#this has been my kanye thesis
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I have been saying this for at least a decade now but I've never liked the way people treated Kanye's very obvious mental illness as a joke, until he went too far and became irredeemable. Like it was warning sign after warning sign for over fifteen years and everyone just went "Haha, that's Kanye! Always saying some crazy shit!" I have never seen a celebrity who more obviously needed medication and treatment, but it was all just treated like a joke.
And then when he finally went totally bonkers and started saying barely coherent racist shit to Alex Jones, suddenly he's an anathema, as if this isn't the result of being very very sick for years and years while everyone around you continues to hype you up and treat you like a god while you refuse to take your meds. Yes, he said some awful irredeemable shit on that podcast and shouldn't be able to have a career after that.
But if you actually watch the episode, it is impossible to see a guy who simply turned racist and not someone who is completely unstable and should absolutely not be recorded for the public while he's in that state. For fuck's sake, he showed up like this:
And he said some awful shit! That shouldn't be forgiven! But he also said he thought his mom (who died from surgery complications) was a human sacrifice. Along with Michael Jordan's dad. He blamed all of this on Zionists and satan. Does this, in all honesty, sound like a person who is any condition to be recorded for a multi-million follower podcast right now? But because he's Kanye, until this moment, he pretty much got to do whatever he wanted and go on whatever show he chose, because no one was saying "Hey maybe we shouldn't let this guy run off his mouth on the air." It's Kanye! Who's gonna pass up that publicity?
I'm not excusing his behavior on the show (or any of his past behavior). I'm just saying that it's frustrating to me to see how little understanding people have always seemed to have towards the fact that this man is sick and has needed a lot more help than he's ever gotten. If you take all his bullshit in the context of "Guy who has badly needed treatment for decades but was surrounded by yes men instead" I think his actions make a lot more sense. It doesn't make them good or excusable actions, but it makes it obvious that this isn't as simple as "dude goes down anti-semitism pipeline." And it KILLS me that people are acting like this was just a "mask off" moment where he reveals that he's racist, when the reality is way more complicated than that.
I don't know if he's a good person. I don't know if he actually believes any of the shit he says, if he actually believes worse, or if this was 100% delusion that Alex Jones just happened catch on camera. I have no idea. But I do know that no one in that studio stepped in to stop that recording from happening, and that makes me uncomfortable.
#this has been my kanye thesis#i think the dude is really interesting#i think he's really brilliant but also very damaged and unwell and I just hope he's recovering rn#and that one day he will look back on that interview and wonder why tf he ever thought or said any of that shit
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Zadie Smith's lack of any hill she's willing to stand on, much less die on, has made her a wonderfully blessed novelist. A very apt mimic of any particular coordinate of the political spectrum, a wicked satirist of modern bourgeois mores, a reader with an incredibly wide palette. Though she has gotten less adventurous as a writer as the years have gone on, she has gotten better at the craft, and she did build from a higher mastery than most.
That said, most of her energy, and in this she joins a great many writers coming from the urban working class of color, seems to be spent not being conflated. Conflated with other black female writers, conflated with protestors, conflated with critics of the establishment. Oh, she does criticize, empathize, recognize herself. But always prefacing it with layers upon layers of self-justification and differentiation. She, like her icon & model David Foster Wallace, feels the need to set herself apart from anything we could categorize her as in bad faith.
So she is a feminist, but worry not, she still loves Updike, Larkin and Pound. She is a utopian socialist but she has nothing in particular to say about the state of the world. She of course has an opinion on the current conflict in Palestine, but she won't tell because it's not important and it's "just words".
Of course you can read Larkin and Pound as a committed leftist feminist and think your personal opinion on world politics is irrelevant compared to what is going on in the world. My gripe is that someone with such high literary pretensions, such admiration for the gusto of free spirits both past & present (someone willing to go to bat for Kanye's trumpist phase in the name of poetry in the very same magazine where she so artfully defends at length that no statement from either student protesters or counter-protesters has value, nor hers) someone who spends so much of her time quoting moral philosophers and pondering the future of writing... That this someone has essentially given up on politics.
My gripe, my visceral annoyance at her, my point is that the "towering mind of her generation" has given up on politics except as background, coordinates to tack the nuance-lacking masses onto, but that great spirits transcend somehow. No wonder she loves Harold Bloom & James Wood. Or that she's a child of Blair's cool Brittania. As a public intellectual, there is no duty to say anything meaningful, or whereof one cannot speak, to remain silent. If your thesis is that you have none and the dead are more important, why spend 4000 words talking about yourself, and how above it all you are and how ineffectual anyone writing about it is, and how you're the only one smart enough to have the dignity of recognizing it ? Why not make form fit content, as you have so often done ? Why not attack specific words, specific utterances that ignore the dead, instead of fighting strawmen ?
The truth is that Smith's outbursts of calling for dignity, reason, nuance, cooler heads are not anything new, not anything groundbreaking, nothing unprecedented, even by the great. You can hear echoes of it in Camus refusing to denounce colonialism because Algerians refuse to speak French. It is the cry of the moral esthete, for whom to side with the dubious, the inarticulate, the incoherent, the angry, all that is like poison to her. Oh, yes, she can defend Kanye's nonsensical racist, and already then antisemitic rants. But Kanye is an artist, "one of our best living poets". So are any writers of dubious politics, any convicted felon, any instance of sustained personal cruelty worth defending against the mob. Their sensibility just hasn't been expanded far enough, they just don't get it. The mob hasn't created anything worthwhile. The mob is childish, does not know the right words, does not rise up to the occasion like it should.
The truth is that Zadie Smith stands for something. If she really believed in the dead, or in utopian socialism, or in responsible public intellectuals, she would have written differently. She stands for transcendence. Her right to be in the world without anyone being able to make moral pronouncements on her, her work, the work of others. She stands for a plane above this world that matters to this world in ways she finds complex and delicate. She stands for herself being judged only on, and from, this plane.
Thankfully, like a child in a playground that insists the game she devised is very good and we should all follow the rules, and really she is a skillful player and we will all have fun with once we simply follow the rules, we are all free to ignore her.
We are free to live in the real world and make real moral decisions, getting our hands and our consciences dirty, yes, but also stand by real human beings. Beings whose freedoms to play pretend, to read and write, to transcend, is hampered by real people who do not care for the right words or the correct moral stance. We are free to fight for a liberated Palestine though we may be partisan, simplistic, quick to anger and inarticulate.
#and should it make us worse artists or readers to be partisan then so be it#I was not put on this earth to read correctly; I was put on this earth to be of the world. No beauty I partake in will save me from that#Zadie Smith
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The Tale of Kanye West, From Dropout to Letdown
The story has gotten so far that not even fashion can save him now.
Original photo by Ron Sachs/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images. (Digital COMPOSITE BY SARA DELGADO)
In this op-ed, writer Shelton Boyd-Griffith examines how Kanye West’s recent behavior has affected his influence in fashion and beyond.
How did we go from this, “We shine because they hate us, floss ‘cause they degrade us/ We tryna buy back our 40 acres.”
And this, “I say f— the police, that’s how I treat ‘em/ We buy our way out of jail, but we can’t buy freedom.”
To this: “EVERYONE KNOWS THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER WAS A SCAM, NOW IT’S OVER, YOU’RE WELCOME.”
And then this: [questioning the cause of George Floyd’s death] “They hit him with the fentanyl. If you look, the guy’s knee wasn’t even on his neck like that.”
It’s the tale of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, from a radical artist of the people to a mouthpiece of anti-Blackness.
When I originally started this essay, the thesis centered around Ye and his recent problematic antics within the fashion industry. I wrote that, if we’re being honest, Ye feels safe and at home in fashion because, systematically, fashion has always been a safe space for anti-Blackness, misogyny, fatphobia, and all-around bigotry. More often than not, the industry has bought into the same tropes and ideologies he believes in. Brand and corporate accountability have become especially important in recent years, a welcome sign of progress — particularly after the 2020 racial justice protests — though it doesn’t always last. In my view, the success of the demand for accountability has been hit or miss.
Things may be finally taking a turn, as storied fashion house Balenciaga has said they are severing all ties with Ye, as reported in WWD on Friday. In response to a query from WWD, the parent company Kering said, “Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”
Of course, while this is big, Ye’s antics have ballooned beyond the fashion industry recently and, well, I have some thoughts about that too.
As for those shirts from Paris Fashion Week, this kind of anti-Black trolling is relatively standard for Ye. He is addicted to attention, and the folx of the internet and the fashion industry, in particular, kept fueling him up to that point. I personally believe he’s so incredibly focused on distancing himself from the notion of average Blackness that it does not matter with whom (45) or what (white supremacy) he associates himself with. He loves to exist within the “other” space. Somehow he’s convinced himself that he’s not like the rest of us [Black people] because he is supposedly somehow “enlightened.”
It’s apparent that Ye feels safe in right-wing-adjacent spaces, which is why it was unsurprising when he appeared on Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, a platform known for its controversial takes on matters around raceand misogynistic rhetoric. Ye likely felt comfortable that Carlson and his fan base would provide a haven for him to spiral out, spewing his harmful ideologies and soundbites. “We’ve rarely heard a man speak so honestly and so movingly about what he believes,” Carlson said as an introduction to the interview (?—if you can call it that). It’s likely that a viewer would see Ye’s appearance on the show as a green light for the anti-Blackness Carlson regularly churns out.
During that self-administered interview (because Ye basically spoke to himself), the rapper continued to double down, offering up even more stomach-turning hot takes. From continuing to let the masses know that Trump was his “boy” (even with the current legal, moral, ethical, and antidemocratic storm surrounding 45, Ye still doesn’t show any desire to distance himself), to weaponizing religion and going on a fatphobic tirade.
“The media wants to put out a perception that being overweight is the new goal,” he says, using Lizzo (yet another Black woman) as a target for his internalized self-hate. He then went on to say that being overweight was neither in fashion nor in vogue, and — here’s the kicker — that promoting body positivity is “demonic.” As a Black fat body in the fashion space, I know this conversation all too well, but him weaponizing religion in this way takes on a whole other meaning. It’s dangerous. But at this point, that’s his intent. He seems to want to use shock and awe and weaponize his ideologies, which contradict the inclusive steps the fashion, media, and culture spaces must continue to take.
Following his Tucker Carlson performance, Ye took to his platform (social media), going on a series of antisemitic rants based on historically dangerous tropes, which resulted in him being locked out of Twitter and Instagram. Adidas recently announced that its Yeezy partnership was “under review,” and JPMorgan Chase also severed its relationship with the rapper weeks before his most recent tirades, according to The Daily Beast. We need more of this. More action.
He continued his press run, this time on Revolt TV’s podcast Drink Champs, dishing out several antisemitic comments (again) and disparaging falsehoods about the death of George Floyd. After the show aired, and Ye’s disgusting comments reached the masses, the family of Floyd stated their intent to potentially pursue legal action against the rapper. N.O.R.E., the cohost of Drink Champs,has expressed “regret over allowing Kanye West to make controversial comments during the podcast,” and Revolt has removed the episode from streaming platforms. Though there are questions around why the episode even aired in the first place (and why Ye was left unchecked about his tasteless comments in real time), I want to reiterate that this should be the end result. There should be repercussions for his rhetoric.
If, after seeing those shirts and after witnessing him double down on his anti-Black, antisemitic hate speech, you still choose to support Ye, you are making a bold statement. As a former fan, I’ve gone through the full scope of trying to dissociate the art from the artist, making excuses/creating dissertations about his actions, etcetera, but to loosely paraphrase The Devil Wears Prada, Ye sold his soul to the devil when he put on his first MAGA hat. From then on, it was clear that this was a deeply troubled man with some internal issues with his identity. I believe it’s the same space in which Black right-wing extremists (like his co-conspirator Candace Owens) thrive.
It’s dangerous to associate his ideology with mental illness. He’s no messiah. He’s not a genius. He’s an insecure man plagued with internalized self-hate who has reached a certain station in life that he feels somehow excuses him from the realities of being a “typical” Black person.
