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pinkmoondoll9shihtzu · 3 months

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My Old man's tale about benetint (product) & review:

in summer 2008 i was 14 & my best friend's family took me to Vegas w them. she had only just moved to my school for 9th grade & i hadn't met her older sister til this trip. She was 21 & soooo insanely beautiful like if barbie was a hollister model she had the look so refined in every sense, i was dazzled by her.

& she was so sweet to us, my friends parents went & did their own thing so the whole trip we spent with her but she wasn't annoyed about it at all she seemed content to hang w us & protect us from vile men along the strip.

On this trip i went to sephora for the first time. hadn't heard of it before. it had huge windows so everything was glowing from sunlight & it was sooo overwhelming. my friend's sister liked this brand benefit so i picked out a little starter kit that came w bad gal mascara, high beam highlighter, booing concealer, and benetint.. Let me tell you for the next year i cherished this kit like it elevated me a new level towards Prestiged Adult Woman status. but the makeup was noticeably nicer quality for sure! from my memory at least.

the thing i remember most was benetint cus i wore it soooo much for the rest of the summer & beyond, i stretched that tiny bottle as far as it wld go cus i luved it sm.. but after it ran out i never tried to use it again idk just being a teen moving onto the next thing. But lately i jst rly wanted a goood lip tiiiint cus i dont wanna b wearing lipstick or gloss all the time its too much i just want chapstick but i like a little more color too.. usually i wld use lip liner but it always felt like it wld smudge off so quick n its kinda drying.

so i tried benetint again bcus i remember it being so easy to put on n then just forget about, it didnt get on ur clothes or teeth or nothin. after wearing for a couple weeks i can say this is still tru! i rly like it, very convenient, chapstick goes gr8 over top so my lips r never dry from it. its kind of expensive but it lasts a long time , for me i dnt have much makeup rn so felt nice to get st i actually use ^^ the taste & smell of it are mildly rosey, rly brings me back to those times..

being in vegas those 4 days w my friend n her sis are definitely a core memory for me it was totally surreal. i wish i had photos still but no clue where to find them, my friend's fb account got hacked years ago n had to get deleted, so many photos gone </3 we stayed at treasure island & across the street was this huge mall that was repeatedly playing an ipod commercial with the song Shut Up & Let Me Go by the ting-tings, like... ON REPEAT, ALL DAY & ALL NIGHT, so that song gives me the wildest flashbacls like i'm literally There. In the august heat. i can smell it like. its amazing thank you advertising :)

this is not an ad btw i mean obviously LOL i honestly just got thinking so hard about vegas '08 after purchasing The Product. oh yeah there was thunderstorms too... i went to hot topic at the mall which was wild for me since they didnt have one any where near my town.. i got some shorts from hollister i remember, also a rarity. friends sis got me my first ever drink, a peach daquiri...just one <3 it was such a nice break from my woeful home life lol i wanted to live in america so bad after this xD

thats my story...o and benetint is chill i mean i genuinely wanted to recommend it to ppl who want st simple it looks rly pretty cus until this i was struggling to find anything worthwhile. theres other shades too. Yup. Thanksyou for reading my LiveJournal Entry tonight minasan ^_^ Hope you're well x

-PMD9

#frossworld #pochitareviews

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louisupdates · 10 months

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Louis Tomlinson brings Faith In The Future tour to Oregon!

Louis Tomlinson - June 27th, 2023 - Mcmenamins Edgefield , Troutdale, OR

British musician Louis Tomlinson recently brought his Faith in The Future tour to one of Oregon’s most spectacular outdoor concert venues at the McMenamins Edgefield. The concert grounds were located on the field of their 74 acre property that can seat up to 7,000 concertgoers per show. One thing I always enjoy about Louis Tomlinson gigs are that the openers are always amazing - at our show we got to see incredible opening performance from Andrew Cushin and The Snuts.

First to perform was Andrew Cushin with just his guitar and a keyboardist. Cushin had freshly released his song “It’s Coming Round Again” just two hours before taking the stage, which had him pretty animated through out his entire set. Many fans showed up early and braved the harsh sunlight during his set which goes to show how good of a performance he puts on.

After a short change over, The Snuts took the stage. The four-piece Scottish band has a classic indie rock sound that you’ll be a fan of if you like artists such as The Wombats, The Kooks, and Catfish & The Bottlemen. I’m certain many concert goers who went into the show knowing nothing about The Snuts left as brand new fans - people were singing along to their songs like “Always” and “Hallelujah Moment” and dancing along even when they didn’t know the lyrics.

Anticipation was high as Louis Tomlinson took the stage right as the golden sun rays peeked through the trees. Adorned with a pair of Ray-Bans and a bright yellow Jamaican football jersey, the screams were at an all time high. He opened the show with “The Greatest,” which also happens to be the opening song of his second studio album Faith In The Future that was released in 2022.

You can tell how much thought Louis and his team put into making sure this tour would be one the crowds will remember for a lifetime. The production was a huge step up from his previous tour, with LED screens hanging from the ceiling of the stage and pyro that went off a handful of times. It was fun to sit back and watch the show - there wasn’t a bad seat in the venue. Throughout the night Tomlinson took time to sign fans’ signs when he found them funny, and would occasionally flip fans off which has become more of an inside joke with fans that he’s done throughout his career.

Alongside his impressive touring band, the 31-year-old singer-songwriter performed a total of 23 songs, mostly from his first studio album Walls and his most recent album Faith In The Future (even performing some of the songs from the bonus version of the album that was released this year). But Tomlinson didn’t stop there - we also got to hear a couple of One Direction songs and the cherry on top was his cover of Arctic Monkeys’ song “505.” I personally would love to see him explore the Rock/British Rock genre a little deeper, as it suits his voice so well and you can tell he is heavily inspired by bands within this scene. One of my favorite aspects of Louis Tomlinson concerts is that they feel curated by Tomlinson himself - the pre-show playlists, the openers, the production, and even the merch. It’s truly been a pleasure getting to witness Tomlinson’s musical growth and creativity since the disbanding of One Direction.

The night ended with Tomlinson’s final encore song of the night, “Silver Tongues,” where the singer made his way down to the barricade to interact with fans as red streaming confetti into the crowd further back. This moment surely left the show on a high note.

Louis Tomlinson will be touring through North America til July, then will be heading back overseas to finish up the world tour in Europe and United Kingdom. You can find out if a show is coming near you on his site here.

