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Interviewing the Music at BUGS: elifr
Interviewing the Music at BUGS: elifr
(previously known as elifr67)
(previously known as elifr67)
By Anonymous
Intro (pt. 1)
elifr kickstarted his hobby as he uploaded his first album, F#4, on February 20th, 2025. The album originally contained 32 tracks combining into 40 minutes total of music, consisting of 1 and 2 minute songs. Half of the songs were deleted, however, and moved to an archive account.
elifr quickly caught attention in 704, And he continued making music and still does today.
Q&A (pt. 2)
Q: question (said by me)
A: answer (said by elifr)
Q: What’s your favorite song in your entire discography?
A: I have a lot of songs that are great in my ears. I love "Jackpot." Best song on MARCH.
Q: What’s your worst album, in your opinion?
A: Probably TNF. No more words for TNF, to be honest.
Q: What’s your best album, in your opinion?
A: I think El Conquistador and MARCH share the cake. MARCH was a huge turning point in my producing, and El Conquistador was very experimental with sampling.
Q: When’s your next album coming out?
A: SPRING! Out 6.25 at 8 PM or directly on 6.26 at 12 AM. It’s an EP, so like an album but short.
Q: What inspires you?
A: Tyler, Kendrick, you know.. But my music isn't quite like theirs.
Q: Who’s in your top 3 artists??
A: Childish Gambino, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar.
Q: Did you start producing F#4 right away with no experience?
A: No. I had been messing around in December around Christmas and produced beats in January.
Q: What is the meaning behind your EP blank?
A: That’s up for interpretation...
Q: When will we ever get a song with vocals?
A: Never. If my voice sounds better in the future and I’m still putting out albums, then maybe. But for now its a big NO for me.
Q: Why should we care about your music?
A: Cuz I'm lit.
Well, Elias, it was great to have you here!
“It was a pleasure.”
go listen at soundcloud.com/elifristhegoat
ALBUM REVIEW:
ALBUM REVIEW:
Princess of Power
Princess of Power
by MARINA
by MARINA
By Ms. Kimberly
I thought I was done writing reviews, but alas, a new album from one of my favorite artists has come out and I must tell you all about it. As a person who hates how crowded everything in NYC is, it pains me to write this review and potentially grow MARINA's fanbase. It was already heartbreaking enough to see her online fanbase has expanded enough to make her concert tickets ridiculously priced. But, unfortunately, MARINA is simply too good to gatekeep.
If you are an existing MARINA fan, you know about her former albums. For the others, MARINA is a British pop singer, having boosted into fame back in the days when Tumblr was *the* social media platform to use (aka: when I was in middle school). Personally, I discovered her through Facebook, when a friend shared a Hoodie Allen song that sampled her hit, "I Am Not A Robot." If you know nothing of her, I'd recommend listening to... honestly, all... of her albums. She debuted with The Family Jewels, which follows songs about her youth and a sense of isolation. Then, she showed her true artistry with Electra Heart, which comments on popular archetypes for women in the form of song, while also expanding on her feelings of isolation (in a fun, pop-format). Her most recent album prior to this new release was Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, which I had the honor of seeing her on tour for. Again, she makes incredible commentary on how women are treated and the state of the world overall. Don't even get me started on her vocals!
Her latest album, Princess of Power, seems to be the best iteration of careless pop I've ever heard. It is formatted like a video game, each song having its own theme and aesthetic, and finishing it all with a "FINAL BOSS." Some of my personal favorites include the title track, "I <3 U," "CUPID'S GIRL," and "BUTTERFLY." As a language teacher and former French student, I also obviously loved "JE NE SAIS QUOI." Others took some time to grow on me, like "ROLLERCOASTER" and "DIGITAL FANTASY." However, every single track has wormed its way into my brain, digging holes and forming a home, endlessly on repeat. I have been bopping this album incessantly since its release. If you happened to be walking to school around 7:55-8:00 AM and saw my red car last week, it's likely you heard snippets of this album. I am simply: addicted.
MARINA has a talent for artistic expression in music. Her ability to make intense commentary on society while making intentionally creative, artistic choices, and delivering powerful, groundbreaking vocals is remarkable. Truly no one is doing it like her. I share my love for her with Mr. Tim in 6th grade, but we haven't yet talked about this wonderful album. I hope to do that soon. Take a listen for yourself (if you like pop) and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear if you can catch the deeper meaning of some of her lyrics, the sounds used in the background music to intensify the imagery of her songs, and whether you can relate to any of her lyrics. Hopefully her music can empower you the same way it has for me. At the very least, I hope you can dance to her songs.
