#boygenius europe

[chucklepea-hotpot]

is there anyone who went to the boygenius concerts in Germany and happen to wanna sell a shirt, prefarably size m or l? or someone who goes to the last show and could get me one pretty please?

[whatevertheywant]

The UK gets to see the boys AND MUNA AND ETHEL CAIN WTF?????

[7oranges]

boygenius is really so evil for name dropping the city i live in and then naming a song on the record after an artist who is famously from this city and then not doing a show here💔

[gingerjolover]

“I can’t stop thinking of you” plus maybe a soft needy Naomi who misses their gf while on tour because we desperately need more Naomi content 🤭

we LOVE naomi in this house! 🗣️

wc: somewhere around 900 words

naomi mcpherson x fem!reader - #7 "I can't stop thinking of you."

There’s something unique about being on tour with your best friends and feeling lonely. It’s spurred on by the fact that Naomi, Katie, and Jo all have colds, boarded up in their respective hotel rooms on what should've been a fun night off.

Naomi knows you’re busy, anxiousness swelling in their chest at the prospect that this is what you might feel like when they're on stage and you’re home alone. They don’t want to bother you, but they don’t feel well. The longing creeping up their throat, knowing if they were home, you'd be babying them: sitting in the bath, tracing shapes on their back, kissing up their spine and shoulders, the Epson salt and Vicks vapor rub clearing out their sinuses.

Noami checks themself.

Of course, they’re not missing you solely because you’d be taking care of them right now, but MUNA has been booking lately. Between the Eras tour and their own tour, combined with the boygenius shows, you’ve barely been able to keep up, your own work schedule inflicting on the absolute privilege it is following your partner around the country and Europe. But alas, they’re sniffly and alone, flipping the phone in their hands, itching not to call you. 

Like muscle memory, suddenly, the line is ringing. 

Naomi should’ve expected it, but it’s still a punch in the gut. 

“Hi baby!” you squeal happily, loud music in the background, your friends' voices, all talking over one another, also greeting Naomi. 

“Hey,” Noami forces out a chuckle, wincing at the volume. 

“Hold on…. I’ll be right back,” you tell Noami and then your friends. The background music slowly fades, honking, and bystander conversation filters in behind you instead. 

“Hi, babe!” you say happily. The panic in Noami’s chest lightens; you don’t sound drunk, and the protective parts of them preen. You sound energetic, full of life, like you’re having the best time - and Naomi knows you are. Your best friend’s birthday dinner is always a big event. Just a few hours ago, Naomi was convincing you to go out, and now there’s a sick and twisted part of them that wishes you were both miserable together. 

“Hi baby,” Naomi says, trying to rid their voice of any emptiness. 

“What’s wrong?” you ask. Naomi can hear the anxiousness in your voice. They immediately feel bad, guilt coursing through their veins at the quick wish you were both miserable, wanting nothing more than the sensitivity in your voice to fade away. Naomi closes their eyes, rubbing their forehead. How come the one time they feel a feeling you know all too well, they manage to bring you down, too? The empathy rises quickly, hating that you’ve felt this way before and often. While Naomi is on stage, only thinking about the music, you’re at home, worrying about their safety, wondering if they are having fun, experiencing fomo in its truest form. 

“I’m fine, love really– I–”

“Don’t lie to me,” you say firmly. Naomi winces; they knew you would call them out, but they thought they’d at least get further in the conversation. 

“I don’t want to bother you at dinner; you sounded like you were having fun,” Noami says softly.

“I was, but I won’t be able to if I know something is wrong,” you say sympathetically. “Did Franki get you the Nyquil?”

“Yes.”

“Did you take it?” 

“Yes.”

“Are you hydrating?”

“Baby…yes.”

“I just– I don’t like when you’re not feeling well, but–something tells me that’s not what’s bothering you.”

Damn you. 

Naomi bites their bottom lip, tears welling up in their eyes. There’s a brief sniffle before a deep breath, “I- I can’t stop thinking of you.” It comes out needy, desperate, Naomi’s voice thick with emotion. 

Your own throat tightens, and the familiar feeling rushes up your throat, manifesting into a lump. You never hoped Naomi would feel this feeling, the longing. It was a sacrifice you made, that you make, because your partner is worth it.

“Oh baby,” you say softly. 

“I’m sorry…” Naomi apologizes, tears running down their cheeks.

“My love, don’t cry,” you try to say, cut off by a small sob. 

You bite your lip, willing the tears to stay in. Naomi hears a small huff, it’s like they can see you, holding the phone tightly, your fingers clenching on it, biting your bottom lip, and your left foot tapping as you think of a solution. 

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll text my boss and see if I can do remote work for the week… can Franki get me a flight for Sunday night?” you ask, mirroring the image Naomi has in their head. 

“Yeah–yeah I think so,” Naomi says, sniffling. 

“I’ll text her, okay? I love you baby… so much… please get some rest, for me?”

Naomi can only nod, the tears falling quickly. 

“I’m sorry,” they sniffle. 

“Don’t do that, honey,” you scold gently. “How about this… I’ll call you right when I get home, and if you’re awake, we can Facetime. Does that sound okay?’

Your solution is almost identical to Naomi's when the situation is reversed. 

“Yeah,” Naomi whispers. 

“I love you. So much, my rockstar,” you say softly. 

