This is so surreal I’m a huge fan, avaa

Hi professor, avaa. I'm a trans woman, and myself and other trans people (not all mind you) experience dysphoria-instead of dysmorphia's contortions, it's often described as a misalignment, at least it feels that way for me. Realizing you're trans is colloquially known as "cracking the egg"

Important note with the “Good Luck” - it’s playing with the convention of a beat tag. Essentially a watermark. To wrap beat tags into the meaning of the song/album almost constitutes a sort of 4th wall break.

With regards to your point at 16:00 about what it is about hyperpop that lends itself so well to the trans experience; underscores has stated a few times in interviews and production livestreams that she is obsessed with taking something natural and giving it an artificial sheen of unreality. All kinds of vocal effects, piano and guitar licks that are impossible to physically perform, it's Baudrillard's concept of the hyperreal applied to pop music. I think this really took off with SOPHIE and her work on re-envisioning and deconstructing the body (Immaterial Girls, Faceshopping), especially the trans body, as something that is more than the sum of its parts. Then you take ideas from PC Music's hyperconsumerist satire, the concept of Pop Music as the ultimate form of consumerism (look, you can consume and purchase the concept of being popular and cool!), the fact that gender affirming surgery is an extremely expensive and invasive process, and you can kinda see this side of the hyperpop oeuvre take shape. We're using artificially applied hormones, surgeries, FX plugins, makeup, etc to bring our physical bodies and our art closer to our hyperreal constructions of self. I'm only that far into the video, hopefully you didn't already bring all of that up haha. Aava, what a wonderful first video to find from your channel! I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the other great albums of the altpop/hyperpop/pc music/post-pc wave

I did some thinking about how the "horseshoe theory" comes in to play with this album, and this is what I came up with: Wallsocket is an album that pulls at the extremes until they bend backwards upon themselves. Never settling into a specific genre of sound, but hopping from genre-to-genre across the album, often within the same song, Underscores juxtaposes sounds that exist at the extreme ends of genre: jumping from hard-rock to bluegrass, hyperpop to slowcore, Wallsocket is an album where the outliers come to coexist in an interwoven tapestry. If you plan on predicting what you are in store for in listening to Wallsocket, then my message to that idea is the same as a recurring motif that echoes throughout the album- good luck! In many ways, Wallsocket is an album that is non-binary in both content and form. If the horseshoe points towards the binary extremes, then Wallsocket is an album that engages in the extremes in order to collapse the binary, and reveal its ruse.

i believe s*nny is spelled like that because it could be sunny or sonny, theyre both pronounced the same so you just pronounce it as either. avaa

AVAA! You should definitely look at more of Underscores' music, it's all really good!! Underscores has done a few "any%" streams, I believe the vods are still on youtube somewhere. Basically she walks through every song in a given album and breaks down all the individual parts. It's super neat and I think it might be of interest if you were interested in where she finds her sounds, how she makes them, the thought process etc.

avaa, this is my aoty by a longshot underscores is the most talented musician i've ever heard. I did want to share my interpretation of geez louise though, which to me is about the religious trauma that comes with growing up in a very religious household (catholic in this case apparently) and how that can affect one's identity as a result. The three sections of the song implying different stages of coming to terms with it. The first about the rage and grief and anger associated with the realization that everything you know about the meaning of life stands contrary to your core beliefs about yourself and your worldview, and is accompanied with fast paced screeching metal guitars and harsh noise to compliment. The second part with the country square dance vibes signify a feeling of denial, trying to convince yourself that it's always been this way and that's a good thing, and the production just echoes those country town values. She says that "people like us" are superior (contrary to the chorus, realizing that actually "they're just like me [dammit!]") and without it you couldn't make it ("without my mother i'd be dead in an instant"), but of course, "we don't have to talk about it". The final ethereal part representing acceptance, that you aren't responsible for all the wrongdoings of the religion you were raised on and you can't do anything to fix it either. The "womanoid" line being about the realization that that worldview will never accept you for who you are, so finally you conclude in a completely new light, "we don't have to talk about it" because you are not the embodiment of the religion you were raised on. This song is easily one of my favorites because of how every little bit of chaos is symbolic and meaningful, underscores' ability to assign meaning to every little nuance of her production and lyricism is why she's my favorite artist by a mile

AVAA but the lyrics in Duhhh... "I drown in my antibiotics" feels like an obvious reference to the one of the joke names of trans girls and transfemmes make about estrogen, AntiBOYotics.

