#i was just listening to miley cyrus as i wrote this

[fandom-alley]

Rose Coloured Lenses | Spencer Reid Fanfic

Summary: Reader cuts her finger while cooking and Spencer bandages her up Pairing: Spencer Reid/Reader Warnings: accidental knife cut, lots of mentions of blood/bleeding, kissing, swear words Category: Fluff Word count: 2k a/n: This is my first reader insert short. Got inspired because it's the 2 year anniversary of me cutting my own finger while cooking lol Also available to be read on AO3

Saturday nights were my designated home cooked meal nights. Even if Spencer was out of town on a case with work, I’d invite a friend or two over to the apartment for dinner. And on the rare occasion that no one was free, I would cook an extravagant meal to myself, playing music and dancing around the kitchen while belting out my favourite Taylor Swift song and hoping one of the neighbours don’t start knocking on the walls to get me to shut up.

Even though we've only lived together a short while, Spencer know’s enough to vacate the kitchen on Saturday nights, letting me take up all the space needed for multiple bowls, cutting boards, pots and pans. So when he arrives home from work a few hours early to see I’m on speaker phone with best friend, hair tied back and sleeves rolled up, mixing my famous meatball recipe, he knows not to get in the way. 

However, even with the rule of staying out of the kitchen, Spencer can’t help himself but to come in and give me a quick kiss hello, which I don’t mind. 

“It already smells amazing.” He say’s while tucking a strand of hair that fell out of my bun back behind my ear. 

“It’s really just onions and garlic right now, but thank you.” I smile at him. “Now get lost, I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

“Hi, Spencer. Bye, Spencer.” My best friend, Becky, say’s through the speaker phone, having heard our interaction. 

“Good evening, Becky.” He turns to leave but thinks better. Stopping to place a hand on my cheek and pull me in for another kiss. It’s sickeningly sweet as he gently rubs his thumb along my cheekbone. I wish my hands were anywhere on his body instead of stuck inside a bowl of ground beef. There’s no way Spencer would let me get away with touching him before washing my hands. 

“Get a room you two!” Becky laughs from the phone. “I can hear you making out.”

“That was definitely not making out. That was just me saying hello to my beautiful girlfriend, whom I missed dearly at work today. And if she wasn’t wrist deep in ground beef and on the phone I would already have her on my bed.” Spencer says with a smirk, leaving me speechless.

“Oh, spicy boy! Where do I find a man like you?” Becky manages to ask through her continued laughter.

“Okay! Spencer, that’s enough of you. I would really like to get my hands out of this bowl, so I’m going to need you to leave so I can finish cooking, please.” I say.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Spencer leans forward for another kiss but I pull my head back as far as my constricted hands will allow.

“Stop trying to distract me! I’ll call you when it’s ready.” I laugh.

Finally, he walks out of the kitchen to grab his work bag. I watch him pull out a new novel and head into the office, where I’m sure he will finish reading it in a few minutes. 

“Alright, now that he’s gone. What were we talking about?” I ask Becky for a reminder. 

“I believe we were chatting about the rising costs of butter, to be honest. Not the most riveting conversation.” Becky laughs out.

“Oh yeah. Didn’t we star out by talking about Justin’s new girlfriend? How did we end up on butter.” I laugh with her. 

As we continue our conversation, I portion and roll out the meat balls. Then I brown them off in a pan before adding the sauce I made prior to Spencer arriving home, turning it down to low so they can simmer. Finally after what feels like hours, I’m able to wash the meat off my hands and gather the ingredients needed for the salad. 

“I should let you go, y/n. It’s getting late and I’ve got to give my mom a call as well and make sure she remembers about our lunch plans tomorrow.” Becky explains while I’m at the sink washing lettuce and carrots. 

“Of course, it was a great chat. What has it been, two hours? We should get coffee soon. Continue the convo in person.” I offer.

“Yes, definitely. Alright, have a good night, I’ll text you tomorrow. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do with Spencer after dinner.” Becky says, and even though I can’t see her I just know she’s wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. 

“Ha ha. Goodnight, Becky.” With Spencer tucked away in his office and Becky officially off the line, I decide to play some music from my phone to fill the silence. “Nothing like some good ol’ Miley Cyrus.” I mumble to myself as I hit shuffle on her new album. 

I make sure it’s not too loud, so as not to disturb whatever Spencer is working on in the next room, and get started on prepping the salad. The lettuce gets chopped and dried, then tossed into the big bamboo salad bowl I convinced Spencer to buy at a market a few weeks back. 

“It’s so pretty and it fits the vibe of the apartment so well. If it doesn’t force us to eat more salads at least it’ll look nice on the kitchen table full of fruit.” I had told him. But I don’t think it were my words that convinced him to buy it. I think it was the look I gave him through my eyelashes, silently trying to convey that buying the bowl wasn’t just for the greens, but as a way for him to show that he really was serious about me moving in and making changes to the apartment he’s lived alone in for so long. 

With all the lettuce in the bowl, I move on to cutting the carrots into cubes. As I’m working away, Miley’s song Flowers starts playing from my phone. I refrain from singing along, to spare Spencer and the neighbours of the noise, but I can’t help moving my hips to the beat. It’s easy to get carried away dancing to this song, which I do. So much so that I forget I have a sharp knife in my hand.

The inevitable happens. As the song reaches the chorus, I start to hop up and down to the beat and my knife slips off the carrot and into the side of my ring finger. 

“Shit!” I drop the knife onto the counter and grab my injured hand with the other, bringing them to my chest as I squeeze my eyes closed. I can feel the wetness as blood pools out of my finger. I breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, trying to calm my already racing heartbeat. Knowing I need to assess the wound, I slowly bring my hands away from my chest and peak my eyes open. I barely move my uninjured hand away before I catch sight of the blood.

“Fuck.” I say, shutting my eyes and closing my hands together again. The sight make’s me feel nauseous and I end up crouching to the floor of the kitchen, unable to stand up any longer for fear of passing out. The initial adrenaline starts to ware off as my heart rate returns to normal and I can feel pulsing in the finger that I cut. 

After a few more seconds of sitting, I give in and lay fully onto the kitchen floor as I call out for Spencer. The sound of his office door opening is a relief. 

“Y/n?” I hear his footsteps come towards the kitchen. “Where are you?”

“Down here.” I groan from the floor behind the kitchen island. I don’t see Spencer come around the corner because my eyes are still squeezed shut, but I hear him. He rushes to me and kneels down to my side.

  “What happened? Are you okay?” His hands are on mine, gently trying to pry them apart to see the injury, but I don’t let him.

“I cut my finger.” I cry to him.

“Okay. Did you fall? Can you sit up?” He speaks softly, gently wiping a tear off my cheek that I didn’t know was there.

“I was starting to feel like I was going to throw up so I came down here. I didn’t fall, but I don’t think I can sit up yet.” I explain to him.

“That’s alright. That’s good that you didn’t fall. No head injuries to attend to. Okay give me a second, I’ll be right back I just need to grab the first aid kit from the bathroom.” Spencer says and I hear him run off down the hall

When he returns I hear the first aid kit hit the ground beside me and feel him sit down next to my chest, where I’m still clutching my hands together. I gasp and open my eyes when something cold is placed on my forehead.

“Sorry, should have warned you.” Spencer says when I look at him. “It’s just a cold cloth to help sooth you.”

“Thank you.” I breath out. 

“Of course.” Spencer’s eyes are soft on me. He caresses my cheek, making me sigh in delight. “Can I take a look?”

“Yeah.” I close my eyes again so I don’t catch sight of it, then open my hands for him. He gently takes them into his own and I feel him inspecting them.

“There’s quite a bit of blood but from what I can see it’s not that big of a cut. Do you think you can make it to the sink so we can wash it off?” He asks gently.

“Um, yeah. I think so.” 

  Spencer helps me up with an arm behind my back, then holds onto me as we walk over to the sink. He tests the water until it reaches a warm temperature then gently pulls my hands under the stream. I open my eyes to take a peak and all I see is red washing down the drain.

“Oh, gross.” I groan and put my head down onto the counter. 

“I didn’t know you were this bad with blood.” Spencer says as he helps me into a chair after rinsing my hands.

“Neither did I. I’ve never cut myself with a knife before. How do you deal at work? I’m sure you’ve seen more blood in one day on the field than I’ll see in my lifetime.” 

Now that there’s no blood all over my hands, Spencer brings my injured hand close to his face to inspect the cut. He’s very gentle, but as his fingers grab the one that I cut, I can’t help but to gasp out in pain. It’s so tender.

“Sorry.” He apologizes. “It took a while to get used to. I guess I might not even be that used to it. But it’s part of the job and we try our best to not get attached to the scenes, makes it a little easier to sleep at night.”

“Wow. I don’t know how you do it.” I say.

“It helps that I have you to come home to now.” He says sweetly. “Well, I don’t think you need stitches. Just some good gauze wrap and maybe an Advil if it’s still hurting.” Spencer says. I watch him intently as he wraps the gauze around my finger, securing it with a little piece of medical tape. When he’s finished he brings my hand to his mouth to kiss my fingers.

“Thank you, doctor.” 

“It was my pleasure.” 

“I didn’t get to finish dinner. I still need to make the pasta.” I sigh, making a move to stand up but Spencer pushes me back down from the shoulders.

“I’ll finish up dinner, you go sit on the couch.” He says.

“Are you sure? Saturday nights are my home cooked meal night.” 

“I’m sure. It’s still going to be home cooked even if it’s me cooking it.” He laughs.

“Thank you. I love you.” I pull him into a hug and he tucks me under his chin, holding me tight.

“I love you, too.” He says with a kiss to my forehead. 

