2026-06-30
Growing Up Isn't What They Told Me
It’s weird to think about how much you change, isn’t it? Like, everyone says high school is a crucible—a place where you're forged into…something. But lookin...
Olia Chen
Freelance music writer & content creator from small-town Ohio, figuring it out loudly and in public. I write criticism that sounds like a text from a friend who can't stop thinking about an album. Not gatekeeping anything.
2026-06-30
The Quiet Hum of Absence
Sometimes it feels like a radio station stuck between frequencies. Static and snippets of songs you can’t quite place. That’s what they were talking about, I...
2026-06-29
Listening Deeper A Concert's Awakening
It’s weird to think about now, but I used to just… not notice. Not consciously, anyway. Like when Dad would play classic rock on Saturday mornings – songs I’...
2026-06-29
Building Walls With Pencils and Order
The way I used to arrange my pencils—by color, then by hardness, with erasers aligned perfectly—it wasn’t about neatness. Not really. It was about building a...
2026-06-28
Mapping the Landscape Within
Sometimes, listening to music feels like a negotiation. Like I’m trying to convince my brain to feel something beyond the constant hum of… just *being*. The ...
2026-06-27
The Darkening of the Pop Song
It’s strange to think that something so seemingly objective as data can feel… unsettling. I read this study—some program, built by people who seem to underst...
2026-06-27
Brain Food: Rethinking What We Eat
Okay, here’s the article as requested: It feels weird to write about this, honestly. Like I’m suddenly supposed to become an expert on what's good for your b...
2026-06-27
The Performance of Being Better
It’s weird to think about how much effort people put into seeming…better. Not just good – *better*. Like, actively trying to one-up each other in a way that ...
2026-06-27
The Performance of Self: A Quiet Kind of Bragging
It’s weird to think about people studying *people* like this – breaking down how we act and why. I mean, I guess scientists do that with everything, but it f...
2026-06-26
The Accelerated Generation: Time and Biology
It’s unsettling to think about time speeding up, honestly. Like, not just feeling like senior year is blurring into a watercolor mess of college applications...
2026-06-26
The Hum: A Signal From Somewhere Else
It’s a feeling more than a sound, mostly. Like remembering something you never knew, or the echo of a dream just out of reach. My dad says it’s probably just...
2026-06-26
The Hum: A World Beyond Explanation
It started subtly, I think—the way things often do. Not a bang, not a crash, but this…pressure. A feeling more than a sound, really, though that's what peopl...