#now that its done the last month and a half lowkey feels like a fever dream. the total count of hours i was literally sitting and writing i

[hidey-writes]

Day After Day | 日复一日

25k | T | Weilan | Case Fic, Undercover Married, Grief

Shen Wei swallows. “And this is why you asked me to—” he makes a vague gesture that means go undercover as your husband “—pretend with you.” Zhao Yunlan comes to a stop, eyes on Shen Wei. “That’s why the cover is a married couple. The reason I’m asking you is because there are no other options for people to go undercover with.” Shen Wei scoffs to give himself an excuse to look away. “You certainly know how to flatter someone, Zhao Yunlan.” Or: Four Haixingren disappear for two months after a stay at a romantic mountain retreat. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan book a weekend there to find out what happened.

it's finally here!!! my beloved fic for the 520 day guardian reverse exchange! this was written for trobadora, who gave me the most delicious set of ideas to fit into a story. it was so fun.

i have no idea how to describe this fic, frankly - this is, hands down, the most complex and most heartwrenching and most incredible thing i've ever written in my entire life.

here is a list of some things in it: a kiss, a mystery, a change of heart. old chinese people, dark energy world-building, lesbians, big-time character parallels, forgery of documents, rainstorms, rowboats, lollipop symbolism, [redacted], bedsharing, grading, the stupidest undercover name ever. zhao yunlan described with so many light metaphors. shen wei being the most shen wei i could make him.

read Day After Day | 日复一日 on ao3 here!

[shesawriter39049]

|FEVER| M|

Pairing: Namjoon X Reader

About- Namjoon just has a kink for letting you do whatever the hell you want with him...Whether that be putting him in a hot pink suit shirtless! Or, telling him he’s a good boy as he fucks you into oblivion!

OR- Namjoon and yourself hooked up 5 months ago when the boys were in London on Tour, and you were the creative director for there British GQ & Harper’s Bazzar Cover! Now, months later he’s prepping to release his second mixtape “RM vs Rap Monster”. Opting to go a complete 360 from his first release Mono in all realms. So, with that being said BigHit thinks he needs someone with a little more... “umph” Take a wild guess as to who they call...

WC:1.2k (Sneak peek)

WARNINGS: Switch OC (Top & Bottom...but there's no real dom/sub tones here) Service top/power bottom Namjoon, praise kink, Fingering, Unprotected sex(Back shot), come play, dirty talk, light choking, light overstimulation, (This is lowkey a little softer than it sounds) The OC kinda leads this, but Joon isin’t the cliché “sub” he just likes letting her take control.

NOTE- Just my take on the OG cliché Artist X Stylist AU (Though she’s more of a full package, Art Director/Stylist/Photographer ETC) I have tried to add some minor elements to make it a little more realistic. I will say I typically stray from “Idol-verse” just because if we’re being real, the cultural difference alone sometimes stunts my creativity...BUT I just had a little fun with this one...so I hope you all enjoy it. Also, I don’t go into much physical details but in my mind regardless of race, aesthetic wise the OC is a huge contrast to what he’s use to which is part of her appeal. I picture a tatted Barbie of some sorts...

SIDE NOTE: No shade, but shade, I was lowkey inspired to write this bc I have very strong opinions about the creative team at BH....