[makeyoumine69]

Till Death Do Us Part Masterlist 🪓 | Patrick Bateman x Innocent!Fem!Reader Series

— PAIRING: Patrick Bateman x Innocent!Fem!Reader; [no y/n]

— SYNOPSIS: 1987. Your name is Rebecca Rice, you were born in Houston, Texas, but then your family moved to New York City in hopes of a better life. And it really paid off, as your father became successful in business and made several important acquisitions—the Bateman family being one of them. You and Patrick have known each other since childhood, but you have never liked each other. A golden boy from day one, he despised you because you were not as rich as he was. Fortunately, you parted ways after high school and have seen each other several times over the years, as your mother has a good relationship with Mrs. Bateman. At some point, you even thought that your teenage crush on Patrick had faded and you finally managed to build relationships with another guy, but sadly, it didn't work out because your family didn't accept him. Just like they didn't like your choice of career, but you didn't care because you always wanted to work in the medical field and help people, being a nurse was really tough. The hardest times came when one day your mother told you that in order to help your father you had to marry Patrick Bateman and you had no other choice because you didn't even know what was behind this deal, but you promised yourself that one day you would find the answers to all your questions. If you survived this marriage, of course. For it was obvious that sooner or later everyone would expect you to bring an heir into this world. The world of corruption and sin.

— CONTAINS: SMUT, ARRANGED MARRIAGE, enemies to lovers dynamics, dark explicit sexual content, drugging, breeding, misogyny, degradation, objectification, etc.

— A/N: This is my secret writing project that I've been working on all this time with one of my good friends. I couldn't stop thinking about the concept of an arranged marriage since I wrote Obsession. So I decided to make an experiment and write a story with a reader, but without y/n, who has an established background and name. I hope it works out and you will enjoy experiencing this story through Rebecca's eyes!

Amazing cover by @iron-flavored-lipgloss!💋

Chapter one — 02/07/2024

Chapter two — 05/07/2024

Chapter three — 10/07/2024

Chapter four — 13/07/2024

Chapter five — 24/07/2024

Chapter six — 03/08/2024

Chapter seven — 05/08/2024

Chapter eight — 09/08/2024

Chapter nine

Chapter ten

Related songs:

Kim Wilde — You Keep Me Hangin’ On

 Stevie Nicks — Edge of Seventeen

 Britney Spears — Criminal

Stevie Wonder—Part-Time Lover

Sade—Smooth Operator

Roxette—Listen to Your Heart

Laura Branigan—Self Control

Modern Talking—Cheri Cheri Lady

Pet Shop Boys—It’s a Sin

Miley Cyrus—Gimme What I Want

Pastel Ghost—Shadows (Slowed Version)

Britney Spears—Break The Ice

Katy Perry—E.T.

Madonna—Like a Prayer

Cascada—Everytime We Touch (Acoustic)

Thank you for your time!🖤✌

[writingfanficsfan]

Tag Nine People You Want to Get to Know Better

I was tagged by @sounds-of-some-day Thanks for the tag!

Three ships: WinterIron. Sherstrade. Dreville. 

First ever ship: Probably Buffy and Spike. But I heard about fandoms and fanfiction because of Sherlock BBC and Johnlock. I also wrote my first ficlet for them. 

Last song/album is: Endless Summer Vacation by Miley Cyrus. I’m even thinking of buying the CD so I can listen to it in my car. 

Last movie: Pirates of the Caribbean on the tv (always enjoy those movies!) . Knives Out: Glass Onion on Netflix (that one was hilarious and I loved it)

Currently reading: The Hunger Games, book 1. (I bought the box set with the one book included). And I’m reading Winter’s End by  ali_aliska I don’t care that it’s not finished, the words that are out are so good, I’m finding it very comforting. 

Currently watching: I’m following Perry Mason. And I just watched Moon Knight on Disney+  Not sure what I will watch next, I have a list on both Disney+ and Netflix of shows and series I want to try. 

Currently consuming: Nothing at the moment. 

Currently craving: For this day to be over. Or at least for the funeral to be over. 

I tag without ordering: @chained-to-the-mirror @27dragons @not-close-to-straight @mutedsilence @lavenderandvanilla @the-pen-pot @the-reading-lemon @george-the-pumpkin

[datamodel-of-disaster]

Ooof.

It's been about a year now, and I'm still not entirely over my devastating friend breakup.

Like, I guess I AM over it in the sense that I'm pretty much fine. I did my grieving (Read: cried my eyes out on the living room rug, downed a bottle of too expensive wine at a sushibar while sorting through the devastation with Husband and QPP, listened to Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball and wallowed in self pity until I got tired of myself, wrote a lot of cruel/angry/miserable/desperate tumblr posts that didn't make it out of my drafts, read The Friendship by Connie Palmen and Take Care Of Yourself by Sophie Calle, found a modicum of peace with the fact that I really felt more humiliated than sad, you know.) and I mostly no longer think about it. It's not really a thing in my life anymore.

....

But holy fuck. I'm NOT over it in the sense that accidentally coming across anything they made is still a recipe for Instant Physical Panic. Like, heart racing, nausea, the works.

It's just...

I can't fucking believe they wrecked me so bad that accidentally seeing their art or their fics or even their bloody username makes my body respond with such instantaneous threat response, almost 9 months later still.

There they are, completely and utterly unaffected, and there am I, having hypertension over seeing their art reblogged on somebody else's blog. It's like the humiliation just won't end.

And whatever can I do about it? Nothing, that's what.

Except this.

One of the reasons I originally gave them the ick was my "bad habit" of publicly processing all my feelings; guess I'm not escaping that allegation. Still. I'm lancing the boils of this grief, one by one. Better out in the open than festering inside.

[ts1989fanatic]

Have We Reached Peak Taylor Swift? The Psychology Behind When Someone Becomes Overexposed.

Is Taylor Swift about to be in her 'overexposed' era?

Midway through the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift is everywhere.

The ongoing tour ― Swift is scheduled to resume the international leg in November ― and the subsequent concert film are certifiable cultural events that have actually boosted regional economies. (In Los Angeles, for instance, where Swift performed six shows, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy predicted a $320 million boost to the county. No wonder Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau practically begged the Grammy winner to visit up north.)

She’s even bolstering the NFL’s viewership: Since the “Cruel Summer”

singer started attending her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs games, the league has seen some Super Bowl-level numbers thanks to all the Swifties tuning in.

Meanwhile, the media coverage is breathless. While daytime talk show hosts ask Kelce’s mom about Swift, there’s play-by-play of the couple’s dates around the web: “They were in a rounded booth sitting super close to each other in deep convo the whole time,” a diner at the Waverly Inn in Greenwich, where Swift and Kelce dined on Sunday, told The Messenger. “It looked super romantic and was super intimate.”

But given Swift’s cultural dominance ― and NFL fans booing an ad for her concert doc early this month ― even her fans are a little worried that Taylor fatigue might soon set in. Is Swift due for another “overexposed” era?

“Kinda overwhelmed by how close Taylor is to overexposure,” one fan tweeted on X.

“You either die the hero or live long enough to admit that you have Taylor Swift fatigue,” another wrote on the site.

On the main Swift subreddit, fans debate if Swift will eventually go back into pop star hibernation like she did after her “1989” album.

Indeed, this isn’t Swift’s first go-around with overexposure. The success of “1989” in 2014 was followed by a heightened interest in Swift’s personal life: her famous friends (or her “squad”), her ill-fated romance with Tom Hiddleston, her drama with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. In response, Swift made a “conscious choice to disappear” and opt for a more “lowkey” life, a source close to the singer told People at the time.

Her rollout of her next album, 2017’s “Reputation,” was relatively quiet. (“There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation,” Swift remarked on Instagram.)

Swift seems to pay close attention to her fandom and cultivate those parasocial relationships, said Lynn Zubernis, a psychologist and professor at West Chester University who researches fan psychology.

“Who knows, she might consider withdrawing from the spotlight again at some point,” Zubernis told HuffPost.

The professor likened the “Anti-Hero” singer’s ubiquity right now to Barney in the ’90s. Parents loved the purple dinosaur initially (no one kept their kids as entertained), but that love soured by the 104th listen of the “I love you, you love me” theme song.

“Familiarity is part of what drives fandom — we’re wired to attach to familiar faces, whether they’re offline or on our screens — but there’s a limit to how much repetition we can tolerate,” Zubernis said. “Too many instances of someone popping up and behaving the same way or saying the same thing can start to grate.”

The overexposure is sometimes exacerbated by the celebrity being perceived as “trying too hard” or being inauthentic, Zubernis said: Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, even Lady Gaga come to mind, she said.

“At first their ‘antics’ were popular, but people soon grew tired and cynical about them,” she said. “Justin Bieber, James Franco, Shai LaBeouf and Kanye West fall into that category too, and all have been on lists of ‘celebrities we’re tired of’ as a result.”

There’s also a common trajectory that fandom tends to take: Fans love to root for their favorite celebrity ― or sports team or TV series ― because of that vicarious sense of success they gain, but there’s also a cost to that success and visibility, Zubernis said. Some fans jump ship.

“Fans also relish feeling ‘special’ and seeing their fandom as exclusive ― as in, we are the only ones who see how truly special this person is and appreciate her,” the professor said.

“Once someone like Swift becomes beloved by everyone, even ‘normies,’ the fandom doesn’t feel as exclusive anymore,” she added. (Think how in high school, you used to say, “Yeah, I liked that band when they were still underground.”)

Jaye L. Derrick, an associate professor of psychology who studies parasocial relationships at the University of Houston, has a different take: She thinks that most of the people complaining about Swift were never fans to begin with.

“She has a very large following, but no celebrity can make 100% of the population like them,” Derrick told HuffPost.

“As Taylor Swift is shown to new markets, she is meeting some pushback from people who may have been aware of her before but never sought her out,” she said. “I suspect that most of the negative exposure is from people who had maybe consciously avoided her before and are not able to avoid her anymore.”

