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twopoppies · 3 months

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https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/harry-styles-is-a-gay-icon-queerbaiting-b1136121.html

Hi Gina, Have you seen this article?

No. But thank you. I really love what the author had to say! Usually I highlight a few key comments, but I found myself highlighting almost the entire article.

[…]

And that is all well and good, however there does come a time Harry Styles deserves some respect. We know he wasn’t the first man to ever wear a dress. Still, his appearance on the cover of American Vogue in December 2020 felt like a moment. Yes ok, he has pinched a few styling tips and lyrical flourishes from the great male frontmen of our times (David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger, George Michael, et al). But like Bowie caused a scandal by wearing a Mr Fish dress on his album cover in 1971, Styles does too every time he flaunts another disco coloured, nipple-grazing jumpsuit. At least someone is still trying to push the boundaries.

More than that, though, Styles’ persistent drip feeding of all things “flamboyant” — on the fashion front, credit must go to his longtime stylist Harry Lambert — is exactly the antidote a world in a toxic masculinity choke-hold needs. His own range of unisex nail varnishes? Great. Pictures of him stomping about in little heeled booties and a pearl necklace? It really is delightful to see.

His relationships with queer creatives are a convincing testament to him as a person, too. He launched gender fluid designer Harris Reed’s career when he wore a selection of his blouses on tour in 2018. He did too for S.S.Daley, another queer-centric label, which the singer gave a leg-up to stardom by spotlighting it in his 2020 Golden music video. Taking his support a step further, this month it was announced Styles bought a minority share in the brand.

And on set, the stories that come back are similar. Pat Boguslawski, the movement director best known for his current role at Martin Margiela under John Galliano, worked with Styles on his viral 2020 Beauty Papers cover shoot. Yes, the one where he is naked save for fishnets and loafers.

“He was just incredible,” Boguslawski told me in a recent interview. “It was fascinating to work with someone who is a male but at the same time so open minded and willing to do anything.” First hand testimonies are a good place to start when it comes to reading mega-stars who have their image so tightly controlled (often it’s near impossible to get any sense of true character).

While Styles has not spelled out his queerness in black and white, every plumed, pink ostrich feather coat he normalises makes it a little bit easier for those wanting to express themselves in peace and safety.

It shouldn’t be like that. In fact, it’s sickening. But that’s not Styles’ fault — and by putting it to the forefront of pop culture, he is doing the LGBTQ+ community a solid. To my mind, that is something worth applauding, not tearing down.

Full article here

#Everyone loves Harry #beauty papers magazine #vogue Harry #ss daley #Harris Reed #Harry’s queer connections #the standard #Harry’s sexuality #queerbaiting

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brandogenius · 3 months

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hiiiii! could you write julien x reader where basically is ex to lovers? 😭 like maybe reader is also on the public eye and the fans reactions to it? it could be a headcanon or a blurb, whatever it’s better for you!

thank u !!! pls !!!

this is such a cute request i have so many ideas for this one!

‼️RPF‼️

(NOT PROOFRED)

MINI FIC? - julien x reader - ex to lovers.

Request: “could you write julien x reader where basically is ex to lovers? 😭 like maybe reader is also on the public eye and the fans reactions to it?”

Word count: 1,749

(please let me know if you would like a part two! this was quite fun to write! )

everyone knew of you and juliens past. five years ago in 2018 the two of you were a pair. boygenius was starting to blow up and you were by juliens side ever since. julien wasn’t shy in letting everyone know that you were her girlfriend. dedicating some songs to you and posting photo dumps that include you in some of her instagram posts.

you weren’t as known as much as julien in the music scene. a small indie and pop writer. you had accumulated your own small handful of fans. majority of them boygenius fans, there in support to hype up their favourite musicians girlfriend.

you were seen on tour with the boys. promoting the release of their debut ep ‘boygenius’ you were just as excited as the trio. you couldn’t have been more prouder of your girlfriend.

until something changed. 2020 had come around and fans had noticed the lack in content with the both of you. you stopped appearing in juliens photo dumps. you unfollowed julien on twitter. julien took your tag off her posts. it was a devastating time for the fans. it didn’t take many people long to figure out what this all meant.

of course you have a handful of fans who respected what was going on. choosing to mind their own business and support both of you separately. however, with every bunch of food and respectful fans, you had the ones who didn’t understand what boundaries meant. screaming in your comments section or directly going as far as @ julien on twitter asking what happened between the two of you.

both of you have been keeping quiet about it until an interview was published, julien was promoting the upcoming release for her album when the interviewer dropped a question over the computer screen.

“i’m sure the fans are dying to know what happened between you and your girlfriend- or should i say ex at this point?” julien sat in front of the computer, an eyebrow raised as she watched the interviewer stare back at the musician. julien never in the slightest could imagine what audacity the interviewer had in that moment to ask that.

“well you see-“ julien fiddled with her headphones, readjusting them onto her head. she could see the interviewer sat there notebook in hand with pen firmly placed on the paper, ready to write down what she had to say.

“- there’s nothing i want to say on this matter. you’re interviewing me for my album right? why don’t we ask questions in relation to music, rather than my personal and private business”

the interviewer, taken a back quickly spluttered as quiet apology and composted themselves. going back to pre selected questions to ask in relation to music.

the question left julien in a sour mood for the rest of the day. the interview was quickly published. julien didn’t really want to check it out. having some small hope that the interviewer would be kind enough to edit it and take out that part but unfortunately not.

she knew it would stir up another wave of questions and panic amongst both fandoms. even if you were staying on the low side for now, keeping out of the public eye, she couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty - feeling a bit bad for dragging you back into this mess of chaos that occurred just only weeks ago.

you ok the other hand were a bit more composed. less hot headed julien. you simply ignored everything to do with the shorter musician. what happened- simple happened. it’s in the past you can’t change it anymore. you just need to go ahead and think of the future.

you continued to post on social media, posting tiktoks and tweeting. working on promoting your newest song virtually on home. most of the fans had moved on. coming to terms with the fact the two of you will most likely never interact again.

2020-2023 passes as quickly. both of you are doing your own thing. you are topping the charts with your album and singles. fans have definitely moved on but always remember. new fans are introduced to you and learn the basics. your past with boygenius member julien baker. the time you won your first award. your first world tour.

it’s the first few months of 2023. february is welcomed with longer days and a spree of award shows. your schedule was booked and busy for this month. you had a lot of interviews to attend in relation to your record you dropped in January. it was one of your proudest works to date. working hard on the album since your last one released in 2021. this was filled with songs you’ve written over the years that didn’t make it. lyric sheets that were shoved into your folder, uncovered and refurbished with better lyrics, tweaked and changed to suit your aesthetic.

one of your tracks - track 7 was one that got the most attention. 3M on youtube, billboard no1 charts. it was a bit odd since it wasn’t even your title track. fans heard it and went wild. theorising over the poetic lyrics.

it was an old song. one you wrote about julien. one about heartbreak and the feeling of yearning. you didn’t name anyone but somehow fans chose to believe it was about the boygenius member and they were right.

today was the billboard music awards. all different kinds of celebrities made their way through the red carpet. photographers and paparazzi shouting and wanting to get their direction

the boys came first. julien walking alongside lucy and phoebe. the boys stood in front of the backdrop, posing for photos. the blinding white light filling juliens vision. the sound of various amount of clicks were just enough to distract her from her own rambling thoughts for a quick moment. you were going to preform the newest song at the awards tonight. it would’ve been the first time the two of you seen each other since 2020.

a small nudge to the side by lucy had julien shaken out of her thoughts. the trio walking off to another background for another round of photoshoots.

not so long after. fans tuned into watching the livestream. you made your way onto the red carpet. fans instantly made a realisation. without knowing, you and julien were matching outfits. julien with a black and white suit. you walked into the photo zone with a black and white dress.

posing for the photos seemed weird. fans taking to twitter to discuss and theorise what the connection was. was it a coincidence? was it on purpose? you finish up with the interviews and photo zone and quickly head into the venue.

you took your seat at the table, you seemed to be the only one there so far so you didn’t seem phased. glancing up you raise your eyebrows in surprise seeing a familiar head oh platinum hair

just your luck that the all too familiar trio is sitting at the same table as you. you smiled as phoebe took a seat beside you. lucy and julien across from you.

fans would be in the building too. mainly up in the higher sections. you wouldn’t be surprised if you see all the fan pages posting about this later on. you knew you had to act professional and calm.

you jumped slightly as a hand tapped your arm. phone stared at you with a mix of concern and amusement. “huh?” “i asked how have you been?”

