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watchinghallmark · 3 months

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Summer Nights 2024 Lineup

The movies seem... interesting.

JUNEBUG

Saturday, August 3 (8 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Autumn Reeser (The Wedding Veil), Aaron O’Connell (The Haves and the Have Nots)

When an eight-year-old version of herself starts appearing to her, Juniper (Reeser) begins to realize that her life is not what she had hoped it would be as a child. Young Junebug pushes Juniper to achieve her dreams, to start writing again, and to collaborate with the cute artist Alex (O’Connell) that she recently met to get her life back on track.

🐞 I feel like this could be really cute. Autumn seems very excited about the project so hopefully that's a good sign.

MY DREAMS OF YOU

Saturday, August 10 (8 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Skyler Samuels (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries), Kapil Talwalkar (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist)

Grace (Samuels) has recurring dreams about a handsome stranger named Michael (Talwalkar) due to a mix-up in Dream Central. When they finally meet in person, Grace is shocked to learn he has no idea who she is.

😴 I'm really excited about this casting! Kapil was great in ZEP and it's great to finally see some diversity (Hallmark you're sucking so bad lately with that).It sounds like it could be fun and also a little nutty which I like.

A COSTA RICAN WEDDING

Saturday, August 17 (8 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Rhiannon Fish (My Norwegian Holiday), Christopher Russell (Operation Nutcracker)

A clumsy maid of honor (Fish) gets help from her handsome nemesis (Russell) when things go awry at her best friend’s Costa Rican wedding.

🤵👰 The fact that they even describe her as clumsy... oof. Rhiannon can be hit or miss, especially when they have her play an idiot so often. Her paired with Chris is certainly not helping matters either.

THE MAGIC OF LEMON DROPS

Saturday, August 24 (8 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Lyndsy Fonseca (Nikita), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars)

When Lolly’s (Fonseca) Aunt gives her three magical lemon drops, she gets to experience what her life would have been like if she had made different choices and lived those unfulfilled dreams.

🍋... what? I feel like this is code for some hallucinogenic drugs but ok. Love both actors though so I'm interested.

HEAD OVER HEELS

Saturday, August 31 (8 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Rebecca Dalton (Good Witch), Olivier Renaud (Romance with a Twist)

A suburban girl at heart, Addison (Dalton), is off to prove herself in the world of high-end fashion footwear when she lands a life-changing internship at an Upper East Side studio leading up to the star-studded New York Fashion Week. Addison is determined to hold onto her integrity and her family values while struggling to balance it all and forge a path to success and romance, although she may fall head over heels while trying to make her dreams come true.

👠Yawn.

JAZZ RAMSEY: A K-9 MYSTERY

Friday, August 2 (9 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Rachel Skarsten (The Royal Nanny), Corey Sevier (Take Me Back for Christmas)

When Jazz Ramsey (Skarsten) and her crime detection dog Zeus stumble upon an old crime scene, the K-9 trainer, her star pup, and ex-boyfriend and lead detective Nick (Sevier) are thrown into the investigation.

🐶 Excited about this!

NELLY KNOWS MYSTERIES (wt)

Friday, August 23 (9 p.m. ET/PT)

Starring: Pascale Hutton (When Calls the Heart), Kavan Smith (When Calls the Heart)

When an unusual handwritten letter arrives at Nelly’s (Hutton) office, she identifies the handwriting as belonging to her childhood friend Dahlia (Sarah Grey, The Secret Lives of College Freshman), claiming her boyfriend Blake (Julian Haig, Dial S for Santa) is being unfaithful. Determined to help, Nelly wants some answers and rushes to Blake’s home only to find his dead body. When Dahlia becomes the prime suspect, the new, handsome Detective in town, Michael Hogan (Smith) must work with Nelly to prove that her childhood friend is not the killer everyone believes her to be.

📫A Pascale and Kavan mystery??? It's all I've ever wanted!

What do you think about these movies? What are you most excited for?

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dinolich · 5 months

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FAQ

One click spot for frequently asked questions, pertaining to HELLAWEEN and art in general. This will be linked in my bio and updated over time.

HELLAWEEN -What was the inspiration behind HELLAWEEN/How did it come to be?

In 2014 I had just graduated college and moved across the country for a storyboard internship at a film studio. I had a huge quarter life crisis when the environment clashed with me in every way, which left me questioning if I had made a massive career choice mistake. To help take the edge off I decided I needed to come up with some characters that were as self indulgent as possible. So I asked myself "What if there was Halloween level of a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game?" and "What if My Chemical Romance wrote the soundtrack to Scooby Doo?" and thus, the main cast was born. Originally I didn't have any plans with them, I was just having fun drawing them for inktober and developing their personalities. Once the internship ended and I was able to set my career back in motion with some significantly better studio atmosphere fits for me in California, I started getting more serious about developing a linear story. I spent some time pitching different versions to tv studios and shorts programs. Got some great feedback but no real bites. Fortunately, I had a post blow up that caught the attention of my publisher who reached out to see if I was interested in doing a book instead and I LEAPED at the opportunity! HELLAWEEN is very much inspired by my own teenage years, growing up in the Bay Area, being surrounded by alt and skate cultures in the 2000's. As well as exploring identity, and growing up queer but the words for "how" didn't really exist yet. Plus a deep love for spooky cartoons and stylish anime, of course.

-What kind of music pairs the story/characters?

Great news I have playlists for everyone

Gwen- Ashnikko and My Chemical Romance Miles- 100 gecs and Oingo Boingo Sloane- PUP and The Cure Hiro- Gorillaz and Maximum the Hormone Bea- AFI and The Used -Do you have any voice claims for the cast?

I’d mostly want them to be played by actual teenagers. But I have a couple in mind that I think could work—

Gwen I could see Valeria Rodriguez (Lagoona and Spectra on the current MH series) Miles maybe someone like Zeno Robinson (Hunter Owlhouse) Sloane I have no idea, but definitely a VO who’s non binary who can sound like a strong leader.

With Hiro and Bea it’s impossible to not hear Dante Basco and Grey Griffin in my head. The Jocks I would kill to cast any actor from Riverdale I could get my hands on. The rest I have no idea.

-What are the character's pronouns/orientations? Gwen- She/Her Miles- He/Him Sloane- They/Them Hiro- He/him Bea- She/Her Jarrahdale- She/Her Headless Horse Kid- He/Him Fritz- They/Them Whitney- She/Her Hazel- She/Her Kyle- He/Him Dom- He/Him Ester- She/Her In general I don't want to define their sexual orientations. I'm an aroace author and it's not something I'm interested in writing about. Ideally, I'd like to give the audience room to project themselves onto the characters. Don't get me wrong this book is QUEER and themes of identity are important, just don't expect any kissing in the canon story. Headcanons on the other hand, go nuts!!! The Jocks however, are all bi or pan. Can I get HELLAWEEN in ____ country/language?

Getting it published outside of the US is not out of the question, but at the moment I don't have any concrete info on that. I've heard folks have had good luck getting the book through their country's Amazon site or Bookshop.org Can I draw fanart/make my own playlists/write fanfiction/make a character?

oh my GOD yes ART Who are your artistic inspirations?

Jhonen Vasquez and Aaron Alexovich, FLCL, Jamie Hewlett, The Muppets, Mike Mignola, Mob Psycho 100, Rem's Devil's Candy, early Tim Burton, 2000's Neopets, Pokemon, plus online artists I’ve looked up to for years or grew up drawing with. What programs do you use?

Comics- Clipstudio Paint Sketching- Procreate Storyboarding- Storyboard Pro Writing- Final Draft/Google Docs What ink markers do you use in your sketchbook?

Copic markers, pentel pocket brush, pilot brush pens, micron fine liners Check out my episode of Creative Block!

youtube

#ask dinolich #faq

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dirtyriver · 8 months

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024) #1-4 promo art. New series written by Jason Aaron, art by Joelle Jones (#1, Raphael), Rafael Albuquerque (#2, Michelangelo), Cliff Chiang (#3, Leonardo), and Chris Burnham (#4, Donatello).

A few thoughts, six months ahead:

- Following Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Sophie Campbell can't be easy. I'm cautiously optimistic, since Jason Aaron had a great, epic run on Thor (although I didn't care much for his Avengers).

- Having the first four issues focussing on each brother is an interesting choice. Reminds me of the microseries.

- Interesting choice of artists, too. Gotta thank Jamie S. Rich for bringing Joelle Jones to the turtles.

#Comics #Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #Joelle Jones #Rafael Albuquerque #Cliff Chiang #Chris Burnham

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themasterpostblog · 4 months

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Pencil/2D Animation Resources Masterpost

5/10/24:

Hello, I broke into my old account so I could make a little masterpost of resources I come across for learning pencil/2D animation. (Free or affordable classes, places to get tools, videos to give insider insight, etc.) I may not be able to get everything included, so if you think of something, you can reach out and suggest things to add! I will be updating this over time, with notes on when it was last recently updated. And maybe I'll end up giving the old blog a refresh too. I likely won't be making new masterposts outside of this one any time soon, nor updating any old ones. It's been SEVERAL years, and the internet is a different place. I would assume most of the old links are out of date by now, unfortunately. I hope that this list is helpful to you as well, and if I'm incorrect in anything I list, I'm learning too! So please be patient with me and feel free to reach out with a correction. It's not finished yet, but Tumblr deletes my posts before I finish them, so I'm starting with posting the skeleton and slowly updating this)

Find a Community to Learn From!

