#also I found them through tiktok when this song was a meme for a bit

[spockandawe]

@curlicuecal tagged me into the post meme about ten songs! I'll go ahead and post ten songs by ten artists that I've been particularly fixated on lately, it's all personal bias all the way down, babey

Colm McGuinness: Sleeping In The Cold Below - Let's start off with a representative sample, my head is filled with folk and filk and irish and shanties, just check out this artist for a clear breakdown of my tastes, because I could fill out the whole list with just this man's work. Musically speaking, if I could grow up to be anyone, it would be HIM. I yearn so hard for his instrument collection and vocal range, even if I'm operating in different octaves.

Malinda: Dúlamán - Feels slightly like cheating, because I'm fairly sure I found her through Colm McGuinness (the Hoist The Colors collab), but god, her voice is DIVINE, and she's got a fantastic balance of trad covers and newer music. Songs in gaelic can be tricky to rec, even if I'm about to do it again, but some of them just have so much bewitching LIFE that I can't resist.

Celtic Woman: Téir Abhaile Riú - I have to tell you, it was both disorienting and delightful when this started getting used as a sound in tiktoks. The short excerpt is good, but the whole song is so much fun! I know it's kind of redundant to talk up Irish songs as being catchy as hell, but this is really such a good one.

The Longest Johns: On The Railroad - Speaking of catchy... I'm a basic binch, give me a train song that sounds like a train, and I'm all over that to an embarrassing degree. Skimbleshanks isn't going to be on here, but only because it'd be cheating, I wasn't thinking about it until I started thinking about why I like this. And you get a train song that's ALSO a work song? Hell yes, gimme

Great Big Sea: Process Man - I agonized over what Great Big Sea song to include (old black rum? donkey riding? excursion around the bay?) but this is truly such a classic, it's so catchy and memorable. And it's great if you're feeling like an exploited #resource at your day job!

The High Kings: McAlpine's Fusiliers - Speaking of being an exploited, expendable resource, ONE LAST IRISH SONG. But I can't leave this out! The High Kings are so good, but McAlpine's Fusiliers is the CATCHIEST melody line by any artist. I am typing slowly because I have no choice to sing along since I opened the video to get the url, send help

Hozier: The Humours Of Whiskey - You know I really intended to have other flavors of music on here too, but. Again, the song is too catchy for me to resist. This is only a partial cover of the full song, because he's just doing it offhand. But his voice is so perfect and the delivery so flawless, I live for this 52 second clip, haha

Delta Rae: Bottom Of The River - Technically I am showing a little more range than previous entries have done, but uh, I know that's only barely/technically true. But there's so much good stuff in this weird corner! And my mainest criteria for how much I like music is how fun it is to sing along, and this is seriously peak singalong content.

The Merry Wives Of Windsor: Siuil A Run: Oh no, another gaelic title. But it's also partly in english, and this is another song I'll listen to by anyone who covers it, and another group where I'll listen to any music they produce! I recommend their entire back catalog, very strongly. Fair warning they have a notable bawdy portion of their catalog, but I'm being good and not linking something like 'come roll me away,' or 'the cockerel song,' so you can listen without fear. But they are SUCH a fun group, I love them to bits.

Mary Black: Colcannon - Ah, screw it, I have a brand. Let's wrap it up with a song that's literally about potatoes! Also an impossibly catchy melody. This song has been stuck in my head since it absolutely Ruined me with homesickness back in grad school. And you know what, I'm also linking this bonus version with worse audio, but it's a 1986 recording of the black family on tv. There's just something about watching irish singing that makes me LIVE.

--

oh no, tagging people. I'm chickening out, sorry. If you want to do it and point your finger at me, go for it! but it's been a long week and I contracted a bad case of the Shy it looks like

[fmhiphop]

FM Interviews: Scar Lip Reveals New EP and HBO Appearance

New York City has birthed countless trendsetters in the female rap game. Scar Lip is adding her name to the list. "I feel as though as New York artists, people love New York artists period. I guess it's just the culture. our culture they just love." Being only 21 years old, Scar Lip doesn’t have an abundance of rap experience, but she’s been through enough to make up for it. This young artist is coming swinging out of the Bronx with an original style and a point to prove. Scar Lip, born Sierra Lucas, first began gaining traction in mid-2020 by posting freestyle raps and dance routines to her TikTok. What started as a simple vessel for self-expression has now turned into an entire platform with over 1 million followers and growing every day. @scar_lip on TikTok Lucas is one of many rappers who understand the unique power of TikTok, and is tapping in all the way. "TikTok really benefits us artists in that,   like streaming right now." She explained. "TikTok gives us that platform to help. It's like a push for us." With more and more artists joining the app every day, Scar Lip has somehow found a way to edge out her competition.   Of course, fighting hard is part of the course for a New Yorker. With a city of nearly 9 million, it’s a hard race to the top when everyone's in the same position. So what sets Scar Lip apart? The answer is her complexity and duality. On her social media, you’ll find an abundance of memes and a vibrant personality. On her Spotify, you’ll find a hardened soul. Scar Lip's earlier work from years prior such as ‘Therapy’ and ‘Suicide Awareness’ dive into deeply traumatic childhood experiences like sexual assault and abuse. Through these tracks,  we get a glimpse into a young woman who’s been through impossible adversities and is still finding herself on the other side. It’s only with her newest single 'Glizzy Gobbler' that Scar Lip has started to lean more into her silliness and natural comedic chops with her music. Other Side of the Tunnel "So actually 'Glizzy Gobbler' started off as a joke, just a little freestyle cause I'm bored," she spilled when asked on the songs origin. "And I posted it on TikTok and it blew up like crazy. and I was like “oh no”. and everyone was like 'you need to make this a song you need to drop this and make it a song'. I went to the studio and just, went in the booth and made a song."  When listening to tracks like ‘Foster Care’ it’s hard to imagine this would be the same artist rapping about 'glizzies' just a couple of years later. But instead of a hard pivot, this transition feels more like a well-earned evolution for an MC who began in a dark place and now clearly wants to reflect the headway she’s made mentally. "this is more fun, and dance, and gives them something to smile about" she said about her unnamed upcoming EP. "In 2019-2020 I was sharing my story and now I wanna show them the growth and the progress." "You see how I'm eating this Glizzy munch and I chew until I got it in me I'm spinning they think I'm a dizzy forget throwing 10 yo I'm Tryna throw 50" - Glizzy Gobbler (2022) What's up Next? Unfortunately, It looks like we’ll have to wait just a bit longer for a full length debut album from Scar Lip. Still, it’s likely you’ll see her on your screen before then. "Definitely in a couple music videos coming out, a couple shows, and you might even see on TV." Scar Lip teased. While she wasn't able to leak the name of the show, we did get one clue. "On TV. HBO." she confirmed. In addition to this, Scar Lip is developing her own makeup line. There appears to be a recent phenomenon of female artists prioritizing their status as a double threat: musician and businesswoman. Now more than ever famous women are putting real passion into their side projects, especially in the makeup world. "My focus is on music but also being an entrepreneur as well ,not just music." she expounded. Still, she has her eyes on the prize, and that's her rap career. "Concerts, shows, performances. There's a lot." It takes only one listen to 'Glizzy Gobbler' to know Scar Lip has individuality in spades. With a combination of drill, airy vocals, and an equal amount of comedic and hostile bars, she’s crafted a track uniquely all her own. According to the 21-year-old, that’s one element she’d love to see more often from her NY peers. "I wanna see more authenticity. It don’t be real. I wanna see more people being real , being themselves." she voiced. But behind the tough love, this star in the making makes sure to uplift the fellow newcomers. "Keep trying keep grinding keep fighting and most of all keep praying." Written by Dreema Carrington Read the full article

[paintedpawz]

POV: When you misspell God as D-O-G...

CULT OF THE WATER-DOG... Coming never to a Gamestop near you.

Actually, you get TWO versions of the same drawing because I wasn’t sure which lighting version I liked more.  The brightest setting gives off more a vibrancy and helps with a strong-marker lines combined with my neon pens which I’m proud of!  The darker setting matches the spooky aesthestic a little more though and makes the red fully look more blood-colored instead of apple-picking red. X’D

[stray-kids-react]

Doing WAP dance perfectly

(If you don't know what WAP is. It's a suggestive dance with a lot of twerking and grinding.)

Masterlist

...

Bang Chan

° Chan always called you cute, you would try your hardest to be hot... But he'd still see you as an adorable lil bean. You became worried that he didn't see you in a sexual way at all, and decided to see if you could possibly get him flustered by doing such a dirty dance.

° You wore the sexiest outfit in your closet, leaving barely anything to the imagination. You walked into Chan's studio with a large trench coat hiding the treat you had in store for your boyfriend. Noticing Chan was alone, you decided to let the coat drop to your feet.

° Blush crept onto his cheeks, bottom lip bittne by his teeth. It was making a mark on him, until you started the music. That song was too much of a meme to be sexy to him, especially since Felix tried to attempt it in front of him once and gave up half way.

° Even if you looked extremely sexy while pounding into the ground, he couldn't help but giggle by the choice of song. If it were something more sensual and romantic, than he would be on the ground with you. But WAP turned him off quite a bit.

"Chan! I wanted to be sexy... Am I not hot?"

"Of course you are hot, it's just the song."

Lee Know

° Minho is a tease who loves you very much, but is not a fan of that trend. He can't help but cringe when he sees someone do it in public for everyone to see, he doesn't know why but it just effects him a lot in all of the wrong ways. But you didn't know this.

° While he alone in the dance practice room, you walked in with WAP blaring from your phone. You then put it on the bench and began to dance along with it perfectly, the phone was recording everything. Including Minho's uncomfortable expression.

° He was impressed by your hips, but the whole song and trend gave him terrible flashbacks to the tiktok he witnessed before. Even if he wanted to smile, it came off very fake or turned into some mixture of cringe and fake happiness.

° Minho did not want to hurt your feelings, but he truly couldn't help it when you did the WAP dance. You thought he was teasing you and trying to annoy you, and you continue to think that til this day. But he was truly not impressed by that trend that you did.

"I know you secretly loved it, don't deny it."

"Oh trust me, I won't deny anything."

Changbin

° You were trying so hard to learn this dance, you wanted to do it for yourself and to also impress your boyfriend. Even when you failed miserabley, Changbin still sent hearts of encouragement and asked if you could give him another show of it.

