#i guess i dont really listen to many different artists/bands

[unfortunate--moth]

That chapter. Hit way too hard. It was scary relatable to current things. I'm scared. Moth. Moth are you watching me. Moth answer me are you watching me./silly

Also, 30, 36, and 38!

-Mikoto ☁️

Well remember that one time that moth got into your home? /j

no but im glad it was relatable!!! i always feel so unsure when i post chapters if they'll be good so getting asks/comments like this really makes me happy :]

But anywho!!

30: My best birthday

god i dont know. i feel like most of my birthdays have been the same throughout the years, and most years my birthday is celebrated on a different day since people are usually busy. i guess when i was a kid my birthdays were more special, but i cant exactly remember which age which party was for... i forgot when it was, but i think the coolest cake i had was shaped like a cat. It tasted bad because it was like 60% fondant though lmao

36: My favorite video game

Oh boy oh boy!!! I really love Don't Starve Together (i've got like over 200 hours on that). But I'm also a big fan of Slay The Princess!! I think though a game that holds a special place in my heart is Pocket Mirror. It's one not many people know about but i've loved it since only the first demo was available. It's just important to me and it's really shaped the way i view things. Lisette is my everything.

38: My favorite band

Probably Arctic Monkeys? It's my most listened to band at least! But I also very much enjoy The Frights and Glass Animals!! There's a lot of bands and artists i love though!!!

[apuff]

@sagaofa-dying-star thanks for the tag!!! rewriting the post because it's long asf

 Do you have freckles?  everyone has a little freckles. but i dont have too many

 Do you drink tea or coffee? How do you take it?  i only drink southern style sweet tea bc we never have any good hot tea around

What was the last song you listened to?  MAMA APPARENTLY?? i was on that black parade grind i guess

Do you sleep on your back, stomach or side?  stomach usually but sometimes i go for the recovery position

Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?  yes

Do you prefer drawing or writing?  probably drawing but i like writing too

What’s your ideal number of blankets to sleep with?  i have 6 blankets in my bed and it's not enough

What’s your favorite band/artist?  ahem. aheem. hehe. my chemical romance

When is your birthday?  am i not supposed to say this for internet safety-? anyways its in december

How tall are you?  5'2 is on my id but my family says im taller than that

What color are your eyes?  green 😏😏i have the rarest eye color 😏😏😏

Who are five (or more) people you want to hug right now?  two of my online friends one of my irl friends one of my mutuals and one person i don't even like but probably really needs it

Fears?  im afraid of people i love dying, being in trouble, being late, and tape measures.

What’s your favorite color?  green BUT I LIKE ALL OF THEM

What’s your favorite season?  I LIKE ALL OF THEM

Want any tattoos? What of?  i kinda want some of those semi permanent ones that last for a few months of just random shit like band members and memes actually maybe i just want to draw on myself in sharpie

Want any piercings? Where?  i just want normal ear piercings :<

Who is the last person you texted?  my ex- camp roommate

Do you have a best friend? How long have you been friends?  yes me and my bestie have been friends for like two and a half years

What/who do you miss?  i miss having good breakfast at camp 😭😭 also i hate to say it but getting exercise. also going outside..

How was your day today?  pretty good

How much sleep did you get last night?  like eight or something

Do you believe in aliens?  y'all. the universe is REALLY big. there's gotta be some alien bacteria hanging out on SOME planet SOMEWHERE

When was the last time you cried? Why?  yesterday because of algebra 😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️muhammad ibn musa al-khwarizmi when i FUCKING CATCH YOU ITS OVER

What’s your favorite decade?  2020s- if i had to pick something else it would be 2000s

What are some seemingly childish things you like?  laughing at my reflection in spoons (i highly recommend doing this btw)

What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?  i like too many books to count and i have read hp and pjo too many times to count, but recently ive wanted to reread the outsiders so much i go to bed thinking about it and wake up thinking about it

How are you, really?  fine but every other time in my life i have thought i was fine i have been very mentally ill in retrospect so 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Does it take you a long time to make decisions?  depends on the type of decision..

What are you looking forward to in the near future?  artfight being over

What are you looking forward to in the distant future?  moving out :v

If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?  i am going to the house of my online friends

Do you sleep with your door open or closed?  who sleeps with the door open

What’s your favorite flower?  cherry blossom or lily of the valley

Do you currently have a squish?  i don't know what the difference is between this and just loving your friend, so, idk?

Do you like your middle name?  yeah, i actually use it as my internet and gaming name

Do you prefer dogs or cats?  cats, i respect dogs but they have no concept of personal space

Do you have any phobias?  y'all i really don't like tape measures

Do you stay up late? i consider 11 30 to be late but some of my friends stay up all night sooo its subjective i guess

Do you like the beach? Do you prefer it sunny or cloudy?  yes; sunny beach is better because where i live the water is always freezing so you need it to be hot or else it's just miserable

What’s your favorite cartoon?  maybe she-ra

Tag 5 of your favorite blogs i'm already tagging my moots later.,/,/

Do you have siblings? How many?  i have 6 siblings

Who was the last person you said “I love you” to?  MYSELF- i am lonely right now

Is there anyone you would die for?  why is this such an intense question 😭😭😭probably no i'm a bit of a coward

What do you need when you’re sad?  gerard way but i need him all the time so

Have you memorized your phone number?  no and it haunts me every day

Who’s someone you can trust with your life?  myself (no offense)

What does your last text say?  just had the most transcendent sandwich on the way home

i know this one is really long so no pressure to do all of it OR do it at all LMAO @the-mighty-q @karineverse @the-mighty-mittens @sea-creeture @thankyouforthev3n0m @hopelesshardrockfan @wannabescemo @starbird06

[orcelito]

🎶✨️when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)🎶✨️

(hope i don't bother you with this ask ! have a great day/night/whatever)

oh i listen to so so soooo many songs . uhm. i guess i'll choose some of my current favorites? oh maybe a favorite song from each of my favorite bands! ...of which there are definitely more than 5. but top 5 favs i guess???? or current 5 favs??? i dont think i can call these necessarily my Top 5 favs bc i have so many bands & artists i like at different times for different reasons BUT IF I HAD TO CHOOSE... ok this is going by band order i guess for current fixation but:

Sorrow - IAMX. ive been obsessively into IAMX recently to the extreme. for months. and i love soooooooo so many songs of theirs. but this song? Sorrow? it's the one that did it for me. I Come With Knives was the initial one that kicked this off, but going to Sorrow is what made me like "man i DESPERATELY need to listen to more of their music". NOT my very first IAMX song, that title belongs to Volatile Times, which ive known for like some ten years :p but only recently listened to more of their music and i have NOT looked back. as a bonus Sorrow reminds me a lot of ITNL Vash. perhaps part of the fixation on it lol

Nothing Personal - Des Rocs. picking a favorite song from him was nearly impossible bc im obsessed obsessed obsessed with his music. legit last year on my spotify wrapped all of my top 5 songs were his. OBSESSED. 'A Real Good Person In A Real Bad Place' is still undisputedly one of my fav albums EVER & the reason for that top 5 songs thing. but Nothing Personal is the first Des Rocs song i ever heard & what made me go "Oh my God???" & it still makes me lose my total shit when i listen to it lksdjflskjdf. honorary mention to Why Why Why, which was the other one i considered for him. also love that shit sooo much.

I Never Told You What I Do for a Living - My Chemical Romance. just so you know picking a single favorite song for MCR was near impossible. so much of their music makes me absolutely insane in the best of ways & picking just ONE?????? impossible. but i chose this one bc it's one that makes me EXTRA lose my shit anytime i listen to it. like fucking Belting it out. this one's The One. i can't give you special mentions for MCR bc there are too many. too fucking many. god i still love MCR so much

Armageddon - Blue Stahli. fucking love Blue Stahli's stuff, it's SOOO fun to listen to, & Armageddon probably really is my fav of theirs. i end up just jumping along to this song so much. it's a jumping song !!! so much fun to listen to !!!! also really paints a picture of me that a fav song of mine is just "Armageddon, come come and get it! Armageddon, baby!" the whole The Devil album is soooooooooo much fun & also an album i had a Mood for. back in uhh oct 2021 i wanna say. around there. special mentions for Takedown, Kill Me Every Time, and Power Outrage (this last one especially, OH MAN this also makes me lose my shit in the best of ways)

Mr. Fear - SIAMES. in a dramatic tone change from the other choices, i really am quite fond of SIAMES's music. it's my chill music. & this song specifically is sooooooooo full of longing and wistfulness. it's the first one of theirs i listened to & it's so......... waaaaaaaaaaaaa.. special mention to Brothers, which i very nearly chose bc im obsessed with that song too, but Mr. Fear has had my heart in a chokehold since i first listened to it Years ago. had to answer that one.

uhm. there are 5! additional special mentions to Capricorn by Xan Griffin, Maniac by Stray Kids, and Lovesong by TXT, which are all individual songs i've had MASSIVE obsessions with in the past. the Repeat On End kinds of songs. im being a bad STAY by not including Stray Kids in the favorite bands list but i havent been listening to their music as much lately. feeling these top 5 much more rn

[electrificata]

Here is what i have been listening 2 lately yes im avoiding something no i dont listen to a lot of """new""" music

"This corrosion" the sisters of mercy - nothing revolutionary here, its a goth (sorry eldritch) classic with the big stupid jim steinman bombast that i love. If you want a good time search "andrew eldritch interview" on youtube, he's a huge bitch its so funny

"My lady of mercy" the last dinner party - a cute fizzy indie pop song that splits open into huge, triumphant stoner rock choruses. Its my understanding this band has weathered "industry plant" rumors despite being like, not. Anyway if industry plants made shit like this id be ok w the concept

"Kybalion" killah priest - my friend sold this wu tang associate to me by saying a) he's into the occult, b) not sure if he's actually any good, c) hes making animal noises on the new album. "Hermes trismegestis of lyrics that specialize in physics and pyramids" literally what else do i have to tell you

"Blood makes noise" suzanne vega - i love when a singer songwriter chick has one hard track on her album and this one sounds urgent and clanging and ominous im having a great time

"You aint no celebrity" jungle - everybodys losing their shit over "back on 74," and rightfully so, but this is the ass shaker on the album, its like an update on all those 2000s sean paul hits i liked before i heard at too many bar mitzvahs (it actually knicks the buzzing theremin from "get busy," which was always better than "temperature")

"Naked eye" luscious jackson - 90s crunchy touchy feely divine feminine radical vulnerability nonsense

"Come together" primal scream - these guys were kind of narrowly revolutionary in the 90s and i dont hear anybody under 40 talk abt them ever but i loooove the early 90s uk "what if classic rock was dance" shit that was happening with them and i guess kind of madchester?

