Entertainment
Jack Antonoff hopes the music industry has been taking notes
“You know who I miss right now?” Jack Antonoff asks. “Nancy Meyers. I feel like she’s been on a bit of a break.”
The Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and frontman of the rock band Bleachers is standing in the lush garden outside his private recording studio in Hollywood, which — come to think of it — looks like a spot out of one of Meyers’ sumptuously designed romantic comedies. There are gently arcing palm trees, a gleaming built-in barbecue, a refrigerated drawer full of chilled sparkling waters.
“I think we’re cresting out of the moment of film needing to be a harsh slice of reality, and I love that,” Antonoff continues. “With Nancy Meyers” — the director’s most recent feature, for the record, was 2015’s “The Intern” — “a lot of the criticism was always: ‘No one has a kitchen like that.’ And I’m like, Yeah, that’s why it’s cool.”
As a guy who came up in New Jersey’s scrappy punk scene, Antonoff, 40, is perhaps an unlikely Meyers stan. Yet he’s undoubtedly in his high-gloss blockbuster era: This year alone he had a major hand in Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” — both widely tipped for multiple Grammy nods when nominations are announced on Nov. 8 — and co-produced a track by Kendrick Lamar (“6:16 in L.A.”) as part of Lamar’s world-stopping beef with Drake. He also toured behind Bleachers’ latest LP, composed music for a new Broadway production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and settled into married life with actor Margaret Qualley, to whom he got hitched last year near their home in New Jersey.
Antonoff looked back on it all on a recent afternoon at his studio before heading to a Bleachers gig at the Greek Theatre, where his dad joined the band for a rendition of “How Dare You Want More.”
Do you have a place in L.A. or do you stay at a hotel when you’re here?
No, I love hotels. I live so much of my life in hotels that I’ve really crystallized my experience — I know how to do it. But I also love being home. My partner and I, our life is pretty tight — like a 60-mile radius between New York and New Jersey. You know your home based on the feeling you have when the plane lands. When I get to L.A., I feel excitement: What could happen? I land at Newark or JFK or hopefully LaGuardia and my shoulders drop. I love this studio, but Margaret and I do not sit around and dream about living anywhere else. We’ve reached the point in our life where we’re both working pretty hard, filled with ideas and ambitions, but the magical place we go to in our minds is just being home.
Alas, you’re on tour.
I love playing shows. But it’s funny that I ended up doing this for a living because I dislike travel greatly. I like cars a lot. We’re actually not doing buses anymore. For this tour, I looked at it — there’s a real tour manager in my head because I did it for so long — and I’m like, OK, let’s structure this so if the drive is under five hours, you go to bed in the hotel, you wake up at 9 and you get there in time for soundcheck. I love sitting in a car listening to music, having to pee so bad, then you finally stop and you get to pick out some cool snacks.
You’re known to jump into the audience during a Bleachers show. You ever get skeeved out being touched by so many people?
One of the reasons I do what I do is because when I’m playing, that’s about the only two hours in my life when I don’t think about that. I’ve been described as a next-level germaphobe. Still wear a mask on the plane — I’m not worried about COVID, I just think they’re disgusting. Haven’t touched a doorknob since, you know, 1990. But I have a great relief of my demons when I get onstage.
You turned 40 this year.
I feel really excited about it. I don’t wish for my life to be over, and I don’t enjoy how fast it all goes — that fills me with the existential dread that we all live with. But a lot of my artistic heroes have furthered a vision through age. My favorite artist of all time when I was really young was Tom Waits. And it was about the journey: What was he thinking when he did “Foreign Affairs”? How did he get to “Mule Variations”? Who is the pirate? Who is the crooner? Same with the Beatles or Joni Mitchell or Bruce [Springsteen] or [Martin] Scorsese or Fiona Apple. These are all people that made a value of the concept of carrying on.
When “The Tortured Poets Department” came out, you identified yourself in a tweet as a “Down Bad” head. What is it about that song?
It just captures this vacillation of the human experience so perfectly for me — like, I’m dancing, I’m driving in the dark. Am I crying? Am I making out with someone? It does a thing that a lot of my favorite songs do, where it just puts me in a place.
Is there a particular sound you’re proud of?
Just the totality of it: the LinnDrum; the tremolated, wobbling synth; the shimmering guitars. I could dissect it, but it just grabs me as soon as I hear it. It’s like a born universe.
