I think that I'm just a rock chick
Socialite status, Avril mania, my new fav celeb couple, French Posh Spice 🏁
I got laid off a year ago today, and that afternoon I thrifted a copy of Death Cab For Cutie’s Plans album for $2. I’d write in depth about how demoralizing this process has been, but I already did a few months ago lol. I would talk about all the lessons I’ve learned, blah blah blah, but I’d rather talk about Avril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton, and Victoria Beckham today.¹ I’m also starting something part-time soon that I’m really excited about, so I will keep you posted on that!
That being said:
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• Gift me this Celine Dion clock, Avril Lavigne’s My World DVD where she explains that she’s just a rock chick, LOEWE Solo Ella EDP that smells like Tropical Splash Barbie (1994), Eden’s Crush bumper stickers, or a dELiA*s catalogue (2007 and earlier) because you love me and want me to be happy
ICYMI, last week’s issue included my feelings-forward experience attending FWB FEST, seeing Missy Elliott in concert, and learning about a delightful early web experience centered around the promotional brand activities of Britney Spears.
💌 I think that I’m in love with you my newsletter patrons
When I say that you can support Nicstalgia with a paid subscription for less than [insert random pop culture reference that I mention somewhere in the newsletter here], I mean that you can choose to financially support this letter. Maybe it makes more sense to call it a ‘donation’ than a ‘paid subscription’.
I’ve written 42 newsletters in the last year.² Substack calculated it as 594 minutes of reading. I’ve heard “Wait, you give that all away FOR FREE?” a few too many times, so here are your options. You can opt for a monthly or annual subscription OR be in my Top 8 like it’s MySpace, if you’re so inclined!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
Huge thank you to Nicstalgia supporters who I will love forever: Janine, Marie, Liv, Mitra, CY, and Aleena! 💐💐💐
👸🏻 And hell yeah I’m the motherf*cking princess
Crying that I missed Avril in Hartford last night. She was so close, yet so very far away. New Jersey and Long Island shows are even further and about 4x more expensive, although who knows what can change in a week. (How can Live Nation sponsor my newsletter????? REAL QUESTION!!!) Shoutout to Cleyton for capturing the tour opening and “Girlfriend” in Vancouver: ³
In honor of the one and only Avril Lavigne, here are some of my favorite Avril-related moments.
This is my favorite celebrity interview of all-time. “Whatever. If you wanna know what I think that I am, I think that I’m just a rock chick, and I like to rock öut, I like to throw shit around. I like to go nuts. I like to lose myself on stage. I like to scream, I like to holler, I like to break things, I like to yell…I like to get my anger öut.”
I have this video of Anya and Danny dancing jive to “Girlfriend” on season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance (2007) in saved on my phone. That’s how much I watch it.⁴ I would do anything for a SYTYCD box set of seasons 1-4, even if it was extremely low-res like this.
Speaking of “Girlfriend”…and you’ll recognize this playlist from Nicstalgia earlier this year…here are all 25 versions of “Girlfriend”.
I make a lot of memes and edits, but some of my finest work was an Avril edit for my birthday in 2022! She was my top artist on Spotify that year when Love Sux (and Nicstalgia!) came out.
Back in March, I wrote in Nicstalgia about one of my favorite subjects: Avril Lavigne’s Birkin Bag collection!
So I forgot to mention this in my FWB FEST recap last week, but one person I wished I met was Ryan Broderick. I’ve been reading his newsletter Garbage Day for a while now, but didn’t know that his tweet is what brought the Brazilian conspiracy theory – that Avril was dead and replaced by a clone, “Melissa”, in the 2000s – to the forefront of American culture.
Although the lyrics are problematic, I will never not be amused by Kim tweeting about “Smile” being about Brody Jenner.⁵
📲 I’m just a simple girl in a high-tech digital world
I’d never heard of the British quiz show Mastermind before, but now I’m obsessed with having a Mastermind party!!!! I’m super impressed by this man’s in-depth knowledge of High School Musical, which I thought was awful only until I saw Camp Rock and realized I had to adjust my expectations for post-My Era DCOMs.
James Mollison’s “The Disciples” is a series of 56 photo montages of music fans outside concerts. An IG post of the project describes it as capturing “the distinct styles of music fans outside concerts from 2004 to 2011”. Hmmm. To say “distinct styles” here is not only misleading, but actually the antithesis of what is represented. These photos don’t show distinct styles at all; everyone is wearing the exact same thing. What is beautiful about this project is the cohesive expression of shared identity through music and fashion!
