#also they NEED better producers!! not a single good song has come out of that company!!

[miulore]

Yeah I remember something about his solo tour that’s why I assumed it was last minute but just his solo in general, he just dropped the video and that was all like I want to know the company’s plans or what would’ve been. I know they had the tour but something else could’ve been done for him -wheretfisknk

....... i despise 143 @wheretfisknk

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

4 or 7 please

A little switch-a-roo! Harry is Y/N's bands' producer and they don't always see eye-to-eye.

Y/N was pissed and it was definitely coming through in the recording session. When their band's manager, Richard, initially told them that they were trying to get Harry Styles to produce their album she was excited. Y/N's initial excitement stemmed from the fact that even though he was only 34 he was incredibly successful and had an incredible reputation. He was an icon! She wanted to learn from him what making a good album meant, because she was interested in doing a good job every single time she put out music. At first she was really excited to have him on board and was soaking it all in, but the closer they get to the album finish the more she has started to dislike him. He constantly tore down her ideas or made her seem like she didn't know what she was talking about, he critiqued her choices and her style, and it just put her in a bad mood. And now, he was working their drummer, Kassie to the bone and Y/N was tired of it.

"Can we take a 10? I have t'pee." Kassie said when they finished a recording bit. She was shaking out her hands as she waited for a confirmation.

The only reason they were in this mess was because Harry said that when he went in to start editing that song the drums were sloppy. In Kassie's defense, that particular song was really hard and tiring, which Y/N explained to Harry. She also reminded him that they had a full day of recording their last song of the album and didn't have time to keep going over old stuff. He then told her that he was aware of what the session today was supposed to be and that in terms of Kassie, the song being hard wasn't an excuse and that she could do a much better job if she tried harder. Y/N just rolled her eyes at him and here they were, 30 minutes later after re-recording the same last 2 minutes of that blasted song about 15 times. What Y/N was more annoyed at is that at some point in between takes Harry had gone in and shown Kassie perfectly what needed to be done and instead of recording that he just gave her what she believes was the worst pep talk in history. The mics were off so no one could hear what he was saying but she was tearing up and he handed her a box of tissues, so it couldn't have been good.

"Yeah, let's take a ten." one of the techs announced once Harry gave him the OK and Y/N immediately made her way into the live room.

"Hey Kass, how're the hands?"

"Sore." she said smiling up at Y/N.

"Sorry, I tried to tell Harry that it was fine how it was but-"

"No, it's not. He's right, I can do better." she said with determination.

"Kass, it's OK if you can't." Y/N assured. Kassie was going through a bit of a rough time personally and she was sure that this was making her feel worse. She didn't want to tell Harry that, because that's none of his business, but he needed to listen to Y/N and get off of Kassie's case.

"Really Y/N, I can do it. I'm just really in my head, OK? I'm gonna go pee, take a little breather and come back."

"OK." She sighed and Kassie just offered her a smile before heading out of the studio. She wasn't all that shocked to see Harry following after her, but she would have a word with him later. He needed to stop being a dick.

To say the least, Kassie had successfully executed the part Harry had called sloppy after her little bathroom break and they were able to jump into the last song. Harry had tons to say about her vocals and about some of the lyrics- how they didn't work with the rhythm well and they ended up changing some things around. Y/N had been singing the song in her practices the old way and kept forgetting the blasted changes he made. She groaned as Harry yelled another cut. She was prepared to have him ream her again and already glanced down at her feet so that he couldn't see her eyes roll in irritation.

"Obviously we're not getting what we need today-" she shot her head up and glared at him through the glass, "So let's just call it a day. Great work, everyone." he said and just like that everyone started packing up. She hung the headphones up on the stand and burst into the control room where Harry was chatting with the studio crew.

"Ummm, we need to keep going. Today's our last studio session. that's all we paid for." she reminded him.

"We'll figure something out." he said to her and she scowled at him.

"We don't have money for another full day or however many days you plan on hijacking this process! If we hadn't been wasting our time re-recording kass' perfectly fine drumming we would have 45 more minutes to get this right-"

"Y/N, can you please just...be quiet?" he asked with a frown and she grimaced.

"Excuse me?"

"Just shut up, OK? Your voice is shot for today and if we keep going at it you're gonna cause some real damage to your vocal cords. You're really reaching in there, OK?" She scoffed, "Did you call that vocal coach like I told you to two months ago?" he asked and she rolled her eyes, "I'll take that as a no and that's why you can't sing the song today." he said to her. She felt her eyes welling up as he scolded her and insulted her talent. She scoffed and stormed out and to the bathroom. Harry sighed as he watched her rush out. He believed that Y/N didn't really understand what he was getting at and if she would just stop being so stubborn and listen to him...

Y/N didn't let herself actually cry at his words, but she was fuming mad to the point that her eyes grew teary. She tended to cry when she got angry. But he was an ass and he was cocky and smug and so fucking dumb with his porn-stache and fucking pink beanie. She headed angrily to her car after heading out of the studio, realizing that hers was one of only three cars left in the lot. She had been cooling off in the bathroom for quite a while. As she reached for her keys in her pocket she groaned, realizing that she never grabbed her things from the studio.

"Fuck me..." she grumbled and headed back inside. As she headed over to the control room they had been in, much to her dismay Harry was sat at the sound board with his laptop hooked up to it and he glanced up to the door when he saw someone come in. She looked over to the couch and saw that her bag was sitting there next to his.

"Forgot my stuff." she said.

"I know. I also grabbed your notebook from the piano bench, dropped it in your bag for you." he informed before turning back to the screen.

"Thanks." she hummed and headed to the couch to grab her bag.

"Figured you had left." he hummed.

"Was just cooling off." she responded lowly and then he spun around on the stool he was on to look at her.

"Why are you so fucking stubborn?" he asked her with a half-smile, "I'm just trying to do the job you and your team hired me to do."

"Why are you such an ass?" she responded and he frowned.

"I'm not an ass." he defended himself and she scoffed.

"You so are! That shit you pulled with Kassie today, you made her cry! We all saw it and-"

"You know she's dealing with a breakup right?" he asked Y/N and her eyebrows furrowed, of course she did, but how did he know that?

"Yeah."

"She got cheated on, she was telling me. I don't know if that's ever happened to you, but I can tell you from experience it is completely demoralizing. It makes you doubt every single part of yourself, especially the parts of you that you love the most, because we tend to associate the things we love together." he said and she frowned, "For Kassie that's her music. This chick was a part of her life for a really long time, as you probably know. She pushed her to do good and to excel in her music. Realistically, Kassie knows that her talent is her own and that she has all of you, and her family, and her friends, but that chick, whatever her name was-"

"Alisha."

"Whatever." he hummed, "Her opinion, her belief, her support bore a lot of weight to Kassie. She wasn't crying because I was an ass to her. She was crying because I told her that she's one of the best drummers I've ever worked with. She doesn't believe it right now, but it's the truth. She had only ever heard that from one person and having someone else validate that was a lot for her." he said and Y/N's eyes softened.

"Oh."

"Yeah." He said and Y/N sighed, "You should've heard the previous recording we had. I deleted it the moment I heard it, it was absolute shit. You're not trained to hear what I hear. It's my job to help you guys make this the best album possible and sometimes that means pushing you guys, like I pushed Kassie today. She doesn't need to sit back and relax with her thoughts. She needed to hit something, hard! And she needed to see that there was more to her than that relationship. She was able to see that in herself again today. She needs you and the rest of the band to believe that she can do it."

"I do believe she can do it!"

"That's not what it sounds like when you come griping to me about how the piece is too hard. That you're OK with a mediocre recording instead of telling her that she can do better-"

"She's just going through it. I just wanted to cut her some slack, OK? And this is not just about Kassie. This is about the way that you treat me all the time! You're always undermining me! My ideas, my writing, my singing, my playing! And don't give me that shit you just spewed about pushing me too because I don't buy that for a moment. On top of that you're so arrogant and condescending! You think you know everything, but you don't! Maybe no one can see it because they kiss your ass, but I see it clear as day." she said and he shook his head, fighting a smile. Smug piece of shit.

"OK. You're clearly not ready to have a conversation with me." he said cooly and she wanted to scream, he was treating her like a kid.

"Why do you do that? Treat me like a child?!" she shouted in aggravation and he scoffed.

"Look at you and the way you're behaving and tell me you're not acting like a child." he challenged and her eyes narrowed into angry slits, "You shout and shout and shout and you're not saying anything of substance. You're acting like an entitled brat who's upset because she's not getting her way and believe me when I tell you that everyone sees that." he finished and she was speechless. Her eyes started welling up once again and she scoffed before grabbing her bag and rushing to the door. "Don't forget to call the vocal coach!" he called to her.

"Fuck you!" she shouted back and he sighed. She was so fucking difficult and petulant. She made him want to tear his hair out sometimes. Harry was so frustrated because at first he really enjoyed working with Y/N. He always thought she was beautiful, smart, promising and he felt that he could contribute to the music her and her band made. Somewhere down the line she started losing sight and started playing it so safe. The music was suffering and it was so boring and mediocre. Something he knew wasn't her or her band at all; he was trying to guide her back to her original and risk-taking nature. To claim back the sound that had enticed him to produce for them. But boy, was she putting up a fight.

A few days later Harry contacted her to see if she was able to come to his house and finish recording the last song vocals at his home studio. She waited nearly the full day to reply, but at least she didn't leave him hanging.

*******

It was 9am when Y/N was ringing Harry's doorbell as promised. His housekeeper had come to the door and guided her out back. His backyard was beautiful. There was a pool and a hot tub and even a few fruit trees further back on the property then the pool house, which the woman told her was where the studio was located. She thanked her before sauntering back there and opening up the door and peeking in.

"Hey, good morning!" Harry greeted her cheerfully as she stepped inside. It was like a little lounge area where he was. There was a big comfy couch, TV, and a bar and fridge at one end of the room.

"Hi." she said and upon fully entering she saw another person there, "Hello." she then greeted the woman sitting on the couch.

"Good morning." the woman said.

"Y/N, this is Dr. Dauphine Auclair - the vocal coach I kept referring you to?" he said and if Y/N could punch him she so would. She felt her blood boiling and despite that she turned back to the woman and smiled politely.

"Pleasure, Dr. Auclair." she extended her hand and the woman took it.

"I was just making her some tea. Would you like a cup? I've got licorice root or ginger. These are the only throat safe options." he said and she shrugged.

"Ummm, surprise me." she said and he smiled.

"Cool. So Dr. Auclair is here to do a little warming up with you. I know you mentioned that you only took a few lessons in the past, can you elaborate a bit more with Dr. Auclair while I get this going?" he asked her and she swallowed down her rage and nodded before turning to the woman.

Y/N had started to sing in high school and the only "lessons" she had ever taken were when her choir teacher taught them some warm ups. That's what she had been working off of for performances and such for the last 6 or seven years. After a couple of minutes Harry was joining them on the couch and she glared at him in the brief moment that Dr. Auclair took a sip of her tea.

Dr. Auclair went on to explain that she should prioritize this as the vocal cords were sensitive and affected by many things. They were easy to damage and ensuring that her vocal warmups and maintenance evolved along with her was of absolute importance. She just nodded along and Harry watched on silently as she listened along, seemingly captivated by what Dr. Auclair shared with her. He sat in for a bit of her warm up before slipping out to give them a bit of time. After about a half hour he was returning to say his goodbyes and he happened to overhear her confirming another appointment with Dr. Auclair. He gave them a moment before knocking on the studio door and announcing himself, he said his goodbyes and walked Dr. Auclair out to her car.

Y/N was glad that Harry didn't have to hear her confirming voice coaching appointments. He actually liked Dr. Auclair and she did feel more relaxed in the throat for the recording session and was looking forward to learning more from her. She had some water and waited in the control room for Harry to return.

"Ready to go?" he asked as he came back in, tone cheerful.

"Yeah, good to go." she said and he had been right, she was recording the vocals with ease, even the higher harmonies and ad-libs he was suggesting. And after about an hour and a half they had finished up and Harry was giving her a thumbs up through the glass and she smiled as she hung up the headphones and headed into the control room.

"That was really good." he smiled and she sighed.

"Yeah, it felt good too. I'm not as tired as before."

"That's good. Dr. Auclair was helpful then?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah." she smiled.

"I'm sorry if the way I suggested coaching to you before made you feel like I thought you were bad or unskilled, that's not at all why." he said, "I think you're extremely gifted and I just want you to take great care of your instrument. Just looking out for you, s'all." he said to her and she sighed.

"I can see that now." she admitted, "I'm sorry too for... acting like a brat as you so eloquently put it." she said to him and he chuckled and glanced down as his fingers combed through his hair.

"Entitled brat s'what I said I think." he hummed and she rolled her eyes, "There you go again." he hummed and she scoffed.

"Rolling my eyes is not bratty."

"S'petulent though. Childish."

"I know what petulant means you smug prick." she said and he smirked.

"S'that mouth of yours that gets you into trouble." he chuckled and she shrugged.

"I have a lot to say."

"Not everything needs to be said. Specially when you have a face as expressive as yours." he pointed out and she giggled before biting her lip.

"I know...I need to be more mindful of that." she huffed.

"Can I be honest with you?" he asked and she nodded, "Won't get all salty with me?" he asked as he took a seat beside her and she chuckled.

"I'll try not to." she smiled and he chuckled.

"I'm hard on you because you're better than whatever the fuck has been going on with you the last few months. You guys sounded different, had something so special and unique about you. Lately it just seems that you're trying to fit in with the fads. Almost like you're scared to just be yourselves. And the rest of the band, they really look to you for guidance and Y/N, you've been playing it safe. It's not at all like you." He said and she sighed, "Don't know why you take your anger out on me when I know for a fact all of my suggestions are living up to the vision in your head." he said and she looked into his eyes.

"I get angry at you because you have the guts to be yourself and execute your vision so unapologetically. I feel like... I may seem like it, but I'm not brave enough." she confessed and Harry tutted.

"But you're brave enough to come gripe at me and speak your mind without a question?" he asked with a chuckle, "You're definitely brave enough to unapologetically be yourself." He assured her and she smiled timidly. "I see it every single day. Don't keep that part of you out of the music. It's what makes you special." he said and she sighed.

"I guess I'll be honest with you and tell you that I was really excited when I heard that you agreed to produce the album. I really admire your work too, I'm a big fan of yours." she confessed.

"Oh really?" he asked and she chuckled and nodded, "Never would've guessed." he teased and she rolled her eyes again. "Should start charging you every time you roll your eyes at me." he said and she giggled.

"Yeah, maybe. You're kinda of a pain in the ass." she scrunched her nose up and he mimicked her expression mockingly which made her laugh.

"There she is!" he announced happily, "That's the girl I first met." he hummed and she felt her face heating up, "Don't want to fight with you anymore. I want us to work well together, communicate better, so that we can make the best album possible. Want you to be involved in every bit of it." he said, "Can we agree on that?" He asked her and she bit her lip and nodded, her eyes meeting his. She was fucking pretty and undoubtedly a handful, but he didn't care. His eyes flickered down to her lips and then her eyes again, "Good." he hummed. Y/N was positive she hadn't imagined him look at her lips and she felt her heart pounding but pushed it aside. After a few more minutes he was standing outside of her car with her as they said their goodbyes.

"Thanks for today, Harry." she said and he smiled.

"Yeah of course. Anything you need, you let me know." he assured and she smiled, "So long as that bratty attitude is stowed away." he warned.