That’s a vivid phrase.
I feel that way about “August.” I feel that way about “Cruel Summer.” I feel that way about [Lana Del Rey’s] “Venice Bitch.” They just put you there in that universe. And you can’t believe them when they happen, because they’re the hardest to try to plan. They kind of come out of thin air, whereas some songs are these mountains that you work on forever.
“I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” feels very non-thin-air-ish to me. That’s one where I can hear the thinking in your production.
It’s all about the juxtaposition between the sadness of Taylor’s lyrics and the humor and the joy of the music. It’s a person singing about how hard it is to be in the spotlight all the time but also about how strong they are. On a production level, I wanted the literal voices of people fluttering around in the song because I want people to be like, “Who are all these people in the room?” That’s the experience of what she’s talking about. I love that type of song that re-presents to the audience the glory of the job and how destructive it can be.
Because you can relate?
I know that feeling so well. You’re up there and there’s no tomorrow and there’s no yesterday. Then you’re done: Oh my God, tomorrow. Oh my God, yesterday. Have I rung a bell I can’t un-ring? Am I too far down a path to turn around — and if so, what are the implications? When I have kids, what will happen?
Do those intrusive thoughts ever happen while you’re playing?
Never.
You’re fully in it till you’re offstage.
Till about 10 minutes after being off, which is actually a dangerous time because I can eat like a whole pizza in that 10 minutes. It’s a little bit like sleepwalking. I’m still not really present in my body when I’m in that heightened place, and I can consume an amazing amount of food.
What do you do instead of eating a whole pizza?
I get offstage and go right back to the room with the band. We talk about the show, maybe do a bit of a celebration. We need to come down together. After that I’ll see a few people. But when I’m done, I want to go to bed. It’s before the show that I like to be social. I remember Bruce came to see us at Radio City [in 2022], and he got there early because he played some songs with us. He was just sitting in my room and people were kind of coming and going. At one point, he looked at me and was like, “I don’t know how you do this, man — I need to be alone before the show.” For the first time, I was like, am I doing this wrong?
Back to “Tortured Poets”: By Taylor’s standards, this album was somewhat coolly received by tastemakers when it came out. Yet I sense a burgeoning reappraisal. Some prominent folks seem to be coming around to it.
Story of my life, baby.
Why do you think that is?
Not to be esoteric or poetic about it, but time is my only critic. Myself and everyone I work with feels that way. All that matters is how the stuff ages. I’ve been a part of or personally made so much work at this point that hit a certain way when it came out, only to see what happened with it eight months later, a year later, three years later. So when I say I don’t care about reviews, it’s not an ego thing. It’s like, how can you care?
It’s worth noting that, until “Tortured Poets,” the reviews were pretty uniformly positive.
Totally. But, you know, we’re artists — we’ll find the one bad comment. The system is very clearly designed so that if I have a moment of universal acclaim, then a think piece on the other side comes out. So the lesson is clear, which is that it’s the work and how it ages. I never want to win a moment.
That’s kind of what the band Fun. was, huh? Big deal at the time — “We Are Young” at No. 1, song of the year at the Grammys, yadda yadda. Now nobody talks about Fun.
I think you’re illustrating why I chose to not do that much longer. I know when something will age well, and that’s why I stay with the things that I want to do. There was something very accidental about Fun., which is also what stressed me out about it. It wasn’t my band.
Why was that stressful?
Because I’m a bandleader and I’ve always been a bandleader. I like singing my lyrics. I like telling my story. My attraction to being on the road — would “proselytizing” be the right word for it? — comes from explaining a point of view that I come from and inviting people into it. So if I’m not getting that, I don’t really want to do it much. There’s a lot of people in my life who, when Fun. was this massive band and I was obsessively making the first Bleachers album, they were like, “What are you doing? What is this? Is this ego?” And I was like, “No, you have to feel yourself. And I don’t feel myself.” It’s that simple.
Question about Sabrina: You and she have both suggested that “Sharpest Tool” is your favorite song on “Short n’ Sweet.” Why?
