shower thoughts: song name but you're in a bathroom at a party

looks like i'm starting a new blog segment called shower thoughts bc i have too many and ive got nothing better to do when i have time. anything i say here are mostly my informed personal thoughts, and no i will not place sources. research on your own bc i believe in self-agency, besides, this is a blog, not a thesis paper.

be nice to my comments section and enjoy! 

ive been binging (insert song name here) but you're in a bathroom at a party for quite some time now. its not as trendy as it used to be when it emerged around 2019 (???), but i havent given much thought as to why it feels relieving. no pun intended, i mean bathrooms are made for personal relief, but why is that comfort that comes from being in a bathroom while music plays outside such a common feeling?

for the sake of this post, i will refer to this genre as bathroomcore bc idk what the hell this is called (ambient 8d music? fuck no thats not internet enough)

i would akin bathroomcore to the "netflixification of media" (probably not coined by me, or not coined at all in fact), where the gloomy drunk-and-high themes are the central focus of any coming-of-age story. its not like the 2000s definition of a house party with red cups and party rockin in the house tonight vibes, no -- its the smoky atmosphere, accompanied by "bisexual lighting" and the sound of people going through it (u catch my drift right?). heavy bass and reverb, a strong taste of depression with an anxious aftertaste, and the obvious feeling of being lonely in a crowded room. it reeks of upbringing problems manifesting through trance-like escapism landscapes -- a blaringly loud and bright red flag recognized by the youth of today (me included ofc). 

i think its that we all share this loneliness together, yet so glaringly apart from each other. every experience similar to the aforementioned is extremely personalized, yet not quite unique. the pandemic and lockdown has only heightened our sense of longing for days when we got lost in the fog of the nightlife. dim streetlights, offbeat dancing, kisses between cigarettes -- all those fun things. given that were stuck at home as a collective, we quite literally hallucinate to "bathroom reverb" music as a way of reliving these experiences -- as if the days before lockdown were our last, and we didnt even know it. 

another way to look at it (and this is, i think, a big factor of the netflixification of media) is how this practically reflects every social anxiety breakdown at any party ever. the world is spinning, you cant breathe, you want to leave but you cant, and so you decide to floor it straight to the bathroom. usually this happens very conveniently, as no one is making out in a stall (and if not, well, they cant hear you sob over the sound of sloppy kisses and god knows fucking what). ive had my fair share of drawing blanks in a bathroom stall at a party just to get by the night, perhaps not intensely as others, but just enough to understand why this aesthetic is so strong. its a self-titled vacuum where we can be alone (with or without thoughts), and kinda have a break from bumping and grinding (desired or otherwise). the sensory overload of the world beyond the stall isnt worth it, so we settle for the next best thing: ambient anxiety! free of charge with no return address, and an infinite supply to match. i wouldnt call it sad or whatever coz i think its all part of the immersion -- weve grown up seeing it, and we happen to experience it one way or another. however it makes you feel is completely valid and its nothing to be ashamed of, rly. sometimes life demands that we go through it, so we deserve solace in a stall. whats it to anyone right? 

given this, we now see a plethora of genres being coated in bathroom-core essence, from classic hits like "put your head on my shoulder" to literally every billie eilish song known to man. these songs were compressed to a tee, slapped with a chunky reverb, and edited with liminal photos of acid-colored bathrooms. you have yourself a damage-free auditory drug to tune into when youre craving nightlife away from the party. and on the note of liminal imagery, this is practically a gateway drug to liminal space aesthetics (weirdcore, traumacore, etc.). obviously both arent connected, but the bathroomcore vibe has half a sense of familiarity, half a sense of liminality, which makes it a hundred percent certified "really fucking strange yet comforting" -- honey, its the bathroomcore to weirdcore pipeline i find fascinating. but i digress.

safe to say that the safest space in any party is the most isolated cubicle in a bathroom. sure, it's the nastiest shit on earth, but it does a really fantastic job of making people mind your their business. 

so if you happen to enjoy bathroomcore like i do, drop your favorite remix in the comments and tell me about your craziest party experience! feel free to leave your thoughts respectfully. thanks for reading if u made it this far lol.