Sena Bryer is right: the hatred that Smile gets is highly problematic

[MartinFreeman]

I already said what I think about her tweet in the other thread, which is locked now. But oh well...

It was a stupid move of Sena to post such a bad take online, and I really wonder....if she has an agency or something like that, shouldn't they be the ones to beg her to stop at this point? It's already a very bad look and a stain on her career, and she's not making it better by stirring the fire on X and shooting against the player base.

That being said, I didn't like the song at all. It felt so...forced and out of place for the game as a whole.And I'm sad to say this, because so far every credit song holds a special place in my heart.

When it played for the first time during the crowning ceremony...okay...it was not 100% unfitting there but I still cringed.
When it played during the bomb building scene with the train however, I couldn't believe my ears. That was...so utterly unfitting. Who thought it would be a good idea to place it there?! And then again, during the ending credits...I just put the game on mute.

This is not because I think the singer or the vocals are terrible. I like AKINOS voice, and standing alone, this might be a fine piece of music on it's own. It just...does not fit. Not at all. Adding to that, I didn't really enjoy Dawntrails MSQ that much, and the song just reminds me of that...which could also play a huge part in me disliking it.

Types like the voice actor unfortunately get a lot of leeway on social media because any kind of criticism means you're anti-whatever and you can get punished for it. If it feels like bourgeois politics, it's because it is.

And SMILE is a terrible, terrible Disney song that was likely consulted for them to add. Anyone who has seen any of the modern cartoon shows, especially Steven Universe, could likely see similarities off the bat. But I didn't cringe because of that, I cringed cause the song is just terrible.

I'm still not sure why they never used the Dawntrail theme again until the end credits. Even their original smile is inside the theme. For some reason, someone must have said in the middle of development to make this....other song instead and use it. What a bad decision. I bet even Wuk Lamat was originally not meant to have such a big role.

[Vensaval]

Let's all just bear in mind that if Sena behaved like a normal person, most—if not all—of this discourse wouldn't even be occurring.

The song would be criticized. The character of Wuk Lamat and how she's written would be criticized. Even criticisms of the performance wouldn't be numerous as they currently are.

Yet, at the end of the day most people wouldn't care one way or the other about Sena Bryer.

And that's the point.

[Losado]

Right on cue. The LGBT shield of defense rises against any criticism.

We shall now refer to him as "He That Shall Not Be Named."

So these days the community is openly accepting of transphobia? No one is calling this comment out?

[Vensaval]

So these days the community is openly accepting of transphobia? No one is calling this comment out?

Yeah, yeah. We're all transphobic. We get it. Tell us something new.

[Turtledeluxe]

Smile sucks

[Zackneifein]

My only problem with Smile, is that sometimes it sounded wrong in my ear.
Like when the chorus is "answering" to the main vocalist, I just find it strange and unpleasant. And it happen multiple time.

I have no clue when it come to music, so I won't say it's the mix, that the tone is too different or anything else, but there is something wrong for me.

[Losado]

Yeah, yeah. We're all transphobic. We get it. Tell us something new.

Misgendering IS transphobia

[Annica]

So these days the community is openly accepting of transphobia? No one is calling this comment out?

You can only play the transphobia card so many times before no one cares anymore. You can always go back to Reddit oder Shitter if you dont like it here.

[Losado]

You can only play the transphobia card so many times before no one cares anymore. You can always go back to Reddit oder Shitter if you dont like it here.

The official communications channel of FF14 should not be host to transphobia and bigotry.

[Midare]

The official communications channel of FF14 should not be host to transphobia and bigotry.

Agreed.

And considering the VA's first take when hearing a choir over a melody that would encourage arm weaving and the first thing to come to mind it's "gospel!", then I don't know, that seems pretty racist to me.

See? I can also pull from straws to use negative labels too

But really, do as you will, at this point the boy has cried wolf so many times, that I wouldn't care if the wolves attack the village.