#some BANGERS in this ep whew

[shutupineedtothink]

Moffat my guy, boy did I miss those INSANE once a millennia dialogue drops out of nowhere — “everywhere is a beach eventually” like 🤌🤌🤌 and also 😭😭😭

[grlsgen]

my favorite 2020 kpop songs

there were some bangers this year... this includes title tracks & bsides and everything else under the sun.

i always got shit to say and i always see youtube videos like this but i simply can’t edit so here we are

you never know - blackpink

okay yeah i didn’t really fw hylt or lovesick girls when i first heard them but when i listened to the album you never know really stuck with me... i never get sick of it. definitely the best track off the album imo. rosé’s prechorus has made me cry a few times ngl

alien - lee suhyun

alright miss thing... i was obsessed with this song when i first heard it... the pre chorus with the ooo ooo ooo and the switch to the chorus is so good it gets me every time. she’s cute i like her... while we’re here i’ll also mention i really liked her ost in your time for it’s okay to not be okay.. i loved that drama and that’s my fav ost from it.. but anyway

lalalilala - april

They Served. Big time. the music video is so pretty and the song was stuck in my head for 6 months straight... they really did the damn thing with this. kinda sounds like an apink song but that’s a compliment... overall this whole comeback was really good and deserved better. honorable mention : the bside on this ep you.zip is so good too

open your eyes - iz*one

this is all i listened to for months after bloomiz dropped... izone’s music is really a hit or miss for me and i didn’t really vibe with fiesta but i’m so glad i gave the album a chance because open your eyes is definitely in my top 5 releases of this year. their other bside dreamlike is really good too

the book of us : the demon - day6 album

now where do i start with this... to this day i am still obsessed with 1 to 10... like that’s gotta be the best off this album imo. zombie was so good and i really liked the lyrics. the album as a whole was really really good. i sound like a broken record

children - bvndit

oh boy... another one of my top 5 releases from this year. not only is the overall sound of this amazing but i love the lyrics too. these girls deserve so much better

d-2 - agust d/yoongi/suga mixtape

my king. i shit myself when this dropped ngl... i don’t even know how to elaborate on how much i love this. daechwita was stuck in my head for the longest time.. i think the highlights off this for me have to be people, honsool & dear my friend. this mixtape was really a moment.. i love yoongi y’all

love again - baekhyun / underwater - baekhyun

alright alright .. i put these two together since they’re from the same album idk but it took a while for candy to grow on me but i’ve loved these since i first heard them... i was Obsessed. the final bridge/chorus whatever the hell thing he does in love again put me into shock for 3 months straight and the beat in underwater is heavenly

the dream chapter : eternity - txt ep

this serve. has to be my favorite from txt yet... rookies with the best discography fr. i love dark concepts and really like that they did something different with this. can’t you see me was Amazinggg. fairy of shampoo has to be one of the best songs i’ve ever heard it’s insane. i also really liked eternally, who else has that range... Nobody. top to bottom this ep is really good, i hope they do another dark concept like this again soon bc this hit big time

eight - iu & suga

it took a while for this to grow on me but whew...when it did... kinda makes me feel like i’m in a coming of age movie and i like that, makes me nostalgic for that. eight soty, they both did great on this

# - loona ep

Now... Cmon. so what was either a hit or miss for a lot of people but something i think everyone can agree on is that the bridge is godsent. like that shit makes me cry sometimes. the music video was really good, i always come back to the subway/train scene. number 1 is also so damn good. overall i really loved this ep. they really ate with this one

eyes wide open - twice album

when i first heard this album i didn’t like it That much but it’s really grown on me lately. the whole retro trend was fun and then it got a little overdone so i was tired of it by the time this dropped but actually.. some of the bsides are insanely good. behind the mask is definitely a highlight for me, mina’s bridge is heavenly. i love mina so bad. but anyway, i can’t stop me took some time to grow on me as well but it always gets stuck in my head. i also really like up no more & depend on you, they’re cute

maybe - gidle

Y’all... i love this song. it’s short and simple but it was so addicting to me. i really like that one part in the last two choruses if you know what i’m talking about (i’m not sure who sings it ? some people say soyeon some say shuhua idk, shuhua my queen btw) and soojin’s verse in the bridge hits. to this day i’m still obsessed with this song

a song written easily - oneus

this is so underappreciated, this is easily one of my favorite title tracks released all year. i’m not a huge fan of beat drops but this one was really nice imo, i also liked the lead in before the drop and the final chorus. this was really good and i never get sick of it

wannabe - itzy

CUT THE DAMN CAMERAS.... no fr this is my #1 favorite song released this year. talented brilliant incredible amazing... itzy seriously ate up everyone with this. i keep going back to this song it’s insane. iconic choreo good mv good styling amazing song.. like everything here lined up. i don’t know how they’ll ever top this for me. definitely my soty (next to psycho)

