#i need to dissect this music video so bad

[soupslice]

VAMPIRE JOOST IS REAL OMG

[hcsiqs]

TALK TOO MUCH— paige bueckers x famous!reader

༊*·˚ summary: while doing the wired autocomplete interview, you reveal your celebrity crush to be the famous athlete, Paige Bueckers

༊*·˚ warnings: use of y/n, reader is close friends with renee rapp

༊*·˚ author's note: and after months away...here i am so it might be a little rusty my bad yall

You sat down in the chair that was placed perfectly in back center of the all-white room you had just arrived in a few moments prior. Your makeup artist and hair stylist both came up and made some quick fixes before giving a nod to the crew behind the camera that you were ready.

You sat in the chair with your arms resting against the arms of the chairs as the director gave you the cue to start, "Hi guys! It's Y/N Y/L/N, and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview" you beamed at the camera doing a small wave. You were then handed a card that was made to look like a Google search bar with questions, with certain parts being blocked out by a white piece of paper.

The first board was questions mostly about where you grew up and how you got your start in music, some even asking about your hometown friends. Two boards later you were handed one that had most questions starting with "who".

You held up the board to the camera as you pealed the first question up, "Who is Y/N Y/L/N's inspiration?" you read out loud before tapping your finger against your lips. "I don't know exactly. I feel like I get inspiration for my music from a lot of different artists, but also from the place I grew up and the people I grew up with" you told the camera truthfully, "But, I have really been loving Renee Rapp right now" you smiled, giving your closest friend a small shoutout.

You continued answering a few more questions before peeling the last one off, reading it as you went, "Who is Y/N Y/L/N's celebrity crush?" you read out before slapping your hand to your face and shaking your head no. "Oh Gosh," you laughed softly as your face warmed, the crew behind the camera laughing with you.

"Wow you guys really wanna know my dark secrets" you smiled as you tossed the board off to the side. You bit down on your bottom lip, as you tilted your head side to side, debating if you should tell the entire internet you your celebrity crush was.

Ultimately, you decided that since you were an artist and she was an athlete there was no way your fans crossed between you two, and there was absolutely no way she knew who you were and would see this interview.

"Ugh, okay, okay, I'll tell y'all," you said, covering your face with your hands for a second to calm yourself before letting a small smile fall on your lips as you remove your hands from your face. "Paige Bueckers," you smiled, tilting your head slightly, "And do not tell her! Or I'll like die," you laughed, pointing your finger at the camera.

You finished out the next few boards, cracking jokes, or sometimes leaving answers your fans would have to dissect to figure out your true answer, but soon enough the interview finished and you thanked the crew and said your goodbyes before heading home.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Several weeks passed and you had completely forgotten about your little mention of the star athlete in the video until you were scrolling on TikTok. An edit of the blonde popped up, but much to your shock the intro was a clip of you from the WIRED video talking about the girl before it cut to several velocity-style clips of her, with one of your songs playing in the background. Your eyes then wandered down to the caption which read, "y/n is so real for that" followed by several hashtags.

You then let your curiosity get the best of you as you opened the comments to see what people were saying, some nice and some not so much.

BRO NOT MY FAVS COLLIDING

paige has got to see this

Yall we just lost Paige to whoever this is

not her shooting her shot...and its def not gonna go in

need them together actually

PLEASE never media train her

You couldn't help but scroll in the comments for what seemed like forever before the notification fell from the top of your screen as your phone vibrated lightly. It read with Renee's name at the top with the small phone symbol beside it, you clicked the small answer button and answered the phone, the sound of the girl on the other side dying laughing cutting through.

"Bitch there is no fucking way!" Renee cackled, and you could hear her hitting the couch between each of her words. "Oh My God, I love you so much baby, but exposing yourself like that is crazy work," she spoke into the phone, her laughter dying down.

You groaned, mentally smacking yourself, "I don't even know why I said it! Shit, what if she sees it and thinks I'm some fucking weirdo..." you rambled, before the girl on the other side of the line cut you off.

"Chill. She's not gonna think you're a weirdo," she said, attempting to calm your nerves. "She has like thousands of random ass people talking about her all the time, you're fine."

"Why did no one shut me up," you said, pacing around your living room before feeling your phone buzz with the name paigebueckers appearing in the notification. "She just dmed me," your mouth dropped open as you told your best friend as she encouraged you to open it.

paigebueckers Soooo someone told me about your crush. But like don't die though

You opened up the message and started typing out your apology as quickly as you could.

ynyln omg im so sorry!! i literally didn't think you'd see it and completely forgot i said it after i finished the thing

paigebueckers You're good 🤣

paigebueckers I’ll always take a compliment from a pretty girl

And with that message, you practically launched your face into one of the pillows on the couch as you felt the blood rush to your cheeks and your body went warm.

ynyln oh godddd stopppp😭😭

[another-bts-blog]

I don't want to dissect this music video too much because it feels so personal and like maybe we should all just interpret it for ourselves and let it be, but something about the significance of Yoongi giving himself the scar...idk, it is stuck in my brain. Like the implication that he created the opposing Agust D personas, or even that the King and Detective, who are the antagonists of Daechwita and Haegeum, are born from this place of trauma. These 3 music videos are connected, and at least for me there's sort of two ways to view it. On one hand, a prequel, he gives himself the scar and these antagonists are born from the raw feelings he is forced to face on his own trapped in this room, the anger and sadness and fear, etc. On the other hand, maybe it's the final piece. Maybe it's one more version of Yoongi going down the same path as the King and Detective, who will go on to try and eliminate the protagonist Yoongi, the "good" Yoongi who we root for in the previous two MVs, and drag him down with them and force him to comply, to give in, to give up, but this time we see the outside Yoongi coming to try and save him rather than get rid of him. Also, as this Yoongi is the representation of the Amgydala, which stores these traumas in order to better prepare us for future traumas, it seems he is trying to reach the door to aid Yoongi, to warn him of what's to come and prevent further suffering. If this is the final chapter and the outside Yoongi is reaching out, trying to open the door, trying to help, maybe this is the "acceptance" part of the journey. Maybe this is him saying, "I see that your trauma did this to you and I'm here to get you out" rather than silencing the scarred Yoongi the way of Daechwita and Haegeum. This music video felt like it was about healing and while we don't get a pretty resolution, we do get both Yoongi's trying to help the other, and perhaps face that trauma and accept it in ways he never has before. I'm not here to say all trauma are things we need to learn from, sometimes bad things have no meaning, sometimes bad things just happen, but this feels like Yoongi using that to move forward and say "I am ready to face what is to come."

[concreteburialplot]

pretty sure you’re my fellow chase atlantic girlie that i’ve seen posted on my feed but if something chase atlantic x bad omens ever happened i. would. lose. my. mind. like i’m fully aware that noah would have fun posting things just because he likes to create chaos but someone on the bo tiktok account reposted cas’s video and it doesn’t mean anything but like,,, chase atlantic and bad omens are my bread and butter. and i mean they’re aware of each other just saying 🤠

and i’m sure if there ever was a collab someone somewhere would have smth negative to say but they could stfu because those are my angels. LIKE I’M SORRY can you imagine a chase atlantic feature on a song like bad decisions????

i need it. (at the same time i’m not ready for it)

YES! I AM HER! i am your fellow chase / omens girlie lmao

(just seeing their logos side by side like that makes me feel dizzy & makes my heart explode)

i actually hadn’t heard anything about the repost so thank you for bringing it to my attention! i just about lost my mind 🥲 my fav boys interacting ? 😭 my heart 😩 they are also my babies so get it 100% 🥺

(you didn’t ask for this but i’m offering it anyway 🥲)

so, couple things that come into play here that i think are interesting

warning: beyond this point will contain lengthy unnecessary, unasked for, unwarranted & disorganized reaching, theories, wishful delusional thinking & dissection. i am a swiftie at heart so it’s a reflex to look too much into cryptic behavior lol

+ rambling bc i’m a gemini who loves chase atlantic & rarely gets to talk about them to anyone so 🥲💔

i’m also aware that omens x chase fans are very niche & nobody actually cares what i have to say about this topic but whatever 🥲💔 i just need to get this out 🥲

1 - i have known for a while that at least noah knows about / is a fan of chase atlantic. i believe he liked a tweet about them a while ago, when chase was doing a livestream i think? & he’s posted about them before, example here:

whether or not chase knows about bad omens i’m not sure but they probably do now at least

2 - Omens & Chase are under the same management company! They’re both under MDDN, so they’re at least in the same circles

3 - as much as i’d KILLLLL to hear chase feature on bad decisions i unfortunately don’t think noah would be down for it (i think he’s stated before he’s not open to features on bad omens’ discography ?? but i could be mistaken) - so the more likely scenario in the realm of (unrealistic) features would be noah featuring on a chase song

4 - the Bad Omens official tiktok account has only reposted 6 videos total, besides cas’ & the other 5 were specifically about the band - with how they handle their social media i find it interesting that they’d do that

also

obviously Kras is in CA so them reposting it isn’t out of the ordinary BUT both band accounts reposted the same day (even tho the video itself was posted 6 days ago, they both reposted the next day) - again just interesting

5 - the audio on the tiktok was mamacita so that begs the question that if there WERE to be a collab … would it be noah featuring on mamacita …………. bc the thought of that …. makes my head spin 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 (we also been knew that noah’s music taste is vast, so him being interested in / open to featuring on a different genre track, especially of a band he likes, isn’t THAT crazy to imagine)

6 - however the caption cas’ tiktok was something like “christian said that if you use this filter he’ll show you his verse on mamacita” so that could mean a couple things IF a collab is being teased

a - it’s not actually kras’ verse it’s noah’s

b - kras’ verse could be first & noah’s 2nd (😵‍💫)

c - they’re hinting at a feature on another song on chase’s upcoming album

d - there is no collab & i’m a clown for believing that there could be (it’s this one)

7 - we know chase is open to having features from different genres & are pretty lax about who they work with (& lax in general)

8 - i’m unsure how well the collab would be received - i think noah featuring on chase would go over significantly better than the other way around but still idk - chase’ fanbase seems a lot more chill than omens

REGARDLESS i fear for chase if they collab bc [a lot of] bad omens fans are mean, judgy & ruthless especially about artists outside of metal/metalcore. chase’s fandom is fairly chill (in my experience) & unfortunately i honestly think any interaction with bad omens would bring a lot of unnecessary drama & hate to them :///// and i can smell the “bad omens is selling out” accusations from here

9 - again i think the repost was really interesting & unusual for their normal social media activity/strategy & so the fact that it’s so out of the ordinary + subtle + sneaky ON TOP OF ALLL of those other factors ^ has got me extremely intrigued

10 - that all being said ……. unfortunately as you touched on, Noah is a troll at heart, so he could very well just be causing mischief - for what reason, nobody knows - also choosing that tiktok was so random ?? so ?? [especially since it was cas’ tiktok, not chase or even their members??]

i’m interested to see if there’s any other sneaky interactions between them moving forward - noah loves taylor swift so he may be taking a page or 2 from her book & starting to get more cryptic as their fanbase expands ?? lol

seeing kras on the same page of an omens official account really made me feel crazy. that is something i never ever thought i’d see, thought i was hallucinating lol (i love them so much 🥹)

i am slightly hopeful but also ready to be disappointed lol

am i a fool for underestimating noah sebastian’s troll behavior? probably

has he trolled me before? yes

will i have too much faith in him to not troll me again after this? yeah :/

regardless,

anyway sorry this is ridiculously long for no reason & nobody actually cares about my insane hypothesizing 🥲 if anyone got this far, you’re a trooper & i’m giving you a star

i was just really really really excited about this bc i love them both so much & nobody else cares & it made me really sad but it’s fine 🥲🥲💔💔

[webbyghost]

Rewatching that yt video of all of Doug’s scenes and I feel so bad for him

uh really long rambling under the cut lmao dont mind me

In the first scene he’s in, you can tell he just wants to be included, part of the conversation. He’s not sure how to join in, but he’s trying so hard, laughing at Clint’s ‘joke’, reacting to what others are saying, but from afar.

