#but an article about it popped up when I was looking into the Lizzo thing and now I'm cross all over again

[yuleshootureye]

Petition to get John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town" and/or "A Pawn In The White Man's Game" to chart over "We Don't Take Kindly to YOU PEOPLE 'Round Here" or "If You're Rude to Cops You Deserve to Get Shot" or whatever Jason Aldean's new single is called.

[chappell-roans]

Sorry rant incoming but it makes sense to me low-key bc I think she's a performative activist. Like she doesn't actually give a shit about peoples struggles in any meaningful way which is why she made a hoopla about becoming political and then made cookies one time? Or something. If you refuse to be political on the basis imma side eye you but ok bc we shouldn't be looking to celebs for politics. she tries to court progressives without ever doing anything to alienate a conservative fanbase. I don't think she's spoken up about the drag ban when lizzo and Hayley kiyoko have bc I don't think she want to risk alienating that side of the fandom. I think if you asked her point blank her opinions on issues I think her answers would fall in line with a lot of her fanbases morals but I don't see her voluntarily actually making meaningful statements. The never being political thing isn't even accurate bc shes always been political, she spoke up about sexism all the time, the difference is she was advocating for for herself bc she was personally affected.

I don't think I'll ever forget how she decided to sue? Or take down an article pointing out her big white surp. Fanbase instead of just making a statement about.. not wanting white supremacist in her fanbase. It's one think to not denounce republicans and another if you won't even say I don't want proud boys to be my fans lol.

Like I get being non political or the fear of being political because your career would be impacted but not only has she risen above bein negatively impacted by speaking out (other smaller pop stars are doing it) there have been other country artists who have so much more to lose who have protested the ban why wearing drag in their concerts. If she had never "become political" maybe if be less annoyed more just side eye but she centered an entire comeback around supporting queer people (not well imo) and now barely speaks up about issues they face. She used it to rebrand but I dont see her rocking the boat to really denounce all the stuff going on rn drag etc. It's pretty easy to sum up the point in that she made two cottagecore albums and was at the top of that celeb jet list. It's all performative.

Idk I think Taylor's a nice person. I think she's talented and charming and funny and I'm not surprised she has so many people that like her because she does nice things for fans, and friends and is generous in her personal life it's just the nice is different than good. I don't actually care of she's dating him I would prefer her to just be honest and be like I don't give a fuck about being progressive enough to actually take personal risks.

I mean yeah I don’t have a lot to add here because I don’t think you’re wrong. I will say I wish she said more absolutely, but I just know it ain’t gonna be the case and my expectations for pop stars have adjusted dramatically. I definitely agree being nice is different than good and idk how exactly to define it. I will add that LGBT rights is one of the few things she’s been outspoken/clear on, even if it was to promote an album, she’s mentioned it pretty consistently since then. And she has dancers in drag with her on stage during this tour, nb/trans performers, lots of LGBT (or at least lesbian and bi, idk about nb/trans?) openers. Not saying it makes up for anything or trying to paint her as a saint. I don’t think she or anyone else is. But yeah idk. My feelings on her activism (and sometimes lack of it) are complicated.

[1ddotdhq]

🦊Wed 30 Dec ‘20🇮🇹

People Magazine released the rest of their interview with Liam from last week: he talks a lot about Maya (and calls her his SPOUSE) and Bear ("I am very frightened about the idea of him entering the world that I'm in”). But the new and exciting thing is that he has something we haven't heard before to say about his music plans for the next year! He says "I'm hoping to write some songs and rewrite my story a little bit, because I don't think that I got it right yet. The music I've been making has been a lot of fun for people, but they're momentary songs, they're not songs that made you think deeper thoughts about someone you really care about. I've really evaluated a lot about myself this year and I think I'm going to take a bit of a different path into 2021." Last year he said, “I want to make a really amazing album that’s not, like, important… I just want to make people move, if that makes sense?” and then he did make that kind of music for a while, and previously he'd said that writing songs for 1D came easily to him, he “just knew how to make it” but that it wouldn't be what he'd choose sound-wise so this will really be the first time he'll be sitting down to both write from the heart and be able to explore his own sound, and we can look forward to something completely new in the world! Good stuff!

Anne Twist put up a selfie of her in the Italian Golden merch, I’m very glad that she got it before they sold out and I hope that she got lucky and it came with a Louis bucket hat! A lot of merch seems to be getting confused these days, with more people getting Harry boxed sets that didn't order them (or order from Harry at all), among other mixups-- if they're trying to get us to buy more I admit, it's motivating. She wasn’t the only one with fashion input today: Lizzo put two new pictures of H on her Instagram story as a part of a “New Years challenge”, Harry Lambert tells us that in his Professional Opinion the JW Anderson Cardigan and the Golden pants should win this round of the Fashion Archive’s competition, and even Fox News can't keep out of the discourse, they stuck Harry on their “Naughty List of 2020” (that’s not the official name but uh fuck them that’s what I’m calling it) for his fashion choices! Apparently, they didn’t like the Vogue dress. Twitter said nahhh fuck that and trended “#foxnewsjacksofftoharrystyles”, which you know what, that feels organic: are they pissed at him bc they’re attracted to him in the dress? Well, get in line, they have a LOT of solo stans to fight!

Niall will be on the Morning Mash Up tomorrow, and we got a little clip of it today, with Niall talking about when he (FINALLY) met Ashe in person. “We had a great laugh,” he says, “we got very drunk!” He also talks about how he doesn’t like to collab with people he hasn’t met, because he thinks it comes through in the song. Anyways, tune in tomorrow for the rest of his NYE Parrrtttyyyyy! Louis won “best male” in the Power Radio awards, accurate, Honey Pop released an article called “How Louis Tomlinson Made 2020 His Year”, accurate, and Walls made Alt-Rock Magazine The Aquarian’s Top 25: “every song features Tomlinson’s expert storytelling abilities, even when documenting... his whirlwind decade long relationship”-- also extremely accurate!

[isaacsapphire]

Men are not into anorexics. Men are into thicc chicks. This has always been the case, but it used to be considered shameful so most men were closeted about it - there are lots of anonymous polls from previous decades, plus porn viewing data, supporting this. Now it's socially acceptable to like the thiccness, so everyone does. Look at sex symbols in pop culture, like Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, or Megan Thee Stallion - there's no anorexic equivalent. Hell, look at Lizzo!

I was misinformed, but you're missing the cultural context where it was a reasonable supposition. I remember Sir Mix a Lot, and J. Lo's bootie, but I'm pretty sure you're younger than me, considering the celebrities you referred to are pretty recent. Men like a bit more curves than women think is fashionable, but we're talking about the era of "heroin chic" where looking like you were a 90 lb heroin addict was extremely fashionable.

"I grew up in the '90s when 'Heroin Chic' was something to aspire to; we were consistently fed images of underweight models and the weekly magazines were awash with articles on how to be a size zero."

Also, I'm not Black, unlike every single recent curvy celebrity you mention. The way race intersects with beauty standards/weight is complex, but the association of larger buttocks with Black women is longstanding. Black men and women have put a lot of effort into glorifying the Black woman's ass, and overall that seems like it's worked out pretty well, and had positive splash effects on other races' beauty standards.

But beauty standards ARE racialized, and I wasn't being judged by Black beauty standards. Indeed, being too like a bootielicious Black woman would be targeted for criticism of a White woman in that era. Was it ultimately racist? Yeah, and the wack thing is how you'd get racism combining with sexism and classism and smacking White women a bit in addition to the expected primary impact on Blacks!

I honestly don't think that beauty standards separate from race very well. I have always, even as a little girl, been sexualized specifically as a White female; I was a desirable victim because I was a blue eyed blond girl.

And like, guys are turned on by curves, but who they want to be seen with or take home is shaped by the fashion of the day rather more than their ejaculations are shaped by it. Plus size women still have this issue of men being interested in sex with them, but not relationships, because they don't have high status body types.

[tswiftdaily]

In the 2010s, she went from country superstar to pop titan and broke records with chart-topping albums and blockbuster tours. Now Swift is using her industry clout to fight for artists’ rights and foster the musical community she wished she had coming up.

