. Fornication with another man’s woman, experimentation and abuse of illicit and over the counter drugs, pitching dirty greenbacks on the backsides of bad belles, who happily refer to each other as bad b*tches, trappin’ in a bando, and having the plug on extendos for my heat reads like a whole lotta debaucherous fun. Much of what we’re nodding our heads to today. But, does this fortify the culture we boast about doing it for? That is up to the artists and their fans to establish. “Bad and Boujee” has remained in recurring rotation on my work and personal iPhones, as well as my iPad since December. I love the song. It’s catchy. The production is simple, but good. It’s a smash hit as expected and thanks to Donald Glover, it’s a notable song around the globe. The artists, like it or not, are symbols of hip hop culture and the song is featured on their recently released album, entitled…Culture. But…is it really? That is for the artists and their fans to determine. Armenians in Glendale, East Africans on Fairfax, K-Town between Western and Alvarado, West Indians in East Flatbush, Dominicans and Puerto Rican’s in Spanish Harlem, Hasidic Jews off of Kingston and Eastern Parkway…these locations are results of a social practice…a practice that pushes cultures forward. A practice called community. As a lifetime student that has failed, learned, succeeded, tried again, failed again, triumphed, and never gave up, I have discovered that there are great riches gained in the practice of community and thereby culture. Those riches aren’t found in cheap gold, flawed diamonds, under the hood a 4-syllable sports car, or in the soles of footwear designed in a country one can’t even find on a globe. Culture is greater than one culture itself, and is evidence that diversity is a necessity. It is ill-understood if measured by material possessions or behavior that corrupts the humanitarian in us. #FORTHECULTURE Over 29 million viewers learned about the ugly realities of the music business, if they hadn’t already known before viewing BET 3-night event, now celebrated as The New Edition Story. The New Edition Story revealed the rudiments of artist development and the mastery of not only dance and choreography, but showmanship. Ava DuVernay’s documentary, 13 snatched the sunglasses off of the black eye that the Thirteenth Amendment is. Common dropped an album that really matters only four days prior to the 2016 Presidential Election Day; a 15-song ode, Black America Again. The Kings of R&B, Ava’s artful reveal of the constitution and Common’s album with substance and cause; Good, bad in indifferent, where there is enlightenment and education there is the advance of culture. The three aforementioned, for example, are for the culture. A very powerful societal gem that word, culture is. A word with meaning before and after us; too heavy to be hung on the plasticity of chic chatting and mogul mumbles. I surmise that in pushing it forward we practice community, we accept that we are only as versed as our studiousness, and we resolve that there is no one authority on culture, no matter how sexy our catchphrases. If it’s for the culture, enlightenment and education are present.

#fortheculture #culture #music #Migos #jayz #nas #hiphop #djenvy #angelayee #charlamagne tha god #thebreakfastclub #michaeljordan #magicjohnson #anthonybourdain #soniasanchez #oprah winfrey

1 note · View note

the-still-small-voice · 7 years ago

Text

Permission to Create

There is an epidemic taking place. I’ll limit my judgement to American culture, since it’s the one I grew up in. I’m aware there are exceptions to the rule, but the toxicity seems to begin at the root. Not only did I grow up in America, but in the great and restless state of New Jersey, which often epitomizes the very problem I’m here to address: Creatives feel they are no longer “allowed” to create.

I started singing and performing for family members when I was three years old. I dedicated the foot of our family staircase as my stage. It was the same staircase where I first faced mortality. My mother sat me down at two years old to tell me about the death of a family member. It’s a moment I still remember despite being so young, and it was a peculiar foreshadowing of my later inclination to turn heartache into song.

Around ten, I began writing in the front yard of our suburban house, complete with white-picket fence. I had no instrument other than my voice and no concept of the “right way” to write a song, but I loved making lines rhyme over melody, and that was enough.

One night, while asleep at thirteen, I had a defining dream that I could play guitar fluidly. I was sitting in the entryway of my childhood church and people were coming from opposite directions - the outside doors and the sanctuary doors - to sit around me on the floor and listen. I woke up and told my parents. It inspired my dad to buy me my first guitar, and despite all previous attempts to play, this time it stuck. I spent hours in my bedroom learning songs and writing my own. I had no teacher - I just learned whatever I needed to learn for the next thing I was trying to do. Then, naturally, I recorded videos of the songs and sent them to whichever boy I happened to be interested in.

