No shade but imo Lucy dacus and Phoebe Bridgers solo music are both leagues better than boygenius

Olivia Rodrigo's Music Style: Pop-Punk Rockers Who Influenced Her

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album Sour comes out on May 21, and by now, you certainly know that the 18-year-old singer-songwriter counts the queen of vulnerable love-lorn melodies, Taylor Swift, as one of her most prominent influences. But after topping the charts for eight weeks with “drivers license,” it looks like Rodrigo is rearing into the rock lane, giving us the teenage angst and pop-punk petulance we deserve with the fiery “good 4 u” and impressive live performances.

Trust us, we know we don’t have to compare and contrast every female singer that’s ever made music that isn’t strictly pop, but why not salute the plaid-wearing, Doc Martens-donning foremothers of pop-punk, because as the Saturday Night Live skit on that very topic clarifies, yes she’s wearing her influences on her sleeve, “but it’s also pure Olivia, man.”

Plus, as Rodrigo shared in an interview with The Face on the sound of her upcoming album, “I feel like music is becoming increasingly genreless. I suppose I’m considered a pop artist, but I’ve never felt like one. This album is full of stuff that I like, which is so diverse. There are elements of alternative rock in there, alt-pop, some country, and definitely a lot of folk. I think anyone can find something they like hidden in one of the songs.”

So if you, like us, need something to hold you over while you wait for Rodrigo’s debut, here are 7 pop-punk rock purveyors to press play on.

1. Hayley Williams

It’s hard to think of anyone more capable of creating pure unadulterated pop-punk ballads with unparalleled vocals than Hayley Williams of Paramore, or as she was referred to by NPR, “The 21st Century's Pop-Punk Prophet.” However, with her latest single “good 4 u” Rodrigo is giving her a run for her money. In the track, Rodrigo shows off her vocal versatility, oscillating from singing to talking over electric guitars and a staccato bass line, much like Williams in Paramore’s “Misery Business.” In fact, this mashup of both tracks makes the reference and reverence to Paramore clear, plus it’s an absolute banger.

Williams put emotional fragility, powerhouse vocals, and punk rock authenticity front and center at a time when female-fronted bands were few and far between, giving a generation of young women, like Rodrigo not only someone to emulate but something to look up to.

2. Avril Lavigne

The week Olivia Rodrigo was born in 2003, Avril Lavigne was in the Top 10 with “I’m With You,” according to Rolling Stone. Coincidence? We think not. If that doesn’t tie the influenced to the influencer, just look at Lavigne’s legacy as one of the first songwriters of complicated relationship-themed pop-punk hits, like in her chant-along track “Girlfriend,” the formidable “Sk8er Boi,” and of course, the direct embodiment of that sentiment, “Complicated.” Rodrigo has not only been embodying Avril’s angsty sing-along-worthy lyrics but also replicating her wardrobe, recently rocking combat boots and a plaid corset with matching wide-leg pants (pictured above) and a chain belt you’d find at the checkout counter of any Hot Topic in the early aughts during her Saturday Night Live debut.

So, would the lyrics “It’s like we never even happened Baby / what the f*ck is up with that” in Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” exist without Lavigne singing “And hell yeah, I’m the motherf*cking princess” in “Girlfriend” first? Lucky for us, we’ll never have to find out.

3. Fefe Dobson

Fefe Dobson, is rarely mentioned in the pop-punk canon, but the singer made her mark as one of the few Black pop-punk singers of the early aughts, creating space for artists like Rodrigo who don’t fit into the predominately white male makeup of the genre.

Dobson was just 17 when she entered the pop-punk scene with tracks like “Everything” and “Take Me Away” on her debut album, one that saw her leaning into the same teenage love sentiments of falling hard and questioning it all we see in tracks like “drivers license.” Speaking to Nylon, Dobson discussed how much the scene has changed and made space for diverse artists: “I definitely think there’s no such thing as genre these days. When I was coming out in 2003, I remember people saying to my manager, like “Do you really think this Black girl’s going to do this rock-pop stuff and this is going to work?” I don‘t think that would be even said today. I think that’s a big difference.”

4. Gwen Stefani

Is it dramatic to say that without the anthemic, feminist, pop-punk rock track “Just A Girl” released way back in 1995, none of the new school punk-pop girls would be making visceral “girls to the front” vulnerable hits right now? Maybe, but it’s hard to say. With her pension for performance, fashion, candid lyricism, and devil-may-care attitude, Gwen Stefani has not only made space for herself but artists who want to replicate that same energy.

Rodrigo has never shied away from her love of No Doubt’s leading lady. On multiple occasions she’s discussed finding Stefani’s fearless ability to share personal stories and details about her innermost thoughts and desires as inspiring (and if that’s not punk rock, what is?). In an interview with Elle, it was even revealed that Stefani’s portrait was tapped to Rodrigo’s bedroom wall in a sort of shrine, dedicated to songwriters she admires. In a full-circle moment, Stefani wrote about Rodrigo for Time magazine’s 2021 TIME100 Next list, sharing, that “by pouring her heart out with so much courage and total command of her talent, Olivia made magic.” We agree.

5. Lindsay Lohan

There can be a lot said about the ins and outs, ups and downs, of Lindsay Lohan’s career. However, the platinum-certified album Speak was unquestionably a success for the then-Disney-star-turned-pop-singer who was one of the first stars of the channel to make that career pivot. She never toured for the Billboard charting album, but she did make the path from Disney star to pop-punk artists seem viable.

Rodrigo, who currently stars in the meta High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, discussed embracing her Disney start with Interview Magazine, sharing, “It’s been something I’ve given a lot of thought to, that Disney-girl archetype. I feel like there’s such a clear trajectory for what that is, and there’s so many amazing artists who have done it before me. I did grow up on Disney Channel. I am sort of this goody two-shoes. And I think shying away from that would do my art an injustice too. I just try to be as real as I possibly can.”

6. Liz Phair

Liz Phair’s fourth studio album was a masterclass in how to write a pop-punk romantic ballad while adding expletives to the climax of the track, like in her hit single “Why Can’t I?” It’s easy to see that same strategy playing out as Rodrigo sings, “I still f*cking love you, baby” in “drivers license.” Phair’s eponymous album also features the self-love ballad “Extraordinary,” which embraces her light and dark sides, something we’ve seen in Rodrigo’s first few singles and are sure to see in her debut. At the time of the album’s release, Phair was critically panned for selling out with Pitchfork claiming she’d reduced herself to “teen-pop.” But, as well all know nearly two decades on, there’s no truth to teen-pop being reductive, and Phair’s self-titled album has stood the test of time.

7. Ashlee Simpson

Back in 2004, Ashlee Simpson released her debut album Autobiography, an intimate pop-punk telling of her life. She also documented the entire process of creating the album on her series The Ashlee Simpson Show, something that was unprecedented at the time, but something current stars like Rodrigo who are used to being on camera and giving fans behind-the-scene looks at their creative process are now used to doing.

Simpson also deserves credit for pushing the boundaries of what was “allowed” for pop stars at the time, going her own way by dying her blonde hair black, and pushing back on her label who wanted her to make bubblegum pop. She ushered in an era of sad girl teen pop ballads with tracks like “Pieces Of Me” that artists like Rodrigo are still emulating today.

Olivia Rodrigo

We’ve got to end this story with Rodrigo herself, setting a bedroom on fire in “good 4 u,” and subsequently igniting another phase of her ever-evolving career. She’s got a sound all her own, and we can’t wait to see where she takes it to next. We know she’s here to stay.

Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album SOUR is due out May 21 via Geffen Records.

Get Relationship Advice Here

Ask game

1. Where did you hide the body??

Me: *pause* No, where did you hide the body—

*police stare at me with disbelief*

Me: there’s no—there’s not a single body here—well stop looking at me like that, you’re the cop! You should know! Why are you asking me for! Body? Whaaaaaat. Ahaha.

*cops shake head*

*whispers to my friend* Guys I think I pulled that one off

Police: you know we can hear everything you’re saying

me: 👁👄👁

2. Favorite rock? The 1975. Dominic Fike. Arctic Monkeys. Bad Suns. The killers. Pale Waves. Etc. That good good shit 👌

3. Most aesthetic season? Fall. Love them orange colors. The leaves falling. Though spring is also neat if you have a bunch of flowers bloomin in shit and winter is only aesthetic when it’s snowing. Boring ass summer tho just be heating me up.

4. When texting do u shorten words or spell out? I used to write stuff out all the time mostly but now it’s like half and half bcuz its just faster and nobody got time for it 🤣🤣

5. Vintage stuff? Hell yeah, but maybe not anything too expensive since some old stuff IS hyper expensive.

6. Colors that pop or blend? Not sure I understand what u mean abt them blending ahaha u mean like when they’re so similar to another?? Well I think it’s nice but honestly I prefer a pop and a bang, y’Know?

- At this moment I realized I was answering the last few questions from a completely different ask and felt like a dumbass 😂 anyways the actual number we’re on is three so imma just kickback

3. Worst dream u have ever had? I had sleep paralysis but was imbetween that and a lucid dream. At first I was paralyzed and could see my bed but my eyes felt closed and open at the same time?? A giant dark demon looking dog had towered over me and began to tear at my neck. It looked and felt very real I started to try to scream and it felt like a scream was coming out but no sound exited. Then I went into a lucid dream where I was being chased by this dog and running for my life I was running by and nobody could save me nobody in the dream when it caught up to me I was back in my bed and it was trying to eat me again. I was so terrified I couldn’t sleep for a whole week.

4. Lyric that comes to your mind? “And I don’t think I can be there. I’m paralyzed,I’m terrified of being alone. When you said I deserved what had happened.”

5. Blood make u uncomfortable? Yes, I passed out once when getting my finger pricked and a VERY small blood sample and another when dissecting a fish.

6. Even or odd numbers? Well I like the number 5,7,9, 3 so odd. (Like me 🤣🤣)

7. Something I hate that I love? Anything I’ve ever loved becuz love can be frustrating. Bruh.

8. 1st initial of someone I hate? Hmm...do I hate someone tho? Not that I can think of...

9. *Skipping down the lane* NOPE

10. Corn dogs? It’s funny cuz when I think of corn dogs my mind will always go to when we first moved to our current house because at our initial town we never had Sonic and while we were getting the house fixed up and moving stuff we use to always get Sonic since it was the closest to us most times to eat and that was a bunch of corn dogs and hotdog days 🤣 so thnk u corn dogs for ur service

11. I’m not a huge movie person so...I looked up movies from 2005 and movies Inlike from this time are Brokeback mountain bcuz it’s gay af, Shark Boy and Lava Girl damn I rewatched the shot out of it when I was younger, Narnia and the Chocolate Factory(although it low key creeped me out as a kid, and idk why).

12. Least fav music genre? Most country, most EDM, dubstep, screaming/really hard rock, some pop music, mumble raping.

13. As someone who waits on tables, my job is my least favorite restaurant experience 🤣🤣 just dealing with ppl...like ok, I’m half Hispanic right?? But I look white. Well, I work at a Mexican restaurant and so sometimes racist costumers will say shady shit just bcuz I guess they think it’s appropriate to say it to me just bcuz I’m not Hispanic in their eyes?? But it pisses me off and I feel like I can’t say anything without causing a drama which I hate and when the “costumers always right” it can be hard to budge and stand up and say “bitch wtf did u just say??” And there’s just folks who take things the wrong ways or ask too much at once or give u a hard time or just say something that sticks onto you for the whole day. One bad move can turn my whole day upside down.

14. 3 things never come near me? Cockroaches, Needles, and close mind ppl

15. Worst way to die? With regrets. Something really brutual, random, or where something just happened to go wrong (accident). Being killed by someone u love.

