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Tag: Marina Diamandis

  • 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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  • 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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  • Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

    Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” Is A Direct Assault on the “Purpose” of Men

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    As Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” continues to dominate charts and shatter records in 2024, it bears reflecting on the why of its enduring success. And the longevity it will likely have even decades from now (depending on whether or not humanity can still access streaming services at that point). Over one year on from its initial release—January 13, 2023 (a.k.a. Liam Hemsworth’s thirty-third birthday)—“Flowers” remains not only resonant, but eerily evergreen…in terms of men being, well, rather useless to women. Particularly when it comes to seeking validation and particularly when it comes to representing them as elected officials.

    If 2022 was “the year men flopped” (as if they haven’t been doing just that since time immemorial), 2023, the year that kicked off the Reign of “Flowers,” commenced as the year men were proven totally unnecessary. Granted, this might have already occurred on a more scientific level with the advent of artificial insemination. But, increasingly, the “need” for a man for “emotional support” (or much of anything else) is being called into question by women…well into 2024. Cyrus’ sologamist anthem provides no better example of that. To heighten the sentiment behind the lead single from Endless Summer Vacation, during the same week, there was also Shakira totally eviscerating her ex, Gerard Piqué, via her collaboration with DJ Bizarrap (unofficially called “Pa’ Tipos Como Tú”). It’s a track that addresses not only how he cheated on her with a much younger woman, but his many shortcomings as part of the male species.

    That both singles were released in the same week is telling of a generally “hostile” climate among the collective female psyche that keeps asking: what “purpose” does a man actually serve in my life? Or perhaps more politically correct clarification is required in the present: what “purpose” does a “straight” man serve in my life? But it’s crystal clear to anyone who observes pop culture that the hetero male has been on the shit list for quite some time—no further sexuality exegesis needed. Just say “man” to a woman and it’s enough to evoke all manner of rancor. To a degree that is rarely on par with a man’s reaction to women. Possibly because men are “allowed” to exhibit venomous attitudes in systemic and passive aggressive ways all the time thanks to patriarchy, therefore they’ve channeled their unrepressed rage and chauvinism rather regularly. Regularly enough not to shudder at the mention of the opposite sex, only quiver and cower when that sex puts them in their place. As has been happening with more celebratory frequency (see: the Greta Thunberg-Andrew Tate exchange of 2022). 

    Talking of jubilations, that’s precisely what Cyrus engages in on “Flowers,” which is an unabashed celebration of the self. And all the ways in which it can both survive and thrive without a man around to make a woman wilt rather than grow. To the point of surviving, “Flowers” also adds to the burgeoning list of post-breakup anthems, and goes one step well beyond the mainstay sonic trope for thumbing one’s nose at male callousness: Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.” Unlike this classic in the canon of songs that champions female empowerment and the resiliency to be able to move on after a man arbitrarily decides to abandon a relationship (as was the case in Shakira’s situation), “Flowers” doesn’t necessarily suggest any intention of wanting (or needing) to pursue another romance after recovering from the last. This marks it as a very singular contribution to the post-breakup song arsenal in that it defies the convention of suggesting that not only will she move on, but she’ll move on to a new and theoretically “improved” dude. In “Flowers,” Cyrus inherently suggests that she is the only person she needs to simultaneously “get by” and thrive, and that no one (read: no man) will ever be able to love her as well or as caringly and sincerely as herself. 

    While some would counter that the song is targeted primarily at her enduring muse (/ex-husband) of the past few years, Liam Hemsworth, there’s no denying her intent in rendering the lyrics as universally applicable as possible. Catering to the masses of women in this world that Cyrus knows have had or are having or will have the very same revelations after yet another botched attempt at seeking intimacy with a penis-packing human. For even Cyrus has fallen prey to the trap (more than a few times) of believing that she “needed” a man to validate her worth (whereas, at present, she merely wants one [Maxx Morando] for the presumable thrill). And she’s supposed to be pansexual, so what does that say about the “full-on” straight women who give far more credence to straight men than they deserve?

