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Tag: MARINA

  • MARINA May Be the First Female Pop Star to Freely Let Go of “Girlhood”

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    For the past few years, MARINA has been living out the lyrics of her lead single from Princess of Power, “Butterfly.” Slowly changing shape inside a shroom-saturated chrysalis that has transformed her into a fundamentally “happier, more ‘up’” person. Not only that, but tripping on mushrooms also seemed to make her understand the wisdom of embracing one’s “fate”: that is to say, aging. Not necessarily in a “let me go gray (though MARINA already did do that for a period of time, starting during the lockdowns of 2020) and lose all sense of pride in my appearance” kind of way, but rather, in a way that acknowledges the passage of time. This done, first and foremost, with her inspiration behind “Cuntissimo,” which stemmed from MARINA looking specifically toward older women as her “totems.” Not just in the lyrical content (e.g., “Push-up bra, in my diamonds/Gift from my ex-husband”), but in terms of “how to be” in general as she was made keenly aware of “leaving girlhood behind” this year.

    So it is that she wanted to stop “idolizing” or “glamorizing” youth and putting the especial pressure on herself about “staying young.” Not only as a woman (the gender that always experiences the most stress when it comes to “being hot,” which remains synonymous with being young), but as a pop star. Thus, in order to help her on her journey toward this form of “aging acceptance,” MARINA created a mood board (both literally and figuratively) consisting of such icons as Salma Hayek (name-checked in “Cuntissimo”), Thelma and Louise (also name-checked in “Cuntissimo”), Sophia Loren, Eartha Kitt, Jamie Lee Curtis and Madonna (specifically during her The Immaculate Collection photoshoot).

    And while Madonna is the undisputed pioneer of breaking down barriers for female pop stars to even be “allowed” to keep making music/remain “relevant” past a certain age (i.e., twenty-five), MARINA appears to be the first one to not bother trying to seem younger than she really is (because, yes, it’s no secret that Madonna has made her fair share of bids, particularly on the surgical front, to remain as fresh as possible). An effort that has been concerted in the years leading up to her fortieth birthday on October 10, 2025. In fact, the day before her big “decade shift,” MARINA shared the image of a letter she had written to herself a year ago about where she wanted to be at this juncture. A peak example of her “manifesting” capabilities. Of the sort she also displayed when she wrote Love + Fear’s “Enjoy Your Life,” a track that was, despite the positivity oozing from it, written at a time when MARINA was quite depressed. To pull herself out of this state, it was as though she had to trick her mind into believing she was this exuberant, this “chill” about everything (e.g., “Sit back and enjoy your problems/You don’t always have to solve them/‘Cause your worst days, they are over/So enjoy your life”).

    This was before mushrooms entered her life and “positivity” became so much easier to unlock. And, of all the songs on Princess of Power, “Rollercoaster” most clearly embodies the way in which she “altered her mind” to tap into an entirely new way of thinking. Not just about the present, but her future. One in which she realizes, “I wanna go where the free ones live now/Never going back to the place I lived, no.” And the place she once lived was in the petty concerns and fears wrought by youth (more accurately, trying to cling to it), the very thing that society tells women is the most/best they’ll ever have to offer. To this point, MARINA stated during The Zach Sang Show, “The trick of the patriarchy is to make you think that your value disappears after you’re, like, not deemed ‘attractive.’ But you look at these older women and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s when they actually step into their power.’ So, like, that’s what’s waiting for you on the other side. And it’s just such a shame that that’s kind of, like, covered with this superficial thing. This idea that we think wrinkles equals ‘not beautiful.’”

    Of course, MARINA still struggles with “fully letting go” of the indoctrination that comes not just with being a regular “adult girl,” but one who has worked in “the industry” for years. So it is that she admitted during her Eat the World Q&A in London that she wouldn’t necessarily rule out Botox, etc., what with even the steeliest force not being immune to the pressures of Hollywood. But even so, turning forty this year forced her to ask the question (also on The Zach Sang Show), “How do I wanna feel as I get older?” Answering herself with, “I don’t wanna feel ashamed about it, I don’t wanna feel like I have to hang on to youth. I want to have the same space that men are given to age. And I also wanna accrue all the positive things that men do, which is wisdom, knowledge, respect, power. And I think we’re in such a perfect place for that to be in motion.”

    Alas, she seems to be more than slightly overlooking the fact that it’s not in motion at all, but rather, at a simultaneous standstill/in a time machine going backward. This much made evident by the current U.S. administration, as well as Taylor Swift’s tradwife-touting The Life of a Showgirl (which, yes, is ironic, considering the life of a showgirl should come across as being way more freeing and salacious).

     And one supposes that this is what makes a pop star like MARINA so important at this particular moment in time. A woman who is in total control of herself (without using horrifying terms like “girlboss”), freely pronounces that she’s fine being perennially single and conscientiously child-free. She is a woman who insists, “Spread me like a picnic on the floor in the forest/‘Cause I don’t wanna live if I can’t be honest.”

    Right now, the honest truth for MARINA is this: “I don’t think older women get celebrated enough. And now that I’m… ‘ta-ta-ing’ to youth and, like, waving goodbye to it, I was, like, what is my future?” If 2024’s Eat the World and this year’s Princess of Power are to be consistent benchmarks that foretell what it might be (at least creatively speaking), MARINA’s looks very promising/embracing of her age and whatever comes with it—physically and emotionally. Which means that she’s establishing a healthy example for those pop stars coming up in the present, arguably being the first truly modern woman to do so.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Legal Sea Foods Chicago Arrives Inside the Marina City Towers

    Legal Sea Foods Chicago Arrives Inside the Marina City Towers

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    As locations go, the just-opened Legal Sea Foods couldn’t have found a more fitting setting than in Marina City, which offers sweeping views of the nearby Chicago River.

    Or as Matt King, president and chief operating officer of Legal Sea Foods, puts it, “It’s always nice whenever you’re eating seafood and you’re on the water.”

    Initially created in 1950 as a fish market in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Legal Sea Foods Chicago is the first non-East Coast location for the chain, which operates 27 restaurants and a seafood production facility. Legal Sea Foods is a New England institution, though locals have strained feelings since the Berkowitz family sold the company in 2020. The fish chowder has been served at every Presidential inauguration since Ronald Regan’s in 1981. The new owner, PPX Hospitality Brands, already has restaurants in Chicago.

    “We have a long history of working in Chicago with Smith & Wollensky, so we are really comfortable with the market,” says King of the neighboring steakhouse, which is also part of PPX. During COVID, Legal operated a ghost kitchen out of Smith & Wollensky to test the market.

    The chowder is a Presidential institution.
    Legal Sea Foods

    A bar

    This is the former Dick’s Last Resort.
    Legal Sea Foods

    Executive Chef Ozzy Amelotti, formerly of The Metropolitan Club and Carnivale, heads up the kitchen of the two-level restaurant, which officially opened on July 30 inside the former Dick’s Last Resort. The all-day menu features a number of the restaurant’s signature dishes, including clam chowder, crab cake, and half-pound lobster roll. Fish and chips, like all its fried seafood offerings, are made with gluten-free proprietary breading. Fresh oysters are a regular feature at all Legal Sea Foods as they are here. Nigiri and maki are newer additions for the chain.