Tracy Gleason, the chair and professor of psychology at Wellesley College and an author of a paper on parasocial relationships, agrees with Derrick. The fans at the Giants game who booed her ad, for instance, might have done so because she’s dating a player on a rival team.

“Another possible explanation for the football game is that people who are fans of football, some of whom are likely women, are not necessarily fans of Taylor Swift,” Gleason told HuffPost. “Seeing Taylor get more attention than the game itself might have felt distracting and annoying.”

“Who knows, though,” she added. “Maybe they are Swifties but just want to keep each of the things they enjoy in their own lane: Taylor belongs on the stage and football belongs in the arena.”

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

When it comes to conversations about fame, some have pointed out that it tends to be women that get the whiplash “love-hate” treatment: They’re celebrated at first, then they’re deemed overexposed, like Anne Hathaway or Jennifer Lawrence were after their respective Oscar campaigns.

For the most part, men have more room to navigate fame: There’s a double-standard for the type of behavior that is considered appropriate for men versus for women, Derrick said.

For starters, men are expected to express their agency, so they are allowed to promote their projects.

“For women, it is harder to engage in agentic behavior without people viewing them as too in-your-face,” Derrick said. “In American society, we traditionally expect women to be more communal and less agentic.” (Swift addresses this complicated bind for women in the song “The Man” from 2019 album “Lover.”)

The professor thinks these women would probably get a pass if they were “trying too hard” to promote something communal, like a charity, but over-promoting yourself is a cardinal sin in celebritydom if you’re a woman.

With male examples of overexposure, it usually results from some publicly frowned-upon behavior: Bieber was a notoriously bratty teen (which is hardly a crime, of course, but his reputation persists), West was accused of antisemitism, Franco and LaBeouf were both accused of sexual misconduct, and Elon Musk has been accused of not only damaging Twitter (or as he’s rebranded, X) but threatening democracy itself.

Women celebrities are shamed for bad behavior, too, of course, but also for deviating from social expectations, Zubernis said.

“The culture still isn’t all that comfortable with women being very visible or powerful or successful in some way; that idea is vaguely threatening to the status quo,” she said. “I think that would apply to Swift, Hathaway and Lawrence.”

If you were a fan of any of those women to begin with, though, you probably stuck by them through and through. Fandoms tend to be ride or die until something truly cancellable happens.

“There are times when fans will turn on a celebrity, but those are usually cases where the celebrity did something out-of-character that led people to become disillusioned with their brand,” Derrick said.

In other words, when it comes to these “overexposed” claims ― or criticism from non-fans who wish Swift would take a sabbatical ― Swifties worldwide are probably just going to “shake it off.”

ts1989fanatic:

So Michael Jackson in his prime was everywhere and until he went off the deep end was beloved by fans and none fans worldwide. But Taylor Swift who has in my opinion reached MJ status is over exposed, you know this was not really a thing until she started dating Travis Kelce.

So to answer the question posed above

Is misogyny at play when we deem someone “overexposed”?

In the case of Taylor Swift damn straight misogyny is at play, all these talking heads and college professors and the rest of the media jackals and TS haters need to just FUCK THE HELL OFF.

[lintwriting]

"Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart" and "Love Like You": The Poetry of Envy

by Mitski and Rebecca Sugar respectively

"Comparison is the thief of joy," and "Of all the seven deadly sins, only Envy is no fun at all." In the moment, envy is all the pain of humbled pride and none of its glamor, with only schadenfreude as a reprieve.

But what if you sat with that envy and accepted the humbling, instead of praying for someone else's downfall?

What if you grew to love that which you envied? What if they loved you back? What if you humbled yourself and matured past that petty need?

Well, there's pain in that, too.

Mitski and Rebecca Sugar know it well. They approach it from completely different angles, but it's surprising how closely they match in conclusion: There's a special kind of drama in the pain of disappointing someone you think is better than you.

(And behind it all is self-hatred.)

Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart by Mitski

This song is an apology for ever failing to appreciate someone (or cheating on them), and as you listen to each verse, Mitski is singing in real time on how she's learning to humble herself.

Unlike the soulful croons of Bruno Mars's "When I Was Your Man," which is an ode to the break-up regret caused by feeling lonely again, like he's begging to come back now that he's seen you with someone else, Mitski's verse is less a reaction to her own loneliness and more self-flagellation, like we're listening to a therapy session wherein she explains why she treated you wrong in the first place.

Maybe this is why Miley Cyrus wrote a girlboss anthem ("I can buy my own flowers") in response to Bruno ("I should've bought you flowers") and not Mitski ("You can see how it's blossomed for you")/s.

To tell this story, Mitski uses repeating refrains to contextualize the previous, recreating the experience of maturing enough to see your past mistakes and taking advantage of the structure of songs.

The most important repeated line within the song is "There's nobody better than you."

It opens the song, is directed at her ex-lover, and it contradictorily sounds like she's questioning their worth.

Because that is a BOLD statement.

Really Mitski? There's nobody? Nobody at all better than 'you?'

Mitski admits to this boldness with the next line: "It took me a while 'til I knew."

That there is what she's apologizing for—a failure to appreciate them. A microcosm of the song in the first two lines.

Her mistake is direct contrast with her lover, who "knew from the start it was us, didn't you?"

This is how Mitski characterizes what makes her lover the best.

The undisputed number one person whom no one can be "better than" is simply someone who had faith in 'us,' in Mitski.

All the while Mitski makes excuses: "It just took me a while 'till I knew"

The ambiguity of the phrase is useful. Not “took too long” but just “a while.” 

“Just” is also an excusatory statement. I just forgot. I just didn’t notice. Just protects pride. This is a prideful thing to say, to be in the position to judge someone (and failing to judge them correctly)

Skipping to the chorus, the refrain is:

And I don't blame you

If you want to bury me in your memory

The first time you hear this, it's Mitski describing the pain of understanding why someone would want to forget you.

I'm not the girl I ought to be, but

"Ought" is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, implying a failure to do good.

Maybe when you tell your friends

You can tell them what you saw in me

And not how I turned out to be

This ‘saw in me’ transforms "bury me in your memory" from a line about forgetting Mitski to a line about only keeping alive the memory of what Mitski could’ve been—her lover's idealized version of her. 

In effect, she wants to kill and bury that part of herself that failed to justify her lover's faith in her, the part that disappointed them. Self-hatred!

Thus, "ought to be" and "not how I turned out to be" become lines about failing to meet their expectations. This last line is the one that changes meaningfully with each refrain, recontextualizing the previous. In the next chorus, she sings:

And not the way I am

Instead of "not how I turned out to be."

With "Turned out to be" in the past tense and "I am" in the present tense, the changing of lines indicate a progression of time.

Not only a progression of time, but growth over that time as well, since "I am" creates the sense that Mitski is actively accepting that she was at fault for the break-up, while "turned out to be" created the sense that she was distancing herself from that before through its passive voice.

With the introduction of "I am," she demonstrates, in comparison, how much "turned out to be" protected her pride, recreating the experience of maturing enough to see the past clearly.

In the last chorus, she sings:

But could we be what we're meant to be?

I'm just about to beg you, please

And then, when you tell your friends

You can tell them what you saw in me

And not the way I used to be

With the last refrain of the chorus, she's begging to come back and be the couple her lover believed in, but it's to demonstrate that she's changed for the better, not just because she's lonely or jealous.

This is because the focus is on how, instead of "way I am," it's "way I used to be." She's recontextualizing herself as having matured, once again, past her previous mindset.

In this case, she's saying it'll be different this time because she's buried who she "used to be," or the self that didn't appreciate them as she should've. And she proves it with the last line that bookends the song:

'Cause there is nobody better than you

In effect, the whole song is a thesis on why there really is "nobody better than you," and THAT in itself proves that she's changed! It's a song about the lowering of herself and her pride, of recognizing that they're better than her, and of recognizing the pain of having disappointed them because of how much better they are.

Love Like You by Rebecca Sugar

One of the best parts about this song is the way it truly works as an ED song to Steven Universe. It, in effect, is the theme of the whole show, and therefore it works to embody the ...theme of the whole show, which is the transformative power of love.

This song can basically represent the relationship between any two characters in the show in BOTH directions—Rose Quartz and Greg Universe, Greg and Steven, Steven and the Gems, Steven and The Diamonds, etc. And it's such a poignant message as well, managing to create depth with nuances like how self-hatred affects your ability to love, the importance of connection in healing from trauma, and even the limiting nature of only having one perspective—again, all those being themes within the show itself.

Video by Let's Talk Cartoons that talks about this theory that it's about Rose. This theory is right, but misses the point that EVERYONE deals with this in the show lol not just Rose.

If I could begin to be

Half of what you think of me

These two lines are a microcosm of the song, as Mitski's first two lines were, and, like Mitski's song, it's about the disappointment of someone who has faith in you. Someone better than you, as implied by the next two lines.

I could do about anything

I could not put this any better than Rebecca Sugar has already put it, which is characteristic of good poetry!

They think of you so highly that achieving even half of their expectations would be hanging the damn moon! What I'd like to bring your attention to is that it's the same characterization that Mitski used for her lover—part of what makes them so amazing is simply how much faith they put in you!

Within Steven Universe, everybody has had experiences with betrayal of trust and the resulting fear of ever putting your faith in someone again. So this kind of earth-shattering faith can seem naive, but doing so with full knowledge of its pain reveals a kind of invulnerability and confidence that would make someone seem someone god-like, hence your idolization of them.

I could even learn how to love

This line is the one that gets recontextualized over the course of the song, like Mitski's "There's nobody better than you." The idea that someone loves poorly or can't love, though I will say, is beautiful and relatable.

