#music writing

[sigillite]

music (fanfiction) writing challenge!!

use your music taste to write a fanfiction or any story in this challenge!

first open your music app of choice and make sure your playlist is on shuffle -- then the first 5 songs that pop up will determine your:

Premise -- What your story is going to be about in the first place. What is going to be the main "selling point" of the story that sets it apart from the rest.

Main character -- Your main character's personality or inner struggle.

Main conflict -- The main conflict that drives your story and becomes an obstacle for your main character.

Vibes -- Is this going to be a light-hearted story? Angsty? Romantic? Whatever matches the vibe of the song.

Ending -- How this story is going to end.

yes, this is very vague, but that is the point! this can give you some ideas of what to write while also leaving plenty of room to be creative. feel free to switch up what songs represent what or even shuffle them a couple more times!

#fanfic #fanfiction #my writing #writers #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writing #creative writing #writer #fanfiction writer #music writing #writeblr #writers and poets

[deadhorsepress]

The first few times I disclosed the weighty sin of having liked Coldplay in middle school, I felt like I was Raskolnikov confessing to axe murder. Inevitably, though, the other person’s response baffled me more than outright mockery. “They’re pretty good” or “I like Viva la Vida” or something else like that. Each time, it left me more perturbed than if they had taken the bait and made fun of Coldplay with me. The basic question I was left with was: Why am I the only person who knows that Coldplay is lame?

or: is it actually cringe, or are you just mean to yourself

#writeblr #nonfiction #music writing

[dimonds456-but-only-hlvrai]

I'VE DISCOVERED THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR ME TO MAKE A FANGAME AND I'VE GONE OFF THE DEEP END

Bonus Darnold and Benrey as well! :)

#cuphead au #hlvrai cuphead au #animation #2d animation #pencil test #music #music writing #dimond speaks #dimonds art #ANYWAY HI WITH THE FORMALITIES OUT OF THE WAY #I've discovered I can use Godot to actually make this mod! #so of course I rehyperfixated on it and now here we are #I'm doing Coomer's fight first cuz that's the one I have the most figured out in my head #but the main idea is that this AU takes place after the Betrayal happens. #the plot changes so that Darnold finds Gordon on his own and gives him the potion #then offers to keep helping him if the need arises #then each boss fight happens #alas hlvrai is not solved with the power of friendship and this gun i found this time #gordon winds up making his own escape and then taking the others (minus benrey) with him #I don't plan on making this multiplayer so it's JUST Gordon #so uh. yeah! #send me asks FGHJKADS

[your-favorite-roommate]

serial killer slimeriana concept

cw for implied killing and blood

someone is killing the islanders, the federation workers, leaving corpses littering the island. the egg event starts, thereve only been about 2 kills so far, but theyre still wary (is it an animal? another islander? the federation?). mariana and slime are together obviously, mariana is wary of everyone, no way hes taking this stranger into his house, knowing where he lives, what if hes the killer? or what if this egg is a trap? either way, no trust. they take care of juanaflippa for a bit, they hate each other, they love each other, its all good. until slime starts disappearing at night. now mariana doesnt really care what they guy does, he wouldnt have even noticed but he was staying over for the night (for once) and slime must've thought he was asleep, slipping out of bed quietly and grabbing… something, mariana couldnt quite see, slinking out the door and into the night

mariana doesnt really give a shit what his government assigned husband is up to in his free time (though it is a bit weird that its in the middle of the night. whatever, must be a night owl). but he does hear when slime gets home, ever so quietly but inevitably given away by the creaky door that he swore he'd fix. mariana got out of bed to see what was up, walking out of slimes bedroom and coming face to face with the man himself, covered in… something he couldn't quite make out in the dark. slime looked startled, breathing picking up, but he tried to play it off cooly, quickly shoving something behind his back. whatever, let him keep his secrets.

"mariana! i didnt… uh, w-what are you doing up, mi amor?" "you were out for a while. just checking on you" "oh, well, yes. im fine, you can go back to bed, everything is fine." "go shower before you get in bed. whats are you even covered in? looks like… mud, or slime or something" "slime! like my name! yeah, yeah no, its slime. im sorry mi amor" he kisses marianas cheek, a metallic smell filling marianas senses "ill go shower, of course. i was just out fighting slimes"

#slimeriana #misclick duo #qsmp #qsmp fanfic #qslimecicle #qmariana #music writing #Spotify

[llzrabin]

A recent interview of Alison Mosshart from The Kills for music magazine Dans Ta Face B. Full interview under the cut and French version on their website.