    Amelotti also created dishes specifically for Chicago, including grilled or blackened Lake Superior white fish. Appetizer scallops de Jonghe is a riff on the signature Chicago dish originally made with shrimp, buttery breadcrumbs, sherry, and garlic.

    “You can’t go into a new location and say I’m not going to use anything that’s from there,” says King. “It’s important to connect to where you are. We obviously got our core items and what we are famous for, but there’s always room to add some local flair.”

    The first floor dining room.
    Legal Sea Foods

    Local also applies to one of the on-tap beers. Legal Sea Foods worked with Chicago’s Spiteful Brewing to create a New England-style IPA, Working for the Haze. The signature red and white wine sangrias get an extra kick with the addition of rum and vodka. The wine-by-the-glass program features two pours, six and eight ounces.

    Legal Sea Foods expansive river-level space seats 240 and features a large bar area, main dining room, private event spaces, and an outdoor terrace. A curved staircase leads up to the intimate upper-level Oyster Bar, with bar seating and tables for 30.

    While the 10,000-square-foot riverfront location provides obvious perks, creating the restaurant inside the landmarked Marina City building designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg wasn’t without its challenges.

    A lobster roll with fries.

    The half-pound lobster roll.
    Legal Sea Foods

    “It certainly gives your architects and designers a lot to think about,” says King, citing the dilemma of how to incorporate the curves and turns of the space into the design. One solution was the creation of curved waved-shaped banquette seating that mirrors the curves of the building’s interior core.

    “Instead of trying to hide its uniqueness, we worked with it,” he says. “The space really dictated a lot of the layout, which is one of the things we like. It’s very much Marina City and when you come into that space, you know where you are.”

    Legal Sea Foods, 315 N Dearborn Street (entrance off State St. Bridge, next to Smith & Wollensky). Open for lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

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    Lisa Shames

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  • A Song Called “Man’s World” Is, Ironically, Far More Female-Empowering Than Katy Perry’s “Woman’s World”

    A Song Called “Man’s World” Is, Ironically, Far More Female-Empowering Than Katy Perry’s “Woman’s World”

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    Back in 2020 (that ominous year), MARINA found it to be the perfect time to release “Man’s World,” the first single from what would become her fifth album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land. While the latter didn’t come out until 2021, “Man’s World” set the tone for the overall theme of the record—which was that man had fucked the world over. And how that fucking was a large part of the catalyst for the pandemic. After all, were it not for men’s corporate greed, surely the destruction of so many animals’ natural habitats wouldn’t occur. And, in turn, wouldn’t lead to the unnatural commingling of animals in human environments in such a way as to create novel viruses.

    To that point, MARINA works her chorus around the idea that living in a man’s world (with its associated patriarchal values still firmly in place) is the direct cause of Mother Nature’s relentless destruction. A phrase that functions to mean both 1) humans are destroying her and 2) in response, she is destroying them. So it is that MARINA sings, “Mother Nature’s dying, nobody’s keeping score/I don’t wanna live in a man’s world anymore.” Granted, the only thing anyone is keeping score of is how much profit they’re making from the carnage they’ve wrought upon the environment. The excess packaging, the amount of fossil fuel emissions for shipping, the fast fashion throwaways transforming into non-biodegradable piles in places that should be inhabitable but soon will not be. Et cetera.

    All of this is to say that MARINA paints a far more effective and meaningful picture of what it would mean to live in a woman’s world—a matriarchy—by describing the current bleak portrait of a man’s world than Katy Perry does in her lifeless touting of how great women are and that everyone is, in fact, already living in a woman’s world. But obviously, that’s not so.

    If it were, perhaps a man like Dr. Luke wouldn’t be able to freely continue producing “hits” like Perry’s latest single despite his reputation for being an abuser. Whether or not one believes his abuse was sexual (since women are not to be believed, right?), there’s no denying, at the very least, its verbal toxicity in relation to Kesha, the inaugural artist he “took under his wing” in order to solidify a reputation for “nurturing” talent. This would also extend to Perry, whose first major hit, “I Kissed A Girl,” was produced by Dr. Luke. Along with “Hot N Cold,” the second official single from Perry’s “debut” (if you don’t count Katy Hudson), One of the Boys. An album title, incidentally, that feels as though it’s come back to bite her in the ass, considering how much it applies to the notion of continuing to work with someone who has been called out for his long-standing inappropriate behavior. And how much Perry represents a version of “the divine feminine” that is in keeping with pandering to the male gaze.

    There is no better example of that than the video for “Woman’s World,” all part of her latest attempt at a “comeback.” But whoever dealt with the “brainstorming mood boards” and marketing aspects was perhaps too chickenshit to inform Perry that things have changed quite a bit since the last time she released an album, already four years ago (like “Man’s World,” Smile came out in 2020). And, even at that time, Perry’s rhetoric wasn’t striking much of a chord with listeners, with the album barely selling fifty thousand copies in its first week. Compared to the Perry “heyday” of Teenage Dream and even Prism, that was a long way to fall. And, in 2024, it seems Perry still has the mentality of Beyoncé’s approach to feminism circa 2014. Which means, essentially, shouting a lot of hollow, generic phrases (e.g. “She’s a winner, champion/Superhuman, number one/She’s a sister, she’s a mother”—except, like, what if she’s not?) and dressing up as Rosie the Riveter (yes, something Beyoncé also did in 2014).

    Even if one could try to get behind Perry’s hackneyed form of feminism (white feminism, mind you), there is still the atrocious video to get over. One that portrays Perry in a porn fantasy-style version of Rosie the Riveter, complete with her “seductive” wielding of the drill she has in her hand. Contrast this against the ethereal, goddess-coded video for “Man’s World,” and the messaging divide between the two songs is even more marked. With the latter genuinely embracing the notion of a “woman’s world” and the former effectively upholding the status quo of a man’s world in terms of how they want to see women presented in it (that is, if they “must” be). So while MARINA frolics serenely through nature in loose-fitting fabrics with women and men of all different shapes and backgrounds, Perry reinforces the chasm between the sexes with her “us versus them” presentation, rounded out by that presentation being exactly what’s supposed to get an “average straight man” off. This also includes reiterating the trope that it can be a “woman’s world” even if still mirroring the same shit that’s been happening in a patriarchy for centuries.

    Of course, with the true change that would arrive in a “woman’s world,” misogynistic men surely wouldn’t be happy. And yes, the most basic step toward that change is admitting this still is a man’s world—something the aforementioned Beyoncé didn’t want to admit either when she released “Run the World (Girls).” MARINA does that both deftly and poetically when she phrases the need for change like this: “If you have a mother/Daughter or a friend/Maybe it is time/Time you comprehend/The world that you live in/Ain’t the same one as them/So don’t punish me/For not being a man.” In the span of this three-minute, twenty-eight-second call to action, MARINA even manages to broach the unpleasant subject of female subjugation throughout history, singing, “Clouds in the whites of our eyes, we saw it all/Burnt me at the stake, you thought I was a witch/Centuries ago, now you just call me a bitch.”

