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harryandmolly · 6 years

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i could write it better than you ever felt it - one

A/N: I’m dedicating this fic to the author of the first fics I fell in love with as a curious middle schooler on Quizilla, soxlongxjimmy. Thanks for the memories.

Warnings: Language, miscreants being miscreants

Word count: 3.2k

Val rolls over, blindly scrabbles for the cherry red Sidekick blaring “Miss Murder” under her tufted black PB Teen comforter.

“Raf Calling”

Val stifles a knowing smile, though she’s alone in her bedroom. She answers, lifts the phone to her ear.

“How much do you love me?” he asks, a self-deprecating chuckle in his voice.

Val giggles back. “Enough.”

Rafael and Valentina Moreno were born at 6:43 and 7:04 (respectively) on the morning of April 22, 1985. From then on, it was chaos.

Two was quite enough children for ambitious professors Miguel and Fernanda Moreno. They were scholars, children of knowledge, who wanted a small, quiet family. They envisioned docile walks on the beach, Saturday trips to museums, maybe the occasional University of Miami football game.

They got Raf and Val instead. The twins were at each other’s throats nearly from the time they were born – Miguel tells a story every holiday season of placing both babies in the same crib to bond when they were a few months old. The new parents turned around for a minute and looked back to see Val rolling on top of Raf trying to smush his face into the cushions.

From then on, separate cribs.

But the twins, despite their ongoing hostilities, couldn’t be separated. It was as though their energies thrived on one another. One summer when they were 12, Raf left for sleepaway soccer camp. A few days in, Val woke her mother up in the middle of the night in tears begging them to bring her brother home. He came back at the end of the summer and two days later she threw an ice cream cone in his face.

Miguel and Fernanda were faced with a new reality – noise. Their kids were loud before they even picked up their respective instruments. The Morenos thought music lessons would be a good outlet for their wild children, so they had them classically trained from a young age. Once again, their good intentions wrought chaos. Valentina was a menace on the drums – though a very talented, well trained menace. And Rafael was a gifted guitar player.

It wasn’t until they were 14 and started sharing practice space in the Morenos’ garage that they could be in the same room without ripping each other’s heads off.

And then, against all odds, they joined forces. The Moreno twins finally discovered they were stronger together than apart. That’s not to say they didn’t still fight like cats and dogs, but they loved each other just as viciously as they bickered. Miguel and Fernanda could live with that. They had to.

Streets of Gold was a stupid pet project, it wasn’t supposed to be anything. Until it was.

Val was original music buff of the family. She used to sit in her closet with the door shut and the lights off listening to her dad’s record collection. It made her feel cool, listening to old vinyl. But she didn’t really get it until she got around to hearing The Ramones’ “Rocket to Russia” for the first time. Everything changed then for the Morenos.

Raf was hesitant at first – could he really let himself like something Val discovered, something Val thought was cool? But he couldn’t hold out long. Because it was cool. It was really cool.

Valentina became the Encyclopedia Brown of pop-punk. You could name a song and she could tell you what band, what album, what year it dropped, whether or not it was a single, and what label released it. She was a goddamn savant. Raf started using her like she was a walking party trick with his friends, some of whom also started to think pop-punk was cool.

Streets of Gold started, as many shitty garage bands do, as a blink-182 cover band. They played birthday parties, then house parties, then veteran halls, then underground Miami clubs. They were signed by Stuck in the Suburbs Records in 2002 and struck out on their first supporting tour. They’ve barely been home since.

Everything changed once again for the Moreno family when Val took a step back. She loved the band, loved the music, even loved touring, but there was a piece of her that was more like her parents than she ever realized or wanted to admit. She craved learning and missed academia after she finished her GED. She secretly applied to the University of Miami and sought out her replacement for the band, gearing up for a fight.

Raf lost it, at first. They had the worst knock-down, drag-out sibling fight of their entire lives. It ended in tears with Raf holding Val against his chest as they sobbed. They started training her replacement Naveen the next day.

Among Val’s fondest memories of drumming in Streets of Gold are the two years she spent with the band on Warped Tour. Warped was every scene kid’s wet dream, every garage band’s Woodstock. It was the be all, end all of pop-punk music. Warped is a fickle mistress – it makes and it breaks, it gives and it takes and it’s not for the faint of heart.

They call it rock band summer camp, and it is. It’s day after day of heat and sweat and drugs and sex and music, so much fucking music. But the showers are scarce and sleeping in a van with five guys, driving through the night to reach the next stop, it wears on you.

But it’s all about the kids. They come in droves, self-professed outcasts in girls’ skinny jeans, hair Manic Panic-ed and razored past the point of recognition, the uniform of kids without a cause. They gather like the Island of Misfit Toys for a chance at community, to throw themselves into a world they recognize, a world they’ve created for themselves. It reflects them, it accepts them, it inspires them, and Warped Tour is where it truly comes alive.

The kids wait for hours in the heat, withstand insane conditions to see their favorite bands. They go hard, they leave it all out on the fields, in the amphitheaters, screaming their lungs out as thanks for giving them somewhere to belong. It’s a chorus of angst and otherness and, somehow, hope. It’s Valentina’s favorite song. And she misses it.

Raf dropped the hint two weeks ago that there might be a chance at return for Val. Things are different now – Streets of Gold is starting and finishing the 2007 Vans Warped Tour on the main Lucky Stage, a far cry from their humble beginnings playing to a handful or a dozen curious onlookers from Hot Topic Kevin Says. They have a bus now with a shower and actual air conditioning and, holy shit, they have actual bunks.

