#though spotify has a bit more recognition but not by a lot

[skullzy20]

new fixation unlocked

#my art #digital art #bone crown #SORRY. I HAVEN'T. POSTED ART SINCE LIKE. EARLY AUGUST #But anyways I had a Moment today and listened to this album and now im obsessed #the album Bone Crown by Marah in the Mainsail go listen NOW #this is super rushed BUT I wanted to get a little something doodled #the great fox king #RAH. i like this album a lot #but this isn't really well known at all. It only has 50k views and under on all its songs. both on spotify and yt #though spotify has a bit more recognition but not by a lot #/hj about the fixation thing btw. who knows i might get super into it #its more of a hyperfocus rn though #mitm fanart #marah in the mainsail #this . looks really bad but again it was really quick ok? ok #i am a SUCKER for song albums that tell a story #this is why the dear hunter acts are a special interest <3 #doodles

[immortalbutterflycos]

I've come to realize something important in writing. (specifically in my personal experience)

(TLDR; I have ADHD and writing is hard even though I'm still doing it every single day. Make it make sense.)

If you have a story in your head that means a lot to you, and you need to take more time to develop and fully flesh it out before posting it, that's totally okay! In fact, in my experience, it has the potential to make the story better over time, really forming it into what you imagine it to be.

Here's an example because I just typed a lot of words and right now I can't seem to process whether they make sense or not.

I have a fanfic that I've been working on for a year now. (For the Marauders fandom if y'all are curious)

It's one that I haven't talked about much because every time I do, I end up losing the motivation to write. This is what happened to another one of my fics for the Haikyuu fandom. (well that and the Marauders.. yeah they fucked me up in the best way and Freckles and Constellations has really suffered because of it smh)

So the reason why this fic is taking so long is because it is such a specific AU that I'm out here trying to meld magic systems, and I've got like EIGHT MAIN CHARACTERS to write backstories for to fit this AU while also being true to them and even though I know the basic plot, there are just so many little details and aspects that will make this fic what I desperately need it to be.

And no one knows just how intricate it is or how important it is to me. Which is totally fine. I don't even know if people are going to read it when I finally manage to post it. This fic is purely self-indulgent.

let me just break down for you what I have prepared for this already:

countless drabbles and scenes and plans written on the backs of receipts and on bits of scrap paper

a 3" 3-ring binder that I've been trying to organize it all in

a google doc titled "TAoRfOL Doc Masterlist" that has links to every single doc I have for this one fic. (it's dated back to March of last year and as of this month has 93 total links. Only 5 of those are reference links.)

notes and ideas i have written in my phone to transfer into docs so I can add them to the masterlist

Hero Forge digital models of those 8 main characters because I wanted to see what their group would look like outside of my imagination

Multiple Spotify playlists dedicated to this fic and the characters which I listen to every single day. (currently @ 494 songs)

And you know what? I just recently, at 6 am this morning, finally figured out the solution to a fucking plot hole I could not work around.

Basically what I'm saying is that I needed all of this time. Every single day I see things and get inspiration. Every day I learn new things and fix errors in my own plans.

As much as I crave the validation and recognition for all of my hard work on this project, I know that If I had just bit the bullet and posted the first chapter without having done all of this research and all of this planning, then it would not have lived up to the story I have in my head.

I admire people who can just write without all of the added steps and in some cases, I can do that. I haven't been able to in a while (which is why that Valentine's Day microfic was actually really big for me to have posted) but that's just how my brain works.

I needed all of my experiences and all of my daily thoughts and all of my collective playlists for this fic to be able to write the story I intended and that is exactly what I'm going to do.

(though if I'm being honest, this timeline is rough. I really want to just write and post this first chapter so so so bad. ToT)

#writing with adhd #fanfic author #writer #TAoRfOL #marauders fanfiction #jegulus #wolfstar #rosekiller #marylily #dorlene #the marauders #regulus black #james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #lily evans #dorcas meadowes #barty crouch jr #do Peter and Benjy have a ship name??? #platonic moonwater

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I'm so tired of people discrediting Jungkook. This is no shade to any of the members, but seven would not have gotten the same results if it was given to another member. Jimin did a huge western collab with Angel pt1 and that didn't chart high on the hot 100.

Layover is another good example. Everyone assumed it would be on par to seven, but sadly, that's not the case. we will continue to see this with rm and jimin once they release their next projects. I just think people underestimate jungkook's popularity. Just look at bts spotify, 2/5 of their most streamed songs are jungkook's. If his next single doesn't do as well, then I'll take it back, but I have a feeling it'll be just as big since there's so much anticipation.

For real. Imo, to successfully record Seven, a few skills were needed: good vocals (which ruled out Namgi, leaving only the maknae line to choose from), good English pronunciation (which V struggles with still), pop vocals (not V's strongest suit, though I think his voice would fit the song better than Jimin's - but it would sound sweeter and more melancholic than JK's version, so it wouldn't be as commercial), charisma/popularity/visuals/etc. to help sell the song (obviously they all have it in spades). Jungkook's obviously the best vocalist, whose voice is the most suited for easy pop songs like Seven, has the best English pronunciation, and is also the most recognizable member of BTS to the GP - especially after the World Cup and CK, which are both GP friendly. Jungkook also has a more American-friendly image, because of the tattoos, piercings, etc.. He resembles an American male artist the most, so he's more accessible to Western audiences.

Imo, Vmin could not pull off the song like Jungkook, and the vocals are the biggest reason why. I also think, and keep in mind that I love Jimin to bits, but his Like Crazy performances showed he's still a bit timid performing on his own. Compared to BTS stages, his energy was muted, for the lack of a better word. Jungkook was so at ease, he radiated confidence, charm and power in every performance, regardless of the size of the audience (WC or Times Square). He was more nervous in interviews, but RM's the only one who doesn't look nervous often. I think V could pull off the performances and stuff, but his voice and English pronunciation wouldn't be well received.

I don't think anyone assumed Layover would be on par with Seven. It was obvious from the moment the first song dropped that it would not be super GP friendly and wouldn't be able to compete on a global scale with a bright English pop song that was promoted in the US. Tbh, I underestimated V's popularity, because I assumed Layover wouldn't perform as well as Face, but it surpassed it in many regards. V is really a lot more popular than I gave him credit for, and has very dedicated fanbases, though Jimin arguably has much bigger GP recognition. But V really proved his popularity with the streams and sales he pulled for an album like Layover - although the album has 4 versions, which definitely helped with sales. Yet, Jungkook will easily, and with 100% certainty, blow V and Jimin's records out of the water, and snatch that first nr. 1 on the BB 200 for the albums (assuming V hasn't already).

Jungkook's popularity is definitely underestimated. It's practically fanon that V's the most popular member. Even after Seven's amazing performance that's taken as a fact. I'd argue that even in the past it wasn't true or easy to say V was more popular, but since 2022, at least, Jungkook's popularity has sky rocketed. Everyone still insists on V being more popular or on the same level as Jungkook, but his TikTok, YT and Twitter records show otherwise. Plus, like you said, his songs perform very well.

I think JK's next single will be the Butter to his Dynamite, which is Seven. His Vogue photoshoot, more than the Dazed interview, have me actually believing that his next single will be a bit darker, maybe more rock? Perhaps it will be trendier but not as easy of a listen as Seven, which is exactly like Butter vs. Dynamite. The anticipation will be huge, and a lot more people will tune in for his single, so he'll likely outdo himself in many regards, but I doubt he'll beat Seven's biggest records and impact. There's also the issue with very little time having passed since Seven.

Yeah, not to sound like a solo stan, which I'm not, but only Jungkook could do Seven - and Dreamers too.

Thanks for the ask!

#ask #bts #jungkook #jimin #v #text #thanks for the ask!

[cytobi]

Lyrics, Languages & Luck

October 31, 2023

The Search

So a couple days ago I came across a nightcore song called How Do You Do. It might have been on tumblr, simply through my Spotify feed or maybe on TikTok, i don’t remember. Anyways, I listened to it on Spotify and the specific version on there is by Nightcore Fanatics. It’s different from most other versions that show up on Google & YouTube in one major way: it has a non-english part somewhere in the middle, sort of like a second chorus. The original song (well sort of, we’ll get into that) doesn’t have a part in another language. So i started looking for the lyrics.

First the obvious, the lyrics button in Spotify itself. Turns out the lyrics aren’t synced to the song and a major part, the part that I’m looking for, is missing and just represented with an ellipsis (…). Similar to how it still is here (as of October 31, 2023 ).

To Google we go, where I made a couple discoveries: - there’s a ton of different versions, both nightcore and not - it’s hard to find stuff because How Do You Do! - Roxette also exists - the two major non-nightcore versions are by Boom! and BeFour - neither has the non-english section - there’s lots of websites claiming to have the correct lyrics but they either have the standard english-only lyrics or the spotify-version with the ellipsis

The Surrender

At this point a was feeling like just leaving it be even though I had the song on repeat and really wanted to know what it says, but I decided to look a bit more. In the Wikipedia article about the BeFour song it said that the actual original song is a Russian song called Kanikuly by Bum, so I thought maybe it’s from that song. But no, it sounds completely different.

On Spotify it credits Kim Peter Göran Johansson Karlsson as the songwriter, which is an extremely Swedish name. Additionally it also sounded kind of Scandinavian to me (that’s probably just my bias due to the languages I’ve been exposed too and Caramelldansen) which led me to believe I was on the right track. However, my limited Swedish skills in conjunction with various translation and automatic speech recognition tools as well as conversations with multiple LLMs didn’t get me anywhere.

The credited record label is 1702219 Records DK which I thought might be Danish but it turns out DK just stands for DistroKid, a music distribution service. So no luck there.

I also found this version on SoundCloud which said it was Russian but I assumed that was wrong and probably just due to the original song mentioned earlier. It did not sound like Russian to me at all, probably because I’d never heard Russian in that high pitched nightcore voice.

So then I gave up.

The Resolution

Just today, three days after first looking into this I told a friend (who coincidentally knows a little Russian) about my search over lunch. He went on Spotify to listen to the song a few hours later and then sent me a text á la “Hey, it’s Russian, the lyrics are right here on Spotify”. At first I didn’t believe that because Spotify was obviously the first place I’d looked but it turns out they updated the lyrics very recently and they in fact now have the full (russian) lyrics. So know I present:

The Russian Lyrics to How Do You Do - Nightcore Fanatics

Превед медвед, Мы не виделись сто лет, Я везде тебя найду, How do you do you do

For those who can’t read Cyrillic:

Preved medved, My ne videlis' sto let, Ya vezde tebya naydu, How do you do you do

And in English:

Hello bear, We haven’t seen each other for a hundred years, I’ll find you everywhere, How do you do you do

The Backstory

The lyrics being updated exactly now sounds like a massive coincidence and a ton of luck for me of course but I’m not sure it is. I obviously somehow got to this song exactly now for some reason and i think that reason is an algorithm, maybe the Spotify recommendation system, maybe TikTok, maybe tumblr, maybe even YouTube, maybe multiple of them together. I’m pretty sure that song is going a bit viral somewhere right now and I’m just part of that wave which is why Spotify was getting much more traffic on that song and decided to prioritize the lyrics. Another example for how marvelous the internet really is.

