I had this noble idea that I was going to give up candy for Lent, and it lasted for about 19 hours, or until the status updates about the day Ash Wednesday being not Valentine’s Day but “Half-Price Candy Eve” started rolling in. But the thing about Lent is that it’s 40 days, and stumbling on, say, Day One only sets you up for having a more satisfying Day 38, when you’re at the end of your rope and the pot of Reese’s Eggs at the end of the rainbow seems like it’s light-years away. (Never mind if your nobility is borne more of vanity than it is of testing how lapsed your Catholicism truly is.)
In keeping with matters Lenten and Valentine’s-related, this issue focuses on both the sugary and the acerbic, with J. Pablo’s look at New York hip-hop ice cream impresario Mikey Likes and a roundtable about Tegan And Sara’s exquisitely soul-rending new album Heartthrob bookending the two. Sitting between those two poles? Chris Molanphy’s look at how the Pretty In Pink soundtrack could have made The Smiths superstars instead of cult heroes. What Behind The Music episode we might have lost, of course, provides the sweet alternative to the bitterness of lost superstardom.
If you have Spotify, you can listen to a selection of music related to this issue.