#inimitable verse

[gctawaygirl]

open: slightly younger f muse: victor russo (27) plot: best friend's little sister, already secretly dating or secret feelings yet to be revealed

victor loved coming home for the holidays. he spent such long days researching for his phd and working for his assigned professor that having any kind of break was heaven. however, two weeks of no lectures and no long, tedious books was tenfold. he got to see his mom and he got to spend some time with his second family. his best friend stefan and his family has always welcomed him in and that was why he always spent a few days of any visit home staying with them. stefan let him in but had a "thing" he had to take care of so victor was left to unpack. he easily found the guest room, lovingly known as his room whenever he made plans to come home when he heard footsteps approach the door. he turned and smiled when he saw stefan's younger sister, "hey you," he greeted, stepping forward.

[kraviolis]

one concept that will forever live in my mind rent free is the concept of spider-people that were never bit by a spider. theyre just regular humans that chose to be spider-man. they chose to take this great responsibility onto their fragile shoulders because helping others is just that important to them.

[gctawaygirl]

open to : m / f / nb muse : camille fairburn plot : a little drunken escapade after a long day at work. cam is giggly and happy and your muse is whatever you want. can be platonic or romantic.

"hey, hey, hey! come back here!" cam protested, her glass chasing after theirs, "it's bad luck to not clink glasses during a cheers, our glasses didn't clink!" she whined and giggled at the same time, "you don't want bad luck, do you?"

[gctawaygirl]

open : slight older m muse : bailey mccoy plot : bailey promised to keep her bff's protective, older brother (your muse) busy so bff can spend midnight of new year's eve with her new boyfriend. in a moment of panic, she can only come up with one solution (this can literally go in any direction, go wild)

"i'm sure she just ran into someone," bailey reassured him as he looked around for his sister, her best friend. she was doing her duty as the best friend to help her get a romantic evening. however, the older man was not falling for distractions of the conversational kind, especially as it got closer to midnight. they were down to the last minute and he had decided to go look for her, "wait!" bailey exclaimed and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands. before she could even think about it, she had pulled him in for a kiss. she did so just as the countdown started and the kiss lasted until it was over and everyone was cheering. she pulled away and smiled awkwardly and almost apologetically, "happy new year?" she phrased it as a question, almost as an explanation for the kiss. she had been hoping it was enough of a distraction but her mind was also now flooded with how good the kiss had been.

[gctawaygirl]

open : f only muse: zara wilder (25, lesbian) plot : zara is staying with her best friend for the holidays and some relatives are over. zara and her bff are watching movie and the bff's mom/sister/aunt/cousin joins them. when her bff falls asleep, who know what they could get up? anything from fluffy cute kissing to pure filth, go wild!

it was fairly dark in the room aside from the lights coming from the screen. even still, zara could see that her best friend had fallen asleep. if it weren't for the closed eyes, the light snoring gave it away. she glanced over at the other's relative sitting ona nearby armchair, "and then there were two," she said with a slight life. zara moved the pillow from her lap, showing off her nearly bare legs, the only parts covered by her pale blue pajama shorts. she reached for a blanket and put it over her friend carefully, "i guess she was tired."

[gctawaygirl]

open: m/f/nb single parent muse: april marchant (30) plots: first meeting, romantic or platonic (potential for long term plotting/multiple threads)

april was trying to sleep. or she had tried to sleep about an hour ago. now she was baking in the early hours of the morning because she couldn't sleep. she had hoped that it would tire her out enough to actually fall asleep despite the crying baby next door. damn these thin walls. she knew that as soon as she could afford a better place, thicker walls would be on her list of requirements. as she pulled a batch of cookies out of the oven and put them on a cooling rack, the crying got louder. it appeared the baby had been brought out into the corridor. enough was enough. april was not someone who kicked up a fuss but this was too much. she turned the oven off and made her way to the door of her apartment, throwing it open and opening her mouth to say her piece. then she was stopped by what she saw. a person with very dark circles under their eyes, someone very clearly struggling with a crying baby in their arms.

