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welcome-to-the-neotheater · 15 days

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I made one of those iceberg memes for AJR

It includes both songs and also just like fanbase stuff

Thanks to the website I made this on for putting their massive fucking watermark over the bottom

Full explanation:

Bang!: Bang! has been, in some ways the most popular AJR song. YouTube says WSV has more streams than Bang! does but I think that has more to do with the online popularity of it than anything else, as I've honestly heard more people say they've heard bang than WSV so I put it at the top.

WSV (World's Smallest Violin): WSV from Ok Orchestra has been one of songs I go to when I'm trying to see if maybe someone's heard an AJR song before and just hasn't realized it. It went pretty viral in 2022.

Weak: Weak was also a pretty massive song. It was released on the Click and according to YouTube Music has 238 million plays.

Burn The House Down: This song was released on the Deluxe version of The Click (it's not on the main one, which is surprising as it's the most popular song from the whole album). It's also one of AJR's biggest songs.

The Good Part: This was the first AJR song I'd ever heard! A lot of it's popularity was from TikTok trends that we're using the "can we skip to the good part" as a transition audio.

AJR is a band: I feel like this should go without saying and should be higher on the list, but the number of people I see referring to AJR collectively as "he" is infuriating. There are 3 of them holy shit dude look at any album cover of theirs and use some of those counting skills we should've learned in preschool. However, I do see people not involved in AJR stuff who understand how to count and say "their" when referring to them collectively so I put it above the water level on the iceberg.

Way Less Sad: This song also did pretty well. It was released on Ok Orchestra. However it's not one I think most non-AJR fans would've heard so I put it as the first "under water level" spot on the iceberg.

AJR stands for Adam Jack and Ryan: A lot of people don't know this but I think it's one of the first things you'd google if you were starting to join the fanbase. Adam Jack and Ryan are the first names of the bassist, lead singer, and keyboardist respectively.

Jack's Hat: Pretty much since I want to say 2015 (?) Jack has worn this hat during pretty much anything relating to the band.

It was his mother's hat and appears as early as Living Room overture

pssst Women's Ultrawarm Bomber Hat | Accessories at L.L.Bean (llbean.com)

They're brothers: Adam Jack and Ryan are brothers. Not much more to elaborate on here except that a lot of people didn't seem to know this.

Karma: One of the greatest songs ever made and definitely one any fan knows. It was on Neotheater

Overtures: For the albums the click, living room, and ok orchestra the album has started with a song called "Overture" (or "Ok Overture" in Ok Orchestra's case). These songs are just like a mash up of the other songs on the album.

Both Living Room and The Click's overtures display this definition at the beginning of the song as "Overture" isn't in most peoples vocabularies

I guess by Ok Overture we were expected to understand what was going on as there was no definition at the beginning of that one.

T__ M____ M__: So whether or not you know what this is will depend on how active you were in the community at the time TMM (what we now know is The Maybe Man) was being teased. Essentially we were told of the initials "TMM" and that the first word had 3 letters, the second 5, and the 3rd 3 and nothing else. There was someone selling shirts that said "AJRdle" at one point (I can't find them now), and that refers the wordle we were essentially playing with the album name.

Joe: This song was written about a guy who went to Ryan's high school that he looked up to. It's not a hugely popular song but it's one most fans would know. It appears on Ok Orchestra.

Adventure is Out There: Another less popular Ok Orchestra song. This one's great too.

I'm Ready: This song was their "first" (more on that later) song and was also their first hit. Sia shouted them out and that pretty much made the song a hit.

It was in the trailer for Trainwreck in 2015

Trainwreck (2015) - IMDb

Pitchfork Kids: Beloved by fans and considered by some as the best song on Living Room. It originally came out in the Infinity EP.

Normal: So a lot of people miss this song's existence as it was on the deluxe edition on the click but not the official one. It's kinda overlooked. Citation needed, but I believe it's the least popular song that's post living room.

