#something about this ep felt so authentically queer and I love it

[buildoblivion]

The Last of Us s1e3 “Long, Long Time” 2023 // Keith Haring “Unfinished Painting” 1989

[absolutebl]

Best & Worst BLs of 2023

My Top 15 BLs of 2023 are (in order)

1 Our Dating Sim

Korea Viki

Nerds in love, deadlines, gaming, teasing, pining tiny idiots, casual affection, linguistic oops, ADORABLE. If you haven't watched this, it's a must. A perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. Just comforting and yummy.

I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL. It lives in my rewatch pile and you know what’s best about it? Every single episode is in that pile. There’s no skipping with this one, it might be good natured and calmly sweet but it’s tight and the pacing is excellent.

Also recieves my 2023 award for best giggle.

2 I Cannot Reach You

AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai

Japan Netflix

This classic friends-to-lovers BL is everything Japan does best. Angsty. Emo. Aching. Driven by real thirst. Yamato is deeply in love with his childhood bestie, Kakeru, and has been for ages, unable to hide his ungainly damaging high school need. He wants Kakeru in every way possible and it oozes off of the screen.

Kakeru is silly and a little simple, but not frenetic or overly camp about it. He is earnest, and genuinely wants to keep Yamato in his life which means giving a romance (and gayness) a fair chance. We watch him realize his affection and what form it can take in a truly authentic way.

This show was impossibly kind to both of its lead characters and I felt almost honored that I got to watch something so lovely and rare play out on my screen.

Also wins the best thirst award.

These were the 2 BLs that got 10/10 from me in 2023. The rest of these got 9/10 from me.

3 My School President

Thailand YouTube

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

Received the Namgoong award for best wingman 2023.

4 I Feel You Linger in the Air

Thailand grey

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework. Steeped in history and family drama this is an elegant and classy BL. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. It's a marker of how great it was that it's so high on my list despite the ending which was very much not what I wanted.

Additional accolade, sexiest moment of 2023 - (the oil scene).

You could try to fight me, but you'll have no grip.

5 Kiseki: Dear to Me

Taiwan Gaga & Viki

The plot is totally ridiculous and slightly unhinged. There’s a gum-ball machine of cameos, elder gay rep, great chemistry from all pairs (everyone is queer), and a KILLER side couple. It involves all the tropes under a very offhand framework of gay mafia gangs + food = love. As a result Kiseki is a poster child for Taiwanese BL, and I happen to love Taiwanese BL. Bonus? They also managed to END IT WELL, which we cannot expect from Taiwan.

Best side couple 2023!

(thank goodness Taiwan made this list!)

6 Jun and Jun

Korea Viki

A delightful office romance about an ex-idol who joins cubical life only to find his new boss is his first love. With a snappy (sometimes even raunchy) script, enjoyable sides, a pretty as peaches cast, and descent chemistry this show made up for in style what it lacked in substance. I like fluff. I loved this. I smiled every moment I was watching.

Best flirting 2023.

AKA "the tongue knows" award

7 The Eighth Sense

Korea Viki

This one is a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it has a glorious ending and that counts for a lot.

2023's most likely to appeal to non-BL watchers.

8 Unintentional Love Story

Korea iQIYI

The lead, Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT, who carried this show. He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, which he used to carry a killer plot and challenging role. Forced into a totally understandable betrayal, falling in love despite himself, put into a corner he can't get out of, the AGONY, the eyes EMOTING at us in PAIN. Driven by external conflict, social tension and pressure this story seems simple but it's actually refined and quite complex. I loved this show.

Best story structure 2023.

9 My Personal Weatherman

AKA Taikan Yoho

Japan Gaga

This is classic yaoi of the kind that really only works from Japan. Basically: boys who fell in love in college end up living together but both are so repressed they actually don't realize they're in love. It's high heat is well done, but it leaned into the "why don't they just talk for fuck's sake?" which is exacerbated by the fact that they're already fucking. Sure is sexy tho.

Best use of props 2023 for the shower of sheets.

10 Our Dining Table

AKA Bokura no Shokutaku

Japan Gaga

Lonely salaryman and talented cook gets accidentally adopted by a college kid and his little brother. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. It's lovely & sweet with the romance beats used to build a family relationship, not just couple intimacy. Special.

First prize for domesticity.

11 Laws of Attraction

Thailand iQIYI

This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. It’s tons of fun and I had an absolute blast watching it.

Charn wins my favorite character of 2023.

12 La Pluie

Thailand Viki

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL. With good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn high marks.

Most interesting concept 2023.

13 The New Employee

Korea Viki

So good, SO QUEER, so soft, a near pitch perfect office BL with conflict derived from that setting. Also found family and a lesbian bestie. This is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG. Rainbow rice cakes forever!

Best overall queer rep from Korea.

14 Step By Step

Thailand Gaga & YouTube & Viki

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk which added tension to the narrative and character development.

Chot wins best queer character 2023.

15 Love Tractor

Korea iQIYI

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed = all my favorite silly tropes.

Biggest "he so pretty" gasp of the year award.

10 Worst BLs of 2023 (that I watched)

My Blessing

My Universe: Casanova Begins

Boyband the series

Cafe In Love

Chains of Heart

Hit Bite Love

Only Friends

Senior Love Me

The Luminous Solution

The Promise

Yes, you read that right. I know I'm against the flow but I really did not like Only Friends. Everyone's taste is different.

However I DNFed faster and more BL's this year than ever before, so that means my 10 worst probably aren't quite reflective...

10 Probably Actually Worst BLs (I dropped 'em)

My Story

The Day I Loved You

Beyond the Star

Crazy Handsome Rich

Dinosaur Love

House of Stars

Mr Cinderella 2

Love Bill

Stormy Honeymoon

The Star Always Follow You

Codicils in General

I only carefully track/watch Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. Other countries are not fully represented.

My Numbers

So my spreadsheet chronicled 138 BLs that finish airing in 2023.

101 = watched & reviewed

2 = still in the docket (WDYEY2 & Love Syndrome III)

15 = CNF (could not find)

20 = DNF (which also accounts for how few very low scores I handed out in 2023 as opposed to previous years, I just stopped watching). Speaking of which...

Ratings spread

(# of stars. #of BLs given that rating)

0 (see the DNFs instead)

2 - IT'S DEPRESSING they killed the gay, save yourself

7 - I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM WATCHING AND NEITHER DOES IT

7 - FATALLY FLAWED but still basically BL, however… do we want to support this kind of behavior?

9 - WATCH IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO but don’t expect much, it’s a total hot mess

17 - WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED probably around the ending or in narrative structure/cohesion or censorship

14 - RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS i.e. isn’t quite BL, convoluted, not strictly HEA, too short/long, or chemistry issues

30 - RECOMMENDED some concerns around tropes (like dub con) or story structure but still satisfies as BL

13 - ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED probably a few pacing issues or one flaw

2 - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED faithful to tropes, happy ending, good chemistry, few flaws, high rewatch potential

(source)

[wanderingwomanwondering]

911 Season 7 Critique

This is a long post. If you don’t make it to the end, I totally understand.

I know we all have lots of feelings about this season and most of what I’ve read from others in the fandom here on tumblr has been overwhelmingly positive, but I have serious and persistent concerns. Here me out, if you’re willing and able.

This entire season something about 911 has felt off for me in a big way. I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what the problem was until recently. All I knew was that season 7 was weird out the gate. Now I finally think I have something coherent to say about this season now that it’s over. The whole season’s main plot(s) have been overblown and overworked. All season long, the characters have felt bodysnatched by extraterrestrials being just similar enough to our beloved characters to not raise total alarm - at least initially - but different enough to snatch some epic side-eye outta me. Then ep 4 happened and the whole time I was a mix of elated and confused. Anybody who’s been paying attention for the last 7 years knows that Buck is queer so that wasn’t the shocker. For me, it was the way everything went down in ep 4 with the characters that felt heavy-handed and untrue to who they are. The weird strange bizarreness through the season just kept on coming like a freight train with no breaks or relief. By the finale I was scratching my head and kinda irritated because the tiny bit of actual character work that we saw over the course of the season was odd as hell and now it’s over and I’m not really excited about much of anything that’s supposed to be coming in s8. The characters feel too ooc and the plots feel too uncharacteristic of 911. Like for a bit there I thought I was watching Days of Our Lives meets Miami Vice meets The Walking Dead, and that’s not what I signed up for with 911.

Season 7 left me earnestly wondering: Where are the family feels, the tight bonds, the heartfelt connections, the vulnerable conversations, the healing community that is the 118, the fucking togetherness? Everyone feels like they are adrift and alone without the found family support that they enjoyed in previous seasons. This season has been a trauma fest with little to no emotional payoff. Drama for its own sake. Problems resurrected, rehashed, blown way out of proportion, repackaged, and sold as authentic current issues. This season I felt like I was watching a completely different show.

Yes we are on a new network. Yes Tim is back. Yes a bit of shake up can be good. But this doesn’t feel like a good shake up. I feel like I’m being jerked around for sport. Like past BS is being thrown in my face instead of laid on the table and worked through by the characters that I know and love. Season 7 was mostly just trauma porn and I did not enjoy it.

Yes we could argue that Tim is trying to grab the attention of new viewers on a new network. But honestly that kind of feels like a cop-out explanation given what he delivered. If I were new to this show, I would not feel like I have any idea who these characters are beyond the wild crap that happens to them. I feel like I know more about how to sink a cruise ship or how to traverse the desert than I do about how the characters relate and connect with one another.

As someone who’s watched 911 from the very beginning live and in real time, the plotting, pacing, and character choices in season 7 feel like Tim is putting on a show instead of telling stories. Shows are a wacky wild ride with little cohesion and/or progress; characters take a backseat to whatever the ptb can cook up for the weekly plot. Stories center characters and what’s happening to them is processed by them and moves their arcs along in mostly coherent ways. A show is ‘shit happens’. A story is ‘shit happens TO ME AND I DEAL WITH IT in ways that show the audience who I am and what matters to me’’.

Maybe season 8 will feel more like a story since it won’t be a truncated season, and season 7 has reintroduced people to - aka dredged up long-past but somehow present again - character issues. I don’t know. I hope season 8 is more coherent, character-focused, and progress/healing-oriented like previous seasons have been. Honestly the show has been running too long to act like rehashing the past over and over again is enough to carry it for 7 more seasons.

Anyway, my specific concerns with season 7 are below the cut.

The main plots have just been hilariously bad. Soap opera levels of wtaf.

The cruise ship disaster had pirates, cheaters, and poorly-developed conflicts between lovers all of which (mostly) came out of the thin blue sea air and/or were handled in incredibly ooc ways. MIssing groom because of viral encephalitis. Hospital wedding like its a good thing and preferable to the warm fuzzies that Madney deserved. Long-dead wife put on such a high pedestal by Eddie that she walks the earth once more. Bobby chasing a random man from his past into the desert to say/do what exactly? All while mixing it up with a literal Mexican cartel. A desert crossing complete with traumatic flashbacks, a car crash, and a makeshift stretcher. (Bobby should have left Amir where he was after the crash and just walked the mile to the road without him in tow. But instead he slowed himself down and risked sunstroke in the process. That was a drama choice made by the writers, not a paramedic/firefighter choice made by the character.) Post-house fire Bobby’s heart stops for 14 whole ass minutes and he wakes up fine and perky as meringue. Athena Grant choosing cold-blooded vengeance over holding vigil for her allegedly dying husband. Racist and misogynistic Gerard returning for absolutely no narrative or character-related reason at all, at least not for one that couldn’t be more effectively accomplished by some/any other means.

