#i go back to a song and end up like wow. was the lyric composition always this bad.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

you've been in the voca scene a really long while, so do you have any songs from when you first got into it that are still bangers despite your taste changing over time?

yeah!!! although for the most part what i listened to when i got into it were the popular songs at the time. or at least semi-well known.

kemu's pandora voxx songs are still up there on my fave songs list especially rokuchounen, reincarnation, and ikasama life game.

i also still have a special place in my heart for the shuuen no shiori project songs despite not being active in the fandom the past few years. sarumane isu tori game is literally how i came up with my url. d-ne my beloved. theres a part in the ia ver of the song towards the end that always sounded similar to when u blow into a straw i always thought that was neat. arikitari heroes is still my most listened to song in my life. song i listened to for like a month straight if not more (+ multiple weeks on & off. for months.) Back In The Day & still have trouble turning off if i put it on.

i also adore old mafumafu songs adagaeshi syndrome was my first & still goes hard & kakushigoto & yuugure semi nikki are still songs i listen to frequently. kuusou sekai to omocha no shinzou was also something i latched onto heavily. also as the resident aoki lapis fan im required to tell u mafu owns her & has used her exactly Once in an album only song toumei palette which thank u for reminding me i think i'll go listen to that now

now the one producer i miss SOOO much who also deleted most of their works is sekaikeiP or #n/a. their songs are. loud. to say the least u will want to turn ur volume down for all but one of them but i HIGHLY recommend sekaikei shoujo wa dennou sekai wo oyogu which is my second fave song of theirs so im super glad its still up. it gets stuck in my head frequently. there was no translation for this when i found it so i tried doing it myself & it went poorly so its a really cool feeling to go from completely not understanding to being able to understand most of it without double checking anything. but i digress. also highly recommend muhyoujou shoujo to yume miru kusuri. again volume warning. solid song tho & this one does have a translation if i remember right. the last one no longer has an official upload anywhere HOWEVER its my favorite of all their songs so i'm breaking my own rules & linking a reupload here. shounen A to mousou shoujo. this one has a normal volume btw its the one thats not super loud. absolutely devastated they didnt keep this up it was one of their more popular songs too. i drew fanart for it & they found it & followed me bc of it. good times. this producer's been missing since 2015 but i still think of them fondly.

debated leaving him off bc of the drama around szm but i. legitimately have no clue if new fans know szm's songs. the idol series of songs are iconic of course. undead enemy as well. personally i also really liked jinrui gofun mae kasetsu. there was a period of time i drew a lot of the girl in the video.

as for more one off songs i still go back to

clean tear's suki ni natteshimatta... ayatsuriningyou. what can i say i love trance songs & aoki lapis.

ken's yokkyuu fuman march.

ych's yotei chouwa quest. also ych's poker face but everyone knows poker face i want people to know this one too.

takamatt's dragon rising.

seleP's ref-rain. actually im a seleP fan in general but this has pretty solidly been my fave the whole time. they do mostly yandere theme songs. which if ur a naisho no pierce fan ur used to anyway. but seleP's more dance/trance in genre.

im sorry this is such a long post ive listened to nearly exclusively vocalo songs since 2013 i know. so many

[rabbitechoes]

every month I'm gonna try to post reviews of three albums from years past!! this week i wrote about one of the most masterful fusions of soul and funk of all time: Hot Buttered Soul by Isaac Hayes!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

Hot Buttered Soul - Isaac Hayes

◇ release date: May 1969 ◇ genres: funk, deep soul, smooth soul

Years ago, I went to the record store with a friend of mine, and while flipping through that store’s soul section we stumbled across this album. Obviously, we giggled. The album art is a top-down shot of this dude’s big bald head and it was called Hot Buttered Soul, it seemed inherently goofy. The protective sleeve over it in the store noted that it was an “ORIGINAL 1969 PRESS,” and the store only made those kinds of distinctions for very “important” albums. Because of that, we were intrigued. My friend decided to take the leap and buy it, not having heard a single note of the music. The owner of the record store seemed so excited when he brought it up there, heaping loads of praise onto it. A few days pass and this friend texts me and says something to the extent of “Dude, you need to listen to this!” Not long after, I listened to it on streaming and then proceeded to track down a vinyl pressing for myself almost immediately after. 

Hot Buttered Soul is a masterpiece, plain and simple. It’s a deconstruction and a rebuilding of pop and soul music. He stretches these compositions to their absolute end. Exploring every twist and turn of these tunes, it’s entrancing. The only song Hayes has a writing credit on is the second track “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic,” (wow, that’s fun to type) other than that this album is completely comprised of pop and soul hits from some of the most prolific songwriters of the decade. 

Isaac Hayes

The most iconic song here is Hayes’ version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s hit song “Walk On By.” A number-one hit for Dionne Warwick a few years prior, the version here is significantly different. What once was an easy-going lounge track is now an intense, sharp, overwhelming odyssey. Extending the song to a lengthy 12 minutes, leaving no stone unturned. Weighty string arrangements, fuzzy warm guitar courtesy of Funkadelic’s Harold Beane, the horns, and Hayes’ psychedelic organs, there’s just so much to this arrangement. Too much to mention in writing, it’s one of those songs that’s better experienced than read about. As a vocalist, Hayes fits perfectly. He’s captivating in his own way, but it never distracts from how captivating the entire arrangement is. You just get … doubly captivated. Absolutely blown away. Hearing this for the first time was so eye-opening and all these years later I’m still in awe of it. This song’s legacy could be written about to no end. It’s become a sample staple in the hip hop world. Sampled by countless artists, the likes of the Wu-Tang Clan, MF DOOM, 2Pac, and Beyoncé just to name a few. It’s one of the greatest songs of all time.

So with as colossal of an opener as that, does the rest of the album hold up? Yes, it absolutely does. “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic” (full disclosure, I copied and pasted it this time) cranks up the funkiness present in the previous song tenfold. The arrangement here is deep funk. Some have interpreted the lyrics to be about heroin addiction, which I can understand especially when the song refers to a doctor warning the narrator that the subject is a danger to his heart. However, the lyrics here almost feel like a means to an end. Hayes’ delivery is nonchalant like he’s just saying what best fits the groove of the song. Either reading of the song fits, it’s pretty brilliant.  It’s also a good reminder that this album’s sound is heavily indebted to not just the intricate orchestration, but from The Bar-Kays work as a backing band as well. These songs are just so masterful on every level.

The second side consists of two more songs. One being his version of “One Woman” written by Charles Chalmers and Sandra Rhodes. This is the most restrained song here, it’s not as sprawling or adventurous, it’s just a damn fine smooth soul cut. Interestingly enough, a month prior, Al Green would do a version of the song for his sophomore album Green Is Blues. With all due respect to Green, I prefer Hayes’ version by a considerable margin. The other song, and the album’s closer, is an epic 18-minute version of the Jimmy Webb penned “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” which was a big hit for Glenn Campbell in 1967. Campbell’s version is great, but the direction Hayes takes the song is infinitely more captivating. The song opens with a low organ, almost drone-like, and subtle contributions from the rhythm section. Hayes opens the song with a spoken word introduction, literally setting up the song. He tells the listener to “travel with [him]” as he tells this roughly 9-minute story. It’s a total subversion of your expectations and I love it. You hang onto every word and that moment when Hayes finally sings “By the time I get to Phoenix, she’ll be rising” is one of the most satisfying payoffs in music history. He takes this song and makes it his own. Completely reconstructing the song for him and him alone.

Isaac Hayes

Hot Buttered Soul still sounds ambitious and enthralling to this day. It’s one of the most intricate albums, not just in the genre, but of the entire 1960s. It is a complete renovation of pop and soul music that hasn’t been replicated to this day. Perhaps the closest anyone has gotten to prog-soul. Everything on this album packs an undeniable punch. It’s been years since I first listened to this record, but it’s still just as powerful, maybe more so, after all this time. You owe it to yourself to experience Hot Buttered Soul.

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

[hotarutranslations]

Thank You, Morning Musume '22!

Evening

For Morning Musume '22's last stage 🎈

After finishing the Countdown Live, really, really, it was a countdown to 2023...... 🌏🎉

Really, thank you very much, for the lots of support in 2022!

Our last live was also, really fun

We're Morning Musume '22!!! We've been Morning Musume '22!!! The moment we said that, my chest felt tighhht 🍀

With that, I realized our time, as Morning Musume '22 was packed 🍀

"Souda! We're ALIVE"'s WOW Seishun da yo-- ♪ part ☺️🎉

I posted it on my Insta story too! love

I really didn't feel like, 2022 was over in the blink of an eye~!

When I turned 25, I heard, after turning 25 time goes by in the blink of eye~ from various people 😕⚠️

With that, in your teens everything is fresh as you're just learning, there are less opportunities when you become an adult, you can feel the year going by quickly.....

Ah, I looked it up, it seems its something like Janet's Law 🤭⚠️

Thats right, therfore, I thought, I see-- but,

I learned a lot things this year as well 🔥 I experienced a lot 🔥 I have lot to look back on like, 🔥 There was that too this year! and that too this year! 🔥

I'm happy 😌🍀

For Moring Musume '22, We were able to leave a lot of memories with the fans, In the first half of the year we ended up having to cancel performances, so there ended up being days of feeling sad, We were able to complete everything in autumn without problem, The result of our Weekly #1 the other day, Greeting our 25th Anniversary, Being invited to, Inazuma Rock Fest and COUNTDOWN JAPAN, we made those records as well,

This year our graduations, Morito Chisaki-chan, Kaga Kaede-chan,

It was a year where everyone, included the 2 of them, left a lot behind 🐣🍀

For all of these, For everyone who met with Morning Musume '22, and everyone who supported us,

Its thanks to your power, really, thank you very much 🔥

And yesterday at yesterday and today's Countdown Live,

L!PP

Sunset Summer Fever

Somehow, we were able to perform it for the first time!!! Thank you very much!!!

Thats right!!!

Kaedy, contacted me! I'll call in if there is an MC! What a talk 🤭❤️

I'm sorry I was just joking with that talk, there wasn't actually an MC but,

The feeling of wanting to sing together, was held tightly by all of us!

I'm really thankful for the opportunity, to get to perform, the song that the 6 of us released this year 💄

"Sunset Summer Fever" The lyrics and composition are from Nishidera Gouta-san, it seems he came on short notice, Waa! I'm happy! It was heart-pounding!

A Blog I Wrote On January 1st

To answer myself from that time,

2022! It was reallllyyyy fun!

Thank you to myself as well 🌷

Really, thank you very much for 2022!

After that,

We're scheduled to appear at 3:00AM on, TBS "CDTV Live! Live!"

We're scheduled to appear at 9:00AM on, Fuji TV "Bakushou Hit Parade"

Look forward to it ❤️

Lets meet '23!

Thank you! Morning Musume '22!

see you ayumin <3

https://ameblo.jp/morningmusume-10ki/entry-12782037299.html

[ladyyatexel]

You guys I saw the current tour of Les Miserables and it was FUCKING INCREDIBLE

I have seen Les Mis like ten times since I was ten years old and the things they did to revitalize it were STUNNING and the cast just utterly spectacular. I want to hear the man who preformed as Valjean sing the original end note from Glöckner's Wie aus Stein/Made of Stone very much.

Songs I never cared for and background stuff they enhanced, just, WOW, I enjoyed it all so much. There was personality and care put into every one of the barricade crew and you could kind of follow their little stories in the background of the larger main beats. The drunken existential dread delivered in a panicked flamboyant way I hadn't heard before, with Gavroche following him and him getting clearly attached with hugs and big brother protective buddies stuff and then after Gavroche is shot the guy is just there, holding him. Stuff starts happening around him and is like you see everything in strobe light slo mo as the deaths for this man hit like fireworks while he clings to a dead boy. Do you see him rush in a the last because he finally thinks it is worth it to fight or is basically suicide? I don't know, but watching it come together is magnificent. They clipped a few songs short or entirely (no more Little People beyond The first line used to tell off Javert) and they changed the speed of a few of them just slightly, and there were some lyrical modifications in places, but nothing made me mad it's always just like oh so they're doing this that's interesting!

Glad to see some race blind casting with our Black Fantine who wasn't wearing a blonde untextured wig. Korean Eponine. I think with what things are and what many people would benefit from seeing is a character we believe was unjustly treated and put in prison and then put on a parole which basically makes him a pariah which then makes him steal and lash out, who is then finally treated as a human and it lets him finally be what he deserved to be as a man who tried to help a starving child. I think a proper touring company would do good things for how people are seeing real people lately with a black man as unshakeable "doing right" Valjean. Ours was not, but I couldn't stop thinking that I would love to see a black performer get the chance to do the role and also see what his presence there could show and mean for people. Nuance would need to be investigated by people qualified to speak on such things further, but my strong feeling while watching was that a prominent production should explore this.

Back to the show I saw, they did some spectacular stuff with spotlighting. The barricade coming into stage just.. looms up over Eponine and all the shapes from these broken pieces of furniture are stark black and white because of the lighting and that's all that's there except for her bright red hat and she's there just standing in the middle staring at the audience and it is so fucking cool. Beautiful composition of individual big shots. A digital background that knows exactly when it is needed and doesn't over power or over stay its welcome.

Anyway hi I usually talk about dolls and Yu-Gi-Oh and distant levels of Star Trek but please consider going and seeing a really spectacular tour of Les Mis if it is hitting up your neck of the woods, especially if it's been a while since you saw it. I feel like I experienced it brand new even though I've known all the words for 25 years or so.

[sugadaily]

On tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, SUGA told stories from before his debut. The period of his life when he struggled with how to live off his music. SUGA and BTS have kept going and going for eight years, and now he’s on their grounds, where he can do anything he wants musically. What began with that long journey is the story of SUGA holding his head up higher and staring at the future, reaching for it.

How are you feeling after your shoulder surgery? You’re doing physical therapy in parallel with work. SUGA: I’m all right. I’m keeping up with the physical therapy, too. I had surgery last year because I wanted to be able to go back to work sooner. I have nothing else to do except music.

You said that there’s nothing for you to do other than music in the “BE-hind Story” interview on YouTube, too. SUGA: It’s true. I tried gaming, but I have no talent for it. The people I play with online get so frustrated if I do. I mean, I’m working hard and got some recognition in my life, and yet people bash me so hard in games. (laughs)

I wonder if there’s a game you can do better in than you do in your career. You’re currently at your sixth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 [with “Butter, at the time of this interview]. (laughs) How are you feeling these days? SUGA: When we were at number one for two weeks straight, I was like, Wow, this is so amazing! But after the fifth or sixth week, we really started to talk about it between ourselves: I really can’t believe this. Anyway, I feel like I have a responsibility. And I think I’ll end up thinking much, much more when we get ready for the next promotion. Even if I just try to enjoy this situation, it hasn’t sunk in. We can’t leave the country, plus there’s lots of issues in the world right now that are much more important than how well we perform on the charts.

As you say, it’s a tough situation, all over the world. How do you feel about releasing “Permission to Dance,” with its positive message, at this point in time? SUGA: It seems like everyone around the world is really tired of this situation dragging out. I wanted to convey a message that tells people to keep hanging on to hope until the very end. Whereas we released the album BE in this situation, seemingly without any certainty, I believe things will slowly get better now. I don’t know if we can go back to the way things were before, but I’m still working with the hope that we can return to a situation that resembles what we had before.

