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#like the entire song but THOSE lyrics specifically
froggydoddles · 2 days
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So let’s talk about No Longer You from Epic: The Musical
I just finished listening to The UnderWorld Saga from Epic and even though it’s the shortest saga out of the musical the amount of lyrical symbolism and foreshadowing from this saga is incredible but I specifically want to talk about No Longer You and how this song uses foreshadowing to its advantage but also to show the inevitable character growth and development that Odysseus will actively go through in Act 2. Tiresias, when Odysseus first meets him and gets his prophecy pretty much not only tells Odysseus how his journey will end but how to do it. First is, ‘’I see portrayals of betrayal, and a brothers final stand’’ now to Odysseus this seems like he is going to lose another member of his already dwindling crew however to the audience and those who know of the myth know that this is to show Eurylochus’s mutiny that will/is happening, its hinted at in the opening verse of Puppeter that Eurylochus was going confess to Odysseus that he’s the reason why the wind bag was opened, so this was pretty much a warning by Tiresias for Odysseus to be very careful of those around his crew, so this might come into play in Act 2 about Odysseus being a little more apprehensive around Eurylochus and his crew. Second is, ‘’I see you on the brink of death. I see you draw your final breath. I see a man who gets to make it home alive but it’s no longer you’’, these lines are the most important in the entire musical cause it show that at some point on Odysseus’s journey back home he will go through such a change that the ‘’final breath’’ is to show that the Odysseus we knew since the beginning of the story will ‘’die’’ and a new Odysseus will emerge to do what ever is necessary to get back home and will accept ruthlessness, I also find it interesting that Tiresias says the exact same words to Odysseus when he first got his prophecy it’s as if Tiresias is almost telling him ‘hey, this is what’s going to happen to the exact dime, change your way of thinking now or you will not live long enough to get back home’ and in Monster, Odysseus finally accepts ruthlessness and at this moment I believe is the old Odysseus’s ‘’last breath’’ and in Act 2 we will see how this new Odysseus will use what ever tools he has to get back to Penelope and Telemachus. No Longer You is an excellent use of foreshadowing and how it can be used to show a character’s growth and development and this song should be studied for writers to help better use clever foreshadowing in there stories just, aaarrrghh it’s so good!
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kingmaximusboltagon · 2 years
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WAIT WAIT WAIT. MARY ON A CROSS - GHOST. WITH MEDUSABOLT.
"But through all the sorrow, we've been riding high. And the truth of the matter is I never let you go, let you go."
"Your beauty never ever scared me."
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uhbasicallyjustmilex · 11 months
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every night. EVERY NIGHT when the album i’m listening to finishes, spotify starts playing killing the joke and my peaceful little writing headspace is disrupted by me staring into the void for a good ten minutes in considerable emotional distress, thinking yet again about the fact miles really wrote: ‘interstellar dressed in leather drinking bitter boy/you know the plan but you never knew the ploy/but i, i live a lonely life/since you been gone’
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aberooski · 1 year
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If I want an actual proper episode 95 aftermath and everyone being pissed at Zane for doing that to Syrus like they should've been I'm just gonna have to write it myself aren't I? 🙄
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leoxxii · 2 years
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song that ALMOST fits your set of blorbos but has like two out of pocket lines so that if you told someone the song fits them, they'd assume they have a sexual relationship. when the blorbos absolutely do NOT have a sexual relationship.
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no-one-hears-me · 10 months
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taylor swift changed better than revenge boooooo I hate her now
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dallaji · 6 months
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Hope we make it to the Cloud.
♡ bada lee x idol!reader / NSFW❗
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SUMMARY: Amidst an identity crisis, you try to adequately prepare for your solo comeback. The lyrics have already been perfected, the song recorded and the visuals pinpointed. However, your creative team is not fully convinced by the choreography you came up with. They decide to send over one Bada Lee to help you finetune your jumbled ideas and bring harmony to your vision. You just have one specific request: the routine must include a trampoline.
WORD COUNT: 10k
CW: eventual smut, bada is 100% a giver and not a receiver in this jsyk (but i promise it makes sense in context), hinted voyeurism.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: this was meant to be pure smut but it became much longer than i intended ... oops for that . . . lets just roll with it!!1 also the choreo described is heavily inspired by tinashes bouncin.
- you don't care about those 7k words worth of boring build up? skip to this line: <After ten minutes of complete silence, Bada was the one to speak in a hushed voice: “What happened?”>
————— ୨୧ —————
The first thing you notice is how surprisingly gentle her voice is. 
“I’m Bada, it’s nice to finally meet you.”
Bada Lee stood tall in front of you, clad in an oversized jersey, cargo pants and a cap hugging her forehead in such a way her eyes were entirely obscured from your view. She promptly bowed after she spoke. Unsure where to look, you dropped your gaze and followed suit; vaguely aware of her seniority and bowing deeper.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” You tried to keep your own voice as neutral as possible, but agitation bubbled in your chest as you felt your manager’s prodding, eager eyes behind you. “Thanks for being here.”
Your team was much more excited about this collaboration than you were.
None of the aggravation you felt was Bada’s fault. It had been three weeks of your creative team dismissing every choreo draft you came up with: Three weeks of sleepless nights at the dance studio, tiring out yourself and your background dancers. Three weeks of browsing through videos sent in by other choreographers across the country, attempting to mix bits and pieces together but none of it ever feeling right. Three weeks filled with reminders of a deadline looming over your head. Three weeks of your team letting you know they had little confidence in this comeback. Your last attempt at showing them what you had come up with had ended up in a shouting match. Your manager, who you otherwise got along with just fine, bluntly stated that, perhaps, this concept simply wasn’t something you could pull off.
It had left you feeling betrayed. Your creative team had agreed it was time for you to approach a more mature concept, something that you felt was years overdue. But it seemed their definition of mature and yours were wildly different. You had worked hard on perfecting a set of songs to choose from, but you immediately butted heads with the rest of the team. You wanted to do the bouncy and playful R&B track. Your team wanted the EDM track. Eventually they relented, but now seemed hellbent on making it as difficult as possible for your vision to come to fruition. Putting together the visual board for the concept photos and the eventual music video was a similarly arduous process. You had to meet in the middle and sacrifice a lot of your initial ideas, but that procedure was almost pleasant compared to what you were dealing with in regards to the choreography.
Every idea you put forward was promptly shut down. Too complicated. Too boring. No TikTok challenge potential. Too sexy.
And maybe it was true. Your formations weren’t as clean as the ones thought up by a professional choreographer, but you weren’t really given a chance at all. It wasn’t like you were a bad dancer either. Far from it. You picked up choreos incredibly fast and had always played an active part in brainstorming past routines alongside your background dancers. You had more experience than most of your peers, yet you were treated as if you were still the same teenaged trainee from years ago.
“Is that really how you all feel?” You had whispered after your manager dropped that bombshell, searching for an answer in the facial expressions of your creative team. Most of them were not even willing to meet your eyes. “We just need to be realistic.” Your manager stated matter-of-factly. “That other song is still an opt—” “I am not changing the song.” You cut him off. Momentarily, your manager looked like a fish on dry land, gasping for air. “Sorry.” You added quickly, albeit a bit flustered. “Look,” He sighed, “We can do mature without shocking the nation. Let's keep it mild for now and maybe after two or three more singles, you can go all out.” “I haven’t been 18 in years, you know.” You retorted bitterly. Something inside you understood where he was coming from, but you had been obedient since your debut- how much longer should you wait? You didn’t want to sacrifice any more of your creativity, so many years into your career. You had even seen one of your own concepts go to a labelmate instead, your own team dubbing you too “youthful” to pull it off.  “Okay, how about this,” He began with a frown, “Let us pick one of the choreographers’ drafts for you. You can finetune it with their guidance.”
Their pick had been Bada. You hadn’t even realized she sent in a draft: at one point you were so overwhelmed you just stopped checking your emails. You also hadn’t bothered to watch it before this meeting. You were genuinely too deep in your feelings about that whole ordeal for that. However, now that she was standing in the studio, tall height towering over you, you couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious. 
You had seen Bada around.
After all, she had worked with many of your labelmates before. You had also watched a fair amount of her videos. She was one of the best in the business, and whenever you had downtime to practice freely you scrolled through her routines on Youtube to help stay in shape. As you were facing her, even with half her face hidden, you understood why everyone was so stricken with her. When she had walked into the room she oozed with authority, though not in an obnoxious way.
“Great!” Your manager clapped his hands, effectively breaking your train of thought. “Thank you so much for supporting us, Bada. Shall we jump right in?”
“Sure,” She nodded eagerly, hands wringing together as her body turned towards you. “I kind of wanted to see what you had in mind for this choreo.”
That surprised you, and you were certain your facial expression wasn’t hiding it. Your manager held his breath. “Oh! Well—” You chewed on your lip as you vaguely motioned the corner of the room, trying to find the words. “I wanted to use… I wanted to use a trampoline.”
Bada immediately turned her head to follow your gestures, her eyes landing on the mini trampoline set up in the studio. “A trampoline?” In the background, your manager heaved a sigh.
You purposely ignored him and nodded, slowly: “I can show you, if you want.” You had hoped that sounded more self-assured to her than it did to you.
Bada scratched her chin, still looking off to the trampoline, and then nodded along with you. “I’d love to see it.” 
You felt the tension in your chest ebb away. There was no malice to her tone; she seemed genuinely curious.
Then, Bada turned her head towards your manager, her ponytail falling off her shoulder. “I hope I'm not imposing but, I would like this to be a collaborative effort between the two of us. I think it would take the pressure off if you…?” She trailed off with a kind smile, one impossible to say no to.
As if he got doused with cold water, your manager stood up with an urgency. “Privacy! I can give you two some privacy, no problem!” He fussed around, gathering his things. “Just let me know when we can sit in on the finished product.”
The both of you bowed to him as you bid your farewells, watching him leave the studio with a wave. Once the door shut behind him, you could feel yourself exhale in relief. You knew that if your manager was going to sit in on every practice, he would go out of his way to shut down all of your ideas. Without him around, you had more opportunity to champion your vision- at least, you hoped so.
You craned your neck, looking up at the ceiling, before letting your eyes fall shut with a sigh, almost forgetting there was another person in the room.
“They’ve been on your case, huh?” 
Bada's soft but clear voice broke you out of your spell, and you turned your head to search for a glimpse of eye contact. Tough luck, as her hat was still in place casting a shadow down her face. There was, however, a knowing smirk playing across her features.
“You have no idea.” You muttered honestly. Bada laughed.
“I don’t want to make you dance a routine you don’t fully stand behind. I did mean it when I said I want this to be a collaborative effort.” Bada spoke carefully, but sincerely, her fingers once again intertwining. “I always wanted to work with you, so it’s an honor.” She added.
If you got a penny for every time you were caught off guard today, you could set some humble savings aside for an early retirement.
It is true that you’ve been sought after, but it wasn’t something you had ever internalized. Hearing it come from someone who herself was heavily sought after, made your face heat up.
“T- thank you. It’s an honor to work with you too.”
She bowed her head humbly, glancing over to the corner of the studio again where the trampoline sat, waiting. “Do you feel comfortable showing me what you have been working on?”
You nodded and rushed to the corner to set up your speaker, and then dragged the trampoline to the center of the room. You were oddly aware of your own presence, and almost felt the urge to make yourself smaller as you moved around. In the meantime, Bada was getting comfortable: she had dropped her things on a nearby table and left out a bottle of water. To her it must be a regular working day, but to you this felt scarier than getting up on stage.
Once you stood behind the trampoline, facing the wide stretched mirror filling up one side of the room, you stole a glance at the choreographer who was now crouched on the floor. She had pulled out a small camera and was setting it up on the edge of the table, making sure the lens was focused on your position. Long fingers fiddled with the buttons, and her tongue was prodding the hollow of her cheek. The angle allowed you to finally catch a glimpse of her eyes.
As if on cue, she glanced up at you. Your eyes met in the reflection of the mirror and your heart raced.
She gave you a soft smile and moved to sit cross-legged on the floor, the camera now fully set up. “I usually record everything, so we can watch it back and give feedback.”
Right, of course.
“Yeah, that’s usually how we operate as well.” You spoke timidly, and it was true. Yet something about having her attention on you felt more intimate. Usually there was at least one other person from your creative team looking on as well.
Trying to come across casual, you tied your hair up in a high ponytail. “What do you think of the song?” You asked curiously.
It was now Bada’s turn to be caught off guard. Her smile faltered and she broke the eye contact you had been sharing, clasping her hands together as she spoke. “I like it.” She began. “A lot, actually. It’s why I wanted to play a part in it. There isn’t anyone doing a song like this nowadays.”
Even though her body language was confusing, you couldn’t find any dishonesty in her voice. What she said made you feel relieved, some of your insecurity fading to the background. It’s why I wanted to play a part in it. 
You sent a smile her way even though you weren’t sure she was even looking at you. 
Proving you wrong, she smiled back.
“Alright, so,” You gestured to the trampoline at your feet. “The idea is, the other dancers and I all do the same routine. I'll be front and center. Four or six other dancers dance behind me, with their own trampoline.” You gave the trampoline a light shove with your foot, making sure it would stay in place, and then grabbed your phone. “Then you have an idea.” 
You looked over your shoulder at Bada and gave her an inquisitive thumbs up. “Ready?” You asked.
Bada pressed a button on the camera and mimicked your thumbs up with a smile. “Ready when you are.”
You faced the mirror again and shook your shoulders a bit, forcing your body to loosen up. After twisting your neck a few times, you hit play on your phone, quickly placing it under the trampoline as the familiar synths of the song started blaring from the speakers. You tried to feel the confidence you were usually able to conjure up on stage, closing your eyes and swaying your hips, ponytail moving from side to side. 
As soon as you heard your own voice through the speakers, instrumentals going deeper, you got into position. Your eyes opened up to focus on your own reflection in the mirror as if it was a fan in the crowd watching. Mouthing along to the lyrics, a playful smile on your lips, you hit every move as you had envisioned. Once the chorus came up, you dropped to your knees on the trampoline, grappling the edge as you performed the routine. Pushing back against the springs gave you the velocity to keep your moves fluid, your body twisting and turning, flipping over and hitting the next move. You made sure to move your hips deftly, aware that you had enough curves to allow you to pull it off, and kept your facial expressions in line. It had to look effortless. 