    What’s worse still is that men could easily “keep” a woman if they just made a few slight improvements to their behavior. But a general unwillingness to budge on even the most basic things accumulates into one big pile of bullshit, eventually forcing a woman to put an end to her masochism. Among such basic acts is the occasional ability to express care through a token gesture. Like, say, something as cliche as giving flowers. A trope that Cyrus wields within the chorus, “I can buy myself flowers/Write my name in the sand/Talk to myself for hours/Say things you don’t understand/I can take myself dancin’/I can hold my own hand/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” Yet she also seeks to decimate the notion that a man is “required” at all to receive flowers. This by declaring that not only is she capable of buying her own bouquet, but that she can also do the other things a man is “supposed to do” (per the established norms of societal, literary and filmic indoctrination)—especially since there’s so few other purposes they can serve in the present apart from at least providing the every-so-often romantic display. 

    Cyrus is not the only one of late in the pop arena to use flowers as a larger metaphor for male inutility. In 2021, Billie Eilish was equally as scandalized by the fuckboy behavior implicated in not even bothering to offer up some goddamn flowers. This being evident on the Happier Than Ever single, “Lost Cause,” during which she laments, “Gave me no flowers/Wish I didn’t care/You’d be gone for hours/Could be anywhere.” This comes after Eilish highlighting the fact that she had to be the one to give him flowers, stating at the beginning of the song, “I sent you flowers/Did you even care?/You ran the shower/And left them by the stairs.” In other words, while she exhibited care for him and their relationship with this thoughtful expression, he, in turn, displayed his total lack of care by not even tending to the flowers—choosing to “water himself” instead. This being a grander allegory for the intrinsic selfishness of the male gender. With the latter lyric, Eilish also seemed to be loosely referencing the 1999 hit from Blink-182, “All The Small Things.” A track from a man that specifically calls out his own appreciation of “little gestures” (so why can’t he understand hers?). Among the few non-repetitive lines in that single being, “​​She left me roses by the stairs/Surprises let me know she cares.” And the least a man can do to return that care is put the fucking roses on display right away. 

    In a more pronounced form of repurposing a male song from the female response perspective, Miley’s “Flowers” overtly reworks the chorus from Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man,” in which he sings, ​​“I should have bought you flowers/And held your hand/Should have gave you all my hours/When I had the chance/Take you to every party ‘cause all you wanted to do was dance.” Of course, these “insights” tend to come when it’s already too late, and a girl like Cyrus is explaining, “I didn’t wanna leave you/I didn’t wanna fight.” But, in the end, she had to leave for her own sense of self-worth. Which Cyrus can only truly find without the man she ephemerally thought would “complete” her. Thus, her braggadocious flex, “Yeah, I can love me better than/Yeah, I can love me better than you can.” 

    Apart from Eilish realizing this before Cyrus via a flowers analogy, so did MARINA that same summer of 2021, with a song also entitled “Flowers” from her Ancient Dreams in a  Modern Land record. Referring to her five-year long relationship with Clean Bandit member Jack Patterson, MARINA comes to the conclusion, “I would rather not/Betray myself just to keep/Your love at any cost.” The cost so frequently being ignoring the “little things” that add up to one big revelation: he ain’t the one (a similar epiphany had by Drew Barrymore as Julia Sullivan in The Wedding Singer). 

    MARINA expounds, “With every careless action, you let me slip away/If you just bought me flowers, maybe I would’ve stayed.” The flowers, as usual, are emblematic of something more telling: care. Consideration. Or rather, the absence of it. So, instead, she left Patterson and bought flowers for her damn self, posting a photo with a bouquet in April of 2020 on her Instagram account and captioning it, “I ordered flowers to: myself from: myself And let me tell you, it felt surprisingly great.” Cyrus, it appears, would tend to agree. 

