REPORT: Country Western (cowboy core?) Trend Update

I have written a lot about a trend I called Country Retro Futurism. Some are calling it Cowboy Core...

Waaaay back in 2022, I hypothesized that as global chaos continued to rise and people grew increasingly weary of hyper-filtered, fake social media content, they would seek authenticity/simpler times, triggering a COUNTRY WESTERN TREND. [READ THE FULL REPORT HERE]

11 months later, Zach Bryan's album became the #1 album, and I declared that we were OFFICIALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRY RETRO FUTURISM VORTEX!

Since then, the trend has continued. Pharrell did his little cowboy thing with Louis Vuitton, and Lana Del Rey released her version of Take Me Home, Country Roads (it was good; Lana can never do wrong!). 

Fast-forward six months, and we have officially reached the peak of Country Retro Futurism and are now in the next phase of this trend—THE RAPID NORMIE DESCENT! 

Beyonce is making a country album, and Bella Hadid is cosplaying at rodeos. What seems like inconsequential acts by celebrities are ACTUALLY the beginning of the descent and will have a ripple effect across our culture, triggering a type of cringe that will be difficult to witness.

Stay tuned as we watch artists, brands, friends, and family try to do country. It's gonna get dark. In the coming months, you will see people who you have NEVER seen in a cowboy hat suddenly and without reason begin wearing them. But it won't stop there. Of course, there will be cowboy boots, but there will also be far more adventurous things, like men wearing bolo ties and women from the northwest trying to say y'all naturally. You are gonna see a lot more denim on denim (which we love), but with a misguided Western twist that makes you think, "No" and also, "Stop." Ladies will begin trading in their Sambas for worn-in Carhartts (this trend could result in Carhartt selling pre-worn Carhartts because a lot of those Golden Goose ladies are gonna want a Carhartt jacket that already looks worn-in). 

It's gonna get worse before it gets better. WHAT TO EXPECT:

🤠 Taylor Swift definitely does another country album

🤠 Post Malone collaborates with Zac Brown band

🤠 Florida Georgia Line does another song with Nelly (Nelly was finally recognized for his cross-over brilliance – Nelly and Tim McGraw crawled so Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus ride their horse)

🤠 This wedding season is about to be packed full really BAAAAAD country songs

🤠 Celebrities begin opening bad country western bars

🤠 Cowboy hats replacing LA Dodgers and New York Yankees hats (lots of cowboy hats at farmer markets this spring)

STAY SAFE OUT THERE!

This is why Nvidia wins

Jensen Huang washed dishes at Denny’s. Bezos worked the grill at McDonald’s. 

Both started working at 15. 

“No task is beneath me.” 

Anthropic’s Claude 3 knew when researchers were testing it

Anthropic's Claude 3, a leading LLM created by ex-OpenAI engineers, showcased advanced meta-awareness in a "needle-in-a-haystack" test. Tasked with identifying a specific pizza topping sentence among unrelated data, Claude 3 Opus detected and questioned the sentence's odd placement, hinting it understood the test's nature.

Translation: AI recognized it was being test. 

We are told that it's important to remember this is a result of complex data processing and pattern recognition, not actual self-awareness or consciousness... But that's AI telling us that. 

The illusion of certainty, James Burke, 1986

"Discovery isn't discovery, it's just the invention of another version of how things are."

How 40 Hz Light and Sound Waves Could Halt Alzheimer’s

WHOOOOOOAAAAAA! This is pretty wild. Recent research at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has discovered that activating specific brain waves through light and sound therapy can enhance peptide release from interneurons, aiding in the removal of Alzheimer’s-related proteins via the brain’s glymphatic system (translation: BRAAAAIN DRAAAIIIIIN!)

The study found that flickering lights and clicking sounds at a gamma brain rhythm frequency of 40 Hz can slow Alzheimer's progression and alleviate symptoms, as demonstrated in both human volunteers and laboratory mice.

This discovery is important because it suggests a new, non-invasive way to treat Alzheimer’s by using light and sound to help the brain get rid of these proteins.

Links

Can the Masters of Hipster Cringe Conquer Hollywood With Wall Street Cash?

A24, the studio behind everything from Uncut Gems to Beef, has private equity backing, a $2.5 billion valuation and a newfound desire to go mainstream.

The Greedy Leadership of Vice Ultimately Drained the Company Completely
Let's be honest though... Vice fell off long before they decided to shut it down.

YouTube dominates TV streaming in US, per Nielsen’s latest report
Sixty-one percent of Gen Z reported that they favor user-generated content over other content formats.

The Empty Adderall Factory
A drugmaker’s feud with the DEA is exacerbating the ADHD meds crisis — at a rate of 600 million missing doses a year.

I Went to a Rave With the 46-Year-Old Millionaire Who Claims to Have the Body of a Teenager
Dude sounds like an ABSOLUTE FREAK! –

Johnson, a 46-year-old centimillionaire who made his fortune in Silicon Valley but is best known for waging a war on death that he claims to be winning. His ambitions are somehow greater, and more science-fictional, than those of other biohackers and life-extension fanatics—a group that includes Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg. Johnson preaches perhaps the most brazen iteration of Silicon Valley’s emerging obsession with AI and commitment to restructuring society around the technology. He believes he has figured out how algorithms, instead of ruining civilization, can lead him to the land of immortals.

We're gonna see a documentary on his cult in the next 10 years.

Rivian stock falls as EV maker reports fourth-quarter results, announces 10% job cuts

Probably a good time to buy Rivian. Truly insane to see a company that IPO'd at $78 is now trading at $10. SUVs look cool as hell. Trucks not so much. 

🎶 Music: Wednesday

DIAGRAM 1: The Spawning of Wednesday

DIAGRAM 1: The holy trinity of sad queens have given birth to Wednesday, a wailing quintet from Asheville, whose sound is a haunting combination of wailing 90s skuzz/distortion and country twang that creates a rich tapestry of sadness. Their latest album entitled, “Rat Saw God,” beautifully captures the American South, weaving memories and deeply personal stories into this sort of humorous but tragic reflection of growing up in the suburbs of Greensboro.

🎶 Wednesday – Chosen to Deserve

🎶 Wednesday – Quarry 

🎶 Wednesday – Bath County

[REPORT] Anti-Pattern Engineering: 50/50 Rule

With everything you create – half the people should love it and the other half should absolutely hate it. The world’s best creative work always elicits extreme reactions, with audiences and critics alike unequivocally falling into one of two camps: passionate admiration or complete disdain. Good marketing starts with getting people’s attention and whether people love it or hate at least you’ve got their attetion and by talking about it they are helping you amplify your awareness.

[REPORT] Transcending Realms: Exploring the Parallel Wisdom and Influence of Rick Rubin and Rafiki

"TIRED"