#anyway here's where i will ramble about production. i had to record the vocals in my car for lack of anywhere else. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

illeee-girl · 3 years

Text

La La(chimolala) Land Chapter Thirteen: The Confession from Your Lips

jimin x reader genre: fluff (but it gets pretty dang meaningful here, sorry not sorry) word count: 2.25k warnings: none

[Inspired by La La Land]

Read on Wattpad

Read on Ao3

You’d hung up your apron at the coffee shop that Monday morning for the last time.

Production on Red Writer began almost immediately. The independent film studio who'd bought it was new, but had plenty of resources, and wanted to get the film out within the next year. Casting went by smoothly—you found the perfect Marianne, and the perfect Sam—and filming began just two months after your pitch. You’d perfected the screenplay with a table of the studio’s on-hand writers, and nothing had been so exhilarating. Those days of revising and reworking scene after scene . . . they’d been the stuff of dreams. The first installment for the screenplay came in sooner than you’d hoped, and you moved up to Burbank to be closer to the set. Sad as you were to leave Jess, Rachel, and Diana for a tiny studio apartment of your own, they constantly came to visit, so it felt like you’d never stopped being roommates.

You and Jimin hadn’t stopped talking, per say, since your late-night, poolside, deep conversation. (For the record, you would never let go of anyone who would have a late-night, poolside, deep conversation with you.) But you’d been busy—busier than you’d ever been—and he’d left for Seoul to a round of promotional interviews and TV spots for the band’s latest album. After that, he’d be in Tokyo for a few weeks to do the same. Those sweet six months he’d promised to you that day on the pier had gone by in the blink of an eye. More and more, it began to seem like your schedule wasn’t the only wrench in Jimin’s dream of domestic bliss. BTS was only getting bigger—and there was no way he could leave.

October came. You were caught in the pressure-filled realm of wrapping up filming, and Jimin was still in Asia. FaceTimes turned into phone calls, phone calls into texts. “Good morning” and “Good night” turned into “How has the past week been?” It’s just the time difference, you told yourself. That, and he’s so impossibly busy. You’d message the boys whenever you thought of them, and they’d message back. “How’s Jimi?” You’d ask. “He’s doing fine,” they'd respond. “Just exhausted. In love with you as much as ever, I promise.”

But doubts crept in, deadlines piled up, and before you knew it, you were about ready to give up.

_________________________

“Hey, it’s me,” you leave a message on his phone one evening. “I’m walking through Little Tokyo. We just finished one of the last scenes on our list. It’s all going really well. But I’m exhausted. At least I have a car now, so I don’t have to take the metro. But now I have to sit in LA traffic all the time. I don’t know which is worse. I’ve heard the traffic in Seoul is pretty bad too . . . I’m rambling. I’m sorry. I’m just . . . I miss you. Call me when you get this. If you even bother to listen to it. At this point, I’m not sure I care anymore.”

You climb in your Prius, sit in traffic on the 101, and spend the entire drive wishing that you could have the past summer back. Those days with warm breezes and frozen treats . . . holding his hand, listening to his voice . . .

But now, you assure yourself, I’m more successful. I have some money. I have a much better job—the one I’d been dreaming about for ages. My movie is finally being made. Something I wrote is going to make it on screen. People are going to see it. Some are going to like it. A few are going to love it. When I go home for Thanksgiving this year, I won’t have more disappointing news for Mom and Dad. Not anymore.

So why do I yearn for the past?

After a quick shower and some leftover Thai takeout for dinner, you sit down to watch your next episode of Crash Landing on You.

“There’s an old Indian proverb,” says Son Ye-jin, in the form of character Yoon Se-ri, “that says, ‘Sometimes, the wrong train takes you to the right station.’”

I’ve got to jot that down. That’s good stuff. You grab your notebook from your side table. It’s already littered with quotes and notes and ideas. You find a clean page and write down the k-drama heroine’s words—but not before you flip through your notes from that day in the hills. The day you’d gone up to watch BTS film that music video for “research.” The first day you’d heard Jimin sing.

I can’t imagine a sound clearer, a voice more beautiful, you’d written. It’s a voice with the power to caress you gently, to bring you to tears, to take you to places unexplored. The pure emotion he puts into it is unparalleled.

Your fingers dig into the fibers of your couch. You have to pause the TV—tears are starting to gather in the bottoms of your eyes, and you can’t read the subtitles.

You miss hearing him sing. He was always singing, always dancing, no matter where you went. You lean back into the couch, and a memory appears behind your eyelids. Jimin taking you to Urban Light, humming “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady while weaving between the lampposts. “Come ‘ere, my Eliza,” he’d begged, goofy as ever. “Dance with me.” “We both know very well that I’m the Henry Higgins in this relationship,” you’d said, but you’d spun into his arms anyway. “I could have danced all night,” he’d begun singing, “I could have danced all night, and still have begged for more.” “Shh, Jimin, we’re out in public. Someone might recognize your voice.” “I could have spread my wings, and done a thousand things, I’ve never done before.” He’d continued, unabashed, light of every variety gathering in his dark eyes.

You’d fussed at him then. You’d tried to get him to shut up. Getting caught dancing with a girl—well, the fans would’ve been talking about it for months on end. But now, sitting alone in your little apartment . . .

“I’ll never know what made it so exciting,” you begin, your voice raspy, vocal chords raw from the tears you’d shed, “Why all at once my heart took flight.” The words come out slowly, painfully. “I only know when he began to dance with me . . .”

“I could have danced, danced, danced, all night.”

It takes you a few moments to realize that you did not sing that last line alone.

You stand up.

You wipe your eyes.

You look around.

You cross over to your front door.

Behind it stands a tear-stained face (complete with puffy lips and eyelids), a messy head full of hair, and, as ever, an impeccably dressed body.

“Jagi, I’m so sorry—” he begins to weep.

But his apology isn’t able to come to fruition. You stop it with a kiss: deeper and firmer and stronger than ever before. You grab the fibers of his sweater and breathe him in. It’s like coming up for air after spending months underwater.

“Shh, shhh,” you soothe him, smoothing his unkempt hair. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re here now.”

“But I just can’t—”

You kiss him again, right there in the hallway, refusing to listen to him berate himself.

“So I take it you missed me.”

“I take it you haven’t lost your cheekiness.”

“Never.”

You pull him inside, and when the door closes behind you, he slaps his hand against it in full kabedon style, trapping you against it. You expect a kiss, but he just says:

“This is so stupid.”

You begin to worry. “What is?”

“This. Us. Our lives keeping us apart,” he laments, hanging his head. “I mean, I’m grateful that the band grew to be so successful. I will always be grateful for that. I wouldn’t trade my hyungs, or our fans, for the world.” Now, he brings his forehead to rest on yours. “But I want to be with you,” he murmurs, big tears beginning to roll down his round cheeks.

You wipe them away as they fall. “I want to be with you, too,” you say. “Things are just . . . complicated right now. For both of us.”

“I don’t want you to feel guilty for pursuing your dream, Jagiya,” he holds your hand in his. “You’re not the one who left LA. You’re not the one who grew to be so bad at communicating. That’s all on me.” More tears fall. “It’s all on me.”

“It absolutely isn’t. I knew you’d have to leave sometime.”

“And I knew that, too.” He rubs his eyes. “It just frustrates me to no end.”

“I know, baby.”

“Hmm,” he hums. “You’ve never called me that before.”

You shrug. “I thought I’d add it to the already extensive list of your nicknames.”

He hugs you tight. “I’ve missed you so much.” He lets you go after a few minutes and starts pacing the room, a look of intensity painted on his face. “Jagi.”

“Mm-hmm?”

“You’ve seen La La Land, right?”

“We’ve watched it together eight times, Jiminie. It’s kind of our thing.”

“Right. Well, you know when Mia walks in to the apartment and Sebastian’s there and he’s cooking her dinner and she’s so glad to see him but then they sit down and realize everything’s falling apart because their dreams are pulling them apart and long distance is just too hard and so even though they both get what they wanted they don’t get what they wanted?”

He’s rambling—which means he’s nervous. But I am, too. “You mean, they prioritize their dreams over each other, so they end up apart?” You respond as calmly as you can.

“Yes. Gosh, you’re so much better with words than I am.”

“And you’re so much better at singing than I am, as evinced by our impromptu duet a minute ago—which I loved, by the way.”

He smiles. “Don’t distract me with compliments. Don’t get all cute on me now. I’m on the cusp of something good.” His mind is clearly hard at work.

Yours is too. “Something that’ll fix our problem?”

“Yes. I think so. Anyway, so you know how they both get what they want in the end but they don’t get each other even though they really wanted each other?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, I’ve always thought that was so stupid. I mean, good writing, to be sure. It’s realistic—I’m sure it happens to people all the time. It’s a common thing: having to choose between the person you love and the thing you love to do. But I refuse to choose between you and the band.”

A million thoughts race through your head. “Do you . . .” it’s as if the kitchen lights begin to dim around him—as if he is the only thing illuminated in your vision. “Do you love me, Jimin?” You ask, wringing your hands nervously.

Finally, he stops pacing. “Isn’t it obvious?”

The vignette around him intensifies as you respond, “Well, it’s just, you’ve never said it in so many words.”

“Neither have you, and you’re actually good at words.”

You laugh. “Fair. But I’m usually not too good at them when it comes to this.”

Silence ensues for a few moments.

Then he speaks: “Wait, do you . . . do you not love me? Because if you don’t, then the plan I’ve been forming in my head all falls apart.”

You giggle, burying your face in your oversized t-shirt.

“What is it?" A look of worry attaches to his face. “What’s so funny?”

“I just . . .” more laughter comes out. Why are you like this? Stop giggling so much! “I love that you’re creating a plan in your head right now. And I love that you flew all the way here to see me. I love that, instead of simply knocking on my door, you heard me singing and decided to join in for the last line. I love that you’ve treated me like a queen, even though we both know I’m—as Henry Higgins would say—a ‘guttersnipe,’ compared to you. I love that you get concerned over every little thing, and that nothing—not even all this time we’ve spent apart—has killed your feelings for me. I love you, Jiminie. I love, love, love you. As Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing would say, ‘I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.’”

He crosses the room with the eagerness and speed of a famished fire eager to expand. His lips are on yours before you can take a breath to prepare yourself, and the kiss only leaves you more bewitched than you were before. His hands hold your head as if it were the most valuable diamond in all the world; his enchanting softness and brazen attention make you feel priceless. The ground beneath your feet seems to melt, but he catches you.

This kiss says, genuinely and shamelessly: I love you, Y/N. There can be no doubt of that. You are worth the world to me, success or no success. Your productivity, your popularity—your being loved by others—does nothing to impact your value in my eyes. And there is nothing in this world that can ever change my love for you. It’s everlasting.

You break away suddenly.

“What?” He asks. “Is something wrong?”

“That’s good stuff,” you say, crossing over to the couch and fumbling around for your notebook. “I’m sorry, Jiminie. I’ve just got to write that down.”

“Write what down? I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, yes you did. You most certainly did.” You finish scribbling down your thoughts. “Now get over here and talk to me some more.”

#bts #bangtan sonyeondan #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts fic #bts jimin #bts park jimin #park jimin #park jimin x reader #park jimin fanfiction #park jimin fanfic #park jimin fic #jimin x reader #jimin fanfiction #jimin fanfic #jimin fic #jimin fluff #inspired by La La Land #La La(chimolala) Land

2 notes · View notes

elizabethvaughns · 3 years

Text

so i've been mulling over this for quite a bit now, so i might as well articulate my thoughts and get them out onto this blog. so i was just thinking: subjectively or objectively, which one is better? the if/then dc preview or the broadway production? long post (1750+ words), so i'm putting a read more break <3

now, objectively at the very least, i know i have to say it's the broadway production. why wouldn't it be? it's a lot more polished, it's...the final draft, of sorts, of the production. we all know the final draft is usually better than the rough draft. but here's the thing. when it comes to an artwork that has several different versions, one tends to gravitate toward the version they saw first and have a certain bias against all the other versions. if you saw the bway version first or the dc version first, you probably like that one more. now i'm not saying this bias is conscious by any means. absolutely not. however, when one falls in love with some media, in my case at least, they take it in over and over and over again. and then they get so used to that one thing that all other versions seem weird. i can pinpoint two non-if/then instances in my life where such a thing happened.

in the summer of 2018, i watched the RENT movie on netflix. now i was fully intending to listen to the obc soundtrack before watching the movie, but i never really got to it. anyways, that movie was like love at first...watch to me. oh man, i loved it so, so much. so i downloaded the soundtrack on my phone and, you guessed it, listened to it over and over and over and over again. one fine day, (about a few weeks after, actually) i realized i never actually had listened to the obc soundtrack. so i did. and it sounded...odd to say the very least. i mean, some of the voices were different, sometimes the lines were changed, all in all, a confusing experience. to say the least, if you asked me back then which version i preferred, i would've readily said the movie version. but now, three years in retrospect, i'm not so sure. the obc version is a lot more...complete, i like the vocals more, and i'm now salty that "christmas bells" as a song was cut. evidently, i like the obc version more(but i still love the movie version hell it's still one of my comfort movies).

in the fall of 2019, i listened to falsettos. i actually listened to both the obc and the 2016 revival cast recordings. i guess that lessened the bias a bit because i was exposed to both versions at about the same time. on the fateful date of 2 october 2019, i watched the falsettos revival proshot. that's when i truly fell in love with this musical. but, even so, my initial exposure was to both recordings so even though i had a slight bias toward the 2016 version, i still loved both of them.

now, back to if/then. i actually find it difficult to pinpoint where exactly my exposure to if/then started. was it the very first time i heard about it in 2018 when i read a very meta RENT fanfic on ff.net where elizabeth made an appearance and i thought "what the fuck"(pun very much intended)"is if/then" (psst if you find the fic could you please drop the link in the replies meta fic isn't really my shit but i want to reread it for nostalgia's sake)? or was it the very first time i listened to the obc recording in 2020? or was it the boot of a broadway production that i first saw on 13 march 2021? whichever one i pick, they all lead to the same conclusion: i naturally gravitated(and sometimes still do) toward the broadway production because it was the first version of if/then that i was exposed to.

now sometime in early april 2021 over my spring break, i watched a recording of the dc production. i knew beforehand that this production is a preview, after which some changes had been made, resulting in the broadway show. since those changes were obviously made to better the production, it would be a logical conclusion that the very presence of those changes entailed a...worse production (not considering the fact that the interpretation and the very liking of art is entirely subjective). one could say i entered the watching experience with an unconscious bias, of sorts.

from the very first note, i was caught off-guard. i didn't know they changed this much. when i watched the bway production, i was just enjoying it for all it was worth. but when i was watching the dc preview, i was comparing it constantly to its broadway counterpart. oh, david's shirt colour is different here. oh, anne's wearing a pantsuit instead of a dress(cute). oh, time for hey kid! oh wait no they put "the moment explodes" right here. also, i was just humming along to the songs, just mouthing along the lyrics(because i have them all memorized), and every now and then and getting thrown way off-track when the tune remained the same but the lyrics changed. most notably, in "walking by a wedding" and "you learn to live without". all in all, i had what one could consider negative opinions about the dc production because of that bias.

but then i watched it second time. a third time. a fourth, fifth, sixth time. and over that time, i fell more and more in love with that production. as i've said before, the interpretation of art is wholly subjective–what one may consider a shortcoming of a particular piece, another may consider a strength. let me take the placement of "the moment explodes", for example. in the dc production, it's before "some other me". therefore, the line "every friend i ever knew or thought i did" doesn't hit as hard because we don't know her situation with lucas yet. even so, "some other me" hits twice as hard because lucas is an even bigger asshole now. in comparison, however, "the moment explodes" is after "some other me" in bway as you all know. so the aforementioned line holds a much greater significance when compared to its dc counterpart. however, one could also consider that line (in the dc production) as a sort of foreshadowing for the reveal in "some other me" of the new normal of beth and lucas's friendship (or the lack thereof).

obviously, some changes were most definitely welcome, "this day" to be more specific. of course, there was that little reprising of "what if?" near the end of "this day" in the dc production which i really loved, but all in all, the mood of "this day" was much more fun and enthusiastic in bway as opposed to dc, which in my opinion is an excellent way to start an act. in contrast, some changes were...not as welcome. i don't know about you, but personally, i really enjoyed two cut scenes from "the story of jane"("no more wasted time" dc version). first, the scene where kate brings her kindergarteners to beth. it was fun to see higgs squirm. second, the scene where elena and beth's interaction parallels beth and stephen's in "map of new york". narrative-wise, i think that it is an incredibly important scene as we get to see two sort of boss-employee relationships mirrored to each other, only beth does it well as a boss (if that makes any sense). we see beth as passionate but still sort of hesitant in mony but she grows to be more self-assured by nmwt, and i think the aforementioned scene only cements that notion as beth takes on the role of mentor for elena. also, "the story of jane" was a really fun song and, as much as i love "no more wasted time", i wish it still contained elements of "story of jane". and while i did enjoy the reshuffling of "the moment explodes" such that it became clear when beth and lucas made up in the bway production, they were ultimately still...not talking during "you learn to live without. as a result, we miss that one scene from the dc production where lucas and kate attend beth's awards ceremony and shoo stephen. and need i talk about the lucas/david duet verse("you get that we're connected, / i feel like you get me") in "ain't no man manhattan"? honestly, i feel like dc anmm was, all in all, better than bway anmm–especially that one verse where lucas sings to this other dude about how everyone is connected(no, not the one to stephen, the one after that. the one that ends with "[something something] / who you helped get elected").

also the situations with stephen and with kate/anne in both timelines were relatively clearer in the dc production. even so, the actual distinguishing of the timelines was better in the bway production.

in conclusion, the relative merit of each production(broadway vs. dc) is really up to the interpretation of each viewer. scenes that may seem weak to one may be considered narratively important to another. both productions have their own merits and flaws.

to me, both productions are equally good. my previous assertion/assumption that the final draft is always better than the first is not necessarily true. some things that you think were actually pretty good get lost in the editing process. some other things that should've been cut (ahem ahem, kate's referrals to lucas with "she", ahem ahem, liz's "i don't believe in independents like i don't believe in bisexuals. pick a side" line) get left in there. art is subjective. the editing process is subjective. in the end, though, the only thing that matters is that you enjoy what you're watching and find personal fulfillment in it. and i do! for both of these productions. for both of the productions, i'm smiling all the way up to "here i go". i'm slightly saddened during "you don't need to love me". i'm empowered by "the story of jane"/"no more wasted time". i'm grinning in liz-verse all the way up to "i hate you". i feel like sobbing during "some other me". my throat clogs up when "i hate you" starts. i'm actually sobbing by the time "you learn to live without" ends.

...you get the gist of it. all in all, both of these productions are phenomenal and i'm grateful for their existence and to have been able to watch them in the year of our lord 2021.

i love this show so much i swear.

i talk a bit more comparing broadway and dc here.

my other ramblings essays:

if/then appreciation

"what if?" vs. "what if?(reprise)"

character analysis of lucas

#if/then #broadway vs dc production comparison

2 notes · View notes

interesting-blog-name · 4 years

Text

Frank Ocean - Blonde Review

All my time listening to rap, whenever Frank Ocean was featured on a track, everyone commenting on the song would praise him extremely highly, and honestly, I never saw the hype. The verses he’d write weren’t that good, in my eyes, but he’d have this mythical aura whenever someone talked about him, like he was the perfect singer, God’s musical gift to Earth. I never looked into his music that much, because I was too busy getting my ears blown out at age 15 from bass-boosted angry rap to look into what I assumed was an average R&B singer, a genre I didn’t have much knowledge on. So, as an introduction, I picked up Blonde.

