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jonsateaparty · 5 years

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Let’s Analyse The Heck Outta This Playlist

I have listened to every single song in the Game of Thrones: The End Is Here playlist and hooo boy do I have shit to say.

Looking at all the songs, I found that I could seperate them into different categories. The categories were songs which fit certain characters or houses, or songs which fit the white walkers or war in general. There were also quite a few love songs, some of which could be easily interpreted as jonsa. Below the cut I’ve put together all the songs in their categories with some lyrics for each song and any notes I made while listening.

HOWEVER since that shit is loong, I’m gonna add a preemptive TL;DR for some categories of interest before the cut.

JONSA

Overall, there were six songs that I could recognize as jonsa. The themes of these songs were that of a passionate and loving romance, with the occasional tinge of forbidden love and having to wait for their lover. These songs were also very, very blatant in their connection to jonsa. With most of them, jonsa was honest to goodness the only GoT interpretation for this love song. I really was shocked listening to how blatantly jonsa this playlist is guys.

J0NERYS

There were three songs in the playlist which I could call j0nerys songs. One of these songs I could argue belongs elsewhere and only there was one jonsa song that was ambiguous enough that it could be attributed to j0nerys. My absolute favourite song of these three is the song Little Monster by Royal Blood. In this song, a man who refers to himself as a wolf is the lover of someone who he calls Little Monster and betrays her. Yeah. They really went there.

D4NY/TARGARYEN

Three songs that are definitely about her, but I suspect a few of the “general” war songs are about her as well. Why, you say? Because Dark D4ny LIVES in this playlist man. These songs, which are mainly about fire and “black wings” (Drogon, anyone), talk about someone mad with powerlust, a “bitch” coming to take you to hell, and being haunted by demons in the fire. DARK D4NY IS COMING AND MY BODY IS READY FOR HR GLORY

STARK

In contrast to songs about fire being full of madness, the four “wolf” Stark songs that we get are about being free and victorious. One song in particular talks about the “Wolves of Winter” getting the better of someone who has “fits of paranoia”, someone who sees themselves as an exception but without people supporting them, they’re going to lose. Like. Holy shit.

TARGBOWL

Now, most of the other songs are either about the Greyjoys/Lannisters, generic war songs, power or dead things. However there is ONE war song that I think heavily implies targbowl. This song is called Go to War by Nothing More and seems to be about two groups of people who were once on the same side going to war.

That’s it of particular interest, however if you want to see a list of all songs and all categories, plus some lyrics and notes, check out under the cut!

Potential Jonsa Songs

Girl from the North Country – Bob Dylan - If you go when the snowflakes storm/When the rivers freeze and summer ends/Please see if she's wearing a coat so warm/To keep her from the howlin' winds Note: This song is either about Arya or Sansa. I honestly cannot see this song being about Arya, this is about a traditionally feminine girl with long hair. I say this is jonsa because I literally cannot think of any other thing this could be about.

Howlin’ for You – The Black Keys - I must admit/I can't explain/Any of these thoughts/Racing through my brain Note: Can’t explain their reasons (maybe because they shouldn’t be having them), wolf references, bird references? Very jonsa. Also could be general stark or gendrya.

Sister – Prince - My sister never made love to anyone else but me/She's the reason for my, uh, sexuality Note: OMG this SONG. Although this could also be about Jaime/Cercei… but considering that’s over, I’m going with jonerys. Especially since there’s a song about wolves right after…

Devil’s Spoke – Laura Marling -I might be a part of this/Ripple on water from a lonesome drip/A fallen tree that witness me/I'm alone, him and me Note: Honestly the only concrete reason I put this here is because I ship jonsa. It could be any ship. Also the first verse makes me thing of the Winterfell Godswood.

Winterlong – Niel Young - I waited for you Winter long/You seem to be where I belong

Furr – Blitzen Trapper - I brushed the leaves off of my snout/And then I heard my mother shouting through the trees/You should have seen that girl go shaky at the knees/So I took her by the arm

Potential J0nerys Songs

Mama Kin – Aerosmith - Well you've always got your tail on the wag/Shootin' fire from your mouth just like a dragon Note: Those line, plus the whole “Mama” thing makes me think this is jonerys. It could also be jon? I guess?

Little Monster – Royal Blood - I'm your wolf, I'm your man/I say run little monster/Before you know who I am Note: A song about a “wolf” in a relationship with a “little monster” who plans to betray them? HMMMMMMMMMMM.

Be My Fire – The Blue Stones - Baby, be my conjurer/And I'll hold you dear/Baby, be the visions in the night/And wait till morning light for you/To disappear

Dany/Targ Songs:

Sleep Now In the Fire – Rage Against The Machine - The world is my expense/The cost of my desire/Jesus blessed me with its future/And I protect it with fire.

Her Black Wings – Danzig - Demoness calls/The bitch is come/For those who wait/Cross the breach in hell Notes: I’m guessing another Targ song, what with the “black wings”.

Fire – Barns Courtney - Ghosts and devils come a-calling/Calling my name oh, lost in the fire

Stark Songs

Wolf Like Me – TV On The Radio - Got a curse I cannot lift/Shines when the sunset shifts/When the moon is round and full/Gotta bust that box, gotta gut that fish

Wolves of Winter – Biffy Clyro - We are the wolves of winter/We live in a kingdom of blood Note: Holy fuck the implications of Dark!Dany in this song!!!

Dire Wolf – Grateful Dead - In the timbers to Fennario, the wolves are running round/The winter was so hard and cold, froze ten feet 'neath the ground.

Killer Wolf – Danzig - I'm the wolf/I'm the one you want/I'm the killer wolf

Potential Targbowl Songs

Go to War – Nothing More - I don't know what you had in mind/But here we stand on opposing sides/Let's go to war Note: Holy FUCK, this song seems to really foreshadow targbowl. It’s not a generic war song like some of the others, and it’s not about dead/evil/cold wars. This song seems to be about people who were on the same side then turned against each other.

White Walkers/war for the living songs

Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin - How soft your fields so green/Can whisper tales of gore/Of how we calmed the tides of war/We are your overlords

The End – The Doors - Of our elaborate plans, the end/Of everything that stands, the end/No safety or surprise, the end/I’ll never look into your eyes again

Cold Cold Cold – Cage The Elephant - Doctor look into my eyes/I've been breathing air but there's no sign of life/Doctor the problem's in my chest/My heart feels cold as ice but it's anybody's guess

Burn the Fleet - Thrice - In this dark night we stand or fall/We are kings now, or nothing at all/Check your armor; Light up your torch

Dead Skin Mask – Slayer - Graze the skin with my finger tips/The brush of dead cold flesh pacifies the means

General songs

Seven Nation Army �� The White Stripes - Don't want to hear about it/Every single one's got a story to tell/Everyone knows about it/From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell

War – Grandson - War up north/And war down south/Everywhere is war

Let Me Live / Let Me Die – Des Rocs - Tears don't stop the fire/It's killing time/Back from the dead/See your eyes, got nothing left/Kiss me, I am the colder Note: This is a song of ice and fire. This. Is A. Song. Of. Ice. And. Fire.

