#rina sawayama users

[fwjtngnb]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ. # ♡ㅤㅤusers hina sawayama ☆

lovewman

sandnter

semyvetonh

paradsin

whereuare

cyberdrome

beeshoney

imrinasayama

thishellx

kensteinfrank

[userstuf]

★ RINA SAWAYAMA (SONGS) USERS ★

• pzradisin

• badfrn

• holdthgrl

• hurcanes

• tklovhotel

fav/reblog if u save or use ♥︎ dont repost it

[alezusers]

Rina Sawayama Usernames (rina users)

@/rinazsawayama

@/hinasawayama

@/sawayamaonline

@/mermaidsrina

@/rinasronline

@/thishellofrina

@/holdtherinas

@/rinasawayamaxs

@/xsrinasx

@/frinakenstein

@/sawayamagurl

@/riinasong

@/rinastfup

@/rinasvie

@/sawaryama

@/holdthegurll

@/lvrina

@/rinasolitude

Please, like or reblog if you use them (: ♡

[pocima]

pocima -> rinas4ki

[tiredguyswag]

tumblr user timetravellingkitty the rina sawayama propaganda on my dash is extremely effective

[ipunches]

user stan list - music artists ᓚᘏᗢ

★ ults - solo !

taeyong, justin timberlake, j-hope, lexie liu, han, onew, ariana grande, woodz, sabrina carpenter, doyoung

★ ults - group !

NCT, shinee, queen, onlyoneof, aespa, riize, boynextdoor, xdinary heroes, arctic monkeys, bts

★ stan !

enhypen, hikaru utada, red velvet, lucy, doja cat, ive, timbaland, flo, newjeans, panic! at the disco, nmixx, demian, exo, charlie xcx, soojin, måneskin, dpr ian, kiss of life, usher, tomorrow x together, gaho, stray kids, tripleS, ten, frank ocean, artms, stayc, n*sync, young posse, fromis_9, the boyz, victoria monét, itzy, loona, day6, babymonster, lil uzi vert, &team, tinashe, destiny’s child, boA, sza

★ casual enjoyer !

the weeknd, psychic fever, my chemical romance, enhypen, beyoncé, AOA, blackpink, no guidnce, bruno mars, joji, bigbang, daniel caesar, xikers, p1harmony, f(x), chris brown, olivia rodrigo, josh levi, lloyiso, monsta x, sara james, rihanna, twice, c-clown, zerobaseone, g idle, dreamcatcher, zico, twenty one pilots, the 1975, tate mcrae, just b, oneus, tyla, a.c.e, troye sivan, ateez, megan thee stallion, seventeen

★ interested in / in the process of stanning !

kehlani, infinite, all(h)ours, rina sawayama, btob, bae173, park ji hoon, oneus, great guys, onf, evnne, heize, dkz, pH-1, kwon eunbi, brown eyed girls, iu, n.flying, epex, pow, blitzers, dkb, vcha, keyshia cole, yena, nelly, luminous, bb girls, lolo zouaÏ, adya, musiq soulchild, alice, sik-k, SB19, amaarae, TWS, rescene, 8turn, up10tion, jo yuri, n.ssign, CIX, illit, purple kiss, loona (includes all post-loona groups, but specifically artms + oddeyecircle)

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[devilishdelights]

I would love to know what you have on your mammon playlist👀👀 I have one any maybe they’re song I’m using for projecting but 90% of it was from one playlist on yt that is gone now but I liked it the most

yoooo yeah I can do that!! I’d just put the link for the whole playlist here but for privacy reasons imma just link the songs, so this’ll be a big ass post under the cut lol

These are also songs just based on vibes and not based on what i think he'd listen to, maybe he'd listen to some (i feel like he'd listen to lady gaga... but i could also be delusional.)

Bills, Bills, Bills - Destiny's Child

Beautiful, Dirty, Rich - Lady Gaga

Money Honey - Lady Gaga

Poker Face - Lady Gaga

Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani, Eve

XS - Rina Sawayama

The Bidding - Tally Hall

Dead Inside - Younger Hunger

I feel like these are just self-explainable by the lyrics lol, and they're fun to listen to!!

