soundbyte; 7/22/2025

written by c tuel

“what was it like to be on tumblr in 2014?”

I think I’ve reached the point of becoming vintage myself - I can’t believe that’s a real thing my teenaged sister asked me recently. “I’m sorry, give me a bit to grapple with the fact you asked me that. But, girl, Ribs by Lorde. That’s what those years were like".” I know that’s different for everyone. Surely it is, but I am still experiencing the late night drive where I heard this the first time, and every crisp, dark, morning walk afterwards.

I think the explanation I gave could be culminated in the sentence “I hate to say this, but you had to be there.” as well as the giving up of my url. A chunk of my online webspaces were grieving My Chemical Romance, Polyvore was an active website/domain still, we were all still reacting to the high of the century that was going to be the release of Badlands in combination with The 1975’s self titled and AM’s recent release. 5 Seconds of Summer was in the studio, the idiot flannels were everywhere, How To Be A Heartbreaker was on the radio in droves, Troye Sivan was in every fan edit, John Green was terrorizing teenagers in school through Crash Course and The Fault in Our Stars. Pure Heroine was just released and taking us all by storm in every way possible, too. Additionally, I was having my first serious gender identity crisis. At the end of the day, these years were all so fun and absolutely not soul crushing to be reminded it was a decade ago!

I thrive on nostalgia, and acknowledging my younger sel/f/ves - in a way, I truly think the outlet serves as proof. But in my nature, I had to give her a song to embody the entire experience, and I cursed her with Ribs, by Lorde. I think the return trip in our minds is often echoed by a song - this is mine. It drives you crazy getting old, absolutely.

As Lorde continues to put out new music, including the recent release of Virgin, there are days where I still love to sit with Pure Heroine and ignore the thinkpieces tainted in a bit of misogynistic panic regarding her phenomenal new art and her bodily autonomy. That’s a whole additional can of worms, but -

Mentally, I’m probably still in 2014, watching Kingsman in theaters.

Ct