Jukebox letter 2018
Jump to: General | Queen (PG) | NR (DL) | RCB | DT | SL | Sanctify | Filthy | MMF (Music Video) | LWYMMD | BB
I'm
merryghoul. If you'd like to read my fic recs of sorts, they're located at
merryghoul.
For those passing by: I'm sticking to only offering and requesting fic for this exchange. I won't be asking for art and/or podfic.
My prompts are pretty much my straight-up interpretations of the songs and videos I'm requesting. If you do get stuck, I like to read the following in fic: hurt/comfort, fairy tale AUs, other fantastic elements (such as mermaids, animal transformation, elves, etc.), elements from mythology (I’m most familiar with Greek mythology, but elements from other mythologies are also okay with me), vampire tropes, angst, fluff, the friends to lovers trope, and pretend couples. My favorite kinks include knifeplay, spanking, bondage, begging, and femdom, but don't feel obligated to make the song we match on kinky in any way.
Some of these videos have an established relationship in them, but for the videos without established relationships, I’m fine with gen or shippy fic.
I don't want the following: characters constantly getting hurt, vomitplay, fics in the second person, fics centered on a character's pregnancy, and any crossovers with other fandoms (obviously with other fandoms that aren’t a part of these videos, but I also don’t want crossovers between the videos I’m requesting).
I've included YouTube videos and lyrics for everything I'm requesting. I'm based in the US, so if any of these links don't work for you, I apologize in advance.
jukebox_fest might have some alternative links for videos and/or songs.
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Perfume Genius - "Queen" (Music Video) | lyrics
Is this video about a closeted gay man who goes on an act of rebellion and commits suicide, all while thinking about these different personas that we see in the video? The thoughts of a man about to come out of a closet? Or is this a fantastic world where all these personas exist with the corporate people and cheerleaders seen near the end of the video? Or is it something else? Tell me.
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Dua Lipa - “New Rules” (Music Video) | lyrics
I have to be honest-I first saw this video sometime last year and never thought it could be turned into a fic until Yuletide. And I liked all the fics that were written for Yuletide. But I’d love to see your take on this video. Where is this hotel set, and what time? What happened to Dua Lipa’s character to cause her to go to this hotel? What exactly are they doing in this hotel, to the point where everything feels choreographed, like they’re in a musical? Are the patrons of this hotel fearful of relapsing into their bad relationships of the past? And if you have a more fantastic take on what’s happening at this hotel (like this Yuletide fic speculating the hotel patrons are vampires), I’d love to read that as well!
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Paramore - ”Rose-Colored Boy” (Music Video) | lyrics
(Note: Video has flashing light effects near the end.)
The video seems to look at a breakdown of a TV anchor on a 1980s-90s local morning show that’s flagging in the local ratings (and the morning show is kinda like, say, Today or Good Morning America in the United States, but I know there are other morning shows like these around the world). It seems that young Hayley wanted to be a more serious television journalist than a morning show anchor; how did older Hayley get to her other position? Does she talk to younger Hayley often in the realm she envisions? Who is Hayley reaching out for during that one section of the video? Is Hayley settling with being a TV anchor near the end of the video, despite feeling awkward during the morning show segments and being berated for the show’s low ratings, or is she on the verge of quitting for good?
(Also, if you’d like to, you can work in the “we’ll do it live” bit in your fic, which comes from a viral clip of Bill O’Reilly on Inside Edition.)
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Tove Lo - ”Disco Tits” (Music Video) | lyrics
(Just a heads up, this is probably not a video you want to play while at work, for the language and sexual content. And a puppet literally taking drugs and having simulated sex with a human.)
Okay, so “Disco Tits” is a trippy video. You’re never really sure if the character interviewing Tove Lo (for the purposes of this video, I’ll consider her a character, as she’s being interviewed at the start of it) is a puppet or a human. So what’s going on with the male character here? Did he dream up traveling with Tove Lo, or did he really quit his job to travel with her? I’d also love stories about Tove Lo and the puppet/man traveling together, and their dysfunctional relationship.
