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Music Features

9 Great Rock Albums For Summertime

Summertime is finally upon us. Here are some records to help you rock out.

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Summertime is finally upon us.

Whether we want to admit it or not, this summer is going to be different than any summer that's come before. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic near, people are heading outside, plans are being made, and trips are being taken. It will no doubt be busy and all consuming. Chances are last summer was not like this for you, and instead of listening to the albums below, you were stuck listening to yearning music about how you felt trapped or caged in.

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MUSIC

Why Is Wale So Insecure?

As the rapper gears up to release his sixth studio album next week, lets revisit how Wale developed a reputation of being corny

To look at the history of Wale is to dive down a rabbit hole with many twists and turns.

As a rapper, he travels in prominent circles but has never seemed to quite fit in with his mainstream peers. His success has always come in the form of radio-ready singles, while his longer projects have historically garnered tepid critical reviews. The rapper seemed to have found his footing in the early-2010s. 2011's Ambition and 2013's The Gifted were crowning achievements for the rapper, the latter going number 1 on the Billboard album charts, while the former spawned the single "Lotus Flower Bomb," which went platinum and earned a Grammy nomination. For the first time since his debut, Wale's talent was noted in the public eye, and he wanted his due respect.

So when Complex's annual roundup of "50 Best Albums of the Year" exempted Wale's The Gifted from the list, Wale was fed up. He called the magazine and berated the staff, at one point threatening violence. The phone call made the rounds online and painted Wale as cocky, corny, and overly sensitive. In a tense interview later that year, Wale stood by his antics, saying he wouldn't apologize to "Williamsburg hipsters." It was the perfect example of what has forever been Wale's Achilles Heel: He tries too hard to be liked. "They think he has reacted to too much," said Joe Budden of Wale's haters. "Anytime your reactions are perceived to be emotion-based [it's corny in Hip-Hop,] and Wale has emotionally reacted to so much."

Is Wale Corny? | The Joe Budden Podcastwww.youtube.com

But does an emotional reaction mean Wale should be dismissed as a viable artist? No, but his antics are painfully hard to overlook. In 2017 the rapper went on Everyday Struggle to talk about his fourth album, Shine. The album was a commercial flop, partially because the rapper aggressively leaned on radio-friendly sounds. "There's not a song here that feels grounded in much more than the desire to enjoy the moment or at least feign doing so well enough to make radio playlists," wrote Pitchfork. Shine was littered with potential summer hits, but they all sounded fraudulent and none of them sounded like Wale. The project felt rushed and curated for a very specific purpose, with singles like "My Love" coming off as a desperate hail Mary for mainstream relevance at a time when Wale felt his star was waning.

But in some ways, he was still highly discussed. Wale's previous project, 2015's The Album About Nothing, was warmly received by critics and served as a comeback of sorts for the rapper. It was a thematic continuation of the Seinfeld-tropes that put Wale on the map in 2008, with the welcomed addition of Jerry Seinfeld himself. Together, the comedian and rapper filmed a series of charming videos, both in the studio and at a coffee shop, discussing everything from music to strippers to Wale's over-sensitivity. Seinfeld directly helped with the album, and the duo even filmed a skit in which Seinfeld pressures Wale to make the infamous Complex call in 2013. The album went to number 1 on the Billboard 200 its debut week and was Wale's first number one project since 2013. "Why do you give these people meaning?" Seinfeld asks Wale at one point, referring to haters. "I don't know, Jerry!" Wale responds.

Seinfeld & Wale Talk “The List" | Complexwww.youtube.com

Frank conversations like these, ones which paint the rapper as passionate and relatable, are what made the lack of authenticity on Shine so surprising. It seemed like Wale had turned a corner. It seemed he had realized that seeking everyone's approval is futile. But as Shine suffered, the question resurfaced as to whether or not Wale was just a try-hard willing to do whatever it took to stay famous. It seemed his identity was reliant on being our friend. "A lot of the mainstream artists that you're championing right now, I don't believe in my mind they're capable of making a song like 'Golden Salvation,'" Wale told Everyday Struggle when they confronted him on why Shine performed so poorly. The song, which was a deep cut off The Gifted, is a dense analysis of consumerism, and it critiques rappers that claim to stand by religion without embodying its teachings. But that was 2013. The hosts pressed him for more clarification. He then dove into an awkward verse-by-verse re-hash of his song "CC White," the only lyrical track on Shine. The track is lyrically stimulating, but the strange re-hash and overall denial of Shine's failure brought the discussion of the emcee's insecurity back into the limelight.