Naomi snorts, “That was cheesy as hell.”

“But it made you laaaugh,” you say in a sing-song voice. 

“I love you babe,” Naomi says, taking a deep breath. You make an audible “mwah” sound, bidding Naomi goodbye with another promise to talk later. 

Naomi lays back on the bed, lying in self-pity for a while. It eventually turns into determination, refusing to let either of you feel this way again.

[seeingivy]

hi this is really out of the blue andr andom but i was wondering if u had any hcs or js random thoughts about best friends older brother!sukuna? i would love to hear them but if u dont want to or anything just ignore this ask! ily ur writing is soo good!

hello my love 💌

DO I??? (yes, I do. he lives rent free in my head)

sukuna was a basketball player when they were in high school together. he easily made varsity when he was a freshman (which kind of explains why he was friends with juniors and seniors when he was a freshman) and was basically the star point guard

for senior night type games or championships, y/n and yuuji had to attend with their families and sukuna would feel some type of way about the fact that y/n had the teams colors smeared in glitter on her cheeks (and obv wore his number with the rest of his family)

y/n did yearbook. this meant that she was always at those high publicity type of events taking pictures - fun fact, she was actually at the senior prom that sukuna went to as a sophomore (and she took no pictures of sukuna + didn't talk to him while she was there)

sukuna hates matcha. he has to stomach it though because y/n can never finish her drink and he doesn't want it to go to waste (he would rather die than admit that after the third or fourth time it's starting to grow on him)

sukuna used to ride a motorcycle when he was studying abroad in europe/france.

when sukuna gets a motorcycle in tokyo, y/n gets a baby pink helmet and decorates it with ribbons to match. sukuna also buys her a nice quality leather jacket.

y/n is majoring in vet med! (sukuna hates cats but she will convince him one day to get one as a pet. he will then treat said cat like it's his child even though he didn't even want it in the first place)

sukuna's lockscreen is of y/n smiling at the camera! her's is of him wearing the skincare headband that she uses to hold her hair (he is glaring at the camera)

y/n and sukuna have a shared playlist - he listens to it while he's at work and she listens to it when she's walking to class. y/n likes to listen to olivia rodrigo/lana del ray/boygenius/clairo/girl in red and sukuna listens to a lot of old school rap (y/ns favorite ends up being old school drake)

y/n tells sukuna that her favorite song on the playlist is best I ever had and sukuna really loves there's a tunnel under ocean blvd.

besides y/ns ribbon on sukuna's car key and the lock screen, he also has a picture of her in his wallet (of her fast asleep in his bed)

mrs. itadori always used to joke that y/n would end up with her son and gave up the joke once it was kind of obvious that yuuji was gay (but her dream still comes true <3)

weirdly enough, megumi is a sukuna apologist. yuuji obv doesn't hate sukuna that much, there's a lingering love there, and megumi tries to coax him to let some of that stuff go.

y/n is not yet aware that her roommate mai is the sister of nobara's sneaky link. when they find out, it's ww3.

gojo and geto are way too involved in sukuna and y/ns relationship. they try to stalk both of their socials to get any more content and every time sukuna brings her up satoru makes his best efforts to not squeal.

sukuna is the closest to geto out of all of his coworkers.

[brandogenius]

⧣₊˚﹒✦₊ ⧣₊˚ 𓂃★ ⸝⸝ ⧣₊˚﹒✦₊ ⧣₊˚

please note my blog is 18+ so minors & men do not interact please!

⧣₊˚﹒✦₊ ⧣₊˚ 𓂃★ ⸝⸝ ⧣₊˚﹒✦₊ ⧣₊˚

REQUESTS: OPEN

➵ Introduction :) ㅤㅤㅤ

ㅤmy name is pompom :) i’m 20, lesbian 🏳️‍🌈 i go by they/them. (afab) im from europe so im sorry if i randomly start spamming at early hours for you. (clearer info here)

i have been writing for about 9 years now, in between fandoms but took a break for a couple of years and thought to myself i should start getting back into writing so here i am with a new blog ✨

i am a full time student! so please expect some delays / days where i’m is due to assignments !

i love boygenius so expect a lot of the boys on my page! i write rpf of julien baker, lucy dacus phoebe bridgers, katie gavin, josette maskin and naomi mcpherson. i write them rpf with reader! i am also open to member x member / ot3 boygenius requests but mainly write x reader!

➵ what do i write you ask?

i mainly write headcanons / one shots! the boys / muna x reader with some special aus (most famous ones are “masc grumpy reader “ & “young artist au!” but honestly whatever comes to mind basically :) feel free to pop into my inbox and ask away, talk and discussion! requests too if they are open!

reader goes by she/her they/them pronouns afab!

i usually write in second person view readers pov but for headcanons usually third person view!!however it also depends really :)

➵ Rules

i will not be writing smut!!

if i get a request i don’t feel comfy writing i will delete it. i will not be writing it

i usually write reader x member but i also take requests so please do send some if you’d like !

it usually takes me a couple of days to write some blurbs / hcs and a few days / maybe a week to write up some more lengthy stuff like fics and one shots so please be patient with me :)

please keep my work in this space / community. don’t share it to any of the boys & muna / anyone associated or affiliated with boygenius & muna please!

you can come into my dms if you wish! just don’t be weird! i’m all down for making friends :)

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that seems to be mostly it! have a look down below for more info and accessibility :) links containing tags and my main masterlist currently !

