Newsletter 6 (30/06)

Hiiiiiii lovely people!!
I am so so so excited for this week's newsletter as I have been having the time of my life... you'll see!

What I've been into this week:

• Getting a Master's degree

  After submitting my written thesis litteral ages ago, I finally got to defend it in front of the examination jury. And it went better than I could have dreamed of!!! I was drowned in praise on the report, the presentation but also how I answered the questions. I'm super happy about this last point because I was so anxious, but as I was facing the audience, my big brain took over and I managed to come up with smart answers - so much that multiple people from my research team complimented me on it saying they were very impressed. Sooooooo I GOT AN A !!!!!!!!!!!!!! and ALSO got offered a new co-authorship on a methodology paper focusing on malaise traps as they want to include some of my findings in it. Holy shit I can still barely believe any of this... By next year I'll be an author on four papers!!! I am aware this entire paragraph is just me bragging... but I'm so proud I just want to brag over and over again hahaha!! This school year has been such a rollercoaster but some things simply don't change and one of these things is me being super smart and finding ways to love every stage of my life. In the end, I just feel so happy and confident and I'm super grateful for my past self making all the right choices :')

• Meeting my favorite artist!!!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!

  

  Third time's the charm!! I have been a die hard fan of Japanese Breakfast since 2018 when I came across one of her music videos on youtube. I met her once in Amsterdam in 2022 after her show, and again last march at her book signing in Paris. And she basically hard launched me by posting a picture of my tattoo of her album cover on her IG grid which was crazy. Well, last week, I went to her show in Stockholm which was basically a half concert half stand up comedy show... Their tour bus broke down in Karlstad (mid western Sweden) and they came all the way to stockholm by taxi. Apparently, this tour is cursed since in the last two weeks, one of their shows in Korea was drenched under a thunderstorm and frogs jumped on stage, and she literally swallowed a mosquito during Be Sweet in Milwaukee. I quote: "this is what happens when your band is full of first born children". So the show was a stripped down acoustic-ish version but was still excellent, especially since she played Lindsey by LBG which made the nerds (me) happy. After the show I waited by the tour bus and we got to chat agaiiiinnnn and she signed my psychopomp and FMBSW vinyls so I now have every single one of her vinyls signed & her book in english and french & the setlist... I can die happy. I gifted her a sweater I knitted and embroidered and she seemed super happy hihihihihihi I am smiling kicking my feet writing this!!!

• For Melancholy Brunettes & Sad Women by Japanese Breakfast

  

  This is my newsletter and I get to write about whatever the fuck I want so I will write more about jbrekkie :D This is her latest album which came out this spring, and I think it is excellent. I love JB for many reasons, including her incredibly careful songwriting. She has this beautiful way to turn complex, mixed emotions into such simple and communicative sentences all while grounding them in a material context which feels so immersive and easy to connect to. I am constantly in awe at how sharp her lyrics feel, like every single word was so perfectly chosen, yet she manages to keep it so simple but also witty. It's like the same song will crush you and make you smile at the same time. I also always love listening to her talk about her project, she maintains that same smartness and carefulness in describing her creative processes. This album talks about desire: the sweetness of getting everything you want and the sadness of finding out the consequences, including simply figuring out what to do once that's done. Like the rest of her work, it feels healing and grounding, but this time softer and with a - well - melancholic detachment. It feels to me like a radical acceptance of the sad parts of life, an acknowledgment that our flaws will make us disconnect and that tragic events are bound to happen. But if we lean into this radical acceptance, it cannot hurt us as bad anymore. Knowing that the sadness will come and welcoming it with open arms removes some of its destruction power and prepares us to bounce back and keep going. At least this is how I interpret it. Michelle talks about melancholy as "an anticipatory grief coming from the recognition of mortality and finitude". I think knowing that my grief was always going to happen, and that my life will be ponctuated by episodes of grief forever has really helped me heal recently. The only way out is through after all. I hope you will give the record a listen if you haven't already. If you have thoughts on it I would love to hear them !! :)

• Going to the Natural History Museum and eating waffles

  Me and my dear friends Elsa and Clara went on a little smart girls date to the natural history museum in Stockholm and had so much fun!! We played all the quizzes and got the max score on almost all of them which was validating as biology master degree (!!!!) holders lol. I fought (in my head) with a kid who skipped me in line to play with monkey bars and then ate 3 different kinds of waffles at Älskade traditioner which is a delicious and lovely café in Södermalm (highly recommend!!).

Milestones make me feel quite reflective, so this week's list is a bit more personnal. I feel so grateful to be surrounded by creative, sweet and supportive people so thank you all so so much. I hope you have all been doing well !
I'll see you next week,
Axl :)