by Therese Askarbek

Reviews

On October 21, 2022, Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated Midnights album at — you guessed it — midnight. Unsurprisingly, many of her fans stayed up late that night, patiently awaiting more content from the prolific artist, who has released an impressive total of 229 songs throughout her career.¹ As I scrolled through my Instagram feed that day, I saw countless reposts of her album announcement, which was a picture of her album cover captioned with a cryptic, intriguing, and all too enticing message: “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.” Swift, known for her penchant of exploring a variety of genres, has clearly left a lot unsaid here. And so, with very little idea of what is to come, I will be diving into this album and seeing if it will beat out folklore and evermore in my fall listening queues. 

1. “Lavender Haze” – The production of the song and the background vocals give it a very dreamlike quality. Nothing too out of the ordinary compared to what Swift has done before. Really interesting significance behind the phrase “Lavender Haze.” Reminiscent of “the lakes,” a bonus track from folklore, mainly because of the context (it is about being in love with her fiance). 7/10
2. “Maroon” – The song has a much darker mood than “Lavender Haze,” which causes a quick shift in tone. Possibly the best imagery in the album, and has some good lyricism. 6/10
3. “Anti-Hero” – I would say this song has better lyricism and more reliability than Maroon. It is the first song that looks inwards with a tone of self deprecation. The “sexy baby” lyric has been received controversially, but even if I hadn’t known it was a 30 Rock reference, I still kind of love that Swift isn’t afraid to be unconventional, especially with such a large fanbase. The song is, as many of hers are, for lack of a better word, “cringe.” But, with her music, you have to kind of lean into it, and once you do, it can be a very fun time. The song is catchy, but I’m still waiting for a genuinely and solidly good song. 7.5/10 
4. “Snow on the Beach” – I had very high expectations for this song because of the Lana Del Rey feature. Cue: the song. Cue: Me, growing increasingly confused as to when Del Rey is featured. I can still definitely hear her influence in the lyrics though, but where her singing could’ve made the song work, Swift’s couldn’t. Del Rey’s voice has a certain depth that Swift’s lacks, as hard as she might try. The production is less noticeable in this song, which is problematic because the track really needs that support. 6.5/10
5. “You’re On Your Own, Kid” – It reminds me of one of her previous albums, Red. This song invokes feelings of nostalgia and childlike innocence. Overall a solid “middle of the album” type song. 7/10 
6. “Midnight Rain” – I can start to see a lot more experimentation in the production of the song. Although, in terms of melody, it is almost exactly the same as “my tears ricochet” from folklore. My only qualm with this song is that I cannot take the muted part seriously; it really sounds like the bear voice filter on Snapchat. 6/10
7. “Question…?” – I really liked that she had a bit more fun with this song, and you can detect a certain cheekiness and coyness. I do wish it was less mellow because, at this point in the album, I was hoping for something intense and catchy that fits this definitively pop album. The clapping sound effect at the end, although it made me laugh, knocked it down a point. 6/10
8. “Vigilante Sh*t” – This is my least favorite song. Can it even be considered a song? I think my main issue, besides it not being very catchy, is that it’s not edgy in the fun way that songs from Reputation were. 4/10
9. “Bejeweled” – I love the way she says “shimmer.” I’m noticing her experimenting more here and she’s really fulfilling the overall vibe of the album; I actually think this song best encapsulates the atmosphere she was going for. It has a much more unique, discernable quality than the previous songs. 9/10
10. “Labyrinth” – This song also fits the vibe in a similar way that “Bejeweled” does. It feels like a prelude preparing the audience for “Karma” (kind of the “Cruel Summer” of Midnights). So, while this song might not be the best, it serves a very important purpose in the arc of the album and in creating buildup for the listener. 7/10
11. “Karma” – This song is so fun. The lyrics are quite simple, which works really well here. Swift can often get caught up in long sentences or complex words in this album, which creates a disconnect and confusion. 10/10 
12. “Sweet Nothing” – Joe Alwyn’s influence on this song is very apparent. It is piano driven and has charming, endearing lyrics about the subtle parts of romance and love. It is much more emotionally effective after a song like “Karma.” 8/10
13. “Mastermind” – It’s catchy, with a lot of emotion and variance in tone while moving at a good pace. I have very few thoughts on this song aside from the fact that I think it was a good end to the album. 7/10

