#i wanted to pay homage to what an artist you are and went on a deep dive down your creations over the years!

[0reblogufufu0]

Happy Birthday to @snoobins !

[kozachenko]

[Click image for better quality]

I FIGURED OUT A WAY TO FUCKING MAKE THE IMAGE SMALLER FOR POSTING ON TUMBLR WITHOUT SACRIFICING THE ACTUAL QUALITY OF THE IMAGE OH MY GOD

Ok so, what I did is go into the clip studio paint file, make a new file, copy and paste the group in the original file, merge everything, get rid of the extra stuff outside of the canvas, and then make the flattened image smaller and crop the canvas. Once you have that, export it and you're done. This helps maintain the actual quality of the image and also helps shrink the file size down to something actually postable (if anyone has a better way of doing this please tell me)

[Edit]: Ok I guess posting something to Tumblr just naturally compresses the image a bit more somehow because I'm looking at it now and zooming in too much makes it a bit blurry so I'm still gonna have to futz around with image quality for future pieces oof

Artist's Note:

I'm so glad I figured out a way to do this because I like working on a big canvas so I can get as much detail in as I possibly can. Only problems are how laggy it gets while drawing lol.

I had an idea for a drawing with Reimu and Zanmu because I really like thinking about their potential dynamic a lot. I also wanted an excuse to draw Zanmu again but in my normal rendering style because last time I drew her she was in my more sketchy style with generally flat colours so I wanted to draw her again. Speaking of, looking at the sketch for this is a jumpscare that I never enjoy seeing, like, man am I glad I didn't use those for my final piece.

Also about her spear. I was originally gonna make it like the ones she had in game, but it kinda threw off the whole piece. It was too big, too blue, and too flat, so I just went "fuck it" and gave her a different one instead. My headcanon justifying this is that the ones she uses in game are for danmaku battles whereas in any other fight she just uses a proper yari, or she still uses the yari and just makes it all glowy to power it up, maybe both lol. I pulled as much inspiration as I could from Sengoku era spears, and even put in some blue into the decorative part of the spear and also added a little skull to pay tribute to the original spear. Also, in my research I saw some art of izanami and izanagi making japan and saw that the yari izanagi has had a little decorative tassley thingy on it so I took some inspo from that and just made it one of Zanmu's tassles (Idk when that art was from or if the spear was still accurate to Sengoku period Japan but hey, probably the same reasons Eirin puts little bow ties on her arrows, it's just for personalization purposes).

I love rendering hair and clothes so much omg, while I like the super curly hair Zanmu, the longer, wavier hair suits her better for this drawing (I imagine it only does that like how Ghibli characters hair moves when they feel angry lol). I love making Zanmu's hair all messy and crazy, as well as giving her grey hairs, this woman has aged like a fine wine. Also, if the hem on the ends of her sleeves, top of her shirt, and her pants look like gold to you, that's because it is! It's fairly light so she's not collapsing under the weight, but it's gold! (I don't care how impractical it is, it's just cool). Not the undershirt though, it's made of a gold fabric. I had a cute idea with Reimu's hair to make it have a red shine to it. I also changed up Reimu's outfit so it isn't just a blob of red. I like it a lot when Reimu's skirt and outfit is segmented into different layers, so I wanted to incorporate that.

I tried to draw their hands differently as well, but IDK how noticeable that is. Also, I am super happy with how the side profiles for the two of them turned out, I used to struggle a lot with how to make the side profile of a character actually look like the character, so I'm really happy that they actually look like themselves.

Also added in the tree and rocks in the background as an homage to Zanmu's character art in Touhou 19, just because I was getting kinda stumped on what to do with the background lol.

In terms of a story idea with Reimu and Zanmu, idk why but the potential plotline of Zanmu wanting to ascend to godhood is so fascinating to me. Like, it is very possible that if she just convinced everyone she was a god (which would be very easy for her to do), she would become one in a heartbeat. Also, if she were to become a god, with her ability to return stuff to nothing, could she hypothetically get similar abilities to (Jojo Part 5 spoiler btw) GER? Like, idk about the death timeloop stuff, but the concept has been haunting me every night as I have been trying to find loopholes in GER's ability for a while now ( for no reason in particular). Back to the main topic, I imagine that she would probably tell Reimu that if she were to become a god she would take over the Hakurei shrine since the god there might as well be dead, and Reimu just says to her, "Over my dead body bitch." Like, I have no idea how to summarize their dynamic but like, it's the type of hero-villain dynamic where the phrase "We're not so different, you and I" would definitely be a phrase said during a fight. I think that if another IN style game were to release, Reimu and Zanmu would be in a team together. They could also have an interesting mentor and pupil kind of dynamic. Can you tell that Zanmu has been charging my mind rent these part few months? Like, instead of living in my head rent free, she kinda just uno reversed the whole situation and now she's the one charging me rent. What happens if I get evicted from my own brain? Actually, scratch that, I don't think I wanna know.

[jujumin-translates]

[A3!] Sakuya Sakuma | [SR] A Creation Come to Life | Artistic Appreciation in a Certain Village

Izumi: Thanks for coming shopping with me, Sakuya-kun.

Sakuya: It’s nothing! I’m glad I could help.

Izumi: That reminds me, you’re supposed to take PR photos that pay homage to the paintings for an exhibition at an art museum, right?

Izumi: Have you decided which painting you want to go with, Sakuya-kun?

Sakuya: They gave me a list of the paintings in the museum and I’ve looked at a lot of them, but I’m still lost.

Sakuya: As I went through the list, I was like “That one’s nice” and “This one’s nice too”...

Izumi: There are just so many works it’s hard to decide, isn’t it?

Izumi: I hope you find a painting that you like, Sakuya-kun.

Sakuya: Yeah! I’ll try to look for one.

???: Ohh! May I have that one!?

Sakuya: …Hm? That voice…

Izumi: Citron-kun?

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: I knew it, it’s Citron-kun.

Sakuya: It looks like he’s playing a game with some kids.

Citron: Sakuya! Director! Come over here!

Sakuya: Hello.

Children: Hello!

Citron: Were you two out shopping?

Sakuya: Yeah! What game are you playing with everyone, Citron-san?

Citron: It is a game where you build a village that we have been playing for a while now!

Izumi: Ah, that was a fireworks display just now!

Citron: Yes~. We will have another fireworks display next time because I would like you two to see it!

Citron: I am still playing back and forth between everyone’s villages.

Child A: He was just showing us some of the paintings from the art museum in the Village of Citron!

Child B: Citron’s collection is amazing!

Citron: It is thanks to everyone that I have been able to gather all of these! Everyone was giving the things that I had not collected yet to me!

Sakuya: Waah, it’s just an art museum within a game, but those are really authentic paintings! 

Izumi: They really are, it’s incredible.

Child A: Anyway, this is probably the only one I can give you right now, Citron~.

Child B: Me too.

Citron: Thank you! That is perfect!

Sakuya: …

Sakuya: Um, Citron-san. Can you show me that art museum when we get back home?

Citron: Of course!

· ❀ —– ٠ ❀ ٠ —– ❀ ·

Sakuya: There really are so many different kinds of paintings!

Citron: I am glad to see you looking at them with such enthusiasm~. Is there any reason for that?

Sakuya: Actually, I need it for an upcoming art museum exhibition I’m participating in.

Sakuya: I’m supposed to take PR photos that pay homage to a painting, but I haven’t decided on one yet…

Citron: So that is why!

Citron: Then you may look at these paintings here whenever you like, for as long as you like!

Sakuya: Really!?

Citron: It is for your sake too, Sakuya!

Citron: In exchange, there is one painting I have not found yet.

Citron: Sometimes there is a merchant that shows up to sell paintings, so while you are looking at the paintings, if the merchant is there, please look at the paintings they are selling.

Citron: Paintings that I do not have in the art museum will be marked with a star, so if you see one, I would like you to buy it for me!

Sakuya: Got it! We’ll keep an eye out for it.

Sakuya: Oh, right. Can Director look at them too? She seemed like she was interested in the art museum too, so…

Citron: Of course! I would be very happy if you and Director looked at it together~.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Door opens*

Sakuya: Ah, Director!

Izumi: What’s up, Sakuya-kun?

Sakuya: I’m borrowing that game from earlier from Citron-san, so do you wanna look at the art museum with me?

Izumi: Really? I was a little bit interested in that too, so I’d love for you to show me.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Izumi: Even though we’re just looking at it like this, it really feels like we’re actually going around an art museum.

Sakuya: It really does. It almost makes you forget that it’s a game world.

Izumi: …There, now we’ve finally seen the whole thing.

Sakuya: It was really impressive!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Choose!

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Option 1: Thanks for looking at it with me.

Izumi: Thanks for looking at it with me.

Sakuya: I had a really great time going around the art museum with you, Director.

Izumi: Haha, it’s almost like we went to an actual art museum.

Sakuya: I’d love to go around some other places too.

Izumi: Why don’t we ask Citron-kun to give us a tour next time

Sakuya: Yeah!

Option 2: It really makes you understand why someone would want to collect them, doesn’t it?

Izumi: It really makes you understand why someone would want to collect them, doesn’t it?

Sakuya: That’s what I was thinking. I really get why someone would wanna collect all the paintings and put them in the art museum.

Izumi: Even though it’s only a game world… Though I guess it probably makes you feel that way because it’s a game world.

Sakuya: I bet it’d feel really nice to have all the paintings in one place.

Sakuya: That reminds me, earlier, Citron-san asked me to check if the merchant that sells paintings stops by, so I’ll do that now.

Izumi: Ohh, so merchants just come in at random, then. That seems like the kind of thing that’d make you want to collect even more.

Sakuya: Ah, the merchant’s here! Let me talk to them.

Izumi: Why is this painting marked with a star?

Sakuya: That’s… I think that’s the last painting that Citron-san said he hasn’t found yet!

Izumi: Huh!? Really!?

Izumi: (There goes Sakuya-kun’s crazy pulling ability again…)

Sakuya: Now I just need to buy the painting and…

Sakuya: …I think this is the painting that I’ll go with.

Izumi: You mean the one for the PR photos?

Sakuya: Yeah. I found the last one Citron-san needed, so I guess I kinda feel a connection to it… …Is that too simple of a reason to pick it?

Izumi: Not at all.

Izumi: I think it’s very like you to choose to feel a connection to something even for seemingly trivial reasons.

Sakuya: Director… Thank you so much!

[swallowerofdharma]

So, what is Berserk about after all?

Please be considerate to me, don’t repost this, don’t share it outside of tumblr, don’t copy parts of it, thank you.

I have read really funny critiques and reviews of Berserk. Often they would refer to Miura supposedly saying that he didn’t plan everything out and they would use this statement to support their argument that after the Golden Age arc the story just looked like it dragged on. One, don’t ever fully believe what artists and writers say about their work. Second, without a proper conclusion it is impossible to make that kind of judgement and the story is ongoing. Then, not having a plan or having just vague ideas and taking inspiration here and there isn’t how manga works or how it gets published. When asked in an interview why he started creating Haibane Renmei as a doujinshi, Yoshitoshi Abe replied: “With mainstream publishing, it would've been difficult to do it with that avenue because of this particular approach with everything being adlibbed. I don't know how the story will be developed, how it's going to end up, or what the ending's going to be. If you go to a mainstream publisher, by their general approach, they have to know what the characters are, who they are, what the story's going to be, and how the story's going to develop so they know if there's going to be a serial, continuing storyline. They need to know how it's going to go”. Even though plans can be renewed and renegotiated, Miura still needed to make solid advanced plans and decisions and respect deadlines and page quotas. Even without considering this, the world building of Berserk seems too intentional and coherent to me to think that he didn’t really know how the story would go. Granted he created a reality that could be changed and bent by the human imagination and psyche, from the inside. This happened to be a brilliant choice for a long project like the Berserk manga.

I once read a review that pointed out the weakness of the later arcs and episodes, making the hypothesis that Miura was influenced by the success of stories like One Piece and Pirates of the Caribbean. I can’t really say that I share this opinion, either. Reviews like these make me smile, because they reveal how people missed a very big clue that Miura never really hid. Berserk was inspired by the story of Peter Pan as told by J.M. Barrie and reinterpreted in several different ways, not only visually. He went as far as dedicating to it the Lost Children chapters, immediately after the Eclipse, when the tension of the story was higher than it ever had been. We should read the Lost Children as an homage to the story of Peter Pan and Wendy that plays into the already disquieting themes of the original in darker tones and with much more horrifying elements; but we should also pay great attention to the Lost Children chapters as an important recontextualization of the events of the Golden Age arc. While I want to dedicate proper analysis and attention to this, I am going to add here that in Peter Pan we already had the pirates, the islands with hidden caves and the mermaids. The journey to Skellig island and Elfhelm had to be long enough for Moonlight Boy to make an appearance at least twice before the big reveal of his full identity the third time, and since he can only appear on nights of a full moon, Miura had to make the readers feel that time had passed. But Guts had always belonged in Neverland.

In my rudimentary outline of various elements that contributed greatly in building the world and story of Berserk, I actually ran out of space. And I want to properly address the various points and develop them more. For the moment I just really wanted to show that Miura had a very strong grip over the story and that he was really attentive to nuances. I said to myself, if I want to criticize the writing in Berserk at least I have to make sure I understand it to a sufficient extent.

