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chosetherose · 3 years

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Submission:

Mr Perfectly Fine

So I've seen a lot of theories about Mr Perfectly Fine. I think we all have. The official narrative is that it's another song "about" Joe J*nas. Gaylors think it's about Taymily. I've even seen the argument that "Mr Always Wins" is Taylor throwing shade at current beard Joe Aly*n. (Which I can definitely see, tbh. This is Miss "and you poke that bear, Taylor Kloss come out" TS we're talking about. She's no stranger to sneaky wordplay.)

But I was listening today and another idea hit me, which I haven't seen anyone talk about so far.

I wonder if Mr Perfectly Fine is a song about Scott B*rchetta? Specifically, about the Fearless era, when Taylor was "encouraged" to let Emily go for the sake of her career. We can all guess who would have been behind the encouraging.

Obviously MPF is like most of the vault tracks on Fearless TV. It's been reworked from Taylor's current point of view, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's angry about more than just the Taymily situation when she sings it now. But it does really fit for that. All you really have to do is change the lyric "I've been Miss Misery since your goodbye" to "I've been Miss Misery since HER goodbye" and boom, you have a song in which "he" isn't the lover but the outside influence who was instrumental in breaking Taylor's heart. If you've ever read Jane Austen's Persuasion, just imagine Taylor as Anne, Emily (and her other girlfriends) as Captain Wentworth, and Scott as Lady Russell, who talked Taylor out of the match for the sake of her future.

Verse 1:

Mr. "Perfect face" Mr. "Here to stay"

Mr. "Looked me in the eye and told me you would never go away"

Everything was right Mr. "I've been waitin' for you all my life" Mr. "Every single day until the end, I will be by your side"

This all seems like romantic imagery, but it could also be metaphorical. We all know that Scott and Taylor seemed like a match made in (business) heaven at first. Taylor has talked about how Scott took a chance on her. Scott talked about seeing something unique and special in Taylor, and throwing everything behind her. We all know Taylor basically made Big Machine. It's easy to imagine Scott telling a young Taylor she had the perfect face for country. It's easy to imagine him telling her he was in it for the long haul, willing to promote and develop her as an artist even if it took a while for her to break through. It's easy to imagine both of them thinking their meeting was fate - a perfect partnership that would last her entire career.

Then comes the pre-chorus and the chorus.

But that was when I got to know Mr. "Change of heart" Mr. "Leaves me all alone," I fall apart It takes everything in me just to get up each day But it's wonderful to see that you're okay [Chorus] Hello, Mr. "Perfectly fine" How's your heart after breakin' mine? Mr. "Always at the right place at the right time," baby Hello, Mr. "Casually cruel" Mr. "Everything revolves around you" I've been Miss Misery since your goodbye And you're Mr. "Perfectly fine"

We know that Taylor and Emily were together for nearly two years before the break up, and it seems like the break up was directly related to Taylor's increasing success. In this situation, it's not hard to imagine Scott as "Mr Change of Heart" - someone who initially encouraged a private (closeted) relationship, but then changed his mind and decided even that was too dangerous. Taylor was better off alone. She was only a teenager, after all. She had years ahead of her to fall in love again. Maybe this girl thing was just a phase anyway. She was too young to throw away the opportunity of a lifetime. "Mr Casually Cruel" is, of course, a reference to All Too Well's "so casually cruel in the name of being honest". It evokes the same feelings here. It's belittling, from someone who thinks they're older and wiser. It's easy to imagine Emily repeating some of these statements back to Taylor later, claiming they come from the same place of greater maturity. You can see how Taylor came to feel no-one was on her side, when she sings about the Taymily break up in Bye Bye Baby.

And Scott would be "perfectly fine" after breaking Taylor's heart. Because he's not hurting. He's not part of the loss. I've always thought some of the descriptions Taylor uses for "Emily" in MPF seem overly harsh, and don't tally with her attitude in other songs. But they absolutely fit for 31 year old Taylor looking back at Scott's actions through an adult lens. Angry that he had such influence over her. Angry that he was so dismissive of her feelings, but mined them for a profit. Now she sees it all differently. She feels it was all about him, all about the impact her stardom would have on his label, and he didn't really care about her feelings at all.

[Verse 2] Mr. "Never told me why" Mr. "Never had to see me cry" Mr. "Insincere apology so he doesn't look like the bad guy" He goes about his day Forgets he ever even heard my name Well, I thought you might be different than the rest, I guess you're all the same

Pre-Chorus] 'Cause I hear he's got his arm 'round a brand-new girl I've been pickin' up my heart, he's been pickin' up her And I never got past what you put me through But it's wonderful to see that it never fazed you

Here is where I think Taylor starts to conflate the past and present. She goes from talking about Scott's first betrayal to his last and worst one. Selling her masters to Sc**ter Braun. Never had to see her cry? No explanation for the betrayal? Insincere apology? Attempts to sign new artists to replace Taylor at Big Machine? Apparent indifference to something Taylor still hasn't got over? All of this checks out for Scott and the masters situation. Especially the line about thinking he was "different than the rest" only to find out "you're all the same". She thought Scott was like a father to her, but when it came down to it he was as greedy and self-serving as Sc**ter.

She doubles down on this in Verse 3 and the bridge.

[Verse 3] So dignified in your well-pressed suit So strategized, all the eyes on you Sashay your way to your seat It's the best seat, in the best room Oh, he's so smug, Mr. "Always wins" So far above me in every sense So far above feeling anything [Bridge] And it's really such a shame It's such a shame 'Cause I was Miss "Here to stay" Now I'm Miss "Gonna be alright someday" And someday maybe you'll miss me But by then, you'll be Mr. "Too late"

This is absolutely about a business man. It never fit for Taymily or Joe J*nas. It doesn't fit JA either. ("All eyes on you"? "The best seat in the best room"? "Always wins"? In his dreams!) JA wishes he'd made as much out of Taylor as Scott did. It's like the Mean Girls quote "I like, invented her!" That's what Taylor did for Scott. She put him on the map.

(Just like she's doing right now for JA. Bearding like Scott taught her all those years ago. I think the "always wins" / "alwyn" soundbite is another way of saying they're all the same to her, these men using her for their careers. She doesn't trust JA any more than she trusts Scott. The comparison is pretty revealing about her real feelings regarding JA. Pretty damning.)

The final lines say it all. Taylor would have stayed with Big Machine if they'd been more supportive of her as a person and as an artist. They could have had it all. All the success she's experiencing now, Scott could have been a part of. But he chose another road, and Taylor was left trying to process it in her songs. Trying to claw back the rights to her work by rerecording her albums. And now all that's left is for Scott to miss what he lost - far, far too late to ever get it back.

- ❄️🥀

(P.S: You're welcome, Lucky One!)

#CTRsubmission #submission

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beanyboobee · 3 years

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hi! just wanted to say i love ur theories sm! especially the ones about the triangle and reki and adam being like the "devil and angel" on langas shoulder. would you mind expanding a bit more on the meaning of the ending song? i was looking at them and it definitely feels like ranga is going to become canon is some form and that it will be requited at first, then adam gets in the way and its unrequited, and then maybe its requited again? idk thats what i picked up from it but what r ur thoughts?

Awe thank you so much! And of course! I would love to expand more on what I think the meaning of the ending song is! Just keep in mind im using the English translation from YouTube so there may of been a few words mistranslarws but this is why I thonk the song is reki and langa having a conversation. I wont be going word for word other wise we will be here awhile but here's some things I noticed

"Oh let's keep the feelings"

Can have many meanings, and throughout the ending song it changes meaning quite alottm but at the beginning I think what it refers to is skating. And how they need to keep their love for it. This is important as recently in the show Reki seems to be losing his love for it. Blinded by feeling inferior. So what this lyric implies is what is truely important to both of them. And that is keeping the feeling they had when they first started skating.

From deduction I beleive the first verse is Rekis point of veiw

"The road on which the kicked stone rolls, you're stubborn"

As we know Langa is the more stubborn outnofnthe two. Reki is the more carefree and go with the flow.

"There is no distinction between old and new, I like what I always like"

If my thoughts are correct and they are older looking back on their younger days. I think this is Reki admitting that even though they have grown and even if their sneakers have changed they are still the same as they were back then. That his feelings from those days are still as strong as ever.

"I feel like another person for the rest of my life"

Can be a confusing thing to try and deciper as it can have many meaning but my favorite one, is that this is him admitting he wants Langa with him forever. That he doesn't want to be alone, that he feels like having Langa there is what he needs.

This is immediately followed by

"Lets go together. Let's go with you. Beyond the sea of tears, I can move. I can help you "

Furthering the previous statement that this is their way of saying they want to stay together. As we know Reki is constantly helping Langa. Let it be with skateboarding or even fixing Langas board. Rekinis always excited to help. So the mention of helping is what made me think this verse was Reki.

"If you have a feeling. Let's keep feelings. Let's keeping your heart. As we are Happiness with you."

They want to keep feeling this way. They don't want things to change, because this is when they are happy.

To no ones supprise it is blatantly obvious that the boys will find their happiness in each ither. Like rekinsaid his happiness in epispde 1 was skating. So I wouldn't be supprised that in the final episode if the thought of happiness is brought back up and it changes.

"Inside an empty cigar case. I was growing tall now. To be honest. I will remember. Tightly tied laces. Let's make it my favorite color. Its infinite. I like what i always like."

The mention of a cigar case is what gave me the idea that this is when they are older. And esspeically the mention of growing taller. Though I don't know which one this could be. Judging by some lyrics later I assumed this verse was Langa.

Again the mention of shoes is brought up. Leading back to skateboardong then the mention of a favorite color.(( I dont think this refers to the shoes themselves but if it did that would be interesting because ya know what red and blue make? ..purple. and what color are langas shoes? Damn I could do a whole crack theory on this man's shoes-)) but anyway! I think the favorite color is in referance to langas new board. As we know he will be getting a new board soon and if its reki making it. It wouldn't supprise me if he asked langa for his favorite color to paint it.

NOW THIS IS THE PART THAT HAD ME FLIPPING MY LAPTOP WHEN I REALISED IT WAS A CONVERSATION

Remember this from verse 1?

"Unimaginable wall ride. It made me laugh all right. All night I was waiting for the morning. "

Yes well read this from verse 2. A direct response.

"Fearless wall ride. I'll make you laugh all right. All night has been exceeded"

And then it is instantly followed with

"I feel like another person for the rest of my life" again

From verse 1. It made me think about how Reki would laugh alott while Langa was learning. Mostly because langa really could not pull off the basic things and would often end up hurting himself. The mention of waiting for the morning is as if Reki is excited to see Langa. To skate with langa. Not having someone for so long it brings him excitement each day to have someone there.

And then the direct response from Langa is as if he is saying he aimed to make Reki laugh with what he did. That he kept trying just to get him to laugh. Before reassuring him that the night is done and that he really is here to stay. That if Reki was worried everything was just a dream. The day proves to him it isn't.

"Lets talk about silly things with you forever. I want to laugh next to you. "

As we know Reki tends to ramble and Langa tends to listen. But something the show shows wonderfully is how the more time passes Langa is becoming more open. He smiles mostly whenever Reki is talking to him showing how he and Reki have grown close. Again this is talking about they want to be beside each other again.

I beleive that sentance is Rekis point of beiw though. He wants to talk with Lamga and much as possiable and he wants the ither to laugh.

Which leads me to belive this song takes place when they are seperated . Not together in that moment. But both thinking back on the same memories.

Final verse.

"If the world ends. I dont need anything special. Same pace as usual. Let's stay together unchanged. Yes 'now is beautiful. "

I don't know who's point of veiw this verse is. But I like to think its both lf them. Or it switches between them.

They talk about how even if the world ends they will be fine so long as they are together and the same as usual. That NOW is perfect. Because all they need is one another.

"Lets go together. Lets go with you. Its not just fun. Youre here by my side. Helping me. "

Now I belive that is Langas response to reki in the first verse saying he wants to help him. That langa wants to keep going to the future with Reki besides him. And the same for Reki. He wants to go with Langa. Skateboarding is no longer just fun for eaither of them anymore. It became more then that because ts something they do together.

As Joe said. Our local villian man says skateboarding is a language of love. (Though I will draw a line in the sand and say local villian man treats more like lust and desire) but! For reki and langa is really is a love language. Skateboarding basically represents a reltionship in this show. They started it together. Kept doing it together. But eventually one person was moving ahead to fast and the other couldn't catch up this will result in- (*cough* their first breakup) but skateboarding will definetly bring them back together again.

The show will definetly separate them at some point. Because it has to be done . Of my theories are correct. They need to be separated and away from each other in order to full realise they need each other. They need that break to realise skateboarding isn't just fun anymore. That without the other there to support them. Its no longer what it used to be.

"Im not alone. I'm always by your side."

This can apply to both the characters which is why I beleive the final verse is a mixture of the two of them. For Langa he came to Japan not knowing anyone but his mom. He was alone till Reki shoved his way into his life. And for Reki he was alone even though he was surrounded by so many people. Because he had no one to truepy connect with. But now they are always beside each other.

"You can talk about silly things as many times as you like. I will remember and laugh"

Now not alott of thing scare me but this- ...this thing scares me- ok so all joking aside. This is another direct response to a line a few verses back. But this time ots langa. Langa saying how he doesn't mind listening to Reki talk. Because he will remember everything and laugh about it. That as long as reki wants to keep talking he will listen..

Though I'm kind of scared how they phrased the remember and laugh thing- I just have trust issues with this director since banana fish so they just better not give my boys an angsty ending-

And finally!

"You are always in my chest."

They are always in each others hearts. Another suspicious lyric that is making me second guess everything sweet. And makes me beleive the two of them are seperated some how. It better only be because of college or I swear- hands will be thrown!

But apart from that its a very sweet song. About them feeling nolsolgic. Thinking back of their past. Remembering feelings. How they will always be in each ithers hearts. How they are each others happiness. And how they can't see a future without each other in it.

Though it is also possiable for the singers of each verse to be the complete opposite of what I choose. Since langa seems to be the one helping Reki now, but we will wait till the show ends to do a serious theory on this once and for all xD

#sk8 the infinity spoilers #sk8 the infinity #sk8 the infinity theory

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miraculousmidnightreviews · 5 years

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There will definitely be an explanation for my review of reputation

Album: reputation

Artist: Taylor Swift Rating: 5/5 stars

I would first like to preface this review with one fact: reputation is my favorite album by Taylor Swift. It should be noted that I did not rate this album based on the average of each individual song rating. (If I did, the actual album rating would be 4.5 stars.) But I felt that this album deserved more. So much more.

What I admire most about reputation is its honest introspectiveness. I think it’s safe to say that no one predicted this album to be The Next Taylor Swift Album. The lead single is distinctly not like previous Swift singles, providing an unexpectedly darker side to Swift. And the album cover is devoid of Swift’s usual bright or pastel colors. Yet what people brushed off as a risky and failed move designed to turn around Swift’s career, her reputation, became the most truthful album of her discography.

At this point, whether you’re a fan of Swift or not, you can’t doubt her abilities. She knows how to create chart-topping hits; she knows how to pen heart-wrenching ballads; she’s done it before. And she’ll continue to do so for the rest of her career. But reputation was never meant to be the next 1989, the next record-breaking financial success (although it was to some extent). This album was meant to be something else entirely: an admittedly risky exploration that only Swift could pull off.

And I respect that immensely. This album is honest, and it’s brave. It might not be her most sonically cohesive or lyrically complex album, but it wins anyways. I love that the songs are in chronological order as they pertain to Swift’s life, and while that means it can be hard to listen to the songs without skipping around, the album itself is a journey through Swift’s year of solitude, through her mind space and blossoming relationship, through her life away from the eyes of the public and the media. To me, it’s clear Swift wrote reputation not because she needed to stick to her schedule of releasing an album every other year, but because she just needed to cope with events in her life. I appreciate that maybe even more than the honesty: that Swift wrote this album because she needed it; she wrote it for herself and no one else.

In anticipation of Lover coming out on Aug. 23, I will be reviewing each of Swift’s albums up until the forthcoming album’s release. I can’t wait to listen to new TS music, and I hope these reviews will provide a wistful and refreshing glance at past eras as we look forward to a brand new one.

