#spears are cool but i'm really excited for this feature

[manapotion]

Janthir Wilds || Homestead

[xxnashiraxx]

Snippet Sunday 🩸

I have been so busy these past couple of weeks and have not had a chance to post on a Wednesday, but making up for that today!

Thank you for all the tags over this past week, guys! Especially to @obsessedwhyyes @vividiana (I SAW YOU POST YOUR FIC, I'M ON THAT) @deadly-diminuendo @heylittleriotact @andromedaancunin @emmg -I hope I got everyone! 🖤

Here is a little snippet from Chapter 18 of With Stars to Fill My Dream! I'm a few words shy of 10k and I'm still not done 😬 Very close though! I still intend to post the chapter this coming Saturday, so I'm just juggling the ending since it was supposed to cut off at a certain event, but if I add that this chapter may turn into 15k and I don't think anyone needs a 15k chapter lol, so 19 will have my big cool secret that I'm excited to write!

Anyway! Here is just a bit from the creche! 🖤

A bump to her back shakes her out of the rapid devouring of self-hatred spreading into every cell in her body, stumbling and almost collapsing onto the ground below. “Watch it,” Astarion hisses, pressing up more firmly against her once her knees steady. “What are you-” “Draw your blade, we’re being surrounded.” “What blade? I have a goddamn knife, in case you haven’t noticed,” “It’ll be close combat soon enough,” He bites back bitterly. With cruel acknowledgement, she realizes he’s right, and she holds her dagger defensively, the feel of Astarion mimicking her stance as they lean on each other for support sending waves of confidence and dizzying uncertainty sparking through her veins. The pair of them really aren’t suited to this kind of punishing rhythm- the dance they weave teetering in and out of their favor with each blow and evasion. Constantly shuffling feet, ducking, and bending lend a kind of bizarre grace to each cohesive attack. He stabs, she parries. He parries, she stabs. A month ago, she’d been shaking in her boots at the prospect of some stranger following her through a dimly lit alley or confronting her for money. Now? She’s slashing her dagger and catching a chunk of githyanki ear in the cheek, sputtering and spitting the metallic liquid from her mouth onto the ground below. “Here, you need something,” Ofelia tosses over her shoulder, knowing he’ll hear her over the loud grunts of a woman who constantly swings her spear- as if she’d be lucky enough to land a successful hit on their cunning rogue. Ofelia presses the hilt of her dagger between gritted teeth before deftly swinging her lute to the front. It takes her but a moment to recall the spell, and the blink of an eye to choose something appropriate. Whether by her estimations or the surrounding enemies, she isn’t sure. Quick digits splay over the neck of the instrument with a prowess stemming from years of habitual repetition. The tune she defaults to when lost in thought—its weeping melody and slapping of skin to wood—floods her brain with familiarity. Like an old friend, it caresses her ears with a comfort long and lost. Emboldened by the teal magic that sinks into his pale skin, Astarion makes short work of the soldier before him with only the loud tearing of sinew and tissue being ripped from bone to indicate her termination. Ofelia turns to him, blood covering his face to paint his gaunt features in a shadowy mockery of the one she knows best. Polluting her thoughts of him, he does nothing but stare. If she’d been of clearer mind she would have paid more attention to the Inquisitor out of his periphery, elbows thrust backward as he lines his blade up with Astarion’s abdomen. “No!” She juts her hip out to knock him off balance, lute lowered in a measly attempt to block the blow. Aged wood and rusting strings do not, a proper shield, make.

If you're wondering what Ofelia strummed, yes it's the guitar solo from Bulls in the Bronx 🤙🏻

No pressure tags for my lovelies! 💗 @pinkberrytea @khywren @caffeinatedmunchkin @bby-bel-art @nerdallwritey @verbenaa @inkymoonbunny @elinorbard @badbloodwitch @justabiteofspite @bloodinwine @ladyduellist @preciouslittlebhaalbae @lanafofana @bardic-inspo @busy-baker @marlowethebard @alwaysmauria

[beatthegame]

Elden Ring just beat me...and it's a bummer because I REALLY wanted to like this game. It has all the ingredients to make up a killer game. An open world with crazy art direction. Plenty of challenging options to keep you playing. But what went wrong? Why do I hate this game so much? I'm getting angry just trying to think about it, so let's try to make this quick...

