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andiwriteordie · 2 years

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pls convince me that anti-hero is not mid and that im just being hypocritical bc im still not over lover and once i get my life back on track it will sound perfect and logical and the lyrics will make sense

*cracks knuckles*

okay, first of all i think it’s the funniest and best thing in the world that i was sent this ask because that means you know i have so so many thoughts about taylor swift and about anti-hero, and i need you to know i sent this to my friends bc i was so excited to get this ask!

so, i present to you my unhinged analysis on why anti-hero is not mid and why it is one of my favorite song on midnights (including the 3 am songs):

for me, i really love when taylor swift dives into the topic of mental health and in particular her journey with mental health. i’m a very lyric driven person, so i can’t give a fair argument on why i think it’s a good song sonically, but in terms of lyrics, i just really love the rawness and the openness we see her presenting to us in this song! some of my other favorite taylor swift songs (nothing new, the archer, and innocent) also give us this similar look into her headspace, and i think it does two things for me when i am listening to it: 1) as a listener, it helps give me something to relate to, and 2) in general, it helps to humanize taylor swift more since she’s a celebrity and unfortunately has been on the extreme ends of public love and public hatred.

taylor’s public image is something that would be a whoooole other long, unhinged essay that i could talk for hours about, but i think my point with why i love anti-hero is that is one of the clearest pictures taylor has painted for us of just how negatively that public image has impacted her idea of herself!

on a more personal level, i think the reason why i personally love this song—and why so many people do as well—is just because of how damn relatable it is. It’s one of taylor’s best feats, right? she’s able to write something that resonates with people, even if we’ve never walked in her shoes. somehow, we can still feel her emotions and in this song, her pain, and we can relate it back to ourselves. so for me, the hook of the song “it’s me, hi; i’m the problem. it’s me” hits harder and makes me enjoy the song even more because of my own personal propensity to put blame on myself and constantly ask myself what i could do better to make people love me more, to be perceived as good, etc, etc.

this is quickly getting to be a long answer to an ask, but the other thing i wanted to say was that one of my favorite parts about taylor’s entire discography is the fact that you can find themes woven through multiple albums/songs. for me, anti-hero seems to play on the same things that the archer does—that fear that the people you love will leave and that it will be your fault, an overall negative perception of yourself and how you interact in your relationships, and then really that underlying question posed in the archer - “who could ever leave me, darling? but who could stay?”

all that to say, everyone is so so entitled to their own opinions, and while i (and a lot of people) love anti-hero, you definitely shouldn’t feel bad if you’re not the biggest fan of it! i am such a big swiftie, but lord knows there are songs that aren’t my favorite (even if i am on my knees begging the universe to let me stand in a stadium full of people screaming those songs at the top of my lungs next year)!

Ok that was a long answer i am SO SORRY LOL I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY THANK YOU FOR DROPPING BY AND ASKING ME SOMETHING 💜

#andi's asks #can i get paid to talk about taylor swift #anyone else wanna send me an ask about a taylor swift song?#because this was a lot of fun #i could analyze taylor's music ALLLLLL day

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angelinaaspires · 2 years

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1. my assigned art: The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

1) This piece of art was originally created in the form of a woodblock, but is now displayed in many different forms.

2) The style of this piece is known as Ukiyo-e, which is a Japanese art style that typically depicts landscapes and nature.

3) This piece is very popular still because of it's unique beauty, and historical impact on the western acceptance of Japanese art and culture.

4) it's estimated that there were around 5000 to 8000 prints made in the beginning of its creation.

5) The art piece is said to have inspired Claude Debussy's musical composition "La Mer".

My first reaction to seeing my assigned art piece, was immediately recognizing it. It's a well-known painting that depicts the ocean and its beauty, today this image is very popular among the younger generation. There is a lot of familiarity associated with this because many of my friends have prints of it and even tapestries. I wouldn't say the art changed for me after the first time looking at it, but I did start noticing more of his character and smaller details. The more I examined it the more I noticed the style, and emotion that carries through.

2. For the second prompt (Art and Writing) I chose a very important piece of art that I have displayed in my room. It’s a print album cover of my favorite album by one of my favorite artists. The album is Stranger in The Alps by Phoebe Bridgers. The album cover is a piece of art that was created by Angela Deane who’s most popularly known for her vintage style ghost inspired photographs and artwork. In this particular piece it’s an old picture of the singer as a child with a ghost painted over her. I think the beauty in this and what originally attracted me to it is how widely perceived it can be. I personally think it represents how she felt invisible and or secluded during her childhood. The music that is in this album has a very melancholy and vulnerable sound. It’s a truly unique style of music and many of the songs feel personal to me and my own life.

3. (Writing a Self-Portrait)

1. I am 17 years old.

2. The gender I align with has always been female.

3. I was born in Maryland and lived there until the age of 8. I’ve always loved Maryland and the people there, many of my family members still live there today!

4. My ethnicity is pretty wide spread, but I’m mostly English, Northwestern European, German Scottish, and Irish. I really adore my roots and even through my family hasn’t kept any ethnic traditions alive I still enjoy exploring my culture.

5. For fun I typically spend time with my family or friends. I love the outdoors and I try to spend as much time as I can in nature. My favorite hobbies include reading books, cooking, getting creative with my makeup and drawing.

6. Sadly I’m not a member of any organized group, but I have been before, I used to be on my old schools newspaper editorial.

7. I have been working at an Italian ice shop for almost two years now called Jeremiah’s! It’s a really great job and I have many friends there.

8. I would say a defining part of my identity is my unique upbringing, I was an adopted at the age of 8 by my aunt and moved to Florida. I had a completely new home and family. The change has impacted in so many ways over the years but I’ll continue to appreciate my opportunities!

4. (Self portrait) what I am fascinated my in my daily life is how fast time flys. I have always been a really sentimental person and held onto objects or pictures that might seem unimportant to most but they hold so much importance to me. The photo I chose represents this, it’s a picture of me blowing out my 16th birthday candles at my favorite Thai restaurant. I love this photo because it’s slightly blurry and it gives nostalgic feeling. I think it represents me because of its simplicity and warm tone.

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herrlindemann · 2 years

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Metal Hammer ITALIA - 11.2003

Interview with Richard Kruspe.

More than two years after the last album ‘Mutter', Rammstein are about to return to the market. 'Lichtspielhaus' is released, a DVD that collects all the video clips of the German band, and more. A visual collection for a band that has made image one of the keys to its success. Metal Hammer in conversation - in super exclusive Italian - with Richard Kruspe-Bernstein, guitarist of the band.

There are formations that transcend any description and any sound category. They are the ones that really manage to catalyze a transversal audience, placing the emphasis on the quality of their music rather than on influences, labels or musical drawers of every order and degree. Rammstein are one of these bands. Closely linked to the industrial scene, they have never denied the metal matrix that is found in their compositions, and have always managed to put together two worlds so far from each other. The texts in German incomprehensible to most, a live show with a visceral and violent impact, their ability to completely cancel outward communications between one album and another ... All elements that make Rammstein a band different from the others, endowed with a very particular charm, and not only under the musical aspect. Once again they were long gone, and only the news of the upcoming release of an anthological DVD brought them to the fore. The upcoming DVD is an opportunity to explore some interesting themes with the band's guitarist, Richard Kruspe-Bernstein. The first topic of discussion, of course, is the next DVD.

"It is a project that we have had for some time. Rammstein have always been a band very attached to the visual aspect, both in live shows and in video clips. I believe that in addition to words and music, images are an important third dimension for music, a dimension that can make the contents of a song accessible even to those who do not understand the language, for example, but which in general can underline every concept a lot, which is expressed, with words or notes. Taking care of this aspect has always been important for us, from the very first steps of the band, and deciding what images to combine with one song rather than another is something that we live in an absolutely serious way. Also because often our songs are already born with an underlying concept, which is the eventual representation in images. This is why we have always made video clips, so now we have decided to collect them all in this DVD. There aren't many spaces for our music unfortunately, and I guess a lot of Rammstein fans have never had the chance to see our videos on their TV. This is why we thought about this, which in a certain sense is also a 'Best Of', and which in any case contains all our video clips, but also various 'making of', in order to make it even more evident how a Rammstein video is born, what are the processes behind it and which and how many people involved. In addition to this there are also some particularly important moments in our history, which it seemed appropriate to include in this DVD. "

Is there almost everything Rammstein has ever produced in terms of videos on 'Lichtspielhaus'? "I would say yes, perhaps the only thing we have left out is our version of 'Das Modell', a piece by Kraftwerk that we have covered in the past. Although to be honest, I'm still not sure that the piece will not actually be part of the DVD, this is an issue that is still open with the record company. The title of the DVD is 'Lichtspielhaus', a word that was used in Germany in the past to indicate cinema, at the very dawn of this form of entertainment. We like it, it indicates that what is on this DVD is in any case a piece of history, particularly of our history. "

Why this attention to images has always been in the history of Rammstein?

"It has been like this from the very beginning, it probably derives from the fact that we see music as a great show where, after all, music in the strict sense is only a part of the whole. I believe that people's senses must all be stimulated to be able to convey a truly strong and complete sensation, and Rammstein has always been linked to this basic concept, that of offering a show for the ears of course, but also for the eyes. "

I imagine this is true not only for video clips, but also and above all for live performances, given what your approach is in this sense ...

"Absolutely, yes. Images are images, and the concept doesn't change whether you apply it on a video set or on a stage. The possibilities that are offered to you change a lot, because live, especially if it is a tour and therefore repeated shows, there are a lot of things that cannot be done because they are too expensive or because they are prohibited by law or common sense. On a clip you can do practically everything, and with the new digital techniques even the economic side is no longer a big problem, because you can practically recreate everything on the computer. Of course, the concept behind it is something that must be in the minds of musicians, and that the computer just can't have, but creativity is certainly aided by the tools that are available today. Clips and live shows are very different things from an emotional point of view, because on stage everything has to work right away, in the studio you can repeat things over and over ... "

But how much did the image - or the images - influence Rammstein’s success?

“Mmm, I don't think it was that decisive. You can have the best image in the world, or make some really great videos, but what most people still buy is the music, and Rammstein would not have the success they are having if the music was not valid and people didn’t liked it. There is the show, there is the show on stage, but I still think that the most important element of these today is certainly the musical one. Not to mention that, even if the show is an important part of our concerts, it also happened recently that we had to do without it completely. The last time we played in Chicago, for example, we couldn't use any special effects for safety reasons, yet we still went on stage and did our show. Let's say the show is an advantage, I can't and I don't want to deny it, but it's not the only thing we can offer our fans. "

You talked about the safety of fireworks shows ... I imagine that after what happened at the Great White the theme is increasingly topical ...