16. Unusual habits? Doing a Michael Jackson esque “hee-hee” after every sneeze I make, being extremely clumsy and making every task 100% more difficult, having the ability to talk as if I have an accent that comes from nowhere in particular just stupidity also I can’t speak my own language half the time 🙃getting words confused or misusing them in a sentence so I sound dumb having a very weird imagination and thoughts, I swear it like I never went to school and don’t know how the world works, plus many many more

17. Clothing style u want? I want to dress in a way that screams who I am and is a blend of both femininity and masculinity. A little vintage. Grunge. Urban maybe?? What do I know abt fashion 🤣🤣

18. Song or artist that deserves more? Dijon, hands down. I love his stuff. He’s like Frank Ocean meets light-singing beautiful lyricist with a more rock vibe?? Hidden gem. I also think Durand Jones & the Indications needs more love along with BadBadNotGood they sound like old-times but are new!! Oh, and Pale Waves is like a female The 1975 and kicks it. Bad Suns is a good alt rock band that no one seems to recognize :,D Toro y Moi too! His song with Flume “The difference “ is a banger!! Kid Cudi is my man when I want a blend of rock and rap. Also Dominic Fike,King Krule, and Roy Blair, who are all amazing!! Ok I need to stop 🛑

Duck I answered the past questions from a different post I’m sorry 😐

17. Emoji never used? There’s a bunch since I reuse the same over and over again. Lmao

18. 3 sentence Gatorade horror story? A faint quiver overtook the small freezer the Gatorade lay in; no one had come by in days, hours, weeks; when was the last time he met the lips of a thirsty body? They’d forgotten about him, as his last sips remained glued to his hollowing entrance. ‘Help, ‘it wanted to say, but it’s frozen lips could not be moved; It’d stay here, die here...just like the rest.” What am I doing with my life 🤣🙏

19. Do u know what an old bay is? A bay that is old? And old ocean? Idk!!!

20. Can u dance? Sometimes I dance when I’m alone but nothing spectral lol

21. What first comes to ur mind when u see ropes? 2 extremes. Sex and death. Hm. Ok. Moving on.

22. Make an obscure reference. “Even a bra couldn’t hold these nipples” *Holds a water gun to chest*

23. Fav balloon color? Pink or yellow.

24. If u were in court would u be innocent or guilty? Depends, what am I in court for 🤣 lmao jk honestly idk bcuz I don’t think I’d wind up in there

25. Are u hungry ? Nope

26. Unlucky number? Hm I don’t think so but I have a lucky number “123”

27. What’s “JMD”stand for? I’m guessing...Jamming my d—- 💀lol jk ahaha why am so dirt

28. Random inside joke? *chirpy squeak* I’m making a double batch of cookies

29. What sends chills up ur spine? Seeing disgust food or smell disgust or talking abt disgust things like gore

30. How many questions are in ur inbox? A pathetic zero ahaha no one want to ask me anything 😂

31. Someone real who scares u. 2 of my ex friends. One when I was 10 said disturbing things and I was kinda forced onto the friendship and everything they said make me fear for others lives...and then a different ex friend who seemed normal at 1st but became both low key psychopath cult leader type stuff and I booed out of there—-.

32. Run or hide? Uhh probably hide because I’d say even if ppl say “u can run but u can’t hide” u CAN just hide! that’s the point of hiding they not find u xD also why not combine them? Hide then run somewhere far away once I got them off the trial.

33. Last person who made u angry? A frickin beetle that flew at me and pinched me in the middle of singing in the shed xD also my autocorrect

34. What’s going on in ur head? I should probably pee soon—

35. Little thing that makes u Smile? A lot of little things bruh.

36. Are u a descisive person?

Not sure.

*pAuse *

Ok, I guess I’m not then 🤣

37. Would ppl say I’m paranoid? Hm maybe about certain things social situations, singing in front of others what ppl think abt me etc etc

38. Store least likely in? Any southern clothes shop, Abercrombie & Finch types shit, lol

39. Do I like hats fave type? Hm not wear many hats but I think they’re cool any type is cool for different ppl and their aesthetici just can’t rock a hat.

40. Bow ties or ties? Don’t really care but now want to see more bow ties

41. Who? You.

42. What? Reading this shit

43. Where? In ur ass

44. When? Now.

45. Why? Not even u know why.

46. How? We all want to know

47. Do u collect anything? Vinyl records.

48. What tome is it? Time to get a watch

49. Fav transportation? My car or walk is possible

50. Would u ever kill someone to save someone? Don’t want to think about that

51. Make a joke. Yo, it’s time to make a joke—so the other day I was working. And I was practicing my Spanish, yes? Anyone whose trying to learn anew language k n o w s that sometimes words can be so close to another u just confuse then! So apparently churros in Spanish is a desert but if u say it more harshly (it literally sounds almost the same) it makes a whole different meaning—diharrea, but like I didn’t know that so I legit just walked up to this person and asked if they would like some shit to eat. So yeah, that was great. Let’s not forget that I mixed up blood, watermelon, and sangria which is a wine. I legit once said I had mixed wine in my vines and another time watermelon 🤣

52. I’m really confused so I skip

53. Would ur dash be confiscated SFW? By dash do u mean this account? Um not 😬

54. Do I like to cuddle? Hell yeah and manhandle ppl all the time it’s my affection

55. What makes u angry? Close minded ppl or ppl who jump too fast to conclusions, strict schedules just dumb stuff that people try to force when I just want to be carefree 😭✌️

56. How many voices are in ur head? 😐

57. Do U consider urself mentally stable? 😐

58. Are u easily offended? Well U just called me mentally unstable and asked it there was voices in my head!!

59. What’s wrong with taking the backstreets? Uhm...

60. Any questions u want ppl to ask u? Nothing in particular but it’s be nice if someone care to ask me something abt me from personal question to my opinions on shit to 19 days fandom related junk 😌

Woooo I’ve finished this game! Thanks to @seiji-amasawa for introducing me to this ^^

881

Do you prefer trackpants or jeans when you're going out in public? Jeans. Mainly the boujee crowd wears trackpants where I live, and I think I’m too old for that shit now lol. How about when you're just sitting at home, doing nothing? I wear shorts at home, always. They’re comfy and allow my legs more air, and I’m not going to make myself feel hot by wearing pajama pants. Have you ever stayed in your pajamas all day long? I don’t like pajamas, so no. Would you ever consider growing your hair out to your waist, or longer? No. It’s difficult to wash, tie up, and just generally handle when it gets too long, especially considering the fact that my hair is quite thick and can also get frizzy depending on the weather. Do you watch American Idol? I did up until 2012-ish. It was really entertaining at first but when they kept picking the same people to win each season – white country male singer who plays the guitar – I quit watching. On a side note, why do surveys like asking AI questions so much lol

If so, Who do you like better: Danny Gokey or Adam Lambert? Adam Lambert was FAAAR more entertaining, but I do remember Gokey being good too. If you don't watch American Idol, why not? I stated my reason earlier, but another reason I stopped watching was the judges. As soon as all the three original judges left the show, it just stopped being exciting. What's your favourite thing to do to pass the time when you're bored? Depends on where I am. I like taking surveys in coffee shops once I’m done studying. If I’m already outside with people, I’ll ask them if they want to go to the mall. If I’m at home, I’ll try to find something to watch on YouTube or Netflix. I have different outlets for most situations, haha. Do you like staying up late or going to sleep early? I don’t have a preference. I sleep whenever I need to. Is it easy for you to wake up early, or are you a late sleeper? I find that it’s a lot easier to wake up early if I don’t have a lot on my plate for the day. But if I have a hectic day waiting on me, it becomes super difficult to get out of bed. Is there anywhere in your house that you're scared to be alone in? Not necessarily. But being the person in the family who stays up the latest, I do dislike having to check our windows and screen doors to see if they’re all closed and locked after midnight because I always feel like I’ll see someone looking at me. Do you play Rock Band, Guitar Hero or Singstar? I played the first two. I vaguely know of the third. Do you think there's really a difference betwen the three? The gameplay’s the same but the contexts are different. You shift among bass, drums, guitar, and vocals in Rock Band; you only play the guitar in Guitar Hero; and I imagine you deal with vocals on Singstar lol Do you ever yell at your computer when it's frustrating you in some way? I do a frustrated groan or growl, but I don’t yell at it. Have you ever walked into an inanimate object, such as a chair, and apologized to it? Just about always.

Are you scared of any animals/insects? Which ones? Butterflies, bees, wasps. I generally dislike most insects/bugs. Do you get uncomfortable when people stare at you? If it’s a stranger and I’m in a public place where no one has reason to stare at me, I definitely would. What is a sound that you can't stand? Utensils harshly scraping a plate. Do you take a lot of surveys? I’m not as obsessed as I used to be but yeah, I still take several in a day most days. If not, why did you decide to take this one? It was random enough for me, and that’s my favorite kind of survey. Do you like country music? No. What about screamo? Not really. I listen to songs with screamo elements in it, but I wouldn’t enjoy a song that was just screamo from start to finish. Do you own a pair of Converse? Kinda. It’s not mine, but my sister will lend it to me if I want to wear it. What about Vans? No. I don’t have my own; my sister owns a pair as well, but I’ve mostly been uninterested in borrowing it. What is your favourite shoe brand? Nike. Do you like name brands, or find them to be a waste of money? I like them. Do you ever post surveys on myspace, or just take them on Bzoink? I take most of them from Bzoink and post them onto my Tumblr. Sometimes I’ll visit the survey tag on LJ but that’s mostly inactive so eh. What are your three favourite bands? Paramore, Against Me!, alt-J. Three favourite female singers? Beyoncé, Hayley Williams, Adele. Three favourite male singers? Hozier, Troye Sivan, Bruno Mars. Are there any particular bands/artists you can't stand? Meghan Trainor, The Vamps, and for the most part Ellie Goulding. Can you cook for yourself? Nah, but I’m learning. What weird things did you do as a small child? I liked putting myself in danger, apparently. I’d try most things people deemed dangerous because I thought I was invincible. Quick spoiler alert: I definitely wasn’t. What grade are you currently in? I’m on the very very very end of my senior year in college. I’m just waiting for the official memo saying I’m graduating, and I’m off to attend my virtual grad ceremony on the 26th.

Do you plan on going to college or university? I did. You have to if you want to make it anywhere, where I’m from. Do you know what you want to be when you get older yet? I have a general idea, yes.

Who puts the most pressure on you in your life? Nobody does that to me but myself, fortunately. Do you laugh off embarrassing moments? On the outside I do. It makes you look cool and breezy if you laugh them off haha. But when I’m alone they plague me before bed lol Do you have a favourite actor/actress? If so, who? Kate Winslet, Rosamund Pike, Audrey Hepburn, Kristen Stewart. Is there any genre of music you refuse to listen to? Country, and most disco music. Any embarrassing/childish shows you secretly still enjoy watching? I’m not embarrassed to say I love it, but I know people don’t like Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

Do you like little kids, or do they annoy you? If they have bad manners and/or are rowdy and are the type to run around in a restaurant, I tend to dislike them. Do you want a small or a large family when you get older? Small. One or two kids already sounds lovely. Are you a good dancer? If not, do you enjoy dancing anyways? I don’t dance very well but I loooooove watching other people dance. Have you ever lied to avoid getting into trouble? Only when I was younger. I stopped when I realized my mom caught me every single time. Do you like reality shows such as Jon & Kate plus Eight? I like reality shows, but not that. I’ve never heard of it. Do you enjoy reading? Yes, if I get in the mood. What is the weirdest food you have ever tried? Gulab jamun was probably the weirdest one I’ve had so far. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital for a long period of time? Nope. Do you take a lot of pictures of yourself, or are you camera shy? Definitely camera shy. Even Gabie’s not allowed to take photos of me lol, something she complains about every now and then.

Trans ask-thingy

I should have really seen this coming when I made @a-chilleus​ do all the questions earlier :’)

1. what is your gender? nonbinary, transmasc. I would say male but the lack of fucks I give about having a dick makes me question it

2. what are your pronouns? He/him or they/them. He/him mainly as its easier for people to use

3. what is your gender presentation like? In a word. Gay. I love dungarees but also mostly wear super skinny jeans & floral/very jazzy shirts. I love rainbows & stripey tops as well as crop tops & cut-off vests. I don’t really wear any jewellery other than my ear piercings, ‘the one ring’ from LOTR that my Dad made & the flag bracelets I made (Trans, ace & gay)

4. what is your Gender Euphoria Outfit? Not sure really but a t-shirt/shirt that is loose enough to hide my hips & not feel uncomfortable but fitted enough to show off my frame. Probably black skinny jeans & one of my many floral shirts with my glittery gold brogues

5. what makes you feel validated? Being called the right pronouns, people seeing my as male/non-binary without any doubt about my identity (e.g. my housemate treating me just like she does her other male friends automatically because she forgets people see me as ‘female’, or people saying they could never see me as female). Also, people not being surprised by my femininity when inhabiting queer spaces as I’m just a camp guy

6. top five favorite parts of your body (n why you love them)? I like my hair as it was really blond but I like it now it’s dyed red & its still soft & fluffy. I like my freckles because they constantly multiply & are cute af. I like my eyes because they’re electric blue & so detailed with flecks of greyer blue. I like my collarbones as I like fiddling with them. Finally, I like my neck because although I want a deeper voice & stuff my neck looks cool in pictures sometimes.

7. favorite trans meme/bit of trans humor? I also like the very common trans names like @a-chilleus​ said. Me & my housemate have a joke where I loudly (& in a panicked tone) go “where is my dick?!!!” & act like i’m frantically looking for it because it makes us laugh. I just like most trans memes because they’re relatable and cis people don’t get them

8. how did you pick your name? Can’t really remember other than it being between Elliot & Robin & then me realising I really didn’t like Elliot cause its close to my deadname. I don’t really like Robin either so now I need to find a new one

9. what does your name mean? apparently it means ‘fame-bright’ & is of French & German origin

10. do you have any trans pride merch? I like it being called ‘merch’ like we’re a band! I have a trans-flag woven bracelet I made, a trans flag, a number of gender-related t-shirts including the Stonewall one & ‘Gender does not define a dragon’ & a fuck tonne of pronoun badges & pin/enamel badges

11. recent happy trans moment? Meeting Esme (@a-chilleus​) & talking trans stuff with them whilst on camp & then just like hinting to our friends Gareth &Lizzy that I was a raging tran by showing them pictures where I have a trans flag around me & being in the men’s changing-room with them. Like honestly that was so freeing cause we got to educate our (very accepting) cis friends on some memes & hard shit & I got to overshare so much 😉

12. favorite trans headcanon? Trans Peter Parker. It makes so much sense to me & I’d love the representation.