Aren’t you tired of the pandemic being in this prolonged state? SUGA: I look at it as, when you lose one thing, you gain another. I ended up being able to see my family more since I’m in Korea. In that sense, I feel more stable, so I’m not so much tired as hoping each day that things will become okay soon. I keep moving back and forth between work and home, and I’ve started to reflect on parts of myself I didn’t know about before. Like that I feel somewhat comfortable when I start and finish work at a certain time. While I used to have to go to bed at a certain time for work the next day or else I had a hard time getting up early, now I know I’ve figured out what time I should wake up at to make sure I feel good all day. What I pursue in life is emotional stability, and I don’t think there’s really anything too exciting or sad happening these days.

What effect do those emotions have when you work on music? SUGA: They don’t have a big effect on it. I think it affects the way I write lyrics a bit, but I’m not working on any lyrics at the moment. I’ve been making music for a long time, so I think it’s possible for me to express emotions I’m not feeling in the moment. And it’s good that we released “Permission to Dance” in this kind of situation.

You sing rather than rap in “Permission to Dance.” In addition to rapping, you started singing more both before and after BE. What did you learn about your voice? SUGA: “Permission to Dance” was a little bit difficult. I don’t draw a line between singing and rapping or anything, but it was different from our usual style, and the vocals were a bit high, too. So even though it took a while to prepare for it, I worked hard, and even when I asked some older musicians for their opinions, they all said, “It’s good the way you’re doing it. Don’t try to sing better—just sing more.” I think my only option is to sing more, like they suggested.

As far as style goes, you’ve been doing a smoother kind of pop music. Did any differences arise as a result of these changes? SUGA: All things considered, the English was the hardest part. I paid close attention to my pronunciation in “Butter” and “Permission to Dance.” It wasn’t easy to capture that smooth feeling in the songs, so I practiced my pronunciation quite a bit. And I end up breathing a lot when I’m doing an English song, but the rap parts were a bit hard for that reason. There’s a clear difference from Korean songs, since English has so many syllables. But I don’t have any one method I stick with for my vocals yet, so I tend to try lots of different things out.

What do you make of BTS’s achievements over the past year with “Permission to Dance” and “Butter,” as well as the group’s change in style? In the space of a year, you’ve released songs in a style different from MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 or BE. SUGA: As a producer, I think reactions are important to an artist who works within the field of popular music. With that in mind, speaking as a producer, “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” were the best choices. And musical tastes are different from country to country, and the cultures are different, too. Given that situation, I think it’s important that we’re a group who can send such a universal message out into the world.

BTS has really grown and changed a lot, starting with “No More Dream” and all the way to “Permission to Dance.” SUGA: I think it’s a natural course of event for those of us who make pop music. Artists mix and match different genres as they grow, and the music develops as the people of its time listen to it. I’ve been listening to a ton of music lately, and thanks to the times we live in, if I listen to a song a few times, they recommend me more songs in a similar style. And after listening to them, I realized the style of hip hop is also changing and is splitting off into different offshoots. Other than hip hop, I also listen to a lot of instrumental music. I’ve always liked Hans Zimmer’s music. There have been many times where a movie I like turns out to have music by Hans Zimmer.

What is it about Hans Zimmer’s music that draws you in? SUGA: I like orchestral music. There’s a lot of pop songs that are under the three-minute mark now, and whereas it’s sort of predetermined that they’re always written with intros that are four bars long, orchestral music can do a lot within its framework.

But, as can be seen in IU’s song “eight,” which you both produced and featured on, you broke out of pop music’s typical composition style and tried out a highly condensed progression. The composition of the chorus is very straightforward. SUGA: Yes. I insisted that the flow be roughly cut in half from that of a typical song, and I expect more pop music will be like that in the future. And maybe even shorter as time goes on. I mean, these days there’s songs that are under two minutes, even.

Regardless, I felt the chorus in “eight” is extremely dramatic with its structure and the melody of the chorus. I thought it was rather grand in scale as well. Would you say that you’re attempting to mix your tastes and things you want to do into the structure of pop music? SUGA: As you know, I love hip hop, so when I was first making music I thought it had to be hip hop no matter what and that I had to take pride in my own ideas and not accept any compromise. But while getting some experience at the forefront of pop music, I figured out that you can keep being stubborn or inflexible because there are people listening to you. There was a time I made music without any listeners before I became a member of BTS. But if someone were to ask if I stopped being stubborn about the music I’m making these days, the answer’s no. As I grew up and became an adult, I came to realize that I have to negotiate between what I want to do and the kind of music the public wants without compromising anything. When I give up on something I wanted to do, I ask myself, What will I get out of this? And conversely, when I want to do something, I ask myself, What can I get out of this? That’s how I keep my balance to make it to where I am now.

You have no choice but to think about those things when you work on other artists’ songs, especially when you’re a producer. SUGA: I’m BTS’s SUGA, and I’m Agust D, and when I’m producing, I go by “by SUGA.” But when it comes to by SUGA, I make perfectly commercial music. I’m the producer for those songs, sure, but the owner is someone else, you know? In that case, they’re commissioning my work. But they wouldn’t think about just leaving it all with SUGA. The artist’s label has to think carefully about whether to commission me for producing and consider my situation, too, and those people must be hoping for something commercial. That’s the most important part of working with outside people. Actually, that kind of work isn’t much of a benefit to me, to be honest. Oh, he can write this kind of song, too. That’s all. The more valuable thing I can get from it is the recognition and records the artist or the company will get with the song instead.

As you noted in your previous Weverse Magazine interview, when you discussed your “interest in the music industry in the US,” you seem to constantly think about the things artists can do within the framework of the music industry. SUGA: I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve become more certain since the pandemic started that I’m the kind of person who always has to be doing music. That much I know for sure, so I want to keep on making good music. And the pop music market is something that came about because there were people listening, and there’s a long history to the US music market, and it possesses the most influential charts in the whole word. So then I thought, Wouldn’t they have gone through all the same things that we have? And really, whenever I talk to other pop stars, the situation is always similar. The US is also more realistic about commercial results than any other country. I wanted an accurate picture of how those people work. Right now, Korean pop music’s spread is in full swing and we need more good artists to keep popping up. From a producer’s standpoint, if that’s going to happen, I think the key is how well we can mix our music and the characteristics of overseas music industries overall.

How did it feel to be in the lineup for the Grammy Awards, one of the icons of the US music industry? SUGA: The feeling was less immediate because we couldn’t be there in person, and it wasn’t a huge distinction, but the performance made me think, This is different, because it’s the Grammys. What changed my view from the first time I went to an American music awards ceremony was, the first time I went, I was really scared of the world’s biggest music market. But when I look back now, I don’t think I had any reason to feel that intimidated. To be honest, I have only now begun to enjoy the awards ceremonies; I wasn’t able to then.

It’s no exaggeration to say that you’ve achieved most of the things that you can as an artist in the music industry. What steps do you think are necessary for the artists who follow after BTS? SUGA: The way artists work seems so difficult. They make an appearance on a different music show every day once the promotional period begins, meaning the exhaustion artists face is enormous, and that fatigue often results in injuries as it adds up. That kind of music show is for promotional purposes, so it’s not like the artists can earn a proper income from them. On top of that, despite all the promoting, there’s no visible outcome, so they inevitably lose morale. If possible, it’d be nice to have one of the performances be really high-quality, even if it’s just the one, but in this environment I’d say that’s pretty difficult. And since our job doesn’t fit the common conception of work, there’s ambiguous boundaries when it comes to issues of legal protection as well. We need a lot of improvements to be made to the industry and its system.

They demand a lot of things as collateral for success, yet success is extremely difficult to attain. SUGA: The great thing about the label I’m with is they listen to the artists’ opinions. I think both we and the label know to a certain degree what kinds of activities would be best commercially speaking. But the question is whether the body can endure it or not. If the fatigue builds up as you continuously do those promotional activities, it’s hard to do them the way you did when you first debuted. In that case, I think the label ought to actively accommodate the artist’s views about what they can and cannot do. An attitude that’s just like, Oh, we made you kids, and as long as you just do what we tell you to it’ll all work out, so just do it—I think that really doesn’t make any sense. Of course, there could still be situations where the label has to be pushy like that, obviously. But I heard there’s been times where a label will just say, Do it, without any explanation to the artist, or, Why are you talking so much? I think that’s the biggest issue and it’s destroying the industry. If you just see the artist as a product, how can they do anything creative? I really think it’s very contradictory to ask the people on stage to put on an enjoyable performance when they’re experiencing neither fun nor enjoyment.

That reminds me of the music video for “Daechwita” somehow. You appear onscreen as both a rebel character and a king, looking as different as your situation when you first debuted with BTS and your situation now. SUGA: There was a lot I wanted to do in “Daechwita,” not just musically but also visually, and a lot of ideas came to me as I came to reflect on who I am as a person while working on the music video. It naturally occurred to me to separate SUGA, by SUGA and Agust D. The character I played in that video who wasn’t the king was a stranger. It takes place during the Joseon era, but then there’s cars and guns, which of course don’t belong in that era. I think we’ve been living our lives that way. Right from our debut, a portion of the hip hop lovers criticized us by saying, They’re idols. But at the same time, we heard things like, They’re not idols. I didn’t know which drumbeat to march to, so I think that’s why each of our albums took a different direction than people were expecting. But I don’t think I can call myself a stranger in this situation anymore. So these days my main goal is to keep going with BTS for a long time. Having a huge audience show up at our concerts is nice, but I think the goal for all of us is to make sure the group can keep making music even as we get older. I think right now we’re thinking a lot about how we can have fun and be happy on stage.

What do you mean when you say fun and happy music? SUGA: I think people are happier the busier I am, so lately I’ve been thinking that I need to focus a little more. I figure we should do as much as we can for ARMY since they feel happy watching us. We’ll continue to try our best, so I hope they believe in BTS and keep their eyes on us.

So that’s why you do music. SUGA: This is the only thing I know how to really do. Other than music and BTS, there’s nothing special about me when I look at this 28-year-old Min Yoongi. That’s why I want to keep doing this.

[success-and-corruption]

Macabre Album Review

DEG's second album! Oh yeah!

Track 1: Deity

This first track is definitely very interesting. It starts with a sleigh bell and then quickly turns into ominous chanting of some sort. Very spooky but also very different from their previous work which shows how versatile these five musicians are. The chanting eventually stops and we're met with heavy guitars and bass with Shinya playing a steady beat and Kyo vocalizing with a woman’s voice eerily making sounds. It sounds like he's gasping for breath (see what I did there)? That section ends and a clean guitar is played for a few seconds before the song goes back to the heavy riff after the chanting but this time Kyo sings in Russian to the tune of Johannes Brahms' "Fifth Hungarian Dance." This song definitely feels very religious to me which I suppose fits because the case for Macabre has prayer (?) beads in it.

I think Deity showcases DEG’s experimental side and sets the foundation for the rest of the album and it shows that DEG took a very different turn and became a bit darker.

Track 2: Myaku

Is this track in 3/4? 4/4? 5/4? 6/4?

Yes to all of the above. In the booklet it's indicated that this song was written by DIR EN GREY so no individual member wrote it specifically but the band definitely had some fun with time signatures in this one. Myaku was released as a single which is a bit different from the album version but I'm not reviewing the single. This song definitely departs from their late 90s VK sound which in my opinion is a good thing as it showed that DEG wanted to become more serious musicians. Plus, this track has one of my favorite basslines but I never got around to learning how to play it. Myaku is a chaotic song but it fits very well with Macabre.

Track 3: Wake/Riyuu

My boy Die does it again. This song is one of my favorites on the album and despite it being written by a guitarist, Toshiya’s bass really drives this track but we can’t forget the soaring guitars in the beginning and in the chorus. Kyo’s vocals are also great. Fantastic rhythm, instruments that all work very well together, and Kyo’s clean vocals? What’s not to like? This song really gets me moving for some reason. Not nearly as chaotic as Myaku, but Wake/Riyuu provides a nice structure and a consistent time signature (4/4) which is good contrast in my opinion. 

Track 4: Egnirys Cimredopyh +) An Injection

Everyone probably knows this by now by  Egnirys Cimredopyh = hypodermic syringe backwards. Despite that, this song isn’t about intravenous drug use. Kyo references a “white powder” a lot in this song and in one part of the song he sings “I started to speak to the wall with my lower half” (of course he sings that in Japanese) so I think this song is about abusing a drug called kakuseizai and... ejaculating onto a wall? To my knowledge cocaine isn’t very popular in Japan and kakuseizai (roughly translated to “stimulant” in English) is a type of methamphetamine that is used to improve pleasure during sex. Anyway as the lyrics progress it’s clear that the person in the song is battling between his good and bad side. They’re aware that their drug use is stripping them of their sanity but can’t stop and eventually gives in and “kills” the good side. In regards to the musicality of the song, again I really like the bassline (probably because I play bass) but the solos in the song, both bass and guitar, are seriously lacking in substance for me. However the rest of the song is fun to move around to i.e. it has a nice rhythm. 

Track 5: Hydra

“I wanna be an anarchist”

“Dead born”

“Sid Vicious, suspicious”

What are those lyrics??? This song is another experimental one with electronic sounds throughout. It’s also fast-paced and has another chant near the end of the song that breaks it up nicely. Lyrically there’s not much I have to say but this song is definitely one of DEG’s most interesting sounding. I’m sorry that I don’t have more to say. 

Track 6: Hotarubi

Hotarubi... what a beautiful song. It was very clearly written by Shinya. This track is, in my opinion, one of DEG’s best ballads but I think it goes on for too long but that’s just a very minor complaint. The strings complement the rest of the instruments and the part from 2:40-3:42 is stunning, with a surprising violin solo and a woman breathily vocalizing. Everything in this song works so well together except for the loud buzzing halfway through and Hotarubi never fails to evoke an emotional response within me. If it weren’t too long for my liking I would listen to it on repeat. At a certain point I just get bored. Also I think this song would be better suited towards the end of the album where the songs become more melodic.

Track 7: 【KR】cube

I’m not sure what【KR】cube means but what a fun song. Toshiya starts it out with that funky bass that we all know and love and then it transforms into a fast-paced song with a very nice rhythm on the guitars and Kyo’s clean vocals come in which is always nice to hear. I like the speed and rhythm of this song as it offers a pleasant difference from Hotarubi which is a very slow song. The chorus is very catchy as well 

Kururi, furari, fuwari, kurari

Kururi, furari, fuwari, kurakurari

and so on. The music video is fun for this one. We love Hitman Die. 

Track 8: Berry

This song is easy to figure out from the beginning dialogue of an English girl apologizing but then promising to blow her parents’ head off like raspberry jam (spoiler: she does at the end of the song). This one has more of a punk vibe and it’s kind of a fun song. What I can say is that I’ve never heard a song that features parents yelling at a child as part of a breakdown. It’s a good song but in my opinion it doesn’t really fit with the Macabre sound.