La Face B : You’ve just released your sixth album, God Games, twenty years after your first record. Which means you’ve been making music together for two decades now. You’ve mentioned a few times in recent interviews being ‘terrified’ of the process of recording this album. Obviously, danger is inherent to creativity and passion. What were you scared of in particular, regarding your own history as a band? Can one as a musician actually ever get rid of this fear? Alison Mosshart : I think as an artist, fear is good. Fear keeps one alert and desirous to discover something new in oneself, in one’s work, and about the world. Fear is a simple word to describe “facing the unknown.” At the start of every album, you are facing the unknown. There is nothing, a blank page... and you have to muster up the courage to turn this nothingness in somethingness. And not just any old thing. But something truly great. Even though we’ve been writing music together for 20 years, nothing is a given. Nothing is taken for granted. We constantly must prove to ourselves and to one another that we’ve got the goods. Every record is as important as the first, at least to the artist.

La Face B : When I first heard the album, I was under the impression that I was listening to a movie sequence or a journey, with some kind of movements. You kept the traditional verse-chorus structure in most songs, but they also sound like something else. What do you think evolved the most in your music over the years? And on the other hand, is there something that definitely stayed true to your first sound?

Alison Mosshart : A couple of things. We both think the traditional verse chorus structure is a little at odds with the mind. Whereas novels and poetry and film... can veer around elegantly, it’s a little hard with rock n’ roll structure sometimes. It’s nice not following the traditional rules and allow some abstraction.

Thoughts by nature...zig zag, skip, don’t really work in liner or predictable order. Thoughts lead to thoughts lead to other thoughts say “california can’t be trusted” to “I love rollercoasters” to “Thursday’s good for me,” to “I wonder what happened to Bob?” “Green car,” “dog bit my face,” “phone’s dead again” “papercut!” And on and on and on.

Having said all that, I do think our music is very visual. It seems to contain its own colours and shapes and tactility. I know when a song is done by listening to it and seeing it from start to end. When it feels like I’m watching a play or a short film and I’m satisfied with what I’ve seen, I’m happy with the song. If I’m listening and the scene freezes, there is still work to do.

La Face B : Did having another person involved in the studio give you a different perspective on your music?

Alison Mosshart : Having another person in the room always gives you a different perspective. You know right away if a song is working by feeling the energy of that person hearing it for the first time. They don’t have to say a word. The truth is just there.

La Face B : Your lyrics almost always address another person, like a dialogue between two people. Love and hate, hope and failure, tenderness and violence blend into each other in the stories you tell. They also almost always convey a sense of urgency. Alison, do you still record and write your lyrics in your car while driving at fast speed, CARMA-style?

Alison Mosshart : Sure. We’re all contending with one another and ourselves. There is surely a lot of back and forth and push and pull going on in the lyrics. The war is never won, right? About cars, I love to drive. It’s very meditative for me. A lot of ideas come when I’m behind the wheel. I do still have a little Dictaphone in the car that I keep handy. It’s a safer option then a pen and pad.

La Face B : When I first saw you in 2011 at Rock en Seine during the Blood Pressures tour, there were two other musicians with you onstage. Lately, it looks like you’ve gone back as a two piece again. Is it important to you not to depend on anyone? Is it a way of not having to compromise?

Alison Mosshart : Different times call for different measures. We love playing with other musicians and we love playing as a two piece. During certain records, it made a lot of sense to have the back up. But it was a different time in the music industry too. We’re in a different world now 6 years later. Streaming has made it unaffordable to hire extra musicians. Which I think is ultimately a very bad thing. I hope one day things change.

La Face B : The Kills have always been a very visual band. Alison, you’re also a painter, and Jamie, I’ve heard in a recent interview that you would have loved to collaborate with Lucian Freud… Do you feel the need to explore other art forms to maintain this global approach to music?

Alison Mosshart : We’ve always painted, drawn, taken photos, filmed things. I love every art form. I don’t think it’s important to do all these things to maintain a global approach to music. I’m not sure what a global approach to music even is. I just love making art. It all comes from the same place I think.

