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 · Morgan Wallen
Morgan Wallen's 'Been By Now': The Math of a Relationship That Didn't Add Up
A country-pop breakup song about the quiet moment you admit a relationship that keeps needing fixing was never going to fix itself
In this issue
Also worth reading
№02
Dan + Shay
Dan + Shay's "You": The Vow Inside the Slow Dance
A slow-dance vow that treats one person as the fixed point that makes every other uncertainty in life survivable
№03
Clean Bandit
Clean Bandit's 'A+E': Predator, Partner, and the Threat of Rewriting Someone
A tense electro-pop dialogue between a woman done with her partner's excuses and the deadbeat man still hoping to be rebuilt into someone worth staying for
№04
Florence + the Machine
Florence + the Machine's 'Never Let Me Go': Drowning as Deliverance
A drowning imagined as deliverance, where surrender to the deep becomes both spiritual release and a way of letting go of a love that hurts
№05
Ava Bently
Ava Bently's Daddy Issues: Swagger with the Lights On
A hookup track that keeps admitting the loneliness underneath the swagger, where wanting someone and wanting to send them home are the same impulse
Also in this issue
The Reading Room
- 06 Frank Ocean Pink + White
- 07 Butter & Grit that's okay
- 08 Hans Ambient Video Editing
- 09 Nipsey Hussle & Bino Rideaux 500 Horses
- 10 Dan + Shay Speechless
- 11 Noodah05 Around Me
- 12 EVAN Overflow
- 13 Bella Kay Steady
- 14 Solomon Hayes One Good Day
- 15 Diane Butler I Miss You More
- 16 Jethro Tull Thick As A Brick, Pt. 1
- 17 Got Dem Blues Banjo Boy