Weak has an acoustic version: This title is pretty self-explanatory, but a lot of people missed the acoustic version of weak that came out in the "Weak Remixes" EP (I guess its an EP?)

youtube

City Savers: My beloved city savers. Sadly this and other AJR webisodes were taken down from the official page but there is a reupload.

AJR WEBISODE: CITY SAVERS (youtube.com)

Essentially it was just a skit they did. I'm not sure when it came out but if I had to guess it looks like it might've been around 2013.

A Day In The Life: City Savers' slightly overlooked twin. Another webisode from around this time.

youtube

Dear Winter 2.0: AJR released an alternate version of Dear Winter. All the lyrics are the same but the production is different. A lot of people don't seem to talk about this.

youtube

3 AM: Not to be confused with 3 O'clock things, 3 AM was released on the infinity EP in 2014. It's the least played AJR song that's still officially available.

AJR Covers Channel: There exists a second official AJR youtube channel thats @/AJRBrothers instead of just @/AJR

AJRBrothers - YouTube

They posted covers of songs. It hasn't been active for 11 years.

I also love how hilariously outdated their About section is.

6Foot1: This was just an alternate title for the I'm Ready EP.

Woody Allen, AfterHours, and Buy You A Rose still have their 6Foot1 versions up on AJR's youtube channel.

Jack was in The Pink Panther 2: Yeahhh

So when Jack was 11 he was in a movie called the Pink Panther 2. He played a character named Antoine. I watched the movie and he was only in like 5 minutes of it total. I wasn't paying a ton of attention to the movie but I think he was supposed to be the nephew of the main character.

If you've ever seen this:

Its from the promotion for this movie.

He was also in one called Billy Bates according to IMDB but I've never seen that one.

Anyways if for whatever reason you want to watch the Pink Panther 2 (it's terrible and absolutely earned its 12% rotten tomatoes rating) you can watch it here for free on Tubi:

Watch The Pink Panther 2 (2009) - Free Movies | Tubi (tubitv.com)

Married On A Hill: Mostly just mentioning this song cause I discovered it and became obsessed with it a couple of weeks ago but essentially it's a song of theirs from like 2014 or 2013 that was played live a couple of times and never officially released (but was released accidentally in 2020 Married On A Hill | AJR Wiki | Fandom) but there are still concert recordings of it on YouTube.

Here's one:

AJR - Married On A Hill 11/4/14 (youtube.com)

Born and Bred: Born and Bred was the first album they ever released, but it's been taken down. According to genius.com, it came out on March 8th 2010, but take this with a grain of salt because genius.com sucks balls. But, I digress.

It still exists on YouTube but I didn't tell you that.

Adam was in a The Onion video: This also has a pretty self explanatory title.

Adam appears in the Onion's "High School Tonys Nation's Drama Club Nerds" at 0:55

High School Tonys Honor Nation's Drama Club Nerds (youtube.com)

Go On Take A Chance: This was AJR's first song. It exists on YouTube and has a music video. It appears as the first track on Born and Bred and was released as a single according to genius.com on January 13th 2010. Again, take this with a grain of salt because genius.com sucks balls.

But I digress put your hands up cause I won't

Venture: Venture was the second album released by AJR and has also been taken down. There is a lot less of this album available online so it's lost media in a way. Genius.com says venture came out September 12th (yikes) 2010, but have I mentioned that I fucking hate genius.com. This album has 10 songs.

AJR - EP: And we reach the end. This EP was released after Venture and Born and Bred and had 4 songs, one of which was The World Is A Marble heart, which I'm pretty sure makes it the oldest still publicly available AJR song. I think it's the same on the AJR EP as it is on Living Room but I haven't heard the original version to confirm that. If genius.com is to be trusted (it generally is not) it came out July 17th 2012. I think most of the EP is available on YouTube.

I only put this one at the bottom because in my experience the community seems to talk about it less than Born and Bred and Venture.

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topweeklyupdate · 3 years

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TØP Weekly Update #142: A Formidable Album (5/21/21)

So... how 'bout that album release week?

