#i'm serious when i say i won't reply to negative anons

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

cherry - close reading

alright, this one’s different, for a bunch of reasons that i will be getting into after the lyrics. this might be the point where people who have very strong opinions on narratives surrounding stunts could get angry at me. that’s totally fine, as long as you keep it to yourself (hehe). i wanted these close readings to steer clear of that whole side of harry’s public persona, but i couldn’t write this post honestly doing so. i needed to get this off my chest and apparently i had a lot to say (i surprised myself, really). 

so, this is actually a WARNING: do not proceed if you are a firm believer in hamille. that’s all (and i won’t be replying to anons about this)

fine line, track 5

title: from French: “chérie”, darling

Don't you call him “baby”

lovers calling one another “baby” ～ to be so lonely

We're not talking lately

Don't you call him what you used to call me

common theme: jealousy

I, I confess I can tell that you are at your best

the other is thriving now the relationship is over

I'm selfish so I'm hating it

self-deprecating, honest, jealous

I noticed that there's a piece of you in how I dress

Take it as a compliment

the relationship has left its traces

no bad blood after the split, pretty blasé

I, I just miss

I just miss your accent and your friends

Did you know I still talk to them?

miss little things, more the atmosphere and context of the relationship, no strong yearning for the person

Does he take you walking 'round his parents' gallery?

again, jealousy

gallery: repeat of word in sunflower, vol. 6, but with (possible, likely) different meaning

[Outro: french girlie]

Coucou ! Tu dors ? Oh, j'suis désolée...

Bah non... Nan, c'est pas important...

Ouais, on était à la plage, et maintenant on—

Parfait ! Allez !

(translation: yoohoo (ish?), you’re sleeping? oh, i’m sorry… oh no, it’s not important… yeah, we were at the beach, and now we… perfect! (“allez” literally means “go” but it’s kinda like “let’s go” and more of a stop word. hard to translate)

this is not a voicemail. a voicemail gives you a monologue, a short message by the person directed at the owner of the phone number they’re calling. this is an overheard phone call: we hear one side of the call

SYNTHESIS

Right, okay. I have to be honest: from the lyrics themselves, there’s not a lot of deep shit I’m getting. This is a simple love song about a lost love, written about the period right after a breakup. It’s full of pettiness, simple jealousy. There’s no bad blood and the “I” even seems pretty okay with it. He misses the person, and the missing is expressed through the little things, like their accent or style. The relationship is definitely over, since the other has moved on already, and the “I” is not asking them to come back. There is no yearning, loneliness or miserable missing like Harry sometimes likes to express (～ Falling, To Be So Lonely, MMITH, From the Dining Table…). What the “I” seems to miss most is the other person’s attention, presence.

Now, we all know that this has been painted as the song dedicated to Camille Rowe. It's shoved down our throats: her voice is on the track (though can we be sure it’s actually her?), the title is a play on a french pet name, she supposedly dated someone involved in galleries after Harry (idk the details leave me alone). Naturally, I’m in no position to say whether they ever actually had a relationship or not. I’d be very surprised, since I’ve only ever seen and heard Harry’s love and praise for dick, but that's whatever. If it is about a real relationship (of an entire year), then all I can conclude is that the relationship remained pretty surface-level and they managed to move on easily, unless Harry suddenly changed his entire style for expressing love when writing this. (And No, the other love songs on the album are not about this relationship. Don’t fuck around.)

I’ll say that I think this song was written for a purpose, crafted to fit that narrative. I have avoided the personal aspect, or the who is this actually about shit in previous posts as much as possible, because I wanted to focus on the lyrics and artistry only. In this case, this song, however pretty and cute it is, stands out on the album, to me, because of its simplicity and the absence of attachment to the rest of the story. Golden, Adore You, Falling, To Be So Lonely, Sunflower, Vol. 6 and Canyon Moon tell parts of the same love story. There’s depth, connection, care, and - especially - a long-term love that’s persisted. In my later posts on Sunflower, Vol. 6 and Canyon Moon, especially, it will become clear how I read them as being about a long-term relationship. Even the simple line in To Be So Lonely, “i was just a little boy,” should be enough for everyone to know that song is not about that one relationship with a french model in recent history. 