13. favorite canon trans character? Non-binary Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens) is fully cannon as they’re angels & I’m still in love with it! Jake in Tales of the City is an awesome trans character too & I love him

14. favorite trans blog(s)/trans blogger(s)? definitely @a-chilleus​ because they have the same interests as me, @born2jasper​ because Jasper is my best buddy at uni & when he does blog it’s cool shit

15. favorite trans celebrity? Oh my. Fox Fisher does amazing work for trans activism & they’re a cutie. Elliot Fletcher I’ve been a fan of since he was regularly on a trans youtube channel & now hes been in TV shows & repping the trans community. Laverne Cox of course. Indya Moore for their no-shit attitude.

16. song that gives you Big Trans Feels? Wrabel- The Village, is literally about being trans & having no-one in your family accept you but it being “something wrong with the village” rather than it being about you being wrong. It was written after Trump did all the shit things to trans people. Literally the line “it’s a lie though, burying disciples, one page of the bible isn’t worth a life” makes me cry cause of all the trans people who feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel for them. The music video left me sad but it’s an amazing song

17. something you wish you could tell your younger self? You’re not broken, & your friends have your back & will accept and love for who you are, not who you pretend to be. Society is gonna fuck you up but you’re stronger than you think

18. what would your Ideal Fashion Look be?

i mean i’m living my idea fashion look tbh

19. (how) does your gender relate to your sexuality? Just makes me gayer but I’m still ace so…

20. do you have a comfort item? Blankets mostly at uni cause I snuggle under them/with them cause that helps my sensory overload calm down. Big comfy jumpers are good for when I feel like hiding my body

21. what makes you feel euphoric? When strangers call me ‘he’, when dogs like me, when I’m accepted into a new group as ‘one of the lads’. When I look more masc face-wise (if that makes sense)

22. what genre of media would you love to see more trans characters in? all genre’s tbh as there is a lack in every genre. But definitely fantasy & action. I’d love to see a bad guy get slapped with a packer to distract them because the trans hero had nothing else to throw :’)

23. claim something as trans culture. Walking around going ‘masc masc masc’ or ‘lads lads lads’ is trans culture

24. give some love to your trans friends/mutuals (alt: give some love to the trans community in general) I’ve tagged the ones I know mostly but to every trans person who sees this. YOU’VE DOING SO GREAT, YOU LOOK GREAT, YOU’RE VOICE IS WONDERFUL. YOU ARE SIMPLY KILLING IT!!

25. what’s your favorite part of being trans? Tbh the memes are pretty solid. But honestly, it’s the community you find in each other when you need It, it’s the joy of finding out someone else you know is trans, it’s the celebration of the little &big things together. I especially enjoy knowing there are people that get why I have to triple check that I’m flat before going anywhere, the cis friends who will go into men’s bathrooms with me to scope them out & just the re-defined masculinity & femininity.

Spoilers ahead!

YA GIRL JUST FINISHED THE OCTO EXPANSION AND I AM SO S H O O K

First off, I want to appreciate the cutscenes??? They were so good and they looked amazing, I was so so happy we actually got to see Pearl and Marina interacting with everyone and with each other that’s all I could have wanted. This whole expansion is just pearlina confirmed nobody can convince me otherwise lmao. The end scene where Marina tackle hugs Pearl and Agent 8 smiles at Agent 3 after they wake up is the reason I am alive, this whole thing is paradise for shippers (Even though the females are what I play as and what I head canon the agents to be I’ll use neutral pronouns for my male cephalopod friends out there)

THAT LEADS ME INTO MY NEXT TOPIC, we finally have backstories on off the hook! Like a lot of backstory on Marina specifically, from age six to sixteen, I love that they made her Japanese in game name her last name in the English version (does that mean Pearl’s last name is Hime?? @ Nintendo where’s my pearl backstory) and that she accomplished so many things like she was an e l i t e octoling but then the Squid Sisters perform and bam time to go AWOL. Also that amazing demo of Ebb and Flow is absolutely heavenly. A lot of theories I had were completely true like I’m pretty sure everyone knew about calamari inkantation setting the octolings free but hey now it’s actually what happened. I love Cap’n Cuttlefish and his ongoing joke of “Any fan of the inkantation is no foe of mine” he just loves his grandsquids so much he’s such a proud grandpa that their music is literally changing peoples lives.

This also clears up a lot of stuff about nobody caring that Marina is an octoling just chilling in Inkopolis, because the octo expansion is set during the time of the single player campaign of splatoon 2 so like the octolings are all finding their way up to the surface right as Off the Hook is becoming popular. Makes sense, smart move.

The chat logs were probably my favorite things in the game, and I did complete every level so I got the special bonus chat with Agent 2, which made me smile a lot. I love the pictures that Pearl and Marina sent in the chat!! Pearl always looks like a badass because she is one, and Marina and her adorable sleepy face I actually screamed a little when I saw them? The group selfie with all the idols was really cute too (speaking of selfies I LOVE THAT EIGHT TAKES A SELFIE WHEN THEY GET ONE OF THE THANGS WHY CANT I SEE THOSE SELFIES PLEASE). The mem cakes were really nice to collect and getting the full sets then talking to Iso Padre made my heart hurt a little bit, he would always talk about following your dreams and never to loose sight of them and I love him so much he’s the purest I wish we could take him up to the surface too??

Okay but like the battle with Agent 3 was suuuper trippy for me, since I’m a veteran of this game... I was fighting myself? How many identities do I have now? Im like three different agents all at once how does this happen. But I did love that battle, it was a bit surprising but I had seen people theorizing about it so it wasn’t too much of a shock. However, the phone being the final final boss was interesting, I kinda thought it was going to be C.Q because he was annoying as fuck through the whole time you were playing, seeing his text box say “You failed the test” was as frustrating as seeing Mr. Grizz’s textbox saying “Just 93 eggs? That’s a shame.” The cutscene when Three broke in to save Eight and Cap was beautiful and I loved it, perfection.

And now for some of my favorite (slightly incorrectly quoted) moments from this dlc

“Marina how do I make the chat full screen?” “Alt+F4” “Mc.princess has left the chat” “I can’t believe that worked.”

“♪”

“You were singing and then saw me and you were like ‘LETS START A BAND!’” “The first song you showed me was fire so I had to say yes”

“Wow this munchkin can rap!”

“You can... uh... be the hype man.”

Pearl whipping out a killer wail speaker and yelling booyah to save Inkopolis

Pearl calling Cap’n Cuttlefish ‘Cap’ and Agent 8 ‘Eight’

Marina’s poorly drawn MS paint diagram of how to save the world

“Mode: Turf War! Save Inkopolis from its impending doom!”

All the new Off the Hook songs

“This is from when we first met. Back in the day.” “Like yo! Wake up sleepyhead!”

“You were humming Calamari Inkantation while you were out, and any fan of the inkantation is a friend of mine.”

Every cutscene, every single one.

If you’ve played the octo expansion what did you think? Also how many of you guys are staying inkling? I personally am going octoling, I love the design so much and I love the wave that you get from Marina and Pearl when you’re an octoling! It’s so sassy and personal like I feel more like a friend to them than just a fan :,) This expansion is everything I could have wanted and more, it’s exactly what Splatoon 2 needed to step up its game from feeling too much like the first one.

Look forward to some octo expansion related fics coming soon! I’m tweaking the one I told y’all about last week, now that we actually know Marina’s backstory I can make her dreams more accurate to canon I suppose. Thanks for reading this long ass post if you did, I’ll see you around!

Put your music on shuffle and answer the questions about each artist. 

tagged by @chrisbells thank you sm !!

Name of Artist: placebo

What genre are they ? alt rock

How long have they been active ? they formed in ‘94 but released their self titled in ‘96

Have you ever heard them on the radio ? yes ! i always get quite excited when i do

Have they released any new music within the last year or two ? no the last thing they did was a place for us to dream in 2016 i think

Do they have a male or female vocalist ? male

Name of Artist: brian eno

Would you recommend them ? yeah !

What is your favourite lyric of theirs ? um things like “some of them are old but it would help if you could smile, to earn a crooked sixpence you'll walk many crooked miles” or all of ‘on some faraway beach’

What are their album artworks like ? some of them are really quite funky and really interesting to look at, like (no pussyfooting), here come the warm jets, another green world !! and the close up of maps for the ambient ones

If they stopped making music, would you be sad ? wouldn’t be devastated but y’know it’s nice thinking abt him doing whatever funky little thing he’s doing with his music or art and it’d be a shame for him to not be doing anything i think.

If you didn’t know what they look like, based off their music, what you guess they looked like ? weird hairstyle, weird makeup, bright colours, expressive features, cheeky lookin... i think when he was younger he very much looked like the music he made and he’s gotten progressively more normal-looking but he still has insane amounts of chaotic energy

Name of Artist: kraftwerk

How popular are they ? quite ! popular

Have you ever seen them perform live ? i WISH lol i think my friends and i wanted to go back in abt 2015 but it’s too expensive man

How did you find out about them ? i used to take german lessons in school (i did Not pay attention at all) but my german teacher was rly sweet and she showed the class some german bands and my friends and i absolutely lost our shit over kraftwerk as soon as we saw them 

What is their sexuality, if known ? they’re all robotfuckers

Is their music easy to dance to ? oh absolutely

Name of Artist: george harrison

What instrument is the most prominent in their music ? guitar, i think, george has a v recognisable n distinctive style of playing

Does your family listen to them ? no, nobody that i know of in my family listen to anything george has done past the beatles

Are they still making music today ? well no he hasn’t made music in a Minute but i think he’s got a reason for that 

Would you want to meet them ? so !! many !! times !! i’ve thought about meeting him !! was i not being emo abt wanting to meet him just yesterday ? having tea with him in friar park and walking around his garden with him ? i want to so badly

How represented is this artist in your saved music / collection ? mostly i have all things must pass saved and a couple from his other albums

Name of Artist: the clash

When did you discover them ? i don’t remember, maybe 2015

How many albums do they have ? six

Which member of the band is closest to your ‘type’ / do you find the most attractive ? oh shit uh thats tough but i think i’ll go with joe

Have they gone through any line-up changes ? yeah, when topper left and then mick got booted out

Is their music more fun or serious ? it can be fun but obviously the politics in the music is serious

Name of Artist: bob dylan

Is the type of music / genre they play something you would typically enjoy or is their sound different for you ? no i don’t think anyone would be surprised w me if i said i loved dylan n i don’t think the type of music is smth particularly atypical of me

Based off of their sound, what would a human version of their music look like ? messy hair, crooked smile, shifty eyes always half-shut, looks a little unnerving but has a bit of a baby face

Could you see yourself getting along with the members personally ? uh i think i’d try and shake his hand but he’d kill me on the spot (in other words, i’d like to think so but who knows)

Did somebody recommend this band to you ? nah he’s kinda everywhere you can’t escape this bitch

Of all their songs, which would you play at a party ? i’d put on desolation row and make everyone sit down and talk about it

Name of Artist: the smiths

How many people are in this band/group ? four

When did they start making music ? like ‘82

Do they have any well known songs, if so, which one(s) ? yeah like heaven knows i’m miserable now, how soon is now

Do you listen to this artist regularly ? oof yeah 

How would you describe their music ? the mood is like your friends have gone out without you so you think hey i can have fun on my own and you do for a half second but you end up sitting under a tree feeling miserable and sorry for yourself and your crush wont text you back

Name of Artist: queen

If they use a stage name, what is their real name(s) ? freddie’s name is farrokh bulsara

Do they regularly make pop charts ? oh yeah they did all the time n i’m pretty sure again w bo rhap

Have you ever met them ? no, i would do Anything to have met freddie and i think now i’d love to meet john deacon but i don’t want to bother him, he doesn’t want the attention

If they toured in your city, would you go see them ? ghhh tbh i wouldn’t go n see them w adam lambert bc firstly it’s far too expensive n second i don’t . want to see queen w/o freddie or john tbh. but that’s just me

Name of Artist: the cure

Are they known for anything else besides music ? the lewks

What is their nationality ? english

Are they a guilty pleasure ? no ! i love them n everyone knows it

Which age group is this artist most popular with ? i think a lot of people from all ages love em but idk maybe they’re most popular with the people who were around when they were most popular

Has this artist ever toured in your country/state/city ? yeah but i haven’t had the chance to see them yet

Name of Artist: t. rex

Do you think it’s necessary or important to know about their personal life to ‘understand’ their music ? i don’t think you Need to but i think with any artist it’s always nice to have context to their music and helps to give a bit more insight into what they’re making but it’s not a necessity i don’t think

Have they ever gone on hiatus and did they return ? no they never went on hiatus

What instruments do they use ? well aside from the usual instruments n lots of guitar they used like string instruments/piano/saxophone n stuff like that

What city are they from ? london

What are your experiences with fans of this artist ? i don’t know i haven’t really been around like . t rex ‘stans’ or like accounts solely dedicated to t rex or anything like that. everyone here that likes t rex are chill and v nice so that’s good

um ok i’m gonna tag @1nnuendo @kingink2  @horrorjew @bowiepop @spacegreengay (you don’t have to do it but jsjjhj hi)

Q&A: Pale Waves Guides Us Through ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ Debut Album, Track by Track

Photo: Brian Griffin Pale Waves is a bit of a contradiction, and that is just part of what makes them such a dynamic act. They look like the disciples of Gerard Way and Joy Division, but sound like the offspring of The Bangles and Carly Rae Jepsen. They’re huge fans of modern pop acts like Charli XCX, but they could have easily shared a stage with Madonna in the ‘80s. They have amassed over 25-million Spotify streams since the release of their debut single, “There’s a Honey,” in Feb. 2017 and have played huge milestone venues like Madison Square Garden. Yet, they have just released their debut full-length album, My Mind Makes Noises.