You felt your ponytail swing along with your movements as if it were an extension of you, and sat up on the trampoline. The chorus came to an end and you used your arm strength to twist yourself around fast enough, gracefully falling back on your chest whilst keeping your toes en pointe in your sneakers. The tips of your fingers were touching the floor as your legs crossed, moving to rest your elbow on the edge of the trampoline and resting your chin atop your palm. You lip synced to the final words of the chorus, gaze alluring as you finished the move, and the music stopped.
You slowly sat up straight on the trampoline, crossing your legs, and slid your hand underneath to hit pause on your phone. You looked towards Bada expectantly, but the question got stuck in your throat. She was staring at you, mouth slightly agape, with an unreadable expression. For a split second you were reminded of your trainee days, when you had just finished a routine and were met by your choreographers’ stern faces; they wouldn’t spare you a single compliment, and instead listed off every mistake you had made.
But then, Bada blinked once and then twice, as if in a daze, and let out a soft “woah”. She started applauding you, shaking her head in bafflement. You felt your shoulders drop in relief.
“That was incredible!” The choreographer took off her cap, fixing her bangs before putting it back on. “You came up with this?”
You nodded slowly, the tips of your ears glowing hot. “I used to be a gymnast.”
“I can tell—” Bada spoke bluntly, but then snapped her mouth shut as if she said something wrong. “I mean, that was really good. Every part of your body was in command. Your team didn’t like it?”
“They think it’s too much, compared to my usual routines.” You had the urge to go off on a tangent, but ultimately you didn’t know Bada well enough. Unfortunately, you were naturally quite expressive and the disapproving frown on your face was on clear display.
“Too much? I kind of wanted more, actually.” She laughed softly, looking down to where her legs were crossed. You felt your heart skip a beat and bowed your head in lieu of a thanks. 
Subsequently, the bright green light of the camera caught your attention. It was still recording. 
“Hey, I think the camera is still on.” You spoke before you realized, and hoped it didn’t sound accusatory.
“Huh? Oh!” Her expression was almost akin to a child being caught with a hand in a cookie jar, the way she swiped at the camera to turn it off. “Sorry. Good call.” She mumbled shyly, tucking it behind her. 
You weren’t sure what to say next, still flustered at her lofty praises, but luckily Bada broke the momentary silence.
“I had an idea…” She began, her hand rubbing at her chin pensively. “I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to watch my draft yet?”
You shook your head abashedly. “No, sorry, I honestly didn’t get to it.”
“It’s fine.” Bada waved her hands dismissively. “Maybe instead of doing the trampoline routine in every chorus, we could only do it in the middle? Exactly as it is. I wouldn’t change anything. And then for the other two choruses, we could keep some key moves but keep it on the floor.”
You mulled it over for a second, glancing up at the ceiling contemplatively. Using the trampoline the whole way through was not an option, according to your team. They had felt you were toeing the line with ‘raunchy’ much too closely. Perhaps you could find middle ground this way, while still keeping the part of the routine you felt most proud of. 
“Okay.” You agreed, nodding slowly. “We would need something special for the final chorus, then.”
“I had another idea for that, if you’re fine with it. Would you like to watch my draft with me?”
————— ୨୧ —————
Her draft was good. Really good, actually. 
Bada and you were sitting on the floor next to each other, the taller girl holding her phone out in front of you as the draft played on the screen. You were sitting quite closely together, but not close enough to be touching, a conscious decision on your part. You were a bit too aware of her presence, something about her was heightening your senses in a variety of ways. It wasn’t even as if she was stern or unkind, she just had an aura that intimidated you. At least, that’s what you were telling yourself.
A blonde girl you didn’t recognize was dancing your parts. Six other dancers, one of them being Bada, were in formation behind her performing the choreography perfectly in sync as your song played in the background. While you should really be paying attention to the girl in the center, your eyes couldn’t leave Bada’s figure. In the video she was dressed in loose-fitting cargo pants, just like today, and a crop top. Once again she wore a cap covering half her face, and even a face mask, but her hair hung loose over her shoulders. 
You were always impressed by the small movements she was able to squeeze in, emphasizing certain parts in ways the other dancers weren’t able to. However, it was the final chorus that had your hands turn clammy.
The final chorus was a duet formation. Bada, with a quiet confidence in her step, and the blonde girl moved towards each other in the center of the room. They were effectively dancing for each other, the blonde girl whipping her head back as Bada stared her down, swaying their hips together rhythmically. Their steps were coordinated in such a way they almost mirrored, Bada rolling her body one way and the blonde girl moving the other; but it still felt cohesive. It was an intimate choreo. There were a few split moments of hips grinding against crotches, but it never lasted long enough to be straight up inappropriate. Still, you couldn’t help but realize you would have to practice this routine with Bada as well, and you felt yourself getting hot under the collar.
The choreo ended with the blonde girl giving Bada a playful shove, and the taller girl backed away slowly, a saunter in her step, before moving off the screen along with the other background dancers. The video ended and Bada dropped her phone in her lap, not looking at you.
“That was good.” You were relieved your voice came out evenly, and Bada started nodding in her trademark way, hands clasped together. “The formations were really clean and— I loved the final chorus.” You blurted.
She smirked, head raising and meeting your eyes for the second time today. You were starting to feel eager, greedily watching. 
“I’m glad to hear. We definitely need to finetune the first chorus, line it up with your routine and all that. I really don’t want to lose your input.”
“That sounds great, thank you.” You felt a surge of gratitude in your chest, and shot her a wide smile. “I’m looking forward to working on this together.”
Bada dropped her gaze again, worrying her lower lip. You felt miffed at the brusque interruption of your shared eye contact but didn't show it. 
“I suggest we start with practices tomorrow, we will edit the first chorus as we go,” She whipped out her phone, looking at her calendar. “We should practice the duet together until you’ve got a handle on it, and then I can bring over some of my guys to prep for the actual performances. I know someone for my part. He’s worked with some of your labelmates before, I’m confident he’s right for the job.” 
You couldn’t tell if you were anxious at the prospect of practicing such a choreo with Bada, or if you were disappointed that the eventual product wouldn’t be performed with her. It made sense, though. If your label was already worried your concept was too mature for the country, having two women perform such a choreography wouldn’t be received well at all. 
“Great. Same time tomorrow, just the two of us again?” 
“Same time tomorrow,” The third time she was willing to meet your eyes, and once again with a small smile playing across her features. “Just the two of us.”
————— ୨୧ —————
Working with Bada the past few days has been surprisingly easy. 
On the first day, she brought some iced coffee for the both of you and presented it with an exaggeratedly deep bow, holding out the plastic takeout bag in front of her as if she was a lackey presenting you a treasure. You giggled, muttering an incredulous “thank you” as you took the bag from her hands. Through sips of coffee, the both of you fast forwarded through the recordings trying to piece the choreography together. You were able to bounce ideas off of her in a way you never felt comfortable enough doing with other choreographers. Bada was attentive, patient and, above all, eager. 
On the second day, you wanted to repay your debt and entered the studio with a box of doughnuts. She let out a surprisingly girlish squeak when you laid the box on the table, and barreled over to grab one. That day she was wearing a beanie instead of a cap, something you inadvertently preferred as you could now lock eyes and take in her features. Sometimes you had the impression she was hellbent on looking anywhere except into your eyes, but you didn’t want to mull it over for too long; some people just had a different way of interacting. Everything else about her still left you with a warm feeling.
Sometimes you both took turns performing for each other. She would pull her beanie further down her head as she took the center of the studio, and each time something inside you would brace itself. You could only watch in awe: her movements were sharp and magnetic, her entire body language changing in the blink of an eye. While your attention should be on her footwork, you were instead hypnotized by the sway of her hips, greedily drinking her in. You chalked it up to her being such a captivating dancer.
However, little could explain how much you relished in her undivided attention. When it was your turn to copy the moves, you made sure to give it your all and put on a show. Without a hat obscuring her eyes, you could tell where her eyes were looking and it wasn’t always on your reflection in the mirror. You swore you could feel her gaze burning in your lower back, but you didn’t mind. It encouraged you to hit your moves a bit harder than you usually would.
“You’re a fast learner,” Bada said at the end of the day, drinking from her water bottle as you watched her throat bob. “Keep it up and you won’t need me anymore.”
You didn’t like the sound of that.
————— ୨୧ —————
By the fifth day, the both of you had started working through the details of the duet. 
The familiar song sounded through the speakers, the room filled with the sound of your singing voice and the squeaking of your sneakers on the floor. 
You were painfully aware of the way Bada closely danced behind you but you kept your eyes down, forcing yourself to keep track of your footwork. You bent over slightly at the start of the next line, your hips popping out and letting your hair whip to the side as you hummed along to the lyrics. In tandem, Bada moved her hips the opposite direction but gyrated closer to you, her hand coming up to tug her cap lower. You spared the mirror a glance for a split second, realizing Bada was much closer to you than you had realized, but you pushed the thought away.
You looked good together.
“Pause real quick.” She spoke suddenly, stepping away from you and bending over to stop the song. You immediately halted your movements at the command, trying to control the heaving of your chest and willing away the warmth of your cheeks. 
She stood up again, meeting your eyes in the mirror before steadying herself behind you, body close to yours.
“You’re doing great, but,” A tentative hand slid to your hip, fingers curling over in a loose grip as she subtly urged it to move to one side. Both your eyes remained locked through the mirror. “I think we should move together in this part. Like this.” She repeated the motion, her grasp on your hip tightening ever so slightly before pulling you flush against her pelvis. Her hips rocked along with yours, and you could only follow. 
She hummed close to your ear, and you felt her breathe along the side of your face. “Just like that.” Her voice was quiet, gentle even, though her stare was everything but that. It was intense. 
In an attempt to sound casual you replied with an “okay”, but it came out softer than you had hoped for. 
Her eyes dropped from the mirror, opting to look down at you directly, but you couldn’t find the confidence to return the favor. “You should do that thing again," she continued quietly, "Where you throw your hair back, but look at me when you do it.”
You repeated your steps, but this time both her hands came down to hold your hips in place. You turned your head as requested, your hair falling over your shoulder as your eyes finally met. Her gaze was intense but undecipherable; she hadn’t been looking at the mirror at all this time.
Bada was so close, unblinking and heady. The thought entered your mind before you fully realized: if you craned your neck you could kiss her. In a careful motion, you felt her hands slide up and down slowly, smoothing along the curve of your hips.
“Perfect.” She said, and it sounded so intimate you felt lightheaded. Usually she voiced her approval with an animated smile and a thumbs up, but she spoke to you as if she was scared you would set off running. “You got it. You want to try that again with music?”
You nodded slowly and her hands dropped from your hips, leaving a burning sensation in their wake. As she bent down to turn the song back on, you brought the back of your hand up to your cheek; checking if it was as warm as you felt. Then you ran your fingers through your ponytail, tightening the hair tie with a sharp tug in an attempt to snap yourself out of whatever daze you had fallen into.
It meant nothing. She had merely workshopped a move and there was no need to feel so nervous.
The final chorus of the song began thumping again and the both of you got into your starting positions. Bada’s presence was palpable behind you, but you tried to force your head back into performance-mode. You kept your moves sharp, lip synced as if the voice came directly from your own throat and smiled playfully at all the right lines. 
As the instrumentals of the final chorus got louder, you twirled a finger around your ponytail, playing with the imaginary crowd in front of you. Bada pressed up against your back. Your hips moving in tandem just as the choreo required and you could no longer repress the urge to grind back against her. You saw Bada smirk in the mirror, her eyes obscured by her cap, but you could tell she was enjoying your blunt display of confidence. That made you laugh for real, putting an extra ‘oomph’ into the roll of your hips, dropping even lower, and feeling Bada take what you gave her with a great amount of enthusiasm. You heard the choreographer let out a "woo!" and you giggled.
At the very end of the choreo, you were meant to face Bada and push her away; making room for a final solo moment. So you turned around, meeting that familiar mischievous grin and your hand came up to curl into her collar. Bada sucked in her lower lip, greedily towering over you and looking down expectantly. 
But something about the giddy atmosphere had you feeling bold, so you tugged her even closer instead. Her mouth fell open, but she followed you down nonetheless, eyes becoming half-lidded. You were mere inches removed from each other, and her breath fanned across your face. For a split second her gaze lingered on your lips, and you held your breath, heart fluttering in an unfamiliar feeling. A fleeting thought told you to bridge the gap, pull her impossibly closer by the grip you had on her collar, but your body acted before your brain could. 
You reached for her cap and tugged it off her head, putting it on yourself in one swift movement and then shoved her away as you were supposed to do; effectively breaking the spell. You turned on your heel to look back at your reflection in the mirror, consciously blocking Bada from your periphery and closed out the song. The music stopped.
Now that the studio was quiet you could hear the both of you catching your breaths, and rather than facing Bada while your face was still heating up, you flopped onto the floor, limbs spread out. You moved Bada’s cap atop your face, blocking out the bright lights of the practice room, feeling exceptionally winded. 
You felt Bada sit down next to you and she promptly pulled her hat off your face.
“Ow,” You uttered lamely, arms coming up to cover your face instead. Surely the shame you felt was on wide display and you had to save the little bit of the reputation you had left. You could already hear her voice, albeit uncharacteristically, echo in your head: “What was that?” “Why didn’t you just stick to what I told you?” “That was highly unprofessional.” Your stomach churned.
But instead she said: “That was incredible.”
“Huh.” You exclaimed unintelligently. You tentatively moved your arms from your face and were met with Bada staring you down, her hat back in place. It would probably be too weird if you went back into hiding, so you dropped your arms uselessly. 
“That was incredible,” she repeated, a fond smile on her lips. “You are incredible. I’m telling you, we’ve got a hit on our hands.” She extended her arms excitedly, as if she had to convey the sheer magnitude of potential you both had crafted.
“You really think so?” You sounded breathless, the warmth in your chest blossoming. 
“I know so. Seriously? If your team doesn’t like this, they’re idiots.” Her bluntness kicked a laugh out of you, and you playfully whacked her knee. “No, I mean it!”