“oh- pretty good you know” you shrugged, a small smile playing on your lip. “making music and stuff” you took out your phone to distract yourself from the burning gaze of juliens eyes on you. like a second nature you can just tell. you chose to ignore it for now.

the billboards ran pretty smoothly. you won two awards and quickly went backstage to get ready for your performance. you felt a hand wrap around your wrist as you turned back.

“can we talk?” you turned around to stare at the smaller girl in front of you. julien stood there looking at you with a frown on her face. you glanced at the stage with a small sigh “you know i have to go on stage soon- can it wait?” you really didn’t want to talk to her- not when you’re about to preform a song.. essentially about her.

“after? please” juliens words were quiet. hesitent almost. you sighed to yourself, taking interest in the wall behind julien as you nodded. “fine - yeah. after” julien let go off your hand as she nodded. standing back as she ducked her head to walk away.

preforming for the first time in a while was a bit weird. you were so used to preforming on a web camera or pre recorded for saturday night shows, preforming to a crowd of a good couple thousand people was a bit nerve racking.

your eyes found juliens as you searched the crowd. locking eye contact you didn’t dare break it neither did julien. watching the shorter musician give a thumbs up and a positive smile made you feel calm. it made you feel more better you were able to preform the song without any worries.

finishing the song you took a deep breath and quickly thanked everyone before walking off the stage. you needed a minute to yourself to calm down before returning to the table. you sat in the backstage area, clutching a bottle of water in your shaky hands as you scrolled through social media.

“that was pretty epic” you looked up at the familiar voice. a small smile spreading across your face as you looked up. julien sat down across from you, fiddling with her rings anxiously. “you think so?” you chuckled.

“it was awesome! it’s your new song right? congrats on number one” julien leaned back in the chair. in the moment it felt right. it felt like how it used to. like nothing has changed since then.

“what did you want to talk about?” you tilted your head, being the first to break the conversation to the one both were too anxious to start.

fans broke twitter that very night. during the interval, videos spread across twitter like wildfire. you and julien walking back out onto the floor, hand in hand with smiles across your faces.

new theories started to arise. what happened? is that why julien left the table? what did you talk about?

#pom writes #julien baker au #julien baker x reader #julien baker one shot #julien baker fluff #julien baker x singer!reader #julien baker fanfic #julien baker x fem!reader #boygenius au #boygenius fanfic #boygenius one shot #boygenius x reader

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exitwound · 4 days

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I'm putting together an extremely sincere playlist made out of 2020-2022s destiel amv hits, as well as songs that were part of the same era's collective thinking about dean winchester, to which i credit enormously the musical and cultural expertise of the many mutuals ive had the great pleasure to also call colleagues and friends, a few other selected tracks yet to be categorized or announced, and every single song from taylor swift's new album The tortured poets department. And my grand reveal is that from the beginning this has been a playlist about Taylor Swift. That from the beginning, Taylor Swift and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles a little bit) were, like carbons into diamonds, formed under the same wound. And in this great wound we can understand what it means to be the opposite of a ghost, something more alive than it can be. Ultimately, the playlist will conclude in an AI constructed voice setting to rhythm excerpts of the poem where Diane Seuss understood that "Fascism in America is loud", the same poem which ends in the following lines: "I came / before I knew what coming was, iambic pentameter, did I feel it, does language eclipse feeling, does it eclipse the eclipse." The voice will mimic Taylor Swift's but with more southern accent alhough I am sad to announce that Jack Antonoff has declined to produce the project after we had a personal disagreement and could not reconcile things. We are currently looking for a new producer

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necnnights · 2 months

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EN PASSANT is the first US tour by fictional idol band NEON NIGHTS. Taking its name from the chess rule, the tour followed the release of the band’s first English-language album, LOOKING GLASS. It ran from February 18 to March 11, visiting nine cities. Along the way, they also filmed their first reality show. The special draw of the tour and of their show was a special cover of a hit (a generous term) song by another band from the same city.

SET LIST

[ LISTEN HERE. ] The tour’s set list showcased songs in all three languages the band promotes in, separated into different segments by language. Opening like their latest album, LOOKING GLASS, the set list begins with LIKE A VILLAIN and JABBERWOCK. The introduction is then followed by JEALOUSY, the second single off their debut Japanese album INTENTION, and PERFECT, another track off Looking Glass.

The second segment is a tiny selection of their greatest Japanese hits: debut single WE ARE, arguably their biggest hit DICE, and fan-favorite HIKIKOMORI ROCK. The next segment is also in English, including THAT WON’T SAVE US from INTENTION, and new tracks MONSTERS and I THOUGHT I SAW. In the interest of time, these songs were cut from a few of their shows.

The longest section by far is a selection of the band’s favored and most popular Korean tracks. It opens with ROCK N ROLL and DIVE, two b-sides from their most recent Korean EP, MIDNIGHT. They’re followed by three songs from the band’s most beloved album, NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA: (NO MORE) UTOPIA, MORE, and STAND UP! The segment concludes with their debut Korean song, FLY AWAY.

The final part of the show begins with both songs of 2020 single ORDINARY: the titular track and b-side ARE YOU SCARED OF ME YET? In a deliberate mirroring of the show’s opening, each performance ends with WONDERLAND and RUNNING OUT OF TIME, the last two tracks on Looking Glass.

THE COVERS

In addition to their original songs, Neon Nights revisited their cover band roots with a special cover performance at each show. They also brought back their usual rotation of covered songs and current popular kpop songs. The most popular of these are Paramore’s MISERY BUSINESS, Avril Lavigne’s WHAT THE HELL, IVE’s I AM, and (G)I-DLE’s QUEENCARD.

#╰ maestro maestro i’m a pretty psycho ⸻ misc.#fictional idol community #ficnetfairy #fake kpop group #kpop oc #kpop fanfic #idol oc #fictional idol group #no psd on the video i tried and it was hell #i think 480p has character

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hldailyupdate · 7 months

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Louis Tomlinson’s feature-length documentary, “All Of Those Voices” will be available to stream on Paramount+ starting Oct. 4 in the United States and Canada.

The documentary, which was released in select theaters earlier this March, gives an intimate look at the former One Direction member’s life and musical career. It was directed by Charlie Lightening, who helmed Liam Gallagher’s “As It Was,” and produced in partnership with 78 Productions and Trafalgar Releasing. It will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and South Korea starting Oct. 5.

“I’m really excited to announce that ‘All Of Those Voices’ will be available to stream on Paramount+,” said Tomlinson in a statement. “This film means everything to me, and I’m looking forward to having it out there in the world!”

The film explores Tomlinson’s personal struggles with loss and his journey from a member of One Direction to a solo artist. After releasing his debut album “Walls” in 2020, and his follow-up “Faith In The Future” in 2022, Tomlinson chose to pull back the curtain in this documentary film showing a much more intimate side of him that his fans hadn’t had a chance to engage with since the storied boy band he grew up in disbanded in 2015.

“This has been something I’ve been working on for years, I’m really excited to finally put it out into the world,” said Tomlinson in a press release at the time of the film’s announce. “I’ve said it a million times but I’m lucky enough to have the greatest fans an artist could wish for, and as they always go above and beyond for me, I wanted to share my story ‘in my own words’.”

-All Of Those Voices will be available to stream on Paramount+! (19 September 2023)

#louis tomlinson #louis update #all of those voices #variety #article #september 2023

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louisupdates · 7 months

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Sep 19, 2023 8:30am PT

Louis Tomlinson’s ‘All Of Those Voices’ Sets Paramount+ Release Date (EXCLUSIVE)

'All Of Those Voices' will be available to stream on Paramount+ in October.