    Conversely, the “best” Perry can come up with (along with one of her chauvinistic co-writers, Dr. Luke) is the totally vacant lines, “Sexy, confident/So intelligent/She is heaven-sent/So soft, so strong.” This being about the only verse that deviates from the half-hearted chorus, “It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be livin’ in it/You better celebrate/‘Cause, baby, we ain’t goin’ away/It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be livin’ in it.” Perhaps Perry feels that if she keeps repeating it, it might come true.

    But perhaps the next time she considers “writing” a “feminist anthem,” she might want to consult with MARINA, who clearly knows how to do the damn thing (complete with actually having the song produced by Jennifer Decilveo—you know, a woman).

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Whether Emulating Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande or Olivia Rodrigo, Madison Beer Gets Loud on Silence Between Songs

    Whether Emulating Lana Del Rey, Ariana Grande or Olivia Rodrigo, Madison Beer Gets Loud on Silence Between Songs

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    The story of Madison Beer’s rise to fame is already well-known by now. And, in a nutshell, it goes: Justin Bieber tweeted, among other links to her videos, Beer’s cover of Etta James’ “At Last” circa 2012, resulting in both worldwide attention and an expected backlash from his jealous female fans. It didn’t take long for Bieber to help get her signed to the same label as him, Island Records, as well as sign a contract to be managed by his own Svengali, Scooter Braun. 

    By 2013, Beer was assuring the media of her work on a debut album that would include “slow songs, sad songs, happy songs, songs about boys and songs about being who you are. I’m making sure I’m happy with all of the songs, because if I am not happy with them, I can’t expect anyone else to be, you know?” In the end, that album was scrapped, but it seems Beer took the same philosophy into the future with her sophomore record, Silence Between Songs. An album she decided to revamp entirely after already turning it in a year ago. The name of the record, however, stayed the same. And it’s a fitting moniker considering how much silence there has been between her various releases. Granted, Beer has more or less offered up a consistent flow of singles since 2013, starting with “Melodies.” It was only during the three years she spent recording her EP, As She Pleases, that the singles dissipated (with “Something Sweet” being her last release of 2015 before disappearing into recording mode).

    Returning to the music charts with the release of “Dead” in 2017, it felt pointed that Beer should only reenter the spotlight upon turning eighteen. While other pop stars like Britney Spears and, later, Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, would have no difficulty commodifying their girlhood, it was almost as though Beer wanted to wait until she was “legal” to belt out ditties that consisted of lyrics such as, “For now I am not, not gonna sleep with you/Stop now (yeah)/Stop now (yeah)/Have some respect/Don’t act like I’m blind/I can see your intent/Spent way too much time I have/Listening to this, listening to shit/From a player, you get no love.” Sure, Brit might have alluded to such sentiments in her earlier work (namely, with lyrics like, “I’m not that innocent”), but she had already turned eighteen when the Baby One More Time record was released. And yes, even Rodrigo, whose lyrics were always more “boy-oriented” than Eilish’s, waited until turning nineteen during the recording of Guts to sing things like, “And I told my friends I was asleep/But I never said where or in whose sheets” and “I just tripped and fell into his bed.” 

    Del Rey, who influenced (a.k.a. “raised”) all three Gen Z musicians, wouldn’t have to worry about such forms of “tact,” as she was twenty-six when her debut came out. Practically “ancient” by current Gen Z standards (hence, the TikTok trend that used “Young and Beautiful” against her). Maybe that’s why it was so easy for her to sing such “cocaine carols” as, “He loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart” and “Light of my life, fire of my loins/Be a good baby, do what I want” (that last line alluding to, of course, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita). For Beer, such sentiments came much sooner in life, as was revealed by most of the tracks from As She Pleases, including “Tyler Durden” and “Home With You.” As for Beer’s film reference on the former track, it’s apparent that, as is the case with Del Rey, her vocals tend to lend themselves to the cinematic. Indeed, that’s why Beer was adamant about the videos “matching up” to the high-level emotionalism of the singles she’s released thus far. ​​So it was that she stated of the “companion” videos, “Home to Another One” and “Spinnin,” “I wanted people to be able to put headphones in and close their eyes and they could see everything. When I listen to those songs, I can see movies—the colors and aesthetics and the videos perfectly capture the essence of my lyrics, the instrumentals—it all comes together then.” Spoken like a true synesthete (à la Eilish and Lorde).

    Or perhaps someone who simply has Del Rey’s knack for aesthetic…the word that’s been buzzing for millennials ever since the Tumblr heyday. And now grafted from them by Gen Zers like Beer…who also happens to have the same Del Reyian love of 60s-era music. This, needless to say, extends to The Beatles and Beach Boys (with Pet Sounds in particular being an album that Beer and her producer, Leroy Clampitt, were “obsessively” listening to at the outset of recording).

    In fact, Beer admitted that “Spinnin’” was influenced by The Beatles’ “Yesterday” to none other than Del Rey herself, who chimed in, “I heard a lot of Beatles influence throughout the whole thing, amongst about six other influences [also calling out Skeeter Davis’ “The End of the World”]. I’m so on that 60s, 50s tip. I thought it was the perfect record.” As many girls Beer’s age and beyond feel that Born to Die is the perfect record. Funnily enough, Beer (fourteen years younger than LDR) would become famous the same year Del Rey “officially” did, with the release of said debut in 2012. Beer would one-up that title with the simple directness of the aforementioned “Dead.” And no, she’s not afraid (anymore) to cop to Del Rey being a primary influence on her work. Not after Del Rey herself came up to her at Urth Cafe one day to tell her what a fan she was. From there, a friendship was quickly forged, with Del Rey not only doing an interview with Beer for Interview magazine (whereas Beer’s contemporary, Billie Eilish, would give the interview for Lana’s own Interview cover this year), but also turning to her for guidance and advice whenever needed. 

    Feeling relieved that Del Rey wasn’t a case in point of the old adage, “Never meet your heroes,” she would also tell her in the same interview, “I want to be able to show other artists, and just females in general, that we have to be there for each other, and we have to love one another. Life is too short for envy.” Beer learned something about that from the moment the army of “Beliebers” turned on her for being, to them, nothing more than some “hot bitch” Justin was paying all of his attention to. It took her a while to realize that “comparison is the thief of joy in every sense.” Adding to that Olivia Rodrigo-on-“jealousy jealousy” sentiment, Beer also noted, “For a long time, I was someone who would compare myself: for example, when Billie first caught fire—it felt as though she had quickly popped off and was already 100,000 times more successful than me. I was jealous or upset by it but now, I couldn’t be more proud of the work that I have out.” Acknowledging that she has just as many insecurities as any “normal” girl, Beer does come across as being more comfortable than ever in her own skin with this album. 