La Face B : A friend of mine who doesn’t like rock music was telling me the other day how he thought he witnessed the best rock concert he’s ever been to after seeing you live in Paris, precisely because your music didn’t sound like rock to him. I found that very interesting because you do have that kind of bluesy-guitar signature style, while also playing with noisy textures that could come from a cut-up approach, like hip hop music does. Do this kind of approach inspire you? Do you pay any attention at all to genre while writing?

Alison Mosshart : We see ourselves as an electric guitar band before a rock n’ roll band. With an electric guitar and a vocal, you can do anything, any genre, any style, fuck around with any rhythm you want. Being a two piece is the only limit we have, everything else, every idea that we can conceive of starting from that point, is fair game.

La Face B : Lastly- I recently came across these images and immediately thought of The Kills. A series of photographs by John Divola titled ‘Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert’, which he took in 96-98 while driving in the Southern California desert, conjuring existential themes like isolation and desire, man versus wild, joy versus fear. It made me think of God Games’ cover, with the bull and the matador, but it also reminded me of Don Van Vliet’s painting retreat in California after Captain Beefheart’s ending, and of Vanishing Point’s iconic car chase. Basically a lot of the things you’ve often mentioned as an inspiration. I wanted to point it out to you, see if you knew this photographer. What does it evoke for you?

Alison Mosshart : I love this photo series. Meditative again, like driving a car. It’s cool to see stills of animals running, their shape, their sleekness, the body transformed into a bullet. I don’t know why but it makes me think of Benton Harbor, Michigan in the snow and the dogs at Key Club (a recording studio we worked at a lot)  running down the desolate main street in a town that time forgot. These photos look like love and loyalty to me. 

#alison mosshart #the kills #interview #music interview #music writing #god games #jamie hince

[thesinglesjukebox]

PORTER ROBINSON - "CHEERLEADER"

April Fool's Day is over, now time for some SINCERITY...

[5.92]

Taylor Alatorre: This song sounds embarrassing. It sounds excessive. It sounds like something you might regret putting into the world five seconds after hitting "publish." It sounds, in other words, like high school. Porter Robinson's post-brostep career has been an extended treatise on escapism -- from the appealingly plaintive paracosms of 2014's Worlds to the soothing self-inventory of 2021's Nurture, with his Virtual Self side project managing to be both esoteric and stupidly self-explanatory. He's crafted a series of immersive alternatives to analog messiness, allowing the listener to check out of the everyday and place themselves for a moment in a softer-edged realm, with more explicable rules and a more poetic set of problems. "Cheerleader," though, offers the listener no assistance in either sidestepping or reconfiguring the uncomfortable reality into which they were born; music video aside, it's not really a song about fanbases gone wild either. Instead it's about the girl in your school's Anime Club who gave out her deviantART username before her phone number and taught you against your will what the word yaoi meant. The fujoshi representation, besides filling a glaring gap in the TSJ search index, makes it clear that this is about a real person and not an avatar, and it's that awkward flesh-and-blood realness which is precisely at issue here. Maybe she's as real as him, and maybe he couldn't live with that. The perspective of a boy who is unused to being the object of obsession is an under-explored one in music, probably because it's very hard to land it within the narrow range of acceptable loserdom. But Porter sticks the landing by enveloping us fully within the loser's headspace, where both his emo-inflected chagrin and his fragmented memories of the girl's "cheering" are enshrouded by a waterfall of blown-out Obama-era detritus. If you ever wondered what a big room house remix of Two Door Cinema Club might've sounded like, or Oracular Spectacular if it had debuted on Beatport, here's your answer. Other seemingly out-of-place additions -- the bitpop cowbell, the Punk Goes Acoustic bridge, the hilariously overwrought drumroll that becomes less so the second time around -- fit right into this 1080p capture of late adolescent bag-fumbling. Taken together, they convey a mismatch in interests and hobbies that may have seemed like a deal breaker at the time, but in hindsight was just another excuse to avoid vulnerability. Perhaps I only arrived at this gonzo interpretation because the 4chan-core single artwork serves as a kind of shibboleth for these things. If that's the case, then I plead guilty: I ate the apple. [10]

Oliver Maier: "We have Anamanaguchi at home." [6]

