#tldr; love an ive album!

[redpiperfox]

it's that time again~

Album listen-thru of Ive's Switch~

All in all, the aesthetics in color of early 2000s (bless, they didn't follow the mainstream sound of how people are categorizing early 2000s nostalgia alsdjkfhklasjdfh), the Ive elegance woven into a bright, spring album, A+, 10/10, much enjoyed!

Now song by song:

해야 (HEYA)

What a fun song~! Absolutely won me first listen, definitely has that ethereal dusky wind-in-your-hair backlit euphoria to it, riding on top of a little high-heel, chin-up confidence. Powerful and pretty, in a stunning sort of way.

Yujin's part in the second verse runs rent-free on loops through my head, and the pre-chorus to chorus Ascends, I love the little transition/nod sound between them, and the way everything bursts into the chorus-- and that even that eruption of sound still outdoes itself and explodes in the final chorus, high note overlaying and all.

Visually, what a pretty mv! Exactly the sort of thing I expected from the teasers we got, and captures a sort of aesthetic that perfectly fits and conceptualizes Ive's niche. The set reminded me of that one Twice set in Scientist, but perfectly set it in a cultural and very specific nostalgic-reminiscent mood that I absolutely adore. Pastels and clouds and all. And tying it in with the lyrics? Absolutely beautiful, love!

Accendio

I won't lie, the first line set me off a little XD Why are we talking about priests, what's going on girls lol BUT THEN-- the actual ascension in the chorus outro? Those harmonies and chord building coming out? Hello there~!

Lyrically, it perfectly encapsulates the entirety of the album, and I think the chorus achieved the perfect balance in catchy and elegant that Baddie was setting them up for last comeback. I also love that I could catch this battle between evil and good in the production before the mv dropped-- the second verse drops you straight into a basement of bad intentions, and retrospectively makes that opening line confession make so much sense. It gives the pre-chorus the desparation before the chorus comes in with it's commands-- it's spells of protection almost.

And then the mv!!!

Oh what an mv. Everytime a storytelling mv graces us, I want to put it on a pedestal and run a presidential campaign for it because THISSSS WE NEED MORE OF THISSSS~~~

I love main character Gaeul, I love the girls power up moments into Sailor Moon-esque heroines, and then battling evil versions of themselves, (shoutout to the stylists, oh, keep doing what you're doing!!) I loved all the fight sequences, I loved the quirky plot of keeping this wand safe and then losing it, I love the ambience and color of the whole story-- it supported the music so well? The fast moving parts, the scenes where we could gasp as Yujin slammed her hand into the glass and beckoned us back, the throwback into the timeline, the fight sequences~

Really well done, Ive. A beautiful mash of elegant into a fun turn-of-the-season summer comeback.

Blue Heart

Heyo, Wonyoung written beauty!

The production draws straight from the lighter parts of Accendio, in that protective but smiling, fun image, in a spell, a promise of letting you come close but never as close as you want. It fits perfectly between Ice Queen and Accendio, in a heroine protecting herself, floating just above it all, but when she drops into the mess of it in the chorus, it's fully armored and confidently winning. And I do love the verses and the ascension in the bridge where it really does feel above the clouds and touched in the pastels of a free sky, and how perfectly it contrasts with the chorus.

Lyrically, I'll let her speak for her own song, because there's something really precious and admirable about the work she put into this song (end of the article):

tldr; She writes it as a tribute to female idols in a harsh industry and the image and personality they chose to put out in comparison to their inner strength to protect themselves.

I also want to include lyric analysis by @aidollze on twitter, with a special shout out to Ms Wonyoung for her legal work in bringing down a youtuber for defamation against kpop idols:

Ice Queen

Sent me right back to Hypnosis from their full album, instant love.

Musically, the production is like a bubbling, clear and fresh bubbling spring in the verses that freezes into the chorus, sharp angles and prisitine edges. It's sea-curly hair and curious smiles over the shoulder into combed back buns under a tiara, looking down their noses, critical, moving from level playing fields to a power play.

The lyrics only supported the imagery it gave me, and even added this undertone of the daughter of Halsey's Castle, especially if coupled with Blue Heart's message, which? Gives me all the brainworms? But anyway XD

Wow

How fun~ This feels like a run through a water park or summer vacation in a theme part in the chorus, and the sit-back and reminisce breathlessly in the verses and bridge.

It's funny how the lyrics talk about being opposites but attracting so well, because it gives me that rush of planets spinning frantically and almost out of control when together in the chorus, and then throwing each other out of their orbits to observe and wonder from a distance, only to be thrown back together for the thrill of it again.

Reset

"Kiki, do you love me, are you riding--"

Sorry XD A little more in the brightly colored jungle, in the weeds and unknown of things, before that lovely little astronomically intrumental production into the chorus, where you're stuck to this fun beat, childish in it's fun, almost. I don't know! This song is somewhere between the jungle rhythm and the intergalactic kids ride! And then it finishes and drops abruptly, like it's only there to quickly pass you by before you can hop on and join.

A very fun and chill ending to a bright mini album, that leaves you feeling light!

Ive always has my attention, and if the sheer vocal talent between Liz and Yujin isn't enough, their commitment to their niche of elegance while being able to try and sort invent concepts, has me tuning in each and every time.

Would love to hear thoughts people had on this comeback or on Ive in general!!

[cyncerity]

HOLY SHIT HOOOOLY SHIT

click read more for some rambling in all caps but tldr: please please please listen it’s so good i’m not kidding it’s incredible

IVE DONE MUSIC MY ENTIRE LIFE. I PLAY LIKE 6 INSTRUMENTS. MY MOM IS A MUSIC TEACHER. HALF MY FRIENDS ARE GOING TO COLLEGE FOR MUSIC ED/THEATER.

