So.. the new Chappell Roan just dropped and it’s no-nonsense, out-and-proud, country banger. It’s in line with the trend in recent years of cool, queer country/Americana - just to name a few examples: Lil Nas X was probably the most viral case, but also Phoebe Bridgers and other folky sad indie girls, and even Mitski’s The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.
I was very late to the Chappell party last year (even considering how most people were already late), only finally clicking on that persistent YouTube recommendation in November, but The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (+ the odd Good Luck Babe) was the only thing on my Spotify rotation for a month. To me, listening to The Rise and Fall felt like listening to 1989 for the first time (this comparison is probably sacrilege to many people): the realisation that music can just be fun. There’s no need to try to be clever, or cool, or sophisticated.
Last Friday I saw the West End stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro. There was a scene in the first act that made me cry - the first time I cried in the theatre for a while. It was a simple scene, not even a sad one: the father was just telling the children about the spirits of the forest and together they asked for blessings from the spirits underneath the giant tree. There’s something about the simplicity of the act, the uncomplicated devotion to life despite its challenges, that really touched me in that moment.
The rest of the evening I couldn’t stop thinking about what Mitski said about Hayao Miyazaki in this KEXP interview:
“Every time I have doubts or I don’t quite know how to live in the world … I watch [Miyazaki’s] films, and I’m like ‘Oh yeah, it’s this simple. This is it. This is the answer.’”
I reckon it’s worth having that reminder from time to time, especially now: living doesn’t have to be complicated.