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Cat Zhang: Beers in a truck and girls in shorts? [laughs] That’s my guess.
Patel: Is it an apology song?
Dombal: It is an apology song, you nailed it. You see, last night he let the liquor talk—and it goes on from there. A lot of his new songs are these very vague apologies. And the only thing worse than not apologizing is apologizing in the most rote way. It feels like he’s a little kid, and his mom is forcing him to apologize.
Patel: Also, “blame it on the alcohol” is not how we’re doing things in 2023.
Patel: Let’s talk about what may be one of the most polarizing pop songs of the year as far as our staff goes, which is Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.”
Zhang: It’s not interesting enough to be polarizing.
Dombal: Yeah, I agree with Cat. It is kind of #empowering with a lowercase “e.”
Patel: Don’t be demeaning about someone’s empowerment anthem! [laughs] I think it’s an earworm in a way that I don’t mind—as opposed to something like the Bebe Rexha hit “I’m Good (Blue),” where I’m just like, “Get out of my head!”
Zhang: This is not me mounting a defense for that Bebe Rexha song, but it’s just so brazen that at least it’s kind of funny, or commands my attention. For Miley, that idea of “I can buy myself flowers,” I’m just like, “Yeah, yeah, good for you. You have a credit card and you use it, I guess.”