Photos by Sarina Solem

Photos part 2

#fitfwt23: troutdale #louis tomlinson #27.6.2023

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danvillecheese · 1 year

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it’s been more than a year since phineas waved goodbye we hoped it was an ending that would satisfy plus there’s always reruns so the show will never die but now people write us letters and they ask us why don’t wanna seem ungrateful or sound like a jerk it was a whole lotta fun but a whole lotta work we were exhausted for a decade counting years that’s ten so what are we gonna do now that it’s come to an end relax take a break try not to over extend no we’re gonna do it again with milo murphy’s law you might know the name from all the promos you saw we’re not resting on our laurels just eating fondue we’re working hard right yeah it’s true we’re gonna do it again that’s we’re not quitting new stories new characters new rhymes we’re spittin it’s a brand new show with a new point of view but if you like phineas you’ll like this too so what can go wrong will go wrong that’s murphy’s law and if you’re living it you gotta be strong meet milo the youngest in the murphy family he lives his whole life inside a cyclone of calamity for someone who handles adversity with such poise where in the world would we find the right voice the disney casting department has never steered foul so we called them up we said we want weird al and they just made it happen here he is in a recording and here’s a bunch of random shots of people storyboarding it’s a long long process and it’s really complicated we already did a video on how we animated we did yeah a few years back oh that’s right well we’re gonna do it again for milo murphy’s law a new behind the scenes video with a rap song score we did one for phineas this a sequel to it with a brand new crew it’s only fair we’re gonna do it again that’s right we’re not stopping just be glad you don’t see me and swampy poppin and lockin we’re working hard yeah bringing this new show to you but if you liked phineas you’ll like this too along with weird al we’ve got a great cast of voices from the channel and beyond all our top choices we’ve got sabrina carpenter we’ve got mekai curtis chrissy fit jemaine clement whaaat I think they heard us ming-na kate micucci diedrich bader christian slater there’s also me and swampy but we don’t show up til later so set your dvr cus you are gonna wanna see milo murphy’s law on disney xd if you want more information like a real insider just check the local listings on your provider check the local listings on your provider word

#milo murphy's law #shitpost #irls #long post #one like if you remember

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gryffindorkxdraws · 1 year

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CARDIGAN

Title: Cardigan

Word Count: 1,610

Summary: Rapunzel reminisces of what once was.

Notes: a few of you suggested for cardigan so i'm putting all of that here in one ask. just cus i don't want a song to be repeated! enjoy!

listen to song here while reading

It was raining outside when Rapunzel decided to clean up her room. There was so much to do, and so much to see, or rather, find again with how her room was full of chaos. ‘It’s like having your very own galaxy in here!’ His voice echoed in her head. That was the very first thing Jack said to her when she invited him over, which felt like a lifetime ago.

Vintage tee, brand new phone

High heels on cobblestones

When you are young, they assume you know nothing

Rapunzel sorted out her things by years. Her childhood toys that she made out of recycled materials go on one corner, the bizarre things she collected as a teenager went on the other, and her adult stuff— which were still as random as ever, according to Merida— on her bed. Though those weren’t as much as the others given how she moved out as soon as she hit college. And honestly? She wasn’t sure what she was doing back at home. Visiting her parents, despite that fact being true, felt like an excuse.

Sequin smile, black lipstick

Sensual politics

When you are young, they assume you know nothing

She paused when she found a picture frame buried beneath a pile of clothes in the closet. While only seeing one corner of it, she already knew what it was. Pushing her clothes aside, she then picked up the picture frame and stared at it. There, under its glass, were high schoolers her and Jack smiling at each other. And like magic, the memory behind it resurfaced and played before her eyes.

But I knew you

Dancin' in your Levi's

Drunk under a streetlight, I

I knew you

Hand under my sweatshirt

Baby, kiss it better, I

Jack was drunk, somewhat, after they stole beer from Hiccup’s stash, and he laughed from a corny joke Rapunzel excitedly shared. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t tipsy too, and, perhaps from the influence of alcohol, found Jack’s wheezy laugh all so endearing.

And if they weren’t exchanging jokes, they were exchanging dance moves with Rapunzel egging him to do better. This prompted him to do a backflip, causing the two to squeal and jump around in his success. That was when Hiccup finally found them to get the stolen goodies back, though he was rather forced to take their picture if they were to return the rest of the beer from Jack’s backpack.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan

Under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favorite

Rapunzel remembered how her heart did a somersault when Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulder for the picture. Though they didn’t bother to turn at the camera. Not when they were so engrossed with each other that Hiccup complained about it. If anything, she wanted that moment to freeze so she could stay in its magic forever. But that night went and passed, and there was nothing she could do to go back to it.

A friend to all is a friend to none

Chase two girls, lose the one

When you are young, they assume you know nothin'

Not wanting to drown in her emotions, Rapunzel placed the picture frame with her high school stuff. Though this still didn’t stop the tears forming in her eyes. It blurred her eyesight in a way that made her wonder if this will all her home will ever be. A reminder of what once was. A reminder of Jack. She then wiped her eyes and moved on, until she stumbled on another thing that sparked a precious memory.

But I knew you

Playing hide-and-seek and

Giving me your weekends, I

I knew you

Your heartbeat on the High Line

Once in 20 lifetimes, I

From her pile of clothes that she finally got to sort was a worn out cardigan that she and Jack used to share once upon a time. She carefully picked it up, hesitated for a second, before bringing the cloth to her nose. It smelled like her closet, but also faintly of Jack’s woodsy smell. That boy did, after all, enjoy venturing through the windows nearby their neighborhood, saying it was full of secrets and whatnot.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan

Under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favorite

They had this thing, you see, of sharing the cardigan and taking turns on who gets to keep it or wear it for the day. Or a week, if one forgets to ask for it. Rapunzel still remembers the day they found out in their local thrift store, and how their argument of who gets to buy it was eventually solved by Merida when she jokingly said “Well, why don’t you take turns wearing it instead and be done with it!” The cardigan, in short, held so many memories in it with how it basically grew up with them throughout high school.

To kiss in cars and downtown bars

Was all we needed

You drew stars around my scars

But now I'm bleedin'

But now all it reminded Rapunzel was how things could never go back to what it once was. Not after how she ruined everything. Their friendship, their memories, their everything. All it took was for her lips to say three simple words, and the magic ended right then and there.

“I love you.” Rapunzel confessed with all her heart, but it wasn’t enough.

Or maybe it was too much.

Because Jack stood there before her, speechless. His eyes almost asked ‘Why?’ like what she did was so irreversible and permanent. And each second that passed by with silence stretching on made Rapunzel choke in her overflowing emotions. Something Jack wasn’t ready to catch.

'Cause I knew you

Steppin' on the last train

Marked me like a bloodstain, I

The days that followed after were painful, with Rapunzel dealing with Jack's rejection. Which was followed by this abrupt distance that cut in between them. And no matter how many times they tried, they couldn’t go back to what their friendship once was. Not with both of their hearts broken for different reasons.

I knew you

Tried to change the ending

Peter losing Wendy, I

The night before Rapunzel was to leave for college, Jack visited her through the bedroom window. It was late, and it was sudden, but at that moment they both had this feeling that this might be the last time they’ll ever see each other. Rapunzel wasted no time in pulling him close for a hug, breathing him in before her heart struck. She pushed him away knowing it would do better for her.

I knew you

Leavin' like a father

Running like water, I

And when you are young, they assume you know nothing

She snapped at him to stop giving her mixed signals. Not after she laid her heart out to him, only for him to drop it the very next second. And tried as Jack might to explain to her that he didn’t want to lose her, Rapunzel had already shut her heart from him to protect it. There was nothing Jack could ever say or do that would make her change her mind.

But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss

I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs

The smell of smoke would hang around this long

'Cause I knew everything when I was young

I knew I'd curse you for the longest time

Rapunzel would be lying if she said she got over him. Not when he haunted her wherever she went. She could hear his voice whenever she took notes in class, saying how much fun it would be to disrupt class with a sudden lightsaber duel. She could hear his laughter whenever she found herself losing it over a badly executed joke. She could see the way his eyes would shine whenever she was up to no good.