“It wasn’t too much?” Slowly you sat up, tugging at the front of your shirt clinging uncomfortably to your body from the sweat.
Bada tilted her head, blinking at you sympathetically as she weighed your words carefully. 
“I’ve already told you,” her voice was quiet, as if she was worried someone else might overhear, “I can’t get enough of you. The same goes for the public, by the way.” 
That made you want to kick your feet like a teenager, butterflies fluttering in your stomach as you fought the impulse to fall into her arms. Instead, you dropped your head with a timid smile hoping that did enough to show your gratitude. 
Bada placed a hand on your shoulder with a touch so soft she might as well be reassembling a broken vase, urging you to look at her. “Let's take a break, order some bubble tea and then watch the recordings. Sound good?” 
You leaned into the touch with exhilaration. “Yeah. My treat, though.”
————— ୨୧ —————
The tenth day coincided with a photoshoot in the morning. You had gotten up at 4am to get to the location early enough so that there was enough room for your stylists to get to work. 
The first thing you noticed was the visual board you had worked on tirelessly a few weeks prior.
It had changed.
Some of the images jumbled around or left out entirely, replaced by ones you did not recognize or even liked to begin with. Even the color scheme had changed. Before you could ask your manager about it, however, your hair stylist beckoned you to follow her into the booth. Still groggy, with just a protein shake in your belly to keep you at bay, you followed without objection.
But then, after you emerged fully made up with your hair in intricate braids and ribbons, you saw the backdrop you were going to work with and the outfits you would be wearing: they looked nothing like what you had agreed on. 
Once sown into the baby pink corset, you looked at your reflection in the mirror with a glassy expression, too exhausted to even express the anger that was simmering in your chest. 
“What happened to the costume I commissioned?” You asked your manager in a flat voice, fully realizing you wouldn’t like whatever the answer would be.
“Oh,” But he didn’t sound surprised at all, “We didn’t really like how it turned out, so we decided to go with something else. Pink looks good on you, you know.” He added hurriedly. 
You blinked, clenching and unclenching your jaw. The last thing you wanted was to cause a scene in front of all the staff. Firstly, it wasn’t their fault; secondly, word got around quickly and the last thing you needed was a trending blind item about diva behavior. With great difficulty you swallowed the venom down your throat and walked over to the camera crew without sparing your manager a single glance. Bowing to everyone separately, you turned on the autopilot. You just needed to get through the day. You posed for the flashing of the cameras, turning your brain off.
“That’s a wrap! Great work, all.” The photographer’s voice snapped you out of your daze, and you slowly stumbled away from the backdrop, blinking back tears.
“Great job everyone, thank you for your hard work.” You hoped your voice sounded even and hurried away to get changed.
Once alone in your dressing room, you bent over the sink with your hands in your hair. You didn’t understand. They had seen the choreography Bada and you had worked on, and approved. They had been enthusiastic even, and it felt like your team and you had finally buried the hatchet. Now you understood why they were so pliant in their acceptance of the final choreo; they had found something else to exert their control over. You didn’t want to cry, so you grit your teeth and untied your hair, fingers smoothing out where the braids had been.
Bada.
In the bustle of the early morning you had almost forgotten you were meant to start your first practice with the entire dance crew today, with Bada as the lead choreographer ensuring everything played out exactly according to your collaborative vision. It had been almost two days since you had last seen her, yesterday being a day off for the both of you, and for some reason it felt like a lifetime.
You wanted to see her, but you weren’t sure if you could dance today.
You arrived at the studio about an hour later, right on time, with most of your makeup cleared from your face and dressed in joggers and a crop top. This time you were sporting a cap as well, hoping the dancers wouldn’t notice the fatigue etched on your face on your first day with them. 
Everyone was already there. Some dancers stretching, others practicing and a few watching the recordings while in deep discussion with Bada. Her flannel shirt was bunched up at her elbows as she made grand gestures with her hands, explaining something to the dancers in front of her. As the sound of the door opening and closing filled the room, the tall girl perked up mid-sentence, shooting you a wide smile. 
“Hey! I got you some coffee.” She spoke brightly, walking over to you in big strides as her loose braid fell off her shoulder. You had just finished bowing to everyone when you turned to Bada, feeling your chest swell at the sight of her. “How was the shoot?”
She must’ve noticed something. Perhaps it was the sag of your shoulder, the way you bit your lower lip or the exhaustion in your eyes; but her smile faltered slightly when she got a closer look. 
“It went alright.” You spoke neutrally, unable to meet her eyes but adding a nod to come across as reassuring as possible. “Thank you for the coffee.”
Bada stood a bit helplessly but seemed to understand that prying any further would be futile. “Of course, it was my turn, after all.” She smiled carefully. “You wanna get started?”
“Let’s do that.” You agreed, hoping that dancing would get your mind off of things. 
Bada gathered everyone together and gave a small speech, making a conscious effort to do all the talking so you could comfortably hide the swelling insecurity you felt deep in your chest. You nodded at the right times, smiled at the dancers (some of them peeking at you in awe) and tried to come across relaxed. 
Once Bada finished talking, she called for everyone to get in position as she strode to the far end of the room, where she had the most optimal view. You moved to the front, right next to your trampoline, facing the mirror and vaguely took note of a tall guy with a buzzcut who now stood in the spot Bada did when you had been practicing with her. Something about her not being part of the dance anymore, even though you perfectly knew this was going to be the plan all along, made you feel even less secure.
You shook your limbs loose, trying to empty your head for the sake of the dancers who were all blind to your inner turmoil and instead incredibly excited to be here. You did not want to waste their time. Once again, you forced yourself into auto pilot. 
The song started playing, bubbling synths building up to your first lines, and you danced. You danced as you had practiced with Bada, but weren’t able to envision the crowd in front of you. Instead you relied on muscle memory, which worked out well enough. Even when the tall guy was behind you for the duet, hips grazing yours, you didn’t feel very aware of your surroundings at all. Sometimes you all had to stop midway when Bada noticed that someone was offbeat or out of position, but you slid back into the moves easily. The team was strong, too. You danced the choreo once, twice, thrice and a fourth time. When you grabbed the guy’s collar, you pushed him back immediately, unlike what you had practiced with Bada, and finished your move.
Bada clapped her hands together with a cheer.
“That was solid, everyone!” She strode over, giving everyone a thumbs up. “Some things we have to smooth over, but we are way ahead on schedule. Let’s take five. I— Are you okay?”
You barely realized your own actions until you felt the warm tears run down your cheeks. You had sat down on the trampoline in such an unceremonious way, body shaking from exertion as you tried to hold back hiccups. Panic began crawling up your body and into your throat. Suddenly aware of the dancers seeing you in such a state, you took your cap off and held it in front of your face.
“Actually, since we are ahead on schedule, let’s make this a short day.” Bada’s authoritative voice declared to the entire room. The dancers nodded along nervously, glancing at your hunched figure with palpable worry. “Great work everyone, make sure to get home safe. Same time tomorrow.” 
You croaked out a soft “Thank you, everyone” through your fingers, but your voice was barely audible. You couldn’t face them.
Footsteps rushed around the room, the dancers gathering their backpacks off the floor. You barely registered the hushed voices slowly echoing further and further away from you, until the door shut with finality; a lock sounding in place and silence reigning over the space.
Bada’s hands came to rest on your shoulders as you felt the trampoline sink with her added weight. Then she pulled you into her arms with a tenderness you had never experienced from anyone before. Your arms tightened around her frame in instinct, dropping your cap onto the floor, and your heart constricting painfully as you hid your face in her chest. 
She didn’t speak as you hiccupped soundlessly, letting the exhaustion pour out of you with quivering shoulders. Bada’s hands traced comforting lines along your back, her cheek pressed against the top of your head as she waited for the trembling of your body to subdue. In turn, you tried to focus on the steady rise and fall of her chest, her breathing lulling you. 
After ten minutes of complete silence, Bada was the one to speak in a hushed voice: “What happened?” 
You glanced up at her, tears still running down your cheeks as you choked back a particularly pathetic sob. “I’m sorry…” 
Bada let out an affronted gasp, bringing her hands up to cradle your face instead and letting her thumbs wipe the tears from your cheeks. “Please don’t apologize. Tell me what happened.”
“My team,” You began with a slurred speech, “They still don’t believe in me. They don’t think I can pull this off.” 
Your voice sounded heartbroken: “They make sure to remind me every chance they get. My manager is certain I am going to embarrass the nation, because there is only one thing I can do and it’s not this. I can’t be sexy. I don’t have good ideas. And maybe they’re right! I don’t have the charisma to pull this off. My fans are going to hate it, because it’s not the person they wanted to support—” There was nothing you could do except keep going, like a faucet running, and Bada let you, “—I can’t even wear what I want. My visual board was cybercore inspired. I had a red PVC two piece outfit custom-made, but they put me in a pink dress and ballet shoes.” You added, horrified; not at the clothes, but at the clear disconnect between your team and you.
Bada, who was nodding along to your words with a serious expression up until that point, chuckled at your words, thumbs still catching tears. “Well I always thought you looked like a pretty princess, but that’s indeed a bit on the nose.”
The follow-up to your rant died in your throat, eyes widening at her words. Your brain was short circuiting. “You think I’m pretty?”
The taller girl scoffed at that, brows furrowing. “I can’t believe you just asked me that.”
“Why?” You asked, genuinely.
For a moment she gawked at you, deep in thought and searching your face for insincerity. Bada was unable to find it. 
“It’s not the only thing I think of you.”
Something about the atmosphere in the room changed when she spoke, and you almost forgot why you were upset in the first place. She carefully tucked your hair behind your ears, her eyes staring into yours unblinkingly. It reminded you of the way she had looked at you during practice days prior, when you had pulled her close by her collar for the first time. Her attention on you was suffocating, but you were glad to be drowning.
You sucked in your lower lip for a split second, releasing it, and waited with bated breath for her to continue. Her eyes dropped immediately, following your movements. She slid one hand down to the crook of your neck, slowly, the tips of her fingers tracing along your skin and leaving shivers in their wake; her other hand curled under your chin with a loose grip, tilting your head back slightly. Your head felt so heavy you could only lean in closer, wanting more of something you couldn’t even put in words.
But as always with Bada, she seemed to know what you wanted before you could open your mouth and ask for it. She closed the distance, brushing her lips against yours in a soft peck, and it was when you realized she was also holding her breath.
Her thumb trailed along your jawline, breath fanning over your lips. “Is this okay?” She asked quietly. You placed your hands on her thighs to brace yourself, your own lightheadedness overwhelming you, and nodded.
There was a shadow of a smirk on her lips when she kissed you a second time; lips connected with more force this time before gliding together in tandem. She tilted your head to get impossibly closer to you, her hand moving from your chin to tangle her fingers into your hair and cradling the back of your head. When her lips parted and closed around your bottom lip, nipping eagerly, you inadvertently let out a soft noise at the warmth of it all which only seemed to spur her on further. 
You curled your hands into the front of her shirt as her back straightened, crowding around you as if her goal was to subdue, the trampoline creaking underneath your shared weight. She seemed to relish in overpowering you, inhaling sharply through her nose when you parted your mouth for her further.
You felt the tentative prod of her tongue, and accepted. The wetness made you shiver as she swallowed your quiet gasps. The hand that was previously nestled against your neck slid lower, began exploring along the curve of your waist and feeling the bare skin your crop top couldn’t reach to hide.
She parted the kiss, and you let out a soft whine. Biting her lip in an attempt to hide her smile, but ultimately failing, her eyes were drinking you in. You could only imagine what you looked like as even Bada was flushed all over, chest heaving from excitement. Then, as if she was reading your mind, her eyes glanced over to the mirror in front of you. 
Bada shifted her position behind you, running her fingers through your hair before ultimately placing her palm against the other side of your waist. Steadily, as if she were correcting a move during practice, she turned your body to face the mirror. At this rate you simply accepted the effect she had on you, and wordlessly obeyed her ministrations. She planted her feet on the floor, long legs on either side of you; and ultimately caged you in, nestling her chin into the crook of your neck. Her eyes never left the mirror.
She brushed some of your hair over your shoulder as if she were propping up a doll, and spoke in a hushed voice: “Look at yourself.” 
The sight made you feel all the more dizzy. Through half-lidded eyes you barely recognized your own reflection; hair slightly mussed and lips swollen and lovebitten. Someone did that to you. Bada did that to you. 
The taller girl, pressed up against you, placed a kiss on your shoulder, fingers running up and down your body and making the hairs on your arms stand straight in exhilaration. You loved the way she touched you, how it made you feel; as if she was tracing the lines on an art piece. “You’re beautiful,” she whispered against your shoulder, “people would kill to see you like this.” 
The honesty in her voice made something in your stomach roll. “Bada…” You began, but you didn’t even know what you wanted to say.
“You have no idea how other people look at you.” Her hands cradled the small of your waist, fingertips digging into your hips. “So let me show you how they look at you.”
She began kissing up your shoulder, soft and warm presses of her lips, before parting her mouth against your neck with a tangible hunger that left you sighing. You tilted your head to the side to give her more room and every inch you freed, she swarmed eagerly. Her tongue swirled against a patch of skin, hand flattening on your lower stomach as the other traced higher and higher, along your ribcage, before inquisitive fingertips moved under the hem of your top. As she sucked a mark onto your skin, you clenched your thighs together at the familiar sensation between your legs. Your eyes slowly fell shut as she crept up higher, lips pressing right below your earlobe with a barely-there hum.
She whispered: “Keep looking at yourself.”
You obeyed bashfully, right when Bada reattached her lips to your skin. She had been tracing lines along the hem of your sports bra, enthralled with the way you shivered in her grasp, before slipping a hand under; her hand was warm as she kneaded your breast, but your nipples stiffened at the sensation all the same. You pushed out your chest to convey your delectation, and she rewarded you by sinking her teeth into your skin. Suddenly, with a swift movement, both her hands hoisted up the hem of your top and bra, and pulled it upwards, your breasts releasing from its confines. The cold air made them perk up and Bada’s hands cupped the underside.
She detached her lips from your skin with a wet sound before looking up at the mirror, taking you in with her saliva-slicked mouth agape. 
