#Distractify

[louisupdates]

‘All of Those Voices’ Explores Louis Tomlinson’s Journey Through Self-Doubt

DISTRACTIFY

BY ELISSA NOBLITT | March 24, 2023

Pop star Louis Tomlinson released his documentary, All of Those Voices, in theaters on March 22, 2023. The film follows Louis’s final X-Factor performance all the way through his first solo tour, taking an honest look at One Direction’s bittersweet ending and Louis’s journey to prove himself as a solo artist.

Of course, fans were thrilled at the prospect of new behind-the-scenes footage; however, those expecting something akin to One Direction’s This Is Us may be surprised to discover that All of Those Voices digs deeper. While it does contain fun tour content and concert footage, these moments of levity are just that — fleeting moments within a much bigger story of uncertainty, loss, and self-examination.

One Direction fans will enjoy this film, but Louis Tomlinson fans will be moved by it.

The documentary starts out by briefly taking fans back to Louis’s X-Factor audition to set up the beginning of the One Direction era, which was to be expected. However, what’s unexpected is just how brief this segment really is — by the time the movie’s opening sequence is over, One Direction is over, too, taking the stage for their last-ever live performance. Louis has his own story to tell.

All of Those Voices sees the singer vulnerable yet unafraid to finally share his experience. Being cut from songs and struggling to stand out as a singer in the band pushed him to find his place in songwriting, but that all came crashing down in 2015 when One Direction announced their extended hiatus.

Louis shares that he was totally blindsided by One Direction’s disbandment: “It hit me like a ton of bricks. I was not prepared for it. Not at all.” This casts a different light on their breakup, which was presented at the time to be a unanimous decision for the benefit of the group.

On the contrary, Louis is terrified for the future: “It was very easy for me to imagine Harry [or] Liam having a solo career. It was harder for me to imagine myself doing that … What the f--k am I going to do?”

In these moments, the audience comes to learn that this film is more than just a glimpse into the glamorous life of a pop sensation who was once a part of the biggest boy band in the world. Instead, it’s a raw look at Louis’s struggle to overcome the insecurity and personal tragedy that brought him to rock bottom.

Fans of Louis's know that he’s no stranger to loss. His mother died tragically of leukemia in 2016, and one of his younger sisters passed away only a few years later in 2019. Already reeling from One Direction’s dissolution, the singer shares that he struggled to remain strong through such a devastating time in his life.

Cameos from various members of Louis’s family — including three of his sisters, his grandparents, and even his son, Freddie — give fans a glimpse into his support system. Longtime 1D supporters will likely recognize them, and it’s heartwarming to see them cheering him on.

Plus, Louis’s family aren’t the only familiar faces in the film — All of Those Voices features a few appearances from One Direction members, as well. Louis and former bandmate Liam Payne reconnected; Niall Horan also appears in the documentary, and the two discuss the “out-of-body” feeling of seeing each other perform. While audience members will likely be thrilled, the inclusion of these scenes feels like much more than fan-service. They serve as a backdrop for Louis to lament the loss of his old life while also looking toward the future.

While the transition from boy band member to solo artist may seem relatively smooth to an outsider, All of Those Voices showcases that, at least for Louis, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Throughout the documentary, we see the singer building himself back up to go on tour, constantly worried about how fans will receive him. Will anyone buy tickets? If they do, will he be able to deliver?

Then, finally, the first night of his first solo tour is electric. After only two shows, Louis is devastated when his world tour comes to a halt due to COVID-19. However, when he returns to the stage two years later, he’s greeted by crowds who have camped out for months to see him, adoring and supportive.

For fans, it feels like a breath of fresh air to finally see Louis get the support he deserves.

As of this writing, Louis has released two albums and is currently in the midst of his second world tour. What the singer didn’t realize in 2015 was that One Direction’s breakup wouldn’t be the end of his career — it was only the beginning. Where he thought he would be starting from scratch, he instead retained the fervent dedication of millions of fans worldwide.

“That’s all I’ve been waiting for, really — to have these moments,” he shares. “And it does kind of feel like, finally, the stars might be aligning for me.”

Overall, All of Those Voices will give fans a refreshingly honest look at what it’s like to be on the other side of the stage — to have it all, lose it in an instant, and fight the odds to earn it back.

All of Those Voices is currently playing in theaters worldwide.

[shoes--off]

Yasmine Al-Bustami | Distractify Interview [May 15, 2023]

[jamesrodayrodriguezpresents]

[Spoiler for last night's episode ahead!]

[...]

When asked if Gary dies on A Million Little Things, James told Distractify the upcoming series finale is so top-secret that neither he nor Allison knows what’s next for Gary.

“We can't even tell you because we don't even know,” James told us. “I think one of the interesting components of being on this show is that DJ Nash, who created it, doesn't always tell you what's going to happen. And I think it's good because, you know, that's sort of how life works. And it doesn't give you the chance to contextualize it or make any choices ahead of time, or decide how you think it should go. And I think it's served us pretty well up to this point.”

While James couldn’t tell us how Gary’s story ends, he provided some insight into how his character handles his new diagnosis. On A Million Little Things, Gary and Maggie meet at a breast cancer support group while he is in remission.

Although fans only witness most of his initial journey with cancer in flashbacks, the illness affected many parts of his life, including his and Maggie’s ability to conceive.

Gary’s friends are also understandably concerned when they think he has breast cancer again in Season 4. When Gary discovers he has cancer again, he and Maggie ultimately decide to withhold this from their friends.

James explained to us why Gary’s choice to keep his prognosis to himself showed the “growth” he has made in the last five seasons.

“I don't think he's nearly as angry anymore. And as a result, I think he's processing his latest diagnosis … more thoughtfully and more internally about what everybody needs, as opposed to just, you know, what he needs,” James said. “I think … the first time he was really struggling, finding the meaning in it, and making peace with it all. And I think, as a result, he was inviting as many outside noises as he could get. And this time, it's sort of the opposite.”

