brand new chanel$ by Slayyyter
By Korie Houston
“Send another weak ‘I’m sorry’
Unforgivable as always
I know you had seen somebody
Was it worth causing all my darkest days?”
Summer may be over, but sometimes there ends up being an inescapable anthem to encapsulate the moment. Brand new chanel$ by Slayyyter became that missing piece for what I was looking for in her most dual album release Worst Girl in America (which is being followed up by Worst Man in America). Funnily enough, she’s now also the first artist to get two articles in my column. There’s a certain kind of feminine rage with the song that’s relatable to so many people, the kind that can start as a fire and ends with an unwillingness to be moved aside.
“She was at your party, you said not to worry
Doesn’t really matter anyway
Begging you to call me
Spin another story while I’m far away”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been manipulated or gaslit by a man? If I could pause for dramatic effect in this article I would. But we’ve all been there and for those of you who haven’t, go back and look at the people you maybe hurt on the way. That aura we embody from the people who’ve caused us hurt is powerful. This song makes me just want to take off running in a moment – I wish a camera could capture and just spin to convey my frustrations with the world.
“I bet she rocks brand-new Chanels
What a chop, I cut you off and get away, yeah
I’m better off, I always knew you’d do it
Why’d you have to lie? Made me feel crazy”
Although a companion piece to Beat Up Chanel$, this song leaves off for me exactly where Rhinestone Heart left me, another song about being someone’s favorite object until the glow fades and you’re discarded for the next one. That feeling of losing yourself the moment the novelty wears off. In some ways the lyrics are telling you on the nose, it’s a chop, it’s not worth the headache and find someone or something else worth your time.
“Found out that you tried to kill me
Right before my most important day
Tell me why’d you ever bring her
In my home while I was so far away?”
Matters of the heart have always been my favorite thing to write about. But as of late my heart isn’t in it. That’s the part of the rage nobody talks about: it doesn’t stay loud forever. It burns down into something quieter and more tired. I’m not yearning, I’m constantly questioning. Slayyyter as an artist, although her music is in essence hyperpop music you want to party to, I find relating to it more after learning why this song exists. Knowing that you can give so much of yourself to people and they’ll still strip bare the parts that will leave you with nothing.
“I’m holding it alone, just for tonight
I wonder if you got her in your room”
Unlike Slayyyter who’s having a monumental year for herself, I’m not and that’s okay. Unlucky in love, currently unlucky in life, and searching for a safe place for me to land. But maybe the discomfort is the feeling that tomorrow is never clear as the song continues to hint at. It’s not just about losing a relationship, it’s that sense of peace that she’s trying to find. The certainty in knowing that he’s not the person for her, and the uncertainty in trying to hold it together. She knows she’s “beat up” and he’s looking for something “brand new.”
“I know what you do, I see how you move
But I’m here standing still”
The one lyric of this song that is the end of the rage, and even in the closing of the song, is admitting that you’re braving the moment and acknowledging who you are. People say that the eye of the storm is the safest place to be. The song itself mirrors that for me, with the chorus feeling like you’re weathering the elements and a sense of clarity.
Rage does not always look like fire. Sometimes it looks like standing dead center while everything is in free fall, refusing to be knocked off your feet by someone who was never rooting for you in the first place. That is the emotion I keep coming back to: it’s not to scream out, but the stillness after it. The people who cannot stand to watch you win were never really on your side. Let them watch anyway.