"Obsession" animotion - this is the loud obnoxious goofy 80s pop hit all the other ones want to be. The boy-girl vocals are really fun BONUS the singers fell in love and are still married, go look up a recent performance of this song theyre so old and so horny for each other i love it

"The big sky" kate bush + "chains of love" erasure - two very different 80s pop classics, but i listen to them the same way, and frequently right after each other. I have a theory of art and fiction i call, for the moment, "mythological awareness." I use this to refer to work that knows what old folkloric/mythological/archetypal symbols and narratives and images it evokes. Work that knows that any love story is every love story, every mad scientist is a wizard and a shaman and a hacker as well. Kate is singing about the things we pay attention to as children and forget as adults, the sky is a marvel its easy to forget about because its there every day, but that doeant mean its any less a marvel. This might be the most straightforward u2-ish rock single bush ever put out, but it feels like shes marching at the head of an army of zeppelins and airplanes and rockets powered by the laughter of gods. Andy bell of erasure is singing about a fictionalized pre-aids era of gay utopia like its something that used to be real and can be real again if we all clap our hands. He details a world of "sisters and brothers" open to the pleasures of the world, fucking and loving and worrying about what theyll do for dinner rather than whether they can get into the hospital to watch their loved ones die. And over an unstoppable synthesizer bounce, falsetto floating over clouds of gospel-inflected backing vocals, you believe him. He could be talking about atlantis or hobbitton or erewhon or the greek age of heroes and he knows that, the halcyon past is a myth none of us can get away from, maybe we need to understand it and use it rather than disavow it. I was born years after both of these songs hit, and my parents didnt listen to either of these artists, so they come to me fresh and bright and veiled in the light obscuring mist of morning, for me and no one else (everyone else)

[itsstraykids]

hello! hope ur doing well! i love reading ur answers and getting to know more abt u sm! its just amazing how days go by so quickly and busily like u blink and suddenly its 4 of them passed already! apologies! unlike u, im still infant-level fan to kpop (got pulled by skz) and being as hyperfocused on skz as i was, dont know any other kpop groups like i do skz sadly, but i do love music! i love shinee's stuff sm!!! and my best friend really likes xdinary heroes so im getting into them too! and txt just have some of the funnest bsides so their discography gets scoured too lmao. i just dont know any grps members or anything well, but yeah! like u said, lots of good music raining down. i will never understand ppl's bias against non native language songs-esp when they like english stuff and its not their mother tongue!-bcs kpop has such a range. so many interesting sounds, artists and genres!! from past year ive really found myself drawn to soft-ish(?) k-indie/rock a lot! u asked for newer artists (ik so less abt bands. this is a personal failure</3) some of my favorites i think are: lee go do, mingginyu, nerd connection! akmu, heo hoy kyung, se seo neon, etc etc just lots of solo lowkey artists and songs lmao. there's smth abt the lapping continuity of soft sounds and forming of language like that which enthralls me a lot. i really adore loud and wonderful girl group songs as well!! i listen to girl groups a whole lot more than bgs which is surprising bcs i love skz, but their immaculate energy and style! really love aespa, rv, loona! stayc, twice, billie, izone and others! do u listen to lucy the band? their stuff's really fun as well! i rambled sm lmao but yeah. music is so exciting in so many aspects its amazing. i love listening to a lot of languages and genres too! mostly bcs my brain's engagement is a pinball game and i am keeping it amused with fifty different things at the same time. which is why i just have a lot of recs for songs but none for artists bcs i collect and find interesting stuff but get obsessed easily, which makes it difficult to get into every artist particularly. would love to trade playlists or songs once this secret santa is over if ud be comfortable with that! (no pressure genuinely!) thank u for reading and indulging me! its funny how everything is still so busy even tho we here dont celebrate christmas that extensively like the west at all (asian!) holidays are holidays tho i guess lmao. hope u have lots of fun sweets and gifts well wishes and rest and reprieve!! stay safe!!

ps- top 3 artists?? that i found and fell in love with so bad this year?? would be youra! yukika and ahn ye eun! and now i dont know how much any of the artists song would be up your alley but im vibrating to recommend them to everybody so bad but id recommend mimi, raww from youra; neon 1989, soul lady, pit-a-pet (or any! she's amazing) from yukika; and burn like a star, full bloom, night flower, moon during the day or any! (im just. obsessed with her voice and how she likes doing her music smm) from ahn ye eun! u dont even have to listen to these if u dont want to, i just wanted to share lmao. do u have some particular artists whose sound u adore to unseeming degrees? also! fav japanese artists(if any)? ! im always on lookout for new music!! have a good day!!!

hi!! sorry again for answering this so late, like you said, the days go by in a flash lmao. thank you so much for those recommendations, i'm excited to check them out!! once i have the time 😅 i think after christmas i’ll be doing a lot of chilling and art + new music will be perfect. i totally feel you on collecting songs over artists usually, i do the same because i find good songs randomly from cafes, movies, spotify recommended, etc. and just put them all into a playlist, lol. i would LOVE to trade playlists with you. anything you recommend will be much appreciated. i really need more indie recs and good gg songs, i only really know mamamoo but i think they’re great. i’ve heard some singles from the other groups you mentioned that i like a lot too but i don’t know any of their b-sides.

oh wow you’re located in asia? that’s very cool, is it hot there right now or are you more in the north? i’m in california so we don’t get very “wintery” vibes even in december, but it has been raining a bit which is really nice and refreshing. also, today is my birthday! so we had a really great banana cake my family made, and they also made an incredible brunch. we’re going ice skating in a little bit and then having a bonfire on the beach in the evening. hope you’re having a good day as well! merry christmas if you celebrate 🎅🎄✨💝

[banjo-murderfolk]

Okay so

You've got last few decades covered,,,, so here are some new-ish artists hope you dont mind

Lets start with Rainbow Kitten Surprise, How to:Friend, Love, Freefall

They have like this very clean rich sound that I really love, I guess its like indie ehh something let me listen to more music podcasts i CANNOT tell genres apart,,,, idk if you're more of a sound over lyric person or the opposite or in between, i think my favourite are Hide and Freefall, I'd say those are more upbeat in terms of sounding, and its not like the lyrics are too heavy, but I think I could cry to them on a very emotional day, but its more of a scream-along in a good way if that makes sense?

Second one is Death Cab for Cutie which I guess is a pretty popular band so uhh sorry if you heard of them and passionately hate them? I've just been listening to them a lot this year, they are this quet chill band, huge discography, obviously I Will Follow You Into The Dark went viral, but I think you'd like I Will Posses Your Heart? at least the name of the song, cmon

idk they just been my ultimate background noise for a big part of the year, along with the Killers, like, at any point that I didnt really have anything to listen to I just put them on, banger after banger yknow

Another one, i feel like i violate something by mentioning it, but uhhh Car Seat Headrest? Perphaps??? I just couldn NOT stop listening to Bodys its so goooooood

but in general very Noisy band, most of the time completely intelligible and then you look at the lyrics and its like. Oh.

Next upppp we have mr Wilbur Soot. Now, hear me out,,,, he's also a. a youtuber/streamer, but he also has a band Lovejoy, their new EP is pretty good, "high quality rock" and I really like the videos for the songs, and Wilbur's favourite band is Los Campesinos!, so I heard about them from him (MANY times) and been enjoying them since!

He also recently released solo album Mammalian Sighing Reflex and I really really love how it sounds, I guess the closest would be Boygenius? Just so melodic, but there's A Lot going on in terms of sounds and layering idk im just very very pleased with how it sounds, my fav I'd say is Mine/Yours

Another recent release from a cool artist is Are We There Yet? by James Marriot, idk its like. Quet rock? i just really like Going Postal At The Party this is it tbh

Now,, i see 35mm and I love musicals,,,, so if you liked that one I could suggest 36 Questions, its not nearly as good i dont think, but it also has like. idk dark undertones? Maybe just listen to like "Our Word" from it idk idk

And the last oneeeeeeee is Will Wood :D

this is also if you open to more musical-vibes, i dont really know how to describe it, there are A LOT of sounds instruments whatever coming from all the different directions, but its so so harmonic, I really like In Case I Make It <3

OKAY i THINK this is it, sorry if its too modern for your old soul :D

but yeah hope you give some of those a chance peace and love

all of my 2023 music!! listened to many many new albums this year and hoping to continue that for 2024 :) would be happy for recommendations :)

[thefearlessalex]

What is this??

Doin this random music ask thing I found bc I need to keep myself awake

Also I removed some of the questions I couldn’t answer n stuff

Can’t credit who I got this off bc I’ve forgotten already but

Here goes

A song you like with a color in the title.

Bury Us In Black - Ashestoangels (what I’m listening to rn)

A song you like with a number in the title

One Last Glance - Ashestoangels (off their new album, has my favourite human Mikey Lord in it, that song is a work of art.)

A song that reminds you of summer time

Vacation Town - The Front Bottoms

A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget

Your Graduation - Modern Baseball

A song that needs to be played loud

In My Mind - As Sirens Fall (join the fuckin rebellion n blast that shit as loud as you can)

A song that makes you want to dance

Dead Of The Night - Your Illuminations

Or

Hey Scarlet - Your Illuminations

(Any song from YI tbh)

A song to drive to

Maps - The Front Bottoms

A song about drugs and alcohol

Skeleton - The Front Bottoms (what a great song)

A song that makes you happy

Smoke - As Sirens Fall

A song that makes you sad

Beauty In Darkness - Miss Vincent (I cry every time I hear this song live...)

A song you never get tired of

Anything by As Sirens Fall, I’ll never get tired of any of their music, I love them too much

A song cover by another artist

Misery - Coast To Ghost (a song by Creeper covered by one of my favourite humans and his solo project band thing)

Or

Twelve Feet Deep - Coast To Ghost (Josh did an awesome cover of that song when I saw him live)

A song that would sing a duet in a karaoke

Bones, Pt. 2 - Ashestoangels ft Mikey Lord

A song that has many meanings to you

She Runs With The Wolves - As Sirens Fall

Or

Getaway - As Sirens Fall

(Both songs get me very emotional)

A favorite song with a person’s name in the title

Dorian - Ashestoangels

A song that you think everyone should listen to

In My Mind - As Sirens Fall (not just listen to it, watch the video. I’m so so proud of what the ASF boys have done with their new era, I know it’s going to be fuckin amazing)

A song by a band you wish were still togther

(Time to list all the FVK songs)

City Falls To Dust - Fearless Vampire Killers

A song that breaks your heart

Beauty In Darkness - Miss Vincent (that song got so much sadder after Jack left the band)

A song by an artist with a voice that you love

She Runs With The Wolves - As Sirens Fall (damn I love Mikey’s voice so so much he’s so talented and that song shows it off so well)

A song that reminds you of yourself

Beauty In Darkness - Miss Vincent

[noxiatoxia]

if the hosts formed a band what would each do (also i have the image of the twins wanting to sing something like “i fucked ur mom” by sorry mom or “im yer dad” by grlwood and trying really hard to convince tamaki to let them sing it and he’s VEHEMENTLY against it heheh)

OH ok this is all very interesting to think about........ so in this au/concept i assume every member has musical interest/talent (since lbr haruhi could NEVER be in a band for the. obvious reasons.) so... I'll give my general overviews as well as what I think their music would sound like :D

So Tamaki is a solo artist and he'd make pop songs as you theorized. He'd be VERY big on his stag presence, very idol-esque. There's actually an offical(sorta) English in character song for Tamaki and I think it sounds exactly like the kind of stuff he'd make. I feel like some of his other music would sound like this tho :) It's like...idk how to put it bc i'm not good with classifying music, but it's like pop but not saccharine. It's more moody. moody pop. I would like to assume he has a lot of piano in his music.

KYOYA is...interesting. Again a solo artist. Unlike Tamaki who places a LOT of emphasis on stage presence, Kyoya operates mostly from his house and does not really make public appearances....now I know many peoples first thoughts for Kyoya + music is "he likes classical" and i'm sure he RESPECTS it, but tbh...I think it's not his favorite. esp bc of the family he was raised in, he was forced to listen to it like ALL THE TIME and now he's so sick of it. So for him I'm going for calm but still lively songs with an emphasis on string instruments, like this and this.

The twins would DEF be making industrial rock/grunge rock and stuff like that. Very loud, beat heavy. Also with some dupstep influences. The titles would be very joky/provocative, think Anal Cunt (sorry in advance if you dont know who that is) but their titles are just a LITTLE less extreme. But same general concept. In terms of general sound this is what I have in mind. However, as individuals, I think their music would be very different

Kaoru would make very "odd" music. I think it leans more electronic/rock, usually with very odd-sounding parts, bordering on denpa (songs meant to invoke a feeling of uneasiness/discomfort). The lyrics would probably be cryptic if not a little disconcerting. look my mans has 5 different mental issues he needs SOMEWHERE to vent them. I feel like his music would generally sound and have lyrics kinda like this (promoting my own translation channel...) or like this

Hikaru on the other hand is a little more true to their shared band concept. Rock, maybe with metal influences. Up-beat stuff that can be kinda goofy in lyrics. Also rap in it maybe? Songs like this and this are what I have in mind in terms of sound.

