#. cuz they have an endless amount of horns

[daily-vessels]

hey! remember this lad? the little guy in my icon? yeah! here they are! say hi to them :D

why are they so high up? to hide their horns of course!

why?

sometimes it’s better not to find out

[empressdrega27]

Ooh! Those loving self-shipping asks with you and Ahk? - atomic-shipping

Aaaaaaaaaaaa I wasn’t expecting to get any asks tonight!! Thank you so much, ily!!!

1. When is your f/o the most gentle with you?

Ahk is always gentle with me tbh, cuz I’m rather monstrous in appearance and I take a lot of punishment in my line of work, so he makes it a point to be gentle and tender with me as much as possible. However, I’d say he takes extra care when I lose my temper. I’m very protective, and I don’t tolerate people’s shit so I unfortunately live up to my monstrous reputation, and when that happens Ahk’s always there to soothe my fury and bring me back to reality. He’s one of only a few people who are immune to my dragon terror aura, and he’s never been afraid of me, so him continuing to be gentle and sweet towards me even when I look like an eldritch horror is perhaps one of the cornerstones of our relationship!

2. Does your f/o have trouble expressing love to you?

Not at all! Ahk’s very open about his love and affection, and he makes sure to ensure I feel loved each and every day no matter what! He’s big on pda and when we’re apart for any length of time, he sends me little texts like “I miss you 😢” or “I hope you’re feeling well, my goddess 💕”. He’s a hopeless romantic if ever there was one~

3. Do you have trouble expressing love to your f/o?

I used to, due to my social awkwardness and my inexperience with relationships. But now I’m happy to say that I express my love to Ahk as easily as he does to me! I just have, eh, different ways of expressing my love. I’m more animalistic so I like to snuggle up against him and purr, or wrap my wings around him and lay in his lap! I’m rather cat-like in my affection actually!

4. How much do you say you love your f/o? How much do they say they love you?

I tell him every day, every time it pops into my mind, which is quite often. And he’s the same, he tells me he loves me whenever he feels he needs to, which is a lot. Not that I mind tho~

5. How does your f/o kiss?

Ahk’s kisses are full of endless passion! He pulls me down to his level and puts a hand on my cheek or on my jaw, as the other is woven into my hair or firmly holding one of my horns, and he kisses me like he hasn’t see me in weeks. Or he’ll jump into my arms and wrap his arms around my neck and kiss me all over my face before resting his forehead against mine. His kisses always hold so much meaning, and I can always tell what he’s saying with each one: “Being away from you was agony”, “You’re so beautiful, I’m so lucky to have you”, or the most common one: “You’re my wife, and that fact made me so happy I just had to kiss you so you could feel the happiness too”

6. At what point did you and your f/o start getting affectionate with each other?

Literally the moment after we confessed our feelings towards each other. But before that we would hug and he’d touch my hand or I’d catch him if he tripped and the contact would last a little longer than it should’ve cuz we secretly wanted to touch each other all the freakin time lmao. 

7. What’s your f/o’s style of affection? (Soft, reserved, nonstop, etc.)

NONSTOP. Ahk was trapped in a coffin for FIFTY YEARS, my dude he is touch starved to hell, and tbh so am I. We hold hands, we cuddle, he sits in m lap at every opportunity and I sit in his lap too (much to his smug delight lol). But he’s also soft too, gentle touches and scritches along with kisses and cuddles~

8. What’s your favorite thing your f/o does to you?

Ok so, lemme paint you a picture: I’ve been burdened with a metric fuckton of responsibility. I’m a superhero, I’m protector of the multiverse, I’m the ruler of an entire planet….. It’s a lot. And Ahk knows all of this, but you know what? He treats me like I’m just, me. I’m not Empress Elizabeth of Arkaydia, or Divine Protector. I’m just Eliz, his wife. And he’s not Ahkmenrah, fourth king, he’s just Ahk. We can be normal for a change, or at least as normal as we can get. When we get back from the museum or a mission and we get into some comfy clothes and watch the great british bake off, and Ahk runs his fingers though my hair and asks me “Have you ever made one of those?” That’s my favorite thing. Being myself, and being with him like that. There’s nothing better~

9. Who initiates things between you?

Hehe, well we’re both the culprit in that regard~ We’re both guilty of initiating a steamy makeout session which invariably leads to, other things~

10. How does your f/o keep you safe? How would you do the same?

Welp, I’m that girl that kinda doesn’t give a fuck about her own safety, so Ahk was naturally very concerned and insisted on coming with me on missions so I didn’t keep letting myself get shot or set on fire. He takes my safety very seriously, since I uh, I really don’t. He’s got magic and the power of Egypt on his side, as well and just, SO many curses. Needless to say, I feel very safe around him cuz people underestimate him, until it’s too late and they’ve been mummified alive. Now on the other hand, Ahk’s a very capable warrior. He can and does take care of himself. But he gets captured and shot at a lot and as I said earlier, I have a horrible temper. If Ahk is even remotely in danger, I go ballistic and take out the threat with deadly and terrifying accuracy. I have so many powers and abilities that I can choose the most pants shittingly scary ways to make bad guys regret they were ever born. Ahk is a force to be reckoned with, but I have no chill and I play a lot of mortal kombat. I have a monstrous reputation for a reason.