One evening in late-October, before she performed at a benefit concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift’s dressing room became -- as it often does -- an impromptu summit of music’s biggest names. Swift was there to take part in the American Cancer Society’s annual We Can Survive concert alongside Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Camila Cabello and others, and a few of the artists on the lineup came by to visit.

Eilish, along with her mother and her brother/collaborator, Finneas O’Connell, popped in to say hello -- the first time she and Swift had met. Later, Swift joined the exclusive club of people who have seen Marshmello without his signature helmet when the EDM star and his manager stopped by.

“Two dudes walked in -- I didn’t know which one was him,” recalls Swift a few weeks later, sitting on a lounge chair in the backyard of a private Beverly Hills residence following a photo shoot. Her momentary confusion turned into a pang of envy. “It’s really smart! Because he’s got a life, and he can get a house that doesn’t have to have a paparazzi-proof entrance.” She stops to adjust her gray sweatshirt dress and lets out a clipped laugh.

Swift, who will celebrate her 30th birthday on Dec. 13, has been impossibly famous for nearly half of her lifetime. She was 16 when she released her self-titled debut album in 2006, and 20 when her second album, Fearless, won the Grammy Award for album of the year in 2010, making her the youngest artist to ever receive the honor. As the decade comes to a close, Swift is one of the most accomplished musical acts of all time: 37.3 million albums sold, according to Nielsen Music; 95 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including five No. 1s); 23 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; 10 Grammys; and five world tours.

She also finishes the decade in a totally different realm of the music world from where she started. Swift’s crossover from country to pop -- hinted at on 2012’s Red and fully embraced on 2014’s 1989 -- reflected a mainstream era in which genres were blended with little abandon, where artists with roots in country, folk and trap music could join forces without anyone raising eyebrows. (See: Swift’s top 20 hit “End Game,” from 2017’s reputation, which featured Ed Sheeran and Future.)

Swift’s new album, Lover, released in August, is both a warm break from the darkness of reputation -- which was created during a wave of negative press generated by Swift’s public clash with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian-West -- as well as an amalgam of all her stylistic explorations through the years, from dreamy synth-pop to hushed country. “The skies were opening up in my life,” says Swift of the album, which garnered three Grammy nominations, including song of the year for the title track.

She recorded Lover after the Reputation Stadium Tour broke the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour late last year. In 2020, Swift will embark on Lover Fest, a run of stadium dates that will feature a hand-picked lineup of artists (as yet unannounced) and allow Swift more time off from the road. “This is a year where I have to be there for my family -- there’s a lot of question marks throughout the next year, so I wanted to make sure that I could go home,” says Swift, likely referencing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, which inspired the Lover heart-wrencher “Soon You’ll Get Better.”

Now, however, Swift finds herself in a different highly publicized dispute. This time it’s with Scott Borchetta, the head of her former label, Big Machine Records, and Scooter Braun, the manager-mogul whose Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group and its master recordings, which include Swift’s six pre-Lover albums, in June. Upon news of the sale, Swift wrote in a Tumblr post that it was her “worst case scenario,” accusing Braun of “bullying” her throughout her career due to his connections with West. She maintains today that she was never given the opportunity to buy her masters outright. (On Tumblr, she wrote that she was offered the chance to “earn” back the masters to one of her albums for each new album she turned in if she re-signed with Big Machine; Borchetta disputed this characterization, saying she had the opportunity to acquire her masters in exchange for re-signing with the label for a “length of time” -- 10 more years, according to screenshots of legal documents posted on the Big Machine website.)

Swift has said that she intends to rerecord her first six albums next year -- starting next November, when she says she’s contractually able to -- in order to regain control of her recordings. But the back-and-forth appears to be nowhere near over: Last month, Swift alleged that Borchetta and Braun were blocking her from performing her past hits at the American Music Awards or using them in an upcoming Netflix documentary -- claims Big Machine characterized as “false information” in a response that did not get into specifics. (Swift ultimately performed the medley she had planned.) In the weeks following this interview, Braun said he was open to “all possibilities” in finding a “resolution,” and Billboard sources say that includes negotiating a sale. Swift remains interested in buying her masters, though the price could be a sticking point, given her rerecording plans, the control she has over the licensing of her music for film and TV, and the market growth since Braun’s acquisition.

However it plays out, the battle over her masters is the latest in a series of moves that has turned Swift into something of an advocate for artists’ rights -- and made her a cause that everyone from Halsey to Elizabeth Warren has rallied behind. From 2014 to 2017, Swift withheld her catalog from Spotify to protest the streaming company’s compensation rates, saying in a 2014 interview, “There should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify.” In 2015, ahead of the launch of Apple Music, Swift wrote an open letter criticizing Apple for its plan to not pay royalties during the three-month free trial it was set to offer listeners; the company announced a new policy within 24 hours. Most recently, when she signed a new global deal with Universal Music Group in 2018, Swift (who is now on Republic Records) said one of the conditions of her contract was that UMG share proceeds from any sale of its Spotify equity with its roster of artists -- and make them nonrecoupable against those artists’ earnings.

During a wide-ranging conversation, Billboard’s Woman of the Decade expresses hope that she can help make the lives of creators a little easier in the years to come -- and a belief that her behind-the-scenes strides will be as integral to her legacy as her biggest singles. “New artists and producers and writers need work, and they need to be likable and get booked in sessions, and they can’t make noise -- but if I can, then I’m going to,” promises Swift. This is where being impossibly famous can be a very good thing. “I know that it seems like I’m very loud about this,” she says, “but it’s because someone has to be.”

While watching some of your performances this year -- like Saturday Night Live and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert -- I was struck by how focused you seemed, like there were no distractions getting in the way of what you were trying to say.

That’s a really wonderful way of looking at this phase of my life and my music. I’ve spent a lot of time recalibrating my life to make it feel manageable. Because there were some years there where I felt like I didn’t quite know what exactly to give people and what to hold back, what to share and what to protect. I think a lot of people go through that, especially in the last decade. I broke through pre-social media, and then there was this phase where social media felt fun and casual and quirky and safe. And then it got to the point where everyone has to evaluate their relationship with social media. So I decided that the best thing I have to offer people is my music. I’m not really here to influence their fashion or their social lives. That has bled through into the live part of what I do.

Meanwhile, you’ve found a way to interact with your fans in this very pure way -- on your Tumblr page.

Tumblr is the last place on the internet where I feel like I can still make a joke because it feels small, like a neighborhood rather than an entire continent. We can kid around -- they literally drag me. It’s fun. That’s a real comfort zone for me. And just like anything else, I need breaks from it sometimes. But when I do participate in that space, it’s always in a very inside-joke, friend vibe. Sometimes, when I open Twitter, I get so overwhelmed that I just immediately close it. I haven’t had Twitter on my phone in a while because I don’t like to have too much news. Like, I follow politics, and that’s it. But I don’t like to follow who has broken up with who, or who wore an interesting pair of shoes. There’s only so much bandwidth my brain can really have.

You’ve spoken in recent interviews about the general expectations you’ve faced, using phrases like “They’ve wanted to see this” and “They hated me for this.” Who is “they”? Is it social media or disparaging think pieces or --

It’s sort of an amalgamation of all of it. People who aren’t active fans of your music, who like one song but love to hear who has been canceled on Twitter. I’ve had several upheavals of somehow not being what I should be. And this happens to women in music way more than men. That’s why I get so many phone calls from new artists out of the blue -- like, “Hey, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, I’m freaking out, can I talk to you?” And the answer is always yes! I’m talking about more than 20 people who have randomly reached out to me. I take it as a compliment because it means that they see what has happened over the course of my career, over and over again.

Did you have someone like that to reach out to?

Not really, because my career has existed in lots of different neighborhoods of music. I had so many mentors in country music. Faith Hill was wonderful. She would reach out to me and invite me over and take me on tour, and I knew that I could talk to her. Crossing over to pop is a completely different world. Country music is a real community, and in pop I didn’t see that community as much. Now there is a bit of one between the girls in pop -- we all have each other’s numbers and text each other -- but when I first started out in pop it was very much you versus you versus you. We didn’t have a network, which is weird because we can help each other through these moments when you just feel completely isolated.

