A Substack post by Charli exploring ideas about 'the death of cool' and cultural shifts in taste and influence.

View the full piece - A Rabbit’s FootIn the summer of 2023 I wrote a song called ‘360’ which ended up on my 6th studio album ‘brat’. At the end of each chorus I sing the line “I’m everywhere, I’m so Julia” in reference to actress, artist and muse to Josh Safdie amongst others, Julia Fox. I always loved this line firstly because it plays into the focus on internet culture which perseveres not only throughout this song and album but throughout my entire career and secondly because in a way it’s oxymoronic. Whilst Julia is undoubtably famous, she is inherently tied to elements of the underground. Although she is often seen and recognized and out, her approach to fame and celebrity are nuanced and avant garde and sometimes brutally honest in a way that is particularly distinct and not the norm. So yes, she’s everywhere, but she’s everywhere for a certain crowd. She is not Target or Amazon or Mcdonalds, but she could quite possibly be your favorite reference baby, even if you don’t realize it. But if Julia Fox did have a custom Mcdonald’s meal and a clothing line with Target and little Julia drones were delivering everyone’s Amazon packages, would this mass exposure make Julia Fox uncool? I honestly don’t think so because I’m sure she’d find a Warholian way to make it all make sense.I have always rejected the idea that art, film, persona or music becoming commercial means it cannot also be considered cool. The rejection of commerciality ‘just because’ is such a boring and immature argument that is perhaps more suited to some mediums than others but in general I find to be elitist in a way that does not thrill me whatsoever. Disliking something purely because of its widespread popularity or links to commercialism comes with a distinctly art school type energy that is super triggering to me. This is probably because I was absolutely ridiculed during my first crit as a student at the Slade School Of Fine Art when I stuck 10 drawings of neon colored ponies riding dynamite st