“Of course, and it is right that it is because the shows that are offered are not always treated in the right way also in this respect. For our part, we only had one incident worthy of the name, eight years ago in Berlin. I've been thinking about it a lot lately because as a logic it wasn't that different from what happened to the Great White, in the sense that due to some effect that worked badly, our backdrop caught fire and started to burn. Fortunately, nothing serious happened, but from that time on we decided to rely on an agency of professionals, who have followed us in this respect ever since. This is an important thing, which I feel I can recommend to every band, because it is the only one that really protects you from most of the risks. It is clear that there will never be total safety, also because we always talk about fire, which, as we know, is an extremely difficult element to control. The fact is that since that time we have had no problems, if not very minor things. "

Could you imagine Rammsteins deprived of their visual side? Of this third dimension, how did you define it before?

"Yes, I think so. First of all because even if the visual part is an important side of the band, I believe that the strictly musical side is important at least in the same way. Ours is not just shows, it is also music, and quality music, at least for what we feel we can offer. In this we feel very different from Kiss, a band to which many have compared us in recent years. Unlike them, we also try to offer music that is complex, articulated, anything but obvious, and our success shows that we succeed, as I mentioned earlier. Doing without the visual side is something that we would probably not like, but it is something that happens sometimes, and not always due to external obligations. For example, when our last album, 'Mutter' came out, we did some shows in small venues, completely devoid of special effects. It was a great experience, and honestly it is something that I would feel like repeating again even if, as I told you, I consider the show an important aspect of the band. "

Another aspect that has often attracted the attention of critics and audiences to the band are the lyrics, usually defined as controversial ...

“I don't know if they are controversial, I honestly do not see them as controversial or particularly strong or aggressive. The only thing I can say about our lyrics is that we are not afraid to talk about themes that other bands may not touch. We come up with a theme, we work on it, and if we think we can say something sensible we do it. We do not make complaints, that's all. What is important to me is that our lyrics say something, and these already make us different from the vast majority of other bands, who are not in charge of the lyrics, since it is Till who will sing them, and it is often up to him to have the last word on what we say. I must say that often our lyrics are very personal, linked to personal experiences, mine, his or others within the band, simply told without making us too many problems about what 'can' and 'cannot' be said. I think a band has to have a certain character, and that character comes out of the lyrics a lot. It makes no sense to talk about the same things that all the other bands are talking about, perhaps in the same way, I think there must be a minimum of desire to raise original themes, perhaps a little uncomfortable or not obvious. "

Your success outside of Germany has amazed everyone, including you… Do language barriers no longer exist?

"Honestly, it's something we never expected at the beginning of our career. I must say that Rammstein initially started out as a project, and only later did they become a real band. What we had, and of which I am proud, is the courage to go on proposing our ideas and to insist on music, lyrics and images, until we found someone who believed in us and put us disposing of the means to achieve what we wanted. We know what is behind our success, and there is a lot of work behind it, on all the aspects that are now characteristic of Rammstein. On the language I don't see it in a very particular way: basically when I was little I listened to a lot of English music without understanding anything of what the lyrics said, and basically I didn't even care that much. Over time my English has improved, now I can understand the lyrics but it's not necessarily a good thing in the end. It is the music that strikes first of all, well before the meaning of the words, and often the lyrics are more important for the sound impact they have than for the words they say, especially when it comes to markets, which use a language other than ours. "

Is it possible to categorize the sound of Rammstein in any way in your opinion?

“Well, it's not easy at all, much less for me that this sound is helping to create it. There are many different elements in our sound, and certainly metal is one of the most important, as is pop, especially for the use of melodies. Then there is a strong personal component in my opinion, in the way of playing and in the way of interpreting the songs. I believe that Till's voice, and his way of putting himself on stage and behind the microphone is another element that strongly characterizes Rammstein. And it is something that becomes stronger and stronger, given that going forward we tend to exploit more and more his potential and he himself offers more and more to the band as interpretation and transport."

By now the time should be ripe for a new album ...

"In three weeks we will go into the studio to record the successor of 'Mutter'. At the moment we are refining the final details on the songs that will be part of this record, which I can say will certainly be different from 'Mutter' even if it will once again be Rammstein one hundred percent. There will be differences in the sound, and there have also been differences in the way of composing, in the sense that on this album I have had a more marginal role than in the past. So far I was the one to propose most of the ideas, this time the work was done much more in a team, and indeed, on many pieces I was only involved at the end. For some time in fact I have been living in New York and this time I had less time to contribute to the songs, but I can assure you that it will be a record completely in the spirit of Rammstein. "

Has your role so far been dominant also for the tests, or just for the music?

“The lyrics are mostly the work of Till, as I mentioned earlier. I think he has really brilliant ideas, especially at the level of themes to deal with and metaphors to use, then usually both the lyrics and the music need a lot of team work, in order to refine everything in the best possible way. "

In Germany in recent years there has been a real boom for bands offering hard music with lyrics in their mother tongue ...

"It was a radical change, given that from the point of view of music, Germany has always been a nation where English was used much more than German. Things began to change with the fall of the wall, from 1989 onwards, when two nations that had the same language but two profoundly different cultures merged. The East was inevitably more tied to its roots, and consequently to the use of its own language, than the West, and gradually also the bands originating in the West gradually begun to become familiar with their own language. The public has rewarded this trend, and for some years now among the young bands of our house I believe that most of them are those who sing in German. Among other things, this has also changed in a certain sense the way of making music, and above all of writing lyrics, since those who write in German are much more attentive to the messages they want to give, at least on our national market. "

You mentioned the fall of the Berlin Wall. You are all originally from old East Germany. How do you think this has affected the evolution of Rammstein as they are ?

"Very very much. There would have been no Rammstein if we had been born in Cologne rather than in Eastern Germany. My youth, and I also speak for my fellow adventurers, was divided in two by the event you mentioned. There is a before and there is an after, and the two are radically different. Without making any value judgments, they are two completely different worlds in which I lived in a single life, without even having to leave home. It was a radical change for those like us who were on the East side of the wall, a change in behavior but also in perspectives, which suddenly became wider, to understand that part of the world that was not part of our view before. From a musical point of view, the East German scene was very linked to experimentation, innovation, and also to the use of German in the lyrics, all of which coincidentally were fundamental for the birth and growth of Rammstein. "

In Italy there is still regret for that Gods of Metal of a couple of years ago, when your participation was canceled at the last moment ...

“We should have and wanted to play with you, but fate wanted otherwise. The version that the newspapers then published is absolutely true. There was a problem that hit our keyboard player after a concert in Dresden, which he had attended as a guest. It was a kind of gala evening with a buffet, but in the end of all those who were served at that buffet many were bad! It was a kind of mass food poisoning, as more than 100 people, including Flake Lorenz, ended up in hospital. And it was a real shame, because we would have loved to play with you. Just think that so far the only time we have been able to come was for a showcase in 1998, in a small venue in Milan, which we also found practically empty! We would really like to come, we hope this is the right time ..."

#Rammstein #Richard Kruspe #Till Lindemann #Flake Lorenz #Paul Landers #Oliver Riedel #Christoph Schneider #interview #translation #*scans #2003 #*

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cocochannel00 · 3 years

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The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

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JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

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THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

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gaylore1989 · 3 years

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if taylor came out

There are a lot of possible factors influencing Taylor’s decision to stay closeted (assuming gaylor). I’ve been thinking about how ones related to her career and financial success that people often speculate about are overblown. In my view, if Taylor came out, the response would be overwhelmingly positive. I think the vast majority of her fans (not diehards) would be like ‘good for her!’ or would think she’d already come out during Lover era. Swifties would be salty they weren’t included and got it wrong, but I think for the most part, they love Taylor and would ultimately embrace it (save for the deep homophobes but they’re a minority). Gaylors would obviously be excited and relieved that the gaslighting was over, and I think we’d be proud of her and love her more than ever. The media and her peers would be very supportive (a lot of them are even out). I think it might even endear her to critics who don’t get and dismiss her. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if her coming out bolstered her public image among the media and celebrity class. Of course, there would be members of her team and industry executives who she works with that would be uncomfortable — but only because she’s their cash cow (ew). I think once it became clear she was still super popular and beloved by fans they’d get over it. Honestly, I think releasing folkvermore was a bigger career risk in terms of losing fans since it deviated so much from her past work in sound/style and was “fiction” rather than confessional, as she’s known and loved for. And those releases went well! She both received critical acclaim and people love folkvermore. As for the bag ($$$), there’s this idea that coming out could potentially compromise her ability to sell as many records in conservative countries. I think that’s a really exaggerated argument. There are only a few countries large enough to impact her bag as long as she continues to be successful in the US. I know several Taylor fans in Latin America and they would not stop loving her if she came out, even though they live in a conservative culture that is much more homophobic than the US. Her fans are largely under 40. Like here, in Latin America millennials and gen z are very socially progressive. Like here, they don’t just hold the values of their country. I don’t have direct experience but I imagine the same would be true in China. The Chinese government isn’t going to prohibit sales of her albums their just because she comes out. They sell plenty of music by gay American artists there — as long as she doesn’t write songs criticizing their government, she’s likely fine. And regardless, she’s rich as god and getting richer with or without China and Brazil at this point. Of course, Taylor’s reasons for staying closeted may well be psychological, internal, familial etc. I totally get and respect that. I’m only thinking/writing about this because I think some ideas about her hesitance are overblown. Also, I just wish she’s come out because it would be so major and iconic and would cement her status as a sapphic icon 🥺

#gaylor swift #wlw #lgbt #if taylor came out i would cry

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fyexo · 4 years

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201130 Kai is ready to take on the new decade

Nearly a decade since he was introduced as the first member of Korean band EXO, and a year since the formation of supergroup SuperM, Kai is ready to step into 2021 with his debut solo mini album.

“I think fashion is a way to show your personality,” offers Kai, Esquire Singapore’s December cover star and arguably the most popular member of one of South Korea’s best-selling music groups, EXO. “With clothes you can show who you are—fashion is the simplest and probably the coolest way to express yourself.” While he admits to favouring a more classic style than the fall/winter runway looks of Gucci , for whom he’s an ambassador, showcased on these pages, in his day-to-day life, he believes that fashion is transformative, and it’s his personal style—“sometimes bold, sometimes more simple”—that has led to his name on the top of international best-dressed lists. “I think it’s important to dress according to your situation, so when I’m standing on stage or taking pictures I really can be bold, like with these looks, and feel good about myself.”

At 26, Kai has been in the public eye for nearly half of his life, having been the first EXO member to be formally introduced to the public back in 2011 . And since, there’s been seven studio albums (and four live) and some 52 music videos, though this doesn’t take into account his additional creative output with SuperM, a supergroup in which Kai joins six more talents from three of SM Entertainment’s other male bands—Shinee, NCT 127 and WayV—and with whom he released a studio album this September. “A lot has happened,” says the performer humbly. “It has been a long time and a lot of work—a lot of work indeed—but my heart is in it just as it was at the start. It was fun back at the beginning and still is.”

While the output is significant, Kai’s happiness stems from the fact that, quite simply, and as corny as it may sound, he is doing what he loves and has always done, even as Kim Jong-in, his name by birth. “I’ve loved dancing since I was very young,” he explains. “My father always said that even if it was raining or snowing, or even when I was meant to have days off, I always wanted to dance, and when I was in school my friends recorded videos of me dancing in the street.”

