#[||: Song of Lamentation ~ Apocalypse

[not-actually-human]

maybe you should go listen to emily axford’s doomsday diaries: a love song for any apocalyptic scenario and then youll calm down a little bit

[chibi-jinchou]

me, when i have to clear gate of the abyss to get the starry live reward:

[crowleys-hips]

143

i've learned not to say it  because wars tend to break out after these words are spoken the words themselves might as well be a call to arms an ill omen, a portent of death three words always followed by bloodshed whole rivers turning red three words always followed by famine years and years of hopeless starvation three words always followed by calamity  smoke in lungs, poisoned veins three words always followed by silence violent, ear-shattering silence 

so i may never say it, just to keep us safe oh, but i hope that you know i hope my eyes and my actions can convey  what my words cannot i hope that every time i gift you something a smile, a laugh, my time, a glass of wine,  your favorite dessert, a night out, a song you've never heard i hope that you know

i hope that every time i do anything for you, make a warm cup of tea, tidy up the place,  help you out of danger, keep you company in loneliness,  put up with your endless antics and complain all the way as i do it anyway

i hope that you know

i can't say it it might bring forth our own apocalypse if i do but it's there, can you see it? can you feel it? it's been there all along

tag list under the cut

@wibbly-wobbly-blog @goodomensafterdark @phantomram-b00 @crowleys-bentley-and-plants @charlotte-zophie @crowleys-curl @quoththemaiden @thewibblylever @genderqueer-hippie @lickthecowhappy @celestialcrowley @sabotage-on-mercury @ineffabildaddy @ineffable-rohese @rainbowcrowley @alwaysbemybae @fearandhatred @roof-of-trees @weasleywrinkles @brokewokebespoke @eybefioro @captainblou @amagnificentobsession @marika-misc @phoen1xr0se @simonezitrone79 @thatqueercookie @tiptopticketyboo @veil-of-lament @celticseawych

please tell me if you wanna be removed or added

[musicalcastingideas]

Dropout Does The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

So my theory about overlap of Dropout and Team Starkid seems to be accurate, and people seemed to like my Dropout does Nerdy Prudes Must Die post, so I'm back for another. Same method and criteria as my previous post, you can go see that if you want to know what they are. Also, I have previously done a similar list with Internet Personalities that included a handful of Dropout people, but I'm gonna try to make this one different.

Also spoilers for potentially anything in the Hatchetfield verse

Paul: Ross Bryant

Ross is a great straight man (in the comedy sense, I don't know his sexuality) while being very funny in his own right, and I think, while Paul has a lot of his own funny moments, it's very important that his character is also the more normal guy reacting to the madness around him. Also, he would slay the Jekyll and Hyde homage that is Let it Out.

Emma : Siobhan Thompson

I think one of the essential parts of Emma's character is an underlying exhaustion with the world, and that is very Adaine Abernant and Ruby Rocks, so I think Siobhan would embody that very well.

Charlotte: Vic Michaelis

I don't think I've ever heard them do a transatlantic accent before, but I just have this gut feeling they'd be so good at it.

Ted: Ify Nwadiwe

While I do genuinely think Ify would be great in the part, if I'm being fully honest, this casting is because I (despite my better judgment) find Ted Spankoffski hot, so casting arguably the hottest man in Dropout in this part makes me seem less damaged for being attracted to the self-proclaimed sleazeball. Also him and Vic seem like they would be great playing off each other.

Bill: Brian "Murph" Murphy

He just has "refuses to drink during the apocalypse so he can be the DD" energy.

Mr Davidson: Brian David Gilbert

Since I'm splitting up all the parts, this basically turns Mr Davidson into a Princess Track where the actor just shows up, sings about desire and being choked while he jerks off, but laments how he can never achieve his dreams, and then pretty much leaves, and I don't know why, but that seems right up BDG's alley.

Melissa: Lisa Gilroy

Lisa Gilroy seems nice, but also kinda scares me, and those are the correct vibes for Melissa (#heymelissacore)

Sam: Jacob Wysoki

My only concern about this casting is that he'd go SO HARD in You Tied Up My Heart that he would keep breaking the handcuffs and/or chair, but that's fine, it would be worth it.

Nora: Katie Marovitch

The "Decaf?" parts of Cup of Roasted Coffee already sounds a bit like her TBH.

Zoey: Rehka Shankar

I feel like Zoey is such an underrated, funny side character in the show (I know she's a very small part, but like every line she has is a banger) and I feel like Rehka is a very underrated performer, so this is a good match.

Greenpeace Girl: Persephone Valentine

Making up the Save the Sea Turtles campaign is such a Sam Nightengale move, and also she would eat up Lah Dee Dah Dah Day.

Alice: Surena Marie

She's got a bit of a baby face (I thought she was like 25) and I think she would handle the change from Alice to Hivemind Alice really well.

Deb: Emily Axford

I'm definitely not just casting this because I want Emily to be my protective and caring girlfriend...

Professor Hidgens: Josh Ruben

I don't have an explanation for this one, this is vibes alone.

General MacNamara: Brennan Lee Mulligan

"Wear a Watch" and a song highlighting how the hivemind is essentially fascist and using the military to destroy any resistance to their regime is so Brennan core.

Homeless Man: Ally Beardlsey

I just feel like this is the part they'd want.

Dan Reynolds: Lou Wilson

Icons play Icons.

Donna: Aabria Iyengar

Icons play Icons

Hard Cuts:

Jacob Wysoki as Ted

Mike Trapp as Paul

Emily Axford as Emma

Jess Ross as Charlotte

Lily Du as Zoey

Grant O'Brien as Professor Hidgens

Grant O'Brien as Ted

Ally Beardlsey as Ted

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

Random SCOGUE headcanon because I need to vent and don’t feel like writing coherently I’m sorry 🥲

Angel’s Wings

You know how Rogue and Scott were in that Music Store in 5th Avenue when they overheard some customers talking about Angel?

And Scott was listening to something and seemed into it before Rogue nudged him?

Well…*cracks knuckles to share stuff no one needs or wants to hear*

She was sharing with him her favorite goth alternative music.