It hurts to see the complete lack of regard for Mike Brown, Manuel Ellis, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, and the countless Black lives that systemic racism and oppression have taken from us. And what’s even more painful is that he doesn’t care. In the past, he used his platform to shine a light on the issues and injustices disproportionately affecting Black people,and now he’s willingly a mouthpiece for the very things he used to rap about. It was even announced this week that he was in talks to buy the controversial conservative platform Parler (which is quite interesting, considering Ye’s friend Candace Owens’s husband, George Farmer, is the CEO). This is who he is now. He’s all in.
I want us collectively to let him and others like him exist in their own orbit and not feel the need to engage continuously. That’s what men like him want. It’s like his life force counts on the engagement, the clicks. As we push for more inclusive, safe-affirming spaces, there’s no room for this behavior. After weeks of watching him spiral, my message is this: Let’s all agree to leave him (along with other problematic voices in the industry) to his own devices, in his own orbit, and shift our focus instead to creatives using their practices and platforms to effect change, fashion brands that represent the world we aim to see, and issues that matter.
Way to self destruct your own career. Shutting up is free for a reason
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2023 recap
studies: did not make much progress with my thesis. in april i got accepted to a post-disaster heritage restoration workshop in bosnia-herzegovina but turned it down despite a scholarship offer. applied to a youth heritage conference in saudi arabia but didn't get it.
home: in june, my best friend jerome moved in with me. i now have all the furniture that i think i need and i am happy with the way my place looks. i inherited a few things from my dad, some from prisa who when i was sad took me to their abandoned ancestral house in san juan and told me to pick out anything i want.
finances: i did okay. spent too much upon getting home from marinduque. also spent too much on transportation but i've been taking the commute and walking and walking and walking a lot lately. invested a good chunk of my money in a family friend's business - it feels right to be less liquid since the depleted amount in my bank accounts motivates me to be less thrifty.
advocacy: started volunteering as a docent at the ateneo art gallery in july. gave a lot of tours and helped out at various exhibitions from july to september, although there were less opportunities when the school year started due to the surplus of interns. i volunteered at an archival effort on the labor movement.
health: if memory serves, i didn't get sick this year. mental health took a deep dive in september courtesy of all the grief. somewhat better now. physically i have never been stronger.
work: led a successful project in marinduque from january to june. briefly dipped my toes in tech from july to september. gave a cultural mapping training in naga in august. pretty much made the de-facto head of my ngo (aside from training & development head and corporate treasurer, haha). interviewed a ton of people while assembling my team for upcoming projects. acquired contract for san pedro last month and currently working on the project proposal.
reading: neglected reading in q2 and q3 of the year. crammed a lot in q4 to make it to the 50-book mark. been reading a lot of manga lately - reread of nana and just hours earlier finished dance dance danseur. standouts this year: tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by gabriella zevin; the sympathizer by viet thanh nguyen; raise high the roofbeam, carpenters and seymour: an introduction and nine stories both by salinger. wish i read more non-fiction.
travel: spent a week in zambales in february. work in marinduque from february to june. work in naga in august. mindanao backpacking trip in september. two days in fukuoka in october. heading up to baguio for new years' with my family.
relationships: broke up with [redacted1] in january. started dating [redacted2] in april, dumped him in july. started dating [redacted3] in august, dumped him in october. two hook-ups along the way. none of these will leave a scratch save for my relationship with [redacted1].
family: my father died in september, cutting my mindanao trip in half. he converted to islam, apparently, and i had to go home immediately. saw my family from that side for the first time in a decade. i missed them. my uncle, my mom's brother, died three weeks later. on good terms with my brother now (after all that tragedy it was inevitable). should make more effort to spend time with my family. i love them and no one else understands all the shit that makes me who i am.
hobbies: took art classes in january but dropped it. should pick that back up again. started bouldering in june. around the same time i also started cooking more. picked up the piano again in september. yoga and pilates in october. i feel like the latter suits me and my needs better, so decided to focus on that. started making video games again this december.
music: a lot of kanye. didn't like the new bad bunny album that much. my love mine all mine by mitski has been stuck on repeat. had the recording of hadestown on repeat when i first started dating P. listened to a lot of rachmaninoff, liszt.
friendships: grateful that i have become much closer to prisa and miyuki this year. living with jerome has mostly been easy. didn't feel all that connected to jorou this year, but he knew exactly what to do during that first wave of grief. i love hya and kat and joel too.
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with this Kanye mess happening, what's your opinion on "separating art from the artist"
I've been thinking abt this message... I'm not really sure where I stand myself considering how my (and a lot of ppl's) consumption of art has really changed recently bc of the like.. need 2 divorce the stupid ass personal lives of celebs from the work and stop seeing them as an extension of ourselves and our own beliefs. but I think in general I believe you can never ever separate the artist from the art ever, it ALWAYS informs the song or album or video no matter how detached it may seem. I guess the most important part for me is dissecting how their actions/beliefs/behaviour informs the work they're making.
when it comes to Kanye specifically that dissection is ridiculously hard 4 me given how 1) there's this public glorification/vilification/mockery dynamic when it comes to his identity as a black man who happens to be a prodigy artist as well as struggling w mental health very openly in the public eye, 2) half his actions are purely meant to be incendiary and he doesn't believe in them past that, and 3) the central thesis of his work IS 'Kanye the Misunderstood/Tortured Artist' and he is relentless when it comes into playing into his own mythos. and that context is impossible to divorce from his work by his own doing, but is also mostly... made up of surface level inflammatory pr moves. which is why I think no one is really sure how to perceive him (and ppl who Do have a decided idea of him in their heads are incredibly extremist about it 😭).
anyway... extremely convoluted way to say where I land is probably like a strange mix of loving his work, being extremely reluctant to dismiss how prolific he is as a lot of (white) ppl do bc it's hiphop and bc of 'craziness', wanting better for him and his mental health, but also not seeing artists as an extension of myself anymore and not caring particularly for their personal lives, and also holding kanye at arm's length bc I think that there have been a ridiculous amount of lines he's crossed incredibly thoughtlessly (the famous video being an unforgivable one for me. more than the recent stuff which I think was def just purely inflammatory).
anyway yeah I think you both can and can't separate the art from the artist, and there's always a line with that (either way).
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Why I think Fingers In His Ass Sunday is easily a top 10 tumblr post of the decade:
In honor of the Final Fingers In His Ass Sunday of the decade, I’d like to posit some meta.
My primary reason and main thesis is that the video features aspects from 3 distinct eras of tumblr fandom: early 2010s, mid 2010s, and the current, somewhat post-modern 2010s. Please note that a lot of this has to do with how I have interacted with tumblr over the years and how my personal tastes and dash content has changed. However, given that I still follow a lot of the same accounts that I used to back when I joined, I think this might resonate with some of my fellow veteran tumblr users.
The first era is repped by Komaeda being there. While I was not so much a part of it, there’s no denying the DR fandom, especially when it comes to him. He is easily reasonably representative of the Onceler Effect; which is to say tumblr fandom latching onto, projecting onto, and raising up a specific character above all else. Further, he dredges up memories of those early days of Homestuck fandom and the like, at least to me. The days of more wild fanaticism, unbridled excitement, and more fandom-based drama. We weren’t quite in the era of bone-stealing witches and such, it was more the days of “a Komaeda kin did something batshit and self-harming because they thought it was in character.” This kind of drama doesn’t really leave, as those of you that have been here since the early days may know, but still.
Secondly, Undertale. Once again, it’s a game and story that took the site, nay, the internet as a whole by storm in 2015 - the effects of which are still felt today. Undertale, for me personally, brings memories of a more self-aware, post-DashCon era of tumblr. A bit more chill, but still tinged with the aura of absurdity. While the video itself primarily focuses on Komaeda, the music, location, and Sans Undertale himself are key aspects. The music? A bop. The location? A feeling of rendered judgement on this horrific blue hellsite. The Sans? A Onceler again. However, that last point bridges the gap to the current era. But I’ll get to that.
How does the modern era of post-modern fandom fit in? The choice of mashup. ASGORE is an emotionally tinged piece in Undertale, as I’m sure many of you know. The bittersweet feeling of being forced to fight (assuming this is a neutral/pacifist run), neither party really wanting this to go on, the bitter reprise of Heartbreak, the list goes on.
The mashup turns it into a song about how Kanye West sucks and likes fingers in his ass.
Tumblr, in these latter years of the 2010s, has turned to taking the piss out of the previous year’s absurd dramas and fandom takes. The Onceler-ifying of characters has turned into a meme of its own; I distinctly remember seeing joke edits of turning Sans into the Onceler or vice versa. Superwholock, once a powerhouse fandom (with myself included back when I joined), turned into a joke in the post-DashCon era, to a whisper of what it used to be. Granted, that might just be my personal take, given that I got out of it by the time I left high school almost 5 years ago, but still.
Genuine emotions and feelings have the piss taken out of them nowadays, and that can be it’s own essay tbh, but I feel this shift can be easily represented by the choice of ASSGORE for the video, not to mention the choice of actors: once characters that resonated with a good portion of the site (and still do to some! If they still resonate with you there’s nothing wrong with that!), now jokes and meme characters.
To conclude, Fingers in His Ass Sunday is a choice post of the decade because of what it represents, how tumblr history built up to it, and how it all coalesced into one Good Meme.
#meta#fingers in his a sunday#meme meta#tumblr meta#posts of the decade#im sorry i got to thinking about tumblr history and needed to write an essay
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Is Taylor Swift the Definition of the Modern White Womanhood?
Written by: Julia Zhigaleva
Call me dumb, call me white, but Taylor Swift’s music has been my guilty pleasure for so long that I eventually stopped feeling guilty about it. You guys, I’m not even kidding when I say that I grew up with Taylor Swift – from crying after school to Teardrops on My Guitar when the guy I liked chose to date my best friend over me, to dressing up like hipsters with my friends and partying to 22 in my college years, to taking forever to get over breakups with All Too Well, to lip-syncing to myself in the mirror to Blank Space wearing red lipstick, to trying to convince my significant other why Lover definitely has to one day play at our wedding.
As we grew up with Taylor, she grew up with us – from an overly dramatic teenager occupied with boy drama from the Fearless era, to a hopeless young romantic of Red and 1989, to an unapologetic bitch from Reputation, to folklore’s big sister Taylor who braids your hair and makes sure you don’t repeat the mistakes she made in her youth. To me Taylor Swift has always been the embodiment of the modern white womanhood, which in my opinion is also a secret to her huge commercial success. If you’re a girl and you don’t know a single Taylor Swift song you could relate to, you’re probably lying.
This to me is also the reason why haters are always gonna hate – if Taylor Swift embodies so much of the modern femininity, the reason behind the overwhelming hatred towards the singer could easily be misogyny. “Overly dramatic, shallow, immature and always playing the victim” – for years Swift has been bullied for loving our loud, singing her heart out and trying to grow up and figure herself out while being one of the most commercially successful artists in the world. Constantly in the public eye, the singer has often been accused of using this public obsession with her private life to promote her music, which was then dismissed as too girly or not worthy of attention – the double standard Swift herself called out in The Man.
And then we have the Taylor vs Kanye feud, which is honestly on the list of my possible PhD thesis ideas, as this decade-long beef has everything you could possible wish for - race, gender, cyber bullying, mental health, and even Barack Obama. When Kim’s Snapchat stories broke the internet back in 2016, it led to the outbreak of hatred like never before, with dozens of spiteful articles against Taylor appearing online and tons of snake emojis flooding the comments of the singer’s Twitter and Instagram accounts. And that’s when people that are normally impartial to Swift drama jumped in and reminded that not only is the girl completely crazy, but she also never in her life used her privilege to speak up social injustice and remained politically neutral during 2016 election race. Officially canceled and proclaimed dead, Swift was forced into an exile that very few of us believed she would ever recover from.
Coming back with her Reputation album, Swift literally reinvented herself, burying her most iconic past selves in the music video for Look What You Made Me Do. But it wasn’t until she put out Miss Americana on Netflix, which, let’s be real, we all watched while being bored at home in quarantine, that Taylor won back over so many of those who turned their backs on her back when the Kim drama happened. In the documentary we get to see the private side of the singer’s life, as well as hear her side of the story on all the scandals that followed her in the past couple of years. Swift confesses that she has always felt pressured to be perfect and unproblematic, which held her from ever taking a political stance, truly speaking her mind, and eventually led her to developing an eating disorder.