Continue reading below for my review of each individual song.

1) ...Ready For it?

Rating: 4/5 stars

*clears throat*

At first listen, I was unsure of the mix of rap and singing. But it’s now one of the songs from this album that I play when I’m in That Mood™.

Did I mention Taylor raps?!?

The pre-chorus is so “Wildest Dreams”-esque that I can’t. I just can’t. (Also, sexy!)

That Elizabeth Taylor reference!!! I love it when artists make pop culture references in their works. It gives me a dopamine rush.

As always, it’s nice to hear Swift play with the perception of herself. She’s just so great at turning her reputation as portrayed by the media into a clever and witty line or song.

i’M So vERy TAme nOW (Sarcasm on point. She did that.)

2) End Game (feat. Future & Ed Sheeran)

4/5 stars

Taylor raps! Pt. 2

BIG REPUTATION

I love the features on this one, and I’m very surprised by Future. But that’s Taylor Swift, keeping us on our toes.

This song includes the first of many references to alcohol from this album. A first for Swift, but all those who are surprised need to grow the fuck up. Because Swift certainly did.

Also, notice “End Game” has the first mention of gold, a motif that will continue throughout the album.

3) I Did Something Bad

Rating: 5/5 stars

Probably my favorite song from this album. The live performance was also my favorite of hers.

badass vibes all the way

IF A MAN TALKS SHIT THEN I OWE HIM NOTHING

I am absolutely in love with the feminist-y witch metaphor in the bridge. Iconic.

Also cool that Swift was inspired by Game of Thrones for this and other songs from this album.

4) Don’t Blame Me

Rating: 5/5 stars

All the gospel feels

TAKE ME TO CHURCH, TAYLOR!!!

THAT high note

Once again, the honesty

5) Delicate

Rating: 5/5 stars

When the album first came out, this was the song that I immediately played the most and connected to. I just adore how she was able to take these universal feelings and put them into a song that anyone just starting a relationship can relate to.

The music video is so underrated. It’s so cute and happy and I just love it and her so much.

1 2 3, LET’S GO BITCH!!!!!!

The repetition of “isn’t it?” to reflect anxiety is, once again, an example of Swift’s lyrical genius.

6) Look What You Made Me Do

Rating: 4/5 stars

YOU’LL ALL GET YOURS

A lot of people did not like this song when it first came out and some still don’t. I happen to like it a lot. While the chorus is not my favorite, the verses bite with amazing zingers and that’s what hooks me.

I think when everyone first heard this song, we assumed the rest of the album would sound similarly: dark and filled with vengeance. But with the exception of a few songs, I would consider reputation to be one of Swift’s happiest albums. There are certainly dark overtones, but at its heart, reputation is an album about love and acceptance in the aftermath of Swift’s metaphorical death. If you consider 1989 for comparison, the composition of its songs (and even the album cover) present a romantic and hopeful facade, when actually, many songs have depressing lyrics about the fate of romantic relationships.

The bridge is so reminiscent of the bridge from Blank Space in a way. They give me similar vibes, except LWYMMD’s is the follow-up to that of Blank Space.

This song has one of my favorite music videos ever. I love when artists tell stories through their music videos, and Swift never fails at storytelling. (Also, a fantastic lyric video!)

7) So It Goes…

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I feel like this song embodies what everyone expected from this album at first glance: dark, techno pop.

This one doesn’t really do much for me, but I enjoy the extended metaphor of the magician.

Too much techno, in my opinion.

But sexyyy—“scratches down your back”

8) Gorgeous

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This song gives me old Taylor vibes, just with a new production.

“Gorgeous” does such an excellent job at conveying the thoughts and feelings surrounding first attraction between two people.

“I guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats.” Relatable.

Give the original lyrics a listen from Swift’s the making of a song video. They’re heartbreaking.

9) Getaway Car

Rating: 5/5 stars

Now this bitch is DEFINITELY old Taylor storytelling at its finest.

That Tale of Two Cities reference!

THat BRidGE!!!

“And a circus ain’t a love story. And now we’re both sorry.”

Just the complexity of feelings portrayed in this song is utter perfection.

Bonnie & Clyde!!!

This is one of those classic Taylor songs that you turn all the way up while driving down the highway at 70 miles per hour, screaming at the top of your lungs. GO GO GO!!

(not that I’ve ever done that. I follow all speed limits :))

10) King of My Heart

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The only reason this song doesn’t get 5 stars is because I could have done without the added production (less techno plz).

The beginning always gets me. This and “Call it What You Want” have the saddest beginning lines on the album.

Overall, this is just cute af. Pure fluff.

“jAguARs”

The drums on tour were a wonderful bonus.

Also, the bridge. Swift writes some damn good bridges on this album and just in general.

11) Dancing With Our Hands Tied

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

This song, like “So it Goes…,” doesn’t really do much for me, even though it seems to be a fan favorite. I really preferred the acoustic version of this that she played on tour.

But I appreciate the versatility of her song topics as well as her voice.

12) Dress

Rating: 5/5 stars

First reaction while listening to this song: OMG TAYLOR!!! sexyyyyyy

Her voice *heart eyes*

The pre-chorus is so much fun to sing!!!

“I’m spilling wine in the bathtub” gives me high school party vibes for some reason lol

13) This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Rating: 4/5 stars

I really love everything about this song, except for the chorus. It just wasn’t as fun to sing along to as the rest of the song. (Although purposefully making it sound childish was an effective way to get her point across).

That Gatsby reference!

love Love LOVE the tongue-in-cheek attitude

She missed the parties :(

14) Call It What You Want

Rating: 5/5 stars

so soft & pure

A recovery song is what we really deserve. I love that Taylot took this time for herself.

My heart just bursts when I hear this song.

That feminist bridge tho—a mature and fulfilling continuation of “Love Story” in a way

15) New Year’s Day

5/5 stars

Bittersweet—the perfect closing song to this album

This song perfectly showcases Swift’s heartachingly beautiful songwriting talent.

“please don’t ever become stranger whose laugh I recognize anywhere” really gets me.

With this conclusive song, I can say that Taylor Swift is truly happy and okay. And I’m so proud.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this review! Check out other reviews here!

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rebelwheelssoapbox · 5 years

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Pride Month Means Politicians Are All Rah Rah Rainbow, But Do They Support All Of The LGBTQ+ Community?

By RebelWheels NYC The following article is not an attempt to drag, shame or throw shade at people, but rather is an attempt at education and a call for solidarity.

[image description: Cast photo from the Queer Eye. photo shows five different gay men who have various appearances and looks, but are all very stylish. ] With perhaps the exception of Queer Eye & RuPaul’s Drag Race (which not everyone has access to), if one were to go by LGBTQ+ representation in the mainstream media, one might get the impression that LGBTQ+ often equals very glam/stylish, white, able bodied, cisgender, middle and/or upper class. However, the truth is like many identities, queer people exist within every community.

[image description: Cast photo from the RuPaul Drag Race. Photo shows a wide variety of drag queens looking pretty damn fabulous and colorful] I am a proudly queer, disabled woman, (among other identities) and therefore I don't just face queerphobia, but also deal with sexism and ableism. Sometimes I experience these things all at once. Sometimes I even face ableism within queer spaces and sometimes queerphobia in the disability community. Related: Ableism? What the hell is Ableism?

[image description: a graphic with a white background and black “typewriter” font text. It reads, ”Ableism is… (a form of) discrimination.The false idea that disabled people are by default, inferior. When in truth, disability is just another way for a mind and/or body to be.”] So often when we hear about oppressed groups of people, it's often presented in this very isolated fashion (or what is often referred to as single issue). Here is Group A , they face Discrimination A and that's it. However, the truth is, unless you are white, straight, cisgender , male, upper class, able bodied, etc., life is rarely that simple. You can be queer and disabled. You can be queer and poor. You can be queer and a person of color, queer and Muslim, queer and an immigrant and/or refugee, queer and indigenous, etc etc etc. In fact, at the end of the day, a person can be all of these things.

And I mention this, not to simply partially list the possible combinations of marginalized identities, but to point out that when we talk about the importance of supporting and giving love to the LGBTQ+ community, we must acknowledge that many LGBTQ+ people aren't just dealing with LGBTQ+-phobia (which is hard enough on it's own.) That if you say you support the queer community, then we must support all of the community, and that means having solidarity for the varying experiences of all queer people.

[image description: Black and white photo of Audre Lorde, a black and queer activist. To the right of the photo, is a black background with white text : “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issues lives.” Audre Lorde.] Related: Ted Talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw who is credited for coining the term intersectionality. (TW: various forms of oppression, including racism and police violence, including footage of literal violence towards the end of the presentation) I am writing this article during Pride Month, where companies galore are fishing for those beloved pride dollars, as they remake their logos in the colors of the rainbow flag. Some people in the community applaud this action and are happy to give them their money, while some of us in the community are asking, what have you done for our community other than make your logo more colorful in the month of June?

After all, solidarity is more than just slapping on a rainbow.

[image description: Rectangle rainbow graphic, with red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. On top is the following text “Rah rah rainbow!”] Meanwhile, in comes the wave of politicians, who too, are all rah rah rainbow on their social media, but do they really support our community, or are they just in it for the good PR, or perhaps running for re-election? And if they say they do support our community, even if they are LGBTQ+ themselves, we must ask: do they support all of the community? It's great if they are against LGBTQ+ phobia and the consequences of, but as we discussed earlier in this article, in order to support all of the community, solidarity must go beyond that. In order to support all of the community, we must acknowledge how many forms of oppression intersect. So, what does that look like? Well, there are many issues that I could include here, but in the interest of keeping this article at a reasonable length, I'll just name the following three examples.

1.) Are they working to end the cash bail system, which predominately impacts women and mostly poor women of color. A system that keeps people in jail, sometimes for months, many who haven't even been convicted of a crime, but can't afford the bail money to get out? It's Pride month. Do the rah rah rainbow politicians also support the end of this classist and racist system, that keeps many people, including many in the LGBTQ+ community in jail? Related: VIDEO: Moms Behind Bars: How Cash Bail Is Keeping Women In Jail | AJ+ Related: Southerners on New Ground (SONG), a Southern queer liberation group, has been raising money to help bail Black mamas out of jail for Mother’s Day.

[image description: screenshot from a video from Mic, showing two transwomen of color, walking down the street in a city environment] 2.) Do they support the ban of an archaic law, often referred to as #WalkingWhileTrans, which unjustly gives the police legal permission to harass (and in many cases, racially profile) transwomen just for being out in a public space, under the “loitering for the purpose of prostitution” law. They don’t even need proof. A transwoman could just be walking home from going dancing with her friends in a cute little dress, she stops to talk to someone and if a cop thinks she might be a prostitute, regardless if she is or not, he can arrest her. Related: Transwomen and activist, TS Candii tells her story of when she was harassed by the pollice TW: transphobia, police brutality and assault Related: Civil Rights Groups Call Out ‘Archaic’ N.Y. Loitering Law For Targeting Trans People 3.) Meanwhile, similar to how LGBTQ+ people exist within every marginalized community, so do disabled people. And since this is pride month (though solidarity should of course not be a 30 day event), we must also ask do these politicians support efforts like the DIA or Disability Integration Act which would make it so that states could not force disabled people (and thus queer disabled people, queer disabled people of color etc) against their will, trapping them into institutions and nursing homes? Related: Disabled Activists as part of ADAPT occupies 19 House offices to pass the Disability Integration Act (HR.555) Because if they don’t support issues like these (and many more), then they are not allies to all of the LGBTQ+ community, in which case, are they really allies? In this case, in many ways, even if they are against LGBTQ+ phobia, but stop there, the social media post of rainbows, and maybe even waving and marching in their local pride parade, can not be fully authentic. The powers that be go to great lengths to pit oppressed communities against each other and because social media has a short attention span when it comes to trending topics, and there is just so much injustice going on in the world, it can be difficult (at best) to get that spotlight to shine on the oppression that you face and/or care about. But in the end, if we say we support the LGBTQ+ community, if we say we are against oppression of LGBTQ+ people, then we must not leave a single LGBTQ+ person behind.

________________________________________________________________ This article was partially inspired by a tweet (social media post) by Bruce Darling, a queer and disabled activist from ADAPT, who said the following in response to some rah rah rainbow politicians: “Seriously, if you HONOR Stonewall, and civil rights, STOP STONEWALLING the Disability Integration Act! #HR555 Disabled Americans should not be locked away in institutions because you refuse to take action on a bill… Support #DIAtoday! “ which got me thinking about the importance of intersectional or complete LGBTQ+ solidarity or the lack of.”

#pride #pride month #gay pride #LGBTQ+ pride #LGBT pride #queer pride #queer #queer and disabled #intersectionality #queer intersectionality #disability integration act #cash bail #walking while trans #bruce darling #queer eye #rupaul #politicians

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all-the-kookies-fall · 6 years

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A THEORY: Linear Timeline of reputation

This is going to be a very long read; but it may just include unlocking the 15 Taylor's from the LWYMMD MV so read on if you dare…

(OK it totally includes the theory, please read and tell me what you think!)

An Introduction:

I've been a casual fan of Taylor Swift since she started. Loved all her radio singles, listened to her albums (at my leisure upon release), and admired her platform and brand image. I guess I became a huge fan after 1989, but around the release of reputation, I realized just how much this woman's music has been there throughout my life and decided to fully stan her. As I fell down the rabbit hole of learning everything I could about TS as an artist, I became completely enamored with her wits & charms. However, the more I learned to love about her, the more I could feel just a slight inauthenticity; I was constantly thinking of the hypocrisy of how she "never names who her songs about" yet she created this scavenger hunt with her liner notes that seemed to point in an obvious direction of one of her "ex-boyfriends." It didn't align with how she presented herself in every other aspect. Then, I felldowntherabbithole for real and found all of the incredibly documented and organized realm of the Kaylor's, and everything was literally in screaming color.

reputation made even more sense with fresh Kaylor eyes and once I read this Taylor Swift quote:

reputation, in my mind, is an album that is very linear in it’s timeline. Meaning that it kind of starts out where I was when I first started making the record. The album ends more where I am now in my life. So this is more towards the end of the album, it’s called ‘Call It What You Want.’

my mind became OBSESSED with cracking this code. I had combed through all the kaylor blogs and while I had read everything I could, I still couldn't place it within any timeline. Then, Delicate came out and the code started to crack; I could peek inside and make sense of something, but was still unsure what it was. I put together a loose concept which had some plot holes, but it was when I remembered to revisit the 15 Taylor theory that everything completely revealed itself.

I would like to start with a disclaimer: I have never, ever actively participated more than lurking or even posted anything on Tumblr. I would like to fully acknowledge that there is a huge, fat chance none of this makes sense to anyone but me, but my husband was really getting fed up with me talking about it and I just needed to share. THANK YOUS to the Kaylor blogs I frequented with incredible analysis and POV of Tay in the media and her music- @all-my-possessions @howyougetthenerd @jennyboom21 @karlitakloss @kaydar @kaylorrepdetective @larrienation @out-of-the-klosset @paradisekisses @tallcurlygirl @taytaysbeard @that-curly-haired-lesbian @thoseflashinggreeneyes @whaler13bg to name a few. (Sorry, tumblr is not letting me tag a few of you.)

A lot of the information I am providing is not new and connects the dots from the amazing posts from this community. I tried as best as I could to cite all relevant posts - you can definitely let me know if I've made any errors. Please feel free to edit//contribute//comment because I have a feeling that a more seasoned eye would be able to expound on so many more clues and easter eggs!

Let the Games Begin!

Overall Concept/Themes

There are truly some insightful analysis of the overarching themes and concepts of the album already. Secrecy, partners in crime, forbidden love… In general there's a complex theme of Duality to the album; conflicting feelings, Brand vs Self, bad vs good, truth vs reputation etc. I think it's most important to note is that any analysis that views these tracks differently than listed below, can still be correct. Our Queen is a lyrical master plus there's that added layer of intentional dualities in her story telling; there's always at least 3 different meanings to her songs and that's one of the reasons we admire her wordsmith ways.

The Timeline!!!