I also found a reddit thread about exactly this today where the guy transcribing the lyrics asks for help which is kind of funny.

Finally, what does Hello bear actually mean? Well, it stems from a big Russian meme about a peculiar picture. In this slang words are purposefully misspelled (”Preved” instead of “Privet”) which then leads to the according to the “cringe af” lyrics. This is a good starting point if you want to read more.

#nightcore #lyrics #language #coincidence #algorithm #how do you do #preved #spotify #music #reddit #tiktok #nightcore fanatics #boom! #befour #distrokid #soundcloud #caramelldansen #russian #kanikuly #internet research #meme history

[curatedbyhatto]

BANKS - Gemini Feed

Heyoo! I totally didn't post two songs close to each other because I forgot to make last week's video. Not at all.

Anyway, this week's song is called 'Gemini Feed' by the US singer BANKS. It is a well known song, with millions of streams on multiple platforms, but it deserves even more recognition, imo. The lyric video is on youtube, as always.

About the artist

As mentioned before, BANKS is a very well known artist, and therefore creating a whole bio when there are a lot already would be futile. We'll then check her most important achievements and releases.

BANKS, born Jillian Rose Banks is a Californian (US) singer, songwriter and painter. She started writing her own songs and playing the piano when she was only 15 y/o; this prompted by a piano that she received as a gift from a friend to handle her parents divorce in a better way.

Jillian actually studied Psychology at the USC, and graduated with a thesis on children of divorced parents. While still at uni, and through a series of connections, her yet unreleased song 'Before I Ever Met You' was played on BBC Radio 1 (at this point I'm realizing that if your song is good and gets featured on BBCR1, you're very likely to get famous).

2013 saw the release of BANKS' first single: Work (ft. Lil Silva). After that, she has constantly released music, almost every year. Up to this date, BANKS discography spans more than 20 EPs/singles and 4 LPs.

Rose has opened for artists like The Weeknd, and appeared on festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Open'er. Her TV debut was on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which was very well received.

Go follow BANKS on instagram, twitter and of course youtube and spotify. Oh, she also has a website and is right now featured on an art gallery. A lot more here, too.

About the song

'Gemini Feeds' is the first song on BANKS second studio album 'The Altar' which was released on Sep. 30th, 2016. It reached the 17th position on Billboard 200, and was her second top 20 in the US.

Tbh I don't remember where I got this song from, but I fucking love it. I really really like the descending melody on the chorus, the synths that sound very future bassy, the drums which though appear as kinda minimalistic, are a fundamental part and a great base for the song. A well crafted track, a great opener. The lyrics are great too! Oh, hold on

Any meaning?

'Gemini Feeds' talks from the perspective of the woman, who talks to a past lover (possibly a man) that she gave her love to, but all he did was treat her like shit and make her feel inferior and that she was not important. Fortunately she got outta there and now sings from the top of the mountain, victorious and free from the cage of a shitty lover, if we can even call that 'love'.

☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊☿☿☿♊

I got a bit creative with the lyric video, just because I had time and I wanted to make something good. Don't get me wrong, I always wanna do something good, but a lot of times my mind is dry and I have little time, so I put out something still good, just not that flashy.

The inspo for the background was the overall idea of running away from someone that hurts you, but looking back afterwards to let them know what they lost.

I used another image for the last chorus, in case you want it and the clear, first one, here you go

#curated by hatto: the music #music #chill #US #OC #orange county #california #rnb #r&b #BANKS #gemini #zodiac #mercury

[findasongblog]

Find A Song about a moment of recognition

Arliston - Hold My Wine

“We’ve been wanting to make something a bit more playful for a while, so when we first hit on that chorus idea and made a silly middle-class pun on ‘hold my beer’, everything just fell into place around it. This one was a lot of fun to make.”

Never ones to make their music straightforward though, “Hold My Wine” crafts a bittersweet sense of  sentimentality as it contrasts its uplifting chords and shimmering melodies with a more sombre subject matter. Jack adds:

“The song is about that occasional moment of recognition when you look up from the narrow corridor of your own thoughts and are seized by the idea that everyone else has progressed and developed, while you are stuck in an unchanged rut. The protagonist attempts to do something about it in the chorus — but inevitably, he gets it wrong.” 

Added to FAS Spotify playlist indie pop.

#music #music blog #indie music #alternative music #experimental pop #Arliston #Hold My Wine #recognition #indie #alternative #find a song

[princessofprocrastination]

Not The Same (GeorgeNotFound)

summary : you put out a song, but it attracted the wrong type of crowd and caused too many misunderstandings.

trigger warnings : threats (including death and doxing), panic attacks, taking of meds. 

"you're THOSE type of fans, huh?" you read the comments on your newest song release.

and that was the start of your downfall.

-

you and your dad really enjoyed singing. at any opportunity you two got, you would be doing a duet.

whether that would be at at a close relative's wedding or your at home karaoke set up, you two knew how to entertain people.

though singing was your passion, you ended up being too busy with school and trying to graduate with a diploma to even think about singing again.

but you swore to make a career of your singing after high school. you just loved it too much.

but then, you didn't go to college for music, which pretty much shocked your parents and your friends since they knew your only passion in life was singing.

but you took a different direction. you still wanted to sing and you were trying your hardest to find a way to make that your career.

someday, anyway. but you needed to have a plan to fall back into in case anything goes wrong.

you were a realist, after all.

so off to college you went.

you spent long hours studying for tests after tests, sat through hours of lectures, did endless amounts of projects.

in the end, it was all worth the wait and fatigue. you graduated top of your class.

you went off to be an intern, clocked in more hours before you could fully go into the next phase of your life.

and after those long hours, you finally made the decision (with the support of your parents) to take a gap year.

but before anyone panics. your gap year was not all fun in games where you took to rest and lay in bed all day.

you took the gap year to see if the music industry fits you. to see if you even had the chance to succeed.

and if it did, you could finally have your dream job. but even if it didn't you were not going to be upset if you needed to fall back onto your backup plan.

in the duration of the gap year, you took voice lessons, and poetry classes for song writing.

and with whatever you have learnt, you took that into writing songs that you felt really relate to your life experiences.

so you spend at least a couple months writing multiple songs.

after almost 2 years, you finally came out with your first song. and it definitely got recognition. more than you thought you'd get, if you were being completely honest.

and that was what pushed you to sit your ass back on your desk to write more, and go into your makeshift studio and make the words into songs.

your parents were ecstatic to hear that you were finally doing the things you loved. and you knew you'd never get this far if it weren't for your family's support.

and so your music journey began.

it was going well for years. you were finally happy doing the one thing you enjoyed doing.

and you definitely think you were good at it. seeing and hearing the positive feedbacks from your family, friends and listeners. 

you felt good. 

but you lost that feeling when you came out with a new single, called ‘fan of you’. 

you spent a while working hard on that song and you felt relieved when it was finally released. it was like a weight was lifted off your shoulders. 

and you weren’t sure how one thing led to another, if you were being honest. at first, you received good feedback for your new songs. you even gained new listeners and your spotify rank rised. 

but then it didn’t anymore. 

your twitter flooded with mentions and your instagram full of tagged pictures and dms by accounts you’ve never heard of. 

but you noticed a similarity with all of the spam. a guy name george. georgenotfound for short.

you being you, you looked into it. and that was when all of the information hit you. and all you had to look up was your name on twitter, and there it was, the longest thread of tweets you have ever seen in your life. 

you took time to read it all, trying to make sure you didn’t miss anything crucial. 

there must be an understanding. you didn’t know this guy name george. you’ve seen his face on pinterest once a while when you scrolled, yes. but you never looked into him. 

this amazing person took their time to gather every bit of information there was about the scandal, which you were grateful for, or else you’d be scouring the internet for hours. 

to summarise what you read, there was this artist by the name of tia jade who came out with a song a few months prior to yours called ‘just a fan.’ 

it was a good song, some say, and you could agree. it was professionally written and produced. but many fans of george found out that the song was about him. 

not just about him, but about her falling in love with him, when she has never met him. and when his fans started to really listen and analyse the song, it got creepier. 

basically, the song was about a fan falling in love with a celebrity/content creator and that they want to know them beyond their persona online. 

but tia had apologised a little after the song came out, saying that she made that song based on a fan liking a content creator, and not about her falling for george. 

but when you read enough of the issue, it definitely did seem like she was making that song to tell her story about falling for george. but she obviously needed an excuse to cover it up. 

hence the apology. 

and then you read about how they analysed your song, too.

they compared your song to tia’s and found it to have similar stories. stories about how a normal girl is falling in love with the man by the name of george, who had millions of followers on all social medias. 

and if you admitted it to yourself, your song did seem to come out that way. especially if your mentality had been there. clearly your song could have been interpreted in many different ways. 

you scrolled to the very bottom of the thread where there was a video of the man himself, george. he was addressing the issue. 

“i don’t know how this happened twice. i thought once was weird enough, but.” he paused, focusing on building something on his screen. 

“having heard of a song being about me again now makes my skin crawl.” he finished. it was short but enough to make his fans understand where he was coming from. 

you scrolled further to see the replies of the thread. you wanted to know what were people saying about it. 

and you definitely regretted your decision to do that. 

threats everywhere. death threats, threats of beating you up, threats of doxing you. god the negative comments were drowned by the one’s that genuinely thought nothing wrong of your song. 

you called you mom. this was the time you needed her advice. you needed to be told what to do. you didn’t want to accidentally trigger people. 

you and her were on the phone for hours. she listened to you cried to her. she heard the painful sobs that came out of your mouth whenever you reminded yourself of what people were calling you on the internet. 

she heard you cry silently on call when you saw your address and phone number being leaked on twitter. 

but even through all of that, you joked around with your mom. “well, this was a hell of a way to be trending.” 

you did what she told you to do. get a new phone number, stay in a hotel for a couple days while you try to settle the raging crowd of georgenotfound fans down. 

in the span of a couple weeks, you got yourself a new number, a new house and a new car. you weren’t taking any chances. 

you told no one besides your mom of the new changes, just to be safe. 

and no, the threats did not cease. at all. these people did not have a life, constantly up in your dms, telling you to jump off a cliff or them hoping that a robber stabs you and leaves you dying. 

you took your time trying to figure out a way to talk to george. or a way to speak out about this. 

you didn’t want to write a half-assed notes app paragraph apologising when- first of all, you had nothing to apologise for and second, you had too much to say to fit it all in a notes app. 

lucky for you, you didn’t need to start your own channel or make a sit down video on your own. 

your recording label had brought up the idea of a documented series about you and how you became a singer about a year ago, and only started filming and posting the episodes a couple months prior on youtube. 

so you took the series to your advantage. you pitched in the idea to your manager, to which she agreed to immediately, knowing that it was best you talked about it now. 

this was how it played out on the perspective of viewers who watched that episode. 

