What are the characters from Elemasters listening to?
Masters Monday - Part 1/??
It’s 2006. MySpace is hot, your Juicy Couture Sweats are bedazzled, and Rawr XD is the only way to properly say ‘I love you’ - so of course, we have to ask: what are the characters from the upcoming urban fantasy novel Elemasters listening to?
Note: not every single artist mentioned here was making music in 2006, which is the year that the novel takes place in, but if Stranger Things can be anachronistic by a year or two, then so can Elemasters. It’s more about the all important vibes than anything else. - Mod Sunny ☀️
Dustin is listening to Still Not Getting Any… by Simple Plan
Dusting Ying is a walking stereotype - he wears eyeliner, skinny jeans, and anything that’s not black is absolutely not welcome in his closet. And even though he’s an expert swimmer and the star of the swimteam, he would scoff at being called a ‘jock’ in any sense of the word. So naturally, his CD collection and his messy drawer of graphic t-shirts is filled with Evanescence, Sum41, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, and Asking Alexandria, as well as some J-Rock artists that suit his vibe, like his all time favourite, L'Arc-en-Ciel. Also solo artists Gackt, Miyavi, and the band The Gazette.
But by far, one of his favourite artists is Simple Plan. Somehow, of all the bands that he likes to listen to, he relates to their music the most. With the themes of social isolation and feeling outcast, he often listens to their music and feels like it was written just for him. But by far his favourite album by them is Still Not Getting Any… from 2004.
His favourite songs from the album are Shut Up! - a song that demonstrates how he truly feels about his entirely complicated relationship with his overly critical parents. ‘It seems like everyday, I make mistakes, I just can’t get it right. It’s like I’m the one you love to hate.’
And Welcome To My Life - which truly shows how alone he feels, standing in a crowd every single day at school or showing up to the rare social event that he goes to and still feeling so damn invisible. ‘To feel hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark. To be kicked when you’re down - to feel like you’ve been pushed around. To be on edge of breaking down, and no one’s there to save you’. Yeah, that’s definitely Dustin’s life.
Bailey is listening to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by My Chemical Romance
Bailey Yu is a classic scene girl. She’s colorful, bright, spunky, and of course, this reflects in her music taste. She loves to have a good time, but she also feels her emotions incredibly deeply, and her music collection reflects all of this. She loves electronic music like Blood On The Dancefloor, Lady Gaga, and 3OH! 3, but she also loves her emo bands, like Paramore, Green Day, Panic! At The Disco, and Dashboard Confessional.
But her favourite band of all time has to be My Chemical Romance. She loves the power behind their music, how they make music for outcasts to finally feel like they have an upper hand, and though you would probably never consider her to be an angry person if you knew her, she listens to their music and feels all the fire and anger of rebellion and does the hardest possible thing - swallows it down deep and turns it into kindness in her everyday life.
Her favourite album from the band is Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge from 2004. She loves copying the dance from the Helena music video, even if it takes way too long to load on her dial-up internet in order to watch it, but by far her favourite songs from the album are:
Thank You For The Venom - a song that helps her swallow down the vicious bullying she experiences for being trans and recycle it into personal power, remembering that any harsh words people throw at her don’t matter. ‘You’ll never make me leave, I wear this on my sleeve, give me a reason to believe… so give me all your poison, and give me all your pills. And give me all your hopeless hearts, and make me ill. You’re running after something that you’ll never kill.’
And I’m Not Okay (I Promise) - a song reminding herself that as much as she wants to, she doesn’t need to hold it together all the time. She tries to be perfect, but sometimes, she does need to let things go. ‘I’m not okay, I’m not okay, you wear me out.’
Bailey is sweet, fun, and bubbly on the surface, but she is a lot more than she seems.
Chris is listening to Fix Me by Marianas Trench
Chris Ying is somehow the complete opposite of Dustin, even though they’re twin brothers. Even though his original passion in life was hip-hop dancing, he came to be a high school jock, embracing every single aspect of the ‘jock’ label - wearing an athletic windbreaker or a lettermen jacket through the halls of Kochiyama High so that everyone knows he’s the star player of the basketball team, going to all the team’s parties and events, and dedicating game-winning shots to girls in the audience with a wink in order to score dates with the school’s hottest babes. (A trick that works every single time, might he have you know.)
And of course, the collection of CDs that he keeps in the old 1978 Cadillac Seville that he shares with his brother is only music that you would find bumping at high school parties where the most popular kids congregate. Music that he likes to blast through the speakers while driving at top speed, of course. He loves old school hip-hop like 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre, and he loves newer hip-hop like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Lil-Wayne. He loves the rhythmic thumping through the car’s speakers when he speeds down the desolate roads around Pacific Cove, and he appreciates the clever lyrics, and he does relate to many rapper’s themes about being more than people see you as at first glance.
But occasionally, when he’s all alone, he does dip into listening to more emotional rock music that his jock friends would judge him for listening to - like Coldplay, Nickelback, and even Marianas Trench.
And one of his favourite albums that he deeply connects with on a personal emotional level is Fix Me from 2006.