POWER – Kanye West - Life is a trip, so sometimes we gonna stumble/You gotta go through pain in order to become you Note: I’d call this a general song but this came right after a song about wolves so make of that what you will 😉

Let’s Have A War – Fear - Let's have a war/So you can go and die!

Powa – Tune-Yards - Rebel, rebel, no/Lightening dances in my head

No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age - We get some rules to follow/That and this/These and those/No one knows

The Time Is Now – Atreyu - Flying high above the world/It's a new life, it's a new mind/And I will never fall Note: A Time for Wolves anyone? Especially since this comes right after a wolf song…

Rise Above – Black Flag - Jealous cowards try to control/Rise above, we're gonna rise above

Alternative Ulster – Stiff Little Fingers - There's nothin' for us in Belfast/The Pound's old, and that's a pity/OK, so there's the Trident in Bangor Note: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Sickbed of Cuchulainn – The Pogues - And you heard the rattling death trains as you lay there all alone/Frank Ryan bought you whiskey in a brothel in Madrid/And you decked some fucking blackshirt who was cursing all the Yids

Power – AJ Ghent [j-ent] - You wanna take me down/But I won’t bend

Toxicity – System of a Down - You, what do you own the world?/How do you own disorder, disorder

Here’s Your Future – The Thermals - God reached his hand down from the sky/He flooded the land then he set it on fire

Love is Blindess – U2 - A little death/Without mourning/No call/And no warning

Greyjoy Songs

Flugufrelsarinn – Sigur Rós - Ég næ ekki andanum og þyngist við hverja öldu/Mér vantar kraftaverk/Því ég er að drukkna – syndir (I can not breathe and I am heavier with every wave/I need a miracle/Because I am drowning- sins) Note: Lots of talk about the ocean/rivers/boats along with despairing over your sins and struggling to be better and repent. If that isn’t a fucking Theon song I don’t know what is.

Bottom Of The Deep Blue Sea – MISSIO - The sweet surrender of silence forces me to live alone/Locked and loaded, where the hell is peace of mind?/I wait on you inside the bottom of the deep blue sea

Wave of Mutilation – Pixies - You'll think I'm dead, but I sail away/On a wave of mutilation

Jon Songs

Born for Greatness – Papa Roach - No we’re not nameless, we’re not faceless/We were born for greatness Note: This could be generic, but this gives me heavy Jon vibes

EDIT: @ward--runa pointed out to me that this song suited Jon better.

Mother – The Amazons - Friends wanna kill me/But I give them all my loving anyway/If God won't forgive me/I'm not the only one to make amends

Lannister Songs

Listen to the Lion – Van Morrison - All my love come tumblin' down/Oh, listen listen/To the lion

Hot Blood – Kaleo - You wanna prove you're the better man/You wanna reach for the things that nobody can/Oh all you need is to break away, yeah/Just keep telling yourself there's no shame Note: This was either Jaime or Jon for me, but I settled on Jaime. Partly because this came after a string of what I think to be Cersei songs. Also The idea of being a better man, “love is gonna get ya”, “turn your back, you’re a broken man”, “shake your hand”.

Gold Lion – Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is

Cersei Songs

Queen – Perfume Genius - Don't you know your queen/Gleaming/Wrapped in golden leaf/Don't you know me Note: This gives me Cercei vibes but I honestly don’t know…

Cruel – St. Vincent - So they took you, and they left you/How could they be casually cruel? Note: ??? Maybe another Cercei one?

Crown of the Ground – Sleigh Bells - Set, set that crown on the ground and-ah

#jonsa #actuallyjonsa #game of thrones #anti-jonerys #anti-daenerys targaryen #dark dany #villain dany #jon snow #sansa stark #jonsa meta #sort of?

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niel-trbl · 7 years

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Future

Best friends to Lovers!Kang Daniel AU

Note: for the times where you experienced 썸 (some) with your good/best friend and wished that when you do convey your feelings it would somewhat end up this way

“_______, are you done? we’re going to be late,” Daniel stood by the door, watching you putting on makeup

“hold on, i’m almost done! okay which one?” you held 2 lipsticks

“you know i like the red one on you” you smirked at his comment and proceeded to put on the wine red lipstick

“i don’t get why you’re putting on so much makeup. who are you trying to impress?” he gazed at you

“um my future partner? what if i meet him by chance at the wedding?”

“and you’re going to leave your best friend behind?” he pouted

“well…”

“omg you’re really considering it?! i’m leaving” you quickly held his arm, preventing him from leaving

“i’m kidding! c’mon Niel, how can i leave my dearest best friend?” you teased him, pinching his cheeks i wna do that tbh

this would be a good example of your everyday conversation with your best friend, Kang Daniel

you and Daniel have been friends since elementary school

how you first became friends was definitely interesting (?)

your class had to run rounds around school for gym

it was only your second round and you already felt tired so you decided to escape from running

as you were finding a hiding spot, you saw Daniel crouching down and playing with a cat

he got shocked when he saw you behind him

“don’t rat me out please!” he begged you

you then learnt that he too was trying to escape from running rounds that day

that was how you became close friends

both of you grew up together and been there for each other through every milestone, relationship, break up, etc. in life

basically you spent most of your time together, except for when he left for Canada (?) for a few years

it was truly the hardest time in your whole friendship and when he came back, both of you promised to never leave one another

your friend from high school, Doyeon, had invited you to her wedding so you decided to attend it with Daniel since both of you had no one to bring as your plus ones

daniel in a SUIT swoon

you finally arrived at the wedding venue, just in time for the couple to exchange their vows

“I see these vows not as promises but as privileges - I get to laugh with you, cry with you, care for you and share with you. I am blessed to not only be able to share, but to have you be a part of these great memories I am able to cherish forever…”

tears started forming in the corner of your eyes

you took a deep breath in attempt to hold it in but Daniel beat you to it by handing a tissue to you smooth move danik

you managed to mumble out a thanks in between of your sobs

he hushed you then let your head rest on his BUSAN TO MASAN shoulders

you wouldn’t know what you would’ve done without Daniel around

you quickly went ahead to the married couple to congratulate them right after the exchange of vows

“Daniel didn’t pop the question yet?” Doyeon sneakily whispered to you, while Daniel was conversing with her partner

“what? no, we’re not together,” you felt yourself blushed

“oh… i thought after high school, you guys would finally come around and share a future together. it would’ve been so nice to see that,” she said, holding onto your hand

once the ceremony was over, it was finally time for the banquet your favourite

of course Daniel went all out

you came to the table with a plate full of food but he came back with 2 plates and still went back for 2nd round

till this day, you wonder how is he able to consume so much food and still look so good drop em tips boi

“get me some too!” Daniel told you when you stood up to get dessert

you stood in line, with a plate in hand, waiting for your turn when someone approached you

“________? is that you?”

