11 Comments
Aug 31Liked by Alison Rose Reed

I LOVED this.

Also, Portishead is never NOT the vibe.

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Awww this makes me so happy. Thank you! And agreed about Portishead 🥹😅

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Aug 31Liked by Alison Rose Reed

I really appreciate this take on performer persona development. This gave me some needed clarity around what I’m experiencing in my latest evolution as a musician/performer. I’ve gradually come to realize I’ve always performed femme more like drag/burlesque, even at my day job. Always with an edge, “Scary-Hot,” something that is attractive but potentially unsettling. So thank you for giving dimension and concrete form to some experiences I didn’t yet have words for.

Also! I WISH I’d had the ovaries to request Portishead when I was dancing. It was NEVER the vibe where I worked.

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I’m glad it resonated with you in concrete ways, that’s so cool 🤗

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Aug 31Liked by Alison Rose Reed

You're so brilliant. So many cheeky turns of phrases (eg. "like a little Victorian ghost boy") next to queer theory and cultural analysis. I love that I get to be your friend and read your words.

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Likewise, wonderful writer friend!!! 💘

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Brilliant friend, truly. Mega relate to the niche pretty/scary thing. And really amazing analysis of CR, I’m ‘getting it’ more and more. (Gonna watch the tiny desk later today!)

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Ooh thank you so much! And I’m excited for you to watch the Tiny Desk because it’s such a different entrypoint, well at least I think it really influenced my response to her music. Also, given all the nepo babies and middle-class white people pretending they’re poor, and I say that to preface this so you don’t think I’m fetishizing poverty, but—because of those reasons—it means something to me that she grew up in a trailer park. She has that energy I see in so many class-conscious sex workers (and other folks at the fringes) because of that—grit. I didn’t say it explicitly but I think that’s part of scary aesthetics, too. And you have it in droves, which is why I felt compelled to share all this with you! 💕

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Aug 31Liked by Alison Rose Reed

Thank you for sharing this with the world ❤️🪩👄🧟‍♀️🐹

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Emoji perfection 😽

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Aug 31Liked by Alison Rose Reed

Great work as always.

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