"Mmmm, no. Think it's good to keep you on your toes." she said, "Besides, I think you like it a little more than you let you on." she smirked and now he was blushing.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, love." he chuckled a bit nervously and she bit her lip as her eyes trailed down to his soft ones. So pretty and pink, he definitely noticed.

"OK, we'll talk soon."

"Definitely." he assured and he watched her pull out of his driveway with a half hard cock and a muttered curse. He didn't know how yet, but he was gonna make her his.

READ ONE SHOT FOR PART 2

[sminiac]

its me 🦭 anon again!! i absolutely love what you wrote for my request oh my godd, especially keeho's. i can't stop thinking about how teasing he'd be now that you've talked about it, and the way his grip would be so tight tryna keep your legs apart😮‍💨i might babble on too much rn but the thought of cumming hard over his tongue already yet he doesn't even pull away at all. i got a feel he'd wanna overstimulate you further and suck even harder just to make you writhe beneath him. just bc he thinks you're so adorable when you can't push him away bc he's holding you down😵‍💫😵‍💫 he's just mumbling some excuse about how he wants to lick you clean of your release that's why he isn't done yet, . ..also feel like he really gets off on the way you're trying your best to keep your noises down so yall don't get caught, he loves seeing you so helplessly pleasured, knowing he's driving you so crazyy

jiung too🫣 the way you wrote for him seems so romantic i love it a lottt, imagine being spoiled by him fr. i absolutely love dedicated guys aagh. oh and morning head w him means a soft session of him eating you out so so cute, especially when he feels you tug lightly on his hair still so messy just from waking up yk. he's obsessed w ur moans bc he loves ur voice from when you've just woken up too🫠🫠i need a jiung rn

...actually im gonna admit im just a baby p1ece, i became a fan because i really can't stop listening to their new song , "killin it":''') i was wondering if you have any recommendations for like shows/series i could watch of piwon to get to know them better? like weekly reality shows of them if they have any, idk where to start :(

GIRL PLEASE. IF ANYTHING BABBLE MORE 🗣️

Overstim w Keeho? I’m actually so ???? The way he literally would try to come up with some fleeting excuse so he can keep himself nestled between your legs, it wouldn’t even completely make sense but you relent because he just looks so pretty and the slackness of your legs jolting with every suck of his lips followed by his tongue feels so good.

No shame in being new to piwon! None at all, just means you’re someone else who I can share my thoughts with :b

I think their ‘PLOG’ playlist would help with remembering their names and faces quite well, their voices too, just so they’re more distinct from each other, and so you can get a better feel of their personalities because it’s mainly the boys yapping, the videos are fairly short if you have a smaller attention span :b

I’d recommend watching their vlogs too! For example ‘P1HARMONY in WORLD’ on YouTube is really comforting and fun, especially so you can get a semi-familiarness with them outside of the more traditional curated section of their life, if that makes sense! Just because personally I love the rawness of the members just whipping out a camera and being silly without bright hot lights in their faces and a general wave they have to follow. ‘HARMONY CLIP’ is also a really good playlist, there’s a lot of comfort videos in there for me, it mainly consists of vlogs from their tours, bts of their mv’s, all that fun stuff, kind of similar to in world.

‘피원모하니’ playlist has all the professionally produced videos, ex: (SAESSAK HARMONY, HARMONY FOREST, LEGENDARY MOVE, HARMONY ADVENTURE) which I’m pretty sure consists of mini games and such? I myself haven’t even made it through all the videos :,)

Ahhh also their practice videos are really entertaining to watch, if you’re wanting to get into some of their more ‘dated’ discography! ‘BFF choreography video’ and ‘BIGBANG Dance practice kcon 2023’ are my favs!

I hope I’m of some help, and don’t worry about watching every single video they’ve ever released because there’s so many and it can seem overwhelming! Have fun <3

[aesteraceae]

Boiling Over

Pairing: Minho/Chan, Minho & Chan

Rating: Gen

Summary: Chan has a nasty habit of throwing his health to the wind, and when his mind finally cracks under the pressure, Minho is there to help him through it.

Word count: 4.1k

Tags under the cut!

Tags: SFW, Age regression, hurt/comfort, stress relief, Chan is overworking himself as usual, Minho has Things To Say about that, angst, little Bang Chan, Caregiver Lee Minho, stim toys, panic attacks, crying, autistic Bang Chan

Also posted on ao3 here.

Notes: This will be part of a series of Chan age regressing because I am contractually obligated to project on Chan whenever I can. This is also for his birthday. No I'm not 2 weeks late shut UP.

Also, this fic isn't explicitly romantic in any sense beyond Chan calling Minho pretty like once, I wrote it with the implication that they like eachother (bc I'm a minchan truther at heart) but you can 1000% read this fic as platonic with no trouble at all.

Tags: @simpracha @sunnyville36 @toastyseungmo @sstarryyoong @decaffedthoughts @bunnypig18 @xcookiemonsteer

This is not going well.

Chan forces himself not to slam the studio door behind him, slumping down into his desk chair and shoving his hands into his hair.

His entire morning was spent talking with department executives and marketing managers and other producers, all asking him the same question; when will the next title track be ready.

And Chan has had to tell every single one of them, multiple times, that no it isn't finished and yes he's working on it and no he doesn't need any help.

It's almost finished, is the thing. He has the guide, tentative lyrics, he's even shown it to the other members, but he doesn't like it.

He's been doing this a very long time, he knows what a good song sounds like, knows what he's capable of making, and this is so far from his best he's terrified to show it to anyone.

The other members said they liked it, of course, but Chan knows better than to take their words at face value. He doesn't think they'd lie out of malice, of course, but they can all see the way Chan has been... Strung a little tighter than usual, lately.

He wouldn't put it past them to just say the song is good to not anger him or stress him out further. And he can't even blame them, really— if anyone said anything about the song to him right now, positive or otherwise, he doesn't know what he'll do.

Break something, probably. Or cry.

He wants to do both right now, but he shoves the urges away and opens up the editing software. He grabs his headphones a bit too hard and knocks over their stand, and he just watches it clatter to the floor, loudly.

He leaves it there.

Maybe kicks it a little, just for good measure.

It's probably not good to let this anger simmer underneath the surface like this, especially if one of the others comes to check on him, but he doesn't have time to go blow off steam in the gym.

Instead, he puts his headphones on and opens the file, shoving his anger into a box to be dealt with later.

· · ────────── ·𖥸· ────────── · ·

Chan's anger never lingers, at least not when it's because of stress.

By that night, nearing 2 in the morning, all of his anger has fizzled out into bone-deep exhaustion.

His ears ache under the headphones, but he left his earbuds in the dorms so he ignores the pain. Similarly, something in his back keeps sending sharp pains throughout his body every time he shifts wrong, and it's unpleasant, but it fades after a moment so he doesn't bother worrying about it.

He's listening to a new version of the track when he feels the anger starting to bubble up again, except it's decided to show itself in tears this time rather than violence.

He will not cry over a song, he won't.

But it's horrible. It feels like every change he makes somehow makes the song worse, even the tricks he's relied on in the past. He's searched for inspiration, looked at old songs, even rewritten entire sections but it's still wrong.

He claws the headphones off and presses his hands into his eyes until bright colors flash behind them, forcing the tears back. The burn of it forces his brain to reconnect with his body, and he realizes that he hurts all over.

How long has he been sitting here?

Shakily, he reaches for his phone.

There's a few messages in the group chat, an email from the project designer that he swiftly ignores, and 3 missed calls from Minho.

Fuck.

He's trying to calculate the math of how long he's been in here and how he missed his ringtone 3 times in a row when someone knocks on the door.

Chan considers not answering, pretending the room is empty. He can't let anyone else see him in this state, he cant. tears are clinging to his lashes, he's in pain, and he doesn't even remember the last time he slept.

There's a moment when he thinks it will work, if he stays very still, but then the door clicks open.

Minho pushes into the room, placing his key card neatly back into his bag.

He looks like he just got out of the shower, hair still damp and fluffy, cheeks still a bit flushed from the heat. He's pretty, because Minho always is, and Chan almost says so before he gets a hold of himself.

"Minho!" He says, instead, running hands through his hair both to tame the rat's nest it must be and to hide how wet his eyes are.

Fuck, his back hurts. When did just moving his arms over his head start to hurt this badly?

"Chan. It's like 2 in the morning, why are you still working?"

Minho has that disapproving look in his eyes, dark and unquestionable. He must be here to drag Chan back to the dorms, but he can't go back yet, not with the song like this.

"Oh, you know how it is. I, uh, got in the zone, I guess."

Minho shoots him an unimpressed look and reaches into his bag, pulling out a bottle of water.

He must have grabbed it from the breakroom downstairs, and the tiniest sliver of affection breaks through the panic buzzing through his veins.

He doesn't wait for Chan to take the bottle, just uncaps it and forces it into his hand. Chan knows better than to fight when Minho gets like this, so he drinks.

And... Fuck.

The water feels like heaven in his mouth, cool and refreshing and perfect. His head relents in its pounding, and he slumps down into the chair.

Minho passes him another bottle and takes the empty one, and Chan doesn't have to look at him to see his disapproving look.

"How long have you been working in here?" Minho asks, picking up his headphone stand from across the room. Huh, he'd almost forgotten about that.

"Couple hours," He lies, trying and failing to figure out the real answer. For some reason he can't wrap his brain around the numbers, the passage of time — he isn't sure when he even got here, just that it was daytime... Maybe morning? Noon?

"Bullshit. None of us have even seen you today, and you missed dinner. What's going on?"

Chan ducks under the anger in Minho's voice, trying to hide the tremor in his hands.

"Nothing's going on," He tries, "I promise I'm fine. I grabbed something from downstairs a little while ago." It's a flimsy lie, and he knows it doesn't land the moment he finishes speaking.

Minho just clicks his tongue and walks over to the trashcan in the corner, perfectly empty. The studio is immaculate, no trace of a wrapper or package.

Minho is silent for a long moment, only speaking when Chan starts to squirm, practically burning alive with the awkwardness and disapproval. He doesn't know why it's bothering him so much, but Minho looks upset, upset with Chan, and it almost hurts worse than his back.

"I thought we agreed not to lie to eachother, Chan." Minho finally says, and there's a hint of pain, there, under the anger.

Chan honest to God whines, trying to curl in on himself and stopping with a wince. He doesn't want to lie, especially not to Minho. He doesn't want to be a disappointment, doesn't want to be bad.

Minho doesn't like being lied to, he hates it, they've had so many arguments over little white lies that Chan or the others didn't think we're important but hurt Minho deeply. Chan knows Minho hates being lied to, but here he is doing it, without a second thought.

He's horrible.

"M' sorry," He mumbles, twisting his fingers into his jeans. He's being bad, and Minho is disappointed in him, and he has every right to be.

Part of Chan is screaming to correct the issue, but a far stronger part wants to sit in this discomfort, squirm under Minho's pained and angry gaze. He deserves it, Chan thinks. It's a fitting enough punishment, this gnawing ache in his chest that begs for praise forced to receive the opposite.

It hurts, but Chan deserves it for being bad, for hurting Minho.

... Wait.

Chan blinks, vision refocusing on a spot on the wall. Being bad?

No. No no no no no-

"I'm really okay," He says, a little bit frantic, heart rate picking up, because this cannot be happening.

The only reason he'd be thinking like that, thinking he deserves punishment or that he was being bad is if he was slipping, and that cannot happen with Minho in here.

"I'll be back home in an hour, okay?" He says, spinning in the chair so he doesn't have to look at Minho. Something about him being here is making Chan slip, hard, And maybe looking away would solve the issue. He just has to get Minho to leave, then he can handle this on his own and everything will be fine.

"No, you've been here long enough. I'm taking you home."

No.

"Min, I'm not-"

Minho just holds up a hand, pulling Chan's chair away from the desk and back to face him.

"This isn't a discussion. I won't let you weasel your way out of it, either— you've been in here for at least nine hours, that's enough. You need food and sleep."

"I'm fine. I'll grab something from downstairs, alright? But I really need to get this finished."

Minho doesn't answer— he just reaches over the desk to save the file. Chan doesn't realize what he's doing until his hand shifts to the power button, clicking off his laptop.

"Minho!" Chan snaps, trying to swat his hands away, but Minho just closes the laptop and shoves it into his bag, zipping it up tight.

"Are you seriously— Minho, give that back!"

Minho ignores him, grasping his arm and pulling. Chan stumbles out of the chair, and any other day it would be perfectly fine, but his back immediately protests at the movement.

He collapses down to his knees, trying to breathe through the pain and keep himself from crying. He will not cry in front of Minho, he won't.

"Chan? Hey, what's wrong?" Minho is crouched in front of him, anger entirely forgotten in favor of worry.

And Chan tries, he really does, but his back hurts and he knows he's already crying, and he can feel his grip on everything sensible slipping away.

"Leave," He begs, even though he knows it's futile. Minho won't leave him like this because he's a good friend, and he cares, and right now that care is going to burn Chan alive.

"I'm not going anywhere, Chan. I'm right here. You're safe, I've got you."

Chan whines against his will, listing forward, further into Minho's arms. He takes him easily, sitting completely on the floor to pull Chan into his lap. And Chan goes, because Minho feels so much bigger than him right now. He doesn't stand a chance at resisting, and he wants to sit in Minho's lap, wants to cry into his shoulder and know that the world won't end once he's done.

"Min..." He mumbles, wet and pathetic and sad, and Minho makes a noise like a wounded animal.

"Come here, Chan." He urges, even as Chan tucks his head into Minho's neck.

He puts a hand on Chan's neck, gently playing with the hair curling there, and the other slips underneath his shirt to rub massaging circles into the small of his back.

Chan doesn't even stand a chance— he drops so hard and so fast that he has to blink his vision back into focus.

His eyes slip right back closed, though, because Minho is still massaging him, both his neck and back, steadily loosening the knots and aches there.

It's good, it's blissful, and Chan lets his mind go entirely blank.

· · ────────── ·𖥸· ────────── · ·

The thing with Chan is that he never knows when to quit.

Well, that's not quite true. Most of the time, he's perfectly happy to quit, when necessary; scrapping a song or going back to the foundations of a dance, but sometimes, like now, he gets so caught up in finishing something that he can't even fathom the idea of stopping.

Minho knew Chan was spiraling, he’s known since this morning when Chan refused breakfast and left the dorms in a hurry for a meeting. He knew when he didn’t respond in the group chat, he knew when Chan missed three of his calls in a row.

Guilt settles deep in Minho's stomach as he holds Chan, shuddering and shaking and hurting. He talked himself out of dragging Chan back for dinner because he thought he was worrying too much, but now he cant help but think that he didn’t worry enough. There are headphone marks around his ears, for god's sake.

“You’re okay, I’ve got you. Just relax, Chan, I’ve got you.” And god, Minho didn’t think it was possible to feel fondness and fear at the same time, but here he is. Chan nuzzles further into his neck, trembling all over, and Minho has absolutely no idea what to do. Chan rarely cries in front of them, and even if he does the very last thing he wants is to be comforted.

It makes Minho’s chest hurt, sometimes, how insanely solitary Chan gets when he’s upset, but this is almost worse. He’s so far gone that Chan cant help but cling to him. Minho blinks tears back.

“Let’s get you to the couch, yeah? Come on, Channie, it’ll be more comfy there.” Chan whines, unwilling to move, so Minho does something a bit stupid.

He shifts Chan just enough that he can loop his arm underneath his legs, settling the other around his back.