Performed by her favorite musician:

GOBLIN QUEEN.

Scott had never heard of her. Rogue then explained that GOBLIN QUEEN is less of a mainstream artist and more of an underground/indie/anonymous one. She goes on to gush about her favorite songs (ex. A Nothing Being in a Nowhere Place) and albums she managed to buy/burned onto cds (ex. LIMBO and ANODYNE), but laments that she’s never been able to find the one called INFERNO.

By sheer dumb luck (aka contrived coincidence à la me), Scott manages to find an authentic copy of the album INFERNO later on. Did he get another cd Rogue liked by another goth band she liked beforehand for her? Of course he did. But he saw how her eyes sparkled and how animated she was talking about that singer. Also, the music he had heard was pretty cool. So he was always on the look out for it.

Unserious (?) sub-headcanon based on what Josh Whedon once said about Buffy Summers from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer:

Scott and Buffy Summers are cousins on his Dad’s side.

They probably were initially on “Christmas Card” terms with each other (maybe their parents had a falling out (Did the series ever mention if Buffy’s surname came from her mom or dad?) or something and that’s why they didn’t reach out after the plane crash that killed Christopher and Kate and separated Scott and Alex or they only took in Scott for a little bit before giving him to foster care.) and barely speak.

He probably reached out again via a video chat during some holiday occasion (some time after the events of Apocalypse), both of them going the usual “how’s life? fine, how ‘bout you? same old stuff. cool, cool…” (bc she doesn’t know he’s a mutant and he doesn’t know she’s a vampire slayer). He offhandedly mentioned the INFERNO CD by GOBLIN QUEEN that his friend really wants and joked that his current Christmas wish was to find it…only for Buffy to comment that one of her friends had that album. Cue Scott begging Buffy for more information on how her friend got it, and he successfully obtains it for Rogue.

At this point, Rogue is dating Gambit (are they serious? is it casual? do they both genuinely like each other but are both knowingly distracting themselves from their unresolved feelings for others?) , while Scott and Jean are either still together (happily or is it strained bc they are starting to want different things in life and each other but are hoping to make it work regardless of each other’s clearer and conflicting focuses) or have quietly broken up.

Scott finally either found a lead via the previosly mentioned sub-headcanon or something else. Either way, it leads him to a random goth girl who looks oddly familiar, though he cannot for the life of him figure out why.

Scott: *trying to place where he has seen this girl before despite most likely never having met her in his life*

Mysterious Goth Gal: you’ll have a better chance of asking me out if you actually use your words instead of thinking them, chum 😜

Scott: ?!

He noticed she is has a tattoo that says GOBLIN QUEEN. He pointed it out and asked if she liked her music. Is unsure why when she answers yes she is grinning at him like she knows something that he doesn’t. She asks him if he’s a fan, or if there was a pretty goth girl he was trying to impress, winking at him.

Cue Scott talking about Rogue, anything and everything about her (save the mutant part), partially how she introduced him to the GOBLIN QUEEN’s music, but then evolves into how even the little things that she does or says he muses about with quiet admiration and fondness.

Mysterious Goth Gal: …*already jumped ship from making moves on him to shipping him like crazy with this girl he’s so obviously in love with like what*

Scott: *mid unconsciously simping for Rogue* and I wish I could find that INFERNO Album for her, but—

Mysterious Goth Gal: WAIT RIGHT THERE I CAN GET YOU A SIGNED COPY.

Scott: Huh?

Rogue was dumbstruck and ecstatic when Scott presented to her what he jokes is her belated Christmas gift when they meet up, asking multiple times how he got it.

He mentioned that it was autographed, so she opened it:

GOBLIN QUEEN: To Rogue: -insert obligatory autograph stuff- + PS. I wanted to give this to you for free, but your boyfriend insisted on paying full. What a boy scout. I’m rooting for the both of you! ;D

Rogue: ………………

Scott: ? What did she say?

[orca-iguana]

Hey what the fuck. This EP slaps. @narcissistcookbook you are supposed to make at least one song that I don't put on like 8 playlists and immediately put on my to buy on Bandcamp list.

DEATH ZAMBONI

This is such a wonderful twist on feel good post apocalypse, strumming to the death and decay no despair. I don't really know what to write about it, I feel like it's one of those songs that speaks for itself mostly. A wonderful fictionalized mad max style folk song. 10/10 no notes. Only thing I want to mention is the flamethrower being Jeff's and speaker cutting off Jeff introducing himself. This brings us perfectly into,

jeff's lament

Narcissist Cookbook always does this interesting thing with capitalization. For example, in the MOTH 2 of the "normal" tracks are in caps while in the "explanation" tracks only 2 aren't, it represents a duality usually. What that duality is changes album to album and a personal favorite part of dissecting any new album from Matt is deciding what I think it means. Here I think it's fairly simple in terms of duality, with of course it being from Jeff's point of view instead of "Zamb" (I'm just going to call the speaker from DEATH ZAMBONI Zamb because it's simpler than saying speaker from DEATH ZAMBONI), but the choice to make his song 1) titled a lament and 2) lowercase gives us 2 things. He's clearly soft spoken, and, well, lamenting something. No clue if this is intentional, but at least in English Opera, a lament is roughly equivalent to a soliloquy in theatre, a song spoken to another character who won't hear it, instead being directed towards the audience, with only the attempt to communicate emotions getting across. I think that works quite well here. Through the song we hear Jeff talking to presumably Zamb about only being around Jeff when he needs him, even though they are Childhood friends. This is fascinating here given Jeff's presence in the previous song. I find this song interesting on its own, but far more so as a foil to DEATH ZAMBONI. Is Zamb really living the happy Mad Max life, or is that just a distorted perception? Is Jeff actually soft-spoken or just sorrowful of a connection that's become one sided? Jeff being "Scary Jeff" is the perfect cherry on top of this EP.

10/10 EP hit it out of the park.