In a nutshell: The setting seems to involve a fantasy setting where you are a fallen soldier. Getting involved in a brief skirmish with a giant spider demon. Then waking up in some sort of medeval hellish landscape with giant gold trees? There seems to be a detailed backstory written by George RR Martin (Game of Thrones). Although I wouldn't know because I'm too busy getting gangraped by skeleton warriors every step of the way to take notice. It's a "souls" game. So these games are annoying by design. But the broken game mechanics and tedious grinding make this game unplayable. Let me break it down like this...

The Good: The graphics are visually stunning, let's be honest. The environments and character designs are insane! Every enemy you encounter is menacing and emit pure nightmare fuel. Which is exciting to say the least. Elden Ring offers one of the best character creators in modern gaming. You can get really detailed adjusting the most minor facial features. Multiple character disciplines that greatly affect your gameplay experience. Diverse skin and body types. You can be really creative, which I adore! And then you put on some in-game armor that covers up the details you spent hours building. Cool! But let's appreciate the good elements because there's a whole lot of bad. Where do I begin...

The Bad: My first attempt playing this, I noticed these glowing rocks scattered around the floor. Apparently they were messages from other players across the Playstation network. Messages like "hidden treasure behind boulder" was pretty neat and helpful. But then you see more and more of these glowing messages. With a lot of not-so-useful messages like "is this dog?" and "finger in ur but". But what crossed the line was "boss up ahead" and you know what? There was a fucking boss ahead! What kind of troll shit allows spoilers mid-game? Can you imagine playing Resident Evil. Right before opening the door of that iconic dog chase scene, you read a community message saying "bow wow ahead lol" Like, way to ruin the immersion asshole! At that moment, I hated the game and pretty much gave up. But after discovering you can disable online messages, I tried it again. Which made a huge difference. I was starting to enjoy the game at first. But once you leave that cave, it was a pure shitshow from there. But let's start with the name "Elden Ring". This would imply upon a grandiose adventure involving a magical ring of some sort. But I would have appreciated it more if they were honest and called the game "YOU DIED" Because that's pretty much what you experience throughout the entire game. Every enemy you encounter was a pain in the ass with little relief in between. Please don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining about the challenge level. I appreciate a good challenging game. I hate to compare, but you have hard ass games like Cuphead, Doom Eternal and Battle Toads that are fantastic, despite their difficulty. There's a balance to their difficulty. Plus their controls are tight and responsive. But when you have to try and maneuver through shitty mechanics, you're not playing a fair game. I recall one instance where I was running around a stone wall to avoid an enemy. But I can't explain why the enemy's spear could clip through this stone wall for a one-shot kill? And what good is perfecting the timing of a defensive parry if a giant boss can just one-hit stomp you like a cockroach? And you get paid in turds so the risk/reward balance is off. I'd rather work a sweatshop, hand-sewing Lulu Lemon leggings than to grind hours for one stamina point. At least you'll get paid at the sweatshop. But if you play Elden Ring long enough, and memorize the patterns and "git gud" you'll eventually beat one of the bosses and get a weapon you can't use, because your charisma stats or whatever is too low. LOL! This game blows.

Overall: Video Games are supposed to be fun. But Elden Ring was a burden to get through. It felt like work after a while. Like an abusive unpaid intership in hell. You can hire a dominatrix if you enjoy the abuse. It won't take up as much of your time and it's better support for your local economy. LOL! Fuck Elden Ring.

(Edited: Just remembered more things I hated about this game, but adjusted the score to something more reasonable. This game is obviously not shit and had me hooked for a while. It just wasn't fun for me. Plus it's not cool to shit on a particular fanbase. Play whatever you want. Don't let my opinion take a shit on your cereal. This is just a place to vent since it would be super weird to scream about Elden Ring out in the real world, with real life problems. But the game still sucks in my point of view so whatever. LOL!)

D-Class

[pillowfriends]

TSR new reader thoughts: chapter 21-26

Chapter 21: Into the Heart

Moiraine POV finally!! I love this POV because it does absolutely nothing to make her a more sympathetic or likeable character. featuring such bangers as "Egwene is getting harder to manipulate, this is really inconvenient" and "When Lan is with me it's annoying because he thinks I need protection, but when he's not with me it's annoying because he should be doing his job and protecting me" and "what the fuck Rand I'm so fucking angry what the FUCK - *outwardly just has the blankest most neutral expression*" truly she is the character of all time.

anyway. Rand is politicking and still doesn't think a woman could ever be a legitimate threat to anything. ok

Chapter 22: Out of the Stone

Aiel culture information, cool. Rand and Egwene reminiscing about the Two Rivers, cute and tragic. Moiraine is so funny in this chapter being upset that Rand is keeping secrets. girl have you met yourself?? also Lan taking Rand's side over Moiraine's - god this woman can't catch a break.

introduction of the fat man angreal I've heard so much about!