“bless you.” your producer says after you paused your singing in the mic as you stopped to sneeze. 

you gave him a smile and a thumbs up from inside the booth. 

the camera cuts to another clip. 

the cameraman pans as they captured movers coming in and out of your old house, picking up your heavy furniture and boxes into large trucks to move into the new place.

 it cuts again. this time it shows you scrolling on your phone with a focused face while your manager types something vigorously on her computer. 

the camera tries to focus on your phone, and sees that you were on twitter, reading a lot of tweets under your name. 

you exited the app and slide it away, going into youtube next, reading the comments on your song ‘fan of you’. 

you scrolled far, clicking on some of the comments, trying to read the replies to certain comments you saw. 

the camera cuts into a black screen. which then cuts again into a new scene, where you sat on your new kitchen counter talking to your mother, who sat on the chair in front of you. 

your hair was up in a ponytail. a messy one. you were wearing sweatpants and a hoodie that seemed far too big on you, and your feet covered with fluffy socks.

you were nodding to whatever she was saying to you. it was clear your mind was elsewhere as your eyes were unfocused. 

the scene cuts again. 

you were seen on the couch, your legs were tucked into your arms and your head down, body shaking. it was obvious you were crying. 

you were alone, your mother no where to be seen. 

that was the first time the camera caught you crying. 

the scene cuts as you were going to get up from the couch. 

now, you were in the kitchen again, opening the refrigerator to take a water bottle, then walking to your room upstairs. 

the camera follows behind you slowly into your room. 

it hadn’t been the cleanest. there were a couple shirts on the floor, your bed undone, cups on your side table, your laptop open on your desk. 

you were seen opening a drawer, taking out a small white bottle. you unscrewed the bottle and took out 2 pills, popping them in your mouth, drinking water straight away after that to swallow. 

the scene cuts again. 

this time, you were seated on the couch in the studio, the atmosphere dark and quiet. 

your hair was more kept this time, being help up in a clip. 

you were wearing straight jeans and a slightly oversized sweatshirt. you looked more refreshed this time. but it was obvious you hadn’t slept in a while because of your eyes.

your eyes that usually held a lot of happiness and joy turned dull. 

“it’s been a while since i’ve spoken to a camera.” you offered a small smile. your song ‘just a fan’ was playing in the background of the clip. 

the scene cuts again. 

“when i released that song, i was genuinely proud of the work i had done.” you paused for a while. besides the song playing in the background, it was silent. 

“but i guess the joy didn’t last very long.” the scene cuts there. 

it transitioned to a collage of what people were saying about you. it showed clips of people talking about it on youtube. they even showed george talking about it. 

and it cuts again. 

it showed a different clip this time. a clip of your ex boyfriend and you at the beach on a picnic, that was taken by a close friend of yours. 

this was when you were still in college. 

it showed all the fun memories you two made while you were still together. 

it showed a video of him studying in the library, flipping through his papers and scrolling through his laptop. it was clear he was hard at work, not noticing you filming him. 

but then the scene cuts again. and the music turned somber. 

your ex boyfriend’s grave. 

it was the day you were visiting him. you sat down next to his stone, a blanket under you. 

you were just staring at his stone, not moving. 

and it cuts again. 

“he was one of the most driven person i have ever met.” you told the camera. 

“he knew when to be serious and when to have fun.” you looked down in your hands and played with your rings. 

“all he ever talked about was becoming a surgeon. he worked hard in his intern years and continued being passionate through his residency.” you spoke up. 

“people had only nice things to say about him. the only bad thing they would say about him is that he can be pretty uptight sometimes, especially when he was stressed about something.” you laughed a little. 

“i was a huge fan of him, even when we just saw each other in the hallways. he’s just amazing. i’ve always wanted to be just like him.”

“i wanted to write a song about him but i didn’t the song to be sad.” you said. 

“and that was when the song ‘fan of you’ was created. 

the scene cuts there and goes into another. 

you were in the recording booth again, this time, you were singing into the mic. 

the camera pans to your producer and manager dancing and bobbing their heads to the beat. 

the scene cuts, officially ending it with a black screen with ‘the end’ in a fancy white font. 

you busied yourself with writing new songs as your name got trended again on twitter. 

and george has never felt worse about himself ever in his entire life. 

-

he watched the episode as soon as dream sent it to him. 

“you’re an asshole, george.” dream sends to him, along with the link of the video on youtube. 

as the video ends, he decides to read the comments, wondering what it was like down there. 

it was the worse mistake he had ever made in a while. 

but he knew he deserved it. he did assumed it was about him, just like the last song made with a drawing of his glasses as their cover photo on spotify. 

this time, there was genuinely no reason to think that this song was about him, or anyone with a following whatsoever. he just believed what his chat told him. 

sure, there were some familiarity of the character in your song and him, but the world did have 7.6 billion people living on it. 

“so, here i am apologising.” george says to his camera, live. his tone was very sincere and apologetic. 

“this shouldn’t have gotten this far. they shouldn’t have gotten threats at all, let alone death threats. they shouldn’t have woken up to the world knowing where they live and what their phone number is.” 

“and if you’re watching. i sincerely apologise. i clearly was full of myself.” george finishes. ending the live with a small wave. 

and were you watching? hell yes. 

and that was the day the two of you followed each other on instagram. 

he used your songs as his intros of his live, (with your permission, of course.) you showed in your documentary that you were watching whenever he was live or watching his youtube videos. 

and that was the start to a beautiful relationship. 

you sat on the chair, going live. you waved as people started joining. it went from hundreds, to thousands in seconds. 

as you were talking and clicking on your keyboard and mouse, playing a game, you felt arms around your shoulders. 

you smiled, yet continued playing. 

“why are you live on my account?” he laughs. 

you disconnected the headphones so that he could hear what you were hearing. 

“george, you’re being replaced.” dream said on discord. 

george smiles, giving you a kiss on the top of your head. “that was well deserved.” 

#georgenotfound imagines #georgenotfound imagine #georgenotfound fanfic #georgenotfound x reader #georgenotfound

[interact-if]

Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!

1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?

2. Do you have a niche interest right now?

3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?

4. Any fave movies/tv shows?

5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?

You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤

We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!

 We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!!  😌

1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!

2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!

3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.

4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).

5. Heh. Okay.

In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.

In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.

Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!

Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.

When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.

Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!

1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3

2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)

3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot

4. The Good Place <3

5. My WIPs:

Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.

Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3

Others’ WIPs

I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌

1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]

2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤

3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty  

4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well! 

5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3

Alright, let’s go!  I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm... 

The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe. 

Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical  zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell. 

Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so... 

Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10? 

When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10) 

Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late. 

god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof

Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...

1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!

2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3

3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.

4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3

5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333

The Goodfellows: 7/10

Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3

Greater than Gods: 7/10

I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.

Vardir: 10/10

Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!

Creatures' Cradle: 8/10

Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.

When it Hungers: 8/10

That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3

Orthall Bay: 6/10

Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao

Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3

1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!

2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3

3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.

4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.

5.

The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf

Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.

Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD

Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10

When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!

Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.

#mod talk #long post #interact if: asks

[not-saying-revolution-but]

on the artistry of Loïc Nottet's "Mr/Mme"

We open to a cobbled, deserted Brussels intersection. The title appears in old-timey yellow against the grayscale. A white-clad Loïc Nottet enters as a piano teases the opening, and it starts.

I have a lot of emotions about "Mr/Mme," the last track on Nottet's second studio album (Sillygomania) and, to my knowledge, his first song fully en français. "Mr/Mme" dropped in April of 2020, which was still near the start of the pandemic in Europe and North America. I, for one, did not anticipate what the next year would hold. And yet when this song appeared in Spotify’s suggestions (as the algorithm knows my weakness for Nottet's vocal range and off-pop sound), it touched a nerve that has pulsed for the last 12 months.

To be clear, I'm not going to present any new revelations about this song. Nottet is indisputably a phenomenal artist, "Mr/Mme" is a perfect example of his skill, and that's that on that. I'm more interested in the raw emotions that this song explores and how the piece indicates a radical departure from Nottet's previous body of work. Or does it?

Born in 1996, Loïc Nottet is a Belgian singer/songwriter/dancer who made a name for himself on The Voice Belgique and ESC 2015. You can look up his Wikipedia page if you like. His first album, "Selfocracy," is entirely in English and handles themes of bullying, selfishness, the corruptibility of society, and related. I don't know what the Belgian and French reviewers said, but the album was fairly well received in the English-speaking places I inhabit. The songs are punchy and get stuck in your head. The lyrics feel clever but maybe a little strained. A Youtube star dropping his first studio album.

And then "Mr/Mme" came out. Nottet greets his audience with a "bonsoir Monsieur, Madame / aujourd'hui, j'te dis tout" (good evening sir, madame / today, I'll tell you everything). He proceeds to do just that. Nottet describes a living hell, a world that "m'étrangle, m'écrase et me brûle" (strangles me, crushes me, and burns me). The ensuing musical monologue swivels from individual anguish to a broader critique of humanity, described as nothing but a bully without love. Those who cannot afford morphine are refused the moon. Children turn into monsters and the rest of us pay rent.

About halfway through the song (which lacks a chorus), Nottet tells the listener how alone he feels while walking the glorious road to fame. He copes by drinking, poking fun at his youth, and grappling in the darkness for any sense of meaning (he's in his 20s after all). Despite living out his childhood dreams, Nottet admits to his own unhappiness.

While Nottet sings all of this, alternating between confessional and belting tones, the camera tracks his wanderings through the streets of Brussels. It looks utterly empty until we see another figure walking past. They look over their shoulder as they pass this strange young man who sings, skips, and spreads his arms in the way of music videos. With a bitter twinge of irony, his oversized white dress shirt has "enjoy yourself" written on the breast pocket.

Nottet takes us down the narrow, shuttered, and graffitied alleyways that spread out from La Grand-Place. He carefully avoids the Baroque square, though, taking rapid turns just when you think you're nearing it. The camera follows in its shaky way. The crowds increase as the song swells, now showing other young people in their sparkling little groups. Nottet breaks through, and everything stops as he sings "je n'sais plus qui je suis, j'suis perdu" (I no longer know who I am, I am lost).

And finally, finally. We reach La Grand-Place, and the lyrics shift. Nottet tells us how he feels when he’s on stage, which is far from the horrific picture he just described:

Car j'écris quand j'me plante

Et je ris quand je danse

Et je vis quand je chante

Et pour tout ça, j'te dis :

Merci

(Because I write when I mess up, and I laugh when I dance, and I live when I sing. And for all of that, I say to you: Thank you.)

Nottet’s figure paints a bright absence on the darkened Grand-Place. The song is officially over but Nottet launches into a series of ethereal "oohs" that transcend this mortal realm. He now shows off his dancing and spreads himself open as the "oohs" reach their highest pitch. Nottet looks like a broken bird, splayed open in La Grand-Place and suspended by his rib cage. The video ends with a few more leg kicks and spins before Nottet wanders out of frame. Everything was done in one take.

So what makes this song and music video so special? Is it not another artsy, indie production about a young singer struggling with fame?