[gctawaygirl]

open : m only muse: allegra hadley (24) plot : allegra and your muse are from rival mob families and they are being married off to create an alliance but allegra is in a secret relationship with somebody else a douchebag. living together during their engagement, allegra and your muse have hooked up once or twice maybe lowkey falling in love but not necessary and her secret boyfriend found out. he did not take it well and allegra has just come home after this interaction.

allegra was a mess. as she walked up the steps to her apartment, she hoped that her fiance wasn’t home or he was in bed. If he wasn’t around or out cold, she would be able to clean herself up. she could throw a load of washing on to hide the evidence of blood off her clothes and take a shower to get it off her face. she could patch herself up and would have time to get a story straight if he asked - and he would ask. stopping at the door, allegra looked at her phone to check the time. 2am. surely he was asleep. she caught a glimpse of her reflection on her phone through teary eyes. her right eye was swelling with a bruise and it extended along her cheekbone where there was a still-bleeding cut and also onto her nose. she also caught sight of the hickey on her neck that had set her secret lover off to begin with. how could she have been so stupid? putting the phone back in her pocket and pulling her jacket over her top to hide the blood, she unlocked her door and stepped inside. After she’d locked the door, she turned and gasped. of course, he wasn’t asleep.

[gctawaygirl]

open : everyone muse : scarlett monroe (29, pansexual) plot : scarlett is opening up an art gallary, her dream in life, and your muse is her best friend who is attending the opening to support her. they both indulge in the free champagne and at the end of the night, they go home together for an after party and... stuff happens.

"ugh, i hate this dress," scarlett muttered as she stumbled into her flat, leaving the door open for her best friend to follow. she haphazardly kicked off her nice heels - her only appropriate pair - and tried to reach for the zip on the back of the nice but tight dress she had on. she wasn't really a dress type, unless it was for a special occasion and tonight was that. she turned to the other, suddenly grinning in her tipsy state, "we should have gin!" she suggested, "or tequila."

[gctawaygirl]

closed starter : requested a starter via ask meme @storyofwhoiam muse : harold thorne (47, heterosexual) plot : ❝ if you're feeling down, i can feel you up. ❞

harold's day at work had not gone well. they had lost quite a bit of money today and somehow clients were unhappy. when he returned home, allie had noticed, obviously. otherwise she wouldn't have said what she did. he sat down on his armchair and looked over at her, eyebrows raised, "go on then," he said, "i am, in fact, feeling down."

[gctawaygirl]

open : m / nb muse : april marchant (30) plot : after a night of drinking together, april and your muse drunkenly confess their feelings for each other (april has had them for years, up to you for your muse) and spent the night together. the next morning, while nursing hangovers, they talk about the night before (and also do some not talking 😈). inspired by this and this.

april woke up in a bed that wasn't hers. it was her best friend's. she had slept in this bed before, not with him in it, but she recognised it easily. her head pounding, it took her a moment to remember why she was there. when it came back to her, she smiled and reached out across the bed. he was not there. her smile dropped and she frowned, sitting up. she heard sounds from the direction of the kitchen so jumped out of bed and picked up the nearest shirt - his shirt. she slipped it on and buttoned it up a little, just enough to keep her from being exposed. she walked into the kitchen, running a hand through her hair and smiling at the sight of him, "good morning," she said, her voice slightly croaky, "are you... cooking?" she asked, head tilted in surprise.

[gctawaygirl]

open starter : slightly older m muse : jasmine baker (23, heterosexual) plot : abandoned by her friends at the club, jasmine is hit on by some creeps and is rescued by a scary-looking older guy (who's actually a teddy bear) who pretends to be her boyfriend and they end up going home together (either to hook up or bc he walks her home)

jasmine didn't know why she did this. every time she went out with her friends, she ended up sitting by herself. she was happy to drink a little and dance with them but when they started dancing with prospective partners for the night, she stuck out like a sore thumb and ended up at the bar by herself. maybe she needed to get new friends... as she sipped on her drink, a man came up to her with a strange smile on his face, "hey sweet thing," he greeted and jasmine's entire body tensed up. "sorry, i'm not interested," she replied but this guy seemed persistent.

[gctawaygirl]

closed starter : liked for a starter for @deepinthedarkworld muse : hunter frost plot : based on this

"it's always been you," hunter said in character before he leaned in to kiss her. this was common. being hollywood's hot and upcoming heartthrob, he was not unfamiliar with kissing actresses in a scene. he went right in with the kiss as requested by the director. he kissed her like she was his girlfriend, all acting of course. or so he thought... he didn't hear the director said cut. he was too caught up in the kiss. this was their first kissing scene for the film and it was better than any kiss he had experienced. not that he would say this out loud but the director had to yell cut twice before he pulled away. he pulled away grining but dropped it when he realised the scene was over, "well done," he said to her, out of character now.

