The Culture Journalist

Since Trump took office in January, you may have picked up on a certain, shall we say, visual vibe. Think: AI slop memes, gilded neoclassical decor, men clad in dark suits and red ties, women decked out in high heels and flowing hair—not to mention an ambiguous blend of plastic surgery and contoured make-up that the Hollywood Reporter recently dubbed “Mar-A-Lago Face.”If you’ve noticed some of these recurring themes, you’re not alone. The arts journalist and critic Carolina Miranda has been keeping tabs on the intersection of visual culture, society, and politics for years, and she recently came up with a name for the look and feel of the current administration: Trump Trad. Her recent column for the Washington Post, “Welcome to the Era of Trump Trad,” is worth a read—and it’s the first in a monthly series providing an ongoing aesthetic analysis of the Trump era, which is among her new endeavors since taking a buyout from her longtime role at the LA Times last year. (She also writes the Arts Insider newsletter for KCRW, which Andrea edits.)Carolina joins us to explain the three core pillars of Trump Trad: a yearning for the past (architecturally and otherwise), traditional gender roles, and—fascinatingly—professional wrestling. We also get into how to reconcile all the trad-ness with this administration’s simultaneous embrace of Silicon Valley and AI, whether or not Biden or Kamala aesthetics exist, and how Trump’s obsession with taking control of the programming at the Kennedy Center and issuing executive orders about architecture fits in with his politics of resentment against so-called “cultural elites.”Want to continue the conversation? For access to our member-only Discord (and all our bonus episodes), sign up for a paid subscription.Sign up for Carolina’s KCRW newsletterRead more from Carolina:“How Silicon Valley boys came to rule politics” (WaPo)“Influencer Jenny69 calls herself a ‘buchona.’ How a narco-inspired style came to rule social media” (LA Times) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Today we explore how many of the habits and customs we associate with American bourgeois life — religiously reading the Sunday Times, buying organic produce, building your entire identify around excelling at a career you love, etc. — stem from one generation in particular. Friends, we’re talking about the yuppies, that notoriously status-obsessed, hyper-educated cohort of young urban professionals who came to cultural prominence in the ’80s and ’90s, setting off a series of transformations in our cities, media, and consumer culture that we’re still witnessing to this day.It’s easy to see the Boomer worldview as a reflection of the fact that they had it much easier than us Millennials, economically speaking. But a new book called Triumph of the Yuppies: America, the Eighties, and the Creation of an Unequal Nation, by Philadelphia journalist and author Tom McGrath, subtly challenges that idea, reframing the yuppie obsession with money, achievement, and unimpeachable good taste as a response to the rough economic headwinds of the 1970s and ’80s. Along the way, it explores how yuppiedom was equally a reaction to suburban post-war monoculture — and perhaps most perplexingly, a kind of impossible attempt to reconcile a newfound love of capitalism with the egalitarian values of the hippie era.Tom joins us to discuss the yuppie origin story and the historical factors that rerouted a generation from protesting the Vietnam War to working on Wall Street. We get into who — and what — the yuppies were rebelling against, and how their emphasis on not just consumption, but consuming the right things, laid the blueprint for everything from urban gentrification, to contemporary food culture, to the news and television we consume.We also talk about whether or not the yuppie still exists — perhaps in the form of Millennials? — and, of course, where Trump, then and now, fits into all of this.Purchase Triumph of the Yuppies.Follow Tom on Substack. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

In a thought-provoking discussion, Matt Pearce, a former LA Times reporter turned Substack writer focused on local news, and Emma Kemp, a researcher and professor specializing in environmental media, delve into the shifting landscape of journalism during climate disasters. They explore the emotional impact of events like the LA wildfires and Hurricane Helene, emphasizing the role of technology and community in accurate information dissemination. The pair outlines the importance of local journalism, the challenges of social media in crisis communication, and innovative strategies for community resilience.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit theculturejournalist.substack.comFrom AI song generators like SUNO and Udio to “knob-free,” browser-based DAWs like BandLab, a rash of new music production apps and software is wooing creators with the promise of shortcutting the time and elbow grease it traditionally takes to make music. But is quicker and more effortless necessarily better? Montreal-based writer and musician Devon Ha…