*** Let me know if you guys want the full thing or not...I kidna flaked on posting because it is such a cliché lol

SONG- FEVER DUA LIPA  FT ANGELE

~~~~~~~

“Well, it’s a yes for me” Eyeing him in this Hot pink-fitted Burliti suit, which you paired with a very sheer black Arnar Mar turtle neck. The minute you saw the piece on the runway you’d been dying to get it on someone with melanated skin, and it just so happens, the boys are fresh off the US leg of their stadium tour! So, lucky for you, baby boy’s been in the sun a lot, and Namjoon’s currently a sinful shade of brown and you're totally here for it…

Then to top it off, the mesh material of the turtle neck creates the perfect silhouette around his offensively toned chest, outlining the muscles sinfully. Eternally snorting at the way the fans are gonna thank and curse you out all at the same damn time once they see the looks you’ve pulled for this man!

And yes, you had your crew bring extended shades of foundation and concealer, because his face and neck will match if your name is going to be attached to these damn photos! 

Head tilted to the side as you silently observe the way he rakes over his reflection in the mirror, it’s a sixth sense you’ve acquired as a stylist at this point. Half of your job is essentially being a hype man/self love coach, real shit, a lot of these artist aren't always as...confident as one may think!

And just like clockwork Namjoon runs his palm down his thighs, smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on his pants for the umpteenth time in the span of oh I don’t know 30 seconds? Which in turn prompts you to say….

“You look good Joonie...” Musing over your second glass of Don, the compliment was genuine, tone warm, soothing even, not a hint flirtation insight because that wasn’t your motive. You weren’t trying to get him flustered you’re just trying to gas him up a little, you wanted to see Namjoon get alittle cocky and feel himself!

Ears perking up like an overgrown puppy, head whipping in your direction “Yeah?” The way this man’s eyes just lit up like the soul skyline. I just-goddamn, an almost bashful smile toys on those plush lips of his, and you can’t help the way your chest flutters with nothing but fondness.

“So fuckin cute” Flutters off your lips, as you hide a smile of your own behind a half empty whine glass. The delivery was so faint it almost go lost in the background music floating through the air. However the slight flush hitting his cheeks let you know Namjoon heard you whether he wanted to admit it or not!

”Mmmhmm, the color looks fuckin insane against your skin, not to mention, the way everything's going to pop once we tone your hair a little! “ Eyes drinking him in from head to toe, though there was nothing suggestive playing within your iris. Very much aware of time and place and right now your genuinely looking respectfully! Seeing if any alterations are needed, making sure you like where everything sits along his frame. Making notes in your phone of places you want to pin and adjust later...snapping a couple shots here and there. 

Licking his lips anxiously as he plays with the lapels on the blazer “But like-I mean-I- dont’-It doesn’t look like I’m... trying too hard or anything?” Brows furrowed in the center of his face, jaw tight, wincing slightly at his own words, almost as if he was afraid of your response. The vulnerability within his delivery was more than evident, and no matter how common this is with artist, it’s still just as devastating! Regardless of how much he tried to play it off as if he was just making casual conversation, you can see how blatantly uncomfortable he is . Gazing back at you wide eyed, and uncannily exposed, pointing at the outfit in question. Licking his lips anxiously as he plays with the the blazer, switching posses subtlety trying to get a better feel for the suit.  

You stayed silent for a minute, taking the time to actually process before speaking which is rare, not gonna lie. Gaze piercing as you hop off the bed, wine, and accessories in hand, swaying closer. “It’s fashion”. The baited pause almost implied that’s all you had to say, as if one-word was self-sufficient, and in your mind it was...but you knew better than to just leave it at that.

“Art at its finest Mr. Kim” You smile something a little devious, and he flushes even deeper as you slowly start to invade his space eyes locked with him meaningfully. You can physically see the shift, the closer you get, Namjoon starts fidgeting slightly under your gaze but he doesn't back down.

“It gives you room to play, create...it’s something that let’s us connect to people without saying a damn thing.” Suddenly the hand that wasn’t holding your alcohol has become a prop, flailing around haphazardly as you spoke, pointing at the various pieces hanging on clothes racks in your suite! The penthouse has essentially been transformed into your own personal walk in closet for the next 5 or so days! “It’s a statement. A opportunity to tap into a side of yourself that maybe you can’t always verbally articulate to the world around you! More importantly, it’s supposed to be fun, it’s literally something that can be removed within seconds! I mean we all have to wear clothes so why not just enjoy it?”  Head cocked to the side as you appraise him, brow quirked, eyes warm, yet there's a clear challenge playing within your gaze.

