Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Wednesday, January 18, 2023
The biggest trends
of 2022
As we move into 2023, it’s important
to reflect on our experiences and
discoveries during 2022, to continue
the things we like and scrap the
things we don’t. The most important
reflections, of course, are those about
fashion. It’s clear that 2022 was a
year of fashion successes or, more
controversially, “fashion fails.” Our
style writers reflect on which trends
are coming with us into the new year
and which ones we’re leaving behind.
— CC Meade, Style Beat Editor and
Kaya Ginsky, Senior Arts Editor
Corset Comeback
2022 or 1830? 2022 is The Year
of the Corset Comeback. We’ve
all heard the age-old aphorism
“history repeats itself,” but I
didn’t really believe it until this
past year. With the exception
of the pandemic, I hadn’t seen
anything from history make an
appearance in my modern life
— until the return of the corset.
Corsets
have
been
featured
this past year in everything
from Urban Outfitters to frat
outfits to Broadway musicals
like “Six.” Corsets, which were
first worn and became popular
in 1830, were originally made of
whalebone and steel and were
used to provide shape to the torso.
Though corsets were used in the
past as a wardrobe tool to alter
both men’s and women’s body
shapes, corsets are now a vital
piece of a going-out fit. They can
range in color and style, but they
maintain somewhat of a similar
shape, accentuating the waist and
natural curves in people’s bodies.
Though 2022 was the year corsets
made an official comeback, rising
from their 19th-century coffin,
I expect them to absolutely stick
around for 2023.
Birk Bostons or Barefoot
The
18th-century
German
shoe brand, Birkenstock, came
to America as a sandal in the
’60s, as hippies who preferred
barefoot living sought untailored,
comfortable ware. Since then,
Birkenstocks grew beyond the
hippie crowd to anyone looking
for a durable, largely natural shoe.
As Seventeen article “6 VSCO
Girl Shoes” (referencing the 2019
casual, preppy wave), says, two-
strap Birkenstocks have a “Cali
vibe.” This year, we switched
coasts to the Boston clog. Bostons
have more heartiness and cover
for the East Coast, with a suede top
and classic cork sole. With “ugly
shoes” trending and chunky clogs
showing up in every type of outfit,
fashion ‘it girls’ Kaia Gerber and
Kendall Jenner tipped social media
into a Boston craze by merely
wearing the shoe. This fall, the
hot gender-neutral shoe sold out in
most natural tones, especially the
coveted taupe. The clogs became
a commodity for online resellers,
with some pairs selling for over
$300. These shoes can be worn
with any outfit: long skirts, ripped
jeans, chunky knits — but they go
best with pajamas. If you have not
broken in the backless Bostons over
many years, your foot slips out the
back, leaving you shoeless as a real,
dogs-out hippie.
Names, Images and Likenesses
In June 2021, the NCAA instated
a rule allowing “college athletes
to benefit from name, image
and likeness opportunities.”
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
The best TV shows of 2022
Every year, the television genre
manages to surf some major highs
and lows. Here on the TV beat, we’ve
borne witness to our fair share of
flops, but we’re choosing to focus on
the positive. From Jennifer Coolidge
running around a boat to Jenna
Ortega becoming a TikTok trend,
these eleven shows have made an
indelible impact on the culture as we
tuned in week after week, hungry for
more. And so, without further ado, we
pronounce the best TV shows of 2022.
— Annabel Curran, Senior Arts
Editor, and Serena Irani, TV Beat Editor
“The White Lotus,” Season Two
Just when you thought television
had
played
out
rich
people
being miserable with shows like
“Succession” and “Gossip Girl,” “The
White Lotus” is here to introduce a
new sub-genre: rich people being
miserable on vacation. Season one
introduced viewers to the show’s
outlandish, yet believable, look
into the perspectives of the rich
vacationers and the hotel staff that
tend to their needs. Season two was
an escalation of the first season’s
antics in scale of spectacle rather
than in depth of messaging, which
viewers can piece together from
the very start. In the first episode
this season, we learn that multiple
bodies have been found at the hotel,
rather than the single dead body we
learn about at the start of season one.
The formula certainly works: The
opening murders paint the usual
network drama fare of extramarital
affairs and complicated budding
relationships with an added element
of mystery, as viewers try to figure
out which plotline(s) end in death.
