Jukebox 2023 Letter

[kiraly]

Dear Jukebox Creator,

Hello! Welcome to the small corner of my brain where several songs play on repeat. I’m excited to see what you come up with, and I’m pretty easy to please. The prompts in this letter are to help get you started, but if you have an idea already, feel free to run with it! I’m sure I’ll love whatever it is, as long as you steer clear of my DNWs.

If you want to know more about me, feel free to poke around here (it’s mostly exchange letters, haha). You can also find me on Tumblr: worldsentwined or check out my AO3: Kiraly

General Likes:

I really love character-driven stories with a lot of emotion. I’m all about the fluff, but I also enjoy angst with a happy ending - and a lot of these songs probably lend themselves to angst more than fluff. For gen fics, I love to see characters building friendships, working together, going on adventures, getting into (and out of) trouble. Found family and loyalty are always welcome.

For romances, I have a huge weakness for cuddling, (mild) hurt/comfort, and, uh...characters getting soaked and having to snuggle to warm up, haha. Kisses are good (awkward or sweet or steamy). I’m also totally down for things like “there was only one bed”, “fake/pretend relationship”, or other situations where the characters kind of get thrown together and then develop feelings for each other. Also very here for friends-to-lovers, especially the kind that takes years to realize. Mutual pining is great, though I prefer it to end happily. Most of my ships in other fandoms can be summarized as “idiots to lovers” so feel free to make use of that dynamic.

I don’t really care if you keep the genders of the characters the same as listed in the song - I welcome characters of any genders and in any romantic combo (including trans and nonbinary characters). I’m also open to characters of any sexuality, including asexual or aromantic characters.

I’ve requested fic for all of these, but art treats are welcome!

Speculative: In general I’m a huge fan of any kind of sci-fi or fantasy setting, especially if there’s adventure and romance. A (non-exhaustive) list of character tropes I enjoy:

* superheroes/villains * ladies with swords * librarians * sailors * mermaids * selkies * cyborgs * artificial intelligence * bards/musicians * space pirates/crews * witches * magical creatures hiding in human form * dragons * fair folk * mothman * ghosts *

I enjoy the traditional versions of these character types, but in a lot of cases I’m even more excited to see them turned on their heads, with characters who are defying expectations.

I also enjoy stories set on ships (sailing ships, airships, spaceships - take your pick!), post-apocalyptic settings*, and fairy tales (especially with a twist). I also like stories where the setting is mostly our modern world, but with a hint of magic or supernatural elements. Quest-type adventures are great, but I also love quiet moments in between the action when characters can decompress together, regardless of the wider setting.

*although I like post-apocalyptic stuff, I’d prefer to avoid anything too close to home. Far-future post-apocalypse is preferred, or people coping with some disaster other than a pandemic.

Contemporary: Although I’ve always been primarily a fantasy reader, over the past few years I’ve really gotten into the realm of real-world settings - stories set in coffee shops, offices, college, etc. So! If you’d prefer to focus less on worldbuilding and magic, and more on a couple of idiots figuring things out in our own world, by all means do so! Some of the specific prompts will have more details, but I love stories about longtime friends growing closer (and maybe falling in love), lonely people finding friendship for the first time, characters realizing that their weird bits are actually worth loving, and the messy complicated feelings that come from growing up in a small town or otherwise isolated.

Dislikes (Do Not Want):
Character death or maiming, including characters getting infected with some terminal disease. Some background violence is okay, but nothing too graphic (and no torture!) Abusive relationships. Incest. Sexual violence of any kind. Explicit sex (allusions to sex or situations that get kind of steamy are okay, just...keep it teen rated or lower, please). I’d prefer to steer away from homophobia or transphobia as predominant story themes, though it’s okay to include mentions of them. Dementia/permanent memory loss are also subjects to avoid. If possible, I’d prefer nothing with a completely hopeless ending.

Anyway, on to the songs!

Danny, Dakota and the Wishing Well - A Silent Film (Song)
Link Lyrics

First off I’ll say that it’s totally fine to play around with the genders on this one - Dakota and Danny both feel like gender-neutral names to me, or you could name them something different altogether. On the surface, this song tells a story of childhood friends in an unrequited romance that may turn requited years down the road. I’d be happy to read that story, but if you want to go in a more fantastical direction, I love the idea of Danny being some sort of fae, changeling, or other supernatural entity. What’s the deal with the wishing well where they meet once a year? Is Dakota teaching Danny to “spell” in the most literal sense, or are they learning magic together? Why can’t Danny speak, is it more than just not knowing how to confess to someone?