Do you feel like those barriers are actively being broken down now?

God, I hope so. I also hope people can call it out, [like] if you see a Grammy prediction article, and it’s just two women’s faces next to each other and feels a bit gratuitous. No one’s going to start out being perfectly educated on the intricacies of gender politics. The key is that people are trying to learn, and that’s great. No one’s going to get it perfect, but, God, please try.

At this point, who is your sounding board, creatively and professionally?

From a creative standpoint, I’ve been writing alone a lot more. I’m good with being alone, with thinking alone. When I come up with a marketing idea for the Lover tour, the album launch, the merch, I’ll go right to my management company that I’ve put together. I think a team is the best way to be managed. Just from my experience, I don’t think that this overarching, one-person-handles-my-career thing was ever going to work for me. Because that person ends up kind of being me who comes up with most of the ideas, and then I have an amazing team that facilitates those ideas.

The behind-the-scenes work is different for every phase of my career that I’m in. Putting together the festival shows that we’re doing for Lover is completely different than putting together the Reputation Stadium Tour. Putting together the reputation launch was so different than putting together the 1989 launch. So we really do attack things case by case, where the creative first informs everything else.

You’ve spoken before about how meaningful the reputation tour’s success was. What did it represent?

That tour was something that I wanted to immortalize in the Netflix special that we did because the album was a story, but it almost was like a story that wasn’t fully realized until you saw it live. It was so cool to hear people leaving the show being like, “I understand it now. I fully get it now.” There are a lot of red herrings and bait-and-switches in the choices that I’ll make with albums, because I want people to go and explore the body of work. You can never express how you feel over the course of an album in a single, so why try?

That seems especially true of your last three albums or so.

“Shake It Off” is nothing like the rest of 1989. It’s almost like I feel so much pressure with a first single that I don’t want the first single to be something that makes you feel like you’ve figured out what I’ve made on the rest of the project. I still truly believe in albums, whatever form you consume them in -- if you want to stream them or buy them or listen to them on vinyl. And I don’t think that makes me a staunch purist. I think that that is a strong feeling throughout the music industry. We’re running really fast toward a singles industry, but you got to believe in something. I still believe that albums are important.

The music industry has become increasingly global during the past decade. Is reaching new markets something you think about?

Yeah, and I’m always trying to learn. I’m learning from everyone. I’m learning when I go see Bruce Springsteen or Madonna do a theater show. And I’m learning from new artists who are coming out right now, just seeing what they’re doing and thinking, “That’s really cool.” You need to keep your influences broad and wide-ranging, and my favorite people who make music have always done that. I got to work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the Cats movie, and Andrew will walk through the door and be like, “I’ve just seen this amazing thing on TikTok!” And I’m like, “You are it! You are it!” Because you cannot look at what quote-unquote “the kids are doing” and roll your eyes. You have to learn.

Have you explored TikTok at all?

I only see them when they’re posted to Tumblr, but I love them! I think that they’re hilarious and amazing. Andrew says that they’ve made musicals cool again, because there’s a huge musical facet to TikTok. [He’s] like, “Any way we can do that is good.”

How do you see your involvement in the business side of your career progressing in the next decade? You seem like someone who could eventually start a label or be more hands-on with signing artists.

I do think about it every once in a while, but if I was going to do it, I would need to do it with all of my energy. I know how important that is, when you’ve got someone else’s career in your hands, and I know how it feels when someone isn’t generous.

You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently -- staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals.

We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about recalibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers.

We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal -- not as a renegotiation ploy -- and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me.

Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.

Do you know how long that rerecording process will take?

I don’t know! But it’s going to be fun, because it’ll feel like regaining a freedom and taking back what’s mine. When I created [these songs], I didn’t know what they would grow up to be. Going back in and knowing that it meant something to people is actually a really beautiful way to celebrate what the fans have done for my music.

Ten years ago, on the brink of the 2010s, you were about to turn 20. What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time?

Oh, God -- I wouldn’t give myself any advice. I would have done everything exactly the same way. Because even the really tough things I’ve gone through taught me things that I never would have learned any other way. I really appreciate my experience, the ups and downs. And maybe that seems ridiculously Zen, but … I’ve got my friends, who like me for the right reasons. I’ve got my family. I’ve got my boyfriend. I’ve got my fans. I’ve got my cats.

[kingofnxwyxrk]

𝐫𝐞 - 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 : 𝑲𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑬 𝑷𝑳𝑼𝑴𝑩𝑬𝑹

⌞ʾ⁎ ⊰ maia mitchell, female, she/her ⊱ i think i just saw KATHERINE ‘KAT’ PULITZER PLUMBER walk across trafalgar square, singing to SOULMATE ( LIZZO ). you know, the TWENTY-FOUR year old JOURNALIST? people claim that they are just like KATHERINE PULITZER from NEWSIES . it must be because they are AMBITIOUS and PRIVILEGED as well… though i could be wrong. all i know for sure is that they live at EMERALD apartment.⌝

same old kat mostly. i wanted to flesh out her background, change a few things up.

𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 ( 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 )

katherine pulitzer was born into privileged, considering her media mogul of a father and new york socialite / former pageant queen of a mother. growing up, she spent more times with nannies and her family’s employees than her own parents. the most time katherine ever spent with her mother was when she was still being forced into beauty pageants. the ' quality ‘ time she spend with her father was when there were fluff pieces being written about his family. beautiful wife, perfect child. he truly did strive for that perfect family lie ...

safe to say, their home wasn’t as picture - perfect as the mogul lead on. her parents’ marriage was one of convenience, an equal exchange. ( he got a beautiful wife, she got all the money she could spend. ) katherine was but a by - product. it became abundantly clear neither truly wanted kids, but ... mistakes happened, don’t they? 

katherine’s parents expected her to continue her supposed path, following in her mother’s footsteps, but the young girl was much more interested in her father’s business than that of her mother’s ; she wanted to write, share stories, spread the news. her mother was sad to no longer have a little doll to dress - up, but her father didn’t care so long as she wasn’t wasting his fortune like some other heiresses ... thus, she flew across the country to study journalist ( and get far away from her parents ).

during university is when katherine started to using the byline “ plumber ”. while her name didn’t typically cause issues, it did any time you tried to look her up. ( she needed an online presence, and it’s hard when your name results in articles about your father and your former pageant history. ) it was the best way to distance herself from her past, and it’s been pretty effective so far.

in an attempt to further herself ( quite literally ) even more, she decided to move to london right after uni. however, in order to do so ... she had to use her father’s connections ... her personal connections were limited, and she didn’t nearly have enough credentials to go international by herself. thus, it’s technically her father that got her the job, and kat hates that fact. fortunately, she’s been working her long enough that no one seems to remember how she got the job in the first place ...

𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 ( 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 )

she’s been in london for a little over two years ! she had made great strides in her time here, including working her way up from copywriter to published journalist. she started off very closed - off and focused on her career, but after making some friends, she learned to loosen up every now and again. 

she works for the arts and lifestyle section of her news company. this means she mostly covers local events in the community, sometimes the occasional piece of celebrity news, and the random pop culture article. ( do not ask her assignments that involve online memes and trends ... ) her work is usually just on the website, but it occasionally gets into the physical paper.

safe to say, kat is very quiet about her past and has been for a while. there are a few times she mentions her parents existing, though only in passing. she never says what they do, her relationship with them, anything. the most you may get is an “ oh i don’t talk to them much anymore. ”

kat, by default, tries to come off as professional and serious as best she can, especially when meeting new people. however, no matter how hard she tries, she still falters from time to time. sometimes you can help your true self from surfacing ...

kat’s latest personal project is an attempt to expose her father’s facade. he’s build this perfect public image. one of the perfect balance of business, family, and morals ... but really, he’s no better than the rest of them. it’s just about time someone fixes the narrative ... 

𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑲𝑺

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[sweetcatastrophex]

This kid I know just shared this tweet on Snapchat and said: “Crazy how everyone has to be Politically Correct to the point where you can (sic) let someone know they are extremely unhealthy.”

