#music rant

[thatgamingkid45]

I am… completely normal about this album.

….I promise

Probably

#fall out boy #fob #so much (for) stardust #memes #dhehgahqkskd #I love this album sm #you guysss #cries #the cat is rambling again #music rant #music rants

[y3aj-3002]

unpopular opinion:

Kevin Macleod songs are a little bit fire🔥

#gemini home entertainment #osc #kevin macleod #opinion #THIS IS JUST MY OPINION! #Don't take it seriously :| #unpopular opinion #Spazzmatica polka is my second favorite Kevin Macleod song #Tbh #Local forecast is also good too #Adhd ass #Music kinda fire #rant post #music rant #Good rant #Sneaky snitch 😨 #Spotify #battle for bfdi #bfdi #bfdia #battle for bfb #battle for dream island #Bfdi music

[pemberlyy]

Wow.

so i just got done listening to Mammalian Sighing Reflex. I tried so hard not to cry listening to it but when I got to Melatonin 130 I just broke down from there and could not stop crying.

the lines in particular;

“the breathing exercises hurt, and dont do fuck all.”

“ill live with you until our bones grow old.”

“help, why the fuck am i feeling self-absorbed when im finally happy.”

hit wayyy too close to home.

the instruments throughout this entire album just tickle a part of my brain that i had no idea existed. they’re beautiful.

THAT FUCKING BRIDGE IN DROPSHIPPED CAT SHIRT! WHAT. IN. THE ACTUAL. FUCK. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW.

“OHHHHH HOW NICE IT MUST BE TO, FEeEeELL SoOoOo BOREED.”

I always love the trumpets in the background of any of wilburs solo stuff. they just sound so dreamy idk.

FUCK ‘OH DISTANT YOU’ [affectionate] I WANNA CRAWL IN A HOLE AND DIE.

‘mine / yours’ ugh.

“you; Kiss me like it was your job

So tender and carefully, teeth before tongue (I wanna be yours)

Not in the way that the romantics do (I wanna be yours)

But with the grace of a workplace and child dispute”

You know, I don't need much more

But wanna be mine, wanna be yours

You know, I don't need much more

I wanna be mine, wanna be yours

I take you for granted

Because the alternative's far more alarming”

</3

Around the pomegranate lyrics i will relate to until i die;

“I just want to feel normal again

I just want to have meals with my friends

I just can't go through this again

Find my comfort in envisioning the end”

GLASS CHALET. THE LYRICS. THE GUTAIR. THE LITTLE BEEPING BEAT IN THE BACKGROUND NOT SURE WHAT THAT INSTRUMENT IS.

HIS VOCALS ON THIS OH GODS ABOVE. THEY JUST FILL MY EARS.

The vibes i get from this album is mostly; crywank and jack stauber mixed with obviously wilburs own style of writing and music. im not comparing it to those artists or saying he copied those artists but i just get those vibes and they are lovely. i fuckin love it. lol

ANYWAYS. Will Gold has fucking done it again with a masterpiece for the books. cant wait to listen to the album on repeat for the next few months until my brain melts into a puddle of goo.

ranking of favorites on first listen:

Mine / Yours

Glass Chalet

Melatonin 130

Oh distant you

Dropshipped cat shirt

Amazon standing lamp

trying not to think about it

around the pomegranate

i dont think it will ever end

eulogy

10 week rule

#wilbur soot #mammalian sighing reflex #will gold #wilbur soot music #muisc review #lyrics #wilbur soot lyrics #music #music rant #msr wilbur #ill probably talk about this more once i listen to it a few more times when i notice new things with every listen but for now enjoy this :)

[tam-shade-song]

I got into an argument w/ a friend today and here's my rant

So, we were talking about Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, and my friend came in and said that it was a bad song. His reasoning was that there was no structure, no rules, it was too chaotic and it wasn't even original. He made another point, saying that it did nothing to benefit humanity (that's how he judges whether or not something is good, he's said this in reference to books in similar debates as well). But here's the thing.

That's his opinion. A lot of really enjoyable works will not meet his definition of good, because they don't benefit humanity.

If you give art rules that it HAS to follow in order to be "good" then it's no longer art. Everyone has a different definition of good and by creating a set of standards, it's no longer an art, it's a science.