By Thania Garcia

Louis Tomlinson’s feature-length documentary, “All Of Those Voices” will be available to stream on Paramount+ starting Oct. 4 in the United States and Canada.

youtube

#louis press #louis tomlinson #variety #19.9.2023 #aotv

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lesbianmikenesmith · 5 months

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Okay first up, Big Time Rush

Background info to consider below:

Longevity: first run 2009 to 2014, reunion 2020 to present.

Plot of the show: "It focuses on the Hollywood misadventures of four hockey players from Duluth, Minnesota, Kendall Knight, James Diamond, Carlos Garcia, and Logan Mitchell after they are selected to form a boy band by fictional mega music producer Gustavo Rocque.

Plot of the movie: Big Time Movie is a 2012 musical comedy television film based on the Nickelodeon television series, Big Time Rush and the songs of The Beatles. It features the members of Big Time Rush visiting London for their world tour, where they also have to save the world.

Audition: The Audition process took two years. They did four national casting tours where they went to six or seven major cities from LA to New York to Florida to Texas. More than 1,500 teenagers/young adults auditioned.

Music: Their music has been described as a cool blend of synth-pop, hip-hop, and boy-band harmonies

The song "Oh Yeah" from their debut album was written by Kevin Rudolf, Jacob Kasher, and all four members of BTR themselves. While most tracks were typically pre-written and received minimal input from the band themselves, the writing session for "Oh Yeah" was the first time they were able to help craft the lyrics and melodies.

Public Perception: Because the group is associated with the TV series and children's network Nickelodeon, they have been presented as a "child-friendly" group

Influence: They have been credited as the pop group that have once again restored creditably, relevance, and for relaunching boy bands back into the public eye once again.

youtube

#keep in mind i have never seen an episode and only ever heard the theme #all this info is from wiki and youtube so i definitely missed stuff

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putschki1969 · 5 months

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2023/11/10 Blog post by Wakana おしゃべりガーデン第３回目‼︎〜記憶喪失者続出の七五三〜

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

Talk Garden #3!! ~Lost Memories of Shichi-Go-Sen~

The November podcast has been uploaded 😃♡ This time's talk topic is "Anecdotes of Shichi-Go-San"!! ️ Funnily enough, almost all the messages I received from everyone were full of "I don't remember". That made laugh🤣🤣I'm sorry, who am I to judge? I honestly don't remember a lot either, I guess we were all too young when we celebrated Shichi-Go-San 😂 I wonder if we should increase the age of celebration from 7(Shichi), 5(Go) and 3(San) to 12 and 15. *laughs* This way, it would be much more memorable 😂 Of course there were also some people who said that they remembered everything perfectly. Some of you mentioned that you remember crying a lot. Very relatable to be honest~ *laughs*

As a small gift to everyone whose message I read in the podcast, I made a handmade glass deco sticker of Shark-chan!\\٩( 'ω' )و // I had a vague idea that a sticker would be a good gift to give as a thank you, so after doing some research, I finally decided on these glass deco stickers! This is the completed set of my Shark-chan glass deco sticker🦈🦈🦈🦈💕A small gift! You can draw whatever picture you like on the film sheet by using the paint, then let it dry and it's done. It takes about 8 hours to dry the whole thing, but I let it dry for about two days just to be sure. Shark-chan is being mass-produced... (I also made one with some odd colouring.) When I tried sticking it on my Mac, the shark looked a bit wrinkled. But these are so much fun to make! 😳✨The glass deco paint is released by the same company that makes the popular Arabic Yamato glue. According to the official description, magical paint is a mixture of paint and glue that turns into colourful and shining stickers and looks like stained glass after drying😊 I didn't know about the existence of these stickers at all until I researched it but they seem to be quite popular😳When I went to Daiso, they also sold paint for this 😳From now on, I want to try more different kinds of drawings! ! \\٩( 'ω' )و // So, everyone whose message I read, please wait patiently for your Shark-chan sticker to arrive!

And I have some news! For the fan club event that will be held after the "Wakana Classics 2023 ~Winter Party~" on December 15th, we have decided to do a poll for the song that I will be singing during that particular section! I started my classical concerts back in 2020 with the "Wakana Covers ~Anime Classics~" album. I thought I would let everyone choose from a selection of songs from this album😉Click here for the poll! ・Yasashisa ni tsutsumareta nara ・Inochi no Namae ・Kimi no Todoke ・Get Wild ・Yume no Yukue

Please let me know which song you would like to hear! ! ! ♪♪♪＼(^o^)／♪♪♪ Lastly, here's a picture of my Gazania which bloomed again due to the abnormally warm temperatures(?)🌼It's blooming so beautifully 😳💕I'm so happy ♡

Well, I hope you enjoy the new episode! This time it's about 40 minutes long *laughs*Please relax and listen 😊

＊＊＊Wakana＊＊＊

Wakana’s Talk Garden#3 「Anecdotes of Shichi-Go-San」

»»—— CLICK ME 🎁 CLICK ME ——««

❗This is Fan Club EXCLUSIVE content❗ ❗PERSONAL USE ONLY❗ Do ❗NOT SHARE❗ on other sites ❗Join her FAN CLUB! Check out my detailed TUTORIAL ❗

For this month, the topic is as follows =>

“Anecdotes of Shichi-Go-San”

For next month’s episode which is scheduled to air in December, the topic is "Things I should do before the end of they year but somehow, I turn a blind eye to it." The submission deadline is 11/30.

Wakana Winter Shark Festival Vol.#3 ~ Birthday Cross Talk Event ~

This year, there will once again be a fan club exclusive online streaming event to celebrate Wakana's birthday. This year, “Wakana Winter Shark Festival Vol.3 ~Birthday Crosstalk Event~” will be held on December 10th, the day of Wakana's birthday! Wakana will be joined by Yuuka Nanri, they will get together for the first time since spring. Everyone, let's celebrate Wakana's birthday together!! ‖Event details Wakana Winter Shark Festival Vol.3 ~Birthday Crosstalk Event~ Date: December 10, 2023 Time: 14:00~ Starring: Wakana& Yuuka Nanri(Guest) ‖Ticket details Ticket sales: Bitfan tickets Live streaming: Bitfan Live [Order period] November 11th 18:00 to December 16th 23:59 Event viewing ticket: ¥2,000 (tax included) *Ticket are limited to FC members *The archived video will be available for viewing December 18th.

#kalafina #wakana #wakana blog #fan club exclusive content #botanical land #Wakana's Talk Garden #wakana on instagram #winter shark festival #winter shark festival vol 3 #yuuka nanri

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backup-baby-backup · 6 months

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Cruel Summer: the hit that was meant to be?

Pictured: dramatic reenactment of us waiting for Cruel Summer to be a single for 4 years.

Background

This summer is the apocalypse.

-- Lover Journal entry, dated 29 August 2016

We all know about the cruel summer in question, right? To be fair, technically the cruelty of the summer stemmed from "a desperate summer love that might be doomed from the start" and "some element of desperation and pain in it, where you’re yearning for something that you don’t quite have yet", and not whatever Kim Kardashian was doing on Twitter, but given how those two events occured basically simultaneously, it's not outrageous to claim both experiences informed each other.

In 2018, Taylor went on the Reputation Stadium Tour. Between shows, Taylor started working on Lover, getting into the studio with Joel Little, Frank Dukes and our favourite producer Jack Antonoff. For Cruel Summer, however, there was something special: Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, was a credited writer on the track.

St. Vincent had worked with Jack for her 2017 album Masseduction, so much like how Lana ended up in the studio with Taylor, we can safely assume that Jack brought the two together. On 6 June 2018, St. Vincent mentioned that she had reworked one of her songs from Masseduction, Slow Disco, into a poppier production with Taylor's support. With this in mind, we can probably assume that she had cross passed with Taylor around this time. Taylor was papped recording at Electric Lady (Jack's stomping grounds) on 18 July 2018, which lines up with this theory. [1]

The failed single push

I’m not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had, but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single.

