#they’re getting extended outros they don’t deserve | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

taste-in-music · 6 years ago

Text

My Top 10 Favorite Hit Songs of 2018

I’m going to say it. This year’s popular music SUCKED. As I attempted to keep in touch with the US Billboard charts, the music I saw getting big every week only assisted in my losing faith in humanity. Pop music just wasn’t popular this year. And that’s not to say that pop music is dead or that there isn’t any good pop music being made, (just look at my entire page,) but it certainly wasn’t getting as much success in the mainstream as usual. I get it. Music trends come and go, and what’s big in at one point in time might not be in another Just think about how much R&B there was in the 2000s, and how club/EDM anthems were giant in the early 2010s. This year was dominated by hip hop, which I have nothing against in theory, but at least have it be GOOD hip hop music. I know there’s amazing hip hop out there, but that’s not what I saw getting popular. The bad stuff this year was really bad, at best bland and forgettable and at worst unlistenable garbage music made by garbage people. But rather than focus on the bad, I think that it’ll be better for my sanity to focus on the good, just to assure myself that even when the charts are dominated by shit there might a diamond hidden somewhere. This is the chart I will be using. So, without further ado, here are my best hit songs of 2018.

10) One Kiss by Calvin Harris ft. Dua Lipa This isn’t my favorite Dua Lipa song by far, (or Calvin Harris song,) but this is still a ton of fun. The production is simple, but tropical and uptempo, with a glossy, shuffling background beat and synthy horn riffs, and Dua Lipa’s performance helps elevate it all. This song radiates summer, it’s like having a tall glass of orange juice on the beach. My only problem with the song is the drop, with the pitch-lowered vocals and continuation of the background track. It feels a bit lazy and is too short to really build up steam. Otherwise, this song is pretty good. It was certainly refreshing to hear on the radio every so often.

9) Eastside by Benny Blanco ft. Khalid & Halsey This song is so relaxing and smooth. The production is simple, with a mid-tempo beat and a couple fluttering notes her and there, but it suits the subject matter of the song, which is very nostalgic and bittersweet. As always, I love the sound of Khalid’s voice, (though his pronunciation on this song is kind of garbled, it’s hard to tell what he’s saying,) and Halsey’s performance is good too, never dipping into grating territory like it does sometimes.The two of them have great chemistry. Also, the music video for this song is both funny and heartbreaking. It low key made me cry? I never heard this on the radio where I live, and only listening to it recently when making this list, but it’s certainly one of the best hit songs of the year.

8) LOVE. by Kendrick Lamar ft. Zacari Kendrick Lamar made a… pop song? Kind of? Okay, I wouldn’t call it pop, it’s definitely still hip hop, but it’s got some R&B and pop elements to it. It’s his version of a pop song. While it may not Kendrick Lamar’s best song, it’s still Kendrick Lamar. Him not at his “not best” is a whole lot better than other artists at their peak. The production is bold but at the same time chill, with a smoky kind of atmosphere. I’ve never listened to Zaraci, but his voice is wonderful here, cutting through the background music and Kendrick Lamar’s rapping like a ray of sunlight. I’m going to be honest, I mostly love this song because the CHVRCHES version is so good (listen to that here.)

7) Love Lies by Khalid ft. Normani This is one of the only pop songs that got consistent radio play where I live, and while the overplay did wear this track out a bit, I still like it. I never changed the station when it came on. Khalid and Normani have great chemistry, (what is it about Khalid that makes him so good at duets? With Eastside, this, lovely with Billie Eilish…) I love their harmonies on the chorus. Normani is a very promising vocalist, I’m excited to see what she comes out with in the future. The production is solid, with that low (I think guitar? synths? IDK) riff, snap percussion, and vocal layering in the backgrounds.

6) IDGAF by Dua Lipa The. Tell. Off. Anthem. Of. The. Year. This is a guilty pleasure of mine, I can’t say that this song is particularly good, but I’m literally in love Dua Lipa, so I don’t care. She’s sassy as hell on this song. The production is so catchy, especially with that plucky guitar melody and those pianos that come in as the song progresses. I love the bridge, where it goes back to just her and guitar, and it slowly builds back up to the final chorus. My only problem with hearing this on the radio is that it always had to be the censored version! I mean, I get why, but listening to the censored version of this song is like eating an unsalted Saltine cracker. It’s completely against the point.

5) Delicate by Taylor Swift I haven’t heard the entirety of Reputation. I don’t think I’ll ever go out of my way to listen to it. Look What You Made Me Do and ...Ready For It? were pretty awful, but Delicate? Delicate I really love. I didn’t like LWYMMD or ...RFI? because they were grating, lacked subtlety in their lyrics, and the production was all over the place. But this song takes the lyrical themes in those songs and presents them in a more vulnerable light, which works a lot better. And the production is very nice too. Everything flows together so smoothly. I like how the chorus is just her voice with the snaps in the background, and then melodies rush back in for the “drop.” This song washes over you and it’s perfect for a late night drive.

4) Boo’d Up by Ella Mai Praise the heavens for this song’s success. I remember when I first head it, it was so pants-shittingly good that it blew my mind. Ella Mai’s vocals are gorgeous, going through the melodies with such ease and grace and using vibrato in just the right places. The production on this song is lush as hell. I love the blocky percussion, light cymbals, and twinkling pianos. My only problem with this song is the extended spoken word outro, which gets a bit tiring. Otherwise, this is an amazing song.

3) when the party’s over by Billie Eilish I’m cheating here. This song didn’t make it onto the year end list, but I just had to include it. This song is heart-wrenching in all the right ways. Billie Eilish’s vocals are quiet and reserved, dipping into her higher register, they’re just so vulnerable and sad. She emits so much emotion on this song. The production on this song is simple, with just a piano, some distortion, background vocals, and not much else, but that’s what makes it work so perfectly. Anything else, and this song would become too cluttered. I’m so happy that this has hit the charts and is picking up steam, because god knows we need more promising, unique, and talented voices like Billie Eilish’s in the mainstream.

2) Finesse (Remix) by Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B Sometimes, you just need a song that’s downright fun. That’s how to describe this song. FUN! It’s so energetic and fucking catchy, everything about it clicks into just the right place. I don’t like Cardi B, but she’s pretty great here. Bruno Mars is great here. The production is slick as hell, with the bells and the drums and the sound effects. That little doh-pah sound in the chorus? Amazing, low key my favorite part of this song. You can’t not dance to this song. It’s perfect for a party playlist, or even when you just want to feel happy. This was such a relief to hear on the radio in between all the forgettable mush, like a rainbow pouring through the clouds.

Should Have Been Hits

Strangers by Sigrid This song had a ton of chart success in Europe, but didn’t cross over to the U.S. I guess we weren’t interested in listening to a bubbly, sunny BOP AND A HALF.

Paradise by George Ezra George Ezra, you know, the “Budapest” guy? That song was pretty good, wasn’t it? Another hit in the UK, this song features an electric, rushing beat, sick guitars, and George Ezra’s wonderful deep voice. I only have one issue with this song, and that’s that the line “running though your bloody veins” makes my skin crawl. Otherwise, this song is a total jam.

Answerphone by Banx & Ranx & Ella Eyre featuring Yxng Bane Slaps to the gods. Holy lord. This is the summer smash we deserved. Listen to it NOW.

Sun In Our Eyes by MØ ft. Diplo C’mon, we can give MØ another hit, can’t we? One where she isn’t sidelined into a feature slot? No? Our loss, then. This song isn’t my favorite off Forever Neverland, but had the most potential to become a hit, (I even heard it in a Starbucks one time,) and it deserved to.

Honorable Mentions/Guilty Pleasures

Wait by Maroon 5 I’m willing to admit that this song isn’t that good. Adam Levine’s falsetto is grating, the beat staggers all over the place like it’s drunk, and the production turns everything into soup. But something about this song keeps me from hating it like I know I should. Maybe it’s the fact that I find it kind of relaxing, maybe it’s because Alexandra Daddario is in the music video and she’s really pretty... I don’t know.