Track 9: Macabre -Sanagi no Yume wa Ageha no Hane-  

WOW what a song this is. I believe that this eleven minute prog rock masterpiece was the first song I learned on the bass (go big or go home). I love Shinya’s drums in the beginning and as soon as the other instruments come in you just know you’re in for a journey. This song has a great composition with all of the instruments and vocal layers but I suppose I should get into the specifics. The beginning (after the drums) starts with guitars that, in my opinion, portray a certain sadness while the bass drives the the song. Kyo’s voice is great in this one and also portrays that same sadness. After the first two verses clean guitars come in which is a nice contrast from the beginning but this song truly comes alive during the instrumental breakdown where there’s a guitar playing a repeating riff while insects buzz and a church organ plays in the background. It then switches to Kaoru and Die playing the same notes but alternating between electric and acoustic guitars. The breakdown ends with a very beautiful solo and Kyo singing in a higher register and making slurping sounds which makes sense if you follow the lyrics. There’s a bass solo which is always nice to hear. 

I think I’ve written too much about this song so I’m going to go on to...

Track 10: Audrey

What exactly were they trying to accomplish here? Country rock? It doesn’t fit with the album and it doesn’t even fit with DEG’s sound in general. I never listen to this song so I don’t have much to say about it. 

Track 11: Rasetsukoku

This song fits much better with Macabre, but only marginally. It’s definitely more speed metal which at this point in DEG’s music career hasn’t really done. It’s fun to listen to but the composition is quite simple and it tends to be sort of repetitive. I do like the bass in the beginning but the guitars in this song are kind of boring to me.  Maybe I should give it more credit. 

Track 12: Zakuro

I have mixed feelings about this song. It’s very emotional but maybe too emotional. It starts out kind of slow but I like Kaoru and Die’s parts in the beginning because they harmonize very well. I think this song has one of the most beautiful guitar solos they’ve ever written and it conveys the sadness that is the central focus of this song. My problem with it (and it’s a minor one) is that it’s definitely better live. 

Track 13: Taiyou no Ao

Another favorite on this album. Once again there’s a great bassline and while the song itself sounds sort of like a pop song the lyrics are rather sad. The prominent bass complements the guitars and if Shinya wanted a workout routine he could play this song a few times and he would get pretty buff. Can you imagine a buff Shinya? Neither can I. It just seems like his drums never stop for almost the entire song. It’s a nice way to close the album because it contrasts with the very dark-sounding Deity and it leaves me feeling good, albeit a bit sad because of the lyrics.

So that’s it. Can you tell I got a bit tired near the end? All in all I give this album 7/10. It’s a great album but there are some real duds in my opinion but it’s not my least favorite by any stretch. I’ll be reviewing all ten albums so you’ll find out which one I like the least...

As always feel free to comment your thoughts! I would like to connect with my followers a bit more.

[path-of-my-childhood]

The Story Behind Every Song on folklore - According to Aaron Dessner

By: Brady Gerber for Vulture Date: July 27th 2020

The National multi-instrumentalist spoke to Vulture over the phone from upstate New York a few hours after the surprise release of Swift’s eighth studio album. (“A pretty wild ride,” he admits, sounding tired yet happy.) He was clear that he can’t speak on behalf of Swift’s lyrics, much like he can’t for The National frontman Matt Berninger’s either, or the thinking behind Jack Antonoff’s songs. (Here’s a cheat sheet: Jack’s songs soar, Aaron’s glide.) But Dessner was game to speak to his specific contributions, influences, and own interpretations of each song on folklore, a record you can sum up by two words that came up often during our conversation: nostalgic and wry.

“the 1″

“the 1” and “hoax,” the first song and the last song, were the last songs we did. The album was sort of finished before that. We thought it was complete, but Taylor then went back into the folder of ideas that I had shared. I think in a way, she didn’t realize she was writing for this album or a future something. She wrote “the 1,” and then she wrote “hoax” a couple of hours later and sent them in the middle of the night. When I woke up in the morning, I wrote her before she woke up in LA and said, “These have to be on the record.” She woke up and said, “I agree” [laughs] These are the bookends, you know?

It’s clear that “the 1” is not written from her perspective. It’s written from another friend’s perspective. There’s an emotional wryness and rawness, while also to this kind of wink in her eyes. There’s a little bit of her sense of humor in there, in addition to this kind of sadness that exists both underneath and on the surface. I enjoy that about her writing.

The song began from the voice memo she sent me, and then I worked on the music some and we tracked her vocals, and then my brother added orchestration. There are a few other little bits, but basically that was one of the very last things we did.

“cardigan“

That’s the first song we wrote [in early May]. After Taylor asked if I would be interested in writing with her remotely and working on songs, I said, “Are you interested in a certain kind of sound?” She said, “I’m just interested in what you do and what you’re up to. Just send anything, literally anything, it could be the weirdest thing you’ve ever done,” so I sent a folder of stuff I had done that I was really excited about recently. “cardigan” was one of those sketches; it was originally called “Maple.” It was basically exactly what it is on the record, except we added orchestration later that my brother wrote.

I sent [the file] at 9 p.m., and around 2 a.m. or something, there was “cardigan,” fully written. That’s when I realized something crazy was happening. She just dialed directly into the heart of the music and wrote an incredible song and fully conceived of it and then kept going. It harkens back to lessons learned, or experiences in your youth, in a really beautiful way and this sense of longing and sadness, but ultimately, it’s cathartic. I thought it was a perfect match for the music, and how her voice feels. It was kind of a guide. It had these lower register parts, and I think we both realized that this was a bit of a lightning rod for a lot of the rest of the record.

The National’s Influence On Swift

She said that she’s a fan of the emotion that’s conveyed in our music. She doesn’t often get to work with music that is so raw and emotional, or melodic and emotional, at the same time. When I sent her the folder, that was one of the main feelings. She said, “What the fuck? How do you just have that?” [laughs] I was humbled and honored because she just said, “It’s a gift, and I want to write to all of this.” She didn’t write to all of it, but a lot of it, and relatively quickly.

She is a fan of the band, and she’s a fan of Big Red Machine. She’s well aware of the sentiment of it and what I do, but she didn’t ask for a certain kind of thing. I know that the film [I Am Easy To Find] has really affected her, and she’s very much in love with that film and the record. Maybe it’s subconsciously been an influence.

“the last great american dynasty”

I wrote that after we’d been working for a while. It was an attempt to write something attractive, more uptempo and kind of pushing. I also was interested in this almost In Rainbows-style latticework of electric guitars. They come in and sort of pull you along, kind of reminiscent of Big Red Machine. It was very much in this sound world that I’ve been playing around with, and she immediately clicked with that. Initially I was imagining these dreamlike distant electric guitars and electronics but with an element of folk. There’s a lot going on in that sense. I sent it before I went on a run, and when I got back from the run, that song was there [laughs].

She told me the story behind it, which sort of recounts the narrative of Rebekah Harkness, whom people actually called Betty. She was married to the heir of Standard Oil fortune, married into the Harkness family, and they bought this house in Rhode Island up on a cliff. It’s kind of the story of this woman and the outrageous parties she threw. She was infamous for not fitting in, entirely, in society; that story, at the end, becomes personal. Eventually, Taylor bought that house. I think that is symptomatic of folklore, this type of narrative song. We didn’t do very much to that either.

“exile” (ft. Bon Iver)

Taylor and William Bowery, the singer-songwriter, wrote that song initially together and sent it to me as a sort of a rough demo where Taylor was singing both the male and female parts. It’s supposed to be a dialogue between two lovers. I interpreted that and built the song, played the piano, and built around that template. We recorded Taylor’s vocals with her singing her parts but also the male parts.

We talked a lot about who she thought would be perfect to sing, and we kept coming back to Justin [Vernon]. Obviously, he’s a dear friend of mine and collaborator. I said, “Well, if he’s inspired by the song, he’ll do it, and if not, he won’t.” I sent it to him and said, “No pressure at all, literally no pressure, but how do you feel about this?” He said, “Wow.” He wrote some parts into it also, and we went back and forth a little bit, but it felt like an incredibly natural and safe collaboration between friends. It didn’t feel like getting a guest star or whatever. It was just like, well, we’re working on something, and obviously he’s crazy talented, but it just felt right. I think they both put so much raw emotion into it. It’s like a surface bubbling. It’s believable, you know? You believe that they’re having this intense dialogue.

With other people I had to be secretive, but with Justin, because he was going to sing, I actually did send him a version of the song with her vocals and told him what I was up to. He was like, “Whoa! Awesome!” But he’s been involved in so many big collaborative things that he wasn’t interested in it from that point of view. It’s more because he loved the song and he thought he could do something with it that would add something.

“my tears ricochet”

This is one of my absolute favorite songs on the record. I think it’s a brilliant composition, and Taylor’s words, the way her voice sounds and how this song feels, are, to me, one of the critical pieces. It’s lodged in my brain. That’s also very important to Taylor and Jack. It’s like a beacon for this record.

“mirrorball”

“mirrorball” is, to me, a hazy sort of beautiful. It almost reminds me of ‘90s-era Cardigans, or something like Mazzy Star. It has this kind of glow and haze. It feels really good before “seven,” which becomes very wistful and nostalgic. There are just such iconic images in the lyrics [“Spinning in my highest heels”], which aren’t coming to me at the moment because my brain is not working [laughs].

How Jack Antonoff’s Folklore Songs Differ From Dessner’s

I think we have different styles, and we weren’t making them together or in the same room. We both could probably come closer together in a sense that weirdly works. It’s like an archipelago, and each song is an island, but it’s all related. Taylor obviously binds it all together. And I think Jack, if he was working with orchestrations, there’s an emotional quality to his songs that’s clearly in the same world as mine.

We actually didn’t have a moodboard for the album at all. I don’t think that way. I don’t really know if she does either. I don’t think Jack... well, Jack might, but when I say the Cardigans or Mazzy Star, those aren’t Jack’s words about “mirrorball,” it’s just what calls to mind for me. Mainly she talked about emotion and to lean into it, the nostalgia and wistfulness, and the kind of raw, meditative emotion that I often kind of inhabit that I think felt very much where her heart was. We didn’t shy away from that.

“seven”

This is the second song we wrote. It’s kind of looking back at childhood and those childhood feelings, recounting memories and memorializing them. It’s this beautiful folk song. It has one of the most important lines on the record: “And just like a folk song, our love will be passed on.” That’s what this album is doing. It’s passing down. It’s memorializing love, childhood, and memories. It’s a folkloric way of processing.

“august”

This is maybe the closest thing to a pop song. It gets loud. It has this shimmering summer haze to it. It’s kind of like coming out of “seven” where you have this image of her in the swing and she’s seven years old, and then in “august” I think it feels like fast-forwarding to now. That’s an interesting contrast. I think it’s just a breezy, sort of intoxicating feeling.

“this is me trying”

“this is me trying,” to me, relates to the entire album. Maybe I’m reading into it too much from my own perspective, but [I think of] the whole album as an exercise and working through these stories, whether personal or old through someone else’s perspective. It’s connecting a lot of things. But I love the feeling in it and the production that Jack did. It has this lazy swagger.

“illicit affairs”

This feels like one of the real folk songs on the record, a sharp-witted narrative folk song. It just shows her versatility and her power as a songwriter, the sharpness of her writing. It’s a great song.

“invisible string”

That was another one where it was music that I’d been playing for a couple of months and sort of humming along to her. It felt like one of the songs that pulls you along. Just playing it on one guitar, it has this emotional locomotion in it, a meditative finger-picking pattern that I really gravitate to. It’s played on this rubber bridge that my friend put on [the guitar] and it deadens the strings so that it sounds old. The core of it sounds like a folk song.

It’s also kind of a sneaky pop song, because of the beat that comes in. She knew that there was something coming because she said, “You know, I love this and I’m hearing something already.” And then she said, “This will change the story,” this beautiful and direct kind of recounting of a relationship in its origin.

“mad woman”

That might be the most scathing song on folklore. It has a darkness that I think is cathartic, sort of witch-hunting and gaslighting and maybe bullying. Sometimes you become the person people try to pin you into a corner to be, which is not really fair. But again, don’t quote me on that [laughs], I just have my own interpretation. It’s one of the biggest releases on the album to me. It has this very sharp tone to it, but sort of in gothic folklore. It’s this record’s goth song.

“epiphany”

For “epiphany,” she did have this idea of a beautiful drone, or a very cinematic sort of widescreen song, where it’s not a lot of accents but more like a sea to bathe in. A stillness, in a sense. I first made this crazy drone which starts the song, and it’s there the whole time. It’s lots of different instruments played and then slowed down and reversed. It created this giant stack of harmony, which is so giant that it was kind of hard to manage, sonically, but it was very beautiful to get lost in. And then I played the piano to it, and it almost felt classical or something, those suspended chords.

I think she just heard it, and instantly, this song came to her, which is really an important one. It’s partially the story of her grandfather, who was a soldier, and partially then a story about a nurse in modern times. I don’t know if this is how she did it, but to me, it’s like a nurse, doctor, or medical professional, where med school doesn’t fully prepare you for seeing someone pass away or just the difficult emotional things that you’ll encounter in your job. In the past, heroes were just soldiers. Now they’re also medical professionals. To me, that’s the underlying mission of the song. There are some things that you see that are hard to talk about. You can’t talk about it. You just bear witness to them. But there’s something else incredibly soothing and comforting about this song. To me, it’s this Icelandic kind of feel, almost classical. My brother did really beautiful orchestration of it.

“betty”

This one Taylor and William wrote, and then both Jack and I worked on it. We all kind of passed it around. This is the one where Taylor wanted a reference. She wanted it to have an early Bob Dylan, sort of a Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan feel. We pushed it a little more towards John Wesley Harding, since it has some drums. It’s this epic narrative folk song where it tells us a long story and connects back to “cardigan.” It starts to connect dots and I think it’s a beautifully written folk song.

Is ‘betty” queer canon? I can’t speak to what it’s about. I have my own ideas. I also know where Taylor’s heart is, and I think that’s great anytime a song takes on greater meaning for anyone.

Is William Bowery secretly Joe Alwyn? I don’t know. We’re close, but she won’t tell me that. I think it’s actually someone else, but it’s good to have some mysteries.

“peace”

I wrote this, and Justin provided the pulse. We trade ideas all the time and he made a folder, and there was a pulse in there that I wrote these basslines to. In the other parts of the composition, I did it to Justin’s pulse. Taylor heard this sketch and she wrote the song. It reminds me of Joni Mitchell, in a way - there’s this really powerful and emotional love song, even the impressionistic, almost jazz-like bridge, and she weaves it perfectly together. This is one of my favorites, for sure. But the truth is that the music, that way of playing with harmonized basslines, is something that probably comes a little bit from me being inspired by how Justin does that sometimes. There’s probably a connection there. We didn’t talk too much about it [laughs].

“hoax”

This is a big departure. I think she said to me, “Don’t try to give it any other space other than what feels natural to you.” If you leave me in a room with a piano, I might play something like this. I take a lot of comfort in this. I think I imagined her playing this and singing it. After writing all these songs, this one felt the most emotional and, in a way, the rawest. It is one of my favorites. There’s sadness, but it’s a kind of hopeful sadness. It’s a recognition that you take on the burden of your partners, your loved ones, and their ups and downs. That’s both “peace” and “hoax” to me. That’s part of how I feel about those songs because I think that’s life. There’s a reality, the gravity or an understanding of the human condition.

Does Taylor Explain Her Lyrics?

