Do we know what we like?
Caoimhín Magee
Creative
Kendrick Lamar's surprise album drop on November 22nd sent the internet into a frenzy. After a summer of putting Drake to the sword, dominating the charts, and solidifying his status as a hip-hop legend, he dropped GNX with no warning, no pre-release hype, no singles. K Dot reigns supreme.
My WhatsApp was buzzing. Friends were dissecting lyrics, debating favourite tracks, comparing it to his previous work, and theorising about what it all meant. It was a massive cultural moment, no doubt. But it also got me thinking: how many of those opinions were truly organic, and how many were shaped by the instant reactions and hot takes flooding social media and YouTube?
This isn't just a music thing, either. A new film comes out, and before you've even had time to digest what you’ve seen, you're met with a barrage of reviews, reaction videos, and in-depth analyses dissecting every frame. Here, I love a good film analysis as much as anyone, but sometimes it feels like we're drowning in opinions before we've even had a chance to form our own. I know people who listen to podcasts about a film before they go see it…why?
Think about it. How often do you walk out of the cinema knowing exactly how you feel about a film? Or finish a new album with a fully formed opinion? I rarely do. It takes time to process – and I think that’s the intention. Yet, it seems like everyone else has an instant, perfectly articulated opinion on everything.
And that's where things get interesting. When we discuss these projects with friends, are we really sharing our own genuine reactions, or are we just echoing what we've seen online? Do we even know if we truly like something until we've checked what the internet has to say about it? Is there a social cost to liking something that isn’t certified?
"And then I woke up." Tommy Lee Jones delivers a career-defining performance in this final scene from No Country for Old Men.
Last year, I went with a mate to see a re-run of No Country for Old Men – one of my top 5 films. It was his first time. [Spoiler] When the screen cut to black after Tommy Lee Jones's final dream monologue, my friend let out an exasperated, "What?!" – to the amusement of those around us. He was clearly not a fan of the ambiguous ending.
A few weeks later, we were chatting about the film, and suddenly, he loved it. He was praising its depth and artistry. Now, maybe he genuinely had a change of heart, but I couldn't help but wonder if he'd been swayed by all the online analysis and critical acclaim. Did he actually like it, or had he been convinced that he should?
It makes you question those "Top 5" lists too! If someone asked you to name the greatest movie ever, how many of us would default to the usual suspects – Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Casablanca – even if we haven't actually seen them? Sites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes can be great resources, but how can they truly reflect our individual tastes versus just reinforcing a pre-existing canon?
Don't get me wrong, I love podcasts and video essays. And reaction videos take up more of my time than I’d care to admit. They can offer valuable insights and enhance our understanding of art and media. But the sheer volume and immediacy of these opinions can be overwhelming. It's like they're all competing for space in your brain, potentially drowning out your own intuition and sensibilities.
So, where does that leave us? Are we losing the ability to form our own opinions? Are we becoming too reliant on external validation? Is this a new phenomenon, or is it just the evolution of cultural gatekeeping? If we'd been around in 1969 when Led Zeppelin released their debut album, would we have been parroting Rolling Stone's scathing review and calling Jimmy Page “a very limited producer and a writer of weak, unimaginative songs”?
Maybe it doesn't matter if we truly know what we like or why we like it, as long as we're enjoying the experience.
Which brings us back to GNX. Did you like it? Not sure yet? Well:
Don’t tell anyone that!
Here’s a 2hrs 16min podcast (released four days after the album dropped) breaking it all down and telling why you loved it!
