#only 4 Grammys since 2017

[iwatcheditbegin]

This idea that Taylor always wins and shouldn’t be surprised is kinda crazy when you actually look at the numbers. Or the fact that some voters have openly stated they aren’t voting for her bc they think she has won enough.

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

🌈 Harry&Louis and rings 🌹🗡

This post by @cosmicleeds from Nov 2022 sent me on a little 2024 Harry&Louis and The Rings deep dive.

Let's start with The One Ring - Harry's Peace Ring.

The Peace Ring was the successor of the (what is long-believed to be) dark silver Promise Ring that Louis gifted Harry on Feb 12th, 2012 in Stockholm. Harry and Louis entered the restaurant without any rings and Harry excited it with this one:

"The first ring that Harry was ever spotted in was a simple dark silver band (which sometimes appeared black) worn on his right middle finger or left index finger [x link leads to a timeline by @bulletprooflarry from 2015, incl. pictures of Harry wearing it on his left index finger].

I always felt that the dark silver band was very personal to Harry and he might have been hesitant to wear it all the time or maybe was not allowed to (just my personal interpretations), because at some award shows, he didn't wear it at all, i.e. The Brit Awards in February 2013. (source)

The dark silver ring made its first appearance on Feb 13, 2012 in Stockholm, after Louis had returned from an extended ski trip with his [...] beard, Eleanor Calder. [It] was spotted constantly for about 14 months while stunting was at its peak, until it was replaced with the Peace Ring [...in April 2013]." - via this article from NoStuntsMagazine from July 2022 + this short timeline post from 2021 by @onlyforthekings

The Peace Ring was first spotted in April 2013 and the simple dark silver band disappeared quickly after. It was always rumoured Louis gave it to Harry during a dinner at a restaurant called Rosso in Manchester, as Louis had tweeted about the restaurant, and Rosso Manchester had tweeted to Harry and Louis multiple times, but to this day it was never confirmed they were actually at that restaurant during that month. Los Angeles Airport on April 27th, 2013 on Harry's right index finger and 2013 and in Paris one day later, on the same finger.

The Dancing Bears Ring Harry got it around mid 2013 and it, too, is a ring tightly linked to the general theme of Gay/Queer Pride since it closely resembles a rainbow bear design by The Grateful Dead. Harry wore that ring pretty consistently up until 2019. (image source)

The Grateful Dead rainbow bears design compared to Harry's ring. It's the exact same! (x)

September 23rd, 2013 in Adelaide, Australia. Harry wearing the Peace Ring and the Bear Ring. (source)

Differently from the dark silver ring in early 2013, Harry did wear his Peace Ring and Bear Ring to award shows, i.e. the American Music Awards in November 2013. (source)

Back to the Peace Ring -- Harry wore that ring (and that ring only!) consistently for 8 years ('till 2021) and since then wore it on tour and special occasions, as well as showing it in his Tour Highlight videos. Meaning: he wears his Peace Ring for over 11 years now.

At the Grammy’s on March 14th, 2021 for the first time since he got it 8 years ago, Harry did not wear his Peace Ring, but a Bird Ring instead. Same at the Brits on May 11th, 2021.

4 months later, "[in] Denver on September 7th, 2021, [was] when he wore the Peace Ring [again]. [...] After that night, another 8 months passed. Finally on May 19th, 2022 the Peace Ring was back [...] during one performance in New York." - all this comes from this awesome post/these timelines with photos, made by @ishipmutualrespect. Definitely check it out, especially about very recent ring sightings.

Lastly, the Peace Ring made an appearance in his IG video recap for the Love On Tour tour 2023, where he shows his rings for a few seconds.

(gif credit, made by @delicatepointofview)

The Turquoise Ring "Harry added the Turquoise Ring in 2014 and wore it consistently for a while until, I believe, it broke. [...] it’s Louis’ birthstone (December birthstone is turquoise) and [...] turquoise is a blue/green stone (and, as you know, blue & green are Larry colours)." - via this post from 2017 by the wonderful @twopoppies "The turquoise Ring [...] is also the birthstone for December— who do we know born in December? Turquoise is also a literal mix of blue and green.." 💙💚 (x)

The Rose Ring Another ring was added to his collection -- one that again is tied to Louis' and his relationship. The Rose Ring that Louis bought for Harry in early 2017 at Dover street market.

"The rose ring popped up [...] in London [...] in March 2017. It also has a caterpillar inside. And Louis probably definitely* bought it for him. There’s also a lot of speculation about this being connected to Harry’s rose tattoo which is, of course, connected to Louis’ dagger tattoo." - (x) *content linked to is unfortunately no longer available

Harry sadly lost his Rose Ring at an Ariana Grande concert in August 2019. There's even a video of him searching for it with a flashlight in the crowd, poor bub 😔 You can hear him saying "I've lost my ring."🥀

(I also read that the H and S Rings that he got afterwards replaced his lost Rose Ring)

The Red Stone Ring "I’ve seen talk about it being Louis’ birthstone (he’s a Capricorn and the Capricorn birthstone is a garnet) and that it’s possibly also another engagement ring." (x)

It's almost important to note that during the 1D era, Harry often obviously messed and fiddled with all these rings that are tied to Louis whenever they were asked about marriage, kids, etc. And he did it very obviously so. I always thought that very meaningful and symbolistic.

This was while Louis said "Sometimes people get engaged for years…” (Harry plays with his Turquoise Ring)

Ring fam is all together 🌈 (RIP Turquoise Ring and Rose Ring, you are missed)

My personal thoughts Harry's bought and got gifted a lot more rings over time, of course; especially after 2018 and I'm sure that, i.e. the Pearl Ring might also be a Louis-ring, but I couldn't find many resources about it. (Feel free to add on to this post everyone!) The mentioned rings are the ones I personally find most significant, because they so clearly tie to Louis' and his relationship and to Harry's sense of self (Dancing Bears Ring as a Pride ring) and he's been wearing them for ages. They're all such Harry Staple rings. I really loved the Rose Ring that Louis got Harry in 2017 🌹🗡, it was so significantly tied to their matching tattoos and was so Harry. Classic, striking, delicately detailed, with big personal meaning referencing their shared history, and with a little secret stashed inside of it. The sad loss of the ring in 2019 could also possibly mean Harry has become more cautious about when to wear certain rings in general. I could imagine that the Turquoise Ring and the Red Ring Harry got himself to remind himself of Louis, but honestly, who knows? These two have always loved to spoil each other right from the start, haha ("Wrapped it myself. It even has a bow on it.")

And in the special case of the Peace Ring -- I never had any doubt that it's an engagement/promise/wedding ring, in whatever sense they wanted it to be. Since later that year, Sep 28th, 2013 became a very significant date to them (a believed-to-be wedding-of-sorts-date, since same sex marriage wasn't yet legal in the UK in 2013) and it's noteworthy that they didn't wear any type of rings right after that date or even got any tattoos. (Louis got his rope/infinity symbol in June 2013, Harry got his rose tattoo in early Sep 2013 and then nothing anymore until he also got his anchor on Jan 11th, 2014, covering up the "I can't change.." tattoo that he got in July 2012. (H&L tattoo timeline until 2018: here)) So I can imagine the Peace Ring had already been a symbol for their strong bond and that symbolism only got strengthened that day. Would I love to know more about that day? Absolutely. Do they owe that information to us? Absolutely not.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that Harry's Peace Ring stood and stands for their commitment to each other; for Harry belonging to Louis. We all know how possessive they were of each other from day 1, probably heavily increased by how much they had to constantly pretend they weren't in love with each other and with someone else instead. Also I find it such a beautiful fact that Harry has been wearing his ring for almost 12 years (in April 2025). I mean, gosh, Louis and him will have their 15th anniversary in 2025. That's huge! :') And I think the ring stands for all that -- for the essence of their relationship; that they are forever each other's ultimate peace, love, and home.