The women have been side-lined in their own stories, and/or their characters altered in problematic ways.

Hen dismissed the councilwoman’s son in the season’s opening arc and ignored his potential injuries because he was being an asshole. A lesser paramedic would do that, but NOT our Hen. Also that plot point was unrealistic af because if someone is not in their right mind to make a life-saving decision for themselves, like in the case of intoxication, medical personnel can ethically treat them anyway. It was such a weird plot/character choice to Hen use that guy’s intoxication as a reason NOT to treat him when it’s actually a great reason to go ahead and check him out. She should have and would have worked the problem (poised and professional) instead of storming off in a huff (emotion-driven and unethical) because that guy was being a dick. Hen is not easily unsettled, nor is she unprofessional!

Hen and Karen were oddly clueless about Mara’s trauma and the fact that it was actively relevant to her behavior when they took her in, despite the fact that they have fostered several children at this point in the story. They considered “returning her” before they considered the trauma factor. Unreal. Our Hen and Karen were not born yesterday, are no strangers to hard times with foster kids, and have hearts the size of the 7 seas. This writing choice made no sense to me and made Hen and Karen feel like extraterrestrials to me. Ignorant ones at that. In the finale, Hen didn’t tell Karen she was going to see Mara. Like. Why? They talk about everything. Hen claimed it’s because Karen would have tried to stop her but we all know that would have been a half-hearted comment while she put her shoes on and grabbed her purse. No. Hen and Karen are partners and they act like it. The one woman show era between them has been over for a while. Especially when it comes to their family.

Athena and Bobby had a conversation at the end of season 4 about cutting each other out and leaving each other emotionally stranded and since then have been actively committed to communicating and staying a team. So what the hell was that vibe between them on the cruise. Athena was evasive and weird the whole time and in the most banal gender stereotyped way possible. In addition, Tim seems obsessed with women as damsels in distress this season which is not and has never been Athena’s vibe. Even with the Jeffrey arc in season 5 while she coped with the trauma of that encounter, she displayed agency. So I’ll never understand her indirect approach to dealing with Bobby running off to ‘Step 9’ Amir or her decision to turn right around and talk to Amir about Bobby instead of talking to Bobby directly. Athena is a direct person, especially about her family. She cuts to the quick and gets to the heart of things. The drama I needed was Bathena working through Athena’s fears for Bobby and Bobby working through his trauma/recovery with Athena…not a Mexican cartel and shenanigans in the desert. Then there was the way Harry talked to Athena when she discovered that he ran away from Miami. Athena’s response to Harry would have been understanding but corrective. She wouldn’t have stood there and let him disrespect her. Not in a million lifetimes. She also wouldn’t have left her allegedly dying husband at the hospital to reenact a revenge plot from some B movie. Plus what was up with her blaming herself for Amir supposedly burning the house down, and her doing no police work to puzzle out what happened? She just went on an emotion-fueled rampage. That’s not how Athena operates. Remember her namesake, goddess of WISDOM and warfare. Come on bffr.

Maddie. Oh where do I even start. From ep 1 she was treated like a means to an end instead of the first responder former nurse badass that she is. This whole season, she comes across as ‘just another dispatcher’ instead of the focused problem-solver and active agent that we know her to be. Prior to season 7 Maddie would have had her thinking cap fully on right along with Hen in the first episodes as they worked out a way to get in touch with the cruise ship. Calling Tommy could have even been Maddie’s idea since Chim and Tommy are still in touch but Hen and Tommy don’t seem to be. Then there was the whole Maddie hearing what she expected to hear with the abuse victim on that one call. Like. What?! This is not Maddie’s first rodeo, she is not easily unsettled, and she’s a damn professional. She would have done what she had to do to emotionally regulate and help the woman in danger before she let herself ‘hear what she expected to hear’. Admittedly she would have cried the whole time because that’s JLH’s jam and she’s good at it but Maddie wouldn’t have fallen down so hard on the job (especially not after what happened in season 3 with Tara and Vincent). And the wedding stuff! Maddie was just watching and waiting instead of using what she knew about her partner in life Chim to deduce where he might go or what he might do. Instead of collecting information about their previous calls and how they might be playing into Chim’s disappearance, she was busy being insecure about whether Chim actually wanted to marry her. Mind you, Maddie was the one who was originally reticent about marrying again AND she’s the one who proposed to Chim. After all the drama with the ring, there is no world in which Maddie would have imagined Chim was running from her. She would have known something bad was up and that it had nothing to do with their love for one another. In the finale Maddie calls Chim to talk about Athena’s suss behavior but Maddie has more connections and professional wherewithal than just ‘call my husband he’ll know what to do’. She would have called the precinct and asked about 727-L-30 in a discreet way and put most of the pieces together herself and then actually sent Chim and Hen to stop her. And she would have been ready at a moment’s notice to call the cops on the rogue cop. The way that scene actually played out felt more like gossip on the high school bleachers than Maddie doing her actual job.

The relationships seem plain odd/ooc, distant, and/or superficial. Very few vulnerable emotional conversations happened and when they did they felt generic, shallow, and/or incomplete.

Bobby and Athena on the cruise. Athena just didn’t feel like herself because she refused to talk to Bobby. When they did finally talk it was when they were about to drown and it was more of a mini-therapy session for Bobby. After Amir was introduced, Bobby pulled away again and Athena let him. Then Athena chose to approach the traumatized stranger rather than have a talk with her own damn husband. When they finally confronted each other about that situation, she walked away from Bobby almost like she was punishing him for walking away first instead of them both leaning into the conversation as partners. Really? Bffr.

Buck and Eddie having a bro convo about womanizing in the early episodes of the season. The ‘hey pal please talk to my kid bro because you have experience with these issues’ rather than the all important ‘there’s no one in this world I trust with my son more than you’ vibes of it all. Eddie making limited eye contact with Buck and ignoring him in ep 4. Eddie’s physical demeanor in ep 4 being bro-ed up and distant. Yeah I know we can argue that was all from Buck’s perspective in the moment but that explanation seems insufficient to me because it was so extreme, and was kind of maintained in some ways throughout the season. The ‘i’m gonna maim my best friend’ energy of the bucktommy origin story despite the fact that buck is not violent at all and definitely not towards loved ones. (Tim seems determined to ruin everybody just enough to generate unnecessary and ooc drama.) Buck’s weird dudebro conversation with Eddie while on his date with Tommy as if the foundation of buck and eddie’s relationship has ever been conversations about women solely to assert their heterosexuality * facepalm emoji * The super textbook sterile coming out scene in ep 5 like these guys aren’t besties and don’t actually know each other deeply. I wanted that coming out scene to have 504 patio conversation energy, not whatever it was we got in 704. Like that coming out conversation could have played out the exact same with one of the no-name background firefighters at the 118 or with Connor or some other rando. It felt so impersonal to who they are and to their particular brand of vulnerable courageous conversations. Honestly even the hug in 704 was weird. I was happy to have it but it was still weird. The kitchen conversation in ep 9 at Eddie’s place felt odd and incomplete for buddie. We get queer sexual innuendo (‘skulking around my back door’), basic mutual acknowledgment of worry about the dead wife doppelganger, and that’s a wrap? Okay I guess * eyeroll emoji * Then we had the finale where Eddie is obviously losing his mind and Buck is just sitting on the arm of the couch like ‘i dunno what to tell you man’. Like they’ve never had a (chris) conversation before in their life. Like buck wouldn’t have been the one to VOLUNTEER to go talk to chris without eddie spelling it out. Like buck wasn’t the person who stayed with chris talked to him and took care of him when eddie got shot and when eddie lost his damn mind in 513. The buck in the finale was not the buck who did all those things. He was so bodysnatched it’s not even funny. Also, in what world would buck have snarked that chris can’t keep eddie out of his room??? Buck, my good sir, if eddie wanted to break down chris’ door he wouldn’t have called you over bc he can do that on his own without a consult. That scene felt ooc af plus the dialogue was just plain dumb.

Hen and Chim have barely had a meaningful friend moment this season. It’s mostly Hen razzing Chim, a polite smile, or nada. Let’s not even talk about the ‘betrayal’ in the beginning with the councilwoman’s son and then the deeply meaningless drama that ensued after. So much so that they commented on it in a joking way on the helicopter. That’s not how Hen and Chim roll. They give each other clear and unapologetic honesty at all times. Not the cold shoulder for sport which is what it felt like when Hen finally said she wasn’t actually mad. The gender and racial implications of how that played out are not lost on me. It felt like a 180 from how these characters normally interact in serious circumstances. Complete waste of time and invented drama for drama’s sake. I don’t blame Hen and Chim for that, like everything else I’ve mentioned in this critique of the season, it’s pure writing room weirdness.

Bobby’s locker room conversation with Buck in ep 9 was more like mentor-mentee than father-son. We’ve stated that as their dynamic several times but that’s not what we got in that locker room. They were standing several feet apart, Bobby and Buck smiled politely, no hug, no shoulder pat. Just textbook sterile ‘you’re okay kid’. Bobby could have given that speech to no-name firefighter number 12 and it would have felt the same.

You mean to tell me in the finale that Bobby was just gonna stroll back into work in uniform after quitting like nothing happened? Like he’s still employed. My good sir, you didn’t even call headquarters before showing up to be like ‘just kidding i want my job back’. You mean to tell me Buck and Ravi were at work, in uniform and clocked in, but didn’t already know Gerard was there? You mean to tell me Bobby was supposedly that allergic to having a real emotional/vulnerable conversation with literally anybody that he strolled into work WHEN HE NO LONGER WORKS THERE like he was gonna get to actually work??? I just can’t -

Anyway, this post is long af so if you made it to the end, thank you. Honestly, I'm still processing this season but as of now, in the words of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, “I take no leave of you, [Tim Minear]. I send no compliments to your [season 7 showrunner decisions]! You deserve no such attention! I am seriously displeased!”

[onestowatch]

girl in red Is Telling Her Truth [Q&A]

Photo: Jonathan Vivaas Kise

In 2018, the final new artist discovery piece we wrote was on an artist that we championed as the rainbow flag-waving anti-pop star of 2019. 2019 would see that artist tour across the world, release a highly-praised sophomore EP, and establish herself as a definitive voice of Generation Z. girl in red, the artist in question, is the bedroom-produced project of Norwegian artist Marie Ulven, who has been heralded as a painfully authentic queer icon for queer teenagers the world over. 

Her music speaks to the heartbreaking and euphoric nature of young queer love, fleeting feelings of isolation, and the overall inner turmoil of growing up and attempting to figure out life. By no means is it unexplored territory, but the level of candor, delivered in a fashion that blurs the lines between her bedroom-produced contemporaries and the garage-rock heroes of yesterday, can at times feel groundbreaking.  

As our final new artist discovery of 2018, it only seems fitting that our first interview of 2020 is with girl in red. We sat down with the artist hours ahead of her final US show of 2019 to talk about the tangible effect her music is having on people, the revolution Greta Thunberg and Billie Eilish are leading, and painting the world in red.  

Ones To Watch: Does it ever begin to feel larger-than-life knowing the palpable impact your music has had and is having on people?

girl in red: Yeah, it comes out of nowhere really. I make songs and stuff, but I don’t realize what kind of impact it has on people. Because I’m just living my life and that song is just out there, and I don’t know what people are doing with it. So, I think that it’s really cool and weird to suddenly meet a real person that has listened to one of my songs and be like, “That shit saved me.” It’s really weird because I didn't know any of that was happening, but it was, and I like that.

Was there a certain point in time where you started noticing that impact? 

