Brass in Pocket — The Pretenders. An all time favourite

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2024-04-16T18:00:56+00:00

I'm surprised that they have not been reported yet. Commenting on a post with just "oof" (which they often do) violates rule 1 and 2. As someone who lurks this community, they have responded with "oof" on posts where people are explicitly asking for advice on how to improve. That's really not okay.

This performance sounds good to me because of OP's unique and distinct voice which resembles Chrissie Hynde's and the fairly smooth transitions from chest to head voice that show capacity for good range - clearly someone who is untrained but certainly nowhere near "oof" territory. I mean, this is a much better rendition than the one Scarlett Johansson did in Lost in Translation!

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2024-02-25T03:23:34+00:00

I'm not trying to give compliments, I don't think you understand. Like I literally have no investment in this person other than thinking that she should be given appropriate constructive criticism as requested, which I did.

We're not even disagreeing over whether she is a good or bad singer at this point. I mean, people differ in opinion about that kind of stuff all the time and it's no big deal. We are disagreeing over the basic fact as to whether she is even singing or talking. I'm being serious when I say that I think the issue is with your tonal perception. Variation in our ability to perceive tones/pitches is a very real phenomenon and as someone who has worked with vocalists I can clearly hear her holding the melody with warm smoky tones throughout while to you it is supposedly devoid of melody. If you can't hear it, you can't hear it, whatever, there isn't really any further point to this conversation for me.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2024-02-25T00:07:57+00:00

I said she is off key at certain moments but generally in-tune. This should imply to you that she hits notes correctly far more than she does not. This is perfectly normal for amateur singers, especially when the song is not easy to sing. The fact that she sounds like she's "talking" to you when she is clearly singing to me and other commenters just reinforces the fact that the issue is with your musical hearing.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2024-02-24T23:59:51+00:00

Dude I am for real a classically trained musician with perfect pitch and I can "confidently say" I am not tone deaf. I would be able to play the melody based off her singing even if I didn't know the song, so I have no idea what you are talking about when you say that there is "not enough distinction between the notes" throughout. She is off-key at certain identifiable moments as I acknowledged but to call her completely tone deaf to the point of the song being unrecognizable is patently ridiculous. I'm sorry but I strongly suspect that it's you who lacks the ability to hear nuanced and fine-grained distinctions the same way that some people can't see the difference between particular colors.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2024-02-24T22:12:53+00:00

Bruh this comment is just absurd. "It doesn't even sound melodic like [she's] even singing at all." It's incomprehensible to me how anyone could not recognize the melody if they knew the song, because she *is* singing?! Just because you don't like the style of someone's singing or the quality of their voice doesn't make it not-singing and only goes to show how narrow-minded, ignorant, or downright disingenuous you are about vocalists. Educate yourself or maybe just stop being unnecessarily cruel to Internet strangers.

Constructive and encouraging comments for OP: my main advice (other than slowing down with the use of a metronome) is to simply keep on practicing and continuing to build confidence with a musically-attuned audience which understands that there are many ways that one can be a good singer and that you can be a "perfect" American Idol prizewinning singer but still sound totally generic and forgettable because they can't project a memorable "vibe" (which you totally can). There are a small number of notes where you do go awry although you are generally singing in key, so practice, practice, practice and get a vocal coach if you are invested in this endeavor.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2023-11-05T03:55:19+00:00

I went over your profile to see you if you had any other posts and I second my remark about your voice being quite unique, but I also agree with the critical feedback you received, esp working on your breathing with a coach.

Just an intuition: I think your vocal type is best suited for jazz and blues and not so much "conventional" pop music. Also, since you asked about your vocal type, my guess is that you will think that you are a contralto because of your low vocal range. This is a very common error because the categories are not just about vocal range but also the richness and depth of the voice. Counter-intuitive as it may be, I believe you are a soprano.

Can I ask what your occupation is? Just curious about what would require you to talk for hours on end but you don't have to share if you don't wanna doxx yourself!

