#solving viva las vengeance

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

i think the funniest possible thing for panic! to do would be to mention cheez whiz in a song and then try to make merch about it. ryan ross would inevitably hear about this and be forced to respond, because everyone KNOWS that it would have to be about him, but he technically wouldn't have that much of a case (cheez whiz doesn't belong to him, there's no way to prove Brendon doesn't also coincidentally like cheez whiz with definitely no association to ryan, plus the brand would probably have already signed off on allowing this). nothing even a little good could possibly come out of this .

Unfortunately Brendon would do that. Even more unfortunate I want this to happen so bad. Because Ryden shippers (convinced of it's healthy existence or not) would show up on that man's doorstep and MURDER him in cold blood. Panic! fans nowadays cannot agree on anything to save lives but they would band together like the Roman senate on The Ides of March and line up to stab Emperor Brendon Caesar and preserve his corpse in cheez whiz. I am vividly imaging Emperor Julius Urie seeing Dallon Weeks and Jon Walker lined up as well and going "Et Tu Dallon, Jon?".

The only good thing that could possibly come out of this is the resurgence of the Cheez Whiz meme

[rydenisreal]

Oh god I saw on a post in the notes that "Did you kiss the devil" is about Pete Wentz because panic! sorta owes their success to Pete and Ryan was big fan of his and is kinda the reason Pete took a chance on them and there was rumour and speculation that there was something between them (hence all the jokes about p!atd being the sugar baby band) and I can't get it out of my head. Not only is Brendon trying to ryden bait fans who don't know jack shit about it because they're too young to remember or not invested enough in bandom history but now he's taking a swing at using fob too.

hes really biting the hand that feeds him here

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

VLV DEMOS JUST DROPPED

not officially or anything but they're here! "Y-o-u don't want me" and "California"

Lexi I need you to know I've sat here for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out if I have the strength to listen to them. But I know what must be done

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

I think I solved VLV. like totally and completely.

it starts off in the song Viva Las Vengeance, where Brendon kills the DJ, who was Ryan Ross. then, he goes into the story of why.

They were breaking up, but still leading each other on, as seen in Something About Maggie and Middle Of A Breakup. They were also incredibly toxic, as is implied in Don't Let The Light Go Out, where Brendon regrets having killed him, but consoles himself in Local God by convincing himself Ryan's memory is alive and he's become a god. Then, in God Killed Rock and Roll, he realises he's lost all his talent do too Ryan's absence.

He realises he's alone, and "goes to bed", or enters himself into eternal sleep.

the rest of the songs are just worldbuilding and filler.

i am sorry ive sent you like 50 asks in like an hour oops

Then is Maggie the music industry? Or fame?

Again I agree with most if not all of the above but I'd like to tack on my insistent theory that this is all Brendon talking to himself in the mirror, telling himself a story, gaslighting himself that the band is fine he's doing fine etc.

Just seems like a mental breakdown but made more "pretty" but his cohort of ghost writers and his failed high notes. It's very self exposing but in such a dishonest way, through such a twisted lens I almost have to applaud him.

I also think the music videos (of which I have seen maybe 2.3 of) back you. Some of them gave strong strong Miss Jackson vibes.

All in all this ablum was every bit of the shitshow we predicted it would be and I'm glad to wash my hands of it now.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

Something about Maggie could (?) be about Dallon era panic! I think. like Dallon is Maggie, and he's being abused by Brendon (as we know he was mistreated while with panic!)

Could very well be. But idk if Brendon would own up to such things (even though he loves to expose himself in his music).

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

I've been too obsessed with harry styles I forgot to finish interpreting VLV. anyway I think the moral of the album is that while Brendon thinks he can get by without bandmates, everything will inevitably be about them. and then he'll die trying to chase the high he used to have

And we'll all live happily ever after. The End.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

VLV THOUGHT

the "she" in "she said, Viva Las Vengeance" is obviously Maggie, right? SO what if by "shut up and go to bed", he means like. go sleeping forever. with the fishes. and that's why there are so many songs that seem to insinuate that harm is being done to Maggie

but the reason Maggie won't go to rest is because she wants vengeance, so the album aims to lay her to rest. The album ends with "Do It To Death" because Maggie rests, but it takes Boyds death to satisfy her.

now, much like the sun/moon theory, I can make an argument that puts Brendon in either position, and Ryan in either position.