And their merch guy Jamie, Raf told her casually, has to step away from the tour due to a family financial situation. Can’t be avoided. They’re checking their network for replacements, but, if they can’t find someone in time, could he beg her to come along? One last summer on the Warped Tour before she leaves for the UK in the fall?

Val played it cool – “I’m exhausted,” she reminded him, “After everything this year…” (And she doesn’t need to elaborate, because he knows all too well) “And I just graduated…”

But the truth is, Val found herself wondering about it. She hasn’t been on tour in three full years. She’s gotten her fixes visiting their shows, bobbing her head from side stage singing the words she still writes for the band with her brother, but it’s not the same. It’ll never be the same.

After only a few days, Val wasn’t just wondering – she was hoping. She had it wrapped around her heart now, this idea of returning to something that always brought her hope and comfort when she needed it. And like she told Raf, after the year she’s had…

She got the call four days before the first stop in Pomona. Raf needed her. She’d better start packing.

She couldn’t wait for the summer at the Warped Tour, she remembers the first time that she saw him there.

“Oh, thank fucking Christ!”

Shawn rolls his eyes and throws the lurching white van into park. It scuttles to a stop.

“Shut the fuck up, dude,” Shawn mumbles, wrenching his rusty door open and stepping out onto the grass to survey the area.

Francis’s head pops up over the roof of the van wearing a disapproving glare.

“All in favor of banning Shawn from driving for the rest of the tour, say aye!” Francis crows.

A chorus of ayes fall out of the sliding doors of the 15-passenger van as they open and pour smelly 20-somethings out. Shawn sighs and plants his hands on his hips.

“I got us here an hour before we were supposed to be, I deserve credit for that,” he whines, sliding his Ray Bans up into his dark curls.

Francis looks unimpressed. “You nearly killed us all at least four times. You don’t get shit.”

“Maybe this was his strategy,” Bobby offers with an eyebrow lifted conspiratorially, “Maybe he pretends to be a shitty driver so he can get out of driving the van between stops.”

Shawn smirks. “I’ve been a shitty driver since I was 15. That’s a long con.”

“Alright, assholes, time to start unloading,” calls a voice from near the trunk. Shawn groans and licks his lips, flicking at the black enameled ring he got pierced there a couple months ago.

He ambles back to where the truck has pulled up beside their rickety van. Andrew climbs out and runs a hand through his hair. “Shawn, man, you’re fucking impossible to follow. You were doing 85 on the freeway, you know that?”

Shawn opens his mouth to defend himself when the rest of his band starts choking on laughter. He holds up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fuckers. Drive yourselves.”

Shawn turns and looks around at the Pomona Fairgrounds. He’s never seen anything more beautiful in his life. There are stages going up left and right, tents and skate ramps and those inflatable floating human-shaped things that flop around and wave at car dealerships. It’s mania, and he’s so fucking excited about it.

Warped Tour has always been the dream. It’s always been a reality just out of reach. Always a spectator, never the spectated.

He’s been nomadic for the past few years since he first picked up a guitar and started playing old The Starting Line and Jimmy Eat World covers. He’s been in at least eight different bands, all of which showed promise at the start and ended in various states of the decay of teenage boredom. No one wanted to go the distance with him, not until he met Francis, Bobby and Seth through friends of friends of friends. Then suddenly, Warped Tour wasn’t just within reaching distance, it was fucking happening.

Shawn’s a sentimental sap so he’s standing on the hill overlooking the manifestation of his dreams. Seth, the band’s fan-anointed “quiet one,” claps a hand on his shoulder.

“We fuckin’ made it, man,” he reminds Shawn breathlessly. Shawn chokes on an emotional inhale and nods.

They’ve gotten good at load-in now. Everyone has their assigned tasks and Andrew’s a seasoned enough tour manager to be able to wrangle them into efficiency. Or, near efficiency. They’re a little distracted today, overwhelmed by the magnitude of it all.

They’re quieter, too. They’ve felt big in their britches for awhile, having been invited out on tour supporting bands like Valencia, My American Heart and All Time Low. But this is a new ballgame. They’re very much little fish in a giant fucking pond, a very intimidating pond.

They stare at the buses of pop-punk legends as they wade past with amps and instruments and risers in hand, feeling like it’s the first day of kindergarten and the eighth graders are all settled in and looking cooler than anyone ever has ever. Shawn actually, embarrassingly enough, nods in reverence at Streets of Gold’s bus. He’s glad none of his band and crew notice and razz him for it.

Being new and not a huge crowd draw, they’re one of the first bands of the day on their designated Smartpunk stage. Shawn doesn’t so much mind playing Smartpunk. It’s a small stage but plenty of amazing bands have gotten started there. He’s just happy to be on the tour. And if they impress and end up drawing in some attention and wind up spending a couple of tour dates on Hurley.com or even, dare he dream it, the Hurley stage, he’ll be a happy kid.

But at 19, with his best friends at his side and their sophomore album release date coming up in only a month, Shawn feels like he’s at the edge of the world looking at the start of something he can’t quite make out yet, but it feels so fucking good.

Val is already sweating her balls off, no surprise there.

She’s had some merch girl experience, naturally, having been with the band since its infancy, a time where everyone wears a lot of hats. But now that Streets is a bona fide Warped Tour Band, a destination, a band people make the trip to see, it’s a new ballgame.