"A nice girl smiles and waves and says thank you. A nice girl doesn’t make people feel uncomfortable with her views. I was so obsessed with not getting in trouble that I’m just not going to do anything that anyone can say something about." – Miss Americana (2020).
I was sad to see that Taylor’s epic comeback was actually yet another attempt to fit into the image of the exemplary femininity, the new little miss perfect of 2020 - the good girl going bad. We see in the meeting room scene how Swift tries to convince some old white dudes from her management team that taking a public stance against the Republican candidate in Tennessee is the right and important thing to do even if it hurts the Taylor Swift brand. But the truth is, Miss Americana is actually Swift doing damage control after being criticised for being artificially perfect, calculated and politically estranged. If in 2010 good girls curled their hair, skipped lunch and obsessed over cute boys, in 2020 they wear slogan tees, joke about straight white men and have at least one gay friend they can paint their nails with. Yet I wouldn’t dare to accuse Taylor Swift of being hypocritical and self-serving with her recent political activism.
“For someone who’s built their whole belief system on getting people to clap for you, the whole crowd booing is a pretty formative experience.” – Miss Americana (2020)
Taylor confessing that she had based her entire self-image on the constant approval and praise from others, hit too close to home. It made me think that as easy as it would be to point out that the singer who built her entire career upon the society’s conventional idea of femininity, doesn’t get to jump on the bandwagon and call herself a feminist, one cannot in good conscience blame Swift for wanting to fit in, be approved and accepted. In Miss Americana I saw Taylor fighting the losing battle of having to be a 'good girl’ in order to stay relevant and successful, yet being mocked and dismissed for this very conventional femininity of hers. Taylor opening up about her constant pursuit of perfection and need for validation in the world of unreachable standards set for women was perhaps the most vulnerable part of her documentary and it is certainly a struggle many of us can relate to.
Coming from a place of race and class privilege, possessing conventional beauty, and being adorably naive in her attempts to dismantle the patriarchy with the songs like The Man and You Need to Calm Down, still, Taylor Swift is the ultimate white girl that we can’t help but relate to. May she finally find her true self and may we all be lucky enough to be able to do the same.
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OKAY HEAR ME OUT
(if my post starts with that you already know it's gonna be a wild ride)
So the thesis is: I think that Taylor knew the footage will be leaked or leaked it herself.
It's not an accusation or some dumb shit. I actually think the justice has been served and Kanye got what he deserved. I support it wholeheartedly.
Back to the #conspiracytheory
You surely know how it was written "KARMA" all over The Man music video and we (obviously) jumped to conclusion that TS8 will be called Karma.
You know, the whole T-shirt thing:
You think that she would pull the same trick twice? You clearly don't know miss Taylor.
But giving us the heads up that something's going on and someone's gonna get hit right in the face with karma? Yeah, I can absolutely believe that.
I think she got the footage recently, but before The Man music video. Or made aware that the footage will be leaked. Doesn't matter.
What matters is I think she was telling us:
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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2009
20 to 21 years old. And so the 2000s end, not with a whimper, but with an explosion of upbeat, great pop songs.
Only one third of these lists left to make!
Disclaimers:
Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.
Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.
My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.
I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.
First to second and final year of my Master degree in Contemporary History. Also got two summer jobs that year. I was basically only researching and writing my master thesis at this point and trying to survive on a 50€ per month budget to pay for transport, clothes, driving lessons, and food apart from one meal a day. Needless to say, some corners had to be cut and my health wasn’t the best. I was also trying to register to pass some concours d’Etat to be a government worker considering there was 0% chance I’d be able to find a job otherwise with my qualifications and my mother had been trying to find an excuse to throw me out for more than four years at this point. Basically I was broke, stressed out and in panic mode.
Thank god, the music was mostly energetic and upbeat on the radio. I can’t imagine what my mood would have been like if the charts had been as horribly depressed as in 2018 or 2019.
This was also the year when my favorite music reviewer ever, Todd In The Shadows, started to make his first videos, so you might think his lists are going to influence mine, but as it turns out we have very, very different tastes for the most part (I mean come on, the guy hates Depeche Mode), so... not so much. But he helped me discover a lot of songs I would have ignored otherwise, so yeah, godspeed, Todd.
It should be mentioned that the two songs that I wanted to put at the top of this list before looking at the actual year-end lists turned out to be non-elligible and that is extremely frustrating. Obviously, as I mentioned in the previous post, there’s Life In Technicolor II by Coldplay, which has an incredibly fitting name since it’s one of their most colorful songs ever. But I’m not even sure I would have put it at #1 since this was the year of Mika’s second album, and oh my god, We Are Golden was FANTASTIC. It’s my absolute favorite song from the guy, the music video is incredibly fun, and I listened to that shit on a loop as soon as it dropped.
I usually don’t put such large links for non-elligible songs but the fact this isn’t elligible is nothing short of criminal. Check it out if you’ve never heard it.
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As for albums from bands I liked... eh. Lacuna Coil dropped Shallow Life, which was not as good as KarmaCode, Pet Shop Boys dropped Yes which wasn’t nearly as good as Fundamental, Depeche Mode dropped Sounds of the Universe which was DEFINITELY not as good as Playing the Angel (I liked Wrong, though. But it’s not elligible), Eminem released Relapse which was joyless and pretty bad and he was kinda dead to me at that point (even if it wasn’t as terrible as Encore AND he had that song with Drake that was very good), Placebo released Battle for the Sun which was pretty great but still not as good as their previous two albums, Paradise Lost had Faith Divides Us Faith Unites Us and basically same thing there, and Indochine had La République des Météors which is imho their worst record in the past twenty years, by far.
Long story short, every single one of the bands and artists I loved who released an album that year let me down (except Placebo, maybe).
And then VNV Nation released Of Faith, Power And Glory, I listened to it, and suddenly I had a new favorite band, and everything was good and beautiful in the world again. Album of the year for me, hands down.
With that out of the way, a few honorable mentio-HOLY SHIT HOW MANY OF THESE ARE THERE, WTF
Replay (Iyaz) - A perfectly good and innocent little earworm.
Run This Town (Rihanna) - I don’t like the original very much (Kanye’s verse is atrocious) but I've had a mashup of it with Bach’s Tocatta & Fugue in D minor (yes you read that right) on my mp3 player for years now, so this has to count. The mashup is called Run This Town In D Minor. It’s one of my favorite mashups ever. I even made fanart of it once! Look it up if you can, the original video has apparently disappeared.
Circus (Britney Spears) - You know it’s a good year for pop when even Britney Spears makes music I like.
Magnificent (U2) - Wait, even U2 was making decent music? I had zero use for them since at that point Linkin Park had more or less taken over their ecological-musical niche of “mainstream epic-sounding pop-rock music with tortured vocals and Emotions(tm)” but that one was still kinda nice.
Même Pas Fatigué (Magic System & Khaled) - I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again but they always bring a smile to my face and I don’t get why it’s ‘cool’ to hate their songs in my country. Yeah, they often sound the same, but I’d listen to ten similar-sounding Magic System songs in a heartbeat whereas you’d have to pay me to listen to ten similar-sounding Nickelback songs.
Day n Nite (Kid Cudi) - This had a tendency to get stuck in my head, but not at all in an unpleasant way.
21 Guns (Green Day) - Much better than I remembered.
When Love Takes Over (David Guetta), Stereo Love (Edward Maya ft Vika Jigulina), Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cascada) - That year was full of catchy, stupid, energetic songs, wasn’t it?
Greenlight (John Legend) - If I had better taste, this would be on the list. Alas, you’re reading the top 10s of someone who once put Blue (Eiffel 65) in a #1 spot, so yeah.
In Your Hands (Charlie Winston) - Same thing, basically.
Like a Hobo (Charlie Winston) - “Like a hobo from a broken home, nothing’s gonna stop me”, said this very useful song. Now is a good time to remind you that my nickname at the public university was The Hobo. So yeah. I liked this song a lot and I still do.
Forever (Drake) - Drake and Eminem are both amazing on this track. Unfortunately there’s also Kanye West and Lil Wayne on it. But. Like. “I'm Hannibal Lecter so just in case you're thinking of saving face / You ain't gonna have no face to save”. Dude. Duuuuuude.
You Found Me & Never Say Never (The Fray) - Did I mention I really, really liked this band. I think I did. Several times.
Paparazzi & Love Game (Lady Gaga) - Would both have had a chance to land on the list without the incredible amount of great, catchy tunes that year had to offer.
C’est Dans l’Air (Mylène Farmer) - Mylène Farmer had THREE singles on the French year-end list and this is the ONLY one I like. Good electro, mediocre verses but a great chorus (and a weird and kind of hilarious music video). Basically a song saying we’re all going to die and she can only sing about it. It’s strange, it’s a bit dark in a fun way, but it’s sadly not enough to land on the list, and it was the last cut from it.
Phew. Making this list was like a Hunger Games of catchy, upbeat, stupid songs to find which one was the best. It’s not #1 but I’m still shocked I had to put it so high.
But first, the runner ups.
10 - Fire Burning (Sean Kingston)
US: #33 / FR: Not on the list
Yes, ALL these honorable mentions were kicked out to give the last spot on the list to this guy and a chorus that goes “somebody call 911, shawty fire burning on the dance floor, WOAH!”.
The fact that I don’t feel bad about it means this was the right pick for that spot.
9 - Rain (Mika)
US: Not on the list / FR: #22
Anybody else thinks Mika looks like the Fourth Doctor on this screenshot from the music video or is it just me?
Anyway. So yeah, as I said, We Are Golden would have topped this list if it had been elligible. Sadly, it isn’t, but Rain is. I don’t like it nearly as much as We Are Golden, but what can I say. It’s still Mika. I’ll take whatever I can.
8 - I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)
US: #4 / FR: #17
I lost about 80% of the respect I had for this song the day I realised its untouchable, marvellous beat was very probably stolen from Take a Dive. I still love it though. Had a few actual parties in 2010 and early 2011 and this was garanteed to make everyone dance, even people like me who don’t know how to dance.
And then the dancefloor died instantly anytime anyone tried to put Boom Boom Pow on because it’s impossible to dance on that one. But that’s another story.
7 - Poker Face (Lady Gaga)
US: #2 / FR: #5
Needless to say this was absolutely everywhere and overplayed to death and beyond, and the fact I still wanted to listen to it and put it on my playlists really tells you how good I thought it was (and still is).
6 - Ça m’énerve (Helmut Fritz)
US: Not on the list / FR: #1 (...yes.)
This is a novelty song with a singer pretending to have a thick German accent, complaining about various things in France, like the fact he doesn’t fit the dress code for a club, that he wanted to buy a sweater with “Rock” written on it but it’s out of stock, that some girls can fit in a size 34 blue jean and not him, that there’s a queue of people trying to buy macarons at the Ladurée shop, and so on. And every time he concludes “that gets on my nerves”, said in a very flat tone. Here’s a translation.
It was overplayed as f█ck here. Think Despacito levels of overplay. But the beat is great and it’s still hysterical after having heard it about a hundred times that year.
Fun fact, while I was making this list and relistening to this song, my s.o said “haha that sounds great! What is it?” and I stared at him in disbelief. Somehow, he was completely serious. That’s like someone escaping the Great Macarena Onslaught Of 1996. What happened. How.
5 - Waking Up In Vegas (Katy Perry)
US: #36 / FR: Not on the list
Again, I must remind you that my s.o is a Katy Perry fan and that I’ve heard this song even more than the average radio listener did at the time, and it’s STILL #5 on this list. What can I say. It’s a ton of fun and one of my favorite songs from her.
4 - New Divide (Linkin Park)
US: #61 / FR: Not on the list
Is this their best song? Not by a f█cking mile. I thought it would be much lower when I started to make this specific list, but what can I say. Linkin Park is like that one old friend that you kept no contact with for years, and once you meet them again, it’s like they never left. Who cares if that wasn’t nearly as good as Numb or In the End? Not me, that’s for sure.
Also, “In every loss in every lie / In every truth that you deny / And each regret and each goodbye / Was a mistake too great to hide / And your voice was all I heard / That I get what I deserve”. Holy shit, dude.
