BRING BACK BERNIE BARDI
Were Cardi B's politics the drama? Also: why I'm dreading the new Taylor album, and some movies I saw at Telluride, reviewed
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It’s FALL baby!
I wrote a little about Cardi B’s album rollout for Am I the Drama…? in my last post and said I was enjoying it. This was before she went fully promo beast mode.
As I draft this, Cardi’s sophomore album has been out for eight days and moved 215,000 units in its first week. It didn’t surpass Invasion of Privacy, her debut, but still impressive, given that neither of its lead singles made much of a dent. Just two months ago projections said it would sell far less (115,000). While the album itself has been reviewed as generally positive, but not culture-shifting, the real story here isn’t the album at all, but the rollout!
The design of the Drama rollout echoes her early hustle, but also pokes fun at it. (What “it” is, I’m not sure. Well, I have an idea. That’s why I’m writing this essay!!!)
For this rollout we’ve watched Cardi her subway grind, on a curb in Midtown selling her vinyls off a blanket, joke-crying about how she’s a single mother who needs our support + demanding we stream the album. Or buy a physical copy— of which they are many aesthetics to choose from.
Cardi’s initial come-up has a folk hero quality to it. I’ve summarized off the top of my head below. Skip if old news!!!
[In high school Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar worked as a cashier at the Amish Market in TriBeCa. After she was fired, a manager suggested she try stripping across the street at New York Dolls, which she did— earning enough to break free from an abusive relationship. She went on Love & Hip Hop: New York as Cardi B, where she became a breakout personality there and was a breakout Vine creator. When a manager heard her poetically cursing out a boyfriend, he asked if she’d ever considered rapping before. She released two mixtapes before dropping the triumphant single “Bodak Yellow” which rose to #1 on Billboard in 2017. In 2018, she released her debut, Invasion of Privacy, and in 2019 it won Best Rap Album at the Grammys—making her the first solo female artist ever to take home that award.]
In the week leading up to her release day, she appeared on the Jennifer Hudson Show + submitted to the Spirit Tunnel, doled out advice on TODAY with Jenna and Friends, sat down for an awkwardly-staged interview with Kelly Rowland for Spotify (why are they so far apart?!), and sat for a tell-all with Gayle King for CBS Mornings. Here, she confirmed what people had been speculating: that she is indeed pregnant with her fourth baby— her first with boyfriend Stefon Diggs.
It doesn’t hurt that she’s naturally funnier than most working comedians, but I find that in every media appearance this time around, she comes across as sharp and savvy, completely in charge of her thoughts and her image. DYNAMIC is a weird word to call a person but as a celebrity, that’s what she is. It’s virtually impossible for her to give the same interview twice.
In her interview with King, she connected her work ethic to her immigrant roots, evoking both her Dominican and Trinidadian grandmothers:
My grandma from my father’s side, she had 10 kids in a wooden house. And after she gave birth to her kids, she would go back in a farm, make cheese, sell mangoes. My grandmother from my mom’s side, she had 13 kids, brought all of them one by one to America, cooking food, cleaning people’s houses.
So can you imagine … me telling one of my grandmas, ‘oh, I’m just so tired. That’s why I cannot go get some millions and raise my [kids]? They’d look at me, like, ‘girl, you can’t be serious.’
‘Get some millions’ is Cardi half joking, half flexing. When I hear this, I imagine the American Dream as looking less like a tall ladder and more like a gigantic carnival funnel cake. Work hard, get rich; keep working, get richer!! ADD MORE!! Powdered sugar!! Etc, etc.
The meet and greet photos from her record store appearances are FUN, and more democratic than, say, the private fan sessions Sabrina Carpenter recently staged for Man’s Best Friend. They recall Rihanna’s delightful, freewheeling photo-ops she did while promoting 2010’s LOUD:
Much like RiRi, Cardi embodies a lot of Attributes That Make A Great Celeb: unique, authentic, glam, undeniably wild!
But unlike Cardi, RiRi was signed to a label before she was famous— I’d say Cardi created the conditions for a new type of celeb, and that it would be wise to consider Julia Fox, for example, a sort of Cardi B descendent.
But if Cardi invented this new raw template of celebrity, it’s also worth noticing what’s fallen out of the frame.
Conspicuously absent are Cardi’s politics, once a crucial part of her public persona.
“I will dog walk you” has lived rent-free in my head since I read this tweet seven years ago :D
In her debut era, Cardi B endorsed Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams in the 2018 New York governor primary, backed Colin Kaepernick + spoke out against police brutality, sparked a national conversation about government transparency when she wondered aloud how New York was spending her tax money (UNCLESAMIWANTTOKNOWWHAT THEF*CKYOU’REDOINGWITHMYF*CKINGMONEY<3), celebrated FDR as the “real MAGA president” for creating Social Security (enlightening the GQ reporter in the process), and even floated the idea of running for Congress herself.
Most significantly, in 2020, Cardi B endorsed and campaigned for democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, sitting down with him for conversations on immigration and cost of living on multiple occasions.
What’s up guys, it’s Cardi and Bernie. We’re out here in Detroit at the TEN Nail Bar…
Cardi’s cosign provided Sanders access to a younger and more diverse audience, and bridged the gap between a classic “bootstraps” narrative and a vision of collective struggle— something that should intuitively feel intertwined in the public consciousness, but isn’t.
This Cardi came across as a girl from the Bronx who still flaunted her newfound wealth, but who refused the binary capitalist mogul posture of Jay-Z. Instead she offered a more empathetic, more nuanced perspective. One that casually referenced prison conditions (once blasting Green Correctional Facility on Instagram after visiting her friend Star Brim who’d been beaten by guards) and income inequality (“When you’re not paying me [the endorsement checks] that you’re paying these other [white celebrities], why is that?”).