Their meteoric rise based on a collection of singles solidifies that Pale Waves has what it takes to become the next big thing, and their success comes down to one simple fact: no one else is doing what Pale Waves is right now—nor as well. Not only has Pale Waves championed the difficult task of successfully walking the line between pop and rock, but they have introduced a universe of tender emotion with their lyrics as they wear their hearts on their fishnet covered sleeves. Combining elements of different genres, decades, subcultures, and emotions, they craft dream-like pop that still has two feet firmly planted on the ground. With their dichotomous existence and evocative lyrics, Pale Waves’ success ushers in the return of female-fronted pop-rock in an era that’s sorely lacking thereof.

After a year and a half of cultivating their rapidly rising fame, today marks the release of My Mind Makes Noises. The album is filled with enough diverse pop bangers and guitar-driven melodies to throw the Manchester-based outfit further into the spotlight, while drawing new listeners into their emotionally cinematic world. Frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie’s lyrics entangle you in their strikingly raw nature as she presents her most vulnerable self, while the production of drummer Ciara Doran creates lush gardens of whirling melodies and skies of twinkling synth that makes this album one to be kept on repeat, or risk leaving their beautifully melancholic world.

Despite the fervor surrounding My Mind Makes Noises, as well as their accompanying headlining tour, Heather and Ciara are surprisingly calm as they make themselves comfortable on the sofa of the small lounge we’ve met in. “It’s kind of like a timeline of our band from basically three-and-a-half years ago to present day,” Heather explained as we begin talking about the debut album. “We started the band because I had all these songs on my acoustic and when I met Ciara I was like, ‘Can you put drums to my songs?’ We did performances where she was just drumming, and then we decided to just become a band.” 

Though they were the heart and soul of the band, when the duo met Hugo Silvani and Charlie Wood a year later, Pale Waves would finally begin to take shape as they began to plan for world domination—something that My Mind Makes Noises will undoubtedly help them achieve. “It feels pretty surreal. It feels like our whole journey’s been pretty fast and really exciting. A lot of people are really emotionally invested into our band at such an early stage, which is great because it means we’re really connecting with people. It’s just everything you could ask for and I want the album to be what people expected,” Heather stated.

In honor of the release of My Mind Makes Noises, we spoke about each of the 14 tracks on the album to hear the stories behind the music, and get a feel for what’s next for the band.

OTW: The opening track “Eighteen” is an absolute earworm that truly seems to channel what it feels like to fall in love. What can you tell us about its creation?

Ciara: “Eighteen” was written fully on tour.

Heather: Yeah, I wrote a lot of things to the instrumental and then in Denver I finally got it. Everyone we showed it to was like, “This is gonna be a big song” so, that’s why it’s first on the album.

Ciara: Lyrically, it’s really nice as well.

Heather: I had that first verse written for ages, and then Ciara wrote the music around it.

Ciara: That was actually a song that like I watched Adventureland and wrote to. Vibes from films can really give you inspiration for sound.

OTW: There are new recordings of your first two singles “There’s a Honey” and “Television Romance” making the cut. What was it about these songs that made them, as opposed to the others on your EP, essential for your debut record?

Heather: Well, “There’s a Honey” just had to be on the album because it was the first song that we put out there. It really made our fanbase, and it set something up for us. And then “Television Romance;” those two just sort of work together as a duo, and it felt weird to have one without the other.

Then when we were listening back to the demos it was pretty clear that we had to re-record them. We wanted it to sound like they were all recorded at the same time in the same studio and having the demos on the album just wouldn’t have worked.

OTW: “Noises” is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tracks as it tackles image insecurities and expectations. Did the track come from a purely confessional standpoint?

Heather: I thought about how the fans would react to it, but I knew I had to write it for me. I didn’t even think that much about how they’d relate to it until I got loads of messages thanking me. I feel it’s the most important track we’ve put out so far—we have quite a young fanbase and when you’re growing up that’s when you really think about what you wanna be and how you look. I’m just glad that I wasn’t too scared to write about that because it’s the song that’s now been there for so many people.

OTW: And what can you tell us about the video?

Heather: That video was a last minute thing but it was just so obvious that it needed to be a performance video from me. We spoke about having different Heathers that weren’t truly me: punk Heather is more exaggerated, the fashion look is stereotypically socially acceptable, and the doll look is a really sort of childish, vulnerable me. The one with the plastic sheet over my face, it’s basically like: what is beauty and who considers it? It plays on plastic surgery as well like, “Am I still beautiful under the plastic?” For the flashes of text between scenes, I wrote a paragraph of all my thoughts, and then we spoke about the ones that stood out the most. One, in particular, is “Does everyone feel this way?” I wanted to put that in because I wanted it to be like a sense of comfort for people who are really insecure as well, to know they’re not alone.

OTW: “Came In Close” and “Loveless Girl” are definitely two of the poppiest songs on the album. What inspired the tracks?

Heather: Those two tracks are really influenced by Ciara. I feel like we work so well together because I’m quite dark and she’s quite light so that’s how we get our sound. The lyrical content is quite meaningful and sad, but then Ciara sparkles it with pure pop elements, which you can really see on those tracks.

Ciara: “Came In Close” is really new. I was listening to Aretha Franklin’s “Jump To It,” and then I just sat down and wrote that bass line. It just turned out to be a really dancey song.

“Loveless Girl” originally sounded quite different, and I was so unhappy with it. I had to literally force myself to rework it cause it didn’t have the right vibe.

OTW: “Drive” is a larger than life track that smacks you with a guitar driven alt-rock sound and some truly dreamy synths. What can you tell us about the track?

Heather: We kept coming back and kept referencing The Naked And Famous, especially with the guitar sounds. I imagine when we play it live, it’s not going to take a lot for it to sound massive. It’s a really dramatic track as well; lyrically it’s like the sequel to “Noises.” Like “Noises” was when I was 16, and “Drive” is where I am now at 23. I do find writing songs about myself is hard, but I’m really glad we have tracks like “Drive.”

Ciara: You know that line “I drive fast so I can feel something?”

Heather: She would listen to that on repeat!

Ciara: Because I would cut it and put a delay on it and it made it like the best part of the album, I think.

Heather: Everyone we’ve played it to has been like, “Oh my god, this is something else!” We must be doing something right.

OTW: “When Did I Lose It All” is a breathtaking ballad that is just pure emotion. How did you approach writing the track?

Heather: Well, Ciara actually helped me write the chorus, and it’s about basically having somebody who’s “the one,” and you know that they’re right for you but you just don’t work in that moment. We were writing that chorus and Ciara came up with the “I want to marry you, but not now.”

Ciara: It’s the saddest thing.

Heather: I thought it was a really strong message. When I’ve shown the album to people, I’ve noticed that the older audience sway to that song.

Ciara: They find it really powerful; it’s a really powerful song. The guitar line was written on the tour bus. I feel like the next thing we do is going to be that vibe.

OTW: Similarly, “She” uses its power as a ballad to create a slow build into an absolutely epic guitar solo that has become a fan-favorite at your live shows. How did the track come to be?

Heather: “She” is quite an old song. I wrote, “My baby don’t touch me like they used to” first in my bedroom ages ago. It’s one of those songs that Ciara really just let me be all emo about. And the guitar solo—I love playing it live. A lot of the time I give all the lead riffs to Hugo but with this, I was like, “I can’t give you this, I’m sorry I have to play it.”

Ciara: I think it’s also the first song that I started doing a lot more of the music.

Heather: And now Ciara pretty much owns that whole area. I feel like the album has much more personality than the EP because when we did the EP that was all my really old synth songs except “The Tide.”

Photo: Danny North OTW: The following song “One More Time” seems to be the formers’ upbeat sequel that features an addictively timeless rock hook, making it one of the fullest sounding songs on the record. What shaped the creation of the track?

Heather: This was one of the moments where we were sitting down in the studio, but we needed more sort of “pop bangers.” We weren’t trying to write it for the radio but that’s just how we are.

Ciara: We just didn’t feel satisfied without it though, because we love pop so much. We wanted a song that was really just straightforward and would sound really good with Heather on guitar.

Heather: Really simple and dry all the way through, but you don’t really get a break in it. When Ciara showed me it musically for the first time ever, I just stood there and started singing the chorus.

Ciara: She sang that, and I was like “Fuck!”

Heather: Usually we’re perfectionists and we’re like, “If it’s the first thing it can’t be right,” but with this, we were like, “You know what? That’s it.” I feel like everyone goes through it when you break up with someone and you have that doubt in your mind. You like to know you could still have them—you want that power and that’s what this song’s about.

OTW: As we touched upon “Television Romance” earlier, let's talk influence. Considering how many of your tracks are cinematic enough to be suited for a John Hughes movie, and “Television” is a frequently used word lyrically—how much do TV and Film influence your songs?

Ciara: It influences us a lot, I mean that’s how we used to start off writing songs like “Kiss.”

Heather: Yeah like The Breakfast Club—I had to do this assignment for Uni and it was like, “Write a song to a film.” I caught a trailer of The Breakfast Club and that’s how “Kiss” became a song. So like I think it influences us a lot more than we think.

Ciara: Movies are like songs: like they all have a flow and a vibe and a story. So, like I feel like it can go hand-in-hand and just inspire you a lot. Especially when you can go, “I want to make a song that sounds like it belongs in that movie.”

OTW: “Red” is an incredibly modern pop-rock classic that seems to channel the likes of Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen. How did the track come to be?

Heather: “Red” actually started as an acoustic track. I love playing acoustic, and it was how we started the band, so I wrote “Red” acoustically to be that song. When I showed it to Ciara she was like “Oh my god that’s far too good.”

Ciara: It wasn’t right, the tone wasn’t right, the lyrics weren’t enough for an acoustic song.

Heather: It’s completely different now—the chorus is like a club track

OTW: “Kiss” is akin to a “Friday I’m In Love” moment that’s effortlessly feel-good. What inspired the track, and on that note, what was it like playing the Robert Smith-curated Meltdown Festival this year?

Heather: That was amazing, so good. We didn’t get to meet him but knowing he was the one who gave us that slot and kind of likes our band is pretty amazing. I think Robert Smith is an amazing songwriter and just a fantastic icon. I’ll probably dress the same when I’m old. “Kiss” is so old. It started with The Breakfast Club and that riff. It’s such a naive song, and I wasn’t half as honest as I am now. It’s a fun song to play live—the main thing about it is that it goes down really good live, and it’s just really energetic.

OTW: “Black,” your most recent single, is your most diverse. It plays with R&B beats and intensely catchy guitar riffs. What shaped this track?

Heather: “Black” we’ve had for ages. I actually wrote the first verse ages ago, then I showed Ciara and it always just stuck with her, so she was like “Please, please make it into a song.”

Ciara: That was written on tour as well.

Heather: It’s been the most problematic song that we’ve ever wrote. It just had a lot of different versions.

Ciara: When I stupidly put an R&B chorus in there we were like “Ugh, how are we gonna do this now?”

Heather: Cause like, when you listen to it the verses are really frantic and really rock, and then the chorus is relaxed R&B.

Ciara: It’s a juxtaposition.

OTW: Closing out the record is “Karl”—a deeply personal acoustic track that is beautifully haunting. What was it like writing the track destined to end your debut record?

