Unity Act Database of the Evolved and Non-Evolved
File #21 Apr 2018 05:52
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![]() Stéphanie Sokolinski |
LIie has been unkind to Robyn Quinn the last several years. When things got their worst in New York City, she moved up to Rochester and poured her life's savings into finally bringing her long held dream of recording and releasing an album to reality, recorded at Red Booth Recording Studio.
In early 2010, she manages to complete and release a full length album, titled Curiouser and Curiouser, led by the single "Light The Way". It… does middling at best. Quinn was devastated by the lack of reception to what she considered to be the culmination of her life. Despondent over this, Robyn Quinn seemed to disappear from the public eye entirely, with very little contact to those she knew - until suddenly, almost 2 years later partway through 2012, she reemerged out of nowhere.
With a new album almost ready to drop and a new single - "Brightest Day" - the woman now going by just Robyn's return was sudden. No one knew where she'd been, where she'd gotten the money to pursue a second album, or how it was suddenly much more slickly marketed than her first album, but this time she struck melodical gold, rocketing to the top of the charts on the strength of "Brightest Day" and a cover of Lisa Miskovsky's "Lady Stardust", a name fans begin to apply to the singer herself. Moving back to New York, she began immediately to position herself as a woman of wealth and power.
The truth of Quinn's return is much darker than it seems on the surface - broke and desperate, she turned to whatever means she could to put herself above her lessers, and found herself to not be above sabotage - both of people and of equipment or performances, and learned how to use her abilities to do whatever she needed to get ahead - including physical harm, and if you believe some rumours, murder. In truth, she committed almost all these acts and more, sacrificing moral well being and a clear conscience for the chance to be what she always wanted to be. It was her natural charisma, her evolved ability, and her ruthless desperation that caught the attention of those would end up being her benefactors. As she manufactured herself a rise to the top, representatives from Pinehearst took notice of a malleable young woman willing to do anything to make it big.
This became apparent to some in late 2012, when Robyn Quinn found herself with a new business position to go with her music career, as a spokeswoman and public face for the Pinehearst corporation, a modern celebrity to go out and do good in their name. In the following years she has toured and worked with Pinehearst relentlessly, and is fiercely loyal to the company that made her dream a reality - which is good, since she owes them a life debt that can never be repaid. She pays this debt not just by spreading the good word of Pineheast, but by applying her ruthless nature and clandestinely inclined Evolved ability to do… well, anything she's told to, really.
By 2017, she is a household name. In 2012 just before the release of her album she met - and a little over a year later, married - a young translator named Elaine Darrow, a marriage that figured prominently into the progressive, forward thinking image she projects to the world around her. She has been hoisted up and put on a path paved for her to walk alongside other indie starlets like Else Kjelstrom, placed center stage and in the starlight despite her occasionally questionable public actions, dismissal of press, and rumoured misbehaving and mistreatment of her wife.
There is little that Robyn Quinn won't do to make sure she stays on top, and there's nothing she wouldn't do to help further Arthur Petrelli's agenda. With the beginnings of a fourth album in mind, she works tirelessly to maintain her image and remain in her benefactor's good graces, always smiling on camera, and doing what's needed off camera, regardless of the legality behind it. Robyn Quinn has sold out to the highest degree - and regrets none of it
In many ways, Robyn Quinn appears similar to her 2011 Prime counterpart - energetic, talkative, flirtatious, fun loving. When one peers beneath the surface, however, they find a woman with little moral fiber who will do anything to protect where she stands in the world. She is ruthless, willing to do whatever it takes to get her way or execute the will of her benefactors. This has led her to commit many morally corrupt and illegal acts, and at one point there was a rumour circulating on the internet that she'd even killed someone after she vanished in 2010 - a rumour that was soon squashed.
She cares little for others when she's not putting on a public face, has been known to both threaten people who displease her, regularly sleep around on her wife, and publicly call out and shame others, among other similar acts. She doesn't tolerate anything standing in her way and she will handle it, one way or another. Every now and then, though, a bit of the old Quinn shines through, and she does legitimately seem to care about the safety of those closest to her, such as Elaine. She also still finds ways to help others, including having purchased Red Booth Recording in Rochester specifically to help up and coming musicians not go through what she had to do. Who knows how this capacity to care might be tested if something were to stand in her way though.
