Melissa Kacar

everyone for ten minutes  proves that "Bleachers is for anyone, not everyone". This record sets forth into building out - and diving deeper into - the band's lore and mythology surrounding what Bleachers is, was, and becoming. It makes it clear that this album especially is made for the people who have connected with and truly understand the ethos of all their music represents and the community they have cultivated around it.  It feels like such a powerful reflection of the stage of Jack Antonoff 's career he's in right now. With the mantra "Only my people can see me" sitting at the heart of the album, it becomes a commentary on the accessibility of artists in the age of social media and the necessity of managing that access by offering it only in short, controlled doses to the public. The dynamics of being perceived so publicly and widely by people who don't necessarily know anything about who you are or what your music stands for - but still want ...

"the cure" by Olivia Rodrigo The second single off of Olivia 's you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love is such a cathartic, existential, and melodramatic masterpiece - all of which are traits that have continually made up so much of her best work to date. If the lead single "drop dead" is the embodiment of the girl so in love portion of the album title, then "the cure" in turn feels like the representation of the you seem pretty sad aspect of the time in her life that inspired her to write this. Coming in at the midpoint of the album's tracklist, it's definitely going to serve as a crucial transition piece for the album's overarching narrative. The build‑up to the bridge and the explosive final chorus is absolutely incredible and feels so powerful with every single listen. It's genuinely one of the best songs Olivia has ever written, and also one of the greatest pop songs of recent memory, which is not an overstatement in the slig...