Hani would have a band with Mori :) I think their style is interesting since I imagine they're very different musically, so combined they make..... pop metal. HEAR MME OUT. IT WOULD BE FUNNY. idk why but I always saw Hani as the kinda guy who secretly is a metal fan....it just seems funny....he thinks it's very fun an energetic!! this is the kinda stuff they'd make. Hani would be the vocalist most of it but Mori does some too

Now, alone... I think Hani makes what you'd expect. Very saccharine pop-ish songs like this one. Just fun nonsense.

Mori would def be more towards slow-ish, low-fi songs that are quiet. I'm thinking like this? Alternatively you can say more traditional slow songs and I agree, but tbh I...do not like like slow music much so I have no examples. Low-fi is the only slow music genre I seem to enjoy.

Ok Haruhi. Haruhi is fucking hard. I have no god damn clue what her music would be like. She's also a stand-alone and much like Kyoya does not care for people knowing who she is, even less so. I think she just uses some stage name and nobody knows her face and name lol. Her music...I...I guess something like this? I'm really lost on this one. I'm just thinking, electronic and loud but still soft somehow.

[dearly]

Pete Wentz (6:39:20 PM): Hey Ryan Ross (6:39:39 PM): hey Pete Wentz (6:40:09 PM): Is this the guy fro poanic at the disco Ryan Ross (6:40:23 PM): yeah im ryan, is this pete? Pete Wentz (6:41:12 PM): Yeah Ryan Ross (6:41:18 PM): hey man Pete Wentz (6:42:37 PM): How arer you Ryan Ross (6:43:17 PM): im not bad, working on a paper for english. hows everything with the new record? Pete Wentz (6:44:37 PM): Going really well Pete Wentz (6:45:04 PM): How's everything wiht your band are those just remixes Ryan Ross (6:46:01 PM): awesome, yeah we only did those on my laptop because we cant get into a studio yet. but we still have alot of those parts live and full band Pete Wentz (6:46:25 PM): Does it have samples like that Pete Wentz (6:46:42 PM): How many people are in the band.... Are you guys all in hicghschool Ryan Ross (6:47:20 PM): do you mean do we use a sampler? our drummer uses a drum sampler which we put some of the stuff on, and he plays some of it Ryan Ross (6:47:43 PM): im in college. im 18 the other three of them are 17 and in high school Pete Wentz (6:48:26 PM): Like of the pure volume site songs what would not be part of your live show Ryan Ross (6:50:18 PM): well right now the synth stuff because we need a keyboard player. we are trying out a few guys soon though. and some of the drum parts are different. Pete Wentz (6:50:48 PM): I absolutely love the stuff Ryan Ross (6:52:16 PM): but we have two guitar players one sings and i play lead. its kind of hard to describe it. we are a rock band but about half of a song will be dance-ish or sort of 80s sounding Ryan Ross (6:52:28 PM): really? wow thanks alot man Ryan Ross (6:53:12 PM): it really is a huge compliment coming from you Ryan Ross (6:53:35 PM): i was actually really suprised you listened to it Ryan Ross (6:53:40 PM): i didnt expect you to see it Pete Wentz (6:54:00 PM): Is there some pics of you guys anywhere Ryan Ross (6:55:10 PM): no, we are taking them pretty soon for the website, its just not done yet. i have some just of me on livejournal. but thats wierd haha Pete Wentz (6:56:09 PM): Yeah fuck get some to me Pete Wentz (6:56:19 PM): I think I may come see you in californaia Ryan Ross (6:56:44 PM): really? Ryan Ross (6:57:08 PM): that would be awesome Pete Wentz (6:57:46 PM): I've been listeneing to those songs nonstop. Is the band a side thing or is it gonna be fulltime? Ryan Ross (6:58:20 PM): no its full time Ryan Ross (6:59:24 PM): well aside from school. which sucks Ryan Ross (6:59:32 PM): but we want to do this Pete Wentz (7:00:00 PM): When are those kids out of school Ryan Ross (7:00:26 PM): the drummer and bass player are graduating early. so like january and other guitarist/singer graduates in the spring Pete Wentz (7:01:16 PM): Nice Pete Wentz (7:01:23 PM): Do you know about my label Ryan Ross (7:01:46 PM): yeah i think i saw something a while ago on a journal entry, is gym class heroes the only band on it right now? Pete Wentz (7:03:10 PM): Yeah. I signed the academy. But they are fbr strictly gym class and I am looking for another Pete Wentz (7:03:33 PM): The cool thing about it is I just met with waner and they want both of the bands and to give me an imprint Ryan Ross (7:03:55 PM): oh cool i like the academy alot, oh i see yea i was going to ask you about that Pete Wentz (7:04:03 PM): Which pretty much means a lot more money to promote cool artists Pete Wentz (7:04:14 PM): You guys plays out a lot? Ryan Ross (7:04:39 PM): thats awesome man. actually no we just kind of started this thing up a few months ago, the show in victorville is going to be our first one Pete Wentz (7:05:51 PM): Really Pete Wentz (7:05:56 PM): Interesting Pete Wentz (7:06:11 PM): How much do you guys practice Ryan Ross (7:06:45 PM): we've been trying to figure out the best way to do this stuff live, and we've been having a hard time on figuring out how to make it sound good. depending on the place we might not be able to use all the electronic stuff that we want to do which sucks but alot of venues, at least here might have a hard time setting us up. we practice at

least 4 times a week so like. between 24-30 hours a week Pete Wentz (7:07:09 PM): Nice Pete Wentz (7:07:21 PM): I am gonna come to the show Ryan Ross (7:08:13 PM): we wish we could more often. but school is getting in the way. and it sucks cause parents think its a waste of time playing music and want me to focus on school. im sure you know how that is. Ryan Ross (7:08:23 PM): thanks alot man really Pete Wentz (7:08:55 PM): I do Pete Wentz (7:09:05 PM): What are peoples reactions to it Ryan Ross (7:10:04 PM): some good some bad. everyone is so into post hardcore stuff these days that some kids just brush it off. which is fine but then some kids like it cause its a little different i guess Pete Wentz (7:11:30 PM): Can that kid sing live? Ryan Ross (7:12:54 PM): yeah, he's been taking voice lessons for a little bit so thats starting to help him Pete Wentz (7:13:19 PM): Is he on? I mean on here he sounds awesome Ryan Ross (7:14:21 PM): yeah he's on pitch, we recorded that stuff with like a 100 dollar vocal mic. the only effects we used was pretty much reverb on the main parts. Pete Wentz (7:14:42 PM): Yeah sounds good kind of like patrick Pete Wentz (7:14:47 PM): I like it Ryan Ross (7:16:57 PM): yeah thats the only thing we get that alot. and thats just how the kid sings. we like your band but we dont want to sound like you guys, or be compared to fob all the time you know? but yeah he is aware that kids say he sounds like patrick so he's just trying different vocal stuff sometimes. Pete Wentz (7:19:06 PM): Here's the thing if I show you guys interest a lot of crappy labels are gonna come and do the same and I don't want a huge mess out there. I mean how interested are you guys in going fulltime when you can Pete Wentz (7:19:19 PM): Yeah you'll get eh patrock thing but how many people. Sound like hime Ryan Ross (7:19:47 PM): so you really think we've got potential then? Pete Wentz (7:19:54 PM): I do Ryan Ross (7:20:05 PM): i've wanted to play in a band for my job ever since i started high school at least. Ryan Ross (7:20:07 PM): we all want to do this Ryan Ross (7:21:05 PM): its like i cant put enough dedication into anything exept playing guitar and writing Pete Wentz (7:23:01 PM): I'm with you Ryan Ross (7:24:05 PM): but yeah. i cant see myself doing anything else but playing in a band, cause every job i've ever had ive hated it Pete Wentz (7:24:57 PM): You don't have a picture of the band Ryan Ross (7:25:44 PM): no, but if you need it i could have my buddy take some tomorrow at practice Pete Wentz (7:26:58 PM): That would be rad Ryan Ross (7:27:37 PM): okay we'll take some Ryan Ross (7:28:08 PM): are you online much? Pete Wentz (7:33:12 PM): Sometimes Ryan Ross (7:33:35 PM): okay, i was just wondering if this was your email incase you arent on i'll just send them Pete Wentz (7:34:17 PM): Yeah send it here for sure Ryan Ross (7:34:36 PM): okay Ryan Ross (7:34:55 PM): dude this better not be a joke, it better be you Pete Wentz (7:35:12 PM): It is Pete Wentz (7:35:34 PM): But there are a lot of fakers out there Ryan Ross (7:35:55 PM): okay. yeah i know someone has shown me like fake journals of you and stuff. thats creepy Ryan Ross (7:36:10 PM): thats why i asked if it was you for sure Pete Wentz (7:36:32 PM): This guy who is iming me is your manager Ryan Ross (7:37:03 PM): is it xxxtoughffxxx ? Pete Wentz (7:37:22 PM): Yeah Ryan Ross (7:37:38 PM): i dont know if he's our manager. he's our friend, he's been helping us out with a website, merch and the show in victorville Ryan Ross (7:38:35 PM): he's starting a company up and he wants to help us out Pete Wentz (7:43:04 PM): Ah I got t Pete Wentz (7:43:32 PM): It Pete Wentz (7:43:37 PM): You guys are awesome and if its what I think it is I want ti to be thenext academy Ryan Ross (7:44:58 PM): wow thanks alot. i hope you like the stuff live, its not completely different but it is different. i mean the singing is the same and all that. Pete Wentz (7:47:46 PM): cool Pete Wentz (7:48:06 PM): You guys look good. The chicks gonna be swooning? Ryan Ross (7:48:38 PM): once we get

a keyboard player who can do all of the sampling we want to do it will be alot better too. its like we know how we want to sound, but just finding the right way to do it i guess is what we are working on. Ryan Ross (7:48:40 PM): hahaha Ryan Ross (7:48:51 PM): i dont know man, we look alright i guess Ryan Ross (7:48:57 PM): we look young Pete Wentz (7:49:42 PM): Youngs not abd at all Pete Wentz (7:49:47 PM): How does the singiner look Ryan Ross (7:50:05 PM): dead sexy. Ryan Ross (7:50:41 PM): he's no pete wentz. but still Pete Wentz (7:51:42 PM): Hahaha Pete Wentz (7:51:54 PM): Goddamn as long as he looks cool.singing Pete Wentz (7:52:14 PM): For sure send me pics and all how many songs you guys have? Ryan Ross (7:52:39 PM): haha Ryan Ross (7:53:00 PM): kk Ryan Ross (7:53:54 PM): we've only got 4 right now, its been tough to write since school started and everyone's busier. and those are the first 4 songs we've written as a band. at the show we'll play those and a cover of new order maybe. or depeche mode. we dont know yet Pete Wentz (7:56:08 PM): Nice Pete Wentz (7:56:21 PM): I gotta run Pete Wentz (7:56:32 PM): But ill hit you on here later Pete Wentz (7:56:38 PM): Send me those pics and write the hits Ryan Ross (7:56:43 PM): okay dude. good talking to you Pete Wentz (7:56:43 PM): Peaaaaaace Ryan Ross (7:56:44 PM): hahaha Ryan Ross (7:56:47 PM): later man Pete Wentz is away from the computer as of 7:56:51 PM. Auto response from Pete Wentz: Igot99problems Pete Wentz is back at the computer as of 10:05:48 PM. Pete Wentz is away from the computer as of 10:06:23 PM.