    Starting with “Spinnin,” the fifth single from the album (even though it was freshly released on September 15th), Beer sets the stage for a world of her own. And yes, as she said, a large part of creating that world is the visual that goes with it. Set in a suburban neighborhood where time has seemingly stopped (but, then again, how can you really tell in suburbia?), there’s a Twilight Zone-meets-Groundhog Day vibe to her sense of overpowering depression in the wake of losing a relationship.

    With an album cover pulled from the video for “Spinnin,” Madison Beer establishes a fraught, escapist tone immediately with this image of her whooshing through a cornfield. Stealing away to secure some of that “silence between songs” she refers to with her reasoning for titling the album as such, specifically stating, “I got started really young doing this, and I feel like I’ve had a very busy twelve years or so in the industry and I kind of convinced myself that the moments where I was making music and when I was on tour and when I was my busiest was when I was growing… As I’ve gotten a little bit older, I realized it’s actually been the moments that I’ve been able to tune out the noise and I’ve been able to be alone, really reflect and be more isolated where I’ve grown the most. So, it’s the silence between songs and when the noise is turned off is when I feel like I’ve learned who I am the most.”

    The slow, malaise-oriented tempo of “Spinnin” gives way to the more rhythmic “Sweet Relief.” Something that Beer describes not being able to get in the chorus as she laments, “I’m seein’ you everywhere I go/I don’t dream of anyone else/All I need, sweet relief/It’s just somethin’ only we know/Something only we know.” The last line harkening back to the way Keane sang “Somewhere Only We Know.” Her earnest obsession with the person she’s so focused on that she even starts seeing him in her dreams affects her health, to boot, as she also adds, “Can’t eat, can’t sleep/No, you’re not makin’ this easy on me.” But such are the drawbacks of having a crush (as Alicia Silverstone could tell you). Perhaps that’s why Beer turns to more nature-oriented sentiments on “Envy the Leaves.”

    For those who feel the song sounds only too familiar, that’s because it seems as though Billie Eilish and Finneas peered inside Beer’s mind while coming up with the melody for “What Was I Made For?” Indeed, when Beer sings, “I envy the snow” it sounds just like Billie Eilish saying, “I used to float.” And yes, in her lyrical reverence for Mother Nature, Beer ends up creating something of a knockoff of MARINA’s 2019 single, “Handmade Heaven.” A song that, incidentally, also starts with the phrase, “I envy.” Except, in MARINA’s case, she envies the birds, opening the track with, “I envy the birds high up in the trees/They live out their lives so purposefully/I envy the spiders, the squirrels and seeds/They all find their way automatically.” Beer expresses a similar view with her own opening verse that goes, “I envy the leaves/That grow from the trees/They’re all so carefree/Through the seasons, unaware of the fall/If only I’d see/It’s quite easy to be/A drop in the ocean, with no worries and no questions at all.”

    Abruptly changing sonic tack at the end, the song’s musical denouement is almost like an explosion of the carefully-controlled emotions she’s been holding for the majority of the song. Devolving into an all-out jam session-y feel, it smacks of Tame Impala, which Beer also cited as an influence on her work. 

    The music shifts abruptly to something more bossanova-esque on “17.” The age so many women in music like to mention, perhaps even more than “sweet sixteen.” And yes, not only does MARINA have a song called “Seventeen” from back when she was Marina and the Diamonds, but Del Rey also refers to that age in one of her most iconic songs, singing, “Only seventeen/But she walks the streets so mean” in “Carmen.” In “17,” Beer also alludes to that kind of jadedness. Specifically, her own. How she was made to grow up too fast after coming into the spotlight so soon in her life. Thus, Present Madison consoles Past Madison with the lines, “I hope she knows that I would never blame her/‘Cause all she did was all she knew.” And, of course, there are plenty of “Del Rey keywords” (which Olivia Rodrigo also serves up on “lacy” from Guts…namely, “daisies” and “ribbons”), including “cherry” and “summer” in the context of “cherry ripe” and “summer skin.” 

    Bemoaning on the chorus that, “All my life I’ve never had the chance/To stop and smell the flowers/All this time, I never got to sit/And dream away the hours/No memories, like black and white TV/And everybody says it’ll be okay/Like life is just a game/But I don’t wanna play,” Beer can’t help but ask, “Oh, is it too late now, to slow down?” The rosy answer being that it’s never too late to do anything. And, if nothing else, perhaps the next global pandemic will force everyone to “slow down” again, no matter who they are. 

    Del Rey’s favorite song on the album (apart from “Spinnin”), “Ryder,” fittingly sounds like a vocal cross between her and Ariana Grande’s stylings. To be sure, it would be wrong to discount Grande’s marked influence over Beer’s vocal stylings (de facto, it would, in a roundabout way, be wrong to discount Mariah Carey’s). Like Grande, Beer also has a brother…except hers is younger. His name, of course, is Ryder, and that’s who the song honors as Beer makes an apology for the effect her fame undeniably had on his own childhood. So it is that she sings, “Our youth down the drain/And I’ll take all of the blame/For all of the countless/Times that you cried.” Del Rey’s affection for the song, she admitted, has to do with her commitment to sibling relationships, telling Beer in their Interview magazine exchange, “When I was younger I remember thinking, ‘If my siblings can’t come with me, I’m not going anywhere. I have to do whatever it takes to make sure that they thrive.’ It’s a beautiful sentiment.” One that Beer conveys to this striped-down melody that understands how forgiveness between siblings can so often be tacit (unless we’re talking about Blanche and Jane Hudson). Nonetheless, Beer wants to declare, “All that’s unspoken/All the years that werе stolen/You were still in that housе/I shouldn’t have left you behind/And I fall to pieces [Del Rey also uses this Patsy Cline lyric in “Cherry”]/Sometimes all that you need is/A shoulder to cry/And I’m lucky that you’re mine.”

    “Ryder” then easily transitions into the ethereal “Nothing Matters But You.” Delivered like a siren song lulling a sailor into her underwater lair, Beer croons, “You belong to me tonight/Hold me while I cry/Swimmin’ underneath moonlight/Taken by the tide.” At the same time, it’s a track that speaks to how she herself is surrendering to the powerful magnetic force of some bloke, announcing in the pre-chorus, “If you never stop me/Then I’ll just keep fallin’.” She also gets self-referential in the chorus itself by alluding to “Spinnin” (“Make a girl think the world’s only spinnin’ for you/Nothing matters but you”).