Sure, Cherry can still be about something real; another relationship that took place during a break in Harry's long-term one. Again, I'd just be extremely surprised by our curly boy walking in a rainbow paradise in a strawberry lipstick state of mind. But even then, placing the song on the album like that, preceded and followed by songs about a love that's life-altering and successful, just feels off to me. The story would make a lot more sense to me if the song weren't there. That's of course my own experience of the album, and another interpretation is just as valid. Who knows, maybe I'm totally wrong - but there's no need to come tell me that 😇

Fine Line being branded during its publicity as an album about being sad/a breakup and having sex will always infuriate me, which I really shouldn't let happen, because I know Harry is just sitting there with that wide-ass grin on his face, safely hiding behind his wall of vague lies and half-truths. Literally only Watermelon Sugar is explicitly about sex and even Falling, arguably the most straightforwardly sad song, holds hope for their love to survive. Harry being that open about a relationship - naming her, putting her voice on the track (!!) - is also very out of character and simply reminds me of interviews during the 1d days, which is an extra reason for me to attach little or no truth to the entire narrative. He's still just as private about everything else in his life: he's offline, we only see photos of him when his team wants us to and when talking about any other song or inspiration he's as vague as can be. This is the only exception and it's a thorn in my eye. But, of course, the stunt worked perfectly and it was the perfect plan to distract the general public. “This is the narrative, this is what it's about, here you have all the answers, you can stop thinking now, no no no don't look at the other lyrics, it's fine shhhhhhh." Cherry is Harry's favorite song, his most vulnerable song, damn he really bares his soul in this one. And we definitely mustn't look into any other theme the album might be about, no no. Bad gp. And that the voicemail is not really a voicemail so the narrative of it being one Harry saved from their relationship doesn’t even hold up but we won’t get into that.

Alright, time for me to calm down. Let's just say there's one thing that will always always convince me that I've got it right: the Vogue interview, featuring its writer wondering if something went lost in translation when Harry invited him to a gay swimming pond, descriptions of Harry and Harry Lambert (his stylist) calling each other Sue and Susan, ending with Harry playing Cherry and Gemma saying, "he does his own stunts." No, this is not said about the kid bouncing on a trampoline for one of the shots. This is a reaction to his performance for the crew, and that's what the article decided to end with. Ok I’m calm once more

Typical that I wrote so much about a song that I initially thought was going to be a breeze, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to link it to the greater themes. Guess that’s what made me rant about it in the first place. This one was a muuuuuuch more stunty post than the others in this series, and that’s also because this song is not like the others. It doesn’t belong here and I treated it as such. Tune in tomorrow for our regular scheduled programming, with the one and only Falling.

Read my other lyric analyses here

#cherry #fine line analysis #stunts #vogue interview #harry #lyric analysis #this took a few years off my life not gonna lie #it just gets to me #and this is the only version of events that makes sense to me #i'm serious when i say i won't reply to negative anons #but any other feedback i'd happily read bc i'm obviously not all-knowing #this is mainly instinct yk #and based on my overall interpretation of harry's lyrics #lp #my posts

[floralbfs]

WIP Ask Game!

thank u anon!!!!

1: Summarize your WIP in 10 words or less.

orphan gains powers, gets adopted by alien, saves the world.

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context.

'There's a whoosh of air, and Leo suddenly hears a voice he never thought he'd ever be able to hear again.'

3: Does your WIP have a title? If so, explain its significance. If not, what are you calling it for now?

Okay so I have been calling it the Youtuber Superhero AU (because it started as a fandom au but then i made it an original!!) but I thought maybe it could be "Thicker than Water", since my MC, Leo, is an orphan and he lives alone for most of his life (most of his life lmao at least until canon point? read also: around 9-11 years when in canon he's like 19?) in a remote, lowkey magical place/dimension?, but ultimately he comes back to his hometown and creates a family for himself!!!! i won't give spoilers but, since i already said this, part of his found family is his adoptive dad, an alien who is also a superhero!! If not TtW, I would call it maybe,,,,, Moonstone???? at least the first book!!! (ooh, maybe TtW can be the series name and Moonstone the first book's name?) because Leo kind of gets his powers through a moon stone????? it's not actually moon stone; it was a strange rock he found in the magical dimension that seeked out a champion for the god Huitzilopochtli??? and the closest word Leo could get for it was Moonstone, because of its uhhhhh singular qualities!

4: Describe the setting of your WIP.