I mean, I think I started noticing that things were happening, maybe like, when I released “girls.” That’s when things started getting even bigger, and I got like 20k followers, and I was like, “Woah that’s two digits right there.” I was really excited then. “girls” has been one of my strongest anthems for people to use to embrace themselves. I feel like after that song there have been a lot of people sending me messages like, “Hey, I came out to this song. I used it in the car with my mother.”

Given my walk today here, it’s not terribly surprising. There is already a line of girls down the block camping out to get into the show.

Wow, already? It’s mostly girls. I like to meet boys too; I like seeing boys out there. I think it’s super cool there’s people out there so early because that’s what people do for like really cool artists and stuff, and I’m just like whaaaat? Because I don't feel... I just feel what I’ve always felt. And now people look at me in a weird way that I don’t see myself. Sometimes I'm on stage and someone wants my towel and II don't see myself as someone that people would want a used towel from. 

I imagine people fall in love with your music due to the level of candidness in your songwriting. 

Yes! And we need that! Just some normal people that are making music and telling their truth. And I think that maybe I’m doing that. I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just doing something that I think comes naturally to me and then people sort of gravitate towards it for some reason.

With that being said, is it hard to just put it all out there in your songs? You’re opening up to millions of people after all.

But when I make music, it’s just me. I’m just being honest with myself when I write and then it happens, I just happen to put it out. In some ways, it’s affected my thinking. Are people going to like this song? I can’t lie and be like, “Yeah, I don’t feel anything. I don’t feel like I'm writing to anyone.” I definitely have had some unsettling feelings, like is this line too graphic? I have a line now that is like, “Was she good? What you like? Did you cum? How many times?” And that’s a pretty like, you know, I haven’t heard that in a line before. It’s a pretty vulnerable and jealous feeling. When I write that, I’m like can I put that in a song? I’ve met girls at meet-and-greets that are like 12-years-old and listen to my music. Like, what are people going to think? But, this is something that came to my head. I’m just going to block out all these questions from people because that is just going to mess up what I’m trying to do. 

How do you feel about being placed in this new wave of “bedroom pop” artists?

This bedroom pop thing? In the beginning, a lot of people called me that, but I don’t feel like a bedroom pop artist but a lot of people put me in this bedroom pop movement because it's easier to understand something if you put it in a box. I think this is happening because music equipment is getting more affordable. Obviously, I’m very privileged. I live in the richest country in the world. I’ve always had a roof over my head and grandparents and shit. I’ve been lucky to have equipment available and stuff and I also think that some people that also have that same privilege get the equipment and start messing around because they’re bored or something. I don’t know why people start making music.

Why did you start making music?

I don’t know. It’s not like I wanted to be Taylor Swift or some other artist at the time. I just wanted a guitar and I wanted to make music, I’m not sure where that came from. I just had the urge to make something. I didn’t get my guitar and start covering songs. I was like let me start writing. So, I think it’s cool what’s happening now because equipment is so affordable and putting it out is so easy. There are so many online distributors you don’t need to be signed anymore. Like, I’m still indie you know? I’m working with a distributor like I have signed something, but I don’t have like a big ass label behind me. And I think it’s like as long as you make good music you’re going to go somewhere. That’s the only thing. I just want to make good music, and I think everyone can make good music and put it out.

Do you mind explaining the chapter element behind the music you have released thus far?

I don’t look at them as EPs. I look at chapter 1 as 2018, and the reason I have chapters one and two is I’ve just been making music and putting it out as I move along, so I want the songs to be like, chapter 1 is the beginning of something. I didn’t want it to be like, “Okay. Now I can make an album.” I wasn’t in that state of mind, I just want to continue this, because this is what felt natural to me. They’re more just like labels, ironically. This is 2018. This is 2019. I’ve now got other types of ideas, my head is working in a different way, so now all my work I see in a different bigger body of work. I didn't with the other songs. I didn’t see them in like an album. But now with the stuff I make, this is like track number four, number one. That’s how my mind works now. That’s what the music has been about, just progressing as a songwriter and a producer.

What do you hope 2020 holds for you?

2020. What the fuck. That’s so weird. I’m definitely going to be making a lot of music. I know the first few months I won’t be touring, I’ll just be making music and then hopefully I’ll release an album. That’s like world domination, world in red, just make an album, JUST make an album. Then probably some touring, some really cool festivals would be nice. Oh, I’m getting a dog!

What kind of dog?

Bernese Mountain Dog.

What are you going to name it?

Burner, very original!

As we move into 2020, music and politics as a whole are becoming more female. So can we talk about two people you avidly admire, Billie Eilish and Greta Thunberg?

Greta Thunberg is blowing up. Not long ago she had a couple hundred thousand followers, and I was on her Instagram the other day and she had like 3.3 million followers. Then I checked later that day and she had four, then after her speech at the UN she had six. She is so cool she is literally the front figure of the biggest revolution right now. Like, I consider this a revolution it’s crazy. I was thinking about it, you know the French Revolution and the American Revolution? I’m pretty sure at that time they didn’t necessarily think that of it as a revolution. I feel like we’re in the middle of something that is going to be really, really big and it’s so cool that out of nowhere this little Swedish girl comes out. And there’s so many old people personally attacking her because they don’t have anything to I don't know, they can’t fight the science. I think she’s really cool. 

I think Billie Eilish is really cool also. She’s also leading some sort of revolution, right now. They’re kind of similar, they’re both really really important people, and they have great voices. I was talking to Isaac [Dunbar], and we were just talking about Billie, she’s like literally the biggest star on the planet right now. And it happened so quickly. I followed Billie when she had 200,000 followers in 2017, and I listened to her EP, dont smile at me, and she was my most listened to artist that year. And that’s so weird, she’s changed so much. Artists that can just renew themselves like she’s doing are the most important. Like David Bowie, he was renewing himself always, making cool music and making new characters and shit. She’s going from dont smile at me to WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, like such a big cool change. And FINNEAS’ production is the future! He is so talented. I met him at a festival in Belgium and he was so nice and he smells really good too.

What does he smell like?

I can’t describe it. It’s like I’ve never smelled anything like that before. It’s like some next-level future perfume. They’re a power duo.

Who are your Ones To Watch?

I’m definitely excited about this one artist called BENEE, from New Zealand, she is really cool. beabadoobee also has some cool stuff going on. We’ve grown sort of a lot this last year. I'm excited about Clairo because she made a really good record. I’m just excited about all of these people that I have been following for the last two-and-a-half years that are suddenly blowing up. I remember I followed Clairo when “Pretty Girl” just came out and had like 9000 streams on Spotify. I’m so excited, because I followed these people so long ago and they were so small then, and now they’re so much bigger. I wonder where they’re going to go.

Anything else you want to say?

World In Red

[frasier-crane-style]

Elseworlds

Well, Tumblr isn’t dead yet and the CW-DC just did a big crossover, so I think it’s time to make fun of the CW........ for the last time.

Did you know Tim Allen actually ended Home Improvement after season 8 because he knew the show couldn’t maintain its level of quality and was on the way downhill? Tim Allen has more creative integrity than anyone involved in the making of Supernatural. Think about that.

Anyhoo, lots to digest! Largely, this crossover felt to me weirdly lackluster and obligatory, like the whole thing was just a trailer for the oncoming Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. It just felt unambitious, which is the last thing an ‘event’ like this should feel like. In fact, it felt a little like I imagine the result would be of filming a bunch of people playing DC Universe Online. We visit Smallville and see Lois Lane! We go to Gotham and meet Batman...’s cousin, and fight a breakout at Arkham Asylum, complete with Mr. Freeze...’s gun and the Scarecrow...’s fear gas. Then, we wrap the whole thing up with an Evil Superman, because God knows, DC never gets bored of that.

-Petty nitpick department: Batwoman just standing around on rooftops looks weird. Not only does it give the odd impression that she’s spent the entire time between episodes just, uh, standing, but c’mon--you’re supposed to crouch. Or at least hunch. Everybody knows that!

-Weirdly missed opportunity to have Ollie do the Flash narration, considering all the other opening narrations are futzed with.

-The whole thing is pretty much a glorified body swap--Stephen Amell is playing Barry Allen and vice versa. I can see how TPTB would be too pressed for time to explain a whole ‘nother continuity where Barry Allen became Green Arrow and Oliver Queen became the Flash, but still, it’s not as much fun.

-They also wholeheartedly borrow the thing of Ollie having to be happy to use Barry’s powers and Barry having to be mad to use Ollie’s ‘powers’ from the episode of Teen Titans where Raven and Starfire switched bodies. So, I guess, congratulations on making the central plot point of your crossover the same as a half-hour episode of a children’s cartoon.

-Remember that time Barry was too happy and too confident in his abilities, so his dad died?  

-They got a good actress to play the Lois Lane to this Clark Kent, considering they both just look kinda awkward? His chin looks like he had a face transplant done and her nose looks like someone is constantly Photoshopping it.

NHHHA, He-Man!!

-Don’t do a callback to Smallville, show. Oliver Queen has now spent more time in costume as the Flash than Tom Welling did as Superman.

-Direct fucking hit when Oliver said that Barry couldn’t take a crap without getting a peptalk from his team, but on the other hand, Oliver can’t take a crap without Felicity wondering what it means for their relationship. “Oliver didn’t tell me he needed to go to the bathroom! Why wouldn’t he trust me?”

-I’m just saying, last season on Agents of SHIELD, pretty much every character was in a relationship--there was not so much damn drama. It’s a fucking body-swap plotline, guys. You don’t need to treat it like it could lead to someone’s divorce! Really, at this point, if you’re in a relationship with a crazy superhero, you should be used to it. 

-(Although I suppose I’m a little hard to please here, since over on Legends of Tomorrow they suddenly expect us to care about Constantine rescuing the love of his life when we’ve seen their relationship for all of four seconds. But hey, like I said, Agents of SHIELD manages a happy medium and finds time for Ghost Rider to show up.)

-For the post-apocalyptic hellscape they make Gotham out to be, the police respond awfully fast to disturbances.

-”We’re on the corner of Burton and Nolan!” Groooooan.

-Ruby Rose, everyone: the Less Convincing Michelle Rodriguez. It’d probably a bad sign for how compelling Kate Kane is as a character that everyone would rather talk about where Batman is and why Batman would leave. And, speaking as someone who both watched Birds of Prey and The Dark Knight Rises--Rocky, that ‘Batman Retires’ plot point never works!

-(Is Batwoman even that popular a character to get her own spin-off? I suppose she’s ‘TV show’ popular, but still--I think she’s one of those Batfamily members that is somewhere behind Alfred but ahead of Ace, right next to Azrael. And I do think it’s hilarious that TPTB were insistent on casting a real, authentic lesbian!!!--and then immediately got complaints that they didn’t cast a Jew. Oh, Ziggy, will you ever win?)

-I don’t want to be too hard on Ruby Rose here. Yes, she doesn’t showcase anything other than one mode: Snide And Slightly Pouty (Stephen Amell ain’t winning no Oscars, but he can differentiate between Ollie As A Civilian and Ollie In A Halloween Costume). But the writing does her no favors in making a case for this character as being deserving of any amount of screentime, besides the fact that she dresses like Batman, the guy we really care about. She’s a heroine, as are featured variously in every Arrowverse show. She’s queer, as is Alex Danvers, Sara Lance, John Constantine, et al. She’s rich to the point of having unlimited resources, as are (sometimes) Oliver Queen, Barry Allen, Kara through her billionaire friends. She lives in a crime-ridden hellhole, as Ollie has done for several seasons. What makes any of this compelling? The Gotham setting? Arrow has already turned itself into an effective facsimile of that, to the point of having Ra’s al Ghul show up to make Queen into his son-in-law. Arkham Asylum seems completely generic, as does Wayne Tower. It’s all just a different part of Vancouver; who cares?