That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s not impacted by the pressure. “I cry when I’m having a hard time, and lean on my family and friends,” Kai explains. Eking out time for life outside of work has been key to finding mental balance. “I’m almost always with family or friends when I’m not working, and I like spending time alone, too. On days off I still exercise, I still practise singing and dancing, but I also watch TV, build Lego, read books… I like fantasy, mystery and comics. Whenever I go to the airport I’ve got a book in my hand. It’s important to me to have some separation between work and my family life, because if you focus too much on work when you’re not working, it can stress you out and make you come to dislike it. I don’t want that.”

Earlier this week, Kai released his debut (and much-awaited) solo mini album: a project comprising six tracks including the title track 'Mmmh', an R&B pop song with an addictive melody. Having racked up close to 9 million views on YouTube within a day of its release, there’s no denying that he’s entering the new decade with as much momentum that’s seen him propelled to global superstardom. “At the beginning of my career my image was very much that of a boy, but I think it’s time to show a more mature character now,” he offers. “I don’t believe I have had my heyday—I try not to get caught up in that. I am working hard towards the next stage. The goals will always be different, but in the end I’m doing the work that I love and maintaining my best physical and mental health.”

Interview by Hyunyu Kim Photographs by Jungwook Mok Styling by Donghui Ko

Source: Esquire Singapore

#exo #kai #t: interview #esquire singapore december 2020

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kyotakumrau · 4 years

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2020.09.27 Rolling Stone Japan - interview with SUGIZO - translation (selection)

SUGIZO talkes about how he met his friends and why was it important to him now to release a live album

Original text: Joe Yokomizo

Photos by Keiko Tanabe

Translation: kyotaku

SUGIZO is releasing the first live album in his solo career, 'LIVE IN TOKYO', on September 30th. This work delivers the two day birthday performance 'SUGIZO 聖誕半世紀祭～HALF CENTURY ANNIVERSARY FES.～' that was held last year on July 7th and August 2nd at Nakano Sunplaza, giving you a chance to not only enjoy the live atmosphere but also the magnificent collaboration with his sworn musician friends.

It's a masterpiece I'd love many people to listen to, but it might be surprising to people who only know SUGIZO from LUNA SEA and X JAPAN and not his solo work.

In this interview we will get to the bottom of it, discussing the live album, the foundations of SUGIZO's solo work and his music, and the history with the artists who joined the project.

ー It's the first time in your career you're releasing a live album, which is very unusual now that the video releases are so common. You were that happy with how those 2 days turned out?

I was planning to release a live album from before. I heard from my staff they wanted to release the material from this half century celebration, but because I've released live video works so many times I thought it's time to change my approach.

I feel that young people nowadays are not really familiar with live albums. These times we can easily watch live videos everywhere including YouTube. But back in our childhood the live album from the artist we were indulging in was a real prize. For me it was YMO, JAPAN and PiL. Miles Davids or Frank Zappa also had quite a few live releases. And, Deep Purple or Peter Framptom also had famous live albums, even as I wasn't influenced by them. With such artists, live albums in 70s and 80s were treated as extremely valuable. I have a lot of admiration for those times, so I was hoping to eventually be able do it myself.

－ I see. Before we talk about the content, I wanted to ask you when did you encounter the so called psychodelic trance music that is the foundation of your solo music?

In the mid 90s. First, I was really into hardcore techno or minimal techno in early 90s, speaking of the ambient world like The Orb or 808 STATE, I really love the scene of that time. And few years later, at the same time when I started my solo activity, European drum n bass or abstract hip hop were very popular, I was quite influenced by the club culture and music around then, and then naturally I gave myself to trance.

The first rave I went to see was Vision Quest in 2001, and from then I got even more into it. The feeling of life in the perfectly linked music and the flow of universe, like dancing with the rising sun and chilling in the afternoon, my instincts were telling me that people had a connection with this kind of music from the ancient times. Not the music from the cities, the music with roots in nature. Kind of primitive music. I found great value for music there.

◆Then they discuss JUNO REACTOR, learning what kind of rhythm feels good, how working with a South African percussion team Amampondo helped them grow spiritually, especially thanks to the drummer Mabi, SUGIZO's chase of the 'black groove' to finally understand East has its own good points; he can be proud as Japanese and SUGIZO's solo activity reflects everything he's learnt.

Next, Joe asks SUGIZO for a primer of his solo work, SUGIZO lists 'Misogi', 'FATIMA', 'DO-FUNK DANCE' and 'Lux Aeterna'◆

meeting Kyo（DIR EN GREY/sukekiyo)

－ Remarkably for each of two days you invited guest vocalists. All of them are musicians you're very familiar with, could you tell us first about how you got to know Kyo (from DIR EN GREY/sukekiyo)?

From the start I was close with some people they know and their staff members. So I went to see their show and we were introduced. It was surprisingly recently, like around 2005 or 2006.

－ What was your impression when you saw DIR EN GREY for the first time?

It was the first time I felt threatened by a younger band. I'm sorry for saying this, but I haven't felt threatened or impacted by any of the younger artists, within this genre. That's why I was quite surprised with how great they are. What they're expressing, their worldview are incredible. At that time I could feel that their performance or sound are not there yet, but I could already feel the intensity of what was pouring out of them, the endless possibilities.

I was especially looking at Kyo thinking 'he's a genius'. There's no theory or detailed reasoning with him. He's just doing things by instinct. But he's good with words, good at drawing, as an artist he can express himself in so many different ways. Then, when I met him in person he was just so pure and innocent, doesn't it seem like he's not greedy at all? So it was a shock of 'a genius like this exists?'.

－ It was Kyo who wrote the lyrics for your collaboration song 'Zessai', was it a request from you?

Yes. Thinking to sing the best it'd be better if that person writes the lyrics, and when I asked [Kyo] he happily did. When I sent him a 2nd stage Mix demo asking 'it will be like this, what do you think?', he already had the singing (melody) put in. And the lyrics have been done too, when I asked 'woah, that's the actual thing?', he replied 'yup, I've done them'. It's the same with DIR. Thus, he's a genius. When an image comes to his mind he cannot wait. It all felt so fast. He's really a phenomenal creator.

－ How was the performance at the Half Century Anniversary?

I felt he definitely is someone who follows his instincts. When you stand on the stage and things get serious it totally doesn't matter if you're younger or older (as in how long you've been working in a music business). Of course there was no stage fright, I felt as a performer he's just huge, and at the same time it felt like there was mutual respect. It felt like it would be a waste to let it just finish like that. That's why I'm very happy that we can release the collaboration from the stage [on the live album].

◆Next, they talk about TERU and TAKURO (from GLAY), followed by Kiyoharu (I'm skipping here a lot)◆

－Kiyoharu said 'I've performed on various stages so I can't imagine myself losing, but when playing together with SUGIZO the pressure is very different'. Often when two different performers stand on stage together sparks will fly.

The same thing can be said about RYUICHI and SUGIZO, the spark/heat of the collision of a guitarist and a vocalist is often very attractive. In a way there's also the aesthetics of traditional rock, that the combination of Kiyoharu and SUGIZO might be able to embody this spark's attractiveness. That's why the collision on the stage makes me shudder, but also it's possible to blend together. With [the combination of] Kyo and SUGIZO there's no blending together, it feels different. And with TAKURO・TERU we're different type of people. When Kiyoharu is on stage I feel he's the same species as me.

－ It's interesting that the character of all those three groups of musicians is totally different.

That's true. I think it's amazing I could have a line-up like that, it's really by chance that they are my good friends coming from the same genre.

◆they finish the interview talking about the sound and working with Dub Master X, sound mixing for the album, SUGIZO wants the live sound to have intimate, close feeling◆

一 So how was it to complete a live album without compromising on anything?

It's a live album, but it it makes me feel like I was able to create a 'SUGIZO's Best Album'. 2 years I go I released what was meant to be my biggest compilation, but obviously the sound from the studio and from the concert have totally different types of energy. As someone who's been performing on the stage for a very long time, I'm really glad to able to pack that energy for the first time officially on an album. Of course live performance has less precision than the studio album, but performance has way more energy.

Another thing is that as you know it is difficult now to perform due to the pandemic. I haven't played live for half a year, when thinking about it, it's the first time in my music career to not play any shows for this long. That's why I'm really yearning for the stage performance, the live show. When I was still doing them it was something obvious, but now that I can't, making this album made me keenly aware how important concerts are in my life and how much I need them; and to tell the truth working on this live album was like saving myself in a way. Obviously a live album can't rival the real thing. Not even a live dvd nor a live stream can match the excitement of being there [at the show], but I worked on this album hoping to let you feel at least some percent of that feeling. At any rate, I'm really grateful to be able to create a work like a live album that inspired me so much as a child.

Btw 絶彩 feat. 京 [LIVE IN TOKYO] available here

#sukekiyo #kyo #京 #sugizo #interview #translation #kinda #絶彩 #dir en grey #sugizo half century anniversary fes

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straighttohellbuddy · 4 years

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World building is the best tbh. I’m forever world building and now I have several worlds to play in and my neurodivergent brain cannot stay still enough to focus on one lmao. SLOWBURN ROMANCES ARE MY LITERAL JAM LIKE PLS!!! I LOVE THEM!! Also!!!! Concepts!!!! Pls share!!!! I love learning about the worlds of my fave fics and I can hands down say right now that this fic will literally shoot to the top of my list of favourites which means you’ll occupy the top three spots. Sorry to hear that ur feeling rough, so am sending u the biggest hug. I’m not okay but I’m taking care of myself today so that I will be 🧡-🐈‍⬛

alsjfsldkjf i have too many worlds TBH, literally one of the best parts of my 2020 was writing for the classic rock fandom and writing one of my good friend’s ocs alongside mine, like there’s so many different worlds that our two characters have now, i’m like 26k deep into a high school au that i need to get back to at some point, and then i wrote a oneshot abt the high school au but they’re adults, and then there’s also the original timeline, and then there’s the present day in the original timeline where they have kids and i probably care too much about people who aren’t real...... hahaha

OKAY OKAY OKAY HERE WE GO I’LL GIVE KIND OF AN OVERVIEW OF THE ALBUMS AND A FEW SONGS BUT IF U WANT ME TO GO IN DEPTH ON ANY OTHER SONG JUST ASK!!!

yes i have a playlist for each, if you wanna hear how i interpret the vibes of the songs. if you interpret them differently, thats awesome!! i’d love to hear y’all’s opinions on them!!

testing one two - the first ep they release, the song titles are mostly themed (fast forward, press play, pause, rewind), but are mostly things y/n has been working on for a while but never got around to finishing, things they are rather proud of. i see you shiver with... is the first song they wrote specifically for the album, and it’s the last song on the EP because it’s a Rocky Horror reference; i see you shiver with...

a n t i c i p a t i o n - first full album!! the vibe is Hopeful But Hesitant it has all the songs from the ep, plus some new ones!! collabs with youtube musicians troye and dodie, and y/n’s label sets up a collab that turns into a genuine friendship. the breakout dance hit is what else is there to say ft. Troye Sivan, which is about not knowing what to make content about when it feels like you’ve already told the world everything. it featured the prechorus and hook

You, know, ev-ery-thing about me / gave it all for free / my life in HD / So, let’s dance, let me see your hips sway / we’re gonna be okay / what else is there to say?

