Issue 77: All The Rage by tastemakers

President

Art

Collateral

Meet the Staff

Promotions Member

Phoebe Moore is listening to...

Phoebe Bridgers "Georgia"

Genevieve Stokes Swimming Lessons

The 1975 Jesus Christ 2005 God Bless America

Designer

Emory Isaacson is listening to...

Phony Ppl "Why iii Love The Moon"

Greer "Understand"

Fiona Apple "Limp"

Staff Writer

Snehaa Ram is listening to...

NASAYA and Sara Diamond "PATTERNS"

Khalid Sincere

NaturoSynth Does This Last

Photo Director

Elizabeth Zhu is listening to...

Lauv and BTS "Who"

keshi "Kiss Me Right"

Blxst "Too Many Friday Nights"

Major Psychology

Graduating Fall 2026

Favorite Venue The Anthem, Washington DC

Tastemaker Since Fall 2022

Quote “Park that car drop that phone sleep on the floor dream about me.”

Major Marketing

Graduating Spring 2026

Favorite Venue The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

Tastemaker Since Fall 2024

Quote “Don’t call me. Don’t come by my house. We’re done."

Major Business and Communications (Marketing and Brand Management)

Graduating Spring 2025

Favorite Venue Roadrunner

Tastemaker Since Fall 2021

Quote “Solve at least 3 problems, cause at least 1!”

Major Behavioral Neuroscience

Graduating Summer 2025

Favorite Venue MGM Music Hall

Tastemaker Since Fall 2023

Quote

“I don't like problems. I avoid them when I can and I don't like people pointing them out to me.”

Melanie Martinez, MGM Grand Garden Arena

Photo by Coby Sugars (International Business)

All the Rage: The South Has Something to Say (Again)

An innovative hip-hop offshoot is brewing in the South, and it’s all the rage. Rage artists inspired by the likes of Playboi Carti and Southern trap are marrying rap and electronica into its own genre. 22

Features

Manipulating the Music Industry

Social media has changed the game in the ongoing power struggle between artists and record labels, handing artists the power of their own fanbase.

18 28

A History of Warped Tour: The Rise and Fall of the Corporate Punk Institution

From its inception as a haven for local artists to its demise, Warped Tour's legacy reveals the seedy underbelly of music festivals and the importance of stages for local artists.

The Ballot's Blank Space: Taylor Swift's Influence as a Political Icon

Taylor Swift’s influence seems to know no bounds, and that includes the political arena. After she endorsed Kamala Harris for president, how will this impact the election — and her career?

The (Un)Importance of Comprehension in Lyrics

Lyrics often serve as the bridge between sound and message. But why do songs with indecipherable lyrics also have a great emotional impact?

Interviews

Local Talent: SARIKA

Boston-born artist SARIKA discusses writing nonautobiographical songs, working with a producer for the first time, and learning to embrace the potential she sees in her past self.

A Q&A With NaturoSynth

Cousins Kieran and Arjun Gopal discuss balancing college with music, their influences, and the themes of impermanence in their new EP, Does This Last

Reviews

Album Reviews

The Front Bottoms and Magdalena Bay 8

Imaginal Disk, ten days, Manning Fireworks, and 143

Show Reviews

Etcetera

15 29

What Are You Listening To?

Northeastern students on the music they love, the music they hate, and the music that’s important to them.

Pages: 15, 27, and 30

Underrated: Bark Psychosis

A deep dive into the elusive post-rock band Bark Psychosis, exploring their origins, evolution, and the lasting impact of their seminal works.

Arcade Fire Discography

A look at the career of Arcade Fire, from being the prophetic torchbearers of indie music across the world to a sociallyconscious pastiche.

P!NK, Gillette Stadium

Photo by Julia Finocchiaro (Computer Science)

Interpol Roadrunner

Meet Me At The Altar House of Blues

Mariah Carey TD Garden

Ghostface Killah, GZA, Raekwon House of Blues

December 1 9 4 12 5 13 6 15 7 31 8

Suki Waterhouse Roadrunner Lake Street Drive MGM Music Hall

Shakira TD Garden

Joyce Manor Royale

Indigo Girls Chevalier Theatre

ROCK OMM ENDS

Chase Atlantic

November 1 @ MGM Music Hall

If you want a high-energy concert, then there’s no need to “DOUBT IT," get tickets to see Chase Atlantic at MGM on November 1st! This concert is not to be missed, especially with their new album “LOST IN HEAVEN” dropping the same day!

Wednesday Arts at the Armory

iHeartRadio Jingle Ball TD Garden

Bernadette Peters Boston Symphony Hall

Hannah Storer (Computer Science and Game Development)

NewDad

November 5 @ Middle East

Have you been on the lookout for the next, hottest indie rock band? Look no further than Ireland’s very own, NewDad!! With music compared to The Cure and Beabadoobee by NME Magazine, you will not want to miss this “Sickly Sweet” band as they hit Middle East on Nov. 5th!

Alexa Rand (Music Industry)

Adrienne Lenker

November 12 & 13 @ Boch Center

Are you a yearning hopeless romantic or simply just a live music enjoyer looking for something to do? If yes to either (or both), “I don’t wanna talk about anything” besides the Adrianne Lenker concerts at Boch Center Shubert Theatre on November 12th and 13th!

Emily Seitz (Pharmaceutical Sciences)

Hayley Heynderickx

November 14 @ Somerville Theatre

If you’ve been dying to start a garden, come see Haley Heynderickx live at Somerville Theatre this November. Her comforting and enchanting blend of indie and folk vibes will create a night you won’t want to miss!

Phoebe Moore (Psychology)

Album Reviews

Magdalena Bay Imaginal Disk

Released August 23, 2024

Label Mom+Pop Music

Genre Synthpop

Tasty tracks “Image," “Vampire in the Corner," “That’s My Floor," “Cry for Me”

“If time is meant for living, why’s it killing me?” Mica Tenenbaum cries at the end of “Killing Time,” as a menacing guitar riff descends and drums barrage behind her, drowning out her expressions of dread. She regains control and the sonic assault clears, her voice rising to the surface of the mix — “Now I’m taking mine” is followed by an angelic vocal run that reverberates and gently fades before soft keys pick up the next track. The back and forth between despair and renewal occurs repeatedly throughout Magdalena Bay’s second album, Imaginal Disk. Their debut, Mercurial World, worshiped the internet as a source of constant distraction. The duo was trapped in a dopamine-driven loop, constantly diverted from real life. In its seamless auditory transition from the end of Mercurial World Imaginal Disk thematically breaks free from their unending daydream and finds the duo face-to-face with reality. They stare directly into the mirror and embrace past superficial preoccupations, determined to align themselves with a more fulfilled reflection.

Sprawling, Windows XP wallpaperesque fields were the frequent starting point of Imaginal Disk’s early promo. The peaceful expanse provided a neutral foundation

for Magdalena Bay to structure the world they envisioned — one that promises their light-hearted, joyous synth-pop core, yet slowly cracks to reveal a foreboding current flowing under the surface. Imaginal Disk takes full advantage of the space, pulling influences from disco to prog rock to psychedelia to push the boundaries of their already singular sound. Lead single “Death & Romance” views life as a battle between the two. It’s a fiery feat that tests the line of overproduction, as the unrestrained essence of extremes manifests through piano, drums, guitar, synths, and vocals all turned up to ten. By contrast, “Tunnel Vision” opens as a gentle lullaby. It ebbs and flows between faith and fear as the track builds pressure, slowly adding more complexities and finally pulling back to its original state before all the pressure is released in its final minute. Magdalena Bay is at its most unhinged as resounding alarms, Tenenbaum’s screams, and textured synths fracture the fields, putting the chaos underneath on full display. The constant left turns and alterations chart a clear course. Magdalena Bay is doing some serious soul searching, experimenting as much as possible to see what works and ideally land on their true essence. Every experiment on Imaginal Disk is slick and brimming with expertise. Through all the bursts of blissful, synth-laden production, it’s hard to detect the slew of existential anxieties on first listen. Luckily, Tenenbaum’s lyrics offer a peek into her mind. On “Watching T.V.” a simple melody induces hypnosis, caught in a mind-numbed state after hours in front of a screen. Stuck in the trance, Tenenbaum coolly slides in a verse about the struggle of cleanliness, feeling she needs to scrub her skin until she bleeds and hang it up to dry to be fully purified. All the while the melody persists and her voice is airy — catch the body horror if you can. These winks and nods repeatedly given off by Magdalena Bay allow for the record’s ultimate successful payoff. The loose concept sci-fi story of True Blue and her unfortunate forehead disk insertioninspired identity crisis can’t be cringe if it’s all ironic. Or symbolic. Or overproduced to the point of absurdity.

Whatever it may be, it's an inside joke that perplexes and delights, muses and inspires. Magdalena Bay thrives in the kitschy, half-serious details that exist throughout their work. Aliens poke, prod, and put wires in their heads on the punchy, ominous “Fear, Sex,” and “Feeling Diskinserted?” furthers the disk imagery with a clever play on words. The repeated jokes and theatrics underscore the serious considerations of questions about identity and what its attributes consist of. Though reveling in the irony, facades can only be kept up for so long. On “Cry for Me,” the duo drops the humor and gets serious. With one final push after all their mental overexertion, they completely hit their stride; the cyclical percussion grounds the track’s celestial strings and twinkling, disco synths. It culminates in a profound transcendent experience; Tenenbaum raves in the elation of her goal accomplished by repeatedly screaming “Oh, I did it all for you! For you! For you! And you! And you!” in the ferocious outro. Entirely raw and vulnerable, the duo permits the necessary breakdown that comes before progress. Their answers lie within their deepest selves, not behind the walls they build.

Imaginal Disk is a reminder to put genuine effort into developing a relationship with the self instead of running away from it. Ultimately, the message is clear — “it’s here, it’s you.” The whisperings of “True Blue Interlude” towards the front end of the record foreshadow that Imaginal Disk is not just Magdalena Bay’s journey, or the story of True Blue, it happens to everyone. In an age of infinite distractions and access to so many strangers’ lives, the journey to self-discovery will never be easy. Whether your path takes you through an otherworldly adventure where your personality is removed from your skull or follows a more straightforward track to gratification, the destination will always be complete and total fulfillment.