And all Wade has to do is say his name in that warning tone and Doug backs away so quickly without protest. They’ve done this before, multiple times. Doug knows he’s not fitting in, not quite getting it right. He’s trying so hard. Reading books to try to figure out what’s missing, putting himself out there. He says things he thinks other will agree with (I blame rap music), whether or not he actually believes them isn’t clear.

He tells his students about his (probably very stressful) weekend, but not his coworkers, because out of the two groups, only one of them will listen. They may not really get it, but they listen, and he can understand that feeling.

When the shit hits the fan, he’s still so unsure what to do. He puts a hand on Lucy’s side (going for assurance, maybe?) but removes it just as quickly, looking like he regrets it. He yells what he probably thinks is some kind of encouragement at Clint, wrestling with Patriot on the floor. He’s looking to everyone else for some sort of indication on what to do, but everyone’s panicking, so he’s panicking.

This is an unfounded headcanon but I think Doug usually does the whole exaggerated be quiet thing for his students and they think it’s funny, so he’s used to doing it that way and now it’s his default. (That or he has possible auditory hallucinations? Also an excuse to dunk on Rebekkah which is a good enough reason in my book lmao)

He risks his life to study Clint’s infection, and not only does nobody else react, but Wade outright says he doesn’t care. Not a single one of these people care that he puts himself at risk trying to help. And when he finally does return with his hypothesis, their main concern is that he did it all with his bare hands. As if that’s what’s important in the moment.

He’s used to it. That’s the worst part. He’s used to their indifference or dismissal. When he asks them to follow him so he can explain what he’s discovering, and nobody does, he just shrugs like he expected it and continues on with his observations.

I’m kind of surprised they didn’t just leave him there when he gets tackled by the kid, use him as a distraction while they escaped. Maybe they knew they’d need his knowledge, maybe they figured they needed all the hands they could get. Maybe they just acted without thinking, who knows.

And he’s so smart, and able to compartmentalize in a way that none of the others seem to be able to do. Yes, this is a child, a former student, that he’s dissecting (brain surgery with his bare hands???) but it’s necessary to understand what’s happening. He’s not trying to be a creep when he asks Tamra about hitting puberty, he’s gathering relevant data, and I’m willing to bet the more sinister implications of asking a child about her body never even crossed his mind in this situation. He’s a scientist.

And he’s still trying so hard. Trying to prove that he has things worth sharing with the group, trying to help them understand like he does, going into detail so they can get where he’s at. He sounds impatient when his knowledge gets questioned, so he gives context, but the spike incident isn’t relevant here, Rebekkah (dunking x2 combo)

When Lucy attempts to correct him, his response is ‘oh ok this is how i’ve seen people respond to this, anyway moving on’ (So he obviously doesn’t notice when the word switches happen, or at least not all the time)

Just about every time he tries to add onto a conversation he gets something wrong, and you can tell he knows it, but he keeps trying. (I’m not deep-diving into his bucket list comment lmao)  During Wade’s hype speech, he doesn’t mean to take away from the momentum, he just knows Wade was factually incorrect.

Then he makes a fucking CATTLE PROD???? Fuck Tracy’s fork-studded safety cone, clever as it is, my mans made a CATTLE PROD. IN A CAVE. OUT OF SCRAPS. (ok, in a basement, out of batteries. close enough.)

And again with the compartmentalization- they’re not human, they’re no longer his students. They’re in the way between the group and survival. He does what he has to do, with less fear than he had when trying to make small talk. He’s even able to joke during the chaos. (I saved your life, nbd, just get me a sandwich and we’re even)

The next time he says ‘come here’, though, they do. And again, he’s trying, he’s confident that if he can just get his hands on some infected nuggets, he can keep being useful, he can help fix things. He’s still worth keeping around. He tries to lighten the mood, too- the mask, the pun. It’s just the wrong timing, and he knows he messed it up again.

But he’s trying.

[sugarcryztal]

Hey! I really like this account and the stuff you have been doing. May I have a SFW romantic CRK, MHA, or Mystic Messenger matchup?

I go by He/Him pronouns and I am gay (MLM). 1 am 5'5" and chubby. I have my hair cut short and plan on dying it soon. I often wear piercings, using only ear piercings. I often wear nice button ups with sweater vests or just horror movie shirts.

I would describe myself as introverted, but not necessarily shy. I am a very blunt person, which has caused some people to like me while others don’t. Though I just prefer to relax alone. I am overly cautious with myself and the people I love due to conditions I have lived with. So, I accidentally come off as too paranoid. I am intelligent and often love literature and media because of it. I am very much an artistic but also a writer.

I like spicy food, world building, fantasy stories, sci-fi settings, coffee, cats, supernatural stuff, RPGs, niche RPGs, TTRPGs (not just d&d), vintage wear, good cooking, taxidermy, rocks, horror movies, horror books, card games, niche history, niche internet cartoons, old rock music, metal music, unique art, stop motion, and anime.

I dislike overly sweet foods, the "I ain't reading all of that" or "it ain't that deep" type of person. anybody who thinks cartoons and/or horror have any real substance to them, minimalism, most romance movies, toxic positivity, and people who chew with their mouths open.

My hobbies are media dissection, writing, playing TTRPGs (both as a player and a GM/DM), drawing, playing video games, making them too, binge watching horror movies, and collecting vintage items.

I’m just going to do Mystic Messenger so if you want another fandom you can just resubmit with a different fandom you want!

I’m going to match you with . . .

Yoosung !

- okay I don’t like Yoosung that much but I am going to TRY MY BEST!

- When he first met you he was probably lowkey intimidated because of how blunt you can be and he’s a very sensitive guy.

- But he was determined to be your friend because you looked like you needed some! (not in a bad way)

- A while after being friends, he’s stuck to you like glue!

- He grows to admire how intelligent you are especially when it comes to media dissection! Because that’s a rare breed now.

- HATESSS toxic positivity! But that’s just because he likes giving genuine and straightforward compliments! Especially if it’s for a special cool person such as yourself!

- In his pining stage he probably starts to steal certain articles of your clothing when you aren’t looking. Most likely one of your sweater vests.

- Also becomes a lot more touchy, while making sure you’re comfortable of course!

- But when I say a lot I mean a LOT! Like at every greeting and farewell he hugs you and when you guys are walking together he wraps an arm around yours as he claims it’s so “he doesn’t get lost”, but I think we all know the real reason.

- When ur in a relationship:

- I’m sorry when I say this… But he probably chews with his mouth open because he’s trying to talk and eat at the same time. You’re going to have to be the one to tell him to swallow his food before he talks. 😭

- On another note, COFFEE DATES ARE A MUST!

- He doesn’t really like coffee though because of its bitter taste, so he orders hot chocolate instead thinking you don’t notice and spoiler alert, you do. 😭

- HE WOULD NEVVVVEEERRRR say “I ain’t readin allat” or anything like that because he is your #1 simp bruh. He IS readin allat!

- Takes your feelings seriously to because again he’s a very sensitive guy. So you will never hear him invalidate your feelings because why tf would he?! You are entitled to feel whatever you want!

- Also likes playing games with you. I don’t know what they’re called, but you know those meetings or cons where they all gather to play? Yeah he goes with you to those.

- He never knows what’s going on though, poor Yoosung 😭

- Confused, but happily cheering you on because you’re amazing!

- Boundaries with him are also important, keep in mind he’s mentally ill and will probably cling to you a lot more. So you will have to ask for space when you need it because he doesn’t get subtle hints.

Yoosung whines. A lot.

You were trying to get out of bed to start getting ready for a meet up with game friends, but he wouldn’t have it!

“Don’t goooo!” Yoosung whined. He was upset because you couldn’t take him with you this time. So to prevent you from leaving, he had his arms wrapped tight around your waist. You didn’t listen, standing up from the bed and kissing his forehead softly. But he wasn’t giving up!

He stayed with you through that whole morning, trying to constantly put his hands on you, but you would always swat them away when you were doing something!

Eventually you were preparing to leave and he was at his wits end. He tested out one last trick.

That’s how you found yourself passionately kissing your boyfriend, he was not giving you any room to even speak. It was kiss after kiss. You gently nudged him away with your arms and he whined loudly, immediately going back in for another kiss. Soo… Now you had to cancel your plans.

sorry it was short!

08.22.24

[alarrytale]

I’ve realized I’m holding onto the love I had for Harry from years ago at this point. When he was doing all the skits and interviews on Saturday Night Live, Ellen, James Corden….he was so damn charming, charismatic, hilarious and real. Evert bit of him sparkled and he was truly an entertainer and something to see. He had so much more talent than just being a singer - that was the cherry on top. He had everything and I couldn’t wait to see what he’d do next. The sparkle in his eyes, his unbridled enthusiasm and love for entertaining had no boundaries - he was a natural. There was no one like him, and you could see his beauty both physically and in his soul.

It’s all so different now. He’s hardly recognizable. I know the industry, his management and being closeted has completely broken him. All these pictures we see of him now wandering around cities alone or with his team. It’s so sad. Everyone keeps talking that something big is brewing, and they dissect clothes and dates and codes they feel he’s communicating. I almost feel like he’s so broken at this point, he really is just wandering around. He’s lost all his joy- you can argue that we don’t see him in private, but I think this is him across the board. He doesn’t do anything fun anymore, even all his recent music videos are dark, while trying to look like he’s having a great time. I hope he’s ok. I hope we see the old Harry again. I hope someday things will change and he can be the amazing person he was and who he was supposed to keep being before all this shit happened to him. I don’t know how much longer he can go through the same routine - album release, stunt, endless pap photos, grueling world tour.