…Ready For It? - So It Goes… 2012* - 2014

This has long been inferred in every side of the fandom to indicate this is Part 1 of the Story, implied by the ellipses as the beginning and end of the track names. All the timelines I've previously read started at either the introduction of 1989 or even later beginning with 2016/2017 events, but it didn't make sense applied to the album as a whole. Once Delicate MV came out, I began to notice that all of the nods to RED in all these MV's were not just for nostalgia. She is literally telling us that this part of the story was about the end of RED era leading into 1989 - not quite 1989 era just yet. ;)

*2012 is an estimate based on the beginning of the Delicate video; it's possible that TS & KK met before Swiftgron was officially over but who will ever know? Karlie's buzz cut was December 2011 (x). The first half of the album is difficult to theorize specific dates within this period because we really have no idea when KK & TS met.

LWYMMD - New Year's Day 2014 - 2017 (NYD)

I gotta tell you - immediately after reading this, go watch LWYMMD. It was (is?) literally hiding there in plain sight; it's a GENIUS video walking you through EXACTLY what she did (you could say from a satirical standpoint more how the media/GP thought she did) to prepare for this era! When she refers to the "Old Taylor," she's using the term in the exact way her fans have been using: to refer to Country Taylor. She is officially Pop; Look What We Made Her Do when RED, a pop-country album, "a patchwork of songs," didn't win the Grammy. She went full POP princess. This post in particular helped me remember that these songs are not fresh in regards to her life even though they are brand new to us. Part 2 of the story more clearly follows the events of the 1989 era through just before rep's release.

Track by Track // 15 Taylors

…Ready For It? Intro

I believe this is an introduction of what's to come, an overview of the story. Yes, she's definitely asking herself if she's ready to come out of the closet (x/x), if Karlie is ready to glass closet (x), is her beard ready for the consequences(x), and most specifically, are we, her fans, the GP, are we ready for her to come out and live her truth unapologetically? It's her laying the groundwork to prepare for 1989; her literally coming up with the concept for the whole era which is why we see the references to her 1989 MV's in the glass room. This post cites the connection to the Dykes on Bikes; are we ready to accept Taylor to not only come out, but be a strong voice and activist of the LGBTQ+ community?

End Game April 2013 - June 2014

I KNOW Taylor is singing to KK about them first meeting - and I KNOW we think they just met before VSFS 2013 (even though there are rumors that say they met sooner…) But, hear me out because this lines up way too easily with the information we get from the MV (x/x). Remind yourself… Who opened for Taylor's RED tour? That’s right, our favorite ginger. It's a nice additional nod with the callback of Everything Has Changed duet with Ed Sheeran. Miami (shoutout to my hometown even though I have no inkling to its significance) tour dates were 04/10/13, London was 02/01/14 (Did she really show us their first NYE together?!), and Tokyo was 06/01/14.

Irrelevant now but important for later (LWYMMD): And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put ‘em. This post highlights a cool interpretation of the line that applies to this whole post!

I’ve been doing some digging to try and somehow link Miami in this mix, and this is pure speculation but I feel like Future represents her bearding with Harry Styles. Karlie’s “buzz cut” was in December 2012, and shortly thereafter she was in Miami for a photo shoot. 1/4/12 marks the official break up of Haylor in the US Virgin Islands… it’s a stretch and I’m totally grasping at straws but they are geographically close and it’s all I got for now.

"Me, I was a robber first time that (s)he saw me…"

I Did Something Bad early 2013

So, I have to admit… IDSB and DBM were the two songs I was having the most trouble placing within the linear timeline; my initial thought was this must have been a metaphor for her confessing her "sins" a.k.a. bearding, to Karlie when they first started dating. This was the song that clicked once I looked through the lenses of the 15 Taylors and reaffirmed my thoughts with the visuals of this Taylor on the cross in LWYMMD. In digging a little deeper, I found a Vanity Fair article - one of the only cover stories found online about TS during 2013. I'm not as confident about my perspective on the linear timeline with this track, however I feel like it's a good start especially considering the next holy church track.

In regards to the "light me up" lyric, and clear visual reference in the …RFI MV as well as the crucifixion of Taylor in LWYMMD, I thought this answer she gave the 73 Questions With Taylor Swift | Vogue video was also interesting to note. The question was what is the one thing she wishes she would have known at age 19 (8:03)?

"Hey, you're going to date just like a normal 20-something should be allowed to, but you're going to be a national lightning rod for slut-shaming."

I'll leave this quote from the April 2013 Vanity Fair interview right here:

"But nobody calls them the kinds of names that get thrown at Swift. “They’re ‘playboys,’ ” Swift says wryly. “They’re ‘having fun.’ ”

By the way, in the Vanity Fair article there's an "authorized source" giving insight to what "really happened" to Haylor aka probably lies.

Every lie I tell them, they tell me three

Don't Blame Me early - mid 2014

I can really only hypothesize through the lyrics and the Taylor line up that this may be a reference to how the RED "media" circus (as quoted from the VF article cited above) literally made her do crazy things - maybe how her past experiences had caused her to react a certain way in an undefined relationship, maybe how the media circus in general had her guarding her heart, and of course the religious context of the song leads me to believe of course it is connected in that aspect to the confessing of her actions in the previous track. Big Sur trip also falls within this timeline. (x/x/x)

I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy…

Delicate 2013 - 2014

I think this one has so many beautiful analysis with the music video that syncs perfectly with this time line with no need for additional explanation, and I think it's especially apparent why this Taylor represents TraKK 5 in the line up. (x/x)

It's interesting that Fearless Taylor and Red Taylor were the ones actually fighting on Taylor Mountain in the LWYMMD MV; this may be a reference to her insecurities and headspace during the RED media circus//break up anxieties fighting contrasting to her want to just dance in her best dress Fearless with KK with no inhibitions.

Dancing in my best dress, fearless

LWYMMD End of 2014

Has anyone noticed the crows in the beginning? It literally hit me as I was finishing this post - a group of crows is called a murder.

We see her Driving a new Maserati (well, car with significant meaning) down a dead end street and then crashes into the pole. (x) She literally killed the "Old Taylor" to get the Grammy - as well as set up clever disguises as red herrings* so that we missed the most obvious clue that this is about the release of 1989. I think even cleverer, how she walks away from the crash unscathed at the end of the MV to imply she rose up from the dead, she does it all the time (with each era release). (x/x/x/x)

*Red herring: something, especially a clue, that is or is intended to be misleading or distracting. In reference to the post regarding hatchets in End Game, she's definitely sending us on the hunt… remember that post above I asked you to note?

Then of course another hint to the timeline is in the lyrics and MV (look at the date of the tweet...)

I've got a list of names and yours is in red underlined

So It Goes… October/November 2014

This was definitely the most challenging to figure out, but there's definitely two clear ideas that are represented here - the linear timeline alludes to the HOT KINKY SEX our girls probably had after VSFS '14 (x/x/x) and the death of her 'innocence.' Coincidentally, I had read Slaughterhouse Five for the first time earlier last year and lurking around the Reddit TS community where they spent so much time trying to figure out how they could circle this back to Vonnegut. Unluckily for them, it is the most heteronormative//homophobic community where even Kaylor posts are censored/deleted/ridiculed etc so they weren't ever going to get it. This song represents a toxic relationship with CH in their eyes, and I can see that perspective… another Salute to the American Queen of Wordplay.

Anyway, here is a quote from a NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/books/review/and-so-it-goes.html)

That is, the constant repetition of “So it goes” makes readers ask themselves about the meaning of death (or its lack of meaning) and the incalculable human costs of war.

The 2009 VMA's Taylor is the epitome of everything her art, brand and music spoke to prior to 1989; and with the Pop princess she was no longer the relatable girl next door. She had gone full big-city, celebrity friends, glitz and glam - feeling so Gatsby for that whole year. With 1989, represented by the LWYMMD music video, that image was shattered, it was the death of her reputation but the true beginning of laying the groundwork for her and KK's future and she truly felt alive.

Not to mention a song about kinky sex is a huge step away from that image.

So it goes...

And so it goes, now Part 1 of our story is done.

Gorgeous Met Ball 2015

Part 2 moves into the 1989 era starting with the Met Gala. (x/x) I read a great analysis using the lyrics to prove why this song is not about someone you just met because of the intense conflicting feelings. (I have scoured Tumblr to find it and link it but can't rediscover it… sorry I explained I've been a noob and a lurker and I never liked or reblogged anything, I'll update with a link if I ever find it again!) That made me reevaluate my original thoughts of this track being Enchanted 2.0 and representing her meeting Karlie for the first time. This was the first public event Kaylor attended together; it must have been strong conflicting feelings of joy & giddiness of the relationship quickly overtaken by nerves, fear, and anger that she would be found out and/or couldn’t show any outward PDA towards KK at the event. I would imagine there was a lot of drinking that night to cope, thus the “drunk” perspective.

PS she probably didn’t go home alone that night (DING)😉

'Cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts

Getaway Car May - August 2016

There are great analysis looking at this song from two main POV's- 1. the bearding CH-TH circus(x/x) and 2. a reflection of Swiftgron in hindsight (x). For the sake of the timeline/15 taylor line up, it was too coincidental that this was the Taylor snapping at the beards in I <3 TS shirts and from that perspective, fits perfectly into the linear timeline. It is suspect that TS went against her management in anger of how the "break up" with CH unfolded, and so it would make sense to be a little apologetic towards TH -- the one beard aftermath she may have regretted but that is just pure speculation.

And a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry

*I JUST NOTICED! She POPS HER LEG for the 7th boyfriend in line - AKA CH. She is SO EXTRA!

King of My Heart August 2016

The below quote and Taylor line up don't need further explanation.

"I think it’s very interesting when people talk about their love stories. Like when you guys blog about, “my and my husband, me and my boyfriend” or just anyone talking about how they fell in love.

There seem to be these very definitive phases. It doesn’t matter how long that phase lasts. There seems to be a moment where you know it transitioned to the next phase. People will be like, “Oh my God, we were friends for six years and there was this moment and we knew and then it changed. Then there was a moment and it got even deeper. Then there was a moment and we knew” or like “I saw this person and there was this moment and we knew.” Everyone has a different story with how they connect with someone else and what i find interesting is the moment where it switches. You always hope that switch is going to move forward and not backwards because it can happen either way. I always wanted to structure the song where each individual section of the song sounded like a move forward in the relationship but still being listenable. So I wanted the verse to seem like it’s own phase of a relationship, the pre-chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship, and the chorus to sound like it’s own phase of a relationship. I wanted them to all have their own identity but seem like they were getting deeper and more fast paced as the song went on. So finally I was able to achieve that in a song.”

Here’s a couple of my favorite analysis regarding this song. (x/x)

Up on the roof with a school girl crush

Dancing With Our Hands Tied Mid - End 2016

This analysis really explains the lyrics and matches the allusion of the Zombie Taylor to make it seem like it is a hindsight song about Swiftgron; however Out of the Woods is the last MV of 1989 era released the end of 2015 (aside from New Romantics your video) and this can perhaps be expressing the death of Taylor’s 1989 reputation after the slew of public feuds. It can also be interpreted as a hindsight song in regards to Kissgate in 12/2014(x/x); how she had found herself coming into 1989, but was a zombie version of that because she had to beard with CH and TH and it perhaps made her feel dead inside. Maybe she’s implying that she would have just taken the fall from grace then put herself through another (particularly long and grueling) fake relationship.

I had a bad feeling

Dress October 2016

Not only is Dress pretty frequently analysed, it's also the most obvious and blatant within the theory. I thought it was very cute that this was represented by the Ballerina in the line up as a not so subtle nod to Karlie. October 2016 was the infamous Golden Tattoos at Drake's birthday party. (x/x/x)

Made your mark on me, a golden tattoo.

Sorry I couldn’t help myself with this gif :P

TIWWCHNT November 2016

Originally, I thought this was the easiest one- yes, the Snake Queen is sipping and serving tea on her infamous feuds however it just didn't fit in the more transparent timeline of the second half. There's been a few posts that hint the track may be a slight diss to her fans. Once it hit me she was alluding to herself as our (the fans) American *dream* Queen, I realized: this song is not a slight diss - it is harshly directed to us, all of us. Hear me out: Just like KOMH is about a love that reflects back on different periods in life, this track also calls to a couple different conflicts with the relationship of TS and her fans. She's never enough for either aspect of the fandom.

I thought it was curious that she would have the "ET TU BRUTE" (x) as a reference to Kanye because let's be honest, she probably never trusted him after 2009 and rightfully so. "Et tu, Brute?" is a Shakespeare reference and a phrase that is now used to describe a friend stabbing you in the back. This would be more applicable to us, her fans. V1:

It was so nice throwing big parties

Jumping to the pool from the balcony

Everyone swimming in a champagne sea

And there are no rules when you show up here

Bass beat rattling the chandelier

Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year

This easily refers to 12/2014 - Kissgate. Feeling so gatsby for that whole year; throwing big parties. She had to close the gate before she was outed prematurely by the fans watching her during the concert. We were the last ones she ever expected having to protect herself from; she had been so open, glass-closeting, but the fans took it too far and crossed the line of her privacy. She was surprised by the network that had expanded to track her every move. A couple years pass, V2:

It was so nice being friends again

There I was giving you a second chance

Think back to the election of 2016; Taylor being back in the media and more open again with her life wasn't enough at this point. America had reached a boiling point and everyone had to pick a side; even Taylor's most dedicated fans were constantly expressing their disappointment at her so she changed her priorities and went into hiding.

As @paradisekisses once posted, “Not everything is about Kanye.”

Salute to you, our American Queen of Red Herrings

Because you break them, I had to take them away.

Call It What You Want End of 2016

The lyrics all harken to 1989 (x) and this is when her reputation has never been worse (again), but she’s stronger this time and it didn’t break her as much as post RED era. Not to mention, she’s madly in love and found her end game so nothing else really matters to her; her priorities have been shifted and she knows what truly matters in her life.

Call her what you want, she is Karlie's Partner in Crime. it's an obvious call to the gold cage, hostage to my feelings; she will jail herself once more with this ((hopefully)) last beard and that will be the official death of (2.0? 6.0?) Old Taylor. The best part is the BTS video showing how much fun she was actually having in the gold cage. There are beautiful analysis of this song (x/x/x/x/x) , and to me it's just the most real/pure love song. Love isn't just about all the good times, it's how your partner and you navigate the bad. Sometimes the worst moments in life show us just how strong our relationships are and bring us closer together.

Karlie what you want, call her what you want to (I can't unhear this in the background now <3)

New Year's Day January 1, 2017

This Taylor is hidden from us because she will probably never be as open with the GP, media, or her fans ever again. Who knows what to come in the future, but she actively tells us "don't read the last page" and to "hold onto the memories." Ugh, this is making me tear up -- I just officially joined the fandom!! Don’t tell me this is it already... (x/x/x)

This post highlighted the importance of the sunshine necklace with Taylor's obvious sarcasm in the BTS in saying “It’s really important to wear subtle jewelry in music videos, I’ve learned.” (If anyone can forward the gif I’d love to add it to the post :))

Sidenote: technically, isn't this another closet she's in during the rep era?

Wear you like a necklace…

And I will hold on to you...

I had so much fun putting this together and being inspired by all the amazing perspectives the Kaylor fandom has been churning! Hope you like it :) Let me know your thoughts!

#kaylor #gaylor swift #reputationtimeline

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taylorrepdetective · 6 years

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EG MV - Part 2: Ed’s part

Awhile back, I posted my analysis of the first third or so of the EG MV (part 1) . Since we now have the behind the scenes video as well, I wanted to try to go back to my part 2 and 3 analyses that I never finished (sitting sadly neglected in my drafts.) Link to video.

