transformed and realigned 🫧✨
chromakopia, aquamarine, and tangerine dreams
Welcome, to hyperfix’d - a low-stakes publication where I share everything and anything I’m excited about with anyone who will listen - as we head into the final two (!) months of 2024, i’m excited to reflect and realign towards the new year, one full of potential and possibility 💌 ✨ here with the things inspiring me the most, is new hyperfix’d:
Aquamarine, Addison Rae 🎧
The world is my oyster, baby, come touch the pearl 🪄🦪🪞
Addison Rae’s sophomore hit Aquamarine is this year’s best picture winner - the former TikTok personality’s perfectly executed rebrand towards rising it-girl status in the music industry has been a surprising, yet welcome one, as Addison Rae’s enchantingly defiant artistic expression has proven time and time again that she’s got all the makings of a true pop star.
The true beauty of Aquamarine lies in its mesmerizing sonic atmosphere and visual landscape - a product of Dara Allen, Petra Collins, Mel Ottenberg, and Sean Price Williams’ fantastical creativity, Aquamarine’s inspired visuals bring to life the glitter and grunge of early aughts’ hot couture, capturing a nostalgic feminine fantasy (or what Sophia Coppola wished for The Bling Ring to be). Addison Rae is not trying to convince you of anything she’s not - with a certain ethereal ambiance embracing her music, it’s clear she’s aware of the oeuvre she’s reclaiming in the modern music scene. Following in the footsteps of Britney, Kylie, Madonna, and Carly, icons that have influenced and inspired her vision, the versatility behind Addison Rae’s authentic expression holds to key to her unapologetically larger than life success.
While her shift from internet virality to rising industry fame may seem effortless, it’s a feat we’ve yet to see executed with such intentionality and grace amidst the current digital landscape - as we continue to see an unending cycle of female artists set up to rise and fall before their artistry can fully take form, its refreshing to see someone create a hagiographic persona on their own terms, while seemingly having a lot of fun with it.
With Diet Pepsi and Aquamarine, Addison Rae brings the carefree charm and vivacity that pop music has so desperately been missing - it makes me genuinely excited to see how her career progresses, and how it may translate to the stage - with love, I admit her appearance at the Sweat tour left me a little whelmed, but she can only go upwards from here! Addison Rae’s rising musical career is opulent, and a reigning pop princess emerges. 🪄🦪🪞
A few more singles i’ve been loving on repeat, for your consideration ✨
Love Songs, Clairo
AAA, FLO
Disease, Lady Gaga
Charlie, Lola Young, Lil Yachty
Image, Magdalena Bay, Grimes
Anora, dir. Sean Baker 🎬
From visionary director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine, Red Rocket), Anora, a cautionary fairytale following a whirlwind marriage between working-class sex worker (Mikey Madison) and the exorbitantly wealthy son of a russian oligarch, is a thrilling achievement in independent cinema and the film to watch in this year’s awards season.
Anora is a beautifully envisioned slice of life dramedy that masterfully balances its screwball comedic farce with the profound nature of a turbulent and heavy subject matter - for its titular heroine, what starts out as an endearing cinderella-story full of promise and fortune, becomes a gut-wrenching and unpredictable fight for survival.1 Anora also gets an honorable mention for my favorite cinematography of the year, reveling in a strikingly faithful depiction of the city’s working class against the romantic backdrop of Coney Island and Brighton Beach.
Anora’s greatest gift is its breakout star Mikey Madison, whose breathtaking and vivacious performance is nothing short of transformative. Madison’s powerful onscreen presence is grounded in authenticity, earnestly capturing a strong-willed desire and determination in the face of desperation. An almost exemplary, veiled apprehension weaves itself throughout the film’s punches of physical comedy, making space for the inevitable tragedy that lies beneath, as our heroine’s valorous self reliance ultimately seals her fate. Anora unearths a level of heartbreak and vulnerability that I haven’t felt in a coming of age film in a long time - my fellow cinema viewers, completely stunned and silent by the end of the film’s epic two and a half hour run, would agree.
While there’s rightfully contention around the ethics of a man’s ownership of this particular film’s screenplay, visual language, and direction, as a first time viewer of Baker’s work I was personally very moved and impressed by his ability to speak with such heart and cohesion to Anora’s experience. I’m thrilled to see Anora receive the flowers and praise it deserves, and am awed and invigorated by the warm reception it’s receiving, especially as a low-budget original indie screenplay. After taking home the Palme D’or at Cannes earlier this year, an Anora awards sweep is inevitable, and I can’t wait to see Mikey Madison shine as the star she was born to be. Anora is now playing in theaters.
Chromakopia, Tyler, the Creator 💿
Chromakopia, Tyler, the Creator’s eighth studio album, reveals itself as the rapper’s most personal record to date - reverting from the technicolor hues of Call Me If You Get Lost, Chromakopia takes on a more somber, emotional tone, a beautifully layered and richly orchestrated magnum opus that sincerely wrestles with its existential growing pains.
Chromakopia’s fourteen track run is calculated in its personal intention and creative vision, its dense lyricisms and eclectic neo soul arrangements offering a lot to sink one’s teeth into. I have found myself falling more and more in love with Chromakopia’s expansive musicality with every relisten, particularly in its second half, from the all-star theatricality of Sticky to the cathartic gospel of I Hope You Find Your Way Home - an album made to be appreciated in its fullest form.
It would be amiss to talk about the genius of Chromakopia without applauding the many features that superbly elevate the album’s lavish musical production. Daniel Caesar takes the lead on Chromakopia’s sweet-toned backing vocals, present in St. Chroma, Take Your Mask Off, and Tomorrow, Sticky dexterously enlists GloRilla, Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne, and Solange to bring its blazing histrionics to life, Lola Young’s mellifluous runs take Like Him to gut-wrenching emotional heights, while Doechii shines brighter than ever as her stellar verse on Ballon steals the show.
Some of my favorite tracks from the album:
Noid
Darling, I
Judge Judy
Sticky
Take Your Mask Off
Balloon
Queer, dir. Luca Guadagnino 💻
Luca Guadagnino’s reign as one of the most versatile directorial forces at work (Call Me By Your Name, Bones And All, Challengers) continues with Queer, a vivid adaptation of William Burroughs’s novel, starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, the Charles Melton heartthrob-to-watch in this year’s awards season. The trailer’s highly-stylized, moody cinematography, and a blink and you’ll miss it appearance from Omar Apollo alone, make for a thrilling and emotional cinematic escape - coming to theaters November 27.
Uncut Gems and Zola both come to mind as fitting storytelling counterparts.
I looove aquamarine!