Think I'm In Love - Beck

I'm Not In Love - Kelsey Lu

I Think I Love You - The Patridge Family (I feel like this could fit Belphie too)

Somethin' Stupid- Frank & Nancy Sinatra

Tsundere shit or whatever that dude has going on with MC in the beginning! (so many with the words love in it awe <3)

I Can't Think of Anybody But U - Vista Kicks

Put Your Money On Me - Arcade Fire

Nervous - K.Flay

Gold - MARINA

Midas Touch - Child Of the Parish

Sweet Talk - Saint Motel (this is just how he feels if your MC hates his ass. hes insane. it's also just a fun song)

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

Sweet - Cigarettes After Sex

Baby I'm Yours - Arctic Monkeys

Snake Charmer - Saint Motel

Late Night Talking - Harry Styles (looook omg..... i don't listen to it often. i apologize for liking it. but the lyrics get stuck in my head :[!!!)

I Like You (A Happier Song) - Post Malone, Doja Cat

Whipped!Mammon songs lol

Baby Blue - Martina Topley-Bird

Arms Tonite - Mother Mother (C'monnn.. cmonnnnn. you know why!!!)

No.1 Party anthem - Arctic Monkeys (juuust added this one. I've decided to twist it into my vision. kinda tsundere mc too? could be both their POVs but i like using it as MC's and Mammon is the girl in the song)

MC perspective kinda!! but they can also apply to the other songs. its really just a mammonxmc playlist tbh but these are like specifically ones in MC's POV

Take on me - a-ha

Trouble - cage the elephant

Lucky strike - Maroon 5

Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

Suck it and See - Arctic Monkeys

These ones are just kinda random that are in there without a real explanation lol

Im baring my soul here 4 u all by exposing my music.... i also bolded my favorites (in reference to his character and MC). sorry for making this shit a hassle if u do wanna add these songs to ur playlist, if u don't wanna go through this shit link by link just DM and i'll send you the link to my playlist. I'd just rather not have my user out in the open lol </3

Some of these may be considered a stretch... but they work in my mind!! like u said. projecting!! I'm twisting it to fit my vision and all that. A lot of these songs are gendered, which like, I can't do anything about it, and it's not based on that, it's purely based on vibes/how much it relates to the character(s)!

[xxswagcorexx]

tumblr user xxswagcorexx why do you insist on hiding away half your analyses/ramblings in the tags of your posts speak ur truth!!! anyway talk mythology andor symbolism to me whats the significance behind red's cult eating honey? do either of them get any items of power mixed up sometimes but just go whoops and move on like its no big deal? what would an outsider pov on this mess look like "ah that pair of lunatic gods again" bc this is sooo funny to me to imagine

i am . scared of everyone (and plus i don't wanna make the post too long and tags let me ramble without worrying abt length/mention small things without feeling like i need to format it properly ^_^

and uh abt the honey thing. this is where u can see this is Really inspired by greek mythology but basically in greek mythology, honey was seen as food of the gods and would provide gods immortality and whatnot ^_^ anyways i was like "hmmmmmm reddoons core" but also it just really works well. aesthetically for him

(AND GET READY FOR A LONG RAMBLE UNDER THE CUT)

anyways on the topic of the honey thing, i tend to associate red with gold because 1) money and 2) red and gold are a really classic color combo that i love, so honey (sorta) resembling molten gold is just. really aesthetically pleasing to me

and also iirc red wanted to make the byzantine empire in earthbound season 2? and when i came across a video on how to make byzantine honey fritters by tasting history with max miller i was like "omg reddoons core"--and from the video it seems like honey was a bit of a special dessert? in 6:33 of the video, there's a poem about a monk complaining about how the abbots have it a lot better than the monks and they mention that the abbots had 2nd helping of honey fritters so yeah i think its safe to assume honey was a semi-special thing, even if it was common. so uh. yeah. money and reddoons. thumbs up

and for the longest time i have associated bees and honey by rina sawayama with. swagdoons in general and the entire song is about how much the singer loves money and partying even if they're broke as shit LMAO its such a good bop if you like pop i recommend it . anyways ya that just added to the aesthetic in general

(as u can tell most of it was based off of vibes and plus in biased because i like how. warm milk and honey taste and plus i really like the idea of milk being something nurturing and honey being something sweet that is representative of love bc ur being sweet and easing someone into something so. Yeah. just vibes but how i figure out vibes are so specific that its worth explaining i think <- loves romanticizing the mundane) (and there's a sick ass line from the end poem like that) (like "And the player was a new human, never alive before, made from nothing but milk and love. You are the player. The story. The program. The human. Made from nothing but milk and love." come ON that line fucks so hard how couldn't i love it)

anyways i think with all of that in mind, red's cult would eat honey as a sign of wealth and comfort/nurturing 4 those reasons ^_^ (i am so sorry for all of that for explaining that i just have lots of Reasons to why i feel something sometimes)

