1/30/2024 0 Comments Muse theory![]() ![]() ![]() “I wouldn’t say it’s dance music, but it’s been nice for me to enjoy music at a base level of dancing.J.E. “There’s been a lot of emphasis on groove, creating more of a vibe,” he says, deflecting the focus outward. What’s the most enlightening thing Bellamy’s learned about himself in the past three years? He hesitates. Being in this band has been a journey of confronting that.” “In my teenage years I was more introverted. “That’s been a journey all my life,” he says. On “The Dark Side” he sings, “I have lived with darkness for all my life.” It seems to be a rare moment of personal vulnerability. Bellamy has already revealed the track “Dig Down” is a response to the Brexit vote in the U.K. Still, despite his interest in focusing on the positives, it’s still a Muse record - which means there’s still a ton of anxiety on the album. What if we could use nanotechnology to build some kind of huge pair of sunglasses for the earth?” I’ve chosen to ask about the positive side. “I’m tired of talking about how technology is going to destroy our lives. “I’m talking about what it is to escape from reality, then come back to it and realize that the discourse is not going anywhere.” He further defends his position by talking up his skepticism with technology on past albums such as Drones and The 2nd Law. Bellamy concedes a bit. “I’m not saying that VR or Burning Man is gonna solve any political issues,” he says. I prod him on some of the obvious criticisms of this point of view: There’s an issue with Burning Man and VR, right? They’re the concern of the time- and money-rich. In 10 to 20 years, it’s gonna be really there.”īellamy takes a moment for air. In the future we will spend a lot more time in VR. Bring them back to reality, and it’s problematic. Put humans outside reality, and they have a great time with no wars. “When you escape reality, everybody’s lovely,” he says, laughing. It gave me hope about humans.” He had a similar epiphany at Burning Man, which he’s been to four times since Drones’ release. “You’re talking to random people all over - some Russian guy, someone in Surrey, someone in Australia, playing some Star Trek game together, flying a ship. He did a lot of it while writing this LP. There’s no resolution.” The place where Bellamy found resolution was in VR gaming. They talk about the same stuff over and over. “I found myself enjoying turning it off, checking in maybe once a month. In fact, he doesn’t receive much information anywhere. If we try to fight it, we’re gonna lose.”) And his arguments about social media seem less sturdy once he admits to not using it as a form of two-way communication - he only follows 33 people. He employs Twitter and Instagram to “communicate what I want to say.” He doesn’t receive information there. (“Technology is a new silicone based life form that is emerging in front of us and is literally unstoppable,” he says at one point. “Its ability to survive in space is superior, and our best bet is to create a symbiosis with it. His breathless musings about artificial intelligence, robots, and space don’t exactly help his case. Of course, some of that is probably rich white male privilege talking - not everyone feels they have the luxury of not paying attention. Only a small percentage of the noise is real.” Ultimately underneath it all, there’s not an immediate direct threat to our lives. It’s the same grind, arguments and debates that nobody’s ever gonna win. ![]() If you disconnect from it - enjoy yourself, go to a party, put on a VR headset, go for a run, let months drift by - then switch the noise back on, you realize nothing’s changed. “These thought contagions come into our minds, get us riled and pissed off. “There’s certain Twitter accounts, and if you didn’t follow them, you’d have a more peaceful life,” he argues. Bellamy insists he’s noticed it more as he’s pulled way from a chaotic and negative news cycle. People will say, ‘I wish I could wear a pair of Nike trainers, drink a Coke, dance to cool music and not give a shit,’” he says. That innocence was lost in the ‘90s and 2000s. “There’s a nostalgia for how free people seemed back then, not worried about climate change or political landscapes. “Well, I don’t go to a lot of parties, but I feel like I’m in the hedonistic ‘80s.” Now based in the Hollywood Hills, he draws parallels between 2018 and an era in which the Cold War generated fear among the masses, and the elite chose escapism. Bellamy attributes this optimistic outlook to his new lifestyle: “I go to a lot of parties,” he says. ![]()
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