There's so much to cover; the release of nine new songs, the hype that's building for the World's Best Band to return to the stage, and (if we're able to come up for air) the massive speculation of what the future brings for our band.

I'm gonna get right into it, laying out my thoughts regarding this bold new album and covering all the most notable news from the week. I'll be sharing my (mostly) positive opinions about Scaled and Icy under the Read More line; I hope they're the start of a fun conversation with all of y'all who have stuck around through this last year.

Scaled and Icy Review

First, my general thoughts on the album: It's good! Really good. Do I think it's a no-skip like Vessel or a cohesive piece of art like Trench? Absolutely not! But it's also not the potential misfire that I worried that we might be getting when I first heard "Saturday" (more on that later); I think all of the songs are at least good, and some of them are downright great tracks that hold up with anything else that our band has ever released. It is also indisputably very different, but I think that generally works pretty well. Many of the songs evoke '60s rock or Britpop sounds and structures that you can tell Tyler is still trying to navigate, but I think he does a very solid job at adapting them to suit his strengths- namely his lyricism and knack for melody- rather than change to suit them. Unfortunately, this does result in a bit of square-peg-in-round-hole syndrome at times; most of the rap verses on the album feel like they're here just to fulfill an obligation to fans who would be mad if they weren't here, and most of the songs that use them are the weakest ones in the project.

"Good Day" plays a major role in getting the rest of the album to work as well as it does. Its gradual ramp-up, introducing the sound that will be used throughout the rest of the album. Its playfulness belies its message about how one can project a somewhat false optimism for oneself in the midst of tragedy: the type of dark stuff in a bright package that Tyler is so so good at. It's perhaps not an instant classic, but I am excited to see how it comes across when it's eventually used as a show-opener. 9/10

I've of course already discussed "Shy Away"; an anthemic, inimitably catchy track that I just wish had a bit more going on under the hood. Still going to be so good to hear thousands of voices scream "An 'I LOVE YOU' that isn't words!" someday. 9.5/10

"Choker" definitely took a little bit to grow on me. I think part of that was a bit of disappointment from over-inflated expectations and the environment I was in when I first heard it. With further listens, I fall more and more in love with the melody of the song... well, most of it. Like the rest of this album, the biggest weakness in the song is when Tyler tries to tick the box of having a rap verse; it just feels really out of place, unfinished, and almost amateurish, and it doesn't end the song on the note that it really should. Without it, it'd be one of my favorites on the album; with it, "Choker" is a solid 8.5/10.

Speaking of unfinished-sounding songs really hurt by their rap verse: "The Outside". There's a definite something to the vibe of the song, but that seemingly nonsensical verse is one of the two weakest parts of the entire project for me. The way the song meanders only adds to the feeling that there wasn't as much energy and attention paid to it compared to other parts of the project. It's pretty easily my least favorite track on Scaled and Icy, and the only one I might regularly skip. I've also seen plenty of people saying it's the best song on the album, so please tell me why I'm wrong! 6.5/10

"Saturday", as mentioned above, had me really nervous about this album. Like "Choker", it's grown on me a bit since I first heard it, in part because it fits better with the context of the rest of the album. However, this one really does feel undercooked lyrically and overreliant on the novelty of using a disco-inspired sound that seems to chase trends more than almost any other TØP track. The inclusion of that very sweet audio clip from Jenna boosts the song in some ways, but also adds to the disappointment in others; there are many other songs on this project that would be more worth surrendering time watching Friends. Thankfully, those come next. 7/10

"Never Take It" is fascinating. I never thought I'd hear a Rolling Stones-style song from Tyler Joseph featuring a gd guitar solo of all things, and it actually sounds pretty great. However, I also predict that this song will see some of the greatest critical scrutiny out of all the songs on the album. The lyrics seem to be Tyler's criticism of the media for playing up division in our society, but he's extremely vague when discussing which entities are spreading said division and ultimately recommends that people "educate yourself, but never too much". I'll be honest: maybe it's the fact that it sounds like something my dad would listen to, but it feels like this would get tons of play on Fox News. Since it makes specific reference to the events of last summer, it's hard not to feel like song is at least partially inspired by Tyler's brush with cancellation last year. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into it, but those reservations come from the song's lack of specificity, which is an issue of songwriting more than politics. They hold me back from truly loving a song that still manages to be one of the most exciting the band has ever put out. 8.5/10

