The New Cue #357 February 12:
Everything Everything's Jonathan Higgs
"We were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now"
At the beginning of next month, Everything Everything release their seventh record Mountainhead. It’s another brilliant album from one of the UK’s most imaginative and forward-thinking guitar bands, a quartet who never tread water and have been consistently honing, reworking and outdoing what’s gone before for over 15 years, always coming up with a new version of themselves without ever losing what makes them special. The pillars of their music tend to be a mix of danceable synth-y grooves and inventive art-rock, intricate arrangements constructed around big pop hooks and surrealist lyrics, frontman Jonathan Higgs’ vocal delivery emotive and exuberant at the same time.
Higgs is at the centre of it all, a creative dynamo who seems to sum up their idiosyncratic approach and who has the ability to inject emotion into the bizarrest lyrics, lines such as:
“And no reptiles! Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties,
Waiting for the flashing green man
Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know”
That one is taken from Get To Heaven’s epic standout No Reptiles.
Or this, which somehow sounds poignant when Higgs sings it on the electro-pop banger Arch Enemy:
“Fatberg you smile, with your grave wax eyes, will you consume me?”
Or how about this oddball corker, from the euphoric electronica of Raw Data Feel closer Software Greatman?
“Maybe I see Klingons on the starboard bow
Maybe, I’m a cat inside a sacred cow
Higgs is at it again with this zinger from their excellent recent single Cold Reactor:
“I sent you the image of a yellow face
To tell you I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me”
That song, released in autumn last year as the first single from Mountainhead, has become Everything Everything’s biggest radio hit yet. It’s spent weeks on the Radio 1 B-list, a very uncommon position for an indie band whose members are all in their late 30s, but its success that sums up the vibrancy and relevance of Everything Everything in 2024. Even better, it probably meant Radio 1 have had to get their heads around this blurb from Higgs on what the new record Mountainhead is about:
“In another world, society has built an immense mountain. To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A ‘Mountainhead’ is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit. The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole.”
Well, you don’t get that with Catfish And The Bottlemen. A few weeks ago Niall – that is me, I am The New Cue’s resident Everything Everything nut in case you hadn’t guessed – spoke to Jonathan over Zoom about the mad concept around the new record, the dynamics of being in a band in 2024, his favourite Liam Gallagher tweet and more. I’ve made this playlist of my favourite Everything Everything songs to listen whilst you read,
Hello Jonathan. I love the new record, it feels different to Raw Data Feel, a bit looser…
Yeah, it’s got a lot more freedom and it sounds more like a band playing a lot of the time rather than the rigid, more computerised stuff that we were doing before. We made an effort to make it feel a bit more real and laid back.
Was there much overlap?
No, partly because we put everything we made for Raw Data Feel on that record, we didn’t leave anything in the banks. We did the opposite with this, we actually went back and looked at some old demos and brought them back to life because we were looking for some kind of angle that we weren’t going to stumble across, we wanted to go back to our youngest selves and go, ‘What was that thing we were doing?’.
That’s interesting, how far back did you go?
I think it’s sessions for A Fever Dream, or it might be Re-Animator, so five or six years ago. Some of the songs on this are from that time, or at least elements of them are or a little demo was made and then thrown away and then we went back and said ‘Let’s explore this and breathe new life into it.’
When you’re seven records in and you start to look back like that, does it feel like different versions of the band?
Yeah, definitely. There’s definitely been eras, we’ve never got stuck in one way of doing things. There’s an evolution, for good or for ill, since our first songs to now. I can find myself very quickly thinking in those terms when I hear a song from then, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was trying to do this’ and that stuff changes over time and I’m glad it does because otherwise, you just make the same record again and again and no-one wants that.
Yeah. Without naming any names, for some bands it ends up becoming a process of survival and maintenance.
Yeah, thankfully, we’re not in that position. I know what you mean, this idea of being a nostalgia act does not appeal very much, partly because we were at our peak three albums in so we can go back and feast on Get To Heaven-era but I have no interest in going back to Man Alive and trying to recreate that partly because we were weirdos then and we’re weirdos now, it wasn’t the glory days by any means. I’m immensely proud of what we did back then but I’m not going to try and retread it. This is an odd thing to say having just said that I went back to some old demos and put them on our new record, but those demos were rejected for reasons that I find interesting now. And I don’t feel that we need to play the games we were playing them because we’re so good at writing successfully now, I think.
Something like Cold Reactor, I didn’t labour over it and I knew as soon as it was done, it was great and I knew that would that would carry us through. It allows you to feel a bit more relaxed about creativity rather than ‘Must get that radio single or we’re doomed!’, which obviously is the burning hot coal under our butts most of the time because it’s easy to take that stuff for granted, popular songs, but you’ve got to actually write them and they’ve got to actually be popular otherwise no-one cares. Basically, every album usually comes down to one, two or three songs and if none of them have any interest, then people just go, ‘Did an album even come out?’.
Cold Reactor is a good example of the band right now, it seems to sum up all that’s great about Everything Everything and it’s become this mad radio hit.
I know! We’ve watched a lot of friends’ bands struggle in this period we’ve had, 15 years now. There is a tendency to rest on your laurels or try and repeat the thing and it’s very difficult to not do that. Sometimes, I’ve done it myself when I’ve sat down and written a song and then I get to the end of it, I go, ‘Well, we did that better with X song on Arc’ and it’s like, ‘I could do this and our fans will really like it because it sounds just like us, it sounds just like Arc’ and then we’re like ‘No, into the bin with you, let’s try and take that same sensation but do something new with it’. That often comes down to the production. I think if you were to strip all of our songs of their production, then you could probably find something I’ve written now very similar to something I’ve written.
There’s a simplicity to a lot of the songs on the new album, nothing is overloaded and it makes the more outlandish stuff more potent.
That’s been a big thing to learn over our careers. You’ve got the ability to do outlandish stuff, and you’ve got these players who can play really well but that isn’t enough to just present all of those things at once and expect people to go, ‘Wow!’. Some of them will, and that’s how we made our name, the prog dads, as we used to call them, that came to our shows in the very early days and just stand there and go, ‘yes, this sounds like Yes!’, and that’s fine. But that I felt like it wasn’t really a challenge. It felt like being a music student still, trying to dazzle each other with complexity and emotion slowly rose through all that and they all just fell away. I was like, ‘No, that is the hardest thing to communicate’ and that’s the challenge. That’s what the greats do is, they get your emotions and you can’t manufacture that and you certainly can’t bamboozle that into people, you have to start with a strong, simple, true, or as close to true as you can manage, emotion and then you can start having fun with it. I think that’s the thing that took us the longest to learn.
Everything Everything’s work has grown more emotional with every record. You’ve got these big concepts around them but that disguises the fact they feel a bit more personal and vulnerable each time…
I think that’s what happens to humans. Twenty-three-year-olds are a strange breed to look to for sustenance when it comes to art, there’s a rawness to being that age, it’s an age of discovery. And that stuff is very exciting but there’s no real reason why someone older would create like that or go to that well, it actually gets quite sad when people try to go to that well. Now I’m older and I’m more of an emotional person and I’m less about fireworks and more about volcanoes! I don’t know how to put it, there’s something much deeper now when I create than when I was a young punk.
On that note, rather than me crowbar into an incredibly long question, why don’t you sum up the concept of Mountainhead?
It’s extremely simple, a one metaphor fits all type-deal. I knew I wanted to sing about capitalism but not put too fine a point on it. I mean, it’s not a very subtle metaphor. But I knew there were certain elements of it that I wanted to get across, namely the Sisyphean sort of feeling of it being pointless and also, the fact that there’s this trade-off between building the mountain but having to live in the dark, which was a big touchstone for me when I read Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, this sense that our lives are getting worse in some ways, that the more we progress we’re becoming more isolated and we’re shutting off large parts of our humanity in the search for this goal of ever expanding and growing our economy and trying to climb the ladder. It’s simple enough that you can���t really fault it, I’m not saying this is exactly how we live, there’s not enough to it for it to fail. It’s something everyone gets straight away.
A lot of the lyrics touch on that theme but which of the songs is the most personal to you that veer away from the concept?
Probably The Witness, that’s definitely not really related to the concept. That’s pretty personal. There’s a line in there about this… I shot this bird with an air rifle when I was a kid. I walked into the shed and I saw it, this cute little chaffinch or whatever and it just sat there looking at me and then I picked up the air rifle, I knew where it was and I killed it.
You bastard!