So say that you love me, say that you love me, say that you love me / let’s die hand in hand. / I’ll tell you I love you, tell you I love you, tell you I love you / supply and demand.

personally, i also conceptually enjoy srs bsns which is a really upbeat song about how they don’t care if people don’t take them seriously because they know in their heart that what they’re doing is good

hyperfocus - 2nd EP, a pretty substantial departure from their usual style, but also happens to quietly be Corpse’s favourite, and is actually y/n’s most polarising, because it has both the Grammy award winning HEARTBURN and the o brother where art thou which was written partially as a joke to capture a fond moment of them and 5SOS dicking around together in a hotel. written while on tour wit 5SOS, im writing the reader as having ADHD (because I have ADHD and i can do what i want), and the backstory is that they’d changed the medication/dosage they were taking, and as it’s their first full tour, they were under a lot of stress and were in a weird place mentally and emotionally, and hyperfocus is the result of that. i’m going through some stuff has HUGE agoraphobic vibes.

HEARTBURN has the same vibes as Florence + The Machines’ Howl. It’s about being a demon without saying that or directly implying that unless you know demons real well. This is when the pressure for them to confirm their identity got real bad, and it was their way of working through those emotions.

tear in existence in the shape of a person / when i’m seeing clearly i can’t see myself / world can’t swallow what it can’t get it’s teeth into / got everything i wanted but i ain’t got my health

Got heart-burn--- / I’ll tear me apart / I’ll tear you apart / I’ll tear me apart.

SCREAM gets rereleased as a remixed single featuring Fall Out Boy the following year. It won the MTV music award for best collaboration in 2018.

In the time between hyperfocus and working on it, Y/N releases several singles, including a cover of Tell Him by The Exciters to be featured in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. They also take time to sort out their health, do a little bit more YT stuff, and travel internationally to do festivals.

working on it - is kind of a middle ground between their original stuff, and hyperfocus, like pop-punk meets horror-pop meets whatever you’d classify halsey as. the first three songs were mostly written before the fic starts, so before they’re getting back to YT, but the last three, nightmare scenario, designed to hurt (touch me), and not scared were all written after they’d started hanging out with sykkuno and corpse.

in-universe, imposter syndrome was originally something else, along the same lines of tired that they’re hiding that they’re a demon, but after meeting corpse nd sykkuno and having people who know, and lowkey being influenced by corpse’s music, the song changes directions, and YO OKAY YO::

I literally am so fucking flattered, my darling friend @bingusmode wrote lyrics for imposter syndrome and I’ve been yELLING about them ever since i’ve read them!! (also bunnie is fantastic and lovely in general 10/10)

if you thought you saw me

i’d think about it twice

cuz while i know i’m naughty

everybody thinks i’m nice

cutest giggles get me

places that i long to be

but it’s not long before

everybody hates me

when you figure out i’m fucked up

you’ll probably think that can’t be right

but babe my image runs to save me

cuz i’m ugly day and night

nothing good about me

not the angel that i seem

cuz i’m a piece of shit

and i’ll ruin your fuckin dreams

i’m an impostor babe

you better run for your life

cuz there’s a bloodlust runnin through me

and you’re dripping off my knife

there’s no one here to save you

cuz you ate up all my lies

so beg me while you can

and draft up all your goodbyes

if any of y’all are inspired by anything i put out, feel free to take it and run!! you have my blessing!! i am so overwhelmingly flattered by people who like my stuff enough to create because of it, directly or indirectly! lyrics, art, songs, anything!! legit! I love you!!

okay so designed to hurt (touch me) has big House of Memories by Panic! At The Disco vibes, and YES it’s about Corpse. YES it sends mixed messages. YES it has greek myth imagery and YES that imagery is confusing. not sure if any of these sets of lyrics actually go after each other but also idk??

will my fall from grace be graceful / as each move i see you make? / propped up on pedestals side by side / beneath our feet they shake / i’m the only one to hear you ask / “What have they done to me?” / My boy, your wax throne is sun-drenched / you’ll fall in the name of your legacy.

eyes like yours watched rome burn / while hands like mine lit the pyre / we both heard me say we’d go down in flames / now you’re turning me into a liar / since you smile like that, like you can’t feel the sting / and we both know i can’t feel the fire

been telling myself i’m designed to hurt / but, baby, aren’t we a sight? /

check your reflection, your angles, apollo / you’re icarus in the right light /

we’re on the edge, i’m not scared to fall / we’ll take refuge in the night /

been telling yourself you’re designed to hurt / but, baby, doesn’t this feel right?

also, albumtouralbumtour is a reference to Bohemian Rhapsody.

OKAY AND FINALLY

n o s t a l g i a - the album the reader’s working on during the fic.

literally as i was writing this, bunnie sent through some FIRE lyrics for how the light gets in, (@bingusmode) i am going to be thinking about these on REPEAT for the next MONTH BRUV

little bit of darkness, treat me like a toy

i got my hopes up and got them destroyed

bitter taste of regret sitting heavy on my tongue

can’t believe i let you convince me that you were the one

sitting here in silence, fabric running thin

petals burning in my lungs and stealing oxygen

embers from a cigarette falling to the floor

god i can’t take anymore

so i stumble to the window and pull the shades

and the moon pours in like you threw a grenade

i can’t understand why

i keep trying

cuz i never seem to win

but having any hope is how the light gets in

from there, moment before impact ft. Billie Eilish is a club anthem along the lines of bad guy or COPYCAT, bass heavy with a drop that’s out of this world.

powdered pain, i’m in your veins / i’m the sting, the drip, the thing / you’re craving, but you hate to see me misbehaving / i heard my breakdown got you high / it’s true, but baby i can’t lie / i never got that rush, that burn / that makes you feel alive, i had to learn / to pick the slippery slope down which i fell / plan my pitstops on the way to hell / to pick my padding before i spiral / so if i break it’ll be in style

watch my misdirect, now freeze, / notice you can’t see the forest for the trees / you’re so desperate for my demise / but baby, i’ll make you watch me rise.

this is the moment before impact

controlled chaos, crash land / take a breath, trust the plan / i know you hope i’m not okay / you get off on my audio misery

controlled chaos, crash land / take a breath, trust the plan / i need you to know i want it this way / my breakdown won me a grammy

and this is the moment before impact

ur my favourite - interlude ft. sykkuno is probably one of my favourites, it’s just really soft, just a snippet of a conversation between the reader and sykkuno, maybe one of them told a joke and they both just sound real happy and sweet. its nice. it’s a nice moment.

means something is also for sykkuno!! it’s about how good-strange it is to be open and honest with friends, and how they usually aren’t but they’re glad they can be open and honest with him!!

meanwhile, i don’t think about u - interlude ft. CORPSE is a phonecall between corpse & the reader right after they announce they’re going to feature on acting like that, where corpse asks if they do this sort of thing to spite him, to which the reader responds ‘do i consider you when i’m making decisions about my career? no, corpse, actually i don’t think about you at all’ which then directly contrasts the song that ends the album, which is (how it feels to be) beautiful fireworks, which is essentially ‘i know how hard it is to exist like this, to be the centre of attention, to give off light and bring people joy, even when you’re in pain. i’m here for you. i love you.’

okay, i swear im done now, i’ll get back to writing the fic! (also i cannot BELIVE i managed to figure out how to embed those playlists but im so happy) edit: it didn’t actually work when i posted the ask, so anyways im sorry but y’all are abt to be spammed with playlists because i care too much abt this fic

#Anonymous #how the light gets in #corpse husband x reader #black cat anon

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bisluthq · 3 years

Note

It’s your kaylor historian here who still can’t remember my log in details to my KH account 🤦‍♀️ (so please make sure this anon just in case it isn’t... I fear them 👀)

Karlie’s tea post before masters heist:

Ok so I can’t remember who posted first and don’t feel like looking, but taylor posted a selfie and captioned it “Friday calmness” and we (kaylor fandom) had been speculating taylor was going to come out as bi on the last day of June / 🌈pride month🌈 since she’d been doing so much stuff that could be seen (and was) as queer coded. We celebrated the “Friday calmness” thinking it was like a ‘calm before the storm’ with the storm being her coming out.

I think Karlie posted after taylor, but am not 100% sure. Karlie posted a selfie with a cup with a caption like “what’s the tea” and the fandom, thinking they were still together, collectively lost our shit. It looked to us like Karlie was playing off Taylor’s post. (I’ll admit, I didn’t think kaylor were still together, but that weekend I was thinking ‘I can’t believe I doubted them!’ Lol)

*there were also rumours that the YNTCD video and single were delayed a couple of times and meant to be released sooner and serve as a soft coming out, but that taylor kept changing her mind about it and is also why she kept the tracklist length under wraps, because she wasn’t sure if she’d go through with it. She was way more vague than ever before. There were also rumours she had a rolling stone cover planned that she was going to come out in but it was scrapped —— I can’t even remember where these “she’s actually coming out” rumours originated anymore and I can’t remember if people had legit sources and gossip or if it was fan fiction planning, but it was mentioned outside the kaylordom too, so take that as you wish.

Then came the masters heist.

Now, to understand the thought process of Kaylors at the time, you have to remember that we thought Karlie & Taylor had a secret romance, Joe was a beard, Josh was a beard - but since he comes from a crime family who have done a lot of bad things (to put it lightly) and are stupidly rich, Josh had Karlie trapped in such a tight contract and has so much blackmail material that Karlie was forced to fake marry him against her will - remember, it was only meant to be a photo shoot for a Vogue wedding spread showing what wedding fashion was available, it wasn’t meant to be a wedding! But josh had his team leak the photos and instead of saying it was all for a photo shoot, Karlie had to say she was now married. <- that was the narrative and thought process within the fandom.

So the fandom thought 🛴 and Josh conspired to announce the purchase of big machine/ taylor’s masters which would derail her coming out plans. The fandom thought Karlie had no idea it was happening. Scooter and Josh were worried Taylor was going to come out, which would ultimately out Karlie since there were so many rumours about Kaylor already, and it would then out Josh and ruin Josh’s image, making it look obvious to everyone that Josh and Karlie were just beards, but kaylor was real. To avoid tarnishing Josh’s hetero card, scooter waited until the end of June to announce he bought taylor’s music for maximum impact.

(Never mind that someone spent $300M to keep a client in the closet) that was how we interpreted the situation (kept writing the fan fiction) and that it was a blow to taylor and a huge betrayal from scooter to Karlie because now they had extra leverage / ways to hurt Karlie.

So yeah. It was a very sad time. This also is why some kaylors think hoax lyrics point to their everlasting love “my best laid plans” = tay ready to come out end of June “your sleight of hand” = scooter tricking Karlie when he bought the masters and any information about taylor that Karlie mentioned innocently was used against them, “my barren land” = taken on a new meaning since Karlie announced her pregnancy, but initially it was seen as the land that was meant to be blooming with love was left barren and empty because of the masters incident delaying her coming out.