Hannah Jocelyn: I loved Porter Robinson's Nurture for its unapologetic sincerity, a balm when emerging back into the world post-lockdown. I miss that early hopefulness as the years have gone on; even now, it's hard for me to hear "Unfold" without being close to tears. "Cheerleader" is a frustrating detour, with inane lyrics about yandere fujoshis fetishizing Robinson -- you know you're doing nothing new when the Nostalgia Critic beat you to it, and Robinson hardly sells the can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em message better. Nurture, for better or worse, incorporated the pitch-shifting vocals of hyperpop into EDM (to the point where a trans woman musician I know grew frustrated with Nurture's acclaim for doing what acts like Katie Dey had done for years, regardless of how Robinson himself identifies.) That's worth acknowledging, especially as this attempts to go right to the source: 3OH!3 and Metro Station come to mind. Except there’s none of the polish that makes those songs work despite themselves -- What's with that tinny hi-hat? Where's the low end on the guitar? Listen to "Shake It"; that song from 2007 sounds better than this one from 2024. It's not enough to replicate the aesthetics; for some ungodly reason, Robinson decided it must sound like it's coming from a Hot Topic speaker too. [4]

Claire Biddles: We have "Shake It" by Metro Station at home. [4]

Tim de Reuse: I admire the chutzpah to take a stylistic hairpin turn like this. And I appreciate the ability to do that while retaining the crystal-clear boom-bap production chops that made you a breakout sensation in the first place. And I appreciate how it makes its power-pop references clear without sticking to them too desperately. And I appreciate the sheer craft; birds fly, rocks sink, Porter Robinson writes synth hooks that wrap around your mind and squeeze tight. And I appreciate the line about getting drawn kissing other guys. But there's a clean and edgeless quality here, a sterile expression of his EDM roots, that directly contradicts his attempts at a heartbreaking singalong. Nowhere does his voice crack with raw emotion; nowhere does it seem even possible that his voice might crack with raw emotion. [5]

Kayla Beardslee: Porter Robinson’s doing anime OSTs now? Good for him. [7]

Leah Isobel: I see this fitting into a whole universe of PS1/Nintendo DS aesthetic indie games, YouTube video essays about old anime, trans girls with Neocities websites, indie pop sung by vocaloids. I could call it hyperpop -- not in the sense of overdriven chaos, but in the sense of the hyperlink. (HTML revival would be more accurate.) As such, it feels a little too precise, its scruffiness deployed too purposefully; I feel like this stuff works best when the self is obscured, and Porter is too big of a star to let that happen. But that also means the chorus is fucking massive, so I can't complain too much. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: The soft, limply placed drums in the song for once are not the sabotaging element in this song. The lithe, acoustic guitar bridge is even nicely played. The guitar riff, doubled by the synth, is the true arrow to the heart of this song. Porter is processed to hell and back, refusing to give over his composition to a more present, entertaining vocalist, but that riff is so grating and stiff that when it first arrives, sliding up as the culmination of the slowly hopping pre-chorus, it stops the song from progressing any further, simply pushing Porter into the background and leaving his Melodyned voice slack below it, struggling to be heard. Now, does this stop me from screaming that chorus in my head? Of course not. It's not fair I have to keep hearing this grating riff every time, though. [6]

Ian Mathers: God, I love that recurring, overdriven synth sound that kicks in on the chorus. If anything I wish it was more all-enveloping when it hits (yes, like shoegaze, yes, I'm predicable). There's lots of other interesting things going on here, but I can't quite get over that visceral rush enough to figure out my response to it all. Hit the whoosh button again, Porter! [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Not nearly dumb enough for me to enjoy its shtick. [3]

Isabel Cole: This sounds like a One Direction album track in a universe where after they got kicked off The X Factor, Simon Cowell realized he could save so much money by replacing everyone but Liam with robots, only when they got into the studio there was some kind of malfunction and Zayn-bot started screeching uncontrollably and Niall-bot fell on his side crackling horribly with static while Harry-bot and Louis-bot took turns punching each other until they were dented beyond recognition, and that's why it sounds like how it sounds. (Liam didn't notice anything amiss, obviously; have you met him?) [4]

Will Adams: At the heart of Nurture was its... well, heart. On that record, Porter Robinson wore his on his sleeve, crooning lines like "I'll be alive next year / I can make something good" without a hint of irony. On "Cheerleader," he surprisingly lets a bit of cynicism slip in. It's not a leap to see how producing such earnest, sincere art would naturally invite fans to form parasocial relationships, to draw fan art but not know where to "draw the line," to develop a near-fatalistic expectation of commitment. But between each of those details is a generous counterpoint, where Porter wonders if he benefits just as much from these feelings. It creates a fascinating tension, expressed best by the chorus: "IT'S NOT FAAAAIIIRRRRRR!", stretched over a fizzy, tightly-wound power-pop arrangement complete with a skyscraping synth line. Porter just can't help himself. We've all got feelings; why not scream them to the rafters? [8]