Also I really wanted to at least give an idea of how important a role Shōjo manga had to Berserk. I hope to be able to fully explore this element soon.

[thelostgirl21]

Oh. My. God.

Hugh... Hugh, you are awesome...

I was watching an interview they made with Hugh, Cassie and Graham where they asked Hugh "Does music play a part in you developing your characters?"

He answered that it was a conversation that he and Cassie had actually had, because they'd both made a bit of a playlist for theirs, and he'd been listening to Jobriath to help get himself in the mood.

And when he said that, I went "Wait, hold on..." because I remembered there was another interview - where they'd asked him if the actors had any say when it came to choosing the wig their character would wear - where Hugh mentioned that yeah, they did, and that he'd wanted his looks to be a bit inspired by '70s Glam Rock...

Guys...

Jobriath was the 1st openly gay Glam Rock artist, whose career suffered a major backlash from homophobic audiences (from what I understand, the way his publicist chose to exploit his sexuality as a marketing tool didn't help), that sadly died of AIDS back in 1983 (at age 36).

He played in the musical "Hair", and here is how he looked back then...

But the picture that fucking killed me, however, is this one...

Because, I mean...

Another interesting fact: His birth name was actually Bruce Wayne Campbell.

He changed it to Jobriath Salisbury after deserting from the US Army.

They eventually did find him and arrest him, though, and he spent about 6 months in a military psychiatric hospital after suffering a breakdown.

Just thinking about poor Radovid attempting to run away from the Redanian court, only to be pulled right back in, and definitely looking right in the verge of a breakdown here...

(I'm hoping Radovid's story get a happier ending than what happened to Jobriath IRL, though...)

One of his songs is actually called "Take Me I'm Yours"...

And it's totally worth a listen!

Baby, you just amaze me and daze me

You're the blind spot in my consciousness

C'mon and forsake me and break me

And drink the blood of my obsessiveness

Make me cry out and die out

Of love for this world's fallacy

Refuse me diffuse me

To the corners of the galaxy

Take me I'm yours

Take me take me I'm yours

Take me I'm yours

Take me I'm yours

I can't say if this particular song was a part of Hugh's playlist when developing the character, but...

... suddenly feels like an even more inspired line to me.

There are other songs and lyrics from Jobriath that do give me some solid Radskier feels...

Ex:

I've always wanted a movie queen

To call my very own

That bright and shining star

I've worshipped from afar

Came to earth to be with me tonight

I've always wanted a superstar

To cherish as my own

But so high in the sky

I never dared to try

To take the steps that I can take with you tonight

So basically, Hugh Skinner was offered to play a gay Prince/King on a major fantasy show...

And apparently, thought that he'd take the opportunity to draw inspiration from, and subtly pay homage to, a near-forgotten gay cultural icon.

And it's perfect!

[t00thpasteface]

hey! i was just curious if i could use your art in an artist study? i looked over your faq and i didn't see any mention of it so i just wanted to ask. it's okay if the answer is now, no pressure :)

(⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠) sure, if you credit me! i would be incredibly flattered!!

now that being said, i would also like to share with you some artists whose work i've enjoyed doing studies of! i find it's very useful to "follow the money" with artists you like, and go along the chain of inspiration to see how ideas and styles can change from person to person.

vincent van gogh is my BIGGEST inspiration in terms of color and composition! his unique style of brush work is what he's best known for, but i recommend looking at his works holistically too, and seeing where the eye is led and how he plays with light, color, and mood. if you want to go further, he was very inspired not only by prior impressionists, but also by japanese ukiyo-e artwork— try comparing "starry night" to "great wave off kanagawa" and seeing the similarities in the grand, sweeping movements they convey.

i'm sure i've said this a million times, but genndy tartakovsky has probably my favorite cartoonist style. it's at its peak in samurai jack— opinions are mixed about the narrative quality of season 5, but if nothing else, the art direction is absolutely jawdropping. one of my favorite scenes is the bit in the tomb, where jack is hiding in a sarcophagus, because the music and visuals are paying homage to a scene at the climax of "the good the bad and the ugly"!

in a totally different direction from those two... i'm a huge fan of gil elvgren's pinup girls! i've had a few different pinup calendars over the years, and at the end of the year, i like to cut up the pages individually for mini posters— i've covered pretty much all my available wall space in his illustrations. i love it when artists don't feel the need to sacrifice expressiveness for realism; his girls are SO DARN CUTE and they all look like they're having so much whimsical, cartoonish, flirty fun!

here's a post where i talk about more inspirations!

here's a post listing some other tumblr artists i like!

i'm also just very heavily inspired by 50s-60s print illustration... things like advertisements, "clip art" (which you had to physically clip out of a book and paste onto the page), and of course, tv cartoons. one big trend i love with that "googie" art style is how incredibly limited the palettes were, and how efficient the economy of line was. as much as i love the bold, blocky, dynamic shapes of styles like tartakovsky, who takes insp

also, please remember i'm entirely self taught and am NOT an expert, so just be aware of that if you see any weird stylistic choices in my work... i admire the work of a lot of professionally trained artists, but that doesn't mean i have any training or real right to go around teaching people stuff. i'm just some guy from a big crazy family full of artists, only some of whom went to school for it.

okay, that got way longer than i meant it to, SORRY! here's a pic of my cat Carmen as a thanks for reading this far ^_^

[yumedoca]

The Visual Genius Behind UY2022 [Animation]- An Analysis 🧐 (Long Post)

Hai there, hope you’re having a great day! Today on ‘Yuca Analyzes Silly Things (For No Reason)’, we’ll be talking the next half about how the remake uses different methods and techniques to achieve the fun aesthetic it’s known for as well as analyzing colors!

Note: There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to this topic, so I might not be able to cover ‘everything’, So I’m only analyzing sub- topics which comes to mind. And all of my sayings are merely observations based on what is shown and is not canonical fact in how the series was made (there’s the chance that a different approach was used as well after all). They are not confirmed unless specifically mentioned.

You can read Part 1 here!

And with all of that aside, let’s begin!

First, We’ll divide the analysis into sections to make it easier to understand and explain, for this part we’ll be talking about:

But, first…

Colors, colors and colors!

Smooth and Fun Animation

Miscellaneous

Conclusion

But, first… …I want to talk about something I missed previously, which I was reminded by the notes in one of the reblogs, which is.. The shape of Lum’s eyes (I’ve thought of this before but I forgot to write about it). Lum’s eyes in the remake are a bit different to how it is in the later parts of the manga. There, it shares the same shape as Shinobu’s eyes for example, but here it looks more like her earlier eye design:

Why this? I’ve though about it and I was reminded of a RT interview I had read where she said:

Of course, Lum’s eyes changed as time went because of her artistic evolution, but I think this might be one of the reasons her ‘slanted’ eyes were kept, as in to pay homage to the early art style. It could also be because they wanted to give her more unique eye shape compared to the other girls…

Colors, colors and colors! Now onto one of my favorite things in general….

…Color Palettes (and monochrome colors as well, but we’ll include that in this for now because I don’t want to create a separate section for that one)!! I absolutely love the remake’s use of colors!! In general they make scenes even more eye catching than they normally would, but there are cases where the use of color palettes are complete genius, which I will prove with a few examples…

Our first example is from episode 1, when Ataru meets Lum’s dad. When the scenes swaps from Lum’s dad’s greeting to Ataru screaming “ONIII!!” The background with Mr. Invader (Not his actual name, but I’m calling him that because it’s easier) gets color paletted (I’m pretty sure that’s not a word but whatever…). If you look closely and if you’re familiar with Japanese mythology, you can see that Lum’s dad is colored red with light yellow horns…. Just like the actual Oni from the myths…

I also love how well colors are used to elevate extreme emotions, most often shock or surprise…

(Lmao, I just realized both siblings had the exact same SHOCK sequence… I do have to note that the duplicating method adds to the sequence as well…)

That’s all the images I’ll show since these are pretty easy to find… The aspect that makes this better is the fact that since in the 80’s cell animation couldn’t have stuff like blending modes and special effects and stuff that digital animation has nowadays, they had to rely on color usage like this as well…

So at the same time it’s like a nice little shout out to cell animation in general…

And also a moment of appreciation of how this scene was handled…

Since the manga is in black and white, you can’t tell the difference between ink and blood since they’re both colored black. It’s a bait which is difficult to convey into anime because it’s in color and blood and ink are suddenly no longer alike because of the colors, the remake manages to convey it with the power of color palettes and monochrome colors it had in the first place as shown above for a well done bait joke… And finally, it’s just outright pretty…

Smooth and Fun Animation Now to talk about the animation itself! First up we have a small detail I like. Do you know about the method used to make the animation extra fluid and kinda cartoony by drawing in something that doesn’t seem right in the frame but helps in the animation overall (I don’t know what it’s called)? Well, this particular method results in a frame or two in a scene to look like:

It’s a method the original anime used A LOT for it’s characters, even for that particular era. Since most modern anime aren’t doesn’t have a cartoony style like UY, they don’t use it (they use other methods instead). So what about the remake???

Yup, the remake has it’s moments as well.. The animation in general is like most modern anime with some cartoonish movements from more cartoony characters like Ataru (pictured above and) and Rei (Cow-Pig form). I also love how beautiful the animation is in the second half of episode 5 and 10, most of the details are pretty obvious there so I won’t talk about it, but here’s one of the smaller details I like…

GIF by Kedyanime

I love how the clouds move slowly, like how it naturally would, like they didn’t have to do that yet they did it anyway and that’s quite the effort and it adds to the scene overall…

Miscellaneous This section is more about the miscellaneous aspects, or to be specific ,three other things I noted which also contributes to the animation aspect. First up, SFX. SFX is what you call the Japanese Onomatopoeia (or sound effects) which is written on screen. It’s mostly used in manga than anime because manga isn’t an audible type of media, unlike anime, which is. Because of that, not many anime uses it and only a certain do, which includes the UY remake. Not only does it add a bit more to the scene, but it also makes it more enjoyable because of the voice acting since the voice actors read every SFX out, where it sounds silly enough (in Japanese at least, the English dub is on a whole different level). Next up, Backgrounds. Okay, so when I started the remake’s first episode I was in awe as to how the backgrounds for the scenes look, like it’s very pastel compared to the saturated colors of everything else, not to mention, very detailed…

Also, let’s appreciate how beautiful the backgrounds for outer space looks…

Another thing I like is the stock backgrounds, stock backgrounds are pretty common in anime, but I love how the remake uses it to play up and convey the character’s emotion by making the stock lines move according to how their expressions elevate…

Moving on, Can we appreciate how retro and traditional it looks when they color like this (this is actually based on a method of coloring from the 80’s after all)??

And finally appreciation for the beautiful lighting…

Conclusion And that is All! The remake is absolutely stunning with very beautiful details which I can’t help but love and you can really see a lot of love was put into it. This ended up being more of an appreciation post than an analysis, lol 😅. Anyways, I apologize if I’ve overlooked anything or made any mistakes. If you have any doubts or questions about this analysis feel free to send an ask and if you want me to do an analysis about other characters, feel free to send an ask for that as well. You can check out my other analysis on my analysis tag.  And finally, likes are appreciated and reblogs are even more appreciated (seriously, please reblog this so more people can see this post, since I spent a lot of time on this!!). Hope you have a great day ahead!! :)

[sweetdreamsjeff]

Hole Is A Band

Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 24 August 1995

While the Courtney saga continues, Hole prove that a rock & roll band is the sum of its parts

ERIC ERLANDSON was sitting on a beach in Mexico when the headline caught his eye. Hole's guitarist and co-founder was vacationing with his girlfriend, Drew Barrymore, and thus deliberately out of the loop. After nine months of touring, he was on a much-needed break, his last before the summerlong playground of Lollapalooza. He should have known better. Given that Hole's other founding member is one Courtney Love, Erlandson's blissful, worry-free escape simply wasn't to be. The day-old newspaper beckoned him from across the sand. HOLE SINGER ODS, the headline read. That was all he could make out. His thoughts swirled from annoyance to concern to confidence that everything was surely all right before settling on a slightly jaded "Wouldn't it just figure if Courtney died while I was on vacation?"

A quick look at the story revealed, of course, that Love was just fine. (What was initially reported as an overdose was eventually termed "an adverse reaction to prescription medication.") His worst fears put to rest, Erlandson was skimming the rest of the article when it hit him – a development that was somewhat surprising and most definitely pleasing.

It was the nature of that headline: HOLE SINGER ODS. Not COURTNEY LOVE ODS or GRUNGE WIDOW ODS. Nope. HOLE SINGER.

The circumstances might have been strange and unfortunate, but that headline symbolized some kind of progress. Erlandson had quietly awaited this particular Zeitgeist shift for three years, ever since Hole's music and meaning were firmly subsumed by the irresistible Love star force, with its limitless aura of spectacle, tragedy and provocation.

Conventional wisdom has suggested that a random gathering of cabdrivers, grandmothers and Vanity Fair subscribers would be able to peg Courtney Love in a police lineup, no problem. But no one would be able to pick out mug shots of Erlandson, drummer Patty Schemel or bassist Melissa Auf der Maur, let alone figure out what "Hole" is.

