#how can an album be satire

[notasapleasure]

'The Stand Up Comic’s Instructions' [...] is a noble attempt to tackle racism built around Lenny Henry’s fierce lampooning.

“I still think it’s a brilliant idea,” says Steve. “To get a black comedian to talk about that racist, Northern, working men’s club tradition. We did a Saturday night TV show presented by Lenny on LWT. He came on stage and started singing with us on 'You’re The Best Thing' and Paul hooked up with him later.”

Mick: “That was bizarre, it was a message that kind of worked. He was keen to be involved and it was us having a go at the mainstream. Alternative comedy was just an infant then – Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning they were immensely popular. We’d grown up playing working men’s clubs and it opened us up to the narrowmindedness that bred in some of them.”

(source)

#pointing out that bigotry was never comedy.......since 1985 #someone play this to all the 'no-platformed' 'cancelled' comedians wailing about how come people don't find bullies funny #then again you think 'how obvious can something be' #and there's always some wanker on songmeanings who gets the absolute wrong end of the stick #then again apparently this track was omitted from most pressings because the record companies didn't think people would understand satire #or maybe it just hit too close to home #1985 ffs!!! #'the new format suits the specifics of his socialism' crol #also i just realised how much risk to exist reminds me of the style council #- you can be angry and still make northern soul tinged hits for people to dance to! #paul weller #the style council #our favourite shop #what an album this is <333

[iwanthermidnightz]

When I was 24 I sat in a backstage dressing room in London, buzzing with anticipation. My backup singers and bandmates gathered around me in a scattered circle.Scissors emerged and I watched in the mirror as my locks of long curly hair fell in piles on the floor. There I was in my plaid button down shirt, grinning sheepishly as my tour mates and friends cheered on my haircut. This simple thing that everyone does. But I had a secret. For me. It was more than a change of hairstyle. When I was 24. I decided to completely reinvent myself.

How does a person reinvent herself, you ask? In any way I could think of. Musically, geographically, aesthetically, behaviorally, motivationally. And I did so joyfully. The curiosity I had felt the first murmurs of while making red had amplified into a pulsing heartbeat of restlessness in my bars. The risks I took when I toyed with pop sounds and sensibilities on red? I wanted to push it further. The sense of freedom I felt when traveling to big bustling cities? I wanted to live in one. The voices that had begun to shame me in new ways for dating like a normal young woman? I wanted to silence them.

You see, in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming, the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.

It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.

Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth. And my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that, right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.

But none of that mattered then because I had a plan and I had a demeanor as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies. I had the keys to my own apartment in New York and I had new melodies bursting from my imagination. I had Max Martin and Shellback who were happy to help me explore this new sonic landscape I was enamored with. I had a new friend named Jack Antonoff who had made some cool tracks in his apartment. I had the idea that the album would be called 1989. And we would reference big 80's synths and write sky high choruses. I had sublime, inexplicable faith and I ran right toward it, in high heels and a crop top.

There was so much that I didn't know then, and looking back I see what a good thing that was. This time of my life was marked by right kind of naïveté, a hunger for adventure. And a sense of freedom I hadn't tasted before. It turns out that the cocktail of naïveté, hunger for adventure and freedom can lead to some nasty hangovers, metaphorically speaking. Of course everyone had something to say. But they always will. I learned lessons, paid prices, and tried to… don't say it don't say it. I'm sorry, I have to say it. Shake it off.

I’ll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in "blank space" and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in "Welcome to New York". You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult). You, who saw that I reinvent myself for a million reasons, and that one of them is to try my very best to entertain you. You, who have had the grace to allow me the freedom to change.

I was born in 1989. Reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkle on my life for so long. This moment is a reflection of the woods we've wandered through and all this love between us still glowing in the darkest dark.

I present to you, with gratitude and wild wonder, my version of 1989.

It’s been waiting for you.

#taylor swift #1989 taylor's version #1989 tv #1989 tv prologue

[eyivibyemi]

✧ I won’t really write descriptions for these, but see original post tags for explanation/commentary on the song snippet ✧  

#literally just experimenting with this weird distortion effect #this is not even a song hbjhbj #Like I know I say everything is low effort (it is ) but this is almost too low effort to post. it feels like cheating and not actually #meeting the daily song challenge if it's not even 2 minutes of effort #Average is probably 8 - 20 minutes or so .so barely 2 is like.. ghbjhbjh #THOUGH that would also be funny too #like instead of 'eh I should spend at like 5 - 10 minutes so there's effort there' -- what if some of the daily songs where like #*opens program* *slams hands down on keyboard* *closes program* #not really funny for just posting it on the internet but like imagine of some actual celebrity or someone who sells CDs came out #with a new album and it was super hyped and you bought the CD and put it in the player and then it's just a series of like 75 songs that #all last 5 seconds each and consist of a single chord on the piano or like 4 seconds of vocals where you can #tell they also have gum in their mouth or somehting. #I bet some people would try to justify it actually like 'oughh theyre just making a societal commentary on the modern attention span of a pe #rson in the social media age and also a satire on performance and how some fans are willing to defend anything. this is genius actually' lol #beepo tag

[shineemoon]

TAEMIN ✨ NME Interview (Full → HERE)

“A lot of my songs carry words that could be considered negative and although positive words have power, I think it’s more attractive to make the negative look beautiful.”

Taemin’s definition of love: “There’s different forms. There is love that you receive from your parents, the love from your girlfriend or boyfriend, and the love from fans. But there’s always a sacrifice, and pushing someone to sacrifice is also love. There are a lot of things I gain from being a singer but, at the same time, there are lots of things I have to give up, and these are the ones I emphasised in this single.”