WILDLY OFF TOPIC but u also asked abt items of power getting mixed up, i think it would happen most during worship </3 i think they'd just go to each other and be like "REDDOONS one of your cult members sacrificed blood as a loyalty pact to their partner instead of WAR again. u want it" and red would either let ash keep it or take it so uh. insert them sharing their power with each other here even though their values are usually on increasing ur ego and being on top of the world (CONSIDERING THIS FANDOM LOVES THEMES OF LOYALTY IN A GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL WAY) (SEE WHY I DDNT WANT THEM COMING FROM ANOTHER GOD OR MERGING INTO 1 GOD) (THE IMPLICATIONS ARENT GOOD)

anyways i think ash and red (as gods) and their cults are pretty well known (like how swagdoons r the 2nd most popular ls ship) but LORD if their myths got lost to time they'd be a nightmare to study via texts and scripts in the future. like i can imagine for the LONGEST time historians argue if they were gods that changed during the dark ages because red's name predates ash until they Finally find a myth involving them as 2 different characters and its settled that they're 2 separate gods even though they represent similar-ish things LOL anyways yeah i can imagine more myths of them being found and historians going ??? wtd were these gods <3 hope that answers ur questions anon! :D

[sofipitch]

Tag 10 you want to get to know better! Tagged by @dreamofme9

Relationship status: in a relationship

Favorite color: any shade of purple 💜

Song last listened to: I just did another tag game that asked this so I'm going with my second to last song which was Dynasty by Rina Sawayama

Song stuck in my head: Running up that hill by Kate Bush (also recently listened to, all the songs mentioned are on my TLT playlist 😅)

Three favorite foods: Imma hyperlink some recipes I use(d), Vaca Frita (this one I don't need an online recipe for, but this one looked reliable) (usually served with yucca and black beans and rice), Japanese style curry, Tortilla española

Dream trip(s): Greece, I got into Greek mythology based on the PJO books like 98% of Tumblr users. Greek myths were my earliest hyperfixation so I would love to go. Costa Rica is another one bc I want to see a tropical rainforest and coral reef SO bad

Last thing I googled: Alice walker and JKR :( I saw a post on here and was really hoping AW hadn't backed JKR up but she did 🤢

Anything I want: Eras tour tickets 😭 but since I do not desire financial ruin I'm considering getting myself a tattoo. @bebidocrimes has a tattoo artist they found in our area and I planned on copying their homework and asking for the same artist. I plan on moving soon so I am running out of time, I should just do it. It would be a mermaid silhouette, something like this

Tagging: @hedonisticgene @licncourt @zisurru @nasnyys @immortalconclusions @translouisdpdl @prouvaireafterdark @lizz1eborden @firegiftlouis @edwardsbloodbag @bebidocrimes

[zmeydeva-arch]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

what’s your phone wallpaper: a picture of florence when i saw f+tm live earlier this year! last song you listened to : this hell - rina sawayama currently reading : lol... i am reading 3 books right now 1 ) the crimson peak novelization 2 ) a collection of georg trakl poems 3 ) soc re-read! last movie : a girl walks home alone at night! cannot recommend it enough last show : succession but also just started the great season 3 last night ( also current castlevania rewatch with my significant annoyance ) what are you wearing right now : pajama bottoms... an oversized rina sawayama shirt too coincidentally how tall are you? : 5'1. don't talk to me piercings / tattoos?: 4 piercings and 2 tattoos <3 glasses ? contacts? : none! last thing you ate? : a bagel hehe favorite color(s): love a light green and of course soft purples <3 current obsession : gothic horror ( always tbh ), been really enjoying getting back into horror films in general too but like... the weird kind mostly do you have a crush right now? : tumblr user daylighter i am acknowledging you favorite fictional character : every evil woman has my heart but zoya nazyakenskaya, edith cushing, galaxy stern, selina kyle, harrowhark nonagesimus, gideon nav, ronan lynch, zatanna zatara, and jason todd to list a few faves last place you traveled : puerto rico last year to visit my abuela!!

