Halloweenie V: The Moss King

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## Audio

"**Halloweenie V: The Moss King**" is the fifth stand-alone single of Ashnikko's *Halloweenie* series. It was released on October 27, 2023, with a visualizer video.

## Background

On September 6, 2022, Ashnikko took to her social media accounts to announce that there would not be a Halloweenie release that year due to her needing a break and also to put all of her energy and focus into the finishing touches of her debut album, Weedkiller. She writes:

> "just to soften the blow i’m just gonna tell you now there won’t be a halloweenie song this year because i’m literally ripping my hair out trying to finish this album and i have to focus!! it will be worth the wait i promise!! so grateful to you all for listening to my songsies, don’t be mad im sorryyyyyyyy"
>
> Ashnikko, via Twitter (X)

On September 18, 2023, Ashnikko posted a cryptic TikTok of the final shot of the Cheerleader music video. The description read, "*dear moss king, please grant me the strength to sever the threads and fibers and filaments that bind me to the beast.*"

Ashnikko officially announced the song on October 13, 2023, with an Instagram post that said, "*halloweenie V: the moss king. october 27th.*" She described the installment as "*a weird one*" in the comments.

Ashnikko teased a snippet of the song on October 24, 2023, via Instagram & TikTok. "*HALLOWEENIE V TEASE! 3 days till moss king 🌿🌱🧌*"

The entire song was later released on its planned release date of October 27, 2023, alongside a visualizer for said song.

The same day as the track's release, Ashnikko did an interview and photoshoot with Paper Magazine, titled: "**What's Scaring Ashnikko?"**

When asked about the tracks inspiration, and what was different this time around, they said:

*"I don’t know, but it’s a weird one for sure. I started this song off kind of being silly. Every year, if I don't put out a Halloween song, fans are kind of at my neck, and I didn't put out one last year. So, I thought it was so silly to start the song with, “The only thing scary is the void in my brain/ Everything is burning I'm lonely every day/ I'm just a tiny cell my body's made of clay/ The only thing scary is the chasm in my brain.” Kind of brain-dead vibes, like, “The only thing scary is this mental illness love” [laughs]. Then it evolves from there. I started doing research into different pieces of folklore, and I got really hooked on the Wild Hunt, which is this spectral hoard of spirits and ghouls that fly through the night when the veil is thin and they abduct mortals. My Moss King is the leader of this spectral hoard and is abducting mortals who sing a nursery rhyme with his name in it and takes them to his realm and makes them sing for him for an eternity because he is best friends with the wind, obviously. He’s as old as the wind, so the wind carries all the songs to him so he knows whenever his name is being mentioned. I had so much fun writing the song but it might be a Marmite song. People will love it or people will hate it. I’m hoping they love it but I understand if it’s a bit too strange [laughs]".*

## **Lyrics**

[Chorus]

I am the moss king, green apple eyes

You sang the song, now our destinies are tied

Dance 'till your feet bleed, join in the hunt

You would live forever if you come hither, come

I am the moss king here in your house

You sang the song with your wicked mortal mouth

Sing to me sweetly, call to me now

There's a hundred hungry spirits in the trees looking down

[Verse 1]

Oh, you sang me something and you thought it was just a song?

I wanna get wild, wild, wild

Play with the fae, in the morning you'll be gone

Silly little mortal, silly little mortal

Oh, you sang me something and you thought it was just a song?

I wanna get wild, wild, wild

Everything you start, dust, everything is gone

We go back to the dirt, to the earth

[Pre-chorus]

And I transform, chrysalis reborn

Hardcore, rockstar du jour

Transform, chrysalis reborn

Hardcore, rockstar du jour

[Verse 2]

Sweat slick, summon me, sinister sick

Fae tricks, follow me, follow me, miss

Snake pit, sugar snappin' a venomous lick

Magnetic, push and pull at me under my skin

Mystic, moving merrily into ‏abyss

Hey bitch, have you seen what I do with regrets?

Swish, flick, want my body, keep making 'em wish

Cryptic, moving in the mist like

[Bridge]

The only thing scary is the void in my brain

Everything is burning, I'm lonely every day

I'm a tiny cell and my body's made of clay

The only thing scary is the chasm in my brain

[Pre-chorus]

And I transform, chrysalis reborn

Hardcore, rockstar du jour

Transform, chrysalis reborn

Hardcore, rockstar du jour

[Chorus]

I am the moss king, green apple eyes

You sang the song, now our destinies are tied

Dance 'till your feet bleed, join in the hunt

You would live forever if you come hither, come

I am the moss king here in your house

You sang the song with your wicked mortal mouth

Sing to me sweetly, call to me now

There's a hundred hungry spirits in the trees looking down

## Trivia

* The phrase, "*Du jour*", used in the lyric, "*Hardcore rockstar du jour*", is French for "*of the day*".
	+ In turn, "*Hardcore rockstar du jour*" would mean "*Hardcore rockstar of the day*".
		- Despite this, "*du jour*" is also a phrase used to also signify power and fashion.
* While other Halloweenie song's are closer to the 3-minute-mark, Halloweenie V is the shortest out of all the songs in the series thus far, coming in at **2:07**.
* The song jumps tempo twice, too small to be perceptible. The beginning rock segment is 90 beats per minute, the first 8 bars of trap from 0:32 - 0:52 is 93bpm, and from the bridge from 0:53 to the end is 92bpm. The song is in the key of A Minor, only diverging at "come hither come", whose melody features a sharp F and G, briefly changing key to A Major.

## References

1. ↑ https://x.com/ashnikko/status/1567142789401411586?s=20
2. ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@ashnikko/video/7280241381958815009
3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CyWWFb1R7R2/
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyzKIzEvnjv/?utm\_source=ig\_web\_copy\_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3wJuVh\_kxo&pp=ygUWYXNobmlra28gaGFsbG93ZWVuaWUgdg%3D%3D
6. ↑ https://www.papermag.com/ashnikko-halloweenie-interview#rebelltitem1