(recommended groups to lurk/join/make connections and ask questions)

What Tools Do I Need?

PDF Guide to Animation Desks, as written by David Nethry

(next line)

Where Do I Get Tools?

(Places where you can buy art supplies, software, etc)

Cartoon Supplies

(Online seller who carries Ingram Bond paper, lightboxes, storyboard pads, blank cels, etc. See also: Lightfoot LTD, which is identical in every way to Cartoon Supplies and for the life of me I'm not sure the difference, though both are equally recommended along side each other.)

Jet Pens

(Ah... I love window-shopping this site. If you love stationary like I do, you'll be on this site for hours adding things to your cart... and inevitably removing them because it's not feasible to spend hundreds on pens and sticky-note pads.)

Dickblick

(I've found they have good prices on name brands, but I haven't purchased from them yet. Often, I'm too overwhelmed by all the choices.)

Improve Your Art/Learn the Basics!

(anatomy classes, starter tools, etc)

Aaron Blaise (Co-Director of Brother Bear)'s Online Classes

He runs very good deals on the classes occasional, but you can also do a year's access to all classes and keep what you download, which is very useful! They're short, quick lessons, and tend to veer into more "helpful tips" than teaching, from what I've personally noticed, but it's well worth the price if you get them at a good deal!

Inside Look at the Industry -- aka: the Special Features:

(behind the scenes stuff, etc)

Books are more useful than you might think!

(Richard Williams Animator's Survival Toolkit, etc) (check out gently used copies of these books on Thriftbooks for a good deal!)

Nifty Free Resources

(Things like height charts, references, color wheels, blog posts, videos, etc)

What Artists Can Learn From Aladdin's Incredible Color by J. Holt [VIDEO]

(spacing for formatting)

The Art of Color Theory: Guide for Animators, Designers, and Artists (Animator Artist Life)

(space for formatting)

Free software!

GIMP

(A classic, GIMP is an old friend of mine. The first software I downloaded for art, I used to use it almost entirely to create animated GIFs for the Warrior Cat forums. Ah, how time has passed. Nowadays I can't even remember how to animate a GIF on there, but such is life. I still use it to this day for digital art, even having Corel Painter. Before GIMP, I animated the old fashioned way -- MS paint and Windows Movie Maker. With determination, I scripted and animated a handful of Warrior Cat characters frame by frame. Each frame of Hollyleaf or whoever it was blinking was the likely source of death for our old computer, may she rest in peace.)

Storyboarder

(Storyboarder is a free software with which you can use to create professional and clean storyboards. It also provides printable storyboard templates so you can do you work traditionally and re-upload it easily into the software! It also works with Wacom tablets. Check it out! It's actually super cool.)

Pencil 2D

(A free, open source software. Simplistic design, switch between raster and vector, and best of all, again, it's free. I haven't used this one much yet, but I've seen it positively talked about by many! I'll update with more research when I have the chance.)

Krita

(I haven't used this one yet, so I can't speak on it either! But it's going on the list so I can come back and research it later. My poor laptop is not going to handle this many downloads lol.)

OpenToonz

(I also haven't tried this, but see above, haha.)

Blender - Grease Pencil

(Blender is well known for 3D animation, but they added a 2D feature called Grease Pencil as well.)

WriterDuet

(Free for up to 3 projects, very simple, but upgrades to a $10 a month plan, which is... eh, I'll keep my Scrivener for now. I used to write scripts in Microsoft Word or the Notepad on PC back in the day, I don't think I personally need the fancy features.)

Trelby

(A free screenwriting software, very basic and simple, good for beginners.)

Keep an eye out for

(Humblebundle occasionally does software deals -- a good art bundle at a discount can give you an easy start!)

#animation #wip #animation resources #art resources #free software #software resources #art tools #animation tools #how to #how to art #how to animate #animators on tumblr #2d animator #animation masterpost #masterpost #masterposts

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hallmark-movie-fanatics · 3 months

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Hallmark Announces Its 2024 Summer Nights Lineup – All New Premieres in August

Premiering on Hallmark Channel:

JUNEBUG Saturday, August 3 (8 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Autumn Reeser (The Wedding Veil), Aaron O’Connell (The Haves and the Have Nots)

MY DREAMS OF YOU Saturday, August 10 (8 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Skyler Samuels (Aurora Teagarden Mysteries), Kapil Talwalkar (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist)

A COSTA RICAN WEDDING Saturday, August 17 (8 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Rhiannon Fish (My Norwegian Holiday), Christopher Russell (Operation Nutcracker)

A clumsy maid of honor (Fish) gets help from her handsome nemesis (Russell) when things go awry at her best friend’s Costa Rican wedding.

THE MAGIC OF LEMON DROPS Saturday, August 24 (8 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Lyndsy Fonseca (Nikita), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars)

When Lolly’s (Fonseca) Aunt gives her three magical lemon drops, she gets to experience what her life would have been like if she had made different choices and lived those unfulfilled dreams.

HEAD OVER HEELS Saturday, August 31 (8 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Rebecca Dalton (Good Witch), Olivier Renaud (Romance with a Twist)

Premiering on Hallmark Mystery:

JAZZ RAMSEY: A K-9 MYSTERY Friday, August 2 (9 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Rachel Skarsten (The Royal Nanny), Corey Sevier (Take Me Back for Christmas)

NELLY KNOWS MYSTERIES (wt) Friday, August 23 (9 p.m. ET/PT) Starring: Pascale Hutton (When Calls the Heart), Kavan Smith (When Calls the Heart)

To read the entire article over at Soap Opera News click this LINK. And there's an article at TV Insider as well, click this LINK for more on that.

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whateversawesome · 1 year

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DO YOU THINK , THAT , WILL WE EVER GET THE NAME OF THAT WISE AGENT ?? I really like Him ...

Also , what if he's the one who finds out about Aaron , Anya and Bond's past ??

Two possibilities play on my mind:

It will be Yor the one who says his name, almost at the very end. It conveys that they're truly married now, that there's no secrets between them and they love each other.

2. Even if they stay together as a real family and real couple, Endo may decide to keep it a secret and l suspect this will be the case. Why? Writers/artists like to do this. It's like keeping to yourself something that nobody else can have, the last spoiler. Plus, the mystery surrounding [Redacted]'s name would probably make the series even more popular, so you bet the editors have suggested Endo to keep the name hidden. And lastly, if Endo gives us [Redacted]'s name, there's always going to be a bunch of complaints of people who don't like the name. That would probably be annoying af.

So, to be very honest with you...no. l don't think we'll ever know his name. Option 2 seems like the smartest choice to me.

I really want to know his name too! So, we'll see 😏

Thanks for the ask!

#Thank you for the ask!#spy x family #twiyor #loid forger #yor forger #loidyor #sxf #ask box #Ask

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bryng · 1 year

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Do u like music:00

If so what kind of musiccc

music is like. my favorite thing of all time. you have given me an excuse to talk about music so i am going to TALK about MUSIC!!!!

i think my music taste is wide and varied, and that is displayed best by my favorite band of all time, WEEN!!!!!

Ween are a band from the late 80s (first studio album releasing in 1990) who have so much range they have at least one song for everyone. Ween are mostly known for making the song at the end of the 2004 Spongebob movie (ocean man, not s&pctpwoe). Ween are made up primarily of Dean Ween (real name Mickey Melchiondo) and Gene Ween (Aaron Freeman). They were active from 1984 to 2010 before breaking up for a short while. They got back together in 2016 and have been touring ever since! Here are some of my favorite Ween songs / albums:

● Favorite Album: Pure Guava (1992), Pure Guava was Ween's first record on a large label (Elektra) and despite this it has some of the goofiest and loudest songs. Favorite tracks from Pure Guava are Springtheme, Tender Situation, and Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)

● Second Favorite Album: Quebec (2003), Quebec is Ween's most serious work, it still contains a bit of the goofiness found on The Mollusk, but has much darker and sadder themes. Favorite tracks include Chocolate Town, Transdermal Celebration, and If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All).

● Favorite Song: It's a hard choice since they are all so good, but I think it has to be Transitions from Shinola, it has such a cool laidback atmosphere and some of the best instrumentation I've ever heard.

OKAY NEXT BAND!!!

Mr. Bungle is an outlier in my tastes, I've never really been into metal at all, but Mr. Bungle does it so differently that I can't not enjoy it. Mr. Bungle is the brain child of a high school aged Mike Patton. The music of Mr. Bungle changes WILDLY from album to album, from goofy carnival metal on their self-titled album (1991) to almost avant garde noise metal on Disco Volante (1995) to margarita metal on California (1999). Mr. Bungle is often crude and vulgar (especially on their first album) but the love and attention they put into their albums really shows. My favorite Mr. Bungle album is Disco Volante, it's loud and intense in a very comforting way, like a weighted blanket.

Favorite songs include Quote Unquote, Pink Cigarette, The Bends, and Stubb - A Dub.

Lastly, for a touch of more normal stuff, see LEMON DEMON

Possibly the tamest of my favorite musicians, Lemon Demon is the title that internet guy Neil Cicierega releases most of his music under. He started releasing music under Lemon Demon in 2003, continuing up until this day! Lemon Demon's most popular release is Spirit Phone, an album about ghosts and ghouls and governmental coverups and ronald reagan. My personal favorite Lemon Demon release is the 5 track long I Am Become Christmas EP. As the name suggests IABC is a christmas EP, but the sounds on it are too good to be relegated to just christmas time. It's like a dialed back Spirit Phone, without as many loud songs and overall very peaceful while still containing a spooky vibe. Some of my favorite Lemon Demon songs include Nothing Worth Loving Isn't Askew, Spring-Heeled Jack, and Telekinesis. I own most of the Lemon Demon discography on vinyl, only missing Damn Skippy and IABC.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about my favorite artists bread <3

#music #thanks for the ask beloved mutual!!