tagged by: @daylighter apparently my crush who has a sudden interest in lavender 🤔 tagging: @vipier, @mysteriae, @nowincolor, @scythed, and whoever is reading this right now <33

[commedesgarconsliketheboys]

tumblr user commedesgarconsliketheboys is seeing rina sawayama on monday 😁😁😁

[kyletogaz]

hello! 🧡 shuffle your favorite playlist and post the first five songs that come up. then copy/paste this ask to five users <3

thank you sy 🩵

haciendo que de amas - bad bunny

reflections - the neighbourhood

dancing’s done - ava max

paradisin’ - rina sawayama

flip a switch - raye

[userstuf]

ooi anjo! vc poderia fazer users com as músicas da rina sawayama? mt obrigada 🥹

feitos!!

[alezusers]

Holaaaaa! Podes hacer users de Rina Sawayama <3

hola ya esta hecho 😇

[ear-worthy]

Pod-Alization: iHeart On The Negro Leagues & MySpace; Best Advice Podcast Talks With Meghan Trainor

 iHeart Podcast Network has three ear worthy podcasts for you

The iHeart podcast network currently has about 5,000 podcasts. Obviously, when you have that many podcasts in your network, they are all not going to be gems. In fact, it's safe to say that searching for gold through the iHeart podcast network, you will discover a lot of iron pyrite, or fool's gold. 

But if you know where to look, there are iHeart podcasts that have a strong ear / mind connection.  Jordan Klepper Fingers The Conspiracy, Mobituaries, Skyline Drive, and Stuff You Missed In History Class, are just a few of their quality podcasts.

Today, I want to mention three that are exceptional.

 Main Accounts: The Story of Myspace: Before Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok, there was MySpace. But what happened to the social media giant that suddenly dropped out of favor? Hosted by author and technology reporter Joanne McNeil, “Main Accounts: The Story of Myspace” tells the story of the first social media sensation and details the possible reasons for its collapse, all while featuring tales of the people that made it so special in the first place – the users. Find new episodes every Wednesday.

 Behind the Barrier: Voices from the Negro Leagues: This new series lets the listener be a part of the history of Negro Leagues baseball through stories from the players themselves. Featuring archived recollections by some of the greatest athletes to ever put on a pair of spikes – like Hank Aaron, Buck O'Neil, and Willie Mays – “Behind the Barrier: Voices from the Negro Leagues” will have casuals and baseball diehards clamoring for more. Tune in every other Tuesday.

 Started from the Bottom: The new iHeartPodcast series interviews successful people who grew up on the outside – people of color, people who weren’t part of the old boys’ network, people who grew up in a world where almost nobody went to college. Hosted by Justin Richmond, producer and co-host of Pushkin’s “Broken Record,” “Started from the Bottom” answers the questions of how these success stories came to be and how each person can overcome the odds en route to their own success. New episodes every Tuesday.

You can also check out the iHeart Podcast Spotlight blog for more info on these shows, or click over to iHeart’s Podcast Top 100 to see more of their podcasts.

Best Advice podcast interviews Meghan Trainor

A new episode of Spotify’s Best Advice podcast is now live, featuring well-known pop singer Meghan Trainor.

Says Meghan:

“For anyone out there who wants to have a baby, and you're like, oh no, my career isn't where I want it to be. A baby won't ruin it, it'll make it better. Babies bring luck. You're okay. If you want a baby, have a baby.” 

In this episode, Meghan Trainor opens up to host Kim Taylor Bennett about what it’s like to be a global pop star while also being a mom, admitting that she was at first nervous due to the demanding nature of her job but has only seen her career flourish since the birth of her son. She also talks about how she has been able to stay true to her pop roots since the beginning of her career- even when no other popular artist sounded like her, why she loves using TikTok to engage with her fans, and more. 

Having kicked off with revealing interviews from Big Freedia, Troye Sivan, BANKS, and Prince Royce, the second season of the Best Advice podcast continues with intimate conversations between host Kim Taylor Bennett and special guests Maggie Rogers, Lykke Li, Nile Rogers, Kim Petras, Meghan Trainor, Diplo, Rina Sawayama, and more.  The Best Advice Podcast - a spin-off of the popular Spotify for Artists flagship video series Best Advice with nearly five million views on YouTube - offers intimate conversations with some of the most fascinating names in the business sharing personal learnings and in-depth insights into navigating the world of music, commerce and creativity. 