I’m going to have somewhat of a hard time reviewing this one, and I feel like it’s because, to me, this album doesn’t really need to be written about. For Blonde to work, you have to let yourself be submerged by it, by the wonderful production mixed with Frank’s always-on-point singing; let yourself be carried by how the tracks progress, let the emotions drown you. My mistake in my first listen was that I pulled up Genius to read the lyrics while listening, and only in my second listen did I realize that’s not how it works. As Shawn Cee said when listening to Frank’s Moon River cover: “You don’t listen to Frank Ocean lyrics, you feel them.”.

Way before I thought about playing this album, I downloaded Nights and Pink + White in my phone, and - like any other song I get even a little bit attached to - played the shit out of those two tracks. This was a big mistake of my part, as when I listened to them in the context of the album, I was way too familiar to them. This is something I’ll try to overcome, this instant attachment and overplaying of tracks, where I play the same 10 songs for weeks, and then grow tired of them; I’ll try to substitute this habit with just trying to open myself up to new music, and letting the albums I’ve already listen to have a bigger effect on me when I replay them, due to me not growing tired of them from listening to them over and over. Anyway, I’m rambling.

Blonde is great at what it does, and that’s all that really matters: it is the definition of an emotional rollercoaster. The progression in the tracks is marvelous, whether it’s the beautiful closing verse over the violins in Self Control, the classic beat switch in Nights, the subtle change from synth-heaven to acoustic guitar in White Ferrari, or the voyage that is Seigfried (by the way, why is the song misspelled, couldn’t someone have looked the guy’s name up? Just a pet-peeve of mine). Frank’s vocals are so controlled and precise, they seem to just hit the perfect spot in the brain, and he and his team had this in mind; the tracks are built around his voice, the instrumentals are simplistic and at the same time beautiful, toned down, but crucial and memorable. The organ played by James Blake in Solo and Godspeed (easily the most gospel-influenced and gentle track here), the guitars in Ivy, the piano in Good Guy, they are all finely crafted in an intentionally lowkey fashion. That’s not to mention the instances where Frank’s voice becomes an instrument itself, being dowsed in effects in tracks like the just-mentioned Good Guy, the weird, distorted closing to Ivy, the high-pitched first leg of Nikes, and most notably and well-executed in my opinion, the gorgeously melancholic shorter track Close To You, where Frank sounds like he’s shapeshifted into a depressed microwave, and I mean it in the best way possible.

The impassioned scenes Frank recalls are very powerful, graced by his invested singing and simple, relatable style of songwriting. He seems to convey his feelings and memories in such an effortless, but amazing manner, that when he’s speaking of loves and summers that won’t come back, you can’t help but feel an urge to cry (or maybe I’m just too emotional). Ivy’s and Skyline To’s nostalgic tone (“That’s a pretty fucking fast year flew by, that’s a pretty long third gear in this car”), Solo’s and Nights’ wonderful, memorable choruses (“There’s a bull and a matador dueling in the sky. Inhale, in Hell, there’s Heaven.”), the rejection of the American dream in Seigfried (“Maybe I should move, settle down, two kids and a swimming pool. I’m not brave! I’d rather live outside”), stick to the listener the very first listen, and make this album more than just gorgeous melodies and strong-ass vocals.

There really isn’t much for me to say about Nights that hasn’t been said. Working brilliantly as the divisor between the two parts of the album, “Blond” and “Blonde”, the morning and the evening of the album; this song deserves all the praise it has gotten along the years, and the worst thing I can say about it is it is so addictive I almost got sick of it. The beat switch is legendary, the difference between the two parts makes the song memorable, and Frank’s vocals and flow are, of course, on point.

I can’t help but love what Frank does in Blonde, but it does have a few setbacks. Pretty Sweet is a chaotic definitive transition into the second leg of the album (separated by the beat switch in Nights) that I think could have been executed much better, as Frank’s vocal inflections in this song are probably the worst of the album, and the beginning distortion in the song is not a very welcome change of pace, and just ends up feeling out of place. The track Skyline To is not so special either, and I’m afraid I’ve grown out of Pink + White, as it doesn’t bring me the same feelings it once did when I first listened to it; that’s obviously my fault, but still, I don’t feel the song, as beautiful as Beyoncé backing vocals are, and as uplifting and nice it is on its own, shines so bright within the context of the entire album; not only that, but it also ends very abruptly, which is unfortunate.

My biggest problem with the record has to be Futura Free, however. I have very mixed feelings towards it, because in one hand, I enjoy the fresh beat drop and how the album offers it right at the last track, bringing some very standout excitement to the song, but I just can’t understand why Frank would put a 4-minute long interview with his friends, separated from the song by 32 seconds of pure silence. I appreciate all the interludes’ sense of nostalgia, the small little glimpses into Frank’s more personal life (especially with the very nice Buddy Ross sample present in all of them), but surely this interview could have been shortened and separated from the song it’s attached to. I know the album being exactly one hour long is a big deal to it, and it’s probably very difficult to round up that time perfectly without stretching some songs somehow, but surely there was space for at least a two-minute song to replace two minutes of the interview, which is mainly comprised of background noise between the chatter anyway.

Despite that, the album has way more highs than lows. The Andre 3000 verse has to be the best in the album, switching up the meanings in Solo, and even in its less memorable moments, Blonde displays an admirable elegance that will keep me coming back to it, an elegance that is displayed upfront in tracks such as Godspeed, where Frank sings a breakup song of unconditional support appreciation for his ex, for a very nice change of pace.

Overall, the production is meticulously calculated, Frank gives his best performance, it is personal, powerful, touching, and you have to be in the mood for it to work. Sit back and enjoy the experience.

FAVORITE TRACKS: Self Control, Nights, Solo (Reprise), Close To You, White Ferrari, Seigfried, Godspeed

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Pretty Sweet

8.1/10

“In the wake of a hurricane. Dark skin of a summer shade. Nosedive into flood lines. Tall tower of milk crates.”

#frank ocean #blond #blonde #album #album review #r&b #alternative r&b #pop #woooooooooo

2 notes · View notes

cantquitu · 5 years

Text

I was tagged by the lovely @huccimermaidshirts to share my first sott moment, thank you for sharing yours💓💗💝💕💞

It sent me on a journey through my tags from that fateful day, and my god - so DRAMATIQUE! :) I literally had a meltdown.

This gives some insight into my state of mind a full week before the single was released -

Suffice to say this was not going to go down easy....I booked the day off work in preparation for the Hapocalypse. Then I developed a full-blown cold (Me: “ WHY AM I GETTING SICK NOW? I NEED ALL MY STRENGTH TO SURVIVE HARRYDAY!!! I MUST NOT BE IN A WEAKENED STATE!”) and couldn’t have gone to work anyway. Oh, and then it seems I went into labour -

At 2am the night before I prepared for a few hours sleep - “Alarm set, all prepared: I’ve got 2 laptops and my phone prepped, and a large glass of water and a packet of paracetamol beside the bed, next to my picture of Bowie” . I had crazy fluey dreams about Harry, and with five minutes to go I wrote - “my hands are sweating on the keyboard this has never happened to me outside a work situation i wont’ be able to type!!!!!!”

And then - FINALLY - Radio 1 played the song -

....and that’s basically a taste of my entire day at Harry Basecamp (my bed),where I was stationed throughout the entire Hapocalypse, only leaving briefly to buy Lemsip. At some point later that morning I got an anon ask asking me to rate the song and I replied -

I honestly can’t put a rating on it right now, because I can’t separate my emotional response to the song (”That’s my Harry!! He’s doing THAT!!! He made that song!!! Fuck yeah I’m so proud! He sounds like an angel! 10/10 Would Bury It With Me”) from my - I won’t say my ‘objective’ view, because obviously my own taste is subjective - but my own more detached assessment of the song.

I absolutely LOVE his vocal performance. Love it. I mean, I’ve said it a thousand times but since the very beginning of my weird journey as a 1D fan I’ve been waiting to hear Harry sing an entire song so I could hear him control the build from beginning to end, ramping up the emotion and urgency of the song. So I feel particularly blessed that on his very first single he gives us the very definition of a slow build/huge finish record. Talk about granting my wishes in the most showy way possible :)

His voice sounds so effortless compared to 1D records. He’s utterly in control. That’s helped by the production - on later 1D records you could often hear Harry’s in-breath, which was obviously a production choice designed to make the record feel more ‘natural’ and organic. It’s not that I disliked that on 1D records, I just really noticed the lack of it here - it aided that effortless feel.

I love the falsetto, personally. It completely makes the song for me. Without it I feel the song would have been too pedestrian.

I can understand criticism of the repetitiveness of the three rounds of verse/chorus-that-is-really-the-same-as-the-verse. I mean, it takes me with it, I love it, but objectively speaking I know that’s influenced by my love of Harry’s voice. I do think it would have benefited from more variation to the melody on one of the rounds.

I’m torn on the squealy guitar and the choir. I veer between thinking they’re over-the-top-without-having-earned-it, and being swept away by the bombast of it all and loving it anyway :) And I love the build of the choppy, angry, scratchy guitars over the crescendo and think that’s going to sound amazing live.

That was way longer and more rambly than you wanted, anon. Sorry! I’ve been awake for so long now that I have no idea if I’m making sense any longer!

...and it’s interesting for me to read that back because my view of the song hasn’t really changed in two years.

The whole day was so overwhelming, I just completely indulged in the excitement and the hype and enjoyed every second of it, sweating feet an’ all!! :)

#twoyearsofsignofthetimes #sott #sign of the times #solo harry #single release

18 notes · View notes

vocalfriespod · 4 years

Text

Don’t Mind the Gap Transcript

Megan Figueroa: Hi, and welcome to the Vocal Fries Podcast, the podcast about linguistic discrimination.

Carrie Gillon: I'm Carrie Gillon.

Megan Figueroa: And I'm Megan Figueroa. And we have an exciting episode, today.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: It's really good.

Megan Figueroa: I know, I teased about it on Twitter, and [crosstalk] –

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: – I'm so glad that it's finally coming out. It's, I think it's really good and it's really relevant.

Carrie Gillon: It's really relevant.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: It's always relevant, but probably even more so right now.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, yes.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Exactly. Before we get into the interview [laughs], there's so much shit happening in the world –

Carrie Gillon: It is true.

Megan Figueroa: Um –

Carrie Gillon: There's too much going on, really.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, and, um, maybe it feels like some of these things aren't as important, but I like to think that the little space we've carved for ourself is making a difference, somehow. So, it is important that we talk about these things. I was thinking [laughs] about, um, you know, since the United States is on fire, right now, um –

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: – and it's Supreme Court season, um – I don't know who it was that said it, but someone – I think it was a New York Times article – described Sonia Sotomayor's, um, dissent against the, uh, Muslim ban was "lashing out"?

Carrie Gillon: Yep, I think it was the New York Times. They've been bad about this kind stuff, recently.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. And the problem with saying "lashing out," this would be problematic if it were just a woman, like, straight, like, a white woman, right? Because it's tone policing. But for it to be a Latina woman, there's the added element of the stereotype that Latinas are emotional or fiery.

Carrie Gillon: Yep.

Megan Figueroa: Right? So, um, yeah, of course, a lot of times, um, people say that women are hysterical or emotional anyway, um, but there's this, like, added layer of Latinas somehow being even more, um, fiery and ill-tempered or something like that. So, the, the choice of words was not great [laughs] –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, I mean, I, I think they also said "passionate," which is also bad –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – but somehow not as bad as "lashing out."

Megan Figueroa: Right. Uh, it somehow – well, it's pejorative, right, I mean?

Carrie Gillon: "Lashing out" is pejorative, and "passionate" can be, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: Like, you can be passionate about something in a way that is positive –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – or you can be passionate about something in a way that's, like, "Oh, calm down." Which is I think how that came across, and for good reason.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: But "lashing out" really makes it obvious that it's pejorative. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, and I feel like, even with "passionate," there is this double standard where, if we would've called Justice Kennedy passionate, somehow maybe more people would have cared and it would've been, like, "Well, if a man can get passionate about it, then this must be really important, or there must be a good reason for it."

Carrie Gillon: Right, it's like when Boehner would cry –

Megan Figueroa: Oh –

Carrie Gillon: – and that was, like, seen as a good thing.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: But if a woman had cried under the same circumstances, that would've been –

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: – horrifying.

Megan Figueroa: Yes, exactly.

Carrie Gillon: No, I totally agree, I think "passionate" is bad, uh, bad enough, but in contrast [laughs], "lashing out" is just way worse.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. I mean, there's no good reason to describe it that way, especially since the, the part, um, that they were pointing to was her reading the president's, uh, own words back at him, I believe, so it wasn't even her own words.

Carrie Gillon: And, you know, you should be allowed to lash out at words that are, have, are so full of animus.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, and so, like, fuckin' racist [laughs] and Islamophobic.

Carrie Gillon: Yep.

Megan Figueroa: So, yeah, maybe we should be able to "lash out," quote-unquote.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, there's been a lot of tone policing, recently, a lot of calls for civility –

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: – in the face of horrific violence and, um, trauma. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: Uh, just yesterday, um, there – well, uh, yesterday from when we're recording, so a few days ago for people listening, but – a newspaper office in Maryland was just shot up, and one of the survivors said "fuck" on TV about it, basically, "Fuck your, you know, thoughts and prayers. I want more." Um, and [laughs] Marco Rubio, among others, were, like, "Oh, why is it okay to say 'fuck' on TV, now?" Like, like that's the issue.

Megan Figueroa: Oh, I didn't – I knew that he tweeted that, like, he was so upset that the word "fuck" was being used, and I had no idea it was about that, specifically.

Carrie Gillon: Yep.

Megan Figueroa: Wow.

Carrie Gillon: Yep.

Megan Figueroa: Oh, my god. Yeah, yeah, as if that's, that's the real tragedy, here.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah. I mean, this has always been a problem in probably many societies since [laughs] time immemorial, but right now, it just feels like – maybe it's because everything's on fire. Like, everything is a dumpster fire, everything is the worst, and so, uh, if you don't wanna deal with that, if you wanna pretend it's not the case, the only thing that you can do is tone police.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, it's true. And tone policing is, ultimately, gaslighting.

Carrie Gillon: It's like saying, "What you're feeling is not real," or it's not real enough. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Exactly, exactly. And when it comes from people in positions of power –

Carrie Gillon: And it always does, right? I can't imagine –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: – that you can really pull this shit if you're not in some kind of power position.

Megan Figueroa: Right. I mean, there are the trolls on the Internet, but usually they're – men. Or white.

Carrie Gillon: Right, and they might have less power than, say, you and, you or me –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – but there are still people that have less power than us that they're –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – wielding their power over –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – anyway. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: [Sighs] Anyway, today's been a – I mean, this week has been rough.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, and I, I say to it, uh, fuck civility. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, me, too. I've never been one of those, like, "Civility's the most important thing."

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: I've, I've been more of a eh, time and place, but recently it's, like, well, now, there's no time and place for civility. Like, uh, this is an emergency.

Megan Figueroa: Or the, the time and place is to be uncivil. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, yeah, I guess that's better, that's a better way of putting it.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, civility's not gonna get us anywhere.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, it's the whole thing where, um, differing opinions can be respected, as long as you're not trying to, like, undermine someone's existence. And that's just happening all over the place, right now.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, we're not fighting over, like – like, someone said, said on Twitter, basically, you know, we can fight over, like, levels of taxation, like –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: – those are things that we can fight over and, and still respect each other about. But we can't fight over – yeah, like, women's right to exist, or people, people of color's, uh, right to exist, or – like, fill-in-the-blank [laughs] right to exist. We can't fight over that, like, this is – anyway. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. Oh, well, sorry, all of our listeners that are in America, right now, the US – [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Or anywhere, really. Because unfortunately, whatever happens here is going to trickle out to other countries, in some way or other. I mean, look at the, all the trade wars.

Megan Figueroa: I know, I know, Canada's, what putting a lot of tariffs on US goods and such and blah and –

Carrie Gillon: Right. And that's gonna directly affect Canadians, because many of our products come from the United States, and so –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: – the prices are gonna go up [sighs] –

Megan Figueroa: Is this, is this the new, uh, trickle-down economics? [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, kind of. [Laughs] Trickle-out anyway.

Megan Figueroa: Yep. [Laughter] Well, anyway, um, the world is terrible, but we have an excellent guest and an excellent episode for you, um, doing the interview. I left feeling great after, so.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, that was a really good episode, I mean, really good interview, for sure, for sure.

Megan Figueroa: Oh, and one thing, before we get into it: Patreon. We released our June bonus Patreon episode that's usually just for our Patreon five-dollar-a-month, um, subscribers, so that you all could see what it's like. Um, so go check that out, and hopefully you'll be, like, "This is the shit that I need to get into." [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, hopefully you're, like, "Oh, yes, I enjoy just listening to them ramble on about random topics." [Laughter]

Megan Figueroa: Exactly. Exactly. [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Although, I think it was a good one, because it was really fun.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. Yeah, so –

Carrie Gillon: So, yeah, if you wanna join us, uh, you can. The address is patreon.com/vocalfriespod.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, so, uh, yeah, and then, I hope you enjoy this episode.

[Music playing]

Megan Figueroa: All right, so, today, we are lucky to be joined by Dr. Nelson Flores. Um, he is an associate professor – yay, just got tenure – in educational linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania graduate school of education. Uh, Dr. Flores has a Ph.D. in urban education, from the CUNY graduate school at the City University of New York. His research involves the study of the historical and contemporary instantiations of raciolinguistic ideologies, where language and race are co-constructed in ways that marginalize racialized communities. Nelson, thank you so much for joining us.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Thanks for having me.

Megan Figueroa: So, um, I mean, I've wanted to have you on, um, anyway, but it just so happens that you, uh, you are involved in a little bit of a controversy on Twitter. There's a thing happening, right now, with the so-called 30 million word gap. I thought that it would be great to talk to you about it. So, tell us, what, what is the 30 million word gap?

Dr. Nelson Flores: So, the 30 million word gap is an idea that emerged from a study that was published in 1995, that, essentially, makes the argument that low-income children hear 30 million fewer words than middle-class or upper-class children, within the first few years of life. The argument being that that so-called word gap is what is the primary culprit for their academic, um, challenges that they confront in school.

Megan Figueroa: Right. It was born out of this, the Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young Children, right, by Hart and Risley?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Correct.

Megan Figueroa: So, I had to read that book, and I was looking over it, when I was about to talk to you, and I just had to – I mean, this kinda gives you a feel, everyone. So, here's, here's one sentence that I, uh, highlighted [laughs]: "Quality interactions seem to come so naturally to the parents in well-functioning families, as to suggest that a certain amount of quality interaction may be essential to basic language competence." So, it's filled with these things, and I don't know, I mean, for you, Nelson, I, I'm imagining, too, there's, like, a visceral reaction to, to hearing something like that [crosstalk]?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Yes, yes –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – there is. I mean, let's even begin by unpacking what the term "quality" even means.

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, it's a very arbitrary term that is concerning – that researchers are using in some type of kind of way that seems like it's objective. Quality is in the eye of the beholder, right? What's quality to one person may not be quality to the other. And what Hart and Risley and many people who propose the word gap do is that, they take practices that have typically been associated with middle-class, upper-middle-class affluent white populations, and, surprise, surprise, they decide that those are quality. Um, which, of course, is not an objective statement, um, and, one could argue, is actually a racist statement, to claim that a particular cultural background is higher-quality than the other.

And to be clear, I'm not suggesting that white middle-class and upper-class people don't have a rich cultural practices that they engage in. The issue is that all communities have rich cultural and linguistic practices that they engage in, and that's something that the word gap discourse completely ignores. It completely ignores decades of anthropological research that documents the rich cultural and linguistic practices of all communities, and supposes that the practices of one is somehow objectively more quality than others.

