#their new album from 2023 is also awesome

[xxmolls]

Lydia Loveless - “Head”

[kanmom51]

JK Live 4 October 2023

21:01 or 9:01 pm KST

cr./To all the creators of the media used in this post.

I was waiting for this, and kind of expecting this to happen, lol.

He said he'd be live at 9 pm. And yes, you can say, it's unintentional, a coincidence, but I say NO.

Both JK and JM have shown us over the years their attention to the numbers, the dates.

Starting the live at 9:01 was intentional.

9/1 or 1/9, however you look at it!!

Let's talk about the live, why don't we?

It was definitley an interesting one.

In a gist, JK shut down (well tried to) the whole Mingyu shipping shit. He most definitley shut down TKKs. I actually kinda, maybe (not really), felt sorry for them.

He listened to all the members songs, with certain degrees of favouritism and certain degrees of, well, not...

He drank. Like a lot. I think maybe someone needs to fill him in on the secret that alcohol does have calories. Yes, whiskey might not be as bad as beer on that front, but drinking as much and then not eating cause he's dieting... well, not the healthiest choice. And this is not, god forbid, me mothering or smothering him. His health is important for his performance (he says that himself), not to mention, man is constantly hungry. Eat more, is what I'm saying.

He once again demonstrated his neuro-divergency (that whole clean up session he had in the kitchen, lol).

He showed us, again that's it's all about choices.

He got pensive and serious at a point and said some very important things, which I will, of course, discuss here in my post.

He is super tired, but really struggling to sleep.

He is fighting so hard to drop the cute image, but man, it's just imbedded in him. He is so cute!!!

And he is so genuine.

He is genuine.

Let us begin our journey into JK's almost 1.5 hour live (yep, we are back to those, lol).

He starts out telling us he just got home from the company, and that he hasn't even prepared his glass (of drink) - kind of solidifies my belief that the 9:01 pm starting time was meaningful and intentional, because then he goes and prepares his glass and drink.

He invited us to have drinks with him, so as he's preparing his own drink he tells us to fill up our glasses as well, lol. Throughout the live he has 3 highballs, and by the end of the live admits he's kind of drunk. Which is not that surprising given he is drinking on an empty stomach (as high as his tolerance to alcohol may be).

He explains he came on Weverse on the 4th and not earlier because of his solo album announcement. Golden. Makes a toast with us to celebrate it. And he talks a little about it as well.

He tells us how Golden represented him after debut. We know him as the Golden maknae, he mentions I think GC (which for some reason they translate as golden chest and not golden closet, maybe because whoever is translating isn't aware of golden closet, who knows...), how he wrote a poem called Golden (the one JM went all gushy about, if you recall), And also "this moment is like a golden period for me." - Golden hour perhaps? Kind of fits with his choice of lighting for the live as well. Just saying.

And there you have it!!!

And after seeing this, go back and take another look at his concept photo...

The album includes 3D and the clean and explicit versions of Seven. 11 songs on it, which means we will get to hear 8 new songs!!!

He also explains how he thought he would release an ep and somehow it became a full album.

He didn't give too much info (well, he couldn't of course), but told us the title track has a performance and he's practicing, like A LOT. He wants to do well and is giving it his best. He also lets us know that the title song is a hard one and will be awesome!! I do hope this one is not a collab though (just my own wishes here). He is confident we will like it, and says we can look forward to it. I know I am.

He's complaining about how his body isn't the same, he's exhausted. Well JK my man, you wanted to be a adult, and us adults, we grow old too, lol...

He says "there is nothing that is making me stressed out, I am just tired." Now, that could be meant about the album being released, or the performance he's preparing for. But it could also be more...

He says he's keeping his voice down and wanted to be calm and have "older bro vibe", lol.

He wants to go with older bro vibe. Appear to be more mature? Since his full album is coming out?

Ok, so I'm going to say this here. The translation is somewhat off and wacky. I felt this with JM's live on 1st September with some of it, and I feel the same here as well. The whole golden chest thing, the "I'm keeping the weight down" when he's talking about the older bro vibe, and more... It feels like a. whoever is doing this doesn't know JK too much (the golden chest is a big clue), and b. are they just translating literally and not the actual sentence meaning?

JK shares with us how tired he is, how he's still having trouble sleeping, that he practiced real hard today and that his upcoming schedule is hellish. I can only imagine. He's really worried, "will I be good at this?"

Now, let's stop here for a second shall we? Didn't he just minutes before tell us he's not stressed out? So, perhaps that wasn't about the album and promotions at all? Perhaps that was more about the white noise shitshow that was going on in the background? Telling us that isn't bothering him, all while now sharing with us that what he is worried about is if he'll be good enough, do well enough with his performances?

He shows us he got an IV today, needs to replenish himself, yet he hasn't eaten. "I have to take care of my body too". Yes he does. But at the same time he says he has to lose weight. It kind of frustrates me, but then again, this is their reality, as idols. I just wish there would be less pressure on them in that aspect.

He reads a comment telling him to do well, says he will.

And then this:

Ok, so thing is, please raise your hand if you actually do believe the commenter was asking JK if he loves Taehyun of TXT.

No show of hands I see.

Lmao.

Nah, when this happened I didn't have the comments on and in any case wouldn't have been able to read them, not knowing Korean. But I kind of felt like maybe whoever wrote it wasn't Karmy and misspelled it perhaps? And then I saw this.

So here's the thing. If this was a misspell, makes sense that JK was maybe blissfully unaware of the intent of the comment.

But if this was indeed spelled out correctly, I kind of have my doubts he didn't read it right, especially given he says it twice before answering. And he's off telling us about TXT Taehyun. Whom he spoke with on the phone that day. He's so well mannered and cute, while being an old soul. Ok, here we go with another Taekook ship, lol. JK spoke to someone - must be something going on there. No wonder the man is so damn tired... Seven days a week seven sets of sheets... (eww... NOOOOOOO). No, but seriously, did we know that Taehyun was a good friend of JK's? No we didn't. Now we do.

Not seeing it doesn't mean it's not there!!!

It's funny how JK runs himself down constantly. Like the man is so intelligent. Perhaps not book smart (which is why he keeps saying he's not smart), but not everything about life is learnt from a book, and his emotional intelligence and artistic intelligence are next level. But he keeps running himself down, and I kind of feel that sometimes fans only hear or see that of him, instead of seeing his art and listen to what actually comes out of his mouth when he starts speaking about the deeper things.

Again, the "I'm Jungkook's girlfriend" comments. Ugh yuck. Like shut the fuck up already. But he just brushes it off. Reads it, asks what they are doing at this hour and snickers.

Comment "I really love you a lot". JK "I think I love you more". This is once again JK cementing just how great his love for army is. He will talk about it more later too.

Look, man loves army. We can't even start to understand the connection he has with army, given his whole career, starting out at such an early age and going through all the struggles that they went through to get where they are right now, feeling that it's because this sense of loyalty and love that army have for them. So yes, he loves army.

And another idiot in the comments asking JK to take off his shirt. Of course these people are flooding his comments. Funny how his reaction is:

Yes he giggles, but he's uncomfortable. And asks why they even said that. "It's embarrassing".

Happy that he called them out. As if it will help though.

JK shows us his Vogue magazine, the hip hop concept, which he says he liked the most.

Ok, so this was maybe intentional (I kinda feel it was), maybe not, but cute none the less.

He talks about how the comments are lagging, slow, and says:

and then he thinks for a second, eyes looking to the side (mind working), and goes:

Kind of random, don't you think?

Coming up with the 13 seconds lagging.

And happening to end up with 10-13. 🤣🤣

So, he started the live at 9-1 and now we have 10-13!!!

I'd say, either this was intentional (him stopping to think might just hint to that) or the man has 13 etched on his brain. 13 and 10, which is kind of coming up very soon...

Next JK talks about the TikTok he deleted.

Now here's the thing. On Stationhead JK said he saw the trend and wanted to do it. Not a word about doing the opposite of the trend. Going "the other way". JK isn't saying he didn't want us to see the clip he uploaded (which kind of might have been what was understood from what he said in Stationhead, and maybe that's why he's clarifying here). He says he wanted his TikTok to be for dancing and that's why he deleted. He also seems to be happy that army had seen it and spread it around regardless of him deleting. So, he wanted us to see it, but better it not be on his TikTok. And the thing is that he posted it to start with. He knew that army will catch it and spread it. He knew!!! And he wanted us to. I don't know how to articulate this properly to make my point clearly, but the whole thing screams Queer coding to me. I talked about it in a previous post, and I stand by my words.

This wasn't about doing something silly and then regretting and deleting. This was about posting something with a message, and then deleting because it couldn't stay up on his account ("as long as it's not on my tiktok"), but relying on army to catch it and spread it around.

"Let's talk in English", reading out a comment...

The Nah, though, lol.

"English is so difficult", he says in English, lol.

Talks about how the comments are slow and the responses in Stationhead were immediate, and then, out of nowhere he's going...

Puiriri...

Well, he actually does this during Like crazy as well.

Nope, not JM on the brain what so ever...

"Korean is sexy"...him going with that's right, Korean is the hardest language... He actually talks about how the translations from English to Korean differ from translator to translator and how interesting that is. True about the opposite way as well, seeing the difference in the structures of both languages.

"You want to see me laugh?"

Funny, the original translations were "smile if you're real". Either way, he's hilarious.

I can't with him. LMAO.

Prepares drink no. 2.

Again, this man doesn't want to be called cute, but he's so damn cute, lol. Like how can you be preparing this alcoholic drink and still be so cute about it? Lol.

No tequila or champagne for JK.

"You want to have a drink with me?"

JK: You already all know it.

Why does it feel like JK is talking about so much more than just knowing his address is up on YT?

"You want me to call out my address? But you really can't visit me." Boundaries set once again. With a smile. But set none the less.

Plays a song he tells us he was recommended by one of the dancers while filming 3D MV. 21 by Gracie Abrams.

Says we'll be like this today "let's rest". How you can call what he does later as rest I have no idea, lol.

He shows us where he shot the TikTok clips, the corridor. Shows and explains a little how he does it.

Does a little clean up sesh in the kitchen. The way he was rearranging the bottles and utensils, while on live, was that intentional? Was it just his neuro divergency, getting distracted perhaps? Idk.

Asked if he ate, asks "what will I eat?" in English and tries to say something else or thinks maybe he didn't say it properly initially, but gives up, lol.

Then someone askes to hear Hobi's song. And JK is happy to go put on Jhope's song, saying he misses him. 😭

Says "Arson", twice, but then plays "More", lol.

Ok, so this is where we start with listening to the members songs, and I do have something to say about this.

JK plays 2 of Hobi's songs, and puts on a show.

If this is JK resting... Lol.

Sure he's tired...

After Hobi, JK plays Tae's Slow dancing.

Then stops the song, sits down saying how tiring have to rest and then says "Let's go with all the major songs for the members".

And guess who's next... one guess allowed... Of course you know the answer to that.

He has Like crazy playing twice in a row and then SMF pt. 2. He really LOVES SMF pt. 2. You can tell it means A LOT to him. Not that LC doesn't, but I feel that emotionally LC is harder for him, while SMF pt. 2 is cathartic (for JM and as such so meaningful to him as well).

He's all playful with LC.

We have this as well...

And at some point wants to do something, walks off camera looking for a prop, I guess, only to come back deciding it's a no go - won't be fun (me sitting here dying to know what he was up to).

The whole bottle empty during LC.

He moves on to Jin, 1 and a half songs, RM (3 songs) and Suga (2 songs).

Point being, the only member that gets only 1 song played is Tae. Ouch. The only member to have the same song played twice - JM.

So, let's talk a second about the whole Like crazy playing twice. Cause Idk if you get it. He listens to Hobi and then Tae's Slow dancing, then says "we have to listen to all the members", cause he ain't falling into the TKK trap, and he plays JM. Cause, of course it would be JM. But here's the thing. Each one of them was on a specific playlist. When he played a song it continued to the next song in line. Hobi he said Arson, but actually played More (which was interesting within itself), and then it went to On the streets. RM same, went down through his album, Suga the same. But not JM. He played Like crazy, and then following it, him not moving from his chair or changing the songs or going to play it again, it played it again. Same version. In the album Like crazy is followed by SMF pt. 2 (which did follow the second time LC played, and he did listen through that too). So my question is what kind of playlist JK has for JM? Does he just have these songs going on repeat? He gets up to stop it just at the end of SMF pt. 2, and I can't help but wonder what the next song would have been? SMF pt. 2 again maybe?

Of course he still remembers the choreo.

He talks about Jin and Super Tuna, how he's wild and that side of him is why the team is so bright. He really loves him so, and misses him.

"I miss my members".

Prepares drink no. 3.

The whole ceremony around the drink preparations... he's so funny.

He makes a comment about Jin's MV while looking towards where his whole music playing set up is. So, this is YT he's playing from? Which means these would be YT playlists? Which means he watches LC on repeat? I mean, who could blame him really?

Gets up to change the playlist to RM's songs.