Namjoon’s watching you intently, almost as if he’s taking mental notes as you speak...the heaviness within those dangerously honed eyes of his could almost be unsettling to some, but you quite like it. Made you feel as though he actually gives a flying fuck about what you’re saying.

“In my opinion the only time it looks like someone’s “Trying too hard” Making little air bunnies with your spare hand “Is if they look uncomfortable in what they’re wearing, confidence is key, and I know you know that better than anyone RM!” You muse batting your lashes in Namjoon’s direction, and he dimples back at you, eyes sinking into tiny crescents, face rivaling the color of his suit, trying to hide said smile behind his own glass of champagne.  

“I could put you in a damn clown suit...” Words trailing off your tongue lackadaisically as you grow distracted searching the bar for a specific chain from John Hardy. “Which” Focus snapping back in his direction making the later splutter a little “Would be fire as fuck if I did by the way, but-”  Namjoon ended up cackling midsentence, almost choking on his drink in the process, fist pounding against his sternum.

Yeah..killing the leader of Bangtan wasn’t really high on your list tonight....

“Ayee, none of that shit...” Smacking him in the back a little more so just to be an ass because he wasn’t even choking anymore “Don’t die on me until we at least get this damn photoshoot done, I had to cancel my trip to Jamaica for this shit!”

Now he’s damn near choking and his laugh was contagious, it’s just.. loud, carefree so yes, your cackling, and there's nothing cute about it. But you honestly don’t care, you let yourself get lost in it! Finally able to feel the atmosphere in the room start to shift to something a little less scripted and a little more organic...

Throwing his hands in the air as If he’s waving a nonexistent white flag “I’m sorry, noona” There’s a pout playing in his lips, not exactly aegyo per say, but it’s fuckin adorable “Blame PD-nim, it’s his fault we had to do this so last minute” Wheezes from his throat, in the form of a slight whine, almost rivaling Jimin if I’m honest.

You already know he was laughing more so due to your delivery, specifically, your casual use of profanity over anything else. This is actually something you use to be self-conscious about, especially at your first shoot with the boys, at the shoot for GQ . Well aware it wasn’t as common in Asia for people especially women to use “fuck” like a comma. So you were hoping they wouldn’t be offended, or uncomfortable by your dialect, and, thankfully they didn’t seem to mind. Much like Joonie over here, they found it entertaining over anything.

“Yeah, a huh, sureee...” Eyes rolling to the back of your head playfully as you start lightly altering the suit in question with clips and pens. “Stay still babe” The pet name slipped off your tongue effortlessly, honestly, that's what you call most people in your life. However you were far too focused to notice how wide eyed and flustered the man before you became upon hearing it directed at him so casually.

A faint little “Sorry” muses off his lips as he gnaws on his inner cheek, trying to stay still as you ghetto-rig hems into place until you can get this under your sewing needle.

“ No, but real shit…” You sigh, taking on a slightly more serious tone “If you step in front of that camera like you own the bitch, regardless of what your wearing..., then they can’t tell you shit! If your comfortable there’s no such thing as trying too hard” You shrug nonchalantly like that was the simplest concept known to man, downing the rest of your drink “Alright, that’s all, thanks for coming to my Ted talk” Waving him off as if you’re about to leave the room and he pouted playfully, jokingly begging you not to leave him yet...it felt good to be able to banter like this. The shift continuous shift within the atmosphere was more than welcomed…

Hesitantly you watch his eyes find their way back to the full length mirror, which promptly smacks you back to reality!

Unfortunately you didn't fly all the way to Seoul just to drink,  and shoot shit with Namjoon for hours on end,  your actually here to work…

Sooo...

“Alright” Placing your arms on his shoulders, giving him a reassuring squeeze as you peer over his shoulder. Meeting his gaze through the glass, chin resting gently against the blade. “Back to the reason you came Mr. “I’m sooo anxiously” Shooting him a teasing little smirk in the process “The suit, yay or nay”

So, here’s the thing technically the official fitting is tomorrow, and as far as his team knows he’s in the studio with Yoongi and Hoseok finishing up a song!

Which of course raises the question as to why he’s here..alone..mind you..no staff or security in site.

Just Kim Namjoon and yourself.....