Megan Figueroa: How, then, does this get reinforced? Because I know it's in the mainstream consciousness right now, and we'll talk about that in a second, but how has it been reinforced for so many years? For decades.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Well, because it is part of a much longer history where the language practices of racialized communities, of low-income communities, have always been framed through a deficit lens. Now, if we even go back to the early years of European colonialism, we can see raciolinguistic ideologies being used to dehumanize indigenous communities. Where people would describe the language practices of indigenous peoples as, um, almost animalistic, as a form of dehumanization. Now, nowadays, people wouldn't say things like, "People are speaking like animals," or at least most people wouldn't say that. Um, but the underlying logic of there's something somehow deficient about the language practices of racialized communities has remained consistent since the early days of European colonialism. And so, it's not surprising that the 30 million word gap is so seductive, because it reinforces all of these ideologies that people have been socialized into accepting, for multiple generations.

Megan Figueroa: Right. And you give an example of this in one of your, um, blog posts, um, or at least an analogy as to, to the war on poverty, um, or the war on drugs, that these are kind of the things that we grew up with believing, that are built on a foundation of racism. Um, but that are trying to be solving some bigger problem, but really, we're not addressing the true problem.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, and, I mean, and you can trace these discourses, they're consistent throughout history, of putting the onus on racialized communities to undo their own oppression by modifying their behaviors, rather than undoing the structures that actually are the primary challenges that they confront.

Megan Figueroa: Why, why is it in the con – so, it's this new article that was published, I believe April 2018 article? – very recently – by Sperry et al. And, so, they are refuting Hart and Risley's claim, and people aren't happy. So, they refute it by saying that there's incredible variation in the vocabulary environments in different socioeconomic status homes. What Hart and Risley failed to do was to look at sort of a larger picture of the vocabulary that children are getting, is that right?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. So, they, essentially, made the claim that they, uh, replicated the Hart and Risley study, and found that the differences were really just as big within the social class as between them. Uh, because we have to remember, the Hart and Risley sample was a fairly small sample, right? They, they –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – based their arguments on a sample of six, um –

Megan Figueroa: Families, six families, right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – six families, that were called, I think, "welfare families," in the actual book, and have made these broad claims based on six families. Um –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – which is questionable in and of itself, right?

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs] Yeah, that's, that's – I can't even believe they got away with that, but.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, and, uh –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And again, I think it's because it's something that people already believe, so people say, "Oh, yeah, of course it's true, because it must be true, because we've been taught that it's true." Um, and so, what this new study did was do something similar, and find that there actually weren't these hugs differences across social class groups. And immediately, um, there were critiques about the methodology. And I think some of the critiques about the methodology are fair, because no methodology is perfect, right?

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Nelson Flores: We always are making decisions about the research we do, and there's always issues with the decisions that we make. But what I found interesting was the fact that people who were critiquing this new study for its methodological – for its supposed methodological flaws, um, were uncritically citing the Hart and Risley study, which has been critiqued over and over again. So it feels a big disingenuous to –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – point to the methodological faults of the new study – which some of them, again, may be fair – without acknowledging that the study that they're citing as the foundation of their work also has extremely questionable methods that they use. And are making conclusions that really aren't necessarily reflected even in the data that they have.

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Megan Figueroa: One of the big things that Spiri et al points out, and you've talked about, um, is that you're ignoring a lot of the cultural interactions that happen that you can't just look at by asking the, the parents or the immediate caretakers, "What words does your child know?"

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. Right, like, language is not just a series of decontextualized vocabulary words. And more isn't always necessarily better.

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: There are lots of social practices that we engage in, where being concise and using fewer words is actually seen as better than using more words, right?

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: So, even the idea that more is inherently better isn't –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – universal and isn't necessarily true. But of course, we actually use language to engage in social practices with other people. So we're not just listing vocabulary words [laughs] when we're talking to other people. We're engaging in dynamics that we've been socialized into, that we've gradually become familiar with as we become more socialized into those practices. Um, and so, to decontextualize language in that way, I think, really shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what the function of language is, which is to communicate, which is to engage in practice. It's not to memorize vocabulary lists.

Now, schools may like people to memorize vocabulary lists, um, but that's a different argument, right? If, if what you're saying is that these are the types of decontextualized language practices that they're expected to be successful with in school, then that's a different conversation. Because then I would argue, well, why are we using these decontextualized language practices in school, when we know that in the real-world that's not how people actually use language. Maybe the problem isn't that these particular students haven't mastered a particular list of decontextualized vocabulary words. But rather, the fact that schools have decontextualized language from the practices in which they're engaged in. Um, and I think that may be part of, um – that would be a more interesting conversation, for me, than to look at these decontextualized vocabulary words.

Carrie Gillon: Right. I have a question about the original studies. So – or, actually, both, both studies together. They do have different methodology, even though one is sort of based on the other. Can you explain what the differences are? Because I think that's really what people were fighting about, right?

Dr. Nelson Flores: So, I think that the, the biggest concern that people have raised about the newer study was that it doesn't include, um, a class of professionals. Um, so it includes, like, lower-class and middle-class, but doesn't include the professional-class that was in the original Hart and Risley study. And so, in that sense, it's not an actual complete replication, um, although, I don't think –

Carrie Gillon: That's true.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – that necessarily discounts the findings, though, that, when we're looking across social classes, there aren't these stark differences that the original study had indicated. Um –

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And so, I don't think that we can determine, one way or the other, whether there are these huge differences. We have one study that suggests that there are, we have another study that suggests that there aren't. My issue is that I don't even think that that's the right question to be asking. Um, the, I don't think the right question is to ask, "How many words are children being – hearing at, at home?" Um, because as I, um, was just saying, that's not actually what language is, right? Language isn't –

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – the number of words we hear, it's the practice that we're – practices that we're being socialized into. And in order to understand those practices, we really need more rigorous ethnographic work, right? Like, it's not something –

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – that can be done just by counting words. We actually need to observe and document the practices where those words are imbedded in. And anthropology has shown us, for decades, that regardless of how many words people may or may not be hearing, um, that they're being socialized into complex practices.

Carrie Gillon: Yes, I think that was actually what I was trying to get at is this, because I think one of the differences is, um, the, the first study was all about child-directed speech only, if I'm remembering correctly, and the second study includes all speech spoken around children.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: And that's important.

Megan Figueroa: It is, and I'm thinking, 'cause, like, reading Hart and Risley, it doesn't even – the, the way that they talk about what language, like, what language is, it doesn't even look like what my childhood was like. And I'm, like, if you're just focusing on parents, you're not looking at the fact that my tio came over, like, two days a week, and that I would spend so much time with, at my grandma's house, and I always had cousins running around. What about all those interactions that are happening? And that's what you're saying, we can't not look at context and how, um, how language works in those contexts.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. And I think something else that is methodologically questionable in Hart and Risley – and again, this isn't a critique, per se, but more just, like, a challenge of methodology – is that when you bring a recorder in to homes, that can impact the dynamics, too.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, where, like, if you're, uh, one that they're calling a welfare family –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – and you have people in your home recording, that might have different connotations to you, um, than if you're a professional who maybe wants to show off to the researcher.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right?

Megan Figueroa: Exactly.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And so, [laughs] we don't know –

Megan Figueroa: Good point.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – exactly how to kind of make sense of that, but I do think it's a methodological issue that really needs to be considered.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, for – you could have people who actually look like the people that you're studying being the recorders, at least that might help a little, right? I still think about how, like, we always dodged, like, we always hid when someone knocked on the door. [Laughs]

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, exactly.

Carrie Gillon: I'm, like, I don't even think they're gonna, like, let anyone into our house to do that. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, uh, even, even coming from a middle-class family, I can't imagine participating in that as a child. It would've terrified me. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, me as a child, too, thinking about, like, how we – our individual characteristics of children, I would've been, like, "No, stranger, I'm not gonna talk," like, I'll – I probably would talk less, so.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, right, but I could imagine a professional parent knowing what the right thing to do is –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – um, and knowing that the recorder is on, doing the things that they know are the right things to do, 'cause maybe they read it somewhere, right?

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And maybe that's not always what they do, maybe they actually aren't talking to their kids all the time, um –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – maybe sometimes the kids are watching TV. Um –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: [Laughs]

Dr. Nelson Flores: – but they know when –

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – the recorder is on, that they shouldn't be watching TV, right?

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Exactly.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, and not, they'll not use as many directives. That seems so – I hated that, when I was reading it, the whole directives thing just felt – I don't know, I couldn't really, like, point out how or why it offended me so much. Maybe 'cause my parents used a lot of directives? [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Can you explain directives?

Megan Figueroa: Oh, yeah. So, like, saying, uh, a directive would be, like, "Clean your room," instead of saying, "Well, um, it looks like your room's a little messy. What do you think you should do about that?" Like, that's what they want [laughs] people to say.

Carrie Gillon: They want people to be more passive-aggressive?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Yes, they think that that's quality.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, basically, yeah. [Laughter] Right. And I'm, like – [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: No, as a Canadian, I'm just gonna say, no. [Laughter] Less is better on that front. [Laughter]

Dr. Nelson Flores: But, of course, that, that reminds me of the work of Lisa Delpit, right, who, um, kind of looked at the cultural differences in parental communication, and found, in her work with African American parents, that they were more directive, um, than in white middle-class families. And then, what happens when those children get to school is that, the teachers who have been socialized – because most of the teachers are white women, by demographics – they've been socialized into this more passive way of making requests, where they'll say, "Don't you think you should be doing this?" The child, the child may not actually understand that that actually was a directive, right? Because it was a directive [crosstalk] –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – the teacher was making a request, and the child didn't necessarily understand it was a request, and maybe actually thought that they had a choice when you said, "Don't you think you should – "

Which gets, again, to the importance of understanding cultural difference, and not assuming that one is more quality than the other. I mean, Lisa Delpit makes it very clear, in her work, that it's not that black parents care less about their children. They love their children, they are – they have a particular history, um, where maybe there are needs to be more directive. Because if not, um, their child isn't gonna be socialized to deal with an antiblack world, um [laughs] –

Megan Figueroa: Exactly.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – that expects people to – uh, uh, expects black people, in particular, to adhere to directives, right?

Carrie Gillon: Exactly.

Megan Figueroa: I mean, I guess that's what it, it really was when I was reading and kept hearing about directives and them basically shitting on directives, I'm, like, "Oh, it just, it feels dripped – uh, like racism is dripping off of this." And, uh, they may have not – again, I think, uh, Carrie said it, once about sexism, called, called it "benevolent sexism" –

Carrie Gillon: I, I did not make up that term. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Well, I know, I know, she, uh, that's where I – the first time I heard it was you saying it on something. But is this, like, benevolent classism and racism, you think?

Dr. Nelson Flores: I mean –

Carrie Gillon: I don't know – I don't know if it's benevolent.

Dr. Nelson Flores: I don't know, I mean, I actually am one who's not particular interested in what one's intentions are. Um, and so, it's, like, I'm sure they had good intentions, I mean, I don't think people do research with – or, or at least social science research, without wanting to make a difference and help. But it doesn't really matter, in the grand scheme of things [laughs] –

Megan Figueroa: You're right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – if you can, you're still producing, um, racism. And, and I think that, um, like, even terms like "covert racism," oftentimes, I find problematic, because who are they covert to? Um, like, oftentimes, the victim of it –

Carrie Gillon: Other white people. [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – is, is quite conscious of it and it's not covert.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, it's only covert to the one who isn't aware that they're being racist, right? Um, and so, and so, I think that for me it's, like, less important what their intentions are, and more about, I think that the framework that they're using is fundamentally flaws, and has led to interventions that are quite damaging. Um, and I know that that sounds maybe extreme, in some ways, but I do think that interventions that are coming from a racist deficit perspective are damaging to children.

Megan Figueroa: Right, so let's talk about impact, 'cause, uh, one of the impacts – this is a big impact – at University of Chicago, there is a 30 million word center for early learning and public health. And they get tons of money – tons of money.

Dr. Nelson Flores: [Crosstalk]

Megan Figueroa: You go to their website [laughs] and there's a donate button, but you know they're getting government money and grants and stuff.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Mm-hmm.

Megan Figueroa: Um, uh, and it's, I mean, I don't mean to shit on [laughs] the director, um – anyone who goes to the website and looks at the videos, it's – it feels gross. You see, like, white people telling black parents, like, what to do with their children, and it feels terrible. That's a huge thing that's getting tons of money, because of the 30 million word – the so-called 30 million word gap from Hart and Risley. Like, that's an, that's a direct impact of that study.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, right.

Megan Figueroa: It's named after it. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: And what, uh, what's happening to these kids, like, what are they provided with in these, in this program?

Megan Figueroa: "Intervention," quote-unquote, intervention, based on, "Let's, uh, let's not have the directives. Let's, let's, um, open it up so there's more questions, so children can answer back," like, this kind of thing.

Carrie Gillon: I see, yeah.

Megan Figueroa: So, they are trying to change the way that children interact – or, sorry – that, uh, caregivers interact with their children, and that's just inherently icky, to me.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. Well, I think that all of the money going into it might give you some indication for why people were so defensive about –

Megan Figueroa: Right, yep.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – a response that called it into question, because there is a lot of money that's going into it. I mean, remedial compensatory education, which has been funded by government and nongovernment officials since at least the '60s, um, that are designed to fix the so-called cultural and linguistic deficits of racialized communities, have always been, um, a very lucrative industry. Um, there's always been tons of money going into it. I mean, I don't even know how much money – probably billions of dollars, at this point, honestly. And I always wonder, like, what would the world look like if we actually, like, invested that money in revitalizing communities, and, like –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – ending poverty, and, like, ensuring that children had access to quality healthcare.

Megan Figueroa: Or even just textbooks.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Like, like, simple educational, uh, funding.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, right. Um, I think our society finds fixing racialized communities as a seductive narrative.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, definitely.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, I agree.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Because it really leaves the rest of the society off the hook, right? So, we don't have to reflect on the root causes of racial inequalities, because we can just say, "Oh, it's their fault, because they're not using – they're not asking their children questions." I don't know how anyone who, who has any experience working in neighborhoods, um, that have experienced multiple generations of racialized poverty, um, could possibly think that changing the way that you ask questions to your child, or increasing the number of words [laughter] that you give them, is really going to be what's the make-it or break-it for –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – whether that child is gonna thrive or not, right?

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: It's, like, these are children who sometimes struggle with homelessness, right, these are children who have food insecurity. In Philadelphia, led poisoning has been a huge issue, and that's – I know it's in other places, as well, like Flint, right?

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: All of these structural issues –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – that are much more salient in the lives of these childrens and these, and these family, right? Um, but in education circles, we tend to think that none of that has anything to do with, like, what we should be talking about, right? We should just be talking about fixing the kids. Um, and I think that's, that, one, it's misguided, because of all of these other challenges that I, I think are much more salient. But, two, it then socializes teachers to come from the perspective that the kids are broken and need to be fixed, right? And that is not a productive perspective to begin with, especially when we look at the demographics of teachers versus students, when there's already this divide between them, right, the last thing that we wanna do is increase that by teach, telling teachers that their job is to be like these people in that website that you were talking about, um, these benevolent white people who are trying to fix racialized communities.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, that's not a productive stance, it's never worked in the past, um, and it's not going to work now.

Megan Figueroa: It's, uh, it is a seductive line of thinking, for a lot of people, because it's kids. So, like, a lot of people are, like, "This is seductive because, oh, if I support it, I can – I'm helping the children." You motherfuckers [laughs], help, help kids in other ways. Sorry, we do have an explicit rating.

Carrie Gillon: This also reminds me of work on, um, Inuit children in, in Quebec. So, uh, when they go to school, like, obviously, the schools are mostly – or at least at, back when this research was done – mostly white people. And so, they grow up in, in the Inuit communities where they – there's not a lot of child-directed speech. Um, and so, well, and then, they get into the classroom, and suddenly this adult is talking to them, and they're not used to it, and they don't know how to respond at all. Yeah, so, the, the different communities do different things, and we never – we just assume [laughs] white is the norm, white North American is the norm, and everyone should behave like us, and – it's really fucked up.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. Well, and the thing is is that, if Hart and Risley said that, and the people who support –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – the 30 million word gap said that, at least I would respect that they were coming from a position of authenticity, right?

Carrie Gillon: It's true.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, but the fact –

Carrie Gillon: It's true.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – that they tried to frame it as objective, I think, is what makes it even more insidious, right? It's, like, no, there's no objective basis for determining that being nondirective is more quality, right? That, that, that's not an objective statement. That's coming from a particular ideological position. So, if you can own that position, if you can say, "Yes, I think that all racialized community should behave just like white people," I would disagree with you, but at least I would say, "Well, you're being honest with what your perspective is, and you're not hiding it behind –

Megan Figueroa: Yes, yes.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – "this veil of objectivity."

Carrie Gillon: It would be more honest – I just translated it for people.

Dr. Nelson Flores: It's a, it's a, it's a more quality interpretation than theirs.

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: But you're right, I, I have the exact same objection: just say what you're actually saying. People, people like to be really sneaky. They, I mean, they might even know they're being sneaky – I have a feeling that they don't, because they really believe in their own objectivity. But it, it, none of us are objective.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Yeah.

Carrie Gillon: None of us. How can you be?

Megan Figueroa: Right. Yeah, I – when people say that, that science is, um, objective, I'm, like, "Whose science? What science are you talking about?" [Laughs] It's just not, you know, like, we – we're all humans coming to it with our biases. Um, and then I go right into saying that, me as a psycholinguist, um, just completely psycholinguistic perspective of working in infant labs and looking at child language, this just doesn't make sense anyway. Like, even if we're not looking at culture and looking at the bigger picture – which I always think we should look at culture and the people – even if we're just looking at how, um, infants learn language, it just doesn't make sense to tell parents, "Don't use directives," [laughs] like, you know, it doesn't make sense.

Carrie Gillon: No. And as, again, as a white middle-class person, my children – I'm sorry – my parents used directive speech with me, for sure. I just don't even understand this argument. It's a thing that exists. [Laughter]

Megan Figueroa: And, and Nelson, right, that's, like, the, the big thing with them is directives versus asking questions, right, [crosstalk]?

Dr. Nelson Flores: That's one of the big things, yeah, no, that is one of the big things.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: I mean, I think what they did is that they, um, kind of imagined this idealized kind of white middle-class family, and imagined what that family must be like. Um, which was probably their family [laughs], um –

Megan Figueroa: Right, yeah, exactly.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And they kind of came up with these arbitrary characteristics, um, that they decided were quality. Um, and I think that that is something that isn't just Hart and Risley, though. I think that in a lot of, um, kind of linguistic analysis, especially, like, in second language acquisition, um, there are kind of these discussions of complex language, or richer language, um, that isn't, oftentimes, theorized. Well like, well, complex from whose perspective, right? Um, richer from whose perspective? Like, these aren't objective designations.

They may seem so, because we've naturalized and normalized all of these dominant ideologies about what language is or should be. Um, but we can't describe language outside of an ideological perspective on what language is, right? And I always try, in my work, to be very explicit in terms of how I'm thinking about language. And in particular, how I'm thinking about language and race, and how they co-construct with one another. And so, my ideological position I try to put on the table and say, "This is my perspective. This is where I'm coming from. This is kind of my stance."

Um, and oftentimes, then, get accused of being ideological, right? [Laughter] Um –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, that's the trap that white people set for you. [Laughter]

Dr. Nelson Flores: Well, um, yeah, you said, I mean [laughter] – I mean, I oftentimes refuse to fall into the trap, because my response is to point out the ideological assumptions and what they're doing.