It’s really sad.

Hi, anon!

I'm sorry you feel this way 🧡. All i can do is tell you that he's on a break between albums and tours, and that's usually the most difficult time in fandom. I do agree that H is jaded and struggling with the closet, but he's not lost his spark, personality or charm. We just don't get to see it now that he's not promoting an album or on tour. I don't think H is aimlessly wandering around being sad. I think is making himself more visible to gear up for album promo that's coming in Q4.

It's no use projecting your own feelings onto him. "Old Harry" was just as tired, sad and done with stunting as current Harry. Harry loves to be an artist and an entertainer, and he radiates joy and love when he gets to do those things. It's just been awhile since he has. He's looking healthy, he's not working at a gruelling pace, he's smiling and he even went publicly to an event with Louis. It's the best things have been for him for some years.

I think you need to be prepared for more of the same this go around though, so you can expect stunt songs, sad and depressive songs masked as happy songs, stunting with women or him be linked to women in the tabloids. But you can also expect a fun, charming and happy man, loving on and entertaining his audience, helping people to come out and wearing nail varnish. He's not lost his joy.

You need to figure out if the good still outweigh the bad for you. But i don't think you should make that decision while fandom is in the biggest Harry drought we've had for years. Take a break if you need to, but things really aren’t as bleak as you make it seem.

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter

Have you ever just been out in the world, minding your business, only to hear a song out in the wild for the first time and it just grabs you in a chokehold? For me, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter is one of those songs. It’s one of those pop songs that just makes you turn your ear towards a speaker and ask, “Oh. What is this?” I heard it for the first time in a store (rhymes with Schmarget) and then proceeded to listen to it about eighty more times after that. A great pop song will make you do that and this one is one of the best of the year so far. I mean it.

I knew who Sabrina Carpenter was before this song (I mostly live under a rock, but I still be knowing things from time to time) but I’m obviously not her target demographic and nothing she had done before really gripped me the way this has. Everything about “Espresso” is perfect and I’m ready to do what this series does best: annoy you with many MANY words about a song I love. If you want a silly review of this song in a TL;DR single sentence, I would say, “I don’t drink coffee... but this song must be what having a caffeine addiction feels like!”

The first thing that truly gripped me about this song is just how FUN it is! There’s so much magic packed into three and a half minutes and it serves as a perfect reminder of why I love and enjoy pop music when it gets it as right as a Starbucks barista who has my usual order down to a science. It’s upbeat, it’s catchy as hell, the lyrics are fun to sing along to. What more do you need? This isn’t a song that re-invents the wheel and that’s because it knows it doesn’t have to. Like her reference to Nintendo in the chorus (“Switch it up like Nintendo”) the primary concern is about whether the song is fun to listen to and if it’s something you’ll want to hear again and again and not get bored of. In a way, this song is like the Super Mario World of pop music; a song that provides comfort and fun and it doesn’t require a lot of knowledge and skill in order to enjoy. Anybody can pick it up, start playing, and have a good time with it.

Which means a lot these days.

At the time of this writing, everybody and their favorite wine aunt is currently dissecting Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, searching for hidden meanings and clues and signs about her relationships between her and Matty Healy from The 1975 or British actor Joe Alwyn (take your pick). I didn’t hate TTPD, but the album also didn’t do much for me because it’s so deep within the Taylor Discographic Universe (the TDU) that unless you have a decade of lore explained to you, those songs lose a lot of appeal and power. It’s like watching Avengers: Infinity War when all I’ve ever watched is Iron Man. Taylor isn’t the only one that’s been suffering from this. Ariana Grande’s newest album Eternal Sunshine comes with the baggage of that whole thing that happened between her and that dude who played Spongebob on Broadway or something. The most I’ve ever heard about “The Boy Is Mine” in terms of discourse are all the jokes and memes about how she’s singing about a guy who weirdly looks exactly like her brother and spent years being an adult man playing Spongebob on stage. Even Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” the biggest song of last year, loses some of its impact if you’re like me and couldn’t give a shit about Liam Hemsworth or the emotional roller coaster story of her relationship with him. 

Granted, you can still listen to all of these things with their real world inspirations and contexts removed and get just as much, if not more, out of that, but there’s just something really refreshing about being able to enjoy a song without needing an entire “____ iceberg explained” video in order to truly “get it.” I got “Espresso” immediately and the only real world context I can gather is that she probably wrote this song about one or many dudes that have been “down bad” for her. I shudder to think which niche micro-celebrities with the over-inflated attitude that comes with the phrase “I have a post that got over 10,000 notes on Tumblr” have said or done while attempting to shoot their poorly aimed shot with her.

That’s a good place to start talking about the lyrics to the song, which are all about her being playful with a guy and basking in how he is absolutely obsessed and crazy with her. More important than the words themselves is how Sabrina delivers them. There’s a really great balancing act where it’s just the right level of confidence and the belief that you’re hot shit, without going overboard into arrogance. She maintains a constant level of playfulness throughout the entire song and it’s great! It starts as soon as the second line of the chorus hits at the beginning of the song: “Is it that sweet? I guess so.” 

There’s also the line that begins the second verse: “I'm working late 'cause I'm a singer.” I absolutely adore the way she says that line. Every. Single. Time. Again, it’s just the right amount of playful and sarcastic. I can picture the conversation that line would be featured in if anybody she’s dated within the last three years has foolishly asked her if she’s busy tonight.

“Wyd tonight, babe? 😜” “I’m working late.” “What?? Why? 🥺” “...‘cause I’m a singer.”

That line reads like she’s had to answer that question one too many times to one too many idiots. Whether it’s studio time or live performance, singers be working at night. Duh. It’s such a fun line and it gets stuck in your head. You wait for it each time you listen and I can’t imagine the feeling of being in a whole stadium full of people all singing that line together. It’s such a delicate tightrope being walked so damn well, especially since it can go sour so fast if you perform it the wrong way. The following line, “Oh, he looks so cute wrapped around my finger” keeps that playfulness while also making you feel a little bad for the guy. I say a little bad because it’s very obvious who has the power and control in this:

I can't relate to desperation My give-a-fucks are on vacation And I got this one boy and he won't stop calling When they act this way, I know I got 'em

We’ve all known someone who is casually seeing someone and they’re just way crazier about the person they’re seeing than the other is for them. That’s not to say she doesn’t sound invested in this guy during the song, but you get the feeling one of them knows it’s a fun little fling and the other is starting to get obsessed and isn’t seeing things that way. 

It’s not hard to see why he’s getting addicted. I’m hooked on this song the same way dude is hooked on Sabrina. This song has this utterly hypnotic quality to it and at the 1:09 mark when you start hearing “Yes” after every line it reflects getting that hit, that thing you want once you’re addicted and craving more. “Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya” (Yes). “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” (Yes). “That morning coffee, brewed it for ya” (Yes). It’s a small detail, but I always try to stress that the small details matter and always add up to something bigger. The more you listen, the more you get hooked on her the same way the guy in the song is getting hooked.

Now that I’ve mentioned it, can we talk about that Mountain Dew line? I’m sure some people think it’s a stupid and bad line, but those people are absolutely wrong. It's silly on the surface but works well as a clever double entendre ("I mount and do it for ya"). There’s four lines in this song that I could see somebody writing off as “bad lyrics.” The list includes:

“That’s that me espresso” (A little clunky, but does what it needs to do in order to set up a good metaphor for being the thing someone is addicted to)

“Move it up, down, left, right, oh / Switch it up like Nintendo” (Sounds like a joke bar your friend would spit in the car while making a joke about bad rappers who think they’re geniuses)

“My honeybee, come and get this pollen” (This wouldn’t sound out of place if it was said at the end of a James Bond film)

“I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” (This has definitely been said by a man who thinks he’s a sex god but only lasts the amount of time it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket)

The reason I put all of these lines in an organized list is to show one other thing this song does right: This is a silly song and it basks in the fact that it’s a silly and fun little song.

There’s a quick moment at 2:16, where Sabrina just says the word “stupid” before the song launches into the chorus again. I imagine that’s at the expense of the guy in the song, but I also treat it as her wink-and-nod to me that she’s aware this whole song is just silly, innocent fun and that I too should treat it as such. It doesn’t take anything away from the song, not one bit. If anything, it keeps it light and enhances everything it does right. If Taylor had said “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” at ANY point during TTPD’s runtime, the masses would’ve erupted with laughter, scorn, and enough posts that you’d never hear the end of it. It works for Sabrina because a lot of her music is more upbeat than Taylor’s recent stuff has been and silly lines like that are quickly becoming her bread and butter. One of the biggest charms about her biggest hit from last year (“Nonsense”) is that it ends with literal nonsense bars that have nothing to do with the rest of the song: “This song catchier than chickenpox is / I bet your house is where my other sock is / Woke up this morning, thought I’d write a pop hit, ha-ha / How quickly can you take your clothes off? Pop quiz.” She’s taken that joke further by making up different stupid and silly outros every night she performs it just to get a laugh out of the audience. My personal favorite one: "This crowd is giving me all the endorphins / I wish someone would rearrange my organs / Philly is the city I was born in". 

The last thing we need to talk about is the absolutely gorgeous and wonderful music video she made for this. It’s a rare Dave Meyers W in this day and age, as he’s responsible for two of the absolute worst videos I’ve seen this decade: Ed Sheeran's "Bad Habits" and the Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa collab "Sweetest Pie." That said, when he’s good, he’s GOOD and it makes you forget every bad video he’s ever made (which is more than just the two I mentioned...)

The cinematography is gorgeous, the choreography is great, Sabrina looks utterly stunning and living her summer beach movie fantasies. Those shots of her doing sixties dances on a surfboard are fantastic and look like they’re straight out of a beach movie from that decade. The whole video has a sixties beach movie look to it, from Sabrina’s outfits all the way to the overall look and glow of the setting. Everything you imagine about a perfect summer is captured beautifully in this video. It’s a fun video that reflects the song in all the best ways. If pop music is escapism and is something designed to take you to another world for a short time, this song and video do just that. We’re all better for it.

