The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, September 9, 2019 — 5A

In the spirit of Welcome Week, 
Festifall and all things post-Labor-Day, 
The Daily Film section has written a 
collection of blurbs celebrating our 
favorite “Openings” to movies. Here’s 
to another year of learning, changing, 
trying, 
failing, 
crying, 
smiling, 
passing, movie-watching and (most 
importantly) a-best-picture-awarded-
to-a-film-that-surpasses-the-low-
bar-of-not-being-problematic-at-best-
and-severly-discouraging-as-to-the-
current-state-of-the-conversation-on-
racial-equality-in-America-at-worst.
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
Barry 
Jenkins’s 
(“Moonlight”) 
opening scene in “If Beale Street 
Could Talk” technically lasts just 
three minutes. The leading pair, 
Alonzo 
“Fonny” 
Hunt 
(Stephan 
James, “Race”) and Tish Rivers (KiKi 
Layne, “Native Son”) step into the 
frame 
hand-in-hand, 
invigorating 
Baldwin’s quoted words — they stroll 
down a quiet sidewalk and kiss before 
the movie cuts to a more current scene 
of Tish visiting Fonny in jail. For the 
purposes of this blurb, I am only 
concerned with 40 seconds of this 
sequence, which are entirely spent 
tracking their walk. Point A to Point 

B. That’s all.
Is it, though? Not if you play along 
with Jenkins, look where he wants 
you to look, play along with his tricks 
just long enough to fall under his spell. 
The camera arcs around the lovers, 
starting behind and slightly above 
Fonny and Tish, so at first, what stands 
out is the perfect synchrony of their 
steps like we are watching a ballet. 
As we watch from a steepening angle, 
however, we see this choreography 
is imperfect: Fonny’s intoed gait is 
not an absolute counterpart to Tish’s. 
As the camera begins its descent, 
we see their clumsy upper bodies 
hazarding into each other, in spite of 
the synchronization of their feet. 
Poise and clumsiness. Plans and 
inevitability. Jenkins’s lightly but 
not over-choreographed simplicity 
to mimic romance’s. Like waiting in 
your car for 10 minutes so you ring 
the doorbell reasonably late. Like 
“running into them” as they exit one 
classroom as you enter your next. 
Like matching a stride, slowing or 
quickening to keep up with the person 
you love.
— Julianna Morano, Daily Arts 
Writer
“No Strings Attached”
The first week of classes is over, 
“sylly week” if you will, and the only 
real way to mourn the end of Welcome 
Week parties is to watch the beginning 
of “No Strings Attached” several times 

over. The opening of the film moves 
quickly from the characters’ first 
meeting as young teens at camp to an 
awkward encounter at a frat party. 
While a wide shot of a frat house is 
no cinematographic feat, the beauty 
of the scene lies in the set design. 
Block M flags hang out the windows 
of the house and there’s a slow 
realization that Ashton Kutcher and 
Natalie Portman, at one point in their 
lives, were just like us. Or, at least, 
pretended to be. The shot continues 
and soon, you’re reliving freshman 
year — except it’s not Greta Gerwig 
shouting about how drunk she is but 
one of your new dorm friends you 
have to grab from an elevated surface. 
And 
there’s 
something 
special 
about 
watching 
Ashton 
Kutcher 
pretending to be a “brother” while 
surrounded with various university 
paraphernalia. 
He 
embodies 
the 
fraternity aesthetic and his confused 
recognition as he spots Portman 
from across the room is a look all 
too familiar from Welcome Week 
shenanigans. 
So, as the school year starts and 
schedules fill up, anytime you’re 
feeling down, just remember that 
Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, 
or at least their characters, also once 
awkwardly tried to remember why 
someone seemed so familiar during 
the school year.
— Emma Chang, Senior Arts Editor