The next refrain of it:

I could do about anything

I could even learn how to love like you

"Like you" is the magic phrase!

Because while they have a god-like faith in others, being on the receiving end of it—that's buoying, too! Much like people have "faith" in god, your idolization of them represents your own earth-shattering faith in the opposite direction! It's a mutual idolization! You're loving "like them." It's a faith that spurs you to do better in return!

But better than what? That's where the verse comes in:

I always thought I might be bad

Now I'm sure that it's true

'Cause I think you're so good

And I'm nothing like you

Comparison is the thief of joy, and unfortunately you've compared yourself to them and found you don't measure up. You're using your faith in them for your own self-deprecation. But, this is tempered by the next lines.

I just adore you

I wish that I knew

What makes you think I'm so special

The last one is a conflict resolving line. It reveals that this painful, comparison-based self-hatred isn't just something you're doing, but something they could be doing as well, as it highlights that the faith is mutual. That although you think they're special, they think you are, too!

And therefore that—since you're so alike—that they could also be struggling with the pain of thinking they're not enough. It's this mutual aspect that makes this song sing, why it works so well to connect basically all the characters of the show in any combination.

This is further supported by the next refrain:

I would do about anything

I would even learn how to love

When I see the way you look

Shaken by how long it took

I could even learn how to love like you

The fact that the "Love like you" refrain follows this "mutual" revelation then implies that loving IS truly "seeing" them by seeing yourself in them, and the way this relationship/self-hatred/revelation is mirrored on this other side.

You're both shaken by how long this took!

Love like you

Love me like you

And this line is the natural end of this line of thought. You can't learn to love without loving yourself first, but being loved and loving in return can teach you how to love yourself. You can learn how to love yourself by following their lead.

But also-- in this song, to love someone else means you see yourself in them—and therefore you learn to love the part of you that's in them.

Comparative Analysis

Mitski's "nobody better than you" and "took me a while 'till I knew" and Sugar's "nothing like you" and "love like you" are repeated throughout the song as symbols of their object of envy.

They're better than you because of their faith in you, in contrast to your own disappointment in yourself. To reach their level, you have to learn to have faith, either in them (Mitski) or yourself (Rebecca Sugar).

There are slight differences. While in Sugar's version, their faith in you helps you respect yourself, Mitski's is about learning to reciprocate her lover's faith to restore her faith in herself, as she's starting the song from a place of unfaithfulness and regret. Her self-hatred is less self-destructive and more a motivator to improve. In Sugar's song, the threat of disappointment/unfaithfulness looms in the background, but the singer didn't actually disappoint. Or if they did, their 'idol' is strong enough to still have faith in them, in spite of that.

In the end, it's a healing of envy, of the sin of comparing yourself to others. Because the answer isn't taking them down, or stewing in your own self-hatred, it's learning to accept yourself where you're at.

Whether it's by embracing your flaws and improving, or loving the part of you that you see in them.

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter

Have you ever just been out in the world, minding your business, only to hear a song out in the wild for the first time and it just grabs you in a chokehold? For me, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter is one of those songs. It’s one of those pop songs that just makes you turn your ear towards a speaker and ask, “Oh. What is this?” I heard it for the first time in a store (rhymes with Schmarget) and then proceeded to listen to it about eighty more times after that. A great pop song will make you do that and this one is one of the best of the year so far. I mean it.

I knew who Sabrina Carpenter was before this song (I mostly live under a rock, but I still be knowing things from time to time) but I’m obviously not her target demographic and nothing she had done before really gripped me the way this has. Everything about “Espresso” is perfect and I’m ready to do what this series does best: annoy you with many MANY words about a song I love. If you want a silly review of this song in a TL;DR single sentence, I would say, “I don’t drink coffee... but this song must be what having a caffeine addiction feels like!”

The first thing that truly gripped me about this song is just how FUN it is! There’s so much magic packed into three and a half minutes and it serves as a perfect reminder of why I love and enjoy pop music when it gets it as right as a Starbucks barista who has my usual order down to a science. It’s upbeat, it’s catchy as hell, the lyrics are fun to sing along to. What more do you need? This isn’t a song that re-invents the wheel and that’s because it knows it doesn’t have to. Like her reference to Nintendo in the chorus (“Switch it up like Nintendo”) the primary concern is about whether the song is fun to listen to and if it’s something you’ll want to hear again and again and not get bored of. In a way, this song is like the Super Mario World of pop music; a song that provides comfort and fun and it doesn’t require a lot of knowledge and skill in order to enjoy. Anybody can pick it up, start playing, and have a good time with it.

Which means a lot these days.

At the time of this writing, everybody and their favorite wine aunt is currently dissecting Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, searching for hidden meanings and clues and signs about her relationships between her and Matty Healy from The 1975 or British actor Joe Alwyn (take your pick). I didn’t hate TTPD, but the album also didn’t do much for me because it’s so deep within the Taylor Discographic Universe (the TDU) that unless you have a decade of lore explained to you, those songs lose a lot of appeal and power. It’s like watching Avengers: Infinity War when all I’ve ever watched is Iron Man. Taylor isn’t the only one that’s been suffering from this. Ariana Grande’s newest album Eternal Sunshine comes with the baggage of that whole thing that happened between her and that dude who played Spongebob on Broadway or something. The most I’ve ever heard about “The Boy Is Mine” in terms of discourse are all the jokes and memes about how she’s singing about a guy who weirdly looks exactly like her brother and spent years being an adult man playing Spongebob on stage. Even Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” the biggest song of last year, loses some of its impact if you’re like me and couldn’t give a shit about Liam Hemsworth or the emotional roller coaster story of her relationship with him. 

Granted, you can still listen to all of these things with their real world inspirations and contexts removed and get just as much, if not more, out of that, but there’s just something really refreshing about being able to enjoy a song without needing an entire “____ iceberg explained” video in order to truly “get it.” I got “Espresso” immediately and the only real world context I can gather is that she probably wrote this song about one or many dudes that have been “down bad” for her. I shudder to think which niche micro-celebrities with the over-inflated attitude that comes with the phrase “I have a post that got over 10,000 notes on Tumblr” have said or done while attempting to shoot their poorly aimed shot with her.

That’s a good place to start talking about the lyrics to the song, which are all about her being playful with a guy and basking in how he is absolutely obsessed and crazy with her. More important than the words themselves is how Sabrina delivers them. There’s a really great balancing act where it’s just the right level of confidence and the belief that you’re hot shit, without going overboard into arrogance. She maintains a constant level of playfulness throughout the entire song and it’s great! It starts as soon as the second line of the chorus hits at the beginning of the song: “Is it that sweet? I guess so.” 

There’s also the line that begins the second verse: “I'm working late 'cause I'm a singer.” I absolutely adore the way she says that line. Every. Single. Time. Again, it’s just the right amount of playful and sarcastic. I can picture the conversation that line would be featured in if anybody she’s dated within the last three years has foolishly asked her if she’s busy tonight.

“Wyd tonight, babe? 😜” “I’m working late.” “What?? Why? 🥺” “...‘cause I’m a singer.”

That line reads like she’s had to answer that question one too many times to one too many idiots. Whether it’s studio time or live performance, singers be working at night. Duh. It’s such a fun line and it gets stuck in your head. You wait for it each time you listen and I can’t imagine the feeling of being in a whole stadium full of people all singing that line together. It’s such a delicate tightrope being walked so damn well, especially since it can go sour so fast if you perform it the wrong way. The following line, “Oh, he looks so cute wrapped around my finger” keeps that playfulness while also making you feel a little bad for the guy. I say a little bad because it’s very obvious who has the power and control in this:

I can't relate to desperation My give-a-fucks are on vacation And I got this one boy and he won't stop calling When they act this way, I know I got 'em

We’ve all known someone who is casually seeing someone and they’re just way crazier about the person they’re seeing than the other is for them. That’s not to say she doesn’t sound invested in this guy during the song, but you get the feeling one of them knows it’s a fun little fling and the other is starting to get obsessed and isn’t seeing things that way. 

It’s not hard to see why he’s getting addicted. I’m hooked on this song the same way dude is hooked on Sabrina. This song has this utterly hypnotic quality to it and at the 1:09 mark when you start hearing “Yes” after every line it reflects getting that hit, that thing you want once you’re addicted and craving more. “Soft skin and I perfumed it for ya” (Yes). “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” (Yes). “That morning coffee, brewed it for ya” (Yes). It’s a small detail, but I always try to stress that the small details matter and always add up to something bigger. The more you listen, the more you get hooked on her the same way the guy in the song is getting hooked.

Now that I’ve mentioned it, can we talk about that Mountain Dew line? I’m sure some people think it’s a stupid and bad line, but those people are absolutely wrong. It's silly on the surface but works well as a clever double entendre ("I mount and do it for ya"). There’s four lines in this song that I could see somebody writing off as “bad lyrics.” The list includes:

“That’s that me espresso” (A little clunky, but does what it needs to do in order to set up a good metaphor for being the thing someone is addicted to)

“Move it up, down, left, right, oh / Switch it up like Nintendo” (Sounds like a joke bar your friend would spit in the car while making a joke about bad rappers who think they’re geniuses)

“My honeybee, come and get this pollen” (This wouldn’t sound out of place if it was said at the end of a James Bond film)

“I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” (This has definitely been said by a man who thinks he’s a sex god but only lasts the amount of time it takes to microwave a Hot Pocket)

The reason I put all of these lines in an organized list is to show one other thing this song does right: This is a silly song and it basks in the fact that it’s a silly and fun little song.