Pop songs can be totally serious works of art, but “Espresso” proves they don’t always have to be. Sometimes a song can just be light and fun. “Espresso” knows what it is and it’s excited to be that for you. If you want to start buying stock in songs that might get the illustrious and coveted “Song of the Summer” status, I’m telling you to invest and put all of your money in this song right now because we’re going to the moon and beyond with it. The video for the song ends with Sabrina getting arrested for stealing a guy’s credit card and throwing him overboard at the beginning, with the final shot being the cop car she’s in having a speaker on top playing a little snippet of what will supposedly be Sabrina’s next song. Whatever she ends up doing next, I’m here for it. “Espresso” made me a fan and I’m excited to see whatever else she’s got because this song is everything I love about pop music packed neatly into three and a half minutes. This image from Twitter (Formerly Twitter) user @___bodacious sums up my feelings on Miss. Carpenter really well:

[its-to-the-death]

Bracket F thoughts:

Jesus flipping crisis, those fucking elephant calls in "Prowler's theme" are so terrifying. Also I really like how it's basically Miles' theme in reverse, both because of how it emphasizes the relationship between Miles and Aaron and because of...certain events in Across the Spiderverse.

"Candy Store" has that bitchy confidence, but "Mother Knows Best" is the emotional abuser's anthem par excellence. Like I could do a whole ask dissecting all the shit Gothel pulls in that one song to undermine and manipulate Rapunzel.

(She'd be one of my favorite Disney villains if she wasn't also a heaping pile of antisemitic stereotypes...)

I was liking "The Music of the Night," but then it tried to murder my ears with that organ(?) at the end, so I'll give this one to "What's Up Duloc?", which is also admittedly quite good.

One of these won the 1994 Razzie for Worst Original Song. The other is Rachel L Hughes playing a megalomaniacal dictator crooning about her space train (which she fucks) that definitely is not going to unleash Yog Sogoth ;). Vote for "Odin" right now.

"Dressed to Oppress" is delightful, but oh my god that reprise of "Good Kid" in "The Last Day of Summer" hits like a truck.

As people have discussed in the notes, "The Convoluted Reasons We Pretend to Be Divorced" is not that villainous--and frankly I didn't find it as much of a bop as some other PnF songs I've listened to. "We Both Reached For the Gun" is a masterclass is manipulation as Billy plays the press for suckers so completely he doesn't even need Roxy to speak for him by the end. Also the fucking puppet acting, wow.

...Ok it might not be the best villain song, but "Penny battle theme" goes so hard I had to support it. Sue me.

I voted "Someone Gets Hurt," but they're both great. That one was close.

"One-Winged Angel" is iconic and intimidating, but I personally prefer the energy of "Cell-Block Tango." The dancing is amazing, the lyrics are witty, and the chorus is an earworm and a half. I also like the use of visual symbolism with the red handkerchiefs to symbolize how each murderess killed her victim(s)--except the innocent Hungarian woman, who dances angelic ballet to their aggressive tango and is the only one with a white handkerchief.

Who doesn't love an unabashed villainess who destroys worlds in battle armor and sneakers? "I'm the Bad Guy" is a bop.

"Pieces of You" is a goofy and terrifying fever dream of a song, holy fuck. The visuals give this one the edge for me. Also, don't you want to support The Substitute? He's just a little guy :)

"A Freak Like Me Needs Company" ultimately just got kind of lost for me--it focused too much on villains in general and not on Norman himself, while "The Only Thing I Know For Real" is both a kickass rock song and a great piece of characterization for Jetstream Sam.

...I don't know, I like Zelena's actress' singing and I think it's funny that she's not cursed to sing in this episode and she's just doing this for shits and giggles. I voted "Wicked Always Wins."

To quote someone in the comments of the "Bloody Party/Welcome to Cake Island" video, "This is the most Disney-like bulshit [sic] I have ever seen in an anime, and I fucking love it." What the fuck is happening. Why are these people committing casual mass murder for cake ingredients. Why are inanimate objects singing along with this pirate lady. I don't know but it scares me.

"The Smell of Rebellion" really picks up in the end, and "Love For Peasants" felt a little too unfocused musically. Also, @thatsluttytiefling mentioned that the song gave them "war flashbacks to the choreo," so it is villainous IRL as well.

Oh my god how the fuck did "This is the Thanks I Get" get released in this state. The lyrics don't rhyme properly and are exceedingly awkward to boot. The chorus is bland as shit. The visuals are boring. There's no buildup from "I'm an underappreciated hero doing my best for the kingdom and nobody respects me enough :(" to "I want ULTIMATE POWAH through DAAAAAARK MAGIC" and then it suddenly just switches back to how it was before??? It's not intimidating and scary, it's silly for all the wrong reasons, it's not even particularly sympathetic, and it is reeking of trying to be hip and cool and/or being written by people with too little time and too few fucks to give. "Heaven on Their Minds" is very good in its own right, but I kind of already knew which one was better before I even heard it, because this song just...doesn't do its job.

I agree that the villain Phineas and Ferb songs aren't among the best the show has to offer.

[f0point5]

Just skimmed through your posts about wags and the amount of hate they receive and omfg it is so refreshing to see someone with similar views!! Wag culture is so insane and I am a Harry Styles fan like I thought it couldn’t get more toxic than that and holy shit formula one is on another level

Im sorry in advance but I need to describe this in full detail to someone else bc no one irl is a formula one fan like me so I have no one to talk to this about😭😭 but I think it’s so interesting the way stan culture moves and how my tiktok algorithm showed me just how bad it is for the wags

I’m new to F1 so my tiktok algorithm started with showing me Charles Leclerc to Taylor swift music edits (thought he was really pretty but didn’t make me a f1 fan) to Max Verstappen to TS music edits (made me a huge Max fan and why I’m into formula one now lol) to Max interview clips to drive to survive (watched it —I know it’s dramatized but I love the way it’s filmed) to more tiktoks about max and his childhood and then I started getting really pretty girls on my fyp (now I know it’s Alexandra and Kika but didn’t at the time so I would like the videos and move on) but then I became a bigger fan of f1 so I would recognize them and then my tiktok fyp went to edits of the wags which was whatever bc I love pretty girls so I didn’t think too much of it but then very quickly my fyp turned dark (very dramatic lmaoo). I started getting hate edits of the wags and at this point I didn’t really have too much of an opinion on the wags and I still don’t except I do side eye Kelly —i know it’s none of my business and I know bare bones about their relationship but age gaps especially when one met the other when they were a teen always makes me uncomfortable🥴 Anyways so once my tiktok went weird, I started going through the hate comments these people would leave about these women and I feel so bad for the girlfriends. Yes they live incredibly privileged lives but being dissected the way they do on tiktok is absolutely insane. They get hate for literally every single thing they do. I remember there was a video of Charles and Alexandra at a race and she stopped smiling for one second and they were literally calling her two faced and fake for just having a resting face that isn’t smiling. There was another of Kelly and they had a video of her not catching the bouquet at a wedding and clipped a video of max laughing so it looked like he had laughed at her and then followed it by a video of Kelly getting annoyed or something and the amount of nasty comments was insane. I think Kelly then said something about it on Instagram and instead of feeling bad for spreading a false video to hate on her, the same page started to make fun of her for trying to say it was edited WHEN IT WAS!?? I still don’t get it honestly. I get being jealous of their lifestyle bc wow it must be amazing to be able to travel and experience the world the way they get to but not even when I was at my most parasocial relationship with one direction as a 12 year old, did I ever feel the need to send hate to the people my faves dated. I know stan culture has always been bad but I do wonder what it was like following formula one when tiktok did not exist. I’m not sure how long you’ve been a fan but was it always this toxic towards the wags?? Or is the increase in fans formula one has recently gotten the cause of all this?? This is my first time being a sports fan and I really do love it, it’s exciting watching races and learning all the lore of teams and older racers but I honestly didn’t think there was this amount of parasocial attitudes in racing when I was first became a fan like it’s insane

I just reread this and omfg sorry for the essay and probably a shit ton of errors bc I’m tired as hell rn

Formula 1 is the perfect storm for toxic fans because it is so constant. Racing happens for most of the year and in between the off track drama keeps going. Whereas singers are only visible while touring and not often in between. Drivers are constantly giving content.

I’m not gonna rehash it because it was so wild but that Kelly video at the wedding was one of a lottt of edits flying around about her at that time and some of them actually had some pretty personal information/rumours so when she comments about the editing videos she wasn’t referring to the one from the wedding I’m pretty sure. There was one particular tiktok account dedicated to collecting screenshots of messages “from Kelly” that apparently were edited, and just spreading rumours about her personal life from years ago.

But yeah it’s insane what these women have to put up with. To a certain extent they do sign up for it, since a lot of them use the platform to build an influencer career so they are inviting the public into their life in a sense but there’s no excuse for the way people talk about them and harass them it’s unhinged.

And yeah, I do blame the new fan base. Sorry to say but back when it was just old men watching the sport it was not like this. People used to laugh at the antics of James Hunt or talk about the partying but it wasn’t like…this venomous vitriol (obviously men and their hooliganism has its own issues no one likes football fans and they’re all men but I’d argue that kind of fan is part of the new wave of fans as well). And part of it is social media because now people can just post hate indiscriminately and with no consequences but it’s the younger demographic by and large using social media.

Parasocials in F1 absolutely seem to be the consequence of increased media presence (drive to survive, more promotion of races/race weekends as “partying” events, more races in cities/tourist locations). Thank you Liberty Media (RIP Moto GP). And personally I think it’s making the sport a bit ridiculous but it’s bringing in money. Parasocials are the people who buy merch and go to the f1 arcade and pretty much keep the cafes on Casino square solvent so…yeah. Good for the investors. Good for the teams.

And even good for the wags in a way like I don’t doubt that despite the hate they’ve all materially profited from the attention.

It’s just sad that people have to act like that. Like are they raised in a barn? Did no one teach them to mind their own business? Is the jealousy so real that they can’t help themselves? Idk how posting about how much you hate Alexandra’s body makes you feel cuter or better about the fact that Charles Leclerc won’t date you. I can’t relate.

Don’t worry about the essay you’re welcome to come and rant every time we love that here 💕

[rabbitechoes]

feels like a bit of a less-eventful month for new releases, but i still heard a few great records!!! i've been very enamored with the new porter robinson album especially!!! it's looking like august will be a veryyyyy busy month for new releases so let's hope i don't get swamped ... to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

SMILE! :D - Porter Robinson

🥇 BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ released: July 26, 2024 ◇ genres: indietronica, electropop, pop rock

Despite the drastic difference in execution, Porter Robinson’s third studio album SMILE! :D is the perfect follow-up to 2021’s Nurture. The latter acted as an exploration to appreciate the beauty of life and art, all through bright and textured production. SMILE! :D is just as existential, but this time it’s a quest for Porter to learn to love himself and find enjoyment in the music he makes. Robinson ventures into his struggles with fame, fandom, and getting lost in nostalgia over bombastic electropop production. Those going into this album with the high expectations set by Nurture will most likely be disappointed – even I, who was pretty late to the hype of that record, found myself a bit stumped by this album at first. It’s a step back and as tongue-in-cheek as it is sincere, but it all comes into focus eventually. To move forward, SMILE! :D was the album he needed to make.