The actor explained to us that he feels his character has "found a certain degree of peace in his life."

"As a result, it's like, he can actually think like, ‘What is the best way to share this news with everybody else? Based on what they're each going through in their lives.’ So, I don't think it was ... that he was being dishonest as much as he was being thoughtful," he continued. "I think, you know, he wanted to do it as thoughtfully as possible.”

Allison, who plays Gary's wife Maggie told us that the secret would’ve been “really hard” to keep if she were in Maggie’s shoes, though she fully supports her character's decision to honor her partner’s wishes. Thankfully, the couple always has their “framily” (group of friends) by their side no matter what.

New episodes of A Million Little Things air Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST on ABC. You can also stream the entire series on Hulu.

[whirlingbadger]

Some quick questions with three of the bad kids:

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 08/06/2024 (Eminem's "Houdini", Fred again../Anderson .Paak/CHIKA, Chappell Roan)

It’s been over two decades for Eminem and his new lead single is still debuting at #1 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming his 11th overall. It’s stupid as all Hell, but it might be worth to have some lightening up in the rap world after, well, you know. As for whatever else is charting… well, welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, death, gay sex, uncomfortable age gaps, The Real Slim Shady, transphobia, cancel culture, 70s Italian cinema, RuPaul

Rundown

As always, we start with our notable dropouts - songs exiting the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid adieu to some rap as “Malicious Intentions” by Poser drops out - a shame it couldn’t last or reach the top 40 since I do really like that as a follow-up - as well as Future and Metro Boomin’s work naturally dampening off with “Type Shit” featuring Travis Scott and Playboi Carti, and “Like That” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Our three other notable dropouts, unless I’m missing anything, are older pop hits: “Teenage Dreams” by Katy Perry, “Tears Dry on Their Own” by the late Amy Winehouse and finally, “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac. Again.

As for our notable gains and returns, we see the resurgence of “Without Me” by Eminem, as his newest single actually landed his biggest first-week sales since that track hit #1 back in 2002, according to the Official Charts Company’s article about “Houdini”… and looking at the top 10 it spent one week on top of, yeah, I’m happy Em took that one. That is a rough week, imagine if I was doing this show in 2002. The new song of course makes reference to and interpolates “Without Me”, yet another one of his goofy lead singles that tend to be really fun highlights of any of his albums, but the original is back at #38. Notably, it spent some time at the very bottom of the chart in 2004 and 2022. Oh, and Becky Hill’s #3 album gave “Outside of Love” the chance to re-enter at #73 though none of the deep cuts ended up debuting, which is a bit of a shame.

Then of course, there are some more predictable boosts for songs already on the chart like “on one tonight” and “one of wun” by Gunna at #57 and #30 respectively, “Thank You (Not So Bad)” by people who should know better at #55, “Addicted” by Zerb, The Chainsmokers and Ink at #54, “360” by Charli XCX at #41 - wonder if the Yung Lean and Robyn remix has anything to do with it - “The Door” by Teddy Swims at #28 and finally, “Pink Skies” by Zach Bryan at #25. Most of these are ones I cannot really complain about, good stuff.

As for our top five, we start with pretty much seeing Billie Eilish’s single choice switch in realtime as “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” remains at #5 whilst “LUNCH” falls right below, then we have “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey at #4 - shame the album didn’t seem to have much of an impact - followed by “BAND4BAND” by Central Cee and Lil Baby at a new peak of #3, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter dropping off to #2 and of course, with over 100,000 sales, which is a pretty big deal for the UK, Slim Shady at #1 with “Houdini” which we’ll get back to after these messages.

New Entries

#69 - “Carry You Home” - Alex Warren

Produced by Adam Yaron

Okay, I’ll bite: who’s Alex Warren? Well, he’s a young singer-songwriter from California who struggled in childhood due to his parents’ troubles and having to leave home as a teenager, dealing with homelessness for a while, but has channelled that into both a music career and as an Internet personality and YouTube vlogger, which has given him some viral circulation but nothing enough to chart until this year, where after two other tracks bubbling under, he has his breakout new song, “Carry Me Home”, which sticks with me for an interesting reason.

Whilst given that it’s mentioned on his Genius, his Wikipedia and Spotify biographies, and articles by Distractify and Forbes, that his come-up, probably regarded by the more cynical as a “sob story”, is in some way integral to the public image he wishes to portray, it’s clear that it’s embedded in these lyrics as well. One could take them as generic loving platitudes, but the emphasis on a long, going-the-distance relationship that is as passionate in the future as it is in the present, feels very immersed in a guy trying to improve on the example of relationship his parents left him, or really lack thereof given his mother’s addiction and father’s untimely death due to cancer. He mentions not having a place to sleep in the second verse and the song is mostly about marriage, mentioning his mind being on his mother when he says “I do”, bringing that joy of a “traditional” relationship and wedding to a family he never really got the “perfect” version of. Lyrically, I really like these notions, yet I don’t find much to be inspired by in musical execution. The reverb-drenched vocals in the pre-chorus are distracting and he doesn’t have the most unique voice in the world, and the sequencing overall is a bit wonky: there’s very little effective build-up into the stomp-clap frolick of the sing-a-long chorus. Additionally, it just feels a bit rote in its choice of vocal melodies and musical elements, like a factorial way of constructing this kind of song, which sucks considering how personal the lyrics are to him. I’m sure this means more to long-time fans of him, but on a sonic level, I’m not really feeling it at all. Sorry.

#68 - “Red Wine Supernova” - Chappell Roan

Produced by Dan Nigro, Noah Conrad and Lixa

Whilst “Good Luck, Babe!” was the breakout hit for Chappell Roan, it was a new release that took advantage of existing hype solidied from existing releases, particularly on her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess which is an album revolving around an overexaggerated pop persona whilst also heavily including narratives surrounding her own identity as a queer woman. More LGBT-related concept albums about famous people are coming on this chart week and it’s just funny that I can say that over-specific thing happens not once but twice in these debuts... and I’m not sure she’d like the comparison. Regardless, her two songs that have been bubbling under for a long time are now in the top 75, acting as some of the strongest singles from that album - commercially, at least, I have yet to listen to it in full - that helped prep the fanbase and now general audience for the sleeper smash that was to come.

I was excited when I heard the jangly guitars mixed with Roan’s almost cabaret voice on the intro to “Red Wine Supernova”, before the synth bloops came in almost immediately and whilst the buzzing clash of the two elements later in the track is compelling, it does really disappoint me when a song crashes into synthpop pastiche like that. This is a song about particularly passionate and envigorating lesbian sex, so the dissonance of the somewhat static, distorted electro-rock groove with the point of blissful, organic euphoria in the chorus shouldn’t be that difficult of a metaphor to figure out. The cute back-and-forths in the verses are pretty funny, the pre-chorus is maddeningly catchy… but I still don’t vibe with the main momentum of the song, it feels predictable past its main trick and once you’ve heard that first chorus, her pre-empting the drums coming in during that moment with a goofy ad-lib just feels extraneous the second time, and I really don’t like how the drums mesh with it anyway, it feels too… obvious, I guess. And much like “Good Luck, Babe!”, there’s a disruptive bridge but this one isn’t narratively disrupting, going for a bit of a disco-rap pivot that is equally reminiscent of the “Shake it Off” cringe as it is the natural fall into faster and sassier vocal deliveries you can hear in a surprising amount of queercore and riot grrl punk. One of my favourite examples is the back-and-forth between the vocalists on Team Dresch’s “Yes I Am Too, But Who Am I Really?”, where the two topics of expressing yourself amidst discrimination and being submissive in the bedroom intertwine chaotically and playfully but really make you think about sex’s place in queer identity, whilst also just having a fascinating relationship between the song’s groove and where the words are placed. Chappell Roan’s bridge goes for a similar idea and is just as effective, it’s just that the surrounding sonics aren’t as dynamic or really just to my taste. I can tell the passion is there, as well as crucially, the honesty, but it might not be reflected within the flashy pop production, which is a shame because unlike “Good Luck, Babe!”, the pieces are here for me to love this.

#61 - “She’s Gone, Dance On” - Disclosure

Produced by Guy Lawrence and Howard Lawrence

There are quite a few dance tracks to get through this week, and from many familiar faces, some less familiar than others, some less frequent chart fixtures, some more respected figures, but still a good deal of EDM debuted this week, probably due to it being slower in general and we start with wonky house duo Disclosure, who I generally like. This track has a somewhat peculiar choice of sample: “Dance On” by Italian composer Ennio Morricone, from the 1978 film Così come sei, or Stay as You Are in English. A European erotic romance drama with “ravishing” performances and songs like “Dance On” as the soundtrack, which is a killer slice of slightly dissonant-feeling disco, having a falsetto chant sharing space with synth freakouts but in a call-and-response format that is both fascinating and renders the track tense and almost instrumental, this seems like the kind of film I would consider a guilty pleasure. The lead actress, Natassja Kinski, who was… 17 at the time? Doing nude scenes with a guy in his mid-50s? And she now regrets this film entirely, disapproving of her scenes and saying she wouldn’t let her daughter do it? Okay, well, firstly, I shouldn’t have expected anything less from 70s continental Europe art films, but also, abort, abort, mission abort, let’s not think about the sample’s origins any longer.

Regardless of what sketchy film it tracks its way from, it’s a song that seems built for a French house flip, especially due to its extended instrumental breaks, and Disclosure do just that, with some glading tropical guitars, a steady if predictable house groove and an emphasis on bringing some bliss and transcendency out of a vintage, maybe dated-sounding sample, which is something Disclosure have always done when working with similar samples - “Love Can be So Hard” is a brilliant example of this. The added shuffling percussiion makes the moments of synth magic even more relieving, and the level of detail in sound design is expectedly immaculate and crafted to ridiculous degrees: the little moment in the pre-drop where the synth briefly wanks out in a zig-zag style before the beat comes back in fully is such a nice, goofy touch - there’s a lot of goofiness this week - and that bridge / outro with the glitched, screechier synth that gets shut off into a murmur is great. It’s almost weird to talk about a song like this on here - it feels like one of the many future funk songs I’d find randomly on Spotify and jam to them in my own time, never really thinking about how to review them. But I’m not upset it’s here - whilst I understand that my enjoyment of this pries on very specific genre preferences, it’s outstanding in its field, this is excellent stuff.

#59 - “Set My Heart on Fire” (“I’m Alive” x “And the Beat Goes On”) - Majestic, The Jammin Kid and Céline Dion

Produced by Majestic and Lee Tyler

Wow, been a while since we had a mouthful like this on the chart because dear God, what on earth is this? Let’s start with the artists, as that should be easier. Majestic is an English DJ known mostly for his hit remix of Boney M.’s “Rasputin” that I reviewed back in 2021 and thought was just okay, whilst The Jammin Kid is new to the chart, and seemingly new to streaming services entirely as he has no other work on even SoundCloud than just this track and its remix. What he does have, however, is a TikTok following so I think his social media presence may have led to a credit on this track, especially since I tracked down the mashup idea to a TikTok of his with a couple hundred thousand likes wherein he does the typical “pretend to do anything on a mixing board” as he dances around to an obviously pre-programmed mashup of the two tracks in this medley, which is probably not enough for a track on its own so took a cosign from Majestic to get on Spotify, who also probably helped with his connections to get the sample cleared.

The original mashup, available on The Jammin Kid’s SoundCloud, is a pretty straightforward mashup with a few additional production touches but no outright reworking, pairing Canadian legend Céline Dion’s 2002 hit “I’m Alive” with the soul group The Whispers’ 1979 classic “And the Beat Goes On”, their only #1 on the US dance and R&B charts, and one of their biggest hits in general, as it peaked at #2 in the UK in 1980, behind Kenny Rogers’ “Coward of the Country”, and is an iconic, undeniable funk track. If you think you don’t recognise it, listen to those first few measures and have all the memories coming back. Once again, it makes perfect sense for a French house remix. That’s not what The Jammin Kid did though, he placed the vocals of a Céline Dion song from beyond her biggest era and one that didn’t even chart on the US Hot 100. A big worldwide hit, of course, because it’s still Céline Dion, but at least from my experience, not one nearly as remembered as the instrumental he’s being paired with. I also don’t really like the song, frankly, it’s some adult contemporary schmaltz that wastes Dion’s iconic voice. It did peak at #17 in the UK however, whilst Blazin’ Squad’s cover of the Bone Thugs classic “Crossroads” was #1. Similarly to the Whispers, it is built for sampling and actually has a history of being made more upbeat and disco-influenced. A popular remix of the time places the vocal against a soundalike of Blondie's "Heart of Glass".

The mashup itself is fine if kind of lacking in much more of an idea than just “this song works on this song”, which is sometimes all you need, but I definitely prefer the more intricate house remix from Majestic, which phases out its isolated instrumental elements from “And the Beat Goes On” is a very wispy way that absorbs the smoother elements of the original mashup rather than fully reimagining it in sped-up house form, which does help it go down a bit easier considering all the glitz and saccharine nature of mixing two very famous and shimmery songs together. Interestingly, The Jammin Kid is replaced as a producer by industry co-producer and writer, Lee Tyler, which goes to show just how little idea or involvement he had in developing the track any further - it’s not unrecognisable in this form, far from it, but it has such a clearer sole identity from Majestic and Tyler’s reworking. There’s a lot of swell to the gospel choir, disco strings and trickling synth cascade as well as typical French house guitar riffs but it does feel a bit like, well, exactly what it is. TikTok backing music for a guy dancing around in his living room pretending to produce. I do like that a song with this interesting of a story and rabbit hole is charting, as well as it being notable that TikTok mashups if given the right push and clearance, can be successful risks for all companies involved, from the original labels to opportunist scene-familiar DJs, and make hits in themselves. I just don’t think this thesis of a flip is particularly inspiring.

#53 - “HOT TO GO!” - Chappell Roan

Produced by Dan Nigro

I was worried when I started looking into the lyrics of this track and their meaning, because it seems to be all about high school - the chorus is a cheerleader chant, and “HOT TO GO!”’s main conceit is about her school experience, wherein her appearance was dismissed as “pretty”, but not “hot”, with the Chappell persona absorbing the overt sexuality she was never granted during those times. Now, I was worried because of the perhaps bratty nature of the song which definitely is there and I can’t personally relate to much of the teenage melodrama anymore, but this might actually be my favourite of hers so far, mostly because I love this. The blooping new rave synth bop is still less interestingly textured than it should be but its taunting sing-songy loop reflects the almost condescending nature of her treatment as an adolescent, and the twinkling shakers in the chorus bring it to an incessant, mechanical level that I find a fascinating choice. The post-chorus, which should be the moment that feels like a release given its blast of guitars, is still stiff and constricted by its limitations, with the most catharsis coming from Chappell’s vocal outbursts within the verses, which are often just comically honest. She actually got a laugh out of me when she expressed her clear ulterior motives in the second pre-chorus that she made this song so that this girl would sleep with her, connecting the otherwise perhaps disparate themes of this song, which is mostly a dance track, albeit one that ropes in the potential tedium of those genres as a plot device, with that outro being a great way to end off the track; its awkwardness and lack of mutual response from the second party is the kind of skit you see in a 90s or 2000s teen comedy. Perhaps surprisingly, this one ended up being my favourite from the three, but still, I’m not fully convinced on whether that album would be to my taste, I suppose we’ll see if we get more debuting from it or her later works in the future.

#50 - “6 in the Morning” - Flex (UK) featuring Nate Dogg

Produced by Flex (UK) and Doc Funk

Yes, (UK) is in their official Spotify name, and I say “they” because this doesn’t feel like a chart placement for this specific song but more of a phenomenon because oh, boy, there’s a rabbit hole to go on with this one. I don’t actually know where our story starts, but an obscure loosie from the late rapper Nate Dogg was circulating at least as early as 2009, where a popular, unauthorised upload still remains on YouTube. There is artwork on Discogs of this being a physical, non-label, perhaps unauthorised release, but it’s not explicitly dated as far as I can find, so this being described as “new music” in June 2009 is as far as I’m getting. It’s a catchy, twinkly R&B-rap fusion with some uncredited female vocals and a lot of richly-voiced hooks from Nate, who was just the master of those, though the song doesn’t sound fully finished considering the sheer amount of chorus, a bit of an unmoving beat and vocal mixing not as layered as it could be until its meandering outro, but also sounding slightly unfinished was kind of the norm for cheap 2000s pop rap. In 2009, Nate Dogg was suffering from having experienced two strokes the years prior and was largely retired from music as a result, with this record not seeing an official release until long after his death.

After passing in 2011, Nate Dogg naturally fell victim of the pop music indutsry’s exploitation of its deceased, but not nearly as heavily as one would expect from a death that could be placed firmly in the dying moments of rap’s bling era, as hip hop tends to treat posthumous features even less gracefully than other genres. Hell, the only reason “Gangsta Walk” probably didn’t get an immediate posthumous re-release is that it had been on the Internet for a few many years and sadly, Nate Dogg had fallen into irrelevance… until 2016, wherein a remix of his song with 50 Cent, “21 Questions”, went viral on SoundCloud. As Mixmag reports, California producer SNBRN was granted access to an unreleased acapella from Nate Dogg’s estate for him to place a warm, vaguely tropical house beat under, speeding up the track to fit the tempo and placing some nice, yet very typical and now quite dated pianos and horns that fit how this genre really sounded for quite a while there. Whilst not charting, it was a viral enough success that this became retrospectively recognised as the original song, particularly due to reporting that, in my opinion, was misleading and did not do its due diligence in explaining the leak circuit around the track that had existing for nearly a decade at this point. Nonetheless, Genius does not have a page for Nate Dogg’s original and attributes samples of that vocal to the SNBRN track “featuring” Nate Dogg.

