Agreed... if you look at the lyrics for just about every song they produce, it becomes clear there's either a tortured artist or a very excellent imagination behind it all. I think this music is a way to purge darkness. I've not been amazed by songwriting for decades.
Please please please do sundowning and this place will become your tomb… more than anything I need to hear your reaction to Fall For Me (especially the music video)
Grab a cheesecake to eat straight from the freezer so you can eat your feelings too. This song is heartbreaking with an upbeat sound that makes you bop around the kitchen while sobbing
That synthy sound in the background during the longer stretches of lyrics is also vessel's voice, just through a bunch of effects. Distortion being one, clearly. Those melodic runs are just his voice. You can hear his breath and tiny vocal fringes, if you will. It's insane. He's unbelievable.
The fact that he is talking to himself in this song gives me chills, I love these lyrics. On the surface with the beat it sounds simple, but if you really listen it’s pretty deep.
Lolliii! My first time hearing Sleep Token. Fascinating, hypnotic, sensitive, raw. I have read many comments here and from the Sleep Token site. So many are affected emotionally even though it's not what one might think of as a classically moving tune or arrangement or production. It has yet to penetrate my armour but I feel the cracks starting and will listen more. So glad you played this one and that you will do more. Thanks forever. 😶🌫🐬
Oh man mark. Your in for a ride if you get on this Sleep Token journey. You can listen to all the albums on your own or if you want to go the reaction route you can check out the "RykerRoad" channel. They got a Playlist of all the ST songs from beginning to end and there my favorite reactors when it comes to ST.
I read someone describe listening to Sleep Token for the first time as discovering a new color. Definitely recommend listening to the whole "Take me Back to Eden" album from front to back in its entirety as its meant to be listened to. Lots of raw emotion and tons of innuendo and word play. In my mind though I view it as he is writing poetry about the goddess Sleep and his own toxic relationship with life in general, not a particular person like an ex-girlfriend. Every song is meant to be an offering to Sleep so that she may bless him with dreams and rest.
I DO love your reaction videos and I LOVE this band. ♥️ You’re commentary has helped me to appreciate the music on a whole new level and I can’t wait for the final 3 on the album. 🔥
I've listened to this song literally hundreds of times and I never parsed the whispered layer in "do you ever believe" until you mentioned it. Their music has *so much*.
My interpretation of this song is that vessel is staring into the mirror during a mental health episode as he struggles to deal with memories of his failed relationship as well as his own feelings of depression and self-loathing. In this moment of introspection, his inner dialogue almost becomes a sort of conversation between himself and his reflection, the reflection a representation of his darker thoughts, as seen in the way it takes on a very critical, almost condescending/mocking tone when addressing him (lines like "Are you trying to live like everything is a lesson to learn?" and of course, "Do you wish that you loved me?" are good illustrations of this). I at first found the rather poppy and upbeat sound and instrumentation in the track to be a somewhat jarring departure from their usual sound, but after realising what the lyrics are about, i now like to believe that it was intentionally made to sound cheerful and carefree in order to juxtapose with the dark lyrical content, much like how people dealing with grief or depression will commonly hide their pain behind a fake smile and pretend like everything is fine and normal despite how deeply they are suffering behind closed doors.
This song made me cry. I'm still crying. My comment is kind of incoherent. I apologize, maybe I can clean it up after this has had some time to settle. I know there is great support for Sleep Token among the fairy folk and that you've reacted to the group before. I've never heard them before; I have had very limited free time recently. I absolutely adore you, so I have a lot of catching up to do. I went to the original video and I just ... I don't know, I'm still crying. I know so little about Sleep Token, but everything I thought I knew about them led me to believe that their music would be interesting, unique, thought-provoking, technically very proficient and novel...I don't even know where I got these ideas. The point is that although I expected to admire them, I DID NOT expect to be hit hard emotionally. When I think about the elements of a song/artist/performance that usually evoke the strongest emotional response in me, I do not think of artists who conceal their faces. I do not think of music that falls in any of the genres/subgenres where Sleep Token seems to live. There is so much that is hidden, not only visually but also somehow sonically. That's a clumsy way to say it; I just mean that there are a lot of effects utilized that wouldn't normally detract from my appreciation of a song, but that I would expect to distance me emotionally from the content and especially the expression of the voice(s). How does this singer convey so much authenticity and pain? The lyrics are absolutely heartbreaking. Just devastating. Enough rambling. Going to watch your reaction and hopefully gain some understanding. Hopefully I will also stop bawling like a child. I would never have watched this on a Monday morning if I'd thought it was going to have this effect on me. Well sh*t. Wow.