Hole provide a definitive answer in this year's Lollapalooza program book. Paying homage to Blondie, their page is emblazoned with the proclamation, in big rococo letters, that hole is a band. A band that definitely intends – in between Love's inevitable rants, stage dives and column inches – to speak very loudly for itself every night on the Lollapalooza stage.

If Hole's popularity were based only on celebrity, they would have sold a lot more records by now. Instead, with promotion, marketing and life as they knew it shattered by the successive deaths of Love's husband and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff, Live Through This moved only about 100,000 copies – initially.

Then the freak-show aspect subsided, and after Hole added Auf der Maur they went about the business of playing music. The record topped nearly every '94 critics' poll and – despite never charting higher than No. 52 – was certified platinum in April.

That makes Hole, for the moment at least, the best-selling act on the Lollapalooza main stage, and one gets the feeling Hole would be the chief attraction regardless of sales figures ��� as was expected, a portion of the Lolla crowd is departing before headliners Sonic Youth take the stage.

Certainly, Hole's million-or-so fan base still includes legions of the merely curious as well as loopily obsessive Love worshipers and kids who see the band as only a legacy. The rest of Hole's audience might feel those things, too, but it also relates intensely to the music.

"The most frustrating thing for me is that people view most female artists as this single person," Erlandson says. "The thing is, I know for a fact that we're more of a band, and we've always been more of a band. I don't want to be in a 'backing band,' and Courtney doesn't want that, either. That's not the way we work."

SO ALLOW ME to introduce you to the four members of the band Hole. Except that I can't, because none of them have materialized in the appointed place (an obscure Manhattan hotel) at the appointed time (3 p.m.). When they do turn up, one of them is missing. We were supposed to conduct a joint interview, something that can't be done without Love, who spends her day shopping and napping.

We regroup in the evening, as the band heads over to Electric Lady Studios to do the syndicated radio show Modern Rock Live. Love walks through the hotel lobby, spraying herself with perfume, and is immediately confronted by two fans. She blows them off cold but not because she's in a bad mood or anything (although she is).

At Electric Lady, Love takes off her shoes, asks Auf der Maur to make room on the couch and Schemel to give her a light, then splays out, feet up, with a book (C. David Heymann's Elizabeth Taylor biography) and a pile of magazines. The TV is on, and Love switches channels to Larry King, whose guest this evening is Barbra Streisand, resplendent in the televised wonders of a Vaseline lens and soft-soft light. "Is that the lighting they're going to give me when I do my Barbara Walters interview?" Love asks. As air time approaches, she tells the band she's cranky and tired and doesn't want to answer all the on-air calls, even if they're directed at her.

After the show we're supposed to take another crack at that four-on-one interview, but Love doesn't feel like it. I'm not too concerned, but Erlandson says he really wants me to observe the full band dynamic. I can't help wondering what he's after. Were they planning a pseudo-orchestrated demonstration of band democracy? Was I going to glimpse a legendary Erlandson-Love blowup? Or perhaps it was just a subtle way for the other three members to say, "Look what we have to put up with!"

I get a big dose of the latter feeling the next day at the photo shoot. Love sleeps the whole way to Coney Island, in New York, in the front seat of the van. Her cosmetician tells me, perhaps indiscreetly, that she prefers it that way come make-up time because a conscious Love is a manic and fidgety Love.

As the day wears on she comes alive again, though during one break she manages a fully clothed half-minute doze right on the beach. Between takes she entertains herself by reading the Globe out loud, saying that tabloid stories are almost always exaggerations of something with a grain of truth in it. It's obviously a subject she knows about. Later she apologizes for putting me off. "I don't want you to think I'm a diva," Love says.

Naturally, Love then proceeds to throw a Kathleen Battle-like fit that's impressive in its steadfastness and serenity. It's nearly 10 p.m., and the band is supposed to have a quick dinner before finishing the shoot. But Love says she's returning to her hotel room for a nap first. There's no tantrum, no argument, no drama, just a sense of "this is the way it's going to be," even though everyone tries to dissuade her.

The overall vibe is how one might imagine things are between Prince and his band mates, albeit with less subservience: a group of distinct, individually talented people responding to its erratic, visionary fireball leader with a slightly patronizing blend of wariness and admiration. "Sure, Prince, whatever you say."

This is not a theory that the members of Hole will confirm for me. All of them are outspoken, bright and funny under ordinary circumstances but a lot more guarded when the subject is Love. "I'm used to it by now," Schemel says. "I accept Courtney exactly, everything she does."

Generally speaking, they brush off Love's unabashed Loveness as part and parcel of the ordinary lead-singer trip. But Love's not your average lead singer. It's kind of like four gorillas saying, "Hey, we're just an ordinary quartet of gorillas. Never mind that one of us weighs 800 pounds."

IF YOU WERE ever to visit Eric Erlandson's hotel room, there would be a 50-50 chance your knock would be answered by a certain well-known actress. You might find this prospect amusing. You might even suspect that the actress would be aware of this and answer the door on purpose.

This is not the case. The reason Drew Barrymore lets me in is because Erlandson is in the bathroom. "Hi, I'm Drew," she says politely, if unnecessarily. The O.J. trial is on the television, and the sweeter-than-you'd-ever-suspect couple tell me they were unnerved to discover attorney Barry Scheck on their flight from Los Angeles. They figured that, karmically speaking, the odds of a crash go up with him on board, and he's not someone you want to share recirculated oxygen with in any case.

Barrymore retreats to the bedroom while Erlandson and I talk. Erlandson is tall and affable with dyed-blond hair that hangs in his eyes and a loose, almost nasal Los Angeles-native drawl. One of seven children in a close-knit Catholic family, he actually hails from San Pedro, Calif., the recently reanointed punk-rock Mecca a half-hour south of L.A.

Erlandson's boyhood paper route included the home of Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn, but Erlandson missed out on his hometown scene at the time, preoccupied as he was with good old '70s rock.

Now 32, a fact he gives away freely but sheepishly, Erlandson was a late bloomer. He attended college at Loyola Marymount, where his father was a dean, and also held down an accounting job at Capitol Records. Then he caught the punk-rock bug. "I started late," Erlandson says. "I didn't really experiment with anything bad for you until I was 27."

What exactly happened when you were 27? Fall in with some kind of "bad girl," didja?

Erlandson laughs. "Yeah, you could say that," he says.

You could, and Love frequently does, announcing from the stage, "Eric was my boyfriend once. He won't admit it 'cause I'm too ugly." She also refers to him as Eric Barrymore. He usually responds to this by giving her the finger, if he responds at all.

Erlandson is a soft-spoken sort, the steely guitarist who's content simply to make his music and hit the town with his (very young, movie-star) girlfriend. Within the band he's known as the Archivist, the guy who keeps track of all the live tapes and jam sessions. On a musical level he's the guy who really gives the songs their crackle. He played most of the guitars on Live Through This, while Love concentrated on lyrics and vocals.

Like Love, Erlandson is a Buddhist, though after she introduced him to the religion he became the more devout practitioner. All in all, unlikely rock-star material, but then, what fame Erlandson has is not entirely his own.

"Yeah, it's ironic," he says. "The two people in my life are like these people that are everywhere. It's pretty sick for me to go to a newsstand." (At the time, Barrymore's Rolling Stone cover was out, as was Love's Vanity Fair.)

Erlandson met Love in 1989 when he answered a free classified ad (no, not the personals – the MUSICIANS WANTED) she'd placed. "She called me up and talked my ear off, and I was like 'Who the hell was that?'" Erlandson recalls. "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought, 'Oh, God, oh, no, what am I getting myself into?' She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like 'I know you're the right one!' And I hadn't even opened my mouth yet."

There were many false starts, but what basically kept them together was a love of god-awful clattering. "We were one big, screaming mess," Erlandson says. "I was just like 'OK, this is cool, this is noise.' I was always into the No Wave thing, but it never caught on in L.A. I was like 'Wow, I finally found someone who's into doing this stuff.'"

A pair of singles followed, one of which was on Sub Pop, and then came 1991's Pretty on the Inside, co-produced (with Don Fleming) and heavily influenced by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon.

What's often forgotten is that Pretty on the Inside was pretty well-received and not a half-bad record. Love's vividly scabrous lyrical tone – part self-immolation, part outwardly directed paroxysm – was well established, and beneath the cruddy goth-punk caterwauling there were hints of New Wave sense and songcraft sensibility.

The band on that record – Love, Erlandson, drummer Caroline Rue and bassist Jill Emery – didn't last very long, but even through the period in which Love was most famous for whom she loved, Hole got it back together. In 1992, Erlandson and Love signed with DGC/Geffen and eventually roped in Patty Schemel.

The first thing I learn about Schemel is that she gets cranky when she hasn't eaten in a while, which is why we head for an Italian restaurant. As she digs into some gnocchi, we chat about supermodels; she's particularly fond of Kristen McMenamy. When Schemel is done eating, New York's new anti-smoking law forces her to step outside.

Auf der Maur is along as well, as is Schemel's girlfriend, Stacey, who in a touching testament to the faith and folly of mixing business with romance also works as Love's assistant. Merely for her platinum hair, Stacey is always mistaken for either Barrymore or Love by people on the street. Schemel recently got her own apartment in Seattle, but during the past year, when the band wasn't on tour, she was living with Stacey at Love's house. The band was almost always on the road, though. And it's a big house.

Schemel's parents were New Yorkers who still have the accents to prove it, but they moved to Marysville, Wash. (about an hour north of Seattle), before she was born. Dad still works for Pacific Bell; Mom was at GTE ("We're a communications family," Schemel says). Schemel took up the drums when she was 11 "because it was something girls didn't do," she says, and to this day her mother still complains that Schemel doesn't project enough good cheer when she plays.

"We played this show, and my mom is up in the VIP balcony hanging over the edge, waving, like 'Smile!'" Schemel says with a laugh. "Flashback, I'm 11 again, playing the school recital. After Unplugged, she called and said, 'Not much smiling, but you sounded great.'"

Otherwise, Schemel says, her parents were always supportive of both her music and her sexuality. "My dad was always instilling that if you can do your art, your passion, and also get paid to do it, that it's a great accomplishment." The rest of Marysville wasn't so accommodating on either front.

"There were all these cowboys, and then there were rockers – no punk rockers," Schemel recalls. "Punk rock was a good place to go where there were other people who felt like me."

Seattle beckoned. The only genuine Rock City scenester in Hole, Schemel ran with such nascent luminaries as Sub Pop honcho Bruce Pavitt, checking out the pre-grunge scene and forming a band called Sybil with her younger brother. They didn't get very far, but Schemel established her reputation as one of the city's best drummers. She would have to be, what with that tattoo of John Bonham's rune (the triple circle) on her arm.

Schemel's only mistake was missing out entirely on the local explosion. When Erlandson and Love tracked her down in 1992, she was living in San Francisco, where she'd moved two years before, "thinking that was the next big city," Schemel says. She tried out for Hole on her 25th birthday and spent the rest of the year learning the old songs and feeling out new ones with Erlandson.

Given the varied psychosexual meanings implicit in Hole's existence, Schemel adds an extra dimension to the mix. Hole have something for everybody, regardless of gender, preference, fetish or taste. Schemel's not on a pedestal about it, but she says it feels good to be a role model in a band that connects so profoundly with its audience.

"It's important," she says. "I'm not out there with that fucking pink flag or anything, but it's good for other people who live somewhere else in some small town who feel freaky about being gay to know that there's other people who are and that it's OK."

MELISSA AUF DER Maur is sitting at the bar of the alterna-hip New York watering hole Max Fish. Melissa Auf der Maur is also on the wall of the Lower East Side hangout. See, a year ago, Melissa Auf der Maur – OK, so a simple she would probably suffice at this point, but what fun would that be? – was just a third-year photography student playing in a Canadian indie-rock band, and tonight one of her many self-portraits is part of an exhibit here.

Auf der Maur was quite happy back in Montreal, too, which is why when Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan told her she should try out for Hole, she thought he was out of his mind. This is probably what sealed her fate, at least from Love's point of view.

"Billy was going on about this hot babe who could really play, and I was like 'Yeah, right, you're giving her the girl leeway,' because Billy is sort of a pig," Love says. "But I thought I would try her out, and I pursued her a little bit, and what I thought was hot was that she said no. I thought that was really cool."

"That's a thing to like, I guess," Auf der Maur deadpans. "That's attractive. Yeah, I was just, like, in my space, in my life, with my band. I had been at the New Music Seminar handing out my demo tapes and putting my 7-inch together. I was like 'No way, I've got my life – what, you think I wanna leave my life?'"

Soon enough, however, she realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so she went to Seattle to audition. Two weeks later, she was playing in front of 80,000 people at the 1994 Reading Festival. "I felt nothing," she says. "I was like 'This is just a reflection of what I'm about to do with my life.'"

Only 23 years old, Auf der Maur had already led something of a storybook life before joining Hole. Her mother was never married to her father ("She barely knew the guy") and was living with Frank Zappa (platonically) during the pregnancy. Mother and daughter spent their first two years together in Africa and London, living with a zoologist friend. Dad, meanwhile, is a high-profile Montreal politician and journalist.

"For my entire life I was Nick Auf der Maur's daughter, and all of a sudden he's Melissa Auf der Maur's father," she says. "He gets such a kick out of it, that little kids are reading his name."