If Brendon is Maggie, then he'll keep going until he gets attention from Ryan and/or Ryan just. stops having a following? this would also tie into the erasure of AFYCSO and P.O., because they represent Ryan and he doesn't want that. Ryan begs him to stop, but he won't

If Ryan is Maggie, then he's not literally doing the stuff, but he's taunting Brendon inside of Brendon's head. Brendon begs him for a rest, but never gets it.

I also still think I'm missing something

I love that Brendon is trying to push the "one cannot live while the other survives" narrative when Ryan is out there living his best life.

I feel like Brendon is trying to romanticize the toxic fall out of panic! by saying they'll fall of the cliff together hannigram style ya know. End it all, but together. 2 sides of the same coin. Boyd and Maggie end up killing each other in a mutual double suicide a la Romeo and Juliet.

He's willing to do it to the death to get the narrative written his way.

Also I actually am leaning to towards Ryan being Maggie because Brendon 100% knows that Ryan is out. That he doesn't care. But Brendon is so hung up that he's making up this ghost of him to haunt him to keep him going.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

something about

"ryden is real and the government knows it, tell us the truth about Northern Downpour", vs. "for diamond do appear to be just like broken glass to me, and then she said she can't believe genius only comes along in storms of fabled foreign tongues", vs. "It's 2021 and I'm almost famous You never really cared about that"

Something like this?

Me who's been speculating about the real reason Ryan + Co. left since I met you:

Honeslty it's all so so telling but I can't articulate it cause I just woke up and my phone is dead (typing on a tablet sucks)

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

i listened to don't let the light go out and I think I'm running out of mildly interesting things to say about VLV it sounded about the same as everything else. also i think brendon should note that ryan is Not dead and I really hope the song is not about him

True to form I forgot all about it till you reminded me. I went and listened to it. The song wasn't as bad honestly. But just when I think it gets alright it gets worse. The music video looks like this is gospel and miss jackson kinda smashed together. Interesting if I didn't know it's all ripped off from idkhow.

"You're my love, you're my death, you're my alibi" is about Ryan. Especially the alibi. Ryan is Brendon's alibi for actually being able to write music.

"Don't wanna live if the thought of loving you is dead" the thought of loving you is dead. This immediately reminded me of the movie 500 days of summer where our protagonist "loves" this girl (who we learn is purposely written as a manic pixie girl tailored to him) who clearly stated she wants nothing serious with him. And he thinks he can change her. In the end we realise he loved the idea of her, what she stood for, what she represented. Not her specifically. Brendon is our protagonist (Tom) and Ryan is our girl (Summer). Brendon keeps writing and baiting about Ryden because he does love him. Just not in the right way. He loves/loved what Ryan brought him what Ryan wrote what they had in the band. (Wow i thought I wasn't gonna tinhat but I just went on a roll)

"You're the only one that knows how to operate my heavy machinery" the heavy machinery being the band and Ryan operating is writing for the band keeping it authentic.

Voice wise he doesn't like he's dying just yet (the most minor improvement) but I still can't understand what he's saying while in high notes for shit.

Also....... are we sure Brendon knows Ryan isn't dead? Like 100%? Or did he jusy alter his memeories because he couldn't bare to live in a world where Ryan left him a la Dean rewriting his memeories of the Purgatory escape?

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

"I'm aware, that's you're scared, of my heart, but it's there" (Young Veins (Die Tonight)) 🤝 "Did you get all weighed down by your heart of gold cause you really only cared about that" (Local God)

Live footage of me reading this:

Brendon listened to Young Veins confirmed? If so I'm going to drop and roll off a cliff like I'm on fire.

But the fact the Ryan knows Brendon fears/doesn't understand/dislikes his love for authenticity in music and the unwillingness to give it up for fame. Ough.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

im working on a theory you'll get at a point but FIRST. interesting to note that in Do It To Death music video Brendon DIED because of performing too much. and that he released that video the first day of VLV tour

I'm preparing the Apollo dodgeball meme and praying. If he doesn't die true to his claim in the video I'm labelling him a poser. Also I've been saying this since that album came out, if he keeps straining his voice his vocal cords with give out and snap. Can't wait for your theory btw :)

[rydenisreal]

Okay so I listened to Local God. My first thoughts were that this man is singing way too high for way too long with no prep. He's putting too much on his voice. I couldn't make out anything except for "local god, you'll be remembered for the things you're not".

The backtracks were okay-ish, sounded a lot like the last song. The guitar solo(?) was interesting i guess.

I went and watched a couple of reviews by more experienced vocal analysts and across the board there was the consensus that he was straining his voice.