In my mind, there was never another option for what I’d do with my life. I tried exploring the music realm for something worthy of a college major, but I had no interest in teaching. I didn’t know how to locate a four-year college with a great recording program, and thank God, because otherwise, I’d be in-debt for an education I could’ve gotten on YouTube before proving myself someone’s worthy unpaid intern.

I love education. I love learning and reading about all topics (minus math). I won’t sit here and pretend I don’t care what people think, but when it comes to maintaining the status-quo, I’ve always erred on the side of rebellion (sometimes to my detriment, though often to my benefit). I never saw the logic in paying $20,000 - $40,000 per year for an education that wasn’t even streamlined in the direction I hoped to go (rock-stardom) in order to satisfy my high-school guidance counselor.

(Side-note: I swear to God, if Belmont University offered a “Rockstar 101” class, they could probably afford to purchase the rest of Nashville within the first year.)

So there I was, left with no formula, in a section of the country that isn’t exactly defined by it’s creative endeavors once you remove the majestic works of Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. I was incredibly lucky to have parents who supported me both in music and in finances, but they also wanted me to learn how to function in everyday life. This resulted in their emphasizing what I considered to be petty nuisances; things such as: budgeting, household chores, and holding down a day-job.

My brain was so caught up in the philosophical (and episodes of Laguna Beach), that I struggled with the idea of simple day-to-day responsibilities (still do). I saw my parents’ attempts to teach me the benefits of discipline as nagging, and it paralyzed me. I assumed I must have been devastating them with my irresponsibility. Really, they wanted to cultivate my potential.

I didn’t have any notion for how fiscal responsibility or time management could affect my creative life. I was seventeen! I was trying to write sad songs and smoke cigarettes to fit in (and not fit in). I didn’t care about having money for the mere sake of having it, which seemed to be what so many people around me were doing - hoarding their paychecks to feel the illusion of safety that a number on a bank statement could bring. I wanted to play music and see the world. I didn’t have the mental capacity, since the human brain isn’t even fully developed until somewhere around twenty-five, to correlate working a job with pursuing my art. I didn’t contemplate the fact that maybe I’d want to build a home studio one day or buy a house in a city with a booming market so I could save on rent, work less, and write more. If I’m being honest, I still have a really hard time staying motivated, but I’ve learned a few tricks along the way.

Things like:

1. A Positive Environment Changes Everything.

In Nashville, there’s no end to the misery of the stifled artist. The food industry is one of the best places to work if you’re a touring musician. You have plenty of co-workers to cover shifts, and at some restaurants, six months of reliable service is enough to deify you (or at least grant you the ability to ask for favors), but they can also be a real soul-sucker. Aside from grown men pitching fits over untimely refills on their Diet Cokes, I can recall a co-worker whose hours were triple my own. He was working to pay off loans from the aforementioned university, and now he didn’t even have time to make the music he’d spent $200,000 to study.

As much as I sympathize with the over-worked creative, submersing yourself in an environment of people who’ve had their dreams crushed can be toxic to your own. They feel they’re no longer permitted to pursue what they once loved because the so-called “real world” has hit them like a brick to the face. If you’re not careful, you’ll soon find yourself commiserating over one-too-many beers and accepting artichoke dip as the extent of your life’s calling.

You are an artist. That means you are intuitive. If you walk into a job interview and everyone in the building is trudging around grimacing and muttering complaints about their existence, do yourself a favor and find a different place to work. Creativity is energy, and what you spend it on matters.

2. Your Time is Valuable.

I’m twenty-eight years old with over fifteen years of childcare experience. I’m CPR certified and trained in First Aid, yet I still have a hard time asking for more than $12 an hour to keep people’s children from sticking their fingers into electrical sockets. Meanwhile, the average cocktail costs $12 and takes about fifteen minutes to disappear. I’m afraid of “offending” someone, even subtly, by stating my own worth, and THAT, my friends, is half the reason why the music industry has gone to shit, in my humble opinion.

