Stitch @ Teen Vogue: Lil Nas X Is Using Stan Twitter Tactics to Defend “Montero.” He Shouldn’t Have To

March 30, 2021 StitchLeave a comment

The thing is, Lil Nas X cut his teeth on stan Twitter as the user who used to run the popular Nicki Minaj stan account @nasmaraj. From his time as that BNF, he’s learned how to use fandom practices commonly linked with the “bad” parts of stan Twitter for good. From the moment that Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” dropped, he and his fanbase have been utilizing stan Twitter fandom tactics to come for haters’ throats and poke holes in their blatantly homophobic arguments — while roasting them until they’re well done, of course.

I’m a huge fan of Lil Nas X and his brand of being VERY ONLINE appeals to me intensely. “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” is such a fantastic song and the music video is one of the best I’ve seen in ages – and I watch a ton of music videos. The backlash Lil Nas X has been weathering – which invokes the Satanic Panic older Millenials and Gen X-ers remember from back in the day and pulls in homophobia and antiblackness – is horrible. Lil Nas X and his fanbase have been hitting back, but my gosh they really shouldn’t have to!

Go read Lil Nas X Is Using Stan Twitter Tactics to Defend “Montero.” He Shouldn’t Have To on Teen Vogue

Stitch in Polygon: The torpedo of stan Twitter hurts everyone

March 6, 2021 StitchLeave a comment

I’ve come across people spamming the comments of her social media posts, telling Gentry to “respect Taylor Swift.” People are accusing Gentry directly of misogyny and telling others not to watch Ginny & Georgia.A few have made overtly racist tweets. Even though Gentry isn’t credited as a writer, hundreds of people are demanding that she take responsibility for the single “joke” on the show that they disagree with. Fueled by Taylor Swift’s public annoyance, these fans — and trolls pretending to be fans — feel empowered to act aggressively in order to protect Swift’s reputation. This is a normal day on stan Twitter, where anything goes to protect the object of fans’ parasocial relationships.

I’m in Polygon for the first – but hopefully not the last – time!

Building off of how many of Taylor Swift’s fans leapt onto Ginny & Georgia star Antonia Thomas to defend Swift from a joke made on the show at her expense, I look at how Stan Twitter encourages aggression as a form of defense and love. I even touch on “report accounts”, a phenomenon I find fascinating for how often the fans running and working with them… turn on other fans who aren’t doing anything wrong.

I live on Stan Twitter and so at times have had to pull back from the urge the spaces instill to support my celebrity favorites however I can. (And believe me, that means having to go “no, I do not need to dunk on a younger adult with a bad opinion about “my” group” and walking away from my computer or at least taking the whining into the nearest group chat.)

The behaviors that these fandoms urge as part of the parasocial relationship (which I find positive a lot of the time actually) can be great. We can get incredible amounts of social justice charity work, widening understandings of the world around us, and communities that help us be ourselves, but better.

But we can also wind up whipped into a maenad-esque frenzy in the name of our beloved celebrity and that’s not great. So let’s talk about that!

Since I’m still locked on main because the harassment won’t stop until I cease to exist, please feel free to share the Polygon link with anyone you think may be interested!

😀

Introducing Reverie: The Album: An Interview With Creator Eva Marie

December 5, 2020 StitchLeave a comment

Today I have the absolute honor of talking with Eva Marie, the creator of Reverie: The Album, a work of fannish love that’s currently taking backers over on Kickstarter! I absolutely adore Eva Marie as a creator, a fellow fan, and someone who makes absolutely gorgeous music so if you’re looking for a new and cool opportunity to get fannish, check out our interview and then go head on over to her Kickstarter to become a backer!

Stitch: Eva Marie! Would you mind introducing yourself for my readers?

Eva Marie: Hi everyone, thanks for having me! I’m Eva, a singer-songwriter and composer in my mid-20s. I listen to almost every genre of music, but my specialty is R&B pop with hip hop vibes. When I’m not working, I’m watching anime, golden age Disney films, or old cartoons. I’ve been in online fandom since I was 14 years old. Over ten years later, I’m still a huge nerd! Nice to meet you.

