Please Read Them - Tumblr Posts

Not pleased.

Pleasing is hella shady; between the ownership, the timelines, the odd promotional choices, it's confusing. These are some of the things I'm stuck on.

On the back end of the business side:

- Pleasing, the trademark, was registered in April 2021 in the US, two days after Jeffrey Azoff's subsidiary Empty Leg, LP was registered in the State of Delaware. Jeffrey also owns the entity Emptyleg Manager, LLC

- Emptyleg Manager II, LLC entity is owned by someone named Osborn Curry; will update as we find more info UPDATE Osborn Curry works under THE AZOFF MUSIC COMPANY LLC. Both entities are confirmed owned by the Azoff family.

-Pleasing, the trademark was registered in the UK in May 2021 by Emptyleg, LP.

- Pleased As Holdings Limited was registered in May 2021 in the UK, by Harry Styles, and lists himself and his assistant Emma as directors. Erksine Records owns all the shares to Pleased As

- Pleasing websites were registered in June 2021

-Note: Pleasing is not an actual company at this point in time. It is solely a trademark registered by Emptyleg, LP in the US and UK. On Pleasing’s website, they call the entity that houses Pleasing, DBA Pleasing. DBA stands for “Doing Business As” which allows a company to operate under an alias.

As far as promotion, I think we've all been confused.

- Pleasing digital billboards dropping after Harry's Arizona show with very little fanfare, and the billboards showing up in London

- Pleasing.com going live at 3 am NY/ midnight LA time with zero promotion which is unusual for a celebrity launching any sort of brand. Guerrilla marketing is common (think about Lights Up promo) but this feels different

- Pleasing Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter accounts go live the day after, each platform sharing different images, mission statements, and information about the brand and products

- The business is listed as a lifestyle brand on Instagram, rather than a cosmetics or retail brand, which is unusual for a brand like this (compare Rihanna or Kim's brands)

- Pleasing has been advertising a taco nail truck in LA with no build-up or fanfare and deleting all previous tweets the day after. At the time I'm posting this, Pleasing has 200k followers, 5 days after launching

- Harry Styles himself has not addressed Pleasing verbally until Pleasing promotion went live with the Dazed cover and Instagram video that he narrated of someone painting his nails

- The Dazed photoshoot. Call me crazy, but if the intention of the shoot was to launch Pleasing ... said, why did we get a high fashion editorial of Harry with his nails only visible (not even on display) for 2 out of the 13 pictures?

- Harry’s face and name aren’t on the Pleasing website, only his hands, which … sure

- I can't even talk about the print interview. As much as I love Harry and believe him when he says wallpaper is an inspiration, so much of that article was an HSHQ advertisement for all his projects. It didn't feel much like a conversation with a human being

- The press packs being sent out are confusing to me, also. I'm surprised no one is commenting on how bizarre it is that Harry Lambert is the driving force behind the promotion and the press packs, and how everyone seems to be thanking him and Molly Hawkins, designer of the horrific 360 HSLOT stage. Many people are also thanking Jeffrey Azoff and the Tommys, both the hot one and the other one

Now, I have a lot of thoughts. Most of them revolve around this being an Azoff driven business venture given the current state of company ownership, lack of clarity of how involved Harry is as an owner/investor comes into play when we consider who is promoting Pleasing.

Last week I said to some people that it seemed like this seemed like a Lambert/Azoff collaborative effort more than a Harry Styles passion project. Harry's lack of involvement with the promotion, let alone him not verbally talking about Pleasing.

Given Harry Lambert and Molly, along with Jeffrey and his Full Stop Management business partners, are being thanked in all the promotional messages from people receiving the press packages who, oddly enough, are all Full Stop or Lambert connected, are interesting to me.

Throw in Harry Lambert going live on Instagram and talking about "our" launch, and now Live Nation, another Azoff business venture, sending out promotional emails for Pleasing, this is unusual.

I have a lot of thoughts about how Harry seems to be in an ambassador role for Pleasing, much like he is with Gucci, seeing as he's only really shown up in the merch and the ads, and hasn't spoken about this as a passion.

If anything, I am wondering if this idea started with Full Stop Management, and they registered Pleased As as a way of connecting Harry to Pleasing, without explicitly having him state this was something he wanted to do. It seems like they have let the fandom do what we do best, which is fill in the gaps and make our own assumptions. Harry wears nail polish = Harry registers and company to make and sell them; except, he's never actually said this.

The mission statement, talking about 'community' is quite vague. It looks like they are alluding to the LGBTQIA+ community, but in true Full Stop Management style, they don't want to acknowledge us outright. I personally find the timing of Harry posting a rainbow on his Instagram for the first time in three years right before the Pleasing launch a little off ...

I'm sure I'm missing heaps, but these are my current thoughts. I'll add more as people smarter than I help me realize things, and realize stuff.

Credit to my big brain besties @alwaysyousunflower @finewallsline28 @fwweaky

Is it linked to this? IDK. https://jayjeebee.tumblr.com/post/663450748271673344

so, the best books i’ve read in my whole life so far:

- captive prince [trilogy]: of course i have to debut the list with them (even if the order of the books doesn't match my order of preference). it was simply the first that came to my mind, so commendable and memorable is the story. if you haven't read it yet, do it NOW. the best enemies to lovers of all the time, with a development worthy of a round of applause and a strong and supportive relationship on both sides. yes, captive prince. you know you’ll always be on my mind!

- the song of achilles: yeah. i could never forget this one. is the most realistic love story i have ever laid my eyes on, full of obstacles and sacrifices. i really liked what the author did here, abandoning the historical narrative that achilles and patroclus were just friends or even relatives. she gave a whole new meaning to the story, never failing to keep the original line. there isn't ONE thing about this book that doesn't fill my eyes. the best childhood best friends to lovers, showing their relationship since they were just friends in childhood, to the blossoming of feelings that went beyond fraternal affection, and the way they handled it as they grew up. it's beautiful. i really love it

- all for the game [trilogy]: i mean. of course this story could never be missing from my favorites list. what i like the most about the story is what's hidden behind the relationship between the characters. their feelings aren't obvious and usual, and if you're looking for a light story, this isn't for you. it's all heavy: the way they relate to each other, the way they deal with their own problems, their pasts. they’re broken people trying to put the pieces together, trying to figure out what to do with the glue they were offered. even so, they still find room in their minds to care (in distorted, but still, care) for their friends, teammates, lovers, and family members; they still protect each other, like one big dysfunctional family. everything about this book is not in the narrated words, but in what lies behind them: what lies behind each moment, each pause and each action. it is obvious, but subliminal, almost hidden. i love it. really. the complexity behind each character, his shaken psyche -- it's all breathtaking, it's all about keeping the attention. it can be hard to get past the first few pages but, man, once you do it's impossible to stop. also enemies to lovers

- the raven boys [tetralogy]: ok so i don't have enough words to describe or synthesize all my feelings for this book. i love every part of it: from the first sentence, that introductory line, to the last, the laudable ending. the story is impeccable, as is the plot on which it is based. the development of a course of action as well as the characters' relationship and their own conceptions of themselves and the world are simply things that appeal to me. the characters are amazing, real and liveable, and the bond of friendship they share is enviable. their love relationships, even if they're not all the book talks about, are breathtaking and make your heart flutter and melt. the key to the story is also hidden behind the action of the characters, behind silent cares and concerns, but there, always present. i love adam and ronan. i love how their relationship developed (friends to lovers), the patience with which it was structured, building slowly, before your eyes, under your nose -- but you didn't see it until the characters' feelings became more obvious to themselves and to each other, and began to submerge and overflow through every paragraph, every line of thought. it's beautiful. it's absolutely beautiful.

- autoboyography: this is among the books that came to me at an opportune time, so i have a huge connection to this story. it wouldn't be here if it didn't deserve it, and it does; this story is about love, about accepting it, and about reconciling that love, such a vital part of you, with religion and ingrained prejudices. it's a story you versus the world, you versus what you thought you were, what you wanted to be. it's about accepting that about yourself, so that you can be true to yourself, to the people you love. in the process, people who say they love you back will not always support your discovery or encourage your self-acceptance. this book is also about how we have to accept ourselves, regardless of what others think about it, because their opinion, however important, should never be everything, or overshadow your own opinion, your own wishes and desires. love is in innate acceptance, or at least the quest for understanding. it is in the understanding that the person is what he is, and that should be applauded, rather than just tolerated or ignored. this should be encouraged and cause for joy. you should never stop being who you are because of other people’s opinion, as long as you feel comfortable showing it. this book is about self-discovery and tolerance, in a world that represses the first and fakes the second. strangers to friends to lovers.

- we are the ants: this book is not a novel, although there is the development of one in the backstory. this book is about dealing with mishaps, with veiled depression, with a lack of faith and hope not just in the world around you, but in yourself. self-doubt is the worst thing, the most discouraging thing. if you don't believe in yourself, don't think yourself worthy of happiness or good things, how will you appreciate the world and how will you accept such things when it offers it to you? this book is a great journey. reality is behind every moment and bad and hopeless thought represented in every paragraph, but the journey continues, day after day, through the feeling that there is more in the world than what you are experiencing, that things can be better tomorrow. in friendships and in love lies a little willpower that recharges you for another day, for another obstacle that can bring you down (and that's okay. we fall and get up day after day, and that's okay), but not even that and it all. you must believe in yourself to fully revitalize yourself, to keep your feet on the ground and stand firmly on your feet, no matter how hard the world tries to bring you down. this book is about choices and the lack of it. it is about pain and depression, which is not always obvious, which you are not always aware of. it's about everything and nothing. it's about getting up after successive falls, when all you wanted was to stay on the ground. it doesn't matter if your legs are shaky when you get up, or if, as soon as you get your balance back, the world hits you and knocks you down again. keep getting up. as long as you are alive, you can still choose and try to realize how you want to live, what you want to be. nothing is definitive. bad feelings don't last forever (not even the good ones). life is cyclical, but with good company, a few glances at the bluish or gray sky, feelings that rise in your chest, discovering things you've never experienced, the wind in your hair -- things you never cared or paid attention to, minimal things, but that keeps you -- it's worth every takedown. strangers to friends to lovers