Friends by Marshmello ft. Anne-Marie Okay, this song straight up SUCKS and I kind of like it a lot? The production is a mish mash of random noises that sound like a robot having a seizure, Anne-Marie’s voice get annoying, and the lyrics are reprehensible. Still low key love it though. It’s like drinking Mountain Dew: you know it tastes cruddy and is bad for you, but there’s a spark to it that keeps you coming back.

Nice for What by Drake In a year where Drake absolutely DOMINATED the charts, this is the song by him that I liked the most. It’s got a groove to it with that Ms. Lauryn Hill sample and some decent lyrics.

Lucid Dreams by Juice WRLD It’s just fucking catchy, man I don’t know what else to say. (It’s not even his melody, really. It’s a Sting sample.) This song is the epitome of whiny sad boi emo rap, and the positively dreadful lyrics reflect that. I’m not going to say this song is even remotely good, (it’s probably one of the worst songs of the yeah, tbh,) and I’m not going to defend it. I’m ashamed enough as it is.

Youngblood by 5 Seconds Of Summer Who would’ve thought that the band that came up with “you look so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear,” one of the dumbest lyrics ever put to music, could come up with something good? This song has a propulsive feel, like you could go on a run to it. I like the “ooooh” that come in during the chorus too. Count this in as my number 11 pick.

All the shitty schlock music that got big this year was starting to weigh me down. I was in a state of mind, if you will. But then, something happened. I heard a song, a pop song, a good pop song. A great pop song. A song with an angelic opening, a surprising yet amazing switch-up, and uplifting lyrics. And then, in that moment, I knew that something wonderful had happened, that a god has returned from the heavens, and that I, now, had no tears left to cry.

1) no tears left to cry by Ariana Grande This song is awesome, okay? The production is catchy, the lyrics and fun, the chorus soars like a goddamn eagle, and the vocals? Do I even have to tell you? It’s Ariana Grande. This powerhouse performance puts all those mushy mouthed vocal deliveries that ruled the charts this year to shame. And in the midst of all the slower tempoed songs, I remember hearing this song and thinking: “by god, you can dance to this.” All of these elements come together and form something special, something damn near perfect. no tears left to cry by Ariana Grande. My favorite hit song of 2018.

Do you agree with this list? What were your favorite hit songs of 2018? Leave a comment and let me know!

104 notes · View notes

thepolyorchids · 6 years ago

Text

A bit about each song on The Polyorchids LP

Track 1 of 10: The Lark

This was the first Polyorchids song that didn’t exist prior to the band’s formation. It was sort of an experiment in a different writing style. The first Courtney Barnett album had just come out and I loved the way she wrote these songs made up of super specific and sometimes mundane lyrics that, when added up, made you feel something. Tony’s naturally great at getting specific like that, but I tend to retreat into my own mind and write from that space. I used a simple a two-chord progression I’d been sitting on for years and wrote a blow-by-blow telling of a drive out to a gig Travis, Tony and I played in Willits a few weeks prior. The hills of Lake County had just been burned by a huge fire. On the trip, we met a bunch of nice seasonal weed-trimming folk (plenty of them white dudes w/ dreads, hence the chorus, which was originally just a placeholder but ultimately stuck) and we crashed at a shitbox motel called The Lark. I liked a Joyce Manor song called “Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum” which had a quiet-verse/loud-chorus structure to it. I brought it to the band with that in mind, but couldn’t get Travis to soften the his floor tom hits, only to find that the thumping beat actually made for a better song. From there it found its groove. — Justin

Track 2 of 10: Predisposed

Most of the lyrics and melodies for “Predisposed” were written in 2011. I think for most songwriters it’s easier to say something in a song than it is to say it in real life. This song was written directly to my friend (and sister from another mister) Nicole Putnam. She was and has always been someone that had my back no matter what, no questions asked. This song turned out to be a (WELL-deserved) explanation/Thank You (even though she never asked for either) for all the times in that year she was there for me when I felt like I had no one. It started as an acoustic song (like most Polyorchids songs), I absolutely forgot I EVEN WROTE IT! For me writing becomes sometimes like therapy, so once I finish... I feel better and feel like I can move on a bit. I found and old iPhone in October of 2017. When I checked out the voice memos, this bad boy was on it. It wasn’t totally complete but Justy, Trav and I worked it to be a full band song and it made it to our album. This is also the first time in The Polyorchids history that I sing my own song on the record. — Tony

Track 3 of 10: Dumpster Heap

I wrote the melody for this a few years ago on a miniature kids’ guitar I was fooling around with, but I spent more than a year just humming gibberish to it. Tony and I have had tons of conversations about our feelings about talking politics on social media. On one hand, it’s a cesspool of garbage that brings out the worst in people and diving into it accomplishes essentially nothing, but on the other hand, it’s where we do 90% of our communicating at this point. If we don’t talk about this stuff online, we’re sort of making the decision to not talk about it at all, which isn’t good either. I’ve typed out full responses to Facebook comments only to delete them before posting so as to avoid surrendering my day to a shit show of notifications. This song is about that internal conversation. I wrote a second verse for this after the “grab her by the…” tape came out, but decided it made an evergreen idea too specific. A few months later I started writing ’45’ and realized this 30-second song could exist with just one verse that feeds right into that one. — Justin

Track 4 of 10: 45

The sort of bizarre post-election vibe had given way to the inauguration and now this guy was slapping his Sharpie signature on like five executive orders per day and arguing about crowd sizes. A parade of idiots were marching through Charlottesville with tiki-torches the day I started writing it. I can’t really pull off overtly political lyrics because they feel corny to me about one hour after I write them, but it seemed like a joke that this dude was running things and I felt like trying capture that in some way, because it was inescapable. Jeff Rosenstock’s WORRY had come out a few months earlier and knocked me out. A fast/crazy deep-cut called "Bang on the Door” was my favorite track and I pretty much wanted to jack it and make it my own. The chords and melody for 45 are totally different from that song, but you can tell they’re sort of distant cousins. I only had one verse written, but I showed it to Trav and Tony at the very end of a practice and the “Side! Eyed! Glances!…” intro was so glorious and punchy with the full band. Some songs take work to find their groove. This one was a natural fit right off the bat and we got excited about it. I wrote a second verse and we started playing it at shows. I finished the third verse the night before recording with Pat and our friends Mike and Jake came in to sing gang vocals on the outro. — Justin

Track 5 of 10: Skeletons

Tony wrote this one a few years ago and lost the demo on an old phone (that’s his move) until just a few months before we recorded the album. I’d never heard it prior to that, but I instantly became obsessed with it, even more so than Tony I think. I told him as much, and I even played it a few times at open mics by myself. The song is really just one verse and one chorus… or a looping chorus with one bridge — however you want to put it. I added the guitar riff, which mirrors the melody but gives it something new, and pitched the idea of having Tony and I alternate singing with a louder, shared verse at the end. This is the only time we’ve ever structured a song that way. We recorded this two days before I moved out of California and we had absolutely no time to practice it with Travis. We tracked our instruments to a click track (unlike most Polyorchids songs, which we record live as a full band) and let Pat at Earth Tone play the percussion after the fact — also something we’d never done before. — Justin

Track 6 of 10: Down in the Desert

This song was written after a trip to Arizona for my uncle Jeff’s funeral. My brother and I grew up with our uncle around a ton, bringing us those little popper/snappers and just generally being the best. As we grew older, we came to realize how truly bizarre and fucking hilarious this person was. Eccentric and witty to his absolute core. He joined the Army out of high school and was stationed in Germany, which I think clouds this song in a bit of confusion because “shipped out to Germany…” really sounds like WWII, but it was actually decades later during a peace-time in Germany. My uncle enjoyed room-temperature tall cans of beer — a taste he said he developed during those years in Germany. After the Army, he got into theater and ultimately became a union-carded makeup artist in Hollywood, working on stuff like the sitcom Major Dad and a TV adaptation of the movie Weird Science among many other projects. Before the funeral, my dad received a letter from one of Jeff’s old makeup artist friends/colleagues. He read that full letter at the funeral and it was just about the most real and beautiful thing I’ve heard in my whole life... Just a human being remembering another human being through the specific memories they shared — the kinds of specifics that send you inward to think about your own memories. I cried hard and felt extremely happy at the same time.