    MARINA was, in fact, so determined to stay true to herself and her standards for how she should be treated that she even broke up with Patterson at arguably the most vulnerable time to do so: during the lockdown phase of the pandemic. Thus, at one point in the promotion cycle of the record, she declared, “I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, but I’ve always enjoyed my own company. I’m pretty good, fortunately, on my own.” As are many women (more and more) at this juncture—for it’s just so much less disappointing than trying to make it work with a man. More often than not, a toxic presence in a woman’s potential for “blooming.” As MARINA phrased it, “The seeds we planted grew/But not like roses do/We had the thorns and leaves/But the buds, they never bloomed/And now my future gleams/With colors bold and bright/In a home that’s filled with love and hope/And a life that just feels right.” “Just right” because, as Miley has pointed out more bluntly, “I can love me better than you can.” 

    To be sure, not every woman—far from it—will be so eager to jump on the anthemic single’s message in practice as opposed to theory (part of that theory translating to dancing one’s ass off alone in their room to it). Most especially the women who are not in the same income tax bracket as the likes of Miley, Billie and MARINA. For the feeling of “radical independence,” in this society, is inextricably linked to having money, and mounds of it. This being the obvious reason for why men have been so determined for so long to keep women out of the game as “exceptional earners” (to use a Britney phrase). As that glass ceiling persists in being shattered, the question of a man’s relevance to a woman’s existence will continue to have an easy answer: he’s not. 

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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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  • Against One’s Better Judgment, It’s Easy to Heed Romy Urging You to “Enjoy Your Life”

    Against One’s Better Judgment, It’s Easy to Heed Romy Urging You to “Enjoy Your Life”

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    Although Romy Madley Croft, better known as the xx’s Romy or just Romy, still has yet to give us that solo album she teased back in 2020, at least she keeps releasing singles to placate listeners until the full-length debut arrives. And it all started with “Lifetime” almost a complete three years ago (a “lifetime” ago, as it were). It was with that specific single that Romy established herself as an artist with a jubilant message to convey. In contrast to much of her work with the xx, there is less a tone of moroseness and more a tone of ebullience in the singles she’s bequeathed us with thus far (e.g. “Lights Out” and “Strong,” both a collaboration with Fred again..). “Enjoy Your Life” proves no exception to the thus far customary rule for Romy’s solo work.

    Funnily enough, Romy isn’t the first Brit in recent years to tell us to “Enjoy Your Life.” In 2019, MARINA told us to do the same on Love + Fear. Sure, MARINA is technically Welsh, but it’s all part of the same island. In any case, it seems no coincidence that the shittier things get, the more people want to cling to positivity as best as they can (and, as another British bird from the Spice Girls claimed, “All you need is positivity”). Indeed, it seems positivity is on an upswing despite all evidence displaying that people should feel quite the contrary. Yet it’s all part of human nature, not just in terms of denial as a coping mechanism, but also the idea of “endurance” and “survival.” Because part of being able to endure through nonstop experiences of trauma—both concentrated and collective—is to put a “positive spin” on things. In the wake of the coronavirus lockdowns, it’s been: the world got a chance to stop for a moment and “take stock.” Apparently, though, not long enough to realize that the way we exist is fundamentally designed to doom us all. In any case, Romy, just as MARINA before the pandemic hit, doesn’t think that should keep you from having a good time. After all, this life is allegedly the only one we’ve got, so we might as well make the most of it…no matter how objectively shitty it might seem (especially to people who aren’t pop stars).

