Mixtapemotions

  • “Fear” (겁) by Mino ft. Taeyang, Monday, October 21, 2024

    In season three of the South Korean hip-hop reality program Show Me the Money, winner BOBBY showed that K-pop idols can be taken seriously as rappers. Previous seasons had eliminated rappers from idol groups quite early in the competition, but iKON’s Bobby won the season. This victory by a rapper of a boy band set up season four, in which Song Min-ho, known professionally as Mino was a fan favorite. The singer, rapper, and songwriter Mino began his career in a ballad group called BoM before joining YG Entertainment and debuting with the group WINNER in 2014 after he won a spot in the group on the show WIN: Who Is Next. The next year, Mino was on the fourth season of Show Me the Money, on which he was the show’s runner-up. 

    WHEN I TURNED AROUND, I SAW THAT I CAME FARTHER THAN I THOUGHT. Each season of Show Me the Money contestants compete through various rap battles, performances, and challenges, with the ultimate goal of becoming the season’s champion. The format typically includes multiple producers (well-known rappers and producers in the Korean hip-hop scene) who serve as mentors for the contestants. These producer teams guide and collaborate with the participants, helping them to refine their skills and craft original tracks. Influential Korean rappers like Zion.T, The Quiett, Jay Park, and Zico have served as mentors on the show. Show Me the Money Season 4 (2015) was one of the most highly anticipated and impactful seasons of the series, partly due to the involvement of high-profile contestants and producers. Mino was one of the standout contestants in Season 4. His participation generated huge attention because of his idol background. Despite initial skepticism about an idol rapper competing in a hardcore hip-hop show, Mino proved his skills and charisma, ultimately becoming the runner-up. His performances, especially “Fear” (겁)  featuring Taeyang of BIGBANG, became iconic and highly praised.

    I PRACTICED ABOUT SEVERAL THOUSAND TIMES. WINNER shared a label with BIGBANG as well as iKON. After placing second on Season 4 of Show Me the Money, Mino joined with labelmate BOBBY of iKON to form the duo MOBB. Korean Hip-Hop record labels function differently from idol labels which often include more labelmate promotion than cross-label collaboration, Mino honored label mates with his collaborations. One of the highlights of Season 4 was Mino’s collaboration with BIGBANG’s Taeyang on the song “Fear.” Known for his R&B singing, Taeyang isn’t a rapper but is closely associated with the genre because of his close friendship and frequent outside collaboration with BIGBANG’s band leader and rapper G-DRAGON. In 2015, BIGBANG’s status as a veteran boyband held a more hardened and cool reputation than a fresh-faced boyband like WINNER. With “Fear,” Taeyang passes on the “cool” torch and aims to legitimize Mino as a rapper. The introspective lyrics of “Fear” detail Mino’s fear of loneliness and the pressure of public life. The song endeared him to his audience, gave him lasting power as a rapper, and got audiences to consider the talent behind idol groups. 


     

  • “Pleasure Shop” by Key, Sunday, October 20, 2024


    Since Key’s 2021 EP Bad Love, The SHINee singer has been creating dark pop with nostalgic ‘80s and ‘90s sci-fi motifs. The singer’s latest installment came last month with his third mini album Pleasure Shop. In the EP’s eponymous lead single, Key takes on the form of a cyborg, inviting futuristic humans to come “deeper into” a store filled with unique things to give a person pleasure. The cyborg invites the humans “pleasure juice,” which gives them a kind of euphoria. Kim Ki-bum conceptualized the mini album when thinking about a dystopian future. He asked the question giving a press statement just before the EP’s release: “What if I uploaded myself, turned it into an AI program and had an argument with my AI version? How scary would it be if that AI version of me was better than the real me?”