New episodes will be released every Thursday through April 13. 

[manysmallhands]

My Albums of 2022: The top 10

Was 2022 a great year for music? I don't know tbh, though I think that I can confidently state that it was at least quite good. But certainly, I heard some records that I liked this year and since I've gotten back into the habit of writing now, I thought that I might make the effort to say something about my favourites. Also, my girlfriend likes to read these reviews so i wrote them in the hope of making her happy.

My tastes have broadened notably over recent years so i feel a bit out of my depth with some of this stuff. But tbh i'm such a fanboy that i tend to absorb facts about everything I that listen to, so i'm hoping not to come over as too poorly informed about any of these acts. Anyway, if I start to fall back on too many adjectives at some point for want of something to say, you should know that I did at least make an effort to write something that was vaguely interesting.

So, the main list goes in chronological order...

March:

Charli XCX - Crash

Watching Charli take pot shots at her label at the start of the year while indicating that this contract fulfilling album was a form of going thru the motions, I can’t say that I had high hopes for Crash. But if the build up was less than edifying, the record itself has ended up sounding a lot more worthwhile. Putting aside some of the more neurotic elements that characterised 2020’s How I’m Feeling Now, she instead falls back on a cartoonishly brash alter-ego, one that’s too busy berating her boyfriend for getting mushy or cheerfully remarking on how goddamn hot she is these days to have time for any deeper self-analysis.

Musically, there’s a lot of fun to be had in the summery 80s bombast of New Shapes and Lightning, where clattering electronic drums meet massive synth chords to create a charmingly trashy retro sound. Elsewhere, there are shuffling, club-friendly beats which project a more up-to-date vibe, most notably on Used To Know Me and the Rina Sawayama collaboration Beg For You. But while Crash always basically sounds like a Charli album, it’s clearly a move away from the past and feels a good distance from the glitchy hyperpop of old.

On sparkling closer “Twice”, our heroine reflects on the darker side of life but, in contrast to the self baiting Charli of recent times, decides that she's better off trying to live in the moment. One might say that Crash itself is an applied version of that idea, where weightier themes and experiments are put aside in favour of a more user friendly approach. I suspect that, record company pressure aside, this would have happened in the end anyway - most artists who’ve pushed at the boundaries eventually retrench a little. But I think the true measure of Crash is that, in its own way, it feels just as satisfying as its predecessors, as Charli sets her colossal talents to the task of making an album of fun, danceable tunes you can shout along to and aces it all with style to spare.

Ex-Vöid - Bigger Than Before

If you know anything about Ex-Vöid, it’s probably that they rose from the ashes of the excellent but terribly named indiepoppers Joanna Gruesome. That ought to give you some idea of the noise they make: Alanna McCardle and Owen Williams’ twin vocal style is basically a trademark in itself and they still do that bit where they pinch the first chord from You Made Me Realise before they start half of the songs. However, Bigger Than Before is not just a retread of past glories: while some elements here do have a certain familiarity, its 70s powerpop vibe brings them closer to someone like Big Star than the speed jangle of previous efforts, giving them a sound that has all the languid charm of classic American Rock while retaining the urgency and fun of their origins.

One key difference here is that Alanna takes on more songwriting duties and the album is better for it: there’s a strong sense of her angsty female perspective on tracks like “(Lying To You) Baby” which offers a sharp contrast to the slackerish feel of the music. The cover of Arthur Russell’s “I Couldn’t Say It To Your Face” is another highlight, as they add some energy to Russell's beautifully maudlin ballad whilst still retaining the song’s essential gloom. CD hold outs will get cracking early single “Only One” as a bonus but, despite the album’s brevity, its ten song run is flawless in itself and requires nothing to shore it up. Old Joanna Gruesome fans ought to be happy enough with the results (I am anyway), but Bigger Than Before feels like a record to win over new converts as much as one that preaches to the choir.

April: Jeanines - Don’t Wait for A Sign

Jeanines debut found them more often that not in something of a panic but on Don’t Wait For A Sign they manage to balance that out with a more cheerful disposition. Alicia appeals to ideas of trusting to fate and seizing the day just as often as sinking into gloom and the results lend a brighter and more optimistic sheen to their folksy indiepop sound.

