Details and storytelling in songs

wesleychent@gmail.com (Wesley Chen) — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:02:59 -0700

I gave Taylor Swift’s newer music a shot this week after watching Gracie Abrams cover her song “Maroon”. I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift while growing up, and even now, she’s one of my most scrobbled artists. However, I stopped keeping track of her releases after Lover—partly because she hasn’t had a breakout hit, and partly because I lost interest. Unfortunately, the songs I just listened to, songs off her newest albums, The Tortured Poets Department and Midnights, are impossible to enjoy. She’s taken the diaristic style that made songs like “You Belong with Me,” “Back to December,” and “All Too Well” so effective and turned it into something weird and uncanny.

How I want to talk about movies

wesleychent@gmail.com (Wesley Chen) — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:26:29 -0800

I love movies but I almost never have a good time talking about them. For one, I hate how everyone thinks that their opinions are so important. It’s taken for granted that art is subjective and everyone understands that when she watches a movie with her friend, they will notice, appreciate, and dislike aspects of the film in their own particular ways. However, it seems to me that when they finish the movie and discuss what they saw, they will inevitably offend each other by revealing this simple truth. I have friends who got agitated when they found out I liked a movie they disliked. I’ve also had friends get angry when I disliked a movie they love. A couple months ago, a close friend unfollowed me on Letterboxd because he thought I was deliberately giving his favorite films low ratings to upset him.

INVENTORYING EFFECTS on studio waslo

Details and storytelling in songs

How I want to talk about movies