She unloads box after box of shirts, hats, hoodies, wristbands, CDs, booty shorts, whatever else they can hawk at an upcharge. Raf and Naveen eagerly help her and she suspects they’re trying to play nice because they know she didn’t have to come on tour and help them. Val doesn’t want to get used to it – in about a week, they’ll be a lot less eager to haul boxes around and will make themselves scarce.

As she’s setting up the tent above the table, she looks around with a smile.

Returning to Warped feels a little like coming home. It’s a dry, hot, smelly home with sun-scorched grass underfoot and an overabundance of men in women’s jeans but there’s just something about it—

“BABYYYYYY!” cries a voice that belongs to a woman who soon careens straight into Val’s side.

“Oh my fucking god!” Val squeals, throwing her arms around the violet haired cling on. She bounces back and forth as they laugh and babble incoherently.

Finally, she pulls away and Val holds her by the shoulders to look at her.

“Why, Bea Easton, look at you!” Val giggles.

Bea, all four-foot-eleven inches of her, strikes a pose complete with duck face and popped hips in her low-slung Bullhead skinnies. She breaks into a laugh, shaking her head.

“Miss me, Moreno?”

“So much that I’m back on tour with these hooligans again,” Val sighs, angling her head at her bus where her tourmates are arguing over the Xbox.

Bea chuckles. “Thank god. It was getting dull in the scene without you.”

Val shoots her a suspiciously amused glance. Bea makes an exasperated noise, throwing her hands up.

“Well the scene is never fucking dull, that’s kind of the point, but I missed you, kid! You’re not so easily replaced, you know.”

Val scrunches her face and pulls Bea into a proper hug, tucking her face into her freshly-dyed hair and rubbing her back. “Ditto, dude. College was cool but… I couldn’t really resist one last shot at all this.”

Bea stands back and loops her arm around Val’s waist as they observe. After a moment, Bea pinches Val’s side gently.

“Hey, how are you?”

Val’s body tightens instinctively. She knows Bea feels it. Bea only asked a question everyone’s been asking her for months. And Val’s still shit at pretending it doesn’t bug the fuck out of her.

“I’m fine. Really. I went to the doctor recently and he did some tests and confirmed that I’m human and not a big walking china doll.”

Bea’s bleached eyebrows lift as she smirks. “Point taken. Have you started checking out the talent, then?”

Val scoffs. “You and your locker room talk.”

“This is what equality looks like, bitch. But seriously, tell me that’s not half the reason you’re here. A little palette cleanser.”

Val runs her tongue across her lower lip. Bea knows her oh so well.

She elbows Bea gently. “Stop that, I already have a reputation,” she hisses teasingly.

“Mmm, that’s right,” Bea replies, playing along, “The biggest slut in the scene is back on Warped Tour. Better start lining up for a taste.”

Val laughs heartily, shaking her head. “I swear to god, Bea, you—”

She stops dead in her sentence, words have failed her. Her brain fritzes out. She stares straight ahead, exhales in a loud puff. Bea notices and turns to look at what, or who, Val has spotted.

He’s tall. That’s probably the first thing anybody ever notices about him. He’s really fucking tall. He’s also not as scrawny as the rest of the twiggy white boys that populate the scene these days. He’s built – broad in the shoulders and the thighs. He’s wearing the uniform black skinnies, though, so he’s probably a band member rather than a volunteer. And he’s got the presence, somehow, of a frontman. Maybe it’s because Val’s pretty well versed in scene guys, but she can just tell he’s a lead singer.

His dark curls are tucked under a backwards Blue Jays hat and his eyes are unreadable under black Wayfarers. His facial structure is sinfully architected, marred only by the black lip ring that’s pierced through his full lower lip.

His hands are tucked in the pockets of his impossibly tight jeans as he cruises easily on a skateboard through hordes of bands and crew prepping for the day. He seems unbothered by the hard work going on around him, content to observe and take it all in. It gives him an ethereal sort of glow, that he’s untouched by reality.

Val swallows like a fucking cartoon character and watches his mighty leg strike the ground, black leather high top Chucks kicking up a cloud of fairground dust as he propels himself past the tent without a glance. She feels like a ninth grader who’s caught her first glance at the senior quarterback. She sniffs. It’s been a while since she’s felt like that at all.

Bea elbows her again. “Holy damn.”

“Say it again, sister,” Val chuckles, watching the back pockets of his jeans stretch over his very fine ass as he launches himself down the sidewalk, weaving and bobbing through the crowd.

“HOLY DAMN!” Bea crows, throwing an arm around Val’s shoulders and shaking her. Val sniggers and peels her eyes away, nibbling on her pillowy lower lip.

“I’ll do some recon, find out who he is,” Bea offers, smirking. Val isn’t about to turn that down. Bea’s the most well-connected merch girl on the tour, being as seasoned as she is, having toured with New Found Glory since ’97. She nods her thanks and waves goodbye as Bea rushes off to check on the status of her own merch tent.

Val turns back to her table, fumbling through price tags and pushpins. Her mind is elsewhere. Specifically, it’s somewhere in the back pocket of that skateboarding guy. She can smell trouble on him from here.

She doesn’t mind. She could use a little trouble.