I wrote a book. It was crappy, with plotholes and bad grammar and characters who were there one chapter and then gone the next. It looks like any novel a queer teenager would write in middle school. Everything I just listed is valid criticism. You can say I'm a terrible writer, that I was a dumb kid, that I had no future in writing but what I will not allow is someone saying that because my novel wasn't beneficial to mankind, it was bad. Because it didn't follow a set of rules that you made up, it was bad. Of course, writing a book isn't making a song, or a painting. So yes, books should make sense, and the reader should be able to follow, but paintings and songs are different.

No one asked, Alex. :)

#rant post #rant #queen band #bohemian rhapsody #music #music rant

[holynootnoot]

mammalian sighing reflex song I think is underated....

MAY I INTRODUCE TO YOU.....................................

**I DONT THINK IT WILL EVER END** by Wilbur soot🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

------------------------------------------------------

I don't think it will ever end

Hey guys

Do you wanna, do you wanna hear something funny? (Yeah)

So uh, I find myself in these cycles like a figure of eight

And it goes like this

I get sad (he gets sad)

And uh, I hide myself away for a bit which is, which is fine

But then in hiding myself

I feel silly (he feels silly)And um, responsively I start forcing myself to go out and interact with people again

Then in doing so,

uh, I feel sad (he feels sad)

Which is not a good feeling when you're supposedly in a 'good phase'

So as almost a self-sabotage, if you will, uh

I get silly (he gets silly)

And then uh, um, I don't know

I'll write something else

------------------------------------------------------

It may be short snd not much of a song but, the meaning and the feeling behind it just hit so different.

Even though its about him seperating his life as a cc and a normal person, so many people can relate to their lives feeling so empty or incomplete and feeling bad about feeling like this because they have shit like a roof over their head and stuff.

It may not be a whole awesome song but it has such a special meaning and its a meaning that hit close to home.

This whole album really hits me and so msny other people. The messsges behind it, and the sadness, its the type of álbum to listen to at 1 am in your room while its raining outside.

Just wanting to ball your eyes out becsuse life can be so hard sometimes.

Remember to feel the emotion and find wayd to cope for example listening to an álbum like this

------------------------------------------------------

Gracias por venir a mi ted talk

#mammalian sighing reflex #wilbur #wilbur soot #music ramblings #new music #music rant #I dont think it will ever end #sad music

[gamegirlx]

made this on impulse 😔🙌✨

was binge-animating yesterday when "Watch This" by Lil Uzi Vert hit and i just had the sudden intrusion to do this OH BOY AM I NORMAL ABOUT MUSIC I INHALE MUSIC I ACTUALLY DO

#animation #relatable #animated gif #digital animation #music #music rant #music meme #favorite songs #animation meme #pov

[yurigalactica]

okay okay okay hear me out but. the song to tundra by los campesinos is lyrically unparalleled and therefore the only song ever

like, "meet me at st. nicholas among the oaks behind the church, that sway like pigtailed girls as summer wind whistles around your bare-skin knees and the forsythia leaves." just by the diction in that phrase you can imagine EXACTLY what that place is like even if you've never been there. and you can tell exactly what it feels like to be sitting there with someone

and then later on, "and in a hazy daydream our bodies married the stream and we broke down into pebbles and silt" HOOOOOLYYYYY SHIT that is the most INCREDIBLE metaphor i have ever heard in the history of ever. such a masterfully crafted lyric that invokes such rich emotion and awe, an absolutely and utterly breathtaking lyric for something as grim and somber as death

and and AND. "we take on the burden of all these sad-eyed children with lilies bunched in our hands." THAT HITS ME R I G H T IN THE HEART. absolutely gut wrenching and so powerful. this single sentence alone paints such a vivid mural of grief and loneliness and heartache, easily making it one of the most unforgettable lyrics in the song. and when you lie down and let the echoing wail of the lead guitar bleed into your soul, for a moment it's like you're right there next to the singer, experiencing grief in tandem. you know exactly what gareth is feeling as he sings those words.

and then, of course, "take a body to water, take a body to tundra, just take me with you as well." AGHHHHHHH

i am so normal about this song if you cant tell

#los campesinos #los campesinos! #to tundra #hello sadness #music rant #song recs #i just really love los campesinos man #Spotify #music stuff #thunder talks

