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 Track : Something Like That
Artist : Aikya Balan
Genre : Indie Folk, Bolero, Indietronica
Label : Tric Jam, Studio 60 Records
Written by : Aikya Balan
Produced by : FancyN
Length : 4:24
Aikya Balan
Mama's little girl, there's more to this world than Kens and Barbies
Sometimes Joes and Janes with a few bills to pay
And for you, there's nothing I wont do, sell my soul if I have to
In a love like this lines don't exist
Don't let them tell you no different, I'm a dancer who finds her own gigs
Or something like that
And when I make enough to leave your dad, please know that my reasons are valid
Or something like that...
Promise me that's something we'll never bring up
Promise me that you'll learn from afar the perils of love
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you'll get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll settle for a real job
Promise me that you'll forget where you come from
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you'll get back on your feet and never end up like me
Or something like that
Look, I've given into some drugs that might have convinced me to give up
But when you slit your wrist you tend to sober up, real quick
Promise me that's something you'll never have to know
Promise me that no matter how hard it blows, you'll keep holding on
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
I know that you'll probably take whatever it takes
But promise that you know the difference between a junkie and a slave
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Or...
They say when you don't love yourself, you just can't learn to love anyone else
Or some shit like that
But I don't go through this for nothing, I need you to become something
My life depends on it
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Or something like that
DEVOURED - FAN CHOICE AWARDS PERFORMANCE ft. Stephanie Fierce
[size=9]
Right after Aikya Balan was announced, a screen began to elevate from the bottom of the stage, hiding what was going on behind it as the mellow grayscale video, directed by Airemese Smith, began to play. A soft, groovy instrumental to Janis Ian's classic song, At Seventeen, said by Aikya to be "my life in one song", plays as the view pans over the vinyl. It plays for a while before Aikya reaches out her foot and stops the record from playing. But Aikya can still hear the melody in ehr head, the song continuing to play in the background, this time a certain excerpt from the song being repeated as if the record, which was supposed to stop playing, was scratched.
Their small town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
Their small town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
Their small town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
As Janis Ian's voice echoes through Aikya Balan's mind, she gets up from her bed and heads right in front of the mirror across the room. She walks slowly towards it, staring at herself while she thinks about the lyrics. Next thing you know, she's humming along, and soon enough she begins to sing the song, Janis Ian's voice fading away as she sins her own version to the song. The song now becomes personal as Aikya recalls the memories of being homeless on the streets of New York City at the age of 17.
A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs
Whose name they never could pronounce
Fades into a life of pronouns
And had control over who screwed her around
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for the naive
That life was meant for make believe
And hope was to be misconceived... up until seventeen
These big wide eyes stare at you
Seeing what I didn't want to--
 
But suddenly, the video is interrupted and shuts off, when out of nowhere the mirror Aikya was looking through in the video appears on stage and Stephanie Fierce breaks through it. The roars of the crowd completely takes over at the sight of this unsuspected comeback. Stephanie Fierce looks as fierce as she always does once she starts strutting down to the front and center of the stage, singing the lyrics to her newest song that is being heard for the first time, Mother Mary, a song about a daughter trying not to lose her mother. It's a strange concept as Stephanie is singing as the daughter but is the mother that she's singing about. Performing the first verse perfectly, she approaches the front of the stage in the bridge of the song, beginning to belt out the words, looking furiously into the camera as she cries out the emotional lyrics.
You grew up fast and I'm just beginning!
It's just so painful to watch, yet the cycle's never ending!
You are who you are, but that's just what they molded!
Live how you live, it doesn't mean you have to be devoted!
I can't let you fall because I'm not going down with you!
Define better off! Where have I been without you?!
I am your seed, please, just please!
One day, we'll be!
One day you'll be!
Once the beat of the chorus drops, Stephanie Fierce and the background dancers immediately begins choreography that fits the hard-hitting instrumental perfectly. They all join in on singing this part of the song, the song starting to sound as if a huge choir in robes was singing it. It's easy to notice the way their moves resemble the act of praying, all of the trained dancers on the stage dropping to their knees, throwing their heads back and crying out to the heavens before they start rolling around and makes their way up to being back on their feet, bending their knees and folding their arms. Fierce sings through this whole routine, still managing to keep her breath, even as she whips her hair back and forth.
Tall enough, tall enough, to raise me
Tall enough, tall enough, to lift me up
Then who could look down on you? Not even you could doubt you!
Not even you could doubt you!
Not even you could doubt you!
Just let me help you be tall enough...
Suddenly the song stops and Stephanie Fierce and her dancers look at the audience, breathing hard signaling that their performance was over. Once again the crowd goes wild, even preparing to give her a standing ovation but their attention is distracted just as Stephanie Fierce folds their hands and looks up. At this moment, Aikya begins to ascend down from the ceiling to a platform that is rising above the stage Stephanie Fierce just performed on. Aikya's newest never-before-heard song, Something Like That, is about a mother trying to save her daughter from making the same mistakes she has, a concept just as strange as Stephanie Fierce's, Balan singing as the mother but in fact being the daughter that she's singing to. The instrumental to the song begins to play as she continues to elevate and soon enough lands on the stage.
