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kangaracha · 13 days ago

Text

love trending

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pairing changbin x reader

genre romance, meet cute, love at first sight, humor, fluff

summary somehow, someway, seo changbin finds and likes a TikTok of yours, and you think that single like is the end of your fleeting encounter. but fate has other plans...

a/n hi, hello, hope everyone is doing well! so how many times do we think i can sneak post on roo's tumblr before she removes my access. lol anyway. this is her birthday present that i totally didn't write in literally two nights on a whim. and misled her about the plot (but not really). i hope everyone enjoys, and happy birthday roo :)

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You'll be honest - most of the time you hate your job.

It's not about the people, or the place, but mainly because you would much rather spend your time doing anything else. Singing, drawing. The puzzle books your aunt got you last year that you never found the time to glance in. Dancing, above all else. Moving to the music, dropping on beat, and matching that rhythm perfectly...the views on TikTok didn't really matter to you at the end of the day, because at least you were able to do something that you loved.

Performing on your own time, doing your own thing. It was freeing, and exciting, and made your chest swell up in pride when you looked in the mirror and were happy with what looked back at you. You weren't someone held down by the push and go of life, when you danced, or after.

You were exactly who you wanted to be.

"You know I think your break was up like, five minutes ago," Seulji whispers as she slides into the booth next to you, shoulder bumping with yours. "Do you think anyone noticed?"

"Aren't you supposed to be serving customers?" you say without looking up from your phone, flicking to the next social media post. Your lips curve in a smile when one of your favorite groups pops up, starting a live. You click into it, and send a few hearts as soon as you're able to. Your chest fills - something small to help get you through the day. It was nice having silly little things like this to look forward to from a music group you enjoyed listening to.

"Only when they ask," Seulji quips, sliding closer, tone playful. She's been your co-worker for ages, and you got along better than most, sarcasm your second language. The customers always left gleaming reviews about the two of you, so the manager was lenient. You really couldn't complain.

Until Seulji glances at your phone screen and the teasing begins.

"Your boyfriend's doing a live again?" she questions with a knowing curve to her lips.

You blush, stomach twisting with an emotion you don't know how to name. Sure, you were a little too interested at times, but what was wrong with that? You weren't over the top, or crazy, or...anything you wouldn't want to admit. You were just up to date on their next shows, the newest album, the cutest member of the group...

"Stop that," you chide quietly, pulling your phone closer. "And this isn't even the right one."

At the end of the day, Seulji was just playing around, and you knew that. She had even gone the extra mile to try and learn some of their names, though she was still confusing one or two. But still -

"Oh right, sorry. Wrong arms," she groans, though she's still smiling wide. "Is this one...Hyunjin?"

You're happily shocked. Had she finally dived into the video folder you'd left sitting open for her a few weeks ago? You knew it was a slippery slope; it was easy to sink in once you were hooked. Maybe she finally took the bait. "Yes, actually," you say, turning to give her a look, "how did you know?"

Seulji shrugs, busy fiddling away on her own phone.

She's probably texting her boyfriend. It was all she ever did these days, and the thought didn't make you all that jealous. Or maybe it did? You weren't sure. All you knew was that they got together one Friday evening through a cupcake prom ask, and it was all Seulji did since. It was maybe the one thing she did that left a bad taste in your mouth, but what did you know? Maybe you would act the same if you ever got a boyfriend of your own, though the ten cats and barn idea was still something you were starting to prefer after every failed attempt at a date.

The bell above the front door rings a few times then, and you lift your head once you notice that the chatter around your hidden corner booth has grown. The line for coffee and pastries has grown enough that the two left behind the counter have grown frantic, rushing around each other. The manager is busy dealing with a very not nice-looking customer at the end, going over their receipt line by line.

You exhale and drag yourself out of the booth, throwing your phone in your pocket and fixing your apron as you go, strapping your hat around your messy bun. "Wish me luck," you tell Seulji, who gives a wave of her hand and a few words of encouragement in response before turning back to her phone.

The sudden crowd is easy to manage once you get back into the swing of things, and the noise of the small cafe has died down considerably as you turn back around to help the next customer in line, who was hiding behind the rest of the line in a baseball cap and a dark sweatshirt and baggy pants. A face mask covers the bottom half of his face as he greets you, eyes crinkling with his hello.

And something about his eyes, the tone of his voice, the rough edge - you swear you've heard it before.

For a long moment, you just look at him, lost in thought. Why did he seem familiar? You don't think you've met him before, because you were usually good with faces, but this was throwing you off. It was a nice day out too, why would someone be so keen to be hidden when -

"I might sound absolutely crazy but do I know you, somehow?" The words are flying out of your mouth before you can stop them, and you are mortified, but then to your surprise, he simply laughs and ducks his head, fingers fumbling around the crumpled money he holds in his hands.

When he lifts his head again, he's looking right at you, searching for something. After a minute that feels as though it lasts for eternity, it seems he finds whatever it was he was looking for, and leans in, one arm against the counter. He lifts a hand up to tug his mask down, and you're meant with the softest smile you've ever seen, and a face you would never forget.

Your heart jumps, and you wonder if you gasp out loud by accident.

"Oh my god," you whisper, barely able to contain yourself. But there's still a good amount of people in the shop, and he obviously left the house in the best disguise he could muster, so the last thing you want to do is be the cause of him being recognized by anyone else, especially if he seemed to trust you enough to reveal who he was in the first place. "What are you doing here?"

You're so dumb, you think a second after the words have left you, and you're preparing yourself for him to say it right back to you, but he simply chuckles and gives a small wave of his hand. "I'm hungry," he replies easily, grinning, an echo of a long-lost moment you swear you've watched on a few too many times. "Where else would I go?"

You're absolutely freaking out.

You can't believe this is happening right now, let alone to you. Oh gosh, what if someone sees? What if you say something too loud? You want to say his name but then you're too afraid you'll draw too much attention, and what with phones and cameras everywhere these days, but oh good god it's Seo Changbin in front of you and you have never felt more like a fangirl until this very moment.

"I'm - oh my," you stumble and stutter for a moment, and your face is burning hot, and your stomach is fluttering and your chest is tight, and all too suddenly you don't understand what is happening as your next breath falters in your throat -

And then a warm hand is gently gripping at your wrist.

"Hey," he says. Kind. Far too kind. "Take a deep breath for me." He pauses, and gives a tiny squeeze to your skin. "Can you do that for me?"

You nod, and then blink, once, twice. Your eyes lock with his, tracing his every feature. The concerned turn to the corner of his lips, the look in his eyes. The unruly curls that have fought their way from under his cap. The warmth of his palm pressed against your arm.

An idol is standing in front of you, and you've gone and made yourself out to be a complete fool. You're definitely someone special alright.