While Flowerworks is playing he reads a comment and says:

"Did Mingyu cut his hair?"

Now, we know they saw each other later that night, getting together with others as well, but JK once again draws the lines here. He's a good friend definitley. Someone he hangs out with, of course. But knowing if he cut his hair... meaning being in constant contact with him or more than that, as there are some that might think... nope.

Ok, time to get serious.

He starts to talk about the members songs, their "colours are so different", and then he's asked after resuming activities in 2025 what he wants all the members to do together? Turns down the music a bit to get serious:

Make an album, quickly come out to see army, first priority of course. From the moment they get back together to find the way to come out as quickly as possible. "We will do Bon voyage...we will do In the soop..."

Stops, gets up to turn down the volume even more, and this is when you know he's delving even deeper, and getting even more serious. Sits down and continues...

Ok, I'm really not sure this is about the solo activities. He talks about that further on. I thought this when I first heard this during the live, and although the wording is slightly different I still think this is JK is sending us a message. They love us, they love each other. They will be coming back and they will be giving it their all. But that said, they will also have their own personal lives. Setting the stage, perhaps? For relationship announcements? Marriages on the way? He told us that he wants to make us happy, but to do so we have to understand that he deserves happiness as well. Is this one step further in that direction? yes their focus is on army, but with all of that they will also have their own personal paths.

He continues about them wanting to "look awesome" in front of us, or want to give us strength,

He knows what his top priority is, and he hopes we know that we are the reason. For real.

He continues to talk about coming back in 2025, releasing a song, saying it will be approx. 2 years.

They mustn't forget there are those rooting for BTS. Train, release an album, tour.

They will have to meet army around the world.

This is interesting:

They will reveal by doing shootings and "let your ears get pleased and let you watch our shows". Stories

"BTS is this kind of team". That is what they will show.

And what members each want to do, they can do that later. Him making clear that their first priority is the comeback as BTS.

Number one priority is about the group, and he makes sure we understand that this is not only him speaking but also true for every single one of them.

Again, army's importance to him. This isn't acting or being false or fake, this is genuinely what he feels. When said in a comment that army are because of BTS he corrects them, sets things straight: BTS are here because of army!!

And then this happens:

"Jeon Jimin?" he reads out a comment.

Now, I understand people think it's disrespectful because of the meaning it has in the West but the fact that in Korea people don't change their names after marriage. Thing is, Karmy nor JK, for that matter, really find it offensive? He doesn't even take it that way. To him it's someone putting their two names together, I'd say just like Jikook or minkook or kookmin. Nothing more nothing less. And he chooses to read it out. He could have just left it, but he decided to read the comment out.

This is when he remembers he has to play Suga's songs too, lol. Playing Haegeum.

"How can all the member have such different tastes in music? Isn't that fascinating?"

I love it that he feels that way. I love it that he knows how talented he is (especially knowing how he runs himself down intellectually). I love that he knows and appreciates the rest of the members talent as well. They are all different, and yet all outstanding each in their own way.

And not only does he see that in them, he also attributes his own growth as a person to them.

JK tells us how Yoongi told him off for not doing the Haegeum dance challenge, repeats it a couple of times too, how he was upset about it, lol. So he says he will do it. A little late, no? And he makes sure to make it clear that it won't be soon either. But it will go up on his TikTok.

Toilet break time.

Comes back, finishes up his drink and stops Amygdala to play Seven and 3D before he ends his live.

So, he chooses the explicit version of Seven. Sings along. Admits he's a little drunk and for now will stop drinking. Emphasis on "for now", lol.

Now, while he's playing Seven someone asks for him to play Slow dancing.

Once is enough, thank you very much!! Lmao. He just keeps shutting them down. It's also the way he says it, the intonation. Sound annoyed, lol.

Says he'll play 3D and say his goodbyes, which he does. Sings along to 3D as well, ad-libbing at the end, kind of wondering if this is something we will be getting in his live performances. It does feel like he chooses to sing certain lyrics while not others, in both Seven and 3D.

Then he says his goodbyes, to look forward to the album, to know that he is always thinking of us, to have a wonderful night and day and thanks us again .

So that's it. JK's live. Missed these lives of his, as exhausting as writing these posts are, lol. This is Jungkook. Cute and funny and serious and sincere.

[collapsedglasshouses]

Consequences || Noah Sebastian x Reader [Part 5]

PART 1 - PART 2 - PART 3 - PART 4

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x Reader

Summary: Figuring out when and how to tell Nick about Y/N's and Noah’s relationship wasn’t as easy as originally thought.

Warnings: 18+, MDNI, mentions of alcohol consumption/drinking, mentions of throwing up, NSFW, SMUT, fingering, handjob, unprotected sex (p in v) (don’t do that kids!), swearing, angsty, fluffy, smutty, EVERYTHING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I FORGOT SOMETHING

Taglist: @jakekiszkasguitarpick @blackveilomens @kingdomof-omens @a1ex-ba1ex

A/N: Hello cuties! As heartbreaking as it is, this is the final part of the Consequences Series. I’m actually kinda proud of myself since this was my first published work in English! At the end I also wrote a little text so imma just say this here: I'm not ready to say goodbye to this fic but I hope I found a good finish to it. Enjoy and let me know if you liked it 🫶🏻

The first time you and Noah almost told Nick was New Year’s Eve…

"We need to go outside again." You mumbled while Noah was peppering kisses on your neck and he hummed in agreement. It was New Year Eve and therefore another two weeks had past that were filled with sneaky touches and kisses from you or Noah.

You hadn't found the time to tell your brother about your little affair that bloomed into a full-blown relationship. Much to the dismiss of Jolly, who was the only one knowing about this whole thing. He even made it very clear that you two owed him something since he didn't even come to the hotel room that night. He decided to play black out drunk and ended up in the middle of the king size bed your brother and Folio shared.

You felt Noah’s hands sneak under your shirt, while he pressed himself against you. You felt how hard he was, but you also knew that it was about ten minutes before midnight and you couldn’t just spend them fucking your boyfriend in the bathroom, while all your friends were celebrating downstairs, not even knowing you were dating.

“We really need to go outside again, Noah.” You almost moaned out. It was pointless anyway to pretend that you had even an ounce of control when it came to him. Everyday for the last two weeks was filled with the two of you having sex in every little corner of your apartment. Much to the dismiss of your upstairs neighbors, but they had owed you something for the past two years of them shouting at each other non-stop at every possible time of day.

“Just two more minutes.” He groaned in your ear and his hand nearly had slipped through the waistband of your shorts, but you quickly turned around to face him before it was too late. “If we don’t go now, we miss New Year.” – “Y/N, we have 365 days left of 2023, I think it’s not possible for us to miss the new year except we die in the next ten minutes.” He stated making you roll your eyes, before you stood on tiptoes and kissed his nose.

"Give me a second." He than exclaimed, eyeing down to his pants where his boner still clearly made an appearance. You giggle quietly, before giving him some space.

When he was ready, you grabbed his hand and made your way outside with him, making sure to let go of his hand right in time before anyone could notice. While the others were busy chatting, Jolly shot you two a knowing gaze before you grabbed your drink that you left in Jolly’s hand and turned your attention to the group in front of you. Noah stood close next to you due to the temperatures.

You couldn’t believe the year was already coming to an end. Everything was so fucking different from last years New Years Eve, but you wouldn’t have changed a thing. You were here with your closest friends and your boyfriend, who also happened to be your best friend in the whole world.

"Next year is going to be so awesome. So many tour dates and we can finally work on album number 4." Folio rambled happily before taking a sip out of his cup. You on the other hand began to think. You were so happy with Noah but you needed to realise that you weren't going to have that much time together all the time. While you had the luck of working from home most of the time, Noah's job was to tour the world. You had been on a couple of stops with them while they toured and you totally got why they loved it so much. You loved seeing them perform. You loved the energy. It warmed your heart to know they finally could do what they loved all the time.

As if Nick had heard your thoughts, he sighed. "Maybe you should come with us for the next tour, Y/N" - "What?" - "You heard me right. You always join us for a couple of days and you love it. Maybe you can organize it with work that they don't need you in the office for a couple of weeks."

First your eyes met Noah's with surprise who showed you a warm smile, than your gaze wandered to Folio who looked at you awaiting an answer, so did Jolly. When you looked back at your brother's eyes he also smiled widely at you. "I-... I'd love to. I'll see what I can do."

With that Folio gave you such a big hug, he even lifted you off the ground, making you scream. When he finally let you down again, you tried to fix your clothes that were now a lot more wrinkly than they already were from your's and Noah's activities in the bathroom before.

"Next year is going to be even better than this." Jolly exclaimed, making you chuckle a little. "What?" - "I don't know, that sounded like a white woman's Instagram caption." You answered your friend, making the others laugh while Jolly looked at you offended. "Leave me and my white woman's captions alone, Y/N."

"Okay, stop the fighting. One minute to go." Jesse than interrupted your little argument and joined together with the others attending your small party.

You made sure to stand between your brother and Noah, who not so secretly grabbed your hand while the countdown started.

10...

9...

8...

7...

6...

5...

4...

You felt a squeeze on your hand and looked at Noah. He gave you the sweetest smile ever.

3...

2...

Was he really going to-...

1...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Your heart raced when Noah bent down a little and than...

...placed a long and sweet kiss on your cheek before hugging you tightly. You automatically wrapped your arms around his neck and returned his hug even more tightly.

"Happy New Year, Y/N" - "Happy New Year and to many more, Noah."

With that you let go of each other but before you went on to hug the others, you smiled at each other knowingly.

This year was definitely going to be great...

The next morning didn't start as great for you as you thought though. You woke up with the biggest headache you ever had and felt like you needed to throw up any minute. The light from outside burned in your eyes and when you realised you weren't laying in the guest bedroom, you shot up and almost instantly regretted it, immediately feeling even more nauseous.

You quickly scanned the room, realizing you were on the living room couch. You almost let out a scream when you felt someone next to you shift. It was Noah. Why did you sleep on the couch with him?

"Good Morning, love." He mumbled next to you, brushed your hair out of your face and than instantly noticed your confused look. "Why did we sleep here?"

"You got so drunk, you lay down here and instantly fell asleep." He answered. "And why are you here?" - "You don't remember?" - "Remember what?"

"Jolly and I did our utter best keeping you from telling Nick that we are together for about 1000 times. In the end you didn’t let me go and insisted on me staying with you right before you fell dead asleep." Noah answered you, while your mouth fell open.

"He is right, you were really talkative last night." Jolly suddenly said from the other side of the room, causing you to scream out in fear and instantly regretting it.

Quickly you stood up and made your way to the bathroom and puked. When you felt a little better, you got up and rinsed your mouth before looking in the mirror. You realised someone had taken your make up off.

"Your welcome." Noah said, standing in the door frame, making you jump a little. "Could you all please stop scaring me."

"Sorry." He mouthed before stepping behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist. She sighed, instantly relaxing, when his head fell onto your shoulder.

"Should I make you a cup of tea or something?" Noah asked and you looked him in the eyes through the mirror. His voice was still raspy from sleep and it gave you instant goose bumps. When you were honest with yourself, you couldn't believe you pulled his ass. He was the most beautiful man you ever laid eyes on.

"If it doesn't bother you." - "You never bother me." With that he placed a kiss to your temple and headed of to the kitchen.

After you brushed your teeth, you followed him, finding that Jolly had also found himself at the kitchen counter.

"Are the others still sleeping?" You asked, sitting down next to Jolly. "I think so, it's only 9 AM and we were awake until 4:30..."

"What the hell did I do last night?" You than wanted to know, causing Noah and Jolly to shoot each other knowing glances.

You looked back and forth between them until Jolly finally started to talk. "You want me to start with the first one or the funniest one?" - "Just tell me."

"I think the best one was when you were about five shots in, you grabbed your brother by the collar and almost shouted into his ear how in love you are with Noah." Jolly laughed. "WHAT?" You looked at your boyfriend who nodded slightly while setting a cup of tea down in front of you. The memory slightly started to form in your head.

"You know what, Nick?" - "Yes, Y/N?" - "I'M MADLY IN LOVE WITH-..." Jolly instantly came to your rescue. "ALL OF US... uhm... She loves all of us, isn't that right, Y/N." - "Yeah, totally but I REALLY love-..." - "This tequila shot!" Jolly quickly shoved the shot into your hand and with that you forgot what you wanted to tell your brother and drank it.

"Oh my god, I want to die." You cried out in embarrassment and set your head down on the kitchen counter.

"Why that?" You heard your brother ask behind you. And the game began again...

"She is hungover." Noah quickly answered for you and than you felt a hand on your back. Your brother's.

"Maybe drink five tequila shots less next time." - "I'll consider it."

When you looked up again and grabbed your tea cup to drink from it, your eyes locked with Noah's, who was leaning against the wall across from you. You knew this couldn't go on like this forever but for now it needed to be.

The second time Nick almost found out was not even a month later...

The house was almost creepily empty when you arrived at Noah's place three hours ago. After work you decided to give the boys a visit, only texting Nick but you didn’t receive an answer before arriving, just to find out your boyfriend was the only one home.

