New Jersey pop/rock four-piece, YJY, have released a rather refreshing take on gentrification and the hipster epidemic in the form of “Through Being Hip” taken from the band’s forthcoming sophomore EP, The Same Noise, out August 19. Though lead vocalist/guitarist, Steve Sachs stated the track “isn’t an anti-hipster anthem,” but more of a personal confrontation of allowing subcultures to define us rather than finding a way to define ourselves, I’m finding it pretty hard not to raise my fists in the air during the line of, “Did I choose to live like this or was I always full of shit? / I’ve got no place in my heart for mason jars.”
The song begs an interesting question and one that I’ve often pondered as my Brooklyn neighborhood of 21 years has changed drastically into a hipster haven. Who were these people before they decided to move here? Do they all have to like, talk like exactly the same? Is this all an extroverted act so they’re able to hide their insecurities? Do they all automatically assume that it’s okay to have the elderly kicked out of their apartments so they can have a luxury condo built just for them in its place? Why is everything so expensive since they moved in? And honestly, what is up with this mason jar nonsense?
Listen to “Through Being Hip” below:
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