REVIEW: Flow (2024)
REVIEW: Flow (2024)
By Audrey Lorenz
In a world of soft, legend of Zelda-esq animation, a cat lives peacefully in an abandoned house, surrounded by whimsical stone statues of cats made by a presumably dead owner. This is how “Flow” begins. There are sounds of nature, and a cat gazes curiously at its own reflection. Then an enormous flood comes, foreshadowed by a herd of running deer.
Flow was great movie, in the sense that it was well made (but with very simple technology), had a message (difficult times are easier to get through with others), and left clues of the human world without taking the focus away from the motley crew of animal main characters.
It won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature.
The main character--a cat--learns to "go with the flow," facing its fears and letting go of inhibitions to survive with other animals, such as a lemur, bird, capybara, and dog. “Flow” has no dialogue, and makes no attempt to anthropomorphize it’s animal main characters.
This movie is a far cry from the sticky sweet Disney movies that we know and love. I watched it with my 10 year old brother Dylan, and he hated it. He thought it was too sad, and was bored by the lack of speech. My cousin Aria (age 9) felt the same way and abandoned it after 10 minutes.
I will admit, at some moments I was a bit bored by the lack of speech, but then a flash of the human world would be seen. A stone house filled with glass bottles and tools, hundreds of empty wooden fishing boats, animals in places they would never be in, like koi fish in the Amazon. It makes you wonder what becomes of humanity.
The movie has very sad moments, deep themes, and an ending that made me go, “WHAT?!”
If you are in the mood for a beautiful animated movie, “Flow” is the way to go.
BOOK REVIEW:
BOOK REVIEW:
"The Raven Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater
"The Raven Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater
By Ms. Kimberly
Alright, friends. Here it is, my first (and likely last) media review of the 2024-2025 school year.
Maggie Stiefvater is an author best known for writing the Shiver trilogy, which follows the existence of werewolves in a small suburban town. That series made me fall in love with her writing when I was in middle school, back in 2010.
As a reader, I've always been a sucker for a good romantic story line. As expected, that's how this book roped me in. The Raven Boys starts with the narrator saying that her psychic family has told her that she will someday kiss the love of her life... and kill them. So, she avoids kisses at all.
However, as you keep reading, you learn that the story line goes much deeper than that. Spoiler alert: there's actually little to any romance in the story. She does get a crush, but it doesn't really go anywhere. I felt kind of duped by the romantic story line, in fact. Instead, the book goes heavily into its supernatural influences. Our narrator, named Blue, befriends a group of boys and they all go hunting for spiritual leylines to connect them to the allegedly immortal spirit of an ancient Viking.
I thoroughly enjoyed Stiefvater's writing style. She keeps you hooked by ending chapters on interesting cliffhangers, and not revisiting them until a few chapters later. Each chapter follows a different character, giving you different perspectives throughout the story even through similar events. It kept me engaged and eager to keep reading. I liked how the story went beyond romantic tropes and dived deeper into the complexities of the relationships between friends, especially when friends have opposite socioeconomic standings.
If you like supernatural features, or if you simply want to explore more of the Speculative Fiction genre, I would recommend giving it a try. At first, I was let down. Parts of it fell flat to me--the initial romantic hook didn't even happen! The author kept foreshadowing scenes that didn't even happen! But I have recently learned that this is a 4-part series. So, I'll have to hit my local library to find the next part and see if those parts will just happen later. Maybe you'll hear about it... in the future...
Billie Eilish Concert Review
Billie Eilish Concert Review
By Nova Billy
My name is Nova, and I saw Billie Eilish on October 17th in Madison Square Garden.
I love her music. I almost fainted when I found out I was going to go to see Billie Eilish perform live. Her tour took place from September 29, 2024 to July 27, 2025.
Without further adieu, my opinion of the Billie Eilish tour.
Firstly, she interacted with the audience by recording her voice live and walking around in the audience. She played all the songs really well. She played very popular songs like "When the Party's Over", "Lunch", and "Happier than Ever." She also included her brother and they danced together and gave him the credit he deserves.
While it was an amazing night overall, the food was just bad and there were not many vegetarian or vegan options, which was hard for me and my family.
However, the whole crowd was all connecting and making this a truly memorable time. My favorite moment was when she recorded her voice live and everyone went dead silent and it was magical. Another favorite was when she was playing "Happier Than Ever" and everyone was waving their phones' flashlights. It was also cool that she had her friends go on stage with her and let them sing.
In the end, I think that it was a really great concert overall and she made it very memorable.
OPINION: The Ultimate Tier List That Ranks All Super Smash Bros Characters By How Fun They Are To Play
OPINION: The Ultimate Tier List That Ranks All Super Smash Bros Characters By How Fun They Are To Play
By William Brandler
Truly Devious: A Review
Truly Devious: A Review
By Audrey Lorenz
When I was younger, maybe about 9, my aunt gave me a book called “Truly Devious” (TD). This aunt is the book aunt. I don’t know if you have one in your family, dear reader, but when my aunt recommends a book, I am almost certain that I’ll love it. However, I was 9 and not yet enjoying murder mysteries, so it sat on my shelf for 3 or 4 years, collecting dust until recently I picked it up again. I AM SO SORRY I DOUBTED YOU, BOOK AUNT! This review is me raving about TD and encouraging you readers to read the first one (at least).
