Quarantine Question #224: Once you’re finished having your umpteenth pandemic-fueled existential crisis that makes you want to simultaneously cry, nap, and throw your laptop across the room; what do you do to let it all go, push the restart button? renforshort has your answer. At the verge of full-throttle PC music-pulverisation, “virtual insanity” has the sort of claustrophobic angst that piles up after being stuck in quarantine for “6 months,” which inevitably turns into a year, which unironically turns into two, and so the story goes. In another context, the entire bridge — a never-ending wish of “I need something real” devoid of cynicism — might be misconstrued into trite “born in the wrong generation”-isms. Here, it adds the extra push to the all-too-familiar quarantine trinity: social media white noise (“scrolling, going on 3am”), Zoom fatigue (“I don’t wanna live my life on the internet”), and productivity-less days (“Pass out, just to do it again”). The nod to “electronic cigarettes” is more an affirmation of the fact that she’s 18 than anything else (an actual running joke way back when there was the mythological In-Person Schooling: “Why are you peeing in the vape room?”), but even if you don’t hit the juul, renforshort can still shred your pandemic problems with her electric guitar. “Virtual Insanity” has, indeed, become our virtual reality, but renforshort will be damned if she doesn’t try to distort the mic, shatter the screen, and do everything she can to break free.
Shweta Harve’s “Why So Busy?” Redefines Pop with Reflection and Wit
Pop music often captures the essence of the moment, but Shweta Harve’ s latest track, “Why So Busy?“, goes beyond
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