But you certainly didn't complain that you had the house all to yourself. The two of you had decided to play some video games like you always did. So you found yourself laying between his legs, leaned against his chest.

You were surprised Noah even took the time to just play video games with you since he mutated into a workaholic with the band stuff going that well. He normally always had an excuse to work on something music related but since you got together you had a feeling he finally gave himself some deserved rest.

"Fuck this, I give up." He cursed out about ten minutes later after you died almost ten times in a row at the same point in the game. You gave him a confused side eye. "Are you really this offended by the game now?" - "I think you should watch your mouth, Y/N." He replied and softly shoved you away from him. "Or what, Noah?"

You turned around between his legs to look him in the eyes. His irises immediately darkened while you sneaked up to him and than straddled his lap. Still not changing his slightly angry face, he placed his hands on your hips. "Don't tease me, Y/N"

"I would never." You sweetly answered him before moving your hips once and than leaning down to pepper kisses on his neck. "I don't know how you got that idea."

You heard him breathe loudly when you slightly nibbled on his earlobe.

With that it took only about a minute before you two sat there only in your underwear.

Noah slowly kissed his way down your neck, finding your sweet spot and started sucking on it. You slightly moaned and than your hand quickly found it’s way in between you two. First you stroked him through his underwear a couple of times, causing him to bite down on your neck and bringing out a tone from you that made him buck up his hips.

"Fuck, Y/N. You drive me insane." He moans in your ear.

With that you slowly pulled down his underwear. He made sure to press his lips on yours again when you slowly let your hand slide up and down his cock. His heavy breaths against you face sent a wave of heat to your core and before you knew his hand also wandered between you and pulled your underwear to the side.

Skilfully he found your clit and started circling it.

"Fuck, Noah." You moaned into his mouth, feeling yourself getting even more wet.

When he bucked his hips up again, you knew this wasn’t enough anymore.

"I need you, Y/N." Noah than whispered against your lips. „Now."

With that you quickly repositioned yourself, letting his tip go through your folds a couple of times before slowly gliding down his cock. Causing the both of you to moan in pleasure.

You let yourself adjust for a couple of seconds while Noah placed soft kisses on your lips.

"You are so fucking beautiful." He muttered against your lips and before you slowly start to move, you brush his hair out of his face. "You're even more beautiful." The smile that spread on his face, gave you goose bumps.

When you slowly began to move, his hands instantly found your hips, giving you a bit of guidance while you tried to take in every second that's happening before you.

You still couldn’t believe this whole thing was actually happening. Every fiber of your body was screaming for him. You wanted nothing more than to belong to him.

So when his arms wrapped around you and made you lay flat on his chest while he started pumping up into you, you could help but exclaim your thoughts. "God, I love you so much."

When you felt your orgasm built up, you were more than pleasantly surprised when Noah spoke up again. "Fuck, Y/N. I'm so close." He moaned in your ear and sent shivers down your spine.

"I need you to cum for me, Noah." You whined in his ear and you almost found your highs when suddenly…

… There was a knock on the door.

That’s when Noah and you came at the same time while trying to tame each others moans with a kiss. You felt his cum spread inside of you.

Than there was a second knock. It shot you right back to reality. You two looked at each other mortified while quickly separating from each other.

"Give us a second." Noah exclaimed frustrated trying to shuffle into his clothes without falling to the ground, while you tried to do the same, with the little extra add on that you felt his cum slowly dripping out of you.

"Is everything okay?" You heard your brother's voice from the other side of the door while you searched for your shirt. You randomly grabbed the black one, laying next to the bed and threw it over your head before fixing your hair and positioning yourself on the edge of Noah's bed.

Noah in the meantime found it’s way to the door and opened it for your brother.

"How can we help you?" Noah asked Nick.

"I wanted to ask if you two want to-…" Nick stopped in his tracks when he saw you sitting on Noah‘s bed while probably having the most "I'm not guilty"-gaze on your face that you ever had, but Nick's eyes focused on your shirt.

"Why are you wearing Noah's shirt?" Your brother asked you and with that Noah's gaze also landed on you with widened eyes.

Quickly you looked down to see there was no doubt you were wearing Noah's shirt, since it was his iconic Cher t-shirt.

You swallowed hard before looking back at your brother and quickly defended yourself. "I spilled my drink over my shirt and Noah was so kind to borrow me his."

Nick looked between you and Noah a couple of times before clearing his throat. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to watch a movie with us downstairs. Jolly is making popcorn right now so… We would start in five minutes."

With that he gave you two another concerned look before leaving Noah's room, causing you to relax again.

"Oh my fucking god." You whisper-shouted at him the second his door is closed again.

"I didn’t mean to… You know…" Noah mumbled.

"Cum inside of me while my brother was literally standing in front of your door?" You cried out, feeling how is cum had dripped onto his bed. "When I say it like this it sound so weird."

Noah nodded before sitting down next to you.

"Imma have to ask you something before we can go downstairs…" You began. "Helping you clean up? No problem, you can also borrow underwear from me, no one will notice it under your pants."

You gave him a thankful look, before grabbing his collar and kissing him again. After that you two cleaned up the mess you made before both standing in the middle of his room.

"Are you ready to be totally platonic friends again?" He asked while wrapping his arms around you and placing a kiss on the top of your head.

„You mean, we JUST PRETEND?" You giggled before stepping towards the door.

"I hate you, Y/N." - "No, you love me."

Noah smirked at you while rolling his eyes before following you downstairs…

The third time you didn’t tell Nick, it made things even worse…

"Tell me, Noah. Is this all a joke to you?" You asked Noah while he leaned on the kitchen counter.

You two had been out together when a fan approached you and asked for a picture. That wouldn’t have been a problem. They knew you since you spooked around almost every tour the boys played. The problem was how Noah openly flirted with the young lady.

You normally weren’t really jealous but somehow this just kicked the air out of your lungs.

"To me? Are you kidding me, Y/N? You are literally the one who is almost begging to keep our whole relationship a secret!" Noah answered you, crossing his arms in front of his body.

You would have lied if you said you didn’t know this was coming sooner or later. But you were just so afraid.

"I'm not… I… I just-…" You mumbled, seemingly not able to find the right words.

"You what, Y/N?" Noah almost spit out "You realised you liked us better when we were just friends?" - "No, Noah… I…"

"Then fucking explain why we are keeping this a secret? We've been dating for almost three months and nobody knows it, except Jolly!" Noah yelled at you, making you shrink a little.

Your mind started to race. You knew you acted stupid but you were just so afraid everything would change when you let the others know. You loved having this whole thing all to yourself.

You realised you had been quiet for too long when Noah sighed.

"You know what? Maybe this really was a mistake…" You felt your heart shatter to pieces when Noah walked over to your couch and grabbed his jacket before attempting to leave your apartment.

"Noah, wait!" You shouted after him but he headed out the door and slammed the front door right in your face.

You quickly ran after him, continuing to shout for him to stop.

"Noah, please wait." He was still walking straight to his car. You wrapped your arms around you since it was already dark outside and you hadn’t thought about grabbing a jacket.

"Don't fucking ignore me, Noah Sebastian!" You snapped and finally brought him to stop.

"Than tell my why the fuck you’re avoiding to tell Nick that we are dating?" He asked you with no emotion in his tone.

This was exactly what you didn’t want to happened. You could recall exactly how you told him you wouldn’t want to be the one to hurt him since you two saw each other get hurt by others way to many times.

"This is exactly what I meant back at the hotel room when I told you I don’t want to hurt you." - "Well congrats, Y/N, you fucking did, since I'm not even worthy to be your official boyfriend."

He attempted to open his car door but you found your way between him and the door.

"Step aside, Y/N." - "I'm afraid he will hate us."

"Why the fuck should he, Y/N? We’re literally adults! It isn’t weird that we fell in love. We literally have been attached at the hip since we were… what? 12?" Noah responded, not seeming even a bit calmer.

"I just don’t want this to change!" You than exclaimed and made things even worse.

His eyes changed again. They almost seemed glossy. His next words shot you right in the heart. "Well, if you don’t want this whole secret little thing to change, it means you don’t want to be with me."

With that he gentle shoved you to the side and got into his car.

"Noah, please don’t do this!" You shouted when he closed the door. You knocked against his window but he didn’t even look at you again before driving off.

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

The forth time you had the chance to tell Nick, you did waste no time…

It took you about two hours to gather your confidence before you got into your car and drove to the boys' house.

When you parked in front of the house, your heart was racing. You knew you needed to clarify this now and you would not let anyone or anything hold you off.

You took a deep breath before getting out of you car and going up to the door to ring the bell.

To your surprise it was Noah who opened the door. His expression instantly darkened when he saw you. That hurt you more than words could ever do.

"What do you want?" He asked you plainly. "Let me in."

When he continued to stare at you blankly, not allowing you entry, you took your chance to slip inside when you saw Nick walk by.

"Nick, I need to talk to you!" You yelled at your brother, who stopped in his tracks to look at the two of you confused.

"What’s going on?" He wanted to know, crossing his arms in front of his body, concerned by your expression.

"I'm in love with Noah." You directly shouted out, without thinking twice. You needed to do it now.

If Nick didn’t already look confused, he definitely did now.

"And Noah and I've been dating for almost three months." With that Nick's eyebrows lifted.

"And I didn’t tell you because I was scared that it will change everything but to be honest… I was fucking stupid… Noah is by far the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole entire life." You took a breath. "And I know this is a lot to process for you right now, but I am so in love with Noah it hurts and it hurts even more when I hurt him just because I’m to scared to tell my brother that I love him." You rambled.

With that silence came over the entrance room. You again took a deep breath. Right now you were more than relieved that seemingly no one else was downstairs except the three of you. Not everyone needed to hear your meltdown.

"So… you two are-…" Nick fumbled with his hands. You quickly looked at Noah, who seemed to have frozen in his place, just staring at you surprised.

"Yes… Yes, we are dating." You answered for the both of you, even though Noah technically broke up with you about two hours ago.

"And you’ve been dating since-…" - "The wedding in December." - "When you two left early that evening you were-…" - "Yes." - "Eww."

It went quiet again. Your brother seemed to process what you said to him while your hands sweated like crazy.

"And you aren’t kidding me?" - "Why should I?"

"Your telling me, you just started dating in December and not much earlier?" Your brother asked confused, causing you to start your rant again: "Yes, Nick. And I will not defend myse-… what do you mean 'not earlier'?"

"You guys have been eye-fucking each other since when? A year now?" Nick explained with a hint of disgust in his face. "Which, first of all, is super gross but it would have been weirder if I had brought it up."

"WHAT?" Noah was the one to exclaim that.

"Oh man, don’t try to argue with me… You were basically all over her other ever since Y/N and her ex broke up." Nick than said. "Starting with your private movie nights and ending with Y/N knowing about song ideas that I didn’t even know about."

"So you’re not mad?" You shyly asked your older brother, who chuckled a bit.

"Why should I? I'm actually surprised it took you so long… You were always slightly to close for your own good, ever since that night almost ten years ago… you know the video…" Again, while your brother looked slightly disgusted at the memory, Noah and you looked at each other knowingly.

"After you and your ex broke up, I was so convinced you two were already seeing each other and I'm not exactly blind or delusional, Y/N. At the very latest I knew you two were at least hooking up when you were sitting in Noah’s room with his shirt on and you two looking like total messes." Nick than proceeded to explain, causing your cheeks to heat up.

„So you just guessed it by yourself?" Noah than wanted to know from his best friend. "Maybe Jolly also kinda indicated that you two hooked up on my birthday, which I will never forgive you by the way!"

You looked totally flabbergasted by your brother's words and one look at Noah revealed he maybe looked even more surprised than you.

"So what? You gonna make up now?" Nick asked, already starting to move to the stairs. "You don’t have a reason to fight anymore. I won’t hate you… nobody will… You two are literally the two most important people in my life and I always thought you would eventually end up together. So don’t be so hard on yourselves."

With that Nick turned on his heel and left the two of you alone.

"I-…" You wanted to start but didn’t know what to say. "Yeah, I know." Noah just answered.

"I'm so sorry Noah. I should have just jumped over my shadow." You mumbled and turned to face him completely. He had taken a couple of steps towards you. "You are literally so important to me. I'm deeply sorry for hurting you and-…"

"Would you mind if you could shut up now and let me kiss you?" Noah than interrupted you and before you knew he grabbed your face with his hands and brought your lips together.

Everything inside of you started to tingle. You felt like a child laying in bed the night before their birthday. You felt like a teenage girl kissing her crush for the first time. Somehow this was also kind of true because when you thought about it… He was the one you always loved.