    YOU’RE WELCOME. Entering the eerie “Pleasure Shop” Key has opened for listeners draws an uncanny similarity to a line from the 1973 spooky musical classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in which two newly engaged lovers breakdown in front of a house occupied by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a “sweet transvestite from the planet Tansexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.”  When lovers Brad and Janet wander into the house, Frank-N-Furter beckons the lovers: “Give yourself over to absolute pleasure.” The invitation isn‘t dissimilar from the cyborg in “Pleasure Shop” who invites customers to “surrender to me.” The pleasure offered in Key’s latest single isn’t overtly sexual—it’s essentially asexual, void of any feelings of reciprocation. What is left is for the user to use or pervert in any way that person chooses. 


    I’M HAPPY WHEN YOU’RE HAPPY. It seems that movies,books, and culture have programmed us against the ideas of utopia. We often get uncomfortable with  the promise of pleasure because we are always thinking about ulterior motives. That’s what makes Key’s “Pleasure Shop”  creepy. Can we trust the emotionless shopkeeper? And while the program may be emotionless, we begin to worry who is behind the code and collecting our data and what that party will do with that information. The worry is that AI will replace human workers. Human jobs are the casualty of every revolution; however, revolution creates new jobs for humans to fill. The 1950s didn’t eliminate housework. Blacksmiths were traded for auto mechanics. We may have had fantasies as kids about robots doing all of our chores, but what does that mean when a person’s income requires labor? Do we become managers of the robots or merely in their way? Or is the future far bleaker?



    Read the English translation on Genius. 

    Read the Korean lyrics on Genius.

    Official music video:

    Dance practice video:

  • “Fainted Love” by Conan Gray, Saturday, October 19, 2024



    Conan Gray’s Found Heaven is possibly one of the most under-rated albums of the year. The pop world of 2024 is dominated by powerful women and so is rock and alternative. Looking at the list of albums this year, there is one big one that seems overrated—Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets’ Department—but every single artist with a big year, Swift included, has earned it. But with all of the big pop artists this year, Conan Gray hasn’t yet had a breakthrough moment. Found Heaven is far from a perfect album but its post-punk style and Gray’s conviction in songwriting make this one of the albums I keep coming back to all year. 


    DON’T MEAN THAT YOU’RE MARRYING ME TONIGHT. Part of Conan Gray’s conviction to his sound, I feel, is a reason why Found Heaven isn’t a bigger pop album, and maybe why it isn’t as good as it could be. Gray doesn’t do many collaborations and he explained that he felt that his latest album is complete. I feel that a well-chosen collaboration could have brought more fans to discover Gray’s music and could have made the album’s middle section more memorable. The middle tracks on the album are very well-written and the album keeps a consistency to it; however, some of the songs feel like they are missing an edge. And not all of the collaborators have to be singers. Solidly in the post-punk landscape, Gray’s album could use a little more length with its instrumentals. I’d love to hear a few guitar solos on the album—maybe a saxophone. Take for example the  non-single “Fainted Love.” The song is the third track on the album after two very different sounding tracks, the title track and the single  “Never Ending Song.” The album’s third track stands out from the other tracks because it is the first occurance of ‘80s synth pop meets post punk. The song’s synths opening arpeggio paints a dark landscape similar to Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer,” setting Gray’s song on a “ghost town on a Saturday night.”


    IT’S ENOUGH TO SURVIVE. “Fainted Love” shows a possibility for a niche that Conan Gray could fill: glam rock post punk rock pop star. Vocal cracks show earnestness in personal lyrics about a lover who is not at their best due to untold personal problems. Gray doesn’t care about that, though, resolving that “Fainted Love” is enough. The song is one of the best on the album, but I think it also highlights a problem with the album—Gray’s lack of commitment to rock and ultimately contemporary pop styles that would sell the album to either audience. I wish that the song had a Journey-style guitar solo. The 2:51 song feels like it needs more room to breathe. In fact, all of the songs on the album are short, the longest one is the closing ballad “Winner” clocking in at 3:37. In the age of Tik-Tok sound clips so many songs are cut short. With so many songs released every year, keeping songs short may help listeners with short attention spans to get through more tracks; however, there seems to be a missed opportunity for listeners to immerse themselves and live in the songs. While Gray has finished the album and has moved on to a new chapter, I would certainly like a reimagined or deluxe edition. 








