Let’s Have a Kiki!
Hi Squirrelfriends! I welcome you dearly to my little corner of Chapman Radio: Let’s Have a Kiki! I know you’re wondering… what qualifies me to have a blog? And that question will remain rhetorical.
Keep reading to find out my genius opinions on music, film, and the omnipresent forces that dictate our lives!
On October 2, 2026, Dev Lemons graciously blessed my ears with her sophomore album, “hunting what we already killed”, and has taken over my listening history.
Hype for this album began June 26, when she released the single “eat the pavement” which immediately got added to my rotation. The song’s intense energy, matched with Dev Lemon’s dreamlike vocals, magically combines a bedroom-pop track with deep-cutting lyricism.
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“Suck it, I'm throwing all your flowers in a bucket
Dump it to the bottom of the rubbish
All you wanna do is make it up to me”
eat the pavement- Dev Lemons
Throughout the song, she details the aftermath of a relationship that ended because her partner betrayed her trust, and all they want to do is “make it up” to her, despite the damage already done. Dev Lemons is not interested in these half-assed apologies and would rather they, as the title suggests, “eat the pavement” and leave her alone.
Other notable tracks include “best friend”, “only one way to know”, and “in the middle of the night”. She begins the album's national tour on October 16, with Abby Kenna and Venus & the Flytraps opening for her. For fans of dreamlike bedroom pop with a bitter edge, I highly recommend listening to the legend herself, Dev Lemons, and her new album “hunting what we’ve already killed”.
After having the best week ever, blasting “hunting what we already killed”, October 9 quickly rolled around, and I finally got to listen to the much-anticipated “She’s the Best” by Troye Sivan. This album is going to mean a lot to me in the long run. It’s the perfect combination of party album and real vulnerability that Sivan solidified with “Something to Give Each Other” and perfected with “She’s the Best”.
The title track is a masterclass in modern songwriting; with legendary songwriting collaborators such as Leland, George Daniel, and the infamous… Jack Antonoff. “She’s the Best” incorporates smooth, lazy Sunday instrumentals and mostly spoken-word lyricism that beautifully describes Sivan’s idealized “It Girl”. The way Sivan describes women is so beautiful; you can clearly feel his respect and admiration for the women in his life, as he details their well-rounded lives and interesting personalities rather than simply objects of desire. My main gripe with men in the pop industry currently is their lack of identity and their shallow perceptions of women. Sivan defies my qualms perfectly through this track. The music video that accompanies this modern masterpiece further exemplifies Sivan’s “It Girl” vision, casting notable female icons like drag superstar (and Chappell Roan’s drag mother) Sasha Colby, internet personality Blizzy McGuire, and AMC A-List Divinity Nicole Kidman. Sivan ends the video in full drag, queening out with Nicole Kidman, just casually living out my wildest dream like it’s a typical Tuesday, which ultimately encapsulates the song’s entire energy. She’s the Best because “she” is casually doing what you can only dream of.
Okay, now that I’ve talked way too much about the first track on the album, I’ll speed-run you through more recommendations. Add “Party” and “Troye Meets World” to your pregame playlists asap. When you’re feeling extra gay, blast “Le Boy” and “FF”, and when you really don’t feel like moving on, fuel your delusions with “Embarrassingly” and “Lost Time”. If you were also streaming “Blue Neighbourhood” in middle school because no one understood you, and now feel most understood at the club, I recommend listening to “She’s the Best” over and over again.
I’ve Wasted My A-List Membership: The Good, the Bad, and the Horny
Like every other Dodge College student, I waste 30 of my hard-earned dollars every month to see 4 movies a week, which I will not do because I have “a life”. In the past, I have dedicated a lot of time, money, and effort to seeing as many new releases in theaters as possible. I have unfortunately gotten really lazy this year, with not many releases sparking my immediate attention. Within the past month, I have unfortunately only seen 3 new releases, but with Oscar bait season in our midst, that may change. The 3 films I dedicated my time and energy to were Primetime, Verity, and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.