Which didn’t seem fair at all. She then wondered if it was the same for Jack. If her confession ever haunted him too. Stirred up his life even to at least call things even. She wanted to know so badly, but she never once hit the call button whenever she tapped his number on her cellphone.

Chasin' shadows in the grocery line

I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired

And you'd be standin' in my front porch light

And I knew you'd come back to me

You'd come back to me

And you'd come back to me

And you'd come back

Days turned into months, and months turned into a year, and now here Rapunzel was. Back in her room where she was determined to get rid of everything that was holding her back to the past. She had a funny feeling then that Jack would come back. He always did after all. Though this time, she was determined to let him go. It was the least she could do for what remained of her heart.

And when I felt like I was an old cardigan

Under someone's bed

You put me on and said I was your favorite

And yet, when she found herself face to face with Jack, who was breathless and looking as beautiful as ever by her front door, the speech she had for him went down the drain. There was something in the way Jack looked at her that sparked this small hope in her heart. Not trusting what she might say, Rapunzel followed her guts as she and Jack made their next move.

#jackunzel #jack frost and rapunzel #rise of the brave tangled dragon #rise of the brave tangled dragons #the big four #jack frost #rapunzel corona #my writing #answered #moxnlightae

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non-fantasy · 1 year

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i forgot to send D4DJ songs earlier so here i go!

https://youtu.be/CkRVv3ZbYR0 <- Brand New World by Happy Around

https://youtu.be/iRwKU_ZhBsM <- Absolute by Peaky P-key (this song got me into D4DJ tbh)

https://youtu.be/MbP-XtqlMQY <- Akatsuki (Fruits Mix) by Photon Maiden

https://youtu.be/2QtVcu8_GOs <- Discover Universe by Photon Maiden (two songs cus second fav unit privilege)

Now next seven songs are RONDO's (fav unit privilege) (you don't have to listen to all but prayer [s] is a MUST)

https://youtu.be/ZRnaYwx2fH4 <- Calendula

https://youtu.be/MqY2WV8k6RA <- prayer [s]

https://youtu.be/__3tAuiTiFc <- [Re] termination

https://youtu.be/WaXKkRGCU_s <- Crinoid

https://youtu.be/JPEONL-tKa4 <- Ultramarino Flor Seca

https://youtu.be/NxstQ0oxPR8 <- Celsius

https://youtu.be/oMAXabTOBtk <- cover of Climax Jump by Merm4id (ik it's a cover but i love it)

https://youtu.be/ngQ0PST04BA <- Sleeping Beauty by Lyrilily

Bonus:

https://youtu.be/n7z4SIVeKKw

COVER OF UNDERCOVER (YES THE MILGRAM SONG) BY LYRILILY

I ACTUALLY GOT INTO MILGRAM CUS OF D4DJ CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

i can believe it............ thank u for the songs i will put on later.... i must slfkjfixhjd now though

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dany36 · 1 year

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well, after 36 hours, i've finished tales of symphonia once again :) and despite the many flaws in the switch remastered edition, i honestly had a blast playing through it for the umpteenth time. no matter how many times i play through this game, it just brings me joy like no other. i've already rambled about why i love this game when i beat it for the first time in the ps3 collection, so super long junk thoughts below this time about the remastered edition, playing through the hard path for the first time ever, and wow still finding new sub-events after all these years:

i cannot BELIEVE that this game, from the gamecube era!!!, runs so poorly on the switch. there was only one update downloaded when i first started playing it late february, but that didn't really do anything to improve the experience or performance of the game as far as i could tell. it becomes super noticeable when you first go to the triet desert (2 hours into the game!) and the game starts lagging, but it's even WORSE when you go into the ruins. it's super distracting and honestly annoying as you watch your field character running slowly as fuck. and sadly the lagging doesn't stop there, there was lag in other areas of the game, like in latheon gorge and the temple of lightning. like, it's honestly inexcusable to release a gamecube port with such poor performance and if i was a first-time player, it would be off-putting and make me think twice about playing through this game!

also, as i was going through vinheim, i put colette briefly in my party and i don't know what it was but as soon as i put her in there, the battle stage would start lagging too. i had lloyd/sheena/genis/raine beforehand without any noticeable issues, but i don't know what it was about adding colette that well, i just had to switch her back out after a couple of battles. some other battle scenes would also lag but that's the one i remember the most. does anyone know if the ps4 runs just as bad? cus when i played the ps3 edition, i had no problems like this at any point in the game, so it's just baffling at how bandai-namco messed up such a beloved game!!

what was also distracting was that the field enemies would be t-posing around from time to time. i first noticed it when i went to rodyle's ranch, and it became more constant in the last few levels in the game, especially derris-kharlan and vinheim. like c'mooooooonnnnn!

i also already talked about this, but the loading screens when entering and exiting the overworld (like during overworld battles) or even i think sometimes within the same dungeons/towns? it's.....frustrating when you consider that these loading screens were non-existant in the gcn/ps3 versions, but i mean....sadly, i got used to them after a while, so i stopped noticing them as much. :/

and lastly, what was annoying was that i couldn't even enjoy the beautiful staff credits ending theme because....the sound was like skipping as it was trying to play? i can't remember any other instances of the sound skipping or having blips, so it was just honestly baffling to notice it for the first time during such an impactful theme song -_-

but like i mentioned, despite all these annoyances through the game, i think i enjoyed this playthrough more than when i played it through the ps3 last year. and i think that's mostly due to having done the hard path for the first time ever! it was honestly so cool because it felt like a brand new experience: at some points i got lost as to where to go next, and it made me look forward to see how certain interactions/cutscenes would change with sheena in my party for the palmacosta section. seeing all those additional cutscenes with sheena and the luin kids, as well as her going around trying to look for a cure for pietro, really puts it in a better perspective just how much of a kind-hearted person she really is! also i mentioned it already but seeing luin before it gets destroyed and talking to the townspeople about their fear of desians has a WAY bigger impact when you come back to luin and seeing it all destroyed, and of course makes you better sympathize with sheena on wanting to rescue the townspeople. seriously the hard path makes the sylvarant arc make way more sense than by just going to palmacosta first before luin, but it helps that sheena is like my favorite character of the bunch lol.

and well, honestly if you want to get sheena as first in your list in flanoir, the hard path is the way to go. when i did my ps3 run, i did the normal route and even after choosing all the sheena-positive choices as well as doing ALL of her overworld skits, she was still behind colette and genis. but doing the hard path, she was already first in the affection list shortly after reaching tethe'alla. so i got to see her affection scene after the mana cannon ordeal without any issues. :)

i WILL say though that they don't call it the hard path for no reason. doing the tower of mana first before the balacruf mausoleum and thoda geyser was hard as fuck!! i got there as level 13-14, and the boss just kicked my ass. colette would keep saying "wow, looks REALLY strong!" to even the regular enemies, and honestly i had to grind to level 20 to even have a chance with the boss. so that was fun! it made the remaining seals super easy to do, even defeating dorr's fake daughter and magnius. so yeah, getting past the tower of mana is definitely the hard part, but once that's done, it's easy sailing to tethe'alla!