Megan Figueroa: Good.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And saying, "I own mine, you own yours, and then we can agree to disagree. But until you own yours, you're not allowed to call me ideological." [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yes.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, yes. Um, so thinking, uh – here's a transition for ya [laughs] – um, I don't want it to all be negative. What is a good framework to think about this. You've mentioned – again, we'll post to these two blog posts that are specifically that you have about this issue, that are great – um, language socialization framework. Is that what you're still working with, right now, or where you think we should be working from? And tell us what it is.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, I mean, I think language socialization – which emerged I think probably, like, in the '70s, right? – um, and kind of anthropology, and I think, in particular, anthropology of education has had the most interest in it, for obvious reasons – is just looking at, from an ethnographic perspective, the ways that people come to know, um, language, right? And the ways that they come to know particular ways of using language. Um, and so, from, uh, linguistic, and certainly a linguistic anthropological perspective, um, we're all socialized into the practices of our home, right? Um, and these are all practices that are complex, these are all practices that are nuanced, um, these are all practices that provide a foundation for us to engage in the world.

And I think what language socialization research helps us, then, to think about is, if we're starting from the perspective that all children are socialized into complex language practices, and there, there isn't an inherent hierarchy in terms of the complexity, um, then how do we incorporate the language practices of all children into the classroom? How do we stop framing certain language practices as deficient and in need of remediation? Um, and I think that that's a more productive beginning of a conversation, and I think there are lots of different ways you can answer that, right?

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And I think that teachers, as professionals, have to decide and figure out how that, that's going to look for them in their particular classrooms, because all classrooms are different, all communities –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – are different, so it's gonna look different in different contexts. But it's a much more productive point of entry into the conversation. And so, like, work that I've done with teachers in Philadelphia, which fit the community here, was thinking about the ways that an elementary school, bilingual classrooms, we could strategically use, um, translingual texts. So, texts that are primarily written in English, but have some Spanish in them –

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm?

Dr. Nelson Flores: – as a point of entry for helping students engage, first, in close readings of the text – which is a Common Core-aligned literacy strategy –

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs]

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – um, but, two – and that's important for teachers to be able to justify, right?

Carrie Gillon: Yes, absolutely.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And, two, as a point of entry for helping students realize that they, as bilingual authors, actually can strategically choose to bring both languages together, for particular effects and with particular purposes, right? So, rather than saying, "Oh, that kind of other language that you use at home is not relevant, here," it's saying, "Well, actually, it can be relevant." If you're writing a story, for example, about something that you did with your grandmother speaks Spanish, you, as the author, can decide to use Spanish as dialogue in that text, right? So you're, you can bring some of those home language practices into your writing, and that you should do that. And I think –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – it's a very different stance to the home language practices of students, um, than to say, "Oh, they hear 30 million words less, so let's fix them."

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Megan Figueroa: And how empowering is it to hear or see Spanish in the classroom, for these kids, you know? It's so big, it's so important, and I think – I think that's lost on some people, um, because we're all – I – they – some people may say we're all talking about representation, right now, and how it's important, but it really is. And representing that, that home language in, in the classroom is really important.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right. And I think it's not only representing the home language, but also representing the fact that these are bilingual children growing up in a bilingual –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – community, which –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – means that they are bilingual authors, right?

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And bilingual authors have more tools, perhaps –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – than monolingual authors. Or perhaps not, because monolingual authors maybe have different dialects, right? But, but that we all, as authors, um, should be strategically deploying all of our communicative repertoires, um, in order to create our voice as authors. Um, which is very different than saying, "Make everyone talk like a white person," right? Um –

Megan Figueroa: Right.

Carrie Gillon: [Laughs] Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Uh, and I think it's, it's, it's, okay, let's socialize students into new ways of using language, which is part of the function of school, right?

Carrie Gillon: [Crosstalk]

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: We all learned, I mean, we all did doctorates, right, so we were all socialized into new ways of –

Carrie Gillon: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – using language and new ways of thinking, as doctoral students, right, that's just part of what we're doing all the time in our daily lives. And –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – we're always gonna be being socialized into new ways of using language. So, I certainly don't wanna be misunderstood as saying we shouldn't socialize students into new language practices, because sometimes people accuse me of saying we should just let them do whatever they want and not teach them anything. And I think that that's silly, um, I don't know who would ever argue that.

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: You know what that reminds me of is the prescriptive versus descriptive debate. If you, if you're a, if you're a descriptivist, you're accused of saying, "Oh, anything goes," and that's not exactly what we're saying.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, right, which is, of course, not the point.

Carrie Gillon: No.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: It's, it's looking at how people actually use language, right? [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Mm-hmm, exactly.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, but, but, so, yeah, so schools certainly have a, an important function of socializing students into new language practices that are associated with tasks that are associated with tasks that are associated with school. Um –

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm?

Dr. Nelson Flores: – I think one of the things that could be improved, in school, is that maybe some of those tasks could be less kind of decontextualized vocabulary lists, and more kind of actual authentic interactions. I think that's one of the things that schools could do better, certainly. Um, but certainly, schools should be socializing students to new language practices; the question is how they should be doing that, right? And, and from my perspective, the way they should be doing that is building on the knowledge that the children already have. Now, anyone who's taken an education course, ever, knows that the first basic thing that you learn in pedagogy 101 is, if you want students to learn new content, you have to connect it to their prior knowledge, right? That's the first thing you learn.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Dr. Nelson Flores: So, why do we think language is any different? Um, if you want students to learn new language practices, you have to connect it to language practices they're already familiar with, right? And once you do that, they're much more able to then retain it, remember it, feel like it's part of who they are, and not feel like it's this thing that's completely removed from who they are as people and who they understand themselves to be.

Megan Figueroa: That's a really good point. [Laughs] You're gonna make me cry, I'm, like, "Why didn't I have that when I grew up?" [Laughter]

Dr. Nelson Flores: Well, I know, and why we still don't have it? Well, we still don't have it because –

Megan Figueroa: I know –

Dr. Nelson Flores: – social science researchers are still talking about a word gap. So, part of the problem is –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah –

Dr. Nelson Flores: – researchers. [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, no, absolutely. That, that, so that was, was, that was one of the questions that kept coming up in my mind was – okay, you're absolutely right, I mean, obviously, it's obvious, to me, that this is what we need to do. But how do we get from here, where we are now, to where we should be, given this juggernaut of the social sciences, uh, um, research, the education research that's, which sometimes aligns with that.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Mm-hmm?

Megan Figueroa: The fact that the education system is this huge bureaucracy of, you know, like –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, policymakers.

Megan Figueroa: – [sighs] like, the policymakers, the politicians involved – how [laughs], how do we, how do we make even a small change?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Right, right.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, what can our listeners do? What can we do? [Laughter]

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Megan Figueroa: [Crosstalk] what can any of us do or [crosstalk] –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah –

Megan Figueroa: – if, if a policymaker is listening [laughs], what could they do?

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, yes, uh, we have so many politicians that listen to this show [laughter] [crosstalk].

Megan Figueroa: I said "if." [Laughter]

Dr. Nelson Flores: They should, they definitely should.

Megan Figueroa: I know. [Laughs]

Dr. Nelson Flores: But, um, so, I mean, I think when I wanna give copout answer – which I'll give first, and then I'll give, like, the better answer – um –

Megan Figueroa: Okay.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – is, uh, what I do think that what you're alluding to is true, that we need a fundamental transformation of the institutions that children are in, right? Um, and I think that that change isn't going to happen overnight, and that change happens over generations. And some of that has happened, right? Like, looking, as someone who has studied the history of bilingual education, in, in the United States, um, the fact that there are some children, in Philadelphia and in other cities, who are able to be in classrooms where Spanish is not only acknowledged but used as part of instruction. And that allows new immigrant children to come in and seamlessly become incorporated into the classroom, that was a fundamental transformation of that institution, that happened over generations, right?

So when people say, "Oh, we can never dismantle structural racism," I say, "Yeah, people have, [laughs] like, things are not the exact same as they were before," and that change has become because of political struggle, right? So I think that's kind of the bigger answer is that we have to keep engaging in political struggle, knowing that many of the changes that we're advocating for may not benefit us or our children, but maybe will benefit our grandchildren or our great-grandchildren. Or our descendants, if we're not having children. [Laughter] [Crosstalk] you know what I mean.

Megan Figueroa: Right, right, yes.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, so, so, like, now, what teachers can do on their kind of day-to-day – because I do think that teaching still matters, within that kind of whole argument I just made – um, is really thinking about how they can strategically build on the home language practices of children. And you don't have to know those languages, in order to be able to do that, right? Um, one thing that is very easy for an elementary school teacher to take a few minutes to do is to acknowledge that there are children in the class who speak languages other than English. And to ask them how to say a few words in that language, right? Um, you don't have to know the language, but you're acknowledging that there are children in your class who do know those languages, right?

Um, that translingual unit plan, uh, that I mentioned is another example, um, like, really thinking about how to create units that acknowledge and build on the rich linguistic knowledge that all children come in with. And really thinking about how you build on that background knowledge. And I think that really requires, um, kind of a space for teacher inquiry, to really kind of reflect on their practices, and to think about those practices. And that happens in some schools, certainly, um, so I think that that's what could happen at the teacher level. Um, and at the policy level, um, I think in terms of bilingual education, for example, um, something that there is, oftentimes, a dearth of is Spanish – or any other language – I mean, Spanish is a challenge, so you can imagine it's even harder for other languages – just an infrastructure for supporting the development of those languages, right?

Um, and that can include, um, unit exemplars, I mean, and it can include standards. Like, I know that the way that standards are implemented are sometimes problematic, but there's nothing inherently wrong with giving teachers some standards in terms of what students are expected to do at their grade level, right? Like, that's a good thing to give teachers. Um, but teachers who are instructing in languages other than English, oftentimes, don't have even that to start with. And so, they're kind of building things from scratch and constantly reinventing the wheel. Um, and so I think that is something that could happen from a policy perspective. Now, in terms of language variation in English, we've tried that from a policy perspective, before, and it was a – it was kind of this big political [laughs], uh, turmoil and outcome.

Carrie Gillon: Yes.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Megan Figueroa: Yes.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: But I think that something like that, that wouldn't hopefully lead to this political turmoil, would also be important. Like, how do, how do we – well, I mean, one, how do we work with teachers to acknowledge and value language variation in English, and in languages other than English, for bilingual programs. Um, but then how do we institutionalize that at the policy level? Like, how do we provide, um – perhaps in our standards, we could build a standard that is about recognizing language variation. Um, which would then mean that teachers have to focus on language variation as part of what they're doing with their children, because it's part of the benchmarks that the students are expected to make.

Um, so I think those, those tweaks can help us in the present, while we keep a long-term vision of, "Well, that's not enough," right? And we, and we want a lot more than that, but we're gonna keep pushing for that for the future. And part of, I think, the role of, um, academics and scholars and researchers, in doing that, is to call ourselves our for our bullshit, right? And to say –

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – we actually have contributed to these problems, even as we've always tried to position ourselves as the ones with the solutions, right? And so, like, what I do in my academic work is a lot of that, right, where it's, like, wait a minute, like, we complain that teachers are using deficit frameworks. So why don't we look at the deficit frameworks that are being used to inform our research? Um, because they're not any better, and oftentimes, they're even worse because we're pretending that they're objective.

Megan Figueroa: Right, yeah, yeah.

Carrie Gillon: Wow, that was an amazing answer – thank you so much.

Megan Figueroa: Yes, thank you so much.

Carrie Gillon: Because I, I, I struggle with these kind of big-picture problems in, in my head, like, you know, I'm really concerned with Indigenous languages. And there's, you know, huge structural reasons why these languages are struggling. Um, but I don't also wanna ever give out the idea that, "Oh, well, therefore, we should give up," or there's no point trying. No, we should try, so, [laughs] thank you for that answer.

Megan Figueroa: Yes. Yeah, no, I, I mean, after, like, the first half of talking about, like, "What the fuck is wrong? And what's happening? Why is this all, like, on fire?" it's really nice to, to be grounded, again, in the fact that we can do some things. And I think that we have really great listeners who actually do wanna do things, or who have learned a lot, um, about their own internalized, um, biases. And I think that this is gonna be a really, really, um, helpful and educational episode for them, so I really appreciate you coming on. I know that if you're at least on Twitter, you've seen one article going around about this.

So, you know, like, people have heard about this right now, and so it's fantastic to have you on. I think that was a really great takeaway. Do you have any other things that you want to hype up or [laughs], or, or say, before we let you go?

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, I guess, so, something that I have just, um – well, it's, it's in press, so it's gonna be published soon – that I think kind of relates to what I was just saying, actually, is really thinking about, um, the theory of change that we have in critical applied linguistics, right. And so, oftentimes, in our work with teachers, we tend to frame the issue as, "We need to raise the consciousness of teachers," and we kind of frame it as an individual thing.

Megan Figueroa: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, but the issue that we look at in this article – and I say "we" 'cause two of my doctoral students wrote it with me – are the ways that broader sociopolitical processes impact what is possible in the classroom, and what we, we call what institutional listening subject positions teachers aren't able to have it. Um, so, the school that we look at is a bilingual school, so we look at the ways that bilingualism is completely normalized in the school. But we think of that not solely as great teachers – and they are great teachers, but because of the history of political struggle that has allowed for these spaces to emerge. And so, it's a combination of teachers who are onboard, and the possibility of this space emerging, through political struggle. But we also look at issues of policing, and also think about that as not purely just about, "Oh, let's tell the teachers not to police." Because oftentimes the teachers are policing because they know that, if a child who's a child a color from a low-income community uses particular linguistic tokens outside of the classroom, people are going to raciolinguistically police them, right, and say, "You can't say that."

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: "I can say that, as a white person," someone might say [laughs], "but you can't." Um –

Megan Figueroa: Right, right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And so, it's not enough to say, "Oh, we should just tell the teachers to value the students' language practices," when oftentimes the teachers do want to, but they struggle with this institutional listening subject position where they see themselves as listening on behalf of others, right? So, "Okay, well –

Carrie Gillon: Right.

Dr. Nelson Flores: – "we, we're okay with them saying 'yeah,' but maybe someone outside of here is going to judge them for saying 'yeah.'" Even though –

Carrie Gillon: Yeah – [Laughs]

Dr. Nelson Flores: – at the University of Pennsylvania – we actually started documenting this, as we wrote the article – we say "yeah" all the time, at the University of Pennsylvania, right?

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: And if anyone were to correct us, they would come off as completely inappropriate and pompous.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Um, so, like, it's, like, which spaces are these linguistic tokens policed, and what histories are being cited in those spaces? And how it's really not just about individual teachers; it's really this broader sociohistorical process that has allowed for this emergence of policing to begin with. And so, it connects to the point I was making, before, where we conclude, there, that any efforts at raising the consciousness of teachers has to also be situated within broader political struggles, that then can allow teachers to inhabit new listening subject positions, right? Um, and people, when they say it's impossible, I say it happened before, right?

Megan Figueroa: Yeah.

Dr. Nelson Flores: We have normalized bilingualism in some public schools in the United States, because people have pushed for the possibility of new listening subject positions in these institutions. So we have to keep thinking about what do we want teachers to be able to do, and how can we transform the institutions to allow them to be able to do that.

Megan Figueroa: And, see, that was an issue that, you know, I wasn't really thinking about, but when you mentioned it, it's, like, "Of course." Um, which reminds me that there's always learning to be done, um, even if you've studied this all your life, right, there's still learning to be done.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Yeah, absolutely.

Megan Figueroa: And, uh, and, and here's my PSA, for listeners, is to follow Nelson on Twitter, [laughs] which we will link to him, but, so that we can hear more about that study, and I'm sure you'll talk about it, and all those studies that, um, come out of your, come out of your work. Yeah, is that what I meant, studies that come out of your work? [Laughs]

Carrie Gillon: Yes.

Megan Figueroa: Anyway, yes, um, all your work that comes out, that we can follow, um, because I learn a lot from you, so. So, thank you so much.

Carrie Gillon: Yeah, thank you.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Thank you.

Megan Figueroa: Yeah, don't be assholes, guys.

Carrie Gillon: Don't be an asshole. [Laughter]

Megan Figueroa: Uh, I mean, uh, uh, Nelson, we always leave our listeners with that. That's, that's the big message, I mean, overall, right? Like, everything we talked about over the last almost hour is: don't be an asshole. [Laughs]

Dr. Nelson Flores: Yeah, I agree.

Megan Figueroa: Well, thank you so much, um, uh, Dr. Nelson Flores, and it was great talking to you.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Thank you. Great talking to you, too.

Carrie Gillon: [Crosstalk] bye.

Megan Figueroa: Bye.

Dr. Nelson Flores: Bye.

[Music playing]

Carrie Gillon: The Vocal Fries Podcast is produced by Chris Ayers for Halftone Audio. Theme music by Nick Granum. You can find us on Tumbler, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, at Vocal Fries Pod. You can e-mail us at [email protected].

#transcript #30 million word gap #linguistic discrimination #educational linguistics #linguistics

1 note · View note

medevac · 7 years

Text

Nerina Pallot - Stay Lucky

Now, if you know me, or have at least had the ‘pleasure’ (a loose term reader[s]) to have had a conversation with me about music, religion, the economy, politics, memes or well… anything really I’ll probably have managed to shoe-horn in my penchant for a certain Jersey-born singer-songwriter. You may also know that isn’t my first musing about Nerina’s latest body of work I’ve released into the ether (see an extensive & exhaustive list ranking 2014’s Year of the EPs here). There is definitely a 3/4 written piece about the last LP The Sound And The Fury as well, which I never finished or uploaded; however the worry when writing anything about one of your musical heroes is the knowledge that they might just see (or at least tl;dr skim) & feel a sense of agony that their vision and artistry hasn’t been appreciated as intended, which is probably most likely due to my inane way of rambling & probably not articulating what I really want to say very well at all. Or that it just comes across a little bit sycophantic, like that video where Bradley Cooper (before he was famous) is in a studio audience blowing smoke up Sean Penn’s arse.

I digress and I will try to remain relatively concise in regard to what I want to share about Stay Lucky, Nerina’s 6th studio album. The tl;dr version of this is ‘OH MY WORD, WHAT AN ALBUM, BUY IT NOW’, but humour me for now and allow me to expand upon that a little;

The album opens with Juno, the original working title for the LP and a towering behemoth of an opener. Classic Nerina songwriting, however with a grand musical soundscape, reminding me of something that could be found on Kate Bush’s Ariel (albeit with a little more pop-sensibility & a lot more melody, Kate I love you, but I’m correct on this one) - “The prettiest bird in all of the world’s at my window” is repeated through the bridge before a soaring glide into the abyss around 2:35, followed by some stunning interpolation as the track draws to a close. The fluttering recalls the noise I think a bird’s wings would make if tied to musical instruments, anyway Juno is the one™ for me, but let’s not let that fool you into thinking the rest of Stay Lucky isn’t worth every loving crafted second of the 46:43 the records’ running time. The first time I heard Man Didn’t Walk On The Moon was its debut on Radio 2 while at my parents’ house, my mum relayed how catchy she thought it was and gosh wasn’t she right? Perfectly coquettish delivery of the lyrics throughout, and the line “I’ve got a cartoon heart & a SodaStream, baby look at us we’re a young love’s dream” has has never made me want to enjoy sparkling water & kiss boys more. Line up, line up, I’m going to Amazon Prime one first thing in the morning.