Despite this season’s heightened
shitshow, we still learn many of
the same things — the privileged
comments
rich
people
make
among themselves, the boundaries
the rich ignore, the maneuvers
workers make to advance their
own interests and the systemic
inequality that makes selfishness
have varying consequences on
others. With a stunning Sicilian
backdrop and murder in the air,
“The White Lotus” season two
makes class commentary look
sexy and intriguing — a conflicting
sentiment, to be sure. You’ve just got
to experience this one for yourself.
“Never Have I Ever,” Season
Three
Everyone
loves
a
strong
protagonist. We love to root for
people who are morally centered,
confident and have it all together.
But the one thing I love more than
a strong character is a messy one.
That’s where Devi Vishwakumar
(Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, “Turning
Red”) comes in. Devi is a teenager
who is struggling to navigate
through the grief of losing her father
while at the same time facing the
trials and tribulations of being in
high school. The first two seasons
of this show had my brother and
me literally pleading with Devi to
stop her self-sabotaging antics and
cringe humor, but the third season
had me — for the first time in my life
— applauding Mindy Kaling (“The
Mindy Project”).
“Never Have I Ever” excelled
in many categories, most notably
diversity. Ramakrishnan and her
on-screen family, which includes the
likes of Poorna Jagannathan (“The
Night Of”) and Richa Moorjani
(“Hot
Mess
Holiday”)
made
leaps and bounds for South Asian
representation in TV. Devi wasn’t
placed into previously established
stereotypes of brown girls and
instead created an entirely new
category for herself — insufferable
but ultimately lovable. Season three
of “Never Have I Ever” gets deep
with exploration into relationship
dynamics and vulnerability, and
reconciling
that
with
previous
trauma. Devi and her friends still
found themselves in embarrassingly
cringey situations and still cracked a
joke or two that had my head in my
hands, but the show ultimately told a
beautiful coming-of-age story.
“House of the Dragon”
After the destructive fire that
was the eighth season of “Game
of Thrones” comes the simmering
prequel
series
“House
of
the
Dragon.” Fans of the original series
will be happy to know that this
show still has all of the components
that defined “Game of Thrones” at
its peak: incest, gore, convoluted
family drama, dragons (obviously)
and murder. However, “House of the
Dragon” goes above and beyond. It is
a phoenix rising from the ashes of its
predecessor: smarter, more nuanced
and impeccably designed. Best of all,
it actually has women characters
written by women.
Emma
D’Arcy
(“Foresight”)
and Olivia Cooke (“Slow Horses”)
are truly captivating as Princess
Rhaenyra Targaryen and Queen
Alicent Hightower, respectively.
The central story follows their
female friendship as it drastically
changes based on the constraints
of their patriarchal society and
new experiences as mothers. As
they slowly turn into enemies, the
political waters become murky,
making it difficult to decide which
side is in the wrong. More contained
than “Game of Thrones,” “House
of the Dragon” is able to better
spend time developing detailed
and layered characters competing
for the Iron Throne — and it works
wonderfully. As someone who
was underwhelmed by “Game of
Thrones,” “House of the Dragon”
finally provided what I was longing
for in the story of Westeros. Until
the release of season two, you will
find me talking about this show
with everyone I know.
“Heartstopper”
Hi. (Hi).
It’s not often that I watch a show
and want to watch it again. And
again. And again. OK, I’ll say it; I’ve
seen “Heartstopper” nine times (and
counting).
Something about Netflix’s smash
hit had me coming back for more,
just to freak out over Nick (Kit
Connor, “Rocketman”) and Charlie
(Joe Locke, debut) falling in love for
the millionth time. I mean, “I love
liking you?” I think I’m justified.
With a diverse cast of complex
characters,
“Heartstopper”
provides representation for people
of different races, sexualities and
genders without ever coming across
as forced or stereotypical (looking
at you, “Glee”). It also provides a
well-written
bisexual
character
in the form of a sweet 16-year-old
boy instead of an attractive woman
in her mid-20s, usually played by
Megan Fox or Olivia Wilde. No
disrespect, but let’s switch it up
Hollywood. Please.