and last but not least, i STILL found new cutscenes that i had never seen before! i started doing this in the ps3 run but i didn't know that you had to get cutscenes for everyone in the party in tethe'alla regarding their choice of where they would want to live after "splitting" the worlds (i think i only saw the ones for sheena, zelos, presea, and regal, but not genis and raine, whoops!). i always thought it was weird how this wasn't something that wasn't discussed beforehand because i mean, the last pact is in sylvarant so even if there were tethe'allans that want to stay in tethe'alla, they in theory would be stuck in sylvarant after the pact! but turns out that after you visit all of the towns in tethe'alla, the entire party comes to a decision and decides that they want to help lloyd in sylvarant and stick with him no matter what. how damn sweet!! 😭

also got some new sub-events! i don't remember getting a "Free Pass" in the ps3 version, and if i did, i must have forgotten lol. but with the Free Pass you can get an additional cutscene in the altamira hotel's luxury suite with the person you picked in flanoir (i'm guessing, either that or your highest-affection character?), so that was cool to see! and also the additional cutscene where the luin townsfolk want to give the title of honorary mayor to one member of your choice (another chance to raise the affection of someone but the honorary mayor ends up being lloyd no matter what lol), and also we see that pietro, with his mission accomplished in luin, leaves the town to help more people around the world with sophia's help!! how damn cool is that?! what an amazing character pietro turned out to be! 🥰

WELL, enough talking about how much i freaking love this game. there were other things i wanted to talk about as i was playing through, such as botta's last words or my favorite main-story skit in the game, but i didn't wanna spam the tag lol. but well, if i find out that the ps4 version's performance doesn't suck ass, or if they ever release a patch for the switch version that fixes SOME of the performance issues, then i will have no choice but to play through this beautiful game yeeeeeetttt again. :)

#tales of symphonia #tales of symphonia spoilers #tales of #junk #tos #ahhhh i could talk about this game forever #🥰

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phinix53 · 2 years

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I say your post a bit ago when asking about how to start comics and stuff. I'm familiar with Technoid and Red Hood and all that but what's the Circus looking and the Fowle thing?

What that??

Ah right, those are potential projects and stories. You see my brain bounces from one thought to the next extremely quickly.

And sometimes in that mess there are ideas that actually stick.

Le cirque des âmes is a story where Ink runs a circus with all different kinds of people preforming. Dream joined the circus after running away from the tree, village and his brother only taking a single gold apple with him. Many years later Nightmare and the gang (mostly Killer) decide to go see said show. This is the first time Nightmare sees his brother as a lead performer and the fire dancer. (One gang member falls hard for pretty boi)

And then shenanigans ensue.

Lust is the main traipse artist. Blue works with large animals made of magic. Red is a clown (cus he is one). Error works in costuming. Blueberry is the ringmaster. And Ink is pulling the strings in the background, and feeding off the people that work in the show.

Fowel is a brand new baby story. Basically the twins have the ability to turn into small little finches. A traveling merchant captures the two, a curse befalling on them so they couldn’t turn back into people unless some arbitrary conditions are met. Eventually Error comes across the merchant and is taken by these two little birds. They would make a nice addition to his shop and maybe attract new clients with their songs. So he buys them (they weren’t cheap) and sets them up in his shop. He runs a tailors boutique. He starts noticing the odd mannerisms of these two little birds. Watching them learn how to open their cage. They help him pick out things for his work. They perch on his shoulders while he’s working. He even makes them little scarfs so they are even cuter.

Those are their basic synopsis. I don’t actually have any art for Fowel. But I do have some for Le cirque des âmes -> https://phinix53.tumblr.com/post/665996490714562560/le-cirque-des-%C3%A2mes-a-new-concept-the-lights-the

#undertale #potential stories #maybe #maybe short stories #dunno ^^#anon ask

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luminoumbral · 2 years

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My thoughts on Imagine Dragons

Right so recently I have been rediscovering the band of Imagine Dragons, mainly cus of my tik tok fyp and the amount of content around The Boys and the song Bones where people recreate the death of Robin

And I have listened to their new albums Mercury Act 1+2 which on there own are pretty good albums although I find Imagine Dragons drum loops repetitive and the fact they say purposefully cryptic lyrics for shits a giggles they do hold up

in this what I presume to be the longest post im putting on tumblr im going to break down two of their songs, their most known song; Enemy. and one of their least known songs; Yesterday

Enemy:

Enemy was made as the theme song for the Netflix league of legends show Arcane, A pretty good show I highly recommend you watch it if you haven't but everyone has at this point.

Enemy starts off with a reverse synth base leading to the same note but the right way round then continues this after a three second gap but this time its down a chord, a progression used for the rest of the song, the second note is then distorted before the song begins, this electronic opening not only conveys that the song is heavily reliant on synthesizers and a lot of production a complete 180 the direction for Yesterday, then for the first verse a repeating drum loop is played and the same 2 synth base notes are played for the whole of the rather short first verse.

And the chorus is no different, CUS ITS THE FUCKING SAME AS THE VERSE BUT WITH AN EXTRA FUCKING HIGH-HAT, this oh yeah lets put in one extra thing now its different is a staple of Imagine Dragons modern works, and there isn't much to talk about other than the only time the song remotely changes is towards the end of JID’s rap section where the music stops to emphasize the speed of his rapping.

And that is really all there is to talk about Enemy no bridge no big moment no fucking change in chords, its just a very boring and uninspired song.

Yesterday:

Yesterday on the other hand is a catchy pop rock song, again in the same vain as Enemy and most imagine dragons song its rather repetitive with the same couple of piano chords used as the hook, but at least the song has some challenge and difference, for example a guitar solo right before the last chorus is somewhat impressive.

But the real difference between these two songs is the way they make use of the natural repetitiveness all Imagine Dragons songs have, Enemy puts the bare minimum having what I counted 3 instruments, where as Yesterday takes full advantage of the band having only the instruments provided for them as apposed to a fucking synthesizer.

Closing notes:

Let me be clear I don't hate Imagine Dragons they make okay music, I think its the formula they have constructed that people come accustomed to, what I think happened is that Imagine Dragons threw shit at the wall to see if it would stick and repetitiveness did, people like electronic drum beats looping over and over again which is fine but for a band that brands themselves as a rock band not so much. Remember this is just my dumb opinion if you disagree with me feel free to explain why but yeah have a nice day and see you later.

#imagine dragons #music #critical #review #music review

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bbina · 15 days

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omg i was in the middle of writing my ask out when i got a weverse notif and tried swiping it away but i accidentslly closed the tab 😭😭😭

my memory is gonna fail me here but i'll do my best to rewrite it out🙏🙏

i died a total of 5 times today but btl always resurrects me🫡🫡 the real mvp of this update was actually dad💸 but also #justiceforeunseok cuz not only does his sister who only wants to drive for her bf get promised a car before he does, his life is also put at risk by said sister who only wants to drive for her bf because she was texting the said bf who she wants to drive for while learning to drive for him. i love the song siblings and your assassin au idea i'll need to see that written sometime soon btw i think ur written stuff is spectacular like seriously from what i've read in btl you're so good at conveying emotions through your words 🙏🙏 never be afraid to be confident!!

