The Good, Bad, And Ugly: If A Hot Take Falls In The Forest…
The discovery of fire, the invention of electricity, the creation of humanity itself; Ecclesiastes 1:9 comes to mind often when listening to music lately. It can be mentally taxing to always be in a state of consumption. Constantly searching for something “new & exciting” to insert into our lives. But that’s just who we’ve inherently become. Whether intentionally by design or cluelessly by happenstance, many dominoes fell and now, on the eve of 2026, you can’t toss a CD across a room without it landing next to someone who hasn’t stressed once or twice about their ‘personal brand’.
Admittedly roundabout way to introduce what I have to say, and I don’t even think I’m presenting anything unimaginably world-shattering… so here come some words you’ve probably heard before: listening to music is a conversation.
Quick timeout, though. Take this short disclaimer for the words in this blog post:
I am but the living product of the good, the bad, and the ugly given to me by my name’s sake and its predecessors, psychologies proven and disproven, and the environments I choose to reside in. These thoughts are of my own and representative of my perspective but maybe we agree on a thing or two. And I think Pho is the soup equivalent of a fresh summer salad in how you can build up some tasty and filling combos but it’s going to leave you hungry again in like 2 hours. So apply all this to everything you’re about to read from hereon. Let’s turn the whimsy dial wayyy up and feel some stuff together.
For whatever reason, we, the people, as a whole, seem to be stuck with these sensationalized points of view that only reward the gift of our attention spans to what we perceive as ‘extreme good’ or ‘extreme bad’. Nuance has disappeared and no one wants to be wrong about their takes. The only correct take is a hot take, even if it’s half-baked, even if presented with new viewpoints or facts that may not support the original thought.
I’m here to urge that we create space to put all that aside, even if just for forty-five minutes to an hour of our time. And I will use this one album from earlier in the year as an example.
Givēon’s second studio album, “Beloved,” was released on July 11th, 2025 to a reception of 44k 1st-week sales and debuted #8 on the Billboard 200. The song with the least amount of streams is sitting just outside of 10 million. He’s taking it on an international tour this upcoming Q1. It’s now GRAMMY nominated. And yet this is probably the first time you’ve thought about it since it dropped, at the very least, the first time in a while.
When I first listened to “Beloved,” I was picking up all the orchestral highs and lows Givēon (and contributors) was putting down. But at the same time the Clipse were also gearing up to the release of their (also GRAMMY nominated) comeback album, “Let God Sort ‘Em Out” so … yeah, naturally my ears put down the heartfelt tear-stained poem pages and boombox-outside-the-window escapades for Ace trumpets, stank faces, and ‘yeaughhhck’ vocal stims throughout the day.
Now, revisiting “Beloved” some months after its release, I find a new appreciation. This is when I can start throwing around a word like “classic.” ‘Cus it’s been in rotation for a bit, sure. But it feels warranted by the conversations I’m consistently having with the music itself in recent weeks. Yes, I can listen top-to-bottom. But now I can play with it some more. Ad-lib back and forth to the point I want to pitch a “DAMN” (Deluxe) kind of experience; this album feels much better to me with “Bleeding” as song #1 then go around the world ending at “Backup Plan”. THAT version is absolutely a classic. And even made me appreciate a song I hadn’t originally vibed with as much.
That wouldn’t be a thing if I’m stuck in consumption mode; never creating space to listen, only hearing and moving on. If I could entertain another worn down analogy: turning a fast-food music industry into meals at that dingy but reliable mom & pop shop. Even going for items on the menu that I don’t typically order. Like, no, I don’t have any Playboi Carti in my rotation BUT I can sit with “I AM MUSIC” and appreciate what “Toxic” & “Evil Jordan” are doing without calling him & his music garbage juice. It’s a conversation and I’m not trying to hear it. I did listen though, and that’s the best way to learn whether or not I actually like what’s there.
That’s all I’m trying to say. That it’s okay to feel uncertain about art. That it’s okay to take a minute to form an opinion and that that opinion may change. It’s completely acceptable to listen to something and feel whelmed. It’s possible to say something is good without it being the greatest thing ever. It’s absolutely fine to experience art for what it is, learn a thing, feel a thing, then move on without being rocked to your core one way or the other.
That $5 plate could save your life after a long shift but it could also be just leftovers for lunch the next day. Givēon and a handful of artists been keeping me fed for years now and it doesn’t always have to take entire catalogues to do it.
Just please, all I ask is that we walk into 2026 with open ears.