With stellar performances by
Connor and Locke as the show’s
leads and a surprise feature of
Olivia Colman (“Fleabag”) as Nick’s
mother, “Heartstopper” successfully
combines the comedic elements of
a teen rom-com with the heavier
topics that often come with a
coming-out storyline.
What the show does best,
however, is provide a sense of
comfort for people not often shown
proper support from the media.
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Design by Grace Filbin.
Design by Grace Filbin.
2022 was full of stellar albums
across every genre and soundscape.
Below find the Music Beat’s top albums
of the year for every music taste.
— Claire Sudol, Music Beat Editor,
and Jack Moeser, Senior Arts Editor
Dragon New Warm Mountain I
Believe in You by Big Thief
A double LP can often feel,
commercially
speaking,
like
a victory lap — the band has
grown to the place where it can
confidently release an hour and
a half of music and not have
some agent yelling at them. But
Big Thief doesn’t do anything
commercially, and Dragon New
Warm Mountain I Believe In You
does not feel like them resting
on their laurels in the slightest.
They’re
growing,
pushing
themselves and reaching out
across vast landscapes, physical
and emotional. There’s a life lived
across this album, or many lives,
from grandmas to roses drying
out, with phone calls, TV shows
and
apocalypses
interspersed.
The band, consisting of lead
songwriter Adrianne Lenker and
creative partners Buck Meek,
James
Krivchenia
and
Max
Oleartchik, taps into itself deeply
on this album by tapping into a
universality. By creating such a
collection of songs, each with its
own contained magic, Big Thief
shows us the many universes each
of us holds, and how these can
come together.
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers by
Kendrick Lamar
The five-year hiatus that spanned
the gap between Kendrick Lamar’s
two most recent solo releases
was filled with grief, joy and
introspection.
Few
experienced
these sensations more than Lamar
himself. Having solidified himself
as one of the greatest rappers of his
generation with 2015’s To Pimp a
Butterfly and 2017’s DAMN., Lamar
opted for reclusion and welcomed
two children with his partner,
Whitney Alford. Five years later, he
gifted the product of his hermitage
to the world.
Whereas To Pimp a Butterfly
scorns the condition of the Black
man in America and DAMN.
takes a deeper look at American
culture, Lamar undertakes the
most difficult subject of study yet
for his fifth album, Mr. Morale &
the Big Steppers: himself. The focus
of much of the album is Lamar’s
relationships with those close to
him, from relatives to friends to
significant others. Lamar then
translates the example of these
relationships to whatever conflict
is being described to a much larger
societal paradigm.
This
formula
is
followed
masterfully on several occasions.
“We Cry Together,” a rhythmic
dramatization of a spat between
a couple, serves as an indictment
of Millennial relationships while
simultaneously telling its own
narrative. “Auntie Diaries” features
Lamar detailing the story of his
transgender uncle while attacking
the normalization of homophobia
and transphobia in the Black
community. Most heartbreakingly,
“Mother I Sober” chronicles the
legacy of child sexual abuse both
in his family and in his community
and closes with the motif of
Lamar “breaking the cycle” of
generational
trauma
that
has
plagued his bloodline. Few albums
this year, if any, synthesize complex
emotions into transmittable sound
waves as elegantly as Lamar did
this past May, and he continues to
pad his resume even as he departs
Top Dawg.
Household Name by Momma
Household Name is poised to
make indie rock four-piece Momma
precisely that. Fraught with ’90s
rock sounds, Momma is akin to
the likes of Veruca Salt and The
Breeders — each track is filled to the
brim with grungy electric guitars,
gritty female vocals and piercing
bass and drum lines. The front end
of the album is jam-packed with
hits: “Rip Off” opens with a growing
hum of distortion, and percussion
that sizzles like a rattlesnake,
pacing itself at a slow groove while
beefy guitar and airy voices move
in a swirling tandem. The dynamic
fluctuations of loud and quiet in
both “Medicine” and “Rockstar” are
almost Pixies-esque — totally in your
face in one moment and reduced to a
charged lull in another. This deft use
of dynamics leaves listeners with
bated breath in anticipation of the
next line, next song, next album.