Chapter 23: Beyond the Stone

Moiraine was soooo angry at Rand for taking the risk with the stone. also Lan wtf withholding Aiel information from Moiraine. "You have never asked me about them" terrible excuse you've been together for twenty years and it's extremely relevant to the quest you're on RIGHT NOW. this doesn't feel like a Lan move tbh but maybe I just have my rose-colored MoLan glasses on. it really does seem like Lan is distancing himself from Moiraine which I'm upset about.

Aviendha can channel! we're meeting so many channelers from different areas and it's very cool. I think her denial of what the Wise Ones want her life path to be, and eventually caving in, parallels very nicely with our ta'veren protagonists.

Moiraine goes into a tent, drinks some wine, keeps talking over Egwene to get random information about the Aiel, goes on a rant about the Old Tongue that no one really cares about, and then runs out naked to go through a mystery ter'angreal. what an icon.

Chapter 24: Rhuidean

I really don't have a lot to say about this chapter, like, Mat being Mat, some more ter'angreal fuckshit, human skin leather on the creepy guy, okay moving on.

(actually though, WHAT is going on with these redstone doorways, insane. sometimes it's hard to tell with the ter'angreal what magic weirdness will be handwaved away and what will be explored/explained later. either way, though, it's fun to read.)

Chapter 25: The Road to the Spear AND Chapter 26: The Dedicated

holy shit. this is why I read epic fantasy. I'm combining these chapters because they're basically one long chapter of Rand going back through Aiel history. I don't even know what to say except that it was extremely cool, I loved how it traced the history back through one family line, and I was absolutely overwhelmed (in a good way) by the insane amount of lore. it was very smoothly done though. standout moments for me are learning the reason behind the Aiel veiling their faces before they kill, and also WHAT THE FUCK WE GOT THE AGE OF LEGENDS??? on page??? with like, male channelers and futuristic technology and ?????? I'm never recovering.

but yeah, TLDR that was an insane sequence that made me so, so excited for future lore reveals. I'm in it now baby, I'm not just invested in the characters but I'm also so invested in the world Robert Jordan built. there's so much history, so many cultures, and I want to learn about all of it.

< last | next >

[fluffykitteninabox]

Guys look what I got!!!

I've never had playmobil before I'm so excited! I feel like a little kid😁😁

There's 7 sets and I want them all so badly 😭😭!!

but I'll probably just try to collect the small ones.

more under the cut

I really like them, there's a lot more detail than I expected.

there's helmets, spears, swords and shields for all four soldiers.

There's also different body types which I've never seen on this type of toy before and I appreciate it a lot.

The comics have a lot of fat characters and it would look weird if they used the same skinny model for everyone. Especially Obélix. From the photos I've seen of the other sets though he looks great.

Anyway back to the set I have

They also have this neat feature where you can turn their head and they change expressions. They have a normal one and "beat up" look which is very fitting 😂!!

Their hands can also rotate which I didn't expect and helps them hold their shield.

They also all have yellow stands and some of them have belts that lets you put their sword there. It looks very cool! 😁😁

Some of these might just be normal features for playmobil sets but I wouldn't know. I've never had any so everything is new to me.

Anyway can't wait to share this with my dad, he's going to love it

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Can I ask for some badass jason moment like maybe he does something badass and people realize wow Jason's powerful and idk maybe percy just drools after his badass himbo boyfriend

Idk I'm not feeling great and just need some badass jason love all mixed in with percy being the one who drools not the other way (I dont mind the other way but I really want jason to be admired)

Hello sweet Anon. I'm so sorry you aren't feeling all good🥺sending you warm hugs and light☀️

Here's some dark!jercy featuring badass!Jason and some badass!Percy too. I hope you enjoy.

And if you're in need of anymore badass!Jase here's some other fics of mine: Dark!Jason trying to save kidnapped Percy; Dark!Jason forcing the gods to save Percy

If anyone else has badass!Jason fics please link them for Anon💖

Masterlist

But onto this one!

TW: dark, murder, blood. This is not for the faint of heart, please proceed with caution.

"On your right!" Someone screams. It's not for his benefit. He is a weapon of mass destruction. The warning is for his opponent.

Percy Jackson slides under a gleaming sword and vaults back up with a wicked smile on his face. “Missed me."