° He would be lying if he denied that he didn't get a tiny bit turned on when you pounded into the ground, but he didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable so he didn't tell you unless you noticed or asked him about it. Which you did a couple of times.

° Wonders how your body can move so smoothly while doing such harsh and sexual moves, especially when it comes to the twerking. You challenged Changbin to twerk with you, and you weren't surprised when he was actually pretty good at it.

° Will record the challenge, helping you edit it and re recording it if you don't like the final product. Changbin is supportive of your interests and even if he isn't overly into WAP, he finds anything you do breathtaking. And think your better than Cardi B herself.

"I swear you are better than Cardi B babe."

"Stop buttering me up lover boy."

Hyunjin

° Truly conflicted. He is impressed by your dance skills, but also doesn't want your followers to see you dancing so proactively. He wants to be the only one to see you acting this way, but he also finds it a bit amusing on how serious you seem.

° Your dancing to a song called 'Wet Ass Pussy' and yet your face seems like your doing an interview at the job of your dreams. This will calm his nerves a tiny bit, knowing you aren't doing this to get attention. But rather because you're bored and wanted to.

° Will sometimes hum along to the song while it's playing, getting shy if he reads out the dirty lyrics about sex. Even though it has become more of a meme than a sensual getting it on song, it still makes him flustered because of how raunchy it is.

° Claps when you've finally succeeded the dance, smiling proudly since he saw how hard you worked for a non benefitial trend. Once you posted the challenge, he would like and save it immediately. Secretly watching it while he goes on tour.

"Does it hurt when you hump the ground?"

"You get used to it after a while."

Han

° Knew that you were going to want to do it, you like to try out different trends to see if you like them or not. He just wasn't expecting to see you do WAP so closely, he thought he'd scroll through tik tok and then you'd be twerking on his feed.

° He was scrolling through Instagram when you got up and began to do the dance, he was trying to comprehend what was going on since you did so out of the blue. Became your personal cheerleader when you went into the splits, hyping you up quite a bit.

° Won't see it as a sensual dance, is more impressed than turned on. He'll high five you afterwards, and then 'high fives' your toosh for doing most of the work. You will become flustered with his compliments, giggling as he drums your bottom teasingly.

° Goes through your social media accounts later, to make sure there aren't any pervs commenting degrading things. If he sees any he'll report them, knowing he is the only one to say things such as 'that's some fine peice of ass' to you.

"Baby, are you scrolling my comments?"

"mhm, there are some creepy followers."

Felix

° Tik tok master, already knows all of the moves and probably taught you them. Felix likes to boost your confidence up and become your own personal happiness, even if you thought you looked cringey and horrid in the video, he'd tell you the opposite.

° Won't force you to do it in front of people or even post the video, even though you look amazing he still doesn't mind if keeping it private. Is a protective sunshine who would feel a bit of relief if you didn't post it, but would never ever admit that to you.

° When you were your best friend was visiting, you both decided to attempt the popular trend. She stopped half way through do to laughter, while you kept going. Felix rushed to you from the kitchen, beginning to throw money on you to enhance the laughter.

° If you get embarrassed when dialing one of the many attempts, he'll comfort you and shower you with kisses til you feel better. Over all he is a sweetheart who cherishes your happiness, and he'll do anything to hear your beautiful laugh and see your smile.

"Don't be shy love *kiss* you were great. *kiss*."

"The kisses make me more shy Felix."

Seungmin

° Knew you were on tik tok, and witnessed you attempt a couple of trends, mosy dance challenges. But never expected you to do WAP, you both were generally introverted and were much more soft with each other in public rather than all over each other.

° Even in photos of you two together, the most anyone will see is hand holding. That's why many people were surprised to see you doing such a bold and raunchy dance for many people to see, the reason behind it was a dare from your close friend.

° A staff member showed him the video, giggling as they couldn't beleive what you did. Seungmin smiled, seeing you so confident and bold made him feel proud. He wasn't upset or jealous in the slightest, he was extactic to see you be so confident.

° When he arrived home, you asked him about his opinion on the video. He could tell you didn't like it and were self conscious about it. So instead o replying at first, he embraced you in a gentle hug. Rubbing your shoulder blades as he complimented you.

"You looked stunning in the video."

"A-are you sure? Don't lie to me Seungmin."

Jeongin

° Stray kids knew you for as long as they knew Jeongin, you were his best friend turned lover and they saw you as family. That is why it made it 10x more awkward for both you and Jeongin when Felix noticed your newest post on tik tok.

° You thought you saved it privately, and did NOT want it to be public due to having such an open account with many followers. Your family even followed your account, so this made you nearly pass out knowing many people have already seen this video.

° You immediately deleted the video, even though it was far too late. Jeongin was a bit shy from witnessing you do such a raunchy dance, but he wanted to comfort you nonetheless. His ears were bright pink as you clung onto him, trying to calm down.

° A couple days after the incident, Minho and Han would tease you lightly. Jeongin occasionally joined in, unless he noticed you became very flustered and would then put a stop to the teasing. He still found it adorable how embarrassed you were of the video.

"What if my mom saw this!?"

"... What if she didn't. There is a chance."

[steves-on-a-plane]

Trending Cap

Words: 843 Pairing: Sam Wilson X Reader Also Staring: Bucky Barnes Summary: When Reader finds out Sam, as the new Captain America, isn't planning on doing anything special to celebrate 4th of July she suggests he recreates a viral TikTok trend. With the help of Reader and Bucky, Sam adds his own twist to the trend to great success.

“So, what are you doing for the fourth, Sam Eagle?” You asked the newly minted Captain America. You tossed yourself onto his couch and made yourself comfortable in his Washington, DC apartment.

“Who the hell is Sam Eagle?” Sam laughed.

“He’s a Muppet.” Bucky supplied as he walked into the kitchen carrying a six pack of beers. “He’s an eagle Muppet who’s whole personality is freedom and loving America. You have wings and you’re Captain America now. Also, your name is Sam. It’s a very funny joke.” He assured.

“Now you expect me to believe you know who the Muppets are?” Sam shook his head as Bucky began packing his beers into the fridge.

“I have a television in my apartment.” Bucky reminded him.

“To answer your question, [Y/N], this is what I’m doing. Sarah’s taking the boys off on a long weekend trip so I invited my two friends over and I’m going to cook some food, we’re going to hang out.” Sam shrugged. “What more could I want?”

“Ok, but I meant more like what are you doing as Captain America?” You clarified. “Like I know Steve used to go way over the top because it was his birthday and all, but are you not even going to post like a Cap meme or TikTok dance or anything?”

“A TikTok dance?” Sam chuckled.

“Why not?” You shrugged. “Maybe not a dance, but there’s this audio that’s been getting pretty popular.”

You reached for your phone which was dangling precariously off the edge of Sam’s coffee table. You opened the TikTok app and searched for the audio you wanted. Once you found it you played it for Bucky and Sam. The Audio started with the Star-Spangled Singer’s singing the verse of The Star Spangled Man with a Plan, the song from Steve’s old USO shows. Once the audio reached the line “We can’t ignore there’s a front and a war we must win” the background music changed to a more modern beat mixed with Sam’s very recent speech “I know there are millions of people who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here, I feel it. The stares, the judgement, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum. No. Blonde hair or blue eyes. The only power I have is that I believe we can do better.”

“The trend is sort of a way to celebrate you as the new Cap.” You explained. “What most people do is they’ll do something like wear 1940’s fashion until the part where the music changes and then they switch to modern clothes. There are also some pretty impressive cosplays on here with homemade suits. For those typically its someone who starts out in a replica Steve suit and ends in a replica of yours. Usually they’ll act all hokey and exaggerated during the first bit and switch to a very serious lip-sync when it gets to the Captain Sam part.”

“[Y/N]’s right.” Bucky commented as he scrolled through TikTok on his own phone. “Walker might not be the only one you have to fight for the shield. These are some pretty impressive…what did you call them?”

“Cosplayers.” You supplied.

“Dress up people.” Bucky nodded.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me.” Sam nodded. “But the two or you have to help me.”

“Perfect! I’ve always wanted to raid your closet!” C’mon Buck, you can be my onset 1940s fashion consultant.” You dragged him towards Sam’s bedroom.

“[Y/N]! Don’t even think about taking one of my flannel shirts!” Sam called after you.

“Two shirts it is then!” You shouted back.

With Bucky’s help you were able to piece together a presentable 1940s stye outfit from Sam’s closet. The outfit consisted of Khaki slacks, a brown belt, brown leather shoes and a brown and beige stripped shirt. The collar wasn’t exactly wide enough for the time, Bucky wanted to point out, but it would do in a pinch. Luckily the wallpaper in the living room of Sam’s apartment looked ancient. It probable hadn’t been updated since the 1920’s let alone the 40s.

So, you positioned Sam in a corner of the room where most of his modern amenities were out of sight and filmed him dancing and mouthed along to the Star Spangled Man song. When the music stopped you stopped filming. Sam changed most of the way into his cap suit. He gave you the signal and you began filming. Sam added on pieces to his outfit, like his wings, and his goggles while repeating his speech. When he reached his final line “I believe we can do better.” He looked directly into the camera. You held his gaze for a second before cutting off the recording.

“People are going to love it, Sam.” You told him confidently.

“We’ll see I guess.” He took his phone from you and added his own caption to the video. “Wanted to get in on the trend. Have a safe and happy 4th of July.” He added in a few hashtags before posting the video.

“Now will the two of you let me enjoy the rest of my day in peace?” Sam asked setting his phone down.

“I don’t know, I kind of want to see you make a Sam Eagle TikTok now that [Y/N] has put that idea in my head.” Bucky announced.

“This is my place.” Sam reminded you both. “I can kick you out any time.”

“I was promised cold beer and free food. I’m not leaving until I get both.” Bucky insisted. “And don’t bother asking if I’d throw hands with Captain America because we both know you wouldn’t be the first or even the second to find out that answer is yes.” Bucky sat down on the couch you’d once occupied. Sam had a witty retort prepped and ready to fire, but his phone began to buzz in his hand.

“Our TikTok’s got a like.” He shared proudly. His phone buzzed again. “Oh another one!”

“There’s a few comments too.” Bucky said. “’Welcome to the App Cap’ and ‘It’s the 40’s fit for me.’ [Y/N], what does fit mean?”

