Starting with the Editor’s Note:
So, it's been a long time since my last installment of The Briefly Series. In my hiatus, I have been pondering what I want my newsletter to consist of moving forward.
My decision: a whole new concept and revamp of my page to what I will now be calling: from isabelle
My newsletter will now consist of original content, reporting, personal projects, and my thoughts. This will range from Op-Eds, to essays, features, articles, and hopefully more podcasts, focusing on a variety of topics and genres. I am not sure how often I will be publishing but during the social distancing/isolation/quarantine it will most likely be every week.
I appreciate the support, subscribers that remain, and overall love.
This week I have included an Op-Ed and a piece I originally wrote during my internship on Magdalena Bay.
Profiting Off a Basic Human Need — My Epiphany
After waking up from an absurdly weird dream this past Tuesday night I arose to get a glass of water. Without hesitation, I grabbed my Iphone 7s off of my nightstand and walked barefoot to my kitchen. As I waited for the water filter to do its job, I checked my phone — an incredibly normal routine for me and I’m sure you too if you ( you may even be reading this article on your smartphone). I was instantly struck with a feeling of detachment from that immediate moment in time. In my half asleep state I had a sort of out of body experience.
Why in the world was I checking my phone at 2:25AM? What importance did it serve? Why did I need to bring my phone with me into the kitchen? Why couldn’t I part ways with it for more than a minute? Why did I need to fill the time it took for the water to travel through the filter into my glass with entertainment? Distraction? Why couldn’t I simply be alone with my own thoughts? Why couldn’t I just be?
Anyone around you literally at any point in time also has their phone on them. Whether it’s visible or not, headphones in or not. The person you walk past on the street, stand in the elevator with, sit next to in the coffee shop is most likely on their phone.
In my late night epiphany, I could not keep from conducting some amateur psychoanalysis of the basic human needs — companionship, safety, entertainment — that our phones fulfill and how companies are hugely profiting off of it.
The number of smartphone users is now up to 3.5 billion, which is 45.12% of the world's population. So why do we need a smartphone?
I feel like this is such a simple question that I have never even asked myself. Being born in 2000, I grew up with the Iphone. Some of my peers had the Iphone 4 as early as fourth grade, meaning they were 10. I did not receive my first Iphone until the seventh grade — I was 13 — which was considered late for some absurd reason.
The easy answer to this question is communication. When I was granted my first phone, a purple LG Rumor Touch which had a touch screen and purple sliding keyboard, it was for safety. I had to be able to text my mom when I was out with friends, answer her calls, and let her know when I would be home for dinner. The games, photos, and interactions with friends came second.
A phone today — and it's not even necessary really to specify by saying smartphone because the fact that your phone is a smartphone is basically implied — has endless purposes. A phone now serves every need one could think of. It’s your personal soundtrack, checkbook, calendar, newspaper, alarm clock, weather channel, camera, notebook, love guru, teacher, overall entertainment and, most importantly, it's your call for help.
I have thought constantly about just leaving my phone in my room and going on with my day but it's physically and mentally impossible for me to do so. My phone is my safety net. What if something were to happen to me? What if I was in danger? What if I got lost? What if I needed advice? What if someone needed to reach me?
But what did people used to do? Our parents, grandparents and those before them just went about without being so connected and everything seemingly turned out fine. They did not need the constant engagement and the constant security blanket that has become an Iphone. The older generation created the smartphone though to fill a need that they had, whether it be the need to contact each other or for entertainment. Getting in touch with your loved ones, communicating across large distances was definitely necessary. But now this need has morphed into something that has swallowed my generation.
My mother does not have this same problem with leaving her phone at home for the day. So it could just be me. I am a very paranoid person in general, probably from having my phone on me all the time and thus having to be so completely aware every minute of the day.
There is something so troubling, even uncomfortable, to me about leaving the house without my phone and it honestly freaks me out. It scares me how connected I am to my phone and how unable I am to part with it.
What bothers me more is how corporations like Apple, Samsung, Sprint, Verizon and countless others are profiting off of my basic human needs and anxieties. Cell phones are a $355 billion dollar industry, which I find absolutely disturbing.
Ask yourself why you need your phone. Have your own epiphany — maybe at 2:25 barefoot, in the dark, while waiting for a glass of water.
Something you should listen to
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Magdalena Bay’s “A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling”
More of an Experience Than an EP
There is nothing more satisfying than being transported into a bubble-gum pink daydream full of care-free California vibes. This is exactly what iconic duo, Magdalena Bay, has accomplished with their new EP, A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling. Nostalgic for the bliss of 80s and 90s pop, Magdalena Bay strives to create a sound that radiates positivity and makes you want to jump out of your seat.
Magdalena Bay – also a 50km stretch of cove along the Western Coast of Mexico – is the new dynamic pair of the contemporary pop scene. 22-year olds Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin have been making music together since high school when they were in a prog rock band – a stark contrast from their now upbeat dreamy sound.
A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling is not just an EP, it’s an experience. Together, Tenenbaum and Lewin have created their own unique style by writing, producing, and recording all their tracks themselves while also working on the visually creative side doing the graphics and video work.
What makes Magdalena Bay special is how all their tracks work together to draw the listener into their world full of serendipity and good vibes only. Listening to their EP as a whole, start to finish, takes you on a sweet rollercoaster of dramatic beats and electric soundscapes that rise and fall with each track.
Composed of fan favorites like “Venice”, “How to Get Physical”, and “Killshot” the EP also includes recently released sad banger “Airplane,” along with new tracks: “Story” and “Stop and Go”.
“Airplane” released on February 26th brings a different vibe than that of the tried and tested bops Magdalena Bay is known to put out. In contrast to their usual happy upbeat vibe, “Airplane” is the crescendo of a breakup, finally saying goodbye to that significant other but knowing it’s for the best – something we can all relate to.
If one thing is for sure: A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling is next-level genius. Magdalena Bay seamlessly combines electronic beats with dance pop choruses and lyrics that hit hard.
If somewhat chiller tracks like the beloved “Oh Hell” and “Good Intentions” – both included on the EP – aren’t your jam, you are guaranteed to vibe with “Story” and “Stop and Go.” Both tracks radiate the excitement of young love along with the uncertainty of a new relationship where you have no idea what’s happening – again, something we can all relate to.
The phrase “Headphones in, World Out” has never been truer when listening to Magdalena Bay. Better yet, blast all of A Little Rhythm and a Wicked Feeling driving down your favorite home-town road towards pink skies – sunglasses on, windows down.
Big thanks, stay safe, stay healthy, and much love!
Isabelle Rosa