No one can make me feel emotions with music like Sleep Token can. And this is saying a lot because I very much resonate with the line in this "maybe not that you conceal your feelings, they just don't exist." If you want more Sleep Token songs to hit you right in the feels, listen to Atlantic and Bloodsport (from the room below).
I'm only 2 minutes into this reaction but was drawn to read comments for some reason. I enjoyed your rambling. The psychology behind the affect of music fascinates me. So if you have more thoughts on it I'll be back for a read.💡
I love your reactions to sleep token! I would love to see your reactions to Epic the Musical as well (especially with animatics!) there are only 2 sagas left of Epic to be released!
First off luv ur reactions 💯🫶 N second thanks for reacting to one of the most phenomenal bands Ive ever experienced. U dont hear ST u FEEL them. Someone said it best (so I cant claim its fame haha) listening to Sleep Token is like discovering a brand new wonderful color 😊
I'll post this on all the videos if i have to, please please please go through their entire catalog. I love their music so much and you are by far the most interesting and intelligent reviewer I have seen listen to their work. The previous two albums are masterpieces as well and I would love to see your reactions to them.
I'd bet my money that they're using an Eventide H9K... the successor to the H3000 Harmonizer. The H9K is capable of producing most of the effects Sleep Token has in their music - there's some cool studio demos out there from Eventide; the ability to map a keyboard to the effects chain and produce "vocoder-like" harmonies is one of them. I think Jacob Collier uses the H9K as well - saw one in a stack of his on stage... On another note: I think this song is really about self-reflection... the question "DYWTYLM" is something Vessel is asking himself... listen to the lyrics again from that perspective and the words take on a whole new meaning.
The drums probably aren't sampled, he is playing them on pads. Most of the trip-hop or trap beats in Sleep Token songs are played on the kit by II. As for the song, I view it as a conversation Vessel is having with himself in the mirror.
Take me back to eden album have some lyrics that fit with the theme of Vessel talking with him in front of the mirror. DYWTYLM have the "smile back at me", and the next song on the album, rain, says "n i don't wanna get in ur way, but I finally think I can say that the vicious cycle was over the moment u smiled at me". Euclid call's back here also... I think the lack of production, the 'nudity' of this music are intentional... Vessel's trying to be honest with him after a long long journey
Your life will change if you listen to the new Anderson Paak album I remember you saying you enjoyed the couple song you analyzed. The album is called Why Lawd.
ii plays those drum parts themselves. I think that's why its not overly edited, it's just another couple drums in his kit, It's not a drum track at all which is cool.
Vessels singing in this song is much closer than the work he did in Blacklit Canopy. Compared to many of his other Sleep Token songs. Also, love the ending have a "hidden" lyric line. If you read the last said words and remove the main line. You get. Smile back at me Oh, whoa. Please Smile back at me oh, whoa
I like the idea of it not being a finished song intentionally. The whole song is about asking yourself questions, self-critiquing and building yourself up (I'm assuming in the face of depression or body-image issues, perhaps?). If Vessel is speaking to themself as a work-in-progress, so why shouldn't the song reflect that?
Hey Lolli. Love your content, I stumbled across your channel in 2021 during a particularly difficult time in my life and it was a massive help. Not that any of that is relevant to my request, just wanted to share my appreciation! I am DYING to see your reaction to "Mary, Did You Know?" By Voctave and Mark Lowry!! I will be commenting this on many videos over the next little while to attempt to make it happen 😂
A lot of people would assume this song is about vessel talking about someone else but in reality it's him talking to himself in the mirror which hits really hard when your a person that's struggled their whole life with loving themselves.