Within minutes Sam’s phone was booming with notifications. They were happening so frequently he had to set the sound to completely silent just so he could hear himself think. There were a few negative comments. Someone had dredged out the classic “Not My Cap” hashtag, but overall the response was positive. After twenty-four hours the video had over 500 thousand likes and ten thousand comments.

“[Y/N], you want a job as my social media/PR?” Sam jokingly texted you the next morning. “But seriously, it was a good idea. Thanks for the assist.”

“Anything for you, Cap.” You replied back. “You can pay me back with dinner next Saturday night. I’m still dreaming of last night’s dinner. Oh also, I stole a flannel from your closet.” You added a winking emoji before sending Sam a photo of you wearing his flannel shirt.

“It’s yours.” He replied. “That shirt’s never looked so good.”

“I can think of one place it might look better. You’re floor.” You sent, trying to sound flirty.

“That’s probably where you found it in the first place.” He messaged back with a series of laugh emojis. “You can return it if you want.”

“You’re so oblivious!” You told him with an eyeroll emoji. “The shirt is mine, and…” But before you could send another reply a new message from Sam came through.

“I’m just joking. Are you free tomorrow for dinner?” He wanted to know.

“We just had dinner together yesterday.” You reminded him.

“Now who’s oblivious? You have to eat every day don’t you? And Bucky wont be at this dinner.” He texted back all in one message.

“Ohhhhhh.” You typed several extra ‘H’s to emphasize your realization. “I’ll see you at 6, your place.”

[extreme-technicality]

As much as it’s tempting to make Leo a memelord, I feel like it’s not exactly supported by his backstory. He’s been bouncing around from foster home to foster home for years, and he’s funny, sure, but that doesn’t mean he’s versed in internet culture the way a kid with a stable housing situation might be. As a result, his humor is a complex blend of whatever references he’s managed to pick up from pop culture, observations filtered through his ADHD Off-The-Wall Simile Converter, self-deprecating humor, and snarky insults. Leo is not a memelord.

Similarly, Annabeth isn’t a memelord, either, and not because she doesn’t have a sense of humor. No, she just never had the opportunity to connect to Internet culture. She ran away from home when she was seven and almost immediately found herself in CHB, where there is one(1) ancient fucking computer in the big house. For the next five years, she spent her entire time training to go on a quest and Prove Herself (at fucking seven, Chiron what the fuck,) so her mom would be proud of her (at fucking seven, Athena what the fuck). Her humor is more cynical and sarcastic, filled with references to old Greek legends and myths. Annabeth is not a memelord.

Jason probably isn’t a memelord for much the same reason as Annabeth. Ripped away from his family at two(2!!!) and plopped right into military service (which. hmmm. uncle rick wtf), and while I’m not actually sure how much tech New Rome would have (considering the fact that there’s an entire city as well as a college protected by Terminus, I kinda wanna say they would have to have Internet access), it would make sense for legionnaires to have limited access to the Fun Side of the Internet. Makes even more sense for a praetor to have even less access to the Fun Side of the Internet (if only because he would be too busy running an entire goddamn army of child soldiers, like really, where are the adults???? May I speak with someone over eighteen, please??????? Fuck. Anyway.). Jason’s humor would be reliant on the bits and pieces of Larger Internet Culture he’s picked up (he’s absolutely a Vine purist, you can rip that headcanon from my cold dead hands), probably Latin puns/wordplay, and fuck I’m so sorry I just got hit with the mental image of Jason staring Nico dead in the eyes and saying “Hewwo? Mistew Obama?” Jason is not a memelord, but he is meme nobility.

Hazel and Nico aren’t memelords in this decade. Seventy years ago, they would’ve had humor and references for fuckin days, but that was in the nineteen fucking forties. All the tech and references and Internet culture shit goes right over their heads, and Hazel for one is low key terrified by it all. (So is Nico, he just adjusts faster.) Neither of them know what TikTok or Vine are or what the fuck Loss is or what it means to lose The Game (ha gotcha >:3c), and if they were to get rickrolled they would stare blankly and say “that’s…a nice song????” It’s possible Nico might get it, by virtue of being in the 21st century longer than Hazel, but he also spent a good chunk of time in the underworld so. Safe to say, Nico and Hazel are not memelords.

Percy is probably not a memelord, and here’s why: Sally Jackson is an amazing mom and would’ve kept him away from the Internet/phones for as long as she could’ve before he found out he’s a demigod. Part of the reason they didn’t have phone/internet access would’ve been because they couldn’t afford it, but Sally stayed with Smelly Gabe specifically to mask Percy’s scent and hide him as best she could. She wouldn’t undo that by having a computer in their apartment that monsters (or worse…the Olympians) could use to track him. That, coupled with the fact that Percy kept hopping around from school to school for most of his life without a consistent friend group, means that he would be in basically the same boat as Jason: he knows Larger Internet Culture, but the day-to-day shift and growth of new memes would be beyond him. Percy is not a memelord.

Piper is a memelord. She might not know some of the more obscure memes or references on the Internet, but she knows far more than most of the Eight. She’s been on Vine, she’s been on TikTok, used Musically, and while she was still a “normal teenager” she definitely kept up with the trends. Few people on the Argo II can understand her references when she makes them, and her TikTok dances baffle and confuse just about everyone. Piper is a memelord.

Frank is not a memelord. Frank is the undisputed meme king of the Argo II. Before he went to Camp Jupiter he was low key TikTok famous, mostly for sick ass archery trickshots, but also for random bits of historical trivia and TikTok dances. He breaks into the Renegade whenever something startles him. Sometimes he also transforms into random animals and then attempts to do TikTok dances as an animal. It’s the funniest shit. Half the time Piper is furious she can’t get it on video, the other half the time she’s too busy laughing to care. Frank is the High King of Memes, Grand Duke of Dankness, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion and he pulls rank onboard to get the other legionnaires (Percy, Jason, and Hazel) to help him make TikToks.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk lmaoo

[piratewithvigor]

Best Of The Best: My Top 10 Videos Countdown

Y'all liked them once, and I like talking about my videos and the making of, so here's the 10 wrestling videos I've made that have gotten the most notes and my commentary on them

#10: The Corporate Ministry & Stone Cold Steve Austin Blood Mobile Segment 7/19/99 except I edited out all the non-Undertaker parts

I have yet to name a video more accurately to the contents. That video made me simp hardcore, but unfortunately, there were far too many parts that didn't include Taker. So I took the fuckers out. Literally went frame-by-frame through the whole video and snipped. Have been tempted to make a second installment, but why mess with a good thing?

#9: The Very Best

My only Marko Stunt video thus far. Which is a shame cause he's an absolute delight. This was requested by @the--blackdahlia who wanted a video set to the OG Pokemon theme. Not many wrestlers who could fit it perfectly, but Marko can. I think it's because he's a meme

#8: blah blah blah…

The tricky thing about MJF is he does a lot of chatting and not a lot of wrestling. Which means it's hard to set him to music cause chatting and music don't go together very much. But when he wrestles, his personality comes through in spades. Having a style that shows you're a heel while still being fully legal is so tricky, but MJF does it and I wanted to showcase that in this request/suggestion/pointing out the song fits him by @theparaphoenix

#7: 30 Years of The Undertaker (condensed into a very speedy 5 minutes)

Taker takes forever to enter the ring. This is a known hilarity. I joked about that as part of a previous video, and decided to expand the gag into a full career-encompassing video featuring 1 entrance from 1990-2020 sped up to 4x and set to the Benny Hill theme. Do kids these days still know Benny Hill? Hell, even I don't really know Benny Hill. I just know that any sped up footage set to this theme is hilarious and 5 minutes' worth let me see every year (2003 gave me a lot of grief)

#6: ❤️YOU START A FIRE❤️

My first Hartbreak content. It had to be made when I found one of Bret's songs. As in, a song he sang. It's not a fantastic song by any means, but when paired with the bitch-facedness of the Screwjob, it's just *chef's kiss*

#5: Undertaker V Kane @ Wrestlemania 14: The Better Version

I must've been procrastinating when I made this. I know I was. I spent 2 hours just dicking around with a crack vid made from my favourite and most-viewed match of all time. Just wanted to add as much silly goofiness to it as I could. The opening bit inspired the '30 Years Of Taker' video and as a fun fact, the entrance was sped up to 4x, but the audio was an overdub that was only 2x, because otherwise the gong sounded like stubbing one's toe on a trash can

#4: The Story Of Kane (As Told By Kane)

This was an experiment of a crack vid with structure. Crack vid timing and style, but within the frame of Kane going to his anger management group. The hardest part of this one was fitting all the clips into a 5-minute frame (crucial, cause my software only lets me make 5 minute videos for free. Longer, and I have to pay)

#3: RKBrOut Of Touch Thursday

My very first true 'video'. I consider everything before it to be tiktoks or experimental videos to learn the software on. This one was designed to be a video in the style of these other videos and I have rewatched it so much. That being said, I am STUNNED that it is #3. I think I've only reblogged it myself once or twice, but even if I hadn't, it would have still ended up in the top 5. Guess it just hit the right funny bones

#2: Wrestling Out Of Context

I don't often blend companies, but this was an exception. The Jericho/MJF bit inspired this video, but it also gave me a place to use "The Cream", which is a mini-edit I'd made previously. I still have ~4 mini-edits from the spree that produced "The Cream", which have yet to be posted and unless I make a second installment, y'all probably won't see the other mini-edits.

#1: Danhausen In Exactly As Much Context As He Requires

Y'all just ADORED this one, huh? It has literally 6 times as many notes as the 2nd place video. My intention was to introduce tumblrs who didn't know Danhausen to him and also the Assboys running joke, and it worked like a charm. He's got at least one very nice, very evil new fan and if I hadn't been on a 2-hour time crunch to make this one, it would have included plenty of other videos from his channel in it.