The whole extended family stayed at a desert motel that night and passed a couple of tall cans around in a circle and took turns sharing stories. I liked the idea of letting that evening with family be the chorus and Jeff’s life be the verses, so that’s the basic structure of the song. I started the first couple of lines during that road trip to the desert, but the rest came one line at a time over like a half a year. I never hit a wall, but I never hit a groove either. It was a challenge to write, and yet I felt strongly about seeing it through. It wasn’t until I played an almost-finished version for Tony that it became a potential Polyorchids song at his insistence. I played it once at an open mic but the first time we played it live as a band was at Danny Secretion’s Fuck Cancer benefit almost exactly a year later. — Justin

Track 7 of 10: Back off, Warchild

I started this as a sparse and mellow folk song on acoustic guitar, but abandoned it after about a month of frustration over the lyrics. It started as a sort of abstract story about conflict and tension, but I had a hard time keeping it moving. I liked the first verse on its own but didn’t see a path forward. But then we tried it as a band right after the Popgun EP was done while floating some new song ideas. This came right after we’d found some momentum with The Lark, and I got excited about the dynamics of the full band banging it out. It added something new and took some pressure off the lyrics, which I still feel a bit lukewarm about to be totally honest. The binding theme of the song is frustration and tension and negativity. Verse one is childhood, verse two is early adulthood, and verse three is the old age and death. The chorus is sort of an anthemic reveling in that pessimism, which is no way to live but real nonetheless. The one lyric I really love is the chorus line: “...Not our tax brackets not the weather / could pull the graphite out of the letters...” The song title comes from a line in Point Break when Keanu is about to get in a fight at the beach. We spent our teens and 20s camping and boogie boarding at that beach (Leo Carrillo) and rinsing off in those same outdoor showers. — Justin

Track 8 of 10: Low Class Love Song

Low Class Love Song was started in October of 2017. It started out as a baseline I couldn't get outa my head (I'm not 100% sure but I feel like I might have stolen the chords from "runaround sue"). It ended up being a song about the feeling of dating above your class and knowing it's not gonna end well but pursuing it anyway because the pain of a broken heart is worth the experience of sharing some time with that person. Music really is cheaper than a therapist. — Tony

Track 9 of 10: Preachers in Private Jets

This song started as a jam session groove at a practice. Our old band wrote some songs that way, but The Polyorchids never really have. We loved playing it but didn’t know how to treat it because there was no chord progression, just this looping riff. Eventually we added a palm-muted version of the riff and I started yelling nonsense over that part sort of in the style of Fugazi’s Waiting Room. Around that time I saw a video of two televangelist preachers shooting this shit about why God is very pumped about them being super rich. More than half of the lines in this song are lifted almost directly from that YouTube clip. A week before recording, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston and Joel Osteen locked up his megachurch doors, keeping out the affected. That last verse was finished right before recording. The chorus chords were written separately by Tony for a different song, but we were elated to find that they fit right into this one and added a nice melodic part that contrasted the verses and the riff. We took a long time to start playing it live, but Jake from Pisscat nudged us to play it every night of a tour we did together around Lake Tahoe. Pisscat pal Becky wrote it on a set list as Pee Pee Jay one time and I regret not calling it that. From there it felt complete. — Justin

Track 10 of 10: Readiness for Radio

After a life spent not caring either way about Bruce Springsteen, I found my way to his Nebraska album and loved it like many before me. I did the obligatory deep-dive into its origin story: DIY four-track demos that he’d recorded in his basement with plans of doing a proper full-band studio album, only to release the raw demos instead because they served the songs better. I liked the idea of writing something that referenced the themes of the album and its story without ever doing so explicitly. The result, I think, is one of those songs that lets the listener find their own meaning. It’s not an autobiographical song for me, and yet I identify with plenty of it personally. The main chords were adapted out of an old mewithoutyou song. I thought I’d spun them off to be totally unrecognizable, but my brother’s wife Veronica spotted it like four years after I wrote it! If you listen to that band, let me know if you can spot it. I recorded it live in the big drum room at Earth Tone, soaking it in open space and reverb. Pat left the loooong ringing sound of the final chord and then abruptly ended it when I slap the strings shut. I love those final seconds. — Justin

#the polyorchids #folk #punk #indie #earth tone #songwriting

1 note · View note

back-to-swift · 7 years ago

Text

I made a Rep Tour setlist for fun and I think it’s pretty good so here it is.

First Set

...Ready For It?

I chose this song first because lets be real, I don’t think any of us are going to be prepared for the slayage that is about to occur right in front of our eyes that night. It’s the perfect album opener so I think it would also be the perfect tour opener. And we have gotten a taste of what that song is going to be and how legendary her entrance onto the stage could be during those first few beats in the beginning at Jingle Ball and it is just iconic.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied

I chose this song to be next because it isn’t a super hype song but it is a song that will get everyone dancing. I think the second song on tours should be just that. It should be enough to get the crowd on their feet and prepared to endure even more intense and hype songs throughout the night. I just think this song gives off happy vibes and it would be perfect as a second song.

Style

A throwback. I chose this song next because it just fits the whole mood I’m going for with this set. I want this set to be light and carefree. I want us to be slayed but not struggling to breathe yet. I just think this song is such a bop and she’ll be strutting down the catwalk looking fierce af. This song will also have the audience on their feet and moving.

Gorgeous

This song is another one that is light and fun. I think it goes really well with Style and just that happy feel of the first set. It is enough to get us feeling good and smiling big before the she really gets into the more intense stuff. And I think it would go well as a transition into the next set.

OUTFIT

For these songs, I picture an outfit that’s a little more edgy than say, the first outfit of 1989 Tour. Since this set begins with ...Ready For It? and ends with Gorgeous, it needs to be a very pretty and fun outfit with an edge. That’s why I chose this look. It’s sexy yet edgy, just like this group of songs.

Second Set

I Did Something Bad

Now that we got through a set of fun, dancy songs, it’s time to really get into what this tour is all about. I chose this song first because imagine Taylor coming back onto stage with this song. The entrance would be iconic and would have us all falling on the ground. It will get the crowd hype and ready for anything. This is probably the song I’m most excited to see live because it is going to be INTENSE.

So It Goes...

Now that we’re all hype, it’s time to get saucy. This song is a good way to calm down a little bit but at the same time it’s going to get us levitating off the ground. This song is sensual and lit at the same time. It’s a perfect middle ground between I Did Something Bad and the next song I picked.

Dress

I chose this song next because it goes hand in hand with So It Goes...! Let’s just put it right out there, they’re both songs about sex. Yes, I said it. Again, this one is way more chill than I Did Something Bad and a little more chill than So It Goes... so it will allow us to catch our breath.

Wildest Dreams

What better song to follow up So It Goes... and Dress?? The one and only!!! This song obviously fits in with the theme of this set. This song right after Dress will just feel sooo magical. I really hope she leaves this song on the setlist for this tour because it is one of the most beautiful songs she has ever made!!!

King Of My Heart

Now we transition into a sweet song. I think this song would be great as the last song of this set because it’s just so cute and the bridge is going to sound so good live! Imagine... “I’ve been waiting, waiting. Body and sou-oo-oul. And all at once.” *Taylor leaves stage and everything goes black* YES.