It sounds absolutely ludicrous, but the only way to understand how it was easy to rationalise is to understand how adamant the fandom was/ is that Josh and joe are just beards, Karlie is locked in a contract, and taylor is trying to free the both of them. If there were any truth to this at all, it is nothing short of ghastly situation for Karlie and paints taylor as a Nobel warrior trying to save her princess from the tower 🦸🏼‍♀️👸🏼 ....

Karlie had what I think was a scheduled post cause it was ad content , but otherwise was unusually silent on social media for a week + after the announcement. We thought they were grieving together.

——-

Now for Emily Poe. Ok so I really didn’t do my research - I thought Emily was only one or two years older than Taylor, so it never even occurred to me that the idea of that relationship would’ve been extremely predatory and badbadbadbad. I regret not doing my due dillihence when I was part of a fandom that consumed this theory. So Emily theories have been around since Taylor first had gay speculation. Part of this was because of some funny photos like that one where taylor is standing next to a truck that says “...gay Texan” and emily and a guy in the band I can’t think of his name were pointing to taylor and smirking. It’s a funny photo. I can see my dumb teenage self making similar jokes long before I knew my sexuality because LOOOOL GAY was a thing back then. There’s the video taylor made for Emily where she held up the “we love you emily” sign and she went to everyone she toured with including brad paisley to hold up the sign and make heart hands and just be extremely cute - platonic or romantic - both seem plausible - and cute as hell! The video was set to the dashboard confessional song ‘stolen’ which is basically just the lyric “you have stolen my heart” over and over again. This video got renewed interest when people went back and looked back at the you belong with me video. The idea of taylor and her make love interest holding these a4 sheets of paper with “I love you” written on them seemed familiar. The story of how YBWM came about was that Taylor heard her guitarist on the phone with his girlfriend and his gf was yelling at him for something seemingly insignificant/ the gf was painted out as high drama and her guitarist seemed miserable every time he spoke to her for a while. So Taylor had the idea of a song about a girl thinking her friends girlfriend is horrible, but turn it into a love story where the two friends get together - classic romantic comedy trope - she took the idea to Liz Rose and it was one of the last songs written for Fearless and specifically made to be upbeat and preppy because taylor thought the album was lacking that vibe. If you take the story Taylor said inspired the song and swap it from her male guitarist (who she also said she had no feelings for), and change it to her female fiddle player, the story behind the song can be the same, just tweaked to be hetwashed. Emily was a cheerleader and had a boyfriend when she toured with taylor, so it’s easy enough to take those things at surface value and think there was some truth to Emily. Also the two biggest gaylor rumours pre swiftgron came from comments on a gossip site/ forum. One was that ‘Emily was fired after she was caught relieving taylor of stress’ and how ‘emily was interested in law, but this incident cemented she had to leave the band but the swift team gave her money so emily wouldn’t sue for being fired on a sexual harassment issue’ (of course, knowing the age difference, we know this would NOT be the case at all) and it is speculated it inspired taylor to write breathe because she was so sorry for how things ended. They were inseparable and then after her birthday, never seen together or mentioned each other on MySpace again.

The other comment was that taylor ‘was a pillow princess in high school’ and that she was happy to receive but not give because she wanted to maintain her virgin status and thought if she reciprocated it would make her gay — the comment was something like that.

Of course it would’ve been incredibly easy for idk, some random on the internet who has never even met taylor to say those things.... but it was taken as gospel by the gaylor truthers.

People who looked further found a girl they believed was Taylor’s high school gf, her name started with L... but I never really believed it so I don’t have the greatest knowledge of that one. It seemed ridiculous to me she had a 3 year gf as a teenager and not a single person from her high school - or anyone who knew her alleged gf - ever spoke about it publicly??? That would be a lot of NDAs and payouts to keep silent, but a lot of other people believed NDAs and hush money was spent, so yeah... 🤷‍♀️

She also had some fruity MySpace posts which seemed to help the case for gaylor, but imo, it also falls under the ‘teenagers on the internet are dumb especially when social media was brand new and thank god myspace doesn’t exist cause I don’t want to see my old one ever again’ category.

Sorry for the essay, I felt I had been summoned and wanted to give background on the fandom. When I log back in I think I need to change my bio, I’m not really here to talk kaylor , but the fandom. Cause it’s really sad what that narrative within the fandom has become and heartbreaking what that narrative has done to fans, especially queer kids trying to figure themselves out. I couldn’t see how toxic it was for a long time, I’m happy I’m out of there now. but I think it helps to understand how the fandom thought and saw things as to how easy it was for things to spiral to the state it’s in now.

As old T used to sign off, - lovelovelove 💜

Brilliant post thanks KH!

#nat talks the konspiracy

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fayewonglibrary · 3 years

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Wong’s Way (2011)

An anomaly in the cookie-cutter world of Cantopop, FAYE WONG has paradoxically found success by playing against the rules. Prestige Hong Kong follows her down the road less travelled

FIVE YEARS MAY not seem like that long, but it can be a lifetime in an entertainment industry that feeds off the right-here and the right-now. So it came as a surprise when, half a decade ago, Faye Wong decided to step back from the limelight and resume as much of a normal life as might ever be possible for a woman whose music has sold in the millions and who has combined that side of her existence with an acclaimed acting career.

From an existence playing before tens of thousands, what the Beijing-born Wong longed for at that point in time was a life tucked away in the peace and tranquillity of home – and after almost 20 years in the spotlight, and with her every move followed by a fan base that can be tallied in the millions, who could really blame her?

But as an artist who in an age of corporate conformity flatly refuses to play to any predetermined stereotype, Wong has always preferred to play by her own rules. It may come as a surprise, then, to find out that Faye Wong was not always “Faye” – diehard fans will remember a period in which the artist was known as Shirley Wong Ching-man, an affectation suggested by her record company early in her career, because of the stigma associated with the hip factor (or lack thereof) of mainland Chinese artists and names.

Even Wong’s early hits weren’t what you would call “original” – her first few albums were filled with formulaic Cantopop: collections of saccharine, predictable tunes that failed to properly utilise her delicate, lilting soprano. When she broke out of that shell in 1992, after a short travel hiatus, she finally found success, initially with a cover of a Japanese chart-topper in Cantonese, “Fragile Woman.”

Despite her disinclination to be impacted by her local contemporaries, Wong was not without her influences. She covered songs by The Cranberries, took quirky style cues from Björk and collaborated with the Cocteau Twins. The further she strayed from Cantopop, the more fame she found, penning her own songs and admittedly self-indulgent lyrics. She rapped on “No Exit,” yodelled through “Di-Dar” and even won the hearts of nerds by wailing the English-language title track to the hit video-game Final Fantasy VIII, “Eyes On Me.”

Even when her albums weren’t critical or commercial successes, her fame continued to grow, exponentially and uncontrollably. Her handful of acting roles, including in Chungking Express and 2046, showcased a curious, simultaneous aloofness and magnetism, an infectious, ravishing oddness.

In 2005, two months before she married actor Li Yapeng, she announced that she would take a break from show business. And so for five years there have been sightings, the occasional public appearance and the work for her own charity, but otherwise it’s pretty much been silence from Wong, as her fans – and the world at large – waited.

With that in mind, we should not have been surprised at the reaction to the news that Wong would finally be reemerging, to stage comeback concerts that started in Beijing last October, then took in Shanghai and Taipei before coming to Hong Kong, the place where Wong’s career was launched, for a series of shows in March. Tickets – for all nights, at all venues – sold out in a matter of days and the critical response has been overwhelming.

The headlines said it all: “The Diva is Back.”

What the Wong faithful have found is that their idol has lost none of the passion for the music that forms, as she puts it herself, part of her fate. They’ve been treated to nights filled with the songs that have formed the soundtrack for the lives of a generation here in Hong Kong – and beyond.

When Prestige Hong Kong found the interview-shy 40-year-old, she was in between shows and letting that fate take its course. What Wong wants the world to know is that throughout her storied career there has, she says, never been any real plan. She’s simply a woman who lets the cards fall as they may.

Can you talk a little about your return to the stage and playing live? What brought about the decision to play your recent concerts? I consider this a natural move for me. I’ve been doing several commercials as well as releasing some new singles over the past few years. So this was a natural progression back to live performances. It’s all part of my career.

How did you go about deciding what form the concerts would take and the songs you played? There’s no special form or arrangement that’s deliberately conceived for my concert. I believe my singing is the main source of interaction between the audience and me. Every show is unique and my mood is different, depending on the atmosphere. It’s not my practice to talk much with people or have any planned speech in my concert, because I don’t want the conversation to ruin the whole integrity and mood of the arrangement of the concert. I hope my audiences can indulge themselves with my music, while also digesting the message my show is delivering.

After the recent concerts in Shanghai and Beijing, what’s your feeling about coming back on stage? It feels so good to see all my fans again.

Do you have any plans to work on a new album? If so, will you be writing songs yourself? There’s no plan to work on a whole new album. But there is a possibility to release singles, and maybe I’ll write some songs myself.

How different to you is the experience of playing live now as compared to when your career began? What have you learned and how much has the experience for you changed over the years? I’ve been working with different sets of crews, composers, producers etc since the beginning of my career. Each of these collaborations has opened up a whole new experience and been an amazing inspiration for me. Call it a fireworks feeling.

What was it that initially drew you to the music business? What was it that you found most exciting? I believe singing is my destiny, and it’s fate that this became my career. I find it gratifying that I’m able to touch people’s lives with my songs. It’s a form of good karma.

Have your musical tastes changed or evolved as you matured as a person and as an actress? I admire different types of music and things depending on the different stages of my life.

Did becoming a mother change how you approached both your singing and your career? There was no change. I still sing with the same commitment and feeling, and it’s the same with my career.

And how much, do you think, did this change you as a person? The process of raising a child is part of my evolution as a human being. If you’re not a parent or don’t fully involve yourself as a parent, you’ll never realise this traditional, fulfilling role of parenthood. As a parent, it’s natural to want to show your best side and provide the best example to your child. However, sometimes it’s hard to break habits that may surface from time to time. It’s a painful cycle, because even though you realise your own faults, to change yourself completely requires a lot of courage and determination.

We’re curious about a typical day for Faye Wong. What’s your routine when you’re not performing? What time do you go to bed, what’s your favourite meal and what activities do you share with your kids? Basically, I go to bed and wake up the same time as my kids do. I got used to enjoying the regular pattern of a healthy lifestyle, but that won’t happen coming back to work.

Frankly, there’s so much to do when you take charge of a whole household. My life in the past few years was completely occupied by family and there was no time for me ever to feel bored. Sometimes I feel that I was even busier than when I was working as a singer.

Do you think your children share the same character as you? When I look at my kids, it’s like looking into a mirror and seeing the deepest side of myself.

