#reference to that one ghost song collaboration

[dailyrioranger]

Day 33: They Went Fishing

[accio-victuuri]

Somebody Else’s Arms : Timeline + Analysis ✍🏻 and a tiny bit of clowning…

as what the title of this post says, let’s talk about this song and everything that goes with it. i didn’t expect him to actually do something like this but i’m not mad about it. there were already some rumors about it before the release, which personally didn’t come by my weibo feed so as soon as the poster teaser was out, everyone had their own thoughts:

1. It might be related to intercross, because of the water imagery and angsty title.

2. It’s a song he bought and at the time people were pointing to an existing track by cool heads prevail. and others were saying it may just be the same name.

3. some cpfs getting nervous cause it seems to be a breakup song, as if you all didn’t know he and xz love bittersweet songs!

4. connected to #2 cause a cpf station sister commented on this song before we knew anything like she had an idea that this will be performed all along.

AND NOW THAT THE WE HAVE LISTENED TO IT, it is a completely different one from the track people were referring to. oh well. rumors are rumors.

yibo-official first released the teaser for it at 16:00 which to me relates to the “fact” that 16 is bobo’s favorite number. also the play on words and how they associate with each other is so interesting SEA = somebody else’s arms then using that as an overall theme like deep in the sea. not to be that person — but it’s so xiao zhan.

then the hair reminded people of his style @ tencent starlight in 2019 with xz. but i have to say, when the douyin video was released, it made more sense because of the 80s vibe he ( along with other yh family stars ) was going for. the clothes and the hair definitely complete the look. i mean come on, he already had the vincent vega hair.

the similarity in the caption, once again! xzs 🤝 ybo

Now let’s move on the song itself ⬇️⬇️⬇️

i can only find information on this songwriter, so i guess it’s true that he bought it. the lyrics is actually giving ghost by justin bieber which is a personal fave. it’s like acknowledging you love someone but they are gone now. also it’s interesting that he chose an english song! i’m gonna be a totally delusional fan here and think that this is because he is becoming more and more popular with the international stage so he chose this to connect more.

the choreography is also by his fave Franklin Yu who also did the dance for Rules of My World and Burn It All Down. backed up by Made in V which is a usual group that collaborates with him and XZ. 💚❤️

i think we are all surprised cause it’s in ENGLISH. like i understand if the chorus is, but as a whole. wow.

You're still in my heart

But you're in somebody else arms

You are still in my mind

But you are in somebody else's life

A part of you got left inside my chest

I try and I try to forget

You are still in my heart

But you are in somebody else arms

Memories that we said we made

Memories I can't never let go

How do they torture me the same

Memories that we won't even know

Let me out

Na na na oh My love my love

Na na na oh Let me out

Na na na oh My love my love

A part of you got left inside my chest

I try and I try to forget

You are still in my heart

But you are in somebody else arms somebody else arms

the lyrics are so heartbreaking 💔 and as i said, something we know will appeal to yibo. and as an artist, or any kind of creative i feel like this kind of emotion connects well to the audience. it’s the perfect choice! but that doesn’t mean it don’t hurt!

i know there might be some part of the fandom who will look at this and be like — oh they broke up! “see how sad his face was performing?!” and well.. dude, he is performing this song and singing those lyrics.. what should he do? smile? lol. his dance is an interpretation of it, did you see that bit where he was alone and everyone had partners? In the meantime he was all alone and cradling no one 😭😭😭

it’s a performance. no matter how much we think everything has a personal connection.

anyway, it’s beautiful. his voice is amazing. i’m just imagining xz totally lovin this song and putting this on repeat! 🎧

and oh, the style of his clothes look like there are XX on it. hahahaha! a CPN fave!

DISCLAIMER: this is all the information available at the time of writing. I will post separate ones if ever new information comes out related to this song. 🎶

[for-a-longlongtime]

Songs and musings in the Key of Peña-Rockford

(Those gun holsters have me all fucked up. Seriously.)

I warned y'all about how obsessive my hyperfocus can get, right? Damn ADHD. The choke hold (all the puns intended) that this fic idea has on me is unreal, haha. But all of your comments and encouragements about this Rockford Pena WIP are making me so happy and relieving some of the stress I feel about writing it - thank you! I don't have another snippet to share just yet (so I hope this post isn't too much of a cock tease), but since I always love to read about character thots and writing processes (e.g. the extra posts by @mysterious-moonstruck-musings about her Destiny & Deliverance series, and @gracieispunk with her White Lotus posts), I figured I'd post a little update with some musings and songs I'm associating with this fic.

My Spotify currently is curated by @sin-djarin, who somehow knew just the right songs that relate to this WIP. Particularly these three tracks are on constant repeat. Going back and forth with her about little things that come up, or question ‘why this and not’ has been so much fun really. It makes me giddy because it turns the fic into something collaborative rather than just something from the inside of my brain, you know?

Whisper - Morphine

I included this track the other day already with the WIP snippet; it’s sexy and slow and that bass line really gets to me, then the saxophone ups it even more. @sin-djarin sent me several Morphine songs (I have to admit that somehow I wasn’t familiar with them) but this one stands out. The push and pull that’s happening in the lyrics is also delicious, and a lot of it feels like it’s coming from Rockford’s POV about Javi - that’s all I’ll say about it for now.

A Perfect Twist - Mike Patton

This song has an exuberant, rather bombastic vibe to it that I would’ve never associated with anything related to Peña. Although, those lyrics... they are definitely about brat taming.

I'll bend you over my knee Let's see what you can take You're never gonna break

And I'll squeeze that noose a little tighter Breathing like a snake How much can you take? You're never gonna break

And I'll turn those screws a little tighter You can hardly wait You're never gonna break

Just one more twist of the pliers Got you on the brink How much can you take? You're never gonna break

There’s something about the dizzying tune and pace that somehow evokes the noir-like Rockford vibes in the Merge Mansion clips, laced with liquor and cigarette smoke and things spinning kinda out of control.

Wait who said Masquerade Mansion? 🎭

In relation to these two?

Shhhh let’s pretend you didn’t see that. Keep your eyes wide shut. 🎭

Broad Daylight - Gabriel Rios

This is the only song that suddenly came to me re: this fic, and I was all… the fuck is this. I like the song, it's catchy, but it just didn’t make any sense to me with regard to Javi and Tim. The only thing I could think of in relation to the track was maybe a vague reference of Peña getting caught up with Los Pepes, things that were done in the dark and shouldn't come out in the daylight:

Back in the old days, tight like a fight Used to hang with the devil in the broad daylight

But still, it puzzled me. I think something in one of the Morphine songs musically led me to Broad Daylight, weird as that may sound. After way too many replays of that song (and @sin-djarin joking about 'what are those Polaroids Tim has on Javi?', since the song mentions polaroids), the relevance of the song finally clicked with me;

Look at you shaking you can't find his plight Got you scared of ghosts in the dead of night While you're making up stories trying to make it ok He'll be bringing them in to let them out and play In the broad daylight

We'll see how it goes from there.

At some point, there's also going to be a bit of Marcus Pike in the fic (pancakes!). I have to be honest - I don’t really read a lot of Marcus!fic, so I’ve been trying to figure out how he fits in and some of his character traits etc. But the wonderful @secretelephanttattoo was very quick to offer me some insights about Marcus that I needed! Go read it here.

TBH, I had absolutely not planned to write anything about Peña any time soon, because why I love him in canon and in the many fics I've read, I didn't exactly feel like I had a good enough handle on writing something about him that has some plot rather than just fucking. But then this fic idea popped up. If there's anyone who knows him really well, it's @goodwithcheese (you'd better be reading her incredible new story Paranoid Heart about Javi!). So I dropped some questions and fortunately she was totally up for some character chat right here, which is really helping me figure out some things. Thank you babe, and I hope more people will contribute thots to your 1K Celebration Confessional about their sins!

Also, I've been trying to put a time and place to the fic, but I've decided to not get too hung up about that because it's really not literature but Fic/Porn With Plot. It doesn't all have to make sense. But in case you're curious, I'm leaning towards this taking place in the US in recent enough times that smartphones are a thing.

Age wise, I'm seeing Tim Rockford as being 48/50 years old probably. Javier is about 40, 41 years old - just to give you an idea of 'which Javi' I'm looking at, I've got a sense of him as he is in Narcos S2 around episode 4-9, after Carillo is murdered, and Berna takes him to see Judy Moncada.