Eventually, you're able to push some air through your lungs. Your chest shudders with one breath, and then another, and another, until you're able to properly breathe again, and you exhale, shaking your head as soon as you're able to.

"I'm so sorry," you mumble, feeling ashamed. You're wasting his time, and there's customers still waiting, and you can feel your manager looking over at you like you've done something wrong. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean - I don't know what came over me."

Changbin's hand slips from your wrist. You miss the contact more than you'd like to admit.

"Please don't apologize," he rebukes, leaning back. He doesn't bother to put his mask back. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes," you're quick to say, moving back over to the register. "Thank you. Sorry again." He looks happier now, eyes locked on you. His hand lingers on the counter, money nearly forgotten. If you had no restraint, you'd reach down and hold his hand. Something tells you to just say what you want to say. You decide to listen to it. "Thank you for the music that you guys make. You're amazing, and you probably don't remember but you - you liked a dance of mine a few weeks ago. I just wanted to say that it meant a lot to me. Sorry for the cringey caption."

Changbin shifts, and then...is he...blushing? You must be going crazy, or seeing things.

"I remember, actually. You were amazing."

He moves again, and you glance down, trying to avoid his gaze. You feel like some giddy schoolgirl, and you needed to reel it in. A few minutes longer and your manager would be over asking what was wrong. Be thankful and move on, right? He said he was hungry, maybe he'd like a coffee too. You could do that at the very least. Maybe he'd -

"Can I..." he stops and sighs, holding his phone out now, looking over to the left. His cheeks are dark enough for you to not be imagining anything. "Can I have your number?"

You look over at him, and then down at his phone.

You take it.

And then you put in your number, and pretend you don't see the smile he tucks into his shoulder.

---

Logically, you know this is the worst way to go about this. You know you'll come to regret this in the morning, mortified and blushing. And yet, as he pushes you back against the wall, and kisses you like no one else ever has, you find that you can't really bring yourself to care about what you might think of yourself in the morning.

This isn't just some random guy kissing you - this is Seo Changbin. The Changbin. The one who sought you out of millions, billions even, of users and took it upon himself to like your TikTok. And not just any TikTok, but the one of you dancing silly and stupid, a cheesy caption dazzled with hearts and arrows around his name below it.

God, the embarrassment.

(God, the thought of him seeing you out of trillions - )

"Y/N," he breathes, hot breath fanning across an exposed collarbone, shivers racing down your spine. You hadn't even noticed him pulling away, so lost in...in all of this, speechless and dumb and flushed, and then he presses a kiss to the cusp of your shoulder, and you positively melt.

You want to say something, anything, but it's hard to talk when all you can focus on is the feel of his lips, and the warmth of his chest pressing against yours, and the curve of his arms your fingers can barely wrap around -

He bites down, and your cheeks burn at the sound that escapes you, pleasant shock coursing through your body. You feel his smirk pressing against your skin, before he makes sure to take care of you, and then he's back to kissing your lips, and you wondered how you even made it through the concert.

He's gentle. Kind. It almost annoys you how careful he's being, pushing close to the limit, and then backing away before he breaks it. He's a tease like this, and you're not sure if he's doing this on purpose or waiting for you to make the first move, so you decide to make things clear. He's kind, but you know there must be something else hiding beneath, ready to take control and leave you gasping for breath.

"I won't break," you whisper, pulling away just enough that your lips brush his in the intermittent. "Just so you know." He breathes heavily against you for a long moment, one of your fingers trailing along his arm before coming to a stop on his chest, resting your palm flat against it, right where his heart is.

You swear you feel it skip a beat, and wonder how your own doesn't stop beating.

The next moment is a blur of movement as Changbin wraps his arms around your middle and lifts you up, kissing you madly as he carries you towards the couch that sits on the other side of the room, your heart racing. He holds you above it for a long moment, and then tosses you down, enough that your back bounces against the springs, but he's climbing on top of you before you can worry that you'll tumble to the ground, thick arms boxing you in.

You look up at him as he stares down at you, getting lost easily in his eyes so close to your own. He's beautiful really, up close like this, flawless honey skin and an easy smile. Saying he's handsome doesn't do him justice when he's close like this, and you find yourself at a loss for words again.

How could anyone not like him?

"I like you," he says, leaning in close. "A lot more than I should."

A feeling you can't put a name to erupts in your stomach, leaving room for nothing else. You don't know how it's possible for somebody to be this charming, on and off the screen, and you don't know how someone like this decides on you when he could have anyone else in the world.

You don't know how that makes you feel, really, when he looks at you like you are the very world itself.

"I - I like you too," you whisper, though you nearly stumble your way through, his eyes crinkling at the corners as laughs, the sound encompassing the room. "A lot."

He closes the distance, his lips brushing against your own. "I noticed," he teases, and you wonder if your cheeks can get any more red. "Is this okay?"

You nearly laugh out loud at the question, though it warms your heart that he even asked in the first place. How would this ever not be okay? Your past self would be screaming, and your future self probably still is. "Yes," you say, eyes flickering between his own and his lips, "A million times yes."

He kisses you rough then, pushing closer, arms closing you in.

You kiss back and tell yourself that you won't regret one single thing.

#stray kids #stray kids smau #skz smau #seo changbin #changbin x reader #seo changbin x reader #skz #skz fluff

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chiiyuuvv · 1 year ago

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can I request xikers reaction to you being very stressed and distant??<3

• PAIRING — xikers x gn reader

• GENRE — coping skills for when youre stressed <3, lots of hand holding!!

• WORD COUNT — 688

• AUTHOR'S NOTE — ty for the request!!

• TAGLIST — @lil-elle , @hyunukitty , @cake1box , @mars101 (welcome!!)

MASTERLIST! – JOIN THE TAGLIST!

MINJAE ☆

Offers to help you out with whatever youre having trouble with

But hes more confused than you

Hes kinda like that incredibles meme, where the dad is like "why did they change math?!"

Hes just like "😀 anywayss~" pushes the thing aside and starts talking to you

Sure your assignment is due in a few days, but with the way minjae is making you laugh, you'll just push it off until tomorrow ♡

JUNMIN ☆

"Hey, hey, breath! Breath!!" He'd notice your breaths shallow

Laces your hands together, making you rest your head on his shoulder

Scolds you (affectionately) about you overworking yourself

Doesnt let you leave his hold either

A pout on his face because he just cant believe you :( ♡

SUMIN ☆

"But hey!" He'd bump your shoulder, "at least you finished that paper!"

"And you did this! So take a break, you deserve it!!"

