I lifted the term ‘Vibe Shift’ from trend forecaster Sean Monohan, who created the term to describe the process of change in the dominant social wavelength, aka things becoming outdated. Apparently indie sleaze is coming back btw, but we are in a pandemic, and in my opinion we shouldn’t encourage an unwashed and skody aesthetic. The only thing truly outdated — in this oversaturated, ruckus, fast fashion paced world — is the entire planet. We need to speed things up with our ascension, and move into the 5th dimension already.

Because surely everyone can agree that the vibes have been weird, if not completely off, for a while now. The pandemic made the world a gross place to breathe, and for the last couple of years everyone has been holding their breath thinking surely things are about to get better… only to nearly pass out from anxiety and exhaustion, as life continues to get worse.

When I first proposed the theme ‘Vibe Shift’ it honestly did feel like things were about to get cute again, or at least it did if you are dumb and shortsighted like me. The borders were about to open up, and we got the orange light from the government to go shake our ass in the clubs again. Things did begin to shift; everyone and their Mum got Covid, cherry tomatoes started costing nine dollars an effing punnet, and life on earth continued in its downwards trajectory of global warming doom. But the one thing about a vibe shift is that you have to believe in it. You have to continue raising your vibration, and meeting the occasion.

I really believed things were gonna be sexy again when I took a trip to New York in May. After Covid put the world and I on an extended hiatus, it was finally time to tend to my international literary career, and my plans for world domination. I was ready for a different vibe. I was ready to slay, and for life to be a movie. I arrived in New York and life was a movie… for about four days. I caught the subway in subversive basics and over-ear headphones, and not one time did my eye happen to fall upon a rat. I went to soirees in loft apartments the size of twelve Wellington apartments combined, and read poems to cool and curious Americans. Each night, I returned to my Brooklyn Baby apartment overlooking the Manhattan bridge, and happily washed the hot New York trash smell out of my hair. But then I woke up one morning and couldn’t open my throat, and one of my eyes for some reason. I tested positive for Covid and proceeded to get my ass handed to me. I won’t get into the details because I already live tweeted my mental breakdown as it was happening in real time, but Covid is very expensive, and I hate all men. Long story short, isolating in a foreign country made me feel… isolated. I also felt a childish anguish — aka I had an ongoing tantrum — that this trip, which was supposed to be a vibe, had shifted so abruptly into something that I literally could not stop complaining about.

New York marked the start of my L era and since then I have eaten many Ls baked into a dish called humble pie. At the end of the day nevermind. There are people dying Kim. Technically I survived Covid, and its ongoing complications — so far — but I still need to see a chiropractor for my neck because it’s bung from all the whiplash of this year. This isn’t the most natural thing for me to admit, because as someone who has attempted to study the Hermetic principles as a crunchy coping mechanism, I’d like to think of myself as a seasoned surfer of vibe shifts. I respect the laws of polarity; the understanding that everything must have an equal and opposite reaction, and that life tends to move in waves, swinging from skux deluxe to suckalucka and back again. The trick is to ride these waves without too much attachment or expectations, but it can be hard to maintain this faithful sense of calm when you feel like you’ve been smacked around inside a pinball machine.

And lately I’ve been catching the vibe that literally everyone has been going through it; break ups, friend drama, mahi being out the gate, ongoing respiratory issues etc. Having drinks with Miriama recently, we acknowledged that while there is still a lot of cool stuff to feel tino grateful for — awesome art, awesome e hoas, awesome projects and prospects on the go — we both confessed to generally feeling dead inside, which is so rock on and slay aye? After mahi, I often come home to V where I left her, being a girlboss and answering her 78th email of the day on the couch. We debrief on our days, or catch up on what our friends have been upto, and frequently it ends with V exclaiming ‘Why are all the girlies in their L era??!!!’

Girlbosses be tired, and even the most slay among us feel shamage sometimes. But even when the vibes are not giving, there is always the potential that they will give again. That’s literally the law, the ebb and flow of the universe. So yeah we might be posted up in the whare, filling it with negative energy and complaining about a cooked day, but then one of us will take the initiative to cook for each other, and then suddenly we are eating good, and things suddenly seem a little more algoods again.