    The jaunty, uptempo “I Wonder” (which, at times, reminds one of the notes to Kylie Minogue’s “2 Hearts”) marks Beer’s retreat from the sadness that weighed her down in “Spinnin.” Placing it as the midpoint of the album, therefore, marks a palpable shift in tone as the listener continues on their journey to the end of the record. Beer remarked of “I Wonder,” “Spinnin was always first but we didn’t know what for sure was going to be the last. And this was my intention… for this to be the response to ‘Spinnin.’ [The lyrics to ‘Spinnin’] are ‘Did the world stop spinning? Nothing seems to change.’ This one’s like ‘I woke up happy, I wonder why.’” Or, as Angela Chase (Claire Danes) once said of Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto) in My So-Called Life, “It was like Jordan Catalano had been surgically removed from my heart. And I was free!” The same way Beer feels free from the burden of anxiety-inducing and/or unrequited love. Which is why “now each breath of air is sweeter/Birds are singin’, grass is greener/Suddenly, the world is bright again/I used to live to die by/Somebody else’s side/But now a new day breaks and I feel fine/I wonder why?” Perhaps because, after a certain amount of time, the human ability for total denial of all previously felt emotions as a means of self-preservation kicks in. It’s a kind of “self-cleaning” (a.k.a. self-lobotomy), if you will. 

    Even so, Beer is back to addressing some cad of a figure (likely her own father, the root of all issues with men) in “At Your Worst,” lamenting, “I hope I never hate myself/The way I know you hate yourself/It hurts to see you hurt/The ones who love you at your worst/I’m sorry you don’t trust yourself/Enough to trust somebody else.” As the one who “wants to help,” Beer has clearly reached her breaking point in terms of wanting to keep trying. By the same token, she knows that this person who she’s been attempting to “lead to water” like a horse against its will has only infected her with the same issues (further leading the listener to believe it’s about her dad). Hence, she concludes the song by changing the pronouns in the lyrics to, “And sometimes I still hate myself/The way you made me hate myself/It hurts to know I hurt/The ones who love me at my worst/I’m sorry I don’t trust myself/Enough to trust somebody else.” This emotional expression also leads perfectly into “Showed Me (How I Fell in Love with You),” the third single from the record. 

    Wanting to exude the same closed-off nature as the man she was referring to in “At Your Worst,” “Showed Me (How I Fell in Love with You)” finds Beer asserting, “How I wanna be like you/Oh, oh-oh, it’s true I’m gonna be like you.” The accompanying video accordingly shows Beer clocking the conning behavior of a crooked billionaire who runs a high-stakes underground poker game. And in it, Beer is also sure to include a pool scene of herself that channels Del Rey in “Blue Jeans” and “Shades of Cool.” Sampling The Turtles’ 1969 hit “You Showed Me,” Beer again parades her Del Reyian flair/love for all things 60s in the sound and visual. As she also does with the following track (and fourth single), “Home to Another One.”

    Serving alien Mad Men realness throughout the video she co-directed with Aerin Moreno, the song doubles as being about “the other woman” and as being about mourning the end of a relationship and realizing one’s ex has moved on to someone new. Either way, Beer is sure to take advantage of 60s-inspired sartorial visuals in getting across the aura of the song in its music video format. 

    The dreamy, otherworldly tone persists on “Dangerous” (a title that, of course, reminds one of Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman”). A self-reflective track that has the same dramatic, Piscean pizzazz as anything out of the Olivia Rodrigo songbook, Beer stated of its writing, “I’m currently in my third long-term relationship and I’ve done a lot of self-reflection over the last two years—a whole lot of therapy… and just learning about myself. Part of that, for me, has been to reflect. There have been times where I was like, ‘Is it me?’ When you’re, like, the common denominator in something, am I the trauma? It’s one of those things where I had a moment of self-reflection. Being the dramatic Pisces I am, I definitely had times thinking, ‘Maybe I’m unlovable?’ and I think we all go through phases of that.” Incestuously enough, both Beer and Rodrigo have dated Zack Bia, the supposed inspiration for Beer’s “Selfish” and Rodrigo’s “Vampire.” “Dangerous” is equally self-pitying (the Pisces way) as “Vampire,” with Beer belting out the chorus, “Tell me the truth/What did I do?/Look at me/Why can’t I see?/No, it can’t be this easy/To let me go/But if you say so/Guess I make love too dangerous.” 

    As she apparently did for the boy she refers to in “Reckless,” which served as the first single from Silence Between Songs back in 2021. This, too, being extremely “Rodrigo-esque” in subject matter. More specifically, it has the same tone and thematic focus as Rodrigo’s “traitor,” with Beer rehashing, “Each day goes by and each night, I cry/Somebody saw you with her last night/You gave me your word, ‘Don’t worry ’bout her’/You might love her now, but you loved me first/Said you’d never hurt me, but here we are/Oh, you swore on every star/How could you be so reckless with my heart?” Rodrigo similarly accuses, “You betrayed me/And I know that you’ll never feel sorry/For the way I hurt, yeah/You talked to her when we were together/Loved you at your worst [a Beer song title no less], but that didn’t matter/It took you two weeks to go off and date her/Guess you didn’t cheat, but you’re still a traitor.” As for the “Reckless” video, co-directed by Beer and Amber Park, it borrows more from the Taylor Swiftian love of all things “storybook”-oriented. 

    Beer then once more switches easily from her “wounded side” to her “saucy side” on the eponymous “Silence Between Songs.” But just because the upbeat rhythm gives her the vocal license to sound more confident and vindictive than saddened and betrayed doesn’t mean that the song isn’t still fundamentally about feeling bereft. Ergo Beer’s announcement, “I can’t be alone with my thoughts/When the music’s off/No, I can’t turn them down/Tune them out/Don’t know how/Oh, I never knew/That the silence between songs/Could ever be so lonely and so long.” And yet, as Beer said, it is the silence between songs (a.k.a. the album releases that place her squarely in the spotlight) that she’s come to cherish the most. 

    Once more giving Del Rey a run for her money—this time on the topic of daddy issues—“King of Everything” concludes the album. While some speculate it could be about Beer’s patriarch, Robert Beer (hey, look at that, Del Rey’s dad is also named Robert), many feel the likelier inspiration is Scooter Braun, who Beer had little choice in capitulating to after Justin Bieber was the one to make her go viral (cue the sound of Ye shouting, “I made that bitch famous”). Making his manager her manager, Beer eventually cut ties with Braun before releasing her debut album, Life Support, in 2021. Bieber, on the other hand, is still technically under contract with Braun despite the rumors of their business breakup.