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT THIS ALBUM THAT IS HYPNOTIZING. IVE HEARD ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSIC IN MY LIFE BUT THIS MADE ME FEEL SOMETHING IN A DIFFERENT WAY. SOMETHING VISCERAL AND RAW AND I DONT EVEN FUCKIN KNOW BUT ITS SO GOOD.

THE SONGS FREQUENTLY CALL BACK TO EACH OTHER WITH LYRICS AND RHYTHMS AND MELODIES AND ITS SO OBVIOUS HOW MUCH LOVE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS IN THIS THING AND IT TELLS A WHOLE FUCKIN STORY AND THATS WHAT I LOVE IN MUSIC

I FEEL LIKE IM SPREADING THE WORD OF GOD IVE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS NON STOP PLEASE IF YOU HAVENT BLESSED YOURSELF WITH THIS SOUNDTRACK GIVE IT A LISTEN

[garglyswoof]

"On Repeat" playlist tag game

Thanks, @the-road-betwixt for tagging me to shuffle my on repeat playlist. I am a weirdo musician who doesnt listen to enough music tbh and i hate spotify so i try not to use it. lets see what pops up on my youtube history. i will also be That Girl that links everything and has a fuckin paragraph sorry, so tldr readmoreing tagging @averseunhinged bc i am quite certain you will have bands ive never heard of, same with @retoxdiet, @gemleilou and anyone who i tagged in here as reference and hasnt done it, and @notquitecogent bc hi! i liked that song that gave you kastle vibes and im curious (no pressure to anyone)

Holding a Heart - Todd Wright. ha @purplesigebert and @kirythestitchwitch this is from Fang Fridays because tvd uses another version of this song and i was lucky enough to grow up listening to the og

X Out - Extreme. I loved them when i was 15. The lead singer was so kind to me when i met him and told him my music dreams. there's something compelling and eerie about this track but it's probs nostalgia

When You Get to Asheville (Bright Star soundtrack) - my fave from the musical

Grace - Jeff Buckley. Never be over this album.

How We Operate - Gomez listened to this like 15 times in a row lmao

555 - Jimmy Eat World. definitely a change of pace for them style wise but melodically it's classic them and it makes my heart warm and ache at the same time.

Mia Resurrected - Cristobal Tapia de Veer. Huge fan since Utopia, but i think the humans soundtrack is my fave.

Your Needs, My Needs - Noah Kahan i thank @carry-the-sky for this one. god the last minute or so just kills me every time.

Parade - Heypenny idk something about this being fun but creepy at the same time is just a cool vibe

Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten - Arvo Part. Music always reminds me of times and places and ill never forget this coming on on a mix CD i made on a long drive and i just burst into tears in a cathartic way.

IM ADDING AN 11th FOR Fingers - Chinchilla (live). i watched this an unhealthy amount of times

[gible2k]

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF CUTOUTS BY THE SMILE (ramble incoming):

just fucking incredible. after my first listen I can definitively say Bodies Laughing is one of the best The Smile songs, maybe even one of the best songs I've heard. it's just a gorgeous song, tha acoustic guitar just has something about it that gets me, it somehow sounds raw and real, yet has that echoing "wall of sound" aspect that i love about The Smile. hearing the chord change at the "but everybody's laughing" part for the first time hit me like a fucking truck it's so good.

rn another one of my favourites has to be Colours Fly, it's so groovy, and personally i love odd time signatures in music, it just adds a special feel I can't quite describe? it just makes the 1 of the beat really punchy and powerful to me??? the sort of arabic, indian classical sound (?) in the riff is SO GOOD. I really haven't heard much like it. also all the speaking in the background give it an even more off, almost eery feel, (also thoms little HEY! 2 minutes in makes me laugh when i hear it its great) this song just feels off in a good way, almost giving a similar impression to Climbing Up The Walls. I'm itching to see this song live specifically it's really special.

EYES AND MOUTH. the contrast of the really tinny, high guitar riff underpinned by some really beautiful, full, jazzy piano chords is just incredible. and thoms vocals are absolutely KILLER in this track, they just sound so packed with emotion that it's physically spilling out of him into the track, fucking mesmerising. his voice crack at around 2mins 30 just HITS ME IN MY SOUL. this track is getting looped to high hell, absolutely gorgeous.

another track that really spoke to me is Tiptoe, that beginning, dissonant soft piano is something special. again I really love the use of speaking in the background of some of these tracks, to me it makes it feels more raw, and in the moment? on my first listen the orchestra kicking in GOT ME. it really would feel right at home on A Moon Shaped Pool, those strings are so intensely beautiful that I cried my first listen. thoms vocals on this track again are superb, they're so soft in a way that feels like a lullaby to me. i haven't checked out the lyrics for any of these tracks, but from what I hear the line "all of you appeasers and enablers" has stuck in my head since I heard the track. honestly wish this was longer i could listen to those strings all day.

though I wont go into detail about the other tracks, this whole album is packed with quality. ironic is this albums title bc it's probably their best album so far and doesnt feel like the offcuts of Wall Of Eyes in the slightest. this might be another Kid A Amnesiac situation where one could become discredited bc its seen as just a "b-side comp", which I hope doesn't happen. this album is just incredible, rlly blew me out of the water, bc imo the singles released b4 the album were some of the weaker tracks, (apart from Bodies Laughing) (not saying any of these tracks are bad btw they're all fantastic). rlly this is some of the most quality ive ever seen in an album but i expect nothing less from Thom, Jonny and Tom. this is a rlly special record, though I will always hold Wall Of Eyes as my favourite of The Smile, that album is really my baby.

tldr: CUTOUTS WAS AN ABSOLUTE W, WERE RLLY WINNING WITH TWO FANTASTIC ALBUMS THIS YEAR CANT WAIT TO HAVE THIS LOOPED FOREVEEERRRRR

[thatdeadaquarius]

i NEED to see more of your art !!!!!