[yeetthedragon]

>:)

- the 1975: i guess they’re electronic pop but they have songs of different genres. they’re my favorite band :)

- 4TH WALL by ruel: his latest album, i love it so much. my favorite songs from it are I DONT WANNA BE LIKE YOU, SET YOURSELF ON FIRE, MUST BE NICE, and END SCENE but honestly the whole album is so so good. ruel just has really good songs, i also like younger and face to face, and his remix of golden hour. i like that song better than the original. trust me, it is better than the original

- chloe moriondo is a great artist, i really like her style

- i’ve been getting into lizzie mcalpine too, specifically erase me feat jacob collier, give me a minute, and doomsday

- ribs by the crane wives: ugh i found this song recently and fell in love. it has such a hadestown vibe, and hadestown is my favorite musical. great song, good band

- declan mckenna: specifically rapture (great song to blast through headphones), brazil, make me your queen, and in blue (fucking banger i love this song)

- sleeping at last: does good covers, i like you wouldn’t like me, looking at the world from the bottom of a well, and saturn

- vincent by don mclean: one of the songs i can repeat forever. love it

- briston maroney: YES YES how could i forget about him. freaking out on the interstate, rose, under my skin, and fool’s gold are my favorites

- alec benjamin: saw him in concert with a friend almost a year ago, it was honestly surreal because no band or artist i listen to ever tours in my city so to have one of my all-time favorite artists come to my hometown was a night to remember. too many of his songs i love to list, just go listen to him. one i highly recommend is paper crown, specifically the youtube version from 2015. i was addicted to this song when i was younger

- state champs: a band i liked a lot my freshman year of high school. their cover of real world is great, better than the original in my opinion. losing myself, all you are is history, secrets, and our time to go we’re favorites of mine back in 2019

- goodnight moon by go radio: another of my all time favorites. also great to blast through headphones. my brother doesn’t like this song for some reason. probably because i play it too often idk

- I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: great band love them 100%. clusterhug is an all-time favorite and i wish i could belt that final high note. it’s really not that high but i can’t belt. oh also razzmatazz. banger

- this too shall pass by danny schmidt: found this song from the welcome to nightvale podcast. good song

- in bloom by neck deep: love it love it love it

- call you up by viola beach: great for driving late at night

- i’m this close to just dropping my spotify

- jackie onassis by sammy rae and friends: literally in love with her voice please

- cherophobe by the royston club: another favorite :)

- i know that he loves me by autoheart: such a good vibes song

- acolyte by slaughter beach, dog: good for sunny days

- holy by PVRIS: vibes i love it. overall great band

- malibu 1992: something about it gives october vibes. also i have an october-themed playlist that i love

- persephone by the tragic thrills: gives off the vibe of like a dark green, i love it

- out of time by the weekend: i don’t wanna say it sounds ethereal, maybe other-worldly is a good word? idk i like this song a lot

if i keep going i will be typing forever so i’m cutting it off here. i already have way too many suggestions, and this was just from one playlist. granted it’s a playlist compiled from three years of my on repeat playlist that spotify puts together so. if people are interested i’ll drop the spotify and we can be spotify moots :D but yeah there’s that for now

i wanna branch out in my music taste so if you guys want you can start a chain of songs/artists/albums you recommended and we can call listen to new music yk <3

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Can you imagine losing interest in BTS and their music ever? I've seen it's a hot topic on Twitter, how some fans just lost connection and how others put it as "exiting the magic shop". I don't understand. I spent my teens listening to the Beatles, Incubus and now that I'm 30's I still love them. I suppose it could happen but I just dont like it when people say they lost interest bec BTS has already healed them. Like, you can heal and listen to them at the same time right? Your thoughts guys?

First of all, thank you for this ask because this is such an interesting topic.

Secondly, I'm fairly sure this whole thing about "being healed from BTS", as in stopping being ARMY/stanning BTS was started by "ex-ARMYs" (or people cosplaying as such) on either twt or t*kt*k (or both) as a way to feed into the narrative of how you can only possibly like Bangtan while you're "sick" but eventually you get "healed" and move on to other artists, specifically other K-Pop groups. It's also occasionally used by people who stopped "stanning" BTS to make themselves look better in the eyes of kpoppies (or suck up to them) and to get hit twts. A quick twt search showed me a twt where someone spoke about how now that they've "left the Magic Shop" they're able to "love other people" and have found themselves in (Other Group’s fandom name)-land. As in Bangtan healed them so now they can listen to/stan “better” groups.

Do I think there are also genuine people among them who credit BTS for helping them heal before moving on? Probably, but I find the phrasing and way of thinking rather weird and also something that plays into the stereotype that liking a "boy band" is just a phase that you grow out of and then move on to "real music". 

Are there people who genuinely "lost" whatever connection they felt or interested they had in BTS? Probably, though sometimes I feel like people misinterpret twts where people talk about leaving ARMY twt/their sns stan accounts as them stopping being a fan which is false. Being a fan of a musician is more than just posting on your stan account, right? There are plenty of people who are ARMY yet don't engage in fandom sns.

Now circling over to your question about if we/I can imagine basically falling out of love with an artist (BTS) and, well, personally I think it depends on certain factors. Just like you in my early teens I used to listen to a band called HIM, a little later to a band called Placebo, and to this day, if someone asks me who my favorite rock band is, I still name both of them without hesitation despite not actively listening to them anymore the way I do with Bangtan, as example. Yet it doesn't change the fact that I still love their music and check out what Placebo are up to from time to time. 

I think there are certain bands and artists whose music simply does something for us, this specific something that makes us connect to them in a deeper sense, in one that makes their music and artistry stick with us even far down the line when we might not listen to them daily anymore, might not check their sns every day anymore, or even at all. At this point I'm pretty sure BTS are exactly that for me as well. I can imagine that perhaps one day I might not be as invested (invested in the sense of having a stan account and blogging about them) anymore as I am now, because that's natural, but I doubt I'll ever go as far as saying "I've lost interested" or "been healed from being ARMY" or whatever else some say.

So, when I said it depends on different factors if you'll ever fall out of love/loose interest, what did I mean by that? I think a major deciding factor is why you became ARMY/a fan in the first place and what it is that keeps you interested in them.

More below the cut:

If you became a fan because you’re into shipping and your main focus is your ship and nothing else, honestly, I doubt you’ll stick around all that long. And I say that as a vminnie and namjinist myself. I imagine, if the only thing about Bangtan I would care about would be those two pairings and I would spend all my time hunting for clues and looking at gifs/pictures and discussing them and nothing else, their music only being of interest to me if I could make it about my ship? I’ll be honest, I would probably lose interest in less than a year because you can’t possibly remain invested in two people, their lives, “relationship clues” and ship fights with others for years without basically getting tired of it.

Also when I say just focusing on a ship, I literally mean just the ship aspect, not even the artistry those two people have, like their music etc, but just the bond they have and nothing else. And yes, there definitely are people like this. I’ve seen Xkookers only care about (insert song here) because they thought it was about their ship but once they realized it isn’t, they never brought up the song again, and never spoke about the song itself at all. And I don’t want to just point my finger at them, there are also people who ship other pairings who act this way as well, definitely.

At the end of the day, eventually you’ll have analyzed all there was to be analyzed, discussed every aspect and detail, seen every moment and taken it apart, and will have had every fight you could have, and then...what? There’s only so much “content” and “entertainment” you can get out of someone else’s life and bond and that’ll only be able to keep you interested for so long...and then what?

But if you got interested in Bangtan due to their music first and that is your primary focus while them as people is more of a nice “extra”, that’s “sustainable”, for a lack of better words. They release lots of music every year, have a huge discography along with side/solo projects, their lyrics are so layered and you can find so much in them, immerse yourself in their artistry. Their music can become your companion, basically. There are so many ARMY that have songs and albums that mean the world to them, that helped them heal or love themselves, that they keep coming back to, that engage in discussions about their music, old and new, and who find boundless joy in all of it while also adoring the members themselves.

If you got into them for their personalities while thinking their music is just okay, an all right extra, but you love their bonds and shows like RUN or Bon Voyage, I could imagine that being some kind of middle group but then again, why stan musicians whose music you only find okay? Would you be a fan of an actor whose personality you like but find the movies they are in and their acting ability mediocre/okay?

I’ve been around for a long time and the way I think that’s possible, and why I think I will remain ARMY for years to come as well, is because I genuinely love their music, love spending time listening to it, reading about it, talking to others about it, but also because I adore the members, their personalities and who they are, their bonds, their variety show type content and vlives, and I adore vmin and namjin. While I love talking about vmin/namjin, if I had to just focus on that (as in the ‘ship’ aspect of their bonds) all the time, I’d get exhausted and/or reach a point where everything that could be said would be said, but because I also spend a lot of time with OT7 content and in non-shipper ARMY spaces, with their music, their other content, reading their interviews and everything else, it’s a “sustainable” way to be ARMY. And I’ve seen and spoken to other ARMYs who have been around far longer than me, some even having been around since the very beginning, even before their debut, and that's how they’ve remained ARMY since, because it was this package deal that they fall in love with, the fact that they spend their time engaging in different fandom discussions and activities, instead of hyper focusing on a certain part of it exclusively, like shipping.

Of course, if you fell in love with the package deal in your twenties while in a dark place but then reached your thirties and, with the help of their music (side note: while Namjoon (inspired by Seokjin) told us to use BTS to be happy, don’t put the “responsibility” of healing you/helping you heal solely on an artist, since that’s not fair or healthy, rather if you really need help/assistance/someone to talk to, please reach out to someone, friends or family, or a professional if you can) and other (outside) factors, reached a better place and don’t feel as connected to them anymore as you did before, it’s possible you might “unstan”, but that doesn’t have to mean you’ll move away from their music completely, that you’ll make a clean cut and never look back. Especially if they helped you, chances are they will always remain with you one way or another for a long time. At the same time, I guess it’s only natural that sometimes our interests and tastes change and the band you used to love might just not “do it” anymore for you. It’s human. There are bands I used to love as teen but don’t care about anymore nowadays because their music isn’t my taste anymore, I don’t connect with it the way I used to etc. Does something like that make you a fake fan? No, it just, well, makes you human. Though, like I said, at this point I don’t foresee that happening for me with Bangtan and there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of others who will tell you the same thing. We’re in this Bangtan sh*t for life, purple blooded. Even Namjoon joked about how once you get into Bangtan there is no exit anymore. Or that no jammer joke about how once you JimIN you never JimOut.

Lastly there’s also a whole conversation to be had of what will happen once the members start enlisting, or once the daily content turns into monthly, bi-monthly, every half year and eventually only sporadicly spread out throughout the year, when their music will be all that we’ll get instead of music + additional content like sns posts or RUN. What will happen when that day comes? Shippers and those interested in their personalities will stop “being fed” and eventually their interest will dwindle away. Those who need to constantly be engaged with and fed to remain interested will likely dwindle away and move on to other content/musicians that’ll keep them fed with new things on a regular. And those who are into their music, or the package deal, they’ll likely still be fans, still love their music and come back and be active when new releases come, still occasionally return to content like watching concerts or old RUN episodes, but even they won’t stick around the same way we all do right now. This isn’t to say that when that day comes we’ll find out who “the real fans are”, because the question of what a real fan is, is a whole other discussion to be had, but rather it’ll be a natural, normal part of fandom, of a musicians career, of a human cycle.

Take AC/DC as example, after so many decades they still have fans that show up when they release a new album, but I doubt those fans have active stan accounts and engage in daily fandom stuff the way you do with a constantly active/present artist like BTS etc. And I can imagine that’ll be Bangtan and ARMY much later down the line as well.

To sum it all up, I don’t think there is a black or white answer, merely a gray one.

[binas-idea-vault]

Hear me out, Dream SMP Band AU

As an anon to different people I’ve sent like 5 million au ideas and for ✨reasons✨i think it’s for the best I don’t post the idea’s i’ve already sent in to others. luckily i am very sleep deprived and have a few other aus up my sleeve so here’s an idea for a Band AU. (SideNote: the characters are primarily based on their c! selfs not the content creators / ccs that play them on the Dream SMP)

it doesn’t start off with some x reader but i swear there’s x reader in this don’t kill me-

i have an extremely soft spot for the Syndicate and cannot bear to part them so guess they’re a band-

okay but seriously, they’re a band and their codenames are their stage names because i think that’s pretty cool. Philza / Zephyrus is the guitarist (purely off the vibes and since he doesn’t play an instrument in the canon), Technoblade / Protesilaus is the founder of the band and the bassist (once again because of vibes and the fact that he doesn’t play an instrument in the canon but also because the bassist is kind of like the glue that holds a band together (as it has been scientifically proven that the brain finds it easier to hear and find rhythm in a song when it is played at a lower tone) and everyone in the Syndicate is there because of Technoblade), Niki / Nemesis is the singer of the band (i’m pretty sure she’s dabbled in some singing so why not-), Ranboo / Lethe is the keyboard played of the band (also purely on vibes and because the image of a tall lanky person leaning over to play a keyboard is funny to me (although he obviously would have a keyboard that matches his height because leaning down a lot like that can cause back problems-)) and the fifth unknown member of the Syndicate Harpocrates is the song-writer / lyricist who is an official member of the band but has a role that doesn’t require them to perform.