I know, I’m telling you this now cos I felt bad, I’m not saying it was a good thing! For some reason that came back to me. During the very early sessions on the album, we’d all gone away somewhere and when we got back, Alex went up to his studio at the top of his house and a pigeon had got into the room and thrashed and thrashed to get back out for four days, there’s like blood all over, feathers everywhere. I was like, ‘Guys, this is a sign… we’re gonna call it The Pigeon!’. Obviously we didn’t but birds do get into it - Canary obviously is a song there - and this thing about that bird and it flew into my head. That’s very personal. But then the rest of the song is about some fucked up stuff that happened to me in the pandemic that haven’t properly been able to talk about in these situations because it’s a bit too personal, basically. A lot of Raw Data Feel was about trying to deal with that as well. I should’ve called it Raw Data Deal. That’s the only moment I’ve given over to that thing on this newest album, the last song. I haven’t actually been able to listen back to it because it makes me too emotional when I think about what it’s really about. But that’s not for public consumption, it’s not needed.
Fair enough. Tell me about the dynamic between the four of you, because that seems like a really important point in your longevity. Apart from a very early line-up change, it’s been the four of you the whole way.
Yeah, it’s great. We’ve settled into our roles over the last 15 years. Alex [Robertshaw, guitarist and keyboards] is very much the producer now and by way of that, he’s ended up writing a lot of the guitar and keyboard parts, which I would usually write more of in the past. I’ve become completely consumed by the emotion of getting the message across in the lyrics and stuff like that, as well as obviously writing songs. But in terms of how they sound, I’m less and less involved or concerned, that’s Alex’s playground more. Mike [Spearman, drummer] and Jez [Pritchard, bass] are very good at taste-making. Me and Alex do 98% of the composition and then those guys are much more like, ‘Well, I feel like this is a good way for us to go or this is better than this one,’ things you can’t really tell when you’re the creator and you think everything’s great. They’re also really good at the whole business side of the band, which is the less romantic end but incredibly important. So talking to accountants and they’re having meetings with the labels and Mike’s producing the videos, getting organised, all the stuff that me and Alex being “the creatives” are terrible at because we have the luxury of being terrible at them. Those guys fill in the gaps and they’re really, really good at that. Jez is really good at meeting people and all that kind of shit, so it works really well. You’ve got at least one person covering every possible angle. I’m doing a lot of the visual stuff now. I’m designing a lot of the visual side of the band, basically most things that we’re tweeting or videos is all being done by me. As a unit we could basically do this by ourselves... if someone gave us loads of money, which is how we operate.
My last question is a random one but it’s been on my mind. On Christmas Day, you dug up a four-year-old Liam Gallagher tweet where he called the producer Dave Sardy “Dave Sardine”, and I wanted to know how your Christmas Day mind had been drawn back to that.
Haha! Well, when it happened someone tweeted it to me and I thought was funny and I retweeted then. Then recently, I remembered it and I went to see if it was still there. It was and I was like, ‘I’m gonna save that for Christmas Day’ - it wasn’t related to what I was up to. It’s just like, right, ‘Christmas Day, time to tweet my favourite tweet’. It will always be my favourite tweet because it’s how angry he is about Dave Sardine. It’s so good.
The full article is available on substack.
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changes i liked and disliked in the rwrb movie 📨
ohmygod. i'm finally gonna talk about this movie, aren't i? i've held myself off from making original creations like video or photo edits for this piece of media, and i still am, because i feel like if i start making one i won't stop, but i think a textpost can be an exception because i've made tweets and threads about it on twitter already.
anyway, i just wanted to rattle off on these since these opinions have been simmering up on me since the movie first came out. lol i watched it 15 hours later on a whim with bar-in-hell expectations. karma got to me, because i ended up getting brainrot over it.
this is a long overdue post.
the aging up is both a yes and a no for me. a yes because i have previously never been opposed to aging up YA characters (technicaly rwrb is more new adult that young adult but whatever, it's teetering) like shadowhunters, and matthew does a great job of justifying this choice: grounding their romance into a more mature and real love. it's not to say that young love isn't valid or real enough, but the decision to make firstprince in their late 20s makes the discussion of forever and their adamant to fight for their love is more realistic and believable. with that said, it's also a no for me because their ages are also detrimental to the timeline and character arcs. for instance, henry's grief hits him like a ten wheeler as a teenager, and the whole explanation that casey writes for his grief is that he expected to deal with something as magnanimous as that kind of loss when he's older and not when his brain hasn't even fully developed. another instance is alex's having to grapple with his career choices after college!
matthew's best change is quite possibly firstprince exchanging the key and the ring. hands down, much better. i do understand that since the novel is in third person limited (alex's pov), it makes sense at a literary level (lol) for alex to own both the key and the necklace ("two homes side by side" is a BANGER line), but the equal complete devotion that the two have for each other at that point is excellent through that showcase of exchange. i own part of you, you own part of me. it's such a great display for the trope of "token of love." romcoms are back, baby! cinema is back!
worst change, then, is probably alex's parents being still happily married and in love. my hot take is that i understand why june was cut out and she's not a huge loss, compared to alex growing up as a child of divorce. making that change to alex having parents who are still together removes a huge dimension to alex's characterization because a lot of his issues stem from that, mainly his abandonment issues. you can see the full effect in the scene where he storms the kensington palace. i understand and respect it, matthew essentially explaining that because this was a different henry, then this was a different alex to — that he needed to be softer. he was more pleasing, desperate, confused with "can we please talk?" instead of the brash "your royal fucking highness!" because that's what it is: confusion. movie!alex couldn't fully understand why someone would just up and leave like that, whereas book!alex was immediately angry because he knows full well when someone leaves him. (*ahem* his dad) but anyway someone discusses it here in such great detail and i very much agree!
oh another good change is showing henry's pov during the email leak. nicholas... sir... ugh. fine, we're getting you that damn oscar. but seriously, he did great. t'was devastating seeing his face crumble, and the one show/display of roual authority, of hot flash of anger, of power, just to talk to alex was even sadder because that was the only time he uses it.
another yes and no change for me is "history huh." the placement of the most popular line from being im the email to being said out loud privately for the two of them is something i'm divided about. yes: there is a great deal of comfort that comes with henry getting to hear that from alex's own lips. it's very sweet and romantic and yeah tbh tbh i would've melted into a puddle right then and there. that there is a comfort that comes with at least that wasn't taken away from them. but no: the whole point of that being in the email (along with bad metaphors, an incomplete list, the story of the prince born with his heart on the outside of his body, etc.) is that these two's privacy was violated. the whole world read those words that were just meant for the two of them, but the public ended up using that line for their banners and flags and signs. and it's important why? it was then made into a form of reclamation. that even if they went through shit and worried about the consequences of being public figures, that there was hope that at least a surprisingly large number of the general public voiced their support, that they were backed by the people they were serving. removing that from the email in the movie... well, you get the rest.
should the height difference even be talked about? that's a factor that is 80% outside of anyone's control lmao??? but i do think it's worth noting that i've grown kinda fond with it that now i imagine taylor & nick's physical builds when reading firstprince fanfics plus having a taller alex who has a height complex instead of a shorter alex who has a height insecurity is so fucking funny. what a great running gag. the gaslighting of the audience into thinking henry is taller is 10/10. best lampshading ever, actually.
henry standing up for himself to the king is both a yes and no too. yes: matthew's justification is pretty nice. not only does it save them production costs to hire a princess catherine actress and pacing issues, it also makes sense narratively. the movie has written henry as voiceless throughout it really well, so for him to save himself is a great reason for why. but also it's a no for me because it's equally important that catherine the negligent mother starts compensating for her absences by battling generational conflict lmao. there's also the factor of a woman saving a man too! the rwrb universe emphasizes quite well about how henry and alex are surrounded by these powerful female figures who are near and dear to them in their lives. to grow up learning from them. point is, movie!henry standing up for himself is a nice choice because he's older. and at the same time, book!henry being supported by her mother is a great choice because he needed to be affirmed with a larger support system in his younger age.
making henry the one to clarify at first that their relationship should be casual instead of alex is a big yes for me. the mixed signals henry does in the book makes for borderline inconsistent characterization, but he's younger there so it makes sense for us to be confused. but henry in the movie "explaining himself to alex for the past year" is a great cleaning up because at the start, henry has been clear on "ok but we can't do this long term."
this has been sitting on my drafts for too long (weeks) so i'll just post this now. and maybe update it, idk. this post feels too incomplete but i don't want to sit on it, so. whatever here it is. 🤣
edit:. i discovered this amazing podcast who talk about it in great detail and 90% of their opinions i agree with! imm frothing at the mouth with how they describe and reason with each change and i just 🥺 want to share how cool they are. [part 1, part 2]
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Another of my Banger Tweets back over on Elon's shit site. I was flabbergasted at how much this one blew up tbh
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Wrote a very depressing tweet earlier, but was a coward and deleted it.