Chan is heavy, but not too heavy for Minho to carry a few feet. He settles them back onto the couch, lying down so Chan can stretch his back a bit. The new position seems to switch something in Chan, and his sobs quiet, somewhat. He slips one of his arms up to cup Minho’s neck, like he’s… Oh. Like he’s feeling his heartbeat. His ear is pressed right over his heart, as well.

God, Minho is going to explode from all of this sympathy one day.

“That’s it,” He soothes, “I'm here. Feel my heartbeat? Try and breathe with me, okay? Can you do that for me?” The words come easy — Years of helping the other members through panic and anxiety attacks make things like this nearly second nature. In any other scenario Minho might feel awkward about speaking to Chan like this — not condescending, exactly, but something akin to it — but right now, anything else feels like a cardinal sin. Chan needs softness, right now; he needs a gentle voice to guide him, to remind him that its okay for him to relax.

It takes him a while, maybe 10 minutes, to completely match Minho’s breathing, but he’s so determined that it's almost cute. His voice hiccups every now and then and Minho can see the frustration on his face, but he just tries again with the same determination.

Minho is besotted. He knows it, and he doesn't really try to hide the love in his eyes as he looks down at Chan, whispering sweet encouragements into his ear as his breathing steadily evens out.

“Good job, Chan,” he whispers, when the last of the tension drains out of his shoulders. Chan hums and shifts to look up at him, eyes wide and glossy and vulnerable, and Minho forgets how to breathe.

“I was good?” He whispers, voice rough from crying but still somehow higher than normal, so sweet that Minho has to take a long, deep breath before he can respond. “So good. Look, you’re breathing smooth again, right?”

Chan nods, settling his head back against Minho’s chest, and Minho almost feels bad for being relieved, but Christ. That look, his eyes, so trusting and soft and loving, its—

It’s a lot.

It’s good.

“Breathing with Hyung,” Chan says, sweet, almost sing-song, and Minho…

Hm.

Minho starts to pet Chan's hair again, smiling when he melts against his chest, and takes advantage of it to think.

Minho knows a lot of things. He’s researched a lot of things, either for Jisung or Felix or Jeongin, ways to deal with stress or handle panic attacks or sensory overloads, anything he might need to make sure he knew what to do if one of the members needed him.

This… Minho thinks he knows what this is.

It would make sense, really. Chan joined the company at 13, barely a teenager and still very much a child, put into a stress-filled environment in a new country alone. It would make perfect sense for Chan to cope with that stress by regressing into a younger age, where he wouldn't have to think about training or producing.

That guilt pokes at him again — Chan has been stressing over this song for ages, and Minho knew, but he thought Chan could handle it, or at least that Chan would ask Jisung or Changbin for help.

None of that mattered now, though. Now Chan needs him, and they can talk about asking for help later.

“Hyung?”

Minho has to bite his lip to keep from cooing at how cute Chan sounds, schooling his expression into something calm and attentive.

"Yeah, baby?"

Chan takes a moment to preen at the nickname, but takes a deep breath and sobers. Minho can't help but frown— the serious expression, while familiar, doesn't seem to suit Chan, right now.

"I'm sorry for lying. 'was mean. I know you don' like it, but I was scared. Sorry."

Minho's heart breaks.

A million microscopic pieces, each and every one sucked into Chan's eyes, big and just the slightest bit teary.

"Oh, Darling. It's okay, I understand. It's okay to be scared." He bites his lip before continuing, but... well. It did hurt, and Minho would only feel worse about it if he didn't even express it.

"But, baby, in the future, you can just tell me what's wrong. I promise, I won't judge or be angry with you for telling the truth, okay?"

Chan nods, crawling up slightly to tuck his head underneath Minho's chin.

"I will, promise."

Minho can't help himself, he presses a soft kiss against Chan's hair. "Thank you for apologizing, baby. You're very sweet."

Chan is silent for a moment, and then—

"Chan?" Minho yelps, gasping a little, because Chan is... sucking on his collarbone?

He jerks back, already babbling out apologies, but Minho pets his cheek to soothe him. "It's okay, it's okay, I was just startled, baby, that's all."

Chan quiets, staring down at his hands in his lap, and there's something in his eyes, a hint of awareness, and... well. Maybe it's a bit selfish, but Minho doesn't want Chan to come out of this headspace just yet. He seems relaxed, less worn down by racing thoughts, more willing to be honest and ask for what he needs.

And Minho wants to provide. He wants to keep helping Chan like this, and maybe it does make him selfish, but Chan needs this, and Minho won't deny him.

"Here, can you hop off of me for a moment, little one?" The nickname does the trick— Chan whines a little and backs up so Minho can move, leaning against the couch like he can't sit up on his own. It's adorable, and Minho moves quickly so he can hold Chan again.

He brought his bag up here because he suspected that Chan would need some things— water, earbuds, painkillers— but there's also a little pocket full of stuff for Seungmin. Noise-canceling headphones, a few stim toys, and what Minho's after now, chewable toys.

Headphones are probably a bad idea now so he leaves those, but he takes out everything else and spreads them out in his hands.

The chewable toys are brand new— they're in the bag for emergencies, but Seungmin is just as overly prepared as he is so they're hardly ever needed — so he opens one of the bags and offers it to Chan.

"You can bite and suck on this for now, okay?"

Chan takes it tenderly, looking awestruck. "But... this is yours?"

Minho puts the other toys on the side table and sits beside him again, suppressing a smile when Chan immediately burrows back into his side.

"They're for whoever needs them, and I think you need them right now. I can... get you something else later, once we've talked about it, but if you just want something to do with your mouth, that should help."

Minho adds a few more things to his list of Things To Talk to Chan About When He's Big Again. Pacifiers, maybe, and Minho specifically caring for him, definitely.

Chan eyes the toy warily for a moment, like he doesn't believe that he can actually have it, but eventually he bites down on it.

His eyes light up.

He doesn't really chew it so much as he sucks on it, but his eyes droop a little and his shoulders slump.

Maybe Minho doesn't entirely suck at this, at least.

"There we go. Is that better?"

Chan nods, eyes slipping fully closed.

"Good. Come on, I'll put on some music, how about that?"

Chan perks up at that, slipping the toy out of his mouth to babble, "Can you sing? Please, Hyung? I'll be good!"

Minho blinks, "You don't have to be good." It comes out without his permission, but he doesn't backtrack. "I don't want you to worry about being good or not disobeying. You're perfect, Chan."

Chan stares at him for a beat, and then he breaks. He whines, high in the back of his throat, and tears flood over his cheeks in waves.

"Whoa, baby, baby, it's okay," Minho is on him in an instant, pulling Chan into his arms and rocking them like he did before.

"M' not, not perfect, not-" He cuts himself off with a painful-sounding hiccup, and Minho's heart aches.

"Shh, little one, it's okay." He says, growing frantic, because it isn't working. Chan is trembling, and instead of hugging Minho back he's covering his face, sobbing into his hands instead of Minho's chest. This is different, this is new, and Minho needs a different approach.

So. He sings.

It starts out shaky, because he's on the verge of tears himself and hasn't sung at all today, but he settles into it easily.

It's a song Chan wrote for him months ago, unreleased because he hasn't had the time to record it. It's short, unfinished, and Minho prays that it'll work.

He's on the second chorus before he notices any change, and it feels like the first sip of water in a desert. Chan shudders, cries quieting, finally tucking his head into Minho's neck.

He tightens his grip, remembering that Chan liked tight hugs, and he breathes.

He sings through the end of the song and Chan finally stops sobbing, just tiny little whimpers against Minho's chest, and he leans them back against the couch.

"I've got you," He murmurs, thinking of the first lines to Chan's favorite song, "I've got you, baby."

· · ────────── ·𖥸· ────────── · ·

Chan wakes up a few hours later, cheeks itchy with dried tears and more relaxed than he's felt in years.

He's... hm. He's lying on Minho's chest.

Minho is asleep, long eyelashes fluttering as his eyelids shift, and Chan can't help but settle back against his chest.

Minho hums, readjusting his hand to hold Chan a little more securely.

"Go back to sleep, little one," He murmurs, voice thick with sleep and fondness.

Jesus. He hasn't slipped up like that in front of someone since he was a trainee.

Chan flushes pink, hazy memories flooding back. He remembers crying, a lot, calling Minho hyung...

Chan can feel mortification creeping up on him, but Minho must notice that he isn't relaxing, because he tightens his grip. One of his hands comes up to hold the back of Chan's head, guiding his ear over Minho's chest.

The steady thump-thump thump-thump of Minho's heartbeat makes Chan melt, against all his better wishes.

"...thank you, hyung."

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 10/02/2024

Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season” is still #1, it’s a short episode, you really probably should skip it - there's nothing of value discussed here... welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

This is not a good week. You could call it a stale week, it’s probably accurate, because there’s not much of interest and what is here is mostly utter garbage. Potentially, up there with the worst weeks ever in terms of new arrivals to the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, and speaking of what I cover, notable dropouts are songs exiting said top 75 after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40, and this week, we bid adieu to: “Skin and Bones” by David Kushner, “neé-nah” by 21 Savage, Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, “Practice” by Drake, “Pink Friday Girls” and “Everybody” featuring Lil Uzi Vert by Nicki Minaj and finally, “Paint the Town Red” by Doja Cat. One highlight of this dire week is that I’m not really complaining about any of that.

Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” returns to #67, what a joy, as well as “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #62 and “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus at #51. Can’t help but think the GRAMMYs had some influence on these. As for notable gains, we see boosts for Taylor’s “Is it Over Now?” at #68, “MY EYES” by Travis Scott at #65, “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish at #58, “Would You (go to bed with me?)” by Campbell and Alcemist at #52, “Perfect (Exceeder)” by Mason vs. Princess Superstar at #39, “Runaway” by Ye featuring Pusha T at #35, seemingly because well, there may or may not be an album coming because that’s what we needed: more discourse. Then we have “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi at #31, “Selfish” by Justin Timberlake at #29 (why are we doing this?), “exes” by Tate McRae at #23, “Alibi” by Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental at #16 (Christ), and we end with two positives at least, as YG Marley and Benson Boone both get their first top 10s with pretty damn good songs, in my opinion: “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” at #9 and “Beautiful Things” at #5, which brings us to that top five, which is otherwise completely the same as last week. Jack Harlow’s at #4, Teddy Swims at #3, Sophie Ellis-Bextor at #2 and for a sixth week, Noah Kahan at #1. You know the song names off by heart by now, and I need some time to let off a deep sigh before rattling off the new songs. Oh, boy, the new songs.

New Entries

#75 - “Out for Love” - Andrew Underberg, Sam Haft and Daphne Rubin-Vega

Produced by Andrew Underberg and Sam Haft

So, Hazbin Hotel was a web pilot by Vivienne Medrano or “ViziePop” that was later picked up by Amazon as a television series this year. It is a musical animated series hence has several soundtrack singles, and given the weak charts and viral nature of the show, some of them have ended up here. I watched the pilot and first four episodes of the series, and found it genuinely quite difficult to stomach - I love adult animation, I love musicals, I actually even like the art style - it was the narrative elements of the show that killed it for me, and this is not a TV review blog, it’s a music review blog. I knew at least one song would debut as the midweek update showed one song at #73, I figured that would be the only song and it could potentially not even appear, so I wrote a very tersely-worded review for that song in particular. It’s a bit… not all that useful anymore, for lack of a better phrase. So I’m largely not going to be covering these. This is from the seventh episode, which I haven’t seen. Song doesn’t make any Goddamn sense to me. Journalism.

#74 - “Thank You (Not So Bad)” - Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Tiesto, Dido and W&W

Produced by Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Tiesto, W&W, Bassjackers and Renze Michels

Okay, if you’re going to credit a grand total of five EDM producers, why not go the full mile and have all eight pick out a lead? Also, I would ask how eight people were involved in producing this if I had any doubts that it wasn’t just an uncredited guy who got paid to sell this lazy sample flip off to people with actual star power. A sample flip of what, you may ask? Sigh… well, if there’s anything vaguely positive I can say about “Alibi” is that it’s influential. This is somehow even lazier, however, so I guess let’s start with some kind of history.

First of all, Dido’s “Thank You” is a perfectly fine, honest song that peaked at #3 in 2001 - “Do You Really Like It?” by DJ Pied Piper & the Masters of Ceremonies rightfully took #1 that week - and whilst I’ve never been a big fan, I can definitely see why the melancholy downtempo ballad resonates with people, and on a bad day, I can definitely throw this on and feel a little hope. This is a bad chart day, and if “Thank You” were to chart in its original form, it could perhaps be a reminder that things are, despite everything, it’s not so bad. So I imagine rap fans will know one of if not both of the uses of this song in popular hip hop, the first being Eminem’s classic “Stan”, probably my second favourite of his. It actually did #1 for one week in 2000, before the original had charted. It’s a stark and incredibly clever recontextualisation of the song that I’m pretty sure has already been discussed as much as possible, there’s a reason why many consider it Em’s crowning moment. Rae Sremmurd, “Lean’s Gone Cold”… maybe not so much. That one didn’t chart, but it’s funny.

Now there is precedent for house remixes of “Thank You”, and whilst I’m willing to consider interpretations and reimaginings of practically any song as any different style, I feel like making “Thank You” more danceable than just a vague nodding of the head skews some of the narrative’s tone? It definitely makes for a weirder, more dissonant listen, and whilst the Deep Dish remix, actually a GRAMMY Award-winning remix, does its best to maintain the atmosphere in its nine minutes, turning “not so bad” into a faint, looping mantra under a constantly developing house groove, to the point where it is a genuinely pretty great house song production wise… it still doesn’t feel like a great adaptation of “Thank You”, just a different product entirely, which makes sense and honestly makes for a better song. It doesn’t try and be “Thank You”, despite not even registering itself as an original song, just a remix of the original still credited solely to Dido. In 2016, European electro house duos Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and W&W made a song called “Arcade”, it’s a loud, compressed smorgasboard of cheap synth sounds made for a live festival setting and being practically unlistenable outside of that context. In 2020, German producers Felix Jaehn and VIZE made a much more conventional and, at least in terms of how much it cribs from the original, a more faithful rendition of “Thank You”, subtitled “Not So Bad”. It’s a flavourless tropical house riff that I think the world would be better off not hearing, it’s like “Thank You” by Dido if she was commissioned to make it by an advertising company looking for a soundtrack to gym commercials.

Somewhere across the line, I guess it must have been Tiesto who said, “What if we made a version of that Felix Jaehn song but basically in the soundfont of “Arcade”?” - the latter even being directly listed as a sample on Genius. I mean, otherwise, I don’t know what the Hell Tiesto is doing here but, generally, you have to be shitting me, right? This is two minutes and 20 seconds constructed out of bits and pieces of songs I may not like but had a lot more purposeful artistic intent to them, if that’s a correct way of phrasing it. This is a vaguely functional crap-shoot molded from genuine song ideas, starting with a gentle singer-songwriter track that actually means a Hell of a lot to millions of people. I’d believe that to many fans, that Rae Sremmurd rendition means a lot to them. What does this mean to anybody?

