Why I Loved Pop Music This Year

The first time I heard DJ Earworm's United State of Pop, it was 2009. Most people consider it to be his best United State of Pop mashup, but it frustrates me to see every subsequent video have 3,000 versions of that same comment. Humans, by nature, are critical--particularly artists, and particularly trained, academic artists. I complained all the time in undergrad about the choreography on "So You Think You Can Dance" because only "real choreographers" know what "good choreography" looked like, and SYTYCD was too mainstream . Admittedly, I still hate the choreography on that show, but I'm at least aware that I'm probably being totally unfair. I KNOW ABOUT MY IRRATIONAL BIASES, KTHX.

It's so easy to get suckered into this judgmental mindset. In an MFA program, this is especially prevalent--and in running a literary magazine, even moreso. Every little thing is nitpicked--every word choice, every line break, every subject. This is too cliche, that's too predictable, that's not interesting. Sometimes it's difficult to even remember what you're looking for, because you're so busy pointing out the things that you don't like. Sometimes it's even more difficult to remember that the work you're churning out, which isn't even close to living up to the expectations you have about everyone else's work, actually has merit.

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