I say to that nay. In "Mr/Mme," Nottet uses his extraordinary voice to access an emotion that is often trivialized. “A young man makes it big and then feels lonely, so what,” we could say. “Life is hard.” This is both true and not. Nottet's struggles are different from most of ours, but he speaks in terms that feel familiar. How many of us realize too late that success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? "Mr/Mme" holds extremes that more often coexist than contradict in real life, including "humanity is fucked and we should burn everything to the ground" and "there are moments when life is worth living." I know of few other songs that capture both emotions in such a poignant way.

Moreover, the video is carefully done. Directed by Hugo Jouxtel, it seems almost self-conscious about its artsy look. The passersby may be hired extras, I don't know, but they react organically. It's almost embarrassing to see them hastily cross the street and give the singer funny looks. There’s a bit of self-recognition through the other, if you will, particularly if you’ve ever had a breakdown in public (hands, anyone? just me?). It is one thing to sing about feeling alone and quite another to be alone amid the crowds of La Grand-Place. La Grand-Place, a tourist attraction with very few things to do. A place that is good for milling about, snapping a picture, and then hurrying on with your life, oblivious.

Besides the video being aesthetically pleasing, it feels real. Nottet cannot step beyond the gated storefronts as he laments. Sometimes the camera captures an unflattering angle as he tilts up his chin in anguish. It's pretty but gritty. Like the song. Like fame. Like life.

The view from my chair is this: "Mr/Mme" signals a new moment of maturity for an artist who (I am convinced) will one day be known worldwide. It acknowledges the darker threads present in "Selfocracy" (the darkness inside us, the ever-watching “million eyes”) but strips it all down to the bare essentials. The song is honest. And for a popular artist like Nottet, who has already proven himself many times over, honesty might be the rarest thing.

*All translations are from yours truly. Any errors are, of course, my own.

#loïc nottet #mr/mme #n-s-r-b.doc #n-s-r-b.gif #whatever you followed me for i can assume it wasn't this #once upon a time i had a proper blog where this could have gone #it is unfortunately lost to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune #not to mention the sea of troubles #so tumblr it is! #anyway #i don't usually write on here #but sometimes the spirit moves me #and by the spirit i do indeed mean loic nottet's falsetto #bisous to angelxhunter for beta-ing

[japanessie]

Hi Shelly. I'm a new storyteller. Tbh I feel upset because i just found out about this amazing band 9 years after their debut. I know that MFS is an indie band and maybe it'll be more difficult for them to gain public recognition. I want to ask you about MFS popularity in Japan these days. Are they doing well or they still struggling? Thank you!

Hi ✌️😊

Welcome to the fandom 🤗. Would you share with us all how you found MFS? It would be fun to know your story too. My story is in this post.... hehe 😄

https://japanessie.tumblr.com/post/139468092797/how-did-you-find-out-about-my-first-story

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

It’s ok. Don’t be too sad 🤗

Think of it this way 😉. You came to them at a point when....

1. They already have an extensive collection of works under their belts for you to choose your favs from.

2. Availability of their music on legal digital platforms (Spotify, YouTube Music, international iTunes etc).

3. A bunch of fanpages in different languages.

4. Many translated lyrics, articles and interviews.

5. An official Fan Club 😀🤘

6. Online official band merch shop.

Those of us who started early didn’t have much or even nothing at all (not even Spotify!). We, the fans, had to support each other building up the fandom into what it is today from scratch. The only advantage the earlier fans had was the fact that the band members had public Twitter/Instagram accounts back then.

How popular is MFS in Japan?

Hmm... interesting. 

I met a Japanese guy who looked like he was in his late 20s in Sept 2019 at a hostel in Fukuoka . Upon knowing that I was there to see MY FIRST STORY, he said, “Sugoii!! They’re very popular you know.” 

I was a bit astonished to hear it as I assumed MFS was not known much, “Really 😮?? I'm not Japanese. So, I don’t know if they’re popular here or not.”

“Yes, they’re very popular,” he said in an affirming manner, smiling 😀.

Our conversation ventured on to ONE OK ROCK after that though 😅. It’s like a given that anyone who knows MFS would know who OOR is. We ended up watching OOR videos on YouTube together with his friend and another traveller in the hostel common area.

Yup... that's OOR on the TV screen 😅

Looks like MFS is known just enough but .....🤔

They’re NOT YET at a point where people of any walk of life you meet in Japan would know them like they do with OOR. Hiro’s brother Taka’s face was practically plastered on billboards all over for Honda in 2019. 

It’s not an exaggeration to say that OOR is moving up bit by bit towards the level of super Senpai like HYDE and L’arc en Ciel sooner or later. I’m not talking musically or artistically. I’m talking about the level of being known by the general public in their country.

I would say that MFS is still mostly only known by the teens and the 20-somethings which is their main market. But once you reach the point where babies and 80-year-old grandmas also know who you are, then you have reached the golden plateau. Which is why MFS is actively trying to expand their fanbase by collaborating with many different artists.

It's a big blessing too that MFS leader Sho Tsuchiya is a songwriter/producer behind the scene and this opens lots of doors for them to get song projects. Getting that King & Ashley theme song on Netflix is important for the band's “brand awareness".

* Personally though I feel that Hiro's status as a Moriuchi is what has been garnering attention from the media. Especially now that Hiro is more open with talking about his family in public. But hey, it's still publicity for MFS indirectly 😄

By Indie artists’ standard, MFS is secure. However...

MFS wants to be an arena selling band and later on the Dome. They want more than being secure at ZEPP Hall level (can easily sell out 2.5K~3K pax per Hall) and the Budokan (10K~12K pax no problem). However I can’t close my eyes to the fact that they didn’t quite fill up Saitama Super Arena. My analysis of that situation here.

I personally feel their target planning is a bit too tight in timing:

Nippon Budokan (2016 ~ 12K pax)

Makuhari Messe (2017 ~ 18K pax)

Yokohama Arena (early 2019 ~ 18K pax)

Saitama Super Arena (late 2019 ~ 18K pax)

Tokyo Dome (planned for 2021 ~ can they reach >18K pax?)

Being Indie means they don’t quite have the budget or networking power for the marketing machines that big labels have. Add to that, the entire Live entertainment industry around the world is being financially crippled by a deadly pandemic.

The Corona virus situation unfortunately came at the most crucial time for MFS to build the momentum for the Tokyo Dome show 😖. I do hope they will continue using their digital platforms wisely and strategically. Learn the algorithms and stuff.

Can MFS do the Tokyo Dome by 2021?

Would they take advantage of the “social distancing" rule to do a fully seated show with huge spacing in between and charge higher ticket prices without the pressure of selling >18K tickets 🤔?

Note: Concert photo is of girl group TWICE at the Tokyo Dome. Reportedly 50K pax per night.

To me it's more realistic for MFS to postpone the Tokyo Dome show to another year or two or even 3+ if they want to build up an attendance number beyond 18K pax 🤔. The problem is with the current Corona situation, can they financially afford to postpone any show much longer 😕?

#reply #my first story #maifasu #マイファス #one ok rock #oor

[deathwish-koala]

Harry, the womanizer

Okay, I’ll admit it. When Watermelon Sugar hit the radio and I suddenly had to hear it everywhere, in my head I kinda went, “Jesus Harry, we get it. You like to fuck.” 

But I was just playin’! Joshin’ my boy! You know I love Harry, and more to the point, I think he’s a very thoughtful artist. I think he’s straining for an emotional truth in his work that he must constantly interrogate and shape--hence his propensity to change lyrics and cadence (the Spotify Singles version of Two Ghosts comes to mind) in live performance. 

I don’t really believe that his music, allusions to fruit juices aside, is mostly sexual. But even if it were--would that be a bad thing? 

At the ripe old age of nearly-27, Harry is definitely allowed to have sex, you know? Like all adults. He’s also allowed to sing about it. I have a friend who is a rather brilliant, cerebral young musician (And also an Aquarius! Go figure.) who has songs about sex, because sex is part of his life. Sex, beyond being fun when done right, is also a realm of extreme spiritual and emotional truth. It’s also...sexy. It makes for good music. We know this. So no harm done there.

A Note On Olivia Wilde

In recent days, Harry’s been photographed holding hands with Olivia Wilde. I have a lot of respect for Wilde, both for her longstanding activism and her career. On House she portrayed the first canonical bisexual I ever saw on TV, a massive moment in my life that made my heart hammer with a sense of recognition I was too young to really appreciate. 

Yet I can see why the current media setup--including a Vanity Fair piece dropped yesterday--might make some longtime Harry fans nervous. A decade ago, Harry’s purported involvement with Caroline Flack had fans frothing at the mouth. Whether the relationship was legit or not is hardly the question, and, out of respect to the tragic situation surrounding Flack, I wish to speak instead on the hideous media coverage at that time.

So much of what defined Harry’s media image as a teenager was sexual. The world very quickly realized, I think, that he is a massively charismatic person, but the extremely sexualized coverage he received was singular and disgusting. He could not so much as speak to a woman without speculation that they were involved. An exhausting burden for anyone, let alone someone so young and so suddenly exposed to the world’s scrutiny. In 2012 my mother very cheerfully read off that infamous “400 women in a year” headline to me and it made my stomach twist.

Beyond the closeting many suspected was behind this early media narrative, there was also the fear fans held of Harry’s predation. First Caroline, then Taylor--Harry was linked to older women all the time, and as we know, age gaps create power imbalances. Harry was still a teenager. It all seemed wrong. 

So perhaps the Wilde thing chafes, as we remember these wounds of old. Two things to consider, however: 

1) Harry is no longer any sort of child. He’s an adult man with a career that he has made conscious efforts toward maintaining. Time has ruled that none of his fame was an accident or mistake. He has chosen this path, treacherous though it may be, and that’s worth respecting. 

2) Essentially, he and Olivia Wilde are peers. For one, they’re co-stars, but they’re also both household names, both wealthy beyond imagining, both seemingly secure in their image and personhood. This is pure speculation, but I suspect they have a bit of an intellectual connection, whatever else they are.

It is not so unheard of that a person in their mid/late-20′s might date someone in their 30′s, especially if they share a career and relative position in society. The world is very large and full of people, and finding a person you connect with is a brilliant feeling. If that’s what they have, these two adult peers, then fantastic. And if it’s PR for the film they’re in together? Wouldn’t be the first time. Wilde is admittedly gorgeous. Who better to offer her their arm than a handsome man who cut his teeth as a young lothario? 

And Yet...

The womanizer image, grafted onto Harry in his days of earliest fame, has never sat right againsthsi skin. We certainly talk about it enough around these parts: Harry Styles starts each day with a glass of antioxidant rich Respect Women Juice, yet media (and many fans) would have you believe he wakes up, sees a lamp shade that looks like a boob, and just starts wacking it. If media was reality, Harry would have to be a bedridden compulsive to keep it up. 

Now, one can respect women and still have sex with a lot of them. Promiscuity is not inherently evil or immoral or filthy or wrong. Really, for me the question becomes, “How comfortable are you, dear HStyles fan, with speculating on the amount of sex he has?” 

