Editor’s note: The names of the author’s friends have been changed for their anonymity
Guess who’s back, Love?
Yep. It’s me (no surprise there).
I know, I know. It’s time I stopped inflating your ego by writing about you so much. But I have discovered that I can’t really help it.
I think about you all the time, Love. I think about you as I walk to class and on my study breaks. I think about you when I blast Taylor Swift songs from my speaker as I cook dinner and while I am dreaming of that special someone who is so piercingly nonexistent in my life.
I don’t know why you consume me so wholeheartedly. I have made it clear that, thanks to my platonic friendships and a few lessons on love that I have learned from my friends’ experience or inexperience with you, I have made peace with waiting around for you if it means I’ll find the right person eventually. But every time that realization dawns on me, it doesn’t last long.
Because you see, Love, you’re everywhere. You’re in the books I read, in my favorite songs, in the few movies I can focus my wavering attention span on. With every romance novel page turned, every romcom watched from start to finish, every TV show couple that gets their oh-so-coveted happily ever after, I become more anxious for you, Love, yet even less hopeful that you’ll arrive.
Take this third (and hopefully final, but no promises) letter as a revenge of sorts, Love. As a romantic feeling, you plague basically all of the pieces of media I most enjoy. But amid all that romantic media and those fictional romantic relationships I look up to oh-so-much, I have found my platonic friendships reflected between the lines. There’s no better gift, and no better vengeance, than that.
Each of my friends has a few pieces of media that they feel so passionately about they can’t help but share them with those around them. For some of them, it’s music that they love. For others, it’s a specific book, TV show or movie. Whatever it is, it has solidified my bond with each of them. It’s from my platonic loves that I get the best recommendations for every type of media, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This letter is for them.
Olive, for one, is the biggest TV show fiend I have ever met. You name it, she’s watched it. I get all of my TV show recommendations from her. How did I discover “New Girl,” one of the most popular sitcoms ever and one of my favorite TV shows to date? Olive recommended it to me. I don’t think I would have ever watched it otherwise, despite its inescapable popularity. She’s cracked the code to get me to watch anything, especially if I’m being stubborn about it (which I usually am). Any time there’s a show Olive wants me to watch and, for whatever reason, I’m refusing to give it a try, she tells me that a character on the show is exactly like me. Perhaps that’s a narcissistic tendency of mine, but it gets the job done. Olive, thank you for knowing and understanding me so completely, even if I make it impossible sometimes.
Amber has the most niche taste in media I have ever seen. From underground artists to mainstream novels to limited series, she has a recommendation for any and every scenario. She has such a high-maintenance yet “open-to-anything” mindset when it comes to consuming media that I can’t help but envy. Even if she struggles to get me to actually engage with any of her recommendations, we have a lot of shared favorite pieces of media. I think our media enjoyment paths cross the most when we talk about “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” I didn’t get this recommendation from her specifically, but the fact that we share a love for it confirms how good her taste in media is in my eyes. Amber, I promise you I’ll watch “Psych” soon just to make you happy, if not for my enjoyment.`
Violet always brings me back to my Latin roots with her taste in media. It was through her 200-song playlist that, in my senior year of high school, I was reconnected to all the songs by Latin American artists that I grew up listening to thanks to my parents but had completely displaced from conscious memory. Listening to Latino pop rock tunes by artists like Maná, Shakira, Juanes, Ricardo Arjona and Fonseca not only connects me to my culture but makes me think of long car rides to and from the beach with Violet. With the windows down and the wind blowing fearlessly through our hair, no words had to be uttered aside from those in the songs we were singing. It’s memories like these that are eternally etched in my brain as a heartwarming remnant of home. Violet, thank you for belting your heart out with me and never acknowledging how horrible my singing voice is.
Scarlet, what fabulous taste in media you have! I would be lying if I said I didn’t get all my recommendations from Scarlet. I dedicate my free time to stalking her Goodreads and Spotify, trying to find my next best read and my upcoming favorite song. From authors and artists as big as Emily Henry and Taylor Swift to debut authors and up-and-coming musical artists, Scarlet is extremely versed in every book and music genre and always has a book recommendation or a playlist for any mood you might be in. Even if we mostly talk about books and music, this ode to her media taste goes for all sorts of media. I think it’s the fact that she engages with the media she consumes so fiercely and considers their respective meanings so wholeheartedly that her taste is so good. She approaches her love for books and music with the same affection and care that she approaches our friendship. Scarlet, I think your indubitable passion is a beautiful phenomenon to experience.