[unnecessaryrants]

drake...iss complex to me? i don't necessarily like him at all now but i was never the biggest fan. i-- would say i liked him way more back then. i feel like his music was more gritty, catchy, grasping and he made a lot of beautiful songs like over my dead body, find your loving, waiting up etc like those kinda songs that he would make were GOLDEN. but now? i just feel like hes not genuine like he feels fake asf and tbh it seems like hes always been that way though :///// his music before you could tell he was hungry. his music now? lacks passion lacks intensity it lacks what rap can make you feel, drake in the rap game just never felt genuine or believable. like its hard to be convinced by him

like honestly. drake is a phony to me like bro he grew up middle class and rap and act hard? its literally like lil mabu going in the hood when his whole life is mapped out for him. all the opportunities in the world and yet they wanna act like this super hard street ngga who be doing real street shit like no. Mabu in a whole ass private college, drake in whole ass degrassi with struggles that could not relate to one of kendrick lamar, or 50 cent, or mf chief keef. lmao its hard to take him SERIOUS like bro idk 💀💀💀🤷🏽 its embarrassing to live a certain way and then rap about yourself living a double lifestyle you never really actually lived until you met nggas that you rap about.

i feel like he got put on a LOT and rlly bit some of the hands that fed HIM fr

#drizzy drake #drake #rap music #music rant #hip hop #rap game #rap culture #music ramblings #metro boomin #we still dont trust you

[aela-targaryen]

Spotify stopped tracking today, and I already know for a fact that my top listens are going to be - without a reasonable doubt - the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim soundtrack and the entirety of the Game of Thrones soundtracks... despite my listening to them for <1% compared to everything else. They took up my top listens for the last 4 years in a row, and I don't see any reason for Spotify to change it now.

#i've been listening to Batushka every day but that doesn't even make a dent in their formula apparently lol #spotify #spotify wrapped #my music #music #music post #music rant #wrapped #elder scrolls #elder scrolls v: skyrim #skyrim #game of thrones #got #soundtracks #batushka #black metal #polish black metal #the real batushka #derph #srsly the real batushka is awesome and you should totally stream it #also coming out of the tumblr closet as a former soft grunge music blog girlie #rip to my 3000 followers #i now have 45 but you are the coolest 45 bc you read fanfiction #praise up

[thatgamingkid45]

I love Caravan Palace’s music cause there’s an inherent eeriness to it. Not only is it bumping and just makes you want to move along to it, it feels like there’s an underlying creepiness to it (not in a bad way). Like, it feels like the kind of music you’d find playing on an old record player in the middle of the woods kinda jams. Or something you’d find on an obscure radio station in the middle of nowhere. Like can you imagine flipping through static and dead air, until Clash starts playing? Or what about pressing play on a random cd player and Aftermath starts up?

I think most of that is due to y’know, the electro swing aspect, the fact it’s supposed to sound reminiscent of the 20s. Idk, Caravan Palace’s songs always have a bit of a “ghostly” feel to them, but it’s not malicious by any means. It feels like, “yeah this house is haunted but the ghost is chill, come on relax and let’s vibe a bit” kinda beat.

#does anyone else feel like this #or am I just wildly overthinking it #smh #anyways #caravan palace #wrote this cause #gangbusters melody club #just came out #and I’m loving it #electro swing #blog post #music rant #music rants #the cat is rambling again

[gods-favorite-autistic]

Actually we need to stop making songs that are literally just taking the chorus of old songs and making a weird ass electric pop tune out of it like we should have stopped at the Im blue one but they copied WHAT IS LOVE-

#I’m leaving istg #the only ones I thought were good was the oh mickey ones (specifically the Barbie movie bc it was an entirely new song but I like the other) #and one other that I can’t remember I just know I like it #but can we please stop pretending these songs are good for anything other than clubbing and maybe screaming along while you’re in the car #for funsies but like they arent good #I know I have weird tastes but jesus have we just run out of ideas #madurday night live #music rant

[eruwaedhiel-in-an-impardis]

