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I have a Music Blog now main: @mixedmedialesbianism

[istherelifeonmercury]

★🎸🎧⋆｡ °⋆ Intro Post

Welcome to istherelifeonmercury, I will be your host for the duration of your stay (she/her, adult, ⚢).

This is my music side blog. Over here you’ll mostly find 70s-80s music (Queen, Bowie, Elton John, Kate Bush, Heart, Don McLean, The Clash, Gordon Lightfoot, Beabadoobee, Michael Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, you get the drill), but I’ll also post some TWICE stuff. My apologies to those who do not like K-POP, they’re the only K-POP group I stan so I promise it won’t be everything I post.

High Soprano (Eb3 - Eb6), Opera/Folk singer, Musical Theatre enthusiast

I’m a lover of physical media to my core so you’ll see a lot of that over here, and maybe a few peeks of my own collection, so keep an eye out.

Navigation 🧭

@mixedmedialesbianism — main blog

@aselkieslibrary — fanfic/writing blog

@istherelifeonmercury — music blog (📍you are here)

@atlanticselkie — witchy blog

No DNI over here, just don’t be a jerk. I do block freely, it’s not personal, sorry.

[digihowl]

more ppl need to get hooked on this drug called album in order. not enough people on album in order these days

[tumbleintomyheart]

so i just watched the hadestown proshot and holy fucking shit i truly think that that is the best proshot i have ever seen so here are some specific things i really loved

amber gray's expressions just wow. she is so expressive and such a phenomenal actress

the way the fates appeared behind orpheus during wait for me

how every time during group numbers the camera focused on a certain person you could hear their vocals more clearly than everyone else

all of the fates

wait for me reprise in 4k with peak sound holy shit eva noblezada i love you so much

the cracking noises during wait for me when the walls opened up

the shots from above/below the stage

how during doubt comes in all the shots were primarily close ups of orpheus so it was hard to tell where eurydice was

one of the people in my theater shouting "NO" when orpheus turned around

literally so many more things i could talk about this proshot for ages

please i beg if you have not/are not intending on seeing it to watch it it is a masterpiece

[selkiewife]

I can't stop thinking of the Wuthering Heights adaptation in my head that happened in the 1980s...

It was a rock opera co-written by and starring Kate Bush as Cathy and Prince as Heathcliff.

The power of that the magnificence of that. What could have BEEN.

[kuutamosonaatti]

Kate Bush - Breathing (1980)

[istherelifeonmercury]

I am BEGGING y’all to stop taking music advice from those people that make those “vocal analysis” videos on TikTok, ESPECIALLY when they are assigning letter grades to performers.

I have no idea where this “ranking system”/KVA/vocal tiers thing came from, but it is complete and utter bullshit. You cannot fit vocal skill into a single letter grade, it is FAR too nuanced.

I’ve seen people online share their vocal ranges online and ask people what their “vocal tier” is, and people actually give them ratings! You’ve never heard them sing, just because they have a decent range doesn’t mean they are particularly strong singers.

Here’s an example; my supported vocal range is Eb3 - Eb6. Am I a good singer? You don’t know, because you’ve never heard me sing.

But back to the whole video ranking nonsense, usually how I’ve seen them work is they’ll look at a few categories of vocal performance (breath control, support, vocal agility, etc) and rank them out of ten. Ok, first thing; what are your baselines? What do you classify as a zero or a ten in vocal agility? There is no standard or baseline in singing, no zero or ten. When I was in school (and I think most people who have studied music professionally can attest to this) my vocal music teacher refused to hand out 100s on any of our tests, even if we gave an incredible performance because “there’s no such thing as perfection in music, you are always improving”. And Y’know what, my teacher was absolutely right. There’s no such thing as the “perfect performance” there is no “maximum level” of musical skill you can reach. To be a musician is to be constantly learning and improving yourself.

Music and singing are incredibly subjective. Anyone’s who’s had more than one vocal teacher in their music career will tell you that. What one person considers good technique, another person may not like. It is incredibly subjective. You cannot water down someone’s voice into a simple letter grade (B+, F, D-, etc), it is way too vague and cannot fully encapsulate someone’s vocal talent/skill. Singing isn’t just about sounding pretty, it is a skill that requires the use of your ENTIRE BODY and takes YEARS to develop. Please please please do not take music advice from people online who use this sort of ranking system to “assess” singers, even if they use technical or scientific terms. If they had even a BASIC understanding of the human voice and vocal music, they wouldn’t be using these “ranking systems”.

