itsjustlikeoxygen

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

Fame < Infamy, underrated Pop-Rock Masterpiece

(that is cronchy ..okay)

y'all... this is a pop song. Pop rock, pop-punk, whatever you want to call it, IT has that pop formula down pact. @^#&@*(&Z!@ SO CATCHY I LOVE THIS SONG

Favorite lyric <3 "I am God's gift, but why would he bless me with Such wit without a conscience equipped"

patrick delivering one of his best vocal performances and pete writing some of his tighest lyrics so far. They came into this studio mad as hell and decided to make fobbie history, HERSTORY actually. this song is so well contained within itself, it has insane replayability, I cannot repeat myself enough that this is a banger.

Just the part in the chrous where it does WHEN IM home alone I just can't stop myselffff AND YOU pull my head so closee volume goes with the truUuuUttHh EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE so freaking good especially the instruments moving along with like the vocals.

FOB doesn't waste a second of this song, its absolutely incredible, and extremely underrated (slightly understandable just bc the rest of ioh is literally perfection as well, its easy to focus more on others sometimes. . . )

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"Hate me, baby, maybe, I'm a piece of art"

27+ Tiffany Blews (pun on Tiffany Blue, absolutely genius) on Fall Out Boy's controversial fourth album Folie a Deux are easily one of the best songs in their discography. Combining everything that makes fob so special in an unforgettable two song run.

27

One of my favorite fob songs period. Genuinely cried when some other city got this song for their Magic 8 Ball suprise song (happy 4 u,, but it should have happend to me :3). This song has one of fob's best lyrics

"If home is where the heart is then we're all just fucked

I can't remember, I can't remember

And I want it so bad I'll shoot the sushine into my veins

I can't remember, the good old days" --- I am going to try to articulate this well but putting the first I cant remember to set up the good old days line is simply genius. I mean, you could interpert it as that or as he can't remember where his heart is, either works honestly and that is genius.

"My mind is a safe, and if I keep it then we all get rich" the way Patrick sings get rich scratches my brain so good. I love the imagery in the chorus, it's not 100% actual imagery of like a phsyical setting it's more metaphorical but it still paints a vivid picture so like let's relax here on the technicalities...

.

.

THE GUITAR SOLO RAHHHHHHHHH

.

Ending the song reiterating "if home is where the heart is" creates a loop that would allow you to play this song for hours on end, but why would you do that when it seamlessly transitions into Tiffany Blews?

Tiffany Blews

Fame sucks!

The concept of not being a crybaby, but being the crybaby. Oh wow, i can feel my long fingernails tapping against my bald head. This song has so experimental compared to what they had previously made. The lyrics are so clever.. they definitely tried to emulate this throughout MANIA with Wilson and in Stardust with Heartbreak feels so good…..But like the lyrics say, this song is a CLASSIC it sounds so timeless and nostalgic at the same time I just love her, she is very gorgeous to me <3

"dear gravity, you've held me down in this starless city"

I misheard this first as darling, then starlit, and finally as starless, lol, love the lil wayne feature!

:) I love how Folie had so many random cameos like Wayne and...... brendon urie...WHATEVR WHATEVA the woke mob cannot take 20 dollar nosebleed away from me

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

We are so back

hey... I abandoned this blog in a fit of rage after I had written what felt like a novel on my favorite Taylor Swift songs and then the draft didn't save.. but we are back! I am determined to write more,,,find out why I like what I like. Or simply jabber on about how FOB's From Under The Cork Tree is an impeccable album and they need to go one some sort of anniversary tour :(

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"The first time I ever felt alive on stage"

Photo by Derrick K. Lee

Around 2016, Charli XCX began working with englihs producer SOPHIE, who was expanding the boundaries of pop music with brash and heavily experimental music. Taking XCX under her wing, SOPHIE pushed Charli to expand her horizons and lean towards more of a hyperpop angle. Tragically, SOPHIE passed away unexpectedly in 2021, leaving behind a legacy of groundbreaking pop music, which still sounds so different and futuristic almost a decade later.