I replied: Lizzo is popular bc black fat women are finally being represented in mainstream pop music culture when they were previously ignored, despite their obvious talents. And who isn’t encouraging exercise and good diet? Bc she does… lol she posts about her exercises all the time. And I’m posting this on Tumblr to add: If there’s an obesity epidemic in the country, why does the onus fall on her, an individual, to coach every person through their diet and exercise habits? Why is that burden on her? I didn’t see Watkins criticize Rick Ross or Action Bronson for not encouraging exercise... Not to mention that obesity is linked to genetic factors. So again, why is it her job to denounce obesity rather than doctors’?

Gonna just log our convo. He said: It took her how long to do it. and it’s not healthy to be the size she is, there’s no excuse for putting your own body through something like that and then pass it off as normal. it’s not I said: but he said it is normal when he stated there’s an obesity epidemic. it’s a widespread issue. how do you know she hasn’t been exercising since she was 8? you don’t. bc she’s fat she can’t sing in public? why didn’t that guy criticize Rick Ross? Action Bronson? Fat Joe???? He said: I actually do know she hasn’t been exercising since 8 because I did my research for this exact situation. and she’s using her platform publicly to say being the size she is is okay. also rick ross has completely transformed himself and promotes a healthy lifestyle. and action and joe aren’t using their platform to encourage obesity I said: lmao that’s not a research based finding, you don’t know her therefore you don’t know her habits especially since she was little. rick ross rapping about drugs and crimes is promoting a health lifestyle? 😂 no. so why aren’t action bronson and fat joe telling people to exercise? according to this logic they should. He said: you are deflecting so hard right now it’s hilarious. here, go yell at him *links to tweet* I said: lmao i already am on the tweet and i’m not deflecting you just don’t like that i’m pointing out the double standard. why is it her job to denounce obesity? and not doctors? He said: its not her job, imo no celebrities should voice their opinions bc it can sway the gullible. however people gotta be retarded to not understand her weight is beyond unhealthy. shes also whats happening now, you cant dwell on the past. and doctors do but thanks to trump everyone thinks doctors dont know shit also u cant say shit about the rappers “promoting drugs” as if we both dont smoke 😂 I said: i think celebs should absolutely use their platforms to spread awareness about issues. and Fat Joes and Actions weight is also obviously unhealthy so where are the tweets about that? or news stories from the past? ... weed isn’t a drug in my eyes, or a healing one rather than harmful one. i’m talking about the oxys and xannys and cocaine that they all love to promote which actually contribute to deaths He said: we have evolved from past mistakes. i would think shed wanna better her future and this generation. guess i was wrong I said: is that why DJ Khaled is so famous? lol letting fat people perform is “past mistakes?” yikes. again, she exercises regularly and it’s not her job to influence an entire generation. and obesity is linked to genetics He said: that man is so unhealthy idk how he’s alive tbh. and no perform is not the problem (or something like that). the mistake is allowing yourself to get like that. and yes it is but it’s not 100% the cause. being careless is too I said: yeah but some people could exercise every day til they turn blue in the face and still not be skinny He said: me I said: doesn’t make them unworthy of performing He said: where are you getting this performance from. I have no problem with ppl performing whatever size or shape I said: bc lizzo is a performer. so then what’s the problem He said: she promotes her obesity. that’s not a good thing I said: how? how does she promote obesity? i see her posting about exercise and healthy eating 🤔 He said: got u hold on *links to Lizzo says body positivity has become too commercialized...* I said: body positivity is commercialized. i’ll ask again how is she promoting obesity? He said: did u read the article. heres another *links to blacknews.com/... legrand h clegg lizzo image of...* (TLDR black people flaunt their degradation, and other shocking misogynistic and racist comments) I said: yeah did u? lolll He said: yes I said: so you still haven’t said how she promotes obesity He said: the article explained it. shes normalizing it I said: but obesity is already normal since it’s widespread. then fat joe and dj khaled are promoting it too He said: yes they are. also i love how you deflect it to someone else. and just because something is widespread that doesn’t make it normal. thats like saying covid is normal and we should just live with it instead of do something about it I said: nah you should look up the definition of normal. and its not deflecting (lol) it’s pointing out the double standard. they’re all top charts musicians. so why call out lizzo and not dj khaled He said: i have plenty of times when he was relevant. why not accept the fact its serious I said: he’s still relevant he produces songs. again lizzo isn’t a doctor so the responsibility doesn’t fall on her. plus you said celebs shouldn’t comment on things He said: but they do anyway so if they dont like the backlash then they can hop off social media. and like you said theyre “performers” he doesn’t perform because of his health. no disrespect but you don’t seem like you researched khaled at all I said: 😂 you dont need to research dj khaled to know he’s been performing. again double standard to not bash him while ur at it. and celebs have every right to post whatever they want to just like me and u He said: oh so everyone is the same? I said: everyone has the same freedom of speech He said: correct. im talking about the obesity I said: what about it He said: how serious it is I said: it is serious and doctors should talk about it more He said: 100%

[chenoehi]

My thoughts on Grammys, BTS, and the Academy's supposed 'diversity'.

Can't do 'Keep Reading' on mobile guys so if you don't care about it keep on scrolling.

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The only BTS music I thought might have a slim chance for a nomination was "Boy With Luv (ft. Halsey)" as a pop duo collaboration. That was it. Anything more than that was just wishful thinking.

The Academy (both Grammy and Oscar's) talk about diversity when controversy comes up, they give some Black artists and actors awards, they look like try-hards, and then the next year they repeat history. Each year more men continue to be nominated than women, even in years that women dominated the industry. Each year artists who push boundaries continue to be overlooked or less favored than more traditional artists. Each year recognition continues to be bulk awarded to the most basic artists with the most basic styles with the most basic music, often times the same (mostly white) artists each year. No one get me started on always having to award artists like Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran or Adele each year they make music, despite whether or not what they put out is actually good, original, or better than what they did the year before. I'm not singling them out, but I think they illustrate my point. I will make one exception for Adele because she is a phenomenal singer, although I did not personally believe 25 deserved to sweep; I've been told by fans that Ed Sheeran is a good performer, so I'll give him that but I'll keep my thoughts of his music and the rest of my opinions to myself. But I get tired of artists like these getting nominated every time or almost every time they put music out and then getting awards every time they're nominated, hence sweeping. It gets tiring when the music that frequently-awarded artists put out sucks and they keep raking noms because of who they are.

There is absolutely nothing BTS or any other Asian et al. artists can do to beat that system. None of the criticism in the world has changed it thus far and I don't know that anything ever will. It's a hard institution to tear down. They will use "diverse" artists for ratings by inviting them and having them hand out awards and, in BTS's case, making such a big deal as to even display their Grammy outfits in the museum, and then they will refuse to nominate them.

It's a back handed compliment to non-Western artists. The Academy is saying they're good enough to help win over a predominantly younger and more diverse generation of viewers but they're not good enough to be awarded for their achievements.

What's worse is, the only expectation I had was for the Academy to invite them as performers despite whatever minuscule nomination they might have garnered, because it's been clearly hinted they would attend another Grammys and the Academy would frankly be fools to not have them perform after the shitstorm going on the pop industry rn. If you know anything about the Taylor Swift situation (you may not be able to tell which one because there are always so many) who knows if she will be performing this Grammys, and her medley of her songs was supposedly going to be a highlight; something's always stirring things up so who knows if certain artists don't end up going at all or bow out of performing. Ariana Grande bailed on the 2019 Grammys because the Grammy producer wouldn't let her perform songs she wanted to, and these kinds of disputes happen and artists who are nominated become no-shows. So, the opportunity to invite a group with a huge following, who have already proved to increase ratings, seems like a sure move right?

But BTS can't exactly perform at the Grammys if they're not nominated for a Grammy; I don't see them doing a tribute any time soon either. And if the Academy even dares to invite them at this point for a performance it will be an insult and a transparent ratings grab. BTS may still go to avoid appearing as if their pride has been wounded or just because they want to go regardless. They know better than their fans how it feels to lose, to be discarded, to be overlooked. This is happening to them first and foremost, not us. And if they decide that they will deal with this the same way they dealt with all their other struggles, to push on, perform for their fans, and use the opportunity of exposure for what it's worth, then support them and their decision. I, for one, won't be watching it live regardless of whether they are there. If all the Academy wants is ratings from BTS fans when they are fine with treating them like garbage, they won't get ratings from me.