AND AND ALSO wonbin's hair omg i fear that was the end of me . i was gone. poof! disintegrated! and i feel terribly sorry for the people on my insta cf who had to witness me going feral when i saw the pics😔 but that one insta post with him in the train and the caption being love 119 lisbon ver this post btw i just found it again https://www.instagram.com/p/C5tMpqqR9vy/?igsh=NW9mOXY0djBwdWw3 THAT sent me . he was so crazy for that jsjdjsjdnsjcjs picture this imagine leaving the place u and wonbin grew up in knowing him as the wonbin from love 119 era and returning to see him as wonbin from days in lisbon era like appearance wise Am I Crazy yesni am

i think that is all from me for today i'm so sorry for going on another rant lmao i need sleep😭😭 until next time user bbina i will haunt u again with my lengthy anon asks watch out

— 🫀

omg rip first ask 😭

at least eunseok has a black card under his name and yn doesn’t… well they share it but point still stands! but what does a card have against a brand new car 😔 dad💸 has an obvious favorite and it’s not eunseok nor yn.. its charlie anyways! eunseok risking his life for his sister who calls the gear shift a prndl…. also texted while driving which is like the golden rule of driving… bless eunseok u need a gf stat..

that assassin au was just a lil brainrot tbh 😔 yall can imagine whatever with that 😭

WONTIPOO THERE I SAID IT.. wonpuppy devoters you have a new member… me 🧍🏻 hes so fucking KIYOWO KIYEOBDA AIGOOOOOOOOO also he lowkey looks like lee jongsuk or maybe thats just me cus his hair is so floofy and his luscious lips im OBSESSED like just last night he was posting slutty instagram pictures AND 6 HOURS LATER HES LOOKING LIKE AN ANGEL.. A CHERUB… CUPID FOR ALL WE CARE

#love the yapping 🫀anon #its like reading a video essay transcript #mailbox #btl ask #★.mail: 🫀 anon

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cyarskaren52 · 7 months

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“It was like holding a f**king live wire”: how Rage Against The Machine’s explosive debut album changed everything

It was early evening on Sunday, February 21, 1993 when the balloon went up. To the majority of people listening to Radio 1’s weekly chart rundown, the name Rage Against The Machine meant nothing. Why would it? A brand new band mixing metal and hip hop like no one had done before, they’d yet to make an impact outside of the nation’s rock clubs or the stereos of the more clued-in metal fan.

And so, when presenter Bruno Brookes cheerfully announced that their new single, Killing In The Name, had entered the charts at No.27 and cued the song up, neither he nor several million listeners knew what was about to happen.

The song started with a coiled guitar and tense bassline, as some guy rapped about the American police force’s inherent racism with palpable vitriol in his voice: ‘Some of those who work forces are the same who burn crosses.’ Then – boom! – the whole thing suddenly erupted. Over guitars that sounded like a thousand police sirens wailing all at once, the line ‘Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me!’ blasted out of radio speakers everywhere, not just once, not twice, but 16 times. And then, suddenly, it reached its gloriously profane crescendo with one word hurled out with all the anger and pain that could possibly be mustered: ‘MOTHERFUCKER!’

Understandably, the snafu prompted a deluge of complaints to the BBC from offended listeners. Bruno Brookes, who was unaware that an unedited version of the song had accidentally been aired, was suspended for a week and almost lost his job. In just three and a half minutes, a group of political agitators from Los Angeles had detonated an incendiary device live on the airwaves.

“We knew the band’s politics were radical,” says guitarist Tom Morello today. “And that the band’s music was a radical combination of styles. But we didn’t think it was going to matter, ’cos no one was ever going to hear it.”

But people did hear it, in their millions. Rage Against The Machine were about to start a four-man revolution.

More than a quarter of a century after it exploded like a car bomb under the hood of mainstream culture, Rage Against The Machine has lost none of its power, impact or provocative fervour. It was the sound of Public Enemy yoked to Black Flag, of Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X set to a soundtrack of cutting-edge rap-metal.

Rage arrived as the wilfully shallow, MTV-driven rock scene of the 1980s was flat on the canvas with bluebirds fluttering around its head, laid out by the emergent grunge movement. In America, a new generation of hip hop bands was providing a vital social commentary, marrying the gritty reality of the streets with the violent glamour of a Hollywood crime blockbuster. All this was happening against a backdrop of global turmoil, racial tension and the threat of war in the Middle East. In hindsight, their timing was perfect.

In reality, it was purely accidental. Vocalist Zack de la Rocha, guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Timmy C (aka Tim Commerford) and drummer Brad Wilk had been in various low-level LA bands, including hardcore firebrands Inside Out (Zack) and Lock Up (Tom, who played on their sole album, the unfortunately titled Something Bitchin’ This Way Comes).

“I had been in a band that had a record deal, I had already had my grab at the brass ring,” says Tom. “The band got dropped and I was 26 years old, and I thought that was it. I thought, ‘If I’m not going to be a rock star, or make albums, I’m at least going to play music that I believe in 100%.’ And I was fortunate to meet three people who felt very similarly.”

The four were brought together by various mutual friends, though Zack and Tim had known each other since childhood. Zack and Tom came from similarly radical backgrounds – Zack was the son of Mexican-American political artist Robert de la Rocha, Tom was the son of a white American activist mother and a Kenyan diplomat father. Growing up, both had experienced racism first hand, and bonded over their hard-left political views – views that would shape Rage from the off.

“I wanted to ensure the protection of this band’s integrity,” Zack told journalist Ben Myers in 1999. “Our words had to be backed up by actions, because we’re dealing with this huge, monstrous pop culture that has a tendency to suck everything that is culturally resistant to it into it in order to pacify it and make it non-threatening.”

Ironically, for a band who would go on to become one of the most successful of the 1990s, Rage Against The Machine saw their very existence as limiting what they could achieve.

“We began with zero commercial ambition,” says Tom. “I didn’t think we’d be able to book a gig in a club, let alone get a record deal. There was no market for multi-racial, neo-Marxist rap-metal punk rock bands. That didn’t exist. So we made this music that was just 100% authentic, it was 100% what we felt like playing. We had no expectations.”

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Still, it was clear to the members of Rage from the start that they were onto something unique. Brad Wilk can vividly recollect the band’s very first rehearsal.

“More than anything, I remember this connection and movement and momentum that was happening in the room,” he says. “Something clicked. I played so well with Tim and Tom, and then we had Zack, who was a bolt of lightning, flying off my kick drum and was in it for real. There was something really special about what we were doing. We weren’t analysing it or putting our fingers on it yet. It was just an intense moment for us all. We saw the very beginning of the potential we could have.”

Like so many Californian bands before them, Rage’s first gig took place not at a club but at a party, in Huntington Beach, in the sprawling suburb of Orange County, south of Los Angeles.

“It was a party in a house, and the place felt electric,” says Tim Commerford. “A lot of our songs didn’t even have vocals at that time. In fact, we played a version of Killing In The Name that was just the music – he hadn’t got the vocals done. You could feel the electricity. It felt like holding on to a fucking live wire. That’s what it was: a live wire. And it kept getting more and more live.”

Collectively, Rage were fans of hip hop, and Tom recalls the band’s early days being sound- tracked by the likes of Public Enemy and Cypress Hill. But while hip hop provided a big steer for the band, it wasn’t their sole influence. All four had grown up on guitar music ranging from 70s rock and 80s metal to punk.