-- Taylor Swift after performing Cruel Summer on tour in Pittsburgh, 17 June 2023

Cruel Summer had been a fan favourite from the get-go. When Taylor held listening parties for a select group of fans, it was the song that most people had positive feelings about. When Lover (the album) dropped in August 2019, it was the third most streamed track from the album, leapfrogging I Forgot That You Existed despite it being the second track. People started to lament the... poorly-received lead singles the album had. (I have nothing kind to say about those two tracks so I won't say anything.)

Then for a while, nothing happened. Taylor released Lover and The Man as singles to various degrees of success. The Man's disappointing (by her standards) chart run probably reignited discussion about how Cruel Summer would have smashed if it were only given a proper push and the GP had understood its talent. Then COVID came along, Lover Fest was delayed indefinitely, and it seemed that the Lover era was over, replaced by Taylor locking herself in with Joe Alwyn and drinking wine.

Then June 2020 came around, and...

Now how do we know that this is true? Apparently, Cruel Summer was added to AllAccess, a website where radio programmers download singles serviced to radio. While I can't verify this myself, I have seen numerous independent sources claim that Cruel Summer was uploaded to the site specifically on 17 June 2020. [2] Some radio website also ran with the story in early June, so I am inclined to believe this.

And it's not like there weren't any official hints...

Top to bottom: Spotify "enhanced album" promo mural, You Need To Calm Down music video, Amazon Music commercial, Lover music video [3]

The catch, however, is the Cruel Summer never got an official add date. An add date is "supposed to tell [radio] stations when to add a record to its playlist". Without an official add date, stations usually won't play your new song unless it's really hotly requested.

So the song didn't get a full label push and quickly died off, despite getting some radio play in 2020 (from anecdotal evidence), not appearing on the charts. And then in July folklore came out of the blue, and with it ended the Lover era, and seemingly all hopes for Cruel Summer world domination.

A music video?

While Taylor HQ is normally as hard to infiltrate as Fort Knox, over the years bits and pieces of information have leaked about her intentions for the rest of the Lover era. Chief among them was, apparently, to officially release Cruel Summer as a single to accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020. A music video was even filmed, before being scrapped when Taylor moved into the mythical forest of folklore.

-- Official Singles Chart (UK), 27 June 2023

Well, would Official Singles Chart lie? They do say "apparently" though, maybe to hedge their bets a little.

The problem with this claim, however, is the timeline. On 27 January 2020, Taylor released The Man as a single. She dropped the music video on Feburary 28th. Assuming a similar rollout for Cruel Summer, the music video would've come out in July. Given how the pandemic had basically put all possible filming activity to a standstill in March, it seems implausible that a music video would be filmed that early in advance, especially without knowing that the pandemic was on the horizon. Or maybe it was fully CGI and filmed in the luxury of her LA house, I don't know.

But I think there's a different catch here. Note how the above source claims that Cruel Summer would have been a single to "accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020", namely Lover Fest. According to the planned Lover Fest schedule, by the summer of 2020 she would be performing in Europe, including headlining Glastonbury.

Now consider Taylor's usual single rollout. Fearless, Sparks Fly, Red and New Romantics were all the last or second-last singles pushed from their respective albums, all of which got tour videos. [4] It seems that given how Cruel Summer would be the fifth single pushed according to the original plans, it most likely would've gotten the tour video treatment as well. Which makes sense: imagine a music video with her performing under broad daylight to huge crowds at festivals!

Cruel Summer 2: The Return of the Hit

With the advent of the pandemic something interesting happened: people started re-discovering old songs and making them into hits again. Catalogue streaming amounted to a whopping 70% of all streams in 2022. Running Up That Hill, a song from the 1980s, went viral again thanks to Stranger Things and this new ability that

Maybe it was because people wanted something familiar to go back to in a world where nothing was familiar anymore. Who knows. Many other music critics have written better articles about this phenomenon. What does matter, however, is that releasing singles from an album from years ago was now commercially viable. Sia, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd all did it to various degrees of success.

So when Cruel Summer, a song which had been among Taylor's most streamed songs for a while, acted as the tour opener on the Eras Tour [5], it would only further gain in popularity from then onwards, even re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 before it was even officially promoted to radio. And so her label moved to capitalize on this trend, and finally released Cruel Summer as a single on 20 June 2023, almost 3 years to the day after its original planned release date.

The million dollar question: would Cruel Summer have smashed if it was released as originally planned?

I'd say no. The general public had already moved on from Lover as the lacklustre The Man performance demonstrates. Besides, without the accumulation of popularity that Taylor had with folklore, evermore, the re-recordings, Midnights and the Eras Tour, who know where her career would've been?

(By the way, even if Cruel Summer had been the lead single there is absolutely no way it passes Old Town Road for #1.)

Timeline

Summer 2018: Cruel Summer is likely written around this time.

23 August 2019: Lover is released.

27 January 2020: The Man is released as a single.

27 February 2020: The Man music video is released.

5-12 March 2020: According to Steve from the IC, band rehearsals for Lover Fest took place during these days, with a whopping 32 songs.

19 March 2020: California enters lockdown due to COVID-19. Taylor was living in Los Angeles at this time.

17 April 2020: Lover Fest is officially delayed.

27 April 2020: Taylor writes cardigan, her first collaboration with Aaron Dessner and the beginning of the concept of folklore.

6 June 2020: Steve posts that cryptic message about folklore, signifying that the album was mostly complete by this time.

17 June 2020: Cruel Summer is uploaded to AllAccess, incidentally the same day as Steve teases cardigan.

20 June 2020: The European leg of Lover Fest would have begun on this day.

20 June 2023: Cruel Summer is officially released as a single.

23 October 2023: Cruel Summer hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Conclusion

Stream Cruel Summer.

[1] Cruel Summer is also the only Lover song to be registered on the US Copyright Office with a creation year of 2018, rather than 2019, suggesting that it was an early cut. (credit: @taylor-on-your-dash)

[2] Surprisingly, people have also claimed that I Did Something Bad was added to AllAccess in a similar fashion.

[3] That being said, if we take that hint in the Lover music video as hinting towards a Cruel Summer single push, this also means Afterglow was also meant to be a single...

[4] Do not quote me on this, Taylor herself didn't acknowledge that chorus of Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince either.

[5] Getaway Car should've been here...

#taylor swift #cruel summer #lover

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wamnak · 9 months

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Tonight’s selection…

John Coltrane “Giant Steps” 1960

Two of his albums for Atlantic Records, “Giant Steps” and “My Favorite Things”, were my introduction to John Coltrane in high school. I decided to give jazz a try and that was my first foray into the genre (along with a Ornette Coleman best of). Talk about jumping in the deep end before learning to swim! It didn’t really take on this 15 year old but I recognized the quality and hedged that I was going to love it when I was older. Sure enough, that day came sometime in my late thirties! Glad I kept at it. I don’t play Coltrane as often as I should these days due to the sheer volume of new (to me) music I’m discovering. It’s a music that transports you.

youtube

#john coltrane #giant steps #1960 #atlantic records #Spotify #my record collection #vinyl #records

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anqelblccm · 6 months

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⊹˳⁺ ⠀⠀⠀ YOU’RE WATCHING : WHO IS HERO? THE STORY OF BETRAYAL, FEATURING THE CULPRIT : PDX101 !

ib. : midnight theories on yt !

final word count : 1.4k

warning(s) : none as far as i know, but do lmk if you find some !

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ INTRO !

❝ everyone remembers the trainwreck of a survival show, aka the fourth and last season of the franchise, PRODUCE X 101. and just like that, everyone should know the story about the fan’s favourite, HERO, who reached far in the show and continues to do so as a re-branded soloist. you better buckle up and grab the popcorn because this will be a long story. ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ THE HISTORY OF PRODUCE 101 !