“I learned to be careful to trust someone, because it really hurts when someone suddenly disappoints you. It’s very important in relationships to be careful about what you talk and what you do.” These words reflect Taemin’s growth since he released his previous mini-album, 2020’s ‘Advice’, shortly before enlisting in South Korea’s obligatory military service. During that break from music, he realised that people learn from experience. “I found out that I’m interested in different hobbies, different food, different restaurants, different vacation spots. Having moments to relax were an opportunity to feel like the person Taemin, instead of the artist Taemin.”

“I like to separate the personas. It’s like actors, who separate the person and the character. Off stage, I think I’m more playful and simpler, like a little kid.” While reminiscing about this dichotomy, he goes as far as to compare his life to the 1998 satirical drama The Truman Show. “In the movie, Jim Carey realises that everyone has been watching him at the end. I came to SM [Entertainment] when I was 12 years old, and the period of time when I was training, my debut, all the moments where I was growing up were shared and seen by a lot of people, so I relate to that.”

“The music video was [also] inspired by this book called Eroticism, by George Bataille. It covers a lot of topics about breaking taboos, and I thought about how this can reflect on my music and the perspective I put into it. For example, showing skin is still a taboo, so when a male performer rips their shirt and the crowd goes wild, I wanted to understand and incorporate the concept of breaking that taboo.” He describes his albums as ways into himself. “I always learn something. Like when you’re writing a journal, you can organise your thoughts [there], but I find that I’m able to organise what I learned and what I think through the albums that I release.” And then, in order to apply his lessons, he pours all his “energy and passion” into performances, to the point of no regrets. “Because there’s some wear to any image, I always think of how to change and show different sides of myself.”

“I have a very different lifestyle than most people, and I realised that, because of my career, I receive a lot of love and support. I knew it in my head, but now I feel it in my skin. Many people my age are still finding their way, so I feel very fortunate to have found out what I love to do.”

#SHINee #taemin #lee taemin #guilty #interview

[cleolinda]

(For our purposes, listen to it without the visuals first.)

I wasn't going to keep posting about Unreal Unearth, but something happened yesterday.

It's been five months since I first heard this song, and I'm still astonished by it. You know the tiktok skit about the Star Wars wedding music, and the guy is grooving along until the Imperial Death March filters in, and then he's kind of alarmed, like, wha—? And then he realizes it slaps anyway and he keeps dancing? That is "Eat Your Young."

It's the morning of March 17th. The EP with the first three singles from the new album has dropped. I've got my phone blasting the song on the bathroom counter, I don't understand half what the man is saying nor did I expect to, I'm cheerfully mumbling along in the shower, grooving along,

wait they did what for a war drum

Get some Pull up the ladder when the flood comes Throw enough rope until the legs have swung Seven new ways that you can eat your young Come and get some Skinning the children for a war drum Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns It's quicker and easier to eat your young

What the fuck, this song goes so hard. That's the chorus. The conceit of the whole album is that it loosely follows Dante's Inferno, so this is the third circle of hell, gluttony. Hozier himself says that he wasn't specifically thinking of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal—

“I don’t know how intentional the reference to Jonathan Swift was in this. That essay [Swift’s 1729 satirical essay A Modest Proposal in which he suggests the Irish poor sell their children as food] is such a cultural landmark that it’s just hanging in the air. I was more reflecting on what I felt now in this spirit of the times of perpetual short-term gain and a long-term blindness. The increasing levels of precarious living, poverty, job insecurity, rental crisis, property crisis, climate crisis, and a generation that’s inheriting all of that and one generation that’s enjoyed the spoils of it. The lyrics are direct, but the voice is playful. There’s this unreliable narrator who relishes in this thing which was fun to write.” [Apple Music album notes]

—and I believe him. The song's not a suggestion, a proposal; it's an invitation to atrocity in progress. I also believe he probably wasn't thinking of Greta Thunberg's iconic speech at the UN Climate Action Summit, not specifically, but that's what I hear in the song, like the flip side of a coin:

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! [...] You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil.

I feel like on some level, even coincidentally, "Eat Your Young" is the answer to the question, what would you sound like if you were that evil? Who would you be? I can think of a dozen possibilities just off the top of my head or looking around my blog, from something as petty as studio executives mangling trees to deprive striking workers of shade (while hoping they lose their homes), all the way up to the US school-to-prison pipeline. The National Rifle Association keeps politicians in its pocket while the US has more mass shootings than days in a year, Nestlé fucks shit up around the world as a way of life, even ChatGPT sucks up water while threatening jobs—and for what? And yet, I promise you most of these things weren't the inspiration for an Irishman’s song—some of them hadn't even happened yet. There's just that much fresh You Would Be Evil to go around. I am certain that Hozier wrote the song partly about (as one article puts it) "Ireland's housing crisis: Millennials, a generation sacrificed," given that time back in the day when he helped occupy a building—a housing crisis happening in multiple countries. There's so much of the world I'm not touching on. I can stuff a paragraph with links and it's utterly inadequate.

I haven't even mentioned war.

There's an overwhelming sense this decade of the future being fed into a meat grinder. That sense is in this song. What would it sound like to be in the head of someone who didn't give a shit about anything but profit? Well, it might sound like this.

