Take a Reflective Beat w/ a Take a Beat Q1 in Review
On 8/7/24 we are looking back at our Take a Beaten path thus far.
The art of writing Take a Beat begins with inspiration. I am constantly coming up with ideas for topics to explore with my wonderful subscribers and feverishly adding them to my Take a Beat Notes app folder. And, thus far, I can confidently (and proudly) say that every issue of Take a Beat was borne out of genuine excitement for the topics about which I was writing.
But I am in the midst of a (mild) Take a Beat crisis!! Because I just wrote down EIGHT potential topics for this week’s issue, only to find that they were not providing the inspo necessary to get to typing.
So it’s time to take stock. What topics so far have struck the strongest cord with readers? What topics have I most enjoyed writing about? And what can I glean from these patterns to sustain inspiration for this source of joy for entire dozen(s) of people?!
By the Numbers: Most Viewed Issues of Take a Beat
Who doesn’t love a good metric?! I will not be sharing the exact view count for each of these, but let’s just say they are all triple digits, and one of them even starts with a “2”… *dusts off shoulder*
5. Take a Beat w/ Unpopular Pop Music and Young Millennial Brain Rot (7/31/24)
I haven’t had any conversations in the wild about this one yet since it’s the freshest newsletter, so I’m not sure what connected here, BUT I do know that no one has saved my Unpopular Pop Music playlist. Now, I never want Take a Beat-related metrics to be an inditement on anyone, but… I’m perplexed. My god who doesn’t love pop music?! And I’ve done the work to find delightful pop music that you likely don’t know!
BE GRATEFUL, AND QUEUE UP THIS PLAYLIST, TAKE A BEATERS!!!!
Take a Beat Assignment:
I expect everyone to tell me their favorite unpopular pop song and artist they discovered courtesy of the above playlist k thx!!!
Take a Beat Conclusion:
I pledge to continue making playlists based around niche themes and/or genres until said playlists get the love and admiration they so undeniably deserve.
“There is only one genre of music that is not defined directly by the characteristics of the music, but rather by the mass market’s appreciation of the music… pop music (or literally “popular music”) is not defined by its composition, but rather by the patterns of compositions that the general populace most appreciates.”
4. Take a Beat w/ Josh Van Auken’s Girlie Theory (7/10/24)
My magnum opus. Groundbreaking research. Titillating conclusions. Pop stars on infographics. POP STARS ON INFOGRAPHICS!!!
I had long dreamt of building this beautiful web, as evidenced by my Notes app data collection below. Sure, I had to relearn Photoshop. Yeah, I spent an entire weekend+ carefully cutting out faces. Absolutely, I organized and reorganized (and repeat) this web in Miro to minimize crossed paths (only three!!).
Take a Beat Conclusion:
But this is a gift (to myself) that keeps on giving: The Law of Conservation of Mass states that matter is never created or destroyed, but when girlies collide, the girlie product far out-masses the component girlies, and that’s why girlie collisions will always have a place in Take a Beat.
"The deftest of girlie collisions result in infinitely looping reflections of the girlies involved onto each other and back onto themselves. And as a fan, you get to enter into this beautiful girlie fusion. So may our girlie webs ever grow, and us girlies right along with them."
3. Take a Beat w/ Platonic Love Songs & A Tour of Sienna Miller's Countryside Cottage (5/29/24)
Everyone agreed: We need more songs about platonic love.
But Take a Beaters do not sit idle! With your help (❤️❤️❤️), we beefed this playlist up by an hour to a grand total of 37 songs and counting (I added one just last week).
Take a Beat Conclusion:
Take a Beaters have FRIENDS whom they LOVE and APPRECIATE. Maybe we’re all family, even?? Yeah, it’s official, YOU are my chosen family, and every Wednesday we have our non-problematic Thanksgiving feast right here on Substack.
“When such emotional fulfillment can be found in a takeout lunch with your bestie (s/o Jordan), over too sweet margaritas and questionable service with your squad (s/o Allen, Jess, Zack), or roaming a park walking a wonderfully psycho dog with your sister (s/o Maddie and Tofu), why are there not more songs about the power of platonic love?”
2. Take a Beat w/ a Badass 71-Year Old Trailblazer Still Trailblazing (6/26/24)
What an absolute privilege to unpack Kim Gordon’s septuagenarian ambitions, which do not seem to involve genealogy or Jane Austen (s/o my amazing departed grandma Gayle) but rather dissolving a bass into sludge and splattering it onto the faces of young, dumb bucks everywhere.
Kim, consider me perpetually lined up for that gift!
Take a Beat Science Corner:
It is said that of the 5 senses, it is smell that is the most directly linked to memory. But girlie science would say it is serendipitous meetings of music and moment that most vividly lock memories into the limited archival space our brain has for that sort of thing, as supported by you lot and your appreciation of these anecdotes.
Take a Beat Assignment:
I still expect everyone to tell me their favorite serendipitous music/moment memories k thx!!!
Take a Beat Conclusion:
I was recently at Atlas Social Club, and someone played “Ooh La La” by Goldfrapp, putting my head on a swivel for the extra-tasteful gay in my midst. I later (coincidentally) did locate him, only for him to offer to “take care of me” after reassuring me many times of his money and his grandpa’s involvement in the 1952 Cuban coups (??).
Sometimes it’s best to just be grateful for the serendipity and not search too hard for the meaning behind it :))
“I got to jam out to an iconic and underappreciated song by a fallen hero at a now-defunct iconic establishment — it felt like iconic behavior then and sure reads as iconic behavior to this day, if I do say so myself…”
1. Take a Beat w/ the Best Albums of 2024 So Far (6/12/24)
The results are in: Take a Beaters yearn for traditional journalistic lists. And who am I to judge?! My type-A ass is an absolute slut for a good list. And on this list, I didn’t even number the entries!!!
Take a Beat Conclusion:
Taste is best made using conventional structure — maybe I should pivot to print? Take a Beat is actually a newspaper now!!
Just days after I release my ranked list of the best albums of 2024 at the end of the year I will be brushing shoulders with Anna Wintour and clinking champagne flutes with Keith McNally and Louis Zabar, as they gush over my use of the journalistic methods of their youth.
(To be so very clear, these album write-ups are my absolute favorite thing to write and what inspired Take a Beat in the first place. So I love that this is the most read one — keep reading ‘em, fam!!!!)
"My favorite albums share the characteristics of a good friendship: we grow together, we allow each other to have our seasons of bounty and our seasons of withdrawal, and at our core is a cosmic connection founded on undefinable and undeniable chemistry."
Take a Beat Q1 Conclusion About the Conclusions
Upcoming Beats to be Taken
More transitional albums! Including my breakup album, my friend’s new home/new life album, my sister’s post-HS dilemma album, and more
Emily in Paris and why it is crack that’s good for you
Death, taxes, quality HBO Sunday night programming
My top 5 albums of all time, a Take a Beat series
A Vampire Weekend weekend (seeing them for both of their MSG shows where they aren’t overlapping songs)
I’m not a shoe gay but I do love shoegaze
See you next week!