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aaroncutler · 8 months

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Sessão Mutual Films: A vida de dentro: Uma página de loucura + A esposa solitária [Mutual Films Session: The Life Within: A Page of Madness + Charulata]

January 17: The link above leads to Portuguese-language information about the 21st edition of the Mutual Films Session, co-curated and co-organized by me and Mariana Shellard, whose screenings will take place on January 18th, 30th, and 31st at the São Paulo-based unit of the Instituto Moreira Salles.

The event proposes a dialogue between two canonical films devoted to exploring the inner lives of their protagonists that involve images and words from four great artists. The avant-garde masterwork of Japanese silent cinema A Page of Madness (1926) was directed by the prolific and versatile Teinosuke Kinugasa (1896-1982) and based on a script by the writer Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972), who in 1968 would become the first winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature to write primarily in the Japanese language. (Kenzaburō Ōe would also win the prize in 1994.) Charulata (1964) became one of the enduring classics of Indian and world cinema of the 1960s thanks in good part to the artistic choices made by its esteemed director, Satyajit Ray (1921-1992), who adapted the 1901 novella The Broken Nest, by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the first Asian author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1913) and his country's lone representative among the prize-winners to this day.

A Page of Madness will screen in a new digital copy prepared by the National Film Archive of Japan that differs from previously circulating versions of the film in multiple respects. The restoration efforts that have been made include bringing back a previously missing part of the original opening credits, the original projection velocity of 18 frames per second (fps), the original size of the frame (whose silent dimensions were diminished in the 1970s due to Kinugasa's choice to add a soundtrack), and, perhaps most notably, the original blue tinting of the image, something only discovered during the restoration process.

The version of Charulata that will screen represents a 2K restoration carried out in India in 2013 from the film's original negatives. This restoration process, conducted in Mumbai at Pixion Studios and the Cameon Media Lab, was overseen by Varsha Bansal on behalf of RDB Entertainments, the company that originally produced Charulata together with five other Ray films, all of which have been similarly restored. The screenings at the IMS Paulista mark the restoration's second set of showings in Brazil, with the first being the series "3x Satyajit Ray", which screened in December of 2023 at the Cinemateca Capitólio, in Porto Alegre.

The January 18th screening of A Page of Madness will be presented silently. (Although the film originally showed in Japan with narration by benshis - specialized storytellers and musicians whose accompaniments of silent films proved to be tremendously popular - we prefer to let the film's surreal and oft-ambiguous images speak for themselves on this occasion.) The January 30th screening of the film will feature live musical accompaniment by the Brazilian accordionist and composer Gabriel Levy, an aficionado of Japanese instruments and folk music traditions.

There is much more that could be said about the films, filmmakers, and writers represented in these screenings, and virtually none of it will be said here. However, readers that are interested in learning more about A Page of Madness could reasonably begin with the many pieces related to the film that have been written by the Yale University-based scholar Aaron Gerow, including the book A Page of Madness: Cinema and Modernity in 1920s Japan.

For our website, we were fortunate to be able to translate a short article by Gerow about Kawabata's relationship with cinema as explored in literary works like the novel Snow Country and some of his short stories. We have also translated a useful contextualizing article by Kaustuv Sen about the relations between the works by Tagore and Ray, who began as a kind of unofficial disciple of Tagore that eventually more than established his own ground in relation to the master of Indian music and letters.

Of additional interest is a fine short article that was published two years ago by the Indian author and filmmaker Ruchir Joshi about the experience of rewatching Charulata on the occasion of Ray's centenary. This blog's visitors may recognize Joshi as the center of a previous edition of the Mutual Films Session (including with a translation of his essay "The Death of a Tall Man", a much longer piece about Ray's work). Film programmers never act alone, but always in conversation with other researchers, viewers, and voices. For all the help that they have given in terms not only of research, but of inspiration for this project and other ones, people such as Joshi, Gerow, and many others are to be deeply thanked.

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chorusfm · 8 months

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Liner Notes (January 13th, 2024)

Ringing in 2024 with a new newsletter. We have some thoughts on music out this week and some early thoughts on music coming in the first part of the year. Can it live up to 2023? We’re about to find out. If you’d like this newsletter delivered to your inbox each week (it’s free and available to everyone), you can sign up here. A Few Things * And we’re back! At the end of every year, I always find myself struggling with what to write about on a week-to-week basis. When the entire music industry goes into hibernation, and no new music is being released, I also tend to hunker down. I spend a lot of time reviewing albums I listened to during the year to prepare for building my favorite albums of the year list, and I like to look for things I’ve missed or spent less time with throughout the year. Oh, and listen to a lot of holiday music. And when I don’t have a lot of new things to write about, it’s more challenging to carve out the space to sit down and write knowing I don’t have a lot of content to mine from. So, it was nice to take a little break. November and December are two of my favorite months of the year, and this year was no exception. Now we’re into January, and I’m feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the new year. * We published our annual favorite albums of the year list this week. My personal list of albums, movies, TV shows, and other stuff can be found here. I listened to more music in 2023 than in any previous year, and the difficulty I had in choosing my favorite albums of the year showed the year’s strength. So many bands that I loved for years came out with albums that I feel sit proudly in their storied discographies. And so many new artists I discovered that I’ll be following for years to come. * A few quick hits to get caught up on things from the past few months: I’m exploring how I want to move this newsletter from Substack. I originally started using the platform for the backend because it was easy to set up quickly and would let me take my audience with me if I wanted to. And now I want to. Idiots run the company, and the latest Nazi defending is the final straw. No one subscribed will need to do anything; it will be a seamless transition. Once I move the newsletter backend over, I’ll start linking directly to the website’s archive for these posts, and that will be the place where new subscribers can sign up. And that’s a better way to do this anyway: keep everything in-house. I’ll have to build a new email template, so it’ll probably be a few weeks until I’m ready to move fully, but it is happening. (If you use the Substack RSS feed, please replace it with the official one.) * Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve (finally) been going through the archive of the Chris Demakes a Podcast to check out episodes from some of my favorite bands/songs. It’s quite good. I love how they break down songs, and I’ve heard stories from Blink-182, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Yellowcard, MxPx, and New Found Glory that I’d never heard told before about the making of some of their most iconic songs. It’s become my default “while making/eating lunch” podcast. * I finally moved from Deliveries to Parcel as my package tracking app of choice. The built-in Amazon integration is nice, and it actually works with all the major shipping platforms. It gets my recommendation. In Case You Missed It * Chorus. fm’s Top 30 Albums of 2023 * Jason Tate’s Top Albums of 2023 * Yellowcard Announce New Collaboration Album * Third Eye Blind and Yellowcard Announce Tour * Craig Manning’s Top Albums of 2023 * Adam Grundy’s Top Albums of 2023 * SCP Merchandising Closes Down * Garrett Lemons’ Top Albums of 2023 * Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties Announces New Album * Albums in Stores – Jan 12th, 2024 Music Thoughts * A lot of my music listening through December was holiday music. Of course all the staples, and all the pop-punk staples, but also just throwing on instrumental or piano versions of classic songs to have on in the… https://chorus.fm/features/articles/liner-notes-january-13th-2024/

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katsidhe · 4 years

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could you share the descriptions of the answers? I'm bad at answering these quizzes cause I always get like 3 answers that fit but in different circumstances so I like seeing all of the descriptions

Yeah sure! I too wish uquiz gave an option to see all the result descriptions... alas.

anyway here’s a wall of text, go nuts.

DEAN-CODED DEAN GIRL

You might just be the hero of a YA fantasy novel or an action movie, because you have Big Protag Energy. You’re self-centered and extremely giving at the same time: you expect and demand absolute loyalty, just as you provide the same. Your love can move mountains, but if you’re not careful that same love can be suffocating or controlling. You’re volatile: you’ll cut a bitch and you don’t care who knows it. You’ll kick their ass. You’ll kick their dog’s ass. You’ll kick your own ass. You have a one-liner for every occasion. Your friends like you but would describe you as “a lot.” You’re magnetic: your charisma and sheer bull-headedness mean you stand out in every room. You’re polarizing, and you know it, but that doesn’t bother you: you know you’re right, and even when you’re wrong, you’re at least entertaining. You’re very “do as I say, not as I do:” you’re a bit of a hypocrite, but, like, in a fun way.

Holotypes include: Dean Winchester (Supernatural), Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton), Sirius Black (Harry Potter), Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek: Voyager), Katara (ATLA), Vriska Serket (Homestuck)

DEAN-CODED SAM GIRL

You are a charmer and a people-pleaser. You’re charismatic to a fault, when you want to be: whether consciously or not, you have a razor-keen sense of how others see you, and you mold yourself to expectations. You can either talk circles around most people, or you come across as so fundamentally honest that you gain everyone’s trust without trying. Your affable persona is built on a rock-solid sense of purpose. You have a steadfast, deadset fixation on your goals, which you know in your heart to be worth any cost and any sacrifice. Armed with iron conviction, you’re a rebel with a cause. Is it paranoia if they really are all out to get you? When you inevitably win, the whole world will know your name. Your strong sense of self will carry you through any hardship. Your friends look up to you, but they don’t always “get” you.

