No Genre, All Drama
Jhariah Clare, usually known as simply Jhariah, is a musical artist. His music is in an Alternative Rock style with theatrical overtones, and dark subject matter.His most notable works are two Concept Albums: The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All tells the story of him as the last one standing in an apocalyptic wasteland where everyone else has been brainwashed by a cult. A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH is about a man who fakes his death to escape from his old life, but fears that his past will catch up to him and he'll have to pay for the consequences.
Discography:
- "Catch Me If You Can" (2017 single)
- "The Marching Dolls" (2018 single)
- "City of Ashes" (2018 single)
- The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All (2018 album)
- To Mend the Sun (2020 EP)
- "SPLIT!" (2020 single)
- "Knives Are Dangerous, Kid, So Cut the Theatrics!" (2020 single)
- "Needed a Change of Pace" (2020 single)
- "DEBT COLLECTOR" (2021 single)
- "Flight of the Crows" (2021 single)
- "Selfstarter A.E." (2021 single)
- A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH (2021 album)
- "The View from Halfway Down" (2022 single)
- A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LUCK & LIABILITY (2023 EP)
- "A Lesson in Dramatics" (2023 single, collab with Save Face)
- "RISK, RISK, RISK!" (2023 single)
- "EAT YOUR FRIENDS" (2023 single, collab with Pinkshift)
- "PIN-EYE" (2024 single)
- TRUST CEREMONY (2024 album)
Whose Tropes Are It Anyways???:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: "DEBT COLLECTOR" contains the line "Dollars and coins can't cut your check this time around!"
- After the End: The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All surrounds the one man standing in an apocalyptic city. Having lost their faith, everyone turned to a brainwashing cult and all the buildings are destroyed.The world has turned itself on its head
The trees don’t grow, they kill instead
Where hope once was the light’s turned black
We find find faith in the strangest places - Album Closure:
- The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All ends with the Title Track. The album takes place After the End, where the survivors have been taken in by a cult. The protagonist hides away and survives, but is soon inspired to take on the leader himself. In the last track, he admits it's not a really a sad or a happy ending; he defeated the leader and is rebuilding the city, but now he runs the cult himself and feels like he could have stopped it altogether had he acted earlier.
- A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH ends with "Flight of the Crows". The album follows the story of a man who fakes his death to avoid his past, and grows to regret it once he fears the consequences will catch up to him. In "Flight of the Crows", he decides to Face Death with Dignity and kill himself (or otherwise disappear again), telling everyone to just forget about him so they aren't hurt. The last 30 seconds are a grand theatrical finish before the album ends (except the bonus track).In the morning you'll learn I disappeared off into the night so quietly
That your love for me will vanish too
- Album Intro Track:
- The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All begins with an ominous instrumental track, "Doomsday", that's barely over a minute.
- A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH opens with "ENTER: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH'', which is 1 minute and 31 seconds long. It follows a man deciding to go through with his plan to fake his death, even though he hasn't really thought it through yet.
- "TOOTH PACT" for TRUST CEREMONY, setting up the theme and plot of the album.
- Album Title Drop: On the final track of The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All:Humor me for another minute or two
Please let me tell you how it ends
Hear the great tale of how I ruined it all
If you have the will to spend - Anaphora: In "To Take for Granted":I don't take the sea for granted, it could dry any time it wants
I don't take the sky for granted, it could fall anytime it pleases
I don't take the land for granted, it could flood anytime this year - Badass Boast: In "RISK, RISK, RISK!", Jhariah sings about how he doesn't fear any uncertainty or risks because he's confident that it'll all work out.While you're eating your feet, I'm stealing your teeth!
The things in my dreams wish they could chase me! - Bilingual Rhyme: Whose Eye Is It Anyway???" contains the lines:An arm and a leg, my friend, les yeux d'la tete (French for "to cost an arm and a leg")I never give as much as I get
- Bittersweet Ending: The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All. The story follows a lone man in an apocalyptic world where everyone has been brainwashed by a cult. They destroy the city, but he retreats into a room for safety. As it goes on, he realizes that it was his own fault for not having stopped them earlier. By the final song, he's taken control as the leader of the cult and has them rebuild the town. The thing is, he's still guilty and feels like the same thing will happen over again.In the lens through which some eyes will see
This tale is one of failure
And though I don’t think I’m your enemy
I’ll never be your savior
And in the lens through which some eyes will see
This tale is one of victory
And though I don’t think I’m a failure
I don’t deserve your sympathy - Bookends: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH has its first track include the line "he found the man before him had died," referring to how he's begun his plan to fake his death and start life anew. This lyric is repeated again in the final song, after he fully goes through with committing suicide.
- BSoD Song: "Reverse" on The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All. The protagonist starts feeling like his attempts to fight the cult are in vain, and he considers giving up on the fight altogether. The title and chorus represent his desire to just go back and have stopped everything from happening in the first place.
- Continuity Nod: "RISK, RISK, RISK!" has the line "I need some change," calling back to the BEGINNER'S GUIDE song "Needed a Change of Pace."
-
Development Gag: "TOOTH PACT" includes the line "five years planning my entrance." In the release party, Jhariah explained that the album had been in the works since 2018, with it being heavily reworked until its eventual release in 2024. - "Double, Double" Title: "RISK, RISK, RISK!"
- Faking the Dead: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH follows a man who executes an impromptu plan to fake his death. After he does so, he leaves towns and starts a new life, which he enjoys more. It eventually dawns on him that his past is catching up to him, he doesn't feel safe, and he worries about what sort of revenge people would seek if they found out. He accepts that his plan has gone downhill and kills himself because he can't live with himself, wanting to just disappear from everyone's memory altogether.
- False Reassurance: In "Not So Bad", the protagonist tries to cope with the cult's takeover by convincing himself that maybe he should cave in, and it won't be such a big deal: "It's not so bad, it's just the end of the world." He ultimately doesn't, because a part of him still resists it.
- Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: "The Marching Dolls" describes an Apocalypse Cult who have indirectly brought ruin to the town. The cult members choose to ignore it and "happily police the streets with vacant eyes and plastic smiles". They are forcibly enslaving others, as another survivor implores the protagonist to join him or "they'll soon do to you what they've done to me!"
- Gratuitous French: "Whose Eye Is It Anyway???" contains a French proverb in the second verse.An arm and a leg, my friend, les yеux d'la tetenote
I never give as much as I get - Ironic Echo: On "ENTER: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH", it's said that "he found the man before him had died", referring to the protagonist faking his death and abandoning his old life, becoming a new person. This line comes up again in the Album Closure track, "Flight of the Crows", which is about him killing himself out of guilt and shame.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: "Are You Happy? (Questions)", the 8th track of 12 on The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All, points out that "you're past the halfway point of a story that hopefully has a happy ending".
- Light/Fire Juxtaposition: The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All uses the sun and fire as symbolism throughout. Fire is used to describe or represent the protagonist's determination or lack thereof ("I burnt out the white hot flame inside me") and a force of destruction ("set fire to your matches, douse them in gasoline!"). The sun, and how it continually rises and falls, is used by the protagonist to describe his desire to bring about peace and have everything to back to normal ("and then we can all go back to sleep when the burning sun begins to fall").
- Longest Song Goes Last: The final, self-titled track on "TRUST CEREMONY" is the longest (5:22).
- One-Word Title: "Doomsday", "Reverse", "Promises", "Goodbye", and "SPLIT!"
- Questioning Title?: "Whose Eye Is It Anyway???" and "Are You Happy? (Questions)".
- Remaster: "PRESSURE BOMB!!!!" later got a re-release, "PRESSURE BOMB 2!!!!" to raise funds for Jhariah's audio engineer to repair his equipment. It was remastered and has more clear vocals, and it got included as a bonus track on Beginner's Guide. The album also has "PRESSURE BOMB 3?!?!", a new version of the song.
- Remix Album: Half to all of the songs on To Mend the Sun, A Beginner's Guide to Faking Your Death, and A Beginner's Guide to Luck & Liability are remixes or alternate versions of Jhariah's earlier songs.
- Rewatch Bonus:
- In "These 4 Walls," the singer says that he "sits atop a throne" due to how powerful he feels while hiding alone. This is foreshadowing for the last song, where he really does "take the crown from where it fell" and end up becoming the leader.
- One of the lines on "DEBT COLLECTOR" — referring to the sense of guilt that the protagonist feels — is "Gravedigger, cordial killer!" This serves as an early hint that he'll be Driven to Suicide.
- Self-Referential Track Placement:
- A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO FAKING YOUR DEATH has "PRESSURE BOMB 3?!?!" as the 3rd track.
- The fourth track on The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All is "These 4 Walls".
- Spoiler Title: Were you expecting a happy ending to come from The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All?
- Spoken Word in Music: "RE: CONCERNS" has a brief spoken-word interlude over the music.First, I’d like to validate the gripes of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]. I see this not as persecution, but a learning chance to grow. For your client, who’s quite talented, but has a ways to go, I’ve found that treating people right, for him, is not the status quo. I often worry people like him hear me speak and get annoyed and though he never seems to say it, I can hear it in his voice.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Sunsets (Resilience)" has a calming Hawaiian guitar and noticeable grain sound effects, as if it was being playing on an old record, and the lyrics go into upbeat scatting at points. The lyrics describe the protagonist wishing for the resolve to "always get up when he falls", and taking a breather to prepare for his fight, so the world can be peaceful once more.So take me to the light behind the moon
And all the stars that lit that dark and desolate room
And without fail, I will prevail
I will light up this gloomy world
Soon as I'm done lighting up myself - Survivor Guilt: In The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All, the protagonist goes back and forth on thinking about his motivations: while he's fighting for his friends who have been taken in by the cult, he also feels like he's just being selfish and trying to save himself. On "Reverse", he realizes that he can make a better life for everyone and rebuild the city, but he's been too preoccupied with being "inside his own mind" and serving his own ego. Even when he does dethrone the cult leader at the end, he specifies that he'll "never be their savior" and "doesn't deserve their sympathy".
- Tagline: "No Genre, All Drama".
- Title Track: The final track on The Great Tale of How I Ruined It All explains the Bittersweet Ending and just how he "ruined it all".
- Wham Episode: Beginner's Guide takes a turn for being much darker with "DEBT COLLECTOR". While the singer seems mostly okay with faking his death before this, mentioning that it's a much-needed change of pace and finding the overstimulation a little exciting, this song marks the point where he realizes the consequences are really piling on. His "past will come and drag him down" and people are picking up on the scam he pulled, and he has to owe up to what he did. The song's fast pace and dramatic instrumental add to it. This sets the trajectory in later songs where he begins to regret his plan and eventually decides to Face Death with Dignity.
- "When I'm Gone" Song: "Flight of the Crows" on Beginner's Guide. The man feels that he's disappointed everyone so much, and dug himself into his own problems, that he isn't deserving of sympathy and they shouldn't care about him. He plans to kill himself and assures people that he'll be happier in his "golden second try", so they should forget about him altogether.Well, I think that I've gotta go, and I don't know why
But I need you to promise that you won't cry
'Cause you'll be fine, and so will I
So just let the thought of me die