Thankfully, artists are resilient. We find uncanny ways to support ourselves in order to keep creating, even if it involves borderline pleading with our friends to pre-order an album or trading gear on craigslist to make ends meet. Then, after all the effort, we have the privilege of listening to our extended family members complain about how we’re “always asking for something on ‘The Facebook’.”

The South lends itself to a sense of community, but in the region where I grew up, asking for help was often equated with weakness. You don’t borrow your neighbor’s lawnmower. Instead, you work until you can buy a brand new one, preferably nicer than theirs.

All this to say: you are allowed to put a price on the things you need to do to survive in order to alleviate pressure from the things you want to do. You’ll have more time to create and you’ll feel less drained. I am by no means claiming you should do your day job and then give away your creative endeavors for free (a sure way to be taken advantage of), but you will do some of your best work when paying your rent isn’t hanging in the balance. As time passes, if you stick to your guns, you’ll find people who are more than willing to pay you for your skillset because your experience and passion will be evident, shining through in conversation. You’ll sound like you know what you’re talking about because you do know what you’re talking about, and that’s when you quote them exactly what you know you’re worth.

3. Art is Work

If something takes time and energy, it is work. That’s just science, y’all. When you start pursuing a career and taking risks in your chosen field (i.e. going on a tour, fundraising for a record, or moving to a different city), you WILL encounter naysayers. People who are creatively blocked, or don’t believe themselves to be creative, will inevitably question you. You’re rocking the boat, and it makes them uncomfortable. Some will be inspired by your efforts, while others who haven’t felt inspiration in years, interpret it as condemnation - as if your differing priorities are a subtle attempt to shame their own. Suddenly, you feel obtrusive for simply talking about your dreams.

The easiest way to tell who has an alcohol problem at a party is by casually mentioning you’re not drinking - then wait to see who tries to pour tequila down your throat. It’s the same with risk-taking: the ones who barrage you with questions about how you’ll make money or say things like, “You know, men don’t like strong women”, are the ones subconsciously wondering what might’ve happened if they hadn’t surrendered their entire existence to the promise of a 401K.

Is there anything wrong with a 401K? Of course not. (I had to Google the definition, but it sounds pretty okay!) What’s not okay is acting as the voice of cynicism and chopping away at someone’s dreams just because they chose to take a different, less security-oriented path. Thankfully, we get to choose to ignore those voices.

Work: “Activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.”

Granted, there is a secondary definition that involves “employment for the sake of earning income”, but the primary definition of work is rooted in a sense of purpose, while the second involves a focus on money. The irony is that so much of what we do to achieve a sense of purpose involves no money, while much of what we do for money seemingly involves no purpose. The goal is to find what inherently gives us a sense of meaning and then, without shame, gradually let the mental and physical effort we put forth provide for us monetarily as well.

We can absolutely pursue our passions while having unrelated day jobs, but there are only 24 hours in a given day, and we should be sleeping for a third of them. If you want your craft to become full-time, you’ll have to channel your energies in a way that eventually releases you from the hours spent wiping tables or sitting in a cubicle. Balancing family life, physical and mental health, and pursuing inspiration in the form of reading, travel, and rest are not luxuries - they are the foundation of a thriving human life. We are allowed to remove what doesn’t serve us or find a way to better make it serve us. For instance: asking for a well-deserved raise so you can spend less hours at work and more hours in a studio or with your children isn’t brash or selfish, it’s actually the most responsible thing.

Here’s what happened to me: I trusted my gut and moved to a different city the week before I turned 22. Shortly thereafter, I started playing shows, making an album, and meeting tons of new people, but I was also a very small fish in a very big pond. This was equally as difficult as it was necessary to my growth as an artist. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve hit what I thought were impenetrable emotional walls trying to salvage a sense of confidence or originality. On any given day, at any given restaurant, I inadvertently share space with Grammy-award winners. I’m not exaggerating - I once showed up to a random babysitting job to find FOUR Grammys sitting on top of their father’s desk. How the hell am I supposed to ever feel like a real musician?