11. Who gives the smallest forms of affection?

Eh, prolly me I guess? I mean, I make lunch for him, or sweets and surprise him with them. And I like to sneak up on him and kiss his cheeks before darting away laughing. Tbh I can’t really think of any small forms of affection from Ahk, maybe cuz his affection always feels unfathomably grand to me no matter what~

12. Are you and your f/o comfortable with saying “I love you” in front of others?

HELL YEAH MY DUDE!! Ahk and I are that couple that everyone lowkey is salty at for being so lovey and perfect lmfao. We say we love each other no matter who’s in the vicinity~

13. How much time do you or your f/o devote to relaxing/cuddling?

Uh, let’s just say a large amount of our time is spent relaxing and cuddling, like a significant chunk of time lol. We buy bean bags and other things so we can cuddle in various random places, if that gives you an idea of how much time we spend in each other’s arms~

[thesinglesjukebox]

KESHA FT. BIG FREEDIA - RAISING HELL

[6.38]

Kesha with Big Freedia Energy

Leah Isobel: Kesha has been saddled with one of the heaviest narratives of 2010s pop music, which combines uneasily with her career-long interest in more grounded country and rock signifiers. Now when she works with those impulses, as she did on Rainbow, the effect is one of refutation; Animal becomes an outlier that she made against her will, one that doesn't represent the Real Kesha. To work her way back to the party music that made her reputation, she has to adapt it to the new narrative frame that surrounds everything she does. If she's having fun, she's having fun in spite of what she experienced; partying is no longer an end into itself, but an escape from something else. Hence, "Raising Hell" deploys one of the hackiest pop tropes - gospel choirs used as a shortcut for sincere emotion - married to a pretty decent Big Freedia drop. It's not awful, but I miss the actual, honest-to-god trashiness that she made her stock in trade. In 2019, I guess I'm the only one. [6]

Thomas Inskeep: Finally, an uptempo Kesha record that a) isn't touched by the evil Dr. Luke, and b) doesn't sound like the result of a three-day vodka-and-Red Bull bender, and c) is actually fun. I'm not a fan of the EDM horns in the chorus, but apart from those, this works. I'm a bigger fan of Big Freedia in theory than practice, and accordingly prefer her in small doses; she's quite effective here as a kind of DJ Khaled-esque hype-person. And Kesha sounds free and happy, which makes me happy. [7]

Kayla Beardslee: I'm glad Kesha got her balls back and all, but I'm not enthused that that means a return to honking 2012 pop-drops. I will admit, though -- the combined Kesha/Freedia "drop it down low" hook grows on me with every listen. The rest of the song is fine: it invites singing along and is fun in a hedonistic Ke$ha way, but it's also very, very noisy (lots of erratic shouts and claps in the background that, to me, lean more messy than energetic). My favorite part is the final chorus ("Can I get an amen"), which is a pleasantly melodic contrast to the rest of the track, a close second being the thrilling "aaugh!" Kesha does right before the second chorus. [6]

Alex Clifton: High Road appears to take the party-all-day spirit from Kesha's earlier work but mixed with the rawer, more down-to-earth material from Rainbow. In theory this is a dream come true, and there's so much about "Raising Hell" that makes it a joy to experience. The post-chorus is godawful, though. Tonally it doesn't fit and stalls the song from its natural flow. I'm also longing for the day that Big Freedia gets the feature she deserves: her appearance is mostly limited to drop-it-drop-it-drop-it-drop-it which is delivered well but also literally one-note. Kesha's trying to have it all ways she can--country and gospel and dance and bounce--which, as someone who likes a good genreproof song, I really respect. Unfortunately the whole package doesn't come together as fully as it could. [6]

Stephen Eisermann: "The best possible Andy Grammer single" is not what Kesha and Big Freedia should be collaborating on. This is a waste of time and talent and no amount of conviction from either participant can convince me otherwise. [4]

Alfred Soto: This sounds sacrilegious: instead of defiling a religion, it defiles my idea of Kesha. After proving herself up to thumbing her nose at any genre she experimented with, she acquiesces to gospel cliches. She's earned the right to want salvation in them, lord knows, but she needn't sound as if Julia Michaels was her pastor. [4]

Josh Buck: How do you have a hook like "I don't wanna go to heaven without raising hell" and video centered around prosperity gospel preachers and NOT make it a country song?? At this point, Kesha has proven that she can tackle a variety of genres, but this bounce effort just feels scattered instead of celebratory. I realize this a loaded statement and not at all meant to be a defense or endorsement of the man, but judging by Kim Petras' endless recent string of bangers, Dr. Luke may have been an irreplaceable ingredient in Kesha's more crowd pleasing, debauched pop efforts. In recent years, she's sound much stronger on her Struts and Eagles of Death Metal rock cuts, and i'd love to see her spend more time in that arena. This one reminds me a bit of the final album by The Donnas in terms of we-might-be-too-old-for-this vibes. [3]