There’s a quick moment at 2:16, where Sabrina just says the word “stupid” before the song launches into the chorus again. I imagine that’s at the expense of the guy in the song, but I also treat it as her wink-and-nod to me that she’s aware this whole song is just silly, innocent fun and that I too should treat it as such. It doesn’t take anything away from the song, not one bit. If anything, it keeps it light and enhances everything it does right. If Taylor had said “I know I Mountain Dew it for ya” at ANY point during TTPD’s runtime, the masses would’ve erupted with laughter, scorn, and enough posts that you’d never hear the end of it. It works for Sabrina because a lot of her music is more upbeat than Taylor’s recent stuff has been and silly lines like that are quickly becoming her bread and butter. One of the biggest charms about her biggest hit from last year (“Nonsense”) is that it ends with literal nonsense bars that have nothing to do with the rest of the song: “This song catchier than chickenpox is / I bet your house is where my other sock is / Woke up this morning, thought I’d write a pop hit, ha-ha / How quickly can you take your clothes off? Pop quiz.” She’s taken that joke further by making up different stupid and silly outros every night she performs it just to get a laugh out of the audience. My personal favorite one: "This crowd is giving me all the endorphins / I wish someone would rearrange my organs / Philly is the city I was born in". 

The last thing we need to talk about is the absolutely gorgeous and wonderful music video she made for this. It’s a rare Dave Meyers W in this day and age, as he’s responsible for two of the absolute worst videos I’ve seen this decade: Ed Sheeran's "Bad Habits" and the Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa collab "Sweetest Pie." That said, when he’s good, he’s GOOD and it makes you forget every bad video he’s ever made (which is more than just the two I mentioned...)

The cinematography is gorgeous, the choreography is great, Sabrina looks utterly stunning and living her summer beach movie fantasies. Those shots of her doing sixties dances on a surfboard are fantastic and look like they’re straight out of a beach movie from that decade. The whole video has a sixties beach movie look to it, from Sabrina’s outfits all the way to the overall look and glow of the setting. Everything you imagine about a perfect summer is captured beautifully in this video. It’s a fun video that reflects the song in all the best ways. If pop music is escapism and is something designed to take you to another world for a short time, this song and video do just that. We’re all better for it.

Pop songs can be totally serious works of art, but “Espresso” proves they don’t always have to be. Sometimes a song can just be light and fun. “Espresso” knows what it is and it’s excited to be that for you. If you want to start buying stock in songs that might get the illustrious and coveted “Song of the Summer” status, I’m telling you to invest and put all of your money in this song right now because we’re going to the moon and beyond with it. The video for the song ends with Sabrina getting arrested for stealing a guy’s credit card and throwing him overboard at the beginning, with the final shot being the cop car she’s in having a speaker on top playing a little snippet of what will supposedly be Sabrina’s next song. Whatever she ends up doing next, I’m here for it. “Espresso” made me a fan and I’m excited to see whatever else she’s got because this song is everything I love about pop music packed neatly into three and a half minutes. This image from Twitter (Formerly Twitter) user @___bodacious sums up my feelings on Miss. Carpenter really well:

[meadowlarkx]

People you'd like to know better!

Tagged by @sallysavestheday ! Thank you so much for thinking of me 💐

1. Three ships: Maedhros/Maglor... I'm in the vortex and have no intention of leaving even if I could. Um, also, I'm a big fan of Maglor/Thranduil and Finrod/Sauron. I know we're reaching beyond three but Finrod/Andreth is also special to me and on the mind since reading Athrabeth. It's hard to stop listing them!

2. First ship: Of my LOTR era as a wee lass: Éomer/Lothíriel. Of my new Silm hot girl era: Russingon, actually! I'm still invested in it, even if I don't spend as much time thinking about it.

3. Last song: Miley Cyrus - Wildcard, which got stuck in my head... I'm gonna take this opportunity to again put forth to the esteemed colleagues that this is a, nay the, Míriel song. These tag memes reveal how the same 5 thoughts bounce around in my brain for a week entire.

4. Last movie: Crimson Peak with friend @jouissants! Reader, you can imagine my feelings

5. Currently reading: I am between books somewhat, slowly reading Lays of Beleriand. I forgot to mention it on another post, but I'm also listening to Two Towers as an audiobook--part of rereading LotR for the first time since I was a kid, which has been both moving and interesting. I have a TBR that just keeps getting longer, including The Goblin Emperor, the play Salomé, and a bunch of fanfic and nonfiction!

6. Currently watching: gradually rewatching Nirvana in Fire (🥰), hoping to someday get to the new Good Omens and Only Murders in the Building seasons, if time and inclination allows. I'm not that good at shows if it's not a Plan with someone and I'm in no rush, but I'd like to see them sometime.

7. Last thing I wrote: Some more notes on a fem!Maglor/fem!Thranduil WIP I'd like to finish in time for Silm Smut Week.

Keeping to Silm, tagging @welcomingdisaster @mirillel @maironsbigboobs @decorativestatuary if you'd like to do this! 💕

[zot3-flopped]

On Letdown they are always saying that Kid and Tyler write all of Harry's music, but it just isn't true. They also say he can't explain his songs, which is just a lie. As usual, he says plenty if you listen. I don't care if they don't listen, that's obviously not going to be interesting to them, but I also think they are stupid for saying X can't be true when they don't know what X is.

First of all, you'd have to discount all the multiple times both Kid and Tyler have pinpointed who did what in a song, and it's Harry did this, Harry searched for that sound, Harry's lyrics are funny (grr he won't tell us why though). They share the songwriting: which is what Harry says, and how he behaves when he goes on stage with them to collect awards. I know they are likely to talk him up a little bit (that's showbiz) but I don't get the hint of anything going on that's not genuine. Contrast with Louis' songwriters who are clear about what they contribute, and with Louis who is also clear if you listen. (Clear that he might contribute an idea but not much else.)

Secondly, I'm not too sure about Tyler, but Kid Harpoon is pretty prolific, and he just does not have the big hits with many people except Harry, and to some degree early Florence + The Machine, maybe Haim. He has produced and written on whole albums that have kind of done ok but not done big numbers, Shawn Mendes' for example.

The exception is he and Tyler were on Flowers by Miley Cyrus which was huge. But it's not like the pair of them are some sort of hit-producing factory and artists just put their names to a song, far from it. There is a lot of team work going on. Which is exactly what Harry presents to us as how his songs are written.

Sorry for rambling, I was just prompted to write this because your anon singled out MFASR as a stunning intro that hooks you straight in and I agree.

Anon 2

I’ve seen a lot of people assume that Harry just writes or something and that kid and Tyler write the music, even though this is very clearly not the case based on what anyone who has worked with Harry have said, the credit breakdown (as far as we can see it, harry has majority or at the very least equal share) etc. He also works with different writers and producers, yet creates coherent work. They’ve repeatedly said that Harry is brilliant at melody etc. Songs like Sott, She, and Cinema were basically written entirely by Harry and then finished in the studio per what his collaborators said. He also gives credit to everyone involved (the one writer on boyfriends said he was surprised to be credited at all) and sometimes seems to over emphasise the role of others (Mitch on TBSL; Harry wrote the melody, lyrics etc. Mitch also only came up with some of the guitar solo, not the rest of the song but harries love to say it’s “Mitch’s song”). I get frustrated by the idea that Harry isn’t the leading creative in his own art simply because he doesn’t brag about himself.

[gucciwins]

the song malibu by miley cyrus gives me serious harry y/n & atticus vibes like just pretending that y/n wrote the song toooo cute

Song writing came easily to Y/N when she was in love.

It was no surprise she could get herself to leave her studio when she was not spending time with Atticus and Harry. When Y/N bid Harry and Atticus goodbye at the airport, she felt a crack in her heart, which surprised her. Y/N knew she loved them, but not to the extent where she would miss them at her side before they even departed. Y/N did not let a single teardrop, not when Atticus was doing it for her.

From the moment Harry lifted him out of the car seat, the tears have escaped him. He stayed tight in her embrace as Harry unloaded their suitcases.

“I’ll see you soon, Atty. You’re going to see your Nan.” Y/N tried to cheer him up, knowing they wouldn’t be seeing each other for a few weeks.

It did little to comfort him.

Y/N did what her mother would do when she was young. She sang him a song-more like a hum; a melody she had stuck in her head. She felt instantly how he snuggled deeper into her side, laying his head against her neck. His cries turned to whimpers and soon enough turned to gentle breathing.

She turned around, noticing Harry had gone quiet, but found him staring at her in awe. Y/N looked away, his gaze not hiding how fondly he was thinking of her.

“I did not think he’d be so emotional.”

Harry laughed, “I feel exactly how he is feeling, except it’s not appropriate to show.”

Y/N frowns. “Please, no.”

“You spoiled us this month together here.”

Y/N rushes into his embrace, careful with the child she has slept on her waist. Her head buried in his chest. “I know it won’t be for long, yet I’m so sad.”

“Promise we’ll see you soon.” Y/N pulls back to look at Harry and when his emerald eyes start to glisten, she knows he’s feeling the pain of being separated.

Harry gives her a long passionate, it’s enough to settle her until they’re reunited.

+

As Y/N watched the flight depart, she felt her heart tighten and knew she wouldn’t be hearing from him until they landed. Her days were about to come unbearably dull.

The drive home through LA traffic was horrible because there was no chatter in the car or Atticus failing to sing along to the songs Harry had queued for them to listen. He said he was expanding both their tastes as Y/N preferred the Spice Girls when driving.

Y/N arrived home in time for the sunset. She grabbed her notebook from her bag and slipped by her house in favor of sitting in the sand. It seemed wild to Y/N that only a few hours ago; she had sat here with Atticus and Harry as they shared their last lunch together.

She knew she was being ridiculous. She would see Atticus in fourteen days and Harry in eighteen, but it did not take away her missing them.

As Y/N watched the sky, go from a blue hue to different shades of orange and pink, she knew this trip was a new start for them. The start of what their life could look like, and she loved it.