[shares-a-vest]

He's Gonna Save Me, Call Me 'Baby'

wc: 1.1k | Rated: T for alcohol consumption (not excessive) | cw: post-breakup, angst with a hopeful ending

Tags: Future Fic (mid-90s), Post Stancy Breakup, Steve Harrington Angst, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Platonic Stobin, Jeff (Stranger Things), Eddie Munson, Corroded Coffin, Implied Future Steddie (only bc the end is a little vague)

Written for the @strangerthingswritersguild Hozier Project. I chose the song, 'Jackie and Wilson'. Thank you soooo much to @subbaculture for setting up this event and making the banner!

(Read on ao3)

“Look alive, Dingus.”

Robin turns around to Steve and pats him square in the chest. He perks up, even though his best friend turns straight back to the entryway of The Hideout to wave at Jeff. He thinks it would be easier if Robin’s head were on a literal swivel with the way she has been whipping back and forth for the past hour.

Steve grumbles into his beer, pushing through the burn in his throat that still lingers years later as he laments the lack of Eddie following behind his bandmate.

He knows they had arrived too early for Corroded Coffin’s show, but Robin’s summer break from teaching came just in time – sue him for needing to spend every possible moment with his best friend.

Though he’d decided as soon as Robin announced her return to Hawkins that he wouldn’t mention the flowers he ripped up in haste in the back garden last week.

He’d done so straight after arriving home from the real estate agent, head hung in shame as he fully accepted yet another hard thunk on the head courtesy of Nancy Wheeler.

Well, it wasn’t so much a thunk this time as it was what Steve might consider, ‘divine intervention’.

He was in the backyard, tending to his small and still very much intact flower garden when a piece of guttering fell clean from the house, smashing through the window of the spare bedroom Nancy was using as her office – a room they’d falsely promised each other would be used for an entirely different reason.

But, much like his childhood home (which endured a mighty crack right through that cursed goddamn pool during Spring Break of ‘86), Steve found himself existing in a not-so-perfect house. One that grew increasingly cold as years of Upside Down dust and fog and smoke cooled Hawkins’s atmosphere.

A house that, with a broken and rusted gutter pipe, decided to remind them that shouldn’t – couldn’t – be playing house.

That’s all it really was: a pretend white picket fence dream that isn’t what Steve had meant by his vision of vacationing with a brood of Harringtons, Nancy by his side.

A dream that Nancy never wanted and got dragged into until her office window smashed in.

A dream that Steve thought was dead and buried the day Nancy rightfully picked through shards of glass for her things and left.

Buried until Eddie called him, saying that he had been talking to Robin (because of course, they kept tabs on him). He said the band would be back in town and that Steve and Robin should meet them.

And so, with a few beers warming his belly, burning his throat and sending a prickling sensation up his scar-covered sides, Steve found that nagging hope bubble up again.

He shakes his head, scoffing at his hopeless self as the sound of rhythm and blues music over the bar’s jukebox almost drowns out Jeff’s and Robin’s chattering.

Maybe he should be talking himself out of it. Finally acknowledging that years-old fleeting something between him and Eddie.

But he wants it.

And Lord knows he acts on a mere fleeting feeling.

Maybe history won’t repeat itself this time. Maybe the rusted gutter was one last divine thunk.

Maybe it won’t just be a first date. Or meaningless sex. Or bullshit.

He should have known that love with Nancy – a love long sucked down his old pool drain along with Barb Holland’s life – couldn’t prosper in the aftermath of an almost apocalypse.

They thought they were supposed to try, is the thing.

Staying in Hawkins. Keeping things at bay. Watching. Perhaps waiting for it all to come back.

But then it didn’t.

It all just lingered.

And they were left to pick up the pieces.

Right mistakes.

Move on.

They just didn’t need to do it together.

Steve pivots on his barstool, leaning an elbow on the bar top to get a better (hopefully seemingly more casual) view of the entryway.

He has seen Eddie over the years. Every Christmas at the Hendersons, sporadic visits home, a phone call here and there. The band hadn’t exactly made it big – at all, really. But they made enough to move around. Tour. Always returning to The Hideout for a one-off Tuesday Night gig as if nothing changed.

Steve looks around, thinking there might be three more drunks than the last show –

And there he is.

Eddie enters the bar with Gareth and George in tow and Steve swears a summer breeze flows in with him.

He looks good. Leather-clad as always. Pants impossibly tight. Jacket chains jangling. His hair still a river of wild curls.

But Steve sinks back on his seat as the trio makes a beeline for the stage, Eddie’s bright eyes turning into a dark frown as he orders the boys about, barely carrying a thing himself.

He probably had some theatrical excuse about his outfit, punctuated by manic hand gestures and a pout or two.

Steve watches as they dump their equipment by the one-step platform, each maneuver creating cacophonous thuds that reverberate through the bar. Jeff grimaces at the sight before shooting an apologetic glance at the manager and barkeep. The boys always did saddle him with sweet-talking the staff.

“Someone’s eager,” Robin teases, catching Steve’s smirk.

Jeff quirks a brow and stifles a smile.

“Shut up,” Steve chuckles into his glass before he downs the last of his beer.

“Eddie is really excited to see you, man,” Jeff nods, offering a nonchalant shrug just as Eddie begins making his way towards them.

Steve’s heart quickens.

There’s that something.

A something that is reflected in the glint in Eddie’s eyes as he smiles wide and waves.

Steve wiggles his fingers in greeting, shaking his head at himself almost instantly causing a lock of his hair to flop out of place.

George not-at-all subtly drags Gareth in Jeff’s direction.

“Over here, Gare,” Robin commands loudly through gritted teeth.

“Hey, Steve,” Eddie says, his voice low as he steps forward to stand just close enough that yeah, Steve decides to roll with that hope again.

He reaches up to comb a hand through his hair but Eddie gets there first.

“Sucks about Wheeler, babydoll,” Eddie continues, allowing his fingers to scrape his scalp, carefully looking him over as he does so.

Eddie always is too much.

Everything.

A lot. All at once.

Seeing him.

Steve hums and Eddie soon stops, an embarrassed set of dimples dotting his cheeks as he likely thinks better of it given their current location.

“It was... all a mistake,” Steve admits, taking Eddie’s retreating hand.

He intertwines ring-adorned fingers with his own, refusing to let go of the hope tethering them, ready to start again.