     

  • “Inconsolable” by Katie Gavin, Friday, October 18, 2024



    Katie Gavin’s solo debut album What a Relief is due out next week on October 25th. The MUNA singer showed a change in musical direction from her first single “Aftertaste,” which took the electric-pop singer into ‘90s country. The second single, “Casual Drug Use,” took a more acoustic folk sound than its predecessor. In August Gavin joined The Japanese House on stage at the Greek Theater to perform their collaboration “Morning Papers” from The Japanese House’s 2023 album In the End It Always Does. Then during the encore, Gavin premiered her latest single, “Inconsolable,” which The Japanese House’s Amber Bain praised as “the best song ever written” according to Bain and her girlfriend. According to MUNA’s podcast Gayotic, Gavin said that her new album was a collection of songs written since 2020. Most of the songs were produced by Phoebe Bridgers’ producer Tony Berg, but between sessions with Berg, Gavin collaborated with Mitski and Amber Bain.


    FULL OF BEDS WHERE NOBODY CUDDLED. “Inconsolable” amplified the country vibes of “Aftertaste” in Katie Gavin’s vocal stylings and the song’s instrumentation. The song opens with a fiddle and an acoustic guitar. Fiddle flourishes—played by Gavin—give the song a bluegrass twang throughout the song. Lyrically, the country song details a family line of “inconsolable” relatives who “don’t know how to love” and a “whole huddle of households full of beds where nobody cuddled.” These lines connect the song to the honest lyricism in country music. The song’s simple music video features footage of Gavin singing with a video backdrop of people in the house moving about, in a kind of Americana scene. The beginning scene shows children with sparklers signifying summer. As the video goes on, viewers notice that the faces of the people in the music video have sad or disappointed looks on their faces. But arguably the most country line in the song is: “I’ve seen baby lizards run into the river when they open their eyes / Even though no one taught them how or why.” This line is so oddly specific to a rural setting and Gavin delivers the line with the strongest twang we’ve heard yet. 


    I KNOW WHY YOU WON’T LET ME INSIDE. Gavin’s vocals also twang, a style commonly heard in country music. Recently, artists such as Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Beyoncé, and Shawn Mendes have either announced country projects or have released country songs. Pop stars have often flirted with the Nashville sound in the past, but a Country music reassurance, especially one that is unauthorized by the Country Music Association, is interesting. Country music has deep roots in rural white communities in the southern United States. The genre’s image has often been associated with white, working-class, conservative values.  The country music audience and industry also have historically valued a narrow definition of authenticity. There has been a tendency to equate traditional country with a specific set of cultural norms, often excluding those who don’t fit within those boundaries. For example, Black, LGBTQ+, and non-white artists are sometimes viewed as outside the “authentic” country mold, despite their talent and contributions. The combination of cultural roots, perceptions of authenticity, industry gatekeeping, and market focus has contributed to the difficulty diverse groups face in gaining acceptance within country music, though far more diverse artists are taking to the country sound. That being said, the industry doesn’t patent a sound and anyone can make country-sounding music. For Katie Gavin, the singer describes her first solo album as “stripped away from MUNA” and “bringing it back to her musical roots.” Afterall, doesn’t one’s experience dictate their culture more than the people who accept them in that culture?”








     

  • “Final Girl” by CHVRCHES, Thursday, October 17, 2024

    The “Final Girl” trope in horror movies, coined by film theorist Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, refers to the last female character left alive at the end of the film, who confronts and often defeats the killer or monster. This character has become a significant archetype in slasher and horror films. The trope originated in the 1970s and became especially popular in the 1980s with movies like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). When crafting their concept album Screen Violence, inspired by horror films, CHVRCHES’ songwriter and frontwoman Lauren Mayberry explores the trope, setting it in real life rather than a work of fiction in the song “Final Girl.” The song is a pivotal track on Screen Violence with the band selling Final Girl shirts and Mayberry wearing the t-shirt in concerts as pictured in the lyric photo.

