When fans get fans aka content is king
I saw my first content creator in the wild a few weeks ago. I was walking the dog when she ran past me with her phone held aloft, talking animatedly. She could’ve been face-timing a loved one I suppose, but I had this sense that she was performing. It was like looking through a window into the future. I’m insulated from the creator revolution in my suburban pocket of a small town at the bottom of the world, but I would love to visit New York, London or Seoul one day just to see TikTok dance videos being filmed in real life.
Fast times for a slowburn
I really like the band Young the Giant. I discovered them thanks to the idiosyncrasies of the streaming age, in that they kept appearing on my song radios and playlists until I realised that they were the masterminds behind all my favourite songs. My Body. Superposition. Simplify. Cough Syrup. It’s anthemic indie pop rock and that’s my jam. I feel like I’ve been looking forward to their new album, Victory Garden, for an age. It dropped May 1.
Mysterious pathways aka finding new music in the age of streaming aka I’m so back
I was mindlessly scrolling TikTok this morning and a creator I’ve recently started following (for BTS reasons) told me it was okay to wake up one day and say to myself, “I’m so back.” Thank you, random lady in Florida. I really am so back. Is it a coincidence that my return coincides with the first F1 race in 5 weeks? Probably. Nice to see the papaya boys back on the podium. None of this intro is related to the intended topic of this post.
Part 2: 14* reasons why Arirang is my AOTY
From Swim to Into the Sun, what a run.
Part 1: 14* reasons why BTS’ Arirang is my AOTY
I told my work friends last week that my two favourite BTS genres were ‘obnoxious Korean hip hop’ and ‘introspective power ballads’ and that’s why Arirang is the best thing I’ve ever heard. Every song has multiple moments that scratch my brain just right. I’ve decided to timestamp them. Think of it as an interactive tour of the album. I read a Guardian review of Arirang which called it a ‘dumb fun pop album’ and the writer is not wrong but also not remotely right. Therin lies the genius of Arirang. If you only dip a toe in you can have a great time pretending it’s a silly, horny, fun hip hop / pop album. But if you dig deeper you realise that it’s still fun but also smart, clever, outrageous, ironic, angry, sad, hopeful, beautiful, replete with yearning. In short, a modern no-skip masterpiece.
Just thinking about j-hope going crazy
It must be weird to be married to me right now.
Mirrorballs and meteorites at the Brits
The world seems on the brink of another World War, so what better time to write about Harry Styles? I’ve watched a few performances from the Brits this week, and I cannot stop thinking about Harry and Rosalía. Both performed, but only one artist felt electrifying to me. Why? Let’s explore.
Part II: on the performance of fandom (belonging)
This is meant to be part 2 of a ‘performance of fandom’ double shot but as I was writing it I realised the ‘performance of belonging’ was a more apt name. The first part was about my most recent concert experiences and the give and take between artist and audience. When you tackle this idea with large global fanbases like Swifties or BTS ARMY, the performance becomes much more than one fleeting moment of connection. Each experience builds upon the next, creating an entire universe of narrative threads and emotions for millions of people around the world.
Part I: On the performance of fandom
I’ve been to three concerts in the past month and they’ve got me thinking about the performance of fandom. In the age of streaming, we have such instant and high quality access to music that we don’t really need live versions. So why do concerts exist? In my mind, it’s because we’re all in constant pursuit of moments of magical reality. When I go to a concert I’m hoping to find the bridge between the inner kingdom that internalises and canonises music, and the outer kingdom within which I pay bills and fully expect to eat / sleep / work until I die. Finding and crossing this bridge comes at a cost, and that cost is a performance of appreciation to an artist.
Bad Bunny’s gift to his two Americas
I’ve been very happily distracted by all the #bunnybowl content today — on one side of the American culture wars you’ll find the most wholesome place on the internet, on the other, the most unhinged. You know I’ve no interest in feeding the rage funnel so let’s talk about the wholesomeness.
BTS, Arirang and emotional integrity in the mainstream
Following my holiday I felt the same way as Lorde. Sad news for her, the feeling only lasted about a week. Now I’ve fallen SO DEEP back into the inner kingdom that I can tell my husband is considering sending in a search party.
10-1: 40 things* I’ve loved in 40 years
We’ve made it. It’s taken me 3 days to write this because it’s December and I’m forty and I’m so. tired.
20-11: 40 things* I’ve loved in 40 years
I’m finding this listicle marathon to be quite a cathartic experience. It’s actually a really nice way to reflect on your life. Highly recommend. Anyway, shit’s getting real now. We’re down to my foundations.
30-21: 40 things* I’ve loved in 40 years
I’m back for night two of this trip down a nostalgic and oft traumatic memory lane. Let’s hit it.
40-31: 40 things* I’ve loved in 40 years
I’ve been trying to narrow down the 40 things* I’ve loved in my 40 years of life. The best way to define “things” in the context of this listicle is: cultural artefacts - books, films, music, TV shows. I had a few games in there initially but they dropped off after I had an epiphany that games consume me, they don’t nourish me. What I wanted from this list was cultural artefacts that have given me comfort, escape, hope, joy, a sense of belonging, a thread of connection with other human beings and/or the world.
Not a fangirl, a flowseeker: a unified theory of the fandom-prone personality
Years and years ago, I went to an incredible talk by a woman named Sacha Judd called “what you love matters”. It really struck a chord with me, so much so that I still vividly remember parts of it 8 years later. You can read her full explanation of the talk here, but the gist is: people (predominantly young women) who participate in online fandoms have incredible creative and technical skills that the tech industry overlooks because they’ve been honed in service of something socially embarrassing. Think: One Direction, The Lord of the Rings, or My Little Pony.
On human messiness / when the algorithm doesn’t understand me
I’ve had one of those weeks where Spotify just can’t get it right. Everything is off. My AI DJ sucks. My song radios are weak. My finger is tired from hitting the skip button and I’ve been thinking that either I’m in my luteal phase or the algorithm is dumber than I’ve been led to believe. Or both. I thought our digital overlords were supposed to be observing our every move and adapting in order to keep us plugged in?
Everybody scream: when love is scary and women are unhinged
I’ve been listening to the new Florence + the Machine album and it’s soooo witchy and intense and majestic that I wanted to know more, so I read this interview in the Guardian. There are many nuggets in the piece that I’m obsessed with, like, “I had a Coke can’s worth of blood in my abdomen,” and, “I was very interested in the Bible and Greek myths and Goosebumps.”
Super Tuna: a fun Run Seokjin diversion
I have an intense and introspective post on the boil but I’ve been distracted by the most chaotic 72 hours of BTS content since I joined the fandom, so I’m going to talk about that first. Because I make the rules here. Kim Seokjin, everyone’s favourite hyung (older brother) of BTS, did two encore concerts in Incheon over the weekend.
From Huntr/x to Leelou Dallas Multi-Pass: ass-kicking heroines and emotional context coupling
The first time I heard Golden and Soda Pop, the two global smash hits from the equally massive Netflix film, K-pop Demon Hunters, was before I’d watched the movie. I saw them climbing the charts. I knew the movie was on Netflix. I had a listen because I’m always curious about unexpected global popularity. The songs didn’t hit for me on first listen. I could tell they were good pop songs, but they felt too much like eating candy floss as pop sometimes does. Then my favourite Formula 1 podcaster posted that it was “the best movie ever,” on his Instagram story…