Kinoko Kingdom is a band made up of Quackity, Sapnap, Karl and George, with Quackity as song-writer and singer (i mean this is self explanatory (i’ve also been very obsessed with listening to “Where are the askers?” for literally no reason other than the fact it makes me smile), Sapnap as the drummer (for the vibes) who used to be a member of Dream Team until the group split up for reasons unknown to the public, George as the keyboard player (he just gives me the vibes (i really need to stop using the vibes as my reasoning)) who joined Sapnap as a part of the Kinoko Kingdom band after the split of Dream Team, and Karl who plays the guitar (my reasoning? you guessed it, the vibes).

Dream Team was a popular band starring Dream as the singer until he decided to quit his career as a performer and became the owner of Dream Productions, one of the most influential record labels in the country and one of the wealthiest too. whilst it may just look like a successful record label to an outsider there is more to it than meets the eye, with questionable contracts and shares in young musicians’ profits (i think you can tell i know nothing about record labels but shhh lets just roll with it for the sake of plot).

whilst a Reader character could fit in many places i think i want to make Reader the owner of their own record label (i’m not creative so if i write a oneshot about this au or anything i’ll literally put -Insert Record Label Name Here- because creative juices are nonexistent, we only have creative room temperature water). just hear me out on this. Reader has a record label and with their team (consisting of Eret, Foolish, Puffy, and Sam (just added some of my favorite characters i didn’t include elsewhere cause yes i am author and can do that) they try to warn up and coming music artists to make sure they’re fully reading their contract with record labels so they don’t get a shitty deal or fall for traps in the industry with other record labels (totally not Dream Productions what are you talking about-).

Tommy and Tubbo are an up and coming duo band that almost signed with Dream Productions until Reader and their team stepped in and offered the duo a much better contract. Shenanigans ensue (it took forever to spell shenanigans and i dont think i even spelled it right-)

[ofcowardiceandkings]

I think you mentioned listening to podcasts? Do you have any favorites to reccommend? I've run out of content :(

that i do !

im not entirely sure what kind of podcast you'd be interested in but i'll throw out a few of the goodies in my huge library of stuff , i'll miss out a few of the HUGE podcasts that have been all over tumblr though

a LOT of it is true crime or human interest stuff , or history because im nerd ,, and a few of these dont have nearly enough attention so [shrug] i'll try to keep this short i guess lol this isnt EVERYTHING ive got in my library or listened series' by any measure

i AM gonna pop a shout to both Stuff You Missed in History Class and Stuff You Should Know from iHeartRadio because their HUGE archives have kept me from losing my mind many times over , and they cover a wide range of both important and wacky topics

BomBARDed (ongoing) this is the only fiction podcast i have happening right now really but its DAMN GOOD ONE .... it's an actual-play D&D 5E podcast in the DMs own musically-inspired world, focussed on a group of multiclass bards going to music school !! and all players (+DM) are members of the Texas band Lindby !! and they actually use and play music in the show with one original song an episode !! Kyle's worldbuilding and storycraft are truly incredible, and (Nick) Goodrich, (also Nick) Spurrier, and Ali's characters are in depth and interesting as well as an absolute powerhouse :') i actually made a piece for its first fanzine, Bardic Dreaming, which published earlier this year and is free to view now, all the players and the community are super wholesome its just very good overall 💙

History & Humans;

Fall of Civilisations (ongoing) legit one of my favourite podcast finds, im so glad my youtube autoplayed one of these ... it took me like 2 hours to realise it was 1) not the same as what was playing before and 2) had been on for 2 hours and wasnt near finished lmao. anyway, this is a series by historical fiction writer Paul Cooper, and is honest to all thats good one of the best documentary series ive encountered in years - and ive consumed a LOT of documentaries. it covered the downfall of various civilisations through history, and the episodes run from an hour to FOUR hours depending on the topic. its so chill to listen to and just get done, but over the pandemic all of the episodes have been given full movie-quality video versions too on youtube if youre more of a visual person.

Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast (on series break) yeah that says that lol ... its a SUPER niche topic but its very interesting and treated very well despite being kind of comical at times, the hosts are just naturally funny lol ... it delves around from the history of cannibalism in whole regions to specific incidents as recently as the 1970s, and of course the first episode is about the Donner Party, and it covers things ive never heard of despite being kind of important ?? anyway Alix and Carmella are good eggs

Sawbones (ongoing) i probably dont need to mention much here other than say that Justin and Sydnee saved me from being SO BORED sooo often, the history of medicine is wacky as hell and its what most of my history GCSE was on so [shrugs]

Cautionary Tales (on series break) this was a wild-card find lol ... it's by Tim Harford "the undercover economist" who writes for the Financial Times, and its topics kind of weave modern topics and science with how to learn from historical errors ... its a bit weird but well worth a go, also each series has a few celebrity guest voice actors which is pretty awesome

Ephemeral (ongoing) this is a very strange but thought provoking series about sounds and other things just barely saved. topics include the last castrato, the hello girls, hand-stamped records, the spread of kīkā kila music, and acoustic fossils of wild places.

Neat! The Boozecast (ongoing) history and bartending whats not to like lol ... hosted by Teylor Smirl and now their dad Tommy, they're just digging around in how important booze is to human culture

True Crime (white collar and weirdness);

Swindled (ongoing) this is an amazing show full stop. A Concerned Citizen details some of the most impactful and unruly things to happen in white collar and corporate crime. very factually accurate but given the sheer bullshit of the topics the deadpan snarking is [chefs kiss] absolutely warranted ..

American Scandal (on series break) this one is a series within a series type, and spends a few episodes at a time poking holes in some of America's biggest scandals, from a dramatised but fact-based point of view. such as what the hell was going on with Enron, how big tobacco was forced to own up to covering its own ass, how Iran-Contra happened, etc. it also now has a sister show called British Scandal, which does the same thing for British cases but with a slightly different format.

Missing in Alaska (finished) this was a fascinating series, a deep dive into what happened to two US government officials who disappeared on a small chartered flight in Alaska in 1972. it goes some really strange places, but it actually turned up a lot of previously unknown information through the audience. John Walczak's new series in a new feed is Missing on 9/11 which looks into what happened to Dr Sneha Philip.

Pretend (ongoing) Host Javier Leiva holds interviews with anyone living a lie, or who have been touched by them. con artists, snake oil salesmen, former cult members, catfishing victims, anyone and everyone.

Power: The Maxwells (finished) hosted by journalist Tara Palmeri, the story of media tycoon Robert Maxwell from nothing to empire to mysterious death and the scandals uncovered after he was gone.

Lets Talk About Sects (ongoing) Sarah Steele covering cults from around the world, in particular those in Australia - where she is from. She often has former members on the show to share their stories, and share knowledge of how they left. each story has the relevant content warnings at the start of each episode.

Brainwashed (finished) investigation of the CIA's covert mind control experiments, centred on the experiments performed at a hospital in Montreal, and its cultural impact.

Dr Death (2 series finished) two series investigating huge cases of fraud and medical malpractice, and how they were brought to a stop. series 1 covers Dr Duntsch and his horribly butchered neurosurgery, series 2 covers Dr Fata and his fraudulent cancer clinic

The Immaculate Deception (finished) untangling the weird and disturbing fertility fraud of Dr Jan Karbaat, who fathered children himself through his fertility clinic, and the impact of his deception. later episodes also touch on other similar cases.

True Crime (Violent/General);

The Casual Criminalist (ongoing) Simon Whistler of-the-many-youtube-channels cold reads a script about the case of the day, with some of his daft commentary thrown in.

Southern Fried True Crime (ongoing) Crimes from the American South hosted by Erica Kelley, she puts all the facts out there but refreshingly for true crime she doesnt hesitate to tell you if she thinks someone is human garbage lol

They Walk Among Us (ongoing) probably one of the most popular UK crime podcasts, very measured and well put together, not weird or annoying about it either.

All Crime No Cattle (ongoing, feed slowed down for now) specifically about crimes from Texas, hosted by Erin and Shay, they're very sensitive hosts and a lot of the cases they cover shed light on why the Texas criminal system is how it is or show an impact at a national level

Canadian True Crime (ongoing) Canadian crime from an Aussie who's lived there for a decade, Kristi is again a sensitive and measured host covering some important topics

True Crime (Violent/Deep Dive);

Hitman (finished) journalist Jasmyn Morris digs around in the sticky tangle around a book published by fringe publisher Paladin Press, and its apparent use as a blueprint in the killing of a mother, her friend and her 8 year old boy for financial gain.

Camp Hell: Anneewakee (ongoing) this series is exploring how a wilderness camp "correctional facility" was endorsed by the Georgia care and juvenile reform system, despite widespread abuses and shady practices the whole time. warning for csa and child cruelty throughout.

True Crime Bullshit (on series break) this one is a huge huge rabbithole but a very interesting one where the host Josh Hallmark has spent years digging into the life and potential crimes of Israel Keyes. Keyes is often mentioned as a serial killer with no pattern, but in picking it apart thats not quite true, and has sparked some re-evaluations of missing persons cases and stumbling upon information the FBI has redacted organically. there's also a series in the middle looking into the crimes of Kelly Cochran

Forgotten: Women of Juárez (finished) this series looks into the huge numbers of missing women of Ciudad Juárez, the strange circumstances surrounding them, and the potential cover-ups and corruptions on both sides of the border, trying to give a voice to all of the forgotten women and girls and their families without answers. the series itself is finished, but a spanish language edition is being released every week now.

aaaaaand i'll call it there before i list everything lol, i hope you find something to plug your boredom hole with !!

[nobody-knose--archive]

i’ve been aching to commentate spirit phone’s commentary for ages. glad i finally got around to it, this was an ejoyable experience. liveblog below the cut

-i'm like half certain i've heard this commentary before. maybe not the whole way through & it was probably actual years ago

-nice hearing stuff like this. in-depth personal view of the album-making process. makes it seem like more of a real thing i could do myself someday

-neil cicierega real person momence

-i could probably go real in depth about neil cicierega/tally hall parallels specifically concerning like. the arc of their musical careers. but i won't, here

-wild how i legitimately don't care much about micheal jackson

-didnt we get a bunch of spirit phone stems from the needlejuice release/his patreon? we could probably hear the funny track he speaks of here in that

-i love hearing musical artists, especially neil cicierega, talking about the meanings of their songs. like, not only has this song been claimed to hell & back by the tumblr gays, but with later ones i just can't see where he gets these ideas from. also, claiming there's any one meaning or plot to a song just seems silly to me

-shoutout to neil reusing a midi from like, 1998, that he made at 12 years old, whose entire melody was reused for the main verses of everybody loves raymond. loved finding that out on my own 2 years ago. now it's common trivia in this fandom. not bad times

-it'd be neat if neil did individual trans tracks here like he did with view monstel, those things are half of why i consider it my favorite album

-it's a lot easier to ignore the creator's intended meaning behind a song when he can't even remember it. thanks neil

-seesaw effect

-and there's my joke all but 1 of my followers wont get. moving on

-what kinds of movie theater lobbies has neil been to where there are arcade machines. i mean im not one to talk but that does sound rather strange

-why do songs' titles even need to be taken from the lyrics. ive never seen that as any sort of requisite. it's like titling any form of prose you can just give it whatever name ya like

-"this part sounds pretty cool right"

-is neil's vocal range only mildly better than mine? with training i could change that

-oh i haven't processed any of the last 25 seconds hold on

-god. a shit ton of vocal modification in this song. it's like neil returned to his roots but with quality this time

-i, as an ace/aro, have never related more to an allohet guy in my life. what is the point of eyes!