Will not let you do anything else for the day. The only thing you can do is lay next to him on his bed

Will suggest to massage your shoulders or anywhere else where you've gone tension

And best guarantee that he'll praise anything you'll do ♡

JINSIK ☆

Disappears and comes back with lots of DIY projects to do

And you'll spend the whole day doing that

Jinsiks painting you a wooden butterfly, youre making something to scare the others

You decide to test it on jinsik, and it definitely scared him (he wouldnt tell you that though)

And you'll spend the next morning laughing at the boys reactions ♡

HYUNWOO ☆

It would start with hyunwoo laying you down and rubbing your stomach

But soon you notice his eyes struggling to stay open, so you just turn around and hug him

Melts in your arms, his around your waist as he pulls you closer

So now your head is on his chest, and his is on your shoulder

And you fall asleep like that, your hands lacing together ♡

JUNGHOON ☆

Finds some coloring books thats just been marinating at some place

Plus some old crayons/markers

And hands them to you with a small smile

Suggests to play some music while you color your hearts out

Will defo make fun of you if you color outside the lines ♡

SEEUN ☆

Would put his hands over your eyes and refuses to drop them as he drags you somewhere

Turns out youre just going for a walk around the neighborhood, seeuns fingers quickly lacing with yours

Talks about anything and everything to take your mind off of it

Makes you walk on the inside of the sidewalk, away from the cars

And even take you for some icecream if youre in the mood ♡

YUJUN ☆

"Wanna try this new snack i bought?" He'd try to take your attention off of it

Even if its unhealthy, he just wanna make you feel good

Feeding you the snacks as he turns on the television, not letting you do anything but rest

"Should i buy more of these?" He noticed that you were done with your bag in a matter of seconds

And even indulge in a 'snacks' conversation, saying which was your favorite, what youre sad discontinued, etc. etc. ♡

HUNTER ☆

"Oh my god, i just discovered this new song!!" Hunter would exclaim once you mentioned how stressed you were

Shares and earphone with you.. not to mention how close hes sitting next to you

Shows you ateez sunbaenim's newest album, dancing along with the songs in a silly matter to make you laugh

"Which one was your favorite!?" Hes so curious about your taste, and will play it again, immediately agreeing

He just wanted to pass his love for ateez to you ♡ (THE ALBUMS FIRE OMG)

YECHAN ☆

Another baby that wants to show you something that interests him

He's found this tiktoker that makes lots of funny videos, and hes just spamming them to you at the point

Laughs so loud at whatever the tiktoker says, but he softens when you start laughing

Stares at you fondly as he watches the smile on your face increase, but looks away when you catch him

"What are you looking at?" "N-nothing.." he quickly looks down, his face red ♡

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gamerwoo · 1 year ago

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hansol/mingyu: the lovers playlist

characters: mingyu x female reader (mentions of hansol x female reader)

genre/warnings: idol au, friends to maybe lovers, all 100% fluff

word count: 1,227

summary: and all i need is to be struck by your electric love

a/n: things in bold italics are song lyrics

previous song | next song | back to playlist

Despite the way you ended up in Mingyu’s room the first time, it was one of your favorite places to hang out. There was always something cozy to you about moments like that when you looked back on them. Like laying in bed when you’re sick and watching comfort videos on Youtube, or wrapping yourself in layers of blankets when you’re sad. In the moment, it’s always awful, but looking back on it, it feels slightly warm.

Or maybe you’re just a fucked up masochist.

Either way, you always found Mingyu’s room cozy. You weren’t sure if he kept it clean because he knew you came around to hang out, or because he was actually a tidy person. His room always smelled like his favorite cologne, his bedding was always pristine white, and he always like to light candles around the room for a warm glow instead of using lights.

Just like the first time you were in there, except then, there were a few articles of clothing scattered around his floor.

But also like the first time -- and every other time -- he liked to play music. If you weren’t watching something, he’d turn his speaker on and softly play something from his phone. Like what he was doing currently while the two of you just talked. It was one of those times where you got oddly deep, with both of you talking about fears, dreams, and the future.

Candy, she’s sweet like candy in my veins.

Mingyu wasn’t even really registering the music. It wasn’t until you started softly humming along while the two of you sat in a comfortable silence that he even remembered there was music playing. He realized the song sounded familiar, and he was pretty sure it was from a handful on videos he saw on tiktok. That’s probably where he got it from.

Both of you were laying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling but occasionally turning your heads to look at each other. You were looking between all the sticky glow-in-the-dark stars the two of you had stuck up there while you were bored one night and said Mingyu wanted to look at the stars but you couldn’t see them because of all the lights outside. You informed him of the stars and the two of you immediately went out to find them.

“Y’know,�� you spoke up again, “I was thinking about this the other night... I think I’m finally over it.”

Mingyu’s eyebrows raised as he turned his head to look at you, “Like, over Hansol?”

You nodded before you met his eyes, “I just...don’t care now, I guess. I don’t remember how we started talking about it but Jieun mentioned I haven’t talked about Hansol at all lately and it was like I forgot that I was even upset over that whole thing. I was kinda like, ‘oh yeah, that’, y’know?”

“That’s really good,” he smiled at you warmly. “I’m happy for you,”

“Yeah,” you smiled back as you both went back to looking at the ceiling.

After another moment of soft silence, Mingyu asked, “How do you feel knowing that you’re not hurt by it anymore?”

“Free in a way,” you chuckled. “Sounds cheesy, but I feel like it’s not constantly in the back of my mind. It makes me happy. It’s like when you’re really stressed about something like homework due the next day that you didn’t do, or something about finances. And then once you figure it out or it’s all over, you feel a weight off your shoulders. Kinda like that.”

He hummed in response.

Genuinely, Mingyu was happy for you. All he wanted was for you to be happy again, and he was glad he could be there for you while you healed. He hoped he had helped at least a little bit, too.

But there was a selfish part of Mingyu that also told him that this was finally his chance. This was when he could tell you. This was finally it.

No, he told himself, you still need to give her time. She just confided this in you. Don’t ruin it. Don’t rush it. Let her be.

“Not to sound cheesy,” you chuckled a little awkwardly, “but I should probably thank you.”

Mingyu snorted but had a warm smile on his face as he looked at you, “For what?”

“You basically are the only reason I got over it and, like, properly healed,” you told him, turning your head to look at him again. He was laying the other way, his head still by yours but his legs dangled off the opposite side of the bed from yours. He looked like he was upside down which made his smile look a little goofy, and it made you giggle. “If I wanted to vent, you’d let me. If I needed a distraction after schedules, you were there when you could be. You just made me feel...better. So...yeah, thanks. And thanks for not letting me be an asshole and push you away the first time.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that, _____,” he chuckled. “That’s all basically the bare minimum.”

“But you didn’t have to. You’re Hansol’s friend first -- you’re basically brothers. You could’ve just ignored the whole situation and taken his side.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like you did anything wrong. You just really liked him. And we’re friends, too. You were always so sweet and you were funny and fun to hang out with. I can be friends with both of you.”