To end: Openings, part three

DEF JAM RECORDINGS / GETTY IMAGES

Whether 
you 
call 
it 
trip-hop, 
“downtempo” or “lounge,” the type 
of music that falls under this large 
umbrella of related genres is incredibly 
difficult to pull off without sounding 
unbearably corny, boring or both. 
Successes do exist, from Portishead to 
Massive Attack as well as some work by 
groups such as Zero 7, but as a whole, 
and for good reason, there’s not much 
out there that excites and intrigues 
more than it cures insomnia.
I heard Moon Safari described 
using some of these terms, and while 
not wrong per se, I discovered how 
meaningless they really were. The 
1998 debut album of the French duo 
consisting 
of 
two 
students 
from 
Versailles, Nicolas Godin and Jean-
Benoît Dunkel, is perhaps one of the 
most playful and, dare I say, cheeky 
albums you will ever hear. Borne out of 
endless tinkering and experimenting 
with synths, preceded by remixes and 
a middling EP, Moon Safari is itself an 
odd experiment, a mish-mash of genres 
and time periods.
At times sophisticated and at others 
melancholic yet strangely childish, the 
album still sounds futuristic in the 
same way a Lamborghini Countach 
still 
looks 
futuristic. 
Both 
didn’t 
necessarily predict the predominant 
aesthetics of the future, but perhaps we 
just haven’t really caught up.
And like the Countach, Moon Safari 
is both breathtaking and prone to fall 
apart at any moment. The fact that 
Moon Safari never reaches the heights 
it’s capable of makes it that much more 
fascinating. These heights, however, 
are teased at in the memorable opener, 
the instrumental “La Femme d’argent.” 
Anchored by a lovely, fun bassline, 
it nonetheless makes me feel like it 
should be the soundtrack to an awful 
B-movie, or at best (worst?) Roger 

Moore dumping around in space as 
James Bond in “Moonraker.”
“Sexy Boy,” the following track, is 
the prime example of how the duo, like 
Giorgio Moroder in Italy decades prior, 
transformed overwhelming corniness 
into something that is somehow cool. 
The vocoder-based vocals, whispering 
in French during the verses and 
letting out protracted versions of the 
title during the chorus aren’t quite 
D’Angelo’s croons, but the charging 
drumtrack 
and 
wobbling 
synth 
patterns make the track surprisingly 
addicting and captivating.
“All I Need,” featuring Tampa-
based singer Beth Hirsch is the most 
“lounge”-y track on the album, but 
the bassline and intermittent synth 
flourishes elevate it above most made-
for-Lifetime-commercial tracks that 
permeate the genre. “Ce matin-là,” 
another instrumental, is similar in that 
it is just too damn pretty for its own 
good, but self-aware all the same.
Air achieved some popular success 
after the release of Moon Safari, scoring 
Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides” 
and contributing to her later film “Lost 
in Translation” as well. Like those 
films, Air’s music ended up capturing 
the late ’90s and early 2000s too well in 
a sense. In Air’s case, they were never 
able to recreate the purity ever-present 
in Moon Safari, and considering the 
events in the world in the following 
years continuing up to now, I suppose 
that makes sense.
The 
sense 
of 
self-awareness 
permeates the entire album and is the 
reason why it eclipses many of the 
works that followed it up in the early 
2000s. “Sexy Boy” isn’t in anyway 
supposed to be sexy, for example, yet 
there’s an undeniable confidence and 
swagger underneath all that cheese. 
This is not an album for the irony-
poisoned and cynical (as I personally 
found myself drifting towards when I 
first listened to it). To me, it was more 
of a reminder that I needed to get over 
myself and, well, have some fun.

‘Moon Safari’ by Air

WORLD MUSIC COLUMN

SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist

FILM NOTEBOOK

JULIANNA MORANO
Daily Arts Writer

Last 
week, 
Kanye 
West 
officially announced the tracklist 
and release date for Jesus Is King, 
his upcoming ninth studio album. 
It’s common knowledge now that 
album 
rollout 
announcements 
from Kanye should be taken with 
a grain of salt. We’ve seen this 
happen for years, most memorably 
the 
haphazard 
yet 
wholesome 
rollout of The Life Of Pablo, in 
which the tracklist was finalized 
weeks after the initial release.
The most recent unorthodox 
album rollout came in fall 2018 as 
Kanye teased Yandhi, a spiritual 
successor of sorts to his 2013 
album Yeezus. It was originally 
slated for Sept. 29, then delayed to 
Nov. 23, but 2019 came around and 
Yandhi never did.
Some 
time 
in 
mid-August, 
several leaked versions of Yandhi 
began circulating — in particular, 
a 28-minute leak on YouTube 
that compiled nine demos and 
recordings, 
presumably 
from 
sessions for Yandhi. Since then, 
the 
title 
has 
become 
fairly 
synonymous with this collection 
of leaks.
There’s a lot of debate about the 
ethics of leaks. Some argue they 
are harmful and can cost artists 
or labels financially, or cause 
artists to throw away tracks that 
had potential. But after a song (or 
album) has been leaked, there’s no 
going back. Yandhi is an especially 
interesting leak: It’s very much a 
rough draft. Most of the songs are 
unfinished, embodying a certain 
idea Kanye was reaching for but 
not quite realized. I took this 
opportunity to dig into the brief 
tracklisting for Yandhi for insight 
into Kanye’s creation process and 
ask a question: What could have 
been?
The opening track, “New Body,” 
is a pop-rap song with appearances 
from frequent collaborators Ty 
Dolla $ign and Nicki Minaj. The 

