Lily Allen, Taylor Swift’s lyrics on the internet don’t make sense

Lily Allen has a number of choice phrases to describe her not-so-mysterious ex at the heart of her new album, West End Girl (“sex addict,” “little boy,” “so broken”), but nothing as confusing as “4chan stan.” “Such a sad, sad man,” Allen sings in the song’s chorus. “She gives 4chan a stan.” “4chan stan” is not a phrase that immediately conjures a distinct image. 4chan is loosely associated with young men, and “stan” is a phrase that has been reclaimed by girls and gays. Do you mean that the man in question is some kind of criminal? Person in animated GIFs? Do you just mean someone who is online a lot? The rest of the song fails to answer these questions and avoids referring to anything else on the Internet, focusing instead on the receipts of litigation and affairs.

Allen’s online song title does not exist in a vacuum: pop music is increasingly logged in. Taylor Swift points out the ways online fans talk about music (and celebrities) multiple times The life of a showgirlfrom the “every joke is just trolling and memes” and the “bad bitch”/”brutal” TikTok trend on “Eldest Daughter” to the outrageous “Was I the boss girl too close to the sun?” In “Canceled!” What’s strange is that “Eldest Daughter,” despite referencing language used in two different Megan Thee Stallion songs, isn’t an opposition to Megan at all. It’s a response, it seems, to fans’ response to Swift’s image — that of someone who isn’t great (compared to Meghan, who most people agree is great). Lizzo “Stfu” From her latest album, My face still hurts from smilingit’s all about telling people online to keep quiet. “Turn off every podcast mic in this motherfucker” is the opening lyric of the song; She goes on to rebuke people who “incur the wrath of racists” or display “fatherless behavior.” It’s not the first year in existence that internet jargon has chronically seeped into the pop scene — Swift, for example, is often guilty of this; Take 2016’s “This is why we can’t have nice things” – but due to a combination of digital acceleration and everything being a lot dumber now, these recent examples feel much more (to borrow a phrase) Shrinks.

In the case of Allen’s music, the phrase “4chan stan” is literally meaningless. Neither does Swift’s idea of ​​cancellation, which she seems to link to releasing a financially successful but not widely praised album that was eventually recovered (reputation). Lizzo’s understanding of a series of phrases found on the Internet is coherent enough, if difficult to hear all of them in a row. These phrases are not particularly evocative. They are not associated with distinct images or feelings. They’re just things we say — or, more often, things we write. Groups of words that represent a strong reaction to something we see online that suddenly dissipates when we close our laptop or put our phone on airplane mode.

Music doesn’t have to have meaning to be good. We’ve all accepted Sabrina Carpenter’s “this is espresso” adage without any prompting. Songs like “4chan stan” or “CANCELLED!” Or using “STFU” as a weapon to speak out online against the things in the songs: fans, haters, exes, and everyone in between. The songs are angry at the intended listener and use the language of those listeners against them. There is often a huge disconnect as the singer tries to pretend as if he hasn’t already been poisoned by his online presence himself. Swift’s full press tour for The life of a showgirl Show her insistence on not signing on, despite her great knowledge of the reels featuring otters and/or the woman who designed her final engagement ring. Allen is logged in For most of her career -Long enough to get a quick understanding of 4chan and why it doesn’t necessarily have “stans”. Singers use this language to talk about everyone but they make it more obvious because they are not sure what they are talking about. Whatever satirical angle they turn to, it doesn’t change because they don’t live in the reality of the language they use.

This does not mean that all references to login flop. Doja Cat, born from the same forums that slandered the likes of Lizzo and Lily Allen, is always able to sneak in a reference or three, as she does when she calls herself “not serious” or refers to “khias” on her new album, compete. Tame Impala embarrasses himself on “No Response” when he mentions pulling an all-nighter “off a rogue website.” Being online is kind of lame – we know that’s true – but there’s no point in our pop stars pretending to be above it.