These cute lil sorority girls absolutely butchered the “I’m a Slave 4U” choreo. If you don’t dance, maybe you wouldn’t be able to tell? But as someone who has been practicing this dance for the last 23 years, it’s a blasphemous rendition. A Millennial stitched the video saying, “This is a war crime”. Brian Friedman, the original choreographer and backup dancer featured in the music video – who 13-year-old Me had an innocuous obsession with – commented, “Agreed”. Dragged!!!!!
Was extremely entertained by, and physically can’t stop watching, prolific record producer Ron Fair emphatically describe the production of the iconic Vanessa Carlton song “A Thousand Miles”. This man is insane and I love it. This is how passionate I want to be about anything and everything I do. Also extremely fun fact that I’m dying over: this man is married to Stefanie of Wild Orchid!!!!!!!!!! New favorite celebrity couple alert.
The above clip was actually a part of The Story of ‘A Thousand Miles’ by Vanessa Carlton that was put out by VICE a few years back. (I need to watch every single one of these.) Marc Klasfeld – my dream man btw, who has done sooooo many good music videos I could/prob will write an entire essay about it – literally got her playing a piano across LA. No it’s not a green screen!! Her mom is also iconique and has very strong “You’re doing great, sweetie!” energy in a non-threatening and benevolent way.
I’m pleased to report that I recently painted my own nails and they actually came out great!⁶ So proud of myself! They are also medium length, so I can type again! But wait noooooo why do I need these fully-functional and playable Operation nails??
I loved
’s recent Shop Rat about retail-branded garbage cans on the streets of NYC. Reminds me of seeing Windsor’s trash can in Soho earlier this year. I thought this was the funniest thing ever because suitably, Windsor’s clothing quality is trash. Everything is as flammable as the fast fashion brands, yet they have the audacity to charge $42 for a 100% polyester, marabou-lined, balconette corset top.⁷
❤️ My heart’s got a mind of its own
I LOVE the song “A Mind of Its Own” by Victoria Beckham. Stop. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Like this is a meditation track to me. It feels relaxing as well as uplifting. It’s a cautionary tale about throwing caution to the wind. I recently saw a meme page suggesting that she should sing this song at the Olympics’ closing ceremony – in French! It took me by surprise to learn about the mere existence of “Mon Coeur N’en Fair Qu’a Sa Tete”, aka. “My Heart Does What It Wants”. Understandable.
While I’m much more comfortable singing in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, I figure that after being a Celine Dion fan for 25 years, I should probably learn how to sing in French. The verses remain in English, but I still found the song to be a valiant effort. The French version didn’t seem to make a lasting impact on French-speaking markets, but then again, neither did the English version. To be fair, I wouldn’t have wanted to be competing with Kylie Minogue’s iconique Fever album either.
🦋 Social butterfly
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¹ Why have I never seen the “Blah Blah Blah” music video until now and why is no one talking about Kesha (née Ke$ha)’s impressive aerodynamics in it???
² It would’ve been 52 newsletters, but I took Aug-Oct off last year. I had to decide what I wanted to do both personally (creatively, with Nicstalgia) and professionally. I’m really happy I didn’t stop writing this newsletter and consistently wrote what felt – and still feels – authentic to me.
³ “Girlfriend” is my favorite Avril song. She changed the lyric in the bridge to “She’s so stupid fucked up, what the hell were you thinking?” but since I am a feminist, I would’ve personally changed the lyric to, “You’re so stupid, what the fuck were you thinking?” to blame him instead of her hehe 🙂
⁴ RIP Danny, he was such an immensely talented dancer.
⁵ Be honest, is this how you found out they dated? Avril has, according to her, “never been single.” Her highest-profile relationships were with Sum 41’s Deryck Whibley (2004-2010; married 2006), Brody Jenner (2010-2012), Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger (2012-2015; married 2013) and Mod Sun (2021-2023).
⁶ I finally bought nail hardener, not a base or top coat, and it has changed the game for me. My nails are super brittle, but gels really just perpetuate the issue. You can see my cute custom Chillhouse nails in last week’s issue!
⁷ Okay yes, I still bought it, but only because the dress I’d originally gotten for Gina’s Barbie party wasn’t gonna arrive in time. Sometimes you just have to be solutions-oriented, aka. go to Windsor, get an Auntie Anne’s pretzel, and call it a day.
I am not a dancer and I still agree those sorority girls butchered Slave 4 U choreography!!!!