aava! i'm so glad that you focused so much on the narrative of this album. i feel like it went over so many people's heads, and i was a bit disappointed to see that in fantano's review he doesn't mention the narrative at all despite giving it an 8/10, and for me the narrative makes this album an easy 10 and possibly one of my favorite albums of all time, so it was especially nice to see you spending so much time on it's narrative and giving underscores the credit she deserves for it! also, my personal interpretation of uncanny long arms in relation to the album's narrative is that the song is from mara's perspective and how, after the events of seventyseven dog years, she suddenly feels as if s*nny is tangible and within her reach as opposed to when she would just stalk s*nny from a distance, and her having her arms surgically shortened again and temporarily dying during surgery could be a metaphor for mara attempting to almost re-calibrate the way she builds relationships with people and having an epiphany about how she wants to live the rest of her life, but again that's just my interpretation

About the horseshoe thing, based on interviews i think horseshoe theory here is about dualities and contradictions in the identities and attitudes of the characters; this is i think what the motif of “wrapping around” refers to. Mara is S\*nny’s stalker, someone who is so obsessed with someone else they *wrap around* to being a danger to them. S\*nny is both religious and trans, and her belief is so strong that it *wraps around* from being comforting to terrifying. In Geez Louise she accepts herself, which rather than making her lose her faith *wraps around* to strengthening her faith but changing her understanding of it. OMB is very wealthy, but she *wraps around* by “acting poor” to hide it and/or to rebel against her circumstances. Joshua Domingo, the thief, is someone so trusted by the bank her works for that he *wraps around* to being the greatest danger to it. I think you could probably do similar analysis of Johnny and the other characters but I think this demonstrates the theme. Also, AVAA!!!!

I don't think we need government. Avaa.

This album has been on repeat for like the last week. Literally heard of underscores from a couple i met at a Jockstrap concert. As a trans woman there's a lot to connect with

avaa. so excited to see a review for this album

avaa! I think every trans person’s conception of “transness” is different and I don’t think it’s something you can (fully) convey in words-but Underscores did something interesting in that (IMO) wallsocket seemed to explore the factors on the periphery of transness, if that makes sense. Like painting a portrait of something by painting everything around it, and I think that’s something no other artist has done.

amazing video, this album was so so so good and especially the final track was so hard hitting. avaa !!!

Just a note at 45:28 - Melanie Martinez was accused of sexual assaul and rape by a former partner of hers. Her defence was that her accusor, "never said no to anything [they] chose to do together." I think this is relevant to bring up and acknowledge if we are comparing Underscores to Melanie, especially after just talking about the song Johnny Johnny Johnny. That being said, I absolutely hear separting the art from the artist and also that you meant no ill will with the comparison, but in fact the opposite. We also do not know that these accusations are true for certain, but because of that, it still feels like muddy territory, so I just think it is important to acknowledge while making the comparison.

wow! sometimes i have a hard time seeing the inner meanings of albums so you always help me with the meanings. i never understood that wallsocket was a town and it makes so much more sense now. thanks! avaa

AVAA!!! Loved to hear someone talking about this album, really needed someone to talk to about it right after I've heard it for the first time, it blew my mind!

AVAA these reviews are the best on youtube and r really anywhere i can think of. finally finding someone who loves music and the albums i love as much as i do has been great. looking forward to the potential sufjan review!

What I love a lot about the album is that there are so many ways you can read the narratives within the songs. Mara, for me is the most interesting character because she represents a lot of the underlying, internalized emotions a lot of trans-femmes have to deal with. The girls can, Mara included be read as different aspects of a single person's lived experiences complex emotions. In the more literal reading, yes, she's a stalker, but through a narrative lens she represents a paradigm of the trans experience that is often not talked about: she's seeking out feminity, copying and retrofitting identities into her own because her own growth as a person has been so stunted it's all she can do, and she has to do it in secret. By the end of her story, she moves on. At first she's scared of her growth, her "uncanny long arms", but soon learns to accept them and move on. Her story subverts with the narrative of the "predatory trans-women" by playing with these ideas of juxtaposition, and duality. Geez Louise in particular is a song that can read very differently depending on your own perspective as well, I think. Underscores herself, like me is of Filipina descent. I'm Filipina-Canadian, she's Filipina-American: we exist within a diaspora. In large part, that diaspora is due to the repeated colonization of our homelands, and it's industrialization. This comes with the burden of a culture with an erased, invisible history. This may be controverial to say, but for many it's led something of an existential crisis of identity within many contemporary Filipinos, especially within our shared diasporas. Only really now are younger generations rediscovering parts of their pre-colonial heritages and histories: "My mother tongue, she's aching for a shirt, a familiar addition of sensibility." When she mentions that she "adorns her skin in accidental patterns" it's a reference to the practice of batok, which is a nearly lost tradition where we would tattoo illustrations of our accomplishments as a right of passage. It becomes even more difficult when you realize as a trans-person today, that within many of the different civillizations that had existed within the Philippine Peninsula gender-fluidity was a normalized part of society, and not the exception. "Trace it back and run it through this tangled mesh of wasted breath"? This is exactly how it can feel sometimes, trying to talk about America's role in our cultural erasure, even to our own peers let alone about our heritage and precolonial history. Sorry for the wall of text, I think there's something about this album that just really gets me going lmao!