My general theory on Ed’s lines is that they represent both Ed’s relationship and TS’. Remember back to the opening scene, TS is pulling back the curtain on her life (confirmed by JK, the director.). Obviously I have no idea how this collaboration with Future and Ed really worked, but I imagine that they discussed what she wanted the song to mean and she asked the other artist to come up with lyrics to fit the story she has for the song. So for Future, she said, “write a rap verse that depicts my over-the-top relationship with TH. Include something about a fancy car (I’ve changed my mind on this since my last post: Ghost = Rolls Royce, not beard) and a jet, bad boy, and trying too hard, and switching to the A side.” (I’m guessing she wanted to reference the lyrics from Getaway Car [”I switched to the other side”] and back to New Romantics about switching sides like a record changer, and also the A-team line.) For Ed, since they’re friends, they could work together more closely to come up with things they and their relationships have in common. It’s a brilliant way for her to have a song about her girlfriend without changing a pronoun (she is very clever that way.) So:

Knew when young, but unavailable, then got together later when both available*

rumors

chip on shoulder

getting over arguments with their lover quickly

writing songs about their relationships

having issues, paranoia, insecurities, making mistakes and bad choices that are contrasted by:

their lover being beautiful and cool/above the drama

something important happening on the 4th of July, after a “storm” **

not being able to say the four words on the tip of their tongues (which is assumed to be Will You Marry Me?, but could be different for each of them, or could be something else, since Ed did say those words.)

Below is Ed’s verse. As with Future’s verse we don’t have official written lyrics and there is some disagreement online as to the actual lyrics:

Knew her (or it) when I was young Reconnected (or we connected) when we were little bit older, both sprung I got issues and chips on both of my shoulders Reputation precedes me; in rumors I’m knee-deep The truth is it’s easier to ignore it, believe me Even when we’d argue, we’d not do it for long And you understand the good and bad end up in a song For all your beautiful traits and the way you do it with ease For all my flaws, (or faults,) (or foolish) paranoia and insecurities I’ve made mistakes and made some choices, that’s hard to deny After the storm, something was born on the 4th of July I’ve passed (or I’m past) days without fun, this end game is the one With four words on the tip of my tongue, I’ll never say it

*The first line is a bit of a reach for Kaylor if the word is “her”. You’d have to assume Kaylor crossed paths at some point before VSFS 2013 - there’s some good evidence they met briefly as teenagers in 2008, and possibly other times. Or it could be referring to the baking tweet in Jan 2012 could count as a virtual meeting. The first hit when you search the lyrics has the word as “it”. This would change the meaning, and could mean “knew I was gay”. Another alternative is “Now well, when I was young, we connected, When we were little bit older, both sprung ”, I don’t hear this at all and I don’t think it’s a well-written lyric, so I’m going with “her” because that’s what I hear. The other lines fit kaylor very well. So well in fact, that I feel like it would be too much of a coincidence for these lines to only be about Ed.

**The 4th of July line is interesting too. I’ll get to it below.

OK, on to the EG video:

Ed’s part takes place in Tokyo. Why Tokyo? Not sure, but since this video is pulling back the curtain on TS’ life, I think it has to do with her, not Ed. So when was she in Tokyo? June 2014 for the tail end of her Red tour, and May 2015, when she kicked off the 1989 tour in Tokyo, so it could be that she’s giving us a timeline of what this represents. TS wearing the glasses is a nice call back to Red (22 video) and the motorcycle is a reference to 1989 (BB video).

There are five locations in the video: walking down the street, riding a motorcycle, a karaoke bar, a noodle bar, and an arcade. In each scene, everyone is wearing different clothes, so we are looking at different nights (more evidence that this is showing a period of time.) TS is carefree, at the peak of her success. As we’re all aware by now, the Japanese characters throughout the video spell out words from the song or TS’ life: EG lyrics, pets, Joe, and Patrick. I love the idea that the pets include Joe, but I won’t dwell... (do Kaylor have a goldfish named Patrick? Sorry!) But generally, I don’t think these are especially meaningful. Just fun Easter eggs like the graffiti in the RFI video.

The main scene is the karaoke bar, where Ed sings his verse. Like with the other scenes, there is a diverse cast of party goers. One party goer stands out here: the tall black woman sitting next to TS. I speculate that this woman represents TS’ love interest. They have a bit of chemistry.

She has a big distinctive smile, kind of Sunshine-y.

She is wearing Nikes (hard to tell if it’s dark jeans.)

The other party goers include a couple of Japanese women and others, some of whom reappear later in London. Some of them resemble the cast of characters we saw on the yacht, but I don’t think any of them are them are the same actors (I’ve looked pretty extensively at screenshots and haven’t made any definite matches, though it’s difficult to say for sure with the quick edits.) I believe this is on purpose. The characters on the yacht fit in with the bearding/fake public persona narrative (the back up dancers bare a resemblance to a few of TS’ “big enemies”.) Other than the happy vibe, and Sunshine-y woman sitting next to Taylor, I don’t see a lot of significance to the karaoke scene. She is partying with and having fun with friends.

The noodle bar scene is a bit mysterious. Who are the two Japanese women TS is eating with? My best guess is they simply represent friends hanging out, like TS is a “normal girl” ungracefully slurping her noodles (she’s just like us!) Anyone have other ideas?

The second street scene with TS on a motorcycle is more interesting. She is wearing a snakeskin suit, a fun reference to a twitter post by Jeffree Star. TS is being followed by 8 other motorcyclists. This hearkens back to the LWYMMD and RFI videos, which each featured 8 figures following her. Again, these represent her 8 “boyfriends”. TS is always followed by her dating history. Each motorcycle has a different colored light under their headlight (kinda rainbow-y). In fact this made me notice there is rainbow colored lighting all over this video. The Miami skyline, the fireworks, the pool on the yacht changes colors, the lit stones on the shelves inside the yacht. In Tokyo, the karaoke bar is very colorful, as is the arcade. This obviously culminates in the rainbow dress in the London scene (plus, a random Rubik’s cube.) The only scenes that are not colorful is when she is in the mansion and in the London alley.

The arcade scene is likely just another scene showing TS having a lot of fun with her friends, like a regular girl, and to establish the continuing presence of her love interest. This was a very happy time in her life. Ed is not there, more evidence that this is just showing TS’ story. Some of the other friends from the karaoke bar are there.

The Tokyo scenes ends with hooded TS sucking on a juice box. Now I know some people don’t like this idea, but I do think this is a suggestive visual. The juice box says “End Game” in Japanese characters. This visual is shown just as Ed says “I’ll never say it.” Back to those 4 words. What could they be? Also, this is the only time in the video she clearly is wearing red lipstick (more on that in the London part.)

I already mentioned that the scene on the beach in Miami could be the 4th of July and she could be referencing the 2016 4th of July party. There is also a storm brewing in the sky during the car scene. A storm is also referenced in CIWYW. I assume the storm is the bad PR that started in June 2016 (CH twitter rant, rumors of the Kimye video.) So if the scene on the beach is the fourth of July, and it’s after the storm, what, with regards to Kaylor was born then? It would be pure speculation to guess, but I’m going to anyway! The 2016 fourth of July party was when hiddleswift was exposed to the GP as being fake. The “I Heart TS” shirt, on top of the already over-the-top PDAs they’d displayed tipped the public’s perception toward it being a fake relationship, and a new plan was hatched. Is that what we’re currently seeing play out (The Disappear, and Toe?) Of course there are many other things that could have happened on the 4th of July, so again this is just a guess.

I believe that the quick cuts, costume and hair style changes in this video are meant to confuse the viewer, and it’s very difficult to follow any sort to linear story. But it’s there if you put it back together and dissect it. In the behind the scenes of the video, TS says “Same people, different outfits, try to keep up.” Link to BTS. I also believe the Easter eggs of the Japanese characters and snakes were meant to distract from the deeper (gay!) meaning of the video.

Eventually, I’ll get to London, though I’ve already covered several key points from that part of the video.

#kaylor

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norskies · 7 years

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Every single thing I noticed and felt while watching Taylor’s LWYMMD music video

By now I think it’s a fair assumption to make that you have already seen @taylorswift ‘s new video for Look What You Made Me Do (it had over 39 million views in the first 24 hours). If you’re like me you may have rewatched it about 13 million times trying to decipher all the hidden meanings. If you’re not (cool) like me, you may have just watched it once and wondered: “what on earth did I just see??”.

Lucky for you I’ve decided to document my entire emotional journey through the 4:15 video. Disclaimer 1: many of these theories are my own opinions or theories I’ve read from other fans. I do not pretend to understand the entire genius of T-Swift. Disclaimer 2: I am a 100% biased Taylor Swift fan and therefore this analysis is 100% biased with my love for Tay.

HERE WE GO

Ok, opening scene. Spooky. Fits the soft but slightly creepy lullaby intro. Honestly thought we might be stepping into Hogwarts.

Here is one of the first of many “TS” we will see throughout the video.

For anyone who has been following Taylor the past year, this is a pretty clear reference to the online hate Taylor received after being “exposed” by Kim Kardashian (note: she was in no way exposed). Trolls began to fill social media with “RIP Taylor’s career” and “Taylor Swift Is Over Party”. It is a fitting place to begin the video.

Does that dress look familiar to anyone? It appears to be the same dress Taylor wore in the Out Of The Woods music video (the last video from the 1989 era...symbolic right?).

What is that on the tombstone behind Taylor? Nils Sjoberg. This was the alias name Taylor used when she helped write Calvin Harris’ “This Is What You Came For” (he later appeared to be less than happy once Taylor started receiving credit for the song).

We now see the old Taylor that Zombie Taylor is burying. This Taylor is dressed the same as when Taylor attended the Met Gala in 2014 (marking the beginning of the 1989 era). Here we literally see post-1989 Taylor burying pre-1989 Taylor. *tears*

Taylor transforms from the graveyard into this beautiful scene. Several things to point out here. Taylor is almost literally drowning in jewels. Perhaps alluding to the media’s perception of Taylor being money obsessed? If you look closely, we also see a single dollar bill lying in the bathtub with her. Most likely referencing the symbolic 1 dollar Taylor requested in her countersuit against a former radio DJ who sexually assaulted her (Taylor won this case). Finally, and this may be a stretch but notice on the floor to the left of the bathtub what looks like a heart shaped locket? It’s possible this is the same locket that Calvin Harris gave Taylor for their 1 year anniversary. Wow. Brilliant.

ENTER SNAKES. We now get all the snake references we could ever need (also clearing up the snake video clues Taylor teased just a few days before releasing LWYMMD). The snakes themselves are a reference to the hate Taylor received after the Kim/Kanye blow up. Haters filled her Instagram and Twitter with snake emojis implying that Taylor herself was a snake. Looks like the joke is on them now. Also notice the subtle, “et tu brute” on the chair? We see this several times in this scene, of course referring to the betrayal Taylor has felt from people she thought were her friends.

And Snakes! Check out Taylor sipping on her tea that she now gets to serve up. It’s her time to tell the story and she’s doing it with this BA Salazar Slytherin look.

The golden car crash. This is an interesting scene because it has many interpretations. My gut reaction was Katy Perry. The feud is well known and Katy added fuel to the fire by releasing her song “Swish Swish” that was meant to be a dig at Tay. I think she looks very much like Katy here with the sunglasses and the short blonde hair. Notice she is even holding a single Grammy (something that Katy Perry does not have). However, it’s also been pointed out that this may also be a Kim Kardashian reference (which I will discuss later).

A further analysis of the car crash shows the paparazzi taking pictures after Taylor crashes. Perhaps symbolically saying that the media loves to see Taylor suffer and fail?

Two things to note here. 1) Jaguar? Your guess is as good as mine. 2) The cute little guy is wearing a golden 13.

Next, we find Taylor in what looks like a giant bird cage. Wearing orange to perhaps symbolize that she feels like a prisoner at times? We also see a snake tattoo on her right leg.

At this point in the song, Taylor says “and threw a feast”. This could be a reference to KP’s song Bon Appetit. But it is unclear. Also, notice the rat on the table? Yeup just thought I’d point him out.

Now, this is a fun scene. Tay is robbing a currently undisclosed location. The cat masks could be a cute play at Taylor’s love for cats. Or could be another hit at Katy. Either way, it’s a great scene. Her sweatshirt reads “blind for love” as we know Taylor frequently referred to herself as a hopeless romantic.

We are now introduced to biker chick Taylor. It might seem a little out of place at first. But remember when Taylor got hate for her Bad Blood video apparently ripping off of Britney Spear’s Toxic? This very well may be alluding to that.

Absolutely love this part. We now see what Taylor was robbing. A streaming company. Of course. After the backlash, she got from leaving Spotify and writing her letter to Apple this scene makes perfect sense. Side note: absolutely adored Taylor’s letter to Apple. You go girl.

What is Taylor doing dictating what looks like an army of life size barbies? This is a reference to the “squad” and the comments Taylor received that her friendship circle was more like a cult of freakishly perfect looking women as opposed to a genuine group of friends.

Which of course leads us to the falling out of the squad the media claimed happened but didn’t.

Taylor enters the mansion. As soon as she enters the room the men immediately step up to do her bidding. As if Taylor is their commander and they must obey.

This is our first glimpse of the mysterious airplane Taylor. We only see short glimpses of her but she seems to serve an important role. She perhaps represents the real Taylor that neither the media nor the fans truly get to see or understand fully.

The boys are back. 8 of them all in line (apparently something only Beyonce is allowed to do if you ask Twitter). She could be representing her past relationships and the scorn she received for each one. Fun fact: it’s Taylor’s back up dancers from the 1989 world tour!

The I <3 TS shirt. Tom Hiddleston wore an I <3 TS shirt while dating Taylor. He got mocked and Taylor got called manipulative for “forcing him to wear it”. Taking a wild guess here, but pretty sure Tom makes his own wardrobe choices.

This is our first real glimpse at the “Reputation” era Taylor. She’s dark. Her hair is slicked back. And she looks like she is 100% done apologizing. She is standing on top of a mound of the “old Taylors”.

Shoutout to Fearless era Taylor with the iconic 13 on her hand. What a gem.

This is one of the best shots in the video. A look at the past decade of Taylor. How many Taylor’s can you spot?

More snakes. Side note: You can actually buy this snake ring on Taylor’s merch store. Taylor now reveals to us the most anticipated line of the song. “I’m sorry the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cuz she’s dead.” This line brings the entire song together as well as the symbolism of Taylor wiping her social media a week prior to LWYMMD release. The old Taylor is dead. The haters have killed her.

Taylor breaks it down with her backup dancers to some pretty great choreography. I like to think of this as shade to all the people who made fun of Taylor’s dancing abilities. Our girl can dance.

Annnnnnnnd boom! Our Jaguar friend is back. Still unsure what he represents but he’s pretty cute.

SNAKES

Let’s pause to appreciate the adorable wink Tay gives us here. Reputation may be a darker album than we are used to but Taylor is still the light-hearted girl we’ve always known.

Wow, she’s like Super Woman.

This is one of the best views we get of the mysterious airplane Taylor. Who are you???

We finally come to the last and most important scene. 15 Taylors. 14 lined out in front and one back on the airplane. There just so happens to be 15 songs on the new album reputation...coincidence?? Also, notice TS6 written on the end of the plane? Subtle genius.

You Belong With Me Taylor is precious. She’s so happy and genuinely surprised that she has accomplished all that she has. But everyone hates her for that and will drag her down until she no longer will show that much genuine and pure happiness at an award show again. Also, recognize that shirt from the YBWM music video? Only now it’s slightly different. This time it has real names of Taylor’s real friends you might recognize. Like Selena, Ed, and Jack.

As the scene continues we see Shake It Off Taylor mock YBWM Taylor for being surprised all the time. Mansion Taylor calls Zombie Taylor/SIO Taylor a b**ch and Zombie Talyor responds with “don’t call me that!” Alluding to Kanye calling Taylor this in his song “Famous”. In real life, Taylor responded by making a very strong statement against Kanye’s words during her Album of the Year acceptance speech at the Grammys later that year.

A particularly heart-wrenching scene. Fearless Taylor tries to calm everyone down but gets shut down by We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Tour) Taylor, calling her a fake. We see the young innocent Taylor begin to cry. The young sweet girl who got stomped on by the world for making music about love. It is sure to elicit a few tears.

“There she goes playing the victim again”. Taylor is literally beating the haters to the punch.

Met Gala Taylor Asks Katy/Kim Taylor what she’s doing and she responds with “getting receipts...gonna edit this later.” This could be interpreted in two ways. If this is meant to be Katy, it could be referencing the song “Swish Swish” where Katy claims that “karma keeps receipts”. Or if it is Kim, it would be naturally referencing the snapchat videos Kim perhaps “edited” of Kanye and Taylor’s phone conversation. Side note: it is illegal to record people without their consent in certain states, Kim.