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TAGS

MASTERLIST

[jucyfruit]

INTERVIEW: Sarah Goldstone On Touring With Boygenius, Books, and Boston Octobers

by Maya Santow

[…] Since her graduation from Boston University in 2009, Goldstone really has gone everywhere. Her talents on the keyboard, violin, and vocals have taken her across the globe in the past two years, touring internationally with indie artist Lucy Dacus, and now Boygenius—the indie rock supergroup composed of Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers.

Sitting in an East Boston café on June 18, just hours before performing with Boygenius at the Stage at Suffolk Downs, Goldstone describes how it felt finding out that she would be joining Boygenius on their tour while she was in Dacus’ band.

“Oh, I was really pumped,” she says. “Lucy had said that she wanted to have me there. Her manager called me and we chatted about it. It was exciting. I just love them as a group and separately.

“Boygenius: The Tour” began its United States run in early June and will be extending overseas to Europe in mid-August. Several of the tour dates, including the Boston show, are a part of the Re:SET Concert Series, featuring supporting acts like Bartees Strange, Dijon, and Clairo, with Boygenius as a headliner.

Although the tour didn’t begin until the summer of 2023, Boygenius’ first full-length studio album, titled “The Record,” was in the works much earlier. Goldstone recalls being told about the album at least a year before its March 2023 release—a powerful secret to have been keeping, given the album’s critical acclaim. “There was definitely a, you know, ‘Don’t put this on the internet’ kind of thing,” she says.

Goldstone’s first time hearing “The Record” took place at a listening party with Dacus’ touring crew in a Northern California AirBnB. With the knowledge that she would be touring with Boygenius, Goldstone approached her first listen to “The Record” from a largely practical angle.

“When you take a record that was recorded with all these different instruments, and you’re trying to squash it down to, ‘Okay, what’s a setup where I can do all of that?,’ there’s a lot of different ways you can do it,” she says. “So when I was listening through, that’s where my brain was going.”

Goldstone’s primary focus while listening was the keyboard. There is more to the instrument than meets the typical listener’s ear, she explains. “I feel like a lot of times people don’t know what keyboard’s role does because people know what piano sounds like, but maybe not the other stuff,” she says. “But there’s a lot of synth parts, there’s organ, there’s something called a Mellotron…all those weird sounds where people that come to hear it are like, ‘I don’t know what that is.’”

“My first reaction was really technical, but then I started listening for real and, you know, some of the songs make me cry as soon as I hear them,” says Goldstone of the 12 tracks that make up “The Record.” “Some of them are so funny, and, like, mean, and you know, that’s fun, too. But it took a minute for me to experience it that way,” she says.

As Goldstone began touring with Boygenius, a few tracks emerged as her favorites to perform live. “I love ‘Not Strong Enough.’ I mean, that’s like, ‘the one,’ right?” she says. “I love ‘Letter To An Old Poet’— not just because it’s the piano song! Actually, ‘Cool About It’ is one of my favorite songs, too. Plus the rockers, like ‘Satanist,’ and stuff like that, it’s just, like, so fun. But every song is good, yeah—no duds,” she laughs.

Goldstone also cites a fan project for Boygenius’ “True Blue”—a track heavily influenced by Dacus’ solo music style—as a favorite memory from the tour so far. “I think they all put blue post-it notes over their phone lights…as soon as they started playing it, blue lights came up,” she says. As it turned out, a similar fan project took place at the Boston show later that night: during the chorus of ‘True Blue,’ the audience raised heart-shaped cutouts of blue paper over their phone flashlights to create a sea of blue for the band to see. “It sounds funny to say, but it made all of us kind of emotional, actually,” she says of the earlier project.

Goldstone notes the synergetic power of Boygenius fans—the fan bases of the three indie rock forces coming together creates something greater than the sum of their parts, she says.

“People are there for the unit,” says Goldstone. “Probably everybody has one of them that they gravitate toward more just in their own personal listening, or someone’s music they’re familiar with more than the others, but you can’t tell that from the show, which I think is really cool. It doesn’t feel like you’re seeing individual fans of the three of them.”

Goldstone cites Boygenius’ closeness to one another as a major draw for their fans, aside from their music. “I feel like people are fans of their friendship,” she says. “Like, we all want that. We all want best friends that we like to make art with.”

Having been on tour together for a few weeks, says Goldstone, the band’s dynamic has begun to shine through even more onstage. “Now that everyone’s comfortable, they’re starting to horse around a little bit, and they’re jumping around,” she says of Dacus, Baker, and Bridgers. “You know, it’s just three friends that love each other so much, and they’re all very funny people. So it’s fun when they’re in the mood to do, like, comedy time during shows, you know?”

Closeness as a band—“tour camaraderie”—is a familiar feeling to Goldstone, who says that Dacus’ band grew very close during their 251 days of touring in 2021 and 2022. “Everyone’s on one bus, and everyone hangs out together on off days, and it does feel like a family road trip sometimes,” she says.

The Boygenius tour took a bit longer to achieve the same effect, says Goldstone. “It is a much bigger group. And everyone just works so hard, so there’s a little bit more distance with just getting to know everybody. I feel like now, a couple of weeks in, I’m starting to be friends with people on our own crew that maybe I didn’t get to hang with before, and that’s great,” she says.

