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whenitsdarkweilluminate · 5 years ago

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The Hague 1980

Host: Netherlands Participants: 19 Voting method: 12-point system (juries only) Winner: Johnny Logan - What's Another Year Country: Ireland Points: 143 (66.2% of highest score possible) Language: English

General Overview:

1980 feels like a reboot year. It's the landmark 25th edition, but it doesn't feel like it. Mainly because no one wanted to host the thing. Israel could not afford it again - actually, they withdrew entirely because of a national holiday. Meaning that this is the only contest where the reigning champ is absent. The 1979 runner-up Spain also declined to host. As did the UK, who were always the reliable back-up plan. So in the end, the Netherlands accepted the job with a low budget.

And I can tell the Dutch broadcaster put minimal effort into this. They reused the same venue as 1976. The stage looks similar - it's a wide platform with moving floating shapes in the background (which resembles a grey mask with red eyes; or an alien face). The opening sequence is the usual local footage, leading to the orchestra playing for a bit. The presenter, Marlous Fluitsma, speaks to the audience exclusively in Dutch. And there's no postcards – instead, a representative from each country goes on stage to introduce their song. On the bright side, 1981 will begin a 41-year streak of the most recent winning country hosting the next one.

Having said that, I like that the interval act showcases Caribbean culture. It involves some upbeat music and dancers on stage. I don't like that they kept interrupting their performance to cut to the Green Room though.

The vote reveal is amusing, where Marlous pulls out a different phone to call each country. 1980 is also the year when the spokespersons began reading their points in ascending order instead of running order. Which adds more suspense and less confusion. Too many countries were submitting incorrect votes.

Turkey returns and Israel's absence allows Morocco to debut. Meanwhile, Monaco says goodbye for 25 years.

Despite the low budget, 1980 is a strong year. It has some bops! There's also a lot of campy entries and gimmicky staging; probably because of “Dschinghis Khan”.

Austria: Blue Danube - Du bist Musik A forgettable start to a new decade. The only interesting aspect is the Space Age synth, which sounds like my friend's phone alarm. The composition is just too mild. The verses are bland. The bells are so subtle. The “DU BIST MUSIK!” chorus ending (with the horns) is meh. And the lyrics are whatever – they compare the subject to a lengthy list of composers and music terms; conclusively declaring “you are music!”. The song does work as an opener though – it's light and carefree, with a 'good morning' vibe. And the drum/string intro and the “harmony, melody...” part are okay.

Turkey: Ajda Pekkan - Pet'r Oil The juries underrated Turkey back then. The intro establishes a traditional sound with the hand drums and strings. The “a-MAN... PET'R OIL” hooks, along with the intensifying bit afterwards, is so catchy. And the “WHOOOA” dives, vocal chants, finger bells, and hand claps are positives too. The orchestra could be more powerful, but it's still good. The lyrics are (supposedly), literally about petrol. It's a commentary on humanity's overdependence on oil and the role money plays. Basically, oil makes life more convenient by powering our modern technology. I assume this was a response to the 1970s oil crisis and recession.

Greece: Anna Vissi and the Epikouri - Autostop An undeniably catchy “circus music” entry with a slick performance. I like the way they move around, while Anna points a lot. The dramatic slowdowns are super effective too. But she says “Autostop” too many times and it gets annoying after a while. Otherwise, the intro is like a blustering wind. The drums stomp around in the verses. There's some xylophone and backing ad libs. And the chorus has a marching band rhythm - it also pauses for a farting horn. The lyrics are about hitch-hiking to explore the world.

Luxembourg: Sophie & Magaly - Papa pingouin An iconic, delightfully camp, and ridiculously catchy nursery rhyme that features a man in a penguin costume. He waddles, trips, mutters, makes funny faces, gets spanked, and tries to fly lol. The backing singers also wear penguin tuxedos. And the lyrics are comical, where this grumpy penguin wishes he could fly, until he's compassionately convinced to love his life the way it is. The orchestra moves smoothly and calmly. The chorus is well-constructed, with the “LE PAPA PINGOUIN...” repetitions, the accompanying xylophone clacks, and how the strings slide in afterwards. The call-and-response sections and the “papapa..” escalations are also great.

Morocco: Samira Bensaïd - Bitaqat Hub Morocco's only participation flopped. Maybe the song was too foreign for the juries. It doesn't have the catchiest chorus either. But it's a lovely song with a smooth texture and a great message. The strings, hand drums, and Samira's robe establish a cultural vibe. Those strings are incredible too – especially the twirling intro (with the dings), and how they overpower and tiptoe in the first verse. The “oh oh oh” and “la la la” ending is nice too. The lyrics ask for peace and to end racism. Samira says we want unity, safety, justice, prosperity, loyalty, and happiness; free from greed and rival neighbours.

Italy: Alan Sorrenti - Non so che darei Why was this 6th? It's a light and relaxed soft rock song, but in a very bland and boring way. Alan's falsetto in the chorus is unbearable. The leaning and swaying from the backing members is giving stoner energy, although the pink and purple clothing is visually appealing. And the instrumental and lyrics are unremarkable. Alan just wants one more night with his ex. He doesn't hide it or know why.

Denmark: Bamses Venner - Tænker altid på dig This is kinda boring – it's a very laid back and minimalist song. But it's also sweet and comforting, the melody is nice, and I don't mind Bamses's raspy vocals. The percussion kicks drive the verses, alongside some violins and subtle tambourine. While chorus speeds up somewhat. I like the little horn hops during it. On stage, everyone wears blue or red overalls and striped shirts. The backing looks unhappy though. In the lyrics, Bamses has to leave for a while (for work?) The subject dreams of things being normal again. But he's always thinking of them.

Sweden: Tomas Ledin - Just nu! Rock entries were uncommon back then. Tomas flaunts his high assertiveness on stage; including some “manspreading”. But oops at him disconnecting the microphone wire. The “Just nu!” shouts are super catchy, albeit repetitive. The recurring clawing piano riff, the tense strings, the stretchy guitar responses, and the softer post-chorus (with the flutes) are all highlights. But the song fizzles out towards the end. The bridge is the same as the post-chorus, but with more “JUST NU!”s. The lyrics are about needing to escape the mundane city life. The chorus exclamations are when he's had enough.

Switzerland: Paola - Cinéma No more weirdness from Switzerland for a while. Instead, Paolo praises the magical world of cinema! She explains how movies define our childhood. She also lists several Disney characters and old school actors. The song itself switches styles several times – from a classic, gentle, pretty ballad to big band brass to an energy-releasing chorus to a tap dance break. And finally, a tuba outro lol. The “cinéma, cinéma” hook is alright. And Paola's vocals and stage presence are highlights.

Finland: Vesa-Matti Loiri - Huilumies Vesa's voice is so irritating. Finnish has those unfortunate “oi oi oi” sounds. The lyrics explain how his flute expresses the wide range of everything he feels. He even plays a flute solo 3 times. He also scats during the bridge. Otherwise, the intro sounds like a sitcom theme. The backing vocals emphasize certain parts. And the chorus does this thing where it speeds up midway, then stops, intensifies, and normalizes.

Norway: Sverre Kjelsberg & Mattis Hætta - Sámiid ædnana An interesting concept that lacks cohesion. After the Christmassy intro, the first minute involves a bunch of random tempo changes, as Sverre plays the guitar in Luke Skywalker clothing. Then Mattis walks out, and it becomes a completely different song, where he repeats the same “yoik” endlessly. I prefer the latter 2/3 though. It begins a cappella, then adds one instrument at a time (and Sverre singing separately) to build intensity; until the ending quiets again. It symbolizes a distant chant growing stronger. The lyrics support the then-recent protests against building a hydroelectric dam on Sami land.

Germany: Katja Ebstein - Theater The only artist with 3 top 3s. Unless you count the writing credits of the man that beat her. This one is pretty camp. The mimes are very distracting, but they make the staging memorable. I like when they waltz side-to-side with Katja. Their background muttering enhances things too. The lyrics are about the facade that stage performers must put on, even if they're sad or scared on the inside. There's a theater piano intro, then the song starts as a ballad. The circus-y beat takes over soon enough though. There's also a teeth-chattering piano and some piano slides. And the “THEATER, THEATER” hooks are catchy.

United Kingdom: Prima Donna - Love Enough for Two So. Much. Cringe. This is giving church summer camp vibes. It's sooo wholesome. I really dislike the performance – the three smiling couples, the peppy voices, the touching, the bright clothing, them standing together at the end. The chorus is catchy I guess, but not in an enjoyable way. The wedding bells and the key change are ugh. And the song title sounds like they want a threesome. I doubt that's what they meant, but it's a corny love song regardless. Otherwise, it's a summery easy listening song.

Portugal: José Cid - Um grande, grande amor Portugal equals their best placement so far (7th). This is giving Elton John vibes. The first 15 seconds are a piano ballad. Then, after a few door knocks, the energetic orchestra takes over. The chorus melody feels big. The verse contains some dramatic bursts. The bridge rests for a soft backing refrain. And there's a false ending. José's performance is full of life, even though he just plays the piano and later stands up. In the song, he says goodbye to his lover in multiple languages. He sounds very happy about it. He calls it a “big love”, but he's a “free bird” now.

Netherlands: Maggie MacNeal - Amsterdam This is nothing like “I See a Star”. The dark atmosphere is very compelling. The string intro establishes that mood. The verses sound sorrowful and pensive, while the chorus is ominously inviting thanks to the swinging bass stomps and panicked carousel sounds. That chorus creates an image of Maggie standing on a busy Amsterdam street at night, where she welcomes everyone. The “Amsterdam, Amsterdam” hooks are solid. And I like that descending light xylophone(?) scale that morphs into a piano. The oboe moment is nice too. The lyrics praise the city. Maggie makes it sound like a special, unforgettable place that has everything. It's where people feel freedom and belonging.

France: Profil - Hé, hé, m'sieurs dames Basic and repetitive. The title phrase appears in every single stanza. It's a catchy hook, but it's too perky in the verses. The chorus, which feels more hectic, changes that hook to a joyous shout instead though. Otherwise, there's some “dodododo”s and background “ahhh”s. And the bouncing verse guitar is alright. But the song doesn't have much going on. The lyrics are about partying and having fun tonight. On stage, they open their arms, point, and sway side-to-side; while wearing rainbow glitter shirts not long after the pride flag was adopted.

Ireland: Johnny Logan - What's Another Year (winner review below)

Spain: Trigo Limpio - Quédate esta noche I love the dark atmosphere and how the song continually switches between lowkey and explosive. Even if they say “...a mí esta noche” a lot. The acoustic guitar intro establishes the mood. The orchestra sounds pretty at points. The first and last choruses grow midway, with a pounding drum initiating the switch. The second chorus leads to a trumpet moment instead, which allows the two verses to have different volumes as well. And the song ends on a galloping drum to intensify things further. In the lyrics, their lover is about to leave without an explanation – their suitcase is already packed. But the narrator offers affection and passion to persuade them to stay tonight.

Belgium: Telex - Euro-Vision Belgium foreshadows the wacky 2000s. The chorus contains just one word (“Eu-RO-vis-ION”) said 6 times, with 4 synth notes repeating the same pattern. The main synth beat is quite static; until the ending slows down and turns squeaky. The lyrics get meta about the contest itself. The singer uses a talking voice. And his performance is eccentric – he pretends to smoke, plays with his scarf, makes goggle hands, twists his wrists, and pulls out glitter and a camera from his pockets. I just don't find this amusing.

The Winner:

Another decade begins with Ireland winning in the Netherlands, after some confusion over who would host it, while Katja Ebstein and the UK are in the top 3. This means Ireland achieves their second victory, as Johnny Logan starts his Eurovision dominance. He will contribute 4 songs over the next 12 years; all of which will reach top 2.

“What's Another Year” also sets the template for many upcoming Irish entries. Ireland's winning formula is a down-to-Earth artist singing about relatable common situations and emotions, usually as a ballad, in an honest way. Sure, they benefited from the language restriction rule back then, but they understood accessibility.

“What's Another Year” is a “mid” winner for me though. It sounds like a Christopher Cross song, who I find boring. It's early '80s yacht rock and easy listening. I prefer the bombastic “Hold Me Now”. Still, the saxophone makes this one stand out - it's my favourite part. I also like when the strings enter. And when Johnny raises his voice in the first chorus. But I'm disappointed he doesn't do it again. The second chorus, which is placed after the sax solo, is a fragile moment instead. And there's no final chorus – the outro just repeats the song title alongside a backing refrain. The backing voices are soft though.

Also, I can't decide if Johnny's performance is heartbreaking or sappy. He even sits on a stool to make it personal. In the lyrics, he's been waiting a long time for his ex to return. But his waiting seems futile. So he sighs “what's another year?”, as if 52 more weeks of misery won't bother him. He's lost everything, so what's the point of moving on. It comes across as self-pitying though.

Otherwise, Johnny jumping up and down when he won was cute. And this became a big chart hit in Europe.

Verdict: “C” tier.

My points go to.... 01. Netherlands: Maggie MacNeal - Amsterdam 02. Morocco: Samira Bensaïd - Bitaqat Hub 03. Turkey: Ajda Pekkan - Pet'r Oil 04. Spain: Trigo Limpio - Quédate esta noche 05. Portugal: José Cid - Um grande, grande amor 06. Germany: Katja Ebstein - Theater 07. Luxembourg: Sophie & Magaly - Papa pingouin 08. Switzerland: Paola - Cinéma 09. Greece: Anna Vissi and the Epikouri - Autostop 10. Sweden: Tomas Ledin - Just nu!

11. Norway: Sverre Kjelsberg & Mattis Hætta - Sámiid ædnan 12. Ireland: Johnny Logan - What's Another Year 13. Denmark: Bamses Venner - Tænker altid på dig 14. Austria: Blue Danube - Du bist Musik 15. France: Profil - Hé, hé, m'sieurs dames 16. Belgium: Telex - Euro-Vision 17. Italy: Alan Sorrenti - Non so che darei 18. Finland: Vesa-Matti Loiri - Huilumies 19. United Kingdom: Prima Donna - Love Enough for Two

#eurovision song contest #eurovision review #eurovision #eurovision 1980

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burlveneer-music · 7 months ago

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Rodion & Mammarella - Musica E Computer

'Musica E Computer' is a momentous release from Slow Motion label head Fabrizio Mammarella and Rodion recorded in the legendary Marche Synth Museum (Museo Del Synth Marchigiano). A fully functional recording space that houses a fusion of several private collections of Italian electronic musical instruments gathered over the many years since their creation. The Marche region, being home to some of the most ground-breaking and foundational instruments, has created the likes of Crumar, Farfisa and Elka with innovative use from the likes of Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd and Vangelis. Equipment used - Synthesizers: CRB Oberon CRB Uranus 2 Crumar DS-2 Davoli Davolisint Elgam Carousel Elgam ES 2000 Elka Synthex Farfisa Bontempi Iris MARS Farfisa Polychrome GRP A4 JEN SX-2000 Logan String Melody 2 Melloncelli Repromatic Milton Gemichord 961 Siel Opera 6 Synthesizer.com Modular System Welson Symphony Welson Syntex - Drum Machines: EKO Ritmo 20 Elgam Match 15 Elka Drumstar 80 Godwin Drummaker 32P Viscount R64 PCM Viscount R64s PCM Welson Supermatic S12 - Fxs: Lombardi 18 Channel Console Montarbo 112 Echo Unit Riccardo Pietroni plays Iris MARS Workstation & Synthesizer.com modular system Agostino Maria Ticino plays Elgam Carousel

#Bandcamp #rodion #mammarella #slow motion records #electronic #synthesizers #italy #2024

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citadel-of-paper-birds · 2 years ago

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Chapter Snippet: Nothing for Remus had been simple since the split. And now, Remus watched as Roman's gaze remained fixed in the mirror. Remus himself was trying to reconcile the image shimmering across the surface like it was rippling in silvery water. The person staring back at Roman had a crown of teeth and branches. Teeth gnashed like he wanted to see what it would take to make them crack, and branches reaching barren, broken and bent unnaturally for any warmth or light they could find. The person in the mirror looked wrecked.

