bitch im back

As of yesterday, Beyoncé’s back with another visual album and she’s reminding girls of their self-worth and reminding everyone that Black Lives Matter. From music to costume and lyrics to imagery, Beyoncé highlights and puts on a pedestal the two things that would’ve made her the least valued member of society two hundred years ago – her gender and her race.

Just like any other Beyoncé record, she’s reminding girls of their value before some boy has the chance to come in and walk all over it. I think its this which makes Bey most appealing to young women – she’s one of the first women to hit the big time with not only a powerful message for young women, but also with anthem after anthem. She’s got us going mad over some boy we never had and looking up baseball bats on Amazon.

There’s tones in her music which are reminiscent of the history of black people in America. She also dresses continually in periodic dress and many of the videos are set in grand plantation-style houses with haunting trees. Beyoncé has unforgiving references to her history, slavery, Malcom X, and Black History Month and its haunting to every single person regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or class – it speaks to everyone, and misses out no one.

Hold Up is the ultimate song to let off some steam to. We see Beyoncé skipping down the pavement in a sunshine yellow dress smiling at passers by as she swings a baseball bat and smashes up cameras and runs over cars in a monster truck. “What’s worse; looking jealous or crazy? Jealous and crazy” it’s a reminder that beneath the powerful status, sold out worldwide tours, and enviable figure is any other regular girl.

In Don’t Hurt Yourself we see Beyoncé reflecting on the situation in some grotty underground car park, then she lifts her head and loses her shit. Its so honest and everyone watching can’t help but think that that’s exactly how anyone would react if you’d found out that your partner had cheated on you. She's not afraid to throw in curse words but, as always, its done tastefully and only adds to the boldness and invincibility the song makes you feel. She cleverly ties this in with her race – Malcom X’s voice is played in the middle of the song saying “the most disrespected person in America is the black woman” brilliantly bringing together the disrespect she’s faced in her relationship and the disrespect her ancestors have faced in American history.

Sorry, a far stretch from the Bieber record with the same title, has a cameo from Serena Williams – another way in which Beyoncé is showcasing the power of black women. You can sense that her friends and family dragged her along on a night out (the party bus and twerking are the giveaway) to try and get her over what happened, or at least to forget about it for a bit, but she’s still thinking about how he did her wrong as all her moves are performed with him in her subconscious thought. Which I guess is understandable.

6 Inch seems to be a reminder to Beyoncé that she is Beyoncé. And, subsequently, its also a reminded to every other woman that she is worth something, because at the end of the day you’ll always have yourself and your own mini empire that you build. But amongst all that, there's no illusion that the relationship meant a lot to her. Beyoncé’s seen rolling around in the backseat of a car that looks a lot like the stretch from the Partition video, but this time she's sans-Jay-Z. But she's gained a massively stylish floppy black hat so pros and cons. The following scene is a nice contradiction between the way she sings “come back” in a desperate tone, and the burning mansion behind her stance. Also the building is one of those plantation-style homes and she's supported by four other girls who are watching the building burn alongside her.

The next record is very un-Beyoncé. Daddy Lessons sees her embrace a country and western style of record, further proof that Beyoncé can do anything she sets her sights on. In the same way as Grown Woman featured clips from her own childhood, this video has images of her with her father and then lots of other clips of young, black girls with their fathers. The lessons she says she learnt from her father were that he warned her about “men like you” which I think everyone has heard either from their own parents, their friends, or from icons in music and writing and the media in general. Still, not a bad thing to be reminding young, impressionable women of.

Later, we’re treated to a classic Beyoncé ballad. She proves that, even 26 years after the beginning of her singing career, she's till got it. In Sandcastles she emotionally tells of how she knows she ought to and wanted to leave the relationship, but she couldn't. The emotion in this record is so clear from the way her voice breaks when she tries to belt a few lines, to the images of her and Jay-Z as they hold each other and he literally kisses her feet. Its so emotionally intimate, you feel a bit invasive watching the couple interact.

People would be very quick to jump on the bandwagon to say that you should leave your partner if they ever cheated on you, and people like to think that they're strong enough and confident enough to do that. But it’s not always the case. I can imagine that this album, especially a couple of the records on it, speaks to people in that situation in a Rihanna-style Twitter DM conversation with Beyoncé asking for relationship advice. She’s normalised and explained the healing stages of a relationship after a betrayal like that and only someone with the reach that Beyoncé has is able to explain something so personal in a way which reaches millions.