One way in which the group has grown closer, says Goldstone, is through books. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given her philosophy major during her BU days, Goldstone says she always finds time to read while on tour, and exchanges titles with the other band members as well. “We’re all trading books,” says Goldstone.

On Dacus’ tour last year, says Goldstone, the band passed around Joan Didion’s “Play It as It Lays.” In a similar way to which fans of Boygenius bond over the often melancholy tones of their music, the band bonded over the “real bummer of a book,” says Goldstone. “We passed it around, and everyone was like, ‘Ugh, your turn.’ Like, this is brutal,” she laughs.

“So, yeah, there’s some exchange,” says Goldstone. “Lucy and I will exchange books a lot. Like, I’m really into a writer named Shirley Jackson, and Lucy read some last year.” Goldstone’s most recent tour read, Min Jin Lee’s “Pachinko,” she describes as an “instant classic,” and she plans to lend it to Julien Baker to read next.

(x)

[reyesstrand]

tag ten people you want to get to know better <3

thanks for the tag @welcometololaland @rosedavid @alrightbuckaroo @strandnreyes & @marjansmarwani <3

relationship status: sooo single

song stuck in my head: one that got away by muna

last song i listened to: salt in the wound by boygenius

three favourite foods: love a baked good! also pasta and tacos. also have to put coffee here because of course.

last thing i googled: train schedules to toronto for boygenius!

dream trip: would love to go somewhere lively and green and near the ocean. i’d also love to leave the continent and italy’s always been a dream, as well as just visiting a bunch of cities in europe. idk i live in a tourist town and work in tourism so getting away somewhere less “typical” and quieter would be lovely to see!

anything i want right now: to have the perfect set-up of time motivation and inspiration to really get back to writing to the point of it just flowing out. i’ve been stuck in a rut of just getting out little snippets or scenes in my notes app recently (i don’t think working six days in a row this week helped with that) and i just want to be able to sit at my computer and have the words come and for me to like them.

if you could be any animal, what would you be and why? okay so…..either like, a bird for the freedom and flying around (and like a crow who collects little trinkets) or one of those otters that just spends their days floating around on the water and holding hands with other otters to sleep.

would you rather have the power to read minds or fly? being a generally anxious person who overthinks it would probably be both a blessing and a curse to know what others are thinking. at this current moment i’m going to go with flying just so i could get away and just be when i need to.

no pressure tagging @carlos-in-glasses @lutavero @freneticfloetry @chaotictarlos @sunshinestrand @unstatedmartini @maxbegone @theghostofashton @terramous and leaving this as an open tag for anyone to participate <3

[argentinagp]

hi friend <3 I hope your day is going well so far. what is the book you’re currently reading, song you’re listening to & last film you watched !!

hiii!! 🫶🏻 hope urs is going well too!

im currently reading La Sed (The thirst) by Marina Yuszczuk (argentinian novel ab a vampire who comes from europe in the big immigrations and a woman of our time) and Niki lauda's autobiography!

As for songs im always listening to something boygenius related.

Last movie was Permitidos (That's Not Cheating) (argentinian comedy, w my mom)

sleepover weekend asks

[palepinkgoat]

tag game Tuesday! I was tagged by Macy @celestialmickey whom I absolutely adore.

name: karen pink_ink

when is your birthday? august 12.

favorite social media platform outside of tumblr? I do like Facebook quite a bit, call me old if you want. I have some fun groups I enjoy there.

do you wear makeup? nope, almost never. just take care of my face and I'm trying to remember to wear sunscreen every day. Sometimes I put lipstick on but very rarely!

favorite board game? probably clue

do you have any tattoos? 10! One is a little "cap sleeve" and most are on my arms. I also now have a gallavich tattoo I got while in Chicago!

which of the seven deadly sins would you say you struggle with the most? envy is the one that frustrates me the most and what I wish I could do without.

best vacation you’ve ever been on? Ireland was the first time I went to Europe and that was life-changing, but I think I'll pick Madrid.

how do you get around town? mostly car. : / I wish the train system was better in my city (which is a major city so it's extra annoying) but I do walk too.

describe your vibe in three words: interested, funny, extroverted

share a song rec: Emily, I'm Sorry by Boygenius

I will tag @gallawitchxx @juliakayyy@auds-and-evens !

[purpleipodnano]