OUTFIT

For this set I wanted it to be a mix between hype, sexy, and sweet. This is probably the most magical set of them all. The combination of these songs is a dream and I think we would all faint. Anyway, I chose this outfit because gold is confident and sexy. I kinda pictured I Did Something Bad being performed in a black outfit but I didn’t think that color fit with the rest of the songs and the mood that I wanted to convey. Gold is perfect for each of these songs.

Third Set

Look What You Made Me Do

I chose this song first because I just think it’s best as a set opener because imagine everything is just black and all of a sudden... “I’m sorry... the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now... why?... cause she’s dead.” (The call that played before she started singing the song at Jingle Ball). HOW CRAZY WOULD THAT BE??!!?!?? I think it would end us all. This is only the beginning of the most iconic set of them all, let me tell you.

Blank Space

Then, imagine she goes into Blank Space!!! I really hope she sings this song because I still am in love with it to this day!! It also fits perfectly with Reputation because it was the first time she made fun of how people view her!! So, because of that, it goes hand in hand with LWYMMD. This song is so sassy just like LWYMMD!! Those songs back to back would be EVERYTHING.

Don’t Blame Me

I chose this song next because this song has to be on everyone’s list of favorites from the album. It’s soulful and mysterious. The perfect addition to this set. This song also briefly mentions her reputation as a heartbreaker/player when she says, “I’ve been breaking hearts a long time and toying with them older guys, just play things for me to use.” So it goes very well with the theme of this set.

End Game

Another song that mentions her reputation. I thought this song is another one of the best on the album so I think it would be amazing to hear it after all these iconic songs. The way the song just ends rather than fading out makes it a good set ender. I can see it!!

OUTFIT

Of course I chose a black outfit to represent the theme of this set which, if you haven’t noticed, is her reputation. I figured making the middle of the show all songs about how people perceive her is quite fitting since this is the Reputation Tour. And is black not the perfect color to represent this album?? I was thinking of maybe an outfit that involved pants, kind of like the IKYWT leather outfit but I think I like this outfit more.

Fourth Set

Call It What You Want

You know the set right before the last is usually the one that involves the slower songs and her sitting at the piano or playing the guitar. It’s the set that lets us settle down before the big finale. This is such a beautiful song and the beginning music is a good way to lead into her entrance onto the stage.

New Year’s Day

I feel like this song is a perfect song to sing after a speech. It’s so emotional, simple, and straight from the heart. Since we’ll already be crying from CIWYW, why not sing a song that will cause us to cry more??

Delicate

Another chill song. Since New Year’s Day has kind of a long outro, I can picture her like disappearing during the outro and popping up somewhere else when we hear the synthesized vocals say, “This ain’t for the best, my reputation’s never been worse so you must like me for me...” That would be insane!! Wow, what an experience.

Getaway Car

Another song that will leave us all fragile and crying!!! And the perfect way to end a set with the sudden end note. This song is one of the more intense ones, kind of like the intensity of Out Of The Woods. Intensely magical. One that will make us wonder what we did to deserve this magical live performance.

OUTFIT

I chose this outfit because it’s beautiful and elegant. The theme of this set is delicate, emotional and magical all at the same time. I thought an outfit like this would be fitting.

Fifth Set

New Romantics

A great song for her last entrance. They could extend the intro music so make us suspenseful and/or give her a chance to speak and say how amazing her night has been. The show started on a fun note and it’s going to end on a fun note. This song will get our emotional asses up and dancing.

Shake It Off

Another song that will get us all on our feet and I always thought this song is just perfect for the ending of a show because it’s so happy and upbeat. It was so crazy when she ended the 1989 Tour with this song with the fireworks!!! While I didn’t want this song to end this tour, I wanted it to be included in the set list so I put it as the second to last.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

What better way to end the Reputation Tour than with a song that ended all her haters??!!?!?! With the sassy, chaotic, party beat, it is the perfect song to end the whole tour. IMAGINE THE BRIDGE LIVE!!!! It’s going to bring us all together as we make a toast to all the people who have been there for her. It also would fit great with some crazy cool effects just like they had at the end of 1989 Tour!!

OUTFIT

I like this outfit because I don’t want to end the Rep Tour with a black outfit but I do want it to be a powerful color and that’s exactly what red is. I also like the idea of the little fringy things on the dress to make it fun to go well with the compilation of songs in this set.

I hope you guys enjoyed my Rep Tour setlist!! Let me know what you think.

#taylor swift #taylor nation #swifties #taylurking #reputation #rep tour #rep #reputation tour #reputaylurking

1 note · View note

veilingofthesun · 8 years ago

Text

My Tänk Om(If/Then) review/report part 2

I’m gonna start this up by explaning a bit more about the scenography. The stage is a turntable, so they revolve it to change the layout of the six ramps and create new spaces and sets. The ramps differ between being on the ground, standing up and hanging on wires from the roof. Inside the ramps they put different set pieces, like the chairs on the train, Lisa’s bathroom, her bed, a couch…The ramps serves as a benches at the football game, bar in the moment explodes etc…often the ensemble dance on them or sit on them when they’re in the background of a scene…

One of the ramps has chairs attached to it that’s used for the first scene with Betty and Steffen in the office and later reused for The moment explodes where they serve as airplane seats.

The lightning really complements the set perfectly. I think they’ve been inspired by the broadway versions lightning in some scenes…it’s got a very similar colour scale going on. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and as I mentioned before, it’s really effectful the way the dancers creates shapes and silhouttes…

The costume design is so well thought out…the ensemble has a base costume of grey and pastells and it creates a beautiful effect. The ensemble are usually a bit more edgy and modern.

Kate’s costumes are mostly very colourful and she’s got bracelets and big earrings. Her clothes are as loud as she is.

Anne has awesome costumes, she looks so cool. She never wears a dress or skirts. She has a lot of ripped jeans, leather jackets, denim shirts, leather pants and sneakers.

Lisa is dressed in a more relaxed way…she’s a jeans and t-shirt/shirt/knitted shirt kind of person. The only time she wears a dress is when she’s pregnant and when she’s getting married. Her colour scale is mostly blue, white and black. Her bright pink shirt from the trailer and the pro pics has been changed to a white one…it suits her personality much better. Since she’s very much the girl next door…She’s got a very ‘swedish’ style..if you’d walk down the street in any swedish town you’d see a lot of women dressed like Lisa..

Betty is similar in the way that she never wears a dress or skirt either and she mostly wears black, dark blue and sometimes a bit of dark teal…

She’s got a more business woman style, of course. Lots of dress pants and blazers paired with heels. When she’s not working, she dresses like Lisa.

Lucas dresses similar to broadway Lucas with hoodies, striped shirts and pants. His colours are mostly green and red. He always has a scarf on.

John has similar outfits to his broadway version too…he looks stylish but his clothes dosen’t stand out much. Earthy tones, jeans, knitted shirts, a leather jacket. Very down to earth and Joshish…

Elena is more young and girlier in her dress sense than her broadway counterpart. She dresses like a lot of young students in Sweden does..like she buys all of her clothes at H&M.

This day/Walking by a wedding

The ensemble sounds so amazing in this one and the choreography is really beautiful. It starts out with a couple in wedding clothes and their wedding party. The groom comes out carrying the bride through the space between the two standing ramps. Later, John comes out carrying Lisa, you realise that the first married couple was dressed exactly the same as Lisa and John. The choreography in wbaw is really beautiful and simple. I can’t really explain it, because if I try it sounds like a bunch of people walking around and being affectionate with each other. You kinda have to see it to understand what I’m talking about. It’s both girl/girl pairings, boy/boy pairings and girl/boy pairings walking around behind Bety, holding hands, hugging etc..While Betty sings, she walks around the whole stage..up on the ramps and behind them..

In the beginning of the song, when the broadway cast sings “ And all the wrong turns on the way” the swedish cast instead sings “You learn to be strong and weak” (it’s a swedish expression) which is a nice foreshadowing to yltlw. More foreshadowings to come…

The This day choreography is much more upbeat, of course. I love this routine, the ensemble is having so much fun with this one. Kate/Anne and Lucas/David are adoreable too. David actually carries Lucas in his arms when they come out on the ramps.