I fully believe that the Academy is not only discriminatory to non-Western, non-white artists but that failing to nominate BTS for any award at all is out of fear. Fear that their traditional, safe artists will be offended and boycott the awards if they lose out on a nomination, fear that their fanbases will retaliate, but more importantly, fear that BTS or any other gigantic force of a non-Western artist may be a shoe-in for whatever award they are nominated for and potentially sweep if allowed to compete with all other artists. This comes after BTS won Best Group at the Billboard Music Awards this year. Their first time being nominated for a major U.S. award category. It wasn't even a Best New Artist schtick. It was a main category and they were up against established, popular, Western groups like Imagine Dragons and Maroon 5. It comes on the heels of Super M earning number 1 debut album and beginning a successful tour they are on right now. It comes after Blackpink performed at Coachella and toured the country. It comes after NCT 127 and ATEEZ toured the country. Even TXT, a months old group, had successful showcases in major U.S. cities.

The Academy is too racist and xenophobic to acknowledge Asian artists--they always have been and they always will be. The most diversity we'll see is the nomination of Black artists, but still only 2 were nominated for SotY whereas 4 were nominated for RotY. I don't know the exact numbers, but any time I've ever kept up with the awards I don't see very many other diversity groups being represented in nominations either, such as artists with disabilities or LGBT artists who have different gender expressions and identities or sexual orientations that impact their music, performance, and artistry. Halsey's intimate performance at the BBMAs with that female dancer was huge because that's just not something that's really done. Still. And any time it does happen it's a Britney and Madonna moment all over again, it's a fetish to everyone. Progress has been made but it's very minuscule in comparison to the 'diversity' touting approach they've taken.

I'll just leave the words of this morning's Rolling Stone article here:

So, the Academy selectively extends its diversity goodwill just as they always have. No shade to the artist, but just using this example of Lil Nas X versus BTS, you have a young Black, gay artist who started his career in late 2018. He's nominated for some of top Grammys with a minimal discography--an 18-minute EP. This is groundbreaking, it's great. BTS, a 6-year-old established group of young Korean artists who break nearly every record there is and dominated Western charts this spring, and they continue to chart Billboard and Western streaming platforms. They earn no nominations.

The two artists ironically happen to have a collaboration in the form of Old Seoul Road.

Congrats to Lizzo and Lil Nas X (that's not shade at Billie btw) but this tweet from the New York Times is so unbelievably misguided because the Academy's conception of diversity is like seasoning with mostly salt, a little pepper and no cayenne (hate to use that analogy but am I wrong?):

I do appreciate that some artists who don't get nominated a lot got nominations, but looking at the list of top awards I just can't imagine how some of those got through. And I listen to a lot of different music and some BTS stans may have know idea who the fuck Bon Iver is and I'm not saying they don't deserve nominations period, but when you look at the list it's just mind boggling how a song like BWL that was listened to and appreciated like a summer anthem would be could not be included in that mess. (Vampire Weekend for Album of the Year, what, who the fuck, is that, they've been around since 2006, that's when I listened to nothing but metal and rock and I don't, know who the fuck this obscure band is? I may have heard of them once eons ago but they apparently made no impression? I'm sorry). I won't go as far as to say BWL was a Western summer anthem because much of the gp still doesn't know them, this is true. But apparently that's never stopped the Academy before. Bonus, anyone remember Bon Iver winning Best New Artist over Katy Perry all those years ago? No, just me? Good times. (Respect to Bon Iver, I'm just making a point that a lesser known artist won that award over a popular artist and the public went "waH?" Bon Iver being nominated for Record and Album of the Year this time honestly has the same effect as before because what is Hey, Ma even. I listen to Indie music so. What it is.)

Anyway. That's my thoughts. Expect nothing and you won't be disappointed is a myth. You will always have room to be disappointed in humanity.

Edit: while I'm at it, a big, massive fuck you to the Academy for never nominating Halsey for Without You.

[ssfoc]

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

On marketing viral content, by former Buzzfeed quiz creator Matthew Perpetua

_______________________

One of the reasons BuzzFeed has been extremely successful over the past decade comes down to focusing on the utility of content, particularly in how sharing a list, quiz, news article, essay, or video can express someone’s identity or start a conversation with friends and family. This was the basis of editorial philosophy before I started working there in 2012, and more recently was codified into something that was referred to internally as “cultural cartography.” The cultural cartography system existed both to catalog the utilities of pieces of content as well as encourage creators to fully consider what the potential use of their work could be before they even started making anything.

This is the essence of viral content – the work that succeeds on the grandest scale does so because it has clear objective utility. If you’re chasing this, you learn to make yourself useful. In social media, people are always looking for ways to talk about themselves or thorny personal issues in a way that softens it slightly through humor and allows a bit of distance in that the person sharing is understood not to be the author. Quizzes in particular thrive on giving readers results that allow them to share a boast with a shield of irony and plausible deniability – oh, it’s just a silly quiz!

Once you start seeing this pattern in people’s behavior it’s hard not to notice it in everything that becomes popular. It’s the key to really connecting with an audience, and when this is done organically, it’s fabulous. But it’s also something that can result in outrageously crass content, and somehow becomes more cringeworthy when it’s done with very good intentions. There’s not much room for ambiguity or abstraction in this – the work that will resonate most deeply is an emphatic statement of self and everything runs on a generalized sort of specificity intended to create relatable moments. Everything is crafted to invite you to go “it me!” and then share it with other people as either “I am ____” or “we are ____.”

Pop songs have worked in this mode forever, and the music with real staying power is typically the stuff with the most utility. The songs that end up being most heavily licensed to television, film, and advertisements are nearly always the ones that either offer a lyrical declaration that overtly states something in the narrative or has a mood that signals particular contextual connotations. Music is a tool in these things, it’s all a shorthand that uses the strengths of one art form to in many cases compensate for the flaws of another.

This bleeds into how people make playlists in the era of iPods and streaming. People will make playlists for specific moods, for specific settings, for specific sentiments, or seek out pre-existing playlists with these utilities on Spotify and Apple Music. Utility is a large part of how anyone engages with music, and the emergence of platforms with observable data and potential for virality – as well as a commercial dependence on the money that comes from licensing – has pushed many people in the music industry to approach creating songs with the same “cultural cartography” goals as anyone making content for BuzzFeed.

So, Lizzo. Lizzo is a perfect example of an artist who is thriving on creating content about identity that is highly relatable and has a clear objective utility in playlists and licensing. The odds are very good that your first exposure to Lizzo’s music was in a television show or movie, or failing that, a video or song that came your way when someone shared it to your feed. Maybe it was served to you algorithmically on YouTube or in an automated “discovery” playlist. Lizzo’s music is perfectly engineered for all of this, to the point that it can seem like it’s already gone through extensive A/B testing and optimization. It’s glossy and immediately accessible, but signals some degree of authenticity and soulfulness. It’s aggressively sincere and every song is clearly about a particular statement or relatable situation. It’s all geared towards feelings of empowerment, and given how many ads, shows, and movies want to sell that feeling, her songs are extremely effective and valuable, especially since up until recently she was not famous and thus not weighed down in the cultural baggage of celebrity. (If you used a Beyoncé or Rihanna song instead, your “girl boss” moment would in some way become about Beyoncé or Rihanna rather than your characters.)

I can’t hear Lizzo’s music without recognizing her cultural cartography savvy. A lot of music can achieve these goals without contrivance, often just as a natural side effect of an artist intuitively making resonant work, but Lizzo’s songs all sound very calculated to me. This is not such a bad thing – her skill in expressing herself in relatable ways is a major talent, and I’ve worked with many people who have this natural skill and hold them in very high regard. (I’m much better at telling people who they are rather than asking you to identify with who I am.) Lizzo has a good voice, and her songs range from “pretty good” to “undeniable banger” but I have mixed feelings about all of it because I know the game being played rather well, and because I’m uncomfortable with this self-consciously audience-pleasing approach to content creation becoming the primary mode of pop culture. I appreciate the value of empowering art – and as someone who has spent his entire adult life as a fat man, I am particularly sympathetic to Lizzo’s fat-positivity – but fear mainstream culture further devolving into nothing but shallow exclamations of self-affirmation. We’re more than halfway there already, especially when you factor in YouTube.