Logan

Logan could feel the wildflowers tangled around his bones, could feel their leaves making imprints as if they’d been fossilized there, like they were waiting to grow until they’d breached through his skin and poured out of his palms. What a strange dream, he thought to himself, I can’t remember falling asleep.

His bare feet rested on the cold wood of the castle floor - no, not a castle. A lighthouse. He pressed his toes down onto it just to feel the rough grain of the wood scrape against his sensitive, bare toes. It felt so real. Was this a dream? He looked out over the rail of the tower at the twinkling lights of a little town, dim from the distance. It looked like one of the villages Roman had shown them the last time they’d spent a day traipsing through the imagination. That had been so long ago now.

The petals in his hands had finally bloomed and were floating to the ground, brushing his feet as they landed. They were slim and blue, and Logan couldn’t recall ever having seen a flower with petals like this despite his extensive knowledge. The air around him was full like the swelling crescendo in a song and it whipped his hair around as though impatient for him to move. Logan’s feet were silent on the hardwood and the hardwood was loud under his feet, creaking with the age of the old lighthouse. He barely registered anything but the energy around him; it was deafening, drowning out all his other senses. I’m dreaming, he reasoned, bending down to pick up what he’d stumbled onto while he looked around - a violin, positioned just so on the ground at his feet where they’d stilled, like it was waiting for him to find it.

Ignoring for now that sides didn’t have dreams of their own, Logan drew the bow across the strings, and a sweet shrill rose into the air, causing sparks of light to flicker up around him like embers flickering up from a fire. Where am I? He played a little melody across the strings before setting the instrument aside, propping it against the outer wall of the lighthouse’s tower.

He felt a little like a ghost, like he was there but he wasn’t. Like this was a dream, but it wasn’t. Like he’d stepped into a painting and decided to walk around for a while but forgot his way out, then forgot that there was a way out to find. He was under water and he’d never breathed so easily in his life. It was such a relief that he nearly cried, and what few tears managed to shimmer on his eyes turned into mist in the night air, floating away from him with the wind.

The ground under the lighthouse looked like a still pool of water so clear you might think it was a mirror if it didn’t ripple when the leaves fell onto it. A dream… his mind tried again, but the words were getting harder to remember now, and he didn’t have much use for them regardless. Where am I?

Logan. All he remembered was his name, Logan. He’d had a function too the last time he’d thought about it, but that wasn’t coming to mind at the moment. The flowers were back again, peeking through his skin and blooming across his fingers, twining their way around them, then growing steadily around his arms until they’d covered them completely.

He was dissolving away, and the flowers were taking his place, and suddenly he knew. He could feel it all disappearing around him. This is what he was when he had nothing left to strip away. Because Logan and Logic were two very different people, he thought.

Logic was the other side of the coin, the Answer to the Question, the all-knowing and efficient riposte. Logan on the other hand… Logan felt like a complete mess. Logan was surprisingly distractible, wandered off at inconvenient times when a new question implicated itself into his always-buzzing mind, and felt strange echoes in his chest where a human heart would be.

When he was awake Logan tried to make the curiosity in him a quiet thing, barely breathing until he coaxed the flame higher. But after this dream he had the clearest vision then of what he could do, of something else calling to him.

As he woke up he knew that he needed to know what it meant, what was coming their way. This hadn’t been an average dream - every particle in him was lit up like the starry sky outside his window. Sides shouldn’t be getting individualized dreams at all.

Catching his breath, Logan felt his shoulders ease from their tenseness. It was something he could talk over in the morning; there was no sense worrying about it now. He laid back in bed, trying to let sleep pull him under again. It would be fine in the morning.

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Patton

Patton had a monster under his bed.

Technically, he had monsters everywhere, but the one under his bed was the most troublesome because it was impossible to escape when he wanted a decent night’s sleep. It was almost as though it knew that he was due for a good rest and decided to waltz in at the last minute to give him terrible night visions. They couldn’t be dreams if Sides didn’t dream, could they?

The monster under his bed had a name. One might think that a monster’s name would be something intimidating or even inhuman, but his name was Love, and Patton had known him as nothing else since the night they’d met. As far as he knew, Love didn’t seem to be a side or have a function. He was just Love.

It wasn’t as though he wasn’t grateful to Love for all the nights the creature had spent holding his hand through nightmares - they’d grown up together, him and his monster - but there was always going to be that small, spiteful part of him that wished. A part of him that wished maybe he had let it all go, and maybe he would have gotten the good sleep he’d been craving.

Instead, he was having another vision, and he knew he would be exhausted for the next several days.

In his vision Patton saw a boy who looked startlingly like himself - another side maybe? He had light brown skin, a well-defined frame, and somewhat large, green eyes. His hair was a dark reddish brown, short and wavy. Patton knew this other side somehow, didn’t he? The unknown boy appeared to be lost in the forest. Patton trailed behind as he followed a path until a large, nearly vantablack stag began to guide the other boy away. He wondered if they knew anything about spirits and monsters, but it was an idle, fleeting thought as he followed him off the path and into the woods. Spirits and monsters were only real in Thomas’s imagination, after all.

By the time they’d reached the small, decrepit hollow of a cottage, the forest had withered and died. Corpses of long fallen trees still stuck upright from scorched looking earth, as though too stubborn to fully break down. Everything at the boy’s feet had died, and even his stag had withered into a half-rotting skeleton somehow still managing to graze.

The inside of the shack wasn’t much better than the outside had looked, and all that remained was a single wooden table in the center. Patton watched as the boy approached, clearly drawn to the object resting on the weathered wood. He moved closer to see what had been plucked from the dust, but before he was able to focus his eyes on the object, he was thrown from his vision.

He sat up straight in bed, clutching his chest and panting heavily. “What the heck Love?” He hissed with feeling, glaring over the edge of his bed.

Love further fell from his good graces by scaring him half to death when he set a clawed hand on his ankle in what the demon probably assumed was comfort.

“-and when the heck did you get on the foot of my bed you-!?”

Love interrupted him with a tilt of his lips that Patton had learned to read as a smile, in this case sheepish and apologetic. Despite being a monster, he’d never found Love scary. Mildly off putting as best, and only in the daylight. He looked less natural in the light. Love was a long, lithe monster with greyed skin, and dark storm-blue hair. He nearly looked human, but for his long, slender fingers that ended in sharp claws. His eyes were a dark, deep brown that he’d once mistaken for black until the night Love had wrapped around him; a night when they were both still small and open, Love trying to chase his bad dreams away and Patton hopelessly trusting and innocent.

“Sorry Pat. I got worried. It sounded like you were having a nightmare.”

“A nightmare? You sent me a vision you- you- silly beast.” He snapped, crossing his arms and yanking his ankle out of Love’s hand.

Love looked puzzled, hand sliding back into his own lap. His hunched shoulders straightened a little, “A vision? I didn’t send you anything tonight. Are you sure it wasn’t just a nightmare?”

Patton shook his head. It was worrying to say the least if this vision hadn’t been sent by Love. To his knowledge, Love had been the only one to ever send him visions as he was growing up. “No… It was definitely a vision. I had full control, and… it wasn’t scary or anything. It was just… a boy. He was being led by his soul manifestation, I think… through a dying forest. There was… Oh I’m losing it.” He clutched at his head, trying to remember the details before they slipped away from him. Most visions weren’t so specific. Most visions were much more straightforward, containing internalized emotions the others needed to release.

Love frowned deeply, a sharp tooth poking out as he bit his lower lip. “Well, that’s… not the usual.” He admitted, “But it doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong. Does it feel like everyone’s heart lines are still functioning like they should?”

Patton concentrated, trying to pull his frayed nerves together enough to feel the pulse of everyone else’s energy. He felt the familiar, steady thrum of emotions from the other sides and it immediately relaxed him. He nodded slowly, “Yeah it… it feels the same. It feels right, still. It’s fine. Everything is fine.”

He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Love or himself.

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Remus

Nothing had been simple for Remus since the split. When he and Roman split, everything around him had been black. There had been nothing but thick tar in his throat and in his eyes. Even his tears felt too heavy as he struggled to abrase the tracks clinging to his cheeks. His head was too loud, and the realization of what this nightmare was only made the situation worse.

He was angry at the blackness. He had clawed and torn at it but it never gave way to anything else, as futile as trying to claw at water. He was drowning. Air was getting difficult to find, and breathing was almost impossible when it made his chest constrict on itself and his throat choke.

And then something happened. The blackness didn’t leave, but it hardened around him, and he had wrapped himself in it. He used it as a wall, keeping anything else from getting in to ruin him further. Movement was difficult now, in the hard place, but he managed to muddle through, dragging and crawling and scraping his way through tunnel after tunnel for just a breath of fresh air.

When he could finally look at the others without feeling like he might implode, his world was forcefully, fiercely upheaved. Logan took something heavy to the blackened walls, and everything began to fracture. There was a wonderful, terrible, blinding light coming from the cracks forming in the stone. The fractures let in the first light and sound and air he had experienced since the dark had swallowed him up.

The rubble fell away, and he swore he must have dropped his head against his hands, wondering where he’d been all this time. Blinking away the last of the ink from his eyes, the world leapt into color. Bright yellows, cool blues, vibrant greens, softened reds splattered every surface and he couldn’t help but see Roman properly for the first time too. But it wasn't Roman who had saved him from the hardened darkness. It was Logan.

Logan, the boy who had taken a sledgehammer to his darkness without even trying. The boy who had gently picked through the destruction around him to dig him out of the ruins. The boy who had picked him up, gave him a dust off and said, Yeah, you’re going to be okay. The boy who had taken the time to smooth out all his sore spots and make sure he knew which thoughts were his own and which were a product of his function.

Logan, the boy who had waited, patiently, for Remus to let him love all his mending pieces.

But maybe some people are meant to be brutalized, born for it or built for it from the black chaos of life in the dark. Even nighttime is not blackness, not completely void. The night is dark, but eyes adjust with time. Nocturnal creatures reach into the dark for comfort. They don't see the fear it causes the people who walk in the sunlight, wary of anything they can’t see at face value. Nightlife finds rest in the shadows, and after so long in the darkness the light is painful for their skin and eyes.

So yes, Remus thinks, maybe some people are meant for brutalization, are perhaps even born for it. And others, like him, are built for it, running into the black like a vacuum looking for a place to hide away from prying eyes. The void is soft and quiet, just this side of too cold but cozy and snug nonetheless. Comforting like arms wrapping him up in a sensory deprivation cocoon. Being built for something, though, means that sometimes the hands of the night felt less like a nice hug and more like a chokehold at his throat.

And he watched, gripped in place by his comfort like a vice; watched building pressures rise to something else. Watched as Roman was deconstructed and rebuilt differently than before. This Roman was darker, dimmer, distant. This Roman was less like the throne room and more like a tower spire, less like a prince and more like a weary, battle-worn soldier. This Roman was too subdued, wounded but still honor bound to stand tall, pristine.

And now, Remus watched as Roman's gaze remained fixed in the mirror. Remus himself was trying to reconcile the image shimmering across the surface like it was rippling in silvery water. The person staring back at Roman had a crown of teeth and branches. Teeth gnashed like he wanted to see what it would take to make them crack, and branches reaching barren, broken and bent unnaturally for any warmth or light they could find. The person in the mirror looked wrecked.

“Roman?” His voice sounded like wood creaking under foot, “Roman are you-”

When Roman turned to face him his expression was bright, cheery, energetic - Roman - but his eyes still held ghosts and thorns. His smile was drawn up tight like it might snap but his words still held their usual tenacity, “I’m fine! It’s alright. Everything is fine. You worry too much, Re.”

Remus watched, and in all his watching he wished that he’d seen, because he definitely didn’t believe Roman’s words. He didn’t need Janus to tell him they were lies because Roman was not fine, because things had been weird across the mindscape for days now, because something was wrong with Roman.

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Logan

Logan woke with the immediate and unshakeable feeling that there was something important he needed to do. The sun had just peeked over the distant skyline he’d chosen for his room’s view and the light shone across his legs as he stared at his hands in pensive silence. Things had been different ever since the fight. He’d felt different.

All the moments he’d wanted so desperately for Thomas - for everyone to know the truth about the other sides, and somehow he’d never accounted for how it would change their entire world. Some things had stayed the same; it wasn’t as though the other sides had become entirely different people simply because Thomas knew more now than he had before.

But now they had questions, now they were coming to him for answers he didn’t have and ignoring the answers he did. Thomas wanted him to be a neutral party between the dark sides and the light sides. There was so much that needed to be mended in that bond, and to feel that it was resting largely on his shoulders was a weight he hadn’t thought about when he’d accepted the task. He’d been so concerned over whether Patton and Janus would ever speak again, so set on getting Thomas through his current personal quandary, that he hadn’t thought about what was going to come after.

He hadn’t realized there would be an after, illogical as that was.

As he let the moment, the day, his feelings wash over him, the dream started to resurface. It was like a jolt, as though static were connected to his fingertips. He flexed his hands a few times, waiting for the flowers to sprout through his skin like they’d done in the vividness of everything. It had felt so real, and though he had no logical proof, Logan was nearly positive this had been more than a regular dream.

‘I need to talk with someone about this,’ he thought, and his immediate urge was to go right to Patton, but now he had choices. Should Patton be the only one to know? What if it really had been just a dream? Was there such a thing as ‘just a dream’ when sides weren’t supposed to be having dreams themselves?

If it was a vision, then it must be important, and if it was important, then Thomas and the others would need to know too. Resolving to decide how many he should tell later, he hastened out of bed to catch Patton while he was still making breakfast.

“Good morning Logan!” Patton greeted, still bustling around the kitchen counter, “You’re up later than usual.”

“I am-” Logan agreed steadily, then cut himself off, trying not to rush his words before he could sort them, “I had a dream. Or maybe a vision. I’m not sure- it was strange.” He busied himself in helping Patton finish their morning meal, moving some boiling water to the side to brew tea.

He could nearly feel Patton’s eyes on him, but he didn’t look up from steeping the tea as Patton asked, “Strange how?”

“I’m not sure.” He admitted, finally looking up and wiping his hands off, “It felt real. I don’t know if it was a vision, or if it was just a dream… We’re not supposed to have dreams. There was something about it. And I’m forgetting pieces, I think. There was this castle- or- maybe not a castle…” Blank. There were gaps where there should be something, and he could feel it slipping as he tried to focus. He turned back to the tea.

“I guess there’s nothing we can do but wait. If it was a vision, I’m sure you’ll have more or figure it out soon! Try to write it down in a notebook when you wake up. Like a dream journal!” Patton suggested, and Logan knew the discussion was over. Not because Patton had said so, but because there wasn’t any way for him to articulate what he had felt when he’d woken up. Resigning himself to the truth of it, he straggled out to start his day.

After the fight, a lot had changed, and there had been some surprising revelations all around. Namely, that he and Remus got along much better than one might have intuited. It was somehow both a comfort and a frustration finding that of all of them, Remus was the most adept at handling Logan’s completely indiscriminate curiosity and most especially his morbid curiosity.

The comfort was in knowing that because it was Remus, Logan could let his curiosity run as rampant as he wanted and nothing between them needed to change. There were no conversations to be had, no worries that the Remus would look at him differently. They were going to be as close as they’d always been because Remus didn’t let it color his perception of Logan. The frustration, of course, lay in knowing that there were so many times he could have used Remus’ company, but hadn’t because he’d been afraid Patton might catch him. Times which were, apparently, pointless.