OKAY, this is a fun one!!! Leo's hometown is named Star Nova, idk why it just seemed cool, and it is a futuristic city!!! They don't follow capitalism Because I Said So, and they're really into, like, environmental stuff!!! So you'd see SO much flora all over the city kshdsjfh like those???? idk what they're called but like the towns overridden with plants? but controlled!!! There's a tiny percentage of the population (tho I still haven't decided if this is worldwide?? I have a way to make it worldwide but idk) who have superpowers, either due to "individual" factors (e.g Leo's powers are bc of the moonstone, and Matthew(his dad)'s powers are due to him being an alien!) or were affected by a weird experiment an Evil Corporation™ were doing; ECtm was trying out an illegal experiment that could alter living beings' genetics to their will, but it went wrong and their substance exploded and went airborne. Those who were working on it knew about its risks and toxicity, ergo they were wearing a special suit and weren't affected, but the gas contaminated and ??mixed?? with the air and spread to the nearest city, Star Nova (the unofficial capital of the Joint Pacific Nations) and affected a Whole Lot Of People!!! this all happened a while before canon, and the corporation got away with it bc they were filthy rich basically. Anyway, a lot of the people who were affected to the "virus" reacted negatively and died, some were uhhh """immune"""???, and a few Seemed to be immune but had actually had a successful celular-level bonding with the substance! It didn't do anything to them, but their children/grandchildren were born with physical or mental anomalies, also known as super powers (gasps)!!!! BUT!!! a lot of the story happens in the magical city of Coatl (it means serpent!), located within a pocket dimension somewhere inside the Mexican southern forest, where Leo finds himself when he's four years old, recently orphaned, guided by a magical ....bird....being....? he lives there for around eleven years, and he's granted Huitzilopochtli's Champion's power once he's like. Not A Baby lmao. Coatl is.... kind of like,,,,, an Olympus, I guess? Only those with like the destiny to find it know where it is, and they can lead other people there if it's for good causes! It's almost like a sentient city, and the Aztec gods kinda. chilled there???? my theory is that a lot of religious mythologies exist, at least in this universe, and they all co-exist on earth, or pocket dimensions inside of it!!! anyway, Leo lived there and was basically raised by gods???? and an AI???? bc i love AIs???? and uhhhh i think that got away from me ajdhsjdhsj does all of this even count as setting??? am i missing anything????

5: Search for the word “knife” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

no knives sadly :( i guess i haven't reached Those Scenes yet???? tho there should be one in the first chapter….. my wip document is just kind of very messy ajdhsjdjsjdh i might just have to make a new document????

6: Search for the word “dream” in your WIP. If you find it, paste the line and explain the context.

???????????? why am i not using any words?????????? sorry :/

7: What are you most proud of?

probably the worldbuilding and characters (at least those with superpowers? maybe i should say superpowers period)!!!!! they're very complex and thought-out????? and i THINK they're original!!!!! so!!!!! ＼(￣▽￣)／

8: What is your biggest challenge?

oooooof,,,,,,,, probably..... getting an actual plot lmao????? like i have an overall view of my would-be first and second books, but i don't know if they actually have enough to them to be written as they are?????? like… idk if the conflict is really like??? worthy to be a Main Conflict™????

9: How would you describe your writing style?

oooooooh uhhhhh maybe….. flowery prose???? i'm a poet at heart, so if i don't use loads of metaphors and language uhhhh idk their name in english but language variators??? i will literally die. but seriously nsjdhsjdhsjfh nothing too serious!!!! most of my “”””angst”””” scenes are….. not so sad, i think skfjsjfj

10: How would you describe your WIP’s narrative style? (1st person, 3rd person, multiple POVs, single POV, alternating chapters, etc.)

oh!!!! well, i think it'd be multiple povs, alternating chapters, third person???? i'm still not sure whether to use 1st or if i already have??? p sure that's a different wip i'm thinking about tho

11: Which character do you have the most in common with?

uhhhhhhhhhhhh seeing how underdeveloped she is right now??? probably Persephone???? bc she's genderfluid skfjsjfjdjfh or uhhhh Scott??? bc i too love leo with my heart and would die for him and stay with him in the afterlife. (hypothetically, of course….)

12: Which character do you have the least in common with?

Maeve, probably!!!! she's, uh…. Something.

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

They Are All A Mess. akfhajfjajfj Matthew would probably become the leader and like. establish order and shit???? but he's also the hugest nerd so he'd just give the leader role to someone else (probably seph staine?) and goes exploring and cataloging shit skfhsjfhdjf Leo is probably the most resourceful one of the bunch, so he would immediately like. start planning for huts and food and stuff???? also idk if they would have their powers in this situation cause it'd be too easy to get them all out of there????? but let's just say they do but the island is inescapable by flight?? he can talk to animals, so he could communicate with the local fauna and like form alliances???? Seph is a good leader, so he'd probably like….. keep everything in check???? and Leo's friends are all good and resourceful, so they'd make a good team!!!! tldr they basically create order immediately and do their best to not struggle??? after a few days/weeks, some of them start to like. break down? but the adults are like. wise and shit??? and i'm pretty sure at least one of them is like a licensed therapist??? so they help each other out uwu

14: Have you chosen birthdays for any of your characters? If so, when are they?

oh!!!! only for a few!!!! Leo and Maeve's birthday is on March 25, Scott's birthday is on August 27, Matthew doesn't really have a birthday??? because time is different in his planet????, Percy and Persephone's birthday is somewhere in November, and uhhhh im p sure that's all i got akfjsjfjsj i suck at birth dates

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

GOD, no. maybe i should do their tests???👀

16: What would your characters be for Halloween?