[turneradora]

NEW ABOUT RIVALS 💯💯💯💯

New article in the Harper's Bazaar UK, October Issue, to promote "Rivals"!

Amazing photoshoot !

Here is the article of the Harper's Bazaar Uk magazine !!

Thanks to Emma Jones for the written transcription ! 🙏👍🌺

Harpers Bazaar - October 2024

BEST OF ENEMIES

Bazaar recreates the fictional county of Rutshire to meet the cast of Rivals, a new TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s racy 1980s blockbuster

As Jilly Cooper’s Rivals leaps rambunctiously to our screens, we meet the cast of the saucy new show

It’s 1986 and, high over the Atlantic, a London-bound Concorde is about to break the sound barrier. Most passengers continue smoking, flicking through magazines and ordering martinis, while the rattling WC door indicates that two are currently joining the mile-high club. Moments later, an unruffled, glamorous couple emerge triumphantly from the loo and the tannoy announces that supersonic speed has been reached: everyone whoops; glasses are clinked; and the thumping chorus of ‘You might as well face it/you’re addicted to love’ is amped up. This is the opening scene of Rivals, the much-anticipated new television adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s bestselling novel, and it’s so unsubtle that, even alone in a dark screening bunker below the streets of Soho, it makes me splutter with laughter. It is also irresistible.

The 1988 book is a classic of the Cooper canon and part of the Rutshire Chronicles, a series based in a fictional Cotswolds county that follows the lives and loves of the affluent elite – an area the team behind its new, and first, on-screen adaptation are well-versed in bringing to life. Produced by A Very English Scandal ’s Dominic Treadwell-Collins and written by Laura Wade, who was behind The Riot Club, Disney+’s eight-part drama is also executivelyproduced by both Cooper and her literary agent Felicity Blunt. It is largely faithful to the novel but, as that has 700 pages and 79 characters listed by name and personality trait in an A-Z at the front, the show necessarily homes in on the central plot lines.

The two main protagonists are Rupert Campbell-Black (played by Alex Hassell), a former Olympic-gold show jumper turned Conservative MP (and, incidentally, the ‘best-looking man in England’); and Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner), an Irish broadcasting star who leaves the BBC to move to Rutshire with his actress wife Maud and children Taggie, Caitlin and Patrick. Declan’s new employer, Corinium Television, is run by David Tennant’s vile Lord Tony Baddingham and his sidekick Cameron Cook, an American producer he has lured over from New York, depicted by the US native Nafessa Williams. They are joined by a large supporting cast that includes Danny Dyer and Emily Atack.

The titular rivalries are many and varied, primarily centred on the struggle to win the local TV franchise; simultaneously, characters lock horns over love, money, class, pets, politics and property, while presenting chat shows, throwing parties and playing nude tennis. The resulting viewing experience is both a period drama that seems set on another planet and a series exploring themes that still resonate today.

Cooper – who, at 87, is still in full ownership of her signature cloud of coiffed hair, inimitable charisma and a hundred-mile-an hour conversation – loved working on the project. ‘It’s terribly exciting,’ she tells me, with an amazed shake of the head. ‘Other books of mine have been televised and it was awful – but with this, we took casting very seriously and I can’t fault any of them.’

During a break on Bazaar ’s shoot, Turner tells me how Cooper gave a cocktail party for the cast in her garden, and what a ball they all had filming in the West Country last summer. (The latter is clear: he’s delighted to see his co-stars, including the mongrel Pontie, who plays Gertrude, the O’Hara family dog, and some of her canine colleagues brought along for a day in front of the camera.)

The series appealed to the Poldark star immediately. ‘I thought the scripts were really, really funny – line-wise, I have some crackers,’ he says. Turner’s Declan is a big-hearted if self involved journalist, wrestling to reconcile his bosses’ desire to monetise his charm, his own dream of writing a Yeats documentary and the need to bread-win for his profligate family. Although this push and pull between being commercial and creative, between the professional and the personal, plays out in a larger-than-life fashion, it still somehow feels familiar to a modern viewer. ‘That’s the sign of really good television, isn’t it, when it holds the mirror up to our present,’ says the actor. ‘What have we thrown in the trash? What still needs to change?’

