#5ive

So this requires a little bit of 'splaining... As of recently, I've been keeping up with Courtney Presto's album cover swatching series on TikTok (and following my personal request, she told me she had videos for Take That and Five in the works—put a pin on that!).

One of the videos from that series, where she speculates about the color story of Taylor Swift's next album, stood out to me. You guys should probably know how I feel on Taylor Swift by now (if you don't, let's just say I wish she'd stop squatting her nonexistent ass all over the charts and go away already), so when I saw the palette she came up with, my mind went "Let's come up with something for these colors before Taylor can get to them". The pink and blue together made me think of this new fragrance from O Boticário, Egeo Dolce Illusion, which I tried recently and fell in love with right off the bat; I can't wait to go back there and actually buy it. Apparently the fragrance is meant to smell like strawberry sorbet and marshmallow, and from there, came the idea of creating Wendy. I do have a history of liking coaches who are cutesy girls with dessert motifs; in fact, Wendy is besties with Chiffon! Before anyone asks, her establishing song is Sweet Talk by Samantha Jade; it was the first song that came to me for the concept and it just felt right.

As Uriah... Remember when I mentioned requesting Courtney to do a video color swatching Five's albums? You see, I'm not the most patient person, so I decided to try my hand at it so I could have an idea of what to expect from her. As it turns out, when it comes to the three most predominant colors of each album cover, it's actually warm hues feature the most (even when you don't take Time into account). And all the predominant warm hues made a pretty cohesive palette when put together, one which worked quite well with the idea for an If Ya Gettin' Down coach that I had been workshopping. Y'know, with all the Kalishplosions pyro in the music video and during its performances in Five's reunion tour... He's the fire to Wendy's ice, she's the sugar to his spice, it works. Obviously his design is mainly inspired by Abz's iconic look from the music video, but I threw in some elements inspired by the other members of Five too (e.g. the eyebrow ring like the one J had back in the day).

I hope you’re all sitting down and holding onto something sturdy, because I have been staring at this exact clip on a loop for the last six hours straight and my brain has officially dissolved into pure, unadulterated mush. I am vibrating at a frequency that could shatter glass. We need to talk about Sunday. We need to talk about Mighty Hoopla. More specifically, we need to talk about the absolute psychological warfare Mr. Jason "I’ve been bench pressing the tour bus" Brown is waging against our collective sanity via his wardrobe choices.

Can we please collectively chart the unhinged trajectory of this man’s vest evolution? Because I am losing my mind.

We started the “J vest watch” during the Australia and New Zealand tour legs with that Boohoo boxyfit patched vest. It was a look. It was casual, it was a little bit rugged, it gave us a nice little tease of what was under there. It was a solid 10/10.

But Mighty Hoopla? The stylist didn’t just wake up and choose violence—they chose a full-on military coup.

Look at him. Just LOOK AT HIM. Tell me he is not wearing a full-blown, heavy-duty, riot-shield-grade STAB VEST / CORSET HYBRID. A literal tactical ballistic unit on a pop stage. I am actually weeping. He is locked and loaded. He looks like he’s about to breach a compound, single-handedly stop a prison riot, and then casually drop into the Everybody Get Up choreography without breaking a single drop of sweat.

Let’s be completely honest for a second: Five doesn’t even need to pay for a security detail anymore. If a crowd gets too wild, Scott, Ritchie, Sean, and Abz don't need bodyguards; they can all just physically dive behind J’s broad shoulders and use him as a human fortress. The man is built like a brick wall and squeezed into a tactical waist-snatcher. The duality is driving me INSANE. He is out there looking like the final boss in an action movie while singing 90s boyband bangers.

How on earth is the stylist going to top this delightful look?!

If anyone on the creative team has a single brain cell left and is reading my blog, I am begging, screaming, and throwing my hands in the air to suggest the only logical next step for Download Festival in a couple of weeks.

We need a proper, full-on battle vest. I’m talking heavy, faded denim. I'm talking shredded edges. I'm talking completely covered in vintage patches—throw some classic Iron Maiden and Jane's Addiction on there to match the actual metal energy this man inherently radiates. And most importantly, the back patch absolutely must read:

"NOT HERE FOR THE MUSIC, HERE FOR THE CHAOS."

Make it happen, please and thank you. Pretty please? Just let us have this one!

THE GRAB HEARD ’ROUND THE UK

🚨 WARNING: MAXIMUM ABSOLUTE FILTH AHEAD. J GIRLS, IF YOU ARE WEAK-WILLED, GET THE HELL OUT. 🚨

Alright, we’ve praised the tactical armour and the stab vest, but now we need to talk about the new "biscuits grab" that has left the entire UK fandom completely and utterly feral.

Let’s recount our history, shall we? Australia and NZ got that legendary grab for the "freaky spot" during Lay All Your Lovin' On Me. We UK girls watched the footage from across the ocean, weeping, throwing up, and biting our knuckles in pure jealousy. We bided our time. We waited.

And oh my god, did J just completely clear the deck for the home crowd.

Look at him right at the start of the clip. He just launches straight into his rap part, and right on the lyric "cause I'm ready and equipped"—HE DOES THE FULL-BLOWN BISCUITS GRAB.

I am screaming. I am barking. I am clinically insane.

J is really out here proving to all of us that he is incredibly big in the "talent department," isn't he?! The sheer audacity to pull a move that filthy in broad daylight? It should be illegal. He knows exactly what he’s doing to us. He knows us J girls are a specific breed of unhinged, and he just fed us a five-course meal in the middle of a festival.

I’ve replayed those first few seconds approximately five hundred times and I still haven’t recovered. We got our moment, UK girls, and we are absolutely, completely feral for it.