The guitars strum and jangle as appealingly as before but as ever it’s Alicia’s voice which is the star, swooping around with an assuredness which belies the nerves so often on display. Singles “Any Day Now” and “Who’s In the Dark?” hit with a sugar rush immediacy but there’s plenty of strength in depth too, with tracks like the insistent “Gotta Go” and the wonderfully ambivalent “Turn On the TV” creeping up on you after repeated listens.

As ever with indiepop albums, its familiarity is a given, but the strength of lyrical insight and sheer melodic verve here marks Don’t Wait For A Sign out as a genuine keeper. On this showing, Jeanines remain one of the few current players in the genre who can make this deceptively simple art form so memorable and so satisfyingly rich with feeling.

Let’s Eat Grandma - Two Ribbons

In a year where there has been no shortage of intensity in pop music, Two Ribbons still stands out as something else. Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton have, to put it mildly, had a time of it since their last LP, dealing with the death of Hollingworth’s boyfriend alongside struggling to patch up the increasing cracks in their friendship amongst a huge weight of personal upheaval. While all of this has clearly thrown them hard in various ways, the album that it’s inspired is their best by a long distance. Every song feels like a message transmitted from a place of radical and unsparing honesty, whether it’s directed towards lovers past and present or, more often, at themselves and each other, as they attempt to understand the new, difficult and at times terrifying situations that they’ve suddenly been forced to navigate.

And yet…overwhelming it may be but Two Ribbons never gets bogged down in grim reflection: it’s always a pop record first and manages to deal with its baggage in surprising ways. Like all the best stories it starts at the end, with single “Happy New Year” acting as an upbeat celebration of the endurance of their friendship as well as a pulsing synthpop banger. And for all its anger, “Watching You Go” is also a fierce cry of resistance, with a wealth of bewilderment and brittleness bound up in its jittery, powerful rhythm track and a breathtaking melody to carry it across. Hollingworth’s top lines in particular are head-spinningly beautiful throughout and help raise the album beyond the merely impressive to something that’s jaw droppingly great. While nothing is resolved as the title track closes, Two Ribbons is still a powerfully cathartic record, a treatise on love, death and friendship as well as the ability of music to express the things that words alone can’t always explain.

May Florence + The Machine - Dance Fever

Dance Fever marked a new high point in Florence’s ultra-confessional bombast, using the twin stresses of the pandemic and a mid-career crisis to fuel some of her most satisfying work in a decade. The title is somewhat misleading, with the concept for the album being less club culture, more nervous panic: the notion of Choreomania - where German peasant folk danced themselves to death back in the Middle Ages - provides a key image for the record, which Florence manages to map onto the tortured relationship she has with both her muse and her career.

The opening “King” is solemn and regal enough to befit such a title, but its gender swap accentuates the song’s toughness and that brutality comes back time and again, whether it’s in the frequent and unsparing references to personal conflict that pepper the lyrics or the occasional projections of Florence's inner turmoil out into violence against her own body. While single “My Love” is something of a banger, Floz generally skips between styles in her usual goth-pop modes, with the fresh and unexpected motorik of “Free” balancing neatly against the more epic, windswept feel of songs like “Girls Against God” and “The Bomb”. The rumbling rockers are less consistent but “Cassandra” in particular hits a richly theatrical vein, combining myth and drama with the wider arc of the album’s story to fine effect.

While many artists might have faded after 15 years in the spotlight, Florence seems to be using her longevity as something to power her onwards, tapping into her neuroses about stardom and the need to be seen to make a record that can only perpetuate it all for even longer. Given how tortured the whole business has clearly become, one might feel somewhat ambivalent about that result, but when it still drives her to spin it all into great art like this, I guess she must believe at heart that it’s worth the trouble.

Kendrick Lamar - Mr Morale and the Big Steppers

Writing about Mr Morale is, in one sense, something of a treat because there’s such a lot to say about it and such a lot that it says for itself. From another angle, it’s extremely daunting: as a record with so much density and substance, it’s easy to get lost in all the layers on display. It’s clearly intended to be a Big Statement by A Major Artist but its playfulness is vital too: whether in the humorously conspiratorial nature of the lyrics, with Kendrick being prepared to goof around and openly mock himself while talking about issues which are obviously very personal to him, or the musical breaks from hip hop convention, where he strays at times towards more jazz based textures or even elements that wouldn’t sound out of place in a musical drama.

