#astroworld festival

[reviewsdefinitionofsatisfaction]

!!!

[mywaysthehighway]

Travis got off Scott-free huh

[chromet]

Travis Scott in Astroworld hoodie and Rick Owens pants

[seriousbusinessforhumans]

Lack of oxygen is the killer in crowds, so preserve space around your chest

People often ask me, "Why do we die in a crowd? What's the cause of death?" Well, the cause is not enough oxygen. You're so densely packed that your lungs don't have enough space to do their job, and to keep you breathing. That's one thing that is superuseful that people should be aware of: The problem is going to be breathing.

If you can maintain sufficient space for you to breathe, you're going to be OK. Put your arms out just in front of your chest and hold them there. In this position, you would have some space, just a little bit, to push for half a centimeter or just 1 centimeter — enough for you to keep breathing. It's not going to be comfortable. You're going to be feeling really bad, but at least you'll survive.

Don't push. Move with the crowd

In a crowd, everything is about chain reactions. When you push your neighbors, they're going to push their own neighbors and it eventually hits an obstacle. Then the pushing is amplified — and it's going to come back to you. If you feel a push, don't push back. Don't amplify this wave. Just go with the flow. It's not going to be comfortable, you're not going to like it, but it's the best way to behave in this situation. Don't add pressure in the system.

In the worst moments, you have multiple pushing waves at once. This is what we call crowd turbulence. You don't want to be where two waves cross, because the pressures come from opposite directions, and that's really dangerous. When we observe crowd turbulence, we see death, a tragedy.

Learn to detect crowd density

Density is really the critical variable, that's the first thing we measure. It's expressed as the number of people per square meter, and there are some thresholds: Below five people per square meter [about 10.7 square feet], it's fine. Maybe not comfortable, but it's fine. Above six persons per square meter, it starts becoming dangerous.

Eight people per square meter: Most of the time there are injuries or worse. It's superuseful to have a sense of that density, but it's not intuitive. Here's a tip: If you feel that people are touching you on both shoulders or on several places on your body at the same time, the density is probably around six or above. If you still have time and can move, get away. That's an alarm signal.

If a crowd gets unsafe, look out for others

Helping behaviors and altruistic behaviors are kind of contagious in crowds. The same applies to individualistic or selfish behaviors. If you try to help your neighbors, they're going to help you, or they're going to help their own neighbors. If this spreads, it creates a positive, helping atmosphere. It's going to make things less bad. So definitely, helping behavior is something you should adopt.

(selected segments of the article)

[strangersatellites]

It’s Get-To-Know-Yousday! what was your favorite essay or paper you ever wrote for school about?

the best day of the week!

my favorite paper i ever wrote was actually for a critical cultural theory course i took in fall 2021! i wrote a feminist a analysis of misogyny in marvel films and in the marvel fandom!

i absolutely LOVED writing and sharing this research really felt like i got to dig into a hot topic in entertainment.

here’s my formal synopsis i submitted for final approval as a treat :)

edit: i just reread the conclusion of this paper and forgot i wrote this absolute banger

[liberty-spiked]

I need a moshpit to put all of those emotions to good use.

[reportwire]

A look at some of the world's major crowd disasters

A look at some of the world’s major crowd disasters

MALANG, Indonesia — Police fired tear gas after riots broke out at an Indonesian soccer match in East Java province when Persebaya Surabaya beat Arema Malang 3-2. Panic and a rush for the exit left over 170 people dead, most of whom were trampled, police said Sunday. Here’s a look at some of the major crowd disasters in recent decades: Dec. 3, 1979 — Eleven people are killed as thousands of fans…

[heystephen]

I don’t know why anyone is surprised this would happen in Brazil. This is why taylor should just tour america and europe, it’s not safe there 😒

i think this is a very cruel & callous way to look at it. and not for nothing but american concerts aren’t the paragon of safety either.. have you forgotten astroworld? route 91 music festival? the station night club fire? :/ all different events where ppl died at concerts in america, and all different causes

[crumblinggothicarchitecture]

"Of course, the weather and the issues about all the logistics from the very first night of her concert weren't Taylor's fault."

