Meagan Fredette is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been published by Rolling Stone, W Magazine, Pitchfork, Vice, Yahoo, Paper Magazine, Consequence of Sound, the Village Voice, the Chicago Reader, and Rookie Mag. Main areas of focus include music, entertainment, sex/relationships, fashion, social criticism, and personal essays.
News/politics
This morning, millions of people in Texas woke up to the nation's most restrictive anti-abortion law. The majority-conservative Supreme Court did not respond to a last-minute emergency block motion from the American Civil Liberties Union, ensuring that Senate Bill 8 goes into effect today, September 1.
When I decided I wanted to cover the Democratic debate in Ohio, I thought maybe I'd elbow my way into the press scrum for a chance to talk to 2020 candidates.
Sex work and human trafficking are not same thing. It's a notion that seems basic, but Congress is attempting to pass legislation that will conflate the two - with disastrous consequences for the millions of public and anonymous sex service providers.
Entertainment news/interviews/criticism
Beach House make some of the most mysterious music in modern pop. At first listen, it may seem like albums like 2015's Depression Cherry and their seventh and latest LP, 7 (out May 11th), leave space for listeners to project their own hazy affections onto the songs, in the spirit of stalwart dream-pop acts like the Cocteau Twins.
Everyone remembers where they were when the news broke about the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. December 14, 2017 marks five years since Adam Lanza killed 20 young children and six adult school staffers, including the school's principal and two teachers. It was news that stopped us in our tracks and immediately broke our hearts.
Despite being envisioned as an event of "peace and love" like its forefather, Woodstock '99 was a complete shit show. The three-day music festival featuring Limp Bizkit, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, and Insane Clown Posse devolved into squalid havoc, with arson, injuries, and sexual assaults broadcast live on MTV to horrified audiences around the world.
The history of drone music does not arise from political strife. By nature, instrumental ambient music is conceptual rather than a form of declarative protest. But "stuff is too fucked up right now not to acknowledge", says drone artist Evan Caminiti. Toxic City Music, his latest album on his own...
Talking with "Jersey Shore" star Nicole Polizzi about motherhood, fitness and her new clothing line.
When Tropic of Cancer's Restless Idylls was released in 2013, it proved that luxury could exist within arcane electronic music. Sparse kick beats and swelling synths comprised a graceful, if uncomplicated take on mournful occult aesthetics; the record's cover featured a flatly-lit hand gesturing towards a crystal candelabra.
"She's so melodramatic." It's an insult nearly every young woman has had lobbed at her, anytime she's dared cross the heavily policed gates of emotional regulation. Many times it's even directed to women by other women as a way to devalue feelings, which should always be minimized and neatly package
In late 2014, a giant black banner appeared on the side of a building in Barcelona, Spain, the home of the annual Primavera Sound music festival.
Memory is a burdensome thing. Our limited recall ability means that the more agonizing experiences are the ones we tend to remember in greater detail. Memory Care Unit, the sophomore full-length by the reclusive ambient musician (and noise-oriented Hot Releases label owner) Ryan Martin, is a meticulous composition that explores the sense of helplessness that comes with retrospection.
Fashion/beauty/commerce
Where in the United States can you get Superman ice cream at a party store, drive south to get to Canada, and set cheese on fire is a cause for celebration? That would be Detroit, Michigan: a humble Midwestern city where two Coney Islands are famously locked in an everlasting rivalry and an entire city block is a renowned found art destination.
We take a look at the products' "vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free" ingredients. Kylie Jenner is quickly taking up our entire makeup bag with all of her lip kits, eye shadow palettes, and brow pencils. And now, she's taking over our skincare routine, too.
Mainstream fashion has come far in terms of diversity, but as an industry, it is still mired in beauty conventions that are outdated at best and detrimental at worst. Thinness as a marker of beauty and worthiness still pervades our popular culture, even though the median American woman .
Usually when we say that something is "back," the implication is that it went away. In the case of Justin Timberlake bringing sexy back in 2007, he was lampooned for unwittingly suggesting that sexy had somehow disappeared from the American cultural landscape - a laughable proposition, given that the mid-aughts were defined by jeans so low that thong underwear never stood a chance.