Katherine St Asaph: The narrative, inevitable and damning, around Kesha was that in severing her ties to Dr. Luke, she lost her source of a signature sound. Rainbow, with its grabs at musical styles and Kesha's required-for-optics but personality-dampening show of penitence, didn't do much to dislodge it. Which is why "Raising Hell" is such a triumph: it's evidence that she was the source of her signature sound. The song feels massive; if sound alone determines a hit, this would be No. 1 everywhere. The hook is recognizably hers: a melody that's kin to "We R Who We R" and also to hymns. The drops r what they r; the interpolations are canny and nostalgia: an interlude of "My Neck, My Back" filtered through "Hollaback Girl," an interlude of preaching filtered through Prince. Freedia is incapable of sounding like she's phoning it in even when she is (I'm sure she'll do a lot of that in the next few years), and unlike Iggy Pop or the Eagles of Death Metal, she's an actually exciting guest pick, rather than one mostly exciting on paper to boomers. And throughout, Kesha recaptures the anarchic glee that made her career. [8]

Jonathan Bogart: Maybe it was my naïveté in 2010 that made her sound so recklessly out of step with the rest of pop; but her post-Luke music, however much better it has been for her soul, still sounds faintly like capitulation. The secular-gospel structure and chantalong melody followed by jump around breakdowns sound like every pseudo-celebration on the market: the saving grace is Freedia's booming authoritativeness (surely the angel Gabriel, when he tells the roll up yonder to drop it down low, sounds like her) and Kesha's impish use of language, dancing on the borders between sacrilege and piety, hooks it up to the great stream of American song, where there is no Sunday morning without a Saturday night. [8]

Kylo Nocom: Of all things, this reminds me of Vacation Bible School theme songs and the "Cheerleader" remix. I have scored this accordingly. [7]

Michael Hong: The bombast of early 2010s Ke$ha meets the soulful Kesha of Rainbow racing down that same road to self-empowerment. Ke$ha's talk-singing, a choir that makes a line like "bitch, I'm blessed" all the more enjoyable, drops mixed with the gospel influences, and Big Freedia's bounce make for a hell of a maximalist fantasy. [7]

Jackie Powell: When "Raising Hell" begins, it fools the listener. When the piano chords and Kesha's introductory vocalization grace my ears during the song's first five seconds, I'm convinced that a power ballad or at best a mid-tempo track is in store. But Kesha quickly changes direction. An explosion of camp from collaborator Big Freedia, a blaring saxophone in the chorus, the return of talk-singing in the verses and an epic build in the pre-chorus: it sounds very familiar. That's what Kesha wants. She wants us to feel like we are once again at a 21-century hoedown. (But without Pitbull this time.) On this track, Kesha proves that both she and her fans can be "animals" while simultaneously being people with "fantastic souls", which might have been something missing from the pre-Rainbow eras. Here, however, Kesha desires fun and a rebellion that are a rejection of evil behavior and suffocating authority figures. She's not just sticking it to the man without a purpose. That's the difference between Kesha of 2019 and Ke$ha of 2009. "Kesha got her balls back and they're bigger than ever," she said in the album trailer for High Road. But I don't agree with that. She's had them since her inception. Her evolution has been honest, which is something that not all artists can say. [7]

Isabel Cole: MY! GIRL! Having proven herself an actual musician to every idiot man in the country, Kesha (perhaps sick of being so serious) gleefully returns to her favorite stomping ground of, well, glee. Raising Hell makes text what has always been the implicit mission of the Kesha project: a commitment to the fundamental sacredness of joy. It's hard to imagine a more succinct encapsulation of her ethos than "I'm all fucked up in my Sunday best / no walk of shame cuz I love this dress": it's not that she takes no pleasure in the transgression of elevating ass-shaking to the level of the divine, but it's a gentle mischief born of the deep belief in the holiness of enjoying our corporeal gifts while we still can. Feeling good is a form of worship, and a killer beat is no less legitimate an access point than a hymn. When she combines markers of religiosity with artifacts of base delights (my favorite is "Solo cup full of holy spirits," although I also adore the the vulgarity of "bounce it up and down where the good Lord split it"), the point is not to revel in contradiction but to toast to the fact that there is no contradiction; and when she opens her scope in the coda, dedicating her preaching or perhaps this round of shots to the misfits of creation, there's a (frankly Piscean) generosity to it. Also, (1) it slaps (2) biiiiiiiiiiiiiitch I'm blessed (3) her voice sounds just wonderful, as dextrous with an implicit smirk as ever and with a thrilling power on the places she gets to soar; I love the bit of grit we get in the chorus, like she's singing this after a night out (4) it FUCKING slaps (5) "I'm still here still, still bringing it to ya": ten years since TiK ToK this month, and the party still don't start till she walks in. [10]

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