-professional humming/whistling takes skill. it's different from the recreational or casual stuff. i'd know

-there's a name for the way sound (especially music) gets distorted when moving past you and i can't remember it but it's probably what neil's referring to here in the way he recorded the intro

(- update: it's the doppler effect no need to tell me cas already did)

-as someone who hasnt seen the rugrats or take me there by blackstreet i'll just say it sounded like a bouncy music box melody. nice to hear a song that messes with the typical scales though. lydian & diatonic.

-that's a rather specific thing to be glad about, but given what he talked about in his last full audio commentary about the jew harp i suppose i'm not surprised

-i know that tmbg song now. listened to it & saw the music video too. yep they're different alright

-where the hell does neil get all these instrumence from anyway

-huh. hadnt heard this part of the commentary before making my oc concerning this song but i like to hear neil's approval concerning part of my interpretation

-i love how ive heard a billion different tellings of this mellified man story from lem dem fans talking about this song and neil's is by far the wildest

-good god that does only make it worse neil

-i love making liveblogs of lemon demon albums. with the fullerenes or tally hall i cant name a specific dude to take out my woes on generally but with lemon demon i can just say neil all the time. i like being on a casual first name basis with this dude ive never interacted with once ever

-is sweet bod the one other than cabinet man with a demo in the bonus tracks? i forget

-holy shit the boston molasses disaster someone call up soapy if it doesnt already know, it'd love this

-two thousand nine. god i miss the fiddle solo. the ver with it is truly the best one

-he pronounces it jeff? i've always read it as gef with a hard g. that's what i get for knowing words that are never spoken aloud

-that's a fun meta interpretation of this ghost story that's over a century old. i like that

-i've noticed neil generally does the same synths across a whole album. it's especially more clear in the earlier ones, and does mean i occasionally mix up songs between clown circus & live from the haunted candle shop

-ah! ancient aliens! my least favorite track on this album. i cant even claim to have the least interest in a popular one i've just generally not liked this one much from the beginning. so im curious to see what neil's got to say, i think ive been in ~new commentary zone for a while now

-anyway. newest update on the loolin not realizing a song's funky time signature front: i think this one's in 6/4. or at least switches a lot between time signatures. granted i dont listen to it very often for the reasons stated above

-see the way neil describes it. eldritch horror upon being visited by the unknown at a time when humanity'd hadn't even yet had a chance to imagine such a thing occurring. should be right up my alley. but the sound itself & many of the lyrics simply turn me away.

-must i specify i don't dislike it? spirit phone is neil's best album it not being my favorite doesn't mean i think it's bad yadda yadda nobody should be surprised by this it's not like anyone in these fandoms reads my liveblogs <3

-granted i think this is. the first bit of spirit phone content i've made on my blog ever. so who knows things can change <3

-the transitions in spirit phone are much less view-monster transition tracks & more extended outros. view-monster's were a bit more intro than outro sure but they also seemed directed upon making a 2-way rather than 1-way bridge between tracks. or something like that

-.............soft fuzzy man is an incredible nickname for a cat. i'd steal that if i werent afraid of introducing my relatives to lemon demon

-jirls

-an underlying metaphor is good enough. the literal side of the lyrics are fun. nothing but agreement here neil my good man

-the transition into as your father i expressly forbid it from soft fuzzy man is the best one in this album

-buddy you ask if a musical idea has been used before odds are the answer is yes in this day & age the question is has it been used in the way you're using it. like sure this soul jazz record from the 60s that was sold out in kansas stores for a week used this bassline that youve found yourself copying. but seeing as youre using it in some angsty garage rock ballad type tune does anybody actually care

-doesn't everybody like to say things in an unhinged manner from time to time

-imagine having a guitar dad, i say, with my dad being a folk accordion/fiddle dad, which is infinitely worse in every way

-i think he was in an actual folk band at some point. idk the 90s were weird

-iron my life?

-m-more intimate? there are a lot of ways i'd describe this song but intimate isn't one of them. granted as your father is negatively intimate so from there i guess you've got nowhere to go but up

-...still glad to see his interpretation kinda supports my oc at least

-the way he says characters in songs shouldn't worry about death really strongly makes me think this is some sort of. thematic continuation of stuck from dinosaurchestra, even if there's no real death in there. interesting. would also mean that the dad from these past 2 songs is named carlos betty (no last name)

-i literally never assumed this was a flute solo. piccolo at best. it's pretty clearly a recorder

-my mom plays the recorder. i wonder if she can play recorder better than neil cicierega

-we can throw a party in honor of the crushing weight of responsibility! i simply won't be the one throwing it because i have enough on my plate already <3

-what the hell does "a sense of intent" mean

-i've never heard rush before however i disagree with neil's understanding of 6/4. 6/4 is meant to have emphasis (onbeat or another term i can't remember) on the 1st & 4th beat of every measure, which is greatly different from a measure of 4/4 then a measure of 2/4. it's why his 5/4 always sounds weird, because while it's recognizable in sequences of 10/4, it's more 2 measures of 4/4 with one of 2/4 tacked on the end. that's also how it's different from 3/4. i don't know much music theory but what i do understand i will fight to the death about

-"canonized" that's. a very interesting term to use when referring to a former president

-from now on i will interpret every love song directed at some unseen "you" to be inviting me to marry them for tax purposes. thanks neil for being an aromantic icon

-ah hell yes hell yes man-made object is my favorite goddam song on this album

-short & sweet & good damn vibes. neil's thoughts on it all are only making it better

-wild how he uses very few vocal effects for a song that he clearly is straining his vocal range for. go off neil

-the qualifier of man-made is a wonderful thing. oldest or biggest thing? oldest or biggest man-made thing? what a incredibly important specification. a world of possibilities lie between the two. oh i love it

-just gets me thinking yknow! what we consider weird/impressive in another species, in our own species- what kind of equivalent to that would there be from an outsider looking in? are there alien versions of the significances we place upon things, that we could never imagine? the limits of the human imagination mean we could never conceive of something else in the world that isn't, in some way great or small, just like us- and are we wrong for thinking that? such a juicy topic i wish there were a name for it because it's kinda hard to explain concisely

-spiral of ants. my second favorite song from this album, in fact. a good one to experience

-the vocals are just another instrument. they really truly are. i wasn't going into this commentary expecting to feel solidarity for neil cicierega in this chili's tonight on more than one occasion but here i am.

-like, his whole stance on interpreting songs is something i agree with almost entirely. you can take it at face value, you can dig to their very depths, you can listen to songs without caring what the lyrics mean whatsoever, and those are all fun. & yeah while any of these people can be annoying as one of the types who enjoys gliding on the surface more than anything i find those who dedicate themselves to figuring out the whole meaning of a song over anything else to be both slightly scary & slightly annoying <3 keep up the good work

-i want to make songs for my siblings the way neil makes songs for his sibling(s)

-spinch

-neil really shouldn't be allowed to be this funny like this whole album youre thinking golly! he's just a normal man this neil cicierega! and then he starts listing the cat hacks jokes & you remember he's had ridiculously consistent viral success with all his humorous endeavors and holy shit it's neil cicierega in action talking about his music. god bless you neil

-you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure. good eveternoon, radio audience!

[mingi-bubu]

the uhhh band winner guy is performing the song he won with rn

given how deep his speaking voice is, i am so so shocked at how his falsetto can go so high like.  damn good vocal training for him

v chill song but not my style

next songyeah i am.  not a kballad/folk music person but his voice is nice.  his guitar playing is also v nice!  i would probably listen to him if he was on an autmn or spring playlist i think. OH HELL YEAH STRINGSE LETS GOOOOOOO

if i fall asleep, at least this rainbow song is a peaceful choice

OH1!!  I KNOW WHAT HIS MUSIC REMINDS ME OF

like  the 60s/70s classic rock genre.  its super similar to stuff ive heard from that era.  i would be interested in finding out if that’s where he draws his inspiration from bc to me at least i think it would make sense.  his hair is pretty, ‘s just a side note aldkfj;sldkjf

yeah idrc about the voting since it’s all super fake anyways

LETS GOOOOO AOTY WHO IS IT WHO IS IT

i dont think theyre gonna tell us rn tho right?  seems a bit early doors imo

oh damn 26k wow

bts right?  it’s probably bts album no?  butter or whatever it was?

oh they really are announcing aoty now wowowowow

hey add cho jungseok to my fancast bc him and xiumin could sooo be brothers in a show i would believe it

oooh he’s hospital playlist man!  i like him!!!

i like that hes explaining how an album works.  genuinely think that thats kinda hilarious

c’mon i wanna know the nominees bc i stayed away from all of that

aespa savage, bts be (that came out this year??), iu lilac, NCT 127 STICKER LETS GOOOOOOO, dreamies w/hot sauce

please god let it be sticker please i want it i want it i want it

sticker pleaseeee

it’s probably bts.  yeah.  not surprised.  lmao arent they in the us or smth rn?

they arent even there to recieve the award.

limitless challenges?

oh. o h.  h i m

jung jihoon.  wow...

no livestream don’t freeze ur so sexy aha

what was reckless??  well.  okay guess i’ll never know :/

is he just talking about the plague and how kpop became popular?  i mean yeah thats AWW THATS CUTE!! idc idc i love it when the fans are thanked fight me about it

oh wow it was even overlooked in korea?? incredible how things occur

i ddon’t think i’ll ever understand fashion.  the man is just covered in all pockets.  like.  cargo shorts but make it black.

oh cool another guy appeared.  beanie boy and pocket man.  love their vibes.  hate how pocket man has to cover up so many tattoos like just leave it beeeee

oooh ring of fire thats fun!

oh my god i am so upset that i am falling asleep rn.  last year my sleep habits were so fucked up i was totally fine but this year i decided to not be a fucking gremlin out of under a rock and now i’m facing the consequences

i really don’t pay attention to things huh.  i had no idea some of these things existed.  its cool that these shows have brought greater awareness to the genre in soukor

once again have no idea who these people are but they look like theyre having fun so thats good :D

my laptop is burning my legs D:

the irony in me biasing rappers in idol groups but not knowing a single person on the stage

i think my brother would really like this tho this seems like his style of music

oh pink shirt and leather jacket guy looks familar

lmaooooo their dances are so funny its really cute its exactly how i dance too adlf;kjs;dlj

oh a lady appears!!

shes really fucking good holy shit

i want to give her my hand in the marriage action

oh this sounds soooo 90s i love it

yeah i deffo have to show my lil bro this performance it really is a good way to point out the way hiphop and rap have evolved musically since all of the different artists have different styles

i am now wide awake again

wow they put a lot of effort into the lights here huh

NCT NCT NCT NCT NCJT;AJRWFAIH SHOTAROOOOOOOOO

a;lksdfjkasd haechannieee

SOOBIN ASL;DKFJAS GOD HE SO HOT FUCK

i do not see mingi and the mullet

awweehhh jeongin is s’cuteee

wANNNA ONEEE OMG OMGOMGOMGOJGAOSIDJFPAOWIE

I CANT BELIEVE IT OMGGG

ATEEZ????

doraemon san <333

wadskllfjsd his helmet matches his hair

MINGMGINGIMGINGIGMIGJGINGMIGNIGMIGNAIDFHAPIUWEHFPAUIGH MINGMIGNIGMIGNIMGINMGINGIII I AM KISSING HIM I AM ISSING HIM OH MY GOGIAHSDFPOIHE FAI LOVE HIM SO MCUH I LOVE HIM AKL;SDFJAWKEJFAOI FUCK

deadass i didnt process yunho in there until the end my bad sorry jiejie

adfkas;djf;ase yeosangie is sooo funnny he really said delete your fucking emails babes

thats uh.... certainly a meal that exists.

a;lsdfkjsldkfj they really said matz <3

mingmgmigmimgingiasdfiohe mingimingimingimingi thoughts only

oh commercial time alright i’ll catch you all when its back then

[d-criss-news]

Royalties Soundtrack Listening Event | Darren Criss Chat (July 7th, 2020)

Darren Criss 18:02:04

wait ha

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Darren Criss 18:02:08

sorry yall

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Darren Criss 18:02:12

this is confusing me of course

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Darren Criss 18:02:29

this is new for me too friends

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Darren Criss 18:02:45

well i'm here but I can't hear shit so gimme a sec

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Darren Criss 18:04:00

well I'll just keep typing here guys

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Darren Criss 18:04:04

bro

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Darren Criss 18:04:07

wilma

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Darren Criss 18:04:15

i'm tryin

Darren Criss 18:04:57

21kxuv372ubcprrbpiefadt6i

What was your favorite song to write for the show?

