Here In My Head: Reasons I Adore MyMusic

I posted something a while back advertising MyMusic as my "favourite thing of the week". The thing is that it's grown beyond that and is now one of my obsessions I'm currently juggling, between Whose Line, the Buffyverse and this.

The thing is that I'm not quite sure why I love it as much as I do. I mean, it's a sitcom, and it has its funny moments, but I don't think that that's what got me into it the same way that Whose Line and Community was like that. So what exactly did get me into it?

The relationships between the characters. That's what did it.

I think that I see a reflection of my friend group in the cast of MyMusic. A bunch of very different people with very different tastes, but who generally accept each other for who they are and work together as a team nevertheless (except for the latest episodes in which they drive a professional team-builder to the brink of insanity, but that's not the point).

Let me give you a solid introduction to what this is about:

There are (originally) eight main characters to the show, each named after the genre of music they're into (because "Broad stereotypes are so much easier to remember than names"). They are as follows:

Indie:

Culkin.

Resident hipster. Founder of the MyMusic production company. He can't like anything that's liked by anyone else. His favourite things to say include "You've probably never heard of it", "That's so played out", "It's ironic", and "That's so mainstream". He also made up his own synonym for the word cool called "Culkin", which every MyMusician knows to be the highest compliment Indie can give. He's kind of a jerk, really. Only one person on the show has ever brought out anything resembling a soft side in him, and that would be:

Scene:

I'm Scene, you see!

One of the two interns working at the production company. Often mistaken for being emo, but she's not emo, silly, she's Scene, you see! :D The most naive, innocent one in the show. I'm pretty sure she never actually works, but instead scrolls through Tumblr all day and watches Youtube videos like nyan cat, or Youtubers like Danisnotonfire (which is something I can kinda get behind). Loves anime, wears too much eyeliner. No one in the production company gets her. She's around teenagerish age, and she screams incoherent noises on a regular basis when she's happy, which is most of the time. She also cries everyday at two PM, don't ask her why, she doesn't know, she just knows it has something to do with Tumblr. She may be naive and innocent (which she totally is), but she's the only one in the cast who really inspires any kind of sympathy from other characters. She also has a huge crush on Indie, don't ask me why, I don't get it. Being an intern, and Indie being a jerk, she has to share a desk with the other intern who she's made friends with, aptly named:

Intern 2:

F-f-f-flowcharts are the best

Doesn't like any specific style of music, hence the name. In fact, he was specifically designed to be the most bland character in existence. He's probably the only one there who gets any work done. Possibly gets off on doing work, especially with flowcharts. Don't ask me why. Extremely loyal to his company, considering the abuse he gets put through. He doesn't have particular taste in music, which "doesn't really fly" at MyMusic, and as a result most characters have an arbitrary hatred for him, so he gets regularly abused. As far as I can remember, he's been strangled, beat up, had drinks thrown in his face, used as an ottoman on a regular basis, had his computer smashed, I'm pretty sure Indie once told someone "You can eat him if you want", nearly been fired, head dunked in the toilet, and oh yeah, he's been shot twice. The show's catchphrase is "Shut up Intern 2". Poor guy's got it rough man. There are only two characters who consider themselves friends with Intern 2, and that would be Scene, and:

Nerdcore:

Keep calm and DFTBA

Previously known as Hip Hop. Head of marketing at MyMusic. During all of season 1, he was known as Hip Hop, and he would listen to all the hardcore rap and stuff and be all gangster, until eventually Intern 2 found out that he was actually a poser and was in fact secretly a nerd. It is a grave offense at MyMusic to be found out as a poser (you usually get dragged to the rats) so he and Intern 2 kept that secret until, in an attempt to save the rest of the staff from being fired, he came out as a nerd. It took Indie a little bit to get over his nerdophobia, but eventually he did and Hip Hop got renamed Nerdcore. It is worth mentioning that Nerdcore and Intern 2 have a very notable bromance going on here. In season 1, Intern 2 saved Hip Hop from being found out as a poser and took the fall for having Daughtry on his iPod (everyone at MyMusic has an arbitrary hatred for Daughtry as well. I dunno) since everyone hated him anyways, and then an episode or two later Hip Hop saved Intern 2 from being fired. They're just adorable. Though he and Indie had a strong bond when he was Hip Hop, the bond seems to be stronger with the rest of the staff now that's Nerdcore, because he can genuinely talk to Scene about anime, or talk to a fellow fan of Game of Thrones:

Metal:

What would Jamie King of Slayer do?

The newest addition to MyMusic. Head of production. Has major anger management issues. This isn't new metal, what with Korn or Linkin Park or whatever, this is old-school metal, Slayer and Iron Maiden and stuff. He has problems with authority ("Duh, I'm metal!"), and as a result he's once held the office hostage while Indie was out of commission, locked them in a room and renamed the place Metal Town. Yep. So in some respects he's irresponsible, what with the head-banging and the temper and whatnot, but on the other hand, he has a family. Yep. When he was twelve he got his girlfriend pregnant at a Coal Chamber concert ("We kissed, and then I don't even know what happened"), they had a shotgun wedding, and now his wife has abandoned her metal ways and become a typical fifties house-wife while his fifteen year old daughter, Rayna (who notably had a crush on Intern 2, which forced Metal, in a fit of rage, to... let's say torment him. Yeah, I'll not spoil that tidbit) is just an average teenage girl of today, obsessing over Justin Bieber and One Direction and Metal's there wondering where he went wrong. He's developed a respect for Indie as head of the office, but because of his problems with authority he has butted heads with:

Idol:

She totes invented the duck face. Hashtag natural flawlessness.