Kendrick’s message is often contradictory but rarely incoherent, as the point of the album is basically that we have to work towards understanding our own truths, with unexamined judgements and behaviours fuelling the worst aspects of our lives. He's often tough on himself, whether he's raking over his infidelity, struggling with the violence that’s surrounded him from an early age or reckoning with what he feels to be his many emotional shortcomings. But he’s similarly scathing about everyone else too, lashing out hard at social media, the church and the superficiality of the modern world. Further to this, there are prominent appearances from the deeply unpleasant Kodak Black throughout, essentially emphasising the message of songs like Mother I Sober and Mr Morale, where Kendrick muses on the issues that keep black people in abusive cycles and chooses unconditional support for all, including forgiveness for the abusers. You may disagree with his ideas about this - and god knows I struggle with some of them - but it certainly provokes thought about a concept that's excruciatingly difficult to deal with. In the end, as he astutely points out on Crown, “you can’t please everybody”.

Ultimately, the important thing is that I liked the album a lot: often because of what it was saying, sometimes in spite of it and frequently when it was irrelevant because so many of the songs are absolute bangers. It is almost certainly the most adventurous record that I’ve listened to this year: Kendrick has often been someone who was prepared to break ground and go against the grain and the sheer weight of ambition on Mr Morale is hard to overstate. But the overwhelming feeling I take away from it is an enormous sense of respect for the man, both for his extraordinary talent and his willingness to put his emotional life on display in this manner. In the frequently ultra-masculine world of hip-hop, this is hardly a commonplace in any sense, but it’s hard to think of any other record at all which shows such an unvarnished, bold and often thrilling portrait of an artist who gives absolutely everything for his art.

August Danger Mouse and Black Thought - Cheat Codes

Cheat Codes finds Black Thought given a project to front that’s every bit the equal of his best work, as producer-to-the-stars Danger Mouse returned to hip-hop for the first time in an age to helm this absolute belter of an album. The Roots MC sounds fully in his element here, by turns witty, furious and, erm, thoughtful, as he dissects the modern experience of being black in America and spits some of his most musical and incisive bars in the process. Danger is, of course, entirely up to the task of backing him, armed with a plethora of scratchy old soul records and a trained ear for spotting the hook, as he makes Cheat Codes sound as inspired and enveloping as anything from the golden age of the genre.

The guests are, unsurprisingly, largely of a certain vintage (MF DOOM is even resurrected from beyond the grave on “Belize”) but all bring vital force to the LP, with Conway the Machine’s gritty sang-froid counterbalanced by the likes of Killer Mike’s punchy nervous energy. The title track is a particular standout, as Black Thought spins a beautiful and brutal web over Danger’s machine gun-style clatter, but there are few weak moments of any kind at all.

Bleakness does set in over the course of the album, as the neo-soul swagger of the first half gives way to an increasingly frosty outlook. But that’s all in keeping with its themes: there’s only so long that you can set a brave face to the harsh environment where these songs play out. If comparisons spring to mind, it’s perhaps something like Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson’s Winter In America, another LP where its creators looked for solace under the weight of a country in shock. Such a lofty pedigree may sound tough to live up to but, in truth, Cheat Codes punches that weight pretty comfortably.

October Westside Gunn - 10

I’ve previously struggled to find a way into underground hip hop, but it’s only lately that I’ve stumbled across Westside Gunn and his Griselda label associates and I feel like I’ve been missing out on a lot. The vibe is, I guess, reminiscent of old east coast records, all gritty jazz and soul samples slowed down and hammered out of shape, with a shifting cast of hoods and crack dealers making moves over the top. But while I can’t deny that familiarity, there’s a genuine distinctiveness to the Griselda sound too, with its strange, sometimes beatless loops forming an hypnotic sludge which it’s easy to become immersed in. I can’t claim to be hugely versed in it all as yet, but 10 was an instant favourite when I first picked up on it last month and is as good a record as I’ve heard all year.

There are cameos galore from a stellar cast here (Wu-Tang, Black Star and Run The Jewels aren’t even the half of it) as well as a surprise nod to 60s psych singer Margo Guryan on “Science Class”. But it’s the more obscure turns which often stand out, especially the hilarious run from Gunn’s daughter Westside Pootie on “Nigo Louis” and the apocalyptic holler of DJ Drama’s narration over “Red Death”, the grisly epic that closes out the album. Best of all is “Shootouts in Soho”, a hazy and surprisingly poignant take on addiction, where Stove God waves away the crack smoke for long enough to soberly reflect “When the feds come, they don’t love you no more” over the eerie synth backgrounds.

