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Tag: Petra Collins

  • Charli XCX Doing A Skims Ad Campaign Is More Crash Than Brat

    Charli XCX Doing A Skims Ad Campaign Is More Crash Than Brat

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    During one of her many interviews about Brat, Charli XCX mentioned being committed to whatever “character”/“persona” she’s trying on for her album of the moment. (Though it bears mentioning that no one could ever be as committed as Marina and the Diamonds playing Electra Heart for the album of the same name back in 2012.) Admitting that, to her, this aspect of it is more interesting that the music itself. But it seems that, in capitulating to becoming a “Skims model” (a term that somehow feels and sounds derisive probably because it inherently is), she’s having a bit of whiplash in terms of recalling just who, exactly, she’s supposed to be embodying for the (brat) summer of 2024, instead reverting more freely to her Crash persona from 2022. The one that “took every advertising deal” (including, most glaringly, the one with Samsung) without the slightest bit of shame or hesitation because, hey, this was her “sellout” era. Whoring herself out for [insert company name here] and gleefully taking the money in return was, accordingly, completely “on-brand.”

    Kim Kardashian, needless to say, has been in the “whoring herself out” era ever since the days of sticking her head up Paris Hilton’s asshole and keeping it in there until she could come out with a slightly more famous face than before. Funnily enough, Kardashian herself does exemplify a brat in the more conventional sense of the word (along with the children she’s “raising”). That is, minus the part where she’s not a little girl anymore—though it’s no secret that most millennial women, particularly those in the limelight, still can’t help but act that way (see also: Paris Hilton and Lana Del Rey). And yes, what was brattier than Kim screaming, “My diamond earring!” after losing a stud reportedly worth seventy-five thousand dollars while swimming in Bora Bora circa 2011? Her melodramatic delivery and traditional brat reaction was, thus, the polar opposite of being “very demure, very mindful.”

    As is XCX choosing to pose for Skims’ cotton “underthings.” Regardless of trying to make it more “Brat coded” by having Petra Collins do the photoshoot and “tongue-in-cheekly” captioning it “#ad” (in keeping with the dry, straightforward labeling of things in the Brat world). A caption that essentially “Brat-ifies” Crash behavior. In any case, maybe some part of Kardashian (aside from the part that jumps on every bandwagon to capitalize as much as possible for both more money and clout) tapped XCX for the campaign because she saw a “kindred” in the literal meaning of “brat” as opposed to XCX’s modern twist on the concept, which essentially means being messy (e.g., wearing the same makeup for days at a time), not trying too hard and being, in effect, too cool to care.

    Thus, posing for a Skims ad, however “no frills,” feels very much the opposite of Brat. As though XCX can’t help but return, ever so slightly, to the girl she was on Crash. The unapologetic sellout that could collect the cash without judgment because that’s simply the name of the game when you’re an Ultra-Famous Pop Star. Such an unapologetic sellout could also effortlessly get into bed with Kim Kardashian and her odious Skims brand without thinking twice about it. In point of fact, Crash’s last song (on the standard edition) is called “Twice,” a track featuring the lyrics, “Don’t, don’t, don’t think twice/Don’t think about it.” Although she might have been referring to the end of the world/mortality (it was sort of like her more upbeat version of Billie Eilish’s “Everybody Dies”), in this instance, it can easily apply to the idea of not thinking twice about becoming one of Kardashian’s growing list of shills. Much to Taylor Swift’s increasing dismay, as she seems to be losing all the “cool” girls to the former Mrs. West and her flesh-toned shapewear. Even her own “good friend,” Lana Del Rey, who also blithely donned the coquette look in time for Skims’ Valentine’s Day 2024 ad campaign. Resultantly, there were rumors of a fallout between Swift and Del Rey after the latter showed up to the Met Gala with a cinched-waist-to-the-max Kardashian.

    As for Charli XCX, despite knowing she “couldn’t even be her if she tried” (a lyric from Brat’s “Sympathy is a knife,” which features some heavy allusions to Swift), the Crash album was her biggest attempt at being “that pop star bitch.” You know, the kind with Swiftian-level juggernaut powers. While, at the same time, also being her biggest troll of the music industry. The entire concept, after all, was centered on the “Faustian pact” nature of becoming a star (Maxxxine also comes to mind on that front). And, if anyone knows all about such Faustian pacts, it’s surely Kim Kardashian. So perhaps this “deal with the devil” connection also played a role in XCX’s “attraction” to the “girl with no talent.”