If Love is, for better or worse, the aggressive female role model of the band, then Auf der Maur would be the favorite of Hole's Y-chromosome following. Apparently she attracts crushes the way Love attracts headlines. "She's amazing," Schemel marvels. "So many boys, it's like, God." It's not too difficult to figure out why: While Auf der Maur is self-possessed enough to compare herself (convincingly) to Botticelli's Birth of Venus in her self-portraits, she's so graceful and open that there's nothing off-putting about her.

"Melissa's like a well-bred, quiet, pretty version of me at her age," Love says, though it's unclear what exactly would be left of Love with those caveats. "She's a bit of a Heather. Everyone else is a geek. Patty was like a chosen geek, and me and Eric were born geeks, but Melissa's well mannered and ethereal and very spiritual, but she only knows about astrology."

That actually helped Auf der Maur before the audition. "Before I met them, Eric called me up, and he's like 'I have three questions to ask you,'" Auf der Maur says. "One: 'Are you a drug addict?' No, far from it. Two: 'Do you play with a pick?' Yes. And three: 'What sign are you?' Pisces. And Pisces being the most emotionally full sign, it was perfect. I'm definitely drawn to emotionally full situations, so it made sense to me. I've always been told that I'm too sensitive or too aware of other people's things, so I was like 'Well, finally I'm going to be able to use that to my advantage.'"

"IF YOU'RE GONNA sit here and call that a valentine, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

At long last I've been granted my audience with Love, and I've made the innocent mistake of uttering the words Vanity Fair. Apparently she's a bit sensitive to charges that her recent VF cover story was, shall we say, clean – so clean that Love's breasts were likened to "great cakes of soap." I'm told that if I want to see a real valentine, I should reread this magazine's Drew Barrymore piece. "That girl will never need toilet paper again in her fucking life," Love gripes.

It's safe to assume that Love and Erlandson and Barrymore don't spend a lot of Saturday nights together renting movies and popping popcorn. What's irritating, though, is the way Love's self-made feminist iconoclasm leaves room for an old-fashioned cattiness that borders on misogyny, usually directed at people who aren't dissimilar to her – such as Barrymore or her old friend Kat Bjelland from Babes in Toyland or a laundry list of female rock critics who've faced the same sexist groupie stigma Love has.

But everything that Love does is half acting out, half conscious manipulation and half practical joke. (Yeah, that's three halves, but who says Love adds up?) She's astoundingly intelligent, maddeningly contradictory and a total force of nature – it's exhausting just being in a room with her.

"I fake it so real I am beyond fake," goes the oft-quoted lyric from 'Doll Parts', and it's clear the line was meant to resonate at every possible level – as truth, as irony and as a mockery of both herself and her audience. With Love it's a question of how much she can get away with and how much she decides to give away.

Take Jeff Buckley, for instance. Right now you're probably thinking to yourself, "How did Jeff Buckley get into the middle of this Hole story?" Relax – there's an answer to every question, and you can't very well have a Hole story without the presence of at least one cute and slightly famous rocker boy.

Buckley has been on Love's mind a bunch the last couple of days. Supposedly, Auf der Maur met him in Canada and has what Love calls "a minicrush on him. I'm just sort of putting her in her place." So Buckley and Love have been trading phone calls and answering machine messages, trying to get together – friendlylike, don't get any ideas. And most of these phone calls have been made in front of me, the unobtrusive, all-seeing journalist. And Love... well, she's not the type of person who does things in front of the media by accident.

Now we're in the middle of our interview, and time is at a premium because Love intends to catch the Broadway production of Hamlet with her prospective pal. So she calls him two or three more times in front of me to nail down the plans. And then he comes to her hotel room while I'm still there. And then they go to Hamlet, and brilliantly, Love stops to ask directions from – get this – a professional photographer. By intermission – go figure! – the paparazzi are already about.

In the next couple of weeks, the nonexistent couple gets items in USA Today, the New York Post and People. Buckley ends up being thoroughly freaked out by the experience – so much so that he calls me from England to try to clear his name. Buckley is a sensitive sort and more than a little naive. "Who the fuck am I?" he wanted to know. "I'm not like a Dando. I went out for one night, and I'm thrust into this weird, rock-star charade heavy thing." He feels used.

"Y'know," Love had said to me before Buckley came to pick her up that night, "sometimes I would love to just put out my music and have people leave me alone so I could go to see Hamlet with Jeff Buckley, and you might not hear a word about it."

Ordinarily, there's only one response to such an utterance. That response is "Yeah, right." But Love is more complicated than that. She doesn't have to distinguish between the crazy things that happen to her and the crazy things she makes happen. She's perfectly capable of encouraging photographers herself and then feeling put upon when they start taking pictures. Both emotions are genuine to her. Even this article raised her contradictory hackles – she was very concerned that Rolling Stone give the band its due instead of focusing on her, but at the same time, after brushing me off for two days, she fretted that I hadn't spent enough time with her.

Which is why, just like Erlandson, concern was not the only thing running through my head when I heard about Love's airplane OD incident. What actually came to mind was "more publicity." Many people, including some who have worked with the band, say half-jokingly that they no longer pay attention to Love's headlines because they seem so well planned, almost military in their precision.

Plus, during our interview the week before, Love had told me, rather matter-of-factly and contrary to the party line, that "I don't do drugs very often, but I do."

Nevertheless, three days after she left the hospital, Love leaves me a message at home, so I call her up to find out what happened. In a nutshell: "I was on an airplane, and this doctor gave me some pills before I left because I always take pills to fly, to sleep, and then we had a layover, and I just accidentally took too many. I woke up and there were tubes in my nose and things in my mouth, and they thought I was suicidal, and I just fucking went ballistic. They wish."

Maybe it's because of the airplane incident, or maybe it's just the usual, but during this conversation, Love is a bit less brazen about the subject of drugs. "I'm not putting it down, I don't think God necessarily put us here to be sober all the time, but I also don't think he put us here to be junkies," she says.

"Besides, nobody would deal to me. Like, if I wanted to do drugs, I couldn't get them, because I'm me, and it's too much of a risk [for the dealer]. It's not that I want to be dealt to, but I think that four months ago this one evening I did, so, y'know...I can be a little naive about saying, like, what my drug usage is because you're supposed to say that you never do anything, blah blah blah."

"MELISSA AND I were talking – just hypothetically, not real life – and we decided there's not really anybody on Lollapalooza that I wanna fuck," Love says. That will probably come as a relief – just hypothetically, not real life – to Pavement's Stephen Malkmus. But Love is actually making a larger point here. For all its underground hipitude, the show is somewhat lacking in rock & roll star power – star power in this case being that combustible combination of mass popularity and massive sex appeal. (No, Beck does not qualify.)

"Rock is really about dick and testosterone," Love says. "I go see a band, I wanna fuck the guy – that's the way it is; it's always been that way. I love competing with that, but I didn't come in here to, like, change that. So I just feel like [Lollapalooza] is dickless, straight out."

Initially, Hole did not want to do Lollapalooza, but the back-to-basics lineup drew them in. Still, as the tour began, Love had a big problem with this year's slate of bands. "It's all Sonic Youth approved," says Love. "The Sonic Youth butt-kiss nation. Even us – we're Sonic Youth butt-kiss nation because they produced our first record. Still, I would rather be here with Sonic Youth. I don't want to be out there in the world with Billy and Trent and Eddie."

With Lollapalooza, Hole have plenty to prove, the latest trial by fire in a year that's been full of them. When they play and the music is allowed its own space, everything else falls by the wayside. Some of the moshing, screaming fans might respond most strongly to Love's antics, but many others are rapt, coiled and reverent, feeding off the music's introversion and aggression simultaneously. The audience really can look at them and go, "Oh, yeah, Hole is a band."

"We've stayed together because we're good," Love says, "and when we play together, we know we're good."

"As far as Courtney's celebrity compared to our band, there's this gap," Schemel says. "But within this year of playing out and being a band, that gap's been getting shorter. Every time we play a show, people are blown away by the band."

© Jason Cohen, 1995

[madmaxproductions]

Underdog of Connecticut

Documenting the life and times of DJ Mad Max.

“My drive and people doubting me are my biggest motivators. Fear is not trying and failing.” - Maxwell Coughlan

What does Connecticut mean to you?

“Connecticut means everything to me, it’s my home, where I was born and bred. I grew up in South Norwalk on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in Townhouse Gardens. South Norwalk shaped who I am today because of the authenticity. My community made me protective of other cultures and stand up against racism/injustice. It’s very challenging to be successful from my hood because of the obstacles many face such as the temptations of the street life, drug addiction, and not taking our education seriously or expressing our talents because of peer pressure. The crabs in a bucket mentality is huge and means people don’t want to see someone with potential make it out. When I look back on the past, it’s sad when you find out someone you knew went to jail or overdosed at a young age because you’re like damn they didn’t make it out.

“As a child, I attended private Catholic schools and my peers constantly looked down on me because of my environment. Many would say “you live in the hood” or “wigger.” Comments like that would hurt, but after a while I blocked them out because South Norwalk was home, and that’s all I knew. I grew up on Hip-Hop and R&B culture, throwback Mitchell & Ness jerseys, baggy clothes, and fresh sneakers. Personally, I couldn’t relate to Vineyard Vines, Docksiders, or the music my peers enjoyed. God truly blessed me with a strong support system from my mother. She pushed me from birth, which helped me receive an academic scholarship to St. John’s University in Queens, New York. If you don’t have a supportive family, then you really have to grind and bet on yourself.

“I feel like Connecticut doesn’t get much love because it’s a small state and the culture is untapped. Connecticut has quite a few success stories like: Chris Webby, Cassie, John Mayer, Calvin Murphy, Justin Long, and Meg Ryan. The biggest issue with my home state is the void of entertainment opportunities for creatives to thrive financially, plus many natives don’t support homegrown talent. The lack of support forces the dreamers to relocate to achieve their dreams.”

How do you plan to give back to Norwalk?

“My goal is to give back to people who are suffering from cancer and other illnesses. Donate money to cancer research at the Whittingham Cancer Center of Norwalk Hospital and educate individuals on the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Even at a young age, you’re at risk which is unfortunate. Aside from healthcare, I would like to establish clothing drives as well as hosting seminars on becoming independent and dreaming beyond difficult circumstances.”

What city would you be from in Connecticut outside of Norwalk?

“If I had to choose another city besides Norwalk, it would be Hartford. Hartford has an extensive entertainment scene compared to other cities in Connecticut and provides greater opportunities for artists and journalists. They have notable venues such as: The Xfinity Theatre, The Webster, and Infinity Music Hall. The diverse population is a great draw plus the city is one of the most affordable areas in the state.”

How will you contribute your talents to “Hollywood?”

“I will be a breath of fresh air for Hollywood. My talent as an actor/entertainer stems from being original and paying homage to the legends.”

What was it like gaining a role on Power?

“It was amazing. I learned a lot about how a major television production is organized and operated. It was strict and time efficiency is key. I was featured in a club scene where a fight broke out between rapper Yung Bleu and another person. It was a dope preview of what will eventually become my future in television/film production.”

Dream role in a movie?

“This is tough for me because I feel like a role has to match the actor’s personality. I always wanted to have a lead role similar to Tony Montana in “Scarface” or Nino Brown from “New Jack City.” I would love to do something in makeup similar to Johnny Depp’s role in “Dark Shadows.” My agent believes I would make a great undercover cop as well. In the future, I could see myself starring in a potential biopic like Eminem’s “8 Mile” to showcase my life’s journey to success. I am open to many different roles, but those are a few roles that come to mind.”

Predict the future of the motion picture industry?

“I think you’re going to see more independent filmmakers thrive because of the lack of creativity from major production studios and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. I say it all the time, there’s no more classics! It’s rare for me to enjoy more than one film that comes out each year. The remakes are played out and there’s an absence of authenticity. Entertainers don’t receive what they are truly worth because executives at the top make the majority of the box office profits. The strike exposed that. I always valued going to the movie theaters when I was a kid and still do. Due to social media, I feel like the youth couldn’t care less about going to the theaters when they don’t have the attention span or can just watch the film on Peacock from their couch. It may be hard to receive the fruits of your labor right away when you’re an independent filmmaker, but if your material can get praised at film festivals and picked up by streaming services you will become successful.”

What draws you to the Western United States?

“That’s where the entertainment scene is thriving in my opinion. Las Vegas has a huge nightlife entertainment scene and helps artists build successful careers. It’s an affordable city to start out and grow. On the other hand, Los Angeles has been calling my name for years now. I’ve been enthralled by the west coast vibe since a kid. Hosting, acting, and other forms of entertainment opportunities are like non other in Los Angeles. I believe California is the place where I will live out my dreams.”

A word from Neno

"Bro I wish you nothing but the best you're a super talented person and I know you will be super successful in anything you put your energy into. God bless you.”

Define your definition of independence?

“My definition of independence is building your own foundation and having the creative freedom that will supply your desired lifestyle.”

Goals for 2024?

“Continuing to build a loyal team is a major goal this year. I’ve done everything myself and now that I’m working into the industry more, it’s time to put together a solid team that can help broker strategic business deals and partnerships. I’ve thought about getting a manager, but it has to be a trustworthy relationship. They say teamwork makes the dream work and I’m open to it."