There aren’t countless examples but are now plenty of dance tracks using that Nate Dogg vocal, and now that 2010s nostalgia is in the midst, it makes all too much sense that yet another viral hit would be made out of flipping the sample on a house beat, so here comes Flex to do just that with a pretty boring house beat that does sound like a throwback to older garage tracks due to its bass and use of an acapella that’s kind of crusty at this point, ends up having to be drowned in reverb, but that and the wonky synth paired with the vocal make this feel less like a throwback and more just a cheap, dull and frankly lazy attempt at taking what was already a successful flip and throwing it into this producer’s style. Well, as far as I know that it’s his style because he has no other Spotify presence, but I understand that streaming doesn’t reflect club mixes, and this definitely feels like the kind of remix that gets thrown into one of those and promptly forgotten the morning after. The story behind this track’s success is so much more interesting than the song itself that it’s honestly humorous.

#35 - “places to be” - Fred again.., Anderson. Paak and CHIKA

Produced by Fred again.., Skrillex and Boo

A collaboration between Fred again.., Skrillex and Anderson .Paak is like a dream to me. I’m not surprised that it exists given how collaborative all these guys here, but I’m absolutely glad it does and yes, it lives up to all expectations, this is excellent in all the ways you’d expect and then some. Bringing the breezy blue skies of “ten” to the frenetic drum and bass of “leavemealone”, this is such an organic meshing of the styles that feels second nature to Fred again.. at this point, and the overall vibe is a transcendent rush of feelings, borrowing tiny snippets from Alabama rapper CHIKA’s commandeering, kind of sexy poetry and fusing them melodically to create hooks that feel way too obvious to have been reconstructed through samples of spoken word and not just be inherently there in the sample. I don’t know which one of the three it was to form a hook out of a 2017 poetry recording from an underground rapper, probably Fred’s given he’s done it before, but it’s just as cute and catchy as it is thematically fitting to the lifting of worries that this song embodies. The clipped percussion amidst a myriad of pitched-down vocal glitches and a loveable wave of vintage synths, delightfully slightly distorted to push this into a similar vapor feeling as a lot of the other EDM tracks debuting this week, allows this song to feel homegrown despite the big names involved and the disparate sample selections. It’s impressive to have a drum and bass song with this much immediate punch and drive still feel like such an airlift, and the first time I heard it, knowing that it would be special, I was still pretty awestruck by just how beautiful I found this track.

I could swear I’ve heard the pitch-shifted “down” / “I” hook from somewhere, maybe even sampled in another EDM track, but given WhoSampled haven’t found it yet, my immediate thought is just that it’s co-writer BEAM delivering ad-libs that were then implemented as one of the song’s many hooks, alongside the main conceit of the track that CHIKA’s got places to be, and they’re next to her partner for some intimate time. It’s adorable and loving, so when .Paak comes in with his familiar pre-verse child-like shouts of “yeah!”, I knew a special verse was coming. I understand that most chart fans will be familiar with his smooth jams alongside Bruno Mars as part of Silk Sonic, or even his funk and soul solo albums, but he has a pretty storied history of rapping over wonky electronic tracks by acts like KAYTRANADA so he’s not a surprise here and he’s also just a perfect fit. Going for a faster flow than usual, embedding inklings of promising melodies within otherwise rapid bars about just having fun with this girl, .Paak oozes an effortless and carefree charisma, and is fully at home with this subject matter - if you know, you know, the guy just loves women. Same. Anyway, even the lyrical details amidst the quicker, less noticeable parts of his rhyme scheme here, add to the otherworldly atmosphere created, referencing NASA and the fact that, hey, if they put a man on the Moon, the least he can do is make that ass shake, right?

In further choruses, CHIKA’s sampled vocals are warped and flubbered in a way that .Paak’s fuller vocal mix that fill in for, both in harmony and separately, making a song that could narratively feel quite distant due to an original verse being in combination with several samples, fall brilliantly into place. The level of care put into not just the sound design but the thematic, narrative elements of the songwriting that can be involved in what may sound like rote sequencing decisions, may not be unique to Fred again.. and Skrillex but they are masters at this, and .Paak is down to let those visions into reality as he hypes up the CHIKA sample with his ad-libs as if they were recording in a studio together. They literally complete each other’s sentences, it’s gorgeous. So where does it go from that perfect second chorus? It goes through the motions, but hardly in a negative way as it continues to soar further into the skies on the cover art, with a vocal chop from someone who is definitely BEAM panning from left to right and whilst being explicitly stuttered nonsense, somehow makes complete sense when .Paak or CHIKA pre-empt it with “You got that…”. Like, yes, sometimes that loving feeling is completely indescribable, and human relationships can only be expressed in a garbled emotive response, that eventually has to slow down into a rest as the night is over and you both need some sleep. CHIKA’s lines about adjusting her speed slow down and warp into a glitch but it doesn’t feel inhuman, it just feels like the inevitable winding down, and you can tell from the lyric chosen that there’s still a great deal of mutual comfort in that.

I have gone into way too much detail about this, probably, and the next review will be just as frustratingly long, but the care put into tiny little details like a stray chipmunk soul vocal used to transition between parts, a funny YouTube clip from 2020 they picked out and placed in the bridge, it’s all just so endearing and immersive. It’s everything I love about what can be done in this genre when taken to a pop format, and even without, and effortlessly intertwines the story and character of the artists involved to its sonic design. I know it’s only been a week since release but I can confidently say that if it isn’t my favourite song of the year so far, it’s close, and I understand that this is in large part because, well, of course a song like this would be to my taste, but I hope I’ve given more than enough valid reasons for that love not to be misplaced.