This music makes me want to rebel against it. I never ask that any music be “for me” – I prefer art to offer a window into other lives and ways of thinking – but Lizzo’s songs are often so transparent in their intended use as a way for square, insecure people to feel empowered and cool that I can’t help but hear it and think “but I don’t actually want or need this!” She reminds me a lot of Macklemore, whose big hits “Same Love” and “Thrift Shop” had a similar quasi-cool accessibility and cultural cartography value at the time. In both cases, making fun of them feels cheap and churlish, or like a sideways attack on fat women, LGBT rights, or uh, value shopping. But for me, it’s really just developing an allergy. I hear too much of music like this, or see too many shows and movies that are obviously designed with cultural cartography in mind, and I just run screaming back towards artsy ambiguity.

[bigyack-com]

Porn, sex, empowerment: Pornhub stars walk the runway at Namilia’s fashion show - fashion and trends

Fashion label Namilia deconstructed Asian stereotypes in the porn industry, empowering the demure, submissive woman with bold dominatrix looks worn exclusively by Asian models at Sunday’s show, including several Pornhub actors. The Herotica collection shown during New York Fashion Week deconstructed the traditional, buttoned-up Chinese dress. The gown kept the same silhouette but was done in dominatrix leather with a hand-embroidered electric blue dragon snaking across the front.Another look featured the same traditional dress on one side of the model, but the other side was stripped down to black leather dominatrix garb.A short, colourful look folded elaborately around the collar into a Chinese takeout box, complete with long, dripping. crystal ramen noodles and pieces of shrimp with words about male genitalia.Namilia’s message is clear. Women like sex as much as men but are often shamed for it. Porn is typically seen as a man’s thing, “but women are also interested in porn and sex, but we were just excluded in the past,” said one of the designers, Emilia Pfohl.The brand reached out to porn stars to help them reframe that narrative.“I don’t think motherhood and sexuality are mutually exclusive at all,” said Pornhub brand ambassador Asa Akira, a 35-year-old college graduate whose been in the business for a dozen years and gave birth to a son last year.She walked the show wearing a sexy, black kimono-style bodysuit. When she unfurled her arms, fabric hung dramatically to the floor with a reference to wrecking male genitalia.Nothing is off limits for the Berlin-based brand, composed of Pfohl and Nan Li, who met in design school. Their first collection, whose title can’t be repeated, featured vagina- empowering references to pop idols including Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus.Paris Hilton opened their show in 2018, and last year’s show featured holograms of a crying Leonardo DiCaprio and Justin Bieber prints photo-edited onto Jesus’ body.Celebrities including Jennifer Lopez, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Rihanna, Cardi B and Ellie Goulding have all worn the brand.On Sunday, several looks turned models into Transformers, with oversize, clawlike arms inscribed with sexually empowering words. A sculptural neon-green and black look included a riff on the Louis Vuitton pattern, but with dollar signs and male genitalia and large, insect-style wings coming out the back. The designers said it was their take on the Victoria’s Secret angel wings, in a way that less objectified women.The schoolgirl uniform was also turned on its head, with a pink and white monogram on a pleated leather skirt.“When is something part of fashion, what’s high culture, what’s low culture, what’s profane, what’s not? And we wanted to take porn into a new context to kind of normalize sex work, prostitution, pornography and put it in a fashion show context, so there’s not as much shame and taboo,” Li said during a backstage interview.Their designs are heavily inspired by pop culture, “looking from the outside at American culture” to create “a revolutionary new feminist youth culture,” said Li, who freelanced for Kanye West’s brand Yeezy in the past.Several streetwear looks included edgy motorcycle race suits in feminine pinks, and sweatshirts with the Pornhub and Herotica label. The brands were also printed on a stylish black velour tracksuit.“My scariest thing before I became a porn star was that people judge me and also fear of what my mom would think,” said Marica Hase, a 38-year-old from Japan who also walked in the show. “I love porn. I’m a little bit of a naughty girl.”(This story has been published from a wire agency feed with a few modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Read the full article

[heylabodega]

how did you make friends in new york? i'm moving in two months and i'm only just realizing i'm terrified of having no one

Hey pal! You probably will have no one for a while! That’s ok! You’ve got yourself, the best person. You’re probably gonna have a month or two where on your days off you realize at 5pm that you haven’t spoken out loud. You’re gonna have some strange, wild, interesting, silent months. Treasure them, silent alone months are rare in life.

Pal, can I tell you about last night? It was my birthday drinks! My birthday is tomorrow happy birthday to me. I had them at a bar in Brooklyn that I hadn’t been to in months or years. We used to hang out there all the time because it was near my friend Anna’s apartment, but she moved to Colorado and we haven’t spoken in years. Last night I walked there with Liz and Robbie after we finished recording what we believe to be our best podcast episode yet. I met Liz and Robbie almost 3 years ago. Liz and I had been following each other on tumblr and she was in New York from D.C. visiting her best friend Robbie and there was slushy snow on the ground and I met them in a little dive bar in the East Village where Liz taught the bartender how to make a gin gimlet and we drank them, watered down and cheap, for hours. A few months later, Liz moved to Brooklyn to work for Hillary Clinton.

When we got to the bar, Eleanor and Emma were already there and had grabbed a table outside. Emma had brought two tupperware containers full of funfetti whoopie pies, my favorite. Eleanor had brought a signed copy of Hunger. I met Eleanor, oh 5 years ago now? Caroline and I had decided to plan a tumblr meetup to which we invited approximately 20 people and to which 2 came, Eleanor was one of them. We went to brunch the next weekend and in what was probably actually weeks or months but in my memory is condensed to practically an instant, we bonded over our confused feelings, our past eating disorders, books about young women in the city, in the bright sweatiness of summer in New York. Later, we lived together for a few months, and when I moved back to the city I slept in her bed while looking for an apartment, slipping in late, waking up in the morning to pick outfits and try to make it to the Subway before we started sweating.

I met Emma through Caroline and I hope she’ll forgive me for not remembering what our precise first meeting was.  But soon we discovered a shared love of old movies, musicals especially, and a shared wry-but-exhilerated frustration with dating. Once a month or so we meet at one of our apartments and watch an old musical. In the summer we go to the movies in the parks, sweating and drinking wine from plastic cups and being eaten alive by mosquitos as the sun sets behind Singin’ In the Rain or North By Northwest or Rear Window. She is who I text all day about dates and friends and terrible articles on the internet. She is wise and funny.

Shortly after we got to the bar, Lauren arrived, followed shortly by Timea, both of them looking glamourous in red lipstick and cool boots. Lauren was a friend of my friend Anna, the one who used to live near this bar. I knew Anna through a friend from middle school, and Anna knew Lauren from work. We all hung out in a foursome for that one weird summer where I thought I could be a different person than the one I am if I belonged to a group but Lauren and I were never close. Then Anna left, and then Emily, and then, a little bit later, me. When I came back Lauren and I started to hang out more and she has become one of my best friends. She is funny and kind and surprising and we have had a great deal of fun wheeling about the city. Timea and Lauren have been friends since middle school and Timea lives a few blocks from me. She’s an architect and is one of the most elegant people I have ever met.

Phoebe was next to arrive. We met I want to say 3 or 4 years ago when I messaged her on tumblr that we should hang out, after we’d been following each other for a while. She knows Eleanor from school. We met at French Roast in the village and drank white wine and talked about Frank O’Hara and The Beatles and loving the city. On Thursday she texted me to ask if I wanted an extra ticket to the Lizzo concert and I laughed and said I was already going and we met up there and danced and danced and it was perfect. She is always wearing an outfit that is at least 20 percent cooler than anyone else in the room.