Heather: Well, after I wrote “Red” and needed a new acoustic song Ciara was like, “You need to write an acoustic track about something a lot more personal… Why don’t you write it about your granddad?” I’d been trying to write about him for ages because he’s such an important person in my life, so then I sat down in the studio and really, really focused on him while writing. It took me a day to write the song and the next day we went in and recorded, so it’s as real and raw as it gets. Ciara cried when I first sang it to her. Everyone has nearly cried when they first listen to the song.

Ciara: You’d be a monster if you didn’t cry to that song.

Heather: I think that’s a track that’s really going to impact some people. I wanted it to be like a conversation more than a song so a lot of the lyrics are like if I could talk to him now the things I would say. It’s definitely the song that I’ve listened to the most. It’s my most vulnerable self, and it’s really quite scary, this going out into the world, but it’s as real as it gets.

hey there demons! it’s me, ya trashcan. aka sam, she / her, 21, est timezone and i’m super excited to be here! i love rps like this and i love music so?? hopefully we’ll all have a great time writing together! under the cut you’ll find some info about luna aka ur local weirdo, so feel free to check that out and send me a message if you’d like to plot!

「 LINDSEY MORGAN, CIS FEMALE, TWENTY - SIX, PARAMORE. 」┈ did you read that latest viral gossip issue on LUNA AIZA? she is the LEAD GUITARIST in BETTER NOW, one of my favorite ALT ROCK groups. they’ve been releasing music for FOUR YEARS now, but viral gossip has only been talking about them for the last TWO YEARS. get this, i think i heard SHE’S BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS WITH HER BAND’S RECORD LABEL. they’re known as the FEY of the music industry, since they have a rep for being  PERSPICACIOUS but SCATTERBRAINED, but who knows. maybe that will change once they become #1.

first off.......luna?? definitely not her real name but shhhh

born in mexico and raised by her maternal grandparents. they were always very good to her and took the best care of her that they could. the three moved to swamplands of louisiana when she was still very young and luna always loved it there.

( so she’s fluent in english, spanish, and cajun french )

luna’s always been a free spirit and has this very otherworldly energy to her. her grandmother is a psychic & a witch and luna absolutely believes she has the same abilities. she’ll do tarot readings for you, ask you if you’re doing okay because wow your aura is a very strange color today is something wrong, randomly tell you that your house is haunted and she can see the spirit standing right behind you what do you mean you can’t see it too?? 

scatterbrained af, constantly in her own world and would lose her own head if it wasn’t attached to her body

if you’ve ever seen ahs coven, her aesthetic is basically misty day’s aesthetic — flowy and soft but dark and a little wild

has trouble staying focused on literally everything for more than five minutes....except for music. it’s basically the one thing she’s latched onto that keeps her connected to the world bc otherwise she’s just up in the clouds by herself. 

she and her grandmother moved from louisiana to california when luna was sixteen ( after her grandfather died ) and she’s been living there ever since. she dropped out of school upon moving to california, choosing instead to live and work at her grandmother’s new psychic office with the older woman. it was also around this time that she got a more serious interest in music, eventually saving up enough money to buy her first electric guitar from just about the sketchiest pawn shop in los angeles.

played all genres of music and was actually in a couple other bands before joining better now ( tbh most of the other bands probably kicked her out for being a weird forgetful flake ). they were just playing in bars before raleigh stumbled upon them, and after the departure of their former lead singer, they eventually hit it big with their first album and are currently working on their second!

luna loves being in the band and she loves her bandmates. some people might write her off as being completely out of it all the time, but she’s actually very perceptive and tends to understand people quite well. she knows raleigh can be difficult to work with, but she’s a pretty patient person. better now’s record label, however, seems to be trying to test just how patient she really is.

( hint: they’re really about to make the most chill person ever LOSE THEIR DAMN TEMPER )

basically.........they wanna change her image. they think she’s too weird even for the alt rock music scene and luna is very stubborn and independent and is one of those people who is 100% always like be yourself!! 

but she’s also very compassionate & a total bleeding heart.......thus, she’s fake dating christian kelley. they’ve known each other and have been friendly for a while, and at some point christian asked her if she could pretend to be dating him out in public just to be safe because his father would cut him off financially aka ruin him if he came out as bisexual to the public. she agreed and goes with it even though she’s constantly trying to encourage christian to have the strength to be himself and blahblahblah no one cares luna. it’s not a very well kept secret anyway?? like, ok luna is really bad at secrets bc she’s ridiculously blunt so don’t tell her something unless you want literally everyone & anyone to know about it

i’m not kidding she’d tell the barista at starbucks her entire life story without hesitation

anyway, the thing with christian is 100% a pr relationship and while the general public doesn’t know that, most anyone who actually knows either of them is very aware that they’re actually just friends

this is getting way too long so........lightning round!! she’s very perceptive and good at reading people even though she doesn’t seem like she’s be that way, is also very scatterbrained and very likely to forget where she put her fuckin guitar 2 ( two ) minutes before she’s about to go on stage, trusts her bandmates very much, is an rl animal whisperer, loves the dark witch aesthetic, usually pretty chill, will go off on random tangents in the middle of conversations for no actual reason, pansexual af and proud of it, extremely easily distracted except for when music is involved

tldr; she’s your resident swamp witch flower child who’s forgetful af and constantly fighting with her band’s record label because they’re constantly trying to change her image

this is needlessly long and there’s probably still stuff i’m forgetting, but i’m still trying to get everything together! i have no specific wanted connections listed anywhere bc tbh i want all the things?? seriously i’m down for anything so please feel free to message me for plots! i’m v excited to write with you all!

Q&A Tag Game.

I was tagged by @leanneirisprice thank you^^ i was just looking for something to do instead of studying :”D

• Nickname(s): Sztu, Lauf

• Gender: Female

• Sign: Libra

• Height: 161 cm

• Time: CEST, UTC+2

• Fav band(s): Imagine Dragons, Quimby, Nirvana, alt-J, Glass Anmals, Franz Ferdinand, hiperkarma

• Fav solo artist(s): Marina Diamandis, Halsey, Lana Del Rey (as you can see i’m not into shady-sassy girlpower songs. Not at all), Lady Gaga (don’t laugh! She’s awesome, okay?) Nick Cave, Aurelio Voltaire, Lin Manuel Miranda

• Song stuck in my head: Mi vagyunk a grund! (the main song from the Hungarian musical a saw yesterday)

• Last movie I saw: Good Will Hunting

• Last show I watched: Friends 

• When did I create my blog: 2015. September someting

• What do I post: random shits :D Marvel and handsome Marvel men, cats, memes, art, sometimes witchy stuff

• Last thing I Googled: Dummy Iron Man (i wanted to know how to write the official name of the robot called Dummy. Spoiler alert! It’s Dum-E)

• Do I have any other blogs: Nope

• Do I get asks: not really

• Why did I chose my URL: So, Ro the kid. Ro is a nickname for Rose, my online name (i was like 12 when i choosed it and it”s after a Harry potter character, Rose Weasley.) The kid part is coming from a western themed table game called BANG! in which my favourite character is called Willy the Kid.

• Following: 561

• Followed by: 64 (at least 10 porn blogs included)

• Average hours of Sleep: i have exams in this month so it’s like 4-5. But hey! Sleep is for the weak!

• Lucky number: 7, 24

• Instruments: I’ve played the drum for 2 or 3 years but still can’t drum :”D

• What I am wearing: a simple black t-shirt and purple shorts. And a huge amount of despair on my face since i didn’t study shit for my tomorrow exam.

• Dream job: restaurant critic (i mean, eating and writing at he same time for a living? Count me in!)

• Dream trip: a west coast America road trip finished at the Comic Con in San Diego.

• Fav food: i’m a mad bitch for basically any type of Italian food. And Mexican. And Greek. And Japan. Okay, confession time! I LOVE eating :”D

• Nationality: Hungarian

• Fav song: it’s Believer from Imagine Dragons nowadays, but i have several reasons to say my all-time favourite is Get Lucky by Daft Punk

• Last Book I Read: idk i've been reading fanfics lately

Top 3 fictional universes: Marvel, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones

I’m not really in a people-tagging mood now. Feel free to answer these questions if you want to ;)

April 24, 2018 Mix

Hello friends,

Another installment of music! This week was really easy because I just put together exactly what I was feeling including love, memories, scary emotions, and independence. Enjoy and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions! Spotify Playlist 1. Quiet, The Winter Harbor by Mazzy Star - Brand new single by Mazzy which I'm so excited about because she is one of my favorite 90s female singers and is still going strong. Although it's spring, this song is still very much appropriate for any people who are having a hard time leaving things in the past and feel like a sinking ship. 2. Between The Breaths by Mitski and Xiu Xiu - I am always a big fan of the combination of singing and acting spoken word in new indie songs which this piece does perfectly. Definitely gives off a bit of an eerie electronic vibe which has a sunny disposition. 3. You Were Afraid by Night Beds - Looking back on past love and seeing what went wrong, the age old topic for sad romance songs. This one is cool though because it doesn't make you feel sad while listening to it so that's fun. 4. Lotus Eater by Foster The People - I immediately loved this song because FTP always has the coolest guitar/drum combos in their pieces. Also I love the greek mythology reference to the "lotus eaters" I am a big fan. 5. Be Your Own 3am by Adult Mom - This song is so important. It is literally an anthem for self love, self care, and taking your mom's advice to "be your own 3am" which is so accurate. Stop trying to find love and acceptance externally through physical pleasures and just try to find some happiness within! 6. Stuck On The Puzzle by Alex Turner - This is the same writer and singer who is the front man of Arctic Monkeys who took his own solo EP and wrote from a very different perspective and genre, more romantic and slow paced. I love the careless, anti romantic beginning which turns into someone who can't figure out why he loves someone so much. 7. I Admit I'm Scared by Ó - Being scared something good is going to go wrong and that someone won't be a part of your life anymore? I'm sure we can all relate. The feelings of anxiety in love is explored in this song which struck so personally to me and it's so sweetly put with simple music to it. 8. The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell - Probably the only song that can make me cry at any place and time. The angelic voice of Joni as she travels through the birth, life and inevitable death of a young person, with the swell of people singing the chorus literally gives me the chills. My dad used to play this in the car all the time when I was little. 9. Still Clean by Soccer Mommy - A song about betrayal and being used for physical senses... there are a lot of animal related metaphors to explain the writer's feelings and I think she does it wonderfully. Letting someone use you because you love them leaves you feeling empty, according to this hell of a song. 10. Honey Leak by Little Bird - An R&B, soulful, electric song that keeps you listening carefully for the gently sung words underneath the awesome cacophony of instrumental throughout. 11. This Strange Effect by The Shacks - Stumbled upon this band completely by chance and so glad I did because they are definitely an up and coming alt/indie rock generational icon. This is one of their more known songs and it's actually a cover of the song by The Kinks (who I love). 12. Not My Baby by Alvvays - The intro to this song is the sound of a motorcycle driving away which signifies the ending of a relationship (love the sound metaphor). We listen to the carefree sound of the song and think about the singer talk about her becoming uninterested in the relationship and mentally checking out. 13. The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song by The Flaming Lips - Questioning everything. Saying that if people had the choice and no consequences, would they automatically do the wrong thing just to get their way? The Flaming Lips say, "yeah yeah yeah" they would because that's what happens when someone has too much power. 14. Francine by Esmé Patterson - Loving someone who belongs to someone else. I love when a song has a person's name as the title because it's so personal, yet so much of the time the story the singer is telling can be relatable to other people in our own lives. 15. Help Myself by Knox Fortune - This song reminds me of me and my mom, which is the mark of a really good song if it maybe is meant to relate to one specific kind of relationship but transcends that boundary and moves to any relationship. I love this line: She brushed her teeth, I stayed in bed/She brushed her hair, I scratched my head/I bite my nails, she gets hers done/We're not the same, not hard to tell. 16. Let My Love Open The Door by Rogue Wave - A cover of an older 80s jam that is really well known, just taken down a few notches, un electrified and sung with a different sort of passion, still passionate though. It's really popular these days to cover older songs in a unique way that almost forges a whole new song which I'm loving. 17. Psychotic Girl by The Black Keys - Recommended to me by a cool friend, I totally discovered a new side of the Black Keys and some of their older music has such a Rolling Stones vibe which I totally can chill with. 18. Kiss Off by The Violent Femmes - This song is the epitome of forming modern rock bands and giving so much musical influence. Not even to mention the iconic counting in this song which gave so many other artists this idea, but the hardcore bass and guitar which makes you wanna dance is just amazing. 19. Miss You by The Rolling Stones - The iconic beginning to the song which everyone knows is obviously awesome, but the whole thing is great too. Jagger sings about longing (maybe lusting too) about a girl he really wants back with him. Total spring feels because of the romantic element here. 20. People Can't Stop Chillin' by Sports - An instrumental ballad which is super pretty and includes some harmonious voices and a couple horns at the end which closes out so lovely.

