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can we PLEASE discuss the religious/cult undertones of new invention? i want to talk about that
it feels like dallon’s telling the story of being indoctrinated to a cult (yes i know theres literally a track called indoctrination). i think razzmatazz as an album will feel like being lured into a cult and then realizing your mistake and desperately trying to claw out. the question is though: whos side are we looking at? the indoctrinated or the indocrinator?
My Tellex theory: its robots
so im just gonna use this to chuck some ideas me and my friend had on facetime about _SRCHPRTY_’s latest video diary that sent me into a rabbit hole of thinking: what if the iDKHOW lore is that dallon and ryan are androids? i’ll be starting my essay with a quick timeline for the music videos (or at least the ones with dates attached...)
Do It All The Time - 1964
Social Climb - 1975(ish)
Choke - 1980(ish)
Nobody Likes The Opening Band - 1983
Modern Day Cain - 1983
now, let’s look at the themes from these music videos. “do it all the time” is about robots/machinery making music. both of their movements are very stiff, one might even say unnatural. “social climb” is a propaganda film about fitting it with posh, rich people and winning them over to be your friends. “choke” is the band performing in a club on a TV show, something mirrored in “modern day cain.” sandwiched between them is “opening band,” where the two perform at a talent show and receive less than stellar reviews.
my thinking goes like this:
do it all the time: Tellex creates robots that can create music with some sort of sinister goal that involves infiltrating the music industry. the iDKHOW-droids are good musicians, but not good at pretending to be humans. leading to...
social climb: the iDKHOW-droids are sent to controlled parties where their AI can learn how to be, well, social. they learn how to move in a more natural way and maybe even some basic conversation skills. it’s a very lengthy process teaching androids how to look and act human, hence there being such long gaps between the music video dates here. this takes us to...
choke: a new musical duo is introduced to the public via the European show “Pop Time Live.” their episode doesn’t air tho because they can’t “properly pantomime to their own song.” well, of course they can’t pantomime to their own song, that wasn’t part of their programming! the iDKHOW-droids are sent back to Tellex for a little more testing before going back to the public.
nobody likes the opening band: finally, the iDKHOW-droids are successfully programmed! they sing, they dance, they play the bass and the drums and are ready to be the perfectly engineered pop stars that the world needs! however, the public doesn’t like them. maybe they don’t like the music, maybe this particular town they were in knew about Tellex’s plan and didn’t approve. dallon gives the ghost an “oh well” look, and things keep moving.
modern day cain: at last, Tellex gets their perfectly programmed boys on TV! there might still be a bug or two to work out, but it’s time at last to introduce them to the public as the new hit musical duo, ready to take over the world... one kiss at a time.
this theory explains the recurring theme of ryan looking very deadpan in all the videos--his AI learned human cues a little differently than dallon’s did. this also explains their photoshoots theme of simply staring off into space--they’re turned off. we can also tie the ghost into it--Tellex can’t send an employee out with them to monitor their battery life, so it sends another droid with them. it also explain’s _SRCHPRTY_’s point of them looking the exact same in all of the tapes. they’re robots, they can’t physically age.
if anyone else has any points they’d like to add, feel free!! i’ll reply to as many as i can.
Leave Me Alone MV theory
hi i’d like to credit @feels-time-lmao real quick for giving me this idea/helping me realize how this fit with my previous androids theory! and now onto the post
i don’t think the similarities to do it all the time are accidental. it feels like a peak behind the veil of Tellex, behind the shiny front they put on with the other two videos directly credited to them (do it all the time and social climb). what i think we’re seeing is the building/programming of the iDKHOW-droids. the dallon and ryan that are wired to machinery are the real humans that the iDKHOW-droids are based on, and their consciousness/personality/whatever you wanna call it is being uploaded to/copied onto the androids. take note of the headgear they wear:
this, which i’m going to refer to as a helmet:
and this, which i’m going to refer to as a wire:
i believe that the dallon and ryan wearing the helmets are the humans, as well as the shots of them without any headgear at all. that then leaves them with wires as androids.
in the beggining, first verse and chorus, we see the difference between human and android at this stage. the real dallon and ryan are very expressive--if tired and exhausted, they’re still expressive while playing. meanwhile, the wired dallon can’t stand or play bass while he sings and can make minimal gestures. at this point, Tellex doesn’t have a lot of personality to give them, so they’re studying by observation.