Clementine is funny when it comes to enjoying media. She gets obsessed with things so easily, only for the obsession to wane a few days later. I remember when she watched “Glee” for the first time a few years ago and became so obsessed with it that the Glee Cast made it to her top five artists on her Spotify Wrapped. Since then, I don’t think I’ve heard her mention “Glee” more than twice (I think she was embarrassed). But amid these intense obsessions, there are artists and TV shows that Clementine hangs on to tightly and never lets go. Similar to how I admire Amber’s taste in media but never really give her recommendations a try, I don’t think I’ve ever watched a TV show or listened to a song that Clementine has recommended to me in full. Reason being, I’m still unsure. But something that Clementine doesn’t know is that whenever someone asks me for a TV show or song recommendation, “Yellowjackets” and Clairo songs are always somewhere in the mix. Clem, take that as a sign that maybe I won’t watch your recommendations, but I sure do trust them (and you).
Rose’s taste in media is, well, a bit questionable, but I can’t say I don’t trust it. One of her favorite songs is “America’s Sweetheart” by Elle King. I don’t want to be a hater, but whenever she played this song with lots of people in the car, we all went silent for four minutes. But aside from a few debatable songs, Rose’s media taste isn’t all that bad. If there’s something I love doing in this life, it’s texting Rose to update each other on the recent books we’re reading. For some reason, we don’t have each other on Goodreads, so we resort to bimonthly updates on the books we’re reading and whether or not they’re any good. Even if her taste in music is arguable, I must say that I’ve never gotten a bad book recommendation from Rose. We bond over literature, especially romance literature. Rose, you’ll forever be my fellow hopeless romantic.
Lilac, I know we haven’t talked in a long time, but take this as a testament that you’re still my friend with the most pretentious taste in media and I appreciate you so much for it. The fact that you find classic movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “Taxi Driver” entertaining adds nuance to my life and perspective to the way I approach movies. Wait, sorry, I mean films. Jokes aside, though, I know that if I ever need a movie recommendation that I know will make me sound cultured and sophisticated, I can always count on you. The fact that you genuinely enjoy watching these types of movies is astounding to me, and I admire you for it. Lilac, never stop liking pretentious movies, because who else will I be able to call my smart and cultured friend (and I mean that as a compliment)?
Orchid is such a girly media consumer, and I must say the same for myself. We mostly talk about music together. Wait, no, scratch that. We mostly talk about Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo together. Orchid and I are the ultimate pop music lovers, and we’re not scared to show it. There’s nothing I love more than frantically texting her whenever Taylor Swift announces a new album. We talk about these two artists so much that we’re going to the Olivia Rodrigo concert together in just a few weeks. If there’s someone out there who understands my taste in music and what it means to like music for the sake of genuinely enjoying it, it’s her. Orchid, thanks for being a girl with me. You don’t know how healing it feels to be around you.
Hazel has the sneakiest taste in media I’ve ever encountered. When we were first starting to get close, TV shows, books and music were just not something we really talked about. But as our friendship progressed, I began to notice little things about her taste in media. She loves the show “White Collar” and she’s a huge Taylor Swift fan, but admires both from afar. She plays one reggaetón song and lets Spotify auto-play the rest of her shower songs for her, fooling me into thinking that she had the most epic reggaetón playlist before I asked her to send it to me and she had no choice but to confess to her diabolical antics. I live in awe of how she admires her favorite pieces of media in silence. I wish I could be like that, instead of obnoxiously letting my entire Instagram Close Friends story know about all my media obsessions. Hazel, thank you for teaching me that there is beauty in silence and that some things are more special when kept to ourselves. I learn so much from you every day.
Indigo is one of the most interesting yet unpredictable media consumers I’ve ever met. She enjoys listening to reggaetón, but not the same reggaetón I enjoy listening to. I like reggaetón oldies, while she likes the new stuff more. We both like pop music, but I love Taylor Swift and she’s more of an Ariana Grande fan. When I talk about the media we enjoy with Indigo, it’s like we enjoy different sides of the same coin. We’re so similar yet so very different, and I love that for us. Even if I don’t like most of the music she listens to, every now and then, she’ll recommend one or two songs to me that I’ll love, and I can only hope I’ve accomplished the same for her in some capacity. Indigo, thank you for showing me that there’s so much beauty in difference, and that similarity can co-exist with difference in a way that lets us shine both together and individually.
In the end, Love, it’s me who keeps winning. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never stop chasing you until I have you, and maybe not even then. You’ll keep hearing from me even after I make it to the finish line because, in a way, I’ve already crossed it. You don’t have to be my enemy, nor this inexplicably complex feeling that I can’t seem to get a hold of. I think I actually like you, Love. Evaluate everything I said above and consider all the gifts you’ve given me already. If my platonic friendships are this strong, healthy and important to me, I can’t even imagine how fulfilling my first romantic relationship will be whenever it gets here.
In the meantime, I’ve got my girls, and I’ve got media to obsess over with them.
And I have you to thank for that, Love.
Senior Arts Editor Graciela Batlle Cestero can be reached at gbatllec@umich.edu.