So, instead of being depressed AF on main, I'll take one of the things I said in it and will elaborate in a much better, healthier manner, which is... gushing about music, my beloved, my hyperfixation ~
In the tweet I mentioned André Matos, a BR singer, composer, pianist with a literal degree in classical music and conducting.
He became a literal metal legend here in BR specially in the 90s/2000s. Like for real - he was THIS CLOSE to replace Bruce Dickinson when he left Iron Maiden in the early 90s (Andre was in the 3rd place of choice).
Unfortunately, Andre passed away in 2019 at early age of 47 due to a cardiac arrest - it was very sudden and a shock to everybody, it's kind of insane even now looking back and remembering he's gone.
Anyway. That being said, enough with the sad stuff and let's turn this into THE COOLEST THING you guys will ever learn about Brazilian music!!
As a kid, Andre Matos was the vocalist of a band named Viper, and later on as a young adult he joined Angra, a band that still exists to this day with other members and vocalists - BTW!!! SMALL PARENTESIS, the vocalist who replaced Andre in Angra, Edu Falaschi, sang the Brazilian version of "Pegasus Fantasy", Saint Seiya's opening theme back then!! Still a fucking banger, and Edu STILL often sings it to this day; Edu isn't in Angra anymore, I think???
But yeah. As you can see, we're already getting epic and complex and I didnt even get to Andre yet lol
ANYWAY!! This is Angra with the OG formation with Andre as the lead singer/keyboardist - he's the 3rd one, the pretty boi in the middle, hehe
Angra was one of the pivotal points in Brazilian hard rock/metal; Sepultura is right there with them, I think - I don't know a lot about Sepultura (that's my sister's territory lol), but I know that much.
I'll skip straight into Angra's stuff cause there's where the good stuff begins!
First album of theirs is called "Angels Cry" and the title song is SUCH a quintessential Angra / Andre Matos song, i swear to gods. And the album art sdkjfhsdkfjshdf it's very Graphic Passion Is My Design.
Don't be fooled by the dated album art tho:
Here you'll hear the "classic music interludes" that were very common in Andre Matos' songs due to his background and training in classic music. It's SOOOO 80s and their Iron Maiden influence is SCREAMING, quite literally. Worth mentioning I'm not an Iron Maiden fan lol btw #Poser
Another CLASSIQUE-TM from Angels Cry is "Time".
I'll throw the official videoclip in here because it's hilarious, even though the song slaps ksdjfhskdj (André's corny, pretty metal boi look in his early Angra days is kind of a goal to transNB me, ngl. #GenderEnvy)
WELL, do you guys know folk metal? Like, when we say that, it's usually metal + medieval/European instruments (like Eluveitie, for example).
In 96, Angra did what I like to consider "Brazilian folk metal", metal with BR elements and influences, in their album "Holy Land"
The concept of the album was like, the great navigations but it was also kind of a commentary in colonization - Brasil is our "holy land", and a lot of the songs feature this epicness and bittersweetness, joy and sorrow of being BR. The songs are in ENG, which is kind of ironic, but still
The songs being in ENG is due to a lot of factors tbh, all of them involving the fact that Brazil doesn't embrace metal a lot, and they wanted to to sell their songs outside BR bc of that. Which sucks, but i get it.
Here we have CAROLINA IV, an epic describing a ship at sea, and it also references the Portuguese who arrived in BR back in the 1500s.
The song is all in ENG except the intro, which is a chant dedicated to Iemanjá / Janaína / Iemoja, the orisha of the seas and the most well-known orisha around here, if I'm not mistaken
"Hail, hail Yemoja, Hail Janaína
And everything that was made in the waters
They throw flowers at the sea
God save the Queen
And my journey on this sphere
An orishas' caboclo
Soon leaves the Earth
Meeting his fate
Where the sky meets the sea
He will find his safe harbor
And that's how it ends..."
Black culture and religions are strong here in BR, and this chant and the instruments used are a tribute to them <3 If you guys know of or remember Michael Jackson's "They Don't Really Care About Us", that's the same beat/Afro-Brazilian influence - in MJ's song, it was the famous group Olodum who did it, I don't know if they were involved in Angra's Holy Land though.
"Carolina IV" is a very long with a lot of changes in pace and even genres (again, classical music interludeTM). It's very epic, very 80s metal, and very Brazilian as well, it has everything I love, ahhh <3
In the early 2000s, Andre left Angra and he and other, previous Angra members formed the band Shaman.
I think it's good for me to reiterate at this point that while we had bands like Angra and Sepultura, the metal genre WAS NOT and NEVER WAS mainstream here in BR.
So, the fact that Shaman became incredibly popular in the early 2000s because one of their songs "became to mainstream" was kind of an anomaly.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, is where my story with Andre Matos' music starts. Because this was early 2000s, I was around 13 and the reason why I knew about the band, alongside hundreds of other teens at the time, was because a song by Shaman became soundtrack to a BR telenovela.
The telenovela in question was O Beijo do Vampiro ("The Vampire's Kiss") and as the name suggests, it had vampires and 'edgy dark fantasy stuff' cause it was more targeted for a younger audience, as the protagonist was this middle schooler aged boy who was actually the son of a vampire.
The BANGER, THE ETERNAL, EVERLASTING ANTHEM from Shaman they chose as a soundtrack to that freaking telenovela was "Fairy Tale", from their first album "Ritual":
I swear to god, this song is fucking everything to any Brazilian metal fan my age. It was a literal game changer to a lot of us, because this was how we discovered or started really appreciating metal, since we were too young to catch on Viper in the 80s or Angra in the 90's.
Other bands like Evanecscence, Nightwish and Linkin Park were also starting to become popular, so a lot of metal styles were coming around around that period.
Including a Brazilian singer that also leaned more towards a heavier sound, Pitty! That song is from her first album.
ANWYAY, BACK TO ANDRE MATOS - I'll make an exception here, and share two versions of the same song. I've shared the official videoclip with the studio recording, and below, is a very beloved live performance from 2003:
I'm sharing both versions because they are slightly different - studio ver starts with a religious chant in latin, and the live version includes a violin, played by Marcus Viana (another conductor and a famous composer of soundtracks for Brazilian shows and movies).
In the live ver you can also see Andre Matos SLAYING on the piano because dude was a literal master of his craft ksjdfhksjdf
The song starts all calm with the piano, very lullaby-like, and then BAM!, 80s METAL HAIRFLIP AND GUITARS AND EPICNESS. And then it ends how it started. It's such a beautiful track. I love it so much, such a true banger. Makes me nostalgic AF, and I love the "epic tale" nature it has.
Another personal favorite of mine from that time comes from their second album, a track called Born to Be:
I love how it mixes mellow piano lines with heavier metal arrangements, it was kind of their thing and they did it so well!
And by the way, I am aware the name of the band / cover of first album might be considered problematic nowadays?? It was the 2000s, unfortunately those things happened a lot. It's looking back into our teen years and realizing things were not as pristine as we remembered fskjdfhksd oh man.
But yeah. Aside from that, the songs slap so hard, specially if you like the 80s metal feel.
And speaking of the 80s music, Andre covered some pretty badass, daring songs over the years, not only but including...
..."Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" from Journey, which he recorded after he left Shaman and went solo in the late 2000s:
I cannot affirm that for a fact, but I think this cover is sort of a "meme" because it was kind of a recurring joke that Andre Matos sang like Bruce Dickinson but looked like he was Steve Perry's "long lost son". Steve Perry was the most well-known vocalist from Journey. The "Dont Stop Believin" Journey:
(The picture above is Andre when he was like 15yo in Viper btw dfkjjsdf)
And like, this is pretty fucking funny cause if you are here following my art for long enough - like REALLY, REALLY LONG ENOUGH, around 2009 deviantart -, you'll def remember me in my Journey/Steve Perry phase. And my Andre Matos phase too, it was around the same time lol
ANYWAY.
BEST FOR LAST. CAUSE THE LAST IS
"WUTHERING HEIGHTS" COVER.
THE KATE BUSH "WUTHERING HEIGHTS".
