#i did so much social interaction. i did an interview for a documentary that was being filmed there

[guillemelgat]

saying this all as someone who used to collect languages the same way and understands what it feels like. it is not always a practical, irl/real world-workable way to do things.

i know langblr encourages it, but minoritized languages aren’t pokemon. if you learn a language then a main point of focus that you take, *needs* to be whether you will ever use it. the welsh farm dream is one thing, since you intend to actually live there but you have upwards of 5 languages from so many parts of the world in your bio, that are not your heritage language or the one from the place where you grew up. do you consider how the speakers would respond to having their culture basically collected, but not actually joined into or lived in, as a diversion in the life of an academic from another country?

the strongest example from your list is romani. the romani are a very closed culture who usually don’t want outsiders speaking their language, and as for the others, the same principle isn’t as strictly applied with all, but: whether you are invited or not *does matter*, to the people in those cultures. there are levels of open vs closed. no, no one is stopping you, of course, but tact has a role. because (this will be the thought of people who are native speakers) why do you need this language if you’re interacting with few to no people in your day to day life who you will ever be speaking it with? learning it for its own sake as a kind of novelty won’t always be met well.

the reason many of these minoritized languages are minoritized is one involving politics suffering and war. as with bosnian.

i had to figure this out the hard way myself. so. just some food for thought

tl;dr i would figure out reasons why each has a strong call to you, read extensively on the political settings and how fraught things can be in those places and their history/present, and maybe emphasize focus on a small handful of them while ruling out those you’ll never personally interact with. just a few documentaries with interviews from real people who live there and speak the languages might give some perspective shift.

Thank you for sending this message! I've been ruminating for a while about everything you've brought up, and wasn't really sure how to answer this well, but I'll give you my best attempt at an answer(?), if this even counts as a question in need of an answer.

In terms of myself, I'll give you what this made me think:

I will fully admit that I started this blog when I was 17, and I'm now 23. That's a lot of time to change and evolve as a person, which I most certainly have. At 17, it definitely felt like learning 10+ languages (regardless of which languages, even) was a perfectly tenable goal. At 23, I'm realizing that it's not quite as easy as I thought it would be. So I have scaled back my ambitions a lot since then, and am only trying to focus on a couple of languages now. Because of that, I will say that the list on my about page has started to become somewhat misleading. And it does frustrate me that the languages that younger me thought I could learn were all minoritized, because I feel like a shitty person giving up on them—hence why I have tried to put this off for a while.

I did start learning these languages knowing that "collecting minoritized languages like Pokemon" was not something that I wanted to do. It's extremely important to me to be plugged into a language culturally and socially when I'm starting to learn it—everything that you've given as advice here is generally much less than what I've done for all the languages I'm studying, and I wouldn't be able to imagine learning one not having done these things. I will say that I have talked with speakers of every single one of the languages that I'm studying except for Tamasheq. On the other hand, I could certainly do better. I've been struggling with this for a while, and I think that this might be a good time to step back from some languages unless I'm willing to make them an active part of my life. Basically, if I had infinite time, I would be able to maintain all of these languages, but in this world, I have to be realistic.

And I also had some general thoughts on the subject:

I honestly think a lot of the problem with the way people treat minoritized languages is tied up with the attitude that they're "folkloric" or "exotic" and not just. A Language. What I mean by that isn't that they don't have boundaries or can't be closed or you can just learn two words and say you speak them, but I do think that the real question to ask yourself when you're learning a minoritized language is if you're treating it as a full language. A lot of times you'll see famous polyglots or whatever tacking on minoritized languages, and it is really frustrating to see that they can do that with them when they can't with something like Spanish or French. I do think that with minoritized languages, it's easier to go around pretending you speak them (or to think you actually do), because there's usually fewer people to question you and in many cases native speakers are kinder than with larger languages. That is, however, a toxic attitude that I want to avoid at all costs—I'm sure I've done it, because I'm not perfect, but for example I don't bring up languages I'm learning unless there's a context where they're needed. This is the only place where you can see the language I've studied, and I mostly leave it there for clarity. That being said, I won't say that I'm immune to any of this stuff, so I don't want to pretend like I'm without criticism.

I do think that while your definition of strict necessity is fair as a tough question to dissuade beginners, I don't fully agree with it. A lot of these languages I came into without a really good reason to study, but thanks to learning them I've met people who I wouldn't have otherwise met and can't imagine not being in my life. Use is not contingent on living in a place—I've always said this and I will continue to say it. Languages come up in all kinds of places you wouldn't expect, and if you choose to make them a part of your life they do so even more. Especially for minoritized languages, being a part of the community means reaching out to people, pitching in, and doing things in the language. I've found you can do that in many different ways, and in fact, the strict usefulness of the language is usually a factor that hurts minoritized language speakers rather than helping them. I don't know, just something to think about that didn't really sit right with me.

I think that the only thing you can do when learning a minoritized language is immerse yourself in its history, culture, and people. And by people I mean make friends who speak the language. Make the language have weight for you. Understand it on a human level. This sounds really dumb (and looks kind of cringe when written out, sorry) but I think if people did this it would solve a lot of these debates. Just my grain of salt.

Sorry for making everyone read this, if you made it here I hope it was of some worth to you. I honestly think the only thing that you can do as a learner of any language is really to always know that you have more to learn, and to be open to being taught—whatever it is that people have to teach you. That's how you build a respectful language learning relationship, and that's what I hope I've done. Now I definitely need to update my about page though, it's been time to do that for a while 😅

#i appreciate getting this ask at this time because i really do need to rethink my relationship with language learning #and this gave me a chance to do that #the way minoritized languages are treated on here is frustrating sometimes though #i know it's definitely part of why i never really checked in to langblr #but i can do better here i can always do better here and i should do better here #with romani for example i feel like i have done a bad job there and i do need to reevaluate my relationship with it going forward #but if i hadn't started learning it there's a lot of things that i would never have learned about #and while i wish i could have learned about them in different ways i'm very glad that i at least know them now #asks

[qu-film-history-to-1968]

Cinéma vérité and its Influence on Documentary Filmmaking (Ronnie Dinnel)

The documentary films I watched this week, Don’t Look Back (1967) and Salesman (1969) are two similar and different films at the same time. While they both utilize a cinéma vérité documentary style, they are unique in their subject matter and characters. Cinéma vérité is a form of filmmaking that gives the audience a sense of observing whatever is happening on the screen as a fly on the wall rather than being too involved in whatever the subject matter is.

I felt the cinéma vérité style was especially apparent in Don’t Look Back since it gave insight into Bob Dylan’s life without feeling as though the camera or crew were disrupting his life or routine. As Al Maysles said, “With non-actors, you have an opportunity between shots to surmise what's coming next. You have an opportunity to pick and choose more, but in this kind of filming, with everything so tightly scripted, you have to be shooting something that's meaningful every moment that the actors are performing. You know you have to use everything you shoot. If you're shooting this way, you're not interested in stopping the camera and shooting this little item or that. I was interested in doing the whole scene in one shot, if I could. I got close-ups by moving around and using the zoom lens on occasion. It's the same kind of shooting that I'm ordinarily doing, except this was without any kind of a break to re-focus or to do this, that or the other” (Haleff, 22). I find this style of documentary filmmaking to be immersive and successful in keeping the audience engaged since it is about as personal as one can get to the main subject. The documentary felt as though the audience was witnessing Bob Dylan’s life without interrupting it in the slightest which is what many people would like to experience as a fan of the superstar. Maysles continued with, “What happens usually is this ... a director chooses the action and then says, ‘OK, now we’re in this situation, we'll take this shot,’ and then even as the shooting goes on, he or the cameraman notices something nice, and he stops and takes that little shot, which will be inserted. When you shoot that way, with all those little bits and pieces and put them all together, you're fabricating something. OK, it's a fabrication to begin with, but the fabrication is doubled or tripled or quadrupled. There's much less of that if you shoot in a continuous shot” (Haleff, 21). In Salesman, this tactic is clearly used after reading Maysles’s behind the scenes of how it was shot. I am not surprised by the inserts that were shot now since it was planned all along, even though the actions themselves were not planned.

D.A. Pennebaker had a style which gave an inside view of Bob Dylan’s life which was clearly seen in the film. His interactions with fans, journalists, and other artists felt authentic and that’s because they were. Pennebaker’s style felt more journalistic than Maysles’s which can be seen in the cinematography of the film. There were more hand-held shots which followed Dylan rather than stationary shots set up to capture an action which was expected like in Salesman. Pennebaker once said, “I don't see him a lot. We don't live in the same social worlds. But we're still in touch and I think he's an artist—maybe as interesting an artist as Byron. There's a collection of letters edited by an Englishman consisting of letters written to Byron, as well as letters to the handful of people Bryon wrote to. I thought that, if I had made a film about Byron and it could be viewed, it would still be interesting. What's interesting to me about Don’t Look Back is that it traces a poet's beginnings. I didn't want it to be merely a musical film. I knew that we were recording every single musical concert. So there would be a musical background for every shot” (Hegedus, 33). I did not know this was true until reading this interview which I found insightful.

While cinéma vérité is apparent in both films, I noticed distinct differences between each of the films. I enjoyed both films, but I preferred Don’t Look Back due to the subject matter and cinematography style.

#submission

[yououghtaknow]

NEW CLIP: “Leave Yourself Behind”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32041894/chapters/79438735

#skam brighton #no thoughts head empty just vibes #also update on how my interview went yesterday!!!! #it went really well!!!! i had a lot of fun talking to everyone there and i am happy with how i did :) #i am very exhausted now however. so so tired. #i did so much social interaction. i did an interview for a documentary that was being filmed there #and talked about being trans and how much i love making trans art about trans joy <3 #also i accidentally infodumped about my romeo and juliet musical there #about generational trauma and growing up queer in a warzone where neither side wants you alive you know? #and about physical divides cause emotional divides and how i use punk and folk music to show the rage of the youth #i said all of this to a room of like 15 people. i am fucking crazy but at the end of the day i am free #also a professor at the best university in the country casually mentioned he read some of skambr and it blew my mind #he brought up the al and monica father to son scene!!!!! and he liked it!!!!! #like it's just. it's so weird. like i started writing this show when i was 14 and it was brought up BY SOMEONE ELSE #who i really admire at my first job/internship interview. #we also talked a lot about my transness and how it's connected to my art but also about my art on its own #which was really nice :) i love being recognised as a trans artist but also just an artist who is trans #because i get treated with the same respect as the cis artists there but i also get to talk about being myself without being treated badly #also i introduced myself with he/they pronouns and never got misgendered <3 it was so lovely #genuinely it was just such a fun experience. i love talking to people!!!! i love having fun!!!!! #anyways enjoy the clip besties and have a good day

[bananaofswifts]

By Paul Tingen

From sketches to final mixes, engineer Jonathan Low spent 2020 overseeing Taylor Swift’s hit lockdown albums folklore and evermore.

“I think the theme of a lot of my work nowadays, and especially with these two records, is that everything is getting mixed all the time. I always try to get the songs to sound as finalised as they can be. Obviously that’s hard when you’re not sure yet what all the elements will be. Tracks morph all the time, and yet everything is always moving forwards towards completion in some way. Everything should sound fun and inspiring to listen to all the time.”

Speaking is Jonathan Low, and the two records he refers to are, of course, Taylor Swift’s 2020 albums folklore and evermore, both of which reached number one in the UK and the US. Swift’s main producer and co‑writer on the two albums was the National’s Aaron Dessner, also interviewed in this issue. Low is the engineer, mixer and general right‑hand man at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York, where he and Dessner spent most of 2020 working on folklore and evermore, with Swift in Los Angeles for much of the time.

“In the beginning it did not feel real,” recalls Low. “There was this brand‑new collaboration, and it was amazing how quickly Aaron made these instrumental sketches and Taylor wrote lyrics and melodies to them, which she initially sent to us as iPhone voice memos. During our nightly family dinners in lockdown, Aaron would regularly pull up his phone and say, ‘Listen to this!’ and there would be another voice memo from Taylor with this beautiful song that she had written over a sketch of Aaron’s in a matter of hours. The rate at which it was happening was mind‑blowing. There was constant elevation, inspiration and just wanting to continue the momentum.

“We put her voice memos straight into Pro Tools. They had tons of character, because of the weird phone compression and cutting midrange quality you just would not get when you put someone in front of a pristine recording chain. Plus there was all this bleed. It’s interesting how that dictates the attitude of the vocal and of the song. Even though none of the original voice memos ended up on the albums, they often gave us unexpected hints. These voice memos were such on‑a‑whim things, they were really telling. Taylor had certain phrasings and inflections that we often returned to later on. They became our reference points.”

Sketching Sessions

“The instrumental sketches Aaron makes come into being in different ways,” elaborates Low. “Sometimes they are more fleshed‑out ideas, sometimes they are less formed. But normally Aaron will set himself up in the studio, surrounded by instruments and synths, and he’ll construct a track. Once he feels it makes some kind of sense I’ll come in and take a listen and then we together develop what’s there.

“I don’t call his sketches demos, because while many instruments are added and replaced later on, most of the original parts end up in the final version of the song. We try to get the sketches to a place where they are already very engaging as instrumental tracks. Aaron and I are always obsessively listening, because we constantly want to hear things that feel inspiring and musical, not just a bed of music in the background. It takes longer to create, but in this case also gave Taylor more to latch onto, both emotionally and in terms of musical inspiration. Hearing melodies woven in the music triggered new melodies.”