Now though, sitting next to one of his best friends, Logan knew that this was the right time to vent. He retold the whole vision - as much as he could remember, and did his best to explain the feeling of complete urgency he’d felt, the magnitude of the dream’s importance.

“I don’t have a way to make heads or tails of what any of it means, even if it is a vision.” He groaned, a small pout playing on the corner of his lips.

“Mmh,” Remus hummed in what was most probably supposed to be sympathy but came across more as delight, from where he was cleaning his morningstar, “It sounds like you’re thinking too much. If it’s a vision, it’s already telling you exactly what it needs you to know, right? Let it come to you - like prey when it thinks the predator is gone!”

Logan agreed with a sigh, “I suppose you’re right. Patton said something similar.”

“Well, if it’s any help, you mentioned an abandoned castle, yeah?” At the nod of Logan’s head in confirmation, he continued, “I’ve done a lot of traveling in the imagination, and I’ve only ever seen one castle that’s completely abandoned with water around it like that. It’s more of a ruin than a castle, actually-”

“Where is it?” There was a sudden stillness to the air now like the walls were holding their breath around him. He could swear he felt a heartbeat in his temples that wasn’t his own. The dust in the streams of sunlight around them was glittering, and for a moment, he almost thought he saw little blue petals between them.

“It’s far. All the way on the outskirts at the edge of Roman’s domain.” He answered, finishing up with his morningstar and standing to stretch. “I need to head out. I’m meeting Roman today and… well, I just really don’t want to miss this meeting.”

“Of course. Thank you, Remus.” Logan’s voice was crisp with sincerity.

“Anytime, Lo-bot. Good luck!” Remus called out as he hastened away to meet Roman. Come to think of it, Remus had seemed a bit off when he’d mentioned his brother, but Logan couldn’t quite pinpoint why. It was something in the way Remus had sounded unsure of his words, something he almost never was given that he typically didn’t care to think before he spoke.

It wasn’t an answer, but it was a start, and that was what was most important to focus on. In the meantime, he had a meeting to make sure Thomas made it to, and he was already running late. With a buzzing mind, Logan darted in the other direction, hoping Thomas wouldn’t be too set back by his tardiness.

----------

As usual, Logan was more upset with Thomas’ tardiness than Thomas was himself.

“Punctuality is very important, Thomas. I help as much as I’m able, but it’s ultimately in your hands what you do, and this is your only meeting today.” Thomas was making the expression he always made when he wished (not for the first, nor likely not the last time) that he knew a spell that might turn Logan into a mute, or turn himself deaf.

He looked like he’d been just about to respond when something in the air altered, and suddenly Logan was somewhere else, miles away in what must be the mindscape. The ruins, again, in the light of day this time. The air around him was fresh and clean, and there wasn’t a sound he could hear. Not even the whistle of a bird’s call or the rustle of wind in the leaves made it to his ears, despite the breeze brushing along his skin.

And then he blinked, and it was all gone.

Thomas was waving his hands in front of Logan’s face, and he blinked rapidly, backing up to get away from them as the other’s voice filtered back in, “Logan? Are you feeling alright? You look pale.” He sounded worried.

“I’m fine. Sorry. I’m just feeling a bit off today.” He replied dismissively, “Nothing to worry about.”

Not looking convinced, Thomas said, “I was just telling you that the meeting was canceled. We don’t have anything to worry about being punctual for.”

“Meeting?” Logan echoed, feeling there was entirely too much static in his ears, “That’s right. You’d mentioned that a few nights ago. Thank you for reminding me - I’ll get back to helping Patton for the day.”

Thomas looked like he was about to say more but before he could manage it, Logan started sinking out, “Please let me know if you need anything that requires my attention.” When he made it back to the mindscape he turned on heel to rush back to his room.

-----------

Logan was dreaming again. The cool of the water pressed against the underside of his feet as he walked and he marveled at the feeling of floating on top of the water’s surface like a leaf that had just fallen. Gazing out, he saw nothing but open sky, the ocean stretching as far out as his eyes could strain. The sky was crushed - a gradient of pink and purple and blue, and he saw three suns low in the sky just riding the horizon. Each step he took caused ripples to move along the top of the seemingly endless sea.

When he turned around, there were trees towering in the distance, and even as far as he was he could tell that they were much larger than any tree he’d ever seen before - much larger than anything he could begin to fathom. They stretched upwards so high that he couldn’t see the tops even from the distance he was standing, their peaks obscured by a mist that made the trees slowly fade away into blank whiteness. The only visible thing amongst the trees wasn’t actually a tree but a high, high lighthouse, nestled in between the foliage.

Most peculiarly, he noted that the forest seemed to be growing from the water itself, no land in sight at the base of the trees where it began. Their roots were raised and gnarled, rising up into twisted trunks. He could walk beneath them, between the expansive roots, each wide enough to be a tree all their own in the real world.

Where was he?

He’d asked that question before. It tasted familiar on the tip of his tongue. Has he done this before? He’d been here before, hadn’t he? It felt like a blur. He felt like a blur himself, more of a moment than a person.

Who was he again?

That came easier this time. He was Logan.

Logic.

Logan could have sworn he’d just gone to sleep. He’d just closed his eyes to drift off after relaxing into the coolness of his pillow, ready with a notebook at his side should he need it. And now he was here. He’d been here before, he thought to himself, but the thought was a fleeting vagueness pressed unthinkingly into the back of his mind.

When he blinked his own bedroom in the mindscape came back into view, everything exactly as he’d left it. What happened? He’d gone back to his room after a one on one with Thomas about his meeting and then… He couldn’t remember anything past turning his doorknob. With shaky legs, Logan lowered himself to sit on his bed and a long, trembling sigh quavered past his lips as he took stock of what he was feeling. Confusion, hesitancy, unsureness, and a good helping of doubt in his own senses.

More than all those, Logan felt a bit afraid to blink.

----------

Hey guys, thank you for reading if you got this far. I'm posting a little bit of what I have written here. Please keep in mind it's only been loosely edited, and I'm new to posting my writing on Tumblr so the formatting might leave something to be desired. That said, I'll improve with time and I hope you enjoy what I have today.

#sanders sides #roman sanders #tss #tss fanfic #sanders sides fanfiction #citadelwrites #writing #written #tss roman #tss remus #remus sanders #logan sanders #tss logan

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edupunkn00b · 2 years ago

Text

Will

Johan Strauss Sr Tauberln-Walzer, Op 1, No 8

Happy @loginceweek2023 - Written for Day 5: Dancing Rated: G - WC: 100

A soft string melody flitted through the ballroom. Of course Logan understood when traffic snarled his husband’s trip home. Missed flights, lost luggage, a night in a crummy motel. Roman’s night was worse than his.

But when their song began to play, Logan couldn’t paper over the ache in his chest. All he wanted were warm, familiar arms wrapped around him, rich, rumbly voice in his ear—

“May I have this dance, mi amor?”

Logan gasped and turned, his husband’s arms circling him. “Roman! But how?”

“Where there’s a love,” he murmured, leaning in for a kiss. “There’s a way.”

#loginceweek2023 #logince #ts logan #ts roman #logan sanders #roman sanders #drabble #dancing

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myloveforhergoeson · 2 years ago

Text

That's All She Wrote - Chapter 7

Chapter 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6

Find me on wattpad and ao3

Show: Big Time Rush

Pairing: James Diamond x Original Female Character

Chapter 7: Call me ~ 12k

There were many things that Roxanne enjoyed about having her own apartment. Privacy, for one, was one of her favorite features; how she could choose to see as few or as many people as she wished at any time. Along with that, came the peace and quiet she needed in order to write the songs that would help make her friends famous, the songs that would keep her in Hollywood like she had always dreamed.

So, when she picked up her brand new electric guitar to write some melodies in the time she had before work, a hockey puck-sized indent smacking into her wall and startling her was the last thing she needed. Not only was the noise loud enough to send her heart into overdrive, but she was in the middle of formulating a perfect chord for one of her older songs and had lost it in an instant.

Gently setting her instrument down, she marched over to the shared door connecting her apartment to the band’s and threw it open.

“What the hell do you all think you’re doing?” She cried, but her voice was lost to the crunching and cracking of hockey pad on hockey pad as the boys zoomed around their living area on rollerblades in full protective gear. A puck was flying somewhere on the floor that all four of them spied, sending them hurtling into each other, making even more noise and ruining her quiet morning.

The mess they had already created was made even larger as Kendall shoved James over the breakfast bar in an attempt to get ahead of the other boy, sending snacks atop it every which way. The blond reared his stick back and slapped the puck with a sickening crack, shooting it once again toward the wall the two apartments shared.

Now, it was clear to her that she needed to get out of the way or take a puck to the face, so she dove behind the small barrier that kept the hallway to the bedrooms out of view. Just in time too, as she spied Kelly making her way into the apartment with a large, orange air horn.

As soon as the boys scored a goal, wherever they had deemed the net to be, the puck was placed in the center of the room where the four gathered to start a new round. While they were oblivious to the talent scout trying to catch her attention, Roxy covered her ears as quickly as she could as Kelly blew the horn right into their ears, not only scaring the boys but sending them into a straight, attentive line in front of her.

When the girl emerged from her hiding spot, she moved to stand beside Kelly, excited for whatever was in store for the group today. Meanwhile, Carlos remembered the game at hand and body-slammed Logan one more time for good measure.

“Get your helmets off and your smiles on.” Kelly declared, referring to the pads the boys were still clad in. “Gustavo pulled some strings, and if we hurry, you can make the next Pop Tiger hot-new-star pinup fold-out special spring poster issue.”

“No way!” Roxy squealed, reacting to her statement and inadvertently cutting off something James was about to say. “The spring poster issue is my favorite edition of Pop Tiger. We’ve got to make this happen!”

“Um…” Kendall started, sharing confused looks with Logan and Carlos. “In English, please?”

Kelly and Roxy glanced at each other, displaying their disdain at the band’s ignorance. How was it they had made it this long as a boyband without knowing about cutesy teen magazines like Pop Tiger?

“It’s picture day!” Kelly settled on in lieu of a proper explanation. “Move it!” And blared the air horn one more time before leaving the apartment to go wait in the lobby.

The four boys still stood in their line, not quite sure what to do now that she had gone.

“Why don’t you just put on your favorite outfits? Or ask James for help styling your hair?” The assistant questioned, still trying to understand what the boys found confusing.

Once they had scrambled off into their rooms, she figured they’d be fine until they made it to Rocque Records.

About 20 minutes later, everyone was changed and looking their best. Kelly had texted her to let the boys know that it was just a simple shoot, so nothing over the top would be necessary. Just an in-and-out kind of session with a photographer whose name she recognized from past issues of Pop Tiger. Even she had taken time to change into a nicer, red mini-dress decorated with small white flowers she had been saving for a special occasion. Though she wasn’t going to be in the picture, it was still nice to have a reason to dress up every once and a while.

Making sure to grab a few of her old editions of the magazine from her nightstand in her room, she met back up with the guys out front of the hotel, where they piled into the limo waiting for them.

“I can’t believe we’re gonna be in Pop Tiger.” James gushed, finally sharing the girl’s excitement.

After recognizing some of the emotion in his voice, Roxy felt a bit bad for cutting him off in 2-J earlier. It was their photoshoot after all, they should get to relish in the feeling far more than she should.

In response to the boy’s words, Carlos pumped his fist in the air, “I know! It’s totally awesome! What’s a Pop Tiger?”

“You can’t be serious!” Roxy slapped his arm before passing him one of her personal copies of the magazine.

“Only the most popular teen magazine in the world!” Chimed in James, holding up this month’s edition his assistant had been dying to get her hands on. On the cover was one of her favorite actors, Dak Zevon - the star of the Varsity Vampire series.

Oh, I’m definitely signing up for the home delivery service now…

Logan held up his pointer finger, trying to read the numerous blurbs covering the page, “Is that Roxy’s? Please tell me it’s Roxy’s.”

“Hey!” James pouted, “This magazine has great articles for guys too, like ‘OMG, I IM’D the Wrong BFF’.”

He passed off the magazine to Kendall, who seemed to be examining the cover with much scrutiny. To his credit, there was a lot to look at between the pictures of celebrities riddled across the cover, article titles stacked on top of each other, and the section in the bottom corner promising four life-size posters of JLS.

“‘What one thing would hottie hunk Dak Zevon bring to a desert island?’” The blond read off one of the article titles in a mocking tone. “I’ve gotta say, I’m curious!”

“Easy!” Roxy cut in without thinking. “His dog, Snowball. He’s just so caring…”

Kendall flipped a few pages into the magazine, taking a second to read the first few lines of the interview with the pop star. “Rox is shockingly correct.”

“What? What an idiot!” Carlos said, trying to take the magazine from his friend. “Everyone knows you bring a roller coaster!”

“Dak isn’t an idiot!” She slapped him on the arm again. “Take that back!”

At Carlos’ comment, it was finally time for Logan to jump in, “You don’t bring a roller coaster. You bring a flare gun to signal passing ships.”

“Oh, what, you don’t think people are gonna see my extreme looping coconut coaster?” The black-haired boy bit back.

“Your island is stupid!”

“Your island is boring!”

The two erupted into a slap fight causing Roxy to reach between them and bravely pull the magazine out from under Carlos’ arm. She was lucky she was able to get it out before they had done any damage to Dak’s cover image. After today, she was going to run down to the drugstore and pick up the issue she was missing. How did James get it before she did?

I wonder if he’d let me rip out the posters in his…

By the time the fight was starting to get out of hand, Kelly was on top of it, blowing the air horn once more to get their attention.

“Break it up.” She warned, voice clear and commanding. “You need to stay pretty. This picture could end up on the walls of millions of girls.”

“Did you say millions of girls?” Kendall, Logan, and Carlos repeated.

The woman nodded and there was a chorus of screaming from outside of the vehicle. As they pulled up to Rocque Records, a horde of teenage girls decked out in t-shirts, signs, and everything in between proclaiming love for Dak Zevon swarmed their car.

It was clear that the boys had not picked up on the fact that these girls were screaming out for someone else as they began to wave excitedly behind the tinted windows. With faces squished into the glass, the girls were doing their best to get a look at who was inside. Each of the band member’s faces lit up as they tried to roll down the windows and greet the people outside; their boss had to lock the manual controls to keep anyone from getting in.

“Kelly?” Questioned the young girl, looking over to her boss. “Why is there a screaming fan mob here for Dak Zevon?”

The woman shifted in her seat, casting her eyes down to the leather ledger she held tightly in her hands. “Maybe, because he’s recording vocals for Varsity Vampire 2: Game On here today?”

“What!?” Roxy gasped, loud enough to make Logan flinch beside her. “Why didn’t you tell us? If I had known Dak was here today I would’ve curled my hair and worn nicer shoes and oh, no, do I have extra lipstick in my bag…”

“Roxy, Gustavo is doing his recording.” Kelly tried to say gently, but the assistant was too busy digging around her small bag to try and find the tube of lipstick she knew she had. “He requested a private, professional session.”

Logically, she understood what Kelly was trying to tell her. The calm letdown was kind and probably more than she deserved, but there were few things she was going to let stand in her way of getting to meet Dak today. With an opportunity like this practically handed to her on a silver platter, how could she let it pass her up?

From on top of the car, somehow, one of the girls in the swarming pack yelled something about spotting Dak at the front gate and the mob that had engulfed the limo moments ago disappeared.

“Woah, where are they going?” Groaned James, seemingly oblivious to the entire conversation the assistant and Kelly had right in front of him.

Ugh, he’s so one-track-minded.

Once all the girls were gone, the band was given the all-clear from their driver and they began the trip to the studio. Once the doors were closed and the car sped off, the reality of what had happened finally set in with the group.