#63 - “Bandit” - Don Toliver

Produced by ReidMD

I don’t like Don Toliver, really, or Tame Impala for that record, but there’s a level of inherent quality here, right? Don can sing, Tame Impala can construct a vibe and the sample here is “One More Hour” from their 2020 album The Slow Rush, it’s completely serviceable, could make for a good song. So why the sample is rendered in such low quality screeching is beyond me, but hey, maybe a powerful beat could work? Oh, the trap skitter is not only completely rote and overdone, it’s really high in the mix and distracts from the bass, which could really help make this song work? Okay, well, what’s Don doing? Being basically a cartoon character with his flows and incessant ad-libs? Well, that could be fun - oh, he’s comparing himself to Marilyn Manson? Barely rhyming? Catching a good, intense flow only to mumble repeated lines mostly about having sex that make up much of the song, with a tiny verse in the middle? Well, maybe the outro can make up for it - oh, he’s doing a Cookie Monster impression. Welp, all hope is lost.

#55 - “Poison” - Blake Roman, Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg

Produced by Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg

This is an upbeat synthpop jam that soundtracks a sex slavery montage. It sounds like a song by The Weeknd covered by a SpongeBob AI voice model. Next.

#53 - “Loser, Baby” - Andrew Underberg, Sam Haft, Keith David and Blake Roman

Produced by Sam Haft and Andrew Underberg

This was the song that made me turn the fourth episode off in disgust. I had a massive review prepared, covering its treatment of sexual abuse, which probably gave it a higher degree of nuance and generosity than many others are willing to give it, but I’m not compelled to rant about cartoons in this series. I want to write about animation more often but preferably animation I like or actually find compelling. With all respect to those who enjoy it and power to them, Hazbin Hotel was not something I would like to grant any more attention than the brief necessity of my format. Thanks for understanding.

#40 - “Home” - Good Neighbours

Produced by Good Scott and Oli Fox

I was very much willing to give this one a good shake because, I mean, what else do we have? Scott and Fox teased this on TikTok months prior before releasijng this as their official debut single together, after malformed, quickly aborted solo runs a few years ago. Sounds like a recipe for chart success and oh, the song’s terrible. It has a whistle about as charming as the American Authors’ milennial whoops, really insufferably screeching vocal tones that remind me of Passion Pit more than anything - that isn’t really a good thing - and sentimental lyrics about what home means to him, which would be completely serviceable without the stiff, grooveless splodge of grey matter that calls itself a chorus. Oh, and you know those sentimental lyrics? They’re gone by this point, it’s an incredibly manipulative breakup song with some really gross attempts at poetry - “wrap my name across your mouth when I let my feelings down”? Ew, man, Charlie Puth is less contrived than this. Naturally, the song goes nowhere and sadly, that probably won’t be its chart trajectory. Yet, once again, this song is practically unlistenable.

Conclusion

…Don Toliver gets Best of the Week. Somehow. Thanks for reading, I guess? See you next whenever.

[dailykoreanpop]

Ateez realizes importance of direct interactions with fans during world tours

SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap) -- Last year was probably one of the busiest years for Ateez, a rising fourth-generation K-pop group. The octet performed in front of 430,000 fans in the past one year and two months during its two "The Fellowship" world tours in North America, Europe and Asia.

"It was good to show various performances to fans, whom we had not seen for a long time, and we were able to better understand their needs regarding our future path or what kind of songs they want to hear more," team leader Hongjoong said during a group media interview at a Seoul cafe Wednesday.

He added he could see in person fans' preferences in the band's songs are all different depending on their regions.

Member San chimed in, saying, "I realized this is what should be expected from the interaction between fans and artists."

The two members singled out Paris as the most memorable stop of the tours.

Fans in Paris had a special way to welcome the group, which was to stamp their feet, during its first world tour in 2019.

"I slightly expected the same thing when we went there again this time, and it did happen. Since there were more spectators, I found the energy coming from the cheering very fresh and marvelous," Hongjoong said.

Wooyoung, a main dancer of the team, chose Belgium and Denmark because it was personally his first time to be there, and people cheered and sang along more often and more loudly.

The band now feels they have grown thanks to the recent tours, in particular in terms of good teamwork as well as performance and self-management skills.

Ateez debuted in October 2018 with its first EP, "Treasure Ep. 1: All to Zero," and has since released such hits as "Wave," "Wonderland," "Deja vu," "The Real" and "Guerrilla."

The group entered the Billboard 200 main albums chart for the first time at No. 42 in 2021 with its seventh EP, "Zero: Fever Part. 3." In 2022, the band reached No. 3 on the chart with its eighth EP, "The World Ep. 1: Movement." It became the band's first album to sell more than 1 million copies.

In order to present more music and performances with most pandemic restrictions lifted, 2023 will be a very important year for the group, Hongjoong said. Another reason he cited was that the band is now in the fifth year of its career, sitting in the middle point between being a rookie and a veteran.

Known for its intense and fierce music and performances, the group is now getting increasingly popular in South Korea following the latest hit, "Guerrilla," although the size of its domestic fandom still doesn't match that out of the country.

Asked whether it has any intention to veer off course to win more public appeal, Hongjoong confided: "Actually, we also have thought about that for a long time. Everyone would agree that having at least one hit song is good for artists, but that's not something one can achieve when they want."

He said the group will continue to keep from pursuing any change to appeal to broader music fans.

"However, we want to continue to produce music that more people can relate to within our framework," he added.

Credit: Yonhap News 

[starsunfirelight]

Ok so

I was too scared to post this before, but I think I'm going to do it now:

inspiration to finally post this:

a channel I watch all the time at the end of the year/when I remember/when it gets recommended to me lol

finally validated my opinions, when I thought I was alone

then someone in the comments mentioned a different channel so I thought i'd check it out:

and things started making a lot of sense. it's like this one person had the common sense that I could feel was missing from seemingly everyone I interacted with (watch videos) on the internet.

So I watch this:

after another video, and it's one I'd been meaning to watch a lot sooner, but it's been in my watch later for a long time and I guess it just got buried and I forgot about it lol

I never really check the watch later playlist unless I'm really bored and it's something I remember

(I am 100% a Spooky girl by the way (though for a different- I guess not directly but I have the vibes and those are things that I would do if it wasn't for the fact that I can't for some reason (yes I see the hypocrisy here but trust me on this)) and have been aware of it this whole time and it's also the exact type of person that I really hate and I think the word for it for the general public is "poser") (which is way more accurate to what I am imo)

(but like I get where they're all coming from and hope that they can all move on and get a more happier life where they can commit :> not sure what (face expression in the form of an emoticon/emoji) to put here but oh well )

but anyways, here we go!

(copy and pasted from my notes app) (wrote in the style of a YouTube video (at least at first) bc I am not original or creative but I just wanted to have fun lol) (more like have fun complaining and it was really bothering me and I just had to get it out there somehow) (I legit listened to this song for like 3 days straight until I had memorized all of the lyrics before the song would finally leave my head. :[ ) (again with the face thing, wanted to indicate mildly sad but frustrated not disappointed)

thoughts from today:

(the sentiment is totally taken straight from the comment section of the above videos and her performance with the cake being all messed up on SNL recently)

oliv (sic) is good and bad at the same time, but she’s getting better :)

I got target audience hit so hard like wow

olivia needs to learn to “kill” what she doesn’t like and go all in on being herself, :) it’s already happenin :)

still totally hate her producer by the way, if not specifically for these songs

like Blake put 90's(? idk I forget exactly it's been a while since I went obsessively looking for every single reaction video to her new song to see if anyone out there had the same opinion as me, but more as a way to see what opinon I "should" be having which sounds insane, I know, but I can't/ok couldn't help it and now I realize this is just high school glorified 😔 (ok real last edit so far (haha take that edits later) this was something I only begun to notice starting from Casually Explained's video (found via a hasanabi clip on my recommended who I clicked on bc of QT(he's a podcast host with her and his takes are so bad they're funny but I only know found out (have a better idea of now that I grew up more) they're bad because of other streamers but anyways-) https://youtu.be/MspHbnfEGno?si=KiiMRDYPIc9TK-TF) (here's a link to the original full video: https://youtu.be/l4Ioj4BA6N0?si=gUQ3ZeoyZ3DcGXLy) and then this one https://youtu.be/pII6mLdNawk?si=EWSF_g8Pl0fLOXHG and finally make the connection here myself lol)) but anyways put those drums on the track as a backing and it sounded SO MUCH BETTER than the original

so like yeah she definitely has the spirit, she just needs to talk to the right people, trust and learn from them, and have more people say "no" to her.

like seriously, and then she'll be really good!

like I mean it, her tracks are SO CLOSE to being really good, and I can see the idea behind them, that it makes me a little mad

all it needs is just a little creativity, or at least someone who really knows what they are doing and how to best implement it

like people think the production on the 1989 vault tracks left something to be desired and started making their own mixes, and I think that's what people should do with some of olivia rodrigo's music too! ok but like pretty isn't pretty was pretty much perfect so don't mess with that one lol

and also why I think the live performances sometimes sound so much better than the recorded version lol

y'know what? that could be a solution right there!

If you're bad at mixing, just do it live! Then it's all better anyways lol

haha ok time to let you guys see what I wrote when this song came out lol

like I really didn't want to be "that person" who complained about the thing that every teenager loves right now, but now I see that my complaints were valid because it's just a matter of opinion, and it's not the reason I was so mad lol (ok maybe like 0.01% but like I've been through this before and didn't hate the thing that was popular, maybe I was jealous? idk but still my complaints were mostly not for that reason, let's say lol (was looking for 😥 but couldn't find it lol - me from later, still editing this by only adding comments as I think the original should be preserved as much as possible bc it's interesting to look back at ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 😓😢😭💀👍🙂🐛✨ (man your recently used emojis really tell you a lot about your personality huh))

ok but anyways

here we go lol

the time is from when it was last edited on the notes app

August 3, 2023 at 18:10

hi

hey guys! So, today we’re going to be talking about 4 time Grammy winning musician Olivia Rodrigo’s latest hit single, vampire. This song reached number #1 on the Billboard hot 100 last week, and that’s almost to be expected of an artist like her. It also took YouTube by storm, (since it was sponsored, in part, haha, though I doubt it wouldn’t have blown up anyways) and I’m pretty sure it’s really popular on TikTok as well. (though I wouldn’t know, because I spend all of my time on YouTube shorts instead, lol) Ok now, personally, I liked her last album Sour, so I was excited to see what new song she came up with next! So, curious to see what it was, I checked it out on the trending page and… suffice to say, I was a little disappointed. I mean, it had such good parts, and musically, it was nice and I could tell what she was trying to do, but I mean, lyrically, I just felt like it could be better. Like, I’ve heard Taylor Swift songs in the past, and even if you don’t like her style, you’ve gotta admit she’s really good at writing lyrics. Not only does she convey her thought with such vivid imagery and a poetic stricture, but the words sound really nice to listen to as well. I’m not an English major, so I can’t go into too much depth there, but I’m sure there’s a lot of videos out there that can explain what I mean here. And as a personal anecdote, my 7th grade class was given her lyrics to Red to analyze for an assignment lol. So I mean, there’s one frame of reference for you guys, haha. But getting back to Vampire, her lyrics on there just don’t feel the same. I know they aren’t supposed to, but in its place they should adopt her own style. But to me, it just feels a bit… idk childish? I know I’m not that much older than her, but still. (Turns out she was 19 when she wrote this, which makes so much sense now, and that’s basically still a kid lol.) Taylor and Demi Lovato have both written great lyrics when they were both around her age. But, Taylor is kind of a lyrical poet, and Demi probably had a lot of help, since I looked on the Genius page and it said the song I want to compare later was cowritten by Nikki Williams, who was 25 at the time. So it’s a bit unfair to compare, but we’ll see.

Musically, I maybe I just don’t get pop opera, but I think the transition from piano to full on pop song is cool, but feels a bit misplaced. Like, it sounds like a good idea in concept, but I don’t know if it translated well. (as maybe she or the producer might have hoped.) But aside from that, maybe it’s just me but I think she liked the bridge-like(? idk just guessing here based off of my own feeling) chorus a bit too much, that she ended up relying on it to make the song great. Don’t get me wrong— musically, it’s a great part, and she should definitely be proud of herself for coming up with it as she did, but do you really have to repeat it 3 times?? I can definitely say that that it’s the key defining highlight of the song, but when you repeat it so much, it sounds tiring and overused. Imo People don’t care if you repeat the chorus a lot, because the chorus is almost meant to be repeated, but I really think that it sounds a bit too same when it’s repeated in this context. The beginning too, now that I mention it. But hey, this part could just be my own personal preference, and that’s valid too, I guess, since it’s just my opinion lol. 

And also, I heard someone say that the instrumental at the end left them wanting more, and I agree that it felt like it ended abruptly, and either it should have ended sooner, or maybe padded out a bit more? idk, but the ending just felt abrupt.

But I do have to say, I really liked the bridge part, and the rest of the song after. I just wish the whole song was good! I mean, imo they should have gone harder on the dramatic angle of it all, like maybe have her in black and white with red lipstick at the piano or something. Extend the craziness of her mind, even if she wasn’t? I don’t know haha, I don’t relate to the song, so this again this is probably just a personal preference. (lol Otto)

Especially the “girls your age know better” part was fire!!!! :)

Also, it sounds kind of like her previous songs, but that’s not really anything to worry about imo, because all artists are a bit privy to that, she said that’s what she was going for, in which case she nailed the “same but kinda different” kind of thing, and it’s not a bad thing imo.

But, I guess, now it’s time to look at the ;lyrics. (warning, I think some of it is childish and a bit cringe. if not, just hoping it could be better :(. )

Now, I know that writing good lyrics really doesn’t have to do with age, but more about your own maturity, and your maturity as a writer. I know it’s a bit unfair to compare as I made those comparisons before, but if you look into the lyrics a bit, hopefully you’ll start to see what I mean.

without further ado, here we go…

I ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴛɪsғᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ Asᴋɪɴɢ, “Hᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ɴᴏᴡ?” “Hᴏᴡ’s ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀsᴛʟᴇ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ᴏғғ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ?” Jᴜsᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ Lᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴄᴏᴏʟ ɢᴜʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ɪᴛ

Ok, so this isn’t too bad, (now after listening about 100 times I like the first 4 lines! :D) but “Lᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴄᴏᴏʟ ɢᴜʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ɪᴛ” sounds a bit playful, if not childish. If she’s taking on a childish tone on purpose because she’s still very “naive” as she mentions later, then I have to commend her for her genius. But also, it might show up unintentionally, as she mentioned that this song just came out of her head one day after a bad experience, so as a child, this might be just how she thinks, and on the spot, this is what she thought of. It makes me kind of miffed, and it’s a bit hard to listen to, but you can’t really blame her at the end of the day. Plus it sounds kind of cool! :D lkokolololol <- me on no sleep

I sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪᴀᴍᴏɴᴅs sᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇs ᴡʜᴇɴ I ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴇʏᴇs Sɪx ᴍᴏɴᴛʜs ᴏғ ᴛᴏʀᴛᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴀs s���ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀʙɪᴅᴅᴇɴ ᴘᴀʀᴀᴅɪsᴇ I ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʀᴜʟʏ Yᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛᴛᴀ ʟᴀᴜɢʜ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴜᴘɪᴅɪᴛʏ

Yo, can we take some time to take in the scenery? No? Ok, I guess that’s ok, and I’lll be in my own corner doing that I guess, lol :D (also comes up later, but that point it’s slow and I think it’s— you’ll find out later :))

Again, it’s fine, maybe trying a bit too hard, but the one thing that makes me mad is “stupidity”. It sounds so childish compared to the rest of the lyrics there, and I can’t think of a better lyric off of the top of my head, but I just know I wouldn’t use that word there— it gives me the ick, if you know what I mean.

it has real “they ask you how you are, and you just have to say you're fine when you're not really fine, but you just can't get into it, because they would never understand.” vibes lol.

here’s the chorus!! (though it feels like a bridge imo until the last two lines, but maybe that’s just the genre haha)

<3 love it sm omg !!! heart heart heart!!! :)

‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ I’ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙɪɢ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғɪɴᴇ I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ’ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ

I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ Tʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴛs As ʏᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ Oʜ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ, ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʀᴜsʜᴇʀ

Bʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴅʀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ … ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ

mentions the theme at the end, yay! lol like it wasn’t present before haha

and here comes my theory that the management wanted this part to take off on TikTok all along, because it’s really good (musically imo) but didn’t really put as much attention on the rest? Like girl, I thought we were on the same page about hating songs only made for TikTok! really short, and only having one good part, like you can tell! 