haven’t watched yet but very excited to see you review Wallsocket, been loving this album. got into her in 2021 with fishmonger and absolutely played that album like crazy, as well as the EP following it. she’s done it again and this might be her best work yet.

This is the first video ive seen from you and im now such a big fan!

Im not sure what April intended exactly with You Dont Even Know Who I Am, but it registered deeply with me as if it was being told from the perspective of my undiagnosed mental illnesses. How its always followed, it knows everything about me, what makes me happy, sad, scared, etc. And then when she says the bit about crying the makeup off. It just felt like comint to terms with not being "normal". The illness and the self coming together for a moment of realization.

This album is insane, thanks for your review. AVAA!!

avaa, so glad you decided to review this one. if you liked this, I'd recommend the new Yeule album, Softscars.

subbed after one minute bc of your connection to your fans, you seem like a professor that i'd love

avaa. i love this album and video sm

avaa my AOTY for sure, have been listening for the past week and a half non stop :3

aava! been paying attention to underscores ever since her edm roots! she also contributes to a band called six impala, which also makes narrative-drenched hyper-edm. awesome stuff

woah what a thoughtful review. I respect how much you put your mind into this instead of just ruling it out because it is "zoomer music". I never really understood that concept anyway. Awesome review!

love love this album

I have been a underscores fan ever since fishmonger came out and this made me appreciate and understand Wallsocket even more. Especially the part about how JJJ is actually a game, avaa

AVAA! this is amazing!

avaa!!! I appreciate your insights!!! :D

im only 40 minutes in, but i really like how authentic and passionate and engaging you seem!

AAVA! This is my first video of yours, but I think your insight and the grace with which you handle topics you aren't entirely certain on is refreshing. I will definitely be keeping up with your content! Thank you so much for breaking down some of the narrative for zoomers and boomers alike!

i loved this video, my fav part of this album was the kinkos field trip interpolation at the end of uncanny long arms, avaa!

avaa ig? first video i've seen but huge fan starting now! Wasn't expecting to see such a good review / analysis of an album that has consumed my mind since i first heard it. Keep up the good work :D

amazing analysis. your youthful energy / open minded outlook is lovely and refreshing to see. i am 21 and i know for a fact others my age appreciate people like you.

"well, not the most straight, but pretty straight" loved the review, definitely will be checking out your other stuff! I'd strongly recommend checking out two other other hyperpop-diaspora releas: softscars - yeule from a few weeks ago, and census designated - jane remover (out 2 days). I feel like we're in such a wave of creativity right now as the aesthetic intent of hyperpop spreads into other sounds

Avaa. Amazing album. You should listen to Jane removers album that comes out on the 22nd of this month. She’s the feature on uncanny long arms

AVAA

AVAA PROFFESOR I WISH YOU TAUGHT AT MY SCHOOL greetings from mexico!

Best video . Good information . Sen ... bro

I’m really happy I found your channel through this review. Underscores is fantastic, and all of her work should get more attention. Another interesting comparison may be Frank Sinatra’s Watertown. It’s another location based concept album like Greendale and Wallsocket, although the themes and the personalities here are MUCH different. It was one of his later works and I think was largely ignored?

as a zoomer its hard to get me to sit down and pay attention to anything longer than 30 seconds, so it was a pleasure to enjoy this entire video and go "wait it's already over?" haha first i've seen from you but avaa, learned a lot from this and got to discover some new music thanks to you. keep it up man

an on cinema reference, i love your channel.