Bring Him Fire for me is a cross between I Saw The Light (from the Little Bull - EP [and one of my all time favourite Nerina songs fact fans]) & Spirit Walks (from 2015′s The Sound And The Fury) albeit with additional, though not superfluous strings throughout, which let’s be honest is a combination for excellence. The more I think about it, the more I think how perfect Come Into My Room would be playing over a soft-focus montage of characters having sex in a Love Actually sequel, with a cut away just as Nerina coo’s “cummmmm” at *ahem* climax of the song. The title track remains as stunningly beautiful as the first 150 times I played it - “And the greatest trick of life, is thinking that we’ll never die, darling don’t ask me why, it only makes me cry” still gives me a lump in my throat if I think about it too much.

I could say a lot more (and if we’re honest, you’ve probably not even got this far, so would it really matter if I kept shooting off on tangents?) but that saxophone outro is the highlight on Better, Fleur East who? Take me to a café in Paris, and I’m almost convinced that The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter needs be played on repeat for the rest of eternity there, go on, any café, I don’t mind, it’d be nice to have a holiday wouldn’t it? I’m not entirely sure if there’s another song that sums up the fatigue of waiting for someone to come along who may not even exist as well as this does, and as an aside, for weeks I’ve been paraphrasing “curse the languid afternoon” when I’m really bored in the office at work & someone thought I was verbose & intelligent, so thanks for that Nerina - I really can always count on you.

All Gold is a latter album highlight, it starts out a simple piano affair, before a phenomenal string arrangement accompanies what may be some of Nerina’s best vocals of her career. That’s a grand claim, I know, but they really are that good. The production on Stay Lucky is remarkably good throughout, however particularly strong on All Gold. I’m a stickler for a middle-eight as well, and this is the strongest offering on the album - the flourish of strings at 2:39 before “I’ve just got this feeling….” and the introduction of brass as Nerina & Rod Thomas (AKA Bright Light Bright Light) repeat the title gives me chills, I may have even done a little tiny cry the first time I heard it, but let’s keep that between us, okay? Okay.

Come Back To Bed for me captures the vibe of the Christmas Tabernacle shows, though I don’t think it’s ever been played there - but there’s something woozy about it all - like on Christmas Day when you’ve drunk a little too much egg nog & eaten a few too many mince pies, but a sexier, less-festive version of that. Notable mention to “If you’re sorry for what you said then honey…” *guitar plays the melody of the title* too, that’s a moment.. Closing the album is Bird “I’m so weary of keeping up” feels very fitting with everything that’s happened in the last couple of years, what a weird bloody place the world is at the moment. That detuned MonoPoly action for the middle-eight is sublime, prior to a necessary key change and subsequent chorus exclaiming “I’m living my life like its golden, golden” as the music, or bird in this case, flies away into the distance. As a keen ornithologist (honestly, look in my parents’ shed at the amount of bird books I have) I’m really appreciative that metaphorical bookends of the album of the year (there, I said it) compliment each other with similar imagery.

It’s hard to capture or articulate an emotion but I think Stay Lucky is the closest to describing the feeling of what falling in love is like without realising it, with that classic Pallot-melancholy I relate so well to sitting underneath it all. The album is an incredible addition to a back catalogue that your faves could only wish for - Nerina herself claims she isn’t Kate Bush & this isn’t an album the world was waiting for (which is ridiculous to be frank), however it’s the album I was waiting for & I couldn’t be more thankful. For everything x

#Nerina Pallot #Stay Lucky #ThinkPiecesNoOneReads #Idaho

12 notes · View notes

deadcactuswalking · 5 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 23rd June 2019

Typically I’d call a week where we have two top 10 debuts pretty busy but when that and a couple Drake songs are basically all we have, it’s not that big of a deal... but these very few new arrivals will have a lot to unwrap, so part of me thinks this won’t be a short episode at all.

Top 10

There were three songs I figured would definitely make a play for the top spot this week thanks to both star power and controversy. None of them even got close, because Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber are still at number-one for a sixth week since its debut. There’s a better Ed Sheeran song in the top 10, can we get that up instead?

Stormzy’s “Vossi Bop” is only moving up two spaces this week because of the collapse of the songs above him, but I’m not complaining his boost to the runner-up spot.

Similarly, Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” is up two spaces to number-three.

Unfortunately, this boost has lead Lewis Capaldi’s “Hold Me While You Wait” up an identical set of placements to number-four.

Now, we have the first guess I had for number-one, and that is “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift, which debuted at #2 in America, becoming her 13th Top 10 hit over here in the UK. We’ll talk more about this one later, and it’s definitely a can of worms I’m worried to open.

The Chris Brown song debuting last week, “No Guidance” featuring Drake, has also had a two-space boost up to number-six, because of Drake and not because of the fading relevance of Chris Brown.

Oddly, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus has taken a hit five spots down to number-seven, but I really doubt this won’t be rebounding because of Nas’ EP that released last week.

Now this was my second guess for number-one, “Cross Me” by Ed Sheeran featuring Chance the Rapper and PNB Rock, up a singular space to number-eight this week. I think it’s a lock for the top five next week considering the video release, but we’ll see.

At number-nine, we have the late Avicii’s “SOS” featuring Aloe Blacc down two positions.

Finally, my third guess for number-one and one I’m surprised performed as it did. This is Little Mix’s “Bounce Back”, and that title is quite ironic but more on that later. Nevertheless, it’s their 14th UK Top 10 hit since their debut, and we’ll talk more about the song itself when it comes to it.

Climbers

There aren’t all too many here, but what is here I’m not exactly complaining about at all, because these are songs I really like. “3 Nights” by Dominic Fike, which is an insanely good song, has had a pretty large 10-space boost to #21, and I’ve been rooting for this to get into the top 20 for a while now. There’s also last week’s debut which I quite liked, “Strike a Pose” by Young T & Bugsey featuring Aitch up five to #25, but that’s pretty much it. I wouldn’t usually note a song which is up four spaces either, but “Ladbroke Grove” by AJ Tracey is at #22 now and I am rooting for this song so much, I am not giving up until this hits #1, it’s an outstanding song.

Fallers

Now we have a lot more of these to say the least. Starting in reverse order, “What Do You Mean?” by Skepta featuring J Hus is down 14 to #39, with “Greaze Mode” also by Skepta featuring Nafe Smallz down nine to #37 and “All Day and Night” by Jax Jones and Martin Solveig presenting EUROPA featuring Madison Beer down a whopping twenty-four spaces to #34 thanks to streaming cuts. We also have “Heaven” by the late Avicii featuring Chris Martin down eight spaces to #28 (The quicker the better), “Shine Girl” by MoStack featuring Stormzy down 10 spots to #23, “Grace” by Lewis Capaldi unfortunately not switching its spot with another Capaldi single as it’s down five to #17, speaking of, “Someone You Loved” is finally out of the top 10, down eight to #11, but I feel it’ll be back again when Little Mix drop off a bit.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

MoStack is proving his lack of longevity compared to Skepta as both of his album bomb hits from last week, “I’m the One” featuring Fredo and “Stinking Rich” featuring Dave and J Hus, are out from #39 and #19 respectively – probably because they weren’t any good in the first place. We also have the absolute collapse for Liam Gallagher’s “Shockwave” out from #22, but I don’t expect post-Oasis Gallagher singles to ever have any legs, so it’s fine. Thanks to hype dying down about the Detective Pikachu film the song was made for, “Carry On” by Kygo and Rita Ora is out from #35 and I don’t expect it to come back. Oh, and that Jonas Brothers song, “Sucker”, is out from #40 – finally. We do actually have a returning entry also, because “Summer Days” by Martin Garrix, Macklemore and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy is back to #36. A lot of the songs outside the top 20 are showing promise actually, I’m definitely seeing a lot of improvement within the Top 40 and I’m excited for these to become fully fledged Summer hits. I’m also glad to hear a Macklemore verse on the charts again. This dude gets too much slack.

“ALBUM” BOMB?

Drake – The Best in the World Pack

This isn’t exactly an album but it’s an EP or single or whatever, a two-pack? I don’t know, but it’s Drake debuting two songs from the same project, so I’m going to count this as the third episode in a row with an album bomb. Drake’s “Best in the World Pack” is just a group of two trap bangers to celebrate the win of the Toronto Raptors, or whatever, I don’t care about American or in this case Canadian sport, I just have to review the music every week.

#33 – “Omertá” – Drake

Produced by OZ, EY and Deats

This is Drake’s 48th UK Top 40 hit, which is something I didn’t think could even possibly happen but sure, let’s go with it. This is one extended verse which a pretty janky guitar-lead trap beat behind it, with gliding strumming and an organ, it’s not all that awful of a production, but then Drake bores me insanely with his ramblings about “Mob tradition” because of course, he has mob ties (Lotta ties, lotta tieeeeeees) and he really wants us to know. So, he brings up Pusha T in his monotonous, droning delivery as he would typically do, with flows that sound like he’s just thinking of it on the spot and not really putting any effort in to connect his bars, in a typical Drake way where he develops the rhyme scheme by halting the momentum of his verse completely. There’s no mention of the Toronto Raptors, it’s just about him and honestly, it’s just something we’ve heard so many times before. The self-proclaimed “Petty king” doesn’t really have any interesting bars mostly because he doesn’t attempt wordplay. He’s just stating “I’m rich and got mob ties” a lot of the time, and then his verse literally fades out, but it sounds like it was right in the middle of a bar and he wanted to continue, but the producer cut him off. I don’t know, I don’t care.

#13 – “Money in the Grave” – Drake featuring Rick Ross

Produced by Cydney Christine, Ljay Currie and Asoteric

This beat was produced by an Instagram model, and is Drake’s 49th UK Top 40 hit, as well as Rick Ross’ something or other, I’m not going to bother counting especially since the Wikipedia page doesn’t list UK as a section in his featured singles so I’d have to go page by page. But yes, as expected with no-name producers, this beat isn’t any interesting and feels like a pretty non-subtle way of blending the new West Coast bounce that is very prominent now but keeping it safe with a menacing trap beat so it’s not as jarring and can age better than the people who really care about the culture and making West Coast hip hop about their experiences in that environment. Oh, but this song also kind of bangs to be honest with you. It’s a bit too non-existent for my taste, and by that I mean Drake’s vocals are mixed a tad too loud, I feel, and while his bars usually connect, they often feel a bit too much like sentences that just drift away from one ear to out the other, although some of them I remember because they’re especially kind of dumb, where he uses the fact that he’s friends with Max B to hit Kanye with another jab as well as saying he’s going to get a face tattoo, which Drake is definitely a bit too safe for. Also, he says this:

I got two phones, one need a charge / Yeah, they twins, I could tell they ass apart

How do these two lines make sense together? I don’t like to nitpick but Drake’s a rapper rapper so I feel the need to say that these lines directly juxtapose each other.

Anyway, this song is shorter than “Omertá” and actually has a chorus, yet is somehow just as boring, because Drake is way too dull to carry a beat this safe and only slightly West Coast-tinted so it has no real bounce, since it’s still grounded in a stilted trap beat. Rick Ross sounds half-asleep but his verse is pretty good, I especially like his inflections on “Bounce” and everything that rhymes with it. Also, his guest verse tag, the “M-Maybach Music”, will always be fire. I hope his pear diet is going well, but overall this just isn’t very interesting. How about we bring back a segment we haven’t done in a while just to show what real charisma and energy is in trap?

FEATURED SINGLE

“Lalala” – Y2K and bbno$

Produced by Y2K

Y2K is a producer who I haven’t heard much from, but the Canadian MC bbno$ is from the same camp as meme-rapper Yung Gravy, but I’d like to think they’re more than a meme and instead just rappers who use humorous and comedic deliveries to propel their punchlines and that’s never more evident than it is with bbno$’s breakout track that was released off of the back of a viral marketing campaign, “Lalala”. This song is dripping with carefree attitudes towards the music and shows how they’re actually having fun, which is something I didn’t notice with Drake and Rick Ross at all this week. The song starts with a short back-and-forth outtake from the recording sessions, which isn’t distracting enough to feel unwarranted on repeat listens, especially since it just takes eight seconds for that beat to drop and it wastes absolutely no time to get into it. The beat is a slick trap production infused with bouncy Latin guitar and occasional beeping noises, with bbno$’s delivery really shining out as he essentially just has three different choruses. The chorus is insanely catchy and he rides the beat with his high-pitched, somewhat mocking tone but the “verses” (Which feel like a different chorus) has an even more fun, somewhat emo-influenced flow, which I noticed because of the nasal tones of his voice and lack of need to really enunciate a single word he says. It’s not like the content is all that interesting, but there are quirks about it that really show his background as a meme/comedy-rapper, especially the use of the word “Wristicle” and instead of directly bragging about all the stacks he’s throwing, he starts the first verse with flexing his stable credit card score, with even some cool wordplay about Canada thrown in there. The nonsense chorus is so fun, and even when he breaks out of the two typical flows for a more typical triplet flow he puts on an accent and just runs out of words to say, but instead of feeling incompetent (Which it still kind of is but that’s the point), this feels like the dude is actually having fun and you know, enjoying his job and his lavish lifestyle – which, by the way, is probably not that lavish. The dude says the word “Wristicle” several times in the chorus, do you REALLY think he’s getting any?

EDIT: I have just found out he does not say “Wristicle” and instead says “Wrist, it go”. My headcanon is better. But yeah, check this out, it has a pretty kicking Latin groove behind the trap beat and mocking lyrics, it’s great.

NEW ARRIVALS

#10 – “Bounce Back” – Little Mix

Produced by Swiff D and Stargate – Peaked at #2 in Scotland

I can’t help but think this is pretty seriously underperforming. Okay, sure, a top 10 debut is nothing to scoff at, but history’s told us you expect a Little Mix single to hit the top spot, so after “Woman Like Me” stalled at #2 and the album wasn’t as successful (Although still massive), I have full belief that they’ve made the worst decision possible, having a rushed single to alleviate fears of falling off, and sadly that often leads to even less success with that single and album. The last time they made a comeback, it was special, but this is an afterthought single. Oh, yeah, well, the song isn’t all that awful, it’s got a pretty fun bounce reminiscent of both trap and New Orleans hip hop of the 90s, although it does feel like a pretty cheap, manufactured rendition. You can REALLY tell this is one of these rushed singles, as the vocal mixing isn’t as flashy as usual, in fact the whole song is really odd, to be honest. After Jesy’s rap verse about taking Vitamin D (That hasn’t been done before, I’m sure), there’s a meaningless pre-chorus from Jade that just repeats a bunch of words that don’t really add anything to the song at all, like I’m fine with bland lyrics but come on, it’s just a bunch of faux-female empowerment/sex song buzzwords, before a really janky chorus that just sounds like one of the girls but it’s apparently all of them? They have an interpolation of “Back to Life” by Soul II Soul, but since the production is too lowkey and minimalistic, the chorus taken straight from that track, a much more glamorous and over-the-top song, it doesn’t work being translated to a moody sex song, in fact the fact that it’s four girls on the chorus probably makes it so much worse than just having Perrie, the more audible one. Then there’s a plastic-ass sax solo and I give up, this really isn’t even trying to have a pop spectacle anymore. Big Sean did it better. Also, I have started watching Celebrity Gogglebox specifically for when this band appears on the charts, because then I can know the names and any Mixers who find my blog won’t get mad at me for accidentally calling one manufactured pop star by the name of another manufactured pop star. When their onstage personalities are this similar, I don’t feel the need to care. The only one that shines out to me is Jesy because she’s the most obnoxious and genuinely awful, mostly because she tries to rap and AAAAAAAAAAAA

#5 – “You Need to Calm Down” – Taylor Swift

Produced by Joel Little and Taylor Swift – Peaked at #1 in Scotland and #2 in the US

Can I skip this one as well? No? Okay, well, first of all, I do not like this song’s lyrical content not because I’m a raging homophobic hillbilly as the video may suggest. In fact, I think the video’s got a larger issue than the song itself, where she uses slang inherited from both black LGBTQ+ as well as stan culture to get her point across, as it paints all of the people who are negative towards LGBTQ+ culture, and no it’s not a generic empowerment anthem, she explicitly says the word “gay” in the pre-chorus, as poor and just Texan hillbillies without a sense of fashion. First of all, nobody’s protesting Taylor Swift of all people, so I have a sense that this is making the issue about herself. Second of all, we should be fighting the people in power with backwards ideals, and I feel like she doesn’t know who is actually suppressing the community, which would be the people up top who are making the laws and controlling society from their government buildings, making decisions for what’s “best” for America, and they’re usually not just hicks who’ve never seen a grand in their lives to say the least, they’re usually suit-and-tie types with net worths that’d make the Monopoly man cry himself to sleep. Also, I feel like once again, she makes the video about herself. The scene where she makes up with Katy Perry in fast food costumes is supposed to be cute but it takes away from the message at hand and really just distracts from the actual topic, which is, you know, LGBTQ+ communities and oppressed communities as a whole, not Katy freaking Perry. This type of pandering content from the 1% usually bothers me and profits aren’t going to charity, but she is giving to them and she is being vocal about these issues so what am I to complain? She’s bringing LGBTQ+ people (Most already in the spotlight) to the spotlight—oh wait, yeah, that’s dumb, the video is less of a profitable pride parade and more of both a PR statement and a misguided attempt that just ends up as a “Bad Blood”-type celebrity cameo frenzy. The song isn’t any good either, it’s a pretty bland synth-pop track that directly rips off “Paper Planes” by M.I.A., which, to be fair sampled its bassline from the Clash, but I can’t listen to this song without thinking of the beautiful jacksfilms video comparing the two songs. Also, “you need to calm down”? “You need to just stop”? What a powerful statement, that is, Taylor(!), and your disinterested rap flows don’t help, with corny lines about taking shots at HER, let me repeat, HER, like it’s Patron and the haters just being mad, when they can be... GLAAD. Sigh.

Conclusion

I spent some time talking about how I was excited for the Summer hits, but none of these debuts are good. At all. That’s pretty great though because none of them sound like they’ll stick around except Taylor, and we all know how “ME!” is doing so maybe not even that. Worst of the Week goes to Taylor Swift for “You Need to Calm Down” and we have a tied Dishonourable Mention to Little Mix and Drake for “Bounce Back” and “Omertá”. Uh, I guess Best of the Week can go to Drake for “Money in the Grave”, but trust me, that is because of Rick Ross and no one else. Follow me on @cactusinthebank for more musical ramblings and I’ll see you next week!

0 notes

deadcactuswalking · 4 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 24th November 2019

I know I say this every week but we finally did get a cooldown week and as I say whenever we don’t have many new tracks to review, this will actually be a short week, despite a pretty big debut. I don’t have much time to write this at all so I’m just going to flash past everything here, I apologise if I miss any detail.

Top 10

It’s Tones and I’s eighth week at the top with “Dance Monkey”, still stable at #1.

Similarly not moving at all is “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa at number-two, which I actually have qualms about considering it could potentially not hit #1 and just stall at the runner-up spot.

The number-three spot goes to a debut from Billie Eilish, with “everything i wanted”, which peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, and is Eilish’s fifth UK Top 40 hit and third top 10 entry. We’ll talk more about it later.

Sadly, that means “Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean is down one spot to number-four. I’m surprised that song’s not already on its way out.

“Memories” by Maroon 5 makes its way up one spot to number-five.

Unfortunately, it takes Lewis Capaldi’s trite “Bruises” up with it, moving up four spaces to number-six.

“South of the Border” by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B seems to struggle down three spots to number-seven.

“Good as Hell” by Lizzo featuring Ariana Grande is up a spot to number-eight.

“Lose You to Love Me” by Selena Gomez, on the other hand, is down a spot to number-nine.

Notably, and quite to my dismay, off of its debut last week, we have “ROXANNE” by Arizona Zervas up 14 spots to #10, becoming his first entry in the top 10... why?!