Ever since you had laid eyes on him, deep down you knew it was him. He was your person and you knew nothing on this planet would change the fact that you two loved each other deeply.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS THE END. I BEGAN TO WRITE THE FIRST PART ABOUT TWO MONTHS AGO BUT ALWAYS WAS WAY TO SHY TO POST IT ON TUMBLR. MY BOYFRIEND CONVINCED ME IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA AND WHEN I FINALLY DID, I DIDN'T KNOW THE BAD OMENS TUMBLR COMMUNITY WOULD WELCOME ME WITH OPEN ARMS. SO… THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING SO KIND AND I HOPE TO READ YOU ON MY NEXT WORKS! ~JAZZ ❤️

[heystephen]

2023 swiftie survey results!

first of all, i want to thank everybody who took part in this and helped spread it to increase sample size. i put this together expecting to get 200 or so responses, but at the time of closing the survey, it had received 1,009 responses! so that's really awesome. the survey posed the following questions:

which era did you become a fan?

which album is your favorite?

what are your top three songs from each album?

what is your absolute favorite song by taylor?

i asked those questions for a few reasons. one being, i wondered if nostalgia plays a factor in peoples' favorite albums, or if people tend to favor the album related to the era that they became a fan. i also wondered what the true fan favorites of the albums could be, and what are the 'underrated' or lower tiered tracks. lastly, every so often a publication comes out with their own rankings of 'the best taylor swift songs of all time' and we all lose our minds because they're always so!! wrong!!!! so i wanted to see what it would look like if there was a swiftie-sourced list of favorite songs by her. anyway intro aside, here's the results below the cut, and brace yourselves!

NOTE: i couldn't find a way on google doc to change the colors on the pie charts otherwise i would've made them album color coded. i will also provide small descriptions of the data for those who have trouble reading the data from the charts, or can't see the images.

so it looks like most people became fans during the fearless era, which is just nearly tied with the debut era. the 1989 era comes in third, followed by speak now, red, folklore/evermore, reputation, lover and then midnights in that order.

the most popularly voted album for the favorite albums was folklore. speak now came in second place, then reputation in third. the rest of the albums came out ranked as evermore, then 1989, then lover, then midnights, then fearless, then the debut. yes, the debut has a teeny tiny little pie slice between midnights and fearless, it's really there if you squint.

the top 3 debut tracks were our song, should’ve said no and picture to burn. the most unpopular debut track was the pop remix of teardrops on my guitar. not too surprising although i thought stay beautiful was more of a fan fave than that.

the top 3 fearless tracks were the way i loved you, fearless and you belong with me. the most unpopular fearless track was superstar. (☹️) but shout out to my sweet baby hey stephen for doing better than i hoped!

the top 3 speak now tracks were long live, haunted and enchanted. this was maybe the most surprising one because i expected last kiss to be in the top 3! the most unpopular speak now track was superman.

the top 3 tracks for red were all too well (ten minute version), holy ground and state of grace. the last time came out more popular than i anticipated, while sad beautiful tragic didn’t quite get as much love as i thought it would. the most unpopular red track was run feat. ed sheeran, with just 8 votes. but again, it just proves that every song is beloved by someone.

so for 1989, the top 3 tracks were clean, style and new romantics. the most unpopular track was bad blood. i think this was pretty expected, people tend to gravitate toward the remix rather than the album version. over all, this one came out fully as i’d expect.

oh, getaway car. you never let the rest of the tracks on this album stand a chance in the running. the top tracks for reputation were getaway car by a mile, call it what you want and delicate. again, another interesting one. has call it what you want always been this popular? and of course, the most unpopular track was end game feat. future and ed sheeran.

just like getaway car, cruel summer absolutely jumped in the lead and took off running. the top 3 tracks for lover were cruel summer, death by a thousand cute and cornelia street. the archer also came out very popular and i think the tour performance has lended enormously to that, which i love. the most unpopular track was me! feat. brendon urie.. which i feared would happen :/

just like james, you guys couldn’t choose between august and betty, ‘cause the top two tracks for folklore were august and cardigan! my tears ricochet came in third place. the most unpopular folklore track was epiphany.

CONT. IN PART TWO DUE TO IMAGE LIMIT

[seoul-bros]

Six marvelous months with Park Jimin

January 2023

The year started with the announcement that Jimin had been appointed as the Global Brand Ambassador for Christian Dior (17/01). The occasion was marked with six Awesome magazine covers and the Dior Fashion Show in Paris (20/01). The fashion establishment was blown away by the response to Jimin's participation in the show.

The same month Jimin released Vibe (13/01) , a dream collaboration with his long time musical hero Taeyang from Big Bang.

This was both artists first solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 76.

February 2023

Jimin did a live on 03/02 in which he confirmed that his solo music, although a little delayed, was likely to come out in March 2023.

On 21/02, Big Hit announced that FACE would be released on 24/03/23. The next day they published the countdown schedule and on the 23/02 the tracklist for the album.

March 2023

On 02/03, Jimin was named Ambassador for Tiffany & Co which he wore spectacularly in his photoshoot for Vogue that month.

On 06/03, Soundcloud super track Promise along with Jimin's yuletide gift to ARMY, Christmas Love were added to Jimin's Spotify profile. The era of streaming Jimin's profile had begun.

From then on, everything started speeding towards the release of FACE. The Hardware and Software images came out.

Set Me Free Pt 2 exploded into the world on 17/03. Nobody saw it coming and it caused a furore on social media. It was a clear statement of intent. I am here to stay and I am here to slay. It debuted at No.30 on the Billboard Hot 100.

FACE was released on 24/03 along with the Like Crazy MV. Speaking for myself Like Crazy blew me away. Jimin set out to make a statement with that song and I will always be proud to be the fan of such an honest and brave artist.

With the release of FACE we also discovered that hidden on the record was a very special song, Letter, in which Jungkook sings background vocals.

That last week of March saw Jimin appeared on the Jimmy Fallon Show with a live performance of Like Crazy.

In the next 9 days, he gave comeback performances on MCountdown, Music Bank and Inkiagayo. He came live to thank ARMY for turning up to his shows. He won awards. He appeared on the radio, on the entertainment shows Beat Coin, Ddeun Ddeun and Pixid. He even did fan meetings.

April 2023

On 01/04 Jimin gave an unforgettable acoustic rendition of Like Crazy live on Lee Mujin Service April Fools Edition.

And then on 03/04, Jimin made history. The first South Korean to ever make No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first Asian Artist to do so in 60 years. He came live in the early hours of the morning, clearly shellshocked but brimming over with gratitude to everyone who had supported the album and the song.

Then on 05/04 the promotions were over and Jimin once again expressed his happiness and thanks to ARMY for supporting FACE.

It had been a whirlwind and I think we, as well as Jimin, were caught off guard when the promotions ended so quickly. We had a beautiful album to savour but we wanted to continue to savour it with Jimin.

The focus returned to fashion when Jimin flew to New York at the end of April to attend the Tiffany & Co Landmark opening (28/04).

He attended Suga's concert in Newark on the 29/04 and headed back to South Korea later that week. But why didn't he fly straight back after the concert we wondered?

May 2023

It all soon became clear, he had been filming the MV for Angel Pt 1 from the Fast X movie. The song came out on the 19/05 and debuted at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. This was Jimin's fourth chart entry in five months.

At the end of the month, Jimin made a short trip to London and we are still speculating on what that was all about. He posted photos of his trip to HP World as soon as he got back to South Korea on 27/05.

June 2023

Festa 2023 soaked Seoul in purple for nearly three weeks at the beginning of June in celebration of BTS's ten years since debut. Jimin gifted fans with a live performance of Dear.ARMY on 07/06 and....

,,,,,,on 13/06 BTS released this beautiful live version of Take Two with Jimin adding depth and colour to the song with his stunning vocals.

But there was still more to come, on 15/06 Jimin came live in high spirits and spent quality time with ARMY. It was the same day as the release of Angel Part 2.

On the 27/06 Jimin's solo profile appeared on Billboard and serves as a permanent reminder of everything that has happened in the short space of 6 months. It has been a roller coaster ride and I am still hopeful that we will still get more music from Jimin before he has to enlist. I wanted to make this post so that no one forgets what he has achieved and the permanent mark he has made on the global music industry since he took his first steps towards a solo career.

Post Date: 28/06/2023

[mrs-johansson]

Escape from LA - Lisa Manobal x Fem!Depp!Reader

Part 1:

“And the Grammy goes to… Y/n Fleur Depp!” The present read out the card and I just let my head fall back as I let out a big sigh. My sister was the first to bring me in a big hug and then my manager and producer who were also such a big part of this album. I hugged everyone around me and at the table next to us was Harry sitting. I looked over and he was already on his feet clapping with a genuine smile on his face. I put my hands together and leaned forward a bit to express my gratitude.

Walking up the stairs will never get old or boring, it’s always a huge honor. Accepting the award I stepped up to the mic.

“Thank you so much for this. Ugh… It’s always an honor to get one of these but I think it’s even more special to me to be named beside my fellow nominees. I would’ve never thought that my name would be in the same conversation as ABBA. Absolutely insane to me,” I chuckled looking down at the award. “And everyone else in the category, you guys are incredible and the art that you all create is what this world needs and I’m just happy to be named beside you. I uhm… I wanna thank Romeo and Phil, my producers and Jenna, my manger. My family, of course, you guys are the best. But mostly my amazing fans, who relentlessly support and love me, and without you, I wouldn’t be standing here, so thank you.”

***

Y/n Fleur Depp parties with sister, Lily-Rose Depp and ex-boyfriend Harry Styles at the 2023 Grammy after party

The Depp sisters enjoy a night out in Los Angeles after the Grammy Awards

Y/n Fleur Depp bags 2 Grammys just before kicking off her Reflections World Tour

Y/n Fleur Depp supports Harry Styles at his Melbourne concert just a week before her world tour kicks off

***

“Tonight we have a very special guest with us, multiple Grammy award winner singer, and songwriter, please welcome Y/n Fleur Depp,” said Jimmy Kimmel, and as the door opened I stepped out, waving to the crowd and making my way to the chair after sharing a hug with the host.

“Y/n, welcome to the show, how are you doing?” Asked Jimmy. “Thank you, happy to be here. I’m great, how are you?” I asked politely. “Great, thanks. Are you and Harry back together?” He replied so fast and my eyes just went wide as the whole crowd started cheering. “Oh no, we’re not. I’m absolutely single, believe me. I don’t need anything right now,” I chuckled uncomfortably. I admit I’ve been talking the most with Harry since we’ve broken up but there’s nothing between us and we both know there’ll be nothing. “Okay, just making sure. Did you enjoy his concert?” “Yes, definitely. He is an amazing performer so I wasn’t worried.” “You start your tour in two days and it’s gonna be a very long journey. You start in LA on February 22nd and the last date is in Soul, Korea on December 22nd. That’s a long tour.” “Yeah, it is. But it’s gonna be awesome. We’ve been preparing for a while now and I’m very excited to see everyone and sing the new songs,” I smiled giddily and the crowd cheered hearing my words. “How do you prepare for a tour like this? I mean obviously, you have the dance stuff and all but mentally and physically?” “Yeah, I prep for the show with all of the dancers 3 times a week for like… 3 months. But I work out every day also, even if it’s pilates or gym. Shows can be very hard on your body when you perform 5 times a week for two and a half hours, so I try my best to prepare for the year. And mentally I guess I just try to enjoy every quiet moment before going on the road. It’s very hard obviously being away from my friends and family but someone always comes to each show so that’s nice,” I explained. “And as I know, you bring your cat on tour with you.” “Oh absolutely. He’s my baby, I can’t leave him for that long.” “His name is Bucky, right?” “Yeah,” I smiled. “How did you get the name?” He asked. “Uhm… I really like the Marvel movies and Bucky is one of my favorite characters of all time so I thought why not? The Winter Soldier already seems like a black cat type of guy so I chose that.”

After the interview, I got back to the green room and I was a little angry not gonna lie. “I go to one of his shows with literally multiple people and have one drink with him at the fucking Grammys, and suddenly we are back together. How does that work? And besides, we broke up over 4 years ago,” I packed up my bag and grabbed my phone. “You know they always do this, don’t bother,” said Chloe, my assistant, as we made our way to the car. “I know they do, but fucking hell, I can’t be single for one goddamn minute.”

***

“Hello, it’s Y/n Fleur Depp and today I’m gonna let Elle ask me anything,” I smiled at the camera.

“What’s your favorite memory from doing your last album?” Asked the journalist.

“I’ve got to work Doja Cat on one of the songs and I think it was one of the greatest days of the album making. We just had such a fun time with that song and we were just vibing a lot. She has a really interesting character and it was refreshing to work with someone like her.”

“What are you most passionate about outside of singing?”

“Ooh, that’s a hard one… food? I don’t know, I just love to try new stuff and cook new stuff. It’s a fun thing to get into.”

“Biggest pinch me moment in your career?”

“Oh my god, on my last tour, I was in New York, performing at Madison Square Garden and it was like halfway into the show and I looked up to the… well VIP section I guess and Rihanna was there, dancing and singing along. I almost fainted.”

“What is the best industry advice you’ve received?”

“Enjoy every second of it. I think especially now with social media, there are so many opportunities for people to make it in the music industry. And now, someone can easily take your place overnight if their song is gonna be a trend on TikTok. So I enjoy every little moment.”

“Who’s your biggest cheerleader?”