“I want to develop my own independent film as well as a reality show. Even though music and sports are my main passions, film was my first love. I wanted to be a writer and director since childhood. I remember writing short stories in my journal that my mother bought me for Christmas in the third grade. I wrote to many legends in the industry asking for advice since the age of 10. Wes Craven, Francis Ford Coppola, and John Carpenter are a few people in the media industry that responded and it meant the world to me! As I got older, I changed as most people do and became more enthralled with music, which led to my beginnings of DJing and my current path now. Since I started acting, it’s sparked my love and creativity for film/television again. It would be dope to collaborate with independent actors and filmmakers because I believe that is where the industry is heading now. There are talented people out there not getting an opportunity due to nepotism and social media clout. That has to stop. While the industry isn’t talent-based like it once was, you can’t give up on your dreams. You have to create your own opportunities, and if I can be the one to give talented people their shot, that would be an honor.”

Thank You

“I would like to give a big thanks to everyone that has supported my journey so far, it’s only up from here!”

Photography captured October 2023

Developed by Mad Max Productions

[captainpuffin1]

Yebba - Dawn

I discovered Yebba in the way that a lot of probably did, which was through some of her notable collars with well known artists, from Ed Sheeran (“Best Part of Me”), to Drake (“Yebba’s Heartbreak”). She tended to be a highlight of both the song and the album as a whole for me, so I went and checked out some of her music in order to see what her solo stuff was like. I ended up listening to her 2021 debut album “Dawn”, which ended up being a fantastic album.

Yebba manages to show herself as a fantastic writer on here. The main theme of the album is grief and recovery. A lot of the writing is influenced by Yebba’s grief caused by the death of her mother and how Yebba is trying to recover from that grief. The writing ends up laying the groundwork for a ton of emotionally charged songs that essentially see Yebba slowly move on from the grief she’s trapped in while other things in life keep getting thrown at her, like crumbling relationships, watching friends get into some horrific situations, and just trying to not let the grief fully take over her every move. Just about every song on here manages to be fantastic because of just the writing on it alone, and it’s impressive to see Yebba show herself as this good of a writer at this early part of her career.

The production on this album was mainly done by Mark Ronson, so it’s not too much of a shock that the production on here is great. Mark is fantastic when it comes to creating the type of Soul music that takes influence from older sounds and combining it with a modern sound (Hell, just look at his contributions to Amy Winehouse’s music). This album takes some of it’s influence from the 90s and 2000s Neo-Soul sound (Hell, her love for D’Angelo’s album “Voodoo” helped lead to some of the musicians involved with that album like Questlove and James Posyer being involved with this album too.), and in the usual Mark Ronson fashion, is able to create an album that manages to sound just as beautiful and intricate as the albums it was inspired from. However, Mark isn’t the only producer on here. Other people like Yebba herself, Ricky Damien, and Thomas Brenneck also take the production helm on a good chunk of the album alongside Mark, and the song “Love Came Down” also features production from producers like KAYTRANADA and Hudson Mohawke, who help make the song lighten up the mood of what’s mostly a pretty depressing album. Every producer on here manages to do a spectacular job creating this album and perfectly fit next to Yebba’s unique take on Neo-Soul.

The two vocal guests on here are also really good. A$AP Rocky has a great verse on the stellar track “Far Away”, and Smino has a decent verse on the song “Louie Bag”

Yebba’s debut album “Dawn” both makes for a great first impression of her music, plus it shows Yebba fully come into her own with some fantastic writing and amazing production that pays homage to the golden days of Neo-Soul, along with some fantastic vocal performances from Yebba and guests. If you want to check out some insanely underrated Neo-Soul, then give “Dawn” a listen.

BEST: One More Smile, Distance, Far Away (feat. A$AP Rocky), Stand, How Many Years, Boomerang, Paranoia Purple, October Sky

WORST: N/A

10/10

[jenifern]

~THE BOYS DIABOLICAL~

I really enjoyed this show when it fist came out, and how it used different animation styles. I am going to talk about a few episodes and why they chose the style they went for.

~LAZER BABY'S DAY OUT~

For this animation the tone is comedic and writes Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wanted to pay homage to cartoons they grew up watching, so they based it on The Loony Tunes style and even use some of its quips. The fact that the animation lacks dialogue and relies on movement and comedic timing to convey a story is reminiscent of older cartoons. An animation studio called Snipple animated this episode and have previously animated older style cartoons like Jellystone and Wacky Races.

I like the use of homage in a unique way. Having a funny catch me if you can story with blood and gore with a retro style animation. Doing character mashups in the past, I feel like it's important as an artist to be able to replicate well known styles in the industry, as there will be someone, like Rogena and Goldberg, wanting to hire someone to replicate styles of other animations.

~BFF'S~

Another comedic episode. It has a stylised anime feel t0 it too; the colour scheme is bright and colourful which compliments the funny and wacky tone of the story. The director, Madeline Flores also used her childhood of watching Pokemon and pushed towards the animation to have a more anime look. The round edges used for the characters are reminiscent to Steven Universe, where a Korean studio animated it. This animation was animated by a Korean animation studio called Edge Animation.

~JOHN AND SUN HEE~

This story is more serious and sad compared to the other two animation, but they style is the most unique out of all the episodes on the show and was really nice to see. The colours were toned down and the line art was thin to represent the old and frailness of the main characters. Another Korean animation studio, Studio Animal, animated this episode. The director has a personal connection to the story and thought it would be best if the whole episode was directed and composed and voiced acted by Korean people. Studio Animal mainly animate in a manga style, but took a different direction with this animation, which I feel like suits the story better, as it's story based, so its more illustrative.

This is a great example of using the correct art style to convey an emotional, serious story. As someone who dabbles in different styles, I feel like this is important for me to utilise my own styles in different ways when it comes to storytelling. For example, my 2 minute film was a comedic one, so for time sake and style, I went for my cartoon style instead off my semi realistic style, which is what I was going to go for initially. I feel like the change if style choice payed off well, as it suited the animation better.

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Tame Impala - Currents

They're tame alright! This band is so toothless they can only drink music through a straw. Apparently in the 2010s psychedelic is when you put vocal filters over a really extremely boring song. This album sounds like it's made up out of tracks that Gorillaz threw away.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd

I don't know if this is an unexpected opinion for a transgender anarcho communist, but I like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Pre plane crash Lynyrd Skynyrd at least. Ronnie Van Zandt had great songwriting chops and was a solid lyricist. Going from the rollicking bar brawling Gimme Three Steps to the wistful Free Bird to the ripping solos of the second half of Free Bird. The variety here is something that a lot of southern rock albums lack. So yeah I'm recommending Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

Mingus Ah Um is a collection of creative homages. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat eulogises recently departed band member Lester Young, Open Letter To The Duke refers to Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll to one of Jazz's originators Jelly Roll Morton. Rather than imitate the styles of his predecessors Mingus mixes a little bit of their essence into his style. Said style was ever evolving and this album, while still distinctly in the post bop era of Mingus' career, shows some signs of what would come later. The sense of orchestral arrangement within the confines of a smaller jazz band are present and this was the best that Mingus would record until he finally went full third stream.

Rush - Moving Pictures

I must not cringe. Cringe is the mind killer. Cringe is the little death that brings total obliAAAHHFUCK! Nope I can't do it. Rush is cringe. Sorry I can't do anything about it. You can't suck Ayn Rand's dick that hard and come back from it. On the other hand these motherfucker are really, really good at playing their instruments. This is also one of their least lyrically embarrassing albums for sure. If you want to listen to Rush but don't want to feel any secondhand embarrassment then you're shit outta luck, but if you want to hear some drums go absolutely fucking wild then you could do worse than Moving Pictures.

Run-D.M.C. - s/t

Believe it or not this was considered hard shit for the time. I guess. Whether or not you will like Run-D.M.C. is very dependent on how much you enjoy cornball shit. By modern standards this album is very corny. But if you let go of you preconceived notions about hip hop then you might find a really fun album with beats that hammer in an intense staccato that would go on to greatly influence future artists. Corny or not this album paved the way for hip hop's golden age so best pay it some respect.

[0613magazine]

230123 Rolling Stone

Epik High’s Tablo on Trauma, Triumph, and the Truth

It’s this willingness to be defiantly vulnerable that has made him a popular collaboration partner for artists like Eric Nam, CL, Big Bang’s Taeyang, Brown Eyed Soul’s Naul, Lee Hi and, finally, BTS leader RM. Last year, the two made fandom dreams come true when Tablo traded verses with RM on “All Day,” from the idol’s critically-acclaimed debut solo album, Indigo. 

“I was literally getting on a plane to go to Singapore to perform and RM texted me, [saying] ‘I have a song that I want to do with you,’” Tablo says. “And I literally could not listen to the song at the time. I couldn’t even download it. So I said, ‘Yo, I’m getting on a plane right now — but yes, of course.’ I hadn’t even heard the song and he’s laughing. But I mean, obviously, right? RM is not going to do a bad song. He’s incapable of doing that.”

When he got to Singapore, he continues, “The song was pleasantly not what I expected. I thought it was going to be either hard hitting hip-hop or something emotional. But it was something more energetic and positive-sounding that I really needed at the time – that energy. I told him I can record as soon as I get back to Korea. I think I sent him my phone recording. It all happened very fast.”

The lyricists trade verses in both Korean and English and partake in clever wordplay, paying homage to each other’s music. While Tablo references BTS’ hit songs “Dynamite” and “DNA,” RM pays respect to Epik High’s “Fly” — the 2005 song that influenced 11-year-old Kim Nam-joon to become rapper RM. 

“To me, Tablo is like a huge mountain that I always look up to,” RM tells Rolling Stone. “Among many things, I admire his poetic and insightful lyrics, his musicality, and career as a musician, the way he overcame all the hardships he went through. Just listen to ‘Fever’s End,’ and you can feel it.”

Some might say that the two musicians get along so well because they’re skilled songwriters who bring a lyrical sense to their raps — or that they’re both geniuses who are renowned for their nimble minds.

“Tablo is a genius, but I’m not sure about myself,” RM continues. “I just try to give my best effort in everything. We have different backgrounds, but since he’s always been the hero throughout my musical journey so far, I think we could recognize each other. Epik High and Tablo have always been there during my childhood and they definitely influenced my music. Tablo is one of those who can handle social issues in sharp and beautiful ways through music…. I’ve always wanted to collaborate with him on a song in 2000s hip-hop that touches on a social issue.”

I ask Tablo if there’s the possibility of RM returning the favor and guesting on his upcoming solo album — his first since 2011’s Fever’s End: Part 1 and Fever’s End: Part 2. His reply is a combination of faux shock and bemusement.

“Who leaked that?” he asks, before cautiously replying. “OK, let me just put it this way. If there is a Tablo solo in the works, RM would definitely be Number One on my list to do a song with. But I also want to explore that more emotional, sort of painful kind of Epik High vibe, but in a completely new way with RM. And I’m just saying, if it were to happen, I think RM would do it. So that’s all I’m gonna say.”

Source: Rolling Stone

[seeminglyseph]

Got stoned: idea for the concept. Silent Hill UFO endings but like. By the way of that Dream Daddy Satanic Panic secret ending that people found in the coding and went insane about.

I do desperately want to do a mini anime high school murder vacation thing and I think it would definitely be funny to do it in the theme of a secretly unlocked supernatural horror Bad Ending.

I do kind of want to play up the inspiration from like 2000-2010 anime though. Because that was my youth and like. Genuinely my first experience with the genre was the Battle Royale *manga* which is not as high art as the book or the film. The other two are good, I think the manga artist thought he was on a different project sometimes. Idk, I might be exaggerating but I was far too young to have been reading it in any case and as a result my perspective on it is that it was a pretty grotesque mix of nearly pornographic sexuality and violence handled with significantly less understanding or grace than either the considerably over-the-top film and gratuitous novel combined.

You sweet summer children with your Danganronpas and your Future Diaries. Your… Idfk. Darwin’s Games? That one with the Horoscope weirdos where the Rabbit Guy just murdered everyone in hot pants? How much murder gaming do they do these days?

Either way. That’s not the kind of series I want to pay homage to despite liking the novel quite a bit actually, but I feel like the fact that I was kinda full blast exposed to just about everything explains how I have nostalgia for anime that might in retrospect be bad. Like, yeah High School of the Dead is terrible but it was hilarious in context. And if you watch the dub it becomes its own like. Absurdist masterpiece of knowing like… “oh, no, this is garbage, but also taking the complete piss. And that’s fucking wild. What the fuck.” Which also kinda blended that era’s irreverent humour with anime’s “tits comedy and gore” which both doesn’t make sense and also does if you were a teenager in like 2010. Or drunk. Or both because you were in Canada where the legal drinking age is 18…

This is not a voice of concentrated intent, as stated above… definitely stoned and feeling weird.

[rainydawgradioblog]

lyrics to life, a deep dive into the artist and the fan

helloooo!! my name is mya and this is my first RDR blog post!! (i’m super excited if you can’t already tell)

the coolest person i know has been writing for RDR for a while now and when she showed me her article all about the album songs by adrianne lenker, i knew that i wanted to be a part of this community too. sooo this first blog is gonna be about the songs that make up me, so you all can get to know her (spoiler, adrianne lenker makes a heartbreaking appearance on it)!!