The best pop songs of 2023

1. Tori Kelly - Missin U

2. PinkPantheress ft. Ice Spice - Boys a Liar pt. 2

3. Tinashe - Needs

4. Icona Pop - Fall In Love

5. The Japanese House - Sunshine Baby

6. Peggy Gou - (It Goes Like) Nanana

7. Zheani - Bring Wet Cunt

8. Kenya Grace - Strangers

9. Bibi Babydoll & DJ Brunin XM - Automotivo Bibi Fogosa

10. Kim Petras - Alone (Symphonic Session)

11. NOIA - Reveal Yourself

12. cassö, Raye & D-Block Europe - Prada

13. Galantis & JVKE ft. Enisa - Fool 4 U

14. MCR-T & horsegiirL - My Barn My Rules

15. Jessie Murph ft. Maren Morris - Texas

16. Bebe Rexha - Call on Me

17. Céline - Cabriolet

18. Caroline Polachek - Welcome to My Island

19. Tainy ft. J Balvin, Young Miko, & Jowell & Randy - COLMILLO

20. Qing Madi - See Finish

21. Bizarrap & Shakira - BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 53

22. Chesca ft. Mariah Angeliq - Bicha

23. Kali Uchis - Moonlight

24. Slayyyter - Miss Belladonna

25. Maple Glider - Dinah

26. Rosalía & Rauw Alejandro - VAMPIROS

27. Tyla - Water

28. Cydnee with a C - As Long As You Love Me

29. Glimji & Elphi - Blush

30. Kacy Hill - No One

31. Boygenius - Not Strong Enough

32. Muna - One That Got Away

33. Olivia Rodrigo - Love is embarrassing

34. SZA - Snooze

35. Bellakath ft. Dani Flow - Reggaeton Champagne

36. Ava Max - Get Outta My Heart

37. Ama Lou - Silence

38. Feid ft. Young Miko - Classy 101

39. Aitana - Los Ángeles

40. Alexandra Stan - Bobo

41. DJ Seinfeld & Confidence Man - Now U Do

42. Samira - Toxic

43. Tyler ICU & Tumelo.za ft. DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee - Mnike

44. Baby B3ns - Schmetterling

45. Emilia ft. Ludmilla & Zecca- No_se_ve.mp3

46. Torine - medicine

47. Cariño ft. Girl Ultra - Locochona

48. Ayelle - Orta Vez

49. Aly & AJ - Blue Dress

50. Dominic Fike - Mona Lisa

YouTube Playlist

[allamericansbitch]

Being a Carpenter on Twitter is so embarrassing cause I always see big fan accounts unintentionally set Sabrina up. First with Olivia Rodrigo, then it’s Gayle, at some point it was Boygenius and now I’ve seen big accounts pray for the downfall of Paramore cause they want Sabrina to open for Europe. 

This fandom has been moving like swifties these days. Sabrina talked about how damaging it is to pit people, especially women against each other so it’s just sad that thousands of people are just comfortable saying misogynistic comments about Hayley Williams and thinking that they're making Sabrina proud when correct me if I’m wrong but I genuinely think Sabrina and Hayley never interacted or acknowledged each other so this weird fandom beef all really stems from wanting to see a 30 minute opener set which is just weird  

Swifties spread their toxicity like a disease omfg

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 21/10/2023 (Fred again../Jozzy, Troye Sivan, Drake/SZA)

Content warning: Brief mentions of mental health, violence, emotional abuse and death

For a second week, Kenya Grace leads the pack with “Strangers” - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start the episode off with our notable dropouts, which are songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. Firstly, we see a couple top 40 debuts exiting as soon as they entered, like “Normal People Things” by Lovejoy, “Toxic” by Nines featuring the Bad Boy Chiller Crew, “You & Me” by JENNIE and “American Town” by Ed Sheeran, as well as “bad idea right?” by Olivia Rodrigo prematurely dropping off thanks to the three-song rule. Then we have some of the more long-term hits dropping off like “The Weekend” by Stormzy and RAYE, “0800 HEAVEN” by Nathan Dawe and Joel Corry featuring Ella Henderson, “Popular” by The Weeknd, Playboi Carti and Madonna - that lasted way longer than I expected - and despite the recent gains, “Snooze” by SZA.

There is just… a lot of everything this week, but particularly gains. We do have some re-entries too, with “Style” by Taylor Swift back at #73 before her re-recording is even out, followed by “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi at #71 - what did I tell you? - and bizarrely enough, “Pompeii” by Bastille all the way up at #37 thanks to an orchestral version with Hans Zimmer. Alright then. As for our notable gains… let’s just run through it: “Another Love” by Tom Odell at #59, “Party All the Time” by Hannah Laing and HVRR at #58, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift at #39, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #38, “Would You (go to bed with me?)” by Campbell and Alcemist at #35, “Got Me Started” and “Rush” both by Troye Sivan at #36 and #27 respectively - more on him later, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #25, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan at #18 “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #14 thanks to the new versions, “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuring Hannah Boleyn at #12 and Mitski gets her first top 10 with the fantastic song “My Love Mine All Mine” at #8 - more on that later in the year.

As for our top five, we have “Baddadan” by Chase & Status and Bou featuring their posse at #5, “Water” by Tyla at #4, “greedy” by Tate McRae at #3, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #2 and of course, “Strangers” at the very top. Now for our list of new songs, and it’s a lot - not a ton of it makes all too much sense either. As you can clearly tell with…

NEW ARRIVALS

#60 - “Just How You Like It” - K.A.D and Kak Hatt

Produced by K.A.D

I listened to a regional BBC Music Introducing show a couple weeks ago and heard a variety of stuff. One of the songs that stuck with me was a pretty mediocre but charming hip-house tune by some guy and it went “give me some time, I’ll have a Rover, lookin’ like a four-leaf clover, tell that girl, come closer”. It’s honestly probably terrible but it was at least honest fun, ending up comical not because he tried to be, but because it was a bit of a genuine fun, not trying too hard to offend anyone or even pretend he was a talented rapper. It was just stupid, and that was okay. This song, with the guy’s Bitmoji in the cover art, seems to think very highly of itself despite the fact it sounds worse than a clearly amateur recording from a guy who I’m sure has way less than the millions of streams this has. It’s pretty easy for me to tell when a song is devoid of personality or anything that personally interests me, but it’s rare that we can get a song devoid of talent - or at least any interest in getting any better. Hope this falls off quick.