black swan - bts

this is excellent idk what else to say. i thought it was just okay when i first heard it but it’s seriously so good, me being yoongi biased i loved that he got multiple verses but i love the do your thing with me now breakdown part too. the choreo is one of my favorite from them and the mv was really pretty. black swan is one of my favorite movies so the comparisons with it made me love this song more. overall, probably my favorite off mots7

my time - jungkook of bts

jungkook always has the best album solos fr. i loved this the second i heard it, kinda justin bieber esque but it’s so good. i love the lyrics and transition it takes thru the song. the chorus hits man.. this song always makes me a little sad but he really did amazing on this

monster - red velvet irene & seulgi ep

my queens what can i say. i was so excited for this unit and they did not disappoint. monster still hits, aged like wine. the best track is fr feel good, i still have it on repeat.. insanely good. seulgi really delivered with uncover, it’s so beautiful. i think sm’s intention was always to have a subunit this year but i thought it was smart to do while wendy was recovering, hoping for ot5 soon y’all..

never gonna dance again : act 2 - taemin album

taemin my king wtf!!! i loved criminal so i was really excited for this and of course... he always delivers. top to bottom i loved this album, he really did amazing on it. identity might be the best song i’ve ever heard... and of course i loved the collab with wendy 🙏 overall such a good album, taemin always serves the best

pporappippam - sunmi

what can i say i love a little retro tune. even though i just said earlier i was sick of it idc i loved this. sunmi always shows up, i don’t know what else to say. this song never gets old

dystopia : the tree of language - dreamcatcher album

i didn’t expect to love this album as much as i did... i don’t listen to it as often anymore but i can’t deny that scream was a major serve. every time i hear it it’s like the first time... their bside jazz bar was so good. dreamcatcher’s bsides always hit what can i say

12:00 - loona ep

Yes. why not is not necessarily my favorite title from them ever (it’s butterfly, btw) but it’s always stuck in my head... obviously i loved voice/star, was obsessed for weeks and i was happy they decided to promote it a little. styling on those stages were so cute btw. i also loved fall again from this ep, chuu sounds angelic on it. loona had some amazing cbs this year

la di da - everglow

Obsessed. i watched every stage as they dropped and listened to this every 5 seconds, Amazing. sihyeon really owned this era for me and shes my bias so of course i ate this whole thing up. this was definitely one for the books, what more can i say

literally everything gfriend released this year

this might be their best year yet for releases imo, i really liked how they tried out different concepts and sounds this year, i’ve always loved their music but the switch was refreshing yknow. crossroads was so good, i loved that mv. here we are is still on repeat almost a year later... and now APPLE. apple was so mf good. i love that they decided to do a dark concept, this song really fit them well, still obsessed w it. mago might be my least fave out of the 3 but it’s still so good. don’t even get me started on yuju in the mv.. Queen. i liked the subunits on walpurgis night, especially better me. gfriend had a really good year imo, they deserved more for it.

Anyways. that was my 2 cents.

wannabe & psycho soty

[curestardust]

if you want: boi this is some Grade A yaoi dom/sub shit > this is a review of both the 1992 and the 2012 versions

So upon seeing this anime in my PTW i was thoroughly confused. I like yaoi from time to time but I don’t actively look for it. Then I suddenly remembered; one of my friends in like 8th grade was bugging me constantly to watch this because it’s “so HOT NGHNGHGH”. Well Fruzsi it’s been like 7 years now but I finally watched it!

The story is set in some futuristic world in another planet. The society is ruled by machines and the Blondies that were created by them (I think, I actually read this part on wikipedia). There’s a district where men with no official government identifiaction live and they’re called “mongrels” and are considered the lowest of the low.

In this society the Blondies keep certain humans as pets and furnitures (basically sex slaves and worker slaves). Our main character Riki is a mongrel and has a run in with a Blondie. NSFW things happen and Riki becomes the Blondie’s (Iason’s) pet for 3 years after which he is allowed to go back to the Slums for a year.

So let me begin with the original 1992 version. The animation and art are as you would expect from anime from this time. The Slums are mostly dark with vivid colours giving the neon and futuristic feel. Tanagura (the “capital”) is mainly shades of white to give the feeling of purity and perfectionism. The characters are wonky however. Actually good character designs basically stop at the 3-4 main characters with secondary characters basically being indistinguishable. 

Just like the colours, the music also plays a big role. The lack of background music can actually be distracting at times but the anime only uses tracks when it really wants to give another layer to the events happening on screen. Voice acting is decent but with more emotional scenes some of the performances were uhhh....unintentionally funny.