Katherine St. Asaph: Porter Robinson's brand of earnestness makes my heart feel burnt or dead. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#porter robinson #music #music writing #music reviews #music criticism #the singles jukebox #Youtube

[tipytap]

BRO WHO WAS GONNA TELL ME ABOUT MELODY FORMS??? SHITS LIFE CHANGING BRO

#music theory #music #music production #music writing #OH MY GOD #this helps me so much #just learned about period form and sentence form and now im thinking of a bunch of songs thst have variations of those #HTHRGHTNNDBF #im so excited #im going to write all the music #composing #music composition #music notation #music nonsense

[writers-hub]

Writers Block Tips!

Get a move on!

Go for a walk or run! Physical activity can improve your brain function and reduce anxiety. Now that pesty voice in your head telling you your writing isn't good enough (which it is) can put a sock in it!

2. Start joggin your noggin!

Write something else! Writing something else will help you take a break while still using your brain. This way your breaks are still productive and you'll still be in the writing mood when you circle back!

3. You stink!

Take a shower! This one is a personal favorite of mine. The shower is where many people come up with their best ideas. Just be sure to have your phone near by to write down any thoughts as they come.

4. Consume consume consume

Read, listen to music, watch a movie, whatever you're trying to write or create, look at other peoples work to spark inspiration!

5. What next?

Move on from that point. Think about what will happen later on in your piece and start working on that. Then you'll have an idea where you want to go with your work and it may give you ideas.

6. Phone a friend!

Spitball with a friend! Just saying your ideas out loud may help. It's like when you go to ask someone a question and as soon as you say it you remember the answer. Your friends may also have ideas you never would have thought of. It's good to get different perspectives.

7. Z's take your writing to new degrees!

Take a nap! Getting some good rest could refresh your brain and you'll wake up ready to write. Don't wear yourself out. Ideas will come. Rome wasn't built in a day!

8. Practice makes perfect

Write for a couple minutes everyday. This will train your brain to be able to write a lot easier and come up with ideas much faster.

9. Do your chores!

Do some stuff you have to get done. Just get your mind completely off of your work. Then later come back with a fresh mind.

10. Just spit it out!

Write whatever comes to your mind. Any and all ideas put them down on paper. Don't edit until you've gotten everything out. Then go back after to edit. Trying to write and edit your work at the same time will have you going in circles. Rough drafts are allowed to be rough!

Not every tip works for everyone so try out different ones to see what fits you best! If You have any tips I left out please feel free to leave them in the comments for your fellow writers!

#poetry #poems on tumblr #poem #quotes #writing #my writing #writeblr #scriptwriting #authors #fanfic #comic #music writing #love poem #spilled poetry

[witchy-aunt]

Hi guys! so I wrote this... uh didn't completely finish it, but its something!!! I don't completely remember where I was going with this when I wrote it, but y'know I figured I'd still post it on here lmk what u think!

I don’t like the way you said it

And im beginning to dread it

I wish I could forget it

Why cant you hold me

Ignite the fire 

Send a sign

Come rushing down, waves to head

I was misled, im not dead

#writing #writers on tumblr #witchy writes #writers #creative writing #my writing #writeblr #writers and poets #writerscommunity #writer #music writing #poems on tumblr #original poem #original song #original writing

[celestialiron]

Here’s something I’ve been working on for quite some time now! Although it’s only the beginning portion of this very much becoming a huge piece for me, I’m still so excited to see what everyone thinks of!

This is also a small example of what I can offer for commissions work if anyone is interested! I’m still getting everything set up on my Ko-fi page to start it up! I hope you all enjoy!

#hope everyone enjoys this! #it’s my own character’s piece for some point in the story of what she’s going through #eventually I’ll be writing it out but I wanted to get this out first #music composition #composition work #staffpad #music writing #original work #my own composition work #music compositions #support musicians

[valinized]

Initially taking shape as the last things I'd ever write, I extended it to a full album with more obscure feelings that kept popping into my head over these last few weeks. Exclusively released here on Tumblr

#writing #lyricist #music #music writing #lyrics #poetry #love #writers and poets #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writeblr #emo

[thejoeypop]

#tattoos #fit #style #alt boy #music #music writing #making music #maschine #mk3 #headphones

[canadian-cannibal]

went and looked through the doc I write down all of my various random song lyric ideas and man, it looks like a middle schooler’s teenage angst diary lol.