Boys, raise your glasses/Girls, shake those, go, go, go/We're the party, you're the people/Let's make this night a classic

Taglist: I literally don’t know who my taglist is anymore so lmk if you want to be added but for now here @smallerinfinities @the-claire-bitch-project @stillinskislydia @achinglyshawn @infiniteshawn @alone-in-madness @alone-in-madness @singanddreamanyway @accioalena

#shawn mendes #shawn mendes fanfic #shawn mendes fan fic #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes fan fiction #shawn mendes au #shawn mendes fic #shawn peter raul mendes #punk!shawn #warped tour

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deadcactuswalking · 5 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 28th April 2019 (Jonas Blue, Lil Dicky, Rita Ora)

Top 10

We have a couple new arrivals this week, but the biggest story is still how this song clings on to the top spot, as “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus still at number-one for a second week, and both the meme and constant discussion surrounding the song continue to spread to the point where it’s a cultural phenomenon.

The rest of the top 10 is incredibly less interesting. “Piece of Your Heart” by MEDUZA and Goodboys is up two spaces to number-two. It could make a play for the top.

Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” is also down a spot to number-three.

Down one position from last week is Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” at number-four.

Tom Walker’s “Just You and I” isn’t moving at number-five.

Avicii’s posthumous hit “SOS” featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc has boosted up six spaces to number-six, becoming Avicii’s first ever posthumous Top 10, as well as his tenth Top 10 in general, and Aloe Blacc’s third.

Up a spot from last week is the Jonas Brothers with “Sucker” at number-seven.

Russ (Splash) and Tion Wayne’s “Keisha & Becky” stabilises its spot at number-eight, down a spot from last week.

Elevating a single space from recent controversy is “Here with Me” by Marshmello and CHVRCHES at number-nine.

At #10, to round off our top 10, is “Talk” by Khalid, up a space and returning to the top 10.

Climbers

Wiley’s “Boasty” featuring verses from Stefflon Don, Sean Paul and Idris freakin’ Elba is up five spaces to #12, whilst “All Day and Night” by EUROPA featuring Madison Beer enters the top 20 at #14, up eight spaces from last week, becoming the first top 20 hit for EUROPA as a group, as well as Jax Jones’ seventh, Martin Solveig’s third as well as Beer’s first ever (Congratulations). Other than that, “Pretty Shining People” by George Ezra is up nine spots to #25, and his other song “Shotgun” is up seven to #30, so there must have been some sort of boost to the album sales, but generally, that’s all we have.

Fallers

We have a few more of these, or at least it seems these songs are more notable. “Giant” by Calvin Harris and Rag ‘n’ Bone Man finally gets its streaming cuts due to dumb UK chart rules and is down 10 positions to #16, whilst “Boy with Luv” by BTS featuring Halsey collapses 16 spaces down to #29 as K-pop always does, “Disaster” by Dave featuring J Hus is down six spaces to #33, whilst “wish you were gay” by Billie Eilish as well as “MONOPOLY” by Ariana Grande and Victoria Monet seem prepared for a premature exit, down 11 and 10 spots respectively to #37 and #40.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

I’m going to assume YNW Melly has had his streaming cut as “Murder on My Mind” is completely out of the Top 75 after dropping out from #38. Speaking of, “Options” by NSG and Tion Wayne has very unfortunately dropped out from #23 due to this dumb chart rule, which directly affects certain genres, i.e. urban music like hip hop and R&B (as well as EDM, for that matter) that is boosted prominently from streaming, from never having any longevity and not becoming as big as hits on the year-end than they deserve. “Options” would have been locked if it weren’t for this rule, as I think it would have lasted many more weeks. The other drop-out is from Ariana Grande and it’s “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” from #39.

NEW ARRIVALS

#39 – “Carry On” – Kygo and Rita Ora

Produced by Kygo and Afsheen – Peaked at #8 in Norway

Yes! I finally get to talk about Pokémon! I know what you’re thinking, what? Why? It’s just Rita Ora collaborating with some massive EDM producer like she always does, and while you’re right, it’s for the Detective Pikachu film, which isn’t currently out but I am going to see it at some point. I’m excited to hear this soundtrack as well, although I’m not exactly expecting Kygo and Rita Ora to deliver anything particularly good, or interesting, or Pokémon-related for that matter. Pokémon songs for the anime films have never directly related to the film plots, though, and usually were kind of boring, motivational songs with very vague lyrics, which is understandable as they had to be rushed out every single year. Anyway, this is Kygo’s seventh Top 40 hit and Rita Ora’s 21st, which is impressive, and is it any good? No. Of course it isn’t, and I’m mostly indifferent on this tasteless drivel that EDM producers put out in general with female pop singers where it sounds like the singers have been artificially sped-up, with mixing that’s overly-drowned in reverb and an instrumental as dry as clay years after it is first moulded. The piano melody here isn’t bad, but it isn’t unique and doesn’t carry Rita Ora’s incredibly weak hook, and in general her performance here sucks, like that random “Woo!” she adds in that pauses the song entirely just to halt his momentum, to add nothing at all! There’s barely a real drop here, so it just feels like a constant onslaught of nothingness and high-pitched vocal samples, which I somewhat like for its effort not to make a club banger but rather a tropical house ballad straight out of the dregs of 2016, and it’s not the last new arrival we have that does that here, but this is the only one I’ll talk about in this episode, more on that later. Anyways, this isn’t worth much analysis. It’s dreadfully boring but it’s not exactly long and doesn’t overstay its presence for THAT long, I suppose, it’s just disappointing for a soundtrack that is supposed to provide the music for what is looking out to be a film full of personality with actors oozing charisma. I’m looking out for the Sonic the Hedgehog film’s soundtrack a bit more now, albeit just for the novelty of a Dr. Robotnik cover of “Gangsta’s Paradise”. Next.