When I had just left the shelter of my childhood cult I really enjoyed Peter Hollens' music, because it was just this side of cult approved music vibes, but as I left the cult entirely and expanded my music tastes I kinda left Peter Hollens behind. We could have left it there too but then he started doing weird self-aggrandizing click bait titles like "THIS MAN SINGS WITH HIMSELF IN A CHAPEL--IT WILL WOW YOU!!" but the final straw that made me throw him away entirely was when he covered Good Riddance from Hades with Malukah and titled it "Real Life Orpheus and Eurydice Sing Hades Song" and I'm like EXCUSE ME DO YOU THINK AI SUNG GOOD RIDDANCE IN GAME DO YOU THINK NO ONE CAN ACTUALLY SING THAT HIGH (motherfucker does *not* sing as high as Mr. Korb can) DO YOU CLAIM TO BE THE SON OF MOTHERFUCKING APOLLO DO YOU CLAIM TO BE THE GREATEST SINGER IN OUR TIME YOU MID ASS PIECE OF SHIT AND DO YOU FUCKING D A R E INSINUATE FOR THE BRIEFEST OF SECONDS THAT DARREN KORB AND ASHLEY BARRETT ARE IN ANY WAY N O T REAL LIFE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE COME BACK WHEN YOU'VE MADE HADES WEEP AND SOFTENED THE DREAD PERSEPHONE'S HEART anyway there are some crimes that are unforgivable and slandering Darren Korb is one of them

#music rant

[embers-scheduled-disappointing]

This has been floating around my head for a few hours it's just a yes

The following are a bunch of songs with johnothan Davis just going absolutely feral in his own lil way (I promise to be brief, nobody asked for this):

Shit apparently there's an audio limit so I'd highly recommend if it wouldn't be of any inconvenience and you'd be willing to break your ears in the most kindest way possible do go listen to everything of theirs if you don't already know them but they fuckin vibe (like they absolutely fuck) during a breakdown it's like being slapped in the face it's great

no clue where I was going with this

#Music rant #Korn #ember's pwecious thoughts #Spotify

[mordenandmerry]

As someone who loves music to an unhealthy degree (I listen to music 24/7 and it’s a problem) I love hearing what song people thing resonates with them the most. Not even like “wow these lyrics are so relatable” but just like “this song resonates with my bones and understands me in a way no one was or ever will”

For me it’s Unraveling by The Crane Wives because damn.

#music #music rant #morden talks

[moss-the-moon-moss]

Hallo, I'm back again with another music talk!! As I said in my last one, I basically am just talking about music I like, what I've been listening to the last week and rambling. Anyways enough of that, let's get straight into it😊

Okay to start off I'm going to talk about the playlist i've mainly been listening to this week. This playlist is called 'pacify her' . It's called that because I was listening to that song while making it. I don't really know what kind of genre the music in this playlist is but I'd say they all sound really cool. While making this playlist i found an artist called 'jack of jill' her music is so good, her song 'vivica' is definitely worth checking out. In addition to 'jack off Jill' i also found another artist named 'johnny goth', his songs just sound so otherworldly i really don't know how to explain it. He has some really sick instrumental parts in his songs, i really recommend listening to him! The band 'i monster' also showed up a lot on this playlist, i've been listening to them for a while now but have discovered some new songs by them as well. I initially found this band through their song called 'who is she' . This song is really good, however I would think my favourite song by them is actually 'lust for a vampyr'. The album covers this band makes are just so good oh my life, anyways i think 'i monster' is definitely one of my favourite bands currently😊

Anyways this playlist has a lot of really good songs, it's definitely worth listening to!!

I know i rambled about melanie martinez in the last music talk but i'm going to do it again anyways😔

The closer we get to the album release the more excited I get, all the spoilers Melanie has been giving are so exciting. Her new form is looking so cool, she looked absolutely gorgeous performing at lollapalooza!! This morning she released a song from her new album early and i have to say that 'death' is actually such an amazing song. It's a bit different from what we were used to from Melanie but I personally think that the change is good. The new style compliments her vocals really nicely!

Lately with the snippets of Melanie's album having been released I've been seeing a lot of people hating on her. I think this has been happening due to her changing aesthetics and music style a bit; which is really not an excuse though. I get that it's a bit of an adjustment to move on from Crybaby especially if you grew up with her like myself but Melanie has been planning this for years now! Melanie said in an interview a few years back that Crybaby is going to evolve as a being/ soul and she's finally getting to do that with this album and I am honestly living for the dark fairy vibe that she's going with. It may be because I listen to a lot of genres compared to others but I really like how the new songs sound. They are less soft than things she's previously made but it really isn't too different. Melaine has always been weird and displayed that very clearly in her songs and music videos for years now and yet she's getting hate from people who claim to be fans only now? See I understand not liking her newer stuff, you're not obligated to; but that doesn't mean you can be such haters either. People need to learn to humanise celebrities more, Melanie doesn't deserve even half the hate she gets.