Obviously, the temperature of the culture has shifted since the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement. The last time Cardi took a public political stance was ten months ago, when she endorsed Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. Legitimately feels like two years ago.
Press play and watch the first ten seconds of her swag-sauntering down the catwalk with the stars and stripes behind her.
“There was a time when I said I wasn’t voting for nobody. Everybody’s doing shady shit. I was like, you know what? I had to pick the lesser evil. […] it’s really tough out here. Shit is really rough out here for everybody.”
She really said “lesser evil”!!!
In her Billboard cover story published earlier this month, the reporter does ask her why she’s been so silent about politics. I’ve copied her response below:
“It’s because when I [complained] the past four years, I know for a fact that people watch my stuff. I know the White House watches my stuff. I have a big platform. I know they listen to what I say… There’s a president that knows I’ve never supported him and it’s like if I say something, he’s not going to care. I tried to give people warnings and it is what it is. What can I do? What can I say?”
One can read this quote two ways: as an articulation of disillusionment, realizing she’s powerless to sway an administration who disregards her feelings on basic human rights— or as self-protection, knowing she could very well be on a list. (The list, because one exists now).
Do I believe Cardi has a responsibility to be like, a leading progressive voice? No. She’s a recording artist, and I don’t expect celebrities to serve as mouthpieces for the DSA. However, when you see Cardi peddling her album out of a Welch’s candy box, it’s hard not to think about all the immigrant mothers you see on the same subway, babies strapped to their backs, hustling for dollars that are likely funneling up to some boss in a money-making scheme. When Cardi joke-cries about being a single mom, she’s obviously poking fun at herself, but it’s hard not to think about worse-off single mothers living under an administration has stripped away their right to choose, under which groceries are increasingly unaffordable.
Cardi has achieved the miraculous in staying true to herself, even as politics have been edged out of her brand. Politics have been edged out of every brand. The subway hustle and the street sales are all gestures that still connect her to her roots, but as jokey callbacks. They are far from political statements.
It’s not a lie that she’s a single mother trying to provide for her family, and “good politics” has never connected to “good album sales.” I just miss the Cardi who was still insisting that the world could be a more empathetic place.
Bring back Bernie Bardi— I still believe!
NOW A HARD AND PAINFUL PIVOT: Why I’m dreading The Life of a Showgirl
I’m going to keep this short because next month, Khalid Bin Ya’qub will return to AB for a discussion of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, which drops this Friday. To prepare, I recommend revisiting our discussion of her woefully misunderstood 12th album, The Tortured Poets Department.
I’m excited to discuss the album, but not necessarily excited to listen to it. I mean… you saw those lyrics leaks! So far we know we’ve got a Charli XCX diss track (“Actually Romantic”), a Sabrina Carpenter feature (title track), and song about bouncing on Travis Kelce’s dique (“Wood”). Sit with that!!!!
Not to brag, but I knew I was on to something when I said Taylor Swift might be planning a retirement/career hiatus soon:
The EXIT tour, you say???
AB’S TELLURIDE MOVIE REVIEWS
Okay so Dusty produced the great indie doc Earth To Michael (directed by Nico López-Alegria + ZZ) which premiered at Telluride Film Fest, so we went to Telluride, which I mentioned last month. It was the most glamorous trip we took this year! If I hadn’t become fixated on Ms. Belcalis this month maybe I would have written more about it. Anyways here are some highlights from the weekend, and my half-baked thoughts on them.
Blue Moon (dir. Richard Linklater)- Not going to be for everyone, but it certainly was for me! Ethan Hawke plays crotchety old alcoholic Lorenz Hart, who was Rodgers’ collaborator before Hammerstein. It’s a chamber drama that takes place on the top floor of Sardi’s, on the opening night of Oklahoma! on Broadway. It’s basically Hawke being a closeted bisexual art-loving hater for 90 minutes straight. LOVED IT!
Jay Kelly (dir. Noah Baumbach) More like Noah BaumBACK (if you follow me on Letterboxd yeah I’m reusing jokes). Reception and reviews to this movie are all over the place. I loved it. I laughed, I was moved. George Clooney plays himself, basically, and Adam Sandler plays his simp BFF/manager. Feeling out of touch with his family, Clooney decides to follow his teenage daughter who hates him on her Eurotrip. It’s a ride.
History of Sound (dir. Oliver Hermanus) This movie made me cryyyy, about two college buddies at the New England Conservatory who go on a folk song collecting trip together in Maine that marks the rest of their lives. Paul Mescal doesn’t usually do it for me but he’s great in this. The half life of love is so long! </3
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (dir. Scott Cooper) Pleasantly understated story about the year in Springsteen’s life during which he wrote Nebraska. He’s already written a few songs for what would become Born in the U.S.A., and the whole time he knows he’s about to blow up. So he’s laying low in Jersey, wrestling his demons, trying to heal before shit gets crazy. His love interest is played by brilliant ~friend of the blog~ Odessa Young, who embodies all the pure emotions Bruce is too broken to access. After seeing the movie, we rode the ski lift with these boomer newlywed Telluride veterans who were like “Wow! This movie is going to help a lot of people get real about their mental health!” And don’t we know how much it would behoove the boomers to check on their mental health.
Hamnet (dir. Chloe Zhao) Umm… I feel bad panning the only not-white-man on this list. But just gonna copy/paste my Letterboxd review below…
See you soon for the Showgirl deep dive! ✪
If you enjoy this post, plz hit like so more people can discover Annoying Blondes! And if you’re feeling generous, upgrade to paid so I can write more than once a month<3 Thank you soo much for reading AB!
Wow I did not know the role of Amish Market in her career arc.
Tomi Lahren high key fell off...career stolen by Hawk Tuah Girl