She would always talk about it. The narrative is essential, and kind of what it’s all about. We’d always talk about that upfront and saying that would guide me with the music. But again, she is operating at many levels where there are connections between all of these songs, or many of them are interrelated in the characters that reappear. There are threads. I think that sometimes she would point it out entirely, but I would start to see these patterns. It’s cool when you see someone’s mind working.

“the lakes”

That’s a Jack song. It’s a beautiful kind of garden, or like you’re lost in a beautiful garden. There’s a kind of Greek poetry to it. Tragic poetry, I guess.

The Meaning Of Folklore

We didn’t talk about it at first. It was only after writing six or seven songs, basically when I thought my writing was done, when we got on the phone and said, “OK, I think we’re making an album. I have these six other ideas that I love with Jack [Antonoff] that we’ve already done, and I think what we’ve done fits really well with them.” It’s sort of these narratives, these folkloric songs, with characters that interweave and are written from different perspectives. She had a vision, and it was connecting back in some way to the folk tradition, but obviously not entirely sonically. It’s more about the narrative aspect of it.

I think it’s this sort of nostalgia and wistfulness that is in a lot of the songs. A lot of them have this kind of longing for looking back on things that have happened in your life, in your friend’s life, or another loved one’s life, and the kind of storytelling around that. That was clear to her. But then we kept going, and more and more songs happened.

It was a very organic process where [meaning] wasn’t something that we really discussed. It just kind of would happen where she would dive back into the folder and find other things that were inspiring. Or she and William Bowery would write “exile,” and then that happened. There were different stages of the process.

Okay, but is it A24-core? [Laughs.] Good comparison. 

[cryptic-flash]

"Polygon Wave EP" created by the change in the production system and the relationship with Yasutaka Nakata who came closer to Perfume (Natalie Interview Sep 2021)

Page 1 - about live show

Page 2

Which was the most memorable performance of this concert for you?

Kashiyuka: The first performance of "Polygon Wave (Original Mix)". Originally, we were going to perform the version that was released earlier, but when we were deciding which song to include on the EP, Yasutaka Nakata said, "This is the one!" About two weeks before the concert, I asked MIKIKO-sensei, "I'd like to change the song to this one, can you do the choreography in time? "I'll do my best at ......! (laughs).

I'll do my best." (laughs) That's pretty sudden.

 "Polygon Wave" is also the title of the show, and this song was the concept that ran through the entire show.

Nocchi: But I didn't just say, "Let's record a song that will be important for the live performance. When I had a chance to talk with Mr. Nakata last December, he said, "Let's just record a song without thinking about what it's for. If it's good enough, you can use it for something else." He suggested that we go to the studio and record the song after it was written, and the first song we wrote was "Polygon Wave. The first song that came out of that process was "Polygon Wave." I think that kind of rough, uncomplicated feeling is easier for you now. All the songs we recorded this time have a different and new atmosphere. Among them, it seems that "Polygon Wave" was the first song that Nakata felt was appropriate for everyone to hear, and from that point on, we started talking about various things.

Kashiyuka: The songs "∞ Loop" and "Android &" that will be included in the EP were also recorded at that time. When we were recording, we hadn't talked about an EP yet, but since "Polygon Wave" was chosen as the theme song for "The Masked Singer," we decided to release a single. He said, "I want to put a lot of 'Polygon Wave'! I thought, "That's new" (laughs).

Nakata-san also likes this song a lot, doesn't he ?

Nocchi: I think Nakata-san had a clear idea of the world he wanted to show us. We also thought it was a great song, so we thought, "If that's the case, why don't we just release this one song first?" Then Mr. Nakata said, "If we make an EP, we'll make another version. We said, "If you're going to make another version, we'll do it live."

Kashiyuka: We've never had so many different mixes of the same song before, so we'd talk about things like, "Which 'Polygon Wave' should be the first song? We talked about it. I thought it was unusual for you to have such an opinion on the song order. It's always easy to decide, but we had many discussions.

"A closer relationship than that between "producers" and "singers.

Kashiyuka: In the past, we'd record songs after we'd decided on a release or a tie-up, but this time we were free to write and record without thinking about whether we'd use them or not, so the pace was faster than usual. When we were recording, people would say things like, "We might not use this song," but since we've already sung it, we've grown to love it (laughs). (laughs) So I sang it, thinking, "I hope it doesn't disappear. (laughs) So I sang the songs while thinking "I hope they don't disappear". In fact, I recorded songs that were not on the EP.

A~chan: Mr. Nakata's mode was different. He's always been a fast songwriter, but what happened to him?  It was so fast. I think he had a clear idea of what he wanted.

Nocchi: You and Nakata-san talked a lot before and after the recording, didn't you? We talked about our old music, our stance when being interviewed, what we hope Perfume will be like in the future, and what we want to do.

In the last interview, you said that there were only two songs that you made demos for and rejected (see Perfume "Perfume The Best "Cubed"" interview). That's a big difference.

What was the recording process like?

A~chan: we talked for hours.

Your relationship with Nakata-san is completely different from what I've heard from everyone.

Nocchi: Yes. Before, we used to talk about such things only in the occasional discussions. Nakata-san used to only reveal a little bit of what he was thinking, but this time, he was overflowing with it on .......

Kashiyuka: This time, I was happy to feel that we were working together at a closer distance than the previous relationship of "producer" and "singers". "I thought, "Oh, it was easier for Mr. Nakata to work this way. I'm not sure why I didn't realize that until now (laughs).

I'm curious to know what songs you recorded but didn't include in the EP.

Kashiyuka: The song we played at the end of the live the other night is also not on the EP, but we recorded it at that time. We don't even know if that song is finished (laughs). (laughs) But I liked that song so much from the moment we recorded it that I told MIKIKO that I wanted it to be included in the live set list.

 It's rare to play a song in its current state in a live performance. In rock bands, they sometimes show off songs that they are still working on.

Kashiyuka: That's true (laughs).

Nocchi: But we wanted to sing that song at this live, because it expresses the message that Perfume wants to convey to the fans now. It might not be released for a long time, or it might not be released at all, but we were aware that this live performance would remain as a video for a long time.

Page 3

`A desert world where all organic matter is made up of digital bits.`

So, I felt that both "∞ Loop" and "Android &" selected for this song are similar to the world view of "Polygon Wave".

Nocchi: I like both of them very much. The music is stylish and light without being mechanical, but "∞ Loop" is about the scary feeling of living in a world where time loops, and "Android &" is about falling in love with an android.

A-chan: Nakata-san told me the meaning of the lyrics. The main character of "Android &" is actually an android who thinks he's completely human. That's why the title of the song ends with "&", but it's supposed to be like "Android & Human". It's interesting, isn't it?

Kashiyuka: But we didn't know the titles of either "∞ Loop" or "Android &" until the songs were announced (laughs). (laughs) When we were recording, we said "loop" and "android", so we thought that was the name of the song, but when the information was released and we read the news article, it said something different. "But when I read the news article after the information was released, it said something different. "Is this "&" a typo? I thought, "Is this okay? I contacted them just to make sure. I asked him if it was okay, and he said, "Nakata-san told me it's "Android &". The other song is called "Mugen Loop" (laughs).

Nocchi: The lyrics of "Android &" are kind of harsh, looking at the world from a bird's eye view (laughs).  It's a song with a clear story, so I hope you'll write a story based on it.

A~chan: It looks like it's going to be hard to draw the CG (laughs).

Kashiyuka: But we can probably cover the motion with the data we've collected so far (laughs). I feel that Nakata-san had envisioned a total world in this EP.  He wanted to express the whole thing like a movie.

That's right. I thought it was a very conceptual composition that "∞ Loop" depicts a world that keeps rebooting at the end of the day, and the song "System Reboot", which means "reboot", is included at the end of the same work.

Kashiyuka: Nakata-san's image for this EP is "a beautiful & broad desert, but all the trees and organic matter growing there are made of digital bits. It's a world with a sense of discomfort," he said.

Director Yusuke Tanaka's signature "Wow, I'm so scared"

You made a dance practice video for "Polygon Wave", didn't you? It was the first time for Perfume to make a video focusing on the choreography, but it seems that there was a demand for a video where you can see every detail of the body movements, and the response was great.

Nocchi: I'm so happy (laughs). It's not often that I get to dance in sneakers, so it was fun to film.

A~chan: Whenever I appear on a music program, I always take a short video of myself dancing and submit it to the TV station. I can't show that kind of footage to the public, but the atmosphere of the dance practice video is similar to that. It's hard to dance in heels, so just wearing sneakers made it really easy.

I heard that you're working on a music video for this song, will there be a lot of dance scenes in the music video?

Nocchi: Basically, it's like a dance video.

Kashiyuka: But we just shot it, so I haven't watched it yet (laughs).

A~chan: It's a video with a clear world view, so I'm sure you'll understand how to listen to this song by watching it. Is this real? Is this real or is this virtual? In the music video, the three of us are driving together, and in the middle of the road, we're like, "What? It ends with Yusuke Tanaka's signature "Wow, this is so scary! (laughs). During the shooting, I was dancing so hard that my legs became sticks.

The choreography is quite complicated, isn't it?  It's a collage of past songs, updated with the skills of the three of us, and it's the culmination of Perfume's dancing to date.

A~chan: What! Is that so? I thought you were doing it consciously, but it's not like that?

Nocchi: I wasn't conscious of it at all. To be honest, I just thought, "I've never done all these moves before" (laughs).(laughs)

Kashiyuka: When I was being choreographed, I took it as "new movements for a new song", so I didn't feel anything special. But we didn't talk about such messages.

A~chan: I thought that the arrangement of the song had various old tastes. I thought, "That sound in the background is the one they used in 'Polyrhythm'! It brings back memories! I'm nostalgic!

─ Speaking of which, the newly recorded "Polygon Wave (Remix)" is a very interesting remix, with a series of tones and phrases that remind me of various Perfume songs.

A~chan: I think Nakata-san has that planned out! I mean, he said something like that, didn't he?

Oh, so that's what he said. I was listening to the song thinking that it was like a concept live "Reframe" that reconstructed Perfume with the most advanced production, and that it was like your own "Reframe" that reconstructed Perfume's history in one song.

A~chan: Yes, yes. When you've been doing this for a long time, you get to make this kind of music.In many cases, remixes are done in a way that is different from the artist's usual style, as if to say, "This could be interpreted in this way," but this remix has more of a Perfume feel to it.

Nocchi: Yeah, I was expecting it to be weirder, but when I listened to it, it sounded so much like Perfume (laughs).

Page 4 - upcoming Reframe etc.

src : https://natalie.mu/music/pp/perfume17

[fyeah-bangtan7]

SUGA: “This is the only thing I know how to really do”

On tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, SUGA told stories from before his debut. The period of his life when he struggled with how to live off his music. SUGA and BTS have kept going and going for eight years, and now he’s on their grounds, where he can do anything he wants musically. What began with that long journey is the story of SUGA holding his head up higher and staring at the future, reaching for it.

How are you feeling after your shoulder surgery? You’re doing physical therapy in parallel with work. SUGA: I’m all right. I’m keeping up with the physical therapy, too. I had surgery last year because I wanted to be able to go back to work sooner. I have nothing else to do except music.

You said that there’s nothing for you to do other than music in the “BE-hind Story” interview on YouTube, too. SUGA: It’s true. I tried gaming, but I have no talent for it. The people I play with online get so frustrated if I do. I mean, I’m working hard and got some recognition in my life, and yet people bash me so hard in games. (laughs)

I wonder if there’s a game you can do better in than you do in your career. You’re currently at your sixth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 [with “Butter, at the time of this interview]. (laughs) How are you feeling these days? SUGA: When we were at number one for two weeks straight, I was like, Wow, this is so amazing! But after the fifth or sixth week, we really started to talk about it between ourselves: I really can’t believe this. Anyway, I feel like I have a responsibility. And I think I’ll end up thinking much, much more when we get ready for the next promotion. Even if I just try to enjoy this situation, it hasn’t sunk in. We can’t leave the country, plus there’s lots of issues in the world right now that are much more important than how well we perform on the charts.

As you say, it’s a tough situation, all over the world. How do you feel about releasing “Permission to Dance,” with its positive message, at this point in time? SUGA: It seems like everyone around the world is really tired of this situation dragging out. I wanted to convey a message that tells people to keep hanging on to hope until the very end. Whereas we released the album BE in this situation, seemingly without any certainty, I believe things will slowly get better now. I don’t know if we can go back to the way things were before, but I’m still working with the hope that we can return to a situation that resembles what we had before.

Aren’t you tired of the pandemic being in this prolonged state? SUGA: I look at it as, when you lose one thing, you gain another. I ended up being able to see my family more since I’m in Korea. In that sense, I feel more stable, so I’m not so much tired as hoping each day that things will become okay soon. I keep moving back and forth between work and home, and I’ve started to reflect on parts of myself I didn’t know about before. Like that I feel somewhat comfortable when I start and finish work at a certain time. While I used to have to go to bed at a certain time for work the next day or else I had a hard time getting up early, now I know I’ve figured out what time I should wake up at to make sure I feel good all day. What I pursue in life is emotional stability, and I don’t think there’s really anything too exciting or sad happening these days.

What effect do those emotions have when you work on music? SUGA: They don’t have a big effect on it. I think it affects the way I write lyrics a bit, but I’m not working on any lyrics at the moment. I’ve been making music for a long time, so I think it’s possible for me to express emotions I’m not feeling in the moment. And it’s good that we released “Permission to Dance” in this kind of situation.

You sing rather than rap in “Permission to Dance.” In addition to rapping, you started singing more both before and after BE. What did you learn about your voice? SUGA: “Permission to Dance” was a little bit difficult. I don’t draw a line between singing and rapping or anything, but it was different from our usual style, and the vocals were a bit high, too. So even though it took a while to prepare for it, I worked hard, and even when I asked some older musicians for their opinions, they all said, “It’s good the way you’re doing it. Don’t try to sing better—just sing more.” I think my only option is to sing more, like they suggested.

As far as style goes, you’ve been doing a smoother kind of pop music. Did any differences arise as a result of these changes? SUGA: All things considered, the English was the hardest part. I paid close attention to my pronunciation in “Butter” and “Permission to Dance.” It wasn’t easy to capture that smooth feeling in the songs, so I practiced my pronunciation quite a bit. And I end up breathing a lot when I’m doing an English song, but the rap parts were a bit hard for that reason. There’s a clear difference from Korean songs, since English has so many syllables. But I don’t have any one method I stick with for my vocals yet, so I tend to try lots of different things out.

What do you make of BTS’s achievements over the past year with “Permission to Dance” and “Butter,” as well as the group’s change in style? In the space of a year, you’ve released songs in a style different from MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 or BE. SUGA: As a producer, I think reactions are important to an artist who works within the field of popular music. With that in mind, speaking as a producer, “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” were the best choices. And musical tastes are different from country to country, and the cultures are different, too. Given that situation, I think it’s important that we’re a group who can send such a universal message out into the world.

BTS has really grown and changed a lot, starting with “No More Dream” and all the way to “Permission to Dance.” SUGA: I think it’s a natural course of event for those of us who make pop music. Artists mix and match different genres as they grow, and the music develops as the people of its time listen to it. I’ve been listening to a ton of music lately, and thanks to the times we live in, if I listen to a song a few times, they recommend me more songs in a similar style. And after listening to them, I realized the style of hip hop is also changing and is splitting off into different offshoots. Other than hip hop, I also listen to a lot of instrumental music. I’ve always liked Hans Zimmer’s music. There have been many times where a movie I like turns out to have music by Hans Zimmer.