The track "So I" on the brat album is a tribute song for SOPHIE filled with regrets and mouring. XCX grieves over the loss of her friend and mentor and wonders about the what ifs.

“Wish I'd tried to pull you closer You pushed me hard, made me focus Your words, brutal, loving, truthful” - Charli XCX

“Why did I push you away?” is one of the reoccuring lyrics on the original "So I", it's full of guilt over the what could have beens and all the untapped possibilities.

Photo by Derrick K. Lee

“Now I wanna think about all the good times First time I ever felt alive on stage In Texas, in matching latex That's as cool as I'm ever gonna feel” - Charli XCX

Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Redferns

In the brat remix album, Charli collaborates with longtime friend and producer A.G. Cook to reminice together about their friend. This version of "So I" is much more upbeat, with a synthetic pop beat that is very reminicent of SOPHIE's works.

Charli XCX, SOPHIE, and A.G. Cook- Photo by Weakrgirl

“Now I wanna think about all the good times” is the main lyric repeated in this version of the song. XCX left her mourning and regrets in the original brat and now wishes to focus on all the great memories she was able to share with SOPHIE. All of the songs (Vroom Vroom, Trophy, Roll With Me), performances, DJ sets, and simply working together with another creative mind.

Have a listen!

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"Everything's still romantic, right?"

Photo by Joelle Grace Taylor

The first version of Everything is Romantic is about a getaway with the people you love, where every little thing feels so magical. The line "fall in love again and again" is one of the main lyrics in the song, repeated many many times both in this version and the remix.

The "Everything is romantic" remix involves a conversation between the two artists, Caroline and Charli. The lyrics are sung almost like a conversation. Caroline writes in her verse how Charli reached out to her for advice on certain things like work or her romantic life

"Im trying to get out of my head I'm thinking 'bout work all the time. (It's like you're living the dream, but you'rе not living your life)” - Charli XCX & Caroline Polachek

Polachek has a very ethereal singing voice, she is able to add an extra layer of sensuality to the song, overall giving it a autumnal romance-esque aesthetic. Her addition to the song sheds a new light on her everyday sights in London. A church bell, or the falling leaves feel romantic to her even though they are normally something disregarded to most people.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Caroline Polachek (@carolineplz)

Photo by Caroline Polachek

Have a listen!

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"It's a knife when you know they're counting on your mistakes"

The original version of “sympathy is a knife” reflects Charli’s insecurities when she’s around another unnamed woman. Fans quickly speculated that the mystery woman was Taylor Swift, nothing of that sort has been confirmed. The song talks about how charli feels as if she’s on the complete opposite side of this women in terms of success, appearance, fame, etc.. and it’s making her feel upset. However she feels as if the consolation she receives from her friends is razor sharp, like a knife stabbing you in the gut. The feeling like she’s being pitied leaves her frustrated at her own admissions to her feelings of insecurity.

"This one girl taps my insecurities, dont know if it's real or if I'm spiraling"- Charli XCX

Ariana Grande is a global superstar in the middle of her own album cycle and the insane promotion of her upcoming blockbuster "Wicked", so it was shock to fans and spectators alike when her name appeared on the "Brat and its completely different..." promotional billboards. Upon the announcement that she would feature on the song "sympathy is a knife", audiences were counting down the minutes until they could hear Grande's take on the song.

Photo by David Becker/WireImage

"All this sympathy is just a knife, Why can't I even grit my teeth and lie?" - Charli XCX

Ariana’s version takes the “knife” metaphor of the song as it’s main inspiration, as now Grande and XCX reflect on how both the (music) industry and people (tabloids, fans, haters) hurt them emotionally. This new take on the song displays their personal experience being the person scrutinized in the tabloids and all the media that fans and haters alike love to consume.

Photo/ Edit from Pinterest: https://pin.it/71AStuTTi

Have a listen!

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"Does my career still feel small in the existential scheme of it all?"

