A Horrible Goose

I know almost nothing about her personal life besides sweet anecdotes like her failed attempt to quit sugar and her engagement. And it’s exceedingly hard to know much more than that because she doesn’t do much press and her music is mostly just vaguely personal but largely just universal and broad.

Her music caters to that perfectly—it’s pop but constantly evolving. Covers a wide emotional spectrum but never goes too deep, aware of exactly what it’s meant to be. It’s a treat, it’s a bop, it’s pop! Her music ages with her but doesn’t age, if that makes sense. It has youth but isn’t juvenile. The music comes out regularly, with great and full b sides that justify their existence and don’t feel of chart manipulation or attempts to stay relevant.

She performs energetically on stage, does good crowd work, plays along with some fan stuff (blow up swords, the gays, the wig guy) without leaning too much into it, and she’s great about touring regularly at reasonable venues (not booking too large or two small). When my show got canceled due to weather, she performed a free show at a bar that night, AND rescheduled a free, full show the next after noon.

And she does all of this balancing to be the perfect level of famous—decent sized, loyal fandom that isn’t obsessive but will go to shows and buy her music—without coming off as manufactured or withholding. Like she feels like The Girl Next Door without it seeming forced, pathetic, or without it getting in the way of putting on a spectacular show either.

She’s accessible. But can’t be accessed.

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

A morning market in Shenyang.

Pronouns

An accent