Blue Haired Phase

Beabadoobee “I Wish I Was Stephen Malkmus”

I can only look at that song title and go “yeah, same.” But given that the writer of this song wasn’t even born until after Pavement broke up, I wonder what Stephen Malkmus means to her, in semiotic terms. What kind of aspiration is this – to write rock songs as well as him? To have his casual confidence and coolness? To somehow create emotionally moving art while always seeming like nothing ever bothers him? She doesn’t seem too interested in imitating him, since the guitar tones in this song are all very un-Malkmus, and the dynamics come a lot closer to hit-the-pyro-on-the-chorus bombast of Weezer.

But given that the song is more about dyeing your hair blue to mark a change in your life, it seems like the title is a bit of a self-deprecating joke, calling back to the opening line of “Cut Your Hair” – “darling, don’t you go and cut your hair, do you think it’s gonna make him change?” She knows it’s sorta silly to think a superficial change of style is going to make a big difference, but also gets that the smallest changes can give you enough of a charge to fake it til you make it something bigger.

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