*bats eyelashes* this is a threat.

AHFLALSDHA WHAT- STOP GET OUT NO U DONT PLEASE-

U WANNA SEE MY ART??!!

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YEARRSSS FOR SOMEONE TO SEE MY ART-

For future standalone posts like Possession AU/actual Fanfics/Non-Asks I'll probably add some of my art as a fun visual, since it sucks the closest I can get is gifs to feeling more immersed! :/

These I drew over the past 2-3 weeks! They're my lovely OCS, left to right, Lucille, Mara and Sabrina! They're story is a big fat beautiful shit on JK Rowl*ng! Lucille is a black lesbian successful trans woman/future magic council-woman, Mara is a japanese-american hard-headed/bold sapphic woman/future professional magical athlete, and Sabrina is a plus-size queer woman/future professional magical plants necromancer! They're in my twist on Harry Potter universe, where they all go to magical university, and the point is that Mara and Lucille are infamous school rivals, but then fall in love/fall in love with Sabrina too! A magical gay polycule if u will, I've written 2 short stories about them for my fiction class so far!

SHEESH, DO ME A FAVOR AND CLICK FOR QUALITY!!

this was my last project for my illustration 2 class! I have a physical comic book/zine I'm making, but this is the summary TLDR digital piece lol, its actually a sort of isekai of myself into Percy Jackson and changing his fate for the better! (Yes ik his anatomy is ROUGH, dont look at him too hard- SOBS)

Here's an earlier project this year from Illustration 2, I got an article I had to make illustrations for, to help you understand it/add aesthetic to it! My subject was Cosmic Topology, pretty sick topic if u ever wanna look it up, it's about the shape of the universe! :0

^^^

And these-

are the gifs from that art exhibition I talked so much about the past couple weeks! It was my senior art exhibition (a requirement to display art in the uni gallery to graduate!)

irl photos under this text block!

These are actually being projected across pages in a fake photo album/prom guestbook thingy, fully interactive so u can turn the pages and it shows a new animation, like a magical storybook! Also, since it's prom themed, I made it a kinda guestbook/sign book so gallery viewers can get some glitter pens I left out to sign the end of it! I also have a playlist I made playing in the gallery along with it so it's like what they'd play at this prom! :) hope that made sense!

The content is that the girl you see walking around in white is getting social anxiety/stressed out, to the point of dissociating, as a way of doing my theme I've kept up for university of things appearing darker than they initially look (hence the colors + I love colors), and to bring awareness to mental health!

welp, didnt mean to include all that black space, but that's my artist statement too! (u cant see the prints in the pictures, that's just my interactive piece I was talking about!)

hope if u click on the statement it's readable lol

Just click on the Alt text, I pasted it there 😭 also the piece is called

"You're the Star of the Night (you're dissociating)!"

Tumblr hates me so I just made the gif of me actually turning the pages into a link/QR code thingy! feel free to check out if u want :)

Uh anyway, if you made it this far, thank you so much!

Can't wait to make more fanart tbh lol

AND THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN FOR ASKING ORAH!! (sorry it wasnt more genshin stuff whoops...) RLLY HOPE I DIDNT SPAM U TOO HARD-

Safe travels,

💀♒️

[jewishrizahawkeye]

my tldr version of the media around brat v ttpd would be: the media and a loud group of fans are so focused on the potential conflict and drama (for clicks/views) that they neglect to engage with the music as an art form and then everyone is disappointed bc instead of knowing the background that’s needed to appreciate the art they’re just listening so they can dig for gossip that may or may not be there

but maybe you’re thinking of something else, I think there’s a lot to discuss

this is also true! i was thinking more about how we’re in a massive media literacy crisis and more and more people are getting upset when art isn’t easily digestible.

before i start this:

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH LIKING STRAIGHT FORWARD ART!

but what i was thinking was that brat dives into complex emotions but in a more straight forward/simplistic way. that’s not an insult at charli xcx or the album at all! she isn’t going for the same type of lyricism as other artists (think taylor but also chappell roan or flyna boss). it’s all to personal preference. but a big issue with people discussing brat or preferring it is that they’re saying they don’t want to decipher a bunch of lyrics to relate to it, they just want it and can go. which is fine. but it does create a problem of people then misinterpreting other lyrics because they refuse to actually see what is being said or done. i really enjoyed ttpd:ta because im a pretentious english major but i knew i wasn’t gonna be for everyone or it would take awhile for others to understand it, which is fine. but instead of doing that people instead just conflated it all to being bad. which is where ive seen a lot of the two albums being compared to.

i saw people on tiktok (my first mistake was opening the app, i know) saying that charli is actually making GOOD pop music while taylor isn’t. and while ive already established “brat” isn’t for me i was still very surprised by how well recieved it was. it doesn’t seem like what mainstream pop music would want or like, and while charli has her fans and does deserve her praise and roses i was still surprised. i do stand by my statement that i think in 1-2 years a lot of the general public will say brat was an album of the time because it, to me in my opinion, won’t age well to the general public. i can be wrong, we’ll see. but i think people like it because charli is diving into emotions or relationships we’ve all had. sympathy is a knife and girl, so confused are at the top of my head because those are somewhat universal situations we all have been in. and with charli’s writing style she’s more straightforward so people don’t have to think to hard on it. they can get it on the first listen and go. but this is then tying back to what i wanted to discuss with the media literacy crisis.

