Okay so this is about something that I have noticed in the past and I don’t know if I have gotten to the point where I am so focused on body language that I misinterpret things but well. I’m going to talk about it anyway. I have never had any lessons on body language so my interpretations and observations are solely based off of my own experiences.
see, this is a genuine and beautiful smile. He is comfortable with this picture being taken and he’s kind of proud of where Muse is going, even though he doesn’t really know what to think of all the possible futures yet. Also, he loves dogs so yeah.
To me, it looks like he was trying to genuinely smile in this one. Like, you can tell he was taken off guard also by the position of his shoulders. His hair is sorta messy and he hasn’t shaved - Muse are touring and it’s tiring.
A small reminder that in the late 90s, Dom was so shy and quiet in interviews that people sometimes didn’t even notice him.
Another genuine smile - Dom is actually having fun. He is around people he has known for a very long time and whom he’s comfortable with. They are in their trailer having a good quality time with a little distance to the on-going tour and he decides to be extra dorky and photobomb
Now these are moments from interviews. Matt usually manages to cheer Dom up and get him out of his comfort zone bit by bit.
More pictures that show Dom genuinely happy - drumming is his life, it’s what he loves and is great at
at some point one or two years ago, these images of Dom with fans popped up on social media and I was shocked. To me, his smiles look extremely forced. He’s only smiling with his teeth, not his eyes. The reason for that might be that the masses of people who want something from him are overwhelming but he is too kind-hearted to say no. And if it’s not because he’s overwhelmed by it, it’s because touring just takes up a lot of energy and sleep so getting somewhere and having people wave their phones in your face doesn’t sound like much fun.
What I think is that that very shy side of Dom is still there deep down and that the position Muse is now, popularity- and fame-wise, is keeping him from living it.
I’m sure Matt’s sometimes impulsive, dominant and maybe even manipulative behaviour (there’s another thread about that) might also contribute to that. Maybe he would like to have more alone time or at least enough time to get comfortable when he has to be around people.
I just hope that he takes care of himself enough to know when it’s time to say that he needs some distance from what is happening :(