“Well I’m glad you think that way,” you offered a small smile. “To be honest, I haven’t felt this, like...happy and relaxed in a long time. So...thanks for being my friend.”

“I told you to not thank me,” he laughed softly.

“I don’t know what else to say,” you laughed, too.

And then it was silent as you both just looked at each other, hints of smile and laughter still on your faces as the music filled the void of the two of you not speaking. Neither of you really knew what to say but it was a situation where, for some reason, you couldn’t look away.

Baby, you’re like lightning in a bottle.

Mingyu wasn’t sure if it was just him, but he felt tension. He’d never felt this tension with you. Your silences were always comfortable, not that this wasn’t, but it was...something.

But you definitely felt it, too.

I can’t let you go now that I’ve got it.

Carefulness be damned. As Mingyu stared at you, his overwhelming urge to just tell you everything about how he felt was rapidly building until he felt like he was going to burst. He wouldn’t risk the confusion like Hansol did. He wouldn’t miss his opportunity like Hansol did.

He wouldn’t let you go like Hansol did.

And all I need is to be struck...

He was moving his head toward you, and you weren’t moving away. His eyes glanced down at your lips, and you found yours doing the same.

By your electric love.

Your lips met softly; sweetly. After a few seconds, Mingyu’s hand moved to your face, his warm palm cupping your cheek.

His heart felt like it was going to explode, a smile growing on his lips that you felt, giggling into the kiss.

Baby, your electric love.

── « ⋅ʚ ♫ ɞ⋅ » ───

tag list (italics are unable to tag): @anissanightyoung @aceofvernons @mythicalamphitrite @caratluvie @juliettechokilo @liemwantstosleep @rubyreduji @ohchangyu @mingyublues @kamalymaly @ru-lin [if you’d like to be added to the tag list, please fill out this form!!!]

perma tag list (italics are unable to tag): @minluvly @honeyylin @miki-chi @heemingyu @noraehey @awkwardnesshabitat @floweryjessy @woozarts @anothershorthuman @shuabby1994 @vernxnsfool @ti--red @etaerealboy @plants-w0rld @futuristiccomputerkitten-blog @thepencilkorner @dejavernon @slut-for-dabi @pussymode @iamxelia @itbtoblikethatsometimes @wonderfulshinee @aikisbbq @ohmykwonsoonyoung @just-a-really-bored-kpop-fan @merapehlapyaaradhoorarahgaya @saythenameseventeen178 @starlight-night0 @ulavenger64king @itbtoblikethatsometimes @woo8hao @lillijay @twistedsiren @xxluckydreamsxx @dwaekkiracha @ssstraykiss @lukeys-giggle @bobrouxsky @vensweety @justwonus-recs @lovethyfandoms2 @zonked_times @cello--190 @animefreak2112

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latenightswaudiobooks · 18 days ago

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About Me!

Hi, I'm Savana! I'm a 24 year old who works overnights at a homeless shelter. I basically watch cameras for 8 hours out of my 9 hour shift. I have started listening to audio books to pass the time. I always want to talk and be able to talk about the books I am reading or have read. I'm way to awkward and anxious (Thank you Autism) to do it in tiktok videos like I'd really like to so instead I thought I'd try to write about them because I have always found so much joy in writing. Sooo hints forth comes this blog! A tumblr blog because I find familiarity in it from my nostalgia of reading fanfics and one shots on it from my middle school days. (Not that I don't still love a good fanfic and I go through phases where all I can do is read them). I read a little bit of everything, but I prefer my books to have romance in them I'm a hopeless romantic who is also a skeptic about true love? I am engaged to my first high school girl crush and she is the love of my life. I want to be with her forever raising our two beautiful terrors of children together. Deep down though I always believe I'm gonna mess it up. Anywho I'm gonna post some of my favorite books I have read. As well as my most recent books I have read within the next few days or maybe all today if I hyper focus enough. I do have a chronic illness as well as I struggle with mental health so if I am inconsistent I apologize in advance but I will try to make some sort of post at least once a week. That's enough with my rambling on with the books!

P.S. To get an idea of what I read there is a some genres, authors, and books I have read and liked in the tags!

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vidreview · 2 months ago

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VIDEO ESSAY ROUNDUP #1

[originally posted october 11th 2023]

so, i watch a lot of video essays.

i started this blog with the intention of reviewing video essays at length, in the hopes of highlighting best & worst practices, discussing the history of the form, and using them as a jumping off point for personal/political introspection. but as time has gone on, i've found myself encountering more and more videos that i didn't have a whole lot to say about, but that felt worthy of a spotlight anyway.

WITH THAT IN MIND, welcome to video essay roundup, an occasional list of stuff i've watched recently that i think is worth your time. enough preamble, let's get started.

"Self-Discovery Stories | Video Essay" by Glouder Glens.

youtube

are you watching Sylvia Schweikert? i know you're not because its numbers are disastrously low. her video about it/its pronouns is a genuine work of art, a video essay about the dehumanization of trans people that seamlessly transforms into lesbian werewolf erotica. this newest video is just as beautiful and strange, not least because it's rendered in portrait mode like a tiktok. it's an honest, far-ranging and personal essay whose sub-300 views is genuinely criminal. seriously, seriously, Sylvia's an essayist you NEED to be paying attention to. it's making the kind of stuff that simply does not play well with the youtube algorithm, and that's the stuff that i live for. watch her videos and share them with your friends. give it money on patreon for gods sake! also definitely go watch her short film "Self Centered," it's a haunting and masterful work of art.

"More unremarkable and odd places in Mario 64" by Any Austin.

youtube

i stumbled across Any Austin a couple months ago and he's quickly become one of my favorite "it's time to relax" creators. his "unremarkable and odd places" series scratches an itch i never knew i had, as someone who loves exploring the least interesting corners of any digital world i find myself in. his other series involves calculating the unemployment rate of video game locations by talking to every NPC and deducing their employment status. the editing is calm, his tone is measured and matter of fact, and his sense of humor ties it all together. this is the kind of thing that used to be the bread and butter of video teams at outlets like Cracked or Polygon, before they were summarily laid off or pushed out. it's good to see someone else picking up that mantle in a way that seems relatively sustainable and isn't under the umbrella of a layoff-happy corporate enterprise (except for google of course, but we're all in that boat together aren't we?)

does this count as a video essay? i think that's a reasonable question. i'm inclined to say yes, with the understanding that there are many different types and genres of video essay. but that's a conversation for another day.

"On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People" by Patricia Taxxon.