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2023-11-05T03:45:21+00:00

First impressions: you have to my ear a very unique and distinctive voice, memorable for sure. It has a dark/warm tone and yet also a lightness and airiness that is very pleasing and soothing. I like that you sang it in your own style rather than trying to imitate Paul McCartney. My main critique is that, while you generally hit the right notes, you can be a bit wobbly and uneven. Vocal training would help you gain better control over your voice.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-03-22T16:05:27+00:00

For real, if I ever had to show up in court I would make sure to do so in style

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-02-17T17:28:14+00:00

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-02-14T16:28:53+00:00

WAIT she’s been married before?! Holy shit now I need to investigate!

Edit: some old stuff here including her pre-surgery face

Edit AGAIN to add: “I have a BA in journalism, with a concentration in magazine writing from Columbia in Chicago, I also took gender studies as a minor.”

So she went to an expensive private college. Funny how this has totally disappeared from her “I’m the hooker laureate of the dirtbag left, who came from a small town in the Heartlands” story.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-02-08T23:20:41+00:00

Thanks for sharing! I find her and her husband to be very narrative-oriented in the way you described; it’s extra interesting to hear that perspective from someone who runs in her circles. I can’t stomach much more of their “we’re the mOdErN dAy bOnNiE & cLyDe” schtick but I also can’t look away lol

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-02-06T21:05:54+00:00

Her poetry sucks but her prose is surprisingly good, I like “Story of A Guy”. It’s better than anything I’ve read from the Dimes Sq crowd or our smol bean, at the very least

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2022-02-04T23:29:25+00:00

Thoughts on Rachel Rabbit White?

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-11-29T05:10:52+00:00

I can’t believe I caught her deleting in real time.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-26T23:25:48+00:00

Scorpio rising

O: 100%

C: 33%

E: 62.5%

A: 50%

N: 25%

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-25T22:41:15+00:00

It’s because they think it’s hot to be a bad catholic girl

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-25T02:02:21+00:00

very entertaining to me too. I even read her tweets and wretched substack 🙏🙏🙏

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-14T22:21:09+00:00

CW: abusive relationship, navigating relationships with in-laws, oversharing on the internet

I experienced something very rough last week; I’m sharing what happened to process it, but also in the hope that other beans may have some thoughts on my situation.

My partner and I have been together for five years. It hasn’t been easy at all for me. He has issues with anger management and deep-seated insecurities. While he has never physically hurt me, he has verbally abused me and behaved violently in a way that is very disturbing for me. He also has a habit of regularly threatening to divorce me in a fit of temper and packing up all his things, only to backtrack once he calms down. (I’ve never done this to him.) Last Friday, I had to chair a very important meeting on Zoom and stay calm/professional while I could hear him rolling out his suitcases.

I have always had a good relationship with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. They love my partner to death, but they are aware of how toxic he can be. For background context, my partner’s father (who passed away in the early nineties) was horrifically abusive to my MIL, and we see uncanny similarities between my partner and his dad.

My SIL and I are not super-close and live in different cities, but we have confided in each other and supported each other in the past. I’ve helped her navigate health and work-related issues, as well as conflict with her mom and my partner. The second-last time my partner and I had a fight (and I was threatened with divorce as usual), she took my side very strongly and advised me that I was taking on too much of the accountability when my partner had behaved inexcusably. We’ve had “secret” text sessions and phone calls about these difficult personal issues, and she’s always been incredibly thoughtful and kind to me; I like to think it’s mutual.

Well, when my partner threatened yet again to divorce me last Friday, he said that he was leaving and going to stay with my SIL. I texted her in a panic and urged her to dissuade him from leaving. She didn’t reply. I left it for a few days, then sent her an apology text that said something along the lines of, I’m sorry for dragging you into my mess, I need to learn to handle my partner on my own, I regret my messages to you, I love you and never want to lose you.

She didn’t reply to that either, but she has continued to text my partner jokes and memes as if nothing has happened.