While AA Rashid’s opening reflections on Gunn’s place in the enlightenment are clearly a bit of a goof, my guess is that he has a solid and serious point underneath: that Gunn - and Griselda’s area of hip-hop in general - should be taken seriously for the high level pop art that it is. But even putting that aside, his arch reflections on “where is the enlightenment in contradistinction to the renaissance?” make for the most entertaining opening to any hip-hop record I’ve heard all year, and from then on, right thru to Drama yelling out “And like that…we gone!” at the end, the whole album is full of similarly winning lines that help to puncture its murky atmosphere, a febrile counterpoint that stops it from sinking into the swamp of its foundations.

10 was the first Griselda record to come to my attention and it's the one that got me hooked. It’s creepy, fucked up and incredible: I can’t get enough of it.

November Weyes Blood - And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow

I read an interview recently in which Weyes Blood was framed as the voice of Generation Y, an impassioned, world weary commentator on the emotional casualties of our digital age. If I’m honest, it all feels a bit ridiculous - who on earth wants to be the voice of a generation anyway - and in reality it’s surely not that simple: apart from anything else, is it really possible now in these increasingly fragmented times? But on Hearts Aglow, it does feel like she’s stepping into that idea of herself even more so than on previous albums and, remarkably, it’s a fit that only adds to the weight and power of her music.

Certainly, Natalie has a flair for taking her own circumstances and broadening them out to address wider issues: the opening “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody” uses her personal angst to fuel a grand statement about alienation, while “The Worst Is Done” rakes over the wreckage of the pandemic in unflinching emotional detail. All this is accentuated by the sweeping Laurel Canyon melodrama of the music and Merring’s rich and soothing vocals, which seem to have gained an increasingly mature depth since 2019’s Titanic Rising. It feels similar to the shift that Joni Mitchell’s voice made during the mid-1970s and fits perfectly with the new scope of her songcraft.

But perhaps what makes Heart’s Aglow such a remarkable record is how she manages to bring all this home at an individual level: she might be talking about all of our predicaments but when she turns that gaze towards herself, the surge of identification has an even greater poignancy to it. Whether it’s to do with her role in the wider questions she’s trying to address or simply “searching for a man who actually understands me” on the glorious title track, not only does Natalie seem to feel everyone else’s pain but, more to the point, we feel hers as well. Is she the voice of a generation? No, reader, she is not. But if Generation Y were really on the lookout for one, they could do a lot worse.

December Permanent Vacation - Shelf Life

Though released just three weeks ago, I’d wager that Shelf Life will have a somewhat longer, erm, shelf life than most of the records that came out this year. Permanent Vacation are an Anglo-American duo by way of Mexico City and their sound is one of haze and dust, late nights and broken mornings.

Juliette sings like English is her second language, with a husky, slightly hesitant delivery that feels like it's being broadcast from another universe. The music is minimal, a gentle acoustic guitar and some ghostly synths, with occasional piano notes that cut through with an unearthly clarity. Sentences drift by that don’t necessarily make much sense (“Do you know what it’s like to buy a paper?”, “I never told you you're a flower”), apparently meaning little but which begin to haunt after repeated listens. The mood is of low key drama, often brooding and fretful and which seems to mask a good deal left unsaid. “The King In Yellow” is named after an old horror story about a book that was said to drive its readers insane and, while I can’t truly say the same of the song (I still apparently retain my mental faculties), the unsettling vibe of Juliette’s strained voice and the staccato descent of the piano makes me understand something of what they're getting at.

More than anything, Shelf Life feels eerily evocative: amongst the things that came to mind while listening to it were the feeling of walking into a room which everyone had left ten minutes ago and seeing the echoes of their actions in object form, and waking up in a stranger’s house mid-afternoon, immediately wondering where you are and how yr going to get home. In a list where some of these albums will piss out the number of streams in a morning that this will get throughout the entirety of next year, this record goes to show that talent and recognition do not necessarily go hand in hand. In truth, Shelf Life is easily the equal of any of them.

And that's it. Or not, because this is just the top 10. There are in fact two more posts to come detailing the second tier of best albums of 2022, though I didn't write so much about them as they aren't quite as good. But I'll get on with posting them soon and will link to the next one here as soon as it exists. If anyone gets this far, thank you for reading.