    But, similarly to Romy, MARINA admits that writing her own “Enjoy Your Life” was a way to stave off some of her overarching feelings of negativity, having penned it during a time when she was extremely depressed. During the promotion cycle of Love + Fear, she told Vogue of the song, “I just literally didn’t see the point in life. I didn’t understand what life was about. I definitely felt very depressed and didn’t understand why life was good, literally functioning day-to-day thinking, ‘Just get through today.’” So sure, her lyrics were more of a self-pep talk than anything else, urging her to “enjoy the now” without constantly worrying so much about the future. Appreciate what you have and try to see the beauty in the breakdown, etc. As for Romy’s take on the message, she also presents it with correspondingly upbeat music. And, in contrast to her usual style, she does something a bit different here musically, favoring the sound embodied by 90s dance beats (with help from co-producers Jamie xx, Fred again.. and Stuart Price) while also managing to incorporate Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s “La Vita” into the song (as well as Oby Onyioha’s “funkadelic” “Enjoy Your Life”). In point of fact, it’s Glenn-Copeland who played such a pivotal role in imbuing Romy with any sense of positivity. For, as she remarked of using the sample, “When I heard the line, ‘My mother says to me enjoy your life’… I was speechless. Those few words felt like the most simple and disarming sentence. Ever since I was eleven, I’ve been aware of and drawn to the phrase, life is short. I’ve felt inspired by people who I’ve seen react to this by trying to see the positives in life, even when things are going wrong and times are hard.”

    Romy, however, goes on to admit, “As much as I’d love to naturally be one of those people, I’m not always able to do this myself and often get in my own head and my own way, so sometimes a reminder goes a long way. Glenn’s lyrics were a direct connection to what had been a very quiet, private thought. It resonated especially deeply as it is because of my mum passing away when I was eleven that this perspective on living life was even a part of me.” Incidentally, Glenn-Copeland also adds in his song that, “La vita è dolce” a.k.a. “Life is sweet.” Even if bittersweet (as The Verve knows). That much is unwittingly captured in the accompanying video. Directed by Romy’s wife, Vic Lentaigne, the visuals are clearly personal. Hence, the “vintage home movie” effect often incorporated into it (look out, Lana Del Rey). And then there’s also the images of Romy thumbing through old photo albums when she’s still a child with her mother, in those years before she died. The aching for those memories to be present instead of past is negated by Romy’s insistence upon living exuberantly—what her mother would have wanted for her, to be sure.

    Scenes of Romy at the ocean and other various bodies of water play an important role in the baptismal nature of a song such as this. For every time one falls prey to negative thoughts, they can “be born anew” with a positive outlook (in addition to the presence of dogs, many dogs)…no matter how ephemeral it may be. Of course, with existence itself being so ephemeral, it doesn’t really matter much to the universe what “state” you decide to be in from one day to the next. All Romy can say is that, “I hope this song celebrates and shares the words that Glenn said so beautifully and my reaction to it and hopefully uplifts a dancefloor along the way,” adding, “I hope you know I would never want to tell anyone how to feel or to pretend to feel good when they don’t, I know how that feels.” Thus, “Enjoy Your Life” is more of a gentle reminder on Romy’s part than a “dancefloor edict,” if you will.

    And, talking of the dancefloor, it appears several times throughout the video, with Romy interspersing these moments amid scenes of her driving along (in the passenger seat) with the wind blowing in her hair or riding on a boat or soaking up the sun on the beach (a moment that comes full-circle when a photo of Romy’s own mother doing the same appears at the end). There are times when Romy herself is the architect of fun on that dancefloor, playing DJ in a far more adept way than Paris Hilton. Like Robyn once said in a song title, Romy finds herself “dancing on my own again/Anxiety, my old friend/Since when will you try something new?” That “something new” being to enjoy her life and embrace whatever comes her way with a positive attitude. After all, as she says in the song, “I made a promise to my mother/To stop running from my problems.”

    Or, as MARINA phrased it, “Sit back and enjoy your problems/You don’t always have to solve them.” The world has clearly taken this approach to heart as everyone sits back and watches it burn, resigned to the day when it might finally explode. So yes, why not just enjoy your life while it lasts? God or whoever knows that generations after this probably won’t be able to delude themselves as easily…or perhaps they will because “shite” will be all they’ve ever known.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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