YEAH.
THAT ONE.
Madlad decided to make a metal cover of Kate Bush with this falsetto voice and he just. He just did it.
DIDNT CHANGE / ADAPT THE LYRICS, EITHER.
You'll hear 22 year old Andre Matos in 1993 fucking scream at the top of his lungs HEATHCLIFF IT'S ME CATHY, I'VE COME HOME, I'M SO COLD LET ME IN-A-YOUR WINDOW. And he's singing VERY VERY HIGH NOTES, this song is fucking hard to sing y'all, I'll let you know right now lol.
Anyway.
Here was the Andre Matos / Angra / partial Brazilian Metal history for you, and I hope you like the song recs, and if not, I hope you enjoy the trivia at least!
Remembering his music earlier made me nostalgic, but also made me sad, bc a lot has happened ever since 2003 and the "Vampire Telenovela". I've created OCs inspired by him - it was a two-in-one sort of OC, and he's retired for over a decade now; and I didn't do much with him anyway, so no artworks to show.
And I'm seriously considering bringing his music and influence back to a more recent OC (if you read my post about me looking for a new voice to my transitioned OC, that's what I'm talking about). It's a funny way to go back to where some things started.
That (and a lot of other, unrelated stuff) made me super sad earlier.
Andre Matos left us way too soon, and like I said earlier, it's always weird remembering he's dead, because it doesnt feel like that, to me. Maybe the fact I always "forget" he's gone is because his music and influence on me as a person still lives on, which is sort of a comfort~
-
commission info | patreon | kofi | twitter
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✨ It’s Balcony Day! ✨
I’ve only sent this to blogs that post catb stuff most regularly as don’t want to annoy anyone! And ignore this if you want. Let’s fill CATB tumblr with Balcony love today!
🖤 What’s your favourite track off the album?
🖤 Most underrated song?
🖤 Was removing Tyrants from the setlist a good choice?
🖤 Would you have included ASA on the album? If so, which song would would you replace it with?
🖤 Post something from the Balcony era that you love, a photo, performance, interview or a memory etc…
Finally I show up haha, I can’t believe it’s another year of The Balcony
🖤 What's your favourite track off the album?
I had to listen the whole album and I can’t still pick one. Always on my top are Kathleen, Rango, Fallout but they keep changing
🖤 Most underrated song?
26, actually this isn’t a bad song but the thing is that the others are total bangers
🖤 Was removing Tyrants from the setlist a good choice?
No absolutely not, it was epic and it was their seal. The lyrics, the music drops, the guitars drums and bass, the energy is just simply perfect. How the song scales just to blow up you idk how to describe it
🖤 Would you have included ASA on the album? If so, which song would would you replace it with?
Maybe but I wouldn’t knew which song take out, actually I like it how it came
🖤 Post something from the Balcony era that you love, a photo, performance, interview or a memory etc...
Van being so chaotic and naive and excited on interviews, you could see his eyes shining and he was a kid with his dreams just came true. Always melts my heart seeing him talking because I’m his age by that time and is so sweet seeing him so excited talking about make the thing he loves the most for the people he love the most. Also I can’t believe how such a sweet boy could write that thirsty tweets my lord 🙈. I love the video tours also they should have keep doing them. I also love the Steve Lamacq interview and the video explaining the name of the band with the artwork of Rango. And making trend the stripped clothing, I was forgetting it
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OMG Hetalia!!! I used to be obsessed with the Show! I moved on but it still brings me joy when I see it from time to time (Also the fandom doesn't seem to die?? like even after almost 10+ years the fandom is somehow still alive?? 😭), even though hetalia had its Good and bad sides (the bad side the ship wars)
I also used to be obsessed with with England, the 2p's or the Nordics (AHEM Norway ♡)
Hima also added a few new characters! Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines!! AND FINALLY HE ADDED ENGLAND'S BROTHERS!!! I saw the tweet and like I said I'm not in the fandom anymore but the joy I felt when I saw Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland ♡♡ I was so Excited!!!
but what frustrated me was the lack of female characters! 😭😤 we have like idk 10-12 female characters and the rest bunch of guys! I was so sad to find out that Portugal could have been a girl!!! 😭
Which leaves me wondering do you have favourite Female characters in hetalia or maybe Nyotalia?? If you like England and 2p England what about Nyo England ? or 2p Nyo England??
Are there any other shows/Games you like besides Hetalia, Genshin impact or twst ??
if you like Otome games I would recommend you playing (if you don’t know them already!) Mystic messenger and Obey me! they're really Good 👍
🌸Anon
The fandom truly is unable to die. I think it's something where you can break away from and return to eventually much later in your life, whether for nostalgia's sake or to get back into the fandom again. Either way, the fandom really is always alive no matter how many years pass. ^^;;;; it's actually quite admirable lol!!
Omg I was so obsessed with England. Like how Azul is my twst muse, England was my Hetalia muse. I would pen so many thoughts regarding him in my Google docs (and they still remain there even today. ;;;). >_< and the 2ps aaaaaa!!! I loved them, especially 2p FACE family. They were all so unhinged hehe. <3 AND NORWAY AAAAAA YES YES!!!! You have wonderful taste, 🌸 anon!!! Norway was another one of my favorites. :D
AND THE NEW CHARACTERS!!!! It was so nice to see. England's brothers are just as fine as England himself... orz I remember back in 2021 (??? was it 2021??) there was word of a new season! I remember I became excited, yet I am here now and I haven't watched it yet LOL. Perhaps I should do so now that the Hetalia worms have crawled back into my brain.
Omg yes!!! The lack of female characters is disheartening. T_T I wish there were more!!! Aaaa it would have been so cool if Portugal was a girl!!! I would have liked to see it!! But as for favorite female characters, I absolutely adore Hungary and Ukraine!! They are both so lovely and sweethearts and they deserve much love!!! Nyo England and nyo 2p England are both very adorable, but I think my favorite nyotalia lady would have to be France! Elegant lady!!!!! So very charming! I love her outfit as well!! ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)
There are other games and shows I like outside of twst, Genshin, and Hetalia! I really like Little Nightmares. It's my favorite horror-adventure game. I love the art style and the storyline. I also want to play Omori when I have enough free time! The premise looks so interesting and I've listened to some of the osts from the game (world's end valentine is such a banger!!!). I also like Danganronpa. As for anime I have really enjoyed, Saiki K, Great Pretender, Devilman Crybaby, Soul Eater, Summertime Rendering, and ODDTAXI are among my favorites!!!
And I have played Obey Me! and Mystic Messenger before! Both are very fun! My favorites from both games are Mammon, Satan, and Belphegor and 707 and Saeran hehe!!! I was never a Jumin fan, but that one bad end... 🫣 so maybe I can consider liking a certain filthy-rich businessman... and something about yandere!Yoosung hits different. >:) in conclusion, unhinged characters are so *chef's kiss* !!!!!
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observations on the future of social media in regards to P2P and Blockchains and decentralized protocols in general ie nostr/iris, bluesky etc, what it means in Threads, Tumblr and Twitter/X's case and what it means to us as users
prefacing this with I'm just a person with access to google and a hefty amount of curiosity and a layman's understanding of the subjects so I will most likely be wrong about a couple things but I just wanted to write this to get a discussion going in a public space about what these social medias mean for the future of the internet and what I think their goals are and also to just get my thoughts in order
P2P in the simplest of terms is how torrenting works, it is peer 2 peer sharing of information ie computer 2 computer, so for example if you download something sent to you by a person from google drive its
person > google servers > you, however if you torrent somethings its person > you (well in actuality its Multiple people> you and that's what seeding is but I am keeping it simple for my own sake)
So in my quest to find a way to p2p stream things directly from a computer to another computer not on the same network on github, I've found that a huge amount of research has been done in general on P2P implementation beyond just media sharing in the last couple of years
and subsequently I fell down a rabbit hole of P2P social media, so what that means is imagine a social media without a middle man or a direct company. Twitter right now works as such, person tweets > passes through twitter servers > you access their tweet as shown to you through the twitter servers
this mode of information sharing requires physical servers to store this data on, most companies don't own their own servers but instead rent them, usually from amazon or google, and twitter is the same, in fact almost everything on the internet is hosted through amazon servers and they have intense monopoly worldwide (x) (x)
this is partially how countries can exert their laws on these social media companies
P2P makes all of this obsolete, reduces the overhead cost of servers and takes them out of the equation, the sharing of information will be pingponged through multiple computers instead of passed through one large middle man that can be prosecuted and contacted for hosting/platforming this data.