“It’s a brand new start,” she thought.

A dream come true with her boys.

In Malibu.

*took place during the main story of “Adore You”, after their stay together in malibu. sells the song to her good friend miley*

[l-lend]

This is something I personally struggle with, so I wanted to have something to reference when I'm feeling small and insignificant in writing spaces. So after some thinking juice (pronounced 'Mead'), and some music this is what I have whenever I have thoughts where I think what I'm doing isn't worth it.

This was inspired by listening to Flowers by Miley Cyrus

Translation: Write down 5 nice points / things you like about a piece of writing you've done.

The older the work the better. You may forget what exactly you wrote, so it's almost a surprise to go over your work again with fresh eyes.

Translation: Reblog your work without shame.

Tumblr has a schedule post option. Set up your queue to have morning and evening reblogs to account for different timezones. Who cares if you reblog your work often? Spoilers: If it isn't hurting anyone, reblog your stuff as much as you want.

Translation: Your blog is for you.

If you want to plan out your headcanons and writings using your blog posts then do it! Do you need a hashtag of happy things to look at when you're having a bad day? Do it! This space is all yours. Might as well fill it with things you like.

Translation: You can recommend your own work without shame.

So if you see someone putting together a rec list, throw your stuff in there. What's the worst that can happen? They say no? Oh well, maybe they just don't have taste? Kidding. But there's thousands of rec lists out there and if you're into probability the chances of all of them saying 'no' are astronomically low.

[reviewsbyliam]

Robbie Z

INTERVIEW #01

18.09.2023

Written by LW

Photos via @iamrobbiez (IG)

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Waking up and realizing the life you're living isn't exactly what you desire anymore and deciding to pursue your passion, move to a city in another country and devote yourself to trying to become somebody in the world can be an extremely scary thought for many, but not for this one person.

Today, the first guest on my blog that has been kind enough to sit and speak with me about the stories behind not only himself but also his music and the pain and happiness that has accompanied him along the way is aspiring independent artist, Robbie Z.

L: Hey, Robbie! Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about yourself and your career today, I really appreciate it! You are the first artist to be interviewed on my blog, so it is an absolute pleasure of mine to accommodate your story today!

R: Hi Liam, so nice to meet you! Congratulations on starting your blog! This is really cool, good luck with it! And thank you for having me as your first guest, it's an honour!

L: Thank you so much, Robbie! It's kind of crazy and I cant thank you enough for the opportunity to do this together, now let's get into it!

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L: You started your professional career in 2018, it's now 2023, whats the journey been like for you?

R: Ahh, it's been so exciting! Music is what I want to do long term. It's my passion, so growing up doing that and learning from my mistakes has been amazing. It's an amazing thing that I started so young to be honest. I always knew I wanted to do this; I started recording covers in 2014, when I was 11/12 and started writing my own music when I was 15 in 2017! So, when I was around 14, I thought "huh.. I wanna do that? Then I might as well start now if I wanna get good at it young." Because when I started I was really bad haha… but it also helped me get thick skin in terms of bullying etc. it's been amazing, but it's truly only the beginning!

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L: I've seen that you have inspiration from Iggy Azalea, who else in the music industry compels you to want to do more?

R: I've always been a fanboy.. Some incredible women besides Iggy who "raised me" as an artist are definitely; Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus. More recently, I've been really loving Madison Beer, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, Charli XCX, Taylor Swift.. I get really inspired by these artists to work hard and achieve all my goals. It really drives me forward.

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L: The vibe of The Butterfly Trap is very fresh, a total feeling myself energy, but it also includes emotional parts that relate to the listeners life - what kind of vibe can we expect from the new project?

R: Ahhh, thank you! Writing the first EP, I was kind of in a tough spot mentally.. I wrote it from the ages of 18 to 19 and I was going through a lot of stuff that I couldn't understand in my life which made me very confused, sad, angry… This new project is totally different.

First of all, it's elevated in terms of quality in the songwriting, recording etc. Secondly, in "The Butterfly Trap", I was really vague while talking about the struggles.. Masking them in a lot of metaphors. I was afraid to speak of these topics in songs as I was still going through what I was going through while writing. This new project "Dear Diary," is more so me reflecting on situations whilst also having fun, a less anxious, more out going alter-ego of mine! But, as fun as it is, it also has some deep messages that really cut deep for me and it just even feels a little uncomfortable when someone listens to some of these new songs as they're so personal to me. Hence the name, "Dear Diary". It's supposed to be inspirational and honest, but it also talks about lots of different topics such as following your dreams, getting your dreams taken away from you, one sided love, letting yourself live freely.. It's basically 6 different diary entrees of mine put into songs.

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L: I've noticed you have a lot of unique sounds. Do you enjoy being multi genre and having the ability to switch flows whilst also being able to use sounds that seperate you from the rest?

R: Honestly? I love mixing genres. I love rap verses with pop hooks, rock hooks, punk, ballads, anything. But, I've been spending time trying to find my sound and I think I've finally found one that is just perfectly me, right now. This new single '5 Dollars & a Dream' is exactly what I would want to be remembered with regarding the genre, flow, lyrics etc. I don't want to give myself any labels as a "pop artist" or a "rock artist" etc. I just consider myself a rapper/singer who likes to change. But Pop Rap is what I would describe it as if I have to!

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L: 5 dollars + a dream (a song that is beautiful by the way and extremely reminiscent of Iggy's earlier work which I LOVE entirely) , whats the story behind this track and what was the process like behind making it?

R: Oh my god, thank you so so much!! This song means the most to me so I really appreciate the nice words. The story behind the track… I think it's pretty straight forward to be honest, which is why I'm a little afraid of people hearing it. It's about knowing what you want to do, having started that and just following your dreams (as lame as it sounds). The song talks about some parts of my story, which I've never been vulnerable about in songs before. And not letting myself give up. Making the song was an absolute blast. One night a few years ago I was in my bed, in my home town in Bulgaria, and I thought of the phrase "I got five dollars and a dream…" with the melody and I wrote it down, then last year as I was packing up to move to London, I wrote the first verse which goes like "I took all of my belongings and I put them in a suitcase…" Initially I wanted it to be a song I write for my first album one day, but it just felt right so I brought it to my producer "SojBoj" , we made the instrumental and a demo and then I wrote the second verse and recorded it! It was really fun!

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L: There is a lot that goes into being an independent artist, how has that been for you so far? Have you had any label offers yet?

R: Being indie or signed each have their own ups and downs / good and bad sides, it just really depends on what an artist wants.. For me? I've been fortunate enough to grow, learn and find myself as an independent artist. I couldn't imagine starting out with a record deal from the beginning. But now I feel I'm ready to get signed and get this party started. Being indie obviously gives me the opportunity to have full creative control which I'm not willing to sacrifice. Whilst it's not for everyone, for me, when the right deal comes, it'll definitely be something I do, because the connections and resources a label has are so worth it for a young artist like me.

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L: Who have been your main musical inspirations behind this new project thats coming later this year?

R: Ahh! Well, whilst there hasn't been a specific one, I'd say, of course I'm always super influenced by Iggy Azalea; especially her first album 'The New Classic'. '5 Dollars & a Dream' is actually kind of inspired by her song 'Work'. But I'm also now inspired by a lot of punk rock music, more contemporary pop-rocky songs, A lot of just everyday things that I romanticise and turn into songs. Sonically, I make what I want to hear, putting my own input on the kind of music I like. Like a mixture of everything I like, quite literally.

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L: You're doing a show at the Metre Squared In London after the single drops, are you excited to perform and what should people expect to see?

R: I love performing! Back in Bulgaria, I had some performing experience, but when Covid hit, it was hard to get performances.. I did a car-concert, it was super fun! I was in a big truck performing to around 100 cars! I was an opening act for a drive-in movie theatre. When I moved to London though, that is when it really started for me with the performances. I've done some shows the past year that amazed me with the amount of people who came to have fun and listen to music, but also the people who actually know my songs and connect with it, it's my favourite thing in the world. The show is coming up on the 14th of October in Metre Squared in London, and tickets for that show are on sale now! I'm super excited. It'll be the first time I perform my EP, prior to it's release!

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L: With your new music coming very rapidly, and a show coming up around the corner, are you looking forward to what the future holds for you and where your art will take you?

R: I am a very goal orientated person, I've got lots of big and smaller goals that I will accomplish soon. I don't like sharing those before they come true, but I have to say; I've got something that I'm working really hard for that I really hope to get to do within the next year. Plus also, always lots of new music! I've got stuff planned for even after the EP, and my releases will become more often too!

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L: For our last question, Robbie, I want to ask you - who in the music industry, whether it be a singer, rapper, producer, writer, absolutely anyone, who would you love to work with the most and why?

R: There's a bunch of people I admire and would find it an honour to work with, but off the top of my head, I'd say a producer that I would really want to work with one day is Jack Antonoff! He's incredible, it seems like to be so much fun working with him. Dan Nigro is another one, he created Olivia Rodrigo's first two albums with her, he's amazing! Artist-wise, Iggy Azalea. She inspired me to start all of this craziness, she helped me find my path when I was really young and I just admire her for a hundred other reasons, it would be CRAZY. I think maybe a song of mine with Ice Spice or Charli XCX would be so fun too! Me and Charli XCX have to make a song about cars together one day!

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L: Well, Robbie, it has been absolutely beautiful and a true pleasure speaking with you and getting to hear your thoughts about your music and everything to do with your grind! I would also like to thank you for letting me hear your new single prior to release! I am excited for whats to come from your career given the product that we already have from you and the world should prepare themselves for the undeniable force that is yourself!

R: Thank you so much for having me, Liam. It means so so much to me, the questions were great, they made me think deeper and I really enjoyed it!