Sorry, no diss, but I cannot agree. She's a massive star, plans worldwide tour many months in advance and decides it's a good idea to do South American leg during the time when Southern Hemisphere is in the summer? Yeah, sure, no way to say for 100%, if it's gonna be a heatwave specifically at the date of the gig, but looking at average temperatures in that region at that time chances are damn high.

And in case of miscalculation on weather, she absolutely could have said that she's not gonna play unless people can bring in their own water or give out water bottles to everyone by entances out of her own pocket, because she can afford it. She's a damn billionare with incredibile pull, her PR brags about her upping economy wherever she goes, companies and stadiums definitely would bend to her will if she had asked. But she didn't.

I've also heard about vents being blocked, so people in the parking lot, who didn't pay for the tickets, couldn't listen to whatever would able to pass those vents.

Also Swift not adressing this tragedy almost at all, her blocking tribute that fans prepared for Ana on the next concert during usual short break by suddenly not taking it and rushing to next stage, and the fact, that a lot of people outside of South America, even Swifties, still reacts to this situation with astonishment, because news about it never reached them, suggests that Swift's PR was actively squashing them.

If Travis Scott is partially responsible for Astroworld Festival disaster, then so is Taylor Swift for the concert in Rio de Janeiro.

Yeah- no disagreement here. I didn't say that Taylor Swift wasn't responsible for her death. She is absolutely partially responsible. I meant as much, when I said that she could have postponed the event due to the heat wave.

I'd also have to agree with you- I do not understand why she chose to host a massive event like a stadium show during the summer months.

Everyone on Earth is aware of climate change, especially Taylor Swift who is the subject of much scrutiny to how her own private jet use is affecting the Earth, so we all know that the heatwaves are getting more intense.

Honestly, I don't understand why she needed to go south during their summer months. Personally, I think she wanted to be in North America for our summer months- because she enjoys being in North America more than she likes South America.

The other option would have been to spread out the Eras Tour dates even more- so she could go to the Southern Hemisphere during their winter, and still be able to be in North America for our summer the year after or something. However, I think she didn't want to spread out the tour dates- and would prefer to not have North American dates occurring in our winter, which means having to go to Brazil during their summer months.

It's confusing to write out but remember that the

summer months of North America are roughly: May to August/September.

and the winter months of Brazil are roughly: June to September.

It overlaps- thus the need for her to choose who to prioritize, and thus she ended up doing Southern Hemisphere dates in their summer (Nov.- Feb).

I also think she just wanted to stay in the USA for the summer (because she's a USAmerica-centric person who wanted a cut of the summer-vacation revenue in the USA).

[pugzman3]

You got that right? It does not matter your intentions. When you open that door, the demons will come in. Just like taking part in pagan rooted holidays. Christmas, Easter, new years, st valentines day, halloween, etc. It doesn't matter if you are doing it for "good reasons". It doesn't matter if you believe in it or not. Occultis will say the same thing. It does not matter to the demons because they are attached to these celebrations, these actions. They have the dominion for it, are energized by it, and they will enter. Music, movies, television, video games, new age religion, mind altering drugs, alcohol, casual sex, music festivals is a huge one (remember astroworld? Heard about Swifts concerts lately?) been going on for decades. MK Ultra is more than just mind control. There is demonic activity and attachment to it. Who was big on that? Who was big into Occultism? The nazi's. Where did they go after the war? They came here, remember? They brought all that stuff here under Operation Paperclip. Right after that the CIA was formed. These people know this stuff. Remember i put tbe challange out to turn it all off for a week and see how your body feels, then turn it all back on. They are selling it left and right and nearly everyone is opening doors to things they have no control over. Please stop thinking this world is as simple as we are led to believe. It is very spiritual.