[vgperson]

Vocaloid Highlights: March 2023

Traveling a thousand lightyears at the speed of sound. Highlights Archive

========== Stand-Outs ========== One Sheep Look, Look Drowned Corpses Want Love Venomous Snake Great Actress Hot Wind Mannequin Kardia Theater Recklessly And I Waved to "___" Makeup Breath Despair. Copyright A Thousand Lightyears Mr. Showtime Dust Trail Dyeing MOVING ON Blowing Raspberries at You Notorious Dinner Bell On Spring My and Your Otherworldly Reincarnation

========== Worth Your Time ========== Magical Girl Revolution Practical Usage Andromedanaut Clear Red Eyes Extermination Eric Bad Shark Paladin Swallowing Balancer So What Lonely Night Sky Don't Resolve Me Poisoning ROOK Lycoris Memoria Night-Talking Sleep-Blue Song Craft Soda Craft Clear Memory Imagination∞BLUE Fiction Nobody Was Here Goodbye Hairtie Light Club GLACIES Transformation Syndrome Future For Two I Wanted To Be a Vocaloid Producer Living. Song of a Flower Daydream Fantasia Taking Over Here The Person More Precious Than Me Night Revolves Float Planner Teleport Diverging-Together Zero Ghost Disco Reparody Amaryllis, Sunrise. Incomplete Egoism Short Hand Strong Wind Blown-Back TransPOP Retry Helter Skelter LIGHTNING Rust-Iron Rain and Bonfire Mid-Life Reincarnation Airy Cherry Bomb!! Original Whoopsie Funk Smile to Smile Secret Iris New Humanity call sign Beast Sensitive Ghost Apocalypse Tokyo Lamenting Shima Enagirl So Long As It's Changing Stardust Medley Anguish, Fans're a Fantasy Umbrella If You Say You'll Slay That Dragon Margaret My Speakers Broke Corrupt Heaven Uber-Cute☆Creature Who Am I ^^? Leon Shaka Brainwash Dance Deggee Drizzle Spring Song Offer I've Come to Hate Darkness The Finale to You. Trash Rule Chewing Candays Fantasy Theory Lastamberger Idea Roll I Laugh. Mare? shangri-la Brain Dead Monster blanc. Salutations Ni! Although It's Ironic Hyper Sign It Was a Definite Spring The Retina's the Silver Screen, All People Are Cinema Ethos Teacher, Hey The World is Part of Us Skew, Forget Reincarnation Instant Music Starflight Program Discovery The Love That Ended Today Deeds, not words!! See-Again Romanesque

[shallowseeker]

Very very VERY Random thoughts from watching Remember the Titans 8x16:

Prometheus is a great big fun mashup of the "GOOD, REBELLIOUS SON," "SACRIFICIAL SON," "FIRE/AMBER/ENDURANCE," and "RIVAL SON-GOD," "HELPER OF HUMANITY" motif.

See: Sam, Cas, Mary, Lucifer, Cas, Benny, etc (even Chuck, with his little divinity-human hair/looks/hoodie). But it's Cas who has arguably acted on behalf of humanity the most at this point.

Aside// Prometheus is also like Gabriel, who laments his "constant running" and boldly proclaims in AU Earth/Apocalypse Earth , "I'm not going to run anymore," then dies.

//

But at the end of the episode when Prometheus's burning. Oh, when he's burning. There's so much that minds me of Castiel's funeral in 13x01 Lost and Found.

Dean comforts the mother at the fire:

&

And we also get the parallel sons heart-to-heart mashup:

&

///

BONUS stuff:

///

///

Later in 8x16, when Prometheus's son speaks, he's robotic, almost otherworldly. Very Jack-like in addition to a mute/child Dean motif.

The boy is like Jack. He's also like Dean, rendered temporarily mute by the trauma of his destiny. He becomes "the one who stays."

// SAM: "Bobby, Rufus, now Prometheus. You think any of them chose death? No. The life chose for them."

Dean is like Hayley, wants the one he's caretaker of (Sam) to BE NORMAL, to be free. To die of something "normal," not "on the mountain," as Zeus gleefully crows, in the cycle inherited by the fathers.

He wants Sam to NOT inherit from the father figures Sam invoked above (Bobby, Rufus, Prometheus.)

Aside//I find it interesting that Bobby nor Dean could kill Sam directly. So, narratively, the Cause takes on the role of "son sacrifice," enticing Sam to sacrifice himself (notably in season 5's Swan Song) and also in this season 8 with the Hell Trials.

I think it's interesting that Jack's journey mirrors this in season 15. His surrogate father does not kill him, so the Cause tells him he must become a bomb for the good of the world.

///

8x16: At the end of the episode, Dean prays to Cas, the idealized "Zeus" figure, the one he trusts. It's a source of support he's always looking for:

I also wanna capture some linguistic similarities to Zeus and The Shadow, but I ran out of images!

[vibinginthedreamlands]

This might be a bit of a niche comparison, I genuinely don't know, and I'm likely only thinking about it because I just today listened to the newest trilogy of While You Were in Hypersleep episodes before listening to these songs. But The Narcissist's Cookbook's Death Zamboni, and to some lesser but more angsty extent Jeff's Lament, are really giving off Red Valley, and more specifically Gordon and Warren vibes. Like. They would? Ride a Death Zamboni through the Apocalypse? While utilizing a flamethrower? That sounds like every song from Gordon's band. And the 'I carried you through it all and look where it got me' energy of Jeff's Lament...

I don't know. If anyone else happens to have heard both the sci-fi body horror podcast (/pos) and two songs that are like a month old, let me know if I'm crazy

[backup-baby-backup]

Cruel Summer: the hit that was meant to be?

Pictured: dramatic reenactment of us waiting for Cruel Summer to be a single for 4 years.

Background

This summer is the apocalypse.

-- Lover Journal entry, dated 29 August 2016

We all know about the cruel summer in question, right? To be fair, technically the cruelty of the summer stemmed from "a desperate summer love that might be doomed from the start" and "some element of desperation and pain in it, where you’re yearning for something that you don’t quite have yet", and not whatever Kim Kardashian was doing on Twitter, but given how those two events occured basically simultaneously, it's not outrageous to claim both experiences informed each other.