Reader insert (I know, I haven't spoken a lot about her yet!) is probably about 40 years old too. And finally, Marcus Pike is give r take about 37 years old, which corresponds with his Mentalist appearance.

BTW, I came across an edit that had all of the Tim Rockford bits from the ads without the additional stuff. A whopping total of 48 seconds. Man, I hope that Pedro is aware of how fucked up he has us about Rockford with less than a minute of his acting. Even my wife said 'I would totally watch a show or movie based on this character' when I played the Merge Mansion ads for her.

Finally, here's a video of Pedro talking about "real fantasy fullfillment in terms of getting to immerse yourself in an experience" and how he "loves being a detective, that's fantasy fullfilment for me" re: the Merge Mansion event day.

*hits replay*

Say 'fantasy fullfillment' one more time? Respectfully.

Like I said, I hope he knows how fucked up he has us all about Rockford. I sure am glad he did these ads and whatever he got paid, it sure wasn't enough.

---------------------------------------------------------

Updated tag list (comment if you want to be added, or if I added you by accident!) based on folks who commented/reblogged on the prev posts:

@sin-djarin @legendary-pink-dot @imalrightllama @secretelephanttattoo @rhoorl @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @trulybetty @goodwithcheese @linzels-blog @rifflovesjoey @maggiemayhemnj @magpiepills @youandmeand5bucks @morallyinept @5oh5 @missredherring @avastrasposts @anavatazes @imaswellkid @pedrit0-pascalit0 @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @survivingandenduring @boliv-jenta @prolix-yuy @sheepdogchick3 @inept-the-magnificent @northernwindd @alltheglitterandtheroar @readingiskeepingmegoing @txlady37 @rebel-held @alwaysmicado @heareball @clawdee @covetyou @bellsbluebrd @alltheglitterandtheroar @axshadows @casa-boiardi @bastardmandennis @stealyourblorbos @chronically-ghosted @katw474 @beabliss @nerdieforpedro

I don't know why some usernames don't seem to link when I try to tag them, btw. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

[taylorswiftandx]

Taylor Swift and Myth/Legend/Fantasy

Note: huge thank you to @meandmypagancrew who collaborated with me on this post! This one is very subjective - I ultimately chose to include references specifically relating to the story elements of religion/myth/legend/fantasy/tales, in order to determine what to include here versus what appears on TS and Religious Words/References. TS and Literary References may also be of interest.

'Taylor Swift'

Picture to Burn: State the obvious, I didn’t get my perfect fantasy

'Fearless (Taylor's Version)'

White Horse: I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairytale

The Best Day: Don’t know if Snow White’s house is near or far away

The Best Day: It’s the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarves

Today Was A Fairytale: Today was a fairytale

'Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’'

Long Live: I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

Superman: I watch superman fly away

'Red (Taylor's Version)'

State Of Grace: These are the hands of fate, you’re my Achilles heel

'1989 (Taylor’s Version)'

You Are In Love: You understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars

Now That We Don’t Talk: You part the crowd like the Red Sea, don’t even get me started

Suburban Legends: I didn’t come here to make friends, we were born to be suburban legends

Suburban Legends: I had the fantasy that our mismatched star signs would surprise the whole school

'reputation'

I Did Something Bad: They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one

'Lover'

(no myths/legends)

'folklore'

invisible string: Isn’t it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me?

invisible string: A string that pulled me out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar

mad woman: And women like hunting witches too

'evermore'

willow: As if you were a mythical thing

champagne problems: Your Midas touch on the Chevy door

gold rush: My mind turns your life into folklore

ivy: I wish to know the fatal flaw that makes you long to be magnificently cursed

cowboy like me: Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon

'Midnights'

Anti-Hero: Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby and I’m a monster on the hill

Labyrinth: Lost in the labyrinth of my mind

Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve: I would’ve stayed on my knees and I damn sure would’ve never danced with the devil at nineteen

Dear Reader: When you aim at the devil, make sure you don’t miss

You’re Losing Me: I’m getting tired, even for a phoenix

'The Tortured Poets Department'

So Long, London: I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist

But Daddy I Love Him: Screaming, "But, daddy, I love him"

Guilty as Sin?: These fatal fantasies giving way to labored breath

Guilty as Sin?: If it's make believe, why does it feel like a vow we'll both uphold somehow?

Guilty as Sin?: What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway

Clara Bow: Beauty is a beast that roars down on all fours demanding more

The Albatross: Locked me up in towers, but I'd visit in your dreams

How Did It End?: My beloved ghost and me, sitting in a tree, D-Y-I-N-G

I Hate It Here: And in my fantasies I rise above it

thanK you aIMee: I pushed each boulder up the hill

thanK you aIMee: So I pushed each boulder up that hill

The Prophecy: Cards on the table, mine play out like fools in a fable, oh, it was sinking in

The Prophecy: Poison blood from the wound of the pricked hand

Cassandra: So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst and tried to tell the town

Cassandra: I was in my tower weaving nightmares

Peter: Forgive me, Peter, my lost fearless leader

Peter: And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired

Peter: Lost to the Lost Boys chapter of your life

The Bolter: But none if it is changing that the chariot is waiting

The Manuscript: He said, "No, just a good samaritan"

Other Songs written by Taylor

Beautiful Ghosts: Is this hope just a mystical dream?

Crazier: I was trying to fly but I couldn’t find wings

Official Alternate Releases

Cassandra (Clean Version): When it's "Burn the witch" they're shrieking

[eternitas]

Hi Lou!! Tbh, I'd love to ask you...all of the selfship questions, but I'll be nice and say 1-4 uwu for Gokudera! [Unless you're cool with answering them all 👀✨️]

Just for fun selfship ask meme

Thank you so so much for sending this in! ... 3... months ago orz I am so so sorry for answering so late, I hope waiting for my answer was worth it QwQ

1. does your f/o have any special nicknames for you? what are they? do you have a favorite?

Gokudera isn't exactly super openly affectionate or romantic. He is pragmatic and when he is romantic it is a rare, but genuine moment just between them. While he doesn't have a special nickname, he does sometimes call Rena "tesoro" (itl. treasure) and has refered to her as a sun or glowing star, though never to her face.

2. do you and your f/o share any hobbies? what are they? do you see one another as rivals, collaborators, something else?

Rena and Hayato are competitive spirits and often get into little competitions with each other that usually hold either no stakes but their pride, or chores and small gifts. It's never harsh enough that Dera becomes seriously upset over a loss (he actually really appreciates that she can give him a run for his money), but it's also never completely trivial. These competitions can range from who gets to a place first, to directly facing off in a video or card game (especially with poker and other games where you have to keep your reactions in check Rena usually has the upper hand due to her knowledge in acting and directing, being able to pick up on the subtlest of changes in Gokuderas demeanor, who still has a hard time keeping his emotions in check).

Interestingly enough when it comes to hobbies they diverge a bit. Rena loves to be creative, her work at the theater is incredibly fullfilling to her, so she spends a lot of time going to see different plays and reads new pieces. Hayato is also very creative, but his creativity leans more towards the engineering and constructing. In that they are supportive with and towards each other, but don't necesarily always partake in the others interest. However they both are interested in the supernatural, with Rena being a scaredy cat that is mostly into mythology and the occult while Hayato is more interested in cryptids and extraterestrials. Hayato likes going ghost hunting or cryptid hunting and once in a while he can persuade Rena to tag along though not without promising up and down that he won't scare her on purpose and that he'll protect her if anything does happen.

One hobby they do participate in together is movie nights. They switch up who picks the movie and each one of them has a chance to veto a pick. They both enjoy watching all kinds of movies and talk about them, dissecting story, special and practical effects, character writing and acting, directing- they can both contribute their own knowledge to these talks which are even more enjoyable to them than the movies themselves.

Small picrew I edited depicting them watching a scary movie.

Original

3. do you have any songs that remind you of your f/o? a playlist? what do they think of it, if you’ve shared it with them?

Okay so I USED to have a playlist but I deleted it orz, tho there are two songs I def remember associating with this ship which is

Cinderblock Garden by All Time Low and Perfect by Topic and Ally Brooke

4. where are your favorite places to go with your f/o? what’s your favorite part of that place, or the time you spend together there?