❝ for those kpop fans that haven’t heard about the PRODUCE 101 franchise ( which i’m still wondering because everyone knows about it at this point ), the franchise started back in 2016 as a female survival show, where one hundred and one female trainees ( hence the “one-oh-one” in the show’s name ) battled against each other for one of the eleven available spots in a girl group that would debut following the last episode of the show. the trainees would do challenges in each episode, showcasing their talents and abilities. by the end of each episode, a certain amount of trainees would pass into the next round, while others would simply be kicked out. terrible to be in that position of each episode, i know, but something about this show intrigued people. oh, and before i forget, the viewers get to decide which of the trainees would go forward in the show, despite it having judges for each aspect ( singing, rapping and dancing ), but before you gasp, remember that fact for later.

as the years went by, so did the show's seasons, up until 2019, when this video’s point begins too. for some reason, the fourth season was named PRODUCE X 101, and it was for the male trainees to compete against each other while the creators of it could sit back and watch it all go down. the show has many controversies, but for now, we’ll focus on only one, or at least try to.

the produce franchise was notorious for debuting strong project groups like I.O.I, WANNA ONE and IZ*ONE, so people expected the same for fourth season winners X1, only in their case, everything ended in shambles only a couple of months later. X1 was supposed to promote as a group for two and a half years just like the other three groups, yet they only managed to release one album ( the debut album ) called EMERGENCY: QUANTUM LEAP. debuting in august 2019, the group promoted the title track FLASH as much as possible, but with the allegations their creator show received, they disbanded the following year in january. what a kick to 2020, am i right? now i’m not saying it’s mnet’s fault, but i am one hundred per cent saying precisely that because in july of 2019 ( before x1 even had a chance to breathe as a group ), an investigation started due to suspicion of voting manipulations. ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ THE VOTING MANIPULATION SCANDAL(?) !

❝ remember when i said that you need to recall that everything was decided by the public? well, here’s where it all comes together. as mnet explained in the first season, everything was selected by the fans, from the ranks to the final lineup that would happily debut. turns out that mnet lied and wanted to change the trainees’ positions as they wished to, which was quite dumb of them because they couldn’t hide it well enough and outed themselves. of course, the culprits were arrested, but too late, in my opinion. after the scandal broke out, X1 could do nothing but ( not so ) silently disband, which angered fans because, unlike them, IZ*ONE continued promotions as if nothing had happened. if you asked me personally, it was fucked up from the company’s side to abandon X1 and only focus on their sister group, but that’s another story we’re not concentrating on right now.

i think i speak for everyone when i say that the fourth season was the last straw because it’s when the manipulated ranks started to show. just by releasing the total number of votes following the end of the final episode of PRODUCE X 101, fans began noticing inconsistencies for each trainee featured. every contestant's final vote was a multiple of 7,494.442, which, if divided by the remaining trainees, is impossible because of how similar the number was, and it didn’t mathematically vary from each contestant. it was on december 5th when it was confirmed that the votes for IZ*ONE and X1 ( and possibly I.O.I and WANNA ONE ) were manipulated, making this worse for the fans supporting them from the start.

to make things worse, november 18, 2020, was when the court released a list of trainees that were fucked up by the manipulations, our dear HERO being one of them. ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ WHO IS HERO AND WHY IS HE IMPORTANT ?

❝ so, after all, everyone must wonder WHO THE FUCK IS HERO, why and how is he included in this video. well, you will know if you wait just a few seconds.

HERO, full name KWON EUIWOONG, was one of the most known contestants of the PRODUCE 101 franchise. not much is known about his past; he did mention that he didn’t plan on becoming an idol at first but was later encouraged by his friend to try. his final rank was SEVEN in the last episode, and throughout the show, his levels were consistently high and never got under fifth place. need i remind you that EUIWOONG has been the fans’ favourite from the start due to his calm nature and talent in singing and dancing ( i would say in rapping, too, but he admitted he felt insecure in that aspect back then ). so imagine, to fans’ ��shock, when he was called onto the podium as the group's SEVENTH member instead of a higher number.

despite that, fans supported him along with the group, which some would say was a mistake due to the d-word ( disbandment ) of X1. like avatar aang, he vanished from the public and left everyone in shambles. he successfully avoided cameras and dispatch for a year and a few months, which didn’t go well on social media. back then, when his fans were unnamed ( now called ODDITIES ), they would boycott the company and demand to know what was going on with their idol. and as usual, boycotts never worked for companies like MIGHTY DEVIL and GLASSHOUSE; it went nowhere, and their questions weren’t answered. twitter almost went up in flames, and everyone was seen posting the same sentence over and over again: WHO KNEW THIS WOULD BE THE LAST TIME WE HEAR OF X1 AND HERO FOR A WHILE ( spoiler alert: everyone knew, they just didn’t want to admit it ).

when the list came out, fans could see KWON EUIWOONG being mentioned in it, showing that he was initially supposed to be in SECOND place and not SEVENTH like it was established in the end. pissed and thirsty for revenge, his fans refused to support their sister group, IZ*ONE and flooded the mnet’s comment section with negative words and threats. this, of course, went almost unnoticed by other fandoms, but it was mentioned a couple of times when talking about the whole shitshow.

i’m mentioning only HERO in this video because, unlike other trainees whose ranks went from low to high, EUIWOONG’s went the other way around, which is the first time that happened, from my knowledge. not only that, but everyone knew he was too good for SEVENTH place, with his talents and being named the ACE OF X1, but no one had proof of it until the ranks were released. ❞

𓂃 ⠀⠀⠀ WHERE IS HERO AND WHAT IS HE DOING NOW ?

❝ the hiatus and disappearance of HERO was hurtful to his fans and other idols. his previous members would say they missed him and wish to see him perform again, indicating he wasn’t interacting with them in private. for some time, i thought that was it for EUIWOONG’s career and was ready to give up when all of a sudden, it was like a blessing from the angels. the july of 2021 started terrifically for us because MIGHTY DEVIL finally had the balls to release the news about HERO.

you might be wondering how did the company announce his return? well, they technically didn’t; they released his debut single one day and went, ‘oh, here he is lol’. it’s badass, in my opinion, because there wasn’t any pity shown, just a short and straightforward debut single ( which received high praises and 30m views in the first twenty-four hours, might i add ), bringing attention to him and waking up his old fans.

i know that he just debuted ( again ), and i’m posting this way too early ( and on his birthday, happy birthday, hero! ), but i am sure that he will be okay and be able to showcase his abilities as best as he can. he’s still the ace, but this time not only of X1 but the whole industry, and he can only go up from here.

interested in his debut single? check it out in the description, and don’t forget to stream, support and love our hero as much as possible. ❞

#ficnetfairy #𓂃⊹˳⁺ ୭ study.#𓂃⊹˳⁺ ୭ extra.#kpop oc #kpop au #idol oc #fake kpop idol #fake kpop soloist #kpopfanfic #idolverse #oc soloist #fictional oc #fictional oc community

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day6source · 4 months

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“We’re back to our seats” DAY6, the first complete group concert in 4 years

by News Reporter Lee Min-ji All photos provided by JYP Entertainment

DAY6 successfully completed their first full-length solo concert in about 4 years. DAY6 held ‘DAY6 Christmas Special Concert ‘The Present: You are My Day’ for three days from December 22nd to 24th at Korea University’s Hwajeong Gymnasium in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. This performance is the first Christmas special concert in 4 years since 'Christmas Special Concert 'The Present'' in December 2019, and the first full-length concert since 'DAY6 WORLD TOUR 'GRAVITY'' in January 2020. Tickets for all sessions sold out quickly after general reservations opened, and additional seats were also sold out, attracting a total of 20,000 audiences over three days. On the 24th, the last day of the performance, an online paid live broadcast was simultaneously conducted through the Beyond LIVE platform. As it was the time to officially announce the end of their hiatus period after all of their members Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon were discharged from the military, DAY6 released more than 23 songs for My Day (fandom name), who had been waiting for a long time. They put their sincerity into each stage. The title track of their first full-length album, "SUNRISE," their title track, "I Smile," and their seventh mini album, "The Book of Us: Negentropy - Chaos Swallowed Up in Love," the title track of "You Make Me" and the track "Invincible (ONE)" opened in the dark, signaling a thrilling and touching return.