Liz’s girlfriend, who I now call my friend, Lauren and her friend Claire got there after dinner both of them smiling and hugging me. Lauren and Liz met on the Obama campaign (I think) but started dating while they were both working at HFA. I met Lauren when she came to Caroline’s birthday party and then shortly afterwards to our Halloween party. She’s funny and beautiful and intimidatingly smart. Through her I got to start volunteer writing for HFA, an opportunity I will be forever grateful for.

A few minutes later, Thane texted, “Just got here, are you still here?” I met Thane through my friend Emma, in Portland. I met Emma because she was dating my friend Evan from high school and after they broke up, she and I  stayed friends. We drove all over Portland and various natures nearby. She introduced me to her friend Thane, and I’d say he and I actually got close in Brooklyn when he was visiting a few days after I’d moved back. I hung out with him and his friends in bars all over Wiliamsburg for like a week. We stayed in touch, and he moved here with his girlfriend about a month ago. Thane has always just read something fascinating or seen some cool art that he understands much better than I ever could. He’s much smarter than me. His girlfriend, Alicia, came a few minutes later. We haven’t spent much time together and she’s a little quiet but whenever she talks it’s to say something thoughtful and interesting. They brought me a brand new Moleskine.

Last to arrive were Sarah and Simon, my roommates. Sarah my old roommate and I found on Craigslist, and she and Simon are old family friends. Sarah was also at the Lizzo concert on Thursday, and we’re going to see the new Jenny Slate movie tonight, and Hamlet on Wednesday. She’s always down to do cool things, and I’m always interested to hear her opinions. She’s one of the smartest, most well read people I know. There’s no one I would have rather lived with through the election. We both volunteered before and followed the news, alternately stressed and put upon and excited. We both watched the results numbly, we both cried in our rooms, ours was a house of grieving for weeks after. Simon is one of the kindest people I know. Once he told me that when he was a kid he saw a group of people making fun of one kid and he promised himself that he would never–and I was going to say, “let that happen to you?” because I’m a monster–and he said let that happen to anyone when he was around. I have also in the 2 years I’ve lived here never had to change a lightbulb, even in the bathroom that Sarah and I share.

Shortly after them came Sarah’s boyfriend, who I really like he’s funny and smart, and his friends who I’d never met before but who all bought me drinks and chatted loudly and were generally boisterous and bright.

Sarah’s friend Erin pulled me up to dance, and I was happy to oblige. Robbie was sitting and talking to Simon about coding, in words I didn’t understand and I was delighted to watch them talk about something they’re both good at. But when ‘Sorry’ came on I ran over and tapped Robbie’s shoulder urgently and then ran back to Erin and Robbie followed and we danced to pop music until we were sweaty and grinning and full of gin and tonics, none of which I paid for all night.

This is, in case I am being too subtle, a love letter to my friends, and to the world in which I was able to find them, and an answer to your question. The internet is helpful. Friends of friends are good. Sometimes people come in and out of your life and that’s the most upsetting fact that exists and also the most important to come to grips with. Dancing is the best feeling in the world, especially if it’s to Whitney. The way I made friends is accidentally, by being alone for a while, by figuring out what I’m interested in, by doing those things and talking about those things until I found people that wanted to do and talk about the same things, by being excited to meet new people, by being willing to meet new people and have it not work out, by feeling a lot and often out loud, by being absolutely dazzled by every friend I have, and by drinking a lot of gin beverages.

[iamkaitlinj]

Blog Post #17/18

Interview Questions

If you think of a few recent purchases what were the main factors that influenced your purchase?

-My desire for that certain purchase, advertisements for it, reviews of it.

What was your last music-related purchase?

-My last music-related purchase was this month, I paid for sheet music for my audition.

What were the main reasons/motivations behind the purchase? 

-I liked the song, and there was no other place to get it for free.  I needed the song for the audition.

What kind of music do you like? 

-I like showtunes, alternative, and pop music.

How do you consume music—i.e., how do you buy it/ when do you watch/listen to it/where do you watch/ listen to it? 

-I typically buy music online, usually spotify (it is five dollars a month for college students).  I listen to this music nearly every day, basically anywhere.  Usually it is in my kitchen while I’m cleaning dishes, or in my bedroom while I’m painting or doing my make-up.

What are your opinions on the current music industry as a whole? 

-I enjoy the music industry, however I feel as if music is not as pure and meaningful as it used to be, and many things are about money and fame rather than inspiration.

How much of an influence would your favorite musicians have on you as a person? 

-My favorite musicians make me feel more confident in myself and empowered as a woman.  They motivate me to be stronger and be the best version of myself I can be.  Other influencers make me feel like it is also okay to be vulnerable and feel sad from time to time.  Music inspires me to be kinder to myself.

How about on your purchases? 

-My favorite musicians influence me to purchase things such as spotify or merchandise, as people feel like the music they listen to should be represented as it is a part of their identity.

Do you consider social responsibility and/or ethical considerations when making purchases of products/ services in the area of music? 

-I sometimes do, however not as much as I should.

Can you think of ways that musicians/bands currently engage in socially responsible behavior? 

-Musicians/bands engage in socially responsible behavior when they spread positive and inspiring messages through their music, use their fame for something good, donate some of their earnings to those in need, or have sales on their music.

Do any recent examples of socially responsible behavior within the music industry come to mind? 

-The Chainsmokers teamed with YellowHeart, a socially responsible live event ticketing platform, to give back to their fans and protect from fraud.

Have you considered aspects of socially responsible behavior when you have attended live music events? 

-I have considered socially responsible behavior, yes.

Have you engaged in socially responsible behavior at live music events? 

-I have engaged in socially responsible behavior at live music events such as being respectful and participating in an appropriate manner.

 How would you define a socially responsible musician? 

-Since musicians are typically influencers, they should make sure they are spreading positive messages and using their fame in a way it is put to good use and in a way that it is helpful to the society.  

Do you think it is important for them to act in a socially responsible way? 

-Yes, because many people look up to musicians as role models.  With great power comes great responsibility.

Would you be more likely to buy an album/attend a concert of an artist that you perceive to be engaged in socially responsible behavior?

-Yes, I like to support those who are responsible and don’t abuse their power. 

Have you attended a live event due to the socially responsible aspect of the event?

-Yes, once I attended an Andy Grammar concert that was put on for a friend of mine whose son passed away.  The money for the concert was donated.

How would you compare the role that social responsibility plays in everyday consumption decisions to music consumption decisions?

-Both have to do with desire and advertising, along with making decisions on what to purchase.

Authenticity is important for artists because when consumers buy tickets for a charity event, it makes them feel good about their purchase and it gives more of a reason to buy.

The article stated that “several participants identified attending charity music gigs and events as a specific way of supporting the music industry,” and one participant stated that “it makes me feel good. It feels like I’m sort of making some kind of difference there through my purchases” (236).  This shows that the desire to feel impactful has an effect on the desire to purchase tickets.

(video below) Ed Sheeran is very authentic and real in this video, and fans got an inspiring message.

A good protest song is one that unifies a group of people with a similar idea they are arguing.  It should powerfully display a message with strong emotion and passion.  It should bring people together, yet have the potential to break people apart.  In the article, Brian Laidlaw states a protest song to be an “urgent topic with a specific audience in mind” (Laidlaw).  Keeping an audience in mind is very important so that musicians know who they are singing for and why they are singing.

Lizzo is a very socially responsible and impactful artist because she is always reminding her fans through social media and lyrical messages to be confident in themselves no matter what size you are.  Lizzo also sang Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” to help spread positivity and hope for everyone as we are staying at home during this tough time.  She is constantly inspiring others and teaching us to love ourselves.

I think Lizzo is effective because every time I listen to her music or watch an uplifting video she posts on social media, I feel happy and confident in myself.

[femmeval-blog]

Lizzo Lays Down the Law

Recently and (seemingly) suddenly, Lizzo has skyrocketed across the celebrity world, bringing music that proclaims good vibes and life positivity, as well as being an icon of body positivity.

See interview in previous post (”I Weigh” Interview) for reference.

