The Lizard Review

What do Taylor Swift and Halsey have in common...? Well, they're both writers, they're both creatives...and they both dated the exact same TORTURED POET and lived to write about it, and in doing so have given us an interesting codex of songs to compare and contrast. In this episode, I pull apart Halsey's Lonely Is The Muse from her latest record The Great Impersonator, and reflect on what it means to actually BE a muse, and how the experience can often intersect in surprising ways with sexism and gender.

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Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!! Here's an early episode 🎃 One of the most iconic pieces of Halloween history is a little film starring three queens (Bette Midler, SJP, and Kathy Najimy) that captures the essence of what Halloween felt like when you were a kid - magical, ripe with possibility, and creepy. It was a massive commercial and critical FLOP when it was first released, but over time, this film has become one of the greatest cult classic success stories, and is watched by MILLIONS of people every single year. I couldn't think of anything better to celebrate one of the best holidays of all time than to take a deep dive into Hocus Pocus ✨

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This is the story of a thousand wigs, a thousand tears, a thousand hours, a thousand years, a thousand shows, a thousand influences, a thousand hurts from the biggest to the smallest, and of a thousand different people, one of them being myself, somehow all of them being Halsey. They told her she has no sense of identity, and they asked her, "do you even know who you are?"

The Great Impersonator repeats this question. Do YOU even know who you are? What are we, if we are not just the sum of our own thousands of people?

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The year : 2008. The book : a bestseller. The actors : thought they were making a cute little indie film only to discover their entire lives being upended. Rock band Muse : said sure go ahead give throw them a bone, no one will even remember we were on this soundtrack! Hayley Williams : was also there. The author : Mormon lady obsessed with making playlists. The director : looked like she collected "crystals" from the river on her time off. The girl obsessed with it all : A LIZARD!!!! This is the story of the greatest set of movie soundtracks ever made....The Twilight Saga soundtracks.

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In observance of the Holy Rite of the Lizard's Birthday, please participate in a FAVORED Lizard Birthday Ritual by watching the greatest film ever made, Practical Magic, starring two of the greatest actresses of our times, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, and then come back and listen to this episode for a full dissection of the film's true depths....sadly not many critics have ever seen the greatness in this work of art....THANK GOD FOR THE LIZARD!!!!!!!!!!

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A deep and personal look into my latest and greatest fixation, a brand new band called Sunday (1994) and their new EP that's perfect for the Fall season.

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The third in a series where I go through the most IMPORTANT and influential albums in my life - this one is about the boundless joy that comes from realizing it does not matter what anybody thinks about you, and it reminds us that life and music and art are all things that can be fun, if you allow them to be.

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A 2010's empire built upon notions of standing up for yourself, girl power, and unrelenting poptimism comes crumbling down right before our eyes in Katy Perry's final stab at relevancy in the 2020's, her new album 143.

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Was it the best one ever? Well, no.... Was it the worst one ever!? WELL, NO!!! The 2024 VMA's was truly a moment of divas being up, and flops being down and down BAD. Not everyone can share pieces of the crown I fear!

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Britney Spears' most iconic performances. Miley Cyrus getting caught on smack cam in front of a live audience. Beyonce pregnancy announcement. Madonna showing cheek and panty live on television. Eminem fighting a puppet. Kurt Cobain tormenting Axl Rose for fun. And that's just the beginning...

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