Truly Devious is a murder mystery that switches between the 1930s and the ambiguous present. In the 1930s, newspaper tycoon Albert Ellingham built a school in the Vermont mountains for exceptional teenagers with special focuses. One student wrote a 900-page high fantasy book when he was 14. Another student is an engineer-in training.
In the present day, Stevie Bell is a 16-year-old living in Pittsburgh with her parents. Her parents are obsessed with Senator Edward King, who is a bigot, and they don’t understand Stevie’s interests and beliefs. She is interested in true crime and becoming a detective. When Ellingham Academy was established, Albert Ellingham had a young daughter named Alice. When he receives a mysterious threatening letter signed with the pseudonym: ¨Truly, Devious¨, the school goes into a panic. Then, a student is murdered in the dark tunnels under the school and Albert Ellingham’s daughter goes missing. When Stevie gets into Ellingham Academy, she finally finds her people and belonging. That is, until, she finds the body of her movie star dorm-mate, Hayes Major. As the past and present intertwine, Stevie is determined to find the identity of "Truly, Devious" and whoever killed Hayes.
The book has the perfect feel: suspenseful, yet cozy. Although the standalone book ¨The Box in the Woods¨ wasn't my favorite, I highly encourage you to check out the original series and see what you think. Murder, intrigue, and mental health combine in this magic-free Harry Potter-like book. I highly recommend.
OPINION: WHY TEARS OF THE KINGDOM IS WORSE THAN BREATH OF THE WILD
OPINION: WHY TEARS OF THE KINGDOM IS WORSE THAN BREATH OF THE WILD
By Clark Scheihagen
Across the Legend of Zelda series, there have only been two “open-world” games: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. These two games take place in the same world, with the same art style, and Tears of the Kingdom takes place only 4 years after the events of Breath of the Wild. Tears is basically just an expansion of Breath, which begs the question: how could a direct expansion to a game make it worse? Here are some answers.
Breath of the Wild was an almost perfect game. Almost everyone loved it, and I was among those people. It was an amazing open-world journey where you could do essentially anything you wanted to, and you didn’t have to do anything you didn’t want to do. You could literally skip straight from the tutorial to the final boss. This is probably one of the reasons why it’s so great, because if almost everything is optional, then there are no points in the game that are extremely annoying that make it worse because you have to do them, since you don’t really have to do anything.
You might expect me to say that Tears is worse because it brought the game in the opposite direction, but you’d be wrong. Tears did the exact same thing that Breath did in that department. I think the main problem with Tears is that it gives you too much freedom. The first time I played Tears, I got extremely lost in the tutorial section because I had taken a path I wasn’t supposed to. There was nothing that told me to go that way except for a very short moment where you stood on a cliff and looked over at your surroundings. But the game still let me take the wrong path. It tries to do what Breath did well and take it up a notch, but it ends up taking it too far. The path which you’re supposed to take is too linear to give the player complete freedom.
I should also talk about the hand powers. The hand powers are a new version of the runes in Breath. The powers consist of Ascend, Fuse, Ultrahand, and Recall. Ascend and Recall are completely fine, they definitely feel like runes and are fun to use in puzzles and while adventuring. Fuse and Ultrahand are the ones I want to talk about. Fuse allows you to attach objects to weapons, making them stronger. This definitely does not feel like a rune, because it adds a whole new mechanic to the game. It also makes combat a lot worse because it makes finding better weapons a lot less important. In Breath, you had to kill enemies to get the best weapons. But in Tears, you can just put a frox fang on a torch and suddenly it had more power than a traveler's claymore. I also dislike ultrahand, which is a pretty unpopular opinion. Again, it doesn’t feel like a rune because of how often it can be used, but it usually can’t be used well. In most situations when you’re not using zonai materials, ultrahand is not extremely useful. It also feels very clunky to control, and it’s frustrating when you’re trying to use ultrahand and you just can’t get the object in the right place.
Lastly, another large problem with Tears is that it was so similar to Breath, at least in terms of the world. One of the main joys of Breath was exploring the large and beautiful world. But once you’ve played Breath, you’ve already explored the world, so that joy is completely taken away in Tears. You may point to the sky islands and the depths, but in my opinion they are very bland and repetitive, and nothing compared to the overworld. I think that Nintendo tried to capitalize on the success of Breath, but didn’t make Tears different enough to warrant a better experience.
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