#most of my favorite lyrics of all time r from this One Guy

[kazieka]

sometimes i hear “every night i would race the moon to fall for you” and am reminded that there is Love in the world

[apopcornkernel]

i dont know if there's even a ppop presence on tumblr but i do also want to promote ALAMAT, a 6-member idol boy group from the Philippines. Its members comprise of Taneo, Mo, Jao, Tomas, R-ji, and Alas. They debuted in 2021, and their creative direction centers on championing the Filipino identity and culture through their music.

sorry that ^ was a copypaste but it's a very useful and concise copypaste LOL but onto my own promo:

(note: also most of these videos have english subs!!)

(extra note bc this issue always pops up whenever locals encounter alamat: mo is always wearing black hairstyes bc he is blasian and not bc he is appropriating from black culture hdfjhdf)

KASMALA, the inverted Tagalog word for "strong" (malakas), is the MV that really did numbers on social media iirc. The video direction focused on the "human zoo" in the St. Louis' World Fair of 1904 (which included Filipinos specifically Igorots), and a general theme of anti-Filipino racism by white people (who are represented as ominous figures literally dressed in all white)

personal opinion: the music video is great but i personally think they have better songs, music-wise. and i'm going to give you an example of that by introducing you to my ALL-TIME FAVORITE ALAMAT SONG!!!

ILY ILY, a transliteration of "Ili-Ili Tulog Anay", incorporates the melody and lyrics of the Ilonggo lullaby it derives its title from. The MV and lyrics both work together to portray the experience of being an OFW/having an OFW parent. OFWs, or overseas Filipino workers, refer to Filipinos who go abroad in search of jobs that have better pay, so that they can remit money back to their families in the Philippines.

personal opinion: this is their best song THIS IS THEIR BEST SONG EVER OF ALL TIME and lyca gairanod is such a perfect singer for this. her ethereal crooning really gave me chills the first time i heard it UGH

DAYANG, the term for the wife of a Datu, is one of their most earworming songs ever. It's a gorgeous love song and what I would recommend to newbies if they want to get into alamat <3

personal opinion: The MV is kinda ass because it's just a super long extended ad for DITO PH (in terms of story and also bc they really missed out on doing a vid that drew more on culture esp bc dayang is a historical noble title and they used tausug words and designs for the graphics an the dance itself already incorporated pangasik dance which is also from the tausug people LIKEEE?? they've always promoted other cultures of the philippines i know they can do it but because of CAPITALISM--). But the song bangs so severely, as a pop enjoyer this is peak pop for me.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT DAGUNDONG

DAGUNDONG, a song basically recounting the colonial history of the Philippines from Spain to America, is just so fucking good you should watch/listen to it rn. There's EN subs don't worry you won't miss out on the context. This is colonial rage it's so satisfying I still remember where I was when they dropped this.

personal opinion: FOREVER OBSESSED WITH HOW THEY SAY "dahil puso mandirigma di papakutsa di papapugon" you guys have no idea how much i sing that line to myself sooo satisfying. Instant earworm this song i swear.

OK ONE LAST one last and i'm done. okay.

MAHARANI, a Sanskrit term for the wife of a Maharaja (translated as "great queen"), heavily features singkil, a Maranao dance which uses bamboo poles like tinikling does. The song also uses SEAsian instruments like kanun, gamelan, and gangsa. Also BINI's Jhoanna plays one of the main characters here!!!

personal opinion: this is their most pop-sounding song, which i think is slightly carried by the video i'm sorryyy. it's catchy though!! and i looove the part somewhere halfway where alas starts his verse, singing it in a more spoken-word way

___

okay 5 songs is. probably enough. this post is already kinda long shdfjskdff but yeah. pls check them out if you can hehe <3

also ppop idols are just really funny. there's no concept of an idol image so they just tweet shit. alamat jao gave out his genshin UID after a fan tweeted about having co-oped with him in genshin, and then after that he started answering questions with the hashtag "#canceljao" making a lot of magiliws (alamat fans) confused, and then he posted a classic iphone notes apology like this 😭

i'll do a bini version after this my girls deserve more international hype. they occupy a more girlcrush pop genre but they're just as chaotic as alamat if not even more 😭 there are entire THREADS on twitter of them just being hilarious jdhfkshgf i love them so much

thanks for reading <3

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 08/01/2024

You Are Book Smart

Season 7 Featured on: Rips of Christmas Present

Ripped by circunflexo

Tentative rip name: You Are Book Smart

I'd like to wish a late happy Jay Eazy day to all who celebrate, I hope you spent your time together with your dogs like Mega Man fr fr

Okay, but, like, sincerely, I like many others have over the last year been completely enamored with all the edits and attention given to Jay Eazy, and the frankly hilarious promotions he does for his music. The guy's a rapper in a sea of others but is frankly a marketing genius - he attaches popular games and anime to his songs, such as Grand Theft Auto, Demon Slayer, or indeed Mega Man, and promotes them through TikToks that are so absurdly strange that your only logical reaction is to laugh. In 2023, he struck absolute gold, and Mega Man went absolutely viral - after, of course, it dropped on January 7th.

There's just something so inherently funny about Jay Eazy that's...hard to describe, especially if you haven't been down the rabbithole of edits people have done of the Mega Man promo video. Be it the setup of Jay Eazy dropping in on someone else's grief to promote his music whilst running away from them, The Very Perculiar Way That His Captions And Tweets Are Written‼️, or just the corny sound to the songs themselves - Jay Eazy is immensely fun to post about, and post about him SiIva did, just one day ago. January 7th, 2024, was dedicated entirely to the king of money smarts himself - and of all rips posted, You Are Book Smart became my favorite just about immediately.

The thing is, we've had a lot of rips, and even some events, kind of similar to Jay Eazy Day already. Rap mashup rips, from Yoshi's Cookie World to Loopdeloop Griddy, aren't exactly a rare sight on SiIvaGunner, and just earlier in Season 7 we received a sequel to Whip & Nae Nae Day, with amazing rips like Whip Fortress (coincidentally ALSO by circunflexo!). There's of course uniqueness to all of these rips due to the sheer personality and expressiveness inherent to rap as a music genre, but it does still mean that the rips that try to truly stand out from the crowd are the ones that end up sticking with me the most. And compared to a lot of the other hip hop rips on SiIva, the big benefit that Jay Eazy has enjoyed for me is that he's had a whole year to simmer in my mind - I know the bars to Mega Man completely off the top of my head through no choice of my own, at this point.

All that is to say, that Circunflexo's call to make a rip that specifically plays with the lyrics and flow of Mega Man, sentence mixing it into new bars entirely - is absolutely damn brilliant. You Are Book Smart, through the edits in the lyrics and the sheer whimsy in the original song's beat, transforms a song originally about bragging over riches and dames, into Jay Eazy proudly boasting about his intelligence in perhaps the funniest ways you'll have ever heard. The kind of monotone quality that Jay Eazy's vocals have lend themselves to absolutely fantastic, near seamless sentence mixing, and the jokes just write themselves from there.

"I'm book smart, I'm money smart - I'm more intelligent, Call me Mr. Smart Festival, I got hella books"

It has no right to work as well as it does - and yet, Jay Eazy, the king himself, pulls through. Even if I wasn't blown away by every rip of the event, it was absolutely fun the entire way through, and you can really tell the SiIvaGunner team loves Jay Eazy as much as the rest of us: the cherry on top being the edited opening, that persists in almost all rips of the event. Jay Eazy's typical introduction of spelling out "S-R-G", was across the entire event edited across all rips to say "S-G" - SiIvaGunner. Even for a meme this silly and dumb, the amount of effort put in was, frankly, admirable. What a start to 2024: and Season 8 is just around the corner!!

[pw-ps]

[ Original Interview | Web Archive Mirror ]

Patrick Stump: "Prince Sounds More Like Backstreet Boys Than He Does Pantera"

August 19, 2011 | 11:46am

Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump and his silvery pipes have struck out on a solo venture while the band is on hiatus. So far, things have headed far to the left of his group's hit-laden catalog of pop-punk. If his vocal hooks on Gym Class Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold," the Roots' "Birthday Girl," Murs' "Bummed Out Blues," and his Truant Wave EP from earlier this year didn't already find your ears, let the record show that this guy can get soulful in his spare time.

Amidst his current solo tour, which stops at Culture Room on Saturday, the loquacious Stump called County Grind to discuss myriad typics, including his forthcoming full-length Soul Punk and its influences, talking James Cameron flicks with Pete Wentz, and how the Fall Out Boy well "dried up for a little bit."

County Grind: What would you say is the state of R&B today and also what is your favorite era from the past?

Patrick Stump: Those are great questions. I love getting asked that. I think R&B right now is fractured into two schools. There's either the hip-hop-esque R&B, where pretty much it exists for the club or whatever, or there's like the throwback history kind of R&B, which really pays a lot of homage to specifically '60s and '70s really organic kind of R&B. There are a lot of other artists who are messing with it, but for the most part I feel like on a grand scale there's a lot of those two things when you say "R&B" to people. It frustrates me because I was always a fan of the '60s and '70s. That covers a lot of ground as well. That's a mouthful already. One thing that I kind of miss is that I do miss a lot of the post-funk stuff that had such a really interesting effect on, before it intertwines with hip-hop, there's a lot of interesting things that happened with Prince, with James Brown and his influence on and that echo chamber that happened and Sly Stone and where that plays into funk and soul, if I had to pick an era. Ultimately, Minneapolis is my favorite thing, I really have this historian love for it. When I pick up a guitar, it sounds like a Time record.

Especially "Everybody Wants Somebody" from Soul Punk, might I add. I noticed that Prince vibe as soon as I heard it. I'm actually from that area, too. Who else are these soul punks? Do you see Prince as a "soul punk" performer?

Oh yeah. Absolutely. I think Prince is a great example of it. In a lot of ways I always felt a really strong punk undercurrent in somebody like Curtis Mayfield. It's obviously very different music, but I thought "Nobody's serious and it makes me furious," that's a punk-rock lyric. Eugene McDaniels, it's really proggy and fusion-y, but it has some really serious punk-rock-isms. I think everything post-Prince is really fused. I look at it now and you know the modern generation want to look at Janelle Monae or J*Davey, or Bad Rabbits. There's a lot of these artists coming up now who have very much of their own accord, this weird kind of fusion-y  funk thing with a lot of punk energy.

All of these people you mentioned all have huge bands that they're commanding to do this and you've made this album by yourself. How hard is it to get all of that together if you're working on the project alone?

I think it's a little bit easier, actually, because I got to explain it all to the people. One of the hardest things was to, because obviously I come from more of the punk end of things, where I cut my teeth. So I still feel like I'm hopefully achieving the same ends. Getting there, there's a lot of resistance to it in punk rock.