We are all a little bit complicit in Harry’s sexualization through the years. Some of it is less okay than the rest. I’m not here to decide for you, but hopefully it’s become clearer over time what is and is not creepy, what is and is not invasive, what would and would not make Styles himself lose sleep if he knew it existed with his name attached.

The media, writ large, is more broadly complicit in this sexualization. In 2011, Alan Carr interviewed 1D for Chatty Man and--having already confirmed which of the boys was 18 and old enough to drink--begins to hassle Harry (not yet 18) about “pussygate,” aka 

Black & white for nostalgia purposes.

Listen, I get it. You wanna take the piss out of the 17-year-old pop star, because it’s funny and silly and he’ll be embarrassed but cool about it probably. You wanna tease him. Because he’s a kid.

On their next interview with Alan Carr, Harry is once again addressed on sexual terms--”Harry, give us your gravy!”--that are playful but also pointed. By age 18, Harry had dealt with this for years.

Hi, Watermelon Sugar

Harry is not the only musician, not even the only member of the band, to have their personal life made a public topic. Superstardom in the 21st century is invasive to the highest degree. But it seems peculiar that the specter of hyper-sexualization chases Styles most everywhere, despite the decidedly non-sexual accolades and regard his career has gathered in the last five years, and despite the lack of flagrant behavior.

Perhaps this specter hangs on because of Harry’s emotional and sensual approach to music--I mean, he does talk about fruit juice a lot, and fabric, and flowers. In an interview with Zane Lowe, the friendly, stoney mood is momentarily dampened by Lowe’s assumption that Watermelon Sugar is about oral sex. 

“Everyone’s kind of figured out what it is about, the joys of mutually appreciated oral pleasure. That’s what everyone’s saying,“ Lowe tacks on defensively. 

According to some, Harry even confirmed as much at a different point. In the Zane Lowe interview, he denies it. 

For what it’s worth, In Watermelon Sugar is a post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Brautigan from the 1960′s. The book, a sparse narrative of a commune existing post-societal collapse, has been called “a parody of the pastoral” by Patrick Morrow. “This society may represent what modern man might wish it to be...but the distortion in the new society is also obvious and just as unattractive.” 

Harry has confirmed that a copy of the book was present during the genesis of the song. The shimmery, ephemeral lyrics--the fragility of sugar itself, easily melted--seem to hint at a desire to stay in the best parts of feeling while acknowledging that these moments are necessarily short-lived. In Morrow’s view, Brautigan’s book is about reality denial. In my view, Styles’ song is, at least a little bit, about the same.

So it’s not that the song isn’t about oral sex--it’s that it’s about more than oral sex. 

Or maybe it’s that oral sex is about more than oral sex. 

Or maybe it’s about nothing, and there are certainly those who choose to believe that. Still, it seems a shame that so much of Harry’s image continues to be wrapped up in that of the Don Juan, the Casanova, the Lothario. 

Really, he’s more of a Vonnegut. 

#harry #womanizer harry #media image #pr narrative #wewithyoursmile #hope this answers your question!

[disgruntleddemon]

beginners guide to Razia’s shadow.

i remember i was rly confused going into Razia’s shadow. i couldn’t tell if it was a musical or just an album and when i did listen to the song i had to use wikpedia n stuff to figure out the plot. so here’s a little guide for anyone curious about Razia’s shadow!

to begin there is two versions of razia’s shadow. the album is the original. on of the people who worked on the album went on to make a play version that has a pretty different plot. i honestly don’t know much about the play version so i’ll only talk about the album today

the album’s story is split into two halves. the first half is about the creation of the world and a rebellious angel. it sets up a lot of the exposition for the second half.

the second half takes place 100 years after the first half. it’s about star crossed lovers in a very Romeo and Juliet esque story.

so the songs themselves can be a little hard to understand without extra knowledge. i’ve heard the cd version has a little booklet which probably goes over what you miss but as i listened to it on spotify and i’m sure others will too here's little summary of the plot of each song so you can understand what’s happening. 

Genesis: this one is about O the scientist and his head Angel Ahrima creating the world. O is basically god, he made all the angels and had Ahrima help with world building. Ahrima views O as a father figure.

. the world’s name is never mentioned in the song but it’s Razia, hence the album title. the song ends with Ahrima bitter about how his talents were used. his temper cools though when he’s with Nidria. another angel he’s deeply in love with.

Missing Piece: this song is basically Ahrima confessing his love to Nidria and them getting together. like the previous song Ahrima complains about how he was meant for better greater things. Nidria agrees but encourages him to be patient.

life is looking up: Ahrima has a great idea that he’s sure will impress O the Scientist and get him the recognition he feels he deserves. he has blueprints for “the lamps”

now the lamps are never fully explained but i believe they’re implied to be the stars, moon, and sun.

Ahrima shows them to O. O is proud but not in the way Ahrima wants. the lamps are still built but they still don’t give Ahrima the recognition he desired. Ahrima feeling jealous and bitter storms of to the dark to cool down and think.

while there a little brown spider named Barayas perches on his shoulder.

spider and the lamps: in this song Barayas says he’s heard of Ahrima and is impressed with his skills.

he tells Ahrima that the angel is special but they still treat him like a kid. he encourages Ahrima to be more bitter and angry. he convinces Ahrima to tear the lamps to the grown in revenge for how he was treated.

the song ends with Ahrima doing just that. Toba the Tura is called to place judgment on him. i’ll go into more detail on Toba in the next song 

Barayas is only mentioned in this song. i’m not sure why he wanted to mess stuff up. seeing as there’s a lot of like biblical themes in the first half i assume it’s a reference to the snake in adam and eve

Toba the Tura: Toba is one of many one off characters. he acts as a sort of judge/enforcer and has come to pass his judgment on Ahrima. 

he starts of gentle. almost siding with Ahrima a little. he then goes into detail on how Ahrima tore down the lamps, scorching the earth, and destroying the angel’s homes. 

Toba has a bit where he sings about Ahrima’s betrayal while Ahrima sings of being guilty and pleading to O. 

Toba says Ahrima must stay in the dark while the other angels leave to the light. a massive mountain is put up to block them

the Oracle: this one introduces us to our 3rd one off character,  Gargul the Oracle.

he, and the other angels, come to the dark to Tell Ahrima of a prophecy. the prophecy states that someone from the light and dark will fall in love with each other and reunite the world.

this song also has a little bit of Nidria and Adakaias singing together again so that’s cute.  

intermission: this one just shows 100 years have past.

The Exit: there’s two brother princes in the dark. the youngest is named Adakias and the oldest Pallis. they both grew up listening to stories of the prophecy and such.

there’s another one off character here called Sangara. they’re only point in the song is to say Adakaias should be more like his brother. i believe they’re a servant of some kind.

anyways Pallis is very down to earth and responsible while Adakais has a big romantic streak. he believes he’s the chosen one in the prophecy and longs to go to the light

Pallis say’s that’s stupid, the prophecy isn’t real, and if he leaves he’ll hunt him down.

Adakias still leaves anyway. he goes to the light and falls for a princess there named Anhura.

True Love: this songs is basically just Adakais and Anhura confessing love to eachother

they sing about being in love, Adakias sings about not being able to reveal his past, then they decide to get married. the only problem is they have to face Anhura’s father.

The King: the newest one off character, King Malka, Anhura’s father. 

Adakais and Anhura sing about wanting permission to be married and that Adakais isn’t after the crown. king Malka still says no.

they decide to Elope but before they can Anhura falls seriously ill. 

he believes it’s caused by him being from the dark and decides to take her to a special doctor he knows of back in the dark. he convinces her to go without revealing his past.

Holy the Sea: at this point it’s important to note that there is some sort of body of water between the light and dark. i think someone said it was a river that eroded the top of the mountain? 

anyways they have to cross it to get to the doctor. they meet two longshoremen brothers (you guessed it, one off)

Anhura is like passed out on the boat ride as the brothers talk to Adakias about the prophecy and that he’s a decedent of Ahrima. Adakias only becomes more convinced of his destiny 

the song ends with the couple arriving at the doctors shack.

The Doctor: the doctor is here and he’s feral. he says he can cure Anhura but in return he demands the stay with him in his hut to fulfill his fantasies. Anhura argues and first but Adakias says to trust him and just do it.

the doctor cures her but they can do anything Pallis busts in.

The End and the Beginning: Pallis shows up and he’s pissed.  he talks about following the couple and that Anhura could never love poor boys like them. (no i don’t know why he says their poor when they’re princes back home. maybe the dark is just rly poor or maybe he was lying)

Anhura and Adakias sing about how money doesn't matter and she loves him.

Pallis switches gears and reveals Adakias is from the dark. Adakias quickly patches things up with Anhura saying he meant to tell her sooner but that they’re still in love.

Pallis only get more annoyed and reveals Adakias is the reason Anhura gets sick and goes to stab her.

Adakias leaps in the way and gets stabbed instead.

Adakias forgives his brother as he dies and basically tells Anhura and Pallis to take care of the world for him.

his act of sacrifice reunites the two halves of the world.

after that the ending is purposely open ended leaving room for the listener to decide how it goes from there.

and there you have it! the last thing i’d like to talk about is the cannon art. it exists but for the most part people don’t use it so feel free to get creative with how you see the character!      

 anyways, that’s all i’ve got for now! feel free to add on if you have any more helpful information! 

#razia's shadow #Razias shadow #long read #lond post #text #text post #guide #forgive durden #music

[a-patheticapathetic]

Rishloo - Feathergun: Review

New year, new me. Let’s repeat that until it becomes true. 

There seems to be a pattern with how I discover music. At a very young age, I hear a song in a very specific circumstance. It has a big impact on me, but I make absolutely zero effort to check out any of the artist’s other music and instead meander onto another earworm. Then, years later, I have another chance meeting with the same song/album/artist and fall completely down a rabbithole that foundationally changes my taste in music. It happened with Radiohead (High and Dry as one of the default songs in the original Rocksmith), Queens of the Stone Age (Lost Art of Keeping a Secret in a stick figure animation), and Nine Inch Nails (Hurt (Quiet) on Spotify radio). Then, there was this strange song called “Scissorlips” that I saw on a very small Rock Band 3 drum channel. I showed it to my brother because of how fun the chart looked, and made the mistake of watching his reaction to the video. His disinterest embarrassed me enough that I never chased the music. That is, of course, until many years later, when I was introduced to Tool. The rest is history, and is frankly stalling me from starting the actual review. Let’s get to it.

Scissorlips - 8/10

The strange, dark jungle the album begins with is a nice representation of the album cover, although it won’t rule over the entire runtime. Don’t let the de-tuned guitar under the vocals deter you; the rest of the guitarwork here is beautiful. As we reach the pre-chorus, the percussionists may hear why I was interested in this song as a kid. This is also where the sonic background really opens up, swallowing you for a moment before the intro verse comes back. The lyricism here is also very abstract, yet isn’t impossible to follow. A couple of metallic bites taken out of the mostly psychedelic walls of guitars, then, the first of many beautiful delay effects. The build-up got me pretty good when I heard this so many years ago, and It’s still damn good. For the love. There are so many guitar lines here that just intertwine and enlace you. Then, something a bit heavier (yet oddly hopeful) to round the song out.