The ways in which prejudices have evolved in the past 40 years are thrown into quite harsh relief in the show. Casting a Black actress to play Cameron Cook, the damaged but resilient hot-shot American producer, gives the series an opportunity to delicately include a glimpse of the regularity of what we’d now recognise as racist micro aggressions. Equally, Cameron’s strength is joyful to witness. ‘Such a spicy, smart character – especially a Black woman, who can carry her own and get her way in the male-dominated world of that time – I wanted to sink my teeth into that,’ Williams says. ‘I also love the glamour: the red lip, the red nails.’ (The cast have embraced the scarlet-stiletto emoji – a replica of the original image on the classic book cover – as their unofficial series motif when posting on social media.)

The changing dynamics between men and women are portrayed with a light touch. Victoria Smurfit read Cooper as a teenager, and has now adored playing Declan’s wife Maud O’Hara – an insecure, attentionseeking former actress, the kind of mother who arrives at her son’s New Year’s Eve 21st-birthday party in the Cotswolds on a camel. ‘There are aspects of Rivals that make you think, “Oh my Lord, can you believe they got away with this back then?”’ the Irish actress says. ‘But in the show, it’s delivered in such a clear, fun, gentle, appalled way that a 2024 audience can digest it very easily.’ When I suggest the series has made more of the women and ensured they have three dimensions, perhaps to modernise the story a little, she makes a good point: that Cooper’s male characters – be it the rakish Rupert Campbell-Black or the angelic Lysander Hawkley of The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous – may seem the most famous because it was mostly women reading the books, and the author had designed her heroes – or antiheroes – to be ‘their perfect man’. ‘But look closely, and the women are not less than the men,’ she says. ‘Essentially, every character wants something they don’t have – usually love and safety – whether from their partners, animals or colleagues. Women in this world are entering the era of “having it all” and are learning to be open about what they want – and, by the same token, we are starting to see a softer side to the men.’

This is embodied perfectly in Bella Maclean’s Taggie O’Hara, the delightful, very dyslexic cook and daughter of Declan and Maud: on screen, she has slightly more twinkle in her eye than in the book – a good decision, as otherwise Taggie could be seen as almost too virtuous to be true to a modern audience. ‘But it’s so nice playing someone with a really strong backbone – it slightly rubs off on you,’ says the actress, who appeared in the latest Sex Education series and has just shone as the lead at the National Theatre’s London Tide. ‘Among all the silliness, the shoulder pads and mad hairdos, there’s always an undercurrent of something thought-provoking,’ she says of the show that could prove to be her career’s turning point. ‘There’s a love story that blossoms out of something really unpleasant. There’s light and shade.’

But the figure with perhaps the most chiaroscuro is Rupert Campbell-Black, Cooper’s number-one character, into whose shoes Alex Hassell is amazed to be stepping. Hassell is a seasoned RSC actor, with turns in The Miniaturist and His Dark Materials, whose theatre company The Factory counts Mark Rylance and Emma Thompson among its patrons. ‘I’m also from Essex, with dark features,’ he points out wryly, in reference to the white-blond locks and blue eyes of his new alter-ego, both of which are oft-alluded to in the books, and about which many young women dreamed in the 1980s and 90s. (Cooper was initially appalled.) ‘Rupert exudes privilege and confidence, so I had to learn a loucheness. It was helpful that everyone was told to treat me as if I was extremely attractive,’ he continues, laughing. ‘When you walk into a room of supporting artists who’ve been briefed to fall over themselves looking at you, smouldering becomes a lot easier. They imbued me with a certain power.’

In the Rivals prequel Riders, there are some pretty unpalatable aspects of Rupert’s personality – particularly the way he treats women and animals – that haven’t aged well. ‘We never explicitly had this conversation, but for my portrayal of Rupert, we’ve kept some parts of that history and taken out others. In our version, there’s a loneliness to him: he is a shit, but he has a kindness.’

However, there are two elements of Cooper’s storytelling to which the show stays steadfastly loyal: the abundance of sex and wordplay. Rupert’s dialogue is riddled with quips – some very clever, some very… Eighties. Hassell’s favourite is delivered just as Rupert is getting down to it, and involves a pun that combines Tories and the clitoris. ‘It was a hard sell,’ he says, laughing.