[lucadansembourg]

         𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠…  𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐃’𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐆

the basics.

name. wren albert d’ansembourg.

title. his royal highness, prince of luxembourg & duke of esch-sur-alzette.

age. 25-31.

family. luca ( @lucadansembourg​ ), wendy ( @wendyjuliette​ ) & lara d’ansembourg (ADOPT HERE) - siblings ; theodor ( @theodcr​ ) & josefina olderburg (ADOPT HERE) - cousins 

relationship status. utp.

occupation. socialite & influencer.

follower count. 27 million followers on twitter,16 million followers on instagram, 11 million followers on tiktok, 6 million subscribers on youtube & 2 million followers on twitch. 

faceclaim options. maxence danet-fauvel, charlie rowe, alex fitzalan, henrik holm, tarjei sandvik moe, deaken bluman, chase stokes, brenton thwaites, felix mallard, charlie gillespie, george sear. 

group. @highsocietyhq

the story.

the d’ansembourg twins were a shock to the world, and maybe that’s the way that wren preferred things. from the moment he was born, he wanted to be an outsider. while his sisters were prim, proper and put together, and his brother an overemotional idiot, wren stood as a monument to the weird that most people kept hidden away, locked in a drawer for no one to see. 

he might have grown up in the palace, but he would escape as often as he could. wren craved normalcy in his early years, and he managed to achieve that by sneaking out a side door to play football in a side alley with the local kids. his friends that may not have been “approved” by his parents, but they were approved to show him about the world - the real world, not the one of royalty. 

wren thought of himself as separate from his siblings, and not just because he was the baby of the family, but because he was just... different. he didn’t care for politics, didn’t care for other royal activities. in his teen years, wren was practically a recluse to his family, hidden away in his dorm room at le rosey or his own private rooms in the grand palace, constantly feeling like the only puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit. 

wendy jokes sometimes that he must have been adopted, but wren is sure he wasn’t meant to be born into palaces and riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. 

while his parents always expected him to grow out of it, he did the opposite. he never stopped caring about the strange things he’d always regarded as more important that schoolwork. following lara to le rosey was one of the first truly “royal” things wren had done in his entire life, and he still managed to be awful at that. he was constantly in disciplinary hearings or getting shouted at by whichever teacher he pissed off with his detached attitude. but it didn’t crush his spirit at all, in fact, it only made him act out more. 

maybe it was an attention thing - that would explain the next ten years of his life that he’d spend vying for the favor of strangers over the internet to determine his own self worth, or whatever the therapist said. 

perhaps it was the years of his only friends being two kids raised by their laptop screens just outside the palace, or the hundreds of hours of looking at memes instead of actually doing as he was told, but something in wren made him want to do whatever he liked, no matter what others thought of him. 

when lara went off to oxford, wren took a gap year. and then another. and then another, and soon it had been five years - his sister had a master’s degree and he had a massive social media fanbase. he’s not sure which of them did better for themselves.

when his father died, wren realized that he was actually going to have to be a prince for the first time in his life. before, he’d let lara take the reins on anything and just showed up to parties in bright colored suits and weird patterned socks and ties that didn’t match. but now that his older brother was king: wren was expected to pull his weight. 

he was terrible at it, for starters. he said too much, threw jokes and lies out to the press just to see what they’d print the next day. he became somewhat of a cryptid for gossip columnists and tmz reporters, because if you could manage to catch him, wren would deliver biting remarks and hilarious anecdotes about the royalty around him. he loves to watch reporters scramble to confirm stories in any way they can. 

when nathalie died, he came back to luxembourg and found himself a bit aimless. he took up art during this time, making some really dark paintings and a whole lot of collage work, which he then had to convince luca to not hang up around the palace, because luca constantly plays at being everyone’s proud older brother. 

but he managed to pull the family back together, and things got easier, gradually. mainly, he helped everyone heal by not changing a thing - he stayed unabashedly strange through the entire ordeal, and in the process became a rock the others could rely on. 

maybe he wasn’t a misshapen puzzle piece, but just a weird one that took some time to figure out the location of. he didn’t feel like the outcast anymore, but instead a valued member of the family - and had they always treated him like that? he wasn’t sure - and that was the worst part. how could he stay in their favor if he didn’t know what he did to earn it?  

his (not so) “secret  twitter" is well known by most of royal stan twitter, and getting a follow back from him is something that is worn like a badge of honor. he pretty much exists on there to roast his siblings’ outfits and choices, but also to poke fun at all other royals. truly, it’s just one more piece of controlled rebellion. he wouldn’t say things to hurt his family... on purpose, at least. 

it became an arnauld d’orleans hate twitter during the occupation. he would come up with very colorful roasts to go along with photos taken of the french king from bad angles. it was resistance, the only way wren d’ansembourg knew how to do it. his plenty of instagram lives and twitch streams helped, too - bringing visibility tothe occupation of luxembourg to places that many people would have turned away from it altogether. 

and when the occupation ended, he threw a party in the back alley behind the palace that he grew up in. by the end of the night, it was attended by thousands of luxembourgian citizens. lara frowned upon it, but wendy had the time of her life, so he had enough support to call their “sibling vote” on whether he’d fucked up, a dead tie. 

he ran a charity stream that raised over eight million dollars for relief in belgium after the bombings, taking requests for things he could do in his room. he only broke four priceless artifacts during it,.

when he was invited to the protection program, he was the most wary of it. he didn’t need to network, he didn’t need to be protected from anything. wren knew he could care of himself, but a change of scenery seemed... kind of fun. it was getting boring in luxembourg, now that things have settled. and as long as he’s able to be connected to wifi, and he’s allowed to do at least three stupid tings a week, everything ill be alright. 

interested? contact me! 

i do want to say that i feel like the main thing i am looking for in a wren applicant is that his vibe is.... strange. i imagine wren is a 100 gecs song if it came to life.  he’s an ancient chaos god trapped in the lanky body of a d’ansembourg man.

most things are negotiable, and i’d love to discuss any changes or ideas you have. please contact me ( @lucadansembourg​ ) if you’re interested in filling this connection !!

[amagicalmoonlight]

(Just wanted to say this post ended up derailing in conversation quite a bit but I still wanted to say everything I wrote to oops)

I found a Jack Stauber iceberg made by great Youtuber, ExitsHere, featured on his video centered and explaining the iceberg itself: https://youtu.be/Sz2Z7Jpi_l8 and decided to try ang check mark the info I knew for fun.

red signifying info I was completely aware of while yellow signifying info I was only half aware of (like seeing one of his ad videos but not realizing it was an ad or seeing the hand cover Jack made and the descriptions in some of his videos but not noticing it was in reference to the accident.)

I mainly just did this because I always found myself to be in kind of a weird spot regarding how devoted of a fan I am. I wasn’t an og fan but I was also definitely there before he hit it big in the alt community. And I thought the story might be a bit amusing to some of y’all.

I found him through the animation meme community but at it’s very first exposure to him. The community’s first exposure to Jack was the song “Bumblebees are out” when a member made a vent animatic using the song, this person actually didn’t want for their work to be used as an animation meme and the original video is now prívate.

I can still vaguely remember the video though, it started with two repeating shots, the first had a sitting furry creature laughing and the second a smaller furry creature laughing, maybe with a slightly nervous expression. Something then happens, the larger creature gets mad at the smaller one and yells at them to leave, then it changes to shots of the smaller creature picking a flower but getting hurt (I can’t remember if it’s by bumblebee’s or thorns) and the video ends melancholically with a shot of the smaller creature looking sad.

After that the audio of his video “peenids” became of slight frequent use on animatics, but what really skyrocketed was the song “Two Time” which was massively popular on animation memes. The original meme not being entirely clear but mostly agreed upon to be made by someone with the alias of “S E V” who’s had another one of their original memes skyrocket in popularity. The original video for this meme is fully deleted now, and had been since said Two Time meme started gaining popularity.

So, although I wasn’t there from the start, I was still there to witness firsthand his growth. Including when “Buttercup” just destroyed the popularity of all his other song, when “Coffee” became a big thing on TikTok and when MixandMash’s 8-bit cover of Buttercup got used on that dancing ferret video and became viral on Tiktok (it was still popular before the Ferret video, but that was what really took it off it’s feet.)

[onf-headcanons]

ONF SIBLING (E-tion and J-US)

So if you had already known me I tend to keep my hcs flexible. Same goes to this ONF DUO as siblings au. It can be either you are blood related with one of them or even not. Also doable if you are older than them, your birthday are in between them, or even you are the youngest, have fun!

Now this duo is super fun because they share the same family name even though not related. Which makes there is new scenario possibility. All of you related by blood is a very lazy way to open up possibilities for fun hcs.

1. Either you three are not related by blood at all. Changyoon and Seungjoon sharing the same family name are just pure coincidence but from different ancestry

2. Changyoon and Seungjoon are related with the same biological parents but you are from the new parent that married with one of their parent

3. They both you met in young age due to marriage of both of your parent and the parents give birth to you later

4. Either you are related from Changyoon or Seungjoon side and either one of them later joined the family. Confusing? OK example you are Changyoon's sibling by blood and then later Seungjoon joined. Or in reversed, Changyoon joined. (this is for the reader to share same family name with them both)

My recommendation goes to number 3😉. Age gap suggested would be 5 to 7 years (this is absolutely intentional you will know why later) .

I personally think is the most fun one

Common hcs for both of them. I will kind off focus on this part for the double Lees this time.

• Changyoon and Seungjoon always give me the frenemy type of chemistry

• Loud af especially if you three plays game. (The house will be even louder if Hyojin and/or Minkyun joins. So is either you join to fun or rip your ears. But if you happened to the eldest sibling, you will glare at them so that they can be quiet)

• Btw loudest happy birthday song and wishes. It does not matter whose birthday was it, it will still gonna be loud.

• Once them both and you 3 gets really comfortable with each other, or should you 3 grow up together, pranking each other is a definite thing you siblings will do.

• To lend an idea from the modern fantasy au I wrote, maybe once they planked you way too hard and you decided to revenge. You bought a fake bug and then when they are minding their own businesses, you suddenly just random throws the fake bug in front of them

• I could it will be like a cue hint for them that they went overboard pranking you when you pulled the fake bug prank move. So they will make it up by taking you out, buying you food or even timidly asking if you have anything in your amazon/shopping cart

• This household shares the same universe with Hyojin Minseok and Jaeyoung Minkyun households. So you will see Hyojin visiting alot. And Changyoon slowly gets to know about his new younger brother's bff and them 3 hang out comfortably in no time.

• If your bff happens to be the younger sibling from Jaeyoung and Minkyun household, you would see them both often when they drop by to pick their younger sibling.

• Who knows? Maybe you later on develop a crush with those good looking visitors

• Lol. Sorry that i got sidetracked, lets go back to the common hcs.