The demigod shrieks, turning back around to face him.

"I will kill you Percy Jackson."

"You know I get tired of hearing that after ten years of this."

"Stop talking and fight me like the hero you're supposed to be."

He bares his teeth, green eyes flashing with anger, "I'm nobody's hero."

"Now that's a lie if I've ever heard one." A deep, clear voice from behind them drawls.

"Now is not the time you hopeless romantic." He laughs, turning to see his godly boyfriend landing on the ground with a soft thud.

"There's always time to appreciate you." Blue eyes twinkle, love and amusement glittering like stars.

"Can you two just shut up for like five seconds?" The demigod he had forgotten about growls, "I have shit to do and I'd prefer if we could get this over with."

"Better things to do than killing us?" Percy raises a brow, "Gee so sorry we're keeping you from your busy schedule."

"What's the problem anyway?"

"Your worthless trash of a boyfriend refuses to die."

"Oh," He winces, "You probably shouldn't have said that."

Jason's eyes flash with something otherworldly, dark, sinister, beautiful, "Why are you trying to kill him?"

The demigod' s expression flashes with disgust, like this simple task is beneath them, "Orders from the boss."

"And who is the boss?" His boyfriend asks quietly.

Percy can feel the air turning electric around them, can see the lightning slowly crackle in Jason's veins. After all these years, he knows better than anyone when his love is going to explode, can read the signs faster than even the blonde himself.

"We're under oath to keep the secrecy of the boss' identity."

"Cowards!" The Son of Jupiter growls, "Tell us and we can make this easy."

The sky above them goes a sickly shade of grey, and there are bolts flashing behind those blue eyes.

The demigod looks between them, fear finally seeping in. But they see Percy's smirk and something becomes visibly stone in their expression.

"Fuck you. I'll kill both of you."

The world detonates and green eyes dance with laughter as the demigod claws at their throat, eating lightning like candy.

"Tell us." The blonde's voice is deathly quiet. Soft with malice.

"Chiron." They gasp. Their body stiffens, hazel eyes freezing in an expression of horror. And with a single flick of his wrist Jason effaced the air from the demigod's lungs, carrying it in his golden fingers, and blew a kiss to the sky with that stolen oxygen.

"Gods you're hot," Percy sighs, looking at him with dark eyes and seduction.

"Later," His boyfriend laughs, "First we got a centaur to kill."

He grabs onto those broad shoulders, nuzzling his nose into his neck. Jason wraps his arms around him and kisses his forehead.

"You ready?"

"Fly me away Superman." He giggles.

And so they take to the skies, Percy clinging onto him with all his might and Jason laughing into the world.

"Why do I let you convince me this is a good idea?" He groans, "I hate this."

"The excuse to hold me outweighs your fear," The blonde whispers in his ear.

"It's your fault for being so godsdamn attractive."

His answer is met with laughter, and happiness, and never-ending love.

"Do we have to kill Chiron?"

Jason's body goes taut with anger, not at him. Never at him. "He tried to hurt you. He will not get away with that."

"I know," Percy winces, "But he raised me in this world. It seems... wrong?"

"What do you want to do instead?" The blonde finally gets out. Compromise. Collaboration. He knew it took a lot to get to this stage.

"Maybe we could—"

The Son of Jupiter gasps, his whole body shuddering.

In an instant Percy knows something is wrong, very, very wrong. A growing pool of blood is growing on the blonde's shirt, and a pretty wooden arrow is sticking out of his back.

"What the fuck?" He yells, looking around for the shooter.

"Perc," His boyfriend whispers, "I can't hold us up for much longer.

And then they're plummeting to the ground, wind screaming in their ears, twin hearts beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings.

But Percy is not afraid. For below them is the ocean and in his many years of living that great blue expanse has always been a safe place, a comfort, a protector. So they hurtle to their watery end and when they hit the sea Percy feels himself come alive.

He snaps the arrow at his boyfriend's back and puts a bubble of air around him.

"Here," He offers the ambrosia with a stern look, "Eat."

"We have to go out there and kill them."

His smile is vengeance incarnate, "Oh we will.” It was fine when it was just him they were attacking but to target Jason. To target his love. There are no lines he wouldn’t cross, no place too dark to venture to. He is a hypocrite for it. But he doesn’t care. “First you're going to heal. Because this isn't going to be quick. They will suffer for drawing even a drop of your blood."

Jason's eyes widen, darken, fill with desire, "I love it when you get like this."

"Destructive?" He grins.

"Powerful."