It comes down to this: I choose to. I’m reminded of the truth - that this little indie-artist is just as worthy of the label “musician” as those who’ve won awards or been on television. Plus, If I actually think about it, winning a Grammy has never been a personal goal. So why am I gauging my definition of success against those who have what I don’t even want? I’m a musician because I play music whether or not people are watching.

Now when I go home, the same people who questioned my choices and intentions think I’m living a revolutionary existence simply because I’ve been on a few short (self-booked) tours and saw Kelly Clarkson in person once. The point is: If you learn how to climb the walls, you end up stronger. The naysayers either come around or end up on the other side of the wall. A mere few years after people are done discouraging you for your work, they’ll be applauding you for it, or they just won’t have anything to say at all. You will ALWAYS fall somewhere different on the “success” spectrum depending on where you are and who you are around, but if you haven’t decided you’re allowed to be an artist, you’re going to let other people decide for you - and if you don’t decide to get off of that roller coaster, it’s going to inevitably make you sick.

One more thing:

As artists, we are constantly biting the bullet. We feel anxiety and act in spite of it. We get vulnerable on stages in front of complete strangers. We work for years with no guarantee of money or recognition. We often find ourselves as sacrifices on the altar of opinion without ever asking to be there. We strive to balance strength with sensitivity, but no one gets to tell us we’re lazy.

My band played a show in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and here’s what our day looked like:

-Wake up at 6am to meet at a central location.

-Load gear into the van.

-Drive 5 hours (with stops).

-Meet up with our fill-in keyboardist.

-Unload gear into his house.

-Practice for three hours.

-Re-load gear back into the van.

-Drive to the venue.

-Unload gear out of the van into aesthetically unpleasing green room.

-Set up merch.

-Wait three hours.

-Sound-check.

-Play the show.

-Talk to people and sell merch.

-Reload gear back into the van AGAIN.

-Drive 4 hours back to Nashville.

-Get home at 2am so no one misses work the next day.

I repeat: No one gets to tell us we’re lazy.

4. “What Do You Want?”

I’ve was technically unemployed for the last two months, though not for lack of searching. As of writing this, I’ve been hired at two different coffee shops, but up until a few days ago I’d been forced into limbo - waiting on callbacks or jobs to actually start.

While not-working in the traditional sense, I’ve had time to, yet again, ask myself what I would LIKE to do. I spent much of the last month bouncing between searching for a local day job and pursuing freelance writing jobs online in order to find something that could travel with me.

After a co-writing session that turned into a two hour pep-talk with my friend Sam, I realized I had a knack for coaching people through their creative frustrations and songwriting hurdles. It hit me over the head like a lightning bolt, so naturally I spent the next week trying to find someone to tell me I wasn’t qualified. No one objected. In fact, most everyone I told deeply affirmed the idea with, “You should TOTALLY do that. You’re made for it!” (I have really good people in my life). Now, slowly but surely, I’m being paid to do it for others because I know how to cultivate a safe space for fledgling (or simply intimidated) artists, after having waded through many of the same trenches myself.

If you’re a driven person over the age of twenty-five, there’s a significant chance you have ten to fifteen years of experience doing SOMETHING that someone else is just starting out doing. There’s also a significant chance they’d desperately love to process with someone further along than they are. Again, I don’t have four Grammys on any of my shelves (I barely have shelves), but I do know what it’s like to wonder if my lyrics are worth showing the world, and I do know the paralyzing terror of hearing your voice played back over speakers for the first time.

The question, “What do you want?” is one of the most dangerous and profound questions you can ask or be asked. Growing up in a dysfunctional church environment, I wasn’t allowed to ask it. I was supposed to ask: “What does GOD want me to do?” Conveniently, there were plenty of ill-intentioned leaders eager to answer on behalf of the congregation my family belonged to, and it usually involved God being suddenly strapped for cash.

A poor sense of the nature of God (the Universe, Creator, Energy, or whatever works for your vocabulary) led me to assume I was required to do the complete opposite of whatever I enjoyed.

“I want to play music on stages where people connect with the songs I’ve written. But that’s clearly egotistical. I guess I’ll have to become a missionary to Africa” (crazy how many of those God seems to need per youth group).