The pacing is off. The 1992 version consists of 2 almost 1 hour long episodes. In the first one we join in at the time when Riki is let back into the Slums by Iason and we follow him in the present. Then the second one is divided between flashbacks and advancing towards the ending. You’d think that Ai no Kusabi would be giving you steaming hot yaoi action but in reality there’s barely any NSFW content in the first episode; the majority of it is spent by fleshing out the world.

While quite a lot happens, the character development is lackluster. The anime feels more like just events happening after each other because the plot demands it and not because of a natural flow of the characters actions.

The 2012 version is an improvement in certain areas and a downgrade in others. The most glaring change is obviously the art and animation. It’s GORGEOUS. Not only is the animation fluid but the character designs of the secondary characters got a huge haul-over. They no longer look like clones of each other but like they have their own character. They went to extreme length with this; even the facial structure of characters were completely different.

Somewhat of a downgrade would be the music which is...fine. Just fine. The OST sounds like it came off of “free-copyright-music.net”. 

The 2012 version consists of 4 25 minute episodes. It is much slower than the original version and goes much more in depth on the story. It also doesn’t have an ending....yep. As it turns out this was supposed to be 12 OVAs long but they discontinued it due to financial reasons (seems like creating HQ sex scenes dries up money fast).

It is dissapointing as I was just getting into the groove of it by episode 4 and then just bamm, it’s over. Oh and one thing to mention; in one of the episodes there’s just a random conversation in which Riki tells his age and he says that he is 15...UMMM??? SO i know that the Blondies don’t really have ages or whatever but this made me immENSELY uncomfortable so I’m just choosing to think that Riki has been like 18-20 when the story starts, alright? Alright.

SOOOOO...I don’t really know what else to say. You like yaoi and this dom/sub slave whatever fetish thing you’ll probably enjoy this? It is unfinished...but the episodes made are still great quality and there’s always the manga? [6/10] (x) [6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: something really edgy that doesn’t have a purpose besides being edgy

Mahu Shoujo Site is godawful.

This “dark magical girls” trope is starting to get on my nerves. They usually have no point besides giving enjoyment to sick fucks who enjoy seeing little girls in horrible situations. Oh and also to the people who think “dark, depressing and gorey = d e ep”.

So, I obviously caught notice of this the first time I saw it as I’m always interested in magical girl stuff. And if you’ve read my previous reviews you know that this usually doesn’t go very well. Anyway, even from the summary I knew that this was going to be edgy but how much? Well I read the first review on MAL on it and lowkey scarred me into ignoring this anime. In the end, curiosity won out and I really wanted to see how much of a trainwreck MSS actually was.

I feel like a summary of the first episode would scare a lot of people away as it shows a lot of really cruel stuff that many people are sensitive to. Which would be: the apparent murder of a kitten to fuck with main character (not actually shown), the main character getting severely bullied and beaten at school by 3 of her classmates, her big brother tying her up and beating her (and punching her in the stomach) at home and at the very end some dude almost rapes her. Oh and the main character is like some 14yo little girl.

Whew. Ticks off all the “ew wtf” boxes, doesn’t it? Well rest assured the anime NEVER goes into this level of cruelty again. There are no animals in the anime after episode one. *Spoilers* happen to the bullies which also mostly takes them out of the picture after episode 2 and our main character is barely home or if she is then she is with friends which makes his brother unable to beat her. 

All this was just used to show how “unfortunate” she is so that she will be made into a magical girl as in MSS only girls who have had to deal with a lot of pain are eligible to become magical girls. OOOO edgy.

Then they have their weapons which are stupidly all named “sticks” even though they can be whatever (gun, phone, yoyo, panties...). And speaking of sticks, using them eats up the girls’ life forces...OOOO edgy. Have I mentioned that whenever they “transform” they HAVE to bleed from somewhere? Like eyes, nose, head...OOOOOOOOO edgy!!!!

We’ve a main cast of characters who get some personality but then we’re introduced to a second set of characters who literally have one personality trait each, plus their powers which makes me give approximately 0 fucks about whether they live or die.

The animation is quite poor, the OST is unremarkable and they seem to use the same 3 tracks in every episode (the OP and ED songs are bangers however) and the voice acting also leaves much to be desired but the VA’s did as much with the script as they could. 

The worst part is that the anime kinds of ends on a cliffhanger. Even from the opening I was expecting some grand battle but nope. There’s a plot twist which made me go “HMM” but that’s about it. So you sit through this shitfest and don’t even get a proper conclusion. Any enjoyment you could take away from this is seeing just how much bullshit they can put into these 12 episodes.