Climbers

There are none. Okay, no, I’m being insincere, there are some but they’re pretty unremarkable to say the least. “Pump it Up” by DJ Endor is up seven spaces off of the debut last week to #29, and seemingly due to album hype, “Lights Up” by Harry Styles is also up seven spots, rebounding back into the top 20 at #16.

Fallers

I know, this is where I usually say that the fallers are more plentiful, but they actually weren’t, well, they were to an extent but it’s a pretty miniscule amount this time. At #36, “Follow God” by Kanye West continues to flop down nine spaces, “Paper Cuts” by Dave does the same off of the debut down a whopping 15 down to #30, whilst “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” by Travis Scott and “Outnumbered” by Dermot Kennedy start off their downward spirals, down seven and nine spaces respectively to #24 and #23. “Buss Down” by Aitch featuring ZieZie may as well be doing the same down five to #21, and sadly, off of the top five debut from last week, “Must Be” by J Hus is now at #13, down eight spaces from the week prior.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

We almost always have dropouts, but it’s very uncommon for us to really have any returning entries since we only cover the top 40, however we do in fact have a returning entry this week with “Lover” by Taylor Swift returning to #38 thanks to the remix featuring Shawn Mendes. That’s all we have for returning entries – dropouts, on the other hand, we have a few of. First of all, “Be Honest” by Jorja Smith and Burna Boy experiences streaming cuts that lead it off of the charts from #25, while the others are just remnants of songs that kind of flopped. “The Last Time” by the Script is out from #32, “10,000 Hours” by Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber is out from #35, “Tell Me” by Krept & Konan featuring D-Block Europe and Ling Hussle is out from #37 and “Floss” by AJ Tracey featuring MoStack and Not3s is out from #39 as well. These aren’t very remarkable or good songs (Apart from “10,000 Hours”, which is good but not particularly notable or really anything worth discussing too in-depth), so not even the drop-outs here could be big stories. We could have a featured single even, this week is so boring, but alas, I have little time. Let’s get to the new arrivals.

#35 – “Watermelon Sugar” – Harry Styles

Produced by Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon – Peaked at #10 in Lithuania and #60 in the US

So, this is Harry Styles’ second single from the upcoming sophomore solo effort, Fine Line, where he seems to be continuing the classic rock formula he touched upon in his self-titled debut record, although from what we can gather, this album seems to be more focused on replicating the anthemic indie stomper than the slow, 70s soft rock ballad. I didn’t like the lead single, and it soon dropped down the charts pretty quickly before rebounding this week, so I’m curious and hopeful to see if this is any good. This is only Styles’ third UK Top 40 hit as a solo artist and that number would be a lot bigger if I counted the singles with One Direction... but is it any good? I mean, I wish it was. The riff here is pretty catchy and fun, and the production is appropriately lush, but the sheer amount of synth overdubs does cause a lot of clipping towards the end, and Harry Styles just sounds bored out of his mind here. I like the guitars here, especially in the second verse, but the transition to the chorus is abrupt and awkward, and the chorus is mind-numbing. It doesn’t work as an anthemic single because it acts as such as a lightweight, fluffy wasteful song, with a lacklustre performance from Styles, inorganic drum loops and a pathetic post-chorus where Styles reaches into his... vocodered falsetto? Yeah, whatever this is going for, it’s clearly failing for me. Sorry, but much like “Lights Up”, I don’t care for this at all.

#32 – “Jerry Sprunger” – Tory Lanez featuring T-Pain

Produced by Tory Lanez, Play Picasso and Papi Yerr – Peaked at #34 in Canada and #44 in the US

Tory Lanez is perhaps my least favourite rapper. He’s so infuriatingly boring and generic, more often than not he sounds nasal and gross whilst being completely inoffensive content-wise and sometimes just straight-up ripping off his influences like Kendrick Lamar, which Joyner Lucas pointed out and they had the whole diss track exchange that was supposed to prove Lanez as a “lyrical” rapper when really all it did was embarrass both parties, but I digress. Tory Lanez is aggravating and I hate near everything he’s put out, and he just happens to be oddly successful in the UK, but to an extent where I’m confused by it. He’s not a big artist in the UK – well, not really, he’s had only one top 10 album although hip-hop albums tend to suffer here anyway, and never a UK Top 40 hit on his own (He did get one with 6ix9ine last year, so this is his second and T-Pain’s 11th), despite appearing on Good Morning Britain to be interviewed about... nothing since he didn’t have an album coming out. Guess who finally got him that British breakout single? Freaking T-Pain. I have a lot of respect for the guy but even he knows he’s more than 50% a punchline the majority of the time, and plays to that by being a jokester. This is from Tory Lanez’s concept album (Yes, concept album) Chixtape 5. The loose concept is that he takes samples from mid-2000s R&B songs, makes beats from them, and puts the original R&B singers on them, which just sounds like a massive waste of sample clearance money to me, but again, I digress. I’ve heard one other song off of this album and it was as musically incompetent as a Goddamn washing machine so, is this one any better? Well, I like T-Pain’s verse, but I knew I would already, check out his album he released in January, 1UP, it’s actually pretty decent, especially “RIP to the Parking Lot”. This is actually his first UK Top 40 hit “5 O’Clock” featuring Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen peaked at #6 in 2011. So, “I’m Sprung” was released in 2004 and it was T-Pain’s debut single, becoming his first top 10 in the US, and a Dizzee Rascal remix helped it get to #30 here in the UK too. I don’t really like that song in all honesty, it still sounds really primitive in comparison to his later compositions, and sometimes he just straight-up sounds offbeat.”Jerry Sprunger” might be worse, taking one loop from the little faux-acapella section of “I’m Sprung” and making a tone-deaf trap beat out of it. Tory Lanez, when he’s not mumbling, he’s making a gross and weedy Chris Brown impression, with no content whatsoever. The chorus just feels overwhelming and cluttered with so many layers of multi-tracked T-Pain. T-Pain is still incredibly charismatic, with carefree, easy flows that still sound impressive, and a random beatboxing break that’s hilarious. Oh, yeah, and for a straight minute, the sample is reversed and we just have some unnecessary Tory Lanez vocal riffing. Gross. This might have made me appreciate “I’m Sprung” more, actually.

#19 – “Before You Go” – Lewis Capaldi

Produced by TMS – Peaked at #1 in Scotland and Ireland

...First Tory Lanez, a man who makes music I despise but I never expected to show up, and now Lewis Capaldi, an enemy to both democracy and REVIEWING THE CHARTS, shows up to spite me with a late deluxe edition single... even though that’s what “Bruises” is. I mean, okay, maybe they’re pushing this one to the US – oh, wait, lol it didn’t chart anywhere outside of Europe... or New Zealand, but I doubt Capaldi is desperately looking for his big Kiwi crossover. Capaldi himself has been very vague about his fifth UK Top 40 hit... and so will I, in fact, I will just recount my thoughts on Capaldi and detail my history with the man. I first met Capaldi on the 13th of January this year, when “Grace” debuted at #33 on the UK Singles Chart, and I referred to him breezily as a “Scottish dude” – such a simpler time, and admittedly had very little to say about the song, but I did come to the conclusion that he sounded like a Scottish post-hardcore vocalist trying to re-write “Fight Song”, which is the type of analogy I used to make earlier in this show, whilst now I just cynically ramble. The song dropped out the next week, 20th January, replaced by “Someone You Loved” at #29, and I made my first truly scathing review of the man, branding him as a boring person who doesn’t understand how music works. I continued on my analogy from “Grace”, stating he sounded out of place, and half-asleep on the droning, piano melody that “Someone You Loved” presents. I noticed his resemblance with James Arthur in terms of how they both strain their vocals, although I mistakenly declared Capaldi was a better vocalist, which is plainly untrue to me now. I said he was lacking in compelling content (Surprise, surprise, he still is), and that the UK outside of Scotland does not care about Lewis Capaldi or his music, since we made his hits interchangeable. I asked Lewis Capaldi directly, and I don’t often plead to the artists, to leave me alone. On both occasions, however, they were not granted Worst of the Week or even Dishonourable Mention (Although I did include him in the 20th’s “toss-up”, asking the reader to pick their own poison). On the 27th of January, “Someone You Loved” rose to #13 and I simply, quite politely said, I could not see this appeal. The following weeks, I would track Capaldi’s rise to the top (To my chagrin, of course). On 3rd February, “Someone You Loved” hit the top 10 and I said just that, not commenting on the success of the single. Despite this, the next week on the 10th, “Grace” returned at #40 and I felt the need to attack it again, saying that it sucks and, in parenthesis, “Who cares?”. On 17th February, I made my first prediction for Capaldi’s career as “Someone You Loved” rose to #3, saying that you should expect the song to reach the top, making no further comment. Again, I continued to follow the rise of both songs until 3rd of March, when “Someone You Loved” reaches #1, although I referred to the song as “some lame [...] song I heard once”, despite being slightly thankful for Capaldi as he was giving me less work by contributing to how dry the charts were. I would not be thankful for Capaldi ever again. I did not expect the song to stay at #1, saying on 10th of March that it was “hanging on”. On the 17th, I incorrectly reported it was its second week at #1 while it was actually its third. On 24th March, I ventured onto a full-on rant, saying, and I quote, verbatim:

““Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi is still at the top for its fourth or fifth week and really? US pop music has been getting weirder, darker and more interesting, whilst the UK is lagging behind with boring pop ballads staying at the top for no reason other than the intense label push and some kind of pseudo-emotional strength that the track seems to be emitting to people. That’s not how it’s supposed to work, it’s supposed to be the other way around. This song is just lazy and feels like a total waste of studio time.”

Jesus, cactus. Here, I was comparing it to other more interesting songs still, and didn’t seem outright hatred for the man yet. On the 7th April, I made public my wishes for the song to be overthrown on its sixth week because I thought the song was painful and didn’t bear well with me after overplay. Then my situation continued to worsen as the prospect of more Lewis Capaldi songs debuting and lasting just as long as “Someone You Loved” is scary but perhaps too real. On 12th of May, “Hold Me While You Wait” debuted and in my review I not only called Capaldi the devil, but also a talentless putrid hack and, and I quote, verbatim, “a frog sobbing over its grandfather that had just flatlined”.

This new track is surprisingly okay, actually. I don’t care to analyse it any further, though, I mean after all it’s Lewis Capaldi and “okay” for him is the worst song ever made for most artists.

#3 – “everything i wanted” – Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS – Peaked at #1 in Latvia and Lithuania, and #8 in the US

No introduction needed for this song or Billie herself, let’s just talk about the song, and it’s no surprise that it is pretty good. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about a song from Eilish, but the melancholy piano chords paired with the almost dissonant whispery, reverb-heavy vocals create an eerie, almost paranoid atmosphere, one so good I think I forgive the bass clipping. The claps and percussion in general initially seem pretty unfitting but when the chorus hits, it gets pretty obvious that that’s on purpose, as the reverb drowns them in a form of distance, making sense for the song thematically. In the second verse, her saying “underwater” has some sort of vocoder effect that makes it sound like it’s being said underwater... and I like pointless touches like that. The panning airy synths in the chorus are gorgeous, and FINNEAS’ harmonies with Billie actually sound pretty great, although it’s odd to hear him so clearly on a Billie Eilish track. I like the song overall, but it does feel a tad underwhelming, or perhaps just too whelming, as it does go on for four minutes, which might be one too many, and I would have preferred more experimentation within the song, as its dry, minimalism does run... well, dry, by the end of the song. I respect the song’s lyrical matter though, as it works as a love letter to FINNEAS, her brother, and depicts a suicide attempt made by Eilish in a nightmare in which her fans turn their backs on her due to her attempt, which is actually really haunting to think about and the song reflects that – so, yeah, it’s pretty decent, and still miles ahead anything else from this week.

Conclusion

Worst of the Week is definitely going to Tory Lanez and, unfortunately, T-Pain for “Jerry Sprunger”, whilst Best of the Week should obviously be going to Billie Eilish for “everything i wanted”. Not a particularly good week, but hey, we’ll see what happens next week. “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey re-entered at #59 this week... it’s any minute now. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank and see you next week – it might start getting a bit Christmassy in here.

0 notes

deadcactuswalking · 5 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS - CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: 9th December 2018

Geez, today was a busy week. Before we talk about the top 10, however, let’s just get the massive elephants out of the way.

CHRISTMAS NONSENSE

It’s the festive season and one way people celebrate the holidays is by listening to its music – usually, Christmas music, of course, and since I review all returning entries that I haven’t talked about yet, sigh... There are seven of these so I’m going to go as quick as possible, but just bear with me throughout this section because I really don’t like Christmas music all that much. Let’s just get it over with.

#39 – “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” – Brenda Lee

This is “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, a song written by Johnny Marks and released in 1958 in the US, being left on the shelf for four years until its release in the UK in 1962. In 1963, it peaked at number-six and has since re-entered due to digital downloads, with one of its highest recent peaks being number-seven last year. It’s pretty inoffensive rockabilly, with some nice very-50s guitar licks coming in throughout, and some decently-sounding production, but really it’s not anything of internet until that sax solo. That solo is freaking gorgeous, and I’m glad it’s there, because otherwise this would just kind of fall to the wayside. Not sure I like Lee’s voice on here, it comes off as a bit nasal, but it’s not a big deal. It’s alright, I guess. I expected to say RIP here since she was popular such a long time ago, but no, she’s still alive and kicking. Good for her.

#36 – “Merry Christmas Everyone” – Shakin’ Stevens

Now this is where it all breaks down into dread. This song by Shakin’ Stevens is Godawful, mostly because of how painfully manufactured the whole thing is. It’s overproduced Christmas music that is just jolly feelings and nothing else. Those horns that kick in after the first verse are pretty cool, but Stevens doesn’t sound great here – or at least I can’t tell because he’s drowned in reverb – and the choir might as well be a computer for all I care. Also, the sax solo was cool the first time in Brenda Lee’s track, but here it’s just trite, especially when you add those shooby-doo-wops over it. This track was initially the Christmas number-one for 1985, and I understand why, but does it really have to come back every year since 2007 – for over 60 weeks in total? Oh, it peaked last year at #10 too. Let’s hope this upwards trend doesn’t continue.

#35 – “Santa Tell Me” – Ariana Grande

Now for a more recent one from arguably the biggest popstar in the world right now, with her 2014 song that actually failed to chart in the Top 40 initially until last year at #29, and that’s its peak so far... whilst I’ve never been a fan of the cleaner, refined Ariana Grande records, I do have a soft spot for this one. That melody is infectious and the sleigh bells complement the synth bass in a way I didn’t think they would, and it’s not like the drums are all that overpowering here, although a trap skitter would have worked better here (yeah, I know, not something I say often). It’s surprisingly romantic and sensual for a song with Santa in the title, actually, although it’s about men who have wronged her. Anyway, Ariana kills it but what else do you expect from a song from her at this point? It’s a good track, although the final chorus with the choir is really cluttered, just saying, it’s messy.

#30 – “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” – Michael Bublé

This here is Michael Bublé’s cover of traditional Christmas classic written in 1951 by Meredith Wilson, and it’s not great. Obviously, I mean, it’s Michael Bublé, ever since “Haven’t Met You Yet” he’s been utterly useless seasonal radio fodder. Bublé never really sounds bad but he never sounds interesting, and this production isn’t doing him any favours. It’s sickly sweet strings and brass for the most part, with some piano added in there for good measure, after what seems to be way too long of just airy synth, string and guitar noise – that’s really out of place, guys, why is this on the single edit? Ah, what else to say? Oh, right, nothing.

#26 – “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” – Band Aid

Oh, I know it’s Christmas time, alright, this song won’t let me forget it. I could ramble on about how preachy and awful this charity single is but other people have done it better. I just have four short things to say – 1.) this was the most popular song in the UK of the entire 80s. Yikes. 2.) This is the worst thing the Boomtown Rats have had any involvement in. They’re such a great band, hell so are Culture Club. How do Boy George, the Boomtown Rats, Ultravox, Phil Collins, U2, Kool & the Gang, Sting and Duran Duran make something this awful? They’re all absolutely fantastic musicians in their own right. 3.) That synth that kicks in after a while is pretty ugly, not gonna lie, and is unfitting for the condescending Christmas charity single angle they’re going for here – mostly because that’s what it really is. 4.) We’ve remade and reissued and re-entered this song too many times. Let it go, Britain. Please. We’re begging you. It’s for a good cause, and I appreciate how much money it’s raised, but it’s also garbage.

#18 – “Fairytale of New York” – The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

They use the word because it was the 80s, it’s not meant to mean homosexual and it’s not used in that context – albeit still a negative one – and the climate of Ireland, especially the Celtic punk scene, wasn’t exactly going to care about dropping that slur in their Christmas single. It should still be censored, though, I mean, black rappers saying the N-word is morally okay, but we still mute those, right? Anyway, this is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. It starts with a beautifully elegant piano melody, with the lead singer of the Pogues, Shane MacGowan, mumbling his way through his verse, but instead of people like Future or Lil Baby, there’s still a lot of sincerity there, I feel, and a lot of soul is put into expressing the lyrics here in the raspy tone that I absolutely love. I’m not going to talk much about the story here mostly because I’m not going to go in-depth, but it’s about a typical love story going awry at some point due to a betrayal. Oh, and the moment the Celtic traditional instruments come in is one of the best moments in music – ever. Kirsty MacColl sounds so lovely here, and the harmonisations in the chorus are fantastic. That flute solo is gorgeous, and the juxtaposition between “you’re a bum, you’re a punk, you’re an old s--- on junk, lying there almost dead as a drip on that bed” and the cheerful instrumental is just hilarious to me, especially since right after “Happy Christmas your a---, I thank God it’s our last” is immediately followed by the bombastic drunk sing-a-long chorus. The third verse is also such a great back-and-forth, man, I can’t even bring to words how much I admire and adore this piece of music. This is the best song I think I’ve ever talked about on this show, by far, but it could have easily not been close if “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders returned this week. We’ll just hope for next week, I guess. Rest in peace to Kirsty MacColl, gone much too young.

#14 – “Last Christmas” – WHAM!

Finally, we have our last Christmas song for this week’s holiday REVIEWING THE CHARTS special. It’s an anti-climactic end, to be honest, because I’m pretty indifferent to this song. It’s pretty 80s, to be fair, so I’ve got to like some of the cheesy falsetto vocalisations from the late George Michael at the start, as well as those repetitive synths that keep themselves from sounding awful by having those sleigh bells and pretty damn nice keys covering them. That chorus is iconic, but the rest of the lyrics are just forgettable. Honestly, it’s a good background song and it’s a well-written, catchy pop track with Michael putting in some good vocals throughout, but, it’s nothing special. Nothing but respect to George Michael, though, rest in peace, he’s a pop legend over here.

Christmas Conclusion

The best Christmas song on the charts right now is easily “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, but an Honourable Mention goes to Mariah Carey for “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Yup, that’s still here, we’ll get to that in a second. Worst of the Week goes to Band Aid for “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” You should be ashamed, Bob. Dishonourable Mention is going to Shakin’ Stevens for “Merry Christmas Everyone”. Other Christmas songs you should check out are “Christmas in Harlem” by Kanye West, Teyana Taylor and CyHi tha Prynce featuring Musiq Soulchild (heck, check out the longer version if you wish), “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders, “Stop the Cavalry” by Jona Lewie, “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” by Tyler, the Creator and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by DMX. Yes, those last two actually exist. Now, this Christmas section has taken longer and is longer to read than about half of my normal episodes, so I think we should get straight into...

Top 10

Well, this all feels a bit more familiar. “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande is still at the top of the charts five weeks in, and it doesn’t really seem to have much competition.

