thoughts on every song i like ever, one song at a time
3. chip on my shoulder from legally blonde the musical
july 17, 2026
SPOILERS FOR LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL
I have been regularly crying to this song ever since I watched the MTV broadcast of this musical two days ago. This nine minute track and months-long montage packs a lot of importance to the musical : it properly introduces us to Emmett and where his character is coming from, it establishes his friendship (and eventual romance) with Elle, and importantly, it has him lighting a new fire under Elle, urging her to take studying seriously and find the motivation to do well in class instead of just wait around to get Warner back. And she fucking does this and she wins her first classroom debate !!!!!!! As someone in university right now, this song is maybe the most personally inspirational I've heard in years.
The bit that makes me cry is Emmett explaining how he grew up poor with a less than ideal homelife as his mother had several bad partners, and he's worked his ass off to get through law school and move up to eventually give his mother a good life. He's got a chip on his shoulder ; his life has been a constant uphill battle, and it's unfair, but he's going to keep fighting until he makes it. Emmett's lower class background in contrast to the other characters is a welcome addition to the musical. He serves as a foil to Elle's privilege. And he calls out how she expects everything to come easy to her. There's something in the way he says to Elle that she needs also needs something to make her passionate, something to drive her, that really gets to me. I've talked before about how I don't relate to a lot of music. Chip On My Shoulder goes a step further than relating, being full on motivating. It's genuinely given me pause to think. Huh. Yeah, what is my motivation to be in school, to do well, to achieve my goals ? It's not like I don't think about these things, (see this blog entry for some reflection on me doing well in school) but again, something about how Emmett's passion is evident in everything that he does, how he emphasizes « With the chance [he's] been given / [He's] gotta be driven as hell » that speaks to me and makes me think about it, and my future. I couldn't tell you the last time a song has done that for me. Along with Elle's unwavering individuality, this is the most a musical has motivated me since The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. I've seen posts on Tumblr about how this song inspired people to go to law school, just like how the original Legally Blonde movie inspired many women to do the same, and I think that is really beautiful.
The song is also just an earworm. It's been stuck in my head frequently. I love the Daughter of Delta Nu reprise in which Elle's Greek chorus encourages Elle to show everyone what she's made of, and I love how they celebrate her win in the debate. The best part of course is Emmett himself. I'll say it again and again how charming of a performance Christian Borle gives as Emmett. It makes me so happy how much he believes in Elle. And that « Guess you never can tell / With little Miss Woods comma Elle » (complete with his little dance) ?? I could rewind that one bit over and over again. For how consistently engaged I am with the whole song, it doesn't feel like it's nine minutes and I love it a lot.
2. you(nicycles) from play it by ear s2e6 cornhole in one
july 14, 2026
SPOILERS FOR CORNHOLE IN ONE
Every once in a while I remember that Cornhole in One exists and every time I am shocked at how genius the entire thing is. You(nicycles) is a shining representation of the excellence of Jess McKenna and Zach Reino's musical improvisational endeavours. Jess might not actually be in the song but her one-off random absurd line about the whole team getting into a unicycle accident giving form to the entire song cannot be dismissed. The stars, however, are of course Zach and Ross, playing two cornhole players, Bryce and Clark, on different teams who are in love with each other but cannot bring themselves to confess their feelings, given free rein to say and do whatever they want without having to worry about a big extra prompt or challenge like in other songs because Mano slipped up and didn't know that « singing a sad song in a major key » isn't much of a challenge.
With this free rein Zach steals the show with the titular fakeout, and Ross's facial reaction is comedy gold and lives in my head rent-free. Ross's sung response is also great, fully committing to making unicycle analogies to build on the song as well as the scene and character. His character Clark tries to engage with the person he's in love with's interest and passes it back to Zach, making use of the unicycle analogy to once again build up to an opportunity to confess. Zach instead VOLLEYS back with the hilarious notion of the « two-nicycle », which many fans have pointed out could indicate Bryce's avoidance of saying bi. I doubt this is was intentional, but the beauty of it is in how well the song works despite and even because of the haphazard on-the-spot nature of it all. This represents my thoughts on all of Cornhole in One : I am constantly so in awe at how every little bit seems to perfectly fall into place to form one brilliant and surprisingly cohesive narrative. Every funny detail and dumb flub and odd line seems to be exactly what needed to happen : The colour commentary that Jess pulled out of thin air for her newscaster bit was a big unicycle accident. Mano didn't know how major and minor key worked and gave an extremely easy prompt, allowing for total freedom in the song—the limitations and ridiculous prompts are often the root of brilliance in other Play It By Ear songs, pertinent examples being other songs from the episode like Who Invited the Ceiling?, but this was the one song that needed to be unrestrained. This feeling of serendipity comes of course from the sheer talent of the performers who can come up with and add on to these bits in a way that feels seamless.
I'd be remiss to talk about the genius of the song without acknowledging the band as well. The joke every time is that the real winners are the instrumentalists who give the songs their backing and the cast their foundation. And well it's true. Brett Morris on guitar, Scott Passarella on the piano, and Eric Jackowitz on the drums contribute so much to the tension and emotion of You(nicycles). The single cymbal crash into silence at the bridge as Bryce and Clark are reaching towards each other is absolute cinema.
1. midnights in october (shannon's song) by dom fera
july 12, 2026
I process this song almost exclusively through the lens of the ship Takaba Fumihiko/Kenjaku (Takaken) from Jujutsu Kaisen. The first time I heard it was when I was first getting into some of dom fera's songs ; I really liked the other two songs from the one october ep but this one for some reason completely passed me by. I then checked it out again when my friend Antoine and I got really into Takaken and they suggested this one as one of very few songs we feel really capture how we see Takaken. And now I'm insane 👍
Midnights in October is a lot of hows and somehows. Mr Fera expresses simultaneously a bewilderment and a comfort at how naturally he and his partner go together, and understand each other. He illustrates this affinity that makes no sense yet all the sense in the world through abstract symbols, my favourite being : « There's an age-old heartbeat / Calling through the concrete / Like a marching rhyme / I've known was mine / But somehow you walk in time / Somehow you walk in time » That's just really beautiful to me. As everyone's favourite aromantic, I am not too keen on the concept of soulmates in the sense that there is one set person meant for you, but what I am amenable to is the beauty in how there are people in the world who will get you as if it was meant to be, and isn't it miraculous that you found them ?
It's really hard to separate my interpretation of the song from Takaken. I'm really particular about them. They're a weird duo. Well honestly they're just weird individually too. Their appeal to me is how unexpectedly they fit together, how funny it is how one of the most dangerous, evil, feared curse users in all the series, and a wacky failing comedian who aside from being a sorcerer is kinda just a normal guy, were each the only person in the world who could connect with the other in such a profound way. Their souls resonated with each other. Takaba in his whole career had never found someone who connected with the way he did comedy ; he had never performed with someone he could truly call a partner. Kenjaku, on the other hand, had lived over a thousand years in boredom, committing evil acts out of curiosity and in search of something to really interest him. During their fight they found each other. They made each other laugh. They got each other !!
Antoine has said that they don't know any other music that sounds exactly like Dom Fera's, but it feels so very familiar, and I totally agree. I don't know how to describe the magic of his music. The best word I could give at the moment is « thoughtful ». This song's no exception. Last thing of note is that this is one of the only songs I listen to that I cannot sing for shit in its original key because the chorus is too low and the rest of it is pushing it already. I usually have the opposite problem where my loser alto ass is outsung by wonderboy tenors (patrick stump when i get you) so this is a pretty fresh experience. That's pretty cool.