They each were really fun so that's hard to say but Hate That I Need You surprised the hell outta me

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Darren Criss 18:05:30

bettic72

darren non capisco un cazzo

anchio pero sti cazzi siamo qui

Darren Criss 18:05:49

genevievephillips

point and laugh at darren

yes let's laugh at him

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Darren Criss 18:06:18

2162bkuccm7xje6yfgmuzrnyq

You inspired me to write my own songs 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

thanks for writing the first positive thing I've seen on this. That's wonderful! I hope to hear them!

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Darren Criss 18:06:43

clo :)

i love that we are all grandparents when it comes to this

thank you for using the appropriate WE pronouns ha yeah this shit is confusing

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Darren Criss 18:08:44

zcvmtsgee5mom80oxeesa4v11

Darren how do you deal with stage fright .... i’ve been preforming in front of people for a while and i i still get scared . Does it ever go away ?

i guess it depends on how big the crowd is. everybody's different but I will say any kind of fright means you care, which is a good thing! Also the thing people forget about performing, for the most part, is you can't SEE the audience, most of the time they're in the dark. That's why performing for friends or in a small space where you can see everyone is much more nerve-racking

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Darren Criss 18:08:57

Dana

Darren can we have a royalties tour once rona is over???

wouldn't that be fun!

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Darren Criss 18:09:15

emilybutcher30

darren can you start streaming on twitch please haha i love you

ha can't compete with King Urie man

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Darren Criss 18:10:06

jake2000w

Darren, I know it’s all weird right now, but do you have any idea when we might see Nerdy Prudes Must Die?

what a good question. I have no idea but I've been wanting to see that show for almost as long as I've wanted to make Royalties. The boys have been talking about that one for a while now.

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Darren Criss 18:10:16

jesiqseigle56

Can you like respond .

like yeah

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Darren Criss 18:10:27

abbyforsmark

has Darren even said anything on this?

nope nothing

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Darren Criss 18:12:39

u6iczx4gua0att2g4kd2vdzwe

Did you write each of the songs with the performers in mind or did you cast them afterwards?

great question. Except for "Also You," which was written with Jackie Tohn for Jackie Tohn, we had no idea who would sing each song. I did the demos for almost all of them and then we had to pitch actors/artists to see if they'd be interested... which wasn't as hard (luckily) as seeing if they were AVAILABLE... which many weren't given the short time we had to make the show. Hopefully we can get some of those folks on for the next season IF THEY'LL LET US HAVE ONE!

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Darren Criss 18:13:52

delfi

darren royalties is so good i'm fucking proud of you

thanks for watching it, truly. I know the Quibi thing is strange for people so I appreciate you giving it all a chance : )

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Darren Criss 18:14:04

Caitlyn A :)

if you see this kick your shoes off

I would but no shoes

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Darren Criss 18:14:27

t59glm18dkw84n64l72jcuvpc

come to the uk challenge

god i wish.

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Darren Criss 18:15:39

damn someone said "travel to UK challenge" and I meant to respond "find a vaccine challenge"

—

Darren Criss 18:17:08

i can't hear any of these songs but I"m just gonna start saying random shit about them

—

Darren Criss 18:17:16

first off, i really wanted a theme song

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Darren Criss 18:17:23

that was a whole thing

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Darren Criss 18:19:18

Had to cut through a lot of red tape to make sure we had that silly song in there. We were already in the middle of post production when I finally got it approved, but it had to be under 15 seconds. I wrote 3 diff versions. So glad it ended up working. Theme songs accomplish so much in such a short period of time. Establishes tone. Gives the audience an almost Pavlovian response to the familiarity of the characters... I'm happy with it

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Darren Criss 18:20:12

also the "doo doo doo" lyrics are meant to sound like "scratch vocals" when songwriters record vocals with temporary gibberish lyrics with the intent of filling them in with real ones later

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Darren Criss 18:22:29

Just That Good was a concept that started the entire 1st season, and it was one of those instant-songs where Nick and Matt told me the title and I immediately had the hook just from those words. That only happens every once in a while and I was so happy it did for that song. The tricky part was writing the rest of it, but the back half of the song with the chorus repeating that one refrain over and over- that was the melody from the get go

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Darren Criss 18:23:08

I'll get back to Break it In, kick your shoes/let your hair, and kong later... i'll just go off on this one

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Darren Criss 18:23:48

so I wanted to nod to the grandeur of everyone's favorite vampire elf, Jared Leto

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Darren Criss 18:24:05

not HIM specifically, but 30 seconds to mars' very BIG music videos

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Darren Criss 18:24:29

i dont jared is a buncha self centered nutcases like our guys in SWITCHBACK JACKET

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Darren Criss 18:24:37

* i don't think Jared... 

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Darren Criss 18:25:38

anyway yeah "so much better..." comes from a lot of the 90s alt rock that I grew up on, and the mix of that sound with a bit of electronic production was an effort to contemportize it as much as possible

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Darren Criss 18:26:26

but the rhythm guitar, lots of power chords and high octaves were all harkening to my fave bands like Lit and Eve 6... but put through a strange bizzaro nickleback/creed performance filter

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Darren Criss 18:26:55

"make you come true" is obviously a very salacious play on words

—

Darren Criss 18:28:27

so the only way to make it feel earnest is if we made the track itself sexy as possible. A lot of the songs, even without being written, leant themselves to a certain genre just by the title, and this one was kind of a no-brainer. Sexy mid tempo r&b. And I didn't even know we'd get Jordan Fisher to do it- who SMASHED the vocal.

—

Darren Criss 18:29:42

lauraacampbell-12

DARREN CHORDS OR LYRICS FIRST WHEN WRITING A SONG?

it's different every time but for this show specifically it's always title/idea first, and then the song comes from there. But that's because we're writing a show, so we have the luxury of getting to write from a specific place. It's much harder to do that in your own life when you just want to pull a title/idea from your own experience of life. I commend people that do that all the time.

—

Darren Criss 18:30:06

what's NUTS about prizefighter is...

—

Darren Criss 18:30:24

it was originally a song called LONG RANGER that BONNIE MCKEE sang, who I wrote the song with

—

Darren Criss 18:30:38

and in the video we had CHRISSY TIEGEN lipsynching

—

Darren Criss 18:30:44

it was bananas

—

Darren Criss 18:31:26

we ultimately couldn't use the song because of some complicated writers shit- not too dissimilar from the things we explore in our own show, which is just totally ironic.

—

Darren Criss 18:32:56

we were so bummed that we couldn't use the song but I'm actually really really happy with PRIZEFIGHTER. I love the song, and I love how it turned out production wise. I love how much of a massive influence latin x rhythms have had across the entire spectrum of mainstream music, so I wanted try my own hand at nodding to it!

—

Darren Criss 18:33:08

Lara :)!

Ahhhhh so was that the pilot song you were talking about last week?

that's the one

—

Darren Criss 18:33:45

hbz3jctrg5rwwma640hahffvt

You have inspired me to learn piano I already know how to play teanage dream now

you can thank Bonnie Mckee aka Kimmy Kelly for writing that song!

—

Darren Criss 18:34:01

ok then there's the k pop song

—

Darren Criss 18:34:08

honestly i had no idea where I was gonna start on this one

—

Darren Criss 18:34:22

full props to the brilliant CJ Baran who I wrote this song with

—

Darren Criss 18:34:39

we were just toying around with very industrial-sounding samples

—

Darren Criss 18:35:21

and I started singing Edvard Grieg's "in the hall of the mountain king"

—

Darren Criss 18:35:33

and he was the guy that was like YEAH JUST PUT IT IN THERE

—

Darren Criss 18:35:46

and i realized, oh yeah, that song is public domain

—

Darren Criss 18:35:59

and kinda ties perfectly to the nature of Elia Peck and his songwriting... huh.

—

Darren Criss 18:36:05

So we went for it from there.

—

Darren Criss 18:36:17

based the lyrics off of what the Neals say in the room.

—

Darren Criss 18:36:34

and then just wrote a bunch of ALMOST nonense lyrics about things that you could HATE that you NEED

—

Darren Criss 18:36:40

things like available wifi...

—

Darren Criss 18:37:01

artistinal mai-tais.... yeah I guess if you really really liked those you could HATE that you NEED them...

—

Darren Criss 18:37:04

etc etc

—

Darren Criss18:38:16

but the idea was to have Mariam Hale's character hardly do ANYTHING on the track, since she, as the audience sees, doesn't really have much to offer... so we just built it around this huge track with crazy lyrics that just tees up a tag for her to say without even having to sing: I HATE THAT I NEED YOU

—

Darren Criss18:38:43

2235n5s2qk5hjsujbhk5ilpva

I have classes in 10 minutes, and I'm not leaving until you dedicate a Royalties song to me.

looks like you're gonna miss calss

—

Darren Criss 18:39:09

"calss" ha. which is like "class" but like... different.

—

Darren Criss 18:39:32

alrighty PERFECT SONG

—

Darren Criss 18:39:38

i really love this song as well

—

Darren Criss 18:40:02

the reveal of this song is that they keep talking about this "perfect song" they've written

—

Darren Criss 18:40:26

in other words we're teeing up a pretty big expectation of what a perfect song could possibly sound like

—

Darren Criss 18:40:36

the reveal of course is that the song itself is in fact just called "perfect song"

—

Darren Criss 18:40:43

which is ABOUT a perfect song

—

Darren Criss 18:41:07

and about TRYING TO WRITE a perfect song, and how that's not necessary when you have someone that IS the perfect song

—

Darren Criss 18:41:20

when we wrapped our heads around that idea, I really loved it 

—

Darren Criss 18:42:10

you'll notice we reference a lot of incredible songs, almost citing them as perfect songs themselves

—

Darren Criss 18:42:14

ain't no mountain high enough

—

Darren Criss 18:42:55

of course leonard cohen's seminal Hallelujah

—

Darren Criss 18:44:05

and of course Britney's Oops I Did It Again ha ;)

—

Darren Criss 18:45:00

the Oops being a layered joke of being annoyed with oneself that they AGAIN unwittingly wrote a lyric for already massive song, but in doing so citing yet ANOTHER already massive song... if that makes any sense

—

Darren Criss 18:45:27

sorry for the typos yall i'm moving fast, i'd never let this shit slide if it wasn't a casual chatroom vibe

—

Darren Criss 18:46:37

emzlolly1234

Did you know you wanted there to be a romantic thing between pierce and Sara?? :))))

yes that was actually our original "pilot presentation" episode. the one with the song LONE RANGER and Chrissy Tiegen. It was a longer version of what would become episode 7. We THINK it's a romantic thing but you realize that Sara is just playing Pierce to get the song she needs. That was always the premise yes.

—

Darren Criss 18:46:51

luzmargotramos

if you reply with a single dot I'd probably die

then I better steer clear of any dots

—

Darren Criss 18:47:04

ALSO YOU was an amazing lightning in a bottle moment

—

Darren Criss 18:47:09

FULL CREDIT TO JACKIE TOHN

—

Darren Criss 18:47:22

i always enjoy giving credit where credit is due

—

Darren Criss 18:48:24

and I came in pretty hot for most of the songs- concepts, chords, style... but this one literally was a simple as Jackie Sitting down and just playing "It's you I love but also you and also you and also you."