“My sister Lily, for sure. She has always been my biggest supporter. Since we were little kids, she always made me sing her favorite songs. And even now, even if I have a show on the other side of the world she will fly out and dance and sing through the whole thing. She’s the best.”

“What’s your 5-year plan for your personal life?”

“Oh damn… Uhm… I just want to be in a secure and stable place. Definitely move out of Los Angeles, it’s been too long for me to live here. I want to live somewhere different and new and have new experiences. And uhm… be in a calm and loving relationship.”

***

“Come on people, night one,” I stood in a circle with all of my dancers. “I just want to say how proud I am of us and the work all of you put into this tour. I am extremely grateful for all of you because everybody in this crew is so amazing, dedicated, and talented. I want us to have fun. It’s gonna be a long road but we’re gonna shake up the world and do some incredible stuff. I love you all and let’s have some fun,” I said and we cheered before putting our hands in the middle. “Reflections on 3, 2, 1!” “REFLECTIONS!”

I stood on the lift and I got my mic handed to me. Then the intro for Ready for it began playing on a loop.

The podium rose and the crowd erupted in cheers and screams. “Los Angeles… Are you ready for it?” I said and seconds later the song started.

About an hour into the show, I was at the front of the runway part of the stage. Sitting on a chair with only a guitar and a mic stand.

“Before we dive into the next song I wanna thank all of you for coming,” I said and as soon as they started cheering I smiled widely. “The last few years were absolutely crazy. ” I looked around the stadium. “But now, we are finally at peace kind of and I think we should enjoy it. We worked so much on these shows because I think we all took doing concerts for granted and me and my crew want to give you the best. It’s so cool to be back on stage, in front of all of you. Uhm… I love you and thanks again,” I smiled and they all cheered which made me smile even more. I just love that they love me.

Doing another hour and a half was a little exhausting but I enjoyed every second of it. “Thank you so much, Los Angeles, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I blew kisses all around the stadium as the lift was moved down.

I walked behind the stage and as soon as I stepped into the hallway, I had champagne sprayed all over me as my friends and family screamed around me. “Oh shit,” I covered my face as the champagne was just coming. “Congratulations!” heard Lily’s voice before she hugged me as soon as the alcohol stopped flowing. “Thank you, it was so fucking cool,” I said. “Oh my god, it was!” She shook my shoulder and I hugged everyone who was around basically then made my way to the dressing room, changing to something that wasn’t covered in champagne.

Once I cleaned up, I checked a couple of messages on my phone when I heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” I said, still scrolling through my phone. “I brought some guests, sissy,” Lily spoke and I looked up immediately, not hearing a noise from the guests.

All of a sudden Blackpink was standing in front of me with shy smiles. I’ve met Jennie before and we clicked really well. She is a very funny and sweet person, but I haven’t met the other members yet. “Oh my god, hello,” I went to hug Jennie and she was quick to greet me too, before turning to her members. “It’s Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa,” she pointed at each of them. “I know, I’m a fan, you know that. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” I said, honestly feeling happy to meet them. “We’re happy to see you, it was an amazing show by the way,” said Rosé with a noticeable Australian accent. I put my hands together and bowed my head. “That means a lot coming from you. We should hang out. Are you guys free for the next…” I looked down at my watch, checking the time. “…couple of hours?” I asked and they all looked at each other before nodding their heads. “What do you have in mind?” Asked Jennie. “We could have some drinks back at the hotel if you’d like. It’s a calm place,” I suggested. “Let’s do it.” Jisoo excitedly said and we all chuckled. “We’re gonna be great friends, Jisoo.”

[thisaintascenereviews]

10 Albums That Changed My Life: 2000s Emo Edition

For the past few days, I’ve been listening to an audiobook version of 2023’s Where Are Your Boys Tonight by Chris Payne, and the book chronicles the emo / pop-punk scene between 1999 and 2008. It’s about the rise and (unfortunate) fall of the genre’s mainstream success, but it metaphorically comes straight from the horse’s mouth. The book has interviews from loads of musicians and important folks from the “scene,” such as Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Geoff Rickley, Buddy Neilsen, Anthony Raneri, Hayley Williams, JT Woodruff, Chad Gilbert, Chris Carraba, Andrew MacMahon, and many others.

Because I’ve been listening to the book, I wanted to start a new series in which I talk about ten albums that changed my life, and I wanted to start with 00s pop-punk and emo. I was at the right age when emo broke into the mainstream, so a lot of the big bands at the time were like gods to me. Some of these albums aren’t necessarily some of my all time favorites, but I still love them. For all these episodes, I also wanted to include a “bonus pick,” where I include an album that’s a rather obvious pick, because it’s an album I love and talk about all the time. That way, I can talk about ten other albums that I may not have talk about as much.

The aim of this series is to highlight albums that are important to me, but these albums are in no particular order. I don’t rank these lists, because some of these albums aren’t necessarily more influential than another. Each one of these albums is important in some way, but I wanted to highlight them regardless.

Bonus Pick: Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High

For the first bonus pick, I wanted to start off with an obvious one. I’ve talked about Fall Out Boy’s third album, 2007’s Infinity On High quite a lot. This is the album that got me into music, and to make a long story short, I had listened to a few alternative albums beforehand, but I didn’t truly get into music until I heard that record. This isn’t the first album I picked up, but it was the most impacting one, because it truly blew my mind. This is still my favorite album, although it’s interchangeable with Michael Jackson’s Thriller, but this record really opened my eyes to how unique and awesome music can be, especially alternative, emo, and and pop-punk. I can say so much more about it, but this is the album that truly started it all for me. Little did I know that picking this album up at Target on the weekend of its release that it would change my life.

Fall Out Boy - Take This To Your Grave

I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with the first couple of Fall Out Boy records, especially 2003’s Take This To Your Grave. Back before I would just order stuff online, or download music on iTunes, I would only buy music through retail stores, like Target, Best Buy, and Walmart. I remember finding Take This To Your Grave at Walmart for $9 back in 2012, and while I was a huge fan of them, I didn’t know their early stuff too well, especially their debut. I picked it up, and I absolutely fell in love with it.

Take This To Your Grave is the record that introduced me to the early 00s pop-punk scene, and it was a scene that I only vaguely knew. I was a little too young for it, but hearing their debut was mindblowing. In retrospect, Take This To Your Grave is a hardcore album disguised as a pop-punk album, because it has the ethos and energy of a hardcore record, but the songwriting of a pop-punk album. As a kid in my late teens when I really sunk my teeth into it, and with the “defend pop-punk” movement being huge, this record (and many more like it) worked for me. The lyrics just spoke to me, but I’ve always been a sucker for Wentz’s lyricism.

Over time, however, my relationship with the album soured a bit, partially because my taste in music was becoming more removed from the current pop-punk scene (and reckoning with the fact that a lot of that scene was very misogynistic, including some lyrics on the first couple Fall Out Boy albums), so I wasn’t as into them, and I championed more of the later work, as well as some of the post-hiatus albums. It’s come full circle now, because I really love Take This To Your Grave, warts and all. This is a record made by kids that just loved hardcore and pop-punk, so if you look at it as anything more, it’s doing the record a disservice.

Paramore - Riot

My first experience with Paramore wasn’t with 2007’s Riot, but it was with 2005’s All We Know Is Falling. That was the first album I downloaded on iTunes, back when iTunes was just exploding, but I somehow lost the album (I think it was due to losing my first account, or my hard drive crashed, something like that). I listened to the album pretty soon after, but in between that, Riot was released. Riot is the album that blew Paramore up to the upper echelons of the emo and pop-punk scene, and for good reason. I’m pretty sure I got this album at Walmart, but this record was the soundtrack to the summer of 2007. It came out right before my freshman year of high school, so I played it a lot.

Between Hayley Williams’ vocals improving tenfold between the debut and Riot, their sound having more of a “mainstream” sound, and emo / pop-punk being at the crux of its popularity, this record came out at the right time. It was lightning in a bottle, but they were truly something special. This record has some of the best hooks and vocal performances of any band in that scene at this time, rivaling Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance (the scene’s two biggest bands at that time, arguably). This is just a monster of a record, and one of the most pivotal and important records from that time, and it’s cool to see people still talking about them all these years later. They just won the first Grammy earlier this year for their 2023 record, so it’s awesome to see that success pay off.

The Academy Is - Almost Here

One of the most underrated bands in the emo / pop-punk scene of the 00s is Chicago’s The Academy Is. These guys didn’t get their time in the spotlight, or at the very least, they skirted with fame at the same level as labelmates and friends in Fall Out Boy. It feels like highway robbery almost, because their sound was just as good. Their first two albums really changed my life, but for different ways. I wanted to focus on their debut album, 2005’s Almost Here, because this album is arguably the more influential album compared to 2007’s Santi. Santi was a more eclectic and interesting album, but Almost Here was more influential, because it was a big influence to the mainstream rise to emo and pop-punk.

Vocalist William Beckett is one of my favorite frontmen of the scene, too, and he has such a good voice, especially here. Almost Here is a really catchy, clever, and accessible emo record that surely should have been bigger, but oddly wasn’t. I don’t know what happened, other than that the scene was just too saturated. There were just too many bands out there, and that’s one reason the scene began to disappear from the mainstream. There were so many bands that were vying for peoples’ attentions, but Almost Here is one of the best records of that era that not a lot of people, at least outside of people who were a huge fan of the scene itself, have heard.

Bayside - The Walking Wounded

Contrary to the belief of what “elder emo” TikTokers will tell you, there are more bands in the scene than Fall Out Boy, Paramore, MCR, and Panic. The scene is so much bigger than what you saw in the mainstream, and a lot of it began in New York, including the band Bayside. These guys got pretty big in the early to mid 00s, even playing some late night shows (a lot of bands did, which was super cool), and they’re still around now, but they’re not on the level they once were.

My introduction to them was 2007’s The Walking Wounded, which was their third album, but I found them through an Alternative Press compilation of with an acoustic version of a song from that album. I picked up the album, because I really enjoyed the song, especially Anthony Raneri’s lyrics and vocals, and the album surprised me quite a bit when I heard a pop-punk album with heavier guitar riffs than your average pop-punk album. This remains my favorite album from them today, although their newest album from this year is great, too, and really reminds me of the inventiveness I heard on that record. It showed me that pop-punk can be both catchy and heavy at the same time, and the record still rules today.

Forever The Sickest Kids - Underdog Alma Mater

In the late 00s, a lot of the emo / pop-punk in the mainstream started to disappear, and popularity waned for that style, despite a few bands still being popular. Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic, and MCR still reigned as kings and queens of the genre. A new challenger emerged, at least in the underground, and that was neon pop-punk. Retrospectively named for its bright and colorful aesthetic, as well as how catchy and pop-focused the music was, neon pop-punk was the early 00s pop-punk fun-loving cousin that didn’t really take itself too seriously.

One of the most important albums of that movement, and while it’s probably not the first album that you could call neon pop-punk, Forever The Sickest Kids’ debut album, 2008’s Underdog Alma Mater, is a big moment for the genre. This album is catchy, slick, energetic, fun, and a little immature at times, but it also doesn’t take itself seriously and knows what it is. I always loved this record, because as catchy and synth-laden as their music, they had some good hooks and riffs to match. They were more than just a vapid pop-punk / pop-rock band, and this record shows it. They should have been a lot bigger, but they kind of fumbled the bag by releasing mediocre albums after and then just disappearing by the 2010s, so it’s unfortunate, but their debut is still one of my favorite albums from the scene.

New Found Glory - Sticks & Stones

Outside of Take This To Your Grave, I wasn’t familiar with a lot of early 00s pop/punk and emo, but where that album got me into that style of pop-punk, New Found Glory’s 2002 record, Sticks & Stones solidified it. Funnily though, this wasn’t the first NFG album I heard, that would be 2009’s Not Without A Fight, but it took me a few years to go back in their discography and listen to the album with their most iconic song “My Friends Over You.” This is easily one of my favorite 00s pop-punk records, and it’s kinda for that song alone. This record is so much fun, and it’s one of the first examples of easycore, where pop-punk and hardcore breakdowns met. You can hear it on this record a lot, and it’s awesome, but even after listening to this album for the first time in over a decade, I still enjoy it quite a bit.

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

Taking Back Sunday is one of the OG pop-punk and emo bands of the 00s, including New Found Glory, but I found their debut album, 2002’s Tell All Your Friends through word of mouth almost. This album was my all my favorite bands’ favorite album, especially in the 2010s “defend pop-punk” scene. Tell All Your Friends was a generation before mine, as I was too young when this record came out, but when I heard it, it blew my mind. I kept thinking, “This is what my favorite bands are influenced by? This is great!” There are loads of catchy hooks, one-liners, and mosh-ready instrumentation galore. These guys really helped to bring a new style of pop-punk to the forefront and you can hear the influence in a lot of records afterwards.

Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out

Panic! At The Disco’s debut album, 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, is lightning in a bottle; this record could only have come out in the mid-00s. It has a really unique sound, especially for the time, but it helped to catapult emo to the mainstream. Hell, “I Write Sins” is one of the biggest songs from that era, and it’ll be a song that people always remember, let alone gets played at emo nights across the country. Fever is such an iconic record, but it’s also a unique and interesting album that showcases Panic wanting to aim higher in terms of emo and pop-punk. The album is split into two halves — an electronic first half and a baroque pop second half, but it doesn’t feel jarring or strange.

It’s funny, because I remember downloading only a few songs from this album at first on iTunes back in 2007. I found the band through the Alternative Press compilation I’ve mentioned over and over again. I heard a live version of album closer “Build God, Then We’ll Talk,” and I loved it. I ended up listening to the rest of the album sometime later, but Fever is still such an iconic and nostalgic album for me. It still holds up all these years later, too, especially for its unique sound.

MCR - The Black Parade

Talk about another nostalgic album, because The Black Parade is very much another album that defined not only my adolescence, but the entire scene during the mid-00s. Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Panic! At The Disco, and My Chemical Romance were the big four of the scene at the time, but The Black Parade is really what cemented MCR on that list. Their first two albums were a darker version of the emo and pop-punk sounds that came slightly before them, and during their rise, but The Black Parade was a new sound entirely. Dubbed the emo Queen, these guys made an emo rock opera that really justified that description.

This record is huge, expansive, melodramatic, fun, dark, poignant, and incredibly interesting in all facets. I just absolutely love this record. I don’t remember how I found them, because I found them at the same time as Panic and Fall Out Boy (Paramore came last, as I found All We Know Is Falling a bit before Riot came out), but I was obsessed with this record as a kid. It’s one of those rare albums that I can listen to as an adult and still appreciate what it does on a purely technical and artistic level, because there are a lot of nuances that I didn’t pick up back then. It’s easily their best album to me, despite how they only put one more and disappeared (they still haven’t put out another album despite coming back a few years ago), and it’s the one that I always go back to.

The Cab - Whisper War

For my last pick, I wanted to include another “neon” album, but a bit of an obscure pick. The Cab were a band that were heavily involved with Fueled By Ramen, as well as Pete Wentz’s Decaydance imprint, even including both Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie on the main single for their debut album, 2008’s Whisper. Called “One Of THOSE Nights,” the song showcased what they were all about, and they had a really unique R&B and soulful take on neon pop-punk. Their vocalist had a lot of range, and reminded me a ton of Patrick Stump, but I just fell in love with how catchy and groovy that album was (and still is). It showed me that pop-punk could utilize more outside influences, and while The Cab never got as huge as the bands that they clearly were inspired by, they had a rather dedicated following in the scene, but they just never got as big as they really should have.

[cve-th3mvsic]

i should be in bed.

meaning i should be asleep.

but nooo. /sar

i can’t fall asleep

so here’s some of my thoughts before they disappear

“it’s better to be obsessed with yourself than someone else” whoever said this is fucking right

i can’t get over how cool i look

i was looking through my photo album

seeing all the old pictures of me i took

from now all the way back to 2021

i actually have two photos of me from 2020. freaking crazy

but seeing how i looked back then actually makes me happy

like. i actually looked like a boy. the happiness it brings me to see how boy i looked. it brings me to tears (half serious)

seeing me back then, and seeing my hair. it’s like. wow.

but seriously tho. like. i looked fucking awesome and i didn’t even know it back then

my hair looked so boy. i love it. i didn’t know it back then, but i do know now.

but then again, before 2023 i felt like shit a lot. we all went through shit in 2019-2021. (2020 & 2021 suck. never wanna ever go back to that. fml dude. terrible. mostly because fucking cringe. don’t bring me back there.)

but on new year’s eve (before 2023) i told myself “this is gonna be a good year”

and guess what 2023 was?

a good fuckin’ year. /pos /gen

and it was a big improvement year for me.

a few shitty things happened (and were traumatizing) but i am so much better now than ever.

i feel confident in doing my own thing

it’s amazing

like to think about how i felt back then. i don’t even know what i felt back then when i think about it now, but it was terrible

and me now?

fucking amazing

i don’t think i give a shit about many things anymore

like i just do my own damn thing and not care about things like “do i look weird” “did someone think that was weird?”

and things like.. something as small as maybe tripping.

like tripping on my own feet (i’ve done it only a few times. but it’s still happened)

i trip, catch myself, and keep walkin. maybe laugh a little too. i’ll laugh at and with myself

and i know my laugh is pretty funny

funny in both positive and negative ways probably

but i get used to my laugh

i hear my laugh all the fucking time

sometimes i laugh at my laugh, and end up fucking cackling

but also sometimes, i hear my laugh and think “awh”, and then i think about how i feel about myself now, and i kind of wonder what if someone else felt this way about me? but like

ya know

i think i’d like to be social, but i am not social right now

i don’t have the mental capacity to even comprehend the day as it goes by.

ask me how my day was?

“uh. i dunno. lemme think-”

if there was nothing significant that happened, i respond with “it was okay”

but then when i really start to break down my thoughts and figure out what i did today, it’s like “oh. that’s more things than i thought there was”

oh and like being social

dude.

recently, i’ve had a feeling that a few different people have been givin’ me like. looks.

but not like “ew 🫤” looks or “i don’t like you.” looks. not creepy looks, ya know?

but like.

ya know when you have a crush on someone and you look at ‘em and then they look back at you for a second and that glimpse of eye contact is like “shit- 🫢 did they catch me lookin’-“

i’ve had a feeling that a few different people have

how do you explain it

like maybe they felt that way or something

ya know?

like i catch ‘em lookin’ or something

i could one hundred percent be ahead of myself or crazy for thinking that these people might have a crush on me or something

i mean, they don’t even know me, i don’t know them. how could they actually have a crush?

maybe it’s like an “i think they’re pretty” kinda look

sometimes

maybe

i dunno how to describe it

but like. okay. let’s give ‘em code names ‘cause it’s fun. (never had to give code names like this before. never even had a real crush i don’t think tbh.)

there’s DVD. or maybe let’s call them “DMV” ‘cause it’s kinda funnier

no. DVD, they’re DVD

so i have 4th hour with DVD. that’s it

only see ‘em in that class.

fuck my life dude it’s 11:58pm i’m gonna cry my balls off

i’ll finish this later

goodnight

sleep welll everyone

[jmdbjk]

Mid-year recalibration

It's been a year since Festa Dinner 2022. A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN.

And on January 1, 2023, I posted my "predictions" for the year. "Predictions" in quotes because most everything I write is sort of slightly unserious, not to be taken TOO seriously, begs for you to please use your common sense... also I haz a little sarcasm dripping here and there when I express my thoughts. Drip, drip.

So let's see the status of my "predictions":

Solo albums... wellll, I sort of got that right, Jimin's FACE was released before Yoongi's D-Day. We're still waiting for Tae and Jungkook. RM keeps putting off enlistment to work on new music. I'm gonna have to drag him by the ear to training camp... get yer ass in there so you can come back sooner than later!! But we did get to see him for Festa and I'm thankful for that.

New prediction: Jungkook comes through with a chart topper that doesn't involve a collab.

Speaking of Tae, I said he'd do more acting before music and though it's not really acting, he's been in a few reality TV shows: "In the Soop: Friendcation" and "Jinny's Kitchen." There are rumors he was spotted on the set of a K-drama and now possibly he was in Spain for a movie...or was that for an upcoming solo MV? Surely he'll have at least a little bit of music before he enlists? Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing him actually acting in a drama... we wait.

New prediction: Piano bar listening party for his solo release.

Military enlistment... wow so far I've struck out. Joon is still hanging around. Yoongi has extended his world tour (which I'm happy to say I've been to a concert). And HOBI IS ALREADY ENLISTED....

😭

So 3 strikes I'm out because obviously their enlistment timing is unpredictable. Right now I'm just hoping that by May 2024 (yes almost a year from now) they'll all be in so we can have a New Year group reunion on Dec. 31, 2025. Of course, I hope they go much sooner though it kills me to know we have to watch them enlist again and again.

My other predictions were hit and miss:

Yoongi did cut his hair so I was wrong about that. Also sad. I loved his long hair. And this NBA ambassadorship came outta left field. The D-Day world tour was the bomb he dropped on us, his big project. Oh well, guess there won't be any tangerine soju coming from his non-existent citrus orchards. Ha!

Hobi DID release more music, On the Street, and it WAS a collab with J. Cole. AND he became fashion ambassador for his fave: Louis Vuitton. God I miss him so much. Instagram is so quiet without him. Everything is so quiet without him.

We finally got PJM1 and it has a name now, FACE and Like Crazy has broken records. Jimin as an artist has broken records as we knew he would and he is still making music. And he's travelling the world being a Dior and Tiffany ambassador and snatching everyone's wig, eating everyone alive and just being Jimin. His constant happy smile has been the most meaningful thing to me this year. I'm so thrilled he is happy.

Jungkook... the Bunkoo has stumped me. The Calvin Klein contract is amazing. His spontaneous lives have been wonderful. Cooking for us has been awesome. None of that could have been predicted. He's the sweetest king of spoilers and support for Jimin's stuff. I also did not predict I would love him even more this year. But here we are.

NOT ON THE PREDICTION RADAR WHATSOEVER:

Jimin on a Fast & Furious franchise soundtrack collab. I NEED MORE JIMIN!

Tae and Jennie "soft" revealing their relationship publicly. Like WHAT? But they did that.

Also blonde Tae... I never thought we'd see a blonde Tannie again.

Attending a Suga/Agust D concert and meeting up with Army friends I met on the internet. HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR!

[I can't believe I saw Yoongi in real life. This close.]

2023 is already half way over. I have no idea what will happen this second half of 2023. It's a mystery.

As much as I am reveling in having so much to look forward to every day and every week, and as much as I wish this didn't have to happen...I (selfishly) really want them to get enlisted so they can be back together as soon as possible in 2025 (at any point in 2025). The first time I see them together in 2025, I am going to cry with relief. However I am always the first to say BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR so I know I shouldn't even been saying any of that...

Anyway...

I guess at the end of December, I will be looking back and saying "well, who would have thought THAT would happen?" More of "not on the prediction radar." By December, Jin will only have six months left. Time is flying faster than I thought it would when back on June 13, 2022. After that heartbreaking Festa dinner, we were staring down a bleak two and a half years of being Bangtan-less....well that didn't happen did it?

[starchildrenofdustand-ashes]

Cabaret at TheKit Kat Club Experience !!

So, I saw Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse theatre on November 15 (11/15/2023) with Nic Myers as Sally and Jake Shears as Emcee.

Below the cut is where spoilers start lol: honestly the whole thing is super secretive- from the stage to the venue itself. So if you ever plan on seeing it live or have the opportunity to do so, you have been warned!

When you walk into the theatre there’s this awesome:

You will see before you descend the stairs; at the bottom of the stairs, they put a sticker on your phone :)

You’ll continue walking down the hall where the walls are white and covered with pictures all over of the actors past and present.

You probably pass some of the actors who are milling about, chatting, flirting, dancing playing instruments.

I was in the first row of the upper dress circle and god it’s tight up there. Definitely wish I’d payed a bit extra to be on the floor and to at least have room 😖

Also note; I don’t talk about Herr Schultz and Frauline Schneiderall that much in these notes, but that’s because their scenes are so sweet and straight forward. These two give you the Schneider and Schultz you’ve seen and you know you love; there’s nothing outlandish or left field that happens with these two like some of the choices with Sally and Emcee. The same can be said for Ernst and Cliff. Nothing wild has been changed with their characters. In fact, most of this will probably be me trying to decode the strange new take on the Emcee and The Kit Kat Club. Anyway! Here are my thoughts and stuff that stuck out to me!

(Also if you’ve seen this production with Eddie Redmayne or have listened to it and have a hypothesis— he makes this strange sound like he’s spitting? In a lot of the songs- I thought it maybe part of the orchestration, but I didn’t notice it with Jake Shears and chalked it up to Eddies character choices. So if you know what the sound is or can give me staging It would soothe my brain)

Willkomenn:

🍷 in Willkomenn, when the Emcee does his whole “comment ca va?, do you feel good” speil he paused after every time, as if to test what language the audience would respond to

🍷 He kept the “do you feel good- yeah I bet you do 😏” line even tho it wasn’t on the revival album🥹

🍷The way to tell Victor and Bobby apart is to lift their arm and stick your face in their armpits and take a big wiff. Bobby did not want his armpits sniffed and Emcee had to beg him

🍷 Bro I love Hermann; he was so stoic and dead inside- he just stood there and did the most basic version of what everyone was doing. He was also fully clothed lol

🍷When they sing the whisper verse, they were all posing in various positions and the Emcee crawled between their legs

Don’t Tell Mama:

🎀 When sally screams at the beginning, she was lying on her back throwing a tantrum

🎀 The Emcee is on stage for the final verse and he acts as Sally’s brother: when sally says the line, “if he squeals on me i squeal on him” they squeezed each others nipples

Perfectly Marvelous

💚When Cliff and Ernst are talking and Sally barges in, she’s wearing her coat, a beige and orange scarf, funky sunglasses and carrying a ton of luggage

💚at the end of Perfectly Marvelous, when Cliff says “besides I’ve only got one narrow bed,” the Emcee rises out of the circle in the center of the platform wearing the exact same thing as Sally: the coat the scarf and the glasses. Two Kit Kat Girls come up the same platform in a suitcase that looks just like the one Sally was carrying

💚 Nic Myers didn’t do an American accent

Two Ladies

👯‍♀️ The KitKatGirl who “makes thebed” puts on a hardware belt and does explicit things with a hammer while the other has a spatula. Or a whisk ,, The One That “Does The Cooking” goes behind Emcee and uses the whisk to “thrust” into him and when he says daily bread, she pulls out a baguette, she also fills out a whip lmao

👯‍♀️ During the instrumental break all the other Kit Kat Members come up through the stage wearing explicit things and doing explicit things to each other. The one that stood out the most to me was Helga jacking off to a copy of Mein Kampf— it was super chaotic and I don’t remember details

It Couldnt Please Me More:

🍍More often than not the sailor Kost was fucking was either Bobby or Hans- even referring to the former as such. Also, they refer to her as Fritzie explicitly so it’s cannon that Kost=Fritzie and not just an actress double casted.