"Mulberry Street" seems like the perfect realization of the entire album's intended tone. It is so pleasant, so lush while also simply produced, full of great lyrics, metaphors, and imagery. It really brings the whole project together, even if it's missing That One Line to really move this up to the top tier of the canon. 9.5/10

"Formidable" is the best song on the album and one of two songs I would truly rank in the top tier of the band's canon. Extremely pleasant and brimming with well-crafted lines to make your heart swoon. Jenna (and Rosie) is (are) a lucky gal(s). Or is it about Josh? Who's to say? 10/10

"Bounce Man" is just plain wild. I think Tyler's smuggling someone to Mexico to escape the feds? The playfulness of it all really covers up any frustration I might have with the clarity; it makes it clear that there's not really stakes here, just vibes. 8.5/10

"No Chances" sees the album take a turn that I'm sure the Reddit Clique is going to have an absolute field day with; it and "Redecorate" both sound quite different from the rest of the album and evoke enough elements of Trench to make me think that's it's actually possible that all this 'SAI is Propaganda' stuff might actually have something to it... until I actually pick apart the lyrics, then I'm even more confused. The song has some of the best rapping on the album, though that's not saying much (the feng shui line is a groaner right out the gate) and the gentle pre-chorus is really pleasant. I still haven't made up my mind on whether the chorus is effective or just plain goofy. This one might get worse or better on repeat listens, impossible to say for now. 7.5/10

"Redecorate" rounds out the album by opening with a Clancy quote (Tyler, you bastard), firmly setting this as a coda to Trench more than the album we just listened to. The rest of the song is really storytelling, with Tyler describing a bunch of people who are struggling deeply. The idea of "redecorating" here stands for how they are faced with the option to clean and resort their own spaces and lives or leave that to their loved ones to do after they're gone. By the time it gets to the album's name drop, you begin to wonder how much of this is potential autobiographical of the last year. It's moving stuff, a callback to some of the great strengths of the band's discography. 10/10

If I average those scores all up, this project ranks below almost every album among the Pilots discography on my rating scale, very narrowly edging out Self-Titled. That's still a very solid 8.6. Scaled and Icy is a very good album on first listen. We'll see how I feel about it after having a little more time to sit with it, but I've rambled enough: let's move through the rest of the week's news.

Other News

Of course, there was a lot else going on this week! To accompany the release of "Saturday", Zane Lowe over at Apple Music dropped an interview with Tyler. As usual, Zane did a pretty solid job of getting to the heart of the craft and the creation process. However, Tyler also wound up skirting a lot of the questions to just talk more about how much he loves being a dad, which makes me happy; if the cost of getting a little less attention and mental energy devoted to the music is that little girl getting all of his attention, that's honestly preferable for me.

The album rollout is not even close to over. Later today, the concert will be streamed live. It's our first real performance that we've gotten from the band since 2019, but the previews that we've seen have completely exceeded any of my expectations, and really anything that we've seen from the band. It appears that they've transformed the entire arena (which I think is the ol' Schott at Ohio State) into a whole TØP world, with different sets laden with Easter eggs and a cast of backup dancers. If the website can hold up to the traffic (and I acknowledge that might be a big ask), this could really live up to Tyler's promise of this being the best livestreamed concert ever.

Oh, and this guy dyed his hair pink.

What a time to be a fan. Catch you all tomorrow.

Power to the local dreamer.

|-/

#twenty one pilots #scaled and icy #tyler joseph #josh dun #good day #shy away #choker #the outside #saturday #never take it #mulberry street #formidable #bounce man #no chances #redecorate #top weekly update

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