Holotypes include: Lucifer (Supernatural), Eponine (Les Mis), Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Prince Zuko (ATLA), Samwise Gamgee (LOTR), Karkat Vantas (Homestuck)

DEAN-CODED CAS GIRL

Like all Dean-coded people, you are charming and affable, and you talk a big game. You might be the class clown or a popular athlete, or otherwise one of them cool kids, but underlying that public persona is a certain quiet idealism. You keep your strong convictions close to your heart, even when far from home or beset by strife. You’re fiercely loyal and you crave being around people, but you can see when your friends need space, and you can get along okay on your own. You’re not afraid to change your opinions if new information comes to light. Strangers find you easy to get along with: you tend to go along with the group, and you’re a team player no matter what needs to get done. Your chill-to-pull ratio is sky-high.

Holotypes include: Ahsoka (Star Wars), Meg (Supernatural), Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson), Ginny Weasley (Harry Potter), Boromir (LOTR), Jon Snow (Game of Thrones)

SAM-CODED DEAN GIRL

You come across as level headed, but you’re never more than an inch from going off the rails. Your highest values are love and personal loyalty, but you’re pragmatic about it, and you try very hard not to put unfair expectations on other people, with varying degrees of success. You spend a lot of time dealing with expectations; it’s something you either grapple with, or lean into to use to your own ends. You value your own sense of identity, but that identity can get subsumed by your loyalties. You can easily get pulled in or suborned by strong personalities. You keep secrets, both from yourself and from others. Who you want to be is at odds with how you see yourself. People meeting you for the first time might say you’re aloof. You have lots of strong opinions, but you usually keep them to yourself… unless provoked. Careful; you bite.

Holotypes include: Mary Winchester (Supernatural), Harry Potter (Harry Potter), Aragorn (LOTR), Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars), Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games)

SAM-CODED SAM GIRL

Gifted kid (diagnosis). You were and maybe still are an outsider, and because of that you’ve had to learn to be self-sufficient and confident in your own abilities. You’re a fiercely independent overachiever, and you’ve fought hard for every inch. Somewhere inside you is a hot, long simmering rage born from the injustice of the world, but it’s buried very deep. You’d be more than content to be alone for long periods of time. You have sometimes crippling perfectionism: if you aren’t succeeding, it’s your fault for not trying hard enough. You’ll pick every kind of intellectual fight and throw yourself into playing devil’s advocate just to improve your understanding: you see the gray areas in everything. You’re aggressively big-picture. You want to, no, you MUST change the universe, but you don’t need to take credit for it. Your few friends might describe you as callous, but you know you’re just being realistic: you’ve got a harsh, clear-eyed sense of the world. No pain, no gain, and really, if you do the math, no single individual is all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Holotypes include: Kevin Tran (Supernatural), Jean Valjean (Les Miserables), Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars), Neville Longbottom (Harry Potter), Frodo Baggins (LOTR), Dirk Strider (Homestuck), Luke Castellan (Percy Jackson)

SAM-CODED CAS GIRL

You have a strong sense of how the world ought to be, but you have no overriding vision or big master plan: you take life day by day to fix the little things you can. You have very few close relationships, but those you have you treasure dearly. You support your few friends unconditionally, but you tend to be emotionally distant with acquaintances. You may be a bit of a pushover. You often find yourself put in the position of mediator. You loathe conflict, so you avoid it unless absolutely necessary--but once you’re truly angry, you’ll stop at nothing to see justice done. You’re a diplomat and an advocate: you are deeply idealistic, but you’re nevertheless strongly grounded in a pragmatic sense of achieving what you can. Philosophy is action, action is philosophy; you like meditation and self-improvement and have probably done at least one juice cleanse. Both friends and strangers describe you as quietly dependable. If you can’t see the trauma, the trauma can’t see you! That’s just science!

Holotypes include: Sam Winchester (Supernatural), BJ Hunnicut (M*A*S*H), Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Aang (ATLA), Luke Skywalker (Star Wars), Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson)

CAS-CODED DEAN GIRL

Much of your identity is tied up in a set of core beliefs - to the point where those beliefs might be strong enough to override your identity. You’re not beholden to any outside system. If you’re comfortable serving a larger common goal, it’s because you believe in it wholeheartedly. You’re action-oriented: you act first, and think later, or possibly never. You judge your friends solely based on what they do, and you tend to hold people accountable for any unforeseen consequences of their choices. You have strong personal loyalties. You’re not at the center of your social circle, but your friends trust you implicitly and the leader of your group tends to confide in you. You don’t seek power, but you’re also not afraid of taking charge, and you may find power thrust upon you. If you do find yourself in a position of leadership, you struggle with going too far or taking your friends in an unexpected direction. Whether you’re fighting in a war or making yourself a sandwich, you go hard in the motherfuckin’ paint.

Holotypes include: Castiel (Supernatural), Javert (Les Miserables), Captain Rex (Star Wars), Kanaya Maryam (Homestuck), Worf (Star Trek), Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter)

CAS-CODED SAM GIRL

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but you’re a bit weird. You are spacey or odd or otherwise out of step with how people think you should act, but that’s fine. It doesn’t matter what they think, because if you’re sure of one thing, it’s that you should never mold your unique identity to other people’s expectations. You live internally: you’re all about grand, world-changing concepts, whether they be philosophical, artistic, or mathematical. You are grounded in the reality that you are one person and one viewpoint among many others, but that doesn’t stop you from writing your nine-hundred page thesis on the topic you’re passionate about. You can justify just about anything by the virtue of your personal convictions arising almost entirely from within yourself. Your identity can get swept up in your big ideas. You’re easier to sway with logic than with emotion, but you don’t feel the need to confine yourself with such terms: you operate on both vibes and flowcharts. You move through the world with the assurance that you are the master of your own fate, and you are unburdened by worrying about the opinions of others. You won’t let yourself feel pinned down by one social group; you float in and out comfortably, depending on how you’re feeling. Friends and strangers describe you as “spooky.”

Holotypes include: Azazel (Supernatural), Luna Lovegood (Harry Potter), Aaron Burr (Hamilton), Princess Azula (ATLA), Yoda (Star Wars), Jadzia Dax (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Terezi Pyrope (Homestuck)

CAS-CODED CAS GIRL

You are chaotic and excitable. You’re swayed by the drive to explore: the greatest good is to understand the universe and your place in it. You’ve got big ideas, and you’re drawn to new experiences, but you don’t necessarily understand what’s going on. You might be a part of a bigger social machine, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be defined on its terms: you’ll self-actualize if it kills you. You identify new objects by licking them. You can see the strings of the world; what will you choose? You’ll take the reins and see where they take you. You say you’re following your own path. Your friends say you don’t know what you’re doing. Pragmatism? Never heard of her. A dream is a vision is a reality; ideas are the world writ large. You might be a prophet or a visionary. With your head in the clouds, you’re sometimes divorced from both reality and consequences. You’re usually on the outside looking in, and you don’t want to be. People think they understand you, but they definitely don’t. Your friends and enemies describe you as impulsive and mysterious.

Holotypes include: Raphael (Supernatural), Uncle Iroh (ATLA), Draco Malfoy (Harry Potter), Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars), Gandalf (LOTR)

#x coded y girl #i speaks #my quiz #long post for ts #why doesn't uquiz give that as an option?#and while we're at it why won't uquiz let me click one button to read all the text box responses ppl gave me :(#aromanticbristlefrost

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twentythousandvolts · 3 years

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Skrillex From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search Skrillex Skrillex in 2011 Skrillex in 2011 Background information Birth name Sonny John Moore Born January 15, 1988 (age 33) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Genres EDM[1]brostep[2]dubstepelectro houseEDM trap moombahtonpost-hardcore Occupation(s) DJrecord producermusiciansingersongwriter Years active 2004–present Labels AtlanticBig BeatOWSLAAsylummau5trapSumerian Associated acts From First to LastJack ÜDiploDog BloodBoys NoizeForeign BeggarsEllie GouldingHikaru UtadaZedddeadmau5IncubusJustin BieberPoo BearTHEY. Website skrillex.com Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer and songwriter. Growing up in Northeast Los Angeles and in Northern California, he joined the American post-hardcore band From First to Last as the lead singer in 2004, and recorded two studio albums with the band (Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count, 2004, and Heroine, 2006) before leaving to pursue a solo career in 2007.[3][4] He began his first tour as a solo artist in late 2007. After recruiting a new band lineup, Moore joined the Alternative Press Tour to support bands such as All Time Low and The Rocket Summer, and appeared on the cover of Alternative Press' annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" issue.[5]

After releasing the Gypsyhook EP in 2009, Moore was scheduled to record his debut studio album, Bells, with producer Noah Shain. He ceased production of the album, however, and began performing under the name Skrillex, distributing the My Name Is Skrillex EP for free download on his official MySpace page. Subsequently, he released the Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP in late–2010 and More Monsters and Sprites EP in mid–2011, both of which have since become moderate commercial successes. On November 30, 2011, he received five Grammy Award nominations at the 54th Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and won three: "Best Dance/Electronica Album", "Best Dance Recording", and "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical".[6] On December 5, 2011, the BBC announced that he had been nominated for their Sound of 2012 poll.[7] On December 12, 2011, he was also named MTV's Electronic Dance Music Artist of the Year.[8]