“Sungwoon? omg hey it’s been so long!” he gave you a side hug

you met Sungwoon during your internship, you both were rather close

however, whenever you brought up Sungwoon in your conversations with Daniel, he will immediately tune out

both of you would fight every time he does that, you knew he did so because he was jealous but you never understood why and he would never tell you the reason

Daniel saw Sungwoon’s hand resting on your waist a little too comfortably and he immediately tensed up

he didn’t want to make a scene so he calmed himself down before making his way to the dessert table to get you or more like to make Sungwoon take his hands off you

“babe do you need a hand with those?” Daniel slowly turned your attention to him, which caused Sungwoon to move back, away from you

“babe? wait what?” you were surprised by his choice of words

“ah i see… i’ll talk to you later _______,” Sungwoon walked away, clearly flustered by the situation

“Sungwoon wait- omg Niel are you serious? we were just talking! i can’t believe you!” you pushed him

“he was getting too close! what if he did something to you?” he quickly followed behind, catching up with you

“so what if he is? Daniel, you need to stop being so overprotective of me. I can take care of myself! You can’t just do that all the time. Sungwoon’s a really nice guy and now he’s probably scared to talk to me again coz of you. Forget it, I’m going home,” you stomped away from him

“wait, i’ll take you home. it’s getting late,” he ordered, which you quietly obliged to

the ride home was abnormally quiet

usually both of you would sing along to the songs on your playlist, making jokes and laughing

this time, the radio filled the silence, even so it felt uncomfortable

his grip on the wheel tightened even more, putting all of his focus on the road

you just looked out of the window, deep in thought about what happened earlier

he clearly was being jealous and you hated every time it happens

you aren’t going to stop hanging out with Sungwoon or anyone just so that he will stop being jealous, that would be unfair to you

but you just wish that he would stop it

you finally reached the carpark of your apartment building

you unbuckled your belt and reached for the door handle but Daniel stopped you immediately

“can we talk? i don’t want you to go home all angry”

“…”

“look i just want to apologise. i can’t help but feel jealous and i am sorry that i had to put you in that position,”

you still didn’t want to budge, you crossed your arms and avoided eye contact

he suddenly wrapped his arms around you, hugging you close

“i’m sorry! i didn’t know any better, kid,” he bopped your nose

you felt your heart beating quickly and the heat on your cheeks

you immediately tried to push him away but Daniel hugged you even closer in return

SOMEBODY STOP THIS MAN you are supposed to be angry at him!!!

“hey c’mon please? i’m really sorry about that. let’s turn that frown upside down,” he cupped your face and gave you your favourite eye smile, the one he knew you couldn’t resist i’d faint irl tbh

you can’t help it but to just gave in and forgive him

“just because i forgive you, doesn’t mean i’m not serious about it”

“i know, i’m sorry. i can’t help it,”

“but why? if it’s about them stealing me away from you then-”

“wHAT? NO! i mean yES. i mean- ah i can’t tell you now,”

“WHY! you always can’t tell me why and i want to know why right now”

“i just can’t, no not now please. i’ll tell you next time,”

“no i want to know it right now! can’t you just-”

“I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU OKAY”

silence filled the car once again

you were shocked coz you didn’t expect to hear those words

you had always thought you wouldn’t share mutual feelings coz he had never looked at you that way

and the girls he dated were in no way similar to you, all the more it made you think that you didn’t stand a chance

hearing those words from him made you flustered

“this wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. i wanted to bring you out and tell you how i felt. i even got tips from Doyeon’s partner on it!”

listening to what he had to say made you hide your face in embarrassment

you were so touched, you ended up sobbing into your palms

“wait, no no don’t cry, please. i don’t want you to cry because of me, that’s the last thing i ever wanted,” he held onto your hands

“is that why you couldn’t tell me every time i asked you?” he nodded quietly

“i’m touched by you. i never knew you felt the same way. thank you, for telling me,” you kissed his cheek

Daniel held onto your cheek then pecked your lips

“i’m still going to bring you out and confess to you like how i planned” he grinned to you

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sunshiniel · 7 years

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Niel’s Interview With GQ Korea

Original Article by GQ Korea; March 2017 Issue | Translation © Sunshiniel

“Fed up with being young” — NIEL

Whether he’s the young guy who says “don’t wear perfume,” or the man who says “don’t make me cry,” Niel always sings with Niel’s voice.

Even though 5 years have gone by, it seems like it’s only been a few months. We met for the November issue of 2011, right?

Yes. When I was still a minor.

Do you remember what it was like to be 17 years old?

I think I was really oblivious. I just did everything my company told me to, no questions asked. All I can really remember is having a hard time…

What was hard about it?

Mostly, when I first started this line of work, I wasn’t able to sleep. Also, there was so much practicing. When I think about it now, those are the things I remember most clearly.

Could you do it again?

I don’t think I could live like that now, but sometimes I think I’d like to do it all over again.

Even though a lot of time has gone by since you debuted, you’re still pretty young, right? This year you’re only 24.

Lately, when I go to broadcast stations for my solo activities, it seems like I’ve been in the business longer than anyone else there. It feels really weird, y’know? Everyone greets me with all this respect, because I’ve been an idol for longer than they have, but they’re all older than me. It makes me think, “When did I get so old?”

Do idols still come to each other’s backstage rooms to greet each other?

Not nearly as often as when we debuted. I don’t really care though, whether they’re newer than me or not, I go and greet people…

How does it feel to do a photo shoot without the rest of Teen Top?

It’s nice that it finishes earlier, but it’s really boring. I like it better when I have people to laugh and joke around with, that way I don’t even feel the time passing.

You guys don’t even live together now, right?

After living together for almost 6 years, we all live separately now. I live with a friend who does music, and the others all live by themselves.

After living in a dorm for such a long time, you finally have your own place. What’s that like?

I mean, it’s great. I like having my own space. Honestly though, living in a dorm was really fun at first. But after a while, we kind of stopped talking to each other. It got to the point where we’d use our phones to say things like, “Wanna get some food?” — even if we were right next to each other. But, now that we don’t live together anymore, we see each other outside, and it’s really nice. We hang out a lot more often, too.

Last time, you said, “I think it’ll be a little weird if my voice is still sweet like this when I get older. I want my voice to be more like C.A.P’s.” In your new EP “LOVE AFFAIR...,” your voice sounds kind of scratchy. That sort of rough singing style stands out, but is it what you were going for?

I love that style of singing. In the past, I was really young, so I always went along with any suggestion my company gave me. Now that I’ve got more experience, I want to really express myself with my music. I researched a lot of singing techniques to make my voice sound more expressive.

When singing, what percent of your focus is on vocal texture? About 70 percent?

It can be really important, particularly with a vocal texture like mine. As soon as you hear my voice, you know it’s me. Regardless of that, in this EP I put effort into making my voice sound different for each song.

How is this experience different from when you promote with Teen Top?