“So pretty,” Bada muttered, bringing your breasts a little higher, “Are you sensitive here?” She wondered loudly before tracing her thumbs right below your nipples. Once again your legs squeezed together, feeling yourself throb from excitement, and Bada picked up on the hint with a wide smile. “You are.”
In your reflection you saw Bada bring her fingers up to your mouth, thumb pressing down on your bottom lip imploringly, and you opened your mouth. She slipped her digit past, pushing it back against your tongue and you sucked obediently. Her eyes were drilling into yours through your reflection, enthralled by how pliant you were under her care. 
You released the digit with a wet ‘pop’ and Bada promptly brought it to your nipple, rubbing it in circular motions as her other hand continued to knead your other breast. A quiet moan escaped you, chest rising into her touch and Bada giggled, pressing another kiss on your shoulder. Your own hands ached to touch her, but she kept you firmly locked between her legs; instead you squeezed her upper thighs, feeling her shapes through the baggy cargo she was sporting. 
“Give me a kiss.” She commanded, and you immediately twisted your neck to capture her lips. 
It was all teeth, wet noises echoing through the room as your tongue swirled against hers; the taller girl groaning into your mouth at the sheer force you exerted. She gave your nipples a pinch before rubbing her fingers over them repeatedly, and she swallowed your breathless moans greedily. You dug your nails into her thighs as she cupped your breasts again, her tongue slipping out of your mouth to trail along your bottom lip instead. Your head was chanting her name, getting drunk on the near delirious attention she gave you. Tilting your head back even further, you connected your lips again even though the angle was uncomfortable. You were starting to feel desperate, hips lightly rocking back against the firmness of her body as Bada sucked down on your tongue.
One of her hands released your breast and trailed down the expanse of your stomach, once again breaking the kiss and instead opt to look at you in the mirror. Her fingers found the knot of your joggers as your eyes met in the reflection, and she pulled on the string; untying it. 
“Okay?” Bada inquired meaningfully, and you nodded much faster than you intended. “Let me hear you say it.” The tone of her voice, which was otherwise so gentle and quiet, made your full body shiver.
“I want it.” You spoke breathlessly, squirming impatiently between her legs as her fingers finally slipped down your pants.
She trailed along the sweatband of your underpants before cupping your heat over the fabric, fingers pressing against your folds inquisitively. Her eyes never left yours, quietly measuring your reactions. Unwittingly your thighs clamped around her wrist, breath hitching in your throat as she began to caress you with a touch so gentle it didn’t fit the precarious position you both were in. 
“You’re so wet.” Bada spoke coyly, smirking at the way your eyes squeezed shut in embarrassment. She began rubbing circles over your covered folds, feeling your wetness spread as if on command. Your breathing turned into whining, subconsciously grinding back against her hand. 
She removed her hand much to your distress, until you realized what she wanted: Bada began tugging the fabric of both your joggers and underpants down as far as she could, before giving your hip a commanding pat. You raised your hips to assist her ministrations, and she pulled the clothing down past your knees before you kicked them off fully. 
Your thighs were pressed together when you got back in place and suddenly felt self-conscious at how exposed you were despite your own eagerness. Bada wasn’t having it: her eyes were taking in your figure, hands immediately coming down to smooth along your thighs. Then, she squeezed tightly and wrenched your thighs wide apart, making you expose yourself for her. Before you could instinctively close them, her long legs hooked over your ankles, forcefully keeping them in place. All of it only made you throb harder.
“You don’t want to know how often I’ve been thinking about this these past few days.” Her hands smoothing along your sides in marvel, cupping your breasts once more. The tip of her nose pressed against the shell of your ear. “How many times I’ve watched those recordings and imagined you, exactly like this.” Her fingers fit into your mouth once again, and you sucked on them, letting your tongue swirl along the digits as if you were starving for it. “I think I lost count.”
Her confession made you moan around her fingers, shivers running down your spine. She scooted back ever so slightly, pulling your hips back with her unoccupied hand until it was the angle she needed, and then dropped it between your legs. Her fingers spread your folds and she sucked in a breath, completely mesmerized by your reflection. You were still swallowing around her fingers and she hummed encouragingly, hand cupping your vagina and spreading your wetness across your heat. 
She removed her fingers from your mouth and you caught your breath, fingers digging into her upper thighs as you braced yourself. As one hand kept your folds spread, the other, spit-slicked, began rubbing slow circles against you. You gasped at the sensation, mumbling her name in amazement. You raised your hand to the back of her head; grabbing a hold of her braid to simply have a hold of something, but it earned you a particularly sweet noise from the girl behind you. Your hips rocked back against her movements trying to find more friction in the right place, and Bada slowly sped up, moving her wrist up and down to try and find the spot that did it for you. Her lips pressed against the back of your neck so tenderly, and something about the dichotomy between that and the way she was touching you between your legs made your eyes roll back; lids closing as you thrusted back against her hand.
You didn’t understand how she was able to build up to that familiar knot in your stomach so soon, and it almost made you feel embarrassed, until you realized Bada was savoring every second of it. Her eyes never left your form, as if she were studying just another choreography, lips parted in an awestruck way. You had long foregone the urge to keep quiet, vocalizing exactly what she was doing to you: You let a particularly loud moan leave you when she rubbed along your most sensitive spot. Trying to pull more sounds from you, she pressed against your clit with more force and rubbed faster. Your hips could only chase her touch as your lower stomach constricted. 
Bada brought her hand up to her own lips and lapped at her fingers, effectively pausing her motions for a split second and thus drawing a broken whine from you; both because her hand wasn’t where you needed it to be and also because she had no qualms about having you in her mouth. It didn’t last long: she hushed you soothingly as she put her hand back where you felt it belonged and used the added wetness to add faster friction against your clit. Your head rolled back and you tugged at her braid, pulling an attractive groan from the girl behind you.
You weren’t far away anymore. Your lower stomach was unbearably tight with desire and you were a gyrating, frantic mess against her hand while her fingers rubbed against you in vertical swipes, her name falling from your lips repeatedly as if you were reciting a prayer. 
You managed to utter an “I’m close”, and Bada crowded against you before you could start begging her for release. “Come for me.” She demanded, and then immediately captured your mouth in a desperate kiss, teeth clashing together while she drank your sweet moans. 
As if on cue, the tension in your stomach imploded and you gave her braid a sharp pull. You gasped into her mouth, no longer kissing each other but rather breathing each other's air, as your orgasm rippled through you.
You felt your whole body quiver and shake in pleasure as Bada led you through your release, thighs trembling despite the hold the choreographer’s legs had on you. Her fingers hadn’t left your core, but the rubbing slowed down until you were gasping at the overstimulation, yet unwilling to make her hands leave you. As if she read your mind her movements came to a halt, but she pressed her palm against you; almost possessively. She planted kisses along the side of your throat, whispering praises against your skin as you caught your breath.
Once you had the rise and fall of your chest under control, her arms curled around your waist in a fond embrace, and you turned your head to look directly at her. She had already been staring at you, meeting your eyes with a bashful smile. The two of you laughed at each other, and Bada pressed your foreheads together.
“That,” You mumbled, eyes falling shut as you relished in her open affection: “Was amazing, thank you.”
“Was happy to do it.” She responded playfully, rubbing the tip of your noses together affectionately. 
“Will this happen every time I get self-deprecating?”
“I definitely intend to do this more often, but you could also just ask nicely.” Bada retorted with a smirk before pecking your lips. You giggled, putting your hands over hers and leaning back into the embrace.
After several more shared kisses and hushed whispers, both of you decided to get a move on: you were starting to get cold in your exposed state so Bada urged you to get up. She helped you step back in your clothes, a smug self-satisfied grin never leaving her face when she noticed the unsteady wobble in your legs. 
When you pulled your bra and top back over your breasts, Bada pouted. You gave her a playful shove but she caught your arms instead, bringing them around her neck as her own enveloped your waist.
“Wanna grab dinner?” Her eyes were round and hopeful.
“I would love that.” You replied, and gave her a kiss.
As the both of you tidied up the practice room and gathered your things, Bada listing off food suggestions in the background, your eyes slid to the table at the front of the room.
A familiar device remained perched on the edge, a small green light lighting up proudly.
“Hey, Bada.”
“Hm?”
“Camera’s still recording.”
She stumbled over looking mortified, snatching the device off the table and rewinding haphazardly. 
“Oh, fuck.”
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Text
star, doll, goddess, muse — (r.a.b., m.r., t.n., l.b.)
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Your boyfriend Regulus was the hottest guy in school, and the rest of his band mates were definitely up there too. When he asked you to be part of his band as a singer, you didn’t expect his band to be a part of your entire relationship as well. 3.1K words – happy birthday bestie! @nastyyavenuee
“Reggie, I don’t like the lyrics,” you sighed as you pressed your face into the pillow, throwing your notebook across the bed. “They don’t fit the mood of the song.”
“What do you mean, darling?” Regulus looked up from strumming his bass, raising a brow. “I thought you liked them.”
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You sighed, shaking your head. “That was before Enz started adding all of those drums and now it sounds like a sex song.”
Regulus grinned. He only grinned like that with you, specifically when he had dirty thoughts. “Oh yeah? What kind of sex song?”
At first, you didn’t really realize what he was asking. “Come on! Mattheo wrote, ‘perfect skin glimmering as she pleads, stars running down her cheeks as she screams?’ That is literally fucking someone and making them cry.”
Regulus stood, setting his bass down and walking over, coming behind you as you shifted to lay on your stomach. He softly kissed your shoulder blade as you continued to mumble the lyrics under your breath.
“I don’t even have any lines to sing! And what is this? It’s you, She’s my star, she’s his doll, and then it switches to Matty, she’s my goddess, she’s his muse, and she’s all of our- *laugh.* What the hell does that mean? Laugh in asterisks? What does that mean?!”
He laughed softly as he continued to kiss your skin, humming softly. “Think, my star,” he mumbled, continuously kissing against the back of your neck. “Just think… my darling star.”
You inhaled deeply, swallowing. “This… it’s about me?”
He laughed. “Of course it’s about you, doll… who else would it be about?”
You smiled, leaning your head back onto his shoulder as he slipped his fingers under your hips to slightly lift you up. He positioned himself above you as he helped support your now lifted ass, slipping a pillow under your hips.
“I don’t think it was the best…” you inhaled as he lifted your skirt, his tongue trailing along your shoulder. “To expose me like that.”
“Expose you?” Regulus laughed. “How is it exposing you when you’re always so obvious?”
“Obvious?” You scoffed slightly, unable to stop yourself from giggling slightly. “How is it so obvious?”
He laughed, using one hand and keeping you up before he started to undo his zipper with a soft groan. “Look how you don’t even protest or anything… you’re so used to just being lifted up and used.”
A sharp inhale leaves your mouth as he softly begins to roll his hips, letting his cock rub against your bare cunt as he groans softly. “Come on, you know that… you know that when we started opening up the relationship, I had to be ready… at all times…”
“Oh, I know,” he groaned, slowly sipping inside with a sharp inhale. “Fuck, you’re so perfect… so perfectly stretched, who fucked you last?”
You groaned as he steadily rolled his hips, moaning as he kneeled down behind you. “M-Matty… Matty fucked me last.”
He hummed, groaning as his thrusts got more collected, easing into a steady rhythm as you dug your nails into the pillow. “You like his dick better than mine?”
Oh, you liked all of their cocks for different reasons. Mattheo’s dick was the perfect blend between girth and length, Regulus’ cock was mainly length, Enzo’s was more on the shorter side with a larger girth, and Theo’s cock was perfect on both length and thickness, but he kept himself prettily groomed.
“N-No-!” You gasped as he snapped his hips forward, roughly fucking you into your cunt, groaning into your ear. “R-Reggie!”
“Mmm, such a perfect cunt,” he murmured into your ear, groaning softly. “Dammit… mhm, I’m going to love watching my cum drip down your thighs as you play that guitar.”
You blushed madly, inhaling as you tilted your head back. “Oh my goodness…”
He laughed again, groaning as he started to move faster, his hot breath fanning your ear as you pushed your hand back to hold his head with a soft whine. “My star, you’re so fucking perfect…”
“F-Fuck, I love it, I love it…” you whined mindlessly, rutting your hips back into his as he groaned.
“There you go, keep fucking yourself back onto me,” he moaned, pulling you closer as he kissed the back of your neck. “Come on.”
You moaned loudly as you tilted your head back onto his shoulder, whining as he continued to roll his hips, fucking into you faster as you felt your stomach start to twist and clench. “R-Reggie-!”
“I know baby, I know… cum, cum on my cock… and then I’m going to fill you up so much that you’re going to be leaking.”
You whined as his hand slipped under you, his fingers rubbing against your clit roughly in a circle as you choked softly, tilting your head back as his face ducked down to kiss against your neck. You could feel your orgasm getting close at the added stimulation, whimpering softly as he continued to rut his hips roughly, groaning into your ear.
He felt your cunt clenching around his cock, a telltale sign that you were about to cum as he continued to rut his hips. “Fuck, you get so tight…”
Your mind was blurred as you whined softly, unable to think of anything else. Your stomach was clenching as you neared your orgasm, his loud grunts barely able to be heard over the ringing of your ears – fucking hell, you were so close.
“R-Reggie…”
He groaned as he twisted your clit, just rough enough for you to get pushed over the edge, cumming as you whined loudly. As you came, your walls clamped down on him, pushing him over the edge as well for him to cum into you.
Your eyes rolled back into your head as you whined loudly, your stomach burning as you came on his cock, his cum slowly pumping into you. The hot ropes of cum made your stomach twist as he continued to languidly roll his hips, tilting his head forward as he moaned into the crook of your neck.
“Fucking hell, my pretty star… you drive me crazy…”
You whined softly as you held onto your pillow, his lips pressing to your head against the sweaty hairs stuck to your skin. “Take a rest, baby… we have band practice later.”
You hummed softly as he stayed inside of you, closing your eyes as he helped your body steadily lay against your bed before kissing your head again. He doesn’t pull out, not that you wanted him to, steadily holding his weight above you as you softly kissed his cheek.
“I love you,” you whisper softly into his ear, humming.