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Jessie Ware - ”Selfish Love” (Music Video) | lyrics
Technically “Selfish Love” is part of a two-video arc (the first video to be released for Glasshouse, but the video chronologically following this video is “Midnight”), but I’d rather have fic focused on this video. I feel it stands up well by itself. The video is about a relationship falling apart because the man in this video cheated on Jessie Ware’s character. By all means, you can go with a strict interpretation of this video. You can focus on the events that lead up to the couple in the video to live in Majorica, or what the whole cheating incident was about. Or you can come up with a different interpretation of the events in the video. When I first watched this video, I thought it was about a relationship falling apart (without a third party involved) in a scenic house in the south of Spain. Maybe you have another interpretation-if so, I’d like to see it!
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Years & Years - ”Sanctify” (Music Video) | lyrics
This video starts with a “Part 1” and a montage, but to my knowledge there isn’t any continuation of the events of this video planned yet. But I feel this video stands alone well on its own. I’d love to see all sorts of worldbuilding in this video. I’d love to learn about the Wild Ruins-more of what it could possibly look like, how the humans live out there, how they hide from the androids of Palo Santo. Or you can focus on the layout of Palo Santo-how did it come about? What do the androids do there? How often do humans appear in Palo Santo, anyway? Or you can focus on Olly Alexander’s character and how he’s forced to performed for these androids. (There’s so much to focus on with this video-if you see something else that interests you, write about it-I’d love to see it!)
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Justin Timberlake - ”Filthy” (Music Video) | lyrics
(Note: Video has flashing light effects.)
I’m intrigued with what might’ve happened prior to this video. I imagine Timberlake’s far-future Steve Jobs-like figure may have had a music-related job in the past to lead him to create a robot that can mimic his moves. Or maybe the Steve Jobs-figure always wanted to be in the music business, but he couldn’t find a way in until he made his own robot. And what about this guy’s business? Is it a big Silicon Valley company like Apple, or does he work alone? Maybe he works with a small workforce of people?
Alternatively, you can focus on what happened to the Steve Jobs-figure after he disappears at the end of the video. Is he a part of his robot? Was he an extension of the robot instead of a human being in the first place? Or maybe something else happened to him.
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Janelle Monáe - ”Make Me Feel” (Music Video) | lyrics
(Note: Video has flashing light effects.)
I’ve read theories that the “Make Me Feel” video is inspired by the “San Junipero” episode of Black Mirror. Some people have said that there is “bisexual lighting” in the video. You can go with those fragments of other people’s ideas, or I’d love your interpretation of what’s going on. Is it really the 80s, or is it something else, like an 80s club night or some sort of simulation? Are those dance sequences (with the background dancers) in her head? Is the song sort of a running monologue for Monae’s character about her thoughts on Tessa Thompson’s character and the male love interest in this video? Does she choose between going out with either Thompson’s character, the male love interest, both of them, or neither one of them?
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Taylor Swift - ”Look What You Made Me Do” (Music Video) | lyrics
I’m really not picky on what aspect of this video you focus on. You can focus on one of the Taylor clones, or any group of them working together. You can focus on the idea that these are things people believe about Taylor come to life, or you can come up with a fantastic or sci-fi idea about how these fictional clones came to be. I feel there are so many ways to go with this video, so go wherever you want with it.
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Taylor Swift - "Bad Blood" (Music Video) | lyrics
I feel there are so many directions you can take with this video. Don't be afraid to center on one part of it instead of trying to write a fic for the whole thing. I'd like any story you can come up with for this video. The organization that Catastrophe's a part of--how did it come to be? How and why did Arsyn and Catastrophe partner up, and why did Arsyn betray Catastrophe? How did The Trinity nurse Catastrophe back to health after she was betrayed? And how did The Trinity encourage her to exact revenge on Arsyn? Is she still present in Catastrophe's life after Catastrophe trains to exact revenge? What happens after the video ends? Or what about the other characters in the video? Do whatever you want with the video and/or its lyrics: I'd be delighted to see what you come up with!
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This entry was originally posted at https://merryghoul.dreamwidth.org/372921.html. Comments on either site are fine.