On a lighter note this album means that she will likely go on tour again meaning i may get a chance to see her perform live for the first time!!!

The song that is second from being my top listened to in my stats called 'angry' is so good oh my life. When i first went to check who the artist was and saw 'mars argo' i was shocked because i could have sworn i knew her from somewhere. Turns out she made a popular tik tok sound that goes 'welcome to my computer show, im mars argo', anyways i just thought that was kind of cool. Mars has such good vocals, I think I'm probably going to look into more of her songs soon.

To end this off I'm just going to ask for music recommendations, I listen to most genres so feel free to send in anything! If i like something enough i might mention it in my next blog, you never know🤷

#Spotify #music #musicislife #melanie martinez #portals #crybaby #k12 #jack off jill #johnny goth #i monster #mars argo #music rant #music recs please #music recs #music ramblings #song recs #song #spotify #playlist #album art #album

[grimaider]

They Were Always Allowed: A Personal Theory of TV Girl’s Hit "Not Allowed"

Hello internet, it's grim.

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone that went a read my last long post! My last post is probably the most popular piece of literary and analytical content that I have ever written, so I am happy that my writing is being seen by those in the community. As I start to write more over this year, I want a place to share my content beyond Tumblr, so if you're interested, I have opened up an Instagram account focused on advertising my blog here.

For this post, I plan to talk about another major interest of mine: Music and lyrical analysis. It's not something that I am totally great at yet, so please bare with me. Thank you.

Who Really Cares: The Inescapable Album of 2023

One of my favorite hobbies over the past few years has been rating albums and songs that I come across. It was something that I had picked up on when I was in 8th grade, and it helped me handle my emotions and stresses during a time of abuse. Now, as a college student, I rate albums as a past time, and I have come to enjoy it. In fact, a few of my college essays have revolved around music artists and the impact their music had on the world and myself.

Here are a few of the albums that I have rated over the past 5-6 months on AOTY.

Now for most albums, the rating process is fairly boring. I go through an album, pick out what songs I enjoyed and hated, and give my rating. Nothing out of the ordinary. But every once in a while, an album comes around that, for whatever reason, people on the internet flip the hell out over (regardless of whether the album is "good" or "bad").

90% of the time, I tend to wipe these albums off my list of albums to rate, typically because these albums tend to be overrated in some way, shape, or form. But in 2023, I could simply not get away from TV Girl's 2016 album, Who Really Cares. Despite the album turning 8 years old as of this year, I have still seen this album appear numerous times on YouTube shorts, Instagram stories, Instagram Reels, Twitter memes, and Spotify playlists. In fact, the reason why I even know of TV Girl is due to the fact that an ex of mine dedicated their hit song "Not Allowed" to me after our breakup. So I gave the album a 78/100 and moved on with my life (and my AOTY rating can be found here).

Fun fact: The source image for Who Really Cares originates from George M. Hester's The Classic Nude (Reddit). Arguably one of my favorite album covers of all time.

Most of the songs on the album aren't bad, and the unique sampling is extremely entrancing, but the album sounds the same throughout, with most songs lacking individual uniqueness. There were many instances in which I would attempt to write a short take on individual songs just to realize that I would be pointing out the exact same lyrics between two songs. For instance, "Not Allowed" and "For You" both use the "never intend to do what you say at all" line, which I found funny. While this could've been TV Girl using the line as a thematic or symbolic purpose throughout their album, it just felt lazy, especially since this doesn't occur in other albums that they've produced. Albums such as Summer's Over and Lonely Women were much better in terms of order, structure, and thematic principles than Who Really Cares, and neither of them have the repetition issue either.

"Not Allowed" and Misogyny : The Anthem of "Male Manipulators"

After rating and criticizing Who Really Cares back in mid-December, I didn't think too much else about it. Most of the traction around TV Girl started to die down, I started hearing their Tiktok-styled songs less, and many people started to drop the album as social media algorithms led the masses to other albums. Personally, I just liked a couple of songs and downloaded the album cover, and moved on.