[finnickodaiir]

latam swifties in brazil: get mugged, one of them dies, hundreds faint, thousands get so dehydrated and overheated they're on the verge of fainting as well, thousands witness all of this horror, they get denied the basic right of water for the sake of profit, they are forced out of the venue with barely any explanation and locked out while getting mugged maybe hearing gun shots, etc.

some swifties: omg brazilians/latinos are so dangerous everyone protect Taylor and get her out of there :(

.

they really don't see us as human, it breaks my heart. THAT'S OUR PEOPLE that got taken advantage of and put at risk by a company that didn't give a single fuck about any of them.

why are we getting called dangerous and being shamed for the greed of companies? latam fans were just doing what other fans in any of the other countries she tours would do.

on top of everything they're far more concerned about Taylor than any of the fans that actually got injured at the shows. not thatthst she's not being impacted by all of this, it's just someone literally fucking died and they're talking about how sad taylor has to be that she won't be there for an american football game.

they also seem to forget that the fans that went through all of this, latam fans in general, use the exact same internet that they use (though i know some of them think we all live in prehistoric caves with no modern technology), and they can read what they're posting. we see their posts, in all this pain how do they think that makes us feel?

Exactly!!! They don't see us as human beings, they're five seconds away from saying the same shit that European colonizers said back in the 16th-17th century. Greedy companies who exploit their customers, armed robbers and heatwave aren't issues exclusive to LATAM. Did they forget everything that went down with Ticketmaster last year? The Astroworld Festival Crowd Crush? Ariana Grande's concert getting bombed? The heatwave that the UK and a bunch of other countries in Europe went through last year and this year? These are all things that happened in first world countries and you don't see them saying artists shouldn't go there, because of these events.

We all have access to the internet, we can all see the shit they say online and most of us speak English or at least understand it well enough to know what's being said. While I bet most of them didn't even know that Portuguese is Brazil's official language instead of Spanish until last week.

Yes, we have our issues. Our government is corrupt, it's full of conservatives determined to make the lives of women, people of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people who are struggling financially worse, our public school and health system leaves much to be desired. But the US has the exact same issues, so they don't get to label this country as 'dangerous' while they're going through the exact same shit. That makes them xenophobic.

Sorry this turned into a rant, anon. I hope you're taking care of yourself, my heart goes out to every single Brazilian fan. I'm really sorry things have been handled so badly these last 2 days and I'm sorry these stupid fans have been saying xenophobic stuff on the internet. Hope you guys are taking care of yourselves, sending hugs 🫂

[tayloralisonswift]

i’ve said this before BUT i really do think what happened at astroworld (the festival stampede in 2021 that killed ten) has made taylor extra hyper-vigilant. she’s always cared so much about us but she’s been watching us extra carefully during this tour. like the whole thing was that the performer didn’t stop the crowd crush in time, but taylor is beyond just stopping it in time, she’s looking at each of us to make sure we’re ok

[dingleberrytimes]

Travis Scott Concert Ends in Tragedy After He Accidentally Kills Over 3,000 Fans With Rocket Launcher

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - In what is being called the most fatal concert since Travis Scott’s last concert, rapper Travis Scott’s most recent concert in Orlando ended in tragedy after he allegedly shot at the crowd with a Rocket Launcher, killing over 3,000 fans in the process. The incident occurred during his most recent Astroworld Festival, where he was performing his routine set as per usual.

Scott’s concerts are known for their theatrics and rowdiness, with mosh pits, stage dives and things being set ablaze being common. But no one could expect what would happen next as when Travis had just finished one of his songs, he announced that he was “gonna get people on their feet”. He then proceeded to pull out a Rocket Launcher and began shooting at the crowd.

15 rockets were allegedly launched, with the crowd screaming, begging for him to stop the whole time, but due to the loud music, Scott couldn’t tell that they were pleading for him to stop and just assumed they were cheering. By the time Scott noticed what he had done, it was too late, and 3,000 fans had already died due to his negligence. Scott, fearing even more legal action against him, would end the concert early and flee the scene, leaving the victims to fend for themselves.

Scott would later address the incident in a video he uploaded to social media, where he apologized for his actions. “I just want to apologize for everything that went down in Orlando.” Travis would say in the now viral video. “I really fucked up, and as a result people died, and that’s just, not cool bro. I really hope y’all can grow to forgive, because I really didn’t know that shooting the Rocket Launcher into the crowd would end up this badly. Like when I first found out that all those people died, I was just like damn, man.”