There is no doubt a lot of pressure on Wale in 2019. With the success of his radio singles now in the rear view due to the popularity of streaming, it's hard to see where Wale will fit in a genre that is overcrowded with budding talent. "I feel when the radio single kinda died, Wale died with it," said Joe Budden of Wale's relevancy.

It's sad if that's true. The emcee has a lot to be proud of. He's worked with a diverse array of artists including Lady Gaga, Jerry Seinfeld, Pharrell, and Waka Flocka Flame, and has proven to be a lyrical underdog to boot. With the release of his new album, Wow...That's Crazy, we can only hope he shifts focus to the lyrical content that has always been his passion, and disregard the rest. "They told me to get help...so I did," Wale wrote on Instagram before announcing the album. The collection will thematically follow Wale's journey through therapy, which seems like a fitting place for the rapper to end up at this point in his luke-warm career. One can only hope the project is genuine, because if it isn't, it might just label him corny for the rest of time. "Let me tell you why they don't like you," Seinfeld said to Wale. "Every person has a different reason, and none of them have anything to do with you." Wale snapped back, "Aren't I allowed to wanna know why, though?" Let's hope he's found his answer.

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MUSIC

LeyeT Salutes True Friendship on "Notice You"

Love and affection for those who fill up our lives.

LeyeT

Press Photo

Meet LeyeT (pronounced "light"), who just released the music video for "Notice You," the first single from her forthcoming sophomore EP.

Explaining the inspiration for the song, LeyeT says, "This song is about giving someone recognition; letting them know that they are seen, noticed, and appreciated. In the music video that pairs [with the song], I highlight one of my best friends whose story, drive and light really inspire me. Her bright energy is undeniable yet as I got to know her, I learned that the light she radiates is not one marked without profound loss or everyday struggle."


LeyeT - Notice You [Official Music Video]youtu.be

After making her debut in 2017 with "Don't Make Me Cry," which topped Spotify's Fresh Finds, along with alighting on Spotify's US and Global Viral charts, LeyeT followed up with "Long Way" and "Like You More," both of which hit number one on Hype Machine, and "Let Me Know," which was featured on Spotify's New Music Friday.

"Notice You" opens on warm guitar tones topped by LeyeT's evocative voice. Iridescent washes of synths fill the tune with luminous colors, as the potent rhythm escalates.

The highlight of the song is LeyeT's enchanting tones shaping her moving lyrics: "I was sick of making empty conversation / Cause I only heard of fake communication, yeah / Suddenly you got me looking up / Honestly it's like waking up."

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MUSIC

"Hot Girl Summer" vs. "Summertime Sadness": Lies the Internet Told Me

Megan Thee Stallion told us it's hot girl summer, but what happens when you're not hot?

Megan Thee Stallion - Hot Girl Summer ft. Nicki Minaj & Ty Dolla $ign
www.youtube.com

If you haven't heard, we're in the midst of Hot Girl Summer.

The term was coined by rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who created an alter ego named "Hot Girl Meg" to accompany the release of her debut mixtape, Fever. Following its release on May 17, the term "hot girl" quickly took off online, becoming a symbol of a metamorphosis into an upgraded, more confident version of oneself.

Stallion later elaborated on the phrase's connotations, clarifying that it was meant to be gender-neutral. "So it's just basically about women and men being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up your friends, doing you, not giving a damn about what nobody gotta say about it," she said. "You definitely have to be a person that could be like the life of the party, and … you know, just a bad bitch."

In typical Internet fashion, the term's message of carefree hyper-sexual-liberation didn't hold up for long against the online world's nihilistic bend. Quickly, Hot Girl Summer memes—those quiet, wry expressions of our online collective consciousness—began cropping up. Though many of them featured photos of people celebrating their own radiant auras, more lamented the failure of Hot Girl Summer, revealing the disappointment lingering just beneath the the term's glossy surface. Refracted through memes, the phrase revealed its own fragility: "me tweeting 'hot girl summer' and then sitting in my room texting 'haha hey what r u doin'" read one. Another, more sobering message: "who was I kidding? I was never meant to have a hot girl summer lmaooo likeee I'm too loving." Another: "how am I supposed to have a hot girl summer with $5?"


