Lately, I’ve been stopped mid-scroll by videos of the 2007 high school experience (it’s the year I graduated, so I always watch).
They’re horizontal because “vertical video” wasn’t a thing yet, and they’re sprinkled with polo shirts, denim shorts, sweeping bangs, and The All-American Rejects playing in the background. I can almost taste the McDonald’s $1 sweet tea.
It’s only fitting that I start this newsletter with an ode to ‘07 since it’s the year that inspired its name. Just before high school graduation, our English teacher wrote everyone in our class a letter, and in mine she told me I have “the gift of gab.”
While I don’t remember what I was gabbing about 18 (!) years ago, I haven’t stopped since. Gabbing can be light or layered — about me, about you, about something, about nothing. It’s small talk with big dreams. The older sibling of yapping, the one who introduced them to blue cheese olives. Gabbing is what we’ll do here.
But before we dive into the present, let’s hang out in 2007 Pop Cultureville for a moment. A few things we should discuss:
The magazines: The magazine industry was busy in 2007 (we were less than a year out from The Devil Wears Prada, after all), evidenced by a skim of the year’s covers. Rolling Stone’s Yearbook issue — their annual look-back on the year’s biggest stories — had Zac Efron, Amy Winehouse, Fallout Boy, and (*confirms I’m not hallucinating*) Cormac McCarthy on the cover, among others.
Cover and photos from Rolling Stone The photography — specifically The Cobrasnake: If you had a digital camera, listened to Uffie, or wore shutter shades, you might have loved The Cobrasnake’s work in 2007 and probably have back pain today (just me?). He photographed parties and posted them on his site, inspiring a generation of millennials to turn on the flash and become nightlife anthropologists. I was my friend group’s D-list Cobrasnake, turning every trip to Waffle House into a Canon Powershot battery-drainer.
Photos by The Cobrasnake The music: There really should be a three-credit course on the range and impact of pop music released in 2007 (with a little spillover from 2006 — music felt new for longer back then!).
We got “Gimme More” and “Glamorous”; “The Sweet Escape” and “Wind It Up” (does anyone else remember when SPIN called the music video a visual brain aneurysm?); a deluxe edition of B’Day with the very important extended mix of “Get Me Bodied”; plus “Girlfriend,” “Shut Up and Drive,” “Say It Right,” and “Tambourine,” which are all still in my regular rotation.
Apparently, this era is now called recession pop and has its own Spotify playlist. Who knew!
Alright, back to present day. Here are a few things I’ve been enjoying lately:
The making of “Sports car” by Tate McRae: Tate and her producer shared some fun background on my personal SOTS (Song of the Spring, obviously). I’ve officially become a Tater Tot.
Boichik Bagels: The Northern California chain just opened in LA and the bagels are great (so is the merch). My dad used to call me boichik when I was little, so they get bonus points for that.
Martha’s chicken and spinach casserole: An absolute banger. Should’ve made two. 13/10, no notes.
If you enjoyed my musings and room-temperature takes, The Gift of Gab is for you. Subscribe below and we’ll do it again soon.
And since you made it this far, here’s a 2007 shot of yours truly wearing a shirt that I think was from the now-defunct A&F spinoff brand Ruehl no.925:
Blair and I had a full-size posted of that Zac Efron cover in our dorm room haaaaaaa
Ruehl 925 💀