    Or maybe XCX simply wanted to look “hot in it” (to quote one of her songs), donning a see-through white cotton bra that miraculously shows no sign of any nipples (let alone hard ones) and matching white cotton boxers while flashing what has become her signature “dead-eyed” look. Though one has to wonder if that expression is “ironic” anymore, so much as a sign that she played the part of Crash corporate sellout for so long that it’s now bled into the Brat era. XCX even had the audacity to declare, “SKIMS empowers people to feel confident in their own skin, which is the essence of Brat. I am excited to be working with a brand that understands that comfort and style don’t need to be compromised.” Aside from Charli sounding like a marketing robot/recently converted cult member, it has to be said that what obviously does need to be compromised, at this juncture, in order to be “brat” is artistic integrity.

    After Crash came out, XCX declared, “I needed to switch after Crash—I wasn’t born to do radio liners. That’s not who I am at all.” But if Brat is (or was) meant to be something of its polar opposite/a return to her “fringe club days,” an ad with Skims certainly doesn’t align with that narrative. But, then again, perhaps the corporate-ification of Brat (complete with Kamala Harris joining in on the meme trend for her presidential campaign) is causing a rightfully schizophrenic reaction on Charli’s part.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • “bad idea right?”: Olivia Rodrigo Asks The Same Question As Forebears Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry (Not To Mention Drunk Women Everywhere)

    “bad idea right?”: Olivia Rodrigo Asks The Same Question As Forebears Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry (Not To Mention Drunk Women Everywhere)

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    Giving listeners a taste of something that diverges from the (initially) ballad-y sound of Guts’ lead single, “vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo opts for a more “brutal”-esque tone on her second offering from the record, “bad idea right?” A release pattern that matches what she did with Sour by presenting “deja vu” after the slow, bemoaning jam that is “drivers license.” “good 4 u” and “brutal” would then further establish her knack for “angst you can dance to.”

    The same goes for “bad idea right?,” which is similar to “brutal” in that both songs are “upbeat” while being filled with self-doubt and self-contempt. In this way, Rodrigo confirms more than ever that she’s a Pisces with her back-and-forth waffling about hooking up with an ex during a drunken night of folly. And yes, as a Pisces, of course she’s going to opt for the more self-destructive route. As for the title, if it sounds rather familiar, perhaps you’ll recognize (most of) it from another water sign’s oeuvre. Specifically, Ariana Grande’s thank u, next record, which places “bad idea” at track six. Bearing sentiments that are akin to Rodrigo’s on “bad idea right?,” Grande has her own “fuck it” attitude when she sings, “I got a bad idea/Yeah, I’ma call you over here to numb the pain” and “Yeah, I know we shouldn’t, baby, but we will (you know we will)/Need somebody, gimme something I can feel/But, boy, don’t trip/You know this isn’t real/You should know I’m temporary.” 

    Rodrigo also wants to get that intention across with the many caveats she spreads throughout her own sonically delivered bad idea. So it is that she lies to herself, “Yes, I know that he’s my ex/But can’t two people reconnect?/I only see him as a friend/The biggest lie I ever said.” Elsewhere adding an “Oops!…I Did It Again” sort of flourish with, “I just tripped and fell into his bed.” The notion of lying/being a liar in this particular song for once applies to Rodrigo instead of the erstwhile object of her affection. Case in point, her accusation in “traitor,” which opens with, “Brown guilty eyes and little white lies.” Or the one in “vampire” that goes, “How do you lie without flinching?/(How do you lie, how do you lie, how do you lie?).” The point being that Rodrigo is fine with lies in “bad idea right?” so long as they only involve the ones she tells herself in order to engage in some “guilty pleasure” sex with an ex. 

    As for the video (once again directed by Petra Collins) to get that message across, it commences with the roll of thunder outside a house where a party is already in full swing (because despite moving to New York, Rodrigo can’t shake the California tradition of house parties). And as Rodrigo primps in the bathroom mirror with her friends (the ones [played by Madison Hu, Tate McRae and Iris Apatow] she’ll later tell she “was asleep/But I never said where or in whose sheets”), she gets a call from someone in her phone labeled as, “LOSER NOT WORTH MENTIONING.” Which is far more “bespoke” than “DO NOT ANSWER.” While the party rages on outside the bathroom, Rodrigo, outfitted in a baby blue angora sweater, a silver sequined mini skirt and a heart choker, does her best imitation of Liv Tyler as Corey Mason in Empire Records (perhaps naturally assuming that members of her birth cohort won’t be able to make that connection, therefore claiming it as her own). 