Apparently, "hot girl summer" can be shattered by a sad album, or by falling in love.

Sure enough, "hot girl summer" has become a polarizing term that feels liberating for some but promises much to others while actually exacerbating their own self-consciousness and uncertainty.



Predictably, several weeks after Megan Thee Stallion set Hot Girl Summer into motion, Lana Del Rey's 2012 hit "Summertime Sadness" returned to the charts.

"Summertime Sadness" offers a marked alternative to the "hot girl" way of life. While "hot girl summer" connotes unconditional self-love and radical abandon, "summertime sadness" permits languorous hours lying beneath one's fan, mourning anything: the state of the world, one's love life, or lack of funds. "Hot girl summer" is exuberant, brash, performative. "Summertime Sadness" is depressed, tongue-in-cheek, firmly planted in the shade. If "hot girl summer" embodies the untouchable glam of stars of the early aughts, like Britney and Beyoncé, "summertime sadness" is the domain of Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Halsey, and their decidedly anti-pop ethos.

Together, these two divergent summertime pathways highlight a contrast that is very specific to the Internet. The online sphere thrives on polarization, and often a single scroll through recent posts reveals both performative ecstasy and equally performative, exaggerated depressive sentiments. The Internet has always thrived on these kinds of contrasts, as by nature it is well-suited to black-and-white thinking. People are either "cancelled" or deified. There is no such thing as "neutral" or "middle-of-the-road." One is either perpetually bikini-clad and living out a Hot Girl Summer or fully surrendering to the rip tide of summertime sadness. There is no in between.

In reality, however, sharp binaries rarely hold up when they exit the screen and join the equally chaotic but much less starkly divided corporeal world. Both Hot Girl Summer and "summertime sadness" are aesthetically beautiful in the conceptual realm; both begin to glitch when used as blueprints for how to live.

After all, no human is capable of existing in a perpetual state of Hot Girl Summer—not even the bikini models, LA hustlers, and influencers whose online profiles embody the term, but who have quietly and consistently spoken out about the falsity, emptiness, and depression that tends to accompany their professions.

Similarly, not even the Internet's self-proclaimed sad girls exist in a perpetual, stagnant state of summertime sadness. When that sadness does arise, it is rarely of the languorous, vintage-styled sort that Del Rey's early career promoted. In this, "summertime sadness" is equally as hollow and ephemeral as Hot Girl Summer.

Lana Del Rey - Summertime Sadness (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com

Viewed this way, the two terms are far more similar than they initially seem. They are both designed to be surreal and cartoonishly dramatic. They both advocate for not really caring about anything, yet somehow simultaneously promote an all-consuming fixation on oneself.

In this, they both reflect social media as a whole. For all of the ways it promises to connect us, social media has become an echo chamber through which we perform and obsess over fixed, simplified, and ultimately nonexistent versions of ourselves."Hot girl summer" is about being single, feeling fantastic, and not giving a f*ck all at the same time; it connotes billboards, consumption, sugar, perma-smiles. "Summertime sadness" is about languishing inside one's own brain, clinging to a lost love, passively accepting a jaded worldview.

Still, both "hot girl summer" and "summertime sadness" have a time and a place, and they each make for great Instagram captions—but neither should suffice as a permanent way to spend one's summer months. Whereas the Internet thrives on isolated circuits of people with similar views, all-encompassing labels, and quick fixes, real life is far more defined by monotonous repetition, complex relationships, and murky questions that lack definitive answers.

In this corporeal reality, no one is a brand. No influencer is solely comprised of makeup and white teeth; most fitness models have cheat days; most online spiritual coaches don't constantly emanate love and incense; and most managers of depression meme accounts do not spend all of their time lying on piles of rotting pizza and dirty clothes (hopefully).

But it's only July; many summer nights still stretch out before us. When we find ourselves at the impasse between Hot Girl Summer and summertime sadness, perhaps we don't have to choose either path. Maybe we can make peace with the fact that we all have a little of both within us.

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Music Features

Chloe Lilac Takes Us to Her Brooklyn Dreamscape

The rising dream-pop star makes multifaceted, melancholy tunes that will transport you to another plane.

17-year-old Chloe Lilac's new EP, Manic Pixie Dream, is a tribute to the mistakes and memories that defined the summers of her youth, and the wisdom and inspiration she took away from them.

She talked to Popdust about growing up in New York City, sneaking out at night to try and make it in the music industry, overcoming drug addiction, and using music to cut through the technologically-charged, Xanax-heady apathy that's defining her generation.

Image via Aupium.com

How did you get started writing music, and what made you want to pursue it?

I started when I was eight, and I was in these rock bands with my friends when we were super little. I wasn't really allowed to listen to pop music as a kid—my dad made me listen to only Frank Zappa and the Talking Heads and David Bowie—so when I heard my first pop song ever, I was like seven. It was Ain't No Other Man by Christina Aguilera, and I was like holy shit, I need to write a song like that.

New York seems to inspire a lot of your work. Do you have a favorite place or a favorite retreat in the city?

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and I still live there. There's a bridge near my house, like five blocks away, right near Green-Wood Cemetery; and in the summer I'll just sit there. I only bring my favorite people; it's a very secret, sacred spot. Also, I take everyone to the Prospect Park lake.

New York's my soulmate. I was born there, I'm gonna die there, and I hope I never have to leave. I love the atmosphere, especially in the summer, when the city comes alive. That's what the summer's about, being young and free in New York, and I really wanted to capture that feeling with my music. New York is the most beautiful ugly place.

Chloe Lilac - Jesus Couldn't Love Me (Audio)www.youtube.com

You've mentioned sneaking out and performing when you were younger. What was that like?

I spent a lot of time performing around the Union Square and SoHo areas the summer before my freshman year of high school, and when school started, I went to a few classes before I was like, this is the worst thing I've ever done, and I only want to do music. I had such an incredible summer street performing—there's this fire escape outside of my room, and so at night once my parents were starting to go to sleep, I would sneak out the window with my guitar and go to SoHo and Union Square. I'd street perform outside of SoHo House, desperately trying to get discovered by music industry people for a couple of hours before going home to sleep for like three hours. I had these headphones I bought with busking money, and I'd put them in and write songs in class. I did [this] for a long time until the school found out and basically said, "you have to stop this or stop going here." So I decided to stop going.

Chloe Lilac - Summer (Official Video)www.youtube.com

So you decided to leave school and fully commit to music?

Well, kind of. I had really bad anxiety because I was bullied really badly when I was younger, so a regular school wasn't really an option for me. And I just wanted to do music forever. I was cripplingly anxious for a long time, so leaving school was definitely half-anxiety, half-really wanting to do music. Music was my solace. It really helped me work through stuff.

Your music does feel kind of like an oasis; it's very escapist, but I feel like anxiety is a very pervasive Millennial/Gen Z thing. Do you feel connected to the modern Gen-Z technological era, or do you try to escape that through your music?

I think both. A feature of my generation is a lack of connection. I'm growing up in a time of Tinder and Instagram, and kids don't go outside and play anymore. It's strange to be a young woman and a teenager around this time. But I try to leave the technology in a section of my life, and I have another section for real life.

I am Gen Z, so technology is a huge part of who I am. I think everyone's really scared to connect in my generation, but that's all I want to do. That's why I want to make music. If I can help people feel something in this age of not wanting to feel anything, that's what matters to me.

Can you tell me about your upcoming EP?

It's coming out on March 8th, and it's really about being a young woman coming of age in New York City, and how hard and beautiful and insane it was. It's also about my struggle with drug addiction as a young kid. Falling into drug abuse and substance abuse in New York was really easy, like in any big city, but New York is so dense, and you get a lot of freedom here because of the trains. Kids grow up super fast where I live, and I was exposed to a lot early on.

The EP is also about coming into my own as a woman, and how painful it was for me to start to be objectified and oversexualized. If I can help any other young women out there work through their shit, and work through how hard and painful it is to just be human, that's all that matters.


Can you take me through your songwriting process? What inspires you to sit down and write?

I'm inspired by really intense emotions. When I'm going through stuff, I put it into my music. Listening to other people's music really helps me, too; some of my biggest influences writing-wise are Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, Mazzy Star, even Courtney Love. And Childish Gambino is a huge influence of mine, I fucking love him.

You started out by producing your own beats, but you ended up collaborating with other producers. How did you go from making solo music to where you are now?