And if you haven't heard it, well—I'm going to sound absolutely out of my mind after saying all that, but "Eat Your Young" has a beat and you can dance to it. It's sexy. And I'm certain that's on purpose. You get seduced into the sound of it, as if by something demonic, something that enjoys sucking down the future and is not going to stop. And the sheer fucking catchiness of the song keeps you listening to it—thinking about it—when maybe you push away the dry headlines we get everyday. If you let this song stay in your head, it becomes a lens. Five months later, I still think about it when I read the news. Maui was on fire and tourists stayed. Within days, the prospect of developers swooping in to buy up land reared its head. If there's something still to take, there is ground to break, whatever's still to come. Get some.

I was born in 1978 —I'm late Gen X. In my forties, I'm young enough to worry about the future still; I’m neither so rich that I can just plan to retire to Mars, nor so old that I can know I'll be safely gone before the world might go up in flames. But I'm also not my nephew, whose school year just started back up, or the neighborhood kids who race him home down the sidewalk in the afternoons. Yesterday, he had his very first mass-shooter lockdown drill. He’s six.

I think music can put the feeling back into numb fingers, and I think that's why "Eat Your Young" works so well—Hozier calls the song fun and playful, and I think you have to have that, something you can live with rather than just switch off for your own mental survival. We need music to feed spirit at protests; we need something to keep our feet moving. Don’t give up, don't close your eyes and slip away. Those kids, they have dreams we could try to steal back for them.

Since I mentioned Maui:

Why Hawaiian sovereignty has undeniable context for the Maui fires

The Climate Crisis and Colonialism Destroyed My Maui Home. Where We Must Go From Here

How You Can Donate and Help Support Maui Communities Right Now

The Maui Strong Fund

#music #music discussion #hozier #long post #eat your young #Spotify

[nateconnolly]

Hozier Reading List of Free Texts You Can Finish in Less Than A Week

Another Hozier reading list is floating around the Internet, and it’s very thorough. Huge respect to @notmysophie for putting that together, they put in a lot of effort and research and it really shows. This is an alternative reading list for people who are too busy or tired to read all the entries on a complete list of Hozier’s literary influences. This list is incomplete—even after finishing it, there will be some very prominent literary references in Hozier’s music that might go over your head. But this will definitely help you appreciate the depth of thought in his songs, and if you read just five pages a night, you’ll be able to finish this reading list in less than one week. 

ONE: ICARUS

Hozier puts the myth of Icarus to song in I, Carrion. You could very easily argue that Sunlight is also a response to Icarus. Many classical writers have told or mentioned his story, but I’ll let my own personal tastes shape this list, and recommend Ovid’s Metamorphoses. He tells the story of Icarus in Chapter 8 Lines 183–235. If you can afford it, I love the Charles Martin translation. You could consult the free Brookes More translation, or the one by A. S. Kline. Remember, you don't have to read the whole chapter--just find the part named "Daedalus and Icarus"

TWO: DOOMSDAY CLOCK

The title track Wasteland, Baby! is such a gentle love ballad, I almost have trouble remembering it’s about the apocalypse. Wasteland, Baby! finds hope and love in the face of annihilation. Hozier wrote this song as a direct response to the Doomsday Clock moving two minutes in 2018, one year before the album was released. 

THREE: GENESIS 1-3

I also recommend reading Genesis Chapters 1-3. You’re probably familiar with the plot, but I think From Eden is such an ingenious twist on the familiar story that you’ll appreciate it even more after consulting the original. Hozier takes the symbols of Genesis 1-3 and uses them to make his own radically different point. The stories of Eden also come up in Be. 

My favorite translation is by Robert Alter, but it’s currently not free online, so you might want to check out the Sefaria translation or the New King James Version (NKJV), both of which manage to capture the beauty of Genesis without becoming difficult for the average English reader. The King James Version (KJV) is also roughly the same level of difficulty as a Shakespeare play. I definitely think the KJV is beautiful, but at the end of a long hard day, you might be better off with the Sefaria, the NKJV, the NIV, or the NRSV. You can Google “Genesis 1” followed by any of those names/abbreviations, and you’ll find it right away. 

FOUR: A MODEST PROPOSAL

Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, written in 1729, might be the most gutting satire in history. UCLA students put together a very thorough explanation of the economic suffering and the proposed “solutions” that inspired Swift. References to A Modest Proposal form the skeleton of Hozier’s Eat Your Young. 

FIVE: SEAMUS HEANEY

Before learning about Seamus Heaney, you’ll need some background information on the Troubles. I recommend this National Geographic article. I also recommend looking through these Chris Steele Perkins photographs of life during the Troubles.

During the Troubles, Heaney wrote a series of poems about bog bodies. His poetry directly inspired the corpse imagery in Work Song, Like Real People Do, and In a Week. 

Disclaimer: I cannot read Hebrew or Latin. I am evaluating these translations solely by 1) how difficult they are to read and 2) how beautiful they sound. I cannot independently review them for accuracy. Just know that all the translations I’ve listed are widely respected among academics and/or religious leaders.

Anyways if you liked reading this go check out my Substack where I originally posted it. 

#hozier #reading lists #original post

[got-ticket-to-ride]

Wanted to know your thoughts on this, but for what I've reading on John it really looks to me he really got worse post Paul and post Beatles, like his saddest songs match the moment he started to have issues with Paul, he wasn't really having much contact with anyone outside Yoko, he wasn't doing much music, he wasn't being that funny either, he even died without being able to fully overcome his heroine addiction (addiction that started in the Beatles fall out right?), and idk i believe his involvement in the whole peace/art movement looked more like an escape (like some people do with religion) than actual interest.

So what you think, was John at his worst after he got out the band and cut his relationship with Paul or was it was always like that?

Hello @lord-pain

thank you for this ask! I hope I'll make sense. I think the White Album was definitely the start of John's "sad songs". Happiness is a Warm Gun, Yer Blues. Subsequently, Dig a Pony sounded so desperate to me and Because which is yeah, post India, post breakup?