Skrillex has won eight Grammy Awards, more than any other electronic dance music artist.[9] Skrillex has collaborated with Diplo and Boys Noize to form the groups of Jack Ü and Dog Blood respectively. It was announced on Moore's 29th birthday, he reunited with From First to Last and released a single named "Make War". In 2017, Skrillex produced and mixed 8, the eighth studio album by rock band Incubus.[10] In July 2017, Skrillex released another single featuring debuting solo artist Poo Bear.[11]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 From First to Last 2.2 Dog Blood 2.3 Jack Ü 2.4 2004–2007: From First to Last 2.5 2008–2013: Solo career and extended plays 2.6 2014: Recess 2.7 2016–present: Collaborations and return to From First to Last 3 Influences 4 Personal life 5 Discography 6 Filmography 7 Awards and nominations 7.1 Grammy Awards 7.2 Kids Choice Awards 7.3 MTV Video Music Awards 7.4 Annie Awards 7.5 DJ Magazine top 100 DJs 7.6 Electronic Music Awards 8 See also 9 References 10 External links Early life Moore lived in the Highland Park neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles,[12][13] but was brought to the Forest Hill neighborhood of San Francisco at the age of 2, where he attended elementary school. At the ages of 9 and 10, Moore attended a boarding school in the Mojave Desert LV, but eventually moved back to Northern California. Both of his parents were Scientologists.[14][15] He was adopted at birth by family friends of his biological parents and did not find this out until he was 15.[16] By the time he was 12,[citation needed] his family moved back to his birthplace of Northeast Los Angeles. There he enrolled in a private academy school specializing in arts, the school used some of L. Ron Hubbard's teachings.[17] Later he was home schooled at the age of 14 due to bullying. In 2004, he learned he was adopted[18] and dropped out of the program when he was 16.[19][20] While a young teenager in Los Angeles, Moore would attend punk gigs in Mexican American neighborhoods in East and South Los Angeles, and later at electro club raves in the downtown's Silver Lake and Echo Park neighborhoods.[21][22]

Career From First to Last

Skrillex's logo Main article: From First to Last From First to Last is an American post-hardcore band based in Los Angeles Area and Tampa, Florida. The band is composed of lead vocalist Moore, lead guitarist Matt Good, rhythm guitarist Travis Richter, bassist Matt Manning, and drummer Derek Bloom.[citation needed]

Dog Blood Main article: Dog Blood Dog Blood, a side project by Skrillex and Boys Noize, was formed in 2012. Their debut single, consisting of the songs "Next Order" and "Middle Finger", was released on August 12, 2012, on Beatport and iTunes. The song "Next Order" managed to top Beatport's Techno chart.[citation needed]

Jack Ü Main article: Jack Ü Jack Ü is a duo made up of Skrillex and Diplo. Jack Ü's debut performance took place at the Mad Decent Block Party in San Diego on September 15, 2013, which is a nationwide tour that record label Mad Decent puts together to showcase different artists signed to the label.[23] Diplo announced the project by releasing the Mad Decent Block Party lineup with Jack Ü playing at multiple stops on the tour. After some guessing by many of who Jack Ü was, Diplo finally came out to reveal that "Jack Ü ... means Skrillex and Diplo together".[23]

2004–2007: From First to Last

Sonny Moore in 2008 In 2004, Moore contacted Matt Good of From First to Last about playing guitar for the band on their debut album. After flying out to Georgia, Moore was heard singing by three studio producers, Derrick Thomas, Eric Dale, and McHale Butler, and was then made lead singer, with Good playing guitar. In June 2004, Epitaph Records released the band's first full-length record with their new bandmate, Dear Diary, My Teen Angst Has a Body Count. After performing on several successful tours, two being the Vans Warped Tour and Dead by Dawn tour, they began recording their second album, Heroine with producer Ross Robinson. The album was released in March 2006 on Epitaph. With high record sales once again, the band found themselves part of many successful tours, until Moore started suffering vocal problems, causing the band to resign from several tours. After going through a successful vocal surgical procedure, Moore informed the band he would be permanently resigning to work on a solo career. FFTL's last show performed with Moore was in their hometown of Orlando at The House of Blues while touring with Atreyu.

Moore announced he had left From First to Last to pursue a solo career. He then launched a Myspace page displaying three demos ("Signal", "Equinox", and "Glow Worm"). This led to Moore's first performance since his leaving From First to Last. On April 7, 2007, alongside harpist Carol Robbins, Moore played several original songs at a local art building. After months of releasing demos via Myspace, Moore played on the Team Sleep Tour with a full band. The tour also featured supporting acts Monster in the Machine and Strata. Moore made several demo CDs available on this tour, limited to about 30 per show. These CDs were tour exclusive and were packaged in "baby blue envelopes", each with a unique drawing by Moore or bandmate.[24]

2008–2013: Solo career and extended plays

Skrillex in 2012 In February 2008, Alternative Press Magazine announced the second annual AP Tour, with All Time Low, The Rocket Summer, The Matches, and Forever the Sickest Kids, as well as Sonny Moore. The tour started in Houston, Texas on March 14 and went through North America, ending in Cleveland, Ohio on May 2, with the majority of the shows being sold out. All bands playing the tour would be featured on the cover of Alternative Press Magazine's annual 100 Bands You Need to Know special, and would be interviewed on the Alternative Press Podcast. During this tour, Moore's line-up consisted of Sean Friday on drums, Christopher Null on guitar, and Aaron Rothe on keyboards. On April 7, 2009, he released Gypsyhook, a digital EP, which featured three songs and four remixes. Also included was "海水" ("Kaisui"), a Japanese version of "Mora". Physical copies of the EP were available at his shows. After going on tour with Innerpartysystem and Paper Route and opening for Chiodos on their European tour, Moore performed at Bamboozle on May 2. He performed on Bamboozle Left's Saints and Sinners stage on April 4. He toured with Hollywood Undead in April 2009 performing under the band name Sonny and the Blood Monkeys, with Chris Null (electric guitar), Sean Friday (drums, percussion, and beats) and Aaron Rothe (keyboards, synthesizers, programming, and turntables). Moore has stated that the album Bells will not be released.[25]

In 2008, Moore began producing and performing under the alias Skrillex at clubs in the Los Angeles area.[26] The name, according to Moore, has no meaning and was "a stupid old online AOL screen name".[27] Previously, he had been known on the Internet as Twipz.[28] On June 7, 2010, Moore released his official Skrillex debut EP, My Name Is Skrillex as a free download.[29] Moore provided programming and vocals for UK metalcore band Bring Me the Horizon on their third studio album, There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret.[30] Later in the year, Sonny began a nationwide tour with deadmau5 after being signed to mau5trap recordings and released his second EP, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

(L to R:) Porter Robinson, Zedd, and Skrillex performing at SXSW on March 16, 2012 Moore kicked off the "Project Blue Book Tour" in 2011 with support from Porter Robinson, Tommy Lee and DJ Aero as well as appearances from Sofia Toufa for a new song, "Bring Out the Devil". Skrillex unveiled several new songs on this tour including "First of the Year" (formerly known as "Equinox"), "Reptile", and "Cinema" (remix of a Benny Benassi track). "Reptile" was featured in the TV commercial for Mortal Kombat 9, and "First of the Year (Equinox)" is featured on More Monsters and Sprites, his follow-up EP and remix companion to Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. In April 2011, Spin premiered "Get Up", an exclusive new track from Korn that was produced by Skrillex. Korn made the track available for free download via their Facebook page.[31] On April 15, 2011, KoRn joined Skrillex on stage for his set at Coachella 2011. On April 18, 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) development studio Naughty Dog released a trailer[32] for the multiplayer component of their PlayStation 3 game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, featuring "Kill EVERYBODY" from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites.

In June 2011, "More Monsters and Sprites" was released on Beatport, an EP consisting of three original tracks, including "First of the Year (Equinox)" and two versions of his original track "Ruffneck". The track "Ruffneck Bass" had been leaked on the internet months prior which used the same sample as in the new "Ruffneck" tracks on the EP. Skrillex released a music video for "Rock n' Roll (Will Take You to the Mountain)" on his official YouTube page on June 20, 2011.[33] On August 17, 2011 Skrillex announced his label, OWSLA.[34]

Skrillex performing live at the 2011 Ottawa Bluesfest "The label's first releases will come from Bristol-based dubstep producers KOAN Sound, electro-house newcomer Porter Robinson from North Carolina, singer-songwriter Alvin Risk, and San Francisco-based M Machine (formally Metropolis)."[35] Skrillex released a music video for "First of the Year (Equinox)" via Spin.com on August 19, 2011. In late August 2011 it was released that he would be appearing Knife Party's first release, collaborating on "Zoology", a Moombahton style track. A preview was released on YouTube. In late September 2011 he created the track "Syndicate" as promotion for the video game of the same name. Kaskade's 2011 album Fire & Ice features "Lick It", a collaboration between Kaskade and Skrillex. The video for Skrillex's song "First of the Year (Equinox)" appears on the first episode of the Beavis and Butt-head revival.

On November 8, Skrillex stated that he intended to release an album, Voltage. Skrillex gave fans more info about Voltage in RockSound Magazine after a photoshoot for the cover and doing an extensive interview on his tour.[36] For unknown reasons, however, the album was never released, however on December 21, 2011, Skrillex unveiled the Bangarang EP for a Beatport release on December 23, then on August 12, 2012, his new side-project formed with Boys Noize called Dog Blood released an EP called Next Order/Middle Finger. On November 6, 2012, Skrillex released a limited edition triple vinyl box set.[37] Skrillex composed the song "Bug Hunt" for the 2012 animated film Wreck-It Ralph, as well as making a brief cameo as a DJ in the film's first act, and in December 2012, "Make It Bun Dem" is used in as a looped variant during the single-player mission 'Kick the Hornets Nest' in the video game Far Cry 3. He composed the score for Spring Breakers with Cliff Martinez.

