The New Year usually means people rush to give up everything they are ashamed of and do nothing but work out and eat greens through January. It’s always, “What can I leave in 2024?” and never, “What must I have to survive 2025?” Dearest readers, I advise you not to let go of your guilty pleasure artists this new year.
We all have that one artist that we cannot tell our friends we listen to. We blast their music shamelessly when we are stuck in traffic or feeling some type of way in the shower. By day, we have respectable music tastes, but by night, we unleash our secret lives as fans of the unacceptable.
Yes, the practice comes with shame, but the guilt never outweighs the pleasure of our forbidden love affairs with a socially despised artist. Hold onto that love and never let go.
I have something to confess: I absolutely love G-Eazy. I have been listening to G-Eazy since I was in seventh grade. A stone-cold Tumblr girl at heart, I am so ashamed to say that I have an obsession with a hip-hopper named Gerald, but it’s true.
For years, I have stifled my fan status as best as I could. I only listened to his music in secret. I forced myself to hate every new release. I would not dare add another G-Eazy song to my playlist past 10th grade.
Then, last November, my younger sister and I decided the day-of to drive to Denver and see G-Eazy at Mission Ballroom. It was some of the most fun I have ever had at a concert. I devoured every bit of the energy, from the crowd of women to G-Eazy’s signature vampire aesthetic.
I caught myself laughing out loud at how corny some of his acts were. You would never believe how many women were throwing bras — or worse — onto that stage. I sang along almost every word between the chuckles, left with a “Lady Killers” T-shirt and played every one of my favorites that didn’t make the setlist on the drive home.
I almost didn’t post about the show, despite putting up an Instagram story for every other concert I’ve attended, but in the end I did. I owned the young Tumblr girl in me, showing the world that I let my inner child come out to play. I have no regrets.
Every human who has ever enjoyed music has artists they require to survive. If someone took SZA, Kendrick Lamar or Bryson Tiller away from me, I would crumble. Their music is so captivating, and it always feels timely.
Although G-Eazy is not a socially acceptable favorite, his music is so comforting to me. From the time I was a depressed middle schooler to being a 21-year-old almost college graduate, I have always enjoyed his craft. Part of me wants to give that up to feel valid in the wide world of music, but I won’t let go.
To anyone out there who has debated giving up their G-Eazy, enjoy those songs every day that you need to. Guilty pleasures are cathartic, a necessary release when life gets tough. The guilty pleasure artist who has been with you as long as you can remember should be your cradle-to-grave artist.
If you made one of your New Year’s resolutions “stop listening to so-and-so,” scratch that off immediately. Own your guilty pleasure. Shout it from the rooftops. Your guilty pleasure artist is yours to enjoy, and the rest of us can learn to accept it.
Graphic by Livi Davis.