BTR-Project

Hey y'all! I know I haven't posted that much in a few weeks, but just a few quick updates:

Remember that reblog post I did about BTR and their KCAs era? Well, expect a huge journal entry on that maybe later on today if I feel completely ready to post it (with last minute revisions and all)

On the Instagram side of things (@btr_project98 on IG), I've been actively posting a lot over there to keep it growing. I've started a new series of sorts with Throwback Reels, which one of my latest posts featuring two BTR: On The Road clips from Nickelodeon has been doing a lot of numbers (over 1.4 K views). I'm actually planning for this week to do a Throwback post on the Time Square performance for Friday. So if you follow me on there, expect that to come out around then. Really exciting stuff!

Yes, I'm still on with the Favorite Episodes posts, but I tried going on Pluto TV last night and it wasn't working/loading fast enough. However, I hope you guys have been enjoying these posts so far, seeing the clips & hearing my thoughts on my top picks (and Honorable Mentions ofc). Hoping to finish S1 (the concert special) to get to S2 and beyond, especially the beach special bc I have many thoughts still. Different from @btr-rewatch approach as she goes detail by detail but still in my own way.

WAY BEHIND on my book/journaling/decor bc of work and stuff. Or trying to find the right energy to finish but it's been admittedly hard. I'll do what I can, not creating a huge deadline for myself. I guess one of the problems is I don't live anywhere near a colored printer and I don't think the public library has one that I know of. For this book project, I saved/downloaded a lot of pics that I picked out but no printer to print it all.

I do love that whatever feelings we have about the show itself, the music almost always get universal love from everybody. Heavy on the statement, “I feel like Nickelodeon just assembled these 4 boys, put them together, got to cooking and made the most magnificent meal of all time.” Everyone has at least one BTR song they've heard that is their favorite and any answers to that are valid.

Side note: I did some random research one day looking up producers and songwriters from the first BTR album, and they worked with some really notable ones:

Emmanuel Kiriakou (who did Let It Go & Warrior by Demi Lovato, Classic by MKTO, Who Says by Selena Gomez and The Scene, Take You Dancing & It Girl by Jason Derulo, Ready or Not & Hurricane by Bridgit Mendler, Tonight, Tonight by Hot Chelle Rae, History by Olivia Holt, Crush by David Archuleta, amongst others)

Matthew Gerrard (who's done most of the peak Disney Channel music from High School Musical, some Camp Rock, some Cheetah Girls, Hannah Montana, Hilary Duff, etc., Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson, She's No You by Jesse McCartney, etc.)

Kevin Rudolph (who's one of the producers on Round and Round by Selena Gomez, Say It Right by Nelly Furtado, Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship, some Lil Wayne stuff)

S*A*M and Sluggo (who's done Shake It by Metro Station, Check Yes Juliet & We'll Be A Dream w/ Demi Lovato by We The Kings, Rich Girls by The Virgins, etc)

Notes:

1. This episode is on my honorable mentions of my Fav Episodes list, and for that reason I simply liked this episode overall as it sets up the two main couples of the show: Jo + Kendall & Camille + Logan. Again, I try to focus on relationship-focused plots too much but the convo between K +J while at the dance is somehow retained in my memory for the longest time when I first caught the show back in the day, even though it was very brief. It was a casual way to say we're officially together while Logan was Camille's shining honor on that “horse”. Sadly, we never see Stephanie (Carlos' date) again after this episode, and that's a shame bc she was solid from what we seen from her.

(I realized from the Nickstory wiki page, this episode premiered the same night as the iCarly special, iPsycho, so that was neat.)

2. I too would be interested if Fabio and Momma Knight were an solid item & the Knight siblings would have Fabio as their step-dad.

3. Stuck is the perfect song to play at a school dance, the lyrics are especially fitting for it. Although, it's a little weird to see them actually do full length choreography for a much more calmer and chill love song of this nature. Back in the day, it was an acoustic rendition with Kendall on the guitar. Nowadays, it's performed live with pure vocals and accompanied by James on the piano. I'll explain more on this song once we get into the Favorite Songs list.

Very cute episode of everyone pairing with who they're meant to be with, (except James who inadvertently asked many girls out trying to help Logan.) Win some, lose some.

Join me next time when I try to wrap up season one and properly get into season 2,bc a lot more bonafide & solidified favorites came from that season.

Just wanted to post this here for two reasons:

It's another fun & reminiscent BTR edit that I haven't reposted these in a while. (Credit to @prettybaddieb on TT/IG)

(I had to cut the big performance at the end bc if I edited it in, it would be too big to post. :( but you all know what I'm talking about regardless)

Notes:

1. If you were to tell my younger oblivious 11 y.o self if she had seen this aired pilot for the first time & the first opening segment of our four main guys running away from a group of screaming erratic girls, I would initially think, “oh... they must be really hot s**t, they're already had an adoring crowd chasing them.” But really, they're about to pull a prank and got beaten up for it. (Rightfully so). I respect the fact that guys were made to look and act like fools for certain occasions. Makes them more endearing in a way, learning from their mistakes. The best 5 minute cop out in a pilot like this, well played Scott Fellows.

Reminds me of that one episode of Suite Life when Zach & Cody accidentally poke a hole in the wall and their friends start spying on a girls soccer team next door then all got poked in the eyes. Funny episode BTW.

2. How confident you must be for the very first episode of your show to include two celeb cameos? One from Sway Calloway, Mr. MTV himself, and the another being Nicole Scherzinger from famed girl group The Pussycat Dolls? (BTW: I think the first question I would ask her is what's her haircare routine bc her hair always looks straight out of a Pantene or Garnier commercials, fr.) It's amazing to think about how the Nick executives and the big suits back then somehow had really good faith behind this show to make it the best it could be, so much so that kids would rather miss a day of school on Monday if they missed an episode. For context: I heard that last statement from recent podcast interviews involving Stephen Glickman, and it goes to show just how much effort everyone involved put in, while having fun doing it too. It holds up really well, and you can tell by watching the show in general.