There's a lot of "Oh, R&B is for Backstreet boys," or something like that. Which of course if you've never listened to any R&B, I guess it sounds like that if that's your only benchmark for R&B, you know. Prince sounds more like Backstreet Boys than he does Pantera, but you're still talking about wildly different music. I think it was a lot easier to do it and show it to people than it was to talk about it.

One thing that I was really cognizant of early on was that when i wasn't listening to punk rock, I wasn't listening to the same stuff as my punk rock friends. A lot of guys were treated to country music, they grew up on it. I have no base in country music. I really have no idea. I've never owned a country record, to be honest. It's not something I dislike, it's just that I don't know that stuff at all. I never had a Metallica poster on my wall, never had the Led Zeppelin poster, or the Nirvana poster. Those weren't really things that spoke to me. It's not something that I disliked, it just wasn't as strong an influence on me as the Time, or Michael Jackson. You say pop, but at the end of the day Michael Jackson was an R&B artist who got huge, especially the 1970's Jacksons stuff that's crazy. "Blame it on the Boogie" is a really groovy song. I love the history of R&B. I love taking it from Nat King Cole to Ray Charles, to Stevie Wonder and watching that influences keep going.

What about your Chicago hometown hero R. Kelly?

Yeah, R. Kelly is in there, it's just tough to really separate man from myth.

He's definitely influenced me a little bit, I think, as a singer. It's really hard to mess with him. Love him or hate him, he's definitely has a lasting impact on modern R&B. When you put on Trey Songz's record, you know where he's getting it. When I hear something in modern pop-R&B that I dig, I still latch onto it. There are some records that come out that I really feel. I like to look at the lineage of it.

"This City" is a good local jam in the tradition of many. Kanye did one about Chicago as well, which I'm sure you've heard. Are there any other city pride songs that you can get down with?

One of the things that I really wanted to do was, that I wanted it to be pride, but I wanted it to be conscious pride. So that was something that I really thought about, like Stevie Wonder, or Bill Withers' "Harlem."

It comes from love, but I think those two songs are a lot darker. In both cases I think those guys really loved their cities. I was thinking broad. I started writing it, I looked at it and thought, "this could be a song about Chicago, I could take this all the way and have it be a big Chicago song." I was like, "Chicago has songs. I love Chicago, but Chicago doesn't need another song. Chicago has a lot of songs."

This needs to be everybody's song. This needs to be about every city. It needs to be about every aspect of a city. I wanted to be subtle with it.

I don't think it's really aggressive in its politics, but I wanted to say that I love my city unconditionally, here are the conditions. Every city has some stuff that's wrong with it. I was looking at Detroit and New Orleans, because these are places where they've been ravaged by either economic or natural disasters. People have the audacity to say, "Oh, they should just move." No they can't move! It's their home, it's their soul. Motown, come on. New Orleans, come on. I didn't even think of that until this conversation, how vital it is to music, music history. And that's world music history, too; how important New Orleans has been to the world, so you want these people to move? That's not fair. So I wanted a song for that. i wanted a song because it can happen anywhere, any city in the world. Everything's fragile and we all love our cities. That's where i was really coming from for that.

These songs, obviously since you're not working with Fall Out Boy, are these the sorts of things you were thinking about you have a chance to get these topics off your chest now, it's your album?

Absolutely.

It's one of those things where I love Fall Out Boy and I love they way we communicated. I love the way our lyrics were, but if I'm gonna do a solo thing, I have to validate it in some way. I have to matter in a way that Fall Out Boy didn't. Because Fall Out Boy mattered in one way, I have to find some other thing, I have to find a way to say it that is different from Fall Out Boy, If at any point I'm touching on something that I could have or have said in Fall Out Boy, there's no reason to do it. That was something that I was really cognizant of. I think the record ends up being conscious. I try to be socially conscious and positive about it. Those were the two big things that I wanted to be. I think that's one of the things that always made me more R&B than punk. I'm just as angry as any other punk rocker ever, but I'm still something of an optimist. I want the world to be better. It's not just "Fuck you. Anarchy."

When was your last conversation with Pete Wentz?

A couple days ago. We were talking about James Cameron movies. I was saying that I never liked James Cameron movies, I didn't think he was any good. Then I saw Abyss. It was jaw-dropping. I said "This is a great movie, I'm an idiot." I can never unilaterally dismiss somebody.

That's probably not the most business-related conversation you guys have had.

Yeah, we stay in touch. We don't really talk a lot of business anymore. When it happened, it was like he'd send me lyrics and I'd send him music back.

One of these days he'll send me some lyrics and I'll write some music and send it back to him and that'll be it. I think that well just dried up for a little bit, or that he needs to inhale for a little bit before he can exhale. Pretty early on in the band I considered everything an essential component and it all starts with Pete writing some words. That's how our process starts. If we don't get words from him, we got nothing.

What is your favorite lyric so far that you've come up with? What's your moment that you're most proud of?

That's tough, because I try not to think of it that way. There's a lyric on a song called "Coast" where I say "Pointing out trivia nearly broke me with tragedy, so you need to put me back together." It's kind of wordy and it's not really that poignant, but it's nice to have some kind of catharsis for once. I was being the voice for someone else's for a long time and I don't really get to say these kind of things, so that was nice. That's a lyric that sticks with me. Or, "Depression's a little bit like happy hour, it's always gotta be happening somewhere on any given night." It's acknowledging that we all get, especially when you're younger, it's easy to dwell on these things, but as you get older and have actual real-life stuff happen to you, that's when you get to know man problems, adult problems. That makes you appreciate the good stuff a little bit more.

I think it's a nice balance. I think we also have your "pin-looking-for-a-grenade" moments too, that are fun, vivid images.

I love playing with imagery. I have to restrain myself sometimes because that's all i want to write about and then you look at the page and say "This is all imagery and no substance. This doesn't say anything. I'm not saying anything about any of the characters or any of the places, I'm just having a love affair with words" it's always a balancing act.

There's a b-side called "Saturday Night Again" and all of it is imagery. If you were to ask me what the song is about, I don't even really know. It's almost a character study. I wanted this record to have some statements and one thing that I really wanted to play with is I wanted to take pop-culture paradigms, big things that you've heard a bunch of times like "This City," or "The 'I' in Lie," all of these songs. There's a drinking song, it sounds like a party, drinking song. There's a song that's about cheating, like a traditional R&B song about cheating, but I really wanted to infuse them with a lot more subtext than that. I'm talking bout these things. I wrote a drinking song about alcoholism, you know? I wrote a cheating song about what that actually does and cheating on yourself more than romantically cheating. On this record, one thing that Fall Out Boy never really did was write entirely in metaphor. That's something that I'm doing more of with this.

[bsaka7]

tagged to post my 9 favourite album with commentary by @mathewbaldzal !!!! we r two peas in a pod i think with having a lot to say about some tunes...

in no particular order...

different class (1995) - pulp. this is not my no1 album of all time because i don't have a favorite album of all time, but this album is in part representative of "getting into music" to me. i love 90s britpop, whatever that means for a random american and this is my fav of em all (though i do actually quite rate this is hardcore in pulp's discography). "common people" is one of the songs of ALL TIME. god jarvis's little sing-song sleazyness gets me. really, really, really great classic performance of it at glasto 1995...for some reason "pencil skirt" also always really hits.

home video (2021) - lucy dacus. the newest album on this list by a long shot, but it's had songs in my top5 year end lists since it came out. i've also seen lucy live <3. this album rises above some of the others in similar company (punisher - phoebe bridgers, the boygenius ep, etc) because i never get tired of it. "first time" "hot & heavy" "brando" and "triple dog dare" are nearly always standbys in my listening history. probably gonna be an album-i-listened-to-in-college classic forever...

songs of love and hate (1971) - leonard cohen. maybe none of my favorite leonard cohen songs are on this album, but as a single work, this album stuns me. possibly the most transfixing 44:21 i've ever heard. his lyricism in particular is -- i can't even describe it. the mix with his voice, the sparseness of the instrumentation at time, the harmonies. i'm not a big stories guy but in this, yeah, the songwriting, the stories. i don't think there's another album like this one out there, really.

if you're feeling sinister (1998) - belle & sebastian. the first time i heard this album, i thought i had never heard an album so perfect. i love songs off of it but i nearly always listen to it whole. i love, love, love b&s's early sound (twee, if you will), and stuart murdoch's lyrics really, really shine. this is one of my favorite albums to listen to when i have a headache because it's lovely to just, focus on but not grating at all. i really love "judy and the dream of horses" and "get me away from here i'm dying". really, a beautiful work

rumours (1977) - fleetwood mac. i was sort of scrolling through some of my playlists trying to decide what to put on this list (it's a bit weighted towards stuff that's in rotation now) and i couldn't leave off fleetwood mac (in part to represent the huge part of my music taste that is like. classics 1965-1980). stevie nicks was one of my earlier music obsessions (the OG was the beatles). so many wonderful songs and riffs. i know this was left off the original 12-inch but "silver springs" is one of my favorite songs forever and ever and ever...

nebraska (1982) - bruce springsteen. when it comes down to it, this is my favorite springsteen album. i do think his 1975-1987 run of albums is pretty much perfect but nebraska is a masterpiece in a way that i find hard to express in words. there's a sense of sparseness and distance in this work (in part bc of how it was recorded) that i find so utterly compelling i can't even describe. "nebraska" - especially this 1984 live version - is a perfect song to me. perfect. i also like a lot of the stuff that went into inspiring this album (notably flannery o'connor) and well. where it fits into springsteen's narritivization of his own life (dude was in the dumps).

all killer, no filler (2001) - sum41. this pick is a little bit representative of the era of my life where i basically exclusively listened to pop punk but if songs of love and hate is an album that's perfectly drawn out, this is an album that's perfectly compressed. like, the title is correct. this album is fucking TIGHT. i used to listen to it at a job i hated to make the 30-min intervals go by. and it's got such classics...."fat lip"..."motivation..." of course, "in too deep." SO good.

what did you expect from the vaccines? (2011) - the vaccines. maybe this pick is a tiny bit cheesy but it is a perfect encapsulation of the era of alt rock it came from. which i love. i really like the vaccines, i think they're super fun and i did see them in concert finally and they totally lived up to that. "wetsuit" is again...one of my favorite songs of all time. "if you wanna" is a perpetual banger.

age of consent (1983) - new order. again, an album that deserves to be listened to whole, despite how good "age of consent" hits alone ever single time. sometimes i think i like another new order album more than this, but i don't. sumner's voice just out-of-tune ringing out over that sound, that new order sound, the bass, that post-punk club vibe. they're a band that don't sound like anyone else, and this is the album most indicative of that. wow, every time.

a few narrow misses

boxer (2007) - the national. i didn't get the national until one day i did. "slow show." my god. hello.

very (1993) - pet shop boys. it's too simple to say this is an album about gay love because it's so embedded in it's context but. this is an album with so much love. psb are brilliant.

the execution of all things (2002) - rilo kiley. jenny lewis CALL ME. also like. you know "a better son/daughter". there's more.

a thousand suns (2010) - linkin park. i used to listen to this at 6th grade cross-country practice. first band i ever got into on my own. idk.

this is not only my favorite albums but a pretty decent summation of the broad strokes my overall taste. thank you again for the tag!! i enjoyed doing this a lot :). idk who has done this/on what blogs so if u have PLEASEEEEE send it to me i want to see!! i tag @lfcrobbo @upthebrackets @girlfriendline @odegoob @amandaleveille @thelittlebirdthatkeptsomanywarm @kritischetheologie @bright-and-burning @a-corn-field if any of u want to but no presh!!!