Ava Max, however, is making a surprise run for the top, up four spots to number-two, with “Sweet but Psycho”. I wouldn’t exactly be complaining if this hit the top either.

“Without Me” by Halsey is up a spot to number-three.

We have a new entry from the most recent X Factor winner, Dalton Harris, with a cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Christmas classic “The Power of Love”, featuring James Arthur. I guess awful Christmas songs aren’t going away for that long, huh? Obviously this is Dalton’s first top 10, and Arthur’s fifth.

“Thursday” by Jess Glynne is down two spaces to number-three.

Up a whopping 28 spaces this week to number-six is, you guessed it, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”. This isn’t its first top 10 turn, and it’s not its peak, but still impressive to reach here nonetheless.

This means “Woman Like Me” by Little Mix featuring Nicki Minaj is down five spaces to number-seven.

“Rewrite the Stars” by James Arthur and Anne-Marie has actually gained nine spaces, surprisingly, and to my dismay, to number-eight, becoming Arthur’s sixth and Anne-Marie’s fifth.

Oh, and if you wanted even worse news, up an even larger 29 spaces is “KIKA” by 6ix9ine featuring Tory Lanez, becoming both their first (and hopefully for 6ix9ine, only) top 10 hit at number-nine. I like the song, but I don’t like Tekashi, to say the least.

We have another new entry at #10 this week with “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” by Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus. This is Ronson’s sixth top 10 hit and Cyrus’ fourth (yeah, I thought she had more too).

Now, instead of separating what happened on the charts into Dropouts, Climbers, Returning Entries, Fallers and such, let’s separate into two sections: “What Survived” and “What Suffered”.

What Survived

What survived means essentially everything that still managed to chart this week, and I’m actually surprised by how much power some of these songs have. Going in reverse order, I have no idea how “Arms Around You” by XXXTENTACION, Lil Pump, Swae Lee and Maluma managed to cling on despite a 17-space fall to #40. “Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith is down 16 to #38, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong is down four to #37, “Empty Space” by James Arthur is down 10 to #34 (why did James Arthur of all people have the strength to stay during the avalanche?), “Hold My Girl” by George Ezra is down eight to #33, “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper is down 27 to #32 (considering both streaming cuts and Christmas bloodbath), “Leave a Light On” by Tom Walker has returned to #31 for some reason, “when the party’s over” by Billie Eilish is down seven to #28 (again, surprised this one’s still here), “Taki Taki” by DJ Snake, Ozuna, Cardi B and Selena Gomez is down eight to #27, “1999” by Charli XCX and Troye Sivan is down 11 to #24, “Polaroid” by James Blue, Liam Payne and Lennon Stella is down 11 to #23, “Let You Love Me” by Rita Ora is down eight to #22, “Better” by Khalid is down five to #20, “Sunflower” by Post Malone and Swae Lee is down seven to #16, as is “ZEZE” by Kodak Black featuring Travis Scott and Offset right next to it at #15, “Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo is down five to #12, and everything else that’s currently charting is either simply not notable (a drop or climb less than four spaces), in the top 10, a new arrival, a Christmas re-entry or in the top 10. Jesus. Now, what’s gone?

What Suffered

This is a little nicer name for what’s dropped out in the absolute onslaught of Christmas music and new arrivals (all returning and new entries this week total to 12 songs that weren’t on the chart before). This week was an absolute bloodbath, and these are the murder victims. Former #1 “Shotgun” by George Ezra is out from #30, “Advice” by Cadet and Deno Driz is out from #28, “AirForce” by Digdat is out from the #20 debut, “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes is out prematurely from #27, “This is Me” by Keala Settle and the Greatest Showman Ensemble is out again from #36, another former #1 “Eastside” by benny blanco, Halsey and Khalid is out from #31, “Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille is out from #32, “I Found You” by benny blanco and Calvin Harris is out from #29, “MIA” by Bad Bunny featuring Drake is out from #35, “Always Remember Us this Way” by Lady Gaga is out from #39, “Goodbye” by Jason Derulo and David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj and Willy William is out from #40 and finally, “Back and Forth” by MK, Jonas Blue and Becky Hill is out from #37. I’d say it’s time to move onto the New Arrivals – but before, I’d like to say that the BBC redesigned their UK Top 40 page, and it looks pretty cool. Anyways:

NEW ARRIVALS

#29 – “MAMA” – 6ix9ine featuring Kanye West and Nicki Minaj

Of course, DUMMY BOY only had a stunted tracking week last week, so we have the effects of the album this week. This is 6ix9ine’s third top 40 hit in the UK, Nicki Minaj’s thirty-seventh (yeah, I know, it’s insane), and Ye’s even crazier forty-third, and to be honest, it’s inoffensive, which is something I’d never thought I’d say about a 6ix9ine song, but, hey, it is what it is. Murda Beatz’s production is pretty cool for what it is, and I do like the eerie synth loop. 6ix9ine’s delivery is lazy and boring – and I still think we shouldn’t let rappers say they kick women out of doors – but he doesn’t last long so when Kanye comes in with that “man, oh my God” refrain it gets so much better. I’m so used to Kanye West’s pop-culture rambling, social media criticism/obsession, somehow relating to women nonsense he brings to nearly every single verse he does recently that I’m used to it, it’s just something I’ve heard before delivered relatively comedically. Nicki’s refrain and verse actually has some work put into it, unlike the dudes’ bars, so yeah, I appreciate that, although her delivery and cadence is exhaustingly blunt and straightforward, to the point where it’s just kind of tiring. There’s some decent wordplay there, I guess. This is okay enough, and pretty much top-tier Tekashi to be honest. “KANGA” also featuring Ye is even better, though.

#17 – “Going Bad” – Meek Mill featuring Drake

Meek Mill and Drake working together is something I expected to happen anyway. Meek and Drake have seemingly squashed their beef and have relaxed after the “Back to Back” situation and their popular 2015/2016 beef that revealed a lot about Drake, specifically his ghostwriting from Quentin Miller, and eventually stressed Meek’s relationship with Nicki enough for them to break up as a result. Oh, and you better believe they mention “back to back” because of course they do, it’s the only funny wordplay they can conjure up, apparently. This is Meek Mill’s first ever top 40 hit in the UK (congratulations) and in stark contrast, Drake’s forty-fifth (yes, even more than Kanye), and his thirteenth just this year (probably and hopefully his last), and it’s mediocre. I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never really cared enough about Meek to listen to him, but an out-of-tune piano absolutely demolished by some bass while Drake spouts off with stuff like “I got more slaps than the Beatles” isn’t exactly the best first impression. Is there a chorus here, or not? I can’t tell, everything’s just kind of the same until the ad-lib break that’s long enough for Genius to count it as an entirely different section of the song than in Meek’s verse. It was “Interlude” when I looked but it might be “Post-Chorus” now. Yeah, it should be clear I don’t care enough about this song. I do like Drake’s delivery in the hook, though, it’s pretty energetic, but not enough to save it.

#10 – “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” – Mark Ronson featuring Miley Cyrus

So, yeah, I like this. It starts with some beautiful strings right before Miley Cyrus fades in with her country twang that I’m starting to really appreciate, and those guitars come in to complement her and the deeper bass that I like the addition of, it really contrasts the otherwise pretty light production, that seems to be dramatic but kind of unfitting for the lyrical content about how the world can hurt you but heartbreak is the worst possible thing, because despite the beat’s melodrama it’s too upbeat to really work here, I feel. Ah, well, the hook is pretty memorable, and the orchestral stings is just one little barely-noticeable production quirk that I can talk about, seriously, Mark Ronson puts so much effort into crafting these songs over the years, it’s pretty great. It may be a bit too repetitive and slow for my taste, but, yeah, I can dig this. Good song, just not much to say about it.

#4 – “The Power of Love” – Dalton Harris featuring James Arthur

The girl gets Leona Lewis, the Scouse dude gets Kaiser Chiefs, yet the WINNER gets James Arthur?! Really, James Arthur? Poor dude. You must know you’re an amazingly talented singer when you get James Arthur put on your song and you still make a surprisingly decent winner’s single, hell, even win in the first place. Arthur is such an awful vacuum of talent, I was scared Harris would be affected by this but no, even with my half-bothering with the show this year I can tell he’s been consistently great, and he’s definitely not bad on here either, although the production has no unique charm to it and is just plastic Syco production as you expect, with James Arthur bringing an above-average performance (this means still pretty bad) with his moaning and straining that just pains me to listen to. Seriously, James, let’s have a cactus-to-man talk and let me teach you how to not sound like my dead cat who just popped some Xanax.

Conclusion

Worst of the Week goes to Dalton Harris and James Arthur for “The Power of Love” – at least “Going Bad” has some energy and legitimate soul to it, although Meek Mill and Drake still get Dishonourable Mention. Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus take Best of the Week home for “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart”, and hell Kanye and Nicki made “MAMA” bearable enough for them and 6ix9ine to get Honourable Mentions. See ya next week, where we’ll probably see a few more Christmas songs. Delightful.

0 notes

deadcactuswalking · 5 years

Text

‘ZEZE’, The Perfect Trap-Rap Trainwreck. [REVIEW]

2018 has been a pretty odd year for popular music. I mean, it’s been pretty impressive too, tons of records are being broken right now, in fact, the song we’re going to talk about today has broken one of those records (although easily one of the least important ones). I’ll talk more about 2018 as a year overall when I make my best and worst lists (which, no, this song won’t be on either despite who made it), but let’s just focus on this one song, and how perfect it is – despite being freakin’ awful, generic and borderline unlistenable. Let me elaborate.

SONG REVIEW: “ZEZE” – Kodak Black, Travis Scott & Offset – Produced by D.A. Doman

What record did this break, do you ask? Well, with the advent of SoundCloud rap, mumble-rap and emo-rap becoming the new wave, some stranger music has crept onto the charts, whether it be because of its sound or background and/or origin story. Memes have gotten music popular for ages but a 90s Latin reggaeton/house track by the “Chacarron Macarron” guy which translates to “Give me your little thing” becoming a top 40 hit is relatively unheard of – this is especially weird because the remix with Pitbull was released way after the song blew up and then fizzled out. I know Pitbull was always on his way out and he’s basically now a living meme anyway but it’s still a shock to see stars I knew so well fade away like this – oh, yeah, and how does celebrity status and star-power matter even more than it ever has been and none at all at the same time? We’re about to get a Mia Khalifa diss track released in February by two teenagers after a fake tweet was posted by some Instagram page on the charts simply because of the power of some girl in cosplay lip-synching to the second (and more meme-able) verse on TikTok.

Hit or miss - I guess they never miss, huh? – Smoke Hijabi, iLOVEFRiDAY’s “Mia Khalifa Diss”

Yet we still can’t get rid of that pesky Drake rascal, hell, he nearly hit #1 again, this time entirely uncredited!

I did half a Xan, 13 hours ‘til I land / Had me out like a light, ayy, yeah – Drake, Travis Scott’s “SICKO MODE”

Last year we had the shortest song to reach the top 5 since the early 1960s, with “Gucci Gang” by Lil Pump, peaking at #3 despite a puny runtime of a mere 2 minutes and 4 seconds. Today, we’re talking about a song that peaked just one slot higher, and became the highest-charting song EVER on the Hot 100 that starts with the letter “z”. Yes, it’s an odd, unimportant and pointless milestone but it’s something nonetheless. Oh, but that’s far from the most interesting part of this song. Let’s talk about the production first, mostly because any time I can stall before talking about Kodak Black should be savoured greatly. It was produced by D.A. Doman, most known nowadays for that “Taste” song by Tyga, in fact, Tyga even remixed “ZEZE” because the beats were so similar, and there’s only one beat Tyga ever does all that well on – and it’s tropical synth-lead trap. The bass on “Taste” was mixed well, though. I feel like there’s too little here and it could do with some pumping up, although it does give the steel pans a very airy feel, to be fair, and those little tiny details like that funky synth that just kind of appears briefly as a speck in Kodak’s refrain are just really top-notch, and that catchy and clean vocal sample playing throughout the song pushes this beat into truly great territory. Hell, the beat was so good that it made the song a meme months before its release, where people added a caption to Kodak and Travis dancing very... interestingly to the song. There was also a teaser where it was just 40 seconds of the beat building up with people saying “f**k ‘em up, Kodak” in the background, and someone was dancing there too. I don’t know, all I know is that this beat is fantastic and... everyone’s gonna mess this up, aren’t they?

Well, Travis doesn’t, really, he’s just odd. After like 5 seconds of the beat without any percussion or bass, just the steel pans and basically no build-up excluding Doman’s producer tag, the catchy “D.A got that dope!” phrase, it goes straight into the beat, bass and all, as well as Travis’ vocals which have like twenty layers each of some gross autotune and reverb effects. Seriously, it’s slathered to hell and back with vocal manipulation and it’s really unpleasant, especially when it’s drowned in all these ad-libs. Let’s focus on the lyrics of Travis’ hook, though, because they’re really cute. It plays out as, to say it bluntly, “Baby’s First Rap Chorus”. All the clichés are there, but in their purest form.

Ice water, turned Atlantic (freeze!) / Nightcrawlin’ in the Phantom (skrrt, skrrt) / Told them hoes that don’t you panic

His wrist is froze because of his diamonds. He has a black luxury car, he’s lazily referencing his other, much better songs, and he has to add in those essential “skrrt, skrrt” ad-libs. Oh, well, at least there are attempts at being unique here, with the last line, especially since we can assume they’re in water here, so Travis desperately reassures the countless amount of women he is having sex with, “Don’t worry, it’s a Phantom! We’re not going to drown to our deaths!” And then he goes, “screw it”, and starts actually adjusting the Phantom so they have more space, thus his “hoes” do not die, depriving him of pleasure and satisfaction.

Dropped the roof, more expansion / Drive a coupe you can stand in (IT’S LIT!)

You know what, that’s a good idea, but, yeah, I’m kidding, it’s not that deep – it’s just that he’s driving fast. Of course it isn’t anything all too conceptual.

Took an island (yeah), flood the mansion (big water!)

Sorry, what was that last part?

(Big water!)

Big water? I mean, I know the line is about how he took a lot of producers and rappers to his ASTROWORLD sessions on a Hawaiian island or something, but is “big water” seriously something people say? It just seems so dumb and kind of childish. In fact, while we’re on the subject...

B****es undercover (in the sheets!) / I’m an a** and tiddy lover (big a**) / Guess we all made for each other

Rappers never really brag about taking time to appreciate the woman’s body whilst “in the sheets” but you know what, sure, I’ll take that, but the second line just potentially demonstrates the naivety of this chorus, like, it’s just pure rap cliché but in such a way that makes it seem like Travis is a robot that has been analysing rap lyrics and programming a very blunt and obvious bar that exemplifies that. Oh, and the last part is just a dumb filler rhyme, although it’s kind of funny to think about how it must be up to destiny that Travis’ girl has a big butt and he likes big butts.

Now that all the dawgs free (yeah, yeah) / And we out in these streets (alright) / Can you do it, can you pop it for me?

The robot theory is developed even further when we notice these two statements are entirely unrelated. My friends are free from prison, but we’re still in the streets, therefore, pop that kitty for me, girl. This is how the chorus ends too, it’s so anti-climactic, although I do want to point out that Offset more than makes up for Travis’ strange twisting of lyrical cliché, as his verse is pretty fantastic. The flow is great throughout, with some nice switches that keep the surprisingly long verse still feeling fresh and short by the end.

She an addict (addict)

Please don’t rhyme it with—

Addict for the lifestyle and the Patek (Patek), big daddy

Son of a—

Anyways, there are plenty of relatively memorable lines here that end up being pretty quotable, such as... UK football references?

In the middle of the field like David Beckham (field, bow-bow!!)

Oh, and they kind of explain what “ZEZE” means – it means “zombie”, a slang term for, of course, lean... because it’s 2018.

Pop pills, do what you feel, I’m on that zombie (hey, hoo!) / I’m more like Gaddafi, I’m not no Gandhi (Gaddafi, hey)

Oh, um, some of these lines come off as kind of rapey though, which is not the greatest tone to go for when you have a song with Kodak Black, to say the least.

I go in her mouth, she can’t tell me nothin’ (ugh, ugh, ugh)

Oh, and I guess it’s finally time to talk about the alleged rapist elephant in the room.

On my Kodak, woo, Black, ooh, know that – Childish Gambino, “This is America”

I’m not going to bring up his allegations anymore because frankly they’re completely irrelevant to his performance here, and all he actually adds to this review is proof for my conclusion: this song has so much good qualities, but they paint them in the grossest green colour possible. Each one of these guys just ruin the gifts they’re provided with. In fact, the beat changes for Kodak so he doesn’t sound as offbeat as usual, and, of course, it doesn’t work at all, he still sounds pretty terrible as always, but still, D.A. Doman switches up the beat slightly (which was near perfect as it was) to accommodate for the talentless and directionless ramblings of Mr. Kodak Black.

Pull up in a Demon, on God (on God) / Looking like I still do fraud (fraud) / Flyin’ private jet with the rod (rod) / This that Z-s**t, this that Z-s**t (this that Z-s**t)

Kodak is so unlikeable here. He sounds like he was on a news interview, with a noticeable Southern drawl, that went viral enough in 2011 to get an autotuned Songify This remix. Honestly, it sounds that painful of a vocal, and without the Gregory Brothers’ pretty great production and knack for melody, this is just a strain on both Kodak’s voice and my ear-drums.

I got the fire on me in BET Awards

I’m less surprised that you have a gun rather just that you’re allowed in the BET Awards.

In a Hellcat cos I’m a hell-raiser

Man, this song is robotically programmed, I swear! There’s no attempt at portraying any unique lyrical characteristics, personality or even a single attempt at interesting wordplay, rather we get a catchier version of Kodak’s typical topics, just in an even more boring flow this time, and delivered like he’s on pain medication... which is probably what they’re going for here. What a waste of a fantastic, beautifully-produced instrumental, one of the most diverse and unique trap-rappers out there in the form of Travis Scott, who is relegated to his awfully-written hook duty, and what a waste of that amazing Offset verse. Seriously, Offset, kick Kodak off, switch him for another awful human being, Tyga, and save this song (including Travis’ admittedly fun, albeit silly, hook) for your upcoming solo album. I can’t let Kodak Black own this song, it’s too good for him in concept. What a perfect trainwreck. Everything is given to them completely prepared and in good condition, and then they just trash it. This song is when you get something valuable or useful for a damn good price and your dog eats it within five minutes of you opening it.

Hit that Z-walk, Dickies with my Reeboks

Oh, come on, Kodak, I know I don’t like your song but you didn’t have to give me Vietnam flashbacks of Lil Dicky. That’s just not cool. See ya on Thursday, everyone. Peace.

0 notes

deadcactuswalking · 5 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 4th November 2018

New episode right on time for once, and it’s actually a pretty short week; there’s not much to really talk about here at all. In fact, there are only three new arrivals to review, and nothing all that important happened in between, so let’s just get straight into the top 10.

Top 10

At number-one for the second consecutive week is “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper off the A Star is Born soundtrack.

At number-two, thanks to the video which I thought would make it zoom straight by “Shallow” and make an easy play to the top (not saying I like the song or video, either, but these girls are insanely popular over here), we have “Woman Like Me” by Little Mix featuring Nicki Minaj, up four spots.

“Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith is down a space to number-four.

“Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo is surprisingly holding on here, with only a one-position drop to number-four.

“Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille gets the same fate down to number-five.

At number-six, we have exactly the same drop for “Let You Love Me” by Rita Ora.

To my surprise and dismay, it seems that the top 5 will have a new entry soon, as “ZEZE” by Kodak Black, Travis Scott and Offset continues to rise a spot to number-seven.