There’s a sugary sweet sound to most of the record which creates this dizzying array of emotions. On my first few listens, I viewed this as one of the album’s main flaws, and while I still have some very minor nitpicks with this approach, the brilliance of this choice reveals itself. The listener has about as much of a grasp on Robinson’s emotions as he does. He’s desperately trying to get a grip and rekindle the fun of making music, all the while putting on a delusionally brave face as he reckons with all of this conflict. Many of the album’s core themes are introduced in the faux-braggadocious opener, “Knock Yourself Out XD.” Robinson wrestles with how people perceive him and his music. Fighting expectations set by both his fans and the music industry at large. He wants to make happy pop music, but he can’t – at least not for long. The end of the song has him defeatedly embracing the aesthetics of a star; face tattoos, a drink in hand, a fancy new car, but it’s all disingenuous. “Cheerleader” and “Russian Roulette” expand on these ideas. The former is a cathartic banger about the parasocial relationships some people have with their favorite artists and the latter is an emotionally dynamic exploration of how it all affects his depression – drawing to a close with the sobering repeated phrase, “I wanna live, I don’t wanna die” before getting swallowed by rave-like synths. Robinson’s analysis of this is all through the context of the internet, which I find very compelling. The perpetual unseriousness of the internet, he sings about “YouTube review, funny monkey / Takes a piss into his own mouth, crazy” a reference to Pitchfork’s notorious review of Jet’s Shine On and how “A bad guy just died / They’re making memes about it.” This behavior, of which most of us are guilty to some degree, can disincentive sincerity and throw emotion to the wind. It can also be dehumanizing to the artists, making them feel like soulless commodities for our enjoyment alone.

“Russian Roulette” and the aggressive “Perfect Pinterest Garden” mark turning points in the album’s focus, it’s from here that Robinson begins to look further inward and dissect his own behaviors. “Year of the Cup” has the same structure as those TikTok videos of people putting Midwest emo riffs instrumentation over random videos which makes for one of the shakier moments on the record, but he manages to make it work. The song is built around this combative interview Lil Wayne did with Tim Westwood in 2009 and Robinson ties it back to his struggles with alcoholism and lashing out at those close to him. The predominant theme for the rest of the album is Robinson trying to come to terms with himself while reconnecting with his audience more healthily. He reminisces on how his past self would perceive him now, vowing to “Take care of the person we’ll both be eventually” on “Easier to Love You.” He regrets the things he’s done to become what he thinks a star should be, he’s just “Trying to look good, trying not to feel bad.” It’s empty and unfulfilling, he has to reconnect with who he is to both himself and his audience – finally coming to some form of a resolution on the optimistic closer “Everything To Me.”

SMILE! :D is an unconventional love letter to Robinson’s fans. In his words, they were “the perfect muse for an entire album.” This is an excellent album, one that is both interesting and immensely enjoyable. I understand why it’s proven to be a bit polarizing, but this is one of his finest achievements yet. His talents as a producer and songwriter are on full display here – and in much different ways than the album proceeding it. I’m pretty enamored with this album.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Passage du Desir - Johnny Blue Skies / Sturgill Simpson

◇ released: July 14, 2024 ◇ genres: progressive country, country rock

Ever since 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, Sturgill Simpson has made a name for himself as one of the most ambitious artists in country music that’s just barely outside the mainstream. Unlike a lot of other country artists who regularly see critical acclaim for simply being normal when compared to the worst the genre usually has to offer, Simpson has garnered that acclaim for making interesting music. His sound balances the rooted and the otherworldly – Passage du Desir is another great showcase of that. Working under the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies, he crafts this almost cosmic sound. It’s like a country star beamed back down to earth, here to make country music that sounds familiar to us, but with an opulent and psychedelic twist that few artists wield as well as he does.

At each of these song’s respective cores is a damn fine country song, displaying Simpson’s clear understanding of the genre, but the arrangements are what make this album so special. This album was recorded in both Nashville and Abbey Road Studios in London and Simpson sounds in complete control here. He’s determined to take these songs to just the right heights. Like the opening accordion passage and subsequent simmering psychedelia of “Swamp of Sadness” where he sings of “Nights under the bright lights at Mignon on Beaumarchais,” hardly regular country fair – I would be amused to hear Morgan Wallen sing of nights spent in Paris. It has this alluring dreaminess to it that just swallows you, an incredible opener that shows his ambition. The centerpiece of the album is “Jupiter’s Faerie,” a cathartic lamentation of a lost friend. His vocals have this understated effect to them and the instrumentation builds around him as it eventually explodes alongside him in the chorus. The string flourishes in the chorus is exhilarating and beautiful. The near 9-minute “One For The Road” closes the album strong and another crowning achievement in Simpson’s, or Johnny Blue Skies’, career thus far. It’s a bittersweet country ballad that you can just get lost in. Ending the album with an extended instrumental section with harmonica, a soft piano, and a striking guitar solo is a bold move, but it works so well. 

There are moments where things are relatively stripped-back, like the jaunty “Scooter Blues,” the delightful melancholy of “Who I Am,” and the sweetness of “Mint Tea” – rather than potentially act as roadblocks between the more expansive tracks, they’re necessary. They re-center the album’s focus, grounding it a bit so that the grander moments hit that much harder. They never veer into the generic either, they still show an artist poised to be different.

Passage du Desir is an amazing album and the start of a bold new chapter for Johnny Blue Skies. Simpson’s use of that alter-ego from here on out is a little confusing given how personal everything still feels, but as long as he’s still making great music like this who am I to complain? This isn’t hokey or gimmicky at all, it just feels like yet another one of his tactics to subvert people’s expectations. Keep it up, I say!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) - Hakushi Hasegawa

◇ released: July 24, 2024 ◇ genres: art pop, glitch pop, nu jazz, deconstructed club, folktronica

I’ve been acutely aware of Hakushi Hasegawa for a little bit now, mainly through the acclaim of their 2018 EP 草木萌動 (Sōmoku hōdō). Despite that, 魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) was my first foray into their music. Talk about a first impression, this album is insane. Right from the start, it grabs you by the scruff of your neck and throws you on a rollercoaster of abrasive, colorful, and rhythmic instrumentation. These songs are captivating, both in how wild they tend to be and even more so in how occasionally beautiful they are. Like the disorienting sound of “行つてしまつた (Gone)” with KID FRESNO or the serene folktronica of “撤回 (Repeal).” Hasegawa has a deep understanding of the eclectic sounds they’re incorporating on this record which makes both their renditions and disorientations of them pay off in such a unique way. 

Nearly every song here has some kind of unexpected twist and turn. The rare ones that don’t still add this feeling of surreality to the album. There’s such a palpable energy to the album too, it’s like electricity currents are running underneath every song on the album. It feels almost magical like you’re in some kind of distorted fantasy land where things only vaguely resemble what you’re familiar with. Hasegawa is in complete control of these eccentric sounds. This is very evident on tracks like “恐怖の星 (KYŌFUNOHOSHI)” with its distinct blend of nu jazz and glitch pop. Or the avant-garde sound collage nature of “焱ばみ (Enbami).” Nothing sounds out of their jurisdiction. They lead these songs into bold new territory and you’re just along for the experience. 

魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) is an amazing album that greatly showcases Hakushi Hasegawa’s talents. This is an album best experienced in one sitting. Let all of these sounds wash over you – or rather let them throw themselves at you. This album hardly wastes a single second, besides that 30-second interlude of an A.I. conversation, they just keep crafting wild, exciting, and sometimes gorgeous sounds that are sure to enthrall you. This is one of the best instances of maximalist music in the online age. It’s also a good motivator to finally go back through Hasegawa’s back catalog and hear what I’ve been missing.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 - Denzel Curry

◇ released: July 19, 2024 ◇ genres: southern hip hop, trap, hardcore hip hop, memphis rap

Denzel Curry has proven to be one of the most consistent rappers of the modern era and that remains true with this new record, King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 – the sequel to one of his early mixtapes. Curry’s last album, Melt My Eyez See Your Future, was the biggest progression of his sound since TA13OO in 2018. However, instead of pushing forward, Curry decided to take a step backward and get re-acquainted with his roots. This album is just no-nonsense southern hip hop in a concise and effective package. Gone are the dense, jazz-flavored beats of his last album – in are the hard-hitting hardcore beats that cut right to the heart of the matter. Neither approach is inherently better or worse, but Curry has crafted one of the most fiery hip hop records of the year with the latter.

Curry is no stranger to scaling things back after a big project – in fact, it’s a part of his formula at this point. The ambitious TA13OO beget ZUU the following year and Melt My Eyez led into this great new record. This is a much more effective record than ZUU, it shows Curry returning to his old stomping grounds and showing that he is a force to be reckoned with. He enlists numerous fellow southern rappers to aid him, aside from a few from the East and West coasts, as well as Kingpin Skinny Pimp to host the record in its interludes. This is a very collaborative effort, but make no mistake Curry is the star. He rarely ever does things halfheartedly, but he sounds incredibly reinvigorated on this project. His bars are clever, sharp, and confident. They have this air of spontaneity to them which makes this album so infectious. The other rappers featured here, for the most part, keep that same energy. Like on “BLACK FLAG FREESTYLE” where That Mexican OT – who I had never heard of before this project, damn near steals the show. That’s another cool thing about this album, alongside some well-established names, it features a lot of lower-profile rappers like That Mexican OT, TiaCorine, Key Nyata, and Armani White who get the opportunity to shine here alongside Denzel. Everyone brings the heat and most of them make a good impression. On his quest to prove that he’s the king, Curry raises these artists up with him while also sharing the stage with legends like Juicy J and Project Pat – although Pat will show up damn near anywhere at this point.

Although some tracks don’t fully stick the landing, like “Set It” with Maxo Kream and “Hit the Floor” with Ski Mask the Slump God, there’s no shortage of bonafide heaters on this record. “HOT ONE,” the album’s lead single, is an awesome mix of trap, cloud rap, and Memphis rap. Curry boldly claims that he hasn’t changed despite leaving the South, he’s still just as driven. That drive is evident throughout the project. “G’Z UP” is a straight-up jam that doesn’t waste any time and features great guest verses from 2 Chainz and Mike Dimes. “SKED” has Curry, Kenny Mason, and Project Pat sounding fearless over a lowkey almost rage beat. Every now and then some tracks feel like they’re far too brief, but that can be sort of forgiven due to the album’s quick pacing. Dull moments are seldom found here.