3 - Good Girls Go Bad (Cobra Starship)
US: #43 / FR: Not on the list
BEHOLD. THE ONLY SURVIVOR OF THE 2009 ‘CATCHY UPBEAT STUPID SONGS’ HUNGER GAMES. THE CATCHIEST, UPBEAT-IEST, STUPIDEST OF THEM ALL. HERE IT IS AT LAST.
The thing I love about this is that it’s a song made by nerds for nerds and that the singer looks and sounds completely non-threatening. As Todd said in his own list back in the day, “that guy couldn’t make good MILK go bad” and that’s what’s so endearing about the song, I think.
Also yes, this is, in fact, placed above Linkin Park.
2 - Use Somebody (Kings of Leon)
US: #14 / FR: Not on the list
This was my #1 at first. I LOVED it. I even bought the album, even though, as you know, my funds were very low that year. That music is soaring. It’s majestic. Well, the lyrics aren’t that majestic and soaring, it’s about loving someone and trying to catch their attention, but the rest? Damn this is intense. It was also elligible for the 2010 list, by the way, where I ALSO wondered if it should be #1, but in both cases, it wasn’t meant to be.
And so this list of 2009 hit songs comes to a close.
It began with the forging of the Great 2009 Upbeat Songs. Three were given to the Punk Rock hits. Seven to the Dance Tracks. And nine, nine songs were gifted to the Radio Friendly Pop Songs, which above all else desired power.
But they were all deceived, for another song was made. Deep in the forgotten land of Synth Pop, in his Parents’ Basement, the Dark Lord Adam Young forged a master song, and into this song he poured his joy, his talent and his will to dominate all charts.
One song to rule them all.
1 - Fireflies (Owl City)
US: #60 / FR: Not on the list (76 the next year)
I know. It’s a meme nowadays. But still. Have you any idea how satisfying a song with an initial beat that looks like small pulsing yellow and blue lights in the dark ACTUALLY titled “Fireflies” is? How gentle it all sounds and looks, even when the music soars? The number of drawings and paintings I made just based on the colors of THAT song? It’s like a synth pop version of one of my favorite Mike Oldfield tunes ever, Weightless.
And then, on top of all the rest, how relatable was that guy’s body language and general attitude?? Before even knowing he was on the spectrum I was like “oh BIG mood.”
Also following his twitter was one of the best decisions I ever made.
So yeah. I would have loved to put Coldplay or Mika in that #1 spot, but I’m not too mad about it thanks to this wonderful little song and its author. Such a shame Deer in the Headlights and Alligator Sky aren’t elligible for the 2011 list.
Next up: Johannes finally moves out and finds a great job and starts living a little, plus here’s a #1 that will be difficult to justify
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My Top 10 Albums of 2019
2019 presented me with a handful of incredible events and memories (I turned 30, I got married, etc.), while also serving me a big challenge (my partner is temporarily living on the other side of the country). In a poetic world, these things would have a significant impact on the music that I listened to and loved, but no, not really. This year is pretty on the nose for me, music-wise. Oh, except that I got really into Taylor Swift in the second half of the year.
Before we hop into boring Steve's boring top 10 list, let's revisit the 2018 list. The only album on the list that I barely listened to in 2019 was Cardi's Invasion of Privacy. Everything else gets at least semi-regular spins, although I'd elevate Historian, boygenius, and Big Red Machine above these others.
My biggest disappointment this year was Charli XCX's CHARLI, which is a solid album, but it didn't grab me nearly as much as Pop 2 did a couple years ago. It hasn't stuck in my rotation.
Runners up:
Bon Iver - "i,i" (I love it when I listen to it, but for some reason I'm not often compelled to listen to it)
Ariana Grande - "thank u, next" (Staple of early 2019, but fell off)
Carly Rae Jepsen - "Dedicated" (Great, but I'd rather listen to E•MO•TION)
Taylor Swift - "Lover" (Some true standout tracks, like Lover and Paper Rings, but too many cloyboys and CRJ rip-offs)
Weyes Blood - "Titanic Rising" (I could see this growing on me over the years, like a Radiohead record)
And the pre-2019 albums that should've made my respective yearly lists:
Beyoncé - "4" (2011)
Beyoncé - "BEYONCE" (2013)
Big Thief - "Capacity" (2017)
Big Thief - "Masterpiece" (2016)
Perfume Genius - "No Shape" (2017)
Snail Mail - "Lush" (2018)
Taylor Swift - "Red" (2012)
10. Big Thief – U.F.O.F
Early in the year, I "discovered" Big Thief. I don't know how I missed them before. Specifically, the song "Masterpiece" got right up in my brain and has been hanging out there since. Then Big Thief gave us U.F.O.F. which was yet another great Big Thief album. See #3 below.
9. Andrew Bird – My Finest Work Yet
Look, I'll stop putting Andrew Bird records on my end-of-year lists when he stops making them.
Andrew Bird turned a corner with the release of Are You Serious where he basically acknowledged that he was now going to work with other people and write scrutable songs. It was a good album, but My Finest Work Yet refines this Andrew Bird 2.0 and delivers some of his... finest work yet ("Sisyphus," "Manifest," "Olympians"). While I still prefer earlier Andrew Bird (A Nervous Tic Motion into Fake Palindromes into Measuring Cups... my gosh, that's 10 incredible minutes of music), I understand why he's moved on to something else.
8. JPEGMAFIA – All My Heroes Are Cornballs
I've been in a rap rut. Kanye is putting out self-indulgent gospel albums. Chance and Drake are boring now. JAY Z is working with the NFL.
But the rut is mostly a lack of imagination on my part. There's a lot of rap out there that hasn't made it through my naive filter, and I want to seek more of it out in 2020. Case in point: JPEGMAFIA. He's weird, political, funny... all the things that the aforementioned rappers aren't (or at least, aren't anymore). All My Heroes Are Cornballs is the most hypnotic rap album I've listened to in years. The glitchy beats and effortless flow makes it impossible to turn off mid-album.
7. BROCKHAMPTON – Ginger
GINGER is a proper follow-up to the SATURATION trilogy. While Iridescence had some good tracks on it, the overall experience was jarring (not without reason, given what the group was going through with Ameer). GINGER reads (ok, plays) like an album in a way that the Saturations never did. While it may be spiritually linked to the Satursation, it's a complete departure sonically. Even though it's more constrained and less bombastic than their hits from that era, it feels much bigger and, ahem, More Important. That might not be to the taste of some of their fans, but I'm happy to have both versions of BROCKHAMPTON in my music library.
6. Lana Del Rey – Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Music publications couldn't get over the fact that on NFR!, Lana, yes LANA DEL REY, was wordsmithing at a high level. Is it that hard to believe that someone would become a better poet as they gained more life experiences, inching closer to the mystical 10,000 hours? Some of the praise may have gone a little overboard (and, frankly, seems rooted in a narrow, misogynistic view of Who Can Do Music Good™️™️™️), but I agree with the underlying principle of the praise: that this is a collection of well written and well performed songs. It has my favorite album closer of the year, "Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have - but I Have It." I get chills just thinking about it.
5. Clairo – Immunity
I enjoyed my first listen.
On my second listen, I wondered if it was maybe too simple. I didn't listen again for several months.
But then, when I was working from Pittsburgh the week before Christmas, I listened again. And I couldn't stop listening. It's simpler music than many of the albums on this list, but it appeals to me for the same reason I had a fixation with Snail Mail's Lush this year: it's incredible that songs that sound so "simple" (and I truly do not mean simple in an insulting way) can still be different than anything we've heard before, and can still transfix us in new ways. Behold ye, the power of combinatorics!
4. Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
Channel Orange to Blonde was 4 years. There's nothing you can do to get your favorite artists to make music faster. There's some beauty in that... that if an artist is financially successful enough, they don't need to rush.
Modern Vampires of the City to Father of the Bride was 6 years (i.e., 20% of my lifetime). But at least there are no duds here, and "Harmony Hall" might sneak into my hypothetical favorite-songs-of-all-time pantheon.
3. Big Thief – Two Hands
Oh, but then a few months later, Big Thief gave us another album. They started working on it right after they finished U.F.O.F, which tracks based on every interview I've read with Adrianne Lenker. She talked about the insane touring and album release schedule they've been on in the past four years, but her point wasn't "I'm getting tired," but rather "let's see if I can do this forever." I saw them play at The Fillmore after they released Two Hands and I got the sense that Adrianne has to make and perform music. She was uncomfortable engaging in the standard nearly-identical pleasantries that artists share with the audience. She was shy. She was surprised to find that we were hanging on her every word and chord. It was relatable. She's the closest to a genius I've seen in an indie rock band in the last several years, although I'm sure she'd hate anyone calling her that.
That genius produced Two Hands, an affecting indie rock record that practically demands that you close your eyes because you need to experience it and only it.
2. Tyler, the Creator – IGOR
This year, I listened to IGOR over and over again. The hooks, verses, beats, and vibe are all infectious. Boring Steve says "hey, look, it's just a great album." I don't have a deeper thought about it. I eagerly await Tyler's next project.
1. Nilüfer Yanya – Miss Universe
This year, like 2009 a decade ago, was an exciting year to be an indie rock fan. Vampire Weekend and Bon Iver cemented their elder ("elder") statesperson statuses, Big Thief came into their own as a true force of nature, and acts like Clairo and Nilüfer made me extremely jazzed about the Ghost of Indie Future.
Nilüfer has a unique and delightful voice that punches through some really fun songwriting and arrangements. Like, what a dumb, awesome lyric:
Although I cannot tell if I'm paranoid
Or it's all in my head, it's all in my head
Miss Universe is her debut full-length album, and it's a lovable and off-kilter thesis statement for what I assume will be a lovable and off-kilter music career. I can better explain why some of the other albums on this list are great, but suffice it to say, the system rewards unique performances.
#big thief#andrew bird#jpegmafia#brockhampton#lana del rey#clairo#vampire weekend#Tyler The Creator#nilufer yanya#beyonce#perfume genius#taylor swift#snail mail#bon iver#ariana grande#carly rae jepsen#weyes blood#Charli XcX
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Bon Iver: A Retrospective
I think it’s fair to say that, after 10 Years, 4 albums, and 1 EP, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has established a formula. Not in the traditional sense, bands like Fleetwood Mac or Maroon 5 are well known for having formulas, but in the sense that his music tends to be about the same thing. Whether the stripped back, wintery beauty of For Emma, Forever Ago, or the electronic chaos of 22, A Million, Vernon trains his lyrical camera entirely on himself. Emma is about his failings as a lover, Blood Bank is about recalling the good times, Self Titled is about his past as viewed through age and significant dates. 22 is about his longing to grow past his current place, and his latest album, 2019’s i,i, is about finally coming home.
We begin our tour with For Emma, Forever Ago, the demo tape that was so good it was pretty much released as is. The story behind Bon Iver’s debut is so poetic, it is told over and over again in the band’s mythology. After a particularly difficult run of Irish luck in which his former band, DeYarmond Edison, broke up, his girlfriend left him, and he contracted a one two punch of pneumonia and mono, he sequestered himself in a cabin in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and wrote and recorded For Emma over the course of one very intense winter. He submitted the demo tape to the indie album Jagjaguar, where it was immediately accepted and sent to print with very minor revisions to add extra instrumentation and clean up the mix. The album opens with the beautifully atmospheric Flume, a bare guitar emphasized by snowy static and Vernon’s clear, bell like voice. “I am my mother’s only one”, he mournfully cries, “It’s enough.” The main idea contained throughout the album is loneliness, and the album’s mix as well as its lyrics go a long way to establishing this theme. The two standout tracks for establishing this mood the most potently are the third track, Skinny Love, where Vernon laments a love that simply is not going to plan, and the album closer, Re:Stacks, a mournful ballad about being unable to move forward despite being already packed. It’s no surprise that this track would end pretty much every early Bon Iver show. This is not to say that the album is entirely without lushness; the side 1 closer The Wolves Pt II is a textbook example of how to build a crescendo in a folk song, showing off Vernon’s aptitude for mood that would become fully fleshed out in later releases. In retrospect, For Emma is an incredibly strong debut and an album that works well as a thesis for the later parts of the band’s career.