Without the need to study how to use her ability to protect herself and it's applications in combat situations, Robyn Quinn's power instead more grew in ways that could aid her on stage. Large scale light manipulation involving colours, shapes, "art", light levels, and other "special FX" type things - visual effects like those seen in the "Hard Times" music video by Paramore (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEB6ibtdPZc) are commonplace for her, and happen on a much larger, grander scale during her shows.
However, through her own experimentation as well as the tutelage of those more experienced and knowledgeable than her at Pinehearst, by 2017 Robyn has tapped into an amazing facet of her ability - she has extended herself from a simple photokinetic to someone who can innately control light to the point of becoming light. As a light mimic, she can manipulate light in many ways already known and displayed - colour shifting, invisibility, minor visual illusions. But her ability to generate light allows her to store it and infuse it into her very being, turning herself into photons that can travel as the speed of light, move though lit areas as part of the light without losing her vision, and make it near impossible to blind her with simple displays of light. However, her weakness to darkness has grown exponentially because of this, and while once she used to be able to still shed light in complete darkness, darkness burns through her light exceptionally quickly, leaving her both physically and emotionally frail until she can find her way back into some light, a condition that has given her an intense fear of the dark.
Double-jointed, triple threat
I'm not some method actress
Trying to see my descent
You're gonna have to play the tape backwards
Save that breath for choir practice
Got no time for my detractors
Standing on my staircase
All you are is a fire hazard
Appendices
And All That Could Have Been |
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Sick In Her Skin
Lady Stardust | Act Appalled |
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You And Me
When Lady Stardust Sings
Curiouser and Curiouser
- Tracklist
- 01 - Take The Fall
- 03 - She Talks To Spirits
- 05 - Waiting For You
- 06 - The Perfect Mix
- 08 - Light The Way
- 10 - Stardust
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Front Cover | Back Cover |
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Recorded at Red Booth Recording through 2009 and released in early 2010, Curiouser and Curiouser was the debut album from Robyn Quinn. Consisting of 10 songs picked from years of written material, Curiouser and Curiouser was the culmination of all of Quinn's hard work up to that point in her life, released into the wild music scene of New York.
It was generally poorly received, receiving average to low marks in reviews, with comments ranging that it held a spark of creativity but failed to stand out among the flood of indie artists of the time, to calling it out as meandering, with uninspired songwriting and poor production, all the way down to calling it bottom barrel indie drivel. Two singles were released from the album, "Light The Way" and "Waiting For You", though neither charted and no physical release was ever pressed for either single.
Tracklist
- Take The Fall
- Coming Down
- She Talks To Spirits
- Doll
- Waiting For You
- The Perfect Mix
- Plans
- Light The Way
- Unfamiliar
- Stardust
Inspiration: The Get Up Kids - In Your Sea
Moon's light, early morning
Never get this much warning
Don't know what to do
You don't know what to do
Left behind, didn't you know
I've been here, wanting to…
Say something, anything
Give up on everything
Just listen to me
Never just listen to me
Left behind, didn't you know
I've been here, waiting to…
Take the fall for you
I won't be afraid
Tightrope line walk
Won't stop me now
I'm not afraid
Say something, anything
Give up on everything
Just listen to me
Never just listen to me
Left behind, didn't you know
I've been here, waiting to…
I’ll take the fall for this now
I won’t be scared, I’ll tear this all down
From earth to stars I’ll take this away
I won't let you get in your way
Tell me if I do this now
Will I see a smile or frown
For all the love you gave today
I won't let this be the last day
I've been here wanting to
Take the fall for you
I won't be afraid
Not just all talk
Don't forget now
I'll be here
Always
Inspiration: Iron and Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
Another lonely, tired night
Fifth and Jonestown Height
I wander up the stairs
To find you waiting there
Before I know I’m three drinks deep
Whiskey, scotch, nothing cheap
With each drop a siren’s song
We won’t be here for very long
I’m just so drunk and
I’ve been down this road before
I know it only ends up poor
I’ll pour myself another
Mix myself another
Closer, closer as we drink
Never take the time to think
We both know better shouldn’t we?