TC Stephens (Political Science and Philosophy)

Fred again.. ten days

Released September 6, 2024

Label Atlantic Records UK

Genre Dance/Electronic Tasty Tracks “places to be,” “peace u need,” “backseat”

Since his last solo studio album, English producer Fred again.. has experienced the most blockbuster period of his life. He swept the electronic categories at the Grammys (and snagged a Best New Artist nomination in the process), linked up with the legendary Brian Eno for an ambient collaboration project, headlined Coachella last minute when headliner Frank Ocean pulled out after a divisive performance, and released a surprising rapper-filled compilation of his most club-ready tracks in the form of USB (Lil Yachty? Baby Keem? Rico Nasty?). His consistent work ethic has rewarded him with a breakthrough into the American market, one historically difficult to attain for UKbased electronic acts. With all this action, it’s intriguing that Fred again.., real name Fred Gibson, focused on moments of tranquility in his new release ten days

Gibson originally made a name for himself by producing a trilogy of emotionallytinged house albums that lifted samples from existing media to reflect the bittersweet mood at three separate points during the pandemic.

The Actual Life trilogy, his breakthrough, is full of standout tracks, but his reliance on themes of isolation during lockdown left fans uncertain about what direction Gibson would go when the pandemic ran its course. USB, his “club” compilation, was an exciting prospect, and his singles, the Daft Punksampling “Jungle” and “leavemealone,”

leaned into drum and bass, suggesting a harder-hitting direction. However, on ten days, Gibson returns to his comfort zone; more emotionally-tinged house music, now focused on the more mundane moments between newfound fame and fortune. ten days is perfectly reflected by the album cover’s blue skies and sparse clouds. It is his most ambient-leaning project – the vocals on tracks like “where will i be” or “i saw you” shimmer under layers of minimalistic production, like looking back on a memory from just a month or two ago, but with the sadness and regret of the realization that that moment is now permanently lost in time. It’s a somewhat bold decision from the man who shut down Boiler Room London to go inwards toward a more reflective, melancholic direction, but he manages to pull it off. With ten days, Gibson demonstrates his greatest strength: his ability to pull soundbites from other songs, Instagram reels and phone calls with friends, and turn a few seconds of dialogue into well-executed, complete tracks complemented by peaceful production that provokes a nostalgic emotional response. Where the tracks off the Actual Life trilogy sometimes struggled to individualize themselves, ten days sees Gibson play more with structure and style than ever before for the benefit of his storytelling. The intricacies of each track deliver a clear narrative: they recall a summer of falling in and out of love, and as one ends, so does the other. “glow” is Fred again..’s longest release to date; a seven-and-a-half-minute instrumental builds, comes down, and builds again as undercurrents of uncertainty simmer with optimism. Meanwhile, “places to be” experiments with CHIKA and Anderson .Paak, whose verses complement each other beautifully over Gibson’s gliding liquid drum and bass production.

Considering ten days’ more ambient and peaceful direction, it gives pause that the more energetic tracks tend to be the standouts. When he leans fully into the laid-back sound, the tracks fade into the background; the songs with the most lush production conjure the vivid imagery and emotion that Gibson attempts to convey. This imagery comes through from the strength of the collaborations on ten days: Sampha’s soft vocals on “fear less” align with the song’s admission of great comfort with a partner. On “just stand there,” SOAK recalls the unremarkable moments of a past relationship with rose-tinted glasses

on, as if relaying memories to a therapist or confidante. The lone solo track, “i saw you,” feels underwhelming and empty when put in the context of the strong features on the other tracks. But “backseat,” the closer, is a career highlight; The Japanese House provides plaintive vocals that pinpoint the final summer sunsets in late August, where the sun simultaneously sets on a relationship that has run its course. The deliberately vague final lines of the album “in the end, it always does," can be applied to either. ten days is not without its questionable moments. Most confusing is Gibson’s stylistic decision to intersperse the tracks with numbered interludes; for the ten tracks, there are ten interludes! These are mostly ambient background noise, and the longest clocks at thirty-one seconds; their inclusion ostensibly adds a bit of flavor to the album but in practice just baffles the listener. When their electronic music jam is interrupted by a car blinker on a seemingly rainy day, the point is not immediately apparent beyond additional flavor. Rarely do these interludes transition into the next track, and they could easily be incorporated into the beginning or end of the full tracks, if not disposed of completely.

ten days is no grand upheaval of electronic music, nor is Fred again.. forging a bold new creative path in his artistry; rather, it is a strong demonstration of his skill in creating progressive house music that examines a relationship in the rearview. Where the Actual Life trilogy felt like a snapshot of the pandemic era (down to the dates in the album titles), his new project zooms out, capturing these ten days in camcorder film. Reviewing the footage establishes it as his most applicable, universal, and timeless project yet.

Gabriel Barbier-Saiah (Criminology and Psychology)

Katy Perry 143

Released September 20, 2024

Label Capitol Genre Pop

Tasty tracks “Lifetimes," “Gimme Gimme”

When Katy Perry went blonde, her imperial phase ended. In 2017, she chopped off her recognizable black tresses and began to sport a blonde pixie cut. In one fell snip, she lost her hair, her brand, and based on her subsequent chart performance, her ability to make hits. Witness was a commercial failure, and her 2020 follow-up Smile didn’t make enough noise to even be considered a failure so much as a blip. Perry was seemingly trapped in the realm of stars on their way out, first getting stuck judging American Idol, and then in a long-winded Las Vegas residency with a setlist greatly focused on her 2010s hits.

When Perry went back to black in 2021, her fans — and really the general public — were excited for a return to form. Finally, the woman who once sat at the highest echelon of pop music and pop culture was back. Surely she would go back to releasing instantly iconic crowd pleasers and singalong songs and move away from that formulaic, exhausting drivel she’d been making for the last few years. Maybe she’d even bring about the resurgence of the glitzy and idealistic pop culture landscape today’s young adults grew up with.

Unfortunately, hair is just hair. Despite a surface-level rededication to poptimism,

143, Perry’s sixth album, is more of the same lifeless, shallow music she’s been making for years. By failing to do anything new or interesting on this album, she cemented herself as an artist who has reached her nadir. At least morally, Perry moved backwards on this album. She lost all her goodwill when it was revealed that Dr. Luke, best known for his legal battles over accounts of sexual and physical abuse of Kesha, was producing lead single “Woman’s World,” an alleged ode to the feminine divine.

This gambit of aligning with a pop music producer-turned-pariah was poorly planned: The song failed to chart in Billboard Top 40. It’s not even dull in an interesting way — it’s just boring. The hollow lyrics describe the titular woman’s world that we’re lucky to be living in. It may have rang true a decade ago, but modern politics are a little more complex than that, especially when Perry is actively working with a man who symbolizes abuse against women in the music industry. Similarly, the endlessly recurring synth progression with minimalist percussion may have raised an eyebrow or two during Perry’s imperial era, but a decade after Teenage Dream, it’s just nothing new.

A vehement commitment to avoiding anything new is a recurring theme on the album. Over and over again, she elects to play the hits. “Artificial,” for example, is eerily similar to Teenage Dream’s “E.T.” but updated to vaguely compare a frustrating lover to artificial intelligence. The song features awkward lyrics like “You got me diving deep in your system / I’m just a prisoner in your prison” and a disappointingly uninspired verse from JID. Similarly, “All The Love” turns 2012 anthem “Wide Awake” into a dated, Avicii-esque dance-pop song without any of the heart that made her previous hits work. 143’s non-singles fail to stand out among a sea of similar tunes on the album and an ocean of better ones in the modern pop-landscape.

The songs in which Perry really commits to a genre or even a single idea are the only times this album works. Second single “Lifetimes” fully leans into the houseinspiration that permeates the album. Over a classic piano-based house beat, Perry promises to love you for not one, but multiple lifetimes. It’s a little mindless, but it sounds like the most fun she has on the album, and

it’s one of the few songs that knows what it is. The house influences are apparent in the smooth transitions between songs, which make the album feel more coherent and organized.

Unfortunately, this sense of intention is a rare case, as the album is full of contradictions. It’s inspired by Perry’s respect for sisterhood, but it was produced by the face of abuse against women in the music industry released in an America that is more hostile to women than it’s been in decades. It’s supposed to be the next step in her career, but she doesn’t bring a single new idea to the table among a landscape of innovation and creativity in pop music. It’s designed to be fun, but you can’t even dance to it.

143 is a shallow, boring album. If it will be remembered at all, if won’t be for its songs, but for marking an astonishing loss of momentum for Perry’s career. Clearly, she wants to find her way back to the zeitgeist, but long dark hair and dance music does not make a good album. Other than attempting to prove that she’s still got it, one can’t help but wonder who else this album is for? What are the themes? What makes this album stand out? Who does Katy Perry want to be? Until she admits that she cannot be the superstar she was a decade ago, Perry’s curse of irrelevance is sure to persevere.

Trevor Gardemal (Journalism)

Moldy

MJ Lenderman

Manning Fireworks

Released September 6, 2024

Label ANTI - Records

Genre Alternative country

Tasty Tracks “She’s Leaving You,” “On My Knees,” “Manning Fireworks”

It seems that the alternative music spotlight has been feverishly awaiting the formal arrival of MJ Lenderman. It makes sense why, given the cult success of 2022 record Boat Songs, — which effortlessly fused lo-fi rock, country, and irresistibly charming songwriting — and his involvement in the highly-regarded indie act Wednesday. But it’s not just the strength of his music that has his profile booming in certain circles, it’s the carefree breeze he carries himself with. He peppers each track with a series of profoundly simple, witty observations that feel so specific to decaying life in small cities across America, yet relatable to all who listen — equal parts absurd and downtrodden. Safe to say, Lenderman’s major label debut was seen as the launch of America’s next slacker-rock champion. Now that Manning Fireworks is here, that sentiment has held firm, though the album’s pyrotechnics are, tastefully, understated. Manning Fireworks, like most of Lenderman’s music, won’t wow you with impeccable singing or face-melting guitar performances. Instead, he strips away the lo-fi cacophony that’s defined much of his older work and puts the strength of his songwriting front and center. His doubling down on the ability to pen profoundly simple adages about life as a knockaround 20-something proves how far he can get by on charismatic writing alone — and how far he can keep going into the future.

With how straightforward many of the instrumentals are — sticking to a consistently country-tinged rock palette — the focus is mostly on Lenderman’s lyricism, which has a candidness and oddness that rivals the best. A glance through the album’s lyric sheet reveals mentions of Lightning McQueen, John Travolta’s bald head, Lucky Charms, and a scene of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer getting run over on a backroad. Within each song, the lyrical content feels disjointed, jumping from one thought to another seemingly at random. But underneath that occasionally silly surface, he displays a gift for writing obliquely melancholic lines of Americana, from a half-mast McDonald’s flag to the dejected proverb that “Every Catholic knows he could’ve been the Pope.”