personally I am very excited about the development of P2P technology however, this form of decentralized social media isn't new people have been experimenting with it since 2012 and the early internet ran on p2p (IRC), but the biggest difference now is that people have combined it with blockchains (bitcoin) (W3C ie Web.3 consortium pretentious name I know)
and this brings me to the current Big Fish battle that is happening right now between IRIS(NOSTR)/Blusky and Threads, Twitter
So starting with IRIS, most people have probably not heard of IRIS but what IRIS is, is a p2p social media running on a protocol called NOSTR, ELI5 protocols are just Ways of doing things/sharing information/guidelines, ie emails are just a protocol called SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol) that companies can build things around ex: gmail, runs on SMTP protocol
I stumbled on the ex CEO of twitter Jack Dorsey on IRIS
and a couple things struck me first scrolling through the site and his account.
first even though Jack Dorsey is on the board of directors for bluesky and helped in its development he more so wants NOSTR protocol and IRIS to succeed and seems to be pushing them more heavily even on his twitter
secondly the little dollar amount tied to every post he makes,
this literary banger is apparently worth a dollar and a half in "Zap Coins"
this leads me to speculate on the future of bluesky because to me it seems like IRIS is being used as a testing ground for bluesky, bluesky currently DOESNT have bitcoin tied to its posts like nostr does but it does have the groundworks laid in in its protocol!
I offhandedly mentioned previously that social medias are combining P2P and blockchain this time around and thats exactly what is happening in IRIS and what bluesky seems to be working towards, now what does this mean in IRIS's case?
well from my understanding is that creating accounts on IRIS is exactly like creating a crypto wallet, in that your account will have its own unique generated hash encrypted number and every post you make is like making a transaction in the blockchain ie it has its own hash attached to it hence every post you make has a monetary value
pros
> makes you hard to find, posts are decentralized and spread over multiple computers worldwide and encrypted
>can make as many accounts as you want no need for verification you just need to remember the unique hash attached to them
>no servers hosting your information governments and companies have less control
cons (to me anyways lol)
>monetized posts
>the power balance gets shifted from companies and goverments to ISP's and their abilities to connect you to other computers worldwide
>nothing can ever actually be deleted its all recorded, you can orphan posts from your account I think? but they will still be findable
what does this mean in Blue sky's case?
Well starting with the differences, Bluesky is NOT p2p it is running on its own self made "decentralized" protocol called ATP (@ protocol) it is very theoretical and doesn't have any actual implementation anywhere as opposed to NOSTR and other protocols that twitter and tumblr run on
I read through it and looked up some things but I genuinely don't understand how its supposed to be decentralized especially with how it seems to be implemented in actuality, so currently bluesky has frequent outages and is slow to use, if it were decentralized these things shouldn't be affecting everyone? so from my understanding it says that everyone has their own server PDS (personal direct server) that will host their posts and that it all PDS will be connected via a crawler which will siphon that information to an app, which I GUESS is decentralized but what does PDS mean in this case? signing up to bluesky is most definitely not hosting your own server with your own posts, you are putting these posts on a server somewhere, but who is it owned by? I read some articles saying that bluesky is starting out by hosting their own servers for you in that case they've just invented twitter 2 but with more flexibility in regards to third party implementation
anyways rant aside, the similarities, while iris isnt the same as bluesky, bluesky's philosophy seems to be in a similar vain to iris and blue sky is following iris' steps closely, while iris isn't owned by one single entity, blue sky board of directors want to make some cash money and I assume thats why they didnt fully lean into p2p
like I mentioned before Blue Sky's protocol has the capabilities for bitcoin integration baked into it (x) I dont know if they will try to monetize the posts in the same way directly in bluesky as is done in IRIS but the ATP is very flexible and what that means is that they can create a different monetary based app that you don't even need to sign up for you'd just use your bluesky credentials and you'd have a crypto wallet tied to your blue sky account because your ID isn't tied to just blue sky, its tied to anything running the ATP protocol
sound familiar? this is what Elon musk is trying to do with Twitter rn and this is basically where he got the idea, he wants to make twitter the one stop shop app for everything, but this isn't a fantasy unattainable idea this is coming directly from the protocols IRIS and Bluesky use, and I will not be surprised if in the near future we see him attempt to integrate bitcoin into twitter
Twitter, Threads and Tumblr (triple T haha 3T if you will) are all going to try and compete with Bluesky and Iris because ~money~, but they are doing so with.... *drum rolls* Mastedon! the dark horse or more accurately the protocol that Mastedon uses which is called ActivityPUB, Activitypub is older than both NOSTR and ATP and has a history of a wide range of implementation, however if you've ever used Mastodon you'd know its very limited in its capabilities when it comes to social media
This is basically I theorize/speculate is one of the reasons tumblr changed its looks, they are trying to standardize social media between all 3 of them and basically build bridges between each other so as to combat IRIS and BlueSky
This is not to say they will become like Mastedon however, in fact between Threads which has a huge amount of money to throw at inventing things and polishing the Activepub protocol and Automattic which owns tumblr and has owned wordpress for even longer who have a familiarity with blogging platforms and multi integration across multiple platforms I think they can be strong competitors
dont ask me what twitter is doing, I am not even certain it will integrate activitypub 100% I just think thats the easiest and fastest way to try and achieve elon's goals and threads and tumblr are combining
so what does it mean exactly when these sites say they will use ActivityPub?
it just means that they are trying to build bridges between each other, that is very vague and obscure of course because idk how they will go about it, the most basic way is post sharing between sites will change and become easier but its not limited to just that, IDK if they will even change the sites themselves instead of just building addons but tumblr's aesthetic change makes me think that they will
more importantly what does this mean for us Users?
well if you've read this far, I just want to emphasize that this isn't something to doom about, while I don't support crypto 100% I think the next wave of social media is headed in a good direction in that people are Finally focusing on decentralizations, social media that isn't under the thumb of one company or hosted on one single server (tumblr servers for example ALLEGEDLY were hosted on one amazon server without backup x) we are finally moving in a direction that is more open
as I listed in the pros section above when it comes to IRIS I personally think those ones are worth the cons, however I want people to understand when they are joining bluesky, threads etc the conversation isn't about what these websites are good at NOW, you are NOT joining a twitter copy, all the social medias are gearing up to move away into a new era of internet, it may look the same but under the hood their goals are different, as far as I can tell every social media's goals are focused on 3 things currently
>decentralization (lowering their costs in moderation, hosting etc)
>getting money, alot of money as fast as possible (crypto integration, selling your data)
>beating their competition and surviving as the big fish (protocols are duking it out iris/bluesky vs the world)
like I said at the start of this post I am just a layman with a keyboard, these are just observations I've made, and I could be wrong about multiple things here! but either way, curious about where we are headed
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screw it, answer all of the even smosh questions 👀
challenge accepted
og questions: @boxmann
2. When did you start watching Smosh?
- so technicallyy like 2015 was when i would sometimes watch older content, but i started consistently watching all of their content in like 2017? ..2018? the years are blurring-
4. Who is your favorite castmember?
- i know i’ve said damien in the past but i have like no idea i love them all 😭
6. Fave classic Smosh character?
- ian’s mom, i literally remember cry laughing bc of her when i was younger pfft
8. What is your favorite series on Smosh Pit?
- i used to loveee squad vlogs, but i’m an indecisive mf because i also want to say smosh pit theater, PIIMM, EIOYI, etc 😭
10. Fave Smosh song?
- first one that popped in my head was Girls are Gross so imma say that :D
12. Do you own any Smosh merch?
- no, but i do own pain bc of that fact
14. What is your favorite 'era' of Smosh?
- i distinctly remember 2018 + the ssg apocalypse eras being a lot of fun, the current era is really refreshing too
16. Have you met any friends through Smosh?
- irls no, but i have some cool moots :]
18. What is your fave Smosh meme/inside joke?
- on twitter just seeing “Another banger from Shayne from ICarly” every time shayne tweets
20. Do you have a crush on anyone at Smosh?
- literally everybody
22. Simply post a screenshot/moment/reaction that you love.
24. Tell me about a Smosh memory you hold dear
- just recently smoshtwt did a smosh appreciation day on the 29th, and the cast gave really nice reactions that made me really happy :)))
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I’ve never actually had a terribly huge preference for tumblr or twitter over one another (granted I basically follow almost all the exact same people on there as I do here because I like to manage my online experience) but frankly I am relishing the opportunity to recycle my most banger 5 like tweets from twitter to here and giving them a new life. it’s called recycling and it’s good for the planet.
