Besides coming back to Newgrounds, I think this was a pretty good year for me in regards to music, both producing and listening.

On the producing side of things, Nekoshi was born in the very first month of the year. Me and my good friend, sakuraVN, had created this duo specifically for one purpose, but then it became much more than that. Sakura started this duo because she had emailed a content creator and streamer that she enjoyed watching, Kirbizoid, about making music for the channel. She asked this because she had me in mind and thought that I could make something for her. They responded, saying that they would love for her to make something for them, however they were in a bit of a financial situation so they couldn’t pay her. She insisted that she would do it for free and then they allowed her to do it. I was totally ok with doing it for free. What they wanted her to make was a song inspired by their favorite OST, Mario Super Sluggers, and so that’s what we did. There is a video on their YouTube channel with our song (named Out of the Park), so if you want to go see what we came up with, you can go check it out!

After that, we decided to keep the Nekoshi duo, since Sakura had a lot of fun producing alongside me. She even started to make songs by herself. She does have a Newgrounds account now, which is @nekosakuraVN so please go check her out if you’re interested in what she makes. I also have her YouTube and Newgrounds linked in my profile. We kept making songs together, such as Moonlight, Flower Dance, and even an entire EP entitled Our Story. Both of us have also been inspired by art, both human and AI, when we make our songs together or apart. It lets us tell more of a story whenever we do so. Nekoshi will definitely be sticking around for another year, or even more since there’s no signs of us stopping.

For myself, I got into my phonk phase, both listening to it and producing it… sort of. Phonk, krushfunk, and Brazilian funk took up a lot of my Spotify Wrapped for this year, whereas last year I wasn’t into any of that and it was much more varied (it was also my first year using the app). It’s also hard to make when you only use GarageBand, so I had to basically come up with my own style of producing it. Next year, I really have to get out of this phase.

Here is a comparison between my Spotify Wrapped for 2023 and my Spotify Wrapped for this year.

WRAPPED 2023:

Number of minutes listened for: 29,355

Biggest listening day: October 17 with 448 minutes

Number of songs played: 2,453

Number of artists listened to: 1,211

Top songs:

1. MIMI - Kuninaru (feat. KAFU)
2. KIRA & Heartbreaker - B.B.F (feat. Hatsune Miku & Kagamine Rin)
3. Trivecta - Ghost in the Machine
4. Osanzi - MOViNG ON (feat. Hatsune Miku & Kagamine Rin)
5. Novva Skylar - E-girl (feat. Hatsune Miku & GUMI)

Top artists:

1. MIMI
2. Waterflame
3. Hatsune Miku
4. KIRA
5. Creo

WRAPPED 2024:

Number of minutes listened for: 44,288

Biggest listening day: February 19 with 474 minutes

Number of songs played: 3,317

Number of artists listened to: 1,966

Top songs:

1. KUTE, killanoia, & Tokyomane - KRUSH GIRL
2. _Nani_ - WRAITH
3. LXNGVX, DJ FKU, & DJ OPPA - ATHENA
4. Nanatsukaze (duo feat. PIKASONIC & nakotanmaru) - Replay
5. Cosmograph & LEVEL NINE - You’ve always got me

Top artists:

1. blueberry
2. NF
3. KUTE
4. Hatsune Miku
5. Nanatsukaze

So yeah, phonk ruined my Wrapped this year. But that’s ok because next year’s Wrapped is gonna be different. I also hope that some of my songs will be different as well. I want to get back into the swing of things regarding contests such as NGUAC, NGADM, and AIM too. And I want to try out Jamuary when it starts too! There’s a lot of things I want to do. We’ll see what 2025 has to offer. I’m looking forward to it. :3

I knew my Wrapped was going to be overtaken by phonk, Brazilian funk, and all that stuff so it wasn’t surprising. But I really have to start listening to other things next year…

Number of minutes listened: 44,288

Biggest listening day: February 19 with 474 minutes

Number of songs played: 3,317

Number of artists listened to: 1,966

Top songs:

1. KUTE, killanoia, Tokyomane - KRUSH GIRL
2. _Nani_ - WRAITH
3. LXNGVX, DJ FKU, DJ OPPA - ATHENA
4. Nanatsukaze (duo ft. PIKASONIC & nakotanmaru) - Replay
5. Cosmograph - You’ve always got me

Top artists:

1. blueberry
2. NF
3. KUTE
4. Hatsune Miku
5. Nanatsukaze

Did you miss me? I am back to Newgrounds now, and because of that, I will be uploading all of my songs ever since I left! Some of the more recent songs I’ve made are collaborations with my good friend sakuraVN (she doesn’t have a Newgrounds account, but she does have a YouTube channel @.nekosakuraVN with no period)! I hope you enjoy all the stuff I’ve made :3

If you're wondering why I haven't been online lately, it's because I'm taking a break. And it's gonna be a long one too. But when I come back, I will have a new (and my first) EP all done and ready for you guys to listen to! I hope it comes out good. :3

Definitely something out of my comfort zone. I never made a song where the main instrument was piano. It’s technically not “solo instrument” but I didn’t really know what else would fit.