“Our histories run deep, that’s why we were the band we were,” says Brad. “We didn’t just listen to hip hop, we listened to all kinds of things, from Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin to Minor Threatand the Sex Pistols. When we were getting together, we agreed that we wanted our record to sound somewhere between Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and Led Zeppelin’s Houses Of The Holy.”

In March, Rage embarked on their first proper tour as openers for Public Enemy. Thanks to the controversies whipped up by the US media around ‘gangsta rap’ acts such as NWA and Ice-T, mainstream America had a poisonous – read: virulently racist – relationship with hip hop, and trouble was never far away. It was the perfect environment for Rage Against The Machine.

“The tour was a needlessly controversial one,” says Tom. “At the time, rap was considered a dangerous endeavour, and the police sometimes outnumbered the audience at these shows. They tried to shut several down, filed injunctions – none of which were successful, I might add. We were playing these colleges, and the audience would be 100% white fraternity boys and sorority girls, passing through five levels of metal detectors and pat-downs. I think the cops were afraid that we were going to be bussing in Bloods and Crips to the show. There was an air of hysteria.”

Today, the guitarist still expresses bafflement that anyone at all would want to take a chance on Rage Against Their Machine and their political message, let alone a corporate record company. But their 12-track demo tape found its way into the hands of Michael Goldstone, the Epic Records A&R hotshot who’d previously signed Pearl Jam.

“Our only goal was to make music for ourselves and to make our own record – a cassette tape, an elaborate demo tape of the 12 songs we had written,” says Tom. “That was our entire goal. We never thought we’d play a show. We never thought we’d make a record.”

Garth Richardson was a young Canadian studio engineer whose biggest credit came on an album by hair metal B-listers White Lion. But he was young and hungry, and when Epic asked his boss, producer Michael Wagener, who should work on the debut album by this hot new rap-metal band they had signed, he was an obvious choice.

“I got the demo tape and went, ‘Holy shit.’ There was nothing else like it,” he recalls. “I went over to see them play in their jam space. I think they played me four songs, and I was blown away, to the point where I couldn’t talk afterwards, because my stutter was so bad. I was like, ‘Are you fucking kidding me – I’m going to be doing this band?’ It was their power, and also what Zack was saying. It was so fresh and so new.”

Rage began recording their debut album with Garth in March 1992. Seven of the 12 tracks from the demo tape, including Killing In The Name, Bomb Track and Bullet In The Head, would appear on the album.

“The songs were probably about 85 to 90% there,” remembers Garth. We made a few changes, mostly lyrically. Literally, somebody just had to capture them.”

To achieve this, the producer brought in a full concert PA system to get the full impact of the band’s live firepower. This was undiluted Rage – though sometimes it created unforeseen problems.

“The problem is that sometimes Zack’s voice went,” says Garth. “He was working it so hard. The end of Freedom, where he’s screaming, ‘Freedom!’, that’s just one take. Every time he sang, he gave it his all. Anybody that wanted him to hold back, he was, like, ‘No, fuck off, leave me alone.’”

Given the incendiary lyrical subject matter, there was surprisingly little input from Epic. They seemed to learn their lesson after suggesting the band remove the line ‘Now you’re under control’ from Killing In The Name. “There was a big conversation about that,” remembers Garth. “And the band just said, ‘Fuck you, that part stays.’”

Killing In The Name would be the song that broke the band in the UK. For six months, it soundtracked every rock club in the country, its impassioned call-to-arms galvanising dancefloors of people out to party. Yet, like so many of the great songs, it came about by accident.

“I remember coming up with that riff,” says Tom. “I was giving guitar lessons at the time, and I was teaching some Hollywood rock musician how to do drop-D tuning. In the midst of showing him, I came up with that riff. I said, ‘Hold on a second’, and I recorded it on my little cassette recorder to bring into the rehearsal the next day, never realising that it would be the genesis of a song that would have that lasting impact.”

In April 1992, a series of riots erupted in Los Angeles when four white policemen were acquitted of beating African-American motorist Rodney King, despite the assault being filmed by a witness standing on his balcony. For America, it was a moment of chaos. For Rage Against The Machine, who had already recorded their debut album and would release it in November, the timing was unfortunately convenient.

“All of those songs were written prior to the Rodney King riots,” says Tom. “In some ways the record was prescient, in that it saw this maelstrom of racial strife and imperialist war on the horizon. When the record hit, it was a fertile field for us to have the ear of audiences around the world.”

Rage were proudly revolutionary – too revolutionary for America, who were slow to catch on. Britain was a different matter, as Bruno Brookes’ unfortunate Radio 1 mishap proved.

“The UK was the first place people lost their minds over this music,” says Tom. “One of the principal reasons was that there were more lax lyrical censorship laws on your MTV and radio. We never edited the curse words out of songs, so people in the United States couldn’t even hear them on MTV, they couldn’t hear them on radio. And secondly, people over there were surprised to hear an American band that had a view of America that was similar to Europe’s view of America.”

From that small spark, a conflagration began to spread, as word about Rage Against The Machine grew. Their snowballing success had the desired effect, as a generation – or at least sections of it – began to wake up to the messages they were delivering through the bullhorn of their songs. Musically, too, they dragged the dormant rap-metal movement that had briefly flared up in the late 1980s back out of its stupor (in Bakersfield, California, the members of a brand new band named Korn were certainly paying attention to what Rage were doing).

Plus, society was changing fast in the early 90s. While sexism, racism and homophobia were still unfortunately prevalent, there was growing opposition to such outdated outlooks. Rage Against The Machine took it several steps further, crediting Black Panthers founder Huey Newton and Provisional IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands on the credits list to their album – a contentious move on both sides of the Atlantic. The sleeve itself featured a 1963 picture of Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc setting himself on fire in protest of his government’s oppression of Buddhism. It was the ultimate visual representation of protest.

“My heroes were not guys in rock bands,” says Tom. “They were revolutionaries who were fighting to change the world. It looked like we were going to have an opportunity to get in that arena. This was an incredible opportunity to engage the planet – not just with our music, but with our ideas.”

The success of Rage Against The Machine took everyone by surprise, not least Rage Against The Machine. They rapidly went from being the outcasts of the Hollywood scene to a lightning rod for the alt-rock movement. Rather than blunting their political edge, success only sharpened it – most famously in 1993, when they took to the stage at a Lollapallooza festival show in Philadelphia naked, apart from gaffa tape over their mouths, as a protest against censorship.

But the pressure-cooker environment that comes with being in a revolutionary left-wing band eventually took its toll. Tensions between the bandmembers grew, and Rage split up in 2000 after just three studio albums. They have sporadically reformed since – most famously for a one-off gig in London’s Finsbury Park, after a fan-led campaign saw a reissued Killing In The Name trounce the Simon Cowell-backed X-Factor winner Joe McElderry to the 2009 Christmas No.1.

More than 25 years after it was released, Rage’s debut remains a landmark – the point where rap and metal truly came together to deliver a body-blow to the status quo.

“Human strife has not changed. Racism has not changed. Things have actually gone backwards,” says Garth Richardson. “Rage Against The Machine wrote an incredible record that was current – and it will be time and time and time again.”

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.