His character and storyline – which takes Rupert on, dare I say, a journey – are key to the show’s charm, pace, plot and sociopolitical signposting. What would Hassell like viewers to make of the series? ‘I hope people enjoy it, have conversations about the knottier topics it raises, and maybe have sex later,’ he says. ‘I say that jokingly, but – and maybe this is high hopes – perhaps for people who don’t talk to one another that much, as the series goes on, watching it with someone else might allow certain things to come to light.’

Cooper is delighted by this possibility. ‘Well, we’re philanthropists, aren’t we? I keep reading that the birth rate is going down like mad. Putting Rivals on the telly may help,’ she says, with the enthusiasm of a writer who has long had one foot in showbusiness: in her forties, she appeared in her capacity as a celebrity columnist on the BBC game show What’s My Line, and wrote a sitcom about a four-girl flat-share with Joanna Lumley in the lead role.

Revisiting the world she created – and partially lived in herself – 40 years ago has been bittersweet: it made her miss the era (‘it was much more naughty’), but also her late husband (‘there’s a lot of darling Leo and his jokes in the book’). Indeed, what today’s viewers may not clock is the real people Cooper drew on to shape several fictional figures, namely the ‘glamorous aristocratic types who were floating about when I, middle-class Jilly, moved to the country in ’82’. Rupert Campbell-Black, for example, is a patchwork of Andrew Parker Bowles, the late Earl of Suffolk and the fashion designer Rupert Lycett-Green. Her ‘beloved’ Taggie is entirely made up, but the scruffy Lizzie Vereker – a novelist whose husband cheats on her – is, she admits, based on herself: ‘She is nicer than me, though. I love her – that’s terribly narcissistic to say, but I do.’

Like her conversation, Cooper herself still rattles along at a good clip – last year, she released a bonkbuster about football inevitably titled Tackle!; this May, the King presented her with a damehood for services to charity and literature, and she’ll be tapping away at her typewriter on various secret projects right up to the very moment she is dragged out of rural Gloucestershire to the premiere of Rivals.

To all these endeavours, Dame Jilly continues to bring the same philosophies she always has: a disregard for snobbery (like many great minds, she rereads Proust and loves Helen Fielding) and a straightforward goal of contributing to the gaiety of the nation. ‘Maybe one day I’ll write something serious,’ she says. ‘But, at the moment, there’s some terrible sadness and loneliness, isn’t there? So, more than ever, and more than anything, I’d like to cheer people up.’

‘Rivals’ is released on Disney+ in October.

[evilwickedme]

This wasn't asked for because nobody in their right mind would ask for this but this is a fic rec list of fics I cannot stop rereading

Just started yet another reread of Inimitable Verse by deniigiq and I fully plan on rereading their into the multiverse series which occasionally crosses over also - this is a Spider-Man/team red focused series, think comics canon infused early mcu-spidey since only homecoming had come out for a non substantial amount of time they were working on the series and the daredevil stuff is explicitly tv show AND comics. Also the multiverse series is how I got into Murderdock and therefore how I got into Spider Gwen

Unpretty's Sorrowful And Immaculate Hearts series which is just a loosely interconnected series of DC fics. My personal favorites are Empty Graves, in which Martha Kent keeps killing time travelers trying to kill baby! Clark; any of their clois fics but especially Third Wheel; and Anti-Social, which is a social media fic mostly about Tim and Bruce that made me cry laughing. Catch Bruce trying to get Walmart's employees to unionize. Also shout out to unpretty's only fic with Jason in it, it looks awesome but is tragically incomplete

This particular Reverse Robin AU which put in the work to reverse every single younger generation and is chef's kiss I LOVE this version of Tim he's wild

Both of Shoalsea's fics are in constant rotation for me I talk about Into The Brighter Night all the time in the tags of reblogs and stuff it truly lives in my head rent free. Anyway Tim gets kidnapped by aliens and the batfam have to watch as yj98 saves him and it's angsty and funny and such a good take on what could have been if the new 52 hadn't happened. And Compassion Builds No House is about Tim and Pru from Red Robin. Ugh they're both so good

Speaking of Clois (I did you've just forgotten this by now) brilliant (like a confession) by kathkin (penny-anna on the hellsite) is so fucking good I'm. Okay. Anyway it'll be listed as inspiration if/when I finally post my two person love triangle fic for them

I'm too anxious to catch up on this before it's done but jumble sale chic is hands down the best spideydevil fic series despite and because of the omegaverse