A few weeks go by since I listened to the album and I decide that I want to change my profile picture on Steam. Not thinking anything of it, I changed my profile picture from Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On to a close-up of the man on the cover for Who Really Cares. Nothing too crazy, but this does go somewhere.

I hop into a good ol' game of CS2 with a few of my friends. We rage and get our asses kicked as per usual, but we eventually get paired up with another team that is more on our playing level. At the beginning of the game, everything was going well. Both teams were at about 3 or 4 points, so there was a chance of us winning. However, during the middle of the game, one of the teammates on the other team makes a comment about my profile picture being TV Girl, and claims that I was a listener of "male manipulator music." What?

I was so confused by what their teammate was talking about. What the hell is a "male manipulator?" Is it a man that manipulates people? Who is he manipulating? What does he get out of manipulating the subject in question? Or is it a woman that manipulates naive men? What does she get out of it? These questions wrapped around my brain that I had to team kill like three of my teammates to get off of CS2 to go do some research about this term.

Now from what I researched, there does not seem to be an official definition for the term "Male manipulator music." So I did what every other being on the internet does: I looked it up on Urban Dictionary.

Worst discovery ever. I listen to The Smiths, Deftones, and TV Girl so this is like my own personal 9/11.

In short, "male manipulator music" is a subgenre of artists and bands that have a fanbase of men that tend to manipulate women. Their unique yet depressing taste in music is sometimes used to reel in emotionally damaged and/or naive women into harmful relationship dynamics, hurting both the artist and their fanbase. It would be fair to argue that these men are almost like parasites to fanbases rather than part of a fanbase.

But this led me down a much larger rabbit hole regarding TV Girl that I had no run into back in December. Why is TV Girl thrown into this category of "male manipulator music?" So I went digging, and boy did I find some stuff:

(btw all the images are linked to my sources if you are interested in reading further)

Let's just say there are accusations galore about TV Girl and being misogynistic. From the lyric writing to the sampling sources, numerous cases and analyses have been written on TV Girl being misogynistic. Now, most of these are regarding different songs from TV Girl, so most of these might not apply to "Not Allowed," but then I kept running into more posts claiming that the entire point of TV Girl was to simply be misogynistic. That their aesthetic, mindset, and point of view was meant to put down women in a negative light as if men are superior, non-flawed beings. And the more I dug, the larger the accusations became.

Pack it up boys, we aren't allowed to listen to TV Girl anymore...

I was completely shocked. A song that I had picked up from an ex that helped me get through a rough spot in my life was now the target of a much larger campaign of women online claiming such music was meant to put them down? I wouldn't even care too much about the whole phenomenon, but it gets brought ALL THE TIME. And TV Girl has been making music for over 10 years.

With this rabbit hole successfully uncovered, I decided to write down the overall points that many critics point out regarding TV Girl's music.

TV Girl is misogynistic because:

Lyrics describe women in a humiliating and/or degrading manner

Songs are associated with or attract the previously mentioned "male manipulators"

TV Girl sympathizes with the male psyche post-heartbreak

Now that I had a list of reasons why people argue that TV Girl's discography is misogynistic, I am going to try my best to not only debunk these, but give my own personal interpretation of "Not Allowed," which I believe has been heavily misinterpreted and improperly characterized as an anthem for possessive, manipulative men.

Whack-A-Theory and Debunking Misogyny Claims

But before we can talk about the reasons why TV Girl's "Not Allowed" is misogynistic, we must first figure out just what "Not Allowed" is about.

According to the general consensus (aka the Internet), "Not Allowed" is a song about:

The feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else.

A man who fears to speak his thoughts on a love interest due to a fear of being socially criticized for speaking about sex.

Slut-shaming a woman who has rejected the singer.

Now, these are all very different theories, and even though they might sound similar since they revolve around a relationship dynamic filled with blurred lines, the implications of these theories vastly differ.

If any of these were MOST LIKELY to be true, it would be theory one. Let me explain:

First of all, "Not Allowed" DOES talk about sex. I'm not entirely sure why the second theory is thrown around so often in the TV Girl community, but it simply does not make any sense regarding the song. Furthermore, any basic research into the intro sample of "Not Allowed" would lead you to the feminist rap group Yeastie Girlz, which were known for their raunchy yet pro-women stance on sexual openness. In fact, the "song" that the sample is from is called "You Suck," which is a recording of the Yeastie Girlz talking about female oral sex in their album titled, Ovary Action:

For TV Girl to use such a raunchy sample in a song that is NOT supposed to talk about sex seems a bit ironic. While it could be argued that these underlying variables are meant to poke fun at the stigma of sexual talk, it wouldn't make sense for TV Girl to use those same elements as a way to insult the girl's partner either.