What sets Lenderman apart from the pack is his ability to simultaneously entertain with haphazard references and directly tug at the heartstrings of his listeners. Throughout Manning Fireworks, Lenderman pulls no punches, revealing himself to be deep in the throes of loneliness and lost love. The stark simplicity of lines like “All I really wanna see is see you need me,” “It falls apart / We all got work to do / She’s leaving you,” “Don’t move to New York City babe / It’s gonna change the way you dress,” and countless more don’t waste any time with pithiness — they cut right to the core. Only occasionally does hokiness outweigh earnest sentiments in his songwriting, a real achievement for an artist who navigates juvenile cultural touchstones and raw feelings all at once.

Though not the most ear-grabbing feature of Manning Fireworks, Lenderman and his backing band deserve credit for their pleasing instrumental performance across the record, executing simplistic, slackercountry numbers. The album’s overall sonic quality is not nearly as raucous as his past album; there are very few moments that call back to the feral “Hangover Game” or the slinky, tape-hiss ridden “Dan Marino.” Where his older work leaned on noisiness to drum up zeal, what’s most striking about this new collection of songs, and what opens up an array of possibilities for Lenderman going forward, is how he manages to preserve that same energy and emotion without that clutter. Lead single “She’s Leaving You” relies on eighth-note guitar strumming and a simple backbeat before building up into a satisfying apex, ending with lines from the track’s earworm chorus delightfully layering on top of each other. “Wristwatch,” which brings prominent trumpets into the mix, and

“On My Knees” also unleash the rock-leaning tendencies of Lenderman while letting his vocals and lyrics take center stage.

The tracks where the album’s typical style is broken up also impress. “You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In,” a downtrodden number, steps the furthest outside the album’s typical twang with burnt-out guitar tones, drum machines, and clarinets doing their “duck walk,” as he describes the instrument’s timbre multiple times on the track. Closer “Bark At The Moon” also features the record’s most unforeseen instrumental surprise; a 6-minute noise/ ambient outro, which lulls the album to a discordant finish.

It can be a precarious situation when an indie artist hits it big, for fear of the new work not capturing the same sensation as before. Whether or not the excitement surrounding MJ Lenderman sustains itself, Manning Fireworks is a promising indication that his level of notoriety shouldn’t impact his output too much. It’s a delightful achievement for the burgeoning people’s champion; a record that is far more polished than his previous work while retaining characteristics that drew all that enthusiasm in the first place.

Henry Bova (Journalism)

Designer: Ava Ackerman (Marketing and Design)

It seems impossible these days to be active on social media without coming across a musician exclaiming “I want to release this song but my label won’t let me unless it goes viral.” Viewers are given a call to arms to repost and share the message, helping it attract attention and convince label executives that there is enough interest for a song to be put out. The music industry has long played host to a battle of power and leverage between artist and executive, with these types of videos

just the latest salvo. While this plea of desperation seems much bolder than artists past, it does beg the question of what is actually going on in the music industry today, and who is in control?

To gain a better understanding of this new iteration of pop artists fighting with their record companies, it is helpful to consider a few explanations for what is going on.

Behind door number one is the answer of building anticipation. Drumming up excitement is an incredibly powerful factor; what’s Christmas Day without its Eve? In light of this, it’s reasonable that executives at music labels would want to space out an artist’s release as a way to get fans excited. This would be in line with the stereotypical album rollout of introducing a single, announcing an album release date months in the future, with increasing press and attention in the interim.

But there does seem to be a line that gets crossed where the artist no longer feels that a record label has the musician’s best interest at heart. There is perhaps no clearer example than SZA, the widely beloved pop and R&B artist who had a five year gap between the release of her two critically and commercially acclaimed albums, CTRL and SOS. During this timeframe, she spoke publicly multiple times about wanting to put music out, but that the decision was out of her hands. She directed fans to talk directly with her label, Top Dawg Entertainment. Within two weeks of this public feud, SZA released the single “Hit Different” with an accompanying music video that went on to tease her next track, “Good Days.” Even with this victory, it would be another two years before SOS was ultimately released.

Another artist infamous for the long buildup to her next album is Normani, who spent the better part of a decade promising an album was coming soon. Fans waited over five years from when Normani tweeted she had started work on her next record and had settled on a name before the release actually materialized. Perhaps Normani was simply a perfectionist who didn’t want to rush the process, but in all likelihood — and indeed what Normani indicated in public — it was an uncooperative management team that held her back, as the album wasn’t released without a change of her agent to boot.

In addition to managing audiences and fans, labels also need to most directly deal with their signed clients, which can lead to competing interests. A given label could have several smaller artists that have each put the finishing touches on the music and are ready to release it, all for one of the label’s more popular artists to announce they want to put out new music and scramble the whole calendar. Such is the case for Sky Ferreira when she was signed on Capitol Records. She last put out an album in 2013, which was plagued by delays and updates from her label that “There’s already one girl coming out at the moment, we can’t do two,” as Ferreira described in a 2012 interview. At the time, Capitol Records was prioritizing bigger artists on their label like Katy Perry, who was putting out Prism in 2013. Perry’s album ended up being the 6th best selling album worldwide in 2013 with 4 million copies sold, while Ferreira’s Night Time, My Time sold roughly 40,000 copies within a year of its release.

Even artists who aren’t on the same label have to pay attention to this problem of conflicting schedules, with the rollout of Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) and Adele’s 30 serving as an example. Both were originally scheduled for release on Oct. 29, 2021, until Swift moved her release date up a week to Oct. 12 so that they wouldn’t fall on the same day. Seeing how the biggest figures in the music industry have to acknowledge the realities of the calendar, it makes sense that smaller artists would have even less leverage to dictate when their music comes out. This can be made all the more complicated when a label and an artist have fierce differences in beliefs about what will be commercially successful, putting an artist in the awkward position of retooling their album if they want the label to release it.

At the same time, record labels have to manage costs and forecast costs of producing and promoting an album. The bigger an artist gets, the more expensive rolling out new work can get, and the expectations are set even higher for how well the artist can perform. This can curse musicians who have had success, but can’t

Designer:

Kristen Berzolla (Design)

outperform their prior accomplishments. Such was the fate of Mike Posner, who had the hit song “Cooler Than Me” but couldn’t top that success. When it came time to produce his next album, his label felt it wouldn’t be worth the cost of paying collaborations and promoting the new music. The music was finished and ready to hit stores, but the label deemed it unprofitable and “shelved” it, opting to store it indefinitely, rather than pay the cost to release it. Ultimately, Posner gave the music away for other artists to release, including the songs “Boyfriend” which was given to Justin Bieber and “Sugar” for Maroon 5, both of which became major successes.

Despite the recent surge of TikTok posts from captive musicians like Halsey and Clinton Kane, this isn’t a new issue, and artists have long complained about this problem. Prince famously didn’t work well with Warner Bros. as his label, at one point writing the word “slave” across his face in protest of the label controlling the pace of his music release. Does this mean that we’re simply in the latest chapter of a decades long battle between the two positions in the music industry, or is this a sign of change?

In the last few years, music enthusiasts have been given a crash course in Music Industry 101 courtesy of Taylor Swift fighting for the rights to her masters. This ongoing saga has introduced them to the litany of contracts and rights that govern the industry. Despite greater public awareness of how this machine operates, this hasn’t turned into increased negotiating leverage for artists, at least not yet. These types of social media posts show an evolution in the behavior of artists; no longer are they a plea for support from fans to pressure the record label, but a potential marketing technique. With that in mind, it then becomes the job of the audience to determine if these artist’s statements represent a legitimate plea for help, or a rebellion against traditional authority and a demand for visibility.

• Connor Bedell (Political Science)

WHAT IS

For this issue, we surveyed campus to talk to fellow students about the music they love, the music they hate, and the music that’s important to them. Here’s what they had to say:

Fearless by Taylor Swift

Colby Allard, Fourth-year Biology

YOU BOUGHT?

CTRL by SZA

Meera Nagulendran, Second-year English and Political Science

The Getaway by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Nev Koughan, Second-year

Environmental and Sustainability Sciences

Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots

Zayus Clark, Graduate Student Physical Therapy

Hannah Montana by Hannah Montana

Catie Ducharme, Graduate Student Physical Therapy

Parachutes by Coldplay

Hawk Yang, Fourth-year

Media and Screen Studies

SARIKA is determined to make her highschool self proud. The pop singer-songwriter grew up right outside of Boston, but moved away to Illinois for college. However, her passion for music brought her back to the city, where she’s gained a following by recording and performing nostalgia-filled songs akin to Sara Bareilles and Jason Mraz. Since the start of her music career in 2023, SARIKA has been sharing her music on social media and getting involved in the Boston music scene by performing and co-writing with other local musicians. This year, she’s released singles “Nightrunner,” “Something Blue,” and “From Inside the House,” where she explores fading relationships and heartbreak. Tastemakers spoke with SARIKA about writing songs that are non-autobiographical in nature, working with a producer for the first time, and learning to embrace the potential she sees in her past self.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Tastemakers Magazine (TMM): Could you please introduce yourself?

SARIKA (S): My name is Sarika, that’s my first name and stage name in all caps. I’m relatively new to recording my music, but especially new to performing it. I’ve been dipping my toe into the Boston music scene and making a lot of friends. It’s been fun.

TMM: What have you been listening to recently?

S: My friend made me a playlist months ago and I forgot to tell them that I finally listened to it. One song from it that I really enjoyed was “Uh Huh” by Jade Bird. I love people with a raspy, growly, singing voice, and she’s so good at it.

TMM: What are your main sources of inspiration?

S: Something that I get a lot is that my music is very reminiscent of early 2000s pop. Not like Britney or that kind of stuff but the soft, musical theater reminiscent pop you would hear on the radio. In terms of inspiration for lyrical content, I’ve been writing for such a long time that I’m pretty used to writing about experiences that are not my own. I think it’s cool that it’s more accepted these days for people to write songs about things and not have them be about your own life.

TMM: A lot of your songs seem to explore heartbreak. What draws you to that emotion as a songwriter?

S: It’s just so universal, and I find it easy to write about. I’m not saying that it’s easy to write a really gut-wrenching heartbreak song, obviously. It’s hard to write a good song about anything, but I feel like lyrical content and

metaphors about heartbreak just come more easily than other things. If you were to give me a time limit and tell me to write a really good heartbreak song and a really good fun pop song, I think that I would do better with the sad song, even though I listen to more happy music.

