Chvrches

There are a few things I can tell from listening to Chvrches lead single, Leave a Trace, off of their upcoming new album, Every Open Eye (out on September 25th):

• There will be no sophomore slump!
• The songs will be so much bigger!
• Lauren Mayberry is a force to be reckoned with!

These are all supreme truths that are well deserving of the exclamation points I’ve bestowed on them. When I first listened to the single my brain flagged it as a spectacular impassioned kiss off to an ex. That kind of music speaks to me. I think my brain always goes to that place first and there’s nothing wrong with that. We all take our own personal journeys with other people’s words. What we project on to said words is our own special thing. It’s still our baggage. Just in a different bag.  That’s the beauty of music right? That’s why we listen and I like to think that’s why artists make it. We all carry baggage that we deal with. Now that the video for Leave a Trace is out and the internet has had its way with it I’m realizing Chvrches unwelcome baggage is so much more baggage that any one band should have to put up with.

The release of this video and my reaction has impacted me in a way I completely wasn’t expecting. I’m actually kind of ashamed that my first reaction to the video, knowing Chvrches history with trolls, was “Shit why did they go this route? The internet is going to have a field day with this”.

What an asshole! I was unknowingly objectifying. I was victim blaming without even thinking about it. What kind of prick does that? I have four sisters and three nieces. I would never want someone to slut shame them but here I was thinking “If only they made a different kind of video…” and “this would be all about the music if they had just shot something else”.  That’s the core of the piggish mindset that is hardcoded in our internet culture. Women like Lauren Mayberry should not have to worry about reactions from trolls regardless of how wet her hair is. WTF Youtube commenters!? Do you just lose your shit in the rain!?  

I’ll admit I got it wrong. I know. I know. I know I know. This isn’t about an ex at all. This song is a sling and arrow shot directly at the trolls that attack women for being women and the people that float around the outskirts of the dark web. Yes the Fat Jew and Fuck Jerry are joke stealing hacks but this issue feels more pressing for me. I’m reeling from the video. Mostly because after recognizing my "oh no, this is not going to be good for them”  reaction was missing the point it got worse. To this day I really still didn’t know how noxious the world could be till Lauren Mayberry tweeted the lecherous 4chan thread for the video.

Dear anyone who thinks misogyny isn't real. It is and this is what it looks like. http://t.co/cLC97T8MxU pic.twitter.com/2bBZtw4yoL

— Lauren Mayberry (@laurenevemay) August 17, 2015

 I instantly felt bad for her, my sisters, my nieces, my mother, and for anyone who comes in contact with that content and or those people. The kind of feel bad that makes you want to unsee and pretend like the rock you just lifted up and looked under was all just a burrito fueled fever dream. Sadly this is the realness we live in. People make jokes on jokes on jokes for days on the internet. They excuse this kind of behavior as anonymous and harmless fun. This a clear case of denial for offensive and reprehensible behavior. Claiming that the video was expressly created to illicit the obligatory 4chan reaction as a way to promote their new album is the clearest sign of delusion and entitlement that I have ever seen. The fact that 4Chan community felt it was their job to make her aware of the awfulness that lay waiting twas a concrete show that no fucks would ever be given by these people.  

Lost in all of this is that the narrative here jumped from Chvrches music, which is at the top of its game, to this saddening subject. Marginalizing a band because of other people’s boorish behavior is something we won’t allow anymore. I don’t know how to produce change on this front outside of putting the focus back on the music and at the same time working hard to break the cycle of burying my head from the issue but that’s what I’ll do. Being so blind to the plight of the modern woman in the age of the internet is not the man I want to be.