The characters you can grow to care for. Mostly because they’re SET UP to be pitied and babied, but my thought regarding them is “you didn’t deserve to be in this pile of garbage of an anime”. (x) [2/10]

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

[jaychellouise-blog]

I fucking love Julia Michaels

Julia Michaels is the future of pop and anyone who disagrees can fight me.

Let me explain.

I first became aware of Julia Michaels with her single ‘Uh-Huh’ at the start of this summer, a low-key banger with this impossibly charming video:

I didn’t know then that she was the writer of my Song Of The Summer ‘Bad Liar’, or that she was partially responsible for turning ex-Disney Princess Selena Gomez into a genuinely distinctive pop weirdo (more on that at a later date). What initially struck me about ‘Uh Huh’ wasn’t even the songwriting, but actually the vocals - something which I think is so overlooked with Julia Michaels, who is usually just seen as a writer, not a performer in her own right. The chorus has such a distinctive sound to it; partially spoken it ranges from decisive uh huhs to an almost hysterical high pitch, the vocal equivalent to exhilarating physical attraction (not a mere “oh yeah, they’re hot” but “oh ok they’re BEAUTIFUL help me”). Julia’s vocal delivery takes you on that journey, sounding breathless not in a coquettish early-Britney way but in a way that sounds like the headrush of fancying the pants off someone. One of my favourite moments come in ones of the pre-choruses - “It’s rare that the panic in my mind feels so damn good...whew!”, the line ending with Julia needing to take a moment to not just recover, but really savour the feeling. ‘Uh Huh’ is so good because it revels in truly wanting someone, and Julia is a performer who, much like Lorde, calculates the delivery of every last note in a way that (perhaps counter-intuitively) makes the song sound more genuinely alive.

I also like that this song is so open-hearted; Julia may sing about “going in for the kill”, but the song also contains quite sweet sentiments - she likes this person so much she gets the shakes without them, likes them so much that it’s kinda pathetic even - and I also think it’s significant that she puts an equal weight on emotions and the body, as physical and emotional desire blend and merge to create something complete and overwhelming in the most enjoyable way - because, last but not least, this song is super fun, with that campy piano and playful backing vocals. 

Julia’s EP, ‘Nervous System’, came out in July and is comprised of 7 perfectly composed pop tracks. I could honestly write essays about all of them, but I’ll restrain myself. I still think musically ‘Uh Huh’ is the strongest, but I want to also talk about ‘Issues’ and ‘Make It Up To You’. For me these weren’t the most immediate songs, but here Julia’s open-hearted songwriting really shows - they don’t follow the typical heartbreak trope of relationship strife, but come from the perspective of being the unwilling cause of it. It’s not explicitly written as such, but ‘Make It Up To You’ is particularly poignant to me because it resembles so closely my own experience of being in a relationship where my mental health has led my to treat my (eternally/bafflingly patient boyfriend) like shit. “I wish I could be that tender stable girl that you want, but I’m not” * could, in another context, read as tragic, but Julia manages to turn it on its head; yes, she can be difficult, but she loves this other person and really wants to acknowledge them for all that they’ve put up with. The song is full of self-deprecating admissions like this, but it always feels sincere - in part because they feel so real and relatable (”I always ruin good things/Like that time with your friends” could refer to any number of incidents where I’ve behaved like a brat), and also because the melody is so uplifting that the message is clearly apologetic and hopeful, not wallowing. There’s a similar theme to ‘Issues’, wherein Julia acknowledges her faults but finds redemption in her relationship. This could easily stray into the territory of Julia finding salvation not in herself but in a man and thus encouraging co-dependency (yawn and bleurgh), but it’s actually a really lovely sentiment of mutual respect and just actually being there for one another. Love for Julia Michaels is not about ultimatums or dramatic gestures, but is about just being kind to each other - something hugely underrated, but here presented as pop bliss. It’s such a refreshing message and makes her a truly distinctive voice.

Beyond her EP, Julia Michaels has also written some absolute bangers over the past few years (see Popjustice’s Spotify playlist ). Her collaboration with Jack Antonoff on ‘Hate That You Know Me’ is to me the most intriguing, as her relatively stripped-back approach (see ‘Hands to Myself’) seems naturally at odds with Antonoff’s distinctively OTT sound (see all of Bleachers), but somehow it works - helped of course by the vocals of Queen of Everything, Carly Rae Jepsen. I think that Switched On Pop do a really good breakdown of Julia’s sound here, showing how her somewhat minimalist approach draws you in and distils pop to its simplest elements. It’s something we’re hearing more of generally, and I think we’re going to be hearing specifically a lot more of Julia in the next few years. I can’t wait. 

* Regretably the poignancy of this line is ruined somewhat by the fact that I first heard this as “I wish I could be that tennis table girl that you want”, and therefore kept picturing “Ping Pong Girl” from My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It’s something I can’t unhear.