The wedding photographer bit has been extended, probably to give Linda some more time to change her clothes..I think that on broadway they had the dress hidden underneath Betty’s skirt. Here Betty wears pants, so I guess they needed a bit more time…

The photographer seems to be very drunk when he shows up. He starts asking where the bridesmaids and groomsmen are and all of the wedding party starts messing with him. Poor guy, lol.

The outro has been extended a bit too, some of the ramps has to be lowered down and the stage revolves to create the setting for Lisa and Johns conversation leading up to Hey Kid.

Hey Kid

It starts out the same way as on broadway, John at the table with the laptop and Lisa coming in and slamming the laptop shut. But then she proceeds to throw the newspaper straight at him when she talks about the kid being killed in traffic.

John tells her that she’s oversensitive in which she replies: I’m not over sensitive, then she cries out: I’m sensitive.

I have watched quite a few bootlegs and heard some audios, but I can’t recall hearing a Lisa being this angry and because she’s so angry it gets John going too. They’re both so good in this scene though. Their chemistry just keeps getting better and better in every scene. Linda has a great balance between being angry and very matter of factly. Especially when she says the line: “I’m a neurotic mess…” That’s the way I am, deal with it.

Three ensemble women comes out to dance on the ramps behind him wearing hospital gowns and baby bumps. (Imagine the contraction ballet from Waitress..kind of) The dancers leaves once Lisa comes back on stage, and then there’s just the three of them.

Instead of a nurse coming out with the baby, Lisa comes out with the baby, holds him for a while and then hands him over to John who sings the rest of the song with the baby in his arms. Lisa sits on the bed watching them, looking completely drained and in tears, but she also looks at them so lovingly. The look on her face breaks your heart.

Christopher is so amazing in this song. Both vocally and emotionally. He conveys all the different feelings and emotions John goes through in this song perfectly. He’s so believeable and puts so much feeling into this song and his performance.

A quick thing regarding the change of Jake’s name to Tim that I forgot to mention in part 1. Linda has a son called Tim who’s been around a bit during rehearsals and performances, so it’s a little nod to him. :)

Some other me

Okay, remember how I talked about Ydntlm and the beautiful heartbreaking dance routine? I thought it could not get even more beautiful and heartbreaking…but I was so wrong. The combination of everything in this number, the intense emotions, the beautiful singing, the choreography, the fantastic dancers, has completely ruined this song for me(in a good way) I can’t even think about this song let alone listen to it without breaking into tears. I have it on my playlist at work, and nowadays that is not a good thing..

I really wish Malmö Opera or the choreographer, Ambra Succi, would post some clips from this number (or any other number for that matter) or from rehearsals. Or just the dancers doing the routine. Because this is SO good, it really deserves to be seen.

First things first, the actors. Oh, they really break my heart here. Previously, their relationship was so easy going, compared to this. Sure, they had their issues sometimes, but they were always there for each other and they were never uncomfortable together. In this scene they’re so uncomfortable and awkward around each other. You could really feel the tension in the room. There’s thick silence and both of them desperately trying to find something to say..and when they do, it’s forced, It’s clear that neither Betty nor Lucas know what to say or how to act around the other one. And it’s so sad to see them that way…It’s clear that they both miss what they had and don’t know how to get it back.

Their fight here is really intense, I’ve talked before how passionate Lucas is about everything. And he’s so angry here, and since they play so well off each other, Betty is furious with him too.

Moving onto the whole scene: There’s a male and a female dancer that wears the same color scheme and the same type of clothes as Lucas and Betty. The male dancer also has his hair in a manbun. The dancers dance Betty and Lucas story. It starts off with the dancers seperately from the actors, a bit lighter in the mood. When Lucas verse starts, both Betty and the dancer symbolising her, sit next to each other on the ramp, watching their men. Occassionally reacting to the things their Lucases are singing/dancing, for example throwing their arms out in frustration(mirroring each other, of course)…Just as in ydntlm, Lucas and the dancer mirror each other.

When they reach the bridge of the song, Actor Betty and Dancer Betty approach Actor Lucas and Dancer Lucas. The dance gets more intense and portrays where they are now. They continue to mirror each others movements throughout the rest of the song. Actor Betty and Dancer Betty switch places, so that Actor Betty stands slightly behind Dancer Lucas. But she and Dancer Betty glances across the stage at their Lucas with a sad face, before they all go their seperate ways…

It’s so simple, just the actors and the dancers, yet so effectful…

The way Lucas says: “It was nice seeing you” is so weary and angry…

I hope I didn’t confuse you, it’s hard to explain because it really has to be seen. But I really wanted to try to paint a picture of it for you. Because it’s truly something very special.

I stole this picture from one of the dancers instagram..This picture is not the best to describe it, because it’s in the middle of a move and they’re not wearing the clothes they had on in the show…but imagine the girl dancer in jeans and a blue shirt and the guy dancer in in green/greyish jeans and a red shirt. It will give you an idea at least… Edited because I forgot something I wanted to mention about Jonas (Lucas)… He is terrific…hi’s portrayal of Lucas is so amazing. I mentioned before how passionate and angry he is ..he plays those scenes so well. But he is also really caring, sweet, needy, hilarious, cranky and a bit of a drama queen….there’s so many layers to him and Jonas manages to be believeable in all of them…He has found a great balance between all these sides..he really makes you feel so bad for Lucas but he also makes you laugh a lot..

Best worst mistake

Where do I start? These two adorable little geeks makes me so happy. David arrives on his bike, Lucas has the baby’s stroller on his scooter and gets scolded by Lisa. David is so proud when he shows her the baby helmet, he smiles like a little school boy and says: Super cute!. Lisa is not so amused. When Lisa takes her leave she ‘accidently’ forgets the helmet. David runs after her and calls out to her: Lisa, wait, the baby helmet! She laughs awkwardly and mumbles sarcastically: “Yes, How did I manage to forget that one?” and throws it into the stroller.

When she has left, David says: “We could have our own, you know” and Lucas replies: “Baby helmet?” David’s face is a picture.

Moving forward in the dialogue, when David says that he saw Lucas shopping for baby clothes last night, (baby JCrew has been changed to H&M)he proceeds to shout really loudly over the whole park that Lucas buys baby clothes at H&M.

There are six male dancers behind them on the ramps. Three dressed in Lucas style and color scheme and three in Davids. The ‘David’ guys sometimes has baby strollers incorporated into the choreography. When Lucas says: “You tricked me into saying that”, two of the dancers rides past them on a bike, laughing at Lucas. David smiles knowingly at them and says: Hi guys!

During this number they ride on Lucas scooter together, as you can see in the trailer. They’ve gone with the feel of the orginal here too, with David’s bike and Lucas on his scooter (I know that it was a skateboard, but it’s almost the same..) and in the end they bike and scooter away off the stage. They’re so sweet and funny together that I just smiled throughout the whole number.

I need to mention something about the translation…we didn’t notice it live. But when we were listening to the audio while trying to fix the sound a bit, we noticed something..You know when Lucas sings “Let it go”, in swedish he sings Slå dig fri (which just happens to be the swedish title of the song Let it go) We laughed out loud when we heard that. Very well played by the translator. Either he’s really done his research or it’s mentioned in the material they got when they bought it…Either way, it’s a very nice touch:D

One small thing is that Nils(Davids) voice is not completely suited for this song…he’s got a real ‘church’ like voice, which works perfectly for wwyd..but maybe not as well for this one…but it’s a small issue…He makes up for it with his passion and charms. It sounds better when they sing together too..