• Changyoon need time to adjust to new environment and people while Seungjoon is the opposite

• If you are happened to be a cheerfully active type, you easily interact with Seungjoon. But if you are not, they will approach you very cautiously. Maybe Changyoon even enough an introvert himself, will initiate first to show that the nuance of this household is perfectly fine. Especially Changyoon, working very hard to not accidentally step on your emotional landmine

• Changyoon stuttering

• Seungjoon glaring/swearing with his eyes

• It will be a very good contrast if Changyoon and Seungjoon are weak against horror or jumpscares but you being the youngest sibling is perfectly fine about it

• Lol even maybe you are the one who kills bug in the household

• 3 of you have own room because apparently Changyoon has really bad sleep qualities so he prefer to sleep alone and you get your own room too either for the same reason or, you being the opposite sex sibling and your parents thought it's best to sleep separately.

• Either you 3 are related or not, they will be a devoted elder brother. But wont over spoil you.

• Seungjoon giving out critique in a gentle tone. While Changyoon is more on expressing his honest thought that meant well.

• Contrast example : Seungjoon will use phrases of compliment like you did wonderful job, you aced it. But Changyoon will just simply said, you worked hard then just pose you a thumbs up.

• I can totally see Seungjoon and you either helping you with your studies and revisions at the living room while Changyoon just sitting there enjoying the presence of you two. Or, Seungjoon just drags you out to the town library and monitor you. Reason you and Changyoon are having way too much fun with video games.

• Seungjoon will later buy you ice cream as reward.

• Btw if you are born later, this is how it will be when you parents brought the baby you back home.

• Seungjoon is excited to see you while Changyoon is a bit timid but still fascinated at how smol you are

• Maybe when you cried, Seungjoon will be the boy in action to help calm you down while Changyoon lowkey panicking.

• Could be Seungjoon is the type of brother who show you toys and demonstrates to the baby/toddler you just to make you laugh.

• But Changyoon's style would be getting himself a hand puppet, the shark one is his fave, and move the hand puppet around while giving light chomps, making you feel ticklish. Once you start smiling, big bro Changyoon starts smiling too.

• But once them both got the hang of it, they help out parents to take care of you. The type of brothers that won't let go of the younger sibling away from their arms and sight.

• Changyoon follows your mum out and help selected your clothes. And even later when you grow older, you would always go to big bro Changyoon for fashion advice

• Both are very reliable elder siblings when it comes to giving advice.

• I can see if you are leaning to socialising advice, you will go to Seungjoon. For a more inwards self contemplating advice, you will go to Changyoon. Overall they are both good listeners.

• Also, them both singing. I do like the tendency of them singing at home ever since you were born, humming short tunes so that you can sleep when you are still a toddler until you graduated kindergarten. Will elaborate more in below if reader stand in also like singing and dancing

• If Hyojin side as a big brother is more attentive towards younger brother, I can see this two are more attentive if its younger sister. Not that their caring will die down if its a brother but when it comes to a sister, they will be gentler

• Oh,also defo the ones who volunteer to accompany you to prom night

Scenario 1. If you are related with any one of them

• Being Changyoon's sibling, maybe you are a contrast of him. He is a scaredy cat and full of expressions, but you are more of a chill zen type. The one who pushes Changyoon's jaw back up when he was too surprised with his mouth open wide.

• Even though you are Changyoon's sibling, you might team up with Seungjoon and Hyojin to tease Changyoon a bit lol

• If you happened to share the same passion of singing just like Changyoon, you two tend to finish each others lyrics or even try harmonising. Seungjoon will join too once he gets comfortable

• Every year in your birthday card, Changyoon will always write "You are the best, Luv you!" (Taken from Changyoon's "Non choigo ya saranghae"

• Being Seungjoon's sibling, you are also close with Hyojin before Changyoon joins

• Lent from above, you are the one who kills bugs at home because you brother will be using you as shield. And then bluffed that he wanted to train you lol

• And yes, the fake bug prank is legit here

• Even though he is your brother, you would gang up with Changyoon to tease Seungjoon . But you won't go overboard,you two stops the moment he starts his death glare.

• If you happened to share the same passion of dancing with Seungjoon, I can see you two dancing to Taemin's and Shinee's discography alot.

Scneario 2. If you are not related with any one of them.

• Seungjoon is gonna talk to you alot to try to know you more

• There will a lot of cute bloopers and maybe Seungjoon passed through either judging you two being weird or maybe later joins

• Changyoon would try and it will more time compared to Seungjoon but if you share something in common with him, you will get him open up quickly. Maybe tiktok, and then you two filmed tiktok snips together

• If Changyoon and Seungjoon happens to know/acquainted already then things are easier, your sibling only just need to help the other party who is the shy and introverted.

• You might think they are both cold and distant when first meet. Especially Changyoon because of his eyes and how he looks when he is not smiling.

• Pranks in this scenario will be lesser than above. The fake bug prank move won't appear in this scenario

• But both Changyoon and Seungjoon are quite of the unexpected bomb lol they sometimes do weird sounds or weird actions lol but those weird quirks always give you good laugh

• Changyoon works a few part time job and sometimes fall asleep on the sofa at the living room . Will always tiptoe if you found Changyoon sleeping at the living room, snoring

• If you found Seungjoon sleeping, and later found out he is a deep sleeper...

• Cues you and Changyoon maybe lowkey pranking or playing around of loud noises just to try waking him up

• (The similar scene in wake up boys video could totally happen)

• If you happened to be also a light sleeper, you are envious of Seungjoon

• You and Changyoon both will never unsee Seungjoon's face as the orange face meme after Hyojin points it out due to revenging Seungjoon calling him piggy

• You will bond with Seungjoon quickier if you are a Taemin fan

• If you are more of a R&B/soul/hiphop lover, you will bond with Changyoon quicker.

• Amazed at Seungjoon able to take in spicy food.

A/N : sorry that it gotten longer because I side tracked

[inkofamethyst]

May 22, 2021

A list of things I want to buy when that internship paycheck hit

Airpods

lowkey... I kinda wanna buy something from linennaive??  Or like, Sondeflor or something.  Like most of it is way out of my price range under normal circumstances, but it could be such a cool first piece of slow fashion??  I’ll think on it.

update: I’ve thought more on it, and I don’t think I’ll necessarily rule out those places, but I think that part of my desire to make a purchase from a place like one of those is legit just Brand Hype tbh.  I can stretch my money farther and support cyclical fashion by purchasing secondhand online, plus I can ask for specific measurements and stuff to ensure the fit works for me.  So, yeah.

Tbh I don’t want to just spend it all though, you know, so the vast majority will go into my savings, but I do think I’d like to make a couple of big purchases (just a couple!!).  My last big purchase was my iPad, I think.  And I had thoroughly researched that beforehand, so I’ll almost definitely do the same with any big clothing purchase I make.

I might also try investing this summer.  Like, seriously investing.  I’ll be making far more than I’ll need to use, and my study abroad costs are covered, so I could totally go with a super safe investment that I add to on a regular basis but ultimately don’t need to think about.  Something that grows while I’m asleep.

Also considering participating in ~focus groups~ over the summer to make some extra cash lol.  Found out about it through tik tok and it seems like a viable way to make a wee bit o’ money.

ALSO I’ve really been in a... how do I describe it?  A mood where I am particularly drawn to angry-sad songs.  I’ve been listening to The Kill by Thirty Seconds to Mars all day, followed by Paramore’s All I Wanted, of course (I’ve been prepared for a breakup ever since Hayley Williams first blessed my ears with the refrain of that song back in middle school and while I possess huge amounts of fear toward the possibility of breaking up with someone, I lowkey... there’s also this anticipation of someone making me feel the way she felt during that song.  Gives me shivers.), Creep, but the cover by Vincint instead of the original, The Grey by Icon for Hire, and Nothing Else Matters by Metallica (which is super super random I know but I can very clearly remember my discovery of that song okay (I was in gym class in ninth grade and was totally thrown off guard by the sudden 6/8 time signature in the midst of random pop songs that my gym teacher was playing, and to this day I’ve no idea what the song is referencing but 6/8 is quite entrancing so idc tbh)).  Like, those six songs on repeat all day long.  Plus the occasional My Immortal by Evanescence.  Y’all,,, I don’t know what this means.  Solid tunes tho.

Speaking of solid tunes, I know Hayloft by Mother Mother is technically a tiktok meme song, but it kinda slaps?  Like I actually kinda dig it??

Okay.  Two more things before I close out this entry.  1. Performative appreciation and the plight of the young black woman.  2. ...I forget.  It might come back to me idk but I do remember that there were supposed to be two points made.

Alright.  Remember a few... weeks? months? ago when I talked about how black people have been hiding the fact that many of us kinda find gingers attractive?  Remember, the saga with that one redhead dude?  Well!!  Recently I watched a long-form video essay and a, well, short-form (obviously) tiktok about... well, I don’t think either of them gave it a name, but I’m going to call it performative appreciation for the purposes of this post.

(OH I REMEMBER 2. PEOPLE RANDOMLY LIKING MY OLD TUMBLR POSTS OUT OF NOWHERE THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE DSMP)

So.  Black women are constantly dunked on, we know this.  We can take a look at Shane Dawson and the Shanaynay character or the way he would have his friend... Shauna(?) behave in his videos (and, I won’t lie, I was totally into that kind of stuff back in fifth grade through sixth or even seventh grade (I can’t point to a specific time where I stopped watching Shane, but it was quite a while before he broke up with Lisa, and I didn’t even stop watching because I found his content appalling or even offensive, I just wasn’t interested in the shock value stuff anymore tbh.)), or how many other (black male, specifically) comedians will adopt black female personas and poke fun at them.  Black women are consistently masculine-ized compared to white women which comes from historic practices that stripped black people of their humanity.  Then we’ve got a ton of young black men who simply dunk on black women as romantic partners (I ain’t here to say they can’t have preferences because you definitely can, but the comments these individuals make tend to go past simple expression of their preferences).  There are also implicit messages everywhere about the unattractiveness of a “normal” black woman who either lacks european features or isn’t super busty/thicc with a tiny waist.  Then we’ve got colorism with skin and hair on top of featurism...

In other words, Black women tend to grow up with a lot of ingrained insecurity.

