Visual Prison was all kinds of awesome but Guilty Cross is just... transcendental. You must understand that I was a visual kei girlie and this hits all the right places. And Makoto Furukawa, damn, his voiiiice and that vibrato. Uuuuhhh...
i remember my uncle and aunt lending me a CD copy of in utero when i was about fourteen and listening to that album completely changed my understanding of both the labels of "popular" and "alternative" music; "nirvana was absolutely an incredible group" is about as basic a take as you can get but as i age—and as a current twenty seven year old am someone who will soon be older than kurt cobain was when he killed himself—it continues to absolute blowsme away at how much he and the entire group accomplished at such ridiculously young ages
Still singed as a result of seeing Raleigh Ritchie live last wednesday, i suppose partly because i wasn’t expecting the savage emotional connection it awakened in me. There’s something so disarming about an artist who’s able to be openly vulnerable in front of a crowd of strangers, no bravado, no artifices — it felt, at times, almost like i wanted him to shut up and keep some parts of himself to himself, is it not enough that you allude to a suicide attempt in your songs, that you talked about your kids, your insecurities, your parents. Do you have to tear yourself open like this. But god it’s stayed with me. The amount of times Jacob said i’m glad i’m here, and we’re where we’re supposed to be like it was a hard-earned belief he’s only recently found. His entire speech before singing big & scared, choking, then having to start the song again. I want to keep this dude safe in my pocket away from the ugliness of the world, and at the same time i have the feeling that he’s significantly stronger than i am. Anyway i’m tearing up as i write this, stream Andy by Raleigh Ritchie.
idk with all the discourse about who's allowed to sing and who not, I feel like a lot of people forgot why humans sing in the first place, where singing comes from culturally...
Especially the Thai culture and fandom reminded me of that you do not have to be a perfect singer to have fun with each other. Singing is originally a fun or emotional activity to share vibes with your group, village, tell stories. (side note: the pagan folk genre is basically also a good witness of the past in that regard)
The whole Thai actor fan meeting and concert habit seems to be a very Thai culture thing just mixed with pop culture and capitalism.
Observing the Thai folks I see at my local yearly Thai festival, they are very similar. They still party hard even if the singer is not that good. They constantly go to the stage to slip the singers some money or gifts, request them to sing certain songs.
all i have to say about my school president prom night live on stage is that it was an Experience, and i am so so so in awe of everything it put out. the sets and backdrops were stunning, the costume design served, the arrangements slapped, but shining above all that and bringing it all to life were those 9 boys... they gave such. incredible. performances i dont know what to say. they put on a four-hour-long musical two nights in a row, sang and danced to all 14 of their show's songs as well as at least 14 more. all of them are so unspeakably talented it awes me to know that most of them are new actors. they clearly had so much fun on that stage together. the love for the show and the crew and for each other was so so strong.
i hope those boys get lots of well-earned rest, water, and love after all that hard work!!! i dont have anything else to say - this series, this live show, and this cast, are and have all been so special.