“I love you too, my beautiful star,” he whispered back, kissing your head again as sleep slowly took over.
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When you woke up, Regulus was dressed and you had some new clothes on. It was Theo’s favorite outfit, a yellow plaid skirt with a black button down that had Theo’s initials engraved on it, as well as some black blocky heels that covered your fishnet leggings.
Almost on cue, Theo walked out of the restroom, smiling at you. “Hello, my muse,” he smiled, humming as he walked over, rubbing his head with a towel. “Good nap?”
You hummed, leaning your head into his kiss as he softly held your cheek. “Yeah. Good nap.”
“Good, my muse,” he mumbled as he ducked down to softly kiss your lips, smiling. “I got you dressed so you could go and sit with us in the astronomy tower while we practice.”
You paused slightly, tilting your head as he softly puckered his lips to yours again as he continued to talk. Oh, Theo was always good with his mouth. “I’m not going to practice?”
He hummed, shaking his head as he kissed the corner of your lips. “No my muse, this is our song for you.”
You smiled as you leaned into his chest, humming softly. “Fine. Help me up.”
And he does, helping you stand against him before Regulus walked over and pulled you onto his hip. “Good morning, my star.”
You smiled as you leaned into him. “It’s not morning, Reggie.”
“Well you just woke up,” he hummed in response as the three of you walked out, Theo leaning closer to you. “It’s only right to say good morning.”
“Is it though?” Theo said playfully, smiling as his eyes trail over your chest to see his initials monogrammed onto the shirt you wore.
“Shut up,” Regulus snapped in annoyance, pushing Theo’s head away as he ducked down to give you a kiss.
“I’m agreeing with you, my muse. I feel like that should get me a kiss…”
He puckers his lips as you blushed madly, pushing him away as you cover your mouth. What was so bad about the school not knowing you fucked four guys?
Honestly, it wasn’t bad. You weren’t embarrassed. You just knew that as soon as everyone knew, they would never let anyone forget.
The entire flight up the stairs, Regulus tried to push Theo off of you as he kissed you repeatedly. Normally, he didn’t mind too much, but this time, he minded more than usual because Theo was obviously getting horny with your clothes on him.
You giggled as you walked into the rehearsal room, biting your lip as his hands pulled your waist into his own, kissing against your neck as he groaned into your ear.
“Fuck, I want to fuck you so bad,” he mumbled into your ear, groaning softly as you pushed your hand back to cup his face. “You’re so beautiful…”
“Go play,” you smiled, gasping as you felt a slight spark of electricity run up your finger, and when you looked up, Mattheo was already sweating as he set down his guitar and walked toward you, holding your hips tightly and pulling you in for a firm kiss. “Did you shock me?”
He hummed, nodding as you spoke into his mouth, groaning softly as he pulled your waist into his and groaned into your mouth. “Hell yeah I did,” he mumbled, tilting his head as he pulled you closer. “Wanted your attention on me-”
You yelped as someone dragged you away from him, Enzo grinning as he cupped your face and pulled you in for a firm kiss. “Didn’t want you to forget about me…” his fingers slipped under your skirt, sliding down to where your cunt was still bare besides thin strips of the fishnets. You gasped as he bit his lip, groaning softly as he slipped his fingers into you. “Oh you’re fucking filled…”
“Quit it!” Regulus gets on stage, grabbing his bass that he must have brought earlier. “We have to practice.”
Enzo rolled his eyes, giving you one more kiss. “Boss is calling, doll,” he smiled, chuckling slightly. “Go sit down, we brought you up a couch.”
You smiled, humming as you kissed him again. “Okay.”
So you moved to sit down, the boys getting behind their instruments before Regulus jumped down, throwing something at you. At first you didn’t realize what it was, blushing when you saw the pink vibrator as he held up the remote.
“Play with yourself as we play your song. Makes it better.”
You weren’t going to say no, especially when you knew that he was going to let all of them take turns with the remote, and they always looked so hot when they played their instruments.
So, you laid back on the couch, watching as they correlated which parts went to who. Of course Regulus would say that you were his star and Matty would say you’re his goddess, along with the very explicit crying parts and all of them joined in for the chorus – even Theo who played the drums – but the rest of the parts were still open.
As you watched them argue, you got more and more turned on, slowly sliding the small vibrator up and down your slit. They slowly began mumbling instead of arguing, letting you capture their attention as they moved to settling the actual sound of the song.
At first, you don’t notice the missing guitar, still mindlessly pressing the vibrator to your clit as you smear the cum dripping out of you all around your puffy cunt lips, until a hand softly touches against your knee. Your eyes snapped open, stomach clenching as Enzo crawled toward you. You inhaled as he softly kissed against your thigh, kneeling in front of you. “Y-You should be practicing…”
“I should be,” he whispered, gently licking against your puffy lips as you whimpered softly, inhaling sharply as he parted your thighs. “But you look so pretty like this…”
You inhaled sharply as he took the vibrator from between your fingers, rubbing his fingers along your stretched cunt as you put your ankles over his shoulders, moaning as he brushed his tongue along your slit to lick up the cum. “I want you… I want you so bad…”
You moaned as you lifted your hips, letting him slide his hands under your thighs and pull you closer, his mouth enclosing your entrance and his fingers pushing into you.
A wail fell from your mouth as he did so – Enzo was always good with his fingers.
His tongue joined in with his tongue, groaning as he started to lick up the mixed cum that fell from your pretty cunt, his mouth eagerly opening and closing against your cunt before lapping at the newly formed essence that dripped out. “So… fucking… good,” he moaned, tilting his head back as he stroked your slit and started to rub at your clit with his other hand. “Fuck… you always taste so good, doll, so so good…”
“E-Enzo…” You whimpered, tilting your head back as he rutted his hips. “Pl-Please, don’t stop, please don’t stop…”
“I won’t,” he mumbled, groaning softly, pushing his face deeper into your now ripped fishnets. “Oh fuck doll…”
You whined, bucking your hips as you held the back of his head, unable to register the pausing of the music. You were too focused on his mouth to register Mattheo coming behind you, gasping as you felt something prod against your mouth. Your eyes flew open, looking up to stare at Mattheo’s pretty cock.
Mattheo was very good with his cock.
He smiled down at you, gently patting your lips with the tip of his cock. “Open your mouth, my goddess,” he hummed, leaning forward slightly. “And suck me off.”
Regulus pulled your hand to his cock, humming with a slight bite of his lip. “Come on. Put all of your body to work.”
Almost on cue, Theo came to your other side, pulling your hand to his cock.
“All of you,” he groaned, bucking his hips as Enzo grazed his teeth against your clit, making your hips jolt. “Make all of us feel so fucking good.”
You opened your mouth obediently, gagging softly as Mattheo pushed into your mouth, eyes rolling back as Regulus and Theo spitting into your hand as you felt Enzo’s mouth push closer to your entrance.
You started to pump his cock, gagging on Mattheo’s as he gently rolled his hips, groaning loudly. He inhaled deeply as you bobbed your head steadily, Theo and Regulus thrusting their hips into your hand. “Fuck, my star, you know just how to treat us…”
You choked as Enzo’s fingers got rougher inside of you, his other hand moving down to your ass. You gagged as you felt your eyes roll back into your head, his hands soaked from your wetness in your cunt, slowly pushing into your back entrance so that one of the boys could use you later. Your head couldn’t have tilted back more as Mattheo continued to use your throat like a fleshlight as he moaned loudly.
Regulus and Theo never paused in their thrusts, wrapping their hands around yours to keep your grip tight on their cock as you spread cum and precum up and down their shafts. Enzo continued to use his fingers to stretch out both of your entrances, your hips rolling back and forth to keep both of them inside of you, Enzo’s mouth never leaving your pussy.
He was sloppily eating you out, saliva and cum dripping down your slit down to the cushions of the couch as Regulus started to speed up. This was his second orgasm of the day, so he was definitely going to get closer faster than the rest of them.
Enzo wasn’t even close, Mattheo’s hips were moving faster as he rutted into your throat and tried to get to his high quicker while you were approaching yours quickly. He was so close just like you were, as well as Regulus and Theo as Enzo started to flick his tongue against your clit making you squirm.
You gagged around Mattheo’s cock, eyes watering as you tried to get to your high, your stomach clenching and twisting as Enzo continued to get you closer to the edge. The grunts of the men around you made your body tingle, and with one more flick of his tongue to your clit, you came all over his face.
The triple stimulation made your mind blur and your vision go black, choking as Mattheo’s cum spurted down your throat as cum splattered onto Theodore’s monogrammed shirt. It was hot and wet, so much so that you could feel it through the expensive fabric, gagging as Mattheo pulled out of your mouth and continued to spurt cum into your mouth and on your lips.
You eagerly licked up the pearlescent liquid as Regulus let your hands fall, inhaling. “Get on your knees.”
You did so quickly, Enzo quickly moving to your mouth so that you could give him head as Regulus laid beneath you, slipping into your cunt as Theo pushed into your ass, Mattheo staking his claim on your fist and keeping it tight around his shaft.
“You’re so fucking perfect, my star,” Regulus whispered into your neck, moaning against your sweat-shined skin. “Such a perfect little free-use lead singer for us.”
And you couldn’t have loved it more.
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I do not ever give consent to my work being published on other platforms or being translated at any point, even if it is a request. If my work is on any other platform, it’s without my permission. Your media consumption is not my responsibility.
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© asterias-record-shop
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dear-bunnyboo · 8 months
Text
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄: 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 || 𝐉𝐎𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖
important note: my face claim will be madison beer but you can imagine whoever you desire. also the songs mentioned are not all technically all madison’s i will be incorporating other songs from other artists.
all the pictures seen below are not mine, however they were edited by yours truly. credits to the owners.
new format!! this would be the youtube or interview format, hope you enjoy cause I literally had to watch and copy the transcript of this interview from YouTube 😩 but Ily guys so it’s fine 🩵
𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Joe Burrow x Singer!Reader / Brief Ex!Jack Hughes x Singer!Reader
𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Your interview all the way from Los Angeles, Joe’s press conference back at Cincinnati, and the fans speculating all over the globe.
𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: cursing, interviews, press, media, haters, talk of past relationship, mentions of cheating ex, rumors, fluff, slight angst, mentions of crying, instigation
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 || 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 || 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜. 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 || 𝐍𝐇𝐋 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭
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𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐓𝐮𝐛𝐞
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Los Angeles, California
Intro - Zach: Hello, beautiful human! Thank you for clicking on our conversation with Y/N Y/L/N— we have an entire album to dissect, it’s called Teardrops there’s a link in the description below if you haven’t heard it yet and while your down there please hit the like and leave your honest feedback in the comment section below and subscribe!
Zach: Hello, beautiful human! I am Zach Sang and that is Dan Zola and today we welcome, someone who’s dominating the charts and the music industry right now— Y/N Y/L/N! (*Zach and Dan starts clapping*)
Y/N: Hello! Hi, Zach, hey Dan— it’s been a while since I’ve last been here.
Zach: I know it has been a year and a half since your first appearance in the Zach Sang Show and we missed you, dude.
Y/N: I’ve missed you guys too, you guys are the best interviewers out there.
Dan: Really?
Zach: Are we really?
Y/N: You don’t ask me dumb questions, so yeah. (*chuckles*)
Zach: Well, thank you. We have lots to discuss today— you’re album Teardrops being one of those topics today, we’ll also be talking about your tour— Wonderland Tour which is ongoing currently, and more personal questions to finish if you don’t mind.
Y/N: Yeah, let’s get to it.
Zach: So, Teardrops, this album is years in the making, right? Two years at least, right?
Y/N: Yeah, almost two years but a year and a half to be more specific.
Zach: Can you tell us more as to why you kept pushing it back? And why you decided that now was the perfect time to release it?
Y/N: Well, I’ve always known a year and a half ago that I would be making this album. I already have written the songs for it at the time— and originally I was gonna release it last year but I am a perfectionist, so I decided to push it back a little. Cause I really do value the quality of my work, so I had to.
Then a few months ago, a lot had happened— life happened and I was in a really dark place in my life that I had no choice but put all of it on hold which I hated doing but I needed to do it for the sake of my sanity and then at one point I decided to scrap all the songs I had on the album— this album was originally going to be called Angel which had songs with completely different vibes as to what I have now but I decided to archive them for now because of my circumstances.
Zach: Oh wow, so you have a completely different album you had to archive. Can I ask what pushed that decision? Why not just stick to the original plan?
Y/N: Like I said, something happened in my personal life that pushed me to do so. My song making process involves a lot of emotion for me— I feel a lot. So whenever I’m happy or angry or sad or heartbroken, just whenever I feel an intense emotion I just start writing.
It just flows out of me and at first they are just lyrics and I piece them together, produce the melody and beats and then they become a song. When all the drama and chaos started happening to me a few months ago— I just kept writing. Writing and writing until I managed to make thirteen new songs.
Song writing is my way of grieving in a way and moving on from those emotions and experiences— so, changing the album completely was important for my grieving process in a way.
Don: Wow.
Zach: Yeah, wow! Dan just expressed everything in one word— wow. I don’t want to touch on that experience of yours cause i know how fresh it still is but hopefully we can touch on it a little when we dissect the songs— but before we start with the album dissection, do you think you’ll ever release the original album— Angel?
Y/N: (*smiles*) Uhm, as of now, no. I’m not sure when I’ll be doing that or if I’ll be doing that. It depends— someday maybe.
Zach: That’s fine— take all the time you need. So, let’s start talking about the album in detail. Teardrops, why that title? Why change it from Angel to Teardrops?
Y/N: I wanted to change everything from the original album— everything. So that meant the tracks, the title, the visuals, the concept. Everything.
I named it Teardrops because all I did while making this album was cry (*awkward laugh*). I was crying writing each song, cried when I produced each melody, cried after recording— it was a lot. Each song represents the tears I’ve shed in a way— which is why I called it Teardrops.
Zach: That’s amazing, what a process.
Dan: It really is.
Y/N: Thank you so much.
Zach: So, track 1— Raindrops (an angel cried.), please introduce us to this song.
Y/N: Ok, so, Raindrops is a short intro to the album. The name Angel is a name I was called a lot by– a person in my life and I wanted the intro to set the tone for the entire album, so that the listeners would know what they are getting into musically.