TMM: Moving on to how your music sounds; what led you to the current sound you’ve been exploring on your recent singles “Something Blue” and “From Inside the House?”

S: I would say a big part of what drove that is the producer and engineer that I’ve been working with for the past year. He does a lot of indie leaning music. I write all kinds of pop, but I thought the stuff that I’ve been releasing this year would be a good match for someone who has a lot of experience in a band and is a very talented multi-instrumentalist, which he is.

TMM: Has working with a producer transformed your songwriting process in any way?

S: My songwriting is still pretty independent. I’m very stubborn about my songwriting. I love to work with a producer because production is very much not my strong suit. I often know what kind of direction I want to take, but I struggle to do it myself. It’s always helpful to have someone who I can bounce ideas off of and who can help me translate my thoughts into something physical.

TMM: What’s been your favorite part of releasing the singles you’ve released this year?

S: When “Something Blue” came out in April there was a lot of build up to it. I wrote that song when I was 17, which is like five-anda-half years ago now. For the past several years, I’ve had a few little birdies telling me to record and release it, and for a while I was

like, no, I’m not gonna do that. Last year, I finally started recording it. I started to tease it in March with blue pictures on my Instagram, and when I finally announced it people were so excited. We had a little release party where we all watched the music video. We made blue drinks, we all wore blue, and my friend choreographed a dance to it, which was the cutest thing ever. All my friends made it a whole moment and never got annoyed with me when I continued to milk that song on social media every single day for the next three months.

TMM: Is there anything that’s been unexpected that’s come out of putting yourself out there on TikTok?

S: I am pleasantly surprised with the traction that I’ve been able to receive, because I haven’t been at it for that long. Whenever I get an email in my inbox from someone that I don’t know or an opportunity that I wouldn’t have thought to reach out about, that’s just kind of cool and exciting. I was kind of taken aback in April when I got an email from Brandy Melville musicians asking me to come record in their basement studio. Seeing them in my inbox was kind of wild. I was like, is this real? But it was, and it was fun.

TMM: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to yourself at the start of your career?

S: I feel like I’m still very much at the start of it. So if anyone’s got any advice, let me know. But, I have been working on music in some capacity for a really, really long time. This is obviously like really generic cliche advice, but I wish that I could tell my high school self to be less afraid to share my stuff. So much of the stuff that I was writing back then was actually quality and had potential and I’m still performing it and sharing it now. I had to kind of grow into it.

•

Rilyn Szabo

(Behavioral Neuroscience and Design)

A HISTORY OF THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CORPORATE PUNK INSTITUTION :

In the 1980s, the punk and alternative music scene was fed up with corporate America. “Corporate rock still sucks,” was a common sentiment among the community, and fans began to lose interest in bands funded by large labels. Ideologies like anti-establishment and anti-sexism have been pillars of punk since its start. Always a genre heavily influenced by strong political values, a sense of unrest was rising throughout the community, which spilled over into violence breaking out at shows. Small, local artists feared their chances of being heard were being overshadowed by this trend, something that punk rock fan and promoter Kevin Lyman also picked up on. Lyman sought out to bring back the accessibility and safety within the scene.

“These artists had so much to say lyrically. They were speaking to people’s hearts…but if you’re worrying about getting your ass kicked, that can’t be a good thing [for the scene],” Lyman reflected in a 2024 interview with Monster Tour Water.

Throughout the 80s, Lyman was producing small punk rock shows around the LA area. But as he struggled to secure funding, he began to realize the anti-corporation ideologies of punk rock were working against him. “I learned a lot about branding... I started realizing early on that we all supported companies in our own way, there was no way to avoid it.”

In 1995, he decided to lean into the very thing the scene had vehemently opposed. After hearing about the unique concept of the

X Games, a live action sports tour, he came up with the concept of Warped Tour; a traveling punk rock summer festival with live music, local stages, and action sports. By partnering with big brands such as Vans and Monster Energy, the festival was able to keep both costs and ticket prices low. This also allowed them to take more risks when considering who to add to the lineup in each city. The goal of Lyman was to give smaller punk rock and alternative acts more support in the scene. By engaging with corporate America, the tour had the funding and means to do so.

Warped Tour partnered with Ernie Ball Guitar Strings and developed a Battle of the Bands sweepstakes in every city of the tour. Local bands would compete for a spot on the Warped Tour lineup;. Nothing More, PVRIS, and James Valentine (who would go on to join Maroon 5), were all artists who got their start through this competition. Events like this became staples in local communities, and filled a gap that a lot of cities were facing in their music scene.

While abandoning their punk rock anticapitalist values proved beneficial at the time, this would come at a cost.

In the 2010s, murmurs began to emerge on social media websites about sexual assault allegations against the acts on the tour lineup. Warped Tour’s deep funding allowed the tour to focus on fan interaction, and bands were allowed to set up booths at the festivals where they could interact with fans freely. The bands even participated in a program called the “lessons tent,” where they could give one on one music lessons to attendees of the show. Although these features were meant to offer local artists access to lessons and the opportunity to interact with members of the industry, it led to a number of issues. Warped Tour was an all ages show, and it was common for parents to let their young teens run free around the venue. On top of this, the winners of the Battle of the Bands competitions were often very young. Throwing young people, fans and artists alike, into an unsupervised environment with powerful adults in the industry left them extremely vulnerable.

These murmurs only got louder, and it came out in 2014 that Jake McElfresh of Front Porch Step had participated in inappropriate sexual contact with minors. Lyman ignored this, but fans fought back and demanded Front Porch Step be taken off the Warped Tour lineup. One of the victims came out to say she and McElfresh met up for the first time at Warped Tour when she was underage. A Warped Tour favorite, Lostprophet’s lead vocalist (Ian Watkins) was sentenced to 29 years in prison on multiple offences of sexual assault. Due to his hands-on nature with the bands, a lot of the accused were personal friends of Kevin Lyman. While these allegations were coming out, he was hesitant to kick them off of the tour, claiming that at the time he dealt with the accused by, “[bringing them] back behind a tour bus [with] some people on the tour, and given a few options in life. Your life was not being threatened, but you were educated out there.”

Lyman wanted the best of both worlds; access to deep funding through corporate sponsorships and organizational freedom. When freedom got threatened by allegations, he put money over safety and tried to cover the truth. In his Billboard interview, Lyman said “sexual assault is just part of the scene.” The tour finally ended in 2019, with Lyman claiming it was because he was “too tired,” to continue, but fans speculate corporate wanted to pull their sponsorships in light of the news.

Unexpectedly, Kevin Lymann announced in October of this year that the festival will be coming back in 2025. While Warped Tour may not be in the grave yet, it’s certainly a shell of its former self. The new tour only has three dates which are vastly spread out around the country, leaving the northeast and the midwest untouched and only hitting major cities. This is a far cry from the 41-city tours of the past. What has previously served as a unique opportunity to launch a local band into stardom has been seemingly ripped away from smaller communities. The music industry is a maze of endless red tape and velvet ropes, letting few into the VIP room at a time. For bands from small cities like Uniondale, NY or Oceanport, NJ, having an entire traveling circus of punk rock big wigs come to your town can be a dream come true. Especially when said big wigs have made it their life's mission to uplift bands like yours. Warped Tour has previously served as the last standing pillar of the golden age of the American music dream, and there’s no telling how the changes made to it will affect the industry. Hopefully, it won’t leave local communities with yet another stone to push in their uphill battle to success.

• Ana Poulin (Music Technology)

Designer: Emily Kobren

(Design)

Photos by Maya Solanki (Design and Business)

Pitchfork Music Festival

Photos by Nivedita Pai (Design and Business)

All The Rage:

On Christmas morning in 2020, hip-hop fans woke up to the best gift they could have asked for; the mythicized release of Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red Whole Lotta Red had become a larger-than-life phenomenon in the weeks and months building up to Christmas Day; the divisive use of Carti’s “baby voice," as shown off on high-profile features, sparked vitriol, while the rumors swirling around the development of the project took on a life of their own. Was FKA Twigs really featured? Was Kanye West really executive producing? Was the album even happening, or was it scrapped in favor of a new direction? When the project was finally released to the masses, the reaction was inevitable. No high-profile hip-hop release since 808s & Heartbreak had been so polarizing. Twitter infamously delivered its verdict by sending “trash” to the top of the site’s trending early that morning. Years later, Whole Lotta Red is regarded as a stagnant genre’s most exciting sign of life by synthesizing cloud rap, trap, and electronic into rage; the newest subgenre that would define the first half of the decade.

To understand what happened during those years, travel back to the late 2000s and visit the streets of Atlanta, where trap music was just breaking out. It wouldn’t be long before influential trappers like Future, 2Chainz, and Young Thug would popularize

the sound into the mainstream, but before them, it was Shawty Redd, TI, Gucci Mane, and DJ Screw who were shaping the sound of the South. The 808s-and-bass heavy hip-hop was based on the “trap lifestyle," which was characterized by drug-slinging in trap houses, life on the streets, and securing women and money. While trap music would quickly expand beyond its origins, infiltrating the biggest pop projects of the century, it is unmistakably rooted in Southern culture and influences, especially the city of Atlanta.

Return to 2024. While the conversation is focused on the East Coast-West Coast rivalry, the most experimental sound in mainstream hip-hop is again originating from Atlanta-based rappers — doing so by pushing the distinctly Southern trap sound into a more futuristic direction. This is evident in the rise of Playboi Carti’s label, Opium. Undoubtedly the hottest record label on the scene, Opium represents three other Atlantabased rap acts: duo Homixide Gang, and solo acts Ken Carson and Destroy Lonely. Though not even five years old, Opium has established its unique sound, visual aesthetic, and niche in the culture. Described as “high-fashion vapidity” and “cartoonish goth sulkiness," Opium has wormed its way into pop culture decked out in all-black layered outfits and designer jewelry, wearing punk

influences proudly on its sleeve. The angsty, flamboyant streetwear and the freaky visuals – often including gore, static, and a lot of obscurity – is already enough to distinguish itself from traditional trap conventions. But the label’s output has deviated even more from tried-and-true Atlanta trap by fusing it with electrifying future bass.

Ken Carson’s A Great Chaos, released in late 2023, exemplifies this. On this project, Ken Carson combines the dissonance and mania of Whole Lotta Red with outrageous beats that sound as if they’re being transmitted to you through a LiveLeak video; low quality, electronic, buzzing, and oddly hypnotic. The novel production rivals some of the most experimental hip-hop producers out there. A Great Chaos even spawned a minor hit, “overseas;" the dense and ethereal 808s hurtle past electronica and morphs into some monstrous shoegaze variant; perhaps if My Bloody Valentine was doing MDMA instead of psychedelics. Whatever the case, it is certainly more interesting than many recent hip-hop releases that recycle the same drum patterns and trap instrumentals.