“You have free will and God loves you unconditionally…

But that thing you’ve always dreamed of doing? Not allowed.”

What’s the deal with these mixed messages?

Honestly, what’s more egotistical? Wanting to play music in a band, or assuming God needs you to play the martyr because the salvation of Africa hangs in the balance of your life-choices? Everybody, chill out.

We spend so much time doing things out of guilt. I’m not saying anyone should become intentionally calloused toward the needs of others, but do you really want a bunch of people at your birthday party who feel obligated to be there? The reason we become cynical is due, in-part, to forcing ourselves into environments, boxes, and facades we were never designed to be a part of in the first place. Try saying “no” to anything you would have done out of guilt or obligation for one week and watch how much healthier you feel and how much more energy you have. “I don’t want to” is a perfectly acceptable answer, and it will change your life and reshape your priorities faster than you can imagine.

So what if, just what if you were put on this earth to do the very thing you love doing? Far-fetched, I know, but let’s all stop pretending we know what the word “reality” means when few of us have been alive for more than eighty-five years. For God’s sake, we exist on a speck of dust floating through space.

Why not leave this place more beautiful and more inspiring than when we entered it? Can you fathom Michelangelo talking himself out of painting the Sistine Chapel? Imagine if he’d convinced himself to take the “humble-route” and pursued a behind-the-scenes life merely on the basis of comfort, but at the expense of his artistic instinct?

I can almost guarantee, if you’re the type of person who is hyper-concerned about becoming an egotistical maniac, you run little risk of it actually happening. Worry about how you’ll deal with fame when you’re actually famous - otherwise you’re wasting precious energy you could be using to fuel your present work. Plus, the world is already running rampant with much bigger ego-maniacs ruining things. The more you exercise your creative nature, the healthier you become. The healthier you become, the more effortlessly you can benefit those around you. Take a deep breath.

5. It Matters.

There’s enough garbage going on in the world. Any remotely sensitive person could easily fall prey to emotional paralysis simply by looking around for too long.

That’s exactly what happens. Whether it’s the pain of poverty or feelings of inadequacy when surrounded by other artists, we all have a difficult time creating because it feels like an uphill battle with no actual results - especially if we’re prone to discrediting ourselves. In a recent conversation with a beloved friend, he expressed feeling a sense of pointlessness when it came to writing new songs. He wasn’t writing out of a place of sadness anymore, and he felt like anything he could say had already been said by one of his influences with a larger fanbase. As a personal fan of his music, I wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him (I probably did).

I don’t care if you think your songs sound similar to someone else’s, there are people in the world who have never even heard of the “someone else” you are familiar with. A younger person may stumble upon your art, allowing you to become one of their influences because they happened to be at the right place at the right time and something in your voice resonated in them. The only way you get to decide who crosses paths with your work is by never putting it out there at all.

Redemption happens when all of the aforementioned garbage gets recycled into something even more extraordinary than it was in the first place.

This is the job of the artist: to open ourselves up like the vessels that we are, letting all the sadness and bullshit and divinity swirl around in us until a song spills out and the paint hits the canvas.

If we don’t, we end up miserable and withholding. The way fireflies light up entire forests simply by offering the individual flecks of light they inherently contain is a profound image of what we’re each endowed with, not just as creatives, but as living and breathing human beings.

6. Don’t Fake It (But For God’s Sake, Please Stop Being So Self-Deprecating).

I have a love/hate relationship with the phrase: “Fake it ’til you make it.” On one hand, I appreciate the concept of cultivating confidence through action, but the word “fake” has a disingenuous ring to it. What we’re actually talking about is a form of hyper-honesty.

Call yourself what you are. Stop pretending you are what you’re not. I am definitely not a surgeon, and pretending to be one would only result in a series of lawsuits. But there are things I can do and don’t do, simply by convincing myself I am not qualified enough despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Imposter Syndrome: “a concept describing high-achieving individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud’.”

A few years ago, I showed up to a babysitting job I’d found online. A brand new mother had just moved with her husband from New York City and needed some occasional help watching her newborn son. She was a writer for any number of well-known music publications - Nylon, American Songwriter, etc. She’d also started her own Nashville music blog.