1. "true blue" by boygenius

wow. no better way to begin than a song all about female friendship and connection. i grew up with a single mom, my older sister, and two older brothers. my mother and sister serve as power figures in my life and i can’t help but think of them during the line, 

your love is tough / your love is tried and true blue. 

the past few months living without them has given our love for each other a stronger foundation, and has become even more apparent in the 6 missed calls i get per day. it is an equally irritating yet comforting thought. but this song also pays homage to the lovely friends i’ve made in all seasons of my life. my emilee, my hope, my ify, my carly, and so many more incredible woman that built who i am today become alive in the line, 

i remember who i am / when i’m with you. 

2. "not a lot, just forever" by adrianne lenker

looking for a painfully heartbreaking song? hey right here!! bonus, this one physcially hurts to listen to!! my roommate once told me that my biggest strength but also weakness is how hard i love. this was after i went on an in depth rant on how the rest of my life would look if my situationship and i admitted our feelings for each other (spoiler, the feelings in question are definitely not reciprocated), 

through your eyes i see / a smile you bring to me / to your joy i tether / not a lot, just forever.

despite constant heartbreak, i continue to fall hopelessly in love because one day i’ll get to experience a life resembling this line, 

i could be a good mother / and i wanna be your wife. 

i just really love LOVE. the idea of falling in love with someone and just being like, “i dont need that much of you, just all of it!!” like yes adrianne, we want every inch of the person we love so we can love them entirely. 

3. "gramercy park" by alicia keys

this song is for the people who mold themselves to the ray of someone’s energy so they can feel more loved. unhealthy, i know!! who in their right mind would do that (...), 

i’ve been trying to fulfill you with your every need / now you falling for a person that’s not even me. 

her performance on tiny desk concert was incredibly moving. alicia keys has been telling it like it is since her first hit fallin’ (also my go-to karaoke song) which she performs for tiny desk beautifully. in this song especially, she describes the inner pleas of needing someone to stay so bad that you lose who you are trying to fit yourself into their narrative, 

cause i forgot about the person i used to be.

i found her eventually, but at what cost!!

4. "lifetime" by faye webster

i live through a dreamscape fog called optimism, faye webster does too though so my feelings are valid. the word lifetime is mostly just repeated (honorable mention to the lyric, “can’t imagine me / before you / in a lifetime”), so the main focal point of this song is it’s mellow and rhythmic tone that showcase a seductively lucid-esque tone. lifetime also takes the crown for being so versatile, with making the cut for both my playlists for sex and for crying before bed! 

5. "keep the rain" by searows

what if i just love this song!! what if there is no significance to it!! 

nothings ever really quiet / when you need distraction to survive.

for my mental stability, lets end it here!!

it’s been fun,

mya

[mister-e-filman]

Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir; Year 1

Autumn, September 5, Saturday: Frightingale

It was morning and the twins and Tikki were watching a video on Clara Laura Nightingale,

who at the moment was singing her latest song, "Big Bang",

Marinette then fell on her back while attempting a handstand walkover, which made Bridgette chuckle.

Then Alec Cataldi came onscreen to interview her.

"And that was Clara Nightingale's hit single 'Big Bang' for us!"

Both Marinette and Bridgette sat at their desk, with Tikki flying over.

"Wow! That girl is incredible!" Tikki remarked.

"Yes she is Tikki. So much success for a soon-to-be-nineteen-year-old," Bridgette said.

"Indeed," Tikki added.

"Both Bridge and I love her! She's totally passionate about her art!" Marinette explained.

Alec then approached Clara and started interviewing her as she dialed back her dancing to take the interview more seriously while he spoke to her. "Clara, in just a few short months you've become an international sensation with your ultra-unique singing and style. Apparently from what I've heard, you even sing and dance in your sleep! Do you ever stop?"

"Never, for you see I have Akathisia and I also have Obsessive-Compulsive Rhyming Disorder which is a form of OCD, so I decided to not have either limit me, and just have them be a part of who I am, a part of my personality. So, dancing and singing are everything to me. And I'm happy to share the joy of song and dance. To the amazing people of France!" Clara happily told him.

"See that, Tikki? She's a true artist!" Marinette gushed.

"You've come to Paris to film the video for your next song, which is gonna be titled 'Miraculous' from what I've heard," Alec said.

Clara nodded before saying, "I really admire and adore both Ladybug and Cat Noir. An homage to them I've wanted to pay because they inspire me every single day!" Bridgette gasped while Marinette shrieked in delight. "She's gonna be doing a song about me- er, us! I mean — Ladybug! Oh! I'm so excited I could... faint!" she then fell backward off of her chair.

Bridgette's mind was racing. Sure, the news was that Clara Nightingale was coming to France to film a brand-new music video, but only now was there information on what it was involving! As far as either of them knew, neither Ladybug nor Cat Noir were that well known yet to even be accessible on something like Wikipedia.

"Auditions will be held at the Grand Palais Hotel, is that right? A little birdie told me that you already found your Cat Noir. Care to share the good news?" Alec proudly announced.

Clara smiled slyly, "My lips are sealed. But just wait, soon he'll be revealed. We must still cast Ladybug and extras, by the way. So come on out and audition today!" Marinette's pink phone then buzzed as soon as the video ended. She ran over, tripping onto the floor on the way, and answered it.

"Hey Marinette, did you hear that? All us girls are heading over to audition and you're coming, too! So don't go pulling one of your Marinette specials on us, okay?" Alya told Marinette.

"And miss my chance to meet Clara Nightingale in the flesh? No way! I'll meet you there!" Marinette excitedly told her friend.

"See ya!" Alya said, ending the call.

Marinette then went and grabbed her purse from her chair.

"Why are you not going to be auditioning for the role of Ladybug, Bridgette?" Tikki asked the disinterested teen.

Marinette let Tikki rest in her hands as Bridgette explained, "Because I'd never do anything that could reveal my/our secret identity, that's all." "And as for me, I'm just gonna be an extra," Marinette added.

"All right then," Tikki said as she flew up and kissed both Bridgette and Marinette on their noses. "I'm proud of you both!"

Meanwhile over at the Agreste manor, things weren't as cheerful for Adrien as they were with Bridgette and Marinette. "It will be an excellent promotion for the upcoming opening of our stores in Korea and China. You don't have a choice," Gabriel explained to his son.

Nathalie presented Adrien with a folded-up imitation Cat Noir costume, with face mask and collar-bell. Adrien gasped in alarm, But Father—"

Gabriel held up his hand while paging through exotic fashion designs on his computer of which he showed to Adrien. "I've been designing Clara's costumes since she started out. She was very pleased with my humble suggestion of using you. She's only seen you in our advertisements, but she does admire you a lot. I'm hoping you won't let us down," Gabriel explained.

"Of course not, Father," Adrien said dejectedly as he left for his limousine.

Over at the Grand Palais, auditionees for Clara Nightingale's video had gathered out front.

A stagehand was pointing to the entrance while saying, "Extras on the left; auditionees for Ladybug on the right."

As soon as Adrien entered his dressing trailer, he had put on the suit, bell, tail, and ears components of the Cat Noir costume he was given, and was then examining himself in a mirror while holding the face mask.

Plagg gasped while admiring the costume, "Great choice of fabric! And these seams! Amazing craftsmanship! And that wig!"

"There's no way I can wear this!" Adrien panicked.

"Yeah, I've always found that little bell so ridiculous! Then again, the costume is what you really wanted deep down, isn't it?" Plagg said with Adrien looking at him in confusion.

"Okay first, I could've made my suit look however I eanted? And second, no, Plagg. That's not what I meant, which is that everyone's gonna realize that I'm the real Cat Noir, voice changer or not!"

"No way! The Miraculouses magic hides not just your voice but also your face, making people blind to who truly are! It is all in the mask," Plagg explained.

Suddenly the stagehand knocked on the door, through the door, which he asked, "You ready, Mr. Agreste?"

"Aah, uh, coming! Just a sec!" Adrien anxiosly told him before then whispering  worriedly to Plagg, "If they see me with this mask on, they're all gonna recognize me for sure! I don't wanna risk it!" He quickly placed the mask within a pile of folded fabric on a shelf. "I can't wear it!" Then he added, this time with resolve, "Right. Now I'm gonna try to act as lame as I possibly can. Hopefully they'll have no choice but to replace me." He then opened the door and gasped when he saw the array of people gathered in the main area.

Meanwhile, in the central area of the main room, a stage with a backdrop had been set up, and two long lines of auditionees to either side had formed in front of it, those for Ladybug on the right, those as extras on the left. Clara Nightingale was standing on the stage with her star-adorned microphone, greeting the auditionees.

"Thank you for coming, all of you! This is like a dream come true! Together we'll all dance and sing; It's going to be awesome and amazing!" She walked past Alya, Marinette, Rose, Juleka, Alix and Mylène who were standing in the extras line.

"We're gonna be in Clara Nightingale's music video! This is humongous!" Alya squeaked excitedly.

Marinette hhen followed suit, shrieking with delight, "I can't believe this is happening!"

Clara then tapped her mic to get everyone's attention, "And now, meet our rising star, Adrien as Cat Noir!"

Adrien then walked out toward the stage, awkwardly waving briefly. The extras reacted excitedly, with Marinette gasping, and Rose and Alya waving with raised arms. Adrien just smiled nervously at the line and waved some more. Marinette waved back. Adrien walked up to the front of the stage, where Nathalie was holding a tablet with Gabriel seen on it, and the stagehand stood nearby.

"The costume fits you like a glove, as I knew it would. But, where is your mask?" Gabriel asked his son.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, nervous about lying, "Uh, I couldn't find it anywhere."

The Stagehand then piped up, "I'll take care of it!" He then dashed off.

Then Clara turned to Adrien, as she helped him up onstage, she told him, "It's no big deal; it's okay.

We don't need the mask for tryouts anyway." Adrien breathed a sigh of relief.

Clara then turned her attention to the Ladybug auditionees "Come on!" The first few Ladybug auditionees step forward, including Officer Roger. Forty-nine audtionees later some of which were often inept while being onstage with Adrien. Of who loved Clara's skittish reactions to each, especially the fiftieth one who was a little girl spinning a Hula Hoop.

"Didn't I tell you that Adrien looks a little bit like Cat Noir?" Alya told Marinette.

"Unh, whatever! He's a thousand times more amazing than Cat Noir!" Marinette said excitedly.

More auditionees included Roger and his cringeworthy dancing, and a little girl who offered Adrien a black cat, which meowed at him in confusion. Eventually Clara saw that there were no more Ladybug auditionees, but then glanced over at the extras, and got an idea. She picked up a tray of Chouquettes from a table by the stage, and carried it over to the extras.

"You must be starving

From all this waiting!" Clara told the extras.

"Oh, look! She's coming in our direction!" Marinette excitedly squeaked.

While carrying the tray, Clara deliberately tripped herself up, tossing the tray in the air, and falling to the floor. Many of the extras gasped, and Marinette immediately got out of the line, and ran over to help Clara back to her feet while also catching the tray and moved her arm around to catch the falling Chouquettes and just before she could catch the rest, Alya gave her a panicked look, which made Marinette intentionally fail to catch the rest. She then said, "I'm sorry Ms. Nightingale!" but then Clara hugged Marinette instead of getting angry or something.

"There you are! Here's a hug,

Because you are Ladybug!" Clara announced, which made Alya and the rest of her friends gasp.

Marinette then hastily come up with an excuse ANY excuse completely anxious about the implication, "What?! I have no idea what you're talking about!" she chuckled nervously.

Clara stood herself and Marinette up, and twirled her around.

Clara then told her, "You did what Ladybug would have, just the same.

Your heart is pure, like hers. Though your accent sounds more American, why, as well as what's your name?" Marinette stammered out slipping back into her national French accent, "Uh, Ma— Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and the reason for my accent is because when I was a little girl, I would play with my dolls, putting on fashion shows like the ones I saw on TV."

Clara smiled and nodded at her before telling her, "Marinette! Say it's so!" Clara then got down on one knee, arm raised that held the Ladybug costume mask.

"Will you please play Ladybug in my video?" Both Marinette and Alya putt heir hands over their mouths in shock.

"Yes! She'd be awesome!" Mylenè piped up.

"Go Marinette! You deserve it!" Alix said with a small smile.

Marinette turned to look over at Adrien onstage, and envisioned being there with him, and sighed euphorically, before glancing down at Tikki in her purse.

Marinette then turned back to Clara, "That's so nice of you, and...I'm one of your biggest fans, but...I came here to be an extra with my friends, and I really wanna stay with them.

While Alya let out of sigh of relief, the rest of Marinette's friends gasped in shock. Clara stood up again.

"That's a pity, a shame; but I understand it's true.

That's a very cool gesture, very Ladybug of you!" Clara calmly said to Marinette and then beckoned for her to follow.

She took Marinette over and sat her in a chair by a trailer then told her, "Just sit over here for make-up, okay?

I'll ask your friends to be sent over right away!" Clara then turned and walked away. "Oh! Thank you! Thank you!" Marinette stammered in confusion. While yes, Mylène had become her friend due to Ivan telling her what had happened not to mention Alix at least giving an attempt to be friendly to make up for all the bad stuff she had done to her while being a part of Chloe's little gang. But Juleka and Rose? While yes, they can be nice to Marinette, they don't exactly consider her a friend, something that she needed to earn from them.

