Sportscruiser

Advocating for nuance and then claiming to be a free speech advocate might turn out to be a dangerous exercise - specially when that term has been countlessly and grotesquely misconstrued and misused by fascists, homophobes, transphobes, racists, xenophobes, et al. I hate cancel culture as well but I’m a firm believer in accountability culture. You can express whatever you feel like but there are consequences to your actions if you cross certain lines or reach certain extremes. Let’s not turn a blind eye to problematic stances and perspectives as a counter-response to “cancel culture” and “mob mentality” because that lacks just as much nuance as what you’re criticizing.

Did I suggest that in any way, shape or form?

This is so eloquently said! If I could hug a post, it would be this one

I’ll disagree with you not because I think UV is less dark but because I think Tunnel and UV are dark in very different ways. UV is told with the perspective of someone in the eye of a storm. Tunnel seems to come from someone who’s matured and grown from it but still aches looking back at it and realizing how formative and destructive those experiences were. There’s no point in comparing them, to be honest. I went through very rough and painful experiences that brought me feelings of angst, loss and isolation and were very hard to go through but now, years later and way more mature and a bit more self-assured, I struggle with coming to terms with what everything behind me means: what it says about me as a person, what did I do to deserve to go through those experiences and the ramifications said experiences still have on my day-to-day life. It’s a different kind of suffering but it’s suffering anyways - my therapist once told me that looking back at my past with a bird’s view lens, while useful and perhaps necessary, would eventually turn out to be pretty dark and severe for me because it would make me realize that everything is connected and structured in a very complex and dense architecture; that often causes me a lot of pain and dismay, even if I can admittedly tell you right now that I’m happier today than I was years ago. Yet, coming to terms with the traumatic experiences that shaped the person you are today is a very overwhelming process to go through even if the long term purpose of that is to seek serenity and find blissfulness. I haven’t found either but I’m on my way to do so. And this is exactly what I will assume Tunnel represents: the realization that there’s a deeper meaning to every single cell and fiber of your existence, even if the outside suggests you otherwise. It’s a different kind of perspective than the one you can offer when you’re actively going through trauma but it’s one that can be just as encompassing and sprawling. For one to pick up the pieces and try to build something new, one gotta face the shambles first, head on. That’s heavy.

What’s Love?

Don’t y’all even try to drag me for adoring NFR (title track), I won’t even acknowledge you.

And let’s not pretend the industry isn’t itching to embrace Kanye West again once his 1138393th redemption arc kicks in. The media keeps giving free passes to male artists but all it takes is contentious and complex positioning from female musicians and all hell breaks loose.

I’d be happier if you shared your ranking of the album but you’re playing.

That Grandfather lyric is way less problematic than the BLM one in Text Book which delved into near instrumentalization of a civil rights movement altogether. This one is far more ambiguous and could mean different things. I’m choosing to interpret it in the most positive light specially because of the line that comes right after.

I have a feeling it will get BNM. It’s conceptual and weird enough.

Pitchfork gave Best New Music to the Kali Uchis, Kelela and Caroline Polachek albums (as they should!) so if they don’t give it to Lana this time around, I’ll personally make sure their headquarters are set on fire filled with rabid stans reciting Violet from start to finish until the end of the year.

this is true…

Oh, the second half of the album?

I know this may be recency talking but…

So we’re comparing albums based on parallel track placements? What the heck.

This is a more nuanced take and I agree.

This is not personal or directed towards you or anything but at some point we need to give this anti-Tik-Tok speech a rest because it’s very much giving boomer energy back when most of us got into Facebook and then migrated to Instagram. I know dozens of people who are very much into TikTok AND are perfectly able to enjoy art expressions that are dense and complex. These two things aren’t mutually exclusive and I wish people stopped with this morally superior stance because it’s unnecessary painting young(er) people as idiots and I think we all remember how alienating and isolating that feeling was when older people did the same to us. The people who won’t be able to get into the wordier parts of this album are the same breed of people who never got into Fiona Apple, Björk, Tori Amos, Kate Bush, et al - they always existed, regardless of whatever social media they’re on and even before social media was even a concept. And that’s ok. We can’t all appreciate everything at the same time or with the same dedication. Let’s just stop shading people for no reason because it’s making us sound bitter and like the people from previous generations that we (still?) resent.

One of her best songs ever, I said what I said.

This album’s second half is most likely stronger than the first - which is already proving to be a feat in and of itself. Regardless of our future opinions of the sound will be like, I think we can at least collectively agree the lyricism will probably be her best ever?

I will bully everyone who doesn’t stan Abuelo