~~~~

Heyyyy, Lemme know if you guys want this or not, it will leave kinda open ended because it was supposed to kinda be a 3 part mini series initially. Part 1 ends the morning of the shoot, the full thing is set to be around 6/7k! Spoiler, the company is going to want to keep her around for more than just Namjoon’s solo project....

Also, YES...I did see that they actually put Tae in that Burliti suit (I wrote this long before that shoot was released)...I actually hated the way it was styled it though...I never thought I’d say this but MGK’s team did a better job than BH....

[thebeckychronicles]

Post 22- 7 day countdown, infections, biopsies, PTSD, and CHAD IS OUT

Warning: lots of cursing because I was annoyed with half of what went down this past week so I think you’ll be able to tell which parts hehe

It’s been a while since I’ve posted an actual update that wasn’t written while I was all up in my feels.

The date of my last chemo infusion is August 9th, with me getting fluids for the last time on August 10th. I’ve been counting down the days since I hit 60. Right now it’s 7 days til the 9th. To say I’m ECSTATIC is to say the least. This past Tuesday was my 11th chemotherapy session, so the first part of my 6th cycle. 6 seems like such a small number but when I think about it but then I think how those 6 cycles translated to 6 months of treatment and I’m kind of left in awe at how far I’ve come. It’s both shocking and heartening.

It’s funny because my oncologist had said in the beginning that after the second or third treatment Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients typically feel better, or that the chemotherapy side effects tend to bottom out instead of getting worse. She, as well as other specialists, had said that the port would be super easy to have, I wouldn’t even notice it and that it’d make getting treatment a lot easier. Seems like I hit the jackpot on experiencing all the unlikely scenarios when it came to my port and to chemo. So let me give you a rundown on life in general and how treatment is going.

I can’t remember whether I mentioned it or not but last month I started an internship at a non-profit immigration legal services organization. I’ve been LOVING IT. The woman I’m interning for is WONDERFUL (Hi T) and is as excited to teach me as I am to learn. It feels really good to be getting out of the house more often and doing something that isn’t just productive but actually meaningful and helping others. Plus, they’re so flexible with my treatment schedule and take into consideration my needs especially considering my health.

I also enrolled at Cascadia for the fall quarter to finish up my AA since I didn’t get to last year. Tuition is a little stressful considering financial aid sucks and I haven’t really been working much but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I’m just excited to have some sort of routine and normalcy back in my life. Before my diagnosis I felt burned out and kind of rudderless. Now, as clichéd as it is, I’m feeling more motivated to finish school, to figure out what I want for myself and what I want my life to look like.

Two of my best friends moved to different states. One from California to Colorado, and I’m super excited to see her thrive in her new place since she’s been talking about it non-stop. She drove up from California and I met her in Oregon and we saw her favorite band the Avett Brothers in Bend, Oregon which was amazing. That small town in kind of in the middle of nowhere and on the edge of the Willamette national forest and the stars there are ridiculous. It’s funny we always half-way plan these spontaneous little trips so we didn’t really thinking about where we were gonna spend the night so we ended up sleeping in her car in the national forest at some random campground. The view of the sky was worth the slightly uncomfortable sleeping arrangement. My other best friend moved to New Mexico. I’m also super excited to see her grow where she’s at now.

So last week Tuesday was my 11th chemo session. And it was an eventful one. In the days leading up to my last infusion my port had swelled up and actually blistered. At this point my port acting up isn’t anything new so I didn’t bother to go the clinic about it since I was going to soon anyway. Whatever, I’m a bad patient. Morning of the infusion comes and I tell my nurse that my port looks funny and that it’s hurting a bit more than usual. She peels back the sticky paper stuff (can you tell chemo brain is taking its toll on my vocab?) and wipes off the numbing cream.

“Oh kittens.”

Did I mention how much Chad (my port) sucks?

As endearing as her exclamation was, it was also kind of concerning since she’d never seemed really thrown by how messed up my port looked. Apparently my port was so concerning she went to get one of the other oncologists I was meant to see today (my oncologist was out of town) and see whether they should access it or not. He came in, looked at my port and then proceeded to look just as confused and alarmed as my nurse. He then went outside to talk to another oncologist who came to see my port and they decided to go ahead and access my port (which fucking hurt despite the stupid numbing cream). My nurse accessed my port but it was decided that I needed to go down to Radia Diagnostic Imaging where they put my port in because while they successfully accessed my port they weren’t sure if it was leaking (ew) and that’s what was causing so many issues.

