6B — Thursday, February 2, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Aristophanes
spits
and
spins. Her delivery is slippery
and sharp. In an instant, she
switches from a whisper to a
growl, creating sounds unlike
anything I have ever heard. Her
words seem to seep from her
with ease and effortlessness,
but they bite. Even if, like I,
you cannot understand her
slew of Mandarin, the punch of
emotion is unmistakable.
Though exquisite in her
execution,
Aristophanes
is
relatively new to the hip-hop
scene. Hailing from Taipei,
she began dabbling casually
in the scene there only a few
years ago. Growing up, she
was exposed to very little pop
culture, making her aggressive
jump into music all the more
impressive
and
surprising.
Unlike her male, Taiwanese
counterparts,
Aristophanes
does not use her music as a
stage for her swagger or to get
a leg up towards a lush lifestyle
— she is no braggart and has
no desire to break into the
American music scene.
Despite her lack of intention,
Aristophanes
slipped
into
the American stream when
featured on “SCREAM,” an
arresting single from Grimes’s
2015 Art Angels. Her voice
paradoxically drips with sex
and malice, rapping: “You lie
there / Struggling with the
body fluid that is getting cold
/ Sticky, transparent, elastic
flowers in my palm.” She
is not one to mince words,
talking about sex and the
body with a gothic tilt. Her
most recent track, “Humans
Become
Machines,”
was
produced by Grimes and is
reminiscent
of
the
pair’s
previous collaboration — dicy
and surreal.
Her music makes my skin
tingle; I feel hyperalert and
slightly
frightened,
yet
so
much more alive. But it’s
not only her sound; it’s her.
Aristophanes
herself
is
a
force that demands to be felt.
Nothing about her intersects
nicely with American hip-
hop convention — not her
gender, her nationality nor her
contorted lyrical phrasings. In
the hegemonic realm of hip-
hop, Aristophanes is a wake-
up call; a blast of freezing,
refreshing air.
Aristophanes presents a
welcome wake-up call
Taiwanese rapper floughts convention with spooky sound
ARISTOPHANES
CARLY SNIDER
Senior Arts Editor
She’s only an “it-girl” if I
want to steal her life. For me,
that the line to be drawn for the
definition. Trouble is, the girls
whose lives I would like to steal
the most are fictional imprints
of the author’s imaginations.
But that does not make me want
their lives any less.
Lady Macbeth
The literal and metaphorical
Queen of “Macbeth.” Was that
a low-hanging sentence? Yes.
But it was wholly necessary.
She’s in a league way above her
Shakespearean contemporaries;
she isn’t whiney like Juliet and
Ophelia, she’s bold, beautiful
and
bloodthirsty.
Lady
Macbeth is the ultimate badass;
unapologetically
ambitious
and determined. In a time
when women were thought
of as nothing but disposable
accessories,
she
mercilessly
pursued power. Admittedly, her
proclivity to murder is a little
off-putting, but a girl’s got to
have some flaws.
Anne Shirley
Red-headed and befreckled
Anne Shirley of “Ann of Green
Gables” is nothing short of
ridiculous. She personifies the
term “extra” a century before it
even came into existence. She is
unabashedly melodramatic ––
after accidentally dying her much
loathed red hair green she wails
that her life cannot possibly go
on. But her over-the-top nature
only adds to her endless charm
and fuels her unparalleled sense
of imagination.
Hermione Granger
The true hero of the Harry
Potter series. Or, at least, to
nerdy know-it-all girls like me.
Those two buffoons would be no
where if it wasn’t for Hermione’s
logic, wits and ingenuity. Being
a witch is undeniably cool,
but being the best witch in a
wizarding
school
infinitely
cooler.
Eloise
No one can pull off an egg
cup hat like Eloise. The little
diva, who lives in the Plaza
Hotel, made life at The Plaza
so alluring. Plus she was in
possession of just about the
coolest pets a six-year-old could
possibly have: Weenie the pug
and Skipperdee the turtle.
Scout Finch
Universally beloved. Arguably
the greatest thing is to be loved by
all, and “To Kil a Mockingbird”
’s Scout’s narration captures the
heart of all. She’s intelligent,
mischievous
and
genuinely
good, in a way that perhaps only
a child can be.
I’ll admit it: I have dreamed
of being a model after a Bella
Hadid Instagram binge. Or a
food stylist (which might be
the best job ever) after scrolling
through Molly Yeh’s picturesque
page. But while I’m not immune
to coveting these cool girls’ cool
lives, I don’t lust after them the
way I do with literary heroines.
The lives of female protagonists
don’t have to fall under the
constaints of modern society,
but instead are abound with
thrill and melodrama.
TESS TOBIN
Daily Arts Writer
From Lit Girls to
It-Girls: Characters as
covetable as Insta stars
Eli
za
be
th
W
ar
re
n
B
ey
o
n
c
é
Sa
lly
Y
at
es
Ke
hl
an
i
A
m
be
r
Pa
yn
e
Political
heroine of the moment, we thank
you.
Look up
NBCBLK and you'll understand why
its managing editor is here.
Her
sophomore album is full of sugar,
spice and everything savage.
Please
have twin girls and name them
Kelly and Michelle.
Tell Mr.
President how it IS.
AND
JOIN DAILY ARTS FOR MORE
CULTURALLY RELEVANT
OPPORTUNITIES
E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for
information on applying.
WARNER BROS.
I’m not
immune to
coveting these
cool girls’ cool
lives