I hate you

I had just about recovered from SOM and then this happens…(I knew it was coming of course, I almost cried when I saw the kids beds being wheeled in…my vulnerable heart couldn’t take anymore…basically act 2 was a big sob fest)

It starts out with John on the phone and Lisa by the kids beds. But instead of saying: Let’s have wine while we can…she goes over to him, kisses him and starts taking off his shirt. First, he kisses her back, but then he pulls his shirt down, grabs her by the arms and tells her that he has to ship out.

They’re killing me with this one…they both nail this. The beautiful and very organic chemistry they’ve had from the start is on top here. Just when you think it can’t get any better they somehow manage to surprise you yet again. It just feels so real…

There’s actually dancers in this routine, the only Lisa/John song with dancers in it. There’s two pairs, man/woman, on top of a ramp each, with Lisa and John between the ramps. The dancers are all dressed in black and the lightning is quite dark in this scene. The dancers were not distracting at all…they painted pictures of what the actors were singing and acting. I hate you is quite a physical song…she uses her body a lot, pushes John away and expresses her feelings with her whole body. Again, it’s choreographed so well..the dancers and Lisa mirror each other. When she pushes John away, they push their ‘John’ away etc..When John leaves, the male dancers leave and the female dancers remains behind, looking at them as they leave, just as Lisa looks at John…

When John has turned around to leave and she shouts at him to wait, he stands with his back to her and before he has a chance to turn around, she runs towards him at full speed and throws herself at him and holds him really tight. (I like to call it ‘the Gabe grab’…like in i am the one(reprise) where he grabs a hold of Dan) She holds on so tightly and refuses to let go when John has to leave…He literally has to pry himself away from her grip, because she just holds on and refuses to let go. Their faces in that moment…if I hadn’t lost it before I lost it there…

The ramps behind them ‘split’ apart and creates a walkway where John’s soldiers walks in to pick him up. He leaves with them and Lisa stands there looking so small and sad…

Two soldiers comes in the same way to tell her that John has died. Linda is just fantastic here…anyone who performs this song must be so emotionally and physically drained after this. She really takes you on a roller coaster of emotions here…

I really like something they’ve done with the translation here..in the orginal she sings: “Let’s look at this calmly, discuss how I hate you..”, in swedish she sings: “Let’s look at this calmly, with focus on hating” It really hits home how she focuses on hating him to not think about the pain and how much she’ll miss him..

Small edit: In the orginal she sings I love-d you. In swedish you can’t add a letter to make a word past tense. So instead she sings I love you(very big and dramatic) and, whimpers ‘loved’ silently and then sings ‘have loved you’ kind of angrily. It kind of changes it a little bit, but it works really well…the contrast between that quiet little word and the anger in the next three words is very powerful.

A map of New York(reprise)

Not much to say about the song since it’s so short…but he sounds great in it though.

Funny little moment though: Betty’s fixing her make up while Steffen is talking to her and her intern is fixing her hair, spraying it and fluffing it up..When he’s done,(the intern is a guy in this version) Betty whispers something to him and they smile..On the way out, he sprays Steffen in the face and sassily walks away…

The ensemble are used in the background here as office workers/business men and woman in an office space. At least that’s how I interpret it…They walk around in the background and sometimes connect with each other.

When Steffen says: “Have you learned to take care of yourself?” Betty gets a text message, checks her phone and dosen’t pay attention to what he says and asks: What? Steffen makes a: “told you so face”, like he thinks that she’s too invested in her work.

You learn to live without

I love how this scene is set up..the almost completely black lightning with some shades of blue fits the scene perfectly. It’s really simple and intimate(this is one of my favourite pro pics, because it captures the feel and mood brilliantly..it’s also a great shot:D) This picture captures the conversation where the friends talk about Lisa..You’ve got the intern up on the ramp, then Kate, Lisa, Anne, David and Lucas.

The song starts with Betty up on the ramp where the intern is. She remains there until the conversation between her friends. While they talk, she walks down the ramp, sits down and becomes Lisa. All five of them stays on stage until the intern and Kate asks if everything is okay. She says: “You can go, all of you..”

I can not say enough good things about this. This song has always been one of my absolute favourites so experiencing it live felt really special. Linda is SO amazing here, both vocally and emotionally…it’s just so beautiful and sad. I think this is one of my favourite moments in the whole musical. I didn’t think I could cry anymore, but sure. the tears were running here too..

And when even the sometimes to a fault polite swedes(who’s really afraid of clapping for a song unless it has a big ending preferably with a boom and a pose, because we don’t want to disturb the flow of the show) applauds even though it blends into another song, then you’ve done your job well. (even though they stopped quickly when they realised they were going into another scene, lol)

I know that I talk a lot about the translations, it’s probably not that interesting, but I’m very impressed with his translations. They’re very true to the orginal and also very beautiful. Because swedish is so different from english, he had to word things differently to get the timing right.

“You learn somehow to like the dark and even love the doubt” is translated to

“You slowly rewrite your life, a dark but strong novel” It sounds a bit strange in english, but it’s beautiful in swedish. It’s very poetic.

The moment explodes

These chairs, as I mentioned before, are attached to the ramp, and is folded down by the actors as they enter for this scene. Even though the stage is a turntable stage, they don’t use it for this scene, as they did in the broadway version. Instead they remain seated throughout the whole song, at the very end of the song they get up and run to the edge of the stage. They do a bit of sitting choreography, grabbing the ramp, each other…some jerky movements.

The dancers behind them dance a very dramatic routine, and coupled with the stunning singing and the gorgeous lightning it becomes very effectful. I keep talking about the silhouettes the dancers creates, but it’s so well thought out, a real collabroation between the choreographer, the set designer and the lightning designer.

They have two flight attendants with a trolley who joins the others on the chairs when the song starts.

Oh, the tracks are a bit different here. The deputy major is also the architect and the bartender is a woman. The bartender and Kate is at the ramp to the left of the one in the picture. Their ramp serves as a bar disk and the bartender slides the drink down to Kate.

The singing and the harmonies is so beautiful here. It’s very powerful..The ensemble is on top form here. Seriously, the whole ensemble is just so good. I adore this cast so much.

Love while you can

The setting here is quite simple…just a bunch of girls sitting behind them reading books. They do what I call ‘bookography’, it’s not a dance routine, but they flip the pages in their books, holds their books up synchronizally etc… The choreography they do in Betty’s verse is repeated in Anne’s verse (probably because Betty and Anne both want Kate & Anne to stay together) and in the bridge and during the rest of the song the choreography changes.

The three of them are amazing in this scene/song. They’re so good together and they play off each other so well. You can really feel the anger in the room here. Kate is so furious at Anne, Anne gets furious at her in return and Betty is so done with being silent and accepting things. Kate runs after her and pulls her back when she tries to get the reading girls attention by calling out: My ladies…and ladies. They just look at her and shushes her.

Karolin and Sara sounds fantastic, their voices go so well together. I love this song so much, so this was another highlight for me..Lachanze and Jenn Colella is a tough act to follow, but they do a really, really good job. And their passion and chemistry is just fabulous.

They’ve changed the ending of the scene a bit, though. Instead of hugging and walking off together, a teary eyed Kate holds up her hands and walks off stage alone while a devasted looking Anne is left behind. :( That really hurt, it made me want to yell: No! Stay with her! (But I didn’t, of course…I got teary eyed again though..) But, don’t worry, they didn’t get a divorce in Betty’s story too. The timeline in the program says they didn’t…in my head canon Kate needed a bit more time to think it through and then they made up, because their two hours weren’t up after they’d finished singing;)

I have to talk about Sara Lehmann (Anne) too. She’s just phenomenal. (Probably my favourite after Linda) Jenn Colella has really made her mark as Anne, but Sara makes a fabulous Anne. Her voice,her dancing, her passion and performance skills is just WOW. She has this light about her that draws your eye to her a lot of the time. Even when she’s in the ensemble (hidden underneath a cap) she commands your attention. By reading her bio in the program I noticed that it’s her first ‘big’ role. She’s mostly been in the ensemble beforehand. Coming from ensemble roles to a much bigger role makes her performance even more impressive.

