WILL, YOU SNEAKY MOTHERFUCKER.

I’m late, I know I’m late. This happened on the 13th, it’s the 23rd, c’mon, dude. Anyways, hey! Did you know about Twin Fantasy! Have you heard “Beach Life-In-Death”! WOW!

Getting over the fact that this song can be 13:18 long (a whole 1:08 longer than the original) and still be a masterpiece-slash-incredible-slash-iconic-slash-etc, which, don’t get me wrong, I would love to talk about, there does need to be some actual professional-ish discussion about the concept of remaking an album like this. Should I say re-recording? I guess it’s a remake. Well, whatever it is, what are the benefits of having a lo-fi indie record where the POINT is that it’s a lo-fi indie record remade into the product of a real studio and equipment? Are there any?

One argument that I saw about a week ago that I’ve been thinking about a lot is that this new “Beach Life” is what 19-year-old Will wanted it to sound like six years ago in his bedroom but couldn’t do. The original version is the stuff of something I cannot put into words and changed both my life and a lot of other peoples’, so I’m not gonna say it’s shitty (for the record, in my opinion nothing can or will ever beat 2011 Twin Fantasy), it’s just that there are some things you really cannot overcome due to the circumstances of your crappy MacBook and the roommate who’s home too often. Like, in this new version, for example, we have a bassline to end all other basslines, perfectly cut under everything else, that Will simply could not have recorded so cleanly back then. It goes down smooth as water in the 2017 version, but the 2011 version is fuzzy and blended and there’s no room for the improvisational-sounding piece that Seth handles. (And SO well, holy shit.)

The other significant thing that changed besides that is the taken-away “thank god for the little things” verse and the addition of that snippet we all thought was brilliant in the Frank Ocean cover last year. For clarity, here’s the old one:

A book of Aubrey Beardsley art

corrupted me in youth

now I’m trapped inside my youth

and you’re in love with late-stage youth

Thank god for the little things and and

fuck god that they’re little things I am

running out of prayers to sing

And here’s the new:

In a mall in the nighttime

you came back alone with a flashlight

(reversed) the start of nothing new

and it was my favorite scene

I couldn’t tell you what it means

but it meant something to me

Firstly, you must take into account the positions of these two variations of Will. One is a depressed 19-year-old in his first gay long distance relationship, and the other is a significantly (I hope) happier 25-year-old with his shit more or less together. The first verse makes sense in the context it’s in; he’s in the moment and he doesn’t think he’s ever gonna get out of what feels like the Grand Canyon of unfortunate events. However, the second one makes sense too; it’s less desperate. He’s looking back. Like I said, he’s got his shit together, and he’s not experiencing this for the first time again. The verse change is not only because “fuck god that they’re little things” is probably not a mentality one wants to remind themselves of, but it’s also for growth, for… something like nostalgia, I suppose, and he fucking nailed it.

Okay, after the praise, circling around to my original question: what’s gonna change for everything else? I’m a little on the fence about getting an entire remake of this album, to be completely honest here. The original Twin Fantasy is nothing short of a masterpiece, and one of the many, many, MANY things you have to take into account is the production quality of such an album. The software is GarageBand, the mic is one of a college student, Will’s voice hasn’t dropped yet and still holds that emotional squeak that current-day flat-affect grown-up Will can’t emulate. I can’t imagine “Cute Thing” without the overly happy grin on the “weird sex” line, nor can anyone properly experience “High to Death” without feeling like the song is disintegrating beneath your feet. Even “Bodys,” the obvious single, what everyone thought would be the first redone song, the one everyone points to, plain and simply isn’t what it IS without the dull thud of the drum intro rather than a sharper, bassier Katz-ed part. I don’t know, it’s just something to think about.

But hey, what do I know, I listened to “Beach Life” the second it came out and ascended directly to heaven for 13 minutes. So.

Can’t wait for the album!