Mike Pepi, author of "Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia," critiques the blind optimism surrounding technology's societal role. He argues that techno-utopianism, often seen as a path to a better society, is flawed and ideologically loaded. The conversation explores the dangerous alliance between tech and politics, the complexities of data neutrality, and how young idealists navigate power dynamics. Pepi emphasizes the necessity to question who truly benefits from technological advancements and advocates for a more measured approach to harnessing tech for positive change.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit theculturejournalist.substack.comAre algorithms actually making culture boring? It’s easy to point to the Spotifys and Instagrams the world and blame them for what we perceive to be stagnant cultural production, flattened tastes, and generally bad vibes. But, in a recent piece for the Atlantic titled “The Technology That Actually Runs Our World,” journalist T.M. Brown argues that the a…

Let’s take a step back in time to the halcyon days of late 2011, back when a little Swedish music app called Spotify landed in our app stores.Its arrival, alongside the rise of early smartphones and “public square” platforms like Twitter, seemed to herald the utopian ideals of a democratizing tech future just on the horizon. Here was an app that professed to level the playing field for music fans and artists alike via what Spotify imagined to be a “data-driven democracy”: For fans, it put pretty much any music you wanted at your fingertips, anytime. On the artist side, it promised to replace industry gatekeepers with a system where anyone who wrote a good enough song could land a viral hit — while also righting the compensatory wrongs of technological predecessors like Napster.That’s…. not exactly how it’s played out.Today, Spotify’s myth of meritocracy has been supplanted by a system where major labels make millions of dollars a day from streaming while artists make less than a penny per stream; where AI DJs do the choosing for you within an algorithmic echo chamber; and where “vibe”-oriented playlists are filled with music by ghost artists designed to keep you listening longer while paying attention less.How all of this came to pass — and its far-reaching ripple effects on everything from cultural taste and aesthetics to the very meaning of being an “independent” artist — is the subject of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, a new book by independent music journalist Liz Pelly. The work culminates a decade of dogged reporting covering Spotify’s rise from democratizing platform to corporate behemoth, and how, in the process, it has eroded the vast majority of artist’s ability to make a living off of their work.Liz joins us to discuss how independent artists got swept up in a system that was clearly never built with them in mind, and how it managed to devalue their work to almost nothing. We also get into Spotify’s flattening impact on music, in both an aesthetic and economic sense. And we break down the platform’s push towards “lean-back” listening — you know, beats to study and chill to — and how it’s reshaped the very meaning of being a fan.Follow Liz on Instagram.Get Mood Machine and check out more of Liz’s work here.Read an excerpt, "The Ghosts in the Machine," at Harper's This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

T.M. Brown, a journalist known for his incisive New York Times piece on the cultural significance of Zyn, delves into how these nicotine pouches have morphed into symbols of American masculinity. He discusses Zyn's unexpected appeal among young men and its rise as a political lightning rod, interwoven with social media influence and subcultural dynamics. Brown also touches on the contradictions within Zyn culture, balancing indulgence with health consciousness and exploring the evolving identity of nicotine consumption in contemporary society.

Catherine Liu, a professor of Film and Media Studies at UC Irvine and author of "Virtue Hoarders," dissects the Democratic Party's ties to the Professional Managerial Class (PMC) following Kamala Harris's defeat. She explores how the PMC perpetuates class inequalities and critiques the party's disconnect from working-class issues. Liu also addresses the dangers of superficial branding in politics, data-driven strategies that neglect healthcare, and the necessity for the left to authentically engage with tangible voter concerns amidst rising economic insecurities.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit theculturejournalist.substack.comWhat’s it like when a song you wrote more than half a decade ago goes viral on TikTok? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Massachusetts indie band Vundabar with their 2015 track “Alien Blues”—to the tune of 83,000 TikTok videos and 600 million Spotify streams. This week, frontman Brandon Hagen joins us to talk about the experience of navigating a sud…