    Based on the lyrics of “King of Everything” (which is perhaps far more incisive than Taylor Swift’s “Karma,” also purported to be about Braun), it seems like Beer barely got out in the nick of time. At the two-minute, forty-seven-second mark, the song offers a decidedly 80s guitar riff for added melodramatic cachet. Seemingly repurposing Beyoncé’s “Sandcastles” lyrics, Beer mockingly sings, “Baby, you’re the king of everything/Buildin’ castles in the sand/That crumble in your hands/Baby, you’re the king of everything/And right now you’re thе man/But no one gives a damn/When thе rain comes pourin’ down/To wash away your crown/You’re the king of nothin’ now.” Meanwhile, with Silence Between Songs, Beer is starting to become more and more of a queen of everything in the music industry. Even if her competitors, whether contemporaries like Rodrigo or “mentors” like Del Rey, are mostly saying the same things she is.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Olivia Rodrigo Gets Emotionally Sucked Dry (Again) On “Vampire”

    Olivia Rodrigo Gets Emotionally Sucked Dry (Again) On “Vampire”

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    It’s no secret that Olivia Rodrigo is a Twilight fan. Shit, she even has an unreleased song called “Twilight,” with lyrics that go, “Don’t know if you’re busy/Don’t know if you like me/Don’t know if it’s weird/But I kinda do like you/This small town thing’s not as bad as I thought/So do you wanna hang out or not?” Clearly speaking from the perspective of Bella (Kristen Stewart) on this track, Rodrigo takes what she did in that strumming, upbeat number and turns the concept into something decidedly more Lana Del Rey-esque (with initial speculation positing that the single would sample “Cinnamon Girl”—it doesn’t). After all, Rodrigo was overtly changed after spending a bit of time with her at Billboard‘s Women In Music Awards, where Del Rey was presented with the Visionary Award by none other than Rodrigo. It was during her presentation that Rodrigo gushed, “Lana has raised an entire generation of music lovers and songwriters like me, and taught them that there’s beauty in their vulnerability and power in their melancholy… I still consider [“Video Games”] to be probably the best love song of all time. She captures anger, sadness and sensuality in a way that only the greatest of songwriters ever could.” Rodrigo is obviously dead-set on taking that path as well, with yet another ambitious, tempo-switching single in the form of “vampire” (alas, spelled with the annoying “stylized in lowercase” trend that won’t quit).

    As the lead single for her appropriately-titled sophomore album, Guts, Rodrigo calls this work and sound a “natural progression” from where we left off on Sour. And, indeed, there seems to be little differentiation between the album artwork of Sour and Guts, with purple obviously being Rodrigo’s preferred color palette. Even if one might have envisioned crimson or blood red being a more ideal tone to express the mood and theme of the record. Or maybe that was too “on the nose (neck?)” for Rodrigo. Almost as on the nose as “vampire” not only being an homage to Twilight, but also the video itself being an homage to Taylor Swift’s 2021 Grammy performance. For Rodrigo, being a major Swiftie (regardless of the latter tapping Sabrina Carpenter to be one of her openers on the Eras Tour), surely must have based her awards show performance in the video on what Swift did with her Grammys medley of “cardigan,” “august” and “willow.” It has the same tweeness, the same whimsy, the same preciousness…the same lighting style.

    And, speaking of lights, it’s a huge one that breaks the illusion of Rodrigo singing in an ambient nature setting just for us as it crashes into her head from above. Granted, there were telltale sparks falling during two brief instances before that point, but perhaps we were too distracted by the carefully-curated “fog” (a.k.a. fog machine) punctuating her romantic performance singing into a vintage hand-held mic (of a variety one could imagine Billie Holiday using…if she didn’t favor her mic stands so much). At the one-minute, twenty-seven mark, the spotlight breaks the “fourth wall,” as it were, by crashing into Rodrigo’s head and revealing that she is, in fact, not “within a narrative” (or at least not the one we thought), but rather, performing for an audience at an awards show. Commodifying her pain…once again. As she was instructed/learned to do by the likes of musical forebears such as Swift and Del Rey.

    It’s also around this point that Rodrigo pulls the “drivers license” maneuver in terms of switching tempos and offering that crescendo moment that’s become something of a signature in her songs. As she puts it, “I’ve just always been obsessed with songs that are really dynamic. Like my favorite songs are high and low and reel you in and spit you back out.” “vampire” certainly achieves that in spades, particularly as Rodrigo, now bloodied and further emotionally broken by the spotlight literally hitting her, continues with her performance. For, as it is said, the show must go on. Even when she’s been burned (or is “sucked” the better, if not more lascivious, word?)—as a matter of fact, the entire stage is on fire—once again by some unworthy asshole. Ostensibly, one who wasn’t even actually famous (à la Will Thacker in Notting Hill)—as indicated by the lyrics, “Blood sucker, fame fucker.” Because yes, more than being just a song inspired by vampires and Twilight, it’s a song that explores the detrimental effects of letting someone “emotionally suck” from you over and over again.

    Often, this is what is called an “energy vampire” (see also: What We Do In The Shadows). MARINA, another Del Rey contemporary, also explores this topic on her 2019 track from Love + Fear, “No More Suckers.” Similar to Rodrigo accusing, “The way you sold me for parts/As you sunk your teeth into me, oh/Bloodsucker, famefucker/Bleedin’ me dry like a goddamn vampire,” MARINA declares in response to such behavior, “No more suckers in my life/All the drama gets them high/I’m just trying to draw the line/No more suckers in my life/They just keep bleeding me dry/‘Til there’s nothing left inside.”

    But what Rodrigo has left inside after enduring her own “sucker” is the wisdom and the renewed strength that she will carry within her going forward. Starting to understand that, as is being said more regularly of late, the real reason older men so “love” younger women is because of how much more easily they can be manipulated. As Rodrigo sings, “Went for me and not her/‘Cause girls your age know better.” Then again, not always. Just look at Taylor falling prey to Matty Healy. At least for now, however, Rodrigo has the “benefit” of youth on her side. A.k.a. the perfect excuse for still remaining naïve despite assuming that one is infinitely more sophisticated with the passing of just a couple years. Perhaps, before the passage of that two years, it was her “greenness” that caused her to be lured in by the “parties and the diamonds” (a phrase, appropriately enough, that could be mistaken for something out of the Del Rey or MARINA canon), with such evocations only happening/appearing at night. The same time that vampires are free to come out and play. Thus, not only does Rodrigo brood, “I see the parties and the diamonds sometimes when I close my eyes/Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise,” but also, “I should’ve known it was strange/You only come out at night.” Because yes, when something seems odd or too good to be true, chances are, it is.

    As Rodrigo keeps trying to carry on with her performance at the generically-titled “19th Annual Awards” (though that number has special meaning considering Rodrigo wrote most of this record when she was nineteen), audience members at first try to applaud her on before becoming scandalized via the influence of the sudden presence of “the law.” A number of police officers materializing to escort her offstage to the point where she finally gives up on the performance and runs out of the auditorium in a terrorized frenzy—all as their flashlights chase her through the darkness. These lights (and the people attached to them) continue to pursue her through the streets of L.A. (perhaps this was filmed by Petra Collins [of “good 4 u” and “brutal” repute] before Rodrigo betrayed her coast and absconded for the East…or maybe she just felt obliged to pop on over to L.A. to do the shoot).

    In the midst of reminding the “vampire” she’s addressing, “I’ve made some real big mistakes/But you make the worst one [would that be Joshua Bassett?] look fine,” Rodrigo learns that she suddenly has the vampiric power of flight, allowing her to ascend high above an L.A. freeway adjacent to Downtown (which has been getting mad play lately in videos like “Attention” and “Shy Boy”). As the cars pass behind and beneath her, it gives new meaning to the lyric, “The way you sold me for parts.” Meanwhile, the cops with their flashlights still wait down below with the same naïveté that Rodrigo once had before indulging this vampire. Earnestly belting out her pain as she looks directly into the camera, some might ask what, exactly, is supposed to differentiate any of this from Sour. Well, to remind, Rodrigo’s “mentors,” Del Rey and Swift never had (or have) to differentiate too much from one album to the next to maintain their devoted legion of listeners.