One part I did make out though was the mention of 2021 probably indicating this was written last year. Wondering why he didn't change that?

Still couldn't understand the lyrics so I went and searched them up.

"In 1998, You bought a b.c. rich. You were a master shredder from the jump. Blew them all away with the ritalin kids. While i was shedding through my sophomore slump. You had so many chances to become a star. But you never really cared about that." Is he talking about Ryan? The you had so many chances to be a star but you never really cared about really implys it is especially since Ryan was the one that left and partly faded into obscurity while Brendon stayed on, got famous but lost the sound of the band.

"You'll live forever as a local god. You'll be remembered for the thing you're not." Okay this has to be about Ryan cause while Ryan is really talented in his own right he's always talked and thought about as the guy who left. As the guy who's not there any more. This could also apply to Jon and Dallon too.

"We signed a record deal at seventeen. Hated by every local band. They say we never paid our dues." Pre split panic. It just is.

"It's 2021 and i'm almost famous. You never really cared about that." Almost famous? Dude your top song was played on radio on repeat for weeks. If I could physically kill it I would. What more are you looking for? (I'm not shaming him for being ambitious, I'm just like, ???? what's the endgame here?) Also why 2021?

"Are you melting face at the bellagio? Woah! Oh! Oh! Or are you teaching little kids how to rock 'n' roll?" Is he wondering where Ryan is?

"Did you get weighed-Down by your heart of gold? 'cos you really only cared about that" I'm certain this is about Ryan. "Creative differences" is just a pr friendly way to say that one person wanted to stick to what the band stood for and another to change completely to make bank. And Ryan was the one that left and stuck to his sound.

"Did you ever get your money back? Did you ever kiss the devil?" What does this mean? When you kiss the devil I'm assuming it's make a deal with the devil. And people often do that for money, fame, success. I'm wondering if Brendon is asking (Ryan directly I'm not sure) if he's caved and given in to to the music industry and changing to gain fame.

Anyway what do you think?

ok you're so so SO correct about Brendons voice being shot, I almost feel bad for him honestly.

second. I just listened to it for the first time and I felt like I got stabbed. like genuinely he needs to leave some room for me to tin hat in he can't just write the lyrics to LITERALLY COME RIGHT OUT AND TELL ME it's about Ryan.

that first line. honestly. you're incredibly correct about it being ryan considering they literally met in high school

I did look up the lyrics, and the ones I found said "it's even better than the thing you're not", which screams to me that Brendon is saying being remembered as a local god is better than being a star, as well as "you'll be remembered as the thing you're not", which also kind of has the energy of saying "you'll be remembered as the best band member, even though you left me and aren't even a band member anymore"

I wonder whether the rest of VLV could outline his plan for going forward, considering modern panic! albums seem to almost have a "one step forward, two steps back" kind of thing (from DOAB being a look back, to HIGH HIGH HOPES, to VLV looking back AGAIN), but "it's 2021 and I'm almost famous" gives me brainworms that I'll probably spend the rest of this century working out

I think just in general Brendon is wondering if he went the right route with his life, it kind of reminds me of the interview when he said that he doesn't think theres any jealousy between them, even if this song is kinda the opposite of no jealousy.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

i luv how they asked Brendon "what is middle of a breakup about?" and he IMMEDIATELY dodged the question. way to get around saying "Ryan Ross" on live tv, coward

It's even more of a spit in the face if at first the song had zero meaning. He just slapped together some half assed lyrics and a steamy music video (which i refuse to watch) and said "ya that'll do as ryan bait". Then decides to not at least be open about it. Also rip to Brendon but I'm different. If I wrote a song about Ryan Ross no matter how shitty I'd shout it from the roof tops.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

this album is like a bingo board of how many timnes can one guy rip off idkhow

I think he got a triple BINGO half way through the album.

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

!!! panic! YouTube channel has release a new teaser for another song before VLV is out. called Don't Let The Light Go Out.

It is 2:24 am I am not giving them the views. I'll dunk on the song when I can pirate it. But also I wonder if the song has anything to do with the song "Turn off the lights" from Vices and Virtues which is such a Sam coded song

[how-the-feathers-have-fallen]

i just realised the prophecy thing is almost funnier with the bonus of. i already predicted this on twitter

This is why we can't have anything nice. I was kinda hoping Brendon see your comment and had heart attack but :/ it ain't happening.

Also really feeling the urge to dodgeball you rn.