-Likewise, Supergirl, speaking to you as a TV show--you really should either be adamant that Kara is heterosexual or give her a weirdly flirtatious scene with Batwoman, but not both. I know you need, need, need to let the audience know Batwoman is a lesbian...

Pictured: The CW subtly letting you know about a character’s minority status.

But c’mon. We’ve been over this.

-Speaking of minority status, maybe it’s not the best idea to let slip that John Diggle is an AU John Stewart. Yes, there’s ten brothas in the DC Universe, and four of them are actually the other six. There are so few Negros on Earth-1 that they had to make Barack Obama into a superhero. The Batfamily has two black folks and they’re both related to Lucius Fox. There’s so few black people in Metropolis that Black Lightning knows who his father is!

Folks, the DC Universe is so white, the Black Lanterns are all dead. The DC Universe is so white, they don’t even have black Kryptonite. The DC Universe is so white, even Black Condor is a honky. The DC Universe is so white, they don’t even need a Justice League of Africa, they just have a Batman of Africa! The DC Universe is so white, the blackest guy on the Justice League is a refrigerator with one-half of a brother’s face on top of it. The DC Universe is so white, they named the black woman on the Teen Titans after a bug that’s half yellow! Now Milestone, the Milestone Universe is black. It’s so black, Aquaman is the most powerful superhero there, because he’s the only one who can swim!

(-I’m planning on being chased off of Tumblr like Indiana Jones after he snags an ancient artifact.)

-Would it be that hard for them to go to Arkham and run into the Ventriloquist or Orca or someone memorable, so long as they have access to the Batman toy chest? We got, uhh, Lady Who Can Pick Up Gun and Psycho Pirate I Guess? Like I said, unambitious. Wouldn’t it be so much cooler if they got someone from Gotham to film just one little cameo? 

-Also, considering the sex scandal these shows have had, maybe it’s not the best idea to joke about their EPs being depraved maniacs? (Was Guggenheim the one who actually got MeToo’d? Because if so, Dude--Not Funny)

-The show had to character-shill Batwoman so hard that Ollie and Barry stopped being fear-gassed just to reiterate that she is too an interesting character in her own right! (If the characters have all heard of Batman, wouldn’t they have heard of Batwoman too if she’s been an active vigilante more recently?)

-But who cares about four unstoppable superheroes teaming up when we can find out how Felicity feels about her relationship? Just a thought--if you fight with your SO all the time about nearly everything, maybe you shouldn’t be in a relationship. 

-Long story short, Doctor Destiny rewrites reality again to make Barry, Oliver, and Kara into supervillains in a world where he’s the hero. He also makes the other characters into pointless cameos, and weirdly gets criticized by Kara for... not giving himself a sex-change operation by becoming Superman instead of Supergirl? He doesn’t have gender dysphoria, Supergirl. I thought she was all about trans issues this season?

-Like, I don’t know, if a woman used a magic lamp to wish herself President, would anyone criticize her making herself a lady President instead of a man President?

-I guess it wouldn’t be Supergirl unless they crowbarred in an extremely awkward girlpower message where Superman and Lois agree that Supergirl/women in general are more useful than men, despite the fact that all Supergirl did was the exact same thing as Barry, while Superman and Oliver fought Dr. Destiny, and all Lois did was call in a bunch of men as reinforcements and then need to be rescued.

-But like I said about being unambitious--wouldn’t it be fun to see our heroes be forced to team up with a few supervillains to save the day? Instead, we just have Cisco playing a villain (something he’s done numerous times before). They get his help, have a weirdly poor showing in a fight against Jimmy Olsen, get Superman’s help again, yadda yadda. 

-We also get Superman proposing to Lois Lane. Yeah, considering they’ve been in a relationship at least since Supergirl Season 1, she’s carrying his child, and they’re planning to move to an alien world together, yeah, I should think so? I know Superman probably isn’t a Republican, but does anyone think he’d be so blase about putting a ring on it? Hell, if nothing else, he should want to tie the knot before Ma or Pa bite it. Couldn’t they have just made it that he wants to renew his vows with Lois in a Kryptonian ceremony or some such? 

[balarouge]

The sound of Toronto right now: this music is setting the tone in 2020 - NOW Magazine

As Toronto grows and gets more expensive, there’s angst about displacement of DIY communities and spaces for creativity to flourish. But we’re still thriving. Globe-trotting sounds are meeting on the dance floor, toxicity is being worked out through rockstar swagger, disco is returning to its radical roots.

Here are eight snapshots of artists pushing the scene forward and more to watch in 2020. The music they’re making is strong, vibrant and diverse – the whole world in one city’s music scene.

The sound: Dance music for rule-breakers

Bambii is part of the lifeblood of Toronto’s dance music scene. She’s a leader in the collective of cool, queer and diasporic DJs who are working to make the city’s dance music culture reflective of their realities.

Committed to Black women and queer folk from the very beginning, she’s turned her biannual party, JERK, into an institution. Known internationally for genre-defying sets, she’s left a string of sweaty dance floors from Berlin to Ho Chi Minh City. But in 2020, she’s stepping away from touring as a DJ to focus on releasing her own music.

Bambii calls her recently released debut single, Nitevision, a “future dancehall” track, which is interesting – considering she was adamant at the outset of her career about not being labelled a dancehall DJ. Being Caribbean, she was concerned she would be pigeonholed by narrow-minded categorization. 

“I’m at a place now where I understand Caribbean music and diasporic music to be so vast in terms of something to reference or to be inspired by,” she says. “It’s just so rich. I no longer feel like I’m being put in a box.”

As a song and as a music video, Nitevision is an ode to Black women – to people Bambii admires, to her friends, to her community. It’s an ode to the dance floor as a conduit for powerful feminine energy. 

“It just felt like it was the most sincere point I could make, coming out as a producer.” 

And it’s just the beginning. She plans on dropping several singles this year. She says the songs will sound like her DJ sets. So expect more future dancehall, but also high tempo house, ballroom, Jersey club and reggaeton. She even hints at some songs using her own vocals. 

Like the city she’s from, Bambii is perpetually evolving – she’s never settled on just one thing. 

“The real Toronto, to me, just sounds like everything – which is what’s cool about it.”

Bambii has been in the party scene for years and the idea to produce came to her four years ago, but it took some time to conquer the intimidation of producing and get comfortable putting out her own music. But she also felt DJing no longer allowed her to express everything she needed to say and represent everyone she needed to represent. Her work has an overarching intention to reclaim Black women’s stories, and to counteract the narratives that are imposed on them. 

“When I think about what inspires me or encourages me, it’s people suspended in joy and dance,” she says. “It’s what spaces feel like when there’s a majority of women in them, a majority of Black women.” KELSEY ADAMS

More Artists To Watch

Demiyah Pérez 

A student of Intersessions DJ workshops led by Chippy Nonstop, Demiyah Pérez spent 2019 pivoting from being every Toronto DJ’s favourite dancer to a purveyor of sounds in her own right. Her sets, a high-energy mix of dancehall, reggae, house and hip-hop, cater to dancers who aren’t ashamed to leave it all on the floor. Last May, she helped launched Ahlie, a party series designed to create common ground between queer and straight people who love dancehall and bashment culture. 

The brainchild of DJs Hangaëlle, Minzi Roberta and Kiga, Kuruza is a collective and a monthly party. Already the go-to Afro dance music party in the city, Kuruza settled into its new home at the Drake Underground late last year. Think African pop music, gqom, baile funk, Afrohouse, soca and dancehall. You can also catch them on underground radio station ISO Radio, where they spotlight different DJs and provide a glimpse into their events.

Sofia Fly 

DJ/producer/rapper Sofia Fly's 2019 EP, Rosé, is a reflection of her trans Latina identity set to nebulous house and ballroom beats. Her inspired downtempo remixes of pop faves like Kehlani and Shakira to indie rap darlings like Princess Nokia prove she knows how to parse a song down to its core. Her live sets are opulently layered, genre-jumping feats, from hip-hop to disco to deep house.

Shan Vincent de Paul

The sound: Grimy flows and globetrotting beats

Shan Vincent de Paul’s ruthless collaborations with fellow Tamil musician Yanchan on Mrithangam Raps scored more than half a million views last summer. Fans ate up the video series in which Vincent de Paul’s staccato rhymes chase the percussion from Yanchan’s mrithangam (or mridangam), an Indian drum commonly used at Hindu weddings and Carnatic ensembles.

“It was an authentic bridge between the classic South Asian sound and modern rap,” says Vincent de Paul about the genre fusion that brought him back around to his Tamil roots.

Outkast, Hieroglyphics, Pharoahe Monch and their contemporaries are primary influences on the Sri Lankan-born, Brampton-raised refugee artist who has been grinding out music since 2005, first with Soliva Spit Society, then as half of experimental duo Magnolius and finally alongside the collective sideways.

“I never want to classify myself as a Tamil rapper,” says Vincent de Paul, about why he didn’t tap into his heritage until recently. “I want to compete with the best of them. [And] I always had this fear that if I was going to be speaking about our story, it’s going to be falling on deaf ears.”

His first two solo albums, Saviours (2016) and Trigger Happy Heartbreak (2017), scored with U.S.-based music blogs like Okayplayer and Afropunk. But as Tory Lanez, Drake or the Weeknd will tell you, homegrown love is hard to find.

He went beast mode on tracks like Die Iconic, unleashed bangers like Bitch Go and Warning Shot and lifted spirits with the refugee anthem Out Alive. But for years, Canada slept on him.

“The art I’m making is undeniable,” says Vincent de Paul, letting out his frustration about being ignored by the industry he once catered to. “I can out-rap 99 per cent of the people in this country. I’ll put that on my life. Canada has some of the best artists in the world, but our industry is a high school shitshow.”

Vincent de Paul eventually found support within the South Asian community, who were thrilled to find a brown rapper whose rhymes are tight. And then he hooked up with Yanchan. Their Mrithangam Raps paved the way for an upcoming tour through India in February and a collab LP called IYAAA dropping March 27. And in early summer Vincent de Paul will release his third solo album, Made In Jaffna.

“Now I don’t give a fuck about the Canadian industry,” he says. “Because I have all these other people that are legit supporting me and uplifting me.

“Now the Canadian industry is outnumbered.” RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI

If you’ve seen their name in red stencil all over the streets of Toronto and wondered what the fuc Fuctape might mean, it’s an anonymous Toronto collective with over 30 members. None of them are identified, but listen to their album and scattered singles – all up on YouTube – and there are a few you might recognize. It’s somewhere between the give-no-fucks energy of early Brockhampton and Odd Future with the way-too-online pranksterism of Death Grips, with some other electronic and indie rock pastiche in the mix. 

Swagger Rite

The first song on Swagger Rite’s The Swagged Out Pedestrian, released late last year on Sony, is called Mosh Pit – and that’s the vibe throughout the spare and bone-rattling trap of the five-song EP. The Jane and Weston rapper’s single In Love With The K was a viral hit on WorldStarHipHop and attracted Drake collaborator BlocBoy JB for a new version. His energy is infectious, and you can already see it starting to spread beyond Toronto. 

Jon Vinyl

Jon Vinyl has a pretty good friend in his corner: pop sensation Shawn Mendes. The young R&B singer/songwriter got a shout-out from his old Pickering high school pal on Instagram last year for his Nostalgia EP, and the music stood up to the sudden influx of rabid Mendies (is that what his stans are called?). His upcoming single Moments (out January 31), produced by fellow Torontonian GOVI, shows his star potential – timeless smooth soul meets 2020 pop hooks. 