Following the relatively minor release Blood Bank, a 4 track EP that is only notable for the song Woods, a track built entirely out of acapella autotuned vocals and a track that gained the notice of Kanye West, Vernon and his entourage recorded and released Bon Iver’s self titled album in 2011. This album marked a sea change in the way that Vernon approached the project. As opposed to the quiet, stripped back sound of For Emma, the self titled album is lush, full sounding, and packed with swelling crescendos and massive climaxes, as if Sigur Ros decided to make folk music. Tracks such as the beautiful, soaring Perth and the subtle, yet beautiful Michican’t do a great job at providing a lush, pillowy bed of sound that you can just lie in. However, the true standout of the album is the closing track, Beth Rest, which adds a new toolkit to the Bon Iver sound; electronics. Granted, these are 1980s power electronics, but they are electronics none the less. Vernon also goes one step further and blankets his voice in copius amounts of autotune. The result is something beautiful, yet distant. As Vernon puts it, “It is the sound of doing something you want to do with absolutely no restraint.” Bon Iver would go on to be Justin Vernon’s first true success with the group, earning him critical accolades and a truly wide audience, which resulted in him being nominated for, and subsequently winning, the best new artist grammy award in 2011. Personally, I feel that Bon Iver is the moment when the group truly found its sound, grandiosity and beauty, but filtered through reality and experience.
After the wild success that the self titled album brought him, Vernon put the project on indefienate hold. He stated that he wanted to decompress for a while and for that to happen, Bon Iver had to take a break. He didn’t know when, or if, the project would return, and many fans feared the breakup of the band. During this time, he would only release an itunes session of material from the self titled albums, but no new songs were released. During this time, he would help Kanye West record two albums, and would work on several side projects. Bon Iver returned in 2016 with 22, A Million, by far the projects’ most ambitious output and it’s most musically dense. In a strange move for a folk act, the album contains almost no acoustic instruments. The album is as lush and beautiful as the self titled album that made the project famous, but takes that lushness in a different, icier direction. Songs like “22 (OVER S∞∞N)" and, "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄" reveal a sharper, more electronic form of songwriting. Comparisons to Everything in it’s Right Place and The National Anthem off of Radiohead’s Kid A are only too easy to make. However, this is not to say that all feeling has been drained from the record; tracks such as 29 Stafford Appts. and 8 (Circle) are only too happy to indulge in the previous beauty of earlier releases, with saxophone arrangements by Sad Sax of Shit soaring above Vernon’s autotuned vocals. 22, A Million is a mixed bag of an album. Certain tracks such as the aforementioned 10, are too dense and difficult for me to truly enjoy, but the album makes a brilliant case for the new direction of the band. I was left disappointed, but excited to see where the group would go next.
Thankfully for fans who embraced this new direction, Vernon was much quicker on the draw for his next album. In 2019, when Bon Iver released their fourth album I,i, which feels, for all intents and purposes, like a refinement of what Vernon tried on 22, A Million. Tracks such as iMi and Holyfields feel like a softer, easier listen than most of the material on 22, A Million. The instrumentation feels more controlled, tighter written than what we saw on his previous efforts. There is little that sounds accidental, especially when compared to For Emma, which is an album nearly full of accident. However, this precision does not mean that Vernon sacrifices any of his songwriting beauty. Hey, ma, and U (man like) is one of the best one two punches in modern folk. Hey, ma is a lush, dense electronic song about forgetting your roots. “Tall time to talk your money up while it’s living in a coal mine” chastises Vernon, speaking to someone whose dreams are, perhaps, too big for their small pocketbook. U (man like) is about improving yourself through constant work and effort. I,i feels like a fitting bookend to Bon Iver’s current discography. It is Vernon’s most carefully crafted album but also one of his most obviously personal. There is little that you cannot feel as Vernon does on this album.
There is this idea in music criticism called the best new artist’s curse. The idea is that the best new artist’s Grammy award for any particular year usually goes to flash in the pan artists who end up not contributing anything and flaming out after one album. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but for every Beatles and Mariah Carey, there is at least five Starlight Vocal Bands. It is my personal belief that the indie music scene is better for Justin Vernon not being one of these artsits. Bon Iver has accomplished much over it’s decade long existance, and Vernon has established himself as one of the premiere artists of indie folk. Not a flash in the pan, but one of the most brilliant songwriters of our generation.
#bon iver#justin vernon#for emma forever ago#22 a million#retrospective#indie folk#review#the music view
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An Annotated Playlist to Accompany Your Reading of Pleasure Activism
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2eoQwDJipqb2BpIZqCIscQ?si=bRg4s4uhSqOXw02Ai2Pc2Q
In Section Three: A Circle of Sex, there is an essay, a compilation of interviews, titled “The Highs, Lows, and Blows of Casual Sex.” Upon reading this title, I immediately thought of one of my favorite songs at the moment, “High Highs to Low Lows” by Lolo Zouaï. I put this song on while I read this essay, and while not directly about sex, the concept of peaks and valleys really resonated with the text. “High Highs and Low Lows” set the mood for me to engage with “The Highs, Lows, and Blows of Casual Sex,” not just because of the lyrics but also the multidimensional sound and authenticity and vulnerability of Zouaï’s voice. Singing in both English and French, she covers so many deeply human feelings, from sexy to vulnerable, cocky to depressed, sensual to silly. Intentionally pairing this song with this reading (instead of just putting a random playlist on shuffle) gave me the idea of creating a playlist- this book needs a soundtrack, which I have attempted to create below.
A compilation of R&B, hip hop, pop, Latinx music and some 1970s Black feminist icons (namely, Nina Simone and Diana Ross), most of these songs are performed by people that identify as women of color, partly because that is in line with Pleasure Acitivism which “center[s] the experiences of Black women” and partly because that is what I often find myself listening to. However, as was true for adrienne maree brown and her book, this soundtrack “includes a few voices that are not Black or women-identified but that I trust in the human experience of finding pleasure beyond oppression” (brown 5). This playlist was inspired by and accompanied much of my reading of much of Pleasure Activism, shifting and growing as I read, enhancing the experience and adding meaning to both the text and the music. The songs in the soundtrack can be listened to while reading any section of the book, but there are some that deal directly with themes of the book, and for those I have identified a “pairing,” or specific essay or section that I recommend pairing with that song. The songs on the soundtrack are in the order of the recommended paired sections. It should be noted that given the time frame of this project and the fact that I am simultaneously finishing up my undergraduate senior thesis, I was only able to annotate a select few of the songs on the playlist, but in no way are the songs that are not described any less important, relevant, or magical.
Oh My God by Sevdaliza
Pairing: “The Legacy of ‘Uses of the Erotic,’ A Conversation with Cara Page” OR the Introduction to Section One, “Who Taught You to Feel Good?”
I originally added this song to the playlist because of its sound, described in one article as “a blend of trip-hop, avant pop, and electronica,” and its lyrics about self-discovery, realization, hope and dreams (Ingvaldsen 2020). Savdalize asks “Who should I be?” and notes that “I view myself from above/Roamin’ in the fields of hope/Will it make or break me/As my dreams are heavy, they outweigh me.” These comments about her exploration of self and the intensity of her dreams initially led to its inclusion on the playlist. However, after finding an interview with Sevdaliza, I realized just how crucial this song is for Pleasure Activism’s soundtrack. She is Iranian Dutch and a refugee who, according to the interview, “acnkowledg[es] the oppressive regimes and institutions of the world in an effort to reflect peace and solidarity through her aural artform” (Ingvaldsen 2020). In the interview, Sevdaliza says she “believe[s] in collective energy,” a concept not only explored in Pleasure Activism but also in our course throughout the semester. Additionally, she says that “heritage stands for a gift of profound insight, wisdom, and love. My heritage to me is like an inner-oracle. The one who knows. It is a mesmerizing voice, that becomes more clear as I am close to my authentic self. My heritage also connects me with deep feminine instincts; the wise woman within” (Ingvaldsen 2020). This connection to her heritage and ancestors reminded me of brown’s exploration of her own “personal pleasure lineage” and encouragement that her readers do the same (brown 21). Sevdaliza says, “our voices are meant to be heard, our stories meant to be shared,” a concept embodid by brown in Pleasure Activism.
Feeling Good by Nina Simone
Pairing: “The Sweetness of Salt, by Alexis Pauline Gumbs”
Video by India.Arie
Pairing: “Pussy Power, by Favianna Rodriguez”
Formation by Beyoncé
Pairing: “Wherein I Write about Sex” OR “The Pleasure of Living at the Same Time as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter”
“High Highs to Low Lows” by Lolo Zouaï
Pairing: “The Highs, Lows, and Blows of Casual Sex”
How Deep Is Your Love (feat. Yebba) by PJ Morton
Pairing: “Feelmore, A Conversation with Nenna Joiner”
Girls Need Love (with Drake)- Remix by Summer Walker
Pairing: “Liberating Your Fantasies” or “The Highs, Lows, and Blows of Casual Sex”
Girls Need Love is a seductive, passionate, and honest piece in which Walker creates a personal narrative about her desires for sex and love while also grappling with the double standard that “girls” can’t be sexually liberated. She pushes back against the societal norms that “girls can’t never say they want it/girls can’t never say how/girls can’t never say they need it/girls can’t even say now.” She also stresses that her desire for casual sex is okay, a topic which brown analyzes in Highs, Lows, and Blows of Casual Sex” (“I don’t need a reason baby/Please don’t get in your feelings”). Another soulful R&B track, this song has a simple production with a main focus on the vocals.
BROWN SKIN GIRL (feat Blue Ivy Carter) by Beyoncé, Saint Jhn, Wizkid
Pairing: “The Pleasure of Living at the Same Time as Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter” OR “Wherein I Write about Sex” OR “Black Woman Wildness by Junauda Petrus”
Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu) by Janelle Monáe
Pairing: “Fly as Hell, A Conversation with Sonya Renee Taylor”
Multi-Love by Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Pairing: “On Nonmonogamy”
Multi-Love is a song about polyamory, full of intimacy, vulnerability, and even discomfort and torment. Despite these intense feelings that are on display in Ruban Nielson’s (the lead singer’s) voice and in the lyrics, the instrumental aspect of the song is lighter and catchy, consisting of an upbeat keyboard tune and light, quick drum beats. These components come together to create a non-pretentious, spiritual, futuristic song that touches on many of the same topics as Pleasure Activism. For example, he talks about god, asking, “who is your god? Where is she?” Similarly, adrienne maree brown said that she “think[s] a lot about what god is, how god is, and where we are relating to and running from and surrendering to god” (brown 7). He sings about transitioning between single-love and multi-love (“We were one, then become three”), which reminded me of brown’s comments that “nonmonogamy tends to suit [her] best, even if [she is] occasionally focused on one lover” and her further analysis of multi-love in the subsection “On Nonmonogamy” (brown 8, 409). And finally, he talks about alludes to the non-binaryness of gender: “she doesn't want to be a man or a woman” (though the use of the pronoun “she” is somewhat troubling in this case). All in all, this song that is somehow at once crystal clear and mysteriously muffled belongs on the soundtrack because of its soulful, groovy nature, relevant lyricism and personal discovery about love, spirituality, vulnerability, and meaning. As a side note, I also felt like it fits well because Ruban Nielson’s delivery has been compared to that of Prince’s, who brown dedicates the book to.
The Other Woman by Nina Simone
Pairing: “Being Second”
Golden by Jill Scott
I’m Coming Out by Diana Ross
Universe by Ambar Lucid
La Negra Tiene Tumbao by Celia Cruz
Pairing: “On Fear, Shame, Death, and Humor, A Conversation between the Rocca Family and Zizi” OR “On the Pleasures of Wardrobe, A Conversation with Maori Karmael Holmes”
Beyond being an absolute Afro-Cuban and Latin music icon, and the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz is known for her fashion style; she always had on colorful wigs, sequins, crazy high heels, and incredible makeup (for this reason her song is paired with “On the Pleasures of Wardrobe”). This song was chosen because of its multifaceted nature; it spans the genres of jazz, salsa, reggae, and hip hop. She talks about the style, attitude, swag and sexiness of a black woman (in Spanish). Igniting the spark of pride in Latinx and Black identities for many, “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” is a timeless anthem about being proud of who you are, embracing blackness, and never moving out of the way for anybody.