lyrics celebrate plastic surgery, 
something relevant to Nicki Minaj 
herself and Kanye West’s current 
(and 
past) 
partner. 
A 
catchy 
flute melody plays throughout, 
a 
vaguely 
African 
pop 
sound 
maybe inspired by Kanye’s 2018 
trip to record in Uganda. The 
instrumental is pretty middling, 
though.
Next is “The Storm,” featuring 
the late XXXTentacion in a mildly 
awkward and angry verse. The 
aggression in the verse comes 
off especially strange because 
the vocals are unmixed, so he 
just sounds like he’s pissed off, 
screaming over a Skype call or 
something. The song is repetitive 
and 
uninteresting. 
So 
far, 
it 
seemed fair for Yandhi to hit the 
bin.
“Alien” is the first song to show 
potential. As the title suggests, 
it features a surreal and colorful 
beat with an eerie melody. At one 
point the instrumental really kicks 
in and starts to envelop your ears 
like a grandiose movie soundtrack. 
The song ends abruptly though 
and Kanye’s delivery is pathetic — 
they are clearly first-time laid-out 
lyrics. If the track were finished 
with 
a 
better 
performance 
from Kanye, “Alien” could be a 
highlight track on a future Kanye 
West project.
“Law of Attraction” (also called 
“Chakras”) is probably the most 
obvious demo on the album, as 
similar to the previous track, 
Kanye mumbles nonsensical lyrics 
to get his flow down throughout. 
It seems to be a pattern for Kanye 
in his songwriting process that the 
flows and emotions and concepts 
come before any finished lyrics. 
The 
layered 
vocal 
harmonies 
are wonderful, and there’s an 
intensity 
to 
Kanye’s 
delivery 
that could make for a respectable 
album deep cut, but the next track, 
“Bye Bye Baby,” fulfills the same 
role on an album. It’s similar in 
intensity with a more interesting 
instrumental 
and 
features 
a 
very emotional (and completed) 

Kanye-core verse, touching on his 
feelings of insecurity that have 
shined on his last few records.
Only one track, “Hurricane,” is a 
really unlistenable demo. The beat 
is pretty cool and glamorous — it 
sounds like something you might 
find on a Travis Scott project — 
but the weird falsetto vocals are 
horrifyingly annoying. The song 
won’t be missed. It’s followed by 
“We Got Love (Remix),” another 
high 
potential 
track. 
That’s 
rumored to have originally been 
for Teyana Taylor’s album, which 
would explain why her verse is so 
well put together beside Kanye 
West’s awkward and vaguely off-
beat contributions.
“Garden” is a beautiful and 
soulful 
track 
that 
presumably 
came from a session with the choir 
for Kanye West’s “Sunday Service” 
performances — weekly, invite-
only stagings in which Kanye West 
performs gospel-esque versions of 
music from his catalog. It sounds 
like an even better version of 
something you might find on 
Chance 
the 
Rapper’s 
Coloring 
Book. The audio is notably low-
quality, like it was recorded on a 
cell phone during a live session. 
This is a track to be excited 
about: It’s one of the only leaked 
songs to appear on the tracklist 
posted for Jesus Is King, so we 
can (cautiously) expect a finished 
release in the near future. The 
leaked album closes with “Slave 
Name,” a gorgeous instrumental 
outro led by a guitar, but clearly 
incomplete.
The 
verdict? 
Yandhi 
has 
potential. We’ll probably never 
see finished versions of “Alien” or 
“Bye Bye Baby,” something that’s 
actually deeply unfortunate. The 
ideas and concepts on Yandhi 
are 
actually 
extremely 
fresh 
and exciting. The insight into 
Kanye West’s creative process is 
interesting, but unfinished demos 
aren’t really revisitable. The best 
fans can do is wait and hope that 
Jesus Is King embraces the best of 
Yandhi — if it even comes out.

Leaked: ‘Yandhi,’ track by track

MUSIC NOTEBOOK

DYLAN YONO
Daily Arts Writer

Part 
of 
going 
to 
an 
elite 
university is sometimes there’s an 
overwhelming pressure to always 
be busy. During time off from 
rigorous 
academic 
schedules, 
many feel that they should be 
doing 
something 
exciting 
and 
career-enhancing. 
I 
stressed 
myself out all second semester 
looking for internships and jobs to 
keep myself occupied this summer. 
To my dismay, every single plan 
I made fell through. Even the 
class I was going to take at the 
community college back home was 
canceled. I left Ann Arbor feeling 
defeated, boredom already seeping 
in. But I didn’t stay bored for 
long. A couple internships worked 
out, I secured a job, I took online 
classes. Suddenly, my summer was 
full of fulfilling experiences.
My most adventurous endeavor 
was going to Los Angeles for a 
month-long film internship. I lived 
on my own for a month in a city 
I’d never been to without knowing 
a soul — a seven-hour plane ride 
from my home. I worked a nine-to-
five internship at a film company 
and loved (almost) every second 
of it. I explored career options 
I didn’t even know existed. I 
fulfilled dreams, I expanded my 
resume, but mostly I learned how 
strong I was.
When I came back, I nannied a 
two-and-a-half-year-old 
toddler, 
getting a different taste of adult 
responsibilities. As I was making 
sure she didn’t run into the road 
or fall down the stairs, I found the 
old saying that babysitting is the 
best birth control to be true in as 
many ways as it is false.
I even explored my local theatre, 
doing an internship that allowed 
me to learn the stories of people 
in my community. I reconnected 
with the home I found last summer 
before making Ann Arbor my home. 
I found a passion for hearing and 
sharing other people’s stories.
All these experiences proved 
to be hard work, but incredibly 
fulfilling. I grew in so many ways 
that I barely recognized myself. 
Away from the tight schedules 
and academic pressures of the 
school year, summer is the time 

when we finally have a chance to 
explore who we are and who we 
want to be. A lot of that comes 
from the new opportunities we are 
allowed to explore, such as jobs, 
internships and volunteer work. 
But a lot also comes from having 
some time to ourselves to indulge 
in our passions and give ourselves 
time to expand our minds on our 
own terms.
In the weeks between jobs, I 
found myself growing more and 
more comfortable having time to 
myself, with a lot of my summer 
spent curled on on my bed typing 
aggressively 
on 
my 
laptop 
or 
quietly strumming my g uitar. I 
finally had the freedom to do all 
the projects I always wanted to do 
but was too busy to actually do. At 
first, it was a lot of pressure. But 
eventually, I settled into starting 
projects 
for 
myself 
and 
not 
worrying about having to finish 
them for a deadline. That led to a 
lot of unfinished projects, but also 
a lot of new and exciting ideas.
I wrote a synopsis for about 
seven different plays I wanted 
to write and didn’t finish any of 
them. I watched documentaries. 
I learned how to do a mediocre 
Scottish accent for no reason 
other than I thought it would be 
a fun skill to have. I discovered 
new music (thanks Ben Platt for 
the title). I gave my Instagram 
an aesthetic, I painted, I wrote, 
I cooked. I slept in until noon 
and 
watched 
all 
of 
“Arrested 
Development” in one week. I lived 
in my own skin and began to enjoy 
having time to myself for the first 
time in a long time.
Growth isn’t only about keeping 
busy 
and 
having 
the 
coolest 
summer story. As high achieving 
students, sometimes we feel that if 
we’re not doing the best internship 
out there, we aren’t doing enough. 
But having a balance of these 
things is how we grow into who 
we are meant to be. We need days 
where we work nine to five at a 
dream internship and days when 
we sleep until noon and write 
crappy plays, or even just binge 
Netf lix. Growth is a process, and 
all forms of creativity add to it. 
My summer may be over, but the 
growth from it will continue on 
throughout the school year and 
beyond.

On growing as I go, &
loving the in-between

COMMUNITY CULTURE NOTEBOOK

DANA PIERANGELI
Daily Arts Writer

EMMA CHANG
Senior Arts Editor

