“You wanna make comparisons?” he adds. “Compare her music from the early days to now; talk about how her melodies have become more layered and complex, how her lyrics have become more nuanced. Compare her first single hitting number four on Billboard to the fact that she had four number one singles all in the same year in 2023.”
He thinks my work is complex, nuanced? He knows my Billboard stats?
The host tries to de-escalate the situation by saying, “I personally like a woman with some curves” to which Riff replies sarcastically, “I’ll let her know you approve.”
Then Riff calls out the double standard and says he’s done with the interview.
After an awkward pause, the host laughs nervously and says, “Well, you know how celebrities can be sometimes. But at least we got to hear a little bit about how things are going. I think everyone’s excited that Riff and Harmony will both be releasing new music soon, along with everything they’ve been putting out up to this point. Sorry to have to cut this episode short, but thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more music industry interviews.”
I gape at the now-silent Spotify window for I-don’t-know-how-many minutes, unable to move.
This is like that moment when, in some versions of the story, Lois Lane realizes that Clark Kent has not been masqueradingas Superman, but rather Superman has been masquerading as Clark Kent. Not Superman as in the tights and the cape, but Superman as in a singularly fantastic individual from out of this world.
Maybe Riff is a liar—an actor like Luke, a panderer like Josh, an emotional con artist like Andy. Or maybe he has to put on a disguise because he doesn’t think the world can accept him as he really is.
And I’ve only made it worse.
I’m the Bad Guy—Duh
RIFF
IputinmyAirPods and open Spotify on my phone, scrolling down the main screen. The sky is threatening to rain, but it hasn’t yet, so I’m out on one of the trails near my house hoping to clear my head with a run.
It’s been a while, so I’m fully expecting to be sore after this.
Because I follow thePlay By Hearpodcast, the latest episode surfaces in my Spotify recommendations—the episode in which I am featured.
Remembering the content of that interview, I clench my jaw. I’m not sure what came over me that day, but I really didn’t like the host talking about Harmony like that. I’ve seen similar commentary both online and in print, and it pisses me off. Even when people try to make it like it’s “just an observation” or say that they “don’t personally find anything wrong with it, but …” I feel like I’m living in some alternate universe where nothing makes sense. Harmony looks incredible, partly because she is in fine physical shape (anyone who says otherwise has their head up their ass) and partly because she is incredible, which she would be atanysize.
Love or hate her, no one can deny Harmony is a go-getter who is always honing her skills and taking creative risks, she says what she thinks, and she doesn’t give up. That’s been evident since the first time I saw her onLucky Starswhen right off the bat she put herself out there with an original song, and then when she got eliminated but didn’t let that stop her from making music that everyone would eventually hear.
Even if she gets under my skin sometimes, I don’t want anyone talking shit about her.
On that track, I put on Harmony’s “Friction” to see if its energy will kick off my run at a good pace. In school I used to run cross country because it was a way to release pent-up frustration—and between the podcast and this whole thing with Harmony, I’ve got my fair share right now.
I stretch my quads during the intro, then take off down the trail.
“What do you get when you put one and one together and the feeling between us is like denim on leather? It’s a force to be reckoned, I couldn’t resist …”
The trail is brown and dusty and uphill, cutting through the sprawl of scrub trees. In seconds, I’m panting, but the burn is cathartic.
Harmony’s voice singing that I’m “nothing but fiction” makes me push myself harder against the incline. It hurts because it’s true, and even more so because she’s one of the last people I wanted to be fictitious to.
“Rub me that way and you’ll only get friction, and at first it feels good … then it sets fire to the wood.”
Leave it to Harmony Sonora to make a song both sexy and vicious. And somehow she’s also done wordplay around physics (because friction), along with yet another nod to me (or my music, at least) using “grind” and “geared.”
What do you get when you cross fiction and fact
And all I can do is equal-opposite react?
Got geared up and ready just to grind to a halt,
Push and pull, beautiful, till we scrape the asphalt
No wonder our writing sessions have gone so well. As a man whose first career was word based, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to separate Harmony’s poetic genius from her spite.
And, am I crazy, or did she start to mellow out? Maybe even open up? One thousand percent, I did not think she would ever text me, and then we wrote a whole chorus together with no spite whatsoever. In fact, I think she secretly appreciated my “live, lime, love” joke.