There's so many different accounts during that period. Some narrators might be unreliable because you never know who these "historians/journalist/"acquaintances" have their allegiance to.

During the 70s it was said that John was miserable, became a violent drunk (who believed in astrology). He was quite unhappy with how things turned out in his life due to his choices but he was too proud to admit it.

About drugs, Fred Seaman said John stopped with heroin in the last half of the 70s in this video.

Due to differing accounts that are out there, I just concentrate on John, what he wrote lyrically and how clearheaded he was during his last interview. He was trying to be better. I think that is the most important detail despite everything that went down. Also the part where he was going to work with Ringo and had booked a studio with Paul for January 1981.

His activism was partly a distraction for him. Beatle John dabbled in it, but he became very aggressive about politics after the break up. He was anti-religion when he released Imagine (1971). But went back to believing in god when he wrote "Grow Old With Me" (1979?), which I have so much thoughts about but I haven't even had the courage to voice out.

While there are glimpses of John's mental anxiety visible in his song "Help!" (1965)

"Help me if you can, I'm feeling down, and I do appreciate you being 'round",

he was trying to be positive about it as seen in "Strawberry Fields Forever" (1966):

"It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, It doesn't matter much to me".

And was still holding on during the conception of "Across the Universe" (in February 1968) with his mantra:

"Nothing's gonna change my world",

which I think might've been a result of Paul's engagement in December 1967 to Jane.

Across the Universe (February 1968) > believer God (1970) > anti-religion Imagine (1971) > anti-religion (he made a satire song which I did not include here) Grow Old With Me (1979) > believer

During his alleged break from music from 1975, he was still making home demos and was writing Skywriting by Word of Mouth.

I think John and Paul being apart was just not good for them. The general opinion was that Paul left John and had moved on. (I don't believe that's true). It was John who made the decision to leave, it was this push and pull thing, and Paul continued to reach out to him (and we don't know what happened during all those times they've met up). Some accounts say that John was practically begging for a reunion but then again Paul never stopped reaching out to John (see 1976) so I personally think, regardless of all these details that are out in the open, there is still a missing piece we have not considered yet and that can only be told by Paul himself.

To summarize it, John probably had depression (since his teenage years) but Paul was a constant positive thing in his life that he needed and that had helped him through it, "the girl who came to stay" until something happened...

John Lennon was definitely at his worst without his buddies by his side in the 70s.

#Asks #John Lennon #Mclennon #John and Paul #Lyrics #Paul Mccartney #The Beatles #would love to hear your thoughts too! #gttr-beatles

[nso-csi]

231103 NME interview

Taemin on ‘Guilty’: “I think it’s more attractive to make the negative look beautiful”

“I like to separate the personas. It’s like actors, who separate the person and the character”

“On that vague border between good and bad / You played the fool for me,” Taemin whispers on his newest single, ‘Guilty’. In the music video, faceless hands grab his neck, rearrange his body, control him in a suffocating atmosphere. But don’t be mistaken – he’s the one playing here. It’s his own hand who snakes underneath his shirt, shutting him up as he proclaims, “You got me G-U-I-L-T-Y.”

Which brings us to Taemin’s definition of love: “There’s different forms. There is love that you receive from your parents, the love from your girlfriend or boyfriend, and the love from fans. But there’s always a sacrifice, and pushing someone to sacrifice is also love.” Admitting to the shadow side of love, the side that no one wants or expects, is a wisdom that he acquired with time. “There are a lot of things I gain from being a singer but, at the same time, there are lots of things I have to give up, and these are the ones I emphasised in this single.”

 “I learned to be careful to trust someone, because it really hurts when someone suddenly disappoints you,” he says. “It’s very important in relationships to be careful about what you talk and what you do.”

“I like to separate the personas. It’s like actors, who separate the person and the character,” he explains. “Off stage, I think I’m more playful and simpler, like a little kid.”

While reminiscing about this dichotomy, he goes as far as to compare his life to the 1998 satirical drama The Truman Show. “In the movie, Jim Carey realises that everyone has been watching him at the end. I came to SM [Entertainment] when I was 12 years old, and the period of time when I was training, my debut, all the moments where I was growing up were shared and seen by a lot of people, so I relate to that,” he explains.

“Like when you’re writing a journal, I find that I’m able to organise what I learned and what I think through the albums that I release”

“It covers a lot of topics about breaking taboos, and I thought about how this can reflect on my music and the perspective I put into it. For example, showing skin is still a taboo, so when a male performer rips their shirt and the crowd goes wild, I wanted to understand and incorporate the concept of breaking that taboo.”

“I have a very different lifestyle than most people, and I realised that, because of my career, I receive a lot of love and support. I knew it in my head, but now I feel it in my skin. Many people my age are still finding their way, so I feel very fortunate to have found out what I love to do,” he adds.

source

#taemin

[whoiwanttoday]

Today is, if you can believe it, the 12th anniversary of my blog. Which is sort of nuts because that would make me old and while my body is breaking down and I am tired all the time and it's weird how different foods bother me now that never used to, I am actually not old. My friends have largely gotten old, my family keeps getting older, yet I remain vibrant and youthful and hip and with it. It's weird. I am posting Charli XCX because in celebration of my blogiversary she announced a new album last week and released her first single and as such has been much more present in the world because that goes hand and hand with promoting a new album as a popstar. I often think about her statement that the two most important things to being a successful popstar are being young and being hot. It's that sort of thing that makes me love her, she has always had this ironic detachment mixed with metacommentary and almost satire of pop culture. Except of course, it isn't satire because it's stuff she tends to love as well. Anyway, we all know I think she's a tremendous talent and over time it seems like more and more people have come around on that, as I like to point out I got True Romance in the bargain bin but eventually I had people on discogs offering me $500 for her mixtapes. Still a cult favorite I guess but the cult is significantly bigger. Think Jonestown as opposed to those three weird dude that lived in that cul-de-sac a block away when I was a kid. Anyway, with all these anniversary I post some stats for the people who care, which is literally @femalecelebrityoftheday and @kat-eleven because he likes numbers and she likes girls, so between the two of them this picture is their ideal.