Though rooted deeply in the same Atlanta scene that produced its parent genre, rage is also breaking out of its geographic origins, a great sign for its future and stability. Artists like 2hollis and Snow Strippers push

the idea of rage off the cliff straight into electronic ADHD brain-feasts. They represent a promising leap into the potential next stage of rage; by fully leaning into electronic dance music, it could develop into an even more exciting and sustainable sound. Meanwhile, up-and-coming rappers with a vaguely buzzing, trap sound must dodge the label “Carti clone." The earliest victim of this: Yeat, who before his commercial breakthrough, was discounted by hip-hop fans claiming he was ripping off Carti’s sound. Lancey Foux faced similar accusations of blind trendhopping, even though his style had been established for years before Whole Lotta Red. To this day, trap-adjacent rappers must immediately distinguish themselves from Playboi Carti for fear of getting their career squashed.

With the advent of new stars incorporating rage into their projects (and a little help from TikTok), it seems like hip-hop is finally coming around; rage has become the hot new sound, and if you get it, you get it — attempt to pirate the style and you will be labeled “inauthentic." Rage is in the midst of a commercial breakthrough; Destroy Lonely and Ken Carson’s latest releases have graced the top ten of Billboard’s charts. Meanwhile, Playboi Carti remains hip-hop’s most elusive star, quietly collecting massive hits from his

unpredictable — Carti already revitalized his sound three times, spawning a host of imitators each time — there is no doubt that he could certainly do it again.

• Gabriel Barbier-Saiah (Criminal Justice and Psychology)

Show Reviews

The Front Bottoms House of Blues 9.13.24

Alex Lahey, opener for The Front Bottoms, said she heard they have the best fans in the world. There may be no way to prove this, yet stepping into their shows is like entering a universe where all other music ceases to exist; There’s only The Front Bottoms. There was a palpable feeling of utter cult-like submission to the band, as though every member of the audience lived their entire lives for this very concert. A prime example of this was captured when a couple pressed together their matching peach tattoos to go along with the band playing their love song “Peach.” There was something tangibly religious about this fan-to-band connection.

The set design was minimal consisting solely of skinny lanterns scattered across the stage. This felt appropriate for a band whose music has never been about flashy production, but about creating authentic and unadulterated rock. Akin to their set design, the crowd work was light. Oftentimes, Brian Sella, the band’s lead singer and frontman, was silent between songs. The main two efforts of audience engagement included Sella hurling hot dogs into the audience and praising fans in costumes, of which banana suits and Garfield were highlights. The crowd work was just enough to keep the audience part of the show, but scarce enough to maintain focus on the simplistically grandiose music they were there to perform.

Alex Lahey came out and set the energy levels high. Her four piece band played upbeat jams filled with catchy riffs, upbeat

tempos, and enough angst-ridden jollity to set the stage for the energy of the act to follow. Her persona was both sweet and punchy as she continuously complimented the band and expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to perform, but then would rock the entire building once she started strumming her guitar.

Lahey left the crowd on a high, but the energy of the venue was raised insurmountably when The Front Bottoms emerged onstage. Hundreds of people sang along to every song, and every opening chord strung out by the band was always met with applause. A quick survey of the crowd made it easy to see — The Front Bottoms connected so deeply and intrinsically with the audience that it sparked physical reactions: energetic moshing and crowd surfing. With profoundly personal lyrics that resonate with one’s innermost convictions and anxieties they are able to quickly pull the audience into their music in an almost hypnotic fashion. As the song progresses, the music intensifies as it amplifies resulting in epic crescendos that force the audience member to lose grasp of their real world inhibitions. It was during these intense climaxes that the crowd was at its most active.

Despite the ensuing ruckus, the concert felt cathartic. The moshing functioned as a sort of purging of nostalgic insecurity that elevated this concert from that of a regular rock show to that of a therapeutic and almost pious event. The lyrics of The Front

Bottoms are riddled with angst, feelings of inadequacies, and insecurities. The sound is anthemic and large scale. With the age range of the concert seemingly being a span of only 20 years, these songs marked similar high and low points for the fans whose shared experiences drew them to the music and each other.

Through shared deposition of inhibition, there was a very special feeling of rebirth in the air that allowed for each and every member of the audience to feel both connected and fresh. While every concert is going to have a collection of fans of the artist, there are few experiences and bands that can provide such an out of body and unifying experience. Without knowing another person in the crowd, there was a familial feeling floating in the air.

The Front Bottoms delivered the exact right dose of everything. Despite minimal set design, minimal crowd work, and minimal production overall, it was exactly what it needed to be. It was a night for Front Bottoms fans to go out, scream the lyrics, relinquish from insecurities and feel cool. Every person in that venue was affected by The Front Bottoms that night through nothing but a shared love of their music.

Jonah Seidenfeld (Music Industry and Communications)

Designer: Juliana LaPara ( Design )

Magdalena Bay

Royale 9.18.24

Not only is Magdalena Bay pushing the boundaries of synthpop, they’re also pushing the boundaries of performance art. From the playful, early-internet sounds of their synthpop debut Mercurial World, it has been clear that Magdalena Bay approaches the world in a calculated yet half-serious way. With the release of Imaginal Disk — the duo’s grand, ambitious new record — they have set off on the "Imaginal Mystery Tour". Their refined, scaled-up sound is perfectly translated to the stage, solidifying the tour as the next phase of their master plan to get others to see the world in their image.

As the lights dimmed and the winding tapes of “She Looked Like Me!” started to play, all eyes moved to the winged, mirrorshaped portal that took up nearly half of the stage. It displayed various images and videos throughout the show, beginning with an up-close eyeball that twitched and scanned the crowd. Whether acting as the T.V. that entranced Mica Tenenbaum, the duo’s lead singer, from her floral-patterned chair during “Watching T.V.,” or functioning as a means for her angelic persona to make contact with her alter-ego True Blue on “Fear, Sex,” the portal served as the main support piece. Tenenbaum came out dressed as True Blue, with Matt Levin opposing her in all red, occasionally putting on a mask to become the nondescript monster that haunted Imaginal Disk’s promotion. Despite

limited stage space, the duo took complete advantage. During “Fear, Sex” alone, Tenenbaum longingly played a keyboard to the right of the stage, dramatically posed on the podium in the middle, and had a disk nearly inserted in her forehead by Levin as she sat in a chair on the left. The most impressive aspect of the show was the light design. It supported the progressive nature of Imaginal Disk, panning over Tenenbaum as the songs started and flashing uncontrollably during the monumental outros. The progrock “Tunnel Vision” featured the lighting at its best. The lights calmly matched the song’s twinkling synths, shifting in their force as the track built. In its explosive last minute, the lights matched the instrumental chaos as they wildly flashed between blues, reds, and greens. Tenenbaum thrashed across the stage, and just when the disorder hit its peak, the venue went black, leaving the audience shocked and captivated.

The duo’s pre-Imaginal Disk performances were effective, but they only included Levin’s usage of synths and Tenenbaum’s vocals. The "Imaginal Mystery Tour’s" incorporation of live guitars, keyboards, and drums elevated the experience. Magdalena Bay grounded the more intense build-ups on the record, allowed for stronger payoffs, and transformed older songs off of Mercurial World to better encompass their current sound. The dark,

heavy synth outro of “Dreamcatching” was still present, but its layers of reworked riffs and stronger drums gave it a new power that only their expanded sound could accomplish. During the initially gentle “Vampire in the Corner,” Tenenbaum slipped on a headpiece decorated with sunflower petals and sang calmly from her podium before contorting her voice and body as the instrumentation sharpened in frequency and power for the song’s end. Even their more simple, pop-structured songs were illustrated as grandiose narratives.

Magdalena Bay always ends their shows with “The Beginning.” It is the pinnacle of what defines them — a sweet, dreamy pop song that veers on the edge of cliché, yet leans into its silliness just enough that the audience can’t help but embrace it, jumping and dancing with more intensity than the rest of the show. As Magdalena Bay walked off the stage, the clamor remained high, the crowd savoring the excitement of knowing they just saw the next big thing in the making.

TC Stephens (Political Science and Philosophy)

Designer: Juliana LaPara ( Design )

Weezer, TD Garden

Photo by Praagna Kashyap (Political Science and International Affairs)

Ken Carson, Roadrunner

Photo by Faith Nguyen (Architecture)

WHAT IS YOUR

“Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak

Juliana Coghlin, First-year Environmental Engineering

“Mental Clarity Is a Luxury I Can’t Afford” by $uicideboy$

Sivan Bar, Second-year Cell and Molecular Biology

RIGHT NOW?

“Paul Revere” by Noah Kahan

Paul Carter, PHD student Engineering

“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young

Aidan McCallion, Third-year Finance

“Smoke” by Victoria Monet

Coleman Grustas, Third-year Computer Science

“LALALI” by SEVENTEEN

Grace Fleming, Fourth-year Computer Science

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Taylor Swift

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TAYLOR SWIFT’S INFLUENCE AS A CULTURAL ICON

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There are two ways that many people feel about Taylor Swift these days: obsessed and less obsessed. This is to say, Taylor Swift is reaching new heights of stardom, and her fanbase is growing to include what feels like the majority. Swift is arguably the most famous person in the world right now, and her influence is proving powerful in a myriad of ways.

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One overheard anecdote is a telling example: A friend of a friend, when it came down to choosing between another close friend’s wedding and a Taylor Swift concert, chose to attend the latter. This level of devotion is not unheard of, and it’s not without explanation. People have been traveling across the world to see Swift live in concert because fans and critics alike maintain that it is an unparalleled experience in both scale and solidarity. At each concert, tens of thousands of Swifties are united by her lyrical ability to articulate the angst of girlhood and advocate for resilience in the face of heartbreak, bringing them closer to the meaning of female solidarity and uniting a generation that has suffered a withering of their social networks due to lasting effects of the pandemic.

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Her ability to build and destroy friendships aside, the influence she exercises in economic terms is incomparable. “The Eras Tour” is the highest-grossing music tour of all time, earning over $1 billion and squashing the status of previous record holders such as Elton John and Beyoncé. For those fans who have traveled across the globe to see Swift, they spend thousands on airfare, accommodations, and activities to stimulate tourist economies in the cities she visits. One study from QuestionPro found that the average concert goer spent $1,327 on the experience. If that pace of spending keeps up, the tour is estimated to generate $5 billion in stimulus for the global economy, a figure greater than the GDP of 50 countries. The magnitude of her fanbase’s stimulative impact on the global economy has garnered support for the term “Swiftonomics,” which has gained validity among both fans and economists.