What is it about Hans Zimmer’s music that draws you in? SUGA: I like orchestral music. There’s a lot of pop songs that are under the three-minute mark now, and whereas it’s sort of predetermined that they’re always written with intros that are four bars long, orchestral music can do a lot within its framework.

But, as can be seen in IU’s song “eight,” which you both produced and featured on, you broke out of pop music’s typical composition style and tried out a highly condensed progression. The composition of the chorus is very straightforward. SUGA: Yes. I insisted that the flow be roughly cut in half from that of a typical song, and I expect more pop music will be like that in the future. And maybe even shorter as time goes on. I mean, these days there’s songs that are under two minutes, even.

Regardless, I felt the chorus in “eight” is extremely dramatic with its structure and the melody of the chorus. I thought it was rather grand in scale as well. Would you say that you’re attempting to mix your tastes and things you want to do into the structure of pop music? SUGA: As you know, I love hip hop, so when I was first making music I thought it had to be hip hop no matter what and that I had to take pride in my own ideas and not accept any compromise. But while getting some experience at the forefront of pop music, I figured out that you can keep being stubborn or inflexible because there are people listening to you. There was a time I made music without any listeners before I became a member of BTS. But if someone were to ask if I stopped being stubborn about the music I’m making these days, the answer’s no. As I grew up and became an adult, I came to realize that I have to negotiate between what I want to do and the kind of music the public wants without compromising anything. When I give up on something I wanted to do, I ask myself, What will I get out of this? And conversely, when I want to do something, I ask myself, What can I get out of this? That’s how I keep my balance to make it to where I am now.

You have no choice but to think about those things when you work on other artists’ songs, especially when you’re a producer. SUGA: I’m BTS’s SUGA, and I’m Agust D, and when I’m producing, I go by “by SUGA.” But when it comes to by SUGA, I make perfectly commercial music. I’m the producer for those songs, sure, but the owner is someone else, you know? In that case, they’re commissioning my work. But they wouldn’t think about just leaving it all with SUGA. The artist’s label has to think carefully about whether to commission me for producing and consider my situation, too, and those people must be hoping for something commercial. That’s the most important part of working with outside people. Actually, that kind of work isn’t much of a benefit to me, to be honest. Oh, he can write this kind of song, too. That’s all. The more valuable thing I can get from it is the recognition and records the artist or the company will get with the song instead.

As you noted in your previous Weverse Magazine interview, when you discussed your “interest in the music industry in the US,” you seem to constantly think about the things artists can do within the framework of the music industry. SUGA: I don’t know. It’s just that I’ve become more certain since the pandemic started that I’m the kind of person who always has to be doing music. That much I know for sure, so I want to keep on making good music. And the pop music market is something that came about because there were people listening, and there’s a long history to the US music market, and it possesses the most influential charts in the whole word. So then I thought, Wouldn’t they have gone through all the same things that we have? And really, whenever I talk to other pop stars, the situation is always similar. The US is also more realistic about commercial results than any other country. I wanted an accurate picture of how those people work. Right now, Korean pop music’s spread is in full swing and we need more good artists to keep popping up. From a producer’s standpoint, if that’s going to happen, I think the key is how well we can mix our music and the characteristics of overseas music industries overall.

How did it feel to be in the lineup for the Grammy Awards, one of the icons of the US music industry? SUGA: The feeling was less immediate because we couldn’t be there in person, and it wasn’t a huge distinction, but the performance made me think, This is different, because it’s the Grammys. What changed my view from the first time I went to an American music awards ceremony was, the first time I went, I was really scared of the world’s biggest music market. But when I look back now, I don’t think I had any reason to feel that intimidated. To be honest, I have only now begun to enjoy the awards ceremonies; I wasn’t able to then.

It’s no exaggeration to say that you’ve achieved most of the things that you can as an artist in the music industry. What steps do you think are necessary for the artists who follow after BTS? SUGA: The way artists work seems so difficult. They make an appearance on a different music show every day once the promotional period begins, meaning the exhaustion artists face is enormous, and that fatigue often results in injuries as it adds up. That kind of music show is for promotional purposes, so it’s not like the artists can earn a proper income from them. On top of that, despite all the promoting, there’s no visible outcome, so they inevitably lose morale. If possible, it’d be nice to have one of the performances be really high-quality, even if it’s just the one, but in this environment I’d say that’s pretty difficult. And since our job doesn’t fit the common conception of work, there’s ambiguous boundaries when it comes to issues of legal protection as well. We need a lot of improvements to be made to the industry and its system.

They demand a lot of things as collateral for success, yet success is extremely difficult to attain. SUGA: The great thing about the label I’m with is they listen to the artists’ opinions. I think both we and the label know to a certain degree what kinds of activities would be best commercially speaking. But the question is whether the body can endure it or not. If the fatigue builds up as you continuously do those promotional activities, it’s hard to do them the way you did when you first debuted. In that case, I think the label ought to actively accommodate the artist’s views about what they can and cannot do. An attitude that’s just like, Oh, we made you kids, and as long as you just do what we tell you to it’ll all work out, so just do it—I think that really doesn’t make any sense. Of course, there could still be situations where the label has to be pushy like that, obviously. But I heard there’s been times where a label will just say, Do it, without any explanation to the artist, or, Why are you talking so much? I think that’s the biggest issue and it’s destroying the industry. If you just see the artist as a product, how can they do anything creative? I really think it’s very contradictory to ask the people on stage to put on an enjoyable performance when they’re experiencing neither fun nor enjoyment.

That reminds me of the music video for “Daechwita” somehow. You appear onscreen as both a rebel character and a king, looking as different as your situation when you first debuted with BTS and your situation now. SUGA: There was a lot I wanted to do in “Daechwita,” not just musically but also visually, and a lot of ideas came to me as I came to reflect on who I am as a person while working on the music video. It naturally occurred to me to separate SUGA, by SUGA and Agust D. The character I played in that video who wasn’t the king was a stranger. It takes place during the Joseon era, but then there’s cars and guns, which of course don’t belong in that era. I think we’ve been living our lives that way. Right from our debut, a portion of the hip hop lovers criticized us by saying, They’re idols. But at the same time, we heard things like, They’re not idols. I didn’t know which drumbeat to march to, so I think that’s why each of our albums took a different direction than people were expecting. But I don’t think I can call myself a stranger in this situation anymore. So these days my main goal is to keep going with BTS for a long time. Having a huge audience show up at our concerts is nice, but I think the goal for all of us is to make sure the group can keep making music even as we get older. I think right now we’re thinking a lot about how we can have fun and be happy on stage.

What do you mean when you say fun and happy music? SUGA: I think people are happier the busier I am, so lately I’ve been thinking that I need to focus a little more. I figure we should do as much as we can for ARMY since they feel happy watching us. We’ll continue to try our best, so I hope they believe in BTS and keep their eyes on us.

So that’s why you do music. SUGA: This is the only thing I know how to really do. Other than music and BTS, there’s nothing special about me when I look at this 28-year-old Min Yoongi. That’s why I want to keep doing this.

© source

[lunar-writings-love]

College!AU - Hongjoong (ateez)

ahaha so i’m baaaack ;; super sorry for all the inactivity babes life has been weighing down on all of us i’m sure and i needed some time! This is the next installment of the college!au ateez series, and although i had planned to have hongjoong last, y’all requested him so much i wrote him next and changed the order around! 

Author’s note: Bullet fic, 

Warnings: like a drop of angst if u squint ?? the word sh!t appears one time i think

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hongjoong:

he’s so cute i’m Sad

ok so Joongie is just so loved, so treasured by everyone ,, every time he enters into a room everyone just 🥺

he’ll walk into a room looking all sleepy in overalls or something and literally everyone’s parental instincts awaken from the depths of college emotional indifference and suddenly ,, 

there’s world peace it’s a sight to see 

so, our Hongjoongie is actually a double major!! 

he’s a world lit major, and he’s minoring in gender studies so his emphasis is on analyzing feminist texts 

more often than not, the best way to find hongjoong is to just go to the library on the south side of campus at odd hours at night and you’ll usually find him buried underneath a pile of books ;; (and more often than not he’ll also be sleeping because baby can’t stay awake to save his life ://) 

But he really does love his major ,, and If u let him ,  he’ll rave hours and hours about literature; analyzing them through historical context, societal reflection, the role of women, writing style..... 

....he just loves what he does and it makes everyone around him love him for it too!! 

He always has extensive talks with Yeosang (an english major who took a lot of lit classes with hongjoong hint go read the yeosang!au) on american 19th century feminist writings

they started their own book club and it’s literally just them two, no other members allowed, and all they do is eat finger sandwiches and shit on misogynistic men we sTAN

HoWEVer, although hongjoong’s work in literature is impressive and respected, he’s probably better known for his second major: 

music composition!

music is the love of his life ,,, no buts there’s nothing he’ll love more than his art (except maybe you aha ha ha ;)

and people knew him around campus becaaaauseeeeee ,,,,, he would usually ,,, dj at frat parties... 

it wasn’t something he particularly liked, but hey money is money.

in all seriousness though, when hongjoong wasn’t reading or writing papers, he was glued to his mac producing tracks and writing lyrics 

the only thing was ,,, he didn’t actually sing any of what he wrote 

he never thought his own voice suited his songs, and would much rather sit on the sidelines moving along the creative direction 

and although the boys usually are the ones to sing his demos,, joongie always felt like something was still ,,, missing 

this is where u come in wink wonk 

you’re just a lowly econ major who surprisingly !! doesn’t !! want !! to start your own fortune 500 company :DD !! wow so rare :) 

anYWaYS,, you’re just doing it cuz your parents pressured you into pursuing a career with stable job opportunities and you’re kinda good at math and graphs soooo 

....why not 

but to be honest, you always felt trapped 

you were never able to stop that feeling of impending doom when you’d open your macro-econ textbooks ,,,

or how your heart hurt when you think about the fact that your life is headed straight to an incredibly mundane future :

a desk job, an overpriced apartment that barely has enough room for you, living in constant air pollution from the city’s high carbon emissions, never finding true love, dying alone with 50 cats,  taxes...you get the drift

you usually pushed those thoughts to the back of your mind, negativity isn’t productive and right now you had a world economics midterm to study for

but..

not that you’d ever admit it, your true passion had always been music 

you weren’t the best composer, you knew just enough piano to get you but; but you had a set of PIPES dAmN

your friends could usually find you at the dorm’s music rooms ,, and whenever you felt stress or needed to unwind, you’d usually head over to those rooms

now ,,, these rooms are soundproof // but the trick is you actually have to close the door cuz if u don’t......

everyone can hear you 

and by everyone I mean the entire floor

you were doing your usual thing at the music room one night when one of your friends came in to let you know everyone would be heading over to dinner soon,, u promised only one more song before meeting them upstairs on your dorm floor 

hoWEVeR, U DIDN’T REALIZE THAT WHEN YOUR FRIEND WALKED AWAY THEY LEFT THE DOOR OPEN 

and soo ,, when u started singing again  //// everyone heard 

and by everyone i mean ???!?

hongjoong :))

and it was love at first sight ,,, or rather 

,, love at first listen??

he won’t ponder over the semantics, all Hongjoong knew was that he had been looking for a voice like yours and needed you on his tracks 

this man barged into the room and begged you to lend your voice for his songs 

...on his knees :00

you were in shock like what were you supposed to do?

this random man stormed in and got on his knees ,, 

what was next ??

marriage ????

u didn’t really say anything for a while just kinda looked him in his eyes 

but then your uwu instincts kicked in--u don’t know what it is about this dude but u just wanna like give him candy or something 

and so you hesitantly asked for his name 

and that’s when hongjoong realized he was an IDIOT 

because not only was your voice heavenly, but of course you were cute too and he just presented himself like a complete and utter maniac and He Didn’T eVEN bOTHER To TelL You hIS NAme!

he wanted the ground to swallow him up but alas 

he got off his knees and shyly stuck out his hand and told you his name 

you looked at him once again ,, and surprisingly 

you took his hand with a small smile on your face 

you ended up totally forgetting about dinner with your friends at the dining hall 

because hongjoong sat beside you on the piano bench and showed you his songs and lyrics, and you....fell in love <3

you’d never connected with anyone on this type of emotional level before and it was almost sort of overwhelming 

it also kinda gave you hope too ,, because here was Hongjoong ,, someone who managed to get the best of both worlds : a music and a lit degree

and you thought that maybe ,, you could do something with music too 

you guys exchanged numbers and scheduled to meet at the university’s recording studio that weekend 

Hongjoong composed a track and you added your own lyrics with his help--after two weeks of mixing, mastering, producing, and recording ,,, you guys officially released a single!!

you really weren’t expecting it, but hongjoong was a bit of a social butterfly and so the song became a hit on campus 

people were uploading it to their social media, sharing it with friends, playing it while they worked out, it was kinda ridiculous to you 

the student paper even wrote an article about it (and later you found out that the journalist was one of hongjoong’s friend’s girlfriend ,, (hint go read the yunho!au)

And when the song reached 10,000 streams, that gave you the confidence to do what you had always wanted to do 

you called your parents up on a Saturday morning to tell them you were picking up a vocal performance major 

you were extremely anxious for this conversation, so Hongjoong decided to stay by your side for moral support 

As both of you waited with baited breath for your parents’ response, Hongjoong was also right there just ,, holding your hand so sweetly,, and that was driving YOU INSANE 

(because in these past couple of months you had gotten to know Hongjoong you had mostly definitely, absolutely, completely fallen head over heels for him)  

after a long moment of silence, your parents agreed 

they weren’t too happy about it, but they also weren’t as against it as you thought they’d be--the only condition was that you’d continue with econ and instead double major 

it would honestly be hard considering the amount of mandatory classes and performances required of the vocal performance major, but you were too happy to care 

after your goodbyes with your parents, you looked over to Hongjoong with the biggest smile on your face 

and it just,, absolutely melted his heart 

before he could stop himself he just wrapped his arms around you and twirled you around

and then :) he gave you the softest kiss on your cheek 

of course, after it dawned on him what he had done, he instantly turned red and started chucking nervously as he stuttered his words 

but for you, the newfound confidence and ADRENALINE after your successful phone call with your parents, you grabbed both sides of his face and asked him if you could kiss him 

Hongjoong was wide-eyed but LIKE HELL he would pass up this up 

so after muttering out a shy yes, y’all kissed awwww :))

and after that, you guys became a couple! 

you’d show up to the frat parties he would DJ at and would always dance like an idiot with wooyoung in the corner of the room 

and you and hongjoong would always partner up for music composition and performance projects: Hongjoong would write the tracks and you’d sing for them

you guys were honestly such a soft couple 

you also picked up the habit of studying sleeping at the library with hongjoong because double majoring was hard and it required a lot of work

and it just, now became a thing for people to always find you along with Hongjoong sleeping under a pile of books 

you guys kept on releasing more singles after that, and are currently working on an EP!

and honestly, you were so incredibly happy 

you had the most amazing boyfriend, and you were pursuing your passion 

and you felt just a little bit better knowing that your future was unclear

you no longer pictured yourself at a desk job, living out an absolutely dreadful life 

instead, you finally realized the multitude of opportunities at your disposal

and with Hongjoong by your side, you just knew everything in life would work out in the end!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FEEL FREE TO REQUEST!