🍍Before Kost runs into Schneider after letting Bobby out, Schultz is leaving Schneiders room and accidentally is trying to out her robe on instead of his jacket

Tomorrow Belongs to Me

* So Emcee comes on stage holding a box and is dressed in a robe and only a wig cap

* One by one, the member of the Kit Kat Klub put these dolls that are wearing brown suits with Blonde hair on the stage. They are standing militanty. very much providing Nazi imagery

* During the song, the figures go around the turn table while emcee is singing

* At the end of the song when he says the last line, he pulls out a blond wig and holds it in the spotlight

Money:

💸Money was the song I was most excited for because of the images I’d seen of the skeleton costume. I had a hard time figuring out why the skeleton, but it was cool nonetheless.

💸 the Emcee rises out of the middle of the floor, his clawed hands reaching out first.

💸 I watched Emcee legit drool on the stage (Groffsauce in Hamilton vibes) he was spitting those lines out so hard

💸 I don’t know how to interpret the staging of the song, the real star of the scene is the costumes, but I took it as the Emcee represented money? Everywhere he went the KitKat Girls followed, wailing and begging him and the surrounding audience for money.

TBTM (reprise )

* I mean. I feel like the staging for this song is always consistent and similar throughout all shows; the individuals singing with Cliff, Sally, Schultz and Sneider standing somberly. The emcee is usually eerily looking on and depending on the show is seemingly jubilant or looking wistful.

* In this, the Emcee rises out of the middle of the turn table wearing his outfit from money. He has a conductors stick and begins conducting them with a smile on his face.

* My sister said the Emcee is “If Art The Clown could talk” and Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. He goes form being the raunchy Emcee we’ve all come to love- I think the Emcee, no matter who plays him is kinda creepy, so the creepiness didn’t seem unusual- to an evil nazi

* But when we see him in money and onwards, he’s definitely giving Killer Clown- she was right, Art the Clown from Terrifier.

* The Art The Clown juxtaposition to when he appears bare faced during some songs was super interesting. It really feels like the idea of “The Nazi’s weren’t demons, they were people who did things we thought demons were only capable of,” and that’s what makes it terrifying. The clowning character is seen praising nazis and cheerfully conducting their songs- he really does seem like a force of evil that’s simply from hell. But then he talks off his makeup in the coming scenes and you’re reminding- he’s just a human who behaves like a demon and that’s terrifying-. Idk if I’m doing the best at explaining my analysis of this, but that’s what I was getting

Kickline

💃🏾The kickline is lively and the members of the Club are trying to hype up the audience before getting into formation

💃🏾They were all wearing red party hats so when the emcee comes on in his red Pierrot clown get up, he has the longest, pointed and most menacing looking hat.

💃🏾he also has a gun? Thing? He shoots a Nazi flag out of it

💃🏾 The Members of the club form a hakenkreuz shape around Emcee and he hand the flag to Bobby and they march off.

Married (reprise)

🧱 the scene before Married Sneider and Schultz are talking about the engagement. Emcee is slinking around the stage and he has something in his hands wrapped in a napkin. His movements remind me of a mime, or as Chelsea says, Art The Clown, the facial expressions with overdramatized emotion and fluidity

🧱 he slinks between Schultz’s and Sneider with a smile on his face and suddenly there’s a loud ass crash that makes- I shit you not- the entire theatre jump. The lights black out. When they rise back on, there is white confetti floating downward, to represent the broken glass

If You Could See Her

🦍Usually, the gorilla in this is dressed up and it looks more cartoonish, but to, this was just a straight up gorilla- (A really good costume) with absolutely no elements of humanity. No clothes, no slightly upturned mouth, no walking on two legs and absolutely no understand what was going on.

🦍The Emcee would address the Gorilla as if she was human, but she would only respond in an animalistic way like scratching her ass, sniffing Emcees ass or flat out ignoring him and doing her own thing.

🦍 The Emcee seemed to be back at his usually self- joking and less like a demonic force - he’s clowning and making the audience laugh and there’s the Jewish line at the end of the song (which?? I was kind of disappointed by. It didn’t give me shivers and I felt it was a bit rushed.) also people laughed, but it could’ve been a “I laugh at funerals bc it’s awkward,” and not because they actually found the situation funny. My sister hypothesized simple confusion for people who had no idea what was going on. I will agree that some of the Emcees choices are strange if you don’t know the plot/ haven’t read up on this revival before hand.

I Don’t Care Much:

🎙️ Next time Emcee is on stage he is wearing a brown suit and a blonde wig, no makeup on his face- he very much resembles the dolls that were placed on stage during TBTM

🎙️I don’t care much occurs after Sally and Cliff have an argument as usual. But after Cliff leaves Sally is getting dressed. She is putting on the same jacket and pants the Emcee is wearing

🎙️during the song the emcee is doing some weird puppet thing behind her and she’s mirroring the moves she’s doing. it was an interesting choice during this song, but I think it’s been my least favorite change. It was like she was on strings and he was controlling her. I guess it provided a good visual for the notion that the Emcee isn’t a person, rather a representation of the deteriorating culture of the the city as a whole.

🎙️ This song is good at humanizing the Emcee, especially in Alan Cummings revival; smeared makeup, track marks, slurred worlds and stilted motions. It really paints a picture of a human at the end of their rope. In this version it just solidifies that the emcee is the city of Berlin and the evils that are taking over (Which, goes in direct opposition to my previous theory on his costumes providing human- demon Nazi images but whatever I dont have the brain power to think harder about it)

🎙️ After this song Cliff gets beat up by Ernst. After the tussle, the nazi thugs are actually the members of the Kit Kat club, they are wearing the same coat as Sally and the Emcee. They finish Cliff off and take his coat away

Cabaret

🍷I mean. Damn. There’s not much to say here. Outstanding performance. Like there are performances from different actors on YouTube so you could watch those to see the blocking because it’s pretty much the same.

🍷 Nic Myers did an amazing job, I got full body chills

🍷 one critique I’ve heard is that it’s over directed and this song is the perfect example of it. As an actor and a director, I understand both sides,; I don’t see much individuality between the actors on YouTube vs Nic Myers because the staging is so specific. I will say, through my opera glasses, the emotion painted in her face couldn’t be replicated and I think that’s really where the nuances will lie- in their faces.

Finale

📸 The Emcee is back on the stage, in the same position as Willkomenn- it’s like this weird pose with his arms and legs bent (you can watch the Willkomenn performance in gram nortons show,, that’s the pose I’m talking about ((I’ve heard people say it’s supposed to look like a hakenkreuz ))the only difference is now he’s in his brown outfit with his blonde hair. Super eerie.

📸 All the characters are standing on the turn table and the Kit Kat Members are on the outer circle of the turn table wearing the same beige suit the emcee has on. The other characters are all wearing brown and there’s an eerie sense of uniformity.

📸 Then there’s the long ass drum roll as they continue to turn before the lights blackout.

[newsom]

2, 4, 9, 18, 19 :-)

2. album of the year

it simply has to be javelin!! it's been a long time since i've cried to music due to my meds but every time the choir comes in on shit talk i have to physically sit down and heave. it's fine but it's not fine but in such a good way

4. movie of the year

ok i just scrolled my letterboxd and while i have watched lots of movies this year i kind of can't believe how few of them were new! i am still really excited to see poor things, anatomy of a fall, dream scenario and some others, but to be honest my favorite 2023 release that i've seen was you hurt my feelings. just a perfect tight little small-concept comedy i thought it was basically flawless.

9. best month for you this year?

probably july when my year-long period of unemployment finally ended LOL. and i didn't actually start the job until august 1 so mid-late to july was bliss city 🌈💫💐

18. a memorable meal from this year

this palestinian chicken and kimchi fried rice combo my friend made for tessa and me a couple weeks ago!! i forget what the chicken dish was called but it was so good and it's cooked with pita at the bottom of the dish to soak up all the juices it was sooooo awesome. this meal also included an espresso martini and a whiskey sour (left) that were both perfect due to this friend having dated a bartender

#19 i've already answered! :-) thank u xoxoxo

[krispyweiss]

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Day No. 2, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Sept. 30, 2023

Leyla McCalla controls the weather.

An overcast day in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park suddenly turned sun-soaked when the former Carolina Chocolate Drop sang: My face to the sun as she performed Our Native Daughters’ “I Knew I Could Fly” during her Sept. 30 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass set on the Towers of Gold Stage.

“That’s awesome,” she said mid-verse as the Earth’s star emerged from the afternoon clouds.

Following the electric and steel guitar instrumentals of Hermanos Gutiérrez on the adjacent Swan stage and playing cello, banjo and electric guitar, backed with rhythm section and electric guitar, McCalla covered Kendrick Lamar’s “Crown” and offered a gumbo of New Orleanian, Haitian and American music delivered in English and Haitian Creole while showcasing her the Capitalist Blues and Breaking the Thermometer LPs.

The Sound Biteses’ day had begun in the pre-noon fog with the down-in-the-holler, old-time string music of Dry Branch Fire Squad playing the songs of Gillian Welch, Doc Watson and Bill Monroe on the Banjo stage. Later, it was gospel from the McCrary Sisters, who sung Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” “Amazing Grace” and other numbers backed by a full band during short, five- to 15-minute sets on the Rooster stage, where Brennan Leigh offered a lunchtime menu of traditional country music.

It was also on the Rooster that Emmylou Harris previewed her Sunday appearance by guesting with Shawn Camp and Verlon Thompson and closing their Doc Watson tribute set with Guy Clark’s “Old Friends.”

Shortly afterward, Bettye LaVette sauntered onstage to deliver her grinding version of Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed.” From here, it was an impassioned reading of songs from the Randall Bramblett-written LaVette! album as the singer prowled the stage and proved her 77 years have cost her nothing in vocal prowess and stage presence.

“If I could write, this is what I would have said,” LaVette said in introducing the new songs, which worked better on stage than on wax.

Rickie Lee Jones attracted a ginormous crowd to Banjo - “I haven’t seen so many people in front of me for so long,” she said, soaking it in - and their enthusiasm rubbed off. Jones, whose band included Vilray on guitar and vocals, plus accordion and bass, was animated as she danced around the stage and crooned like a lounge singer when she wasn’t playing guitar, banjo or piano.

Opening with a radically rearranged “Danny’s All-Star Joint” more suited for the streets of New Orleans than the fields of Golden Gate, Jones went on to perform “I Won’t Grow Up” - for the first time, she said - “Last Chance Texaco,” “We Belong Together” and a sinewy rendition of Steely Dan’s “Show Biz Kids” that found Jones lifting her orange sweater to sing of the Rickie Lee T-shirt beneath.

Give RLJ the MVP for turning in HSB No. 2’s No. 1 gig.

Faced with the quintessential festivalgoers’ dilemma, Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites split the last hour between Steve Earle’s uncharacteristically sleepy solo-acoustic set on the Banjo and Irma Thomas’ barnburner R&B/soul revival at the Rooster.

At 82, Thomas played the day’s most rambunctious set, ripping into “Time is on My Side” and getting the audience bouncing and waving their handkerchiefs on her mashup of “I Done Got Over It” -> “Iko Iko” -> “Hey Pocky Way” -> “I Done Got Over It.” That one might be ringing through Golden Gate’s trees along with the birdsong for some time to come.

Read Sound Bites’ coverage of HSB Day One here.

10/1/23

[valician]

The 90′s Kid chapter forty-eight through fifty! The three part finale!

s3.e16.Nostalgic_Zenith – Everything wraps up with a big to-do list… culminating in that promised class trip to the theme park!

s3.e17.Moribund_Animus – The big-bad reveals himself, and an epic combative introspection ensues as King Arcade crumbles.

s3.e18.Onward_Hereafter – Even the nicest weekends end.

Read them right here: 90skidstory.com

The cast page has also been updated with the latest characters.

I'm not quite done yet - I still have the Season 3 album art and soundtrack to create.