•

RESOURCES 💍 ☮ Harry's Rings tag by @daisiesonafield-blog ☮ A timeline from 2021 of Harry's rings on Twitter ☮ Peace Ring Masterpost/timeline posts by @ishipmutualrespect ☮ extensive Rings on Tour post by @ishipmutualrespect ☮ dedicated tumblr to when the Peace Ring appears: @thepeaceringtimeline ☮ Peace Ring Pride - NoStuntsMagazine from July 2022 ☮ Peace Ring tag by @daisiesonafield-blog ☮ Twitter account for the Peace Ring that is funny and cute

[myoddessy]

CONEY ISLAND | cl16 —THE PRELUDE.

series masterlist

summary —an article on y/n l/n and all that entails.

WHO IS Y/N L/N? by Louise Kelly

April 29th 2017.

By now, everyone and their mother has heard the name Y/n L/n. With the awards and the acclaims, it's a surprise to find that she isn't an old Hollywood legend, but instead an 19 year old girl with raw, unfiltered talent.

Although, as brilliant as L/n's work is, many fans and followers have noticed a distinct pattern in her projects: she releases something legendary (i.e. an Academy Award for directing after her debut, topping charts with her first album, etc.) and ghosts all media for six months minimum before returning with another knockout. This reputation has lead many tabloids and reporters to refer to her as "Star" an abbreviated version of what was "The Shooting Star" in reference to the fleeting moments of brightness of her career.

Many people over the years have speculated that this nature has been brought on by a lack of media privacy, as paparazzi and obsessive fans alike tracked her down and documented what was near to her every move in the two years before she began her complete media lockdown—outside of promotions, of course.

Due to this private nature of hers, there's a lot of room for speculation when it comes to her life—something news outlets and tabloids such as enews and entertainment weekly have taken advantage of too many times to count over the years by starting rumors and spreading gossip through clickbaited headlines.

In fact, most things people have come to know for certain about the young woman are through speeches she makes or posts from her friends and family's accounts.

In her 2013 Oscar acceptance speech, she went out of her way to thank her mother and brothers, saying they were the only reason she was standing there and their support meant more than any award ever could. Since then, she's never skipped a chance to praise and credit them for her success.

She has also spoken very fondly of her boyfriend and racing car driver, Charles Leclerc, with whom she's been dating for little over three years and grew up living beside. While she does not credit him by name in her speeches, she often dedicates her awards to "her love". Because of this, most information on the pair's relationship has come through both party's instagram accounts, and the accounts of their friends.

Y/n's closest friend, Amalie Billard, has been the public's window into the life of L/n, sharing sweet and funny moments through Instagram stories and posts. Amalie herself is a photographer who grew up with Y/n and has worked closely with her since an internship and ELLE magazine two years ago. Y/n has been the subject of a vast majority of Billard's work and has said that she "feels more comfortable around Amalie than she has with anyone else in the industry and treasures that bond greatly."

Gossip and drama aside, Y/n has build up an impressive reputation in the world's of cinema and music. She has won a total of 5 Academy Awards; Best Leading Actress (2012), Best Supporting actress (2014), Best Leading Actress (2016), Best Director (2017), Best Supporting Actress (2017). And has one 4 Grammys for her music; Pop Solo Performance (2014), Pop Vocal Album (2014), New Artist (2014), Best Alternative Music Album (2017).

She's been praised by some of Hollywood's greatest over the years for both her work ethic and work itself. "She's an incredibly talented young woman who has the sort of grace you'd see in Old Hollywood and the humour you wish you'd see in everyone now. She's truly a great role model for all—young and old." Said Meryl Streep in an interview for "Call for me", a film that she and Y/n starred in in 2015.

taglist— @whoetoshaw @formula-hamilton @lilsiz @sad1esgf @deviltsunoda @tall-tanned-tattoo @briboweee @uh-oh-spaghetti-oh-my-gosh @meetmeaftersix

if you would like to be tagged in future series parts, either comment, dm me, or send a message into my inbox! 💞💞

[d-criss-news]

A.C.T.'s 2nd Annual All Hallows' Gala!

October 27, 2023 A.C.T (American Conservatory Theater) 415 Geary St San Francisco, CA 94102

Ticket Information

Special Guest Artist: DARREN CRISS

About Darren Criss

Since bursting onto the pop-culture landscape over a decade ago, Darren Criss has embodied the kind of kaleidoscopic artistry that’s entirely uninhibited by form or genre. The multi-hyphenates illustrious career spans television, film, music and stage. 

Last year, Criss shared the Broadway stage opposite Sam Rockwell and Laurence Fishburne in “American Buffalo,” which received a Tony Award-nomination for Best Revival of a Play. He also co-hosted “The Tony Awards: Act One” with Julianne Hough. The duo kicked off their hosting duties with a rousing performance of singing and dancing to an original tune written by Criss, titled “Set The Stage.” In 2015, he returned to the stage as Hedwig in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” In the titular role, critics alike raved, including The New York Timescalling his performance “mesmerizing.” He made his Broadway debut in 2012 as J. Pierrepont Finch in “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.” With Criss at the helm, the revival made just under $4 million, which proved to be the most lucrative three weeks of its 11-month run. 

His portrayal of Andrew Cunanan in Ryan Murphy’s award-winning television series “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace” was met with widespread critical acclaim, earning Criss a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors’ Guild Award and Critics’ Choice Award. Known for playing Blaine Anderson on FOX’s global phenomenon “Glee,” he was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He also received an Emmy Award nomination in 2015 for Best Original Music and Lyrics for the song “This Time,” which appeared in the series finale. 

As a singer and songwriter, Criss released his first-ever holiday album entitled “A Very Darren Crissmas” on Decca Records in 2021. In it, he brought his radiant imagination and encyclopedic musical knowledge to a wildly eclectic collection of songs: big-band standards and novelty tunes, mid-century musical numbers and modern-day folk-pop ballads. Criss’ original track “Drunk on Christmas” featuring country chart-topper Lainey Wilson, showcased his effortless ingenuity as a songwriter. The result is an essential new entry into the holiday-music canon, both thrillingly unpredictable and touched with a timeless sense of Christmas magic. Made with Ron Fair, multi-Grammy® nominee and producer of numerous GRAMMY-winning hits, “A Very Darren Crissmas” also featured special guest appearances by Adam Lambert and Evan Rachel Wood. 

“A Very Darren Crissmas” was only the latest evidence of Criss’ singular gifts as a song interpreter. In 2021, he delivered a collection of character-driven singles as part of his solo EP titled “Masquerade” (BMG). In 2017, his EP “Homework” debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Album chart and in the same year, introduced his indie-pop band Computer Games. Through the years he’s also written songs for the comedy musical “Royalties,” “Central Park,” co-wrote “Starting Now” for Disney and performed by Brandy, and headlined the iHeartRadio Music Festival with Steve Aoki. 

Prior to his television career, the San Francisco native pursued his acting degree at the University of Michigan. In his senior year, Criss and his friends created a Harry Potter musical parody entitled, “A Very Potter Musical” as a fun project for their classmates, friends and other Harry Potter fans. Along with starring as the boy wizard himself, Criss also lent several of his songs to be used in the show. Within weeks of posting the musical online, it became a YouTube hit, garnering millions of views and musical theater‐world attention.

Using “A Very Potter Musical” as a springboard, Criss and his writing partners started StarKid Productions. Within a year, they wrote and produced subsequent online hits like “Starship” and “A Very Potter Sequel,” both of which he wrote the music and lyrics for. As a result, the StarKid brand has grown to become just as popular as the shows themselves, spawning an enormous cult following from all over the world. 

Criss and StarKid Productions appeared on the Billboard charts through four separate releases – all within the year 2012. These include the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top Cast Album for “Starship,” the #19 spot on the Top Compilations chart for “A Very StarKid Album,” and the #30 spot on Billboard's Heatseekers chart with Criss’ self‐released EP “Human.” 

Criss’ credits include host of ABC’s “The Queen Family Singalong,” “Muppets Haunted Mansion,” “Midway,” “Girl Most Likely,” “American Horror Story,” “Web Therapy,” and “Eastwick.” He is also the founder of New York City’s first show tunes music festival, Elsie Fest.