Travis Scott is now facing numerous lawsuits for his role in the incident. Both Scott and his legal team are offering to settle out of court with all the families of the victims by offering them specially made cards that would allow them to get free Travis Scott meals from McDonald’s for the rest of their lives. As of right now, none of the families have agreed to this settlement.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 06/01/2024 (Sabrina Carpenter, Saltburn)

Content warning: Discussion of the Astroworld Festival crowd crush and brief sex references

It’s that time of year again, where all the Christmas songs flush out - no, I’m not going to list all of them as dropouts - and we get a rush of songs gaining or returning with extraordinarily high peaks at extraordinarily high rates because hey, that’s just how the chart is on the first week of January. It’s usually one of my most work-heavy episodes, but also because of the incredibly low barrier for entry on a first-week-of-January chart, it ends up pretty fun and kind of goofy sometimes, so this is actually a pretty exciting week for me, even if this episode will be lengthy to write. Regardless, Noah Kahan gets his first ever week at #1 with “Stick Season”, and welcome back to 2024’s REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

Now, it would be really easy - and also really tedious of me - to just list all of the songs in the UK Top 75, which is what I cover, and you know, I considered doing that, but I think I’m going to be quite subjective and selective here, especially given there are less debuts this week than I expected. Just know that the vast majority of Christmas songs are no longer charting and have been replaced with, for the most part, songs that were charting in the last couple weeks. I will not be listing every return, but I will list songs that have returned to new peaks or songs that I just think are interesting or strange, including songs that haven’t charted in a while or have fascinating stories, or are just goofy little novelties of the January week, and we actually start dead-on at #75 with those.

“Take on Me” by a-ha is back. The Swedish band peaked at #2 with this track, blocked off the top by “The Power of Love” by Jennifer Rush, in 1985, and a largely inferior boy band cover by A1 spent a week at #1 in 2000 because the world isn’t fair. We actually see another #2-peaking classic pop song return to the charts this week… at #8. So - spoiler alert, even though I haven’t seen it either - the film Saltburn which was widely released a few weeks ago ends with “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and naturally TikTokers have Kate Bushed it to streaming success. Now you may be interested in how this song debuted at #2 in 2001 and spent two weeks there behind “Gotta Get Thru This” by Daniel Bedingfield (hot take: better song), or that this is Ellis-Bextor’s first time charting since 2014 - “Young Blood” peaked at #34 - but I’m personally more inclined to welcome the return of the man, the myth, the legend Gregg Alexander, who co-wrote and produced the song, to the top 10. Welcome back, king. Also, “Baby Shark” is at #47.

Then we just have the re-entries that reached new peaks, which is a few: “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch & the Coal Miners at #50, “FTCU” and “Pink Friday Girls” by Nicki Minaj at #41 and #30, as well as “Everybody” featuring Lil Uzi Vert at #26, “Body Moving” by Eliza Rose and Calvin Harris at #38 - still really disappointed by that one, “Surround Sound” by JID featuring 21 Savage and Baby Tate at #35, “Runaway” by Ye featuring Pusha T at #23, “One of the Girls” by The Weeknd, JENNIE and Lily-Rose Depp at #21, and of course, the GOAT, Paul Russell back at #20 with “Lil Boo Thang”, then “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves at #16, “On My Love” by Zara Larsson and David Guetta at #15 and “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims at #14.

As for our gains, I’m also just going to list the new peaks, as we have “Entrapreneur” by Central Cee at #36, “leavemalone” by Fred again.. and Baby Keem at #11, “Rich Baby Daddy” by Drake featuring SZA and Sexyy Red at #10 (Sexyy’s first top 10… maybe I should just call her Red), and, to my pleasant surprise, “DNA (Loving You)” by Billy Gillies featuirng Hannah Boleyn at #9. When you factor in that “Water” and “Houdini” are also here, this latter half of the top 10 is fantastic.

Then finally, in our top five, which isn’t nearly as good, we have almost a status quo ante bellum, with “Cruel Summer” by Taylor Swift at #5, “greedy” by Tate McRae at #4, “Prada” by casso, RAYE and D-Block Europe at #3, “Lovin’ on Me” by Jack Harlow at #2 and of course, “Stick Season” at #1. Now we have a smaller than expected but still… curious batch of new entries, so let’s run through whatever we have here.

