POP CULTURE PERFECTION
Aries (March 21 - April 20)
Insights come out of the blue, so dream big. At the same time, be sure to involve others. Give everyone equal attention to avoid hurt feelings.
Taurus (April 21 - May 20)
You’re ready for enchantment and a whole lot more excitement. The cosmos agrees. Strengthen work strategies. New friendships appear promising, as do financial prospects.
Gemini (May 21 - June 21)
This week the cosmos organises your agenda. So if opportunity knocks, lay out a welcome mat. A super-charged cosmos ensures you’re in the right place at the right time. Ditto, romantic encounters.
Cancer (June 22 - July 22)
Nurture those you love, and draw new love to you. You may also feel a greater need to have a place of your own. Avoid the usual tendency to overspend.
Leo (July 23 - August 23)
Stand by for a radiant social life, as relationships look set to flourish. Try to balance your work and personal lives. A fated attraction could also help your career, with the possibility of travel.
Virgo (August 24 - September 22)
Ideas become more intense as your spiritual and intellectual awareness deepens. Others recognise your talents; their help boosts a slump in confidence.
Libra (September 23 - October 23) Many around you don’t seem to be in a rush, which means it’s up to you to hurry them along. Take time out at week’s end for Venus’s little erotic treat.
Scorpio (October 24 - November 22) Stress threatens to trip your overload switch. Slow it up; let the pressure ease. This week let intimacy and friendship take priority over professional ambitions.
Sagittarius (November 23 - December 21)
Focus on your success – there has been plenty of it. Remember this as you step into December’s social whirl. Even if someone’s not playing by the rules, ignore their pettiness and head for friendlier ground.
Capricorn (December 22 - January 20) You’re probably tapping into injustices running well back into younger years. It’s time to let bygones be bygones. Yesterday is history, and tomorrow’s a mystery – so concentrate on the here and now.
Aquarius (January 21 - February 18) Here’s a week when one detour leads to another. If coupled, you might want more independence, but be sure to give your partner the same freedom. Should the planets argue for a career change, don’t ignore them.
Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
Money and work play a strong role this week, and the outlook is positive. There may be some red tape regarding finances, but even that won’t faze you. At play, an old love could be rekindled. Don’t surrender to the past. SO WHERE does Thank U, Next rank on the list of things that made you feel insane this year?
Since perching on our planet’s scorched crust last month, this massive Ariana Grande hit has been difficult to escape.
It’s about finding enrichment through heartbreak, and in the opening verse she cites four of her exes by name – one of whom recently became her ex-fiancé (Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson) and another who recently died of an accidental drug overdose (rapper Mac Miller). Supporters have called it “empowered” and all the other nice things nice people say on social media whenever we prioritise cheering for music over experiencing it. Yes, this song might be the biggest brave-empowering-honestpure-unapologetic-lit-yasss-etc hit of 2018, but it’s also profoundly atypical and disconcertingly weird.
Grande isn’t just calling her glass half-full. She’s creating a new kind of alchemy, transmuting trauma into Bubble Yum. And without blinking. It’s as if a singer at the height of her fame accidentally wandered into pop’s uncanny valley – a disconcerting grey zone between a superstar’s glazed image and the sentient being behind it.
Shouldn’t we want all of our music idols to be this real? Yes, but no. In our strange new century, we’ve been given reality shows that follow a script and, more recently, a reality show president who doesn’t. We crave what’s real, but sometimes we actually get it. But it’s different with pop music.
The space between what’s real and what isn’t is where our imaginations get to play and we start to lose something when that gap begins to close. With Thank U, Next, Grande practically seals it shut.
When she dropped her fourth album, Sweetener, in August, the only way to truly hear it was to get out a reliable measuring stick: how much would we care about this artist’s music without their celebrity, and how much would we care about their celebrity without their music?
Grande’s music has always been softly magnetic, even when it wasn’t all that great. It usually comes down to her voice, which remains as plush, clean, smothering and anonymous as a luxury hotel room pillow.
And like any nameless coo that permeates so much of our communal airspace, hers sounds more and more human year after year. Maybe the blunt-force candour of Thank U, Next was an attempt to speed the process along.