What are the things that make you most happy now, compared with when you were younger? What do you now cherish most? I cherish everyone and everything. I’m fortunate to appreciate what I have and the people I know.

How do you see your image now? Are you an artist who is careful to control her image, or is it more a case of come what may? The most effortless style suits me best. I aim to be the most natural, honest in my approach. I want it to be pure, not something that seems too contrived or created just to fit the latest trend.

What are you most passionate about? To find the real meaning of life, and share it with lots of people.

What about acting? Is this something you’re keen to pick up again as well? If so, what kinds of films and roles might interest you? Right now, I have no plans on filming.

What are the challenges you see ahead in the next few years? What can your audience expect? My life has no planning, and I’m not a person who conceives everything in advance. It always depends on what’s being offered and what I feel like doing at that moment. There’s no pressure on myself – I leave everything to chance and fate.

The Smile Angel Foundation was founded in Beijing in 2006 by you and your husband, Li Yapeng, after your own child was afflicted with a cleft lip. It’s helped a lot of other children suffering from cleft lips and palates. Has the foundation changed your life or your character in any way? My contribution to Smile Angel Foundation is not as much as my husband’s involvement. He’s very busy working on plans to support the foundation. For me, basically, I’ll attend annual charity events and activities to lend my support.

On this project, we started everything from scratch and are very gratified to see how much it has accomplished. My husband is definitely the driving force behind the foundation, and I really admire his passion, courage and capability.

At your current stage, do you think you have evolved in your perspective of things compared with when you were younger? Can you share your road of growth a little bit? I was a bit stubborn, objective and capricious when I was younger. I’m now more willing to be open-minded and flexible, and always try to remind myself about this. It’s quite difficult to stop old habits surfacing from time to time. But I’m trying hard to accomplish it.

Do you have any advice on how to maintain a woman’s beauty and charm after the age of 30? First of all, you have to accept your age. I believe everyone has their own unique way to create their own charm and maintain their beauty, which is sometimes a very personal approach. One should find one’s own best way; there really is no standard formula for everyone to maintain their beauty. I believe the most natural side of a person is the most beautiful.

You’re acclaimed as a pioneer of alternative music. Does that mean you won’t compromise with the commercial market? I never define my music as “mainstream” or “edgy” or “alternative.” I just do what I like.

Photography / Shameless Eye Production AG Styling / Titi Kwan Hair / Alain Pichon Make-up / Zing Wardrobe / Céline Spring 2011 collection

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SOURCE: PRESTIGE HONG KONG

#2011

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musicrunsthroughmysoul · 3 years

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Tag games

Okay, so I was tagged in two tag games by @reignoerme, so I will do them in one post for sake of ease and put them below a read-more. Thank you for tagging me in these! They look fun, and I don’t think I’ve done either of them before, so here we go. :D

List 5 albums I can’t live without. 💓

1. Damn the Torpedoes by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers This should surprise no one. This album, from start to finish, is literal magic. And I don’t mean the way it makes me feel (although listening to it on vinyl is such a JOYOUS experience that there are times I just LAUGH to express my awe over how talented these five musicians are and what they collectively arranged in the form of this album), but whatever they all did - HOWEVER they did it - to create this album’s existence is nothing short of magic. And god dammit, everyone needs some magic in their lives, even if it’s auditorily experienced.

2. True Colors by Cyndi Lauper Even though I wouldn’t defend that every single track on this album is “enduring” art (whatever that means!), this IS my favorite Cyndi Lauper album and I happen to love every single song on it, anyway. LOL And since the prompt is “albums that I can’t live without,” I have to include it because I literally would not be able to live without the song “Calm Inside the Storm” - it’s the first song on my anti-depression playlist, and I play it often when I’m feeling awful to some degree, and it cheers me up at least a little bit. This album is wonderfully varied, nonetheless.

3. Break Out by The Pointer Sisters Is there a better pop album (including dance, R&B, rock, and soul) than this, especially from the ‘80s?! At least to me: BASICALLY NO! This is one of my favorite feel-good albums that makes me happy and inspires me to dance (and definitely to sing along). Isn’t that what music is supposed to do, essentially? This album serves its purpose...but, in my opinion, IN a lasting way. (Yeah, unlike True Colors, LOL, sorry. I do love Cyndi and the impact her music had, but The Pointer Sisters’ impact has been much longer lasting, I feel. I adore them.)

4. Blueprint by Alice Bag The main point, actually, is that I simply could not live without Alice Bag’s music. I wasn’t sure if I’d mention this one, or Sister Dynamite (what got me through 2020), or even her debut solo album, but ultimately I’d choose Blueprint because “Se Cree Joven” is also on my anti-depression playlist. There’s probably some symbolism present for me to specifically choose Blueprint, as well...but I’m not sure what it is at the moment. Anyway, I love Alice Bag’s music and I also love her for nurturing my love of punk rock. (Not personally, obviously! Just incidentally. She makes me feel like it’s acceptable for me to like the genre even though it doesn’t match my personality or ‘image.’)

5. The Woods by Sleater-Kinney Because sometimes you don’t need to feel like ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so grateful to be alive...’ Sometimes you’re fucking angry, or angsty, and you need music that matches your mood - that you can scream AND dance along to. There’s a few other artists/bands I have in mind who also fit that ideal, but for now, Sleater-Kinney win. And to think I only finally gave their music a chance three years ago, and I still listen to them weekly AND I’ve seen them live. No, I simply could not live without this album or S-K in general.

And then to answer these prompts!

favorite song at the moment: ”Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty (sorry, but my favorite song never changes - which is why it’s my favorite - and being asked what my favorite song is “at the moment” is too overwhelming otherwise, LOL)

song you associate with your favorite ship: “Never Say Never” by Romeo Void (I have, like, several favorite ships across various fandoms? So I just chose my most recent favorite and also the one I am currently writing for, heheheh)

song that could be about you: “Rock a Little (Go Ahead Lily)” by Stevie Nicks

song that reminds you of a good memory: “The Cloud” by Thunderpussy

song you find overrated: “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty lmao this is why I hate when people associate me with this song, however well-intentioned they may be. Just because my name is a flower and TPATH are my favorite band doesn’t mean I want to be associated with a basic song like this one! PLEASE NO. :(

song you want your mutuals to listen to: “Daughter” covered by Nancy Wilson :’)

song that makes you laugh: “Cripple Creek” by Buffy Sainte-Marie (only because I try to sing along with her every time and get tripped up EVERY TIME by actually singing the title, “cripple creek” - my mouth always acts like ‘TOO MANY ALLITERATION TOO FAST, CANNOT COMPUTE’ and it makes me laugh!)

last song you listened to: “You Don’t Know How It Feels” by Tom Petty I actually have not listened to this song in well over a year, haha

I will tag for either of these prompts - or both, if you’d like! (although please don’t feel obligated to!): @aredhel-of-doylkien, @astarkey, @countrymusicandcher, @astoppedclock, @ina-gartens-weave, @buddyhollyscurls, @betweentimeand42, @happytimetravelmilkshake, @plenilunada

#tagged #about me #I know I've recently gained new followers/mutuals and stuff but I'M TOO SHY SO I JUST TAG THE SAME/USUAL FOLKS I'M SORRY #P.S. @ the folks I tagged: please feel free to let me know if you don't like being tagged in tag games and the like anymore and I'll stop ❤

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cadecaptain · 3 years

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The Post Everyone Has Been Waiting For: Cade’s Top 10 Albums of All Time

Honorable Mentions:

The Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique (1989)

A few years ago this album would have definitely cracked my top 10, and it is still so solid. The production on this thing is out of this world, and if you ever have a day to kill, listening to this Spotify playlist that has all of the samples Paul’s Boutique holds is an adventure, and truly shows what a labor of love this album is.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59FdNgdN0lHFNdr3ZsTTPa

Best Song: High Plains Drifter

The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St. (1972)

As a general rule of thumb, I don’t like long albums. Blame it on my short attention span, but it is hard for me to believe any album over 11-12 songs couldn’t have anything cut. This album is one I can easily have on repeat, despite its 18 song tracklist. Truly the best of the Stones.

Best Song: Tumbling Dice

10. The Black Crowes The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion (1992)

Bringing 70′s rock back to the 90′s, this is one of the first albums I remember loving as a kid. It is the epitome of Dad Rock, and each song has the entire band firing on all cylinders. Chris Robinson’s vocals on each and every track gives me chills, as he wears his heart on his sleeve with an emotional and powerful delivery with each lyric. Every time I listen to this record I come away with a new favorite track.

Best Song: Thorn in My Pride

9. Only Real Jerk at the End of the Line (2015)

Every time I tell someone about this album I always say “This is what Ed Sheeran would sound like if he was actually good”. He has the British, fast speaking, break-up sound down to a science, with each track feeling like it was meticulously crafted both lyrically and production-wise. This album had such an impact on me in high school that it is hard not to have it higher. If Only Real dropped a new album, y’all wouldn’t hear from me for a few days.

Best Song: Cadillac Girl

8. Alvvays Self Titled (2014)

So up until about a year and a half ago, I swore up and down that the newest Alvvays record, Antisocialities, was better than this one, their first, self-titled LP. I have been fully converted by my girlfriend (@peppermoths) that this is the superior album. This album feels like a gloomy summer night in the best way possible, and has a diverse tracklist of songs that make me feel sad, happy, and like riding a bike.

Best Song: Next of Kin

7. Billy Idol Rebel Yell (1983)

This is the album I have based my personality on this summer. This, to me, is the quintessential album of the 80′s, with every track feeling like it could be playing in the background of The Lost Boys. I love everything about it. Every time I listen to this album, I realize how similar it is to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance both in length and general 80′s feel.

Best Song: Eyes Without a Face

6. Camp Lo Uptown Saturday Night (1997)

It is impossible to not have fun listening to this record. One of (if not THE) most slept on 90′s hip-hop albums. It is a shame there aren’t more 90′s Camp Lo projects, but at the same time, this album is so flawless to me that I would be worried it would make their image less cool. USN has every kind of song you need off a 90′s album, and it always makes me want to boogie.

Best Song: Tied: Sparkle & Killin’ Em Softly

5. Parliament Mothership Connection (1975)

What is there to say about any George Clinton project that doesn’t include: AHEAD OF ITS TIME. Mothership Connection is the epitome of this. I have always claimed that this is the album that got me out of my emo music phase, as my cousin played it for me once and I fell in love and ditched Fall Out Boy. This album is short but it doesn’t feel like it, and every song will make you get up out of your chair. (Also, if this was a list of best album covers of all time, this would probably be #1).

Best Song: Handcuffs

4. David Bowie Young Americans (1975)

I’ll die on the hill that this is objectively the best Bowie project. This album is stacked without a single skip, and is the perfect length at a meaty 8 songs. From beginning to end, Bowie is able to construct an album that is as diverse as it can get while still feeling the most consistent out of any of his albums. You can tell that Young Americans had a lot of work put into it, and it paid off.

