My Acolyte Journey: 2014.14

The Hymn of Acxiom
Vienna Teng. I liked her before. She's a killer vocalist with a unique approach to songwriting. I love it. She's so mellow, though, that she'll never gain the fame of an Adele or Noah and the Whale or The Hush Sound (those are just songs I like, not good examples of mellow). I "found" her when Stephen gave me Inland Territory. I love that album.

But this song gained depth as I listened to it, as I did about seven times in a row, I think. It was twice while I did things and then twice where I tried to listen, then the video she recorded live, then I listened again a few times. Let me tell you: after a few times through this song, my initial euphoria broke into smaller pieces and in those cracks I could hear the synthesized matter of her faux voice leaking through. I still love the sound of the song and I could listen to it as large as life and loud, too, but . . . I need a choir to sing it, or else it's now mildly off-putting.
Without reading the lyrics, I knew the point. What. Now that I have read them, I'm terrified of Teng for the monstrosity of her genius. With the sound alone, she communicates the message of her piece. At first, the song feels utterly comforting. "Somebody hears you; you know that" is reassuring, certainly. How often have I posted on this blog to find no comments? Lonely. But that's okay, because "here, [I'm] known." There is so much to remind us that we'll leave the world alone and naked, but now you can "leave your life open; you don't have to hide." Oh, it's so nice to think that I'm important to somebody.
Turn: "now we possess you." Stop. Hold up. This crept up without me knowing or asking, and that's exactly the point. Insidious: her vocals finally break down my loving adoration and I become creeped out by the synthetic nature of them. Insidious: the lyrics have been building an unnatural cage and I didn't even know.

Let our formulas find your soul. . . . (our machines will) to design you a perfect love. Now we possess you.

I have a confession to make. I have had Google location data tracking me since the first iPhone I ever owned. I went to Austria. I uploaded photographs from New York and Norway. I recorded my commute to and from school and work every day for eight years. I never take the location data off my pictures before I upload them. I have five passwords, each with three variations, but my email and my bank's passwords aren't different enough. I actually got coupons on my phone because it knew I was in a particular store and offered them to me. In short, I am a terrible netizen.
I rely on the technology I use to make my life easier and to anticipate my needs. I beg the websites I love to pick up my breadcrumbs and to hold onto them forever, slowly building a perfect world. It's terrifying that I don't seem to care.

(reach in your pocket) embrace you for all you're worth.

Thanks, Teng. You've really outdone yourself.

I have read and watched a lot of articles and books and videos about the use of data by companies and the government. It's all terrifying. Did you know that the government put off reviewing the practices in the NSA for a decade? Did you know that it's such a non-issue for most people that I can't even find an article corroborating that fact? I just don't know the search terms I would even need. Did you know that Google can track influenza outbreaks by using algorithms to sort people's aggregate searches? Did you know that I can tell you exactly where I was on July 4, 2011? Did you know that Google knows I haven't closed this tab for six weeks? I've just been refreshing it every two days.

I love this song, though. Man, is it good. I would buy it, then forget that it's about something totally wack that I should be freaking out about every day, then just go about my life as normal.

Sidebar: I'm really proud of my research. This is the best link in the post.
Sidebar 2.0: I found this while trying to find out how far I had gone towards the moon. It's irrelevant but weird.
Sidebar 3.0: It took me two and a half hours to write this post. That's why I don't do this as often; they're becoming monstrous. I share good company: WaitButWhy and CGP Grey.