#angst #song writing #music writing #teenage angst

[thenightsystem]

I’m having whatever the equivalent of writers block for songwriting is, so I had an idea. Can someone give me like a word or phrase for me to write a song about?/nf

Anyone feel free to reply to this at any point if you wan

-host

#songwriter #writers block #music writing #song writing #song lyrics #music #did

[2mello]

The blog series is complete.

It's finally done. The "Creating Sounds Of Tokyo-To Future" blog series ends with discussions of the songs "PULL UP", "Future Unwritten" and a short but important outro. https://2mello.net/blog

I've been indulgent enough making a blog so I'll keep it short here--if you want to know more about my direct inspirations, techniques and thoughts while making music, this series is the most I've ever put down in text (and pictures, audio and video). This is ideally meant to be read while listening to each song, as it includes timestamps where I'll talk about specific things. I really hope it helps with your insight on music.

#music blog #music #jet set radio #2 mello #electronic music #music production #music writing

[thesinglesjukebox]

PINKPANTHERESS FT. ICE SPICE - BOY'S A LIAR PT. 2

That's a wrap on Day 1! And we're just getting started...

[7.09]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The last time we talked about PinkPantheress I called her music "aural wallpaper" -- and I stand by that! It's just that "Boy's a liar" is exquisite aural wallpaper, the kind of endlessly loopable pop hit that has just enough variation to sound fresh even after most of a year's worth of overplay. Part of that comes from her guests. Ice Spice's verse is the most genuinely affecting she's ever been, and Mura Masa's assist on production varies the UK Garage-nostalgia formula just enough for it to work, bringing in faux-8-bit synth lines to cut through PinkPantheress' still-simple melodies. Yet the PinkPantheress of "Boy's a liar" is herself an artist evolved, one more driven towards actual sing-along hooks rather than just moods to ruminate in. The change works -- that chorus will be embedded in my head for the rest of my life, which I have to assume was the goal. [9]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: PinkPantheress riffs on UK dance music in a way that's antithetical to why I was drawn to it -- her diaristic lyrics and hushed vocalizing subtly position the music as a singer-songwriter's work, steering any breakbeat or 2-step jitter away from maximalist dancefloor pleasures. Her latest album Heaven knows assuaged some of my skepticism: "True romance" is tasteful in its momentary adoption of jungle, "Feel complete" brings her work in conversation with turn-of-the-millennium Shibuya-kei, and "Ophelia" is a hefty conceptual gambit that could only work with a sound so diaphanous. Before all this, though, was "Boy's a liar Pt. 2." It was the first track that made me appreciate the sketch-like nature of her craft. The song hinges on Ice Spice's nimble maneuvering of the beat, whose harpsichord-like melody and chiptune blips place this sorrowful recounting of a shitty ex as a truly timeless phenomenon. Ice Spice arrives mid-confession to act as the supportive friend -- if it's not completely felt in the lyrics, then it's there in her playful yet acerbic tone. She provides necessary relief; PinkPantheress' "good enough" chants feel slightly more hopeful by the time the song ends, like she knows she'll come out the other end soon. [6]

Jonathan Bradley: Ice Spice lays down 16 frothy bars that feel like eight, yet everything about this track feels twice as insubstantial as it really is. PinkPantheress contributes a burble-chirrup that in pixelated patterns of toy piano and ringtone synth and a back-and-forth loop that sounds most like a digital fish blowing bubbles. Suitably, Ice Spice's vocabulary abstracts into a "duh-duh-duh" that she still manages to rhyme with "shouldn't have." [8]

Oliver Maier: Big year for these two. The "good enough/duhduhduh/should'nt've" three-piece is amazingly silly, the axis around which the song (and most of the memes it has produced) spins and a great distillation of what is appealing about Ice Spice as a rapper. Not much else jumps out, though. PinkPantheress has a good ear for feathery beats, but this one feels paper-thin, and the chiptune flourishes get grating quick. [4]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: In which the value propositions of two emerging stars are perfectly merged. Effortlessly flexing and trashtalking, Ice Spice plays the foil to the cutesy but wounded and contemplative PinkPantheress. This is what shit talking a boy with a friend should sound like. [8]