Pelo Suelto by Gloria Trevi
The Pleasure Principle by Janet Jackson
February 3rd by Jorja Smith
Satisfaction Guaranteed by Junglepussy
This song is lush and deep as it envelopes you into its mesmerizing tune. Junglepussy’s slow, intense words of confidence and encouragement to feel fully, both spiritually and physically, wash over the listener like a wave (“Yeah, I’m the brown hottie with the body, looking like Rum Spice… Relax, as the aura ease you/In the flesh, let the physical please you”).
Soul Liberator by Kraak and Smaak feat. Sanguita
Feeling Myself by Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé
Cranes in the Sky by Solange
Hurry by Teyana Taylor feat. Kanye
Mujer Latina by Thalía
A Quién Le Importa by Thalía
I’m Every Woman by Whitney Houston
Works Cited
Ingvaldsen, Torsten. “Sevdaliza Returns With New Protest Song ‘Oh My God.’” HYPEBEAST, HYPEBEAST, 30 Jan. 2020, hypebeast.com/2020/1/sevdaliza-oh-my-god-single-stream-premiere.
LS
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A Year in Review: The 15 Best Albums of 2018
More than the past few years, 2018 proved to be a year of consensus when it comes to music. There were a handful of artists who released must-hear albums, many of which were lauded. Ariana Grande, Troye Sivan, Drake, Beyonce and Jay Z, Kanye West and many more dropped albums we all had to stop and listen to. Some of those records appear on the list below, some don't.
I’ve never had this short of a list in the 11 years I’ve been thinking and writing about music. Maybe it’s due to my age but despite a handful of gems, the landscape has been pretty dreadful over the past few years.
15. MGMT - Little Dark Age
14. Beach House - 7
13. Now, Now, - Saved
12. Rita Ora - Phoenix
11. Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of
10. Cat Power - Wanderer
Six years after her last album, singer-songwriter Chan Marshall a.k.a. Cat Power returned this year with the stripped down, raw and politically charged album "Wanderer." It's an effortless album that finds Marshall at her most minimal while she makes some of her biggest swings. The whispery "Woman," which features cooing from Lana Del Rey, is a hauntingly confidant song where their two voices create powerful layered sound. Marshall also adds Rihanna's ballad "Stay" to her lineup of covers and her take on the track is one Marshall's best takes on a pop song she's ever done.
09. Yumi Zouma - EP III
Although their newest EP only has four songs, Yumi Zouma's latest effort, aptly titled "EP III," is one of the year's best collection of songs. The New Zealand band have put a steady stream of their brand of shimmering dream pop. Single "In Camera" is a dazzling disco thumper that finds Yumi Zouma at the top of their craft. "Powder Blue / Cascine Park" is another highlight, a cool and slinky jam that comes with a soaring chorus. Yumi Zouma have two LPs under their belt but they seem to function best with EPs, offering small bursts of blissful musical sunshine.
08. Troye Sivan - Bloom
Troye Sivan's sophomore album "Bloom" is a radical shift for the out singer. It signaled a more mature and sophisticated sound, which fans noticed with his first single, the George Michael inspired "My My My!" a confidant explosion of love. The album's title track is radical queer expression — one not really heard in pop music before. Bluntly put, it's about bottoming, so says Sivan. More than that, it's a catchy bop. The same goes for the electrifying "Lucky Strike" and "Dance to This," which features Ariana Grande. "Bloom" also tender moments like the stellar "The Good Side" and the moving ballad "Postcard," featuring Gordi.
07. Ariana Grande - Sweetener
No doubt that Ariana Grande ruled 2018, easily one of the most talked about celebs thanks to her whirlwind engagement and breakup with "Saturday Night Live" star Pete Davidson, the tragic death of her ex-boyfriend rapper Mac Miller and, of course, "Sweetener," her fourth album. Though her most successful song of the year, "Thank U, Next," is from her upcoming fifth album, "Sweetener" is a powerful and emotional journey. It finds Grande working through her emotions about the Manchester Arena Bombing, her relationship with Miller and the highs of her romance with Davidson. With top-line producers (Pharrell, Max Martin, Hit-Boy and more), "Sweetener" has the confessionalism of a Taylor Swift album but the soul of Grande.
06. Sophie - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
Sophie's debut album "Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides" is a departure of sorts. The producer and musician previously released amped up pop songs — so sugary it would instantly give you a toothache. That glossy pop sound that sounds like music processed through a whacky funhouse mirror is found rarely found on Sophie's album. Instead, it's a deeply personal experimental effort that finds Sophie at her most venerable, like the raw balled "It's Okay to Cry," a queer anthem about self-acceptance. "Is It Cold in the Water?" is an atmospheric and painful ballad that flows and erupts with anger. "Ponyboy" is Sophie's sexiest song and the intense "Faceshopping" is another powerful song about identity. "Oil..." is an album that defies expectations and is incredibly rewarding.
05. Let’s Eat Grandma - I’m All Ears
The British duo Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton made one of the most vibrant and impressive albums of the year. Under the name Let's Eat Grandma, "I'm All Ears" is a fantastical experimental record, that's both playful and fascinating. Skewering pop music with electrifying songs like "Hot Pink," "Falling into Me" and LP highlight "It's Not Just Me." Closing the album is the stirring ambient ballad "Ava" and the 11-minute "Donnie Darko," bonkers and epic synthy ride that solidifies Let's Eat Grandma as the future of pop music.
04. Mariah Carey - Caution
Mariah Carey's 15th album "Caution" may be her worst-selling albums since "Glitter," but it happens to be one of her best efforts in years. The compact 10-track album (a departure for most pop stars who usually offer an exhausting 15-20 tracks) is solid from front-to-back. Working with fresh producers, ranging from Poo Bear, DJ Mustard, Ninteen85, Blood Orange and even Skrillex, and veterans (Timbaland!), "Caution" is a sexy R&B album that finds Carey, who gets writing and producing credits on every track, figuring out the latest phase of her career. She never strains her vocals or even bothers for those iconic high-range Mimi notes: "GTFO" is a hilarious and sultry breakup song, "A No No" is another sexy and funny standout as is "The Distance," featuring Ty Dolla $ign.
03. The 1975 - A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
The British band the 1975's third album "A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships" is their most ambitious and sprawling offering yet. Though it takes on a number of heavy topics, like lead singer Matty Healy's rehab and addiction as well as global issues like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, the death of Lil Peep and so much more, "A Brief Inquiry" is beautifully positive; a glowing piece of music that offers hope in a chaotic and messed up world. The band does this while drawing on some of the best music ever made ranging from Radiohead's "acoustic" album "The Bends," the sophistipop U.K. band the Blue Nile, Kanye West, electro dubstep musician Burial, the Talking Heads, Justin Bieber, Michael Bolton and so much more. "I Love it if We Made it" is a hopeful anthem for a generation and the thesis of "A Brief Inquiry," an album that tells us the world is shit but there's still light at the end of the tunnel.
02. Robyn - Honey
Robyn's last album "Body Talk" from 2010 contained some of the best music of the 21st century, namely "Dancing On My Own." There were plenty of other highlights ("Hang with Me," "Call Your Girlfriend") but looking back eight years later, it's a flawed album. "Honey" is the inverse of "Body Talk." From start to finish there isn't one skippable song. The highs are higher on "Body Talk" and Robyn doesn't even bother trying to top "DONMO." Instead, the Swedish pop star unleashed a beautiful dance album that's sexy and emotional. On "Body Talk," she told fans she was a femmebot. On "Honey," she's a "Human Being" — a stunning and hypnotic song finding Robyn at her most personal. Elsewhere, "Because it's in the Music" is a shimmering nu-disco banger about a broken romance, "Beach 2k20" is a novelty song that sounds like it's the theme for a TV show about a cruise ship that sails across the universe. Closer "Ever Again" is a pulsating and glittery jazzercize-like jam where Robyn is at her most venerable and confessional: "Never gonna be brokenhearted / Ever again / (That shit's out the door) / I'm only gonna sing about love / Ever again."
01. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves' third album "Golden Hour" finds the country singer at her peak. Always a clever songwriter, Musgraves outdid herself here, penning some of the best songs of her career, including the breakup ballad "Space Cowboy" and the disco-country bop "High Horse." "Golden Hour" is a record, that sounds like it was inspired by Beck's iconic breakup album "Sea Change," that finds Musgraves going big and small, contemplating life, love and her relationships. The melancholy "Lonely Weekend" strums along until she hits you with the lyric: "I got a million things to do, but I haven't done a single one, no / And if my sister lived in town, I know that we'd be doin' something fun." The interlude "Mother," is a small devastating song that packs the biggest punch on "Golden Hour." "I'm just sitting here thinking 'bout the time that's slipping / And missing my mother, mother / And she's probably sitting there / Thinking 'bout the time that's slipping / And missing her mother, mother." Still, she makes room on the album to sing about drinking, doing drugs but infuses every second on "Golden Hour" with humanity that's earth-shatteringly touching.
#mgmt#beah house#rita ora#now now#music#new music#2018#2018 music#best of 2018#oneohtrix point never#cat power#yumi zouma#troye sivan#ariana grande#sophie#let's eat grandma#mariah carey#the 1975#robyn#kacey musgraves
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LANA DEL REY - THE GREATEST
[7.71]
The discourse is lit...
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Lana Del Rey's embrace of decades-old American culture has always been a window into the present, so it's no surprise that her invocations of rock music and Dennis Wilson's deaths on "The Greatest" are signposts for our own inevitable demise. But even before she concludes the song with ruminations on California wildfires, Hawaii's false missile alert, and the possible necessity of colonizing Mars, you can sense the knowing dread in the midsong guitar solo and her affected vocalizing. She declares that she's "wasted" with poise and romantic longing, stretching the word out into a rallying cry; she intimates that debauchery is not just an expected response to contemporary anxieties, but an empowering action in times of seeming powerlessness. She channels that same depressing spirit in her semi-ironic delivery of the song's most memorable couplet -- "The culture is lit and I had a ball/I guess that I'm burned out after all" -- toying with its dual meaning to succinctly portray how escapism in end times isn't indecent behavior, but a necessary means toward survival and acceptance of one's fate. The sparse guitar strums and piano melodies that close out the song anticipate the somber eventuality that awaits us, but can that be much worse than right now? Worse than a time when "dancing with you" and "doing nothing" can be nostalgic pastimes due to never ending stress? Whatever the case, we'll collectively watch as it happens; it's the "live stream" that Lana hints at in the final line, and it'll be of cinematic proportions: "the greatest loss of them all."
[9]
Joshua Copperman: "The culture is lit, and if this is it‚ I had a ball." This line is everything I hate about the aesthetics of this decade, but it IS the aesthetic of this decade, at least the latter half. Apart from rare, usually unintentional exceptions, something about 2010s voice-of-a-generation songs always felt pat, apparently because they had hope. We need songs for an age when everything is so overwhelming and impossible that there's nothing left to do but give up, give in, and bide your time until the flames -- the literal ones or the David Foster Wallace ones -- consume you too. (Who by fire, who by water vapor.) The cool, detached gloominess of "The Greatest" sends the opposite message to the one producer Jack Antonoff sent years ago; I don't want to get better, because there's no time left and no point. Lana was "doing nothing most of all," and that's why she's become the figurehead for this decade's music. Not Gaga. Not Beyonce. Not Lorde. Lana. Lana won the race to the bottom because she was there first; maybe a writer once took her sadness out of context, yet if someone said "I wish I was dead already" today, the response would not rise beyond a shrug of 'mood.' I don't even like this song that much as a song. It's slow and dreary, and that "culture is lit" line sounds hackneyed and pandering in its own way. But it's because of that artificiality that the line feels authentic, which was Lana's whole thing in the first place. Maybe I'm just bitter that she became so important when I wasn't looking. To paraphrase another, equally 2019 line, I hate to see it. Especially when I was so blind the whole time.