Love you guys! Stay safe and healthy!!

- Luna

[commajade]

hii here's a nice/lighter ask, have you ever ranked an f(x) album? would you be willing to do pink tape or red light? id be curious to see!! have a good rest of ur day <3

YES THANK U!!! already did pink tape!! i like doing album rankings while i'm on a walk and my 12 year old brother came with me so there's 2 diff rankings for this now. we were on our way back and i made him sit at a park bench and watch the red light mv so he could get then complete ranking experience.

red light is truly an iconic moment in kpop history... pioneered the dark summer gg concept. remember when they released a halloween song in july. wow. also the mv is fantastic, tho i remember being upset they dressed amber so feminine this time around lol. baby gay me being upset in 2014.

1. red light - iconic iconic iconic and the rock version with luna's incredible solo bridge even more so. the military sounding clicking as percussion, the perfect build up, the buzzing sounds the rock guitar with the electro production. it's a very very korean song a very kpop song. honestly could be considered a perfect example of what to show when someone asks "what's kpop like?". the different sections are very different and distinct but put together with such slick confidence and it's a song that's meant to get u moving. amazing harmonies. and the song lyrics composition video all come together into a perfect cohesive whole.

2. dracula - i love halloween i love camp i love drama this song is so much fun. i love the harmonies.

when krystal pretends to bite that guy's neck!! perfection!! and released in july!!!!

3. summer lover - i love summer music... 시원해 it's all mountains and ocean road trip vibes i love it

4. spit it out - such interesting production honestly the most sonically interesting song in this album it's video game music and the central theme is clever korean wordplay. to gather courage in korean is "to eat your heart/put your heart in your mouth" and the song is like you were careless with my heart and ate it when you don't even want it, spit it out. not sure what genre of electro music the dance break is in (it's not quite dubstep) but i'm into it.

5. milk - love the analog sounds in the back and the experimental weirdness of the soundscape in general i can't say it's my fave but its v engrossing. that build up and back to chorus is so satisfying.

6. butterfly - reminds me of mr. boogie with the dark y2k club synths. the melody is soooo good i love the harmonies. sounds like a club bop but not quite. kinda sci fi space age sounding synths with i think repeated pentatonic scales?? deeply pleasing.

7. vacance - a little musical theater, a little rock, a lot retro, such refreshing harmonies and production. love luna's floaty effortless powerful high notes at the end.

8. all night - sooooo good such a good chill retro night time driving song. like a stripped down disco citypop sound. retro drumtrack and synth piano but has a lot of restraint when it comes to actual synths. i think the bass in this is real?

9. paper heart - very american sounding song

10. boom bang boom - i would put this on a work out playlist.

11. rainbow - 2014 clubbing song i don't think ever got any play at a club

my brother's ranking:

1. summer lover - feels 시원해, like refreshing

2. spit it out - the pew pew pew sounds r like they're spitting it out. sounds like a video game, 8 bit.

3. all night - i like this one because it reminds me of we ride by brave girls. i guess i like night themed songs and citypop. we ride is driving downtown in your car and all night is leaving the city at nighttime when most of the lights go out and streetlights and windows shining instead.

4. vacance - a montage song, a good one too. like they're getting their friends together to drive to las vegas.

5. dracula - halloween song

6. red light - the video was awesome. i like the lasers. and the projection. it has like a story. eyepatch. cat. the song was cool, it had tension. it was fast paced.

7. milk - the background beat is pretty cool.

8. paper heart - i wouldn't be good with a paper heart because i crease paper a lot

9. butterfly - sounds like an advertisement from a trampoline park.

10. boom bang boom - there's no explosions i was disappointed.

11. rainbow - i didn't like it. it didn't sound happy even tho it has rainbow as the title, i was expecting a happy summer song or a rainy song.

[vampcubus]

Izuku with a reader with a vampire like quirk (acts like Marceline from adventure time) and likes to sing. She and Uraraka argue and fight for his attention and affection. Fluff and angst at the end please. I really like your writing luv! Keep up the good work!! UwU

| A/N: I had so much fun writing this so it got pretty lengthy! It’s also not as fluffy as I had first intended, but I hope you like it nonetheless! |

(Edit: It’s been split up into two parts due to text block limitations.)

♡ Warnings: Angst, blood-drinking.♡

♡ Words: 2200+ ♡

See part 2 … here

.   .   .

Bite Me (Midoriya/Vampire!Reader) [Part 1]

You reclined on Midoriya’s bed in his dorm room, fingers plucking at the strings of your guitar to find a good rhythm that stuck. You were technically here for a friendly study session with Midoriya, Iida, and Uraraka, but your bluenette friend canceled last minute so it was just you three. Which, was fine you could still get a lot of work in.

The only thing was, it wasn’t fine. Your eyes drifted from the strings to where Ochako and Deku sat adjacent to you, laughing about something you didn’t care to know about.

Midoriya has barely paid any attention to you the entire time you’ve been here and it was getting on your damn nerves. You frowned, leaning further away from the rays of sun that shone through the slightly open curtains. He always made sure to close them for you when you came over. I guess he was too busy with Uraraka to care.

Not that you couldn’t close them yourself! But that wasn’t the point.

As selfish as it may sound you like to think that he thinks about you. And normally, he does! But when Uraraka-san’s around… not so much.

Why did he like her so much? Was she better than you? Was it because she had a more reliable pulse? Better impulse control? Fuck, now you’re just making yourself feel bad.

While sifting through your bitter thoughts your fingers subconsciously caught onto a good tune, and you closed your eyes, humming to the rhythm and trying to think up some rad lyrics to pair with it. A bit early, but you were never a conformist to basic music composition anyways.

You heard Uraraka giggle and Midoriya chuckled back, the sound making you snap your eyes open and strike a harsher yet kind of nice-sounding chord.

You continued playing quietly to yourself, whispering a few different lyrics every now and then to sound them out and see which ones stuck. As you build a good foundation, you had unknowingly captured the attention of your classmates who finally turned away from the assignment and one another to look at you as you played.

She looks so concentrated! Midoriya thought as he watched you with sparkling eyes, feeling blessed to have been given the opportunity to bear witness to your creative process. He’s always admired you, especially your way with music. And now that you’re properly hanging out as friends more often, he’s written almost an entire notebook about you and your quirk! You were so cool!

Your quirk was very vampire-like in nature. You had increased physical strength and speed, the ability to float, and the more blood you consumed the stronger you were. Not only that but you could shape-shift into a bat! A cute one at that… Midoriya smiled crookedly at that, reminded of the time you fell asleep in class and when Mr. Aizawa smacked a book down on your desk. You got so frightened you poofed into a little bat version of yourself!

He might have drawn your bat form too…

Some might say your quirk was a little villainous, but he didn’t see it that way at all! You’d make a great hero one day, regardless of how er… exotic? Morbid? Your quirk was.

“Wow, Y/N-chan, that sounds really good so far!” Midoriya gushed a little, shaking you from your focused trance and negative thoughts—accidentally pulling the wrong string, making you cringe.

“Oh-uh, thanks!” You blushed, feeling the blood rise to your usually ice-cold cheeks.

“You’re going to make a great artist one day. After you go pro that is.” Deku flattered, freckled cheeks lighting up with the slightest dusting of pink. That’s also when he noticed the weird angle you were leaning to keep out of the light streaming through the curtains.

“Oh no! The curtains! I completely f-forgot, I’m so sorry, Y/N-chan!” He stuttered apologetically, scrambling to his feet to go and pull the curtains shut. You sighed in relief leaning back into a more comfortable position. “You should’ve said something.” He frowned, the guilt clear in his mesmerizing emerald green eyes.

“D-don’t worry about it, Deku. You looked… busy.” You coughed awkwardly, fingers subconsciously returning to strumming across the strings to distract yourself.

To your delight, Midoriya sat closer to you this time. And you shot Uraraka a subtle-yet-victorious glance, to which you were met with her frustrated one. It was almost like there was an invisible bolt of lightning between you, cracking challengingly between two rivals as you shared a familiar look of ‘friendly’ competition. You knew she had a crush on Deku, and she knew that you had feelings for him in turn. Neither of you wanted to step away, both dead set on winning Deku’s affections for your own. Of course, the little green ray of sunshine had no idea about this, but he didn’t need to know.

“Can you—um… c-can you possibly… teach me some things?” Midoriya asked bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes darting from your own now-softer ones and your guitar. Your normally-still heart swelled and beat a few times, your cheeks burning. You felt the excitement bubble inside and you couldn’t help but give him an enthusiastic fanged smile. You didn’t even have time to send Uraraka a bragging look, you were too eager.

“Of course!” You exclaimed, slipping your guitar strap off your shoulder. “Scoot a bit closer.”

A while later you found yourself sitting behind Deku, arms wrapped around him to guide his clumsy hands across the strings of your favorite guitar. He had been incredibly nervous the first few lessons, especially with you touching him like this, but he relaxed once you got him into the zone. Uraraka scribbled away at an assignment to your left, sending you glances every now and then.

For once you weren’t worried about her though. All you could think about was the rough texture of Midoriya’s hands under your own as you adjusted his posture once more.

“Hey, there ya go, you’re getting the hang of this!” You complimented, and he flushed, cringing when his fingers fumbled and played the wrong tune. “You’re fine. You’re a natural, Deku!”

“You think so?” He asked, eyes shiny as they glanced over his shoulder at you. You avoided his gaze deliberately to hide the heat that had risen to your face.

“Mm-hm.” You hummed, trying to contain your excitement as he managed to play a few basic tunes. You were so proud!

“Hey, Deku?” Came Uraraka’s voice out of nowhere. You’d forgotten she was there… Midoriya turned to her, asking her what she needed. “I’m having a hard time with this problem, can you help me out?”

Ochako smiled charmingly, tilting her head to the side in a cute way as her pink cheeks spread with her grin. You scoffed, covering it up with a fake cough when Midoriya gave you a questioning look. She wasn’t that cute.

Apparently, that was an unpopular opinion because Midoriya gingerly returned your instrument and scooched over to the end of the bed to help Uraraka with her assignment. You weren’t saying that she didn’t actually need help, but you weren’t saying that you trusted her either. You knew she was just trying to deter his attention from you and onto herself.

You sighed, standing up from the bed with a look of temporary defeat.

“Sorry, guys. I think imma leave, catch you later.” You announced, and while your back was turned you missed the look of disappointment on Midoriya’s face. You slid your guitar over your shoulder to rest on your back and slung your book bag over your other shoulder. Your green-haired classmate didn’t have much time to say goodbye before you were crossing the room to the door.

“Oh, okay I’ll see you—” the door closes before he can finish. “Later…”

.   .   .

The next morning you sat on the steps at the entrance of U.A. with your guitar, doing your usual morning fiddling around with a new song. The same one you started the night prior. You’d gotten pretty far, an open notebook with scrawled lyrics and music notes balance on your outstretched knee crossed casually over the other.

You used to do this while waiting for your friends to come to school, perhaps serenade them jokingly as they approached. Even after moving into your dorm, you couldn’t quite shake the habit.

The sun wasn’t ideal, but you had a giant sun hat and the appropriate clothing for being outside in it. Deku usually met you on the stairs anyways so why would you move?

“Hey there, Y/N!” You hear Deku call from behind you.

Speak of the devil.

You turned your head to look over your shoulder, flashing him a fanged smile while your finger continued dragging your pick across the strings. “Heyyy, g’morning sleepy, you’re later than usual.”

He laughed nervously, walking over to sit down on the stairs beside you. Now that you got a better look at him, you noticed how drained he looked, the bags underneath his eyes more prominent in the light of the morning sun. A gentle wind rustled his curly green hair, and his jade eyes reflected the glare of the sun, making them almost glow.

Your cool cheeks darkened and you cleared your throat, eyes darting from him to save yourself the embarrassment.

“Long night?” You asked and he nodded sheepishly. He’d spent most of the night studying with Uraraka who was unusually… enthusiastic? He wasn’t sure how to put it.

“You usually stay up with us. Was something wrong last night? You left… so suddenly.” Midoriya looked to you expectantly, eyes crinkled with concern and something else you couldn’t quite place. You tried to laugh it off in your usual cool, smooth way, playing a bit more enthusiastically in an attempt to sell it further.

“Nah, man I’m cool. I was just… I was just.” Your words failed you when you were suddenly taken back to last night, the stare Uraraka had given you, how jealous you’d felt. So much so that you just couldn’t stand being in the room any longer. The same reason the lyrics of the same song you’d been working on since then were so bitter. You couldn’t help it, really. The way Ochako looked at him sometimes sent your blood way over the boiling point.

It was like a parasite, feeding on your patience with every tiny competition for Deku’s attention until eventually one of you cracked. It wouldn’t be you.

You jumped when you felt a hand on your shoulder and whipped your head to the side to see Midoriya with a sympathetically worried expression, hand twitching on your shoulder. The coolness of your flesh crept through even your sleeves and for a moment he was mesmerized by it. He made a mental note to scribble it down in his notebook later. You felt the frosty sheen of your resolve melt under his touch. Not many had the balls to touch you.

“You were just what? Are you okay?” He asked, not sure if the surprised look of confusion swirling in your eyes as they reflected some of the morning light—even from under the huge sun hat on top of your head—meant that you were going to get angry or not. You didn’t normally respond well to others worrying about you when you could obviously take care of yourself.

“Pssh—Yeah! I’m fine, quit worrying. Wouldn’t want any of your pretty green hair falling out for me.” You chuckled, and his spotted cheeks bloomed a light pink. Did you just say he had pretty hair? You looked away from him and back to your guitar with a newly-lit smile. It was alarming how much effect this boy had on you, being able to cheer you up just by worrying for you. “And uh, if you’re free later…”

“Yes!” You blinked at him as he blurted it before you could even finish your sentence. Did he even know what you were going to say?

“Uh…”

“I-I mean, um…” Izuku blushed madly, realizing that he’d just gotten way too ahead of himself. He must sound so desperate right now! The truth is that he would’ve said yes regardless of what you asked, never the type to pass up the chance to hang with you. “S-sorry, please continue.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted s’more guitar lessons.” You giggled at his embarrassed posture, palm shielding his face from you as it reddened.

“O-only if you promise to train with me!” He blurted out without thinking, eyes shining with emerald stars as he stood up from the stairs.

He couldn’t help it. He’s been wanting to ask you to train with him for such a long time but never knew how to ask without coming off as strange. Your quirk fascinated him, and he still knew so little about it! And what better way to evaluate your quirk than in a fight?

Again you blinked, caught off-guard by his enthusiasm.

Hah, what a fanboy. Can’t blame him though, I am pretty rad.

“Deal.” You grinned, showing off your pearly-white fangs, floating into the air and strumming your guitar as you made your way inside.

[utapriyanderes]

Yandere Sub AU (Fairytale AU) - Tokiya Ichinose ver.

    Ever since Tokiya was a young boy he always loved music. He wanted to pursue it as a career and travel around the world sharing his love for the art. His parents however did not support this wish of his. No matter how hard he worked or how talented he was his parents did not want to join in on this journey of his life. Leaving him by his lonesome as he struggled through.