Sungjin said, "I've been waiting for a long time to perform on this stage. I named the performance to give the impression that it's a gift to you. I have a lot of emotions coming up from the beginning. I'll pour out everything today," adding to his excitement. They presented a variety of musical gifts, including "Zombie", "Love Me or Leave Me", as well as major group songs such as "days gone by," "You Were Beautiful," "Congratulations," and "I Like You." During the encore stage, they selected songs that added heat to their hearts, including "Best Part," "Time of Our Life," "DANCE DANCE," and "Freely." All of the members went around the audience to make eye contact with fans and keep each other warm during the winter. In order to give precious memories to the audience, DAY6 put all their efforts into every element of the performance. In keeping with the saying "Trust and listen in DAY6," the members showed off their solid vocals and musical instruments that did not feel any gaps in the hiatus period. They sang the parts that fans wanted to hear again, building up their emotions, and Dowoon also performed a surprise bit at the ending part of "Zombie." The members filled the concert hall with happy laughter, exuding wit and chemistry with a small choreography prepared by each other, as well as a specially prepared Manitou Mission and entertainment charging game video before the encore stage. For the first time in about four years, Day6 and My Day completed a concert together. In response to Wonpil's words, "A DAY6 concert is a stage until the end of the auditorium, so we need your voice," the audience harmonized with DAY6 by singing in unison, cheering, and shouting to the members' accompaniment. Young K extended his hand towards the fans and became a microphone stand, and Dowoon showed his happy heart by giving a thumbs up and saying, "It's My Day to trust and listen to." In particular, the members' stage naturally began following My Day's unison singing of 'Only' and 'You Were Beautiful', adding a lingering feeling to the 'Gift Con' with their fantastic partners 'My Day Six'. DAY6 shed tears of joy in front of their precious My Day after a long wait. Sungjin said, "I missed this moment so much. I had a lot of worries about whether I would be able to do well in this performance, but the moment I saw My Day, it all disappeared and everything became possible. That's how much I missed you, and now that we are together, every moment we will be happy. You've waited for four years, and let's have fun together,” he said, talking about a bright future. Young K said, "I wanted to show you the best of me, 'DAY6 is back.' I'm glad that you had fun. What's more fortunate is that we have a lot to show you. I'm excited that we'll have so much to do on stage as well as music. Thank you for being with us so far, and let's be happy from now on." Wonpil said, "I feel the happiest and most overwhelmed when I do DAY6 concert. I think the best thing I can do for you who have waited is to approach with good music and performances. I will continue to show great performances. Our youth starts again from now on and DAY6 will continue in the future," he said. "I always think, 'I have to become a better person' while watching My Day. I'll do my best, so please keep an eye on me. I'll make good three happy days and work hard for the next happy time. Our lives are so happy to meet you, and that happiness is ongoing." The scene was filled with smiles until the last moment when the happy reunion performance came to an end, and the concluding words, “Thank you for being with us,” remained in My Day’s hearts as a signal of a new starting point, a new page of youth that DAY6 will write in the future. It made me look forward to it.

#day6 #the present : you are my day #[normally dont post articles but wanted to upload the pics and felt bad not including it so skldgjlskd a write up of the concerts!!]

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jortschronicles · 8 months

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The Malevolent Sheep

Embroidered Livestock Who Hate Everyone, But Me Most of All For Bringing Them Into This World

By Doña Ashildr inn Harfagri, 2023

Presented at Castellan

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is not to document a perfect and period reproduction, but to document my thought process and learning process as I attempt to add to an impression of a 14th century English peasant designed for the casual eye.

I play an English shepherdess in 1360 in the fictional town of Avalon for the Medieval Fair of Norman. Due to the timing of this event, weather can be unpredictable, and occasionally very cold and wet. I am in possession of a wool hood from Hobbitronics featuring the crossed trumpets badge of heralds. While this is a delightful hood and definitely one of my warmest pieces, the costuming director and myself have determined the crossed trumpets are not appropriate for the character of Margery Arkewright and more importantly, do not add to the air of perceived authenticity for the visiting patrons. An important note is that certain concessions of historicity are made in order to create a more coherent and easily understandable experience for the patrons of the fair. For example, we restrict all uses of true (not rusty) red to the King and his immediate family to add visual cohesion and allow patrons to more easily identify King Edward III, Queen Philippa, their children, and their children’s spouses.

With that in mind, I began to research decorative motifs and patterns appropriate to the time. Two documents referenced early on were The Luttrell Psalter (approx 1320-1340) and the

Belleville Breviary, a prayer book owned by Captain Jeanne de Clisson, Lioness of Brittany. The latter was particularly intriguing as an inspiration, as the Captain is portrayed as a cast member though she had died in 1359. However, both of these resources are ink on parchment, rather than decoration on fabric. Lady Asa in Blindi pointed out that though aesthetics may be similar, motifs likely differ.

Thus, the Bayeux Tapestry was chosen for inspiration. Though the date of the Tapestry’s completion is murky with the earliest written reference to it dating to a 1476 inventory of the Bayeux Cathedral, it was likely completed in the 11th century, three centuries prior to the date of the Norman Medieval Fair. However, the popularity of the Bayeux Tapestry in online meme culture with an apparent peak around 2018 (Know Your Meme) in conjunction with the popularity of “bardcore” remixes of popular modern songs starting around 2020 with album art featuring images from the Bayeux Tapestry is hoped to have made the imagery of the tapestry more familiar to the average person. For this reason, even though the tapestry predates the target period by approximately three centuries, the design was based on that of the tapestry.

The sheep were designed to mimic the style of animals portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry and other contemporary pieces, particularly with the near-heraldic postures in what should otherwise be normal scenes.

Below the sheep is a straight line and added grass hillocks inspired by Scene 51, as seen below. Above the sheep is another decorative strip, with a straight line in the same color again, above which there are two pairs of diagonal bars leaning towards each other as seen in Scene 35 (also below) of the tapestry. On either side of these diagonal bars are the 10 point mullets of Ansteorra and between them are two bendwise, stylized shepherds crooks leaning towards each other. Though there is no evidence in the tapestry of either mullets of 5 lesser and 5 greater points or shepherds crooks, they were selected for recognizability and for keeping in theme. Margery Arkewright is recognizable as “The Sheep Lady” of the Fair, so the shepherds crooks were chosen.

The sheep have been lovingly nicknamed “Bonald the Devourer” (left) and “John Wick” (right) through the course of the design.

Materials

Approx 11”x9” dark brown linen, pre washed

J&P Coats cotton embroidery floss, various colors

Chalk Pencil

Concessions of authenticity in materials are made due to supply availability and cost restrictions. I frankly do not have the money to make and dye embroidery floss, yarn, or linen fabric for an experimental piece I expect to see a lot of wear. The actual Bayeux Tapestry is embroidered onto a base fabric of a tabby-woven linen that appears to be undyed, and is embroidered with wool yarn dyed in various colors. In my Bayeux Tapestry themed patch for this hood, I used a commercially dyed brown linen in a tabby weave, and performed the embroidery with embroidery floss also in various commercially dyed colors.

Methods

First the design was sketched out on scratch paper. The fabric then selected was a scrap of dark brown linen. This was chosen because in part earth tones read to the casual audience as “medieval,” “rustic,” and “peasant,” and because in the target decade green and brown were taking off as the most fashionable colors a person could wear. Rather than using modern pattern transfer methods, the design was transferred to the fabric by gridding, using a piece of string as the straight edge and measure. The sheep are outlined in stem stitch as are most of the figures in the tapestry, though they are embroidered in black for visibility on the dark brown fabric.