When it comes to favourite places to be at then there come only 3 to mind. First is Renas apartment. It's a small 2 room flat with an open kitchen, a big livingroom with a narrow balcony and a small bedroom. It's cozy but not claustrophobic and Hayato stays over a few times. After a very eventful day it's nice to flop onto the sofa and watch a movie together.

Then there is one of Renas favourite cafes. It's in a sidestreet of the city, rather small and has a bit of a maritime country-chic flair with exceptionally good coffee and cake. They don't usually house big groups or many people so it never feels cramped and or overwhealming when it comes to the surounding noise.

Last but definitely not least is the westpark. It's close to the Residence where the Neo Vongola stay in italy and is often place of performances by Renas theater group Mosaico. It's a nice small park with one half of the park being mostly greenspace for people to chill on and the other being a bit more groomed, layed out and romantic with benches and grenery tunnels.

(Thinking specifically about the passages I personally know, here, here, and here, plus a well kept flower garden park as depicted here)

In general: anywhere where it's not too full and too loud is a nice place for them to hang out.

[foxes-that-run]

Perfect

Zayn said he wouldn’t buy the record when he heard Perfect (so salty!). Harry's emotions varied performing it in its short 27 performance run from Oct-Dec when 1D ended. These 2 stand out:

November 20 2015, rather than sing the Bridge Harry said to the crowd "if you think it's so funny you can sing it".

3 days later at the AMAs he rolls his eyes and looks ready to walk out, the camera cuts to a kid who seems to agree. (Bridge is 2:40).

It was only performed 6 more times, in Carpool Karaoke (10:30) Harry stops singing for parts and the song cuts before the bridge, at the Jingle ball he looks away and the last time was new years.

Or this concert he put the mike into the crowd, someone stole the microphone and licked it.

Safe to say he regretted that bridge, it's savage to them both.

Writers

Perfect ties with Fools Gold for the title of the Haylor song with the most writers, at 7. While Fools Gold has all 5 of the band, Bunetta and Ryan. Harry and Louis are the only band members who worked on Perfect with Bunetta, Ryan and 3 others:

Jesse Shatkin, (cowrote Sia's Chandelier)

Jacob Kasher (Maroon 5 collaborator), and

Mozella (cowrote Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball and Fools Gold.)

To me, Perfect has more media grabbing pop-song than Harry Styles. HS’s best 1D work was with teams of 3 or 4 writers. In fact, Bunetta said Olivia came out in 45 minutes while overworking another "less good" MITAM song.

Timeline

Bunetta also told Rolling Stone about Perfect:

"That one took a long time, just because it was written over a couple different continents. It started as one thing and ended up where it is."

MITAM was made in the summer of 2015. To have been written in a couple of continents and with USA based writers it was probably either side of the BBMAs. It could have been started 'as one thing' in April in South Africa before the BBMAs other songs that reference Style including Two Ghosts started early in the year. The "ended up where it is" with those writers would be after the BBMAs, when they got back to the USA from July. This would be at the end of the album and he was singing it daily within 3 months.

Similarity to Taylors songs

It has the same chord progressions as Style and is also very similar to out of the woods as this video on Twitter shows. He called it a love song in the made in the AM interview (6 mins) and that it wasn’t literal in another. I do love this James Cordon bit and I love his Taylor smile so much.

Lyrics

[Verse 1: Louis] I might never be your knight in shinin' armour I might never be the one you take home to mother And I might never be the one who brings you flowers But I can be the one, be the one tonight

Grapejuice, has the perfect (get it) call back to this verse, along with 'Red' and 'Pay for it' and I love him for it:

"I was on my way to buy some flowers for you (ooh) / Thought that we could hide away in a corner of the heath / There's never been someone who's so perfect for me / But I got over it and I said / "Give me somethin' old and red" / I pay for it more than I did back then"

[Pre-Chorus: Liam] When I first saw you from across the room I could tell that you were curious, oh, yeah Girl, I hope you're sure what you're looking for 'Cause I'm not good at making promises

Promises come up again in Woman "Promises are broken like a stitches is", which is interesting if both Woman and part of Perfect are written after the 2015 BBMAs.

‘Know what you are looking for’ is interesting. In "Say don't go" and the 1989 TV Vaults in general Taylor did not get what she was looking for. At 23, dating a 19 year old Taylor told us she didn’t get wavy she needed. Her most recent ex, JG was 29. (yes - JG was the age Harry is now! Imagine if he did that) So I kind of stand by this line.

The start refers to the night they met. Which neither has ever confirmed, I think it was in 2011 (see timeline) Many look at the coat he tries on in the music video, which matches both his Up All Night Tour outfit (from December 2011) and the 2012 Kids Choice Awards. The awards are fun though. The Up All Night DVD also has it.

[Verse 2: Niall] I might never be the hands you put your heart in Or the arms that hold you any time you want them But that don't mean that we can't live here in the moment 'Cause I can be the one you love from time to time

Urgh I choose to attribute 'love from time to time' to one of the 6 other people writing this. To me this line always sounds like a boy-band heartthrob priority playing out in the writers room. No wonder it took time and HS1 to overcome this.

However, this does speak to a theme of them not being available to each other because of their careers and 1D punishing schedule. If I could fly's "I'm missing half of me when we're apart" and Half the World Aways " So you're not my girlfriend / Don't pretend that makes us nothing / Tell me you don't miss this feeling" speaks more honestly to the interplay of his band image, schedules and priorities which Taylor referred to Suburban Legends.

[Chorus: Harry, All] But if you like causing trouble up in hotel rooms And if you like having secret little rendezvous If you like to do the things you know that we shouldn't do Then, baby, I'm perfect Baby, I'm perfect for you And if you like midnight driving with the windows down And if you like goin' places we can't even pronounce If you like to do whatever you've been dreamin' about Then, baby, you're perfect Baby, you're perfect So let's start right now

Here are Haylor themes we know and love, Driving at midnight (Style, HYGTG, Wish You Would) generally going from a high schooler to superstar overnight (placed they can’t pronounce like Cannes), and hidden love/hiding (I Know Places, Slut!)

[Bridge: Harry] And if you like cameras flashin' every time we go out Oh, yeah And if you're looking for someone to write your breakup songs about Then baby, I'm perfect And baby, we're perfect

The camera’s flashing is good imagery and his voice brings to life how personally challenging it was for them both in a way I Know Places didn't with very few words. Taylor also refers to this imagery in Is it over now?

But the break up songs is a low blow and I assume the part he regretted to the point of not wanting to sing it. In a later interview Harry said:

“The only time you really think, ’is this song too personal?’ is if you think about, ‘is this going to be really annoying for the other person?’ Because I do [care],” he finished.

Which I think the break up song line would have been very annoying.

If you made it through that reward yourself with Grapejuice at Wembley 🍇

[sapphirerubydragon]

I stumbled across a song called "take me home" by Jess Glynne that is so Gwen centric that if there was a scenario where she was to sing something to anyone at her most valuable (specifically Miles and his family), it would be this song! It has so many references (the falling, the haunting, the freaking gun scene!) that I can't NOT think of Gwen the first chance I heard it

I love Jess Glynne! But never heard this song before. Another song for my play list! This idea of home and homelessness is such an anchoring motif in ATSV. Especially when we contrast Miles's own firm home foundation which then influences such a strong sense of self. Miles's background is enriched on so many levels, although he is Spiderman, he has two invested parents, a stable school and home life, a surplus of relatives in the form of an extended family, a wealth of cultural heritage both borinquen and African American, the early and resonant influences of his uncle and a loyal connection to the melting pot heart of Brooklyn. On the other hand, Gwen's idea of home is so volatile and chaotic such that she has to run away from it.

I feel like she ran away from home mentally before she actually left George when Miguel and Jess intervene. The spider society and Hobie's place become temporary homes but Miles is the only person who feels like home to her. I actually have an exposition on this in my fic in an earlier chapter. Thanks for asking this question I'm going to link it to some concepts in a later chapter. If things go well with my landslide of exam marking I should have another chapter up before the end of the year.

Anyways, yes to your observation on this song's Gwencentricity. Home isn't just a place like a house is. She seeks belonging and can't find it with the Mary Janes but she finds it with Miles and her own band. And I believe, eventually with her dad and Miles's parents.

Her rapid spiral and descent contrast so starkly with the put together façade she presents in ITSV. Her fractured, imperfect self is something that brings her shame but I think she's learning that with honesty and acceptance - they are features that will bring her strength.