2014: Recess Skrillex confirmed at a show in January 2013 that he would release a new LP in the summer.[38] On January 2, 2013, Skrillex released his 7th EP, Leaving, on the OWSLA subscription service, Nest IV.[39] He later released the single "Try It Out" with Alvin Risk.

On March 7, 2014, an App titled "Alien Ride" was put up on Apple's App Store which contained a secret folder with 11 hidden objects and a countdown ending March 10 at 6:30EST. Moore's website was updated with the App's picture on the front page and it was later revealed the folder contains Google Play and iTunes url's which eventually were revealed to be 11 new songs available to stream that comprised his debut LP, titled Recess. The album was made available for pre-order at midnight and was released on March 18, 2014.

2016–present: Collaborations and return to From First to Last Skrillex was getting into the K-pop industry by collaborating with the girl group 4Minute. On January 25, 2016, Cube Entertainment released the tracklist and individual teaser images for the members. The first track, "Hate", was composed and arranged by Skrillex.[40]

On January 15, 2017, Moore tweeted "Happy Birthday" with a link to a new From First to Last song which featured Moore on vocals.[41] He later joined the band in Emo Nite LA for the first time in nearly a decade.[42] In 2017, he released the songs "Chicken Soup" with Habstrakt, "Would You Ever" with Poo Bear, "Saint Laurent" with DJ Sliink and Wale and "Favor" with Vindata and NSTASIA.

In July 2018, Skrillex teased fans by collaborating with Missy Elliott on a snippet nicknamed "ID", a release date for the single has yet to be announced.[43]

On October 8, 2018, Skrillex uploaded a photo to Twitter showcasing a collaboration between him and English DJ and producer Joyryde, later posting a video teaser of the song to Instagram.[44][45] The collaboration, "Agen Wida", was officially released on October 19, 2018.[46][47] On October 24, 2018 on Instagram, he previewed the song "Arms Around You", a collaboration featuring XXXTentacion, Lil Pump, Maluma and Swae Lee. The full single was released on October 25, 2018.[48]

Skrillex, Poo Bear, and Japanese-American singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada collaborated on "Face My Fears", an opening song for the video game Kingdom Hearts III. The single was released on January 18, 2019.[49][50]

On July 18, 2019, Skrillex released a two-track EP, Show Tracks, consisting of "Fuji Opener" featuring Alvin Risk and "Mumbai Power" featuring rapper Beam.[51][52]

Influences Moore has cited Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails[53] and the Doors[54] as early influences. Moore stated in an online interview that he is a longtime fan of Warp, a label whose roster includes notable electronic artists such as Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.[55] In an interview for Daft Punk Unchained, a 2015 documentary about the French electronic music duo Daft Punk, Moore said he was first exposed to electronic dance music after attending the duo's highly praised 2006 Coachella set.

Personal life In a 2015 interview, Moore stated that although his parents practiced Scientology, he does not. He explained that music consumes most of the time he could theoretically devote to religion.[14] His mother died in June 2015.[15]

Discography Main article: Skrillex discography Studio albums Recess (2014) Filmography Let's Make a Spaceship (2014) Moore partnered up with Red Bull to produce a documentary titled "Let's Make a Spaceship". It premiered on October 11, 2014, at 10 p.m. CT at the ACL Festival after his headline performance.[56] His performance and documentary, and others' performances are available for stream at Red Bull TV's website.[57]

Awards and nominations Grammy Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2012[58] Himself Best New Artist Nominated "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" Best Dance Recording Won Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Best Dance/Electronica Album Won Benny Benassi featuring Gary Go – "Cinema (Skrillex Remix)" Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Won "First of the Year (Equinox)" Best Short Form Music Video Nominated 2013[59] "Bangarang" Best Dance Recording Won Bangarang Best Dance/Electronica Album Won Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix) Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Won 2016[60] "Where Are Ü Now" (with Diplo and Justin Bieber) Best Dance Recording Won Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü (with Diplo) Best Dance/Electronic Album Won 2017[61] Purpose (as a featured artist, producer & engineer) Album of the Year Nominated "Purple Lamborghini" (with Rick Ross & Beat Billionaire) Best Song Written for Visual Media Nominated 2019[62] "Midnight Hour" (with Ty Dolla Sign & Boys Noize) Best Dance Recording Nominated Kids Choice Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2017 Himself Favorite DJ/EDM Artist[63] Nominated MTV Video Music Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2012 "First of the Year (Equinox)" Best Electronic Dance Music Video[64] Nominated Best Visual Effects[65] Won 2013 "Breakn' a Sweat" Best Visual Effects[66] Nominated 2015[67] "Where Are Ü Now" (with Diplo featuring Justin Bieber) Best Visual Effects Won Best Art Direction Nominated Best Editing Nominated Song Of The Summer[68] Nominated Annie Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2013 Wreck-It Ralph Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Feature Production[69] Won DJ Magazine top 100 DJs Year Position Notes Ref. 2011 19 New Entry [70] 2012 10 Up 9 2013 11 Down 1 2014 9 Up 2 2015 9 No Change 2016 9 No Change 2017 16 Down 7 2018 21 Down 5 2019 21 No Change 2020 15 Up 6 Electronic Music Awards Year Nominee / work Award Result 2017 "Purple Lamborghini" (with Rick Ross) Single of the Year[71] Nominated See also List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists

#epic post compilation #long post

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nerdyfangirl67 · 4 years

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Requests Masterlist

NCIS -

Gibbs:

Studying You

(Female reader) “Could you please write an imagine where reader is Gibbs’s best friend from childhood, knew his mom, was there for him when she killed her self but au where there’s no Shannon and kelly and they get married and reader names their daughter Ann after Gibbs’s mom”

My Mark

(Gender-neutral reader) “If requests are in fact still open, could you pretty please do something about the reader giving Gibbs’ hickeys just to mess with him?”

Please Don’t Leave

(Gibbs x little girl (fatherly relationship), very slight reference to a McGee x fem!reader relationship) Gibbs discovers a little girl at a crime scene who is deaf, and upon learning more of her backstory, he begins to bond with her. The guardians she was staying with were killed in a break and enter, both her actual parents were killed while deployed.

I Won’t Leave

(Gibbs x little girl (fatherly relationship), McGee x fem!reader relationship, Mother!reader) This is a continuation of the storyline from the fic Please Don’t Leave, with a time skip.

Forget About Me

McGee x fem!reader/mom!reader, Gibbs x reader (platonic/fatherly relationship) “I was thinking that McGee and reader find out their expecting a baby, and Anastasia finds out and runs away, because she’s scared that Tim and reader won’t want her anymore, and Anastasia gets lost and is all alone, and Tim is in full panic mode, and Gibbs won’t rest until he finds Anastasia, and Gibbs finds her, but she refuses to go home, and clings to Gibbs”

Rare Jewel

(Female reader) “Can I please request a Gibbs x plus size reader? Maybe they have to go undercover to a gala or smth together and the reader walks out in this figure hugging dress feeling and looking FLY AS F**K and Gibbs is like hot damn. You get where I’m going?”

I’m Here

(Female reader) Request using the prompt - “Don’t be scared. I’m right here.”

What Family is For

(Female reader) “Could you do a Gibbs x Reader were the female reader gets beaten up by a group of boys (broken ribs, bruises, blood…) and just manages to stumble into Gibbs’ house were he will take care of her? A little kind of father-daughter relationsship but workwise. Just him getting very protective, comforting her and patching and cleaning her.”

The Peace Out Here

(Female reader)

“Hey you! I really liked your Tony x Reader one were he comforts her bc she found out she’s pregnant from rape? I was wondering how Gibbs would react to the same?”

McGee:

With a Little Help From the Team

(Female reader) “Hello! I saw your post from this morning saying you didn’t have any requests for ncis at the moment and I wanted to make a request. If for some reason you don’t want to write it that’s okay but here’s my prompt,(Idk what to call it) The reader and McGee have been dating for years and McGee has to tell the whole team (Tony, McGee, Bishop, Gibbs. That team please!) including her dad (Gibbs, cause why not?) when he wants to propose. You can decide on if they say yes or no but I hope you’ll write it. Sorry if I’m overwhelming you I just wanted to make a request”

NCIS team:

Helping Hands

(Gender-neutral reader) “Could you do a one shot with NCIS where reader has a panic attack and the team comforts the reader and they validate the reader’s emotions? I just really need something like that”

CRIMINAL MINDS -

Aaron Hotchner:

Dream Come True

(Female reader) “Hi sweetie!! I saw that you’re taking requests for reader inserts? I could I request one of either Hotch or Morgan where they have a dream about having a daughter with the reader. (The reader and him aren’t dating or seeing each other at all) but he really wants this dream to come true. Thank you in advance!”

In Your Corner

(Female reader) “can you make an aaron x fem reader where reader has an e.d?”

Spencer Reid:

The Way She Walks

(Female reader) “Can you write something for Spencer (or whoever) where you are Hotch’s assistant. One day you are bringing Hotch coffee and Reid is staring at you and Derek tells Reid not to stare cause it will freak you out. Thank you so much!!!”