[7]
Josh Buck: "I miss New York, and I Miss you. Me and my friends, we miss rock and roll." As Lana del Rey laments her Big Apple days, it feels like a lifetime since she was a Brooklyn Baby, singing Lou Reed with her boyfriend's band. She ventured out west to create an entire California fantasia and over a handful of albums, she built a cinematic version of the Golden State that was vibrant and full of endless sun and limitless romantic possibilities; even if it was all tinged with just a dab of noir-ish danger. It was a world as fully realized and teeming with mythology as a great novel. And "The Greatest" is where she watches it all burn down. "I'm facing the greatest loss of them all." California dreams are beautiful, until you have to wake up, so she sparks a cigarette and raises a glass to the ride. But if "The Greatest" is a moment of personal reflection, it's also a celebration. It's a toast to a new Greatest Generation. A generation that created and protested, that fucked and traveled and loved in spite of a planet threatening to burn them alive, and world leaders determined to end things even quicker. It's an anthem for thriving in the face of the apocalypse. It's my favorite single of 2019, and just thinking about it triggers a million competing emotions. If all somehow make it through this moment, we'll have one hell of a story, and a hell of a song to go with it. The culture is lit, but we had a ball.
[10]
Michael Hong: A couple of cycles ago, that line probably would have drawn mass scorn from critics, but for now, it may very well be the lyric of the year. Part of that may be attributed to the way the culture has shifted their view on Lana Del Rey, but another part of it is that Lana sounds the most honest she's ever sounded. "The Greatest" is an ominous but sincere reflection of the current state of the world, and Lana no longer seems content with empty depictions of American touchstones. Lines like "I miss New York and I miss the music" still rely on those same symbols, but they now feel like lived experiences rather than empty nostalgic musings. Hell, Lana Del Rey even manages not only to make "me and my friends, we miss rock 'n' roll" work but sound like one of the most profound statements you've ever heard. Lana Del Rey's hushed vocals paired with the gauzy instrumental are quietly disarming, playing out like the cinematic zoom-out at the edge of the apocalypse. And if this is it, those final laments on the outro might be the greatest way to go out.
[9]
Alfred Soto: She's not the greatest, nor does she think she's the greatest, so long as she thinks the "culture is lit" and she's "having a ball," whatever that means, but I suspect it means more than the guitar solo. Narcissism as plaint.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: The core Lana Del Rey problem is that she confuses narcotic with dramatic and droning with sweeping. "The Greatest" mitigates those faults a little, but only a little, and only by borrowing some faults from classic rock. The track also smothers what could have been a fine torch song in overproduction -- the culture can't be lit if you snuff it out with a million moles of echo. It shouldn't happen that I felt more genuine things about ghosts and missing things from a perfume newsletter than this.
[4]
Ian Mathers: So here's the thing; I originally wrote about and scored this song before the more exhausting parts of the whole Lana Del Rey Conversation that engulfed Music Twitter last week had happened, and I was basically saying, yeah, the conversation is interesting and has some good points but I mostly receive the song outside of it and I just like that song (and generally do, with her singles). But then... it got worse. And between the artist herself showing her ass and all of the assorted takes, the thought of listening to any of LDR's music just got more and more enervating. Some would say it's unfair or incorrect to adjust my opinion of this song, or at least to admit that those events have, in fact, adjusted my opinion of the song. But I'm a guy who wrote a Master's thesis at least partly on the idea that the context around a work of art justifiably changes not only our aesthetic relationship to it but the ontological status of the work of art itself (which is not a physical thing, not even as data). The classical example is finding out, say, a painting is a forgery, but honestly this whole thing is a great example too. Doesn't make me outright dislike "The Greatest", but does legitimately move it from being a real bright spot to a song I enjoy that I need a bit of a break from.
[7]
Stephen Eisermann: Hats off to Lana and Jack for really creating an atmosphere of nostalgia that you fall into the second you hit play. Lana's vocal is tender and understated, further reinforcing the sense of longing the track aims to create; but, hearing her sing the word "lit" and the Kanye West reference stand in stark contrast to that moody guitar lick and I... I just can't reconcile the two.
[4]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Lana Del Rey is deeply aware of the fickleness of the music industry. On Born to Die, that manifested in her almost-trolling approach -- aggravating, almost-rap cadences, weird production choices, even weirder lyrical ones -- that wormed its way into the pop consciousness. For her middle three albums, she refashioned herself as a thinking person's pop star, working with more respectable (and more male) figures like Dan Aurebach and A$AP Rocky as a way of positioning herself as adjacent to prestige. The music was better but also more boring. Now, with Norman Fucking Rockwell!, she has cashed all the checks that a decade of practice and following the rules of pop earn you. "The Greatest" is a thesis statement for the album's ambition. It's not just the title -- although that is a helpful indicator. It's everything: the classic rock guitars and big drum fills, the nostalgia for doing nothing of the lyrics, the way she sings them. On "The Greatest," Lana sounds done. Not exhausted, but complete, as if she could walk away from this all and not miss a second's worth of sleep. It's a big damn classic rock song that's aware of how bombastic it sounds, and yet its self-awareness does not undercut its narrative and sonic heft. It's the kind of song you can't make without making a lot of worse songs that dance around the same topics. But here, where it really counts? Lana nails it. It's a buzzer-beater of a song, rattling around the rim four times before falling in -- all the sweeter in glory for the bumps on the road before it. It's likely not the last Lana Del Rey single we'll review, but if it is, it's a fitting send-off: in response to all the fickleness of the industry, Lana rewrites her story on her own terms, and makes it sing.
[9]
Jackie Powell: Norman Fucking Rockwell started as such a fascinating paradox, but didn't really continue building and evolving on what made its first third so successful. "The Greatest" is lyrically relatable and sonically beautiful. Jack Antonoff, being the wizard that he is, finds a way to wean Lana Del Rey of her noir and whining tendencies. He overdubs her potential for a beautiful vocal pairing it with brighter arrangements. It's pellucid and mellow but not a snoozefest. But its placement on this album really sold the track short. NFR loaded its most compelling tracks at the top of the project. Del Rey placed "The Greatest" after "Fuck it I love you" in a double feature of a music video, which where it should have been placed on the album. In the visual, Del Rey floats around and almost above her surroundings contemplating what's next. The haunting but gorgeously comforting guitar solo brings the listener along with Lana herself back down to earth. Lyrically and through its soft piano, the outro is what gives this song its weight and a sense of profundity. Her cultural references which include Kanye West's physical and emotional transformation and David Bowie's "Life on Mars" allow us to reflect on what we've become. Lana Del Rey does that here and on almost every record. I just wish "The Greatest" was given the proper stage to achieve the status of its moniker.
[6]
Joshua Lu: The majority of "The Greatest" feels unbound by time, as Lana Del Rey reuses Extremely American words that apply to the '80s as much as today: Long Beach, New York, the Beach Boys, rock 'n' roll. Only the outro plants the song firmly in the current year -- with mentions of Mars, Kanye, global warming, and that time Hawaii thought it was about to get bombed -- and with this passage of time, these signifiers bring no joy to Lana anymore. Her sprawling sense of nihilism seeps through in her languid voice and the turgid, psychedelic guitar as she laments how her generation's time is ticking away. Tempting as it is, I'm wary to read into this song as some kind of political statement, in part because the epochs that Lana fetishizes were also rather shitty, and also because I think Lana herself wouldn't prefer this reading, as it would play into that "p" word she, erm, has expressed adversity to. Maybe that's the song's trap, that despite how alluring it is to try to ascribe some deeper meaning, it's better to just do what the song does: sit back, observe, and mourn.
[8]
Alex Clifton: Lana Del Rey has a beautiful and occasionally overwhelming voice. It's haunting but for me it can be like ingesting too much cake in one sitting -- extremely rich to the point where it feels exhausting to listen to more than one song at a time. Having said that, "The Greatest" is a song that works well with Del Rey's vocals. When the first pre-chorus hits -- "those nights were on fire, we couldn't get higher" -- her breathiness feels less like an affect but sadder and more wistful, the awareness that she'll never be able to get that life back again. It's a grandiose song, strings and languid piano and a chorus of a dozen Lanas sighing "if this is it, I'm signing off," but for once the grandiosity of the production fits the message. My issue with Del Rey's persona back in the Born to Die days was that I couldn't quite make out who she was under all the artifice, flower crowns and American flags. I know that's the appeal of artists like Del Rey, whose entire careers are built off of specific personas (despite what they claim to the contrary), but I don't deal well with facades that are built that tall. Arguments about personas and performativity in music can quickly dissolve into arguments about authenticity and how much that matters to the music, and I want to stress that I don't care about authenticity in the slightest -- I just like the moments where artists aren't invincible but human. In "The Greatest" those walls crumble down and Del Rey revels in her sadness in a way that hits close to the heart. She's vulnerable and mourning over a real love rather than a fantasy, and for once I feel like persona or no, I understand the appeal of Lana Del Rey.
[8]
Vikram Joseph: At 2am this morning I found myself in the smoky bedroom of a guy I hadn't met until two hours earlier, half a bottle of red wine deep and still high off the fumes of the MUNA show I'd just been to, discussing the aesthetics of Lana Del Rey's music videos (as a kind of emotional foreplay, I guess?). It struck me that this, right there, was actually a pretty good representation of Lana's aesthetic -- unlikely moments that shimmer at the fringes of reality, a doomed romanticism that bleeds into a laconic, blissful sort of nihilism. There's so much heightened emotion (close to melodrama) in her music, and yet there's a simplicity too in what she craves -- men, bars, California, sun -- that Vice described as a "revolutionary pleasure." It feels like an extremely LDR move to draw a direct parallel between lost love and the end of the actual fucking world, but it's testament to her songwriting, those aesthetics that she's worked so hard on, and the spellbinding, crystalline production on "The Greatest" that she pulls it off so completely. From the opening bars -- dignified piano chords, soft-focus acoustic guitars and cinematic strings -- it feels like an elegy; I can't help but see the crumbling, sunlit edifice of a gorgeous building when I hear this song, especially during that billowing, washed-out guitar solo, or the slow nuclear decay of the outro. "The Greatest" feels like a culmination, and a kind of closure. It's a veteran of an iconic club scene reading the memoirs of her golden years out loud, or the last time two people who once loved each other ever speak, or a beach scene at the end of civilisation. Sonically and aesthetically, it sounds cast adrift in time, and that's why it's so effective. It's the end of the world as we know it -- I don't think Lana feels fine, exactly, but maybe there's a certain comfort in finally knowing for sure that it was all for nothing.
[10]
Will Adams: Lana Del Rey made a career writing elegies to American culture, which is what makes "The Greatest" as moving as it is heartbreaking. The patriotism of "American" has turned bitter. The sprawling luxury of "Shades of Cool" has fizzled. The worries expressed in "Coachella -- Woodstock In My Mind" have been realized in twisted, terrifying ways. So it makes sense that, after a few minutes of misty-eyed farewells presented with a smile ("I had a ball"), it all collapses to rubble. The gleaming classic rock evaporates into three descending chords. This, it turns out, is the greatest loss of all. Not rock 'n' roll, not a past lover, not Long Beach, not Kanye West, but everything. In that final minute, the song sinks to the ocean floor, the flaming city fading from view, the monuments and culture blurring into nothing. Del Rey is gone, too, as there's nothing left to say. There is nothing except the brutal end.
[10]
[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]
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REBECCA CHAPMAN, who has a master of arts in English and comparative literature from Columbia University, hit bottom professionally last summer when she could not even get a job that did not pay. Vying for an internship at a boutique literary agency in Manhattan, Ms. Chapman, 25, had gone on three separate interviews with three people on three different days. “They couldn’t even send me an e-mail telling me I didn’t get it,” she said.
It’s a story familiar to anyone seeking to break into the New York publishing world. Willie Osterweil, 25, an aspiring novelist who graduated magna cum laude from Cornell in 2009, found himself sweeping Brooklyn movie theaters for $7.25 an hour. And the closest that Helena Fitzgerald, a recent Columbia graduate, got was an interview at a top magazine, during which the editor dismissed her literary career dreams, telling her, “C’mon, that’s not realistic.”
Which explains, in a way, how they all ended up on a crisp November night, huddled together at an invitation-only party at a cramped, bookshelved apartment on the Upper East Side.
It was the weekly meeting of The New Inquiry, a scrappy online journal and roving clubhouse that functions as an Intellectuals Anonymous of sorts for desperate members of the city’s literary underclass barred from the publishing establishment. Fueled by B.Y.O.B. bourbon, impressive degrees and the angst that comes with being young and unmoored, members spend their hours filling the air with talk of Edmund Wilson and poststructuralism.
Lately, they have been catching the eye of the literary elite, earning praise that sounds as extravagantly brainy as the thesis-like articles that The New Inquiry uploads every few days.