i’m going to use my favorite album of all time, “the good witch” by maisie peters, to explain this since i think if i continue with ttpd and taylor people will ignore my point. but i loved tgw because it was not only phenomenal on my first listen but the more and more i listened the more details i noticed and the more i saw just how talented of a writer maisie is. history of man is a prime example obviously, but in watch she uses antanaclasis, which means using the same word but in different ways, with the line “I fought it, but I saw it and it sawed me right in half”! this is an incredible line and realizing she did that word play made me love the song more! and the more i listened the more i found stuff like this and became obsessed with it. and this was because i kept going back and listening to it because i wanted to know more. art and literature are supposed to do this, we’re supposed to sit and think about it and find deeper meaning. not all art but we’re supposed to sit and think on what we saw and what that means for us and the art.

another example with a movie is oppenheimer. i remember when the movie came out people were saying not to see it because it was problematic. and one review i saw even said “all biopics are problematic because the director controls the narrative and therefore controls how you’ll view the person” which was the worst take id EVER seen because this person just said they never think critically about any media they consume. they just let the person making it control them and don’t think about the implications. because oppenheimer is a great movie that explores and discusses war and destruction. and it is a good film to watch but i don’t think the guy who made the ATOMIC BOMB is a good guy and was rooting for him. i still think he is awful cause he is awful. but i still enjoyed the film and thought critically on it and what it means for society. like art should be. but not every movie is like that or intends to have that same meaning. another movie i like is bottoms, which is literally about lesbians starting a fight club to get pussy. no one meant for it to have a deeper meaning than that and it succeeds in what the plot is. this doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie but rather the art is doing something different. it’s a silly comedy for wlw to just have fun. and yet, both films are good.

or with books to. ali hazelwood is a fine author who writes cute romance stories and doesn’t go farther than that while RF kaung is writing books that ask you to think and contemplate what she’s discussing which has made people upset. i remember when babel came out a person read it and made a review talking about how she hated it because she thought it would be a fun fantasy book to read before going back to grad school and was instead confronted with colonialism and racism. she said she made this review to tell others it was okay to not like the book while missing the point that the book was literally describing people like her.

this has gotten slightly miss jointed and is all over the place, but my point is that people are slowly gravitating toward more simplistic or straightforward media that doesn’t necessarily ask them to think more on something. which isn’t inherently bad, you aren’t required to always think hard on everything you consume, sometimes you just wanna listen to fun club music or watch lesbians kill football players. there’s nothing wrong with that. but we’re in a media literacy crisis because a lot of people refuse to sit on media that makes them think. they refuse to think about how songs can have deeper meanings and will instead just focus on “the golden retriever line in the title track is stupid.” and ignore that it was intentionally done like that because taylor was trying to show her and her muse weren’t being smart or as tortured as they thought they were, they were just two idiots being high together. but people refuse to think on that and will only look at a surface level example.

which is what i was getting at, brat isn’t bad and if you like the album im happy! but ive seen a lot of people use this album to tear ttpd down and miss the albums are not only doing two separate things but also then trying to create unnecessary drama.

i hope this makes sense, it was why i wanted to kinda wait to post it so i can get my thoughts in order but this was what i was getting at. it’s not on charli or her album but im more so just talking about the general public.

[strwberri-milk]

What are some inspirations for your writing? And what resources would you suggest for new writers? (Ex: YouTubers, blogs, books, etc.)

P.S. I’m not exactly sure if you answer questions such like these, but if you do not, then you do not need to answer this or can clarify that because I haven’t seen you post stuff like this or post any rules on not asking questions(?).

And btw, I love your writing and I hope you have a good dayyy! 💖

i love when people ask me about me bc it makes me so happy to exist in peoples mind i just want to be Thought about i love answering questions about myself/my interests!! when i ws fourteen i wrote a whole fuckjing masterlist on how to write but its no longer releveant LMAOOo also i yap so much so this is all under a cut LMAOO

tldr: i totally suggest 1) listen to music you dont mind zoning out to 2) read a variety of books to develop style/voice 3) write things you want!! if youre intrigued/intersted by smth it makes it a lot better!!

also pls for the love of god use paragraph breaks istg i refuse to read anything that is One paragraph long. a smaller ick of mine is the refusal to pargraph break after dialouge bc idk it just makes me :( but its not that bad overall lolol

tbh the only thing i recc for new writers is reading!! im a strong believer that if youre a strong reader you can become a strong writer!! i wanna get back into traditionally published books/classics but the issue w doing an engl [literature] degree is i was reading ballparck 15-20 books/semester and it just got so exhausting that i struggle to get back into traditional publishing but im trying to get into it!!

if youre like jsut getting into reading i think starting at middle grade books is good bc theyve got a good variety and easy readability so theyre like. not as daunting. and also!! variety is so great!! i have REALLY strong opinions about some currently published authors but also ive never been really someone who's super into reading books bc its by a specific author bc i think you can accidentally end up trapped too bc authors have their quirks and its like. you might end up only writing in that fashion bc thats all youre reading so variety is good to diversify and find what you enjoy about writing!!

me personally i really like flowery words and descrptions!! i wanna evoke emotions and trigger associations through sentenes that are *just* long enough and evoke longing!! or horror!! i tend to gravitate towards fantasty/romance/psycohological horror/mystery so those are the books ive been reading in the last ten years but before that i stanned warrior cats and historical fiction so hard. more recently though i read exclusively xreaders sorry guys i need my escapisim but!! i definitely think bridgerton Changed something in me so i think i pulled some of my writing voice from there too!!