Nyssa calls her music “repurposed rock.” 

With her bleached-blond hair, intense eyes and undeniable swagger, she’s seven decades of rock star energy channelled into one person. You can hear it all in her electro-glam pop songs: outlaw country, 60s Motown, singer/songwriter folk, pulsing 80s pop and plenty of old rock and roll. 

But there’s one thing missing: guitars. 

“I’m not saying I’ll never use guitars. I mean, I love guitars,” says Nyssa. “But I want to challenge myself, and this kind of music is usually so guitar-driven, part of the challenge is to find that energy somewhere else. I want to take all the things I love and then break all the moulds so you hear them in a different way.” 

As a solo artist, Nyssa has an EP, Champion Of Love, and a handful of singles to her name. But she’s a long-time veteran of the local rock scene. She fronted the girl group/rockabilly-indebted band the Superstitions (later Modern Superstitions) starting when she was 15 years old. 

She’s been through the record-label wringer and is now purposefully independent and self-sufficient. She produces all her music herself, and even her powerful and intense live shows are 100 per cent solo – though she cherishes the visceral communal experience of live music. 

One collaboration Nyssa does have on the way is with Meg Remy of U.S. Girls, who co-produced her cover of Ann-Margret’s psychedelic Lee Hazlewood collaboration It’s A Nice World To Visit (But Not To Live In). That will appear on an upcoming vinyl box set from local label Fuzzed and Buzzed and also on Nyssa’s otherwise self-produced debut album, Girls Like Me, which she plans to release sometime this year. The songs, all primarily beat- and lyric-driven, tell the stories of female outcasts at odds with the modern world. 

Nyssa is long-time regular and now co-organizer at Dan Burke’s annual Death To T.O. Halloween shows, where local musicians dress up and play full sets as other bands. She’s channelled Rod Stewart, INXS, Robert Palmer, Mick Jagger and Elvis. This year, for a special Valentine’s Day edition, she’ll perform as Meatloaf. She always chooses artists she wants to “become a little bit,” and it’s inspired her own music, but she won’t forget the baggage that comes with it. 

“In rock and roll we still have all these very out-of-date male archetypes of excess. Just pure appetite,” she says. “And there are obviously a lot of troubling stories.”

“So I would like to take the good and the fun and the no-holds-barred sexuality and take away all of the uh…” she pauses for a second, searching for the right word and then lets out a bemused laugh, “...horrible bullshit.” RICHARD TRAPUNSKI

Nyssa plays (as Meatloaf) at Death To T.O. On Valentine’s Day on February 14 at Lee’s Palace. 

More Artists To Watch

Jesse Crowe launched Praises to focus on more personal inner questions about gender expression and health than they could tackle in their main project, Beliefs. But with the recent Hand Drawn Dracula release of the addictive three-song EP Three – co-produced by their Beliefs collaborator Josh Korody – it’s overtaken that shoegaze band as the project to watch. The songs are stark and dramatic, minimalist and heavy, with a voice that makes you stop dead in your tracks. After recuperating from cancer surgery, Crowe will return to the stage this year and finish the follow-up to their 2018 debut album In This Year: Ten Of Swords.

Praises plays the Monarch Tavern on March 27. 

Cindy Lee

Patrick Flegel, formerly of the short-lived but influential Calgary post-punk band Women, calls Cindy Lee the culmination of a lifelong exploration of guitar, queer identity and gender expression. The songs on the upcoming album What’s Tonight To Eternity (out February 14) are ethereal in the literal sense, exorcising ghostly echoes of the Supremes, Patsy Cline and Karen Carpenter – pop’s uncanny valley. 

Scott Hardware

After a stint in Berlin, electronic art-pop artist Scot Hardware has spent the last few years back in Toronto making his new sophomore album Engel (Telephone Explosion), and he’ll release it on April 3 before another extended jaunt in Europe. Inspired by Wim Wenders’s film Wings Of Desire, it’s an eclectic and uncategorizable piano-and-strings-speckled meditation on queerness, shame, death and the afterlife. 

Scott Hardware plays at the Boat on January 30. 

The sound: Soft sounds for the comedown

Ziibiwan is an electronic musician, but they don’t make music for the club.

“[Musician/artist] Melody McKiver explained it nicely: [my music] is what you play after the club when you’re like, ‘I’ve had too many gin and tonics and I need to chill out,’” Ziibiwan says with a smile. 

While living in foster care, music was a release for Ziibiwan. They played piano and guitar, and later experimented with electronic music through a digital audio work station. They covered Radiohead and Foo Fighters songs, and were enamoured with whatever was playing on BET. But it wasn’t until they moved to Jane and Finch that Ziibiwan made their own music. 

“I was working at Loblaws on St. Clair West, doing the graveyard shift, and I would commute from Jane and Finch. I was on my laptop most of the time and I would record everything,” Ziibiwan says about the making of their 2016 debut EP Time Limits, a collection of beat-centric songs that evoke textured imagery.

“There were a lot of problems going on in my life then, and I felt like the land was giving me something. Not just the land but the cultures around me at Jane and Finch,” continues the musician, who’s currently living in Hamilton to care for their family. “It was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve had in my life.”

Following the EP’s release, Ziibiwan, who also performs as DJ Nimkiiwitch, opened for acts like A Tribe Called Red, played at Venus Fest and composed scores for two short animated films by Amanda Strong. Next month, Ziibiwan and McKiver will perform their original score for the play God’s Lake as it tours throughout British Columbia. This week at the Music Gallery, Ziibiwan will celebrate the release of their new album, Giizis. 

Ziibiwan describes Giizis as more soft and introspective than their previous music, and it will feature their voice for the first time. For Ziibiwan, Giizis – an Anishinaabemowin word they define as, “the moon, the sun and the eastern direction, which is all kind of a new beginning” – is the start of a new and more intimate creative chapter. 

“I want to introduce this version of who I am to people because people don’t really know me beyond making beats,” they explain. 

“My friend once said that we don’t have to always be performative with [our] Indigeneity and we also don’t always have to protest in our music. That’s what most Native rap is. It’s always they, they, they and us. It’s always plural and not really introspective at all. 

“We deserve our own music.” LAURA STANLEY

Ziibiwan plays an album release show on Saturday (January 25) at the Music Gallery at 918 Bathurst with Phèdre and Melody McKiver.

More Artists To Watch

Xuan Ye

Interdisciplinary artist Xuan Ye approaches sound manipulation with boundless curiosity. The improvised electronic pieces on her debut LP xi xi 息息 (out now via Halocline Trance) shudder, whine, whisper and shout. The detailed sonic layers force you to drop everything, breathe and listen. 

Xuan Ye performs as part of Convergence Theory on Saturday (January 25) at the Victory Social Club.

Astro Mega

Listening to Astro Mega’s (aka Jermaine Clarke) extensive catalogue of songs feels like slipping into a warm bath while a party happens on the other side of the door. His 80s- and 90s-hip-hop-inspired beats are muted and chill, often with a collage of sampled voices. Listen to 97’ Kobe from his recent LP GodBodyDevine if you want a vivid memory of playing NBA Live 97 in somebody’s basement.

BisonBison is a new multi-genre collaborative project between electronic producers Dani Ramez (Spookyfish) and Chad Skinner (Snowday) with producer and drummer Brad Weber (Caribou), multi-instrumentalist Sinéad Bermingham and vocalist Sophia Alexandra. On their upcoming debut album Hover (due out February 7), they meld the gentle sensibilities of folk with disquieted electronics in hypnotic convergence.

BisonBison play a release party on February 1 at the Garrison with ANZOLA and Kira May.

Luna Li

The sound: The all-ages scene grows up

As a teenager, Hannah Bussiere Kim straddled two worlds. Her mother ran a music school in Roncesvalles, and she trained in classical piano and violin, taking Royal Conservatory exams and performing at recitals. On weekends, though, she was at DIY shows at now-shuttered all-ages venues like D-Beatstro and the Central. 

She left Toronto to study violin at McGill, but dropped out after one semester. She wanted to start her own band. 

In 2015, she started a garage rock group, Veins, which morphed into her solo project Luna Li two years later. 

“When I was first starting out, I thought, ‘Rock and roll is cool, the violin is not,’” says the 23-year-old. “It took me a long time to figure out how to incorporate my classical background into Luna Li.” 

On her debut full-length, to be self-released this spring, she combines swelling psychedelic guitar and chiming keys with soulful orchestral arrangements of violin, harp and cello. She enlisted her brother, Lucas Kim, to play the cello and her producer, Braden Sauder, for drums. Everything else she plays herself. And she’s putting new parts of herself into the songs, too. 

“Many of my older songs were crafted out of poems or were vague in meaning,” says Bussiere Kim. “A lot of [the new ones] deal with mental health, loneliness and friendship. They’re more direct and clear, and vulnerable.”

She’s also inspired by a new wave of Asian American female musicians like Japanese Breakfast, Jay Som and Mitski. “I’m half-Korean and that kind of representation – of actually going to shows and seeing people who look like me – was key,” she says. “When I was in high school, I never saw a band fronted by an Asian person.”

Last fall, Luna Li played festivals almost every weekend with her live band – Sauder, Hallie Switzer, Charise Aragoza and Sabrina Carrizo Sztainbok – and landed big opening slots for bands like Hollerado. 

She’s still involved in the tight-knit all-ages scene from her high school days. It’s just all grown up now. 

In addition to Luna Li, she plays guitar in the psych band Mother Tongues (also with Aragoza) and drums in the art pop group Tange, which is made up of ex-Pins & Needles members Deanna Petcoff and her Luna Li bandmate, Carrizo Sztainbok. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Jacob Switzer plays in indie rock group Goodbye Honolulu. 

In 2020, she plans to focus on Luna Li and tour in the spring when the album is out. And hopefully, many of those shows can be all-ages. 

“It’s hard to do all-ages shows because so many DIY spaces have shut down,” says Bussiere Kim. “But it’s really important that everyone feels welcome at my shows, and that includes young people.”  SAMANTHA EDWARDS

More Artists To Watch

Goodbye Honolulu

While they were still in high school, Jacob Switzer, Emmett S. Webb, Max Bornstein and Fox Martindale started Goodbye Honolulu and the label Fried Records as a home for their music and their friends in the all-ages scene. The garage rock band has a penchant for punchy riffs and gang vocals, and it’s taking them beyond the city. Next month, they’re supporting the Beaches on their cross-country tour and then heading down south to play SXSW.

Goodbye Honolulu opens for the Beaches at Danforth Music Hall on February 28 and February 29.  

This year brings good news for longtime fans of Sam Bielanski’s grunge-pop project. After two EPs, countless Toronto shows and playing in Pretty Matty’s live band, Pony’s finally releasing their debut full-length this year. On the woozy first single Limerence, Bielanksi sings about the crushing feeling of unrequited love. Fittingly, this February she’s playing the emo-themed tribute night Taking Back Valentine’s Day (February 14 at Junction City Music Hall) in a Paramore cover band.

Moscow Apartment

In the three years since Brighid Fry and Pascale Padilla formed their indie folk-rock band Moscow Apartment, they’ve released their debut self-titled EP, won a Canadian Folk Music Award and toured across the country – all before they graduated high school. This spring, the teenagers are releasing their sophomore EP and playing shows during March Break (they’re still in high school, after all), while being outspoken advocates for the all-ages scene and climate justice.

Moscow Apartment plays the Paradise Theatre on January 30.

The sound: Disco reconnected to its roots

A half century after the heyday of disco, Tush is helping the genre stay alive. 

The project, which started as a seven-piece live disco band called Mainline in 2015, now consists of just two core members: vocalist Kamilah Apong and bassist Jamie Kidd. 

While their music draws from funk and soul and follows the four-to-the-floor beat typified by disco, they’re more than a vintage throwback.

“Disco is such a loaded term,” says Apong, who previously played in the band Unbuttoned. “For us, it means thinking about how music was made in the origins of [the genre] and keeping to those practices, which was experimentation and [that it was] so much of a social, cultural music.

“Black women were such a huge cultural connection, and disco is deeply ingrained in Black and queer communities.”

Naming Universal Togetherness Band and the Brothers Johnson as some early influences, Tush released an EP, Do You Feel Excited?, in 2018. Their latest single, Don’t Be Afraid, is an atmospheric slow burn propelled by Apong’s gospel-style vocals exhorting us to love defiantly. This summer, they’re planning on releasing their first full-length album.

“What we strive for is depth in the music, lyrics and themes that you don’t find in what most people think of as disco – like more of the later, whitewashed, commercial stuff,” Kidd explains. “We’re making lyric-based dance music that incorporates live instrumentation and more contemporary electronic techniques.”

Tush are a versatile band, and they’ve performed in grand ballrooms like the Palais Royale, rock clubs like the Baby G and underground warehouse parties. Recently, in order to tour more freely and take on gigs at intimate clubs, they’ve distilled their seven-piece live band into a live PA trio that includes Alexa Belgrave on keys. 

Kidd, a veteran of Toronto’s electronic scene who co-founded long-running event promoters Box of Kittens and puts on their popular Sunday Afternoon Social parties, has witnessed the gradual loss of the city’s live music venues, especially those accommodating of dance music.  But his genuine love for the local scene and all the talent in it encourages him to continue on. 

“Something I’ve always strived for is authenticity and doing it for the right reasons,” he says. “With Tush, we’re just doing what we feel most connected to.”

Apong agrees, adding that there’s strong support for contemporary disco in the city. “Everyone dances, no one’s trying to flex or look cool,” she says. “When we throw our own shows, our people show up.” MICHELLE DA SILVA

More Artists To Watch

Born Ryan Anthony Robinson, R. Flex is a queer Black singer, electronic producer and cabaret performer blending R&B and dance music. A backing vocalist in Tush’s seven-piece live band, R. Flex released their own EP, In & Out, in 2018, and since performed in Glad Day’s Black Power Cabaret and at Queer Pop: LGBTQ+ Music & Arts Festival. 

Catch R. Flex singing covers as part of Just Like A Pill on January 31.

The DJ, producer, composer and keyboardist born James Harris has been releasing music spanning disco, funk, deep house, dub and jazz since his 2017 debut EP, Memoirs. When he’s not performing or creating visuals for the electronic monthly Astral Projections, he’s co-running Cosmic Resonance, Toronto’s most exciting progressive jazz-fusion electronic label.

Babygirl 

One of Toronto’s hardest-working DJs, Katie Lavoie is a fixture on the queer dance party circuit. Catch her spinning everything from Hi-NRG to juke house, pop bangers and big gay anthems at her monthly residency Freak Like Me at the Black Eagle, and on her ISO Radio show Therapeutic Hotness. Babygirl is also part of the team at Intersessions, which teaches women and LGBTQ-identifying folks how to DJ.

Babygirl plays Freak Like Me with Chippy Nonstop and Karim Olen Ash this Friday (January 24) at the Black Eagle.

The sound: Exploding the “Canadian sound”

Haniely Pableo is a cardiac nurse by day, rapper by night. As Han Han, she sings and raps in Tagalog and Cebuano, challenging notions of what makes music “sound” Canadian. 

Hip-hop once seemed like an unlikely career for Pableo, but she’s driven by a desire to overthrow patriarchal-racist-exploitative systems. She enjoys creating positive change through challenging conversations, like one she recently had with a man in Tanzania. 

“He said that his daughter could go to school and get educated all she wants but when she’s home, she needs to respect and serve her husband,” she recalls. “I argued with him – wouldn’t he want his daughter to be treated like an equal by the husband, [not] a servant? We went on and on.

“I [have] a lot of conversations like this when I travel or go home to the Philippines.”

Her passion for changing the narrative first collided with Toronto’s arts and music scene in 2006, when she immigrated to Canada and took a poetry workshop. After years of performing around the city as part of the collectives Santa Guerrilla and PSL (Poetry is our Second Language), she released her self-titled debut album in 2014. On her upcoming second album, URDUJA, she delves even deeper. 

“Each song is different, but [it’s] mostly about the complexities of being a woman,” she explains. “How to be strong. How to be vulnerable. That you can’t always be fierce.” 

Inspired by her late grandmother, she named the album after the folkloric Filipino warrior princess revered for power and leadership.

“She’s the opposite of the stereotype that we have today – that Filipina women have to be submissive and happy. That’s what I want to manifest on the album, that we’re more complex. We can be angry, sad, happy, confident and all those emotions exist on an equal spectrum.” 

Pableo, who will play a Venus Fest-presented release show with fellow Filipina-Canadian acts Charise Aragoza and sketch comedy troupe Tita Collective, hopes it also challenges the idea that there’s such a thing as a unified Canadian sound. 

“We’re missing out on a lot of talent and creativity [when] we stick to a narrow-minded view on what Canadian music is and is not. It’s not progressive or empowering to those communities who are always neglected and ignored,” she argues. “Canada always prides itself [on] diversity and multiculturalism, so it should follow naturally that the music scene reflects those values.”

Pableo acknowledges a growing celebration of diverse Canadian music and cites acts like Maylee Todd as important trailblazers. But she’s committed to making her music until she’s just one of many. 

“My hope is that Filipino-Canadian music and talent [become] appreciated, recognized and respected. That’s my personal goal. That’s why I’m still here.”  CHAKA V. GRIER

Han Han plays an URDUJA release show at Lula Lounge on January 30. 

More Artists To Watch

Honest, empowering lyrics. Self-love and body positivity. A voice that blows the roof off. No, it’s not Lizzo. It’s LU KALA. The Congolese-Canadian singer is known for her flaming orange hair and songs like DCMO (Don’t Count Me Out) that you want to cry and dance to. She’s worked behind the scenes as a songwriter, and now she’s preparing to release her debut album. Its first single, Body Knew, will be out next month.

Duo Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne released their lush debut, Sombras, in 2019. OKAN's vocal- and percussion-driven tracks evoke their homeland yet also reflect the vibrant Cuban-Canadian community. On their album artwork they’re in full Latin garb, perched regally against a snow-covered landscape – the perfect illustration of their sound. This summer they’ll release their sophomore album, Espiral, and tour through North America and India.

Amaka Queenette

In the summer of 2018, Amaka Queenette quietly released her astute and far-too-brief Vacant EP. At just 19, the Nigerian-born singer’s lyrics and voice hold the composure of someone twice her age. Soulful and elegant, she moves between jazz, R&B and gospel with ease while singing about isolation and soul-searching. This spring she’ll release a visual EP, Fleeting, Inconsequential.

The sound: Heavy psych from the depths

Paul Ciuk laments the lack of meaningful connections in Toronto’s music scene. 

“The sense of community we have here is totally broken,” explains the drummer for proto-metal quartet Häxan. 

In the band’s experience, power dynamics are often unbalanced and musicians are reluctant to help others unless it helps themselves. But Häxan has seen that there’s an alternative – they’re proof of how supportive a small but dedicated community can be, especially if they have a space to congregate. 

Though some of the friendships in Häxan span decades, the real genesis of the band happened at now shuttered Kensington Market metal venue Coalition. In 2015, with only a theatre degree in her performance arsenal, vocalist Kayley Bomben (also one of Coalition’s founding bartenders/promoters/managers) made the leap to front a Germs cover band with guitarist Paul Colosimo and bassist Eric Brauer for a one-off covers night. 

“Coalition acted like a big tent because you could see all different kinds of metal there,” Brauer explains. “It was a pivotal venue for us to be able to work out the band dynamic,” Bomben agrees. 

Häxan matured from punk cover band to Stooges-inspired grunge act and slowly conjured the fiery intensity of the psychedelic metal they play now. After finalizing their lineup with Ciuk, they quickly slipped into a heavy vintage groove. 

A fascination with the occult didn’t hurt, either. Their name is a reference to a 1922 silent film that explores how superstition wrongly linked mental illness to witchcraft. “When we think of people as evil because they’re different, that leads to a lot of horrible things,” Bomben says. 

Their debut album, set to be released this spring, furthers the fascination. It’s named Aradia, after a tome of Italian folklore that positions witchcraft against hierarchy and oppression. (The first single, Baba Yaga, just dropped on Bandcamp.)

The album was produced by Alia O’Brien of Badge Époque Ensemble and Blood Ceremony, who knows a thing or two about how pagan rituals and witchy vibes should sound. Häxan credit that connection to Fuzzed and Buzzed. The local label took a chance on them early, putting them on last year’s half-cover/half-original Altar Box 7" compilation where the band first collaborated with O’Brien. 

“Nobody has ever done anything like this for any of our other bands before,” Colosimo says. Bomben agrees, pinpointing the key to thriving in the city’s metal scene. “You really have to find the people who are willing to help each other out.” MICHAEL RANCIC

More Artists To Watch

Look out for this mysterious project to make waves later this year. More within the psychedelic camp than metal, ROY still bring plenty of heaviness – biting, raw guitar lines rendered through a thick cloud of analog tape haze. But they temper that weight with dreamy keyboard-conjured paisley sublimities. Think the schoolhouse rock of Darlene Shrugg, or the dense psychedelic tapestries of Tony Price.

Rough Spells

Häxan’s Fuzzed and Buzzed labelmates occupy similar psychedelic and doomy territory and also have a full-length ready. They match Häxan’s occult metal intensity with stellar vocal harmonies and incisive lyrics. Their most recent single, Grise Fiord, is named for Canada’s most northerly community and a site of forced Inuit relocation in the 50s. All proceeds from the track go to It Starts With Us, an organization that honours the memory of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Two-Spirit and Trans people.

Erythrite Throne

Mysterious figure Wyrm has completely thrown themselves into the dark and dank atmospherics of dungeon synth, a black-metal-adjacent style that emerged in the 80s. They’ve released a ridiculously prolific amount of music in little over a year under the Erythrite Throne moniker: 18 albums on Bandcamp starting in 2018, including one on January 1 of this year. Don’t be overwhelmed: their mostly instrumental music is moody and wholly engrossing. Start with The Blind Hag’s Lair. 

This content was originally published here.