#27 – “No Diet” – Digga D

Produced by Ghosty

Digga D is a UK drill artist, as most of the rappers we see on the charts are in 2019. I’ve only vaguely heard of him before, so I think it’s safe to assume that the extreme marketing for the song involving a lot of different companies and individuals, including Mixtape Madness, is what landed this on the charts as Digga D’s first top 40 hit, as well as the video which is about trafficking crack cocaine in Coca-Cola cans... sure. Anyway, is the song itself any good? Well... the beat is incredibly minimalistic like most UK drill, with just an ominous piano line as the backing for a skittering hi-hat and bass-heavy trap beat – those 808s, by the way, are pretty insane. Digga D isn’t really saying anything of interest or anything different than the other guys, but the beat is good enough to carry him a lot of the time, and I love his weird sounds he uses for the ad-libs. It reminds me of a British Migos, where instead of repeating the line, he just makes unintelligible nonsense words and stutters. The singing on the second verse is pretty janky in relative to when it appears in the verse, and while Genius says this and the supposedly playful lyrics are what sets it apart, I don’t see the juxtaposition here, I just think it’s kind of surreal in how bipolar this song feels. There’s an ominous, eerie and menacing beat, violent and braggadocious lyrics from Digga, and then a bunch of silly, humorous ad-libs over it. This song has an identity crisis first and foremost, and while we’re at it...

#24 – “Earth” – Lil Dicky

Produced by benny blanco and Cas—

Nope. No, sorry, not touching this one. I appreciate what it’s doing for charity but I have a LOT to say about this song and trust me, it is not overwhelmingly positive, so, no, I’m not covering this one, at least not like this, and not right now. I might do a full-length review at some point but I think it’s much more likely that I talk about this at the end of the year, if you get the gist. For now, to replace an actual review, let me just list the guest stars, because technically, this is a song by Lil Dicky featuring Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown of his eponymous band, Brendan Urie of Panic! at the Disco, common fungus Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart as Kanye West, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty as an STD, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, mother-father gentleman PSY, professional basketball player Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Bad Bunny, Kris Wu, Leonardo DiCaprio and the entirety of the Backstreet Boys. Does that count as a review for Lil Dicky’s second UK Top 40 single? I don’t care, I’ll talk about in length when I want to. Trust me, I’m planning ahead.

#23 – “What I Like About You” – Jonas Blue and Theresa Rex

Produced by Jonas Blue – Peaked at #1 in Belgium

Oh, yeah, this, okay, well, Jonas Blue exists, I guess, and I’m supposed to review everything he puts out because everything this dude makes charts... and sucks. I don’t really have a problem with the dude, but nothing he makes is all that interesting, and he’s the epitome of carelessly generic EDM and dance-pop. This particular track features vocals from Theresa Rex, Danish pop singer who you won’t know by name and she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, but you will know the voice of from “Solo Dance” years back, which she had uncredited vocals on (I’m glad they stopped not crediting the vocalists on EDM tracks, especially since, you know, they do all the heavy lifting in terms of singing). The production here is pretty tropical, I guess, with some handclaps and a weak synth drop that has a few orchestral stabs to replace any unique instrumentation. None of the vocal melodies catch on yet and I’d much prefer “Solo Dance” to this. What else am I supposed to say? I know I’ve taken the easy way out with these two songs, but honestly we’re at a standstill in the charts right now where it should really be more interesting than it is.

Conclusion

Even if I didn’t review it, I don’t care, Lil Dicky and friends still get Worst of the Week for “Earth”, with Dishonourable Mention going to Jonas Blue and Theresa Rex for “That’s What I Like About You”, or something to that effect. In fact, there’s no Best of the Week or Honourable Mention, the Dishonourable Mention is tied as Kygo and Rita Ora’s “Carry On” exemplifies the exact same problem. God, what a crappy week. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more pop music ramblings and Top 20 rankings, and I’ll see you next week!

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robynboswell · 7 years

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Arrival at the Palace & Makeovers

- Robyn spent the week saying goodbye to everyone.

- On Saturday she went to work as usual but got no work done since everyone wanted to see how she was and the general excitement meant hardly anyone got any work done—she left early so everyone could focus on the Ballet performance that night.

- With so much extra free time she spent it getting mentally prepared for the changes that were to come.

- That Monday she went to her college campus to talk about her current credit classes and how it will all work out while she was away. Because of the unpredictability if she would only be there a week or for the rest of her life, the college advisor was at a loss on what to do for her. She eventually just advised Robyn that withdrawing from her classes would be better than out-right dropping the class and taking an F, which would damage her GPA significantly. If and when Robyn returns she’d just have to enroll into the classes again.

- This causes Robyn to be in a depressive state because the situation feels like its damaging her future rather than helping it.

- The next few days are simply spent with family. Robyn has since then moved back home with her parents and sister. Elisa (mom) can’t take days off of work but spends any extra time with her at home. Sam (dad) who does have a bunch of free time, uses this time to get his and Robyn’s relationship back together. It’s still pretty awkward but they’re both trying to make an effort.

- Alejandra loves having her sister back home. Things have been a bit awkward between the two since Robyn was chosen over Alejandra (who has now developed a bit of a self-esteem issue). Nonetheless, things were dull since Robyn had moved away so Ale was happy to have some excitement in her life, even for just a little while.

