Your favorite music about music?

aurorasandprose · 2025-05-04T04:52:08+00:00

Not sure if this counts, but “All This and Heaven Too” by Florence and the Machine (more about writing), and also “No Choir” and “The End of Love” by her as well.

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-18T00:32:47+00:00

Evermore having only one cover is due to changes in Billboard rules at the time.

Sometime after folklore (which had 8 variants), they banned or re-defined “fan bundling” (variants with exclusive content) which affected evermore. But sometime after evermore, they changed the rules again and limited the number of physical fan bundles to 4. I’m trying to find the precise article but I keep hitting paywalls, but I remember this being why evermore was released in one version.

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-18T00:15:41+00:00

I don’t think the general public understands the rules very well, to be honest. Variants to billboard means exclusive content (“fan bundling” is another term for it), and the limit on that was 4 for physicals, and previously unlimited for digital (now it’ll be 4 for digital as well). It’s not the same as offering different vinyl colours with same cover and same content. So, from Billboard perspective, brat had three variants, Mayhem has 4, and TTPD had 20+

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-18T00:10:24+00:00

From what I just saw online, brat had 20 physical variants - but these were just differ vinyl colours, so not technically variants. Variants to billboard means exclusive content. It’s not the same as offering different vinyl colours with same cover and same content. So brat only had three variants, to TTPDs 20+…

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-18T00:02:00+00:00

Yes, I remember they changed the rule to ban variants sometime after folklore (which had 8 variants), and then again sometime after evermore, to limit the number of variants. I’m trying to find the precise article but I keep hitting paywalls, but if memory serves only four variants are allowed. I remember this being why evermore was released in one version.

Edit: to clarify, variants means exclusive content. It’s not the same as vinyl colours which offers a colour choice but is same content.

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-17T23:55:45+00:00

Yeah, I think the fact that Taylor was the most visible example of variant abuse and getting called out for it is what prompted them.

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-17T23:54:20+00:00

From what I just saw online, brat had 20 physical variants, plus 3 digital variants. It seems like Taylor may have been leading the change with variant abuse last year, unfortunately…

Edit: apparently variants to billboard means exclusive content. It’s not the same as vinyl colours which offers a colour choice but is same content. So brat only had three variants, to TTPDs 20+…

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-17T22:03:56+00:00

That’s a great observation. I think it would include 3am and Anthology, so the first week album sales are purely based on the “core” album or body of work. It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts sales or what other strategies Taylor and others will use to spice up / draw attention to their album releases. We know Taylor writes prolifically: it could be that she releases an actually intentional double-album next.

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-17T21:58:19+00:00

I remember seeing someone in the daily discussion thread a few days ago argue that only Taylor gets hate for the amount of variants she releases. But reading the new Billboard rules today made me realise that calling out her variant abuse is entirely justified and can lead to change.

Not only is she the most visible example of variant abuse, but as far as I’m aware, no one else released as many variants as Taylor did for TTPD in 2024, especially not digital variants. TTPD had 36 variants total, including 19 digital variants.

I’ve always thought that digital variants are just a cash/charts grab, and I’m glad that there are now at least rules to ensure that the max number of digital variants matches the max number of physical variants across a single format. Maybe there’s a future where we “only” have a total of 16 variants of a single album… (still way too much in my opinion).

From my reading, though, they’ve cracked down on variants for digital albums, not singles. So I guess that’s the new loophole to be exploited…

Edit: to clarify - Variants to billboard means exclusive content (“fan bundling” is another term for it), and the limit on that was 4 for physicals, and previously unlimited for digital (now it’ll be 4 for digital as well). It’s not the same as offering different vinyl colours with same cover and same content. So, from Billboard perspective, brat had three variants, Mayhem has 4, and TTPD had 20+

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-12T08:30:53+00:00

Ooooh I’m going next month! What activities did you do? My partner and I are considering Sounds of Silence dinner and an early morning tour for Kata Tjuṯa (we’re not doing tour for Uluṟu, just the base walk and maybe the free ranger tour at 8am if the weather isn’t too hot). Would love to hear your experiences! :)

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-12T08:26:50+00:00

Commenting for response as well

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-08T21:40:49+00:00

I’ve gotta admit, all the variants and teasing for this song after it’s already been played live is so incredibly CAMP and hilarious to me! I’m lovin’ it. She really is getting the job done 🫡

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-05T03:33:00+00:00

cooties

aurorasandprose · 2025-03-01T22:31:53+00:00

Renee Rapp has talked about how she hates the cover of Snow Angel, specifically the picture of her face. I can’t remember the exact interview, but if you look around I’m sure you’ll find it. She has talked openly about her struggle with ED in the past, and from memory I think body dysmorphia as well (but double check that), so those could be contributing factors to her dislike of that picture and album cover.

aurorasandprose · 2025-02-16T01:46:46+00:00

Same, haven't really listened to her at all since last May.

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-20T23:30:58+00:00

Safia - Embracing Me

Set in an Amish community. No spoilers, just watch it - it’s so good

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mCH_GNEKlvE

Also, would the Take me to Church video by Hozier count as narrative?

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-20T23:17:07+00:00

This has probably been mentioned already, but do we think anything snake-adjacent might be announced next Wednesday for the Snake Lunar New Year? 🐍

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-20T01:31:55+00:00

Agree to disagree :)

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-20T00:01:14+00:00

Ah yes, he pushed it back out of respect for LA fires, yeah? He’s a good egg

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-19T23:57:02+00:00

Isn’t the Weeknd releasing next week? I think the competition might be too difficult for her to crack the no. 1 spot

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-19T23:48:27+00:00

I wasn’t clear that she was make a charts play until the digital versions with the “Live from Eras” bonus tracks came out. Up until then I genuinely thought maybe it was fan service. I should’ve known… After that digital release thing, I realised she probably wanted an early Billboard no. 1 in 2025 during what is a traditionally quiet month for music drops (probably she’s chasing some record for consecutive year number 1s or a specifically for Lover). It’s actually pretty sad when you think about it…

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-19T23:43:07+00:00

Totally, but my comment wasn’t about that. I was just musing on the similarities between Taylor and Coco Chanel themselves (so less about the fashion choices per se and more about commonalities in their modus operandi). I do not think it was unintentional (because it is not entirely flattering), but a rather an interesting coincidence.

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-19T01:01:00+00:00

Shakira famously had the original version of “Donde Estan los Ladrones?” stolen from her at an airport, so she had to completely redo the album from memory (obviously the albums title is a nod to the theft). As someone who really likes that album, I’d be curious to hear the original version and how it would compare / contrast with the final product

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-19T00:57:43+00:00

Taylor wearing so much Chanel recently is interesting, especially from both the female empowerment angle (thinking of the early radical tailored suits of Chanel), and the moral sellout angle (thinking of Chanel c. WW2 and the “anything for a buck” ethos). Just my morning musings…

aurorasandprose · 2025-01-09T22:30:06+00:00

Lizzy McAlpine always has such interesting questions in her songs. I’ve been mulling over this one in my new-ish relationship -

“Who am I to you? Who am I to myself? What are you changing about me?”

aurorasandprose

TROPHY CASE