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Twitter ~ A Hwi fanfiction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✜ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Summary: Being in a long distance relationship with a Kpop idol can be hard sometimes. Today, you miss him more than you usually do but here’s the catch, you’re waiting for him to post on Twitter as he promised you something special….
Type: Soft, kind of cliche, Genderless Y/N, Bf goal Hwi, social media au, long-distance relationship, idol life, music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✜ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s Saturday, just after noon, you’re right in the middle of the vacation and have nothing to do. You spoke with your boyfriend for a bit this morning but not that much because he had a big schedule, as usual. You understood, being in a relationship with an Idol isn’t as cool as it may seem. Hwi is the best guy but sometimes you wish that you weren’t a long distance couple that has to go through the social status of your boyfriend.
However, he told you he was going to post a pic on twitter today, “A special tweet for my special girl” or at least that’s what he said. You were waiting for it with excitement, knowing that even if Hwi’s fangirls got that one, you have like ten times more pictures of him so one more is nothing but a blessing to you. But you couldn’t stop wondering what was going to be special with that one tho.
Since he didn’t post for a long time, and that today you were quite in a bad mood, you decided to just lay on your bed, full covers on and you’d watch Hwi’s last interview. You missed him today, I mean way more than you usually did. Nostalgic of the times you actually could be in his arms, as many times as you have fingers since you two lived far away, you just couldn’t stop the spleen from hitting you hard. So you decided to send him a simple text, craving for a bit of attention.
From you: Hiii baby, today I miss you more than usual, when are you planning to post that pic? I wanna see your face 🫣
And then you waited, he probably couldn’t answer either because he’d be on his studio writing the next banger or on a set somewhere for the new comeback.
As you started to loose your hope to see an answer from him anytime soon, you received a notification. One that made your day…
Hwi posted.
You jumped on your phone, going to Twitter as fast as you could, you needed to see this picture, needed.
When you finally saw it, you started to sob, Hwi was the best at giving you hidden messages through his posts.
On the tweet, the caption said:
You must listen to this song. What an amazing day THX, I love you ❤️ . Song recommendation: All day - GIRIBOY
You knew that beside the part about the day, everything was about you and that’s why you were sobbing, Hwi always knew what to say to make you feel great.
As he said in his tweet, you took your laptop and went to Spotify in order to put the music. Music was always a way for you and Hwi to connect, beside the fact that he’s a musician, it’s also and mostly because that’s how he confessed his love for you (with the music: Sorry I love you by Stray Kids) and obviously you answered with another song (Fall in love with you by BoyWithUke) so it kinda became your thing. And you often talk through songs.
As soon as the music started you searched the lyrics on internet, you weren’t the best at Korean so it was needed.
At the time you were reading the lines :
“All day long with you, hugging each other so tightly
our ribs almost break
I want to have you soon
What should I do?”
You heard your phone ringing, it was pretty much unexpected and you weren’t in a good mood and you were honestly looking like a mess since you cried for at least two hours, so you weren’t going to answer but curiosity made you look at who was calling. If you weren’t answering, at least you should know who called, right?
When you see the Id you answered as fast as you could.
“You called? You called me, omg !”
Yes, it is Hwi, he decided to FaceTime you as soon as he saw that you liked his tweet.
“Of course I called you baby, look at you all sad and crying. Ugh, I hate to see you like that and to know that I can not hug you. Please stop crying.
-I…I..I can’t, I was just so sad and then I needed you and I thought you wouldn’t see my text and I cried and then you tweeted and i love you, I love you so so so much.
-it’s okay baby, I’m here, I love you, I’m here, I’m here look. Okay? No problems. We have the whole night baby, don’t worry, I’m here and I love you. “
You slowly stopped your sobbing, he is here, he loves you and he is on a call with you. He called you as soon as he saw your text, he really loves you.
“You’re so beautiful, ugh so bad you can’t really see your face, the mirrors will never reflect the whole beauty of your face and I’m so sad for that.
-Stop lying you dumbass. I cried, I look like a mess, my hair is ugly and my face is red and puffy and ewks ! My face is just Ewks!
-Tsk! You think I’m lying? Me? Your handsome Idol boyfriend? Lying to you? Tsk. I could never. I swear for real. Tstststs, stop trying to deny your beauty. I know you need some comfort so go put on the sweatshirt I send you last week, it should be here now is it?
-OMG ! THAT WAS THE MAIL I GOT ?? WHY DIDN’T YOU USED YOUR REAL NAME I DIDN’T EVEN OPENED IT !!
-Ahh… Baby, you’re such a mess, I love you. Bahahah. Anyway, GO PUT ON MY SWEATSHIRT. I kinda want to see you in it.
-You do huh…”
You make a sly face, the mood changed in about 2 seconds and from crying you went to teasing. That’s how much Hwi helps you in life.
“Yay! That’s the Y/n I like, that’s the Y/n I wanna see. Go baby ! Go baby! Go!
-Shut up you stupid”
But he got you here, you’re smiling, he make you smile.
A bit of time passed, you had to put on his sweatshirt, a white one, with the olympic logo on it, you saw it in one of his interview and you remember telling him about it for almost a week. And he send it to you, it’s now on your back. It smells like him, a wood like with a touch of citrus, the bestest smell ever. His smell.
“Okay, so now that you look even more pretty, and emphasis on the pretty, with my sweatshirt on you. I planned a karaoke night, eheh!”
And that’s actually when you notice that he is in his studio, with his little lights and his Pokemon legos, that you bought together, you got a piplup, your favourite.
“Omg, no. You know so damn well that I don’t like to sing in front of you! You’re an Idol bro? I…
-Don’t call me bro, and stop trying to convince me, it won’t work. Now since All day is still playing background, by the way, happy to know that you understood my message “ he winks to you “let’s start with this one!”
And then he started to sing, he sang the all night to be honest and you joined him at less than two songs. But you will never forget how he looked at you while singing
“I love you so much so much so much I love you so much so much so much so I love you” from All day.
Since that Phone call, you decided that All day was now your song, the song of you and Hwi. And that’s how you fall asleep, still on FaceTime with Hwi still singing ballads to make you sleep, he looked at you sleeping like the stalker he was, and you were still in his hoodie, dreaming about the next time you’ll be able to see him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ✜ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you liked it!!
You can request a story if you’d like !! With any tnx, skz, cravity, Enhypen and bts members you’d like or ship !!
Have a good day/ night / anything
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New album: Scarlet by Doja Cat
All things considered, I think that Scarlet will probably end up as my favourite record of 2023. While there have been plenty of others that I’ve enjoyed before now, there hasn’t really been anything else that I’ve obsessed over quite so much and played to absolute death as this. However, i'm not seeing many people who feel the same. While a few have declared themselves fully on board, reviews have often been middling, bemoaning its sharp turns of style and tone. Similarly, it's failed to gain much popular momentum, charting high in the first week but then dropping out of the charts at speed. So far as I can tell, anyone not put off by its embrace of hard rapping and old style beats appears to have balked at the relentless barbs directed at her online stans. Given how lonely my position feels, I figured that I ought make a case for it. No doubt sales will be impacted. Warn the pressing plants. Put Spotify on alert.
First of all, Doja comes out swinging. Megahit single “Paint The Town Red” is surely already familiar but it bears repeating what an extraordinary banger it is. The track appears relatively slight on first hearing, underpinned by a glitchy retro sample of Walk On By, but its real power comes from a bouncing bassline and Doja’s joyously unrepentant delivery - “Bitch, I said what I said” - as she rips into the losers and haters alike. This vibe dominates the front end of the album, with the stakes raised even higher on “Demons” and “Fuck the Girls”, tracks where she goes off at an absolute fever pitch. But while the music on “Demons” matches her ferocity with a heavy 808 attack, FTG feels like a musical harbinger for the rest of the record, its twitchy live bass forming a bridge into some of the easier going material.
And it’s fair to say that, beyond these harder edged songs, most of the album sounds absolutely gorgeous. Tracks like the high octane pop of “Ouchies” and the warm, swirling RnB of “Gun” and “Go Off” are entirely absorbing, the kind of music that you don’t so much listen to as luxuriate in. If there is an issue here, it’s that it sometimes feels like Doja isn’t letting go as much as the music is. 97 is one of the best examples of the kind of disjointed funk that comes to dominate later on but her claim that it “looks like we don’t give a shit” is heavily undermined by how often she returns to attacking her enemies. When she (hilariously) begins a line with “…in a tweet that I’m probably gonna stand by…”, you start to get the feeling that Scarlet may be one of the most '...and another thing...' albums ever to be released.