[nialls-gorgeous-colors]

Shawn Mendes and Niall Horan Timeline

Year 2018

JAN 2018 NIALL’S ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN’ PICTURE AND SHAWN’S PICTURE OF THEM AT THE AMAS ARE, RESPECTIVELY, THEIR MOST LIKED POSTS ON IG FOR 2017

Jan 25 2018 Shawn talks about The Collab on The Voice: We’re really good friends and I mean, we hang out all the time. And we’re always like, ‘we should write a song’ and then we’re planning on writing a song, and we just end up hanging out. Always. (He said something similar back in Nov before the AMAs.)

Mar 2018

Fans, uh:

Mar 25 Shawn talks The Collab on The Weekend Countdown: My favorite thing about Niall is his sense of humor. He has this hilarious, Irish sense of humor that really cracks me up… How soon until there’s a collab? I have no idea. He’s always on tour when I’m writing, and he’s always writing when I’m on tour. So, one day. Hopefully.

MAY 2018

May 13 Shawn talks about performing at the O2: I mean performing the O2 was obviously just a complete dream of mine –and lucky enough to be able to do 2 nights there. A lot of people who I really love came and saw the show. Niall Horan, who’s a good friend of mine, came and watched me, and that was you know, a very special moment to me.

May 17 Shawn asks the audience at his Apple Music show to send Niall well wishes: Everybody watching online, if you could just tweet at Niall ‘feel better’ that would be really sweet.

Apple does, Niall replies:

May 24 Shawn talking about his most liked IG pic: This next photo is one of my favorite photos. Not because I’m sitting with Niall, because in the background, my A&R from Island Records, Ziggy, is there and he just looks so blow away by something and I have no idea… Also, the girl in between is making a hilarious face. That’s an awesome photo. I think this is like my most liked photo on Instagram, actually.

MAY 27 THE BIGGEST WEEKEND

Shawn and Niall do an interview together for BBC – FINALLY.

Transcribed in full here. Highlights include (via DailyNiall):

Bonus: we know, Nick

JUNE 2018

Jun 4 Niall does an interview with Fitzy & Wippa:

Sarah: Hey Niall, over the weekend… I was watching this thing on Instagram, and it was you and Shawn Mendes. Are you two just a little bit into each other? It was coming across as that you’re kind of obsessed.

Niall: Definitely not. They kept asking us questions that would make us answer it like that. Kind of like with [unintelligible], everyone thinks they’ve got a thing going on. Nah, we’re good mates. Just sat us down and interviewed us.

Sarah: I did hear you say that he plays you demos of his music before he takes it public. Was that true, or was that a lie?

Niall: No, that’s true, yeah. What’s wrong with that?

Sarah: Nothing! I just thought it’s amazing. We’re such big Shawn Mendes fans here. It was nice to see.

Interviewer: And are you brutally honest with him? If there’s a song you don’t like, or you think he could change? Do you tell him, or are you always like ‘mate, dude, this is amazing’?

Niall: Well, he’s on a bit of a roll at the minute. There’s nothing really…

Interviewer: He’s a very talented man. Have you ever thought of doing a song with Shawn? Have you guys actually put lyrics together, or music together?

Niall: No, we haven’t. We get asked about it a lot, to be fair… It’s kind of like –when we’re in the same place at the same time. Like, the other day we were in LA and a group – me and him and a group of our mates, we went to watch a U2 gig. We didn’t like – when we’re together, when we’re in the same city we don’t like sit in the studio together. Which we probably should get around to, but for the most part we just hang out together, to be honest.

Jun 7 Niall talks about Shawn during soundcheck:

and during #AskLateLateShawn: “if you had to create a boy band, who would you pick to be in it with you?” James and Shawn pick Jimi Hendrix, Harry Styles, Niall, and Elvis.

AUGUST 2018

Aug 20 At the VMAs Shawn is asked: What do you think about Niall Horan and Hailee?

Shawn: Niall and Hailee? They’re two of my favorite people in the whole world. Niall is one of my greatest friends. Hailee is one of the first people – you know, when she first started out, I was one of the first people she worked with in music. And I love them both. I thought this was common knowledge? I guess it was common knowledge for me, I’m close friends with them both.

NOVEMBER 2018

Nov 12 Shawn’s voice can be heard in the background of Niall’s InstaStory

NOV 17 SHAWN POSTS PICTURES OF HIM AND NIALL AT 40LOVE TO SNAPCHAT, INSTAGRAM, AND INSTASTORY: PICTURE, VIDEO (PUT THAT TONGUE AWAY HORAN)

DECEMBER 2018

Dec 4 Shawn talks about Niall during an interview with ET Canada.

Interviewer: You recently posted a photo with Niall Horan. And everytime you guys post a photo, fans are like ‘oh they must we working together.’

Shawn: We’re not. Not yet. We will though. You know what, we started really seriously talking about it that night. 100 percent going to happen. Niall and I talk about this pretty much every time we see each other. The truth is that we’re just really, really good friends and we always really enjoy just hanging out. And sometimes you don’t get a lot of time to hang out, so that’s what we want to do, but we’ll get in.

Dec 7 Niall tweets Shawn about his Grammy nom

Dec 8 Shawn talks with B96 about his Grammy nominations. When told to choose between charcoal, a karaoke machine, and a Bentley for Camilla, Niall (“we chose Niall for you…”) and Taylor, Shawn says: Niall’s getting the charcoal – 100 percent, immediately… Niall definitely gets the charcoal. That’s what’s most important here.

Int: I love it, that was so easy.

Shawn: Oh yeah, no, two bags of charcoal.

Int: Why was that so easy for you to say?

Shawn: It’s what he deserves! No I’m kidding. I really am kidding. I love Niall. He actually tweeted out the nicest thing he’s ever said to me ever about the Grammys, he’s just like really proud of me and tweeted it out. Yeah, he’s a good friend of mine, that’s why I’m bugging him.

Dec 14

[xxoxobree]

Hii I wanna request a match up !!

PRESONALITY: I’m a introvert, but if I’m around people I’m close with , I’m more extroverted, I’m really sarcastic when it comes to anything , I really don’t like going out , especially when it’s around a lot of people I don’t know, I spend most of my time in my room , I’m really kind and determined even though I procrastinate a LOT. And I’m really caring for my friends.

LOOKS: I don’t really have a “style” because I like a little bit of everything, but I’m really inlove with streetwear and the “earthy “ style ( I forgot the name) because it brings out my skin tone , I really love 90’s inspired makeup and clothing style, along with the fly girl aesthetic too.

LIKES: baking, cooking, gaming, reading, drawing, (or any type of art) doing hair , shopping, doing makeup, rainy days / nights , and rotting in my bed all day.

DISLIKES: bullying, public speaking( and places), school,secret animosity between friends, loud noises, loud people, people , people who fetishize poc, and racism, etc.

HOBBIES: I said most of my hobbies in the like section.

MUSIC TASTE: a little bit of rap, r&b, 80’s-90’s slow jams , 90’s Japanese pop, indie, modern Japanese pop, and whatever genre you put “the smiths” music in.

I’m mostly nocturnal because I’m so busy in the day with school and housework, I do most of my reading at night while listening to music , and I’m usually helping out with cooking .

That’s all :3!!

Hey honey bunni 🥰🥰 btw I freaking love how you described yourself.

So immediately Inumaki and Miles 1610

Inumaki -

You’re a Fly Girl so it’s only right that you have a bf that matches your vibe and Inumaki 100% does , the flyest couple ever! I can see you two swapping clothes and putting together bomb ass fits. Pictures go crazy! I can definitely see him styling you too. Ugh I kinda wanna be you guys

He is in love with your earthy girl core, drools when you wear waist beads. And him being with you just compliments your style that much more.

Can’t say much words but don’t let that fool you he is sassy and will match your sarcasm with the tone of what he says. Will be more than happy to stay inside with you and do whatever he actually prefers it.

He is very kind and caring like you are and is the sweetest boyfriend ever, expect him to be clingy and random text about how much he loves you and cares for you, will give you things that remind him of you. You are his back ground picture, shows you off.

Will let you practice your makeup and hair on him loves it.

Understands your dislike of public speaking because of his technique.

Miles 1610 -

Matches your street style also, compliments all of your fits, makes you do a spin for him while he smiles like an idiot.

He’s not an introvert, but loves that you’re quiet, he can be the yapper while you be the listener, loves to talk to you.

Sometimes doesn’t catch you’re sarcasm and when you say you were being sarcastic, he blushes form embarrassment and says that he knew that, it’s super cute

He draws too so you two can show each other drawings and get inspiration from one another.

Miles is influenced by his uncle Aaron so he will rap all the Biggie and Rakim lyrics with you, it’s a vibe every time.

Will also let you practice your make up on him, he’d probably complain and ask a lot of questions tho

Will rot in bed with you once he’s next to you watching your favorite movies/shows with snacks

- I had so much fun with this one 😘

[brukismusicblog]

10,000 gecs Review

Hi hi hi! Very excited to start my blog back up hehe.

Anyways, for my first post I wanted to talk about my favorite release of the 2020's so far: 10,000 gecs

I don't believe in rating music with numbers because I feel like that's stupid and takes away the fun! If you're looking for that you might wanna find another blog <3. Here's what I think is important for the readers to know about this album, general thoughts, etc.

Well first I have to acknowledge: Laura and Dylan took their sweet time with this album. But, it payed off. Slated for release a calendar year before actually seeing the light of day, this album absolutely fucks. Anyone in any 100 gecs online forums (especially r/100gecs) recalls the absolute torture of waiting for this album before any clarification on what exactly happened to the promised release date (and now inside joke between fans) of early 2022. Rumors spread of issues with record production - ironic considering the CD's for both this album and its predecessor 1000 gecs, sold out within 12 hours of being available for sale while it's vinyl counterparts are still in stock. Not for long, though, if my friend group and I - who now have a combined total of six (6) copies of this album between five (5) of us - have anything to say about it.

In their third big release, the duo finds themselves shifting from their iconic sound of glitchy, computerized, autotuned hodgepodges of notes. They spend a lot more time with their guitars in this album. While I do miss the mania of songs like stupid horse or 800 db cloud, I still love how it sounds. 100 gecs is a band with a musical progression that's pretty satisfying to follow. Every one of their releases is easily followed from their last, and the Snake Eyes EP (their first release to break the form of the 10^n gecs nomenclature) serves as a great in-between to 1000 gecs and 10000 gecs. I have to say, I was a bit sad to see the synths take the back seat on this album, but: as badly as I wanted is is as happy I was I didn't get it. Like Robin and Steve.