I guess it’s that “born universe” thing. When we made it, we were kind of like, “What is this?” The tone of it’s kind of odd. I can’t tell if it’s uptempo or downtempo. It puzzles me and delights me. I feel that way about “Please Please Please” too. If you think about that song before it became a hit, it doesn’t really slide into anything that’s happening in any way. I’m not being a douchebag and trying to make the story sound cooler. But no one sat around and was like, “This is gonna ride up the charts!”
Sabrina wasn’t the only pop act to break out in a big way in 2024. It was also the year of Chappell Roan and Charli XCX. Why did so many people want to hear from new voices?
I don’t think people wanted to hear from new voices as much as some new voices came with the f— goods. And the thread between Charli and Chappell and Sabrina is that they’re artists who’ve been killing for a long, long time. I’ve been aware of Sabrina for years and years and years. Charli has been redefining and crystallizing her sound for over a decade. I hope that on the industry side, all the notes are taken.
Is this a moment for the record industry to pat itself on the back and say, “Hey, look, artist development is alive”?
It’s a moment for the record industry to consider who they’ve been dropping and ignoring. It’s a moment for people to remind themselves that artists get better the more space and freedom they’re given to barrel down their path. The lesson from a label point of view is: Don’t chase something that’s having a moment online. Chase something you love and believe in.
Do you ever play Monday morning quarterback with records that don’t work?
Nah. I’m so wrapped up in my universe that I don’t listen to a lot of other things, and I certainly don’t have opinions on them.
I feel like I half-believe you.
I mean, I hear things here and there, and I can talk my s— if I’m alone with friends. But I’ve never heard something and been like, “Here’s what they should’ve done.” My Spotify Wrapped every year is hilarious because I’m really only listening to what I’m working on. My No. 1 song last year was the theme from “Nacho Libre” because when I’m on a plane with anyone in my family, I do a bit where I play it on a loop really loud on my phone.
The end of Taylor’s Eras tour is almost upon us. Will you go to at least one more show?
I think I’ll definitely make that happen. I don’t want to miss another chance to experience it. It’s an incredible thing to behold. You have to see it so many times because you have to vacillate between watching the show and watching the audience. I could cry watching some of these people. What they’re going through — it’s beautiful.
Wainheads will be delighted to see his alums in cameos: Kerri Kenney-Silver, Michael Ian Black, Thomas Lennon, and supporting roles for Zickel and Truglio. A large portion of the cast are his homies. But with Deutch, Gutierrez-Riley, Wang, Slattery, Impacciatore, and yes, Hamm, it’s as if they’re being inducted into a new mad family. Wain and Marino are basically catching Pokémon and hoping they can hold onto the roster (by that logic, yes, Paul Rudd is a legendary Pokémon). The film is anchored by Zoey — everything everywhere all this summer with Voicemails From Isabelle to Minions & Monsters — Deutch in the Dorothy Gale role, exuding a high level of perkiness consistent with the character’s can-do, wide-eyed, midwestern charm and heart.
A major standout, Ben Wang finally gets to show off his comedic abilities, portraying a self-assured, quick-witted agent who makes me laugh every time he reveals his sheltered upbringing in snappy whines at every inconvenience. Sabrina Impacciatore, who has proven to be a comedic juggernaut in The Paper, is having so much fun hamming it up as the mob boss-esque wicked witch counterpart, torturing her henchmen and deliciously chewing up the scenery whenever onscreen. I don’t think they use her to the height of her comedic prowess, but she’s a delight nonetheless. John Slattery is the film’s comedic MVP. The way the writers use his over-the-top character for comedy is downright hilarious every time. They use him as either a punchline or a force of nature, and he’s great. This movie is like Mad Men propaganda, and by God, it works. As someone who’s never seen it, Gail allowed me a better appreciation for Slattery and Hamm.
Man, we don’t deserve Jon Hamm. This is the second time I’ve seen him play a silly, fictionalized version of himself this year (the other being the SXSW crowd-pleasing rom-com Wishful Thinking, which Gail distributor Sony Pictures Classics acquired), and he also voice-acted in his comedic Mayor Jerry role in Hoppers. Maybe working with Wain in 2007’s The Ten was the canon event, but I consider his weird little sex scene with Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids his awakening. Since then, I’ve only seen him as unserious, and it’s delightful. Oz-like in appearance, he’s funny and befitting the film’s overall light, joyful nature.