Not long after Dessner and Low sent each sketch to Swift, they would receive her voice memos in return, and they’d load them into the Pro Tools session of the sketch in question. Dessner and Low then continued to develop the songs, in close collaboration with Swift. “Taylor’s voice memos often came with suggestions for how to edit the sketches: maybe throw in a bridge somewhere, shorten a section, change the chords or arrangement somewhere, and so on. Aaron would have similar ideas, and he then developed the arrangements, often with his brother Bryce, adding or replacing instruments. This happened fast, and became very interactive between us and Taylor, even though we were working remotely. When we added instruments, we were reacting to the way my rough mixes felt at the very beginning. Of course, it was also dictated by how Taylor wrote and sang to the tracks.”

Dessner supplied sketches for nine and produced 10 of folklore’s 16 songs, playing many different types of guitars, keyboards and synths as well as percusion and programmed drums. Instruments that were added later include live strings, drums, trombone, accordion, clarinet, harpsichord and more, with his brother Bryce doing many of the orchestrations. Most overdubs by other musicians were done remotely as well. Throughout, Low was keeping an overview of everything that was going on and mixing the material, so it was as presentable and inspiring as possible.

Mixing folklore

Although Dessner has called folklore an “anti‑pop album”, the world’s number‑one pop mixer Serban Ghenea was drafted in to mix seven tracks, while Low did the remainder.

“It was exciting to have Serban involved,” explains Low, “because he did things I’d never do or be able to do. The way the vocal sits always at the forefront, along with the clarity he gets in his mixes, is remarkable. A great example of this is on the song ‘epiphany’. There is so much beautiful space and the vocal feels effortlessly placed. It was really interesting to hear where he took things, because we were so close to the entire process in every way. Hearing a totally new perspective was eye‑opening and refreshing.

“Throughout the entire process we were trying to maintain the original feel. Sometimes this was hard, because that initial rawness would get lost in large arrangements and additional layering. With revisions of folklore in particular we sometimes were losing the emotional weight from earlier more casual mixes. Because I was always mixing, there was also always the danger of over‑mixing.

“We were trying to get the best of each mix version, and sometimes that meant stepping backwards, and grabbing a piano chain from an earlier mix, or going three versions back to before we added orchestration. There were definitely moments of thinking, ‘Is this going to compete sonically? Is this loud enough?’ We knew we loved the way the songs sounded as we were building them, so we stuck with what we knew. There were times where I tried to keep pushing a mix forward but it didn’t improve the song — ‘cardigan’ is an example of a song where we ended up choosing a very early mix.”

Onward & Upward

folklore was finished and released in July 2020. In a normal world everyone might have gone on to do other things, but without the option of touring, they simply continued writing songs, with Low holding the fort. In September, many of the musicians who played on the album gathered at Long Pond for the shooting of a making‑of documentary, folklore: the long pond studio sessions, which is streamed on Disney+.

The temporary presence of Swift at Long Pond changed the working methods somewhat, as she could work with Dessner in the room, and Low was able record her vocals. After Swift left again, sessions continued until December, when evermore was released, with Dessner producing or co‑producing all tracks, apart from ‘gold rush’ which was co‑written and co‑produced by Swift and Antonoff. Low recorded many of Swift’s vocals for evermore, and mixed the entire album. The lead single ‘willow’ became the biggest hit from the album, reaching number one in the US and number three in the UK.

“Before Taylor came to Long Pond,” remembers Low, “she had always recorded her vocals for folklore remotely in Los Angeles or Nashville. When I recorded, I used a modern Telefunken U47, which is our go‑to vocal mic — we record all the National stuff with that — going straight into the Siemens desk, and then into a Lisson Grove AR‑1 tube compressor, and via a Burl A‑D converter into Pro Tools. Taylor creates and lays down her vocal arrangements very quickly, and it sounds like a finished record in very few takes.”

Devils In The Detail

In his mixes, Low wanted listeners to share his own initial response to these vocal performances. “The element that draws me in is always Taylor’s vocals. The first time I received files with her properly recorded but premixed vocals I was just floored. They sounded great, even with minimal EQ and compression. They were not the way I’m used to hearing her voice in her pop songs, with the vocal soaring and sitting at the very front edge of the soundscape. In these raw performances, I heard so much more intimacy and interaction with the music. It was wonderful to hear her voice with tons of detail and nuances in place: her phrasing, her tonality, her pitch, all very deliberate. We wanted to maintain that. It’s more emotional, and it sounds so much more personal to me. Then there was the music...”

The arrangements on evermore are even more ‘chamber pop’ than on folklore, with instruments like glockenspiel, crotales, flute, French horn, celeste and harmonium in evidence. “As listeners of the National may know, Aaron’s and Bryce’s arrangements can be quite dense. They love lush orchestration, all sorts of percusion, synths and other electronic sounds. The challenge was trying to get them to speak, without getting in the way of the vocals. I want a casual listener to be drawn in by the vocal, but sense that something special is happening in the music as well. At the same time, someone who really is digging in can fully immerse themselves and take in all the beauty deeper in the details of the sound and arrangement. Finding the balance between presenting all the musical elements that were happening in the arrangement and this really beautiful, upfront, real‑sounding vocal was the ticket.

“A particular challenge is that a lot of the detail that Aaron gravitates towards happens in the low mids, which is a very warm part of our hearing spectrum that can quickly become too muddy or too woolly. A lot of the tonal and musical information lives in the low mids, and then the vocal sits more in the midrange and high mids. There’s not too much in the higher frequency range, except the top of the guitars, and some elements like a shaker and the higher buzzy parts of the synths. Maintaining clarity and separation in those often complex arrangements was a major challenge.”

#taylor swift #folklore

[gffa]

THE JEDI AS NATURAL, INSTINCTIVE TEACHERS IS A FUNDAMENTAL TO WHO THEY ARE AT THE CORE.  For @jedijune​‘s theme for Saturday, June 13th: Teaching/Learning

Taking a Closer Look at the Jedi Order in Star Wars Canon [Meta/Reference Guide]: Chapter 3: Teaching Is A Central Theme To The Jedi

Teaching is a central theme to the Jedi:     Obi-Wan:  “You’d make a good teacher.”     Anakin: “No thanks.”     Obi-Wan: “Anakin, teaching is a privilege. And it’s part of a Jedi’s responsibility to help train the next generation.” [Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie]

“Master Yoda said we never stop learning.  Perhaps the Master is meant to be as much a student as the Padawan.  I may not be the teacher that Qui-Gon was.  But I am the one that Anakin has.”  (–Obi-Wan Kenobi, Age of the Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi #1)

Henry Gilroy and Dave Filoni on establishing Yoda as a teacher early on:      Gilroy:  "There were elements that we really wanted to explore, and that was things that were classic to Yoda, as a teacher.  We thought this was a great opportunity to show how the Jedi interact with the clones.  Specifically Yoda in a teaching role, of the clones, who were socially new, who were created to fight, and he really broadened their horizons, and helped them realize there was a great big universe out there that was bigger than just fighting and killing.“      Filoni:  "You see Yoda teaching the clones, much like he taught Luke, ‘cause that was kind of natural for them, a natural instinct to take these clones like their students. And it really allowed Yoda to have a scene that was reminiscent of a scene we both liked growing up, when he was teaching Luke.”       (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “Ambush” commentary)

George Lucas on education (who believes it is the most fundamental issue):      “Plato didn’t teach [in the sense of drilling answers into them] people anything. All he did was ask questions.  The process was asking questions–'Why is the sky blue?’  It was purely a reverse of us feeding you all the information and [instead] teaching the kids how to learn.”       I find this is often the answer for why Yoda or the other Jedi don’t just lecture on the answers re: Force theology, because the narrative believe/creator’s belief is that it’s more important to teach how to ask a question than to drill in an answer.  A direct example is Yoda’s teachings to Ahsoka in “Teach You, I Will” getting her to think for herself and how George Lucas talks in an Empire Strikes Back documentary about Yoda’s bizarre speech patterns being about getting the audience to really stop and think about what the weird little frog man is saying.

JEDI PHILOSOPHY + TEACHINGS:

The Jedi did not see themselves as infallible or that failure was something any of them could avoid, even for their most esteemed Council members:     Depa Billaba:  "We cannot deny, Masters, that I failed you.  Failed you on a massive scale.“     Obi-Wan Kenobi:  "A lack of failure has never been a prerequisite to service, else none of us would be here.  Welcome back to the Council, Master Billaba.”  [Kanan: The Last Padawan]

The Jedi do not see themselves as a source of the light side of the Force, but rather the other way around.  In Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, Jocasta faces off against Vader and says:     “You are [Palpatine’s] tool.  Little better than a droid, set to stamp out the light side of the Force.  But this is impossible.  The Force is eternal.  It cannot be ended, it cannot be stopped, not so long as life exists.“ showing that, even if all the Jedi were dead, they knew that the light would still find its way in the galaxy, because the Force is eternal, the Force is in all life, the light is in all life, so long as that life exists.

“The Jedi can guide.  We can teach.  We can help people to help themselves.  But we are not an army.  If a people are truly determined to write themselves out of existence, there is little we can do.” [Obi-Wan & Anakin]

Questions are shown as natural and a good thing:     “A child, Anakin remains.  His path before coming to us, difficult.  His questions, natural.”  [–Yoda, Obi-Wan & Anakin]     "I have no issues with Anakin.  He is asking questions, as he should be at his age.“ [–Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan & Anakin]

It’s not just younglings that should be asking questions, but everyone:     "Answers, did you find?”     "I did.  And as often is with the Force, more questions.“     "Mmmm.  Good, questions are.  Ask them we must.  Certainty in our understanding, to arrogance it leads.  To the dark side.” [–Yoda, Qui-Gon, Age of the Republic - Qui-Gon Jinn #1]

Questions and determining your own path tend to be a big theme with the Jedi, that everyone must determine what they want for themselves, what they understand the Force has laid out their path to be and whether they want that, like with the above, and when it’s woven into the very decision that Ezra has to make, that Kanan can’t just tell him what to do on this:     “Which way is the right way?     “The wrong question, that is.”     “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. To be honest, I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”     “A better question, that is.”     “Kanan said I was gonna be tested, but he never said what for or why.”     “And your Master tell you everything, must he?”     “Well– No.”     “Your path you must decide.”  [–Ezra and Yoda, Star Wars Rebels, “Path of the Jedi”]

Obi-Wan taught Anakin that things should not be trampled just for acting according to their nature, instead (when they can) use the Force to move them along:       "These beasts are nearly mindless, Anakin.  I can feel it.  They are merely following their nature, they should not die simply because they crossed our path.  Use the Force to send them on their way.”  [Obi-Wan & Anakin]

Henry Gilroy says a similar thing with:     "Obi-Wan truly is a Jedi in that he’s like, ‘Okay, I’m not going to murder these creatures [in the Ryloth arc of The Clone Wars].  They’re starving to death.  They’ve basically been unleashed against these people as a weapon, but it’s not their fault. They’re just doing what they do.  They’re just animals who wanna eat.’  [Aggressive Negotiations Interview]

Ezra says he saw his parents and Kanan tells him what the Jedi teach:      "I saw them, Kanan. My parents. I-- I can't explain how."      "The Jedi teach that life doesn't cease at death, merely changes form in the Force. Your parents are alive inside you, Ezra. They will be. Always."  [Star Wars Rebels, "Legacy"]

JEDI AND THEIR STUDENTS:

A great emphasis is placed on teachers and students working together:  “Yoda cocked his head. ‘Adapt he must as well. Cooperation is learned not through individual effort. Only together can you progress.’” [Master and Apprentice] Yoda also says the bond between a Master and a Padawan is sacred.  [Dooku: Jedi Lost]

Jedi are never really done being students/being tested, even when they become teachers and Masters themselves, that students teach Masters just as Masters teach students, and their tests reflect this:   "But surely I should have been informed if you were testing my Padawan?“     "Who says the lesson was for him?” Bant said, smiling at her old friend.     Obi-Wan’s jaw dropped.  "You were testing me?“     "For both of you, the test was,” Yoda told him.     Mace nodded.  "A reminder that while Padawans must listen to their masters…“   "Teachers must also listen to their pupils,” Bant concluded.  [Choose Your Destiny:  Obi-Wan & Anakin]

“This is why we study.  Why we learn.  Skill is the child of patience.“  [Obi-Wan & Anakin]

"Your mission was never about [bringing back] the book.  It was about everything you did to find it.  All the challenges you had to face along the way.  And you overcame them all.”  "It was a test.“  "It was a journey, the next step in your training, and you succeeded in every way that mattered.” (–Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, Star Wars Adventures #20)

EARLY JEDI TEACHINGS/JEDI PHILOSOPHY 101:

As an overview of what Jedi teach as the early and foundational lessons, across multiple media, we see that meditation and self-reflection are just as important as bonding with their sacred crystal and practicing with their lightsaber, which then also connects with how so much of the early teachings Kanan gives Ezra when they're just starting are just as much/more focused on connection and understanding of self.  (As detailed below this!)  [Age of the Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi + Kanan: The Last Padawan + Obi-Wan & Anakin]

One of the very first training sessions we see Kanan giving to Ezra–and thus informing our understanding of the foundations of Jedi teachings–is to have Ezra doing a handstand and tells him to, “Focus.  Focus on letting go.”  Eventually, trying to toss objects at him to get him into letting the Force move through him, hear its whispers instead of shouting at it.  Before Kanan brings out his lightsaber to practice with, he wants Ezra to first mentally focus.  [Star Wars Rebels, “Rise of the Old Masters”]

Another one of the earliest lessons Kanan teaches Ezra, putting it as one of the foundations of Jedi teachings is how they're connected to other beings:     “Step outside of yourself. Make a connection with another being.” as he teaches Ezra to connect with a loth-cat.       “I just don’t see the point of this.”     “The point is that you’re not alone. You’re connected to every living thing in the universe.”  [Star Wars Rebels, “Empire Day”]

When Kanan first starts training Ezra, he repeats Yoda’s saying of, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  When Ezra questions it, Kanan says that he really doesn’t understand it, either.  By the end of the episode, after Kanan realizes Luminara can’t train Ezra, that he has to commit to Ezra instead of half-assing this, he says:     "I– Ezra. I’m not gonna try to teach you anymore. If all I do is try, that means I don’t truly believe I can succeed. So from now on, I will teach you.“  [Star Wars Rebels, “Rise of the Old Masters”]

Another early lesson is that Ezra must be honest with himself to advance as a Jedi:     “Ezra, you’ll never advance as a Jedi if you can’t be honest with yourself, at least.”     “What’s that supposed to mean?”     “It means Tseebo matters to you. You do care what happens to him.” [Star Wars Rebels, “Gathering Forces”]

Which is then reaffirmed later in that same episode:     “I got news for you, kid. Everyone’s afraid, but admitting it as you just did makes you braver than most, and it’s a step forward.” [–Kanan Jarrus, Star Wars Rebels, “Gathering Forces”]

Ezra has trouble moving forward in the first season because discipline and focus are fundamental to being a Jedi:     “But you said I was a Jedi. Why else would you be training me?”     “I never said you were a Jedi. I said you had the potential to become one. But you lack discipline, focus.” [Star Wars Rebels, “Path of the Jedi”]

JEDI CULTURE:

Jedi younglings (at least the diurnal ones) wake at dawn to meditate on the three pillars–the Force, Knowledge, and Self-Discipline.  Then they go to the refectory for lunch, where Dooku always likes to sit next to Sifo-Dyas. [Dooku: Jedi Lost]

The Jedi have a strong aesthetic that echoes the deepest parts of the Force–all circles and lines.  Time and the Force and the Jedi are all connected circles and arcing lines.