Like “If We Ever Broke Up” by Mae Stephens is the perfect _counter_ to this argument, because it got popular on TikTok and every part of that song is catchy and good, and I think the whole song is perfect. But then again, it’s also kind of short, but also I don’t think it needs to be longer, because then it’s overdone. 

But maybe the way Vampire was written was just because it was difficult to come up with! Idk, but I think it could really be due to anything, and I can’t say for sure, I know that. But anyways, I think lyrically, it’s a bit weak. and the ending made me want to listen to it more, which is a TikTok move, but also just because the song has some really good parts in it, which is just because the song is nice and not a TikTok move I don’t think haha :)

Honestly, “‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ I’ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙɪɢ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs” has kind of the same energy as “For one day, one day / I was really, really, really, really sad” by One Whole Day by Dixie D’Amelio. And she didn’t even write that song!

and so every time I hear that lyric, I get kind of cringe, it’s a bit sad. :( lol

but now I don’t mind after listening to it for like the 100th time lol

Moving on…

“Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғɪɴᴇ” this line is fine, and it would probably be fine among a sea of other lines that are better, but even still, it would be the weakest out of those lines, but satisfying nonetheless.

This song may be musically satisfying, but lyrically, it’s not. (edit, again, after listening to it about 100 times, I now don’t care about most of it but “dream crusher” still sounds cringe, but the go version probably isn’t.) I may not understand the pain, and I understand that in the middle of writing this song, she was probably thinking about her own emotional pain and not really caring about the lyrics, so I get why it’s like this, and I don’t mind one bit, because that’s her song. And, I mean, She probably wouldn’t have released it of she didn’t like it. haha, unless she was rushed? idk. probably not though!

But still, if you take that aspect away, it’s a bit hard to visualize, appearing weak at times, with a tell not show kind of approach, and at other times it feels like she’s trying too hard, giving the whole song an amateur kind of feel. But Sour wasn’t like this, and I just can’t get why. Like good 4 u had a lot of repetition too, but that was fine, because it felt like that part that was repeated was _meant_ to be repeated, and it was satisfying when it did. You knew what to expect, and it was a little predicable but that was fine. It was nice, even. But this song feels predictable in a kinda bad way, and I don’t really understand why. :(

Ok, back to looking at the lyrics, lol.

“I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ’ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ”

These lines are fire, and I like them. :) Not trying too hard, but not too weak either. It’s great :)

“I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ”

These lines make it sound like she still is very much naive, even if she didn’t mean it to sound that way. It’s also very her, especially in the way that she phrased it while singing, so I have to give her credit for that. Maybe this one is just a personal preference, for me lol Like maybe it rings true for her because it was and it’s just something that I’ve never thought about lol :)

Listening back, it sounds more like a facepalm than anything.

More lyrics…

“Tʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴛs As ʏᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ”

Ok, this part just sounds like she is trying too hard, which just makes me sad :(

Like I get imagery, for imagery’s sake, and like she really wanted to make this work, but still, I believe you’ll find the right balance someday as you mature as an artist and a person! :D I believe in you!!! <3

“Oʜ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ, ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʀᴜsʜᴇʀ”

“Bʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴅʀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ … ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ”

 I like this part, especially the rhythmic feel to it as the song speeds up later. I think the clean version is a bit silly though, and having the not clean version in the second line really delivers the impact. Though that same impact isn’t really felt for me in the first line, and “ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ” had more impact than when she used the bad word I think trying to have an impact (but that could also be just because I don’t know the context of that word, or it just sounds weird coming from a child like her, not really understanding the power that that word holds, but still wants people to take her seriously and think of her as a person who uses that word like “I’m not the kid that you think I am”). Haha, at this point I think she has more impact when she writes from the heart and isn’t trying lol. But that could be totally untrue, but it would be funny lol.

“Aɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ɢɪʀʟ I ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴀʟᴋᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ Tᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʙᴀᴅ, ʙᴀᴅ ɴᴇᴡs Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ Gᴏᴅ, I ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ I ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ ᴛᴏᴏ Yᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ sᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴠɪɴᴄɪɴɢ”

This sounds like classic high school drama from one perspective, but like her friends really care about her, from another. 

Musically, I wish it was more different than the opening, but I guess changing the beat kind of does that haha. It’s not bad, I guess. :0

“Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ғʟɪɴᴄʜɪɴɢ?”

What does this mean? Is this just there for the rhyme?

Like, if you’re only going for rhyme, I found this in the BuzzFeed article I was reading earlier of of curiosity “"Maybe then we could pretend / There's no gravity in the words we write / Maybe you didn't mean it / Maybe "blonde" was the only rhyme."” -Skin by Sabrina Carpenter

which I thought was way better lyrics than most of Olivia Rodrigo’s entire song Vampire. Just looking at the lyrics, and has nothing to do with their personal relationship, as I don’t really know about that.

But then again, maybe I was just too harsh, and this is just a reference to something that I don’t understand. Like I wouldn’t personally think about “flinching” when it comes to lying unless it was under a very specific context, but maybe that’s what Olivia Rodrigo is hinting at here, without explaining the whole story.

“(Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ? Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ? Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ?)”

Initially I thought Again, trying a bit too hard here, or maybe it didn’t really come across, but I like the idea that they were going for. 

But after reanalyzing the line before this, it makes more sense in that context, and also explains why she would be really hurt here. Especially because she repeats the line a lot, maybe meaning that he lied multiple times and really hurt her to make her want to repeat that line that much.

“Oʜ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀ ᴍᴇsᴍᴇʀɪᴢɪɴɢ, ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʏᴢɪɴɢ, ᴛʀᴀɢɪᴄ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴛʜʀɪʟʟ Cᴀɴ’ᴛ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ Aɴᴅ Gᴏᴅ ᴋɴᴏᴡs I ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴡɪʟʟ Wᴇɴᴛ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇʀ ‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ɢɪʀʟs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɢᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ”

This part is nice, “Oʜ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀ ᴍᴇsᴍᴇʀɪᴢɪɴɢ, ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʏᴢɪɴɢ, ᴛʀᴀɢɪᴄ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴛʜʀɪʟʟ” is kind of a lot to say at once, but I can respect it, it’s kind of like a emotion cake lol. “‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ɢɪʀʟs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɢᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ” :) those two last lines remind of her last album, and she does it so well here. :)

The bridge and chorus again sound epic with the increased tension from the instrumental :)

“Yᴏᴜ sᴀɪᴅ, “Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʀᴜᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇ”, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅɴ’ᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴇ ʜᴀʀᴅ? Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ, ‘ᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ I ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴇʟᴘ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ, ɴᴏᴡ I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ ‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ’s ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪɴɢ I’ʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ”

Now this really feels like her old album, and I really like this part :)

It’s really good, maintains her style lol, and no notes from me here :)

this part emotion makes up for aaall of the lyrics haha :)

or maybe that’s the lyrics? rhythm? idk, I just like this part, haha :)

“Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ, ‘ᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ” especially goes hard, and she’s finally writing in a way that’s not only really good poetry but sounds good to hear! I’m so glad! But she doesn’t have to do this if she doesn’t have to, I just think it’s cool that she did it here, haha

At first I was like did you really have to repeat the iconic part a third time? or is it the chorus at this point? Or was it all along? (yes) :thinking: emoji, but after a while, it’s not that bad. It rocks! And only listening to the last part of the song is epic!!!!!! :D the leadup, however it was executed, was worth it, haha :)

Overall, this song is not bad, great at times, even, but I just wish it was better because I get frustrated at its potential, especially because it reminds me of other songs that are really great at times like Heart Attack by Demi Lovato, and I really love that song, and it makes me frustrated that this song isn’t that one :(. After the “‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ’s ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪɴɢ I’ʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ” I’d often go into the chorus from Heart Attack lol :).

But seriously, Like, I get your range is limited, and it’s all about holding in that tension and not letting it go until the line drops (you know the one), but would it kill mainstream music to not hover around the same three notes every time? I’ve noticed it was a problem since Halsey’s “Without Me”, where I really felt that, (editor me from now stepping in to say that I didn't think of this, I just held it in my brain from another youtube video that I had watched years ago but then thought I should "agree" with it without really knowing about what I really thought (based on actually listening to the music) myself lol but then again I did notice it a bit more after I had it pointed out to me, mostly in Halsey - Without Me and Katy Perry - Never Really Over but that last one kinda I had the thought myself a bit at first but then I watched another youtube video and they really pointed to it there as the "death of pop music" but maybe not necessarily with the repeating/range I think idk it was a long time ago and I also liked Paramore - Hard Times a lot at this time but anyways) but maybe it’s just a stylistic choice that I got frustrated by lol, and in general all music isn’t like that. idk about this to say any more.

alright, I think that’s all of my thoughts about this song. ok bye! have a good night/day! :)

Oh wait one more thing. I want to address stan culture, the thing that I wanted to make this video about the most. You see, if you’ve noticed, on the comment section of this song, in most places that I looked, it was hard to find a single comment that was even sightly negative. Now, this could just mean that it’s a good song, but given the complaints I just had that I talked about earlier, it was hard for me to believe that was the case. In fact, that was what kind of started this whole thing, lol. But then, as I looked a bit further on the reviews for the iTunes store, I saw that there were a few people that had the same complaints as I did. There were very few “nope”/“bad song”’s. You don’t like the song? Maybe you’re just not a fan of the genre as a whole, and that’s ok. It’s always (I think) ok to have an opinion. It’s too “copy and paste”? Not original, but still good? Yeah ok, but still, they didn’t comment on whether it was bad or good, and the others admitted it was still good. idk if it’s good to copy and paste or not, but it might e subconscious, and imo who cares (besides the record labels) (as long as you give credit) because it can end up with some really fun music out of it! :) The other comments said it was rushed and it sounded like an amateur. This is something that I kind of talked about in the section before, and if it’s true then I really hope she gets better! :) And a few people were like “meh”, essentially, and still though admitted it was good in some way. So, I guess most of the internet agrees it’s good, just some of us hoping for better. 

Now, the really interesting part happened when I looked at another video by a different artist, for just another reason, not really related to this, just kind of happened to see it by chance. It was Taylor Swift’s Anti Hero lyric video, and in the comments, most of them were positive too. But, they were positive in a different way. Both positive, don’t worry :)

Taylor: I love the lyricism, even if you don’t like her you gotta admit it’s good, I relate heavily to this, and just generally pointing out a certain lyric that they like, with some fans just being a fan of the artist. But most people I think were there just () for the song.

Olivia: Kind of the same vibes, but more people liking “omg olivia you’re awesome I can’t believe you did this so proud of you!” which is great but also can lean towards stan behavior (:/), and also “I just love how she sings with emotion”. :) and occasionally “that one line hits really hard.” (hey, I said that too! glad we agree :)) (editor me here to say that I took those comments to heart and formed my own opinion after hearing theirs) But there were also people who were like “I really resonate with this song” “thank you for helping me get through a tough time” and feeling cathartic, which is really nice to see :’)

So, future fans, I advise you to be civil, and maybe not just blindly support your favorite artist because you like them as a person or like their past work. This is just a reminder, just because you like an artist, or even just one song by an artist, doesn’t mean you have to like every sing one of their songs, or go to great lengths to defend them of any wrong lol. You should personally not be responsible for the financial success of your favorite artist. Just tell your friends, but if they’re not into it, leave it alone, chill. If you like it, then you buy the song. If you like it, you listen to the song. that’s really it.

just be happy :)

just be you :)

it’s ok to have an opinion! even if it’s different from people that you love! (unless it’s a super serious important one that’s just mean or something, then hopefully you can try to respect others even if you don’t agree, and try to see other’s pov I hope again unless it’s really bad)

otherwise the world would be boring lol (I mean about having different opinions from one another)

also absolutely no hate to the teens and people that needed this song the most <3 hope you’re ok 😭👍

ohh maybe 

(I feel a disconnect with this song) bc teens relate to this song and I’m not a teen anymore. ok, yeah, that explains a lot haha. :0 :)

I’ve always wanted to let the world “let teens be teens”, and give them a lot of love as they grow up, and it looks like it’s finally happening :)))

this song is addictive fs, at least it definitely is/was for me

also it’s funny how she was a fake celeb and now she’s a real internet celeb, and that’s funny lol

I don’t have to like this song, nor do I have to force other people to like it too.

teens like it. let em be.

(ok editor me here, this is the part where I was jotting down random thoughts as I had them, kind of like a notebook lol)

y’know I like this song but I feel like it’s missing something…

I just feel like if she used jazz chords instead of the normal boring generic ones she’s already used before, it could be a much cooler song! Like driver’s license was meant to be generic, and the chords work well there, but this feels like it could use something more!!!!

Oh, ok, I see the Queen inspo now. (editor me, this was in response much later to reading a comment that said so lol, bc I didn't hear it at first lol)

Also explains why everyone likes it, haha xD

it’s like her own style combined with their’s

Like songs

Heart Attack

Some piano ballad - Queen, Taylor Swift

Senorita

Paramore

Avril Lavigne

Gothic/Victorian

Emo - the last two lines of the chorus

Birthday - Katy Perry

ABBA, duh!

