Vermillion Posted January 19 Posted January 19 I’m conflicted about this. There’s spiteful dudebro incel P4K of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, then came poptimism, then they reviewed Anniemal (2004), Robyn (2005), and their transformation started to seem somewhat sincere into the early 2010’s. But their backroom politics, massive separation between reviews and actual scores and clear attempts to avoid backlash with, i.e., a glowing review of Taylor’s Red only long after actual release as well as Britney’s Blackout with no score were really transparent dodges to stay above the cultural fray while still stoking fires in it. Then there’s the poor indie rock bands and artists they eviscerated which is an entirely different subject. Then they saw the backlash to poptimism coming and were out ahead of that with several annihilations like with Jessie J. All in all, I do believe in karma but they had some incredible writers that were sincere and I don’t believe in broad brushes. I take this in totality as a massive loss for music journalism.
Eric. Posted January 20 Posted January 20 Yikes. Hopefully the festivals don't suffer too much from this. So sad for Puja and Ryan Dombal. They were so good in the podcast. 1
perfillusion Posted January 20 Posted January 20 Next time Beyonce releases anything, I'll say write a little something saying it changed the course of music and give it a 10. There, you'll have your Pitchfork fix. 6 1
superben Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Expected. Their reviews are so pretentious and biased. It's time for their end. 4
Cannon Posted January 21 Posted January 21 Pitchfork became a shell of what it once was. Once known for their razor sharp criticism, they began going soft on artists. It definitely seems like the higher ups at Condé Nast were telling them to not be so critical. They made it very boring and surface level. Their pompous and self important article on revising old pitchfork reviews (reviews written back when the website was popular and relevant) was one of the most pathetic articles I’ve ever read. 3
readytowind Posted January 22 Posted January 22 (edited) Bye bye forever. a swiftie and hive fan publication. They are die hard stans of them Edited January 22 by readytowind
Frappucino Posted January 22 Posted January 22 After reading some of their extremely unprofessional borderline trollish reviews and knowing they’ve revised some of their scores most infamously their review on Lana’s debut and basically indirectly admitted to jumping on the hate bandwagon I’m with Halsey on this one. Hopefully the basement stays collapsed 5 1
Soda Pop Queen Posted January 22 Posted January 22 They should've folded ages ago when Condé bought them out.
MatiRod Posted January 23 Posted January 23 (edited) On 1/19/2024 at 12:06 PM, Espresso said: I’m conflicted about this. There’s spiteful dudebro incel P4K of the late 90’s/early 2000’s, then came poptimism, then they reviewed Anniemal (2004), Robyn (2005), and their transformation started to seem somewhat sincere into the early 2010’s. But their backroom politics, massive separation between reviews and actual scores and clear attempts to avoid backlash with, i.e., a glowing review of Taylor’s Red only long after actual release as well as Britney’s Blackout with no score were really transparent dodges to stay above the cultural fray while still stoking fires in it. Then there’s the poor indie rock bands and artists they eviscerated which is an entirely different subject. Then they saw the backlash to poptimism coming and were out ahead of that with several annihilations like with Jessie J. All in all, I do believe in karma but they had some incredible writers that were sincere and I don’t believe in broad brushes. I take this in totality as a massive loss for music journalism. The Blackout review is so well-written, one of my favourite pieces about pop music ever Edited January 23 by MatiRod
CottageHore Posted January 23 Posted January 23 This is their karma for spearheading the sexist, misogynistic smear campaign against Lana Del Rey back in 2012. Choke and burn, Pitchfork. It’s about damn time! 1
Bubble Tea Posted January 23 Posted January 23 9 minutes ago, MatiRod said: The Blackout review is so well-written, one of my favourite pieces about pop music ever Oh wow - I've never read it before but just did. Damn, there really was a need for Pitchfork. They were ahead of the curve stanning Blackout, most didn't until years later. It was so popular to hate on Britney. https://pitchfork.com/features/poptimist/6734-poptimist-10/ if anyone wants to read
Kern Posted January 23 Posted January 23 This is so sad. I've discovered so much good music from P4K - Saint Etienne, Cocteau Twins, Coco & ClairClair, a.s.o, L'rain.... And of course bitter basic ******* are celebrating cause their fave got 6.0 for mid album 1
jijie101 Posted January 23 Posted January 23 And people still think these music critics matter lol. Grammys will always be relevant unlike these pretentious publications. 1 2 2
bestfiction Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Karma for not reviewing Starfucker and giving it its deserved BNM Jokes aside, it's kinda sad. They were a great way to discover new artists, a BNM from them could do wonders for indie artists
sneakyishere Posted January 23 Posted January 23 Okay but does this ACTUALLY signify the end of Pitchfork as a brand or are they just switching who’s in control, while everything stays the same on a surface level. I feel like it’s the latter
JoeAg Posted January 24 Posted January 24 did I forget to respond to this thread? jesus, so much stuff is happening all the time this year so far. this is a major loss to music journalism and the legacy of music reviewing as something to keep up with. I’m shocked. I just read several pinned tweets from laid off writers, and I find it incredibly depressing that this is how pitchfork is going out… like if they had faded away in the coming decades, that’d make more sense to me and be easier to wrap one’s head around. god, not to be myopic but as a songwriter and musician, I actually had pitchfork in my sights sometimes for what the future might hold for my own music getting written up about. this is so wild, I really hope that GQ can have something in their publications that doesn’t stray too far from the groundwork pitchfork laid I also would LOVE to see some of the former writers potentially come back together for a side-project independent publication in which they could continue writing up music news. that’d feel victorious in a way. poetic justice. maybe on substack or something? idk. wow this is a lot to take in lol 1
Asscatchem Posted January 24 Posted January 24 this is not okay. if pitchfork likes something, i like it. if they hate something, then i hate it. what will i do now?
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