Turning Sheep into Goats - 7/10

This intro is more of what can be expected for the rest of the album, sonically speaking. A lone guitar with delay playing a complicated and alluring line in a strange time signature, then built upon. The path you may assume this song will follow is extremely suddenly changed at the chorus, the vocals really driving it home. Then, back into that nice opening riff like nothing happened. The next time that chorus comes thundering around, listen to that low guitar and the way it combines with the drums. Then drop out the ugliness into a floating mesh of palm mutes and synthetic strings. And don’t miss the fl

Systematomatic - 7/10

awless transition into the next song. Immediately, a new riff rises from the pond of reverb. You may not identify it immediately, but don’t worry, you’ll get more chances to. Very fast guitar-work that somehow doesn't sound so frantic, although the chorus definitely has a certain desperation to it. The mood gets heavy again, before quickly sliding into a strange, feverish haze. Some hits of percussion, then a recontexutalized and slower return to the riff at the start of the song. Weave us back into war.

River of Glass - 8/10

Now this is an ear-catching introduction. What seems to be a calm wave of delay is punctuated by war drums and a grimier lead. The mood builds, then crescendos into the song proper. The chorus is hear damn near immediately, and is extremely catchy for prog. This album is really just full of extremely memorable vocals, and the instrumentals complement them perfectly. We get two goes-around before we fall into these twisting and sliding strings. The drummer is also on his A-game here. Then, the guitars push into the clouds before coming back down with another short but heavy low. Then it all cuts out for a second, juts to make the burst into the final chorus that much more effective.

Keyhole in the Sky - 7/10

This one is simpler, but also very filling and peaceful. Unfortunately it does begin to showcase my only problem with this album; the vocals are mixed too loud at times. And while the singer is absolutely incredible, sometimes I’d like the instrumentals to breathe a bit more. The walls of high guitar come back around, this time feeling much more friendly and familiar. One last chorus, closing on a quiet note. Though it’s not over; an alien feedback loop and somber, echoey horn passage lead us into the next track

Downhill - 10/10

This song has two main phases, and is absolutely perfect throughout. An easy start; a relatively simple and serene riff fed through a pleasant delay pedal, with some subtle synth and bass backing. The vocals shine through, as clear as ever. And wave, goodbye. Then, like stepping through a portal into phase one. A very interesting, rhythmic and almost bluesy instrumental accompanies the title-drop. Then, we fall for miles down a well of piano. The bottom greets us with a moonlit key solo, then an incredible Floydian guitar solo. Hanging on the last note, phase two begins with an ominous drone and repeating guitar line. The drums rise, give a false start. then... perfection. I cannot do phase two justice with words. Just close your eyes, listen, and be swept away in what I believe to be one of the greatest vocal performances of all time.

Lost.

Feathergun in the Garden of the Sun - 9/10

Not to be outdone by the previous masterpiece, the title track opens with another wonderful soundscape, before the distortion comes in. The drums pick up the tension, bringing us into the pre-chorus. That riff is going to be impossible to tap your foot to at first, but the next ones should be easier. And here we have perhaps the best chorus on the record; extremely powerful in writing and execution on the parts of every band member. The second time around is just as good as the first, then the brdige begins. Ready, aim... The heaviest riff on the album, and an abrupt switch into the last chorus. Fade out.

Dreamcatcher - 7/10

A nice break from the intensity. This feels like a peaceful tidepool on an alien world, with creatures and colors beyond the world floating around my head. Short but sweet.

Diamond Eyes - 6/10

By no means bad, I do feel like this one may be the weakest track on the album. While it’s certainly beautiful, I feel like it doesn’t do a whole lot that’s new or interesting. Also, when listening at high volume (which is the proper way to listen to this album), the faults in the mixing really rear their ugly heads during the choruses. Still, there are some very pleasant rolling delay loops here during the bridge, and a nice and satisfying buildup towards the end.

Katsushika - 7/10

While the guitar opening this track may be the most straight-forward and least effects-driven riff we’ve heard so far, this song will eventually become the most alien one of the entire lineup. In a good way, of course. I can barely even decipher exactly what’s going on in the instrumentation during that build. The chorus also ends with a nice drop-off into the next verse. You may be noticing a pattern with the songwriting, where the chorus usually leads into the second verse, following the pattern of the first one but with more layering. I like it; it gives the ideas present more time to mature and develop. Anyways, here comes the bridge, where everything changes. Out of everything going on here, I feel like the drums and the background vocals are the most striking thing about this outro. What a fantastic progression and dropout. Beautiful monsters.

Weevil Bride - 8/10

The finale. This riff here is extremely well-done. The tone here is somehow piercingly bright and concerningly dark at the same time. The lyricals themes of the album also come to a head here. This chorus is another incredibly written and performed beast; just wait until it’s modulated. The second verse lays away with the subtleties and strikes at the head. And I just need to know that everything is fine, and everyone’s alright. This bridge also kicks ass, with its heart-pouding combination of guitars and toms. Then, comes the heaviest part of the entire album: Yes, please. Then we are snapped out of the masochism and lifted back to hear the main point of the album, before the intro riff carries us into an uncertain but complete conclusion. After the “true” song ends, there is a long passage of somber horns and a tranquil, almost lullaby-esque keyboard. There’s something extremely nostalgic about this outro to me, but I still can’t put my finger on where it comes from. This section almost feels like the music they play after the end of a play, as the lights come on and you make your way down the dimly-lit theater steps on slightly numb and shaky legs. The story is over; this is your time to reflect.

The main reason I wanted to write about this album in particular is because I feel like it hasn’t gotten the attention it’s deserved. It truly feels like a masterpiece worthy of widespread recognition and praise, but despite being released over a decade ago, few people have even heard of this band. It feels like injustice, not only for Rishloo’s efforts, but for the people who would connect with this album as much as I have. Also, there’s the slightly selfish hope that increased attention would incentivize the band to work on more new stuff, or better yet, remaster their older works.

In any case, It’s very late, my back hurts because my spine hates my nervous system, and I need to actually get to sleep tonight so I can heal the godforsaken nerve that wedged itself in my inner workings yesterday. On a scale from “Your all-time low just lowered again”, to “Want some? Yes, please”, I give Feathergun a “Oh, what beautiful monsters”.

#music #music recommendation #music reccs #album review #track review #rishloo #feathergun

[underaswift-sunrise]

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!! 🎉🎉 I am writing this a second time because I accidentally clicked on a link on my phone while swiping between the tumblr app and safari app, almost at the end of the message. 😢 I hope I don’t miss out on anything.

Awww that’s nice!! It shows that you’ve had some physical improvement even while being stuck at home! How?? Please teach me your ways. I used to exercise every other day even while on lockdown, but after my surgery in Oct I took some time to recover, and now it’s hard to find the motivation to get back into exercising again. And I really want to build up my stamina first, before I try to go for dance lessons again in the new year. ☺️ Oh god yes! Secret Love Song II is the ultimate tear jerker! 😢 So the Tamil music industry works slightly differently. There are a few independent artists, but it’s usually music soundtracks that are mainstream and popular. So the music directors get more recognition and fanbase than the singers. Even though there are popular singing artists, it’s not like the English music industry where they have fandoms and stuff. My fave music directors are A R Rahman, Anirudh, G V Prakash and singers are Sid Sriram (he has such a unique tone to his voice 😍), SPB (sadly he passed away this year due to Covid, but he is AMAZING! And he has sung over 40,000 songs in 14 languages), Chitra, Shreya Goshal. Hmm my current song obsessions are Chellama (Doctor), Ellu Vaya Pookalaye (Asuran), Ennadi Mayavi (Vada Chennai) and Kaathodu Kaathanen (Jail). Let me know what you think if you have a listen to it. ☺️ Oohh I just listened to them! Thunder Road seems like such a “feel good” song. Like it’s a good choice if you need a pick me up.

Aww that’s smart!! I hope that you can achieve all your resolutions for next year! The first one will definitely happen!! Wow! You sound like such a linguist. How many languages do you speak/know? Nooo, it doesn’t sound stupid. I can see what you mean. I sincerely hope that you have enough money to not just live comfortably and travel for auditions next year, but also have money to travel for leisure and have a surplus in savings!! All the best!! 👍🏽👍🏽 Okay, I am totally guilty of point 4 as well. I feel you on that. But I can honestly say that I enjoy talking to you and look forward to your responses. I’m pretty sure that the people in your life do not think that of you. I hope that you can work pass this anxious thoughts and appreciate yourself for the beautiful and wonderful person that you are!! And I am so proud of you for coming this far and recognizing that you have made improvement! YOU GO GLORIA! 💪🏽💪🏽 Also the paradox that being under someone’s gaze makes us uncomfortable, but we love to be on stage dancing! Reading is fun! But I have been getting way too much into fanfics, which is not a bad thing, but I want try reading some non-fiction. Which is hard to start when I have a long list of fanfics saved. 🙈 hope you do get to read more in 2021!! Hmm my goals are to exercise more, get back into dancing, and hopefully to start a PhD. And also general stuff like being more present in the moment, and drinking more water. Haha

Thank you for your wishes! I hope you have an amazing week ahead! Merry Christmas!! Wishing you a fabulous day filled with lots of love, joy, gifts and good food! Have fun but also stay safe!! 🎉🥰❤️ -M :)x

M!!! 💕 So sorry for the late reply!! I'm a terrible person when it comes to replying sometimes ahahah xD As usual, all my ramblings under the cut :D

Ohhhh wow so many music recommendations, thank you SO MUCH!!! I'll save everything to my Spotify! :D Oh I knew absolutely nothing about music directors, thank you for explaining that to me! 😱 It really sounds like a very different system!!

Ah I can feel you about the motivation to exercise!! I'm also very lazy when it comes to cross training, which I need to do to prevent injuries: let's say I'm constant but I get bored very quickly and always look for new exercises, new music to use, exercises that look like games, you name it 😂 Like, to train balance, my favorite exercise is balancing on one leg with eyes closed, and doing variations of that, because it's never boring! 😆 Or I have to listen to podcasts/music in the meantime, otherwise I just go crazy! But I think that to get some motivation back it's better to start from something that's kind of fun and doing only 10 minutes the first day and building up from there!! I honestly made some progress only because I had a lot of time and spent hours dissecting ballet steps I'm struggling with ahah! Just, starting from the simplest "part" of that movement and seeing what I was doing wrong, taking videos of myself and then study said videos (horrible thing to do but very useful 😆)...

