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 · Alex Warren
Alex Warren's 'FEVER DREAM': Falling Hard at Closing Time
A man whose heart was nearly shut for business gets reopened by a stranger, and the rush is so disorienting he can't tell infatuation from hallucination
In this issue
Also worth reading
Naïka
Naïka's '1+1=3': Love as a Multiplier, Not an Addition
A love song that frames partnership as a multiplier, where two people together generate something larger than the sum of themselves
Drake
Club Paradise: Drake's Audit of What Fame Bought and What It Erased
A homecoming monologue about the cost of leaving, where success has replaced the people and city that made the artist feel known
Taylor Swift
Not Ophelia: Taylor Swift's Rescue Story
A love song that uses Hamlet's drowned Ophelia as the cautionary alternative: rescue from despair by a partner who arrived just before the spiral closed
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, 'This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things': The Pettiest Toast on Reputation
A petty, party-thrown kiss-off to a former friend who talked behind the singer's back, dressed up as a hostess apologizing for taking the punch bowl away
Also in this issue
The Reading Room
- 06 Drake Janice STFU
- 07 Justin Bieber Wish You Would (feat. Quavo)
- 08 The Smiths How Soon Is Now?
- 09 Ed Sheeran Celestial
- 10 Drake Prioritizing
- 11 Rihanna Goodnight Gotham
- 12 Bruno Mars Why You Wanna Fight?
- 13 Adele I Can't Make You Love Me (Live)
- 14 Justin Bieber Stuck In the Moment
- 15 Ariana Grande safety net (feat. Ty Dolla $ign)
- 16 Billie Eilish goodbye
- 17 Olivia Rodrigo The Rose Song (From "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Season 2)")