Apologies, Ms. XCX
The music discussion continues today. Today I want to double down on the cringe I experienced writing Monday’s blog. But today is Friday. Welcome. Let's talk about pop music.
As I bravely admitted on Monday, I am a recovering music snob. In recent years, it has become more and more apparent to me that since there is so much music out there, it’s very difficult to say you outright hate any of it. Sure, not everyone is a metalhead and not everyone is a Swifty. But to actually despise the music seems harsh to me these days.
Back in my peak music snobbery days (like, last year), I watched as the world started going crazy over the rising popularity of English singer Charli XCX. I wasn’t familiar with her beyond her name and her feature on Iggy Azalea’s global hit “Fancy”. When I started learning more about her, I learnt about how she depends on autotune for her songs. This annoyed me. I thought, “Ugh, another popstar who doesn’t have any talent.” This was made worse by an interview with her that I saw a clip of, where she straight-up admitted that she uses autotune and has no shame in it. This baffled me. For a long time. Then, the dust settled. The snobbery subsided, and I thought maybe I should be more open to music I think I don’t like.
Cut to recently, when Charli was a guest on one of my favourite podcasts, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. I liked how incredibly self-aware and confident she was about her art. She was also pretty funny. Eventually, I said feck it, and I listened to Brat. I liked it. I was blindsided by how honest and introspective it was. There were the songs I expected on there, meant exclusively for the club, but there were also some heartwarming, sweet songs that were the standouts for me. My favourite song is I might say something stupid, in case you were wondering.
With that, since it's Friday, I decided to write an acrostic in celebration of the shedding of this music snobbery.
Brat Summer Snob
Because I used to be a music snob I
Rarely followed the crowd
At least that’s what I thought
Though I was proved wrong.
Some time recently
Unbeknownst to me
My music snobbery shed
Much to my relief
Every kind is now open for me to enjoy
Reality is, maybe I was the problem.
That’s all from me today. I hope you have a lovely weekend. More music stuff to come next week, all going well. Thank you for reading and for your time.