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You

1 Of The Funniest & Comedic American Actor, Comedian, & Musician 🎶 Of The 90's & 2000's To Now

&

The Dragon 🐉 Warrior🐼 & King 👑 Of Bowser's 🐢Kingdom 🏰

Born On August 28th, 1969

He is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards.

After portraying supporting roles in films including Dead Man Walking (1995), The Cable Guy (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), and Enemy of the State (1998), Black had his breakout role in the musical film High Fidelity (2000). This led to larger roles in films like Shallow Hal (2001) and Orange County (2002), before he solidified his leading man status with his starring role in School of Rock (2003). He has since starred in King Kong (2005), The Holiday (2006), Nacho Libre (2006), Tropic Thunder (2008), Bernie (2011), Goosebumps (2016), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), its sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018). He has also voiced Po in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–present) and Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

Black is the lead vocalist of the band Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with long-time friend Kyle Gass. They won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "The Last in Line" in 2015. Since 2018, Black has operated a YouTube channel called Jablinski Games.

PLEASE WISH THIS INCREDIBLELY ICONIC TALENTED & GIFTED COMEDIC AMERICAN ACTOR IN CINEMA 🎥 IN HOLLYWOOD

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

YOU KNOW HIM

YOU SEEN HIS MANY MEMORABLE & ICONIC FILMS 🎥 THAT YOU ALL KNOW & LOVE

& YOU JUST CANT HELP BUT LAUGH AT HIS FUNNINESS 🤣 EVERY TIME HE OPENS HIS 🤣 MOUTH

THE 1 & ONLY

MR. THOMAS JACOB BLACK AKA JACK BLACK ⚫ AKA PO THE DRAGON 🐉 WARRIOR OF DREAMWORKS ANIMATION, KUNG FU PANDA 🐼 & KING BOWSER 👑🐢 OF NINTENDO'S & ILLUMINATIONS, THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE🧢🔧🔴🟢 🎥

HAPPY 55TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 TO YOU MR . BLACK ⚫ 🐼 & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME.

#JackBlack #ShallowHal #SchoolOfRock #KingKong #NachoLibre #KungFuPanda #TropicThunder #KungFuPanda2 #KungFuPanda3 #Goosebumps #JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle #TheHouseWithAClockInItsWall #JumanjiTheNextLevel #KungFuPandaandTheDragonKnight #TheSuperMarioBrosMovie #KungFuPanda4 #BorderLands #Po #DrSheldonShelleyOberon #KingBowser

[magxit]

The Swift Agenda 02 | Aug. 16 to Sep. 20, 2023

Taylor Swift — all the way from the physical and digital sales era — has now surpassed the unstoppable force, streaming juggernaut Bad Bunny as the #2 most-streamed artist in Spotify history.

Despite giving the industry a massive head start in algorithm dominance by removing her music at her peak (2014–2017) and thus losing out on Spotify’s crucial audience-building years, Taylor Swift is now only behind the king of streams, Drake, in the all-time rank and is vying for the Spotify crown as she continually DOUBLES his numbers (with a whopping 40M+ lead) on a daily basis.

It would take her approximately 4 months to ultimately close the 5-billion gap standing between her and the highly coveted title — with the impending release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) more than ready to offset whatever damage that a new Drake album may cause in the near future.

Taylor Swift has surpassed Metallica and is now the #19 best-selling artist of all time (via @chartmastersorg ), shifting 168,860,000 equivalent album units since the start of her legendary seventeen-year career, solidifying her status as the de facto leader of today’s music industry and widening the ASTRONOMICAL gap between her and the remaining 21st-century artists in the all-time Top 100 (with the nearest one having 121M):

— Taylor in the 160M–169M range — 0 artists in the 150M–159M range — 0 artists in the 140M–149M range — 0 artists in the 130M–139M range — 5 artists in the 100M–129M range — 5 artists in the 80M–99M range — 5 artists in the 60M–79M range

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie takes the world by storm as it shatters the 24-hour pre-sales record in AMC’s eleven-decade history, edging out several Marvel blockbusters.

With its STAGGERING demand, it will swiftly claim the title for the biggest concert film of all time (and beyond) upon its October 13 release.

Taylor Swift’s “reputation” has surpassed 6 billion streams on Spotify, making her the ONLY artist in history with 4 different albums achieving this feat (Lover, 1989, Midnights, and reputation).

With “folklore” merely 60M+ streams away, Taylor Swift will very soon have FIVE different albums surpassing the 6B milestone — one that is supposedly reserved for A-list artists’ absolute, definitive, career-defining PEAK eras. And, once again, just to let it sink in: she is about to have FIVE.

Taylor Swift has spent SEVERAL more weeks at #1 on Billboard Artist 100, extending her all-time record to 79 weeks.

— Nearest male: 37 — Nearest female: 20 — Nearest group: 21

Taylor Swift’s “Lover” is now the #6 most-streamed female album in Spotify history, surpassing Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next”, becoming the FIRST among the SEVERAL Taylor Swift albums projected to do so.

With 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s preorders alone ALREADY surpassing folklore’s actual first-week debut (846K), the pop bible’s re-recording is poised to OBLITERATE its predecessor’s original numbers in 2014 (1.287M) and even challenge the streaming-era giant “Midnights” (1.578M) for the biggest Billboard 200 debut for any streamable album ever.

Currently, GoldDerby predictions put Taylor Swift at the helm of the upcoming GRAMMYs:

— #1 frontrunner for AOTY — #1 frontrunner for SOTY — #2 frontrunner for ROTY

Taylor Swift has tied the record for the most VMAs wins in a single night, bagging 9 out of 11 awards and SWEEPING all major categories.

She now holds the all-time winning records for the BIGGEST categories in the VMAs, AMAs, and GRAMMYs.

— most wins for VMAs “Video of the Year” (4x) — most wins for AMAs “Artist of the Year” (7x) — most wins for GRAMMYs “Album of the Year” (3x; tied with Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra)

Going way beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, 33 MILLION PUZZLES for the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Vault were SOLVED in less than a day on Google, signaling an earthshaking demand for what is shaping up to be THE most powerful album release of the decade.

[shefanispeculator]

Seeing Stars! The 9 Most Successful 'Voice' Competitors of All Time

'The Voice' may never find its Carrie Underwood but that's okay.

One of the major complaints about The Voice is that it has yet to launch a major recording career like American Idol did in its early days. But host Carson Daly says that the days of discovering a Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson on a TV show are long gone.

“Your measuring stick is antiquated because of the way that technology has proliferated,” Daly exclusively tells Parade. “For instance, I could never do TRL [his Total Request Live show] again because this generation has the internet and doesn’t need MTV to get music. There are a lot of YouTubers, and my kids listen to music of people that you have never heard of, that I have never heard of. For some people, just getting to a place where they can support themselves making music, thanks to The Voice—that’s winning.”

And The Voice has several of those types of winners. Former contestants, including a couple of Grammy nominees, who are grateful to the show because their lives changed 100 percent, because as a result of appearing on The Voice, they now make their entire living making music, rather than having to have a day job to pay the bills.

Most Successful Voice Competitors

Koryn Hawthorne (Season 8)

was a member of Pharrell Williams’ team and finished fourth in her season. She has gone on to have a successful gospel career and was nominated twice for Grammys in the Gospel Performance/Song category: in 2019 for “Won’t He Do It” and in 2020 for “Speak the Name.” She has received several other nominations as well, including Billboard Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. She even broke the record for the longest chart-topping woman on the Hot Gospel Songs chart.

Nicolle Galyon (Season 2)

got just one coach to turn (Adam Levine) when she sang “You Save Me” during her Blind Audition. The country singer was eliminated during the Battle Rounds but made a discovery along the way: She didn’t want to sing, she wanted to write songs. While on the show, she met performers RaeLynn and Miranda Lambert (who was married to Blake Shelton at the time) and credits those friendships for launching her songwriting career. She earned her first No. 1 song with “We Were Us,” performed by Keith Urban and Lambert. She also has co-written songs for Lady A, Kenny Chesney, Florida Georgia Line and many others and co-wrote and co-produced RaeLynn’s first full-length album, WildHorse. Gaylon has two Grammy nominations for Best Country Song: in 2015 for Miranda Lambert’s “Automatic” and in 2019 for Dan + Shay’s “Tequila.”