The interesting thing about this album is that you swear you've heard it before. One Million Dollars comes to mind. 1000 gecs is unlike anything you've ever heard, but at least it doesn't sound so familiar. 10000 gecs is like the dude in your stats class who looks just like the guy you saw at the library yesterday, who you can't shake the uncanny similarity to, despite the fact that they're clearly not the same person.

The SFX soundboard, luckily, isn't eradicated entirely this time around. 757 and mememe defibrillate it especially.

But enough about what wasn't on it, I really ought to get to the good stuff (I'm already how many paragraphs in?)

Firstly, there's some great polkas on here. Frog On The Floor and I Got My Tooth Removed will bring out anyone's inner slav.

It's equally as difficult to make guitars sound so annoying as it is to make annoying sound so good; both things the duo succeeds at. My personal favorite track on the record is The Most Wanted Person In The United States. 100 gecs must have laced these basslines with something. Slap bass is a surprisingly important characteristic on this album, which I love. I mean, who doesn't love slap bass?

1000 gecs tended to show Laura and Dylan's more sensitive sides, dripping with details about Laura's love life. While it did take its time to delve into some out of character topics (like race horse bets, money, and ovens), ultimately a decent amount of the lyrics resonate with the tuning forks of love.

The new album focuses a bit more on the artists themselves. As an STL native, finding out the two members of one of my favorite bands of all time come from my hometown was fucking awesome, and it's interesting to hear about their journeys in growing up there as artists. Hollywood Baby provides a euphoric insight into the glorious escape of the negativity of the midwest. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but this place is less than friendly to those of us who are maybe more inclined to write and be sensitive.

All around though, a grunge rock album from 100 gecs is exactly what the world needed right now. After foreshadowing the pandemic, 1000 gecs becomes a little exhausting, even to those of us who have secretly (or if you're cool, not secretly) loved it from our first rendezvous with stupid horse. What we needed, after years of journaling and whipped coffee, surprisingly wasn't a renaissance (which is not a Beyoncé reference, although I should talk about Renaissance). What we need isn't a return to where we were. It's a moving forward. An acceptance of new spirits, which is exactly what this album is. A metal infused baring of the soul to anyone who's willing to listen.

Now I need to ask, what happened to what's that smell and fallen 4 Ü? 100 gecs made the decision to tour this album before releasing it, which ended with them touring songs that never ended up getting released. Very sad for those of us who spent hour scrolling through gecs on the internet, impatiently bumping our heads waiting for the day our favorite tunes would end up on streaming services.

I also deep down think that 757 might be an allusion to 745 sticky. Could just be me.

🦎🦎🦎

[boypussydilf]

for the letters ask meme M O and U. for fun. mou <- said like a cat with a silly voice

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHH CATBOY BLAAAAST *a ray of bright light disintegrates me into ash* *when it clears i have turned into a little cat*

m - name a character you’d like to have for a friend

So many…………. so many…….. i w GASP. I WANT TO HANG OUT WITH FINN MERTENS AND KOYUKI AZUMAYA AT THE SAME TIME. They would put me into life threatening dangerous situations but it would be okay because they can protect me from anything. they are trying to teach me self defense and it is NOT working i have poor reaction time and no muscles. we are also going clothes shopping and getting food. it would be great. genuinely i need to go think about what would happen if finn and koyuki got to hang out now they have. similar experiences. what if you were raised to Go Out And Fight ever since you were a little kid and also you were in some way fundamentally estranged from the common human experience. but also you were just so funny and silly and charming. anyway they’re my friends :)

o - pick a song at random. what character/ship does it remind you of

Alright playlist of nearly one thousand songs let’s see what shuffle brings me. Hmm. Shuffle brought me remains of the day from corpse bride which. Is. Much too specific. What that song reminds me of is corpse bride. Let’s try something else. OH. PORTUGAL - WALK THE MOON WHICH ISNT 100% LYRICALLY APPLICABLE BUT IT ALWAYS MAKES ME THINK OF A REALLY GOOD GRAVITY FALLS AMV I SAW SET TO IT… gives me psychic images of mabel & dipper. Ok let’s get one more song just for fun. oh i got fucking land of the dead by voltaire. isnt that the billy & mandy theme song. or whatever that show is called. anyway i only know that song exists because of my friend Darwin from Tumblr Ask Blog The Reckoning so. you guys heard of the reckoning? it’s good.

u - 3 favorite characters from 3 different fandoms and why they’re your favorites

i wonder if i can come up with all characters who r my favorites for anything other than Kin Reasons. because most of the time, it is Kin Reasons.

sgt frog: dororo. because ever since i was young i have been easily bewitched by sad pathetic loser men.

psychonauts: loboto- ok so like i didnt get the loboto hype at first when i watched the first psychonauts game i was like yeah hes… fine… i guess? hes barely fucking in that though? why do people care? and then iwatched rhombus of ruin and i. i am not immune to the Guy With A Sad Backstory effect. maybe iwould not call him my favorite psychonauts character if i had seen psychonauts more recently and had actually. Seen The Other Characters recently,. but in the period of time ive gone without directly looking at psychonauts at all my emotional response to caligosto loboto has grown exponentially, i am bewitched by his freak tendencies. God damnit i already said bewitched already. Oh well. You know what? Fine,. Let’s make it a running theme. Let’s go for a third

adventure time: BETTY. YOU GUYS KNOW WHY THE FUCK THE GUY WHO PUT SIMON AT THE TOP OF HIS LIST OF NAMES THE SECOND THE F&C TRAILER DROPPED LOVES BETTY GROF. But I would be obsessed with her either way, because ever since I was young i have been easily bewitched by chaotic unhinged in-need-of-professional-help women.

takes a bow. Thank you for coming everybody

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

Oh no! It's another one of my Favorite Albums Of All Time™. This is the best rock album of the 90's. Somehow blending ennui and deep longing into one contradictory emotion. Crooked Rain speaks to the contradictory feelings of growing up in a middle class suburb. The rebellion vs the comfort. The desire for something that you don't know what it is, but you need it so bad. It's an album about growing up, but it's great contradiction is that it brings me back to childhood every time I hear it. And that isn't nostalgia talking either, I didn't hear this album at all until I was out of high school. If you only listen to one album off the list so far make it this one.

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver

Deadpan irony delivered with dispassionate sincerity. It's hard to tell whether LCD Soundsystem is making fun of you for having feeling or if they're making fun of you for thinking that you don't. Are they genuinely mad about being mistaken for a European band or are they joking? Is the title track sympathetic or dismissive of teenage angst? Is party culture self destructive or triumphant? The lack of any real answers meld with the slow building and steady instrumentals to create a world where the answers are whatever conclusion you draw. Maybe things can be more than one thing.

Usher - Confessions

Ngl man if you gotta write two back to back songs apologizing for shit then she's probably in the right to leave your ass lol. This album is solid. I think it drags a little, but its not like it's top heavy or anything. I think I just get bored with sensitive R&B guys faster than others. The fact that the album's tone is to be unapologetically horny but also very apologetic at the same time is hilarious to me. I know it isn't deliberate camp but when Usher goes from I'm good at sex songs to please take me back songs it's like environmental storytelling for toxic dudes.

Los Lobos - How Will the Wolf Survive

I'll admit that a sorta folksy sorta rockabilly album from 84 is not an exciting prospect to me. It wasn't bad by any means, but it didn't rock my world either. Not a complete bust though since there is some nice accordion playing here and that always makes me happy.

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

The idea to wrap up the brattiest, meanest lyrics in Buddy Holly style rock n roll was one of the greatest masterstrokes of the 70s punk scene. Typically when an artist tries to emulate past styles, especially from the pre stereo era, they either emulate too perfectly and end up derivative or they fail entirely and wind up sounding sterile. Elvis Costello somehow avoids this entirely. The lo fi punk rock production compliments the 50s throwback aesthetics in a way that feels authentic to both styles.

The Four Tops - Reach Out

When I was a child my dad listened exclusively to an oldies station that didn't seem to realize that music existed outside of the years 1951-1968. Hits from the Motown records label were naturally staples of their lineup and the songs that always stood out to me happened to be by The Four Tops. I Can't Help Myself, Bernadette, Walking In The Shadows Of Love, and Reach Out I'll Be There wound up being some of the most foundational songs of my childhood. This album contains three of those four songs. The only real point of this anecdote is to explain how I'm not qualified to review anything by The Four Tops. Hell I even named myself after Levi Stubbs' character from Little Shop of Horrors. This isn't one of my favorite albums of all time, but it contains some of my most essential songs of all time.

Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising

Right in the middle of their discography and in the middle of their evolution from hardcore punk to alt rock pioneers. New Day Rising almost feels like it could have been an early emo influence. Buzzsaw guitars threaten to drown out helplessly shouted vocals. And far from the traditional punk aesthetic that prized political lyricism and outward facing aggression Bob Mould writes personal and introspective songs. Without a doubt this album, while not a turning point in and of itself, is still part of a large scale shift in what rock music would be going forward.

[mapof-mysoul]

K-POP ?

It's been a while, but here I am. I was under a lot of stress as I was getting a new job. I started this week and though i haven't done much besides training. I'm excited about the possibility. I have been writing and reading and existing. My mind seems clearer not without its usual hurricane  of thoughts but just enough for me to see out from where I stand in its eye. 

Enough for the constant ache to be dulled. Kinda like what KPOP does to me. 

Weird transition but okay. I'll talk about KPOP.

As I write this I'm listening to BTS and Lee Know from StrayKids is commenting on bubble. So my reason for getting into KPOP BTS and my reason for spiraling down its rabbit hole SKZ. I thought it was a small hyper fixation as most things are for me. But a year and a half later here we are multi stan and all.

I joined this world just as BTS was announcing its group hiatus. Which sucked but I think I was lucky also. I get to experience them all for the grammys together and I get to learn them though their own individual music and schedules. I get to see them each for who they are as artists outside of BTS global phenomenon. I get to go back and see their struggles and growth knowing how it will all turn out.

I do however miss those who have enlisted and i'll miss those who still have to enlist. But thanks to BTS I have 5 individual artists I love and soon that will be 7 once JK and V  release their solos.

Thanks to them opening the door I found SKZ, which includes 8 chaotic guys whose music, energy and personalities also make me feel. 

When your mind is a mess to be pulled out of that is as close to euphoric as it gets. 

Yes there are other groups I enjoy. But these particular two make me feel seen, heard and understood. Yes they speak a language I'm struggling to learn but that's the thing they have opened me up to a culture and side of the world i never would have otherwise thought of learning about. Food, culture, language, customs and history are only a few of the things I've allowed myself to start learning. I want to understand them fully. 

