#thought of this while listening to a duet cover of Ed Sheeran's 'Perfect'

[arverst-aegnar]

ZK Month Day 17: Reality TV AU

I can only hope that someday the ever-increasing catalogue of "things i want to draw" will grow powerful enough to defeat my absolute disinterest in actually drawing, but until then.

I have a few ZK month ideas i'm working on (slowly, so slowly) apart from the one i've finished, but this idea isn't likely to go anywhere, so i'll share it as-is and hope that someone is inspired enough to draw/write something based off of it ;-). Basically: Zutara "Dancing with the Stars" AU.

Zuko is the professional dancer, following in his mother's footsteps (haha). He's anxious about having a role on such a public platform, what with the scar, but it's something his uncle has been gently encouraging him to do for a while now. Katara meanwhile is a famous athlete. While she's more interested in competing and reaching the top of her field than the fame, she certainly doesn't dislike all the attention, and her press agent thinks that, since she's recently risen in public status thanks to a particular accomplishment, competing on the show can only help keep her in the public eye for longer. Her desire to prove herself and to be a serious contender clashes with Zuko's insecurity and hesitance to Be Seen, but the push and pull between them (countered by an immediate spark of connection) is enough to keep them moving without throwing them off-balance.

[btsengland]

BTS Reaction-Being in a relationship with Namjoon 💜

You and Namjoon had both just admitted your feelings to each other after being best friends for years.

You and Namjoon had been childhood friends. You knew each other inside and out and were always there for each other. You were always proud of Namjoon and encouraged him with all the projects he had with BTS and on his own. You had been wanting to tell Namjoon your feelings for him but felt it wasn’t the right time as he was so busy with the boys.

BTS had just finished a world tour and got to have some time off so you decided to take he plunge and tell Namjoon your feelings, to your surprise he said he felt the same and asked you to be his girlfriend. You even planned a short trip together to help Namjoon relax and to get away from all the attention for a bit.

You always liked to make Namjoon laugh and smile so you would always pull silly faces at him especially on the plane and try to distract him from working just for a little bit as you knew that even downtime for him would still involve writing songs.

He didn’t mind as he thought it was really cute and it would help him take his mind off the long plane journeys. You would even take silly screenshots of you and put them as his screensaver so that when he was down or when he was missing you he would look on his phone as see your silly facial expressions.

You both loved taking lots of photos and videos together so you can treasure your memories as well as helping Namjoon update the BTS twitter account. You would always give him instructions so you could take the perfect shots for Army. He loved how caring and passionate you were about the Army as you would always protect and defend them and make sure they had good content while BTS were having time off.

‘Come on Joon your stans need good content. Jimin has fed his stans now we need to feed yours!’

You both loved messing around together. Your favourite place to go was the Han River or to the beach as you loved walking hand in hand together or listening to the water and chatting about life.

Another thing you both had in common was your love for music. You were the one to suggest to Joon that he should be in a rap group and you were so proud of him when BTS debut. You would always help him create ideas for songs or give him advice. You would also make playlists for each other and your phones so that when you were away from each other you would have a little part of each other with you.

Namjoon was more of the listening and creating type when it came to music. He loved to study meanings of lyrics and listen to melody’s while you were more of the dance type. You loved how music made you feel and how different dances went with different music.

Another thing you had in common was how affectionate you both were even when you were little you would always give each other hugs. You loved holding hands as you felt safe when Namjoons hand covers yours.

You also loved cuddling as adults together as that had always been your thing, you could talk for hours just holding each other and it usually would end with you both falling asleep in the same position.

You both loved to talk about different subjects and could spend hours on them without getting bored of each other. People knew that if they saw you together you would be discussing something important or having a long meaningful conversation. You would always write quotes in each other’s books/phones or send them via text to support each other and to make them smile.

Namjoon normally was the more deep one in the relationship as he felt really comfortable opening up to you as he knew you wouldn’t judge him where you were the one who liked to keep things short and sweet which made you two work so great.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 3rd February 2019

This is super late so sorry about that, I’m just not sure if I care about this series that much anymore, honestly. I need something to spice it up and I’ve been doing that with the Featured Songs and such (That won’t be weekly, by the way), but otherwise, I need the charts to shake up and be more interesting because right now I’m tired of covering the same stuff every week.