Finally, we see 2009 VMA Taylor who had been interrupted by Kanye West while she was accepting her award for Best Female Music Video of the Year. She quotes 2016 Taylor by saying “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative”. Which all the other Taylor’s and symbolically the world respond with...

“SHUT UP”. Here Taylor is telling us that no matter what she does or doesn’t do, she will be judged. It isn’t fair but it is something she has accepted. She will no longer be providing any explanation. There will just be reputation.

#lwymmd #musicvideo #taylor swift #reputation

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foxes-that-run · 7 months

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End game

Like all Ed features, End Game is Haylor. (Ed, the O.G. Haylor MVP) it was written a few weeks after HS1 was released. Unlike other Rep songs that were revisited and have Joe references, even when they started before they met. In fact the film clip is overtly Haylor. (below) in the BTS (at 1:55) Taylor’s gets text with a scrabble move, she considers, says it is a 'tight game' and decides to leave the other player suspended. Ed blushes.

youtube

When OOTW was released Harry’s IG went B&W for 2 years until he started solo promo, apart from a few scrabble boards (in screaming colour) I have a theory he & Taylor played remotely which is why they are colour and she included this.

Here’s some footage of Joe playing scrabble. ….oh sorry, wait, that’s Harry Styles: fan of Scrabble and texting T Swift. Look at her here in the reputation book with the players names covered.. I wonder why lol

Timeline

Ed Sheeran said he wrote his part in a hotel room in New York. He told Audacy that he went to her RI home and heard Rep then the next day wrote it in a hotel in NY. 14 July 2017. (2 months after HS1’s realease)

I was playing Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, she has a place in Rhode Island, which isn't too far so she hits me up I go around. She plays me what turned out to be Reputation and End Game and I was like man this is I really like, can I do a verse can I like do a rap verse and she was like yeah for sure. So the next day i kind of I remember I was in bed and sort of woke up and i got my laptop out but the song just looped it and I wrote wrote this verse and I went in with max martin who she did the song with and recorded it and then future the verse and then Taylor wrote a verse and then yeah we shot we shot a video".

Film Clip

The film clip is less subtle in being Haylor, it takes place in:

Miami, where HS and TS hung out at Courtney Cox's house

Tokyo, where HS went on a 1D break as his first trip overseas without the band

London, where Ed, HS and Joe all live.

Haylor Easter eggs:

0:04 the ferris wheel looks like the winding wheel.

0:21 she is a passenger in a car at night

0:44 she wears a very Harry Gucci Jumpsuit

0:48 there is a polaroid

1:10 she is a single kitten mother, except Olivia is in her Rep Era lol

1:20 the 1989 Rolling Stone shoot, now in the dark with fireworks.

2:09 Taylor 'A' Swift wears an "A" shirt see: Harry's A tattoo. (When asked Harry said "uh... for my mum" which Louis said "No it's not not it's for a mystery blonde" (2:40)

2:39 she wears the Red/WANGBT hat and cane. She also wears the jacket from her red rolling stone cover.

3:13 there are 2 white bird statues that look like his chest tattoos.

3.30 she references the 1D One Thing MV bus scene

3:43 she visits this kebab shop, a similar one with a made up but similar name is in the 1D midnight memories MV. This tik tok is also about this being an ex’s kebab shop

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Lyrics

I wanna be your endgame, endgame Big reputation, big reputation Ooh, you and me, we got big reputations, ah And you heard about me, ooh I got some big enemies (yeah) Big reputation, big reputation Ooh, you and me, we'd be a big conversation, ah

HS and TS have both had big reputations as long as they’ve know each other. Now both A-listers dating is a much bigger conversation than one dating anyone else. Her enemies of Scooter and the Kanye are relevant to the music industry.

I don't wanna touch you (I don't wanna be) Just another ex-love (you don't wanna see) I don't wanna miss you (I don't wanna miss you) Like the other girls do

New Years Day Taylor sings “Please don't ever become a stranger, Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere”.

I don't wanna hurt you (I just wanna be) Drinkin' on a beach with (you all over me)

Harry Styles Debut was released May 2017, 6 months before Rep. Harry told Radio 1 he had played it for Ed earlier. The album lays out a lot of hurt between them Taylor may not have known about in that detail. Drinking, beaches and being all over each other are solid Haylor themes, see Video.

I hit you like, "Bang" We tried to forget it, but we just couldn't

Haylor hit like a bang, they met in march, were together almost immediately, he had multiple tattoos that reference her by May and they both had new albums with songs they still perform about each other by October and November. Toe were friends for a long time first and were not yet public.

Reputation precedes me, they told you I'm crazy I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me And I can't let you go, your handprint's on my soul It's like your eyes are liquor, it's like your body is gold You've been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks So here's the truth from my red lips

There’s a lot of Haylor references here:

They told you I was crazy, I swear I don’t love the drama is a reference to 1989’s Blank Space

I can’t let you go, Handprints on my soul fits is a theme in 1989, MMIH, Stockholm syndrome, ready for it?, Harry’s House.

The truth from my red lips refers to Style, Two Ghosts and other lip related lyrics.

Finally Taylor uses gold to describe HS in Gold Rush: “Everybody wants you, But I don't like a gold rush, What must it be like, to grow up that beautiful?”

#scrabble #haylor #end game #reputation #big reputation #1989 era

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fullregalia · 4 years

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hindsight.

2020 is almost here, and looking back on the decade, well... I am not entirely sure if I see things with more clarity (though I did finally get new glasses). The end of a decade! I don’t know if we learned anything besides the fact that tiny sunglasses will always look dumb. This decade basically continued the downward trend of good things while all the bad things seemed to happen at an increasing clip. Thinking about all of that would be far too depressing (RIP David Bowie, democracy, the climate), so I’ll stick with a year in review. As usual, I try to have my annual recounting of the months that have elapsed a little more thoroughly in December, since Rosh Hashanah kicks off this season of thinking ahead and looking back.

I think a lot about this line in Vampire Weekend’s “How Long?” off Father of the Bride: “Why’s it feel like Halloween since Christmas 2017?″ Honestly, the latter half of this decade has been haunted in so many ways--and a new decade perhaps brings with it opportunities for change (are you registered to vote?). While most of the ghosts of twenty-teens past haunt me in mournful ways, some of them loom large in productive ways as they led me to making some of the biggest steps I’ve taken in my life in a long time.

The most obvious break in time this year was my move to Philadelphia in August. The beginning of 2019 was filled with uncertainty about where I’d get into school and what the end of my year would look like. While I don’t regret moving to Philadelphia, something happened to me recently that has been a truly unfortunate note to end the year on: I was attacked and mugged in my neighborhood a week and a half ago, and it’s been a difficult experience to reckon with. I’ve been going back to NYC about once a month since I left, and it’s been really good to have these monthly trips to get to Abraço or visit the Met--and given the shock of being assaulted, it was even more of a mental salve just to be in a city that shaped the past 12 years of my life (for better and for worse, if we’re being frank).

So there was beginning grad school, and moving, but there was also all the cultural markers of the year that make these changes much easier to cope with. Here’s a round-up of (some of) the works and words that shaped my year, made me laugh, or engrossed me enough to take me out of my own head for a few hours at a time:

MUSIC According to Spotify, John Coltrane happened to be my artist of the decade, but as referenced above, Vampire Weekend’s new album dominated my ears this year. Hilariously and fittingly, “Unbearably White” was my most played song in 2019. FoTB also introduced me to Steve Lacy and The Internet, thankfully. I tried to get a little more prog rock into my aural diet, and there were also more contemporary albums that came into heavy rotation. There was the revelation of Big Thief (the guitar on Cattails) and the brief, beautiful Purple Mountains project; Solange’s Binz helped me to do laps around the reservoir in Central Park, and there were nights alone when all I needed was to just put on Angel Olsen when I got home from work. As fall semester took over most of my time, I turned more to classical standards like Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet to get me through the work, and as ever I rely on Popcast to keep me up to speed on what the kids are listening to (looking at you 100 Gecs and Billie Eilish).

BOOKS The beginning of grad school made it harder to keep up with my reading for fun, but I managed to get through enough books (28) to make a few recommendations. First, there’s Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror, which I thought was funny and thoughtful, and an eloquent and incisive analysis of what it means to be alive, and particularly a thirty-something, in this truly bizarre era.

There were also a lot of series in my hold list this year: the Rachel Cusk trilogy and Ali Smith’s seasonal quartet. I mostly read women, and read more non-fiction this year than last (shout outs to Anand Giridharadas, Eric Klinenberg, and Samuel Stein--all of whom recommend public sector solutions to a private sector failures). As with every year, the list of books I want to read grew even longer. This winter break has proven itself thus far to be a week of recovering from being mugged and having a bad cold by mostly watching Netflix, maybe there will be more time to read in the second half of break and during the spring semester.

On a related note: there was a lot of great longform journalism this year. While there was very important work done about foreign affairs, corruption, and structural inequities, there were also many articles about how ridiculous living in Brooklyn (and LA) is.

TV But the former PBS employee in me wouldn’t be able to finish up an overview of 2019 without writing about the medium that I love so much I had to abstain from it for the past four months, for fear of a distraction I couldn’t resist. As we all know, Succession is the best rich person melodrama we have, and I’m grateful for its place in my Sunday night routine while I settled into grad school. I have already written 2,000 words on it before, so I will simply leave you with this beautiful monologue: “I’m an enigma. You can’t pigeonhole me. I’m there and then I’m gone. I’m intellectually promiscuous, but culturally conservative. I work hard but I don’t play hard, I play easy, why would you play hard?”

Before my tv hiatus began in August, I was tempted to actually say sod it and move to England for grad school when Fleabag season 2 dropped. (Forgive me father, for I have sincerely wanted to see a priest make out with a parishioner.) But while Fleabag put canned G&Ts and hot priests on the map, Russian Doll payed homage to the past life of Tompkins Square Park, and got Harry Nilsson stuck in all our heads for the month of February. And what would my twitter feed have been without the irreverent brilliance of “You have no good car ideas!” guy from I Think You Should Leave? (*dabs, yells “you love your mother in-law!”*)

There was an overwhelming choice of streaming, movies, and podcast content this year. My podcast diet remained mostly the same (Who? Weekly, Talking Politics, Why is This Happening?, FiveThirtyEight, Slate Money) but I added What a Day--along with adding a crush on Gideon Resnick to my “unattainable ‘face for podcast’ dudes who will never date me” crush list, and getting Akilah Hughes’ headlines jingle stuck in my head. I miss Kara on Keep It! but I am also grateful for Naomi Ekperigin’s presence on Hysteria (and every other show she makes better with her presence). Throughout this year, and increasingly over the past decade, podcasts have kept me company, kept me in the loop, and kept me going on the most difficult days.

Lastly, as I mentioned, being mugged was a horrible experience. But there were a lot of other things that happened this year that were far less traumatic and mostly just absurd. Remember WeWork? The Tesla truck? Cliff wife? 2019 was pretty dumb. Though I appreciated every meme on Hunter Harris’ twitter. In the less-dumb, slightly more life-affirming department: I saw good friends get married and have children, got my hands on clay, cooked and baked, drank amazing coffee in Copenhagen (and fell in love with the cesca chair), and did things that scare me (grad school, moving, meeting cool new people, introducing those people to deranged twitter memes).

Getting back to where I started--How Long?--I’m writing this on Christmas Day, or as I like to refer to it, National Annual Fudgesicle Day™, and I hope you have all had a Jordan Christmas or at least an excessive amount of Chinese food. Christmas is usually a low-key day for me (even when it’s also Hanukkah) and even though the year has been decidedly high-key (Brexit! Beto stood on so many things! I saw Ilana Glazer in LA!!) perhaps we can turn 2020 down from 11, where it feels like we’ve been since 2017. With only a few days left in the decade, I don’t really think there’s much change that can happen between now and then, but I do hope that the beginning of this next decade--life goes on, elections are held, and unknown adventures await--can bring renewed motivation, and the chance to shed some of the hurt and grief of the last one. Here’s to the year to come, may it bring us all health, happiness, and peace.

#2019 #2020 #culture #music #tv #books #the year in review

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wannabe-cartoonist-blog · 7 years

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Reactions to Official SBM Recordings

A bit spoiler-y if you haven't seen the show or listened to the new recordings of the songs. So proceed with caution.

ACT 1

Intro/Bikini Bottom Day

-here we goooooo

-ahhhhh ze narrator

-love how they include sb's foghorn alarm, just gonna say that

-award goes to Ethan for the cutest yAWN

-ethan is using such a soft tone of voice and it's honestly perfect

-"meow"

-the shoe squeaks!!

-the laugh was a little weaker than other performances but I'll let it slide cause he's so cute

-I thought it was "where the sun shines down" not "when" but apparently not

-MY BOI PATRICK STAR

-"oOOO OOOO I want a verse!!!"

-I love the difference between his singing voice and the Patrick Voice (tm)

-the chorus harmonizing in the bg

-sQUIDY

-Gavin Lee sounds a little strange...like Squidward sounds like he could't care less about anything and is so resigned to his loud neighbors

-which...he is....but he sounds off idk. Still a good performance tho

-like with Pat, there's a distinction between his singing voice and speaking voice

-he sounds good though but not like the live performances....idk if that's good or bad

-the fart noise strikes again

-RIGHT INTO SANDY'S PART

-love the country track

-she sounds so nice 10/10

-that "daaaaAYYYYY" 10000/10

-they didn't include the explosion or like all of the dialogue that follows it but I like it. Keeps the flow of the song going

-KRABS

-THE WALKING NOISE

-plankton's voice is so deep and smooth, I love it

-KAREN'S "forever" WAS MADE TO SOUND COMPUTERIZED THAT WAS A REAL NICE TOUCH

-"CLeeeeeveeeeerr" melted butter

-I love krabs, Karen, and plankton singing together

-Squidward is so depressed 10/10

-pearls deep voice is 10000/10

-spongey sounds so sad after being shot down, perfection

-"everyone would say GOOD MORNING MR. SQUAREPANTS"

-the CHORUS!!!!!!

-I freaking love this song

-it captures the town so perfectly

-they finish the song without being interrupted by the volcano, very nice choice

No Control

-the panic

-Perch Perkins could punch me in the face and I would thank him

-velvet voice. Pure velvet.

-sandy, sponge, pat, sandy, THE BABIES

-all of krab's parts sounds much better than the live versions, not gonna lie

-smooth-voiced plankton once again. He and perch need a duet but I think I'd actually melt from it

-kAREN

-I love the bg singing, heck yeah

-"the end. Is. Coming!"

-spongey

-ETHAN'S "WOOOOOH" OMG I WASNT READY

-there are 3 ticks instead of 2, that's interesting

-David Bowie did a really good job with this. So sad he didn't get the hear the finished product.

-Thank you, David Bowie. Rest In Peace.

B.F.F.

-oh, boy I'm ready

-that cute acoustic sound oh yes

-classic Plain White Ts

-I love how they remember that spongebob wears glasses sometimes 1000/10

-their voices compliment each other so well wow

-I love pat's singing voice, did I mention?

-the best friend dance part kills me every time

-the instrumental bit 1000/10

-"feeling good" part literally knocked the breath out of me

-"you're my best friend forever!"

-"B.F.F that stands for"

"Spongebob and Patrick" <33333

When the Going Gets Tough

-"give me some muuuusic, Karen"

-KAREN IS PERFECTION

-"exCUSE ME?"

-"e-he-he"

-this sounds so freaking cool

-for the 700th time, I love plankton's voice

-the sponge rap!!!!

-"you've got one day left go home and pack"

-plankton changes his tone slightly near the middle/end and I almost had a heart attack cause it sounded so good

-they included the krabs and plankton interaction about the sleeves, good choice

-"I'm a one-celled organism...I don't even HAVE sleeeeVES."

-the MAYOR!!!!

(Just A) Simple Sponge

-I've listened to this about 100000 times already

-but I'll do this anyway

-again, Ethan always sounds so pure

-he really nails the innocence of sb

-the bg chorus is fantastic

-I love all the references in this song

-Brendan Urie did a great job

-I really love how this song is in reference to krabs' opinion of sb. That's always been a really cool relationship dynamic

-sb is like a son to krabs and krabs is kinda a father figure? (I know sb has a dad but) sb is always looking to krabs for approval and when he looses it he gets real down (the second movie has a cool nod to this; "you were like an underpaid son to me")

-all these artists could've just written songs that these characters could sing, but they all wrote songs that these characters would sing. They all really nail the characters and I’m so grateful for that.