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While Taylor Swift’s economic impact is unprecedented, she has been similarly record-shattering in the political sphere. Last year, on

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National Voter Registration Day, she inspired 35,000 people to register to vote, which is impressive by itself, but is also thought to have dramatically increased the number of young voters registering in the months that followed. Then, on Sept. 10, 2024, Swift endorsed Kamala Harris.

Pollsters were swift in their efforts to gauge the impact of Taylor’s endorsement. One poll found that 53% of American voters think her endorsement is going to help Harris. However, this promising figure should be understood within the context of a sensationalized media response. Some of this coverage has been exaggerated, suggesting she may very well determine the outcome of the presidential election. This was seen, for example, in the way some news outlets misled people to believe 405,000 people registered to vote using her link after she posted a story on Instagram following the Presidential Debate. In actuality, 405,000 people used the link to navigate to Vote.gov, which is very impressive, but not the same as getting nearly half a million people to register to vote.

Still, her pull shouldn’t be dismissed. Immediately following Swift’s endorsement, The New York Times published an article titled “Who Do Voters Really Like? Taylor Swift,” including a poll that featured the novel addition of Taylor Swift’s “favorability” rating among likely voters. Concluding that she is “far more popular among Democrats and Independents than Republicans,” the article supported the circulating notion that predicts the election will come down to undecided voters holding considerable sway. Emphasizing the sway of a group partial to Taylor Swift, the article introduces an important question: Does Swift’s influence hold the gravity purported by the media, or has it been inflated?

While the media has painted Swift as having a kind of authority comparable to that of the Electoral College, Swift’s endorsement is not likely to determine the outcome of the election in that way. In the weeks following her endorsement, 81% of voters said Swift’s endorsement would not influence how they vote, while SWIFT,

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6% said it would. Given the polarization of politics today, it makes sense that people would remain loyal to their party regardless of a celebrity’s endorsement. While the evidence suggests most voters know where they stand, 6% is not a negligible figure. This is especially true in an election where the impact of swing voters, voter turnout, and gerrymandering have been put into strategic political discussion. If the election is going to be very close, ultimately coming down to the undecided voters of swing states, the question then becomes: How does that 6% feel about Taylor Swift?

According to longtime pollster and communications analyst Frank Luntz, an area where her influence could be more noticeable is among women and young voters. Joe Biden was weak with younger women, but Harris has been endorsed by someone who is hugely influential and inspiring to younger women. While she might only mobilize a tiny fraction of her 283 million followers, it’s likely that her strongly-worded message about how we should move forward in a confusing time could be reaching important groups.

Swift’s endorsement will likely do less in the way of determining the election and more in the way of redefining her image as a cultural icon. By inserting herself into the political sphere, Swift broke the fourth wall that allowed society to perceive her as a purely musical icon, or someone who can be characterized by her rehearsed performances in music videos and Saturday Night Live skits. Using Instagram, the singer evidenced that she was willing to take a strong stance: “I am voting for @KamalaHarris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” specifying that LGBTQIA+, IVF, and women’s privacy rights were of particular concern.

This standard of transparency is one that musicians rarely hold themselves to for fear of criticism, and reasonably so. Arguably, it’s problematic to use her platform to state her priorities because it limits the agenda to select issues and because, in deciding what is important enough to mention, other issues are neglected. Swift seems aware that she may not be perceived as qualified to determine which issues deserve attention, though, purposefully using the first-person to relay why her experiences inform her position. Leaning into a personal tone, she begins almost every sentence with an “I” until she calls on her following to find a position of their own: “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make.”

While some might label her endorsement as unethical, Swift encourages individuals to embrace their political agency by learning more about where they stand. This emphasis on researching and owning a political position sways voters insofar as it models the American ideal that voting for what you believe in is a right and a responsibility. This is all to say that her influence shouldn’t be reduced to a measure, reflected in the number of swing voters turned proKamala, but celebrated as a reminder that every vote Americans cast matters.

It’s worth considering the nature and extent of Taylor Swift’s undeniable influence, particularly that which she has exercised in the political arena. Lacking consensus on our values, America’s ideologically fraught position posits questions about the impact of her Harris endorsement. Evidence suggests Americans are too polarized for Swift to have the dramatic impact alleged by the media, but her outspokenness could not go unnoticed. Swift’s social and economic influence have positioned her on a platform where she can demonstrate her political agency and set the kind of example

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characteristic of a cultural icon. Though it may be to a lesser extent than purported by the media, Taylor Swift’s strongly-worded, substantive endorsement will encourage Americans to think more deliberately about the responsibility of voting. Exactly how this will impact the country’s ideological trajectory is not yet clear, and it might not be clear come Election Day, but if any one person is going to turn a voter’s ticket, it’s going to be the person breaking Ticketmaster.

taylor swift taylor swift taylor swift taylor swift

• Lily Zanze (Political Science and International Affairs)

taylor swift taylor swift taylor swift taylor swift

Designer:

WHAT IS YOUR

EVER?

“Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver

Matt Lawson, First-year Mechanical Engineering

“Cake by the Ocean” by DNCE

Chelsea Gaiero, Second-year Chemical Engineering

“Yummy” by Justin Bieber

Kat Roring, First-year Communications and Business

“Dance Monkey” by Tones And I

Devin Mullen, Third-year Cell and Molecular Biology

“Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)” by Clean Bandit

Gabi Martin, Second-year Biology

“Too Sweet” by Hozier

Paige Doherty, Second-year Political Science and Business

• Trevor Gardemal (Journalism)

Photos: Olivia Watson

(UN) THE

Everyone has a favorite lyric. As the direct link between instrumental and message, lyrics are the source of many songs’ success, transcending genre as a universal avenue to convey the deeper meanings that underlie sound. Often unquestioned as a key musical component, the true role of lyrics is largely taken for granted as the way to bring songs to a level of relatability or succinctly relay complex emotions. But what happens when artists manipulate their supposed function? More specifically, what happens when lyrics are present, but can’t be deciphered? The lyrical spectrum is a wide

one, with certain artists weaving their innermost thoughts through metaphor and others singing words that should be taken at complete face value. Without a connection to specific words themselves, can they maintain the same effectiveness? Both Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine have forced these questions to be addressed throughout their work, with different approaches that end in the same answer: Lyrics can convey extensive meaning without being understood.

In 1982 Cocteau Twins released their first album Garlands, where Elizabeth Fraser belted, warped, and distorted her voice to the point of incomprehensibility. Mixed within ethereal guitars and swirling melodies, listeners were taken aback — they couldn’t understand what Fraser was singing. As their discography grew, so did confusion surrounding their vocal stylings. Everyone was on the hunt to solve their lyrical mysteries. Several sources took on the investigation. A 1993 Mondo article aimed to decode the “prelinguistic privatespeak of mother and child,” Japanese record labels printed educated — yet wildly inaccurate — guesses on lyric sheets, and, in admittance of defeat, Fraser’s vocals have been deemed by some as glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. To this day, as dreampop makes its resurgence, fans scour the internet in search of any confirmation. Memes circulate of fans belting songs accompanied

“the inarticulate vocals add another layer to the dreamy world-building of Cocteau Twins”

with text full of gibberish, and Reddit threads are devoted to piecing together half-understood sounds to uncover the bigger picture. Clearly, the people need to know what Fraser is saying. Fraser, on the other hand, continues to be shocked by the response. To her, the inarticulate vocals add another layer to the dreamy world-building of Cocteau Twins. She took from words in ancient languages and various books, isolating them and infusing new meaning through her angelic vocals. In an interview with NPR, she stated that although she may not know the intended meanings behind the words she sings, they allow her to express herself “without giving anything away.” Fraser finds true creative freedom in the unlimited potential of words, utilizing them for specific tones that impart significance rather than stringing them together to develop a concrete narrative.

Cocteau Twins’ website contains an entire page dedicated to Fraser’s commentary on her lyrics. It shows her development in interviews over the years, and how she came to realize how her lyrics functioned for her in a deeper way. In a 1993 interview with The Wire, she states that she is a “very secretive person … constantly covering up.” Her whimsical, contorted vocals empowered her to be honest on Cocteau Twins’ music without necessarily needing to be vulnerable. Later, with the release of Four-Calendar Cafe, Fraser changed her approach and tried her hand at traditional lyricism. She stated that it was her opportunity “to be really honest … writing the way a responsible adult writes.” Her growth as a person complemented

her growth as a lyricist, the original elusiveness being necessary to support that change.

Fraser’s openness manifests through her vocals in their shimmering and airy textures. The true meaning is just out of reach, clouded by Cocteau Twins’ spiraling soundscapes. In this way, Frasers vocal stylings are a mask covering her authenticity. She can fill the space of a Cocteau Twins song with the most deeply personal messages that no one will understand, but allow the sentiments to shine through. She conjures intrigue from her ambiguity, captivating listeners in her unconventional approach.

My Bloody Valentine furthered the whispery vocals and distorted noises, but while Cocteau Twins place their lyrics — although difficult to understand — at the forefront of their work, My Bloody Valentine hides theirs within the mix.

The band’s vocal approach is much less theatrical, acting as a floor for the walls of sound to build on. On

“When You Sleep,” opening track of the shoegazedefining Loveless low, extended vocal inflections layer with similarly deep guitars, making the central bright, screeching hook more radiant when it comes around.

“Sometimes” is relentless in the heaviness of its chords, intense reverb piling on more weight.

The breathy, airy vocals provide an essential relief that floats above the drone. Throughout Loveless, My Bloody Valentine experiments with using their tender vocals as an instrument to soften the record’s sharp, noisy nature.

Kevin Shields, the band’s lead guitarist, has taken significant steps to ensure that the official lyrics of Loveless remain unknown, even from his label. This is not out of embarrassment of their lack of content or meaning, but instead to force their listeners to abstract more than they’re used to. In this way, his lyricism is just as principal as any other artists, the ambiguity simply diverging from a conventional approach. He claims that the true lyrics are very sensual, and relatable to those who embrace their sexuality. The words are ordered in

unconventionalways, stemming from a stream of subconscious thought rather than conscious composition, which is why they are difficult to uncover. Such an intentional and thorough approach to My Bloody Valentine’s lyricism would seemingly be something they would want to share with the world.

