Is anything actually cool right now
Seems like we've been in a uniquely uncool era of popular culture for a while now. The internet drains the mystery/intrigue out of everything, artists have to constantly shamelessly promote themselves to stay afloat, social media algorithms homogenize people's tastes and don't allow for cultural exclusivity, everybody is intensely image-conscious which prevents anybody from having an interesting/authentic public image, etc. There are still cool things going on at the margins of culture, but nobody has crossed over who has had even a fraction of the sauce of someone like bowie or Lou Reed or 60s Dylan. It’s easy for people to act like they’re tapped in to “what’s going on”, but when I probe a little bit I always find that everybody is into the same boring surface-level shit.