The Way She Loves

(Female reader - sequel to The Way She Walks) “Helloo😌😌 could you do a follow up to “the way she walks”? I loved it😩💗”

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA -

Phantom:

The Raging Fire Within

(Female reader) “Hi! Could you write a modern au fic with Erik Destler where they’re in a relationship but hes still an awkward muffin and decides hes not having it any longer and tries to flirt with her using (sexual) innuendos but hes still a muffin and she loves it? Thank you so much!!!! (I hope it makes sense)”

An Angel to Me

(Gender-neutral reader) “Erik’s s/o being an artist who loves to draw him but does it in secret in fear of upsetting him but Erik finds one specific drawing. The drawing is a charcoal drawing of him with angel wings (shirtless or not, either one works) and the drawing is of how his s/o sees him. In the drawing he’s radiating like an angel and he’s beautiful despite his scars and that’s when he realizes how much his s/o loves him and that he is worthy of her love (or something like that) and he starts crying. When his s/o comes back, she find him curled up in a corner crying clutching the drawing to him. When he sees her, he tells her how much he loves her and needs her (even tho she already knows) and they end up going through all her drawings of him together”

When You Are Hurting

(Female reader) “hi love! ❤️ i was wondering if i could request an erik x reader? just a hurt/comfort with some soft Erik, maybe set in poto?? maybe one where the reader is having a tough day?? please take your time!!! i know you’ve got a busy schedule :)”

A Modern Lady

(Female reader) “Hello! Can I please request a fic or HCs where erik is in a relationship with the reader but shes really modern and vulgar for someone living in the 19th century and keeps making him blush? But he really loves it?“

Together

(Female reader) “Can I make a Phantom x reader where the reader is the phantom’s wife or somethin’ and the Phantom wakes up from a bad nightmare but she is there to comfort him”

Dark Until I Met You

(Female reader) “Hello, I just want to say first of all that I adore your writing! I haven’t been able to find a story with this particular idea, so I thought I’d make a request. It’s completely your choice whether you want to write a fic of headcanons, but what do you think Erik’s relationship with a blind reader would be like?”

Just a Touch

(Female reader) “Hello! This is my first time requesting, so I’m not quite sure how things work. I was wondering if I could get a Phantom of the Opera x female reader, where he’s touch-starved and they’re just cuddling together. Thank you!”

So Much More

(Female Reader)

Prompt - “You didn’t deserve that…you deserved so much better.”

Promise I Make to You

(Gender neutral reader)

“As I've myself struggled with sh (I am 1 month clean, lemme just flex a lil bit) I've just had this scenario in my head where Erik in a way or another sees the readers sh scars/cuts for the first time and it's just pure fluff with a hint of angst. Also this is my first request ever, I've just fallen in love with the way you portray our not so local (unless u live in france) sewer man. Um ye <3 I shall go to sleep now”

Dancing in the Rain

(Gender neutral reader)

“Can u do poto Erik x reader with a reader who loves walking in the rain, even tho they get absolutely soaked Bc they don’t use an umbrella… so their hair is just absolutely drenched but reader doesn’t give a damn”

One Love, One Lifetime

(Gender neutral reader)

“Could I get a phantom of the opera x reader where the reader is the soulmate of his. The reader has a line of one of his songs. Maybe music of the night? The 2004 version of phantom of the opera. Do you do smut? If not that's fine. It can be fluff too.”

Meg Giry x Phantom:

Leading Woman

(Meg Giry x Phantom) Meg being willing to do whatever the Phantom suggests, even though his attention is on Christine. Finally, Meg has had enough and decided to meet the Phantom on his turf. Although he is upset at the disrespect and blatant neglect of his privacy, he is impressed by her lack of fear towards him and her gumption. Meg makes a case for herself, and the Phantom finally sees Meg for who she is, a leading woman.

Christine Daae:

You Can

(Female reader implied but could be read as gender neutral) Prompt - “I know you can.”

SUPERNATURAL -

Winchester Brothers:

It’s in the Eyes

(Winchester brothers x gn!reader) “… At the moment I’m sort of dating a guy who was broken up with fairly recently and he’s not sure of his feelings (I think he’s really just scared to open up again). Anyway I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind could you write a happy ending/fluff for us with one of the criminal minds/spn guys?”

Dean Winchester:

Something Good

(Gender neutral reader) “Something Good” from the musical The Sound of Music as inspiration for the fic

Care for You

(Female reader) “Hello !!! Can I have Dean Winchester x reader? Reader has been so caught up in her work that they forget to eat. They get extremely lightheaded and stumble a little. Dean steadies them and he is worried when he finds out they forgot to eat. While he is making food they faint and land (luckily) on the couch. When he’s done, he comes back,at first he thinks that they’re just laying down but he kinda freaks out when he realizes that reader is unconscious. ( I forget to eat sometimes) THANK YOU🥺💚”

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ts1989fanatic · 3 years

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Every Taylor Swift Album Ranked

We revisited each of the singer’s original studio albums and ranked them from best to worst.

FEATURESEvery Taylor Swift Album Ranked

We revisited each of the singer’s original studio albums and ranked them from best to worst.

By Slant Staff on July 6, 2021

Taylor Swift started off as a country artist at a time when the genre was both less respectful and accommodating of the voices of women than at any other point in its storied history. The singer’s first four albums barely scan as country music in a meaningful way, instead embracing her preternatural gifts for pop conventions, and her output has gotten stronger the more openly she’s embraced those skills. In the 15 years since the single “Tim McGraw” launched Swift to country stardom, she’s jettisoned the genre’s ill-fitting signifiers and overcome the limitations of her early recordings—improvements captured in her “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings of those albums as a powerful statement of artistic agency.

As Swift takes an apparent break from new music to re-record those early releases, including Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and this fall’s highly anticipated Red redux, we revisited each of her original studio albums and ranked them from best to worst.

9. Taylor Swift (2006)

Though she was praised for her songwriting right out of the gate, what Swift’s self-titled debut truly shows in hindsight is how diligently she’s worked to hone her craft over the years. Some of her trademarks—her gift for melody, her third-act POV reversals—were already present here, but there’s a sloppiness to the writing that she’s long since cleaned up. Whether that’s emphasizing the wrong syllables of words because she hadn’t quite mastered the meter of language (most notable on “Teardrops on My Guitar”) or mixing metaphors (on “Picture to Burn” and the otherwise catchy “Our Song”), there’s a lack of polish and editing on Taylor Swift

8. Fearless (2008)

Nearly every track on Swift’s sophomore effort, Fearless, builds to a massive pop hook. But while her grasp of song structure at this point in her career suggested an innate talent for how to develop a melody, Fearless also highlights Swift’s then-limited repertoire and lack of creativity in constructing her narratives of doe-eyed infatuations and first loves gone wrong. It’s admirable that she tries to incorporate more sophisticated elements into a few of the songs here, but dancing with or kissing someone in the rain is a default image that crops up with nearly the same distracting frequency as references to princesses, angels, and fairy tales. Fearless, however, just as strongly made the case that Swift had the goods for a long, rich career. The bridge to “Fifteen” includes a great, revealing line about a friend’s lost innocence (“And Abigail gave everything/She had to a boy/Who changed his mind/And we both cried”), while the playful melody of “Hey Stephen” captures the essence of what makes for indelible teen-pop.

7. Speak Now (2010)

Swift’s third album, Speak Now, is problematic in precisely the same ways that its predecessors are, but there isn’t a song here that isn’t an absolute wonder of technical construction. Perhaps even more impressive is Swift’s mastery of song structure. Consider how the instrumentation drops out during the last two words of the hook in “Last Kiss,” allowing the singer’s breathy vocal delivery to bear the entirety of the song’s emotional weight, or how a simple acoustic guitar figure on “Enchanted” slowly crescendos behind each repetition of the line “I was enchanted to meet you.” Unfortunately, the greater complexity and range found in Swift’s sound and in her song constructions doesn’t necessarily translate to her songwriting. Her narrators often seem to lack insight because Swift writes with the point of view that hers is the only story to be told, which makes songs like “Dear John” and “Better Than Revenge” come across as shallow and shortsighted. And though she does vary her phrasing in ways that attempt to mask her limited voice, Swift is still noticeably off-pitch at least once on every song on the album.

6. Red (2012)

Considering that Swift’s previous material was almost always better when she tossed the ill-fitting country signifiers and focused on her uncanny gift for writing pop hooks, Red was a smart, if overdue, move for the singer. The album plays as a survey course in contemporary pop, and Swift is game to try just about anything, from the uninhibited dance-pop of standout “Starlight” to the thundering heartland rock of “Holy Ground.” The tracks that work best are those on which the production is creative and modern in ways that are in service to Swift’s songwriting. The distorted vocal effects and shifts in dynamics on “I Knew You Were Trouble” heighten the sense of frustration that drives the song, and the driving rhythm section on “Holy Ground” reflects Swift’s reminiscence of a lover who “took off faster than a green light, go.” Not all of the songs here are so keenly observed—“State of Grace” and “I Almost Do” lack the specificity that’s one of Swift’s songwriting trademarks, while the title track underwhelms with its train of pedestrian similes and metaphors—but if Red is ultimately too uneven to be a truly great pop album, its highlights were career-best work for Swift at the time.