Take for example:

"But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum?" Personally it doesn't make sense to me why TV Girl would take a jab at the sex stigma by using sexual acts to describe his bitter attitude. Furthermore, TV Girl pokes at the girl's sexual partner (or partners), singing:

"But how quickly they [the sonnets] turn sour So be careful who you screw."

Again, TV Girl's excessive use of raunchy samples and the jabs that the singer takes at sex itself doesn't add up to this theory. No one here is benefits from the negative usage of sex in the song, making this theory seem false.

While the second theory seems like complete bogus, the third theory could hold some weight. However, I think that there is more to this theory than what is presented online. While I will argue that the singer is shaming sexual actions within the song, I would say that the singer is taking more jabs at himself and the girl's current partner rather than the girl herself. Going back to the "messing with your head" lyric, TV Girl doesn't seem to take a jab at the girl having sexual intercourse with her current partner, but they seem to take a jab at the partner and how bad they might be doing at satisfying the girl's sexual needs. While one could argue that a jab at the girl's partner throws her in as collateral, the singer makes it very clear that his feelings towards himself are not great either, stating:

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" While the singer does not degrade himself to the same level that the girl's partner is subjected to, it is important to note that the girl is the one person in this entire song that is degraded THE LEAST. Not only does this disprove theory three, but it also disproves theories one and three of why "Not Allowed" is misogynistic. If "Not Allowed" was meant to take jabs at women, it would focus way more on the girl's actions rather than the singer and the girl's partner. Furthermore, the second theory on why TV Girl is misogynistic is just a lazy attempt to play the guilty by association fallacy. The only reason I would defend this argument was if "Not Allowed" was truly ripping on the girl the entire time throughout this song, which does not happen. Also, why would TV Girl use Yeastie Girlz as a sample if they wanted to push an anti-woman anthem? None of the reasons posted on TikTok make sense, and the fact that people pushed these theories regarding TV Girl's "Not Allowed" seems silly and lazy.

We Were Once Allowed, But TikTok Thinks We're Strangers

Now we are down to just one theory. I purposely held off the first theory because my theory and the first theory are pretty similar. While I do believe that the song revolves around the feelings of a man who is rejected by a woman who is in love with someone else, I believe we are hearing the perspective of a jealous ex rather than a stranger.

Let me explain:

When I first heard this song, it was after I had broken up with my ex. I'll spare you the details, but I've always seen this song as an ex that felt like he was pushed out of the way for another guy that was waiting for the girl to leave.

"Now you suck We wanna talk about sex but we're not allowed Well, you may not like it but you better learn how 'cause it's your turn now You're wasting your tongue with lame excuses and lies" This part is the singer talking about the girl, saying that she sucks. He goes onto say that they wanna talk about the sexual aspects of their relationship but they are no longer allowed to. I would argue that the singer is making the assumption that his ex is truly not over him and just hopped into a relationship for a rebound. The singer says it's the girl's turn now to hear what he has to say and that she should shut up and listen to what's in store. It could be implied that she has also gone around and spread a false narrative against the singer.

"So how should I begin this? I guess it started when you were with him. And how he never even took you out to dance But did he fuck with any rhythm?" Here we see that the singer is collecting his thoughts on when he was first made uncomfortable with the girl's new partner. He explains that the girl's partner never took her out to dance, implying that he might've during their relationship. The "fuck with any rhythm" could be taken as either him liking any music or rhythmic sexual intercourse. "But now he's playing with your head But did he ever make you cum? Did he ever make you cry?"

Moving on from the dance, the singer now leaves us with a dilemma. He claims that the girl's partner is playing with her head, which can be seen as the singer altering the truth to make the girl seem dumb, or he realizes that the girl is being taken advantage of for her partner's own sexual gratification. Personally, I'm choosing the latter. The singer then asks if her partner makes her cum or cry. Since this is in the past tense, it could be argued that this fling soon dies out or this is the current partner asking if the singer ever made the girl cum or cry, and the singer is just repeating the thoughts of the current partner.