Naturally, I was somewhat intimidated, but I was just there to help with the baby - not try to promote myself. I wasn’t even comfortable enough in my songwriting skin to show my music to friends yet - but she politely asked me about my life and I mentioned it in passing.

One afternoon, after watching one of her artist interviews get derailed by technical difficulties, I sat down with my new journalist friend and her colleague as they drank a glass of wine and I held the baby. I commiserated, while trying to convince them it hadn’t gone nearly as badly as they thought it had. We chatted for a while when, out of nowhere, she directed a question at me:

“You said you play music right?”

“Uhh...yeah?” I said nervously. (I knew exactly where this was going.)

“Will you play us a song? I’m gonna go grab my husband’s guitar.”

“You really don’t have to...”, but she was upstairs before I had time to talk her out of it.

She came back downstairs, acoustic guitar in hand, and I nervously chose one of my songs to play while I kept my eyelids tightly sealed. After all was said and done, both women looked at me dumbfounded. They’d really liked it, and the novelty of living in a city where your babysitter doubles as a decent songwriter hadn’t worn off yet (after a few years, we all safely assume our Uber driver has played Conan at least once).

Without reading a single blog I’d ever posted, hearing another song, or even knowing my education level, she offered me the opportunity to write for her website. It could be as often or as little as I wanted, and while she couldn’t pay me, she could get me into nearly any show I wanted to cover for free.

I took her up on the offer, and what started as free entry into shows turned into, “Hey, do you want to grab a quote from the artist? Here’s their contact email”.

The first time this happened, it was literally hours before the show, and I boldly decided I was going to ask for a full-on interview and see if I could get away with looking like I knew what the hell I was doing. That night, I proceeded to interview Andrew Joslyn, violinist and head of Passenger String Quartet, who were touring as David Bazan’s backing band at the time. Our interview struck up a friendship and resulted in eating late-night food with everyone after the show.

After the first impromptu interview went well, I was asked if I wanted to interview the band Copeland. I recorded the answers to their questions on my shattered iPhone 4 and again, felt the high of an opportunity I had zero formal education in. There are people who go to college for years just hoping to sit down with an artist they respect in order to write a piece and see it published. I was doing it because I’d shown up to the right babysitting job and someone decided to tell me I could be a writer if I wanted to be. All I had to do was take her up on the offer and not shy away from it.

It happened again a few weeks ago. I was able to walk into Grimey’s Record Store an hour before the band Manchester Orchestra released their newest album. I chatted with a bunch of high-profile music industry people (only because I have no idea who they are when I start talking to them). I even got up the nerve to ask Andy Hull for a few words, all while secretly tipping my hat to my teenage self.

And guess what? No one cared. No one kicked me out or said, “Hey, I can’t put my finger on it, but you seem like you don’t belong here.” I was doing exactly what I was there to do. The only person who thought I was getting away with anything was me. I even ran into a friend who’d been specifically hired by the band (and previously, many other reputable artists) to take photos at the cd release. We shared a mutual moment of: “How did we end up here?”

If I had decided “I’m not a writer, I don’t know how to do this,” or shied away from drafting an email to someone’s publicist for fear of not sounding professional enough, I’d have missed out on these rare chances to ask artists who make me want to play music, what makes them want to play it.

The moral of the story isn’t to name drop or look “cool” (spoiler alert: I’m not). It’s no exaggeration when I say that, immediately after that cd release show I headed to a pet-sitting job to scoop cat litter. Life is interwoven with highs and lows, and misery stalks you the moment you begin over-identifying with any title. But I think maybe, if we took all of the energy we spend on trying to make our lives appear a certain way, and funneled it into saying “yes” to what we’re actually passionate about, we’d be astounded at the places we find ourselves and the (sometimes, very specific) gifts we are handed.

So if you have something you love doing, the only pretending involved is saying you don’t love it or you can’t do it. Sometimes you go out on a limb, but more often than not, it pays off. Sometimes you work for years without any pay all, but it doesn’t mean you aren’t deserving of the title, the same way the title “Mother” and “Father” don’t come attached to a salary.