    DOES SHE LOOK LIKE ME? There are several key features to the “Final Girl” trope. First, she is the sole survivor or among the last few survivors of the killer’s spree, usually managing to outwit or kill the antagonist in the climax. Next, traditionally, the Final Girl is depicted as more “innocent” or morally virtuous compared to her peers, especially in contrast to other characters who may engage in reckless behavior like drinking, drug use, or promiscuity. This has led to critiques that the trope enforces conservative values. Third, she shows a transformation in the film. Throughout the movie, the Final Girl often evolves from a vulnerable, frightened character to a strong, resourceful, and proactive one, displaying both intelligence and courage. Fourth, she often shows masculine traits. Some interpretations suggest the Final Girl exhibits masculine qualities, like wielding weapons or taking on a protector role, which helps her survive in situations where others fail. Carol J. Clover’s analysis in her 1992 book highlighted how the Final Girl often acts as a point of identification for both male and female viewers. She argued that the trope subverts traditional gender roles because the audience, regardless of gender, is encouraged to empathize with the female character’s experience as she transitions from victim to hero. Finally, the Final Girl often has a psychological link with the killer. In many cases, the Final Girl has a deeper connection to the killer, whether it’s personal knowledge, an indirect relationship, or a symbolic link. This adds emotional weight to their final confrontation.

    I WONDER IF I SHOULD’VE CHANGED MY ACCENT. In CHVRCHES’ “Final Girl,” lead singer Lauren Mayberry talks about expectations placed upon women and reflects on her own decisions as a woman in music. Comparing the music industry to a horror film in which women have an expiration date, Mayberry, in the chorus, questions whether she should “quit, maybe go get married.” She says, “I wonder if I should’ve changed my accent.” Chvrches is a Scottish band and Mayberry speaks with a Scottish accent. Her singing voice doesn’t have regional markings, though. Many times public figures are pressured to sound more refined, not showing their regional dialect in their voices, whether it is a posh British or a TV American accent. Is Mayberry’s regret that she doesn’t sound Scottish or that she should sound less Scottish? Then she wonders if she should have “tried to make [herself] more attractive.” It’s a common question people wonder about themselves but in the context of “Final Girl,” the question of attractiveness is key to outlasting the others in a horror film. The music business has traditionally held a double standard, only signing beautiful women to contracts when men often don’t have to look as good to front a band. The chorus resolves with  “Only time will tell.” The music business pushes most people out of it before they can become veterans, but it seems that Mayberry wants to sustain a music career. She’s in it for the long run, but surviving the killer takes wit, charm, looks, charisma, and talent. If you can’t hold on to it, you won’t be the final girl. 


    Official Audio: 
    Live Performance: 

     

  • “My House” by Pvris, Wednesday, October 16, 2024

    When the five-piece metalcore band Pvris entered the studio to record their debut album, they radically changed their sound. Today, lead singer Lyndsey Gunnulfsen, known as Lynn Gunn, is the only remaining group member. Pvris’ debut 2014 White Noise incorporates pop and electronic elements into a mostly rock sound. The band formed in Lowell, Massachusetts and lead singer Gunn has had a lifelong fascination with the supernatural, which she partly credits to the geography around her. The band’s second single, “My House” uses the setting of a spooky house as a metaphor for a person who won’t leave the speaker in peace. 

    I HEARD YOU DOWN THE HALL. One of the most common fears is the feeling of being watched by a stranger. It’s a particularly eerie feeling when at home. Thinking of one’s most intimate moments stolen by glances or words uttered in secret overheard can drive a person to madness. It’s a story that ends up on the local news or the plot of a horror movie, and the metaphor Lynn Gunn explores in the song “My House.” The song builds on the lure of the haunted houses of New England, a point of fascination for Gunn. Lowell, Massachusetts, alone has several rumored haunted locations from The Worthen House Cafe, a pub frequented by Edgar Allen Poe and Jack Kerouac and known for its mysterious footsteps and strange noises to the Lowell Cemetary, known for its strange lights and noises, these places boast of ghosts from America’s colonial period to the present day. Lowell is close to other rumored haunted places like Amytiville and Salam. The black and white music video for “My House” is a short horror film with ghosts, candles, and flying objects, all with an unnerving effect of color washing in front of the video as if the music video is found footage of a haunting.

