"Pop/Stars" by K/DA

This song was composed for the 2018 League of Legends tournament and ended up on Billboard's Top 40. I love that - League of Legends always made really great music for their character releases and tournaments, but it's rare that video game music makes the charts. Guess that means gaming is mainstream, eh? Anyway, K/DA (short for "Kill/Death Assist," which is LoL lingo) is a fake band comprised of two members from the Korean girl group (G)I-DLE and American artists Jaira Burns and Madison Beer. Technically, that makes KDA a "superband," which is what they call it when already successful artists form a new group. Examples of superbands include A Perfect Circle, Audioslave, Amaranthe, Journey, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, just to name a few.

I've been listening to "Pop/stars" a lot. It's a good song to dance to, especially when you're pissed off and need to get some energy out. I throw in a lot of punches and kicks, just because. I've been running on my own steam lately, I need some sort of outlet. Dancing has been it. It helps that the video has a bit of a routine to try and copy. No, I haven't nailed the moves yet but I will. My favorite part is Jeon So-yeon's rap break. I couldn't explain why - as I've said before, good rap is no different than poetry. If it's performed right, it conveys an emotion as unique as the words. Even though I don't understand Korean, it speaks to me. After looking up the translation, now I get why I like it:

See me anytime; using magic

Just once, I can get you

My spirit never dies, uh!

Pow-pow, you don’t know anything

It’s irresistible even if you don’t want it

I can tell from your face what you want

Love it! That's dark goddess energy right there....even earlier in the song, the lyrics refer to Akali being a "goddess with a blade." Anyway, the rap lyrics are from the point of view of Ahri, one of my favorite characters to play in LoL (when I played). Ahri is supposed to be based off the Korean Kumiho spirit, which is similar to other Japanese (Kitsune) and Chinese (Huli Jing) legends. These are spirits that appear as foxes - sometimes with 9 tails - but can transform into other things. Most notably, they can turn into beautiful women who seduce young men and eat their hearts. They live a long time, thousands of years. Depending on the legend, they can be friendly and kind but in most tales, they're bloodthirsty and malicious. Naturally, this is one of my favorite spirits. In LoL, one of Ahri's abilities is to blow a kiss that stuns her target and makes them move towards her, regardless of their free will. The kiss also drains their health a little bit. Sounds like a good ability to have.

Since I'm rambling about kitsune, komiho, and other fox-related nonsense, I'll recommend a book for those interested. It's called "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf" by Victor Pelevin. Pelevin is a Russian novelist so it takes place in post-Soviet Moscow (an interesting landscape, to say the least). Basically, a kitsune falls in love with a werewolf. However, it gets weird and highly philosophical, because two thousand year old monsters think way too much. But it's funny (if you're a fan of black comedy) and is an interesting twist on what is essentially the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I will caution - even though they keep it in the Horror section of the bookstore, it is not Horror, it is very much high-brow narrative literature inspired by the works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. It's dark, but a different kind of dark than what you're probably used to.

Here's the official video for "Pop/stars" - it's better than the videos for most songs, nowadays, in my opinion but I like it when fictional characters put out music. I'm not sure there's enough out there to a whole month, but I'll figure something out. Enjoy!

"Pop/Stars" Video

"Swan Lake" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (as performed by The Agonist)

This is a version of the main theme from "Swan Lake" that Canadian metal band, The Agonist, composed for their second album, "Lullabies for the Dormant Mind." I love the ballet and I also happen to love the story of Swan Lake. The ballet was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the Russian composer who is famous for writing the three Great Ballets, all of which are based on fairy tales - Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. Unlike the other two, Swan Lake does not exactly have a happy ending. Well, it has a Russian Happy Ending, which aren't particularly happy at all but are more beautiful and poetic. 

Here is the story of Swan Lake. One day, Prince Siegfried is hunting in the forest, unhappy that he will have to choose a bride at a ball because he wants to marry for love. He gets lost in the forest and happens upon a lake filled with swans. He is about to shoot one with his bow when it transforms into a beautiful maiden, Odette. She explains that a sorcerer, Rothbart, has cursed her and her companions to live as swans during the day. The curse will only be broken if someone who has never loved before pledges to love only her forever. Siegfried offers to kill Rothbart but if the sorcerer dies before the curse is broken, Odette and her friends will stay swans forever. Over the course of the night, Odette and Siegfried fall in love. Siegfried vows to declare his love for Odette at the upcoming ball.

At the ball, Rothbart appears with his daughter, Odile (the Black Swan) magically disguised as Odette. The other princesses that are in attendance try to get Siegfried's attention but he only has eyes for the transformed Odile. Odette appears at the window, trying to get Siegfried's attention, but to no avail. Siegfried declares his love for Odile in front of all the guests. Afterwards, Rothbart reveals that Siegfried has declared his love for the wrong woman. Siegfried, horrified by the mistake he has made, returns to the lake. He apologizes to Odette. She forgives him but the damage is done. Heartbroken that the curse will never be lifted and she will never be with her True Love, Odette chooses to die than to remain a swan forever. Siegfried, not wanting to live without his Odette, chooses to die with her and they both jump into the lake and drown. Their act of love breaks the curse on Odette's friends and they return to their human form as Odette and Siegfried ascend to heaven. Fin.

Odette and her friends, St. Petersburg Ballet

That's how you know the difference between a romantic comedy and a romantic tragedy. They follow almost exactly the same pattern and at some point, the lovers are going to be separated, seemingly indefinitely. In a romantic comedy, the Universe conspires through a series of unlikely events to bring them together finally and the story ends with a wedding. In a romantic tragedy, the only way the lovers can be together is in death. Usually one or both dies, and a suicide pact like the one seen in Swan Lake is not uncommon in these stories. 

"The Swan Princess" came out when I was a kid and I loved the movie. They gave the movie a happier ending than the one I described. Yes, the Prince declares his love mistakenly to the Black Swan but True Love's Kiss is able to save Odette. I think the original ending is more beautiful. Sometimes, Death is the only ending for a tragic love story and is needed to fix the world in which the story resides, as in "Romeo and Juliet" or "Tristan and Isolde." I find that Russian fairy tales seem to understand this best - not everyone can have a happy ending. That's an important lesson for children to learn.

I really like this version, because it's a capella or without accompaniment (instrumentation), for those not familiar with the term. The Agonist has a female singer and she sings all the parts in the song that would normally be played by an orchestra. I think the singer who did this particular version was Alissa White-Gluz and she has a very clean, clear soprano voice. I've always been jealous of sopranos. Yes, altos and mezzos sound very soulful, but sopranos always sound ethereal and ghostly. And they can hit those ridiculously high notes. Fucking bitches.

"Swan Lake" Video