A vent song with the implied message that my friends may leave or abandon me but they will always be in my memories. I just want to say that I even made myself cry listening to this. This honestly has a huge impact on me. The ending melody was taken from the song "Until you hug yourself" by MIMI and that was the part that made me burst into tears. I felt like such a crybaby lol..

One of my friends called it sad but also beautiful. This song literally makes me want to burst into tears whenever I play it.

Coming out as a demiboy. This has been on my mind for quite a while and I’ve finally figured it out. Pronouns are he/they now, thank you. ^^

Might delete this later because idk if my family will be ok with this if they find out. TwT

I’ve technically been here for three years but two years ago is when I started doing something that would turn into my passion. I made a video with all the songs I’ve uploaded somewhere on the internet from June 2021 to June 2023. Thank you all so much for the support and I hope to keep on going for as long as I can. ^^

https://youtu.be/SC4WFEXdjJA

Here I was thinking that this was going to be like every other month, releasing at least one song or none at all. But apparently, I was able to make five songs this month. I don’t make sense sometimes. Last month I didn’t upload anything and now I’m here uploading five songs in a single month (but the Nyan Cat remix wasn’t serious does that still count lol). So here they all are in order.

Yeah.

Thank you guys so much! I know it’s a smaller milestone but I’d rather type this than disregard it, you know? Hehe ^w^

Ep 4: Eavesdropping

I’m lost in the forest trying to find Galaxy. Finding her is a chore. You never know where she is. You would think she’s easy to find because she’s purple, but that’s not the case with her. But I’m thinking about something while I’m looking for her. If the machines do explode, how severe would the explosion be? Maybe if there were more than two of the same machine and they were all emitting pulses, it would be bigger. But if it’s only two, it shouldn’t be that big, right?

I see Shadow up ahead. She’s out of breath.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Galaxy is being controlled,” she says.

We’re losing all of our friends, one by one. Earlier, Spider and Wave started being controlled again. We still don’t know who’s doing this or where they are. And since Galaxy’s part of it now, there’s a much bigger chance they’re going to find us now. But then I remember something.

“When you were fighting the Charmeleon, how come you didn’t become controlled too?”

Shadow looks up at me. “I don’t know,” she says. “The mind control spreads through contact, and I know I touched him. Maybe we’re immune somehow?”

But that doesn’t make sense. How would we be immune to something everyone else is affected by? Being totally immune to something isn’t realistic. I look at Shadow. She looks like she’s thought of something.

“What if one person isn’t enough? What if more people need to be around us for us to be affected?”

“I don’t understand it, though,” I say. “Why are we different from everyone else?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Remember, I’ve never really been into mind control so I have no idea what’s going on.”

The sun is setting and I’m starting to get scared. The forest is very creepy at night. “Can we get out of here, please?” I ask.

She knew I was scared. She nods and we find our way out of the forest before it gets too dark.

When we get out of the forest, we head to the town. Shadow stops me just before we get there.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“We don’t know how many people are being controlled.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “But again, there could be almost nobody affected at all. What if we sneak?”

“I guess we could do that,” Shadow says, reluctantly.

We start sneaking, looking in every direction for green eyes. The town is big, so we don’t know if there are a lot of Pokémon or almost none at all. After a while, I realize that this is different from usual. The town has never been like this before. It’s always been crowded and busy with Pokémon going every which way, even at night. But there isn’t anyone in sight.

We get close to the center of town and we hear noise. Not just the fountain, though. There’s a female voice talking. I look around the corner and see a huge mob of Pokémon with green eyes crowding around someone. I can’t see close enough to know who it is. I can only see the tail, but it’s still hard to tell just by that alone. My guess is this is who’s controlling everyone.

“What’s going on?” Shadow peeks behind me, trying to look. “Oh, my goodness,” she gasps. “I didn’t expect there to be this many.”

“Do you know who’s speaking?” I ask.

“I don’t think so. It’s kind of hard to tell when it’s all muffled.”

I sigh quietly. I hide behind the building. Shadow keeps looking. My heart starts pounding, knowing we’re going to get caught if she keeps this up. She stops looking and hides behind the building with me. She’s breathing very fast.

“Shadow, are you ok?”

“No, I’m not,” she says. “I was listening to the voice of whoever was talking and…”

“And what? Do you know who it is?” I’ve never heard this voice before, but there are clear signs Shadow does.

Shadow gulps. She looks like all the life was taken out of her. “Yes, and I don’t like it.”

“Well, who is it?”

To my surprise, she starts crying. I don’t know what to do at this point, so I just let her cry. A few minutes pass and she finishes.

“I’m sorry you had to see me like this, Comet,” she says, her voice breaking. “I’m feeling mixed emotions right now.”

“What are you feeling?”

“I feel happy, sad, and scared all at the same time.”

“Wait, you’re happy? Why?”

“I’m happy she’s alive.”

I don’t know who she’s talking about, but I guess it’s someone very close to her. I think about it for a second, then I realize who she’s talking about.

“Wait, it’s not who I think it is, is it?”

“Yeah, it is,” she says. “It’s my sister.”