#56 - “Black Hole” - boygenius

Produced by Collin Pastore, Jake Finch, Ethan Gruska, Calvin Lauber, Marshall Vore and boygenius

And for a change of pace, we have indie-rock threesome boygenius, consisting of critical darlings Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, with this coming as a bit of a surprise but they did carry some streams from the rest, a little accompanying EP for their debut album from earlier this year. I have yet to listen to any of the collaborative stuff from boygenius, even if I do like a fair bit of Baker’s and Dacus’ solo work. The song starts minimally with Baker despairingly mentioning the few stars she can see in the dark, as the lowered cacophony of strings, glitches, and plummering percussion start to rumble into prominence, battling with a lo-fi piano recording that just sits there, is let hang in a really awkward, but again, despairing way. Eventually, there is a full ruffling of drums but it’s distorted and busy, way too much so to feel organic or natural, so the seemingly endless verse of contrasting phrases from Dacus and Bridgers float across it, way further in the mix, like a cry for help in disaster - “my thoughts, all noise […] sometimes, I need to hear your voice”. It’s a great line to end on to, as the song dissipates out into the next on the tracklisting through a clattering software break instead of anything that sounds like it actually functions or resolves the song’s conflict. It’s a bit of a short, depressing tune, but it gets its point across pretty damn well. Wouldn’t mind more boygenius charting in the future, or just good alternative rock in general… just saying…

#52 - “WORTH IT” - Offset featuring Don Toliver

Produced by CHASETHEMONEY, Heavy Mellow, Cory Rose, OTTI, BEAM and Dave-O

The amount of producers on these big-name rap projects is getting out of hand. Does Offset really need six guys on the boards? To be fair, this was originally a song just by BEAM and CHASETHEMONEY that got deleted and repurposed into this track, which itself samples a Busta Rhymes classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”, which peaked at #16 in 1997, as well as the reggae-pop hit “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)” by Dawn Penn, which hit #3 in 1994. Yet somehow with all those samples, nothing of interests pops out. I guess this has a vague reggae rhythm to it thanks to the shaking percussion, and I mostly like Don Toliver on this kind of sound - he fits really well! Offset is here, on his #62 album that somehow charted two songs in the top 60 thanks to big-name features, and he just is entirely alien to this kind of song. There’s nothing that screams “chill reggae-pop” about Offset and it doesn’t seem like the mastering engineers cared much to rectify that. I don’t mind some of the melodic flows he ends up with, but they’re not anything I’d give a second listen. Maybe Offset’s next track will impress me?

#49 - “SAY MY GRACE” - Offset featuring Travis Scott

Produced by Vinylz, FNZ, Maneesh and Tom Levesque

Ever read a song’s title, artists and producers and know EXACTLY how it’s going to sound? This elevated, staccato luxurious trap beat was not a surprise to me at all, and I could even vaguely predict Set’s flow on this, which is sadly a bit more awkward than it should be when he’s asking God some genuine questions about why the people around him are dying, why there is systematic racism in the American justice system and… how his pinky ring cost him a Phantom. Travis Scott comes in saying he flooded the crib with cars and anything genuinely challenging or exciting about the song leaves with his verse, as the atmosphere mutes itself to a compressed synth for the entirety of his substanceless garbage that is sadly now not atypical of Travis. It had potential, but ended up honestly pretty bad.

#45 - “the grudge” - Olivia Rodrigo

Produced by Dan Nigro and Ryan Linvill

I was secretly hoping that no extra songs from GUTS would end up charting because I have very few good things to say about them but also very few good reasons for why I don’t like them. I can appreciate them as songs but they don’t resonate with me and particularly not this one, in her typical wordy fashion with those distant pianos and breathy delivery about a manipulative relationship where she just doesn’t have the strength left in her to forgive, which she really doesn’t need to. It is completely in her right to hold that grudge, and the framing of the song doesn’t entirely absolve her on that front, which is interesting, pretty disagreeable to me at least to me but I just wish the song gave me more actual melodic resonance outside of what acts practically as speaking over solid enough piano backing. It’s just lacking in some of the essentials for me, sorry.

#43 - “THIS YEAR (Blessings)” - Victor Thompson featuring Ehis ‘D’ Greatest

Produced by Samduke and Henrietta Thompson

This is a Christian Afrobeats song, I’m pretty sure, and not an awful one at that. Thompson is a Nigerian gosepl singer, and whilst the production is expectedly cheap and messy given a budget I assume just isn’t there, given that Christian music isn’t the mainstream market in Nigeria either, the delivery from these guys is so devoted it is pretty impressive, especially with Ehis’ shaky falsetto. That hook is insanely catchy also, and the slightly minimal, flexible Afrobeats groove is a solid foundation for two very slippery vocalists. I like the little screech that comes in every few measures, the choir vocals are beautiful as you’d expect - I love pretty much any use of choir in music - but why is this charting? Afrobeats is big, but these guys aren’t, and devoted Christian songs don’t often chart. There is a “French version” with Vacra and a sped-up version so I can assume some global TikTok virality… oh. Gunna is on the remix. There was a hidden Gunna song in here all this time. He’s not even bad here, though a bit strained, you can tell his passion is there even if the lyrics are generic. It’s an odd fit but not the worst, I suppose.