The effort it takes is worth it. When you learn the meaning behind lyrics or remarks they make. Whether it's Love Yourself or Youtiful, I am grateful for the feelings behind these songs. I am grateful that I can know this world of BTS and SKZ and get immersed in so much more than their beauty. I mean yeah it's great to look at them, collect photo cards, albums or place posters on my wall. But when I look at those things I remember their words of kindness. 

I remember JK talking about how he missed us. Or Bang Chan seeing us weekly for Channies room. Things they don't have to do. Eat Jin or Asmr with Felix. Jimin and his little building lives or I.N drinking way too many energy drinks. They chose us as much as we chose them. Taehyung and Lee Know taking time to answer comments on their respective platforms. Namjoon's song recommendations on IG or Yoongi telling us the meanings of his songs regardless of how painful it must be for him to relive it. Hyunjin and Jhope dancing across my screen. Or Changbins laughter. Seungmins sacrasm and jokes and Hans' vulnerability.

These mens gentle masculinity is what has led most of us to feel closer to them then other western artists.

I love western music, from pop to rock, classic, jazz and indie but there is also rap and hip hop R & B on my playlist. As a latina i listen to bachata and ballads, reggaeton or merengue and salsa. My playlist has at least 11 languages on it. 

Can you tell I love music?

As a writer, feeling and hearing an emotion can fill me with it. I dont have to know the language, take one of my favorite songs by BTS' Min Yoongi or in this case his alias Agust D, The Last. 

The first time i heard it i cried, no lyrical reference not in either language i know. Just me feeling exhausted from the pain inside myself. Unable to cry at that point. Maybe it was the angsty pain in his voice but I knew I felt it too. I cried. Silent tears covering my cheeks. I was not alone. When I looked up the lyrics I sobbed again, because my soul understood before my mind could. He himself says music doesn't have a language. 

When I had the opportunity to see him in concert I jumped. Because he is my bias after all. I cried twice, once during Amygdala, because I knew exactly what he meant. Our traumas looked different but their effects were the same. I cried again during Snooze as he repeated over and over and over how "everything was going to be okay". As he reminded me to lean on him to take a break, and then when i'm ready pursue my dream once again. It felt good to hear it in person. But I didn't cry during The Last like I thought I would. Instead I smiled because that was a song that connected him and I and millions of people around the world. 

I wasn't an emotional mess the entire time. Instead I screamed in anger during Burn It, a song that gave way to that kind of behavior as well as a lot of his others. But hearing him pause to say hey “from now on i'll write with less anger”. Reminded me of my own writing journey. Of how I too have written angry and dark and pained. But like him I too have begun to step out of that. When im asked why Min Yoongi, its because he spoke to a part of me i thought would never heal and he was there when when it started to. Im not saying he saved me but it really fucking helped to hear someone, like him say "yeah same".

It wasn't just him, my SKZ bias Bang Chan. Might not have done one of his weekly check in in a while but he is also much like me. He fights for those he loves endlessly, forgetting himself in the process. Working until he pushes too far. Wanting to be better, do better, be the best and continually climb that perfectionist ladder.

I've heard him give advice about living and taking care of yourself. I've also heard him say he values respect amongst all things. He has many times spoken to his Stays about leaving the haters alone. He almost said he liked people who didnt give a fuck. But stopped himself saying people who don't care instead. He has talked about periods and sex education calling it explicit education. A Stay asked “what will i do without you?” his response they should live, “live life to the fullest.” He even says that no matter who you are, what you want to be, he will be there for you. As a leader he is both beyond honest and careful, also hopeful that  overly enthusiastic Stays don't take things out of context or too far. He trusts his fandom. 

So when i say i listen to kpop. This is it. I watch endless content from many groups that catch my attention. Often I laugh until my stomach hurts and oftentimes I cry. I Read books they recommend, learn a language and culture and customs and history. So yes kpop sounds toxic or intense but to me it's safe in a world that often does not provide that. 

A world where my own mind is my biggest enemy. This is where I can both find myself while I lose myself. Disconnect from my own life and become immersed in another one. So ill keep reading subtitles and translations while i learn korean. But i'll also learn about their history and customs. 

Bowing, instead of the western greeting of hugs or Spanish cheek kisses I grew up with, is probably my favorite. I've never been a touching random strangers person. But in Dominican Republic that's what you do. I also love art now too. That's thanks to RM, the leader of BTS, who is an art collector and Hyunjin of SKZ who paints masterpieces to destress. I eat plenty of Korean food and visit HMart too much. But i've never been a picky eater. I'll try anything twice. 

So yeah this was all because of K-POP but I'm lucky I found them when I did because things have only gotten better since.

[louismygf]

I'm soooo excited for the album I honestly cannot wait so I wanted to ask you to rank the song by the titles and what we know about them so far ! and you can add what do you expect from all of them if you have certain expectations

omgie an ask ! lovely :) im superrr excited too and reading fan reactions/comments from the listening parties is so intriguing and also so annoying im incredibly jealous😭

answer under the cut bc i got way too excited and typed my heart out !! louis' music is a Very Good topic imo it should be talked about more often rather than....... anything else🥴💘 (warning: ridiculously long-ass answer below LOL)

initial predictions

okay i would just like to start by giving you the predictions i made before we got any interviews and before we got the full tracklist (when we were unscrambling letters basically)! sadly i never completed it bc i got busy,,, i think i was kinda close with Written All Over Your face and Bigger Than Me, though!!!

i originally thought we'd get 16 songs for standard and 18 for deluxe 🥹 (im kinda right!!) and i thought we would get 5 singles, but now i'm thinking 3 hehe (edit: actually 2 now but let's just say 3 for the sake of this ask)

my song ranking (by title & vibes):

my ranking is based on how intrigued i am by the title and also by the song's description, so basically the songs i'm most excited for! admittedly my ranking changed lot as we learned more information about the songs. i'll also add in my opinions/predictions ab the song. obviously, i know nothing; i could be extremely wrong. also here's a summary of what we know so far by @silverfoxlou 🫶🏽 your post helped a lot when i made this hehe thank u <3

1. Silver Tongues:

"a joyful and wholesome moment that honors the little intricacies of his relationship"

when it's louis' favorite, you Know it's a banger. i'm Veryyy intrigued by this song because louis described it as a high energy song but the lyrics are said to be joyful and wholesome? the little intricacies of his relationship? sounds like an interesting combination. Kill My Mind's sister? or ONE of kmm's sisters?? it's interesting to me how. kmm is an upbeat high energy song but with a kind of toxic relationship with a person or thing,,, this one's a Also an upbeat high energy song but! with a more well-adjusted relationship, i'd say- maybe that's growth... i do have a feeling we're getting multiple kmm's 🥹 he really really really likes this one! kmm was my top 3 in walls <3 it's going to be super fun for louis performing this live and for fans screaming the lyrics back to him. superrrr excited!!!

2. Out of my System

"a pulsating, punk-tinged Arctic Monkeys-inspired track... indie rock", (either 'Teddy Picker' or 'Dancing Shoes'), "a song that is as punk as I can get away with" (Altpress), "

guys, this is the mussy song. i Love arctic monkeys, are you kidding me!!!! this is going to slap so good i just know it. the partial lyrics can seen in the merch! back when we didnt know what sounds inspired fitf, the lyrics did seem very sad but with a punk/emo/grunge feel i think it could work and not be as depressing as the lyrics make it out to be! louis also listed this as his top 3, too so im expecting a lot <3 if i had to guess, this song is about releasing tension, letting go, just. relieving stress and just going with the flow kinda thing? it's a release. also is this going to be released as the next single????? will fitf even have another single???? he better release it soon bc theres no way he'd have enough time to promo the next single (if he even plans to have promo......). fitf + new single promo seems like a bad business decision idk . the streets r saying oct 28th so watch out for that ! (edit: WAIT could be sooner actually???????? excited!!!!!!!)

3. Written All Over Your Face:

"an infectious indie floor-filler... reminiscent of the first two Arctic Monkeys albums", "a song that is as punk as I can get away with" (Euphoria), "punchy energy", "has a slick funky guitar groove"

i was! kinda right, right??? with my initial predictions? it sounds like an argument to me. the peer review results are in, this is the "whiny whore louis song" 😭 the one where his voice is described as "whiny and raspy and... sexual". we already have the lyrics so we know it's not an actual sex song. he starts this song w "hey babe",,, who does that. an arctic monkeys inspired song that's high energy and is paired with a voice that makes you want to bend him over??!??!!? sign me the FUCK up !!!!!!!!!!

4. Face the Music:

"good and bad and right and wrong are stories made up when we are young to scare us" (lyrics), "[this song] took the longest [to complete]"

wait i dont actually know why this song is so high on my list,,,, it's probably bc shes so mysterious and bc we havent heard a lot about her so im very curious. i want this to be a diss track! i think we need more of louis (righteously) talking shit <3 he needs to get angry ! call them out ! if this song's not about a particular relationship,,, maybe it could be about the music industry??? facing the music is having to deal with the consequences of your actions. louis voice: thought-provoking title. i don't have much input on this song but. anyway, this lyric snippet speaks to me in an lgbt way but that's only bc i'm gay 💘

5. That's the Way Love Goes:

"melodic and most tender song", "a little ballad moment", "a non-sexual love between two best friends", "an interesting story, an interesting visual going through the song"

platonic relationships mean the world to me you do not understand... But . i'm a little scared it's going to be another Perfect Now........ ok listen. listen!! louis said he's "confident that this is a song fans are going to adore", and you know he said that with pn,,, i know the themes of both songs are incredibly different, but i don't trust louis' perception of his fans bc i did Not like that song lol. i hope when he means fans, he doesn't mean 1d fans,, my problem with pn was mostly in the concept of the song... the cheesy lyrics werent cutting it for me either,, the melody was alright, but it really did sound like a 1d song. another thought that went through my head (that i mentioned earlier in my initial predictions!) is that it could parallel Only the Brave. i'm loving how louis seems to always end his albums with songs dedicated to love (otb being the unofficial queer love anthem, ttwlg being a louli anthem song ab platonic love). can't wait to hear the lyrics, and the sonic omg it's a ballad ! cant wait to hear how it sounds.

6. Saturdays

"a pretty emotional vocal... I remember being pretty emotional recording the vocals."

