v the contender

Trans Temporal Dream

Releasing 5/4 at 3:21am

Trans Temporal Dream is V The Contender's upcoming debut EP. The 5 Track HyperPunk-adjacent work, releasing on May 4th, follows the story of V's quest for identity in the city of Los Angeles, culminating in a Queer Anthem calling for the end of the practice of coming out. Each song, though varied in specific genre and production style, attempts to elicit an emotive response that is not found in the daily minutia of life under capitalism. Put simply, the songs urge you to search for the courage to reject the status quo. The EP is also a showcase for V's vocal versatility, featuring singing styles ranging from traditional rap, to contemporary pop-punk.

Off with Their Heads begins with a sample from Terrence McKenna, wherein the esteemed scientist and psychonaut proclaims that tomorrow belongs to the "revolutionaries", the "time travellers", and the "dreamers" - "FORWARD", McKenna elaborates, to a future called the "TRANS TEMPORAL DREAM". The song features pop-punk vocals, hyperpunk production, and lyrics that call for an end to the madness we refer to as daily life. This song was chosen as the introduction for the EP, as it clearly details V's stance on the status quo, setting the stage for the rest of the songs.

Track One: Off with Their Heads

Lyrics:

Off with their heads

They’re not using them anyway

Off with their heads

We’ll be better off

As I ask her for a kiss

Caught a momentary glimpse

Into another life

It was so real, that I cried.

As I stood there at the door

All I asked from her was more

But she didn’t have a plan

Just ideas in the sand.

Off with their heads

They’re not using them anyway

Off with their heads

We’ll be better off

Off with their heads

They’re not using them anyway

Off with their heads

We’ll be better off

If your solution’s democratic

I’ll clue you into something tragic -

barring unforeseen events,

we almost do not stand a chance.

But in the possible lies hope

and though I do not have the most

If we burn it all to the ground

We just might save this town.

Off with their heads

They’re not using them anyway

Off with their heads

We’ll be better off

Off with their heads

They’re not using them anyway

Off with their heads

We’ll be better off

Track Two: Angels

Angels offers a stark contrast to the previous track. This song is V's ode to Los Angeles, a city with a reputation for godlessness in which they found secret divinity. Underneath the Teal and Orange Color-Graded Sky, the song details how people here have hope for the future. Angels is produced in a pop-leaning manner, featuring both V's singing and fast-paced rapping. Though the song discusses the apocalypse, it also details that there is no better place to spend fire and brimstone than LA.

Lyrics:

If the apocalypse were coming and we only had a day

Los Angeles is where I live, and here is where I’d stay

If God were angry and preparing us a brand new hell

You’d catch me down in Malibu just looking for a swell

Tsunami’s, earthquakes, a nuclear attack!

The end is fucking coming if we do not run it back.

But people here have hope in us and that shit is contagious

Not to mention, some of my friends are fucking famous

Los Angeles has many atheists

But the Angels here

Still exist

Teal and orange color graded sky

Though it seems only so

For you and I

She said kid you are replaceable, just another cog

A small part of a door that will never not be locked

And sometimes I believe her, and what she says rings true

But then I look at me, and then I look at you

I look at where I came to, the iridescent sky

I wonder how I ever told a soul “I wanna die”

If all I see is all there is then that would suck

But there are worse places for the ground to open up

California, taladega, take a stop at the bodega

Premonition, demolition, is this all a competition?

Studios, beer hose, ketamine up in your nose

Super 8, feeling great, coronavirus? isolate!

Los Angeles has many atheists

But the Angels here

Still exist

Teal and orange color graded sky

Though it seems only so

For you and I

My journey was full of anger, sadness, and decay

But California ocean views washed it all away

Pick up and kick a couple habits - really go to town

Smoke and drink and sleep repeat until you got it down

Psychedelic drug abuse, be careful with your heart

Philosophize and theorize until you get your start

Land of dreams until you seem to fry all your synapses

At the minimum we’ll party as society collapses

Los Angeles has many atheists

But the Angels here

Still exist

Teal and orange color graded sky

Though it seems only so

For you and I

And though there are a lot of problems here

Its the only place

Where you are near

And though LA is not where I am from

It’s where my journey’s lead

All along

Fireball Heartache is a call to action layered beneath a breakup song. The machine lures, and this song details V's personal experience attempting to break free of the system, but being drawn back in by fake pleasures and false idols. The song is produced in a hyperpunk style with matching vocals, and serves as a reminder for a cognizant self under a sedative-laced society. Fireball Heartache asks the listener if this is truly how they wish to spend their time on Earth, or if a better eternity can be imagined.

Track Three: Fireball Heartache

Lyrics:

I’ve got a fireball heartache

She’s got that cinnamon whiskey smile

But when I try to kiss her

My lips - they burn for just a while

Lets die a little faster

She said let’s live it up today

And if it doesn’t feel right

She says there is no other way

She tries to trick you,

And says that it’s complex

She’ll hug and kiss you,

distract with drugs and sex

But when you ask her,

can this really last?