Best Song: Right

3. Grapetooth Self Titled (2018)

Do you ever hear a song and think...wow...I wish I had wrote that? That’s how I feel with every track on the Grapetooth self titled. If you are a Twin Peaks fan, you should hear a familiar voice gracing the tracklist, and the iconic sound of Clay Frankel’s voice is put on full display on an album straight out of 1985. There isn’t a song on this LP that ever stops growing on you.

Best Song: Tied: Violent & Hangover Sq.

2. Bruce Springsteen The Wild, The Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle (1973)

This is an album that requires about 10-20 listens to fully appreciate. The tracklist is short, at only 7 songs, but the average length of a song on Springsteen’s sophomore LP is around 6-7 minutes, so it is still about a 50 minute listen. I heard in a Bruce documentary that this album was considered a flop because of this exact reason; they couldn’t play these weird, long songs on the radio. However, I genuinely think this is Bruce at his finest, spinning a complex lyrical web that makes you feel like you are 17 and on the boardwalk. This was the album right before Born to Run, so it is often overshadowed, but don’t tell me listening to Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) doesn’t make you want to speed down the highway. Also, Bruce looks very sexy on the cover.

Best Song: Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

1. The Sundays Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic (1990)

I don’t even know how to do this album justice with words. I have never found an album with as much lyrical depth, ear-worm, jangly, timeless instrumentals, and repeat value as this one. Everything that this album is is sold by lead singer Harriet Wheeler leaving nothing to be desired with a perfect vocal performance on every single track. I could listen to this album for a week straight and never get tired of it. I have pretty much done that all summer, and I’m still not sick of it. Please go listen to this album if you haven’t yet.

Best Song: I could not choose one if I tried. Literally all of them.

#alvvays #beastie boys #the black crowes #david bowie #camp lo #grapetooth #billy idol #only real #parliament #the rolling stones #bruce springsteen #the sundays

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path-of-my-childhood · 5 years

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Taylor Swift Opens Up About Overcoming Struggle With Eating Disorder

By: Chris Willman for Variety Date: January 23rd 2020

Taylor Swift tells Variety more about "how unhealthy that's been for me - my relationship with food," a subject boldly broached in her Sundance documentary, "Miss Americana."

In the new Taylor Swift documentary, “Miss Americana,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival Thursday night, there’s a montage of derogatory commentary about the singer that has appeared on cable shows over the years. One of the less nasty remarks: “She’s too skinny. It bothers me.”

As it turns out, it eventually bothered Swift, too.

In one of the most revealing and surprising segments of the Netflix film, Swift talks for several minutes about having struggled in the past with an eating disorder.

After being pictured facing a phalanx of photographers after she emerges from her front door, Swift is heard in voiceover saying that “it’s not good for me to see pictures of myself every day.” Although she says “it’s only happened a few times, and I’m not in any way proud of it,” Swift admits there have been times in the past when she’s seen “a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or... someone said that I looked pregnant... and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit - just stop eating.”

Swift elaborated on what she’s gone through with that in her interview with Variety for this week’s cover story, saying that it was difficult for her to speak up about it for the documentary.

“I didn’t know if I was going to feel comfortable with talking about body image and talking about the stuff I’ve gone through in terms of how unhealthy that’s been for me - my relationship with food and all that over the years,” she tells Variety. “But the way that Lana (Wilson, the film’s director) tells the story, it really makes sense. I’m not as articulate as I should be about this topic because there are so many people who could talk about it in a better way. But all I know is my own experience. And my relationship with food was exactly the same psychology that I applied to everything else in my life: If I was given a pat on the head, I registered that as good. If I was given a punishment, I registered that as bad.”

In the quiet of a hotel suite, she goes into greater detail on how formative an effect that one early tabloid torpedo had on her. “I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine,” she says. “And the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment. And then I’d walk into a photo shoot and be in the dressing room and somebody who worked at a magazine would say, ‘Oh, wow, this is so amazing that you can fit into the sample sizes. Usually we have to make alterations to the dresses, but we can take them right off the runway and put them on you!’ And I looked at that as a pat on the head. You register that enough times, and you just start to accommodate everything towards praise and punishment, including your own body.”

She hesitates. “I think I’ve never really wanted to talk about that before, and I’m pretty uncomfortable talking about it now,” she says quietly. “But in the context of every other thing that I was doing or not doing in my life, I think it makes sense” to have it in the film, she says.

Wilson, the director, is proud of Swift for taking up the subject with such candor. “That’s one of my favorite sequences of the film,” she says. “I was surprised, of course. But I love how she’s kind of thinking out loud about it. And every woman will see themselves in that sequence. I just have no doubt.”

The filmmaker points out that there were clearly plenty of people who didn’t think Swift was too thin back in the mid-2010s. “You can also just not notice people being really skinny, because we’re all so accustomed to seeing women on magazine covers who are unhealthy-skinny, and that’s become normalized.” Even with non-celebrities, Wilson says, everybody’s a body critic. “It’s incessant, and I can say this as a woman: It’s amazing to me how people are constantly like ‘You look skinny’ or ‘You’ve gained weight.’ People you barely know say this to you. And it feels awful, and you can’t win either way. So I think it’s really brave to see someone who is a role model for so many girls and women be really honest about that. I think it will have a huge impact.”

As much as Swift may be seen as a role model for speaking frankly on the subject, she’s got her own favorite artist, so to speak, when it comes to advocacy for women’s bodily self-image issues.

“I love people like (actress and activist) Jameela Jamil, because she says things in a really articulate way,” the singer tells us. “The way she speaks about body image, it’s almost like she speaks in a hook. If you read her quotes about women and body image and aging and the way that women are treated in our industry and portrayed in the media, I swear the way she speaks is like lyrics, and it gets stuck in my head and it calms me down. Because women are held to such a ridiculous standard of beauty. We’re seeing so much on social media that makes us feel like we are less than, or we’re not what we should be, that you kind of need a mantra to repeat in your head when you start to have harmful or unhealthy thoughts. So she’s one of the people who, when I read what she says, it sticks with me and it helps me.”

In the film, then-and-now photos illustrate just how thin Swift had gotten during the “1989” era, versus the still svelte but healthier look she sported by the time she toured behind the “Reputation” album in 2018. Swift says that her under-eating in that earlier time severely affected her stamina on tour.

“I thought that I was supposed to feel like I was going to pass out at the end of a show, or in the middle of it,” she attests in the documentary. “Now I realize, no, if you eat food, have energy, get stronger, you can do all these shows and not feel (enervated).” Swift says she doesn’t care so much now if someone comments on a weight gain, and she’s reconciled “the fact that I’m a size 6 instead of a size double-zero.” Swift says she was completely unaware that anything was wrong in her double-zero era, and had a defense at the ready should it come up. If anyone expressed concern, she’d say, “‘What are you talking about? Of course I eat... I exercise a lot.’ And I did exercise a lot. But I wasn’t eating.”

Few women viewing the film will fail to nod their heads as Swift describes the impossibility of any body shape or size living up to all the standards for beauty. “If you’re thin enough, then you don’t have that ass that everybody wants,” she says in the film. “But if you have enough weight on you to have an ass, your stomach isn’t flat enough. It’s all just f—ing impossible.” As she became aware of the problem, Swift says in the film, it would cause her to “go into a real shame/hate spiral.”

The word “shame” comes up elsewhere in conversation with Swift, who by virtue of becoming one of the most celebrated women in the world has also had to deal with more catty comments than almost any celebrity in the world - and hasn’t always succeeded in shaking it all off.

“I was watching a Netflix Brené Brown special on shame, because I read a lot of her books, because I have dealings with shame every once in awhile,” Swift tells Variety. “She was saying something like, ‘It’s ridiculous to say “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me,” because that’s not possible. But you can decide whose opinions matter more and whose opinions you put more weight on.’ And I think that is really part of growing up, if you’re going to do it right. That’s part of hoping to find some sort of maturity and balance in your life.”

She continues, “I don’t expect anyone with a pop career to learn how to do that within the first 10 years. And I know that there’s a lot of bad stuff that’s gone on recently, a lot of really hard stuff my family is going through, and a lot of opposition and feeling pressure or suppression of one kind or another. But I am actually really happy. Because I pick and choose now, for the most part, what I care deeply about. And I think that’s made a huge difference.”

*** You can read other parts of Taylor’s interview with Variety here: Taylor Swift: No Longer ‘Polite at All Costs’ and How Midterm Elections Inspired Taylor Swift’s New Song, ‘Only the Young’

#another bonus part #taylor swift #interview #variety #sundance 2020 #Taylor Swift: Miss Americana #lover era #Lana Wilson #body image #tw: ed

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let-me-write-shit · 4 years

Text

Like We Used To: 21

A/N: There are lyrics to 2 songs included in this chapter. I will link the songs in the story, but the names in the first song have been changed to fit the characters of the story.

I’m REALLY excited about this chapter and the ones coming up!

[Click Here For Previous Chapters]

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CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

After reading the article last night about her and Harry’s kiss, Elizabeth had a quick four-way phone call with Jeffrey, Harry, and Lisa who basically told her not to worry about it as there were no more interviews scheduled for Harry until around Christmas time. They could essentially ignore the headline and not have to comment on it, much like they always did whenever he was caught out with someone. But to be on the safe side, they decided that instead of going out to eat with everyone, Harry would just order pizza delivery to eat at the studio.

It almost felt like they were in an exclusive building when they arrived, as it had a gated entrance that needed a code to enter, and Jeffrey had to meet them outside to give them access into the building. That being said, the actual recording room itself was fairly small for the amount of people there. She noticed Harry behind the glass in the recording booth, the sound of his voice echoing over the speakers as they recorded him singing small random phrases, most likely backing vocals. Mitch was the first to notice them as he jumped up from the couch, tossing the pizza aside and awkwardly hugged Elizabeth, a bit nervous in front of Kate, Matt, and Lewis as he wasn’t familiar with them. He was the only one out of the band members there, probably because the others weren’t needed yet.

Elizabeth introduced her old friends to her new when Harry noticed them and smiled, pulling his headphones off and jogging out of the booth. He squeezed his way over, giving each of them a quick hug and introducing them to the producer and sound engineer. The four of them were offered plates of pizza and drinks as Harry was caught up on the happenings of Lewis and Kate’s honeymoon.

Eventually Lewis changed the subject, “So what was it, exactly, that you wanted us to listen to?”

Harry’s lip turned upward into a bashful smirk, “So, I wrote a song inspired by you guys, and I wanted you to hear it. We’re putting it on the album.”

Kate smiled widely, “About us? How exciting! Are you going to sing it?”

Harry shook his head, chuckling a bit, “It’s recorded,” he turned to the sound engineer, “Do you mind playing Old Friends, please?”

The sound engineer nodded and clicked a few buttons on his computer until the soft sounds of a piano and chimes echoed through the speakers. All the guys in the studio bobbed along to the songs, either humming or singing along as Harry’s voice began to sing, his old friends listening intently at the lyrics.

