I'm actually kind of the opposite of you with Taylor Swift and John Mulaney! I like Taylor, although I wouldn't consider myself a Swiftie and I don't think TTPD is her best album. I think for someone at her level of fame, she is remarkably good at controlling the narrative of her life and relationships, through her lyrics and otherwise.
John Mulaney- I was a huge, HUGE fan of his, until that week came out where we heard, in swift succession, that he had a bunch of new shows, was getting divorced, and was dating Olivia Munn, with his ex, Anna Marie Tendler, eschewing the usual "we remain friends and wish each other the best" statement in favor of saying outright that she was devastated and the divorce wasn't her idea. And a few months later, we find out he apparently knocked up Olivia the second he got out of rehab. Since then, I can't watch his specials at all anymore, when they used to be what I watched whenever I had a bad day (especially during 2020, when I was stuck at home by myself). I haven't seen Baby J. All I can think now when I see John Mulaney is how badly he hurt Anna- and drugs are not an excuse for cheating. (Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt about when his relationship with Olivia started, there were a lot of rumors that he cheated with other women before her.) I also just...find addiction narratives incredibly boring. They're all the same and no one can really say anything new about it at this point.
Anyway- looking forward to Anna Marie Tendler's memoir that comes out this summer!
I bet the memoir will be really good!! I imagine it's kind of thorny to be on any side of a marriage that ends (or, honestly, one that continues) intensely in the public eye, and I hope they're both okay in the future!
i personally enjoy music less when I know taylor-swift levels of intel on what went into making it. it destroys the personal experience, the generalizability of it for me. i don't try to "solve" songs like this - it feels like reading an essay interpreting a book, instead of just reading the book and drawing your own conclusions. if you are focusing on what happened to *the songwriter* when you listen to a song, you are cheating yourself out of a pure listening experience! listen to a song and find the moments and lyrics that most impact YOU! that's how art should work in my opinion! otherwise it's just homework!
Yeah! I like a little mystery! The more I think about it, the more I think that it's a real talent for an artist to make lyrics sound like they could be so 1:1 true to life, but I do prefer when it's a little more oblique!
I don't have the mental bandwidth to keep up with anything but the most-high-level information about Taylor Swift's love life, so I'm enjoying the idea that that song about the dude who was really into typewriters is about an ill-fated tryst with Tom Hanks.
I think it's too early to call Song of the Summer but I imagine Espresso will be in the running if it doesn't peak too early. IMO, it should be the song that still absolutely bangs at the Fourth of July block party. The Song of Every Summer is actually Despacito, the original version. The Get Lucky summer was kind of shared with Blurred Lines (for better or worse, but it's true). Also if 2016's SotS had been Ariana Grande's Into You instead of freaking Closer by the Chainsmokers, I think we would be in a better timeline!! That's science and not just my deeply held belief!
We just saw Spanish Love Songs at the Warsaw on Friday so I was very excited to see the headline on this one. The extreme specificity of the pierogis is one of the things that makes that place so weird and great. (The very skillful security guards are another — so much crowd surfing, zero casualties, truly impressive.)
literally had Espresso stuck in my head while reading your newsletter and scrolling down to the Espresso section. So many earworms lately (see many of Chappell Roan's hits as well)
The description of The 1975 is perfect. For a while Tiktok thought I was a huge fan of theirs so I was seeing their stuff a lot but I still cannot tell you a single thing about any of their songs.
I'm actually kind of the opposite of you with Taylor Swift and John Mulaney! I like Taylor, although I wouldn't consider myself a Swiftie and I don't think TTPD is her best album. I think for someone at her level of fame, she is remarkably good at controlling the narrative of her life and relationships, through her lyrics and otherwise.