So these days I’m trying to be as receptive as I can to vibe shifts, even the small ones. Recently I was in Paris, giving a lecture at NYU, and trying to be cool to Zadie Smith, Brandon Taylor and Raven Leilani. I was grateful and grinding but slightly overwhelmed, but then I was in an Uber at night with a stylie NYU student Ellie, and Can I Have It Like That by Pharrell and Gwen Stefani came on, a song that somehow managed to slip my 2000s vice grip of a brain. The bassline was going so crazy, the bro was speeding, and I could practically feel it vibrating my atoms, changing me on a molecular level and suddenly I was overwhelmed with joy and was like fuck it! I’m living my best life out here, and I was smiling like an idiot.

I’ve also been smiling like an idiot reading the contents of this issue. Thanks to my various lines of work, I am in constant contact with, and blown away by the quality of writing and writers we have in this country. Writing can be a povo, competitive, isolating and underwhelming experience sometimes, but it’s also insanely important. It’s how we share, connect and make sense of the world we all blunder through. The opportunity to read, support and discover writers is what keeps my spirit up, keeps me in the mix and vibing.

I’m super proud and gagging to share with you this issue of PP. For this issue, I looked for pieces that were a vibe pretty much; pieces that were cool and maybe a little bit unique.

I tended to go for pieces that were good vibes and celebratory, like Maddy’s glossy profile on popstar Hybrid Rose, or Mary on Amy Tepania-Adho, and her Twerk Empire. Other pieces challenged me and prompted an internal vibe shift; a new way of looking at things. Kōtuku’s convincing rebuttal of hot girl summer for example, or Claire’s coming-of-age story centred around The Spice Girls, which was much more personal and defining than I had assumed.

Many pieces interpret vibe shifts as something a bit mystical, magical and spiritual. I’m excited for you to read Catarina’s vignettes exploring a history of miracles, Constance on affirmations and manifestation, and Maka on the biggest vibe shift of all, the notorious Saturn return. There is an essay on club nights, tumblr poetry, an essay that reads like chic autofiction about a cool girl getting a brain injury, and a couple more cute additions I can't wait for you to read.

I’m also stoked to share that we have switched it up and kept it fresh, by offering you a curated two-part spotify playlist by the mantis Brown Boy Magik and a DJ set by the creamiest, Creamy Mami for you to bump. Turn it up in your car or in your headphones and get those molecules rearranging, those vibes shifting.

Times are hectic and disease-ridden and the entire earth is in her L era, but if you can take a cue from Kōtuku’s essay and slow down, breathe and take a minute to have a read of this issue, I promise these pieces will get those vibes up, you just have to let them shift you.

Tayi

Vibe Shift

Contents

Society

Chill Girl Winter: Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall explores the deep connection to winter within Māori and W̱SÁNEĆ cosmology, and the benefits of the cold for the girls that prefer to layer up instead of sweat off their makeup.

Tower Card Energy: Makanaka Tuwe on things falling apart and Saturn making sure they do – changed friendships, new lovers and tower card energy.

Brutal Wits: Beth Clemens writes about her surreal life after a brain injury.

Music

Hybrid Rose's Hyperpop Fantasy: Madeleine Crutchley interviews Te Whanganui-a-Tara based musician, Hybrid Rose, on her latest album, and the pop songs and divas that have influenced the hot new sound of HyperKunt.

GIRL POWER: Claire Mabey reflects on the legacy of the Spice Girls, and the female ghosts in her family.

Vibe Shift Sound Track: DJ and Musician Brown Boy Magik's curated playlist for Vibe Shift, pt 1 and pt 2, available on Spotify.

It's All About the Drama, Really: Mya Morrison-Middleton in conversation with Fully Explicit founder Creamy Mami, who took DJing and partying out of the boys’ club by catering to the freaks.

Literature

Letter to my Unfinished Manuscript: Vanessa Mei Crofskey writes a letter to their unwritten manuscript, and dwells on Western notions of time, productivity and success.

The Golden Age of Online Poetry: Ash Davida Jane reminisces on the glory days of Tumblr for discovering writing.

Performance

Class of Ass: Mary Mosteller chats to Amy Tepania-Ahdo, Tina Fua, and Katie Walker of NZ Twerk Empire about blending the African-American dance form with Moana flavour.