Make A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul is my favorite take on Jason, period, and has a lot of fantastic Damian stuff going on too. It's updating every few weeks still! Sometimes more often! I love you bacondoughnut it's me JustGail the person who will not stop commenting on your fic you're stuck with me forever

I lied above Rumspringa Murderdock is what got me into Murderdock but that series is second place. I found this one while scrolling through the tv show's mattfoggy tag, thinking I was safe

Speaking of Murderdock mattfoggy, The Lawyer All the Wickedness was written early on in spider-gwen's history and so diverges from canon really early in ways that I think are super interesting and creative

Oh also straight on 'til morning by merils (Tumblr url mamawasatesttube) does SUCH a great job unpacking Kon's trauma and building up healthy relationships around him including a budding timkon romance and yeah it makes me sad and happy at the same time

We're getting into poisonivory territory so just trust if you like the pairing and poisonivory is writing it you'll like it. Ok rapidfire

Like A Handprint On My Heart mattfoggy soulmate au with a twist

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Damijon future fic/au. Jon came back from the future when both of them were 19. Demisexual!Damian at its best. Damian's terrified of being abandoned by Jon again and it made my heart hurt

I feel like I've already recommended every JayRoy fic by poisonivory and genuinely I do reread them all, sometimes in order of publication if I'm in a particular mood. Maybe the one I've read most though is I've Got the Feeling You're the Right Thing After All which is about Roy and Jason starting a fwb thing while Roy still harbors old feelings for Dick. Can't see anything going wrong here lmao

Mmm this post is long enough so I'll leave it at just superhero fic for now but I do in fact have the ability to do a whole post just for the Witcher or Leverage so I might do that. Anyway thanks for following me on yet another burst of insanity it will happen again

[black-arcana]

SPIRITBOX Reunites With MEGAN THEE STALLION For 'Tyg' Song

In an electrifying and unexpected new collaboration, Grammy-nominated heavy music trailblazers SPIRITBOX have joined forces once again with global hip-hop powerhouse Megan Thee Stallion for her latest project, "Megan: Act II". Produced by Bankroll Got It, Dan Braunstein, Mike Stringer (SPIRITBOX) and Shawn "Source" Jarrett, "TYG" showcases Megan's hard-hitting verses fused with SPIRITBOX's signature dynamic production and explosive riffs.

This marks the band's second team-up with the Houston icon, following the successful rock remix of Megan's hit single "Cobra", which made waves earlier this year. The collaboration was hailed as adding a "booming, reverb-drenched cascade of arena rock attitude" by Billboard, and "an extra layer of edge to the vulnerable track" by BET.

Joining Megan's highly anticipated project are other exciting features, including Flo Milli, RM of BTS and TWICE, further solidifying "Megan: Act II" as a groundbreaking moment in music. Fans of both SPIRITBOX and Megan can look forward to an unforgettable mix of heavy and hip-hop sounds on "TYG", which pushes boundaries and proves that the most unexpected partnerships can yield the most exhilarating results.

Most recently, SPIRITBOX released their newest single "Soft Spine", a standout track showcasing their evolving sound. The band is currently thrilling fans nationwide as part of KORN's 30th-anniversary tour, further cementing their reputation as one of metal's most dynamic and innovative forces.

For many artists, a meteoric rise can often mean a sudden plateau. However, for Grammy-nominated progressive heavy metal mainstays SPIRITBOX, there appears to be no end in sight on their near-constant ascent to the top. Formed in 2017 in the picturesque yet isolated region of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada by vocalist Courtney Laplante and guitarist Mike Stringer, SPIRITBOX would fully cement themselves as a household name in the summer of 2020 with the release of their blistering breakout single "Holy Roller", along with a host of other captivating singles shortly after, resulting in a media firestorm of hype.

With new and existing fans eagerly watching their next move, SPIRITBOX exceeded every expectation imaginable in 2021 with the release of their genre-defining debut studio album "Eternal Blue" via Pale Chord/Rise Records. "Eternal Blue", which debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200, kicked open the doors of the heavy metal scene and rewrote the genre's playbook with 12 stunning tracks that incorporated everything from djent and post-metal to infectious synth-laden pop sensibilities and cinematic arrangements, brought fully to life by the inimitable Laplante's ethereal and commanding vocal performances.