#1 - “Houdini” - Eminem

Produced by Luis Resto and Eminem

I am far from the biggest Eminem fan in the world, as is probably well-documented on this blog, but I’m well-informed enough and definitely nostalgic for some of his older material when he took himself less seriously. I knew that eventually he was going to come around fully to the goofy Slim Shady persona - his last album, Music to be Murdered By, was just teeming with dad jokes and “horrorcore” lyrics - but the sheer amount of self-referential humour and surprisingly smooth integration of the character into the modern day seems like both an ambitious project to take on and a cheap take on the nostalgia circuit. Nonetheless, there seems to be a higher concept to this all being the final nail in the coffin for that persona, with this lead single featuring Slim Shady returning by travelling to interact with the modern Eminem and make his typical irreverent comments about pop culture that he would back in the day. Lyrically, whilst it’s not exactly laugh-out-loud funny, he’s really bumped up the surrealism to some of the commentary as to ensure we know that this character should probably die: just full of pointless hatred and cheap dad jokes, but still comes back to pester the game.

The magician conceit doesn’t go very far outside of the cover art or that incessant chorus borrowed from the very prominently sampled “Abracadabra” by San Francisco group the Steve Miller Band, which fits in both the pop climate and Em’s discography as he’s sometimes been one to sample, at his leisure, cheesy choruses in incredibly obvious and corny ways. “Abracadabra” itself peaked at #2 for two weeks here behind Captain Sensible’s equally ridiculous “Happy Talk” and Irene Cara’s “Fame”, with their bigger hit, and only UK #1 being “The Joker”, an actually good song. Whilst I’ve never liked “Abracadabra”, its inclusion here is playful and almost mocking, I feel like Em doesn’t even like the song either, so there’s a snarky nodding of the head to the audience with how gratuitous its use is. As for Em’s flow and lyrics themselves, he has not sounded this smooth in a while and whilst still occasionally choppy, I think that comes from an intention to always be exactly on-beat outside of the funny, sing-songy melodic flow switches, as if you care to look back at Em’s plethora of goofy tracks, whilst a lot of them are just as choppy, he tends to take a more conversational and devil-may-care attitude towards its cadences, and that is somewhat present here but less so than when he was making tracks about shitting, pissing and cumming. I guess you could say that over time, he’s gotten less fluid.

The track even starts with a classic Paul Rosenberg skit where he finally gives up on trying to reel Em in, before he ends up taking shots at Megan Thee Stallion (no pun intended), modern technology, RuPaul, “wokeness” and even Rosenberg himself, and whilst I’m sure some people will take this at face value, not only are these kinds of anti-PC lyrics wherein you’re supposed to know he’s in the wrong Shady’s bread and butter, but they’re 1.) more clever than half of the edgelord memes you see on X nowadays and 2.) very obviously just as dedicated to dissing himself as those he mentions, and some of those people like R. Kelly might deserve the mockery. The Megan Thee Stallion joke is cheap, but part of the joke is that Eminem doesn’t have a chance of a collaboration - a “shot at a/her feat/feet” - in the first place, and when he calls Paul a male cross-dresser, he knows full well that you can look up the “My Band” video and a myriad of others and see Em doing the same. He even dedicates a lot of this song to criticising his previous drug addictions and whilst you may find that even harmless jokes about trans people would still be rough coming from a guy on Em’s level, that argument relies on the idea that anyone is taking the line “My transgender cat’s Siamese, identifies as Black but acts Chinese” as anything more than a throwaway non-sequitur poking fun at the idea that anyone can “act” like a certain race. If this is taken by any commentator from any end of the political spectrum as an attack on wokeness, they’re missing both that Eminem himself is very woke and that the song takes elements of wacky right-wing commentators, bringing them into the Slim Shady persona which would be very in-character for a character who slings around the F-slur, and by connecting them with such degeneracy as Slim, he’s absolutely parodying them. Is this line that far from how Alex Jones thinks the government is turning frogs gay using chemicals in the ocean? And plus, if we can hump dead animals and antelopes, then is there a reason that a man and another man can’t elope?

This is a certifiable entry into the now prolific standard of goofy, nonsensical Slim Shady tracks, and to nerd out a bit, this is exactly the kind of style I want from Eminem. My favourite album from his is the inexplicable and fascinating Encore and some of my favourite tracks from him like “Rain Man” or “Campaign Speech” are absolutely off the rails. A concept album about this character is really exciting to me and whilst some of the references to his catalogue are more surface-level, even in that first verse, he references deep cuts like “Evil Deeds”, implements one of the catchiest flows from “My 1st Single” - as soon as I heard that concentrated verse, I knew that he was finally back in that bizarro space I love and calculating it in a much clearer and funnier way. I’m weary to say it, but this is a hilarious, promising single and I’m genuinely really curious to where this album goes. Also, he shouted me out on the third verse. Always love a cactus bar.

Conclusion

It should be pretty evident, right? A good week, with a lot of insane rabbit holes, detailed, intricate productions and a whole lot of sampling upon sampling, just a lot to talk about overall, but if you read any of this, you’ll be able to tell that the Best of the Week goes to Fred again.., Anderson .Paak and CHIKA for “places to be”, whilst the Worst of the Week handedly falls in Flex (UK)’s hands for just a boring remix of a promising track from the late Nate Dogg in “6 in the Morning”. There’s nothing worthy of a Dishonourable Mention here so I’ll tie the Honourable Mention between Eminem’s “Houdini” and Disclosure’s “She’s Gone, Dance On” - sorry, Chappell Roan, “HOT TO GO!” was close, but it’s a lot of competition. As for what to expect from the next episode, RAYE’s on the horizon, as are Halsey, Sabrina Carpenter aiming to avenge the #1, Jung Kook of BTS and most importantly, Charli XCX has a new album. But for now, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy and I’ll see you next week!

[betterbooktitles]

I'll return to bookish content in a moment but... if you're in NYC and would like to see me record an hour of stand-up, I'd love to see you there!

