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Here's the thing — I watched Sky Ferreira debut "Guardian" in 2014, but it didn't leave much of an impression and when I heard her sing it almost a decade later, I had a similar moment again of, "Okay."

It was just...a song, which over the years has since been folded into her overall mythology: the stage-fraught wunderkind who couldn't escape the ravenous riptides of fame and fortune that kept trying to draw her closer to the spotlight, even as she built dams and diverted tributaries and tried to build a legacy outside of the cultural moment that made her initially famous.

That said, unlike many of the people who've risen to (in)fam(y)e in the music world based on say, vibes only, Sky Ferreira does have vocal talent. She does have Bops™️. She does have a song called "I Blame Myself" in which she Blames Herself for her reputation, which was one of the more raucous singalongs of the night.

Does any of that explain/excuse why she continues to have a career a generation away from her most prominent release, during an explosive expansion of music production ideology prioritizing expeditiousness and hyper-exposure before artistry? No. Is that fair? I don't know, anyone who got a Terry Richardson music video deserves to have their feet held — like even just a little! — to the fire over their ability to remain elusive.

But, watching the crowd float up during the show, heels departing earth, hands held toward heaven, many mouths shouting the words laid down in songwriting scripture many years ago, I couldn't be critical in the way I'd believed I should've been. Yeah, Sky Ferreira fans (myself included...) are somewhat delusional in their worship, diaristic in their detailing of her career, ever demanding of more releases or at least news that doesn't feel like a carrot being dangled.

But we'd never ask her to change for the modern music economy, I guess, because that's an obvious Bad. And more preciously, for a certain person who was either literally or spiritually on Tumblr in the 2010s, she has the same "It" that keeps Sofia Coppola in business eras after the wunderkind flame should've flared out; she's Riley Keough with an Emmy nom; she's King Princess making a Titanic joke, but signaling better taste.

I could go on, but the sluice has to close here. I leave you with the parting shot (personally, psychic damage) of Gr*ms, Sky, and Charli XCX posing together from a 2012 V Magazine shoot...simpler times.

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SETLIST

1. "Boys"

2. "24 Hours"

3. "Don't Forget"

4. "You're Not The One"

5. "Ain't Your Right"

6. "Guardian"

7. "Downhill Melody"

8. "Lost In My Bedroom" — one of the "Exit Music" prototypes

9. "I Blame Myself"

10. "I Will" — not a Mitski cover but I thought of it

11. "Heavy Metal Heart"

12. "Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)"

13. "Voices Carry" ('Til Tuesday cover)

14. "Innocent Kind"

15. "Night Time, My Time"

16. "Omanko"

17. "Everything is Embarrassing"

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Expect a Masochism review when it definitely probably drops sometime in the near future. Thanks for "listening." Stay tuned...!

🎶 xoxo Lio

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