Stay humble. Take the good with the bad. Successes are often followed by a litter box that needs cleaning. Don’t forget about the people who love you regardless of social standing. Know your worth is inherent and not dictated by what you do. If this sounds reasonable, then by all means, just go do the damn thing.

7. Pay Attention

The mundane is not my forte. In fact, I can book entire tours and endless road trips simply to avoid the dreaded monotony of everyday life. In part, it’s human nature - familiarity can breed contempt, but only if you let it.

It’s too easy to cop out of life when it isn’t exciting. Rather than defining the act of “growing up” as a mandatory selling of your soul to the corporate gods, what if we saw it as true maturity - a realization that the good and the bad aren’t always so cut and dry. In the previous story about how I fell into music blogging, I can almost guarantee that, while driving to babysit, I was thinking: “How much longer do I have to do these peasant jobs before I get to do something distinguished and significant?”

Well, years later, I’m still babysitting people’s kids and scooping cat litter. But I’ve also interviewed bands, toured with my own music, and now help people work through their artistic paralysis. If I’d been above taking care of someone’s son (a pretty significant job, actually), I wouldn’t have crossed paths with the same opportunities, or maybe I would have been too apathetic to recognize the things that were unfolding in ways I wouldn’t have predicted.

But let’s forget about the future for a moment.

Nothing is guaranteed. We are free to dream or watch television, go to church or not go to church, talk to the homeless person or walk past them because we don’t know how to respond. We will make mistakes. We will feel ill-equipped. We will tragically lose loved ones and wonder if there’s even a point in trying. Then, we may see art blossom from the depths of despair - not because we were aiming to make a concept album, (our minds wouldn’t dare to prostitute the heartache) but rather because, “art is born in attention.” - Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Cameron goes on to say:

Art may seem to spring from pain, but perhaps that is because pain serves to focus our attention onto details (for instance, the excruciatingly beautiful curve of a lost lover’s neck). Art may seem to involve broad strokes, grand schemes, great plans. But it is the attention that stays with us; the singular image is what haunts us and becomes art. Even in the midst of pain, this singular image brings delight. The artist who tells you different is lying.

We don’t need to be sad to make art.

We simply need to be paying attention.

Maybe you’re up every day at the crack of dawn opening a coffee shop. You have five minutes to yourself before your co-workers all show up. You’re thinking about how much longer you can “keep doing this shit,” when you happen to notice the streaks of pink sky out the window as the sun is coming up. You take a deep breath. The steam from the coffee billows around your hands and the smell suddenly reminds you of a camping trip you took with your dad when you were seven.

Inspiration is limitless. It is unwarranted and uncontrolled. It seeps in like water and saturates anything even remotely permeable. So we must remain permeable, present, and open-handed. Yes, there is benefit to having discipline in order to actively create (the only reason I was able to drag myself out of bed and into writing today), but if you aren’t allowing inspiration in, what can you expect to put forth? If you can’t take a moment to breathe, even in the midst of work - to thank life for a second of stillness and for letting you be a part of it, then your attempts at productivity will likely be met with frustration.

It is in your nature to create. You think it’s in your nature to work a desk-job you hate for nine hours a day for the rest of your life. You think doing so is “responsible”, but if you really contemplate it, it doesn’t make any sense.

You are a living organism - more closely related to a plant than to a robot. If you act in accordance, you’ll see what happens when you begin trusting yourself to do what you were born to do. You’ll see what happens when, instead of making assumptions about coworkers, you realize they each contain a universe within themselves and have a story to tell. Unexpectedly, you not only see them through a new lens, but you see yourself differently. Your spine straightens with a sense of purpose and you go home to channel what you’ve seen, heard, and tasted so tangibly all day into something that might even move someone else, should they choose to pay attention.

The only moment that exists to us is the one we are experiencing right now, so do your best to honor it. Stop trying to fix the past or manipulate the future. Each moment is building toward something greater than itself, but if we try to rush the process, our foundation gets half-built and the entire thing collapses on itself.

Instead, slow down. Look around. Take a deep breath.

We are overwhelmingly surrounded by wonder.

For creative coaching, email: [email protected]

0 notes