“What was that?” Kendall questioned. Clearly, he had never seen a crazy mob of fangirls - something he would have to get used to if he expected this band to go anywhere.

Kelly rolled her eyes, “That was a pack of screaming fangirls looking for Dak Zevon.” She held up the fold-out poster of him from the magazine James had brought to work with him.

“Just one great picture in Pop Tiger and those girls will be screaming for Big Time Rush,” Roxy added, hopeful that their shoot today would go off without a hitch. There was limited time if they wanted to make sure their picture was in next month’s edition rolling out at the end of the week.

Her comment was enough to connect the dots in the band’s mind and had them excited enough to practically dive through the doors of the studio to get to their photoshoot.

All they could think about was getting their picture on the wall of millions of girls, and it was the only thing mentioned all the way up the elevator and through the halls until they ran into Mrs. Knight and Katie, who had somehow beat them to the studio.

“Oh, Mom and Katie,” Kendall half-greeted, more confused to see them than excited. “Hey, what are you guys doing here?”

Katie was proudly clutching the same Pop Tiger edition Roxy desperately wished she owned. It was obvious she was here to see Dak too. “What, I can’t just come down to see my big brother, who I love?”

The comment touched Kendall’s heart, and his assistant hated to ruin it, but if Katie was here for the same purpose she was, her chances of meeting Dak were about to skyrocket. That little girl always got what she wanted.

“Are you here to see Dak Zevon?” Roxy asked, ignoring the dirty look Katie’s brother gave her.

“Oh, yeah!” The two girls exchanged a high-five. “I just want him to autograph this picture for my wall.”

James scoffed, “Really? I didn’t think you were into that stuff.”

“I’m a preteen girl. He’s a cute pop star.” Katie bit, folding open his picture in her magazine, “I’m not made of stone, you know.”

The boys exchanged mocking glances as Logan took a step forward to snatch the magazine out of the young girl’s hands. He swiftly held it up to his face, making it look like he was Dak, and pulled out a terrible high-pitched impression. “Look! I’m Dak Zevon and I love you, Katie Knight.”

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, the mob of screaming Dak fangirls rushed down the hall from both sides and tackled Logan to the ground. The group of about 20 girls held him down, poking and prodding him then pulling the picture out of his hands to learn that he wasn’t who he claimed to be seconds before. As quick as the pack had come, they were gone - off in search of their favorite teen idol once more.

“Now, where’s Dak recording?” Mrs. Knight asked politely, giving Kelly her award-winning smile.

Katie, Roxy, and Mrs. Knight all looked at the talent scout expectantly.

“Sorry,” She tried. “I’m not allowed to say.”

Lightly chucking, Mrs. Knight pushed Katie in front of her “Well, look into these eyes and say that again.”

The two locked eyes and Katie did her best sad puppy dog impression, filling her eyes with water and sticking out her bottom lip to pout. For a moment, the assistant could’ve sworn there was a small symphony playing behind her as they faced off.

“Studio B, down the hall to the right!” Kelly gave up, succumbing to the power of the puppy dog eyes. “Just stop looking at me like that!”

The Knight pair didn’t even stop to say thank you before toting off down the hall to Studio B. Watching anxiously, Roxy hoped she would soon join them.

How long could the photo shoot take anyway?

After that exchange, Logan had finally gained enough strength to stand back up after his mob attack.

“Girls- Many girls in the- Ouchies.” His speech was slurred as he stumbled around in a few circles, trying to get his arm back through the hole in his shirt. But, his struggles were quickly ignored as a strange pop-techno beat started playing from Studio A, exciting the boys. Dragging their dazed friend behind, they all ran toward the sound.

The glass studio doors were pulled open and the group tumbled in to find the lights had been dimmed. A handful of mechanical fans and photo lights had been set up around a plain white backdrop and were blowing a gentle, foggy breeze onto a middle-aged man and a younger woman, both holding cameras and dancing eccentrically to the music. Each time the woman pressed the button on the camera, a flash of light bouncing off the white backdrop would blind them.

“This is so not like school picture day!” Kendall called out, excitement tinged in his tone.

The sound alerted the man standing in front of the backdrop of the newcomers, quickly snatching the camera from the woman. Running up to the band, he stopped a few feet away and checked their position through the viewfinder, pretending to take a couple of shots. He shouted over the music, but whatever accent the man spoke with made it nearly impossible for the teens to understand him with the loud song playing.

“What?” They asked back.

The photographer tried yelling again, but his words were lost once more. After a moment he held his finger up and turned around to grab some sort of remote, shutting the music off.

“That’s better!” He cried, chucking the remote to the side of the room and taking out one of the many light fixtures, causing the girl to cringe. “So, how are you guys doing?”

The band answered in a garbled mess as their assistant lamented over the fact she would probably have to sweep up the broken light bulb after the shoot was over.

From the recording booth on the side wall, Gustavo emerged and moved to stand beside the photographer, clapping him on the shoulder.

“This is Marcos Del Posey, the best teen idol photographer on the planet.”

Marcos continued to move around like he was dancing, despite the fact he had shut off the music a bit ago. “Some say, photographer. Some say, magician. Mira! One camera.” He held up a camera in his right hand and took a few dozen shots, setting off the bright lights each time. “Now, oh, two camera!” He cheered, repeating his motions with both cameras before tossing them over his shoulders once he was finished.

Great. More, expensive, stuff for me to clean up later.

“Okay here is what I’m thinking,” Marcos continued. “Shirts open, hair blowing, with… the stuffy puppy.”

The lady who was with him earlier handed him a huge black and white stuffed dog, causing Roxy’s heart to melt - it almost made her forget the prospect of shirts open, hair blowing.

“Mr. Del Posey, you’re the creator of the stuffy puppy shoot?” She beamed, trying to keep her focus on the task at hand and not on James beginning to unbutton the first few buttons on his shirt. “My poster with Jesse McCartney and his stuffed rottweiler is one of my favorites!”

Just as the man was about to answer, one of the band members cut him off in protest.

“Woah, woah, absolutely not!” Carlos yelled, taking a few steps back from the photographer.

Marcos’ features twisted into a pout, raising the dog to his face and posing like someone was taking a picture. “Why of course I did, Miss!”

With a quirk of her lips, she turned to her friends, “I cannot wait for this shoot.”

They stuck out their tongues at her words as Gustavo moved to take the dog away from Marcos. Maybe the girl would be able to swipe one of the stuffies before the day was over and add it to her collection. That would be more than satisfactory if Gustavo didn’t want the boys to have a shot with them.

“What I want is a simple shot of four best friends just chilling and being themselves,” Gustavo commanded as Marcos waved his hands, forming the picture in his mind.

Kendall snapped his fingers and pointed to the two men, “I totally agree.”

“I totally don’t care.” Their boss snapped back. “Now, get on the backdrop and look handsome!”

The boys, for once, did as they were told and rushed over to the white curtain, testing out a few different poses.

Simple shoot, simple day. The assistant concluded and moved to sit down behind Marcos to jot down a few notes in her journal. In the contacts page she had started, she copied down the photographer's name and would move to get his number from Kelly later.

The studio lights were flipped on before the actual photographing began, and the woman Marcos had been dancing with before rushed over to give the band a bit of touch-up to combat the glare of the camera flash.

“I changed my mind about the island,” Carlos shared, turning to James who was combing his hair. “I’m gonna bring a fridge packed with ice cream!”

“Where are you gonna get the electricity, dumbass?” Logan hissed, low enough for none of the adults to hear.

“Electric eels, dickhead, duh!”

The two erupted in another smacking fight which was once again broken up by the sound of Kelly’s air horn.

“Dawgs, heel!” Gustavo yelled. “We need a great picture before the Pop Tiger messenger gets here in 2 hours. Now look into the camera and think about something funny.”

“Like Roxy’s crush on Dak Zevon?” Carlos quipped, cracking a smile.

The comment was enough to get the rest of her friends laughing as she sighed in protest. The scene looked perfectly natural, like a shot into the domestic bliss of the band.

They’re lucky they’re all so photogenic.

Her boss was about to flip his lid as Marcos was rummaging through his camera bag to find something instead of standing behind the camera. “Take the picture now, before something goes wrong!”

“What could go wrong?” The other man protested. “I am Marcos.”

The look Kelly shot at him was lethal, “Oh, you don’t know these boys, so snap the picture, now!”

The boys stayed where they were, laughing at Roxy’s expense, and Marcos jumped into position behind the camera. Slowly, his finger descended onto the photo button.

Just as it reached, someone yelled “Freeze!”

Everyone’s hands shot up in the air as two LAPD officers burst into the studio.

“Gustavo Rocque, you failed to report to your court-ordered community service.” The male police officer began as he and his partner moved Gustavo’s hands behind his back to handcuff.

Gustavo squirmed but confidently huffed out, “Officers, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about destroying Matthew McConaughey’s mailbox with…” The female officer looked around the room, eyes landing on Roxy and making her shiver, before they moved on to Kelly. “Her!”

Kelly was apprehended as well but squealed as soon as the officer brought out the handcuffs. An accusatory finger was stuck out at Gustavo. “He made me be the lookout!”

“Hey, I’m the victim here! He plays the bongos til 3 in the morning!”

“Let’s go!” The officer holding him spat out, pulling him from the room.

Her boss struggled for a second, “Wait, wait, let me at least get my workplace in order! Roxanne, take over recording in Studio B, the sheet music, and everything is there!” His screams got quieter as he was dragged farther and farther away. “And dawgs, take care of this photoshoot!”

At this point, she couldn’t even see him and he was still screaming, but his direction to help record in Studio B was more than enough for her to pull herself off the ground. She could barely contain her excitement as she turned towards her friends, a goofy smile plastered all over her face.

“You’ve got this right? It’s just a picture.”

Did she trust them? Yes. Should she? No. But every one of her thoughts telling her not to leave was ignored as she grabbed her journal and made her way out of the room. There was some protest from the guys but she could hear Marcos’ poor attempts at calming them down. That would do for now.

On the way out and down the hall, she passed company CEO, Griffin and his two bodyguards.

“Ah, Miss Somerset, you look lovely today! Where are you headed?” He greeted her, raising one brow when he noticed the direction she was going.

“Hello, Mr. Griffin! Thank you.” She replied, giving him a quick wave.”I’m off to record our ‘secret project’ in Studio B!”

The white-haired man nodded. “Would you like to aid me in finishing the photoshoot in Studio A? I can handle it, but a helping hand is always nice.”

Roxy blew some hair out of her face, “Uh, Gustavo said the recording is super urgent, so, probably not the best idea for me to skip out!” She began to walk away, picking up the pace as she got closer to the right-hand turn, “Thanks for the offer, good luck!”

Her feet didn’t stop until she was seconds away from entering the recording room to Studio B, which she nearly ended up slamming into by underestimating the speed at which she had been running.

Hastily brushing off the front of her dress, she made sure not even a thread was out of place. Her hair was smoothed down by both shaking hands and she took a few breaths in and out to try and disguise the fact she had just been sprinting down the hall to meet the love of her life.

Private and professional. She reminded herself. Private and professional.

Roxanne was definitely up for the task, or so she thought before a deep voice called out from behind her.

“Hey, this is a secure area! What do you think you’re doing here?”

Two massive bodyguards wearing bright yellow jackets began to march towards her, blocking any way for her to leave by taking up enough space in the hall that she couldn’t slip by. They got closer and closer, somehow not spying the Rocque Records ID tag bearing her name, picture, and position on it clipped around one of the thin straps holding up her dress.

“Um, hi!” She squealed, “I’m Roxanne Somerset, here for Gustavo Rocque!”

Through her trembling fingers, she was somehow able to pull her badge off and show it to the guards; at least they would know she belonged somewhere in the building.

One of them swiped it out from her hands and held it up to eye level, squinting at the text printed on the plastic card. How long they looked at it she didn’t know, it almost felt like time had slowed down while she anxiously awaited their decision. Her heart was beating out of her chest; there was no one here to vouch for her now and she probably just looked like a crazed fan girl.

“All my stuff is in the control room, I can prove to you that I’m supposed to be here.” Roxy offered, knowing it was a long shot.

“Sure, and let you into the same room as our client? Nice try, it’s time to go.”

She planted her feet at the door, grip tightening on her journal. “Really, I’m supposed to be here! America’s fourth most powerful CEO, Arthur Griffin, is just down the hall if you want to check. I’m not sure he’d appreciate learning you two are harassing one of his favorite employees… But I’d be happy to go get him for you!”

The taller guard of two scratched his chin, turning her words over in his mind. “You know Arthur Griffin?”

Nodding her head slowly, her voice grew more confident. It seemed like her plan was falling into place. Only Arthur Griffin, and maybe the other three most powerful CEOs in America, could gather this type of response. “Yup, he’s right next to us in Studio A.”

“Huh,” The other guard thought aloud. “He’s the CEO of our security company.”

“Met him one time.” The taller one added. “He was pretty terrifying for an old guy.”

“Ooh,” Roxy pretended to wince. “He hates it when people call him old. Hang on let me text him, he’ll be over to see you in a second.”

From her dress pocket, she pulled out her phone and began to draft a text, heading to Kendall, not Griffin, and she read her fake message aloud as she typed up her real one.

“Hey, Mr. Griffin. There are two guys in Studio B trying to remove me from the building, they’re being incredibly hostile and even calling you old! We’d appreciate it if you could meet us-”

The shorter guard waved his hands in an ‘x’ motion. “Woah, hang on, that isn’t necessary.”

“Yeah just go ahead, you don’t need to bother the nice man.” The other chimed in.

Meanwhile, her real texts were sent.

R: Warn your mom and sister Dak has 2 huge terrifying bodyguards pls

R: Managed to outsmart them tho, no need to worry about me

R: Have fun with the shoot, take one puppy pic for meeee

Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she looked up at the two and gave them her best crowd-pleasing smile. “Wonderful! I’m glad this all worked out. Now, if you need me I’ll be doing the vocal recordings for today.”

Before the two had the chance to say anything else, she opened the door to the room that she had been leaning on and slid inside. Keeping her head down, she checked that all of the supplies Gustavo had promised were on the desk in front of the control panel before looking up, through the glass, into the studio dance room.

Almost instantly, her heart skipped a beat as she locked onto the deep, dreamy blue eyes of her favorite teen idol: Dak Zevon. There he was, in the flesh, standing right in front of her, and all she could do was stare.

His wave through the glass was more attention-getting than greeting, but it was a wave nonetheless. “Hey.” The boy mouthed, but there was no mic in the studio so the sound didn’t carry.

This snapped her back into reality. Attentive, she waved back and zoomed through the recording booth and out the door into the studio. Now he stood there, no barriers between them, and waved again.

“Hey,” He tried once more. “Nice to meet you, I’m Dak Zevon.”

The boy held his hand out for a handshake that she returned a bit too quickly.

Private and professional, private and professional.

“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Zevon. My name is Roxanne Somerset, I’ll be standing in for Mr. Rocque to help you record your vocals today. Thanks for choosing Rocque Records.” She pushed out, not even one stutter, truly more than happy to be helping him out.

He gave her a perfect, pearly white smile. “Well, if I’d known the company had such a cute production assistant I’d probably have urged my manager to pick you guys way sooner. How long have you been working here?”

At the sight of a dimple cutting into his left cheek, her hand flew to the back of her neck to cool down the red shade it was definitely turning. “I’ve been here for about three weeks now. I work with Gustavo Rocque, Kelly Wainwright, and the upcoming band Big Time Rush… Give me just a moment to get the equipment set up and we can start recording.”

“Whatever you need, Miss Somerset.”

She turned away, hoping to save some of her dignity as she began to set up the recording equipment. “Just- Just Roxy is fine.”

Buzz

The sound from her phone caused her to jump, dropping the mic stand she had just picked up. Nervously she laughed, to no one but herself, and pulled out her phone.

K: Mom says they’re trying 2 get an autograph but security wont let them thru

K: Can you let them in

R: NO!

R: Just tell them to wait until the session is over

K: Boo :( no puppy pic for you

K: Here’s what we’re currently in thanks to Griffin

K: Sent a photo

The attached image was her band dressed in brightly colored matador outfits on a backdrop that made it look like they were standing on the moon.

R: Has Marcos taken the pic?

K: Nope

R: Great! Don’t let him! Bye!

Once she was finished setting all of the equipment up, she walked back into the control room to grab the sheet music for the songs that would be produced during the session. Now that there was a mic and headphones set up in the studio, the pair should be able to communicate through the glass - a fact that calmed Roxy down heavily. Though it was still communication, it didn’t feel entirely real. Hopefully, she would be able to maintain her calm and make Gustavo proud.

Then Dak could record all of his music here! Her perfect dream. I’m about to hear him sing… and I get to hear the music from the movie before anyone else! I can’t wait to tell Jo and Camille.

Shrugging on a pair of headphones, she pressed down on the button that would allow two-way speech.

“Alright! It looks like we’re recording 3 songs for the Varsity Vampire 2: Game On soundtrack today, any preference as to what you sing first?”

“Dealer's choice.” His smooth voice flooded through her ears and would’ve probably made her knees buckle had she not already been sitting down. Roxy did her best to look up and meet his eyes, but she couldn’t lift them higher than the blue shirt hidden underneath a casual black blazer.

It hugs his chest so nicely…

“How about we go in order then? The first one is-” Glancing down at the page she noticed all of the song titles were vampire puns like the first movie soundtrack had been. “‘Drive Me Batty!’ Do you need any time to look over the sheet music?”

This was routine, something she had done with her band enough times, and that brought her some comfort. It was a miracle she was so wired into doing this or she probably would’ve made a giant fool of herself in front of Dak. Normally, the guys would take a little extra time to review the song before recording for the first time, but the pop idol just gave her a thumbs up.

Pressing another button on the board, she began to play the karaoke-style track. The lead vocals would be recorded first, then they would worry about the harmonies. From here, Dak took it away.

A nice, tenor voice filled her ears, matching each note perfectly. From the lyrics, it seemed as though this was one of the opening songs being sung to his female counterpart in the movie: a human girl on the cheerleading squad named Scarlett. As she recalled from the first movie, Dak’s character, Kieran, was the star of the basketball team but struggled to find balance between his human and vampire lifestyles. Thankfully, the other members of the team were turned into vampires at the same Halloween party Kieran was, so they worked through their passion for the game, singing, and blood together.

It appeared as though this song was Kieran’s way of letting Scarlett know that even though she drives him batty there are some parts of his life he is unable to share with her. As marked on the sheet the song was written as a duet, but Dak was singing both parts, not that Roxy was complaining.

By the time the 3-minute track had run out, the girl was already giving a few claps in congratulations before naming and labeling the file on the small computer in the studio and looping it around for another try.

“Could I trouble you for some water, Roxy?”

She looked up at him and he gave her another beautiful grin.

“Sure thing, Mr. Zevon! Give me a few minutes, I’ll be right back.”

“Just Dak is perfect.”

Roxy nodded her head, throwing him a thumbs up as she took her headphones off. Before she left, she made sure to hit the track recording again and he began to sing once more as she walked out of the room.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two bodyguards from earlier scaring off a group of screaming Dak fangirls. The assistant did her best to be quiet as she slipped down a separate hallway and headed towards the studio’s shared kitchen for a few bottles of water.

Maybe I should check on the boys.

It was a fleeting thought, but they would probably appreciate it; she would have to be fast about it. There was no need to keep Dak waiting as she checked on the band she wasn’t even in charge of today.

Making her way to the kitchen, she could hear voices trailing through the hallway since Marcos had left the door open for his photoshoot.

“Giant stuffy puppies for everyone!” He called, and the boys groaned loud enough for her to hear.

Grabbing a few bottles of cold water from the fridge and tucking them under her arm, she took the hallway leading to Studio A and poked her head in the door.

Still in front of the space backdrop, the boys were clad in their hideous matador outfits with the addition of four huge black and white stuffed dogs taking up a large amount of space.

Griffin and Marcos stood next to each other, the latter framing the shot with his hands, “The photo is now bold and cute and cuddly!”

James punched the dog he was holding in the head.

“Uh, uh, no animal abuse on my watch.” The girl called through the door, pointing at the long-haired boy.

He glowered at her, “Traitor!”

The rest of the band chimed in with their own, “Traitor!” in response.

Holding one hand up to block her next move from the adults, she took her other and flipped them off.

“Let’s shoot it!” Griffin declared, breaking up the squabble between the teens.

Marcos lined up to the camera, and the assistant watched in delight as her band gave their most uncomfortable, terrible looks. They were in misery, and after their name-calling, she was impressed by how quickly karma worked her magic.

Slowly, Marcos’ finger descended on the button, “Smile pretty, pretty!”

As it got closer and closer to the time the image would be taken, a barrage of thoughts swarmed Roxy’s mind.

If this photo bombs, we’re headed right back to Minnesota. But how funny do they look! It serves them right, calling me a traitor. No… that’s not fair. I’m supposed to be their assistant and they could surely use some assistance right now. Aw, but they look so cute with the puppies…

“Mr. Griffin, wait!” She called out, seconds before the image was to be taken. “They can’t take that photo.”

He turned to her, eyebrows knitted. “Why not?”

“Because,” She offered with a shrug. “It’s not finished.”

The boys caught on to her scheme, completely relieved and incredibly grateful.

“It is bold,” Kendall began before James added, “And cute and cuddly! But we don’t have… uh.”

While James was lost for words, Carlos yelled, “A snowmobile!”

Roxy’s palm flew to her face, but at least that would keep them occupied for at least an hour while she finished up with Dak. How was Griffin going to find a snowmobile in the middle of Los Angeles?

As she walked back towards Studio B, feeling slightly triumphant, she was too lost in a daydream about replacing Scarlett in Varsity Vampire and getting to star in a movie with Dak Zevon. A hand wrapping around her wrist and pulling her backward into Gustavo’s office was the last thing she needed. The flash of purple was nearly too quick for her to spot, but by the time she had it was too late.

Catching herself from spilling all over the carpet, Roxy grabbed one side of the door frame and peered into the room in front of her before she felt a pull on her wrist once more, dragging her to the middle of the office. Behind her the door was slammed shut, confining her to the small space with the four boys.

“No, no, no, this isn’t happening. Let me go back outside, now.” She told the frontman, trying to push back past him to get to the door.

Just her luck, he remained blocking it until he was sure she wouldn’t leave.

“Rox, we need you right now!” The blond told her, crossing the room and leaning on Gustavo’s desk. “We cannot let Griffin take this photo!”

She rolled her eyes. “I gave you all the tools to at least waste another hour, I thought you guys were good at that.”

“Kudos on the snowmobile idea, Carlos.” Kendall continued, to her point.

“Which is why I’m taking one with me on my desert island!” The light blue matador, Carlos, told the room.

Logan, still ticked by their conversation about the desert island from before, turned to him utterly confused at his lack of critical thinking skills. “A desert island has a tropical climate, professor.”

“Will you just let me have fun on my desert island? It’s mine!”

James decided this was the perfect time to interject his thoughts, pulling a black comb out of his green sleeves. “Well, I’m taking my lucky comb.”

“But you’re alone,” Logan pointed out, “No one’s gonna see your hair.”

The long-haired boy snapped, “Hey! I’m there.”

“Enough about the desert island!” Roxy yelled, her voice cutting off whoever was going to speak next. “If you four don’t come up with a plan in the next 30 seconds I am walking out that door.”

“Yes, right.” Kendall backed her up. “We need to figure out a way to change this photo.”

Logan held his own, orange-sleeved arms out, “From cuddly space matadors to…” He looked around, finding an edition of Pop Tiger and holding out the Dak Zevon fold-out.

Wishing to smack the magazine out of his hands, but choosing not to in case she crinkled Dak’s double-page spread, the assistant growled, “15 seconds.”

“There he is!” A voice cried out from the hall and the Zevon fangirls piled into the room, tackling Logan like they did earlier in the day.

It took everything she had not to burst out of the room while everyone was distracted and head back to her task at hand.

I hope Dak isn’t upset. I've been gone for so long.

After the mob determined it wasn’t Dak, the head girl called them off and they flooded back out into the hallway.

With the magazine lying on the floor, the girl bent down to pick it up. With her hand flat on the pages to not damage any exclusive posters, she squished it into Kendall’s chest. “5 seconds.”

“Um, let’s put this photo away before somebody gets killed.” The blond suggested sheepishly, pulling the image out of the magazine.

Between the five, tensions were running high; a plan needed to be put in motion soon.

“Right.” James paced over to the other side of the room, standing near Roxy and Kendall. “Now, where’s Gustavo, ‘cause he should be saving our photo!”

She pointed one of her fingers towards the door, “Gustavo isn’t coming back, we all saw him get carried away to community service. Like I am about to carry myself away to Studio B.”

“That was weak,” The brunette scoffed. “Serves you right, traitor.”

“I’m literally just doing my job! Big Time Rush aren’t the only musicians working at Rocque Records, so until you start funding my paychecks, I defer to Gustavo.”

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to work for us!” James pointed out. “That’s what Gustavo said at Kendall’s house all those weeks ago, or have you forgotten? You’re supposed to do what we say.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean, James?” She spat out, not even trying to disguise the disdain she felt towards his offensive comment.

It was one thing to poke fun at her, call her a traitor even, but to imply that she had to do every stupid little thing they said like that was her only purpose was just degrading.

“Just because I’m your assistant doesn’t mean you get to treat me like a little puppet. In fact, I think respect is at the top of the list of things I deserve from all of you. I won’t be spoken to like this just because I’m helping someone else.” She looked between the four of them, crossing her arms. “If that's how you all see me, good luck solving this problem on your own.”

With that, she shoved her way between James and Kendall, throwing the door open with her free hand. The other, gripping the still bitterly cold water bottles she had been sent out to get so long ago.

Through the halls, she passed a man who looked an awful lot like Mrs. Knight pushing a tray of catered food but didn’t stop to make too much of it, probably just Dak’s lunch being ordered to the studio.

The security guards who had given her such a fuss earlier made sure to get out of her way as she stormed through the brown double doors into the room where Dak was recording. Skipping the trail through the sound booth, she entered straight into the dance room he was recording in and handed him a few bottles.

“Sorry about the wait.” She gritted out, trying to maintain her composure in an entirely new way than earlier. This time, instead of trying to mask her crush on the teen idol, she was trying to mask how much she wanted to crush James. “‘Drive Me Batty’ should only need one more vocal layer from you before it’s sent to your co-star.”

Avoiding eye contact, she didn’t wait for a thank you before hitting the recording room. Sitting down, she slid her headphones on and sunk into the chair hoping Dak wouldn’t be able to see her over the soundboard on his water break. The conversation with the guys was flying around like a whirlwind in her mind; it was nearly impossible trying to process her emotions while she was still angry.

“Everything alright there?” Dak asked, voice filling her headphones.

The choice of telling the truth was completely out of the question, both professionalism and privacy boundaries would certainly have been crossed, and she wasn’t interested in Gustavo threatening to fire her again.

Roxy sucked in a breath, hoping her voice wouldn’t betray her. “Yes. Looping ‘Drive Me Batty’ around now.”.

If Dak noticed anything in her speech, he would at least have to wait until the song was over to mention it. While he filled in the background vocals, the girl flipped to the next set of sheet music for the second song. Titled “Creatures of the Net”, this one appeared to be a song that the vampire basketball team all sang together about their love for the game and their nocturnal lifestyles. While Dak sang the lead parts, there would be more people singing along with him, lessening the number of times he would be singing this time around.

Though she was doing her best to concentrate on the recordings, the cell phone in her pocket buzzed about a million times.

“Creatures of the Net” was queued in defiance; the longer the music played the longer she could ignore the messages

***

The pair had worked diligently and before they knew it, the songs “Drive Me Batty”, “Creatures of the Net”, and “B Positive” were all recorded and edited to the best of Roxy’s ability. As instructed in the notes, the writer had properly labeled all of the recording files and placed them in the proper folders in the computer system where Gustavo would be able to find them later. She wouldn’t admit it, but the solo recording process was quite tough and it gave her a bit of newfound respect for her boss. How he functioned recording alone since the ‘90s, she would never understand.

Glancing up, she noticed Dak was typing something on his phone. In order to get his attention the girl pressed on the microphone button on the soundboard.

“Great work today, Dak. It looks like your agency has rented out Studio B for a few more sessions this week. Is there anything I can do to make your next visit better?”

The teen idol raised his head, “Maybe. When else do you work this week?”

Private and professional, Roxy reminded herself. He just thinks I’m a good worker. Right?

“I’m at the mercy of Mr. Rocque and Big Time Rush, unfortunately. My schedule isn’t definitive.”

The thought of the Big Time Idiots clouded her happiness momentarily.

His long fingers tapped at his chin as if the boy was in deep thought. “I’ll have my assistant email Gustavo and let him know I’d like you to be there next time.”

Before she said anything stupid, she shot him a grin and pulled off her headphones. Once Dak went back to his phone, she crouched down below the soundboard and let out an excited, fangirl-esque scream. It was one thing to just meet Dak Zevon, but getting to hear the new soundtrack for Varsity Vampire 2 and having Dak practically flirt with her was going to make her head explode.

After a few deep breaths, she made her way through the glass door into the recording room to put away the equipment her client was using.

Quickly, Dak slid off his pair of headphones and handed them to her. When she reached for it, their fingers brushed for a second, sending a shock down her spine.

“Thanks.” She squeaked, avoiding his gaze and grabbing the mic stand to place in the closet in the back of the room.

Buzz buzz

Walking away, she ignored the sound of her phone going off and placed everything away, just how Gustavo liked it. One less thing for her to get yelled at about in the long run. Silently she hoped that he wouldn’t blame her for the band’s photo situation.

Buzz buzz

Once more, she headed for the spot Dak was standing to discuss any last-minute questions or concerns before his recording session was over.

“Phew,” The boy whistled at the end of her ringtone, “Miss Popularity over here.”

A frown graced her features for a moment as she thought of all the messages the guys might be sending her right now.

Roxy brushed his comments off, “I’m having a little spat with the band. Their messages probably aren’t the kindest right now.”

“No kidding?” Said Dak. “If you want to shoot some messages back I won’t tell Mr. Boss Man you’re on your phone during work hours. Besides, I heard there's a pack of my fangirls out front. I’m not too keen on leaving anytime soon.”

He chuckled, giving Roxy a chance to laugh as well. Those girls seemed to be no joke.

Pulling out her phone, she noticed a barrage of notifications from 2 new group chats she had been added to while she was focused on recording.

K: ROX!! COME BACK WE NEED YOU AND WE’RE SORRY

L: ^^ You’ve been so helpful and patient and kind to us these last few weeks

C: We cant do this without you! Help!

J: Sorry :(

R: Almost done recording, be there soon

Their “apologies” would be fine for now; she didn’t wait for their response as checked the second group chat. This one contained both Camille and Jo.

C: heard someone at my audition today say dak zevon was @ rr today

J: Can you confirm or deny

R: Confirm

J: ????????

C: did you meet him??????

R: :)

C: FULL DETAILS WHEN YOU GET HOME

R: You got it.

R: I’ll tell you now though, he’s better than any guy I’ve ever met

“No hate mail,” Roxy thought aloud as she sent her last message, smiling a bit as she entertained the idea of asking the idol for his number. That was neither private nor professional, but she couldn’t ignore the flustered sensation rising and falling in her chest with every breath as she stood in the same room with him. “It was better than I was expecting.”

Dak took a step toward her, “You know, I know a thing or two about the industry if you’re looking for some tips. Maybe we could discuss it over dinner sometime?”

BOOM

Following the loud noise from across the room, Roxy whipped her head towards the sound, watching as the recording room door opened and flooded with a small army of Dak fangirls. It was a terrifying sight to behold behind the glass; she didn’t even have time to process what the boy had just said to her.

“Oh, my God, Dak!” She cried, pulling on the black blazer he wore in an attempt to get him out of their line of sight. “Towards the back of the room!”

The two ran to the back wall, squishing themselves flat against it in an attempt to place as much distance between themselves and the screaming teens as possible.

“It’s gonna be alright.” Reassured Roxy, though she was terrified at what the mob might do to Dak if they got their hands on him. “We’ll find a way out of this.”

Creek

To the left of her leg, a silver, metal grate popped off the wall revealing the familiar face of Katie Knight. Despite the young girl’s diminutive size, the duct seemed to be big enough for the two teenagers to squeeze through as well.

Roxy gave a small wave, which the preteen ignored as she turned to face Dak.

“Hi, I’m Katie.” She said, cool as a cucumber.

The boy looked to the songwriter and then down to Katie, practically petrified. “I’m Dak.”

“Come with me if you want to live. I guess you can come too, Roxy.”

Though he was incredibly unsure of the young girl’s methods, Dak placed a gentle hand on Roxy’s arm guiding her to the grate. As she ducked down, she felt his hand brush the top of her head, protecting her from accidentally bumping into the metal as she crawled in. After her, Dak was soon to follow, pulling the grate closed behind them.

From the room, Roxy could hear the screaming grow louder as the ground began to shake in the wake of the running teens.

“Find Dak!” One of them cried, commanding the other girls to turn around and exit the studio.

The three crawled through the ducts, glad to be anywhere but close to the mob.

In front of Roxy, Katie turned her head backward. “Everyone good back there?”

“Oh, sure,” Dak breathed behind her. “Can’t complain about the view, I suppose.”

The writer’s eyes grew wide, meeting Katie’s for a moment as the young girl stuck her tongue out in silent disgust before turning back and marching on. For the time being, Roxy was rendered speechless, only able to absentmindedly crawl after her little friend.

He’s sweet… he’s caring… he’s hot… and he doesn’t think I’m a pushover.

Maybe Dak did like her.

A few moments later, Katie had led the others to a different grate and punched it open. The group popped out, taking a brief moment to collect and dust themselves off after crawling on their hands and knees for so long. When the girl looked around, she recognized that they were in Gustavo’s office.

Before she could get a word in, Big Time Rush dressed in top-half normal clothes and bottom-half matador garb burst into the room with orange jumpsuit-clad Gustavo and Kelly in tow.

“Roxy! Perfect timing!” Logan complimented, hurriedly flicking on a handful of desk lights.

Kendall grabbed her attention, “Catch!” and he threw a black DSLR camera her way which she barely managed to receive. In addition, he pulled down the white movie screen behind their boss’s desk.

James, sounding reluctant, asked her, “Can you shoot it from the waist up, uh, please?”

The girl nodded and once the boys placed themselves in front of the backdrop she imitated what Marcos had said earlier, “Smile pretty, pretty!” as her finger landed on the shutter-release button.

Click

“Ugh!” The band cried as Kelly took the camera out of the girl’s hands. Easily, the woman ejected the SD card and passed it off to a small man on a motorized bike with a red cross-body bag waiting outside the door. He must have been the secret messenger Kelly had mentioned on the drive over.

Tipping his helmet, the man congratulated the group in an old-style Transatlantic accent, “See you in Pop Tiger, boys!”

People in this town are so strange.

From behind her, a hand snuck onto her hip, pulling her back into the teen idol’s chest.

“Nice one.” He whispered to her as his hand lingered, drumming against the fabric of her dress a few times.

“I don’t know what happened here today,” Gustavo grouched, swiveling his hips to see everybody standing in his office, “But maybe we should leave the dawgs, and Roxanne, alone more often.”

Katie took the following silence after the man’s statement to finally announce her exciting news. “Look who I found today!”

Dak finally let the assistant go, raising his arms in a shrugging motion to the group. “I think she just saved my life.”

Roxy watched with joy as he pulled the little fangirl into a hug, making sure to snap a quick picture to send to Mrs. Knight.

“Oh!” The actor snapped his fingers and turned to the assistant once more. “May I?”

He held out his hand, and Roxy didn’t catch his drift at first but soon understood as he reached for the phone clutched into her hand. Time for her stood still as with each press of a button, a small beep let out. Ten beeps for a ten-digit phone number.

With a wink, he handed it back. “Call me later, okay?”

“It’s Dak Zevon!” Katie cheered, causing a negative chorus from the band.

In an instant, the room was full of screaming teen girls - the Dak Attack squad. Big Time Rush blocked their view of the actual idol and was mown down by the group, giving Dak enough time to escape through the air ducts once more, Katie in tow to show him the way.

***

“Hm,” Camille wondered aloud, turning to the group of Palm Wood’s residents behind her at the pool - holding up the magazine that boasted the band’s double-page spread poster. After a recounting of the day’s events, Roxy and her band were sat on the lounge chairs, soaking up the sun, as she slowly nursed them back to health. The encounter with the fan girls had been no joke. “Who knew such a simple picture could bring you so close to death?”

After the Pop Tiger messenger dropped off the image at the headquarters, he biked all the way back to Rocque Records to give the band an advance copy of the next month’s issue. They had all been dumped on the eager assistant, who kept two for herself and had already hung up her desired posters, then handed out the rest among the hotel’s residents. The picture had turned out great, it was almost impossible to imagine the crazy story behind it.

“But it was totally worth it.” James cooed, cradling his neck brace.

Carlos held a steak up to his bruised black eye. “‘Cause we’re going to be on the walls of millions of girls.”

“All over the country.” Winced Logan, raising his arms in victory despite both of them being in slings.

Camille let out a small laugh, looking over to the assistant who was holding a smoothie up for Kendall to sip out of, “Of course you are.”

“Because,” Roxy giggled along, “Dak Zevon is on the other side!”

The band didn’t have enough energy to process what the two meant but groaned nonetheless. It was seeming as though the day’s misfortune only kept growing.

From the lobby emerged Jo, who managed to catch the last few lines of the story.

“Speaking of…” The actress trailed off, joining Roxy at Kendall’s side. “You’ve got a lot to tell us, don’t you? Come on!”

With no chance to protest, Jo and Camille grabbed each of her arms and began to pull her away from their wounded friends. James let out a noise that sounded like a “no!” but they were too far gone to check on him, not that the assistant wanted to anyway. His comments from earlier cut deep and she certainly wasn’t ready to forgive him even with his text apology. She even had half a mind to delete it, text apologies don’t even count, but decided to save it as evidence that the wannabe can care about others sometimes.

The other two girls were excitedly chatting in her ears, busy asking what seemed to be a million questions a minute. In only a few moments, they had arrived in Jo’s bedroom, door closed, ready to relay their information from the day.

“Stop, stop!” Roxy giggled, sitting at the edge of the blonde’s bed. “I’ll answer your questions but the two of you need to tell me about your auditions first.”

Camille rolled her eyes, sitting down as well. “Fine! I tried out for the role of an upcoming high fantasy elf movie called Fayeth the Brave. Thought I was a shoo-in for the part but I guess the casting agents didn’t like that I brought an actual bow and arrow to the audition and shot arrows with my resume and headshots at them.”

“And I,” Began Jo, flopping backward on the bed beside her friends. “Totally blew a laxative commercial. I know it’s nearly impossible to land one of the first roles I try out for, but it would be nice to have a little bit of beginner's luck.”

“Aw.” Roxy patted her shoulder, “You’ll get the next one, for sure. Something way better than a laxative commercial. Maybe an eczema cream commercial?”

The ravenette jumped in, “Remember that one that showed in between the Vampire Diaries these last few weeks? That girl just got a major part in an upcoming hospital drama.”

Each of the girls had discovered their shared love for supernatural teen shows as they were helping Jo move in and had made a point to find one to watch together each week.

“Oh, that reminds me, there's a new episode tonight. Sleepover?” Jo offered. “Maybe we’ll catch the commercial for good luck.”

Though Roxy had work in the morning, it was the weekend and she was in desperate need of some girl time. They hadn’t even talked about what happened today with the guys, and the assistant couldn’t wait to spill.

Her “Sounds good.” overlapped with Camille’s enthusiastic “Yeah!”

The two actresses now shifted to face their friend. It seemed it was her turn to share about her day.

“So…” Camille started. “I’m going to need every ounce of information about your meeting with Dak Zevon today.”

The writer grinned, “Okay, so. Gustavo and Kelly got arrested in the morning…”

Roxy explained everything she could remember with as much accuracy as possible and the girls hung onto her every word. While Camille was getting more and more used to meeting celebrities, Jo and Roxy were still new to the Los Angeles experience, but the three of them were so starstruck in the moment they felt like normal teenage girls discussing Dak’s latest news. Some of the comments she had made to Dak made her cringe looking back, it was embarrassing she was so nervous to meet him, yet it had all paid off at the end of the day.

Pulling out her phone, she opened her camera roll and tapped on the most recent photo. “Kendall’s little sister saved us from a screaming fangirl mob, something the boys left out of their story earlier.”

The image was passed around, the girls squealing in jealousy.

“Also, after I took the picture…” Camille handed her phone back and Roxy popped open her contacts. “He gave me his phone number and told me to call him later! He even put a little heart next to his name! God, he is just so romantic like that.”

“Shut up…” Jo trailed off, too shocked to formulate the rest of her thoughts into words.

Camille’s jaw dropped. “What did you talk about on your call?”

It took her a moment to process the question, blinking a few times as she drew a blank. She hadn’t called him, what would they even talk about? Maybe she could tell him about the new song she was writing if she ever managed to formulate any ideas for the next BTR hit. Would it be okay to talk about his movie? Or-

“You didn’t call him!” The blonde cried, pointing an accusatory finger at her friend.

Holding her hands up, Roxy defended herself. “I’ve been so busy passing out the magazines and taking care of the guys I guess I kind of… forgot.”

Without another word, Camille swiped her phone out of her hands, startling her. With two taps, the actress pressed the dial button and placed the call on speakerphone.

“Good luck!” She smiled.

“Shit! Camille! What am I supposed to-”

“Hello?”

The sound through the speakers nearly made her stomach leap into her throat.

“Hey,” Roxy breathed, shakily. “It’s Roxanne Somerset, from Rocque Records.”

Jo and Camille bit back laughter at her formal introduction causing her to place her hand over the speaker and shush them.

“Roxy!” He sounded enthused. “I was beginning to think you would never call.”

She looked from girl to girl. How do I respond to that?

“Oh?” The writer settled on. “Sorry for keeping you, I had some magazines to distribute and boys to look after since your fan army took them out.”

He whistled into the receiver, “Boy, am I jealous.”

Why she felt the need to apologize, she didn’t know, but brushed it off with a laugh. Across from her Jo and Camille were whispering among themselves, being very careful about the sound of their voices carrying.

“Anyway, it sounds like it all worked out with the band. You seemed pretty upset with them earlier.”

That was the truth, more or less. “Uh, well. I’m waiting for an in-person apology, maybe some flowers or chocolates, general sorry guy stuff.”

“Remind me to pick some up the next time I see you.”

Looking down at her crossed legs, she felt her eyes widen. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“I’m sorry you have to deal with unappreciative jerks. New guys in Hollywood are always the worst.”

“Wow,” she mouthed, glancing over to her friends. She jokingly fanned herself with her free hand. “No worries, it’s new territory for all of us.”

“Fair enough.”

Neither of them knew what to say after that trail of conversation came to an end. Panicked, Roxy looked over to her friends, Camille was typing something on her phone in a hurry before holding it up to display the message.

ask when u 2 can hang

She held up her index finger and pulled it away, amending her previous statement.

OUTSIDE OF WORK

“Oh,” The writer coughed, unsure of how to blend that into their current topic. It was hard to follow his offer to bring her flowers and chocolates. “So, um, I was thinking- Well, wondering really, if your dinner invitation was still on the table? We got kinda… interrupted earlier. I promise Katie won’t be materializing out of thin air to follow us. Um, but she does live next door to me so she might-”

“Of course, the offer is still on the table. I’m pretty free this week aside from my sessions at Rocque Records. Just text me when you’re available, okay?”

Absentmindedly, her fingers reached into her long strands of hair to twirl one around her finger. Her reply was bubbly, almost hidden away in the giggle she was having trouble containing. “...Okay!”

The mattress bounced as Jo and Camille jumped up, a silent victory dance for the first of them to officially date in Hollywood.

“Great, I’ll see you then.” She could practically hear his lips forming into his perfect, pretty smile. “Goodnight, Roxanne.”

With a click, the line went dead.

Clutching her phone in her hand, it trembled slightly. Did that just happen?

“So…” She thought aloud, hopping off the bed to join the other two. “I have a date with Dak Zevon!”

Their screams could probably be heard throughout the entire building, but they didn’t care. They jumped around, yelling about this and that; what she should wear, what they could talk about, how she should star in the next Varsity Vampire sequel. It was an excellent feeling, one she was glad to share with her friends.

Eventually, they collapsed onto Jo’s bed, panting in an attempt to catch their breath.

“Now we need to get Camille on a date with Logan,” Roxy commented, pinching the lovesick girl on the side.

The actress swatted her hand away, “Easier said than done, I’ve been dropping hints that I like him for days now. He can be so clueless sometimes.”

“What hints?” Jo asked, feigning ignorance. “Making out with him in the lobby should be enough of a hint!”

Roxanne recalled the messages Camille had sent her the day that happened and the ones Logan had sent as well. It was only a matter of time before the actress and singer got together - Logan just had to get his feelings straight.

“Well, I think this calls for celebration.” The writer stated. “I’ve got some ice cream in my apartment, want to sleep there? Maybe we can get the guys to watch Vampire Diaries. I tricked them into watching Twilight when I told them it was about a war. There's action in that show, sometimes.”

It was so natural, so easy, for Roxy to try and include the band in anything she wanted to do. Their company was enjoyable, and she always had fun after hanging out with them both inside and outside of work. Even as the words left her lips she cringed a bit, still upset at what they had said to her earlier, but hoped her invitation could be the start of making amends.

Eagerly, Jo grabbed her pillow and a change of clothes, “Let’s go!”

At the elevator, Roxy and Jo went separate ways from Camille who had to grab some stuff from her apartment upstairs.

“I’m kind of worried about hanging out with the guys, to be honest.” Jo confided in her friend. “They all just… threw themselves at me last time we spoke. It was pretty scary.”

Roxy grabbed her hand, swinging it back and forth as they walked to the west wing. “We don’t have to invite them, it was just a suggestion. They just don’t know how to act sometimes.”

The blonde shook her head. “If you want them to be there, I can deal.”

“Jo, I would never knowingly put you in a situation that would make you uncomfortable.”

“Maybe, you can talk to them beforehand?”

The songwriter nodded, “Of course! And if any of them bother you, let me know and I’ll send their asses flying out the door.”

The girls laughed as Roxy opened the door to her apartment. “Make yourself at home in my room, the bathroom is in there, too if you need it. Oh! And everything in the fridge is free game. I’ll be right back.”

Jo made her way to Roxy’s room as the girl unlocked the door connecting her apartment to the band’s. At the end of the hallway, she found the four on the other end playing Mario Kart on the Wii. From the looks of it, Carlos, playing as Bowser, was in the lead on the final lap. Close behind him was Kendall, King Boo. Then came Rosalina, played by James, with Mario, Logan, in last place.

Once the race finished, she coughed into her hand and the four turned their heads to face their assistant.

“Jo, Camille, and I have graciously decided to invite you to our sleepover. On one condition that is.”

The four looked between themselves, seemingly stunned. James was the first to nod, the others following suit. “What condition?” He asked.

She placed her hands on her hips, “Last time the four of you interacted with Jo, you scared the shit out of her. No fighting over her, no inappropriate comments towards her, and no singing my unfinished songs to her. Any of that and I’ll throw you out myself. Got it?”

Each of them nodded.

“I need verbal confirmation,” Roxy demanded.

“Yes…” They all mumbled, walking out of the living room to grab what they needed in their rooms.

We’re gonna have so much fun.

Eventually, the seven had congregated in Roxy’s kitchen enjoying the chocolate chip ice cream she had stashed away in her freezer. The silence, for her at least, was comfortable as they all munched away.

“So…” Kendall said, “Thanks for the invitation, ladies. Any special occasion?”

Camille nodded as she took in a spoonful. “Yup,” She mumbled before swallowing. “Roxy scored a date with Dak Zevon.”

James dropped his spoon, the metal clattering on the table and then the silence came back, this time extremely uncomfortable.

“And… We’ve got a new show we think you’ll just love.” The writer piped up to break some of the tension. “More action stuff.”

Logan blinked a few times, sneaking a glance over to Camille who was already staring at him. He let out a cough. “When’s the big day?”

Camille smiled, “Whenever she’s free next. Speaking of, Logan, when are you free this week?”

The boy coughed again and Roxy swore she could catch his cheeks turning a light shade of pink before Carlos cut in.

“That’s so awesome! I loved him in 16 Once More. Such a good movie.”

Jo’s eyes lit up, “Carlos! I love that movie too!”

Roxanne quickly waved her hand in front of her face, “It’s not a big deal, it’s just a date. But anyway, it’s almost 8, how about we head to the TV?”

From beside her, Camille clapped her hands, “Yes, I’ve been waiting all week for this, I can’t wait to see what Elena is up to…”

Hello! Beta reader message from previous chapters still applies :)

Thanks for reading, everyone's support is much appreciated!

#big time rush #btr #james diamond #james maslow #kendall knight #kendall schmidt #logan mitchell #logan henderson #carlos garcia #carlos penavega #thats all she wrote fic

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sinceileftyoublog · 6 months ago

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Lightning Bug Interview: Believe It All Somehow Matters

Photo by Ingmar Chen

BY JORDAN MAINZER

It often feels like indie rock bands that dabble in atmosphere, inflecting their tunes with shoegaze distortion or dream pop haze, struggle to find lyrical ideas that match the grandiosity of their sound. Not so much for New York four-piece Lightning Bug. They first caught my attention with 2021's A Color of The Sky (Fat Possum), a soft, expansive exploration of the process of self-discovery-via-songwriting, an album that looked inward despite its skyward timbres. Earlier this month, the band released its long-awaited follow-up No Paradise, and though frontwoman Audrey Kang still digs deep inside of herself, the result carries broader thematic reach. It's a circular album based on the creation myth, bending time and space, triggered by a perspective-shifting 4,000-mile motorcycle ride Kang completed from Mexico to New York City, that was followed by a deep depression. In addition to creating the album almost entirely themselves--including using a studio that guitarist and bassist Kevin Copeland built and using cellist/synthesizer player Logan Miley to mix the album--the band chose to self-release No Paradise like they did their first two records. It's more than regaining total creative control: With No Paradise, in describing the start of the world, Lightning Bug have also created themselves anew.

Whether stark and minimal or layered and complex, the songs on No Paradise all achieve a certain level of immensity. Opener "On Paradise" starts basic enough, with coats of acoustic guitar and staccato organ. Eventually, Kang coos with passivity, "I'm happier here, slow / And indulgent in the sun / I'm happier here, weak / Let the night come when it comes," letting the song also gain steam and volume. "The Flowering" takes notes from Laurel Canyon folk but, too, gives way to stadium-sized drum programming, pedal steel, and swelling strings. The timeless one-two punch of "The Withering" (which features Allegra Krieger) and "Opus" delve into folktales but modern, wiry instrumentation all the same. First single "December Song" sees Kang use the language of Greek mythology to illustrate her depression, over instrumentation that's simple, yet cinematic. "I wish the gods would turn me into a tree / But keep my mind distinct, alive, and free," she sings, as if to want to bear witness to the wonders of the world without having to experience its hardships. And a couple No Paradise songs recall some unexpected forebears, from the Radiohead-esque bass bends and Dane Hagen drum patters of "The Quickening" to the trip hop stylings of "Serenade"; considering Kang's high-pitched, yet soulful voice, you could mistake the latter for Portishead.

Another key differentiator for No Paradise within the Lightning Bug discography is the effect of vocals being higher up in the mix, not as obscured by washy instrumentation. It's certainly apparent on "Just Above My Head", Kang's singing accompanied by only cello. But the effect of voice in general shines brightest on "Lullaby for Love". It's a song Kang wrote as part of a mixtape for an ex-partner, yet it's an effective encapsulation of what being in love with anything or anyone sounds and feels like. "When I hear your name in the hollows of my mind / It runs as a melody through the chambers of my spine / To float on that feeling till strong turns to weak / A truth so far greater than language can speak," Kang sings. Indeed, "Lullaby for Love" is far more than mere melody. It's encompassed by pulsating vocal samples, swirling guitar textures, and rolling drums, oceanic and vast. In a way, it exemplifies the paradox at the heart of the album. How can one wrap their head around concepts that are intangible, like existence and feeling, to begin with, let alone put their perspective to words and music? With No Paradise, Lightning Bug are your newfound philosophers, willing to try anyway what they know is impossible. Earlier this month, Kang answered some questions over email about various aspects of No Paradise, from its preceding motorcycle ride and the effect its songs had on her, to the album's mastering and album art. Read her responses below, edited for length and clarity. If you're in NYC, Catch Kang solo opening for Soccer Mommy at the Stone Circle Theatre in Queens on Friday.

Photo by Ingmar Chen

Since I Left You: Why did you ride a motorcycle from Mexico to New York? Did you expect it would be a transformative experience that might catalyze a chain of events leading to creativity?

Audrey Kang: Honestly, I only did it because I really wanted to keep my motorcycle that I’d bought in Mexico. I felt very attached to this bike because it had seen me through some brushes with death, it had been my faithful companion for many months, and because it was the bike I learned to ride on. The only way to keep it was to drive it home, so I did [laughs]. It was a very practical mission that had nothing to do with a desire for transformation, inspiration, or creativity.

SILY: Much of No Paradise seems to deal with the idea of living passively versus actively. Do you consider songwriting or music-making an active way of engaging with the world?

AK: I see songwriting as more of an internal thing. I stay deep in my own world when I write a song. I suppose once you share your music, you’re engaging with the world. But at least to me, the process of making music is quite introverted.

SILY: On "Lullaby For Love", you sing, "When I hear your name in the hollows of my mind / It runs as a melody through the chambers of my spine / To float on that feeling till strong turns to weak / A truth so far greater than language can speak." Do you ever find songwriting or singing the most effective form of communication?

AK: Hmm, that’s a tricky question for me. I definitely think you can get a feeling across in song that talking can really muddle up. But the truth is, we’ll always only be capable of guessing just how effective or ineffective our communication is, whether it’s through writing a song or extensive conversation or a really long letter. That’s always fascinated me, that you never really know how much someone else is absorbing of how much you’re trying to express.

SILY: When writing, how do you come up with instrumental compositions that reflect or perhaps contrast the lyrics?

AK: I think the composition usually comes along with whatever feeling or space I’m occupying in the song. Does that make sense? I’m so useless at explaining my process [laughs]. When I’m making music, I think/feel/move very fast; it’s really all a blur.

SILY: Your voice seems to be more upfront in the mix than usual. Was that a conscious decision going into the recording of the album?

AK: Yes, definitely. We wanted the vocal to stand out more and carry the plot.

Photo by Ingmar Chen

SILY: The video for "December Song" starts with a line from "Rex's Blues" by Townes Van Zandt, a songwriter known for exploring melancholy as a lived experience. Did writing this song change your perspective on what it means to be alive? Do any other songwriters have this almost existential effect on you?

AK: I would say that writing this song did mark a significant shift in me. I realize this a lot (then forget, then re-realize, and so on), but you can’t wait for life to feel meaningful or magical. In vast expanses of dreary despair, you kinda just have to put one foot in front of the other and commit to believing it all somehow matters. Writing “December Song” was a reminder of that for me. As for other songwriters who explore melancholy as lived experience, Nick Drake comes to mind. Paul Simon. Nina Simone in her expression and performance.

SILY: What is powerful to you about comparing yourself to or even embodying nature--trees, mammals, insects--as you do throughout the album?

AK: Hmm, I just do this without thinking, to be honest. But I will say all patterns in nature repeat themselves throughout all organic existence. I feel this very intensely.

SILY: How did you come to work with Allegra Krieger? What about the qualities of her voice made her fitting for "The Withering"?

AK: Allegra is Kevin’s partner, so that came about very naturally. We both have what I describe as “grandma voices” which I think made a good fit for the rather old-sounding “Withering”. I love how her voice holds it down in that song, but also how our voices interweave and play together.

SILY: On "Just Above My Head", you sing, “Let my death ask of me / Will my music remain? / My songs all may die with me / But when I sing, I find my own eternity.” Do you pretty often think about legacy, in general and when writing songs?

AK: Oh my goodness, I never think about legacy [laughs]. I can see why you’d interpret that line this way. But I guess it was more that I was thinking about how transient life is. So sort of the opposite.

SILY: Some of the songs on No Paradise feature Greek mythology or recall traditional folk music. On, "Opus", you use the word "o'er". What to you is significant about combining archaic or traditional language, stories, or song structures with contemporary songwriting and instrumentation?

AK: Again, like in the use of nature metaphors, this use of archaic language comes to me without me thinking much about it. I guess because I read a lot of old books [laughs]. It’s harder for me to connect with modern things. So that comes across when I write my own songs.

SILY: The video for "Opus" was based on a ghost story you wrote. Do you write any other sorts of poetry or prose?

AK: I scribble things, but nothing I take too seriously.

SILY: You notably tend to keep the making of your music in-house, so to speak, though you continue to work with Heba Kadry, someone with quite an extensive credits list. What does Heba bring to the table that makes her a great mastering engineer?

AK: Heba is an all around legend and boss. She’s totally committed to her art.

SILY: What's the background behind No Paradise's album artwork?

AK: Well, the album is a loose rewriting of the creation myth, so the artwork needed to reflect that. I wanted to contrast “evil” with “innocence” in some visual way. I ended up making a rather potent-looking evil apple, and a childish butterfly to alight on the skin.

SILY: When playing live, do you tend to find yourselves in the same headspace as when you wrote and recorded the songs? How do you see adapting No Paradise songs to a live performance?

AK: It depends on the day, the venue, the audience. Sometimes, you can enter a very special space that feels intimate and true to the writing of the songs. Other times, it’s harder to connect, and you can feel a bit like you’re just going through the motions of performing. I’m excited to perform these songs. They’re honestly extremely hard to sing due to wide melodic movement and rhythmic precision. But they’ll be rewarding to perform, because there’s a lot of passion in this album.

SILY: What's next for Lightning Bug?

AK: I really want to work on our live performances. We’ve never put enough energy and work into that part of music, in my opinion, and I want to change that!

SILY: Is there anything you've been reading, watching, or listening to lately that's inspired you or that you've enjoyed?

AK: I’ve been staring at ocean waves a lot. I find this to be incredibly enjoyable and peacemaking. I’ve also been reading short stories by old Russian greats, like [Nikolai] Gogol.

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faustochou · 1 year ago

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Last night, I attended the 2023 TMAF Chamberfest II performance at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. The performance was a collaboration between “master” musicians who are principals, associate principals, or professors in national orchestras from various countries, and emerging young musicians.

The concert was divided into two parts, featuring a total of eight pieces. I particularly enjoyed “A. Dvořák: String Quartet №12 in F major, ‘American’, Op.96” performed by Ben Hong, the current associate principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, alongside two young violinists, Chieh-An Yu and Hsin Chien, and a young violist, Lukas Shrout.

Additionally, I admired the performance of “F. Schubert: String Quintet in C major, Op.956”, which was led by Mark Kosower, principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and featured two young violinists, Risa Hokamura and Chin Chien, a young violist, Bill Ko, and a young cellist, Natalie Lin.

My appreciation for their performances stems from the way the musicians immersed themselves in the melodies, which was evident from their natural bodily rhythms during the performance. In particular, the delicacy of Risa Hokamura’s violin playing left me profoundly moved.

However, the highlight of the evening for me was the final piece, “L. Spohr: Nonet in F Major, Op.31”, performed by Hsin-Yun Huang, currently a faculty member at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, along with young violinist Minami Yoshida, young cellist I-Chang Edison Liu, young double bass player Logan Nelson, young flutist Shuyu Yang, young oboist Yan Yin Lai, young clarinetist Yoshihiro Okuyama, young bassoonist Yu Chung, and young horn player James Picarello.

This was the only piece during the concert that had me smiling from beginning to end. Firstly, the team demonstrated incredible harmony. The musicians weren’t just focused on the music scores in front of them or lost in their own melodies with closed eyes. Instead, I frequently observed them exchanging smiles and looks of affirmation with their partners, seamlessly passing the melody to one another. This high-level performance had me completely absorbed. It gave me the same feeling I had when I saw the very young Japanese violinist Hina Maeda perform in Taiwan at the end of February this year. The exceptional performance by each member of this team made the experience thoroughly enjoyable.

Lastly, I am very much looking forward to your 2023 TMAF All-Star Concert at the National Concert Hall in Taiwan on August 9!

#taiwan #music #classical music #2023 TMAF Chamberfest II #Taipei Music Academy and Festival #Taipei

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museinitalics · 5 months ago

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It was never an easy decision to replace a band member, especially one who had been with them since the very start when they were kids and playing out of a garage to the other kids who lived on the street as their audience. They'd grown together from kicking cans and coming up with melodies until eventually the little shows on the street started to generate interest with the whole block and little block parties were held almost every weekend with the band as the focal point and quickly turning into the town's local celebrities. Naturally, the interest grew and soon they booked actual venues, signed a shitty contract with a label, hired an attorney to get them out of said shit contract and into a better one, booked more shows, released a couple of EP's and a full album and now they were in the U.K. working on their next album only for their drummer to now need to go back home for the indefinite future. Rather than put everything with the band on hold, they decided replacing their drummer, was ultimately the best option. Afterall, the songs were more or less already written, they just needed someone to play the music.

"Not gonna lie, that was pretty good," Micah commented with a growing grin that he'd maintained throughout the time Logan had been playing. "You obviously know how to play. You got anything else you can do to spice it up for a live show, for example?" Referring to potentially any tricks she might be able to do, throwing the drumstick and catching it before hitting the next beat.

He was sat on a silver fold out chair in the studio space they were renting with their label, the other band members scattered around similarly in either the same kind of chair or on the black leather couch along the back wall. Their guitarist had their guitar slung across their lap and now idly plucked at the strings with his thumb.

status: closed @museinitalics(for micah)

logan had always found an outlet for her emotions, whether healthy or unhealthy. one of them was playing the drums, which she had discovered she had an affinity for after being pushed into band by her dad. he meant well, but sometimes he encouraged her to join extracurriculars she wasn't actually interested in because he wanted the best for her. band, fortunately, turned out to be one that cultivated a healthier passion in her, though she didn't have much interest in staying in the school band.

this hobby carried on well into her adult years, as she found time to play for bands that needed a spare drummer to this day. she'd been in a few bands for brief stints of time, but she always ended up finding one reason or another to quit after a short while. but, after moving to fenrir, she found herself more interested in picking up this hobby again. so, when she saw an advertisement for a group looking for a drummer, it seemed perfect. she showed up to the audition and showed them her stuff, though admittedly getting lost in her own passion in the audition. when she finally looked up from the drum set, she was met with the faces of the band members.

"well, what'd you think?" she inquired, putting the drumsticks down on the snare. her foot on the floor tapped anxiously as she awaited their response, not sure what they thought of her. she knew that they were at least a fairly high profile group in fenrir, so she had some reason to be anxious.

#para: micah #para: logan #500 years later here we goo

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benjamindehli · 2 months ago

Video

youtube

Blade Runner: Rachel's Song (cover)

A cover version of Rachael's Song / Rachel's Song by Vangelis from the movie Blade Runner. For the lead vocal part I used a Therevox ET-4.3.

Instruments:

Korg MS-20: Filter and noise for vocal

Korg Polysix: Synth pad

Logan / Hohner String Melody II: Strings

Mellotron M4000D: Choir and chimes

Moog Minitaur: Bass

Rhodes Mark I Stage Piano: Electric piano

Roland D-50: Chimes

Roland SH-09: Quarter note beeps and noise

Sequential Circuits Pro-One: Brass and lead synth

Suzuki Omnichord OM-84 System Two: Harp

Therevox ET-4.3: Vocal

Yamaha DX7: Chimes

Amplifiers:

Fender Twin Reverb: Rhodes

Tandberg Model 2 T: Therevox

Microphones:

Shure SM57

Royer R-121

Effects:

Hairball Audio FET/RACK Revision D

Roland PA-120 (preamp, EQ and spring reverb)

Roland Dimension D SDD-320

Fulltone Tube Tape Echo

Chase Bliss Audio & Meris CXM 1978

DIYRE G Bus VCA Compressor

Tape recorder:

Fostex X-28H

Music: Rachel's Song from the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis

#youtube #blade runner #vangelis #therevox #synthesizer #mellotron #rhodes #omnichord #vintage synth #rachels song

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whenitsdarkweilluminate · 5 years ago

Text

Dublin 1981

Host: Ireland Participants: 20 Voting method: 12-point system (juries only)

Winner: Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up Country: United Kingdom Points: 136 (59.6% of highest score possible) Language: English

General Overview:

I consider 1981 to be a solid year. Yeah, there's one too many male ballads (probably because of Johnny Logan), but most of the entries are trying something interesting. Every year has some bland duds though.

The production is sufficient, aside from the scoreboard issues. The opening montage shows a variety of Irish culture – famous artifacts, stone forts, castles, doorknobs, and sports. Then it ends with this jagged globe map of Europe. The postcards also return this year, which begin with that same jagged map.

The interval act embraces Irish culture as well. It's a sequence of pre-recorded videos; beginning with a single dancer and some bagpipes by a misty stone fort. Then it cuts to a crowd of traditional dancers and musicians inside a castle room. And it finishes by mixing in modern guitars and drums.

I like the stage design. It consists of warm pastel colours and several circles, which creates an inviting and calm ambience. It's similar to Dublin 1971 stage. I don't have anything to say about the presenter, Doireann Ní Bhriain, though.

The vote reveal is a mess. Austria's spokesperson started listing their points in the running order instead of the new way. The scoreboard had to be corrected several times; like Ireland mistakenly having 326 points and Turkey randomly losing points. And connecting to Yugoslavia was difficult, leading to the iconic “I don't have it”. Despite all that, this was a very close contest. Five different countries held the lead at various points. And the UK / Germany / Switzerland were all tied at 120 points with 2 countries remaining. Ultimately, only 15 points separated the eventual top 4.

Germany loses by 4 points, and they take that as motivation to crush the competition next year. France, on the other hand, throws a tantrum over getting 3rd place and withdraw next year.

Otherwise, Cyprus debuts; which means this is the first instance of Greece giving 12 points to Cyprus! Yugoslavia also returns after 5 years. Israel is back too. And Italy is absent for the first time ever.

Austria: Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist Austria opens the show again. But the bizarre staging is more memorable than the song. The backing singer (whose voice is too quiet) wears a swimsuit and an American football helmet; while the other dancers have headphones on. They move in slow motion, lift their legs, freeze, and do the splits. The staging doesn't match the lyrics either; where Marty feels sad, lonely and lost when his lover is gone. The world just carries on normally. Musically, it's a boring, indistinct ballad. The melody is nonexistent and the instrumental is bland; aside from maybe the intro and chorus transitions.

Turkey: Modern Folk Üçlüsü & Ayşegül - Dönme Dolap The funky guitar and disco strings are cool. The drum/flute intro and the horn appearances are also highlights. And I initially like Ayşegül's solo, where she changes microphone stands. But the chorus feels more like a pre-chorus and the song goes nowhere. The stage presence looks stiff too. The lyrics compare life to a carousel. Both have their ups and downs, but friends stick by during the lows.

Germany: Lena Valaitis - Johnny Blue I love the storytelling lyrics, the tragic atmosphere, and how the song builds. It opens with a melancholic harmonica, which continues to play a big role. The bass and piano are highlights during the first half. Then the drums, strings, and backing vocals become more prominent to intensify the second half; until the post-bridge rests. The “blue... blue.. BLUE JOHNNY BLUE” refrain is super catchy too. “Johnny Blue” is a folk song about a blind man. When he was little, the other kids ostracized and bullied him for not seeing colours; hence his nickname. But music became his outlet and now he's famous, because his songs inspire others to escape life's darkness.

Luxembourg: Jean-Claude Pascal - C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique The 1961 winner returns with... another song that sounds like it's from 1961. This is a sleepy crooner ballad. The strings are dated. The melody is weak. And the lyrics are whatever. JCP explains why music is important to him. It's eternal too. But I don't get the point of saying “American [music] isn't everything”. Otherwise, the slowdown transitions, and the bass guitar + hi-hat parts are okay, but not impactful enough. There's also backing “ooh”s and a backing choir bridge.

Israel: Hakol Over Habibi - Halayla This is funky and disco, but with an Israeli sound. Shlomit's stage presence is great. The repetition of various phrases is catchy; particularly the “Ma shehaya, ma shehaya...” back-and-forth, the “laila laila la”s, and the “HALAYLA” shouts. And the backing vocals enter and exit at the right times. The song also grows in intensity, but it's too monotonous. It feels like one long chorus, aside from the Mediterranean intro/outro, which I do like. In the lyrics, this couple will say things tonight they've never said before, even if it feels like they have.

Denmark: Debbie Cameron & Tommy Seebach - Krøller eller ej The feelgood atmosphere, the energetic dancing, and Debbie's likeability are great. She stands centre stage while Tommy's on the keyboards. She briefly joins him too. But the song's structure is off. The first minute is hype, with the video game 'pew's, the overpowering disco instrumental, and the melody holding anticipation. The chorus is a decent release, but the post-chorus is too tense and long. The ensuing dance break is also great, with the horns and psychedelic guitar. But then the second verse sounds like an outro. The lyrics are about loving their children regardless of what they look like.

Yugoslavia: Seid Memić Vajta - Lejla Yugoslavia's return involves some unpleasant raspy vocals. Thankfully they have better entries coming up. The verses are a typical ballad. Then a swinging bass guitar appears, the orchestra pauses, and the chorus is breezy sleepy soft rock, with backing “nanana”s. The chorus is more bearable. In the lyrics, Seid says they would've been happy together had his ex stayed.

Finland: Riki Sorsa - Reggae OK This is definitely reggae, but I have a hard time taking it as a serious reggae song. It's also monotonous and never-ending. There's too many “Reggae... OK”s. The intense intro doesn't transition smoothly. Riki's voice is unpleasant. The gym class whistles are unnecessary. The accordion break is too long. And the goofy backing members are cringe. I'm indifferent on the clapping breakdown. The lyrics are about opening people's minds to a music genre they aren't used to it.

France: Jean Gabilou - Humanahum The end of France's most dominant period. “Humanahum” is very 'doom and gloom' and serious. The lyrics reflect Cold War dread, but they're still relevant today. It's set in the year 3000, where an old man recounts how wonderful Earth once was, before war exterminated all life. I like how the song builds in intensity: the strings get heavier, the drums shift gears, and the despair rises in Jean's voice. The chorus is also catchy and ominous, with the escalating “Humanahum”s and “Terre! Terre! Des Hommes!” The soft backing responses add an interesting contrast to the verses too. And the church organ intro is chilling.

Spain: Bacchelli - Y sólo tú The blandest entry of '81. It's too easy-listening for me. The “nada nada nada” and “whoa oh whoa” hooks are too light. It has a relaxing summer beach vibe though. The xylophone-y intro, hand drums, and whistling flutes are alright. But the heavy strings and trumpet crashes makes it sound old-fashioned. The lyrics are about a dreamy romantic date on the beach.

Netherlands: Linda Williams - Het is een wonder The obligatory circus music entry. The calliope plays a major role, right from the intro. The chorus is catchy, with the handclaps, and how it recedes at first, then the calliope and bouncy acoustic rhythm swoop in after. The verses also feature these sparkly whistles. The song has a warm, relaxed, and bright atmosphere, but it's kinda basic and lacks substance. In the lyrics, Linda remarks on the positive effect this person's love has had on her. She's become a new person.

Ireland: Sheeba - Horoscopes The message is such a 'first world problem' LOL, but it's a good one. Sheeba advises against relying on horoscopes (or “celestial lies”) for answers. Because it's “crazy” to surrender control of our lives. Instead, we decide our own destinies and success. One of the stanzas even lists all the star signs... except mine! (and Sagittarius). Regardless, the melody is super catchy: “DON'T LET THE PLANETS...” I like the slow intro with the violin. The song turns energetic after that. And the deep cellos are a highlight.

Norway: Finn Kalvik - Aldri i livet Norway is last place again with “nul points”. The vocals aren't the greatest. The first verse is quite bare and boring. And I dislike that scurrying instrument in the intro and chorus (alongside the tripping cymbals). The pre-chorus melody and strings are nice though. And Finn gives a personal performance. He plays the guitar on a stool. In the lyrics, he asks his lover to remember his promise that he'll never leave them.

United Kingdom: Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up (winner review below)

Portugal: Carlos Paião - Playback The juries didn't get Portugal's zany staging. The backing members are like marionettes. They squat during the intro bangs, they have funny microphone movements and leg extensions, and they turn their heads during the “AY PLAYBACK” hooks. They also wear separate colours. The numerous “playback”s are very catchy. The verses are dark, with a circling synth and Carlos sounding like a commander. Plus some addictive piano growls and violins surrounding the “AY PLAYBACK”s. The pre-chorus then feels anxious. And the sudden shift into the chorus is effective. It's a cynical song that calls someone out for deceptively using playback to cover up bad vocals.

Belgium: Emly Starr - Samson That “SAMSON!” *guitar* *horn* *bell* bit is so dramatic and addictive. Emly's arm movements really sell it. I also like the victorious Roman horns and drums in the intro, the funky verses, the pre-chorus “ooh”s, and the whispering bridge. It's a fun entry. On stage, there's historical robes, and two dancers waving giant feathers. The lyrics reference the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah, where Emly fancies this 'playboy' who won't commit. She wants to be his only girl.

Greece: Yiannis Dimitras - Feggari kalokerino This is a long and dramatic intro. There's cymbal crashes and digital ripples, as the camera shows a rose. Then the piano creates a compelling mood. The orchestra and vocals are very grand here. And Yiannis delivers an old school performance. But him staring at and sitting by the pianist is kinda creepy. The lyrics are poetic and romantic. The melody isn't that memorable, but the instrumental is intriguing.

Cyprus: Island - Monika Cyprus's debut is super wholesome, comforting, and uplifting. That saxophone cheers me up. And the “MONI MONI [...] MONIKA” chorus is certainly catchy. Nearly the entire song has the same melody and atmosphere, from the piano intro until the outro slows down. But it works. The overpowering harmonies and the key change win me over. The “ooh”s and “nanana”s are filler though. On stage, they sway a lot. The lyrics celebrate this couple's many years together and overcoming the hard times.

Switzerland: Peter, Sue and Marc - Io senza te The folk trio saved their best for last. Their 4th appearance is in Italian; effectively substituting for Italy's absence. The song has a bittersweet finality vibe. The late running order spot is perfect. The pan flute moments are nature-esque and give goosebumps. The verses are calm and reflective, where (Peter or Marc) pour their heart out through their raspy vocals. There's two thumps, then Sue's chorus is an anthem. In the lyrics, the couple have a beach walk conversation. They want to put the past behind and recapture what they had, because they don't know how to move on.

Sweden: Björn Skifs - Fångad i en dröm The Blue Swede guy returns, as Sweden selects another rock song. The restless stomping beat and the punching chorus hook have attitude! The chorus is also boosted by the guitar responses, the stops, and the whimsical instrument afterwards. The strings are a highlight in the verses too. And the slower pre-chorus breaks things up. The lyrics are about being trapped in a dream that doesn't provide your desired escape.

The Winner:

“Making Your Mind Up” is a turning point in Eurovision. The skirt removal gag was risqué for the time, although it's tame by today's standards. It signalled that staging matters in this contest. Fast forward to today, and yeah, the staging often plays an critical role in a song's placement. Does this mean gimmicks are now valued over talent? I don't know, it's a tired debate.

So the UK achieves their 4th victory, despite an off-key vocal performance from Cheryl. Apparently she was given the lead mic by mistake. The studio version is cleaner. Still, the song carries frantic energy from start to finish. It chugs along like a fast locomotive. The snare drum drives things, but my fave part is the guitar solo. There's also pauses upon the title phrase. Some clapping towards the end. And the instrumental (and the staging) are like dancing at a 1950s diner.

The song is fairly camp and catchy: “DON'T LET YOUR INDECISION...” is the best part. Lyrically, the narrator encourages the subject to tease and play games. But eventually, they'll have to decide on making this relationship official. There's some sexual innuendos (“speed it up; slow it down; turn it on; put it out”); leading to the “bending the rules” to “see some more” line. That line is when the skirt pull happens.

On stage, the 4 members wear separate colours. They shake their hips, jog on the spot, do 360 turns, put their hands on their heads (like going crazy), and do various arm movements. They also kinda squat during the chorus. Plus there's a dance break, where the ladies jump into the men's waists.

Verdict: “B” tier. Enjoyable enough but also kinda empty.

My points go to.... 01. Germany: Lena Valaitis - Johnny Blue 02. Portugal: Carlos Paião - Playback 03. Switzerland: Peter, Sue and Marc - Io senza te 04. Belgium: Emly Starr - Samson 05. Sweden: Björn Skifs - Fångad i en dröm 06. Denmark: Debbie Cameron & Tommy Seebach - Krøller eller ej 07. Ireland: Sheeba - Horoscopes 08. United Kingdom: Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up 09. France: Jean Gabilou - Humanahum 10. Cyprus: Island - Monika

11. Israel: Hakol Over Habibi - Halayla 12. Netherlands: Linda Williams - Het is een wonder 13. Greece: Yiannis Dimitras - Feggari kalokerino 14. Turkey: Modern Folk Üçlüsü & Ayşegül - Dönme Dolap 15. Norway: Finn Kalvik - Aldri i livet 16. Spain: Bacchelli - Y sólo tú 17. Luxembourg: Jean-Claude Pascal - C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique 18. Yugoslavia: Seid Memić Vajta - Lejla 19. Austria: Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist 20. Finland: Riki Sorsa - Reggae OK

#eurovision #eurovision song contest #eurovision review #eurovision 1981

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