At this point a 15 minute appointment before treatment turned into an hour long one that was making me late for chemo. I went down to RDI where they injected dye into my port and then used an x-ray to see if it was working properly. Which it was. I will say that the whole team in RDI seemed perplexed by Chad too. One of them even said, “In my ten years of doing ports I’ve never seen this.” Thank you for that reassuring comment dude. They deemed Chad well enough to get treatment so they sent me to infusion with instructions to come back once I was done so a specialist could look at it. Infusion was infusion, nothing new except I had an awesome visitor. Hi Shauna! :D

Once infusion was done, I went back down to RDI. The specialist looked at it, again seeming very confused by Chad and said the dreaded B word. Biopsy. I swear I didn’t used to have an issue with needles until I got cancer. THANK YOU BECKY. So they brought me into a different room and had me take off my shirt and lay down under a blanket while they set up their torture tools (Again, I NEVER had issue with needles and getting blood drawn or anything until that first awful biopsy. Shit’s traumatizing.) Luckily at that point my mom got to the hospital and was able to be in the room with me while the biopsy was done. They got me all cleaned up. 1, 2, 3, a “quick pinch, quick pinch,” from the specialist and a huge fucking sting later, I was numb and they were digging out tissue and whatever fluid was in that blister. A few minutes later they had me cleaned up and on my way home, with a reminder that they’d let me know if anything suspect popped up in the culture and a prescription for major antibiotics just in case.

The next day I went back to infusion for fluids. Honestly, I was feeling pretty good. Having one more down just one more infusion to go, in addition to the fact that I hadn’t started to feel awful, I felt like I was sprinting towards the finish line.

Then Thursday came. If I was sprinting towards the finish line, feeling good Tuesday and Wednesday, I ate it hard on Thursday. (Insert appropriate meme here.) I woke up and my body was in total rebellion to the things I was putting it through. I woke up and my teeth hurt, my muscles were cramping, my bones felt like they were on fire and everything hurt. I couldn’t even really name the pain. To top it off, Friday morning I woke up with an awful rash that burned and stung, in addition to Chad being his usual pain in the ass self. I figured I should call the clinic and they had me come in immediately. Usually I’m pretty lowkey at my appointments, I’m not really demanding and I’m pretty patient during mix ups and stuff. But at this point, I’m annoyed that they’ve insisted I keep Chad even though he’s been more trouble than he’s worth, a lot of my issues that have come with treatment have stemmed from Chad, and three NO ONE LISTENS WHEN I SAY I DON’T WANT THE PORT. I’m pissy, I feel terrible and I’m done being an easygoing patient.

So after my RN took my vitals and went to consult with another oncologist, two nurses came in to do blood cultures from BOTH my arms. They had already done 2 blood cultures that both gave negative results to an infection, so I with, some attitude I’ll admit, asked why they were doing another blood culture when they’d recently done two others. One of the nurses had been the same one to do the blood cultures the last two times. And apparently, nurses don’t really get to do them too often so they hit the jackpot with me and she got to teach two other nurses how to do it with me as their guinea pig. Apparently, I was to be the guinea pig again. Right then, I was super frustrated and wanting to cry because one, everything hurts and two, I actually wanted to rip that damn port out myself if they weren’t going to do it. Whatever, the nurse explained to me that this time they were just gonna focus on blood infections on both sides of my body rather than whatever else it was that they were testing last time (I guess the blood cultures last time weren’t to test… for… blood… infections?). They did the blood cultures (I think at this point I can do them myself considering I know the procedure now ha) and my RN came back. She told me to get some type of cream for the rash and that if develop a fever to call back and that they’d let me know about the blood infection. Also, side note, that biopsy they did Tuesday also yielded negative results so no infection. Which is good but WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH MY PORT THEN???? She also tried to give me a bit of a pep talk, saying that they only had to use the port one more time for one more chemo session. To which my response was, hell no. You are taking this thing out of me. The next time someone touches my port it’s to take the damn thing out. So I insisted on her writing up the order so that when my oncologist got back Monday, she could just sign it, send it to RDI and get me scheduled to have Chad taken out that week. So she did and now here we are.   The rest of the weekend was physically painful in ways I can’t really describe but still pretty enjoyable. I went to my sister’s best friend’s wedding which was sweet. Although I went sporting that awful rash (that I still have today- Wednesday.) And then Sunday was spent with the family celebrating my uncle’s birthday and yesterday we celebrated my cousin’s birthday too.