also!! music is a big part of my writing process - when i really wanna focus on put on more lowkey music - oohyo is a big reference for the general vibe when im listening to music to write. rn im going to be listening to a lot of hit me hard and soft bc that album (billie eilish) is a sound that i like (kinda haunting, bouncy idk). lana del rey, k r&b or rock/power ballads as well if im feeling it (rn im going back to utsup/maretu/other vocarock prods) - music just helps me hone in when im trying to write thousands of words on top of each other lolol

[montanamp3]

march, for the ask game

march (do you listen to music when writing): already answered hehe (tldr depends) so ill take this chance to talk abt the music im associating w my current wips vs the music i think actually fits the vibe of the wip... bc i literally find a way to shoehorn 30s music into anything even if it doesn't fit

everything on fire - inspired by 1930s holiness pentecostal & 1970s folk revival & the local christian music that i grew up with! at least it kind of makes sense because eof's vaguely southern gothicy but eofverse is a vastly vastly different beast from canon px11... i love canon but it's soooo 2020core it hurts... ive said this before i think but eof is an alternate universe where the px11 charas listen to the oh hellos instead of mika

radio - oh thank god this one's actually about 30s music but the main characters are all modern-day theatre kids so they're probably out there listening to like. six cast album. les miserables. idk. belle is totally an 00s indie rock girl because my irl friend's into it and they rubbed off on me.

ylsgib - the entirety of ylsgib is an experiment in transferring an unhinged 17th century murder ballad (distant, larger than life, epic) into My Actual School (boring, unepic, lame) so it's inspired by dark celtic folk / american primitive but like i said the vibes of the characters lean more towards pop-punk (wong) or 2nd gen kpop (yeoh)

[metroid-fusion]

oh fuck i forgor uhh ummm i know there was one around here somewhere where's the fuckiHERE

🎧

lovelove this song and this album its so vibes. ive always been completely in love with "coil and shiver like eel out of river" and "once interred in turn it turned to bone" or whatever the specific order and conjugation of those words are the actual lyric. tldr its fucking ♫

[straykats]

kat talks: 5-star

tldr; it did not take long at all for this comeback to grow on me i love it so much. i find that with most new songs my first listen is always very apathetic and/or ??? LOL and there exists only a small handful of songs that i immediately was like oH MY GOD (this is across all artists i listen to) but yeah i always forget that when listening to new music and i think this comeback is the first time i fully acknowledged that my first listen is rarely (and doesnt need to be) instant likesies. theres a lot of small bits throughout the album that remind me of other songs (not a bad thing, just smth i noticed i kept noticing?). topline, dlc, the sound and time out were/are my favs hehe (update: relistening to the album again and collision and fnf are creeping up to my favs too help)

hall of fame

okay im pretty sure i've heard this in my brief listen before but i also dont remember it at all

i cant describe it but that alien-sounding melody actually has me seeing like a weird alien brainwashing thing

WHOS FUCKING-- WAS THAT JEONGIN??? AT 1:24???? that was so pretty i want that framed

during hyunjins bit i got weird b me flashbacks??? i dont think it sounds similar but my mind immediately went 'b me !!'

jesus felix

the moon landing audio is such a cool inclusion,,, 5 star,,, hall of fame,,, a star/celestial body themed comeback,,,,

s-class

okay wbk i was so confused the first time round but its grown sm on me

i LOVE the power of the opening

the cartoon boing/spring sound and (its not but) the tom and jerry running sound hehe

this song definitely sounds.. grand? and wide? and a good title track

"[im] up above the world so high" nice nice twinkle twinkle reference hehe

i absolutely love jeongin's bit in the bridge and i love the choreo of it too

item

i love the game sounds they use in this hehe

seungmin's prechorus reminds me of smth but i cant place what it is

felixs ... tone? like? the voice he uses???

hyunjin/changbin bit in the bridge >>>>> i cant explain it but it sounds so good

super bowl

the instrumental at the beginning took me by surprise.. i also am sitting ehre trying to identity the?? The Sound. digital/synth. like the almost cowbell almost snare one. ive replayed it so many times.

i thought this when i first heard it (while doing the dishes lol) but is this song all in english?

whats that sound between 'have a bite' and 'make it mine'

screams TFDGVJABVAD the whisper im sorry i cant do it HAHAHAHAHA

topline

to be mad honest i was SO excited for this based on just the teaser

'we skedaddle intoxicated razzle dazzle' best line fr

okay ik i didnt say much for this one but its one of my favs

underground rebellious kinda vibes i love it (i described that wrong but i have a very specific img in my head)

dlc

im trying to play this on the pino and its driving my nuts but in a good way

the 'amudo moreuge' line throughout the entire song is so [deep breaths] like i cant explain it but it BUT AHHHHHH (fun fact for any pokemon people LOL the song oracion has the same kinda thing in it. idk what to call it.)

oh i LOVE love the piano during the second verse AHHHHHHHHH not gonna be able to replicate it but thats okay

the song/chorus has a.. an urban tropical feel? like it's ALMOST something you would hear with a tropical background but smth about the key, maybe, plavces it instead in an urban setting at night (bc lyrics) and seems kinda bittersweet

THATS WHAT THE AMUDO MOREUGE LINE DOES it adds such a sad kinda tired/resigned feel to the song which is like. on one hand the lyrics are so 'lets dance like crazy without a care in the world' but on the other hand the song feels so lonely and kind of. 'don't worry about me, i'll manage my sadness alone'??? like, 'let's have fun together but i'm really sad even though i'm smiling' kinda thing ARGHHHHH

get lit

seungmin's line rmeinds me of smth ARGHH its another skz song i know that for sure but i cant remember which one (ngl a lot of the songs in this album have parts that remind me of another kpop song,,, one of the above reminded me of nct but icr which song)

oh wait i think its my pace @ seungmins line

the instrumental would be so cool for mashups etc

wait one of the lines is 'today im so cocky' which is interesting bc theres a previous line (sueprbowl?) thats about not being cocky or smth HMMM i would revisit but tbh i cbb rn rip

collision

tRUMPETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT... i think

trumpets reminded me of maknae on top and this song also suits jeongin's voice sm i love it here

oh??? the ringing at the end???