“They’re the precursor of this kind of synthesis of extrainstitutional intellectualism, native to the Internet, native to the city dweller,” said the novelist Jonathan Lethem, an early champion.
“They’re not trapped within an old paradigm,” he added. “They’re just making it their own.”
The New Inquiry is edited by Rachel Rosenfelt, 26, who graduated from Barnard College in 2009. Though she had some luck finding work, her exposure to the literary establishment left her unimpressed. “It killed my interest in publishing,” she said of her internship at The New Yorker during her freshman year. “It just felt like they had all ‘arrived.’ It was boring. No one talked. The only real rule was, ‘Don’t mess this up.’ ”
Young, Web-savvy and idealistic, she and two friends — Jennifer Bernstein and Mary Borkowski — wanted to create their generation’s version of cultural criticism, equally versed in Theodor Adorno and Britney Spears. Finding contributors was easy: their social circle was filled with overeducated, underemployed postgrads willing to work free to be heard on subjects like Kanye West’s effect on the proletarian meta-narrative of hip-hop.
After earning a master’s and writing on a farm in upstate New York, Ms. Chapman returned to the city uncertain about what to do next.
“I met Rachel on one of my first days back,” she said, “and she was like, ‘Be our new literary editor.’ ”
There was no thought of turning a profit. But who cared? No one was making any money on the traditional path, anyway.
“There’s something incredibly liberating,” Ms. Rosenfelt said, “when you realize that climbing that ladder is a ladder to nowhere.”
Ms. Chapman added: “My whole life, I had been doing everything everybody told me. I went to the right school. I got really good grades. I got all the internships. Then, I couldn’t do anything.”
Ms. Rosenfelt and her collaborators envisioned a kind of literary salon reminiscent of the Lost Generation of the 1920s. So once a week, about 20 of The New Inquirer’s contributors and guests gather at an unmarked clandestine bookstore, a sort of literary speakeasy, in a second-floor, three-room apartment on the Upper East Side.
At 9 p.m. on a recent Thursday, Ms. Rosenfelt, wearing a black sweater, miniskirt and combat boots, appeared behind a blue door in the unimposing prewar apartment building. The door creaked open to reveal a disheveled space that looked like a used-book store in any college town, with shelves of yellowing volumes of Dostoyevsky and Camus reaching to the ceiling and air thick with the musty smell of stale tobacco and old paperbacks.
This space belongs to a bookseller in his 50s, the godfather for The New Inquiry, a man with bushy brows and the affably abstruse mien of a coffeehouse intellectual. (He asked that his name and identifying details not be published because his building prohibits a shop in the space.) He opens only by invitation, when he feels like it.
Ms. Rosenfelt described meeting there as a form of “urban hacking.”
For the first hour, attendees, most in their mid-20s and many dressed in untucked oxford shirts and off-brand jeans, mingled around a rickety table packed with half-empty Jim Beam bottles.
Despite the fact that everyone was young and attractive, no one seemed to flirt or network. Instead, they traded heady banter about the Situationists and reveled in an atmosphere of warmhearted mutual support; it felt like an oral dissertation mixed with a ’70s encounter group.
At one point, a few debated, only half-ironically, whether a new bank in a former Dunkin Donuts nearby was philosophically akin to the French reactionaries’ construction of the Sacré Coeur basilica on the site of the Paris Commune’s insurrection in 1870.
Then, around 10 p.m., Ms. Rosenfelt called everyone into the main room. The highlight of each salon is a group reading in which each person selects a three-minute reading on the predetermined topic.
“We’re reading about ‘failed revolutions’ tonight,” Ms. Rosenfelt reminded the crowd. She started with a passage from “To the Finland Station,” “in which Edmund Wilson couches the inevitable failure of Marxism in Edmund Wilson’s idea of the national and ethnic identity of Marx.”
The room exploded in vaudeville-style hoots.
Continuing around the circle, Ms. Fitzgerald, the would-be magazine writer, read from “The Cantos,” by Ezra Pound. Mr. Osterweil, the frustrated novelist, read from Guy Debord’s “Society of the Spectacle.” Tim Barker, a junior at Columbia, awkwardly admitted that he, too, had chosen a reading from Debord. (What are the odds?)
One young attendee offered a reading from Gustave Flaubert’s “Sentimental Education.”
“A lot of this book takes place during the revolutions of 1848,” he explained. “The part that I think has a good point for revolutionaries is how quickly a failed revolution can descend into careerism.”
The word hung in the air, as noxious as cigarette smoke.
DESPITE its slacker-revolutionary spirit, The New Inquiry is starting to tiptoe toward the publishing mainstream.
With an audience that understands references to consumerism as “a hedonic treadmill,” many articles in The New Inquiry make The Paris Review look like a beach read. Arch and often aggressively leftist, the articles dance effortlessly from Jacques Derrida to Lady Gaga.
Recent pieces include a review of Ben Jeffery’s “Anti-Matter”; a critical survey of the novels of the French provocateur Michel Houellebecq; an essay on the class struggle portrayed in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”; and a personal piece by Malcolm Harris, a young writer who recalled growing up in the suburbs and finding sanctuary in Borders.
The journal counts cultural savants like Todd Gitlin, Douglas Rushkoff and Mark Greif, a founder of N + 1, as early champions, and articles have been linked on Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Beast blog and the National Public Radio Web site. Even barbs by the establishment elicit pride, like when James Wolcott of Vanity Fair called Mr. Osterweil’s film criticism “Maoist” on Twitter.
On Sunday, the journal is to make a social debut of sorts among the city’s literary A-list, organizing — in partnership with the publisher New Directions, Google and others — a marathon reading of Frederic Tuten’s novel “The Adventures of Mao on the Long March,” featuring 60 readers, including writers like A. M. Homes, Kurt Andersen and Oscar Hijuelos, at the Jane hotel in the West Village.
And even though staff members routinely serve up gloomy eulogies over the “death of print,” the publication plans to roll out a quarterly print edition next year, along with an iPad magazine for $2 a month. Its breakout stars are even starting to climb publishing’s “ladder to nowhere.”
Atossa Abrahamian, 25, an editor, has written for New York Magazine. Sarah Leonard, 23, is an associate editor at Dissent. Mr. Harris, 22, who was sifting through grad-school rejection notices a year ago, has written for N + 1 and Utne Reader and has been called out by Glenn Beck on television.
This is not to say that the generational angst fueling The New Inquiry is likely to vanish soon. At the most recent salon two weeks ago, Will Canine, the operations director, showed up with 5 o’clock shadow after spending 35 hours in jail following his arrest at the Occupy Wall Street protests.
Tim Barker, a junior at Columbia, said he was drawn to the salons for the chance to “discuss ideas at an extremely high level, without worrying about status or material support of traditional institutions: publishing houses or universities.” He added, though, that while he aspires to be a history professor, he was “extremely conscious of the contraction of job opportunities” in publishing and academia.
Inside the bookstore, however, the turmoil of the outside world seemed far away. The lights were low, the conversation crackling.
“This is my fantasy: a room full of books, people talking about books — it smells like books,” explained Ms. Chapman, the journal’s literary editor. “It’s the literary community that I had read about when I was younger. It’s Moveable Feast-type stuff.”
Despite her upbeat take on the proceedings, Ms. Chapman admitted she wasn’t feeling chipper. It was her birthday. A happy occasion? For most, maybe — but not, she explained, when you are turning 25, having graduated summa from Cornell, with a master’s from Columbia, only to find yourself unemployed and back living at home with your parents.
Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com
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Meet Mike Rosenthal
Meet Mike Rosenthal, the creator of Slug Riot! We asked him about life and his new series on Cartoon Hangover featuring an overly-dramatic guitarist, a spunky moldcore rocker-to-be, and a goblin/man hybrid that’s inevitably going to become your favorite character. Learn a bit about Mike and Slug Riot:
What's your animation background?
I doodled throughout school and made a few animations with the default movie maker on my computer, but I first started drawing regularly in high school when I'd submit shirt designs to Threadless. I went to college for writing, so all of my drawing experience was for comics for my college newspaper. Storyboarding is just comics, so that's how I learned to do that. Making Our New Electrical Morals for Cartoon Hangover back in 2013 was my first big project. I do some limited animation for personal projects, but that's about it. Real animation is hard.
What's the story of Slug Riot and its creation?
Slug Riot was a character I created for a comic in 2012 about being hardcore and crying. I fell in love with the idea of a character who's just always emotionally extreme. For my grad school thesis, I wrote and storyboarded a 15-minute pilot about him. The current series is very different than that original pilot—different story, different characters—but Slug Riot himself is the exact same. His personality has never changed. He's also a reflection of my love for weird music subgenres.
Are there real-life inspirations for the colorful characters in Slug Riot?
Every character is me. I was in an awful punk band with my friends in 8th grade. We were so bad that the band teacher wouldn't let us play the school talent show. As Vonnegut wrote, all this happened, more or less.
Can you explain the musical genre you've dubbed as "moldcore"?
Slug Riot is the founder of moldcore, a music scene he started in his boring hometown 10 years ago. Stylistically, it reflects noise rock with some garage, shoegaze, and punk. It's a fuzzed-out, erratic, loud mess, and if it doesn't result in something getting damaged, then you aren't doing it right. I made a moldcore playlist to get me in the mood when writing. It has Yuck, mclusky, Melt-Banana, Tobacco, Flying Saucer Attack, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Westkust, Japandroids, and Lightning Bolt. So moldcore is like all that. But more than a specific sound, moldcore is about self-destructing out loud.
What's up with the blue gunk dripping out of Slug Riot's ear?
That's the Mold. Slug Riot's brain is infested with it.
What kind of bands would have opened up for Slug Riot during their 10 years of touring the world?
Slug Riot would never work with a competent band. Every opener was some local teens who didn't know how to play their instruments. Once their opener was a pack of wolves.
Is music an important part of your life? What are some of your favorite albums or your current jams?
Music was definitely how I defined myself for a long time. Once I learned that the punk and ska bands on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater were real and not fake video game bands, I downloaded a bunch of stuff off Napster and bought my favorites at my mall's one CD store. I had a NOFX shirt in 4th grade no one else could pronounce correctly. I took up French horn until realizing ska bands don't have French horns and took up bass guitar instead. My older sister took me to the Warped Tour in 6th grade. I burned a CD for my Bar Mitzvah DJ to play that was full of songs you definitely couldn't dance to. Wish I could still find that CD.
Favorite albums. Okay. I think it's easier to talk about my favorite albums by year, so—
4th grade: Less Than Jake, Hello Rockview
7th grade: NOFX, War on Errorism
10th grade: Beck, Odelay
12th grade: Deerhoof, Friend Opportunity
Freshman: Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Sophomore: The National, Boxer
Junior: Titus Andronicus, The Monitor
Grad school: Kanye West, Yeezus
After grad school: The Go! Team, The Scene Between
Now, uh, I've been listening to a lot of Kero Kero Bonito. So let's go with Bonito Generation.
If you were locked in a room for 24 hours with every TV show and movie ever made, what would you watch?
That's my life right now, and the answer is always Frasier.
Who are some animators or artists that inspire you?
Don Hertzfeldt's work, Homestar Runner, Clone High, and FLCL were my favorites growing up. Everything I make is me just trying to be like those. I want to make the art I wanted when I was 13 and everything felt important.
Got any 2018 new year's resolutions?
To throw all the video games into jail.
What else have you been working on lately?
I've been working on little cartoons with my friend Sean Godsey. We put them up on https://vimeo.com/user73952089. I still draw little comics. I also run a D&D campaign about Frasier.
How can we keep up with you? Got any of them fancy Internet links for us?
@vectorbelly is where I put all my very bad tweets. My Tumblr is vectorbelly.tumblr.com. My Instagram is a broken down toilet somewhere deep in the forest.
Anything else you want to share?
Please go make something creative today. It will make you feel better.
Thank you for sharing, Mike! You can watch Slug Riot on Cartoon Hangover Select on VRV: http://frdr.us/2Dp93qS
#slug riot#mike rosenthal#vectorbelly#wild seed studios#cartoon hangover#frederator#animation#cartoons#indie cartoons#music#rock#homestar runner#clone high#flcl
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