However, this is not the case. In 2021, the band finally put their catalog on Spotify, which in the same year added a feature that included lyrics alongside songs. The band angrily took to Twitter, claiming that the lyrics were “completely incorrect and insulting.” Though the lyrics were later removed, Shields found the whole thing disrespectful, adding that “30-50% of the predictions are wrong” anyways.

For Shields, labels are restrictive. He references an old saying in an interview with Mixdown, where a gardener sees something beautiful and says “I see a rose, this beautiful rose.” Shields believes that by labeling the flower in the garden as a rose, all the preconceived notions about what a rose is are projected onto it. The meaning would be more significant if it was simply felt and absorbed. While not in direct reference to My Bloody Valentine’s lyrics, the sentiment is the same. Listeners obsess so much over what a specific word is that they miss the deeper sensitivities that the band’s music evoke. The first vocal section of “Only Shallow” is haunting, a sense of nostalgia found within the gentle melodies that follow the song’s grating intro. It’s uncertain whether the first word is “sweet,” “sleep,” or “speak,” but the feeling is the same regardless.

Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine are not the only artists who manipulate their vocals or maintain a level of lyrical ambiguity, but they are certainly strong in their application. Their refusal to confirm their lyrics forces audiences to take their own interpretations and feel the music instead of simply hearing it. The lack of clear meaning removes expectations of lyrical clarity, allowing for a more fluid listen. Backed by the otherworldly atmosphere of both bands’ instrumental work, the listener flows through a dream, grabbing onto vague inclinations of significance to find their path to personal understanding. Both artists redefined what is possible in the context of sound, and the role of lyrics in their songs. Their inclusion was essential, either to achieve sounds only capable of voice or to force interpretation and imbue deeper meaning in their works, even if vague.

• TC Stephens (Political Science and Philosophy)

Designer: Maia Delagneau (Design)

Taking in the moment: A Q&A with naturosynth

Juggling hectic college schedules and musical ambitions, Kieran and Arjun Gopal are chasing their dreams with their band, NaturoSynth, with support from Pranav Joshi and Arjun Shamaraya. From messing around with instruments as kids to officially starting their band in 2019, they’ve evolved by blending electronic synths with nostalgic 70s and 80s rhythms. They are particularly influenced by Julian Casablancas, Tame Impala, classic Bollywood hits, and family members who shared their passion with them.

Kieran, vocalist and composer, and Arjun, composer and producer, sat down with Tastemakers to discuss the pivotal moments in their musical journey. Following the success of their single “Headphones On,” NaturoSynth embraced experimentation as they crafted their latest EP, Does This Last, which thematically explores the impermanence of time, emotions, and relationships.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

TMM: How did NaturoSynth start?

Kieran Gopal (KG): Arjun and I are cousins. We started composing songs together on the piano in front of our family, even at three, four and five years old. We were always going to each other’s houses, and we loved playing instruments. Arjun and I would make our own tunes and small melodies, and that evolved into doing covers of Queen and Pink Floyd songs, and eventually, we began developing our own sound.

Arjun Gopal (AG): Over time, we started getting more into production software, upgraded our gear, and invited our close family friends, Pranav Joshi and Arjun Shamaraya, who really helped us find our direction. We started delving into the world of synthesizers, which is where our sound shines.

TMM: And the name?

KG: You know, some people think it’s Naruto…it’s not. It’s derived from the word natural, and synth is from synthesizer. We like using natural acoustic sounds, but also, we naturally gravitated towards music for as long as we could remember.

TMM: Working as a pair is obviously different than creating music individually. How does the collaboration work between the two of you?

AG: Kieran and I are always writing and producing, but the interesting thing is that most of the time, we’re not together. We’re both in college and live in different towns. We each create small demos and ideas and send it online. We’re always on FaceTime, looking for where we can take each song. Right now, it’s a lot of online communication.

TMM: How do you loop [Joshi and Shamaraya] in?

KG: They play live with us. We’ve been playing together for a while, and we’ve developed a chemistry. We don’t have a lot of time to prepare for shows, and since we’re all in different places, it’s tough to rehearse. But those guys make it pretty easy to put these shows together.

TMM: Your music spans from upbeat, light-hearted tracks, to exploring emotional dissonance, regret, and fear. How do you decide what kind of tone and energy a song takes?

KG: Sometimes it starts with a hook, or maybe a line in the verse that I know I want in a song. Later on, you get a certain emotion from the music. As the song progresses, adding the lyrics is like fitting a puzzle piece together. We try to make sense of the words that came to me at the beginning of the demo.

TMM: Your most streamed single, “Headphones On,” is a song that sounds like it should be happy, but there’s a darker underbelly. Walk me through your creative process.

KG: The lyrics for that song were honestly the last part of the process. We started off individually, with a demo and a hook, and then got together in the studio for the chorus. I originally got the idea of “I’ll just put my headphones on, play my favorite song,” which developed into more of a depressing song about dealing with loneliness as a kid in school. It’s that awkward phase in life where friend groups are moving on and shifting, and I thought maybe people would resonate with that.

AG: It’s funny, I remember Kieran and I were sitting in a Potbelly’s parking lot listening to the demo. At that point, we didn’t know what song we were going to release, but when “Headphones On” came on, we just looked at each other and knew it was the one. That was the turning point, that parking lot.

TMM: You recently released an EP, Does This Last, with a wide variety of emotional themes. Is there something you want your fans to take away from it?

AG: Per the title, the EP really asks the question, “How long will this last?” With “Headphones On,” you’re finding happiness in a changing world of adversity. In “Dance Destiny,” it’s “How long do we have to dance and enjoy our loved ones?” “Fear of Regret,” sticks out to us in particular. It’s about chasing your dreams and fearing that the present doesn’t last forever. Ultimately, it’s about taking in the moment, knowing that things can get better or change, and that new experiences will come.

TMM: Are there any particular defining moments you guys think back on where you knew you were on the right track?

AG: Some of our viral videos on TikTok were pivotal moments for us, because that’s also when we started getting industry attention. With our videos, we were getting a ton of reception from new fans, especially Indian American bands. They sent the sweetest messages, showed appreciation for our music, and really cheered us on.

TMM: I know that representation is a very tricky line: You don’t want to only be reduced to being one representative of all Indian Americans, but at the same time, you mentioned you resonate with that audience specifically. What does that mean to you?

AG: We do feel like our songs can relate to everyone, but we’re very proud to be Indian American. We love our culture, and it means a lot to

TMM: Looking ahead, is there a tour, more music, or events for you both?

KG: Our biggest focus was just doing a lot of shows. We covered a good amount of the Midwest this summer, and we’re trying to do more this semester. Of course, there’s only so much we can do for live shows while we’re in college. Regarding music, we finally have a free period where we can come up with a ton of ideas from scratch and discover what our direction there could be. A full-length album is obviously our dream.

AG: I’m graduating this December, and Kieran’s graduating next summer. That will definitely change where we take the band. We’ll likely have more time to tour in more cities than before. We really want to get out to all the places our fans are.

Designer: Heidy Hur (Design)

24kGoldn, Sinclair

Photo by Elizabeth Zhu (Behavioral Neuroscience)

Very rare are there bands whose impacts are felt long after their names cease to be mentioned, and post-rock outfit Bark Psychosis is one of those bands. They have existed solely on the periphery, just past the ability to be seen by the majority, in a far off place only a choice few have yet to venture. However, upon reaching the destination, Bark Psychosis’ brilliance is obvious.

Bark Psychosis’ origin story sits with its iconoclastic, reclusive frontman Graham Sutton. Dropping out of school at 16 years old with bassist John Ling, they recruited drummer Mark Simnett, and found a rehearsal and recording space beneath St. John’s Church in Stratford, where Simnett was a volunteer. This permanent space was a vital addition for the previously nomadic band, moving between squatting punk communes and empty de-facto practice spaces in old warehouses throughout East London. The band’s first iteration was quite short, with critical acclaim shooting the band to fame in a few short years with the release of 1994 debut album Hex, just for it to all fall apart.

The earliest days for Sutton and co. revolved around a sense of agitation, one that provoked the band to keep moving through phases of experimentation, testing the waters to see what fit their unspoken truth. From noisy flexi-disc singles that blare metallic drone to the darker “Tooled Up” and “Manman” to the quieter, slower “I Know,” Bark Psychosis’ early production is evidence of a wildly adept group of listeners. Nowhere is this best exemplified than the twenty-one minute single “Scum,” which weaves together tape recordings, jazz-ready drumming and pure noise crescendos to form a three act composition that proves to be both exhilarating and exhausting. With the addition of former Disco Inferno keyboardist Daniel Gish to the lineup, the group not only showed an adept understanding of what made tracks of genres such as dub, techno, krautrock and free jazz good, but also that they had deep understandings of the life inherent within these genres, the rhythms that flowed in and out, the pulsating relationship between sound and silence.

Hex was the culmination of years of agitation and anger as it brewed up inside of the band. This is most visible on “Scum,” as Sutton is not one for street warfare, and his philosophies reflect his desire to continue shooting angry glances across the room. This manifested itself during the album’s recording, where his stubbornness, paired with the general financial and emotional

strain of recording Hex, broke the band. Though the record was well-received by critics, drawing comparisons to later, experimental releases from English pop group Talk Talk, Gish and Ling both departed the band, leaving the band in limbo throughout the 90s.

Just before the new millennium, however, Bark Psychosis would create one more statement: ///Codename: Dustsucker. Released in 2004, it explores a further field of genres and musical themes as in their previous work. The record reads as a mirror for the band, one in which they can reflect on a turbulent and difficult transition from youth to adulthood, an arduous journey made in the time between projects. Many of the tracks on this album are not limited by restraints of runtimes or verse errors. Shifts between theme and sound occur at random instances, evoking the feeling that these changes occur because of some greater force that exists outside of the work itself.

The very best tracks on the album are the best examples of this phenomenon, such as “INQB8TR,” which trades an electronic, waveform void to a purple ocean, one pliable surface that ripples and shimmers as you look at it. Or take “Shapeshifting,” which uses a trademark post-rock tension build to drop out suddenly to a mechanical, churning death. Second track “The Black Meat” is perhaps the defining accomplishment of the band’s discography, with Sutton singing in hushed tones over rattlesnake drums. The track’s aggression, to listeners, seems typical, but when the track falls into a moment of silence, just to rise back to life, expectations are subverted. What exists within the runtime of ///Codename: Dustsucker is amorphous and undefined, existing in the space between consciousness and dreamland. All of the record’s ideas proposed within prove to be the best and most vital addition to the discography of a far too overlooked band.