Stitch Reviews D-2

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020 Stitch2 Comments

Spotify/Buzzsprout

This is a bonus episode because I am nothing if not extremely extra and I had thoughts about Yoongi’s second outing as Agust D. (90% Positive, I promise.)
Have you listened to Episode 3 – Stitch Talks Map of the Soul: 7 yet?
If you haven’t checked out my essay series on Antiblackness in the K-pop Industry and its Fandom Spaces, you should! Because it’s a good way to get a grasp on my complicated and always in-flux feelings about Korean pop and hip hop music (and its stars) as well as my feelings about Korean hip hop as an art form.
For more information about Jonestown and its demographics, I recommend two things: the Jonestown Wikipedia page (for easy consumption) and the article “An Update on the Demographics of Jonestown” (for more accurate figures for the population and death toll)
As always, thanks for listening!

Transcript

I went into Yoongi’s sophomore outing as Agust D knowing that I would probably find a ton to love about the album. After all, I literally love Yoongi’s voice. I’m talking about from the literal raspy sound of it and how he delivers his fierce verses to the way that he uses his Voice to unload sharp, intricate, and interesting commentary that often seems to revolve plainly around his past, present, and future as a rapper.

Mind you though, I was primed to like Yoongi’s return to the stage as Agust D.

For one thing, I am and will probably always be, fully fucking feral for every member of BTS’ brilliant rapline. (You may remember this from my review of BTS’ February release Map of the Soul: 7 because I couldn’t shut up about it then.)

Stitch Talks Ish: Episode 3 – Stitch Talks Map of the Soul: 7

February 27, 2020September 11, 2020 Stitch

ON BUZZSPROUT

Episode Notes

Last episode, I talked about the wy white women in the Rey/Kylo fandom were going all out to portray John Boyega as a misogynistic monster for an Instagram comment milder (and far less misogynistic) than their usual fare
Listening to this before March 1? If you’re a BTS fan in the US, head on over to my twitter and enter a giveaway to win a copy of the album!
The project I refer to a few times in this is an ongoing essay project on blackness and antiblackness in Korean pop and hip hop and their fandom spaces.
Wisha on Twitter
Do You Bangtan
Doolsetbangtan on Twitter
DoolsetBangtan
A really interesting commentary film that BigHit put out for the album that shows some of the talent that goes into crafting this and how BTS has influenced unexpected people across their journey.
Stick around because I’ll try to have a bonus featuring my BTS nieceling’s thoughts on the album and our thoughts on the official music video for ON ASAP.

Transcript/Notes

(Not a 1:1 match with the audio as I did go off script a few times and might not have caught them all.)

Regular readers and listeners know that complaining is my love language. The first two episodes of Stitch Talks Ish probably proved that considering that that’s like what… over an hour of me complaining across the episodes?

But we’re breaking from the trend with the third episode of my series where in I give into the urge to get downright obnoxious on main about all things BTS following the release of their seventh studio album (fourth if you’re only counting the Korean ones). Map of the Soul: 7.

If you’ve managed to miss everything I’ve been going through for… what I want to say is a year and a half edging close to two years if you count the offline fandom-ing I’ve been doing – I’ve spent a lot of my time talking and thinking a lot about Korean popular culture. Like I will keep my foot on the Star Wars fandoms’ throats until the damn fandom stops being shitty, but in the rest of my time?

Well… I’ve been k-popping.

(Look, y’all know that I’m a cheesy mess at best and I needed to get that out.)

What Stitch Listened To In 2019

December 24, 2019December 22, 2019 Stitch1 Comment

If you’re so inclined, you can check out my Spotify 2019 “Top Songs” playlist for what I had on repeat this year, but if you want to know the songs I played even when I was just screwing around on YouTube and what I was thinking/why I liked it, this list is for you!

I spent a lot of 2019 listening to recent Korean pop and hip-hop. That’s probably not a surprise considering what I’ve been working on across this year.

And of course, I’m still listening to Hamilton.

Title: Love U

Artist: Monsta X

What Had Me Hooked: A few weeks ago I made a tweet about how Monsta X makes “some good songs about fucking” and “Love U”, one of their newer English releases that’ll be on their upcoming Valentine’s Day release, is one of those songs. I love this song because it is so semi-subtly hornt. Are they talking about not being able to say the word “fuck” on the radio or are they talking about not being able to say “I love you” in Korean on Western radio? Who knows! It’s exciting!

Stitch's Media Mix

A critical Stitch.

Tag: music