She quite sharply moves onto the topic of race in Freedom. Beyoncé sings a capella to a group of black women all in nineteenth century dress on an intimate stage, and then they all sit down for dinner outside on a long table, featuring Zendaya, Winnie Harlow, the girls from Ibeyi, and Amandla Stenberg – what a guest list. You instantly get a feel for what the record is going to be about before Beyoncé even sings one note. “Freedom, Freedom where are you?” is another unfiltered reference to slavery which once again proves that Beyoncé’s records have so much more depth to them than any other mainstream artist working in pop music today.

The last record is a touching and uplifting ballad about the reconciliation stage of her relationship in which she talks about her love being unparalleled and more genuine than that of any other person. We see clips from her own private videos of her pregnancy and of their daughter’s birthday which show that the empire they built together is much greater than any either of them could build alone.

After the credits, Formation closes the visual album and, although I've read some other articles saying that it feels like it was sort of disjointedly plonked on the end of the tracklist, I have to disagree. The lead single off this album is still one that makes you want to get up and move your hips or at least nod along vigorously at your desk. I feel that Formation would be an excellent way to summarise the album or introduce it so it only seems fitting that it would come last on the tracklist and also as the first song we heard from the album.

Lemonade feels like Beyoncé had something to say. Something she needed to get off her chest just like any other artist. It adds to her credibility, not only as a musical artist, but as any other creative with something to say. Her boldness and honesty shine through throughout the record in a way only she could achieve and, after listening to it, its clear to see that no one can put Beyoncé in the corner.

You can watch Lemonade (The Visual Album) in full here.

TRACK LIST

1. Pray You Can’t Catch Me

2. Hold Up

3. Don’t Hurt Yourself

4. Sorry

5. 6 Inch

6. Daddy Lessons

7. Love Drought

8. Sandcastles

9. Forward

10. Freedom

11. All Night
12. Formation

highlights of the internet

After spending almost two weeks in my room procrastinating revision, and venturing out only for food and to meet with one of my tutors, I've had a lot of time to play on the internet. This means that I've found new photographers, new music, new articles, new blogs and, of course, I've done a whole load of online window shopping. Alongside messing up my sleeping pattern (study leave provides no real structure to my days), I've faked an interest in about forty events on Facebook which I’ll receive notifications for but never go to, I’ve sent a zillion text messages, and I've watched a fair bit of TV that I missed when I was in Paris. This vegetation will only have been productive if I relay my findings with the outside world, so buckle up for a round up of my internet highlights.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Through browsing i-D, VICE and the articles they promote on my Facebook feed, I’ve found a new photographer who I really like. Her name’s Olivia Bee and I’m an instant fan. I’m not going to sit here and write I really like the colours she creates or the angles she shoots from, but I do want to talk about a couple of photos in particular. One of the images I really like is called Neon Headache (New York), 2015 and its your typical skyline shot but she’s able to capture the very tops of the buildings in New York with the background of this gorgeous dark purple and orange sunset, and the fact that the picture focuses strictly on the skyline appeals to me greatly. Us Against The World, 2014 drew my in initially by the two fringed jackets which I am a total sucker for recently. But I also like how patchy the sky looks in the background and the figures that the girls’ defined calves create against it. Kids in Love is my favourite of her stories – Baller, 2011 and Max Jumped Off a Train, 2012 are my favourite pictures form this collection, too. Featuring her friends, Vans, tasteful nudity, and more fringed jackets, Bee has captured that grunge feel revolutionised by Kate Moss in the 90s which made me fall in love with photography. It is fundamentally opposed to all the phoney photo shoots for clothing lines like Kylie Jenner’s recent Puma campaign in which she turns around and holds a ball to promote sportswear.

As much as I’m opposed to Facebook and toy with deleting my account at least once a week, it is useful for talking to coursemates who you wouldn’t strictly swap numbers with, finding events in your city, and having a stream of good articles dropped directly infront of you. I’ve liked the VICE UK and i-D pages of course, but sometimes it’s an album by a middle aged man that’s gone viral which really captures your interest. THE TUBE by Bob Mazzer was one of those. He captured some incredible photos of the tube and the people it carries in the last forty years and he’s been good enough to plonk them on his profile for us all to see. I love anything relating to youth cultures from the last hundred years, and it is so cool to see dozens of pictures of contemporary scenes which I’ve read about in books and seen in galleries, blend into scenes which I’d be familiar with from when I took the tube in 2010. They show images which are so quintessentially British it makes me want to move to London immediately.

By trawling through all these great photos, I am endlessly inspired to buy a fancy Nikon camera.