When I’m working with Teen Top, we need to consider the expectations of the public and our style as a team. When I’m working as a solo artist, I really get to focus on my own expectations and my own style.

Is it alright if you don’t place as high on the charts during your solo activities?

Completely. I think of myself as a rookie. When you’re a rookie, you don’t worry about the charts.

Turning 24 is something of a milestone. It’s the age when you do things like coming back from the military or graduating university, and you become a full-fledged member of society. Do you think about that sort of thing?

For my friends that are the same age as me, this year is definitely a milestone. But compared them, I became a working professional a lot earlier. So, it kind of feels like… I beat them to it? Ah, it sort of feels like I forced my way ahead of them. I wanted so badly to turn 20, but, now that I’m actually in my 20’s, it feels like every year goes by way too fast. It’s a little scary, and it makes me feel anxious.

When you were that age, did you want to fall passionately in love too?

I still don’t think I need to fall passionately in love.

Have you?

I’ve been in love before, of course. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t. But, I don’t think I’ve ever really been passionately in love before.

When did you feel like you’d become an adult? You can say that it hasn’t happened yet.

When I meet with friends that are the same age as me, it can be hard to have a real conversation with them. Is that an answer? That kind of thing happens sometimes. I think I must be a little stubborn. When my friends say things like “it doesn’t matter what you do,” or “it’ll be fine if you do that,” I’m apprehensive. I think, “I have more life experience, and I don’t think that’s a good idea….”

Are you straightforward about it?

I could go either way. It really depends on the situation.

In your position, you’re probably pretty cautious.

Yes. If I make one mistake, people might say things like, “Wow, he’s so arrogant.” Somehow, my friends from school are really jealous of me. It’s hard to get a job right now, you know. On the other hand, there are a lot of times when I’m the one who’s jealous of them.

Do you think of being a singer as a lifelong job?

Yes. A lifelong job. I’ll continue singing, but later I’d like to try writing and producing music for other singers, too.

How is that different from using your singing as a stepping stone to becoming a producer or businessman?

I prefer to be the one singing the songs that I write. With producing too, rather than giving my song to another musician, I’d prefer to work together with them instead. Since my song are written with my own thoughts and my own emotions, isn’t it better if I’m the one who sings them?

But isn’t it more common to sing songs written by someone else?

I haven’t been writing my own music for very long, but it’s a completely different experience. There are limitations when a songwriter is explaining their vision to me. There are times when I don’t even understand what they’re trying to say. Of course, in those cases I try to consult with them about it. Anyway, since I know my own songs inside and out, even if something doesn’t come out right, if it feels good I can just go with it.

You’ve released your second solo EP in the 8th year since your debut. In the studio, are you able to make your own decisions now?

No. I do exactly what the songwriters want me to do — since it’s their vision. Sometimes I’ll try singing the song a different way, but only as a suggestion. If they don’t like it, I give up pretty much right away.

Is that how it is even with the title track?

Yes, I had to re-record “Love Affair” like four times. The songwriters and producers need to like how it comes out, and I think it’s a really hard song for me to sing.

How would you feel if someone called you an R&B singer? Your second solo EP in particular has an R&B feel.

I’d be grateful, of course. Just hearing that makes me really happy.

In the press release, “Call Me” is described as “using Motown style for inspiration,” and “In The Rain” and “Disappear” are described as “Neo-Soul,” right?

That’s all fine, but I want to try lot’s of different styles: R&B, pop, and dance music, too. But, for now, if people are saying I can do R&B well after listening to this album, I consider that a success. “Niel is cool when he sings and dances at the same time,” — that’s also something I like to hear.

Are you already thinking about your next release?

I’m preparing a “breakup” series. I think my next song will be a breakup song too.

Why, did you breakup?

No. After settling on this concept, it felt like the title track had to be a breakup song. I’ll be making around two more releases this year, and they’re all break up songs, so… The recording is already finished.

How does it feel when you sing breakup songs?

Uh… Honestly, since I’m dancing and singing at the same time, breakup songs are easier. Because, it’s really difficult to smile and dance at the same time. So instead, I can just have a pained expression on my face, and it matches the song.

So, you’re able to freely express the pain of dancing?

People watching think I look like this because I’m singing about a breakup, and it makes them interested. This way, it’s a good thing.

Are you getting fed up with being called young?

Yes, especially in reference to Teen Top as a group. We’ve all gotten a little fed up with it. Since we debuted so young, people still think of us that way. When I tell people how old I actually am, they’re always surprised. They can’t believe how old I am. I wish people would remember how long we’ve been active and think about how old we must be now compared to when we debuted. In an effort to outgrow that “young boys” image, we’ve been allowed to change our concept a bit in our more recent albums. That really started with our song “Missing.”

Out of Teen Top’s members, you’ve changed the least.

I’ve barely changed at all.

You’ve never had your hair cut short, right?

Yeah, I thought about cutting it short once, but my fans were adamantly opposed, so…

You asked your fans first?

Yes. When I did, they all said to only cut it short enough so they could see my eyes. Honestly, when these promotions end, I have a hairstyle I want to try. It’s super short. I’ll have to talk to my company about it first, though. Sometimes, I think about just shaving it all…

You want to shave it all off?

I mean, not like that. Just, a style that’d feel really short to me? Get rid of the sides and the back. I saw some foreign model with a style like that, and it looked really cool. I want it cut like that.

Your voice dropped a while ago, right? However, as an idol group member, or even just as a singer, sometimes it seems like you’re only just reaching maturity.

That was especially true while I was making this album. There were a lot of times where I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. In the past, it was like, since the album was coming out, there was just a list of things I had to do. But this time it started with, “So, what should we do?”

As you continue to work hard, don’t you gain more confidence?

I guess, but when I’m working with Teen Top, everyone contributes something different. I don’t want to feel like just one piece that’s missing a bigger whole. On my last EP that I worked on with Lucid Fall, I also tried to fill it with really diverse tracks. I really enjoy hearing things like “Niel does that kind of music, too?” The goal for all of my albums is to be as diverse as possible.

The songwriting duo Black Eyed Pilseung — who wrote Teen Top’s “Missing” and “Ah-Ah,” and the title track “Lovekiller” from your first solo EP — also wrote TWICE’s hit song “OOH-AHH,” which has been insanely successful. Why didn’t you get another song from them?

They were going to write a song for me, but they were busy, and while my comeback was in the works, they came out with a good song for someone else. So, I naturally chose “Love Affair.” My company agreed with me. It’s not that I need to pick a song from a certain songwriter — if there’s a good song, then I’ll sing it. Even if the songwriter is a rookie.

As someone who’s planning to complete a “breakup trilogy,” do you have any tips on channelling your feelings?

Actually, I write a lot of my music between schedules. I wrote the song “Signal,” from this EP, while I was in the van. I write lyrics and melody at the same time, so I use the car’s bluetooth to sing a little bit to the staff and see what they think. If they like it, I can go right to the studio and start recording.

Whose feedback is the most important to you?

