📢 So Basic
Thoughts on the FRIENDS reunion, the new J Cole album & revisiting my Prem predictions from September
Welcome to The Jerky Loudspeaker - an independent sports and culture newsletter, I’m super excited to have you here! Before you dive in, let me quickly break down how the newsletter is structured. Think of it like a mini newspaper, with three sections:
Deep Dive - Each piece/series in this section will be an in-depth analysis of the thoughts and emotions that arise from my interactions and experiences with the arts
Consumption Corner - A weekly review of what I’m watching, reading and listening to.
Balls, Bats & Baskets - As always, sports on the back page. In this section I’ll geek out about the happenings in this world of balls, bats and baskets.
Passion Projects -Â Once a month, I feature Q&As with creatives from different professional and personal backgrounds.
Deep Dive
Being Basic
The shows we binge, the movies we watch and the podcasts we listen to are an important part of the armor around which we wrap our identity in the Internet era.
While fashion is transitory in nature, the lifespan of a piece of art isn’t defined by trends. Once it enters the mainstream, it dies as a classic or lives long enough to become basic.
What is basic? Urban Dictionary defines basic as ‘a person that follows the crowd and copies other people who are more well known/ popular than them’. Being basic doesn’t imply bad taste, it implies lack of it. And in a world where our consumption choices are like fashion, being labeled basic is almost an insult.
I don’t think we realize the extent to which we go to avoid this label being put on us. When you’re asked to queue a song at a party, you’ll most likely add a classic or a song which you don’t think most people know of. You’re never going to queue up God’s Plan or Shape of You.
Everyone’s looking to carve out a niche for themselves on the Internet. The Instagram artist you found at 2am, the song you Shazam’d at a cafe through which you discovered a new indie band, the show your endless travails on Netflix led you to all become a part of your space. You become protective of them. You start to see yourself as a hipster. You tweet and share stories on IG about them. You want people to embrace your choices, but not too many people. You don’t want it to become mainstream. You want a clan for the art, but not a cult.
I realized the extent to which avoiding the mainstream had become ingrained in me very recently. During lockdown last year, while everyone went on a binge rampage of Money Heist, I avoided it just for that reason. It felt overcrowded. What’s the point of talking about a show that everyone is talking about? There’s a thrill to watching something that few are. I started Money Heist a year later during the ongoing second wave of COVID. The hype and clamor had quietened and I’m not sure how to describe it exactly, but it was a more conducive viewing experience. It was more peaceful being belatedly basic.
To most people, the word basic is epitomized by FRIENDS. In recent years, it’s become an easy show to hate on. Some of the arguments of the detractors are valid - how it lacks racial diversity, how the laughter reel greatly enhances the show and how their living situation (how they paid for the big apartment in Manhattan while working the jobs they did) doesn’t make sense. But mostly, the hatred spews from it having occupied the mainstream for so long.
FRIENDS was one of the first shows I developed any sort of attachment with. Just like millions across the world, it was the ultimate comfort show. One of my friends from college had it playing on her TV 24/7. It was a staple part of the background in her apartment.
I’d be lying if I said the basic label that got attached to the show didn’t complicate my relationship with FRIENDS. When I’m struggling to find something to watch on Netflix, my instinct is to put on an episode of FRIENDS. But, it’s an instinct that’s become riddled with guilt now. There’s a voice inside my head that tells me not to revert back to old comforts when there’s a whole world of OTT out there to explore.
The reunion episode releases this Thursday. I’ll watch it, but I’m not going gaga over it in the way other FRIENDS fans are. While I certainly have outgrown the show, I think that process was hastened by all the contempt directed towards it. That’s the sad truth.
Consumption Corner
What I’m reading:
What I’m watching: Goosebumps. Every single time.
What I’m listening to: I got around to listening to J Cole’s new album, The Off Season, front to back last week. It is very good.
Balls, Bats & Baskets
Revisiting my Premier League predictions from September
This will be the Liverpool front three’s last season together
This could still end up being true, but not for the reasons I’d foreseen. Until mid April, Mane had scored just 7 goals in the league and Firmino’s impact has been tepid for a while now. Add to this the fact that they’re 29 and it seems unlikely that clubs will splash the cash on players whose powers are seemingly on the wane.