    He worked very hard and was an amazing vocalist. He would always take small gigs and do outdoor work for small tips. Yet it was hard to live with that sort of salary. With no parents or someone to rely on he had to get another job alongside trying to make his dreams work. Day in and out he worked hard in his job and tried to get his dreams rolling.

    It ended up becoming the same repeated pattern everyday. Work then focus on his dreams second. There were times he thought he would never be able to accomplish what he wants. The flame inside of him burning lower and lower.

    On a usual monday afternoon he was stacking books on shelves as he normally does. How he did it was automatic due to doing the repeated action so many times. Occasionally a person would interrupt this pattern to ask about something, which he would reply to quickly and politely.

    “Umm, excuse me.” Someone caught his attention breaking his usual flow. He gave them a polite smile, “Yes, what may I help you with?”

    The person holds up a music book, “I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of your music books?” He points and tells them where they can find them before returning to his work. Except the person stays.

    “Do you need my help with something else?” He asks them, being slightly bothered by their presence. He watches them shift uncomfortably, “W-Well, I don’t really know what to get. So could you help me choose?”

    He gives them a simple form of agreement then sets down the book he was putting on the shelf before leading them to the music section. From there he asked what level they were, “excuse me, but how advanced are you in music?” He watches them think before giving him an answer, “I know how to play the piano well, but I can’t play complicated pieces yet.”

    He thinks over their words before picking out a few books in the section, “here, these should work for your level. Then this one should help to challenge you so you can move on.” The person’s face lights up as he explains each book chosen in detail. They accept the books and tell him, “Wow! You really know a lot about music! Are… or were you involved with it somehow?”

    Their words leave him speechless as he wasn’t expecting them to be that impressed. Finding the words he says, “...I’m involved with music. I do some gigs from time to time, but it’s mostly outside work.” He sees them bubble up with excitement.

    “Really?! Can I watch you perform sometime?” There’s a sparkle in their eyes. He smiles a small smile and is about to reply when someone interrupts, “Ichinose, stop talking about your hobbies and get back to work.” They jump in surprise while he’s used to this. He gives them an apologetic expression while his eyes are clouded over in a deep sadness.

    Before the person he helped leaves they whisper something to him, “don’t worry, I’ll look all over town to see you perform if I have too.” Their smile is incredibly bright as they give him a ‘thanks’ before walking off to go buy their new books. He stares at them in silent awe before going back to his original mundane task at hand.

    A few days later in the central town square he sets up the few things he has which consists of a wooden box, a can for tips, and then his sheet music which he keeps beside him just in case he may need it. Yet he already knows all the songs by heart. Today as he gets ready he can only hope that the person from a few days past ends up hearing his song.

    He takes a deep breath in then sings. He sings with a brighter flame inside his heart with as much passion as he can muster. Quite a few onlookers watch him sing but still not the one he was hoping for. When he sings his last song someone shuffles their way up in front to watch him. That person is them.

    He gives them the best performance he can and once he’s done he bows to his audience. They clap at his public concert and when he stands back up he’s looking at them. Clapping happily and bouncing in awe.

    Once the clapping dies down the people make their way to give him whatever spare change they have. As the people clear out he finds the last one standing to be the person from earlier. They walk up to him with a smile on their face.

    “Did you enjoy it?” He asks them with a hopefulness inside him. They eagerly nod their head, “Yes! I did! It was amazing! I never saw anything like that before!” Their comments and praise made him happy. Like what he was doing was finally worth it. Like he should continue with his dreams.

    “Oh! That reminds me!” They suddenly exclaim causing him to look at them in confusion. They dig around in the book they are carrying before pulling some papers out and extending them his way.

    “Here, these are for you!” They smile as they hold the papers out. He takes them and looks them over. They are compositions. He looks back up at them, “Why are you giving these to me?” They end up blushing at his words.

    “Y-You see, once I met and talked to you… I suddenly heard a melody to play. So the song is inspired by you, and since you sing… maybe you could write lyrics to them?” They talk bashfully as they get their reasoning out. He takes another glimpse at the compositions noticing their name in the top right corner. He thinks about how much they must believe in him to give him a song. They support his dreams.

    “Thank you for these songs. I’ll write fitting lyrics for them.” He gives them a small smile of hope as they bring their book in front of them and hug it to their chest. They look down at the ground as they smile. Something crosses their mind before looking back up at him.

    “I-If you would like… and if you like my songs. Then possibly… we could work together?” They tilt their head to the side. Someone wants to share his dreams with him? He never thought that someone would want to join in with him. He thought this was all just a lone journey and that he wouldn’t have anyone to share his joys and pains with. A spark of something shines in his eyes.

    “Yes, I would like to work with you from now on.” He bows at them in agreement making them do a quick curtsy/bow back. When they spring back up they give him an encouraging smile, “I can’t wait to start working with you!”

    The two of them share a few more details and where they will meet up and practice before going their own way. Both of them are light and happy at the prospect of the future. For the next few weeks the performer works on writing lyrics to the songs he got and when the two meet up they work on the songs together.

    Doing this however pushes the performers job to the back of his mind. Still going to work to pay his bills but not really getting into the usual patterns he normally does. Causing him to do less than perfect work. That only became more prominent with them coming into the store.

    “Hey, Tokiya!” They shout and wave at him as they walk up. He pauses his current task to give them a smile.

    “I think changing these measures makes it sound and flow better with your lyrics here.” They point to the changed part in the score. He looks it over and gives his agreement. They talk over the piece some more, before they are once again interrupted.

    “Talking about music again Ichinose? You know I can tell your work is really slacking lately too. Maybe if you were just as focused as you are in your hobby then you could possibly keep your job.” The two of them look at his boss.

    “I would prefer it if you didn’t call it a hobby.” He stares at the man knocking down his dream. All he does is laugh, “Do you really think you can be a singer without having to work another job? Come on Ichinose, you need this job.” Tokiya can feel a deep pit starting to form in his stomach. He doesn’t need this job. All he needs is them and their music.

    “You’re wrong. I don’t need this job.” He takes off his apron and places it on the books, “I quit.” Both his boss and them are shocked at his words and actions.

    “Let’s go.” Tokiya says to them as he walks by. The boss is trying to find his bearings as they snap out of their state of shock to follow after him.

    “T-Tokiya… w-wait! Don’t you think that’s being too rash?” They ask him as they leave the bookstore. He stops to turn around at them, “It’s fine, I don’t need that job. All I need is our music and you.” The composer can’t help but to feel butterflies in their stomach. They look away with a blush forming up to their ears.

    “D-Do you really feel that way? I-If you’re quitting because of me, then maybe this wasn’t a good idea to work together…” Tokiya has to convince them that they were the right choice, that they were the one he wanted to be with all the time with no interference from his job.

    He walks closer to them and grabs their arms. They look up at him with the blush still on their face, with their eyes looking lovestruck.

    “Everything will be alright. Now we have more time to focus on our music and each other. Let’s make our dreams come true together.” They nod their head slowly at him. In the heat of the moment, the both of them close their eyes and lean closer. Feeling their lips connect together. Only parting when they need to breathe.

    He brings them into a hug planning on not ever letting his precious composer go. He won’t give up the only person who supported his dreams. Together they’ll reach that happily ever after.

   With no one to support his dreams he was by himself. Now he has you to help make it all possible. The missing beam of support to help him reach his goal.

[hypmic-writings]

I love your writing!//// May I ask for a scenario where Jakurai becomes smitten with someone who's good at singing, but he discovers they're blind (sorry if this is weirdly specific;;;

Never be sorry, I love writing weirdly specific fics! It just means they’re unique! Hope this is kind of what you wanted~

--

Jakurai always had respect for the arts.

He could often be found going to plays or orchestral concerts around Shinjuku, using the nights as a kind of ‘alone time’ for himself. He found them quite relaxing and enjoyed attending all kinds of productions.

That night was similar – it was hosted at a local theater that showcased up-and-coming artists from all around the city. Jakurai had seen some of these events before and he rather liked the newcomers. There was a sort of raw, emotional passion that came from many of them as opposed to some of the professionals who often left him wondering if they were simply performing for the money.

As the night went on and the performances progressed, Jakurai hadn’t found himself too attached to any act in particular.

That was, until you come on stage.

From the moment you opened your mouth to hit the first note of the song, Jakurai was taken with you. Your stage presence was more powerful than any of the other acts; your voice was strong and powerful and every melody you sung seemed to keep him on the edge of the seat. The entire music hall must have felt the same because the tension in the air was palpable as you continued to belt out the notes in your song.

When the last chord floated into the air, there was a moment of silence before a roaring of applause was filling the hall. Jakurai found himself standing with the others, giving you an ovation as he clapped whole-heartedly.

He was impressed and wanted to hear more.

It was difficult to find much information about you online and Jakurai felt disheartened as he realized that the next time he would be able to see you (or hear you) would be at another showcase. Every time a new lineup was announced, Jakurai would scan the list for your name

About a week after your initial performance, Jakurai found that you were performing again. This time the venue was smaller, but it was still an impressive gig and he immediately marked it on his calendar.  

That night, Jakurai made his way to the venue with something that could only be considered excitement. It wasn’t often that he felt this way, and most certainly not for other people, but he found himself thinking of you more and more.

Of course, he would never assume to know more about you than he did – you had never met him and he didn’t know anything about you. However, you had deeply impressed upon him the beauty of your singing and if that was attainable, he felt as though he needed it.

Jakurai glanced around the smaller hall and spotted an empty table closer to the stage. Once he took his seat, it was simply a waiting game. Waiting for the other acts to come and go, some more impressive than the others, until finally, your name was announced.

Jakurai’s eyes watched you closely as you slowly made your way onto the stage, looking out at the crowd before you. If you were nervous at all, it was not noticed as you smiled at the crowd before you.

“Good evening, everyone,” you began, keeping your tone calm. “My name is Y/N, Y/L/N, and I’ll be performing an original composition,” you explained before turning towards the piano player and nodding at him to begin.

Jakurai’s jaw nearly dropped as you began to sing.

Your voice was not the booming, powerful one he had heard before, but was now light and airy and almost angelic. The stark contrast in your vocal tone and abilities was incontrovertible and Jakurai was immediately stunned. He was not an easy man to surprise, but you had done so nevertheless.

He continued to listen to your soft, heartfelt song and, as he listened to the somewhat sad lyrics, he felt a sense of longing overcome him. He was in complete awe at your ability to convey emotion through your voice.

The rest of the room once again agreed as they all gave you a roar of applause once the song was ended. Jakurai joined in with the clapping and shook his head as he continued to marvel at what he had just heard.

“Ugh, aren’t they amazing? They’re new to the scene too.”

Jakurai’s eyes narrowed as he turned non-chalantly to the couple that was sitting closest to him. They were talking about you and he wanted to know more.

“Such a shame about their eyes though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, you couldn’t tell? Yea, they’re blind.”

Jakurai’s eyes widened as he heard what they had said, but he made no move to interrupt their conversation.

Were you really blind? Jakurai had helped many patients with blindness before, but he did not know anyone personally who suffered from it. He could only imagine what that must be like for you as he thought back to your performance in the concert hall the other week.

Could it be that with your eyesight taken from you, your hearing was more acute? Was that why you were able to do such amazing things with your voice? No, of course you had worked hard to get to where you were and you were talented as well, but still. Jakurai wanted to know more, and he knew exactly what to do.

Once the performances had all ended, some people made their exit while others stayed behind to talk with the performers. Jakurai stayed and was sipping his water when he finally saw you exit the side door. This time, he noticed the small cane in your hand, but it was shrouded from his view as a few people came up to you, praising your performance.

“That was amazing, you did so well!”

“Wow, what a show, good job, Y/N!”

Jakurai watched as you politely bowed to them and had small conversations with each, making your way through the people. Once the others had left, Jakurai made his way over to you with.

“Excuse me, Y/N Y/L/N?” he asked, formally. You looked in his direction and nodded with a smile.

“That’s me,” you hummed, happily. Your voice was melodic and sweet, and it caused the corners of Jakurai’s lips to raise.

“Pleasure to meet you. My name is Jakurai Jinguji. I wanted to tell you that your performance tonight was beautiful,” Jakurai said, his eyes steadily fixed on yours. “I saw you at the concert last week as well and I must say that your musical talents are quite impressive,” he added genuinely, chuckling slightly.

You gave him another smile and laughed a little bit.

“Oh, that’s sweet of you to say,” you responded. “I’m impressed that you came to both of my shows. You must have really liked me,” you added with a wink.

Jakurai looked back at you in surprise and for a moment was glad that you couldn’t see his reaction.

“Oh, no it’s nothing like that, please don’t think that I’m some kind of – ”

He was cut off by the sound of your laughing, although it was quite melodious as well and he rather liked the sounds of it.

“I’m just teasing,” you said, your eyes slightly focused lower. “It was a nice compliment, thank you,” you added. Jakurai was about to respond, but you continued.

“But…your name sounds familiar…” you said, bringing a finger to your chin slightly. “Are you famous? You’re not scouting talent, are you?” you added, laughing once more.

Jakurai smiled slightly and shook his head.

“No, I’m merely a doctor,” he said, waving a hand. Your face lit up before him and you brought your eyes back to land on his.

“That’s right! I think you were mentioned on a radio show I was listening to a while ago!” you exclaimed. “I’m surprised someone as busy as you could make time for something like this,” you added, a little bit more bluntly than you had intended.

Jakurai nodded and hummed at your statement.

“Yes, normally I am quite busy, but I find that attending productions for the arts is rather cathartic for me,” he explained, his voice low and deep. “It’s quite nice to see local talent as well.”

You nodded in agreement.

“I can understand that,” you said. “Music has always been a creative outlet for me, so I understand your position. And thank you for supporting local talent,” you added with a chuckle. “We’d never be able to make it otherwise!”

Jakurai responded with a smile and the conversation continued to flow freely for the next several minutes. Eventually, you were called backstage by someone he could only assume was your manager, but before you left, you made him promise that he would come and support you again.

You were not what he had expected.

When he first found out you were blind, his thoughts were that you would be nervous and rather frail, but in fact it was quite the opposite. You were passionate and blunt and he was rather impressed at your ability to be strong-headed.

You were quite the intriguing character and Jakurai only wanted to know more.

[onestowatch]

Aidan Gallagher Has No Limits [Q&A]

Photo By Allan Zaki

There are many facets to Aidan Gallagher. On the surface, his scene stealing prowess as the co-star of The Umbrella Academy has catapulted him to an immense level of popularity on a piece of prime real estate amongst Hollywood’s brightest young A-List celebrities. But beneath the surface of this 17-year-old actor lies a multi-instrumentalist. An independent singer-songwriter who doesn’t seem to care about the mainstream attention that his music may garner in the future, only the substance for which it can bare.  Musically, his original compositions like “I LOVE YOU” and “4TH of July” draw early comparisons to acoustic-pop artists like Jack Johnson and Passenger. While lyrically some of his introspective words jump off the paper as if they were indie pop-ballads written by singers like Jason Mraz or Aqualung back in 2003.