Album Review by Bradley Christensen The Aces – When My Heart Felt Volcanic Record Label: Red Bull Records Release Date: April 6 2017

Have you ever listened to a band, and the moment you listened to them, you thought to yourself, “Wow, this band should be a lot bigger than they really are”? I’m sure you’ve had that thought, because we all have. We listen to something that we really want to see succeed, and it’s a shame that so many bands don’t get the success they deserve, but that’s where fans come into play. See, we live in a world where the opinions, thoughts, posts, and promotion from fans matters most of all. A lot of bands are able to interact with their fans nowadays, whether it’s liking a post on Instagram, or talking to them directly at shows or in DMs, so fans’ input matters most of all nowadays. That’s why a lot of bands never get as big as they should. It’s a common double standard / hypocrisy that fans want their favorite bands to get huge, but when they do, that’s when most fans will turn their backs on them, whether it’s because they got “too mainstream” or they “sold out.” I’ve talked about this before, albeit years ago, but I wanted to talk about it again, because I get it. I understand why fans would be so possessive of certain bands. This happens in underground music, whether it’s pop-pnk, emo, metalcore, or any form of metal, and that’s why it happens – that’s underground music. Personally, though, I want my favorite bands to get huge, because I want more people to listen to them. That’s part of why I write about music, and why I love to write about music, since it gives me a chance to talk about bands, artists, and albums that people might not have found otherwise. I’ve been trying to be more conservative about what I review, not in terms of what I listen to, because not everything is worth talking about. I mean, I want to write about albums that I’d be curious enough to listen to, both good or bad, so if I can’t imagine myself reading the review and wanting to check out the album, why bother talking about it? In the beginning of the review, I talked about listening to a band, and wanting them to get bigger, and that’s what today’s album is going to be about.

A few weeks ago, I came across the all-female indie-pop / alt-rock group The Aces, and they were gearing up to release their debut LP, When My Heart Felt Volcanic. I really liked the song I heard, and the album eventually came out, so I picked it up last week. I’ve been listening to it off and on, similar to a couple of other new albums, since I’ve been into a lot of stuff, too, but I decided to hunker down and really spend the last week with this record. Truth be told, I’ve been really excited to talk about this album, and the reason being is that it’s a fantastic record. This is one of the best albums I’ve heard all year, and that’s a bit surprising, considering that When My Heart Felt Volcanic is, by all definitions, a relatively “generic” album. I love when albums like this come along, though, because they more than make up for the generic and straightforward sound with very strong songwriting, vocals, lyrics, or even something new or interesting that tweaks the sound a little bit. The Aces don’t necessarily tweak their brand of 80s-influenced indie-pop / rock, but this whole LP is very strong throughout. That’s what makes it so great. I’ve always said that I can give a pass to generic bands, just as long as the effort is there. Having a unique edge to the sound, or doing something to tweak the original sound, helps, too, but as long as the effort is there, that’s what matters most. There’s plenty of effort on this record, whether it’s from the lyrics, vocals, or the overall sound. If I had to pick something to talk about first, I’d probably talk about the vocals and lyrics, because that’s what I find myself coming back to most. I love the vocalist of this band, Cristal Ramirez, as she’s got a fantastic voice that’s both technically impressive and emotionally impressive. When it comes to great voices, there’s not much to say about them, really, but she’s got such a great voice with a lot of range and emotional to it, so I absolutely love it.

I also absolutely love the lyrics on this album, because they deal with relationships, only they’re in a more adult, interesting, and mature way, versus just simplistic ideas that you hear in many other songs. This album reminds me a lot Hayley Kiyoko’s new album, since her debut LP, Expectations, has mainly lyrics about love and relationships, but they’re actually about things. The lyrics are mainly about ideas that relate to love, relationships, and sexuality, whether it’s wanting someone that thinks the world of you, having a crush on someone that ultimately thinks of you as a friend, or hoping that someone would be curious enough to take a chance on you. The lyrics are similar here, only they’re a lot more vague and gender neutral, versus being specifically about women or men, so they’re awfully universal. That’s how the lyrics on Expectations were, too, but you could look at them from two angles – they were about Kiyoko’s sexuality and being very open about it, as she’s a lesbian, but they were also universal and relatable to anyone whatsoever, so you could take something from those lyrics. Nonetheless, they were still both personal and relatable, which is the same idea here. The lyrics on this LP aren’t related to sexuality, but that doesn’t make them any less interesting, potent, or relatable. Some of my favorite songs on the album, especially in terms of the lyrics are “Hurricane,” “Put It On The Line,” “Stay,” “Lovin’ Is Bible,” “Holiday,” “Last One,” and a ton more. What I love about this record is that it deals with both the good and bad aspects of love, too, versus one aspect or facet. The lyrics are really the main focus of the album, and that leads me to its sound, which I talked about earlier as being generic but with a lot of effort and strong facets within the album that make up for it. Its sound is very, very good, well-done, catchy, slick, and groovy (seriously, the bass in this album sounds utterly fantastic), but it’s still relatively generic and straightforward 80s-influenced that you see everywhere, so I can understand some people being turned off by it, or not thinking it’s anything interesting or unique.

You’re not wrong, if that’s the case, and I get it, but I feel like the vocals, the lyrics, as well as the catchiness of the hooks, really make up for that. There’s a lot to get into otherwise, but if I did have one minor criticism with the album that admittedly bugs me a bit, I do feel like this record is a bit too long. It’s around 48 minutes, and it’s not bad if you enjoy this sound, as well as these ideas, but I feel like this album goes on for a couple of tracks too long. It doesn’t drag, mind you, but it does feel like it’s longer than it is. That’s because When My Heart Felt Volcanic has a very repetitive sound. Every song sounds pretty much the same, but like I said, the hooks are catchy enough to make it work, and the instrumentation does have enough tweaks in it, so it doesn’t bother me all that much. It does a little bit, and the album ends up being a tad too long, but it’s a great record, regardless. There’s a lot to love about this record, and I can see it being one of my favorites for the rest of the year, permitting that not a whole of truly amazing albums come out, because that might happen. The album being more generic and straightforward doesn’t necessarily bother me, since they do a lot with that sound, and they make it work pretty well, but I can understand if other people are bored by it. I feel like the songwriting itself is incredibly strong, but the lyrics are the main focus of the album. If you are going through heartbreak, like myself, this is a perfect album to listen to. Hell, if you’ve been through that, and you know what it’s like, this album will hit home. I love how there are some happier songs, too, so it’s not just the negative, sad, and morose ideas of love, but you get some happier moments, too. I don’t know if the albums follow one specific relationship, and it would be interesting if it did, but you can take a lot from this record. It’s not the most unique or groundbreaking album that I’ve heard this year, but it’s one of the most interesting albums that I’ve heard, though, and I feel like that’s more important a lot of the time. An album can be unique, but if it doesn’t engage you or stick with you in any way, what’s the point? This album sticks with me, especially with how relatable and personal these lyrics are.

Interview: RIVAL UNIT

Rival Unit are a North West based alt-rock razor pop band, with some exciting new tracks on the way. With a busy 2019 packed full of gigs, we chatted about future plans, good, bad and ugly gigs, and the Interchangeable Lesbian Problem. Keep an eye out for their April headliner show at EBGBS.

Formed back in 2017, Rival Unit have been playing as a four piece for about 18 months. Their punky sound is something I’m always excited to hear on the scene, and its peppered with influences from the eclectic taste of all four members: “…our first release is definitely very punky- it’s matured into something that isn’t quite the same thing. Some band members listen to like Prog Rock. We end up listening to Blink and even stuff as poppy as Paramore. A few of us listen to stuff like CHVRCHES and The Knife and some electronica stuff- we haven’t introduced that yet! It’s the ethos of a band- a tune’s a tune. It’s not a genre thing. If it sounds good we’ll do it.”

I dig it- and I’m delighted to hear the band have released music available on all platforms, with more on the way. “We should have something out coming at end of January. We’ve just had that mastered and it sounds boss. I mean, we’re biased, but… yeah, we’ve got one coming out each month.” The band records their stuff at Vulcan studios. “We have a good relationship with Gary in there- he listens to what we all have to say. I’ve been in studio environments before and they ask “What do you think of the vocals?” and they look at the drummer because the drummer’s a fella. That used to wind me up something rotten. So, because we’ve got a good working relationship with him I’m really reluctant to go somewhere else. (…) It’s definitely got better. We’re not there yet. The first time Danny and I were working together, I’d be carrying the gear and someone would ask me where my boyfriend was and why I was carrying all the gear, and you sort of sit there and go, “He doesn’t exist…” In a lot of ways it has improved, but now you tend to get radio silence instead of comments you used to get and that’s not good either.” 

I know that story all too well- but its fantastic the band have such a reliable producer. What about gigs? I wonder if it’s ever a struggle fitting in on a line up with their alternative sound. “Yeah... It’s gotten a bit better of late as we’ve become a little more established. We’ve been getting on stage with more music that's similar to us. We’ve been on a few where it’s started off with an acoustic act, then an ambient or electronic act, then us and finishing with a heavy metal act. Half the crowd tend to go “See ya!” and clear off because they’re really there to just watch their mate’s band.”

“We did a gig with BITCH Palace at the Jacaranda; it was Leggy, Personal Best and Natalie and the Monarchy… and that was great because we were all similar enough to fit together so people would want to stay and watch the other bands. “But there was a gig before that where a different promoter put us on with an acoustic act and two indie boy bands. We’d written a new song, which we opened with. It’s actually called ‘Where Have All the Girlbands Gone?’ And it cleared the room. We got halfway through the first verse and everyone cleared out except for one lad at the back. And afterwards he came up to us at the end said you need to keep playing that song, its important. The band that was headlining- it was a showcase gig- said to me, “You’ve got to stay and watch all the bands!” And then they buggered off. And then one of them came up to me and said: “With your vocals, you really need to project them a lot more.” And I was like “I don’t sing mate. All I do is play the bass.” 

“It’s the interchangeable lesbian problem init.”

“Two fat women with short hair- you must’ve been one of them. I was, but not the right one.”

That experience sounds like an absolute shocker. It must cost promoters some cracking bands if the experience isn’t friendly and personable. “In our experiences, the promoters that have been spot on have all been women. We've also found that we get grouped together with ‘Female Fronted’ bands as a genre. In fact, there was a row on Facebook… someone was looking to fill dates and wanted a specific ‘Female Fronted’ night. Some people were arguing that there should be at least one female fronted act on each night, and another girl commented that her band wasn’t fronted by a female, but she’s a female drummer.”

We all agree that nights organised by genre is what the scene needs. “The showcase, it’s… just not a thing anymore- it makes a difference, taking a little bit more care and putting on four bands that fit together. If you think ‘alt rock’, you can still go from hard indie to pop punk. We decided earlier in the year that we weren’t gonna play any more showcases unless it was a venue that we were desperate to play. There’s a promoter called Revenge of the Riff, who is one of the lads from Last Reserves. He tends to put on  Hard rock, punk, metal- if you go to one of them you know what you’re gonna see. There’s not gonna be anything off the wall or avant garde… like Synth Jesus from Manchester.” I laughed a lot at that one. 

“If you put on nights like that, more people are gonna come in. The venues are gonna do better, and we’re not gonna lose any more. Showcases when they’re like that feel like a bit of a money grab. We did a couple of showcases in Manchester, and we got told that if we brought 10 people at about £5 a pop, then they’d pay us after that. And we brought 12 people, on like a Wednesday night in March or something. And the promoter disappeared after about an hour! 

“When promoters say you have to bring x amount of people, bands that have like 400 followers on Facebook, its just not gonna happen. The promoter’s either got to suck it up a bit and charge more for tickets, or you’ve got to work out a way that its financially viable to do. Some people’s family and friends come to everything they do- we’ve seen that a lot with bands coming out of LIPA supporting one another. But the age we are, our friends have got kids, jobs. “I know it’s Monday… but could you get a babysitter and come to this gig. We’re on at like half nine, and its like an hour away from where you live…”

That makes sense- sometimes, the problem with getting gigs can also just be the logistics of it, let alone the importance of actually matching others on the line up. “We’re a little older than most of the scene. We also have full-time jobs. So, when we do a gig we always make sure that at least one or two of us stay behind to watch everyone else, but we can’t all stay behind because some of us are in work at 5 or 6 in the morning.”

I’ve seen Rival Unit on line ups for events like BITCH Palace and WeWantWomen. I’m guessing then that nights like these are really important to the band. “There’s definitely a different atmosphere. Particularly with WeWantWomen; they want female artists, most of the crowd know what they’re coming to see. It sounds kinda brutal but you get less dickheads. Most of the time, the crowd is on your side anyway, especially because we’re British, it’s like- ‘I don’t wanna be embarrassed- please clap!’ But a lot of the people who do go to these events are people who want female artists to be at the forefront. “I think those nights are good for both but especially encouraging for people who are just starting out. If you've never done a gig before, it can be very intimidating but if you go, it's a relatively small crowd of 20-30 people, a lot of them are gonna be musicians as well, and they’re all on your side.”