Ahhh I'm not a linguist, really!! I just went to a linguistic high school and studied English, French and German! But honestly I feel comfortable speaking only English and French, but the second is definitely a bit rusty as for now 😂 I also took Portuguese for one year at uni and I'd like to go back to it someday! :)

Your goals sound amazing, too!!! I really hope you'll go back to dancing and recover completely from the surgery you mentioned earlier! 🙏 And PhD, WOW!! That's awesome!!! I'm sure you'll accomplish a lot in the new year, you sound like a hardworking and passionate person, I'm rooting for you! :D I hope you spent some nice days during these holidays, rested and ate good food! 💕 Hope you're well and staying safe ☺️🙏 Until the next ask!!! 🎄✨🐇

#mdzsnetcc #ask #💕 #submission

[canadian-riddler]

I’m a bit curious and confused about your post about streaming and artists. How does streaming stop artists from making a living?

It turned out very long so it’s under a readmore.

Artists don’t make any money off streaming.  People increasingly dislike having to pay the actual cost of entertainment - and I’m not just talking about stuff from major corporations, small- and mid-level stuff too - so they subscribe to a service that allows them to have as much content as they want, whenever they want, in the highest possible quality with little to no hiccups ever.  This is really, really expensive, especially if we’re talking Netflix or Youtube in 4K (or even 8K, in some cases).  But there’s a ceiling to how much someone is willing to pay for a streaming service.  People are okay with paying ten dollars a month, but for that content to be delivered at a price that low someone has to take a hit.  It’s not the company and it’s not the consumer.  It’s the artist.  Spotify pays the artist an average of $0.004 per stream.  To make sure your favourite artist gets a single dollar from your streaming them, you have to listen to their songs 229 times.  To give them a dollar.  Even big artists don’t always make that much there.  Your streams have to be in the millions.  One million streams at $0.004 per?  That’s $4000. 

Now, because streaming is so cheap (to the consumer) and available, people don’t buy albums anymore.  Artists, especially smaller ones, make all their money off album sales and merch sold during tours (which includes albums).  But why would you pay $20 for a CD when you can just go home and listen to all the music they’ve ever made for $10?  Who even owns a CD player anymore, right?  And buying digital is silly; paying $20 for a collection of files you can’t hold or touch or display on your shelf?  So people increasingly don’t do that anymore.  Why bother if an artist is pressured to upload their music to YouTube anyway - which pays a FRACTION of what Spotify does - and which you don’t even need a subscription to use?  

So where is an aspiring artist going to get enough money from to support their art?  People don’t want to pay for it.  They’ll pay $10 a month to stream it and that’s about it.  Anything much higher than that and they turn to piracy.  And here’s the kicker: streaming services don’t really post a profit because they have to keep the subscription price so low.  So NOBODY is winning - except the consumer, who is happy they get an unlimited amount of content for almost nothing.  Spotify has LOST 2 billion dollars since they launched.  Netflix, which started posting a profit three years ago, is billions of dollars in debt.  Disney+ was projected to run at a loss for YEARS before they started making money off it.  All this money comes from, as I understand it, venture capitalists: people who throw money at something because they think it MIGHT turn a profit eventually.  There’s an optimum number the streaming service can charge for it: the magic maximum that the highest amount of people will keep their subscription for for the longest amount of time.  And remember, they are serving massive amounts content for between $10 and $20 a month.  Entire runs of TV shows that would cost you close to $200 if you bought the Blu-Rays at Walmart.  Movies that usually go for $30.  You don’t own it, but it’s so convenient that the majority of people don’t mind that.  Now, in the middle of this super low subscription price, the loss the companies are taking in hopes of one day, perhaps, making some money, and what they USED to get from sales is: the artist.  Companies don’t want to take risks, so now they hire big-name actors for animated roles instead of, you know, going to the trouble of hiring an unknown voice actor.  This has always been a thing, of course, but it has been happening increasingly often over the years and it’s bleeding into other industries.  Honestly, what are Penn & Teller and Ice-T doing in Borderlands 3?  They’re ensuring maximum profit via brand recognition, that’s what.  Some people went to see Moana solely because the Rock was in it.  But him being in it meant that an actual voice actor, who went to school for it and trained for it their whole life, doesn’t get a shot because it would hurt the potential profits.  He is worth more but that unknown person?  They didn’t get a chance to work at something that could have helped their career.  They continue to be worth less.

Now, with the almost impending death of the theatre industry and streaming services being propped up by massive amounts of debt (or Disney money), the ways for an artist to make a living off their art is shrinking.  You can see it right now with DJs: only the top 100 DJs make enough to live off, and they mostly make that money doing tours.  To make a living a lot of DJs have to tour AND produce music nonstop AND have a weekly radio show - free, of course (basically a free set every week).  Obviously a lot of DJs are out of work right now, so some of them had online events that they sold tickets for.  And people criticised them for it.  They told them they were selfish and cruel and unempathetic for putting their show behind a $10 ticket because the world is shit so they should provide their art for free to help their fans take their minds off it.  That they should donate the money and that they don’t need it, despite most of their revenue stream being taken away overnight with no knowledge of when it’s coming back.  That their job isn’t a real job anyway so why should anyone pay for them to do it, it’s not like they’re a doctor or a nurse or something important.  Besides.  Someone’s going to record it and put it on YouTube anyway, so they’ll just wait and stream it from there.  With AdBlock on, of course, because fuck the artist for wanting to make a living from their art.  Who cares what the repercussions of that is.

We already saw it happen with the publishing industry.  People won’t pay for books anymore.  Unless you happen to be the next Stephen King, you’re not going to make money off writing.  People just torrent the .epub and complain when a series ends on a cliffhanger, as though the writer seriously didn’t want to write the next book in the series but couldn’t because the publisher said, ‘Well, based on past sales we just don’t think it will do very well.’  Most novelists either have a day job or they have someone else supporting them until they have enough books out there they can support themselves - and sometimes ‘enough’ means ‘thirty Harlequin romances they had to pump out every six months’.  But books aren’t being propped up by venture capitalists.  They’re just going to keep disappearing and the value of writing will continue to decrease.  You can see it in the video game industry as well.  People seriously ask if a 60 hour game is worth $60.  Cuphead was held up as some great victory achieved by indie artists - even though one of the artists MORTGAGED THEIR HOUSE on the outrageous bet their game would be successful.  And people still shrugged and said, ‘Don’t care, pirating it anyway’.  And that game was what, $20 at launch? 

Streaming services, even if they raise their subscription fees (which they can only do so much, lest they stray too far from that magic number), are probably never going to give more money to the artist.  In fact, when corner-cutting time comes, they’ll take more and say, ‘If you don’t like it, go somewhere else’.  Except there is nowhere else.  And they know it.  It’s similar to how Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes operate.  They take up to 30% commission on all the sales made through them and if you don’t like it, it’s not as simple as just not using the service.  You have to.  Maybe you get lucky and you have some wildly cool concept that everybody wants and you can get what you’re worth for it, but 99% of people aren’t going to get that lucky.  And when your luck runs out, there’ll be someone else standing behind you to do what you did and they’re willing to do it for less.

Art made and provided for people out of passion is not a bad thing.  It’s a great thing.  But when so much of it - harking to the arguments of the greatness of fanfiction vs most other media - is held up as being virtuous and ‘better’ and of inherently more worth because it’s free or valued at a fraction of what it’s worth or people don’t have to do anything for it other than consume it?  That IS a bad thing.  Especially when someone is doing it because they know they can never make a living off of it.  It’s plain SHAMEFUL that something like Patreon has to exist.  And even there people want tons of exclusive content for a dollar a month.

#so says Indy #semi-sentient-and-tired #it's also a little rambly but these industries are all connected #asks #basically: in the 'how low can we valuate labour' race to the bottom #artists lose out first #and they will continue to as they have been

[ckret2]

would you mind explaining "Careless whisper" "I will always love you" and "Friend please"? no pressure though!

Oh god you chose two of the meme-iest songs! Both in one post! I can’t believe it!

Okay.

This took me forever to write because I wrote half of it and then got distracted for weeks and didn’t get back to it until I got a fresh ask today with some more songs and I was like, crap, I should finish this one.

So the first three paragraphs in this post still apply here, I’m not gonna copy paste them, go read those paragraphs if you haven’t yet. tl;dr i’m answering questions about why i included songs on my radiosnake spotify playlist because i like rambling for thousands of words at a time, also the playlist is based on a fic i wrote.

Feel free to keep sending me questions about more songs on the playlist. Explanations under the read more, assuming the read more works, which I make no guarantee of because this is tumblr.

Careless Whisper (Lyrics)

… except, the jazzy version.

So lemme tell you a story about how “Careless Whisper” came up and then I’ll explain why it actually belongs on the playlist.

The only way I can outline a story is by sitting down with another person and rambling the plotline at them, copy pasting it into another document, and bam that’s an outline.

Right now, in the disjointed process of outlining a sequel to Cold Day In Hell, I’m sort of chunking random ideas at a couple friends to see what sticks. One idea is that, when Alastor is drunk, he’s 90% worse at pretending he totally doesn’t care about Sir Pentious at all. If they’re ever drunk at the same social event, he will subtly (not subtly at all) follow him around all night like a puppy and hang on to his every word, automatically playing this sort of nonsense in the background.

One of my friends announced sadness that it didn’t start off with “Careless Whisper,” so I checked Postmodern Jukebox (the fastest/easiest/most common way to translate a modern song into Alastor Aesthetic) to see if they had made a jazz cover (they had), and I reassured my friend that the PMH cover definitely played every second song while drunk!Alastor was mooning over (and/or looming over) Sir Pentious.

And then I went oh goddammit the lyrics actually fit, dammit, now I’ve gotta put it on the playlist.

So I put it on the playlist.

Here’s the great thing about song lyrics. Even if everyone knows that the lyrics mean one thing, language is inherently ambiguous and you can totally just decide to read the lyrics a slightly different way if you really really want to and the exact wording doesn’t make it impossible. Everyone KNOWS that “Careless Whisper” is about cheating, but it never SAYS it’s about cheating (like, it says “cheat a friend,” but like the singer could’ve cheated their friend at cards? it doesn’t say), so you can just decide that it’s about any other kind of betrayal in a relationship! Like, say, blowing up your ally’s steampunk airship fleet. The song never says it ISN’T about a steampunk airship fleet.

So let’s just establish right now that this song is no longer about cheating. That’s out the window.

In the original song, “dancing” is probably intended as a metaphor for having sex. In THIS context, it is literally dancing. The emotional core of CDIH, the moment around which the rest of the story rotates, is the night that Alastor and Sir Pentious dance together. And although Alastor no doubt dances plenty of times after leaving Sir Pent, he’s certainly never going to dance like that again—like he’s with a lover, like he wants to be touching his dance partner, rather than either alone or while distastefully putting up with physical contact with someone who doesn’t matter to him.

The interpretation of the line “careless whispers of a good friend” that I think is probably Most Common is that a friend of the singer’s lover warned the lover that the singer is cheating on them, and the singer thinks that the fact that the lover now knows is worse than not knowing at all, because now that the lover knows they can never go back to normal, hence why the friend was being careless. Aside from any questions of, like, whether or not that’s a sound opinion at all—I’ve always interpreted that line differently. Since the singer refers to their lover as a “friend” (“should have known better than to cheat a friend”), I’ve always assumed that the singer would refer to themself as their lover’s friend, and so the “careless whispers of a good friend” were the whispers that the singer themself made that started whatever affair it is they had.