    And if Lana Del Rey’s “shtick” is being a sad girl, then so is Rodrigo’s—blending that “persona” with the heartbreak-oriented lyrics that have also made Taylor Swift such a success. Because, to be sure, heartbreak remains as timeless as sex (/sexy vampires) when it comes to “what sells.”

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • The Evolution of Songs About Nuclear War From Serious Threat to Love Metaphor, Or: The Present Relevancy of Charli XCX’s “Nuclear Seasons” and MARINA’s “Radioactive”

    The Evolution of Songs About Nuclear War From Serious Threat to Love Metaphor, Or: The Present Relevancy of Charli XCX’s “Nuclear Seasons” and MARINA’s “Radioactive”

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    While everyone had assumed that 1) Putin would never dare to actually invade Ukraine and that 2) if he did, it would never go on this long, they were all mistaken on both counts. As of March 27th, it is three-hundred and ninety-seven days into the invasion, and talk of nuclear war only continues to mount. Especially as Putin speaks of storing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a maneuver that has been deemed a way to take said country as a “nuclear hostage” to the whims of the dictator swinging his “missile” around as leverage. By stationing missiles there, not only is Belarus a hostage, but the rest of the world becomes a prisoner to the irascibility of a man who wants to be able to constantly have the threat of “the button” on his side. And yet, when so many men in the past, including Putin contemporaries Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un, have made this threat only as a means to “flex,” it becomes a case of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”—not that anyone has a problem with that in this scenario. It’s just that, the more a threat like this is made, the more idle it becomes. For one has to be willing to be insane enough to know that in pressing the button, they’re effectively kamikazeing themselves.

    Although everyone loves to condemn a baby boomer, it has to be said that no one knows better than said generation what it means to live under the anxieties of ceaseless nuclear threat. Ergo, the pervasiveness of music centered on the topic in the boomer heyday. Whether Sheldon Allman’s “Crawl Out Through the Fallout” and “Radioactive Mama,” Ian Campbell’s “The Sun Is Burning” (also covered by Simon & Garfunkel), The Fugs’ “Kill For Peace,” Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” or Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Wooden Ships,” there was no shortage of grandiose numbers or “little ditties” about the subject matter. Some used music to make light of the situation as best they could. This included Allman, who sings on “Radioactive Mama,” “Well, when we get together, clear away the crowd/There won’t nothing left except a mushroom-shaped cloud.” Allman also adds, “Your kisses do things to me in oh so many ways/I feel them going through me, all those gamma, gamma rays.” Because if we can’t joke about things like this, then honestly, how are we supposed to get through it?

    The thing is, being out of the boomer era and on to a new one where everything is a potential source of offense, it would be unfathomable for songs like Allman’s to be released today. Including “Crawl Out Through the Fallout,” wherein he sardonically urges, “Crawl out through the fallout, baby/To my loving arms/Through the rain of Strontium-90” and then notes, for good tongue-in-cheek measure, “I’ll love you all your life/Although that may not be too long,” as well as, “Crawl out through the fallout back to me/‘Cause you’ll be the only girl in the world.” And no, this certainly isn’t what Rihanna had in mind when she said, “Want you to make me feel like I’m the only girl in the world.” Indeed, by the time the 2010s rolled around, nuclear war had become a far less chic topic in music, having reached a crescendo in the 1980s with singles such as Blondie’s “Atomic,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” Rush’s “Between the Wheels” and Ultravox’s “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.”

    With the 80s seeing the greatest spike in Cold War tensions of the twentieth century, things calmed down (or at least pretended to) in the decades beyond. Perhaps so much so that musicians forgot altogether how terrifying it was for people to live through the perpetual pall of nuclear war’s dark shadow. Hence, while Charli XCX and MARINA use the words “nuclear” and “radioactive” to describe a relationship, they do so with the level of cavalier apathy so often credited to a millennial. At the same time, it was as though they both somehow had their finger on the pulse of what was to come in the next decade, with MARINA’s “Radioactive” appearing on 2012’s Electra Heart and Charli’s “Nuclear Seasons” appearing on 2013’s True Romance. Regardless of the years that each album came out, both singles, eerily enough, were initially released in 2011. What’s more, by putting the songs out during this moment in time, they also had the advantage of doing so when it wasn’t such a “hotbed” issue to wield such terms as metaphors. Which both of them do. For Charli, the “nuclear season” she refers to is a relationship that’s about to blow up as she announces, “We in the nuclear season/In the shelter I’ll survive this though.” Because a fallout shelter remains, evidently, a timeless symbol in our fucked-up world. MARINA, then Marina and the Diamonds, also knew how to brandish the trope in her first single from Electra Heart, singing, “When you’re around me, I’m radioactive/My blood is burning, radioactive/I’m turning radioactive/My blood is radioactive/My heart is nuclear/Love is all that I fear.” Roughly ten years on, however, the thing one ought to fear most is the total lack of potential for love in the world. For there should be no concern on MARINA’s part about love even being an option in this loveless, AI hellscape.

    So sure, if baby boomers thought it was bad to grow up being shown the “Duck and Cover” video in elementary school, they can take comfort in knowing that the rest of us are probably worse off for having nuclear war used as love metaphors rather than a legitimate source of concern. In said 1951 informational video from the Federal Civil Defense Administration, Bert the Turtle shows kids “what we all must learn to do.” Which is crawl into our “shells” and hide. The carapace that most white children were expected to have being a fallout shelter. Thus, the narrator assuring the white students watching, “Be sure to get into the house fast, where your parents have fixed a safe place for you to go.”

    For those NYC Black kids who were lucky enough, maybe their building had a community fallout shelter in the basement that’s since been converted into a shitty laundry room. Otherwise, it was probably tough titty. For we can’t pretend it’s not part of the racially-prejudiced dictator’s aim to wipe out the marginalized. Which is exactly what would have happened in the 50s and early 60s if a bomb had actually detonated. Because only the white folks were investing in bomb shelters. After all, the financial disparity between white and Black Americans at that time was an even more considerable factor. Not to mention the racially assumptive policies of civil defense that deliberately chose to ignore that people of color did not have the same resources as the “ideal” of the day: the suburban, white, middle-class nuclear (ironic, yes) family.

    So maybe it is nice to have Charli and MARINA “equalize” the bomb by making it a love metaphor (and yes, a toxic one). One that redefines what the narrator in “Duck and Cover” says: “The bomb can explode any time of year, day or night.” Yes, the love bomb sure can. Elsewhere, our narrator promises, “Older people will help us, as they always do.” A big presumption that obviously didn’t take into account how selfish the modern adult would become. The narrator makes certain to include the caveat, “But there might not be any grown-ups around when the bomb explodes.”