Helloo lovely ones! We're posting a Sleep Token reaction every day this week (until the end of the TMBTE album)!! See you tomorrow for more 💜
Let’s go! Can’t wait. ❤
😍😍😍
Ohhh.. I can never have enough.
Don't tempt me with a good time 😂
Yeeessss!!!
God, the idea of looking into a mirror and wondering "do you wish that you loved me?" is heartbreaking.
The “Smile back at me” is worse for me because I’m living that right now. Smiling always feels forced these days.
Agreed... if you look at the lyrics for just about every song they produce, it becomes clear there's either a tortured artist or a very excellent imagination behind it all. I think this music is a way to purge darkness. I've not been amazed by songwriting for decades.
@@DigitalMechanic2"tortured artist or a very excellent imagination" Is there a difference?
😭
Please please please do sundowning and this place will become your tomb… more than anything I need to hear your reaction to Fall For Me (especially the music video)
Because it’s bouncy it will someday be played in Trader Joe’s. I will have a nervous breakdown on my way from the freezer section to the wine.
Grab a cheesecake to eat straight from the freezer so you can eat your feelings too. This song is heartbreaking with an upbeat sound that makes you bop around the kitchen while sobbing
@@RivenRanger especially when you realize the song is about self loathing, self hated, and self love.
That synthy sound in the background during the longer stretches of lyrics is also vessel's voice, just through a bunch of effects. Distortion being one, clearly. Those melodic runs are just his voice. You can hear his breath and tiny vocal fringes, if you will.
It's insane. He's unbelievable.
The fact that he is talking to himself in this song gives me chills, I love these lyrics. On the surface with the beat it sounds simple, but if you really listen it’s pretty deep.
Lolliii! My first time hearing Sleep Token. Fascinating, hypnotic, sensitive, raw. I have read many comments here and from the Sleep Token site. So many are affected emotionally even though it's not what one might think of as a classically moving tune or arrangement or production. It has yet to penetrate my armour but I feel the cracks starting and will listen more. So glad you played this one and that you will do more. Thanks forever. 😶🌫🐬
Oh man mark. Your in for a ride if you get on this Sleep Token journey. You can listen to all the albums on your own or if you want to go the reaction route you can check out the "RykerRoad" channel. They got a Playlist of all the ST songs from beginning to end and there my favorite reactors when it comes to ST.
@@shadowninja6444 www.youtube.com/@GreatStonedDragon does it all from the beginning, in a very light mood ^^
@@shadowninja6444 Thanks for the recommendations. I might even take both routes if life and time permit.
I read someone describe listening to Sleep Token for the first time as discovering a new color. Definitely recommend listening to the whole "Take me Back to Eden" album from front to back in its entirety as its meant to be listened to. Lots of raw emotion and tons of innuendo and word play. In my mind though I view it as he is writing poetry about the goddess Sleep and his own toxic relationship with life in general, not a particular person like an ex-girlfriend. Every song is meant to be an offering to Sleep so that she may bless him with dreams and rest.
Underrated song from the album!
Sleep Token!
I find interesting the interpretation that Vessel actually talks to himself in the mirror in this song.
I DO love your reaction videos and I LOVE this band. ♥️ You’re commentary has helped me to appreciate the music on a whole new level and I can’t wait for the final 3 on the album. 🔥
Thank you, as always, for providing a unique point of view on such a beautiful song!
Sleep Token has a way of forcing you to reflect on yourself. It's a unique quality.
i absolutely love your sleep token reactions. your facial expressions do not lie. thank you
Yeah the drummer II is playing this while he plays the drums. He uses a drum machine live too.
Came here to say exactly this... Not a drum sample in the least. Worship.
Have you heard the closer from this album, Euclid? If not, remember the line "Do you ever believe that we can turn into different people?"
I've listened to this song literally hundreds of times and I never parsed the whispered layer in "do you ever believe" until you mentioned it. Their music has *so much*.