Top 10

And at number-one for a second week is “7 rings” by Ariana Grande, propelled by streaming and sales bigger than even “thank u, next”, as well as controversy and the video. Still a lousy song, though.

“Sweet but Psycho” by Ava Max also stays at the runner-up spot for another week.

Sam Smith and Normani’s “Dancing with a Stranger” is also staying still at number-three.

“Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man is up one space to number-four, switching places with...

“Wow.” by Post Malone, down one spot to number-five.

“Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus stays at number-six.

As I predicted last week, Mabel’s “Don’t Call Me Up” is up four spaces to number-seven, entering the top 10 and becoming Mabel’s second single to do so.

Sadly, this means Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” is down one spot to number-eight.

We now have our second top 10 entry and first new arrival, “MIDDLE CHILD” by J. Cole, debuting at number-nine, mostly because of insane streaming, I imagine. It’s actually become his highest-charting single in both the US and the UK, being his fourth Top 40 here and first ever Top 10. Congratulations, but we’ll talk more about it later.

We have another top 10 entry here as well, with “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi, which is also his first ever top 10, up three spots to #10.

Climbers

Other than the top 10, we don’t have many climbers at all, with the only really notable ones here being “Hello My Love” by Westlife somehow grooving up nine spots to #20, “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper perhaps having an awards show boost up five spaces to #26, and “Leave Me Alone” by Flipp Dinero up seven spots to #30 – I loved that song initially and it has only grown on me, let’s make it a hit.

Fallers

There’s not actually that many of these, either, I mean, we have “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande collapsing 14 spaces down to #22 due to the streaming cuts that happen after a song has been very popular for an extended amount of weeks, but other than that we just have the expected hit for “Psych Out!” by AJ Tracey off the debut, down nine positions to #36. The album’s coming out so it’ll rebounded next week, maybe even reach a new peak.

Dropouts

“Rewrite the Stars” by James Arthur and Anne-Marie is out from #17 due to a streaming cut as well as general Greatest Showman hype dying down, “Ruin My Life” by Zara Larsson is out from #23 (maybe it was that streaming cut, but it didn’t seem like it was eligible for that yet), “imagine” by Ariana Grande is out from #35, “Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith is out from #38, “This is Me” by Keala Settle and the Greatest Showman Ensemble is out from #39 (and for once it seems like it’ll be STAYING out and not coming back the next week), and finally, “2002” by Anne-Marie is out from #40. There are no returning entries so let’s get straight to the new arrivals, because there’s quite a few.

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Nights Like This” – Kehlani and Ty Dolla $ign

I still think it’s pretty sad that Kehlani has to duet with men in her love songs to get hits or at least attempts at hits, but at least she’s collaborating with some of the most talented urban sing-rappers. We’re not seeing Kehlani featuring Juice WRLD anytime soon is what I’m saying, and I really loved “Playinwitme” with KYLE last year, it ended up becoming one of my favourite songs of the year, so out of that and only that song and “Done for Me” by Charlie Puth which she also featured on (and was also fantastic, and will make my list of the best hit songs of the year), I have high hopes for Kehlani at least, but I know Ty Dolla $ign only for his beautiful features, so I expect this to be pretty great. This is only Kehlani’s second Top 40 hit but is probably more for Ty Dolla $ign because he racks up features like crazy and I couldn’t be bothered to count ones I remembered (Wikipedia doesn’t list the UK chart placement for some reason). Anyway, enough rambling on, is the song good? Well, yeah, obviously. I love Kehlani’s powerful, albeit nasal and almost childish voice, reminding me of Bebe Rexha on “Girls”. That’s probably the best comparison I can make, with the careless high notes showing a lot of naivety but passion, which is perfect for the subject matter of this song, and its catchy hook, reverb-drowned kicks and skittering trap hi-hats. I love how empty and lowkey everything is, it really adds to the atmosphere, although I feel like it’s somewhat underwritten. Ty, who I’m pretty sure is currently serving 15 years in prison for cocaine possession, by the way, has a somewhat underwhelming verse but great harmonies in the hook with Kehlani so, yeah, this is pretty cool. Glad it charted.