AVAA! You know, a few months ago, I fell in love with this album because the production is out of this world and creatively representative of what it feels like to live in the current generation. HOWEVER, it's really only in the last week or so that I truly grasped just how amazing this album is, because not only is the sound incredible, but the whole messaging and storytelling is beyond impressive. Every single song is gripping, touching, emotionally packed, and I'm just left in complete awe by the end of the final track. I think you did a fantastic job at conveying just how important this album is in the grand scheme of 2023 :)

AVAA! I'm so glad you enjoyed this album, definitely go back and re-listen to fishmonger and its companion piece boneyard aka fearmonger if you haven't already, they're two very special projects. Also you should definitely listen to Jane Remover's new album when it comes out later this month, she's just as skilled and imaginative as underscores, but is making music that could not be more different. I feel so grateful to be living in a time where so many trans-artists are making so much incredible art and are doing it so openly. Have a great day!

as a transfem, i think the closest term for when people realize they’re trans is “crack the egg”

Listened to Wallsocket maybe 15 times, just over and over and then stumbled upon you! And oh my! I was not expecting to find the most funny, informative youtube channel I've ever seen. This was a *delight* to listen to and made me appreaciate the Album so, so much more. Thank you a million times for what you do and this video, and you earned yourself a new subscriber. Have a nice day!

I'm so glad you got to this album it's SO good and PLEASE review something from Jane Remover, her next album is coming on the 20th and I think that it'll be amazing and you would have a good time reviewing it(all speculation right now because only 2 singles from it have been released)

AVAA what a great write up on this album

I like how you mentioned the phone hotline aspect of 'You don't even know who I am' . Personally I feel like its' meant to be someone calling a suicide hotline; often these hotlines don't actually do much for a person in crisis (at least in my experience) and mostly consist of just either giving people empty affirmations or end up making the caller feel unsafe with stuff like sending cops to the person's location. Those empty affirmations repeated also remind me of some discussion I heard of some hotliness actually replacing their attendants with AI, though I'm not sure how true that actually is. Either way it doesn't feel like a real person is on the other end of that line.

saw them last night, incredible artist

hi prof, avaa! ive always been on-and-off aware of your channel, and though my poor attention span prevents me from finishing a lot of long form content, i still appreciate watching from time to time and seeing how much you enjoy making your analyses! ive been craving a deep dive on this album, so thanks for your insight - your ideas have really brought me a new understanding to this strange and awesome album. (underscores' real name is april harper grey, by the way!)

avaa

on the topic of why does hyperpop lend itself to lgbtq: when i discovered the genre, it sounded like all the music i listened to in my childhood (maybe around 2007-2015) all in one. so that included mainstream 00s pop, edm, emo, dubstep. i think all those genres historically have been misunderstood and mocked, literally because they were perceived to be "gay" or "for girls" or otherwise embarrassing. emo in particular was extremely hated because of its display of "poser" depression and self harm, mixed with androgyny. i think hyperpop encapsulates the feelings of not fitting in and gravitating towards art before realising that the reason you don't fit in is because 🌈🌈🌈🌈

I only just discovered underscores in the last 2 weeks or so but I’ve liked a lot of the stuff I’ve heard so far

i like this video a lot

6:23 I’m not trans myself, but I have a lot of friends that identify as trans. They said that’s the proper term. I really appreciate you asking to make sure. I just found out about you through this video and I already have so much respect for you. People like you help make the world a kinder place. Thank you for doing what you do

you should check out hypochondriac by brakence also has some crazy production

There are so many hardcore fans in the comments. I feel like I pay attention to music, but I’ve never even heard of this artist (thanks Professor avaa). Excited to check this out and subsequently Fishmonger.

avaa, i love that you reviewed wallsocket, maybe fishmonger next?

Jonny Jonny Jonny is one of the best pieces of art i’ve interacted with in a long while

I think you look great Prof. Skye!

greendale getting a shout out was unexpected! This album gave me such big SMiLE (by the Beach Boys) vibes. Similarly making a sound collage of expertly produced pop, blending styles to capture whatever setting, slice of life Americana glimpses throughout. While at the same time, telling personal stories through all-too familiar experiences, and conveying a sense of the trans identity in art. She enhances insight into the lyrics by matching soundscapes so well, transporting you well into the moment in time she's creating. Just truly next level stuff.

I'm incredibly happy that this album is being received as well as it is. I genuinely think it's the best album this year out of a plethora of amazing album but wallsocket still stands out. I also love that you addressed how trans forward hyper-pop is. I'm genderfluid and my partner is transmasc and a ton of hyper pop speaks to trans and queer experiences in ways I could never express so eloquently or complexly.

Please listen to her 2021 album fishmonger! As someone who was obsessed with that album; the reference to Kinkos field trip 2006 in Uncanny long arms made me quite emotional and extremely grateful to experience the art of underscoreas/april.

avaa! i was hoping you'd review this because it seemed like you'd really dig the stories and how the overall concept is executed, glad i was right on that one lol! her real name is april harper gray by the way

AVAA Just heard the new Sufjan Stevens album and wow ... could be album of the year. So much context around it with his recent near death medical condition and Sufjan just announced that the album is about and dedicated to the recent death of his love partner.

