If you haven’t spent time with it already, please jump in now to “Call Me When The Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish. Briefly, it’s disastrous in the absolute best way. Sad, stark, evocative, blank and warm, a legion of vocal harmonies flanks Billie’s float-singing about blowing off a romantic partner. Fine. But what really wrecks you is the video. Eilish would have you believe the visuals are a non-sequitur to the content of the song (they’re based on a piece of fan art that looked “really dope”), but it’s impossible to read them as such. In the frame, she sits in front of a glass of something black, considering it for a full 60 seconds, finally drinking it like poison. The black liquid then streams out of her eyes as she sings, “Once we’ve both said our goodbyes / Let’s just let it go / Let me let you go.” As if the liquid has taken over her, she wipes it all over herself in an exhausted daze. Dark.
Has anyone encountered this? There’s now a handful of exceedingly fancy bars making intricate, non-alcoholic cocktails that cost the same as the ones made with liquor. First questions that come to mind are, “why,” and “is this a good thing?” Seems like it could be kind of a Chick’n arrangement (please don’t call soy meat, it’s deceptive) or— OR, it could be something great. The bartenders bending over backwards to make these drinks interesting say they want them to “drink like a bar drink,” which is either noble or unnecessary– how many are non-drinkers trying to replicate the sensation of drinking? But the bottom line is that you can’t begrudge someone for making something tasty, and these are apparently fantastic. Which kind of makes you wonder, how long before people start adding alcohol to them?
Strike that, according to extra official reports, Snake People* are drinking less than our elders. Particularly in the UK, where a disinterest in drinks is striking, the (ageing) youth are the driest generation by a long shot. Fueled by financial stress (drinking’s expensive) and a renewed focus on health (assume this is a euphemism for “weed”), default pub time is just not in the cards. V excited to see what this means for college life.
*Millennials
Seedlip, mentioned in a Lorem of yore as a fringe oddity, is now the leading non-alcoholic spirit, which bills itself as “what to drink when you’re not drinking.” Sheds some light on the liquor-free cocktails, doesn’t it? Maybe more for the Dry January set than for full non-drinkers.