King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 feels like a quick detour for Curry before he goes back to making grander projects – this is hardly a dismissal of the project though as it’s almost endlessly enjoyable. He reconnects with his roots in a deeply satisfying way. He’s always been one of the most exciting artists in hip hop and this record provides further proof to that claim.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The War - Toy Bastard

◇ released: July 15, 2024 ◇ genres: indie rock, post-rock

Ethan Ives, best known as a multi-instrumentalist in Car Seat Headrest, has released his second album under the name Toy Bastard. The War is a damn fine post-rock record with some big indie rock choruses throughout. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s a very great record despite that. This is a concept record about, I believe metaphorically, being at war. Ives uses wartime imagery to detail being at war with the world itself. It’s a concept that could easily be a little corny, but it works well here. This frantic and anxious atmosphere keeps you engaged, waiting to see what comes next. Made all the more enthralling because of the instrumentation – perhaps the biggest highlight of the record. Everything has a punch, nothing lays soft on the ears or floats past you. Everything from the acoustic guitar passage at the start of “The Babe in the Woodshed” to the sporadic synths on “Summer of ‘14,” it all just grabs you. Necessary for the concept to work as well as it does.

My favorite moment on the record comes with the 13-minute “VALIS,” an epic borderline prog-rock instrumental which, even without words, adds so much to the record’s concept. If you take the album at face value and believe the narrator is actually at war, it sounds like being on the battlefield. Loud guitar riffs come and go before being washed out alongside these choral arrangements – it’s unpredictable, but you’re hanging on to every shift. It’s wonderfully paced and not something I was expecting going into this record. Even on the tracks that are more of your standard indie rock, Ives brings in some cool quirks to these arrangements. It never sounds generic or tired, it sounds like he has a strong vision of what he wants this album to sound like, and for the most part, he nails it. The album ends with “Daddy Was a Starship Captain,” another “epic” track and the emotional climax of the record. It displays all of his strengths as both a songwriter and a producer, from the aquatic vocals to the killer guitar solo towards the end – everything just comes together here. Songs like this and “VALIS,” make me so excited to hear what Toy Bastard has in store for the future. The War is a great record and I feel like we’ll get even more great records from him in the future.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

My Light, My Destroyer - Cassandra Jenkins

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, sophisti-pop, indie rock

My Light, My Destroyer sounds like sifting through old photos during a transitional period of your life and letting all of the old memories wash over you like waves on the shore. One minute you’re transported back to the past, not a perfect one, but one that seems more comforting than where you are now. The next you’re reflecting on the present, the dishes are piling up and you feel alone, but there are still beautiful things in the world and you need to be reminded of that – The constellations in the sky, the colorful flowers, and the people you love. Cassandra Jenkins explores them all in her bold third studio album, the follow-up to her acclaimed previous album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature as well as her label debut on Dead Oceans.

The instrumentation is the only thing that keeps this album from reaching its full potential. Jenkins’ songwriting is the strongest it has ever been here, but some of these songs lack a distinct sound that separates her from her contemporaries. Like the soaring guitars on “Aurora, IL” which sound reminiscent of some of her new labelmates – it’s not a bad song, I just wish every track here had a striking and distinct sound that matched her songwriting. That’s certainly not to say there’s a shortage of unique arrangements here. In fact, I think this is her strongest material to date in that regard. Like the ambient art pop of “Delphinium Blue” where Jenkins’ voice sounds adrift in the ocean as the atmospheric synths and subtle percussion surround her. She’s trying to keep herself grounded as she gets lost in the delphinium flowers that remind her of someone. All of those feelings are not just conveyed lyrically, but also through the instrumentation. She shifts between that soft art pop and more rock-tinged tracks, like the steady guitars of “Petco” and the almost country flavor of “Clams Casino.” It’s a good balance. The strongest track on the album is “Tape and Tissue,” with its jazzy flavor which juxtaposes the spacey synths in such an amazing way. It’s one of the most vulnerable moments in Jenkins’ catalog thus far, a very captivating song.

This is a fascinating next step for Jenkins and I’m excited to hear where she goes from here. Her music sounds bigger and more polished, but I hope she introduces some more unique sounds in the future to make herself fully stand out. There’s a lot to love here though, I just feel like her best is still on the horizon. I can’t wait for that.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Charm - Clairo

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: soft rock, sophisti-pop

Bedroom pop icon Claire Cottrill continues to ramp up her sound on her third studio album Charm. Her last album was very folk-inspired, but instead of going further in that direction, she dives deep into this 70s soft rock sound which yields some gorgeous instrumentation while often obscuring her in the process. Clairo’s vocals have always been light no matter the words she’s singing, she’s a very cozy singer. This has worked in her favor a lot of the time, like on the mostly spare arrangements of Sling, but on Charm, she ends up getting lost in it all. Not in a “this music is free-flowing and all-encompassing” kind of way, but in a way that snuffs out some of the heart of the record. These beautiful, mostly organic arrangements yearn for a vocalist with stronger conviction. If there ever was an album for Clairo to add some new flair to her delivery it was this one. 

There are some strong highlights here though, namely the opening track “Nomad” with its alluringly textured arrangement – the twinkling guitar and that weighty upright bass work so well together. It’s also one of the songs where I think she stands out as a vocalist, the way she seamlessly transitions to the higher note of the chorus is stunning. Very glad that song finally clicked with me after I heard it as a single and was left a little unimpressed. That starts the album on a very high note and it just keeps going! It’s light on the ears, most songs coming and going without grabbing you beyond a catchy chorus or maybe some cool new bits of instrumentation. Like the whirling synths on “Juna” or the clarinet on “Pier 4,” but those bright spots aren’t enough to elevate the album to a more satisfying level. Charm is a very pleasant album. It’s not bad at all, it’s just pleasant.   I understand why some people love this unabashedly, I was just craving something with a bit more substance. The thing is, her lyricism isn’t unsubstantial, I just wish she delivered it in a more engaging form and not within songs that often fade into the background. I’m curious about which direction she’ll go in after Charm, I just hope it’s more interesting.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Bando Stone and the New World - Childish Gambino

◇ released: July 19, 2024 ◇ genres: experimental hip hop, art pop

Donald Glover is drawing the Childish Gambino era of his career to a close with Bando Stone and the New World – the soundtrack to his upcoming film which doesn’t have a release date yet. It’s a bold move to drop the soundtrack to a film that still has no release date, but Glover has made interesting creative decisions for years now to varying levels of success. In a way, that’s what makes this album the perfect closing chapter for Childish Gambino. It’s an ambitious, eclectic mess with high highs, low lows, and a lot of stuff that falls in between. Such is the case with most of his albums – bar Awaken, My Love which I think is a consistently great project and his best work. However, while it might be a fitting end, that doesn’t make this a great record.

Glover dabbles in a number of different sounds across this album, which is neat, but the songs themselves leave a lot to be desired. It’s cool that “Running Around” is a pop punk track, but is the song that good beyond the novel concept? Not really. The same can be said about “Happy Survival” which is a dub song. It’s cool that he goes to these places, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Then again, maybe the songs that didn’t click with me on this album make more sense in the context of the film. There are plenty of voice clips and narrative references I can only assume are related to the film it’s soundtracking, but they mean nothing to me in this current moment. On its own, it feels like this album is awkwardly awaiting its companion. To play on a quote from Glover’s character in Community, “I can’t wait to understand these references!”

With that being said, he manages to throw in some great songs here and there. I said in my write-up on “Lithonia” when it was first released as a single that it was “overdramatic and suffocating,” but that it could be the soundtrack to a climactic moment in both the film and the soundtrack. Well, despite it being only the second song on the album, I unabashedly love this track. The suffocating nature of the production ramps up the energy even more and Glover’s yelped vocals add to the intensity. I don’t know who Cody LeRae is, but that dude is going through some shit! He plays around with various styles of hip hop across the album to mostly good results. The peak of this is the deceptively layered production of “Yoshinoya,” which has Glover cutting out all pretense and making a straight-up banger. “No Excuses” is another massive highlight as it blends neo-soul with some subtle lounge elements and the end result is one of the prettiest songs in his catalog. The little synth riffs in the choruses are just sublime. This album is spotty overall, but it has plenty of gems.

Childish Gambino has been a constant presence in hip hop and beyond for over a decade now. Starting out as an actor making deeply corny music on Camp, to the massive Because the Internet which is considered by many to be a seminal 2010s hip hop record despite its flaws – no shame, I have nostalgia for it too – to his more experimental works in both music and TV throughout the later part of the decade, Childish Gambino’s legacy is nothing to sneeze at. Sure, it’s got an abundance of flaws, and a lot of it doesn’t hold up under intense scrutiny, but he’s nothing if not ambitious. Such is the case with Bando Stone and the New World which, in its own imperfect way, is the perfect end to the Childish Gambino story.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Y2K! - Ice Spice

◇ released: July 26, 2024 ◇ genres: new york drill, east coast hip hop

Ice Spice has become one of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, for better or for worse. She’s built an empire on hit-or-miss heaters and an abundance of bars of the fecal variety. Now, after what seems like a long wait, we have her debut album Y2K! – an album that doesn’t resemble any of the aesthetics or reference anything from Y2K culture, so that’s a bit of a head-scratcher. This is hardly a bold new statement from Ice Spice, this is just her doing her thing except a bit more tired. These songs, for the most part, leave you with nothing to say. She and producer RIOTUSA craft sleepy bangers that give Spice the stage to do her same old, same old routine. She has “ABC, 123” flows and says the most inane stuff until she spits another funny poop or fart bar that’s so weird that it makes me laugh so hard until I feel sick. There’s a three-track run where she centers all of this soiled energy, she says “I’m Miss Poopie, but I never smell” on “BB Belt,” “Think you the shit, bitch? / You not even the fart (Grrah)” on the titular “Think U The Shit (Fart),” and she rounds it all up with “I'm Miss Poopie like I need a diaper (Grrah)” on “Gimmie A Light.” Ok, Miss Poopie, what the fuck are you talking about? Are you determined to be the poop bar girl?

“Did It First” with Central Cee is the only song I think is pretty great. Somehow they just bring out the best in each other, it’s one of her best for sure. The rest of Y2K! is either just ok, bad, or exhausting, but you would be hard-pressed to find another album that has made me laugh as much as it has so I guess that has to count for something. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Guilty Pleasure - JoJo Siwa

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: electropop, dance-pop, slap house

Dance Moms and Nickelodeon alumni JoJo Siwa has been making an ass of herself over the last few months as she ushers in this new “adult” era of her career. From gaudy outfits and makeup to claiming that she wants to invent “gay pop” to downing Fireball during a live performance, she’s become a consistent scapegoat of the internet. After hearing this new EP Guilty Pleasures, I just have to ask … why did she do all that? Now, Siwa has never had a penchant for subtlety – see her car with a wrap-around decal that’s just a collage of her face as the most damning example – but this music just doesn’t call for any of that. It’s more mature in a sense, she sings about “twirlin' in a ballroom” and “twerkin' in the bedroom” in the song “Balance Baby” and the biggest hook on the album is Siwa crooning that “Karma’s a bitch!” so this wouldn’t get played on Nickelodeon that’s for sure, but it all just feels so childish. It’s almost like she’s doing an over-the-top parody of the infamous edgy phases a lot of child stars have gone through – which if that’s the case, maybe this is all genius, but I highly doubt it. Also enlisting Meghan Trainor for help on your “I’m a big kid now” EP is laughable. It’s like trying to buy punk clothes at an Old Navy. 