#38 – “Swervin” – A Boogie wit da Hoodie featuring 6ix9ine

Oh, come on, I thought we were keeping 6ix9ine in 2018, because he is deservedly jailed for a definite, extended length of time – not for sexual conduct with a minor, but racketeering and fraud is good enough. I do like A Boogie wit da Hoodie though, his album, while bloated, definitely shows his talent and his appeal because he’s a 2000s emo singer who decided to be a SoundCloud trap-rapper in the middle of his career, but hates it. Well, he’s not, obviously, but that’s how he always comes off and it makes a lot of his songs pretty hilarious to listen to, especially when he says something sexually explicit, because he sounds funny with his pathetic falsetto, especially in this song, which is basically a pop song with a 6ix9ine feature... but honestly, I’ve been listening to this song for months, I like it a lot. Boogie isn’t as charismatic as usual, but his melodies here are some of his catchiest and most fun, especially in his verse, where he has a pretty off-kilter flow that almost parallels the polished guitar. Nevermind the chorus, just listen to that snappy refrain... and then hear it get interrupted by 6ix9ine... who is great on the song. He restrains himself from screaming, rather just yelling with great chemistry from Boogie too, as he kind of replicates Boogie’s melody while also dismantles the song entirely, and I like to think that this is a nu-metal song except 6ix9ine is the pedophile version of the Mike Shinoda rap breakdown, and it’s produced by London on tha Track. The outro where Boogie’s vocal is chopped up is great. I’m disappointed to say this is only Boogie’s first top 40 hit (congratulations) and 6ix9ine’s fourth (four too many), but, this is good.

#34 – “Think About Us” – Little Mix featuring Ty Dolla $ign

Little Mix... eh, okay, I don’t like anything they put out. Out of the 23 Top 40 hits the girls have had before this, I’ve liked one. Their 23rd, “Strip” featuring Sharaya J. This is their 24th, and I hope this isn’t as messy, plastic and cluttered as stuff like “Power” and “Woman Like Me”, or as boring as “Touch” or “Hair” (with Sean Paul of all people). Probably won’t be, because Ty Dolla $ign is a perfect human being (who is arrested for 15 years due to cocaine possession), or at least I hope so. I’m pretty sure this is a remix though, which kind of proves that their whole ‘all women!’ motif (that didn’t even end up being true for the album, the lead single was written by Ed Sheeran) didn’t work, sadly, and they need to rely on rappers to get their hits, which is unfortunate but understandable, because they do have to do that, especially right now in pop where women practically don’t exist on the Hot 100 (Yeah, they’re constantly trying to cross over to America again but it’ll NEVER happen). Oh, yeah, this song is awful, but I’m not sure if I’m supposed to take it seriously or as a complete joke because this is bloody incompetent to extreme levels, like this isn’t appealingly glitchy like “Strip” or even Ariana Grande’s “imagine”, it’s just a pop song that should have been aborted because clearly someone misplaced the FL Studio stems and put them in random places with cheap Audacity effects. The girls’ vocals are often too isolated, with only that random reverb-drowned drum hit being their accompaniment as well as a few shrill synths and some fake finger-snapping, until the drop which is just... what? Is this Sean Paul again? Sean Paul mumbled into a microphone and they pitched it down, and that’s how we got the messy vocal drop. It’s just an autotuned deep-voiced man saying nonsense words, and somehow they made that off-beat. How incompetent is the producer, sorry, the four producers? Geez! Ty Dolla $ign’s verse is beautiful and criminally misplaced. Please re-use this verse for your album, which will be released in 15 years after your arrest for cocaine possession. I’m just kidding, he’ll get bailed in a couple months at most.