Leo… doesn't believe in/care for Halloween, as he didn't grow up around it, but it's totally Scott's jam!!! they are dirt poor in a good first half of the book, though, so they can't really dress up :( they met in the library, and after (spoiler alert!!!) scotty's death, Leo feels it appropriate to dress up as Scott's fave characters every year. Percy and Persephone are (very weak) shapeshifters, so their costumes ROCK!!!!! they always do matching costumes, so they get cliché pair costumes!! Matthew….. uh. he is… way too old for that. he was literally alive before Halloween was even a thing, so it's not really his thing. Leah just……. does her own thing??? she can see ghosts, so she sometimes does like historical costumes and stuff with their help!!! and Ben…. oof tbh that depends on what his fave song/album/whatev is at the moment??? he kinda creates like a story/aesthetic for them and dresses up that way!!!!

17: Does your WIP have any themes or motifs?

uhhhh found family, definitely!!!! i really can't think of any bc i'm an idiot, but uhhhh intelligence??? if that's a thing??? like,,, they're all powerful and shit but it's also like. brains over brawns????

18: What’s easier, dialogue or description?

i think description!!!! neither of them are… hard??? but!!! description is like…… where i can go hog wild akfjskfjsjfb

19: Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP.

20: Post a brief excerpt.

Leo @Leoberry

You asked, I answered. New Q&A video is now up!

[3k retweets, 10k likes, 9k replies] 20 min. ago

[My First Q&A- video transcription excerpt]

[Leo Berry, a nineteen-year-old brunette guy with green eyes, wearing a red shirt with a lightning symbol on it that's loose on his muscular form, waves at the camera and smiles widely, dimples showing up on his cheeks.]

Leo: Hey, guys. You've been asking me to do a Q&A for a while, and the day has finally arrived! I told you to ask me questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskBerry, and I've picked a few!

[Leo smiles brightly and lifts up his cellphone.]

Leo: First off, here's one by @razzberry- nice username, by the way-: “what's your cat's name? Do you have more than one?”

[The video shifts, and there's suddenly two cats sitting on Leo's arms: a large, orange cat quickly falling asleep on his shoulder, and a black kitten hugged in his arms.]

Leo: I do! This little fella-

[He gasps as the kitten in his arms struggles to get free and runs off-camera.]

Leo: Don't leave me! Okay, that little fella is Onyx, and, as you can see, he doesn't like me very much. Anyway, this little gal asleep over here…

[He points toward a small orange cat sleeping on his shoulder.]

Leo: ...is Tigress! She's my little baby. You've probably seen her around a lot on my vlogs, since she really likes to hang out on my bed.

Leo: Next! @Honeybats asked: ‘“is it true your dad is Jade?”

[Leo smiles and, after a few seconds of trying to school his features, bursts out laughing.]

Leo: You mean to ask whether my dad is Matlal Jade, the greatest superhero of our era?

Leo: ...Well, yeah! My dad- [more laughs] my dad is totally my Jade. His name is Matthew, and I keep asking him to fly me to school. He says it's not funny!

[He sobers up for a second.]

Leo: Jokes aside, he adopted me a few years ago and he'll always be a superhero in my eyes. I was in a really dark place when he found me, and I can't thank him enough for all that he's done for me.

[Leo looks away for a second and loses his smile. The video cuts and skips again, and Leo appears once again, this time sporting an easy smile and a blue shirt, this one tighter around his shoulders.]

Leo: things got a bit too deep! This one was sent by @shazhangs: “are you dating anyone at the moment?”

[Leo laughs.]

Leo: God, no. I mean, I'm not really a people person, you know? And I’ve been so focused on work, vlogging, and, uh, extracurriculars, that I really haven't had any time to socialise.

[Leo laughs again.]

Leo: This one comes from @perspartone: will you collab with any other youtubers anytime soon?

Leo: Yeah, sure! I don't think I have done any videos with other people in the past, so it'd be a fun thing to do! I just have to find a friend first.

[Leo laughs loudly.]

[End of excerpt. For viewing of the video, refer to Leo Berry on Youtube, and find the full transcription here at DailyBerries in a few hours.]