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Column 22: The Cotton-Candy Cultural Critique of Spring Breakers

January 8, 2015

(Warning: This article contains some spoilers) As I look through my Facebook feed, there’s two articles that seem to repeatedly pop up in my feed over the past month, the Vice article “This Sad Generation Doesn’t Know When the Party Stops” and articles about Iggy Azalea’s appropriation of black culture. And while one wouldn’t think the two could be related, the two keep bringing me back to perhaps the most divisive film in recent memory, Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. To say that Harmony Korine’s film speaks the language of music is an understatement. Korine’s film not only understands the music it features, but also the culture that surround it. Music is intrinsic to the film’s very existence; and while there are moments of pop or rock music, there are two genres that provide the focal point for the film’s sonic soundscape: EDM and Trap Rap. In recent years, EDM music[...]

Best Case/Worst Case: Up-and-Coming Pop Stars

June 16, 2014

Pop music is in a transitional stage right now. New performers keep sprouting up with mega-hits faster than we can keep track of them. So, with that mind, let’s look and some of the bright new faces in pop and determine what would be the best ways for their careers to play out, and what scenarios would leave us sick with disappointment. Lorde Best case: Continues to embrace weirdness, and largely ignores what’s going on with contemporary pop stars. In a perfect world, she could keep making the music she wants to make while staying a force in the mainstream, but if she fades out of view of the Billboard Hot 100 and continues to do her own thing, that would be fine, too. Really, just as long as she stays weird, and continues to grow as a songwriter without blatantly seeking out huge pop hits, that would be great.[...]