Happy Monday, Berkeley.
Last week, Justin Bieber got engaged to Hailey Baldwin. Three days ago, Ariana Grande revealed a tattoo of fiancé Pete Davidson’s name on her ring finger. Chance the Rapper asked his girlfriend to marry him on July 4. Kit Harington and Rose Leslie’s wedding took place June 23. Meghan Markle tied the knot with Prince Harry in mid-May.
Marriage might just be the latest trend among millennials.
And predictably, love is as present as ever in mainstream media. So let’s take this week to celebrate media new and old that celebrates love.
In 2013, Chance the Rapper rapped about love in “Interlude (That’s Love),” saying, “What’s better than tripping is falling in love.” In 2013 and 2014, Harington and Leslie played out a great romance in “Game of Thrones” seasons three and four.
In 2016, Justin Bieber sang “Let Me Love You.”
A personal favorite of mine is John Legend’s “Love Me Now.” Watch him and Chrissy Teigen in the music video to see some love at its finest. And another favorite, Rihanna’s “Love on the Brain,” was also released in 2016. (It was playing at Tartine Manufactory this Saturday, and I was caught singing along as I walked up to order my chocolate croissant.)
But a more recent release, Ariana Grande’s new song “God is a woman,” is about sex — “You, you love it how I move you / You love it how I touch you … You’ll believe God is a woman.” As a sidebar, the music video for the song is beautifully scattered and full of both sexual and feminist imagery.
That all said, love can be more complicated than the media glitz makes it out to be. Read a recent “Modern Love” column from the New York Times.
But if anyone sums it up the right way, it’s The Internet on “Love Song – 1.”
The song is one minute and 29 seconds long and centers around the line “‘Cause we both know no one’s perfect, baby, I feel like this could be worth it.” Perhaps reductionist, perhaps perfectly multidimensional, the line is emblematic of The Internet’s songwriting, a lyricism I happen to enjoy.
So I’m looking forward to The Internet’s new album releasing Friday, Hive Mind. Take Monday to catch up on The Internet’s past discography (including “Love Song – 1”) in preparation for Friday.
On Tuesday, take art into your own hands at Maker Studio SF in a sewing or 3D printing and modeling workshop. If you feel like sticking to a theme this week, make a tribute to love or something for a loved one.
They say food is a way to the heart, so on Wednesday, be sure not to miss “The View From the Kitchen: Restaurant Culture in California” at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. New York Times food correspondent Kim Severson will talk with California chefs Dominique Crenn, Tanya Holland and Reem Assil about Bay Area trends, labor issues and the #MeToo movement. Tickets are $35, and the event begins at 7 p.m.
Thursday brings the possibility of a guided tour of Letterform Archive at 2 p.m. Go to get the inspiration to write your own love letter. Or, if you are without a loved one to write a letter to, look up More Love Letters and write to a stranger.
And finally, on Friday, sit down and watch some “Easy.” Each episode is roughly 30 minutes and follows a love story through its ups and downs, twists and turns. Seasons one and two are available to stream on Netflix.
Let’s end this newsletter about love with perhaps one of the greatest love songs ever written: “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles.
As Paul McCartney plays me out, I’ll leave you with a final recommendation, as always. Read Sannidhi Shukla’s column about contemporary art. It will stun you with its imagery.
Until next time.
A postscript: Next week, I will be traveling in Europe with my family, so tune in to read about art abroad in Paris. Also, the day I come home, my girlfriend and I will have been together for nine months — send me an email to share your own love stories from this week.
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