Culture 2 min read By Trevor Kendall
Conan O'Brien Says Politics Rewards People Without Principles at New Yorker Festival
Host Conan O'Brien criticized current U.S. politics at the New Yorker Festival, calling it depressing and saying it rewards people without personal principles. Meanwhile, the band Everything Everything released their eighth album, Poison Pop, which focuses on social media, rage-driven content and artificial art.
Host Conan O'Brien said that current politics in the United States is depressing and fills him with anger and despair. According to him, politics increasingly rewards people who have no personal principles. He spoke during an appearance at the New Yorker Festival.
O'Brien's comments come amid broader conversations about how the public sphere shapes culture and social moods. His position aligns with themes that are becoming more prominent in both music and media: irritation, polarization, and the search for authenticity in the age of digital platforms.
Similar motives run through the new album by British band Everything Everything. The group released their eighth studio album, Poison Pop, which will come out on March 12. The band's previous record, Mountainhead from 2024, was more abstract and relied more on synthesizers. The new album, by contrast, returns to an aggressive, post-punk sound.
The album was written during a tour marking the tenth anniversary of the album Get To Heaven. Frontman Jonathan Higgs said the band rejected 80 to 90 songs before settling on the final version. Thematically, the record addresses dependence on social media, content that provokes outrage for clicks, and art created by artificial intelligence.
Higgs explained that the song Blood Radio describes a radio station that deliberately provokes anger in its listeners. He also expressed the view that AI can imitate art but cannot match it. According to the musician, the band now writes songs with live performance in mind.
Higgs also noted that the lyrics of Get To Heaven anticipated Brexit, the rise of Donald Trump, and the growing influence of the alt-right. At the same time, he said, the band does not yet plan to mark the twentieth anniversary of the album A Fever Dream.
Source: consequence.net
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