On the whole, I guess Guilty Pleasure isn’t as big of a trainwreck musically as I thought it would be – not to say it’s good by any means though. It’s just loud, vapid, boringly competent pop songs for the most part that weren’t worth all of the antics we’ve been subject to for months. I don’t see this being the starting point for a fruitful new chapter of JoJo Siwa’s career. The music is incredibly forgettable so maybe that’s why she feels the need to make a fool of herself in public.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) - Eminem

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genre: hardcore hip hop

In this messy concept album, Eminem resurrects and then kills his alter ego “Slim Shady” while also offering an introspective look at his own life. Sounds like a cool concept, in theory – no doubt, a little bit of a nostalgia ploy for the millennial crowd, but in execution, this is one of the most clumsy albums I’ve ever heard. I wasn’t expecting much at all going into The Death of Slim Shady given the state of his work over the past, give or take, 20 years, but it might be worse than I was anticipating. He fumbles over this concept of wrestling with his edgy other self for the bulk of the record, relying on tired shock humor and staccato flows that wear thin barely before the album gets going.

The shock humor in question is seemingly self-aware, but that doesn’t make it any less exhausting. Eminem and Slim Shady poke fun at several things that will get the worst people you know to cheer and applaud. Multiple jabs at Caitlyn Jenner and transgender people in general, Christopher Reeve and paraplegic people, people with dwarfism, and numerous mentions of people being “woke” and Eminem being afraid of the “politically correct police.” The desired reaction is a “WOAH, CAN HE EVEN SAY THAT?” – but my reaction was just a shrug of the shoulders and an “ok?” This concept plagues the album and he runs every joke into the ground right as it’s getting started. If I took a shot every time Caitlyn Jenner was mentioned on this album I would die of alcohol poisoning. More than the material on the album being tired, Eminem’s fanbase by and large clings to this edgy stuff. They lament the “woke mob” and “cancel culture” so they’re taking the album at face value. Likewise, Eminem’s critics take it at face value as well and pick lyrics out of context to make Eminem look like the bad guy he pokes fun at. So, this album is one both his fanbase and critics misinterpret and an incredibly rough listen even if you grasp the concept – so is there anything at all The Death of Slim Shady succeeds at? Uhhhh, some of the beats are cool I guess.

This album is just Eminem doing his thing. He’s stuck in this “lyrical spiritual miracle” style perpetually and it’s grating even if he had something of worth to say – which he doesn’t. Even the ruminations he offers on his own life, career, and family feel way too theatrical and obtuse to connect with. The album’s drastic shift at points towards the end, namely “Temporary” and the closer “Somebody Save Me,” where he makes songs directed to his family in the event of his passing just falls flat. Not helped by the fact he comes into the record with a full head of steam as he lashes out at the world in his own self-obsessed way. The rare time it sort of, emphasis on that, works is on the short opener “Renaissance” where he takes aim at modern hip hop fans. There’s no shortage of clunky bars, but “You nerdy pricks would find somethin' wrong with 36 Chambers” gave me a good laugh, ostensibly making it the highlight of the record for me. 

The Death of Slim Shady is a complicated misfire being celebrated by those who don’t understand it as a win and being torn down by those who also don’t understand it as a bigoted dumpster fire. I want to make this perfectly clear, it is not the onus of the artist to spoon-feed the audience what the actual meaning of it all is, but this just seems like a total miscalculation and misunderstanding of your fanbase and the world at large. Slim Shady’s edgy antics seemed outlandish in the 2000s which is what made them kind of work, but when he goes on record venting about “woke people” and transgender people it just doesn’t ring the same in 2024. These are talking points that aren’t hard to find anymore, they’re in the mainstream. It will be celebrated by those who agree with his observations and ridiculed by those who see Marshall Mathers as another old rapper who cried “cancel culture.” It’s a lose-lose situation, not helped at all by the fact that this album simply isn’t good – I would go as far as to say it’s pretty bad.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

I Love You So F***ing Much - Glass Animals

◇ released: July 12, 2024 ◇ genres: alt-pop, pop rock

Glass Animal’s previous effort Dreamland is one of my nightmare albums. One of the vapidest and most irritating albums I’ve ever heard – made even more unbearable by the fact their disaster song “Heat Waves” lingered on the charts for well over a year, 91 weeks to be exact. The band holds the record for the longest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 of all time. Everyone I’ve spoken to tells me some variation of “This band used to be good” or “They just got too commercial,” and while that may be true, they’re not worthy of much grace. My only prior exposure to the band was through “Life Itself” playing all the time on my local alternative radio station in the summer of 2016. That song isn’t perfect by any means, but listening to it after having heard Dreamland and I Love You So F***ing Much, made it feel like one of the greatest songs of all time. The band did not clean up their act on this new record here, in fact, they just dug their graves even deeper. 

A lot of the same horrible qualities of their last album are present here except for that corporate summer veneer. Instead, that’s traded out for spacier sounds which don’t make the album any more palatable. There is no life here. It’s as if a group of deeply sheltered 20-somethings who had only heard sacred music their entire life stumbled upon MGMT and decided to make their version. The band is not good songwriters, perhaps their only talent is the ability to drive the most annoying choruses and melodies you have ever heard far into the ground – ironic given the interstellar aspirations they have for this album. The worst offender here is “A Tear in Space (Airlock)” with its repeating “WATAAH” hooks in the chorus. I sense a desire from the band to have another “Heat Waves,” they want to fluke their way back onto the charts with another big song with a big, obnoxious chorus, but I don’t see that happening with any track on the album. That’s the only artistic motivation I can grasp from this project, it feels desolate. It’s empty and soul-crushing, it doesn’t feel human. Made even worse by the fact that I don’t think any of the normal pop music listeners were clamoring for another song from the “Heat Waves” band – so I have to ask, why did they decide to go down this dead-end road instead of making something even a teeny tiny bit interesting? Have they simply just thrown in the towel and resigned themselves to making this kind of music for the foreseeable future? I Love You So F***ing Much is a hopeless record, a deeply miserable affair with little to no redeeming qualities. It’s the sound of a band with no convictions and no heart. The threat of A.I. and its inevitable use in music is a genuine fear, but I feel like a computer could never replicate the human element of music. I have faith that the general public will see through it as some sort of gimmick and it won’t put any musicians out of a job – well, maybe except for Glass Animals.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thanks for reading <3

psssst. i made a discord server called COSMIACORD ... if u wanna join and have fun, talk about music, play fortnite, or whatever here's the invite :3 https://discord.gg/rsHMenTU

[toki-woki-fnaf]

Favorite thing about the FNAF Movie was definitely the sound and music design?? like hello?? ITS ALL SO FNAF and not in the vague way, they took what the original games soundtrack did and kept that direction. It even took some fan music inspirations as well, the pixel intro took inspiration from those original fnaf remixes that was solely instrumental and had sound effects from the games (forgot the creators name but you know the one) The Piano and Howling are consistent in fnaf tracks especially later on in the scott era, the Scene where Golden Freddy and Abby are in-front of the location was so magical because of that, it screamed fnaf in terms of the soundtrack!! I need an analysis on it so bad, please please music people PLEASE IM BEGGIN ON MY KNEEESSS I need someone to dissect it like a deltarune/undertale gaster motif video, pretty please

[melissa-titanium]

in reference to my last rb;

you could say mother. he's very close with his adoptive sister :)

red or purple. he's very blue, but a LOT of koboreals are very blue. the only exceptional thing about his appearance is his terrifyingly vibrant red eyes. also red is his favorite color because blood.

he used to enjoy killing small animals that were in the castle and would dissect them and hide or bury the remains in various spots; usually in his or his sister's room. he only stopped because he realized he could kill other dragons instead. when he mentions this fact to anyone, he laughs it off which is usually unsettling.

i vaguely know what this means but not enough to. deduce an answer uhhh

his scars. koboreals tend to favor scarred dragons because it shows theyre strong and able to fend for themselves & survive through hard moments, and he REALLY latched onto that from a young age. he's a little more wreckless than he needs to be

well there's a lot that remind me of him so it's hard to choose, but one i have on my mind rn is youre going down by sick puppies. his music taste is just mine, but to match with my headworld i think he would really like classical/piano music.

anything and everything embarassing he's done haunts him, but his definition of 'embarassed' is just extra violently angry. i'd say losing a fight, but to *HIM* losing a fight is leaving the opponent alive, which he never does. maybe the times he's on occasion flirted with dragons on missions (he's very charming, cannibalism be damned) and they flirt back. its the only embarassing thing that doesnt make him unfathomably angry -- he just can't bring himself to be pissed over it.

he IS a vampire. he's technically also a werewolf. but i think if you had to choose i'd say werewolf. maybe he'd stop drinking people's blood. (who am i kidding, he probably wouldnt)

purple scarf with burnt tip

httyd. he would be like if toothless was just a wild animal with no empathy or compassion and also was really fucking hungry. for blood

i need to fully decide on this. mel's bed is a huge water bed shaped like a jellyfish but he is ME so he would probably sleep like me. flat on his stomach. he has no sheets, he's a koboreal and koboreals don't get cold; ESPECIALLY NOT HIM. he does not snore and does not sleepwalk. you'd expect both because of how loud and deranged he is when conscious, but he sleeps like a dead body.

he would probably choose koketira but i think he'd make the best podcast with amara. they'd probably just do some kind of chatter podcast talking about their experiences. too bad technology is tasreradian exclusive.

spinosaurus.

he is canonically really good at dancing; but AWFUL at freestyle. he can only do it well if he's told exactly what to do, but because of his inability to take advice without getting real bitchy about it, he never gets a chance to shine.

killing and eating people. he's awful he's literally a terrible person i could list so many but mostly his egotistical-ness and his lack of compassion for other creatures. he doesn't believe he's at the center of the universe, merely that everyone ELSE isn't. he treats other dragons like npcs in a video game (quite literally a huge basis of his early life behaviour.) he is basically just all of my negative traits shoved into a character and amped up to 100.

if you asked people his negative traits?

amara would say he has some bad influences, and can be a bit intense... but he means well.

mira would say he's a little mean, and gets really angry alot. but he's his best friend, so its okay!

topaz would approach the question from a methodical angle; he's sloppy when fighting, choosing to charge in and rip things to pieces rather than taking the time to think. he's impatient, but his lack of clarity in his demands just fuels his impatience. he gets very jealous, is enraged easily, and loves to place the blame on everyone but himself. ...but, otherwise, he's a good listener when you need someone to talk to.

izdaja and koke would probably say something wildly different because they met him at incredibly different points of his life.

barbarian. chaotic evil. my class and alignment because again he is Me

bugs. he can pry open a dragon's ribcage with his bare claws and eat their organs with a smile on his face, he can burn down an entire forest and kill dozens of rocokiri without remorse, he can steal, lie, murder, and hurt anything and anyone that comes in his path. but if he sees a fucking spider, he is DONE FOR. he's had nightmares about getting eaten alive by termites more times than he has claws to count on.

despite my love for music i unfortunately know jack shit about scales. he does canonically play piano, though. in a theme song made for him though i think he would have a cacophany of instruments in which an organ, drums and electric guitar are the most prominent.

he doesn't date.

he doesn't have a 'schedule,' as he hates restrictions. he stays up until he can't anymore. late, to him, is roughly 4 pm.

he only cries if it's;

a. crocodile tears

b. bodily/pain response. like if someone was cutting onions

he doesn't cry when he's sad. again; any and every negative wmotion he has is immediately transferred into rage.

he doesn't get embarassed really? but i think something he wouldn't like to bring up would probably be his poetry. he's known for being a skilled blacksmith & mechanic and an incredible fighter, not at all for his flowery words.