My mom used to say when I was young that the reason it would rain was because angels were crying and a couple of months ago an angel did cry— she cried and cried and cried.
Zach: Let me just say this track— is heavenly. That’s the word that seems to enter my head when I hear it.
Y/N: Thank you and that’s good. That’s the vibe I was going for— an almost angelic sounding production, without instruments or any melody at the back just my voice and an echo— it’s perfect.
Zach: Next we have, track 2— Selfish–
Y/N: Yeah, but I actually want to explain track 2 and 3 together— Selfish and Reckless.
Zach: Oh, go ahead. Please.
Y/N: Track 2— Selfish and Track 3— Reckless we’re actually written together which is why i’ll be talking about them together.
Selfish and Reckless are songs about regret and realization. The realization that you were with someone so selfish and reckless at the same time— it’s about– (*chuckles*) when I found out about the drama, those were the two words that came into my head— selfish and reckless then I just started writing.
They are twins almost (*laughs*) you have to listen to them one after the other to get the gist of the emotion and story I was trying to express.
Dan: I just want to say, I really love the intro to Reckless— the music box element. Why did you choose that sound and element to add to the song?
Y/N: That’s a great question. I have a couple songs on this album that has a very Disney feel to it almost— like a fairytale vibe that I really loved. I mean that is the concept I was going for, a fairytale theme. Everything about Reckless was heavily inspired by Tinkerbell, the fairly like aspect of it— the music box at the beginning made it it come to life.
Zach: Why a fairytale concept though?
Y/N: Well, fairytales aren’t real, aren’t they? (*smirks*)
Zach: Oh? So it wasn’t real? Is that what your implying? (*Zach and Dan smirk back understanding what you were implying*)
Y/N: That’s the thing about fairytales— for little children it’s real up until it isn’t anymore. It’s the same for me. (*smiles*)
Zach: Are we still talking about fairytales? (*laughs*)
Y/N: We are! We are.
Zach: Ok. The next song, track 4— Dangerous. What can you tell us about that?
Y/N: It’s one of my favorites. One of the fairytale-like songs that I was talking about. It’s a ballad, the melody reminds me of those Disney songs that would play when the Princess and the Prince are dancing but in contrast to that the lyrics are very sad.
Zach: What is it about?
Y/N: Zach seriously (*chuckles*) everyone knows what it is about.
Zach: (*laughing*) Moving on to track 5— Safety Net ft Ty Dolla $ign— your first feature in this album and by the way, let me just say that this is my favorite track.
Y/N: Thank you, I actually contacted Ty and asked him to be in it because I felt that his voice and style matched the song so well— and yeah, Safety Net is about realizing later into a relationship that no one is there to catch you at the bottom— that there was no safety net to begin with and you have no other choice but to continue falling.
Dan: We’ve all been there.
Y/N: We’ve all been there. (*nods in agreement*)
Zach: Now onto track 6— Leave Me Lonely.
Y/N: This track is also one of my favorites and I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot (*laughs*) anyway, this song is about asking to be left alone. It’s preferring to be left lonely rather than staying in a relationship that is no good for you.
This song is actually so much fun to sing. Vocally it’s the most unique I’ve ever done.
Zach: It kinda has a James Bond vibe, I don’t know why it feels like that but it does.
Y/N: That’s such a complement— James Bond vibe! That’s great. Thank you.
Dan: Track 7— Good in Goodbye. This is one of your more upbeat songs in this album. It’s really fun, with the wording in the chorus.
Zach: Yeah, it’s such a catchy chorus, dude and very clever with the play-on words.
Y/N: I know. It’s such a fun song to sing, honestly— the chorus I am very proud of. I just love how it all turned out honestly.
Zach: Now for track 8— Wonderland which you named your Tour after. Why this song?
Y/N: Again, the entire concept of this era is fairytale. Wonderland is an nod to Alice in Wonderland which I love and I thought It would be an appropriate title for my Tour— to be able to name that event Wonderland was the perfect choice.
The song is about falling into a relationship the same way Alice fell into the rabbit hole— the unexpectedness, the craziness, and uncertainty of it all. My previous relationship is just like Wonderland— it was new and exciting but it was also risky and frightening— it was all over the place.
Zach: We are halfway into your album. Track 9— Watch.
Dan: This song made me emotional out of all of them.
Y/N: Did it really?
Dan: (*nods*)
Y/N: Well, Watch is one of those songs that talks about the physical feeling of a heartbreak. The turmoil and anguish you feel. In this song I described it as a burning sensation which some might relate to and some might not— it depends it guess.
Zach: Ok, how about track 10— My Tears Ricochet which is such an interesting title by the way.
Y/N: Oohh, this one is tricky. This song can actually be interpreted in a lot of ways— everyone can have their own interpretation of this song which is the fun aspect of song writing. For me this song is about how the pain inflicted on me affects the person as well, how the tears I shed ricochet back— somewhat like karma in a way.
Zach: This song is deep. Probably the most versatile album you’ve ever put out to be honest.
Y/N: Thank you so much for saying that. That means a lot to me.
Dan: Now on to, Track 11— Consequences.
Zach: Another tear jerking song— well, they all are.
Y/N: (*chuckles*) That’s true. Consequences is just me listing down all the consequences I had to deal with for loving someone who embarrassed and hurt me. (*shrugs*)
Dan: I love how this song, with the meaning and the message you are trying to put out and then transitioning to the next track which is Track 12— The 1. Just the different emotions you’ve put into this.
Zach: Yeah, cause The 1 is almost a bittersweet song. Which is a complete opposite of the previous songs.
Y/N: This album is basically me going through the five stages of grief. Some people listening to the album might say “Oh she’s talking shit about her ex but then the next song is about her crying about him.” Or “She wrote a song about hating her ex but has a song about missing him.”— That’s the point.
You don’t just move on from someone. You don’t. Especially after a long relationship, it is gonna be hard to let go and I understand that— I’ve made peace with that. I understand that I have to go through all the stages to get to the point where I am finally at peace.
It’s not easy. I’m still at that process— yes, I may sing about missing and crying about a past lover but also singing another song about hating his guts— that’s the process. I’m grieving, I’m moving on— and The 1 is one one of those songs where I just reminisce. It’s about the possibilities that could have happened if everything didn’t come crashing down like it did.
Zach: I keep forgetting how young you are at how mature you speak. You carry yourself with so much grace and dignity— it’s honestly so admirable.
Y/N: Thank you, Zach but seriously stop it before I cry.
Zach: (*laughs*) Ok, finally the last song in the album. Track 13— Red.
Y/N: Red is the final track— I use colors to express and relate different feelings I’ve felt through my last relationship and yeah— That’s Teardrops! I’m extremely proud of it and happy with the feedback.
Zach: You should be, this is a masterpiece! One of the many achievements you’ve accomplished just in the last few months— one of them also being your tour which are sold out in all the cities.
Dan: We’ve got tickets for tomorrow by the way.
Y/N: Yay! That’s amazing! But yeah I’m extremely grateful for the love I have been receiving lately. My fans are extremely supportive and being able to perform for them every night is the best feeling in the world.
Zach: The opening night was at Cincinnati, right?
Y/N: It was yeah! Such a great opener as well, the response and the energy in the stadium was out of this world— I’d never forget it.
Dan: Along with your performance, the presence of Bengals’ Quarterback Joe Burrow also caused chaos. How did that happen?
Zach: Yeah, everyone wants to know, how long has this been going on?
Y/N: (*laughs while shaking your head*) I’ve met him just the day before the show actually, so not that long ago. The NFL invited me to sing the National Anthem the day before at a game and when the Bengals’ won— they invited my team an I to the after party. I was pretty hesitant on going but my best friend dragged me to it (*laughs*)
Obviously I knew who he was and surprisingly he knew who I was and when he approached me, he told me he was a fan— he congratulated me on performing which shocked me considering it was their win we were celebrating that night, but yeah. We talked and he mentioned that he tried to get tickets to my show but didn’t succeed in doing so.
So I offered him a ticket, I don’t know what urged me to do so but he hesitantly accepted and that’s how he ended up there— we became friends.
Zach: So you mean to tell me, that you had extra tickets laying around?! (*jokes*)
Y/N: I always have one extra ticket, just in case. (*shrugs*)
Dan: You attended their game a few weeks ago as well, didn’t you?
Y/N: Yeah, I think that was Joe’s way of repaying me back for the tickets— our schedule coincided and he asked me if I wanted to go and I didn’t have anything else better to do at New Jersey so I accepted.
Zach: Fans speculate that you two are dating because of your somewhat public interaction that day.
Y/N: No. Joe and I are good friends. We are both focused on our own careers and I don’t think I’m ready to be in another relationship of any kind at the moment. (*smiles sadly*)
Zach: And that’s understandable, I hope this puts the rumors to rest. Thank you for stopping by, Y/N.
Y/N: It won’t but thank you anyway— also thank you for inviting me.
Dan: We love having you here.
Zach: Good luck on the show tomorrow. We will see you!
Y/N: I’ll see you tomorrow, guys!
comments…
𝐟𝐚𝐧1: this interview is Godsent, everything was just perfect.
𝐟𝐚𝐧2: thank you to Zach and Dan for the amazing content as always.
𝐟𝐚𝐧3: An hour long interview of Y/N talking about her album? Yes please
↳ 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫1: An hour long interview of Y/N talking about her trash of an album as she continues to shit on Jack? Bitch please.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧4: Translation: I watched the entire 1 hour interview where Y/N talks about the songs she wrote about her cheating ex which she never ones name drops… but if the shoe fits ig 🤷‍♀️
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧5: OH SHIT HAHQHAHHAHQHQHAHA
𝐟𝐚𝐧6: Zach is right. Y/N handles herself with so much grace and dignity it is truly inspiring. She continued with her life and let her work speak for her. She’s stronger than me fr cause if my boyfriend of 3 years cheats on me and gets caught for the entire world to see I would be in jail rn.
𝐟𝐚𝐧7: it’s the fact that she had an completely different album called ANGEL and decided to scrap it all when Jack’s cheating scandal happened hurts my heart.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧8: I’m crying in the club rn. Angel is probably the complete opposite of Teardrops. It probably was about how in love she was with Jack.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧9: MY HEART HURTS FOR HER CAUSE ANGEL TO TEARDROPS WITH THE INTRO BEING RAINDROPS (AN ANGEL CRIED)!! She’s a genius but it’s so sad.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧10: just imagine how hurt she must have been to realize that she would never get to release those songs.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧11: When they asked her if she’ll ever release Angel she said maybe but the pain in her eyes when she was thinking about it says otherwise.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧12: I’m sorry I’m a new fan and I’m not sure why people keep emphasizing on the name Angel? Like, what does it represent? And why is it so important?
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧13: It’s alright 😊 Angel is what Y/N’s ex boyfriend Jack called her. He cheated on her after 3 years of being together hence her having an album called Angel is so shocking cause we are assuming it’s about her love for Jack which we will never get to hear by the looks of it.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧14: And since Jack plays for the New Jersey Devils, Y/N would call him the Devil and Y/N the Angel.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧12: Thank you so much for explaining. That is so sad.
𝐟𝐚𝐧15: Raindrops (an angel cried) hits harder now knowing what the album was called before 😭
𝐟𝐚𝐧16: I admire her so much. She said she made peace with the fact that she needed to go through the five stages of grief. She accepted that she was gonna feel all those emotions just so that she could move on.
𝐟𝐚𝐧17: “fairytales aren’t real, aren’t they?” OOOHH GIRL HER SMIRK AFTER SHE SAID THAT😏
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧18: “for little children fairytales are real until they aren’t anymore.” Put that on a shirt.
𝐟𝐚𝐧19: her explanation of Safety Net pained me, I related to that song the most.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧20: realizing that there wasn’t a Safety Net to catch you the entire time 🥲
𝐟𝐚𝐧21: she’s beauty and brains, she’s so intellectual.
𝐟𝐚𝐧22: she deserves all the love in the world 🥹🤍
𝐟𝐚𝐧23: look how happy she looked talking about Joe 😭
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧24: the immediate switch up was so cute. She literally lit up.
𝐟𝐚𝐧25: I know she just denied them dating but I really do feel that there is something there.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧26: IK!! CALL ME CRAZY BUT SHE EITHER WANTS TO KEEP IT A SECRET OR THEY HAVE FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER!
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧27: I understand the excitement but please let’s respect both their privacy. Joe and Y/N are both private people so IF they are dating and want to keep it quiet then let’s please respect that. However, I don’t think they are dating tho, not yet anyway. Y/N is still in the process of moving on, she said she’s not ready for a relationship. Let’s respect that please. 🤍
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧28: Couldn’t have said it any better 😊🤍
𝐟𝐚𝐧29: get you a friend who would give you tickets to their shows/games 😫
𝐟𝐚𝐧30: Joe congratulated Y/N for singing the National Anthem at his own after party 😩 can he get anymore perfect.
𝐟𝐚𝐧31: Y/N hates New Jersey. You can’t convince me otherwise. Joe gave her tickets to his game and she took it as a way to get out.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧32: he’s hot for that.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧33: I don’t blame her but I don’t think she’ll hate it forever. She just need time.
𝐟𝐚𝐧34: friends don’t look at friends the way they were looking at each other.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧35: they probably do like each other but give it time. I actually want them to last and she needs to heal first before doing so.
𝐟𝐚𝐧36: I’m so ready for her show even more now 💕
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Cincinnati, Ohio
Joe: Hello, hello.
Reporter: Did you have a good time at practice today, Joe?
Joe: Uhm, it’s practice. It’s the same every season— it was good. Exhausting but good.
Reporter: You don’t train during off season?
Joe: Nah, I’m a lazy guy, sit at home all day. (*smiles*)
Reporter: What’s your favorite thing to do every year, Joe?
Joe: Just relax. Sit on my couch watch YouTube videos, play video games that’s my favorite thing to do.
Reporter: Did you watch the Quarterback thing, Joe?
Joe: I did not.
Reporter: Do you plan to?
Joe: Uhm, maybe one day. Probably not though.
Reporter: What why?