In 2018, Taylor went on the Reputation Stadium Tour. Between shows, Taylor started working on Lover, getting into the studio with Joel Little, Frank Dukes and our favourite producer Jack Antonoff. For Cruel Summer, however, there was something special: Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, was a credited writer on the track.

St. Vincent had worked with Jack for her 2017 album Masseduction, so much like how Lana ended up in the studio with Taylor, we can safely assume that Jack brought the two together. On 6 June 2018, St. Vincent mentioned that she had reworked one of her songs from Masseduction, Slow Disco, into a poppier production with Taylor's support. With this in mind, we can probably assume that she had cross passed with Taylor around this time. Taylor was papped recording at Electric Lady (Jack's stomping grounds) on 18 July 2018, which lines up with this theory. [1]

The failed single push

I’m not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had, but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single.

-- Taylor Swift after performing Cruel Summer on tour in Pittsburgh, 17 June 2023

Cruel Summer had been a fan favourite from the get-go. When Taylor held listening parties for a select group of fans, it was the song that most people had positive feelings about. When Lover (the album) dropped in August 2019, it was the third most streamed track from the album, leapfrogging I Forgot That You Existed despite it being the second track. People started to lament the... poorly-received lead singles the album had. (I have nothing kind to say about those two tracks so I won't say anything.)

Then for a while, nothing happened. Taylor released Lover and The Man as singles to various degrees of success. The Man's disappointing (by her standards) chart run probably reignited discussion about how Cruel Summer would have smashed if it were only given a proper push and the GP had understood its talent. Then COVID came along, Lover Fest was delayed indefinitely, and it seemed that the Lover era was over, replaced by Taylor locking herself in with Joe Alwyn and drinking wine.

Then June 2020 came around, and...

Now how do we know that this is true? Apparently, Cruel Summer was added to AllAccess, a website where radio programmers download singles serviced to radio. While I can't verify this myself, I have seen numerous independent sources claim that Cruel Summer was uploaded to the site specifically on 17 June 2020. [2] Some radio website also ran with the story in early June, so I am inclined to believe this.

And it's not like there weren't any official hints...

Top to bottom: Spotify "enhanced album" promo mural, You Need To Calm Down music video, Amazon Music commercial, Lover music video [3]

The catch, however, is the Cruel Summer never got an official add date. An add date is "supposed to tell [radio] stations when to add a record to its playlist". Without an official add date, stations usually won't play your new song unless it's really hotly requested.

So the song didn't get a full label push and quickly died off, despite getting some radio play in 2020 (from anecdotal evidence), not appearing on the charts. And then in July folklore came out of the blue, and with it ended the Lover era, and seemingly all hopes for Cruel Summer world domination.

A music video?

While Taylor HQ is normally as hard to infiltrate as Fort Knox, over the years bits and pieces of information have leaked about her intentions for the rest of the Lover era. Chief among them was, apparently, to officially release Cruel Summer as a single to accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020. A music video was even filmed, before being scrapped when Taylor moved into the mythical forest of folklore. 

-- Official Singles Chart (UK), 27 June 2023

Well, would Official Singles Chart lie? They do say "apparently" though, maybe to hedge their bets a little.

The problem with this claim, however, is the timeline. On 27 January 2020, Taylor released The Man as a single. She dropped the music video on Feburary 28th. Assuming a similar rollout for Cruel Summer, the music video would've come out in July. Given how the pandemic had basically put all possible filming activity to a standstill in March, it seems implausible that a music video would be filmed that early in advance, especially without knowing that the pandemic was on the horizon. Or maybe it was fully CGI and filmed in the luxury of her LA house, I don't know.

But I think there's a different catch here. Note how the above source claims that Cruel Summer would have been a single to "accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020", namely Lover Fest. According to the planned Lover Fest schedule, by the summer of 2020 she would be performing in Europe, including headlining Glastonbury.

Now consider Taylor's usual single rollout. Fearless, Sparks Fly, Red and New Romantics were all the last or second-last singles pushed from their respective albums, all of which got tour videos. [4] It seems that given how Cruel Summer would be the fifth single pushed according to the original plans, it most likely would've gotten the tour video treatment as well. Which makes sense: imagine a music video with her performing under broad daylight to huge crowds at festivals!

Cruel Summer 2: The Return of the Hit

With the advent of the pandemic something interesting happened: people started re-discovering old songs and making them into hits again. Catalogue streaming amounted to a whopping 70% of all streams in 2022. Running Up That Hill, a song from the 1980s, went viral again thanks to Stranger Things and this new ability that

Maybe it was because people wanted something familiar to go back to in a world where nothing was familiar anymore. Who knows. Many other music critics have written better articles about this phenomenon. What does matter, however, is that releasing singles from an album from years ago was now commercially viable. Sia, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd all did it to various degrees of success.

So when Cruel Summer, a song which had been among Taylor's most streamed songs for a while, acted as the tour opener on the Eras Tour [5], it would only further gain in popularity from then onwards, even re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 before it was even officially promoted to radio. And so her label moved to capitalize on this trend, and finally released Cruel Summer as a single on 20 June 2023, almost 3 years to the day after its original planned release date.

The million dollar question: would Cruel Summer have smashed if it was released as originally planned?

I'd say no. The general public had already moved on from Lover as the lacklustre The Man performance demonstrates. Besides, without the accumulation of popularity that Taylor had with folklore, evermore, the re-recordings, Midnights and the Eras Tour, who know where her career would've been?

(By the way, even if Cruel Summer had been the lead single there is absolutely no way it passes Old Town Road for #1.)

Timeline

Summer 2018: Cruel Summer is likely written around this time.

23 August 2019: Lover is released.

27 January 2020: The Man is released as a single.

27 February 2020: The Man music video is released.

5-12 March 2020: According to Steve from the IC, band rehearsals for Lover Fest took place during these days, with a whopping 32 songs.

19 March 2020: California enters lockdown due to COVID-19. Taylor was living in Los Angeles at this time.

17 April 2020: Lover Fest is officially delayed.

27 April 2020: Taylor writes cardigan, her first collaboration with Aaron Dessner and the beginning of the concept of folklore.