“You must not grow too attached, too fond, too in love with life as it is now.  The emotions are valuable and should not be suppressed… but you must learn to rule them, Padawan, lest they rule you.“  (Kanan: The Last Padawan)

“This man is perverting our sacred teachings to prey upon a vulnerable people.  I can think of little my tongue could say better than my saber in this instance.”      “Dissolve your hostility, Padawan.  Channel your frustrations into an appropriate emotion.  Violence, as always, is a last resort.”      “Of course.  Apologies, Master.”      “A fire burns inside of you, Padawn.  That, in itself, is not inherently wrong.  It is my job to help you temper it.” [Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu]

JEDI AND FACING THE DARK SIDE:

“The fact that everything must change and that things come and go through [Anakin’s] life and that he can’t hold onto things, which is a basic Jedi philosophy that he isn’t willing to accept emotionally.”  (George Lucas, Attack of the Clones commentary)

The Jedi test from the Rebels episode “Path of the Jedi” novelization on facing their fears/the dark side within them:      "This test was not designed solely for the apprentice.  It was also a test for the master, for facing one’s fears was a lifelong struggle.” (Ezra’s Duel with Danger)

The test is specifically designed by the Jedi–as is the same test on Ilum for the Jedi younglings that they all had to face–to face their fears, because it didn’t just happen one time, it was something they faced all their lives, younglings and Knights and Masters, all of them.  This is why Ezra has to face it in Rebels, why Luke has to face it on Dagobah, why Rey has to face it on Ahch-To, the Jedi have always had to face the darkness within themselves and work beyond it.

Kanan also says it plainly as they enter the Temple:        “In here, you’ll have to face your worst fears and overcome them.” It’s pretty obvious that’s what happening when the Temple shows him a vision of the Grand Inquisitor killing Kanan and Ezra has to pick himself back up, admit what he’s feeling so he can face the fears again, and understand that he has to let them go and then it cannot hurt him here, the Grand Inquisitor’s blade passes right through him.  It’s then Yoda’s voice calls to him and we see that Ezra letting go of those fears allow him to move forward:      “Big fears have you faced, young one.”      “Yes.”      “Hmm. For what lies ahead, ready are you?”      “I am.”      “Come. See more clearly what you could not see before.” [Star Wars Rebels, “Path of the Jedi”]

When Cal is struggling with facing his fears and needs to create a new lightsaber, Cere gives him a pep talk and they head off to Ilum, where she tells him:  “You will be tested.  I don’t mean just here [on Ilum].  Every Jedi faces the dark side.  And it’s very easy to fail.  We will always struggle.  But that is the test.  It’s the choice to keep fighting that makes us who we are."  [–Cere Junda, Jedi: Fallen Order]

THE THEME OF GEORGE LUCAS’ MOVIES:

George Lucas says, “All of my movies are about one thing.  Which is the fact that the only prison you’re in is the prison of your mind.  And if you decide to open the door and get out, you can.  There’s nothing stopping you.“ –George Lucas (American Voices, 2015)

Which is reflected in the teachings of the Jedi, which further shows they’re in line with the narrative intentions of Star Wars:   Petro:  “You-you said we would be trapped.”   Yoda:  “Not by the cave you were but by your mind. Lessons, you have learned. Find courage, you did. Hope, patience Trust, confidence, and selflessness.” (The Clone Wars, “The Gathering”)

#jedi order #jedi june #obi wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #mace windu #ahsoka tano #luke skywalker #george lucas #meta #long post

[tiesandtea]

Simon Gilbert

Simon Says

We interviewed Simon Gilbert, Suede’s drummer, whose book So Young: Suede 1991-1993 is a journal and photographic document of the band’s early years that will be published October 8th. So Young has foreword by journalist Stuart Maconie and a vibrant, lively text by Simon himself, documenting his move from Stratford-on-Avon, his hometown, to London, the audition with Suede, life in the van, the early success years and the many amusing things that come with it. It is one of those rare books that make an outsider feel like they were there, in the van. Or in absurd mansions in L.A. belonging to industry types. Or was it record producer(s)?…

The conversation extended to Coming Up, Suede’s third album that turned 25 this year and drumming. Simon’s witty, often, one-liners contrast with my more elaborate questions, proving an interesting insight into our way of writing/replying.

by Raquel Pinheiro

So Young: Suede 1991-1993

What made you want to realease So Young?

I was searching through my archives when researching for the insatiable ones movies and found lots of old negatives and my diaries. They had to be seen.

When and why did you start your Suede archives?

As you can see from the book, it stared from the very first audition day.

From the concept idea to publishing how long did it took you to put So Young together?

30 years … I’ve always wanted to make a book since I was first in a band.

What was your selection process for which items – diary entries, photos, etc.- would be part of the book?

I wanted to form a story visually with a few bits of info thrown in here and there, also most of the photos tie in with pages from the diaries.

Which methods, storage, preservation, maintenance, if at all, do you employ to keep the various materials in your archives in good shape?

Boxes in an attic … one thing about getting the book out is that I don’t have to worry about the photos getting lost forever. It’s out there in a book!

Other than medium what differences existed between selecting material for The Insatiable Ones documentary and for So Young?

Video and photos … photos don’t translate well on a TV screen.

Do you prefer still or motion pictures and why?

I prefer photos … they capture a particular moment in time … as video does, but there’s a unique atmosphere with a photo.

So Young’s cover photo has a very Caravaggio and ballet feeling to it. Its chiaroscuro also contrasts with the images inside.  Why did you choose it for the cover?

It was a striking shot and I wanted the book to be black and dark …it fitted perfectly.

How many of the photos on So Young were taken by you?

Probably about 3/4 my 3 school friends who were there with me at the beginning Iain, Kathy and Phillip took a load of us onstage, backstage, after  the gig, etc., photos I couldn’t take myself.

So Young can be placed alongside books like Henry Rollins’ Get in The Van and Michael Azerrad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life, that not only chronicle and show the less glamorous, more mundane side of being in a band, but also totally immerse the reader so deep in it that we are there, feeling and going through the same things. Was your selection of materials meant to convey that “band being your(our) life” sensation?

Yes, exactly that. I was fascinated by photos of bands, not on the front cover of a magazine or on TV. The other bits of being in a band are far more interesting.

In the foreword, Stuart Maconie mentions the brevity of your diary entries which, as someone who keeps diaries, I immediately noticed. Do you prefer to tell and record a story and events with images?

I haven’t kept a diary since the end of 1993 … looking back on them they can be a bit cringeful … So, yes, I prefer images.

Contrasting with the diary entries brevity your text  that accompanies So Young is lively, witty, detailed and a good description of the struggles of a coming of age, heading towards success, band. Do you think the text and images reveal too much into what it really is like being in a band, destroying the myth a bit?

I think the myth of being in a band is long gone … Reality is the new myth…

In So Young you write that when you first heard Never Mind The Bollocks by The Sex Pistols music was to be your “future dream”. How has the dream been so far?

Still dreaming … lose your dreams and you will lose your mind … like Jagger said.

Is there a reason why So Young only runs from 1991 to 1993?

Yes, I bought a video camera in 1993. It was so much easier filming everything rather than take a photo, wait 3 weeks to get it developed and find out it was blurred.

So Young has a limited deluxe numbered and signed edition already sold out. The non deluxe edition also seems to be heading the same way. How important is it for you to keep a close relationship with the fans?

So important. I love interacting with the fans and is so easy these days … I had to write replies by hand and post them out in 1993…

Playing Live Again & Coming Up

Before Suede’s concert at Qstock Festival in Oulu, Finland on 31.07.2021 you wrote on your social media “cant fucking wait dosnt come close!!!!!” and Mat [Osman, Suede’s bassist] on his “An honest-to-goodness rehearsal for an honest-to-goodness show. Finally”. How did it feel like going back to play live?

It was great. Heathrow was empty which was amazing. A bit strange to play for the first time after 2 years …., but great to get out again.

Coming Up was released 25 years ago. How does the record sound and seems to you now compared with by then?

I haven’t listened to it for a long time actually … love playing that album live … some great drumming.

Before the release of Coming Up fans and the press were wondering if Suede would be able to pull it off. What was your reaction when you first heard the new songs and realize the album was going in quite a different direction than Dog Man Star?

Far too long ago to remember.

Coming Up become a classic album. It even has its own Classical Albums documentary. Could you see the album becoming a classic by then?

I think so yes .. there was always something to me very special about that album.

Is it different to play Coming Up songs after Suede’s return? Is there a special approach to concerts in which a single album is played?

No … didn’t even need to listen to the songs before we first rehearsed … They’re lodged in my brain.

Which is your Coming Up era favourite song as a listener and which one do you prefer as a drummer?

The Chemistry Between Us.

Will the Coming Up shows consist only of the album or will B-sides be played as well?

Definitely some B-sides and some other stuff too.

Simon & Drumming

If you weren’t a drummer how would your version of “being the bloke singing at the front” be like?

Damned awful … I auditioned as a singer once, before I started drumming … It was awful!

In his book Stephen Morris says that all it takes to be a drummer is a flat surface and know how to count. Do you agree?

No.

Then, what makes a good drummer?

Being in the right band.

Topper Headon of the Clash is one of your role models. Who are the others?

He is, yes … fantastic drummer.

Charlie Watts is the other great …and Rat Scabies … superb.

She opens with drums so does Introducing the band. Your drumming gives the band a distinctive sound. How integral to Suede’s sound are the drums?

Well, what can I say … VERY!

Do you prefer songs that are driven by the drums or songs in which the drums are more in the background?

Bit of both actually … I love in your face stuff like She, Filmstar …, but ikewise, playing softer stuff is very satisfying too.

You’re not a songwriter. How much freedom and input do you have regarding drum parts?

If the songs needs it, I’ll change it.

Do you prefer blankets, towels or a pillow inside the bass drum?

Pillows.

Do you use gaffer tape when recording? If so, just on the snare drum or also on the toms? What about live?

Lots of the stuff … gaffer tape has been my friend both live and in the studio for 30 years.

What is the depth of your standard snare drum and why?

Just got a lovely 7-inch Bog wood snare from Repercussion Drums … sounds amazing. It is a 5000 year old Bog wood snare.

Standard, mallets, rods or brushes?

Standard. I hate mallets and rods are always breaking after one song. Brushes are the worst …no control.

How many drum kits have you owned? Of those, which is your favourite?

5 … my fave is my DW purple.

How long to you manage without playing? Do you play air drums?

7 years 2003 – 2010 … and never.

Can you still assemble and tune your drum kit?

Assemble, yes …tune no …have never been any good at that.

You dislike digital/electronic drum kits, but used one during the pandemic. Did you become more found of them?

Still hate them … unfortunately,  they are a necessary evil.

When you first joined Suede you replaced a drum machine. Would it be fair to say you didn’t mind taking its job?

Fuck him!

Brett [Anderson, Suede’s singer] as described the new album as “nasty, brutish and short”. How does that translates drums wise?

Very nasty brutish and short.

When researching for the interview I come across the statement below on a forum: “If you’re in a band and you’re thinking about how to go about this, get every player to come up with their own track list & have a listening party. I’ve done this, not only is it great fun, it’s also massively insightful when it comes to finding out what actually is going on inside the drummer’s head!”. What actually is going on inside the drummer’s head?

Where’s my fucking lighter!

And what is going on inside the drummer as a documentarist head? How does Simon, the drummer, differs from Simon, the keen observer of his own band, bandmates, fans, himself, etc.?

There is no difference … I’m Simon here there and everywhere…

What would the 16 years old Simon who come to London think of current Simon? What advice would you give to your younger self?

Don’t smoke so much you fool!