"Do the wires in your mind get sewn together Rubbed and severed by the heat You don't know how long I could stare into your picture And wish that it was me" The singer now asks if there is a personal bond built between the girl and her partner. Based on the previous assumptions, we could argue "Yes" or "No." I would argue "yes" because the next line shows that the girl has taken pictures with the other person in question, making the singer wish that it was him. Again, this could also be seen as him feeling as if he is incapable of controlling ex or he's just jealous that she's with someone else after all that she's supposedly done.

"I guess it's different 'cause you love him But I've got an interactive Sick and twisted imagination And that's gotta count for something" Based on this, I feel like the ex might've complained about the singer's sexual habits. It might be implied here that the ex was disgusted by the singer's sexual interest towards her, but now it's different because it's someone else. The singer then gives himself the positive, claiming that his graphic imagination must be worth something.

Skipping the chorus becuase it's the same as the intro and I don't feel like repeating myself

"I dreamt I was standing in your doorstep Licking sweat off of your forehead With your finger in my mouth And the sound when leather jackets hit the ground" This could be the singer reminiscing on a past scenario in which he and the girl in question are being sensual. Nothing more to analyze. "You should hear when you're not around When it's just us horny poets Who can't wait to write it down And swear we were only being honest." I believe this excerpt is the singer rubbing the past into the face of the girl's partner. Almost like a "yeah we used to have sex too y'know" moment. It could also be the singer implying that him and his ex have made small talk since they've broken up, attempting to come to closure. Nonetheless, it's clear that this was aimed at the girl's partner rather than the girl.

"Do you like these little sonnets 'Cause I wrote them just for you But how quickly they turn sour So be careful who you screw And never call. And I'm starting to suspect You don't intend to do anything you say at all."

After taking his shot at the girl's partner, the singer seems to take aim at the girl. This time, he's offering a set of sonnets he's written about her, but they all have a bad ending. He claims that the sonnets are written this way because she had sex with him and then (possibly) ghosted him afterwards. He then finishes up the excerpt by assuming that his ex was a liar. This could be seen as the singer uncovering an abusive relationship between him and his ex.

"All by yourself, sittin' alone I hope we're still friends, yeah, I hope you don't mind." This is the part that led me to making this entire post. How could the singer and the girl "still be friends" if there was nothing else to begin with? You can't be friends with someone you never knew. This stupid verse led me to travel down a whole rabbit hole and a half just to give my own interpretation of the song, and I have no regrets. The singer is simply mocking the girl breaking up with the singer, claiming that they could still be friends and that she hope he doesn't mind, which is a common tactic that abusers might use after a relationship to hold some sort of control over their victim. This could be seen as an innocent ending to a falling out, or the ex looking for an avenue to hold onto the singer while he struggles with his own thoughts.

Conclusion

Regardless of whatever theory I or anyone on the internet come up with, I believe this song acts as a great litmus test as one's attitudes towards relationships. When I was scrolling through theories and the misogyny rabbit hole, I noticed that many people who wrote about "Not Allowed" focused on inputting their own experiences into the song, writing their theory as if the song was about their relationship. I would even argue that I did the same, and that's completely okay. I made this with the intent of simply debunking what has already been said about the song. While I think that anyone can have an opinion on what this song is supposed to represent, I didn't think any theory prior to mine was "the" meaning (as in what people should take the song as at face value). To put simply, I do not think that this song was about a male manipulator waiting to prey on his next victim, but the girl in question doesn't love him. If it was, then it wouldn't fit into Who Really Cares at all, for the album is about Brad's (the lead singer) troubled relationships with women. I think that's what people ran to because a majority of TV Girl's fanbase is women who have had shitty relationships, regardless of whether it was their fault or not. This has then led to TV Girl's reputation being about male manipulators because all the women in their fanbase simultaneously fear abusive men (and rightfully so). TV Girl simply reinforces that it could be either side's fault depending on how you look at both sides' cruel and immature behavior towards the fallout. I also found inspiration for this song analysis from NEOPUNK (it's a good listen check it out):

If you've read through the entirety of this damn blog post without knowing about the song I've been rambling about, give it a listen. It's pretty good:

And with that, I'm tired. Good night. ~grimaider.

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