- Come Thursday, she barely saw anyone. Elisa at work, Ale at school, which was normal, but even Sam was out for a Bass lesson. She’d rome around the city for the day. Started the morning at a coffee shop, treated herself to gel nail at the nail salon (her nails were basically nubs since she played so much), stopped at the record shop and found a perfect album to gift Kevin as a thank-you for letting her stay with him and Melissa, and ran into Noah Burke.

- Noah congratulated her on being selected

- It was very awkward

- At this point Robyn’s been brief that to be in the Selection she had to be a virgin

- Which everyone believes but there is one person who knows she’s not

- Noah

- So she pulls him aside and explains and hopes even though things didn’t end well for them since Noah was married, that Noah would keep his trap shut, basically

- He agrees saying he wishes her no harm, that he’s had month to think about what he’s done and he feels terrible for using her, though he points out that he very much did love her

- She curtly thanks him and they part

- Robyn gets a phone call from Kevin to meet up with her at Melissa restaurant for dinner,

- She takes the bus and within half-an-hour she arrives at ____ a New Asia cuisine restaurant.

- Her family is there which surprises her.

- “You’ll be leaving tomorrow and on your birthday so I just wanted to do something special for you,” Melissa says to her

- They all eat until they’re stuffed including Melissa who’d taken the rest of the night off to hang out with everyone

- Outside kevin calls two cabs and makes it a point that the night is definitely not over

- He discreetly gives both drivers the direction to their destination so no one would over hear

- They arrive at none other than the club that Melissa and Kevin first met.

- Robyn knows this is the one because Melissa is reminiscing

- “Why are we taking our underage sister to a bar?” Robyn questions Kevin as everyone stands around waiting

- “We’re celebrating you going off to the palace tomorrow—but more importantly your birthday,” Kevin wraps an arm around Melissa pulling her in close as she shivers slightly from the cold night

- Alejandra takes out a tacky silver plastic crown and places it on Robyn’s head; “In case you don’t get to wear THE crown, I wanted to get you your own,” The sisters hug.

- Her parents hug her next and they all go into the bar which is full of loud alternative music and chatter

- She looked around to everyone in the crowd and everyone suddenly screaming her name. She walked along and saw her aunt and uncle (mom’s brother and wife) with drinks in hand. They kissed her cheeks and told her how excited they were to see their niece was going to be on TV with royalty.

- Robyn’s parents stopped to say hello and stayed with them as Robyn walked along,

- She then bumped into an old friend from high school. The girl hugged Robyn tightly saying she regretted they didn’t try to keep in touch once school ended. Robyn shrugged saying “It happens,” and the girls parted~

- Robyn finds herself at the bar ordering a non-alcoholic drink since she was underage still.

- The bartender handed her a soda with a wink, “For the birthday girl.”

- She took a sip to find out he’d spiked it was Rum

- Robyn shakes her head smiling and thanks him

- “Hello, hello, hello,” Kevin’s says into a mic, prompting the music’s volume to lower and the crowd to holler back hello

- “Now we all know why we’re gathered here today—let’s see,” Kevin scanned the crowd and found Robyn at the bar, “There she is! Robyn Boswell, everyone!” he extended his arm pointing to her.

- Everyone cheers

- “Alright, can everyone join me in singing a song—“ just then her parents come up from behind her, and place a huge cake in front of her with over a dozen candles.

- Kevin gets everyone to ding the birthday song

- She blows out the candle and quickly takes a bit of frosting and smears it on her dads face, as per tradition.

- He’s shocked and tries to retaliate but Robyn slips away into the crowd before he could get her back. There was no way she was going to get cake in her hair this year.

- She thanks everyone as she passes them by.

- Kevin and his band preform a few songs

- Robyn dances with her sister, Melissa, and a friend by the stage

- As the night drags on Kevin ends a song and wants to make an announment

- He goes on and on thanking everyone for being here on such a short notice. That originally they were probably just going to cut a cake and say their goodbyes at home. But he felt it was very important for everyone to be there that night. It was a night of celebration and Kevin wanted to add one more thing to celebrate.

- “Melissa can you come on up here,” Kevin moves to the edge of the stage and helps Melissa up onto the stage.

- She’s stands there, arms folded, just /waitin/g for what was coming next

- Kevin wiped the sweat from his forehead nervously and abruptly got on one knee

- The bar erupted into cheers and gasps as Kevin pulled the ring out from his pocket.

- She dropped down next to him in tears, nodding.

- He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed her

- The rest of the night was one big happy blur

- Robyn had consumed a fair amount of coke and rum which left her in a drunk happy emotional state

- She got to see the big proposal!

- She woke up the next morning at her parent home.

- Robyn was very tired and very stressed as she had forgotten to pack

- She got her backpack and pack the essentials she would miss since she was told everything would be provided by the palace

- She collected her acne treatment, toiletries, bunny slippers, etc.

- Her parents were awake in the kitchen cooking breakfast already

- Robyn quetly made her way in between her parents and wrapped her arms around them

- In a few hours she was going to be in Ilea’s capital for god knows how long.

- She was going to miss them.

- The newly engaged couple, kevin and Melissa, came over for breakfast and they all ate together. They sang her happy birthday again, Robyn getting to blow a candle on a red velvet cupcake.

- This time her dad didn’t give her a moment to react as he shoved the cupcake into her face.