#simon gilbert #suede #so young book

[dailytomlinson]

When reflecting on music’s most influential artists, critics tend to use statistics to measure their legacy—whether it’s a band reaching #1 on the charts, multiple sold-out tours, or albums that represent a generation. Those types of accolades and praise are for bands that, typically, exist within rock with a predominantly sizeable male fanbase, like The Rolling Stones or The Beatles. For English-Irish boyband One Direction, who actually broke one of The Beatles biggest achievements by having five Top 10 debut tracks on the Hot 100 compared to The Beatles’ four, have sold out multiple tours and delivered five albums five years in a row, they have not been regarded as much of an influential force in the music industry as they should be.

Today—on July 23rd 2020—the band celebrates ten years since they first became a band, even if five years of that time was during a prolonged indefinite hiatus while each of the members pursued solo ventures. A decade marks ten years of One Direction and, for the fans, ten years of an impactful legacy the band, both together and apart, has had on their lives.

After being thrown together on The X-Factor back in July 2010, the band did more in five years than most bands do in their entire careers; they released five albums and sold more than 6.49 million copies in just America alone, filmed one concert documentary and one tour film, completed multiple world tours, and pursued philanthropic ventures. All of those things didn’t come without a price, though. Zayn Malik left the band in 2014 due to his mental health suffering. The band toured consistently every year with hardly ever having any personal time off, and add in an album release a year, they were extremely overworked.

There’s a belief boy bands have an expiry date, and it’s likely their management felt they needed to get as much out of the band while they believed they were still relevant. It’s likely that fans would’ve stuck around if the members took time between their albums and tours. In 2015, when the hiatus began, people wondered if One Direction really could ever come back and, if they did, would fans still really care about them?

“One Direction was one of the biggest and most successful bands,” said @TheHarryNews, a Twitter fan update account. “They achieved amazing things in the five years they were together, despite being overworked by putting out albums and touring every year, which isn’t normal.”

One specific thread that ties together every fans’ thoughts when they reflect on why they decided to become fans of the boys in the first place is the carefree and loving rapport the band has with one another. We’ve all seen The X Factor video diaries, laughed over their banter during interviews, and watched every live performance they did to look out for cute interactions between our favourite members. In their own unique way, One Direction helped defy traits typically associated with toxic masculinity; they didn’t shy away from their affection for one another and made that known in interviews and concerts. Their friendship set them apart, made them more real, and through them, we made friendships of our own.

When someone seeks out new friends, they go to where they feel safest: the communities of people who love the same things as they do. Social media not only propelled the band to international audiences, but it also helped many fans meet the people they now call their lifelong friends. “They have impacted my life in ways I never thought a ‘boyband’ could,” said Lauren, a fan from Buffalo, NY. “They gave me the best friends I could ever ask for, helped me when I was lost and thought I had no one. They ultimately helped me find myself.”

Social media did more than just help us make friends. It was also a major catalyst for the band’s success, and a large part is due to update accounts on Twitter that were created by fans, for fans. Fan-created update accounts would document every single movement and moment made by the band’s five members, whether it was live-streaming a concert or updating fans on the band’s whereabouts. For @With1DNews, a UK/Canada-based update account, it’s a labour of true love for the band that “glued them together” in the first place. “We found each other through our 1D fan accounts on Twitter,” they said. “We started talking about the boys, then our lives, and quickly became great friends.”

Even though they started the account after the hiatus already began, they still felt like fans needed One Direction news. “We had noticed there weren’t really any active 1D update accounts left and we knew a lot of fellow 1D fans were still interested in seeing news about the boys’ careers and lives. It was also because we missed seeing 1D together and hearing about them together. We thought, why not create this space that connects them even if they’re now all going their own way.”

Update accounts take as much time, effort, and energy as an unpaid second job; it requires those who run them to schedule themselves accordingly to cover certain times of each day to ensure their fellow fans get updated in a timely manner, and they do as much fact-checking and researching that any other traditional news outlet does.

Even if some critics might not consider One Direction an influential force in the music industry, the impact they continue to have on their fans is what has set them apart from every other musical act. In a scene in One Direction’s concert documentary, This Is Us, a fan breathlessly states “I know they love me, even if they don’t know me.” This type of parasocial relationship to a band is something not many understand; it’s a sense of intimacy that doesn’t require either party to actually deeply know one another on a personal level but is still as meaningful and significant as actual relationships.

A connection with the band is even more prevalent for Amy, a Los Angeles based writer and mum of two, because of the impact the band has had on her family is something that isn’t tangible but has been detrimental to her children’s development. “I have a child with physical and neurological disabilities who, prior to One Direction, was completely non-verbal and really struggling to find motivation and happiness amongst all the doctors and therapy appointments,” stated Amy. “They have done more for her development, including indirectly teaching her to speak and sing, than any therapy she’s ever done. Up until we found the boys, everything was trial and error; trying to find what makes sense to her and would, in turn, make the world make sense to her. Who knew the key would be a ‘silly’ boy band?”

Many fans have expressed that the band is their happy place – the only positive light in their life when things got tough. For so many, the band came at a time when they desperately needed something to help them through difficult situations whether that be pressure from school, jobs, peers, or life in general. Watching the ‘Best Song Ever’ music video, or a funny interview felt like a cure to smile and laugh after a long day. “They were what we turned to when we felt overwhelmed in our own lives. Now, we’re adults, and they still bring us as much happiness as they did when we were younger,” says @With1DNews.

Not only that, but the band has also helped fans gain more confidence in themselves. By helping create a space and community for them, fans who may have felt lonely, different, or struggled to find a place they belonged had somewhere to go now. They made friends who accepted them, endless content that felt like a burst of serotonin, and a band of boys who told them through lyrics how great and valuable they are, songs like ‘Through the Dark’, ‘Diana’, and ‘Little Things’. Through the band, One Direction fans created their own safe space to work out and navigate their own identity; a space that is free from outside shame where they could be whoever they wanted to be because the people they loved the most accepted them for exactly who they are.

Despite the safety found in those spaces, others have given those fans different descriptions: Hysterical. Rabid. Extra. ‘Screamers.’ Those are just a few of the many words that have been used to describe female fans of boy bands, both past and present. Although these words carry negative connotations, they imply something more powerful than any naysayer could understand or try to define: the sheer force that comes with unashamedly loving something so deeply, you don’t really care about anyone else’s opinions.

Young female fans are the most supportive, passionate fanbase an artist can have, yet they are the most trivialized and ridiculed both within and outside of the music industry. At the start of their career, music’s most beloved band The Beatles was a boy band that catapulted into fame because of, not despite, their female fans. It wasn’t until male fans noticed the band’s progression into an experimental sound when they decided to embrace the band and deem them worthy of their support after they began playing ‘real’ music.

Even if there are major similarities between The Beatles and One Direction, the latter is still regarded by many to be a manufactured pop boy band with a ‘teenybopper’ fanbase. The members of the band have consistently embraced and validated their predominantly female fanbase; Harry Styles has been consistently vocal about this matter, going so far as to say “Teenage-girl fans — they don’t lie. If they like you, they’re there. They don’t act ‘too cool.’ They like you, and they tell you.”

In ‘Girl Almighty’, the fifth track on their fourth album, Four, the band addressed the way their fans have been misjudged and labelled ‘crazy’ because of their passion and not only applauded them for their dedication and love, but bowed down to them as well; “Let’s have another toast to the girl almighty […] I get down on my knees for you.” Not only has One Direction always known who helped them get to where they are today, but they’ve also never shied away from declaring their respect for them, constantly validating their fans’ feelings.

For One Direction’s fans, a decade of the band’s formation represents ten years of a legacy that will continue on, even if the band never formally get back together. For Amy, it doesn’t really matter if they got their start on a TV talent show because it’s the fans that made them and set the band apart from every other boyband. “What we all created together feels so untouchable in regards to boy bands of the past and ones to come. I think people will look back in awe and see what we see; we’ve been so incredibly lucky to have witnessed the magic of One Direction.”

They might not be aware of it, but One Direction was incredible at predicting what was to come in their own music; “Who’s gonna be the first to say goodbye?” / “But it’s not the end, I’ll see your face again” / “We had some good times, didn’t we? We wore our hearts out on our sleeve” / “We could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen.” In ‘Best Song Ever’, a song that ordinary listeners would not exactly consider overly sentimental or profound, there is one lyric that will always stand out for the fans to represent One Direction’s legacy perfectly: “I hope you’ll remember how we danced.” Ten years later, we haven’t forgotten.

#tmrw magazine #230720 #10years1d #press

[cantquitu]

I became a fan in early 2019 & the 2017 RS feature was smth I really loved (actually still one of my faves). As such I missed any fan reactions to it. You said some fans probably found the music journalism style jarring & that he didn't present the 1D image anymore. Can you maybe explain more about both of that? I always try to imagine what it must have been like to transition from a 1D to a solo fan, bc I came to love all the 1D years I missed as well, but ofc it's such a "in hindsight" view.

Yeah it's hard to imagine now just what a shift there was between 1D and Harry's solo career. But in 1D there was always this big contradiction between the impression of access and availability they presented to their fans (total media blitz, faces on products, social media presence), and the lack of in depth journalistic access.

Even when more "serious", non pop/teen publications such as Rolling Stone (never published at the time), the Guardian, GQ etc did features, they had the same limited, strictly controlled amount of time as everyone else. So they ended up writing speculative think pieces rather than getting any real insight into the boys, which was jarring for the fans.

Interviews were brief and usually either the same friendly, polite rote content as countless interviews before, or absolute carnage with the boys talking over each other. There was very little opportunity for indepth, thoughtful interviewing with any individual member. The most revealing content was generally video content, eg all the Fullwell 73 stuff like their documentaries, and that was also obviously carefully controlled.

So there was an illusion of access and connection to Harry (and the others), but very little real insight. And he became more and more guarded with the press over the years of 1D. The year after 1D broke up he then initiated almost total lockdown - no interviews whatsoever other than Another Man, barely any social media, limited fan interactions.

By the time he emerged aged 23 with Rolling Stone there was quite a gulf between the Harry some fans thought they knew and this Harry. He was talking about music and bands they weren't familiar with; creative collaborators and friends they didn't know (almost unthinkable in 1D days when there was an illusion of familiarity with his surroundings and his circle), and attitudes to privacy and fame he hadn't expressed before.

Of course for many of us who had honed in on Harry specifically and clung to every clue we'd had access to along the way, this wasn't so jarring. In fact it was beyond our wildest dreams! But it was quite the shock for many, and unappealing to some (let's not even mention the conspiracy theorists, who predictably melted down and never recovered)

On top of that there was the fact that many 1D fans just weren't familiar with music journalism or, frankly, much journalism at all outside mainstream entertainment news, gossip sites, teen pop publications and tabloids. I know that sounds really snooty and I don't mean it to be, but it's true. A lot of fans were very young - kids - when they got into 1D, and the band was their gateway into music fandom. They grew up in an era when print journalism was truly on its last legs and the journalism they consumed was bite-sized and brief. So Rolling Stone was the first lengthy music feature they'd read (again I say *many* fans, not all). It blew their minds! They didn't know what to make of it. Why was this Crowe guy inserting all his own opinions?! Did Harry actually say that or is Crowe just implying he did??! Did Harry approve this??!

It was wild :)

[taekooktimeline]

I wanna share this thoughts, so last year bts finally appeared at Tokopedia show right? Mostly just interview. But the host didn't share any after pics and off stage story with them on his YT channel, he did that with other artists. And when asked why, he said he had signed agreement to not reveal anything except the official release. So BH is very careful abt everything, even in a harmless and controlled environment like this interview which obviously had scripts and guidelines 1/2

Kayla: Hi Thanks for bringing up tokopedia. So I will say two things in general 1. I am not entirely sure about all other companies but I imagine most companies are careful or have some form of NDA (may not for everything but some shows) when they go on variety shows or such because it’s better safe than sorry and if someone films something without the permission of BTS or BH then it would require legal action 2. BTS has actually also stopped attending variety shows and such for awhile now because they were not comfortable with how hosts and certain pockets of the public treated BTS (especially in their earlier years, there are a couple videos on YouTube that highlights this mistreatment, it’s really sad though so watch at your own risk). That’s why they created RUN and do things like the NYE shows, or how BTS stopped attending an award show all together because of their treatment.

However, on the topic of documentaries and just BTS content in general I think that this is something important to bring up. As fans, we only get to smidge of their lives. We personally get to see a lot more than a lot of other groups. It’s actually really interesting from an academic perspective, South Korea is considered one of the most technologically connected OECD countries, yet KPOP idols had never fully utilized social media and such to their advantage. And I don’t mean posting some MVs but BH created Bangtan TV, filmed Bangtan Bombs, a twitter account to interact with their fans, and then they had weverse as well. They really [almost established] this new form of interaction between the fans and the idols, because social media makes everyone psychologically feel like they’re more connected because we are—we see them backstage, see them at shoots, they talk to us through the camera, etc.

They are a lot more connected to their fans, however, it’s still important to recognize that we still only see a portion of life on the screen. They have down time, private time, family time, and couple time like any other people. That’s normal. They’re human. So we should think that just because they do something or don’t do something that we’ve seen the full story—there is a lot that goes behind the scenes. There are plenty of moments that we might have seen or not have seen. I think this is something that’s important to recognize. We don’t know everything. Even us, who have made this TL, there are parts where we don’t know everything and we have to say that this is an educated guess/speculation based on their previous actions or what they have said/or didn’t say. But we can’t know for sure.

I will agree though. BTS are super private about their private life. As they should be, the celebrity life can be incredibly invasive, let alone KPOP idol life.