“I feel like because its multimedia as well, there’s a lot more interest in the narrative rather than can you play or not. It was the first time I’d told the audience what the songs were about and people wanted to know. And that was lovely.” 

Both BITCH Palace and WeWantWomen welcome all disciplines on their line ups- I’ve bought works of art and earrings from BITCH Palace events, and have listened to poetry and more at WeWantWomen. And, most importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to chat to the artists at both events, which made them feel all the more special, like a real connection.

We can all agree that Liverpool is blessed with events and organisations like these. “…there are a lot of promoters, regardless of gender, who want to see that you've gone out and not failed. It’s similar to looking for a job but needing experience; it's the same sort of cycle where you’re not quite punching through. So nights like WWW are important for getting women onto that ladder. It’s a really tough experience.”

Indeed- we start to talk about the 50/50 line up rule, whereby festivals are encouraged to book equal numbers of male/female artists. “The main booking guy from the Scottish Festival ‘Transmit’ basically said that he couldn’t book a 50/50 line-up because there weren’t enough female artists out there. So I was thinking that Loud Women have this master-list of female performers, producers, promoters- and I thought, why doesn’t someone email him this?And, basically, shut him the fuck up? It’s a Google Doc, its constantly getting added to, and last time I looked there’s way over 300 artists on there.”

“He feels like he’s done his bit because there’s a lady stage. The Queen Tut Stage, named after King Tut’s in Glasgow. It’s the same thing as relegating women to ‘Female Fronted’ nights; feeling like they’ve solved the problem by giving them their own bit of field. “Go over there and stop making noise.” It may not have been the intent but its certainly the implication.” Indeed; it’s not all about satisfying a statistic anyway, what the rule is really trying to promote is a bit more integration.

“Something we’ve found quite difficult is that you have a lot of female specific groups. It’s great, and they wanna put on more female bands. Particularly some of them are really interested in putting on queer women, women of colour- we’re lesbians and married to each other, but because we’ve got two lads, it’s almost like you’re not queer enough to play with us. It’s almost like we’re not queer enough for some people but not straight enough for everyone else.

“Straight guys in particular don’t think that I have anything to say to them that’s relevant. We both fall in love with women; there’s a lot of similar experience there. A lot of the songs I’ve written about relationships, if a guy were singing them, there’d be a different perception to them. I struggle to understand that because, as long as it’s musically good, it doesn’t matter where it comes from… If something connects with you, it doesn’t matter who’s provided it.

“There seems to be a difference in reception. Straight women will acknowledge that a gay man has similar experiences to them, and vice versa. Gay guys listen to Madonna because she’s talking about relationships and sex with men in a way that they get. There seems to be a barrier- and a lot of the scene is male- so to broach that barrier as a lesbian is almost at times insurmountable. And its not all the guys on the scene. But there’s a certain group that I don’t feel I can reach at all, despite the fact that we’re talking about really similar life experiences.”

Some food for thought.

Rival Unit recommend me their top bands to see live, categorised into locations. Liverpool- Last Reserves Merseyside/Northwest- Hummer Blackpool- Nana Whitepepper Hull- Last of the Wonderkids Bristol- Personal Best “…You’re not gonna enjoy every band you play with, but they’re some of our favourites. I think I’d be more weirded out if you were like “Everyone was BOSS! Now I have 300 bands to listen to!”’

Rival Unit’s single Out is released on February 1st on all platforms.

(I'll be super honest I never get to do these and my excitement is through the frickin roof right now, thank you @tessmariano )

Name/nickname: Sail-Aydan, Sail, AJ, Sage (my initials are sajj but they make people call me sage)

Gender: female

Star sign: Virgo

Height: 5'8

Hogwarts house: Slytherin

Favorite animal: snow leopard/otter

Hours of sleep: uhhh at least 7?

Cats or dogs: both!!

Blankets: .... Enough (I think four or five)

Dream trip: To Korea and Spain so I can visit my ancestors and my dad's old home.

Dream job: owning my own little bakery on the east coast so that I'm able to go sailing

Time: 3:16

Birthday: August 27th

Favorite bands: This Wild Life, Auto Heart, Amber Run, EDEN, Throw the Fight (I just really like music I'm sorry ;-;)

Favorite solo artists: Billie Holiday, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos

Song stuck in my head: Lent by Auto Heart

Last movie I watched: Thor: Ragnarok

Last show I watched: Strike Witches. Pretty sure it's about lesbians and there's a lot of panty shots and guns. It's really good though. I swear.

When did I create my blog: uhhhh, five years ago? Six? It's been a while.

What do I repost/blog: literally random shit. Memes, cat pictures, fandom shit, discourse, quotes, inspirational shit, aesthetic shit. I just. "I like it, let's see who else does that follows me".

Last thing I googled: what is "ba dum tss" called? (It's a strike, in case you're wondering)

Other blogs: @orange-julius-caesar-salad @revivedsuggestion and an NSFW blog that you can pm me for but it's NSFW because you need to be at least 18.

Do I get asks: sometimes, very rarely.

Why I chose my url: my old url was associated with a lot of dumb discourse and Sail-Aydan is my name soooo. Yeah.

Following: 286

Followers: 246 (most are porn bots I'm pretty sure)

Lucky number: 17

Favorite instrument: that I play? Umm, ocarina, guitar, or violin, can't decide. That I don't play? Piano.

What I'm wearing: jeans and a long sleeved shirt

Favorite food: chicken curry!!

Nationality: American

Favorite song: I don't have one of those I'm sorry.

Last book read: a Korean cookbook that I can't spell the name of 😅

Alt universe I'd like to live in: The Harry Potter universe, a medieval universe, or the universe of this one Sherlock alternate book I read a long ass time ago where it was all steam punk and supernaturally

And I'm gonna tag @randomessachieved and @masterofficeralexander because fuck it I wanna know more about you guys.

BDRPWriMo Task #6 - 10 Short-Short Stories

Task #6: Write ten short-short stories of no more than a paragraph long.

Franny Robinson’s musical influences; ten interview quotes about other musicians and singers that she says inspire her work

i. Jenny Lewis

“I dunno, there’s just-” Robinson paused and with her palms flat up, made claws with her hands as she searched for the words. “-something so honest about Jenny. I had the honor of performing with her once and I was just in awe. I think I have a little bit of a crush on her. I was first introduced to her work in 2001 by a great friend of mine from college, Dani Weiss [currently a member of the American-Canadian newgrass band The Weepy Willows]. We were...going on a little trip -

Q: Acid or shrooms?

“My husband is sitting right there, oh god. Acid. In moderation, I think things like that can be worthwhile experiences. In moderation. We were doing acid in her apartment and listenin’ to music and she [Weiss] put on their album Take Offs and Landings. I was real into it from Go Ahead [the first track]. Which. I always liked chill music when I dropped acid, anything too loud and busy made me anxious. And when the followup, The Execution of All Things came out, it was like - I was like - just like, ‘damn, this woman is amazing.’ Her songwriting ability is just phenomenal and her voice- I feel like I’m sittin’ across from her and she’s tellin’ me stories. There’s- again, the only thing I can think of is this honesty about her.”

ii. Hizuru

“Japan actually has a vibrant history with jazz music, so I’m familiar with a lot of Japanese jazz and have had the honor of working with many talented Japanese jazz musicians. I don’t know very much about Hizuru, actually, other than I love them. I have been experimenting with incorporating traditional Cambodian music with, you know, jazz and other western styles of music. That part of my culture is very important to me, so I want - I want to show the world how beautiful instruments like tro and chapei are. Anyway- I was struggling with a balance of sounds when in 2017 I stumbled upon a Hizuru song called - oh, god, I don’t speak Japanese, so I’ll probably butcher this. The song is called Ushiwakamaru. It is an instrumental piece, as is the entire self-titled album, and the blend of traditional Japanese music and modern jazz on that entire album is perfection. I hope they come out with more soon, I am hungry for more, truly.”

iii. Ella Fitzgerald 

Q: Of the early jazz vocalists, who inspires you the most?

“Oh my god, Ella Fitzgerald. Well - mm, no, absolutely her, no question. I am by no means implying I live up to her standard, in fact I never will, but I have channeled her. Especially in my earlier work when I was a bit more concerned with going what jazz fans want, expect, and love versus taking lessons from those who came before me and building on that with my own ideas, my own voice. If that makes sense? She was classic. It’s Only A Paper Moon was, I think, the first jazz song I heard when I was little. Or, it was the first that really struck me. [laughs] My oldest brother used his birthday money to buy an Ella Fitzgerald album for me on vinyl so I would stop running around the house singing the only lyrics I remembered. I think it was like [singing]- Say, its only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea...and I forgot the rest so I could just repeat cardboard sea like three times.”

iv. Patsy Cline

“I’m from Georgia,” laughs Robinson, running a hand through her hair as she pulls her feet up under her on the chaise lounge in her Swynlake home. “Like, out in the country in Georgia. You couldn’t grow up there in the eighties and not have known who Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton were. Dolly was more, like, relevant and current, but Patsy’s a classic. And as a woman whose natural register is lower myself, I really appreciated being able to sing along decently well without much effort. We don’t - we don’t get to see alto voices in popular music a lot. Pop, even the jazz music that gets a following outside of hardcore jazz fans. Hitting the craziest high notes does seem to be a current trend across the genre spectrum.”

When asked if that was a bad thing, Robinson simply shook her head. “I don’t think it;s positive or negative one way or the other. It’s just an observation.”

v. Ahmad Jamal

“I mean, if you want to talk jazz pianists, you can’t not talk about Ahmad Jamal. On Green Dolphin Street? Autumn Rain? F---, man, leaving him out is criminal. He’s been in the game for five decades, that’s longer than I’ve been alive. I only hope to be on his level. Like, I hear words from his piano. I understand what I’m supposed to be feeling, thinking, or seeing when I listen to his work. And with instrumental music, that’s a challenge. Classical? I struggle to listen to classical music. I think it’s beautiful, and I really respect classical musicians, but unless I’m explicitly aware of what picture this piece is supposed to paint in my head, when I tell a classical expert what a piece makes me feel, they’re usually like ‘ACTUALLY...’

vi. Édith Piaf 

“My father - well, he’s technically my stepfather,” Robinson said, scowling at the word like it was a swear. “But, he adopted me when he married my mother, and my biological father may as well have been a sperm donor. Anyway. My father is from Switzerland, and they have four official languages there. He speaks them all, plus English, plus he learned to speak Khmer when he married my mother. He’s so cool, my dad. He’s from a Francophone-Italophone Swiss family, so I grew up listening to a lot of old French, Italian, and some German music from him. I still don’t speak German and Italian though, [laughs] sorry Dad.”

“We listened to Édith Piaf a lot together. I was very protective of my mother as a child, you know how kids of single moms are? My mom was my superhero and I was used to American men thinking they had a right to touch her because she was just a poor foreign woman who owned a restaurant. So when my future dad started hanging around, I hated him. But he was determined to make me like him so I’d let him marry my mother, and he’d take me for ice cream and play Édith Piaf cassettes in the car. He’d tell me about what the love songs meant, and didn’t tell me about the songs that weren’t, and told me the love songs are how he felt about my mother. He was like, ‘Dara-’ my legal first name is Darareaksmey, it’s Khmer. My parents usually calls me ‘Dara.’ ‘Dara, if you let me, I’ll be good to your mother, and to you.’ I eventually got tired of him begging me to marry my mom so I let him. [laughs]

I asked if she ever regretted giving him her blessing.

“No, never. He’s my dad, and the two boys he brought into the marriage are my older brothers. I’m my Swiss grandparents’ only granddaughter, so they spoiled me even from Switzerland. No, we’re family.”

vii. Dolores O'Riordan

Interview date, 26th of January, 2018

Q: Let’s talk about something I just found out about you from your Twitter feed the other day.

A: Oh, no, should I tell my husband to cover his ears?

Q: No, it’s rated H for Husband. 

A: Excellent.

Q: You’re a huge fan of Dolores O’Riordan. Which, I wouldn’t have guessed. But on the day the tragic news of her passing broke, you Tweeted out a tribute to her including ffive meet and greet pictures of the two of you together- the first, correct me if I’m wrong, is from 1994?

A: Yes, yes I had actually seen then the year prior, when I was thirteen, but ‘94 was the first time I could afford a backstage package with my babysitting money. The other four are from 1999, 2002, 2010, and 2016. I loved The Cranberries, they were the first concert I dragged my husband to when we were dating.

Q: Safe to say you’ve been a hardcore fan for-

A: Two and a half decades, yeah. Yeah, The Cranberries are one of my all time favorites. Dolores O’Riordan’s voice was...everything.

Q: You’re a jazz artist, primarily. What’s consistently drawn you to The Cranberries?

