I’m currently working on the first album review for a series I’ll soon be launching on here, that I’m very excited about. In the meantime though, I was thinking it would be fun to do a monthly media roundup. I find these really fun when other people do them, and thought it could be a fun way to start conversations about art that’s currently inspiring us, helping us escape, or both! I wanna keep these succinct so in each I’ll include one song, album, movie and book that I was super excited about in the preceding month. So! Here’s what I’ve been into in April:

SONG: “She Did It Again” by Tyla feat. Zara Larsson

This new song from Tyla featuring Zara Larsson is so much fun. Zara is on a marathon run right now with these pop hits she keeps turning out. When I first listened to this I wasn’t super excited, probably because it is so reminiscent of the pop music of my childhood without offering anything too new or innovative. Though, as I continued to listen I think that’s exactly why I got more into it. It’s an undeniable bop, very evocative of some of Rihanna’s best work. The pitched up vocal hook – “deep down ya want me, i know you do” – is such an ear worm, and by the second time it comes around it’s impossible to stay still. Both singers’ vocals are irresistible. The lyrics are so much fun (don’t fiend ease up/we are not a team this is not FIFA) and both singers’ vocals just bounce on the track during their respective verses. Also...they are shaking ass in that music video in a…magnificent way. The video also reminds of the 2006 Beautiful Liar video. If you know, you know. Real pop magic here!

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ALBUM: Talking Book (1972) by Stevie Wonder

I had never listened to this album all the way through before, despite its containing one of, if not the greatest pop song of all time “Supersition.” Stevie Wonder really is that guy! I know this isn’t news to anyone but it’s still worth repeating. I always come away from a Stevie Wonder listen just mesmerized by how ahead of time he was. I feel like over 50% of any good music we have today is influenced by Stevie in some way.

“Maybe Your Baby” is probably my favorite track here. The hook really caught me off guard in the best way. That shift from the verse into that ominous vocal warning – “maybe your baby done made some other plans” really makes you lose your bearings. As we slide into Wonder’s anxiety about his baby and her plans, we are taken on a groovy ass journey with some killer vocal production that really heightens the whole experience.

This album is HEAVY with perfect, beautiful hooks and choruses. You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Tuesday Heartbreak, You’ve Got It Bad Girl and Superstition all contain such immaculate pop melodies.

The album’s finale really stands out. I usually resent music that is overly hopeful or positive because it often feels so inauthentic to me. Then there’s “I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever).” The song is not just hopeful, it’s euphoric, and its lyrics are so ambitious that you’re forced to get on board.

MOVIE: Steal This Story, Please! (2025) dir. Carl Deal, Tia Lessin

I actually watched several really great movies this month and it was difficult to pick one to highlight (follow me on letterboxd I guess if you want unlimited movie opinions from me!). One of the great flicks I saw was Steal This Story, Please! the new documentary about Democracy Now!, my (and many others’) daily morning news show! I love DN and its host Amy Goodman, like, a lot. I’ve been watching DN since I was 18, and upon entering socialist organizing spaces for the first time, I quickly learned that this was where a lot of these people were watching “the news.” I run a humble Amy Goodman fan account. I almost worked for DN in 2021 after applying for a digital fellowship and actually getting phone screened and interviewed! Alas, I was a little underqualified for the position and was not hired, but to be interviewed by some of the producers whose names I had heard Amy rattle off every morning at the end of the broadcast was exciting in and of itself.

Anyway, this new documentary is directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin, who previously directed, among other works, the Oscar nominated documentary Trouble the Water (2008) which highlighted survivors of Hurricane Katrina. It comes at an important moment as we stare down the barrel of much of U.S. media being controlled within an ultra-conservative Trump affiliated media monopoly through the looming Warner Bros/Paramount-Skydance merger. Democracy Now! Is an independently run news broadcast with no corporate sponsors that amplifies voices corporate media often ignores to the benefit of the corporations and corrupt politicians who run our country.

In a rare departure from my home as I wait for lung transplant, I got to see the documentary at a Cinema 21 screening followed by a live Q&A with Amy Goodman herself. The film was amazing and awe inspiring. I learned so much about the show, and Amy Goodman, that I didn’t know. It encapsulated so much of recent history of war and U.S. imperialism through the lens of journalists on the ground seeking true and authentic stories. I found it really compelling and teared up multiple times. I tried valiantly, oxygen concentrator and all, to speak to Amy after the Q&A but she was quickly ushered away. I did get like a foot away from her though.

Steal This Story, Please! is screening at Cinema 21 until May 7th. Please go see it!

BOOK: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar came out in 2024 and has received much acclaim. I first heard of it when my friend brought it to a poetry reading and read an excerpt in which the protagonist imagines, or dreams, a conversation between his mother and Lisa Simpson. I was confused and intrigued and had meant to read it ever since. I’m so glad I finally did.