The exact opposite of Indie. Head of social media. Everything she likes is the most mainstream stuff out there. All pop all the time. Her name actually derives from the fact that she is a fan of anyone who ever won American Idol. She's shallow, but thoughtfully so, who knows what she wants and what she wants to accomplish, even if the things she wants to accomplish are rather airheadish. Her outer image is very important to her, her social media is very important to her, and her job is very important to her. Fact, she defines herself by being a working woman. A coupla layers there. For a while there, she became a raver rather than her reality TV show watching self, because of:

Techno and Dubstep:

They are plurfect. Boom zubawub brznx.

Who you would think I would define separately, but in fact they're never apart, and nor shall they be here. They're a perfect duo. They handle talent bookings and stuff like that, but really they're just a coupla ravers dancing all day. They're practically a couple by how much time they spend together. Also, Dubstep can only speak dubstep language, and only Techno can understand him/translate for others, so they're basically perfect for each other. Dubstep seems to be the one who takes himself less seriously, while Techno seems quite easily insulted and is quick to retaliate. They're rather disconnected from the rest of the office - there aren't a whole lot of storylines that connect them to the rest of the office for whatever reason, probably because they never actually leave their office/dance party long enough to actually talk to anyone. I love them. They're adorable. :)

Much like my other obsessions, it's an ensemble thing, and so the relationships between the characters play a huge role in the appeal of the show, like Intern 2 and Nerdcore's bromance (they recently hosted an episode of Tumblr Tuesday where they briefly suggested their ship name be Intercore. I died of laughter xD) or Idol and Metal's constant competition for authority, or the dynamic between Indie and Hip Hop/Nerdcore. Not to mention the fact that the show is filled with amazing moments that should be remembered in history of great moments in Internetainment, from the kissing scene in "They Finally Kiss!" to Hip Hop and Intern 2's scene in "State of Shock" to the entire episode of "Party Time!" to the Flowchart Song in "Return of the Hipster" to the group from 4chan in "One Will Die" to the entire episode of "Ghosts" .... the list can go on and on. These are all moments I've watched multiple times just because I love them so much.

Another thing about this show? I sell it as this stupid, ridiculous gimmicky thing, which in some ways it is, but it also has a pretty important theme, which is that no one is just one thing. The characters all begin as one-note stereotypes in an effort to show you how ridiculous it is to stereotype people or think you know everything about a person based on what clothes they wear or what music they listen to. Who would have guessed that Hip Hop was a nerd, or that Metal had a family (actually, to be fair, they were kinda foreshadowing that Hip Hop was not what he seemed, BUT THE POINT STILL STANDS).

On a more behind-the-scenes level, MyMusic is sorta the first of its kind. First of all, the blend of Youtube stars and television stars is awesome - the makers stand by the idea that entertainment is entertainment, so why not have traditional entertainers and Youtube entertainers unite and work together for a common goal? (It's because of this idea that my favourite Youtuber ever on earth in the world is now good friends with an actor from Buffy MY WORLDS ARE COLLIDING I CANNOT HANDLE THIS!) As a result of this, the show stars traditional actors like Adam Busch and Lainey Lipson and Jarrett Sleeper along with Youtube stars like Grace Helbig and Jack Douglass. I just find this awesome because, when you think about it, working on Youtube and working on TV are fundamentally different, so when you put the two together you end up with this refreshing, unified piece of content that manages to balance the good aspects from television with the good aspects of the Internet.

Not only that, but the show NEVER BREAKS THE FOURTH WALL. As in, ever. They work pretty hard to make the MyMusic universe as non-fictional as possible. They accomplish this by creating AND MAINTAINING Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Google+/Spotify/everything accounts for not only the main characters, but also minor recurring characters, like the Shaman, the Viking - even Scarfman has a Twitter account. AND HE'S MADE OF SCARVES.

Fact, here's a list of all the social media accounts they've created (a few of them are inactive because the character may have died or something, but most of them are still active). IT'S BOTH INCREDIBLE AND COMPLETELY INSANE.

They also accomplish this by acknowledging the fact that MyMusic is a production company that creates content to do with music and also other things, so every week four shows come out of the MyMusic production company NOT including the so-called "documentary" which is really the main sitcom. Not to mention the fact that they also maintain a MyMusic blog in which every character writes posts about what's new in music or pop culture or whatever.

So if you don't yet understand why that makes it awesome, let me sum it up for you:

A) The characters are all very different, making the relationships between them very interesting.

2) It's filled with moments that will make you want to rewatch them over and over again.

C) For such a ridiculous show, the theme is actually something pretty thought-provoking.

4) It mixes traditional television style entertainment with modern internet style entertainment in a way that just WORKS.

E) THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING GOING ON IN THE MYMUSIC UNIVERSE. It may be shown on the social medias, it may be shown in the other shows or just the plain old sitcom, but much like real life, the MyMusic world NEVER STOPS. Which is pretty damn admirable on the part of the writers.

And now, obligatory awesome pictures.