The way she embodies the character of Anne is spot on. She’s really going for it. It’s the complete package, singing, acting,dancing, facial expressions(also her wig and costumes play a big part in it, she’s got the coolest hair and awesome costumes) and I can’t forget to mention, body language. Anne is very comfortable with herself and with her body and Sara is not afraid to show that. She takes up a lot of space, sits with her legs spread apart, yells over the whole book store that she likes sex more than Kate, deals with drunk Lucas, who’s almost about to punch Steffen, like a pro…She’s a very nice combination of tough, funny, emotional, passionate and also really nice and caring.

She and Karolin are soooo good together too. Kate does her crazy things and her reactions to Kate’s antics are perfect. Her facials and the way she talks, laughs and sighs at Kate..nailed it.

What would you do

They’ve kept a lot of broadways colour scheme here, both in the lightning and the costumes. It’s simple, but powerful. It’s just the four of them.

The way Lucas says No…no, after Lisa says: “So Zhuangzi was what, an idiot?” is so confused and sweet…and David has to comfort him(kind of like in the orginal)

I love how Linda plays Lisa here, she seems so tense and angry and laughs loudly and uncomfortable sometimes…it’s like she’s trying so hard to keep it together but it’s starting to crack…

This is a very nice moment for Nils to shine. I mentioned before that he has a very deep, ‘church’ like voice, and it works perfectly for this song. It’s so emotional and really beautiful. It sounds and looks like he’s about to burst into tears before he starts singing and that continues throughout the song. Nice little translation parallel again…He sings: If you could start over from the beginning (directly translated, again, a swedish expression) and in ASO Lisa sings: We’re starting over from the beginning..

When they go to get the car ready, Lucas takes David’s hand and they walk off together holding hands…

I haven’t really mentioned the orchestra before, but they deserve some credit too..and I thought they sounded really beautiful in this one(well, they always did…) It’s a big orchestra,almost 30 people(they’re employed by Malmö opera and work on all of their productions) and that makes the beautiful score sound even richer.

Always starting over

Unfortuneately there are no pro pics from ASO:(

This scene starts with Lisa taking out her phone to call John’s cell phone and listening to his voicemail twice. After the second time she starts talking…so it’s like she’s leaving a message on his voicemail. Just that little thing made the tears come out again…

The dialogue leading up to ASO is amazing though…she was really in tears throughout the whole dialogue and the look on her face…you had to see it, but it was heartbreaking…

I mentioned in part one that there’s a parallel between Surprise and Always starting over…she actually sings the same phrase, new start, in both of the songs. (in the orginal it’s and start, here it’s new start) I love all the little parallels they’ve snuck in..

She really nails this song. Listening to Idina and Jackie, I didn’t think we had anyone that could live up their standards…When we first heard that they were making a production of If/Then, we couldn’t think of anyone that we knew could play this part..We’re so happy and pleased with Linda. She really embodies the character and is perfect for the part. She brings out other sides of Elisabeth and has her own take on the character. She plays out the emotions differently. For example, sometimes she’ll be more angry, other times more matter of factly and she also has great balance between the comedy and the tragedy. She has a very sarcastic sense of humor. Not the mean kind of sarcastic, it’s hard to explain. In Sweden we call it krass, there’s no proper english word for it… Her krassness got lots of laughs from the audience, because a lot of swedes are like that, it’s a very common theme in swedish pop culture.

The Lisa part of her character is more physical, uses her body language a lot more, where as Betty she is more ‘restrained’.

She has a great understanding of the role and really seems to love playing Elisabeth and getting to explore two sides of the same character.

There is one thing I’m upset about though, they took out the second verse of ASO:( I love that verse so much, so I’m still not over that. I guess it has to do with the length of the show again..and I can understand that something had to go since other things had been extended, I just wish it wasn’t this though..

I would love to hear/see the lyrics to the second verse, but unfortuneately I don’t think that’s going to happen…but you never know, she might sing it in a concert someday…

What if(reprise)

In What if and the reprise it’s sexy guitar guy and his percussionist friend who sings the first lines. It’s like they’re still singing the same song after five years…

In Lisa’s conversation with Lucas, when he says: “Move to us in the suburbs” David joins them with the baby in a sling and says excitedly: “Yes! Do that” I think it’s really sweet that they involved David in the scene too, I really liked that.

Their baby is called Finn in this version, but don’t worry, Huckleberry has not been removed completely…David starts saying: “Since we had Finn… and Lisa interrupts him by saying: “I’ll call him Huckleberry” She asks them if they want coffee and David says that he and Finn will go with her. As they walk off she says: “Come on, Huckleberry” and laughs. It’s really sweet.

After Lisa and David’s gone off stage, Lucas remains on stage and does his trademark manbun Lucas switch..

Speaking of trademarks, I forgot to mention that Kate carries around a kazoo, which she uses when she deems it appropiate. Usually to call attention to things or when she’s really excited. For example, she uses it to announce that she’s teacher of the year.

The conversation between Kate and Lucas is amazing from start to finish. When Kate goes to get coffee and tells him to not tell Betty, she says: I’ll cut you into pieces, slowly and makes a knife cutting gesture at him. Then she laughs like a hyena.

When Betty tells him to not tell Kate, Lucas brings out his falsetto voice again and screams in panic.

In Betty’s storyline when Lucas tells her to stay and listen to the sexy guitar guy, she walks over to him, listens for a while and then she starts swaying to the music and dances slightly looking very content and happy. In the background you can see John watching her with a smile on his face before approaching her. It’s a beautiful moment.

Betty’s and Josh’s meeting is beautiful. He seems so shy and bit more Lucasish here..He dares to approach her, but when he talks to her he’s a bit more awkward…I love the way he replies to the war guilt line…

The last thing she does before she exits the stage is to take her phone out of her bag. She smiles and holds it up like she either gets a phone call or is about to make a phonecall..

That’s it…thanks so much for reading all this and for caring. I really love this production and I want to spread the Tänk Om love. I didn’t know what to expect before I saw this production but everyone involved has done such an amazing job and they surpassed all of my expectations and hopes. Malmö Opera has been very brave to produce this musical. Here in Sweden everyone usually goes with more famous and traditional musicals because they draw the crowds. We’re a small country with no big traditions of producing original musicals from scratch. So people here are not that used to seeing orginal work that isn’t based on anything.. I believe that most people that has seen Tänk Om hardly knew anything about it beforehand…I’ve seen a few people mention that they knew about the orginal, but the majority of the audiences is completely new to If/Then… I wish I could share footage with you because there’s so many great things that deserves to be seen. But this report and my audio is the best I can do. My ask is open if you have any questions. :)

Big thanks and credit goes to my sister and partner in crime @askyfullofcomets for helping out with this report. We noticed different things so this is a collabroation.

#tänk om #if/then #if/then sweden #malmö opera #drained #but i've loved writing this

8 notes · View notes

crypt-addict · 7 years ago

Text

EXCLUSIVE: Review of the ‘Demonstration (I)’ EP by CHURCHGATE.

**This is a direct copy of last weeks review of the pre-single in support of this EP - along with the addition of the reviews of the 3 new tracks; in order to review the Extended Play in full. Just to clear up any confusion caused**

Wow? Who would have thought the day would come where i…an unimportant reviewer in the depths of tumblrs’ half-arsed pastel, goth and alternative dungeons would have the chance to exclusively preview and review such a spectacular release?! I have tried my hand at reviewing many mainstream albums before, with pretty hit and miss responses; but i assure you - this is one review you definitely need to read through and listen to the end product, because by GOD you need CHURCHGATE in your life, like NOW.