Cassadee Pope (Season 3)

was the first female country singer to win The Voice. The former member of Blake Shelton's team has gone on to find success in country music, but a high point was when she and Chris Young received a Grammy nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “Think of You” in 2017.  Her single "Tomorrow Night" was released in Sept. and was followed by her third album, Thrive, in October.

Christina Grimmie (Season 3)

finished in third place on The Voice, and went on to open for Selena Gomez and The Scene, and perform backup vocals for Allstar Weekend and the Jonas Brothers. Christina's career was on the upswing—she had 2 million YouTube subscribers—when she was shot to death during a post-concert meet-and-greet with fans on June 10, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. She was 22.

Danielle Bradbery (Season 4 winner)

was only 16 when she won The Voice, the youngest winner at that point in time but no longer the record. Since graduating from Team Blake Shelton, Bradbery has gone on to have a successful country music career with 15 songs on the Hot Country chart, including "Goodbye Summer" with Thomas Rhett which rose to No. 39 in 2018. Her 2020 single "Never Have I Ever" reached No. 58 on U.S. Country Airplay, and her most-streamed song, "Sway," has 50 million streams. In July 2021, she released her latest single, "Stop Draggin' Your Boots."

Morgan Wallen (Season 6)

who was initially on Team Usher, but later stolen by Adam Levine, was eliminated in the Playoffs but soon headed to Nashville to try his hand at country music, rather than the pop songs he sang on the show. He had almost instant success, dropping four No. 1 singles, winning the CMA award for New Artist of the Year and releasing the double album Dangerous. “He was being hailed as the next big thing, maybe the next big crossover artist from country,” executive producer Audrey Morrissey says. Today, Wallen is more famous for getting in trouble. He got booted off of Saturday Night Live for breaking COVID-19 protocols in late 2020 and was banned from country radio after he was caught on video hollering a racial slur in February 2021.

Jordan Smith (Season 9)

was a four-chair turn who chose Team Adam. He went on to write “Ashes” for the Deadpool 2 soundtrack, which was performed by Celine Dion. In addition, he's had three No. 1 songs on the Hot Christian Songs chart and three top 10s. Jordan represented the state of Kentucky for NBC’s American Song Contest in 2022, for which he wrote and performed “Sparrow.” He finished in third place.

Sawyer Fredericks (Season 8)

The winner from Team Pharrell had an original song, “Silent World,” featured on the Season 6 debut of the Netflix original series Longmire, which aired in 2017, and his song “This Fire” was covered by John Ondrasik for a 2018 episode of Code Black. His  latest album debuted in 2020 called Flowers for You.

Loren Allred (Season 3)

was eliminated in the Playoffs but went on to make her Billboard Hot 100 debut with the Platinum-selling "Never Enough" from the musical soundtrack to The Greatest Showman. This past January, she was the featured singer on the original song “Start a Wave” when “World of Color – One” for Disney 100 debuted at Disneyland. Strangely, though, she made a return to reality TV, auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent’s 15th season in 2022, finishing in ninth place. In addition, she performs on Michael Bublé's Love album for a duet of "Help Me Make It Through the Night," and alongside David Foster, as part of his An Intimate Evening PBS concert special and album.

The 9 Most Successful 'Voice' Contestants of All Time - Parade

[zot3-flopped]

Not the Liam Payneful stans celebrating 4 years of LP like it won 10 Grammys 🤣🤣🤣

An apt moment to remind ourselves of what Pitchfork said about it!

Score: 4.3

By Rawiya Kamei

REVIEWED:

December 16, 2019

The former One Direction member’s solo debut is just another pop star flailing to find his identity amid trend-hopping production and half-baked lyrics.

One Direction was famously assembled because Simon Cowell and his fellow X-Factor judges didn’t have much faith in the boys’ potential as solo artists. If Liam Payne’s debut, released more than a decade after the band’s televised genesis, is any indication, Cowell was right. Payne is, at best, competent.

His voice is pleasant but not especially charismatic. His choices are safe but uninspired. A couple of years after launching his career, his musical identity remains wholly unremarkable. (Cowell has since criticized Payne in the press for signing with Capitol, and not his own pop-pipeline label.) 

LP1’s 17 songs, including a 2018 Rita Ora collab from the 50 Shades Freed soundtrack and a Christmas number tacked on at the end, have the ambiance and trend-scraping of a Zara fitting room.

The journey from boy band to solo act has broken many aspiring pop stars. But what it requires most—gesturing at a distinct, compelling identity—is Payne’s biggest question mark. Despite being a UK tabloid fixture, he’s been unable to convey a discernible personality—or any personality at all.

Even with a built-in global audience of millions, it’s unclear who this collection of middling songs could possibly resonate with. Former Directioners clamoring for a solo Liam album? New fans seeking nondescript, paint-by-numbers pop? And yet, improbably, Payne has been among the band’s most successful solo members, metrics-wise.

“Strip That Down,” a 2017 love song premised on his freedom from One Direction and featuring a bloodless verse from Quavo, has amassed billions of plays. Other singles, like “Familiar” with J Balvin and “Get Low” with Zedd, despite being completely unmemorable, have proved adequate enough to satisfy the low bar of a generic pop playlist.

Throwing spaghetti at a Spotify algorithm and seeing what sticks appears to be Payne’s strategy with the rest of LP1. The single “Stack It Up,” featuring A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, further betrays his ambition of an Ed Sheeran-style metabolism of the current pop sounds. There are layered R&B harmonies, vaguely Latin rhythms, and compressed synths as melody, but even with two songs written by Sheeran himself, Payne only gasps at his radio-ready effectiveness.

In recent press, Payne has hinted at the complexity of his life post-One Direction, including fatherhood, brushes with substance abuse, and frustration with accepting his role as the band’s most-boring member. But he draws little inspiration from that wealth of real-life experience. Instead, he relies on inane songwriting concepts, rote misogyny, and feelingless flexing.

The lyrics are puerile and half-baked. It’s hardly worth laying them all out on the page, but the worst offender must be from (the nerve!) “Hips Don’t Lie”: “Don’t be giving me the eye/Unless you got what I need/I hope your hips don’t lie/Unless they’re lying with me,” he sings.

One song, “Both Ways,” takes the trope of hetero objectification of bisexual women to gross new lows: “No, no, I don’t discriminate/Bring it back to my place/Yeah, she like it both ways.”

In addition to being offensive, it’s not even convincing as an expression of desire. If you can’t effectively use a pop song to communicate horniness, the most basic of human emotions, then what do you have?

Listening to LP1, you almost feel sorry for Payne. It’s maybe more pathetic to have failed not for risking too much, but after seeming to have tried so little.

[greensparty]

Album Reviews: Sleater-Kinney / U2

This week I got to review the 11th album from the always reliable Sleater-Kinney. The Pacific Northwest indie rockers have been on my radar since 1997's Dig Me Out (got my copy on vinyl). They've done some great albums, but that still stands as my personal favorite. I saw Sleater-Kinney headline the Siren Music Festival in Coney Island in 2002 and they blew me away. After the band took an indefinite hiatus in 2006, they reunited in 2014. It’s funny that the masses now know Carrie Brownstein for Portlandia and didn’t even know her as the singer/guitarist for Sleater-Kinney. But I digress. The band’s 2019 album The Center Won’t Hold was a polarizing album that was so polarizing drummer Janet Weiss left before its release, but I actually really dug it and I even named “The Future is Here” my #1 Song of 2019. Their first post-Janet Weiss album was Path of Wellness, which I named my #6 Album of 2021. There are purists who feel it's not the same band without Weiss. But Corin Tucker and Brownstein have kept the band going and their newest album Little Rope drops from Loma Vista this week.

album cover

This is an album that came out of tragedy after Brownstein's mother and stepfather died in a car accident. Similar to how Foo Fighters' recent album But Here We Are was Dave Grohl working through the passing of bandmate Taylor Hawkins and his mother, much of this album is about grief and resilience. I am happy to say this is the First Great Album of 2024!