Charli has been number one since about the start of the pandemic. For years it was Kate Upton and Katy Perry changing places but what I have learned over the years is that a lot of this is a matter of, "what have you done for me lately". I didn't think it would be that way going in but largely none of us are the unique, free thinking people we think we are, we're easily influenced by the world around us and this fortunes have risen and fallen with greater popularity and to be honest with the marketing pushes around celebrity brands. Miss Mosh was pretty solidly in the top 10 once upon a time and likely still would be if she was still a working model but again, out of sight out of mind. Most of the top 20 has been in the top 10 at some point but Amber Heard was the third most posted person after the first year of this blog and guys, you might have noticed her name isn't even in that picture there and it's simply because that was a once upon a time thing that quickly cooled, no doubt in part because she became less famous for movies and more famous for tabloid drama which generates different interests. Which really is the main thing i have learned with all of this. Celebrity culture is fascinating but these aren't real people. That might get me some backlash and I am not trying to dehumanize anyone but Charli XCX is not Charlotte Aitchison and either one of those people are not someone we're seeing through anything. I think great artists indeed put part of themselves in to their work but we don't know them, we know the portion of them that they are showing us. You mix in celebrity culture, which is not art or artists but brands and marketing and you are being sold something. We are attached to an idea or an image and if you want to really examine this I would argue who and what you like says more about you than them. I don't have a greater point here I suppose, other than to simply state it. I like Charli XCX a lot, I like her work, but none of this is real in the sense my friends (who are getting so fucking old somehow) and loved ones are. It's for fun, don't lose sight of that. Today I want to fuck Charli XCX.

#Charli XCX #brunette #Singer #whoiwanttofucktoday

[thatstonedwriter]

Horror Movies are my Passion

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Sinopsis- Reader is a horror movie fan who collects props, replicas and paraphernalia

Content; horror movies, props, fake blood, swearing

Feat; Blitzø, Loona

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──��

Blitzø appreciates the dedication to your interests! Have you seen his fucking horse collection? Dude is dedicated. Blitzø isn't too squeamish because of his career, but if there are some particularly gruesome displays, he may not look for too long. He does however, enjoy the weapons. Blitzø will make constant comments about whether he would use a particular weapon, how effective it is or isn't, etc. Gets a little too into the details sometimes. I'm not sure if Blitzø would watch/enjoy horror movies partly because he'd get bored (he does a lot of this stuff on a daily basis), or he'd get freaked out. A lot of people have been hurt or died around him. Also can't handle psychological horror because it fucks with his sense of reality. Nevertheless, he's happy to listen to you talk about the movies. I think he'd find some of the technical stuff interesting. Like what fake blood is made out of, the makeup for the injuries, and the costume designs for the monsters or killers. Blitzø also definitely steals any themed clothes like t-shirts, hoodies, loungewear so he can wear it. You'll have to fight him to get them back.

Loona would ask if she could take pictures to post online. She's hella impressed, and honestly, I think she might tell Octavia about it. Not only would she appreciate the weirdness, but Octavia is a great photographer. Loona saves all the pictures to a special album. It's actually a convenient archive in case you wanna switch up your displays! Unlike Blitzø, Loona would probably enjoy horror movies. It's also my personal HC that she has a soft spot for satirical horror movies (Scary Movie, The Blackening, Tremors, Arachnoquake, etc). I don't think Loona would be big on analyzing shows herself, but she loves seeing you study characters and make thematic connections. Another personal HC is she'd like nerds. I know, she bullies Moxxie and is very intimidating- but! I think she has a soft spot for it because of how passionate and sincere you are about your interests. Having that kind of genuine energy around would make Loona feel safe- at least in my opinion. I think the things she'd enjoy the most out of your collection would be figurines and CDs/soundtracks! She's always on the lookout for new music. And hey, spooky instrumental is a vibe.

#helluva boss #helluva boss x reader #helluva boss headcanon #loona helluva boss #loona x reader #blitz helluva boss #blitz x reader #scary movies #horror fan #halloween headcanons #request #octavia helluva boss

[jalwyn21]

I saw a post on here saying that "men will make a group chat called tortured men club before going to therapy", and I so desperately wanted to reply with "women will make a whole motherfucking album mocking a group chat name that is purely satirical before going to therapy". But I knew that stupid swiftie wouldn't be able to handle facts.

Humor requires intelligence. Satire requires intelligence. You can't expect a swi*ftie to understand satire..

Also, Joe's mom.. how can a swi*ftie not know about Joe's mom..

#joe alwyn #joealwyn #jalwyn #free joe alwyn #nonnie #q&a #anti taylor swift #shit swifties say #toxic swifties #torturedmenclub

[crazygirl58]

the song smoke by liz phair, the album opener from her electroclash-pop-rap-absurdist-post-post-post-post-ironic-satirical-antisatirical masterpiece where she reflected on her experiences working in a career field dominated by men in order to critique the state of the music industry and the socioeconomic standing of women within it, 2010's funstyle, brought the world of electroclash to its knees.

the dark, heavy beats of the track backing invoke stylistic similarities to ladytron's first two albums (604 to a greater degree than light & magic) or the early work of peaches. in some regards, it even leans outside of electroclash, possibly towards trip hop. the production on this track is not dissimilar to the production of nellee hooper, graham massey, tricky, howie b, and, of course, björk herself on her 1995 album post, i find a shocking amount of similarity between liz phair's smoke and the tracks army of me and enjoy.

the instrumentation on this track harks back to that of the band le tigre, electrocute's 2004 album troublesome bubblegum, and even the guitars on lesbians on ecstacy's 2004 self titled album.

the spoken words elements which seem to be influneced by the work of chicks on speed are present not only on this song, but remain a prominent feature throughout the album. phair's fearless approach towards absurdity and the methods she uses to embrace it (rapping, avant-garde electronic production, extreme vocals, etc.) reminds me of chicks on speed's 2003 album 99 cents. thematically, funstyle and 99 cents are not identical, but certainly would agree with each other as critiques of superficial, greedy, exploitative industries.

her vocals on the track are not unlike those of alison goldfrapp on 2005's strict machine and the "you dummy" sample in the chorus is reminiscent of the "you big dummy!" sample used throughout M.I.A.'s 2005 release, URAQT.

liz phair has never failed to exceed the expectations her listeners place upon her. this is yet another example of how the always controversial, frequently underestimated often overlooked, sometimes overlooked for a good reason, never forgotten artist has forever altered yet another genre of music. first the indie rock world with her demos and 1993's exile in guyville, then her overhated attempt to break into the ever expanding teen pop genre with 2003's self titled, and, as we can conclude from the analysis above, the world of electronica with 2010's funstyle. keep in mind, smoke is just one song from liz phair's TRUE magnum opus. the rest of this album contains even more brave, daring pieces of electroclash inspired music that should not be overlooked.

#liz phair #funstyle #journalism #real #some real shit #something real #my truth #electroclash #chicks on speed #ladytron #electronic #i think im a genius #youre being a penis #colada that is #fuck #media analysis #bjork #music

[dappydaffer]

This rant I'm about to go on will probably not even get noticed, but, I genuinely do not care.

I just want to take a solid few minutes to really praise Will Wood and how...intellectual and meaningful his lyrics are. I know that's probably obvious to a lot of other WW fans already, but his music has been causing me actual brainrot and I can't stop putting his albums on repeat, ESPECIALLY The Normal Album, and I can't and won't shut up about it.

(Heads up, this is simply a take of mine on The Normal Album that I've been really wanting to talk about. I am by no means disclosing that what I am about to say is objective and/or true. You may politely correct me or respectfully counter it with your own opinions/thoughts, but kindly remember, this is just me mindlessly blabbering about how much the album means to me, how the little details make up my theory for the album's theme/point, and just me fangirling over the thought he put into his music.)

Alright I'm gonna go out on a limb here and essentially just explain my Normal Album theory I compiled by making the most logical connections and assumptions based off the album's lyrics and certain song's context(s) from the album.

To me, The Normal Album is an ironic, satirical juxtaposition testing "normal" people's reactions to "hush hush" topics of conversation, or things we don't typically think/talk about that aren't considered "normal" at all. Not only that, but also how the little bits and pieces from different songs and lyrics from the album make up said theme, is just so astounding to me. It truly shows that he put a lot of thought into his work and you can tell some of the songs are hitting just as close to home for him as it does with a lot of fans who look really into it.

To further emphasize, notice how the first song of The Normal Album, "Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally," the first name and part(?) of the song is literally starting with "Suburbia?" Suburbia is often known as a neighborhood that appeals as a peaceful, cookie cutter place to live or the collective standard people envision as to what "normal" people should act like or how if you really are "normal," this is how you should live your life; a shiny, happy family, white pickett fences, perfectly cut grass, etc. Suburbia also (stereotypically) expresses resentment anyone that does not fit their standard of "normal," and I think that's Will's entire point, not only expressed in this song in particular, but the entire album. He is testing the waters by presenting this as an exaggeratedly normal album on the surface, but the further you get into it and/or dive into the lyrics, it becomes evident this is not normal at all. Just like how modern, suburbian culture (that he very explicitly expresses that he despises (e.g, "fuck your culture," "culture is not your friend")) presents itself as normal, even though behind closed doors, we know there is most likely something that is not okay, or something going on that contradicts the suburbia's own self-established standard of normal.

Hell, even the album cover is Will wearing "normal" suburbia-esque attire, waving out a window with a smile on his face, presenting as the normal he very much opposes with this album's music. This enhances the theme because of how much its trying to look normal on the cover; only ironically portraying Suburbia as too good to be true even more. And this is only the first of many symbolic details found within the album. With the ironic title, plus this sense of imagery, who wouldn't think it wasn't normal? (but if you know Will Wood and/or look at the titles, then you know damn well this album is far from it.)

By showing us something normal on the cover and starting off the album with a song who's title's first word is "Suburbia," it unveils itself to be ironic yet symbolic, reflecting suburbian attitude and showing how these kinds, and plenty of other people, treat what should be considered important topics (identity, death, morality, mental health, etc.) as things to be swept under the rug because it was not integrated into their "normal" ideals, through its music and words.

For example, to help even further prove my point, just look at some of the lyrics/song titles:

·"It's only culture, and its more afraid of you than you are of it." - That right there, that right there is his entire thesis that sums up his point of the album, along with my theory. Anything different opposing "normal" culture, the same culture grows a fear of it, often times trying to silence it out of fear of losing control of or entirely losing the "normal" haven/standard that has been created and set. Will bringing up the topics he does within the album does this very thing, destroying the "normal" feeling that had been set at the beginning, along with revealing the album's lack of hesitancy to discuss tough topics, the undertones of its true nature, and shining a light on how the album is ironically not normal at all.