Tikki stuck her head out of Marinette's purse, "Good job, Marinette! You didn't give into the temptation!" She popped back inside.

Mylène came up to Marinette hugging her, saying "You're crazy!"

Alya then joined in the hug. "You turned down filming with Adrien to be with us?"

Alix joined in as well, while telling her, "You really are the best!"

Outside the hotel, a stretch limousine pulled up. Chloé stepped out, dressed in her own Ladybug costume, and sporting a Ladybug-style wig.

Chloé was now inside, walking past the line of extras, sneering at them. "Thank you all for coming. You can go home now," she coldly told them all.

"Uh, heads up; bitch alert in the immediate vicinity," Alya alerted them.

"Don't worry. Knowing Nightingale, Chloé doesn't stand a chance of being chosen," Marinette assured her.

Alya then pretended to be surprised at her best friend's gutsy attitude toward Chloè, "Wow! What's happening to you today?" She jokingly bowed to Marinette, "I have to bow before so much wisdom!"

Marinette caught on to her friend's joking nature and then jokingly said, "That's right. From now on, the name's Master Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

Marinette and her friends laughed.

Chloé said to Clara's face, while walking up onstage, "Your 'Ladybug' has arrived! So when does the shoot begin?"

Adrien stepped in, telling his godsister, "Chloé, everyone has to audition. You know that! I also know that while you can dance, you most certainly can't carry a tune,"

Chloé began doing arm stretches, making it clear that she didn't care. "Oh yeah, that little formality. Plus, they can just autotune me." She walked to one side, then launched into a series of expert dance moves, after which the extras in line cheered wildly. "Aaah...ha ha. It's been a while. Eight years of private classes with Aurélie Dupont from the Paris Op-er-a. I know. I'm breathtaking." "Hm, impressive at a glance

However, I've already seen Flashdance.

You've definitely got enough talent for me,

But you and Cat Noir have to be a good match, you see. Also, there will be no autotuning whatsoever, I don't want a repeat of Les Miserables by Tom Hooper!" "Uh, no problem! Adrikins and I have known each other since we were little!" Chloè desperately tried convincing Clara by hugging her godbrother.

Clara let out a "Hmmm."

Mayor Bourgeois, who was just offstage stood up, and stammered out, "Uh, think about it Ms. Nightingale, the son of the world's greatest fashion designer and the daughter of the Mayor of Paris — that would be just perfect!"

Marinette growled at this, gritting her teeth.

"Is there a problem, Master Dupain-Cheng?" Alya asked still in a joking tone.

"Chloé playing Ladybug? No way! Not gonna happen!" Marinette angrily stated.

"Oh? That bothers you more than not being with Adrien in the video?" Alya asked in disbelief.

Marinette had to quickly think of something to say that would throw off the rest of her friends, "Uh, if I were Ladybug, I wouldn't want a bitch like Chloé playing me."

Clara thought for a moment, and then walked to the stage edge where Nathalie was standing, and knelt down.

"What do you think, Mr. Agreste?" Clara asked Gabriel.

Gabriel rubbed his chin before answering, "Hmmm. Artistically speaking, the young lady with pigtails would've been ideal; but it's time to start filming. We'll make do with Ms. Bourgeois."

"I trust you, Mr. Agreste," Clara said.

Chloé who was still hugging Adrien, who had been resisting her let out a, "Woo-hoo! We're both going to be in a music video, Adrikins! ...Or should I say, Adri-cat! Get it? 'Adri-cat'?" Chloé laughed.

Adrien nervously said, "Adri-cat, yeah." he chuckled likewise. "By the way Chloé, where'd you get this Ladybug costume?" "Where do you think? I decided to cosplay as her!"

Marinette clenched her fists as she stood up and quickly and angrily stated "Hey wait!... I've changed my mind! I do wanna be Ladybug!"

This outburst made Tikki gasp from in Marinette's purse. "What the hell are you doing?!" Alya asked.

Clara suddenly sprung up and bounded over Marinette like a kangaroo, "Awesome! This will be the best video yet!"

First she hugged Marinette, then she kissed her on both cheeks. "Thank you, thank you, Marinette!"

Clara turned her attention back over to a now fuming Chloé, "I'm really sorry, what's-your-name,

But you can still be an extra in the video, if you're game!" Chloé was outraged as she yelled, "What?! You want me to be a mere...extra?! Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" she stormed away, followed by her father.

Outside the hotel, Chloe's butler let Chloé into the limousine, and then gave her her childhood teddy bear, Mr. Cuddly, on a tray.

Chloé took Mr. Cuddly, and tossed him on the seat next to her. "Unh! Stop annoying me with that stupid dumb bear, Jean-Eudes!" She sat for a moment, then picked up Mr. Cuddly and started sucking her thumb, until she got a wonderfully awful idea and gasped before letting out a "Hmmm."

Inside a dressing trailer, Marinette had put on the Ladybug costume given to her, except for the mask, which she was holding, and she examined herself in a mirror.

"Ooh! Great choice of fabric! And these seams! Amazing craftsmanship! Almost like the real thing, don't you think?" Tikki said, admiring the costume.

"I think that if the suit were any tighter to go with skintight then her buttcrack would be showing along with her-" Bridgette told her, but was stopped by her twin who responded with, "Okay, alright, I get it, I wasn't thinking straight when I created the suit. Speaking of which, as for my thoughts on this, it's too well done! Oh wow, Tikki; I really messed up this time! If they see me with this mask on, they're all gonna recognize me for sure! There's no way! I can't wear it!"

"Bitch, please! From my experiences with you in that damn suit, your face was extremely out of focus, especially when up close! I guess it's because of some kind of Miraculous magic?"

The stagehand then knocked on door, and asked through it, "You ready, Ms. Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette anxiously responded with "Uh, yes, I'm coming!" she quickly placed the mask within a pile of folded fabric on a shelf, and ran out to the stage, while Bridgette stayed inside playing on her black phone.

Alya then pointed. "There she is!"

Alya, her friends, and others cheered on Marinette.

Clara was clapping before saying, "Oh, spot on! And spotlight! Spotlights then switched on.

She then turned her full attention to both Marinette and Adrien. "So, you're Ladybug and Cat Noir, right? Also, no need to worry about sweating in those, they're made from a fabric that's poris, to let the skin breathe instead of being uncomfortably tight." Marinette and Adrien: Good to know that I -uh- WE won't be pouring out our own sweat when we're finished!" "Nope! Uh...uh...yeah! Aah..." they both chuckled. Adrien then leaned closer to Marinette and told her "Believe you me, wearing a costume while being soaked head-to-toe in your own sweat is absolutely disgusting! Ugh!" He shivered at the thought.

Outside, Chloé, minus her wig, was pushing her father toward the entrance, all while he was trying to tell her, "But sweetie, there's no way we can cancel the shoot now."

Chloé pulled out her phone and threatened, "I'm going to call Mom and tell her how all my dreams have been crushed!" She then feigned sorrow.

Mayor Bourgeois started stammering anxiously, then grabbed Chloé's phone and started punching in a phone number. "Let's not disturb our beloved Queen for such a little matter; right, my little Princess?"

Back inside, Clara was instructing bogh Marinette and Adrien on arm movements for dancing.

Clara was demonstrating arm moves left arm out, right arm out, both up, then down. "One, two, and three."

Marinette and Adrien, who were facing Clara, copied the moves, Marinette was lagging behind Adrien. Marinette's friends watch from just in front of the stage.

"This feels a bit like exercising, feels good!" Marinette commented. Then there came a pop with Adrien asking "Ow, did anyone hear that bone go click? It was quite painful!" He just resumed copying Clara. "What part of your body did it come from?" "My back, there's this disk that tends to slip out, the nasty little bugger, heh! One, two, three."

Clara heard Adrien's back problem then started teaching a dance move that she hoped would go easier on Adrien. "Your dance moves need to be synchronized if you can,

So you'll need to hold each other by the hand." Marinette and Adrien turned to face each other, and clasped their right hands as if shaking hands.

"Okay," Adrien chuckled as he and Marinette smiled nervously at Clara, and Marinette's friends giggled.

Clara suddenly said "Not like that. Don't be shy!"

She put Adrien's left hand in Marinette's right.

"Like lovers do. Give it a try!" Marinette and Adrien gape anxiously at their clasped hands — Adrien's left hand oddly wearing the Cat Noir ring.

Alya took out her phone and began snapping away, trying to get as many phone pictures of Marinette and Adrien, as the other girls watched. "Marinette's jaw will drop when she sees these pics!" she said when she was done.

The pictures were seen of Marinette and Adrien gaping, then smiling bashfully as they looked up away from each other.

"Oh! I can't believe how much they look like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir!" Rose said. Alya tugged at her collar before saying, "Y-yeah, how uncanny!"

"One final task:

Put on the mask," Clara said enthusiastically. Adrien nervously told her, "Uh, I didn't see it. I looked everywhere in the dressing room for it but it was..."

Marinette, simultaneously told her, while also nervous, "Uh, well, I...found the costume, but the mask was, um..."

Then both Marinette and Adrien said in unison, "...nowhere to be found!"

Clara started to laugh, prompting Marinette and Adrien to laugh, then Marinette's friends as well.

As Marinette and Adrien were viewed on the phone fidgeting awkwardly, still holding hands, Alya then said, "They don't look a thing like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir now!"

Suddenly the stagehand shouted from next to a dressing trailer, "It's okay! I found them!"

Marinette, Adrien, and Alya gasped in dread. Moments later, Clara handed Marinette and Adrien their masks.

"Go ahead, put them on, you two.

We've got a lot of singing and dancing to do," Clara enthusiastically told them. Marinette and Adrien faced each other, anxiously staring down at the masks in their hands, the eyes of the whole room upon them.

Alix let out a "Woohoo!"

Mylène then added in an impatient "Come on!"

To the sound of their heartbeats, both the anxious Marinette and Adrien slowly raised their masks to their faces, closing their eyes when they had the masks near, until...

Mayor Bourgeois came walking in, carrying a stack of papers about a foot tall, as Chloé smiled smugly and smirked behind him. "I'm sorry. My administrative staff just realized you never submitted permit A38 as stipulated in the circular B65 that one can only get at counter C, third floor of City Hall, which is, alas, closed for renovations until August, which means you don't have a permit to shoot...anywhere in France, including Paris," he told the shocked Clara. He then gave the heavy stack of papers to Clara.

Clara was bewildered as she stammered out, "I...I don't understand!"

Chloé smugly told her "It means no more dancing, no more singing today,

The nightingale can spread her wings, and fly away!"

Chloé grabbed Clara's microphone, and threw it off of the stage.

"Oh! Did you hear that? I made a rhyme! How talented am I?" she threw in Clara's face. Clara tossed the papers aside after quickly reading through them all, and tearfully ran down from the stage to her fallen microphone, whose star had cracked from the impact, and picked it up to see the damage.

Clara tearfully said, "No! The video needs to be shot here, in Paris, the capital of love, the city of Ladybug and Cat Noir!

          This ruins all of my plans!

I'm so sorry, my beloved fans!" Clara ran away in tears, and into a dressing trailer, where she leaned back against the door, crying. She dropped to the floor as she continued crying. Then an akuma flew into the trailer, and entered Clara's microphone, causing the butterfly image to appear before Clara's face.

Clara then heard Hawk Moth speaking to her, "Frightningale, I am Hawk Moth. So they tried to silence you? With the power I'm giving you, the world will be nothing but song and dance!"

Clara, unable to resist, said as she stood up "Yes, Hawk Moth, thank you, 

For making this dream come true!" She began transforming. Meanwhile, in the main room, Chloé clapped several times for attention as she addressed the extras.

"The show is over! You all have to leave now," she laughed in evil triumph. "FUCK OFF!" Adrien shouted angrily to her.

The extras started to leave. Before Adrien could roast her, a glowing whip suddenly struck Chloé and her father, giving them pink auras. The extras gasped.

Then they all saw Frightningale who was on a catwalk, "Sing, dance or rhyme,

Or you'll be frozen in no time!" "You see Chloè, this is exactly what happens when you act like such a bitch!" He flipped her a middle finger before running back to his trailer with Marinette doing the same, they quickly changed back into their regular clothes.

Chloé and her father approached Frightingale, clearly not taking the situation seriously as she asked, "What is she talking about? Dancing and making rhymes? And why not play the trumpet too, while you're at it—" Chloè suddenly turned into a shiny pink statue, causing everyone in the room to gasp.

Mayor Bourgeois gasped as well, "Chloé, hon!" Frightningale cackled.

He then quickly rralized what the supervillain meant and started to rhyme, "Please! Please! I'll keep up this rhyme,

Don't make me freeze, not this time!" "Oh, bravo!"

And you've got the right tempo!" Frightingale congratulated. She spun her whip, and started whipping some of the extras below, some of who turned into shiny pink statues while the rest fleed in panic.

Marinette witnessed everyhhing from inside her trailer, where Tikki flew into view and said, "Time to transform!"

Marinette then shouted, "Tikki, spots on! Yeah!" She transformed into Ladybug.

Adrien stopped pounding his head against his trailer's wall in complete disbelief that his own godsister was this selfish and cruel, as Plagg flew into view. "Ahem!"

"Yeah, yeah. Ready to vocalize? Plagg, claws out!" Adrien transformed into Cat Noir.