The long-form video talked about how there are a number of white men on tiktok who make their content specifically about liking black women, almost/often to the point of fetishization, but black women eat that content up because we out here begging for the scraps of validity (I also saw another tiktok about how many black women tend to have the love language “words of affirmation,” but the video unfortunately didn’t have much to say past that, though I’d love to hear that explored because I (and y’all) definitely know that words of affirmation are key for me, almost to an unhealthy extent).  The video expressed how these men are profiting off of the insecurities of black women and the natural human desire to be desired.  Which, like, yeah corporations or whatever do that all the time, we know.  But the video talked about how this appreciation is most likely performative in its entirety, and how it’s a shame (an understandable shame though) that black women continue to fall for it.

Now.  As for the tiktok I saw this morning (and one I saw this evening which prompted this entire train of thought :/), the person was talking about how redheads specifically have wizened up to the fact that some black people find them attractive, and how this has made some just as cocky as normal white people (ayo I ain’t got nothin wrong with normal white people, by the way) which was unfortunate.  And I agreed, I suppose.  Then during my evening tiktok scroll, I saw a video by the redhead from the saga a few weeks back essentially bragging about how he would be the only white dude in a lineup of a black girl’s preferences.  Black people in the comments were eating that stuff up.

And like, look.  He’s very attractive, and he knows it, and that’s fine.  And I don’t want to say that his video necessarily fell into the performative appreciation category or anything, but it did make me feel... icky.  It was funny at the start, but now that my eyes have been opened as a result of that video essay... idk.  It just doesn’t feel as nice anymore.

yeah.

Alright, second thing: every once in a while I’ll get a random like on one of my tumblr posts/journal entries that deal specifically with the dsmp.  Now, these tend to give me a bit of whiplash because I literally do not tag any of my posts??  I don’t know how they’re being found or why tumblr is recommending these untagged, incohesive, incoherent posts to anyone.  It’s just funny because I’ll jump from theorizing about the dsmp to expressing how uncomfy it makes me to be interested in it (these posts are from before I realized that those feelings were coming from a place of internalized misogyny!) to something extremely personal to something very trivial and back to a live reaction that I’m having while watching the vod of a stream.  Like parkour or something.  And the poor soul who liked the post and who is a real person with a real account where they reblog real things probably read all of that mess and... yeah.  I simultaneously want to laugh and hide.

Alright.  That’s all for tonight.

Today I’m thankful for... hm.  Oh!  Oh!  I went to Goodwill today and found Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes, and I think that might go onto my summer reading list.  I haven’t read any Riordan in years, so it’ll be exciting to get back into that.  I’ve really got to get the ball rolling with that, by the way.  Maybe I’ll start by finishing the book that I started back in August 2020 and literally just never finished.

You know, speaking of Riordan, I’ve just really quickly gotta say that I really really really really really related to Annabeth as a kid?  Like as a person, I felt like “Smart” was my defining character trait and that I needed to prove that I was worthy of the trait at all times, very much like Annabeth.  I think that allowing her to learn that she could both be smart and still depend on the friends around her for help was like,,, a huge thing for me tbh.  Much better than Hermione’s “Smart Kid” arc (for me, personally).

[parabataisarah]

THE SUPER COOL ASK MEME FOR YUKI & any other oc u would like xoxo

YUKI CHOI

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod All The Things She Said by t.A.T.u Start Again by ONE OK ROCK Wasabi by Little Mix Middle Finger by Bohnes

the one place they sometimes end up falling asleep – where they’re not supposed to look, this child will bemoan falling asleep anywhere that isn’t a bed because “i have standards, thank you very much”, but most of the time, she will fall asleep sitting up; be it on the lounge or sitting at a table or even sitting up against the side of her bed. more often than not, she’ll wake up with a crick in her neck, but a quick stretch and she’s back to normal. (the weirdest place she’s been found asleep is in the hallway outside the dorms because she went for a walk around at 3am to help go to sleep and she couldn’t get back into the dorm, and she wasn’t gonna wake any of the girls up.)

the game they'd destroy everyone else at oh 100% laser tag! before moving and being scouted by apex, yuki’s brother would take her down to the local “arena” as a way for them to bond! as they got older, they couldn’t go as often, but she holds those memories close. the first time kaleidoscope went to a laser tag game, yuki relished in the shocked looks she’d quickly see on the girls faces when she’d shoot them, already scampering off to find another target.

the emoticon they’d use most often 💛 & 😂 & ✨

what they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep she knows that most people expect her to be more blunt, have less patience, be rude, but in all honesty? she’s a lot softer. her sharp edges aren’t in effect and she’ll be a little clingy. she’ll lean more on the girls, she’s been known to curl up next to eunha and just enjoy the quiet company she gives. depending on how little sleep she’s had, she’ll be a bit more giggly, finding humor in the small things that she normally wouldn’t.

their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights. or mornings. or whenever. literally anything salted caramel!!!

how they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump when yuki’s in a slump, she doesn’t like to acknowledge it publicly, a firm believer of fake it till you make it, but behind closed doors? she likes doing puzzles or colouring in to comfort herself. she’ll also talk to her brother, or get some words of comfort from hayeon. she’ll also spend more time being chaotic with yerim and mirae, doing tiktok trends or pulling pranks.

what they wanted to be when they grew up surprisingly? she wanted to be a painter! yuki enjoys the blending of colours and enjoyed the thought of how she could literally paint whatever she wanted to! upon moving, she let that idea go and was toying with becoming a photographer, but then bam! suddenly she’s being scouted by apex.

their favorite kind of weather give her winter or give her death! she kids!! but she enjoys the colder weather because “yes, yerim, winter is superior!”, but also because she reasons it by saying that in summer she’ll always be hot, but at least in winter, she can layer her clothes and control her temperature. and, i mean, c’mon! snow!!

thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?) yuki would describe her current singing voice as light. before apex and kaleidoscope, she would’ve said her singing voice was deeper, but during her training, she was informed to make her voice stay lighter (she can still sing “deeper”). Her rapping voice on the other hand, is somewhat light, but holds deeper notes at times.

how/what they like to draw or doodle 1000% loves to doodle stars! she’ll sit there and without even paying attention, she’ll just start drawing them. one she considers odd, personally, but still likes to doodle, is a capitalized ‘G’. in sense of things she likes to draw? she likes to draw eyes!!

-

ARES

2-4 songs that are probably on their iPod High Enough by K.Flay Fuck Away The Pain by Divide The Day Power by Kanye West Fuck Apologies by JoJo ft. Wiz Khalifa

the one place they sometimes end up falling asleep – where they’re not supposed to in sr1: the cathedral. she figured it was best to stay as close to the saints base as possible, she had no-one waiting for her anywhere, her brother sleeping on the other couch opposite her. in sr2: aisha’s crib. she wouldn’t particularly say she wasn’t supposed to fall asleep there, but she felt like she wasn’t allowed to after the whole ronin and aisha’s passing, but she’d rather keep johnny close. in sr3: ares is the boss of the saints, she truly doesn’t care at this point, but by other people’s standards, she shouldn’t be falling asleep in safeword, just to piss off morningstar. in sr4: i don’t think that there’s many places that people would tell the president to not sleep in, but after all the shit hitting the fan in 3 and now in 4, ares goes until she passes out, pierce moving her down to the “common room” and putting her on the couch, keeping a silent vigil over her.

the game they'd destroy everyone else at oh definitely professor genki’s super ethical reality climax! it’s basically a modified escape room with murder! (they’re also in a simulation at this point, so ares doesn’t give it much thought). and definitely mind over murder! she’s had her superpowers longer than the others in the simulation, so she’s got them beat! the only other person who would be able to match her in m.o.m, would be johnny.

the emoticon they’d use most often definitely 🖕🏻

what they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep there’s honestly not many changes between a fully rested ares and a sleep deprived ares, but to those that know her (johnny, shaundi & pierce), she’s more uncaring, more irritable, more prone to fly off the handle at others.

their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights. or mornings. or whenever. coffee with a shot of tequila.

how they like to comfort/care for themselves when they’re in a slump she can’t afford to get into a slump, so she throws herself even deeper into taking down rival gangs, dealing with julius, dealing with anything else she can get her hands on that will take her mind off of things creating the slump. once everything with zinyak happens, one of the original three will force her into the simulation and play a few rounds of genki’s murder games.

what they wanted to be when they grew up ares didn’t really care for doing anything when she got older, she expected that she’d do whatever her parents wanted her to do and just slog through life that way, but then her father passed, and she found the saints.

their favorite kind of weather not that she’d tell anyone; but she feels like kenzie knows, would be autumn. she loves seeing the leaves change, loves the crunch of leaves under her shoes, the gentle warmth in the air.

thoughts on their singing voice (decent? terrible? soprano? alto?) she thinks she’s decent. ares counts it as a win that no-one runs away when she starts singing on the rare occasion. pierce is very familiar with her singing voice considering they sing most of the time in the car.

how/what they like to draw or doodle lightning bolts. she hasn’t a clue why she likes drawing the simple symbol, but it has become almost a second nature to her by now. people within the gang are used to receiving papers from her with the corners filled with varying sizes of them.

[fmhiphop]

