Video & Audio: June 2021
Rock is back(ed by trust fund capital)!
Kalie Shorr: “Amy”
One difference between her and the 1996 women-who-rock the biz tried to make happen post-Alanis is the accuracy of her songwriting, which is why she still counts as country no matter how many backs she scratches her nails down.
Carsie Blanton: “Be Good”
It’s a shame that it’s no longer viable to stealthily soft-rock socialism into middle-class stereos anymore, because this would work as well as “Imagine”. (Yes, kids, “Imagine” was a good song.)
Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Drake: “Seeing Green”
2009-style non-hashtag mixtape rapping: so easy for anyone adroit to do well, and that includes Drake, whose chutzpah in calling out drama queens one has to admire.
Willow ft. Travis Barker: “Transparent Soul”
Pop-punk is an enduring template for discontented post-teens, but instruments are expensive and streaming royalties split three ways won’t fund a house in Malibu. So sure, let’s just let Will and Jada’s kid rent out a third of Blink-182. The market: what can’t it solve?
Aesop Rock: “Long Legged Larry”
Literally all I want from him: a tall story about a bullfrog who jumps how high real high, delivered in which the line readings vary in their pitch shapes. Plus stop-motion animation.
Taylor Swift: “Love Story” (Taylor’s Version)
The original conceit was a young person pretending to be an older person looking back on a young person’s romance (the twist being the older person wasn’t dead), so changing the narrator to a thirtysomething who, we cannot overlook, is Taylor Swift, removes one level of irony. Turns out the song is pretty robust, though.
Lil Nas X: “Sun Goes Down”
His first effort to feel more like a song than a spectacle, telling the highly relatable story of how being a Nicki Minaj Twitter stan for six years helped him find himself. I’m sure the millions of dollars helped too.
Migos: “Straightenin”
This does seem like an attempt to straighten out their triplets for a gradually aging culture, and they don’t lose much by it: there’s still room for Quavo’s eccentricity, Offset’s violence, and Takeoff’s koans (“all white Rolls look radical” apparently; complete the syllogism yourself.)
Olivia Rodrigo: “Good 4 U”
Clarity isn’t everything, yet it does say something that the talented Paramore never wrote a song this clear, and they were trying pretty hard for a couple of albums.
Gabby Barrett: “The Good Ones”
“Men don’t get nearly enough credit for being incredible, strong, capable, funny, amazing human beings. There are a lot of good men and plenty more in the making. My husband of 21 years, my boys… they are the best kind of people you could ever know.” Immediately after that, the YouTube comments turn into whingeing about skinny-jeaned betas.