    “Grown-up” (an illusory term) present or not, the idea that ducking and covering was really going to spare anyone from nuclear fallout was both precious and self-deluding—and likely a huge government conspiracy designed to placate the masses. Which is why they could write off nuclear attack as being just another “little danger” to potentially be prepared for as viewers of the video are soothed, “We all know the atomic bomb is very dangerous. Since it may be used against us, we must get ready for it. Just as we are ready for many other dangers that are around us all the time.” No one thought to point out that these dangers (e.g., fires, earthquakes) were not needlessly designed by the government.

    And so, even now, we all just keep hoping for the best in terms of how “prepared” we are. That these dictators are merely pathetic man-boys crying wolf, but would never actually greenlight the mushroom cloud. Plus, if no one is around anymore to oppress, where’s the fun in that to a dictator?

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Society Once Asked, “Where’s the beef?” Nicki Minaj Plans to Stew It With Her Own Record Label

    Society Once Asked, “Where’s the beef?” Nicki Minaj Plans to Stew It With Her Own Record Label

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    As a woman in the music industry, there’s never been a better time to show the patriarchy how useless it is by starting one’s own label (though let us never forget that Madonna already set that bar a long time ago with Maverick). Ultimate proof that “the suits” have been capitalizing on the myth of their “indispensability” for far too long. Among the ranks of female musicians to have recently started their own label is MARINA, who founded Queenie Records in late 2022. But while MARINA is known for being a more, shall we say, collaborative personality, Nicki Minaj has a reputation for starting beef with just about every interaction (almost Azealia Banks-style)—usually with fellow female rappers. Thus, for her to establish a record label would theoretically mean she’s willing to pack in her combative ways in order to “fully show up” for the musicians she wants to sign. And sure, she claims, “When I get behind an artist, y’all know how I do shit for people that’s not even signed to me. Imagine what I’ma do for the ones that’s signed,” but when anyone rubs her the wrong way, it’s game over.

    One of the latest female rappers to do that was Latto (evidently, taking Cardi B’s erstwhile spot for most threatening new addition to the scene). The beef arose when Minaj called out Latto as an example of a new artist who didn’t deserve such reverence compared to her, this being catalyzed by the Recording Academy’s decision to move Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl” into consideration for the pop category instead of the rap one while putting together their nomination list (in the end, “Super Freaky Girl” didn’t make the cut at all, while Latto’s “Big Energy” received a nomination in the category of Best Melodic Rap Performance). Minaj’s response to this was, “They stay moving the goalposts when it comes to me. If you can’t tell by now there is a concerted effort to give new artists things they don’t deserve, over artists who have been deserving for many years.”

    This echoed Minaj’s contempt for Cardi’s early success as well. However, rather than start a Twitter war as she did with Latto, the beef came directly to Nicki at a New York Fashion Week party in 2018. When Cardi famously got elbowed in the side of the forehead by one of Minaj’s security guards before then throwing her shoe in Minaj’s direction. The feud’s boiling point was spurred by Cardi’s irritation over “lies Nicki was spreading,” in addition to threatening other musicians in the business that she wouldn’t work with them if they chose to work with Cardi. Taking to Instagram Live after the incident, Cardi expressed, “You lie so much you can’t even keep up with yo fuckin’ lies.”

    Latto felt similarly when Minaj forced her into the drama over the Grammys by tweeting, “This Karen has probably mentioned my name in over 100 interviews…but today, scratch off decides to be silent; rather than speak up for the black woman she called her biggest inspiration.” The accusation came after Latto texted her privately in support of her statement about the unfairness of the category classification for “Super Freaky Girl,” prompting Latto to remind Nicki when she dragged it out in public, “1st of all I texted u cause I didn’t wanna do the internet sht w sum1 I looked up to. I do agree but the way u going about it seems malicious.” Hence, Latto definitely not looking up to Nicki anymore by the time it was all over, complete with getting #40YearOldBully to trend on Twitter. Latto then shared a recorded phone conversation she had with Nicki (because she knew “who tf I’m dealing with”) that featured Nicki accusing Latto of trying to put herself “above” other female rappers a.k.a. Minaj. All in all, it doesn’t sound as though Minaj would create a very “safe space” to nurture up-and-coming female artists in. Especially with the Lil’ Kim prophecy in mind that went: “She wanted to be the only female out there… she wanted to be out there by herself.”

    As the beefs rack up, it appears Minaj might end up being just that in more ways than one. Particularly if she alienates more women trying to or who actually get signed to her label. As Cardi concluded on her 2018 Instagram Live, “You’re out here fucking up your legacy looking like a fucking hater.” And yet, there was a time when creating controversy of this nature was considered “good” for one’s rep. These being in the pre-woke days of pop culture, when everyone could freely admit that they got off on the drama. With the present climate, the urging for women in rap to partake of a more “room for everyone” spirit has been met with continued venom from Miss Chun-Li herself—making it slightly difficult for her to transition into a 2020s climate. But, apropos of “Chun-Li,” it was Minaj herself who insisted, “They need rappers like me/So they can get on their fuckin’ keyboards and make me the bad guy.”

    Yet it seems Minaj is only too adept at doing that to herself (all while refusing to admit to the Taylor adage, “It’s me, hi. I’m the problem it’s me”). This is perhaps because Minaj comes from an old school sensibility regarding what rap entails. More than just the music itself, it is (or was) about a lifestyle centered on beefing. As Minaj once phrased it, “Rap is different now. You gotta pretend you like people and stuff. Everybody’s gotta get on the bandwagon. They get on the love bandwagon, and they get on the hate bandwagon.”

    To play both sides of old and new school takes on what rap should include outside of the music itself, Nicki is known for firing shots behind the scenes while paying “respect” in public—ergo, Latto taping the aforementioned conversation wherein she called Latto “delusional” for saying other female rappers were flourishing. With that in mind, is there any nascent female rap aspirant that would really dare to fuck with Minaj’s label knowing how petty (no reference to her husband intended) she can be? That might be why Minaj was certain to specify, “Don’t think my label is just rap, or Black, or anything. We got some other genres of music.” For, if not, Minaj is liable to get jealous if another woman on her label actually did succeed a little “too well”—conjuring the image of the lyrical threat, “These birds copy every word, every inch/But gang-gang got the hammer and the wrench.” Minaj has also reiterated her contempt for any woman who tries to compete for her throne on her latest single, “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” (during which she also alludes to the Latto beef, in addition to “potentially” shading Megan Thee Stallion with the line, “I don’t fuck with horses”).

    Continuing her beloved tradition of sampling, Minaj used Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)” (itself a sample from Steven “Lenky” Marsden’s Diwali Riddim compilation) on the follow-up single to the Rick James-grafted “Super Freaky Girl.” Minaj, whether aware of it or not, appears to tongue-in-cheekly include Lumidee’s original verses at the end: “If you want me to stay/I’ll never leave/If you want me to stay/Love endlessly.” In other words, she wants everyone else to love her endlessly…not the other way around. Which certainly makes for plenty of beef-stewing on a new label. Or, if nothing else, the building of a new kind of Barbz army.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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