"a sad bop",,,, people who've heard it said it was a sad bop !!! saturdays as a title gave me the impression of nostalgia, fun childhood memories kinda thing... saturday cartoons, saturday sleepovers, saturday messing around with friends, just. a fun & cozy vibe i absolutely did not expect a sad one out of this. maybe it's sad nostalgia? some longing? louis also said this was like his top 2 song on fitf, and he said he remembered being emotional while recording the vocals :,o Change vibes tbh but i guess with more melancholy? really like the concept that i completely assumed & literally just made up (lol). watch me be so wrong about this lol😭

7. The Greatest:

"a celebration of [Louis and the fans'] relationship", "specifically written as a tour opener", "propulsive opening track", "musically, it's interesting", "there's probably not another song like that on the record"

so like We Made It !!! immediately, i'm imagining massive drums, massive guitars, loud booming volume at the start of the song and a big chorus that will set the energy for tour way up high. the title feels very grand, so sonically, i'm thinking it will match the title. louis starting an album very strong with The Greatest and then ending with a more mellow one like That's the Way Love Goes is <3

8. Angels Fly:

“Angels Fly” suggest the sort of stadium grandeur we know he’s capable of

what a pretty title. i want this one to be a rock song, or a rock song but like a dance-y one. based on the title alone, initially, i thought this would be like Two of Us, but rn im highly doubting we'll get a heavy grief laden song bc as louis said: "there's a weight to that record [Walls album] emotionally, and I needed to go through that process, but it's not really how I carry myself as a person." so since it probably won't be like tou, and since louis loooves being quirky, he'd probably go the polar opposite of what i expect(ed). i try to outsmart louis but who am i kidding, this man is literally insane i do Not stand a chance. really pretty title though !

9. Chicago:

"it's about a person", "past love story"

lordie it's About A Person,,, 'kay.... "a deep track",,,,, what got jojo wright thinking "who [Chicago] is about, what happened..." yknow, i'm a nosey person; i'm a chismosa- but when it comes to louis' love life, i dont know, i would just... rather stay oblivious lol (given the kind of insane people this fandom has🥴). im absolutely Not looking forward to how #they will twist his lyrics to fit #their narrative. im literally just here for the music, man. well,,, fandom aside, i sense a lot of hurt in this one. louis did say he got emotional while recording this one so there's that. anyway, using songs as proof for thories about an artist's personal life is actually demented literally just enjoy the song and go :)

10. Paradise:

only on faith in the future target exclusive and hmv vinyl deluxe

dave gibson uses the sea as this song's visuals. this one's on the deluxe/exclusive version... dave has been teasing this song since forever, i wonder what it's about. louis wrote Walls, Saved by a Stranger, Chicago, Face the Music, and Out of my System with dave, so already my expections for this song are high!! it's on the deluxe/exclusive, and alongside Copy of a Copy of a Copy! in my mind this one's already a certified banger. louis hasn't acknowledged this song (for now), i don't think..... he's gatekeeping it bc it's just that good i know it.

11. Common People:

"about reconnecting with his roots in Doncaster", "how amazing the people are there",

(lyrics) "when i get lost, i go back to where i started", a song about how his hometown keeps him grounded... maybe he's aiming to make a song that can be played in donny pubs, that'd be cute :) i'm betting on a fun song for this one! originally, bc of the title, i thought this would lean more on social issues bc louis once said he plans on writing those but i think he'll keep it light on this one and focus more on the home feeling. warm, mellow, and cozy— very home-y. a love letter to doncaster :D solidarity, camaraderie, unity sort of thing

12. Holding Onto Heartache:

nothing yet

painful title. louis,,, why hold onto heartache...? i was shocked when these are the words we got after unscrambling. is it cliché to think this one's a ballad? if so then im betting this is the opposite of that lol. rock!! or? a rock ballad maybe??!? dance-y rock ballad??!?? LOL we dont have much info on this one so im really just pulling all this out of my ass.

13. Lucky Again:

leaked last august, nothing official has been released(?)

well, this one got leaked in august and i still have 0 idea what it sounds like or what it could be about. i *have* heard others say that it's really good, or it should've been the lead single as opposed to Bigger Than Me. i don't really want too many songs that talk about romantic love tbh, so im retracting my original prediction & im going to say it's ab his career,,, life in general maybe? feeling lucky again for being given another shot.... at his career.....? he's been using the phrase "i've been lucky enough..." in interviews in regards to things hes done/things he had the opportunity to do so it could relate to that,, guys idk i am just a girl. i feel like this one will knock me off my feet bc i kinda blocked it out; i have been purposefully ignoring it to avoid spoilers😭

14. She is Beauty We are World Class:

"dance genre", was written together with Saturdays and Silver Tongues

the title is definitely the most interesting. i honestly have nooo clue. for some reason, when i search up world class, it directs me to the football definition of world class so 😭 it wouldn't surprise me y'know...... it's a song you can shake your ass to! play this one on football stadiums (just like what didn't happen to kmm lmao)! i personally don't listen to dance music a whole lot but if dmas can change louis' mind then im hoping louis can change mine too. i feel like im giving her a hard time ever since he said this was dance-y, but real talk, i think i'll like her a lot!!! just like all the songs on here i truly feel there won't be a big miss yknow !

15. Headline:

full lyrics

well, we already have the lyrics. i keep trying to make up melodies to match the lyrics for this one (lol) and i already know whatever i come up with will be absolute shit compared to what louis' cooked up. hmmm.... (shitty lyric analysis ahead) "you used to read me like a headline",,,, headlines, well, they're usually bad. or negative is the word. louis has a cynical view on journalism written about him. generally, it seems like he doesn't like them. they're clickbait-y, they're sometimes false, they pull viewers in using shock factor— it doesn't give you the full picture is the thing. being read like a headline sounds awful. this implies his partner doesn't actually know him that well, or has a one-dimensional view of him. the lyrics "so fast to judge in error, you thought you knew me better" support that idea. the opening and ending lyric,,, "sometimes i wake up and i hear you through the silence" and "...wake up and i wish you were beside me",

16. All This Time:

"dance genre"

in my head, it makes perfect sense to group this title with Back To You, Miss You, Always You, and Habit, and All Along🫣 but obviously, i could be completely and embarrassingly wrong. louis is the king of writing songs about missing/going back to toxic, unhealthy relationships and based on the title alone, i think this has similar themes to those songs. this song was described as dance-y though, so i'm really feeling the Always You theme. i don't want AY's "i miss you 🥺, i was so wrong for leaving you🥺" though, i want this one to burn though; i want it to go for the throat. edit: he played this on the listening parties & people said this was actually kind of laid back???? almost lo-fi sound??? alt indie electronica dance?? people who went to the listening parties don't talk about this song much😭 and it's the lowest on my list,,,,, i'm sure it's a great song though!!!!!

[the songs below don't count on the song ranking bc we already heard 'em, so... but here are my thoughts!]

17. Bigger Than Me:

lead single!!! this is my First!!! Ever!!!!! louis official song release🥹🥹🥹 shes very special to me 🫶 tbh i didnt expect this kind of sound for fitf! my first impression of this song was that it sounded like a blend of Walls and Defenceless. it could've easily fit with Walls album, too. it's a really good, upbeat song, im obsessed. i do admit it wasnt love at first listen but that's only bc i expected he'd go for a rocky-er song. the instrumentation is in this one, his vocals, lyrics that actually Mean something,,, mwa chefs kiss! amazing choice for a lead single (but for some reason isn't being pushed by radio lmao.......)

18. Saved by a Stranger:

"vulnerable and poignant"

19. Copy of a Copy of a Copy (Live from Lima):

a moving song, it came at a very unexpected time too (near btm release week, when there was much happiness and excitement about the new era). the lyrics are simple but they weigh heavy on my heart. this being the accompanying song to Bigger Than Me (song about acceptance, healing and growth) is a deliberate choice by louis, and that fact makes me miserable!!!!! i like the themes (ugly face of fame, comfort in anonymity, genuine human connections, and obvious references to depression and suicide) and how it was delivered soo simply but, aaughhHH thinking about this song long enough always puts me to tears :( also i just wanna say,,,, i personally do not think the "she" are the fans like🧍‍♀️ it's a song that portrays fame in quite a negative light, so the fans he earned from that same fame is not what saved him... i think! personally!!! it's someone who doesn't even know who he is "and i wonder if she still remembers me". having a person you do not even know care about your safety and wellbeing only because you share the experience of being human with them. that is just me though so if u disagree and have your own personal meaning to this song, then it's totally fine!!! take what u want from this song. OH and also, it sounds like the guitar part in the afhf doc !

still my number one! the revelation that louis wrote it all by himself is incredibly sexy, and just reaffirms how much of an amazing songwriter he is. the sound editing/production of Bigger Than Me (Live from Milan) was amazing, so i cannot wait how copy (live) will sound!

tbh when i typed it all out as a list and seeing which songs are higher than the other, i feel unsure lol i'm not 100% on it! it's fine though bc i havent heard any of these (except for btm, sbas & coacoac)!!!!!!!! it's going to change drastically once fitf is released anyway <3

my album expectations:

okay,, album expectations/predictions time !

overall genre: grunge-y indie rock, alternative, pop punk, pop rock, soft rock(?), alternative dance(???), some ballads here and there but generally big and loud songs meant for live shows, arenas and stadiums <3

fitf concept will be about: love and healing, growth, and having faith in the future, acceptance, changes, & coming of age,,, i want him to talk some shit too though 👀

i think we'll get 3 singles: (1) Bigger Than Me, & my guesses: (2) Out of My Sytem (3) Lucky Again (starting to really doubt we'd get a third single bc it's so quiet & releasing a single close to the album release is a little dumb i think, but at the same time having only 2 singles feels wrong..... well, this was my original prediction so im sticking w 3 even though it'd be weird to at this point)

this tweet that says with the listening parties, he's letting fans hear the "mid" songs😭 so this means allll the songs he's still gatekeeping from us are his best!!!!! (not saturdays tho bc it's in his top 3... grain of salt bc ik some bitches r liars)

he said it's not as polished as walls, not as heavy emotionally, so i think we'll get an album that's just him having fun with the sounds and trying new things- lighter, more spontaneous & dance-y vibe. he said it would give us hope.

of course, im expecting the lyric quality to be better than walls ! i personally thought otb was his best song lyrically from walls (regardless of the discourse on whether he wrote on it or blah), so i cant wait for him to top that! (im team otb > copy lyrics wise btw)

i still want a song similar to Miss You so he can tour it

i hope we can hear more of louis' vocal range on this album <3 bigger than me already delivered but i need more 😋🤲

i still think the tiny bit the band plays after kmm is actually part of a song from fitf bc apparently louis already finished 99% of it before(!!!) tour started,,, i could be super wrong lol

louis will actually play guitar on stage before the encore i know it bc he told me ;)

i expect to completely fall head over heels in love with this album!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thisaintascenereviews]