We're recording Thursday, December 8th at 7 PM and 9 PM

TICKETS

Here's more info:

Dan Wilbur has been performing stand-up comedy for nearly half his life. At long last, he's putting his jokes on a comedy album. Come hear the wit and wisdom of a tired, sad but funny man as he shares his thoughts about married life, Cleveland, New York, bookstores, movies, video games, and his perpetual struggle to stop eating everything he sees.

More about Dan: Dan Wilbur is a comedian and the author of 2 humor books, How Not to Read (Penguin) and Never Flirt with Puppy Killers AM Universal). His work has been featured on Sirius XM, College Humor, McSweeney’s, The Onion News Network, the RISK! podcast, and Someecards (where he was also the Ecards Editor). He’s been featured in sketches for College Humor, IFC, MTV, Funny or Die, and Distractify (one of which ended up on The Today Show). Dan has headlined several colleges and recently opened for Patton Oswalt in Madison, Grand Rapids, and at the Beacon Theatre in NYC.

Featuring Carolyn Castiglia (MTV, NickMom) and Zach Sims (Comedy Central)

Album recording by Ghost Runner Records.

[dollsahoy]

The article doesn't tell us what this "innovative way" actually is, and I haven't found any publications or presentations by Prof. Strelluf to enlighten us.  My guess is that the whole idea came from the Ms. Barrand, who just pulled a few sensible quotations from him to shore up a click-bait-y article on "female influencers and celebrities". And it worked — the bait has been picked up by (literally) dozens of outlets, from The New York Post and Distractify to Fox News and the BBC. As Strelluf observes, "uptalk" and "vocal fry" are already Out There. And in fact, viral reactions to them have also been Out There for a long time.

[shotofzafiro]

From the article:

Anthony understandably couldn't reveal if Sebastian might appear in Captain America 4 (Kevin Feige has eyes and ears everywhere, after all), but he did tell Distractify this — "Sebastian and I work really well together. We have a lot of fun together. We're old enough now to where we can't get in trouble anymore. So, you know, I think it's inevitable that at some point in time, we'll cross paths in the universe again."

[jgroffdaily]

Various photos and articles from Knock at the Cabin press week:

A short clip from the ET Online interview:

Ben’s interview at Radio Times:

"I would consider myself more of an Andrew," he says instantly. "Night spent a lot of time when I was auditioning for him – he really wants to get to know you as much as he can as a person – and he would say when we were rehearsing, Jonathan is more of an open person, he's more of a believer and Ben is slightly more of a cynical person. He would say that I've got more of an edge to me, which I'm gonna take as a compliment!"

Ben interview at The Digital Fix:

TDF: As well as having an intimidating scene with Dave Bautista, you also had to sing alongside Jonathan Groff. Which of those was more scary to do?

BA: Dave, because singing with Jonathan was a dream come true. The first time I sang in front of him I was intimidated, though.

We were on the way back from dinner at M. Night’s house and Kristen was making us sing karaoke in the car and she made him sing a song from Frozen, and she sang a song, then she made me sing ‘My heart will go on’ by Celine Dion which is very high. I do sing, but I was like ‘oh god I’m going to have to do this’ so I just belted it out. And the next day she told me I had a horrible voice.

TDF: That doesn’t come across in the movie! I thought she was a good singer, too.

A Distractify article about Jonathan's dating history links to an old Tumblr post (of mine) from October 2021 about Jonathan possibly dating a guy when he filmed in Berlin. That turned out to be true.

[foxpapa]

Shark Bay - Australia

Foto: © Photo via Distractify

[jess-moloney]

This is from a Distractify article posted in 2022. Look at what her follower count on IG was. Then look at how they say when she posts a picture of herself it's "kind of a big deal".

For one, that wasn't even true back then, yes she posted a lot of weird stolen content like she worked for all these brands she didn't work for but she also posted plenty of photos of herself. Secondly, this very quickly changed when she was posting tonnes of IG stories and photos of him on her account. Third, this is another thing that shows her following pretty much only got to what it is because of him.

Here it says she's a "creative agent", but her website says she's a celebrity manager? It mentions Ice Studios but I don't see a ton of posts that actually relate to Ice Studios (not beyond her adding the hashtag or tagging the account, which she does for some reason even when the media isn't related to Ice Studios).

It also says the posts she makes are clients connected to Ice Studios. No...they aren't, in fact, most of them aren't. She posts people like Lily-Rose Depp and Zoe Kravitz who I doubt have ever heard of her and there's no way they are her clients. If people are getting this impression from just glancing at her account to write a clickbait article for Distractify, then she 100% is misrepresenting her image with intent.

This is the photo they are referring to where they say she "takes the relationship seriously" according to the post. I don't even know how they can tell this by this post. This is the caption she left on it:

Did the person who wrote this even bother to look at her account or do any research at all? Is there some stuff for Ice Studios on it (before recently) yes, three or four posts and I mean actually from Ice Studios. Most of it is not about that though. Did she pay someone to write this or did they just know it would get clicks? It's so completely inaccurate and not at all investigated or accurate. How gross that she got such a random amazing reputation from stupid clickbait websites for just managing to be connected to him.

[solaflaire]

Starham: Q and A (First 50 Questions)

Link for questions: 500 Good Questions to Ask - Find the perfect question (conversationstartersworld.com)

What weird food combinations do you really enjoy? • I am quite fussy with the food I eat. However, I would not say no to banana and toast.

What social stigma does society need to get over? • Honestly, every stigma.

What food have you never eaten but would really like to try? • Pufferfish

What’s something you really resent paying for? • My laptop I bought for university. It gave more problems, and it ever did good. I could have just used the library computers and had the same results.

What would a world populated by clones of you be like? • Uh, that is a good question. I think quiet.

Do you think that aliens exist? • No. However, I would like to be proven wrong.

What are you currently worried about? • Not much. Although I am a student. Maybe my studies.

Where are some unusual places you’ve been? • My closet. 🤣

Where do you get your news? • Primarily from the news channel.