A big thanks to my readers, whoever you are, whether you just like slice of life, time travel, or fun stories. Or you wanted to relive a little of the 90s. This was a personal project and I hope the characters felt alive and even relatable to the kids you grew up with. This is more a story about nostalgia and childhood than any particular decade, though the the 1990s certainly gave it a unique flavor. From challenging myself like using a 22 page restriction per chapter to simulate TV show episodes, or improving my illustration abilities these last 4 years (July 18th 2019 to July 18th 2023!), and adapting real-life experiences into the "epic" moments seen through a kid's eyes, this series has been a joy to write, and I think it's fully stuffed with gooey comfort food nostalgia for a decade long gone without quite going overboard, and it explores the connections in the present we have with the past — while mentioning that the ticking now isn't all bad! There are always nice new things to look forward to, and friends to make.

When I began writing back in 2018, the pandemic wasn't even a blip on the radar and 2020 was still the future (and now it's hard to believe it's already 3 years in the past!). While that global event not showing up in The 90's Kid meant pushing the universe into an even further branching timeline than our own, some of the chapters I most enjoyed writing were with Jace and his friends in an alternate version of 2020. And while millennials and older generations might find the things kids are into these days "cringe" and "trash," remember that your parents probably thought the same things about what we grew up with a few decades ago. So, don't worry about today's youth. They're going to turn out fine, and in thirty years, I bet a lot of them will long for those "awesome" 20s Kid days. And some of them might even still be wearing their Nirvana shirts, too. Like a churning ocean current, nostalgia is about cycles, and you never know what might come back to the surface again.

Still, as Wes learns... dial down the tint on those rose-colored glasses a little, and try to live in the present. Old stories are great; but you should be there to help write the new ones.

[fillinforlater]

Let's get some positivity going! What are some of your personal favorite K-pop moments from 2023?! An interaction? A song or album? Meet your fave? Attended a concert, festival or fansign?

Some (Christmas) Update

Hello there, y'all!

I hope you have/had a nice Christmas time and enjoy this odd time before New Years Eve which you can use to either reflect the last year or look ahead to the next (or just eat and sleep every day lol).

Lemme do both things. My 2023 had...

this account getting to 7.000 Followers on 25th of November. Thank you all so much, you all inspire and motivate me and I'm glad that you seem to enjoy the crazy shit I write. I will try my best and continue to give you regular pieces, long and short, kinky and vanilla, regular and futa!

I took some of my favorite people to a concert of one of my favorite groups, KARD. Amazing experience, those four are talented, wild, sexy - I loved it a lot. I can still hear those live vocals and the fangirls' screams... a night to remember

two groups, IVE and NewJeans, really made this kpop year special for me. NewJeans had banger galore while IVE just dropped the greatest Album maybe ever?! What would we do without them, loved it

SEVENTEEN winning ALOTY at MAMA was magical!

BABYMETAL ARE LOUD (and very cool too)

I wrote a fic ("Just Testing") with fricking 31.577 words and 30 idols... that was crazy fun, ty all for over 1k Notes

my fic "C.Ollection" has become an all-time fic in this community with currently 2,467 Notes! This number still blows my mind; you all made this possible

Now, let's look forward to 2024...

my studies might take priority and if that time comes, I should take it with grace and commit to it. I should be grateful for those opportunities

I want to meet more of my friends more often, but only if there is mutual interest in it

there are a couple of bigger projects I should pursuit with more focus/passion/whatever is lacking. I think they are great ideas, so I should treat them as such

more successful fics, more awesome collaborations, maybe something like commissions or requests?

I hope 2024 can surpass 2023 for me personally, but also for you. Thanks for reading and caring, love you all

Sincerely, Smite

.

.

.

C.Ollection is almost one year old... damn

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

CRISTINA SCABBIA TALKS NEW LACUNA COIL MUSIC, LOVING SLEEP TOKEN, SEEING PANTERA

WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE LACUNA COIL'S BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT OF 2023? CRISTINA SCABBIA Well, we wrote some music and there's a new single out called "Never Dawn."

That's also a super cool collaboration we did with the brand CMON for the game Zombicide. Which is a huge table game that came out in different versions, so being part of it — we're actually miniatures in the game — is a great achievement. That kind of underlines, once again, our connection with the nerd world, with the world of games and video games.

So that made us really, really happy. The fact that we went to Comic Con as guests is something I consider a big achievement.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ALBUM OF 2023? To be honest with you, I don't really listen to a lot of new stuff. I've had the same playlists for ages now and I listen to a lot of soundtracks from video games. So it might not be unusual but it could be the soundtrack for Elden Ring.

Of course, as soon as I hear the music I think about the game right away. It was such a great, developed game that everybody was waiting for, and the music just builds the vibe for it. I love the fact that it's dark, it's epic, it's scary, it's very, very well done. I just put it [on] whenever I do something at home.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SHOW YOU'VE SEEN THIS YEAR? I saw Pantera — that was pretty cool. I saw them in Spain because we played the same festival, and the thing about it is that I watched them from the stage we literally just played because they were going on after us on the stage that was in front of us.

So we kind of got the best view. That was pretty awesome.

WERE THERE ANY NEW-TO-YOU ARTISTS WHO CAME ONTO YOUR RADAR THIS YEAR THAT YOU REALLY ENJOY? I listened to a lot of Sleep Token. If they count as new for this year, they might be the band. I like them very much — I adore his voice. I just like the vibe.

I don't care about whoever says, "Oh, they're not metal" — I don't give a fuck. Music is about what you feel when you listen to it, and they play so well and have such a wonderful singer. That, to me, is awesome.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SERIES OF 2023? Well, I finally progressed on Attack on Titan. I re-watched Neon Genesis Evangelion. I started the live action One Piece. I'm digging more into that world.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2024 FOR LACUNA COIL? Well, the new record. We are writing it right now. So we're in the composition zone now. We have so many ideas. We're just waiting for something that puts everything together.

We don't like to write singles. We don't like to write long songs. We like an idea of a record, so we're looking for the spark for the [theme] of the next record.

We want to take our time to write. We just want to be inspired and release something that we really like, that we really want to share with people.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR WHAT IT'S GOING TO SOUND LIKE? Honestly, no, because there're some things that are sounding very Lacuna Coil, and there are other things that are completely different.

But we honestly like to keep it a way where it sounds like Lacuna Coil. We like to experiment, we like to evolve. But there has to be a logic.

Whenever I think about bands that I like, movies that I like, TV series that I like, I kind of want to see a change, but I also want to feel the core of what I liked. And it's not easy because, obviously, as a band we listen to so many things, we're inspired by so many things.

But it wouldn't make sense to evolve in a way that takes you too far from what the band is. So that's another thing I would love [in 2024]. To keep on-focus, let's say.

[onehunnit]

Cinema Studies Minor Gets Super Into Analyzing K-Pop Videos 2.2

Disclaimer: I'm still a student, no where near an expert, I will be wrong in some technical aspects. Also my interpretations are my opinion which means you may disagree and that's okay. Awesome even! Just be normal about it fr. This is also very out of order bc that's how my brain works. Also I am but a baby loretiny, which means my interpretations are shaky at best compared to what's been established. But the lore is confusing anyway so....

The World EP.FIN: Trailer Analysis pt 2: Sections

THIS WAS WRITTEN NOVEMBER 11TH 2023

Structure, Lines, & Perspective

Yo, Get This Camera Out Of My Face

Who Put Stanley Kubrick In My Album Trailer?  

The Entire Set Crew Needs To Be Sucked Silly (Again)

Black and White In The Lore

Structure, Lines, & Perspective:

There are so many fucking lines. There are SO. MANY. LINES just look at the trailer again for me okay? Try and find a curve in the set. There are so few, it's astonishing. 

Now for a place called Strictland, you may expect to see strictness. Well, you'd be right! 

To touch back on German Expressionism, lines are used to imply rigidity and structure. Strictland is strict, and thus characterized by straight lines and sharp, clear angles. There is little softness, it's all hard [insert other adjectives here]. 

The lines in general lead our eyes to the action and provide awesome contrast with our characters. I would insert screenshots however. I will not

Yo, Get This Camera Out Of My Face (why he smiling like that?) 

Close-ups and lighting are on the mind due to watching The Passion of Joan of Arc and talking about low-key lighting with my film professor for an hour. Low-key lighting is very even, and in this case I think it's used for cosmetic reasons. Listen, flawless skin is not just skincare and make-up, lighting is huge in it too! 

But it gives off the effect of being youthful, which helps since the youth are the new generation and Loreteez are ushering in a revolution and change comes with that.

Who Put Stanley Kubrick In My Album Trailer? 

Yeah so Hongjoong is doing the Kubrick stare. The subject tilts their head down while looking directly into the camera. This naturally casts shadow and is unsettling as it breaks the fourth wall. Originally used to depict characters who just tipped over into madness/insanity and its rly creepy, which brings into question Hongjoong's intentions. Is he happy that the girl rejected him? Is he planning something more sinister?

The Entire Set Crew Needs To Be Sucked Silly (Again)

Note: Loreteez is used interchangeably to mean the members in the lore as a whole and as the “A” Universe members. Halateez is used to describe the “Z” Universe members. 

I just want to talk about a few shots in particular that made me go crazy insane when I saw them. This is where the interpretations start going by the way.

This one is soooo perfect to me. You don’t understand. So let’s get into it. 

Mise-en-scene (MES) is a term that boils down to everything you see on screen: set, props, costumes, actors, blocking, lighting, anything! 

It’s separated clearly into foreground (desk and Wooyoung) and background (Yunho and the machines), though for our purposes we’re going to call Yunho’s field of depth the mid-ground and the curtains the background. 

In all fields the technology is old and anchored, contrast that with the futuristic holograms in this shot: 

Which emphasizes the binary between old and new. This is also the first time (if i recall correctly) Loreteez is using this technology, which indicates growth in their cause over all. 

Back to the first shot. While the foreground has all this older technology, it still fits in with Strictland as, from what we have seen, don’t have modern/future tech at their disposal. And why would they have it readily available if their whole deal is suppressing human emotion (“The disease is human emotion” - The Awakening of Summer (Rhythm Ta) Kingdom Stage) and expression. You don’t have a need to develop better technology. 

The mid-ground is much of the same; straight lines running straight across. Everything is old etc. But there are some round lights that break it up. Roundness? Out of the ordinary, right?

The background is more interesting though, because you finally get some curvature in this. The curtains are loose fabric and they drape which adds a different texture and shows that it’s not constrained to fall a certain way.

Pictured: Notes written on the screen.: Structure in machines, straight lines ins background / Fabric = loose, curves, along w/ circle and roundness

In all, the progression of structure to flowiness presents how Loreteez is, looming over the background, and a change from the rigidity of Strictland.

The second shot comes later, with Hongjoong stopping in front of the Academy student. She is standing in a cubby created by the walls angling upward, dividing the scene. Obviously too, Hongjoong is in all black while she is in white

Black and White in The Lore

As a quick aside: Black and White in the Ateez universe is so curious to me. Black in our society is understood as “bad” and white “good” and Ateez uses that binary to create shades of grey (which we WILL be discussing more thank you very much!) and nuances to the social issues being presented and critiqued. Strictland is white, and in that society, it is the “good”; saving its citizens from a disease. Loreteez are “bad” because they are rising against the norms and trying to change them, threatening the institutions Strictland has put into place. 

While initially we saw Halateez as “evil” due to their masked appearances and black garb when they first appeared, it became clear in Answer that they are not the antagonists, rather on the same side as our protagonists, Loreteez. 

But beyond that lineation: In this particular shot, the lines of the wall and the people walking past make an invisible line for Hongjoong and the girl to cross to be pulled to either side, good or bad.  The invisible line being made of people in movement and the inanimate wall is not lost to me either; showing how barriers are not just physical but can be social/psychological

But beyond that lineation: In this particular shot, the lines of the wall and the people walking past make an invisible line for Hongjoong and the girl to cross to be pulled to either side, good or bad.  The invisible line being made of people in movement and the inanimate wall is not lost to me either; showing how barriers are not just physical but can be social/psychological

14 comes up here, that is a # to look out for. Maybe the number of songs? JK LMAO that'll never happen 😭 <- I wrote this before the trackless came out okie?

Despite all my black and white talk, the curious thing about the color grading is that there is no true white in the costumes, it is all grey. There is a mix, we have moved on from the clarity and have moved into the murky soup. The grey and nuance are exacerbated in the next shot.

In this, the only thing I can think of is the idea of yin and yang, that at the heart of good and evil there is the other. Again, there is an invisible line separating the girl and Hongjoong. On the girl's side are her white shoes and the darkness behind her. On Hongjoong's side is the black of his attire and the highlights in front of him. But it is not white, rather it is grey, which is a transitional color.

But at the end, the girl does not take his outstretched hand, she walks on, he smiles (quite evilly tbh, go back to the Kubrick stare section). Out of what? Pride maybe? Everything is going to plan? He's certainly not unhappy so…

But that concludes part 2! I might do more, but who knows?