LAST STATEMENT
Ultimately, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a campy, delightful romp that succeeds as both a distinctive Hollywood‑centric riff and a Wizard of Oz reimagining, retaining a loving, twisted, demented charm. It’s a weird description, but it’s so high‑spirited and light‑hearted despite being strangely ultraviolent. It might as well be a live‑action episode of Smiling Friends (RIP), yet it’s everything the theatrical market needs today. Ten years ago, this would’ve been a studio production rather than an indie Sundance acquisition, but thank God it exists for the big screen. More absurdist Gail Daughtrys for cinemas (not streaming), please, because this is the most fun to be had in a theater all summer, if not the year thus far.
Chunky platform sandals, fitted baby tees, butterfly clips on perfectly crimped hair, brightly patterned skirts and tons of sparkles. Pure Y2K-fueled nostalgia filled the Kia Forum on Wednesday night in celebration of all things Hilary Duff.
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Duff graced the stage at the Inglewood venue as part of her Lucky Me tour, her first global headlining tour in nearly two decades. And her fans couldn’t have been more thrilled. The pop singer and actor, who released her sixth studio album “Luck… or Something” in February, performed two back-to-back sold-out shows.
Before the final L.A. show, we caught up with fans to talk about their outfits (many of which were inspired by Duff’s most famous roles such as Sam in “A Cinderella Story” and the title role in “The Lizzie McGuire Movie”), the memories her music brings up for them and why her work still resonates with them. Here’s what they had to say.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Tristan Hallam, 36, of Chicago
Tell us about your outfit.
This is my wedding dress that I had stuffed in a suitcase. She’s been in a suitcase for 10 years, and I still fit into her, which is nice. People ask me why I keep stuff and this is exactly why: You might get divorced and use it as a costume. My outfit is inspired by “A Cinderella Story.” It’s my favorite Hilary Duff movie. She plays diner girl Cinderella. She disguises herself with a mask and a L.A. Dodgers cap. I did have a tiara, but I didn’t bring it because I didn’t want to be too much. So I figured, you know what, why not buy an apron and a little black crop top, and rep L.A.
I have a tattoo of her signature. It’s a little faded because it’s like 10 years old, maybe older than that now. It was at a book signing at Barnes and Noble at like the Grove or something. I asked her if she would initial my wrist, and I got it tattooed the same night. I literally drove to the tattoo shop on Hollywood Boulevard with my arm out the window because I’m so clumsy and I didn’t want to smudge it. Then the next time I saw her, she asked me, what did your parents say? I said, “My mom asked me how long I kept the Sharpie on so long.”
How long have you been a fan?
I think I was like 8 or 9 years old when I saw “Casper Meets Wendy” for the first time. My grandma took me to like a K-Mart or something, and told me that I could get any movie that I wanted. Then I was into “Lizzie McGuire,” but as soon as Hilary started doing all her like movies and independent work, obviously the music is great. I used to live in L.A., so I went to a bunch of her book signings. I’ve done a lot of meet and greets for her concerts, and right now I’m traveling around. I’m going to 18, technically 19 shows now, and I’m gonna see her in New Zealand, Australia and some other places. I’m actually really excited because one of my friends, I met her in a Hilary Duff fan club chat room in 2005 on MSN Messenger, and we are still friends, so we are going to a ton of shows together.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
The fact that we’re around the same age, there’s been a lot of relationship similarities. I don’t have any kids, but the struggles with family, with your dad, with your siblings. She’s got some songs that are more mature and relatable for people our age. People who have gone through ups and downs in relationships, struggles with family and figuring out who your real family is, not just by blood but who your chosen family is. I think that’s really important.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Leilanie Martinez, 30, of South Gate
Tell us about your outfit and the inspiration behind it?
It’s my quinceañera dress. It’s supposedly very traditional to wear a white dress, like young women coming of age. For mine, I wanted to wear something that I didn’t see a lot of people wearing and I was very firm that if I didn’t find the love of my life, I was going to wear a white dress and this was my moment. My quinceañera was such a precious time. It really was a labor of love, and I think it’s one those memories I hold very near and dear. I think it’s an ode to her history, her legacy.
How long have you been a fan?
I remember I was 5 and I was running around in my neighborhood, playing with Barbies and watching “Lizzie McGuire.” I’m here today with my neighborhood and childhood friends. We used to watch it together and now we’re reliving our nostalgia and childhood.
