the opening act effect
how to trend simulate irl instead of relying on bots
there’s so much i could write about this week, but all of it feels heavy. my first instinct was to throw in my two cents about the obsession art director post, but sitting down to ramble about how depressing it is that the creative industries are stuck in a cycle of abuse and the abused are the ones defending it doesn’t seem like something i really wanna do. just know, if your reaction is anything along the lines of “that’s just the way things are”, “she’s burning bridges by talking about it”, or “it’s an indie movie and she knew the rate so she has no right to complain”….i’m majorly side-eyeing you. keep the boot in your mouth, you could never catch me licking it!
another heavy topic i don’t want to write a whole thing about is pride (specifically weho pride) and how every time i go there, i’m reminded that gay men are still…men! being told to smile, my sexuality being investigated, my outfit being critiqued by a stranger (lol) are just a few experiences i’ve had at weho pride. i love weho and i love living here, but damn it’s depressing how misogynistic lgbtq+ spaces still are.
i do want to write about maude latour’s weho pride set and how much i wish there was a job called “professional crowd member.” if new/smaller artists could hire me to represent them during their set, i would be a billionaire. with all this talk about trend simulation and creating fake hype around things online to grow a fanbase, i want to raise the irl version of this: being an active participant in support of the things you love. there’s this thing called infectious excitement and boy does it do wonders! most importantly, it’s not fake. if humans naturally gravitate towards what other humans are excited about, instead of botting the excitement we could — and this is just an idea — turn to real humans to create real interest.
i know what you’re thinking. unfortunatly real people cost money and require attention and human connection :/ who has time for that? well, all that i know is that i certainly do.
as a fan of “rising” artists, i often find myself at shows where i’m there to support the opener as opposed to the main act. it’s a beautiful duty that i take very seriously. the most important aspect is that it’s not forced. to me, small artists who aren’t headlining can be more impactful in my personal repertoire than the “star” of the night. i don’t wait for something to be popular or beloved by the masses before it becomes instrumental in my own life. for me, seeing maude latour play weho pride was a major event. her music is so important in my life you would’ve thought i was getting ready to go to the damn eras tour.
then comes the crowd experience. i don’t wait for permission to be loud, cheer, sing along, or jump 10 feet in the air when i hear the first note of “cyclone”, a song i didn’t expect to be on the setlist. i don’t look around to see if there’s anyone else as excited as i am before allowing myself to have a natural reaction to the music. i most certainly don’t care if i’m the only one acting as if beyoncé is standing in front of me when it’s actually an underground, lesser known pop star. my favorite thing about supporting an artist the rest of the crowd may be unfamiliar with is the palpable shift felt once i start to react. there’s an unspoken exchange that occurs once someone realizes an artist has a dedicated fanbase, even if that fanbase is only a few people. it makes them perk up and pay attention a little more closely. like i said, it’s human nature to be more intrigued by something once you see it affecting someone else. this is what marketing agencies are trying to replicate on social media, the phenomenon of feeling like you’re missing out on something that moves other people. the realization that if something means so much to someone else, maybe it could mean something to you, too.
we talk so much about online trends, but what about irl ones? what about the energy you can’t replicate on tiktok and only exists without the barrier of a screen? if you’re a lover of art, which you probably are if you’re reading this, i challenge you to be even louder about it…in real life. sing along to the opening act, strike up conversations with strangers about what you love, and don’t be embarrassed if you’re the only one in a sea of people who knows the words. it will always be cooler than just posting online!
♪♫♪ what i listened to this week ♪♫♪
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ middle of nowhere by kacey musgraves ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
admittedly, i haven’t spent much time with any NEW music this week. i’m still stuck on my album of the year contenders, one of them being what i can officially declare kacey’s best album since golden hour. even in the songs i can’t directly relate to, i feel the experience deeply. the storytelling transports and the record feels like a culmination of the lessons kacey’s learned from being a southern woman, an identity that is often misunderstood and seen as one-dimensional. the fact that i can press play on the first track and not touch it until the entire album has finished is a sign that this will be one of my go-to albums for the foreseeable future.
◀ follow my 2026 playlist on spotify! ▶︎
₊˖⋆⟡ detour by kim petras ⟡⋆˖₊
another album i don’t see myself moving on from anytime soon is detour. even the tracks that initially weren’t as exciting to me have become a complete obsession. there are SO many small details scattered throughout this record that make it brilliant, but i want to highlight one i keep going back to. in “brutalist”, kim sings ‘my dad’s an architect he used to show me it / when he would drive me to the psychiatry.’ she purposefully doesn’t rhyme ‘it’ with ‘psychiatRIST’, which would be the obvious choice. it’s a nod to english not being her first language and the theme of the song; the beauty of breaking conformity.
🎞️ what i watched this week 🎞️
BACKROOMS!!!!!!! all i can think about is backrooms! it’s so rare to see a movie that completely transports you these days, mostly because what is there that hasn’t already been done? well, the answer is backrooms. the sets alone are worth seeing on a big screen, there’s so much detail and wonder to be had. there were moments were i wished the film was just straight up found footage, but by the end i was sold on the interesting filmmaking going on here. the acting was also phenomenal. i was really skeptical about turning a concept that kinda only makes sense living on the internet into a studio film, but kane parsons clearly wouldn’t let a studio fuck with the integrity of the backrooms. the (minimal, thankfully) storyline was so smart and made me think deeply about the concept of liminal spaces and how they represent our humanity.
⋆✮🎥🍿 follow me on letterboxd! 🍿🎥✮⋆
scary movie is back! the main appeal of this movie for me was the amount of iconic horror references that have just been WAITING to be spoofed since the last scary movie in 2013. get out, the substance, ma, longlegs…the selection was top-tier and the jokes were stupid as fuck. THANK GOD. love that they threw every joke and reference from the last 10 years at the wall and let you decide what sticks. they had one chance and they took it! regina hall deserves the nobel peace prize.
see you next week!!!!!
I love infectious excitement and at my ripe old age I have experienced it. Giselle the article was spot on. I have been listening to Dry Spell also. the best!!!!!!!!!
AND IM NOT SORRY! ITS HUMAN NATURE!