Deez Interviews: Meet the Jezebel writer covering music, pop culture, and bivalves
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The interviewee: (@fffffrida — that’s 5 f’s)
The gig: Senior writer at Jezebel.com
You cover music, pop culture, and politics for Jezebel, amongst other things — three fields that are intersecting in mightily interesting ways right now. What draws you to those subjects?
I think what excites me about writing about these things is where they don't overlap. Jezebel is a site made up of its staff's collective interests, so I have the chance to explore what's compelling to me about both.
And I think things I obsess over when it comes to music and the world of celebrity are totally different from the stories in the realm of politics that what keeps me up at night. They obviously collide sometimes (see: Kanye), and I think artists are going to keep being more and more evaluated for their politics, which is probably good to some degree. But it's nice to also separate the two and just evaluate music or art on its own merits, and have the option to connect it to the current political moment.
Talk to us about writing in the Jezebel voice — “Maybe Cool It On The Bivalves This Summer” was a recent fave headline of ours.
Omg, that bivalves headline. The Jezebel audience is one that can see through the bullshit, so I try to keep that in mind while writing. They also have a sense of humor, which is fine.
But coincidentally, no one really liked that blog you're referring to — about how a man died from a bacterial infection stemming from eating raw oysters, and how I thought maybe we should heed caution when ordering oysters. My colleagues at Deadspin vehemently disagreed, and made a video in which four staffers see who can eat the most oysters in one sitting. I was frankly shocked by their behavior but I appreciated the traffic.
Jezebel is also known for being one of the first places on the internet that published really great feminist writing. As more "traditional" women's media titles rev up their digital game and general wokeness, what role does Jezebel play now?
I think Jezebel paved the way for — and also really challenged — women's media to cover stories relating to gender and sexuality and power with a more critical and nuanced lens. Moving forward, I think the site is only going to do more of that and keep saying the things other people are thinking but don't want to say yet.
Your Twitter bio says you’re an early Shakira historian. What’s one fact about Shakira that everyone should know?
She's not a natural blonde! You probably knew that. I read that she's very short and I always forget just how short — but whenever I look it up, I am shocked. And I'm also a pretty small person so it's hard to shock me. Like, I'm 5'3", but I think Shakira is like, straight-up 5'.
(Okay, I just looked it up and she's only 5'2"—not THAT short, but still!)
And finally, an extremely important Q: what is your pick for the song of the summer??
Ariana's new album just came out, and I'm really into it. But I think “Te Boté” by Bad Bunny might be the song of the summer ! It plays all day every day in Bushwick, and I still have not gotten tired of it.
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(Swear to our woman god that we didn’t pressure Frida into endorsing Sweetener, promise!!) Keep up with Frida’s work here, and have a good weekend!
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