————

Sara: I’m glad BH is taking those actions to give BTS some sense of privacy and comfort. I guess they are at a stage in their career where they can decline all that extra promo & over-coverage. I wonder if they’d do the same even without taekook in the picture. But yes, it goes to show that they are very careful with what they let the public know about. Everything you see is carefully controlled and fits the plan, their crafted image.

// Sara’s *New* general disclaimer: a lot of my mental energy & free time goes into reviewing, researching, analyzing and theorizing to reach solid conclusions for the actual timeline - which is always susceptible to modifications. I’ll do the bare minimum when it comes to asks and interacting with readers because it’s too much for me, so I’ll let Kayla set the pace of this section & I’ll add quick thoughts. If we didn’t have a timeline to work on I’d love to spend time properly discussing with you all but I’d rather hear you out, select topics of interest and tackle them through periodic videos, posts or timeline additions, making sure to feel confident about my take on things because I’m normally an extreme overthinker and I don’t feel comfortable talking without enough caution. Asks don’t really allow me time to mull so I’ll keep them short - unless I’m inspired to rant. I personally get overwhelmed with interactions and easily shut down. We are all different. Sorry if that disappoints some of you. Hope you remember that - behind the scenes - I’m very much dedicated to the timeline and it occupies a lot of my time + I’m trying to focus on protecting it’s integrity instead of stressing and preoccupying my mind trying to cover more than what I’m personally able to based on MY circumstances and way of functioning. So yes, I’ll prioritize the actual timeline and my mental health but I’ll make an act of presence. //

#taekooktimeline #asks #discussions

[salmankhanholics]

★I  would love to direct 'Dabangg 4', will plan it when Salman is free from his commitments', shares Arbaaz Khan!

July 27, 2021 

What’s happening on Dabangg 4? Yes, Dabangg 4 is in the pipeline. Salman and I have discussed it. Sometimes we both ideate on our own– like if he is already thinking of something and so have I. Then we both sit and decide how much we can incorporate each other’s ideas and then once we have a basic idea of what we want to do, the writer comes on board and we give him time to write it. Then he comes back, we make some changes. If a director is on board, he gives his inputs and how he would see it. That’s how it works so it’s a very combined effort as to how things go. Dabangg 2 directed by you was the second-highest grosser of the year after Ek Tha Tiger. Any chance of you directing the fourth part? I would love to direct it but let’s see. Right now, there is so much backlog of his (Salman) films, people who have met Salman and discussed subjects with him and he may have made certain commitments to. We will think about Dabangg 4 and plan it when Salman is free from his commitments. Why didn’t you have Salman Khan in the first season ofPinch? It was a tactical decision. If it went to Season 2 which it did, it was important that I don’t exhaust most of the stars. If I could pull off the show without him in the first season, there would always be that curiosity when Salman will appear in it. Pinch Season 1 became more worthy when we had some good A-List celebs and I proved myself as a talk show host and even though it was a social media show with tricky questions, I had no controversy, like other chat shows, which was amazing.

It’s a new side to Salman they saw again… True. People have seen Salman for 30 years and yet that interview gave them something new and interesting. I was fortunate being his brother but also, to some extent I have proved myself as a conversationalist. Stars on my show are open and candid with their replies, because we are mindful of the fact that we don’t corner an artist or make the questions malicious. I know where and how I can manage to push or stop a topic further. Even if my team wants me to ask, I let it go as the star will stop enjoying the interview. I ease them into answering these questions in a light-hearted, fun way. I will never put a colleague of mine in a tight spot for someone else’s amusement.

Tell us something about the Salim-Javed documentary Angry Young Men that you, Sohail, and Salman are producing along with Zoya and Farhan Akhtar? My original plan was to make a small documentary on dad for our kids, like a home video, so that later on they should know who their Dadaji or Nanaji was. But now, Angry Young Men will cover that aspect in a more professional manner. Maybe later I may do a home documentary on him on a more personal note. Excel Entertainment is looking into the execution side of it and creative inputs will come from both our sides. Salim-Javed has interacted with so many people from the film industry, including other producers, directors, actors so there are lots that they will talk about. Each of them will have their children, spouses to talk to so everybody will have their own inputs in it so, I am sure our mom, Salman, me, Sohail, Alvira, Arpita – each of us will also have their take on what they thought of these gentlemen personally and professionally. Any chance that we get to see the three get together in a film as you are all too funny! It’s possible but nothing as of now. Someday in the future when a good script comes along which is right for all of us, we may do it together. I look forward to that and am excited about doing a film with Salman, Sohail and me. Years ago, there was talk of David Dhawan remaking Amar Akbar Anthony with the three of us, but that didn’t materialise.

#salman khan #arbaaz khan #iv #d4 #dabangg 4

[tswiftdaily]

In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late-October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became -- as it often does -- an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello -- the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in -- I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop -- hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 -- reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation -- which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West -- as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family -- there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” -- 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year -- starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to -- in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary -- claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights -- and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists -- and make them nonrecoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come -- and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise -- but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year -- like Saturday Night Live and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert -- I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say.

That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time recalibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way -- on your Tumblr page.

Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around -- they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or --

It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue -- like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to?

Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop -- we all have each other’s numbers and text each other -- but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now?

God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally?

From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas.

The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent?

That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so.

“Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in -- if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about?

Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all?

I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists.

I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently -- staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals.

We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about recalibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers.

We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal -- not as a renegotiation ploy -- and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me.

Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take?

I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

Oh, God -- I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but … I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

#taylor swift #interview #billboard #women in music #woman of the decade

[path-of-my-childhood]

Billboard Woman of the Decade Taylor Swift: 'I Do Want My Music to Live On'

By: Jason Lipshutz for Billboard Magazine Date: December 14th issue

In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became - as it often does - an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello - the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in - I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop - hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 - reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation - which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West - as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family - there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” - 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year, starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to - in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary - claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights, and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists - and make them non-recoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come - and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise - but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year - like SNL and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert - I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say. That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time re-calibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way - on your Tumblr page. Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around - they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or... It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue - like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to? Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop - we all have each other’s numbers and text each other - but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now? God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas. The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent? That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so. “Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in - if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about? Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all? I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists. I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently - staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals. We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about re-calibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers. We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal - not as a renegotiation ploy - and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me. Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take? I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time? Oh, God - I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but... I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

Taylor Swift Discusses 'The Man' & 'It's Nice To Have a Friend' In Cover Story Outtakes

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 12th 2019

During her cover story interview for Billboard’s Women In Music issue, Taylor Swift discussed several aspects of her mega-selling seventh studio album Lover, including its creation after a personal “recalibrating” period, her stripped-down performances of its songs and her plans to showcase the full-length live with her Lover Fest shows next year. In two moments from the extended conversation that did not make the print story, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade also touched upon two of the album’s highlights, which double as a pair of the more interesting songs in her discography: “The Man” and “It’s Nice To Have A Friend.” 

“The Man” imagines how Swift’s experience as a person, artist and figure within the music industry would have been different had she been a man, highlighting how much harder women have to work in order to succeed (“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” she sings in the chorus). The song has become a fan favorite since the release of Lover, and Swift recently opened a career-spanning medley with the song at the 2019 American Music Awards.

When asked about “The Man,” Swift pointed out specific double standards that exist in everyday life and explained why she wanted to turn that frustration into a pop single. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “The Man” below:

“It was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that I’ve heard from women in all parts of our industry. And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off we’ll be in a place to call it out when it’s happening. So many of these things are ingrained in even women, these perceptions, and it’s really about re-training your own brain to be less critical of women when we are not criticizing men for the same things. So many things that men do, you know, can be phoned-in that cannot be phoned-in for us. We have to really — God, we have to curate and cater everything, but we have to make it look like an accident. Because if we make a mistake, that’s our fault, but if we strategize so that we won’t make a mistake, we’re calculating.

“There is a bit of a damned-if-we-do, damned-if-we-don’t thing happening in music, and that’s why when I can, like, sit and talk and be like ‘Yeah, this sucks for me too,’ that feels good. When I go online and hear the stories of my fans talking about their experience in the working world, or even at school — the more we talk about it, the better off we’ll be. And I wanted to make it catchy for a reason — so that it would get stuck in people’s heads, [so] they would end up with a song about gender inequality stuck in their heads. And for me, that’s a good day.”

Meanwhile, the penultimate song on Lover, “It’s Nice To Have A Friend,” sounds unlike anything in Swift’s catalog thanks to its elliptical structure, lullaby-like tone and incorporation of steel drums and brass. When asked about the song, Swift talked about experimenting with her songwriting, as well as capturing a different angle of the emotional themes at the heart of Lover. Read Swift’s full thoughts on “It’s Nice To Have A Friend” below:

“It was fun to write a song that was just verses, because my whole body and soul wants to make a chorus — every time I sit down to write a song, I’m like, ‘Okay, chorus time, let’s get the chorus done.’ But with that song, it was more of like a poem, and a story and a vibe and a feeling of... I love metaphors that kind of have more than one meaning, and I think I loved the idea that, on an album called Lover, we all want love, we all want to find somebody to see our sights with and hear things with and experience things with.

“But at the end of the day we’ve been searching for that since we were kids! When you had a friend when you were nine years old, and that friend was all you talked about, and you wanted to have sleepovers and you wanted to walk down the street together and sit there drawing pictures together or be silent together, or be talking all night. We’re just looking for that, but endless sparks, as adults.”

Read the full Taylor Swift cover story here, and click here for more info on Billboard’s 2019 Women In Music event, during which Swift will be presented with the first-ever Woman of the Decade award.

[link to this tweet]

Was there ever a part of you that was like, “Oh shit, I like this darker vibe, let’s go even further down that path?” I really Loved Reputation because it felt like a rock opera, or a musical, doing it live. Doing that stadium show was so fun because it was so theatrical and so exciting to perform that, because it’s really cathartic! But I have to follow whatever direction my life is going in emotionally... The skies were opening up in my life. That’s what happened. But in a way that felt like a pink sky, a pink and purple sky, after a storm, and now it looks even more beautiful because it looked so stormy before. And that’s just like, I couldn't stop writing. I’ve never had an album with 18 songs on it before, and a lot of what I do is based on intuition. So, you know, I try not to overthink it. Who knows, there may be another dark album. I plan on doing lots of experimentation over the course of my career. Who knows? But it was a blast, I really loved it.

I mean, look, a Taylor Swift screamo album? I’ll be first in line. I’m so happy to hear that, because I think you might be the only one. Ha! I have a terrible scream. It’s obnoxious.

Why Taylor Swift's Lover Fest Will Be Her Next Big Step

Billboard // by Jason Lipshutz // December 11th 2019 - [Excerpt]

On why she chose to put together Lover fest: “I haven’t really done festivals in years - not since I was a teenager. That’s something that [the fans] don’t expect from me, so that’s why I wanted to do it. I want to challenge myself with new things and at the same time keep giving my fans something to connect to.”

#taylor swift #interview #billboard #quote #by taylor #lover album #lover era #record deal #woman of the decade #article #music industry #Country Music #Billie Eilish #finneas #marshmello #lover tour #andrew lloyd webber #jason lipshutz #the man #it's nice to have a friend #reputation era #reputation album

[glassprism]

Hi there, earlier in a post you mentioned that you weren't fond of Ramin Karimloo portraying his Phantom as 'autistic' during his performances. I thought his acting in the 25th Anniversary at Royal Albert Hall did not depict this at all, put perhaps his run on the West End was different? When you use the word 'autistic', I tend to think of how the producers forced Norm Lewis to act during Final Lair in his run on Broadway, which was very unlike Norm's original father-figure type Phantom.

Yes, I’ve mentioned multiple times, including in the post that I linked to in that original post, that he toned down that aspect of his Phantom considerably by his run in the RAH production.

I think it’s hard to tell what exactly is directing and what exactly is the actor’s choice, but I tend to lean towards it being Ramin Karimloo’s choice, firstly, because I did not see or hear of other Phantoms during that time playing the Phantom deliberately as autistic, and secondly, because he pretty much says, in multiple interviews, that it was his research and idea and interpretation.

From this interview:

....I researched and approached the role in a way that made sense to me. I wanted to really touch on the Phantom’s back-story as much as possible and really get the audience to see his heart. I did some research on Aspergers Syndrome [a high-functioning form of autism] and the character started to resonate with me – the Phantom’s one-sided social interactions, limited ability to establish relationships (this is also heavily influenced by his social conditioning because of his deformities), pedantic, intense absorption in certain subjects, odd postures, gesticulates and mood swings.

From this article:

Well, if you ask Karimloo, the Phantom's not unpleasant, just misunderstood - for a clinical reason. The actor likes to come up with a backstory for his characters, and he decided that the explanation for the Phantom's behaviour - his brilliance and social awkwardness, his obsession, his inability to fit in with the world - stemmed from Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism.

From this repost of an article:

Ramin Karimloo said he believed the Phantom showed clear signs of the condition, which is a form of autism. Sufferers often have difficulties with communication and social relationships. According to Karimloo, who joined the West End production two years ago, the syndrome would explain the Phantom's eccentric traits, his musical talents and an inability to interact with others which led him to hide away beneath the Paris Opera House.

"I saw a documentary on Asperger's syndrome and it made a lot of sense to me," Karimloo said.

Norm Lewis’s came off different because first, the previous Phantom was very child-like, that being Hugh Panaro, so it made sense the director would want him to emulate such a long-running, popular Phantom (incidentally, this is also why I blame the recent spurt of violent Phantoms on direction, not the actor, because there’s a long history of it happening with many different actors); two, the childish aspect was not well-integrated into the rest of his performance, appearing mostly in one moment in the ‘Final Lair’, which was not the case with Ramin Karimloo, who kept his (rather stereotypical) autistic interpretation throughout all his scenes; and three, people who spoke to Norm Lewis at the stagedoor said that he confirmed that he was directed to do that.