[istherelifeonmercury]

“Bring back unique voices on Broadway!” and yet y’all bully the fuck out of anyone who even slightly strays from the typical BFA sound… yeah, ok

[istherelifeonmercury]

If you need me I’ll be constantly refreshing the Queen Budapest page until tickets go up for the October opening 🙏🏻

[rogers-rainbow-radio]

Roger Taylor in Crazy Little Thing Called Love - 1980

[istherelifeonmercury]

Looking for song recs!!

Hello party people! I’m looking to find some new songs for my playlists, so I am happily taking suggestions!

My music taste:

Some of my favourite bands/artists can be found in my pinned post.

I like 70’s to 80’s Rock, 90’s Grunge, Folk Rock, that sort of vibe. Although I’ll listen to just about anything.

Some of my top songs as of late have been;

Rainy Day People — Gordon Lightfoot

West End Girls — Pet Shop Boys

At a Glance — Message to Bears

Bless the Telephone — Labi Siffre

Don’t Dream it’s Over — Crowded House

Rock the Casbah — The Clash

If y’all can think of anything I might like, feel free to send it my way :)

[jeongyeons]

The wind was a paid actor omg

[mikaeled]

You look gorgeous. I'm finally feeling like this camera was a good purchase. TW-LOG @ 6TH WORLD TOUR ‘THIS IS FOR’ ep.JEONGYEON | Pt.2

[istherelifeonmercury]

“Freddie Mercury was bisexual!”

“Freddie Mercury broke up Queen!”

“Freddie Mercury and Mary Austin were secretly married!”

“Freddie Mercury had a secret daughter!”

“Freddie Mercury never confirmed his sexuality!”

“Freddie Mercury was diagnosed with AIDs before his Live Aid performance!”

[ladyofmjslife]

michael jackson was a BLACK MAN. yall need to remember that. yes his music was and is for everyone but make sure y’all remember he is a black man before anything else, and he experienced the black man struggles!! i see too many people that seem to forget that whether it’s because of his vitiligo or whatever else.

[moejacksonn]

i really love this interview..

[istherelifeonmercury]

Freddie Mercury’s biggest op

[istherelifeonmercury]

Songs I’ve had on repeat 🎧 (K-Pop Edition)

I don’t listen to a ton of K-Pop (outside of TWICE ofc) but I thought I’d share some of the songs I have been listening to :)

[istherelifeonmercury]

With all this discussion about the Hadestown pro shot I wanted to share my potentially controversial opinion, which is that Reeve Carney is actually a great Orpheus. I know that a lot of people don’t like his voice, or feel that his voice feels jarring or out of place next to his costars on the Hadestown OBC album and in the pro shot, but that’s actually why I think he’s so impactful as Orpheus.

For starters, the entire Original Broadway cast of Hadestown is incredibly talented, and they all have very distinct voices that add so much personality and depth to their characters, but you can tell with the entirety of the main cast that they all still have that Broadway sound. While their voices are unique, they still feel very musical theatre. But Reeve Carney’s voice doesn’t feel like something I would expect to hear in a Broadway musical, it’s sits more in that folk-rock timbre. And while I don’t think it would work for other roles on Broadway (see his run in Great Gatsby — that I was admittedly not a fan of) I think it actually works really well for Orpheus. Orpheus is the son of a muse. His voice has been blessed by the Gods themselves, and in a cast of incredibly talented people, Orpheus should stand out vocally. The colour and timbre of Reeve Carney’s voice is very distinct from the rest of his cast, and provides such a stark contrast to the rest of the world around them, which sits at this intersection between your typical Broadway sound and jazz.

While I love many of the other (Orpheuses? Orphei? Whats the plural of Orpheus?) I feel that when Orpheus is singing with that typical Broadway or BFA sound, as beautiful as it might sound, that contrast that makes Orpheus stand out so much from the rest of the world around him is lost. Vocally and technically it’s a beautiful performance, yes, but I personally feel like the impact of Orpheus is lost when he sounds like the rest of his cast. Again, not a dig on anyone who’s played Orpheus, they’re all very talented. This is just my opinion.

I’m not saying that you have to love Reeve Carney’s voice. After all, art is subjective, everyone has different tastes, and Reeve Carney’s voice does have a very unique sound to it that might not sit well with everyone, especially musical theatre fans who are more familiar to a certain kind of sound. But there’s a difference between not caring for someone’s voice and actively putting them down every time you get the chance to. Reeve Carney’s portrayal as Orpheus had a huge impact on the show, whether you like it or not.

Anyways, I want more unique voices on Broadway and the Hadestown proshot was amazing to see in theatres.