Thing is, Miles needs to leave home to spread his wings and grow. And Gwen needs to come home to ground herself and grow. They're both the same in terms of their numerous parallels but they're also the same in terms of their symbiotic relationship, deliberately reflected in features like their symbolic colour coding - Gwen's white ghost like suit and Miles's black wraite like suit, emblematic of yin yang if you will. One brings to the other what is needed and receives from the other what is needed. Miles grows as an individual by learning when to separate from the group think and Gwen grows with the group by learning how to collaborate instead of operating as an isolated variable. Still, both know the merits of teamwork and family (Miles) and trusting yourself and your gut (Gwen). They both learn from each other and teach each other. My favourite aspect of the connection is that these overlapping connections aren't black and white and absolute but very fluid and layered. Their discovery and valuing of home won't just happen on an internal and interpersonal level between themselves but also what they'll give communally and I'm sure we'll see the fruit of all this in BTSV.

P. S. I saw your note about meaning vulnerable and not valuable! 💜

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 06/04/2024

Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action

Season 2 Featured on: A HOT ONE

Ripped by Harmony Friends

It's funny: for a surprising number of posts now, I've been sort of writing "around" the works of the ripper Harmony Friends, without ever - excluding collaborative projects like Balcony Fusion Collab - actually covering one of those works for a post. Which is a damn shame!! Because in their four-year tenure on SiIvaGunner, Harmony Friends had a pretty notable impact on the channel's life, from making Donkey Kong a mainstay of the channel's identity through creating the Coconut Gun Rap as referenced in CG Man HD Remastered Edition, to directing the incredible King for Another Day Tournament and pushing the boundaries of the channel's scope as described in NIGHTMARESCAPE 〜Unrestrained HyperCam 2〜 (Final Boss Phase 2), and many ways more. But, most importantly of all, they led the trend for a series of very silly YTP-esque sentence mixing rips on the channel, of which Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action remains a personal favorite.

So what am I referring to with these "very silly YTP-esque sentence mixing rips"? Well, if you'll recall just earlier this week, the April Fools rip Our Sweet Parsley was made specifically in tribute to Harmon Friends' work of this kind - the ones that edit and twist easily-identifiable song lyrics, primarily from Sonic the Hedgehog games, to pure comedic off-the-wall effect. Sentence-mixing is an age-old skill of the YouTube Poop trade, yet it feels as if Harmony Friends' work with rips like Thunder, Rain and Lightning, A Ghost's Bean Soup, and of course The Coconut Gun Rap were what turned said work into a mainstay on SiIvaGunner in particular, to show the potential sentence mixing had as a method of effective bait-and-switching, messing around with the track *just* enough to feel wrong in a fun way whilst still being easily missable up to a certain point in the song. Yet this bait-and-switch appeal was, as I've mentioned many times before, something that primarily worked within Season 1 itself, within 2016, when the channel's mere existence was still so novel, unknown to so many. Season 2's shift to having more takeovers and events was a brilliant way to keep the channel fresh, whilst also directing several rippers in the team to try their hand at once specific joke within their individual style. And THAT is where Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action comes in: on the day of Smoothness.

It feels as if I've talked enough about the Grammy-Award Winning 1999 Hit Smooth by Santana feat. Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty for a lifetime already back in Haltmanna feat. Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, but its appeal should be pretty obvious to anyone who's ever heard the song. Put succinctly, is at once incredibly memorable and well-composed, and has lyrics that are as memeable as can be. Pair those traits with the iconic status Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid 3 already has in gaming circles, and with Hinchy's aforementioned knack for the silliness, and the result was a rip that felt destined to occur at one point or another. The moment the rip starts, the moment you start anticipating the James Bond-esque opening fanfare to Snake Eater, only to be met with the all-too-familiar first riff of Smooth, you KNOW exactly what the rip is going to be, and you KNOW just then and there how perfect of an idea it is. I'm already a huge fan of rips that do completely original vocal covers with new lyrics such as Maskettaman - Dr. Pavel's Fly​-​So​-​Good, but something about how Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action keeps ping-ponging from Snake Eater to Smooth's vocals scratches a very particular part of my brain - as if I'm waiting with every line to see how it could be merged with Smooth's lyrics. And at every turn, I'm rewarded oh so blissfully.

From outright replacing the bridge's bellowing "But you're so supreme!!" with Smooth's "'cause you're so SMOOTH", to the way that the pause in "not for honor but for you" is removed to give way for extra syllables on the part of Smooth's vocals, together forming "not for honor but / to suit your mood", each change feels oh so deliberately done to maximize both sides of the rip. Althewhile, just like My Sweet Parsley and its contemporaries, the original instrumental still plays - Smooth never overtakes the running Snake Eater melody, merely complimenting it with flourishes from its own vocals or guitar riffs. Yet by the time they actually DO overtake the song as the chorus builds, it all feels so natural already, the Snake Eater instrumentals fit Smooth's emotional high so well at this point - its shocking how well the balance is maintained throughout the whole rip. And because of that, Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action is more than just very funny: it's a genuinely great take on Snake Eater, as the contributions from Smooth in a way help punctuate the song's existing high points, althewhile of course still being very funny.

It's really quite hard to go wrong with a Smooth rip in general, of course - but there is a real magic to listening to Tactical Three-Time Grammy Award-Winning Action after knowing already just how good Harmony Friends are at doing this particular flavor of rips from their work in the prior Season. It's the kind of rip that felt, perhaps not destined to happen, but like...with a Smooth rip underway and Harmony Friends on the team, it was such a natural extension of the joke to create, and one that was followed through on in spades of quality. And after having spent so many posts alluding to one particular ripper, I'm happy to have finally gotten to make one on the ripper behind it all.

[charcolor]

(general photosensitivity warning)

i made a reel of all* the songs i made in 2024 since tomorrow is new year's :). sorry if this posts twice i tried posting from my computer and it didn't work soooooo.... -_-

sorry for any oddities i used my sucky video editor for this one.

i have funny and silly notes for each song that i will put under the cut.

1. VXXCTIM - (tw transmisogyny mentions - skip to next one if it upsets you) this song is about my anger towards transmisogynists (namely TERFs) who equate womanhood and being female with suffering. which i believe leads to a lot of people transitioning to male when they don't actually want to, but they believe it'll make them safer. incidentally, even though i don't mind being called a girl, i hate being called "female."

2. The Eternal Damnation of Dorian Gray - this song is about someone whose ass i hate so fucking bad. not dorian gray. this isn't a picture of dorian gray fan song i just wanted to include literary references for the sake of it. also this uses both of kiyoteru's V4 voicebanks (well, trial versions of them)

3. Fake Bouquet - this is one of several songs venting about my inability to make music good enough to get attention. fittingly, no one has specifically told me they like this song outside of the comments they felt obliged to leave on the video.

4. SAVIOR☆SLAYER - i bought prima specifically to make this song that doesn't use her. (i needed a full V2 editor so i could properly edit the VSQ, since i used miki's V2 demo. vocaloidheads like me will understand.) i REALLY wanted to make a song instrumental comprised entirely of the gameboy audio chip emulator included in LMMS (freeboy) and i like how it turned out :)

5. PUTRID FACTOR - since i bought prima i might as well use her. and i think she has a lot of potential as an eerie horror vocalist that not enough people utilize, so...it's up to Me.

6. COR AUT MORS - not included in this reel since it has no PV, it's a bonus track bundled with PUTRID FACTOR on bandcamp

7. Darling Mine - i consider this my first song to organically (i.e. not due to any sort of collaboration) hit 1k views :)!! i'm very happy about it. and it's cathartic cuz i made this song after a certain somebody made a song not only with the exact opposite message (my message being "your obsessive love does not make you a monster" and their message being "your obsessive love is scary and traumatizing even if you do it from a distance") but also it was made to demonize the mental health struggles of a close friend so, yeah. fuck you [redacted]. watch your ass [redacted]

8. TERMINAL! - last year(?) after making my 2nd song using old OS aesthetics for the PV i jokingly said "stay tuned for the song in 2024 themed around mac computers." and then i realized there is a vocaloid (macne nana) (plus her little sister petit) that not only has a trial version, but also was conceptualized as a mac themed vocasynth. so i said, "🤔" and then made this. the art was animated using lipsync which is an old program used for old vocaloid PVs, i wanted to invoke the feeling of "kind of obscure nico nico upload from 2008" which is why i also tried drawing in an amateurish chibi art style...