Hi professor, I’m hoping you’ll keep an eye out this Friday for the artist “Slauson Malone 1” (formerly Slauson Malone) and his upcoming album EXCELSIOR. I think he’s a really fascinating artist and that you’ll have something to draw from his music!

I think the horseshoe here represents the idea that people who think they're on diametrically opposed ends of the modern capitalist system have more common goals and grievances than anyone within the system. I'm about as socialist as they come but every day I feel myself empathising with populists more and more (not populist politicians, but their supporters) They're also struggling to make ends meet and it only seems to get worse and they also know there's no one they can vote for that will make anything magically better. They have as much power over their own existence as I do, and it hurts them as much as it hurts me. There's a few songs on the album that suggest reaching across a divide - mainly would highlight "Shoot to kill.." where despite not being able to see the subject's argument about military conflict and fundamentally disagreeing with that stance doesn't prevent the author from expressing a very human love for them.

listening to this with greendale in the background :)

AVAA. Somehow this album slipped by me. Loved her Fishmonger album so I’ll have to check this out.

Interesting little trivia for you! The synths your talking about with the one note are called monophonic synthesizers! There is multiple types of synths you can buy and this is actually a huge classification type, of how many notes your synth can play at the same time. The other type is called polyphonic synthesizers, which are regularly more expensive. avaa

This video is unintentional ASMR

I find myself listening to hyperpop not only as a style or vibe, but I feel like it understands my brain, constantly introducing me to parts of myself. Being neurodivergent and queer makes you feel so isolated, and this wacky, free, creative space of flow and flux gives me a sense of community and being understood for the odd way I exist.

please review, Oneohtrix Point Never - Again! (and love wallsocket it’s great)

lmfao the harmonica impression

avaa doesn't really apply to me as this is my first vid, but it was really amazing

Another trans artist, femtanyl, just released a 13 minute debut ep called chaser a few months ago. I feel like some of the lyrics on the ep might be related to the sort of anger or misery that comes with being born into a body you don't feel any desire for, specifically katamari and girl hell 1999. But I might be reading too into it. I sort of related to it in that way. It's mainly weird ass internet-core-rave-whatever type stuff. AVAA!

want to echo some other commenters that the new slauson malone 1 album that drops tonight and the jane remover album that drops in a couple weeks are must listens!!! both incredible artists with so much substance in their music

✨ cool farting keyboards ✨

New Jane Remover album this week!

Avaa! Geez Louise is my favorite song on the album and, in my opinion, one of the most interesting. You nailed most of the themes pretty well but one small crucial detail that ties all of them together and possibly even recontextualizes so much of rhe album is that not only is April (underscores) Filipina, but historically within that culture being transgender was not only accepted but in some cases seeb ws a spiritual thibg. However, colonization mostly eliminated many of those traditions. Geez Louise is about being displaced from both your culture and gender identity and just how intertwined those things are

avaa ❤

For your question about Uncanny Long Arms and how it fits in, I think youre on to something about it relating to trans becoming, and I read it as a metaphor for outgrowing the place you grew up in, especially as a queer person in an often closed-minded midwestern small town. I think this is indicated by its status as the penultimate track, prior to Good Luck Final Girl which sees the narrator leaving Wallsocket on a train, not really sure where to go next, but knowing that Wallsocket is too small to contain the narrator who has outgrown her origins, both in terms of identity and perspective.

guys what does avaa mean?? interested in this album will take a listen!!

would love to hear your thoughts on her previous album now that you are aware of how talented she is

Good luck 😉 🤪

AVAA - if you liked this, you absolutely need to check out the jane remover album that came out today, it feels like yet another zoomer masterpiece

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SKYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE NOT MELANIE MARTINEZ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

W

I dont know what the name of realising you are trans is either but i am going to call it a trans awakening when people ask me now. I think that me having a trans awakening sounds badass. Love your videos btw. I kinda prefer the second half of the album for some reason

36:38 - I was writing some things to send to my professor for my Master's dissertation and I had to stop and say "big up" for the Channel no. 5 - that's my favorite perfume and I wear it like 75% of the time, avaa!

Sir, is there any chance you can review brakance’s album hypochondriac?

I don't know for sure, I'm not trans, but I assume the uncanny long arms is just more like about Dysphoria, something is just off with the persons body after puberty, despite everything should be normal, but things aren't normal to the person experiencing it, but using arms to make it more horrific, AVAA

Faulkner