New Arrivals

#71 - “MY EYES” - Travis Scott

Produced by Travis Scott, Wheezy, WondaGurl, Vegyn, Buddy Ross and Justin Vernon

I’m gently surprised UTOPIA has had this much longevity, especially considering that the album didn’t really have bonafide “hits” on it, and especially not this one: two very different ideas spliced together with possibly Travis’ most introspective bars on the record… all of those being in the second half, because in the first, he wastes our time with such inward-looking gems as “Rollie-Pollie on my wrist” and “I need no beef, no cheese, even when I eat, they cheat”. These are elementary bars. Yeah, I hated this song on release and I hate it still now. The first half is a slog, filtering a perfectly fine The Japanese House sample to compressed nothingness, as Justin Venron of Bon Iver croons incoherently with no leading melody or really any lyrics worth caring about. It perfectly embodies uncertainty, which could perhaps be intriguing if Travis hadn’t confused being abstract for being interesting so you have these arbitrary vocal effects attempting to make up for lack of substance over this drone for as long as he can stall before Sampha comes in for nine seconds more soulful than the other four minutes and change combined… seriously, what a terrible use of your Sampha. It’s not like the flashy synthscape eschewing anything memorable for “vibes” and a stagnant trap skitter after the beat switch … and amidst all the meaningless flexing, comical controlling of women, it gets kind of ugly.

Travis throws out possibly his one explicit line about the Astroworld festival disaster on the album: “I replay them nights and right by my side, all I see is a city of people that ride with me… if they just knew what Scotty would do to jump off a stage and save him a child”… and yeah, I don’t want to start this year off on such a negative note but - go to Hell. The explicitly self-centred nature of these lines and those surrounding it show a complete misunderstanding of the festival’s failures to keep people safe, with Travis wanting to be seen as the “hero”, complete his rags-to-riches story, swoop in and “save him a child” as if he’s Superman, whilst pointing fingers at the unknown “they”, which if it refers to critics is sad and if it refers to those who were at that crowd crush, is utterly despicable. Just after disgracing his critics for not looking at themselves in the mirror, he brags about how he stands on the stage and he gives them “the rage” and there’s “no turning it down”, you “can’t tame it”. But it’s not like it matters to the main character of our story, Travis Scott, because his life is just a movie, and if you lived it, you can’t blink because everything just goes crazy fast. I mean, life would go pretty fast and easy without consequences, wouldn’t it? If we’re looking forward to 2024 in popular music this week, I’m pretty confident that I want to leave this mess, and honestly, Travis Scott as a whole, far in the past.

#65 - “You’re Gonna Go Far” - Noah Kahan

Produced by Noah Kahan and Gabe Simon

Sadly not an Offspring cover, but anyway, I promise the rest of this episode won’t be as… controversial. At least Noah Kahan won’t be, right? Another track from his deluxe reissue of Stick Season, Kahan sings about knowing that letting this person leave is for the best, and they’ll go far without him and his sticks tying them down. It’s pretty self-loathing in its acoustic frolick, so I completely understand why this would turn people off... but I’m starting to grow fond of Kahan’s voice, and even through his somewhat bitter chorus and seemingly non-sequitur observations in the verses, I still quite like this. What can I say? I’m a human, I find this reassuring, especially with Kahan digging into his falsetto range surprisingly well, including on that mantra of a post-chorus. It’s almost weird how little I have to say for a song nearing five minutes, but it does feel pretty self-explanatory and the folk-rock stammer of the instrumental feels genuinely home-grown, fitting with how the narrative is strung and the connotations of them moving far away from Kahan’s more hapless rural area. At its heart, it’s a “life goes on” song, but one knowledgeable of his own fate that he sets out for himself here, one that by the outro, he seems weary of, or at least convincing himself maybe he should do the same as this person. Though left seemingly vague in terms of what the exact relation is, given some of the verses I can imagine this is about a sibling or, looking into the future, a child leaving the house for education, and it would definitely work out with the context we’re given, but I’m sure there are many interpretations of this. Mine is that the song is great regardless of them. Man, this guy is really uneven, isn’t he?