And then his boyfriend is pulling him close and kissing him like the world ends today. He can taste the ambrosia still dissolving on his tongue, more than that he can taste lightning and potent love. The kiss is rough and stinging and full of teeth. But it's raw with hunger and relief too.

"Let's go have some fun." Jason breathes.

And he can't help but giggle with anticipation as they rise through the ocean and walk across it.

The destroyer and his healer.

An arrow flies towards them. With a single swipe of his hand Percy shatters the cool metal. Jason gathers the shards in the air and watches as they group to form a broken spear pointing back at their attackers.

With a whispered hum the broken pieces fly across the sea and pierce six hearts perfectly.

Finally the two reach land, grainy sand sinking under their weight as they take in the scene in front of them. Twenty centaurs, four demigods, and an array of bodies convulsing on the ground as their own arrows slice their organs.

"Why?" Percy tilts his head, staring directly at the centaur he had known for so much of his life.

"You are too powerful. We cannot risk letting you roam free. We must keep the balance." Chiron's voice is almost robotic, as if he had rehearsed the words so many times they've lost all meaning.

"Roam?" He laughs, "I do not roam. I'm not a fucking animal. I live." He glances at the crowd, "And you are afraid because you do not know how to."

"Shoot him." Chiron bellows.

They all pull their bows taut, eyes gleaming with misplaced hate. The arrows let loose. Soar towards them.

"I don't think so." Jason smirks. And suddenly those deadly shafts are frozen midair, hanging like gleaming charms.

Someone gasps, another faints, dies from fear.

"Leave us alone Chiron." The Son of Jupiter says softly. It is not a request. It is a command.

"Stand your ground," The old centaur mutters grimly.

"You know you will not walk away from this." Jason's voice is music, and melodies, and opulent demolition.

Percy can't hold in a beam as he stares at the blonde. Now is probably not the time to be drooling over himself with attraction but there's just something about Jason Grace like this that makes him feral with excitement, temptation.

"Stand your ground!" The centaur screams.

And it works because everyone, cowering or not, straightens their backs and sets hard gazes on the two demigods.

They release twin sighs, knowing they tried their best.

"Why does no-one ever listen?" He rolls his eyes.

"You think at some stage they'd learn." His boyfriend snorts. And the arrows still suspended in the air quake, as if trying to break from their hold.

"Shall we then?" He turns to meet that electric gaze.

Jason let's the arrows go and Percy whips his arm in a circular motion, lifting the ocean from behind them and slamming it into the crowd of killers.

Bloodied and choking the diminishing group sprint towards them, arrows bouncing out of their skin.

They don't get more than ten steps before lightning rains down, stabbing their every orifice. And just to make it special Percy feeds each of them ocean water and laughs as their insides fry, electrocuted by the sea and the sky.

It is over in a matter of seconds, not a body moving, twitching, breathing. Except one. A demigod with bright hair, drunk on fear.

"Please," She begs, "Please don't kill me.

"You tried to kill us even when we asked you not to. Why should we give you the courtesy?" He spits.

"Please," She cries, and that's all she says, all she mutters over and over again.

"Lucky for you," Jason shrugs, "We like to have one survivor to pass the warnings on. The stories."

She whimpers, clawing at the sand in an attempt to get away.

Percy laughs, wraps the earth around her ankles. "Not so fast. Tell them. Tell all of them what happened today. And make sure they know that it was not us who started it. But we gladly finished it."

"Nobody ever wants the villains to win," The blonde looks at her sympathetically, "But I ask you this: if we are the villains of your story, who do you think are the villains of ours?"

Her eyes widen, and then she turns on her side and heaves.

"Take care darling," He waves, "And here's some ambrosia for that wound on your side." He tosses her the little bag of golden squares with a wink.

And then Percy Jackson and Jason Grace link hands, glance at the decimation they caused and share twin smiles.

Villains or heroes?

No, that had never applied to them. They had always be something else, something more.

They are gods.

[neo-losangeles]

here is my review for charli xcx’s number 1 angel. (which i am pitching for the school news paper, as a writing sample, so i can write music/tv for them.)