But let’s talk about today (8/1). CHAD HAS VACATED MY BODY THANK YOU GOD. But let me also just say that removing him was a terrible process that I was awake for and do not recommend that AT ALL. Seriously. Maybe because my port and the area around it is just generally super tender and painful and that made the process of removing it more painful than usual but whatever- point is the port removal was just as bad and traumatizing- if not more- than my first biopsy. My first biopsy which I start crying about when asked to talk about it.

I guess what doesn’t kill you make you stronger. Or it just gives you really unhealthy coping mechanisms, a morbid sense of humor and some PTSD. I really think the biopsies and the port removal and being awake for those procedures really fucked me up in the head. Someone will ask about those procedures and I kid you not I have to try not to cry or get emotional when I do. Even writing this now I’m tearing up which sucks because again things like needles and surgeries didn’t bother me before. Now I’m THAT patient. The one that although doesn’t flail and make your job harder as the person performing the procedure, they do panic and quietly cry and loudly curse a lot and probably make your job slightly entertaining but at the same time you want to roll your eyes at because you think they’re being dramatic.

Yeah, that’s now me.

First I had to check in at clinic and get my blood drawn by my nurse. After confirming that my white blood cell count was well enough to go on with the procedure I went down to RDI and waited an hour for to be called back. A nurse came to get me and led me to the room where they were gonna perform the procedure, the specialist saw my port and said, “Oh yeah, that needs to come out.” THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU FOR 6 MONTHS. So I walked into this procedure thinking it’ll be as easy as when they put the port in. They’d knock me out and I’d wake up sans Chad.

Nope.

They explained the procedure to me and right before I signed the consent forms they mentioned that I’d be awake during this and that they’d be using local anesthetic. Keep in mind, the memory of the last biopsy from last week and the anesthetic is still fresh in my mind, so my first thought was WTF. Rude. I went ahead and signed the forms because I was getting this thing out of me one way or another and I was trying not to panic about that and not be a baby about the whole thing.

They got me all set up on the same x-ray table they had used on me last week. They covered my whole body with this tent-type thing that gives them access to the area but covers the rest of my body. I started to panic a little bit more because it was weird that I wouldn’t be able to see what they’re doing. There were two nurses helping the specialist during this procedure.

The whole experience was not fun. The anesthetic hurt. A lot. I think they injected me a total of 8 times. The last 3 being because when they started cutting me open I felt something sharp rather than the pressure and pulling/tugging you’re supposed to feel when you’ve been numbed for a procedure. So apparently, I didn’t take to well to the anesthetic and honestly I could still feel sharp sensations during the procedure even after the 8 shots of anesthetic. But at that point I figured just suck it up because I didn’t want to get unnecessarily poked if the anesthetic wasn’t gonna work anyway. Either way I was going to feel pain. Pretty sure I was having a panic attack during the whole thing. I just was laying there silently crying out of pain and frustration and just being overwhelmed by everything I’m putting my body through in the name of regaining my health and wellbeing. It was like that first biopsy and feeling overwhelmed and so foreign in my own body all over again. During this procedure they took some skin samples and blood samples to see if they could figure out what kind of infection caused me to have so many issues with Chad.

After that whole ordeal, they stitched and glued me up. Trying to make myself feel better I sarcastically said, “Well that was pleasant.” To which one of the nurses responded saying, “See, it’s not so bad! Most patients end up saying it wasn’t too bad.” To which I thought, BITCH WHERE???

So then they sent me off with another batch of major antibiotics to take for the next five days, three times a day.  

So here I am, the next day FREE OF CHAD.