All the staff who ride in the van with me. Since we’re all pretty close, they don’t mind being brutally honest. If they only said nice things to me it wouldn’t do me any good, so I ask them to tell me exactly what they think.

When your schedule’s done, what do you do?

I do a lot of gaming.

Overwatch?

Yes. Actually, just now, Chunji texted me asking if I want to go to a PC room with him. After this interview ends, I have to wash up and get going.

You don’t do it alone?

No… I even bought a computer, but doing it at home is no fun. It’s more exciting when you’re with someone else, cheering each other on. I feel really relaxed when I’m gaming. All I think about is, “I have to beat that person, I have to beat that team…” That’s the best, most carefree feeling. After clearing my head like that, I go back to the studio and start using my head again.

Is that why you need to leave now?

Ah, it’s not like that! (he laughs) I also have to eat, and Chunji’s probably waiting for me.

Translation © Sunshiniel | Please, do not re-post without credits.

#Niel #니엘 #Teen Top #TEENTOP #틴탑 #translation

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spice-ghoul · 7 years

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I was tagged by @tothepit thank you my lovely Posh Pit! <3 <3 <3

How old are you? I am Twenty-Six going on Thirteen!

Current job/dream job? My current job, I’m an assistant general manager for those stupid little convenience stores you buy your snack at in the airport. However, my dream job would be to somehow own a studio where I got to design and make whatever I wanted and actually have people come in and want to buy it from me and be able to make a living off of it. And if I’m really being wild I’d love to be a fashion/costume designer for musicians. That is definitely my dream job. *sigh*

What are you talented at? I feel like I’m pretty good at making fun of myself.

What is a big goal you’re working towards? Using my free time to work more on my art rather than just sit around on tumblr all day....crap.

What’s your aesthetic? Black crystal chandeliers dripping with blood red wax. Rose scented incense waft through the cold air from a pewter censer defusing the already dim light emanating from a marble hearth. Grinding guitars and turbid bass move through the aged walls and a shrill piercing laughter shakes the floorboards of my gothic victorian mansion as I reblog some shitty meme.

Do you collect anything? Monster High Dolls actually! I am very VERY proud of my little collection. And the usual things, CDs, movies, CannibalTeeth’s art. And just pretty things that I like to decorate my house with. :3

What is a topic you’re always up to talk about? Music in general really. But more specifically I love introducing people to my music and having them introduce me to new things in return! Movies, more recently even the things that I’ve been learning about filmmaking as an art and industry, art, fashion. I’m super interested in the court dynamics of Versailles. But I especially love just hearing about people! I love hearing about people’s lives, and funny stories from their pasts and stuff like that!

What’s a pet peeve of yours? Really, I swear to Papa, my biggest pet peeve is when people set the gears on their bikes super low, so they’re peddling really fast, but they’re NOT GOING FAST!!! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!! YOU LOOK SO DUMB!!! I just want to push them over. Ummm...also just rude people? And......I’m sure there’s other stuff and I just can’t think of it.

Good advice to give? Ooooh. Well, here it goes. If you have a bad feeling about something, like something really big; like you’re worried about how something is going to work out in the long term, but you just try to tell yourself it’s gonna end up okay, you’ll just deal with whatever crap comes? Don’t do that. Listen to that bad feeling. Confront it, assess it, and address it. You might not like what the bad feeling is telling you, but if you’re really honest with yourself and brave enough to heed it’s warning, you’ll save yourself so much...time...and heartache.

Recommend three songs: (”i’m gonna do five bc I’m loving a lot rn” - Said Pit, and I am just going to do it too because I’m just extra like that) World Coming Down - Type O Negative The Vision Bleak - The Valkyrie Battle In Me - Garbage Low Lands - Gojira Wake Up - Royal Thunder (Bonus Round: The Birds - Niels Nielsen!!! Calling All Comas - Queens of the Stone Age Light Year - Tripping Daisy)

I’m going to tag plenty of people who shouldn’t feel at all obligated to do this if they don’t want to! @keelee-von-cupcake, @spoonriverrat, @craftysquidz, @smol-ghol, @misslavender, @selected-heir, @gingersnarls and anyone else I may be forgetting or anyone who wants to do it!

#getting to know me #getting to know you!

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theadmiringbog · 6 years

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Steven Pressfield

I’m 74. Believe me, you’ve got all the time in the world. You’ve got ten lifetimes ahead of you. Don’t worry about your friends “beating” you or “getting somewhere” ahead of you. Get out into the real dirt world and start failing. Why do I say that? Because the goal is to connect with your own self, your own soul. Adversity. Everybody spends their life trying to avoid it. Me too. But the best things that ever happened to me came during the times when the shit hit the fan and I had nothing and nobody to help me. Who are you really? What do you really want?

Susan Cain

I wanted writing to be a permanent source of pleasure, and never to be associated with financial stress or, more generally, the pressure to achieve.

Terry Crews

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession?

“Work hard to beat the competition.”

The truth is that competition is the opposite of creativity. If I am working hard to beat the competition, it actually prevents me from thinking creatively to make all concepts of competition obsolete.

This competitive mindset destroys people. It’s the scorched-earth way of thinking, and everyone is burned.

The truth is that you need the success of everyone in your field in order to achieve your own success. Creativity operates differently. You work hard because you’re inspired to, not because you have to. Work becomes fun, and you have energy for days because this life is not a “young man’s game.” It is an “inspired person’s game.”

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? What new realizations and/or approaches helped?

I realized that I had to let people leave my life, never to return.

It’s the realization that there is a “will to pleasure,” a “will to power” and, in the words of Viktor Frankl, a “will to meaning.” You won’t take a bullet for pleasure or power, but you will for meaning.

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”

–Niels Bohr Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner

“These individuals have riches just as we say that we ‘have a fever,’ when really the fever has us.”

–Seneca Roman Stoic philosopher, famed playwright

Mike Maples, Jr.

Ego is about who’s right. Truth is about what’s right.

“Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another: ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’”

—C. S. Lewis

Aniela Gregorek

... our Eating Out Jar, Happiness Jar, and others. The three of us are strong-willed individuals with distinct preferences, and the Eating Out Jar came out of a struggle. Each time we talked about going out to eat, we would spend so much energy bickering that we would be exhausted or discouraged by the time we finally chose. It was not fun. The same situation occurred with choosing an activity for the weekend.

Amelia Boone

For every major event in my life—everything from races to job changes to breakups—I assign a song. Most of these come organically: what I was listening to at the time, lyrics that spoke to me at a moment in my life, or a song I sang on repeat during a race (a common habit of mine). I keep these songs in a playlist, ordered chronologically. I can go back through and listen to that playlist and relive major experiences, both highs and lows, in my life.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

I define faith as the ability to hear the music beneath the noise.

...

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere, what would it say, and why? It would say three words: “Live. Give. Forgive.” They are by far the most important things in life.

Julia Galef

One distraction I’ve learned to avoid is consuming media that’s just telling me things I already know and agree with.”

Annie Duke

When two extreme opinions meet, the truth lies generally somewhere in the middle. Without exposure to the other side, you will naturally drift toward the extremes and away from the truth of the matter.

...

Poker has taught me to disconnect failure from outcomes. Just because I lose doesn’t mean I failed, and just because I won doesn’t mean I succeeded—not when you define success and failure around making good decisions that will win in the long run.

What matters is the decisions I made along the way, and every decision failure is an opportunity to learn and adjust my strategy going forward. By doing this, losing becomes a less emotional experience and more an opportunity to explore and learn.

“There is no exact answer to the question ‘what is the meaning of life.’ It’s like asking a chess master ‘what is the best move in the world?’ It all depends on what situation you are in.”

-- Victor Frankl

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

–Bill Gates Co-founder of Microsoft

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt—it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.”

—Hal Boyle

Maria Sharapova

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?

In my profession, losses are often seen as failures. Not being the person who wins the last point, walking off the court first. All those visible things. But internally, losing sets you up for winning. Losing makes you think in ways victories can’t. You begin asking questions instead of feeling like you have the answers. Questions open up the doors to so many possibilities. If a loss sets me up for those tough questions I might have to ask, then I will get the answers that will ultimately turn those losses into victories.

Jason Fried

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession?

No, don’t scale. Start small, stay as small as possible for as long as possible. Grow in control, not out of control.

“Raise capital to launch a software/services business.” No, bootstrap. As in life, we form business habits early on. If you raise money, you’ll get good at spending money. If you bootstrap, you’ll be forced to get good at making money.

...

I’ve always been pretty good at saying no, but over the last couple of years I’ve come up with a new rule. If the ask is more than a week away, I almost always say no, regardless of what is it. Exceptions include family things I need to attend, and a conference or two I really want to speak at, but other than that, if the “yes” would tie me to something further than a week or so out, it’s almost always a no.

I always explain why and say something like, “Thanks for the invitation, but I just can’t commit to anything more than a day or so in advance. I need to keep my schedule open for me and the people I work with on a regular basis. Best bet is to hit me up a day or two before you wanted to get together. If I’m available we can set up a time.”

Gary Vaynerchuk

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”?

Macro patience, micro speed. They should not care about the next eight years, but they should stress the next eight days. At a macro, I think everybody’s super impatient. I think I’m unbelievably patient in years and decades, and unbelievably sporadic and hyper every minute on a day-to-day basis. I genuinely think everybody’s the reverse. Everybody’s making decisions about, like, “What am I going to do at 25? I better do that. . . .” In years, they’re impatient and making dumb decisions, and then in days, they’re watching fucking Netflix. They’re super worried about 25 when they’re 22, yet they’re drinking every Thursday night at 7 P.M. They’re playing Madden. They’re fucking watching House of Cards. They’re spending four and a half hours on their Instagram feed every single day. This is super important. Everybody’s impatient at a macro, and just so patient at a micro, wasting your days worrying about years. I’m not worried about my years, because I’m squeezing the fuck out of my seconds, let alone my days. It’s going to work out.

...

I still need a healthy balance of 20 percent yeses to things that seem dumb, because I believe in serendipity, and that’s an important balance that people struggle with.

Tim O’Reilly

Every morning, on my run, I try to take a picture of a flower and share it on Instagram. I was inspired to do this by a passage I read many years ago in a book by C. S. Lewis (I think it was The Great Divorce), in which a character, after death, only sees the flowers as blobs of color, and his spirit guide tells him, “That’s because you never really looked at them when you were alive.” As the line from Hamilton says, “Look around. Look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now!”

...

I have profited greatly from Esther Dyson’s advice about accepting speaking engagements: “Would I say yes if it were on Tuesday?” Because the day will come when it is on Tuesday.

...

We equate being smart and being driven as the ways to get ahead. But sometimes, an attitude of alert watchfulness is far wiser and more effective. Learning to follow your nose, pulling on threads of curiosity or interest, may take you places that being driven will never lead you to.

“Let life ripen and then fall. Will is not the way at all.”

—Lao Tzu, from The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu

Tom Peters

They say: “Think big! Have a compelling vision!” I say: Think small. Do something super cool by the end of the day!

...

I write about “excellence.” Most see excellence as some grand aspiration. Wrong. Dead wrong. My two cents: Excellence is the next five minutes or nothing at all. It’s the quality of your next five-minute conversation. It’s the quality of, yes, your next email. Forget the long term. Make the next five minutes rock!

“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”

-- Albert Einstein

Brene Brown

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do? What questions do you ask yourself?

Always these questions:

Sleep? Exercise? Healthy food? Am I resentful because I’m not setting or holding a boundary?

Leo Babauta

What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?

I am absurdly fond of minimalist aesthetics. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from an empty room with just one piece of furniture and a plant. Sometimes I fantasize about owning nothing but an empty room!

Esther Dyson

Always take jobs for which you are not qualified; that way you will inevitably learn something. And do not drop out of college unless you truly have a better alternative.

Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse: This small, short book provided me a vocabulary to think about the meaning of life—not just my life, but all life! It gave me a mathematical framework for my own spirituality. As it says, the game is to keep the game going forever, to rope all beings into playing infinite games versus finite (win-lose) games, and to realize that there is only one infinite game.

Kevin Kelly

I learned far more about business from that $200 than from a debt-inducing MBA.

...

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?

Don’t try to find your passion. Instead master some skill, interest, or knowledge that others find valuable. It almost doesn’t matter what it is at the start. You don’t have to love it, you just have to be the best at it. Once you master it, you’ll be rewarded with new opportunities that will allow you to move away from tasks you

Eric Ripert

An orb of shungite stone. Its incredible protective and healing qualities—mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical—can be felt by even the most skeptical people. One benefit relevant for many of us today: it diffuses negative waves from electronics.

...

Five or six years ago, I decided that I was going to live my life in three parts—one-third for my business, one-third for my family, one-third for myself.

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”

–Fred Rogers Creator of the famous television series Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

–Lao Tzu Chinese philosopher, author of Tao Te

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

–Terry Pratchett English fantasy writer

Gabor Mate

If you’re really smart, you’ll drop the drivenness. It doesn’t matter what’s driving you; when you’re driven, you are like a leaf, driven by the wind. You have no real autonomy. You are bound to be blown off course, even if you reach what you believe is your goal. And don’t confuse being driven with being authentically animated by an inner calling. One state leaves you depleted and unfulfilled; the other fuels your soul and makes your heart sing.

John Arnold

The reality, best captured in The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley and The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker, is that the long-term trend in almost every measure is resolutely positive. Optimism is a reflexive trait, with a circular relationship between cause and effect. The more optimistic society is about the future, the better the future is. These books serve as a reminder of the great advances.

Mr. Money Mustache

You are free for life once you have 25 to 30 times your annual spending locked up and working for you in low-fee index funds or other relatively boring investments. If you save the standard 15 percent of your income, this freedom arrives roughly at age 65. If you can crank that up to 65 percent, you’re free just after your 30th birthday, and you often end up a lot happier in the process. Of course, there are other ways to solve the money problem: Own a profitable business, or find work that is joyful enough to do it for life. But even these things happen more quickly if you don’t get mired in the earn-to-borrow-to-spend trap that is part of that big middle-class assumption.

David Lynch

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

I sit and desire ideas.

Evan Williams

Mindfulness meditation, which I started doing regularly about five years ago, has changed my life more than any other behavior. I feel like it rewired my brain (probably because it did). At first, I felt the effects very powerfully. After a few years, it feels less dramatic but necessary. If I go more than a couple days without sitting, I feel off. Wish I had started many years before.

...

Be in a hurry to learn, not in a hurry to get validation. In a team environment, you will make a much better impression if it seems like you’re not at all worried about yourself. It’s okay to actually be worried about yourself—everyone is—just don’t seem like it. If you resist asking for too much, you will often get more.

Chris Anderson

The realization that the best way to get things done is to let go. Here’s the thing. . . . It’s often the case that people want to help you or work with you. But they can’t if you insist on holding on to tight control. The more you let go, the more people will surprise you.

...

Many of us have bought into the cliché “pursue your passion.” For many, that is terrible advice. In your 20s, you may not really know what your best skills and opportunities are. It’s much better to pursue learning, personal discipline, growth. And to seek out connections with people across the planet.

Michael Gervais

“Every day is an opportunity to create a living masterpiece.” We have far more control in our lives than many embrace. We create or co-create our experiences in life, and each day is a new opportunity to be fully engaged in the present moment. It’s the present moment where glimpses of our potential are revealed and expressed.

...

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

“You can do anything you put your mind to.” Ah, no, that’s not accurate, and it reveals the advice-giver’s naiveté about human experiences.

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

–G. K. Chesterton English philosopher known as the “prince of paradox”

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.”

–John Gunther American journalist

Katrin Tanja Davidstodir

If you are asking about an exercise, I would say it is basic “fitness.” It is hanging out around your lactic threshold for an extended period of time—it’s hard. But that’s where the magic happens. It’s not going guns blazing through a workout and it’s not “talking pace.” It’s hanging out right where you might start dropping off soon but you can hold on. Once your general fitness is higher, your recovery is better between lifts and between events; it translates into so many other things.

Terry Laughlin

My five steps to mastery:

Choose a worthy and meaningful challenge.

Seek a sensei or master teacher (like George Leonard) to help you establish the right path and priorities.

Practice diligently, always striving to hone key skills and to progress incrementally toward new levels of competence.

Love the plateau. All worthwhile progress occurs through brief, thrilling leaps forward followed by long stretches during which you feel you’re going nowhere. Though it seems as if we’re making no progress, we are turning new behaviors into habits. Learning continues at the cellular level . . . if you follow good practice principles.

Mastery is a journey, not a destination. True masters never believe they have attained mastery. There is always more to be learned and greater

Drew Houston

If I had a cheat sheet I could give myself at 22, it would have three things on it: a tennis ball, a circle, and the number 30,000.

The tennis ball is about finding something that you can become obsessed with, like my childhood dog who would go crazy whenever anyone threw a ball for her. The most successful people I know are all obsessed with solving a problem that really matters to them.

The circle refers to the idea that you’re the average of your five closest friends. Make sure to put yourself in an environment that pulls the best out of you.

And the last is the number 30,000. When I was 24, I came across a website that says most people live for about 30,000 days—and I was shocked to find that I was already 8,000 days down.

...

Make sure the problem you become obsessed with is one that needs solving and is one where your contribution can make a difference. As Y Combinator says, “Make something people want.”

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”

–Louis L’Amour

Muneeb Ali

Asking myself the question, “When I’m old, how much would I be willing to pay to travel back in time and relive the moment that I’m experiencing right now?”

Steven Pinker

Find a new topic or area or concern that has a small number of people you respect behind it, but which has not become a culture-wide fad or conventional wisdom. If it’s already common knowledge, it’s probably too late to make a major contribution. If you’re the only one excited, you may be deluding yourself.

Ignore advice to simply follow your intuition or gut without thinking through whether the course of action is likely to be fruitful and rewarding.

Focus on effectiveness—what your actions will actually accomplish—and not self-actualization or other ways of trying to feel good about yourself.

Don’t think that the arts and verbal professions are the only respectable occupations (a common mindset of grandchildren of workers). The elites sneer at commerce as tawdry, but it’s what gives people what they want and need, and pays for everything else, including the luxury of art.

Think about what you will add to the world. Some lucrative professions (e.g., ultra-high-tech finance) are dubious applications of human brainpower.

Whitney Cummings

There’s something very liberating about being dirty, because then you don’t have to worry about getting dirty.

...

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

“Network.” In creative fields, I think networking actually hurts you in most cases. Don’t waste your time socializing with people who you think can help you. Just get better, and opportunities will naturally present themselves once you deserve them. Only focus on things within your control. And if you don’t know what those things are, find someone who can tell you. Don’t network, just work.

Rick Rubin

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

Anything having to do with commercial success. Anything having to do with testing things, doing polls, or getting public opinion on your work so you can change it. Anything suggesting a safe path and anything suggesting a stable situation, especially in the beginning. When you start out doing something, you’re likely charting uncharted territory, and it’s good to ask a lot of questions from people in the industry and to learn from them. Remember, though, when people give you advice, they’re giving you advice based on their particular skills, experiences, and perspectives. So know that when you get expert advice, it’s often people telling you about their journey, and every journey is different.

Ben Silberman

Even at the company, every week I show employees the current week within the year visually, just to remind them that every week matters.

...

I left Google in 2008 to start a company, and the first two or three things didn’t work out. Pinterest launched in 2010. It didn’t really start growing quickly for another year or two, and it really took off around 2012. That’s a four-year period where things weren’t going awesome. But, I thought: “That’s not that long. That’s like med school before you go into residency.”

Yuval Noah Harari

Nobody really knows what the world and the job market will look like in 2040, hence nobody knows what to teach young people today. Consequently, it is likely that most of what you currently learn at school will be irrelevant by the time you are 40.

So what should you focus on? My best advice is to focus on personal resilience and emotional intelligence.

Change is usually stressful, and after a certain age, most people don’t like to change. When you are 16, your entire life is change, whether you like it or not. Your body is changing, your mind is changing, your relationships are changing—everything is in flux. You are busy inventing yourself. By the time you are 40, you don’t want change. You want stability. But in the twenty-first century, you won’t be able to enjoy that luxury. If you try to hold on to some stable identity, some stable job, some stable worldview, you will be left behind, and the world will fly by you.

Don’t trust the adults too much. In the past, it was a safe bet to trust adults, because they knew the world quite well, and the world changed slowly. But the 21st century is going to be different. Whatever the adults have learned about economics, politics, or relationships may be outdated. Similarly, don’t trust technology too much. You must make technology serve you, instead of you serving it. If you aren’t careful, technology will start dictating your aims and enslaving you to its agenda.