John Mulaney- I was a huge, HUGE fan of his, until that week came out where we heard, in swift succession, that he had a bunch of new shows, was getting divorced, and was dating Olivia Munn, with his ex, Anna Marie Tendler, eschewing the usual "we remain friends and wish each other the best" statement in favor of saying outright that she was devastated and the divorce wasn't her idea. And a few months later, we find out he apparently knocked up Olivia the second he got out of rehab. Since then, I can't watch his specials at all anymore, when they used to be what I watched whenever I had a bad day (especially during 2020, when I was stuck at home by myself). I haven't seen Baby J. All I can think now when I see John Mulaney is how badly he hurt Anna- and drugs are not an excuse for cheating. (Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt about when his relationship with Olivia started, there were a lot of rumors that he cheated with other women before her.) I also just...find addiction narratives incredibly boring. They're all the same and no one can really say anything new about it at this point.
Anyway- looking forward to Anna Marie Tendler's memoir that comes out this summer!
I bet the memoir will be really good!! I imagine it's kind of thorny to be on any side of a marriage that ends (or, honestly, one that continues) intensely in the public eye, and I hope they're both okay in the future!
Changing the subject completely, hope you do something fun with your Mystik Dan money!
Thank you! I passed it on to friends to claim my ticket and (hopefully) make a silly purchase!
i personally enjoy music less when I know taylor-swift levels of intel on what went into making it. it destroys the personal experience, the generalizability of it for me. i don't try to "solve" songs like this - it feels like reading an essay interpreting a book, instead of just reading the book and drawing your own conclusions. if you are focusing on what happened to *the songwriter* when you listen to a song, you are cheating yourself out of a pure listening experience! listen to a song and find the moments and lyrics that most impact YOU! that's how art should work in my opinion! otherwise it's just homework!
Yeah! I like a little mystery! The more I think about it, the more I think that it's a real talent for an artist to make lyrics sound like they could be so 1:1 true to life, but I do prefer when it's a little more oblique!
I don't have the mental bandwidth to keep up with anything but the most-high-level information about Taylor Swift's love life, so I'm enjoying the idea that that song about the dude who was really into typewriters is about an ill-fated tryst with Tom Hanks.
This would truly be explosive gossip!
I think it's too early to call Song of the Summer but I imagine Espresso will be in the running if it doesn't peak too early. IMO, it should be the song that still absolutely bangs at the Fourth of July block party. The Song of Every Summer is actually Despacito, the original version. The Get Lucky summer was kind of shared with Blurred Lines (for better or worse, but it's true). Also if 2016's SotS had been Ariana Grande's Into You instead of freaking Closer by the Chainsmokers, I think we would be in a better timeline!! That's science and not just my deeply held belief!
It's so tricky! The summer chooses the song, and we don't always get a say!
I love a pierogi and I haven’t made any yet this year. I should get on that.
Also, I really really want you to come to Vegas but the summer hell months are coming and it would be a brutal time to visit.
It's been too long since I've been to Vegas! Hopefully I'll be back soon for some shows!
I need a pierogi truck dammit. Not real likely to happen in South Carolina though😞
Fingers crossed!
The lyrics to Espresso are top-tier pop music gibberish, and I mean that as a huge compliment.
Absolutely.
With the pierogi and kielbasa chat, you are honorarily a 3rd generation resident of the Canadian prairies with Slavic heritage. Congrats!
Huge for me thank you!
We just saw Spanish Love Songs at the Warsaw on Friday so I was very excited to see the headline on this one. The extreme specificity of the pierogis is one of the things that makes that place so weird and great. (The very skillful security guards are another — so much crowd surfing, zero casualties, truly impressive.)
Yes!! It's a great venue! I just got tickets to see Jeff Rosenstock there in August!
literally had Espresso stuck in my head while reading your newsletter and scrolling down to the Espresso section. So many earworms lately (see many of Chappell Roan's hits as well)
I need to give her stuff some more play! I like it but haven't listened enough!
i actually listened to a bit more of her work this morning -- it's very fun solid pop that has an early 2000s vibe in a good way
The description of The 1975 is perfect. For a while Tiktok thought I was a huge fan of theirs so I was seeing their stuff a lot but I still cannot tell you a single thing about any of their songs.
It's fascinating!!!
Pierogi is for the kids! Every serious cuisine has it's dumplings but the poles are for real. Glad to hear that they sorted you out.