The Blue Stones - Pretty Monster I’ve got a confession to make, and it’s probably something that a lot of people already know about me, especially if you’ve followed my music taste throughout the years, it’s that I don’t really listen to modern “hard-rock.” I feel like that’s kind of a bad word, because most of it is really bad. When it comes to 60s, 70s, and 80s hard-rock, I love it. Hell, one of my favorite albums of all time is Metallica’s 1991 self-titled album, more so known as The Black Album, and that’s what it’s been named retroactively. I love hard-rock from yesteryear, but hard-rock from the late 90s to now just doesn’t usually hit me in any kind of way, and it’s because the genre hasn’t changed much whatsoever. A lot of bands have remained very stagnant, uninteresting, and boring. That’s why rock is supposedly dying, at least according to a lot of fans and rock artists, because hardly any bands are doing anything worthy of talking about. Every hard-rock band these days sounds like Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace, both bands who had a strong start but fizzled out quickly. I really like some of their early stuff, but their later stuff doesn’t do anything for me. It’s all the same, though, and a lot of bands don’t want to admit that. That’s why one of my favorite modern hard-rock / rock bands is Canadian duo The Blue Stones, and their brand of hard-rock, blues-rock, and R&B, of all things. These guys have been around since 2011, but they didn’t release their debut album until 2015, and it got reissued in 2018. They’ve still released two more albums, one last year, and it was one of my favorite albums of last year, entitled Hidden Gems, and their new album, Pretty Monster. Hidden Gems was just that -- an album that not a lot of people know about, but they should. Their sound is really unique, especially when it comes to hard-rock / blues-rock. They throw in elements of R&B, and some psychedelic-rock here and there, but it’s not too outwardly. They more so throw in some R&B, and it sounds great, especially when they have some grooves and hooks that definitely lean more into that. Hidden Gems really did, and it was a great little record. It had some great hooks, solid riffs (as well as solos), and vocalist Tarek Jafer has one of the best voices in rock that I’ve heard in a long while. I didn’t know what to expect with Pretty Monster, and truth be told, I didn’t know it was coming out until this past weekend, but I gotta say that it’s a good album. It’s not quite as good as Hidden Gems, and I don’t know if I’d say it’s one of my favorites of the year, but I really enjoyed it. They continue the sound they were going for on Hidden Gems, but they tone down the R&B elements a bit, as well as the riff-heavy blues-rock, and instead, this record has more of an alt-rock feel to it, as well as a more of a standard rock album feel. It’s not quite as “hard-rock” as their last album, but that’s not a bad thing. For starters, Jafer still has a really good voice throughout the record, and he’s got some great hooks, especially on songs like “Camera Roll,” “Don’t Miss,” and “No Angels,” even if the instrumentation is a bit lacking in spots, where they just aren’t doing too much. It shows up in bits and pieces, such as a solo here or an R&B groove there, but it’s not as blatant as their last album. This album is really short, too, only 35 minutes, so it’s a quick and brisk listen that never feels like it overstays its welcome. So many albums have that problem, but this one doesn’t. The lyrics are also pretty well-written, even though I’ve never been too enthralled with them, but they’ve always been good. This album is just a pleasant, smooth, and catchy little rock album that fans of the genre might actually appreciate, because it’s not a butt-rock album that sounds like every other band that you hear in that vein. It’s nothing that will blow you away, at least not to the degree of their last album, which is still a lot better, but this record is a good evolution. They leaned more into a rock sound, and toned down some of the elements that made them stick out, but they’re in their sound just enough to keep it interesting. I wouldn’t say this is one of the best albums of the year, but I might come back to this every once in awhile, especially if I want a good and quick rock album that I can jam to. Not every album needs to be super deep, or mindblowing, but sometimes they can just do what they’re supposed to do and move on. That’s what this album does, and I enjoy it for that, so I’m happy that I gave this one a listen.

[nicole-gasbarro]

My All-Time Favorite Love Songs

In light of my last review being a bit negative, today I will be introducing you to nine of my all-time favorite songs about love. Spanning various genres, types of love, and both classic and contemporary artists, I have compiled all the songs under my radar which reflect diverse perspectives on love. All reflect an experience I had in high school when I felt I had my first love. Of course, my ideas of what love were were naive and who could blame me but, at the time, these songs really resonated with what I was feeling and made me feel closer to someone who at the time was hard to reach. After all, one of the most important aspects of music is its ability to translate a feeling and emotion that cannot be communicated through words. That is what this playlist attempts to achieve and for me, transports me back to a time when I believed I could fall in love at first sight. While the outlook I had on love was precarious, it is certainly a fun sentiment to have and to remember.

The first track I have chosen is "Glitter" by Tyler, the Creator. This song is very sentimental and the soulful, the R&B vibes just make this track all the more romantic. Tyler's pitched up vocals reflect a younger me, with similarly youthful views on love and commitment. This song, when you're in love, feels a bit otherworldly. Like you're floating on the clouds with flowers blooming and bees buzzing, exactly how the album cover portrays. This song is dreamlike and reflects a love that makes you feel alive and fulfilled.

The second track I chose is "Love Galore" by SZA and Travis Scott. This song is reflective of a relationship that is tumultuous and involves infidelity. However, the woman (in this case SZA) in the relationship tries to act like she does not care about the man she is involved with but claims she does it all for "love" regardless. The man (Travis Scott) claims he only is in the relationship for purely physical purposes and does not care about the women he is having relations with. The desperation from SZA's character is evident in her longing for "weekends" with this man. She clearly wants more from the relationship but cannot be committed to the guy she is having an affair with because he is already in a relationship. The woman is in love with the man, but he doesn't care about her. This song includes a more imbalanced and toxic example of love. At the time this song really resonated with me, I did not think too deeply into the lyrics. I just loved jamming to this song and singing the lyrics because it was catchy and fueled my fantasies of being in a relationship.

The third track I have chosen to include is "Till There Was You" by The Beatles. This song is about having a love in your life that is blissful and makes your life worth living. I love this song for its classic sound as well as its origins in Broadway. I have always loved the theater and have been involved in many productions throughout my life and high school career, making this song all the more personal and relative to my high school experience.

The fourth track I have chosen for this playlist is "Shut Up Kiss Me" by Angel Olsen. This song tells the story about a love on the rocks; the partners are fighting for unknown and what seems to be irrelevant reasons. The couple just simply needs to communicate better and stop icing each other out. Their tears, fighting, and silence is unnecessary. From now on, all that is necessary for their love to work Is just to love each other and express their appreciation for one another. Angel Olsen is passionate and unapologetic on this track about her intentions. She is willing to fight for this love no matter what and knows her and partner have something worth the trouble. This song translated for me the intense emotions I had during this period of my life. Difficulties in my love life made me feel powerless and Olsen's lyrics made me feel like I had the willpower to overcome the trials and tribulations of young love.

The fifth track from my playlist is "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher. This song is about finding your person, your other half. Fighting any obstacle and defeating the odds through your love for this person. This is maybe the opposite of what I was feeling at the time since I felt more unstable and insecure within my feelings for someone more than anything. This song gave me hope of what our relationship could be. It was an example of something healthy, reliable, and comfortable. Maybe it was not what I had at the time but it helped me to hold onto the hope of someday having the kind of love described in this iconic love song.

The sixth track I have chosen to exemplify this period of my life is "As" by Stevie Wonder. During this time, my parents were introducing me to more and more music from their past that they love. Through the introduction of Stevie Wonder's music into my life, my love of R&B began. This song describes an everlasting love rich with dedication and passion. This song is utterly beautiful and timeless and never fails to put a smile to my face. During my time in high school, this song didn't necessarily have anything to do with my love life since this song reflects a more mature love that I have not yet experienced. However, I felt the song was appropriate for a playlist about love since I believe it to be one of the best love songs ever created. It has deep meaning in terms of its ability to convey romantic love, but for me specifically, it instead represents the familial love of my parents. I am forever grateful for the way they brought music into my life from a young age. I attribute my love of and knowledge about music to them.

The next track I have chosen for this playlist is "Le temps de l'amour" by Francoise Hardy. At the time, I loved the movie "Moonrise Kingdom" directed by Wes Anderson, as it portrayed a similarly young and naive love to the one I had experienced. For a long time, I never knew what the lyrics of this song meant in English, but after seeing a translation, I can't say that are all that interesting or much different from the message of your typical love song. However, I just found this song to be particularly easy to listen to and pretty. I loved the way the French language sounded on this track in particular and how the song reminded me of the movie and the feelings the scene with protagonists Sam and Suzy slow dancing on the beach made me feel.

The next song I have chosen is "Heroes" by David Bowie. This song is incredibly emotional and portrays a love that can never be. Bowie imagines a day in which the couple will fight against all odds and be with each other just once. Thus, making the pair "heroes" temporarily. This song reflects both me and the person I had feelings for's shared love of Bowie but also my unrealistic belief that one day we would meet and be heroes together, even just for one day. Both me and Bowie shared the same longing for something that could have never came to fruition. This song displayed exactly how I was feeling at this time in my life and my wishes for a love that was doomed.

The last track I have chosen is Dionne Warwick's "I Say A Little Prayer", released in 1967. I specifically chose the original after having heard the Aretha Franklin version and asking my dad whether it was an original or not, which led me to this version of the song. I can't say that looking back I prefer this version over Franklin's but at the time it is important for me to stay loyal to the original. This song is about a woman committed to her partner, so much so that she prays for him throughout the day. She cares for him deeply and relies on him for happiness. Although the relationship in this song seems potentially unhealthy, overall I loved the sound of it and the lyrics reflected my devotion to the person I was talking to at the time. Like the woman portrayed in the song, I too had much loyalty for the person I had relations which and devoted my time and energy to them. However, they did not reciprocate the same attention and care which led to an unbalanced relationship. This song had put in the same shoes as the woman, waiting for that someone to answer her prayer, and perhaps not ever receiving one in return.

[anotherblogaboutguys]

Almost A Hit Flashback: 80s Edition

As most music fans know, songs that reached the Top 40 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart were considered to be hits and tended to get all the glory...although even some of them became known as forgotten hits. With this new weekly feature, I want to show some love to the great songs that didn't make it into the Top 40. Maybe they performed well on another genre-specific chart but didn't make it to the Top 40 on the Hot 100 or onto the Hot 100 at all. For now, I'm going to start with the 80s because there are a plethora of songs for me to choose from that I absolutely love.

Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (1982)

Formed in New York in 1980 by DJ Michael Cleveland and joined by singers Réjane Magloire and Rose Marie Ramsey, Indeep had a small handful of songs appear on the U.S. Dance and R&B charts in the early 80s until they broke up in 1987. But their biggest hit was the first, 1982's "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life." Its lyrics are fun and flirty and tell the tale of a woman who is considering dumping her guy because she's bored, but upon hearing a hot song on the radio, she's suddenly entertained to the point that she no longer wants to cut him loose...maybe? I don't know for sure. But what I do know that this is hands down one of my favorite R&B songs of the 80s. Maybe it's because it sounds too much like a Disco song at a time where the genre was long out of fashion in the U.S., but it's an absolute crime that it didn't make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It DID however, get to #2 on the Dance chart and #10 on the R&B chart. Not to be left out, it reached the Top 10 in nearly a dozen countries internationally. This one is such a fun listen and still gets me moving even now.

[theotherboywhonevergrewup]

My Top Songs of 2022

So this is over a year late. I did my top songs of 2023 recently and remembered I never did my top songs of 2022. To be honest I was not in a great place at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. But now that I am at a much better place, it was fun to look back at 2022 and reminisce on the songs that got me through that.