3. Perhaps I'm that easily swayed (and I've said this before in a past post) but thank God for Kendall and I'm forever grateful that he's apart of BTR after the unaired pilot. That audition scene, insulting Gustavo in song & dance while defending his friends is absolutely gold and never gets old. If not for BT Guru in season two (for some reason) and obviously BT Bad Boy, that moment would sold me on him immediately, professionally and personally as my personal standout.

4. Something about the Minnesota scenes just hit for me. Probably bc there's less sound effects in this pilot than the rest of the show, but I would somewhat see the appeal if it was a straight up musical dramedy. I would love to see some scenes of the boys school/home lives pre-BTR, pre-LA, etc., but I guess that's what fanfiction/AO3 is for. (BTW: if anyone had seen or read these kinds of stories, or even do some fanart around that concept, please send them my way, my ask box/DMs is open @btr-project!! I'm not that well-versed into the BTR fanfiction/headcannon universe anyways, so that would really help me fill that void.)

I was watching a BTR video from @finding.miko on IG and strolled through the comment section & found this comment. I found that comment really funny, but maybe there's some truth to it as well.

Notes:

Side note: As I'm currently typing this, while switching back to cable after I was on Pluto TV, I briefly watched the match between New Zealand vs Belgium in the Fifa World Cup this year, and currently losing.

Update: NZ lost to Belgium 1 - 5

1. I've more than said my peace with this episode, however it goes without saying, it's well remembered and acted & impactful within this show and fandom for good reason. I actually had to look away from my phone camera while recording bc I couldn't find it within me seeing Kendall's brokenhearted expressions. Like @btr-rewatch mentioned in her recap, seeing a good & solid guy like Kendall (who's like the fixer of everything and everyone in his life) going through something traumatic like this makes this episode so hard to watch. And I do credit Kendall & Katelyn's acting here specifically in this episode. They brought the emotions all on display here.

2. Mr. Nostalgia just recently did a video discussing this very episode couple weeks ago, and he brought out some great points. There's a lot of couples and romance plots in Disney/Nickelodeon shows that feel stale or cheap, but for BTR as a whole (as cartoony any wild things get), the writers surprisingly lock in when it comes to dramatic/romantic storylines. He also compared this episode to the Jonas LA finale with a similar plot of Stella leaving back to NJ after learning Joe got a movie deal in...you guessed it, New Zealand. On which, I'm glad he's mentioned that bc you would think with a kid sitcom with the big moving plot would have the love interest do a uno reverse card and stay at the last minute. No, Jo actually leaves (for the time being) and again, I respect and appreciate the maturity.

3. I really love the line Jo saying to Kendall, "Maybe you only come once in a lifetime". It broke my heart and my brain hearing that in the episode promo, and I'm sure it did for Kendall as well. Who would respond if someone saying that to you?

4. Kendall really has W friends for supporting him at his lowest moment. The last few moments of them at the airport after seeing Jo off really moved me and really showed their friendship, and with no needed dialogue either. Also, notice how Carlos had his helmet off for the whole scene, in respect to what Kendall is going through. Love that detail.

I'm sure you guys know about the lore behind the song, “Love Me Again”. If you don't, I'll give you the quick rundown. Back in 2013, Carlos uploaded a video of him and the guys at a hotel in Brazil, filming a one shot video and posted it on his YouTube channel. The song hadn't been released yet prior to the third album, but it sounded very mature and most fans (myself included) were hyped. Until the album 24/Seven released, and Nickelodeon pretty much censored the song to be more of a “break up/gotta get you back” type of song lyrically. It was bizarre for the fans at first listen to say the least, and you could really hear it when you listen to the album's version. If it weren't for those changes, and if the OG version was on the album as was, the song would be one of my favorite songs on it.

Although, I'd argue the fact that the song “Show Me” from the Elevate album is way more suggestive than Love Me Again. I'll never forget listening to that song as a freshly minted teenager being gobsmacked that Nickelodeon and Columbia Records let this song slide. Just by the lyrics alone: “I touch your skin, you're trembling. It's in your eyes, you're here to win. So let the game begin.”, and don't even get me started on the chorus. Fun fact: Keke Palmer (from True Jackson VP fame, amongst many other projects) did a demo of this song and it leaked on the internet years ago. You can search this up on YouTube to hear it for yourselves.

Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Rewatched BT Love Song, aka the introduction to Jo Taylor and Freight Train as characters for the first time.

Notes:

1. As much as a banger Any Kind of Guy truly is, I am genuinely curious to hear it as a slower love ballad as Griffin intended originally. Now that I think about it, was their any BTR song of theirs that was a love ballad, and had the word “baby” in it anyways? I can't quite recall. Probably Worldwide or No Idea, but IDK.

2. It's another episode I had on my list, but haven't said much on about it. Still an entertaining episode and James obsessed with that hairspray & his allergic reaction cracks me up. The brief moment when the guy gets right back into the pool after seeing James all puffed up sended me, omg 💀 😂

3. I quite liked Freight Train, he was a funny addition to the Rocque Records crew. Too bad we didn't see much of him after season two. He reminds me so much of Big Rob back in the day, who was JoBros security guard and the rapper who appeared in the mv for Burning Up. But actually, fun fact: the actor who played Freight Train is actually Snoop Dogg's bodyguard in real life. The more you know...

Getting to BT Sparks (the Jordan Sparks episode) soon. Also, let me know if you guys want some BT Audition & BT Crib notes/thoughts, since I didn't get to do it the first time around.