second verse and chorus time! Tellex decides that they need to dig a little deeper to make convincing android copies, so they do what any cooperation does: scans their subjects’ brains to completely copy their personalities! moving into the bridge, we see see dallon’s consciousness talking in the computer, accompanied by “port ----> 117″. “port” is likely the literal port number that dallon is being downloaded through.
the final chorus, outro, and the ending of the bridge is the uploading process into the droids. from there it gets a little bit less easy to explain, but here’s what i think: we see droid!dallon and ryan looking at their hands, and looking around really confused. this shows us that the process was successful, and their consciousness has essentially been copied. we also see dallon’s hand “glitching” and a glowing outline form around him. this seems to be showing the android body start to overheat and it’s systems crash--after all, human brains are far more powerful than a computer can handle. what’s the final shot showing? the android crashing as it’s processors overload. whether or not dallon made a conscious choice to overload the android is up in the air, but i wouldn’t rule it out.
so... yeah. android theory still pretty much holds up! thanks for reading folks!
New Invention, _SRCHPRTY_, and the Tellexx Cult
ok a LOT has happened since my last theory, and with the release of razzmatazz being pushed back, i think i’ll talk about some more stuff.
first, let’s talk what’s happening to _srchprty_. it’s safe to say we won’t hear from them ever again with their account being taken over by Tellexx for spreading “misinformation.” what’s happened to them? kidnapped most likely. if we get any more video diaries, it’ll be some sort of propaganda video with them having suddenly “changed their mind” on thought reform and that it isn’t that bad.
let’s also look at tellexx’s coded messeges: “everything we hear is an opinion not a fact” and “don’t believe everything you’re told is true”, with presumably a third and fourth coming out in the next two weeks leading up to release with what i’m guessing will be along the same tone. they’re clearly trying to discredit _srchprty_ and idkhow theorists in general, but why? well...
let’s analyze the lyrics to new invention a bit. the vibes i get from it are along the lines of someone being lured into a cult. the verses are clearly talking about how the narrator is trying to resist the cult propaganda they’re being fed, all the while the chorus is talking about how they’re falling for it. i’m going to take a moment to talk about some of the lyrics:
You've been controlling me through fiction It's obvious, I've got to break you like a bad addiction
the first signs that something hinky is happening, and the narrator is fighting it. i think this one’s pretty obvious
And nothing you can do will keep the Bad things away from me until I fall asleep
“bad things” is referencing the fiction from earlier that is likely some sort of cult propaganda that they only get a break from when sleeping.
Despite your good intentions The girl is like an architect And I am just a new invention
this is one of the main lines that lead me towards a cult theory. the narrator’s mind is being changed, and they don’t like it.
You've got to choose between your faces Feels like you're running out of holy places
the person coming to talk to the narrator/is trying to lure them into the cult are running out of topics to try and bring the narrator in with, ‘cuz they’ve already turned down so many things.
Oh, bless my soul I'm losing control
they change from “i can’t say no” to “bless my soul,” showing that even with their maximum efforts, some of that manipulation is getting through to them.
It's a miracle I'm standing You're dragging me back into having
they’ve escaped this encounter...for now. the cult might move on from them, or might straight up kidnap them and go full-force.
how does this apply to what’s going on with _srchprty_? well, prior to their kidnapping they said their thoughts felt “blocked” after taking the stress test. if you’ve taken it for yourself or read my theory on it, it’s very clearly an example of thought reform. this song may show their thoughts after taking the test and how they felt about Tellexx prior to their vanishing and the taking over of their account.
this still leaves the question of what does Tellexx want? and we still don’t have an answer for that. if you ask me, i wouldn’t be surprised if _srchprty_ released one final video diary/post on the album’s release day airing every single one of Tellexx’s secrets.
my thoughts on Thought Reform and the recent test
so, i’m sure we’ve all taken the test at this point. if you’re anything like me, you didnt answer any of the questions your first time through from how confusing it was. you’ve also probably seen all of _SRCHPRTY_’s recent videos and how they’re getting more and more concerned about thought reform.
this isn’t a coincidence.