My interpretation of this song is that vessel is staring into the mirror during a mental health episode as he struggles to deal with memories of his failed relationship as well as his own feelings of depression and self-loathing. In this moment of introspection, his inner dialogue almost becomes a sort of conversation between himself and his reflection, the reflection a representation of his darker thoughts, as seen in the way it takes on a very critical, almost condescending/mocking tone when addressing him (lines like "Are you trying to live like everything is a lesson to learn?" and of course, "Do you wish that you loved me?" are good illustrations of this). I at first found the rather poppy and upbeat sound and instrumentation in the track to be a somewhat jarring departure from their usual sound, but after realising what the lyrics are about, i now like to believe that it was intentionally made to sound cheerful and carefree in order to juxtapose with the dark lyrical content, much like how people dealing with grief or depression will commonly hide their pain behind a fake smile and pretend like everything is fine and normal despite how deeply they are suffering behind closed doors.
This song made me cry. I'm still crying. My comment is kind of incoherent. I apologize, maybe I can clean it up after this has had some time to settle.
I know there is great support for Sleep Token among the fairy folk and that you've reacted to the group before. I've never heard them before; I have had very limited free time recently. I absolutely adore you, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
I went to the original video and I just ... I don't know, I'm still crying. I know so little about Sleep Token, but everything I thought I knew about them led me to believe that their music would be interesting, unique, thought-provoking, technically very proficient and novel...I don't even know where I got these ideas. The point is that although I expected to admire them, I DID NOT expect to be hit hard emotionally. When I think about the elements of a song/artist/performance that usually evoke the strongest emotional response in me, I do not think of artists who conceal their faces. I do not think of music that falls in any of the genres/subgenres where Sleep Token seems to live. There is so much that is hidden, not only visually but also somehow sonically. That's a clumsy way to say it; I just mean that there are a lot of effects utilized that wouldn't normally detract from my appreciation of a song, but that I would expect to distance me emotionally from the content and especially the expression of the voice(s).
How does this singer convey so much authenticity and pain?
The lyrics are absolutely heartbreaking. Just devastating. Enough rambling. Going to watch your reaction and hopefully gain some understanding. Hopefully I will also stop bawling like a child. I would never have watched this on a Monday morning if I'd thought it was going to have this effect on me. Well sh*t. Wow.
No one can make me feel emotions with music like Sleep Token can. And this is saying a lot because I very much resonate with the line in this "maybe not that you conceal your feelings, they just don't exist."
If you want more Sleep Token songs to hit you right in the feels, listen to Atlantic and Bloodsport (from the room below).
I'm only 2 minutes into this reaction but was drawn to read comments for some reason. I enjoyed your rambling. The psychology behind the affect of music fascinates me. So if you have more thoughts on it I'll be back for a read.💡
Lovely
Yaaaay awesome!!
Love Sleep Token, brilliant analysis as usual Lolli xx
I love your reactions to sleep token! I would love to see your reactions to Epic the Musical as well (especially with animatics!) there are only 2 sagas left of Epic to be released!
The composition and atmosphere this song has remind me of EDEN/project eden. Check out Drugs by EDEN
First off luv ur reactions 💯🫶
N second thanks for reacting to one of the most phenomenal bands Ive ever experienced. U dont hear ST u FEEL them. Someone said it best (so I cant claim its fame haha) listening to Sleep Token is like discovering a brand new wonderful color 😊
I saw some airy diction last night...
I'll post this on all the videos if i have to, please please please go through their entire catalog. I love their music so much and you are by far the most interesting and intelligent reviewer I have seen listen to their work. The previous two albums are masterpieces as well and I would love to see your reactions to them.
I'd bet my money that they're using an Eventide H9K... the successor to the H3000 Harmonizer. The H9K is capable of producing most of the effects Sleep Token has in their music - there's some cool studio demos out there from Eventide; the ability to map a keyboard to the effects chain and produce "vocoder-like" harmonies is one of them. I think Jacob Collier uses the H9K as well - saw one in a stack of his on stage...