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i should do a full vidrev on this one honestly, but i can't do a post like this and not include it. if you play around in any sort of furry-adjacent fetish space, have opinions about the sexual proclivities of furries, or are otherwise prone to pearl-clutching as an outsider, this is an essential watch. Patricia here does a great job drawing attention to how even well-meaning defenders of, say, feral furry porn, often give up unnecessary ground to opponents with fallacious devices like the Harkness test. i've talked to a lot of fellow kinky furries who came out of this essay exalting in the joy that finally, someone said it! many of the arguments made here, especially in underlining that all furry porn is immaterial and imaginary, are thoughts i've had since i first made a furaffinity account in 2007 or 08 (though i swore up and down i wasn't a furry until 2019) but was always too afraid to express.

this is scary, sensitive territory, but that's what makes this such an essential intervention. this is the perspective of an autistic transfem furry who just wants to have an honest conversation without all the moral fearmongering and shortsighted kneejerk cliches that come up when a topic skirts dangerously close to taboos that we just, generally, refuse to talk about like adults. these are conversations that, in my experience, only ever happened among friendgroups with a long-established repartee and understanding of each other's boundaries, if at all. otherwise, even progressive supposedly kink-positive spaces can encourage a sort of cop-brained punitive attitude towards imaginary sex acts that very easily bleeds over into puritanical takes on, say, kink at pride. frankly, i'm sick of the language & rhetoric of Respectability, because saying "no, most of us aren't like the freaks" only ever results in a liberal block decrying the deplorables and subjecting them to further marginalization and abuse. it takes a lot of guts to make a video like this and i'm so, so glad that Patricia Taxxon stuck the landing.

"Who Is Killing Cinema? - A Murder Mystery" by Patrick (H) Willems.

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i've already written two separate vidrevs on Willems, but what can i say? this most recent stretch of work focusing on the business and philosophy of cinema in the streaming era is good stuff. nothing in this particular essay is new per se if you've been paying attention to the business of hollywood for the last ten years, but it does a great job assembling the broad strokes of a lot of different-but-common arguments into one far ranging thesis. much like the prior two videos, i think this works as a solid introductory primer to a more materialist understanding of these trends for folks who aren't necessarily familiar with materialist theory. bonus points for wasting no time getting to the point, unlike his otherwise excellent video on the word "content."

alright, i think that'll do it for this video essay roundup! enjoy :)

ROUNDUP #2 ->

[NOTE: as i'm migrating the archive, links between roundups will direct back to cohost. i probably won't get around to changing that until i write a new one.]

#vidrev #video essay #what to watch #video recommendation #patricia taxxon #patrick h willems #any austin #glouder glens #Youtube

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rabbitechoes · 4 months ago

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

SMILE! :D - Porter Robinson

🥇 BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH

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

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

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

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

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

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Passage du Desir - Johnny Blue Skies / Sturgill Simpson

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

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

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

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

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

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魔法学校 (Mahōgakkō) - Hakushi Hasegawa

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

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

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

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

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King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 - Denzel Curry

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

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

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

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

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

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The War - Toy Bastard

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

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

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

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My Light, My Destroyer - Cassandra Jenkins

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

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

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

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

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Charm - Clairo

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

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

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

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Bando Stone and the New World - Childish Gambino

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

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

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

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

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

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Y2K! - Ice Spice

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

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

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

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Guilty Pleasure - JoJo Siwa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#month in review #music #rateyourmusic #2024 #music review #porter robinson #johnny blue skies #sturgill simpson #hakushi hasegawa #denzel curry #toy bastard #cassandra jenkins #clairo #childish gambino #ice spice #jojo siwa #eminem #glass animals

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bloomz-page · 1 year ago

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What's a girls gonna do? a diamond's gotta shine! 𔓘 ⋆ ﾟ

knock, knock . . . who's there? oh, my dear buddies, it's lovely to meet you! allow me to share some facts about myself . . . ☆

📜 hello, dearest friends! the name is lavender mist minèrva, i go by that pretty name as my pseudonym in this virtual realm. it'll be lovely if you addres me as lavender, lave, minè, or kathya (my old nickname), but I'm totally okay with any nickname you prefer! ♡

i already reach my legal age (20). a proud enfj with aquarius sun scorpio moon and taurus rising as my zodiac. oh, and the type of my account is unlabeled!

i tweet primarily about my daily activities and occasionally publish my photo dump. i enjoy discussing my current interests and occasionally sharing screenshots from those interests, such as webcomics, book pages, or movie sequences. this is not a spoiler-free account! 🪄

☆ My music preferences and interests 𓇼 ⋆｡˚

perhaps, our tastes are similiar.

spotify is my 24/7 buddy! 🎧 for me, there's no day without music. I'm listening to kpop a lot, especially 4th gen k-pop . . . but my ultimates are boynextdoor, enhypen and a lot of girl groups! (current favorite: tripleS, newjeans, ive, kiss of life, illit). my favorites soloist are taylor swift, NIKI, laufey, mitski, olivia rodrigo, and conan gray! I listen to them a lot. i listen to japanese pop as well, such as aimer, yoasobi, fujii kaze, and CHiCO with HoneyWorks! wave to earth, AKMU, lucy, and yerin baek are my favorites k-bands. indonesian songs i often listen to are from nadin amizah and tulus! last but not least, i looooove listening to sudio ghibli's soundtrack!

i love watching movies 📽, especially anime! studio ghibli and anime movies take up the biggest part of my movie interest. here are some of my favorites anime movies: The Secret World Of Arietty, When Marnie Was There, Whisper Of The Heart, Nausicaä Of The Valley of The Wind, Howl Moving Castle, Suzume, The Garden Of Words, Your Name, A Silent Voice, Summer Ghost, and Belle. My favorite anime series all the time: Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, To Your Eternity, Fruits Basket, Noragami, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, and Haikyuu!!

lately, i've been interested in watching k-drama! my favorite k-drama all the time: Twenty-Five Twenty-One, 20th Century Girl, A-Teen, Class Of Lies, School 2017, Weak Hero Class, and Wightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo.

of course, don't forget about this one! series and western films. honestly, I can say that I'm not really into western movies . . . but in this past year, after i finished the Harry Potter series, i decided to watch western movies more often! 🪄✋🏻 and let me tell you my current favorites: Harry Potter, Stranger Things, Wednesday, Gilmore Girls, Princess Diaries, Enola Holmes, and Miss Perigrine's Home For Peculiar Children. 🎞

books, books! 📚 i love reading books as well, especially fiction and self-improvement! for fiction, i don't have any specific genres . . . i can say that i'm flexible to all genres as long as i'm interested in the story line. but, maybe romance will take the biggest part! ◡̈ ༘ *

do you have any recommendations for webtoons or manga? pleaseeee tell me! i love reading webcomics, but it's hard for me to find webcomic that match my interest . . . maybe your favorite can be my favorite too! *wink* but here's my favorite webtoon all the time: Tweening & Knitting Room! 🧣🧤

last but not least, I love writing fiction and studying about self-improvement & self-love. i can label myself as a lifelong learner, or maybe i'm just trying to be a lifelong learner (?) well, both are okay! i love watching TikTok or Youtube videos that talking about self-improvement and self-love ·ᴗ· my current favorite Youtubers are Thewizardliz, Tam Kaur, and Firlyn!