Salah is a different case, however. He single handedly carried the club during times when the squad was stretched paper thin. He had 37 goal scoring contributions this year and in terms of goals/game (0.64), it’s been his best season since his debut season in 17/18. Despite his flirtations with Spain, he’ll feature below the likes of Haaland, Mbappe and a want-away Kane on the shopping lists of Madrid and Barcelona.It’s unlikely that fans will be let in before the turn of the year.
Barring that brief period in December where 2000 fans were allowed back into stadiums in select regions in the country, this one held up.Chelsea will comfortably finish in the Top 4 and have deep runs in the cup competitions
This prediction is blighted by the usage of ‘comfortably’. I thought Chelsea would be a lot like Liverpool in 17/18 - an imbalanced squad that will score and concede plenty. It’s been the exact opposite - this was Chelsea’s lowest scoring season since 99/00 and the 18 clean sheets is double the number they got last year and their best defensive showing since 13/14.Mauricio Pochettino will be back in the league this year.
I think the biggest testament to the job Solskjaer has done this season is the fact that the days of Pochettino being linked to the United job seems like a distant memory now.Arsenal will make it into the Top 4.
The post FA Cup euphoria made me delusional. Let’s move on.Tottenham will win a trophy this season
I came within one ill-timed sacking decision to getting this right. The club was certainly in a downward spiral under Mourinho, but the decision to sack him a week before the Carabao Cup final defies logic. Mourinho may be a lot of things but he knows how to win finals. He’s got an enviable record of 12 out of 14 in Cup finals and has never lost in 90 minutes. As was the case with his appointment, his firing seems to have been driven by haste and emotion.Leicester City is in for a tough year and could finish in the bottom half
Yikes.
After their cataclysm with Champions League qualification the previous year, I had serious questions about Leicester’s mentality. Given his abysmal post Gerrard slip year at Liverpool, I also had doubts about Rodgers’ motivational powers. Add to this the burden of midweek European fixtures to a tight squad and it seemed as though Leicester were destined for mid-table obscurity.
It feels good to be proven wrong.Newcastle and Brighton will be outside contenders for a European position this year.
There’s always that one outrageous prediction on every list that defies logic and is purely based on vibes. Think of this one in those terms.James Rodriguez will score a couple of beauties this season, but won’t do much else.
You heard it here first, folks!Donny van de Beek will be the signing of the season.
Why do bad things happen to good people?West Ham’s flirtations with relegation have become an annual affair, but I think the drop is unavoidable this year
This prediction was colored by the turmoil in the Hammers’ pre-season. There were fan protests about Diangana’s sale to West Brom and club captain Mark Noble had expressed his displeasure about the club’s decision making publicly. No one who saw their schoolboy defending in the clip below could have predicted they’d be playing in Europe the next year.
David Moyes deserved the Manager of the Year award.Nicolas Pepe and Christian Pulisic will be immense this year
With 16 goals and 5 assists, Pepe was Arsenal’s second highest scorer and one of their standout performers in a forgettable season. The signs of improvement had been visible during Project Restart, but Arteta’s handling of the player this season has come under scrutiny. Each time he looked like he was hitting his stride, Arteta would consign him to the bench. A sustained run in the starting XI could have had a massive impact on the club’s fortunes this year.
Pulisic was arguably one of the best players of Project Restart and was expected to spearhead the Chelsea attack this year. Injuries have hampered his progress and Tuchel’s repeated tinkering with his frontline has meant he’s struggled to knuckle down a starting spot in the XI. His progress has plateaued slightly, but the ceiling still remains very high.Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze could be the most exciting young player in the league
Eze has been one of the silver linings in what’s been a below par season for Crystal Palace and his ruptured achilles has brought as much pain to Palace fans as Hodgson’s departure. Leicester’s Fofana can also stake a claim at being the most exciting youngster this season
(I propose a motion to exclude Phil Foden from all discussions regarding young players. So what if he’s only 20?)The game of the season will take place at Elland Road
Okay fine, it wasn’t at Elland Road. But in terms of xE - expected Excitement - Leeds United top the charts this season. There’s a discipline to the abandon with which they play and watching them prance in front of a packed Elland Road next year is going to be some viewing experience.Â
I’d love to hear what you thought of this week’s edition! To share your thoughts, comments or if just want to chat, hit me up at shubhank4@gmail.com!
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In last week’s edition:
Deep Dive: The best hour I had all of last week on Clubhouse radio
Consumption Corner: A NatGeo piece on quarantine, a debate on India’s vaccine policy & a podcast explaining the Israel-Jerusalem conflict
Balls, Bats & Baskets: The stories of Leicester City
Read it here!