MUSIC

Remember Rizzle Kicks? Well Jordan Stephens (the rapper one) has just launched his own side project called Wildhood and he has a debut album out to go alongside it. Vert is the album title and, although there's only eight songs, there's a very different sound to the pop undertones that featured on Rizzle Kicks’ albums. This is the first time that Jordan has strayed from rapping in favour for singing and it really works. You can tell he’s spent hours in studios perfecting the music he’s written in his room or on a train, but there’s still the originality and dirt that you’d expect from one of his albums. He talks about drugs and sex, but there's also messy relationships and regrets which appear and its that honesty which makes this collection of songs another great piece of music which the UK does so brilliantly.

You can listen to Vert in full on Spotify here

***

Whilst in Paris, I became hooked on Hamilton – the factually accurate, hip-hop, Broadway recount of Alexander Hamilton’s life. In just two and a half hours you follow his migration to New York, and his political career. Also featured is his much talked about affair and his role in the War of Independence. Already a huge hit in The States, its been performed in the White House and made over twenty million dollars in pre-sales before opening night. Its pretty much impossible to choose the top three songs that I would recommend because there are forty-six songs and they're all so different and exciting. The tag line of the play, if you like, is the story of the origins of America told by America today, which is the over elaborate way of saying that the cast is truly diverse and the playlist isn’t your usual theatrical music. I think that the popularity of this musical could honestly change the face of theatre as it would appeal to the typical audience, but it also has the potential to draw in a whole new demographic of people who wouldn’t normally spend their evenings at the theatre. I’m bursting with excitement for Hamilton to come to the West End.

You can listen to the full album on Spotify here (and I highly recommend you do).
I would draw your attention to Alexander Hamilton, The Schuyler Sisters, You'll Be Back, Satisfied, Yorktown, Say No To This, The Room Where It Happens, and Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story - there are a lot of highlights.

***

I’ve been a fan of Tyler, The Creator for a while now and I was so stoked when Cherry Bomb dropped last year. What The Fuck Right Now came out at the beginning of last month and I saw it within the first twenty-four hours [sunglasses emoji]. Although loads of people have probably already heard this song on the Golf Media app or since its been put up on YouTube, I wanted to include it in this list because its just a fucking great record. I've spent so long watching videos on YouTube today of interviews with Tyler and loads of things he says just make so much sense. Take slurs for example – if you use and reuse them unapologetically you sort of take the meaning out of the word and therefore remove the insult, no longer allowing the racist and homophobic slurs to even exist, never mind them being directed at people. On top of that, his ethos of just doing what makes you happy and having ambition that doesn’t revolve around Instagram gratification – also discussed in this record – really makes sense and inspired me to delete three-quarters of the fucking apps on my phone months ago.

On a musical note (pun unintended), it’s cool to see Tyler use his musical abilities to nick a backbeat from Kanye on The Life of Pablo and turn it into a song which is so typically Tyler. It feels like this music and the production on the original record was made for Tyler in the first place – Freestyle 4  now feels like its been taken from Tyler rather than the other way around. It’s also nice to see A$AP Rocky rear his head on this record musically as I’m excited to see what WANG$AP has in store.

READING

In addition to my regular i-D reading and re-reading, I’ve been checking out a couple of new books from the university library and I’ve found some good reads online. In terms of books, I’ve finally finished The Catcher in The Rye which I was trying to read for ages but I hardly found the time to pick it up whilst I was in Paris. Its definitely not a book that everyone would enjoy because it’s mostly narrative, but I enjoyed it. Following Holden Caulfield around 1940s New York as he talks about his distaste for school and annoyance with the stagnancy of life was a good read, not always the most optimistic, but a good read none the less. I think that’s what’s given the book its reputation as being one of those essential reads because it discusses those very real and honest feelings which would’ve been controversial in the fifties when it was released. Personally, I like books, films, photos, and music which deal with that vulnerability and rawness because I feel like it gives me some sort of superficial ties to the content – that sounds pretentious but either way I liked this book and Holden’s hunting hat. It felt like lots of mini stories which you could pick up at any point and read five pages and then put it down and come back in an hour which made the book easy to read. Would recommend.

Now I'm on study leave (although I have done no actual studying), I have caught the bug for reading for leisure which is nice because I can’t remember the last time I looked at my desk and saw three books that weren’t for school and that I actually looked forward to reading. I’ve just started reading The Sun Also Rises by Hemmingway and I like going through the pages and seeing the names of places in Paris which I've been. I look forward to reading the rest of the book.

