Welcome back to Pop Loser! This week, someone drove their car into Golden Oldies, Neumos Workers United went public, and the Met Gala happened (if you even care). Pop divas Beyoncé and Charli XCX might not be going rock after all. Plus, I attended the Seattle Opera’s Carmen, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
Subscribe to Pop Loser!
This Week in Music
This week in Strangerland, the gorgeous May print issue hit the stands, which means there is a new calendar of music events that’ll keep you busy all month long. (There is so much great stuff happening this month, like Ana Roxanne, Laraaji, and the Last Dinner Party.)
Someone crashed into Golden Oldies… again. The long-running Wallingford record shop shared on Monday that someone drove their car into the front of the building. Believe it or not, this is actually the second time this has happened (the first was back in 2021). Thankfully, no one was injured, but we really need to brainstorm for a solution so that this doesn’t happen again. Another traffic light? A steel barrier? Banning cars altogether? (These are some of the solutions offered in the post’s comment section.) Check out their Discogs shop to show support while they are closed for repairs.
Workers at beloved music venues Neumos, Barboza, and the Runaway are organizing! Neumos Workers United went public on May Day, announcing that they are taking collective action to improve working conditions, including better pay and appropriately staffing their security teams. They also shared three main ways that the community can support them: be vocal about your support (and tip well!), post about your experiences at /support online, and share the movement with your friends, family, coworkers, and community!
The Met Gala was on Monday (if you even care). Swarms of celebrities showed up at the annual museum fundraiser despite the event being controversially sponsored by evil villains Jeff and Lauren Sanchez Bezos. As predicted, protests were abundant, ranging from bottles of urine scattered around the museum, to plastered ads demanding a boycott, to video interviews with Amazon workers projected on Bezos’s Manhattan penthouse. Amazon’s labor union founder, Chris Smalls, was arrested outside the Met Gala after allegedly jumping a barricade.
Two things can be true: the Gala is a boorish display of wealth and an entertaining spectacle of fashion and art. My best dressed of the night was Madonna, who recreated one of my favorite paintings, The Temptation of St. Anthony, by surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, complete with a Philip Treacy ship hat (formerly owned by the late Isabella Blow) and a brass horn. I also enjoyed Cardi B’s take on Hans Bellmer’s The Doll (designed by Marc Jacobs), Hunter Schafer’s Prada recreation of Gustav Klimt’s Mäda Primavesi, and María Zardoya’s custom porcelain doll, which she will be auctioning off for donations to the Save the Music Foundation.
Beyoncé was also there. The Queen made her return to the Gala after a 10-year hiatus in an opulent custom Olivier Rousteing skeleton gown encrusted with jewels and paired with a matching crown and an ostrich feather cape. While the look has been well-received, it was not what fans expected, which was the debut of her (still rumoured) rock era. There are also fan theories that Act III will be jazz, gospel, rap, or even a new Destiny’s Child album!
rock and it’s completely different but also still rock. It turns out that Charli XCX isn’t making a rock album either. Despite telling British Vogue that “the dance floor is dead, so now we’re making rock music,” she has clarified that she “never said” she was making a rock album, but is instead working on a song called “Rock Music” that’s not actually rock music.
Want this music news in your inbox? Subscribe to Pop Loser!
Music Events Worth Your Hard-Earned Money
This Week, 5/6–5/12
Linda from Work, Dining Dead, Understater May 8, Sunset Tavern, 9 pm, 21+
MUNA Listening Party May 8, Easy Street Records, 7 pm, all ages, free
Snail Mail May 8, Moore Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages
Teen Suicide, Cloud Nothings, Anthers May 8, Crocodile, 6 pm, all ages
Eldridge Gravy & the Court Supreme’s 20th Anniversary Show May 9, Swedish Club, 6 pm, 21+
CTRL-Z: An Abortion Party Featuring Beautiful Freaks, Fleamale & Bazaar May 9, Baba Yaga, 6 pm, all ages
Lucy Dacus, FIGHTMASTER May 10, Mount Baker Theatre (Bellingham), 7 pm, all ages
Maisy Owen Live In-Store May 10, Easy Street Records, 6 pm, all ages, free
Ann Wilson: In My Voice May 11, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages
Echo & the Bunnymen: More Songs to Learn & Sing May 12, Showbox SoDo, 8 pm, 21+
Florence + the Machine: Everybody Scream Tour May 12, Climate Pledge Arena, 7:30 pm, all ages
Want all these recs in your inbox? Subscribe to Pop Loser!
The Songs That Keep Me Up at Night
“Prettiest Girl in America” by Meg Stalter
Comedian/actress Meg Stalter has launched her pop career this week with a hyperpop track that sounds straight out of a RuPaul’s Drag Race Rusical. It’s unclear whether her upcoming album Crave is performance art, comedy, or earnest pop music, but I’d venture to guess it’s a genius blend of all three. Stalter’s voice is genuinely enjoyable to listen to and suited to the track. The lyrics poke fun at the pop genre (see: “But no one can see past my smile / My pain goes for miles and miles / Sometimes I wish I was ugly and poor / So it wouldn’t hurt anymore”). And, in a world where we are all conditioned to hate ourselves, Stalter shows us that knowing you’re hot is an act of rebellion.
“Les tringles des sistres tintaient”by Leontyne Price
GUYS, I saw the Seattle Opera’s 1950s-tinged adaptation of Carmen over the weekend, and I can’t stop thinking about it. After the first intermission, the curtains opened to Carmen (played by Grammy-winning diva J’Nai Bridges) and her friends entertaining the officers at a local inn with “Les tringles des sistres tintaient,” sung traditionally but updated with girl group–style choreography (think: the Supremes, the Shirelles, or the Crystals). The number really showcased the talent of the performers with simultaneous dancing, acting, and, of course, reaching outrageously high notes that are even out of Mariah Carey’s range. Unfortunately, there is no recording of Bridges’s version, so I’ve been listening to Leontyne Price’s version, whom Bridges revealed as one of her favorite singers in Pop Loser #17. Carmen is running until May 17; don’t miss it!
Want this in your inbox? Subscribe to Pop Loser here!