·"I/Me/Myself" - A song that plays into the themes of not only identity, but the same themes of normality and conformity by discussing how both cis and trans people have their idea of normal towards labels and how one should act according to theirs and are both capable of projecting it in a toxic manner that tries to push down anything that defies it. Will Wood LITERALLY wrote and explained how this song is talking about his experiences as someone who used to be a genderqueer person, how both people on each side of the gender spectrum tried telling him that he can't do xyz because he's a cis man/genderqueer person (or in general), his frustrations with said standards, and that he only wore his gender identity as something to serve a purpose. Just because your behavior, interests, or whatever, contradicts your birth gender, it does not mean you have to conform to labels on either side, even if its not "normal" to everyone telling you otherwise. This very thing also exemplifies how this aforementioned culture is "not your friend" and that it can and will very much push down its standard of normality down your throat, no matter how good it seems or what side its on.

·"Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave" - Like "I/Me/Myself," this song also presents two (most likely extremist) sides that have their own standard of "normal," but this time, it discusses mental wellness instead. Regarding the fact this song revolves around themes of mental health and the balance of how it should be treated, we are given two (or possibly several more) perspectives on the subject matter that could each be considered normal, depending on the evironment/generation. (E.g., we hear a side throughout the song that seems to oppose professional/medical help in this regard or leans away from heavy reliance on such things (e.g., "Back in my day we didn't need no feel good pills and no psychiatrists, we just drank ourselves to death/bled out in our bath," "A little identity never hurt nobody, but lately you've been focusing too much on yourself," etc). And then, we also hear a side that is also consistent throughout the song, seemingly the polar opposite (e.g., "Better safe than sorry, and we both know the danger," "And a little conformity never hurt nobody, but lately I've been worried that you're losing yourself," etc.) (This one is kinda loosely tied, but I still thought it played into themes similar to I/Me/Myself in terms of normality, sorry if it doesnt make too much sense)

·"Well this disease is defined by its treatment, you people make me sick!" - This bit from Outliars and Hypocrates helps emphasize the album's theme further due to the song itself (theoretically) being about human behavior and this lyric also showing how these "normal" people may treat anything different negatively, creating issues within the person who appears as different and making them think something is wrong with them, potentially forcing the person to conform in order to avoid being ostracized (further creating and pushing the established "normal" expectations). Thus, creating a "disease" that is not at all a disease, and merely just behavior that is only treated as such because it does not fit the metaphorical and literal suburbia's standard or ideals of "normal."

I could go on and on, but I have been typing for way too long at this point (my hands and brain are actually hurting, help- VHKDFJ). There are plenty of other lyrics and songs I want(ed) to integrate in this post, but as I just said, I'm very tired from writing all this, and besides, I think I've made my point/theory clear. Whether I'm correct (partially or fully) or not, this was still fun to talk about, and trust me I have so much more praise for this man and his work and I got plenty of more speculations as to what some of his other songs could mean. Maybe I'll make more posts on it sometime in the future, but who knows?

And again, I cannot stress this enough, please do not harrass me for this and if you do believe otherwise, please reply respectfully. I know some, if not most people are nonchalant at the least about this kinda stuff, but I do NOT wanna deal with any comments or replies I know I could possibly get that'll be going "Erm, Actually-" or getting pissed at me for having an opinion. I am in no way claiming my postulation is definitivelty correct, these are just MY theories and MY thoughts. If you have anything different to say or your own theories about The Normal Album, or just any of WW's music in general, I would love to hear them in a respectful manner and/or your reasons for why you think xyz about the album(s).

I just had to rant about how truly incredible Wood's choice of words and music were for the album. The theme is truly very astounding, but just the pieces in the words and titles that make up the puzzle, is what it makes it even better. It is just so well thought out and amazing to me. Will Wood is one of the most lyrically intlligent, and seemingly passionate artist's that I've ever seen. If you dont like his music or have never even heard of him, at least read more analytical posts like this just so you can get a taste, and/or at the least, appreciate how absolutely profound Will is with his lyrics. My compliments and explainations for his work do not do it justice. It is just something you have to listen to for yourself. His content just cannot be put into a box by words.

#rant post #rant #will wood and the tapeworms #will wood #holy shit im not typing anything for the next month 💀 #that took way too long (ADHD be damed) and my hands are now in agony (it was worth it tho) #just a theory #just a thought i had #im proud of this one #just my thoughts #i am so ill for ww and his music 😭 #please read (only if you want to)

[rogersstevie]

i think what a lot of people don't get is that more and more while taylor is still making hits, she is not making music for anyone but herself and to an extent for her fans, arguably since everything fell apart post-1989, when she had created an album that was beloved by the general public, by people who had previously disparaged her music, only for all of that to implode, for her to become seemingly universally hated

like 1989 is a straight up fun pop album and then everything happened in 2016 and she came out with rep and has only gotten louder and louder. she'll keep writing songs directed at her haters, she'll keep writing lyrics with snark and satire no matter how cringe they find it, she'll keep writing full on poetic lyrics no matter how pretentious they find it, like to an extent she's always been doing her own thing and fought to do so, but she's fully embraced it i think especially now that she has the artistic freedom but also because she's beyond trying to please everybody

so the music and lyrics are for HER and like anyone can make an educated guess ~who~ the songs are supposed to be about based on who she dated between album cycles like that's not hard to figure out but it's fans who understand all the lore, all the easter eggs, the references to her previous works

like haters will just take things out of context or act like a lyric doesn't make sense or is juvenile or whatever and they don't understand that there's a point to all of it and honestly this music is just not made for them

