Hits!
On Odd Future:
- On “Yonkers,” and Tyler, the Creator’s self-loathing.
- Why Tyler, the Creator’s “Bitch Suck Dick” is best understood as a dialogue with hip-hop tropes.
- How the response to Tyler, the Creator mirrors the hysteria over Body Count’s “Cop Killer,” and the fear of young black men in the white suburbs.
- Thoughts on the Sydney Opera House show.
On Taylor Swift:
- On “Fifteen,” and the problem with supposing virginity is “everything” a teenage girl has.
- The Reality-Based defense of Taylor Swift: how feminist critiques of Swift fail to engage with her material.
- On “Innocent,” Taylor Swift’s diaristic style, and why her songs are stylized stories, even when they’re about celebrities.
- On Taylor Swift being the rare teenager who publicly documented teenagehood while she experienced it.
- On “Never Grow Up,” “Enchanted,” and Taylor Swift adapting to adulthood.
- On the Speak Now bonus track “Ours.”
- On Taylor’s custom Taylor guitar, and the rarity of customized guitars for women performers.