#63 - “Never Lose Me” - Flo Milli

Produced by gerreaux

So it’s about damn time Flo Milli charted. Even if I’m not a big fan of all of what the Alabama rapper puts out, she’s got a particularly vibrant personality that becomes increasingly obvious when her overdue breakout hit is essentially a remix of Babyface Ray’s “Ron Artest” with 42 Dugg which is still a pretty good song given the incessant yet timeless-sounding vintage soul loop under a trap groove sounding like it splits time between 2000s Dirty South classics and modern plugg bangers. It’s just that when you hear Babyface Ray go on for one exceedingly long verse followed by an… oddly solemn and badly-mixed 42 Dugg performance, you kind of wish Flo Milli was on the beat instead. So she just is, and it works out brilliantly. Sure, Milli isn’t saying much of interest and you could definitely see that chorus as tedious, but she’s just so much more dynamic with her flows and encompasses the mix much more effortlessly than those it was first made for. It’s mostly just about being in love with this street guy, and honestly, I’m probably overrating it when I look at it outside of its context… but man, there’s just something hypnotic about this beat. Now there are two separate remixes that helped this chart, for a little remixception, those being from Bryson Tiller, who I couldn’t imagine on this at all, but delivers very explicit sex bars with a verse that slides much more effectively than I expected… and Lil Yachty, who is such a perfect fit for this beat that I swear I see him on the original intro anyway. In fact, the Lil Yachty version was released on the same day as the original. He says “I’ma snack on your booty like Scooby”, so I think we’ve found a definitive version of “Ron Artest”.

#46 - “Toxic” - Songer

Produced by Songer (supposedly)

When I typed this into Spotify and saw the Britney Spears song of the same name, I had a sinking feeling… and sure enough, my suspicions were proved correct the moment I pressed play on the song and swiftly paused it in disappointment. This is a white guy rapping over the “Toxic” instrumental with flows and bars that sound like a pastiche of drill freestyles, as if he spent a couple weeks researching them and thinks he can do it better. The original “Toxic” spent one week at #1 in 2004 and I am not giving this dignified character-actor  any time of day. Let’s just hope this doesn’t get any higher.

#40 - “Perfect (Exceeder)” - Mason and Princess Superstar

Produced by Mason

Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to say this: who the Hell are these people? And in addition, why does this song have enough versions on Spotify to reach nearly 52 minutes? Also, why is this song from 2007 charting and once again, who the Hell are these people? Okay, so one at a time: this song from 2007 is charting because it was in Saltburn. Also, it technically already charted but we’ll get to that. Secondly, it’s an electro house song, of course it has that many versions. Thirdly, and this will take the longest, Mason is a Dutch DJ active since the 90s who released an instrumental jam “Exceeder” in 2006 and yes, suddenly I know this song all too well, just never by name - I always heard it as background music in ads or on the radio, but never actively listened to it. It’s fun, growling, fidgety fun with a lot of slick edges and refrains, from before electro house got too festival-ready, so it’s still a little dirty. Now here’s where it gets weird - according to the Official Charts Company’s website’s archive, this is the version that charted, peaking at #3 in 2007, behind MIKA’s “Grace Kelly” at #1 - “Starz in Their Eyes” was at #2 by the way, that’s a… trio and a half. Despite this, the article OCC wrote about the song says that this is a re-entry of “Perfect (Exceeder)”, which makes more sense to me since that version was released on Ministry of Sound and is the cover art for the song on the OCC archives, so this probably isn’t a new entry at all. If this song’s story wasn’t so weird, I’d chalk this up as an error and briefly touch upon it in the rundown, but technically, this isn’t a remix, it’s a mashup, and one from 2007, far before I started reviewing, and it was only the 44th biggest song of the UK in 2007 so it’s not like it would have returned naturally so either way you slice it, it FEELS like a new song - stretching the definition of new here - is charting here.