#taylor swift

[seek--rest]

initial thoughts of that blonde bitch’s eleventh diary entry made public

first half was completely underwhelming

the Charlie Puth lyric being real is personally tragic and disappointing

Daddy I love him and down bad are embarrassing. Idc if it isn’t about that rat bastard it certainly SOUNDS LIKE IT IS and what the fuck is that shit. Miss girl got rightfully called out for being gleefully out and about with racist trash and her big flex is to say “well I’m grown so there!” Girl help

I know some one out there is gonna say it’s satire and I don’t get it, trust. I know that blonde woman. This isn’t satire she’s just deranged and in need of therapy.

The entire first half is so forgettable I really had a moment wondering if I am missing something. Maybe it’ll grow on me but. Who is to say.

That being said: both production and lyrics were SIGNIFICANTLY better after Florida!!!

(The power of Florence)

who’s afraid of little old me was written for me actually

if the streets are right and this album took 2 years to make then it’s clear which songs were written and produced well vs what was one take and a dip

I say this as a swiftie since 2007– miss girl should not win the Grammy over Cowboy Carter, I know she will because of how the Grammy’s work but I’m saying for the record now: she should not.

I can do it with a broken heart is a fucking bop

#seek speaks #ts ttpd #TTPD #the tortured poets department

[sleepytimefantasy]

When I first listened to Vice Grip, I was shell-shocked. Jaw to the floor in complete awe. Not because it was good. It was the worst music I had ever heard in my life, and I listen to 100 gecs. "Surely this can't be the precursor to the hit indie/alternative rock band Joywave?" I thought to myself. This godawful collection of "music" sounded like it came straight from a GarageBand mixtape on a burned CD, played through your family PC's shitty built-in speakers. Which was probably how it was meant to be played anyway.

Once I got over the initial knee-jerk reaction to catapult my headphones straight through the nearest window, I found myself listening to the small handful of tracks for a second time. Why would I subject myself to such cruel punishment? There must have been something in the water that fateful day, because each time I re-listened, it sounded better and better…

Something about it… captivated me. Was it the screeching, autotuned vocals that caught my attention? The vapid and childishly crude lyrics? Or the over-mixed drums and mp3 fuzz that proved its authenticity (and lack thereof)? Izzy Sparks was speaking to me from the faraway, ancient year of 2007. He had taken my heart from the lockbox, so to say. I began to understand.

Taken at face value, Vice Grip's discography contains objectively, the worst songs ever written (save for one*). But we need to go deeper. To truly comprehend the beauty of Vice Grip, one must understand the concept of:

Somewhere in 21-year-old Daniel Michael Armbruster's mind, there was a great plan stewing. If his eccentric mannerisms, cynical lyricism, and off-putting tweets of today suggest anything, it is that Daniel is no stranger to satire. His devilish plan to create the perfect caricature of 00s synthpop was never meant to be anything more than a one-time joke. How (un)fortunate that Vice Grip was conceived at the height of the second boyband craze, leading to international success and an active fanbase. Their faces were on TV around the world, and even in magazines. Vice Grip even eclipsed the popularity of the Hoodies, their completely 100% sincere pop-punk effort.

Perhaps this non-band came too early. Were they ahead of their time? It seemed Vice Grip had become the very thing it swore to destroy. Fittingly, the band self-destructed after releasing their final album: The Vice Grip Anthology (2320 H.D. - 2009 A.D.). Causes for the breakup include drug addiction, sex addiction, pornography (both producing and consuming), cannibalism, food addiction, feudalism, and college classes.

Eventually fading into obscurity and surpassed by newer satirical bands like Joywave and KOPPS, Vice Grip's genius went unappreciated for the next 15 years. The full Vice Grip Anthology was lost to link rot and Web 1.0's decay. The search for this holy grail was further crushed when former band members revealed that not even they possessed a copy. I mean, can you blame them? It seemed that Vice Grip was nothing more than an unpleasant memory, preserved only in the minds of the ex-emo millennials who had nothing better to do at Warped Tour 2008.

Until one fateful day in the year 2023. The Anthology had at last been uncovered, dug up and dusted off by one of the few fans who had the indecency to pay $9.99 on iTunes for it, all those years ago. It was subsequently transmitted all the way from Pluto to every deviant computer in the world, and is now freely available to all mortals that can withstand the sonic assault on their eardrums.

Everything on the internet does indeed last forever, much to the chagrin of Armbruster FKA Sparks. In his own words, "[The Anthology] is 31 tracks of complete and utter bullshit, presented in chronological order." But for the five or so Vice Grip fans that still exist on this planet, it was worth its weight in gold and then some (so I'm told). It truly is the most amazing album we will ever hear.

I am now at the point in my Vice Grip journey where Holly & Emily is a welcome guest on my shuffle play, rather than a dastardly scourge to make me cringe into the 4th dimension. This presents some difficulties when playing my music in a car filled with more sensible people than I. But they simply have not yet been mind-blown by the frequencies that Vice Grip has to offer.

The true artistry of Vice Grip hides behind the superficial. These are not songs meant to be loathed and detested by their audience. These are songs crafted with love. These are love songs. Because we love it.

Vice Grip truly is the greatest band the world has ever freaking seen.

*Thriller 2 is the best song Daniel has ever made.

#Hey guys did you know I’m 100% completely normal #vice grip #joywave #og