Media Review

The long anticipated 2022 Spotify Wrapped is almost here, and with a rumored twist that will make it more accurate than ever. Spotify Wrapped is a compilation of the minutes, artists, genres, podcasts, and more, that you listened to during that year (2021 example below). Historically, Spotify Wrapped data collection ends on October 31st - but customer service responses and tweets from Spotify seem to suggest otherwise for this year’s Wrapped.  2021 Wrapped example If accurate, this conversation with Spotify customer support (posted on Reddit) would mean that data collection will end right before 2022 Spotify Wrapped is released. This would make 2022 Wrapped the most accurate Spotify Wrapped to date. Conversation with Spotify customer support Another clue came from Spotify’s Twitter page , although it was later deleted. Spotify told listeners to stream “all through the year” after PopCrave hinted that Spotify Wrapped data collection would end on Halloween.  Tweet from Spotify about W

I love how nostalgic music is, and how easy it is to connect songs to certain moments or people. Hearing a song I listened to when I rode the bus to high school brings the same feelings as smelling the perfume I used to wear, using the laundry detergent I used sophomore year of college, and using the same brand of hairspray as my grandma. Here are the songs that immediately change my mood and remind me of a specific moment.  Fergalicious - Fergie A month after I got my license, I was driving to school going 77 mph in a 55. I live in the country, so most roads don't have a single hill, dip, blind spot, or house nearby for a few miles straight, and this was true for the road I was on.  I was for some reason listening to a 2000s playlist and Fergalicious was on. Unfortunately, at the first hill after a few miles, a cop was sitting on the other side. I got a ticket. It’s so funny to me because now I’ll be at a frat party or hanging out with friends and Fergalicious will come on, remin

Moneyball is a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill, centered around baseball, statistics, truthful events, comedy, and beating unbeatable odds. Pitt’s character Billy Beane is the general manager of the Oakland A’s (a major league baseball team). After a devastating loss, Beane is faced with the departure of three talented players and the pressure to replace them with players who are just as good. Beane then meets Peter Brand (Hill), an economist from Yale who’s passionate about using the statistics of professional athletes to predict successes. The two pair together to build an incredibly successful baseball team with an unconventional mix of players, based on statistics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a critic rating of 94%.  I’m not usually into sports movies but Moneyball felt completely different. Instead of watching the fall and subsequent rise of a specific player or of a coach guiding his team, Moneyball had an interesting perspective of watching the general manager.

Today I got a notification from my concert app that Rio Da Yung Og would be performing soon, to which my first thought was: but isn’t he still in jail ? Turns out he is and the notification was an odd error, but it got me thinking about how many rappers we’ve lost in the past five years alone. The entire rap scene is changing - and not for the better. In the early hours of Tuesday, November 1st, Takeoff (Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed in an altercation at a bowling alley. This situation only further pushes the outrage surrounding the increasing normalcy of rappers being murdered, dying young, or being used by law enforcement to send a message. In Takeoff’s situation, he was merely a bystander who was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, but other rappers are essentially being used as high targets for recognition, whether that be by the judicial system or by murderers.  Takeoff In November 2021, Young Dolph, a notorious Memphis rapper, was gunned down while he boug