Fuck it, I’ll just let this be
Kiss the corner of your lips
Hands find their way onto hips
We both know some infidelity
These drinks don’t bring me clarity
I’m just so drunk and
I don’t trust myself with you
But the night is young and so’re you
I’ll pour myself another
Mix myself another
Feel it as it hits the throat
Burning like a lover’s note
Warm like the touch I feel
Brokering a devil’s deal
A whisper here, a soft sigh there
I’m not sure when I got to here
But I know I don’t want to go
So I’ll just ask for one more
I’m just so drunk and
You eyes are bright and blue
I just don’t know what to do
But pour myself another
Mix myself another
But I’m just so drunk and
You are so goddamn beautiful
So cheers to us darling
Nothing between us now
We are the perfect mix
You and I
Inspiration: Lisa Miskovsky - Into The Light
Need a little time, time enough for me
Just another moment, moment 'till we see
Do you have a chance, chance enough to be
Everything I wanted, wanted you here with me
We've been so long
Wandering
Can't make your way
Harboring
A love like this
A love like this
Ties that bind, bind us to our enemies
Don't want to see, see what we believe
Will we find, find our common footing
Need a little time, time forever fleeting
We've been so long
Wandering
Tonight if you're alseep
I'll tell you
Our love will break
The dark ahead
Can't make your way
Ignoring
A love like this
So just hang on
Don't wait so long
Don't wait so long
I'll light the way
Light the way
Light the way
Light the way
Light up the night
Light the way (Just hang on)
Light the way (Just hang on)
Light the way (Just hang on)
Light up the night (Don't wait so long)
(repeat until fade)
Inspiration: Lisa Miskovsky - Last Year's Song
I can't forget the day you left
That quiet, unassuming theft
You stole my car and you stole my heart
That was when it all fell apart
Did you just forget?
About the day we met?
Or was it just like the dawn
Here so brief then gone
Was it bright stardust
Did it glitter just
Like the light in my eyes
As I stared up at the sky.
You left here in the dead of night
I never knew it would end tonight
The sound of glass shattering
Now these tears won't stop falling
I laid out on the lawn
Wondering where you'd gone
Would you come back for me
In a year or three?
Was this all for show?
I guess I'll never know
It was just that bright stardust
Now I know I must
When you come through again
I won't be here waiting then
My heart's been undone
To think we'd just begun
You won't find me now
Find me now
So this is how it ends
There's nothing left to mend
Lost forever in the sky
Like stardust from my eye
One More Try
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Front Cover | Back Cover |
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One More Try is an album that came out of nowhere and very much lived up to it's namesake - one more try for Robyn Quinn to try and make it big. But this time something was different. The album consists of 11 freshly written songs and one cover. It's unknown where Robyn got the money to make the album after the dud that was Curiouser and Curiouser, though she claims it was self financed and produced.
Upon it's debut in April 2012, One More Try was met with rave reviews from media outlets like Rolling Stone, Spin, AllMusic, and Pitchfork Media. Off the strength of the debut single "Brightest Day", Robyn rocketed up the charts and found herself quickly in a prominent position of stardom. The album would spawn four total singles - "Brightest Day", a cover Lisa Miskovsky's "Lady Stardust", "One More Try", and "See The Sound", all of which placed will in the Billboard Top 50, though only "Brightest Day" topped the charts.