-the last note is so damn powerful I love ethan slater

Daddy Knows Best

-this song always sounds good

-love how pearl made sure to always keep her voice deep

-"money, money" that's 100% pure Eugene Krabs

-LOVE THE CONTRAST BETWEEN PEARL'S SINGING AND SPEAKING VOICE

-opposite of Patrick's

-she sings so softly

-THE BEAUTIFUL SCREECHES OF "DADDY"

-I love Krabs

-the cries

-"DADDDDDDYYYYYYYYY"

"MONNNNNEYYYYYY"

Hero Is My Middle Name

-spongey, I love you

-this song is such a cute bop

-it's so 80s, thanks Cindy Lauper

-"yeahH"

-"mine's Jennifer" was included heck yeah

-the slide whistle sound

-WHEN THEY SING TOGETHER

-"alriiight!"

-the way sandy says "courage" and "myyyyyy middle name" I love

-"us go!"

-love the instruments at the end

-the bandstand-y type music for when Pat dances, SO GOOD

SuperStar Seastar Savior

-this is one of those songs I didn't really care for live

-but MY GOD ITS AMAZING AS A RECORDING

-LISTEN TO THOSE HARMONIES

-it really does sound gospel-y

-pATRICK

-he sounds so pure "my new friends"

-"does anybody bake?"

-GOD HE SOUNDS SO GOOD

-THE TWANG

-"ME"

-"uh, I dunno"

-"figARO"

-the wrestling announcer towards the end

-"y'all praise pink!"

-the explosion what a perfect way to end it

Tomorrow Is

-lili, slay me

-oO the shift!!!

-the sb and sandy harmony yes very good

-squidy still sounds a little strange but I love him

-krabs always on point

-"oooo"

-god, plankton's voice is velvet

-"victoryyyyy"

-spongey boy, god, he's so hurt by Pat im crying

-tHE CHORUS

-bikini bottom day reprise, I'm in actual tears

-gOD

ACT II

Poor Pirates

-another one I didn't care for live

-but the recording captures it so much better

-it just sounds so different

-the KAZOO

-"en-c-i-n-o"

-"h-winds in our earrings"

"don'tcha know pirates have feelings?"

-"p-o-o-rrrrrrr people too"

-bg guy who says "we've too many too gold teeth"

-I really really love this

-"the BLOOMIN ONION"

-Talk Like A Pirate Day is now a fully international holiday idc what anyone has to say

-god, the instrumentation is on point

-Sara Bareilles did an amazing job (listen to some of the songs from The Waitress if you like her stuff. She wrote for and stared in that too. "She Used To Be Mine" is amazing)

Bikini Bottom Boogie

-okay, this also sounds better than it was live

-that guitar, man

-really does sound like a good ol' rock ballad

-nice job, Aerosmith

-IM FEELING IT ALRIGHT

-"rad, gnarly, and tIGHT"

-"kiss my JELLYFISH"

-what a freakin bop

-yEAH

Chop To the Top

-the banjo oh yes yes yes

-I'm in love with it already

-tHE FIDDLE

-sandy is so pure

-"keep it moving don't stop till you drop" that's new I love it

-sPONGY YOU CAN DO IT

-"way" the TWANG HAS PASSED ON TO SB NOW

-F THIS IS THE REAL BOP

-pURE TOO PURE

-LILI, GOD YOURE KILLING ME

-ehem, yes this was fantasic.

-Great job, Lady Antebellum

(I Guess I) Miss You

-oh boi, here we go feels

-just imaging John Legend writing this while playing piano while Chrissy Teegan watches on in the bg is hilarious to me

-pat, my boy I'm in tears

-the "I"s in this song are good no matter how you're listening to it

-sponge is so HURT

-"nobody can make me laugh like you" :((((((

-the har-mon-iES

-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-e-I'm in pain

-"bring my sunshine back again" the sad twang :,((((((((((((((((((

-nobody talk to me for a month I need to recover

I'm Not a Loser

-the piano, oh yes

-he's really doing the nasally thing

-it works tho

-he sounds much more put together and sure of himself than live, yet not, if that makes sense???? Gavin Lee gave it a different performance and I give him props

-the CRYING

-"huha?"

-*monotone* "this is weird"

-*just going with it* "okay"

-"look at me now mama!"

-okay, this is just my opinion but I think squidy just sounds better live???

-"I'm not a loooossar"

-the "stay at home" girl is always great

-"hey. Shhhhst."

Best Day Ever

-oh, we're here already omg

-pure sponge boy, pure

-I still get all choked up when the "best day ever" tune starts

-he sounds so SWEET

-sandy chiming in

-Pat joining heck yeah, yeah

-"dum, dum, dum, dum"

-really like how they changed "just tying my shoe" in the tv show version to "just being with you"

-I LOVE WHEN THE CHORUS COMES IN EVERY NOW AND THEN

-the Elvis impersonation is always great

-that bg girl after Squidward comes in? Amazing.

-"this is it, everyone" IM GONNA DIE

-this is so soft and so dark

-the soft countdown that gets more and more scared omg

Bikini Bottom Day Reprise

-the ukelele gets me every time

-it's the perfect instrument for sb

-"busy day" I'LL SAY

-I love everything about this

-Mr krabs?? I forgot he had a line in this?? Did he ever??? I LIKE IT

-the cymbals, play it pearl yes yes

-Pearl, you're killing it

-"a simple sponge can be handy when you're cleaning up spills" omg

-"sometimes you need a hero with some management skills" squidy that was such an amazing thing to say

-"hey there, that's me" it sure is, my son. It sure is.

-I LOVE BIKINI BOTTOM DAY JUST SO YOU KNOW

-the ending, the ENDING OMG

-"meow" I LOST IT

-the crazy instruments all at once, god it's great

-everyone in this town is a child

The SpongeBob SquarePants Theme/Closing

-*HEADBANGS*

-oMGGGGGGGGGGG

-THIS IS THE THEME REDUAL I NEEDED AND DIDNT EVEN KNOW IT

-THE GUITAR AT THE END

-well, I'm in tears and throwing all my money at this show

-and you should too

-also congrats if you made it this far with me on this incredible journey of pain, references, and fluffy feelings

#the spongebob musical #broadway #spongebob broadway #ethan slater #the spongebob musical soundtrack #wannabe writes

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lucyreviewcy · 5 years

Text

Made in Chelsea - S1 E01

Oh that’s right, this is happening. I can’t remember what prompted this, but a couple of days ago I decided to check how much Made in Chelsea is still available on All4. Guess what, great news guys - all of it. Seventeen delicious seasons. I’m making it my weekly challenge to deep-dive into each episode hoping to find some enlightenment in this absolute masterpiece of constructed reality.

As a disclaimer: I don’t just want to underline that there are elements of this show that are pure trash. Yes, Spencer Matthews’ hair makes him look like the bad guy from an episode of Columbo. Yes, Millie Mackintosh’s inability to open her mouth enough to enunciate a word drives me nuts. Yes, the storylines ache with forced twists and endless shock hookups. All of the above are true, but you don’t need me to tell you that any more than you need me to tell you the sky is blue.

Made in Chelsea is fantastically interesting for a lot of reasons. For one, it has managed to run for seventeen seasons across the last eight years. Why? Some of the greatest British TV shows of all time have had chronically short runs, so what makes MIC so enduring?

Secondly, as it chronicles the lives of the super-rich, the show is 100% built on aspiration and jealousy. Something I often like to mention to MIC haters is that the show borrows most of its conventions and characters from Jane Austen, or for a more recent example, Richard Curtis. The characters are all financially comfortable enough that all they have to focus on in life is who they want to marry. Coupling and uncoupling is central to the society of the show. Imagine a world where all that mattered was who you were putting your lips on (a lyric stricken from the John Lennon song because it just didn’t scan properly.)

To push the envelope even further, I have to point out that these characters operate outside of the boundaries of the real world. They’re not restricted by anything - money can open any door to them, meaning they can travel anywhere, do anything and never worry about staying afloat. If you want to get fancy, Made in Chelsea is a peek at the peak of mount Olympus, and it turns out all the gods are doing is shagging and drinking G&Ts. So... pretty much what they’re doing in the Greek myths but with fur coats instead of Golden Fleeces.

My third reason I love MIC is that this show is a gosh-darned time-capsule. In the first episode, everybody’s favourite posh-boy-cum-human-shark Hugo makes a few passing references to Facebook. Made in Chelsea was born at a time when social media was in its infancy. Nobody is talking about Instagram followers or influencers yet, and Cheska’s Girl About Town blog is treated as some strange glamorous novelty. As if blogging is this amazing cool thing. It’s not cool now Cheska. Everyone has a blog. I have three blogs. Shut up about your blog.

My point is that the media landscape over the last ten years has changed, and with it our concept of what is a desirable lifestyle. A show built on aspiration is a brilliant chronicle of what we thought was cool when it was made.

Having said all of the above, I should probably mention that I also bloody love Made in Chelsea and at the very least my Mum will probably enjoy this blog. Here’s what I thought of episode one.

Episode One - “I’m just hot and I feel like shit.”

A classic Spencer Matthews quote to get the ball rolling.

After an excruciating Blade Runner-esque voice-over from Caggie Dunlop episode one starts at a party in a bar, thrown by nineteen year old (shock horror she is so young to me now) socialite Amber Atherton to promote her jewelry line. Noteworthy moment number one is that most of the characters in the show have jobs, because we no-longer aspire to somehow be so rich we don’t need to work. These are people who really are so rich they don’t need to work, but they all have jobs based on their “passions” or “creativity,” except for Spencer who is a stock-broker because he was born that way and it isn’t his fault.

Amber is the epitome of cool, even eight years on. She’s wearing barely a lick of makeup and dressed like a trendy off-duty archaeologist. Tensions develop between her and big-haired, fake-tanned Cheska, whose blog is considered “offensive” by Amber and hat-princess Rosie. Made in Chelsea is definitely a show which pits women against each other, but that is OK because I don’t get my lessons on gender equality from anything broadcast on E4. (Oh, wait... Gilmore Girls... Never mind.) Both Amber’s pared-down minimalism and Cheska’s full-blown fakery are popular aesthetic choices nearly a decade on. If anything, these style choices are demonstrated in ever more extreme ways by beauty vloggers going all-out on heavy contouring while Pinterest pushes endless “no-makeup makeup” looks at me. Amber, Cheska - there is no need to fight! You are both valid in your style choices.

There are several incredible moments in this episode, but to list them would take more words than anyone is willing to read on the subject - so I’ll be brief.

1) The moment when Spencer’s (in a relationship with Funda) asserts that he and Caggie will “probably hook up at some point” is followed by the lyrics “and the love kick-starts again...” because, you know, what is more romantic than a man suggesting that even though he’s in a relationship he’ll probs bang you some time. Thanks Spenny, you classy.

The whole exchange between Hugo and Spencer is actually brilliant because it establishes, from the off, that Spencer is a walking satire of bro-culture. Later, we even see him cut between sensitive, nerdy Francis as he tries to woo the Cagster after her “gig” (as an aside: we don’t see her sing a note but that somehow adds to the magic.) This moment is literally the uber-masculine Gaston-type kicking every character Hugh Grant played in the 90s in the balls. Perfect, it’s good to know where we stand.

2) The Charles Dickens/Jane Austen/A. A. Milne debate. This moment, a discussion between Binky (brilliant, loveable Binky) Cheska and Ollie, is iconic. Binky can’t remember who wrote Winnie the Pooh, asks if that was Charles Dickens, then says “Oh, no, that was Pride and Prejudice.”

Look its funny to watch rich people get confused by literature, OK?

3) This is my final point but it’s a biggie. The show uses one of my favourite absolutely nutso sexist tropes: “Woman refuses to have sex with her significant other while he is all gross and sweaty ERGO she is a stick in the mud and no fun at all.”

For another prime example of this trope, see Julia Louis-Dreyfus in National Lampoons’ Christmas Vacation.

This trope is utterly mad, but again - at least the show is spelling out where Spencer stands. He’s an asshole. The show is telling us that he’s an asshole. And yet for some reason our protagonist whose full name I presume is Cagoule Elizabeth Dunlop, is pursuing him.

What?

Why would anyone pursue a guy who makes it clear from his first entrance into the narrative that he’s a walking catastrophe of stereotypical masculinity and misogynist values???

And here we come back to Jane Austen, and the basic fact that Mr Darcy is a GARBAGE PERSON. He’s straight up rude to Elizabeth and we know he’s sexist because it’s the past, and yet for some reason...we root for them. I’m genuinely interested to re-watch this narrative unfold, because surely the show doesn’t expect me to want Caggie to get with Spencer? Right?

There we have it, the first episode of Made in Chelsea unpacked for you like a backpack at the end of term, full of hidden treasures, trash and merits you had forgotten about. Tune in next time for more lukewarm takes on telly.

#made in chelsea #retrospective #review #from the start #all4 #2011 #media studies #jane austen #caggie dunlop #spencer matthews #mic

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saintedfury · 7 years

Text

tagged by @thirdstreetsam

BASICS.

FULL NAME : Soledad Amaranta Guerrero ALIAS : Boss, Jefaza, Furia, Sol AGE : 38 (as of this moment in Bossville) BIRTHDAY : August 8th ETHNIC GROUP : Latinx NATIONALITY : American LANGUAGE / S : English and Spanish, a bit of Russian SEXUAL ORIENTATION : Pansexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : Polygamous RELATIONSHIP STATUS : Currently in an open relationship with Eli Mitchell. Recently lost a long time lover, Troy Bradshaw, and even more recently mutually ended a relationship with Johnny CLASS : Working Class (No matter the size of her ‘bank account’ Furia is who she has always been. A Latina from Mission Beach and worked her ass off every day of her life--legitimately and not. HOME TOWN / AREA : Stilwater born and raised CURRENT HOME : Currently she only has a residence on Zin, her Bossville residence deteriorated and has not been restored. Though Eli has offered for her to come to the New Earth settlement in his dimension. PROFESSION : Racer, boost, gang leader, galactic emperor, formerly POTUS

PHYSICAL.

HAIR : Jet Black, wavy and usually worn down. It’s currently regrown out to about her shoulders. EYES : Hazel, rimmed in green, with long lashes and a strong swooping brow NOSE : straight and defined, not quite buttonish, but rather unremarkable FACE : Triangular to Square, she has prominent cheekbones, a squarish jaw with a strong chin. LIPS : Average, but on the fuller side. Always painted in a blood red, which is really smudge-resistent. Though she’s not adverse to occasionally intentionally wearing a less kiss-proof version of the shade. COMPLEXION : Using this reference, her tone ranges from tawny to terra cotta, leaning toward the brown-red. BLEMISHES : She has the occasional dark freckle on her arms and back, but not many. SCARS : There are several across her knuckles. On her torso there are thin scars, both smooth and jagged, from gunshots and knife wounds. She’s got one that nearly traces her collar bone, but is really only noticeable when she has a tan--it goes silvery and almost seems to take on a ghastly glow. Most of them have faded by now. TATTOOS : A large ornate Fleur de lis on her right shoulderblade, a TS on her left hand, a chaos symbol at the top of her spine at her hairline, a fiery lion on her hip. A lovely ornate peacock has joined the mix, along with a wolf on her lower back. There is a small four leaf clover in black and white on her right ankle and a clever spider crawling across the inside of her right wrist. HEIGHT : 5′9″ WEIGHT : 132 lbs BUILD : Trim, defined but not toned. She has a dancer’s body. FEATURES : Long legs, ruby red lips, and a thick curtain of wavy ink black hair ALLERGIES : Bullshit USUAL HAIR STYLE : Long and loose, showing off her natural waves, which get curlier the shorter her hair is. USUAL FACE LOOK : Usually she has a welcoming look. Thankfully, she doesn’t suffer from resting bitch face, but that sultry pout gets her in trouble from time to time. USUAL CLOTHING : Furia is usually dressed quite posh. She even makes sloopy jeans and a t-shirt look dressy. She keeps her appearance up to a certain rather refined scale complete with stylish heels and boots, though of late she’s been veering back into baggy jeans, clunky work boots in purple, baggy hoodies, and bandanas (mainly for when she goes ‘writing’).