OK THATS ENOUGH MELPOSTING TONIGHT im done. bless

[firespirited]

Random thoughts

Can't stop thinking about how Stranger Things the final season will be so different from the head canons and even really well established fanon theories. Every time I come across someone's Steve fic, it's like, that's nice but we're never getting that dude on screen are we? I mean the fandom is going to be torn over whether it's genocide supporting to watch some telly so I'm not sticking around to watch that mess but I do hope that they finish this story properly, with a real love for the characters but fully bracing for a bad end.

______

I've almost accepted that the new Star Treks are not for me, they won't add to the trek experience, might even take away from the enjoyment of other Star Trek.

Somehow the movies were easy to dismiss (or enjoy from afar as odd retellings) but I've been holding on to Discovery, Strange new worlds and Picard.

It took a 3.5h (!) video dissecting Picard... but it put Discovery back into context: the klingon torture wasn't worth it, section31 isn't good story fodder, the diversity is superficial... It's just not fun and that's a very good reason to not watch. I'm keeping Lower Decks and the Orville (I know !) for their optimistic views of the future.

________

I've been having a rough time separating sensations from emotions again: got convinced I was experiencing boredom at a painful level of intensity. BUT it isn't boredom, it isn't a failure in focus, it's definitely not apathy. It's pure exhaustion down to the cells, excruciating exhaustion that begs for rest but is too tired and sore to let you rest without the help of sedatives.

I've been mentally and physically punishing myself thinking that something will click and activate dopamine : the outdoors, sunshine, food. But right now I need to forcefully rest as much as possible even if it feels counterintuitive.

________

Found the middle balance between a deluge of celeb gossip or just no news: "culture" + "newsletter"

https://www.deezlinks.com/

https://embedded.substack.com/feed

https://www.garbageday.email/

https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/feed

https://jessicadefino.substack.com/feed (beauty)

I'm still looking for weekly+ pop/indie music recommendations on youtube or bandcamp not Spotify and short celeb/fashion recaps. Just enough to stay in the loop, no need for reality tv and influencer news.

________

[holdinbacksecrets]

Okayy I'm baaaaack! So did you listen to rpwp?? Did you like it? I love it 🥹 idk if it's just me, but something about the vibe, and some of the lyrics( or just they way he's saying those things) it kinda reminds me of his first mixtape, but in a more mature way, you know what I mean? I hope he got a lot of bad things off of his chest with this album though.. seems like he needed it. And some of my faves are heaven (saw you posted about it too!!!!), nuts and around the world in a day! I also watched that video with him and Jimin today and it got me thinking, after they come back together we might get to hear more things that we didn't know about before, and also get an even more raw version of them, their thoughts, fears, wishes. It looks like we're heading in that direction. Can't wait to see what the future will bring 🥺

About your last q., noo, unfortunately I don't work in the field rn :(.. I'll explain more about it some other time, if you want.

Ohhh that's awesome, then I hope you have a lot of fun to these concerts and anything else you're going to do this summer!! I kinda wanted to see Coldplay, they're coming to my country now in june, but the tickets sold out so fast 😭😭 but maybe it's better this way, the concert it's on the same day Jin comes back and I DON'T WANNA MISS THAT LIVE! I can't handle too much excitement in a single day anyway haha 🤣

Well, I guess it's better to just promise myself to have a little fun sometimes, regardless of what I'm doing, or if it's summer, or fall or winter..🌟

- 🧁

happy sunday!

yes! i was up LATE the night it released and immediately fell in love with it. i agree that it’s reminiscent of his mixtape ✨ my favorites are nuts, lost and heaven 💜💜 i haven’t seen the video with jimin yet, but i saw some clips/read some quotes on twitter last night, and i love them so much 🥺 i’m so excited to watch the video today. i cannot wait to see bts post military. their music has always been so rich with depth. i have no doubts about their future releases feeding my soul, and i can’t wait to see what ideas, experiences, emotions, etc they’ll explore and dissect 🎧

ahh gotcha 🥺 yes, i’d love to hear more about it :) no pressure though! whatever you’re comfortable sharing xx

coldplay concerts look amazing!! that would def be an incredible show, but i totally get not wanting to miss jin’s live. i’m so excited to have him back 😭😭

oh absolutely 🥹 i need to work on doing this more often. i did go to the lake yesterday and laid on the grass for a while. it was so relaxing. i almost talked myself out of going, very glad i didn’t. how do you like to enjoy your free time?

[galiealeo]

It’s been a while since the original post but yk what, I cannot be stopped. I’m doing it. This means a lot to ME. If there are repeats, my bad chat I’m just excited.

- Galiea is 7’10 and 496 pounds- that’s around the same weight as the average full grown pygmy hippo.

- Galiea has strong, muscular arms- and partially his chest, but other than that he is just chubby.

- Galiea has slightly higher estrogen levels than most amab people (despite her lots of body hair) which is why her chest is legitimately and actually just weirdly large and round for someone who doesn’t have a lot of muscle there. Also her voice squeaks a lot cus of it.

- Galiea’s prime was in the 1920s, but due to some plot reasons, “died” in 1931 at 29 years old only to be brought back in 2021.

- Galiea has adjusted to the modern age much better than anyone could ever expect. He doesn’t miss the 20s AT ALL.

- Galiea can cook really well, but he likes to make soups the most

- Galiea’s favorite chain restaurant is Cheesecake Factory

- Galiea’s favorite food overall is apples, but he especially likes when said apples are in pastry form

- Galiea prefers cats over dogs but she is slightly allergic to cats- but he also doesn’t trust himself with a dog. So he has a beta fish he takes super good care of.

- Galiea goes to at least one rave every month with Rhiannon

- Galiea speaks in a very monotone and unexpressive manor, but is very expressive with facial expressions

- Galiea’s primary special interest is France. Like the country and the culture. He really digs it for some reason

- On the note of the last one, Galiea speaks four languages, Thai, French, Syethan, and English. He is fluent in all 4

- His other special interest is Wicked.

- Galiea’s favorite song is Vogue by Madonna

- Galiea’s favorite artists are Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Elton John, Madonna, and David Bowie

- Galiea’s favorite fast food chain is Chipotle

- Galiea’s favorite color is #0a1126

- Galiea’s least favorite color is #786578

- Galiea likes the idea of working out because it makes her feel productive, but hates ACTUALLY doing it. So to make herself more determined to do it he puts on “badass music”… Like Imagine Dragons and Fall Out Boy…

- Galiea does most of the chores in the house

- Galiea hates grocery shopping but doesn’t trust Lucia or Jay to get the things she needs to make dinner (the ingredients have to be exact, down to brand)

- Galiea likes pretty much all music and will geek out about it with anyone, dissecting it as he listens to it

- Galiea owns several adult yaoi mangas and hides them under his bed. Jay and Lucia have found them, they just are yet to bring it up.

- Galiea used to be pretty skinny, and later critically underweight

- On the note of the last, Galiea isn’t used to thinking positively of his new bodytype yet so even though she knows he is extremely gorgeous he thinks it’s only in his face. This angers everyone she knows.

- Galiea has a snaggle tooth- her larger left canine! He hates it but everyone else ever thinks it’s cute

- Galiea has a moderately popular TikTok which gained 500K followers after a much more famous tik toker pointed out her account and said “guys it is insane that a person from the 20s has a TikTok, we need to follow him NOW.”

- On said Tiktok, Galiea posts unprofessional food reviews and rambling videos. She doesn’t really realize how serious having a 500K platform is 😭

- Galiea’s voice claim is a musician named Gotye.

- Galiea grew up Catholic, got converted to Syethan religion for a while, then went back to being Catholic until the end of Revenant's story where he technically went back to Syethan religion.

- Galiea is scared of taxidermy, but Jay loves it. So she forces herself to hide her fear.

- Galiea loves wearing cologne and wears so much of it that you can smell that he was in a room hours after she left.

- He doesn’t like perfume. Many have tired to figure out why but she never fails to dodge the question by just. Walking away. Without a word.

- Overall when Galiea doesn’t like a conversation he has a habit of just. Walking away. It startles and confuses the other party every time without fail.

- Galiea wears mascara every day, and will get very offended if you try and point it out. She wants you to believe his lashes are just that fab.

- Galiea is a producer and likes to exclusively produce music on the floor of his studio. When he can of course, some instruments require standing. But for his keyboard and such, she will just sit on the floor and play away.

- Galiea’s full name is Galiealeo Dior Malee

- He was born Galiealeo Saengchan Malee

- Galiea is Thai, and lived in Pattaya until he was 18.

- Galiea loves sampling in his songs and will go to record shops to find the most obscure records she can find to take home and steal samples from.

- Galiea loves swimming, not as a sport but as a “goes to a pool and back floats around” situation.

- Galiea loves space and goes out of his way to look out her telescope for at least an hour every night

- Galiea can do traditional Thai dance

- Galiea is a species called an Aniva, and has umbrakinetic (dark) magic

Ok… I think that’s all I can think of right now… If you read all this, thank you. I mean that.

I wish I could just infodump about a bunch of irrelevant and unimportant Galiea facts (like what she smells like) cus I literally know everything about this little freak. Down to like. What hair products she uses. It’s bad chat. It’s really bad.