“There was an interruption to a news broadcast with the voice of this alien… I thought, ‘What if it were real?’” I Am The Manic Whale bring an old storybook to life

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kmp78 · 8 months

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Truly the Morbius of music.

Thirty Seconds to Mars, They’re back baby. And they’re back at a time where their frontman, Jared Leto, seems to be at a public reception all time low. I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but before 2016 my thoughts about Jared Leto were that I didn’t really have any. He’s been in a lot of movies over his lifetime, and a number of them I actually really like and love - but not because of Jared. Being a method actor who puts his whole body and soul into a role is such an integral part of his brand, yet even at his best it feels like his characters could be played by someone else entirely and nothing will be lost. It wasn’t until a decade into Leto’s acting career that we got Thirty Seconds to Mars’s debut album, where even early on he proved to be even less compelling as a musician than as an actor. They started off as a mediocre space rock influenced alt rock band on their self-titled record, then shifted into being mediocre emo inspired alt rock band on “A Beautiful Lie”, before settling into the sound they have today on records such as “This Is War” and “Love Lust Faith + Dreams”, which can only be described as the middle point between modern Muse and modern U2…except worse. And that’s saying something, cus neither of those bands are doing well right now. I think it says a lot that despite being 20 years into their career and being one of the few remaining successful rock bands, they’re only really remembered for one song (which, I will admit, “The Kill” is a banger and a 2000’s emo staple). Like their frontman’s acting career, Thirty Seconds to Mars in the mainstream felt like they’re just kind of there, like they don’t really matter.

It wasn’t until 2016 where people’s indifference towards Jared Leto’s projects turned from indifference to annoyance. There was the multiple different headlines of all the ways Leto was being an ass on set to the cast and crew of “Suicide Squad” for the sake of THE METHOD and getting inside The Joker’s mind, only for people to see the movie and his performance being one of the most notably goofy things of the last decade (in case you haven’t been told yet, method acting is total bullshit). Then there was Thirty Seconds to Mars’s fifth album, subtlety titled “America”, which by all means the universe seemed to agree completely sucked. It really seems like they were trying to tap into that overblown genre mush Imagine Dragons sound that unfortunately ruled the rock airwaves in the late 2010’s, and the result was an album that seemingly appealed to no one. Then there was multiple instances that painted Jared in an unflattering light - uncharismatic interviews, reports of him being condescending and aloof to fans, an absolutely bizarre performance in “House of Gucci”, an annual Thirty Seconds to Mars retreats that the band delightfully calls a cult and by all means it does look like a cult, a number sexual assault allegations. I’ll also say from my own personal experience I had the misfortune of seeing Thirty Seconds to Mars open for Muse, and it was nothing short of uncanny and weird. And who can forget, “Morbius”, a movie iconic for no one wanting it, no one seeing it, and no one liking it. “Morbius” became the new standard of mediocrity, and what made it even more of a collective punching bag for dissatisfied consumers tired of cynical, formulaic media was the fact that nobody who worked on the movie seemed to get the joke, and Sony even rereleased it thinking there was an actual demand, only for it to bomb the box office again.

I’m honestly surprised Jared released anything so soon after “Morbius”. The public narrative of him is that of an uncharismatic egomaniacal dickhead who takes his artistry way too seriously and thinks his art is next level shit even though its become so increasingly mediocre that it has become a collective joke. I would think he would want to take some time out of the limelight or at least rethink how he approaches his work since the writing on the wall is that it desperately needs a change. But Thirty Seconds to Mars have taken five years to release their newest album when they promised it would only take thirty seconds, dammit. Apparently him and his brother Shannon had written two hundred tracks for their newest album in 2021 and were just waiting for the right time to release it, even saying they were sitting on three albums worth of material. I guess the band felt like the time was now to put something out, and I guess curiosity got the best of me. I hoped that Thirty Seconds to Mars had learned something from the last fifteen or so years of increasingly negative reception, maybe switch things up a bit and do something different because the formula hasn’t been working for a while, and I don’t see why it would work in 2023 when music is so much different from where it was even five year ago. Maybe they would get their heads out of their asses and stop making their typical brand of ego fueled, pretentious, generic, bland stadium bait and instead release something that feels like it was created by someone with thoughts and feelings.

And then as I was about to listen to this I saw its Windows Screen Saver album art and its title: “It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day”.

Yeah, I don’t think that’s happening.

What are we doing here? What are we doing here. There are only so many hours in a day, why did you spend your limited time making this and why are you asking other people to give theirs to hear it? I am genuinely asking you, Jared and Shannon Leto of Thirty Seconds to Mars. Because from where I’m sitting, it feels my time was wasted by one of the most milquetoast, flavorless, and soulless albums of the year simply because you were bored and wanted another car. “It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day” is an album that is one of the most lacking in care, heart, emotion, soul, personality, ideas, and effort I’ve heard in a while, and that’s saying something because “ELEVATION” and “Honestly, Nevermind” came out just last year. This sounds like thirty minutes of an AI recreation of a Chainsmokers remix of an Imagine Dragons cover of a new Post Malone B-Side. It’s like the duo have studied the charts circa 2015-2018 and algorithmically spat out every poorly aged millenial pop trend nearly a decade too late. Thirty Seconds to Mars claims that they wrote over TWO HUNDRED SONGS for this album, and THIS was the best they had to offer. Jared Leto, you are fucking with me. You have to be fucking with me. You would think that if you spent five years writing 200 songs that you would come up with *something* interesting at least by accident, but it’s like Thirty Seconds to Mars is trying to go out of their way to make music so bland, manufactured, generic, formulaic, and devoid of humanity that it’ll appeal to literally no one.

From beginning to end, the production on “It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day” feels like it’s trying to take from what the band thinks is popular and puts the most derivative, uninspired take on it it possibly can without bringing anything new to the table. Opener “Stuck” tries to cash in on the recent queer leaning dance pop revival with the most flat, colorless sounding EDM beats I’ve heard in a while, the perfect encapsulation of the “H&M changing room music” criticism that has become popular for generic pop music these days. As if that wasn’t enough, the main riff/backend hook sounds like a bastardized take of “Disturbia” and “Bad Romance”, except substituting Rihanna’s cool mystique and Gaga’s artsy weirdness we get Jared trying to sing “dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah” in the most ear grating way possible. Meanwhile, I’m guessing the duo saw that their attempt of being Imagine Dragons on “America” and instead of realizing it was a bad idea to begin with, they decided that they needed to literally get the singer of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds, to co-write and produce the next track, “Life Is Beautiful”, (god, what a fucking eye roll of a title). And yep, this sounds exactly like Imagine Dragons - and I do mean that as an insult. The barely existent verses that artificially inflate the chorus, the overblown Hans Zimmer BRAAAM drop, the “Well Will Rock You” stomp claps, the poorly implemented, trap hi-hats, the faux soul Dan Reynolds mini hook, the atmosphere sounding like it was made by a boardroom for a car commercial - this sound was already overdone, growing old, and receiving incredibly huge negative pushback back in 2018 when Thirty Seconds to Mars released their last album, who the fuck is this for in 2023? It’s cheesy, gaudy, and tacky, and it brings out the worst of both bands. These songs aren’t good by any means for the reason I listed above, and they may arguably be two of the worst here, I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t fault anyone for actually preferring them because they’re the only songs that poorly attempt some sort of edge - because from this point on, the rest of the record sounds like it was made to be the soundtrack for “The Bachelor”.

