Hailee Steinfeld

Except for a couple appearances on Jimmy Fallon's show (either Late Night or The Tonight Show), the last time I saw Hailee Steinfeld was in the film True Grit playing a badass 14 year old frontier girl.

Then THIS happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMpFmHSgC4Q

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd wrote about it at The Muse, and made all the same observations I've made. "It’s a quite a brilliant pop song—the Taylor Swift crowd can interpret it as a celebration of self-esteem; moms will love it because Steinfeld’s got a reputation for being part of Hollywood’s squeakiest clean set; but discerning pop ears will hear it exactly for what it is, which is that she can love herself “anytime day or night,” “anytime that I like,” in no equivocal terms about the joy and benefits of dolo fapping."

I've always been a fan of paeans to masturbation in pop music, however overt or subversive they may be. This one's quite a bit more on the overt side of things imo, even if the video dresses it up as a self-empowerment anthem.

Anyway, I've listened to it six times in a row now and it's fuckin' good.

The repeat emphasis on the phrase "without you" has that pop reverse psychology effect where it can't help but add a probably-unwanted layer of pathos

anyway - good message, mediocre song. the one-note shouty chorus is vv dull to me, but y'know she was great in True Grit so I wish her luck and stuff

in all seriousness though we have "the hanging tree" to thank for this, probably (it's getting a heavy radio push)

needs some slap bass

I was thinking more Himalayan sea salt

oh i heard this on the radio in the car the other day. i think it's clear channel's iheartmedia's new payola beneficiary "on the verge" selection because i heard one of those intros before it played. her words about the inspiration behind the song were v generic so i did think it would just be canned empowerment and was thus a bit struck by some of the lyrics. i didn't hear the whole song tho b/c i was gonna be late for work and had to turn it off lol. but yeah, listening now and it's good! wouldn't mind at all if it catches on.

Man, I`m gonna have to ask you not to shout like that
Well..
It`s like right in my ear
It goes with the song...
Yeah, but don`t holler in my ear, man
Well, it's an authentic female empowerment shout...
Yeah, but not standing next to me, man
Well, the shout go with the EDM...
Not my EDM, man I mean, move away
Well, I don`t see why-
No, no, no, stand over next to the guitar man
He sent me over here
Yeah, well, then sing soft. You know, I mean, like, wow…

I LOVE ME!
No, it`s too piercing, man, it's too piercing
Well, I got to do the shout
No, man, it`s too piercing. Like, I don't dig loud noises
Well, you ruined the whole...
…piercing...
...record is what you did!
Yeah, well, tough, I`ll take my bongos and go, man cause the whole is, like, bugging me anyhow