Thinking back on when you first fell in love with her work, why does it still resonate with you today?
There’s a lot of power in her being a woman and she’s going through so many milestones that a lot of people my age are going through like having children and growing her career. Sometimes I think people “wash out” and I think it’s wonderful how she’s combating that narrative in so many ways, and that people are out here supporting her. I think there’s a lot of beauty in being able to be together as young women and relive some of these memories, but also cheer her on as she continues developing further.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Crystal Chesher, 33, of Mar Vista and Isabella Sanchez, 33, of Culver City
Tell us about your outfit.
Sanchez: We’re channeling “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.” My actual name is Isabella. She gives more Lizzie vibes and I give more Isabella vibes. It’s funny because I’ve literally saved [looks] of Isabella and Lizzie on my Pinterest board and I’ve always wanted to dress up like this. It’s not 100% of what I wanted, but it’s giving what it’s supposed to.
How long have you been a fan?
Chesher: Since I was little. I remember watching “Lizzie McGuire” since the age of 10 at the very least so I’ve been growing up with her movies and shows. She’s definitely my idol.
Sanchez: Same. Growing up, I was bullied so she was a very big part of me being more positive about myself. I can relate to her and she really helped me. It just feels full circle to be able to see her at 33 when I wanted to see her when I was like 10.
Thinking back on when you first fell in love with her work, why does it still resonate with you today?
Chesher: She has a heavy influence in the LGBT community as well especially with the [anti-gay speech campaign]. I loved that. With her movies and her music, it’s all relatable and it resonates with you, the lyrics, the storyline and even her new album that just came out.
Sanchez: She’s just that girl. I’ve never even met her, but I feel like she’s so genuine and real and she’s always stayed consistent with who she is. She’s not like your typical celebrity. She’s just awesome. I’m literally probably going to tear up seeing her on stage.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Lucca Petrucci, 33, of Santa Monica
Tell us about your outfit.
This is a last-minute choice. It’s very like ’70s or retro. I feel like I’ve seen her wear something like this. I’m wearing wide-legged pants, Doc Martens, platform, new haircut, facial. The inspiration for this fit was elegant pop star like confidence, grounded, a baddie. I’m a baddie who knows my worth and that’s what I wanted to embrace. I feel like she’s like doing that. She has a lyric that’s like ‘I look in the mirror, like I’m a bad b—.”
How long have you been a fan?
Since third grade. I thought she was my crush, but I think I just wanted to be her. So many of my core childhood memories are with her.
Why was tonight a non-negotiable for you?
I wanted to experience with my bestie and her sister. I feel like as a kid I didn’t allow myself to fully embrace it because it would be too girly, too much, too gay. So I feel like as a 33-year-old, I’m reclaiming that experience. I’m so excited just to hear everybody in the Forum sing “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean.” She has always been my number one pop star, to this day, and I’ve never seen her perform.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
I feel like, especially when she was on “Lizzie McGuire,” she was figuring out who she was, but was open to being her authentic self. So I think that just like hit me when I was like in third and fourth grade, like figuring out myself. I felt so seen by her, and her music just brings back like such good feelings. Younger version of me, life wasn’t always great, but, I don’t know, she made things better.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Liv Guardado, 8, Priscilla Cruz, 38, Ava Guardado, 10 and Jezelle Velasco of Costa Mesa
Tell us about your outfit.
Cruz: We went thrifting for the first time for this. I’m plus-size, so thrifting is not easy in my size, so we did what we could. We got some overalls from Goodwill. And then we got some cowboy boots because we just wanted to be comfy.
Velasco: I probably stressed the most. I ordered so many pieces and it just kind of came together. I think the nails took the longest. One of my friends did my nails. It took some time but we got it done.
How long have you been a fan?
Velasco: Probably since I was their age. I never got to go to a concert, so this is my first time seeing her live.
Cruz: I definitely got inspired around middle school. I had a friend who was like Lizzie, and I was the best friend, Miranda. People would always say I was Miranda. I was a little older than [my girls], but I definitely have kept tabs on her life, and we love her.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Cruz: It definitely feels like memories and home when you think of her music from back then. And now she’s obviously stepped into a different phase of her life, and it matches where we’re at in our phase too so it’s nice.