#32 – “Comfortable” – Yungen and Dappy

I’ve been getting REALLY into British rap recently, mostly because I love the accents. I am British myself, so English accents should be something I’m used to, but “Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo is equally as funny, perhaps unintentionally, as it is a banger. Fredo released an album and I haven’t heard it yet but I’m definitely going to listen to it at some point because he is the most charismatic dude, with some of the weirdest metaphors I think I’ve heard in pop rap. I hope Dave’s releasing something too, I’m going to listen to that AJ Tracey one too, although I do like some of the more underground stuff, who I hope blow up because they have such good material. Check out “Picasso” by Whvsper, it’s such a fun song. Yungen, however, has never impressed me. I don’t like the dudes who sing, I like the guys with straight bars and blunt, catchy delivery, these melodic British rappers just bore me. This is Yungen’s third Top 40 hit, with his first being “Bestie” (one of the worst songs to come out of the UK rap boom of recent years), featuring a vocalist Dappy, who was the lead singer and rapper of London grime duo N-Dubz, who broke up in 2011. I’m just amazed this dude still gets hits, this being his tenth without the other two members of N-Dubz, and his second since he started to take advantage of the UK rap boom. Oh, yeah, this is pretty good, actually, with some... questionable metaphors and an off-kilter yet boring beat that really does not fit with the cloudy synths and such, although Yungen and Dappy ride it incredibly, Yungen in particular having a great flow in the hook. The melody in the intro is pretty catchy, I like his nasal, obnoxiously British voice. It’s a bit too long, though, and I’m not sure if I’m entirely fond of Yungen’s straining emo voice. Putting that aside, this is catchy, and fun, and that’s all I need in this type of UK rap, so, I’m okay with it.

#25 – “Swan Song” – Dua Lipa

No, Dua Lipa is not dying, and this is not her last ever song. This isn’t HER swan song, this is a song titled “Swan Song” from the film Alita: Battle Angel, first announced in 2003 before starting production for more than a decade and a half, being released in 2019 with a trendy pop singer with a little inoffensive ballad. It’s charted because Britain loves soundtracks, and Britain loves Dua Lipa. If you want proof of that, this is her 12th Top 40 hit since 2015. Honestly, I’m pretty impressed by this, though, as it is NOT inoffensive and it is NOT little. It’s minimalism in its most maximalist way, with an attack of hi-hats assaulting our ears in the most beautiful way with only small muted electronics building it up, almost too much at once, with that insane horn riff and some vocal chanting which sounds great. In the pre-chorus, some reversed orchestral strings in accompaniment with a great guitar solo are added and they’re kind of chopped up just for the sake of the epic drop, which is... so weird. It’s just Dua Lipa yelling in autotune, pretty much, and throughout all of this there’s a deep bass that adds so much “oomph” to the whole thing. This sounds like something Bjork would do, and I’m not saying it’s all that artsy, but oddly experimental and just massive-sounding, with Kanye-like vocal effects surrounding Dua in the instrumental bridge, along with a different horn riff and some more chanting. God, I didn’t expect this, and it’s honestly pretty fantastic. I’m impressed by this, but I’m also surprised, and this intrigues me. Where is Dua Lipa going with her next album? Is it going to be weirder? If so, I hope this somehow ends up on it because this is cinematic. This is a fight scene in pop music form, and I hope it succeeds.

#9 – “MIDDLE CHILD” – J. Cole

Oh, and J. Cole exists, I suppose. Well, I like T-Minus’ beat, I suppose. Apparently they paid like $500 for that horn sample, and it was probably a waste of money because you can barely hear it under some yelling vocal samples, bass, and, sigh... J. Cole is so boring in his solo work. I love a lot of his features because he is insane when he goes off on a track, like on “Off Deez” by JID or “a lot” by 21 Savage, but here, he’s exhaustingly boring. Yeah, okay, that bass is pretty hard-hitting, and I like how Cole sounds with that autotune and distortion (honestly I want more of it), but mostly, his oddly-mixed vocals are just re-treading his desperate attempt to be accepted as hip hop’s “middle child” (sorry, “MIDDLE CHILD”) because he likes both mumble-rappers and JAY-Z, I suppose? Who cares, man? Can J. Cole go away for a year? Have your “Off Season” you promised and go back to appearing when nobody expects you to on trap bangers, whilst crafting a concept and project that anyone would actually enjoy. I like Cole, but he tests my patience with underdeveloped tracks like this.

Conclusion

This is one of the odd weeks when choosing Best of the Week is a difficult choice, but I’m going to give it to Dua Lipa for “Swan Song”, with tied Honourable Mentions to A Boogie wit da Hoodie for “Swervin” and Kehlani and Ty Dolla $ign for “Nights Like This”. Worst of the Week goes to Little Mix, obviously, for “Think About Us” – that track is borderline unlistenable. See ya next week!