Usual disclaimer that these are not necessarily the 10 best songs of the year musically or even my 10 favorite songs of the year. They're simply the songs that defined my year of 2022 the most.

First, the honorable mentions. As a K-pop fan and a fan of SM artists, GOT the beat and "Step Back" was a dream come true for a dream I didn't even know I had. I never imagined that BoA, Taeyeon, Seulgi, and Wendy would all be on the same song, yet 2022 delivered. In 2022, I was definitely in my feelings already as you'll see, but songs like "i feel everything" by Amelia Moore and "In The Stars" by Benson Boone were definitely on repeat. Lastly, who could escape "Nonsense" by Sabrina Carpenter and all her outros? With that said, let's jump into the list!

10. "Hold My Hand" by Lady Gaga

Top Gun: Maverick took 2022 by storm, and while I didn't watch it in its entirety that year, its impact was huge and so was its leading single "Hold My Hand." I am a sucker for songs that take me somewhere, and just like the movie, this song takes its listeners on a flight. A power ballad filled with synths and powerful drums, it's the perfect match for a sequel to an iconic 80s movie, and Lady Gaga's voice is soaring by the end. Both Top Gun movies embrace their themes of bonds being stronger than fear and even death, and Lady Gaga's song accompanies this theme with touching lyrics about overcoming adversity together, hand in hand. Ironically, I watched this film at a house party, feeling very alone because I was surrounded by people I could not trust. I definitely have teared up to this song a few times and attempted to belt this song in the care more than a few times. As with most movie singles, the accompanying music video mostly has clips from the movie, with shots of Lady Gaga in settings thematically related to Top Gun, giving the same uplifting feel as the film itself.

9. "Cardboard Box" by FLO

Anyone who knows my music taste knows that I am a sucker for (1) R&B and (2) girl groups. They don't necessarily have to be both, but when it's both and it's done right, then I'm here for it. Debut single "Cardboard Box" was a great introduction for the British girl group FLO. The simplicity of the midtempo but poppy beat, smooth verse melody and catchy chorus melody, lyrics reminiscent of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable," and the 90s-inspired music video had the group looking effortless. The girls followed up with EP The Lead which continued the trend of 90s-inspired R&B hits, many of which were produced by MNEK. I'm glad the girls also had a successful year in 2023, and I hope they and other girl groups continue to shine with their unique contributions to the music industry.

8. "MANIAC" by Stray Kids

Stray Kids has been a regular on my playlists for some time with notable hits like "District 9," "Side Effects," "God's Menu," and "Thunderous." They have never managed to make my top 10's though, until now. "MANIAC" feels like the kind of song where they have worked to understand their chemistry and perfect their craft. One thing I like about groups like Stray Kids is that different kinds of people are coming together, each bringing something different to the table. Stray Kids in particular has a lot of different guys with different distinct voices and talents, and while I love when artists step out of the comfort zones, "MANIAC" is where each guy is doing what they do best. The vocalists deliver the simple yet addicting melodies, and Han and Changbin going in on the raps. Most notably, this song has the perfect use of Felix's deep voice right at the chorus which sets this song apart from other K-pop songs out there. As expected, the music video also delivers crazy high-energy visuals, switching back and forth from fits and settings that are bright and colorful to ones that are sleek, black, and white, capturing the duality of poppy and cool that are expected of the K-pop artists nowadays. The corresponding album Oddinary showcases the group's diversity and different textures, with some songs that are a bit more experimental and others that fans of K-pop hip hop, pop, and ballads would love.

7. "FIRE" by EXID

When all five members of my favorite K-pop group terminated their contracts with their record label, I thought the group was over, pretty much consistent with the "7-year curse" common to K-pop groups. So imagine my surprise and delight when the came back with one more banger! While "FIRE" doesn't entirely live up to previous smash hits like "Up & Down," "DDD," and "I Love You," it still delivers a creative, unique beat that gets people on the dancefloor in a way that only EXID could do. With K-pop's arguably best female rapper, vocalist, and visual, EXID is able to to deliver both sweet and spicy vocal textures. The accompanying music video gives hot visuals in both senses of the word, with a jail and cowboy setting (not sure why the cowboy part? but it's cool lol). Their final EP X only has two more songs, the R&B inspired "IDK (I DON'T KNOW)" and their more traditional pop thank you note to their fans, "LEGGO." If we don't ever get more group releases from them, I am thankful for this pleasant surprise and hope to see solo releases from them in the future.

6. "Yours" by Conan Gray

Now we're getting into the sad songs. "Yours" is a beautiful ballad, starting very simple with just a piano as Gray's voice comes in soft. As the song progresses, the narrator's thoughts build in realization of his one-sided love, the melody matching the buildup, the climax being Gray's soaring vocals in the chorus. This soft to powerful buildup happens again with the second verse and chorus, now with bass added, finally escalating to the outro complete with background vocals and drums, ending with the softest "Just to not be yours" barely escaping Gray's mouth. The music video has Gray singing alone in a flower field (what a fit by the way), and when the outro hits, he's in the dark alone, running. Altogether, it's a heartbreaking piece that I found relatable as I found myself in a one-sided relationship. "Yours" made its way onto Gray's much anticipated sophomore album Superache which is full of similarly heartbreaking songs, both previous hits like "People Watching," "Jigsaw," and "Memories," as well as B-sides like "Movies," "Footnote," and "The Exit." 2022 was Conan Gray's year, and I suspect he'll be conquering 2024 as well.

5. "Unsung Hero" by for KING & COUNTRY

In 2022, my parents moved out of state and finally retired. My mom was still struggling with some health issues, and thankfully she's even stronger now. Then and now I continue to see how they have aged and continue to see how they loved me and sacrificed so much for me and how much I reflect them and want to continue their positive legacies. As a January release, this song was on my playlist from essentially the beginning of the year, but it was several months later that this song caught me off guard and randomly had me bawling. The duo did such a great job creating a heartfelt tribute to their parents and capturing what it feels like to recognize their love and accomplishments and also carry that weight into your own life. Accompanied primarily by strings and piano, the Smallbone brothers' simple vocal melody starts with second-person narration of their parents, gradually transitioning to first-person, hopeful to be strong and loving like their parents. The music video is an exact match of expectations too, with the brothers sitting in a movie theater watching home videos. I don't often have Christian artists and songs on these top 10 lists, often because the lyrics or music don't match my music taste, often either lyrically cheesy or musically predictable, but for KING & COUNTRY's album What Are We Waiting For avoid these pitfalls for the most part with fantastic featured artists as well (including an old friend!), especially with standouts like "RELATE" and "TOGETHER." Overall, "Unsung Hero" has me so thankful for my parents, and I also pray that I can be strong and loving like my dad and mom.

4. "neverletyougo" by ROLE MODEL

ROLE MODEL has a way of making songs feel intimate by sticking with simplicity, and "neverletyougo" is such a great example of that. It's a simple beat, and only the hook has singing, heavy with vocal effects. The singer primarily raps in this song. Ultimately it's a love song, reinforced by the matchingly simple music video of him serenading a girl on the street, but both the video and the song feel melancholic. The metaphor here may be that the intimate bond between them can last through the ordinary and the winters that life has to offer. This song resonated with me in 2022 because at the time I was also feeling that I could never let my relationship go, an optimistic perspective during what I thought would be a temporarily gloomy period. I loved ROLE MODEL's 2022 debut album Rx, as it showed his diversity in styles. In fact, none of the songs on there had a rap style like "neverletyougo," but both the upbeat happy songs and the slower emotional songs are both definitely worth a listen.

3. "I Lost Myself in Loving You" by Jamie Miller

While Jamie Miller managed to secure the top spot on both my 2021 and my 2023 top songs list, "I Lost Myself In Loving You" is potentially my favorite song by him. It is of course an emotional pop ballad as Miller's expertise is, starting with the classic piano and soft vocals. The narrator seems to reach a realization at the chorus, where the vocals become strong and the piano starts playing powerful chords. By the end of the chorus, the drums have joined, and the guitar takes over as the primary accompaniment in the second chorus, Miller's vocals now sounding confident, assured of the assessment. The chorus repeats a few times, dipping into just piano and soft vocals in between and at the end, introducing a tender vulnerability, but ultimately there is beauty in the narrator taking his strength back, finding his footing again, and remembering who he is. Looking back, it was such a red flag that I resonated with this song so much, feeling like I had to fight to keep many aspects of myself alive, a struggle to stay in tune with who I was when there was someone close to me telling me they hate everything about me that I hate about myself, that I would be easier to love if I was someone else. The music video has Miller singing alone in the city, and while it's not a groundbreaking video by any means, it does get that feeling of isolation across but also feels hopeful for a truer future. I was so excited when Miller's debut EP Broken Memories was released, stacked with stellar vocal performances and emotional lyrics as expected from him. Cheers to Miller and staying true to yourself.

2. "in limbo" by Munn

"in limbo" was certainly the song that I resonated with the most in 2022. Every single line felt like something straight out of my mental diary. I am grateful that I found this song, because it was comforting to know my situation was not unique. Like many songs on this list, it starts with a simple and slow verse, but the chorus feels like a rush, suddenly cutting into a quiet and vulnerable "I'm six feet deep in limbo / I've gone the lowest that I've ever been for you." The music video captures the perceived change in pace, all shots of Munn trapped, but some in a calm state, some in a frenzied state. It concludes with Munn in a black void, a literal limbo. Munn did not release a full body of work in EP or album form in 2022, but he did release a number of other singles that also invoked powerful messages.

1. "Lift Me Up" by Rihanna

As an avid Rihanna fan, I have been (and am still) eager for more Rihanna music. As everyone knows, Rihanna is an absolute force; she had multiple hit singles each year every single year from 2006-2016 (with the exception of only one single in 2014). Her last single prior to "Lift Me Up" as a main artist was "Love On the Brain" in 2016. It's hard to believe that it has been so long since her last album, and since "Love On the Brain," we only saw features on "Lemon" by N.E.R.D. in 2017 and "Believe It" by PartyNextDoor in 2020. That makes "Lift Me Up" her first single as a main artist this decade and only the second overall. All that to say, there was (and continues to be) a lot of anticipation for more music from Rihanna, and "Lift Me Up" does not disappoint. A stripped down ballad both musically and lyrically over just strings, Rihanna showcases how much her vocals have grown over the years and how much her singing is still very much intact. It's a touching tribute to actor Chadwick Boseman who passed away in 2020. As the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever honors Boseman's character, "Lift Me Up" serves as the lead single to both grieve and uplift those who have suffered a loss. Reminiscent of previous songs on her discography such as "As Real as You and Me" and "Mother Mary," the raspiness in Rihanna's voice helps convey raw emotions. The music video is absolutely stunning, with Rihanna singing at a beach at night, eventually the sunrise piercing through the darkness, conveying hope in grief. As difficult my year was in 2022, there were so many things to be thankful for. Life is short, and those difficult times are only temporary. As the song says, "We need light, we need love."