FM Interviews: Scar Lip Reveals New EP and HBO Appearance

New York City has birthed countless trendsetters in the female rap game. Scar Lip is adding her name to the list. "I feel as though as New York artists, people love New York artists period. I guess it's just the culture. our culture they just love." Being only 21 years old, Scar Lip doesn’t have an abundance of rap experience, but she’s been through enough to make up for it. This young artist is coming swinging out of the Bronx with an original style and a point to prove. Scar Lip, born Sierra Lucas, first began gaining traction in mid-2020 by posting freestyle raps and dance routines to her TikTok. What started as a simple vessel for self-expression has now turned into an entire platform with over 1 million followers and growing every day. @scar_lip on TikTok Lucas is one of many rappers who understand the unique power of TikTok, and is tapping in all the way. "TikTok really benefits us artists in that,   like streaming right now." She explained. "TikTok gives us that platform to help. It's like a push for us." With more and more artists joining the app every day, Scar Lip has somehow found a way to edge out her competition.   Of course, fighting hard is part of the course for a New Yorker. With a city of nearly 9 million, it’s a hard race to the top when everyone's in the same position. So what sets Scar Lip apart? The answer is her complexity and duality. On her social media, you’ll find an abundance of memes and a vibrant personality. On her Spotify, you’ll find a hardened soul. Scar Lip's earlier work from years prior such as ‘Therapy’ and ‘Suicide Awareness’ dive into deeply traumatic childhood experiences like sexual assault and abuse. Through these tracks,  we get a glimpse into a young woman who’s been through impossible adversities and is still finding herself on the other side. It’s only with her newest single 'Glizzy Gobbler' that Scar Lip has started to lean more into her silliness and natural comedic chops with her music. Other Side of the Tunnel "So actually 'Glizzy Gobbler' started off as a joke, just a little freestyle cause I'm bored," she spilled when asked on the songs origin. "And I posted it on TikTok and it blew up like crazy. and I was like “oh no”. and everyone was like 'you need to make this a song you need to drop this and make it a song'. I went to the studio and just, went in the booth and made a song."  When listening to tracks like ‘Foster Care’ it’s hard to imagine this would be the same artist rapping about 'glizzies' just a couple of years later. But instead of a hard pivot, this transition feels more like a well-earned evolution for an MC who began in a dark place and now clearly wants to reflect the headway she’s made mentally. "this is more fun, and dance, and gives them something to smile about" she said about her unnamed upcoming EP. "In 2019-2020 I was sharing my story and now I wanna show them the growth and the progress." "You see how I'm eating this Glizzy munch and I chew until I got it in me I'm spinning they think I'm a dizzy forget throwing 10 yo I'm Tryna throw 50" - Glizzy Gobbler (2022) What's up Next? Unfortunately, It looks like we’ll have to wait just a bit longer for a full length debut album from Scar Lip. Still, it’s likely you’ll see her on your screen before then. "Definitely in a couple music videos coming out, a couple shows, and you might even see on TV." Scar Lip teased. While she wasn't able to leak the name of the show, we did get one clue. "On TV. HBO." she confirmed. In addition to this, Scar Lip is developing her own makeup line. There appears to be a recent phenomenon of female artists prioritizing their status as a double threat: musician and businesswoman. Now more than ever famous women are putting real passion into their side projects, especially in the makeup world. "My focus is on music but also being an entrepreneur as well ,not just music." she expounded. Still, she has her eyes on the prize, and that's her rap career. "Concerts, shows, performances. There's a lot." It takes only one listen to 'Glizzy Gobbler' to know Scar Lip has individuality in spades. With a combination of drill, airy vocals, and an equal amount of comedic and hostile bars, she’s crafted a track uniquely all her own. According to the 21-year-old, that’s one element she’d love to see more often from her NY peers. "I wanna see more authenticity. It don’t be real. I wanna see more people being real , being themselves." she voiced. But behind the tough love, this star in the making makes sure to uplift the fellow newcomers. "Keep trying keep grinding keep fighting and most of all keep praying." Written by Dreema Carrington Read the full article

[piprocrastinator]

Rocketship

Because of Joong new TikTok I wrote this soft mess.

The TikTok uses this Gavin song, which is really cute and I also use it in this fic so if you want to listen to it while you read of something.

Word count: 1,230

E for Everyone but there are mentions of T stuff so discretion I guess.

                                             -------------------

Joong woke up to the gentle rays of the sun shining through the curtains. Nine still tangles on top of him, puffs of air cascading over his neck.

He glanced over at his phone, frowning when he realized they missed work. Guess they could just skip the morning part. The evening they would have to show up for though. Joong texts them that he'll be in later. 

Joong sighed, hand running over Nines back idly as he scrolled through his phone with his free hand. Their fans were still whining over being left unfed. It was amusing, to say the least. The memes they made, the edits they created. It made him feel loved to see everyone feeling some type of way towards them. Sometimes it was a little extreme but he has gotten used to that as the price to pay to have the attention in general.

His stomach decided it was time to make its presence known halfway through a fan edit video. Nine, who was still fast asleep, twitched at the sound. Maybe he felt the rumble. He needed to get up but he didn't want to wake Nine just yet. Not after last night. He deserved rest after that performance.

Instantly his mind fills with the images of Nine hovering over him. Bouncing as his finger dug into Joong’s stomach. Covered in a light sheen of sweat. Nine long neck stretches as he throws his head back, biting his lip to keep the moan from coming out but a low whine escaped at particularly hard thrust. Joong hands gripping the tight waist, being both an anchor and a catalyst. A few pink marks blossoming over Nine chests, making Joong lips ached to make more.

Fuck. Joong blinks wiping away the memory as his stomach made another grumpy noise. He decided it was time to mitigate it before the noise woke Nine up. Though he knew Nine would wake up from him moving anyways.

It was the thought that counted, right?

Gently he maneuvered Nine over to his pillow, pulling the blanket up to his shoulders before bounding downstairs. He nibbled on things here and there are the continues his scroll through twitter.

Then a thought came to mind. He had some time. Opening up tik tok and he decided to make a new video. It would be cute and their fans would be satisfied for a little while.

There was a song that Nine had been listening to a lot lately, a cute lovey song. It fit his current mood. The mood he had most days when Nine was around him. He remembered the first time Nine they watched the video and listened to the song -his eyes sparkled with happiness and his checks tinted pink as he said

"Isn't it romantic?"

Jong felt it too. Felt the words as he looked at Nine.

      Lost in love. How silly and yet fitting.

He opened the bedroom door to see Nine awake and scrolling through his phone -just as Joong knew he would be- making sure that a certain part of the song played as he showed off his still sleepy saturated Nine.

I will be waiting, waiting for only you.

Nine looked over at him, smiled. Soft and sweet, still layered in sleepy cotton. His heart pulled. Because when did it not pull towards Nine especially when Nine smiled at him.

       Lost for a cause but now I found you.

He tossed his phone to the side before crawling over Nine's prone form. Slipping between his arms to drop a kiss to his puffed check.

"Good morning," Joong whispers, nuzzling into that perfectly soft mochi check. Silently praising the universe for allowing Nine to keep them no matter how much he tries to lose weight. They were just so cute and perfect. He softly nom-ed them with his lips.

"Morning." Nine mumbles back, voice still a bit gravelly.

They lay quietly like that for a few minutes, Joong dropping soft kisses anywhere he could reach, snuggling the sleep warm Nine. Nine scrolling on his phone. The world was calm and peaceful. Tilting to the side a perfectly content moment.

      There will be my heart waiting for you

Nine set his phone to the side and pulled him into a kiss. soft at first, like a greeting. Then it deepened as Joong sucks on Nine bottom lip, nipping. They continue kissing, slowly getting more heated, Joong contemplates removing the barriers between them when his phone beeps. They pull away and Joong lets out a soft disappointed sigh, he knows that means it’s time to go.

Nine pouts as Joong pulls away completely, pushing off the bed. Joong leans back in to kiss the pout because he can. Nine natural smiles at the action. Be still his beating heart.

Joong pitters around the room gather what he needs for the day, not daring to look back just yet or else he knows he'll crumble and crawl back over Nine a kiss him breathless. But he has worked and he's got to stop into his other job before going to Motive. So he has no time to fall for the siren call of his lover in bed.

"Need a ride." Nine asks.

"No, it's out of the way. I'll see you tonight though." Joong chances a look back at Nine who's moved back to scrolling through his phone.

Nine's lips are red and puffy, much like he knows his are as well.

It's very tempting. oh so very tempting. But he stands strong and doesn't take the invitation to dive back into those sweet lips. No, there's no time for that.

Joong opens his phone to check the message when tik tok blinks back to life. That's right he was making a new one. He turns the camera towards Nine, blowing him a kiss which Nine returns with puckered lips as he leaves.

Joong hopes that Nine's red lips aren't noticeable to the others as he uploads the tik tok. But he doesn't check to see.

Sometimes he likes to live on the edge of what his fans can and cannot see.

He gets a message later from Nine complaining about how sloppy he looks lying in bed. He smiles because Nine always texts him that when he shows the fans him in bed. But he's a little bias because that's Joongs favorite place to see Nine.

Joong: You look cute

Nine: handsome

Nine: I am handsome!

Nine: not cute

Joong: Why can't you be both?

Nine: oh I see how it is

Nine: You come to my house

Nine: and disrespect my crops

Nine: these plants don't grow on sass you know

Nine: Wheres my respect?

Joong: It left the moment I kissed you for the first time

Nine: error, response was not correct please try again

Joong: It left the moment I went down on you wearing cat ears

Nine: shut up

Nine: Shut

Nine: UP

Nine: Who says things like that

Nine: are you crazy

Joong: Not as crazy as that time I got you to suck me off between events at a fan meet

Nine: alright

Nine: that's it

Nine: this conversation is over

Nine: I'm not talking to you the rest of the day

Joong: ok.

Joong: let me know when you head out to motive

Nine: of course. be safe <3

Joong: <3

[purplesurveys]

768

Doesn't it just piss you off when people brag about drugs and stuff? If the bragging sounds very “look at me I’m so cool and edgy, and you’re not because you haven’t tried it” it does get annoying and I just mute them in my head as I nod along. I don’t mind it if people raise it casually. You do you, just don’t be pretentious about it.

Have you ever egged a person? No, that just sounds stupid and is such a waste of food.

Are you a TV person, or prefer to actually leave the premises of your house? I normally like a healthy balance of both but eugh, these days I’m obviously so sick of having to stay home for this long. I will definitely be a bit of an extrovert once this is all over.

What do the home phone numbers start with in your area? Mine is 9. 8. It used to be different for all homes, but the main phone company in the country institutionalized the system not too long ago and announced that all numbers and hotlines were now going to start with 8.

Would you come to Australia if you had the opportunity? If everything was paid for or if it was a vacation planned out by my parents, sure. It wouldn’t be my first pick for a vacation as I feel like some parts of it have weather too similar to ours, and I simply just have other countries on my list that are bigger priorities for me to travel to.

I hope you said yes. Sorry bout that. I think it’s an interesting place though!

Are you with the teens these days? I’m still very aware of the trends. I share memes as if I was still a teen lmao and I definitely still use whatever slang is in, but I also don’t participate in a number of trends, like Tiktok or Instagram.

Or do they just piss you off with their attitudes? I haven’t seen anyone disrespectful in a while, but then again maybe I’m just biased towards the high school kids from my alma mater that I’m Facebook friends with lmao. Honestly, I don’t know a good number of teens anymore to have an informed opinion about them. The ones I know are very nice, not one problem about their attitude at all - but are definitely more vain and conscious about fitting in and looking good on social media than how the past waves of teenagers used to be.

You working? I am not. Yet. I will be very soon, hopefully.

Where abouts? What do you do? Just wait a little more, I’ll be updating you before the year ends.

You want a career, or happy with just a job? I’d wanna go jump right ahead and start building my career. Never really been a beating-around-the-bush kind of person.

