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

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be

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 W

ar

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n

B

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o

n

c

é

Sa

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 Y

at

es

Ke

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Pa

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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