Sleater-Kinney at the 2002 Siren Festival in Coney Island

After Weiss left the band, there were some fans who felt it wasn't Sleater-Kinney without her. That is not true, but it does need to be said that with Path of Wellness, as much as I liked the album - it is a band trying to figure out how to go from being a three-headed monster to a two-headed monster. But with this one, Brownstein and Tucker are clearly past that transition and diving back into the indie rock sound they perfected over the course of the last 30 years. There's some serious standouts on this album like "Say it Like You Mean It" and the epic closer "Untidy Creature"! This is the definition of aging gracefully in alt-rock. All Hail Sleater-Kinney!

For info on Little Rope

4 out of 5 stars

U2 Zooropa 30th Anniversary Vinyl

In October 2023, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of U2's album Zooropa a limited edition yellow vinyl was released. This review is a little late, but better late than never! Coming off the success of 1991's Achtung Baby, their 8th studio album was something of a surprise album. They had planned on recording an EP that turned into a full album, which was very much an extension of the electronic sounds they were experimenting with on Achtung Baby. They only announced the new album a few weeks earlier. This also marked the fastest U2 album ever recorded, they did it in only six weeks in early 1993. I happen to be at Newbury Comics on the day it was released and bought it immediately. It is an excellent U2 album that rarely gets mentioned, but its one of their best. One of their finest moments is the album closer “The Wanderer”, the band’s duet with Johnny Cash! The album went to #1 on the charts and won a Grammy.

the 30th anniversary edition of Zooropa

In the past few years, I have been lucky enough to review a number of U2 re-releases including the 2017 Super Deluxe edition of The Joshua Tree, the 2020 Super Deluxe edition of All That You Can't Leave Behind, the 2021 30th anniversary edition of Achtung Baby, as well as last year's album Songs of Surrender. The thing with the aforementioned Deluxe Editions is they remastered the original album, included some B-sides recorded during those sessions and a live concert (for the most part). This re-release is a little different. Let me back up for a minute: in 2018 there was a vinyl re-release that included 2 remixes of "Lemon" and "Numb". This 2023 vinyl release is basically the same release on yellow vinyl (in honor of "Lemon" I'm guessing) and a new photo of the band from 1993 in the gatefold. It would've been cool if they had padded this with more bells and whistles but I get that it wasn't as robust of a recording session as Achtung Baby was. The 2 remixes are alright, but not worth re-buying if you already have this. The yellow vinyl is cool as is the picture, but in the end it's really just a reminder of what a solid album this was. As we all await U2's first original album since 2017 (last year's Songs of Surrender was re-recordings of older songs), this is a reminder of how prolific the band was during a break from the Zoo TV tour to knock out an incredible album that still holds up today!

For info on Zooropa

4 out of 5 stars

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I saw a chart today that found that over 1/4 of bts Spotify followers are chapter 2 fans and I thought it was really interesting how people are being drawn in by solo works (presumably) and then become invested in the group despite probably not ever seeing them perform live. From what I can tell, this doesn’t seem to be the case with other groups’ solo/group work engagement, or at least not to that extent. I think taemin is one of the most popular solo K-pop artists I can think of but, while shawols from what I can tell are staunchly ot5, taemin also seems to have a very large solo fan base that are not shawols, and the general interest in him may actually outnumber the interest in shinee these days. I don’t really pay much attention to other groups fanbases but I’d be curious if you had any impression of whether this is unique in K-pop. No pressure if you have no idea though!

Sorry I took a long time to reply! I've been rereading Jikook fics in my free time lmao.

I think there are probably several reasons for that. Some things to consider:

I don't really know how they obtained those statistics. I assume they divided the amount of Spotify followers BTS gained during or after June 2022 by the overall number of followers? Or was all of 2022 considered chapter 2?

Most chapter 1 Armys entered the fandom after 2017, particularly after 2019, and especially after 2020. I imagine BTS must've gained around half of their Spotify followers alone throughout 2020 and 2021. Chapter 2 began mid-2022, after their famous Grammys performance. BTS were, and still are, reaping the success of the English trilogy and My Universe. Also, when BTS announced they were enlisting, there was a lot of media coverage, not just in SK (I remember Trevor Noah talking about it), which drew attention to BTS. The members' individual songs and collabs, such as Dreamers, L&R, LC, Seven, etc. also drew attention to the BTS name, since any member is introduced first as being BTS. Same with fashion deals.

Those quarter of followers didn't necessarily join because of the members' solo works. In fact, I'd bet a lot of people only found BTS's solo projects because they recognized the BTS name - case in point, my lovely non-Muggle Army who got into BTS after checking out JK's GMA performance because she remembered BTS's old 2019 GMA performance.

I think it's quite hard to estimate the number of fans who became Army simply because they noticed one of the members and then checked out the group. They probably checked out that member because they knew BTS. It's like a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" thing.

25% doesn't seem like a surprising figure. BTS only became truly mainstream in 2020 and the more the years pass the more mainstream they become. Each year they stick around is another year of people realizing BTS are here to stay, and their ability to retain and attract new fans is undeniable. Imo, it's hard for non-kpop fans to find most of the members' solo works. J-Hope, Suga, Jimin and Jungkook were the only ones who did big overseas promotions (Lollapalooza, Jimmy Fallon, GMA, Radio One, NBA, touring, NYE performance, etc.).

I don't know what I'm saying atp lmao. I think those 25% are not all solo fans or fans who became solos first. Only half of those probably became Army exclusively through any of the members' solo work - most likely Jungkook's. I mean, solo era has done a lot for BTS as a group because it's kept their name alive in people's minds, thus leading to a lot of people discovering the group. It's always Jungkook of BTS, Jimin of BTS, etc. None of the members is being separated from the group brand. Even if you listen to Seven without knowing Jungkook is a BTS member, you will quickly realize that BTS is "only" the biggest group on the planet, which is a sure fire way to decide to check out the group, and not just Jungkook, right? And if you want to see more of Jungkook you will naturally check out BTS content too, since there's a very limited amount of solo content.

The point above shows the difference between Taemin and Jungkook/any BTS member. When I started listening to kpop I kept hearing about Taemin, the father of kpop. I knew he was a SHINee member but as a soloist he was just as legendary, if not more so, as Shinee. It's quite different with BTS. Everyone knows BTS. SHINee weren't active in the years Taemin became a powerhouse performer, but BTS don't have to be active to be very famous - their reputation precedes them, and every member is BTS, there's no separating the member from the group. People who learn about Jungkook, for example, already know BTS or quickly learn that BTS is much bigger than him. That isn't the case with Taemin. He's just as famous as SHINee, but BTS is more famous than Jungkook, or, more accurately, Jungkook is most famous as a member of BTS. Taemin is a rare gem in kpop, he's one of the few really successful male soloists, and he contributes a lot to kpop. He *is* kpop. His fellow members aren't. SHINee, by comparison, are just an iconic boy group - even if they're active, they're not changing the game the way Taemin still. Their appeal is limited to new fans (though now that they're active again, it's a bit different). BTS are the group. Jungkook's success would only make people curious about the group he's from. They'd be like "Ah, so Jungkook is a member of the famous BTS I keep hearing about?". Idk, there's a difference haha.

I really don't know in general. Very few soloists are more famous than their groups or have successful careers alongside their groups. Hwasa is an example I can think of, but most of her fans are Mamamoo fans too, I think. Same for the BP members. I think it depends on how popular the group is, and how active? Baekhyun is pretty popular solo, like Taemin, but, like Jungkook, he's undoubtedly known as a member of a legendary group just as much as he's known for his solo work. I think Taemin is probably a bit of an exception? Like Taeyeon, for example, but Girl's Generation aren't active anymore...

Did I answer your question at all? Sorry! Thanks for the ask!

[davemustaine]

No I know your pinned post is there because your making fun of it but isn't Megadeth actually very problematic

David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their sole consistent member.[2] Mustaine has released sixteen studio albums with Megadeth, sold over 50 million albums worldwide, with six albums platinum-certified, and won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2017 at the 59th Grammy Awards, for the title track of their fifteenth studio album, Dystopia.[3]

Dave Mustaine



Mustaine performing in 2016

Background informationBirth nameDavid Scott MustaineBornSeptember 13, 1961 (age 61)[1]

La Mesa, California, U.S.Genres

Thrash metal

heavy metal

speed metal

Occupation(s)

Musician

singer

songwriter

producer

Instrument(s)

Guitar

vocals

Years active1978–presentLabels

Loud

Combat

Capitol

Sanctuary

Roadrunner

Tradecraft

Member ofMegadethFormerly of

Metallica

MD.45

Websitemegadeth.com

Prior to forming Megadeth, Mustaine was the original lead guitarist of Metallica but did not appear on any albums. He was, however, credited on four songs from Kill 'Em All and two songs from Ride the Lightning. Mustaine was originally born into a family of Jehovah's Witnesses.[4] He now identifies as a born again Christian.[5][6] Mustaine has been to rehab throughout his life, fighting alcohol and drug problems,[7][8] and briefly battled throat cancer in 2019.[9] Mustaine has been married to Pamela Anne Casselberry since 1991, with whom he has two children, Electra and Justis Mustaine.[10]

In a popular vote on internet forum Ultimate Guitar, Mustaine was ranked third in the top 25 rhythm guitarists of all time,[11] first in Joel McIver's book, The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists,[12] tenth in Loudwire's "66 Best Hard Rock + Metal Guitarists of All Time",[13] and third in their "10 Greatest Rhythm Guitarists in Rock + Metal".[14]

Early lifeEdit

Mustaine was born in La Mesa, California,[15] to parents Emily Marie (née David) and John Jefferson Mustaine. His father was of French, German, Irish and Finnish descent,[16][17] while his mother was of German Jewish ancestry.[18][19] The Mustaine family were Jehovah's Witnesses.[20]

Mustaine had three older sisters, Michelle, Suzanne, and Debbie, who were 18, 15 and 3 respectively when he was born. Due to the significant age difference between Mustaine and his sisters, as a child he often thought of them as his aunts rather than sisters. Mustaine has described family life as tumultuous during his early life, lamenting years later that "life unraveled in a great many ways" for his family before he was born. Mustaine has described his father as "a very smart and successful man, good with his hands and head" who was a branch manager for Bank of America before moving to NCR, where the corporation's transition from mechanical to electrical technology ultimately made him expendable and cost him his job. A longtime problem drinker, John Mustaine's issues with alcohol only grew worse from then on, and he left his four-year-old son permanently after Emily divorced him in 1965.[21]

Early careerEditExternal video Dave Mustaine – Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction? (Part 1), 10:09, Loudwire[22] Part II, 9:59, Loudwire[23]

[iwatcheditbegin]

idk why its suddenly a thing again to doubt taylor's surprise when winning award when in reality so many people were saying she wouldnt win aoty because she had 3 already (and she's never been much of a grammy darling either - not like billie for example)

but also, even if she was "acting" surprised somehow, what's wrong with THAT? what's wrong with her showing excitement over her own hard-earned accomplishments, who is she hurting with this?? because if she acted all nonchalant and above it all these same people would still have sth to say. smfh.

Exactly what I said. And many voters were even saying they were going to vote for others bc she’s won. Even many fans weren’t sure.

People love to say she’s a Grammys darling bc she’s won the most prestigious ones, but she’s only won 4 since 2017.

I think based on jack’s reaction it’s fair to say she/ team didn’t think they were winning aoty.

I like that she doesn’t take these for granted.

But it’s people who don’t like her. When you dislike someone everything they do will annoy you and you see what you want

[hldailyupdate]

If you passed through New York’s Herald Square on Sunday, you probably felt like a time traveler. Thousands of young fans were dressed up, Seventies-style, for a show that they’ve been waiting for for two years — colorful flared pants, feather boas, glitter, and two-piece suits aplenty. Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of times… the times being Harry Styles finally playing Madison Square Garden after years away.

Nearly two years after releasing Fine Line, Styles is hitting the North American leg of Love on Tour, which was announced around the album’s release and originally meant to set sail last spring in Europe — before the Covid-19 pandemic derailed the entire world’s plans.

Even though it’s been two years since its release, there was no universe where Styles wouldn’t tour Fine Line. His second album was even bigger than his self-titled debut, generating hits like “Watermelon Sugar” and “Kiwi,” as well as expanding his fanbase well beyond the young One Direction fans who have stuck by him for over a decade. It was one of the most anticipated treks of 2020 and remains as such in 2021, although it may look a little different this time: Masks are required for all attendees, as well as a Covid-19 vaccination (venues in other states allow proof of a negative PCR test as well in lieu of vaccination).

The wait in between sets for Styles flew by: The attendees occupied themselves by begging Disney stars and rumored “Drivers License” subjects Joshua Bassett and Sabrina Carpenter for photos and singing along to One Direction’s “Olivia” as it played over the speakers — not once, but twice. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the ensuing arena-wide sing-along seemed to indicate that show time was nearing as anticipation further mounted from the buzzing crowd.

Styles took center stage in a two-piece black suit with feathered arms, launching immediately into Fine Line opener “Golden,” a bright and energetic single that got the room shaking for the first time that night.

Wisely, Styles’ performed in the round, giving fans either his face or “all butt, baby,” as he cheekily pointed out. There were two general admission pits, which from the stands, seemed to be one of the most polite and communal show pits imaginable. It was the perfect setup for a star like Styles, whose thousands of fans dressed to impress and wanted nothing more than a second of his time or attention. Expertly bouncing around the stage and the long catwalks that stretched across the arena, he was able to give that and much more, making the legendary venue feel like an intimate club.

By some miracle, Styles and his band were able to play Fine Line in its entirety (including “To Be So Lonely,” which was left off the setlist of the tour’s first few shows). He also included some well-placed tracks from his 2017 debut, like the raucous “Only Angel” and smooth “Woman.” The pace and energy were vastly different this time; his debut was a largely folk-y affair, heavy on the acoustic guitar with big campfire sing-along energy. Love on Tour is a bawdier party, full of dancing from both Styles and the crowd.

Helping keep the pace were a mix of old and new band members. Of course, drummer Sarah Jones and guitarist Mitch Rowland (who recently had their first child) were back on the road with the star and have been since day one. Fans cheered enthusiastically any time they were highlighted, especially when Rowland shredded his way through the “She” guitar solos. Bassist Elin Sandberg and multi-instrumentalist Ny Oh were exquisite during “Woman” and a pared-down “Cherry” moment, while pianist Niji Adeleye and percussionist Pauli Lovejoy were scene-stealers at every turn with their enthusiastic dancing.

Toward the end of the main set, the communal feeling of the show strengthened. “Treat People With Kindness,” Styles’ mantra, turned into the biggest party-starter yet. Fans in the pit created dance circles and did something akin to the Electric Slide in unison. On stage, Styles held up both Bi Pride and Black Lives Matter flags to massive screams. It quickly morphed into a cover of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful,” a song Styles really doesn’t need to do but has such a blast singing that I hope he keeps it in his shows forever.

The encore was a perfect cap: “Sign of the Times,” his first-ever solo single, kicked things off as he belted the track beneath two large disco balls that made the whole room sparkle. He introduced the band during a slow-burn reworking of “Watermelon Sugar,” similar to the one he performed at the Grammys this year. He even brought back the song he debuted a few shows ago when he sang to a woman in a banana suit (“She’s dressed as a banana, ayy”). Of course, there were several banana costumes in attendance due to the very existence of the rarity.

For his closer, Styles ended on the highest note, showcasing the biggest flex of his rock star prowess. He blazed through “Kiwi,” the high energy fan-favorite that he also played years ago at MSG; back then, it got the floor shaking so much that drummer Jones’ drumset started sliding across the stage. It was no different this time: The whole room shook through the track as Styles said his goodbyes He had issued a request early in the show for everyone to “be who it is you’ve always wanted to be,” and with one final song, the whole room let loose. They were finally getting to be who they’ve been waiting to become for the last 18 months.

(4 October 2021)

[bananaofswifts]

4/5 STARTS

In the latest instalment of Swift's re-recording project, the epic new version of 'All Too Well' steals the show

“I’ve always said that the world is a different place for the heartbroken,” Taylor Swift wrote in a statement earlier this year, where she revealed that the next album she’d be releasing would be ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’. “It moves forward on a different axis, at a different speed.”

First released in October 2012, Swift’s fourth studio album was an honest portrayal of young heartbreak, showcasing every painful aspect of fracturing romance. She’s since said that the album resembles that of a “heartbroken person” trying to piece together the “mosaic of feelings” those moments create.

It was also where Swift’s country-crossover sound became imbued with everything from dubstep to rock, laying the groundwork for the run of fully-fledged pop albums that would follow. Crucially, though, it was clear that ‘Red’ was created by someone in their early 20s, encapsulating those formative years and emotions where everything is messy and confusing.

‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ is the latest of Swift’s re-recorded albums, part of her unprecedented venture to regain control of her master recordings after masters of her early records were sold off several times without her permission. The re-recordings began with ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’, released earlier this year, and will see her revisit her first six albums: from her 2006 self-titled debut up to 2017’s ‘Reputation’.

‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ largely follows in the footsteps of ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’, celebrating the music of Swift’s past without making any major changes. It’s not an exercise of rethinking and tweaking old songs, but to take back ownership of her own music. The production here is a little sharper, with the instrumentation being brought further into focus: the opening percussion of ‘State of Grace’ is crisper, the soft-rock guitar of the title track a little brighter and the mandolin of ‘Stay Stay Stay’ lifted.

The vocals offer the most significant change, with Swift’s voice maturing significantly in the intervening decade. You hear it clearest on the spoken-word moments, like ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’s withering put-down: “With some indie record that’s much cooler than mine“. It’s the sort of eye-roll moment typical of being a young adult, and while delivered with vim in its creation, in these moments the shifts in Swift’s lyricism and vocals in the 10 years since it was first released are obvious. It’s one of the only recognisable differences to the album’s original.

Like on the re-recorded ‘Fearless’, Swift has delved into her vault of unreleased songs by pulling out 10 new tunes and Swiftie deep cuts written during the ‘Red’ era for the expanded new version. For fans, it’s a treasure trove; a chance to appreciate a further insight into Swift’s musical world in the early 2010s.

Some of these new additions have been heard before: the poignant charity single ‘Ronan’, ‘Better Man’ – a Grammy Award-winning song for country group Little Big Town that was released in 2016 that Swift wrote several years prior – and ‘Babe’, which country duo Sugarland released a version of in 2018. On the latter two, Swift runs the songs through the ‘Red’ filter, adding mandolin and lush strings to ‘Better Man’ while long-time collaborator and producer Jack Antonoff adds brass and ‘1989’-style shine to ‘Babe’.

An unheard offering comes in the form of ‘Nothing New’, a sweet collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers that was co-produced by Aaron Dessner, who worked with Swift for the first time on last year’s lockdown albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’. “I’ve had too much to drink tonight / How did I go from growing up to breaking down?” the duo ask over acoustic guitars and swelling strings in the chorus, before later adding: “How can a person know everything at 18, but nothing at 22?” It’s an effortless summation of both growing pains and Swift’s distinctive lyricism.

The sprawling collection also incorporates previous collaborations that didn’t make the final ‘Red’ tracklist first time around. ‘Message In A Bottle’, an effervescent nugget of pure-pop reminiscent of Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘80s-influenced record ‘Emotion’, was co-written by hit-machines Max Martin and Shellback (who also worked on ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ’22’ in 2012). Ed Sheeran, who previously lent his vocals to ‘Everything Has Changed’, crops up again on ‘Run’, an earnest duet with production from Dessner.

The moment Swift’s fans have been waiting for, though, comes right at the end of the two-hour album, with the notorious 10-minute-long version of ‘All Too Well’ that has been teased ahead of the album’s release. The song, considered Swift’s magnum opus, has become a fan favourite over the years, and the final moments of her second re-recorded album are dedicated to completing this beloved tune.

It’s a move that her fans have been wishing for for years — Swift first revealed in a 2012 interview that the five-minute tune was initially double that length, but trimmed down as she felt it was too long for the album. Now at its full intended length, ‘All Too Well’ only confirms its place as an epic, with the Swiftian story played out as the instrumental ebbs and flows behind her vocals. From the new lyrics, the painfully honest moments shine. “You kept me like a secret / But I kept you like an oath,” Swift reveals at one point. “You said if we had been closer in age / Maybe it would have been fine.”

As the final whispers of vocals fade away and the album draws to a close, Swift sings: “It was rare, you remember it, all too well.” It’s a moving moment on its own, but an equally appropriate assessment of this almighty song: the long-awaited masterpiece worth the wait.

[fa-by]

official to get together with Ty. I mean, what?? Who does something like that if they were truly in love?// about this part technically they only became "official" publicly at that time because they never gave us an actual date as to when L and LV got together or even broke up and what makes it more confusing is that LV and L looked like they ended on good terms but then a few weeks later they unfollowed each other and LV was throwing shade at L and now they're not even friends.

Still here, not a hater nor a shipper Anon? I see that the first two times weren’t enough for you. Okay. Suit yourself.

“they never gave us an actual date as to when L and LV got together or even broke up”. Actually, we may not have specific day dates, but we do have dates to calculate everything.

As I’ve already explained, Lucy returned to Lauren’s life after she had a car accident on May 17, 2015:

“She came back into my life when I was 18. I was on tour and I was in my room in a hotel somewhere and she called me”, and, according to their narrative, Lauren decided they would be together “all in” and “now we’re gonna be in this relationship” from that moment on. The last public interaction between the two of them occurred on January 12, 2017 with that post for Lucy’s birthday (which is actually Jan 11):

And by January 21, 2017, they had already broken up since they were at the same Women’s March but with other people. While Lauren ‘was still together with’ Lucy, Ty tweeted “LMJ” on January 4, 2017:

He canceled it right away, and on February 12, 2017, Tyren made their first appearance as a ‘couple’ at the Grammys after-party (picture posted by L two days later):

If you calculate from mid-May 2015 to mid-January 2017, it’s 1 year and 8 months. And of that year and 8 months, 2 months were public due to the wedding pictures.

Lauren was already with Ty after less than a month. In fact, if you want to calculate from January 21 to February 12, it’s only 9 days. So, as you can see, we have dates on which base ourselves.

“Um let’s be realistic this literally happens all the time in real life”. Oh yeah? To who? To those who weren’t really in love and didn’t care about their exes maybe, but not to those who claimed to have been in love with their best friend since adolescence. You continue to be contradictory, Anon. Even in your own thoughts. Because if you believe in the Laucy narrative, then you’re supposed to believe that Lauren was in love with Lucy for five years (from when she was 15 to when she was 20). And if you believe that, then how can you think she fell out of love with her in less than a month? How can you think that’s realistic? Do you really give your fave so little credit? As I’ve already said, I don’t know you, so either you’ve never been in love and that’s why you think it’s realistic, or you do give Laur so little credit for real.

I’m gonna copy and paste the entire piece that you copied incompletely now: “How can you have been in love with someone for so many years, broke up with them because they were a toxic person, and immediately get together with an even more toxic person without having the proper time to heal? Without taking the time for yourself to lick your wounds, grow up, be ready again to throw yourself out there, and eventually find a better person to be in a relationship with? How? Simple. Because they were both fake relationships. The timing they wanted to tell is not credible. None of what they’ve said is believable, and luckily, there’s also enough evidence to prove it so these are not opinions and theories”.