The Last Time - Juniper Vale (Song)
Link Lyrics

This song has a strong feeling of impending loss, though the scale of that loss is left ambiguous. The last time for what, exactly? And for whom? Are a group of friends or romantic partners splitting off as one phase of life (high school, college, etc) ends and sends them in new directions? Or are we talking “the world is ending tomorrow” levels of catastrophe? It’s also unclear when the song actually takes place - the opening line makes it seem like the narrator is looking back on something that has already happened, and others where the narrator seems to be regretting how things went, and still others where they are looking forward to an uncertain future. Would love to see flashbacks, time loops, or outright travel involved if you want to approach from a speculative fiction angle.


Villains Pt. 1 - Emma Blackery (Song)
Link Lyrics

This song feels like a story from the perspective of someone who’s suffered at the hands of the people in power and has decided to take matters into their own hands - a supervillain origin story, perhaps. Is this their dramatic villain monologue? Are they in a showdown with their archnemesis, the Hero? Because I’m also weak for superheroes and also romance, I’d love it if the hero and the villain either had a romance in the past or develop one as the story goes on. Or both! Maybe the “last love” the villain mentioned is actually the partner they left behind when they got out of the hero business, and now the two only get to see each other when they fight.


Riverside - James Spaite (Song)
Link Lyrics

I find the specificity of this very intriguing - the water won't mind if we leave before sunrise. What happens if they don't? Why would they rest there at all, knowing the water’s danger? The repetitive nature of the song almost feels like a charm against danger, passed down through word of mouth to those who are willing to listen. There's a subtle undercurrent of magic or mystery going on here, with the riverside being a place to rest but maybe not easily. Would love to see a story that explores what happens if someone doesn’t follow these “rules”, or one that follows someone who is making use of them to escape a bad situation, even knowing the river’s danger.

(A note for this one, it is okay to reference an abusive relationship that a character is leaving for this one, as long as it’s not discussed in graphic detail).


Enchanté - Dirt Poor Robins (Song)
Link Lyrics

This song has SO much going on. Stained glass angels? Guarded by gargoyles? Pinned like butterflies by jealous grounded men? You could honestly pull out so many different stories from the imagery in here. I could see a story about failed necromancers-turned-revolutionaries, or a character dealing with religious trauma, or simply someone who has grown past their own limits in a world full of magic and mayhem.


Runaway Goliath - Mantaraybryn (Song)
Link Lyrics

I love the dynamic between the singer and “Goliath”. We see a picture of a complicated person, possibly well-thought of or “larger than life”, but only the singer sees the person beneath the persona, their fears and insecurities. What is “Goliath” running from? What is the singer’s stake in this, why are they willing to fight for it? It feels like “Goliath” is missing out on things by giving in to their fear, so what would happen if they did follow the singer’s advice and take the plunge into bravery?
I think this would be really neat to see as a romance, but a ride-or-die friendship would also be great.


Grifters - Charming Disaster (Song)
Link Lyrics

This song is so much fun! I love the idea of a pair of con artists teaming up to thoroughly fleece a small town, but maybe wondering all the while if they can actually trust each other. How do their respective skills work together? What kinds of grifts are they pulling on these townspeople? Did the people they’re scheming against do anything to deserve it, or do they just happen to have what our protagonists are after? Will the singers ride off into the sunset with their ill-gotten gains, or will they end up on a different path?


You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate - Zoey Van Goey (Song)
Link Lyrics

I’m so happy someone nominated this song because I heard it for the first time at some point in the past year and thought “oh this would be SO much fun for Jukebox” but then forgot to nominate it, whoops!
This song brings me so much joy! The singer and the person they’re singing to have clearly been having some adventures, whether the singer wants to be having them or not. I’d love to read about any of the events of the song in more detail - how did this interaction with “the drunks” lead to being chased all over town? Why were they on the roof in the first place? Did all of these events happen on the same night, culminating in missing the bus and walking home? Or is this more of a “we end up in shenanigans every weekend, why do I keep hanging out with you?” situation? I would love to know about additional adventures, and maybe see the instigator of them take care of the poor singer at the end as they’re lying prone on the sofa after it all.


A note about the youtube links: They should all work in the U.S., but in the event that you’re located elsewhere and something is region-locked for you, feel free to leave me an anonymous comment and I’ll try to find a better version.