Tracklist
- Brightest Day*
- Just Breathe
- See The Sound*
- Reckless
- Perfect
- Follow Me
- (You'll Never) Listen To Me
- Into The Light
- As Soon As
- Lady Stardust*
- One More Try*
- The Rain
It's so good t' see you again
Give me some time, I know where t' begin
Go on, come on and take a look 'round
Take in th' light an' everythin' we found
[voice in static] Our brightest day
And for the first time in a long time
We can make it without these crimes
So bring on the day an' we'll come alive
There's no need t' fight, we will survive
I know where we were, I've seen where we've been
I won't cry anymore if you'll just tell me when
You can feel it, that warmth from above
We won't look back on those days of…
[voice in static] Our decline
For the first time in a long time
We can make it without these crimes
So bring on the day an' we'll come alive
There's no need t' fight, we will survive
This is our brightest day
Nothing will stand in our way
Nothing now left to say
Let me show you the way
And come what may
I will show you th' way
For the first time in a long time
We can make it without these crimes
So bring on the day an' we'll come alive
There's no need t' fight, we will survive
And come what may, I will show you th' way
I will show you th' way (Bring on the day)
I will show you th' way (We'll come alive)
I will show you th' way (No need t' fight)
Let me show you th' way (We will survive)
I will show you th' way (Bring on the day)
I will show you th' way (We'll come alive)
I will show you th' way (No need t' fight)
Let me show you th' way (We will survive)
Trivia:
- The single for "Brightest Day" was released in January 2012, to critical and commercial acclaim, quickly rising to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as several Billboard genre specific charts. In addition, it topped several international charts such as ARIA in Australia, Canada's Hot 100, SNEP in France, IRMA in her native Ireland, and Sverigetopplistan in Sweden, as well as charting well elsewhere in the world.
- The single for "Brightest Day" contains two b-sides - an acoustic version, and a "Ravenfall's Dance Mix", an eurobeat remix produced by Robyn herself.
- The song is ostensibly presented as a feel good ode to getting one's life together and living your best life. The irony is not lost on the writer.
Look
At this red fire
How did we get to this, mate?
I guess it really was too late.
Just breathe.
Just breathe.
Look
What’s between us
Is it the same as yesterday?
Why do we carry on this way?
Guess
I’ll just ask now
I know you’ll just look away
An’ ask where we’ll spend the day
Just breathe.
Just breathe.
Look
Up at the stars
The light’s started t’ fade t’night
An’ I think my heart just might
Break
The sun has set
An’ now I guess so’s our love
I turn an’ give you a shove
Guess
We’re finally talkin’ now
An’ when you raise your voice
You give me a dead man’s choice
Just breathe.
Just-
[tempo picks up dramatically]
No, fuck this I’m not doin’ it anymore!
I really need you t’ listen t’ me
I’m trying t’ tell you there’s a problem
But you never want t’ listen, you just want t’ argue.
Shut up!
I said shut up!
I don’t fucking care anymore I just need you t’ listen
Everything around us has gotten so loud
An’ I can barely even stand the buzzing anymore
I’m so tired of everyone tellin’ me t’ just breathe
What a load of shit
If I want t’ feel sad, then I’m gonna
There’s not really much anyone can do about it
I’m tired of naffin’ about an’ I don’t really care
About the nixer you got for the holiday
Is that really all y’ have t’ say?
I can’t do this anymore, I really can’t!
I want t’ go out t’ shows
I want t’ sing out loud and I want t’ scream
I just want t’ scream
Stop telling me I need t’ be calm
I don’t care if I need t’ take a minute and just breathe
It’s hell out there and If I have t’ face it with you
Well then I’m just not gonna
I’ll find somewhere else t’ be
This is the end, we’re done here
An’ I’ve never been happier
I’ve never been happier
I’ve never been… (gasp)
Oh god I’m running out of air
[tempo slows down]
Just try an’ breathe
Just breathe.
Just breathe.
Just breathe.
Just fuckin’ breathe…
Trivia:
- A version of this song seems to exist in other timelines, including Prime and Wasteland, and is one of Robyn's only post-2010 songs to exist in wholly the same form across time and space.
Inspiration: Stars - One More Night
How could she have known, what would be waiting for her
Conflict she's avoiding, end of this for sure
Empty promises abound, pretty lies are all you want to hear
Listen to me, give up all you hold dear
All ears on the ground, just listen for the sound
Caught in a web, trying not to drown
You won't drown
So simple a matter
Simple a matter
Just see the sound
See the sound
And all that it says
And all that it says
How could she have known, she's unable to see
Life so expertly sewn, but they'll never be
Pay attention tonight, and maybe you'll learn
Was it all worth it, just to get what you yearn?
