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thoughtportal · 6 months ago

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The Congo’s role in creating the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was kept secret for decades, but the legacy of its involvement is still being felt today.

“The word Shinkolobwe fills me with grief and sorrow,” says Susan Williams, a historian at the UK Institute of Commonwealth Studies. “It’s not a happy word, it’s one I associate with terrible grief and suffering.”

Few people know what, or even where, Shinkolobwe is. But this small mine in the southern province of Katanga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), played a part in one of the most violent and devastating events in history.

More than 7,500 miles away, on 6 August, bells will toll across Hiroshima, Japan, to mark 75 years since the atomic bomb fell on the city. Dignitaries and survivors will gather to remember those who died in the blast and resulting radioactive fallout. Thousands of lanterns carrying messages of peace will be set afloat on the Motoyasu River. Three days later, similar commemorations will be held in Nagasaki.

No such ceremony will take place in the DRC. Yet both nations are inextricably linked by the atomic bomb, the effects of which are still being felt to this day.

The Shinkolobwe mine – named after a kind of boiled apple that would leave a burn if squeezed – was the source for nearly all of the uranium used in the Manhattan Project, culminating with the construction of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945.

But the story of the mine didn’t end with the bombs. Its contribution to the Little Boy and Fat Man has shaped the DRC’s ruinous political history and civil wars over the decades that followed. Even today the mine’s legacy can still be seen in the health of the communities who live near it.

“It’s an ongoing tragedy,” says Williams, who has examined the role of Shinkolobwe in her book Spies in the Congo. She believes there needs to be greater recognition of how the exploitation and desire to control the mine’s contents by Western powers played a role in the country’s troubles.

Mombilo too is campaigning to raise awareness of the role played by the Congo in deciding the outcome of World War Two, as well as the burden it still carries because of this. In 2016, the CCSSA’s Missing Link forum brought together activists, historians, analysts, and children of those affected by the atomic bomb, both from Japan and from the DR Congo. “We are planning to bring back the history of Shinkolobwe, so we can make the world know,” says Mombilo.

Out of Africa

The story of Shinkolobwe began when a rich seam of uranium was discovered there in 1915, while the Congo was under colonial rule by Belgium. There was little demand for uranium back then: its mineral form is known as pitchblende, from a German phrase describing it as a worthless rock. Instead, the land was mined by the Belgian company Union Minière for its traces of radium, a valuable element that had been recently isolated by Marie and Pierre Curie.

In no other mine could you see a purer concentration of uranium. Nothing like it has ever been found – Tom Zoellner

It was only when nuclear fission was discovered in 1938 that the potential of uranium became apparent. After hearing about the discovery, Albert Einstein immediately wrote to US president Franklin D Roosevelt, advising him that the element could be used to generate a colossal amount of energy – even to construct powerful bombs. In 1942, US military strategists decided to buy as much uranium as they could to pursue what became known as the Manhattan Project. And while mines existed in Colorado and Canada, nowhere in the world had as much uranium as the Congo.

“The geology of Shinkolobwe is described as a freak of nature,” says Tom Zoellner, who visited Shinkolobwe in the course of writing Uranium – War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World. “In no other mine could you see a purer concentration of uranium. Nothing like it has ever been found.”

In a deal with Union Minière – negotiated by the British, who owned a 30% interest in the company – the US secured 1,200 tonnes of Congolese uranium, which was stockpiled on Staten Island, US, and an additional 3,000 tonnes that was stored above ground at the mine in Shinkolobwe. But it was not enough. US Army engineers were dispatched to drain the mine, which had fallen into disuse, and bring it back into production.

Under Belgian rule, Congolese workers toiled day and night in the open pit, sending hundreds of tonnes of uranium ore to the US every month. “Shinkolobwe decided who would be the next leader of the world,” says Mombilo. “Everything started there.”

All of this was carried out under a blanket of secrecy, so as not to alert Axis powers about the existence of the Manhattan Project. Shinkolobwe was erased from maps, and spies sent to the region to sow deliberate disinformation about what was taking place there. Uranium was referred to as “gems”, or simply “raw material”. The word Shinkolobwe was never to be uttered.

This secrecy was maintained long after the end of the war. “Efforts were made to give the message that the uranium came from Canada, as a way of deflecting attention away from the Congo,” says Williams. The effort was so thorough, she says, that the belief the atomic bombs were built with Canadian uranium persists to this day. Although some of the uranium came from Bear Lake in Canada – about 907 tonnes (1,000 tons) are thought to have been supplied by the Eldorado mining company – and a mine in Colorado, the majority came from the Congo. Some of the uranium from the Congo was also refined in Canada before being shipped to the US.

Western powers wanted to ensure that any government presiding over Shinkolobwe remained friendly to their interests

After the war, however, Shinkolobwe emerged as a proxy ground in the Cold War. Improved enrichment techniques made Western powers less dependent on the uranium at Shinkolobwe. But in order to curtail other nations’ nuclear ambitions, the mine had to be controlled. “Even though the US did not need the uranium at Shinkolobwe, it didn’t want the Soviet Union to get access to the mine,” explains Williams.

When the Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, the mine was closed and the entrance filled with concrete. But Western powers wanted to ensure that any government presiding over Shinkolobwe remained friendly to their interests.

So important was stopping the Communist threat, says Zoellner, that these powers were willing to help depose the democratically elected government of Patrice Lumumba and install the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in 1965 for a decades-long reign of ruinous plutocracy.

Attempts by the Congolese people to negotiate better conditions for themselves were attacked as Communist-fuelled sedition. “The idealism, hope, and vision of the Congolese for a Congo free of occupation by an external power was devastated by the military and political interests of the Western powers,” says Williams.

A wound unhealed

Mobutu was eventually toppled in 1997, but the spectre of Shinkolobwe continues to haunt the DRC. Drawn by rich deposits of copper and cobalt, Congolese miners began digging informally at the site, working around the sealed mineshafts. By the end of the century, an estimated 15,000 miners and their families were present at Shinkolobwe, operating clandestine pits with no protection against the radioactive ore.

Accidents were commonplace: in 2004, eight miners were killed and more than a dozen injured when a passage collapsed. Fears that uranium was being smuggled from the site to terrorist groups or hostile states vexed Western nations, leading the Congolese army to raze the miners’ village that same year.

Stories abound of children born in the area with physical deformations, but few if any medical records are kept

Despite the mineral wealth present at Shinkolobwe, since Union Minière withdrew in the early 1960s there has never been an industrial mine that could safely and efficiently extract the ores and return the proceeds to the Congolese people. After the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, any interest in extracting the uranium for civilian use withered away. “Uranium, even in its natural condition, resists control,” says Zoellner. “Right now Shinkolobwe exists in a limbo, a symbol for the inherent geopolitical instability of uranium.”

The ongoing secrecy around Shinkolobwe (many official US, British and Belgian records on the subject are still classified) has stymied efforts to recognise the Congolese contribution to the Allied victory, as well as hampering investigation into the environmental and health impacts of the mine.

“The effects are medical, political, economic, so many things,” says Mombilo. “We’re not able to know the negative effects of radiation because of this secrecy.” Stories abound of children born in the area with physical deformations, but few if any medical records are kept. “I had a witness who died with his brain coming out of his head, because of the radiation,” says Mombilo. “In all these years, there is not even a special hospital, there is no scientific study or treatment.”

Many of those affected by Shinkolobwe are now campaigning for recognition and reparation, but knowing who should receive them – and who should pay – is compounded by the lack of information made available about the mine and what took place there.

“Shinkolobwe is a curse on the Congo,” says Mombilo.

But he adds that for over a century, the country’s rich resources have made possible one global revolution after another: rubber for tyres made automobiles possible, uranium fuelled nuclear reactors, coltan built the computers of the information age, and cobalt powers the batteries of mobile phones and electric vehicles.

“Our world is moved by the minerals of the Congo,” says Mombilo. “The positive thing I can say is that in all these advanced technologies, you’re talking about the Congo.”

The Congo’s impact on the world has been immeasurable. Recognising the name Shinkolobwe alongside Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be the first step to repaying that debt. {read}

#article #BBC #history #war crimes #atomic bomb #congo #world war 2 #world war ii #colonialism #colonization #us imperialism #mining #Hiroshima

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sgiandubh · 1 year ago

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National personification

The UK has Britannia. France has Marianne. The US have Uncle Sam. National personifications, summing up supposed collective qualities and passing on a message, both to citizens and foreigners alike. Instantly recognizable by just about anyone. To be found everywhere, from city halls (busts, frescoes, tapestries) to subway walls (Army conscription posters - of course it rings a bell!).

Romania has this:

This is Revolutionary Romania, as seen by C.D. Rosenthal, an Austrian painter who found both friendship and an avid clientele among the Romanian young rebels who tried and failed to overthrow the corrupted Ottoman rule, in 1848. Following them in exile and probably also spying on their behalf, Rosenthal was finally arrested in Budapest and tortured to death by the Imperial authorities: a normal occurrence in troubled times. His memory went on and on and on, because the same friends were soon to come back home and become ministers, bankers, newspaper owners: a modern democracy slowly emerged.

This is his most famous portrait and it quickly became our Britannia of sorts. Ceaușescu had it placed in his office, for inspiration - it did not help much, though.