#31 - “DArkSide” - Bring Me the Horizon

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes and Daisuke Ehara

And straying as far away from possible as Christian Afrobeats songs featuring Gunna, we have the newest Bring Me the Horizon song, and man… this one’s about the “dark side” winning, going for a semi-introspective semi-populist touch that ends up just being gross in how it explores mental health. It goes for an anthemic pop-metal throwback to their mid-2010s days but without the specific narrative of POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR or the same level of sheer angst that I’m not sure they have in them anymore. It feels like an attempt by record label executives seeing the success of Bring Me the Horizon to make a song that could still be a hit whilst sounding like Bring Me the Horizon, with a touch of iffily-approached mental health lyrics that basically amount to “you wouldn’t be able to handle me when I’m crazy!”, furthered by the quirky vocal layering, obnoxious 2012 electronics and mostly substanceless, surprisingly rote songwriting. This is just nothing - there are no risks, there’s no interesting turns of phrase. It’s not even three minutes. It’s just depressing to see a once innovative band caught in this cycle of repeating themselves.

#28 - “Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute to Amy)” - Skepta featuring Amy Winehouse

Produced by Skepta

So in 2007, Amy Winehouse released “Tears Dry on Their Own” as a single, and in all honesty, I don’t like it. It is heavily reliant on its interpolation of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, a classic duet that it clearly tries to flip in how she and Salaam Remi built a pretty ambivalent song over one of the most recognisably upbeat, motivational anthems, about not feeling too bad about a relationship breaking up because it wasn’t made to last. Yet fittingly, it never really made me feel anything. It peaked at #37 on release then upon Winehouse’s death re-peaked at #27. Now as a tribute to the lost singer, UK rapper Skepta has remixed the track but not in a style you’d expect. It’s just a straight future house song and disappointingly not very interesting at all. Sure, it has a bit more fuzz and static than the usual house cut, but it doesn’t feel exactly on purpose, just moreso that Skepta can’t fully pull off atmospheric house, considering the factorial percussion and very flat-feeling pads and synths that coat Winehouse’s organic vocals. I may not be a fan of the original song but at least I’m able to admit her vocals will never really fit that perfectly on something that isn’t in that soulful vibe. It does pain me because I do want to enjoy this, it seems like a genuine tribute and re-imagining of a song he loved from her, but I don’t really like the execution here, it feels like it could have been done by anybody, which for Skepta, is kind of sad. Sorry.

#21 - “Rich Baby Daddy” - Drake featuring Sexyy Red and SZA

Produced by Gordo, Klahr, LIOHN, BNYX, TheLoudPack and UV Killin Em

This may be my favourite Drake song. To be fair, there is some healthy competition - and it is completely expected for me to like this kind of song, at least when you boil it down to its essentials - but the amount of Drake songs I genuinely love probably doubled with the release of For All the Dogs. “Rich Baby Daddy” appears to be the fan favourite as well, or at least the one going most viral on TikTok, and I couldn’t be happier. This is a straight-up Atlanta bass record based around a heavenly pad and angelic vocal sample from Jessica Domingo that elevates the song immediately into a state of transcendence, to the point where the pitter patter of the typical Miami bass percussion is more a sprinkled decoration than main rhythm despite the fact that it is still absolutely hypnotising. Of course, Sexyy Red of all people is here and her tonally void club-ready chant about shaking that ass for Drake is perfect for this kind of bop. Drake contrasts her staccato constant with a feeble warble that flexes, sure, but drenching himself with the same paranoia present throughout the album, with the lyrics about a girl dragging love out of him seeming reminiscent of those questions asked by the vocal sample: “I could be enough, is it all?”. SZA kills it as always, going for a fast-paced, sometimes incoherent sliding delivery, and I love how the vocal sample re-appears as prominent in the mix during her verse, it’s a great mix of vocal layers that compliment each other, especially when SZA is desperate to turn this one-night stand into something further. Ms. Red has a pretty short verse but her leaving the track to run bare, just repeating “I’m lucky” as an ad-lib before the hook comes back in definitely doesn’t sound like an error, it sounds like the emptiness of the song - which it has down even to its minimal instrumentation - creeping in, of course before it becomes increasingly obvious with that abrupt beat switch to a downtempo track of Drake crooning. Now, I’ve heard this song with this part excluded, I read a lot about how it ruined the song or at least the momentum, and I completely agree, but Drake’s best weapon in his arsenal is to make the audience hear conversations they never wanted to even know of. So of course after his incredibly accessible dance banger about masking the fragility of a relationship with the fun you’re having, he gets in his feelings about how much he did for this girl yet how distant and inexperienced she still is. Is it gross? Yes, of course it is, especially over those eerie looming synths. But Drake also latches onto some killer melodies and awful lines that make me recoil into my skin a little bit. Because he’s Drake, that’s what he does, and he’s doing it best here. That strained “You know I’m the one” is a great thing to leave in the air, because it sounds far from sincere. This is an excellent song, I’m glad it’s probably going to be a hit, and if this is the last song I talk about from that Drake album, just know I still think it’s his best and I know my opinion is garbage. WIth that said, how out of all of the songs on there the Yeat one still in the top 10? I would never have predicted that.