Favorite lyrics: 

“The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones / The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon” (“Maroon”)

“No one wanted to play with me as a little kid / So I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since / To make them love me and make it seem effortless” (“Mastermind”)

“I picked the petals, he loves me not.” (“You’re On Your Own, Kid”)

“On the way home / I wrote a poem / You say, “What a mind”

This happens all the time” (“Sweet Nothings”)

Favorite tracks:  “Karma,” “Bejeweled,” “Sweet Nothing,” and “Lavender Haze”

Overall, this album had some really good songs, but the overt similarity to Lover, along with her other more recent albums, made my listening experience generally passive. With a few exceptions like “Bejeweled” and “Labyrinth,” I don’t feel like she really explored past what she has already done before. I was really optimistic about the concept,but I think she failed to create a cohesive set of songs that really worked together. Her cryptic, vague lyricism contradicts her simple pop song melody and I wish she would lean more into simplicity sometimes. There wasn’t much of a variance in song quality, and I think that they were all slightly above average. I did enjoy the production, which was mostly done by Jack Antonoff, and I noticed a lot of 80’s influence. Some of the production felt very unserious, which made the album feel unserious, and honestly, that was one of my favorite qualities. Shoutout to “cat eye sharp enough to kill a man.” I liked Reputation, but I do not think Taylor Swift has an edgy bone in her body. Maybe she does, but the way she tries to show it never fails to make me laugh just looking at her. Although this album didn’t come off as personal or genuine like I expected, I still enjoyed listening, and will be listening many more times in the coming weeks.

¹ Sheffield, Rob. 2022. “All 129 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked by Rob Sheffield.” Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/taylor-swift-songs-ranked-rob-sheffield-201800/.

by Allie Vasserman

Reviews

December 8, 2022

Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller film directed by Olivia Wilde. The movie stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as the married Alice and Jack Chambers, Chris Pine as Jack’s boss Frank (who is also the head of the Victory Project), Olivia Wilde as Alice’s best friend Bunny, Kiki Layne as Alice’s old friend Margaret, and Gemma Chan as Frank’s wife, Shelly.

The movie opens up with Alice and Jack Chambers hosting a dinner party with their friends. The next day, when Alice says goodbye to Frank while he drives to work at the headquarters of the Victory Project, it becomes very clear that Alice and Jack live in a utopic 1950s-style town in the middle of the desert. As Alice goes about her day as a housewife, cooking and cleaning in a very 1950s way, we learn that the town is supported by the mysterious Victory Project. When Alice attends a dinner party hosted by Shelly and Frank, with the latter giving an incredibly convincing speech on the importance of the work that the men in this community are doing without revealing the details of their work, Alice’s friend Margaret says that The Victory Project is a lie. Shortly after, Alice begins to lose faith in the Victory Project, questioning her sanity and the reality she is living in.

With all of the drama from behind the scenes of Don’t Worry Darling, one of the biggest questions that I had was: is the actual movie any good? I went in with almost no knowledge about any of the drama except that Florence Pugh did not show up to most of the movie promotion events. 

I personally really liked this movie. It is a suspenseful film that gradually hints that something is off about the town and the people in it before Alice realizes. The characters themselves have some sort of dimension to them. The movie has some fairly dark twists and themes, but I won’t mention anything so as not to spoil it. The movie’s soundtrack, in my opinion, is well executed. The diegetic music (the music that the characters hear) is what you would expect for a 1950s utopia-like town and the nondiegetic music (the music that the audience hears) definitely fills you with anticipation and does an excellent job tipping you off that something is off about the town before the characters realize it. Florence Pugh’s acting is great, as usual, and I think that Harry Styles definitely has skills and potential as an actor, although he is not as talented as his costar. In my opinion, both actors definitely sell their roles as a married couple. There are several scenes in the movie that don’t make sense at all and feel as if they don’t exactly fit, but the reveals at the end of the movie really tie those scenes back in. This is definitely one of the movies where it’s best to pay attention to all the details. Without revealing any spoilers, I’d recommend keeping an eye on the clothes that Florence Pugh wears as Alice throughout the film.