So who’s Princess Superstar? Well, she’s “Pennsylvania’s top female Jewish rapper”. O…kay, so her song “Perfect” from 2005 failed to chart, and it also may be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard but hey maybe we wouldn’t have… Kreayshawn without this, so maybe I should be grateful. To be fair, she did chart in Australia, so Iggy Azalea can probably attest to being influenced by this. Therefore, I’m not grateful whatsoever. She had a minor chart hit with “Bad Babysitter” in 2002, which is somehow even worse, but someone somewhere decided to mash her failed single “Perfect” with the club jam “Exceeder” and create the malformed “Perfect (Exceeder)”, which is… a song I’ve never heard before. I have only ever heard this instrumental version, and the addition of the Princess Superstar just makes the song genuinely insufferable, at least there was a goofy novelty to the original “Perfect”, this feels like it’s taking itself half-seriously… when nobody should be taking Princess Superstar all too seriously. I don’t know, if this was the original “Exceeder”, I’d probably give it Best of the Week in all honesty, but this weird remix oddity… yeah, keep it in 2007, guys, it even has the gymnastics in the video like “Call on Me”. I don’t think we need to start with a 2024 revival of… whatever this is.

#24 - “Feather” - Sabrina Carpenter

Produced by John Ryan

Well, we started with controversy and we may end with controversy as the scandal surrounding the music video erupted… I’m going to stop pretending like I care. Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” did all this and then some decades ago, let’s just talk about the music which is… utterly serviceable. It’s a good kind of serviceable, it’s not slop, just a Dua Lipa rip-off that doesn’t like filling up space in the mix, or at least isn’t very good at it, and it leads me to like it, bizarrely enough. Despite how breezy she is, she’s desperate to fill up space with riffs and stray melodies filtered with reverb and echo over this vague funk-pop that doesn’t even have the guts to go full disco. I may have more to say about this song as the year goes on? I don’t know, I’m kind of fascinated by how I just… feel sorry for this pathetic little dance-pop song. Weird note to end on, but I mean, she’s hitting all kinds of weird notes so…

Conclusion

Strange week, as is to be expected, with a lot of interesting stories, for the better and for the worse. Okay, mostly for the worse, and Travis Scott nabs Worst of the Week pretty easily for “MY EYES” - sorry, Sampha - and that Songer doofus can get the Dishonourable Mention for his “Toxic” freestyle, I guess, but let’s just ignore that exists. As for the best, it is actually pretty difficult but I think Noah Kahan eases it out here for “You’re Gonna Go Far”, with Flo Milli - and realistically, Lil Yachty - pretty close behind with the Honourable Mention. As for what’s on the horizon… God knows. Welcome to 2024 in pop music, I’m pretty sure anything can happen. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week!

[youcouldstartacult]

do you think for tour it’s going to be bad with people like throwing things on stage or being rough in the pit? i was just at music midtown and the standing area was so uncomfortable i’m anxious bc my niall tickets are standing as well and now i wish i just got a seat. part of me thinks that niall’s shows just aren’t going to be that vibe though?? not in a bad way i just don’t know if they’ll be so crazy as a music festival or past concerts i’ve been too. but this tour is so much bigger than flicker tour so i have no idea now :/ like no reference point i guess… sorry for the rant bestie 🥺 love your page!

omg don’t be sorry ♡

i’ll just be honest with you, i would expect people being very excited, especially in the pit. if you remember during the whole travis scott astroworld controversy, a video of niall stopping the show because people were pushing went viral and it was something he said a lot during flicker world tour because people were pushing. so i 100% understand being anxious! it’s why i don’t do standing at shows! but i really do believe that if something even seems to be unsafe at any show, niall (or at least someone in security) will put a stop to it. he and his team take fan safety really seriously, almost unprecedentedly so- like take the toronto pop up from earlier this year, he did stop the show because people were pushing too much- so if you were going to be in the pit for any artist, i would put niall up there as one of the best. and i really don’t know how to express this without it seeming like i’m being biased but i’m just going based off his actions and what people have said while being at his shows.

prioritize how you feel, if you don’t think you’ll enjoy the show from the pit, i would try and buy a seat, and i’m sure someone will buy your standing ticket! or maybe you can do a swap with someone! but i think you’re going to be just fine :) and anyways, you don’t have to be right pressed against the barricade or smushed in between a bunch of people, being at the back in standing is sometimes the best because you’ll still have a great view and room to dance and sit on the floor!!! also make friends with the people in line if you feel like it because they will most likely be close to you during the show and you can all look out for each other.