    YOU’RE AT MY BEDROOM DOOR. While “My House” could be about a literal haunted house, Pvris’s Lynn Gunn compares the imagery to the feeling of taking control of one’s life. The demons of toxic relationships that bring out the worst in us–addictions, low self-esteem, lethargy–take our focus off of our goals. The house is a metaphor for one’s life. A house can be overrun by guests invited or uninvited but one often has the power to expel those unwanted guests. The song is an attempted exorcism of all the negative energy left by abusive individuals. Getting back control is paramount, and “My House” is a powerful metaphor for that moment when one realizes that he or she has the power to change. 


     

  • "Blurry" by Stand Atlantic, Tuesday, October 15, 2024

     

    A “pink elephant” is a metaphor or expression referring to something strange or absurd. The term is often associated with hallucinations or seeing things that aren’t real, especially in the context of being intoxicated. The idea is that a person who is extremely drunk or under the influence of drugs might “see pink elephants,” an exaggerated example of a hallucination. In a broader sense, “the pink elephant in the room” can also refer to an obvious problem or issue that everyone is ignoring or avoiding, though this usage is less common than the phrase “the elephant in the room.” The expression “pink elephant” as a metaphor for drunken hallucinations is thought to have originated in the early 20th century. Its first recorded use can be traced to Jack London’s 1913 novel, John Barleycorn, subtitled Alcoholic Memoirs,  in which London discusses the effects of heavy drinking. He writes about how alcohol can cause hallucinations, and while he doesn’t explicitly mention “pink elephants,” this work is often cited as laying the groundwork for the metaphor. 

    I NEED SURGERY TO KEEP ME BLURRY.  Today let’s revisit Stand Atlantic’s Pink Elephant, specifically the hit single “Blurry.” The 2020 album is a solid modern rock album for a band that ventured into harder music on their follow-up records. The lyricism on the album has a predisposition for the bloody, with gritty lines punctuating almost every song. “Blurry” is an example of this lyricism. Comparing a dependent relationship to a “botched lobotomy” and “electric shock therapy,” the song packs an extra punch for an album that isn’t all that heavy. As Halloween draws near, the playlist this week becomes a horror film, particularly. We’ll talk more about that tomorrow.


  • “Psycho Killer” (Talking Heads Cover) by Miley Cyrus, Monday, October 14, 2024

    Last year was the 40th anniversary of Talking Heads’ concert film Stop Making Sense. The concert film was selected as part of the United States National Film Registry in 2021. The media company A24 obtained the rights to the film, remastered it and sent the concert back to theaters globally. After Talking Heads formed in the New York punk scene in 1975, they became pioneers in New Wave and eventually predecessors of Alternative Rock artists. Their musical influence on future generations stemmed from their use of polyrhythms, diverse musical genres such as reggae, traditional African music, and contemporary composers experimenting with avant-garde and minimalism. The band amassed a strong following and rock and minor pop hits. The 1982 concert film Stop Making Sense highlights the band’s greatest hits. After the film, the band released three more albums before officially breaking up in 1991.


    I CAN’T SEEM TO FACE UP TO THE FACTS. On January 10th, Paramore uploaded a video to their social media announcing A24 Music’s tribute compilation to the Talking Heads’ concert film Stop Making Sense called Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute Album to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense.  Paramore released a cover of “Burning Down the House,” the first single from the upcoming album which was released on May 17th.  The band had previously talked about their Talking Heads influence. It was the first single the band released after lead singer Hayley Williams fulfilled her 20-year contract with Atlantic Records. The tribute album features current artists covering the classic concert setlist. Miley Cyrus, Paramore, Lorde, girl in red, The National, and eleven other acts contributed sixteen tracks to the 1983 classic concert setlist. The full album received mostly positive reviews. Emily Swingle of Louder particularly praised The Linda Linda’s version of “Found a Job” as “the finest tribute.” 