Listen to me, and all that I say
To the song on the turntable, it'll show you the way
See the sound, it dances, fills us all around
The web you wove, it's come unwound
Yeah you're unwound
So simple a matter
Simple a matter
Just to see the sound
See the sound
And all that it says
And all that it says
For all that you do
Just rally the fools
They're waiting for you
Now what will you do?
So simple a matter
Watch it all scatter
Tonight I'll be free
No more to see
A song for the end
This we won't mend
Just see the sound
And all that it says
And all that it says
And all that is…
And all that is…
Trivia:
- See The Sound was the fourth and final single from One More Try, and contained one b-side - a demo of "Take The Fall" from her previous album
Stardust,
Lady Stardust
Spread your hair across
Your universe of magic
Let us in.
Let's fly into the milky-way,
Climb these concrete walls
And say don't ever
close us in.
Like every city needs a distance,
Every sky demands a moon,
Every winter needs a snowfall,
Every summer wants a June.
Money is just a piece of paper,
Gold is blinding, don't you see.
Fame is just our own illusion,
Of what life is meant to be.
But I don't need a perfect mirror,
I don't care for queens and kings.
We are free and we are perfect,
When Lady Stardust sings.
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Oh, Lady Stardust sing.
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Oh, Lady Stardust sing.
Stardust,
Lady Stardust
Let us cruise around
Your universe of magic,
I'm in.
Let's play this song,
On and on, and on and on
Until the dawn and never
Let them win.
And every minute needs the hour,
Every day demands a night,
Every giant supernova hits the city with your light.
Movie-stars and grand directors,
Silver screens and MTV's,
Gods and angels all around me
Fills the air like little bees.
I don't need no superheroes,
I don't care for gods with wings,
I hear teardrops on the pavement
When Lady Stardust sings.
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Oh, Lady Stardust sing.
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Play on
Lady Stardust sing.
And I don't need no superheroes,
I don't care for gods with wings,
I hear teardrops on the pavement
When Lady Stardust sings.
Oh, Lady stardust sing.
Lady stardust sing.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, she sings
Na, na, na, na, na, na, she sings
Na, na, na, na, I'll sing for you.
I sing this song, so please hold on,
I sing this song, for you
And say something that matters
And say something that matters.
Try to say something that matters to you,
So please hold on.
Trivia:
- This is a cover of a song by Lisa Miskovsky. Original Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOk9YA-Z8E
- Quinn's cover is closely based on the original, but has a slightly faster tempo and a brighter, more "indie rock" sound in order to make it fit in better with the rest of the album and possibly easier for the masses to consume, because the masses are idiots (Or so she says behind their backs).
- Lady Stardust was the second single from One More Try, and had one b-side - A demo of Brightest Day.
Inspiration: CHVRCHES - Graves
This time I thought I was over and gone
That they had really won
I'm not the one
No, I'm not the one
This time I thought that this was the end
There's nothing left to mend
Hearts to rend
Only hearts to rend
One more try, just give me
One more try
Don't ask why, just give me
One more try
What can I say?
Was it meant to be this way?
You can break me, kill me, bury me
That won't be the end of me
I'm not done
Did you really think that this was done?
Have you had all your fun?
We've only just begun
Yeah we've only just begun
Did you really think that I'd take that fall?
Just throw me, pin me to the wall
I gave it all
Yeah, I gave it all
One more try, just give me
One more try
Don't ask why, just give me
One more try
What can I say?
Was it meant to be this way?
You can break me, kill me, bury me
That won't be the end of me
But come what may
No matter how you betray
You can break me, kill me, bury me
That won't be the end of me
I'm not done
Take it away, you'll never take it away.
Find a way, we'll just find a way
A new day, this is our new day
This is our one last try
Just one more try
One more try, just give me
One more try
One more try, just give me
One more try
One more try, just give me
One more try
Don't ask why, just give me
One more try
What can I say?
Was it meant to be this way?