Lorenzo stopped the action and walked around the net. He spoke quietly: “When I was a young player in Italy, nine or ten years old,” he said, “my coach gave me a rule: I could make mistakes, but I couldn’t make the same mistake twice. If I was hitting balls into the net, he would say, ‘I don’t care if you hit balls over the fence or anywhere else, but you’re not allowed to hit any more balls into the net. That’s the only rule.’”

Most of the time, “What should I do with my life?” is a terrible question. “What should I do with this tennis serve?” “What should I do with this line at Starbucks?” “What should I do with this traffic jam?” “How should I respond to the anger I feel welling up in my chest?” These are better questions. Excellence is the next five minutes, improvement is the next five minutes, happiness is the next five minutes.

This doesn’t mean you ignore planning. I encourage you to make huge, ambitious plans. Just remember that the big-beyond-belief things are accomplished when you deconstruct them into the smallest possible pieces and focus on each “moment of impact,” one step at a time. I’ve had a life full of doubts . . . mostly for no good reason.

Based on everything I’ve seen, a simple recipe can work: focus on what’s in front of you, design great days to create a great life, and try not to make the same mistake twice.

#Tribe of Mentors #books

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kraaks-avant-guardian · 7 years

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Brecht Ameel

Apart from being the half core of Razen, embodies Ameel Brecht the personae of the master guitar player in the purest form. Using resonator mandolin and guitar he blends European traditions of finger picking into a silent, melancholy world in which suppressed emotion and unspoken poetry are the key words.

— by Niels Latomme

The man will release his first solo record this year on KRAAK, so we had a lot to talk about. He will be playing on Sunday at the KRAAK festival 2017. We are sure that after 2 days of madness, his songs will be the perfect cure for the emotional black hole you might experience.

NL: As you know, I described your music as finger-picking based on European traditions rather than on American ones. What is your take on this?

BA: I think this is correct. When I start playing my music or when I am working on some of my tunes, I’ll never have something even remotely resembling a blues lick. It just does not come out of my fingers. Curiously, this has nothing to do with my listening habits, I grew up hearing a lot of blues and Takoma records, my father had John Fahey and Leo Kottke LPs so I was aware of that music very early, also stuff like Tampa Red, Bukka White…

But as a guitar player, I feel a stronger connection to renaissance and baroque music, to the music of Kapsberger, O’Carolan, and if I have to think of guitar players I will say John Renbourn, the dark sound of Julian Bream on his early Granados recordings, and the young Mike Oldfield – ‘tubular bells’, even with all of the off-the-wall instrumentation, it’s just a great guitar album.

NL: How important is the notion of craft for your music?

BA: I do think ‘craft’ is tremendously important, or ‘technique’, to use a really dirty word. A lot of people get it wrong when those words are used, though. Because it does not necessarily mean speed or agility. For me it has to do with a sense of commitment to the material, and a sense of control. I mean, a musician who chooses a no-input mixing board as instrument will need a great technique to get his or her story told. I think an audience always feels if the person on stage has made this commitment, no matter if it’s about playing a tuba or getting sound from contactmiked cans, no matter if it’s improvised or fully scored, no matter if there are a thousand tones or just one.

NL: In the interview you did with Stéphane Ginsburg, he mentioned that music in itself does not contain any emotion. What is your opinion on this as a musician yourself?

BA: If I remember correctly, what Stéphane meant, is that a combination of notes or tones in itself carries no meaning or emotion, it’s the person(s) hearing it who interpret it with a certain emotion. Well in a way that is right, ofcourse. On the other hand you have Pärt who claimed that the simple combination of a few notes holds the key to cosmic mysteries. Let’s say that I see ground to believe both of them. I’m pretty sure that sound in general, not just music, has a really strong connection to the primal beings that are still locked within ourselves. A part of our brain will react with a sense of either fear or relief to certain sounds. All great music plays on this, I think.

NL: How does your solo music relate to the music of Razen?

BA: Both fulfil certain extremes of my musical practice and of what I want to do and try as a musician. They stem from the same branch, the same interest in sound colours, timbral shocks and overtones, but they go in a different direction. My solo music is composed, there is room for change ofcourse and live I will always try out different things, but essentially every tune is composed, written down from start to finish. The music of Razen is improvised ensemble music, and those improvisations, live and on recording, are based on visual or aural fantasies that Kim and me will come up with, they are not based on a score. Also, my solo music is played mainly on guitar, an instrument which I would never use in the context of Razen, where a guitar would be a kind of blasphemy. My guitar and mandolin music is the music I play at home on the sofa, or in the kitchen, it’s the music of day-to-day, not meaning this in a derogatory way at all. The music of Razen for me is the music of night-time, of dreams within dreams, of pushing sound in order to discover new territories… The ambition for my solo music is an entirely different one, namely to write good tunes for my resonator guitar and resonator mandolin, and to be able to play them to the best of my abilities.

NL: I know that you went through a phase of nineties techno and electronic music. Is this (still) a part of your music?

BA: For sure electronic music, dance music, still has an important role for me as a music listener. It would be hard to pin down if there is a connection to my guitar playing. I think the strongest item coming from electronic music, for me, is a sort of sonic awareness. When my brother and me discovered raves and the club scene in our teens, and we replaced Voivod and Jesus Lizard with UR and Skam 12inches, it was ofcourse about the partying, but it was also about the experience of sound. A club environment tends to have a great sound system, and the music will be overwhelmingly loud, but never (or rarely) harsh, it won’t be Manowar playing live. I remember that we were in London for a Bloodsugar set in one of the clubs there. And we were queueing outside the building, and I suddenly realized that I was not really anticipating the party so much, I was anticipating what it would sound like inside. This was really magnetizing to me. Also, those early Warp tunes, early Detroit Techno, there was a strong narrative drive to those tracks, great mood and melodies. But going to clubs, you could say that I had a deep listening experience. Some of the music of CC Hennix or Eliane Radigue would have the same effect on me later on, the same mystery.

NL: Do you consider yourself a nineties kid? And how does it feel to be alive in 2017?

BA: Partly nineties, partly end of 80ies, I think. 2017 is a beautiful number, and it will be a good year – I hope. For me, the major personal difference living in 2017 is not the change of pace, internet and post-internet, or the way the world has evolved compared to the 80s or 90s. The big change is the change of perspective; from being a kid growing up at a time when the world was probably equally bewildering, to being an adult now with kids and a different set of responsibilities.

NL: Your record sounds as if a romantic soul was at work. Do you yearn for some remote, impossible past or place where life was better?

BA: Romantic or nostalgic, I wouldn’t know, really. What I do strongly believe is that whatever your age is, devoting time to reverie and imagination is as important as food or prayer. I do obsess over the notion of time… but in the end I’m quite convinced that there is only now.

#nr9 #brechtameel #nielslatomme

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