Then the laid stitch found throughout the tapestry was first tested on the head of Bonald (left sheep) before being applied to the rest of the body. The laid stitch consists of first setting down satin stitch across an area, then applying slightly more spaced out stitches covering the full length of the area perpendicular to the satin stitches, which are then tacked down as seen below. After first application, I compared again to the laid work of the tapestry and added several more columns to better reflect the density seen in the Bayeux Tapestry. The same direction was maintained for the satin stitch across almost the entire body of this sheep aside from the tail, belly tufts, and ears. On the next sheep I experimented with a little more directionality and texture which is also found in the tapestry, which prevented me from having to make a single satin stitch cover quite as much area. Upon trying both methods, I can see the appeal of the variety of directions reducing the overall length of any one satin stitch, which can become unwieldy and tangle or pull the piece taut.

On the horns of each sheep, I experimented using surface couching, which was used in the 14th century. I chose to do this because at first pass, surface couching and laid work appear very similar, and at least to have similar results. At this time, I had finished the first sheep and not started the body on the second, so I was dissatisfied with the density of stitches in the white body of the sheep and was investigating new ways to increase my coverage. Upon finishing the horns, I determined that surface couching produces a very different overall effect to laid work, with denser stitches, but a much less economical use of thread.

After the horns and bodies were done, I added detail to the sheep in stem stitch to better define the fluffy wool. The folds in the fabric on several figures in the tapestry were done in what appears to be stem stitch and act as break points in many cases for the direction of the laid work. Due to the clarity of the folds and details, I had assumed they were applied after the fill color, but after having finished my piece I believe the internal details were applied prior to the fill color.

Following the completion of the sheep, I began embroidering the borders of the top section, the bottom line, and the borders of the diagonals in a soft orange color that reminded me of madder-dyed wool. This also seemed a close match to the color used on said borders in various sections of the tapestry. It was when I started working on the diagonals that I realized I was not, in fact, sewing a stem stitch as I’d thought, but sewing a split stitch. This realization explained several discrepancies I’d noticed in the visual texture of my linework and the linework in the tapestry. The diagonals are sewn in a stem stitch.

The next stage I sewed was the Ansteorran stars, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. As my chalk lines kept rubbing off before I could get to the stars, I free handed the stars themselves. The first attempt to outline then fill the star like the sheep went sideways as the star did not come out with 5 even points. I eventually settled on sewing the 5 greater points with laid work and the 5 lesser points with satin stitch.

What would I change?

If I were to do this again, I would seek out a more densely woven linen and use either wool yarn as was used in the tapestry itself or the full 6 strands of my embroidery floss for visual density. I believe the fullness and volume of wool yarn will better mimic the appearance of the period piece. I would add more internal detail to break up the longer sections of satin stitch, and I would lay down the detail before adding the fill color. This seems to be the method used in the tapestry, shown in the detail from Scene 51 below.

In the transition from the neck to the spaces of the neck between sections of mane, and in the crook of the horse’s shoulder, the direction and angles of the laid work change. This seems to indicate that the internal detail (horse’s shoulder) was applied before the fill color, and that the particular direction of the laid work can be broken up to better fill a space.

Overall, I believe this project was a success. The goal was not perfect periodicity or reproduction, but to better make a useful piece of garb fit the ambiance designed for the casual (non-medievalist) patron. The patch covers the obtrusively modern machine embroidery and in doing so, helps create the Magic and the Dream for those visiting the Medieval Fair of Norman. I learned a new stitch that I have gone on to use in other hand embroidery projects for the security and economy of materials. I made several mistakes that gave me a better firsthand understanding of this historical piece and have improved and expanded my embroidery skills.

Navigate Bayeux Tapestry scene by scene https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/the-bayeux-tapestry/discover-the-bayeux-tapestry/explore-online/

Bayeux Tapestry Meme Generator https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/

Bardcore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardcore

Hobbitronics Hood Listing - https://www.hobbitronics.com/hoods.html

Referenced https://cottesimple.com/articles/medieval-embroidery-on-clothing/ for stitching methods

History of Medieval Tapestry Memes https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/medieval-tapestry-edits

Appendix

#sca #a&s #arts & sciences #society for creative anachronism #submitted A&S entry #A&S paper

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for-yoongi0309 · 10 months

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SUGA | Agust D ‘D-DAY’ world tour report

A liberation journal of SUGA, Agust D, and Min Yoongi

SUGA became the first in BTS to go on a solo world tour with “SUGA | Agust D TOUR D-DAY” (We will refer to it as “D-DAY” from now on). Just as the title suggests, the tour showcases the Agust D Trilogy, consisting of Agust D (2016), D-2 (2020), and D-Day released in April this year. The concerts serve as a record of SUGA’s life over the past seven years or more. It is a page that transparently reveals his current self and also “a very honest performance” according to his words. With only the encore shows remaining, we have drawn up a “D-DAY” tour report including detailed behind-the-scenes and comments from SUGA about how he put his concert together.

SUGA kicked off his tour with a two-day concerts in New York on April 26 and 27. He successfully completed 11 shows in 5 cities across North America before returning to Asia to hold 12 more shows in Jakarta, Kanagawa, Bangkok, and Singapore. The tour concluded with two shows in Seoul June 24 and 25, successfully completing a total of 25 shows in 10 cities. Despite the tight schedule involving flying between multiple cities in a short span of time, SUGA added an additional show in both Bangkok and Singapore, managing to perform three shows per week in each of his tour stops in Asia. About the demanding schedule of touring ten different cities in a limited time, BIGHIT MUSIC’s head of Performance Directing Team 1 Lee Byung Eun, who directed the show’s performance and choreography, said that it reflected “almost 90% of [SUGA’S] will” to “continue on with the flow.” The tour holds significance as it marks SUGA’s return to arena-sized venues after a long period of performing in stadiums as a BTS member. Ha Jung Jae, Lead Professional at the HYBE 360 Concert Production 1 Studio, the group that directed the concert, said the main advantage of performing in an arena is being able to get closer to the audience, adding that, “indoor arenas with a ceiling allowed for a different type of performance (compared to previous BTS performances). “The arenas I’ve visited during the tour are places I’d been to at least once before, so it brings back a lot of memories.” says SUGA, adding, “I felt a strong sense of how well we’ve been doing for a long time”. The grand finale of this long journey will be the encore shows scheduled for August 4-6 at Seoul’s KSPO Dome.

“Through this performance, SUGA aims to eliminate all the different personas that exist in the world he created and be reborn. In that sense, “D-DAY” can be interpreted as the end of everything, or the beginning, like a birthday”. According to Ha Jung Jae, “D-DAY” is where “the end and the beginning coexist”. The second VCR “Kill Them All” scenes depict the intertwined relationships between SUGA, Agust D, and Min Yoongi, leading to their killing each other, symbolizing the end of the “Agust D Trilogy”. On the other hand, in the “Thanks to” letter section of the album D-DAY, SUGA writes, “The intense struggles I had in my head had no clear answers, and after a long time, I am reborn as the present me, on that D-DAY.” This is why Ha Jung Jae named the last VCR “Re Born” and strategically placed “D-Day” as the next song.

“I wanted to make a two-hour show that flowed organically from start to finish like a single, cohesive entity,” says SUGA. Ha Jung Jae says he put in efforts to select only the “absolutely necessary songs” and arrange them densely together in the setlist. BIGHIT MUSIC’s A&R 1 Team Leader Shin Daye, who planned the arrangement direction of the setlist, explains “although it was his first solo concert, he had enough repertoire to perform because he had already released three albums,” adding that the arrangement was directed to “make all songs flow organically” following the dramatic development. Ha Jung Jae said that the setlist composition from “Haegeum” to “The Last” represents a process of reaching from D-100(%) to D-0(DAY), explaining that “if the opening act is at 100%, as in it is perfectly produced, things get closer to “zero (O)” towards the end of the show.” According to Lee Byung Eun, this is why spectacular and eye-catching performances like “Daechwita” are placed at the beginning of the show, “to keep the tension as high as possible without giving the audience a break.” As the performance heats up with the second VCR “Kill Them All” and “after the stage created for the show and the many personas that SUGA had created in the past all burn down,” the flow transitions into the one that showcases his voice and determination. After performing “AMYGDALA”, the last song before the encore, SUGA collapses on stage and is carried away by his dancers. According to Ha Jung Jae, this signifies being reborn after erasing everything and dying, with the last VCR “Re Born” as the turning point. This is also the reason why the following encore performance, consisting of “D-Day”, “INTRO : Never Mind”, and “The Last”, primarily feature songs where the reborn SUGA “can share his personal stories of what’s on his mind with just a microphone”.