The woman painted by Rosenthal holds the red, yellow and blue flag and is dressed in a Southern peasant costume, as it was worn at the time. She gazes with strength, determination and confidence towards a future that spells free press, parliamentary elections, industrialization and capitalist speculation. In real life, she is Maria Rosetti, a personal friend and sponsor of his. The wife of C.A. Rosetti, an authentic Prince of Genoese and Greek stock, one of the leaders of both the rebellion and the future Liberal Party. Also a many times removed relative of this blogger - but let's not insist. 😉

There is a catch, however, in all this fine and dandy story. Our national personification, the woman I just mentioned, is Scottish. Her life begins in Guernsey in 1819, as Marie Grant, the daughter of Captain Edward Grant, a ship-owner businessman and member of the Clan Grant of Carron and Spey and Marie La Lacheur, a French Huguenot woman.

These people, who fought as Jacobites at Prestonpans and Culloden and whose motto was 'Stand Fast':

Marie came to Wallachia, or what is now the Southern part of Romania, around 1837, following her younger brother, Effingham Grant, who just managed to find a lucrative job as the private secretary of another Scot (Glaswegian, even), Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, the newly appointed British Consul-General. At the time, these were long term postings, not unlike a long sojourn on a space station of sorts: Colquhoun remained in Bucharest from 1835 to 1854, when he eventually was posted to Bosnia.

Because she needed to support herself, Marie found a well paid live-in job as a governess for the family of Ion Odobescu, a high ranking Police honcho (also a far removed relative, this time on my maternal grandmother's side - the world is really, really small). The rest was easy enough: having met Rosetti through her brother, they fell in love, eloped to Plymouth and got married there, for what was to become a life long equal political and business partnership. Because they owned several newspapers, she is our first female journalist. A truly remarkable woman, a philanthropist and an indispensable voice advocating for the dispossessed. Effingham went on to establish the biggest foundry in the country, along with a real estate company, a tobacco manufacture, an orchid greenhouse and a bread factory - all prospered beyond any expectations. A heavy traffic steel bridge in Bucharest still bears his name. Enduring legacies.

For those brave enough or bored enough to look for more, here is the best detailed account on her I could find, based on Guernsey sources (but not only): https://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/node/386 .

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missedurdodge · 2 months ago

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Aside- Bell towers

I'm just about getting to the bit where we bring other people into the equation, but first let's talk about bell towers as a whole.

A bell tower is typically part of a church, given we're ringing church bells. We've gotta be nice to the church or they don't let us ring.

(Picture taken by me, and also my pfp! It's Mary-le-bow, in London, a very good tower to boast about ringing in)

If you're in the UK, like me, you can choose between any 6642 (according to dove, the website that has most of them listed) ringable bell towers. Roughly 1 in 7 towns or villages here have one. Almost every village nearby me has a functioning bell tower, it's great!

If you live literally anywhere else, you have 145 towers. Sorry.

A bell tower will have a ringing room, either on the ground floor, or up a set of usually very tight spiral stairs (at least in the UK).

Ringing rooms, and bell towers as a whole, come in all manner of sizes, shapes, and states of repair. But they have the bit of the rope we need in them, so that's nice.

Above that, separated often by a floor or small chamber so we don't go deaf, is the belfry. It has the bells. It's usually very dusty, and the bells are sort of crammed together like Tetris pieces.

You only really ever see the belfry if you help with maintenance or repairs, but it's worthwhile to ask to head up there at least once so you can actually see the thing you're rotating at high speeds.

Really, that's all a bell tower is. Every single one is wildly different, it makes outings to other towers exciting.

At some point, I'll talk about bells themselves, and all the different words we use to describe them (far too many) as well as the organisational system of ringers in the UK.

Have a good!

#bell ringing #change ringing #church bells

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gogmstuff · 1 year ago

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Early 1730s dresses and portraits (from top to bottom) -

ca. 1732 The Beautiful Greek (La Belle Grecque) by Nicolas Lancret (Wallace Collection - London, UK). From their Web site 1429X1960, The complex sleeves open at the top like they would in Russian court dresses a century later.

ca. 1732 Watson-Wentworth and Finch Families by Charles Philips (Yale Center for British Art, Yale University - New Haven, Connecticut, USA) persons. From Wikimedia 4902X3094. The décolletage-filling fichu would become prominent in the Louis XVI era, but just about every grown up woman wears one along with a fastened bodice, round skirt, and apron. The heads of every female are covered by a cap, veil, or hat.

1733 Marie-Geneviève le Tonnellier de Breteuil by French school (attributed to Alexis Simon Belle) (auctioned by Sala de Ventas).From invaluable.com/auction-lot/18th-century-french-school-alexis-simon-belle-a-646-c-2074af1b03 1940X3362.Round skirts flourish on both shores of the channel.

ca. 1730-1735 Lady by Joseph Highmore (National Gallery of Art - Washington, DC, USA). From their Web site 1148X1495. The cuffed outer sleeves are stuffed by under-sleeves and the dress lining has a very subdued pink contrasting with the gold color of the other layer.

1734 Princess Sophie Dorothea with Friedrich Wilhelm by Antoine Pesne (location ?). From Wikimedia1633X2611. Textiles with large patterns characterize the early 1700s. Her dress has a square neckline.suggesting French influence.

ca. 1734 Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth by Antoine Pesne (location ?). From Wikimedia 829X11221. The silver brocade over-bodice has a deep V neckline filled in with scoop neckline.

1734 Madame Marie du Tour Vuillard (1695- 1759), née Robin by Louis Michel Van Loo (Tajan - 12-12-12 auction Lot 37), From their Web site; fixed spots & flaws w Pshop 2487X3151.

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friday-im-in-love-with-crowley · 28 days ago

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When you get this, list 5 songs you like to listen to, publish them, and send this ask to the last 10 people in your notifs 💗

how can you ask me to choose only five??? i think it’s actually physically impossible???

1 guilty pleasure by chappell roan

1.1 super graphic ultra modern girl by chappell roan

1.2 we fell in love in october by girl in red

1.3 it’s over isn’t from steven universe

1.4 kiss me son of god by they might be giants

1.5 apt by rosé & bruno mars

1.6 sexy love by t-ara

1.7 i can’t stop the loneliness by anri

1.8 the cruel angel’s thesis by yoko takahashi

1.9 idol by yoasobi

2 oh no! by marina

2.1 problems by mother mother

2.2 arms tonite by mother mother

2.3 dance macabre by ghost

2.4 rats by ghost

2.5 the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny by lemon demon

2.6 jaws by lemon demon

2.7 misery fell by tally hall

2.8 Cotard’s Solution (Anatta/Dukkha/Anicca)’s by will wood and the tapeworms

2.81 The Song with Five Names, a.k.a. Soapbox Tao, a.k.a. Checkmate Atheists! a.k.a. Neospace Government, a.k.a. You Can Never Know by will wood and the tapeworms

2.82 Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally by will wood

2.83 6up 5oh Cop Out (Pro/Con) tapeworms

2.84 Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic) tapeworms

2.85 White Noise by will wood

2.86 Marsha, Thankk You For The Dialectics, But I Need You To Leave. by will wood

2.87 Venetian Blind Man by will wood

2.88 Chemical Overreaction / Compound Fracture by wwatt

2.89 Cicada Days by ww

2.9 labyrinth by miracle musical

3 and your bird can sing by the beatles

3.25 eleanor rigby by the beatles

3.5 norwegian wood by the beatles

3.75 you never give me your money by- guess who- the beatles

3.9 for no one by the beatles

4 romeo and juliet fantasy overture by tchaikovsky

4.25 europapa by joost

4.5 shostakovich’s second waltz

4.75 i can’t decide by scissor sisters

5 psycho killer by talking heads

5.1 there is a light that never goes out by the smiths

5.2 starman by david bowie

5.3 hang on to yourself by david bowie

5.4 ashes to ashes by david bowie

5.45 changes by david bowie

5.5 runnin’ down a dream by tom petty

5.6 paradise city by guns n’ roses

5.7 dirty deeds done dirt cheap by ac/dc

5.8 edge of seventeen by stevie nicks

5.9 anarchy in the uk

wow, i think i did well restraining myself to around five songs. idk i might have been a bit off, i’m not very good at math 😅😅😅

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amphibious-thing · 2 years ago

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OFMD Stede Bonnet as a Macaroni: Wealth, Gender and Sexuality in the 18th Century Fashion World

Historical Inaccuracy in Our Flag Means Death? Never!

Historical inaccuracy! I hear you cry. A Macaroni in 1717!?! It is true macaroni fashion was really a late-18th century fashion trend, seemingly reaching its peak in the 1770s. However Our Flag Means Death is nothing if not historically inaccurate. Stede’s costumes seem to take inspiration from across the 18th century rather than worrying about what would have actually been worn in 1717.

Early 18th century suits tended to have round necklines, loose-fitting sleeves with wide cuffs, long waistcoats that stoped just above the knee, and coats with full skirts just a little longer that the waistcoat.

[Left: Matthew Prior, oil on canvas, c. 1713-1714, by Alexis-Simon Belle, photo credit: St John's College, University of Cambridge, via Art UK.

Middle: Matthew Hutton of Newnham, Hertfordshire, oil on canvas, c. 1715, by Johannes Verelst, photo credit: National Trust Images, via Art UK.

Right: William Leathes, Ambassador Brussels, oil on canvas, c. 1710-1711, by Herman van der Myn, photo credit: Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service: Ipswich Borough Council Collection, via Art UK.]

As the century continued we get standing collars and turned down collars but round necklines were still around as well, sleeves got tighter with smaller cuffs, the waistcoats got shorter and the coats lost their skirts.

[Left: Thomas ‘Sense’ Browne, oil on canvas, c. 1775, by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, photo credit: Yale Center for British Art, via Art UK.

Middle: Sir Brooke Boothby, oil on canvas, c. 1781, by Joseph Wright of Derby, photo credit: Tate, via Art UK.

Right: David Allan, oil on canvas, c. 1770, by David Allan, photo credit: Royal Scottish Academy/National Galleries of Scotland (Antonia Reeve), via Art UK.]

Stede’s collars are inconstant some are rounded but others are turned down and Ed’s purple suit has a standing collar. Many of Stede’s coats have wide cuffs, but most have little skirt to them. His teal suit from the pilot has a bit of a skirt but its paired with a short waistcoat.

Most of Stede’s waistcoats are short with the exception of his suits from both the wedding portrait with Mary and the the family portrait. Both suits are very straight giving him a boxy appearance and are pretty different from most of the suits we see him in.

All in all I don’t think they were aiming for historically realistic clothes but with the collars, short waistcoats, and lack of skirts I get more of a late-18th century vibe.

So what was a Macaroni?

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), defined macaroni as follows:

An Italian paste made of flour and eggs; also a fop, which name arose from a club, called the maccaroni club, instituted by some of the most; dressy travelled gentlemen about town, who led the fashions, whence a man foppishly dressed, was supposed a member of that club, and by contraction stiled a maccaroni.

The macaroni club was said to have comprised of young men who had gained a taste for French and Italian textiles on their Grand Tour (a traditional trip taken tough Europe by upper class men when they came of age). The earliest reference to the club is from a letter from Horace Walpole to Lord Hertford on the 6th Feb 1764:

at the Maccaroni Club (which is composed of all the travelled young men who wear long curls and spying-glasses),

In his book Pretty Gentleman: Macaroni Men and the Eighteenth-Century Fashion World Peter McNeil suggest the club was actually Almack’s. Almack’s was a private club at 50 Pall Mall that was attended by prominent Whigs including Sheridan, Fox and the Price of Wales. (p52) While the name may have originated from the men at Almack’s it was soon used to describe any man who followed the associated fashion trends.

So what were these trends?

Hair

“Still lower let us fall for once, and pop

Our heads into a modern Barber’s shop;

What the result? or what we behold there?

A set of Macaronies weaving hair.”

~ The Macaroni by Robert Hitchcock

Probably the most iconic aspect of macaroni fashion was the hair. “It was the macaroni attention to wigs that caused most consternation” explains Peter McNeil. The macaroni hair “matched the towering heights of the female coiffure, with a tall toupee cresting at the centre front. The wig generally had a long tail at the neck (’queue’), which when folded double was called the ‘cadogan’, all of which required regular dressing with pomade and powder, sometimes in the colours of pink, green or red.” (p45)

The height of the macaroni hair was a point of particular fascination in macaroni caricature exaggerating it beyond what the macaroni were probably actually wearing. Compare below Tom’s hair in the satirical print What is this my son Tom to the self portrait of Richard Cosway, who was satirised by Mary Darly as “The Miniature Macaroni” (a reference both to his height and his career as a miniature painter).

[Left: What is this my son Tom, print, c. 1774, published by Sayer & Bennett, via The British Museum.

Right: Self-Portrait, Ivory, c. 1770–75, by Richard Cosway, via The Met.]

The way Stede usually wears is hair is not particularly macaroni nor particularly 18th century for that matter. The exception to this is his wig from The Best Revenge Is Dressing Well though even this doesn’t have the iconic macaroni hight.

Interestingly both Stede and Ed are wearing flowers in their hair. While there are certainly depictions of women with flowers in there hair I’m not aware of this being a trend in mens fashion at all. However macaroni were known for wearing large nosegays.

While the tall hair was certainly iconic not all macaroni wore their hair tall. Joseph Banks, who was satirised as “The Fly Catching Macaroni” by Matthew Darly, is depicted in his portrait with a fairly typical 18th century hairstyle. Its not the hair alone that makes a macaroni, it was just one aspect of the fashion.

[Sir Joseph Banks, oil on canvas, c. 1771-1773, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, via Wikimedia.]

Suit

“If I went to Almack’s and decked out my wrinkles in pink and green like Lord Harrington, I might still be in vogue.” ~ Horace Walpole to Lord Hertford, 25 Nov 1764

Menswear of the period consisted of the same basic elements; shirt, stockings, breeches, waistcoat and coat. What differentiated the macaroni from others was the fabric, cut, colour and trimmings of the suit. “At a time when English dress generally consisted of more sober cuts and the use of monochrome broadcloth,” explains Peter McNeil “macaronism emphasised the effects associated with French, Spanish and Italian textiles and trimmings”. Popular amongst macaroni were brocaded and embroidered silks and velvets, sometimes further embellished with metallic sequins, simulated gemstones and raised metallic threads. Popular colours included pastels, pea-green, pink, red and deep orange. (McNeil, p30-32)

Far from wearing “monochrome broadcloth” Stede likes a “fine fabric” and dresses in a range of colours, we see him in teal, pink, purple, green, white, red, peach &c.

Tightly cut French style suits known as habit à la française were popular with macaroni. (McNeil, p14) Stede’s suits vary somewhat in cut but some are very French. The peach suit Stede wears in We Gull Way Back particularly has a very macaroni feel to me. Compare it to the English suit (left) and the French suit (right).

From the back you can see the English suit has more of a skirt to it.

Both Stede’s suit and the French suit are somewhat plain but have been paired with a floral embroidered waistcoat, while the English suit has a matching plain black waistcoat.

[Left: English suit, wool, silk, c. 1755–65, via The Met, number: 2009.300.916a, b.

Right: French suit, Silk plain weave (faille), c. 1785, via LACMA, number: M.2007.211.47a-b.]

Fabric covered button’s were common in the 18th century, you can see them on both the French and English coats above. In contrast Stede wears a lot of metal buttons. Steel buttons were popular amongst macaroni, a trend that was satirised in Steel Buttons/Coup de Bouton.

[Steel Buttons/Coup de Bouton, print, c. 1777, by William Humphrey, via The British Museum.]

Pumps and Parasols

“Maccaronies who trip in pumps and with Parasols over their heads” ~ Mrs Montagu

High heels had been popular amongst men during the 17th century. The Royal Collection Trust explains:

In the first half of the 17th century, high heeled shoes for men took the form of heeled riding or Cavalier boots as worn by Charles I. As the wearing of heels filtered into the lower ranks of society, the aristocracy responded by dramatically increasing the height of their shoes. High heels were impractical for undertaking manual labour or walking long distances, and therefore announced the privileged status of the wearer.

(Royal Collection Trust, High Heels Fit for a King)

In 17th century France Louis XIV popularised red-heels by turning them into a symbol of political privilege, which in turn spread the fashion to England. But with the sobering of menswear in England around the turn of the century the high heel and the red-heels went out of fashion. (see Bata Shoe Museum Toronto, Standing TALL: The Curious History of Men in Heels)

The high heel had a bit of a resurgence in the 1770s with macaroni fashion. The Natural History of a Macaroni snipes that the macaroni’s “natural hight is somewhat inferior to he ordinary size of men, through by the artificial hight of their heels, they in general reach that standard”. (Walker’s Hibernian Magazine, July 1777, p458)

Red-heels were reintroduced to England by young men returning from their Grand Tours. A young Charles James Fox (satirised by Mathew Darly as “the Original Macaroni”) wore such French style red-heeled shoes. The Monthly Magazine recalls a young Fox as a “celebrated “beau garçon” with “his chapeau bras, his red-heeled shoes, and his blue hair-powder.” (Oct 1806) and The Life of the Right Honorable, Charles James Fox recalls him in his “suit of Paris-cut velvet, most fancifully embroidered, and bedecked with a large bouquet; a head-dress cemented into every variety of shape; a little silk hat, curiously ornamented; and a pair of French shoes, with red-heels;” (p18) And in Recollections of the Life of the Late Right Honorable Charles James Fox B.C. Walpole recalls him as “one of the greatest beaus in England,” who “indulged in all the fashionable elegance of attire, and vied, in point of red heels and Paris-cut velvet with the most dashing young men of the age. Indeed there are many still living who recollect Beau Fox strutting up and down St. Jame’s-street, in a suit of French embroidery, a little silk hat, red-heeled shoes, and a bouquet nearly large enough for a may-pole.” (p24)

Compare the French style red-heeled shoes of Louis XIV to Stede’s red-heeled shoes.

[Left: detail of Louis XIV, oil on canvas, c. 1701, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, via Wikimedia.]

However most macaroni were depicted wearing the more standard late 18th century low-heeled bucked shoes. Where they distinguished themselves was the size and decoration of the buckles. “Such buckles could be set with pate (lead glass) or ‘Bristol stones’ (chips of quartz), or diamonds if you were very rich.” Explains peter McNeil, “The new macaroni fashion was for huge silver or plated Artois shoe buckles which the Mourning Post claimed weighed three to eleven ounces.” (p90)

While certainly not as iconic has his heels Stede also wears these sorts of shoes. Compare below the shoes from a macaroni caricature to Ed wearing Stede’s shoes (I couldn’t get a good shot of Stede wearing them).

[Left: detail of How d'ye like me, print, c. 1772, published by: Carington Bowles, via The British Museum.]

“A great many jewelled accessories accompanied the macaroni look”, writes Peter McNeil, “They included hanger swords, very long canes, clubs, spying glasses and snuff-boxes.” (p68) Tragically we don’t see Stede with a fashionable dress sword or a cane but we do see him with another accessory popular amongst macaroni; a parasol.

Popular in France parasols/umbrellas were adopted by the macaroni. They were popular amongst both men and woman in France but in England they had a feminine connotation. (McNeil, p129) In the 1780s as umbrellas became more popular amongst men there was a cultural pushback to the perceived gender transgression. On the 16th of August 1780 the Morning Post complains of of the “canopy of umbrellas” bemoaning that “the effeminacy of the men, inclines them to adopt this necessary appendage of female convenience”. On the the 4th Oct, 1784, the Morning Chronicle published a letter complaining of “that vile foppish practice of sheltering under a umbrella”. The author of this tirade writes that while “the ladies should be allowed to secure their beauty and persons from the heat of the sun, or the inclemency of the weather,” because “it is natural, and has a striking effect”, that “to see a great lubberly cit, bounce from his shop, with a coat, hat, and wig that are not together worth one groat,” sheltering “from the influence of the solar beam” was “intolerable.” However:

The macaroni being of the doubtful gender, may in part claim a feminine right; his dress is too delicate to bear an heavy shower, perhaps his person is so too; but a coach, if a clean one is to be found would serve his purpose much better, as there would be less likelihood of his being washed away into the kennel, which he deserves to be kicked into for his d-----d affectation.

Wealth

Born from rich young men returning from their tours with a taste for French and Italian textiles macaroni fashion was expensive. Certainly a working class man would not be able to afford Stede’s wardrobe. Both the sheer amount of clothes he has as well has the fabrics those clothes are made of are indications of wealth. However to say that Stede’s wardrobe is only an indication of wealth would be missing part of picture.

Most rich upper class English men (including colonial) wore plain monochrome suits. Even amongst the gentry macaroni fashion was not the norm. Compare bellow George Washington (left) who was a wealthy planation owner, but notably not a macaroni, to Richard Cosway (right) who was a famous macaroni.

[Left: George Washington, oil on canvas, c. 1796, by Gilbert Stuart, via Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Right: Detail of The Academicians of the Royal Academy, oil on canvas, c. 1771-72, by Johan Zoffany, via The Royal Collection Trust.]

In spite of the expense macaroni fashion was not exclusive to the upper classes. “Macaroni dress was not restricted to members of the aristocracy and gentry,” writes McNeil, “but included men of the artisan, artist, and upper servant classes, who wore versions of this visually lavish clothing with a distinctive cut and shorter jackets. Wealthier shopkeepers and entrepreneurs also sometimes wore such lavish clothing, particularly those associated with the luxury trades, such as mercers and upholsterers -” (p14)

It was possible to copy certain aspects of macaroni fashion on a cheeper budget. The hairstyle in particular was achievable without braking the bank. And there were ways to replicate the effects of certain expensive fashion trends for cheeper prices. For example patterns could be printed rather than embroidered.

[Left: printed waistcoat, cotton, c. 1770–90, via The Met, number: 35.142.

Right: embroidered waistcoat, silk, c. 1780–89, via The Met, number: 2009.300.2908.]

The Town and Country Magazine complains “we now have Macaronies of every denomination, from the colonel of the Train’s-Bands down to the errand-boy.” (McNeil, p169) The Morining Post mocks macaronies that couldn't financially keep up with the trends:

The macaronies of a certain class are under peculiar circumstances of distress, occasioned by the fashion, now so prevalent, of wearing enormous shoe-buckles; and we are well assured that the manufactory of plated ware was never known to be in so flourishing a situation.

(14 Jan, 1777)

In 18th century England, class was about more than just how much money you had. It was about pedigree. “English society was particularly alert to those whom it felt were using clothes to achieve a social status they did not merit” explains McNeil. Richard Cosway was a famous macaroni from modest background. Born to a Devonshire headmaster he was sent to London to study painting at 12. He became a very successful miniature painter and grew rich from the patronage of the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and Whig circles. In Nollekens and his Times J.T. Smith writes of Cosway:

He rose from one of the dirtiest boys, to one of the smartest of men. Indeed so ridiculously foppish did he become that Mat Darly, the famous caricature print-seller, introduced an etching of him in his window in the Strand, as ‘The Macaroni Miniature Painter’

(McNeil, p105-14)

But it was not only the Darlys that satirised Cosway Hannah Humphrey mocks Cosway as a social climber in A Smuggling Machine or a Convenient Cos(au)way for a Man in Miniature which depicts him standing under the petticoats of his much taller wife Maria. In the background there is a picture of Cosway climbing a ladder that rests upon a woman (she is believed to either be Angelica Kauffman or the Duchess of Devonshire). Below this reads:

Lowliness is Young Ambitions Ladder, Whereto the climber upward turns his Face But when he once attains the upmost round He then unto the Ladder turns his back, Looks unto the clouds - scornin [sic] the base degrees By which he did assend. Shak. Jul. Caesar.

[A Smuggling Machine or a Convenient Cos(au)way for a Man in Miniature, print, c. 1782, by Hannah Humphrey, via The British Museum.]

Another famous macaroni not born into the aristocracy was Julius Soubise. Brought to England from the West Indies as a slave he was taken in by Catherine Hyde, the Duchess of Queensbury. She gave him a leisured childhood, in which he was taught to play and compose for the violin, was taught to fence by Domenico Angelo, and learned oration from David Garrick. “Macaroni caricatures of Soubise parodied a foppish upstart whose outfits and entertainments, financed by the Duchess, affronted both racial and social expectations of an African male.” Writes Petter McNeil, Soubise was satirised as “a Mungo Macaroni” an “offensive term meaning a rude or forward black man.” (p118)

[Left: A Mungo Macaroni, print, c. 1772, by Matthew Darly, via The British Museum.

Right: The D------ of [...]-- playing at foils with her favorite lap dog Mungo after expending near £10000 to make him a----------*, print, c. 1773, by William Austin, via Yale Center for British Art.]

The expense of Stede’s wardrobe is a key part of the narrative. Stede has nice fancy luxurious things. Ed wants nice fancy luxurious things. Ed was born a poor brown boy and while he may be rich now he can never truly change his class. He could be as rich as Richard Cosway or Julius Soubise but to the gentry he will always be that poor brown boy.

Gender

As we have already seen in the tirade against men using umbrellas the macaroni was perceived as being of “the doubtful gender”. (The Morning Chronicle, 4 Oct, 1784)

The Natural History of a Macaroni writes that there “has within these few years past arrived from France and Italy a very strange animal, of the doubtful gender, in shape somewhat between a man and monkey,” that dresses “neither in the habit of a man or woman, but peculiar to itself”. The author states that “they are in no respect useful in this country”:

that the minister of the war department would give orders to have them enlisted for the service of America: we do not mean to put them on actual duty there. Alas! they are as harmless in the field, as they are in the chamber, but they may stand as faggots to cover the loss of real men.

(Walker’s Hibernian Magazine, July 1777, p458-9)

A “faggot” being “A man who is temporarily hired as a dummy soldier to make up the required number at a muster of troops, or on the roll of a company or regiment.” (see OED)

[The Masculine Gender & The Feminine Gender, etching with touches of watercolour, c. 1787, Attributed to Henry Kingsbury, via The Met.]

The macaroni wasn’t just considered effeminate because of the way they dressed but also because of their interests and the way walked and talked. Famous for playing fops and macaroni, the actor David Garrick did a lot to establish the character of the macaroni in the public mind. In his poem The Fribbleriad Garrick mocks the men who were offended by his performances asserting, perhaps accurately, that they were offended because it was them he mocked. He portrays a group of angry effeminate men meeting in order to seek revenge on him for his portrayal of them:

May we no more such misery know! Since Garrick made OUR SEX a shew; And gave us up to such rude laughter, That few, ’twas said, could hold their water: For He, that player, so mock’d our motions, Our dress, amusements, fancies, notions, So lisp’d our words, and minc’d our steps,

The macaroni had become more than simply an effeminate man, he had become a new sex. Something not quite man or woman. Something in-between. A new description of a macaroni asks the question:

Is it a man? ‘Tis hard to say - A woman then

- A moment pray -

So doubtful is the thing, that no man

Can say if ‘tis a man or woman:

Unknown as yet by sex or feature,

It moves - a mere amphibious creature.

(McNeil p169)

Sexuality

Much like today in the 18th century effeminacy was associated with homosexuality. Men who had sex with other men were known as mollies. A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785), defined a molly as “A Miss Molly; an effeminate fellow, a sodomite”. In the History of the London Clubs (1709), Ned Ward characterises mollies as follows:

There are a particular Gang of Wretches in Town, who call themselves Mollies, & are so far degenerated from all Masculine Deportment or Manly exercises that they rather fancy themselves Women, imitating all the little Vanities that Custom has reconcil’d to the Female sex, affecting to speak, walk, tattle, curtsy, cry, scold, & mimick all manner of Effeminacy.

“By the 1760′s,” explains Peter McNeil, “too much attention to fashion on the part of a man was read as evidence if a lack of interest in women”. (p152)

Macaroni were often portrayed as incapable or simply uninterested in sexual relations with women. This attitude is expressed by Mr. Bate in the following dialogue from The Vauxhall Affray; Or, the Macaronies Defeated:

Mr. Fitz-Gerall: I always though a fine woman was only made to be looked at.

Mr. Bate: Just sentiments of a macaroni. You judge of the fair sex as you do your own doubtful gender, which aims only to be looked at and admired.

Mr. Fitz-Gerall: I have as great a love for a fine woman as any man.

Mr. Bate: Psha! Lepus tute es et pulpamentum quæris?

Mr. Fitz-Gerall: What do you say, Parson?

Mr. Bate: I cry you mercy, Sir, I am talking Heathen Greek to you; in plain English I say, A macaroni you, and love a woman?

Mr. Fitz-Gerall: I love the ladies, for the ladies love me.

Mr Bate: Yes, as their panteen, their play-thing, their harmless bauble, to treat as you do them, merely to look at

While lack on interest in woman does not necessarily mean attraction to men, Matthew Darly takes the implication there in his 1771 set of macaroni caricatures which induces a print entitled Ganymede, a reference to Zeus’ male lover of the same name. Ganymede is believed to be a parody of Samuel Drybutter who had been arrested for attempted sodomy in January 1770. Darly also includes the character Ganymede in Ganymede & Jack-Catch. Jack-Catch is a reference to the infamous English executioner John Ketch. In the print Jack-Catch says, “Dammee Sammy you’r a sweat pretty creature & I long to have you at the end of my String.” Ganymede replies, “You don’t love me Jacky”. Jack-Catch is holding a noose with one hand and stroking Ganymede’s chin with the other. Jack-Catch is soberly dressed in typical 18th century menswear, while Ganymede’s dress is distinguished by his lace ruffles and styled wig. The print is not only suggesting that macaroni are sodomites but making a joke of the execution of them. The punishment for a sodomy at this time in England being death by hanging.

[Left: Ganymede, print, c. 1771, Matthew Darly, via The Met.

Right: Ganymede & Jack Catch, print, c. 1771, Matthew Darly, via The British Museum]

An anonymous letter to the Public Ledger (5 Aug, 1772) says blatantly what others had already implied. “The country is over-run with Catamites, with monsters of Captain Jones’s taste, or, to speak in a language witch all may understand, with MACCARONIES”. The writer warns macaroni who have “escaped detection” as sodomites and “therefore cannot fairly be charged” that they have not avoided suspicion:

Suspicion is got abroad-the carriage-the deportment-the dress-the effeminate squeak of the voice-the familiar loll upon each others shoulders-the gripe of the hand-the grinning in each others faces, to shew the whiteness of the teeth-in short, the manner altogether, and the figure so different from that of Manhood, these things conspire to create suspicion; Suspicion gives birth to watchful observation; and, from a strict observance of the Maccaroni Tribe, we very naturally conclude that to them we are indebted for the frequency of a crime which Modesty forbids me to name. Take warning, therefore, ye smirking group of Tiddy-dols: However secret you may be in your amours, yet in the end you cannot escape detection;

Bows on His Shoes

18th century shoes were typically buckled, laces and ribbons were simply unfashionable. As mentioned previously macaroni were distinguished by the size and decoration of the buckles. So are Stede’s bows simply ahistorical? Well there are references to 18th century men wearing laces and ribbons.

Towards the end of the 18th century laces started to come into fashion. Appeal from the Buckle Trade of London and Westminster, to the Royal Conductors of Fashion (1792) complained that despite how “tender and effeminate the appearance of Shoe Strings” the “custom of wearing them has prevailed.”

Perhaps the most intriguing reference is that of Commissioner Pierre Louis Foucault’s papers where he details the surveillance, investigation and entrapment of "pederasts” in Paris. It is important to note that the word “pederasty” was used synonymously with “sodomy” in the 18th century and did not denote age simply sex. An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1726) defines “A pederast” as “a Buggerer” and “Pederasty” as “Buggery”.

Foucault and the men working with him identified particular clothing worn by men seeking sex with other men that he called the “pederastical uniform”. In Foucault’s papers men are described as being “attired in such a way as to be recognized by everyone as a pederast”, “clothed with all the distinctive marks of pederasty”, or simply “dressed like a pederast”. This “uniform” generally included “some combination of frock coat, large tie, round hat, small chignon, and bows on the shoes.” Jeffrey Merrick in his article on Foucault speculates that these men dressed this way to signal to each other. However when questioned by police they would understandably deny such a purpose, one man when questioned about his outfit responded that everyone “dresses as he sees fit”. (Jeffrey Merrick, Commissioner Foucault, Inspector Noël, and the “Pederasts” of Paris,1780-3)

Conclusion

I’m not saying Stede is intended to be a macaroni. If that were the case they would have given him the iconic macaroni hairstyle. However the costuming team has clearly pulled from fashion trends that were associated with effeminacy and homosexuality. While OFMD is evidently wholly unconcerned with creating period accurate costumes the costumes are still clearly inspired by historical fashions. Perhaps the curtains really are just blue but maybe Stede wears bows on his shoes because he’s gay.

#I had way too much fun doing this #our flag means death #ofmd meta #stede bonnet #queer history #macaroni #historical fiction #fashion history

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lya-dustin · 1 year ago

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So Osferth gets 7 estates in Sussex in Alfred’s will.

These are

Beckley: near the southern coast and Kent which was the center of Christianity in the UK

Rotherfield: east Sussex a royal hunting estaste owned by Alfred known for its oak forests and being the source of the river Rother

Ditchling: rumored to have been the first capital of the Saxon Kingdom. the Roman Greensand Road that connects to London passes by it, loacted in East Susesx. Also has Wings Palace, the saxon manor Anne of Cleves lived in after her divorce and was supposedly built by Alfred of Wessex

Sutton: i couldn't really find anything save that it is home to a very specific species of cricket

Lyminster: another royal hunting estaste of Alfred’s. Home to 11th century church, St. Mary of Magdalene known for its six bells(which their oldest pub is named after) and burial place to St. Cuthflaed of Lyminster(whom the saxon kings are related to) also has a knuckerhole where a knight slayed a water dragon and his tomb is a slab on the church called the Slayer's Slab. Near the coast as well

Angerming: has the remains of a roman villa and a bathhouse meaning it was occupied by a wealthy roman citizen. Also has all these ways its called: Angemeringatun, Angmerengatum, Angemaeringum, Angemeringe, Aingmarying, Angmarrying, Angemare and Ameringe. (This village has as many name variations as Osferth) near the coast as well

Felpham: by the coast in the same district as Angerming and except that it was partially given to Edward’s third wife, nothing else is there about it.

Edit 10/4/23: he was also given 100 pounds of silver, which made him perhaps the richest non royal ealdorman then.

#osferth the last kingdom #osferth x reader #osferth son of alfred #alfred of wessex #the last kingdom #ewan mitchell #ewanverse

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rangerelik · 2 years ago

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Christmas present - T.S. x Fem!Reader

Word count: 1373

Summary: Y/N and Tommy spend their Christmas with their family.

Warnings: nothing

Requested: No, it’s made for @runnning-outof-time’s BINGO challenge.

A/N: I started writing and it kinda developed in double bingo.

So I went with: fluff-a family tradition-modern AU-must include: a proposal and with domestic-must include: a secret-modern AU-Christmas Eve.

Oh and I don’t exactly know how Christmas is celebrated in the UK, I know what we learned at school, so don’t please come for me if I have written something wrong.

I am so sorry it was really my first proposal scene I’ve ever written, so please forgive me.

Thanks to @cillmequick for beta reading.

Although it was nearly Christmas time, you couldn’t get into your normal Christmas spirit. You needed to go Christmas shopping for Tommy and your little five year old daughter Samantha, but she now occupied all of your free time you wanted to spend preparing the house for the holidays. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do that as the maids had their orders to prepare the tree and all those ornaments you always loved to display by yourself. Tommy gave his orders and you didn’t have any choice in this matter.

At least you could be in your room and read your little one some books. She liked everything fairy tale-like, every princess, prince or dragon captured her eyes and refused to leave her imagination. Tommy sometimes played with her, he was her rescuer, her prince and she was always the princess that needed her prince.

The time went by and you were becoming a bit anxious. This was the first Christmas, you weren't able to have the presents prepared. So, deciding it was time to go shopping you rang the bell and Mary, your maid, appeared in the door of your room.

„Yes, ma’am?“ she said.

„Could you take Sam for a while, I need to do my shopping.“ you told her as you gave her your little one.

Mary just nodded her head as she started talking to Samantha. You changed out of your home clothes into something more presentable and went to do your shopping.

Christmas Eve came and all the Shelbys came to your house to celebrate the holidays with your little family. Tommy had a big house in the country, so it was natural, you would be the host for those holidays. There were enough bedrooms for all of your family, so they didn't need to go home after all the evening festivities ended late at night.

As you were preparing in your dressing room, you put on your best festive dress with some delicate Christmas ornaments. Everyone was already inside, sitting in the drawing room, probably already drinking, as you knew Arthur. Well everyone except Ada. It bugged you because you liked her the most. As you made your way down the stairs the bell rang and maids opened the door, Ada made her way into your parlour.