—

Darren Criss 18:48:37

we all just looked at each other going, welp, yup, that's it, jackie you fuckin rule

—

Darren Criss 18:49:28

the song would have ended up very differently if she hadn't brought that to the table. the original episode and song was "one true loves" which isn't nearly as good of a gag/title as "also you"

—

Darren Criss 18:49:50

i ended up squeezing "one true loves" into the bridge, but of course, kept ALSO YOU as the main event

—

Darren Criss 18:50:02

i will say I was also trying to spoof my brother's old band, FREELANCE WHALES a little bit

—

Darren Criss 18:50:26

if you guys know the song "generator first floor" where they sing ay ay ay ay ay a lot...

—

Darren Criss 18:50:35

... as a lot of bands and songs had featured at the time...

—

Darren Criss 18:51:00

i wanted to put them all in one joke. where a band sang not only hey hey hey but ay and EE and AYE and OH and basically all the vowels

—

Darren Criss 18:51:10

which was where the joke of,

—

Darren Criss 18:51:20

a, e, i, o, and also u

—

Darren Criss 18:51:21

came from

—

Darren Criss 18:51:32

which i'm particularly proud of

—

Darren Criss 18:51:56

ok let's talk about BREAK IT IN

—

Darren Criss 18:54:16

lxucxthxrxnx_

I’m a musician myself (not that great lol) what was it like coming up with the melodic side did you play any instruments for the songs?

i played instruments on all the songs except Break It In and I Hate That I Need You, since those were all electronic. That's not to say i played EVERY instrument but I definitely played AN instrument of some kind for the others.

—

Darren Criss 18:55:34

as for break it in... anyway... yeah that was a blast. Nick Lang and I collaborated with my buddy Kendo who goes by the artist name KingJet.

—

Darren Criss 18:56:54

Kendo has worked on a lot of legit songs in the hip hop space. For each song I wanted to make sure there was a level of authenticity to what we were doing. I didn't wanna SPOOF the songs. I wanted the songs to sound rock solid and that it would be the LYRICAL CONCEPTS that would be the source of satire. So Kendo was a great guiding light to keep the track as authentic as possible.

—

Darren Criss 18:59:47

We explained to Kendo the whole joke concept of the song, which is basically just turning the idea of toxic masculinity on its head, and he was on top of it immediately- when we told him that there's this guy that's really concerned that people think he "fucks too soft" he immediately started spitting out lyrics like the hilariously defiant "I'm the KING OF THE HARD FUCK"

—

Darren Criss 19:00:35

which just killed me and Nick. It was just so juvenile that it was adorable to me

—

Darren Criss 19:00:57

emzlolly1234

Darren you’ve been here for an hour? That’s the length of royalties man xxx

yeah aint it great

Darren Criss 19:02:21

sophie :)

i personally think you should try your hand at writing a drill song, a british genre of rap that centres around rapping unrelated lyrics in front of chicken shops, personally think it has the right tone for the show for a season two

drill would be siq. I mean, opening the incredible pandora's box of UK based hip hop in general is its own magical wormhole of nuance and history and regional culture. it's amazing. i'd really have to do some homework if I wanted to pull that off!

—

Darren Criss 19:02:49

cd2gu4ceqx4am9otf9hzwzivs

he’s talking again guys be worried he might write another essay

ok sorry i'll stop

—

Darren Criss 19:02:51

:)

—

Darren Criss 19:03:03

cd2gu4ceqx4am9otf9hzwzivs

he’s talking again guys be worried he might write another essay

kidding!

—

Darren Criss 19:03:39

fsheldens

when darren actually cares about us 🥺

awww i always do! I just wasn't built for internet stuff.

—

Darren Criss 19:04:20

alpermehdi

speaking of nick how was it to work with nick??

the best. Nick is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

—

Darren Criss 19:04:51

chloe :)!

what would be ur karaoke song choice from the show?

mighty as kong

—

Darren Criss 19:07:32

isa.kowo

How much music theory goes into your songwriting? And did you learn all of it from playing the violin? In what way does it go into your songs?

all GREAT questions. I mean, music theory isn't something you CONSCIOUSLY employ when writing something, it's just that it really helps to know the rules or music when shaping it and trying to maximize its production. And as a matter of fact, yeah, I DID learn most of it playing violin. But when I was playing violin I was ingesting music from the perspective of a student ingesting information, not as a proactive creator putting anything of my own out into the world.

—

Darren Criss 19:08:07

Honestly I really didn't start UNDERSTANDING music theory until I started writing music for other people, and noticing certain things and chords and shapes had names and that they could be manipulated to accomplish certain things

—

Darren Criss 19:08:35

so most of my academic musical knowledge came in my 20s when I tried to start doing it professionally

—

Darren Criss 19:08:52

Nick

first instrument you ever learnt?

violin

—

Darren Criss 19:09:07

andyruiz080

I'm castin' my love net wide And fillin' every hole in my schedule

ha love that line

—

Darren Criss 19:09:29

missweggy

Darren are you a big queen fan ( the band lol ) 😂

is the pope catholic

—

Darren Criss 19:12:00

ChloeOmelia

Now its available, would you change anything?

jesus so much. but such is the nature of creating stuff. there's a great Hayao Miyazaki quote about always having to make new stuff to escape the woe of all the mistakes you made in your last thing... I mean, that's a bit extreme, I feel like we did the best we could given the circumstance but I totally get where Miyazaki is coming from. And in many ways that's everything we do in life. Do your best, know what you coulda done better and carry on

—

Darren Criss 19:12:36

dj._.quackers

who or what was your biggest inspiration growing up

the beatles. the uk. the 60s.

—

Darren Criss 19:13:02

Astriddd

Your first original song was "Not Alone". I'm right?

no it was actually a song i wrote in the third grade when I got a guitar for Christmas called "Save The Whales"

—

Darren Criss 19:14:29

hiiqsbo9358wvfkcjcsgsu4lb

Darren I need an answer it’s been annoying me for days. So was everyone fucking everyone in Pierces old band or was she just fucking everyone seperately??

ha that's a really great question. I figured she was just fucking everyone individually, which is why the band was so contentious but then again I'd rather let your imagination run wild...

—

Darren Criss 19:15:29

jphxxk5wjnaqnhuv806wmohdt

Darren, I love your taste in music. You should share your personal playlists ... bc everybody needs to know phantom planet 😉

if i actually shared my tastes in music, or actually shared the amount of stuff in my brain at the rate that I want to share, I would never work on or create anything because i would constantly be on the internet and you'd all be over me if you weren't already

—

Darren Criss 19:16:01

But yes, thank you for saying that, I love me my phantom planet oh so very much :)

—

Darren Criss 19:16:18

juli.nuttini

could you please answer me I don't speak English and I'm putting ALL my effort into asking you questions I'm going to cry

wow your english is actually pretty great

—

Darren Criss 19:17:08

I'd like to write a song with Howard Ashman

—

Darren Criss 19:17:23

dancebaby218

Was kick your shoes off inspired by your Hedwig shoes?

nah cuz that shit was actually comfy

—

Darren Criss 19:17:55

12169199549

i skipped my clarinet class because of you for the third time :) what can i say to my teacher?

that Darren says you should have gone to clarinet class!!!

—

Darren Criss 19:18:34

qalektvmexab6gfwibfihwu6b

Could you please answer me. We’ve supported you for years from the uk and we’re staying up for this but it’s totally worth it because you’re amazing!! Molly x

I wish so bad I could go to the UK!

—

Darren Criss 19:20:01

FUCK someone asked about Sam Farrar and I wanted to answer it but it disappeared... Sam is a homie. one of my very first songwriting sessions was with him and a very famous member of the pop universe... who if I get a season two, I'm putting in the show.

—

Darren Criss 19:22:00

9nc1yow3iwnp9p3fs4gcvdnsf

what other instruments would you like to learn in the future?

i just need to spend time trying to get better at the ones I've plateaued with. I feel like I got as good as I'd ever get on the guitar when i was like 19. So I've been trying to get better during the Quarantine. Picked up my violin and dusted off that Vivaldi, started doing drum rudiments on my drum pad, and started learning new licks and scales for guitar. Stuff I never got round to doing.

—

Darren Criss 19:22:27

harefraz

mr. criss sir, what is your top quarantine activity?

playing music

—

Darren Criss 19:23:26

actually lies. top quarantine activity is learning Japanese. 30 minutes a day. And it's been several months. Almost got Hiragana down, still got a few characters I'm questionable with but with any luck I'll start up on Katakana in the next few weeks.

—

Darren Criss 19:23:40

224abi6avvottcsacto7vx46a

What about working with Mark hamill ? Insane right

you said it

—

Darren Criss 19:23:54

t7sxis7855cd329gaa6iyty8v

Any updates on American Buffalo? 🥺👉🏼👈🏼

it's opening next year!

—

Darren Criss 19:24:09

for the record this is really fun I'm enjoying this guys

—

Darren Criss 19:26:26

Rachael

How different is it doing a show like Royalties where you're heavily involved in the creative process compared to other projects you've done in the past?

i'd say night and day but that's an understatement. When I did Glee all I had to do was act in scenes, record songs, and go to dance rehearsal. With Royalties, it's that AND casting, doing pre production, post production, notes, meetings, notes, writing and producing songs, location scouting, blah blah blah lots of the stuff that you don't have to worry about if you're not a creator. But make no mistake I absolutely love it.

—

Darren Criss 19:27:41

Aisha

learn spanish

I'll get there. I already speak a bit of Italian so I wanted the challenge of learning something that didn't use a writing system I already understood.

—

Darren Criss 19:28:23

rosieellenxx_

I take Music Technology as a subject at school and we have to make a whole song with the sole sample of glass breaking...

sounds fun. loads of things you can do with that.

—

Darren Criss 19:28:48

21ynx6niidf2amx5nzilihsga

What are your goals for once quarantine is lifted?

hopefully to feel like I used this very strange time well.

—

Darren Criss 19:29:14

Ok I should probabl get outta here right?

—

Darren Criss 19:29:41

I've talked a lot about mighty as kong in other places

—

Darren Criss 19:30:00

so I'll just leave you with a story about "Let Your Hair Down"

—

Darren Criss 19:30:14

which was the very FIRST song we wrote for the show

—

Darren Criss 19:30:37

I had a meeting with an artist at a dive bar in the middle of the afternoon

—

Darren Criss 19:31:10

let's just say I showed up to that very first writer's session very late

—

Darren Criss 19:31:17

and sober ENOUGH

—

Darren Criss 19:31:41

wktusw4mcjn910r3eq91zg4k5

darren did you watch hamilton??????

duh last night. so fun.

—

Darren Criss 19:32:17

anyway I was so relieved that we left with that song at the end of the day. The intent was always to write two songs with the exact same concepts just with different titles

—

Darren Criss 19:32:50

the chords are the same, just slightly different voicings played on slightly different instruments

—

Darren Criss 19:33:29

and the idea was that whichever song was funnier, or at least whichever song would be more fun to see in a music video... would be the one that Pierce & Sara write

—

Darren Criss 19:34:08

"Kick Your Shoes Off" ended up feeling more like a full music video than "Let Your Hair Down" but I LOVE that first song, and hopefully people get to hear the whole thing on Spotify since you don't get to hear the whole song in the episode

—

Darren Criss 19:34:51

with lines I love like "see my cheekbones, show off my clavicle, I bet you've never seen a ponytail to magical..."

—

Darren Criss 19:35:39

emilybutcher30

i love that u spelled it sara not sarah

thank you. if you don't already know it, check out Ben Folds' "Zak and Sara"

—

Darren Criss 19:36:01

OK i gotta get going

—

Darren Criss 19:36:12

but thanks to everyone from all over the world for joining

—

Darren Criss 19:36:17

i see you and i say hi to you!

—

Darren Criss 19:36:23

happy birthday to all the bday kids!

—

Darren Criss 19:36:33

thank you for spending a little bit of your bday with me

—

Darren Criss 19:36:39

thanks for checking out Royalties

—

Darren Criss 19:36:46

hope you enjoy the music

—

Darren Criss 19:36:53

and hope there gets to be a season 2!!!

—

Darren Criss 19:37:08

xo to all of you. stay safe, stay inspired. - Darren