- She showered and got ready to go to the airport

- She was running a little late since frosting did end up in her hair

- Her mother had given her a beautiful dress to wear—her mom had a lot of pretty dresses and she maintained them well so some of them she’s had for over thirty years.

- She said goodbye to everyone individually and she didn’t care if she was delaying the flight because she was saying goodbye to her family for the very first time.

- She finally made it on to the plane

- Introduced herself to everyone

- They landed in the capital

- She took a car to the palace

- She was wisked away into the flurry of people that is the makeover room

- She was introduced to two stylist who immediately began verbally taking note on everything that could be changed

- “You’re mixed right?” One of them asked referring to the fact that she was half ‘irish’ and Spanish.

- Robyn nodded, telling them how she lightened her hair a few month ago but her hair was darker

- “Let’s get your hair back to its original color. It’s bold, bold is good, bold is what you should aim to be.”

- ‘Bold’ seems to be what they’re been aiming for which made Robyn a little more than encomfortable

- They dyed her hair, wax her brows, replaced her gel nail polish and began doing bold make-up.

- The second stylist brought over a red dress,

- “No,” robyn said immediately

- “please, I won’t feel comfortable wearing that color.” It was a red that popped and screamed ‘look at me!’

- “Sweetie, you’ll look amazing, trust us.

- “yeah, I just wouldn’t feel comfortable.” She glared up at the stylist.

- They eventually caved in and picked out a blue, white, and silver dress.

- Cool colors were comforting.

- After the makeovers and such she was finally shown to her room where she was introduced to her maids.

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thesinglesjukebox · 4 years

Video

youtube

JONAS BROTHERS - WHAT A MAN GOTTA DO

[6.17]

Perhaps pick the food out of your teeth before performing on live television?

Alfred Soto: In which les fréres Jonas diddley some Bo while unleashing some of the scariest high notes in recent memory. [5]

Brad Shoup: "Edge of Seventeen" guitar and a Bo Diddley backbeat by way of Andy Grammer: level-breaking Wife Guy moves. They're so excited they tend to sound like mush, but I guess that's kind of a Jonas thing. [6]

Jackie Powell: Initially, I didn't think nostalgia was something that the Jonas Brothers could convincingly pull off. Unless of course, it's reflexive. The Jo Bros can only recreate Camp Rock orYear 3000, right? I say this because of their embarrassing tribute to Earth, Wind, and Fire where they barely knew the words to "Boogie Wonderland." But then the Jonases decided to hop in the time machine with Ryan Tedder and out popped something a bit more their speed. As a teen and musical theater nerd, I was in Grease twice. I sure know how to snap into the hand-jive when I hear it. Before I saw Joe Jonas as John Travolta's Danny along-side his wife as both Sandy and Cha-Cha in the music video, I knew the chorus on "What a Man Gotta Do" is just a sped-up 2020 "Born to Hand-Jive" redux. The keys and the rhythm guitar bring Johnny Casino back into the 21st Century. The middle Jonas should be more than familiar as he and his band DNCE played Johnny and his band in 2016's Grease Live! The youngest Jonas' verses, as Will Adams pointed out to me, are Nick's best imitation of Michael Jackson on "Black or White." If he wants to pay homage to MJ properly, he's got to drop his jaw, as those vowels can't be sung for themselves. The Jonas Brothers proved they can steal like artists successfully, and I'll give them credit for that. But I'd like for them to write an actual bridge in the future instead of some "ooos" that are a part of a scale. Also, the lyrical content of their singles continues to be milquetoast and not very relatable, save for "Sucker." Why don't they pass the pen to Kevin next time? Maybe he can be a bit more introspective. He was the only third of the group who stayed out of the limelight for six years. [6]

Isabel Cole: Wait, are the Jonas Brothers good now? And no one told me? Or have they been good the whole time, and I'm just an asshole? This totally slaps! Fun and breezy with just enough faux-retro cutesiness (I DO think that all pop music should remind me of Grease, the best movie of all time) and a solid understanding of how if you pick just the right syllables it simply does not matter if your song has "words." Do I need to listen to their album now? [8]

Ryo Miyauchi: "What a man gotta do to be totally locked down by you" sounds too good to be true to take at face value. It's also damning a love song this sincere is sung by a group of dudes who'd be more than eager to put more sleaze into this innocent funk had this been a piece of their own solo material. But the Jonas Brothers are earnest as they can be, thrilled even, about their feelings here. They wisely refrain from wittiness or macho flexing to instead straightly deliver their sentiment about willingly wanting to be tied down. [6]

Alex Clifton: It's taken me three full listens to realize that Nick sings "you've got no flaws" in the first verse rather than "you've got no floss." I couldn't tell if he meant the dental stuff or the dance, but flaws makes more sense. Anyway, it's not as good as "Sucker" but it's a nice dumb slice of fun, and I definitely enjoy how every JoBros song these days is about how much they love their wives. Makes me remember there's still some good in the world. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Jonas Brothers #pop #music #music review

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bapakharyoso · 5 years

Link

This past February inside a cavernous Los Angeles soundstage, Brockhampton [1] 's Kevin Abstract was waltzing through a studio full of 3,000 poppy flowers as Nina Simone echoed throughout the space. "It was a beautiful moment," says director Jonas Lindstroem. "A lot of what we shot had a theatrical quality on set. You almost felt like you were in a play or opera."