For Aidan Gallagher the musician, the year 2020 began with a sold-out show at the Troubadour in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. This live performance on January 6th was supposed to be his introduction to the tour life. In fact, a couple weeks later, he even announced that he would be playing a live set at SXSW in March.  But…just as quickly as the Neon Lights Tour began, it came to an abrupt end due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  Although his first ever headlining tour has been temporarily delayed, it hasn’t stopped Aidan Gallagher from publishing fresh content for his listeners along with a series of new music videos.

There are many facets to the year 2020. On the surface the pandemic this year alone has derailed the plans of some of the world’s most talented independent recording artists. But when you’re an intuitive songwriter like Aidan Gallagher, times like these can provide the backdrop for some of the most emotional compositions that you may create.

We caught up with Aidan Gallagher to talk about his emotional subject matter, his dream collaborations and his future plans to balance his music endeavors with a budding acting career.

Ones to Watch: With all of the success that you've enjoyed over the course of the past two years, you've become one of the most recognized actors in young Hollywood. But now you're starting to get a lot more attention as a recording artist. In fact, you currently have four music videos that have garnered over 1 million views on YouTube. Those are very impressive feats to have accomplished without the support of a major record label. What was your personal goal when you first started releasing music? And are you happy with the reception that your music videos have received so far?

Aidan Gallagher: There was always less of a defined personal goal in terms of a release schedule other than just to make great music and put it out there and if people enjoy it, that’s really gratifying. I’ve always made music as a means of working out emotions and because it’s one of the most rewarding hobbies one can have.

Two singles that you've released this year are "I LOVE YOU" and "Blue Neon." Lyrically, they're both heartbreaking tracks that teenagers can relate to. But you also reference some introspective experiences that many adults in their 20s or 30s can relate to. What inspired the lyrics to these songs?

I've often found that the melodic structure and the micro-tonal characteristics of a riff are what inspire the emotional landscape of a song. When I hear music, I see colors and shapes and textures that I couldn't necessarily describe to another person. I let that imagery inform my emotional state and the subject matter of the song. The lyrics always coincide with this. Sometimes the lyrics relate more to the music than myself and other times they are stripped word for word from my own personal experience. Either way the lyrics always come from an honest place. I don't see how you could create anything of value without that.

“4th of July" is a Folk song that pulls on the heart strings of your listeners. The date is very specifically addressed in your lyrics, so why did you choose to release the music video on August 1st instead of the actual day of July 4th?

Thank you! I’m really proud of that song. It brought together a lot of what I’ve been learning about music production and engineering. It gave me a chance to show what I can do. A lot of people have asked about the timing of videos and our team has found through the advice of some very wise music industry people and just trial and error that it’s best to release a listening only video first. I like the idea that people will listen to the work before they start dissecting the visuals. I want them to have their own interpretation and not necessarily the visual scenery I put on it.

Of all the musicians and bands that have released music videos in 2020, which ones have inspired your imagination the most, when it comes to creating your own videos?

I often find myself influenced by a variety of artists across musical genres. To give an example or two, I really love what Jacob Collier and Finneas are doing with their videos. But at the same time, some of my favorite videos are the ones that are stripped down, and the artist is just performing their song in a studio or on a stage. I think it puts a beautiful focus on the music and the emotional texture of the song.

The 2020 Blue Neon Tour was going to be your first heading tour, but it was cancelled back in January due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Can you tell us a little bit about what you had in store for this tour?

Well, I was lucky that I got a chance to kick it off at the Troubadour here in Los Angeles.  Just that alone was pretty cool. I had a full tour planned to go around the country and then travel to international cities and do meet-and-greets with my fans and really connect. I was really looking forward to my first SXSW performance, so that was a really hard pill to swallow when they cancelled the festival. But all things considered, I’ve been incredibly lucky in my life and my little plans pale in comparison when you look at the state of the world right now.

How many songs have you recorded since the pandemic shutdowns began? And will you be releasing an EP or debut album anytime soon?

“I Love You” and “4th of July” were released this year but everything else I’m doing is currently in a state of flux. I’ve definitely got the songs but it’s a balance of finding the time to put into recording them. I have a large catalog that I’m really proud of that will be coming out one at a time as I can get to it. With (Covid-19) it’s really slowed down my ability to record because I have to engineer everything myself. With “4th of July” I had 3 different engineers on rotation come to my house to work so it kept me working on a strong schedule and we knocked it out fast. When (Covid-19) put everyone in quarantine I lost that team and schedule. We’ll get it back though.

Who would your dream collaborators be for a full-length studio album and why?

Wow, I mean, if I was ever lucky enough to work with any of my idols, I’d be over the moon. If I got to collaborate with another artist for an entire album it would probably be on a production or writing level. I’d love to work with John Mayer, Finneas, Charlie Puth or Ed Sheeran.

If you could pick any film director to direct the first music video from your debut album who would it be and why?

Honestly, I don’t think in terms of music videos. I only think about music. Once a song is produced then I have the luxury to get into the ideas for a video. I do have some raw visual impressions in my mind of what the song means to me but it’s hard to say until the song is done. Though there are many film directors that I’d love to work with as an actor such as Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Damien Chazelle and the list goes on and on and on.

We heard that you're a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Tell us about your work with the UN. What made you want to get involved with their efforts to stop Illegal wildlife trade? And why has it been so important for you to shed more light on the animal agricultural industry?

I can’t begin to tell you what a privilege it has been to be able to magnify my concerns about saving our planet through their channels. The environmental crisis is the largest and the most complex problem we face in the world. I have always wanted to use the platform I lucked into as an actor to showcase that. It all started with not being able to go surfing after a rain and that led to many realizations about carbon emissions and the role of the animal agriculture industry in those emissions. I don’t want to seem preachy to people or judge anyone’s choices, but I do want to spread awareness as I learn from the world’s top scientists. The truth is that if we don’t take aggressive action in the next few years, my generation isn’t going to have a viable future in a collapsed environment. The UN is calling the next ten years the "Decade of Action.” As individuals, there are a lot of small steps people can take that make a huge difference collectively such as “Meatless Mondays”, cutting down on single use plastic and cash voting for the environment with your daily spending.

You launched a five-part Q&A series on your YouTube channel back in September. Most of the questions from your fans were centered around your role as Number Five on The Umbrella Academy. Are you planning on creating any new content for your channel that primarily focuses on your musicianship and artistry as a songwriter?

I have a lot of plans for all kinds of content and ways to stay engaged with fans and it all makes me really happy. I’ve been doing music performances for my Patreon members every week, and music performing has always given me happiness. I bet a lot of performers are experiencing depression once they lost the ability to tour. Patreon brought back that happiness to me. Not every person who follows me is into my music, so it’s just for those who are and who would come to a show if I were touring in their city. I try to balance my time between the various things I’m passionate about; however, the past few months have really been about promoting the vote.

You play the guitar and piano. In addition to singing, producing and engineering. Take us back to the early stages of your timeline as a musician. Were you a self-taught musician or did you have instructors and mentors help you develop your skills?

Well, when you're first starting out you generally work on covers to develop your skills with your instrument while also making it fun. Once you can play the chords and you have an understanding of how your instrument works, you can learn things at your leisure. I started off taking lessons but eventually I stopped due to production and had to let my ear guide my learning. That's also when I started writing songs. I never took lessons for songwriting, I just watched YouTube. In particular I remember John Mayer’s seminar at Berklee College of Music to be a defining influence on my methodology for songwriting. As for producing and engineering, I'm completely self-taught and rely only on YouTube research and my own musical instinct to create.

Most of your songs could be categorized as Pop-Rock. What other genres of music would you like to incorporate into your sound?

I like all kinds of music, so I’m not necessarily trying to find a genre to incorporate but I guess you get influenced by whatever you are listening to. Genres are so blended these days, and I really think music operates on more of a spectrum than it does on individual categorizations of itself.

Who are your top five Pop-Rock artists/bands of all-time? And why?

There’s way more than five!  But since 5 is my lucky number I’ll try to narrow it down but it’s not in any order. Also know that this list is characterized by how I define Pop-rock. My Chemical Romance, The White Stripes, David Bowie, Queen and Foo Fighters.

We noticed that you filmed season two of The Umbrella Academy in Toronto. How do you think the experience of living in that city helped shape you as a songwriter and artist?

I think in order to write about life you have to live life. At this point in my life, I don't at all consider myself worldly as I simply haven't lived long enough and because of that I find that a lot of my music is introspective, and my songs often feel like the places I've written them. By putting yourself in new environments, I think it pulls new ideas out of you. Travel broadens the mind.

Hypothetically speaking, if you had to choose between winning a Grammy Award as a solo artist or a winning Academy Award with the entire cast of The Umbrella Academy, which option would you pick?

Awards aren’t why I make music or act. I don’t think about them. I just love music and acting. Any part I can play in those fields brings me happiness and I'd love to experiment with the different aspects of those art forms. Initially I got into acting because I wanted to be a director. I also loved listening to music, but I had no idea I would be a musician until I started taking piano lessons.

What’s the plan for your music career moving forward? Do you plan to continue to release material independently or would you prefer to be signed to a major record label?

It was a hard decision, but right now it’s best for me to remain an independent artist as I’m growing my music and balancing an acting career. I had really exciting offers from major labels, but they all want me to drop acting and tour full time. I also really enjoy having creative control over my songs. For the past couple of years, I’ve mostly been writing and because of that, I’ve built up a huge catalog of music to produce when I get the time. After that I’m really looking forward to being able to perform more and on tour.  For the time being, I’m really excited about catching up with what I’ve written so that I’ll finally be in a place where I can write a song and begin recording it the next day.

[pumpkinofthedale]

So the first chapter is taking me longer than expected bc life is just being.... stressful and busy, but here is another smidge of my cronus fanfic.

He opened another door and turned on the lights.

It… looked like a sound booth with a few instruments and microphones.

“This is my music studio.” A giant, toothy smile was on his face when you looked at him. “Pops really doesn’t like my music so I do it all down here where he can’t hear it.” He looked a little sheepish, sitting down in the lone chair in the room next to a keyboard and a piano. “But this is where the Cronus Ampora magic happens… or where it would happen if magic wasn’t fake as shit. Where- Where the Cronus Ampora music happens. There we go, that’s what I meant to say.”

“Cool.” You nodded appreciatively. “Very cool.”

You were a goddamn word smith.

“Did you check out my soundcloud?” He asked hopefully.

Oh crap….

“Yes, yes I did check out your soundcloud.” You said with what you hoped was a straight face.

“What’d you think?” He looked excited, but let out a nervous chuckle. “No one I know takes the time out to actually listen to it so I don’t get to ask much.”

“Uhhhh….” You racked your brain for something to say about it other than, “It was very sexual.” Shit… you really said that out loud didn’t you.

Cronus rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s the point. Popular music is usually about love or sex, something like ninety-ish percent of the top billboard songs are about sex. Sex sells. People like sex. And let’s be real… that’s kind of my whole deal, I don’t know if you’ve noticed.”  

You honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. Sure… a lot of songs on the radio had sexual themes… but…. “Did you… Did you actually research that? Is that an actual fact or like… something you’re guessing at?”

“No, it’s featured in about sixty percent of top hits on Alternia, but if you look at the whole quadrant system, that’s in about ninety five percent of top hits. And I wanted to see what sort of musical themes made up human music too…. You guys are at about ninety percent about erotic love themes in your most popular music.” He sort of shrugged, but waggled his eyebrows when your eyes met. “What can I say… It’s a compelling subject. And if you ever want a course in alien anatomy, kitten, you know I’m willin’ to tea–”

“What did I say about dialing the horniness back.”

He rolled his eyes again. “Fiiine. But even you have to admit you basically set yourself up for that one.”

“Committed and happy relationship.” You leaned against the wall, noting that there was still some eggnog in your mug (and here you had thought that it’d all spilled on you when you fell). “So, I see a keyboard, a piano, a guitar… how many instruments can you play?”

Cronus began mumbling, counting on his fingers, “Including the human ones I learned, like five? I think? Six if you count the synth.”

Holy shit.

“Holy shit. So you’re like… actually talented. I suppose you had to have some redeeming qualities other than just being pretty.” He squinted, and you amended, “Wow, that sounded a lot ruder than intended. I meant that that’s baller dude. That’s a lot of instruments and I’m very impressed.”

He flushed a little bit more, pleased grin showing off those shark teeth. He set the hot toddy on the top of the piano as he situated himself at his keyboard. “Do you wanna hear what I’m currently working on?”

Oh yay…. More alien sex music…. Fantastic.

But he was being so tolerable and open and crushing his music dreams on Christmas felt so wrong that you couldn’t help but manage a “sure, why the hell not?”

Cronus positively beamed, and his voice was so pretty, and the composition was decent, but the lyrics were just such garbage…. You made a game for yourself by counting the use of the word bulge… He’d said it over twenty times in a four minute period.

“And then the end is gonna go like this: Bulge, bulge, yank my bulge like you mean it.” He finished, looking over at you expectantly. Twenty three.

You tried to give him an encouraging smile, but you were pretty sure it looked like a grimace…. “How married are you to those lyrics?”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Like… how attached to those lyrics are you? They’re kind of….” You racked your brain for a good way to word it. “Sub-optimal.”

His face fell. “Oh….”

“It just didn’t feel… genuine? Like it felt performative even for a song.” Geez, you were really doing this weren’t you. Your department head had accused you of being too blunt on multiple occasions, and here you were proving him right. “Music wise, it was fun, and your voice is very nice…. But the lyrics seem forced. You already have a bajillion songs about sex, isn’t there anything else you want to sing about? Maybe express a genuine emotion? Like when you look at a flower or something, how does that make you feel? Or like when you’re staring up at the stars at night contemplating existence, or even- even your favorite food. Haven’t you ever tried to sing about those things instead? Or to tell a story?”

“Like… music can be such a magical medium. It’s so versatile, and you have so much potential if you’d just… I dunno, explore some more of that versatility, and get yourself out of that sexual lyrics only mindset.”  

Cronus regarded you with a mixture of concern, disbelief, and what you really hoped was thoughtfulness. “Magic is fake as shit…. But I’ll… I’ll think about it. Maybe.”

He leaned back, expression relatively neutral as he looked you up and down (making you feel less uncomfortable than usual). “So, got any requests? More of that crispmas music?”

You shrugged, “I guess whatever you feel like playing? Although I’m really not feeling the whole eros thing right now so like…. I dunno.”

You were so fucking eloquent.

“C’mon, you always have strong opinions. Always.”  

“Damn, B, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a bitch.” You replied, sliding down the wall to the floor. “Play me your prettiest non-sexual song.”

He just laughed. “Babe, all songs are sexual. Even if they don’t sound like they are, I can guarantee they’re about sex. Everything people do is about sex.”

You stared at him, dumbfounded by the coldest take you’d ever heard spoken aloud. Sure, you’d heard the argument before (usually by crusty old white authors), but you never thought anyone ever believed them.

“Is it though? Like this, right here. I’m here trying to be your friend in a non-sexual capacity, and my following you down here was not motivated by sex other than maybe the desire not to have sex with you… because I don’t know if you’ve picked up on many of the incredibly subtle hints I’ve been leaving for you like a little crumb trail, I don’t want to have sex with you. Period.”

Cronus pouted a little. “Okay, valid. Mean, but valid.”

You snorted, “That’s hardly the meanest thing I’ve said to you even tonight.”

“That’s very true. You’re very mean to me.” He batted his eyelashes at you.