5. Lover (2019)

Swift’s seventh album, Lover, lacks a unified sonic aesthetic, ostensibly from trying to be something to everyone. The title track, whose lilting rhythm and reverb-soaked drums and vocals are reminiscent of Mazzy Star’s ‘90s gem “Fade Into You,” and the acoustic “Soon You’ll Get Better,” a tribute to Swift’s mother, hark back to the singer’s pre-pop days, while “I Think He Knows” and “False God” evoke Carly Rae Jepsen’s brand of ‘80s R&B-inflected electro-pop. When it comes to things other than boys, though, Swift has always preferred to dip her toes in rather than get soaking wet; her transformation from country teen to pop queen was, after all, a decade in the making. Less gradual was Swift’s shift from political agnostic to liberal advocate. Her once apolitical music is, on Lover, peppered with references to America’s current state of affairs, both thinly veiled (“Death by a Thousand Cuts”) and more overt (“You Need to Calm Down”). “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince,” however, is her stock in trade, a richly painted narrative punctuated by cool synth washes and pep-rally chants, while “The Archer” is quintessential Swift: wistful, minimalist dream pop that displays her willingness to acknowledge and dismantle her own flaws, triggers, and neuroses.

4. Reputation (2017)

In the run-up to the release of her sixth album, Reputation, Swift was excoriated by fans and foes alike for too often playing the victim. The album’s lyrics only serve to bolster that perception: Swift comes off like a frazzled stay-at-home mom scolding her disobedient children on “Look What You Made Me Do” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” But it’s her willingness to portray herself not as a victim, but the villain of her own story that makes Reputation such a fascinatingly thorny glimpse inside the mind of pop’s reigning princess. Swift has proven herself capable of laughing at herself, thereby defusing the criticisms often levied at her, but with Reputation she created a larger-than-life caricature of the petty, vindictive snake she’s been made out to be. By album’s end, Swift assesses her crumbling empire and tattered reputation, discovering redemption in love—only Reputation isn’t so much a rebirth as it is a retreat inward. It marks a shift from the retro-minded pop-rock of 2014’s 1989 toward a harder, more urban aesthetic, and Swift wears the stiff, clattering beats of songs like “…Ready for It?” like body armor.

3. Evermore (2020)

Evermore is at once as confident and complete a statement as Folklore. Certainly, it matters that the two albums were born of the protracted isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic and that collaborators like Bon Iver and the National’s Aaron Dessner figure prominently on both. But Evermore finds Swift digging further into her explorations of narrative voice and shifting points of view, taking bigger risks in trying to discover how the newfound breadth of her songwriting could possibly reconcile with the arc of her career. What makes Evermore an essential addition to her catalog is her willingness to tell others’ stories with the same insight and compassion with which she’s always told her own. And on this album, in particular, the stories she tells are about how her narrators’ choices impact others, often in ways that cause irreparable harm.

2. 1989 (2014)

Swift’s 1989 severed whatever vestiges of her country roots remained on 2012’s Red, replacing acoustic guitars and pedal steel with multi-layered synthscapes, drum machines, and densely packed vocal tracking. Swift, of course, got her start writing astutely observed country ballads, and these songs bolster her trademark knack for lyric-crafting with maximalist, blown-out pop production courtesy of collaborators Max Martin and Jack Antonoff. The album’s standout tracks retain the narrative detail and clever metaphor-building that distinguished Swift’s early songs, even amid the diversions wrought by the aggressive studio production on display throughout. Songs like “I Know Places” ride a reggae swagger and trap-influenced snare beats before launching into a soaring, Pat Benatar-esque chorus. It’s an effortless fusion that, like much of 1989, displays Swift’s willingness to venture outside her comfort zone without much of a safety net, and test out an array of sonic experiments that feel both retro and of the moment.

1. Folklore (2020)

Folklore is neither a culmination of Swift’s career to date nor a pivot in a new direction. She’s doing exactly what she’s always done: offering a collection of incisive, often provocative songs that incorporate authentic, first-person details and leaving others to argue over specific genre signifiers. Song for song, the album finds Swift at a new peak in her command of language. While tracks like “Cardigan” and “Invisible Strings” hinge on protracted metaphors, “Mad Woman” and “Peace” are blunt and plainspoken. In every instance, what’s noteworthy is Swift’s precision in communicating her exact intent. That she employs her long-established songwriting tropes in novel ways is truly the most significant development here. She’s mined this type of melancholy tone before, but never for the full length of an album and certainly never with such a range of perspectives. It isn’t the weight of the subject matter alone that makes Folklore feel so vital—it’s the exemplary caliber of her writing. The album finds Swift living up to all of the praise she earned for her songwriting earlier in career.

ts1989fanatic not sure I 100% agree with their ranking order and some of the snark on reputation is a little OTT but overall it’s not bad

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bananaofswifts · 4 years

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Taylor Swift Conjures Stories Destined to Endear and Endure for Generations to Come on ‘folklore’ | Album Review

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Something of a semi-career capstone, Taylor Swift’s seventh studio album Lover (2019) presented—in some form or another—all the various sounds she’d taken up across her previous six records. Usually when a recording artist arrives at a point of vocational reflection, a customary singles compilation is dutifully imparted. Not so for Swift—the decision to generate a new song cycle suggested that she still had artistic energy to burn off. And so, alongside any of the nostalgia that buzzed on Lover, an exploratory air could also be heard too.

In the wake of Lover’s initial rollout, Swift certainly kept busy: “The Man” (the final single from Lover) and the Miss Americana documentary debuted on January 27th and 31st respectively—each of them won critical acclaim. Not long after this double whammy of activity, the world found itself paralyzed by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, the touring reality for musicians, regardless of any pecking order, changed overnight. Many assumed that Swift—now unable to tour Lover as planned in the spring and summer of 2020—was going to embark on a minor break. They were wrong.

Swift was inspired to start scripting stock for her eighth studio affair folklore while in isolation. Enlisting a tight crew of collaborators that included an old friend (Jack Antonoff) and a new face (Aaron Dessner of The National), Swift and her colleagues managed to assemble the long player, albeit piecemeal, and observe social distancing guidelines—a masterful feat in and of itself. With an exception issued to “exile,” where she handsomely partners and writes with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, the rest of folklore is penned (and partially produced) by Swift with co-writing-production support courtesy of Dessner and Antonoff.

The unexpected announcement of folklore’s imminent arrival only one day before its July 24th release was a power move à la Beyoncé. By late Friday afternoon, the raves for folkore were piling up and one question was repeating itself among devotees and pundits: what was a comparable album to folklore in Swift’s established canon?

The only previous effort to come close would be Red (2012).

Swift’s fourth set was her last LP where she explicitly engaged with a guitar driven aesthetic while also prognosticating a much larger play for broader pop prominence. But if Red was an album defined by wide-eyed ambition, folklore brims with experience gained as a maturing woman. The groovy, piano-pop lilt of “the 1,” a radio ready number, opens Swift’s current offering as a lowkey flip on the vibe of “I Forgot That You Existed” from Lover. Yet with “cardigan,” an adult alternative stunner, following directly behind “the 1,” Swift evinces that folklore is in possession of treasures far richer sonically than what that introductory selection teases.

Across the remainder of its fifteen tracks—seventeen with “the lakes” if one procures the physical copy—folklore is an aural panorama of album oriented rock (“my tears ricochet”), chamber pop (“epiphany”) and acoustic country-folk (“invisible string”). All the content is beautifully outlined by Swift’s voice, an instrument that has always been pleasantly competent, but on folklore it displays a gracefulness and passion never heard before.

One can safely assume that this is owed to Swift paring down the production gloss wielded on 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017) and Lover—not that it drowned her out on those efforts. But, for the first time, it feels synchronal to Swift’s singing and she wisely retains enough of that production muscle to lend folklore a sense of widescreen majesty despite its obvious intimate slant. These creative choices demonstrate knowledge gained by Swift and she actions this expertise on four songs at the heart of the album: “mirrorball,” “seven,” “august,” and “this is me trying.” The quartet finds Swift moving even deeper into the cited chamber pop and country-folk atmospherics to winning effect; and this song strata additionally points to her true talent as a writer.

Although Swift’s embrace of social justice has been to her benefit topically, the politics of the personal remain her greatest asset and best form of communication with her public—“Hoax” is an undeniable highlight of this enduring skill to tell her own stories. However, where she once only skimmed the surface of touching on the tales of outsiders, Swift lets herself become a channel to share narratives that aren’t born of her. In an official statement, she describes the change in her writing mindset for folklore this way, “I found myself not only writing my own stories, but also writing about or from the perspective of people I’ve never met, people I’ve known, or those I wish I hadn’t.”

Swift takes this approach to the next level with “the last great american dynasty,” a fascinating account of the long since deceased St. Louis heiress Rebekah West Harkness—a misunderstood figure and firebrand of her day. Harkness was the former owner of a Rhode Island coastal home Swift purchased in 2013. Swift ties herself into the end of “the last great american dynasty,” in first-person, to forge a connection between Harkness’ journey as a complex woman and her own multitudes. She does the same (again via the first-person method) on similarly absorbing entries like “illicit affairs” and “mad woman,” where the line between Swift’s reality and the task of being an interpreter is blurred.

As a complete body of work, folklore is Swift’s most compelling and challenging record since Reputation. No longer a former “country starlet gone pop,” Swift is a woman with a singular vision moving forward to blaze new paths and create art that will resonate for years to come.

Notable Tracks: “cardigan” | “hoax” | “the last great american dynasty” | “mirrorball”

#taylor swift #review #folklore

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