Joe: Would you watch a documentary about Hobson? (*grinning as he nodded his head at the reporter*)
Reporters: (*laughs*)
Reporter: Joe, one of your strengths is your ability to compartmentalize, is your focus right there?
Joe: Yeah. I’m able to hyper focus on a lot of different things at different times and when it’s time for one, I can completely focus on that and forget about everything else.
Reporter: Were you asked to be in season two of The Quarterback?
Joe: Yeah I was. Maybe one year— this year I’m not, uhm but we’ll see. I would like to do it maybe a couple of years down the road but I don’t think now is the right time.
Reporter: Joe, are there any personal goals you’ve set for yourself?
Joe: You always have personal goals, I’ve been thinking about goals a lot lately and I think where my mindset is these days is just improving everyday. The point I’m at now— I’m one of the best in the world and if I just continue to improve everyday I’m gonna help myself a lot more.
Reporter: What music do you listen to, Joe?
Joe: I’m, uh, kind of all over the place. I’ll listen to some indie, I listen to some hip hop, some pop. I listen to just about anything but country— I’m not a country guy. (*smiles*)
Reporter: A lot of Y/N Y/L/N then?
Joe: (*laughs while nodding his head*) Yeah, I’m a fan of hers.
Reporter: You were seen at her concert here at PayCor and she was at the game against the Jets recently— you two seem close.
Joe: She’s a good friend. I met her after the game against the Raiders— we had a good conversation. I joked about having a hard time buying tickets for her show and she offered to give me an extra ticket. Yeah, we became friends after that. I invited her to the game against the Jets cause our schedules aligned and yeah. She’s great.
Reporter: Gave her flowers recently, Joe? (*grins*)
Joe: (*shrugging his shoulders laughing*) Flowers? I don’t know? You tell me? Did I?
Reporter: I think you did.
Joe: She’s an amazing human being. So maybe I did. (*shrugs again*)
Reporter: Last question, Joe. How are you feeling that there is a possibility that you’ll be the highest paid NFL player is history?
Joe: That is not guaranteed yet as of the moment, so I don’t really feel anything about it— sure I’m flattered to be considered a valuable player but as of now it’s only a possibility. Ones it actually happens I’ll get back to you. (*chuckles*)
Reporters: Thank you so much, Joe.
Joe: Thank you.
comments…
𝐟𝐚𝐧1: WHO DEYYYYY🧡
𝐟𝐚𝐧2: Joe Burrow the man that you are 😩
𝐟𝐚𝐧3: he’s a homebody and so am I. We are perfect for each other joe.
𝐟𝐚𝐧4: OUR QB1
𝐟𝐚𝐧5: Joe gets it. Cause I could never get into country music.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧6: you’re missing out fr.
𝐟𝐚𝐧6: WE NEED HIM IN THE NEXT SEASON OF QUARTERBACK
𝐟𝐚𝐧7: his mentality. that’s it. that’s the comment.
𝐟𝐚𝐧8: his sense of humor makes him even more attractive 🤭
𝐟𝐚𝐧9: Miss Y/N really has this man blushing
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧10: nah fr cause he was all smiley when they asked about her.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧11: they both just confirmed that they are just friends but I call bullshit.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧12: friends for now.
𝐟𝐚𝐧13: he’s messing with us. cause you know damn well he sent those flowers.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧14: “She’s an amazing human being. So maybe I did.” I need that tattooed on my forehead.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧15: he definitely did.
𝐟𝐚𝐧16: MARK MY WORDS HE IS WINNING US THE SUPERBOWL THIS YEAR.
↳ 𝐟𝐚𝐧17: 💍💍💍
𝐟𝐚𝐧18: can I get flowers, Joseph? 🥲
𝐟𝐚𝐧19: he’s going to be the highest paid NFL player.
𝐟𝐚𝐧20: Joe and Y/N just be giving each other free tickets.
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dividers: @cafekitsune
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brigdh · 7 months
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I want to talk about Izzy's rant to Ed in episode 10, the one that brings out the Kraken. I've seen a lot of different descriptions of what is going on in this scene – death threat, homophobic slurs, etc – and I don't think either of those are what's actually what's happening.
Let's look at it closely, line by line, and the way Ed reacts, from the very beginning of the scene.
Ed: Well, feels nice to tidy up a little. Can't believe I was living like this. Can you, Iz? Izzy? Izzy: I'm going to speak plainly. Ed: Wonderful. You know we share our thoughts on this ship.
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Izzy, cont: This, whatever it is that you've become... is a fate worse than death.
Okay. So there we've got what some have interpreted as a death threat. But does Ed seem threatened? He's startled, certainly, put on his back foot – literally – but he doesn't look afraid or alarmed to me. He draws in a slow breath, assessing the situation, but overall seems more confused than frightened.
In fact he laughs it off with his next line:
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Izzy then escalates the level of aggression in the conversation:
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But Ed, again, looks more confused than anything. Check out that furrowed brow, that head tilt! This is a man going "what is your deal?", not a man thinking "uh-oh, you might kill me!".
Extremely noticeably, even when Izzy storms right up into his face, Ed holds steady. He doesn't run, doesn't lean back, doesn't hunch his shoulders or drop eye contact – there is no vulnerability or defensiveness in Ed's body language at all. Ed is in supreme control of this confrontation – look at the slow way he deigns to turn back to the paper Izzy's holding! As though he's making the point that he chooses when to turn, not Izzy:
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Then we have the "homophobic slur". But watch closely:
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Ed does not react to "namby-pamby", "silk gown", or "pining" at all. He doesn't even blink. He barely seems like he's hearing Izzy. His entire attention is on the picture.
Ed's body language and behavior changes at one word and one word only, and that is "boyfriend". As soon as Izzy says it, Ed's furious:
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(It's even easier to notice when you actually watch the scene instead of using gifs, because Izzy really draws out 'piiiiiiining', putting a lot of time between the first half of the sentence and 'boyfriend'.)
Why is the use of the word 'boyfriend' so important?
Well, what has Ed been doing all episode? He's been crying in a blanket fort and singing sad songs, yes, but he's been keeping a careful level of mystique about why he's doing it. Ed often uses distanced circumlocutions instead of directly acknowledging his emotions, but he's doing it in this episode even more so than usual:
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Here are the lyrics to his song:
(Version one, with Lucius) Hanging on By a thread Hanging on Shouldn't let go If I let go, all will fall Fingers bleeding down to the bone now Can't let go Nothing makes sense Hold on Hold on Hold... on
(Version two, performed for the whole crew) Just let go Make yourself let go Make it go away Away, away today Life's a hard sad death And then you're Deaaad
Notice something? There is no mention of Stede, or love, or break-ups, or abandonments, or relationships in general. All Ed discusses is a vague life-sucks attitude, which could apply to basically anyone under any circumstances. He seems pretty okay with people knowing that Blackbeard is having some sort of weird emotional breakdown as long as he convinces himself that no one knows it's specifically from having his heart broken
This is true of everything Ed says and does for this entire episode. He never once even mentions Stede's name, unless "Farewell, Bonnet's playthings" at the very end counts. The only thing Ed openly admits to feeling bad about is a fictional character who's having a hard time "holding on" (holding on to what? he never says). There are no allusions to heartbreak or romance anywhere in his dialogue.
Now, Ed's not stupid. I'm sure he knows Izzy and Lucius and the rest of the crew can connect the dots and realize that something bad happened with Stede, even if Ed doesn't fill them in on the details. But Ed is also traumatized, and has a whole host of coping mechanisms set up to help him avoiding thinking about things that he doesn't want to think about. If he's not a murderer because "technically the fire killed those guys", then no one knows he's heartbroken because technically he hasn't acknowledged it.
Until Izzy says the word 'boyfriend'. Suddenly the secret is out, and Ed can't handle it. Izzy knows his weakness. That's why this word effects Ed more than anything else Izzy says in the whole scene.
At the end of the confrontation, he hears the crew calling for another song. Look at Ed here. He looks as haunted, as disturbed, in this moment as he does at any point in Izzy's rant.
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This is an important part of the scene, not just a closing note. Because if Izzy (the Caribbean's most emotionally constipated man) can see through him, obviously the whole crew can too.
Obviously Lucius – who advised Ed on his and Stede's relationship, who played along with Ed's 'fictional character' claim, who wrote down Ed's lyrics – can do so most of all.
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There's a direct emotional logic to Ed killing Lucius because he had a fight with Izzy, and it doesn't involve Ed having been threatened or hate crime'd at all. Ed doesn't deal well with his own feelings (from Stede), so he chooses to become Blackbeard/the Kraken and gets rid of all the witnesses who saw otherwise.
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heyftinally · 7 days
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i love bitching about taylor swift and im glad that the new album is causing some more people to realize she isn’t a good writer or person
Honestly, if she was a less shit person and less shoved down our throats 24/7/365, I wouldn't even care as much that her writing sucks. There are countless musicians who can't write for shit.
But if Taylor Swift is going to have the entire fucking world in her chokehold, then I'm going to hold her accountable for AT THE VERY LEAST not actively being a piece of shit.
If she wants to keep writing shitty lyrics, fine. Karma is a stupid song, and she has the right to write stupid songs.
But she does not have the right to profit off of marginalized communities while actively causing harm to those communities. She doesn't have the right to ignore a genocide, date a racist, be friends with a transphobe, and still call herself an ally to those marginalized communities that her relationships harm. She doesn't have the right to live her life uncriticized when she actively does harm.
And her fans don't have the right to bully and harass anyone who doesn't like her just because they're fucking feral and part of her white woman tears cult.
And before anyone says it: I don't hate Taylor Swift because she's a woman, I hate her because she's a shit person with shit morals who cares for nothing and no one but herself and her money. Her being a woman is irrelevant, and if you think otherwise then you don't know enough about me to have formed that opinion, because I call out shit men constantly, as well, and have for YEARS.
Genuinely, I hope this newest wave of criticism, specifically with her shitty ableist lyrics, starts teaching some of her brainwashed followers that she isn't perfect, and convinces them to use their brains.
Hold her accountable, and if she refuses to do anything of value to make reparations, let her face the consequences. Everyone wants to bitch and cry when Taylor gets a joke made "at her expense" at an awards show, but when she makes a joke out of murder and abuse it's fine?
Nah, absolutely not. I'm not letting that slide. I will hold bigots accountable, because bigotry is never acceptable. I don't care how special swifties think their overrated pop priss is.
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notaplaceofhonour · 3 months
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One of the experiences that really highlighted to me how willing the left can be to turn a blind eye to and gaslight Jews about antisemitism was trying to talk about Michael Jackson’s antisemitism, such as in the song “They Don’t Care About Us”, which was released with the lyrics:
“Jew me, sue me, everybody do me / Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me.”
I feel like that is shockingly straightforward with how antisemitic it is, both in its specific language (the K-slur & Jew-as-a-verb) and its conspiratorial bent in the context of the whole song. But when it came out and Jews were obviously appalled and spoke out about it, MJ made the standard “but have you considered that accusing me of bigotry offends me?” and “I was taken out of context!” statements that bigots make when they get called out on their bigotry.
As for MJ’s claim that he was taken out of context, here is some context: In 1993, MJ’s relationship with the press deteriorated when they began covering allegations of his child sex abuse. In the midst of this, tabloids ran a lot of scummy, sensationalized headlines—ruthlessly mocking his appearance and eccentricities and even running entirely false stories. This marked a drastic shift in MJ’s lyrics, which began to focus heavily on his victimhood (both real and perceived, often conflating both and tying them to broader social issues), with many of the songs on the next album HIStory (1995) being about this. “They Don’t Care About Us” is on this album. In 2003, there were revelations that Michael Jackson had grown close with members of Nation of Islam (a fringe and antisemitic hate group), and in 2005, Good Morning America aired a phone recording of Michael Jackson calling Jews “leeches”, claiming Jews had targeted him for his wealth, and saying “It’s a conspiracy. Jews do it on purpose”.
This is the context of Michael Jackson singing about being a stand-in for the victims of all kinds of real world oppression like racism and police brutality, and then saying he was being “Jewed” and “kiked”. It came out that he was molesting little kids, and rather than face the music, he tried to dodge responsibility by conflating those allegations with racism and the gross, sensationalist bullshit that tabloids were running on him; he wove all these things together in a narrative that he could use to wrap himself up in victimhood & conspiracy to position himself as not just a martyr, but the very archetype of martyrdom so that the world could, as he sang on the same album in his cover of John Lennon’s song, “Come together, over me.”
The lyrics were later changed to replace “Jew” & “kike” with abstract noise that drowned out the words or repetitions of “sue” & “strike”. But even so, this is still a song, not truly about inequality and injustice, but using inequality and injustice to shield a child molester from responsibility. And the fact that “Jew” can so easily be replaced with “sue”, not simply in sound but in meaning, without disrupting the narrative and tone of the song, belies the fact that Michael Jackson believed himself to be a victim of some sort of conspiracy between “(((The Media)))” and greedy Jewish lawyers.
And yet, trying to talk about this to this day, even with the benefit of hindsight, when it’s pretty well-accepted that MJ was in fact a child molester and knowing what he said about Jews after this song came out, it is next to impossible to get people to see the antisemitism in him tying together all oppression in the world as him being “Jewed” and “kiked” by (((The System)))—even when he literally says “Jew”, even when he says the K-slur, even when he refers to Jews as blood-suckers, even when he literally says Jews are conspiring against him. When people started using the song as part of the George Floyd protests, and I was like “hey, maybe that’s not a great idea” and gently tried to explain this context, I was ignored, told it didn’t matter because the song was about inequality, told Black people have every right to distrust Jews “because Jews are White” and stabbed Black people in the back by embracing Whiteness, etc. etc.
I think that is one of the times that really started to make it clear to me, “oh, yeah no, leftists can be staring straight at a K-slur in the mouth of a known sex offender and still say it’s fine”—something leftists generally would not do for any other vulnerable minority. It still astounds me.