Next week Tuesday I’m going in for another procedure to get a PICC line put it. A PICC line is like a really long IV that stays in your arm and is threaded into one of the major veins there. Since Chad got the boot they need another way for me to receive my last chemo which they’re going to administer using the PICC line. I hear they use local anesthetic to place it too. So we’ll see how that goes. Thanks for keeping up with me everyone, I really appreciate it. 7 MORE DAYS :D

[nevermadeadime]

more life

More Life

The Biggest rapper in the world sounds more relaxed than he ever has on "More Life", a record that sees him pulling collaborators from all corners of the globe to create a playlist for the club or the sesh.

Culture-vulture, wave-rider, trend-hopper: all of these terms have been used as sleights against Drake throughout his career. Whether it be breaking the Weeknd and having Abel Tesfaye write half the hooks on "Take Care" or stealing the beat for "Hotline Bling", Drake has always had to face these allegations and they have usually been justified. This trend culminated with the massively successful release of "Views", and the equally massive backlash that album saw from fans and critics around the rap community.

"Views" was a slog of a record. Ten songs too long, the decision to break it into 6 rap songs, 10 pop songs and another 4 or so rap songs served to alienate both his rap fanbase and his broader, pop audience. And the singles all hopped on the sound of the moment, Dancehall-lite tropical pop. Problematically, Drake had started singing and rapping with a Jamaican accent, and cut Popcaan off of a massively successful single that he probably wrote. Drake's faux patois on the album was grating, and the most overt pop moves of his already very commercial career felt like a concious pivot away from hip-hop.

Sure "Views" had great lyrical tracks, hits and some beautiful melodies, but the length, structure, and overwhelming darkness of the album wears on the listener. It is not a classic record the same way "Nothing Was The Same" or "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" were, that's for sure.

So now, nearly a year later, Drake has given us "More Life", a 'playlist', not an album, but a record that features 22 tracks, 20 of which are Drake songs. The record is leagues more enjoyable than "Views", and up there with the best records Drake and 40 (for they are one and the same at this point, the most dominant songwriters of the decade) have done.

Drake has taken the accusations of trend-hopping and turned them on their head, curating a truly international album with songs that appeal to his broadest audience yet. He has finally figured out how to make these different regional sounds he has been messing with into authentic and respectable sounding songs. The standout example of this would be the song "Get it Together", in which he takes a classic black coffee song and essentially changes nothing, simply adding his own lyrics. Instead of the culture vulture feeling that songs like Hotline Bling or Controlla gave, it feels like an expertly calculated display of good taste, and works flawlessly.

This newfound clarity is clear from the features too. UK rappers Giggs and Skepta have verses, and the sound of London is all over the playlist. This allows him to co-opt UK slang like 'KMT' or 'wasteman' and not sound ridiculous because he has the godfathers of this shit all over the damn record. Similarly, the riddims, the sheer amount of looks he has thrown Popcaan and Vybz Kartel at this point, and the fact he's calling these songs "Blem" and "Madiba Riddim" make all this Jamiacan shit more acceptable to me than Views was. It also helps that the songs are less overtly pop leaning than songs like "Too Good" or "Work". This shit will never be for me, and 'Gyalchester' is easily the worst song on the album to me at the moment, but when he gives you 22 songs it doesn't matter if a few miss.

Because everything else is fucking HEATERS. From the first two songs, you'd be forgiven for thinking we're gonna get another "IYRTITL", just low stakes bars over the hardest beats money can buy. That's what I thought. Then you get to "Passionfruit". If there's any justice, this song will be the biggest hit of Aubrey Graham's career. It hits the same beats emotionally as "Hold on We're Going Home", but over a truly futuristic and out there house beat that wouldn't sound out of place in Fabric, Output or anywhere else. The song is incredible, my first time listening to it I couldn't believe that he made a song like this and actually wound it back on the record but it works and is just amazing. very cheeky!

"Get it Together" is great, the Jamaican sounding songs (Blem, Gyalchester, madliba riddim) are all wack to me though. Sampha's "4422" is better than half the songs on "Process" (which was kind of a disappointment now that I think about it). If he was gonna include an obscure British singer he'd worked with before I'd have preferred Jai Paul! Skepta's track is hard obviously.