Martyr! is so masterfully crafted. It interlaces poetry, history, and an incredible narrative so beautifully. It feels like much more than a novel and it felt even more special to read it during this time in history. Kaveh Akbar is Iranian-American as is the book’s protagonist, Cyrus. As Trump continues to level genocidal threats against Iranian people, Akbar’s story only feels more precious.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little media round up and I will see you in May!

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Olivia Rodrigo is back and I am…so excited. I am an Olivia Rodrigo stan. An ORod truther, if you will. At 24, the big age I was when “driver’s license” came out, I wasn’t privy to her work on Disney Channel’s High School Musical the Musical: The Series, however upon hearing that song for the first time, I believe it was all I had on repeat for a period of weeks. To me, my name twin never misses, and her spotless single record continues with “drop dead.”

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Like always, we have some delightfully sharp writing. The lyrics guide us through Rodrigo’s thoughts as she falls in love – in Europe, no less (at least one can assume — the reference to Versailles, the music video, the British ex boyfriend)! There’s a standard spacey pop intro, then you’re taken on a roller coaster of a journey that will remind you how it feels to fall in love, even if it’s been quite a while. A surprise cascading guitar line at the end of the bridge serves to replicate the feeling of soaring down a roller coaster, or taking off in a jet. Throughout, Rodrigos’ vocals are angelic and pressing.

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I’m continually thrilled by Rodrigo and her producer Dan Nigro’s commitment to making the absolute most of the pop formula. In an era somewhat defined by the ease with which one can create any type of bullshit slop and call it art (whether that be older pop acts trying to stay relevant, or non-artists pushing AI music), Rodrigo and Nigro do what great writers and producers do – use structure to create bright and chromatic songs that feel timeless within the pop landscape, but still innovate in small ways. They play with blending classic and newer pop and rock sounds; Rodrigo stays unafraid to test various vocal modes. A talk-sung verse here, a shredding guitar solo there. Rodrigo and Nigro are wonderfully consistent and, even better, sound like they’re having the best time. So much so that it’s impossible not to have a good time while listening.

I discovered Slayyyter on Twitter. I’m not sure when but my best guess is mid-September of last year, around the release of her single CANNABALISM! As I idly scrolled, I came across a tweet with text that must have been compelling enough for me to inquire about the music video attached. Before I clicked it open there was Slayyyter, nameless to me, shaking her hips, twirling her hands, rolling her eyes, smiling coyly. As my screen went black to frame the music video I heard the song for the first time, a blaring pop-rock chorus with snapping drums and distorted guitars accompanying a serpentine chorus where Slayyyter sings sultrily “tell you I’m needin it, if I don’t have you I’ll diiie.” The music itself is urgent, while Slayyyter dances with unabashed confidence unmoved by its urgency, like she has a trick up her sleeve. Slayyyter’s dance on a black background is interrupted briefly by close up shots of a bloody sink and a suit-clad man who appears to have been beaten over the head. The clip restarts, and I click on the elusive “$” at the bottom of my screen which takes me to this unknown-to-me singer’s Twitter profile. I needed to know who she was because this girl clearly understands “it.”

By “it” I guess I just mean a certain mood. The post-brat mood. The neo-pop-it-girl mood. Even, to my chagrin, the current mood for chasing a Tumblr-tinged, indie-sleaze if we must, nostalgia. A dirty basement. A wooden bathroom door vibrating with bass. A cascade of glitter clouding your eyesight. A borderline-inappropriate amount of cocaine. Slayyyter is taking us back to those moments, whether we experienced them in real life, or only through the lens of the photographs we were reblogging almost 15 years ago. WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA is an ode to the messed up party girls of 2010 and beyond, and while I am a bit inclined to criticize it as nostalgia-bait, its songs are too much fun and too all-consuming sonically not to just turn it up and appreciate the ride.

WOR$T GIRLS’ opening track places us in a party that we will continue to return to throughout the album’s journey. Slayyyter is trying to shake off a miserable, harassing man. Over an easygoing warbly synth beat, Slayyyter commands herself to “DANCE…” and it’s impossible not to follow along with her. The musical intensity continues to build relentlessly throughout this first stretch of the album. The next track, “BEAT UP CHANEL$,” WOR$T GIRLS’ lead single, has Slayyyter presenting a list of demands through a distorted rap-talk verse, “money, drugs, chains on my chest, that vintage Celine.” The song feels reminiscent of the M.I.A. classic “Bad Girls,” which had a powerful influence on the internet culture Slayyyter is drawing on. “OLD TECHNOLOGY” comes out swinging, serving as the album’s aesthetic thesis. Grating guitars and a pounding beat help to serve up one of Slayyyter’s most bombastic vocals where she talks of using her iPod, being a sort of Tumblr god, and doing drugs “tonight.” It runs the risk of being corny but Slayyyter is committed to the bit, and so it just kind of works. This banger is flanked by “CRANK,” upping the ante on the drug-fueled mania the album has let us into. It’s impossible to believe, at this point, that the listener isn’t head banging while speeding to the nearest rave or house party.