    YOU START A CONVERSATION, YOU CAN’T EVEN FINISH IT. The concert film Stop Making Sense opens with Talking Heads’ first hit, “Psycho Killer.” The song originally appeared on the band’s debut album Talking Heads: 77, released in September 1977. Many people thought that the song was about the New York serial killer the Son of Sam, but lead singer David Byrne claimed that the band wrote the song long before the 1976 killings. The 2024 tribute album also opens with “Psycho Killer,” performed by Miley Cyrus. In a flamboyant performance, Cyrus changes a few lyrics and updates the sound of the classic rock track. Cyrus’s version is scary with the deep vocals spelling psycho throughout the song. The cover also seems to differ from the Talking Heads’ version with Cyrus taking cues from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” or “Poker Face” and David Guetta’s “Titanium.” Cyrus said that she took inspiration from Kylie Minogue when recording her cover of “Psycho Killer.” The cover and the original differ in perspective, with the original seeing singer David Byrne channeling the killer and Cyrus as a horror film victim who “love[s] a psycho killer.” Both versions are spooky editions of a Halloween playlist. Hopefully, the tribute album reignites interest in the quirky work of the Talking Heads.


    Talking Heads version:
    Miley Cyrus version: 

  • “Across Waters Again” by Blindside, Sunday, October 13, 2024

    Twenty years ago, Blindside released their second major-label album, About a Burning Fire. The songs on the album helped to form the classic sound for which the band is remembered while pushing the band creatively. The album features a collaboration with The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan on “Hooray, It’s L.A.” The song “Roads” flirts with jazz and the song “Shekina” features orchestration and Swedish yodeling, molding Blindside into more than a hardcore band with a softened sound for radio potential with some of the mellowest songs in their discography. The album’s final song, though, the title track “About a Burning Fire,” features mostly unclean vocals similar to the band’s earlier work. Most of the songs on the album are heavy with lead singer Christian Lindskog balancing clean vocals with occasional screams The album’s lead single “All of Us” bubbled under the Modern Rock chart but the video was a hit on Fuse TV. The second single, “Follow You Down” was a hit on Christian Rock radio.


    I MISS MAKING LOVE IN THE SUNDAY AFTERNOON SUNLIGHT. Blindside’s 2002 album Silence was a surprising success. Touring with P.O.D. and forming a friendship with the band and their circle proved to be part of the secret to this success. The other part was the production of P.O.D.’s producer Howard Benson who helped the band refine their two biggest albums. Silence had exposed the band to film, radio play, MTV, and late-night show performances. About a Burning Fire charted higher on Billboard’s Albums chart than Silence. Unfortunately, the album’s impact was far less than its 2002 predecessor. About a Burning Fire was the last album that Blindside released on Elektra Records after the label’s parent Warner Music was sold to Atlantic Records. Blindside went independent for their next record The Great Depression, which failed to garner the commercial success of their two major-label releases. Realistically, About a Burning Fire was never slated to be a big radio hit, even on rock radio. Christian Lindskog’s sing-scream was a sound that never got much radio play and the scream became less and less popular as the ‘00s pressed on. Still, the heavy music domination was still coming with the success of groups like Underoath, The Devil Wears Prada, and Bring Me the Horizon selling records even if their music wasn’t always rock-radio friendly.