Photo by Henry Redcliffe

"I think about it all the time"

This song is about conflicting feelings of motherhood. Being a woman in her 30s, the thought of “running out of time” to have a child is something that plagues her mind constantly. However she grapples with her fears over being ready to have a child, and how it could affect her career. Even further, is her music career something so important to her that she might have to give it up for the sake of motherhood? Or will she give choose her career over her desires to have a child?

Why can’t she have both?

The original track has the lyric "Should I stop my birth control? Does my career feel so small in the existential scheme of it all” spoken with a distorted robotic effect, detaching it from reality almost. In the “completely different” version she reiterates that line “...cause my career still feel small in the existential scheme of it all?” Howver now its robotic tone is gone and replaced with just her voice, almost whispering the line.

The situation gets even more complicated for Charli in “I think about it all the time” featuring Bon Iver. She has now achieved a major success with the brat album, spawning a massive cultural movement across the world (brat summer) and is now in a bright spotlight with millions of new fans and opportunities.

Charli XCX in a recent collaboration with superstar Billie Eilish.

"Me and George sit down and try to plan for our future, but there's so much guilt involved when we stop working 'Cause you're not supposed to stop when things start working, no" - Charli XCX

Charli expresses how now she feels guilty for even wanting to stop her career at what might be it’s peak moment to give into her desires to start a family. This difficult situtation is something that many women who have 'strong' careers whether in the music industry or any other demanding line of work.

Photo by Aidan Zamiri

Have a listen!

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

"Lets work it out on the remix..."

"Girl, so confusing" was a surprising confession of Charli's inner turmoil over one of her female friendships. She sings about a friend she has conflicting feelings about, she doesn't know whether to hate her, or feel envious of her, or feel happy to be her friend. In tune, with the raw and honest lyrics in the brat album, she sing-talks her verses almost as if she's just thinking out loud trying to make sense of her feelings.

When the album released, Charli reveals she sent her colleague/ friend Lorde a voice memo explaining that she’d written this song and it was just how she feels at the moment. Lorde then suggested they make a remix.

"And you can't tell what you're feeling, I think I know how you feel" - Charli XCX

Lorde is an incredibly talented songwriter and the vunerability she lays down on her verse is what makes this remix so impactful. In her verse, Lorde shares her "side of the story" in which she confesses to her own insecurities and extends an apology towards Charli for making her feel like she hated her. This hurricane of emotions coming from both women is an incredibly relatable situtaion to many women all around the world; where our own self-doubts and fears disrupt our lives and our relationships.

"...It's just self defense until you're building a weapon She believed my projection, and now I totally get it, forgot that inside that icon there's still a young girl from Essex" - Lorde

I've seen many fan edits of different duos that encapsulate this song, but I feel like this particular one with Spongebob and Squidward does a great job of putting a visual on the lyrics.

by @/ felqcitys via TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP88VoH8q/

[itsjustlikeoxygen]

The artistry of Charli XCX's Brat and it's counterpart album Brat and it's completely different...

In this past June, british hyperpop artist Charli XCX released her highly anticipated album "brat". Marketed as an album about embodying the ultimate party girl, the promotional singles were confident, loud, club anthems (Von Dutch, Club Classics). Upon the full albums release, fans were treated to a whirlwind emotions. XCX offers some of the most vunerable songs of her career (So I, I think about it all the time, sympathy is a knife), discussing grief, insecurity over both herself and as an artist, and even confliting emotions over motherhood. This album was a snapshot into XCX's world and what is important to her as an artist.

The original album contained zero features so since it's release, there was speculations for a remix album. Our prayers were answered in September when promotional billboards began appearing that read different artist's names that would be featured on the remix album, now titled "Brat and it's completely different but it's still brat", which features at least one new artist on each track. This re-imagining took elements of the original brat tracks and created entirely new songs out of them with different melodies or even new narratives. Standout tracks include the "Girl, so confusing" version with Lorde and the "Sympathy is a knife" remix with Ariana Grande. This album is both a continuation of the brat album and it's own stand-alone impressive body of work.