Bark Psychosis’ recordings defied all expectations, from the group’s initial stages to its final form as dying masters of the postrock artform. Whatever new move the group made was always a sort of logical departure from the last, undertaking constant progress. Bark Psychosis proved themselves to be an ever-shifting, everevolving entity, with each new adaptation providing a new sentence to the greater story.

• Andrew Loose (Data Science and International Affairs)

Designer: Andrew Wallace (Expereince Design)

Arcade Fire is, and always has been, an indie-band aspirations. Even from their earliest days in Montreal, the band’s raucous instrumentals, emotional ferocity, and desire to speak for everyone through their music quickly made them destined for more than bars and small clubs.

For the majority of their run, Arcade Fire has been composed of husband and wife Win Butler and Regine Chassagne alongside Richard Reed Parry, Jeremy Gara, Tim Kingsbury, and Butler’s brother Will, who left the band following the completion of 2022 album WE. Over the course of 20 years, six studio albums, and a movie soundtrack, the core sound of Arcade Fire has fluidly shifted from chamber rock with a dash of medieval instrumentation to straight disco. What has never changed, however, is their larger than life mentality, always pushing out music meant for a greater societal purpose.

Yet, as the scope of their music has grown larger, their songwriting chops have waned, creating heavy-handed works of music that value message over material. Outside of music, the band has also lost some more favorability in the public eye. Recently, the band has encountered serious, credibility-damaging controversies. In 2022, a series of sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Win Butler, which he acknowledged but claimed to be consensual.

From being the prophetic torchbearers of indie music across the world to a socially conscious pastiche, here’s a look at the career of Arcade Fire, as seen through their discography. Their musical ambitions may have never changed, but over time, their most valued assets became their downfall.

From a Montreal loft came a jumble of guitar, fiddle, accordion, and screamed vocals. This turned out to be Arcade Fire’s record that would turn the indie rock world upside down. After a few years floating around and recording a self-titled EP, the band focused on a debut record driven by grief, as multiple band members were mourning the loss of family members while recording. They managed to harness that energy into an album that directly addresses those feelings, commenting on the loss of childhood innocence leaves them feeling directionless.

Funeral gets the blood pumping. The mastering is warbly, the vocals of Butler and Chassagne swing back and forth between clipping the mic and burrowing themselves within the layered instrumentation, and nearly every song features a shoutalong chorus. The band puts 110% into each emotional buildup and release, each delivering on its promise. They showed attention to detail, making a conscious choice to wear old-timey suits to all their Funeral era gigs, matching with the literal themes of their record and scoring some early 2000s fashion points.

Funeral put Arcade Fire on the map not just as a band to pay attention to, but a band that will throttle you with volume and unbridled energy. Even if some of the grandiose tropes of their early songwriting, which were far fresher in 2004, are now seen to be cliche (think “oooooh oooooh” style chants) the songs comprising Funeral are drenched in hunger and catharsis, and still deliver goosebumps 20 years later.

Following the smash success of their debut, the band was steadily touring the world for two full years, and even hit the Grammys stage alongside David Bowie. When they finally had time to catch their breath, they did so in Petite Église, a Quebec church that became the de facto studio for their heavily anticipated follow up album. The church can be felt all throughout Neon Bible — in a literal sense, due to the cavernous acoustics of the recording space — but also in the record’s lyrics. The songwriting from Butler and Chassagne marks the biggest change for Arcade Fire: directing their focus out toward society, particularly at the effect the institution of religion can have on people.

Each song on Neon Bible has an urgent message to deliver, coming from both places of despondency and seething frustration. With extravagant, tightly-played arrangements, the instrumental gravitas matches this newfound amplitude. Even with the shift in style, Arcade Fire retains their quirkiness, now letting pipe organ, hurdygurdy, and mariachi horns among other instruments enter the sonic mix.

Neon Bible is an album gargantuan in scope and in message, equaling the emotional fervor of Funeral while adding more rage and resentment. It broke through on the charts, debuting at No. 2 in the US, and stands as a renowned achievement for the band today. It’s defining proof of how powerfully they can make sweeping societal statements in their music, something tough to do without sounding hacky.

When the band’s third album shockingly won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammys, few were more surprised than presenter Barbara Streisand, who stuttered through the record’s title, as if she had never seen the word “suburbs” in her life. The only people more surprised than her were the members of Arcade Fire themselves, who beat out the likes of Eminem, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry (in 2011!!!).

This landmark upset spoke not only to the power they wielded as an indie band in the music industry, but also to how on top of their game they were with The Suburbs. A sprawling elegy for the sprawling communities many call home, the record is conceptually smaller than Neon Bible and Funeral, but its narrative focus is razor sharp, and the band proves they can get a lot of mileage out of one subject. Arcade Fire captures every angle of the uber-specific combination of wistfulness, contempt, and nostalgia that comes with growing up in the suburbs before moving away for good.

Their third album also established the pattern of reinvention that persists throughout the band’s lifespan. On every record, they’re bringing a new look, new lyrical fodder, and a new instrumental sound. Shedding their chamber rock eccentricities, Arcade Fire made a hard and fast pivot towards Springsteen-esque rock and roll. With less medieval instruments and more pumping guitars, they proved themselves not just able to succeed with fresh ideas, but able to write anthems that could power stadium shows.

Designer:

It seems Arcade Fire’s whole career up until this point was spent on top of the indie world, but by 2013, they were approaching the stratosphere. Still embarking on worldwide tours, the band started making music for films ("Her," "The Hunger Games") and swept award shows all across the world. With more eyes on them than ever, they launched their boldest statement to date: a double-disk, disco/rock/ Haitian rara inspired record with lyrics pertaining to life in the digital age and allusions to Greek mythology. If the description sounds like a mess, it’s because it is.

Too many synapses fire at once on Reflektor, an album that reportedly cost $1.6 million to make. Still, Arcade Fire was close to bringing it altogether. The tracks that work feel dazzlingly grand even when scaled against their other music, fusing Caribbean influences with synths and drum machines. Every thought put to paper is intriguing enough to forgive some of the self-indulgent tendencies, but not all. A trimmer record could’ve rivaled their best, but instead, listeners received a project where the band’s hubris impededs the quality of the end result. This was further evidenced by the 2015 release of a third disk, featuring songs left on the cutting room floor (almost none of which are worth your time).

Reflektor, across the general public, critics, and hardcore fans, is a highly divisive record. However you want to slice it, this era was bloated in every way — while also leaving some of the band’s most stunning work in its wake.

Reflektor was brimming with ideas, but marked a major inflection point for the band’s sound and style, as Arcade Fire seemed to be pulled in a few different directions at once. With their subsequent record Everything Now, the band made up their minds: It was time to dive headfirst into unapologetic dance pop, as well as satirical songwriting.

With lyrics, much like Reflektor, commenting on life in the age of social media and misinformation, a satirical approach to the lyrics and the overall sound makes sense. The album’s sound glistens with fake, department-store gloss, while its lyrics serve as mantras for having “everything now” and “infinite content.” This irony also bleeds into the album’s promotion, creatively sharing ludicrous stories about the band on their website called “Fact Company.”

Despite how clear the satire is, and how evident their messaging is, the album suffers on many fronts. The streamlined pop production leaves many tracks feeling lackluster, and vocals from Butler and Chassagne are flat and occasionally pitchy. Additionally, the band proved to be inept when toying with ironic snark in their lyrics. Even through Everything Now’s well-established ironic lens, the record makes starkly shallow observations about 21st century, chronically online living. When a band that has built its legacy on stirring huge emotional responses tries the antithetical approach, not everything will land as clean.

Everything Now, on paper, stays on the expected trajectory of Arcade Fire’s sound, and netted them their third Billboard No. 1 album in the U.S. In practice, it did not land well with many critics and fans. The album is a muddled microcosm of a band that was still trying to speak for the world while existing in total, insulated comfort. It marked a turning point where the band’s heavy-handiness turned from a strength to a detriment.

Commercially, Everything Now was another success, but it was evident the band desired a shift back toward their tried and true methods of creating music. With a pandemic, contemptuous election, and even more isolation and misinformation gripping the world in between albums, Arcade Fire had all the fodder for their sixth studio album WE, a temperature check on life in 2020s America. Stripping the ironic sheen of their previous album, they teased the new music months prior to its release by explaining how it was split into two sides: the first dealing with feelings of loneliness and anxiety, the second promoting unity and rekindling joy.

However, despite the album’s new tone and sound, some of the same woes persist. Arcade Fire long thrived writing uplifting anthems, but their return to this style feels hollow, with the lyrics feeling more ham-fisted and cookie-cutter than ever. It was clear the band that once spoke for the public was beginning to lose their mandate. Furthermore, the most notable aspect from an instrumental perspective may be how Arcade Fire doesn’t reinvent itself, instead timidly treading the same waters they occupied with The Suburbs, to much lesser effect.

Still, the moments they dust the cobwebs off and break out a driving, measured tune recall what makes the band so special in the first place: the ability to pull off massive sounding arrangements with heart pumping lyrics that feel more earnest than cheesy. It’s a shame that for the past decade, the ability to expertly balance all those elements feels more and more difficult — bordering on impossible.

• Henry Bova (Journalism)

CROSSWORD

ACROSS

2. This vocaloid is famous for her teal hair and holding a leek.

5. This artist is getting younger instead, so they didn't have to cut their blue hair off.

6. If you complement her hair, she'll say "Gee, thanks, just bought it."

7. On her album Think Later, this artist just really wants to cut her hair.

8. FKA Twigs debuted this hairstyle in the music video for "Eusexua."

DOWN

1. Who sings "Don't Touch My Hair?"

2. Starring MGK, "The Dirt" is a biopic about this hair metal band.

3. Willow Smith whipped this back and forth.

4. There’s a whole musical dedicated to the luscious locks of hippies in the 60s.

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

It’s that time of the semester! In honor of Presents coming up, Tastemakers is taking a trip down memory lane to show you our favorites from past Presents headliners and openers!

"Big Wheel" - Samia

"There Must Be More Than Blood" - Car Seat Headrest

"Anthem for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" - Broken Social Scene

"u v v p" - illuminati hotties "Supermoon" - Charly Bliss

ZOOMED

Can you tell which six album covers we’ve zoomed in on?

FIND GAGA

"The Sun" - Portugal. The Man "Better In The Dark" - TV Girl, Jordana "Parade" - The Antlers "Quirk" - Really From "Fireman"- Katy Kirby "Human Performance" - Parquet Courts "Dragonball Durag" - Thundercat