“Love These Days” sounds like modern Maroon 5 circa “JORDI”, and I don’t just mean Maroon 5 as in generic but as in it sounds exactly like Maroon 5, with it’s predictable, formulaic melody, its stale trap beat that shows the band is aware of hip-hop but not enough to be any good at it, and it’s “oh, this relationship has so many problems and we fight so often and we’re toxic for each other - but god, the sex is out of this world” lyrical theme. Also, “Getting high on heartbreak, hooked on to the pain, kind of fucked up and fake”? Jared, why would you say that? Why was Olivia Rodrigo’s last record more emotionally intelligent than this whole album. You’re 51 years old. “Lost These Days” (no, this isn’t a typo, there are actually two songs with virtually the same title) continues the Maroon 5 route, opting for their non distinct sad pop song sound this time with an outro that sounds like it would fit right in with the Chainsmokers era of radio pop, while “Never Not Love You” sounds like if someone dared to ask “what if Skillet remixed a song from ‘Dear Evan Hansen’”, and trust me, no matter how gross that sentence sounded to you the actual song is much worse.

Meanwhile, “Seasons” sounds like if the band tried to recreate “Sunflower” by Swae Lee and Post Malone from memory with its breezy atmosphere and electronic drums, except they sucked all of the catchiness and charm out of it and intended it for suburban moms to listen to it instead, while “Get Up Kid” is uncanny with its flat, corny, faux sentimental vibe, sounding like pouring out your traumas and mental health problems to someone and then responding “just be positive and you’ll stop being sad :)”. Both of these songs suffer from being just two of many notable instances of Jared’s vocal production and mixing being just ugly to listen to. Say what you want about Jared, but the man *can* sing - his style is overdramatic as fuck but he *can* sing - yet here, it sounds so fake, unnatural, and digitized, loaded to the brim with processing and Melodyne audibly dragging his voice from note to note, that I’d believe if you said they actually used AI to recreate his voice. And while we’re on the vocals, how can I forget the millennial whoops? Thirty Seconds to Mars are no strangers to overusing vocalizations to add a bit a bit of catchiness and fake emotionality instead of writing meaningful lyrics and well crafted songs, and they’re here in spades on this album. The “oh-oh’s”, the “you-oo-oo-oo’s” the “aye-oh, aye-oh, whoa-oh’s”. They’re here on almost every track trying to get you to feel something and bait the stadiums into singing along, but they just come across as soulless and as a way to fill up space where they couldn’t find a line. I know I must sound like I’m nitpicking some non-existent issue but I promise you the minute you notice them you won’t be able to stop, and they’ll get increasingly annoying every time they come up. All of these shifts from one gentrified pop trend to the next are not only bland and obnoxious as hell, but it makes the band feel like they have no real identity, sounding like some gray soup resembling pop music you’ve heard before but not being particularly good at any of it.

But the worst part of “It's the End of the World but It's a Beautiful Day” isn’t just the fact that it’s completely derivative and generic, it’s how the record is all style and no substance. The booming basses, the big hits of stomps and claps, the overdramatic vocal performances, the stadium bait millennial whoops; they all point to a common problem of the band trying to come across as profound with material that just has no content. The Ed Sheeran co-written track “World on Fire” is just beating you over the head with this attitude of “THIS IS DEEP, THIS IS MEANINGFUL” with its melodramatic vocals, pounding drums, big synths, and melodic guitar leads, yet the song is packed to the brim with clichés of “Life leads us out of the dark, Let there be light, And we’ll set this world on fire” that are not only unoriginal but completely unspecific. The meaning of “life is beautiful” is that life is beautiful. Oh, and you should rise up against…something? I guess? The closer “Avalanche” drops these loud burst of vocoder choirs, clearly trying to set the mood as larger than life with some sort of great knowledge, but they just sing the vapid lyrics “Time, time to live our lives, Set the world on fire, From the ashes, we will rise, Life, don't let it pass you by, Open up your eyes, From the ashes, we will rise”. Like…do I have to say it? These words are so cliché that they practically don’t mean anything. They’re not saying anything, these are empty slogans you hear at MLM events trying to convince you to ruin your life. Not only are they completely predictable with rhymes you can see coming a mile away, they just sounds vapid, surface level, and fake deep.

And that’s the problem with this whole record. From the overblown instrumentation to the exaggerated performances to the calls to action for nothing in particular, this record is trying so hard to be big, grand, meaningful, and profound, yet every attempt at trying to be impactful comes across as hollow. It’s empty grandiosity and the definition of being pretentious. More than anything, it reminds me of bad Christian rock. Think about it, the overdramatic performances, attempting to sound huge yet feeling incredibly limp, calls to action to do…something, attempting to sound deep and meaningful yet coming across as cliché and meaningless, trying so hard to sound sincere that you sound anything but. Thirty Seconds to Mars is just using the aesthetics of bad Christian rock while taking out the religious part of it. It’s basically a non-religious Newsboys. But while I think bands like Newsboys suck, I’ll give them this - they do have a message that they do care about, and I think they’re earnestly trying to spread it, even if I think it’s in one of the most ineffective and corniest ways possible. Thirty Seconds to Mars has no message, I don’t think Jared Leto cares about anything, I’m not even fully convinced he likes music; I think he’s just so far up his own ass that he thinks his surface level stones ramblings over stadium bait atrocities are just that good and meaningful and will sell records to continue to fuel his celebrity lifestyle.

So yeah, I don’t like this Thirty Seconds to Mars record. In a lot of ways, I actually feel like “It's the End of the World, But It's a Beautiful Day” is the album equivalent to “Morbius”. There seems to be no purpose behind it existing besides it could make money and the fact that it can. It’s generic, dull, insipid, unoriginal, unimaginative, run of the mill, nondescript, and has no point of view whatsoever, and as a result its got not appeal besides being similar to other media people are already tired of and not being a particularly good resemblance. It’s trying to hype itself as a big event, and yet the final result is just pure background noise, with anything that does stand out being gaudy, tacky, and flat out gross. And most importantly, it’s got Jared Leto making a big deal about how much of an artist he is while having nothing substantial to show for it, leading to him further looking like an egotistical ass. It feels like an album made with very little of any love and a record made for no one, with music and lyrics that come across as inauthentic, insincere, manufactured, and lacking in substance when it’s desperately trying to act like it’s not. I’ve seen lifestyle gurus that charge $6000 for a three day wellness stay that come across as more genuine than this. There might be albums that I rank lower this year on my worst list - we’ll see when we get there, I’m being 100% real with you when I say I don’t know yet - but I can tell you right now that there is nothing else that I’ve heard this year that feels this cynical. “It's the End of the World, But It's a Beautiful Day” by Thirty Seconds to Mars is completely absent of soul, care, effort, feeling, emotion, and anything resembling good.

Thanks, anon.

But please don´t send messages that are THIS LONG.

It´s impossible to read smthg that has 20000 words.

I prefer if you send just the link and then people can go to a different site to read the actual article.

I don´t need my feed being taken over with smthg as massive as this, thanks. 👍

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