For a minute as Aikya gracefully stands there, microphone in hand, she looks like an angel sent down from heaven. But as horns come in out of nowhere and the introduction of the song ends, the white and gold robe is torn off of her body seemingly by a strong draft, illusioned by fans. Underneath her robe is a more revealing outfit, something almost a stripper would wear, which would definitely fit the theme of this song. When the robe is ripped off of her, she stumbles back a little but lands in a squat, ready to start the first verse of the song. Once she is cued in, she begins to softly sing, tensing up as she does her signature ticking moves, slithering around the stage to the reminiscent lyrics.
Mama's little girl, there's more to this world than Kens and Barbies
Sometimes Joes and Janes with a few bills to pay
And for you, there's nothing I wont do, sell my soul if I have to
In a love like this lines don't exist
Don't let them tell you no different, I'm a dancer who finds her own gigs
Or something like that
And when I make enough to leave your dad, please know that my reasons are valid
Or something like that...
As soon as the instrumental bridge takes over after the first verse and the chorus of the track begins, Aikya swiftly throws herself onto a man on the floor in front of her. The crowd lightly cheers, trying to show their excitement but at the same time trying to hear the quiet singer. She is carried on the back of the man, moving around on the floor magnetically. Though it looks to have a strain on both of them, it doesn't seem they can part. This continues during the whole chorus, with the man crawling and Aikya slumped over him. It isn't until he reaches the edge of the platform during the second verse when she slides off of him and holds onto him from behind while kneeling, singing softly into his ear.
Promise me that's something we'll never bring up
Promise me that you'll learn from afar the perils of love
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you'll get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll settle for a real job
Promise me that you'll forget where you come from
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you'll get back on your feet and never end up like me
Or something like that
Look, I've given into some drugs that might have convinced me to give up
But when you slit your wrist you tend to sober up, real quick
Once again after the dramatic change from verse to chorus, the choreography once again changes noteably. The short verse that comes before really sets the mood of things slowing down and approaching a steady pace but as always, Aikya does the unexpected and switches things up quickly. Once the beat to the chorus drops, the man grabs Aikya by the legs roughly, sitting her on his lap with just a flash of lights and change of instrumentation as his cue. Of course once the crowd sees things getting more sexual, you can hear them getting feverish in their sudden roar caused by the sense of being intrigued. The man suddenly lays back onto the stage and lifts up Aikya, who sensually lifts her legs in the air as if to tease. People get excited for this bit, already applauding her flexibility and training. Next thing you know, within the next 2 lines of the chorus, Aikya lands on the man's lap and dramatically throws her head back right on beat, making faces with her eyes closed, making the crowd even louder as she sings.
Promise me that's something you'll never have to know
Promise me that no matter how hard it blows, you'll keep holding on
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
I know that you'll probably take whatever it takes
But promise that you know the difference between a junkie and a slave
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Or...
The bridge of the song comes on right after the chorus and suddenly it all goes black. This causes a really dramatic effect as the one word in the bridge's note is held for over 5 seconds right before the lights shut back on and blind everyone just before they realize that Stephanie Fierce is back on one side of the stage. On the other side of the stage is Aikya and Stephanie Fierce looks over at "her daughter" in disgust but then as it seems she begins to look in pain and in shame for being responsible. She begins to sing to her "daughter" the words of Mother Mary, using the words her daughter said to save her to talk the daughter out of hermistakes. Immediately she begins to belt out the lyrics. Seeing the obvious tension and the theatrical aim, the audience is suddenly pulled into the story and cries out when the man picks Aikya up and begins to drag her away. Aikya looks more helpless than ever, but she continues to sing the words of her mother in Something Like That. It becomes clear that both of these songs are not about the hope that was exchanged between a mother and a daughter but the shame exchanged between as they ignored each others words ad filled their relationship with disappointment and blame sharing. Aikya approaches the third verse in a more slurred, bitter voice, looking over at her mother who's completely losing it.
I can't let you fall because I'm not going down with you!
Define better off! Where have I been without you?!
They say when you don't love yourself, you just can't learn to love anyone else
Or some shit like that
But I don't go through this for nothing, I need you to become something
My life depends on it
In the midst of this strain, it's easy to feel both the mother's and the daughter's heart being torn apart and it only grows once the chorus comes back in. Their world's literally becomes a whirlwind when the man promptly throws Aikya up in the air and begins to toss and spin her as if she's a baton of sorts. Suddenly, goosebumps fly over the crowd and they stand up in awe to watch in anticipation. The question becomes whether or not Aikya's gonna fall and hurt herself for them as the man flings her around as if she's only 5 pounds. This happens repeatedly as Stephanie Fierce begins to scream for her daughter as her background dancers pulls her away and drags her off the stage. She manages to get one good line out of her mouth, praying that her daughter would hear her but it's obviously too late. The man just keeps on throwing her up in the air and there's nothing Aikya can do about it.
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
JUST LET ME HELP YOU BE TALL ENOUGH!!!
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me that you'll never end up like me
Promise me in those times when your fiends win, you get back on your feet and never end up like me
And then suddenly, he drops hers and you can hear everybody else's heart's drop with her. Everyone in the room is silent as she lays, almost lifeless on the floor. Aikya gets up slowly, and breathes heavily into her microphone, saying the last line of her song before the performance fades out.
...Or something like that |