The duo, consisting of Murdo and Jessie, is arguably, one of the best independent queer and alternative/dark synth bands to come out of 2017 so far, and in my opinion, the best. Raining from two very different corners of the country, with a 100 mile journey between them - this is one of the best musical outcomes of a long distance friendship i have seen, in my good decade of observing the DIY and alternative scenes. Mixing earworm guitar and synth leads, with haunting ghostly and scream-like vocals - which seep into your bones and out of your every nerve - shivering your senses and leaving you hungry to press the repeat button, like a hit of the best drug you have encountered; CHURCHGATE are definitely a force to be reckoned with. Don’t sleep on this release, because these guys are going to be big, sooner than you might think! Without any further ado, lets get into the track by track review:

–TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW–

WEEPING SONG: Beginning with sharp, and harsh guitar strikes, with a catchy but off-putting (in the best kind of way) synth structure soon jumping in, pulsating and enrapturing you like a siren of the post-goth era, Weeping Song is the début single everybody wishes they could put together. Reminiscent of some fucked up, euphoric musical smoothie, consisting of Alice Deejay’s ‘Better Off Alone’ and CRIM3S’ ‘BREED’ - with a pinch of Cocteau Twins; CHURCHGATE have clearly redefined the dark electro genre as we know it.

No ounce of emotion is spared as you focus onto each personal and relatable lyric, from “broken bone, forgotten home” to “still holding hands, we are the weeping” - it’s obvious just how much this song hits home, for me at least. I don’t know about anyone else but what captivates me with music is being able to have a sense of relation with the artist who wrote the lyrics, and with such a powerful tone its clear to see how much effort went into not just the complexity of the lyrics, but the instrumental- which in itself has countless layers of instruments, further drawing out emotion.

I don’t quite know how to say it in words, without sounding like a psycho - but music really does sometimes have the ultimate power to make you ‘feel’ sadness but also strength, the strength of ‘keeping-on-keeping-on’ and regardless of what shit life throws at you, carrying on with some façade of happiness, which eventually turns into true overcoming of sadness, and a real sense of happiness after all. Few songs manage to draw it out, but those that do leave a lasting memory on your heart and in your head. CHURCHGATE managed to reach that flag-post in their first track; something many bands can’t achieve til their final years together, or never at all.

My favourite thing about the lyrics is that they are relatable ina sense that, each verse could be taken with a variety of definitions. For example, my stand out lyric is perhaps one of the verses which could most definitely be interpreted into many different scenario’s - “pierce the night, with our light // held you down, without a fight”. For me the line suggests that whomever the song’s point of view is about, has overcame some trouble, and the light is suggestive of the dark times being over, but the struggle was hard, given that whatever held them back was so easy to give in to. With genre’s constantly moving on in terms of musicality and vocal techniques; it is a constant struggle to have your own sense of uniqueness within the community - but this track has no trouble finding its own benchmark within a variety of genre’s - and for that reason alone, is why i find myself so hexed whilst listening to it.

Musically, the song has a few key ‘changes’ in structure - around the half way point, the guitars become more prominent for a while, before becoming engulfed, but not overshadowed by the synths once more. A synth breakdown follows, where more layers gradually gravitate over the main melody until the bridge - where the guitars become highlighted once more. Leaving no stone unturned, the outro within itself, manages to give you one last shiver - refraining the synth melody that kicked in initially after the intro by itself, before submitting itself into a sea of white noise glory. I cannot do anything but recommend this track to anybody - regardless of their strict genre rules or tastes in music, i have all hope and trust that this track will go far. I’m calling it right now! And for that, this track deserves no less than a 10/10.

BELLS RING: Channeling a twisted take on the original dream pop track, originally by Mazzy Star - this cover is sickeningly sweet, in the strangest of ways. With Murdo’s aggressive, almost demonic mumbling of the lyrics, eerily distorted synth accompanies and Jessie channelling 80′s rock with his guitar leads - this is nothing short of a dark synth-wave take on a once serenading track.

Lines such as “Bells ring into the night, Sounds like a mistress on a rainy night” have a more mellow mumble, whereas the chorus; bearing lyrics such as “Nobody wants to know your reason why” resonate a creepier, more mischievous tone. All the while between the glorious guitar, short bursts of clashing synths give a sense of uneasiness, followed by a warm nostalgic feeling once more.

All in all, this cover is a gem amongst many covers of the song a quick YouTube search can find you. And in comparison to other artists who may decide to play it safe when using a cover as a b-side, CHURCHGATE went far, far, FAR from the ‘norm’ partially by choosing such a track that was little known to begin with, and also by conjuring up such a daring, whimsical and unique take on the track - vocals in particular. 9.7/10

PURE: Portraying a guitar lead reminiscent of oldschool college punk and rock works, pure is one of the softest and most mellow tracks on the EP - or so you thought...As the drums and synths drop into full on anarchy not long after the relaxing almost introduction.

Lyrics such as “I’m pure for you” and “The end has never been quite so sweet” cannot help but trigger a sense of abandonment of a relationship, with the one side feeling so much emotion for the other, whom has nothing quite left to give. Pure is to me, a great representation of not feeling good enough for somebody - and paired with the wholesome instrumental track makes for a lowkey banger if i’ve ever heard one! 8.9/10

FLORAL INTERLUDE: The perfect pairing of uneasy synth randomness and beautiful guitar riffs has the outcome of floral interlude. The shortest track on the album, and serving as a sickly sweet intro of sorts to the next track, i have never been so in love with an interlude in my life! I usually have the opinion that they’re pointless little half-afterthoughts to an album, but as of late, i really do believe they can add a lot to the theming and atmosphere of a release. In this case; that is ESPECIALLY the case!

It kinda reminds me of an old classic, yet i can’t put my finger on anything in my mind. It feels so nostalgic to my childhood, but i have no idea why or what to reference it to and i’m unsure whether to be creeped out or amazed by that - so i’m just gonna go ahead and say i’m shook instead!

Lyrically, the track is quite dark and beautiful - referring to being sprawled across a bed of dying leaves and’fleurs’ spouting from one eyes. The lyrics spread across your ears like jam but in the thought of them, after listening twice or three times, that’s kinda a scary thing to happen to someone?! Eitherway i’m so impressed with this interlude, and will scream from the rooftops of its greatness as i bask in this prickly rose garden it layed out before me; or should i say it encouraged to grow out my iris’ hahah. 9.9/10

PRECIOUS THING: Well, where do i start? We learnt from Bells Ring that CHURCHGATE don’t do conventional and fitting in when it comes to covering iconic tracks! In this instance they put their own spin on possibly one of the best punk rock/glam anthems to come out of the 80′s.

Keeping the guitars relatively similar, but possibly harsher - it is the vocals that completely suck you into this cover. Insturmentally, the track seems to be like a mashup of the original ‘precious things’ with the total cliché of american dream aesthetics and sounds, whereas Murdo’s vocals seem to malform into a gorgeously creepy, double-angst-raged embodiment of Joan Jett, screaming out the obviously sexual intended lyrics - such as “I will hold you down” and “You are my precious thing, as long as you remain beneath me”.

I didnt really know if 80′s punk could ever be topped, and i say this with no disrespect to the greats who coined the genre - BUT FUCK, CHURCHGATE REALLY CAN DOMINATE ANY GENRE AND TURN IT INTO A GOTH ROCK, SYNTH GLAZED, WITCH HOUSE, TRAP DOUBLE-DIPPED EXTRAVAGANZA! If you don’t enjoy this track are you really as punk as you think? 9.4/10

*TOTAL RATING: 9.9/10*

Overall, i see big things happening for these guys. They definitely have their heads screwed on, and their ideas mounted together in order to define themselves within the already diverse musical playing field. With a benign exterior, and an interior almost like being hit in the face with a candy-covered machete; i genuinely have nothing bad to say about this release! Now please excuse me whilst i drown in my tears at how emotional i feel after listening on repeat for days, hahah.

Always remember to support the artist! - you can get your very own copy of Demonstration (I) via churchgates’ bandcamp page ❤

#album review #albumreview

0 notes