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : Open water, boats, losing people she cares about, being the cause of the loss of those she cares about (either death or estrangement) ASPIRATION / S : Stealing every moment of happiness she can from the darkness of the world, as well as guiding the empire to autonomy. She’s rather hoping to steal a large chunk of time in the next four years to bask in the time Eli has left. POSITIVE TRAITS : Loyal, protective, playful NEGATIVE TRAITS : Can be incredibly self-destructive MBTI : ENFJ ZODIAC : Leo TEMPERAMENT : Sanguine SOUL TYPE / S : The Warrior, with a side of the Nurturer (x) ANIMALS : Lions, big cats, house cats VICE HABIT / S : Fighting (she’ll go to fight clubs, start brawls), alcohol, sex FAITH : None GHOSTS? : Yes, she’s felt haunted her entire life AFTERLIFE? : No. (Though she wants to hope that there is one, if only for the people she’s lost, and because of Eli’s threat to come back and see her after he’s gone.) REINCARNATION? : No. (She sees Talon as a special case. It’s not something available to normal people.) ALIENS? : Of course! POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Rather a mix of egalitarian and socialist ideals ECONOMIC PREFERENCE : She is struggling to keep the empire in barter system, there are forces seeking to monetize the economy. SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION : She believes in the idea that equality is the trait that will allow the people of her empire the freedom to pursue liberty and happiness. EDUCATION LEVEL : Finished high school. Nearly completed her associate’s in accounting.

FAMILY.

FATHER : Martín Guerrero MOTHER : Angela Guerrero SIBLINGS : Memo, Maximo, Enrique & Emilio, Socorro, Gabriel EXTENDED FAMILY : Several aunts and uncles NAME MEANING / S : Soledad means solitude. After losing her parents and grandparents, she feared that her name might signify her fate. That thought still haunts her from time to time, especially lately with Troy’s death and her estrangement with Johnny. Amaranta means unfading, and Guerrero means warrior. HISTORICAL CONNECTION? : Only in Stilwater, her grandfather (Yayo) Alejandro ran a black market smuggling ring out of the Stilwater docks. He was careful and successful enough to remain unknown to officials in the city.

FAVOURITES.

BOOK : Persuasion by Jane Austen, maybe tied with Fantomina by Eliza Haywood MOVIE : Probably the Fast and the Furious movies--cars, races, chases, explosions, and fights. Hard to beat, or so she tells me. 5 SONGS : Alpha Female by Wild Beasts, Raise Hell by Dorothy, A Little Wicked by Valerie Broussard, Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira, Bad Influence by P!nk DEITY : God, though the two had a falling out years ago, she chooses not to believe in him HOLIDAY : New Year’s & Mardi Gras MONTH : March, because it’s usually quite rainy SEASON : Winter PLACE : Anywhere, as long as she’s there with someone she loves WEATHER : Rainy or sunny SOUND : The powerful rumble of well-built engine SCENT / S : Spices, smoke TASTE / S : Caramel, spices, chiles, smoked meats and veggies, . FEEL / S : Lace, silk, denim, skin. ANIMAL / S : Lions, specifically lionesses NUMBER : 8 COLOUR : Black, white, purple, lavender.

EXTRA.

TALENTS : Cooking and baking, drawing and ‘writing’, dancing, picking locks, driving, boosting cars BAD AT : Pistol accuracy, dealing with her own failures (particularly when she feels she’s failed the people closest to her), placing herself before the people she loves, TURN ONS : Confidence, fun loving nature, adventurousness, loyalty TURN OFFS : Lack of a sense of humor, taking oneself too seriously, lying/dishonesty HOBBIES : Dancing, graffiti, drawing, cooking (though not as much now that she doesn’t have a place in Bossville). TROPES : Lovable Rogue, Tomboy & Girly Girl (Though she fits both roles in her timeline), Sugar & Ice Personality (though few have witnessed her icy side) AESTHETIC TAGS : #Araña, #Seda y Encaje, #Dulce y Picante, #Veloz GPOY QUOTES : “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.” -Oscar Wilde | “One day, you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” -Paulo Coelho | “Never waste a moment, it may be the last with someone you love.”

FC INFO.

MAIN FC / S : Natalie Danish & herself ALT FC / S : I don’t know her name but the woman who is in the avatar square when posts from this blog show in the dashboard. OLDER FC / S : Haven’t really given it much thought. To be honest, I’m not sure she’ll make it to fifty or much past. YOUNGER FC / S : Again, I’ve posted a pic or two here and there, but of nameless folks. VOICE CLAIM / S : Rebecca Sanabria (the Latina VO actress from SR 2) Though Furia’s got a thicker accent than most, she never wanted or tried to lose it. Honestly, when I hear her voice in my head I hear deeper Latina voices like Sofia Vergara, Salma Hayek, and Maria Conchita Alonzo. GENDERBENT FC / S : Jason Momoa (who is also the FC for her brother Memo, they look very much alike).

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : if you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in , and what would it be about ?

A1 : It would be some over dramatic mix of action and romance probably. There would probably be a lot of cars and skimpy lingerie. It’d likely have some corny name like Silk & Steel, or something foolish.

Q2 : what would their soundtrack / score sound like ?

A2 : It would be a mix of things you can dance to.

Q3 : why did you start writing this character ?

A3 : I actually created Furia for a smut one shot. She was supposed to be a one trick pony and this happened.

Q4 : what first attracted you to this character ?

A4: She’s just this mix of serious and playful. It’s really her imperfections and faults that I enjoy the most.

Q5 : describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 : Oh, she can be quiet moody and self-destructive.

Q6 : what do you have in common with your muse ?

A6 : A love of music and caramel. And we’re both good cooks.

Q7 : how does your muse feel about you ?

A7 : She thinks I really need to get out more

Q8 : what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?

A8 : All of them! Really! Whether it’s something playful or character building. The interactions with everyone are always fun, and even the most innocent, calm, superficial interactions and draw out some of her history and pieces of her personality. Honestly, her interactions with other muses and characters has allowed me to develop Furia much more fully over the last several years.

Q9 : what gives you inspiration to write your muse ?

A9 : Music, movies, prompts, RP, talking to other muns, reading, driving. And for some reason when I fall asleep, she tends to pop into my head some nights. It kills me because I always end up sitting up 5 or 6 times to jot down some idea that came to me as I was falling asleep.

Q10 : how long did this take you to complete ?

A10 : A few hours give or take.

Tagging @nightmareon3rdst, @thirdstreetshackles, @demonsaint, and anyone else who would like to participate as well. I just think most of the folks who I’d usually tag were either already tagged, tagged me, or completed it beforehand.

#Soledad Amaranta Guerrero #Headcanon #Meta #Character Sheet

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thesinglesjukebox · 4 years

Video

youtube

TAYLOR SWIFT - BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS

[3.50]

Taylor takes a chonce...

Thomas Inskeep: Where we learn that Swift has ambitions of writing relentlessly overblown, ridiculously florid Broadway songs just like her co-writer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. And god, her keening vocal on this makes me want to punch someone. [0]

Alfred Soto: Her voice is not her strongest element, a fact this farrago overlooks. By comparison her accent on "London Boys" is a Meryl Streep Oscar stroke. [2]

Katherine St Asaph: I don't mind Taylor Swift being on this, in theory (in voice is a somewhat different proposition); Sarah Brightman was a dancer in Hot Gossip. Nor do I want to reassign this piece to Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat. I could even, begrudgingly, stop minding that Nile Rodgers worked on this, or that there's a gratuitous Phantom reference, or that the whole thing is a worse version of Jekyll and Hyde's "A New Life," when Cats already had the blueprint for "A New Life." But I do mind there being no structure, melodic, emotional, or otherwise. [3]

Katie Gill: The idea of adding in a song to CATS kind of misunderstands the structure of the musical. You see, CATS already has a big awards bait song, "Memory," which is musically is integrated into the show via a prelude at the end of act 1, other cats singing the tune at various point, and the prelude ending with a leitmotif often heard throughout the show. HOWEVER, now "Beautiful Ghosts" exists. It's positioned as a direct response to "Memory" and ALW loves his goddamn leitmotifs so logically it should sound like a response to "Memory", but it doesn't! It just sounds like a Taylor Swift song! Likewise, if this song is a direct response to "Memory" then one would think it would come AFTER "Memory" or the "Memory" prelude. However, "Memory" is the emotional climax of the show and the prelude is the Act 1 finisher, neither of which are a good time to add in a pop song to kill the plot. "Beautiful Ghosts" should really be positioned as a response to "Grizabella the Glamour Cat" because the transition between that song and the next one is an awkward spot in the musical that the pop song + a bit of dialogue could help smooth over. HOWEVER, if you position "Ghosts" as a response to "Grizabella" then it'll occur way too early in the film and also rob "Memory" of its lyrical impact. Part of the big impact of "Memory" is that you've had two goddamn hours of fiddle-dee-dee Jennyanydots whimsical nonsense and then WHAM, we go right into "touch me / it's so easy to leave me" which gives us the big, giant, emotional impact that "Memory" deserves and dammit, I don't have anywhere else to write about how this addition means that ALW fundamentally misunderstands his own musical so y'all are going to have to put up with me here. [4]

Jackie Powell: What makes this recording so charming is how practically imperfect it is. And I mean that as a compliment. The attempt at a British accent aside, Taylor Swift did her homework. And I'm not talking about T.S. Elliot, which I'll return to. This performance reminded me of Roland Barthes' "The Grain of the Voice," an essay that discusses how perfect vocals aren't what always sell a performance. The French philosopher and critic pontificates that a singer who is compelling has what he refers to as a "grain" or the "body in the voice." In other words, when Swift embraces her weaker while spectral head voice on the verses, cracks on the last line of the bridge and forces her belt on the last note of the entire song, she embraces Barthes' "Grain of the Voice" almost to a tee. Her belting is far from bodacious and like Jackson McHenry of Vulture, I question if this Andrew Lloyd Webber penned melody was really meant for Swift. But ALW did, in fact, need her. "If you can't get T.S. Eliot, get TS," she said while in the studio with Webber. "I'm here for you." And TS does study up on T.S. In "Beautiful Ghosts," Swift penned a lot of gerunds and descriptive nouns that have shapeshifted into gerunds. Or sometimes she just uses the suffix -ing more than twice the amount that Elliot employed it in his 1915 poem "Hysteria." In between all the "Chonces" being "Bawn into Noothing" and being "let intou," it's endearing to get a sense of Swift's acting chops via listening to her inflection, diction and even her ability to weld some dynamics that we don't often hear in her own catalog. But Swift was in between too many decisions. Was this supposed to be a pop version of a Broadway-style song? Was this supposed to be akin to Demi Lovato on "Let It Go?" (Maybe not, as we all know which version of the song is sung at karaoke.) But with all else being equal, Swift shalt have made a commitment to one of these two worlds: she's now clinging to pop but Broadway is now calling? She's straddling between these two islands and it doesn't work as well as she might have "waaanteed." [7]

Isabel Cole: Is it weird that I think I would like this better if it were more awful? Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber are not similar artists, but they are two people who have between them made [checks spreadsheet] a million bajillion dollars by being wildly extra and unafraid of leaning the fuck in. Many of my favorite Taylorisms are fun because of their hyper-earnest theater kid melodrama (just think of the tremor with which she sings another girl in "Style"); many of my childhood memories involve belting "Memory" in my bedroom. But this is just so... dull. TS + ALW 4 CATS sounds like a nightmare of unhinged excess, but this could be any generic Best Song Oscar also-ran; the most interesting part is that she reuses the best line from "Fifteen." Worse, these artists who can write a hook that will be stuck in your head until the end of time somehow came together to write a melody so sprawlingly uninspiring I cannot hum it after several listens. There's nothing here even to make fun of beyond (objectively funny) Taylor's sporadic British affectations. Like, come on, guys: I'm not sure you can do better than this, but I know you have it in you to do worse. [2]

Alex Clifton: Cats didn't really need a new song (nor, frankly, did we need the new nightmare adaptation) and I'm mixed on Andrew Lloyd Webber at best, but this still hits my heart somewhere, especially with Swift's breathy delivery for the first half of the track. I am both surprised and annoyed to relate to a song sung by a cat. Points deducted for chooooooooooonces. [6]

Natasha Genet Avery: Let's dispense with the obvious: 1. That newfangled British accent is...something. 2. Playing into her favorite victimhood narrative, Swift's contribution to Cats *had* to one-up Grizabella ("At least you have something!". 3. This is blatant Oscar bait. Now onto the meat: Cats is a corny and embarrassing head-scratcher. Cats is why people don't trust musicals. I love Cats. To me, to anyone who has been in a musical, musicals are about unreasonable, outsized commitment--you peel off your self-protective shield of irony and spend dozens, if not hundreds of hours donning clown-school makeup and spandex, somersaulting across the stage and belting the praises of storybook animals. If you're entrusted with a big number, you practice and practice until your delivery is technically masterful, if not heavy-handed. Beat me to death with that vibrato. Fuck me up with those dynamics. Leave it allll on the stage. And so, when Taylor set out to out-emote "Memory", she agreed to take on 30 years of mockery, three key changes, Elaine Paige, 600+ professionally recorded covers, and countless school productions and karaoke renditions. A lot of people fault Taylor for being a try-hard (I've always found it sort of endearing), but here, she simply didn't try hard enough. Swift admitted that she wrote most of "Beautiful Ghosts" "immediately after hearing the song for the first time." Without T.S. Eliot's hand, Beautiful Ghosts" is empty, untouched by whimsy. Oh, and the singing: Swift is sorely out of her depth, and mostly opts for limp falsetto, culminating in a strained, awkward belt. We'll see what Francesca Hayward does with it, but for now "Beautiful Ghosts" should get booted from the clowder. [3]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I consume music of all genres voraciously -- with the exception of musical soundtracks. This is for a number of reasons: 1) I haven't seen a lot of musicals, 2) for the ones I have seen, I tend to find the music and lyricism overwrought and boring, and 3) I would prefer to just listen to artists' original music outside the parameters set by some make believe world. I was worried that I would have a tough time trying to check my own bias in reviewing this song, but am now relieved and confident in asserting that "Beautiful Ghosts" is objectively bad. In an alternate reality, this could be a compelling country-lite track on Fearless or Red, or even a synth heavy ballad on 1989, but here, Taylor just sounds drowsy with a weird British accent, selling a metaphor that makes about as much sense as the utterly bizarre Cats movie trailer. [3]

Andy Hutchins: One tweet that has stuck with me is the one that correctly called Reputation — before its release, even! — the final boss of 2017. I think Cats might play a similar role for the final days of 2019 and the first month or so of 2020, even if its pitch is obviously to a smaller segment of the population than pre-Crisis Taylor reached. So how convenient it is that we have Taylor here, indulging her theater kid impulses with none other than Andrew fucking Lloyd fucking Webber co-writing, singing her heart out in the ingenue role she's clung to throughout her 20s for better and worse (which is, hilariously, not her role in the film itself!), pining for something wild for what feels like the 20th time. "Beautiful Ghosts" is as subtle as a hurricane, and churns powerfully, and Taylor almost hits that note at the end — the strings wouldn't swell if she'd hit it perfect, of course. It's good. Fine. Whatever. This sort of hopeful schmaltz is so safe, though, that it mostly makes me wish that Taylor were still willing to take excursions from beaten paths: That way lies "Style," even if you might have to double back from the doorsteps of "Look What You Made Me Do" or "End Game" on occasion. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Taylor Swift #Cats #pop #music #music review #writing #musical

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guidetoenjoy-blog · 5 years

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12 Of The Most Shocking Entertainment Stories Of 2016

New Post has been published on https://entertainmentguideto.com/must-see/12-of-the-most-shocking-entertainment-stories-of-2016/

12 Of The Most Shocking Entertainment Stories Of 2016

Over the past 12 months, the world has thrown some pretty hard punches our way, often leaving us all in a state of shock or disbelief.