Velasco: It just brings back the nostalgia from back when we were younger and now being parents, and being able to relate to her and her new music.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Paige Beard, 34, and Tayler Nelson, 27, of Bakersfield
Tell us about your outfits.
Beard: I was supposed to be wearing purple and she was going to wear green, and we were going to do the Isabella and Lizzie look at the end of “The Lizzie McGuire Movie.” It turned out more pink, but we ran with it.
Nelson: I was all about that performance, so I was like green. Gotta go green. We’ve been planning for a while, like two months.
How long have you been a fan?
Beard: I’ve been a fan for a long, long time, probably since “Casper Meets Wendy.” I was also a really big “Lizzie McGuire” fan, so I got into her acting as well as her music.
Nelson: Same. I was all about the Cinderella movie though, so it’s probably been 10 years for me.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Beard: I was telling my sister that I really liked “Lizzie McGuire” because it was one of the first times I saw somebody’s inner dialogue acted out in cartoon form. It showed me that I’m not too much. She’s a little bit older than me and I see her crying on stage and I’m like “OK, it’s OK.”
Nelson: “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” was a big turning point for me. I just loved how she expressed herself with what she wore and how she acted. I feel like I understood her in different ways. I enjoyed the dancing and the singing for sure. She felt free and I’m like, “Dang, I want that.”
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Freddy Lopez, 38, and Raymond Lockwood, 36, of San Bernardino
Tell us about your outfits.
Lopez: Just a ’90s vibe. I guess a little old-school.
Lockwood: The outfits are a little last-minute because we were like we should’ve done diner girl [from “A Cinderella Story”] or one of her other movies, but we chose the little cartoon character from the show.
How long have you been a fan?
Lopez: I’ve been a fan since “Lizzie McGuire” and her movies.
Lockwood: For the past 20 something years. We grew up watching “Lizzie McGuire” and got introduced to Hilary Duff when she started singing.
Why was tonight a non-negotiable for you?
Lopez: We don’t know if she’s going to come back after this, so you’ve gotta take every opportunity. There’s other artists who cannot come back to perform right now. So when she said I’m coming back, we had to.
Lockwood: We’re healing our inner child. As a kid, we didn’t know she was having tours or we couldn’t afford to come out. Now, we’re like we don’t have to ask our mom and dad for anything.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Lockwood: For me, it’s being a teenager, watching the “Lizzie McGuire” show and watching the movie and then learning her songs. My favorite song is from the movie, “What Dreams Are Made Of.” It’s just us getting to live back in the past and kind of understanding it a little bit more. As a kid, our dreams are not what they realistically are today. I ended up becoming a nurse. As a kid, I didn’t sit on the couch like “Oh, I’m going to be a nurse,” but that’s what my dream ended up being.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Stephanie Rodriguez, 32, High Desert
Tell us about your outfit.
If you ask my fiancé, I was hunting for outfits and last-minute I was like, “I’m just gonna order something on Amazon.” When I saw this, I was like, “That’s it.” Total nostalgia with “13 Going on 30.” We went shoe shopping at the South Coast Plaza over the weekend. The metallic is pulling it all together and the butterfly clips.
How long have you been a fan?
Probably since I was like 8 or younger, pretty much very much obsessed. All of my holiday gifts were Hilary Duff. I had her K-Mart home products. Any magazines she was in, I got. Any outfits that I could try and replicate, I would. My first Hilary show was either Wango Tango or a Jingle Ball with KIIS-FM, so it was just a festival with a bunch of different artists but I went specifically for her.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
I think a lot of us feel like we grew up with Hilary, so all of her music resonated with us then, and now, now that we’re older, through relationships or divorces or motherhood. It’s pretty cool to see just how we’re all kind of growing up together. The first time I think I found out about her was at the Glendale Galleria. I was recently telling my fiancé that my dad had me on his shoulders because she did a meet and greet and the entire mall was packed.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Kelsie Wagner, 35, of Temecula and Tyler Walsh, 35, of Long Beach
Tell us about your outfit.
Wagner: I’m channeling Lizzie McGuire. My favorite part is the butterfly clips.
Walsh: This is from Company D, which is a discount store for Disneyland. I was like let me get the biggest shirt and make it into a dress, but I’m wearing shorts — it’s still appropriate. I have like six authentic Disney pins here. This is about $200 on my hat. I was like I have to do something that represents. It’s a big hobby, pin trading, that I picked up in 2023. Then I wore my Lisa Franks. I figured I would channel everything from the ’90s and 2000s.
How long have you been a fan?
Wagner: Whenever the “Lizzie McGuire” show came out.
Walsh: I remember going to sleepovers with all of my friends and we would do Lizzie nights. I was on a soccer team and on Saturday nights, we’d go watch the newest episode. It was just so fun because I feel like I had a little clan that loved Lizzie. We went to her concert at the Grove together and it was back when you paid $50 to get in. We were front row and we like smelled her. It was wonderful.
Why does her work still resonate with you today?
Wagner: For me, especially her new album, she talks about marriage, relationships, motherhood, so it’s still relatable in that sense of that stage of life that we’re in.
Walsh: For me, it’s just nostalgia, because I’m not married, I have no kids, like I’m that fun aunt. And I will say, like, because she goes to Disneyland a lot, so I luckily got to meet her too. I asked her for a picture, and she’s like “Yeah, of course, honey.” It’s the most embarrassing photo of me ever though.
Wagner: I told her she should get it printed and wear it to the concert.
Walsh: I should have.
Sam Raimi‘s Evil Dead films and TV series are a fine example of creativity within constraints, playfulness, self-awareness and outright slapstick comedy. The Evil Dead series after Raimi is very, very different. Starting with 2013’s Evil Dead by Fede Álvarez, followed by Evil Dead Rise by Lee Cronin, the new series takes itself more seriously and emphasises pure horror, violence and gore. Some have considered this praiseworthy as it avoids being a mere retread of the old films, but the reception has been mixed.
In Sébastien Vanicek’s Evil Dead Burn, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) loses her abusive husband (George Pullar) to a motor accident. When she goes home to stay with his family, the consequences of the work of their dead grandfather researching the Necronomicon and the Deadites manifest in terrible ways. One by one, the family are turned into the Evil Dead.
Horror is a genre that depends on you relating to the protagonists so you care what happens to them. In the case of Evil Dead Burn, Yacoub does a decent job with the character she’s given, but the gonzo horror elements manifest so early in the film that she may as well be collateral damage in the onslaught, especially as the film’s early point of view is that of her brother-in-law (Hunter Doohan).
Fans of gory violence will get their money’s worth here, but there’s not a lot going on besides that. The film is a descent into madness and carnage that is so resolutely unpleasant that, after some of the early kills, it becomes numbing. It’s hard to gather what the tone is supposed to be, with lots of callbacks to the early films’ style by setting up inevitable kills with Chekhov’s weed trimmer, Chekhov’s fork and every other potentially dangerous prop the camera lingers on. The family are all deeply unpleasant at some level and so their deaths register as meaningless. Yes, the film has the obligatory something to say about how our tendency to ignore domestic abuse creates demons that destroy families, but then absolutely panders to bloodlust by absolutely revelling in some of the most extreme violence imaginable between family members (and a pet). To say this is not a film for the sensitive is to understate things considerably. This is a film that absolutely earns its content guidance warnings.
Is there any comedy? Some, but it feels out of place given the absolute brutality inflicted on the cast. While most of the other films were self-aware about setting up a ludicrously grisly end for a villain as a payoff, in Evil Dead Burn,the kills have very little flair. It’s also hard to know what the rules for getting rid of a Deadite are, as some of them are still upright and chatty after losing most of the contents of their skull and some are dispatched by the repeated application of a blunt object to the head. Towards the end, a McGuffin is added to make the kills final, but before that, who knows?
Should you watch Evil Dead Burn,? It certainly gets vocal reactions from audiences in a cinema, and if you’re a gorehound you’ll be in for a ride. If you’re a horror fan, it’s certainly a horror film, but violent instead of scary. If you’re just a fan of cinema who likes good films whether or not they’re horror films, then this will be an alienating watch. In Evil Dead Rise the decay of the family was more than background noise and factored into the circumstances of the individual deaths, but not here. It has slight pretences of being a film with Themes and Ideas, but in the end it just feels like an excuse to serve up limbs being mutilated, skulls being crushed and any number of stabbings, slicings and gougings rendered with psychopathic visual fidelity. If that’s what you’re after, that’s what it’s got.
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