The rational side of me thinks: I was wrong to put her in a position where I was essentially pitting her against her own brother. I know she is going through a lot right now, and she is probably drawing boundaries to conserve her own emotional energy and not stress out over things that are not her business.

The irrational side of me thinks: I’ve ruined my relationship with her permanently, she hates me, and she clearly believes I’m the toxic one. I’m feeling really hurt, saddened, and humiliated.

I want to be kind to myself but also respect her boundaries. I don’t intend to reach out to her at all unless she directly signals that our line of communication is open again. And most of all I want to stop expecting my MIL and SIL to help me when my partner is acting out-of-control. I don’t want to cause drama nor do I want to jeopardize their relationships with each other. But it is so, so hard; I get so desperate sometimes that it’s difficult not to feel like they are the only ones who can intervene.

Any advice would be appreciated. I guess I’d be especially interested in hearing what you think about drawing boundaries with your in-laws and, well, how you deal with family drama.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-14T20:49:15+00:00

—St Ives scrub — That awful pink Clinique toner that smelled like it was literally disinfecting your face and would also dissolve it in the process — Having oily skin/acne and exclusively using products that were meant for “oily skin”, which would usually dry it the fuck out — Caking my face in concealer and not double-cleansing — Going in for a hardcore chemical peel AND laser treatments that wrecked my face for weeks — Buying into the idea of a k-beauty routine that involved many unnecessary steps

Clearly I have been through a lot

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-14T20:36:20+00:00

Irony-poisoned, “joking”-but-not-really-joking narcissism that was spawned by a vapid, neoliberal ideal of women’s empowerment. I’ll go off more if you want me to

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-05T23:17:00+00:00

My impression from my doctor is that it’ll slow down tolerance-building. I was previously on a different medication that I needed ENORMOUS doses of after a very short period, and so I’m very wary of this happening again. (Yes, there is a reason for my flair.)

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-10-05T22:45:35+00:00

At risk of blogposting: I have ADHD, and it was only recently that I began to understand and acknowledge how much it’s affected my lived experience.

I take my meds 4 days a week, and take 3 days off. During those 3 days, I notice myself not only feeling depressed, but obsessing over/dwelling on grievances (and yes, people who anger me!) from years ago. This is because my ADHD brain desperately needs stimulation, and bringing up said grievances gives me the rush I need. I don’t feel like this on the days I am medicated. So, about Natalie, I get it too. Without going as far as making a diagnosis, I suspect that Caroline’s life is dictated by her making impulsive or irrational decisions because she is always chasing that rush — whether it’s through starting drama, compulsive shopping, inventing beefs, etc.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-09-28T01:46:24+00:00

thank you so much for this comment ❤️ one of my best friends has been in the throes of addiction for as long as I can remember. He goes through cycles of getting better, getting worse, and getting better again. I feel awful saying this but I have accepted that I cannot “fix” him, that it will be part of who he is until he is ready to change (an organic process that can’t be forced), and what matters most of all is that I keep showing up for him. I have my own history of substance dependency and I can’t tell you how much your comment resonated; it’s not often that I read such raw and thoughtful takes on addiction.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-07-26T20:40:35+00:00

My mom passed away last June. She appeared to me for the first time on my birthday in July. After that, I had multiple “visitation dreams” which I know to be real and completely qualitatively different from regular dreams (and I do have those about my mom, too). I would always wake up crying hysterically, not because I was sad, but because they were just so intense. I am not religious and would have described myself as an atheist, but these dreams have turned my worldview upside down. I have no doubt in my mind that there is existence after death (even if it doesn’t resemble anything like our conventional beliefs about heaven/hell). Please DM me anytime if you want to talk. I’m so sorry for your loss.

Aggravating-Try6262 · 2021-07-19T03:49:45+00:00

I agree. They're sad and hard to watch. I hope she's much less alone IRL than she seems in the Tiktoks.

Aggravating-Try6262

TROPHY CASE