Are you all for second chances? Not a fan.

Do you think anyone on the outside of a situation has the right to judge? Not always. I always take into account what that person might be going through, but I also recognized limits. I will never judge someone who just got an abortion, but like I also wouldn’t think twice about anyone who’s sexually abused someone else.

I hate kids cause they're all a bunch of layabouts. Why do you hate them? I don’t hate kids. If they’re acting terribly, I usually blame it on their environment or on their parents.

How cool was the 90's? Cool enough for a number of its trends to make a comeback today lol, like high-waisted jeans, chunky sneakers, and fanny packs. I don’t like the cheesy girl group/boy band love songs though.

What era had the best music? 2010s mainly because this is the first decade I got to emotionally connect with music at the same time they got released. Some songs in the past decades are important to me too, but I feel detached from them due to them being released way way back.

Do you find it weird that you've actually lived in 2 milleniums? Not really. I found it cooler when I read about people being born in the 1990s being alive for technically three (now four) decades. The math didn’t make sense to me at first but it felt like such a mindfuck when I finally understood it.

Has it occured to you that people won't see that for 1000 more years? No. Now it does.

Name someone you haven't seen for years. Raegan. She was a good friend of mine from prep and super super super insanely rich, it almost felt like I didn’t deserve to be her friend, much less be invited to their giant ass house lol. The last time I saw her was at my 7th birthday party during the summer, but she changed schools by Grade 1 and I haven’t seen her since.

Do you ever wonder if they think about you? I doubt it. We’ve lived very different, distant paths since then. It’s so weird though because even though we haven’t met up in 16 years, she literally just studies in the university beside ours. Literally a stone’s throw away. We’ve never seen each other at the nearby mall or anywhere in the area though.

So do you drink? Sure.

If you do, are you actually legally allowed? Yeah, for the last four years.

What about smoke? Yeah, but definitely not as much as I drink.

Into any of that hard schmak? Hard pass.

I think i may have made that term up. You smoke weed? Nope.

Did you know that weed might not be linked to skitzos afterall? I have no idea what you mean.

You know any Sams? A good amount, it’s a common name. I have a cousin named Sam, a former best friend, and I also went to school (both high school and college) with a good chunk of Sams. Kissed any Brads? I have not.

You have a pet named Bruiser? I don’t.

What's the best thing about Summer where you live? Going to the beach in the province. There isn’t anything exciting about summer here in the city, so we typically have to travel to have some fun.

Do you get snow there in Winter? We don’t get snow.

Do you wax your eyebrows? Nah I’m scared of most hair removal procedures because I’ve seen how red people get in the area that got worked on after leaving the spa lolol. Pluck or shave is fine with me since I’m not all that conscious about my eyebrows anyway. 

Broken a bone? I have not.

Are you one of those people who do all communication over the internet? Right now, I don’t really have a choice. Normally my other options would be text or personally speaking with someone.

I think it's sad. I've heard of wedding invites being sent over facebook. It’s definitely cheaper and more efficient, but it just feels super impersonal to me. I’d still send out physical invitations, but I would also create a Facebook event to keep track of attendance and to send announcements if ever.

How do people know that there's a God? For some people, believing and faith have had a positive impact on them and they’re things that have influenced and molded who they are. It’s not invalid, but I preferably wouldn’t hang out with that kind of crowd.

How many places have you travelled to by plane? A. Lotttttt. Six countries, but way way more local provinces.

[unixcommerce]

How to Use TikTok for Business

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past several months, you’ve likely heard of TikTok. It’s not all just empty buzz either. This social media or video-sharing social network app currently has more than 800 million monthly active users. And it has been downloaded more than 1.5 billion times.

It’s especially popular among young people. But it’s quickly growing a wide base of users. So businesses that want to create viral video content and connect with consumers online may want to consider it as a marketing platform. Here’s what you need to know before using TikTok for marketing.

What are TikTok Videos?

TikTok videos are 15-second videos that can follow nearly any format. However, many include lip-syncing and/or dancing to a popular song, or follow recognizable meme formats.

What is TikTok for Business?

TikTok for Business is a division of the platform that enables businesses to promote themselves. The social media platform offers various solutions for companies to increase engagement, like interactive polls and hashtag challenges. Businesses can also utilize advertising options to increase reach.

How do Businesses use TikTok?

Businesses can use TikTok’s ad platform or they can just create video content that attracts attention organically. TikTok ads appear in between videos on the app and are often creative and look similar in format to regular TikTok videos. However, there are other formats as well. Regardless of what option you choose, you likely need to create unique, short content to get noticed on the platform. Many companies may even use a combination of organic video posts and advertisements.

TikTok Content Ideas

TikTok is a naturally engaging video social media platform that can be used to attract the audience you want to turn into customers. Here are some ideas:

1. Hashtag Challenge

There are tons of hashtag challenges already circulating on TikTok. These occur when a user challenges others to make and post a specific type of content and then tag them using a dedicated hashtag. A lot of current challenges have to do with dance routines or lip-syncing. Brands can participate in existing challenges or create their own.

2. How-To Videos

Saru Saadeh, Founder & CEO of marketing technology company Iron Roots said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, “A lot of brands offer tutorials or how to’s that are related to what they offer in some way. This provides value upfront and keeps users engaged.”

For example, a company that sells fabric or craft supplies could create a visual DIY using their products. Or a food company could showcase a recipe.

3. Song Parodies

Music centric videos are popular on TikTok. You can create videos that are purely for entertainment. Or you might change the words to make them relevant to your brand.

4. Team Introductions

Saadeh says, “We’ve worked with a client on a series of ‘day in the life of’ content. They simply went around to different people from the team and showed what they did during the day to day small business operations. It really brings the company to a human level.”

5. Product Demonstrations

Show customers how your product works. For example, a company that sells furniture could demonstrate how easy it is to put together. Or a gaming company could show their product in action.

6. Case Studies

Saadeh explains, “Say you’re a service-based business like a marketing firm. You can say ‘here’s what we’ve done for the company’ and offer a case study style success story.”

7. Before and After Videos

This type of video would showcase a transformation based on your product or service. For example, a makeup company could showcase a quick makeover using their products.

8. Process Videos

Saadeh suggests, “Show the process of what goes on behind the scenes. What does your company do to produce the great products or services you offer?”

9. Calming Videos

TikTok videos don’t all have to be funny or ironic. Some people like to watch relaxing scenes to slow down a bit. For example, an artist could show a close up of them mixing colors or up-close shots of their brush on canvas.

10. Unique Stories

TikTok is the perfect place for you to share any quick facts or stories that set your brand apart.

Saadeh adds, “It can even be as simple as saying ‘here’s the office dog’ or ‘here’s the team doing highway cleanup’ to show your commitment to your community. What it comes down to is simply telling micro-stories.”

TikTok Advertising Options

Creating new content doesn’t work or is not something you want to do, then you can advertise as well. Here are your options:

1. Hashtag Challenge Ad

For this type of ad, you can create a hashtag challenge as mentioned above. Then you can pay to have it featured on the TikTok discover page so users are more likely to encounter it and then participate.

2. In-Feed Native Ad

Native ads look like regular TikTok videos and appear in users’ feeds. These are similar to ads on other platforms and provide a cohesive experience.

3. Brand Takeovers Ad

For those that want to really call attention to a campaign, Brand takeovers ads may be of interest. These are graphics that appear right when users open their TikTok app. They appear to targeted individuals for a few seconds and then can direct users to a custom landing page.

4. TopView Ad

TopView ads are similar to Brand Takeover ads in that they display full-screen graphics and can direct to a landing page. However, they appear at the top of the For You page instead of right when the app is opened.

5. Branded Effect Ad

TikTok includes effects that users can include on their posts, like stickers, lenses, and AR filters. A brand can turn these into advertisements by adding their own branded images to these packs. For example, other users could have the option to use a sticker with a logo of your brand or a new line.

Read about the TikTok Back to Business Program that offers free ad credits to small businesses.

TikTok Influencers

Working with TikTok influencers gives you a combined approach to your marketing strategy for your brand. You pay for influencers. But the TikTok ad content is organic.

Brian Freeman, CEO of influencer marketing platform Heartbeat said in an email to Small Business Trends, “The first thing to know about content creators on TikTok is they are not the same as Instagram creators. TikTok creators have a different suite of tools that Instagram creators do not as TikTok is one of the most innovative mobile editing software on the planet. For example, your everyday Instagram influencer is creating high-resolution, beautiful imagery that matches a brand aesthetic. On the other hand, a TikTok creator will tell a story about a product and translate that experience to their community through videos. TikTok creators will spend hours editing the video with transitions, music, background effects, etc. to make it a great piece of content.”

Basically, you approach influencers who are relevant to your target audience. You discuss ideas. But then you leave the actual production for those users to create. You get to reach that person’s audience and get access to their unique ideas, which you of course compensate them for.

What should a business know about TikTok users?

TikTok’s user base is mostly made of young people. So as a business, you cannot miss on cultural and generational references and respect. If you are not sincere or use their language and memes, you will not be successful in your marketing effort.

Saadeh says, “It’s important to not just create commercials. Remember that it is social media. So the content you create should be relevant and maintain the culture that brought so many users to it in the first place.”

How do I use TikTok?

You can use TikTok to reach an audience using short-form video content, ads, and influencer marketing. Businesses are finding new ways to use the platform all the time. And those that jump in early have a good chance of finding success since it’s not yet completely saturated with many brand marketing.

However, it’s essential to interact authentically on the platform. Remember that it’s social media. So the most important thing is to make connections and create new content that is useful, entertaining, or inspiring.

Ultimately, the goal is to get content that goes viral. You can’t always control this. But there’s a good chance that even accounts with small followings can get some attention if they create genuinely interesting videos.

Hope Horner, CEO of video production service Lemonlight said in an email to Small Business Trends, “TikTok’s content delivery algorithm is unique in that new accounts (or accounts with very few followers) can go viral. Anyone can do it with the right piece of content, which incentivizes brands to try it out for an opportunity to generate engagement with a massive audience.”

Who created TikTok?

TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. The company’s founder is software developer Zhang Yiming. He founded ByteDance back in 2012. And the company eventually launched TikTok in China in 2016. The U.S. TikTok apps for Apple and Android devices launched in 2017. ByteDance is currently in talks to sell the TikTok arm of the business.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “How to Use TikTok for Business” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

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