fnf

this REMINDS ME OF SMTH TOO an dits not kpop

but i do really like it

'ashes up in the sky' ,,,, thinkingthinkingthinking

this feels like the opposite of time out and idk how to explain it

lix singing !!!!!! i love it sm

WAIT THSI ONE ACTUALLY REMINDS ME OF B ME wait no or is it levanter

the flaura and fauna line also reminds me of venom

both of the above points refer to the melody ,, seungmin's venom prechorus "cant escape-" and then it jumps The Other Song which i cant figure out what it is AHH

was that an eagle did i just hear an eagle

the minho/chan ending is so <3 <3 <3

youtiful

the muted piano i [crying] also almost gives me knnw vibes

'must be an oracle' ????? trying to understand this. like. it must be predicting smth,, but what,,, 'look at the stars fall / they leave the sky, goodbye' which part of this is the oracle i-- ad oracle as in like a person or a message but either way

if anyone covers this song please use a xylophone or marimba hehe would be so <3

oh i can see this second verse being animated so beautifully

why did changbin singing at the end make me so incredibly soft

the sound

okay this song has been out for ages but i think the only thing i said about it was smth about the bass and also how it sounds like a 'final stand' kinda song

okay ngl i liked the jpn lyrics better for the chorus oopsies im sorry

the piano sounds so RAW like the ringing of it the way the key falls and the mallet hits the string like you can HEAR it like thats exactly how it sounds when you play that high on a piano and also like. imo i notice the sound more on older pianos and just bc of that personal association (???) this song gets a bit sadder

adding to the 'final stand' feel is the police sirens in the chorus

time out

i just love this song sm man like idk what to say at this point

OH IT REMINDS ME OF A DEEMO SONG AHHAHA WAIT LEMME FIND IT // this song omg i've never thought about it before but listening to time out just then, i literally went 'you ready?' and then i was like WAIT THATS A DIFFERENT SONG

this song would be such a fun end-of-concert/encore song woah

yeah no i really dont have much to say i just love this song sm

[banghwa]

Idk if you’ve talked about this before, but what are your predictions/hopes for the jimin album?

What sounds and genres do you think he’ll go for? What will he choose to talk about? I find it so hard to say, but based off Lie and Promise and Filter he might continue exploring those themes? - And whatever he meant by a “raw concept”? 👀 I’m so excited !!

(I’m ready for whatever honestly, I’m mostly just desperately crossing my fingers for a full choreography)

hiiii my love! doesnt matter whether ive talked about it before or not im more than happy to talk in circles about what jimin potentially has in stores lmao <3

tldr bcs under the cut is kinda long :'): im expecting so much but also nothing! i really cant wait to see what it is he decides to do. even though i kinda assume he's gonna do something more on the pop side and discuss identity a lot, also expecting lots of mannequins and styling used as a narrative vehicle etc., i also half expect him to do something completely different....i really dont know but im excited!!

first of all, sound-wise, im expecting something more on the pop side: he seems to have been working with a lot of pop/kpop producers and few rnb/hip hop producers which is kinda surprising, as well as ghstloop and pdogg who are behind some of bts' best songs and solo stuff. my gut tells me its gonna be fun and strong albeit safe pop/rnb....but given how he says he wants to do something "raw". i fully expect ghstloop to deliver on that and that SCARES me. crossing my fingers also for his lower register PLEASE i miss her, hopefully him having more control on a solo release means he actually gets to sing in his range :')

what also scares me is i do fully expect him to talk more about the same themes he explores in lie and filter and what promise was originally supposed to be about -- identity, autonomy, subversion, dichotomy, authenticity, etc. i think given his portfolio project that those seem to be the topics he likes to work with most. but so far the way he handles those themes in his solos is so like. between the lines and indirectly. the thing with jimin that i find soooo interesting is that his solos, esp filter, are told from an unreliable or conflicted first person, which is different from a lot bts songs where the "narrator" ig is very self aware. so perhaps he will keep with this perspective, which i think would be sooooo cool and really set him apart from bts' lyrical tendencies.

long story short, i really dont know what to expect! jimin hasnt really had the opportunity to put out anything on his own aside from his solos in bts so its hard to gauge the mechanics of it.....the impression i get from jimin that at times hes so versatile and subversive that it gets a bit predictable. and i feel like he knows that and plays into it, weaving in an undercurrent of a clashing idea to the concept, hence that earlier unreliable first person. so for me i see pjm1 being either really fun but ultimately incredibly chart-safe and unadventurous, with the kind of put-on sultriness that fans feel entitled to expect of him. perhaps with that continued conflicting subtext. OR alternatively he and bighit will take his popularity as an opportunity to do something really out of the box of what people, myself included, might expect! like will bighit play it cautious since he's their golden boy? will they seize the chance to get experimental without risk?? i really dont know! im just excited to see what he has planned :')

[celestial-tadpoles]

New single from one of my personal favorite bands Home Is Where. "yes! yes! a thousand times yes!" dropped april 25th along with the release date for their upcoming album the whaler which is set for June 16th of this year.

