Reads & Readings
A running journal of the songs we've been thinking about — what they mean, why they linger, where they come from.
Cover Story · Katy Perry
California Gurls: Pop's Sunny Reply to the East Coast Anthem
A glossy, postcard-perfect commercial for the West Coast fantasy, designed as pop's sunscreen-scented answer to East Coast hip-hop anthems
In this issue
Also worth reading
BABYMONSTER
BABYMONSTER's 'SUGAR HONEY ICE TEA': The Sweetest Insult Becomes a Brand
A K-pop flex anthem in which BABYMONSTER reframes an old expletive euphemism as a self-branded boast about being sweet, cold, and untouchable on stage
Future, Metro Boomin, Travis Scott & Playboi Carti
Inside the velvet cell: reading 'Like That' as a manifesto of consensual chaos
A first-person plunge into a queer fetish party where the narrator treats the scene as both liberation from inherited norms and a controlled demolition of the self
Kanye West
Heartless: Kanye's 3 A.M. Argument With Himself
A breakup post-mortem sung through Auto-Tune, where accusation and self-incrimination keep swapping seats until both sides look colder than they meant to be
Mustard & Roddy Ricch
Mustard & Roddy Ricch's 'Ballin'': A Flex With Something to Prove
A victory-lap flex anthem where coming up from nothing is the whole argument, and everyone still in the old life is the loser
Also in this issue
The Reading Room
- 06 MC Jay Revenge (Radio Edit)
- 07 ROSÉ & Bruno Mars APT.
- 08 Daniel Pemberton & Brian May Eternia
- 09 Deep Purple Diablo
- 10 Avril Lavigne Complicated
- 11 Prince Stone
- 12 Travis Yee Prove Em Wrong
- 13 Madonna & Sabrina Carpenter Bring Your Love
- 14 The Menzingers Better Angels
- 15 DaBaby ROCKSTAR (feat. Roddy Ricch)
- 16 BABYMONSTER CHOOM
- 17 Madonna Love Sensation (Radio Edit)