9. ali li seli lili. - this is a remake of a 2021 song called "subete wa atatakai" that was written in very bad and incorrect japanese. i was originally gonna remake it in grammatically correct japanese but then i hyperfixated on toki pona (a conlang) so i rewrote the lyrics in toki pona. aozora hoshika is an UTAU created and voiced by one of my close friends, who is also a producer by the name of Starscape-P (formerly known as Amitai) (and even more formerly known as castalia but only true fans like me know that)

10. Password Recovery - this song was made for the collaborative album RANAgain10, made by celestrai to celebrate rana's 10th anniversary! but i don't own rana so i had my friend darling (darlingkisses01) render her for me. it's about being abandoned/ghosted/slowly drifting apart from online friends that you still feel a connection with but they don't care about you anymore. This Has Never Happened To Me

11. Popular Girl Pariah - my first song with maki :) it took me a long time to get around to buying her considering she's my favorite synthv. this was my first attempt to make something resembling modern pop music except i don't listen to a lot of modern pop music so hopefully it sounds cool and not "how do you do fellow kids."

12. Suicide Battery Heart Detonation - my first song to organically reach TWO thousand views :)!! i was really pleasantly surprised because i thought everyone would think it sounded like ass. this song is about my music sounding like ass, after all. i did also specifically write the lyrics in a way that could also be interpreted as overworking yourself to death. that doesn't apply to me, if i was overworking myself i'd probably be a LITTLE more successful, right?

13.「AI」 WILL SAVE YOU - fun fact this song title is derived from a scrapped lyric from the previous song (which was "i know 「AI」cannot save me"). i conceptualized this song before i titled it though. the video was inspired by local58 but the song was inspired by [PRIVATE INFORMATION REGARDING MY MENTAL HEALTH]

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You The Blonde Haired Legendary American Actress 👱🏻‍♀️& 1 Of The Highest Paid Actresses In Hollywood & Kick @$$ Redheaded👩‍🦰 Spy / Assassin Avenger Of The MCU

Born On November 22nd, 1984

She is an American actress and singer. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021. Johansson's films have grossed over $15.4 billion worldwide, making her the highest-grossing box office female star of all time. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, a Tony Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards.

Johansson first appeared on stage in an off-Broadway play as a child actress. She made her film debut in the fantasy comedy North (1994) and gained early recognition for her roles in Manny & Lo (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998), and Ghost World (2001). Her shift to adult roles came in 2003 with Lost in Translation, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress. She continued to gain praise for playing a 17th-century servant in Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), a troubled teenager in A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) and a seductress in Match Point (2005). The latter marked her first collaboration with Woody Allen, who later directed her in Scoop (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). Johansson's other works of this period include The Prestige (2006) and the albums Anywhere I Lay My Head (2008) and Break Up (2009), both of which charted on the Billboard 200.

In 2010, Johansson debuted on Broadway in a revival of A View from the Bridge, which won her the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, and began portraying Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Iron Man 2. She reprised the role in eight films, leading up to her solo feature Black Widow (2021), gaining global stardom.

She voiced Elita-1 in Transformers One, an animated prequel to the Transformers film series.

In addition, Johansson will join the Jurassic Park franchise in Jurassic World Rebirth, and will return to the MCU as an executive producer on Thunderbolts*.

Labeled a sex symbol, Johansson has been referred to as one of the world's most attractive women by various media outlets. She is a prominent brand endorser and supports several charitable causes.

Please Wish This Iconic & Well Known Remarkable & Beautiful Blonde Haired American Actress👱🏻‍♀️ Of Hollywood, A Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

YOU ALL KNOW HER VERY WELL

YOU ALL SEEN HER MOVIES 🎥 SINCE SHE STARTED OUT AS A CHILD STAR ACTOR

& ALL THE BOYS🙎‍♂️ CANT HELP BUT DROOL 🤤 OVER HER & HER BLONDE HAIRED BEAUTY 👱🏻‍♀️

THE 1 & ONLY

MS. SCARLETT INGRID JOHANSSON 👱🏻‍♀️ AKA NATASHA ROMANOFF, THE BLACK ⚫ WIDOW 👩‍🦰🕷 OF THE MCU

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 TO YOU MS. JOHANSSON 👱🏻‍♀️ & HERE'S TO MANY MORE YEARS TO COME

#ScarlettJohansson #BlackWidow #NatashaRomanoff #MCU #ElitaOne #TransformersOne

[chilipowder9]

Everybody so far part 1

breaking it into parts just in case there ends up being more than ten because of the Tumblr image limit

cw: a singular religious symbol (cross necklace) and smoking

if you want to know more about us as individuals you can go to one of our blogs, considering some headmates wanted their own blog

Caine used to be pretty active, isn't so much anymore, he got really hurt by our mother and almost refuses to front now

Duck has a agere/petre blog because she identifies with that form of being a child than actual children

Chara is... well his blog is a bit of a mess but so is mine so have fun with that, he seems to be second most active to me, often being main front for days then swapping back to me

Cetus only posted one thing because by the time she was able to make a blog she quit being front with me

check back here to see if anyone else makes a blog or whatever, all are free to if they want

Charlotte (Charlie) - primary protector and host, she/her, 17

likes: Minecraft, gaming, art (all kinds), astronomy, merfolk lore

dislikes: most edible plants, wires on legs, art block

I am the creator of this blog and the main one who posts, though the whole system may post or respond it is that specific headmate's responsibility to say who it is

Novocaine - primary caregiver and introject, he/him, 28

likes: teeth, dentist stuff, the effects of pain on others, caring for children and animals

dislikes: people assuming he's cruel, not knowing more about himself

He is a fictional introject of Trash Dentist from the Ghost and Pals and Creep-P collaboration song Novocaine.

his mouth scar is along his smile line, not an option in the picrew.

Duck - little and self soother, she/her, anywhere between and including 7-12

likes: everything bright and flashy and loud

dislikes: getting yelled at

Small tiefling who loves eyestrain everything and also biting people.

Cetus - ANP and host, she/her, 17

likes: makeup, merfolk lore, cottagecore

dislikes: the fact that Charlie snores

Split sister to Charlie and a lemon shark siren.

she does not have a fin on her head

Chara - persecutor and introject, he/they, 14

likes: blood, stars, buttercups, knives

dislikes: people who say he was the cause of the genocide run, people who argue over their gender in source

Fictional introject of Chara from Undertale. Literally no primary or secondary sex characteristics.

Mileena - fictional introject, she/her, 21(?)

likes: eating

dislikes: not being able to eat

She's newly discovered and rarely front, so not much is known about her so far. Fictional introject of Mileena from MK11 thought looks more like MK1.

Monika - fictional introject, she/her, 18(?)

likes: poetry, writing, coffee

dislikes: people assuming she's truly a villain even though she is the antagonist of DDLC because there's more to villain than just antagonist, eating

She is a fictional introject of Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club and often struggles with food anxiety, please be careful talking about food and eating around her, thank you!

Frisk - fictional introject, she/they, 15

likes: stars, dandelions, their source, Chara

dislikes: being forced to speak, being patronized for being semiverbal at best, fanon Frisk, frans

she is an introject of Frisk from Undertale and they often struggle speaking, though they can, it just hurts her quite a bit to do so.

Sayori - fictional introject, she/her, 18

likes: everything

dislikes: people who don't know what she means by "everything"

She loves people, the Lit Club in particular, she often spends her time bugging her friends and writing poetry

Natsuki - fictional introject, she/her, 18

likes: League of Legends (not joking), cooking, cats (black in particular)

dislikes: loli references and being called a loli

She's really rude and hot-headed, often hurting people... but she does try not to be too awful and often loves people anyway, and trust me, you want to try her eggs (she's the only one who can cook anything and the only thing she can cook is eggs in one (1) specific way)

(art by efr-d on tumblr)

Yuri - fictional introject, she/her, 18

likes: Type O Negative (band), Minecraft, tea

dislikes: being referred to as a "yandere"

She's... honestly the least like her source out of all of them. She's not socially anxious, she's just a social reject. She settles herself in the goth subculture and WILL try to talk you into hearing at least one TON song.

(art by failgirlitis on Tumblr)

[rose15lalonde]

Miku likely refers to Hatsune Miku, a Japanese virtual singer developed by Crypton Future Media. She is part of the Vocaloid software series and was released in 2007. Hatsune Miku is known for her turquoise twin tails and her ability to perform on stage as a 3D hologram, using a technology called Pepper's Ghost.

Here are some key points about Hatsune Miku:

1. Vocaloid Software: Hatsune Miku is a "Vocaloid," which is a singing voice synthesizer. Users can create songs by typing in lyrics and melodies, and the software then uses Miku's voice to sing the lyrics.

2. Popularity: Hatsune Miku has gained a large and dedicated fanbase not only in Japan but also internationally. She has been featured in numerous concerts, video games, and even has her own line of merchandise.

3. Character Design: Miku's iconic appearance, which includes her turquoise hair and futuristic outfit, was designed by the artist Kei. Her design has been updated over the years, and she has various "modules" that represent different outfits and styles.

4. Concerts: One of the most notable aspects of Hatsune Miku is her live concerts. Using a combination of projection technology and a semi-transparent screen, Miku appears on stage as a 3D hologram, interacting with the audience and performing songs.

5. Collaborations: Hatsune Miku has collaborated with various artists and has appeared in video games, commercials, and even had a collaboration with the popular rhythm game series, "Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA."

6. Fan Culture: Hatsune Miku has a vibrant fan culture, with many users creating their own songs, artwork, and videos featuring the character. This has led to a wide range of fan-created content and a strong sense of community among Miku's fans.

Hatsune Miku's impact on popular culture, music, and technology has been significant, and she continues to be a prominent figure in the world of virtual idols and entertainment.

[caltropspress]

RAPS + CRAFTS #26: Nakama.

1. Introduce yourself. Past projects? Current projects?

Peace to all the cognitive conduits out there, I’m Nakama. (yes with the period). NY born and bred artist of varying media and sectors. Word to my loves near and far, visible and not. I’m always making things, sometimes purposeful, sometimes superfluous. I also make the beats for said things, like, 94% of the time. So unless otherwise stated, it’s me on everything.

Lots of past projects: (bodies of work under various pseudonyms, I used to go by the name ENxVE The Nameless Vagrant many moons ago, so there’s some remnants from that person on the internet somewhere, haha; two EPs, All Water and On Deck, with jazz/hip-hop septet Poetic Thrust; solo endeavors as Nakama. include Hohenheim’s Burden Pt. 1 - 9, human_error, [morning meditations], Free Up Space, etc.)

Did a collaborative album with the good homie Midi Neutron and many other amazing musicians, called ikeru, that dropped in March 2024. King Vision Ultra’s SHOOK WORLD still going dumb, peace to the PTP family.

Current solo project slate is the EVERYTHING BURNS! arc. Harkening to a collapsing dystopian playhouse for any enterprising soul who dares to be in entertainment at this moment in time. Really it’s a series of projects connected through an in-universe rapper eponymously named Nakama., and his relationship to a sentient AI he modeled to get rich off of ghost writing. (I’m big on lore, but I dare not say more.)

The arc started with KINDLING_ in August of 2023, and I just dropped the next installment of the series, EMBERGO_, this month [May, 2024]. Slide on that expeditiously, there’s more en route.

2. Where do you write? Do you have a routine time you write? Do you discipline yourself, or just let the words come when they will? Do you typically write on a daily basis?

I usually write at home, or in transit. But the world is so wild and synchronous that I could write anywhere, off the strength of observation and some pattern recognition. 

Definitely find myself writing in the laaaateeee night/early mornings. Somewhere between being so mentally cooked that the words are a babbling river, and being actually sufficiently rested enough to form coherent, complete sentences. Depends on the day. I do discipline myself to a certain extent, as far as putting hard expectations on what I want a particular cadence to do, or how I want to tackle a topic. So I’ll do mad premeditation if it’s serious for me like that. 

But recently (the past year or so), I’ve been really enjoying finding a phrase or a prompt that I can reverse engineer into a full thought. Or sometimes, me or someone else will be talking and say something wild that I have to flip into a verse. On KINDLING_, the opening line of "lights out" (The goons misinterpreted the meaning of the booster shot…), was one such instance. It started as a joke at the expense of folks who were not jacking being vaccinated for absurd reasons, and I just wrote that down with no context. Then it started to grow bit by bit and I saw a larger idea to tend to, off that one little quip. Those instances happen more fluidly, as I’m listening and conversing, so that’s like, letting the words come when they will.

I do try to write every day. Not raps necessarily, but informal thoughts that could turn into raps if I like them enough. And journaling for when I gotta get in my therapy bag.

3. What’s your medium—pen and paper, laptop, on your phone? Or do you compose a verse in your head and keep it there until it’s time to record?

I do all of them, though phone is preferred at this point. I need that ability to move phrases and lines around quickly to test them as I write, so I usually reserve pen and paper for when a song is finalized and recorded, and I want a hard-copy to refer to in the future. 

And I did have a phase where I was just dumping any and every thought into the Notes app on my computer, but that was too chaotic – I’d come back days after like, “What the actual fuck am I talking about?”

4. Do you write in bars, or is it more disorganized than that?

It depends on the instrumental I’m working with and the first few lines I think of. I’ll go into more contemporary beats super measured and metronomic, to the point where I can’t avoid writing in bars. But when I’m working on more sparse, open arrangements or weird time signatures, I’ll lean into purposeful disorganization. Playing with end rhyme expectations, running a line way past the 4 then snap-correcting with a punctuated phrase of just a few words, etc. Various techniques at play, it really just falls down to what the song needs by my estimation.

5. How long into writing a verse or a song do you know it’s not working out the way you had in mind? Do you trash the material forever, or do you keep the discarded material to be reworked later?

NEVER TRASH IT. The amount of times I’ve reworked songs and beat sketches from YEARS prior that ended up becoming really important pieces to the narrative later, is innumerable. Being in the act of writing is different though. If something is actually ass I will definitely step away after a solid 30 minutes. If I don’t have a reasonable foundation, a topic, and at least one bar that makes me go “oooh that’s hard!” after 30 minutes, I know I’m forcing it and need to re-strategize. But I won’t just toss it, 'cause something was calling me to those terms in the way I chose to express them. So I just resign myself to try something else or give it a rest and step away from writing for a bit to re-center.

6. Have you engaged with any other type of writing, whether presently or in the past? Fiction? Poetry? Playwriting? If so, how has that mode influenced your songwriting?

I’ve certainly dabbled. Poetry is sort of inexorable from the process, as I mentioned, based on how I start pieces. But I used to write a lot of “proper” poetry in my youth, as well as some experiments in short stories. Most recently, I wrote and directed a piece called PLACES! (I clearly love all caps and exclamation points, haha), which was a combination of live music, scripted acting, improvisation and dance choreography presented as anti-hierarchical theater. It began as a short form poem I wrote for the Indypendent in 2023, called by an imperative I spoke of/speak with friends about, which invites reading as an activity to become increasingly communal. Where something that is considered uniquely personal and private can then be an invitation to read with friends and play the parts out actively, there was a power I became aware of in facilitating the internal and external views of shared space, specifically in a place like New York. Also the flex is that every line delivered by the actors employed rhyme, to the point where the entire 12-minute piece could be interpreted as an extended poem. It was a one-time experience but I’m cooking up another iteration of the work, so that’s pretty exciting. And overall, these dips I’ve taken into other formats just remind me of showmanship and conveyance as tools for relating to your audience. I think the enunciation and delivery of someone who’s technically trained in acting opens a whole world of possibilities for a rap performance, the way we consider battle rappers and their expression being like jagged monologues. Or with poetry, remembering that urgency and truth are quintessential tools to jar the audience and subvert expectations. So many ways to piece together a creative philosophy by amalgamating all these techniques and modalities.

7. How much editing do you do after initially writing a verse/song? Do you labor over verses, working on them over a long period of time, or do you start and finish a piece in a quick burst?

This goes back to content and topical efficacy for me. I’ve always written pretty fast as far as getting an idea down and thinking about angles. But when the piece is either emotionally intensive for me, or coming from a place that requires research, I could be working and re-working the same ideas for months. I tend NOT to do that now, as I’ve gotten to a comfortable place mechanically, where if I can think of a rhyme scheme and the thesis of the piece, I’ll play it like a madlib. Write a line relevant to the topic, mumble through the cadence I wanna hit, think of interesting phrases I’ve never heard in a song before, jot those down, and keep repeating the cycle until the whole thing comes together. I take pride in not being one of those, “YO I WROTE THIS IN 4 MINUTES ON A BOX OF FRUITY PEBBLES!” guys, 'cause sometimes that does happen, but I also believe the word and its power supersedes the rate at which the word is produced. Infusing intention into the realest shit, to make it hit harder for who needs it. (Also no disrespect to Raekwon - haha, I just feel like every rapper right now tries to jack that inhuman writing time as a stamp on their report card. Which, when it actually took you four minutes to write…it probably shows.)

8. Do you write to a beat, or do you adjust and tweak lyrics to fit a beat?

Both! One thing I love considering is how I can butcher prepositional phrases to make a bar I really like fit in time, while still getting across the meaning. Which actually opens up a whole other avenue for wordplay and entendre. I think Valee is one cat that does that really well, saying these seemingly disparate, borderline abstract things, then connecting them through extremely legible situations that continue the “story” of the song.

9. What dictates the direction of your lyrics? Are you led by an idea or topic you have in mind beforehand? Is it stream-of-consciousness? Is what you come up with determined by the constraint of the rhymes?

Again, all of it. I do squarely start from a topic most often, followed by fleshing out the structure with stream-of-consciousness and real time editing.

The rhyme constraint thing is funny, cause how many great emcees can we think of who do the same three rhyme schemes their whole career? Or alternatively, how many do we know for consistently changing their style up in iterations? The constraint really becomes a style thing after you’ve been making music for a while. You know what sounds good coming from your voice, what might not land based on your speech patterns, which ways to bend pronunciation, all that. So I think of that as a byproduct of saying what you gotta say, less as a limitation to abide by when creating.

10. Do you like to experiment with different forms and rhyme schemes, or do you keep your bars free and flexible?

Always experimenting. I never wanna write the same thing twice (from an intent perspective), so thinking of unique ways of pointing to worldly truths is a great exercise for staying sharp. Free and flexible bars can (and do) appear in my discography, but the goal is to keep everyone on their toes, including me.

11. What’s a verse you’re particularly proud of, one where you met the vision for what you desire to do with your lyrics?

So this one is a deep cut, but the verse on "garden." from Hohenheim’s Burden Pt. 3. The topic was actually the last line of the verse, “There’s no discernible principle, you pick and you choose.” But the way I approached it, and why I’m proud of it, is cause of a few moments where that idea of picking and choosing, in life, becomes the soil for one’s proverbial garden. Two sections come to mind that make me happy. The first is: “Flight or fight response unconsidered, the cicadas scream while the cadence quiver, / Qualified not by the impatiens hanging off the window sill but by the impatience incubated through the growth in self.” It’s just embodying the naturally dualistic but coexisting sensory experiences of the garden. A quiet, wavering voice somewhere in the distance slipping through the hiss of the cicadas (noise of the outside world). The impatiens as indicative of growth versus the impatience as indicative of how frustrating it can be watching yourself grow. The fight or flight being our usual binary for handling conflict, and affirming that in the garden no one is thinking of that, because nothing will grow through either of those modes alone. The second section I love is: “Toes exposed to the oscillations of LFOs, / Dropback turns higher than the sun go and gunsmoke reach, / You can’t kill me if I’m infinite, that’s what the drumroll teach.” That one hits crazy cause, for all my anime fans out there, I’m referring to Eureka 7 a few times (Dropback turns; Higher Than The Sun; LFOs, in the show meaning Light Finding Operation). But situating it in this context of the garden, when you watch the show and see the motifs of what building a home in a violent world means, or learning to nurture yourself and others, the references take on a whole other meaning. Also, “You can’t kill me if I’m infinite, that’s what the drumroll teach” is just hard.

12. Can you pick a favorite bar of yours and describe the genesis of it?

One that always goes under the radar but I think is mad fun is off of "menacing." on Hohenheim’s Burden Pt. 7: “Like two boroughs claim to the genesis, / Same Queen’s broken English, the bridge was over heads like bats in the belfry.”

It’s an extended acknowledgment of the BDP vs Juice Crew beef around the origins of hip-hop culture regionally, but also referring to the Queen’s broken English as what many Afro-Caribbean kids heard about the way they speak in school/formal spaces. Unified in this art that was still being actively derided for anti-intellectualism. So that reflects the outward perception, which often overshadows the nuance and politics of the communities actually involved in the thing, hence, “the bridge was over heads like bats in the belfry.” The means by which people travel and connect to us have tended to be from this top-down view, very removed and out of the light of what’s really happening with this art.

It goes by pretty quick but it’s so loaded as a bar, I always like breaking that one down to people.

13. Do you feel strongly one way or another about punch-ins? Will you whittle a bar down in order to account for breath control, or are you comfortable punching-in so you don’t have to sacrifice any words?

I actually hate punch-ins 'cause I can’t punch-in during a live set, and my view is if I can’t do it live with my singular voice, it shouldn’t be like that on record either. But I recently recorded an album’s worth of material doing EXCLUSIVELY punch-ins, for every bar on every song. I wanted to break away from that stigma I set around it, and it’s actually really fun to play with creatively. However, that album is never coming out and I’m still doing every verse straight through. But it was a fun experiment!

14. What non-hiphop material do you turn to for inspiration? What non-music has influenced your work recently?

So many things. Anime, video games, books, other music genres, conversations with friends, literally any and all stimuli are viable for inspiration in my creative universe. I probably look like a crazy person, for real. I’m like reading Jung’s writings on Archetypal psychology and watching two-hour breakdowns of the meta-narrative of Metal Gear Solid 2. Musically I just went back to The Mars Volta after having not listened to them for years, so that’s been fun and informing some textural things I’d like to try my hand at in the future. Also on a huge Metalheadz revisit too. I wanna do a song with Cleveland Watkiss, bro - that would be so fire. And just for vibes, been bumping a lot of Kaidi Tatham, Kerri Chandler, KUMO 99, mad other stuff. I’m literally open to anything if it’s grounded in a defined creative philosophy.

15. Writers are often saddled with self-doubt. Do you struggle to like your own shit, or does it all sound dope to you?

I don’t struggle really 'cause I’m acutely aware that nothing is gonna be as exciting as that new thing sitting on your computer that three people have heard. So when my work goes out into the world, I rest knowing I did my best and the next thing will be even better. And the emotional connection to the work brings out an appreciation that few would ever really understand outside of like, my closest friends and loved ones and me, so that’s a dimension where I don’t even care to critique the work, cause I know exactly where in my heart it came from, and when, and why.

16. Who’s a rapper you listen to with such a distinguishable style that you need to resist the urge to imitate them?

That’s actually a hard-ass question; I think there’s an aspect of time spent with an artist that contributes to my internalizing of their techniques. So like, I spent a lot of time analyzing DOOM’s style (long live the GOAT), and I overtly attempted things I heard on his records. Then as I acclimated more to his style, I veered away from emulating it because I learned the mechanics behind what he was doing. Instead of making 1:1 recreations of his schemes, I employed the tools behind them in my own way. So with expectation, and subverting the end rhyme, I picked that up from "Great Day" off Madvillainy: “Last wish, I wish I had two more wishes, / And I wish they fixed the door to the Matrix, it’s mad glitches / Spit so many verses sometime my jaw twitches / One thing this party could use is more [beat - clears throat] booze.” Such an expert move in creating a moment that, either when recited to oneself, with friends, or performed in front of a crowd, there’s this inside joke and “Aha! Gotcha!” that’s always palpable. I live for that shit, where the audience can be in on the process of the writing almost, if not in, real time. So I guess my answer is DOOM, because I spent so much time trying to figure it out, that once I did, I made myself use the toolkit and not the products.

17. Do you have an agenda as an artist? Are there overarching concerns you want to communicate to the listener?

My agenda is: do right by your people and connect worlds. That’s what the whole cognitive conduit thing is about, for real. We all occupy space and experiences that could theoretically never overlap if we didn’t actively seek and nurture the connection we have to other people and places. So when your cognition of the external becomes a conduit point, for energy to travel through and relay information/feelings/experiences to another person, or people, you persist in forming those bridges to greater understanding of the external and your own place in it. As someone who has dealt with a lot of grief, and loss, and isolation, I resolved to make more meaningful connections in my life. And over the years, in embodying that, I’ve seen myself grow a lot, and seen other people be affected by my growth in positive ways. That cascade of experience into the lives of those you hold space with is beautiful, and scary, and global. So I put that bridge-building ethos at the forefront of my work because I’ve seen what community oriented work does for everyone. And it’s incredible. Other than that, it’s free the Global South (not underdeveloped, under-respected) and fuck 12 🏁.