 AGH IM SO EXCITED AND IM HAPPY THAT I FEEL GOOD ABOUT THIS REVIEW. its like 700 words so that is pretty short and concise  highlighting the strengths and weakness of a record that i think is really cool. anyways, wish me luck. I'm pitching this to a nb-poc frat bro who writes about future x__x 

Standing alone in red with a white rose we find a confident Charli XCX fully invested in her neon-nihilism of her latest effort, ‘Number 1 Angel.’ In the porous space of mixtape and album rendered by her record labels indecisiveness. XCX’s cathartic relief of releasing new music finds her own lane in between pop’s mainstream and it’s avant garde. However, XCX’s talent has yet to be warranted by a higher level of success. It has had its ebbs and flows reaching highs in 2012’s featured ‘I Love It!’ with Icona Pop, positioning her as a writer who can write a song of the summer. In 2014 reaching a double-hit of the assisted Iggy Azalea ‘Fancy’ and her own glittery song ‘ Boom Clap.’ Her latest effort ‘Number 1 Angel’ defiant like her pose on the album cover exudes a non-chalantness of ever reaching Rihanna-esque heights and is much more comfortable in her own reckless self-possession and agency reflected in the music’s neon-nihilism.

‘Roll With Me,’ a standout, is a fluttering track highlighting XCX’s sweetness in her voice only to be juxtapositioned to Sophie’s hyper-feminine tinker toybots ‘Yeah-yea’ chants against a demented drumdrops. Number 1 Angel is situated at the club, specifically at after-hours like in song ‘3 Am’ featuring Mo. The pseudo tropical-house record on obsessing over a hook-up only to be victorious and break the masochistic habit.

Travis Scott’s ‘Goosebumps’ is a song of reference for the record’s interests in moody goth-trap music.  ‘Blame It On You’’s rap-sung verses example pop’s pop’s recentering of hip-hop influences sonically and vocally even if it’s embellished by PC-music’s manic pixie vocals. The two can meet and still exude a coolness like in opening  track, ‘Dreamer’ featuring Starrah, responsible for Rihanna’s ‘Needed Me,’ and Raye offer two verses that match up to XCX’s confidence that make for an ambitious girl group between them.

Finally, arriving to ‘Babygirl,’ gifts the listener a break from the heavy-club smoke for a lighter sunnier song featuring British ‘throw-back’ rapper Uffie. ‘Babygirl’ full of 80’s sunny synth showcasing XCX’s talents of writing a catchy hook; however, is eclipsed by Uffie’s superfun performance, “Gloss on my lips, pop/Sun in my eyes/Goes the other liquor from inside.” The problematics of having too many features even if XCX feels a sense of camaraderie with her peers for having making it thus far, allowing them a shine, often eclipses one of pop music’s most exciting ladies.

‘Babygirl,’ nonetheless, showcases XCX’s vulnerability in her performance and in her voice. A principle factor of why a cheesy record like 2014’s Boom Clap resonated with many becoming a hit. Number 1 Angel’s version of ‘Boom Clap’ is ‘Emotional,’ a record on the teetering lines of guilt and pleasure of having enough self-control to not cheat. The lyrics, themselves, read outloud are shallow yet it is in her vocal delivery where the listener can feel the longing for wanting someone you can’t have. ‘ILY2’ like ‘Emotional’ propose this silly lyric dilemma which can only be answered through XCX’s sincere vulnerability of the refusal of being vulnerable and tender. She sings, “I don’t talk a lot/So you should listen up, I mean it when I say/I’m not afraid, it’s okay/You know I love you too,” alongside Danny L Harle’s cutesy synths. The last half of the record is spent back in the club only to find the drugs are wearing off and it’s almost

5 am like mid-tempo ‘Drugs,’ featuring Atlanta singer Abra. A record that is most fun at the end where it’s hypnotic-psychedelic drop capturing the shameful yet familiar ecstasy of messing around with an ex you just can’t let go.  

XCX found a great balance of working with pop producers and the PC music collective eliminating the worst parts of them:2-D femininity avatars and uncool chaos that ends up sounding like noise. XCX brings her song writer pen that keep up, animate, and sometimes override the over-production like in ‘Lipgloss’ featuring Chicago rapper Cupcakke. Here, again, XCX’s voice is flattened into a hyper-feminine robot; yet, her self-possessed confidence exudes overriding Sophie’s parody ironic hyper-pink synths. Cupcakke’s filthy verses are hilariously boisterous shouting out iCarly and being above it like an ovary.

Closing the record with a convincing argument of not having the mainstream bend to her will rather than her bending too theirs. An effort that has not been electronically exciting since, perhaps, Britney Spears Blackout. Number 1 Angel is a hell of a ride asking its listeners to come to a party steering far way of Ed Sheeran's formulaic pop of ‘putting that body on him;’ but rather into a more femme and darker after-hours of pop music.