Miley Cyrus

BTR (I think, probably just the vibes of the genre)\

Lewis Capaldi

used to ba a sad boy with (idk just lyrics) are jepson era

Without Me - Halsey ^

Pink

Linkin Park

it needs more 💖aesthetic 💓💝💘!!!! ❣️💝❤️‍🩹(couldn’t find the sparkles lol)

Piano Ballad/Queen

(editor me, this is where I pasted the original lyrics and jotted down some of my thoughts there lol, so it's kind of like a "behind the scenes" of the YouTube video lol)

(editor me, but also more of in the notebooks vein where it's what I "cut out" from the video lol to stay on topic/not make it too long winded but here I am writing about it here lol (gosh I really hated part of this song, and I still kinda do, and I'm not going to deny it/hide it anymore because that is what I feel is the right thing to do) (but like not going to bring it up when nobody asked lol, except I guess this could be different lol since _I_ asked and I can post whatever I want as long as I think it's ok and hopefully not being unfair/mean 😥))

(editor me here, also this was me desperately trying to find what this reminded me of, and I was struggling really hard here lol (still am kinda miffed about that, but I chose to accept it and move on after I calmed down caring about this song lol, who knows maybe I'll start looking again by listening to more songs about (I mean in!) that era, haha (*insert indescribable emotion here*) (by me rn at least, :/)))

(editor me from a little later, also went back and saw that I was trying to improve it, so I guess that these were my initial frustrations with the song, or might have been from either before or after or both from when I wrote the whole YouTube video

ok I definitely remember coming back and adding to the list OFTEN as I thought of more, plus I looked up the lyrics in the process of writing the YouTube video, so I guess it was after, after all :) (me being happy I figured it out, NOt being happy about the song >:( ok I'm not that mean (or am I? 🤨 sounds fun actually lol) but didn't want it to be the sad emoticon :( <- ok now I'm a bit sad about the situation, again not the song lol (I don't think? maybe? I mean I suppose since I did say I was a bit sad earlier and I think I still feel that way about the song plus it's a "sad" song so...) (ok stop writing now the sleepiness is really kicking in right about now) )

)

(editor me again, I know you said stop but this is the last one I think, yeah I definitely found the lyrics again and pasted them here _after_ I was done writing my whole video up there, just so I could analyze them in the way that I mentioned before lol)

(still editor me here yeah and I would re paste certain parts and they reminded me of things, as I saw fit) (mmhm yes I am aware I sound like a derange obsessed lunatic and that's because I kind of was) (editor me still, don't worry now I have a love hate kinda thinking towards her lol, and have grown up a bit and try really hard not to be like the fans here, y'know fandom rememberings and what not sheesh the name-shall-npt-be-mentioned fandom is like REally bad and is like this one but like is just BAD on a lot of levels, I think it's worse (than this) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a4yt5h5rRg like the problem is their behavior, not the content or I'd argue even the fans themselves, necessarily, the problem is when it goes too far 🙁 bit a bit more ^, like 😕 one side for both (the aforementioned side could be either, depends on the mood but both are ok ), slight frown :/)

(editior me, ok this is last now, please, yeah it's just me basically trying my best to improve the song, I think, or at least that's how the latest draft of all this reads to me anyways lol)

(still editor me, like at the time I didn't know if I wanted it this way because it was what I stereotypically "expected to hear", or just because it sounded cool (anyways it was still what _I_ expected to hear/would do, given the opportunity, I was really thinking of what would make me happy here, looking for outside influences on top of that + seeing if they match what I hear/the vibe I'm going for in my head like yes! no, maybe and all that))

I ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛᴏ ɢɪᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴛɪsғᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ Asᴋɪɴɢ, “Hᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ɴᴏᴡ?” “Hᴏᴡ’s ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀsᴛʟᴇ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ᴏғғ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ?” Jᴜsᴛ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ Lᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴄᴏᴏʟ ɢᴜʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ɪᴛ

Same, bit of Taylor Swift, especially in the chords

I sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀʀᴛɪᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪᴀᴍᴏɴᴅs sᴏᴍᴇᴛɪᴍᴇs ᴡʜᴇɴ I ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴇʏᴇs Sɪx ᴍᴏɴᴛʜs ᴏғ ᴛᴏʀᴛᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴀs sᴏᴍᴇ ғᴏʀʙɪᴅᴅᴇɴ ᴘᴀʀᴀᴅɪsᴇ I ʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʀᴜʟʏ Yᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛᴛᴀ ʟᴀᴜɢʜ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴜᴘɪᴅɪᴛʏ

but also her own style I guess

Definitely her own style, or I just can’t tell what it’s copying (opera!!! :))

‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ I’ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙɪɢ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғɪɴᴇ I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ’ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ

I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ Tʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴛs As ʏᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ

Paramore Oʜ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ, ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʀᴜsʜᴇʀ

Avril Lavigne

Bʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴅʀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ … ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ

Her style, more tension rising buildup in the instrumental, pop ->

“Aɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ɢɪʀʟ I ᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴛᴀʟᴋᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ Tᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʙᴀᴅ, ʙᴀᴅ ɴᴇᴡs Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ Gᴏᴅ, I ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ I ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ ᴛᴏᴏ Yᴏᴜ’ʀᴇ sᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴠɪɴᴄɪɴɢ”

This is something but can’t figure out what it is

“(Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ? Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ? Hᴏᴡ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴇ?)”

More emo? idk leading up towards a genre change (makes sense from a theatre perspective) (editor me, I had just heard a comment/maybe it was a (reaction?) video or both say that this was inspired by theatre and was like ohhh, that makes a lot of sense actually)

“Oʜ, ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴀ ᴍᴇsᴍᴇʀɪᴢɪɴɢ, ᴘᴀʀᴀʟʏᴢɪɴɢ, ᴛʀᴀɢɪᴄ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴛʜʀɪʟʟ Cᴀɴ’ᴛ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ Aɴᴅ Gᴏᴅ ᴋɴᴏᴡs I ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴡɪʟʟ Wᴇɴᴛ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴇʀ ‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ɢɪʀʟs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀɢᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ” -add a sick drum line after this

Victorian/Gothic (imagine the background music and she’s running away) (or else if it’s positive it could pass as emo)

either way this part sounds cool, because of the way she sings it and builds the rising tension

‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ I’ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙɪɢ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғɪɴᴇ -> hit the minor key or the 2nd or the 5th or the 7th or sustained or whatever that chord is, like I said, makes the song cool! I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ’ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ

I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ Tʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴛs As ʏᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ

Paramore Oʜ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ, ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʀᴜsʜᴇʀ

Avril Lavigne

Bʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴅʀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ … ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ -> country? for some reason? :)?

This is classic her style, I would say Taylor Swift but this is her style that’s inspired

“Yᴏᴜ sᴀɪᴅ, “Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʀᴜᴇ ʟᴏᴠᴇ”, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅɴ’ᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʙᴇ ʜᴀʀᴅ? Yᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ, ‘ᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴍᴇᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ <- expect a run here for some reason, but then it’s cool but not her style? I ᴛʀɪᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴇʟᴘ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ, ɴᴏᴡ I ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ I ᴄᴀɴ’ᴛ <- a darker sound? ‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ’s ᴛʜᴇ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪɴɢ I’ʟʟ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ”

Now this is more pop/emo/her style, which is cool because it’s like the final act of the play, ABBA! :)

‘Cᴀᴜsᴇ I’ᴠᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ sᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟ ʙɪɢ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs -> piano glissando, elton john, very dramatic Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀsᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ғɪɴᴇ -> twist a crystal ball that’s dark blue as the protagonist runs away in fear I sʜᴏᴜʟᴅ’ᴠᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ Yᴏᴜ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀᴛ ɴɪɢʜᴛ

I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ Tʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴀʀᴛs -> sees shadow As ʏᴏᴜ sᴜɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴇᴇᴛʜ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ -> shadow

Paramore Oʜ, ʙʟᴏᴏᴅsᴜᴄᴋᴇʀ, ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴄʀᴜsʜᴇʀ

Avril Lavigne

Bʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴅʀʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ … ᴠᴀᴍᴘɪʀᴇ

end on cymbals + and a guitar

hmm “play”…. it sounds theatrical, I guess :)

Someone analyze this further please TT hands /\

https://youtu.be/PdTg-JT8FPM is pretty good :) but not complete, more could be said!!!

>hates song

>proceeds to listen to sing for 3 consecutive days

(now 4)

I appreciate the lyricism, it works wonderfully on the stage :) (red curtains emoji)

haha kool-aid is funny

“Lᴏᴏᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴄᴏᴏʟ ɢᴜʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏᴛ ɪᴛ”

“I ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ I ᴡᴀs sᴍᴀʀᴛ Bᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ʟᴏᴏᴋ sᴏ ɴᴀɪ̈ᴠᴇ”

most of the song is just her being helpless(not really), sad, and most of all confused, but this really proves her innocence, and that she’s a good person, (editor me, clear projection here, if it just wasn't _me_ being naïve, if that wasn't already obvious lol) because maybe they would say the second lines, but they would never say the first line even as a joke if they were not a good person 

mean TT

where’s the 2000’s drums at???

what on earth is rocky horror picture show

ok so the final genre is rock

it makes sense now, and is not in fact repetitive 

paid(editor me, this was an autocorrect of p!atd though I don't think I saw the autocorrect until now ) vibes apparently -reaction video from a video with two people (editor me, I think it was one where they were old white dudes with a purple background who listened to mainly metal, but I could be wrong on this)

playlist is 2000’s indie (editor me, I was researching olivia's inspiration and she said her playlist was this lol or at least the comments did, lol)

its in minor

all of this could have been summed down to “I don’t like the new drummer”.

the parts that aren’t her sound like Selena Gomez :) Like, they could collaborate and it would be neat :)

I guess I don’t like the vocal technique because even if it wasn’t billie’s style I thought it sounded more mellow? idk

Lorde??? I guess, but don’t really see it much beyond the opening/structure of things (editor me, yeah, this was definitely a reaction to a comment and I see it now haha)

Songs that belong on a playlist

Vampire

Better Than Revenge

good 4 u

paid or something paramore???? idk just what was on the radio 

oh, that one similar song, ok

enchanted to meet you

rolling in the deep? idk

mine tv

icona pop “i don’t care” 

taylor swift look what you made me do (on spot/hits the spot/pinpoint accuracy) 

tove lo

katy perry - teenage dream

needs more guitar

"the song was a tissue of threadbare clichés" -google for threadbare (editor me I think I miiiight have read this on a comment on apple iTunes reviews, because I definitely did not know that word before)

nice lol haha totally not this one amirite :) (ominous smile) (you should be concerned) (about me, not you) (thankfully) haha

:D

ok I made a playlist on spotify ✨nuf said ✨💐🪷

this is tearing my soul away :D (never thought this was possible, so this is cool lol)

—the centrol theme is people sobbing in their songs—

also teenagers being teenagers, or at least music targeted towards them

why hate?

-emo

-billie eilith

-teenagers

-almost sampled but not quite

-the way words are pronounced

-straight up the production

-“cool” = cringe? (to adults? lol haha)

-maybe that last point is really it :)

-“look at me I’m important”

-fire this drummer

-also consider help for the producer

-overused, cliche, generic, boring <— this is it for sure, I think

-not enough out of the ordinary/expected

-make it stop pls

-imo the last part is better bc she has more confidence :)

-Olivia Rodrigo Vampire - Creativity Don't Pay Reaction I agree it’s trying too hard and going nowhere

-also on the fact that it appears that she’s trying to be edgy - “The swearing to me seems forced and unnecessary and trying to be edgy.” also see “I'm ancient so not the demographic it's aimed at.” “ I maintain that it's not particularly inspired songwriting or production in my opinion.”? “ it's an unfair comparison,” also true

no hate

-but she’s got a good spirit :)

[atlafan]

here’s the thing...remember when beyonce lost to beck and everyone was like wHo’S bEcK?! when he’s been around for as long as beyonce has (if not a little longer). the recording academy decides who wins. it’s definitely rigged at times. I’m still pissed that they snubbed The Weeknd and Miley last year, especially when the Weeknd literally had the number one song of the fucking year. the recording academy is sent things from the artists to show not only why they should be nominated but why they should win. It shouldn’t be like that, but it is. They’re also looking at more than just the artist. They’re looking at lyrics, how songs are written, how albums are formed, production, mixes, etc. the academy clearly thought Harry’s House was better than Renaissance. In what ways, we don’t know. And Renaissance is a good album, but personally there’s only like 5 songs that I actually like and listen to. I am not a big fan of Beyonce. I like some of her music, but I don’t think she’s the queen of the fucking world. She has people like Jay-Z in her back pocket who can get her some of the best producers in the world to make her music. How much writing does she actually do? How involved in the production is she? I’m genuinely asking because I don’t know.

I live in Harry’s asshole, yes. But I also know when to come up for air. I am all for critique but being nasty for the sake of it is disgusting. To see that people are calling him racist because he said “things like this don’t happen to people like me”???? How does your mind even go there???? I know you have to be a fan/have gone to his shows to know he says that at every single one, but like even still??? His album came out in May. Beyonce’s feels like it just came out. It’s wasn’t the YEAR the way HH was. And I’m sorry, I just resonate with HH more than the other albums that were nominated. Special wasn’t for me. 30 wasn’t for me. I had no idea Coldplay was even still making music, etc. etc. And I love Adele and I love Lizzo. They just didn’t do it for me this year and that’s okay.

also IT’S A FUCKING AWARD SHOW THAT MEANS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING! we are not in the industry, we are not famous. Your fav is not going to see you fighting for your life on their behalf because they don’t care. BYONCE HAS THE RECORD FOR MOST GRAMMYS BY ANY ARTIST!!! Isn’t that enough???? some of yall need to step outside and unplug, I’m begging

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Blondie - Parallel Lines

The bubblegum pop of the 60 meets the punk rock edge of the 70s. Debbie Harry bridges the gap effortlessly with her energetic delivery. And the music somehow never doesn't sound punk even when they are deep into bubbly pop numbers or disco. There's a bit of polish compared to their debut, but Blondie really manage to stand out from the crowd by leveraging that against the rawer punk sound of the late 70s to create an essential piece of new wave music.

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem is one of the weirdest rappers out there. Well he was before they killed him and replaced him with an army recruitment robot. There are nested levels of kayfabe happening here that I wanna break down. Slim Shady is a character played by Eminem who is a character played by Marshall Mathers. The three personae all have very different opinions on their newfound success and the way the song's attitudes towards nearly everything veers wildly back and forth can be explained by this. Marshall Mathers is conflicted but ultimately unashamed of his work, Eminem is feeling a little ashamed of the character of slim shady and how that character has affected people, and Slim Shady is fucking insane. The interplay between these three makes Eminem's second album a lot more thoughtful and engaging than his first. Now you're gonna need an extremely high tolerance for homophobia and mysogyny because that is the bread and butter of his shock value, and he whips slurs around at an even higher rate that his first. But to me it is so incredibly extreme that there is no reality that is reflected by this music. Mathers' absolute mastery of the craft is also on display and ramped up. The Real Slim Shady has an insane flow that delivers rhymes with a pace that will give you whiplash. And of course how can we forget Stan? The song that somehow became the internet's phrase du jour for diehard fandom. It's impeccable how well Eminem delivers the lines in a way that evokes a letter without ever breaking the flow or rhyme scheme. His mastery of storytelling on Stan is on par, if not better than, Slick Rick himself. I don't know if I'll get any shit for saying this is a fantastic album slurs and all but like there's a little Slim Shady in all of us isn't there? Come indulge him a bit.

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Yeah ok Physical Graffiti is an enjoyable album that sees Led Zeppelin playing around with long ass songs and some prog rock type stuff. The long ones like Kashmir and In The Light are really good, and I love the little folk dirty that is Bron-Yr-Aur. It runs too long though and honestly why are we fucking around with a bunch of Led Zeppelin albums on this list? Houses Of The Holy? Physical Graffiti? Just put Zeppelin IV on the list and call it a day.

Velvet Underground - s/t

I don't fucking understand this list. Are they really gonna put on every single Velvet Underground record? Why is this apparently the second best one? It's a good album don't get me wrong, but c'mon. The official Audrey ranking goes &Nico>White Light/White Heat>Loaded>Velvet Underground. And I don't even think the last two ought to make the top 500 list. This album is too soft and delicate with the only real standout track being the penultimate song an eight minute jam called The Murder Mystery. The rest is pleasant but samey. Easily Velvet Underground's weakest offering.

Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A.

What a weird but predictable turn of events that led this album to lead a double life. Upbeat pop melodies, a down home aesthetic, and an American flag on the album's cover drew in a crowd who would be fundamentally opposed to Springsteen's compassionate left wing beliefs if they had listened any farther than the chorus of the title track. The sessions that led to Born In The U.S.A. were the same ones that produced Nebraska and you can see it in some of the lyricism. A lot of sad stories about broken people just a little more well produced and with the E Street Band back in full force. Although a couple of tracks, I'm On Fire and My Hometown especially, sound like they could have just been off Nebraska.

[cyarskaren52]

Hits for 4/20 and afterwards

Lotsa people are smoking weed today.  Lots. 