I think this interview sums up everything Lizzo stands for, and what I want to focus on the most is her continued thread throughout the interview of learning and unlearning things taught to you. She talks about how as children we are so subtly taught to expect a certain thing from our bodies/appearance/selves, which we then must unlearn as adults. The dangerous thing, which she talks about, is how often these are just side comments that do not seem inherently ‘bad’ in any way, but can still affect us. I remember when I was a child (like between the ages of 6-12) I was super skinny, just naturally, and my mom would always call me her “Skinny Minnie,” and I internalized that and felt like I had to stay that way, because she always said it in a positive, upbeat way. She never said in in a “don’t get fat or I won’t love you” way - I know that’s not true in any way - but it lays down that pressure that we should stay that way.

One part of this interview that really hit me hard in the heart was when she was talking about being younger and just wishing she could take a knife to her stomach and cut it off. How heartbreaking is this, and how even more heartbreaking is it that young girls are still thinking this to themselves every day?

If you have the time, please, please watch this interview. Lizzo talks so much about how we unlearn these negatives and start learning something new, and it is so beautiful and inspiring and uplifting.

How amazing is it that we have a celebrity inspiration like this, who exists in pop culture, for young girls to look up to today? Finding power as a fat black woman - the intersection of three marginalized groups - this is what we need more of.

I hate the word “compare,” so let’s take a look at Lizzo in contrast to a lot of the images of beauty that our society shares with us. Open up any fashion magazine or tabloid - I’ve literally seen in certain tabloids articles making fun of celebrity bikini bodies that are not “perfect” or happened to be caught at a bad angle. I was so happy to see Lizzo featured in Teen Vogue (see an earlier reblog), and I hope to continue seeing images of her and role models like her in media.

If you’re ever in need of a power anthem, take a listen to her song “Juice.”

Love Always, Val

[bigyack-com]

The Incredible Shrinking Wallet - The New York Times

As co-owner of Billykirk, a leather goods brand based in Jersey City, N.J., Chris Bray has devoted the past 20 years to hand-crafting wallets, among other accessories. He can wax philosophical about how “your oils, your skin, your travels” affect the wallet that you carry around. But when Mr. Bray goes out at night, he takes just his ID, one credit card and a few business cards, tucked into a slim card case.“Simplify your life,” he said. “Nine out of ten times, if you have a bi-fold wallet, you’ve got crap in there you don’t need. You’ve got a ticket stub from three years ago.”This from a man who sells bi-fold wallets in four colors. But in recent years, the physical wallet’s central role in our lives has been greatly reduced, as have the size of wallets themselves. As tech companies have introduced mobile apps like Apple Pay and Google Pay in an effort to make the smartphone into a digital wallet, “real” ones — long a fallback of the holiday gift season — are shrinking, or disappearing altogether. Some are becoming gizmos themselves, as if to seem more current: popping out cards with the press of a button and offering benefits like locating services or radio-frequency identification (RFID) blocking, intended to protect against credit-card or identity theft.For men, the classic multi-pocketed model is losing popularity to card cases like the one Mr. Bray carries. They aren’t much bigger than a credit card, and slip easily into a front pocket.Bernard Capulong, the co-founder and editor in chief of Everyday Carry, a men’s gear website, called them “minimalist wallets,” adding, “What’s popular now is as minimal as you can get.”Shinola, a Detroit-based watch and accessories brand, sells the Slim Bifold and the Slim Bifold 2.0 for “pared-down simplicity.” The Slimwallet and Miniwallet by the Dutch company Secrid are leather-wrapped metal cases that can only comfortably hold around four cards. Brands like Ridge, Dango and Trayvax offer similar styles.Mr. Capulong carries a leather card case by Veilance with only two pockets. “The seams are bonded, not stitched,” he said. “So it’s durable and minimalist. I keep maybe eight cards total and a $20 bill folded twice so it takes no space.”Augusto Gomez, who was behind the Prada counter in the men’s arcade inside Bloomingdale’s Manhattan flagship on a recent afternoon, said wallets still ranked as a popular gift, though there were no customers shopping for them at that moment.“Men tend to get things we need,” Mr. Gomez said. “Small items — key chains, wallets. Things they notice you’ve had too long and it’s falling apart.” He added, “I’d say 65 percent of men don’t carry cash anymore. But some still do.” In women’s fashion, leather and nylon belt bags by brands like Gucci, Balenciaga and Supreme, which leave hands free, are also reducing the need for bulky purses and long wallets.“As bags get smaller, the easiest thing to take space away from is the wallet,” said Megs Mahoney Dusil, the founder of PurseBlog, which reviews bags and other accessories. “The shrinking of the wallet allows for more carrying of day-to-day essential items.”Ms. Mahoney used to carry a continental wallet — the zip-around kind with room for receipts and even a passport — but switched recently to a Gucci card case, which she slips inside a Fendi “Peekaboo” bag.“Micro mini” or “toy” bags make plain the diminished role of cash, at least for celebrities and the rich. Last month, Lizzo showed up to the American Music Awards with a Valentino bag so small the strap fit one finger. The interior was big enough to contain a single mint.The French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus sells a 4.5 inch handbag called Le Chiquito, which might hold a change purse. The absurdly tiny Le Petit Chiquito, introduced during Paris Fashion Week last February and retailing for $258, barely holds a few loose coins.

Stuffing It

For centuries, going all the way back to the introduction of paper currency in America in the late 1600s, the wallet has been a traveling bank vault and all-purpose file cabinet for men and women, a place to keep checks, cash and personal ephemera.“I remember my dad’s wallet,” said Leland Grossman, a strategist for a Manhattan-based creative agency. “He had receipts, cards, pictures and a million things. That was my ethos originally. I kept a folded two-dollar bill. I had a Steve Jobs quote: ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish.’”A 1998 episode of “Seinfeld” known to fans as “George’s Exploding Wallet” satirized this tendency to overstuff. The George Costanza character is carrying a wallet so engorged with random items — Irish currency; a rewards card valid at any participating Orlando-area Exxon station — that he can barely close it.“I need everything in there,” George tells Jerry defensively at their favorite diner, before adding Sweet & Low packets to the jumble.By the end of the episode, George is complaining that his back is killing him.Played today, the scene would look strange, even antiquated. “Before, you used to carry everything in a wallet, from your medical card to store cards and receipts,” said Daniel Caudill, the creative director for Shinola. “Now, all of that lives on our phones.”The wallet has seen its responsibilities slowly taken away. Debit cards have all but eliminated the need to carry cash. No one carries checks anymore. Receipts can be emailed. Photos and rewards cards have gone digital.A lot of millennials and members of Gen Z no longer want to be paid in cash; they prefer payment services like Venmo, leavened by emojis, to pad their digital wallets. The future is not a hunk of cowhide in your back pocket. The future is smartphone apps, contactless cards and, ultimately perhaps, a machine that scans your brain for total frictionless life.As if the physical wallet didn’t have enough problems, there’s now an accessory called the Wallet Slayer ($14.99): a sleeve that fits over your smartphone and holds three cards plus cash. As with phone cases before it, a luxury version cannot be far behind.Might the wallet disappear altogether? Increasingly, businesses are no longer accepting cash. In China, big cities like Beijing and Hangzhou have already gone almost entirely cashless, requiring payment by mobile device, which has flummoxed tourists but also made wallets unnecessary.Recently, Shinola has received requests from young urbanites to make a case to hold just one card — ID, said Mr. Caudill, the creative director. Everything else is arguably extraneous.“It’s an aspirational dream for now,” said Mr. Capulong of Everyday Carry. “We’re not quite there yet.”Many retailers in the United States aren’t yet set up to accept mobile payment methods, especially in areas outside big cities. There are also security concerns about having everything on one device. And old habits have a way of hanging on. “I have Apple Pay on my phone, but I use it shockingly little,” Mr. Grossman said. He still carries the Bottega Veneta bi-fold wallet that he bought in college, though he has streamlined its contents. Mr. Grossman pointed to the way watches have remained a steady, if somewhat marginalized, accessory in the digital era. While wallets aren’t luxury status symbols in the same way, he allowed, “You develop wear and tear that gives it character like clothing. It’s part of your journey. It’s a staple of the wardrobe.”Mr. Bray of Billykirk, who has a vested interest in the wallet sticking around, also argued for its indispensability. He said, quaintly, “You need a place to put your stuff.” Read the full article