It would be remiss not to mention
“Tall Home” when talking about
Household Name — the guitar line
repeats itself endlessly in a dense
tone that any guitarist could aspire
to recreate. My top pick from the
album, “Tall Home” is an earworm
that just won’t go away, digging its
way deeper, nestling against your
eardrums.
On Household Name, Momma
references an imminent rise to
stardom that was perhaps only
achievable in the ’90s, but among
the plethora of artists who find
themselves in the pop-punk revival,
Momma stands at the head of the
pack. While pop-punk bravado
can come off as a schtick in other
bands, the angst-ridden sincerity
and pleasantly insouciant attitude
of Household Name make it so
enticing.
My advice is to listen long and
hard. There are surely stars to be
found here.
Midnights by Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift just can’t stop
keeping us on our toes. Midnights,
the record-breaking album of 2022,
introduced the world to a new, more
mature version of Swift, quickly
becoming a fan favorite. The album
sounds like 1989 grew up and
became a blossoming masterpiece.
Filled with introspective lyrics
backed by Jack Antonoff and Aaron
Dessner’s
signature
production
style, Midnights is just as profound
as it is catchy. Emotional tracks
like “Labyrinth,” “Bigger Than
the Whole Sky” and “Would’ve,
Could’ve, Should’ve” are balanced
by the bounciness of songs like
“Karma” and “Bejeweled.” The
main album, along with its bonus
tracks, creates a storyline of Swift’s
career and how she spends her
restless nights thinking about all
the things that have happened to
her over her nearly 20-year career.
If you’re a casual fan of Swift, the
album features plenty of fun, made-
for-radio songs that will certainly
stick in your head for the whole
day. If you’re a Swiftie through and
through, this album is a look into
Swift’s mind, taking her relationship
with her fans to a much deeper level.
The Forever Story by JID
After four long years since rapper
JID’s last solo project DiCaprio
2, he made the wait worthwhile
with The Forever Story, a boldly
captivating release that showcases
an undeniable amount of skill and
personality.
There is never a dull moment
on The Forever Story, and any
listener would be able to tell every
fine detail within each song was
carefully thought through. Nearly
every element that made DiCaprio
2 so good has been improved upon
even more, from the kooky, eclectic
production (like on the multi-
phased “Raydar” and the poignant
and beautiful “Lauder Too”), to
the sharp and witty bars that flow
out of JID’s mouth with lightning
speed and grace (the frenetic “Can’t
Punk Me” is just one example, a
hard-hitting track detailing JID’s
humble beginnings in which he
describes himself as a poor boy
on the streets, fully-loaded, “ribs
showin’,” doing whatever it’d take
to survive). Additionally, “Surround
Sound”
contains
arguably
the
most infectious chorus of any song
in 2022, another testament to
JID’s penmanship and creativity,
enforcing it further when the beat of
the song switches to a braggadocious
outro full of clever bars (“.40 on his
side, boy, you Mike Alstott, he on the
block violent”). If The Forever Story
hasn’t already solidified JID’s place
in the mainstream rap industry,
then I don’t know what will.
Dawn FM by The Weeknd
When
pop
superstar
Abel
Tesfaye (aka The Weeknd) abruptly
released Dawn FM early last
year, it was difficult to see what
his creative vision was. Whereas
After Hours, his previous album,
was a catchy and straightforward
assemblage
of
enjoyable
and
tastefully
retro-futuristic
pop
tracks, Dawn FM leans heavily
into concept and takes risks,
from Tesfaye’s off-putting British
accent on “Gasoline” to several
spoken-word interludes by actor
Jim Carrey throughout the album.
While the idea of masquerading
an album as a radio show has been
executed countless times, Dawn
FM
balances
its
lighthearted
nature
with
thought-provoking
introspection in a way that no other
radio-themed album ever has.
Furthermore, the album features
an outstanding collection of diverse
dance tracks, from “Sacrifice,”
which
features
an
energetic
rock-guitar riff, to “Out of Time,”
which takes direct influence from
Japanese city pop. While Dawn FM
is clearly a very personal statement
by Tesfaye, it’s strengthened by its
features from Tyler, the Creator
and Lil Wayne, which add variety
to an already unpredictable album.
The music beat’s picks for best albums of the year
DAILY MUSIC WRITERS
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