let’s first talk about the questions. on their own, they aren’t anything special. they’re pretty standard mental health screening questions. however, the page starts trying to fuck with you to get you change your answers. it shakes, blurs out of focus, starts receding into the void, color shifts, and the page even flips and inverts at times. not to mention the three icelandic questions that you have no idea what they mean. after taking it, it ranks you on a scale of 1-5 of how “stable” you are.
in-universe, Tellex wouldn’t just put this test out for no reason. they want something. chances are high that this is how they got to distribute the Thought Reform series (remember, social climb was part of a series). send out tests as junk mail, now as an online test, and when they mail your results back, they include whatever the first installment of the Thought Reform series was and then you pay to get each subsequent tape. each one brainwashes the watcher a little more to be more... something. whatever it is Tellex hopes to achieve via Thought Reform. either way, it’s brainwashing.
social climb and iDKHOW comes in because Tellex wanted to reach a wider audience, and what better way to reach a wider audience than a pair of pop stars? (or, better yet, an entire record label worth of them... but we can’t prove Tellex has more bands than iDKHOW under them.) they slip some Thought Reform into their lyrics where people will repeat the ideas for themselves, and eventually they’ve got a significant chunk of the population thinking exactly how they want them to.
as we all already know, Tellex dissolved in the mid 1970s or early 80s. however, it seems with the iDKHOW tapes being rediscovered, they’re coming back and this test has once again resurfaced. had they wanted to try redistributing the Thought Reform series, they could have had us sign in with our emails. then, if we got any sort of instability in our result, they could send us the first video for free and make us subscribe to see the rest. additionally, one might say the test is designed to drive theorists insane...
initial leave me alone thoughts/theories
besides “AASDHFGTRUSJRYHGBVFFRTS??????!?!?!?!?!??!?” of course lmao
my theory with do it all the time is gonna get merged with a bigger leave me alone theory later, but so far the two look to confirm my idea: Tellex is using music as a conduit for time travel.
first off: “time travel?? wtf dallon how’d u get to that conclusion” is what you’re probably thinking. well, i was analyzing all the different things in do it all the time and noted this folder:
on multiple occasions i’ve also seen “The Temporal Performing Arts” mentioned/creditted multiple times across idkhow music videos, and even on the ep cover!! if you’re familiar with scp or the umbrella academy, the word “temporal” may be familiar to you. it basically means anything having to do with time as a physical thing. so, we’re got mr. seaman aka “drums” being called a time base / amplifier. i dont know about you, but amplifying time sure does sound like a method of time travel to me.
admittedly i don’t have much for leave me alone rn, but i can guarantee it has to do with the band jumping too far forward in time. Tellex dissolved in the late 70s to early 80s supposedly, meaning that if the band jumped into modern time... well, a lot of people would be confused. they’d be looking for Tellex, meanwhile the company no longer exists--or at least not in the same capacity. maybe Tellex does still exist, and the band is just tired of being used as tools in an experiment.
i’ll have to think about it more, watch the video a couple more times, try to connect a few more dots, but i think i’m in the right direction.
some details that i think are important for anyone else thinking about this:
the band is clearly exhausted. whatever’s going on, they’re tired of it or don’t want to be involved anymore.
the immense amount of computer monitoring going on (perhaps studying the effect of time travel on the body?)
isolating the band from the lab workers
the ending solo where dallon seems to just give up and go ham on the synth
i recently thought of something: our _srchprty_ theories dont matter.
HOLD ON. DONT SCROLL. to preface, i view it as a sort of ARG: we’re trying to put puzzle pieces together to come to some sort of unifying conclusion.
but there isnt one.
see, this puzzle isnt like any other normal puzzle. some pieces fit together, some fit to multiple pieces at the same time, some dont fit at all. no matter how you try to put it together, theres always some massive hole in the middle, or a corner is missing, or it ends up u-shaped somehow.
theres no definitive answer to whats going on with srchprty. theres no answers that any one theory can concoct that ties everything together, theres always outlying pieces. its open ended for anyone to make any conclusion, and it will always work and form some sort of coherent idea.
robots? sure! time travel? absolutely! simulation? why the hell not!
dallon’s crafted this beautiful mystery box and is watching us, from his dark little crow’s nest, come up with a million different stories and explanations. maybe some things align with how he views the story, maybe others give him ideas of how to make it better.
idk. just a thought i had to get out of my head
👀
iceland, you say? hmm...