    YOU WERE NEVER LATE TO PICK UP THE PHONE AND CALL. NOW IT’S FALL. Consistent throughout Blindside’s discography is their poetic lyrics. “Across Waters Again” is an album track on About a Burning Fire that discusses the difficulties of being an international band. Singer and songwriter Christian Lindskog specifically addresses missing his wife in the song and longing to return back to his homeland of Sweden as he’s spending time in other countries, particularly the smog of Los Angeles where the band recorded About a Burning Fire. The lyrics poignantly express the effort needed to keep a long-distance relationship. The motif of the passing of time and the setting of autumn give the song more urgency. Lindskog had addressed this topic before when writing the band’s second album, A Thought Crossed My Mind. The band’s success only grew since that time, causing Blindside to spend more time in America. Touring eventually calmed down for the band as they began longer intervals between their albums. “Across Waters Again” with the band’s musical clarity, Lindskog’s poetic lyrics, and Benson’s sharp production contain a broken beauty that could not last: a hardcore band from Sweden whose hearts were divided between making great music and taking care of families and responsibilities back home. Ultimately, the families won and we’re left wanting another record from Blindside. But who can blame the band?

    Read the lyrics on Genius.

     

  • “You First” (Re: Remi Wolf) by Paramore, Saturday, October 12, 2024

     

    In September last year, Paramore released Re: This Is Why, a remix album of the original featuring big-name collaborations like Julien Baker, Wet Leg, The Linda Lindas, and others. Paramore tweeted about the album: “Re: This Is Why is almost a remix album. Some of the songs have been remixed sort of classically, while others were reworked or rewritten. It’s incredible to hear all our worlds colliding.” The album is mostly for fans of the band’s sixth studio album, This Is Why. Some of the reworked songs are more interesting than the originals, but the original versions of the songs on This Is Why make a consistent record and one of Paramore’s best efforts.  All the songs from the original album are represented on the remix album with “Running Out of Time” receiving two remixes. The remix album also included an extra song, “Sanity,” a demo of a song the band had written during sessions for After Laughter.  

    EVERYONE IS BAD, SO WHY ARE YOU A PACIFIST? Some songs on Re: This Is Why are remixes of Paramore, some are collaborations, and some are covers. The first song “This Is Why” features instrumentation by the English band Foals. The second track “The News” features Paramore in the verses and teenage band The Linda Lindas in the chorus. “Running Out of Time” is presented as two classic-style remixes with manipulated original audio.  “C’est Comme Ça” is the first of several covers on the album. Rather than Paramore performing the track, Wet Leg performs the track in their own way. The Paramore version of the song stretched Paramore into punk and post-punk, but “C’est Comme Ça” fits perfectly into Wet Leg’s discography. Other cover versions on the album are Bartess Strange’s “Figure 8,” Julien Baker’s “Thick Skull,” and Remi Wolf’s “You First.” These covers do not feature Paramore’s lead singer Hayley Williams singing–as far as I can tell–but I haven’t been able to find out if guitarist Taylor York or drummer Zac Farro contributed to the music or if the other artists’ teams contributed the instruments. 

    WHICH WOLF WILL WIN NOW, BABY? On Paramore’s 2023 headlining This Is Why tour, the band opened with the non-single “You First.” Several contributors to remix albums opened for the band on their 2023 tour including Foals, The Linda Lindas, Claud, and Remi Wolf. Remi Wolf opened the show for Paramore’s Australian/New Zealand leg. Wolf’s jangly alt-pop sound makes “You First” a stand-out song on the remix album. Paramore’s version of “You First” is a well-written track that drops in several metaphors with memorable lines. Lines about being in a horror film,  the myth of the two wolves, and the central metaphor of feeding a stray animal give the song a memorable spot on This Is Why. Remi Wolf’s version becomes a standout track above the remixes of the hits that seemed to have slightly degraded the original versions. Wolf’s version is an upgrade on the original. When I first listened to This Is Why, “You First” wasn’t a particular standout track. Remi Wolf’s version sees rewritten lyrics that tighten up the metaphors, making the song “hit . . . with a tide of bricks.” The music is also a bit tighter, Wolf’s funky ‘70s flare with ‘90s alt-rock guitar. In whichever form you choose to consume the song, the lyrics remind us that no one is really good and that everyone must take account of their actions. But in a classic Paramore fashion, revenge feels much better when the other person gets their comeuppance first. 


    Read the lyrics of Paramore’s version on Genius.
    Read the Remi Wolf version on Genius.
    Remi Wolf cover:

    Paramore version: