What is Clairo shade?

also, I ranked Taylor Swift's albums + more music news

Happy Friday, everyone. And Happy Long Weekend to the corporate-leaning girlies.

There’s a 99.99% chance I’m driving L.A. → Vegas this LDW, and on the agenda is snacking, getting sun, and doing a prayer circle outside of The Sphere in hopes of Lady Gaga headlining it summer ‘25.

In today’s newsletter, we have:

• Lana Del Rey’s new fling

• Origins of Clairo shade (+ why it’s literally everywhere)

• “Demure” updates/thoughts

• Short-n-Sweet gets an 8.0 on Pitchfork?

• Ranking my fav Taylor Swift albums

• Charli xcx in V*lture

Lana Del Rey

This is the man Lana Del Rey has been seen with around London and is going on dates with - allegedly

They met in 2019 on an airboat tour in Louisiana (4.9/5 ⭐️s on google reviews).

She’s got such particular taste in men, and even shared a Facebook post from that day:

The funniest thing about this Lana situation is a random Twitter user @strnrtn who also happens to be Ariana stan account found out that her dad is dating Lana just like everyone else did.

As much as I want to say this is false, and it still might be a funny stan twitter joke, I can’t help but think she’s telling the truth… At least, in my reality, this story is true.

Clairo shade

Everything is Clairo shade….everywhere, AND all at once.

If you don’t know what “clairo shade” is by now, I got you. It’s a ‘joke’ that started over 6 months ago but recently and quickly picked up steam on Twitter/x.

The joke is that Clairo is never actually being shaded. But, it’s just funny to pretend she was (I say as a statement but also a question).

Because I texted a clairo shade line to a friend who didn’t "know who that was” the other day, here’s a quick catch-up:

• Clairo is a 26-year-old singer-songwriter who rose in popularity in 2017 with her bedroom pop masterpiece Flaming Hot Cheetos, now sitting at 426M plays on Spotify.

• She just released her third album Charm and is preparing for a 5-night residency in both L.A. and New York in early September, then an extensive tour.

Last week, Vulture published an article titled Clairo Shade Is Everywhere, but the question remains: is it funny? To me, it’s funny when people genuinely think she’s being shaded, but now that you are in on the joke, is it still funny?

(Bonus) Know Your Herstory:

The beginning of ‘clairo shade’ began here, with 1 like on X.com.

But the origin of the meme actually began here, with a Janet Jackson video in January 2024.

Cred to X

And then it took over my feed in the last month-ish.

Credit to X

Credit to the queen of X

People on the internet are funny. Especially when we’re in on the joke. But the cycle in which internet jokes get picked up, used, and then obliterated seems to be accelerating. The Clairo shade was a slow build, but ‘demure’ took over like something I haven’t witnessed maybe ever.

In my 10 years working in #content, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone turn a viral moment into a brand partnership in such a short amount of time.

For a few days, the “demure” videos from Jools Lebron and other creators flooded my FYP then BAM, she was on Jimmy Kimmel Live (thanks to Guest Host RuPaul, of course). In less than a week of her virality, she had secured and posted about Verizon, Lyft, and Zillow partnerships.

I’m impressed with the marketing teams (and agencies) that brought these partnerships to fruition so quickly. Unlike ever before, it feels like the internet joke cycles move so quickly, so marketing teams need to be super quick too. What I would like to see, though, would be marketing teams taking a more strategic approach to creating content with creators in ways we wouldn’t necessarily expect.

(LET HER TAKEOVER YOUR BRAND’S TIKTOK ACCOUNT FOR THE NEXT 10 DAYS WITH ZERO BRAND MENTIONS, PROMOTIONAL CONTENT—JUST JOOLS CONTENT WITH NO EXPLANATION!)

I would love to see something new with brands<>creators.

… My latest conspiracy theory is that TikTok is pressing the “heating” button for more and more creators, as more and more states vote to ban the app.

Do you know about the “Heating” button?

A document called TikTok Heating Policy says that employees may use heating to “attract influencers” and “promote diverse content,” but also to “push important information” and “promot[e] relevant videos that were missed by the recommendations algorithms.”

In response to a detailed set of questions about how and by whom heating has been used, TikTok spokesperson Jamie Favazza wrote: “We promote some videos to help diversify the content experience and introduce celebrities and emerging creators to the TikTok community. Only a few people, based in the U.S., have the ability to approve content for promotion in the U.S., and that content makes up approximately .002% of videos in For You feeds.”

To me, the ‘demure’ trend has felt a little contrived, almost like a reminder from TikTok HQ that they can turn everyday people into overnight successes at the click of a button.

Could we say the same for Instagram?

I don’t think so...yet. While big creators can definitely do well and get great engagement on Instagram, all the big, up-n-coming creators of today originate on TikTok for the most part.

But I am going to keep a close on Reels because I like the latest algorithm updates.

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Sabrina Carpenter

Fans — and some critics — are loving the 25-year-old pop star’s sixth album, Short n’Sweet. It’s no Brat. But it is good, short and sweet!

Sonically, it’s Pop meets Country meets R&B, and it’s 36 minutes long.

She is currently the 9th most streamed artist in the world on Spotify…crazily 378 spots ahead of Clairo… wow….. shady bootz!

I learned last week that she was a Disney Channel actor, which explains her talent…and the length of her career at just 25. It’s her most critically acclaimed album to date.

Worth a listen? Yeah! Worth the vinyl? No❤️

As you already know from the words “pop star” in the first paragraph, Jack Antonoff produced a good chunk of the album and, of course, is behind my favorite three songs:

• Slim Pickins

• Please Please Please

• Lie To Girls

Pitchfork gave it an 8.0—which is a great review in terms of Pitchfork—but note, this is also the same writer who generously gave Midnights (2022) a 7.0.

As much as I wanted to be a hater, it’s a truly a nice album. From one self-aware queen to another, I love when things are exactly what they says they are: short n sweet!

Fun fact: The average length of a song from Short n’Sweet is 3min 01sec, aka the same avg. length of the songs from emails I can’t send (2022).

Credit to X

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Now to the good part… :)

I’m doing a DEEP DIVE into Taylor’s discography this weekend, because what else would I do on a road trip? But as a teaser to a full substack piece about Taylor, here is my ranking of Taylor’s albums:

1. Reputation (2017) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2. 1989 (2014) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3. Evermore (2020) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

4. Red (2012) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5. Folklore (2020) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

6. Red (2012) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

7. Fearless (2008) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

8. Taylor Swift (2006) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

9. Midnights (2022) ⭐️⭐️⭐️

10. The Tortured Poets Department (2024) ⭐️⭐️

11. Speak Now (2010) ⭐️⭐️

Leave a comment below letting me — and the world — know your top Taylor albums… and why! I would love to include a screenshot in my full piece on it.

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Charli xcx

David LaChapelle

Paywalls are sooooooooooo annoyinngg, unless you’re a good substack writer. I’m not there yet, but please subscribe for free, if you like this stuff!

A new Charli deep-dive came out this week on Vulture, and it’s behind a paywall… fortunately, thanks to reddit user Disastrous_Wasabi392, I found a ladder!

• Step 1. Go to this link: https://12ft.io/

• Step 2. Copy/paste the article: https://www.vulture.com/article/charli-xcx-interview-brat-summer-fall-kamala-harris.html

• Step 3. Read!

This hack doesn’t work for substacks so don’t even try.

Climbing over a paywall is so BRAT… I tell myself…

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Thanks for reading! More Wybrations next Friday!