The album cycle for "Eternal Blue" saw SPIRITBOX not only grace the covers of esteemed music publications such as Revolver, Alternative Press, Rock Sound and Kerrang!, among many others but would also solidify the band as one of the most in-demand groups in live music today with their one-hundred percent sold out, first-ever headlining tour in support of the album which saw ticket sales over 40,000. The band would also share the stage with seasoned metal veterans such as LIMP BIZKIT and GHOST and win "Best International Breakthrough Band" at the 2021 Heavy Music Awards.

In 2022, SPIRITBOX secured highly-coveted spots at numerous major U.S. rock and metal festivals and were nominated for two JUNO Awards, respectively. SPIRITBOX would also round out their current lineup with the inclusion of drummer Zev Rose and bassist Josh Gilbert in addition to releasing their sonically experimental EP "Rotoscope" in June of that year as well as a cross-genre collaboration with dubstep artist Illenium for the track "Shivering".

During another whirlwind year for the band, including a U.S. tour with SHINEDOWN and PAPA ROACH, SPIRITBOX wrote and recorded their critically acclaimed EP, "The Fear Of Fear", released in November 2023. The EP features the single "Jaded", which was nominated for "Best Metal Performance" at the 66th annual Grammy Awards. In the same month, the band would make another genre-bending splash with a high-profile collaboration with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of her song "Cobra".

Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner

[tomorrowxtogether]

Tomorrow X Together: “The fact that you always get a new tomorrow is a miracle”

On their sixth mini-album ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, the Big Hit boyband continue their group mission to create a better future, while looking back on their story so far

Tomorrow X Together (aka TXT) have always been a group that looks to the future. That forward-looking essence is built into their name, which stands as a promise to work as a team to create “a better tomorrow”. On their sixth mini-album, fittingly titled ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, they take that approach and feed it into a narrative that looks forward to a new day when they can reunite with a long-lost companion from their past.

It’s a record that’s full of optimism, and as singer Taehyun tells NME two weeks before its release, the boyband hope its story will “make people excited about the future and their tomorrow”. On ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, the idea of the future is both a motivating force and a notion filled with anticipation. In the bright, energetic ‘Quarter Life’, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai use it to keep themselves going through a quarter-life crisis.

‘Deja Vu’, meanwhile, looks forward to reconnecting through an intriguing concept. “Not knowing the reason of my tears, my anemoia,” they sing in its first verse and that last word – a reference to a nostalgia for a time you’ve never known – crops up again in the title of the remix that closes the mini-album. “[The lyrics] say that the expectation of meeting ‘you’, which feels like a far-off future, is really big,” Taehyun explains. “But we’re so anticipating and excited for that moment of our reunion.”

As our protagonists look forward to that reunion, they take stock of what they already have on ‘Miracle’ – a sublime piece of glimmering electronic rock – and take a moment to remind themselves and us not to take those around us for granted. Soobin, Yeonjun, Taehyun and Hueningkai participated in the lyric writing – although Taehyun is quick to point out all five members worked on the theme of the track – filling it with reflections from their own experiences over the years.

“We mostly focused on two overarching themes – the little miracles that we face in life and what’s invisible to the eye but is still important,” says Taehyun, ever keen to dive into the discussion. The second, he notes, was harder than the first because “everything seemed like it was visible”. Eventually, though, it was this release’s title – and their band name – that provided inspiration.

“At the end of the day, we thought of tomorrow or the future – the fact that you always get a new tomorrow seemed like another miracle to us,” he added. To the 22-year-old, there’s something almost magical about the group experiencing those new tomorrows together, too: “The fact that all five members are always together to this day seems like a miracle to me.”

If there’s one thing you can rely on TXT to do as they move forward, it’s to always be creating something new. Across their journey so far, they’ve made it their M.O. to tackle a broad spectrum of genres – from acoustic ballads to raging emo-rock and almost everything in between – and make them feel distinctively, inimitably their own. That’s an approach that extends to ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’, charting new ground in UK house and Afrobeats. The mini-album also offers up new combinations of sub-units, the three youngest members taking on ‘Quarter Life’, while Soobin and Yeonjun share ‘The Killa (I Belong To You)’.

The stories behind these songs embody the passion and hard work that Tomorrow X Together put into their music, with each team having to adapt to new sounds and arrangements. “I had to fit my key to the other two [members], which was a little higher compared to my most natural range,” Beomgyu recalls. Rather than complain or be easily defeated, he adopted a determined attitude to help him: “I approached it with the mindset of, ‘I’ll make it happen in my 101st attempt if not [on] my 100th’.”