And yet, I can’t say that I really mind. Being new to her, it may be that I just haven’t had time to get bored of it, but I’ve heard plenty of hip hop albums where rappers string out beefs like this whilst being far less entertaining. Say what you like about Doja but, a few clumsy rhymes aside, her rapping is generally excellent and she always has a choice insult for her detractors, whether they’re mocking her shaved head on Attention (“boo hoo my n-, I ain’t sad that you won’t fuck me”) or fretting over her mock-‘Satanic’ affectations on “Shutcho” (“got you cussin’ on a Sunday now - GOOD LORD!”). Do we get more of this stuff than we really need to? Yes, we probably do, but even where it wears out it’s welcome a bit, it’s a rare tune where she can’t make me crack a smile.
And in any case, there’s always something else worth focusing on. This continues to be true through the second half, where its softer elements mutate into dislocated neo-soul, full of twisting funk basslines and a strong late night vibe. This is especially so on Skull and Bones, where Doja’s overlapping vocal lines knit into an intoxicating psychedelic sweep, and the slinky sex track “Often”, a rare non-rap tune where she comes off like a huskier and hornier Erykah Badu. In general, the few love songs here feel genuinely touching, especially new single “Agora Hills” where her adoption of a teen girl persona only heightens her vulnerability as she gently pokes fun at it. And while even here the conflict isn’t quite done with (Doja’s desire to “rub it in their face” refers to the media controversy over her new and deeply unpleasant boyfriend), that softening is not just a welcome respite from the fury but a real ace in Scarlet’s sleeve.
Yet apparently it isn’t enough. And that's a perspective I can understand tbh: the people waiting for a Doja Cat album might be interested in the poppier material but they probably want to hear a lot more singing and they could certainly do without the relentless bitching and sniping. And from the other side, a lot of the people who might be interested this kind of hip hop are fairly unlikely to hear it: Doja Cat is a big pop star, whereas rap is notoriously focused on “keeping it real” and shunning the supposedly commercial (so long as it suits them anyway). Given the pace with which it's dropped out of the charts, it seems a bit late for Scarlet to find a mass audience now, though while its singles remain on the radio I guess that all is not yet lost. Regardless of anything, it’s a record that makes me extremely happy but for Doja Cat, I guess the challenge is to knit this - in all truth - absolutely breathtaking sound into something that makes a little less effort to rub everyone up the wrong way. But with the biggest single of the year still under her belt, I feel like she’s got a few lives left in her.
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@lurking-snails made another post so that one didn't get longer:
1. favourite place in your country?
My home. No seriously, I'm not an outdoorsy guy. But I do love Pahang National Park. There's a lots of fascinating floras and faunas to see, and we did met some tapirs too theyre so cute :333 (we didn't approach them ofc. wild animals common courtesy and all)
5. favourite song in your native language?
I LOVE EVERY SONG BY SUDIRMAN HAJI ARSHAD!!! He's a patriotic singer and songwriter, combining his skill and love for his country to create songs to encourage love for it after being colonised for hundreds of years by the West. My favourites from him are Warisan, Tanggal 31, and Balik Kampung. I also like some from P. Ramlee like Nujum Pak Belalang, Doremi and Bujang Lapok. For more modern one, I do love Kalah Dalam Menang, Gemuruh Jiwa, Sahabat and Boboiboy Galaxy Opening. Also old raya songs are bangers like Suasana Hari Raya. I'd include some nasyid from Rabbani and Inteam but this is getting too long hehe
11. favourite native writer/poet?
I do love works by Ramlee Awang Murshid. He mostly dabbled in thriller and fantasy. There are some comics I enjoyed like Ana Muslim and Kesatria Bulan Bintang as well as Aku, Kau dan (title) which are compiled by various artists and authors. As for poets, I don't know much about them ಥ‿ಥ
12. what do you think about English translations of your favourite native prose/poem?
Again, I don't have a wide knowledge in poetry. And I don't have a good faith in any translation made pre-colonialism so yeah. I just don't really trust them. Maybe some from post-colonialism and ONLY if it's by Malaysian.
24. what other nation is joked about most often in your country?
Not joked about, but mostly with. It's a joke (and also kinda not) that Malaysians and Indonesians will have beef with each other every time anyone laid claim on where did their dish/clothes/tradition came from, as well as whenever the national sports teams collided in a match. Its a war in Twitter comment section.
But we DID unite when in Masterchef, a white chef told a Malaysian chef that her chicken rendang wasn't crispy enough which is exactly what rendang is!! It's a tenderised meat slow cooked for several hours ofc it's not gonna be crispy!!! And Malaysians descended like a pack of wolves on this man and he backpedaled and said that Indonesian would know, and Indonesians were like 'like hell we cook it crispy ' and also shredded this man to pieces. Everyone was so offended that this white man thinks he knows better than us who have been cooking this for hundreds of years, that a national chef made a sarcastic skit of ayam rendang crispy (crispy rendang chicken) and our Prime Minister of the time also tweeted that he did not like the chef's comment. The rare moments of us being a united front in a dish lmaoo
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[i'm the anon from earlier] tbh I have no idea how I found you or if I followed you before I started watching mlb!! I follow people rather impulsively and I’ve been on Tumblr forever so it’s hard to tell sometimes but your posts are bangers and I’d reblog them all if I weren’t shy
I started watching mlb because I was binging another show that had come out earlier this summer and I wanted it to last me a bit longer so I thought “oh, mlb is on Netflix, I once had a mutual obsessed with it in 2016, might as well watch a few episodes in between eps of the other show” and well, here we are, three months later 🤠
It had nothing to do with the movie coming out or the Season 5 finale, I only found out about the recency of these when I tried to watch the entirety of season 5 on Disney+ and. there were only 8 episodes. it was two in the morning. I was upset
But how/why did you start watching the show!!!! I assumed you’d also been one of the “company founders” asdfsgsg (1/2)
HI ANON!!!! Oh my god we’re both new-ish??? this is so crazy. i love how u started watching the show. i should think about what random mutuals of mine were into in 2016 too and randomly decide to watch those shows. SPEAKING OF NETFLIX i saw the show summary they gave once like yknow ‘as teenagers, she’s in love with him and he’s oblivious. as superheroes he’s in love with her and she’s annoyed’ LIKE I WONT LIE. i think they slayed that!!!!! mlb is not on netflix in my country btw. its on disney plus tho!! which is where i first binged the show HEHE like july 2022!! been over a year since i first started watching time truly does fly
i started watching mlb because i saw people talking about the s5 lovesquare flip and this was before it happened (ultimately it did not turn out how other people were discussing it) i was seeing tweets like OLD LOVE SQUARE -> NEW LOVE SQUARE and it went from omg chat noir loves ladybug and marinette loves adrien and well all the damn arrows to um marichat being a thing?? and i saw a mutual of mine qrt like ‘yeah tbh marichat is prob the healthiest dynamic in the lovesquare so they should be dating’ and um. well. i wont give my opinion on that but I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT MARICHAT WAS DATING OR SOMETHING AND THAT ID SEE A LOVESQUARE FLIP. so i was like. man this show sounds absolutely insane. and so i clicked on it
AND I LIKED IT A LOT. so i kept watching. and here i am now. june-july 2022 michelle was tricked. marichat is not an established couple. its adrienette. which well. it is what it is. me being me i dont want any pairing established bc i think complicated situations are fun ^_^
i totally get u being upset when there were only 8 episodes in s5 tbh. BUT IMAGINE ME REALIZING S5 HAD STARTED BUT THERE WERE ONLY TWO EPISODES AND GLOOB WAS THE ONE WHO DROPPED THEM. i was like. what the fuck is this. i mean im watching them they are so fun but. why am i suffering. and here i am now!!!
i wish you would reblog my posts but honestly i far prefer having fun little convos like this on anon 😍😍 so i completely love and accept u and encourage u. as long as u drop by my askbox i am already the happiest blogger girl alive !!
also NO im not a company founder no. im the intern who runs into the break room every day and screams ‘WHOOOOOO WANTS COFFEEEEEEE’ and most days no one’s in the break room some days people are there but ignore me because there’s coffee in the damn pot so what’s this bitch on about BUT sometimes someone’s like oh hell yeah ill have a cup and then i start grinding beans on the spot to make bean juice or i like hand out instant coffee packets and smile like i just solved a problem. does that make sense
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dumb things my friends and I have said: 2022!
part two: april - june
apologies ahead of time for length!
feel free to change pronouns if need be.
warning for foul and dirty language, and capslock-implied yelling :)
“You get points for trying, Jesus said so.”