She’ll fantasize

and lie about the facts.

You think to yourself,

“she’d never lie to me.”

What you two have

- “it was meant to be”

But if you could

just look past your nose.

You’d see to her,

you’re just another hoe.

I’ve got a fireball heartache

She’s got that cinnamon whiskey smile

But when I try to kiss her

My lips - they burn for just a while

Lets die a little faster

She said let’s live it up today

And if it doesn’t feel right

She says there is no other way

She says she’ll miss you

And you should never leave

That you should come through,

don’t give up on the dream

But she can’t force you,

you must decide

Will you rebel?

or give her all your life.

Look deep inside

who do you want to be?

Can you resign

to this eternity?

Cause if you could

just look past your nose.

You’d see to her,

you’re just another hoe.

I’ve got a fireball heartache

She’s got that cinnamon whiskey smile

But when I try to kiss her

My lips - they burn for just a while

Lets die a little faster

She said let’s live it up today

And if it doesn’t feel right

She says there is no other way

Track Four: Cleaned My Room

Beginning with an old Beatle's interview about the bands experience with "LSD", Cleaned My Room pays omage to early-psychedelic rock, and features V's personal experiences through the metaphor of an acid trip. The production leans towards synth-rock, and the vocals offer a spoken-word style of rap interlaced with melodic singing. Cleaned My Room offers the urban legend of the military barrel of Acid (that supposedly supplies psychonauts to this very day) as a metaphor for love.

Lyrics:

There is a tale of a military barrel of acid

I tried a little, and I tell ya, that shit was fantastic.

but when I got over the colors, all that I could do was clean!

And so I cleaned my room

And I cleaned my room

What happened next?

I cleaned my room.

And my room was clean.

It was so positively clean that I could barely see.

Or maybe that was just the drugs continuous effect on me.

But either way, I talked to God - and they told me that I should clean.

And so I cleaned my room

And I cleaned my room

What happened next?

I cleaned my room.

And my room was clean.

There’s something I have to confess, and I hope that you don’t judge.

But I didn’t clean my room - and clean it never really was

My room is just a metaphor for my relationship with love.

And so I cleaned my room

And I cleaned my room

What happened next?

I cleaned my room.

And my room was clean.

They wonder why I still try

Even though I can see the whites of their eye

It’s simple -

For I have cleaned my room.

Theirs are all a mess,

and they will be gone soon.

And since I stand in front countless hypothetical lands -

I wonder? Can you clue me? Into the details of your plan?

But I know that, that’s not how it works.

And so I cleaned my room

And I cleaned my room

What happened next?

I cleaned my room.

And my room was clean.

Gone were the days of day old Starbuck’s cups and run out luck and who gives a fuck

Because my room was clean and that was all that mattered

That was all that fucking mattered

The End (of Coming Out), and the end of the EP, marks the conclusion of an entire era of V's life. They have cast off the shell of their former self, and now embrace their identity as a trans-nonbinary person. Though the Quest detailed by this EP began with V coming out as queer, this song offers an Anthem for all those who don't see fit to stick with the status quo. The End (of Coming Out) offers the idea that the very practice of announcing queerness is one by and for a heteronormative system that can (and WILL) be destroyed. The song is produced in a hyperpop style, with pop-punk vocals and a spoken word call to action.

Track Five: The End (of Coming Out)

Lyrics:

This is the end of coming out

And the start of something new

The light has shown us a way out

We just have to walk on through

They keep us fighting over words

Symphonic syntax bullet rain

Its keeps our eyes all pointed down

A never ending game

And it is a game, everyone. It’s a fucking game.

A game that I’m sick of playing. Who gives a shit about identity politics?

I wanna go to the fucking moon! I wanna go see what’s on the surface of Mars!

And I’m so sick of everyone asking me, y’know.

Hey, V?

What’s with the makeup, the shakeup

the space you walk down the street and ya take up

Do you like it when they stare, do you really care,

is it worth the mental burden that you gotta bear?

Question if it began at conception,

limit our rights by “democratic election”

You come out as queer, and you see more fear

than when kids get shot a million times a year!

but that’s not all, the rise is after fall

The end of bigotry and always feeling small

They don’t claim that we’re all the same

cause they buy into the big fake game

But as our numbers grow, and thus ends the show

We will finally have the proof of what we - know.

“No” is the answer that I’m constantly getting when I ask people:

“Hey! Do you think you could maybe respect the they/them shit?

Instead of just saying he or she all the fucking time?”

Stop calling me “bro”!

Assholes!

This is the end of coming out

And the start of something new

The light has shown us a way out

We just have to walk on through

They keep us fighting over words

Symphonic syntax bullet rain

Its keeps our eyes all pointed down

A never ending game

But it’s a game that you don’t have to fucking play everyone.

You’re dealt a hand, but you don’t gotta play it.

You can throw the cards in the air, you can set them on fire

You can just set them down and walk the fuck away.

That’s I’m gonna do.

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