L: I'm glad to hear that, Robbie! Once again, thank you SO much for being my first guest on my blog and hopefully this wont be the last time we speak! I look forward to hearing your new EP!

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To anyone reading; Robbie Z's new single '5 Dollars & a Dream' from his new EP 'Dear Diary,' comes out this Friday, September 22nd!

It'd mean the world to me, as his interviewer and to him as an indie artist if you gave it a listen!

You can also buy tickets to his upcoming show on October 14th at Metre Squared in London in his INSTA BIO (@iamrobbiez)!

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[justfor2am]

hi my interview has been rescheduled once again because of course it is ^_^ nothing wants me to be interviewed ig ^_^ anyways 🥺😈🛒🎢✨💋🎶⛔🍦🌞💖💌❌🧐🦅👀🤗💞🧠🤩🤯💔🤭 for the fanfic writer asks or wtevr they're called??? didn't realize until just now u even rbed an ask game so apologies 🫡 side note the 💥 emoji is so fun . its just like 💥💥💥💥💥 yk??? also feel free to skip any of those i just threw down the ones i think would be most interesting but as usual there r many

i am manifesting an interview AND a job for u, get that bag king!!!

also waough ty for giving me an excuse to talk abt my blorbos 🥺🥺🥺

and ya 💥 feels like ur comboing someone really well in a fighting game, like 💥💥💥 K.O. yanno?

this is def gonna be a long one tho soooo the rest underneath the cut this goes lmao

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Anything having to do with touch. I'm a sucker for physical gestures, so anything that involves details like brushing someone's hair out of their eyes, hooking a tentative pinky around someone else's hand, it doesn't need to be overt to get me in my feels every single time.

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Yes! I threatened a major character death in [though I've closed my eyes, I know who you pretend I am] late in the final (12th) chapter lmao

I knew that being that late into the fic most people would've forgotten what the specific tags were and even less would be willing to scrolling all the way back up to check lol

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Like I said in the first Q, touch is a big thing for me. Eyes and anything having to do with vision also tends to be a big one, if you read a fic with both of those elements there's a decent chance I wrote it.

As far as overarching things, I prefer to write scenery over dialogue, and put a heavy emphasis on describing what the characters are feeling/thinking over having them verbally express it.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

I wanna say my [detroit become human au] has shit hit the fan pretty quickly. The fic opens with the conflict and it takes a few chapters for the reader to get any context, but once you've got it, going back to the start just makes your heart break.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

booo hiss grrr

no but actually uhhhhhh... I will say that when I've got a good idea rattling around in my head, I can churn out a fic for that premise very quickly. to the point that i accidentally wrote three chapters for one of my fics all within a day, because I'm unhinged like that

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

LOVE but only if they're done right. I appreciate first kiss fics that aren't perfect or a little clumsy, but also i'm a sucker for those picture perfect moments too

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

YA i do my best writing with some music on. I've been listening to a mix of things lately (Love from the Other Side by FOB, that new Shakira collab, and Flowers by Miley Cyrus) but i've also been looping my 14+ hour long exo playlist

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I had a sculk!Grian fic from like, I wanna say October last year that I was 1k words into that just. Disappeared. No clue where it went or how I lost but, but in hindsight, it wasn't my best work.

I'm still a bit sad to have lost it, but considerably more proud of the things I've written since.

🍦 What’s the sweetest fic you’ve created so far?

I have come to the realization that I am horrible at writing fluff without some level of conflict within the fic. Whoops! Closest I've got is a [scarian sick fic] that I wrote recently lmao

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

Either while I'm at work when it's dead during the day time, or frantically at like, 11 o'clock p.m., there is no in between.

💖 What made you start writing?

Wayyyyy back when I was 12/13 I used to be big into rp, and I came into the realization that the rps I was doing could just as easily be formatting into fics.

None of those fics were ever published, but getting to learn how to edit and rewrite scenes that had been planned out with another person made me want to start creating stories of my own.

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?

Love love LOVE comments and feedback. Literally getting a comment is like a serotonin boost directly into my veins to write more, esp comments that'll point out specific scenes or moments/lines they liked.

someone pointed out that they liked the way I described fresh hickeys like blooming violets and I haven't been able to stop thinking about that comment ever since.

❌ What’s a trope you will never write?

That's a good question.... I'm trying to think of one that isn't like, a blatantly obvious icky trope.

I'm not sure if it counts as a trope, but Y/N fics. Not only are their primary function to act as fan service, they end up coming off very RPF to me which I'm not a fan of.

Oh, also RPF. Any fic i write has to do 100% with the characters those people portray, not the real person.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

Depends on the fic! For my [actor au] I've just been kinda flying by the seat of my pants, doing the occasional googling but not much. The opposite of this would be my [detroit become human au] where I literally rewatched jacksepticeye's d:bh playthrough and scoured wikis to make sure i'm describing androids correctly.

tl;dr: generally no, only as needed unless I get fixated on it.

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

Fly by the seat of my pants, but i'm trying to change this! For my multi-chaptered fics I've started actually planning out future events, and even for this one big one shot im working on, i've got an outline in the works.

...though generally, i don't plan. it's a bad habit.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

GLADLY so speaking of that big one shot, it's going to be a boatem superhero au, i've started outlining it and getting my concepts together, i'm very excited for it!

here's a snippet:

It was fairly obvious that the Mayor had pulled some strings to get Scar to this stage; once a nobody vigilante who seemed more preoccupied with dazzling the camera over saving lives, Scar's public image had taken a hard left turn during the past few campaigning months.

The situation was more of an open secret— it was all too convenient for Scar, who practically lived in the Mayor's pocket, to be joining the city's most elite crime-fighting team.

it's VERY early in development so don't expect this one for a while tho

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

I'd say figure out your character's voice is a big one. It's easy to fall into fanon tropes and while they're fun, they can cause lots of warping in the way you write your own fics, which might make them sound off.

So look out for fanon tropes! Personally I've run into people who make Scar very sweet and innocent, to the point of dusting his hands clean of blame. It's an easy hole to fall into, and no one should fault a writer for falling into tropes.

There's a line to walk, and I find that watching content relating to that character really helps shaping that "inner voice".

Also, get someone to proof read your work who is willing to point out your mistakes. Editing/betaing is never meant to be a personal attack, but rather to make sure that the fic you present to the rest of the world is cohesive and clear.

💞 Who’s your comfort character?

Scar! He just gets me fr. He's one of my favorite guys to write because of how versatile and how much variety he has. He could be a silly salesman one minute, and a quietly scary assassin the next. Whatever the bit or joke is, he fully commits to it, often to the detriment of himself, but god does it make for good content.

Also he has a really good narration voice ok

🧠 Pick a character, and I’ll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

(ty for the speedy discord reply lol)

Grian! my darling baby boy who has every mental illness ever

no but actually, i'd say my favorite grian head canon is anything having to do with him being an alchemist. i want that man brewing potions, getting blown up, and curing all his friends ailments with the most illegal looking brew you've ever seen in your life.

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

Grian, mostly because he comes easiest to me! There's such a sense of endless potential when I get ready to write him, and like, idk what it is, but longing too?

We've been getting it pretty heavy w/ his whole "I Miss Mumbo" campaign but like, grian to me feels like someone who's always thinking about reaching a hand out, and pulls it back at the last second. It's very relatable.

🤯 What’s a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Weirdly enough, it's fluff. I always feel compelled to write stories with some level of conflict or it's not "satisfying" to me. I love reading the genre, but for whatever reason when I write it, I get in my head about if it's "good enough" or not without conflict. I'm working on that lol

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

EDIT: so i misread this, you get fic recs as a bonus. my proper answer is: [my bad ending fae two shot], it will shatter you as it did me </3

i'm going to give two because i do what i want. the first being [It's Only Logical by TSTrashCaptain] which is a sanders sides fic that to this day, i can only dream of writing something so good. tw for themes of abuse and nsfw at times, but god. just reading the title again puts a knot in my heart in the best way possible.

now, this fic. [your heart rots in my hands by thepigeoncat]. this fic slaughtered me the first time i read it. i left a long ass comment on it. tw for major character death, but this is the perfect last life scarian fic.

it's beautiful, and tragic, and it makes me feel as though the world has truly ended /pos. please go read it.

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

my favorite tag for when i post unbetaed work is "no beta we die like scar to the boatem hole"

as far as a REAL tag, hurt/comfort >:))

and my favorite one off funny tag is "i cannot emphasis to you enough how much blood is in this fic"

[fanfic writer emoji asks!]

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

answer ALL the music asks! 🫶

oh God fine

1:A song you like with a color in the title: welcome to the black parade lol

2:A song you like with a number in the title: 867-5309

3:A song that reminds you of summertime: forever young. very eating water ice on the back porch while lightning bugs just start to come out for the night vibes

4:A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about: breakaway by kelly clarkson lmfao

5:A song that needs to be played LOUD: elevate (from into the spider-verse lmfaoooo)

6:A song that makes you want to dance: mamma mia!

7:A song to drive to: (I don't drive lol)

8:A song about drugs or alcohol: walking in space (from the musical Hair!)

9:A song that makes you happy: good as hell by lizzo

10:A song that makes you sad: the letter (from the musical billy elliot). immediate skip I can't get through it

11:A song that you never get tired of: bring it! (snakes on a plane)

12:A song from your preteen years: poor unfortunate souls (jonas brothers cover!!!)

13:One of your favorite 80’s songs: heaven is a place on earth!

14:A song that you would love played at your wedding: when you look me in the eyes by the jonas brothers. be quiet.

15:A song that is a cover by another artist: miley cyrus' cover of zombie (by the cranberries). it's PERFECT for her voice omg

16:One of your favorite classical songs: not sure!