His favourite songs from the album are Alibis - a song that perfectly captures how he feels in the spotlight, constantly under the social microscope of Kochiyama High and his parents, feeling like he needs to be constantly perfect but at the same time, everyone expects him to mess up and has stunningly low expectations of him outside of his athletic pursuits. ‘This is not the man I hoped to be, and I’m just trying to stop the bleeding. I don’t know how to word it, I just started to deserve it. And all my, all my faces are alibis. And me? I’m half the man I wanted to be.’
And Decided To Break It - which really demonstrates his equally complex relationship with his parents, how they keep him on such a short leash, expecting him to do something wrong, until he finally snaps and falls right into their expectations of him, which is a huge contrast to his seemingly perfect independent brother Dustin. ‘I’m the bad seed - I think I swallowed it whole. You’re the compromise, that never falls through, never left behind. Wanna break down? A thousand promises that never seemed to help me before. A hundred less and I would stumble till I found the back door.’
Chloe is listening to Blackout by Britney Spears
Chloe Li is the ‘it’ girl of Kochiyama High, she wouldn’t be caught listening to anything that’s not popular and not on trend. Even though she still enjoys the classical music that her mother had her growing up listening to - always trying to achieve perfection, believing that it would give her a higher IQ to listen to Beethoven and Bach while in preschool, sometimes she still finds herself humming the notes of some numbers from Swan Lake and reminiscing about her middle school dance recitals. These days, Chloe has much more say over her own listening habits, even if her mother hasn’t loosened the reins much and still wants her to be a pillar of perfection that everyone should look up to.
Even if she might like the emo music she hears Dustin blasting, and even if she finds herself singing along to some of Chris’s classic rap, she can’t be caught with anything but the best, trendy pop girl music on her pink i-pod shuffle. Of course, she skews more toward the R&B side of pop because it suits her personal taste more. She loves Beyonce, TLC, and Mariah Carrey, but she also loves some of the more basic pop divas like Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Gwen Stefani, and of course, Britney Spears.
Hearing the album Blackout for the first time in 2007 was an event for Chloe - the album’s themes of social persecution and constantly being the center of unwanted attention and criticism was something she related to so deeply as someone who was always under intense public examination in the small town of Pacific Cove. She is a Britney in her own right, only on a much smaller scale.
So of course, she deeply relates to the songs, including:
Piece Of Me - a song that speaks to how she feels dissected by her peers who constantly judge her by appearance and rush to fit her into stereotypes while never getting to know her on a more personal level. Many people would never have pity for a rich, pretty, popular girl, but when everyone is quick to judge, it can be an incredibly isolating experience. ‘I’m Mrs. Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous. (You want a piece of me?) I’m Mrs. Oh My God, that Britney’s shameless! (You want a piece of me?) I’m Mrs. Extra, Extra, this just in! (You want a piece of me?) I’m Mrs. She’s Too Big, Now She’s Too Thin. (You want a piece of me?)’
And Why Should I Be Sad? - another song about people’s judgments of her, especially reminding her of her mother’s exacting expectations of her, and the fact that she struggles with conventional relationships because she’s asexual, even though she knows that it’s what everyone expects of her. A pretty girl should have a boyfriend, but she can’t seem to get that part ‘right’ in their eyes. ‘Why should I be sad? Heaven knows. From the stupid freaking things that you do. Why should I get mad? Feel sad? Who knows? Just take it all as a sign that we’re through.’
James is listening to Nimrod by Green Day
James Zhang is a little bit of everything - literally. He used to be someone quiet, someone who would blend into the background, but after a particular incident on the night of the Junior Prom last year, he has decided that life is not for wasting and he wants to taste a bit of everything. He dips his toes into everything, joining every club, learning new instruments, and always casting himself as the center of attention with loud jokes and epic entrances wherever he goes. And his music taste is much the same - there’s not much he doesn’t like; from the old jazz albums he found in his dad’s collection to his mom’s favored 80s pop, to whatever is popular on the radio, he finds himself singing along to a bit of everything.
But his particular favourites are 90s rock like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Foo Fighters, and some more recent ones like Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park, Blink-182, and his all time favourite, Green Day. And his all time favourite album from them, one he deeply relates to, is Nimrod from 1997.
His favourite songs from the album are:
Nice Guys Finish Last - which sums up his feelings about how he appears happy and cheerful on the outside, but drifting from activity to activity often means that he never connects with anyone on a deep personal level, and he feels like he doesn’t have any true, good, close friends. He puts on a smile and appears happy and bright on the outside, but he often fears that he’s not truly likeable in order for anybody to want to seek a deeper connection with him. ‘I’m so fucking happy I could cry, every joke can have its truth, but now the joke’s on you. I never knew you were such a funny guy! Oh, nice guys finish last, when you are the outcast.’
And Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) - a song that he considers a personal anthem, reminding him of how precious his life is after he got into a near deadly car accident and was saved by someone very special. He now chooses to do everything in life instead of sitting back as a wallflower, and this song always reminds him of that. ‘Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go - so make the best of this test and don’t ask why. It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable, but in the end, it’s right. I hope you had the time of your life.’