You can break me, kill me, bury me
That won't be the end of me
But come what may
No matter how you betray
You can break me, kill me, bury me
That won't be the end of me
I'm not done
I'm not done
Trivia:
- "One More Try" was the third single and the title track for the album, and had one b-side - a "Ravenfall's Rock Mix" that replaces much of the synth with more traditional instruments.
A-Sides
Music selections for Bright Future Robyn Quinn.
- The Birthday Massacre - Red Stars
- The Birthday Massacre - Kill The Lights
- Evanesecene - Everybody's Fool
- My Chemical Romance - I Never Told You What I Do For A Living
Best of cruel intentions
Finding what they fail to mention
No truth
All pretension
Raise your hand to get attention
You give it
We take it
You build it
We break it
You sign and we erase it
You feel it
We fake it
It's my red star (steal it)
It's my red star (I can't let go)
It's my red star (conceal it)
It's my red star
Oh no
Wasted education
Celebrating imitation
Misplaced admiration
Speaking for a generation
You give it
We take it
You build it
We break it
You sign and we erase it
You feel it
We fake it
It's my red star (steal it)
It's my red star (I can't let go)
It's my red star (conceal it)
It's my red star
Oh no
This story's missing a wishing well
No mirror to show and tell
No kiss that can break the spell
I'm falling asleep
Every prince is a fantasy
The witch is inside of me
Her poison will wash away the memory
We kill the lights and put on a show
It's all a lie
But you'd never know
The star will shine
And then it will fall
And you will forget it all
And after midnight we're all the same
No glass shoe to bring us fame
Nobody to take the blame
We're falling apart
Every story's a waiting game
A flower for every name
Their colors are paling
In the falling rain
We kill the lights and put on a show
It's all a lie
But you'd never know
The star will shine
And then it will fall
And you will forget it all
Now you know
It's so much better to pretend
There's something waiting for you here
Every letter that you wrote
Has found its way to me, my dear
You can make believe that what you say
Is what I want to hear
I'll keep dancing through this
Beautiful delusional career
Faking every tear
Looking like a compromise suicide
Keeping all my dreams alive
Perfect by nature
Icons of self-indulgence
Just what we all need
More lies about a world that…
…never was and never will be
Have you no shame? Don't you see me?
You know you've got everybody fooled
Look, here she comes now
Bow down and stare in wonder
Oh, how we love you
No flaws when you're pretending
But now I know she
…never was and never will be
You don't know how you've betrayed me
And somehow you've got everybody fooled
Without the mask, where will you hide?
Can't find yourself lost in your lie
I know the truth now
I know who you are
And I don't love you anymore
It never was and never will be
You don't know how you've betrayed me
And somehow you've got everybody fooled
It never was and never will be
You're not real and you can't save me
Somehow now you're everybody's fool
Stay out of the light
Or the photograph that I gave you
You can say a prayer if you need to
Or just get in line and I'll grieve you
Can I meet you, alone
Another night and I'll see you
Another night and I'll be you
Some other way to continue
To hide my face
Another knife in my hands
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off
I'm so dirty babe
The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes
I keep a book of the names and those
Only go so far 'til you bury them
So deep and down we go
Touched by angels, though I fall out of grace
I did it all so maybe I'd live this every day
Another knife in my hands
A stain that never comes off the sheets
Clean me off
I'm so dirty babe
It ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame
It's for the bodies I claim and those
Only go so far 'til you bury them
So deep and down we go
Down
And down we go
And down we go
And down we go
And we all fall down
I tried
I tried
And we'll all dance alone to the tune of your death
We'll love again, we'll laugh again
And it's better off this way
And never again, and never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now.
Well never again, and never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now.
Well I tried
One more night
One more night
well I'm laughin' out, cryin' out, laughin' out loud
I tried, well I tried, well I tried,
'Cause I tried, but I lied
I lied
I tried
I tried
I tried, well
And we'll love again, we'll laugh again
We'll cry again and we'll dance again
And it's better off this way
So much better off this way
I can't clean the blood off the sheets in my bed
And never again, and never again
They gave us two shots to the back of the head
And we're all dead now