Katherine St Asaph: Mura Masa called this single "borderline misandrist"; if so, that border is the size of a moat. The song isn't about boys as a group but one particular boy, whose crime isn't being a liar necessarily but being hypercritical. And "Boy's a Liar" isn't a breakup song so much as an epiphany: a celebration of the first tentative tendrils of renewed self-confidence. "You only want to hold me when I'm looking good enough" should not feel quietly radical, but after hearing "actually, beauty standards are primarily enforced by other women!" horseshit for seemingly decades, it does. Maybe that's why this diaphanous little single has gravitas beyond its weight. Or maybe it's just because I'm job hunting right now, and "Boy's a Liar" has been a great soundtrack for my (at time of writing) 194 autorejections. (damn) [9]

Michelle Myers: The original "Boy's a Liar" is two minutes of vibey perfection, but calling it a song feels like a reach. The addition of an ill-fitting verse from Ice Spice is a step in the wrong direction. [7]

Jackie Powell: Ice Spice's feature not only helps the song's flow, but it establishes the track as a feminist call to action. The verse that Ice Spice replaced on the original "Boy's a Liar" sounded out of place and it slowed down the tempo that PinkPantheress established in the hook and opening verse. Lyrically that verse was also weaker. Without Ice Spice, PinkPantheress continues to plead with her lover to stay. She asks what she should do without him. Ice Spice's verse in Pt. 2 specifically calls out the liar in question and places accountability. Pt. 2 transforms the song from more of a woe as me track into a song telling a story about someone who should just buzz off after lying. He's clearly not good eno-o-ough, good eno-o-ough. [7]

Alfred Soto: Rounded up a notch for Ice Spice's rap and the insidiousness of the tiny, tinny synth hook. As much as I appreciate a 2:15 pop single, "Boy's a Liar" needs ballast. [6]

Will Adams: The original was carbonated and pleasant, like the first sip of a seltzer whose flavor turns out to be quite nice. With Ice Spice, there's added dimension; she lets slip a hint of vulnerability ("I don't sleep enough without you") and a hell of a lot of charisma. The brief run-time will probably bother me less and less as time goes on. [6]

Crystal Leww: I heard every kind of edit of this on the dancefloor, this year and it didn't matter if it was a UK garage version, Jersey Club, or baile funk -- you could hear the girls of New York City rap along to every single bar in the Ice Spice verse. I think my favorite part is the moment of quiet, pleading pause in Ice Spice's "But I don't sleep enough without you." She's seemingly all New York bad bitch, I'm-Tougher-Than-You big balls energy up until this point but yeah, bad bitches need a little love, too. [8]

Aaron Bergstrom: Reads like someone spent a long time trying to explain the concept of self-doubt to Ice Spice and she didn't quite get it, but the ideological odd couple bit actually works pretty well. [6]

Brad Shoup: The remix rap feature is a delightful gamble. Maybe you're just getting the name you paid for: the personality, the ad-lib. If it's a collab, maybe you get a couple bars that nod at your theme. Ice Spice's feature is precisely designed to complement the track: smash-cutting between bravado and insecurity. At the very end -- where those contractual wrap-up bars tend to go -- PinkPantheress and Mura Masa drop the skittering dialtone so she can plead in second-person. It's pretty devastating! [7]

Nortey Dowuona: It's always a delight to hear the taunting song title out of PinkPantheress's honeycomb soprano cuz it comes after a deeply anguished and frustrated first verse in which she feels the wrenching despair of not being good enough for her to be loved, cared for, trusted. It stacks depressed and tired line after depressed and tired line until she throws up her hands, deciding to wash her hands of him, letting go of his stated feelings to tend to her own coalescing into a stone, which Ice Spice hurls at another unnamed him, until she briefly considers her spite, then admitting to herself she does still care, worse, consider his presence important to her life. But "don't like sneaky shit that you do." [10]