6 June 2020: Steve posts that cryptic message about folklore, signifying that the album was mostly complete by this time.

17 June 2020: Cruel Summer is uploaded to AllAccess, incidentally the same day as Steve teases cardigan.

20 June 2020: The European leg of Lover Fest would have begun on this day.

20 June 2023: Cruel Summer is officially released as a single.

23 October 2023: Cruel Summer hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Conclusion

Stream Cruel Summer.

[1] Cruel Summer is also the only Lover song to be registered on the US Copyright Office with a creation year of 2018, rather than 2019, suggesting that it was an early cut. (credit: @taylor-on-your-dash)

[2] Surprisingly, people have also claimed that I Did Something Bad was added to AllAccess in a similar fashion.

[3] That being said, if we take that hint in the Lover music video as hinting towards a Cruel Summer single push, this also means Afterglow was also meant to be a single...

[4] Do not quote me on this, Taylor herself didn't acknowledge that chorus of Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince either.

[5] Getaway Car should've been here...

[apocrypals]

Previously, on Apocrypals part 5: The Fifth One

As we begin our sixth (!) calendar year of Apocrypals, here is a list of the texts we have covered so far on the show in case you want to read along or catch up. They’re arranged in a way that appeases my systematic nature.  

Tanakh/Old Testament:

Genesis (episodes 16-20)

Exodus (episodes 33 and 35)

Leviticus (episode 59)

Numbers (episode 62)

Deuteronomy (episode 65)

Joshua (episode 73)

Judges (episode 80)

Ruth (episode 45)

1 Samuel (episode 89)

2 Samuel (episode 90-91)

1 Kings (episode 99)

2 Kings (episode 106)

Esther (episode 37)

Job (episode 101)

Ecclesiastes (episode 52)

Song of Songs (episode 34)

Isaiah (episode 4)

Jeremiah (episode 43-44)

Lamentations (episode 48)

Ezekiel (episode 55-56)

Daniel (episode 2)

Hosea (episode 108)

Jonah (episode 31)

Micah (episode 74)

Nahum (episode 74)

Deuterocanon/capital-A Apocrypha:

Tobit (episode 13)

Judith (episode 22)

Greek Additions to Esther (episode 37)

1 Maccabees (episode 27)

2 Maccabees (episode 28)

3 Maccabees (episode 53)

4 Maccabees (episode 78)

The Prayer of Azariah aka the Song of the Three Holy Children (episode 2)

Susanna (episode 2)

Bel and the Dragon (episode 2)

The Prayer of Manasseh (episode 6)

New Testament:

Matthew (episodes 8-9)

Mark (episode 7)

Luke (episode 10)

John (episode 11-12)

Acts of the Apostles (episode 1)

Romans (episode 5)

1 Corinthians (episode 25)

2 Corinthians (episode 42)

Galatians (episode 72)

Ephesians (episode 81)

Hebrews (episode 104)

1 John (episode 49)

2 John (episode 49)

3 John (episode 49)

Revelation (episode 50)

Pseudepigrapha (Jewish apocrypha):

The Testament of Solomon (episode 24)

The Story of Ahikar (episode 14)

The Ascension of Isaiah (episode 6)

1 Enoch (episode 39-40)

2 Enoch (episode 61)

3 Enoch (episode 86-87)

Jubilees (episodes 82 and 83)

The Letter of Aristeas (episode 70)

The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (episode 71)

Joseph and Aseneth (episode 93)

New Testament apocrypha:

The Protevangelium aka Infancy Gospel of James (episode 29)

The Acts of Pilate/Gospel of Nicodemus (episode 23)

Mors Pilati/Death of Pilate (episode 23)

The Acts of Paul and Thecla (episode 22)

The Acts of Peter (episode 3)

The Acts of Peter and Paul (episode 3)

The Acts of Andrew and Matthias (episode 60)

The Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin (episode 66)

The Life of Xanthippe, Polyxena, and Rebecca (episode 57)

Questions of Bartholomew (episode 41)

Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew (episode 41)

The Book of Bartholomew (episode 67)

Acts of John (episode 46)

The Acts of Andrew (episode 97)

Syriac Infancy Gospel (episode 47)

Infancy Gospel of Thomas (episode 54)

Infancy Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (episode 79)

The Adoration of the Magi (2020 Christmas bonus episode)

The History of Joseph the Carpenter (episode 103)

The First Apocryphal Apocalypse of John (episode 68)

The Second Apocryphal Apocalypse of John (episode 68)

The Third Apocryphal Apocalypse of John (episode 68)

The Apocalypse of Peter (episode 75)

The Apocalypse of Paul (episode 95)

The Gospel of Philip (episode 92)

The Gospel of Mary (episode 92)

The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife (episode 92)

The Gospel of Judas (episode 100)

The Greater Questions of Mary (episode Secret 69)

The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine:

The Life of Saint Nicholas (episode 26)

The Life of Saint Lucy (episode 26)

The Life of Saint Christopher (episode 15)

The Life of Saint Benedict (episode 15)

excerpts from The Passion of the Lord (episode 23)

The Life of Saint Sebastian (episode 58)

The Life of Saint Blaise (episode 58)

The Life of Saint Agatha (episode 58)

The Life of Saint Roch (episode 63)

The Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (episode 77)

The Life of Saint Barbara (episode 77)

The Life of Saint Dunstan (episode 85)

The Life of Mary Magdalene (episode 94)

The Life of Saint Martha of Bethany (episode 102)

The Life of Saint Margaret of Antioch (episode 102)

Other:

Historia Trium Regum/The Legend of the Three Kings by John of Hildesheim (episode 30)

Muirchu’s Life of Saint Patrick (episode 36)

The Life of Saint Guinefort (episode 63)

The Life of Saint Mary of Egypt (episode 69)

The Life of Saint Pelagia (episode 69)

The Life of Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus (episode 76)

The Life of Saint Columba (episode 84)

The Life of Saint Wilgefortis (episode 94)

Lives of cephalophoric saints (bonus episode cephalo4)