After I watched the movie, I read up on the behind-the-scenes drama. I am certain there will not be a sequel, seeing as it’s rumored that Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde got into a screaming match on set, possibly because of the romance that Wilde and Harry Styles began during the filming of this movie. This romance took a lot of attention from the movie itself, which is unfortunate because, in my opinion, the film is suspenseful, entertaining, and definitely worth watching.

by Nathan Robbins

News

December 8, 2022

The holiday season is upon us, bringing colder weather, awkward family gatherings, and… rising prices. As this year’s inflation ticks up towards the double digits, Americans have found themselves struggling to afford essentials like food and energy. But why have prices risen so steeply, and can we expect things to change in the new year?

Most prices are driven by the interaction of supply and demand. Accordingly, the causes of inflation are generally broken down into two main categories: cost-push and demand-pull. Cost-push inflation occurs when costs to manufacturers and suppliers increase, reducing the amount of goods and services they supply. When consumer-driven demand for goods and services increases, demand-pull inflation results.¹

Over the past two years, a cascade of global crises have been the catalysts for both cost-push and demand-pull inflation. The coronavirus pandemic in particular has caused a flurry of compounding inflationary pressures, and the war in Ukraine has thrown a fragile world economy even further into chaos. 

First in the tangled web of Covid disruptions were widespread lockdowns and stay-at-home advisories. As health mandates and shifts in demand put new pressures on manufacturers, the production of many goods was severely impeded. Semiconductor chip manufacturers in Taiwan and South Korea, for example, faced facility shutdowns and demand surges, which kickstarted the global microchip shortages we’re still experiencing today. Food prices rose as labor turnover and additional safety investments drove up production costs.

As consumer demand shifted suddenly from services (like restaurants and travel) to goods (like computers and medical equipment) during Covid lockdowns, global shipping lines into the U.S. were overwhelmed by the influx of imports. Outdated software, a lack of crucial infrastructure and equipment, and chronic understaffing exacerbated the problem. Freight companies are still struggling to correct for compounding bottlenecks, hampered by their long standing shortcomings. The result? Crucial goods—some already facing production shortages—are getting stuck in warehouses, far away from manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.²

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has thrown another massive wrench into the already unsteady global economy. Both Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of wheat and other grains, together representing 30% of global wheat exports.³ According to Ukraine’s government, its grain exports have fallen by more than 50% since the start of the war. Sanctions on Russia have restricted its ability to export oil and gas, contributing to catastrophic shortages in Europe, which relied heavily on Russian exports, and increasing global energy costs.⁴

Scarcity isn’t the only thing that has driven prices up. Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. government has spent roughly $5 trillion on Covid relief funding to individuals, businesses, and state and local governments—more than double the global average as a percentage of GDP.⁵ It stands to reason that, on top of an already recovering economy, the money placed in consumers’ pockets (including $1400 checks direct to families) would drive up demand, and therefore prices.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP), a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, has faced especially intense scrutiny for its effects on inflation. Republicans blame “Biden’s massive deficit spending” for the current inflationary crisis. Biden has rebutted that it is due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, not “because of spending,” that prices are rising. Though experts disagree on exactly how much the ARP has contributed to inflation, the general consensus is that it has added a few percentage points over the past year. In a report from March 2022, the San Francisco Federal Reserve produced an estimate of 3%, but cautioned that the economic effects of no stimulus—like economic slowdown and deflation—may have been harder to deal with.⁶

If one thing is clear, it’s that clarity is hard to find in analyzing inflation. From factory closures to fickle consumers, inflation’s causes are myriad and densely intertwined. The sheer complexity of the global economy makes it difficult to pick out any one thread in the enormous patchwork—and the reality is that it isn’t any single thread, but the multitude that coalesce to create the huge price movements we’re seeing today.

While the causes of inflation are dizzyingly complex, the solutions are surprisingly straightforward. Two bodies are responsible for managing inflation in the U.S.: the Federal Reserve and the federal government.

