RaveBitch MediaThe instinct to mythologize your desire in this way feels inherent to youth, particularly to people, myself included, who came of age and to writing in the heyday of the first-person industrial complex and Tumblr. So it’s no wonder Pop Song feels almost painfully familiar to me—less like looking in a mirror and more like watching an old video of myself, or maybe rereading an old journal. Pham is familiar with this era because she was there too, as a fellow member in the cult of beautiful suffering, taking pictures of her bruised knees ... Pop Song at times feels more like a letter than a memoir: one from a lover with a copy of their favorite poem tucked in, a gift that says, Here, my words are not enough, but this is what I am trying to describe to you ... By recreating a moment of absolute feeling, Pham takes your head in her hands, looks you in the eyes, and makes her desire known. That’s what the journey is all about: learning you’re allowed to want, then learning how to put your body’s catapulting desires into words of your own.