Stories of the Baal Shem Tov from The Golden Mountain (episode 96)

More stories of the Baal Shem Tov from The Golden Mountain (episode 107)

Solomon and Ashmedai (bonus episode double chai)

Listener questions (episode 32)

Bible trivia questions (episode 38)

Halloween-themed Chick tracts (episode 51)

Christmas-themed Chick tracts (episode 98)

Bible Adventures and the Wisdom Tree catalogue of video games (episode 64)

The Da Vinci Code, the movie (episode 88)

Guess the Bible character from Persona 5 (bonus episode Persona 5)

El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (episode 105)

You can find links to all these episodes with show notes and more on the Apocrypals wiki

[stiffyck]

scar is a loud person. anyone will tell you that. grian will lament about how he can hear the man coming from a mile away, while joe hills is grateful for the warning it gives when it comes to dodging hotguy shots.

scar is loud.

but he hasn’t always been.

sure, there was a time where he was before he wasn’t. when he was a child, he was a rowdy kid, and he loved hearing the smile in his parents’ voices from his screeches of laughter. He made noise to get attention, he made noise to see people smile, he made noise to justify the space he took up, he made noise so he could make a song.

he made noise to get someone, anyone, to save him from the hellhole of an apocalypse he found himself trapped in.

the others fell too quickly for him to do anything. his server was written off as a lost cause. all he could do was scream, scream for someone to come get him, he can’t be alone-

he learns that night zombies have deceptively good hearing. he doesn’t scream again after that.

his footsteps are quiet, his breathing is quiet, his sobs are quiet. everything is quiet. the only time it isn’t is when the zombies are around, so silence becomes the most stifling safety imaginable.

the first time he hears someone speak after rescuing he barely feels the tears that run down his cheeks.

He jumps back into speaking quicker than everyone thought he would. It’s freeing, the way he can just talk and talk and talk and he won’t die from it, he’s safe now.

the problem is, he doesn’t like to stop.

if he sits in silence too long, his brain remembers the feeling of suffocating quiet that means there’s danger if there’s even the slightest slip up.

so, when he’s not with the other hermits, who constantly fill the air with their beautiful beautiful chatter, he talks to himself. he barely pays attention to what he says, and a lot of the time it’s closer to just random noises that he finds satisfying to repeat. sometimes he’ll even serenade the air, listening to the notes filling the void of silence

then he notices… none of the other hermits do it near as often or to the degree as he does.

he has a sleepover with some of them, muttering under his breath to remind himself where he is, and they tell him to be quiet so they can finally get some shuteye. he’s caught doing it and a comment is made, not a mean one, there’s no reason it should hurt. it’s not like they know. it shouldn’t hurt that they think he’s weird, or annoying, or a waste of space, even if they aren’t using those words-

…maybe he should just be quiet again.

-💛

OH MAN OH WOW YEA I LOVE THIS

[musicboxghost]

I keep having thoughts about music in the apocalypse, esp during radio mode of Zombies, Run.

Popular music would be comparatively easy to find just because there's going to be a higher volume of AC/DC records compared to the little indie artists you can only find on Bandcamp or at your local gigs.

This isn't to shit on popular music. Hells Bells is great. It's well loved for a reason. But, having three copies of the same record does not give much variety for people with different tastes or even for people who like that genre.

You *can* record over records. It happened a lot with early ska bands. A lot of music was lost that way because the old material would just be recorded over with new songs. But I think at some point the folks at Abel Township would be willing to sacrifice their backup copy of the same songs they've heard a thousand times for something new.

Which brings us to Abel Studio Recordings.

You have all these residents with all these different tastes in music who can remember songs word for word. And even some musicians who know how to play and have access to instruments.

My Five? They'd play the hell out of some folk punk and indie folk. Conveniently, they both transfer really well to a paired down audio style because they got pretty minimalist instrumentals.

Give Sam a piano and he'll record nerdy video game soundtracks. Maybe a collection of soothing instrumentals the radio guys can play at night time full of songs like Zelda's Lullaby and Gaeta's Lament. Even with people who aren't fans of the franchises can appreciate how beautiful the songs are and how they lull them to sleep after PTSD apocalypse nightmares.

There might even be some original songwriters tucked up in the township. We know there's at least one author. And I'm sure radio boyfriends have tried their hand at writing something together. They could be the new Amazing Devil, singing beautifully romantic, emotionally fraught, and absolutely unhinged duets.

I also love the idea of the post-apocalyptic records slowly making their way around and developing small but very loyal fan bases. Dr. Meyers goes to meet with a small team of scientists and someone stops her because they know that lovely, warm alto voice with a little bit of vocal fry. And yeah, they're here on business but would it be too much trouble to ask for a live performance of one of her Billie Holiday tracks? Or Tom Waits? She does a brilliant "Drunk on the Moon".

[circes-wolf]

A review of every Oh Hellos album (in order) by an ex Christian/atheist who’s like. Shockingly into Christian folk music.

Oh Hellos EP

-upbeat, happy, about letting yourself love again. Only four songs, which is normal for an EP. Lay Me Down is definitely my favorite off this album, it’s also the only religiously themed one.

Through the Deep, Dark Valley

-their first full album, very much about family, forgiveness, and faith. Also super shoutout to the Oh Hellos for writing a song about a guy from the Narnia series (The Lament of Eustace Scrubb.) This wouldn’t be the album I recommend to someone. There aren’t any songs i feel really strongly about on this one, positively or negatively, but if I had to pick a favorite I’d say Like the Dawn is lyrically the best out of them all.

Oh Hellos Family Christmas

-just four songs, all medleys. Overall really good. I’m definitely a (traditional) Christmas music lover so this one is always high on my list but if you like folk music and Christmas music this should be a seasonal favorite. Movement 1: Rejoice, Rejoice is my favorite. It’s genuinely reverent and devotional.