Again, we can’t ever know exactly how much influence direction had the actors, but that’s my reasoning for leaning one way or another.

#Anonymous #GP gets asks

[briesonoflars]

Braylor Masterpost

(Sherlock: The Sign of Three, 2014)

Disclaimer: All media shown on this post is not mine. All Tumblr posts will be credited to their respective owners, unless stated otherwise. The only thing I own is the compilation of the posts and media shown in this masterpost. Please do not repost without credit. 

Intro

In this masterpost I will be cataloguing the coincidences, overlaps, and references present online between the singer Taylor Swift and the actress Brie Larson. Over the past several months, initially beginning with the release of the Captain Marvel film that Brie starred in and ramping up with the release of Taylor’s 7th album Lover, there have been an increasing number of connections and coincidences between the two. At the behest of several other accounts on Tumblr, I decided to compile a masterpost containing as many examples of such coincidences as I could. This is not meant to offend anyone. It is simply an exercise in observation. 

Vocabulary 

Braylor- a “ship” name, a word referring to the friendship and/or relationship between Taylor Swift and Brie Larson (@jennyboom21).

PR- shortened form of public relations. Public relations is the practice of deliberately managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public (Wikipedia). 

Aesthetic- a particular theory or conception of beauty or art: a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses, especially sight (Merriam-Webster). 

Beachella- a phase that Taylor Swift went through back in 2016 where she bleached her blonde hair (Urban Dictionary).

Easter Egg- A hidden item placed in a movie, television show, or otherwise visual media for close watchers (Urban Dictionary)

Old Hollywood- Classical Hollywood cinema, classical Hollywood narrative, the Golden Age of Hollywood, Old Hollywood, and classical continuity are terms used in film criticism which designate both a narrative and visual style of film-making which developed in and characterized American cinema between the 1910s (rapidly after World War I) and the 1960s, and eventually became the most powerful and pervasive style of film-making worldwide. (Wikipedia)

Premises

In this masterpost I will assume that A) both Brie and Taylor are not straight. Whether you want to label them as lesbian, bisexual, or queer is up to you. Additionally, I will assume that B) both Brie and Taylor are either in some form of PR or otherwise non-legitimate relationship with their supposed significant others. This means that they are not dating, engaged, married or otherwise in a relationship with these men

Background

In the upcoming weeks to the release of her first single ME! With Brendon Urie, Taylor began a countdown across her social media platforms, ending on the date of April 26th, 2019. A significant amount of hype was generated around this countdown, and many fans speculated as to what it would mean. Many suspected new music, and were proved right when she released the music video for the song at midnight Central Standard Time.

On the same date, the much anticipated movie Avengers: Endgame was released in theatres nationwide. The film was anticipated greatly by many as it would serve as a conclusion to the events of the previous film, and would signal the end of the six original Avengers’ involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Captain Marvel was released earlier in the spring (March 8th, 2019), detailing the origin story of Captain Carol Danvers, played by Brie. Much of the hype online, specifically in female oriented circles, was generated due to Brie’s involvement in the film. 

On April 5th, 2019, Unicorn Store, which Brie directed and starred in, was released on Netflix after distribution rights were initially held back since the film’s initial release was September 11th, 2017. Fans of both Brie and Taylor’s work were were quick to note the aesthetic similarities between Unicorn Store and the promotional posts, music videos, and styling choices of Taylor during the Lover era. This is where we begin. 

Just to note, the coincidences are listed in no particular order. 

Time 100 Gala 

Both Brie and Taylor attended the Time 100 Gala on April 23rd, 2019. Brie was there to promote Avengers: Endgame and Taylor was there to promote Lover.  Taylor performed there. During her song New Years Day Taylor used female pronouns. During Taylor’s performance, Brie was allegedly sat near Taylor’s friends and family and almost fell out of her chair. Additionally, the pair were seen talking throughout the night, but neither publicly confirmed it. 

Source

Source

Source (@path-of-my-childhood)

The pictures below help confirm that the pair did indeed talk in the previous source. 

Met Gala 2016 

Both Brie and Taylor attended the Gala, but there was no known interaction between the two of them. However, some pictures that surfaced later beg to differ. 

(@jennyboom21)

It’s hard to see what’s going on, I’ll admit. It appears that there is a group of attendees in an elevator. Brie is the figure in the silver dress closest to the man taking the picture. Taylor is behind her, in a similar dress. Her face is much clearer in the mirror reflecting her image. We know this is her because A) this was during her Beachella phase and B) she wore a silver dress that night. 

In addition to this photo, there is a striking similarity between the dresses they both wore that night. Is it possible they might have shared the same styling inspiration?

Source 

(@jennyboom21)

Looking at these photos, it is clear that the two women in silver dresses that were in the elevator were Taylor and Brie. Despite never publicly acknowledging their interaction, it is clear that the two at least shared an elevator that night, and possibly more. 

Alex Greenwald

“In 2013, Greenwald began a relationship with actress Brie Larson. In May 2016, Larson's representative confirmed that the pair were engaged. On January 10, 2019, it was reported that Greenwald and Larson had called off their engagement.” (Wikipedia). 

Some fans have speculated that Greenwald is not straight. This is not a coincidence per se, but it does point to the supposed use of PR strategies involving Brie’s personal life. 

Similar Styles when playing guitar 

Both Brie and Taylor are fond of posting videos of them playing guitar at home. Their attire in such videos is strikingly similar. Below are some videos of both Brie and Taylor singing. 

Issues by Julia Michaels (@briesonoflars)

Pieces of Us by Mark Ronson and King Princess (@briesonoflars)

Dancing with a Stranger by Sam Smith and Normani (@briesonoflars)

Needy by Ariana Grande (@briesonoflars)

God is a Woman by Ariana Grande (@briesonoflars)

King of My Heart by Taylor Swift (via Youtube)

Both dress in a similar way that some fans have noted is not the way that society perceives a straight woman would dress. 

Association with LGBT Individuals 

Brie hosted SNL with Janelle Monae and is good friends with Tessa Tomphson. Not a connection, but goes to show that she is an LGBT+ ally. 

Taylor is a known friend of many LGBT people and supports many LGBT causes. Just look at the You Need to Calm Down video. 

Source (@jennyboom21)

Source (@/brielarsonupdate via Instagram)

Grace Kelly

Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American film actress who after starring in several significant films in the early- to mid-1950s became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956 (Wikipedia).

This is her in the film Rear Window (1954)

Brie wore a Gucci dress to the LACMA Art and Film Gala on November 2nd, 2019. 

Taylor wore a similar dress in the opening sequence of her Me! Music video. 

Brie cosplayed as Grace Kelly for Cinespia during a showing of the film Rear Window. 

Source (@/brielarson)

Both Brie and Taylor’s outfits above are very similar to Grace in Rear Window. Taylor has previously said that she loves Old Hollywood and it often inspires her style. The dresses the pair wore are an obvious nod to Grace’s iconic dress. 

Source

The Archer 

The Archer is a song by Taylor from her most recent album. The song takes the fifth slot on the album, a spot which Taylor reserves for her most emotional songs. Fans have long speculated as to which archer Taylor was referring to, if she referencing a specific one at all. Theories range the character Artemis from Greek Mythology to popular culture with the likes of Katniss Everdeen. The point is, this mysterious archer is significant. 

Brie seems to be incredibly fond of picking up new hobbies, including playing guitar, rock climbing, and most interestingly, archery. Connections were quickly made between a picture posted on Brie’s Instagram story and the message of Taylor’s song. Could Brie be the archer that Taylor sings about?

Styling Choices 

(@/carolmfdanvers via twitter)

Brie attended the LACMA Art and Film Gala on November 2nd, 2019. As shown above, Brie was seen wearing silver cat earrings that had blue eyes. Brie has stated before that she is allergic to cats and does not like them, and reinforced this during her promo for Captain Marvel, because in the film she had a multitude of interactions with a cat, Goose. 

While filming the Me! Music video, there is a scene where Brendon Urie presents Taylor with a small kitten. Taylor later found out that the kitten did not have a home, so she adopted him and named him Benjamin Button, an homage to the story of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

Benjamin is pictured in the post below (@/TaylorSwift via Instagram). Notable features of the cat are a white coat with brown accents, undeniable cuteness, and striking blue eyes. 

Additionally, for a woman who hates cats, she sure does talk about them a lot. She mentioned cats in an interview on Ellen and in an interview with iMDB she mentioned watching a cat documentary. Perhaps someone has slowly begun to change her mind?

Source

Source

Source

“Captain Marvel but of Music”

Taylor Swift is a mentor on NBc’s “The Voice” this upcoming season. In a promotional video, via NBC’s The Voice Instagram account, Blake Shelton, a judge on the show, referred to Taylor as “the Captain Marvel but of Music”. Why didn’t he call her the “Wonder Woman but of music’? Wonder Woman tends to be people’s go to character when referencing female superheroes. Maybe Taylor told him of her love for the Captain?

Source 

(@/ncbthevoice via Instagram)

Halloween 2019

The link below shows both Taylor and Brie retweeting fans dressed in costumes from their various performances on Halloween. Admittedly, many celebrities are known to do this, but the timestamps of the retweets are oddly close. 

Source (@jennyboom21 and the respective owners of the original posts on Twitter)

Vanity Fair Oscars After Party 2016 

At the 2016 Oscars Brie won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Room (2015). She was seen attending the Vanity Fair party afterwards. Taylor, who also attended that evening, was seen at the party as well. The article below, via the online publication Hollywood Life, chronicles an interview in which Brie was asked if she stayed out all night. “When Kelly asked Brie if she stayed out all night, she joked that there was no way she stayed out partying with Taylor and Lorde all night.” The original interview was aired on “Live! With Kelly and Michael” on February 29th, 2016. 

Source 

Source

Kacey Musgraves 

With the release of the Lover album, a multitude of popular artists and celebrities took to social media to express their support for the album. Among them was Kacey Musgraves, a country singer who has made waves in recent years for putting progressive themes in her music. The singer confirmed that she and Taylor were on good terms and promoted the album on her Instagram story. 

Over the summer Brie attended a concert that Musgraves put on. She also covered one of her songs on her Instagram. Six degrees of separation, anyone?

Source

Source 

Source

Taylor’s back in the You Need to Calm Down music video 

This is Taylor’s back in the video. 

(@/TaylorSwift via Instagram) 

This is Taylor’s back in 2017 during a performance promoting Reputation. It was hard to find a picture of her back, other than in the music video (above), but I did the best I could. 

(GQ online publication, August 25th, 2017)

The two photos are different. In the first photo, the muscle is far more developed. There is clear definition is the deltoid, trapezius, and latissimus dorsi. Here is a link to a diagram of the muscles in the back. Now, admiditally she could have beefed up a lot in between when the two photos were taken (she was seen at the WeHo gym recently), and fans have noted a slight healthy weight gain between her previous album cycle and the current one. However, The first photo is very similar to Brie’s back. Brie has been hitting the gym a lot, and easily could have the muscle definition in the first photo. 

Now, here are Brie’s back muscles. 

Both were taken in the Spring promotional tour for Avengers: Endgame. The overall shape of her torso and the muscle definition are much more similar to the first photo than Taylor’s is. This observation is in no way meant to body shame Taylor or Brie. It is simply a comparison of their backs pertaining to the You Need to Calm Down music video. 

Taylor on Avengers: Endgame 

An article from AV Club commented on the countdown on Taylor’s Instagram. They theorized that either she was releasing new music or she was really excited to see Endgame. The site even commented on Captain Marvel’s addition to the Avenger’s squad. 

Taylor appeared on the Ellen show last Spring to promote her new album. Ellen asked her what some of the worst theories were regarding fans guesses about the Easter Eggs she planted. Taylor responded that some fans thought she had something to do with beating Thanos in Endgame. Taylor responds that she had nothing to do with the film, but that she had a song coming out the day of the movie release and she had a song from her album Reputation called Endgame. 

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Source (conversation starts at 7:40)

Emma Stone 

Both Brie and Taylor are good friends with Emma Stone. An idle observer such as myself wonders if they ever hung out together. After all, Hollywood is a notoriously small town.

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Commissioned Art

Brie commissioned artist Carly Jean Andrews to do a piece of art for her house. Andrews stated that Brie told her “just do whatever you want”. The piece is of a blonde woman with bangs who is surrounded by butterflies and flowers. Who is another woman we know that fits such a description? Hmm...

(@/carlyjeanandrews via Instagram)

Source 

The Red Jacket

Both Brie and Taylor were seen wearing a very similar red jacket on separate occasions. Brie wore it to Disneyland and to a meeting at Netflix headquarters. Taylor wore it on an outing when she was papped. It almost seems like it’s the same jacket, because it falls shorter on Taylor than on Brie. This is because Taylor is taller than her. It seems like they are sharing items from their respective closets. 

Silver Earrings

Brie wore some sick earrings while promoting Captain Marvel and Endgame. Who also wore the same exact earrings? Alex Morgan, who is good friends with Taylor. 20 bucks said Alex saw the earrings on Brie, phoned Taylor to ask if she could borrow them. 

Brie’s friends watch the Me! Music Video 

Faye Megan Orlove is a friend of Brie. She is a tarot card reader with the Instagram username @/fayeorlove. During a get together that Brie was at, Faye posted a picture to her Instagram story of them watching the Me! Music video. 

