thanks everyone for the feedback. while unaware, I was still using Invidious in Freetube through the setting “Proxy videos through Invidious”. it’s turned off now and working fine
how can i find such “obscure” instances, tho? i’ve always picked one from the Invidious’ website public list and, upon testing, all of them seem slow right now
also, I had forgotten to try Piped, which is working fine
on a side note, I’d never understood why Piped was made, given that Invidious exists, but here it is, in case anyone wants to know