As usual, I was browsing the Think Pieces section on i-D when I came across this article called defining the f word: why we need to be more radical with feminism. It was an excellently written article which helped me more articulately explain my views on feminism and why I don’t think Miley Cyrus running around with a dildo strapped to her hips was particularly feminist. It highlights some good points about the popularisation of feminism and how, although increased awareness is a good thing, making it a thing that every celebrity is asked about (including politicians as well as musicians and actors) sort of drains the meaning out of the word rather than to use the word for good. Maisie Williams was recently quoted saying that we should stop using the words ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’ because, if you're not a feminist, you're sexist. Although it was quite a bold statement, I feel like she has a point and her argument also supports the argument that this article makes about how the widespread use of the term ‘feminist’ is sort of counterproductive to the movement in the first place.

On a less academic note, I read a hilarious article on BuzzFeed. 21 Tumblr Posts About Masturbation That Will Get You Every Time was a classic BuzzFeed list-article which had me laughing from start to finish. I don’t really have a lot to say about this article but it made my ribs sore because I was laughing so hard – “breaking my ribs was not festive.”

FASHION

First of all, a moment of silence needs to be held because Hedi Slimane has left Saint Laurent and my heart is broken. Slimane brought sleekness and sharpness to the Parisian house and, in just three years, rebranded the whole label turning it from something distinctly elitist into something which was new and fresh and ultimately cool. He created line after line of clothes which were well made and clean cut which is what appealed to me the most. I'm sure many people will agree with me when I say that there's nothing better than a sharp suit and LBD; but Slimane was able to turn these wardrobe basics into something with artistic design and a voice. They appeal to many with their originality by being distorted versions of things everyone owns which made any Saint Laurent piece stand out. Vetements took Saint Laurent and made it more wearable and dirty with their long sleeves, misshaped heels, and frayed denim – but without Slimane I wonder where their brand would be. By creating lines which were so distinctly different to other fashion houses, it only seems appropriate that he would rename the house altogether. Vaccarello has big, gold, cowboy boots to fill.

MISCELLANEOUS

Amongst the five hundred pink post-its I have on my wall reminding me of impending deadlines and to wash my bath towels, I have a note with shows I mean to watch and what episode I'm already up to. I’ve recently gotten into Plebs since I saw the advert for series three on the TV and the inner historian in me is chuckling along whenever I watch. I was sceptical about the show before, but it turns out I thoroughly enjoy watching people blunder through Roman life. It brings a sort of familiarity and humility to Ancient life which I think people often miss, and I find it not only intriguing but also quite funny. Season three is up on itv player at the moment.

I’ve also binge watched loads of old episodes of Celebrity Juice, the most recent Geordie Shore episodes, and marathoned Adventure Time. Where would we be without Watch Series?

Another thing I’m itching to go and see is the Rolling Stones exhibition which is on at the Saatchi gallery at the moment. Exhibitionism is the biggest collection of hand-written notes, jazzy jumpsuits, and guitars and amps from the last fifty to sixty years that The Rolling Stones have collected and decided to put on display for all of us mega fans to geek out at. Luckily its on from April to September so I’ll definitely go down to the capital at some point this summer. 

my campaign to make The 1975’s second record album of the year even though its only february

In the same way as this is The 1975’s more grown up, second album, I feel like this is my second stage in adolescence and growing up and, as I've gotten older and matured, so has my perception of the messages in the band's music. Of course their sound has changed a bit - still undeniably unique, if not universally adored - but there's still undercurrents of the band that I know and love.

In true The 1975 form, they've played about with the punctuation and capitalisation of the album title – I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it. Not everything has to change. There's a perfect balance of continuity and change on this record and it takes my breath away how they've been able to craft such a truly dazzling record. I know it may be a bit premature because it's not even March yet - but this is going to be record of the year without doubt.

As I sat in my tiny uni room yesterday, the new record made me feel how I've never felt before - and that's the true beauty of music. Matty Healy penned and rationalised emotions I didn't know existed and lived within me and, to be faced with them for the first time, was honestly scary, but - and I'm not over exaggerating here - it was dually life changing. This is where the feeling of maturity is felt the most on this record.

They never take themselves too seriously. Their new music video for The Sound, which was also released yesterday, featured appearances from what I would assume to be genuine comments on their music and the band’s general persona - "I only heard Chocolate once, but I hated it". Love Me also discusses their fame and popularity in its lyrics. They know they're controversial and not enjoyed by a fair few people, but it's something that comes with job and we can clearly see they're more than aware of this. In The Ballad Of Me and My Brain, Healy comically touches upon the generation divide and how they're admired by Gen-X and Gen-Y and the way adults aren’t so keen on them - "Sign an autograph for my daughter, Laura?/She adores you/I think you're shit"

Although everyone's already heard Love Me, UGH!, The Sound, Somebody Else, and A Change Of Heart; they haven't lost their shine. Sure people skipped them the first time they got their hands on the new record, but that doesn't mean that their appeal has diminished.