“Whether it’s SUGA, Agust D, or Min Yoongi, I think this performance embodies the essence of who I am as a person.” SUGA refers to the show as “the integration of all the data I’ve accumulated since I first stepped on the stage 15-16 years ago.” Considering that Agust D’s music is based on documentation of SUGA’s personal life, the show had to start out from the “person” SUGA is. “While preparing for the concert, I had many conversations with SUGA. It was a process of synchronizing myself to SUGA as a person. We talked about past memories, current thoughts, and the future.” says Ha Jung Jae. According to Lee Byung Eun,“It was impossible for the stage setting, production, and direction to move separately” and that is why the entire staff, including SUGA, “had to work together from the very beginning.” Before the first song “Haegeum” starts, SUGA is supported by the dancers as he ascends to the stage, and after “AMYGDALA”, he collapses and is carried offstage

According to Ha Jung Jae, “It all started with wanting to break the mold.” The tour itself was a process of constantly breaking the mold. Ha Jung Jae explained the intention behind the stage production, stating, “In BTS concerts, there is an unspoken rule that the stage should have a 17-meter-wide and 10-meter-long space to accommodate a minimum of seven members and 20 dancers. So this time, we thought we’d eliminate the performance area required for synchronized choreography.” Starting with “give it to me”, a portion of the stage panels becomes entangled with wires and begins to ascend to the ceiling, and as the show progresses, more panels disappear. By the end of the show, there is only enough space for SUGA to stand still. Lee Byung Eun says, “Limitations in using the stage space made the performance design not very easy, but I saw the space under the stage as available, considering that the audience had a 360-degree view.” That is why during “Interlude : Shadow”, the dancers use the floor beneath the stage to perform and create a mirage-like backdrop around SUGA during “People Pt.2 (feat. IU).” All of this is part of the journey toward liberation. When asked about his intention of designing the stage in a way that exposes its rustic steel structure that gives an impression of being built crudely without a graceful or flashy appearance, Ha Jung Jae said, “I wanted to build a conceptually driven stage, a stage born out of necessity. By the time the show reaches near the end, I wanted everything to be destroyed, burned, erased, and reduced to the primordial stage of “zero (O).” He also explained that the staff’s action of seemingly dismantling the stage as “The Last” performance comes to an end is intended to make the audience perceive the stage devices as “unnatural, created elements” and convey the desire to “eliminate everything unnatural.”

“A production trying to break with the past”, as Lee Byung Eun says, is a reflection of the intention of SUGA’s voluntary elimination and liberation of all the personas created by SUGA himself. This is why Ha Jung Jae compares the storytelling of the VCRs where SUGA’s many personas kill each other to a potter “repeating the process of making and breaking the pottery.” For example, the hand with chains in the visual playing behind SUGA during “give it to me” belongs to the 3D-modeled SUGA that appears on the screen during “Agust D,” implying that another SUGA is watching over the performing SUGA from outside the stage. This is to convey the message that everything offstage and onstage are done by SUGA himself. As for SUGA’s calm exit without any ending remarks or farewells immediately after performing “The Last”, Ha Jung Jae says, “the moment the song ends, we cut off everything even before SUGA exits the stage. So, there’s no background music, and lights are turned on immediately, cutting off any lingering emotions from the performance. And as SUGA turns around and walks away at that moment, those three seconds show the real SUGA. We wanted the audience, staff, and SUGA to just be themselves for that fleeting moment.” The “fleeting moment”, as described by Ha Jung Jae, seems to embody the liberation from the obligation to show and convey something in a performance. By the end of the performance, which shows SUGA’s present self through the beauty of empty space, SUGA finally reaches a moment of liberation where he breaks free from the names he has created in the past and is reborn. “Through this ‘D-DAY’ tour, I was able to release my pent-up passion and love for performing, which have been suppressed during the three years of the pandemic. And I feel that this tour itself is a ritual and act of forgiving all my past selves.”

“Bringing back the music from seven years ago and performing it on stage again was made possible thanks to the love and support from so many people who have been waiting for me. It’s all because of them.” As SUGA says, the songs in the setlist “Agust D”, “give it to me”, and “The Last” are from his 2016 mixtape Agust D and they were given a new life through the tour. “This tour has been a long time in the making, so all I could think about was how much I wanted to actually start the tour,” said SUGA, recalling his anticipation before his first show in New York. “It’s been so long since the last tour. One reason I started a music career was because I loved performing on stage. So, I wanted to put the stage before anything else,” says SUGA on why he chose a tour as the main promotion for his new album, D-DAY.

For “Life Goes On”, SUGA plays the “brown piano” with a calm expression and sings, “Fortunately, our relationship hasn't changed all along / Let's greet each other, not with a bye, but hello.” The “D-DAY” tour is the moment of SUGA’s reunion with ARMY that he longed for in BTS’ “Life Goes On” and Agust D’s “Life Goes On.” “People who love his music still came to see him even though it’d been a long time since SUGA had performed there last time. It was sort of proof that ARMY was alive and well,” said Ha Jung Jae, recalling the atmosphere of Jakarta. “Thinking how much fans must have wanted to see me perform, I wanted to show them everything they wanted to see,” said SUGA. He tirelessly moved around the stage, interacting with the ARMY, and played the guitar signed by BTS members while singing “Trivia 轉 : Seesaw.”. “I wanted to show how much I’ve transformed over the last three years”, says SUGA, by playing “the guitar I took up during the pandemic.”

SUGA talked about the joy of “having a strong connection with the audience during a performance.” “During this tour, I realized that the audience should always have fun and enjoy themselves. And for that, I have to do my best on stage.” Lee Byung Eun says that it was “a performance that both the audience and SUGA enjoyed,” noting that he could sense SUGA’s happiness, joy, and freedom even from below the stage. “Before the show, we had concerns about performing tracks from Agust D that contain personal stories and unfiltered expressions. But after seeing the audience from different countries and regions enjoying the performance in their own way, I realized that more than half of the show is created by the audience.” As Shin Daye says, during the show, SUGA sings the music of Agust D, an alter-ego he created to express his inner anxiety and anger, but with a smile and together with the audience. He passionately sings songs that contain his extremely personal stories throughout the two hours, yet there is no longer a sense of sadness or anger in his demeanor. Today’s SUGA taps lightly on his shoulder, sings, “my shoulder shattered thanks to the accident I met during my part-time job as a delivery guy” (“The Last”) and casually walks out of the stage as if nothing has happened. When asked in Suchwita about which part of his life “D-DAY” represents, SUGA replied, “I think it’s about now.” His subsequent comments about his current state of mind suggest that the “D-DAY” world tour is perhaps the clearest representation of SUGA’s “now.” “I feel more content and carefree than ever before. I’m just so happy to be able to relax and have fun during the show as if I’m going to hang out and have fun with the audience.”

To ARMY for coming to the concert SUGA: In many ways, I’m glad I decided to do this tour. I remember every moment vividly. I always try to remember every single moment when I perform, but this time, in particular, no matter which city or country I visited, the audience was so welcoming and greeted me with loud cheers. I tried my best to match that energy. Whenever the instrumental for “Haegeum” comes on and the band starts to play, and the audience screams, I get so much energy to sing that I feel like I’m almost a new person. I think that’s why every moment stands out in memory. Thank you so much for your love and support for the tour. I felt and learned a lot through this tour. I can’t wait to go on a tour again with all seven of us. Maybe if I just close my eyes and open them, the seven of us will be on tour together. (laughs) Please wait a little bit, holding on to the good memories and positive feelings from this tour. I would appreciate it.

Article. Song Hooryeong

Design. paperpress.kr

Visual Director. Jeon Yurim

#ultkpopnetwork #mgroupsedit #idolsincedits #maleidolsedit #yoongi #suga #min yoongi #bangtan #bts #i. weverse magazine interview

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