"yes! yes! a thousand times yes" is the lead single so its the first look into the upcoming album that weve gotten so far. and the tldr is that its great and i could not be more excited for july. their 2021 ep i became birds is one of my personal favorites so maybe im a little biased.

imo the song is a promising look into what else the band can do. in the past theyve had more of an In Your Face sound even on their slower tracks. and we get that here too with Macdonalds vocals not changing too much from what we expect although it is a little more singy and a little less yelling. and even tho the screaming vocals is what initially caught my attention on i became birds, i also really enjoy the more singy vocals. especially alongside the newer lighter guitar tone.

interestingly the song really changes in sound and quality about half way thru. with the first half sounding a bit higher fidelity than that last half. the rhythm section also sounds a little off to me before the change up. but honestly i really like the bass and guitar parts. my biggest gripe is mostly with the drums who seems to lose time a bit at the start but with their rough around-the-edges style, isnt too big of a deal for me. and they seem to lock it in during the second half anyways.

according to a press release the upcoming album was written during a rough time in Macdonalds life and the meaning behind the song realyl reflects that. Macdonald went on to say the song “tells the story of two people faking normalcy in the normalcy of faking. The idea or even the image (no matter how altered or perfectly copied) of love is no substitute for the real.”

then finally theres the music video which i wont speak on too much since ive only seen it twice so far. that being said its really great and well shot and a little funny plus theres a dog for like 4 frames. the first half really made me feel something and the second half made me smile really hard so i recommend watching it at least once

[yjwonz]

Can you recommend me some kpop songs

I GOT U I GOT U only girls ??? I GOT UUU

alr first if we're tryna start off strong we're going w stayc. stayc, every song slaps, kinda a cute but strong vibe ? i'd rec starting w asap and stereotype cause they are def their most popular bangers. then we're gonna venture into ive, ive's love dive will always be a fan favorite cause its that good. then u wanna go into eleven, their debut it's so good fr. if u want variety, u gotta go w loona. loona has a strong concept but have sooo many bangers. my personal fav is their song 'butterfly' its so so good but their debut, hi high, is def their best cutesy song. then venture into twice. honestly, any twice song is good so yeah. we're gonna end off w my girls le sserafim !! they only have 1 album since they debut in may but fearless is kinda a hit or miss w a lot of ppl. me personally? absolute banger. but i prefer their song blue flame it's so so good. and a more popular song would be sour grapes, chances r u'd recognize it after listening.

TLDR ; STAYC's asap and stereotype, IVE's love dive and eleven, LOONA's hi high and butterfly, any TWICE song, blue flame, fearless, and sour grapes by LE SSERAFIM

[petewentzisblack1312]

okay so since you know more than sarah could u give more info?? because i love learning about pete and his blackness as its literally never talked about ANYWHERE else. like thank god for tumblr tbh. sarah is genuinely the only reason ive ever known anything about him in that way but its always been limited so thats why i sent her the ask. i didnt even know ur blog. sorry for sending to her instead of you!!!

oh its fine!! im pretty new on the scene technically. while sarah and i were in the fob fandom at the same time in 2015 ish, i actually left tumblr completely and recently came back!! but anyway, lets talk about petes melanin (my beloved <3)

theres a pretty pervasive narrative, not just around pete but around any black and especially biracial celebrities that theyre ashamed of their blackness or arent "really" black. theres like. a looooooooooong conversation to be had within the black community about this, but to tldr it, the assumption is if you dont look black, you arent black, which for a lot of reasons isnt exactly the case. with him in particular theres a lot of stuff that contributes to this.

most people do not associate the alternative scene and emo especially with black people, so its easy to overlook a lot if someone isnt SUPER obviously black. pete has other ethnic features, like his nose, and is recognizable visually as black except for his skin color. except thats because hes been artificially lightened in photoshoots due to editing and (ALLEGEDLY AND POSSIBLY) lighter foundations. further, he relaxed his hair, which takes away another ethnic feature of his.

there is another aspect to this, which is that black people tan, noticeably and by several shades. you will not notice it if youre like seeing them continuously throughout the year, but as someone who lives in the caribbean and has spent some time in the states, the difference is stark enough to be noticeable. a lightskinned black person may look MUCH paler in the winter compared to in the summer.

in addition, the wealthier you are, the less time you tend to spend in the sun, so ive noticed that black celebrities tend to get lighter as they gain notoriety just because they have like more resources. the reason people from the caribbean tend to become lighter when we go to the states isnt because of less sun, during the summer thats not at all the case, its because the US is more developed so you dont HAVE to spend as much time in the sun.

besides that, hes like genuinely very loud and proud about being black, but all of those attempts are met with backlash. there was the reaction to his natural hair, the reaction to him with cornrows, and the reaction to his very emotional rant about the murder of george floyd. it happens in fobs music too!! ioh for example draws a lot of influence from choral and hymnal arrangements and soul music, not to mention jay-z and babyface working on the album itself, which led to them being labelled sell outs. they also just generally work with rappers more, with lil wayne on tiffany blews and big sean on srar, both of which also led to them being called sell outs. ab/ap as an album draws influence from rap/trap and mixtape culture in the way it was written (thats why its got so many samples), and subsequently got remixed. remember what happened next? mania draws a lot of influence from calypso and dancehall music and features burna boy singing in yoruba patois. that one led to the featured artist getting harassed en masse and multiple (worse) edits of the song without him on it. i dont like it here 💞.

that last point brings me to the fact that while pete definitely loves hardcore and metal, he also has always loved reggae and dancehall. hes half jamaican, spent time in jamaica as a child and listened to his grandparents records, which were. well. reggae and calypso and a little dancehall. if anyone ASKS him about it, hell talk about it willingly and candidly, theres an entire interview from during the hiatus (which i can no longer find rip) where hes asked about and talks about going natural and spending time in jamaica and listening to reggae, which heavily influenced black cards. he visited jamaica during the hiatus! although its unclear if he visited family since literally every news outlet that mentioned it was like "oh tropical getaway <3" unaware that thats where his folks are from

also heres that interview snippet sarah mentioned! i have the full page, its about the early days which is funny bc its just before futct.