And of course, just as I said it was on its way out last week, “On My Mind” by Dynoro and Gigi D’Agostino rebounds two positions up to number-eight. Joy.

Speaking of joy, I am very glad “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings is returning to the top 10, up four spaces to numer-nine.

And finally, “Electricity” by Silk City and Dua Lipa is down only one spot to #10, rounding off the top 10 very nicely.

Climbers

This might be a short episode, most likely, because there isn’t much of anything, and the charts are showing it pretty evidently, actually, simply because of the lack of quality between all these songs in the top 40. A lot of it isn’t all that bad either, just not worth remembering. Might as well talk about the two new top 20 entries: “Thursday” by Jess Glynne is up five to #18, becoming her eleventh top 20 hit in the UK (it will boost again due to an acoustic rendition duet with Ed Sheeran), while “Taki Taki” by DJ Snake featuring Ozuna, Cardi B and Selena Gomez is up two spaces to #20 – this is DJ Snake’s fourth top 20 (and first since 2016), I believe Ozuna’s first ever (congratulations, even though judging on his awful performance on this song he probably doesn’t deserve it), Cardi B’s fourth and Selena Gomez’s ninth (eighth without the Scene).

Other big or notable climbers include: nothing. Oof.

Fallers

There were tons and I mean tons of fallers this week, but they were all so small, unimportant and easily ignorable, with only two really standing out. Those notable fallers were “High Hopes” by Panic! at the Disco falling five spaces to #24 (sadly, I really wanted this to break the top 10), and “Venom” by Eminem falling 10 spaces to #38, as the movie hype, and Eminem’s resurgence, steadily come to a halt.

Dropouts

“Thunderclouds” by LSD (Labrinth, Sia and Diplo) is out from #34 after a pretty dismissible run, “nASSty” by D-Block Europe and Lil Pino is out from its new arrival last week at #35 and “Falling Down” by the late Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION is finally out from #40.

Since there aren’t any returning entries, let’s discuss some promising or interesting happenings from outside the top 40 – “Lost in Japan” by Shawn Mendes is having some incredible boosts (currently at #45) due to a Zedd remix, so to see it coming back would be great – I love that song to death. Due to the film, Bohemian Rhapsody, the song it’s named after, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, is back at #53. “1999” by Charli XCX and Troye Sivan is also gaining traction, as it’s currently at #59, and I’d love to see Charli come back to the top 40, same with Troye. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson has returned to #63 due to Halloween, yet surprisingly not “Somebody’s Watching Me”. Oh, and “Mo Bamba” by Sheck Wes has finally made it to the UK at #68, and I want to see this find its way to the top 40 fast. I’ll tell you why if it doesn’t in 2019, probably, as there’s no question it’s making my year-end list if it doesn’t make Billboard’s 2018 list.

NEW ARRIVALS

#36 – “Close to Me” – Ellie Goulding and Diplo featuring Swae Lee

Hey, Ellie Goulding, that’s a familiar face to the UK Top 40 I’ve never actually talked about before. Well, this is her comeback single with Diplo and Swae Lee, and, naturally, it’s hit the UK Top 40 because Goulding’s a superstar, but lower than I expected to be perfectly honest. Nevertheless, this is Goulding’s 21st UK Top 40 hit (which is insane), Diplo’s eleventh (fourth as a solo artist, but he’s had God knows how many frolicking in the production and writing credits) and Swae Lee’s fourth (third as a solo artist – and this won’t be the last we see of him today). Is it able to compare with the artists’ other work, which has been mostly, for the record, pretty great? Well, kind of. I do love that guitar riff that starts off the song, picking up the pace only to be kind of trapped by Ellie’s lack of real vocal presence that she usually has (seriously, she feels like she’s not really bothering here), as well as the drippy synth in the verse and trap percussion (of course) that doesn’t really add much to make the chorus any more interesting than it is (not at all). The melody is uninspired and repetitive, and Swae Lee is still struggling to straddle the line between popstar duet and guest rap verse. That synth added right before the basically non-existent bridge is also pretty ugly, actually. Yeah, there’s not much to be redeemed with this song, and is just kind of a waste of time, in my opinion. I can easily see someone else liking this a lot though.

#34 – “when the party’s over” – Billie Eilish

Well, Eilish, funny seeing you in the top 40. Took a while. She’s had songs bubbling beneath the top 40 in both the UK and US for a while after being a bit of a young indie darling for a year or so, and after that “lovely” song with Khalid from the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack, this new song, “when the party’s over”, seems to be set to blow up, giving her new peaks on charts in the US, Austria, Canada and especially New Zealand, where it hit a peak of #3! This is Eilish’s first ever UK Top 40 hit, and it’s no surprise that I’ve heard only good things before hearing a single song from hers. We start with an ominous, intriguing synth that is then drowned out by lighter cloudy synths following Eilish’s beautiful (at times multi-tracked) vocal melody, until the deep bass kicks in for the catchy hook, with extra additions of piano to make it sound even prettier. Oh, and there’s these pitched-down, feedback-ish backing vocals (assumingly from producer FINNEAS) which sound really great. Eilish’s vocals here are really delicate, working incredibly effectively with the song, which, yes, never actually has any percussion kick in, which is a risky move for a pop song (most likely because she never intended it to hit any charts in the first place). After this and “lovely”, I have my ears out for her next project because this is freaking fantastic.

Now let’s tune down our expectations accordingly.

#14 – “Arms Around You” – XXXTENTACION, Lil Pump, Maluma and Swae Lee, with an honourable credit to Rio Santana

Okay when I ramble on about how it sucks XXXTENTACION is being posthumously milked, I’m not defending the dude or his actions, I’m just saying it’s pretty crummy for a record label to be doing this type of stuff with someone who’s dead and can’t refuse this type of tampering with his unreleased content. This song was initially written and performed with Rio Santana, planned to be on either Rio’s EP or X’s album ?, before it was replaced with another song featuring Rio, “I don’t even speak spanish lol” (yes, that’s really what it’s called), that also had vocals from Judah and Carlos Andrez. After X’s death, Lil Pump reached out to his mother to ask if he could honour his death by being on the song (which is completely in the right intentions, I may add), and then Swae Lee hopped on the track after what is seemingly a label decision. I can realistically see Swae being a fan of X prior to his death, so I’m not going to whine about that, but bloody Maluma? The dude probably didn’t know he existed, for goodness’ sake. Oh, and we’re getting Skrillex on the beat? XXXTENTACION, Lil Pump, Swae Lee, Maluma and Skrillex; what a star-powered mess. Anyways, this is X’s fourth UK top 20 hit, Lil Pump’s second, what I believe to be Maluma’s first (congratulations, I guess), and Swae Lee’s fifth (fourth as a solo artist). Is the song worth all the controversy and all the label frickery? Yeah, probably not, because it’s trash. This bland, Latin-infected pathetic attempt at producing a 2018 pop song is pretty trite, with some ironic and nasally-performed lines from X about protecting his girl (ha) starting off the song, before developing into an admittedly pretty great verse from Lil Pump, demonstrating both a fast flow and some falsetto singing, although without much content to speak of but that’s expected. Not even Swae Lee’s badly-autotuned verse going in one ear and out the other. Maluma sucks too, what a surprise. I’d rather just not talk about this song and leave it here.

Conclusion

Worst of the Week goes to XXXTENTACION, Lil Pump, Maluma, Swae Lee, Rio Santana, Skrillex, Mally Mall and that tire fire of popular artists for “Arms Around You”, definitely, that’s worst-list material, whilst Best of the Week goes to Billie Eilish for “when the party’s over” – that’s a pretty great song. See ya next week!

0 notes

deadcactuswalking · 6 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 30th September 2018

I said last episode was going to be short (it ended up not being all too short at all) but, honestly, this episode is even more rushed, even more slap-dash and probably even shorter, despite how many new arrivals there are to talk about. The UK Top 40 is feeling really uninteresting for me right now and I think focusing on other projects like my own music, BLAST TO THE PAST and my upcoming year-end lists is what I’ll be doing until January rolls around, or at least something interesting happens. Anyways, that’s enough of me rambling, here’s the top 10.

Top 10

How to describe the top 3 songs in a nutshell? “How?” How is it still here? How is it still being successful? First of all, we have “Promises” by Calvin Harris and Sam Smith not moving at number-one despite a clear lack of any real hook.

At number-two, the runner-up spot, we have “Eastside” by benny blanco, Khalid and Halsey, also not moving despite a clear lack of any real... anything, really.

And at number-three, we have a meme overstaying its welcome, as “I Love It” by Kanye West and Lil Pump featuring Adele Givens is still at number-three in its third week, due to insane streaming.

“Happier” by Marshmello and Bastille unfortunately moves up one space to number-four, which means...

“Body” by Loud Luxury and brando is kicked down a spot to number-five.

“Taste” by Tyga and Offset is hanging in there, not moving at number-six.

“Electricity” by Silk City and Dua Lipa, however, has moved up three whole spaces to number-seven.

In case that was too much excitement, glorified mash-up “In My Mind” by Dynoro and Gigi D’Agostino is staying still at number-eight.

We have a new entry into the top 10 at number-nine, with “All I Am” by Jess Glynne, making way for the album release.

Whilst all this is happening, however, “Falling Down” by Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION debuts at number-ten, and man, I don’t want to talk about this, so let’s just skip straight to the Climbers first.

Climbers

There’s one of them, and it’s only a five-space increase for “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings, entering the top 20. Good song and all, but geez, those are all the notable climbers? That’s kinda sad, and telling of the charts right now.

Fallers

Now this is where it gets slightly more interesting. First of all, Eminem: “Lucky You” featuring Joyner Lucas is down five spaces to #13, whilst “Fall” lives up to its name, plummeting 12 spaces to #25. Just to be fair to Em, however, I might as well mention “RAP DEVIL” by Machine Gun Kelly leaping off a cliff down 15 positions to #30. Hip-hop and R&B didn’t have a great week overall, actually, with “FEFE” by 6ix9ine and Nicki Minaj featuring Murda Beatz down six spaces to #34 and “God is a woman” by Ariana Grande falling nine spots to #39, while EDM suffered as well, as “Don’t Leave Me Alone” by David Guetta and Anne-Marie jumping down nine spots to #27, and “Rise” by Jonas Blue and Jack & Jack NOT living up to its name as it slips down six spaces to #38. Oh, and “Youngblood” by 5 Seconds of Summer is making its way down the charts, eight spaces down to #37. It had a good run.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

Adding to Eminem’s losses is “The Ringer”, dropping out from #17, joining “Ay Caramba” by Stay Free Get Lizzy featuring Fredo and Young T & Bugsey out from #40, “This is Me” by Keala Settle and The Greatest Showman Ensemble out from #35, “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa out from #39, “Solo” by Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato out from #38, and very sadly, “Panic Room” by Au/Ra and CamelPhat out from #34, as one of the many, many drop-outs this week, making way for our SIX new arrivals. Let’s get into them, starting with a name I haven’t heard in years.

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Guiding Light” – Mumford & Sons

So, you remember Mumford & Sons, right? The somewhat insufferable folk-rock band that had a major mainstream burst in the early 2010s because they were... actually a pretty weird time for pop music, but great for indie pop, which I guess Mumford & Sons can creep under. I’ve never necessarily been a fan of Mumford and his sons, but I’ve never listened to a full-length project either, so I can only form opinions off of the hit singles and, yeah, they don’t do much for me. So, has this new single given me any hope for your next record or at least any desire to listen to it?

Yeah, no. Hell, no. This really sucks. The dude’s voice is more nasal than ever, and there’s no rhythm in the constant guitar strumming and poppier piano melodies. It just feels all too still for what it is; I appreciate the electric guitars in the mix after the second verse, and the chorus isn’t necessarily a bad hook, it’s just that the song is monotonous and unfinished. The transitions are choppy, the songwriting skills are simply not there, some synths are pushed into the bridge for no reason, and more importantly, it’s almost cluttered, especially in the final chorus. This could have used some polishing but that’d probably be even worse – then it’d also be boring, and, yeah, I’d rather have it subtly infuriating.

#31 – “Better” – Khalid

Oh, Khalid, how I love your mellow voice and how I hate your hit-and-miss production. I hated “Love Lies” and “Eastside” for just feeling like bland, dull re-hashes, but “Young Dumb & Broke”, “Location” and “OTW” really hit the mark for me, so, with this new single, I’m curious to what he brings with the table... and unlike “Love Lies”, Khalid wins the battle of similarly-titled hit songs against Post Malone, as under that bouncy trap percussion, simple piano melody, female spoken word vocal samples and the seductive murmuring from Khalid is a real groove in that bassline, which I really like. That hook is catchy and fun too, with the added finger-snapping in the bridge just being the cherry on top. It’s not a masterpiece by any means, and I really would like some more natural percussion or some more intelligible vocals from Khalid (although I do like how they’re treated in the vocoder during the final chorus), but it’s a pretty great R&B track, with some subtle throwbacks to classic 90s music of the same genre (the talkbox) that I appreciate, that I simply do not have much to say about. Khalid will go down as a legend for making some of the most blandly fantastic music, I’m telling you. I recommend it, but don’t expect to exactly remember how it goes.

#21 – “No Stylist” – French Montana featuring Drake

So French Montana really does have a surprisingly large fanbase here in the UK, or at least sizeable enough for him to pretty frequently debut at similar positions. This track in particular, however, had the help of a Drake boost, meaning it could have potentially debuted in the top 20, and probably will rise to the top 20 next week or so. Does it deserve that? No, of course it bloody doesn’t, it’s a French Montana song. Sure, the Latin trap-inspired beat is okay and I do like the guitar loop, but the repetitive autotuned chorus with falsetto Montana is pretty freaking awful, the vocals (and to an extent, the instrumental) is mixed horribly, and Drake’s contributions are basically nonexistent – his verse is as short and cookie-cutter as a Drake verse could potentially be. This would be a waste of anyone’s time to listen to. You can get better Latin-influenced trap, you can get better Drake and you can get better music, full stop. Skip this.

#14 – “Let You Love Me” – Rita Ora

Rita Ora has never exactly impressed me as much as I think she should. I hated “Girls”, but a lot of her work is just mediocre and plain, which is typical of a UK pop girl with consistent success, but also pretty exhausting as a critic having to talk about her every few weeks, and this new single from her upcoming album isn’t really any different. It reminds me way too much of benny blanco’s “Eastside” for its own good, mostly because similarly to that song, it follows that recent washed-out, minimalistic tropical sound without adding any twist or great execution to give it any point in really existing... Rita Ora’s vocals are really not great on this, and no matter how much the finger-snapping and synth explosions in the chorus and drop (as well as that weird reverse instrumental moment) try and desperately add anything new to the song, it doesn’t succeed and this is just another disappointment from Rita Ora. Sorry, but this isn’t it.

Wow, four songs in a row, all of which, of varying quality, are not worth talking in-depth about, incredibly forgettable and most importantly of all, not interesting, on either side of the spectrum. I have nothing to talk about when it comes to Rita Ora, Khalid of French freaking Montana, however I do have a lot more to say about this next artist (and I’ve already said a lot).

#13 – “KILLSHOT” – Eminem

Weeks ago, we reviewed “RAP DEVIL” by Machine Gun Kelly, a great instrumental ruined by sloppy flows, a garbage hook and some really pathetic disses. It didn’t even seem worth Marshall’s time to return and hit back at Kelly, and I don’t think he even did that here – his bars aren’t consistently top-notch, the beat is just a pretty typical trap-rap beat that I heard on Kamikaze about 13 times, and he could have of dug even harder into MGK (especially with that shovel he had in the “RAP DEVIL” music video), but Eminem, even when he has a couple blunders, rarely ever fails with diss tracks, as he knows right where to hit them. He starts the song mocking some of MGK’s stranger disses, like how his beard is weird, before going straight into the verse, where somehow he sounds pretty awesome whilst blatantly lying about having relations with Rihanna, because, of course he does, it’s Eminem. On top of interpolating his hit song “Stan” to reference Kelly’s constant complementing of Em on “RAP DEVIL” and older Tweets, he brings up how Eminem’s age, although being referenced in “RAP DEVIL” frequently, was completely irrelevant, as at 45, Em still outsells Kelly... by a freaking landslide. His flow switching up throughout is pretty fantastic, and I love how the song works outside of the diss for the most part. He also lands some essential Eminem diss-track lines, such as, uh, asking the victim what he’s eating?

Are you eating cereal, or oatmeal? / What the f***’s in the bowl, milk? Wheaties and Cheerios? – Eminem, “KILLSHOT”

Your mouth is open, you’re disgusting, what the f*** you eat for lunch? What, you munch a bunch of Crunch and Munch? – Eminem, “Big Weenie”

Although it’s best we just don’t mention “Big Weenie” at all...

Pippity-ka-ka-poo-poo! – Eminem, “Big Weenie£

Some of the highlights of “KILLSHOT” include lines about how Em made his career just to destroy it a week later (which seems currently to be entirely true seeing as how Kelly has been doing since), and him going as far as to just briefly develop old rumours into borderline conspiracy theories about how Diddy shot 2Pac (although he IS just playing, as he clarifies later on), although not all lines hit. Kelly’s not exactly a “mumble-rapper”, Eminem criticising Auto-Tune is hypocritical and the “dictionary” hashtag rap line is just bloody stupid. He ends off pretty effectively, though, saying that Kelly should “leave Em’s d*** in his mouth and keep his daughter out of it”, referring to a few tweets Kelly made about a 16-year-old Hailie a few years back. Oh, and I can’t forget my personal favourite line:

How you gonna name yourself after a damn gun / And have a man-bun?

#10 – “Falling Down” – Lil Peep and XXXTENTACION

Okay, yes, as much as it sickens me to see two tragic deaths being milked by the label so blatantly without any care for the fans or the original artists’ wishes and how we’re replacing an openly gay rapper’s verse with someone who nearly beat a gay man to death in prison for looking at him, as well as putting him on the same track as Lil Peep, who stated several times before he died that he didn’t like X, just to add insult to injury, and as much as it sickens me to see the scripts flipped after the release, as ILoveMakonnen and each rappers’ families covering up the fact that it is graverobbery due to label pressure and their fear of bad publicity is frankly disgusting on the label’s part, I’m trying not to care because I feel like too much attention on that will cloud my judgement on the music, and, well, like most of X’s music, it’s hard to separate the art from the artist. Listen, I love this beat to death, the synths and guitars are so cutesy and fun, but Peep’s vocals perfectly contrast them in their rough emo angst (no, X adds nothing at all worthwhile to the track until the interlude, but we’ll get to that). It’s a fun emo-pop bop that although I feel guilty doing so, will probably be listening to... or at least I would, if he didn’t have an annoying spoken word interlude with X talking about Lil Peep’s death, and how it intrigued him to watch interviews and collaborate, which parallels a certain situation with X, who will soon be featured on hit singles by Lil Wayne and Kanye. Oh, and the fact that I’m pretty sure Peep says “Ko’” in referral to ILoveMakonnen on the chorus, which does kind of put me off considering Ko’s no longer there, but that’s not an issue and I could be easily mishearing “come” as Genius lists the lyrics as currently.

Conclusion

Okay, so, six new arrivals, four titles. Eminem would get the Honourable Mention for “KILLSHOT” if not for the implications of “Falling Down”, but with them, he gets Best of the Week. A tied Honourable Mentions between Lil Peep, XXXTENTACION and Khalid for both “Falling Down” and “Better” sounds like a nice compromise. French Montana and Drake clearly earn Worst of the Week here, for “No Stylist”, but the Dishonourable Mention for Mumford & Sons with “Guiding Light” is giving them close competition. See ya next time!

1 note · View note