When you love someone, Anon, when you really love someone and you’re not with them anymore, you need time. You really need some time before you can move on. Less than a month is not enough to fall out of love after 5 years and start another relationship by declaring to be in love with this other person every five seconds. I really don’t understand how you can think it’s realistic, and most of all, I really don’t understand how you don’t see it was all fake.

“and who says Ty was a toxic person cause so far L has never said anything bad about him and he treated her right from what we have seen, also the fact that their ‘split’ was peaceful so how was he toxic for her?”. So, let me get this straight. Someone who thinks that ‘the women only serve to be in the kitchen’, that ‘the lesbians only are confused girls’, that:

and that he’s:

is not a toxic person? Someone who’s been in a gang (like his brother who’s still in jail) since he was a teenage boy and has a long list of felonies on his record for infractions, assaults, and possession of various drugs, isn’t toxic? Someone who lies about his age and is disrespectful in the lyrics in his songs and when he speaks in general with phrases in which he had no respect for either women or homosexuality, is not toxic? Someone for whom it’s normal to punch and kick another celebrity in the head just because he refused to leave and free for him the VIP room of a club he was occupying, is not toxic? Someone who wanted to make a blind woman move who was sitting behind him with her guide dog, claiming to be allergic to the fur that was making him sneeze, and despite the fact that the plane staff offered him another seat in the back, which he refused because ‘he had paid extra to be in the one he was sitting in’, and the blind woman even offered him an allergy pill, he refused AGAIN with the excuse that he ‘had to perform’ a few hours later at the Escapade Music Festival (the woman obviously had priority over her seat and wasn’t moved, so they all stayed in their seats in the end), is not toxic?

Are you for real?? Do you really think Lauren could actually have been with a person like that? Someone who represented exactly what she always despised? Do you really think so low of her? You say she’s your fave, but do you know her at all? Because you’re basically insulting her as a person and her intellect. When will you learn to distinguish reality from fiction? When are you gonna open your eyes? If Lauren were to tell you that Santa’s real, then you’d believe it just because the words came out of her mouth? Come on now! Just because she was forced to say that she loved him and how a good person he was, DOESN’T MAKE IT TRUE. Not to mention that we’ve witnessed several times how uncomfortable she was when they had to look intimate for pictures:

And how inappropriate he was:

https://youtu.be/g3D_FMHy4ho

Don’t you see how she tried to move his hand and how uncomfortable she was? And these are just two examples, but there are so many of them. Wake up and learn to recognize the distinction between script-following Laur and authentic Laur. I already told you this.

No, I’m the one who’s sorry here. Because as I said, you can’t distinguish when something is fake and when it’s real. I was there. You seem to have forgotten this. I saw every post, every picture, and every live they did together. They were together. They obviously couldn’t say it because Lucy ‘was together’ with Laur, but they were together. It wasn’t a serious relationship like the one with Nicole, but they still had something. They stayed together until February and then Lucy got together with Nicole in March.

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I hope this can also answer your ask, dear Anon 😄 and hi to you too 👋🏼

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Back to you, not a hater nor a shipper Anon. Keep blaming CS and believing every single thing your faves say if you want, but do yourself a favor: stop trying to change someone’s mind (with empty proofs) and try to convince them to think like you. It’s useless. As I already told you in that post: “You can come back here a hundred more times, but you won’t change my mind”. Just accept it. Just accept the fact that we think differently because we believe in different things. Follow the blogs that think like you if you want, create your own blog with your own opinions or whatever, but don’t go to CS ones like mine because you wouldn’t come out as a winner, as you could see all three times. It’s one thing to go to another blog to express your opinion, and another is to go there multiple times and insist on changing their minds. Unlike you, I don’t go bothering other blogs to convince them to believe in what I believe. In fact, if that’s why, I don’t really care to change their minds precisely because, as I already told you, everyone is free to think what they want and have their own ideas. I accept the fact  that not everyone thinks the same way. Embrace this idea too, trust me, you'll live better. Find your community and be happy there.

I hope I’ve been even clearer than the previous times. Take care, not a hater nor a shipper Anon, and have a good day. I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for.

[nowthisnews]

September 15 begins Hispanic Heritage Month — we’re kicking off the month by honoring a number of figures who historically have blazed a trail for the Hispanic American community

Fernando Valenzuela is a former MLB pitcher most famous for his time with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1980-90. A Mexican immigrant, Valenzuela��s raw talent & colorful personality made him an instant hit with the Dodgers’ significant Latinx fanbase. The ensuing media frenzy became known as ‘Fernandomania’ and represented one of the first times in MLB history that a Hispanic player was a face of baseball. Valenzuela retired in 1997. In 2015, he became a naturalized American citizen.

Sonia Sotomayor is the first Latinx Supreme Court justice in U.S. history, having served since 2009. The daughter of Puerto Rican-born Americans, Sotomayor spent the bulk of her childhood being raised by a single mom in the Bronx, NY. Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976 and earned a law degree from Yale Law School in 1979. Prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama, she was a federal judge for 17 years. Her SCOTUS tenure has been characterized by decisions emphasizing criminal justice reform and the civil rights of both defendants and minority communities.

Sylvia Mendez was just 8 years old when she became a civil rights icon. Growing up in 1940s California as the daughter of Mexican & Puerto Rican immigrants, Mendez was a central figure in the landmark 9th Circuit Court of Appeals case Mendez v. Westminster. The decision found that segregating Mexican American students into separate schools in California was unconstitutional and led to the desegregation of all public schools in the state. The arguments used in Mendez v. Westminster later served as a precursor for the 1954 landmark SCOTUS segregation case Brown v. Board of Ed. After childhood, Mendez went on to work as a nurse & a public speaker, and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

In 2015, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan made history as the first openly transgender person to serve in the White House in U.S. history. A longtime activist & expert on matters pertaining to LGBTQ+ civil rights and gender equality, Freedman-Gurspan was born in Honduras and raised by adoptive parents in Massachusetts. After graduating college in 2009, she pursued activism on the state level in MA for a few years before being hired as a policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality. Her work focused on a number of issues impacting trans Americans, including homelessness, immigration, & incarceration. From there, she served 2 years in the Obama admin, first as an outreach & recruitment director and then as the White House’s LGBT liaison.

Ellen Ochoa is an icon for Latinx women in STEM. An engineer, astronaut, and former director of the Johnson Space Center, Ochoa made history in 1993 when she became the first Hispanic woman to travel to space while aboard the space shuttle Discovery. In her career as an astronaut, Ochoa logged approx 1,000 hours in space across 4 missions. Ochoa, who is a recipient of NASA's Distinguished Service Medal, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2017.

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg (1874-1938) was an author, historian, activist, and leading intellectual of the Harlem Renaissance. Schomburg was an Afro Latino of Puerto Rican, Black, and German heritage. Over his career, he worked tirelessly to identify, document, and preserve elements of Black history & culture, including art, manuscripts, slave narratives, and other artifacts. The works he amassed are now a collection in the New York Public Library at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Schomburg was once quoted as saying, ‘Pride of race is the antidote to prejudice.’

At 88 years young, Rita Moreno remains a treasure of the stage and screen. She is the only Hispanic actor in history to complete the hallowed EGOT, having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award between 1962 and 1977. Her Oscar win, for the supporting role of Anita in 1961’s ‘West Side Story,’ remains her most iconic part. In recent decades, Moreno is perhaps best known for starring in the Netflix reboot of ‘One Day at a Time.’ In addition to her acting awards, Moreno has also been a Kennedy Center honoree and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.

Sylvia Rivera was an American icon of the early LGBTQ+ liberation movement, with a specific focus on activism for LGBTQ+ people of color and LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness. Together with her friend Marsha P. Johnson, Rivera was a fixture in New York City’s radical activist and cultural scene in the 1970s and ‘80s. Rivera & Johnson founded STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a local collective that provided housing and aid to young LGBTQ+ New Yorkers at the time. Rivera, who was of Venezuelan & Puerto Rican descent, died in 2002 at the age of 50. In 2005, the corner of Hudson & Christopher streets in NYC’s Greenwich Village was renamed Sylvia Rivera Way.

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