“Not gonna lie, I just want an excuse to be a huge dick in a fancy suit.”
“You’re sorry? You’re the one who shot orbeez into my soup.”
(maniac laughter) “I get to destroy the government!”
“I am NOT a closet pickle eater.”
“The real blackmail is the photos of the frosted tips.”
“Loving the Home Depot commercial remix.”
“This is what made his doctor’s degree disappear into the woods.”
“I drive myself to drink.”
“The frozen balls are gonna hurt more.”
“It’s a record, you dumb fuck.”
“Yeah, well Twitter’s a lying sack of shit― Oh.”
“Working here is going to begin my Joker arc.”
“I dunno how to explain this to you without breaking any HIPAA laws.”
“I was about to be really mad, and then I realized I couldn’t read.”
“Back in my day, we touched grass.”
“You’re so valid. I’m 24 and get carded at the mall.”
“Are we pillaging or not?”
“Okay why did this personality quiz just read me to filth.”
“I feel like if I told him ‘please don’t kill me I’m very mentally ill’ he wouldn’t do it.”
“Hearing that comment is the equivalent of McDonald’s Sprite.”
“Do I look like I know how to draw feet?”
“Can we maybe please be normal about literally just another human being?”
“You can’t gobble at me and expect me not to gobble back.”
“He may be qualified but he is also not...that.”
“Stop pretending to be a lesbian every time I’m near you.”
“Sorry for the lukewarm take, I’m gonna go ride my bike now.”
“You can chew ice cream with real teeth if you’re not a coward.”
“It’s not that hard to figure out, you just suck at trying.”
“Oh hang on, I can make a funny joke about this.”
“Post theft reverse pickpocketing.”
“How do we have the same brain?”
“WHY IS THERE A BIRD IN THE BUILDING?”
“I’m not here to fight spiders.”
“Imagine needing a GPS to get to McDonald’s.”
“Please don’t clap your ass for the kids.”
“He really sells water.”
“I’m not into toes!”
“That rat just fucked your girl.”
“If I were a crocodile I’d live in Florida.”
“They’re fucking high on volcano ash. Okay.”
“That would require your death, according to the lore.”
“Bitch I am on the ground.”
“This tastes so much.”
“I dug this grave, and so I lie in it.”
“I dunno, I think my tweets are kinda banger.”
“I’m too sexy and iconic to have a job.”
“I’m gonna go join my milkshake in the shadow realm.”
“Oh, hey, good job! You don’t have to get fucking plowed by a 2006 Saturn Ion!”
“Would you be mad if I showed up dressed as Spider-Man?”
“She’s juicy for her food.”
“I dunno man, I’m only certified in bird law.”
“Please do not arson the cacti.”
“You have been identified by the government as a huge bitch.”
“We should steal a cactus and get charged with a felony.”
“This is what Oklahoma does to a motherfucker.”
“He looks very pro-police.”
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A non-exhaustive list of One Direction Moments™ that have happened this year
-LTWT...just...the whole thing...offering cupcakes to fans...the impassioned speeches....the inexplicable papillon pants... forgetting TTD lyrics every night ...you need me and I need you...don't let it break your arm...OTB....barricade moments...
-Harry scatted on Harry's House and I Did Not Like It (but the album’s a bop)
-Also he is apparently never-endingly on tour
-Louis ran into a wall and broke his elbow while on tour in Poland
-Harry at Coachella was a whole Thing (Shania & Man! I Feel Like a Woman! Lizzo & I Will Survive! Sequins! Feathers! Lost the ring! Got the ring returned!)
-Liam went on L*gan P*ul’s podcast and it was Bad
-Then the entire internet turned on Liam :(
-Seemingly in response to Liam's comments, Zayn posted a video of him singing his iconic high note in You and I in front of all his 1D awards???
-Which Louis then went and liked?????
-Zayn then posted ANOTHER video of him singing 1D, this time Night Changes
-LOUIS LIKED IT AGAIN
-AND PUBLICLY COMMENTED ABOUT IT AND SAID HE'S THOUGHT OF ZAYN OFTEN AND HOPES HE'S WELL
-AND THEN, seemingly in response, Louis added a cover of Night Changes to his set list
-DWD drama...etc. etc. I don't wanna fucking rehash it
-also My Policeman and Harry wore a very queer-coded outfit to the premier and I will personally fight anyone else who calls him a queerbaiter
-Harryween! Grease! Hopelessly Devoted to You! Makes me nostalgic for ~2014 black skinny jean Harry.
-Niall is also doing some things, mostly continuing his bromance with Lewis Capaldi, tweeting about golf, and (allegedly) writing new music.
-Also becoming a new coach on The Voice????
-FITF is a certified banger of an album and goes to number 1 in the UK!!! (Thanks in part to fans ~creativity~ with the charts system)
-Niall Horan, certified Bruce Springsteen fanboy, tweets in support of getting Louis to #1 (over Bruce Springsteen)
-On release day, Louis "smashes his arm to fucking pieces" and then posts the x rays as proof. This is the second time he has broken his right arm this year.
-Liam returns to the internet and seems to be adopting an "if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em" attitude and encouraging people to make memes out of his posts and I am still deeply concerned for his wellbeing :(
-Performing a postponed show in December, Louis goes up to the barricade after reminding fans to be careful of his (still broken) arm. Everyone is wonderfully gentle and careful and a continent away I have a meltdown.
....and that's what you missed in this year's 1DCU.
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Hi so this ask is a request (desperate) for twilight content since i feel like i've read all jalice fics in the fucking universe and for some reason most part of this fandom is obsessed with edbella (idc the whole saga is about them that's a detail) so here it goes: what's your currently hyperfixation inside the jasper&alice hyperfixation? like plots for fics, au, headcanons about personality traits (since jasper's canon personality is based on loving alice and being a low profile hottie with a tragic past)
yeah being a jalice girlie in the twilight saga is a rough experience bestie, I can soooooo relate to you there 😔 we truly are a group who suffers from lack of content 💔
right now my main jalicey focus is on my fic WIPs roots that I've mentioned before! I've been a bit distracted over the last several months thanks to the locked tomb fucking up my entire brain, but despite that I've still managed to write a solid 75k of roots, which has been nice.
I'm actually not real big on fixating on or even discussing headcanons unless its something I need to dissect privately for fic purposes. I'm also a huge critical bitch about other people's interpretations of my favorite characters which is why you don't see me talking about it a lot on tumblr. so many people get it (alice and jasper) so, so wrong, and obviously I have it so, soooooo right 😌💅 but lmfao okay no I mainly keep my opinions and headcanons to myself so I don't come across as an unlikeable cunt on this stupid site. unless someone asks, and then I have no problem being an asshole and telling people their tastes are bad. but I've been so well behaved recently and people have been much nicer and less insufferable in the twilight fandom in recent years which has been nice!!!!
but another huge fandom interest I have is making playlists! so I have like a dozen or so jalice-themed playlists (most of them are fic playlists for various @goldeneyedgirl stories because she really just keeps pumping out banger after banger; sometimes I swear I think about lexie's stories than I do about my own) and I am constantly listening to and working on playlists. one day I'll finish all my twilight character playlists and my Main jalice playlist, but it's already been a few years that I've been working on some of them, so what's a few more, yknow???
besides roots, I still have a kajillion big fics I need to finish outlining—my third cotn installment, it's novella, my AH au, the neglected WIP projects I have already published (sorry to my edge of it all readers, specifically). most of my jalice fixation gets redirected into planning and writing fanfiction when I'm not constantly arranging and rearranging carefully curated playlists
but thank you so much for calling jasper a "low profile hottie with a tragic past" because thats so funny. "low profile hottie" is SO good. I love any description of jasper that brushes aside the tiny bits of canon characterization we get of him to be like "ok but forget all that. he's quiet and sexy." it's like this iconic tweet:
anyways thank u kindly for the message I am so sorry there seems to be a bit of a jalice drought currently. I know lexie has been throwing prompts into the void on here recently but I'm sure if you're in here pleading for content you've probably already read all of her stuff 10x over. I can't promise you any real content out of me this month (or next) but I can guarantee you'll get plenty of snippets!!! hold strong anon 💖
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