[thesinglesjukebox]

MILEY CYRUS - SLIDE AWAY

[6.29]

Baby let all them voices slide away-e-yay-e-ay-e-yay [massive wall of sound appears]

Jackie Powell: "Slide Away" might be Miley Cyrus's most focused song since "Wrecking Ball," but it also represents so much more than just similar lyrical themes. It illustrates her evolution as an artist and a queer human being. Cyrus was trying to fit in a box with both that 2013 music video and her very short hair. In 2019, she's wearing black in her VMA performance of "Slide Away" with her wavy dirty blonde hair. She's no longer embarrassed to wear a cowboy hat nor is she shoving her love of women down our throats. We all just know that this is who she is. Her desire is to be herself, but she also craves substance and quality over just plain erraticism. She doesn't want to be milquetoast. "Slide Away" also proves that Cyrus understands which collaborators allow her to shine. I was pleasantly surprised by MikeWillMadeIt's involvement on this track. I didn't think he had the potential to contribute something so subtle yet fruitful. Cyrus has found her match with Andrew Wyatt. Alma has also assisted on this one as with "Mother's Daughter" without taking the song away from its artist. This combination just works. "Slide Away" is a breakup song about not only letting go of someone but Cyrus liberating herself simultaneously. She doesn't drown in sadness but rather rises and reflects gracefully. She did this purposely. [9]

Tobi Tella: Refreshingly mature and grounded, it's always nice to hear a Miley Cyrus song without the forced guise of The Music I've Always Wanted To Make. It's a meandering, repetitive song and while that's normally something to criticize, here it's just another addition to the sullen, mellow vibe. It lacks the theatrics of something like "Wrecking Ball" because that's not where she or the relationship is. People grow up, grow apart and stop being compatible. Despite not feeling the need to announce it, it's the first time I've been able to feel real artistic growth from her. [7]

Pedro João Santos: It's alright. The sound is translucent; the words distribute the overbearing weight of a breakup between mature avowals and trite metaphors. Aside from poor hooks and metrics, "Slide Away" is full of gaps, which is not counting that crystalline outro. You're free (even encouraged) to fill those in -- second-hand People literature and even Cyrus's recent tell-all Twitter thread are not just supplemental gossip, they charge the anodyne lyrics with meaning. The VMAs rendition is gaining traction for a reason: it taps onto something rawer -- not sure whether in spite of, or due to the vocal strain. Perhaps the latter is more enchanting as a natural flaw, unlike the studio version's disconcerting vocal treatment -- the stinging, affected "won't you slide away" parts awake you from even trying to indulge in its vibey, patched nature. Can't let this one slide. [5]

Scott Mildenhall: Hackneyed as it may be to call something like this "raw," there is a particular rawness to that call to "move on," both for its surface-level sting and the pain it belies. It's the pretence of greater control -- I'm fine, you're not and I can affect superiority with that lie. It's a front that brings extra texture to a desperate bask in angst for which the tone is struck just right; so right that it's more of a mood piece than something that would jump out of the radio. [7]

Kylo Nocom: I wish I loved this, but every one of my qualms feels so damn fixable that I can't even bother to like this. The pre-chorus's piano presets are ugly and out of place, those constant pitchy distorted moans are like nails on a chalkboard, and the fact that the song ends on the weak pre-chorus and a full minute of meandering strings is confusing. All of these make that sun bleached chorus of alternating shouts and swoons sound so much better, and for the briefest moments I can feel immersed in Miley's pop psychedelia. Unfortunately, moments aren't enough to make "Slide Away" sound like anything revelatory, or even just a simple return to form. [4]

Alfred Soto: Her voice starchier, Miley Cyrus sings country lyrics over a basic chord pattern, mourning the collapse of something or other. Her ability to personalize any genre into which she chooses to insert herself remains impressive as gesture. [5]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Miley's music has always sounded very calculated, but I've never quite had a grip on who she genuinely is as an artist. This isn't to take anything away from her creative agency, but rather to say that, as opposed to a Lady Gaga or Beyoncé who can proactively bend pop's trends to their will, Miley's constant persona changes seem mostly reactionary: the Hannah Montana era was curated by Disney, Can't Be Tamed was built to disown the show, Bangerz attempted to ride the waves of hip-hop's popularity and Younger Now shed blackness in favor of country-lite during the Trump era when early 2010s pop was dying and pop stars were appealing to authenticity. (Note: I refuse to acknowledge Her Dead Petz.) Even her most recent work follows this pattern: the SHE IS COMING EP's excessive vulgarity felt like another reaction to the underwhelming fan reaction to Younger Now's mellower tones. It's interesting then, that post-starring in a Black Mirror episode satirising the process of pop music creation, that she released "Slide Away," the most at home she's ever sounded singing anything. There's nothing gimmicky here, just an honest reflection about her life and career, sung compellingly. It's full of songwriting gems: the subtle inflection of her past being both a "paradise" despite feeling "paralyzed"; the 180 from life being "made for us" to being "turned to dust"; and the tender assuredness with which she sings "It's time to let it go." Never has she crafted her own narrative so simply or so powerfully. Over and over again she sings, "I'm not who I used to be," reflecting on her persona rather than labouring to create a new one. Finally, she sounds at peace as an artist. [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[joneswilliam72]

The 405 meets King Princess

Mikaela Straus, better known by her stage name King Princess, is a 20-year-old New York singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer hailing, to be exact, from Brooklyn. Under the King Princess moniker, Straus has released a debut EP called Make My Bed that features her insanely successful debut single, '1950'. At the end of January, I had the pleasure of talking with Straus just before her show at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall. We discussed growing up in New York, being around studios growing up and how that made her navigate towards a music career, the importance of '1950', and so much more!

So, I know you grew up in New York, can you touch upon that for a bit?

Yeah, New York is a great city to grow up in. It matures you really fast just because you’re just exposed to so much. And so, I grew up in Brooklyn, went to school in Manhattan, so I feel like I had the best of both sides of New York, kind of quiet New York, because when I was a kid, the heart of Brooklyn was super quiet and neighbourhoody and now it’s like gentrified and obviously my parents were the start of that gentrification, I had some time in between to enjoy it.

When did you realize that New York is really special?

I would say when I first started taking the subway, like in middle school or high school. I was just able to really see the beauty of New York, taking the train every day. I always describe as these like fleeting moments where you fall in love with people on the train, there’s just these weird, surreal crazy moments that you have in New York as a kid, I feel like as a kid figuring out your sexuality.

I know you were exposed to studios growing up and I know kids growing up tend to have a lot of passions, do you think being exposed to music early on led you here?

Yeah, it definitely did. Because I also knew that I was really lucky. I just knew that I was lucky to have this thing and I felt excited to use this tool I grew up with to get better.

The story goes you were in the shower where you got the idea for '1950'. Did you realise how special it was at the time?

Once I got into the studio and we like finished it, because we finished it in a day, me and my friend Nick and Mike and we knew it was special once it was done. Because we listened back to it and we just knew.

'1950' really feels like your signature song and seems to speak to who you are as a person. Do you see that as well?

Well Mark said because we were thinking about what to release first, '1950' or 'Talia', and Mark was the deciding factor because I was feeling towards him that '1950', was the song that represented me the best if you were to take a song from the EP that encapsulates me as an artist and I think it’s because of that reason that we decided on this record first. Mark said this is you and your first song should be completely and utterly about you, it shouldn’t be about someone else in the way some of the songs were and I was really moved by that when he said it.

When you released '1950', I know Harry Styles tweeted about it and you got an amazing reception... how were you feeling when that was all happening?

Well, it was like most of my music experience up until that point had been writing music and that was the comfort for me and then you put it out and it blows up the way '1950' did on social media especially, it definitely takes something away from that feeling of it being yours, but you also feel so warm and gratified that all of this people are responding to something that you made and that’s completely you. Because putting something that is authentically you is really hard and I’m fortunate enough to do that, but it is very challenging emotionally.

And even the challenges of being an artist that people don’t see, like people don’t really see the stress and anxiety that really goes into being an artist.

I think because I've always wanted to do this, you sort of have to be narcissistic to do this, I think it’s especially hard because you start telling yourself that you did all of this to yourself, and I’m like yeah that’s true, but you didn’t know what it was going to be like and I’m like 'alright you right sis'.

Given the type of music you’re making, about your sexuality, do you look back on artists like Boy George or Elton John in how they had to go through certain things? Do you look back on what gay artists had to go through?

I do! And those are our forefather and mothers! Like those are our people, they made it possible for me to feel inspired or a part of a legacy, especially Freddy Mercury and Elton John and that kind of rock-star, gay, iconism is really interesting to me because it feels, the music now, now that we look back feels of a period, but the looks and the physicality and the way these people expressed themselves is so current and so modern and when you look at fashion right now and it’s all cyclical, it’s just coming back and we’re pulling from these same references, these same pool of references and I love that because it feels like queerness is not only a community, but a melting pot, in which we can all look at our history and grab from things and say I’m inspired by this person who came before me and you’re sort of paying homage to them in doing so. And I think that’s the value of knowing history and I want to learn more because every time I find something, I get more inspired, it’s just as simple as that, so I want people to have access to that, somehow and I hope my music and talking about those who came before us brings into light that we’re all influenced by the Elton’s and the Freddy’s and the Boy George’s.

Is that how you went into your debut EP?

Well, I went into my debut EP because I had my heart smashed and I was sad, which is typically how it goes I would say. It honestly lights a fire under my ass to get things done, which I personally need. But I went into the EP with '1950' and feeling inspired, but a lot of the songs don’t have to do with queer history, a lot of them have to do with sadness, heartbreak and anger and love too, and this could all be equally as inspiring as history.

I read something about you going to the New York pride and getting stopped?

Yeah, I had never been stopped before at the pride parade for people telling me thank you. And I feel like I never got to access pride before in a way where people felt excited to see me and like I'm excited to see y’all.

And on that note too, how has it been with the crowds on tour?

Shows are great because I feel like with all the environments to play music in these kids are not only the most deserving, but they’re coming to the shows and their excited and so I’m playing these new songs and I’m trying to give the depths of my sad heart and I think their receiving it and feeling connected and it’s really beautiful and it’s great too because there a great soundboard, like you like that! Like yas!

from The 405 https://ift.tt/2ENCgL8

[demitgibbs]

Out Pop-Star Hayley Kiyoko Puts Her Authentic Self Out There

Even lesbian Jesuses get swept up by the grandeur of the Statue of Liberty.

“I’ve never seen it before! It’s huge! Oh my god, it’s huge!” enthuses a giddy-as-ever Hayley Kiyoko, proclaimed “the lesbian Jesus” by her adoring disciples. The unapologetic pop fixture can’t help but check out of our conversation to soak up the moment, her driver cruising over a bridge in New York City. “It’s on my left. I had to, like, gasp. Oh my god, it’s so cool.”

The 27-year-old singer is doing a string of press calls to tout her debut album, Expectations, and though I’ve understandably lost her to a colossal Neoclassical monument, Kiyoko eventually remembers why she’s on the phone in the first place: oh, right, music.

Kiyoko’s DIY solo music career launched in 2013, when her partially crowdfunded debut EP A Belle to Remember was released. This Side of Paradise followed in 2015 and featured “Girls Like Girls.” The single’s video, which has amassed more than 92 million views on YouTube (collectively, her self-directed videos have eclipsed 180 million views), took a hard, unflinching look at the challenges of facing same-sex desire.

Kiyoko released her third EP, CITRINE, in 2016, which included single “Gravel to Tempo”; in the song’s video, she leaves a group of mean girls speechless with her seductive dance moves. “Curious,” a single from her first full-length, released in March on Atlantic Records, is as brazenly sensual as any straight pop star’s lustfulness. And the newly dropped video for the latest single “What I Need,” a duet with Kehlani, features the two photogenic, budding pop stars on a Sapphic road trip à la Thelma and Louise.

WATCH:

While taking in the historic NYC views, Kiyoko opened up to me about letting her music tell her queer story (even when it came to coming out to her grandma) and the “gentle and vulnerable and emotional” bond she has with her fans.

[Editor’s note: Fans can catch Kiyoko (with Panic! at the Disco) at The BB&T Center in Sunrise on Tuesday, July 31.]

Your 94-year-old grandma recently discovered you’re lesbian thanks to one of your music videos. What was that like?

[Laughs.] It’s funny: I’ve just been gently sending her videos I’ve been directing, but I don’t know if she’s been watching them or not, because that was the first time she responded directly about my music. I still don’t know what video she watched, but with every video, it’s very obvious that I like girls, so I feel like the cat’s out of the bag — finally.