The U.S. federal government uses fiscal policy to affect economic activity in the United States. Fiscal policy includes changes to taxes, transfer payments (like Social Security and Medicare), and direct government purchases. When the government decreases taxes, or increases transfer payments or purchases, it’s called expansionary fiscal policy, and when the government increases taxes or decreases spending, it’s called contractionary fiscal policy. Expansionary fiscal policy (like the Covid stimulus bills) tends to spur economic activity, which is useful in a recession (like that caused by the Covid pandemic), but increases inflation; in a period of already-strong economic growth, contractionary fiscal policy can help to slow down the economy, tamping down inflation.⁷

While the federal government has fiscal policy tools at its disposal, most of the short-term action to control inflation is undertaken by The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. The Federal Reserve enacts monetary policy by controlling the supply of money in the U.S. It regulates inflation by adjusting the Federal Funds Rate, a baseline interest rate that sets the standard for the rest of the market. The Fed can’t just wave a magic wand to change the Federal Funds Rate; instead, it does so mainly through open market operations (OMOs). To conduct an OMO, the Fed buys or sells U.S. treasury bonds. When the Fed buys treasury bonds on the open market, it injects money into the economy, increasing the money supply. Conversely, when the Fed sells treasury bonds, the money used to buy them is taken out of the economy, reducing the money supply. As the money supply increases, interest rates fall; as the money supply decreases, interest rates rise. This makes sense, since interest rates are essentially the price of borrowed money; when money becomes more scarce, lenders charge more for the limited supply.⁸

From 2020 to early 2022, the Federal Reserve adopted a policy of aggressive bond purchasing in the hopes of easing pandemic fallout by encouraging lending and investment. By May 2022, it had more than doubled its holdings of treasury bonds, from $2.15 trillion in March 2020 to $4.98 trillion.^{9, 10} The steady influx of money into the economy kept interest rates very low; from May 2020 to February 2022, the Federal Funds Rate hovered between .05 and .1% (Figure 1). However, as inflation has crept steadily up to unsustainable levels, the Fed has reversed course to counteract it. In March 2022, the Fed approved the first sale of treasury bonds since December 2018. Since then, it has continued to raise interest rates in the hopes of tamping down inflation.

Figure 1: Chart showing the Federal Funds Rate¹¹

After nine consecutive months of rate hikes, the current Federal Funds Rate target sits at 3.75-4%. The effects are higher interest rates across the economy, slowing economic growth, and, hopefully, lowering inflation. Indeed, the Fed’s strategy does seem to be working; inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) is down from a high of 9.1% in June to 7.7% in October, thanks in part to reduced demand from rising interest rates.¹² However, many are worried that the Fed’s aggressive policy is shortsighted, and will result in worse economic problems than inflation should it continue—some even warning of a looming recession. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledges that a soft landing free of recession grows less likely with more rate hikes, he told reporters on November 2 that “[the Fed has] some ground to cover with interest rates before we get to that level that we think is sufficiently restrictive.”

As with everything in economics, interest rate hikes represent a tradeoff; to counteract inflation, we must make economic sacrifices. Both recession and high inflation are unsustainable in the long run, so the best thing we can do right now is find a healthy in-between. While the future remains uncertain, it is far from hopeless.

¹ https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/111314/what-causes-inflation-and-does-anyone-gain-it.asp

² https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2021/supply-chain-issues/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=acq-intl&utm_campaign=eng-cpcpayrem-biz&utm_content=supplychain

³ https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/why-are-food-prices-still-rising/#:~:text=Energy%20prices%20rose%2023.8%25%20from,contribute%20to%20food%20price%20increases.

⁴ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2021/supply-chain-issues/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3&itid=lk_inline_manual_7

⁵ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/11/us/how-covid-stimulus-money-was-spent.html

⁶ https://www.factcheck.org/2022/06/stimulus-spending-a-factor-but-far-from-whole-story-on-inflation/

⁷ https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45723.pdf

⁸ https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/111314/what-methods-can-government-use-control-inflation.asp#:~:text=Contractionary%20monetary%20policy%20is%20now,reduces%20consumer%20and%20business%20spending.

⁹ https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/20220526/

¹⁰ https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2022/06/the-federal-reserve-will-begin-reducing-its-holdings-of-treasury-notes-and-bonds#:~:text=Longer%2Dterm%20Treasury%20notes%20and,trillion%20on%20June%208%2C%202022.

¹¹ https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS

¹² https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi