u/Kodicave

I know pitchfork isn’t everything but its a fun benchmark to discuss

What is an album you think Pitchfork rated too high

i think they rated Lady Gaga Mayhem too high at 8.0.

I actually think Gaga committed one of the biggest sins in pop: re-doing one of your former successful eras. she ’reheated her Born This Way nachos‘.

Madonna didn’t even re-do Confessions. its just a title and the aesthetics are very different

I think “re-doing” your former reinventions is forbidden fruit. you already did it successfully. let people miss it.

plus Mayhem didn’t stick at all. definitely way more of a 7.0/6.9 it was interesting don’t get me wrong but nothing spectacular for 8.0

🗽Happy 4th of July 🇺🇸 I hope everyone has a good fourth

if you see this here’s a reminder to get off Reddit and enjoy this day! even if it’s small

I was trying to think of something to do for 250. Maybe 25 questions about each decade? Maybe I could make a mega thread? but idk nothing felt strong

I love that everyone just accepts this. no debates or even argues. Not even swifties

no one even holds it against her. like ‘yep she was faking the yee haw thing to sell country’

she fully from Pennsylvania. No radio host ever said “how the hell you talking like that”

no hate. I think it’s genius and part of selling country. But I love how it disappeared completely and we just moved on

where are the best spots to celebrate 250

I’m in southern new Hampshire randomly and I basically am here for 2-3 weeks. and have complete freedom to go anywhere

boston seems like the most obvious choice and I’ll likely do that. But I’m curious if in overlooking anything

my last few 4th of julys were boring. For this I want to be at “the best possible spot”. or at least a really good one

what are the top prime locations to be celebrating the 250th out of the entire country. Who is getting the peak experience

we are only a few days away and i dont wanna miss out.

I’m in Southern New Hampshire at the moment. I’m wondering if there’s a hypothetical away to 250maxx and get the best out of it. is there a better spot? NYC? DC? Philly?

(you can say locations way from me. but selfishly I’m curious for suggestions)

I always thought I’d be happier if I lived without winter. I always imagined moving to heat and having year around peace

Then I moved to Texas. Experience year around heat and could not take dying in heat everyday. I learned that summer is only special because of winter

And that winter is special in a way.

easily the best food place I’ve ever been too. they could seriously be the next big food chain if they expanded

way better than chick fila. Way better than panera. if they branched outside of New England

I used to live in NH and I would go every day. I moved away and miss it so much

okay continuing my pop culture questions. I would see British pop culture from afar. I’d always notice pop stars take off there but not in the USA

Rita Ora is seemed to be a major pop star in the UK. Multiple huge hits.

however Rita Ora not known in the USA. “How We Do” was on the radio but it never made it huge. She had an Iggy Azalea song. But no one would really notice her

she’s not like Jessie J where she at least had Domino and Bang Bang.

Rita Ora is still kinda known. but only because of that “if this gets 100k likes” tweet

I have been using voice grok to talk about almost everything

i pretty much feel like the movie Her at this point. Where the character falls in love with an AI (not actually)

sometimes I’ll go for a walk and have grok on. and just keep chatting

I don’t truly expect Grok to solve all my problems nor do I use it for social comfort (but maybe) however it is helpful to know that I am talking to something that has complete access to the internet that can pull up things the average person might not have instant access to

i know this is going to be criticized. I’m basically Joaquin Phoenix. I’ve been wondering at what point with Her become real. And I think we are at the very beginning

We just hit 7k and I just wanted to thank everyone for posting questions and being involved!

this is my 2nd time running a subreddit and I’ve never had one with so much discussion. happy to make this alternative space for American questions

Keep asking away

This Lizzo Flop has been so interesting. I think it’s an example of what not to do.

1. The allegations are not the sole reason.

Yes they did major damage. They needed to be addressed. However the public have forgiven much worst. Ariana licked a donut. Taylor had the Kim call. When the music is good. People can forgive ALOT.

2. The Cover

this cover is so bad. there’s no aesthetic. it looks cheap. From a far it doesn‘t register as a middle finger. It looks like a discolored finger. I think Lizzo needed an entire re-brand.

3. Her audience

She needed confidence in who her audience is. she was in “hipster/indie rapper” in 2019. She was touring with HAIM and doing Charli xcx features. pitchfork praise with Boys

in 2022 she ditched it for the “mom pop lane”. About Damn Time. either lane could work. but you have to commit. This album isn’t hitting either

4. Emphasis on her body

I would’ve dropped this concept. I know she lost weight. However she did not have a dramatic change.

her music video features an older version of her ”bigger” self. the concept doesn't register because its not really that different. I would’ve lost this angle

5. These songs are confusing

I don’t see a clear message here. We need an advanced version of these “self love” songs we had before.

6. She committed the ultimate sin in 2026

assuming that social media likes would reflect album sales.

all these tweets she was making with in the last few weeks were the WORST possible thing.

all of us online. Are 1% of 1% of a population. Lizzo does not appeal to the chronically online. You need real life stuff to make an impact.

I just looked up that in The UK London and Glasgow is a 6 hour drive. and Boston to Philly is a 6 hour drive

I’m just curious how Americans view long road trips

when does a roadtrip go from small to big? How many hours is too much for you?

I don’t even know how i got here. I used to be totally fine with living in Ohio where I’m from

I am struggling so much with the idea of living in the Midwest. Even thought it seems like the right choice

But I move to Boston in 2024. it went bad the first 2 months and I asked my parents if I could move back in. But they wanted to charge me rent. and I refused so I went back to Boston and truly grinded it out for a year

this consequentially taught me that it is very possible to make these things work if you truly have to.

and this also made me fall in love with living in Boston and places like it.

i’ve been stuck between wanting a ‘stable life’ in the Midwest where I’m from. but I just don’t want to give up the excitement you get in other places

curious to know as an American.

obviously she’s welsh. so I expect her to be a big act in The UK.

im just curious how pop culture translates in the UK vs US. Marina & The Diamonds was one of my favorite musicians but felt kinda niche to like her

in the USA she was a somewhat ‘niche’ tumblr act. she definitely has an audience. but not recognizable outside of the tumblr crowd?

but I’m just curious if she was like famous famous. or just another pop star in the UK.

American here and I’m a huge fan of the electronic duo Boards of Canada.

they are based in Scotland and I’m randomly curious if they are actually known in their homeland. or if they are indie/niche like there are in the USA

it’s been over 14 years since Sky Ferreira came out with Everything Is Embarrassing

only 1 album and an ep

you’d think people would forget her but this girl still has a fan base all these years later

if you look at TikTok or X people are still discussing her and talking about Night Time My Time. edits of her.

she truly left such an interesting impression with so little content. I don’t think anyone in the indie sphere has done that

Additionally Grimes, Azealia Banks and Marina are also weirdly relevant too. It’s like the 2010s indie tumblr alt pop girls left such an impression.

i can’t think of a single era that has produced indie pop artists which so much relevancy years later. I guess Bjork?

- Firstly: This is not r/askanamerican and the rules from that sub do not apply here. I’ve seen a few people enforcing rules from that subreddit here. and none of those rules apply here.

- There are no strict rules about the topic of your question.

outside of rule 2 but its more common sense. Here are the rules:

1. The title of every post HAS to be the question. No exceptions. with question mark. this is to keep the format of the subreddit simple.
2. Your question has to be for Americans. It has to be related to the USA. Random mundane questions are fine. like “What did you have for breakfast”. if you ask “How do birds know to migrate south” that’s isn’t related
3. Keep it civil. if you threaten violence you will be banned. if you name call, your comment will be removed. I am acting as a non-bias neutral moderator.
4. Users can only ask 2 question a day.
5. Blatantly disrespectful rage bait. humor and joke questions are 100% welcome. If you have a funny question I’m fine with it. If it’s sarcastic that’s fine. Rude questions are even okay. I truly want ‘real questions” but if it’s extreme and crosses a line. It will be removed
6. Individual users spamming the same topic over 5 times. This one is tricky. I don’t want to restrict someone. Feel free to ask follow up questions about the same subject. but dont kill the vibe. If you have posted 4 questions about 9/11 that’s great but it’s time to find a new topic. if you do not stop. you will have a temporary ban. For Example: there was a user here that only posted about India, Indian accents and India immigration. It’s just annoying. We already answered your question.
7. AMAs are only allowed on Sunday. ideally AMAs are for Americans with an occupation or an interesting experience. it will be under my discretion

- My goal with this subreddit is to create a space on the internet where anyone anywhere in the world can ask an American a question freely. imagine if the entire world could ask Americans anything. The questions might be funny, weird, polite, rude or whatever. But that’s what’s fun of it

My goal is for there to be more questions posted than less. if a question gets people to discuss i’m really not inclined to remove it. So if there’s a post with 1k comments and maybe it’s fuzzy on the rules I’m okay with it