The Rainbow Shirt

Taylor was seen wearing the shirt below at a rehearsal for a Reputation show during Summer of 2018. Brie posted a photo of her in the same shirt. It seems like they dipped into each others closets again, because Brie fills out the shoulders more than Taylor due to her bulking up in the gym. 

USWNT

There has been an ongoing discussion in recent times over the wage gap present between professional male soccer players and professional female soccer players. Many celebrities have joined in on this conversation, especially since the USWNT (United States Women’s National Soccer Team) won the World Cup in the Summer of 2019. Both Brie and Taylor have shown their support for a pay increase for female players via their social media. 

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Samantha McMillen

Brie’s stylist, Samantha McMillen, has dressed her on many events. The outfit that is most interesting in this context is a giant butterfly she wore at the MTV awards. Who else do we know who loves butterflies? Our baby Taylor. The mural she commissioned is proof enough. 

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Ace Comicon

At Ace Comic Con 2019 on October 11th through the 13th, during a panel with Tessa Tomphson, Brie made some interesting comments on Captain Marvel, her heroes, and what fans wanted in future Marvel Films. The comment most important to us came when asked who her heroes were, and Brie responded with “All my heroes are pop stars.” Interesting right? Who is a pop star we all know and love? Taylor Swift. 

In what is seemingly a follow up to this comment, Brie dressed as pop star Brittany Spears this most recent Halloween. 

In addition to the panel, Brie participated in a series of meet and greets and autograph signings. Brie asked one fan what they would like to see her cover in the future. The fan responded “Anything from Lover” to which Brie responded “I’ll see what I can do”. 

Among the stars attending Comic con, was Spiderman actor Tom Holland. In one photo set he was seen wearing a hat from Taylor’s Reputation stadium tour. I wonder who hooked him up with the hat?

(@/TheMarvelReport via Twitter)

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Unicorn Store x Lover Aesthetics 

During the weeks leading up to the drop of Lover, Taylor’s Instagram account transformed into a series of bright pastel colors, flowers, butterflies, and rainbows. A look through her account from February 10th onwards confirms the aesthetic change. 

The theme of Brie’s movie Unicorn Store has a strikingly similar aesthetic. The movie is all about, you guessed it, unicorns. Watching the movie on Netflix is all the confirmation one needs to see that she was all about rainbows, unicorns, and bright colors in the film.

Fans of both Brie and Taylor were quick to note the similarities between their respective aesthetics, even going so far as to suggest that they coordinated their looks so they would be linked in the public eye. Either way, both aesthetics are bright, happy, and remind the viewer of what a Pride Parade looks like. 

Over the summer it seemed as though the two of them were in a race to see who would come out of the closet first. Taylor would do something gay, then Brie, then Taylor again. Unfortunately, neither of them came out. But, one has to wonder if it was a coordinated effort to generate interest in both of their respective projects. 

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Someone Great

“Someone Great is a 2019 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. The film stars Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow and DeWanda Wise. It was released by Netflix on April 19, 2019” (Wikipedia). 

Taylor has stated that this Netflix Original film was the inspiration behind her song Death by a Thousand Cuts. The true muse behind the song is up for debate among skeptics, but it does establish a viewing habit with Taylor. She watched a Netflix Original film, and it impacted her so much that she wrote a song about it. In browsing recommended movies, it is entirely plausible that she would have wandered upon Unicorn Store and decided to watch it. 

The message of the film probably would have resonated with her. In the film, the main character Kit creates art that the general public doesn’t like and is forced to take a desk job to make ends meet. Here she felt like it wasn’t a good fit and she wasn’t truly happy, but was eventually able to find a way that she could express herself through her art. 

This might have resonated with Taylor because she was ridiculed by the general population after a series of songs involving love and breakups, she was forced to stay with Big Machine Records in an attempt to get the rights to her master recordings back, and eventually found a place at the Universal Music Group. The stories are incredibly similar. 

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Pokemon 

Brie is a giant nerd. This is common knowledge. One of the things she geeks out about is Pokemon. In one instance she retweeted a thread on Twitter called “Brie Larson as Pokemon”. In the movie Detective Pikachu, Ryan Reynolds voices the leading character Pikachu. Who is good friends with Ryan? Taylor. So much so that in her Look What You Made Me Do music video she had Ryan and his wife’s names on a shirt of all her real friends on in one scene. 

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Gestures 

It is well known that the more time you spend with someone, the more you pick up their gestures and phrases and incorporate them into your life. Fans have noticed several gestures that both Brie and Taylor do that are similar. Maybe it's because they spend so much time together?

Karlie Kloss 

Brie has hung out with Karlie at several different events over the years. She was in awe of the model and expressed so on her social media. Taylor and Karlie…. I’m not even gonna go there. Go look up a Kaylor masterpost. Chances are if you’re reading this post you already know what they are to each other. But, the model is another link between Brie and Taylor. Perhaps they all hung out and baked cookies together?

Christmas Scenes 

Adorable family Christmas scenes appeared in both the Lover music video and in Captain Marvel. They are shockingly similar. Perhaps they were inspired by a shared Christmas together?

The Green Flannel 

Both Brie and Taylor were seen wearing the same green flannel in videos they posted to their respective social media accounts. Girlfriends sharing clothes again? It seems so. 

Time Post 

Taylor was featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s person of the year issue in 2017. Brie posted a picture of the cover on her Instagram. Obviously, she was voicing her support for the strong women on the cover, but Taylor being on the cover as well is a mighty fine coincidence. 

Haim Sisters

The Haim sisters are good friends of Taylors and could even have been considered a part of her “squad” back in the day. Taylor loves their music and vice versa. 

In 2016 Brie appeared in a Funny or Die skit in which she auditioned to be the fourth member of the Haim sister’s band. Needless to say, her audition was not received well by the sisters, but it was a hilarious video nonetheless. 

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The Arm 

In 2012, Brie appeared in a short film called The Arm. The director, Jessie Ennis, mentioned the co-director of the film, Sarah Ramos, singing  Long Live, by Taylor, to her after they found out the film was entered into the Sundance Film Festival. The  goes on to express their love for Taylor and how they wished she would notice them.

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Additional Information

Captain Marvel is Gay (@dianas-shortgalpal, original video from Rowan Ellis)

Brie Larson supporting Carol Danvers and Valkyrie Ship (@caroldanversenthusiast)

Brie Supports Lesbian Romance for Carol Danvers (@bingobongohaught)

Advice from Costars (@/BrieLarsonHQ via Twitter)

Brie’s iconic statement at Ace ComiCon (@caroldanversenthusiast) 

Conclusion 

If you read this far, thank you so much! Please send in any other coincidences I might have missed. Huge thank you to my fellow Braylor Crackheads @jennyboom21​ @justasupercorpofus​ @kaleidoscopesanddreams 

#braylorpedia #braylor #braylormasterpost #brie larson #taylor swift #mine

[aatgeog2260]

Human Geography Researcher Potential!

It is wild to think that this is the last blog post in this class! When I chose this class for this semester I wasn’t really excited about it - it was just another required course. I’m happy to say that I really appreciated this course and learned so many things as well as met some more people in geography!

These three things I know for certain about human geography research:

1. Human geography research is not just one thing. It is interconnected with so many other types of geography like the ones presented in our last class and more! My favourite part of this course was attending that final class and watching all of the videos about different subtopics under human geography that students in this class created. It helped identify connections and relations as well as how these are relevant in the real world. When combined together, they form this incredible subject of geography. 

2. It is essential! Human geography research provides patterns and connections between people and places which is vital for living today. It helps us understand the world better which can aid the development of moving forward in a positive direction while respecting the past. In the summary of chapter one in the textbook, it states that “human geographers are bringing new and effective approaches to the fundamental questions of societal structures and individual experiences (Hay 2016 p. 26). Human geography will continue to help find answers to these questions about the world we live in.

3. It is a delicate process. All research is a delicate and complex process as there are numerous things to consider and be aware of, but because human geography deals with real people, their lives, culture, religion, families, etc., I know that we need to be so careful to respect and acknowledge others and who they are. Chapter three of the textbook includes a poem by Barabara Nicholson, titled Something There Is… that highlights the necessity of consent and privacy in research. Just because someone is classified as a researcher does not give them the right to invade a person's life (Hay 2016 p. 48). Below is a sketch I did after I read the poem for the first time: (I am not an artist but it was something I did afterwards to reflect upon the reading)

In general, it’s a researcher looking through a magnifying glass at these people who feel exposed from the “research”. 

These three things I am still confused by:

1. Analyzing surveys. This was one of the larger lectures we had live in class and I think I was having a hard time keeping up after we had so many lectures online in which I would pause, rewind and go back. It was my fault that I never went back to the recording to review so I’d still like to clarify this content. I know that if I were to be asked about each data type: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio, I would not be able to explain them all clearly (Hooykaas 2021 Week 5). 

2. The following phrase was used in the week 6 lecture: “Testimony by itself is a relatively weak form of evidence” (Hooykaas 2021 Week 6). I’m unclear with how or why this is. When we watched documentaries in this course I thought this involved testimony and it was used in research. Maybe they are classified more as a case study. So I wonder, what are the differences between a case study and a testimony? Or is a testimony involved within a case study? For example, in week 3 we watched the documentary Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 years produced by VICE. I believe that this was a case study, but within it, Agafia Lykovs shares her story. Is the research incomplete unless you unpack and verify this testimony? 

3. I am a little confused with the concept of triangulation. The week 6 lecture provided this image: 

I am not sure if triangulation means having one of these sections, for example, researchers but having multiple of them, or if it is putting these sections together, for example, both multiple researchers along with multiple theories (Hooykaas 2016 Week 6). I have a feeling it would be the second option, simply because if you have multiple researchers then most likely you would get multiple theories and methods, however, I would like to clarify in order to understand it better.

These three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

I created a word-cloud of things I’ve felt I’ve gained from this course and things that I enjoyed to help me come up with this section of the blog:

1. There is potential! I remember writing my first blog post in this class and describing how I used to really dislike geography and didn’t want anything to do with it. After this class, I know that I have the potential to become a researcher and possibly find it enjoyable! I surprised myself when I enjoyed working on the DSP. It was fun coding information with all of the colours and although it was challenging to go through the information, condense, review, condense some more, etc., it felt so rewarding to show that final product to others and to think that other people could learn valuable information useful in the world based on what you provided to them! I think if I ever did become a researcher I would enjoy participatory action research since it allows people in the community to become “co-researchers and decision-makers in their own right” (Hay 2016 p. 350). This is really important to avoid that idea of invasion of privacy.

2. I learned more about my interests. I used to think the biggest goal in geography was being able to sing this song called Nations of the World: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pOFKmk7ytU 

I thought research in geography was only about analyzing piles of data and I didn’t realize you could bring creative outlooks to it. I enjoyed the poem we read in the textbook, the documentaries we watched, the opportunity of interviewing for the DSP, the creativity with the final DSP videos, etc. I am intrigued by those forms of media to learn more about and analyze/reflect on geographical concepts.

3. I have more appreciation for geography and others. The topics of critical reflexivity and ethical considerations apply to research in human geography of course but it also floods into all aspects of life. It helps consider other people’s backgrounds, lives, privileges or no privileges, and just creates better communication and respectful relationships between people (Hooykaas 2021 Week 2). It’s also worth thinking about whether you’re an insider or an outsider before you interact with different groups so that you can build a good rapport with trust (Hay 2016 p. 40). 

These three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

1. Patience. When working on the DSP, after my group and I had found our resources, I just wanted to dive in and write the script! Then we learned about coding in the week 8 lecture and my group members expressed how they would feel better going through the information quite a few times before writing anything. Of course, this worked extremely well even if it was time-consuming! In the future, I would like to make sure I take the process only one step at a time and make sure I hit every part of the research process in order to create a robust and accurate end result. Once again, this applies not only to human geography research but also the real world. Chapter 18 in the textbooks states that “Being in the world requires us to categorize, sort, prioritize, and interpret social data in all of our interactions”  (Hay 2016 p. 391). There is always room for improvement here so that misinterpretations and miscommunication can be avoided.

2. During the research with the DSP, I had a challenging time determining when my group should move forward and how much research we should gather especially with the course deadlines in mind. I know that you can move forward when you reach a “point of saturation” and concepts begin to be repetitive, however, because I am detail-oriented, I was not great with grouping similar ideas if one tiny thing distinguished them (Hooykaas 2021 Week 9). I would like this to improve so that I have a clearer sense of when enough is enough.

3. I would like to clarify and learn more about the list of three things that still confuse me. It’s good to identify what confuses you and what you are unsure of but it’s even better to then go and clarify those things and understand them so that you develop your understanding and skills even more. I want to fill in those gaps of information so that everything makes a bit more sense.

Final Remark

Overall, I am really glad that I took this class and hope everyone has a great end of the semester! It was nice interacting with everyone through these blogs!

-April 

References

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics and Research Design.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 3: Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 5: Literature Review.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 6: Data Collection - Interviews, Oral Histories, Focus Groups.

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 9: Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims Presenting Findings.

Nicholson, Barbara. (2000). Something There Is....

Vice (April 2013). Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68 

[delightfulstarlightparadise]

Imagine Eijirou Kirishima and reader

Part 2

Part one here:

I'd like to remind you that English is not my main language, but I am doing my best.

So, you work at Fat Gum's favorite bakery and were used to having him or Suneater buy bread at 3 o'clock until one day Fat Gum's new sidekick Red Riot starts coming instead. You always have difficult interactions that trigger your social anxiety. Until one day you are attacked by a villain and saved by him. When he walks you home, he asks for your number and you give it to him, even thought it is just for the sake of making him stop apologizing.