The Good: Lance Oppenheim’s narrative debut, Primetime, has quickly become regarded as one of the strongest performances of the year, as well as an immediate inclusion in the cultural zeitgeist. With Halloween just around the corner, I anticipate a slew of Decoy Dan and Chris Hansen costumes overtaking Halloween parties. This dramatic thriller easily engages Gen-Z audiences, interestingly, with media we most likely didn’t watch live during “primetime” but rather evokes a faux nostalgia for media we engaged with mostly second-hand due to the immense influence YouTube had on our introduction to media. I have more memories of watching “To Catch a Predator” and “What Would You Do?” as condensed clips on YouTube than of watching them live on television. I’m such a fan of Robert Pattinson, and almost every performance he does. I think he has a wonderful talent for portraying intense craziness in a digestible and incredibly engaging manner, and I think his intensity throughout the film is a great juxtaposition to Skylar Gisondo’s character, Dan Plum, a recently hired decoy still trying to understand his position in this grand-scale humiliation theater operation. The film includes a riveting climax that brought tears to my eyes through its intensity alone, followed by a fulfilling epilogue and credit sequence set to an original track, “On Video” by Phoebe Bridgers. My Letterboxd review: “This better get at least 1 fucking Oscar nom”; 4 stars.
The Bad: Colleen Hoover needs to be stopped! My hometown friends keep roping me into seeing her god-awful movies in theaters, and I can’t take it anymore. Dakota Johnson, despite being an icon to me, keeps acting in some of the worst movies ever made. I cannot believe the guy from Trap is in this, looking scary and off-putting as ever. Publicity hyped up the makeout scene between Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson so much that I ended up deeply disappointed. Queerbaiting in films is getting to a point now, and the intentionality in the marketing is very interesting to me. This movie was written terribly and had so many awful plot twists; if you haven’t seen it, you don’t have to. My Letterboxd review: “Dakota Johnson going apeshit on the plugnplay was the only good part of this movie”; 1 star.
The Horny: I haven’t wanted to see a movie so desperately since I was 15, waiting for The French Dispatch to get a new release date after COVID. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is the ultimate love letter to the slasher camp horror genre from the queer community. The film blurs the line between fiction and ‘reality’ through a mind-bending fever dream that breaks down gender and sexuality binaries through blood and guts. One of the most beautiful scenes in the film follows a murder spree our killer, Little Death (played magnificently by one of my queer middle school crushes, Jack Haven), embarks on, set to “A Long December” by Counting Crows, permanently establishing Camp Miasma as the 2nd best Counting Crows needle drop in a film (Shrek 2 is just that good). Exceptional performances from Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder; let’s go lesbians! My Letterboxd review: “When is this going to happen to me tho??”; 4 stars.
Did you know Venus is in Retrograde?
For anyone who cares: Venus is in retrograde, so according to random women on TikTok, delusional things will happen. This insanity started on October 3 and is going to haunt us all until November 13, so strap in!
General advice: your situationship does not love you. I’m sorry, been there, done that, unless they’re a Leo; then you just avoided the worst pain of your life.
- Aries: It’s okay to DoorDash cold Taco Bell tonight; you had a long day getting on people’s nerves.
- Taurus: It’s finally cold out; you can break free from summer anxiety and embrace the Christian Girl Autumn spirit at your core.
- Gemini: Girl, lock in; every other day feels like the best and worst day of your life. Put your hair up in a messy bun, listen to some gangster rap, and handle it.
- Cancer: Fight off the seasonal depression demons immediately. You know they’re coming; it’s gonna be okay.
- Leo: Chill out, good things are happening finally; you can stop complaining so much. Just try your best not to be miserable; I know it’s your favorite thing to do.
- Virgo: You don’t need to be in charge all the time. Let someone lead during the next group project; don’t worry, you can still backseat drive the entire time.
- Libra: It’s your season; you’re probably riding high off of a recent/upcoming birthday. Your room is unfortunately going to get really messy from all the fun you’re having.
- Scorpio: This is the pregame for Scorpio season. You have a lot of acting like you’re the best all the time in your future.
- Sagittarius: How does it feel freaking out about stuff and not doing anything about it? Really awful, right? I’d say get on that, but we both know you’re not going to.
- Capricorn: Wait, seriously? Are people actually Capricorns? I thought they were like a mythical creature.
- Aquarius: Sie haben mich vorübergehend durch einen kleinen deutschen Jungen ersetzt.
- Pisces: Did you lock your door? Are you sure?
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You’re Still Here?
Oh my god, I can’t believe you’ve made it to the end, with the literacy crisis and everything. I hope I’ve kept you entertained, and be warned…you haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll be back.
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