{"id":19453,"date":"2023-01-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=19453"},"modified":"2023-01-09T07:45:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T15:45:18","slug":"lets-talk-about-the-insane-musical-moment-in-m3gan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/lets-talk-about-the-insane-musical-moment-in-m3gan\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Talk About the Insane Musical Moment in <i>M3GAN<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>From the moment the Internet met M3GAN, the eerily lifelike AI doll from <a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-m3gan\/\">the film of the same name<\/a>, she was instantly associated with music and dance thanks to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/hollywood\/2022\/10\/why-is-everyone-so-obsessed-with-m3gan-movie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meme-ready<\/a> sequence from the trailer. But believe it or not, this is not even the wackiest musical moment <em>M3GAN <\/em>has to offer. This may already be known to you from Letterboxd reviews or errant tweets, but if you\u2019d rather experience this bizarre scene fresh, leave this tab open and don\u2019t read the SPOILERS below the gif.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/m3gan-megan-1.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19461\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>For those who do know the film, it will likely come as no surprise that this left-field musical moment is M3GAN\u2019s rendition of Sia\u2019s \u201cTitanium.\u201d She softly intones this pop anthem to calm Cady, the child she\u2019s been programmed to befriend and protect, after the doll hilariously and horrifyingly intervenes to confront her teenage bully. M3GAN slays \u2014 literally and <em>literally<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The song opens a release valve of uproarious laughter while also tightening the fear that no outcome is off the table with her AI gone awry. It\u2019s a brilliant moment not only because of its unexpected timing. \u201cTitanium\u201d is not an arbitrary selection to amplify the \u201cWTF\u201d factor, but entirely in keeping with the film\u2019s overall commentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>M3GAN <\/em>director Gerard Johnstone and screenwriter Akela Cooper pinpoint multiple instances in which our society has reached the parodic stage of various intertwined 21<sup>st<\/sup> century trends. Sia\u2019s paradigmatic song of 2010s girl-pop dovetails with the era\u2019s burgeoning technological trends of automating our way out of any social problem, both of which represented an optimism that has since dissipated into disillusionment. The \u201cTitanium\u201d scene provides the skeleton key to the whole movie \u2014 as well as the wider context in which it resides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Titanium (feat. Sia)\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/0lHAMNU8RGiIObScrsRgmP?si=ca42e02777884e49&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>M3GAN <\/em>marks the natural endpoint of an entire genre cycle. This musical moment clarifies the outline of a cultural vibe shift that reveals itself simply by tracing the evolution of how movies deploy Sia\u2019s music. M3GAN\u2019s breathy rendition of the artist\u2019s signature tune harkens back to an era\u2019s faith in unending social progress through art and algorithms while portending its ultimate doom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost immediately after the debut of the track, a dance pop tribute to inner strength made in collaboration with David Guetta, \u201cTitanium\u201d appeared in a pivotal scene of 2012\u2019s <em>Pitch Perfect<\/em>. The song functions as a bonding agent between Anna Kendrick\u2019s Beca, a new college student reluctant to join an a capella group, and Brittany Snow\u2019s eager recruiter Chloe. The two characters harmonize in multiple senses by singing the tune in the shower. At this primitive stage of poptimism, the potential feels endless \u2013 what boundaries can\u2019t be eradicated through the combination of a catchy beat and fortifying lyrics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"PITCH PERFECT - TITANIUM\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SiVRhbNoOKA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Just two years later in 2014\u2019s <em>Wild Tales<\/em>, \u201cTitanium\u201d already functioned as shorthand for bubbly celebration. The song introduces the final segment of this Argentine anthology film, which unfolds at a wedding soon to go off the rails. While perhaps the seeds of the couple\u2019s (and the genre\u2019s) demise are evident, they\u2019re untraceable when Sia\u2019s song blares from the speakers. The jubilant mood of the song and the crowd as the newlyweds enter embodies the classical stage of poptimism. The guests don\u2019t even have to speak the language to connect to its energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"RELATOS SALVAJES\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uVUy8nf0y4s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The climate changed by mid-decade as reactionary forces mobilized to reclaim power. Suddenly, these bubbly pop songs felt out of sync with a souring international mood. While others swap upstream against the cultural current, Sia stood out for her willingness to interrogate the foundations of pop itself. The original music she penned for Brady Corbet\u2019s 2018 <em>Vox Lux<\/em> saw the genre\u2019s past, present, and future \u2014 all the beauty and the banality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The wide array of songs she wrote for fictional pop sensation Celeste represent a revisionist stage for pop. Corbet\u2019s film reimagines the exuberant basis upon which \u201cTitanium\u201d became a sensation. Sia\u2019s music for the film comes from a place of pain that acknowledges the 21st century\u2019s undeniably violent streak, be it domestic school shootings or international terrorism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want them to think too hard,\u201d confesses Raffey Cassidy\u2019s younger version of the character about her music, \u201cI just want them to feel good.\u201d The power of Sia\u2019s music in this alternate reflection of reality derives not from ignoring the pain of contemporary life but defiantly \u2014 perhaps delusionally \u2014 choosing joy in its wake. It\u2019s a response to tragedy, not an escape from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But by the time Natalie Portman\u2019s embittered adult Celeste steps on stage to belt out Sia\u2019s infectious tunes in <em>Vox Lux<\/em>, pop music lands in the same cultural context of hollow triumphalism. The sadness of her spectacle becomes all the more dispiriting by observing how much Celeste has sold out her ideals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Natalie Portman - Wrapped Up (Vox Lux Soundtrack) [Official Video]\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iEWYq4ebpxM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And in 2023, a decade and change of the world Sia\u2019s \u201cTitanium\u201d hath wrought culminates with the AI-powered vocal chords of M3GAN turning the song into both lullaby and laugh line. The musical moment is humorous in large part because it\u2019s bonkers, yes. But the film is also using that absurdity to reveal what\u2019s been there in the song all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The campy, chilling moment where bubble-gum pop occupies the same space as a nursery rhyme allows for a real reckoning with just how much people bought into poptimism altogether. <em>M3GAN <\/em>demonstrates how easily the empowering words of \u201cTitanium\u201d can ring empty because their promises are just superficial sloganeering. Anything so easily co-opted for nefarious ends is entirely at odds with the fizzy dream of perpetual progress and thus plum for parody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>M3GAN<\/em>\u2019s America, glossy girlpop belongs in the same cultural wastebin as tech idealism. (\u201c12 months ago, I was Person of the Year,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1610454795177062401\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lamented the chief twit<\/a> on the week of the film\u2019s release, in case the latter death spiral is in doubt.) Both attitudes rose to prominence on a wave of good feeling and naive hope that trends toward equality and justice would continue unabated and unaided. The joke\u2019s on us for ever believing in these false pop prophets offering easy ideologies to navigate a collapsing world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet while the parodic stage of any genre cycle might seem like fertile ground for further cynicism, the next iteration of these forces are likely brewing somewhere to begin the process anew. Shoot poptimism down, but it will get back up.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12029\" style=\"width: 21px;\" src=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>She slashes, she slays, she \u2026 sings? On &#8216;M3GAN&#8217; and a musical moment that is more than just another \u201cWTF\u201d head-scratcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":522,"featured_media":19476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381],"tags":[162],"class_list":["post-19453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}