    But that’s not the only pop culture icon Rodrigo is “giving” as she continues down the path of emulation for “bad idea right?” There’s also many shades of Katy Perry’s 2019 single, “Never Really Over,” during which she also finds plenty of ways to justify getting back together with an ex (albeit in a far more relationship-y way than what Rodrigo wants to do on “bad idea right?”). This includes Perry chirpily singing, “Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn’t it the best?/Thought it was done, but I guess it’s never really over.” Before this part of the chorus, she already mirrors Rodrigo’s self-flagellating attitude in the first and second verses: “I’m losing my self control/Yeah, you’re starting to trickle back in/But I don’t wanna fall down the rabbit hole/Cross my heart, I won’t do it again/I tell myself, tell myself, tell myself, ‘Draw the line’/And I do, I do/But once in a while I trip up, and I cross the line/And I think of you.” 

    Rodrigo does more than just “think” in “bad idea right?”—she takes action. Ergo, letting herself be pulled, like a Pisces on a reel, right back up to her ex’s apartment. However, this doesn’t occur until after much more internal deliberation and much more alcohol consumption (“I’m out right now and I’m all fucked up”). Then, after a bit of crowd surfing, she gathers the courage to stow away in the back of a truck while it’s still pouring down rain. As if that weren’t already enough of a testament to her commitment to getting some hard (or at least semi-soft) dick, when the driver ends up with car trouble, she then gets on a bus that’s seemingly filled with several other people who also think it’s a bad idea (right?) to go see their own exes. Or maybe they just think it’s a bad idea for Rodrigo to go see hers. 

    Either way, the fact that “bad idea right?” has been released right after the accusatory/never-speaking-to-you-again “vampire” just goes to show how indecisive a girl can be when a fuckboy is involved (or girl, since many fans have speculated that “vampire” is actually about Taylor Swift—which would be a very “Bad Blood” maneuver). This, too, being evident in Taylor Swift’s 2012 hit, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Another track that was inspired by the main “muse” of Red: Jake Gyllenhaal. And although Swift is adamant that she is “never ever ever getting back together” with said ex, it took her a long time to get to that point. Likely succumbing to the same temptations that Rodrigo speaks to in “bad idea right?” Something Swift alludes to in the first verse with the lines, “I remember when we broke up the first time/Saying, ‘This is it, I’ve had enough,’ ‘cause like/We hadn’t seen each other in a month/When you said you needed space (What?)/Then you come around again and say, ‘Baby, I miss you and I swear I’m gonna change, trust me’/Remember how that lasted for a day?/I say, ‘I hate you,’ we break up, you call me, ‘I love you.’” In Rodrigo’s case, it’s less “I love you” and more “I wanna fuck you.” Call it the increasing jadedness of each succeeding generation (but on the plus side, at least someone from Gen Z is expressing a desire to fuck at all). 

    Finally arriving at his apartment (on the second floor, a detail she notes very strategically) for her dick appointment, Rodrigo peels off her baby blue sweater (miraculously free of any signs of the slushy that got spilled all over her while she was on the bus) to show off a white tank top that will get optimally wet in the rain just in time for when he answers the door. Except that he’s too busy being a literal firework (another nod to Katy Perry?) in the bedroom (as “good 4 u” told us, Rodrigo has a thing for fiery bedrooms). Despite his ostensible inability to answer the door, Rodrigo makes it inside regardless and lies down next to “him.” Or rather, “it.” Because “he’s” actually  nothing more than some arcane form of light energy radiating those damn fireworks (again, this is a very Pisces way to portray things).

    As he goes up in smoke next to her, Rodrigo notices an errant spider crawling near her on the pillow. And yes, the symbolism of a spider—a creature that lures its prey into the web—is not lost on the viewer. Sketched out and appalled, this seems to serve as the sobering wake-up call she needs to reassess her bad idea in favor of a good one. Or so we’d like to believe. Just as we’d like to believe the same of ourselves. That we’re not some weak, frivolous little bia giving in to temptation as readily as Eve. Who didn’t even have the excuse of being drunk for her whimsical decision.

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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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