A: [laughs] Other than being a teenager in the 90′s? I mean, her voice. She changed the game for what it meant to be a female vocalist in rock music. And up until my second year at NYU, I wasn’t sure where I was going with music. I loved rock, I loved jazz, I was into R&B, I loved bluegrass. I sang in several bands in high school and college, and The Cranberries were usually on the setlist. Her voice was amazing. I idolized her as a young vocalist, even if I ended up gravitating toward a different genre.

Q: You uploaded a cover of Dreams with Irish alt-rock singer and guitarist Padraig Chen, and Irish indie musician Siobhán Walsh as well. How did that collaboration come about?

A: Padraig’s been a friend of mine for a long time; we met through a mutual friend who is also an Asian-diaspora musician in the UK and Ireland and it was a match made in music heaven. We’ve collaborated a lot. Siobhán is a friend of Pat’s, and we all looked up to Dolores, so we just got together and made our little tribute to her.

viii. Badi Assad

“I was first introduced to bossa nova...probably during my sophomore year of college. Her voice is like butter, but frankly, that’s not the most interesting thing about her. She combines traditional jazz, bossa nova, other Latin music elements, and traditional Middle Eastern sounds. Anything that is a marriage of different tastes and cultures is interesting to me, and when its done as well as she does it? Forget it. She is one of the best jazz and jazz-adjacent guitarists out there today. I really admire her. I hope to perform with her one day, it’s genuinely a dream of mine.”

ix. Ros Serey Sothea

“One of my most unexpected musical influences...well, I don’t - I don’t think she’s so much unexpected, as any of my following outside of my small Cambodian or Khmer-American following won’t have ever heard of. Ros Serey Sothea is one of the most important singer in Khmer popular music history, she’s called the Golden Voice. My mother would sing her songs to me as a child, whichever of them she could remember. Under the Khmer Rogue, which my mother survived, something like 90% of Cambodia’s artists, dancers, musicians, and singers died or were executed. She was one of them. And my mother’s favorite singer. Most of the master recordings from her and other singers like Pen Ran and Sinn Sisamouth were destroyed by the Khmer Rogue, so whatever recordings we do have of Khmer rock and roll from that era are so, so vital to preserve and keep record of. Even though I am a jazz music educator, at my lower level, more generic classes where I have the wiggle room to do so, I talk about Khmer music of the 60s and early 70s for a class because I feel so strongly about the legacy of this music.”

“I went on a tangent,” Robinson said apologetically. “Where was I? Oh, Ros Serey Sothea. Right, so her voice was just-” Robinson put her arms out to her side and swayed to the imaginary music in her head. “-you could just kind groove like this to only her voice, nothing else needed. Her voice danced on top of the backing band. My mother managed to get her hands on some records, her siblings who remained in Cambodia sent some to us and her other siblings who were resettled, in the mid-eighties. So, I was six or seven before I heard my first Khmer song from a record player or a cassette instead of my mother’s voice, even though she’d been singing to me since I was born. These songs are still incredibly important to Cambodians today, and diaspora as well.”

I asked her if that had anything to do with the semi-viral success of her recent  cover of 70′s singer Sieng Vannthy’s ‘Console Me’. 

“Oh, for sure.” Robinson said.  "It’s the first time I professionally recorded a song in Khmer, a lot of people were surprised I spoke the language.”

x. Dolly Parton

“Okay, Dolly probably has less of an influence on my music than my persona, I’ll be honest. But her music means so much to me. At my wedding, during toasts, my mother mortified me by throwin’ in video footage of my first ever live performance from ‘89. Little nine-year-old Franny was on stage in little secondhand cowboy boots, this horribly 80s lookin’ frilly dress, my hair in little twin braids, singin’ and dancin’ to Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That. To this day, my husband still brings that up.”

Q: How do you mean Dolly Parton influenced your persona?

“Great question. So, our origins are similar. Kind of. She grew up poor one of twelve children, I grew up poor, one of three. My family eventually was lucky enough to make it out of the poverty I was born into but we were still always poor, you know? Like. I remember my mom rationing her food so I could eat enough until that stopped when I was about seven and my mom didn’t have to make a meal for herself last two meals.  And we’re both from the American South.”

“I grew up on Dolly. She’s the queen of our people [laughs] and I’m not even being facetious. We love her. Can’t get enough of her. And I include myself in that; Dolly Parton is an icon. She is unashamed of who she is and where she comes from, which really struck a chord with me. As the American-born daughter of a refugee, I was always caught between two cultures. Am I Cambodian, am I American? Which can I claim? My mother taught to me my Cambodian culture, our Vietnamese friends taught me about Vietnamese culture, but my white father was from Switzerland so I didn’t learn to be American until school. That’s when I started droppin’ my G’s, sayin’ y’all and ain’t, and asking my parents to make grits for breakfast when they’d never eaten them before in their immigrant lives. I wanted so badly to just be seen as American, to be seen as just a girl from Georgia. If it weren’t for my mother refusing to let me speak English to her at home I would have lost my Khmer. She spoke English just fine, but English was for Out There.”

“My mom taught me to be proudly Cambodian, but I’m not just Cambodian, right? I mean, I’m biracial, sure. But more importantly, I’m bi-cultural. I’m not just Cambodian, I’m American - Southern, if we wanna get real specific. Both of my cultures are vibrant, and beautiful, and are equally important to me. My mom taught me not to be ashamed to be the daughter of a refugee - she didn’t get into specifics until I was older, but she was always made it clear she had Been Through Some Shit and could handle anything. Even now, when I go through something difficult I just tell myself, ‘Mom survived genocide, you can do whatever this is.’ I knew how to be proudly Cambodian, I knew how to wear traditional dress to nice events, and wear Khmer wedding clothes for my wedding instead of a white dress. But I didn’t know how to embrace this other part of myself - because wasn’t raised in the default Middle America. Even my American side is a type of odd culture, isn’t it?

Dolly Parton taught me not to be ashamed of the other half of where I came from. She is unapologetic about bein’ who she is. She is proud of where she came from. And I want to be the Dolly Parton of my rural Georgia town. My identities as Cambodian and Georgian are more important to be than my identity as, like, an American person in general. I want people to think, ‘that’s a Georgia woman’ when they think of me, just like you look at Dolly and say ‘that’s a Appalachian girl’ before you just go ‘oh, she’s American.’

ALBUM REVIEW - Arcade Fire, Everything Now.

For the first of hopefully many music reviews, we’re looking at the latest album from legendary alternative band Arcade Fire, Everything Now. Their fifth studio album comes four years after their previous record Reflektor, and boasts production credits from Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Pulp’s Steve Mackey.

To the dismay of many Arcade Fire fans and music critics, Everything Now marks the band delving further into the realm of disco, dance and pop music, something they first brought into their music on Reflektor, and abandoning the sound they found worldwide success and acclaim with on their first three albums.

Now, to someone who only truly discovered the band through Relfektor and has little experience with their music before this, I don’t understand all the hate this record has been getting! I really like the groovy euro pop tinged sound to be found on almost every song here, an interesting contrast to very direct and tongue in cheek lyrics criticising and celebrating consumerism, modern day depression, and love in a digital age, where everything is now instant.

The album opens with a disorienting interlude track, where the lyrics “I’m in the black again, Can’t make it back again, We can just pretend ,We’ll make it home again, From everything now” woefully crooned by lead singer Win Butler, are quickly enveloped by the noise of sirens, pianos, high pitched voices and robotic static.

The album’s lead single and title track abruptly kick in, With its euro-pop pianos and guitars reminiscent of ABBA, weirdly simple drum patterns and a choir of the phrase Everything Now. It’s hard not to have fun listening to this track, the instrumental has a hopeful quality to it, which you can imagine a stadium singing in unison. The lyrics themselves almost contradict this sense of hope, as they sarcastically reflect on a society where we are bombarded with information and instant gratification, the line “Til every room in my house is filled with shit I can’t live without” stands out to me as one of the funniest lyrics of the album, as well as illustrating one of its core themes. This track is an obvious choice for one of the best tracks on the record, but this is for good reason.

One thing the album consistently does well is the transitions between tracks, which is shown by the intro to Signs of life, a groovy horn and string backed track, with funk production flairs you can instantly attribute to Tom Bangalter. The synths in the song are iconic to daft punk, and really satisfying. The lyrics are less direct than before, with the chorus unfortunately feeling a little repetitive. To me this track would neatly fit onto Reflektor, with its groovy instrumentals.

Creature Comfort is the closest we get to alt rock on a full song, though it is still very electronic in its instrumentation, with a synthetic beeping throughout. The lyrics are direct reflections on teenage depression, brutally and directly referencing self harm, body image and assisted suicide, as well as a desire for fame. This song contains the albums worst lyric, “Filled up the bathtub and put on our first record” a very self congratulatory line that feels almost mean spirited in tone, and sticks out in the song like a sore thumb. The vocal delivery and instrumental stops this from ruining the song, I personally love the back and forth of the male and female vocals.

Peter Pan isn’t by any means a bad song or the worst of the album, the instrumental is groovy, I especially like the booming sound we get in the chorus followed by a wonky synth line, however to me it is the most forgettable. Something about the singing feels flat and the lyrics about being your peter pan if you’ll be Wendy, I’m sorry, are just way too corny for me.

One of the most disliked tracks on the album in reviews, Chemistry, is perhaps the most bizarre and surprising track. The main instrumentation is a chorus of ska trumpets and formulaic drums, with each line finishing with the phrase “Chemistry!” delivered gleefully by Regine Chassange, which unfortunately gets very close to being irritating. Similarly to Everything Now, this track is too fun to dislike, it feels at least self aware of its ridiculousness, and is again tongue in cheek, with its lyrics that border on being the words of a stalker!

Infinite Content and Infinite_Content is another weird turn for the album, a 1 minute punk tinged alt rock track taken up mainly by shouts of “INFINITE CONTENT!”, followed by the same track again, this time as a drowsy country ballad! The rock version is actually another really fun track, a highlight that I wish was a full song. However, while I appreciate the humour of this interlude, especially the sampled audio of Everything Now playing in a supermarket, it kinda disrupts the flow of the entire record. Was it worth it?

This is followed by Electric Blue ,the one track of the album without lead vocals from Win Butler, they instead they come from Regine Chassange. Her vocals on this track are all delivered in this echo filled high pitched tone, which only gets higher as the song progresses. Initially this was a huge turn off for me, with this on my first listen being my least favourite song. This track however has since grown on me, and become one of my highlights. The wonky synthetic sound of the instrumental compliment Regine’s vocals well. The lyrics are the most pop influenced of the album, with the repetitive chorus feeling much less annoying than the chorus of songs with a similar structure (Chemistry for example), yet they still have the engaging satirical feel that is throughout the album.

Good God Damn starts with a very seductive guitar and drum line, and Win’s vocals have a luxurious, nihilistic tone to them. This is a rare track with lyrics that seem to fit rather than contradict the instrumental, however the delivery of the line “And fill the bathtub up” is unintentionally hilarious. The core of this tracks lyrics, however, I interpreted as a simple yet engaging reflection on whether there is a god. Altogether this is a solid pop rock song, though it falls into the background against other tracks on the album.

Put Your Money On Me is another track where Tom Bangalter’s production shines through, with the vocal delivery of the title line reminding me of Tame Impala, and other vocal inflections clearly influenced by David Bowie. The chorus has vocals from Regine which again bring ABBA to mind, and give a pop aspect to the song which works well. This song again is a lot of fun to listen to, and its extended runtime working surprisingly to its advantage.

We Don’t Deserve Love is a somber yet pretty close to the album, with a simple electronic beat that sounds like a country song wonkily played on a synth. Somehow Arcade Fire makes that work. We do get some actual country guitar too, don’t worry. The lyrics are some of my favourites, “You don’t want to talk, “You don’t want to touch, You don’t even wanna watch TV ,You say I can’t see the forest for the trees, So burn it all down, and bring the ashes to me” stands out as one of the best, with the TV line encompassing a lot of the album’s core concept. This is one of my personal favourite tracks. Regine’s pop styled vocals on the chorus again work fantastically, and give a bittersweet tone to the song i really enjoy. My only criticism is it perhaps goes on too long, otherwise it is a great closing song to the album.

The true closer of Everything Now is a reprise of the interlude that opens the album, designed so that the record loops into itself. This also contains a beautiful string version of the title track’s chorus.

In Conclusion, I really love this album. It has such a fun engaging vibe to it that gives it a lot of replay value! Though there are few low points, they don’t ruin the album, or the songs they are a part of, every song here to me is good!

I think the hugely negative reaction to this record comes from the fact fans and critics wanted another Rock or alternative album from Arcade Fire, but were instead given a pop record.

To me at least, Everything Now is fantastic, and one of my favourite albums of 2017 so far. 

I Give it an 7/10.

FAVOURITE TRACKS – Electric Blue, Everything Now, We Don’t Deserve Love, Put Your Money On Me

LEAST FAVOURITE TRACKS – Infinite_Content, Peter Pan