theres also some poetry on sarahs blog that she found years ago thats VERY black. i dont like making it easy to find for nonblack people simply because the first time it was unearthed mostly white people were talking about it and the meaning of it went way over everyone elses head so i try to make sure that if people start talking about it they know going in that its about being black and biracial specifically and so that black fans dont feel the way i did when it first surfaced lol

all of this emphatically points to pete genuinely loving his blackness and not trying to hide it and it being something that majorly shaped his life, but genuinely being unable to talk about it bc of public perception.

sorry for talking your ear off!! if you have any specific qs i almost certainly have answers!!

[gunpowderdtim]

hey so this is really weird but this is the first time ive come across a blog and literally Not Known What It's For please explain also brian seems very funky whatever this is seems rad

Alright! Im going to give the just but also link two other posts because if you want to get into the mechanisms they have resources

Here is a very good post compiling many things that I havnt read but it's by @lucky-sevens so i trust it's great

The one I have sent to other people inquiring how to get into the mechs

So. The Mechanisms. Its very understanding how you have no idea what they are because they're. Very obscure amd only just getting traction after the band died. But somehow we did get number 9 on Tumblr musical groups. We beat fall out boy. (This is because we have Lore and Characters and Are Basically Musicals)

To get started, the mechanisms are essentially a band who tells queer tragedies baced off things like grimm' s fairy tales, Greek Mythology, Arthurian legend, norse mythology and other things.

Like say, in their album High Noon Over Camelot, the story takes place in a long abandoned space station. It's a western and it's King Arther and the round table. The album's are very cool but do all end in tragedies so be warned

Regardless of the album's, there are also The Crew, or the people who sing the songs.

The band members have in universe personas/characters they play. These are The Mechanisms.

The Mechansisms are immortal queer cyborg time-traveling dimension-hopping space pirates who collect stories and tell them to the stars. You just happen to be listening to a few they decides to share with your time and place.

They're also horrible morally irredeemable people and i love them.

The Mechanisms do violence for fun, murder for laughs, and destroy planets for sport. They are. Bad people.

But it's also found family in space and "we're all evil together so why do mortals matter"

The Mechanisms were made by Dr. Carmilla who is a different artist but used to be part of the band in 2011 I think. She still makes music that is in universe and bops

They all have a mechanical body piece that gave them immortality. Jonny has his heart, Ashes has their lungs, Tim has his eyes, Brian has everything but his heart, etc.

They live on Aurora, who happens to be a flesh moon who was turned into a starship by an empire. It's quite sad.

Continuing. The band died in the beginning of the year. The mechanisms met their final deaths and died. It's sad. This does not mean no more content (given that there is a Dr. Carmilla trilogy of albums coming out soon and a Brian Album eventully and a Marius Album coming out at some point 2021)

But also the fact this fandom is built of archeologists and we keep discovering more lore in the most random pages. Like the edit log of a wiki page from years ago random.

Tldr:

The Mechansisms are an irl band with alot of lore and a bunch of characters. The band members play characters that are immortal space pirates who just so happened to show up at the right point in our timeline to sing us songs.

[tomcriuse]

Is IDL worth watching?

ok the only way i can make sense of this is if you meant to type ILD = inside llewyn davis?? maybe?? if not lmk and i will answer that ask too LMFAO i tried to keep this kinda vague bc i dont wanna spoil anything mwah i love u

inside llewyn davis (2013, dir. ethan & joel coen) is actually my favourite movie (possibly of all time)!! 

on the surface it simply follows struggling folk singer llewyn davis (oscar isaac) as he struggles with his music career after losing his music partner as he does not want to embrace the commercial compromises that would allow him to succeed in the music business--he wants to make music that is important to him. however, it is also a story about mourning and depression and being burnt out and feeling stationary in doing the things that you love )):

his majesty oscar isaac ALWAYS brings 110% to every role, but honestly i think that this was the best performance of his that ive scene? it may just be because the film itself just resonates with me and so im like projecting, but he is incredible. ive literally never wanted to hug a character n tell him its gonna be ok like i want to with llewyn davis ): however, given all of that, this is first and foremost a coen film and they love to torture their protagonists :/ every tribulation that he encounters in any other film would be a minor setback, something to drive the plot and let them reach the end. unfortunately, in inside llewyn davis, every pebble in the road is more or less a boulder and llewyn davis is sisyphus.

besides oscar isaac’s phenomenal performance, the most notable thing to me about this film is the soundtrack. since the film follows the folk-revival scene in the 60s, the soundtrack is just that. before this film i wasnt too into folk/folk-revival but, according to apple music, i have listened to the album on repeat in its entirety over 100 times in the past month babey. in an interview i watched recently

additionally, and i hate to bring up the cinematography, but literally every shot of this movie looks like it should be superimposed with lyrics or on the inside of some record somewhere; its beautiful. the colour scheme is not Great aesthetically but it really adds to the melancholy atmosphere that hangs around llewyn davis (and also those 60s vibes babey!!) ALSO they do that thing where the first scene is the last scene so its like a little circle and if you really need more reason to watch it other than that then like...

thematically, this film actually destroys me. its about living versus being alive. wanting to do what you love versus needing to do what you love. llewyn davis doesnt want to make it big; he just wants to make it doing what he loves.

yeah anyways i could actually write single-spaced PAGES of analysis abt this movie so like....tldr watch it or im coming after u ig