Gettin Personal
January 29, 2024
Renforshort
@renforshort,
Thank you for everything,
XoXo,
Your biggest fan
(my instagram caption for a post with her, September 2022)
You know when you’re feeling so much but don’t know how to explain or express how you feel? Renforshort put my feelings into songs and I connected to them immediately. I remember hearing one of her songs for the first time and just immediately being drawn to her lyrics and music style. As I listened to her music more and more, I related to almost everything she wrote about. Her most recent album dear amelia contains a good amount of songs that relate to feeling stuck in a toxic relationship or changing yourself for the person you’re with and being better off without them in the end. These songs helped me process what I had been through in the past and let me know I’m not the only one that has had these kinds of problems.
She has been such an inspiration to me music wise but also just in general. She appropriately expresses her feelings in her music and does it so well. Her music is generally pop with hints of rock, and I think listening to her was a slight introduction to rock for me. She has some fun collaborations with talented artists such as Travis Barker, glaive and more.
I had the privilege of seeing her perform in September 2022 and she was incredible. She had an amazing stage presence and an even better personality when I actually got to meet her. I ripped the setlist off the stage after one of the security guards said I could lean over the barrier a little bit to grab it. I was glad the venue was small and more intimate which later led to meeting her. I DIY’d a top out of black and gold fishnet stockings and she complimented me on it :) She wrote a little message on my setlist, and my life was complete. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to see her in person, let alone meet her.
Renforshort writes raw lyrics that make her vulnerable, and I respect that greatly. She doesn’t write music that relates to difficult relationships, but also feeling out of place, growing up in a time where technology is taking over, the destruction of our beautiful planet and so much more. Her music is touching and an absolute jam. I found myself getting more and more into her music which was so fun. She is awesome.
Song Recommendations
Julian, king of manhattan
i thot you were cool
hate the way you love me
fall apart
virtual reality
moshpit
I drive me mad
wannabe
bummer
don’t come back
made for you
mind games
Queued Up
Beautiful Things by Benson Boone
Your Needs, My Needs by Noah Kahan
That’s Life by Frank Sinatra
I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry
Spiderhead by Cage the Elephant
What I Know by Grouplove
Doom and Gloom - Jeff Bhasker Mix by The Rolling Stones
My first peak in life
Bull Moose Party
Sometimes, the best things in life happen by accident. And that’s exactly what happened when I joined a band my friends were starting. I had some friends at University of Virginia that were looking for a female lead singer for their new band. They had a couple girls try out, and then one day we were hanging out and we just messed around with Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ and the next day they asked me to join. I excitedly said yes with no expectation of what was to come. When thinking of names, we went through a few options but in the end we landed on Bull Moose Party (like Teddy Roosevelt’s political party). We started off slow, with a practice show just with friends and family then moved to shows in public such as bars or house parties. We were a pretty large band consisting of 7 people. 2 lead singers, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, keys, and drums (my favorite). I loved everyone in the band and still wouldn’t replace a single person.
To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how we got to the point that we ended on. Not to toot our horn, but we got decently big within the Charlottesville community and a little bit outside of it. We mainly played events at UVA such as formals, parties, birthdays, etc. But we also played at breweries, other schools (Washington and Lee, Longwood, Hampden Sydney), wedding parties, etc. We almost played at a music festival in DC but it ultimately got canceled because of freezing wind. We had split up in May 2022 because of graduations and people moving. But we got back together for one performance, which was to open for Sean Kingston in the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville for UVA’s welcome week. That’s a story I might get into another time.
When the band started, I was still living in Charlottesville about to move to Blacksburg to start school at Virginia Tech. I knew I couldn’t give up the band because at that point it was my life. That led to me traveling just about every weekend my first year there. I had a total of 6 weekends in Blacksburg. From afar, I was also managing the band as well as our money. I’ll admit, there came a time where the band was taking such a large toll on me to the point where I almost quit a few times. But ultimately, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the time back so I stuck with it because I also knew we were going to split up soon.
I am so thankful for the experience, opportunity, and just everyone/everything involved. Our friends and families were our biggest supporters and we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were without them. There was something about getting on stage, seeing the people who care most about you in the crowd and giving them a good time they’ll remember. I wouldn’t trade Bull Moose Party for literally anything. It truly was the time of life. Fingers crossed I can get back to that point some day.
Happier Than Ever
by Billie Eilish
JPJ Arena, August 2022
Our last night at UVA
May 2022
In my element
Why I Like Social Media
How to have a healthy relationship with social media
In 2010, my old neighbors from Las Vegas came to visit my family in Virginia. They have a daughter who is a couple years older than me and she was like an older sister to me and I just thought she was the coolest. She was taking pictures on an app, editing them with filters and uploading them online. After she left, I begged my parents to let me download this app so I could be like her. That led to me creating my first Instagram account. I followed her, a few other friends whose phone numbers I had, and some celebrities.
Throughout my life, I have met a lot of people from all around whether it’s where I live, work, travel, etc. I’m not the best at keeping in contact with friends I don’t see very often but that’s part of the reason I appreciate social media. It allows me to see what my friends are up to from afar while also sharing what I’m doing as well. I have created a number of social media accounts on a plethora of different platforms, but my favorite has always been Instagram. Between posts, stories, reels and more there is so much to share and it is mostly visual based. I take a loooot of pictures of a ton of different. I share some of these pictures on a more private Instagram account that I have and that account is really for me. My best friend and I created these accounts a couple years ago and we said that we were using them as our safe spaces. That account is my safe space (though I do let a good amount of people follow it) in the sense that I don’t hesitate to post whatever I want because it’s all for me. Something I’ve been good at throughout my time on social media is not caring about likes or spiraling down the blackhole of comparing my body or life to someone else’s (don’t get me wrong, I do a little bit, but only to a certain point). This makes it easier for me to not really care about how many people interact with my posts. I like to use my account as a photo album for myself to preserve memories I like to look back on. I am proud of myself for being able to maintain a decently healthy relationship with social media.
I understand the unhealthy parts about social media but I want to recognize that it’s not all bad. I think that older generations who grew up without social media see it as a harmful outcome of technology but some of them understand the benefits. But I also think they can learn how it is useful. Following your friends, family and other accounts you like leads to posts in your feed and lets us process information at a speed like never before. There are so many different kinds of accounts out there like news, memes, photography (architecture, food, travel), businesses and so much more. I get a lot of my news by following different sources online and a lot of businesses have blown up on social media (a lot on TikTok, interestingly). Having social media makes it easier for us to access information quickly and following accounts allows you to personalize what you want in your feed.
Social media has a stigma for being unhealthy, and I do agree that it can be. But I wanted to present why I enjoy it. I hope I explained well why I feel the way that I do and please let me know if you would like to hear more about this topic because I do have more to say.
Photos with @rakkettytam
I had such a great time taking photos with such a talented photographer! He came up with this cool idea and I’m so happy with the turnout! Check out Ben on Instagram!