Outside the Grand Palais, Frightningale stood atop the Grand Palais, whipping people below, who turned into pink statues.

Frightningale shouted, "Sing, dance or rhyme,

Or you'll be frozen in no time!" From behind Frightningale, Ladybug used her yo-yo to catch Frightningale's whip-wrist.

"I thought you were a fan of Cat Noir and me, Nightingale; so you should know that we fight villains!" Ladybug told her.

"I'm Frightningale from here on out,

Forever and ever, there's no doubt!"

And if you stand in my way,

There'll be a price to pay!" Frightingale spat. "You have to come 'round! Don't let negative emotions take you over!" Ladybug begged.

Ladybug flung out her yo-yo at Frightningale, but she caught it, and spun the end of it as she approached Ladybug.

Frightningale then leaned close to her and said to her menacingly, "Song and dance will make the world a better place.

Don't agree with me? Ha! Then you're a disgrace!" Frightningale tried to hit Ladybug by twirling the end of the yo-yo she was holding. Ladybug's dodging it took their fight off the roof, and down to the ground, where Ladybug regained control of her weapon.

Ladybug tried one mord time to talk her down, "I can help you if you give me your akuma!"

"I won't let you take my akuma away.

I like the new me, and I'm here to stay!" Frightingale retaliated. She charged toward Ladybug, but she was tripped by Cat Noir's staff.

Cat Noir recovered his staff and spun with it. "Do you mind if I join the dance?" He extended his staff to the ground in front of him and rested his chin on it, on his hands.

Frightningale leapt up back onto the roof of the Grand Palais.

Frightningale screamed, "You're like all the others; but you can't silence me!

I'm just trying to make the world better, can't you see?" She then heard Hawk Moth "Strike them, Frightningale! It'll be easier for you

       to overpower them if they're forced to sing and dance!

Then no one will be able to stop you from

       accomplishing your dream. Now's your chance!" Frightningale nodded before addressing the two superheroes, "Do you really think the two of you

Can win this battle through and through?" Ladybug calmly told her "Two is always better than one! We're stronger together!" She turned to Cat Noir, "Cat Noir, I'll take the left."

"I'm on it!"

Ladybug and Cat Noir ran over to the Grand Palais, and ran and scampered up columns to leap above the roof, attacking Frightningale with their weapons. Frightningale maneuvered to cause Ladybug's yo-yo to merely snag Cat Noir's staff.

"Hey, look out!"

"Whoops! Sorry, Milady!"

On the heroes' second attempt, Frightningale's dodge caused Ladybug's yo-yo to entangle Cat Noir himself, and land him on the edge of the roof's dome. Ladybug quickly reeled him back down to her, but in their momentary discombobulation, Frightningale struck the two heroes with her whip, giving both of them pink auras.

Frightningale smiled "Welcome to my musical show.

I hope it will be your fatal blow!" She cackled as Cat Noir started forward for another attack, but Ladybug grabbed his arm.

"Wait! Stay right here and dance,

Or else you'll be frozen..." she told him just as she noticed her arm starting to become a statue.

       ...uh, without a chance!" her arm thankfully recovered.

Ladybug began moving rhythmically in place. Cat Noir caught on to what she meant, "Yeah, you're right. We have to rhyme.

Not so easy, um...all the time?" Ladybug sighed in relief, while Cat Noir also began rhythmic movement.

Frightinglae heard. Hawk Moth did as well, "Nice work. Ladybug and Cat Noir cannot fight back!"

"They're too busy singing and dancing while we're on the attack.

Now hurry, sweet Nightingale, it's both of their Miraculouses that I lack." Frightningale told him, "Hawk Moth, you bet! The Miraculouses you'll get!" Ladybug then flung her yo-yo, but Frightningale fended it off.

"Stay in charge, Cat Noir; don't blow a fuse!

Don't forget your dancing fight moves!" "Dancing fight moves...? Like my Capoeira grooves!" Cat Noir launched into a series of Capoeira moves, and then the battle briefly resumed until they reached a stand-off.

Frightningale chuckled, "Why is Cat Noir so dumb?

He doesn't even know fifty plus fifty is a sum!" Hey! Yes I do;

The dummy is you!

"It's—" Ladybug then cut off Cat Noir "Fifty plus fifty's a hundred and two!" Frightningale let out a "Huh?"

Ladybug and Frightningale resumed battling.

Cat Noir shouted, "Your math is crazy.

Count again, Milady." "Fifty plus fifty — the sum doesn't rhyme!"

One more false move and you're trapped, big time!" Ladybug warned him. "Uh-oh, I almost made a serious boo-boo,

But I didn't, thanks to you!" The battle continued until Ladybug and Cat Noir leapt to the ground, followed by Frightningale, who looked around for the heroes, but didn't see them.

Frightningale called out, "You think you two are being so clever,

But soon you'll tire yourselves, and be frozen forever!" Ladybug and Cat Noir were hiding behind a bus that had an ad about the upcoming Weather Girl contest, continuing to move rhythmically.

Ladybug said to Cat Noir "It's not in our favor at a glance,

Because we constantly have to advance,

While keeping up this song and dance.

We can leave nothing to chance."

"Sweet Bugaboo, I agree.

But what possible plan do you see?"

Ladybug suddenly spotted Bridgette in the Ladybug costume talking to Officer Roger, and she pointed to the duo.

"I guess our last weapon that is to do her any harm.

Is a distraction instead of a Lucky Charm!"

Bridgette then approached both heroes with Roger in tow, "What do you need?"

Ladybug pointed to Roger's set of handcuffs, to which he nodded and let her take them. Ladybug then used Lucky vision to see what to do next

Ladybug saw the cuffs, Cat Noir's ring, and her yo-yo. She gave a thumbs-up.

"Stay here and help them Officer, I'm gonna go get out there," Bridgette bravely told Roger who responded with, "Are you sure about this Marinette?" She nodded.

"Hey Frightingale, here's Marinette! You know, the pne who stood up for you Remember?" Frightingale landed on the stage her eyes focused on her. "Hm, indeed you did help me by your own choice. Now, tell me 'Ladybug', how is your singing voice?" Frightingale whipped Bridgette causing her to glow pink just as she picked up an electric guitar and started playing it.

Meanwhile while Bridgette was singing, "They're not for Frightingale; they're meant for us!

Now Cat Noir, do your stuff!" Ladybug told Cat Noir who hesitated.

"What's with the frown?

What's going down?"

"I can't find a rhyme.

Can you help me this time?"

"Oh Cat Noir, you're such a sweet-talker,

Rhymer, dancer and walker."

Cat Noir shrugged.

"Good luck!" Roger said. Ladybug handcuffed her right arm to Cat Noir's left, and used her yo-yo to lash her right ankle to his left.

Then they both with the help of Officer Roger, snuck over behind Frightingale of whom Bridgette somehow got to dance along to her song.

Ladybug swung Cat Noir toward Frightingale to get closer without being detected by her, he then did the same for her and with that she grabbed for the mic, missed, and knocked down the supervillain.

She was surprised to see them bound together.

"Connected, we're one; our movements are synched.

So let's get a move on, because we are linked!" Ladybug said as she and Cat Noir started toward Frightningale.

Then both Ladybug and Cat Noir say in unison, "As if we were dancing without thought,

Take this shot!" They struck Frightningale. "By any chance,

Will you grant me this dance?" Ladybug asked. She over at her sister and nodded. Bridgette gave a thumbs-up.

Cat Noir: "Let's cut a rug,

MiLadybug!" Cat Noir joked. The heroes fought and kicked Frightningale back inside the hotel.

Frightningale ran and climbed onto the stage.

Frightningale turned toward Bfidgette and sreamed, "You tricked me! How could I not see?!" And as for you two, you can't bend the rules!

Dancing tied up is cheating, fools!" "Well, when someone's akumatized,

We never compromise."

Cat Noir then told Frightingale as he and Ladybug climbed onstage, You know you've lost already! The battle continued between the heroes and Frightningale was pitched, until Ladybug and Cat Noir push Frightningale back, and grabbed her whip-wand together. Ladybug Cat Noir tossed it over to Bridgette who smashed it in midair by kicking it, freeing the akuma. Ladybug released the handcuffs, and threw them back over to Officer Roger. "Thank you !" "No officer, thank you! Now as you can see, we have much to do," Ladybug assured him.

"Wanna say it with me?"

"You know that I do."

Ladybug and Cat Noir shouted, "Miraculous Cleanse!" as Ladybug threw up one of her hands in the air.

The Miraculous wave restored all of the petrified people to normal, and removed Ladybug's, Cat Noir's, and Bridgette's pink auras.

Ladybug: "No more evil-doing for you, little akuma. Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug captured the akuma and purified it. "Gotcha! Bye-bye, little butterfly."

Frightningale turned back into Clara Nightingale.

Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Bridgette fist-bumped "Pound it!"

"Ladybug? Cat Noir! What are you doing here?" Clara asked confused.

"You were akumatized by Hawk Moth; but everything's back to normal again," Cat Noir explained.

Clara's eyes widened "I was saved by the two of you?

How amazing! Too good to be true!" Ladybug then noticed that both hers and Cat Noir's shadows were taking the form of Queen V and Null respectively, Ladybug tore her eyes away from them to put her focus and mind back onto Clara to whom she told, "And, I have an idea how you can finish your video without anyone getting in your way!" Ladybug walked up to Clara, and whispered in her ear; Clara smiled. "Well, I look forward to whatever the video will be like, I gotta get going now!" Cat Noir told them and kissed Clara's hand before vaulting away. "I think I should go as well, because my voice is shot from all that singing!" Bridgette said, her voice hoarse. "What singing?" Clara asked. "Check the security cams, they'll show you what I mean. Say Ms. Nightingale, would it be alright if I kept this Ladybug costume?" Clara nodded, "Thanks!" Bridgette then started running home. "She can also take the spare

While Mr. Agreste can keep his as both costumes were created by my mother, Clair," Clara briefly explained.

A week later on Friday the 11th, at the Collège Françoise Dupont library that had a poster for the Paris music festival, the finished "Miraculous" video was being displayed on the large screen, while the students watched with the exception of Chloe who was sulking over at her home.

Marinette's voice came onscreen as voice-over, 🎵In the daytime, — I'm just a normal girl, with a normal life. But there's something about me that no one knows, 'cause I have a secret.🎵

During Marinette's narrative, the video shows various people, to include all of Mrs. Bustier's students except Chloé, dancing in sync while wearing either Ladybug or Cat Noir masks, starting with Juleka and Rose with the Eiffel Tower in the background, followed by Alya in front of the Arc de Triomphe, which pulled out to reveal Alix, Nino, Alya, Kim, and Max, and then Ms. Mendeleiev, Mrs. Bustier, Mr. Haprèle, Mr. Damocles, Mr. D'Argencourt, Officer Roger, and another woman in the school courtyard.

Then came the chorus ♫Miraculous! Simply the best!

Up to the test when things go wrong!

Miraculous! The luckiest!

The power of love always so strong,

Miraculous!♫ During the verse the video's dancing shots continued with one of Marc, Nathaniel, Mylène, Ivan, and Sabrina in front of the Hôtel de Ville, followed by Ondine at the swimming pool, and then Adrien, Marinette, and Luka by the Canal Saint-Martin.

Rose piped up in the library, "It's so much better like this!"

"At least now everybody gets to be in it!" Mylène added.

Alya then slyly put in, "Besides, even though Marinette and Adrien kinda look like Ladybug and Cat Noir, they really weren't believable."

Marinette added on top of Alya's statement, "I couldn't agree more! And I wouldn't have had any fun playing Ladybug. It was so much better being with you all!"

Rose ran over to hug Marinette, followed by Mylène and Alix, as Kim, Alya and Juleka also leaned in for the hug.

"Yeah, I prefer this version, too. I couldn't have pulled off playing Cat Noir," Adrien admitted.

Marinette agreed dismissively, "I know. Worlds apart!"

Adrien gasped, wondering what Marinette meant, "What?"

Marinette ran over to Adrien realizing her mistake, "Uh, what I meant was that you'd be more lame as Cat Noir than in real life. No! N-Not that you're lame in real life, right? It's just, compared to Cat Noir, you're just, I mean...you don't look a thing like him, that's what I mean," she stammered.

Adrien chuckled, "And you don't look a thing like Ladybug either."

Marinette let a "Huh?"

Adrien then added, "Uh, yeah, I mean, I'm sure she's not as funny as you are!"

Both Marinette and Adrien laughed.

"Yeah," Marinette said happily.

"I'll say this, you've got some great singing pipes, Marinette!" Sabrina complemented. "Why thank you Sabrina! Adrien wasn't so bad either." Adrien smiled.

Meanwhile, Hawk Moth was watching the video and was frowning. Mayura then placed another chess piece onto the board, "They may have won the battle again today, but soon with your army growing, it will be you who will come out on top!"

Marinette's earlier thought where both Ladybug and Cat Noir weren't well-known enough to be on Wikipedia was utterly shattered the moment the music video was released, meaning the entire world knew, spreading to the Unted Heroez of New York, and then even to a bored 13-year-old Conrad Zacharie "Zak" Storm who was just scrolling through YouTube's collection of music videos. There's more superheroes?! he thought to himself before handing the computor over to his father and grabbing his surfboard to go ride the Florida waves.