What are some red flags to watch out for in daily life? • Lying

What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of? • It would be The Hunger Games (2012), directed by Gary Ross (Gary Ross - Contact Info, Agent, Manager | IMDbPro) and starring Jennifer Lawrence. The movie was based off the book The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins (according to Distractify, Suzanne does not have any social media accounts to her name).

When you are old, what do you think children will ask you to tell stories about? • How did I meet their grandmother.

If you could switch two movie characters, what switch would lead to the most inappropriate movies? I would switch Julie Baker (Madeline Carroll) with Dana (Stefanie Scott) in the movie, “Flipped”. The movie was based on the book with the same name written by Wendelin Van Draanen. (https://www.youtube.com/@WendelinVanD/about)

What inanimate object would be the most annoying if it played loud upbeat music while being used? • My couch

When did something start out badly for you but in the end, it was great? • Please don’t hate me for the this but it must be the Twilight Saga written by Stephenie Meyer (Stephenie Meyer)

How would your country change if everyone, regardless of age, could vote? • Roads. The roads in my country are terrible.

What animal would be cutest if scaled down to the size of a cat? • A polar bear or a grizzly bear. Either one would be adorable.

If your job gave you a surprise three day paid break to rest and recuperate, what would you do with those three days? • Figure out a way to extend the break.

What’s wrong but sounds right? • Reading too many books is not an addiction.

What’s the most epic way you’ve seen someone quit or be fired? • By coming in late to the office and then his supervisor found out he been promoted to be his lead. The man was so shocked he was speechless. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

If you couldn’t be convicted of any one type of crime, what criminal charge would you like to be immune to? • Honestly, no crime. I would still feel the guilt. So, I am okay.

What’s something that will always be in fashion, no matter how much time passes? • Trench coat and all black. You can never go wrong with those two.

What actors or actresses play the same character in every movie or show they do? • The Rock [Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) / X (twitter.com)]

In the past people were buried with the items they would need in the afterlife, what would you want buried with you so you could use it in the afterlife? • My Nintendo 3ds or the purity ring my mother bought for me on my birthday.

What’s the best / worst practical joke that you’ve played on someone or that was played on you? • My supervisor informs me that my work has resulted in our department losing customers.

Who do you go out of your way to be nice to? • My mom. There is no downside.

Where do you get most of the decorations for your home? • From the mall. It is a five-minute walk.

What food is delicious but a pain to eat? • Chicken wraps. Why is there so much sauce in that? Like why?

Who was your craziest / most interesting teacher? • My seventh-grade math teacher. He used to stand on his desk to explain concepts.

What “old person” things do you do? • I take my time walking.

What was the last photo you took? • My profile picture needed for all my applications for university.

What is the most amazing slow-motion video you’ve seen? • How bones break from Mortal Kombat.

Which celebrity do you think is the most down to earth? • Jennifer Lawrence. If I had to guess.

What would be the worst thing to hear as you are going under anesthesia before heart surgery? • I am adopted.

What’s the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten? • Chillis

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve broken? • My tablet.

What obstacles would be included in the World’s most amazing obstacle course? • The obstacle course from the show, “Wipeout”.

What makes you roll your eyes every time you hear it? • You can do anything if you put your mind to it.

What do you think you are much better at than you are? • My imagination. I honestly didn’t know my imagination is so much more active than my peers. Don’t know if that is a good thing or not.

Should kidneys be able to be bought and sold? • Yes, only if consent is given from the donor.

What’s the most creative use of emojis you’ve ever seen? • The “I am melting” emoji from WhatsApp was a brilliant feature.

When was the last time you got to tell someone “I told you so.”? • Most of my closest friends and family listens to me but something does happen where I use those words, I will provide an update to this.

What riddles do you know? • I know them but think they’re cringe. The riddles from The Hobbit. Yeah, I know.

What’s your cure for hiccups? • Water and silence.

What invention doesn’t get a lot of love, but has greatly improved the world? • Pegs

What’s the most interesting building you’ve ever seen or been in? • Roche Tower based in Switzerland.

What mythical creature do you wish actually existed? • The monster from the movie, “The Water Horse” directed by Jay Russel (Jay Russell - IMDb).

What are your most important rules when going on a date? • Don’t have high expectations.

How do you judge a person? • By their work.

If someone narrated your life, who would you want to be the narrator? • David Attenborough (A Life On Our Planet (@davidattenborough) • Instagram photos and videos)

[shoes--off]

Tori Anderson | Distractify Interview [Oct 3, 2022]

Tori Anderson told Distractify that the Lucy and Kate storyline is really "beautiful" because it's executed so well on the show. She also loves working with Yasmine Al-Bustami who plays Lucy. "I think she's insanely talented, and so kind and so much fun. And we have such a good time working together. So I'm really excited to see what's gonna happen with that," she shared.

Lucy and Kate have been through a lot together and apart, so they will essentially be starting over this time around. They are "two people who are just trying to figure out how they work and how they're so different. So, they're just trying to find their place with each other," said Tori. Like the many fans of "Kacy," Tori is thrilled to see them in a "really good place." In Season 2, we can look forward to the couple's communication styles vastly improving from Season 1, especially when it comes to Kate who is not great when it comes to voicing her emotions. "It doesn't matter if they butt heads, they're still there," Tori assured us. No one is going anywhere. They are both committed to making this work.

[re-x]

Three fun interviews with our leading man released today

1. For the Los Angeles Times, Jaren Lewison describes his idea of spending a perfect Sunday in Los Angeles.

2. For Nylon, he answers a bunch of fun questions including whether he believes in astrology and ghosts.

3. For Distractify, he answers more questions like whether he’d ever get a tattoo and his current celebrity crush.

[whirlingbadger]

Some quick questions with three of the Bad Kids

[mermaidsirennikita]

my mind has been very Weird lately, and I was kind of freaking out about in my therapy session, and my therapist did a whole distractify moment by asking me about what I’d been reading lately, and that’s how I ended up talking about the kinky King Arthur books in therapy