In January, we lost music legend David Bowie, and a few months later, Prince followed him to the stars. Then, Hollywood’s most famous union fell apart. Yep, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split, and it wasn’t pretty. Of course, no year would be complete without some Kardashian kontroversies, and 2016 was full of them.

Check out our list below for 12 of the year’s most shocking moments in entertainment.

1. (and 2.) David Bowie and Prince die

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David Bowie’s January death was one of the most shocking of the year, and boy, did it set the tone. The legendary musician, who brought Aladdin Sane to life, died at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer many had no idea he wasfighting.

Then in April, Prince was found deadat the age of 57 at his Paisley Park compound. It was determined the music icon died of a Fentanyl overdose.

Bowie’s and Prince’s deaths shook the world, but the stars were just two of the many — including Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Alexis Arquette and Muhammad Ali— we had to say goodbye to this year. To say it was rough is a major understatement.

3. Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian become a couple

Leon Bennett via Getty Images

Just when we thought the Kardashians couldn’t do anything more to shock us, the sole brother in the family went ahead and started a relationship with Blac Chyna, anex-girlfriend of rapper Tyga, who’s dating Rob’s half sister Kylie Jenner. Oh, and don’t forget Chyna and Tyga have a son together. When these two got together, the relationshiphad drama (and ratings) written all over it.

4. Then they announce their pregnancy and engagement

A photo posted by Blac Chyna (@blacchyna) on May 6, 2016 at 11:14am PDT

After about two months of dating, Rob and Chyna decided to get engaged, a decision they reportedly kept secret from the rest of the Kardashian krew. And since that wasn’t enough,they couple then got pregnant andscoreda deal for their very own E! docuseries. In November, they welcomed their baby girl, Dream, into the world.

Rob and Chyna continue to fill our newsfeeds with plenty of drama — earlier this month it appeared they had split after what seemed like an extremely messy altercation, which just so happened to play out right before their E! baby special episode aired. Convenient coincidence or Kris Jenner master plan? You decide.

5. Michael Strahan leaves “Live with Kelly”

Mark Davis via Getty Images

In April, Michael Strahan announced his departure from “Live with Michael and Kelly,” much to the surprise of viewers and, it appeared, his co-host Kelly Ripa. After the news broke, Ripa didn’t show up toworkfor a week, with people speculating she had been blindsided by the whole thing. The events surrounding Strahan’s departure caused quite the controversy in the TV world, and brought up plenty of conversations about respect and fair treatment in the workplace.

6. Calvin Harris and Taylor Swift split

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This summer, Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris had to go and crush our #swangoals and break up.

Things didn’t seem to end well. The couple clearlyhad some bad blood between them, as evidenced by their public dispute over Harris’ track “This Is What You Came For.” Swift co-wrote the song, initially under a pseudonym, but after she decided to take her credit where credit was due, Harris got shady on Twitter and called out his ex’s (rumored) mean girl tendencies.

7. #HIDDLESWIFT emerges

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Only a few weeks after Swift and Harris called it quits, the “Wildest Dreams” singer started a highly publicized relationship (and/or publicity stunt) with British actor Tom Hiddleston. Naturally, people on the internet lost it, especially when these totally natural, not-staged-at-all photos of the couple taking selfies on the beach emerged online. The relationship was short-lived, but at least we’ll always have this photo of Hiddleston wearing an “I heart TS” tank top at the beach.

8. Amber Heard accuses Johnny Depp of domestic abuse

John Shearer via Getty Images

In May, Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp. The couple was only married for 15 months, and given the outcome of so many Hollywood relationships, the split wasn’t all that surprising.

Whatdidshock us, though, was when Heard came out and accused Depp of verbal and physical abuse. The actress shared photos of the injuriesshe suffered as a result of the alleged abuse and, in recent months, has spoken out about her experiences with domestic violence. Depp has denied the claims and the two are still in the middle of an extremely messy divorce settlement.

9. The #KimExposedTaylorParty takes over Twitter

Kevin Mazur via Getty Images

The long-standing feud between Swift and rapper Kanye West picked up steam this year after West released his song “Famous.” The track includes the lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous,” which we all knew was a reference to the “Bad Blood” singer. Ye claimed he spoke to Swift about the song and lyrics, leading us to believe she was in on the joke. But TSwizzle said otherwise, claiming she had no idea she was going to be called a “bitch” in the song. That’s when Kim Kardashian stepped in.

The wife of Pablo posted a video on Snapchat that seemed to prove her husband’s claims. The rapper and pop star clearly did have a conversation about the song, though it still remains unclear if she knew about the “that bitch” line. Regardless, the tape’s release exposed Swift as a liar (in at least one regard) and people on theinternet had a field day, sharing memes and inviting everyone to the #KimExposedTaylorParty.

Swift responded to the drama with the help of the handy iPhone Notes app,saying “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009.”

You can read all about the Greatest Celebrity Feud of Our Time righthere.

10. Kim Kardashian is robbed in Paris

NurPhoto via Getty Images

On Oct. 3, Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in her Paris apartment. Naturally, herfamily and followers were shocked. Kanye West even abruptly ended a concert as soon as he found out about the news. After the traumatic event, it was clear Kardashianwas shaken.Since the robbery — what was surely a terrifying experience — the reality star has been mostly absent on social media, leaving her followers missing her presence online. To top it all off, West was hospitalized in November and rumors that the couple may split continue to swirl (thoughwe don’t believe them).

11. Brangelina calls it quits

Jason LaVeris via Getty Images

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Hollywood’s former golden couple, called it quits this year, much to the surprise of literally everyone. We were convinced these two were going to stick it out for the long haul, but we were wrong. Jolie cited irreconcilable differences in her filing,but sources claimed the separation had to do with Pitt’s parenting methods and marijuana use. Before we knew it, Pitt was being investigated by theLos Angeles County Department of Children and Family Servicesfor an instance of alleged child abuseand Jolie and her kids were being interviewed by the FBI.

12. Beyonc drops “Lemonade”

Beyonc pulled a Beyonc and dropped another stunning visual album, “Lemonade.” Regular folk and celebrities alikelost it. The album,a powerful ode to black women everywhere,touched on topics likeinfidelity, grief, love, joy, relationships, womanhood and blackness.It also seemingly aired out Jay Z’s dirty laundry, but of course, we’ll never know who Becky with the good hair reallyis.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

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emmagreen1220-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Literary Techniques

New Post has been published on https://literarytechniques.org/assonance/

Assonance

Assonance Definition

Assonance refers to the repetition of identical stressed vowels in nearby syllables when they are followed by different consonants or consonant clusters. Even though sometimes omitted for brevity, the latter part of the definition is equally important as the first one, because If identical stressed vowels are followed by identical consonant sounds, then the literary device in question is not assonance, but rhyme.

Thus, the phrase “white knight” is an example of rhyme; however, the title of Dylan Thomas’ poem “In the White Giant’s Thigh” is an example of assonance. In both cases, the “long i” [aɪ] is repeated in all of the stressed syllables, but only in the first one the consonant behind it sounds identical as well (“waɪt naɪt” vs. “waɪt ˈʤaɪənts θaɪ”).

Assonance was frequently used as a substitute for rhyme in early Celtic, Spanish, and French poetry, which is why it is sometimes (somewhat unsuitably) still called “vowel rhyme,” “vocalic rhyme” or even “half rhyme.” When Augustan and Romantic English poets started using rhymes on an almost regular basis, they saw in assonance a great way to amplify the musical effects of their poems. However, at least since the second half of the 19th century, modern poets once again have started employing assonance in place of a rhyme for the exact opposite effect.

Some of literature’s most skillful users of assonance are Alexander Pope, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, Algernon Charles Swinburne, and Dylan Thomas.

ExamplesQuizFlashcardsWorksheets

Assonance Examples

Assonance in a Sentence

Example #1: Idioms

For nearly a week afterwards, the domestics observed significantly to each other, that Miss Isabella was as ‘nice as pie!’

OED lists this 1855 Which: Right or Left? sentence as the earliest occurrence of the idiom “nice as pie.” As is obvious, the idiomatic expression—as many others (“a good look,” “a dead end,” “high time,” etc.)—is made memorable through the use of assonance, as both “nice” and “pie” contain the “long i” but not repeating consonants.

Example #2-3: Proverbs

Variety is the spice of life.

In the proverb above, all of the nouns contain the “long i” [aɪ]. Interestingly enough, according to a wide-ranging 2012 study, about a quarter of English proverbs assonate. In the example below, assonance of the “long o” [əʊ] is effectively resolved in the “short o” of the last word (“moss”):

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Example #4: Nursery Rhymes

As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St. Ives?

The nursery rhyme above is actually a riddle – so do try to solve it if you want a break from all this literary talk with a simple mathematical exercise. Highly assonant, this riddle employs effective assonance of both the “long i” (in “I,” “Ives” and “wives”) and the “short e” (in “met,” “man,” “seven,” “sacks,” “had,” “cats,” and “many”). In one instance (“sacks”/”cats”), assonance works as a nice substitute for rhyme.

Example #5: Advertising Slogans

Finger lickin’ good.

KFC’s famous slogan—“finger lickin’ good”—works so well because of the assonance of the “short i” repeated three times in the initial four syllables. However, it works even better when the first two words are paired up with KFC’s actual product—”finger lickin’ chicken”— which adds two more [ɪ]’s to the mix and spices the assonance with a dash of rhyme.

(Further Reading: 10 Examples of Assonance in a Sentence)

Assonance in Poetry

Example #1: Alexander Pope, First Satire of the Second Book of Horace 25-26 (1733)

Rend with tremendous Sound your ears asunder, With Gun, Drum, Trumpet, Blunderbuss and Thunder.

Alexander Pope was a deft user of many rhetorical devices, and assonance was certainly not an exception. In the second verse from the couplet above, he manages to achieve an almost onomatopoetic effect, combining the assonance of the “short u” vowel [ʌ] with bilabial consonants (“b,” “p,” and “m”) to create the effect promised in the first verse: “tremendous sound” which rends the ears asunder.

Example #2: John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” 1-2 (1820)

Thou still unravished bride of quietness, Thou foster child of silence and slow time…

There are not many verses more beautiful than the two which open John Keats’ great “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” However, it often goes unjustly unnoted that a large portion of this beauty the verses owe to the assonance of the “long i” which Keats masterfully uses in all five nouns present in the excerpt: “bride,” “quietness,” “child,” “silence,” and “time.” And to make the verses even more sweet-sounding, this grand assonance is nicely prepared by the humble introductory assonant pair “still unravished,” tightly linked through the repeated use of the “short i.”

Example #3: Algernon Charles Swinburne, “August” (1866)

The colour of the leaves was more Like stems of yellow corn that grow Through all the gold June meadow’s floor

Even detractors of Algernon Charles Swinburne hail him a musical genius; and, indeed, his mastery of the phonetic literary devices is, to say the least, impressive. Even though published in his debut poetry collection, “August” already exemplifies this brilliantly. The repeated “o” sounds—whether short or long—permeate the excerpt, appearing in almost every second word: “colour,” “more,” “yellow,” “corn,” “grow,” “gold,” “meadow,” and “floor.” This produces a highly euphonious effect, which Swinburne strikingly manages to sustain throughout the whole poem.

Example #4: Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Wreck of the Deutschland I.7.1-4 (1875)

It dates from day Of his going in Galilee; Warm-laid grave of a womb-life grey; Manger, maiden’s knee;

Considered by many to be perhaps his greatest masterpiece, the 35-stanza Christian ode “The Wreck of the Deutschland” demonstrates wholly Gerard Manley Hopkins’ masterful use of not only his unique contributions to prosody (instress and sprung rhythm) but also of some much more common literary devices such as assonance and alliteration. The “long a” hauntingly dominates the four verses excerpted above, appearing no less than seven times, twice in combination with the alliterative “d” and “m” (“dates”/”day” and “manger”/”maiden”).

Example #5: Dylan Thomas, “Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait” 49-52 (1941)

Whales in the wake like capes and Alps Quaked the sick sea and snouted deep, Deep the great bushed bait with raining lips Slipped the fins of those humpbacked tons.

Not many modern poets—if anyone—have managed to replicate Dylan Thomas’ verbally dense and rhythmically resonant verses. In the thirteenth quatrain of his “Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait,” he demonstrates how exceptionally skillful he is in using assonance to produce enduringly evocative imagery. And it’s fascinating to think that even though seven words in the stanza use the “long a”— and six of them are monosyllabic—none of them rhyme with each other: “whales,” “wake,” “capes,” “quaked,” “great,” “bait” and “raining”. “This symphony of vowels and consonants proves Thomas a master,” notes William York Tindall in A Reader’s Guide to Dylan Thomas. “Not Hopkins himself could put sweeter sounds together.”

(Further Reading: 10 Examples of Assonance Poems)

Assonance in Literature

Example #1: William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1 III.3.48 (1591)

When Death doth close his tender dying eyes.

In Shakespeare on Theatre, Robert Cohen provides a list of all 136 different adjectives that William Shakespeare uses in his plays to vividly describe the human eyes. As in the example above (“dying eyes”), many of them are quite melodious, assonant adjective + noun sets. Can you find where the Bard uses three other assonant pairings of this kind: “admiring eyes,” “desiring eyes,” and “fiery eyes”?

Example #2: Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee” 38-39 (1849)

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride…

Much like Swinburne, Edgar Allan Poe was a skilled user of assonance, mainly for its musical effects. To some—like the French symbolist poet Charles Baudelaire—this made him the designer of verses “carved like diamonds”; to others—such as Aldous Huxley—Poe’s use of phonetic literary devices seemed analogous to a sensitive man wearing “a diamond ring on every finger.” You can understand both sides of the argument if you try reading the above couplet out loud. As you can already see, here, in merely two verses, Poe uses the “long i” no less than eleven times! However, it is difficult to deny how melodious and memorable this makes the ending of “Annabel Lee,” Poe’s last complete poem.

Example #3: Robert A. Harris, Writing with Clarity and Style (2003)

So flows the river, going past the town, its whole load of toxins, fish, and sediment pouring evermore into the sea.

The example above is borrowed from Robert Harris’ celebrated “Guide to Rhetorical Devices for Contemporary Writers.” It’s only fitting to borrow the analysis of this highly assonant sentence as well. “The repeated ‘long o’ sounds in the [highlighted] words,” explains Harris, “create a drawn-out sonorousness, suggesting both flow and inevitability of movement.”

Songs with Assonance

Example #1: Alan Jay Lerner, The Rain in Spain

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

In My Fair Lady, the 1956 musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle is a Cockney flower girl incapable of breaking her dialect speech patterns even after hundreds and hundreds of elocution exercises with Professor Henry Higgins. For example, instead of saying “reɪn” and “Speɪn” she says something along the lines of “raɪn” and “Spaɪn.” She finally gets it while singing the above verse in which five words (three of which rhyme) contain “the long a” [ei]: “rain,” “Spain,” “stays,” “mainly,” “plain.”

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Example #2: The Doors, Light My Fire

You know that it would be untrue You know that I would be a liar If I was to say to you Girl, we couldn’t get much higher

Come on baby, light my fire Come on baby, light my fire Try to set the night on fire

Widely considered one of the greatest songs ever written—reaching #35 on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time—The Doors’ “Light My Fire” offers an exquisite example of the sonorous power of one-vowel assonance. In addition to the rhymes—which necessarily all contain the “long i” [aɪ] (“liar,” “higher,” “fire”)—the lyrics also add many other words which include the same vowel sound and, thus, serve to build and/or keep up the momentum: “I,” “light,” “try,” “night.” And this goes on in the second verse as well, which adds few more assonant words: “time,” “mire,” “try,” “funeral pyre”!

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Example #3: Radiohead, Exit Music (for a Film)

We hope that you choke…

Radiohead often use assonance in place of rhyme in their songs. As you can hear in this all but a textbook example, it is this literary device which has helped them pen some of the most hauntingly beautiful and yet chillingly disturbing verses. Rhyme may be at times too complete and childlike to carry the burden of heavy thoughts; assonance is much more adult and generates a lingering effect. Fittingly, the verse above is not the only one in “Exit Music (for a Film)” which employs assonance. You can also hear it in “the long a” of “today/ we escape” and “the long i” in “breathe/ keep breathing.”

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(Further Reading: 5 Songs with Assonance)

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