RAPS + CRAFTS is a series of questions posed to rappers about their craft and process. It is designed to give respect and credit to their engagement with the art of songwriting. The format is inspired, in part, by Rob McLennan’s 12 or 20 interview series.

Photo credit: Nakama.

[explorer-of-art]

The idiot half of a whole idiot, Regulus Ortiz. He's the one causing problems that Erwin has to put up with. Wanting to become a powerful mage, he also has a one-sided rivalry with Malleus which causes him and Erwin to butt heads with Sebek a lot. Twisted from Lord Hater from "Wander Over Yonder".

Regulus is hot-headed, impulsive, selfish, short-sighted, cringy, and an idiot. But he is also resilient, determined, confident, and perseverant that others think he should be in Savanaclaw instead. And he acts like a shounen anime protagonist despite not being the protagonist of Twisted Wonderland at all.

He has a passion for cartoons and animation. He once tried to draw his own but didn't have the patience to draw so many frames. If he goes back to drawing, he should be trying comics and look at ONE's works (One Punch Man and Mob Psycho) for reference. He has a simple cartoon art style.

He is in the Spelldrive Club. He's not good enough to play in official games so he isn't on the team during the Book 2 tournament. He would be in the Film Club but Vil is one of the reasons why he isn't there.

He is fluent in Spanish. He is studying Japanese and is proficient but he talks like a shounen anime protagonist and uses casual forms which makes him sound rude to Japanese speakers. Anime was with him since the beginning and has corrupted him greatly. He can cover Japanese anime songs perfectly, pitch accents and all.

He is good at voice acting and has done work for amateur projects and collaborations.

He is based on shounen anime protagonists from before the 2010s. His hair comes from that. Part of his personality comes from mob NPCs that exist to pick fights with the main characters because I wanted at least one OC that would be the type to throw down with Grim.

He gets the anemone in Book 3. He made the same mistake last year. Erwin lectured him both times about it.

In Ghost Marriage, his proposal is so cringy that Idia looks normal in comparison.

[stuffydollband]

It’s Transgender Awareness Week and that happens to line up with a very special Day 10 of talking about my upcoming album, “Ganymede Gives Up The Ghost”!

Why’s it special, you ask? Well, some of you may recognize the illustration for today’s song. I’m truly overjoyed to announce that none other than comedian, writer, and all around nerd-stuff extraordinaire, Riley Silverman, has loaned her vocal talent to provide the voice of The Narrator!

“There’s a Narrator? But this is like a music album, right?” You ask.

Yes, it is! But I’m *theatrical* and *artsy*, so I wanted to amp up the drama for the narrative of Our Hero (don’t know who Our Hero is? Go check out the last few days of posts and learn more about her!)

I’m so tremendously honored to have the chance to work with Riley, who now holds the title of my first official collaboration, and I can’t thank her enough for being a part of such a personal and weird project. If you aren’t familiar with her, or even if you are, please check out “Strumpets and Flagons”, the thirsty-sword-lesbians TTRPG podcast she did last spring, and “Troubled Waters”, which is a podcast on the MaxFun network that she writes for (I know some of my fans are as big of MaxFun fans as I am!)

So, let’s gab about today’s song, shall we? Today’s song is called “All The Friends Fall Off”.

It’s a song about loneliness. About watching your social circle diminish as you get older, enumerating the people I’ve lost along the way and ruminating on how I lost them. Some for good reasons, some for bad reasons, some for ridiculous reasons. It’s about learning the lesson that you can’t hold onto everything, you can’t make everyone stay, but if you’re good and kind and keep trying, you’ll find new people who will love you, and who you’ll love in return.

Lyrically, I frame the lesson through a lens I’ve always used to connect with friends: music. I replay a few memories with references to songs that have tied me to other people. It’s a weird way of writing that simultaneously felt very foreign and very personal.

A preview of the lyrics:

“‘Game Shows Touch Our Lives’ by The Mountain Goats

You don’t like the cigarettes, they make you choke

I don’t want to move on, but that’s what I do

I just want to waste my time with you”

Let’s make this one fun: what’s the silliest reason you’ve lost a friendship over? I wanna hear about it!

[dustedmagazine]

Rosali — Bite Down (Merge)

Rosali Middleton experienced a lot of change in the lead up to recording her fourth solo album, Bite Down. She relocated to North Carolina and changed labels to Merge Records. Some constants remain. Her collaboration with Mowed Sound, a group of players who work with a number of artists, continues. The recording is also augmented by keyboardist Ted Bois, who melds well with the rest of the musicians.

Rosali’s interest in experimentation, which she has explored under other monikers, has gradually infiltrated her solo work. She goes the furthest to date towards it on Bite Down, which includes noise elements that distress the edges of songs that could easily be successfully presented in more straightforward contexts.Pinpointing Rosali as rock or folk or country is overly reductive. She takes things song by song, with varying styles and approaches.

The album opens with “On Tonight,” featuring briskly overlapping rhythm guitar riffs, some by Mowed Sound, but Rosali plays guitar as well as sings. There is an arcing  melody in synth strings and, a signature for Bite Down, multi-tracked vocals. Rosali’s voice has an impressive range, from low alto to dulcet soprano. “Rewind” is a love song with lyrics about seeking stability in a romance. Its chorus provides a memorable hook: “I love you, And I know you love me too, Be the same you, I’ll rewind for you.”

“Hills on Fire” is one of my favorite songs on Bite Down. Country adjacent, it features a keening vocal melody and East Nashvillian arrangement. The extended slide guitar introduction is succeeded by a winsome vocal and several solo breaks. This is Rosali’s voice at its most gentle, cooing in her upper register.

The title track is something of a feature for Bois, whose electric piano sets a mid-tempo syncopated groove buoyed by the rhythm section, and synths that add sustained tones ghosting the vocals. Mowed Sound particularly distinguishes themselves here. Biting down is taken here as grasping at what’s real, with which the narrator struggles. There’s also a veiled reference to Virginia Woolf’s suicide: “I keep on walking, Putting rocks in my pocket, I’m drawn to the docks and Eternal Life.” Ultimately, we learn that it is a plea for help from a beloved: “Everything has a price, What’s it worth to you?” The music belies the sobering subject matter, but also lets us know there remains a suppleness of step that, we hope, will afford the narrator the courage to turn away from the water. “Is It Too Late” depicts the murky mornings of depression, with a resolve to keep going. Here, the moody guitar riff and florid singing match the challenges depicted in the lyrics.

Rocking out is on the menu, particularly evident on the penultimate track, “Change Is in the Form,” a doppelganger of a Neil Young song with attractive layered backing vocals juxtaposed with an inexorable groove and duo guitar solos. “Hopeless” has a strong backbeat and a number of instrumental breaks. It is about accepting the end of a relationship while remembering its previous laughter and joy. “Slow Pain” immediately follows, and its musical vibe and lyrics suggest it is a companion (estranged companion) song: “​Have you seen my grief? Hold it so I don’t spill out, Keep quiet and wait it out.” It has one of the most extended guitar solos on the album, which closes the song with verve and virtuosity. Such plaintive lyrics occasionally make bopping one’s head to the memorable tunes seem like a guilty pleasure. The connections between pleasure and pain seem to coalesce in much of Rosali’s work, and it is the better for it.

Bite Down ends with an extended song, “May it Be On Offer,” which clocks in at five and three-quarter minutes. It has a slow paced, loping rhythm, once again with overlapping guitars, both acoustic and electric, that presents a stark contrast to “Change Is In the Form.” Its vocal melody, again country adjacent in construction, sits in the mid-register, sung with a repeating melody in speech-like declamation. The lyrics depict contemplation of the struggles that have come before on the recording, with a pointed question asked by so many that serves as the album’s enigmatic close: ​​”And I’ll sit for hours, Gazing at the light, And I do wonder, If I waste my life. No, I don’t wonder, If I waste my life.”

This is for certain, no time is wasted listening, likely again and again, to Rosali’s compelling emotional journey on Bite Down.

Christian Carey