Alex Ostroff: I'm still a little lukewarm on the concept of PinkPantheress as a pop star. The idea of the UK Garage revival actually topping the US charts this time around is something I'm 300% in favour of happening, but when niche scenes have their crossover moment I usually want the artists to really make a serious play for taking over the centre of culture and release songs that give us their unique take on Pop Music. (To be fair, this is likely because I am now An Old who missing the TRL era when all charting music seemed to exist in the same universe, whereas the charts in 2023 seem more like a way of ranking the relative popularity of different niche music scenes that remain hermetically sealed off from one another.) Too often for me, PinkPantheress' songs -- even after Boy's a liar" -- don't push beyond the slight UK garage-influenced TikTok bops she started out making. Ironically, this Pt. 2 with Ice Spice (which now feels like an early success from a previous era of her career) is one of the few times when her promise feels entirely fulfilled -- dragging Ice Spice in from the parallel universe of New York drill and putting her in a new context of chiptune bleep-bloops and PinkPantheress' vocals pivoting from wistful to joyous. That said, if the UK Garage revival crossover actually takes over the charts in 2024, I humbly request that we get more songs with gloss and big choruses and big emotions. [8]

Taylor Alatorre: Perfect timing aside, a key reason why "Pt. 2" took off the way it did is that Ice Spice displays an intuitive grasp of what this extended dance mix of a ringtone is really about: not middle-fingers-up misandry, but the torments of an ongoing fixation. PinkPantheress flits between the present and past tenses like she's reading from a jumbled diary entry, but amidst all her self-protective cooing, the line that lands the hardest is "you're not looking at me, boy," which is really more of a suggestion for improvement than a burning of bridges. So it's entirely fitting that Ice Spice end her characteristically efficient verse with an uncharacteristic airing of regret: "I don't sleep enough without you, and I don't eat enough without you." Nothing groundbreaking for the top 40, but it's these seamless transitions between expressions of superiority and vulnerability that have kept "Boy's a liar" from a lifetime sentence in the social media buzz bin. [6]

Tara Hillegeist: It's not that I'm against a song being useful as a TikTok soundbite, much less predisposed to think an artist who has primarily existed in that format cannot be interesting outside it, but... damn. If you set this against the original, to say nothing of "Mosquito" or even Ice Spice's own "Deli"... it's tempting to condescend in all good faith and write off the rehashtagged gestures as some attempt at a victory lap, maybe, but if this is the sound of #winning, it's awful perfunctory against either of their best, if not outright insulting to both. Preemptively remixing a perfectly good piece of Carly Rae-&B like "Boy's a liar" into nothing more than a half-rasped TikTok-ready clip reel, to say nothing of a guest verse that tries for above-it-all styling and lands on slumming-it-all tiresome -- from Ice Spice, an artist with more personality than panache to begin with -- is a gesture beneath the ability of any performer and flattering to none. But yesterday's leftovers will suit tomorrow's fancams just fine, won't they, so it hardly matters if there's hardly any marrow left on these bones, does it? [4]

Andrew Karpan: One wonders what the future holds for the seminal record of 2023, a charismatic bounce of emotional longing that was seemingly heard everywhere but that I can't imagine ever wanting to hear again. [7]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Pillowy, lightweight, more notable for Ice Spice's continued ascendance than PinkPantheress. One of these artists gets their lines coloured in and it's not the British gal. [7]

Ian Mathers: This is great, but I'm still holding out for us to review Pt. 3 where it's just the "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" mashup, which has pretty much replaced this one in my earworms' songbook. [8]

Leah Isobel: A fax machine beeps incessantly in the American Embassy in London. A horde of 22-year old secretaries, outfitted in earth-toned Juicy Couture, jewel-bright nails click-clacking on the cracked screens of their iPhones, wait with bated breath as the message comes through. Urgent meeting with the Ambassador requested, it reads. Serious matter: the boy's a liar. Before the fax is even finished, Ice Spice is in the car, her driver careening through the city on the wrong side of the road. She mutters a few tentative thoughts into her voice memos: "He never drops his location, like..." Ambassador Spice arrives at Prime Minister Pantheress' office to find that news crews are already present, ready to capture a meeting of historic import, with implications international. The duo's regal bearing -- shaped by a lifetime of political service -- never falters, and their smiles never seem false. They are each truly beloved of their people. But they can never undo what has already been done: they cannot make the boy tell the truth. The flow of information has sped up over time, hastened by shimmering tentacles of fiber optics snaking under the Atlantic, heralded by jingly ringtones and text alert sounds, but it's never fast enough. Regret and grief attend every belated realization, every decision made, every path not taken. In the US and UK, millions of citizens watch their representatives come to an unprecedented agreement, one that future generations will look back on and think, "That could have been worse." The relieved masses, content to know that the truth has finally been revealed, hum and sway in agreement: "Good enough-ough-ough." [8]

Rachel Saywitz: sorry can't properly blurb this one, too busy shaking ass [7]

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