On another note: I think this song is really about self-reflection... the question "DYWTYLM" is something Vessel is asking himself... listen to the lyrics again from that perspective and the words take on a whole new meaning.
Will you be reacting to the whole discography? You absolutely have to!!!
The drums probably aren't sampled, he is playing them on pads. Most of the trip-hop or trap beats in Sleep Token songs are played on the kit by II. As for the song, I view it as a conversation Vessel is having with himself in the mirror.
He plays samples like this on pads… you can watch him do it in his Drumeo UA-cam videos
@@JohnnyGingy yeah that's what i said. the pads and triggers are part of his kit, they are all around it
Drummers do that live, in studio electronic drums are produced not played.
Really gives me beatbox vibes with the breathy pad coming in on the downbeat.
Take me back to eden album have some lyrics that fit with the theme of Vessel talking with him in front of the mirror. DYWTYLM have the "smile back at me", and the next song on the album, rain, says "n i don't wanna get in ur way, but I finally think I can say that the vicious cycle was over the moment u smiled at me". Euclid call's back here also...
I think the lack of production, the 'nudity' of this music are intentional... Vessel's trying to be honest with him after a long long journey
Your life will change if you listen to the new Anderson Paak album I remember you saying you enjoyed the couple song you analyzed. The album is called Why Lawd.
WE BACK BAABBBYYYY!!!!!
Heavist song on the album.
ii plays those drum parts themselves. I think that's why its not overly edited, it's just another couple drums in his kit, It's not a drum track at all which is cool.
Pleeeeeeaaase PLEEEEAAAASSSE do blood sport (from the room below)! You really get a good studio version of his voice.
I second this - it's so raw and full of vocal techniques. ♥️♥️♥️
This song always sounded so happy to me but knowing what is actually going on you get to realize its pretty sad.
I hope hope hope you do a reaction to their song “fall for me”
Vessels singing in this song is much closer than the work he did in Blacklit Canopy. Compared to many of his other Sleep Token songs.
Also, love the ending have a "hidden" lyric line.
If you read the last said words and remove the main line. You get.
Smile back at me
Oh, whoa. Please
Smile back at me
oh, whoa
Marimba. Very cool
first they verb then they reverb.
I noticed that Lolli's hair did not stay natural for long, recolored
-1 style point for not guessing the acronym first and then revealing it :)
I like the idea of it not being a finished song intentionally. The whole song is about asking yourself questions, self-critiquing and building yourself up (I'm assuming in the face of depression or body-image issues, perhaps?). If Vessel is speaking to themself as a work-in-progress, so why shouldn't the song reflect that?
I love all of their weird songs. Stuff like this and Fall for Me are really different in a great way.
Sometimes you have to stop and listen is it an instrument or Vessel.
Hey Lolli. Love your content, I stumbled across your channel in 2021 during a particularly difficult time in my life and it was a massive help. Not that any of that is relevant to my request, just wanted to share my appreciation!
I am DYING to see your reaction to "Mary, Did You Know?" By Voctave and Mark Lowry!! I will be commenting this on many videos over the next little while to attempt to make it happen 😂
A lot of people would assume this song is about vessel talking about someone else but in reality it's him talking to himself in the mirror which hits really hard when your a person that's struggled their whole life with loving themselves.
"My reflection just won't smile back at me like I know it should" Vessel is singing this song to himself, not someone else.
9:23 Jesus christ! Please never do that again. I'm home alone in the middle of the night. You made me look at my door behind me.
The snare sounds like "Hawk Tuah" to me
i actually know someone i would know her answer to that question. but it's probably better that i'm blocked.
I can't play this song around my gf cuz she starts crying lmao. She hates it though cuz she loves the song
This is literally the only Sleep Token song I dont like 😅
Awful.
Might be the worst song I heard in a long time
Love you, but hated this autotuned track!
Damn! Awful, auto tuned crap! 440hz snapped to the line vocals. Fil, if you're watching analyse this one.
Too much Auto-tune..