Archive - Gen Zero

Why The Music Critics Keep Writing ....

Plus: I got a new job!

Dec 7, 2025 • Tobias Hess

October 2025

Everyone is a Strategist and No One is a Writer

From politics to culture, we face a crisis of cleverness and a society addicted to marketing

Oct 15, 2025 • Tobias Hess

September 2025

“I don't want a gimmick. I want to talk about the music."

DJ and creator Derrick Gee and I talk about the strange state of music media

Sep 24, 2025 • Tobias Hess

June 2025

Why Are All Pop Star Interviews Like That?

Thoughts on Jake Shane and the stanification of media

Jun 18, 2025 • Tobias Hess

May 2025

Finally ... C,XOXO Summer

Camila Cabello and the Art of Failing

May 16, 2025 • Tobias Hess

My grand Substack re-launch: Writings on pop and politics

May 6, 2025 • Tobias Hess

August 2023

Pop Goes The Bubble

notes on the music industry's managed decline

Aug 20, 2023 • Tobias Hess

July 2023

Bebe Rhexa, Ava Max and the sour joke of gay men's diva worship

Jul 21, 2023 • Tobias Hess

June 2023

I Saw Sufjan's Musical + The Flailing Landscape

My review of "Illinois" the musical by Sufjan Stevens + some stray thoughts on living life on autopilot.

Jun 30, 2023 • Tobias Hess

One Last Gasp for American Pop

Sam Levinson and The Weeknd's pop fantasy is a dream of sexual domination and a nightmare of American decline

Jun 16, 2023 • Tobias Hess

The Label Making 2020s Totalism

NYC label Dots Per Inch helped launch the careers of Grace Ives and LUCY. Today, they're testing the limits of sonics in an era of streaming malaise.

Jun 10, 2023 • Tobias Hess

April 2023

Music's Mass Cringing

TikTok has made the unthinkable happen: musicians now are cringe

Apr 21, 2023 • Tobias Hess