WOR$T GIRL’s back half sees Slayyyter’s brash attitude coming into contact with a sense of self-doubt. It happens to the best of us when the party’s worn on for a little too long and your vision starts to get blurry. “OLD FLING$” sees Slayyyter pitting herself against her boo’s ex. A little internalized misogyny certainly evokes some 2010s nostalgia. Slayyyter is on edge, and her anxiety morphs into aggression in “I’M ACTUALLY KIND OF FAMOUS,” an album highlight where Slayyyter delivers a beautiful talk-vocal which makes you feel like you’re genuinely being cornered by the meanest, and probably coolest, girl at the function. The production here perfectly captures the feeling of stumbling through a party that you probably should’ve left an hour ago, but now you’ve committed to ruining your night. On “$T. LOSER” and “WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE LIKED” Slayyyter confronts the feelings of inadequacy that have driven her brashness and head-bitch-in-charge demeanor we’ve seen up to this point. Slayyyter knows she’s the shit, but hates that not everyone else agrees. She resents the fake bitches who look down on her position in the industry, yet can’t match her commitment or vision. Slayyyter has expressed similar feelings in interviews leading up to this album, saying her frustration with the music industry drove her to conceptualize this album through a framework that asks “What if these were my last words?”

The album’s last track “BRITTANY MURPHY” seems to want to answer this question before our journey ends, and yet, it delivers the album’s most underwhelming production and lyrics. The song asks the listener to carry on Slayyyter’s memory post-her supposed death, making the title feel a little tasteless. Maybe I’m being pearl-clutchy, but romanticizing the tragic death of a young woman for the purposes of dramatizing and aestheticizing one’s artistic frustrations feels a little crude. The track is an easy enough listen with a fun groove, and an interesting outro where Slayyyter – vocals suddenly deeper in the mix and fading out – poses some final questions about her open casket funeral, and apologizes for “miss[ing] the party.” It’s a strange way to end things; a finale that doesn’t come close to meeting the emotional stakes of the rest of the album.

All in all, I guess my disappointment here speaks to the strength of the album as a whole. WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA is a wild ride, but one you won’t regret. If I wasn’t stuck in my house waiting for a lung transplant, I know this would be blasting out of my car speakers, windows down, every weekend. Of course, I can’t say if the album has the same emotional impact on today’s young internet vanguard that it does on those like me, who actually grew up in the Tumblr era. I should probably ask my 19-year-old sister. Still, as an homage to that bygone time that also meets the current pop moment, you’d be hard pressed to find something more satisfying than this.

Songs I didn’t mention:

GAS STATION - though there are innumerable “Ke$ha moments” on this album, (I mean, what else are you gonna do when every S is a $. You’ve gotta commit) this one really reminds me of some of Kesha’s old slow jams, like “Blind” or “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes.” Vocally this also brought me back to my childhood Gwen Stefani days.

YES GODDD - I’ve heard a lot of positive commotion for this one, and it definitely fucking rocks. The lyrics and the sonic landscape gives one permission punch every man in the vicinity. Definitely one of the more ambitious moments on the album production wise, as well.

UNKNOWN LOVERZ - This was my least favorite on the album. It felt very sonically derivative of the more forgettable pop moments of the 2010s. We get some big Lana vocal influence here, but there’s not much fun to be had besides that.

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Welcome to Fake Fan! I have long been a very amateur music reviewer. I am no stranger to creating a way too long instagram story on a new album (especially albums I don’t like). Even before my era of instagram reviews, as a child I would often write up little music reviews of my favorite albums in my journal, with itemized number scores of every song. Somewhere out there, lost in the wide world of iTunes reviews I’m sure my early thoughts on Adele’s 21 and Paramore’s Brand New Eyes still exist. I grew up loving, playing, singing and creating music, though those latter three didn’t continue into adulthood.

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To a certain degree, my interest in venturing into music criticism may stem from a deeper desire to create music. More than that though, I think my draw to cultural criticism in general simply comes from the deep desire to start conversations about the things that I loved and the art that’s shaped me. I love thinking about what the cultural icons we create, and what we have to say about them, says about us in return. I love reflecting on what the art we hold most dear says about the particular political moment we’re living in. I wanna talk about why the song I love blasting in my car makes me feel the way I feel when it’s on. Fake Fan, named for the constant fear many pop-culture enthusiasts feel that they may not know enough to have an opinion, is where we’ll explore these questions together!