I can still find Lewis’ house

Riding on my bike with eyes closed

I could name every girl that he took out

And from my memory, dial his house phone

Can you take me back when we were just kids

Who weren't scared of getting older? (yeah, yeah)

'Cause no one knows you like they know you

And no one probably ever will

You can grow up, make new ones

But truth is there's nothing like old friends

'Cause you can't make old friends (mm, yeah)

I can still feel the windows down

Listening to Jimmy Eat World

Riding 3-wide on Matt’s bench seat (yeah)

My God, it's been ten years now

I would have his back tomorrow

And he'd still fight anyone who tried to touch me

Can you take me back when we were just kids

Who weren't scared of getting older? (yeah, yeah)

'Cause no one knows you like they know you

And no one probably ever will

You can grow up, make new ones

But truth is there's nothing like old friends

'Cause you can't make old friends

And I've got some good friends now

But I've never seen their parents' back porch

I wouldn't change how things turned out

But there's no one in this time zone

Who knows what inline skates that I wore

Can you take me back when we were just kids

Who weren't scared of getting older?

'Cause no one knows you like they know you

And no one probably ever will

You can grow up, make new ones

But the truth is

That we grow up, then wish we could go back then

There's nothing like old friends

'Cause you can't make old friends

The piano faded out and Elizabeth turned to her friends with tears in her eyes, sure that her heightened emotional state was half-due to the hormones from her period she got that morning, but the song was beautiful and everyone else seemed to agree. Kate’s hand clasped over her mouth, getting emotional too, as Lewis and Matt gave him those weird hug/back smacks that guys did.

“Mate, that was amazing!” Lewis exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

“I can’t believe my name is in a song,” Matt shook his head, “That’s cool as hell!”

Harry looked over at Elizabeth with a smile, seeing a tear roll down her cheek. He went over to her, pulling her into a hug and kissing the top of her head, “Do you like it?” he whispered.

Elizabeth nodded, wiping the tears from her face and sniffling with a little laugh, “Yes, it was perfect.”

“Are we going to play Elizabeth’s song too?” Mitch asked, making Harry snap his head over to him, eyes wide.

“My song?” Elizabeth gasped, looking at Harry and all around the room.

“We can…” the sound guy turned to mess with the keys before Harry cut him off.

“No, it’s not finished yet.”

“I have a song?” Elizabeth asked him again.

“It’s…” Harry stuttered, nervously, “It’s not like a cheesy song, or anything. It’s fun. But it’s not ready yet.”

“You didn’t tell me you wrote a song about me,” she continued as everyone looked between them.

“There’s three songs about you,” Jeffrey smirked, earning a smack from Harry.

Elizabeth’s jaw dropped to the floor, “Three songs, and I haven’t even heard one?”

Harry groaned, throwing himself onto the couch as everyone laughed. Elizabeth decided to drop it, seeing how embarrassed Harry was by it as they decided to play ‘Old Friends’ a few more times. How the hell did he manage to write and record three songs about her in the course of two weeks? He barely had free time.

Elizabeth, Matt, Kate, and Lewis stayed for about two hours before they decided to leave so the rest of them could get back to work. Harry wanted to walk them out, but Jeffrey reminded him that it probably wasn’t the best idea to be seen out together the day after their kiss was publicized.

Instead, Harry walked them towards the front of the building, spinning her around before she went out the door and giving her a kiss. She hesitantly kissed him back before catching up with her friends, spinning around to look at his confused look once more.

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city as her friends gushed over Harry’s song, and contemplated what Elizabeth’s songs could possibly be about. She felt a bit flustered at the idea of someone writing a song about her, let alone three. What could she have possibly inspired to result in three songs? And who cares if they weren’t finished? If he couldn’t play her the songs, why couldn’t he have at least warned her? She felt slightly on edge since people found out who she was. It’s not like her recognition was now impacting her life in a negative way, at least not yet, but the idea that strangers knew who she was was a little unsettling. Luckily, most of Harry’s fans, from the brief investigative works that she and her friends had done last night, seemed to actually like her.

Eventually Matt had dropped her back off at home, and for the first time in practically two weeks she went to sleep in her empty house, on her own bed, alone. On Monday, Elizabeth stopped into her office building, holding a brief meeting with her employers, designating jobs and having video conferences with a few of her clients. She decided to work overtime so that she could free some space up for her visit to her sister later in the week and she didn’t get home until after 8 PM. Harry had tried calling and texting her a few times, and even though she wasn’t mad at him, she spent most of the day being unresponsive, using the time to focus on her work.

Tuesday she decided to work from home, busting through her assignments through Thursday. She was starting to feel bad for being so short in her conversations with Harry through text, knowing he didn’t have much planned for today. She didn’t want him to think that he was ignoring him, but she also wanted time to think. Her mind kept replaying the image of Kendall Jenner asking him ‘Do you really think she’ll be able to deal with your lifestyle? She looks so uncomfortable here’ over and over again. Elizabeth had dinner with Judy that night, who obviously asked about Harry and the trip. She confided in her everything that happened and what she was feeling before Judy laid into her.

“He’s a sexy man who wants nothing else but to be with you. Stop worrying about what any other tart and skank thinks or says about you or any relationship you decide to be in. All that matters is that you’re happy and getting good sex. Otherwise, fuck ‘em!”

As blunt and direct as it was, Judy was right. She didn’t want to sabotage herself anymore. Harry made her happy, and if she had to get out of her comfort zone a bit to feel genuine happiness, then she’d have to deal with that.

It was nearly 9 PM by the time she went back home, pouring herself a glass of wine and throwing herself onto her couch. She contemplated calling Harry, but realized he hadn’t messaged her in a few hours and decided he was probably asleep now, turning the television on instead. Just as it flicked on, her phone rang.

She never answered the phone so fast in her life, “Harry?”

“Hey, are you home?”

“Yeah, I just got in from Judy’s. Listen, I….”

“Ok, I’m down the street. Can I come in?”

Elizabeth muttered a ‘sure’, before hanging up and standing, straightening her hair and clothes out. She stepped onto the front porch and waited, seeing the headlights of Harry’s car rounding the street. He parked and jumped out, walking up the steps. The expression on his face seemed a bit troubled as she led him inside.

“Wine?” she offered, earning a nod from him as he took a seat on the couch.

She poured him a glass and joined him, sitting cross legged on the couch beside him. They both took a sip and awkwardly sat in silence before both of them started talking at the same time.

Elizabeth looked at him through her eyelashes, “I’m sorry,” she breathed, “I honestly wasn’t trying to ignore you.”

“Are you mad at me or something?” He asked.

“No, I was just...processing.”

“Processing what?” He asked, you could hear the hurt in his voice, “If you want to be with me or not?”

Elizabeth spoke more directly, “Harry, I’ve wanted to be with you since I was fourteen years old. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I’ve been through a lot. I was hurt. I was cheated on. And suddenly you come back into my life, treating me better than anyone I’ve ever been with. You’re everything I could have asked for, but this is all new territory for me. I’ve never been in any sort of spotlight before and the last thing I want is to fuck things up. I’m just worried that I just can’t be enough for you.”

Harry listened to her, shaking her head lightly as she spoke, “Lizzy, I’ve waited almost half of my life to be with you, and so far I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever felt. All I want is you. I don’t care about any of the baggage. I’m not scared about the press, or whatever headline comes out. All I care about is that I have you with me. We can worry about the rest later. Right now, I’m all in.”

Elizabeth nodded, starting to get emotional listening to him speak, “Okay,” she exhaled, wiping a tear that fell down her cheek, “Let’s do this.”

“Yeah?” He asked, taking a deep breath in and straightening up, “You’ll be my girlfriend?”

She laughed, sniffling, “Yeah, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

He beamed, lunging forward to smash his lips down on hers. She laughed into it, grabbing onto his face to deepen it. When he pulled away, his smile didn’t falter, “Finally.”

She gulped down the rest of her wine before saying, “It only took about twelve years.”

He looked at her for a moment before his smile started to fade and his expression grew more thoughtful, “Do you want to hear one of the songs I wrote about you?” he asked.

Her eyes widened, stuttering a ‘yes’. He excused himself to grab a guitar out of his car and came bustling back in, sitting next to her to tune the strings. Both of them obviously feeling slightly nervous.

“So, I wrote this song on the second day at the manor house, right after we took the inner tubes on the lake,” he explained. “We sat there talking just the two of us, and yeah, I wrote this song right after dinner, before we played Spill It. It’s called ‘There’s No Way’.”

He started strumming the guitar before his soft voice started singing.

You touch me and it's almost like we knew

That there will be history between us two

We knew someday that we would have regrets

But we just ignored them the night we met

We just dance backwards into each other

Trying to keep our feelings secretly covered

You touch me and it's almost like we knew

That there will be history

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

There's no way that it's not going there

Every second with you I want another

But maybe we can hold off one sec

So we can keep this tension in check

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

I wish I could make the time stop

So we could forget everything and everyone

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in to what we want

'Cause when I got somebody, you don't

And when you got somebody, I don't

I wish that the time would line up

So we could just give in

There's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

There's no way that it's not going there

Every second with you I want another

But maybe we can hold off one sec

So we can keep this tension in check

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

We just dance backwards into each other

Trying to keep our feelings secretly covered

We just dance backwards into each other

Trying to keep our feelings secretly covered

You touched me and it's almost like we knew

That there would be history

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

There's no way that it's not going there

Every second with you I want another

But maybe we can hold off one sec

So we can keep this tension in check

But there's no way that it's not going there

With the way that we're looking at each other

Elizabeth’s eyes were full of tears, a smile plastered on her face. She didn’t need to say anything, Harry knew how she felt about it. He put the guitar aside and pulled her closer to him, adjusting her so that she rested her head in between his shoulder and chest, arms wrapped around her. They sat in a comfortable silence before Harry spoke up, sounding faintly apprehensive.

“So, I had a meeting with Jeffrey and Lisa today….” he started. Elizabeth mhmmed as he continued, “You know how I have that Fashion Show in LA coming up?” She muttered another mhmmm before he carried on, “How would you feel about being my date to it?”

Elizabeth shot up, “Would that not make it obvious that we’re dating?”

“Exactly,” Harry nodded, “It’ll be our first official outing as a couple.”

“Harry….” she said uncertainly, looking him in the eyes.

He grabbed her hands, “Listen, I know you’re scared, but I’ve never made any official public appearance with anyone I’ve dated before. That’s how serious I am about us. I want to do this. Together. And we have my team’s support. I just want to show you off and let everyone know you’re mine.”

She took a deep breath, a large part of her wanting to say no. But she couldn’t help to notice the passion in his eyes. He really wanted this. Against her inclinations, she nodded, urging her nerves away. This would be her first move in stepping out of her comfort zone. He explained to her that they would set up a time for his stylists to come over and size her for an outfit to wear to the event at some point this week before settling down and putting a movie on.

“Will you be spending the night?” she whispered, halfway into the movie.

“If that’s okay.”

“That’s fine, but I’m going to my sister’s tomorrow to visit. We’re going to a pumpkin patch. You can come if you want, I’m sure she’d love to see you.”

Harry grinned, tightening his hold on her, “I’d love to.”

KEEP READING

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