It’s March 13th, and I've recently felt more like myself than I have in months. The end of the fall semester left me a little unsettled and disturbed, but through healing over the winter break and embracing the changes of the spring semester, I have finally found myself back in a groove. This morning, for Friday the 13th, I got a flash sale tattoo of a moon with an eye on it that greatly resembles Bill Cipher’s from Gravity Falls. Because of this distinction and everybody telling me that that’s the first thing they thought of when I showed them the design, I decided to dedicate it to my two younger siblings. My sister and I have a large age gap from our little brother, so one of the ways we have all bonded is through watching cartoons and animated shows. Whenever I’m sad, I just look down at my arm and am reminded of my two favorite people, which always brings the biggest smile to my face. I drive back home tomorrow, and on Sunday, I get to see both of them for my brother’s birthday party. Later this week, I’ll be getting my hair cut and dyed to a shorter bob with a purple peek-a-boo. From there, my spring transformation will be complete.
Along with my physical altercations, I’ve also been trying to listen to a range of new artists and bands, in addition to my usual favorites. Despite being in the epicenter of music and going to more concerts in the past year than I have in my whole life, with how busy school keeps me, I feel like I don’t have time to discover new music. That’s why, with many of these selections, you’ll recognize a pattern where I learned about most of them through friends, KVRX coverage, and hearing them on TikTok. (I hate to even admit that, but sometimes, TikTok audios hit harder than you would expect.)
You’ll also probably see that most of my music taste is on the more basic side compared to the other brilliant blog members’. Hey, what can I say? I’m a pop princess at heart, and my biggest weakness is falling in love with catchy lyrics. Feel free to check out my March playlist and get an insight into what a white girl English major listens to while failing to study for her upcoming Latin midterm. (I’m still punching myself in the face for ever deciding to be quirky and taking Latin for my language credit, but I’m too far gone now).
Back in November, I was given the opportunity to interview and cover The Happy Fits at Emo’s with another friend and intern of the KVRX blog. Before their set, they had two openers: The BackFires and Pom Pom Squad (you can read all about my experience in the concert review, AND you can go ahead and read the interview on the website). I was blown away by both openers, but it wasn’t until I was finally finishing up my pieces for The Happy Fits’ show that I started to have an in-depth listen to The Backfires discography. This song was the first one to come on my shuffle, and I immediately fell in love with it. I’m still regretting not interviewing them when I had the chance to. #fuckmychunguslife
I am in no way, shape, or form a Travis Scott fan. I know fewer than ten of his songs, and the majority of the ones I do know, he’s only a featured artist on. However, I think he might have put crack into this song because why is it so good?? I drove back to Fort Worth last weekend for my brother’s actual birthday, and my best friend came with me, so since I am just the kindest person ever, I let her have aux during the whole three-hour drive. (Biggest mistake of my life. I forgot about her love for the Charlie Kirk song and “Call Out My Name” by The Weeknd - love him too, though.) Only one good thing came from my naivety: my learning of the existence of this song. Just trust me and queue it up.
Back in October, I saw Renee Rapp in concert and fell in love with both her and her newest album, Bite Me. While no song from the album is a skip, I never had any particular fondness for this one until recently. If you know me, you know how much I love seeing my ops’ demise. Within the past week, I learned some interesting information about them that just confirmed my suspicions, and this song perfectly encapsulates the uplifting feeling that possessed me when I heard the news. I can attest that my current favorite songs always align with my ongoing circumstances and moods. (I think there might be psychological backing behind this claim, too??) Also, I swear, I’m only petty when people absolutely deserve it. I usually find the best in people, and these people just don’t have any!
Okay, this song is mainly a joke. If you don’t remember, this song blew up in popularity around 2017, and if you don’t think you know it, you do. (I just want a Rollie, Rollie, Rollie with a dab of ranch, I already got some designer to hold up my pants, I just want some ice on my wrist so I look better when I dance, Have you lookin' at it, put you in a trance) My roommate’s anxiety got us almost an hour early to our favorite frat’s Valentine's Day’s party, so in the meantime, we did what any sensible person would: do old TikTok dances in a sketchy parking lot nearby. This song’s accompanying Musical.ly (damn, crazy to think it was still Musical.ly back then) dance was the only one we could master because, despite my background in dance and my friend’s history of learning K-pop dances, we have no dancing skills. Ever since that night where we had far too many takes for such an easy dance, and the end result still wasn’t great, I have unironically been loving this song. If anyone asks, I’ll just say I like it so much because of the memory attached to it and definitely not because it’s actually good or anything like that.
This tribute is much sweeter and simpler. The guy I’ve been seeing loves Conan Gray (I’m still deciding if it’s in a gay way or not), and because I like him so much, that means I also love Conan Gray. I’ve always liked him because my childhood best friend (who I have a “matching” tattoo with) loves him as well, but I’ve leaned more into him because of this boy who has unsuspectingly conquered my affections. This song is just my most recent discovery of Conan’s that I have fallen in love with, but all of his music is extraordinary, and I’m happy that he’s finally getting the recognition he’s always deserved.
Check out my tunes here, or if you want to talk about music, hit me up on Instagram (@itsviv_kids).