Everything is a joke

Sometimes, things are serious. Not everything needs to be turned into a joke. As Anhedönia said, we can still make jokes and laugh, but we’ve lost the ability to know when to stop – and it’s time we learned how.

In recent years, I’ve noticed that, as a culture, we struggle to engage sincerely with art – or with life (at least, that’s how it seems online).

I’ve noticed it with the memeification of Brat , a trend Charli xcx and her team leaned into, which to some extent diluted the more serious themes of motherhood, ageing and grief on her album.

Musician Ethel Cain (Hayden Silas Anhedönia) has noticed this too, ranting on Tumblr earlier this week about how “nobody takes anything seriously anymore“.