17:A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke: take me or leave me (from the musical RENT)

18:A song from the year that you were born: turn the beat around lol

19:A song that makes you think about life:

20:A song that has many meanings to you: don't let me get me by p!nk

21:A favorite song with a person’s name in the title: montero!!!

22:A song that moves you forward: always starting over (from If/Then)

23:A song that you think everybody should listen to:

24:A song by a band you wish were still together: honestly can't think of anything here!

25:A song by an artist no longer living: like, everything jonathan larson ever wrote tbh

26:A song that makes you want to fall in love: waterloo, but specifically the mamma mia here we go again version lol

27:A song that breaks your heart: tis the damn season by taylor swift. for literally no reason lmao

28:A song by an artist with a voice that you love: 29 by demi lovato!

29:A song that you remember from your childhood: sakura by 175R

30:A song that reminds you of yourself: could have been me by the struts

[lunapaper]

Album Review: 'Endless Summer Vacation' - Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus has gone through so many evolutions at this point that she’s practically a Pokemon. 

We’ve had neon-soaked Bangerz Miley trying to twerk her way out of Disney hell, psychedelic Miley and her Dead Petz, country pop sweetheart Miley on Younger Now, classic rock Miley on Plastic Hearts… She doesn’t give us the best of both worlds; she gives us all the fuckin’ worlds!  

So, I guess Endless Summer Vacation is Miley’s Solar Power? Not quite. This record doesn’t take itself anywhere near as seriously, but it’s not nearly as interesting, either.  

Like most Miley albums, Endless Summer Vacation is a mishmash of sounds and ideas. Some of it works, most of it doesn’t. If anything, Cyrus spends most of her time cribbing from other artists.  

Tracks like ‘Rose-Coloured Glasses’ and ‘Thousand Miles’ (not that one) recall the earthy 00s-style folk rock of Maggie Rogers, which is no coincidence since both tracks were produced by Kid Harpoon, who also produced Rogers’ latest record. ‘River’ capitalises on the bubbly disco pop already perfected by the likes of Cyrus’ one-time collaborator Dua Lipa. ‘Violet Chemistry’ is just something Taylor Swift already made a better version of on Midnights. Despite having a rather powerful team of writers and producers behind it (including James Blake), it’s nothing more than a bunch of chintzy synths on a loop.  

So many people have called this their favourite track on Endless Summer Vacation, but I just don’t hear it. Why? Are the pickings really that slim here? 

Well, kinda. So what does work?  

‘Jaded’ is a swirling Tame Impala rip-off but at least it’s a good one, infused with some early 00s power ballad energy. ‘Handstand’ (co-written with Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine, of all people) is big, fat and glitchy with a bright neon glow, with Cyrus tapping back into her weirdo pop instincts as she recites some swampy beat poetry (‘In the sky, we could see the riders on the horseback/On comets, coming toward us, kicking up with laughter/My friend Big Twitchy rode the boat into the light/Surfed to the north break/We danced until there was nothing left/Just me and Twitchy/'Cause that's all we knew’). ‘You’ is a jazzy, sweeping, aching ballad dedicated to Cyrus’ boyfriend, producer Maxx Morando. 

‘Muddy Feet,’ meanwhile, interpolates both Ella Washington’s 1969 track ‘Starving for Love’ and Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie in a Bottle,’ and it works. It’s Miley at her best: Bold, raspy and ready to cut a bitch as she leans into the more bluesy tones in her voice. It’s enough to make Sia’s backing vocals feel like an afterthought. 

And then there’s ‘Flowers,’ a sassy response to Bruno Mars’ ‘If I Was Your Man’ with a nice, breezy groove tailor-made for ice cold daydreams and sunny kiss-offs to your ex. There’s also a hint of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ in there, so Cyrus hasn’t totally shaken off the classic rock aesthetic of Plastic Hearts. It’s grown on me with subsequent listens, but it’s still sort of wild that this song, so glossy and unassuming on the surface, has managed to score a massive 96m streams on Spotify.  

But by the time we reach the final trifecta of tracks - ‘Wildcard,’ the balmy ‘Island’ and the schmaltzy ‘Wonder Woman’ – the momentum wanes, and you begin to forget the powerful high that ‘Muddy Feet’ left you with in the first place. The ‘Flowers’ demo that bookends the record isn’t really anything more than filler tacked on to milk the track’s success, though the more stripped-backed feel does give it a bit of a smoky flavour. 

While looking at Stereogum’s coverage of Endless Summer Vacation, I saw an interesting theory posted in the comments section by a delightful chap/chappette going by the name of Econoline Van Fleet. ‘Not only is it obviously dog shit,’ they wrote, ‘but Cyrus is savvy and talented enough to know that it’s obviously dog shit. I suppose one could make the argument that her awareness of this fact is some kind of subversive performance art (“She knows that we know she knows!”), but that rationalization is itself a huge pile of steaming dog shit. This is the soundtrack of an artistically bankrupt empire in decline. The barrage of dog shit is every bit as predictable and boring as the decline itself.’ 

It’s not a bad theory, but is Miley really that self-aware?  

As an artist, Cyrus seemingly suffers from a sort of identity crisis, always doing a hard reset on each subsequent era. The same also applies to Endless Summer Vacation: There’s no common thread between these songs, the tracklisting almost an afterthought. There’s a couple of empowerment anthems sprinkled here, a power ballad there, the weirdo pop track somewhere in the middle... 

And despite the title, there’s not much to suggest that these songs are bright and summery in any way beyond 'Flowers,’ ‘Handstand’ and maybe ‘Violet Chemistry.’  

Lyrical cliches are also rampant. Whether she’s pouring her heart out or sticking it to an ex-lover, Cyrus’ feelings are often vague and surface-level at best, leaving it to the tabloids and Genius cliff notes to fill in the rest. And it has an awful lot of writers behind it, too: ‘Muddy Feet’ alone has a whopping 11 while ‘Island’ - probably the most boring track on the entire album – has seven. 

Endless Summer Vacation feels more like Cyrus making a cynical play for streaming numbers while still trying to atone for her more controversial eras. It’s all so painfully ‘safe’; I can't believe people actually like this. Y’all were just praising her for ripping off Stevie Nicks a couple of years ago... 

Now 30 and newly divorced, it’s natural that the singer would display a little more growth, but blandness shouldn’t be mistaken for maturity. It’s a problem that’s plagued many a female artist before her: Being forced to file back the edges and tone things down in order to be taken ‘seriously,’ as if fun and lust and passion have a use-by date.  

Cyrus' sharp shift into adult contemporary resembles that of P!nk in certain respects: A talented singer once known for rocking out now churning out bland, radio-friendly dance pop. I'm not much older than Miley, but even I’ve got no patience for this crap. 

Endless Summer Vacation isn’t the long, breezy getaway most were probably hoping for. Rather, it lands right in the middle of the road, just idling there until Miley decides on what sharp turn she’s gonna make next...  

- Bianca B. 

[rhizomehaunt]

eeee thanks @yellghoul ily ˙ᵕ˙

1. picrew game

my hair is getting dangerously mullet-ish in the back (but not in the good kind of way) as I'm growing it out but this is pretty close. I live in soft and oversized clothes and especially a big black hoodie my girlfriend got from working on the set of POWER BOOK II: GHOST.

2. shuffle my on repeat playlist and post the first 10 tracks

1/ Too Close, Sir Chloe

2/ Flowers (Demo), Miley Cyrus

3/ Tisched Off, Bartees Strange

4/ Freakin’ Out on the Interstate, Briston Maroney

5/ To be honest, Christine and the Queens

6/ la chute (piano), Jean-Michel Blais

7/ Rät, Penelope Scott

8/ A Place To Lie, Art School Girlfriend

9/ Younger & Dumber, Indigo De Souza

10/ After The Earthquake, Alvvays

Honestly not a terrible overview of my listening habits, but there's definitely more classical that didn't make the cut asjsfhsfj.

3. this questionnaire:

Tea, coffee, or soda?

Coffee, black, several cups a day.

Dogs or cats?

cats always and forever <3

Can you play any instrument?

I haven't played piano in years but am hoping to get a keyboard and start again! I'm shit at sight reading but used to be good at chords and playing by ear. 

What's your sun sign?

gemini (chaos)

First song lyrics that pops into your head?

And you got a lot on your mind / And your heart, it looks just like mine / There's no use in wasting your time, anymore

Do you have any tattoos?

I have three and want many more. a tattoo of a drawing I did of the chair in my grandpa's studio on my wrist, an ambiguous flower and two hands clasped by it on my upper arm, and then a big warped text piece wrapped around my entire right thigh reading the sweeteness of you carrying yesterdays feelings to tomorrow beyond what i knew before

Favorite place you've travelled?

Paris, because I took myself there for three weeks as I was breaking up with a terrible ex, amid a complete collapse of everything, and it was the first time I left the country, first time in my entire life I wasn't scraping by, and I did it alone, on my own, and just read and walked the entire time. I became friends with the local orange seller by the apartment I stayed, got asked out at the Louvre by a chef from Argentina while I drew an old man who was drawing a painting who I later spoke to in broken French (and he clasped my hand and cheered me on), made a friend at a bookstore who was writing her masters thesis on the same author I wrote my undergrad thesis on and we ended up having lunch and she gave me some of her old books, and also started talking with another solo traveler from South Korea who's a brilliant artist and musician at Musée de l'Orangerie and we wandered around and then met up for lunch the next day and are still in touch. 

What's the last movie you've watched?

The Muse

What languages do you speak?

English and some very poor French

Do you have any hobbies?

I suppose baking?? It’s hard to distinguish what’s a hobby and what’s routine. I don’t really think of anything I do as a hobby any more, but that’s probably bc I’m always trying to do a million things. 

You can hang out with one fictional character for an hour, who do you choose?

Camilla Hect, beloved. 

these are always so fun, i'm tagging @zuko and @baezel2<3