cutting right to the chase this week.
1. THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
below is a Q + A that details my thoughts on the album. the conversation between me, myself, and i has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: lots of people saying they ‘don’t get’ how this album could be about that little rat matty healy. thoughts?
A: this is an album that will only be understood by the years-long situationship sufferers out there. if you’ve never been through this type of mental tumult then well, congratulations.
Q: some are saying she needed an editor here. could it have been shorter?
A: certainly, yes.
Q: does she need to separate herself from producer jack antonoff?
A: see above response.
Q: are there lines so cringe that you viscerally recoil?
A: several.
Q: i’m sorry to even ask this since we’ve been having this same discussion for 10 years now, but what do you say to the people still complaining that she only writes about boys and breakups?
A: YOU THINK YOU JUST FELL OUT OF A COCONUT TREE???? my GOD give it a rest. because she’s good at it!
Q: how do you feel now, after almost one full week to digest?
A: biblically obsessed.
Q: wow! i know you weren’t thrilled upon the first few listens. when was the crossing of the rubicon for you?
A: sunday night when i listened to these two songs on a continuous loop for like three hours. tears were shed. i like it more with each passing day!
2. live pop pantheon show about TTPD at the bell house
there are a lot of bad faith reviews of TTPD and taylor in general, and after a weekend of sifting through them on twitter, i was tired. but this live taping of the podcast pop pantheon featuring two of my favs, hunter harris and brittany spanos, was a perfect palate cleanser, with equal parts valid criticism and genuine engagement. shoutout swiftie extraordinaire nicole morano for bringing me along!
afterward a de facto panel of swifties from the event convened on the R train home and i was Listening and Learning to several interesting theories about the album. allegedly, there is a poem called IN SUMMATION in the vinyl version where taylor spells it all out for us. it’s like the ‘well, ACTUALLY!’ response to everyone saying she needs an editor. the poem seems to say that she meant for it to be the long, unedited ramblings of a manic woman scorned by some loser everyone hated but she loved. you can watch a tik tok reading of this poem here. kind of compelling but then again, swifties have an answer for every damn thing.
3. blackbird (8-year-old lucie’s version)
i have it on good authority that beyoncé saw this video of me singing blackbird at my dad’s 50th birthday party and said, ‘i know what we have to do.’
3. “telling myself tomorrow” by getting started
my guitarist on blackbird, the wickedly talented eddie o’connor, has a new song out with his band. it’s the smoothest jam and you should add it to your windows down joyride playlists immediately!
4. getting a haircut that doesn’t make you want to end it all
having an existential crisis every time you get your haircut is part of the human condition. but once in a blue moon, you get a haircut so perfect that it makes you forget all of those times you wanted to jump out the window. my girl ariana at salon[718] in prospect heights is a wizard with the scissors.
5. a solo dinner at nourish thai post perfect haircut
i always order takeout from this place and it happens to be directly across the street from salon[718], so i decided to grab a quick dinner post haircut. it was SO CUTE in there and this lychee martini / pad thai combo might be my death row meal, should it ever come to that.
6. ethan hawke on the necessity of poetry and art
♡good thing from a good person♡
…nothing this week because i simply procrastinated asking someone to do it! BUT i did make a google form for submissions. click the link below and send me a good thing if you dare!
thanks, as always, for reading! i know i always say that but i truly do mean it.
next week marks SIX MONTHS OF GOOD THINGS! which means it’s time for another round of bad things :)
xoxo see you there!
Perfect haircut + Thai sounds like a dream.
Blackbird by Lucie? Kinda slayed….