Which videos of yours would be a good gay conversation-starter for grandmas to watch?

[Laughs.] I feel like “Girls Like Girls” is a good introduction.

Tell me how you came to be so open about your sexuality as a pop musician.

It’s just been baby steps. I did the “Girls Like Girls” music video, which was the introduction; still, people didn’t really know where I was at. Then, I released “Gravel to Tempo.” Every video I’m wanting to challenge myself and tell a different story and [show] a different perspective on a situation that I’ve experienced.

Now, obviously, looking back at all these videos, it tells a very solidified story. I like girls, and I was never… as you know, it’s a difficult thing to want to be open about because it’s very personal. It’s something you don’t feel like you need to share, but I’ve connected with so many people through it.

I’ve kind of had to really own it and feel confident about it because I realize there aren’t a lot of people who do that. So, you have to lead by example, and that’s the best way to help normalize those feelings. That’s always been my goal: just to normalize things and not have it be a conversation. I always told my manager: “I don’t want to come out. I just want people to watch my art and take it for what it is.”

Talk about some of the queer themes on this album and how your life inspired those songs.

I have a song “He’ll Never Love You (HNLY).” It talks about a situation I was in where this girl wanted to be with me but was too afraid to own her sexuality, so I had to let that person go. It was always a frustrating situation because I knew how she felt, but you can’t encourage anyone to love themselves. That’s a journey on their own.

When, as a public figure, did you first feel 100 percent comfortable being open about your sexuality?

Probably the music video after “Girls Like Girls,” “Cliff’s Edge.” You can’t argue with what’s going on in that video. [Laughs.] So, that was definitely a moment where I was like, “I’m gonna own this and I’m gonna own who I am,” because, to be honest, I’ve always known who I was. But sharing that with the world is another level of pressure, I would say.

How would you compare how you felt about your sexuality during “Girls Like Girls” versus “Cliff’s Edge”?

I almost didn’t put “Girls Like Girls” on my EP. It was a very last-minute decision. And then I was seeing the reactions, and I didn’t know what my next step was. I didn’t really know where I was going with my career and what my message was. I made “Girls Like Girls” in a very honest place, just like every other video I do. But after you do something [like that], it’s like, what do I do now?

WATCH:

How did you gauge what was next regarding your queer music narrative? Do you have a team of queer people who are guiding you?

No, I don’t think that’s a reality. [Laughs.] I mean, I don’t know. I’m just being myself, and I really don’t consult anyone. I just put it out.

But a lot of pop acts have a team working with them.

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. My team is my manager and my day-to-day. I have my team, but they’re all straight [laughs] and they can’t relate. So I go, “This is what I’m doing,” and then we do it.

There’s nothing contrived or manipulated with what I do. It’s really: Write a song; OK, I wanna shoot a music video; we create a music video; I do whatever I want with it, and then I decide when I wanna release it, and then I put it out on YouTube.

That’s really the process. I’m sure it’s different for other artists, but I’ve always been extremely controlling with my art. And when I signed to Atlantic they knew that, so they let me do whatever I want to do.

That control has probably been one of the reasons you’ve been able to connect with all these fans who call you their “lesbian Jesus.” Could you describe the connection you have with your queer fans?

I think the connection is very gentle and vulnerable and emotional. Sometimes kids will say things to me that they’ve never said to anyone else. It’s really an open space, and I think that they know I’m accepting of them.

Are you the lesbian pop star you wished for when you were a struggling queer teen?

I don’t know. I guess I don’t think about it that much. I’m not really looking at myself all the time in the sense of, look who I am. I’m like everyone else, just trying to get through life day to day. And I really want to get to a point in my career where people are just listening to my music and giving me an opportunity and a platform, so I don’t really reflect, because I feel like I have so much to share.

As a young person you were pretty hungry for representation, though.

Oh, yeah, 100 percent. And there were some great acts out there that I loved, like Tegan and Sara, for example. I love them. But I didn’t have a person where I was like, “She knows exactly what I’m going through, and we are connected.” I had icons and idols but not someone that I really connected with.

I read in The Guardian that Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” influenced you.

It did? I mean, I wouldn’t say… I don’t think I said it was an influence. They asked me what I thought about that [song], what my take on it was, because a lot of people were saying negative things.

I have nothing negative to say. It reminded me, OK, there’s Katy Perry singing about experimenting and kissing a girl, and that’s great and I support that. I’m gonna be someone who likes girls all the time and sing about that. So, I thought it was a positive thing. I thought it was a step toward what I was gonna do down the line one day.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/06/21/out-pop-star-hayley-kiyoko-puts-her-authentic-self-out-there/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/175108905610

[hotspotsmagazine]

Out Pop-Star Hayley Kiyoko Puts Her Authentic Self Out There

Even lesbian Jesuses get swept up by the grandeur of the Statue of Liberty.

“I’ve never seen it before! It’s huge! Oh my god, it’s huge!” enthuses a giddy-as-ever Hayley Kiyoko, proclaimed “the lesbian Jesus” by her adoring disciples. The unapologetic pop fixture can’t help but check out of our conversation to soak up the moment, her driver cruising over a bridge in New York City. “It’s on my left. I had to, like, gasp. Oh my god, it’s so cool.”

The 27-year-old singer is doing a string of press calls to tout her debut album, Expectations, and though I’ve understandably lost her to a colossal Neoclassical monument, Kiyoko eventually remembers why she’s on the phone in the first place: oh, right, music.

Kiyoko’s DIY solo music career launched in 2013, when her partially crowdfunded debut EP A Belle to Remember was released. This Side of Paradise followed in 2015 and featured “Girls Like Girls.” The single’s video, which has amassed more than 92 million views on YouTube (collectively, her self-directed videos have eclipsed 180 million views), took a hard, unflinching look at the challenges of facing same-sex desire.

Kiyoko released her third EP, CITRINE, in 2016, which included single “Gravel to Tempo”; in the song’s video, she leaves a group of mean girls speechless with her seductive dance moves. “Curious,” a single from her first full-length, released in March on Atlantic Records, is as brazenly sensual as any straight pop star’s lustfulness. And the newly dropped video for the latest single “What I Need,” a duet with Kehlani, features the two photogenic, budding pop stars on a Sapphic road trip à la Thelma and Louise.

WATCH:

While taking in the historic NYC views, Kiyoko opened up to me about letting her music tell her queer story (even when it came to coming out to her grandma) and the “gentle and vulnerable and emotional” bond she has with her fans.

[Editor’s note: Fans can catch Kiyoko (with Panic! at the Disco) at The BB&T Center in Sunrise on Tuesday, July 31.]

Your 94-year-old grandma recently discovered you’re lesbian thanks to one of your music videos. What was that like?

[Laughs.] It’s funny: I’ve just been gently sending her videos I’ve been directing, but I don’t know if she’s been watching them or not, because that was the first time she responded directly about my music. I still don’t know what video she watched, but with every video, it’s very obvious that I like girls, so I feel like the cat’s out of the bag — finally.

Which videos of yours would be a good gay conversation-starter for grandmas to watch?

[Laughs.] I feel like “Girls Like Girls” is a good introduction.

Tell me how you came to be so open about your sexuality as a pop musician.

It’s just been baby steps. I did the “Girls Like Girls” music video, which was the introduction; still, people didn’t really know where I was at. Then, I released “Gravel to Tempo.” Every video I’m wanting to challenge myself and tell a different story and [show] a different perspective on a situation that I’ve experienced.

Now, obviously, looking back at all these videos, it tells a very solidified story. I like girls, and I was never… as you know, it’s a difficult thing to want to be open about because it’s very personal. It’s something you don’t feel like you need to share, but I’ve connected with so many people through it.

I’ve kind of had to really own it and feel confident about it because I realize there aren’t a lot of people who do that. So, you have to lead by example, and that’s the best way to help normalize those feelings. That’s always been my goal: just to normalize things and not have it be a conversation. I always told my manager: “I don’t want to come out. I just want people to watch my art and take it for what it is.”

Talk about some of the queer themes on this album and how your life inspired those songs.

I have a song “He’ll Never Love You (HNLY).” It talks about a situation I was in where this girl wanted to be with me but was too afraid to own her sexuality, so I had to let that person go. It was always a frustrating situation because I knew how she felt, but you can’t encourage anyone to love themselves. That’s a journey on their own.

When, as a public figure, did you first feel 100 percent comfortable being open about your sexuality?

Probably the music video after “Girls Like Girls,” “Cliff’s Edge.” You can’t argue with what’s going on in that video. [Laughs.] So, that was definitely a moment where I was like, “I’m gonna own this and I’m gonna own who I am,” because, to be honest, I’ve always known who I was. But sharing that with the world is another level of pressure, I would say.

How would you compare how you felt about your sexuality during “Girls Like Girls” versus “Cliff’s Edge”?

I almost didn’t put “Girls Like Girls” on my EP. It was a very last-minute decision. And then I was seeing the reactions, and I didn’t know what my next step was. I didn’t really know where I was going with my career and what my message was. I made “Girls Like Girls” in a very honest place, just like every other video I do. But after you do something [like that], it’s like, what do I do now?

WATCH:

How did you gauge what was next regarding your queer music narrative? Do you have a team of queer people who are guiding you?

No, I don’t think that’s a reality. [Laughs.] I mean, I don’t know. I’m just being myself, and I really don’t consult anyone. I just put it out.

But a lot of pop acts have a team working with them.

Oh, yeah. No, no, no. My team is my manager and my day-to-day. I have my team, but they’re all straight [laughs] and they can’t relate. So I go, “This is what I’m doing,” and then we do it.

There’s nothing contrived or manipulated with what I do. It’s really: Write a song; OK, I wanna shoot a music video; we create a music video; I do whatever I want with it, and then I decide when I wanna release it, and then I put it out on YouTube.

That’s really the process. I’m sure it’s different for other artists, but I’ve always been extremely controlling with my art. And when I signed to Atlantic they knew that, so they let me do whatever I want to do.

That control has probably been one of the reasons you’ve been able to connect with all these fans who call you their “lesbian Jesus.” Could you describe the connection you have with your queer fans?

I think the connection is very gentle and vulnerable and emotional. Sometimes kids will say things to me that they’ve never said to anyone else. It’s really an open space, and I think that they know I’m accepting of them.

Are you the lesbian pop star you wished for when you were a struggling queer teen?

I don’t know. I guess I don’t think about it that much. I’m not really looking at myself all the time in the sense of, look who I am. I’m like everyone else, just trying to get through life day to day. And I really want to get to a point in my career where people are just listening to my music and giving me an opportunity and a platform, so I don’t really reflect, because I feel like I have so much to share.

As a young person you were pretty hungry for representation, though.

Oh, yeah, 100 percent. And there were some great acts out there that I loved, like Tegan and Sara, for example. I love them. But I didn’t have a person where I was like, “She knows exactly what I’m going through, and we are connected.” I had icons and idols but not someone that I really connected with.

I read in The Guardian that Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” influenced you.

It did? I mean, I wouldn’t say… I don’t think I said it was an influence. They asked me what I thought about that [song], what my take on it was, because a lot of people were saying negative things.

I have nothing negative to say. It reminded me, OK, there’s Katy Perry singing about experimenting and kissing a girl, and that’s great and I support that. I’m gonna be someone who likes girls all the time and sing about that. So, I thought it was a positive thing. I thought it was a step toward what I was gonna do down the line one day.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/06/21/out-pop-star-hayley-kiyoko-puts-her-authentic-self-out-there/