Soobin had his own struggles on ‘The Killa’. “It’s not my go-to genre, so I had some trouble singing the song in the beginning, and it took me quite a while to wrap my mind around the vibe of it,” he shares candidly. In the studio, the producer suggested he use what Yeonjun had recorded to guide him in creating his own take on the track. “In a way, he was like my bible, my reference, so I think I learned a lot from him this time,” the group’s quiet leader says, gesturing to Yeonjun with a small but grateful smile on his face.

‘Minisode 3: Tomorrow’ might form another commitment from TXT to keep looking to the future, but it also throws its gaze backwards. Its plot line references back to the promise shared in the video for ‘Nap Of A Star’ to “meet again, even if we part ways”, while the record’s second track brings back the morse code that’s appeared in the band’s work since their debut. ‘Deja Vu’’s lyrics, too, call back to songs from throughout their story so far, with nods to the likes of ‘Run Away’ and debut single ‘Crown’.

Diving back into the past wasn’t just a nostalgic exercise, though, but a tool to help them push on. “As we were preparing for this album, I did look up many of our past performances from our albums,” Hueningkai says. “I was inspired a lot while listening to our songs from the past as well.”

Now is a perfect time for TXT to review everything they’ve done since they first introduced themselves to the world in 2019. Just a few weeks before we speak, the group celebrated the fifth anniversary of their debut – a milestone moment that follows plenty of big achievements over the last half-decade. As the five members indulge NME in reflecting on their time together so far, the overarching mood is not one of boastful pride but of immense thankfulness.

“I never expected that I would make it this far, so I only feel a huge sense of gratitude for the fact that I’m standing here right now,” Hueningkai says as his bandmates nod in agreement around him. “I just want to do my best to make sure that I live up to everybody’s expectations.” Next to him, Yeonjun casts his mind back to their pre-debut days. “Our trainee days were rough,” he begins, causing Hueningkai to throw his ashy blue hair forward in gentle laughter. “But we went through challenges together as one team, so I’m grateful for what I have right now. I will never take anything for granted and keep on doing my best.”

Of all that TXT have experienced in the last five years, it’s some of the stages they’ve been given the opportunity to perform on that have surprised them the most. “Like Lollapalooza, or our stadium concerts and dome performances,” Taehyun lists. “I never imagined that would happen, so I have to say those moments kind of blew my mind.” After the translator finishes conveying his words, he switches to English: “Seeing crowded stages was really special.”

Last year’s Lollapalooza headline set, in particular, felt like all of the group’s drive, appetite and raw talent all brought to fruition wider recognition of a very special act. It was TXT’s second performance at the Chicago festival, seeing them level up from a late-afternoon slot on a small stage to main stage-topping glory in just one year came with much more positive feelings than their Lolla debut.

“The only thought in my mind was just happiness – I was so, so happy throughout,” Beomgyu recalls of their time on stage in Grant Park last August. “I could see this never-ending wave of light flashes that people were radiating with their cellphones, and it just gave me the feeling that we were the stars of the evening, which hyped me up so much.” Even after the performance was long over, that warmth remained: “I kept on having this lingering happy feeling with me.”

Over their first five years together, TXT have earned themselves many other titles than just bona fide festival headliners. They’re regularly referred to as the it boys and leaders of K-pop’s fourth generation, and now, no longer new faces on the scene but established stars, they’re thinking about what they might mean to those who follow in their footsteps.

“We had our own role models in our minds from the beginning, so we know how much that means to somebody,” Yeonjun says thoughtfully. “I just hope that we will become positive influences and hopes for up-and-coming artists.” Meanwhile, Hueningkai adds that “as an artist, I want to become someone who can be respected and admired by other people. Just becoming somebody else’s role model itself would be great.”

As TXT continue to look to the future and move forward with their adventurous music and affecting storytelling, they have other ambitions they hope to fulfil, from small but important things to grander aims. “As a group, our biggest priority is always to remain healthy and happy at all times,” Taehyun notes. “We have our third world tour coming up, so we just want to enjoy those moments fully. I just want to impart messages of hope and positivity to everybody and just fill everybody’s head with optimism.”

Tomorrow X Together’s new mini-album ‘minisode 3: Tomorrow’ is out now