Healy is incredibly articulate, especially on the latter half of this record. Whether he's discussing fame, drug abuse, or the small aspects of family life; he has the ability to turn something so personal it into something digestible for the mass market and, for it to touch as many people as it inevitably does, really is a feat.

There are so many lyrical highlights on this record, it would be impossible and, quite frankly insulting, to exclude some of my favourites from this article.

They mercilessly explore the relationship between parent and child on this record. If I Believe You features the line "I mean if it was you who made my body you probably shouldn't have made me atheist" which highlights the almost painful dimension to messy relationships with parents, and it's so naked and honest - it hurts. It also draws astonishingly clever parallels drawn between faith and religion and this type of relationship - "And I'm asking you Jesus, show yourself". And if that wasn’t enough, there’s an incredible, smooth, delicate saxophone solo from John Waugh in the brief instrumental break.

Following this theme, Matty hints towards childhood and innocence particularly through his choice of vocabulary in ILIWYSFYASBYSUOI (I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it) - "Before you go, turn the big light off (Please don't go)". Not only are these the only words in the song which immediately demands more focus upon each individual word, they also connote childhood and highlights its vulnerability through phrases such as “the big light”. We can also see it in The Ballad Of Me And My Brain - "oh mum check the car it can't have gone far" - something that I’ve never seen explored in music before.

We can see Healy is torn between his atheistic beliefs and he's belief in something larger than himself. Nana emotionally tells the listener about the extremely personal passing of a family member and how he coped with it - "I know that God doesn't exist/And all the palaver surrounding it/But I like to think you hear me sometimes". He also brings in his parents and, by naming his mother directly, makes this record in particular feel terrifically candid - "So I reached for a borrowed fleece from my dad or from Denise/Always trying to keep warm when you're the sun".

But this isn’t the only theme I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it explores. Although it takes 24 seconds for the song to start, there’s a truly moving undertone to She Lays Down which makes the closing song my favourite out of all seventeen tracks. Nothing is more honest than a stripped back acoustic record in which you can hear Matty clearing his throat and sitting down with his guitar, and finishing with “that was it” to close the album. It’s a record about a girl on a downward spiral, doing cocaine in her dressing gown, and being utterly pessimistic - "She just wants to feel something/And I don't think that's asking for too much". There's something about how gentle the song is which makes you feel as if she’s on the edge of a breakdown, Healy’s not wanting to raise his voice or introduce a drum beat in case he scares her off. He obviously cares about her but feels a degree of helplessness, and its this which pulls at the heartstrings - "In the end she chose cocaine/But it couldn't fix her brain/She’s appalled/She doesn’t love me at all".

Paris has some beautiful undertones. Even if the song is more about picking up than it is about the actual city of Paris, the smooth tones and strong, reliable bass backbone make me miserable about leaving Paris and I've not even been yet - "Oh how I’d love to go to Paris again".

There's a nod to their past record and the demi-cult that evolved around them. And you can see that he’s not afraid to make fun of himself -"you look shit and you smell a bit"/"you were fit now you're losing it" in A Change Of Heart. There’s a clearer divide between this album and the last in this track in particular; maybe because he directly speaks about the lyrics from their first album – “You used to have a face straight out of a magazine/Now you just look like anyone” and “I feel as though I was deceived/I never found love in the city/I just sat in self-pity and cried in the car”. Even the title of the song itself tells us they’ve matured - especially as it doesn’t ever indicate that they resent the band the media portrayed them to be (we’re all thinking of the same Doc Martens, wacky haircut, all-black paintbrush that they were tarred with). They know fine well it provided a platform for them which made them able to create a second album, and also because that was a time in their life where they related to that music and, even though its changed, it was a part of their life nonetheless. The beat in A Change Of Heart sounds like Robbers' forgotten sibling, and shows the parallels between this record and the first, and stresses the ways in which they've grown and matured in the 2 years separating their albums.

Additionally, Lostmyhead feels a bit like Hnscc, but that might just be me and my particular admiration for the short track from the first album.

The 1975 discuss taboo topics (not wanting your ex to move on, complex family relationships, death, drug abuse, suicidal feelings, and gay relationships) so unapologetically on this record – its honestly refreshing. It’s not so serious, and it’s not too comical. It’s honest, but not so personal it becomes unpalatable to everyone except Matty, George, Adam, and Ross – and I think its this inclusion into their world, which we see in neon pink compared to the monochrome tones of the last album, that makes this record honestly stunning from start to finish.