Dear Wormwood

-I’m gonna have a lot to say about this one. This album is, in my humble opinion, their best and most interesting album. It’s also the album (out of all the music that I listen to) that I get drunk to most often. This is also the album that Soldier, Poet, King comes from and seeing everyone on TikTik make idiotic edits of the song makes me like it less, sadly. The album is basically the book of revelations, but told in a way that’s full of almost a classical kind of mysticism that I think Christianity is lacking in modern day. In a lot of the songs, it almost seems like they’re writing for a fantasy novel if you don’t listen too closely for religious imagery or aren’t familiar with Revelations (Caesar). Lots of hellenic imagery and songs that are instrumental interludes in this one.

The award for the best on this album is gonna get split- I think that Exeunt is lyrically the most interesting on the album and has a super fun use of dental and fricative alliteration that’s really satisfying to my brain. The best narratively is Pale White Horse/Where is Your Rider. Those are two songs but I’m going to count them as one because they do this really cool thing where narratively Where is Your Rider follows Pale White Horse, but musically it works better if you play them in the “wrong” order. Pale White Horse is about the beginning of the Apocalypse and the fear of the final fight of death, and Where is Your Rider is more about the idea that death isn’t necessarily final. It also contains the baller phrase “bury me as it pleases you, lover” which is fun.

-for the next four albums, they’re thematically all sort of similar. They’re mostly about the failures of the modern church conveyed through natural and hellenic iconography, and is one of the things I love most about the band. All of the albums are on the shorter side and include a lot of similar sounds and phrasing, and all of the albums have a few songs that are just instrumentals. This is also where the Christian imagery gets more overt

Notos- upbeat and about oncoming change/end of an old regime. Best song is definitely Notos. One thing I love about this album (as well as Eurus) is that it really is mostly about how disconnected they feel from modern Christianity.

Eurus- mostly hopeful, crumbling and failing empires. I like this one a lot because it kind of has this theme of living in the moment and enjoying being alive, even as a Christian and not focusing on the afterlife. Best song is Passerine, but Hieroglyphics is also really good.

Boreas- this one marks a little bit of a tonal shift. It’s a lot more sedate and delicate that either of the previous two albums, and a little bit more introspective. I do like it a lot, especially the instrumental songs. It has kind of the vibe of remembering how badly you’ve been treated in the past and deciding to try and open up again. The song I like best from this one is Rose, I think? But Cold is also a close second.

Zephyrus- I have to be honest, this is my least favorite. Soap and Theseus are fun, and I enjoyed Rio Grande but I can’t say I’d recommend any of the songs to someone who I wanted to listen to the Oh Hellos. It works well thematically though, at least.

[aroacesigma]

ok idk what en has so im just gonna give u the banger songs i love from each unit. some might not be in-game but also im bad at knowing where en is. also idk the en names of a lot of these songs so uh. you may need to look them up.

fine: hajimari no fantasia (BELOVED.), neo sanctuary, miracle dream traveler, tempest night (wataru goes off), feathers of ark (idk if en has that yet). also fucken. ghostic treat house. that is not in EN but its a banger.

Trickstar: BREAKTHROUGH, Kiseki, Finder Girl (i don't think u guys have that yet) and Daydream x Reality (also don't have that) the world.....

Ryuseitai: Tenka Muteki☆Meteorangers!, Ryusei Hanabi, Suisei HALATION, Nekketsu☆Ryusei Ninpouchou (i don't think u have that yet)

Alkaloid: Distorted Heart (do NOT play that expert beatmap unless you are confident. or do :3), Artistic Partisan, Believe 4 Leaves (u do not have that probably), and Vermilion (my beloved)

Eden: Dance in the Apocalypse (ignore the choreo its SUCH a banger), Awakening Myth, Majestic Magic, Exceed...... idk which ones you have of those Adam: Melting Rouge Soul is good... you don't have that tho. Eve: Sunlit Smile <3 Trap For You <3 Ruby Love <3

Valkyrie: MIWAKU GEKI. THE LOML. Last Lament. Memoire Antique. Tonight in this moonlit mansion. Eternal Weaving. also uruwashi no nightingale but that's not in-game at all you gotta go find that somewhere else.

2wink: Kangei☆2wink Zatsugidan, Heart Prism・Symmetry, LEMON SQUASH CHEERS!, Sugar Spice Hōteishiki !!! idk if u have the last two yet

Crazy:B: Crazy Roulette, Honeycomb Summer, Paranoia Street, Yubisaki no Ariadne, NOISY:BEEP (my beloved......), Helter-Spider (i don't think u have that yet)

Undead: Melody in the Dark, DESTRUCTION ROAD, Gate of the Abyss, Valentine Eve's Nightmare (if you don't like this song we can't be friends /j), FORBIDDEN RAIN (idk if u have that.... adonis went off tho)

Ra*bits: Nousagi March♪, Milky Starry Charm, Made in Tokimeki♪, Love it Love it, Pocket ni Uchuu (the other loml)

Akatsuki: Zan -Ketsui no Yaiba-, Kengeki no Mai, Usubeniiro no Yakusoku, Summer Bird is also very good <3

Knights: Fight for Judge, Silent Oath (if you like slower more chill songs. its very soft lyrically), Article of Faith (the in-game cut does not do it justice listen to the full version elsewhere), Grateful allegiance (listened to a tiny bit of that and almost started crying. oops), Promise Swords, Little Romance (RITCHAN THE WORLD), Mystic Fragrance (NARUNEE THE WORLD), Coruscate Breeze (TSUKIPI THE WORLD), Starlight Parade, Or the Beautiful Golden Drop (IZUMIMI THE WORLD)

Switch: Galaxy Destiny (if you don't like that song either we can't be friends /j), Emerald Planet, Magic for your "Switch", Omoi no Kakera, Majestic Magic, Romancing Cruise (natsume the woooorld)

MaM: Festive!, Yukai Tsuukai That's Alright! (mam the only unit to have bagpipes in his songs), Blooming World

Double Face (rip): Stippling, =EYE=, No name yet

ok thats like everything. lets ignore that i sent you basically 95% of the knights discography. we don't talk abt voice of sword that song doesn't exist

THANK YOU SO MUCH (melody in the dark is the one i am currently obsessed with it is such a banger)

and thats what made me remember . voice of sword is the one i cleared expert on . it was an ordeal but it was the easiest 😭