And so that assumption—that the “good friend” that said something they shouldn’t have is the singer—is the interpretation I’m carrying into the song’s inclusion in the playlist. In this case, it’s Alastor’s decision to lie to Sir Pent about how he feels about him (claiming that he never cared & that he was just screwing around with his emotions) before running off that are the “careless whispers” because, although not exactly whispery, they do have the same effect as in the song: ever since he said them, there’s been an unmendable rift between Alastor and Sir Pent (which was, like, his objective, but he’s still not happy about it)—and, more than that, it was very careless. Alastor had intended for his actions to just push Sir Pent away, not to effectively ruin Sir Pent’s ambitions to rule hell completely. But, that’s what happened. Because he didn’t think anything through. He just said and did the very first things he could think of to push Sir Pent away. Extremely careless.

And, of course, the specific version that got included was chosen because it sounds jazzy. Yay for PMJ, making all sorts of songs Alastor-ready.

I Will Always Love You (Lyrics)

… except, the super dark version.

So I figured out at some point that the easiest way I was gonna find Alastor music was through jazz-style covers of songs a la Postmodern Jukebox, 1) because PMJ has been actually mentioned as among the limited varieties of modern music that Alastor would listen to by virtue of the fact that they do covers that sound like what he used to listen to, and 2) because Puff here isn’t actually a fan of jazz and it’s a lot easier for me to slowly wade into the water via jazzy covers of songs I already know than it is for me to fling myself into the deep end like “appreciate Jelly Roll Morton! Appreciate Jelly Roll Morton NOW!!!”

(I am slowly and laboriously training myself to be a fan of jazz, because Alastor is a RADIO HOST from NEW ORLEANS in the ROARING TWENTIES AND A LITTLE BIT OF THE THIRTIES, i will NOT be writing him while in complete ignorance of a subject that probably occupied a huge portion of his life.)

So due to the fact that I was looking for PMJ-esque genre-switching covers of songs, I drifted over to other genre-switching song cover acts like Chase Holfelder to go through the songs and go “hm wonder of any of these work." This song is an exception to the genres I’m looking for for Alastor, but it still makes the list because like, the vibe is just right.

Have y'all ever actually listened to/read the lyrics to "I Will Always Love You” before? Not just the AAAND IIIIIIIII-IIII-IIIIIII WILL ALWAAAYS LOVE YOOOOO-OO-OOOU bit but the actual lyrics. They’re sad. The lyrics are “I deeply love you but if I stayed with you I would only hold you back so i’m going to leave you because it’s for the best but i’m super sad about it and i always will be.”

Now, that doesn’t 100% line up with Alastor’s situation. Because, like, obviously, he was doing the exact opposite of holding Sir Pent back when they were together, and fearing holding Sir Pent back was not the reason he left.

But it is among the reasons he avoids the hell out of him now. The primary reasons, of course, are still “being in love is scary and i do not want to do that so maybe if i avoid him i can continue pretending that i am not in love?” and “lmao he justifiably hates me now so why try"—but #3 on his list is the recognition that, since they broke up, Alastor’s actions have caused a constant cascade of events that have held Sir Pent back ever since. (And Alastor also suspects that there might actually be some kind of legitimate curse or fate or something going on here—that part of Alastor’s role in hell is playing the part of Sir Pent’s personal hellish divine punishment.) So he didn’t leave because he’s sabotaging Sir Pent’s ambitions; but he sabotaged Sir Pent’s ambitions because he left.

And therefore, as a consequence, he should stay away from Sir Pent now. He shouldn’t beg forgiveness and a second chance—because he doesn’t deserve them, and because he might make it worse.

This particular cover of the song really kicks the anguish up into high gear. The most common Whitney Houston version is like, okay she’s brokenhearted, but also somehow somewhat empowered by the brokenheartedness—like even though she’s leaving sad and bitter, in her heart she knows that the decision she’s making is for the best for her beloved, and she can draw strength from that. There is no drawing strength from the decision in the Chase Holfelder version—just using it up. It’s like he’s burning through all of his reserves of strength to push his loved one away. When Whitney hits the big note, she’s pulling power into herself to belt that out. When Chase hits the big note, he’s pouring out every last bit of power left inside his body. You can imagine Whitney walking away from this song with her head held high and her back straight but Chase is just gonna collapse to his knees with his shoulders hunched and head bowed—completely empty, a husk. That’s the vibe I want with Alastor—that every single day of his self-imposed exile he’s losing a little piece of himself, hollowing himself out. He can’t draw strength from it.

Typically, when I’m picking songs for this playlist, I don’t pay much attention to the gender of the singer (my only main priority on this playlist is that by the time it’s done I want the genders of the singers to be roughly balanced on both Sir Pent’s part and Alastor’s part), but in this case I think the fact that the singer is male contributes to it working for Alastor the way another version with a female singer wouldn’t. Not entirely sure why—maybe because, even though the voice doesn’t sound anything like his, it’s easier to actively imagine Alastor singing the song when it’s got a male voice? Maybe because, thanks to Sexism In Society, a woman saying "I’m leaving you because I’d get in the way of your dreams” more easily comes across as “Oh… I am simply not good enough for you… I’d hold you back…” while a man saying “I’m leaving you because I’d get in the way of your dreams” more easily comes across as “I wouldn’t hold you back, I’d push you down. I’m dangerous for you.” And the latter fits Alastor better.

(But hey, if any of you know of any versions of “I Will Always Love You” with a female singer that makes her sound dangerous as hell, feel free to recommend them to me. Not because I’m looking to replace the version I’ve already got but just because I’d really like to hear it.)

Currently, it’s listed as the last song on the Alastor portion of the playlist. I recently reorganized it so that the Sir Pent portions and Alastor portions each flow from the shallowest/most surface emotions down to the deeper/truer/more hidden emotions, and even before I did that reorganization, “I Will Always Love You” has been the closing song on Alastor’s side since it was added to the playlist. That feels like the right note to leave it on: after everything else has been said, once every other layer and lie has been stripped away, the deepest and truest and last thing Alastor would have to say to Sir Pent is “I hope life treats you kind and I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of” and an anguished screaming declaration of love.

Friend Please https://genius.com/Twenty-one-pilots-friend-please-lyrics

So remember when I said that language is inherently ambiguous and if you want you can totally just choose to read words differently if the wording doesn’t actually prevent that interpretation? This song is clearly about suicide. I have decided for the purposes of this playlist it is not about suicide anymore! It’s still about depression but not about suicide! When the singer was like “Please don’t take your life away from me” what he meant is “Please don’t take your life, and also, I am emphasizing that if you do so you are removing yourself from my life to try to show you how much you mean to me,” but how I have decided to interpret it for this playlist is “literally do not remove your life from my life, as in, like, don’t run away and stop talking to me.”

So. As I mentioned in my last song meta post, there’s sort of two—not genres, but like, musical aesthetics that I’m drawing from for Sir Pent: Victorian-ish/steampunk-ish sounds, and emo stuff because Vivz said that’s what he actually listens to. Twenty One Pilots fits the criteria for emo for me—idk and idc if other people consider them emo, they toured with Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco, they count as far as I’m concerned—so they’re actually among the bands I’ve been intending to specifically look at for potential Sir Pent Songs.

For the most part, they’re, like, too good at the sad millennial vibe. But that song works.

“Friend, Please” comes low on Sir Pent’s portion because it’s deep in the more genuine emotions—I’ve actually considered putting it last and may still do so, it would make a nice counterpoint to “I Will Always Love You"—actually I’m gonna go do that, gonna go shuffle the playlist, there, good—and it’s also something that he couldn’t/wouldn’t say until after he knows about Alastor’s deep thoughts. Reinterpreted so that it’s not about suicide, it becomes about a friend who’s still depressed, but the focus of the song becomes about the friend’s self-isolation—a self-isolation that’s fueled by denial and self-delusion, the friend convincing themself that they’re alone, always will be, and can’t/won’t have anyone else in their life again that they can depend upon.

Which, although he doesn’t necessarily seem to be depressed, is certainly the vibe Alastor gives off in the show—that despite his overly-friendly overly-familiar attitude, he probably keeps everyone else at a great emotional distance. In canon he might be okay with that. In fic, he’s doing that at the expense of pushing away a person he loves very much—and then pushing away anyone that could help him cope with that loss. Leaving him very alone and perpetually disguising himself as fine with that. Maybe, when he can go years without having to see Sir Pent, he can be fine with that.

But I have Big Plans for that sequel and you know item #1 on the list is "stick Alastor and Sir Pent in a position where they’ll have to cross paths all the time so that it’s like threading a giant needle with barbed wire, stabbing the needle into Alastor’s heart, and slowly dragging the barbed wire straight through.”

And after that? Living like a ghost, claiming he’s fine when he’s been completely emotionally drained, is gonna be a pretty accurate description of his mental state.

Right now, Sir Pent is in no way close enough to Alastor to know that—and in no way sympathetic enough toward him to care even if he did know. He still hates Alastor for completely ruining his life. But there’s still that part of him that used to care about Alastor and still could come to care about him again. And if that part gets revived, and if he gets close enough to Alastor to see how miserable he’s made himself by trying to push everyone away and denying that he’s pushed his own mental state into as bad a state as it’s currently in, his reaction would be “you absolute dumbass” followed by trying to shout some sense into Alastor by pointing out that every one of his problems is caused not by external factors, but by his own damn screwed-up perception of the world. Like, every one of his problems he made himself, and he can unmake them. He’s just got to uncover his eyes first.

It’s easy for fandom to just, like, characterize Sir Pent as an all-around dumbass—strategically, socially, emotionally, etc. Until and unless we see otherwise—and see it so firmly that even I can’t find ways to headcanon around it, and believe you me, I can headcanon my way around a lot of things—I choose to believe that the only areas he’s definitely a dumbass in are “understanding modern slang” and “remembering NOT to charge into battle without considering the odds the second he sees somebody he hates.” This means that I like to believe he also has a reasonable level of emotional intelligence, and a healthy level of compassion that he can deploy, when he so chooses, on someone he considers worthy of that compassion. He’s evil, yes, but self-professed evil, which means self-aware evil; which means that even though there’s gotta be something fucked up with his worldview for him to choose to be evil, it is a choice he’s making, not something he’s doing specifically because he believes it’s right/necessary. And he can turn it off when he decides he’s with someone that deserves it.

Now, is Alastor on that list? Not currently, hell no. But there’s potential for him to make it on the list—that potential for Sir Pent to care about him again, to want to see him throw off the things that he’s using to hold himself back, to want to see him become better and happier, to want him back in Sir Pent’s life—buried somewhere deep beneath Sir Pent’s burned emotions and decades of resentment.

#(i've got asks for five and a half other songs on the playlist) #(i'll get to them uhhh... soonish) #mementomori #ask #music #about my writing #(sorta?? my writing comes up) #meta #hazbin hotel #headcanons #radiosnake