You are at school, sitting in the back, as always, not paying much attention. This is your senior year and you already know you don't have much room to grow with your anxiety problems, distant family and lack of self confidence. Your intention is just graduating and keeping your job at the bakery.

You can't stop thinking about the villain who held you hostage, this makes you feel your body heavy and your head dizzy. This mixes up to the memories you have of yourself caught in the middle of a terrible fight between a villain and a hero when you were a kid.

You can hear people whispering about seeing you in television the previous night. Your colleages don't talk to you much due to your social anxiety.

"Y/n was held hostage."

"Really?!"

"What weird person comes to school after going through something like that?"

"Did you see that new hero with Fat Gum? Red Riot is the name. He is so handsome!"

"He is two years younger than us!"

"Oh, come on, that is not too much. And he is a real piece, have you seen those abs??"

"Such a nice and deep voice too. He was interviewed, he got all shy, but not weird shy like that Suneater guy."

You should have skipped class, all this conversation was making you nervous.

Suddenly there is a loud message bip that echoes in the class and everyone checks their own phones. The teacher doesn't even bother lecturing them anymore.

But it is none of their phones. It is yours and it rings again, bringing all the attention in class to you.

"Ma...may I go to the restroom?" You ask, almost bursting into a panic attack.

"Yeah, yeah." You see your teacher has no more will.

You run to the restroom and hides in a cabin, unlocking your phone's screen. There are 4 messages in it.

The first one is:

Hello pretty!😚🥰😋

The second one:

Would you care for some 😈🤭🙊☻

The next is just:

💥💥💥💥

And the final one:

You're so lovely! Let's hit the dancefloor together someday?! How about that?💕

You see the simbol of someone typing and a new message arrives:

"Sorry, my stupid friends got my phone. It is Eijirou here... Red Riot."

You keep staring at your phone as the typing message shows up again.

"How are you? I am sorry for last night, it was bad of me to ask for your number that way. I don't want you to think that you need to speak to me just because I saved you."

You ponder what to answer while sitting on the toilet when another message comes.

"Sorry again about my friends. They are really dumb😅"

"It is ok." You reply.

The typing sign shows up again, but then disappears.

"I'm fine." You send. "Just a little traumatized by yesterday."

You wait a while and he texts you back.

"Who wouldn't be, right? I am glad I showed up."

You start typing but he does it too, so you wait.

"Sorry, I seem like a perk talking like this. I really mean I am glad you are ok. It must have been awful for you."

This text makes you smile thinking of his sudden worried expression when realizes he might have sounded arrogant. He always made a cute blush expression when realizing something, like he forgot the money to pay for the bread or he had said something weird.

"I can't thank you enough for saving me." you reply. "People here at my school are commenting about you?"

The answer comes quickly:

"Really?! Nice things, I hope.🦈"

You can't help but laugh. He uses a shark emoji instead of a smily one. This brings his sharp smile to your mind immediately.

"Very nice things. Mainly that you are handsome."

It takes a while before he answers.

"You think I'm handsome?"

You feel your heart coming to your mouth when reading this. It tottally came out the wrong way for you. You quickly type back:

"I have to go back to class! Talk to you later!"

You turn off your phone and spend some more time in the restroom with your red face between your hands. You didn't have to think anything, he IS handsome.

...

When you arrive your house and turn on your phone, there is a message waiting for you.

"Don't forget to pay your phone bill this month. You can do it by acessing..."

You sigh and leave it on the table, then, turn on the TV to watch anything. You don't really know what to do with this free time while the bakery is repaired.

You are in the middle of an episode of a cheesy dorama when your phone vibrates on the table.

"Hey. Are you free?" It is him.

You don't really know what to answer.

"I guess..." you reply after a long time thinking.

"I really didn't want to bother you with this,but Fat Gum asked if you could come to the bakery to tell him a little more of what happened yesterday. He thinks the guy had an accomplice."

Your hands get cold at the thought of it, your heartbeat increases and you start typing a "I can't" but a new message arrives.

"I am at your building's door. Sorry."

"What?!" You reply by impulse.

"Sorry! I must seem like a real creep to you. Fat Gum made me come here to make sure you are safe in your way to the bakery."

You freeze until a new message arrives.

"He can be very persuasive 😅. But if you say no, I understand."

Not wanting to be inpolite to him, you find yourself putting on your coat and boots and going downstairs to meet him. There he is smiling at you with embarassment and wearing those revealing clothes that you are sure are even more appealing today.

"Hey y/n! Thank you a lot for agreeing to come. Fat Gum would totally kick my ass if I showed up alone." he says.

You just nod as he stares at you looking unconfortable, wich makes you feel unconfortable.

"So... let's go?"

You nod again, even more nervous.

You start walking in silence when you see him pull off his phone. Great, you are boring him so much he needs a distraction, you think. Than you feel your phone vibrate.

"Please don't be mad at me." You see his message and look at him from the corner of your eye. He seems really worried.

"I am not mad at you. I just get really nervous around you." You type back.

"Really? Why?"

"I get anxious around people, in general..." you answer him pronto.

"Oh, I have a friend just like you." He replies. "He is a very nice guy."

You put down your phone and look at him. He is giving you the biggest and most friendly smile ever. You immediately put your head down.

"How can I help you being less unconfortable around me?" He sends you after you do it.

"I don't know. It is a thing that happens to me since I was a kid. I am just weird like that." you reply.

"I don't think you are weird." He says out loud and it makes you turn to him. "You are so nice."

You blush completely and get your phone, typing really fast.

"Don't say things like that, it makes me unconfortable." you send him.

"Sorry." He answers back. "But I really think you are a really nice perxnroal !(($$&@(!)....."

You look up and Red Riot is sunk inside of Fat Gum's back.

"Hey! Look where you are walking!" The hero says, pulling him out. Red Riot takes a huge breath and falls on his knees. Fat Gum turns to you. "Y/n!! I am glad you are here! Can you please help me? We need you to describe everything you remember about that night! Anything helps."

He guides you inside the store, where Suneater is trying to organize some merch in a shelf. When he sees you, he drops everything and puts his head down. He has the same effect in you. You REALLY don't want to interact with each other.

"So... can you help us?" Fat Gum asks.

You take a deep breath and look around. You can remember everything that happend. Exactly how it happened. Every detail and second of it. That is your quirk, remembering everything that ever happens to you and around you.

You give such and accurate description of that night that the three heroes get impressed by it.

"And... do you remember seeing anyone with the guy?" Fat Gum asks, amazed.

You pull from your memory the moment you look at the door before the villain comes in. You can see a woman wearing a similar overcoat talking to him and standing by the door, looking out for any incomer. Than you remember her fleeing right at the moment you see Kirishima arrive.

You describe her as a tall lady with black hair, say the exacr brand of her coat and even the color of her shoes. They all stare at you again, impressed.

"You should be a detective, y/n!" Fat Gum says giving you some slaps in the shoulder.

You shake your head as a firm no and he smiles at you.

"Ok, ok. You are right. There are better carrers around." he says"Red Riot! Take y/n home, safe, please."

"Yes sir!" Red Riot replies.

For your surprize, Fat Gum lifts you in the air and hands you to Red Riot as if you were a kid. He takes you in his arms so you don't drop on the floor and you see yourself being carried by that hero damsel style.

You stare at each other in shock. You in literal shock, pale. He with his cheeks blushed.

"That was mean of you." You hear Suneater say to Fat Gum.

"Let them kids be in love." Fat Gum replies. "It is healthy to have some passion by this age."

"No. Y/n is going to pass out." Suneater says.

In fact, you do. The last things you hear are Red Riot say: "How did you know?!" and Suneater reply: "Because I would."

...

When you come to your senses you are lying on your couch, the TV is on showing a documentary about sea life. For a moment you think it was all a dream. That is when you hear:

"Hey! You're awake!"

You scream caugh by surprize by Red Riot, in your Kitchen and almost scare him into dropping the bowls of lamen he had in hands. He is only wearing the pants from his costume and this makes your whole face burn in shame. You almost pass out again.

"PLEASE DON'T WALK AROUND MY HOUSE NAKED!!" you yell, throwing the blanket that was covering you at him.

"Naked?!?!"

After he puts on a shirt that is probably a school uniform,the two of you sit down to eat.

"I am so sorry for what Fat Gum did. This anxiety of yours is really serious." He says.

"It wasn't that." you reply while sucking in some noodles. "I usually get very tired after intentionally using my quirk. It can cause me to pass out like this."

"Really?! So I am sorry we made you use it!"

You shake your head and say:

"It is fine. I am just glad I could be useful for a change."

"For a change?" He repeats staring at you with a pitful face. "You are always helpful! We love your sweet bread."

"I am not the one who makes it. I just sell them to you."

"You are the most special part of it." he says, smiling at you with a soft expression.

You feel your heartbeat increase, but it is not panic attack-like. It is something different.

"Don't say this kind of stuff. You make me nervous." you say, looking at the other side. But you can't help a smile from coming to your face.

"Sorry!" He replies with a sharp teeth smirk.

After you eat, he thanks you for helping and you take him downstairs to say goodbye.

"Here, your keys. I got them from your pockets to get in." he says.

"You are the first visit I get here, besides my mom." you say, getting the key from his hand. "I shouldn't say that, it makes me sound like a weird paria."

"Makes you sound lonely." he replies.

You look at him a little offended by the honesty, but he actually looks concerned about you.

"I prefer it this way." you say, and turn around to get inside.

"Can I call you tomorrow?"

His question makes you freeze at the door.

"Why would you?" you ask without turning to him.

"I want to be your friend."

You look at him from above your shoulder.

"Sorry... I can't befriend a hero."

He looks horrified by your answer and reaches towards you, but you run inside before he can say anything else.

You feel dizzy. Your quirk is forcing itself onto you again. Everytime you remember, you literally live every aspect of the memory again. You live again the moment your father was accidentally killed by a hero.

...

You wake up as always. You eat your breakfast. You get yourself ready to go to school, a normal day this time, you hope. Maybe people won't be speaking about what happened anymore.

You check your phone and see there aren't any messages. This should make you feel relief, but it actually makes you sad.

Another day of school goes by. People are still gossiping about you. Maybe it is a good idea to spend some days away from school. You ask for a license and they give it because of what happened to you.

"What am gonna do at home with all this free time?" you mutter while walking back.

You wish you could work all day along stocking the bakery. This was your favorite part of your job. No clients to attend, no social interaction, no worries, just you and the products getting organized.

Then, you rise your head to the door of your building. You can't believe your eyes.

"What are you doing here?!" You ask by impulse and it sounds a bit aggressive.

"Sorry! Sorry! Fat Gum told me to check on you." Red Riot said moving his hands anxiously.

"Well Fat Gum should let you leave me alone!"

He sighs and shakes his head. He is wearing his school uniform and it makes him look a little less intimidating.

"I lied. I wanted to check on you. It is my fault." he says.

"What do you want from me, Red Riot?"you ask, crossing your arms and staring him with as much determination as you can. Wich is not much.

"Please, call me Eijirou or Kirishima. I... I really want to be friends with you. But... but I also don't want to look like a stalker."

"Well, you are not having much success." you reply.

"How about an Ice cream?"

You get surpsrized by the invite and can't help but noding in agreement. It is a hot day after all. After a while you are both sitting in front of the Ice cream shop having some icream cones.

"I like pistache, but I guess strawberry will always be my favorite Ice cream flavor. It reminds me of my childhood." you are listening to him blab about ice cream flavors for a while now. "I don't mind chocolate, too. It is the top choice among my friends. Except for Bakugo, that creep likes even his ice cream spicy."

You stare at him in silence while eating your vanilla ice cream. He seems unconfortable with it, so he continues to blab about his friends' favorite ice cream flavor.

"Mina likes anything that is pink like her, so she likes strawberry too. But I think it is just because of the color... I can't eat anything grape related anymore because it reminds me of Mineta."

You are actually interested in what he is saying, but you can't bring yourself to answer. Mainly because you don't have friends unlike him.

"Yao-momo is lucky. She can eat as much ice cream as she wants, it becomes energy for her quirk. I have to be careful, this body can only take so much carbs before I have to do some heavy exercising." He hits his own belly and you can hear it make a rock-like sound.

The image of his well defined abs comes back to your mind with your quirk fully activated and you turn bright red. You remember the exact moment he took you in his arms and you coul feel how jacked that guy actually was. You gag with your ice cream and Kirishima starts giving you small slaps in the back to help you.

"So... is vanilla your favorite flavor?" He asks after you stop coffing.

"It is not." you reply. "Smells and flavors bring back memories. I try to avoid things I like too much."

"What do you mean?" Kirishima asks throwing the last piece of the cone in his mouth.

You remain in silence a while but then sigh and decide there is no reason not to tell him.

"Everytime I remember something it is like living that again."

"Wow! That is an awesome quirk!! Imagine re living all of the best moments of your life as much as you want!" he smiles, all excited, as if he was picturing many nice things in his head.

You smile at the sight of him. He is such a bright boy, with a happy energy. It makes you feel good when around him. But, then, you put your head down and sigh.

"The good memories are the saddest ones." you say, and stand up, bowing to him. "Thank you for the ice cream, Kirishima. Nice work for you today."

You turn around to leave, but he holds you by the wrist.

"I will come tomorrow, too." he says, his expression is serious and firm.

You feel like telling him to leave you alone. But it is not what you actually want. You smile at him and nod. You can feel your whole body warm up when he opens the most beautiful sharp teethed smile, so satisfied.

As he lets you go and you go back to your appartment. Each step you take, you remember a bit of him telling you things about him and his friends.

You pass out on your coach as soon as you arrive. It is the first time in a long time that you have a wonderful nap.

Next part here:

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