A note, note . . 📄

i'm using Indonesian and broken English as my daily tweets ·ᴗ· i use a lot of kaomoji! m y account is safe for minors, but under 15, please dni. islamphobia, homophobic, lgbtphobic please don't ever interact with my account. i rarely use content warnings for food pictures or real-life pictures! let me know if i made a mistake or my tweets accidentally hurt your feelings, through private messaging, i would gladly fix my attitude. last but not least, my dm is always open! i love having a chit-chat with my precious mutual, so feel free to knock on my door.

dear buddies, thank you for reading my not so greeting paragraph! i hope we can be a good friends, have a lovely day! ♡

lots of love, lavender. ☆

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hightealowsociety · 2 years ago

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Music Kinda Sucks

I don't wanna be that guy that insists that things just "used to be better!!!" but, in terms of music, I kinda think that's true. I like a lot of popular music -- Taylor Swift is consistently my top artist on Spotify, and I barely even crack her top 5% of listeners. Pop is one of my favorite genres, in fact. 1989, Melodrama, Sawayama, and Magdalene are some of my favorite albums of all time. Pop is popular for a reason, and that's because it's good. But, on TikTok, I've noticed a weird trend with music.

Music isn't made to be listened to.

TikTok's short form video format prevents the playing of a full song, so of course, videos are set to song clips. Because TikTok videos are so short, they don't hold ones attention for more than a minute if you're lucky. I think that the fact that these videos are not made to be paid attention to for any longer than a few seconds at a time means that many of the new songs that are coming up as "TikTok trends" exist in the same way -- they'll have a catchy chorus, but they aren't really meant to be listened to, absorbed, and enjoyed. Not every song has to be some 10-minute long treatise on the human condition or whatever, but short, catchy pop songs should still be good, and not manufactured for a quick dopamine hit and forgotten about immediately after.

I think that it's indicative of a larger, much more concerning trend with TikTok. Videos are being packed with filler to grab kid's fleeting, goldfish attentions and made them stop and click for a second before they doom scroll for the remaining hours of sunlight in their day. Clips of people playing with slime, collecting coins on Subway Surfers, and dancing are spliced together with Family Guy clips and movie scenes. It's depressing to see little kids unable to pay attention to a video, a game, or a toy for more than 60 seconds because their brains have been fried by TikTok and YouTube.

Children, in my opinion, should not have TikTok or YouTube -- or really any social media app. Not only is it terrible for self esteem, it's doing them a lot of harm. Even kids in high school are feeling the effects, as my mom describes her students being more disconnected and unable to focus than ever before. This is, of course, in part due to COVID-19. TikTok exploded because everyone needed a quick dopamine hit while the world was falling apart. This led to kids who were 10 and 11 at the time to spend the hours that they used to play outside on their phones (since when do elementary schoolers have phones?!) and losing their grip on basic study and social skills, stunting their development. I'd like to see how this hopefully improves in the future, but for now it upsets and scares me, honestly -- music is the least important manifestation of it.

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essentiallyleaf · 1 year ago

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Top 5 groups you like

hello, anon.

aaahhhhhh, the definitive question. i always ask myself, what are the criteria, and how to weigh them? music (songwriting, production, general catchiness...), performance (singing/rapping/dancing, choreography), visuals (music videos, outfits, hair & make-up, stage designs), content (variety shows, youtube, tiktok...), the members themselves (personality, chemistry, prettiness, and honestly, fuckability)?

i haven't found an answer yet, and maybe there is none. so these, in debut order (the same order i got into them), are the groups that speak to me the most as of now, circa oct 6, 2023, 10am of a sunny, still surprisingly warm morning:

Red Velvet. one of the groups that got me into k-pop, and one of my favorite discographies, especially when you consider their lifespan and consistency. if i were to choose my favorite albums in the genre, up to half of the list could be theirs.

LOOΠΔ. i've had ups and downs with them, but that HeeJin -> XX run will always be engraved in my mind as a golden era for k-pop. they have the catalog, the music videos, the lore; the people behind them had stories to tell, and they knew how to tell them. they felt different.

æspa. more smtown craziness in their songs, mv's and concept. visual overload in every possible way, from their flawless ai faces to the fonts on their album covers. except spicy. that one, probably not as good.

NMIXX. for them, it's more about the members and their collective clownery (especially ☀️1️⃣, the girl just has everything). their youtube content is easily my favorite atm and some of the best i've seen by any group. their music can be very hit or miss, and although i agree it has flaws, i personally like their experimental side.

NewJeans. last, but far from least. first group since the one three bullets above that just felt different. i don't think there is a single thing i dislike about them, and i don't think any other group makes me feel real emotions like they do. ditto and its mv's (all their mv's, in my opinion an integral part of their artistry and identity, are stunning and written so well, again something about knowing how to tell a story, in their case a much more mundane and slice of life-y one, though certainly no less hard-hitting) have a special spot in my heart and i cry everytime i watch them.

affectionately, leaf.

#ask #anonymous

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careol · 1 year ago

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❓ — three adjectives that describe you ✈️ — ever traveled anywhere interesting? 🎮 — favorite video game(s)? 🍦 — favorite ice cream flavor(s)? 🎶 — favorite song at the moment? 📕 — favorite book/series? 🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write? 🤔 — what genre(s)/theme(s) do you struggle to write the most?

❓ — three adjectives that describe you

anxious, desperate, kind

✈️ — ever traveled anywhere interesting?

the only places i've traveled are banff, jasper, grand forks and london, so of those london was probably the most interesting because its not north america! but in terms of beauty, jasper definitely takes the cake. i just love the mountains, they're breathtaking.

🎮 — favorite video game(s)?

grand theft auto 5, left 4 dead 2, skyrim was pretty good too! i really like gta though.

🍦 — favorite ice cream flavor(s)?

chocolate is superior and it breaks my heart whenever i go to dairy queen they don't have chocolate anymore. you're an ice cream place what do you mean you don't have chocolate.

🎶 — favorite song at the moment?

idk about favorite, but stuck in my head these days is below the surface from fnaf. only because its all over my tiktok cause people be doing makeup/sfx of the puppets.

📕 — favorite book/series?

i've only read the harry potter books... so i guess the harry potter books. i am terrible for reading i don't have the attention span.