„Ada! I am so glad you came! How are you? Oh, hello Karl, dear!“ you said as you hurriedly embraced her and her little boy. You were glad she accepted your invite. You felt a lot more happy and at ease when she really came. Even Sam would be happy, she liked playing with her cousin.

„Y/N! It’s nice to see you! I am good, thank you.“

After some more lively talk you both made your way to the drawing room, where everyone was. The dinner time came and everyone set on to go find their seat at your large table in the dining room.

You took your seat next to your boyfriend and daughter. The dinner went on great, nobody did anything stupid, which was already a little miracle for you, and everyone had a great time.

When late evening came, Ada and you went on to set the children to sleep. There the first problem came. Samantha kept asking about Father Christmas, she wanted to stay awake to see him.

„You need to go to bed, my dear. He won’t come if you stay awake and you won’t get any presents this year.“ She scoffed and her mouth curled into a pout, already starting to throw a fit.

„But mama,-“ she started with a weepy voice but she didn't have the opportunity to say more as you interrupted her. „Off to bed with you.“ You told her as you took her into your arms and took her to her bedroom. There came the usual tantrum about not wanting to go to sleep. After some bargain she settled for some fairytales. When she finally drifted off to sleep, which took almost two fairy tales about princess Fiona and Rapunzel, you came back down and found out that everyone moved back to the drawing room where the adults had been drinking again. Thomas poured you a drink and kissed you. You embraced him from the side and looked around the room. Everyone was here and everyone was happy.

„It’s time,“ you told everyone. As they knew what was going to happen, they got up and helped Tom and you prepare gifts under the tree. You also poured some flour over Arthur’s boots to mask Father Christmas’s footsteps to the fireplace. Poll drank the milk and John ate half of the carrot and the biscuits Samatha left there before the dinner for Father Christmas to freshen up.

„I am so glad you all are helping me. She loves this little tradition, it always makes her smile.“ You told everyone when you finished setting up the perfect scenario for the kids. „Hope Karl will like it too,“ you said, sending a smile in Ada’s direction.

After committing all those crimes the kids shouldnt know of, everyone, already tired from all the preparation it took, went to bed.

„Mummy, daddy! Father Christmas was here! And he had eaten what we prepared for him!“ Both of you were abruptly woken by your daughter jumping up and down on your masterbed. You were still tired and hoped she won't continue in waking you up, but you were mistaken. When neither of you answered, she proceeded to pinching and tickling you both, so you had no choice but to wake up.

„Good morning, Sam. That’s awesome. Did he leave some presents for you under the tree?“ Tommy asked with his raspy morning voice, you always loved. His words worked like magic, because Samantha jumped from the bed and ran downstairs to observe the presents you bought her.

„Morning, love,“ you told your boyfriend and pecked him on his lips.

„Mornin’,“ he answered. You got the chance to stay a while in his embrace, when the distant shouts of Sam and Karl made you get out of your shared bed. You put on your Christmas pyjamas and made your way down.

„What do we have here?“ you asked the children when you found them beneath the Christmas tree.

„A lot of presents, ma! Even Karl got some! Could we go and wake up everyone else?“ she exclaimed while jumping up and down excitedly.

„Of course, love. But be gentle with everyone. Uncle Arthur doesn't like jumping on his bed and aunt Pol must be woken up gently, so careful.“ Both children nodded their heads and set off on their quest of waking everybody up.

After some time, when everyone was gathered, the children took the presents and brought them to the person it was for. They were so happy because they brought smiles to all of the „boring“ adults. When there were any more presents under the tree, Tom stood up and came to the middle of the room.

„I have one more present which I kept secret,“ he started his speech, „This christmas was the most wonderful one I had since the time my daughter was born.“ Everyone looked at him, eager to know what his present would be. „To the love of my life. Y/N, you gave me a beautiful daughter, you make me the happiest man under the sun. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?“ With those words he made his way towards you and came down onto one knee and opened the little box with the most beautiful ring you ever saw.

With tears in your eyes you nodded your head and simply replied, „Yes, I will.“ Everyone clapped and cheered as Tommy put the ring onto your finger. You fell into his arms where you wept happy tears for a while. After composing yourself a bit you gave him a long kiss.

„Bleh, ma! Why would you do that?“ little Sam shouted over the claps of others. Frances, who had been discreetly waiting in the wings, knowing he was going to ask, quickly ushered in maids bearing trays of champagne as well as orange juice for the children, so the whole family could celebrate their happy news together.

Tags: @runnning-outof-time @cillmequick @zablife @gypsy-girl-08 @dandelionprints @shelbydelrey

Dividers are from @firefly-graphics

#k’s 2.5k holiday bingo challenge #peaky blinders #tommy shelby #tommy shelby x y/n #tommy shelby fanfic #tommy shelby x reader #writing #rangerelik writing #please reblog

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deadcactuswalking · 2 days ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 23/11/2024 (Sam Fender, Tate McRae, Linkin Park, Sabrina Carpenter, Jin)

Well, there’s a much bigger story to this Friday in music other than some Christmas songs on a singles chart… but that can wait. For now, “That’s So True” by Gracie Abrams lands a third week at #1 – I really am surprised by how well that’s lasted – and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, references to sex and abusive relationships

Rundown

The festive season is starting to be in full swing, but this is still a remarkably busy week on the UK Singles Chart, one that I didn’t initially expect to be as intensive as it ended up being, but we have nine new songs to cover, a whole bunch of re-entries and I’m hoping to get it out soon enough so I can listen to the Kendrick album and still get a good night’s sleep. Regardless, as always, we start our week with the notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, it’s honestly a bloodbath, in which it makes more sense to split what we have into different categories: first being songs that are hurt by the three-song rule as the artists have a new debut we’ll end up having to discuss later on in this episode, those being Tyler, the Creator with “Darling, I” featuring Teezo Touchdown and “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. We follow that with a series of old songs – firstly, those that stick around forever and always resurge like “Yellow” by Coldplay, “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift and yes, even “Mr. Brightside”, with the next set of old tracks being One Direction songs that had returned after Liam Payne’s passing, namely “Night Changes”, “Story of My Life” and “What Makes You Beautiful”. Then finally, after all those qualifiers, we have regular chart entries we bid adieu thanks to competition, ACR, the Christmas flood, or most likely a combination: “on one tonight” by Gunna, “NEW DROP” by Don Toliver, “Dancing in the Flames” by The Weeknd, “Guess” by Charli xcx featuring Billie Eilish on the remix, “Cry Baby” by Clean Bandit, Anne-Marie and David Guetta and finally, “Who” by Jimin. It’s likely that we see at least some of these re-enter come January anyway, so take everything from this Christmas period with a grain of salt.

Now for our gains and returns which are really all over the place, starting all the way down at #74 with the return of “Headlock” by Imogen Heap, thanks to TikTok virality. Fun fact: this song has spent two weeks on the chart across 18 years, and both times, it was at #74, a peak it first reached in 2006 whilst My Chemical Romance were #1 with “Welcome to the Black Parade”. I love “Headlock”, I was introduced to it via samples by Clams Casino and A$AP Rocky, who actually are the co-leads on the weird remix mashup below the top 75 also with Imogen Heap (itself her first time charting since “Headlock”). Imogen Heap charting two songs incredibly low on the chart right before Christmas, neither of them new, both of them sampled by A$AP Rocky, is really a 2024 chart moment – anything happens nowadays, man. Then after that, we dip fully into holiday music.

As for our Christmas songs that re-enter this week, we have “Snowman” by Sia at #71, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” by Michael Bublé at #65, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by the late Andy Williams at #62, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin’ Stevens at #60, “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson at #52, “Jingle Bell Rock” by the late Bobby Helms at #51, “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues featuring the late Kirsty MacColl at #48, “Santa Tell Me” by Ariana Grande at #46 and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee at #34. These aren’t necessarily all my personal favourites, but they’re the ones you expect to get in this early every year, alongside Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” and “Last Christmas” by Wham! from last week, which move up to #17 and #16. Most of the other upwards movement is for songs new to the top 75, but we do see some gains in the top 40, for “Like Him” by Tyler, the Creator featuring Lola Young at #39 (more on both later), “it’s ok i’m ok” by Tate McRae at #28 thanks to her new single (more on that way later), and finally, Linkin Park land two gains thanks to their #1 comeback album, From Zero: “Heavy is the Crown” at #21 and “The Emptiness Machine” at #10. Yes, unfortunately, more on them later as well.

As for our top five, it’s nearly the exact same apart from one smash hit debut: “The Door” by Teddy Swims is still at #5, but right above is a new debut from Sam Fender, “People Watching”, his third top 10 hit, which we’ll discuss in more detail later, once we get through… everything else. Then it’s more typical: “APT.” by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars at #3, “Sailor Song” by Gigi Perez at #2 and of course, “That’s So True”. With all that out of the way, we still have a lot to get to with our new songs so let’s take a deep breath and begin.

New Entries

#75 – “MAYBE.” – SIENNA SPIRO

Produced by Max Wolfgang and Sol Was

This is an artist completely new to me, SIENNA SPIRO, a London singer-songwriter with just a few songs out that were recently released, compiled into a full album that’s just four songs. Given her earliest release is from this year, it seems that TikTok virality has helped her break out so quickly, with this being her first to chart and more interesting than I was expecting, given the stressful pace of the piano that leads the track, though SPIRO’s vocals are very much in typical indie girl territory and not showing much character. The breathy nature of that style of delivery definitely helps rather than hinder in a song so paranoid and minimal, taking hard turns into slower and faster piano melodies yet not adding much in the way of new layers apart from what appears to be some string swell in the back of the chorus. The relationship spiral that she sings about is not that specific, wrapped up in analogy rather than specific details for the most part, which doesn’t let me connect as much as I’d want to with a song this empty, but her vocals and those pianos fill up so much of the space in the mix that the song drowns in her regret for the previous relationship, taking a sinister edge with that chorus and bridge being about wanting to take revenge by ending the relationship, which is a draining pain for her but clearly fixes some kind of insecurity that would spiral out of control without her presence, hence why leaving would hurt so much. What that is I’d love to know, because that would make the song more biting and really sell me on the scorned woman angle, but that bridge would be the perfect place to drop it and it never happens, which is a damn shame because there is a lot of potential for a really resonant song here that never realises itself. I also personally could see some subtle horn sections elevating this tone-wise, really accentuating the righteous villainy of her lyrics that doesn’t fully come through with melancholy pianos and a weaker vocal performance. I like the idea of this song, but I’m hearing the blueprint instead of the fuller idea, and I really want to know where this could go, so I suppose eyes are on SPIRO’s next hit – if this can make it through the winter freeze – to take more steps.

#64 – “Sticky” – Tyler, the Creator featuring GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne

Produced by Tyler, the Creator

Like many albums that stick around and not just for a few big hits, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA is playing around with the three-song rule and having songs drop out just for another to fill its space and this week, we get a track that I expected to swiftly enter the week the album released, that being “Sticky”, one of the album’s bangers and unfortunately I think those are sort of its weak points. I still like this one, though, even if only the second half seems to serve much of a purpose in the record’s overall thematics, mostly as a victory lap but also to warn the audience about how messy this album’s emotional baggage and honesty can get, and by extension, to just embrace that as much as one embraces the obstacles in life Tyler’s otherwise facing. Outside of that, it’s a brag track, and definitely a well-structured one, starting with a minimal, slightly annoying whistle and characteristic pitch-shifted chanting alongside other sound effects that will make it a perfect fit for high school and college bands, especially given the female group vocals that ride the incessant hook over calamitous, Timbaland-esque drums (turns out he co-wrote the record). Tyler’s falsetto verse makes reference to “the zone” – which could potentially be both the gay club and the hood, in a twist of words only Tyler can really do, making the lazy pronouns line later on even more disappointing. That said, if you don’t like one verse, it’s not like you get much time to decide, or much time to lament a mid performance, as the verses are nearly all just four lines, with GloRilla commanding the song despite not even being on the album’s vinyl editions, Sexyy Red flailing into a bombastic horn loop at least, and Lil Wayne clearly having more recorded that ended up getting scrapped.

What I mostly appreciate about this song however is the madness that ensues once the female group vocals start cheering “CHROMAKOPIA” with a squealing chuckle and quickly leading into that intimidating horn loop borrowed from Young Buck’s 2006 track “Get Buck”, and allowing for T’s longest and most fun to follow verse, no doubt helped by the added piano and Solange’s cooing. Sure, he spends most of the verse either flexing or, well, actually getting sticky, but it’s delivered charismatically and over undeniably hard production that it’s difficult to say it doesn’t work out, especially when that second hook of “Better find a mop, it’s gettin’ sticky in this bitch” might be the bigger earworm of the two, especially with how that deadpan mantra leads into frankly the hilarity of Tyler crooning “sticky” on the outro, a word that should never be sung that sincerely, let alone with that much detailed vocal layering. CHROMAKOPIA is Tyler’s funniest album since he got out of his less mature phase in the mid-2010s, and if any song shows it, it may have to be this one, even if for me, its charm wears off through middling guest appearances and perhaps a little too much commitment to its initial, quite thin bit. I personally would probably pick “Balloon” over this, but I can’t say why I don’t get the hype. It’s still a banger.

#55 – “Messy” – Lola Young

Produced by Solomonophonic, Manuka, Monsune and Carter Lang

We go from sticky, and now it’s getting messy, with British singer Lola Young, who I hadn’t heard of until her feature on Tyler’s “Like Him”. I was curious to how her solo work sounded but just hadn’t gotten the chance yet and I suppose what better time than this episode? This song, from May of this year, has finally bubbled up enough traction to appear in the top 75, and is way more relaxed than I’d expected, with a slick acoustic guitar line and detuned synth noodling that I suppose isn’t far from what you’d expect from Solomonophonic’s production, but what did catch my ear is Young’s delivery, which is a confrontational and semi-spoken approach that starts off with a typical smoky R&B style then consistently derails into angry ranting before catching herself and going back on track. It’s a perfect representation of that back-and-forth that comes with the frustrating relationship she’s describing in the song: the imperfect rhyme in the first lines of the chorus is great too, because of how her partner is clearly giving her diminishing returns for her stressing about not just how she acts but how she presents herself, none of which can be perfect for them. She’s rarely actively frustrated about it though, instead going for a dismayed tone that sounds hopeless with how much she’s tried to change and how little effort and love she gets in return. I love the bursts into harmonies from the end of that second verse onwards, they are beautifully blended and the production here strikes a subtle balance, even if that guitar solo between choruses feels weak and jerky, I would have included a vocal bridge or at least a change in the lyrics for the final chorus to make the crescendo work instead of an honestly awkward intermission that turns an amazing song into a great one that could be close to perfect. It’s still great, though, it just feels like finishing the song was the last touch that just slipped by. I am definitely interested in checking out that album now to see what else will connect but for now, I’d recommend checking this one out.

#44 – “Dirty Cash (Money Talks)” – PAWSA and the Adventures of Stevie V

Produced by PAWSA and The Adventures of Stevie V

We’re really making PAWSA a thing, huh? Even with how uncreative he is as a throwback house producer? Okay, well, this time he’s grabbed another great sample, that being from The Adventures of Stevie V, a dance act formed by, as you’d expect, Steve Vincent, and had a massive hit in 1990 with their 1989 debut single, “Dirty Cash (Money Talks)”. The track is a fantastic amalgamation of early 90s dance trends, with some great breakbeats and sampled yelping, deep-voiced incompetently-rapped interludes, and an anonymous diva at the lead vocals over a hypnotic bassline. This track in particular comes with a jazzy horn line too, kind of reminiscent of what Soul II Soul would put out in the same era. The seven-minute 12-inch edit is the best version, in my opinion, as the extended length and blend of samples really accentuates the sinister edge to the money-hungry vocalist. Back in 1990, this peaked at #2 in the UK, blocked by a similar but even better house classic from the same era, Adamski’s “Killer” featuring Seal, one of the greatest #1 hits ever, so you can’t complain, and it’s definitely not been forgotten since. Not only did it act as a rare stateside crossover for European house on the Hot 100, it was remixed in 1997 for a #69 peak, and was famously given a rework by UK rapper Dizzee Rascal, a fantastic song dissing both the people who spend their money without thinking, and the politicians who spend the state’s money without looking over the state of their own country, using London’s slums as an example and placing an entirely different meaning to “dirty cash”. Dizzee’s recession-era rant “Dirtee Cash” peaked at #10 in 2009, whilst Taio Cruz’s “Break Your Heart” was #1, but would later spend two weeks at #2 the year after as part of a mash-up with Florence + the Machine. “You’ve Got the Dirtee Love” was blocked by Helping Haiti’s cover of “Everybody Hurts” and Jason Derulo’s “In My Head”.

To this day, “Dirty Cash” still gets a lot of play – in fact, it briefly returned to the chart under the top 75 this year and is doing great in the dance charts, which brings us to PAWSA’s remix under the same name but shortening it down, using stemmed vocals and replacing them onto an admittedly catchy if basic 90s throwback beat. Here we perfectly see what the 90s actually sounded like at its best versus what we may want it to sound like for the marketable pastiche, in a side-by-side comparison. Once again, PAWSA lazily reworks the song, using practically the same verses and choruses, in a very similar structure, just one with much less to it thanks to a shortened runtime and hampered instrumental, with much less moving parts here, especially in terms of ones that aren’t ripped straight from the original. With that said, it’s still “Dirty Cash” and there is an intensity to the bass and glitched sound that he finds by time-stretching mid-quality stems and stammering some of the vocal take. There’s more to this than what we’ve seen from PAWSA before, but considering we’ve had a hit song that brilliantly reinterprets and recontextualises an already charming song itself full of samples, this just doesn’t feel necessary. Are we just set to regurgitate forever? Listen to the original instead, but this isn’t worth spending much time on overall, and I doubt it’ll actually last either.

#25 – “Running Wild” – Jin

Produced by Gary Barlow, Ryan Carline and Jacob Attwooll

Clearly to draw attention away from his massive son, former Take That singer Gary Barlow is now producing solo work for BTS’ Jin, who has left less of an impact than his bandmates but did release a solo album last week, with this being his lead single and holy shit, of course this was written and produced by Gary Barlow. Not only can I hear Jin’s exact inflections in his voice, but it has a plastic synthpop sheen that’d fit an X Factor winner from the early 2010s, maybe not the winners’ single but absolutely a follow-up, especially with that cheap guitar lick and dramatic pre-chorus soundtracking pure lovestruck cheese. I wish Jin didn’t go into his falsetto so often so he meshed within the chorus’ mix a bit more and didn’t just stick out, but that level of unabashed commitment to something that sounds like a relatively cringey theme song – it reminds me of what the English dub of Pokémon would occasionally spit out – is charming in itself. There’s also so much compression here that a buzzy new rave angle could be heard in the synths, adding an extra layer of just “going for it” that’s full of charm. Sure, there’s basically nothing to it – not even a great cinematic bridge to really help it click – but it’s a vehicle for Gary Barlow to have a cheap slab of cheese hit the charts once again, and there really is something addictively sugary about it somehow. Give it to BTS to make fun from the insufferable, I suppose. Oh, and there's like eight versions but fuck that noise.

#24 – “Juno” – Sabrina Carpenter

Produced by John Ryan

Much like with Tyler, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet has been able to consistently have fan favourites pop in and out of the chart, this one being a long time coming and a personal favourite of mine and many others on the album’s release. Production-wise, it’s not particularly special, given its love of reverb and those delicate guitars that form a decent albeit admittedly stiff pop rock groove. Sabrina is truly what makes this song, with writing as awkwardly horny as the blank spaces she leaves in between certain lines to let them linger in the verses then a pre-chorus that goes for a much jerkier guitar lick and accommodating vocal line that leaves no space in the mix and even less to the imagination. The chorus, with a wonderful “ow!” to tail-end it, is when the writing really gets into interesting territory: the title of the song references the 2007 film Juno, about teen pregnancy, and Sabrina herself debunked any deeper double meaning it could have. It simply means that this guy should “mark [his] territory” as said in the hilariously cinematic bridge with those panned drums that make drama out of very unsubtle lines. She continues down this line of argument, saying that he should make her pregnant because this would mean there’s a second, even cuter version of her… okay, well, considering the film’s content and all the bizarre implications of that line, it gets a bit messy. Sadly, Tyler still has my mop, so it’s not time to discuss that – fun song, let’s move on.

#22 – “Two Faced” – Linkin Park

Produced by Mike Shinoda

Out of all of the songs to chart from Linkin Park’s lazy, fine-tuned-to-work-on-rock-radio “comeback” From Zero, it really didn’t have to be the one that best exemplifies why the album is so insufferable. The entire record is mostly just bog-standard Linkin Park delivered soullessly, with the lyrics doubling as bitter reflections upon their fans for not accepting “change” – lyrics about identity and belonging are nothing new from Chester, or even Mike, but coming from the controversial new lead vocalist Emily Armstrong, they ring a little hollow and angry, whilst the writing, production and instrumentation doesn’t reflect that by being raw or aggressive in ways more than your average LP record, if not actively re-treading prior ideas. If your mission statement is “Fuck you, we’re back, accept us as who we are or get out”, maybe a deliver a product that is something worth pissing people off for, and not some stale, half-baked intimidation of better music. Otherwise, it comes off unjustifiably bitter, with this entire song being immature vagueposting, potentially veering towards the divided fanbase and the late Chester Bennington himself, with nothing ever really being up to the fault of Armstrong or Shinoda, in fact there’s a degree of patting themselves on the back for their bravery, whether that be in the pre-chorus or the passive-aggressive chatter outro wherein Mike reassures us we’re “on the same page”. Well, not exactly, given you haven’t updated your formula to fit the cleaner production or to make your rapping any less phoned-in and amateur. Hell, we even get a reference to the “zero” motif, the whole “starting anew” theme in the album that is completely unwarranted when what we’re working with here is the same foundation, just worse. Linkin Park can probably make great work with Armstrong – “The Emptiness Machine” is there – but that would involve making the pathetic half-risen middle finger much more prevalent. If you’re going to tell me to fuck off, do it with guts and gusto, not a half-hearted, flattened version of a decades-old formula that Linkin Park as a band was constantly trying to stray from during their time with Chester. I understand why after the lacklustre reception of their pop-focused then-final album that Shinoda would want to leave that behind and return to “form”, but he may have learned the wrong lessons for the frustrated and confused themes he wishes to pull from. Much like the rest of this album, this is worthless, sanitised and unnecessary, and I’ve spoken much more than I need to about this revival, which has been wildly successful regardless, than I’d have wanted to in the first place.

#8 – “2 hands” – Tate McRae

Produced by Ryan Tedder and LOSTBOY

So, Tate McRae has yet another song and I’m really struggling to find the appeal with her in general, and this is no different. Ryan Tedder goes for another 00s pop and R&B-influenced track but with a glassy monogenre sheen and faceless misunderstanding of what made songs from that era special – there’s a male vocal interplay ad-lib but it’s either this pitch-shifted refrain which, to be crass, just sounds fucking gross, or the same exact “Yeah” sound clip. It’s a charmingly unabashed sex jam with busy drums, but there’s a constant whooshing nothingness to everything else, whether it be the crashes, the airy synth fuzz, the Frank Ocean-esque vocal filters on the male vocal, or those obnoxious horn stabs that never justify their existence. I think McRae is in a difficult place wherein she needs to be interesting to survive in the pop climate as her kind of anonymous, generic pop star is not big on a global scale anymore, but being interesting is the exact opposite of her cursive-singing personality-devoid delivery, and it's the direct antithesis of ongoing hack Ryan Tedder, so we get vaguely interesting but completely tarnished messes like this and “exes” to try and fill a void that I’m not sure people were clambering for exactly, but if they were, Tate was simply the first to fill it, and we’ll be dealing with her for a while as a result. I just wish there was more to this and honestly more to her as an artist overall.

#4 – “People Watching” – Sam Fender

Produced by Sam Fender, Adam Granduciel, Joe Atkinson and Dean Campbell

Because of how long “Seventeen Going Under” ended up sticking around, to me, it didn’t seem like it had been that long since North Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender had released new material, but this new single comes as the title track for an upcoming record that will be released nearly four years after his last. Fender has been performing this song for months, and detailed its subject on social media, that it was about a maternal figure that had passed away the year prior, and that Fender experienced this loss gradually in real time, being sat next to her as she died. This next album is in part dedicated to her, it seems, and what he owes to her, and that is definitely present in this one as despite its jangling, almost fluttery indie guitar tones and pianos making for a really big and joyful sound, the lyrics start on a much sourer note: “people watching” refers not to people watching him but how he will look at the public surrounding him when going home, feeling envy for them despite not knowing what problems they may be facing. Youth and perceived carefreeness provide some level of hope, but by the chorus, reality treads in: these people are just running on the treadmill of life, and it begins to feel like the entire town is collapsing in on him, under all the lights and weather. That second verse may be the most devastating – he describes the decaying care home, how he “cornered” the nurse to understand why this loved one wasn’t getting the treatment he thinks she deserved but soon coming to the sobering knowledge that it’s an understaffed, neglected institution that can barely be called “home” – the vision of seeing the nurse fleeting across the home overworked is what takes that last glint of youth and optimism out of him, and the yelled chorus with its propulsive drive and horns give a massive, heartland-rock sensation that reflects being faced with overwhelming wrong and being helpless to right any of it. If anything, there’s a guilt to having been able to contribute to it, and an endless fear that leaves him wanting to escape the entire country, stretched painfully into that strained squeal of the sax by the end.

“I fear for this crippled island” feels like it sums up tactfully how many people feel about the UK and what many would say is a state of perpetual decline, lacking the power it once had and falling into delusions about the shells it has left of its formerly great institutions. There’s not much focus on personal tragedy here – I imagine there’ll be more on the deep cuts – but there is a righteously devastated sense of how his loved one was failed by the systems he’s made to believe are working and supposed to be there for the general public’s safety. It’s not yet boiled into an anger, either, just an overpowering emotional weight that is prevalent in much of his music, and this is no different, in fact, it takes very little in the risk department and apart from the lyrics, wouldn’t be too dissimilar to “Seventeen Going Under” and songs from that parent album. It’s still a great song, of course, and there’s no problem in having a signature sound, but part of me wants something a bit new – Hell, maybe something a bit more stripped down and acoustic – from Fender in the long term. We’ll see next year, but for now, you really can’t complain about a song this potent launching into the top five on its debut week. Brilliant track.

Conclusion

What an exhausting week. So many new songs, so much to discuss in a few of them, and a messy rundown. We’re nearing December even closer next week, but as for what we have going on in this episode, it should be obvious who’s taking what: Linkin Park take Worst of the Week easily for “Two Faced” and fittingly, in second place, is “2 hands” by Tate McRae as the Dishonourable Mention. There’s more trying to snab the best but it isn’t particular close for Sam Fender’s “People Watching” taking Best of the Week, so I may as well tie the Honourable Mention between Sabrina Carpenter for “Juno” and Lola Young for “Messy”. I think we all know what’s happening next week between Christmas and Kendrick Lamar, but for now, thanks for reading, rest in peace to Andy Paley, and I’ll see you then.

#uk singles chart #pop music #song review #tate mcrae #lola young #sam fender #people watching #tyler the creator #chromakopia #sexyy red #glorilla #lil wayne #pawsa #the adventures of stevie v #sienna spiro #bts jin #sabrina carpenter #linkin park #from zero

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