So in honor of those who love to smoke weed, we decided to join the most predictable tradition on the internet and give you a list of stoner songs. 

From Snoop Dogg to Devin The Dude, there are artists whose legacies have become synonymous with making inspired weeded-out classics. Obviously, there's more to guys like Devin and Snoop than marijuana anthems, but they proudly tout their love of the sticky, as do fellow emcees like Redman, B-Real and Curren$y. But there are some classic rap weed songs that come from unexpected places (KRS-One?! Jay-Z?!!) you might not have really ever noticed are definitely weed songs. So yeah, we included a few of those, too.

And sorry—you won't be seeing "Because I Got High" because nobody really smokes to that song, bud...

#26

"BROWN SUGAR" (UMMAH REMIX) - D'ANGELO [BONUS SONG]

Our BONUS SONG pick is a celebrated classic guest spot! Or in THIS case, a dopeass remix from J. Dilla, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed that sounds even more weeded than the original. 

#25

"MARY JANE" - THA ALKAHOLIKS 

"I can't hold it in/I gotta let it all out." Those words are so appropriate and "Tha Liks" celebrate their favorite girl. Yes, weed-as-a-beautiful-woman is an overused metaphor (you'll see it again on this list) but it's popular because it works. 

#24

"AMERICA'S MOST BLUNTED" - MADVILLAIN

MF DOOM and Madlib deliver a weed anthem that could only come from Madvillain. Their 2004 album is a classic and one of the best tracks is this off-kilter ode to burning.

#23

"BLUEBERRY YUM YUM" - LUDACRIS

It's almost an underrated weed classic, but Luda perfectly captures the joy of smoking the finest weed. Needing snacks from the store, bemoaning how your homies are smoking trash—this is life. 

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#22

"FEELIN' IT" - JAY-Z

The Jigga Man has never really been known for stoned-out rap, and even has stated that he isn't really a smoker; but this standout from REASONABLE DOUBT is a pretty convincing ode to getting high. He acknowledges his conflict ("...look I know I contradicted myself...") in the song itself.

#21

"SMOKE SOME WEED" - ICE CUBE

One of the best tracks on 2006s woefully underrated LAUGH NOW, CRY LATER, Cube gets his smoke on, advocating for that good green while name-dropping famous smokers from George to Bill Clinton. 

#20

"DRO IN THE WIND" - TRICK DADDY FEAT. BIG BOI AND CEE-LO

It's the perfect anthem for not givin' a fuck. This Jazze Pha-produced southern smoke classic captures the vibe of burning one on a warm day, cruising with your homeboys. 

#19

"STILL SMOKIN'" - MYSTIKAL

Who can't relate? Mystikal has always been an underrated storyteller, and here, the Louisiana legend sits you down for a stoned tale about getting stoned. 

#18

"MARY" - CURRENSY

Like Snoop, like Reggie, and like Devin, Currensy has become one of Hip-Hop's most famous advocates for the green. The NOLA emcee is also one of the most prolific on the subject—single-handedly debunking the myth that weed makes you lazy.

#17

"PACK THE PIPE" - THE PHARCYDE

The Pharcyde have always been some of the coolest oddball stoners. And on this epic from their first album, they contrarily advocate for dumping papers altogether in an era where blunts rule. 

#16

"BUDDAH LOVERZ" - BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY

The Cleveland collective got to wade heavily into the "N-Harmony" part of their moniker on this standout from E.1999: ETERNAL. How stoned where they when they recorded this? Very. 

#15

"SMOKE BUDDAH" - REDMAN

OK, so full disclosure: we had the psychedelic funk of "Rockafella" on this list, but--c'mon, yo. This is a Redman weed anthem of the highest order (get it?!) He's one of the most famous and loudest advocates for herbage in Hip-Hop. Nobody does weed rap (especially of the East Coast variety) better than Reggie Noble. 

#14

"BITCH, DON'T KILL MY VIBE" - KENDRICK LAMAR

Kendrick's lush and melodic ode to not letting anyone fuck up your chill. The song is about being in a good space, and substances are definitely mentioned, even though it may not be a "weed song" in the truest sense. It certainly feels like it.

#13

"WE GET HIGH" - DEVIN THE DUDE AND COUGHEE BROTHAZ

Devin has given us so much. When it comes to weed anthems, there's nobody quite like the Texas legend. And this comedic classic with Coughee Brothaz (from 2010's Suite 420—released on April 20 of that year.)

#12

"MAD-IZM" - CHANNEL LIVE FEAT. KRS-ONE

Every "Teacha" you know smokes at least a lil bit. KRS links up with New Jersey duo Channel Live over a hypnotizing loop as the emcees spit lyrics about smoking the finest tree.

#11

"ROLL IT UP, LIGHT IT UP, SMOKE IT UP" - CYPRESS HILL

The legends from East L.A. show up on the soundtrack for the most beloved stoner movie of the 1990s. Of course, Cypress Hill laced Smokey with this weed anthem. OF COURSE.

#10

"MARY JANE" - SCARFACE

Featured on his 1997 album, The UNTOUCHABLE, “Mary Jane” is also one of the best (if not underappreciated) beats in rap. Produced by Face and Mike Dean, Face’s spaced out lyrics about his love for Mary is a weed classic. 

#9

"HANDS ON THE WHEEL" - SCHOOLBOY Q FEAT. A$AP ROCKY

Q and Rocky team up for this Kid Cudi-referencing ode to getting blazed. It just sounds like a hazy night; this right here is bleary-eyed brilliance. 

#8

"XXPLOSIVE" - DR. DRE FEAT. HITTMAN, KURUPT, NATE DOGG AND SIX-TWO

The album was technically the sequel to THE CHRONIC, y'all. The Good Doctor resumed his weed-friendly antics on 1999s 2001 and although "The Next Episode" was a BIG hit, this is the song that makes you want to take a hit. 

#7

"GOOD TIMES (I GET HIGH)" - STYLES P

The LOX rhymer got to kick off his solo career with this classic. One of the 2000s most popular odes to toking up, Styles doesn't give you a laid-back groove, instead he gives you a triumphant weed theme song.

#6

"DOOBIE ASHTRAY" - DEVIN THE DUDE

What Snoop is out West; what Redman is in the East, Devin The Dude is that for the South. Meaning: he's the go-to guy for stoner rap. Devin is a character unto himself and DJ Premier tapped into his Texas roots for this classic.

#5

"HITS FROM THE BONG" - CYPRESS HILL

Over a sample of Dusty Springfield's "Son Of A Preacher Man," B-Real and Sen Dog take smoke straight into tha chest. One of the best stoner tracks ever made. 

#4

"WHATEVA MAN" - REDMAN

Redman makes another appearance, on one of his most popular singles. MUDDY WATERS is a very weed-friendly album from start-to-finish, but this single embodies the spirit of the whole album.

#3

"GIN & JUICE" - SNOOP DOGGY DOGG

Given its title, you'd be forgiven if you labeled this DOGGY STYLE classic a drinking song. But it's NOT, really. At least not totally. Remember, the hook is smoking weed AND getting drunk. Pay attention, people.

#2

"CRUMBLIN' ERB" - OUTKAST

"...only so much time left in this crazy world..." They were barely out of high school when they recorded their debut album, but 'Kast already sounded world-weary. Or maybe they were just really, really stoned.

#1

"I GOT 5 ON IT" - THE LUNIZ

In 1995, there was no more popular song to roll one up to; the smoking anthem from The Luniz made them stars and became a staple of cloudy dorm rooms everywhere. Salute this classic and it's just-as-classic remix.

Sent from my iPhone

[mysmorgasbordoffantabulosa]

I am quite shock to read your take on “they decide how the promo go”

Artists work their a* off to put a song/album out. Writing planing comparing demos dance practices singing practices recording ect ect. And you think they don’t want promo or their hard work to chart? With no promo or mismanaged release will lose the chance for a song to reach the wider audience. Also the possibility of charting high. We all know how strategic planing needed for a album release even a single. It’s a huge competition. Artists don’t make songs to just release it sake of releasing it, they want it to do well.

For ex. Suga being very vocal about how charts are important to them and he has emphasised the fact it’s the main reason for their western success plus armys supporting and having their back

Rm same, has been very vocal even last live he said it’s good to win in music shows and armys right away gave him a win.

Hobi talked about it as well, jk too has mentioned numerous time how he wants to succeed in western markets. Two who said they don’t care about chars are tae and jm. But both openly ask for support as soon as they release songs. Jin too. So all haven been vocal about how they expect their music career to thrive and chart their songs. And you say they don’t care and decide not to go for the best possible release plan for the project. Now tricky part here Are all the projects provided same budget? We all know the the answers no they haven’t. Then why? 😁🤭 I’ll leave it here for company stans to debate

Yes, artist work the arses off

I think I said that the members had a say in their promo, but ultimately...

Promo is decided by the company

Not every album is marketed the same way. Adele will promo her's in one way whilst Taylor Swift does in a different way.

Of course, the members want to chart, and they have... RM and Hobi charted well on Billboard album charts, I'd expect Suga to have a similar result. I also expect Tae and JK to do well too. But each member may have different expectations based on their music, their own goals and what the company thinks is a success for that album.

Note: I never said RM/Hobi didn't care about charting, what I did say was that their success in the charts could potentially be limited because of the music they produce, as vocalists generally tend to do better in the charts overall. In 2022 out of the 23 artists who were number 1 on the Hot 100, four of them were rappers, that's less than 18%.

Some artists will just release songs to release them but not everyone. It happens, sometimes artist think about the money not the art.

You ask about budget... well, I think it's not about budget, but opportunity. To work with producers, writers you want. Again, it all comes down to the album and how much the company can make off it. So based on what's being produced they'll put a figure on it and that will determine MV costs, promo costs etc.

[campanulai]

How to work on a writing piece

(when you don’t have the motivation to do so)

***

1. Create a journal

- Sometimes, it’s hard unbelievably difficult to work on a novel. Thats okay. Finishing a story is daunting, especially to new writers or people who still don’t have a single clue how they want their story to play out. A journal dedicated for your novel can help you:

- figure out details about the characters, settings, and rules/societal expectations in your world. Make character charts. Write down their strengths and weaknesses, their traits, their fears…

Ask yourself questions like: What is a quirk about my character that only those close to them would know? What is a challenge I would like my character to face at some point in the story? How do i describe the setting? The government? Etc.

- Simply writing these things down can help you include them in the story, as well as help you, the author, get a better grasp at what you are creating. The focus on other aspects of the story will differ depending on plot and genre. A sci-fi or dystopian novel will generally need more information on the government and societal rules, while a romance novel will need more information on the characters. It is important to have a well-rounded scope of your story, so be sure to not just focus on characters or technicalities. Adjust to what you deem necessary.

- A journal can also include dialogue that you want to have in your story, a specific situation your characters find themselves in, or even just words that you want to use (along with their definitions).

2. Use 3D room planners

- This tip is really fun to do, and while it may seem unnecessary, it gives yourself something concrete to visualize. If your character is in a specific room a lot, or if it plays a major role in the story, knowing the layout can help you write scenes in that setting. Most websites have options for furniture, so you can expand their personality more. Include colors you know your character loves, make it minimalist or maximalist, etcetera.

Personally, i’ve used this app to throw together a post-apocalyptic bunker that my character resides in for my upcoming work, and its worked like a charm for keeping the setting the same throughout my writing. Its never a good thing to discover that halfway through your work you reversed what side of the room has certain furniture or something of the like. It’s confusing to readers and inhibits their ability to visualize what tf is going on. Try to avoid this like the plague.

If you are unlike me and have the ability to draw, i would recommend doing so in place of computerized layouts. Drawing cities, buildings, etc that are in your story doesn’t really feel like writing, but it is a step toward finishing a story, and really, thats all that matters.

3. Go somewhere quiet, and think

- I’ve noticed a shit ton of writers who expect that they can just sit down, pen in hand, and come up with their plot on the spot, and get overwhelmed and frustrated when nothing comes to them. If that works for you, great! But, it is not a skill that comes lightly or with a minor amount of experience, and generally doesn’t produce the best writing.

- Go to a park. Bird watch, look at the clouds/stars, and just think about your story without any expectations or deadlines. You do not need to know everything about your new work right now. You don’t even need to know everything about your work as you’re finishing it.

- I like to think that creativity is created only when there are no presumptions or limits. Get bored. Get so bored that all expectations of writing your story fades away. Then, you will start to plan— to dream— about your story. Write down what came to your mind, and the next time you feel like writing, look back to your notes and base it off of that.

4. Create Pinterest boards/music playlists

- I do this for every single piece that i write. Every. Single. One.

- Look for songs/pictures that remind you of your world, your characters, the mood. Again, its the farthest thing from writing, yet it progresses the story more than you could ever imagine.

Wrap up:

When you can’t write— don’t. In fact, don’t even think of picking up your pen or pulling up your document. Simply dream. Writing is only one small factor included in the process of finishing a novel, and really, shouldn’t be at the top of your concerns. It doesn’t matter how good of a writer you are, without inspiration, without completely involving yourself into the world that you write, you won’t get attached, and you won’t be satisfied with your finished product.

Hope these tips help! - a chronic procrastinator

[foxonfier]

back on the bjm train?? what can i say, I never really left it. anyway, i’m here to list my (current) top 10 brian jonestown massacre songs bc i feel like it. if you feel like listening along, just click the link on the title of each song to check it out! also, these are in no particular order if anyone was wondering.

hide and seek — uh yeah this is my favorite bjm song to ever exist maybe ever. like, i am in love with this song. if this song turned into a person, i would marry them, because i simply will never get over it. every single day i listen to it because, somehow, it fits every emotion i’ve ever had in my entire life. also, it’s shoegaze, so even better. really, though, any version of this song is wonderful and deserves to be listened to on full volume. the chorus makes me want to kick something and start flying and maybe go to another universe because it’s so unreal how good it is. i wish i could describe it in words, but it’s something that cannot be seen and can only be heard. “we play hide and seek…we play peekaboo.” truly the best lines. i cannot stress how much ecstasy i feel from hearing these words spoken in the background of the chorus. amazing. just amazing.

e to g — otherwise known as “rotary eight,” but was originally titled e to g. a literal shoegaze CLASSIC, one of bjm’s best 90s songs. this song simultaneously makes me want to start weeping and screaming at the same time because i love it so much. it makes me emotional, yet also happy. i simply cannot explain it. anton’s voice is so angelic, it makes me tear up just a little thinking abt it. i will never get over this song. it’s the epitome of my soul. it is everything. it simply must be experienced and felt to even begin to understand it.

chameleons — another classic from pol-pot’s pleasure penthouse (my second favorite album). the first time i heard this song i literally cried. i think the post from that night is somewhere on my old tumblr. anyway, this song feels like a warm hug from your best friend, like someone you really care about is comforting the hell out of you. i genuinely can’t describe it, as is becoming the norm for this list, but seriously. it’s difficult to put into words how much this song means to me. i just know this is one of the best tracks on its album. it wouldn’t be a certified shoegaze classic if wasn’t unreleased!

that quiet song — if you couldn’t already tell, i’m on a bit of a shoegaze binge, but what can i say? that’s my favorite genre of bjm music (and what i believe to be their best music). anyway, this song makes me feel…many different things. it’s so nostalgic to me, like i’ve heard it before, but at the same time i don’t know where i ever would’ve listened to it in my childhood. no one else in my family knows bjm. but it’s so familiar! i think that’s why i’m so drawn to the song. also, it makes me really emotional and gives me a feeling of closeness to the band, like i’m at one of their concerts in the early 90s, when they still weren’t super well known. it’s a look into the past that makes me appreciate bjm so much for what they’ve accomplished. it’s just a beautiful song. nothing more needs to be said.

super-sonic — taking a bit of a turn from the shoegaze comes this certified dandy warhol-turned-bjm banger. the intro is so good i’m kicking my feet just listening to it. the drums, the beat, the visualization of this being played in concert. so amazing. i have no words for how much i fucking love this song. it makes me want to get up and dance and scream the lyrics without a care in the world. if you ever see me grooving along to a song with my earphones on, just assume it’s this one.

cabin fever — FUCK, i think this song made me love matt hollywood and everything he’s ever produced in bjm. but like, seriously, this song is so good and the fact that it does sound somewhat uplifting but also has this slightly sad part to the music, giving hint to the fact that the lyrics are about depression and wanting to die!!! sign me up for real. the guitar riff is just SO good throughout this entire song, and the vocals are so amazing and i rlly just like everything here.

got my eye on you — this is a newfound favorite of mine. i heard it from a youtube vid of one of their live shows and literally fell in love! the beat is so jammable and i absolutely LOVE joel’s part during the middle, him just randomly singing/talking is so great. every time i hear this song i wish i was at one of their concerts bc this one must be THE SONG to hear live. so here’s to hoping i hear it next time!

spanish bee — oh my god this song makes me go feral. first off, the beginning being completely done with sounds from anton is so cool! the mic being tilted, crowd cheering, the person talking etc. but then you get to the actual song and oh my goodododifhdbeh it’s SO GOOD. i really enjoy music like this in general, and anton’s voice in this song is probably the best i’ve ever heard it. his singing is so good, just really raw and raspy and genuinely beautiful and yeah idk man it’s so enjoyable. i kind of wish there were more songs where anton could show off his natural voice and singing ability because, clearly he does have that shit. maybe not in the typical music setting, but i really do just love his voice here. also, the guitar makes me want to start like dancing idek it feels like some shit that would play at a family party or something. i just adore it sm. give it a listen!! especially if you like folk music.

not if you were the last dandy on earth — ever since i witnessed that wonderful scene in dig!, i’ve absolutely adored this song. anton clumsily rollerskating up to a dandy warhols show with signed copies of this song is just unbelievably hilarious. iconic, honestly. plus, this song fucking rocks. blasting this driving around is absolutely the vibe, maybe the biggest vibe there’s ever been. i have nothing more to say except that this is one of their songs i listen to every day and there’s a huge reason for that!

food for clouds — this song will always be one of my favorites. i’ve never met a person i couldn’t win over with this song, simply because it’s so jammable. the mixture of the cowbell, tambourine, drums, guitar riff, and trumpet just does something to people. i’ve witnessed it myself. for real though, this song is a complete banger; it’s different from their more rock sounding songs and has more of an alternative kinda feel. but listen to it yourself and judge! and if this doesn’t begin to indoctrinate you into bjm idk what to say </3

and, lastly, an honorable mention:

anemone — of course, i can’t make this list without at least giving an honorable mention to anemone. while not my favorite bjm song of all time, i can acknowledge that it is, objectively, one of their best songs. hearing this at the concert was an amazing experience, seriously! i really do love it though, like, it’s such a classic and i appreciate it so much. actually, it’s the first bjm song i ever heard, and looking back is so surreal. i can’t imagine where i’d be if spotify hadn’t randomly played this song after one of my playlists ended. i still remember exactly where i was when i heard it, around what time of day it was…crazy. i just gotta thank the spotify algorithm for playing this song, because without it, i think my life would be a whole lot more miserable right now.

[thenewdeadseascrolls]

Judges 9: 16-21. "The Bar of Soap."

We just finished the Song of Abimelek during which an orchard of fruit trees nominate a new king. Now the Shoftim says the people should revolt. Why?

A man who does not gossip or lie is great, and a man who is suave is better but even that is not a good enough reason to hand him a crown. A great deal more is needed within his character if he is to be recognized as royalty and ultimately by Ha Shem. For this to happen the Shoftim says one must become a Beer from Beth Millo, "A man of purity from a house of good breeding" AKA a Bar of Soap:

16 “Have you acted honorably and in good faith by making Abimelek king? Have you been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family? Have you treated him as he deserves? 

17 Remember that my father fought for you and risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian. 

18 But today you have revolted against my father’s family. You have murdered his seventy sons on a single stone and have made Abimelek, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is related to you.

19 So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! 

20 But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelek and consume you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!”

21 Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 16:  “Have you acted honorably and in good faith?" The Value in Gematria is 9084, טאֶפֶסח‎ד‎, tafesahed, "perception."

tafesahed= "catch one."

ta= the cell

fe= times

sa=it

hed=sharp

= one whose experiences have folded him [from seventy] into one.

v. 17: Remember the way. The Value in Gematria is 4287, דב‎חז‎, "the kitchen of debhaz."

Accurate perception of where we are in the Course is necessary if we are to find the way to Shabbat. Debhaz "your worrisome father's cooking" means "do not go back to Egypt, the land of profanity."

Do not associate with a gossip or a man who cannot give up on the sins of Egypt.

v. 18: But today you have revolted. The Israelites that were trapped in Egypt did not revolt, they were led from Egypt after a series of negotiations between God, Moses, Aaron, and the Pharaoh.

In the case of Abimelek, who was not a slave driver but a slave of his female asshole was being promiscuous with his friends "the trees". Negotiations with a himbo like this will not work. A sudden revolt is the only way.

The Value in Gematria is 12861, אב‎‎חוא‎‎ ‎"a diabetic diagnosis of abhua, a haze."

This guy Abimelek was obviously very sweet to the trees of the forest but the confusion this caused about his actual capabilities caused a haze. The fact he overused his asshole does not mean he should be ruled out altogether, but it does make the decision to crown him king a haze hazey.

v. 19: So have you acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today? If you have, may Abimelek be your joy, and may you be his, too! The Value in Gematria is 10935, י‎טגה‎, א‎אֶפֶסטגה‎ ‎, apestega, "touched by nothing, learn how to be touched by the infinite."

v. 20: But if you have not, let fire come out from you, the citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelek!

Beth Millo= committed to being honorable

The verb מלא (male') means to be full, speaking mostly of a storage facility that's been filled with whatever was extracted from the land that produced it. It may also describe a river that's overflowing, or a person who acts from the contents of his heart. Nouns מלא (male') and מלאה (mele'a) mean fullness.

The Value in Gematria is 8675, חוזה‎ ‎, "the pact."

The Pact God made with Moses is He would give Moses the insight he needed to deliver the Torah and become a competent individual. The Pact fell short just shy of the Promised Land because Moses procrastinated for just one moment before God and the people of Israel after the people argued with him and there sadly, was not enough time for that. Moses chose popularity over obedience to God.

Popularity was likewise the downfall of most of the kings of Israel named in the Melachim, and it is scorned as a character trait in the Shoftim which states, do not engage in Shechem stand on the shoulders someone who is popular, because their status can change on a dime. Abimelek was clearly popular but not too capable.

v. 21: Then Jotham fled, escaping to Beer, and he lived there because he was afraid of his brother Abimelek.

Jotham= Gotham, the Angels.

Beer=

"Verb ברא (bara' I) denotes the creative activity of God, which (as we know from modern cosmology) predominantly has to do with giving elements the freedom to sort themselves into constructions that are deemed stable by the laws that govern creation (and which ultimately describe freedom). Noun בריאה (beri'a) denotes a creation, "an entirely new thing".

Verb ברא (bara' II) means to be fat, and since fat is essentially an organic storage of energy, this verb is in modern terms neatly explained by relativity theory. Since anything unstable falls apart when exposed to energy, only stable compounds can gain mass. Likewise, a fat guy is clearly at peace and well provisioned (and not on the run or forced to labor half starving). Adjective בריא (bari') means fat and consequently healthy and prosperous. Verb ברה (bara) means to eat. Nouns בריה (birya) and ברות (barut) mean food.

=observation of Shabbos.

Noun ברית (berit) means covenant and occurs all over the Bible. Although it's not wholly clear how it technically relates to the above, the gist of it is clear. A covenant clears up a working relation between parties and leads to peace, prosperity and ultimately more clarity and cleanness between said parties. Note that it is spelled the same as the word for soap."

The future King of Israel is the most important project in creation for the host of heaven. After the people realized Abimelek popular because he was promiscuous, the angels fled to find a remedy, which we have identified as a bar of soap. This is a double entendre meaning "a man with a good reputation" to be the king.

The Value in Gematria is 4409, דדאֶפֶסט‎‎, budapest, "understanding of sinful times within himself" also "stripped down to the Buddha Nature, the Concoctor of Simple Things."

Persons who observe Shabbos with consistently should not have trouble with being well known or well-liked. Shabbos, as the etymology and Gematria suggest is an unselfish way to be well known, well liked, and achieve popularity without incurring scandal.

As stated in the Shoftim and the other volumes in the Tanakh, persons prone to scandal cannot be nominated for the Court of the Assembly or the Kingdom of Israel.

[jzontheazarian]

The Ultimate Self Care Playlist for 2023: Featuring KAYTRANADA, Beyonce, Tyla and More

December is a time to unwind and enjoy some music that nourishes your soul. From uplifting anthems to calming melodies, these songs will make you feel good about yourself and your life.

Welcome to “Self Care Picks,” your go-to playlist for self-love and self-care.

Here are our picks for this month:

‘Lover/Friend’ - Rochelle Jordan’s voice is the perfect complement to KAYTRANADA’s smooth and sultry production, as they create a late night gem that elevates the passion to new heights. The track explores the dilemma of being more than friends or not, with clever and captivating lyrics. Jordan harmonizes with the beat, which features KAYTRANADA’s signature dance bop baseline, and brings the track to life. Even in a tough situation, the song offers a rare moment of tranquility and joy.

‘Fine By Myself’ - He’s one of the warmest voices out of London this year, but Odeal doesn’t need anyone else to make him happy. In his latest album, he explores the themes of solitude, self-love, and sacrifice. He sings about the joys of being comfortable in his own skin, as well as the challenges of letting go of a lover who doesn’t understand him. Odeal is not afraid to break hearts, as long as he stays true to himself. This is the story of a man who knows how to be alone, and loves it.

‘My House’ - Just when you thought she couldn’t get any hotter, Beyonce surprises us with a new song that adds to her 2022 masterpiece ‘RENAISSANCE’. The song, produced by The Dream, showcases Beyonce’s versatility and passion for music, as she raps and sings with confidence and flair. She also throws some shade at the media who constantly criticize her, while celebrating her roots and her crew. This is Beyonce at her best: spicy, sassy, and unstoppable.

‘On and On’ - She’s the new sensation who has taken the music world by storm. With her catchy lyrics, captivating voice, and irresistible charm, Tyla is the artist who makes us feel nostalgic for the 2000s era of music. Her latest single is a love story that we can’t get enough of, as Tyla has a whole EP of diverse songs that showcase her talent and versatility, and we can’t wait to hear them all. Not only a rising star, but also a proud ambassador of South African music, as she infuses her songs with elements of her culture and heritage. She has a big vision and a big heart, and she’s ready to share them with the world and we’re here for it.

‘Simple’ - With a voice that captivates and a style that intrigues, Raiche is a storyteller who crafts songs with grace and flair. She dives into a musical adventure, soaring above the stereotypes that try to confine her. Her latest project, ‘Loveland’, is a testament to her passion and talent. It is a love letter to her fans, a gift of pure joy and beauty that will resonate for years to come. In this album, she explores the themes of love, identity, and empowerment, with a blend of soul, R&B, and pop. Each song is a gem, shining with emotion and authenticity. Raiche is a rising star who is not afraid to share her story and her heart with the world.

Other songs we loved: 

‘Proud of You’ - Kotrell

‘Better With You’ - Mannywellz / Pink Sweat$

‘I Might’ve Done That’ - Maurice Moore

‘For The Streets’ - Inayah

‘Right Back In It’ - Leela James / Kevin Ross

Self-Care Spotlight Presented by AZARIAN Cares: ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ - Piff Marti

Plus stay caught up on ‘First on Audiomack’ with new reviews uploaded weekly. You can listen to this month’s “Self Care Picks” on Audiomack and YouTube Music.

[kdmindia2034]

Which are the best wired earphones to buy right now

It isn't a good habit to watch videos, listen to music or do video calls on speakers in public areas as it might disturb the people around us. Forget about the public areas, it's considered a rule-breaking point while working in offices. The best-wired earphones are available all around us making our lives better. Well, another point is that the earphones allow you to keep the sound to yourself while maintaining privacy in your life in terms of what you watch, or with whom you speak. The best part about wired earphones is that there is no hassle of charging them time and again. Let's talk about the top brands of wired earphone providers.

The best-wired earphone to buy in 2022

Here is the list of best-wired earphones that are worth the money in 2022 - 

K220 Wired Earphones by KDM: 

KDM earphones perfectly fit inside your ears providing you with a very high-quality sound. This model of KDM Wired Earphone has a length of 120 cm, a 10 mm unit size speaker with a moving coil, and comes with a 3.5 mm jack. Their earphones have a tensile resistance and are highly convenient and efficient. It also has a built-in mic with the call answer or end button. Made from a copper cord, it is compatible with every type of smartphone, portable gaming device, or music player.

Beats by Dr. Dre UrBeats3: 

The Apple-paired company, Dr. Dre has created wired earphones that have the best style, splash, sleek, bass-heavy sound, and bass-heavy sound focussed. It's available in varied colors ranging from coral, black, satin gold, matte black, satin silver & yellow. The urBeats3 has a single axial-aligned driver & laser-cut holes inside the acoustic chamber. Moreover, the silicone ear tips of this wired earphone have tangle-free flat cables & come in 4 different sizes ranging from small, medium, large to extra large. 

Sony – MDR XB55AP Wired Extra Bass Earbud: 

It is a highly affordable option along with the surety of getting a reliable product. Sony is still digging into creating creative models of wired earphones like 55APs despite its latest creation of headphones & wireless earphones. The 90-degree degree jack is available in 4 sizes & 3 colors namely blue, black, and red along with a pouch. The drawback here is that it doesn't have volume controls. 

Moondrop – Starfield IEMs: 

If you aren't worried about money, then Moondrop is the best option as its quality is justified by its price. It comes with accessories & a nice carry case. It has comfortable IEMs, is well-built, perfectly fits, & provides the best sound quality. Aluminum & zinc alloys are used to make the die-cast shells. Due to this, it's long-lasting & provides superior performance. Although, most people questioned and doubted the finely braided cable to withstand the wear & tear. 

Campfire Audio – Holocene IEMs: 

With its extraordinary sound clarity, and built quality, it has the "Glow in the dark '' featured cable. It comes with geometric-shaped ITEMS pairs, Sequal Yarn carrying case, accessories, a drawstring pouch, and a cable. It fits perfectly to your ears and is very comfortable to use. Holocene produces the loudest IEMS and best sounds having a great frequency. The wide & in-depth soundstage is the best quality possessed by the Holocene.  The need for earphones is well understood by all of us. Whether it's for listening to songs, attending meetings, or silently going for online study, earphones are required. We recommend KDM as we have personally used their products and it turned out to be one of our best purchases. KDM is a leading manufacturer and supplier of the Best Wired Earphones in India. Approach them today to know about the variety of earphones available!