🗒 — what is/are your favorite genre(s)/theme(s) to write?

i really like the slice of life stuff... where carol gets to be happy or at least not fearing for her life. she deserves to be happy.

🤔 — what genre(s)/theme(s) do you struggle to write the most?

im so bad at action! like i don't know how you guys do it, i just feel like i suck at it? its hard for me to describe action sequences.

#* &. i'm gay for melissa / ooc.#wexarethewalkingxdead #thank you for the questions!

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knifefightscene · 2 years ago

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I think one of my least favorite genres of video on Tik Tok is are doing like either some sort of challenge or an everyday thing but in a stupid way, and both of these people are like…shocked that it happened the way it did?? Like “WE GOT KICKED OUT OF A GROCERY STORE FOR THROWING GALLONS OF MILK ON THE FLOOR?? WTF??” And the everyday person is like “I dyed my hair neon blue in my parents super clean white bathroom and I have no idea how to clean up the mess I made!” I’ve literally seen both of these types of videos in different flavors but it annoys me so much every time I see them.

This happens on every site and not just tiktok but like tiktok has become too big of a video sharing app that we see it happen there more :/ when i was in middle school on Facebook a lot of people were encouraged to do terrible shits for views (and money) and the people watching it are like far more evil than u can imagine… like just next level dystopian

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underwhelmingalchemist · 2 years ago

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Actually, I love being a cluttered person.

I love spending time in my room filled with pillows and shelves of knick-knacks where everything is decorated for Christmas and is lit by red LED lights

I love having a closet that can accommodate every aesthetic from jeans and a t-shirt to cottagecore scene kid to forest gremlin to full lolita coord and never sticking to any single aesthetic, even if I'm reusing the same core pieces over and over

I love teaching myself to sing, and to make edits, and bake things I've never made before, and sew, and craft with foam, and make props and costume pieces, and crochet, and fold paper stars, and write new genres, and learn about odd bits of culture and history, and cosplaying and making videos and dancing and anything else that might strike my interest all at once

I love listening to every genre of music and having my playlist skip from metal to bubblegum pop to country, without any particular devotion to any one artist or band, picking up bits and pieces from every tiktok I come across or album that was recommended to be years ago or music my mom used to listen to when I was a kid

I love consuming any media that catches my interest, from anime to indie films to marvel movies to media analysis to children's cartoons to documentaries to video essays to tiktoks to podcasts without any visuals at all

I love being in a hundred fandoms all at once, and creating content for as many as I can and cosplaying and writing meta posts and making video edits and memes and shitposts and writing fanfiction for dozens of pairings, plenty of which involving the same characters shipped with different people because I can't choose just one

I love my blog of random bits and bobs I've collected, with shitposts followed by fandom pieces and poetic phrases and a video that made me laugh

I love my gender and all its messy complexities, and how I want to go on T but still wear lolita and skirts and makeup but also do drag in both the king and queen categories and put on a performance both onstage and off that seems both feminine and masculine and some secret third option and it's all so chaotically off-putting but makes everyone around me gradually feel more at ease with themselves

I love my attraction and how I'm ace but also enthralled by the concepts of kink and romantically attracted to whoever my mind feels like that day, with preferences that swirl and shift in some nebulous cloud of identity that nobody could ever quite figure out, least of all me

I love dating two people and getting to text my boyfriend about my day and talk to my queerplatonic girlfriend about her plans to marry her boyfriend and tell both of my partners that I love them and kissing them and making plans for the future with both of them

I love my body with all of its squishy curves and rolls, and getting to decorate and customize it however I want, whether it's putting stickers on it or dressing it up in fun outfits or putting color around my eyes and painting on little designs

I love being talkative and knowing a little bit about everything because I remember reading about it a while ago, just like I remember when someone tells me about their favorite TV show or how they had a fight with their boyfriend a couple weeks ago or if they just started a new game, and crying with people in the same day I'll laugh with someone different

I love doing a hundred things at once, and putting on a podcast on while I play video games and monitoring my texts and discord servers I'm in, and finding the most overstimulating music to blast through my favorite pair of earbuds just because I like the bass and how it crunches

I love using language in ways that might seem a bit out of place, like trying to make things fit in a box together and saying I'm 'Tetris-ing it together" or calling certain sounds "crunchy" or telling my boss that I "had to go on a sidequest" when I had to deviate from what I was told to do, or just using the word "scrungly" at all

All of this makes up who I am, each piece making up a small part of a larger whole, no one bit able to exist without the other

I love all my clutter, no matter what form it takes

And I love being a cluttered person.

#this got longer than i was intending #but i had a lot of fun writing it #i'm trying to understand myself more and be less hyper-critical and acknowledging what i love about who i am seemed like a good step #anyways #tags #i need those #first of all #long post #from there...#writing #self love #self appreciation #clutter #stream of conciousness

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angelayag · 2 years ago

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3 a.m. Doomscrolling

It was 3 a.m. in the morning, and she was in a dark, cold place with only her phone lighting the room. She was lying comfortably in her bed, snuggling with her body pillow, and feeling the warmth of her soft blanket wrapped around her. Before this, she made a promise to herself that she would fix her sleeping schedule as her online class starts at 7 a.m. and she didn’t want to feel droopy for the entirety of her class, but here we are again repeating the same cycle that she always does, scrolling through social media without noticing or even caring how much time has passed. It seems like the internet has consumed her life, from sunrise to sunset. She couldn’t even eat without some sort of entertainment video to watch; now, it even devours her time of rest.

Despite her being on her phone the entire day, you would think that she would eventually get bored and tired of web surfing, but no, it seems like her scrolling through the internet never stops. She had fallen into the rabbit hole of doomscrolling, and that "she" was me.

Yeah, I know that I have a serious problem, as is evident from how I relate to the meme that I am looking at right now, which is a clown looking at the mirror and telling themselves that they are "definitely" going to fix their sleeping schedule. I just had to share this post with the caption "literally me rn" because the timing of this meme is just impeccable. Now, on to scrolling through Facebook once again.

Facebook is a platform with multigenerational users, as people from all walks of life have gathered in this app. We have boomer folks who post inspirational quotes about not judging a book by its cover, along with a sketchy article of a supposed rumor about a celeb. We have younger pals who questionably may have violated Facebook’s terms of service due to the age limit, but here they are posting about their love life struggles at a very young age but also gullible enough to believe that Slender Man actually exists. We sure have wildcard characters that we can encounter on this app.

As I scroll through Facebook, I see memes, photos of my FB friends, with whom I haven't even shared a word or two in real life, and fake news articles about politicians. I’m not even going to look at the comments, as it will surpass my low expectations about their comprehension. Through these seas of posts, something caught my eye, and that was Donalyn Bartolme’s birthday party with a "kalye" theme.