#17 - “One of Your Girls” - Troye Sivan

Produced by OZGO

As you can probably expect, so, say it with me now: No, I did not listen to the Troye Sivan album. Who do you think I am? Someone who likes pop music? You would be correct in that assumption and I was tempted to check it out when “Rush” was the only single but “Got Me Started” tempered me very much so. And wow, isn’t this a terrible inclusion to the list of singles? First of all, he sounds like Harry Styles over this murmuring synthpop instrumental, and secondly, he implies support for copyright law, which is nothing we here at the deadcactuswalking establishment can support. I would respect the rejection of the song’s sound to add five unnecessarily blaring synths before the acoustics come in the pre-chorus, if they didn’t sound like a scary logo compilation from 2011, and then a different synth tone comes in the outro - it is clearly a purposeful attempt to sound ugly, and for such a comforting and warm song lyrically, it puts me off from even wanting to come back to it, apart from it being generally dull. A few weird moments does not make an experimental song… or even an interesting one.

#16 - “ten” - Fred again.. and Jozzy

Produced by Fred again.. and Tony Friend

Interestingly, I can’t find the origin of this song’s samples, maybe it’s an unreleased set of tracks from sessions with Jozzy and Jim Legxacy, or just from sample packs, or stuff genuinely too obscure no one has found yet, but it definitely doesn’t sound like it was made for the song. In fact, “ten” has that same blue, jumbled sound as “adore u” but the lack of frame of reference regarding the lyrics may actually help because as a result I can fully submerge in this as what it is, which is practically an instrumental. The song immediately captures the club-ready set with that “back it up and dump it” refrain yet seems to pull you away or at least follow you on the road with its cold, limping synths, punctuated by a lo-fi chipping of drums, wherein Jozzy’s vocals act as another instrument at Fred’s disposal, manipulated not to make sense but to fit with the song and reach the exact melodic impact he wants, which is a great decision considering this song is about missing home. Lyrics that felt solid and developed, especially on the heavily-filtered, subtle and minimal atmospheric house beat would be almost a distraction. They simply want you to carry on with this one, as any homesick person with responsibilities may want to do also: just stick with it despite feeling completely out of it, and as someone who has recently moved home and is feeling particularly fatigued, it hits pretty hard. I do usually snark at the whole slow-down outro thing, but it works pretty well here considering it’s that moment of feeling absolutely lethargic and unsure of yourself before it picks up once again, actually speeding back up to pace for the true outro, with even more twinkling synth patterns and a whirlpool of distortion that eventually completely devours the song… yet it still goes on, like life always does. I don’t know if the song was made to be about stretching yourself unnecessarily just in order to get through life, but it sure feels like it and it hits home as a result. This is fantastic, and I hope it has a run like “adore u” did.

Conclusion

I mean, obviously, whoever the hell featuring who gives a damn gets Worst of the Week for “How You Like It”, but it’s sad to say that “DArkSide” by Bring Me the Horizon wasn’t far behind with the Dishonourable Mention. As for the best, it was kind of difficult but it is very difficult to reach Drake’s best so he gets Best of the Week for “Rich Baby Daddy” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA, with a tied Honourable Mention between boygenius’ “Black Hole” and “ten” by Fred again.. and Jozzy, both pretty incredible songs. As for what to expect upon the horizon, I don’t know and this episode was too long for me to care. Thank you for reading, see you next week!

[gaygoetia]

Tag Game

Rules: tag 10 ppl you want to get to know better.

Thank You @tahtahfornow for the tag!

Relationship Status: En(gay)ged (but we're non-monogamous so polyam ladies hmu)

Favourite Colour: I usually say blue because I like almost every single shade of it but if we're talking specific shades I'm a big fan of deep greens and warm yellows.

Stuck in my head: At this precise moment it's Kailee Morgue's cover of Black Sheep by Metric (no idea why as I haven't listened to it in ages but it is a banger). But shout out to Fuck my Money by BROODS, True Blue by boygenius, Be On Your Way by Daughter and Eucalyptus by The National, all of which I've been listening to non-stop lately.

Last Song I listened to: Weird Goodbyes by The National ft Bon Iver.

3 favourite foods: Hummus, Spaghetti, Beyond Burgers

Last thing I googled: "OCD + BDSM?"

Dream Trip: Assuming this is referring to Geographical locations I'd love to go somewhere outside of Europe someday. Japan, Australia, India and Egypt are all on my list.

My tags: @mychemicalrachel @r4venking

@werewolffeelings @firefliesandfuckery @ellethakallabeth

[aoarcturus]

Rules: tag 10 people… I don’t know 10 people

relationship status: very single

favourite colour: green :)

song stuck in my head: not strong enough - boygenius

last song I listend to: somebody to love - queen

3 favourite foods: poke bowl, teriyaki chicken and uhm idk rice dishes - there’s so many but I love rice.

last thing I googled: rio movie red bird hahaha

dream trip: I’ve always wanted to go to Australia - but the spiders… - idk I just really wanna travel outside of Europe

thanks sm for the tag @ravens-remember :)))

no pressure tags: @tempusfugitandallthatblog @canismjr @waltzedintherain @alexsays-no @oleslu (sry if u’ve already been tagged) that’s not 10 people but it’s gonna have to do…