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milfygerard · 2 months
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going through @likeadevils incredible timeline for RED and this quote keeps bouncing around my brain. Since the release of the 1989 TV tracks ive been thinking about how taylors writing style changed so sharply between red and 1989 and I really think this is the moment that that artistic shift really started. In some of the cut tracks for 1989 (especially suburban legends) taylor has her sort of country songwriter habit of creating those sort of unweildy lyrics that can veer off with rogue syllables and rhythms, barely contained in their strict pop structures, bursting at the seams. now I live this, but a perfect cohesive pop song that does not make, and 1989s core goal was just that. The perfect, cohesive pop songs, expressing her feelings through these succinct stabs built within a pop song structure with a steady consistent beat. Heartbreak you can dance to.
I think thats why some swifties feel less "emotion" in the lyrics of 1989 or tend to underrate them a bit. Its almost a complete change in writing ethos, its so not country. its not loose and not wordy, its still sharply written and filled with grand melodrama and intimate details, but in a completely different form from before.
This led to 1989 which is in many ways a Perfect album, specifically songs like blank space and style that I dont think could have existed without her experience writing trouble and the advice given by Max Martin. Adding this to her arsenal is what pushed her from a genre mix country-pop-rock type artist to a true blue pop star.
I have more thoughts on this, and I do think this style has held her back in some ways, but theyre kind of rambly and unformed so I'll stop here but like. Im just so obsessed with how her writing methods have changed over the years. I could write paragraphs on how much shes changed just from her relatively small amount of work done with aaron dessner. Taylor is such a collaborative artist, and makes her best work when shes working with someone new who can throw an entirely new challege her way and really force her out of her comfort zone.
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love-lilly02 · 3 months
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The Challenge
The reader has a bit too much to drink and ends up making a deal she might regret...
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Originally, it had started out as a good bit of fun. 
The boys had just returned from a mission, broken down and bone tired but glad it was over. It was one of the more rough ones, where they lost more friends than anyone would have liked, but a success was a success. 
To celebrate they went down to a nearby karaoke bar, and somehow they convinced you to come out with them, even though your specific skill set hadn’t been required on the mission. 
You turned them down multiple times, stating that it was your self care night (to which they responded that having fun is self care) but really, who were you to deny the four men anything?
Which is how you found yourself standing on a stage screaming the lyrics to “Sexy” from mean girls. 
Quite honestly, you were doing a pretty damn good job, which was evident by the encouraging screams of both military personnel and civilians alike. the entire bar seemed to thrum with life as you sung and dance, and the task force just watched in awe. 
maybe you had had a bit too much to drink. 
Finally, after the song was over (and after a standing ovation) you stumbled back to the corner booth, laughing at the boy’s bewildered expressions. 
“What, never heard me sing?” You asked, sliding into the booth with only a smidge less grace than you usually possessed. 
“Well lass, i wasn’t under the impression you could sing,” Johnny fired back, smiling wildly. “was fuckin amazin’ kid!”
You smiled at him and ducked your head in a mock bow. “I took theaters in high school, it’s nothing special.” 
All four heads snapped to you so quickly one of them had to have gotten whiplash. 
“You. Took theater?” Price said, fixing you with a disbelieved look. 
“Yes, captain. Yes i did.” You lean back in the booth, just now noticing that Ghost has draped his arm over your seat. 
“Now this is gotta see,” Gaz said, laughing to himself. 
“Oh- good luck finding anything. I got rid of all those photos years ago.” They all look at each other, before turning back to you. 
“Is that a challenge?” You hear Ghost’s deep voice rumble, dangerously close to your ear. 
“Yes…” you squeak out, not dairing to move away from him. “Actually, let’s make it just that. Whoever can find more than 10 photos of me before my junior year of high school wins.” 
They all look at each other again, before Johnny speaks up. “Why tha’ year?” 
You just shrug. “Changed schools then, looked like a completely different person.” 
They all nod. “What do we get if we win?” Gaz questioned. 
You took a moment to think it over, pretending to tap on your chin and everything. “I’ll do whatever you want for a day.”
Maybe you did have too much to drink. 
Their eyes practically bug out of their heads, even Ghost looks shocked at the prize. 
“Whatever… we want?” He questions, his eyes still wide. You can practically see the gears turning in his head. 
“Mhm,” You say, nodding. “As long as it’s not a mission day or something, I have to do whatever you tell me to do for twenty-four hours. Kind of like an ‘I cant say no’ day.”
They all not hurriedly, quickly agreeing to the plan. 
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a deal!” You smile, downing the lasts of your drink. 
(may be a series i have a few ideas for this)
My Masterlist
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king-krisu · 2 months
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SAME IN INGLIS - Mic Mac
Yes Hello you ask and you shall receive: a series where I take one song and explain some of the slang or any references that might get lost in an ordinary translation. Usually I or any of the other mains doing translations don't want to make posts too long by adding footnote after footnote, so some stuff might be lost intentionally. I'm using this series to dedicate my time specifically for all the stuff I usually don't comment on. I'm gonna include everything in here, even some of the "obvious" things. So up first by popular request:
MIC MAC
So firstly, the name. Mic Mac was a Finnish youth clothing brand between 1972 and 2013. They were particularly known for their provocative and shocking ways of advertising especially in the 1980s. They had their own brand of jeans that were extremely popular, but they also sold other brands in their stores like Levi’s or Wranglers. From what I know they only had stores in Helsinki/Uusimaa but correct me if I’m wrong on that. For a lot of us Mic Mac is a very 80s/90s brand, their peak was during those times as well.
Jere has a lot of other interests that are very reminiscent of a childhood in the 90s. Even the name Jere was very popular in the 90s, it’s the equivalent of Justin or Jake in english. In this song he talks about Pokemon cards, which I’m sure a lot of 90s kids will remember being very popular. In the same breath he mentions Habbo Hotel, a Finnish online virtual world game and chat room founded in 2000 that’s still active today. in Viulunkieli he references Bomfunk MC’s Freestyler which is like the most 90s song in this country you could play. He also grew up listening to other artists that had their peak in the 90s/early 2000s, like Eminem or Finteligens. My point here is that it’s clear he has a lot of fond memories of his childhood, and he lets them influence a lot of his music and lyrics. Mic Mac in particular feels almost like an ode to that time in his life and in Finland generally.
Now, to the actual lyrics. I’m gonna copy paste the entire verse/chorus and highlight slang/spoken Finnish, and I’m gonna take a few particular words from each part and explain them. The cursive words are just slang with a parenthesis of “official Finnish” next to them, and the bolded ones I’m gonna explain.
Meen (menen) ajassa taaksepäin
Mutta onneksi ne ajat taakse jäi
Olin merkillinen enkä esimerkillinen
Käyttäytymisen alkeet jäi hei
Oli rasavillin elkeet, katoin (katsoin) Smackdownii TV:st
Ja otin mittaa mun isoveljest (minun isoveljestäni)
Meno epäterve
Tuolit lens (lensi) minkä kerkes (kerkesi) kavereiden kesken
Olin pieni ja paskiainen, alakoulun penkillä laiskiainen
Poden vielki morkkist ja henki haisee siit tupakin (tupakan) maistiaisesta (Hyi!)
Ja niist muutamast katkonaisest (katkonaisesta) muistosta ne vielki hävettää
Ei muisteta pahalla ku tuut vastaa unohdetaa menneet ja halataa (halataan)
Rasavilli is a word derived from swedish (rasvill), which is extremely common especially for Finnish slang. It means an unruly, mischievous child, willfully causing chaos
Meno epäterve I decided to highlight this because the word meno in this context is used in a colloquial way to describe the atmosphere of something, so for this instance the vibe was crazy or something. Officially it means an errand or plans, or financial expenses, but a lot of us also use it as a descriptive word
Morkkis I’m sure you remember from his song Morgan, but it just means being badly hungover and having anxiety. It can though also be used to just in general feel regretful over something in the past
The chorus actually doesn’t have any spoken/slang Finnish except one word from what I can tell so I’m not gonna include all of it here
Menin olohuoneeseen odottaa (odottamaan) tuoretta pullaa uunista
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Jolloin meil (meillä) oli päällä Mic Maccii, oltii (olimme) Mic Macci jätkii
Ei ollu (ollut) värillä väliä kuhan (kunhan) fit oli fättii
Fätti I chose to highlight this just to show that often we’ll take English words and add ä/ö to them to make them sound Finnish. Like here the word is Fat, but because the -A sounds like our -Ä we just type it out like that. Another example of this would be how a lot of the times you’ll see the word rap written as räp, even though officially we just use the english word (although as a verb I think even officially it is räpätä with the -Ä)
Taas ajassa taaksepäin
Mun (minun) suuri suu sai isommat pojat ravistelee (ravistelemaan)
Olin pihapelien Jarkko Ruutu
Leuka tummu ku (tummui kun) pojan nassikat taistelee
En alkanu aristelee (alkanut aristelemaan)
Jos piti frendi tempun takii (takia) tuikata tulee
Enkä astella heikoil jäillä
Jonka johdosta mummo sai kuivata kuteet (slang: vaatteet)
Jotain samaa on faijas ja mussa (minussa)
Ei omena parka pudonnu (pudonnut) kauas puusta
Mutta sillon ku (silloin kun) putosin, ni tuhosin mun (niin tuhosin minun) ranteen ihan tuusannuuskaks
Vielki Habboo on kiinni portit
Mä palautan pöllityt Pokemon-kortit
Jarkko Ruutu A Finnish former ice hockey player who went all the way to the NHL, who was known for his particularly aggressive and rough playing
Pojan nassikat Nassikka is an older, almost colloquial descriptive way to refer to a little boy
Frendi/faija/pöllityt These are all slang words derived straight from other languages which we do a lot, especially with swedish or russian. Frendi comes from the english friend, faija comes from the swedish far (father), and pölliä possible comes from the swedish bälla (to steal/use)
Astella heikoilla jäillä So this isn’t like fully clear BUT there’s this children’s TV infomercial that has run every autumn/winter since 1986 and probably does today as well, that warns children not to walk on ice as it can be deceptively weak. It is ingrained into everyone's memories because the bear that falls into the ice looks so miserable and terrifying as he says “Watch out for weak ice”, and since this song is about his childhood I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say it’s a reference to that
Tuusannuuskaks This is a colloquial term used to describe something shattering into a thousand pieces. I honestly couldn’t find the full origin for this but most likely it comes from the swedish word tusen (thousand) and the rest is beyond me lol (except that nuuska means snuff so maybe it’s about snuff being easily spread in a thousand places)
Ja ku mentiin liian pitkälle läppien kaa (kanssa)
Istuttiin jälki-istunnossa Mic Macci jätkien kaa
Läppä means a joke, but the official word for it is vitsi. I’m not sure of the origin but some researcher said it comes from the swedish word läpp, meaning lip, and heittää huulta is a way to say someone is joking (Throwing lip), and in a colloquial way you say heittää läppää, which means the same thing
Jätkä means a young man, either in a neutral way or depending on the context a condescending way. The english equivalent would be a guy. It’s also what we call the card Jack in a card deck lol
So that’s finally all the lyrics done. As you can see from the cursive words, when comparing them to the “correct” or official word, we often just get rid of the last letter in a word when speaking. We really are a lot like the french in that way, we tie words in a sentence together by matching vowels with consonants, get rid of vowels if they seem to obstruct the flow of a word or just change a word radically to make something easier to say quickly (like minussa -> mussa).
I hope at least some of this was interesting, I’m very passionate about slang and word origins and there’s a lot of Käärijä songs that have even more crazier slang that I can’t wait to get into (like Alaks Olee or Koppi Tules). Until then, hope this was informative/entertaining <3
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denkies · 9 months
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The BSD 5 Opening, Tetsu no Ori, is a love song from Atsushi to Akutagawa
Let's start at the beginning of the song, with the accompanying scenes.
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Putting Atsushi and Akutagawa with those specific lyrics was probably not a silly mistake done by complete coincidence. But let's keep going!
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These lyrics specifically pertain to Atsushi's feelings after Akutagawa's death. Both "places" in these lyrics refer to the afterlife-- somewhere only seen after death, and somewhere Atsushi doesn't want Akutagawa to go.
"A place you can't go" can also be foreshadowing that Akutagawa doesn't go to the afterlife. He becomes a vampire. On that note, Atsushi believes that Akutagawa can be woken up from his brainwashed state-- and actually begins to succeed in chapter 108. He doesn't believe Akutagawa to be in the afterlife, because he has faith that he's still there.
The anime opening ends with those lyrics, but the full song continues. I'll be talking about some specific parts, which pertain to the topic.
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This one is pretty quickly explained, as Akutagawa and Atsushi quite literally symbolize Yin and Yang, even physically. The line about being unable to ignore the "bug in the iron cage" comes up later!
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Past tense, expressing the sorrow that came after the heat of battle. "The loss of ecstacy" seems to reference the 2 battles that they won against Fukuchi, as the ecstacy of winning was taken from them.
"That we can only be slaves to something; knowing that you will lose." is referencing these rewritten battles again -- Fukuchi tells them that they won, but he went back in time (chapter 87). In the lyrics, Atsushi recognizes that they are slaves to Fukuchi's sword, that they can't win.
"Knowing that you will lose" might also reference Atsushi's thoughts on Akutagawa's sacrifice. Atsushi knows that the escape route was only for him; that Akutagawa's first and foremost priory was getting Atsushi out alive. Knowing that he couldn't have saved Akutagawa from Fukuchi, because Akutagawa didn't want to be saved. He was going to lose, in every scenario, to keep Atsushi safe.
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And finally, this part. "You've already taken flight; you've become a butterfly," again, referencing Akutagawa's death. Funnily enough, I think this also ties into Akutagawa not actually being dead. Butterflies symbolize the soul, death, and rebirth. All of these are relevant to him in vampire form, so equating him to a butterfly isn't too far off. It's also very pretty and sweet.
The line about the iron cage comes up again, this time, Atsushi revealing himself to be the "bug in the iron cage." The entire sequence seems to be about Atsushi's grief, that he can't ignore and is trapped in like a cage.
His desire to be free is also tied to him wishing to be reunited with Akutagawa. "You've already taken flight / If I could fly now, outside the iron cage..." I think it conveys that Atsushi wants to escape this grief, but only if it means reuniting with Akutagawa once more.
Lastly, as my evidence, the song title "Tetsu no Ori" (鉄の檻) literally means "Iron Cage". The song itself is about Atsushi being trapped in his grief, and love, after Akutagawa's death.
I rest my case.
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