This past February inside a cavernous Los Angeles soundstage, Brockhampton[1]'s Kevin Abstract was waltzing through a studio full of 3,000 poppy flowers as Nina Simone echoed throughout the space. "It was a beautiful moment," says director Jonas Lindstroem. "A lot of what we shot had a theatrical quality on set. You almost felt like you were in a play or opera."

Lindstroem was capturing Abstract as part of Calvin Klein's viral global brand campaign dubbed I Speak My Truth in #MyCalvins, which featured Abstract alongside a host of the buzziest young names in culture, from a shirtless Shawn Mendes[2] to Billie Eilish[3] on a tower of clouds, as well as A$AP Rocky, Troye Sivan and Kendall Jenner. Launched via a meticulous, multi-layered rollout of 21 spots -- which included personal narratives from each person -- and one epic ad featuring the entire cast, the massive campaign also boasted images shot by the photographer Mario Sorrenti.

"This campaign is such an important moment for the brand," says Cedric Murac, Calvin Klein's executive vice president of global creative. "The talent is so diverse. Because of that, the campaign resonates with so many different audiences. It is moving to see its content all over the Internet, but also to see the conversation it has evoked. To me that is the most important."

Calvin attracted an A-list roster of musicians for this campaign, but that's nothing new for the brand; It's a tradition dating back to Mark Wahlberg's now-iconic 1992 turn as a Calvin model (back when he was best known as rapper Marky Mark) and extending to 2017, when a tattooed Justin Bieber donned the famous underwear. "The cast for this campaign was chosen for their talents and the ability to be honest with themselves," says Murac. "They made this campaign what it is, some by being front and center with their personal narratives that haven't been given much of a platform in traditional media, and others who are already well-known but revealed a very personal, raw side that they've never shown."

Lindstroem is no stranger to high profile gigs (he directed campaigns for Hermes and Beyonce's Ivy Park, as well as Kendrick Lamar's video for "Element," after all), and he dove into brainstorming with Calvin around late December of last year. "First of all, it was exciting because Calvin Klein is a brand like no other," he explains of the company's storied history. "My perspective as a director is to continuously reshape and bring it all into our current time. What does gender and sexuality mean now and how does it translate to the brand? I was excited to push it all further." With the gargantuan task of crafting 22 scripts, Lindstroem says he and the team collaborated on at least double that amount, which provided a creative playground for the director. "We'd go back and forth fine tuning, trying to give the whole project all of these different layers while still unifying it with a visual approach. They came with a clear idea of what they wanted, but how to give it life and shape it all was a really open process. It was quite a joy to develop these films together."

After over a month of preparation, the campaign was captured over five short days in mid-February. "We shot two films per celebrity, which is four films a day jumping from scenario to scenario and idea to idea," says Lindstroem. "We tried to use our time to really craft each idea individually because that was important to me." Lindstroem points to the rapper Chika Oranika as a highlight. "I think she's one of the most inspiring people I've ever met," says Lindstroem of Oranika's spots, including one where she delivers a poem and another when she's sprawled out on a couch. Adds Murac: "Chika wrote the lyrics for her video and as we were filming she made me cry. Hearing her story and seeing her share it in that way was very emotional and it made me realize that every one of this incredible cast connects in their own way."

An overarching goal was to shoot as much as they could without faking any of the imagery. That included bringing those aforementioned few thousand poppies into the studio for Abstract, as well as casting a crowd of 300 people for Troye Sivan to float over while Berlin techno blared. "It's really tricky to single one moment out," says Lindstroem. "Seeing Kevin for the first time in the flowers was an epic moment, but also how Bella Hadid was so effortless on that horse. All of these things really had scale and I think you can see that and feel that. They're not just standing in front of a green screen."

Part of the equation was Sorrenti, the Italian photographer and longtime Calvin collaborator who was the eye behind its instantly viral shots of the shirtless Mendes and the actor Noah Centineo. "Developing imagery for Calvin Klein has always come easily for me," says Sorrenti of the task. "Even though it was such a huge production we were able to create a really intimate environment where everyone felt comfortable and inspired."

With reams of content under their belt, a three-month post-production process commenced with the team combing through all of the footage they produced shot by shot. "We had all of this content sitting under our fingertips, so it took a long time to show it to the world," says Lindstroem. One key decision during the editing process was placing Billie Eilish's thumping "Bad Guy" as the soundtrack for the centerpiece ad that features the cast of the campaign, a choice made well before the single vaulted up the charts. (It's currently No. 4 on the Hot 100.) "Billie's album still hadn't been released," says Murac of choosing the future hit. "When we were finishing the edit for this campaign, her team kindly offered us a preview to a couple tracks. As soon as we heard 'Bad Guy' we knew it was the one; the energy instantly felt right."

When the campaign initially dropped, it was anchored by Sorrenti's smoldering pictures of a shirtless Mendes which the pop star promptly posted to his Instagram to the tune of nearly seven million likes to date. The rest of the campaign merited a similar amount of attention, with the Internet marveling at the centerpiece spot featuring the entire cast. "When we were rolling out and saw the reactions to each individual piece, it's clear they all related to a different kind of audience and mean something different to everyone," muses Lindstroem of the campaign's inherent viralness. "That's the strong point of it; you can see yourself in it in one way or another. I think that's a reason why it developed this kind of scale with the audience."

References

^Brockhampton (www.billboard.com)

^Shawn Mendes (www.billboard.com)

^Billie Eilish (www.billboard.com)

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#Behind the Seams of Calvin Klein's Viral 'I Speak My Truth' Campaign - Billboard

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