A rich person cosplaying as poor as a theme for a birthday party is definitely a controversial move and a guarantee of cancellation, at least to some. She claimed that she only did that to commemorate her past struggles before fame. Scrolling through comments, it seems like I share the same sentiment as people outside of Donalyn’s fanbase. Her action was incredibly tone deaf, as the hardships of poor people aren’t just decorations that only stay on certain occasions; they have to live with that struggle every single day. I presume, one of the side effects of being an influencer is losing a grasp of reality.

This made me lose hope for humanity. Nevermind, I just saw a post about the COVID-19 case numbers going up. I mean, this isn’t necessarily new, as everyday COVID patients keep multiplying, but this made my frustration about the birthday thing insignificant. Weirdly enough, this realization did stop me from scrolling through Facebook. However, determined to make myself feel better, a quick scroll through Tiktok might do the trick.

Tiktok is a haven for short-form video content. But even if the videos there take seconds to watch, it sure takes hours of your time as it easily spews out personal feeds for you to keep entertained. You can encounter various creators there from every genre or hobby imaginable as it tries to appeal to audiences with certain niches.

As I’m scrolling through Tiktok, I come across videos of comedy skits, fun facts, thirst traps, fan edits of my favorite fictional characters, interesting talents such as puppeteers and magicians, and tarot card reading, which I’m not a believer in yet still find intriguing. It seems like all is well; I am here having a good time until I came across this video of a guy, mad that the upcoming game Grand Theft Auto VI is becoming "woke" by adding a female character as a protagonist of their game.

Imagine boycotting a game just because it didn’t align with your wrapped-up view of society. The comments only ignite the fire even more as they make sexist comments, changing the way they look at the game franchise when the game is literally just about recklessly committing crimes.

But it only got worse from there, as my feed recommended a clip from one of those "alpha" male podcasts and introduced me to Andrew Tate. The clip in question is him talking about how men are allowed to cheat but women aren’t. I went to his profile, perplexed by his comment, only to find video after video of his misogyny, such as saying that the value of women decreases the more men she sleeps with or that women's only purpose is to serve men. His words were regarded as scripture in his fanbase, which is alarming considering that most of his fans are just teenage boys. Even with this, I was still invested in him, even as far as knowing information that wasn’t necessary to know, like how he used to be a professional kickboxer or that he was arrested for human trafficking.

Baffled by the negativity I’ve inflicted upon myself, why not add more fuel to the fire by visiting twitter next.

Twitter is essentially microblogging, where you're free to post what’s on your mind, opinions you want to share, or just what is currently happening in your life with a 280-character limit. Your text, known as a "tweet," is broadcast across the platform and can be found by the masses, who can add their own comment about the thing you just tweeted in the form of quote tweeting or by simply replying under the post.

Twitter is a platform for free speech. As I scroll through it, various tweets pop up, some of which are from my friends but primarily from online strangers. What do we have here? Funny jokes, rants, social happenings, and of course horrible takes.

I have yet again found myself spiraling over a post. It started with one user's post on how they have finally gotten better in terms of their mental health. This was quote tweeted by another user, who stated that their post was offensive due to the “poor” timing of the tweet since the war between Russia and Ukraine was happening simultaneously. This created a public discourse whether the initial tweet was distasteful or not.

Reading the comments on these posts has exposed me to one dubious take after another. Some replies might have been satirical, but since when did having stable mental health make you lose empathy? Stable mental health simply means that you can handle your well-being better, but it doesn't prevent you from showing concern for others. Thankfully, most people share the same sentiment as me. I'm not sure why this argument was brought up in the first place. And why do I still keep engaging with it despite its obviously dumb take?

At this moment, you may begin to notice a pattern of deliberately consuming negative posts and aimlessly migrating from one social media platform to another. It all starts when the mind goes into autopilot mode, making you scroll out of habit, triggered by negativity bias, making you notice a baffling post more than a positive one, diving deeper into the said post, facing the possibility of disregarding or ignoring relevant information that does not back up how you feel, feeling frustrated afterwards, going through another social media app in the hopes of lifting your mood up, thus starting the vicious cycle once again.

This phenomenon, referred to as "doomsurfing," but more commonly known as "doomscrolling," has arisen during the pandemic as more and more people have been experiencing the compulsive urge to endlessly scroll through their social media feeds and heavily focus on the upsetting or generally negative information. This can be caused by FOMO (fear of missing out), negativity bias, uncertainty, and a lack of self-control.

“Doomscrolling occurs when you realize you’ve landed on a story and have no idea how you got there. You can’t remember why you even got on your phone in the first place, but now you’re reading hundreds of comments or retweets of someone you don’t even follow,” is how Tess Brigman, a psychotherapist and coach, describe this phenomenon, which perfectly encapsulates the authentic experience and meaning of doomscrolling.

Due to the discrepancy that doomscrolling brings, it can definitely have its effects, such as apprehension, fear, and distress, which lead to burnout and damage the general mood and well-being of a person. Taking it to the extreme takes a toll on mental health, which triggers anxiety and depression, which in turn affects sleep, appetite, and motivation and disrupts work, time with family and friends, and lastly, passion.

Holding social media companies responsible is a way of calling out action to doomscrolling, one article suggests, as their business model is an algorithm designed to catch the attention of users, thus increasing engagement. This means that the more you click on dumb or concerning posts, the more likely it is that you’ll receive the same kind of content the next time you visit the app. Legal monitoring and regulation of social media businesses may improve platform accountability, boost the transparency of their algorithmic processes, and enable users to reject personalization and profiling.

With all this, the most effective way to cut back on doomscrolling is to improve oneself. You can start by setting a time limit for yourself to monitor and minimize the hours of your screen time. You can do this by setting it up yourself, or for those with a lack of self-control, download apps that do similar functions. Unfollowing accounts that cause stress will help you declutter your feed from negativity. Setting the phone to send fewer notifications might also lessen the constant need to check our phones. If online, actively seek positive stories to balance out the negative ones. Ultimately, the most effective way to stray away from doomscrolling is to have leisure activities outside of social media, such as exercising, hanging out with friends and family, and doing what you're passionate about. Feeling overwhelmed by everything on the internet? Remember to refocus on the present moment.

Speaking of the present moment, my alarm just went off for 6 a.m. in the morning, one hour before my class. I didn’t sleep a wink last night; I have fallen down the rabbit hole of doomscrolling once again. Give it up to the author who can’t apply what she writes! She was blinded by the ray of sunlight as she opened the curtains, but she couldn't be blinded by the phone screen brightness that was on her face the entire time. This is the reality we both share, you and I. We’ve scrolled the internet up to the brink of oblivion; are you going to let it doom us all?

#academic writing

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