When I was fourteen, I started uploading songs on SoundCloud, and I was fortunate enough to be discovered there by my current A&R. Before I got a record deal, he sat me down and told me he was only going to work with me if I sobered up—I had a pretty bad drug issue. So I got sober and worked in the studio with a lot of different people. I was so lucky to have that opportunity, especially so young, and so now one of my favorite things to do is help out younger artists and my fellow female artists specifically—anyone who needs tips and advice about things I didn't know existed that can get people's attention.

Any secrets you can share?

Just hashtags—hashtags on SoundCloud, posting at certain times during the day, collaborating and reaching out to people without being an asshole. There's nothing wrong with asking for help.

Chloe Lilac - Manic Pixie Dream [4K] (live @ Baby's All Right 1/29/19)www.youtube.com

If you're comfortable talking more about your experience getting sober, what was that like?

I realized I was deeply unhappy with myself, and I was doing drugs to escape. My family was worried about me, and I was losing a lot of friends. I had this opportunity, and I didn't want to fuck it up, so I had to take a hard look at myself.

It took a lot of signs from the universe. I got arrested when I was sixteen. I had a bunch of mental breakdowns—it was really bad—but I'm confident that I'm in a really amazing place in my life right now. My recovery has been such an incredible journey and I have so many supportive people around me.

I had to take a hard look at myself and really sit down and say what's going on with me, how do I love more, how do I just feel more. I was so numb, that's why I was doing drugs in the first place. I think my generation is so scared to feel, and I was so accustomed to that. The people I was around were doing Xans all the time, all that bad shit. Twelve Step really helped me, too.

That's a powerful message—that recovery is really possible.

Drug addiction in my generation is so normalized, with the Juul and stuff—I know I fell into that trap—and the romanticization of addiction and drugs is so predominant in pop culture. So with my music, I wanted to show both sides of the story. There are great sides to doing drugs and getting fucked up and being young and stupid, but there are also really dangerous sides. It's like a toxic relationship; you can lose yourself, and you lose a lot of your identity in it. The highs are really high, and the lows are really low. That's how I view it.

Manic Pixie Dream is out March 8.

Image via cravethesound.com


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York City. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.

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FILM & TV

Brie Larson Reaches Badass Status in First Photos of Captain Marvel

The Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Just Got Another Female Hero

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SPOILER ALERT! But c'mon, the movie came out five months ago.

Another strong, independent woman superhero? Yes, please! This week's colorful, comic-esque Entertainment Weekly featured Brie Larson on their cover suited up as Captain Marvel. Equipped with fierce fists and a slight smirk, she's bound to be the most powerful star yet.

The costume seems to stay very true to the comics, depending on which one you're reading — I've mainly seen her with short hair because in my opinion, the long, blonde hair makes everyone compare her to Supergirl. Both are amazing, BTW. What I love most about the suit is that it doesn't comically — pun intended — emphasize her chest, which the Marvel movies have done a good job of.

Captain Marvel is introduced as a last resort after Thanos wiped out half of the universe in a twisted attempt to save some of the population before running out of resources. He firmly believed that this was the only option to save the world and that he was the only one strong enough to achieve his goal — thus also killing Gamora, his daughter, and Vision, who had the last stone in his forehead.

Before Nick Fury turns to dust — along with Spiderman, Doctor Strange, and many others, if you can remember the heartbreak — he beeps Captain Marvel in what looks to be a glorified pager. Thus, we obtain our awful cliffhanger for the sequel to Infinity War, colloquially named Avengers 4.

However, before we can satisfy our curiosity and longing for justice, Captain Marvel will have her own self-titled movie coming out in March — set in the 1990s, we'll get to see Samuel L. Jackson as a two-eyed Nick Fury, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, and Crazy Rich Asians star Gemma Chan as some kind of green being.

"She can't help but be herself. She can be aggressive, and she can have a temper, and she can be a little invasive and in your face," said Larson to EW. "She's also quick to jump to things, which makes her amazing in battle because she's the first one out there and doesn't always wait for orders. But the [not] waiting for orders is, to some, a character flaw."

Larson has starred in movies such as Kong: Skull Island, Room, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. She has won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, along with many other awards and nominations.

Captain Marvel will come out on March 8, 2019 and the next Avengers film will be released only two months later on May 3, 2019.

Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and intern at the Stonewall National Monument.

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