139: wishing for a superstar

a little #tbt: Hilton Als' misses true stardom

This week was the 5 year anniversary of Lana del Rey’s “Question for the Culture” and the one year anniversary of friend of the Report

Hunter Harris

’s Quiz Show. To commemorate both occasions, here is what I read at the Quiz Show about Hilton Als’ reaction to Maggie Rogers’ first SNL performance, which I thought was Hilton’s “Question for the Culture”:

“Can someone explain this young woman to me?”, the caption begins. It’s a rhetorical question, of course. The questioner, one Hilton Als, New Yorker critic and icon, doesn’t need anyone to explain this young woman to him. Even if he doesn’t know who this young woman is, he knows all about her. And in just a few lines, he’s going to tell you about her. Who is the young woman in question? What has she done that has baffled Als’ so much that he took to Instagram to talk about it? She is one Maggie Rogers, following her first appearance as a musical guest on SNL.

The format of the post is familiar by now, as Als’ quirky posting habits have caught more attention (his take on Poor Things is hilarious and delightful). It’s a close up iPhone shot of Rogers’ face on Als’ television screen, framed by a thick white border made to resemble a Polaroid picture. A popular filter in the early days of Instagram and no longer available on the app, one has to wonder if Als’ hasn’t updated his Instagram in over a decade or if he uses a filter app. (I have to think it’s the former.)

The caption is true Als, his unique mix of genuine bafflement and derision. “Can someone explain this young woman to me?” He asks. He goes on, “I saw her on SNL and was struck not only by how unmusical she sounded but by her beauty which was the point…” His tone takes on various keys of pity, you can see him shaking his head, tsking. He feels bad for Rogers, he claims, who not only “has leant herself to all this,” this being a moment where “actual talent” is the least of anyone’s concerns, but also because she hasn’t realized that she doesn’t have any talent. He doesn’t really blame her—there’s little a young woman can do, he says, “when fame is the dominant impulse.”

Sometimes I can’t believe that, for less than 24 hours, this post existed online. That I saw it in real time makes me feel like God put me on earth and gave me a phone addiction so I could experience that moment. The post was Als’ question for the culture before Lana del Rey put French tips to typewriter keys and asked if there was space in feminism for women like her. I cannot listen to a Maggie Rogers song (which I do often enough), without thinking about it. It’s funny because he seems so genuinely sad about it.

It’s easy to read this caption as vitriol, as so many in the comments did, declaring that Als’ remarks were misogynistic or mean-spirited. But I can’t help but think that these are the words of a weary man, who has idolized true superstars his entire life—Prince, Diana Ross—and cannot believe that this is what it has come to. To him, stardom (musical or otherwise) is something that is essential, borne out of experience, not something you can cosplay in bare feet and a batwing dress. Pharrell Williams may have cried in that Tisch classroom where he first heard “Alaska,” but Hilton Als, watching a twenty-four year old Rogers throw herself across the SNL stage, was completely HEARTBROKEN.

thank you to the reddit archivists who preserved this