Then comes "Portland" featuring Quavo and Travis Scott, which, besides "Passionfruit", is the other obvious hit on this record. This shit bangs. It's also using that flute sound which has been really big in the last month or so, that future song and "Tunnel Vision" have it too. Anyway, the first line of the song is already a meme "My side bitch got a 5s with the screen cracked" and the hook+flutes+features mean the song is guaranteed to be huge. The next tune, "Sacrifices" with Thug and 2Chainz would've been the hit 5 years ago, sounds a lot like "All Me". Hook is kind of boring but 2Chainz might have legitimately the best verse on the whole playlist. Dude will be rapping hilarious verses everyday until he's like 90. "Got wood on the Cartier, that's a face full of splinters!" Thug is obviously great. more on him later.

"Nothing Into Something" is simp Drake and I'm sure the people who enjoy that will enjoy it. "Teenage Fever" is great though. The J-Lo sample is so obvious but so great. it's a solid reminder that Drake isn't writing these songs about random thots, he is writing them about his relationships with Jennifer Lopez or Serena Williams. Drake was a teenager when that J-lo song came out. You have to respect the hustle that he got with her and then sampled her on a song about how into her he was as a teenager. damn. left turn indeed.

Fuck "KMT" though, free X! The Giggs verse on "KMT" is tied with the 2Chainz verse for best on the album though. This is the one bit of swaggerjacking on this record I can't abide, just completely stole xxxtentacion's flow. x will be huge though we aren't worried. Gotta be honest looking at the tracklist I don't even remember "Lose You" and "Can't have everything". I listened to them again they are ok. "Lose you" has some clever lines it's pretty good actually. "Can't have everything" is aite but the bit with his mum at the end is pure fire.

"Glow" featuring Kanye would be the one dissapointing moment on the record for me. The song is actually really good, especially the end and the way the sample comes in, awesome. But it feels like this song was supposed to be the intro for the Drake x Ye record, which hearing this would have been fucking incredible. hopefully we still get it. This is Kanye's first appearance on wax since the whole Trump thing, so I'm glad his neighbor has thrown him this look and happy he seems a bit better! Good for you Ye!

PND is kinda trash imo. Fake Love is a dope song we know this already. "Ice Melting" is fucking awesome though, probably my favorite song on the record right now. The hook is like all the songs from "jeffery" combined together like voltron into their final form for this Drake album. This song also deserves to be a hit but then again I think every catchy Thug song will be a hit and only "Lifestyle" ever was! Thug has two features and he is definitely the lowkey MVP of this album.

Also, I might write something more in depth about this but Thug definitely wrote Drake's verse on "Sacrifices". This segues into a bigger point I guess. We are now nearly two years removed from the Quentin Miller tapes and Meek Mill's accusations. It is interesting how the conversation shifted from "is it true?" to "does it matter?" and I think the answer to the second question is a resounding no. I have come to terms with the fact that Drake gets a lot of help on his songs, and that a lot of his throwaways, feature verses, and even a few hits are written by other people. Drake is always there I'm sure but it's clear that Thug wrote that verse. This is all besides the point of the actual quality of the album but w/e. point is, no one cares and it doesnt matter.

Maybe because these events are so behind him, Drake sounds more relaxed on “More Life”. On “Views” he sounded angry, defensive, and it made the music sound cold. “More Life” on the other hand, sees Drake sit back and make songs for the club and the people more than for himself and his ego. If “Views” was a cold, dark, winters day, then “More Life” is a summer night, seemingly never ending, just good vibes. 

Man, I barely even talked about the sound of this album! 40's atmosphere and sound is so familiar at this point that it's hard to say anything new. It's lush, its lavish, its deep, its loud. These 22 songs form a collection of the most expensive sounding beats currently possible to make. Honestly, these Drake records are at the point that we can compare them to Pink Floyd or Chic in the attention to detail and sheer fidelity of the sound. Yet dont say they dont evolve. "Passionfruit", "Portland", "Ice Melting" and "fake love" really do sound different to anything Drake has rapped over before. Drake and 40 have a formula, they are never going to flip the script like Kendrick did with "TPAB" and that's fine. These guys have another 5 or so years of this before they start to fall off, just enjoy it.