The Search for Whimsy in a Serious World

In this solo episode, Val shares her gripes with the word "whimsy" and how she resolved them. What does Noah Kahan have to do with whimsy? Everything.

Get more Val at https://valkleinhans.com/

Transcript

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Anytime I hear a particular word or phrase used in a way that just bothers me, I gotta look into it. I gotta know what's going on. I gotta know what we're doing, why we're doing it. I need to make context queen. I need all of the information. And lately, for me, one of those words is whimsy. You know, like whimsical. I'm seeing it everywhere. It's a buzzword, it is all over, and I just I have questions. So many questions. Namely, why are we searching for it? And is Noah Khan helping us find it? Let's explore this vigorously. Now, firstly, y'all gotta understand why just like the you gotta understand the completely irrational reasons why I have a problem with the word whimsy. And and oof, it's just I don't know why. I don't know why. It just scratches an itch that I didn't know I had, and not in a good way. It's just like what why? What this is invasive, this is intrusive, this is consuming my thoughts. I think one of the reasons is that just the spelling is a little too close to wimp. Toughen up, all right, use less flamboyant words. I know. I it it's irrational. I said these were irrational, and I kind of can't get past the like Disney imagery that comes to mind when I hear the word whimsy either. Like we we we are giving Snow White, all the dwarves, the deer, the bunnies, you know, all that. Like the word whimsy just demands that imagery and those callbacks. And life ain't a fairy tale, baby. Life is not a fairy tale. So I think what I'm hitting on, and I'm gonna cite, you know, uh the episode that we did relatively recently in a similar fashion on the word safe for this. I think this is another case where I resent the word because I was not allowed to practice or acknowledge it. In many environments, school, home, all the above. Meaning I couldn't see life as whimsical, I couldn't appreciate whimsical moments. And no one really asked if, you know, I was finding whimsy or enjoying life. Nobody cared about any of that. Not at all. Not at all. Nobody asked me. I am a millennial out here navigating survival in a world that looks vastly different than what my boomer parents prepared me for. Okay, they did their best. This is not me shading them. Let me make that very clear. But it does feel like, particularly for millennials, Gen Z, anybody younger, it feels like we have been in an economic recession, peppered with global and national crises and technological advancements. My entire working adult life for sure, and previously, and my childhood. And we millennials, and and again, anybody younger have had to compensate for that and adapt to that more than anybody. More than anybody else ever has in history. Life didn't really present a lot of opportunities for me or a lot of my generation or younger to stop and smell the roses. It just didn't work out that way. And you know, what I applaud younger generations for is acknowledging and now beginning to actively practice finding your own version of Whimsy and understanding uh a placed importance on doing so, however, you can do it. They seem to have gotten that memo. Um, at some point, I I didn't I didn't quite get that memo. I don't I don't know that my fellow millennials got it until later, too. But it's just uh I realize that. I realize that there is an irrational resentment that I have to the word whimsy, whimsical, in the same realm as I do for the word safe. No one cared. No one cared if you were enjoying it, nobody cared if you were experiencing it. It just wasn't taught to us as something that was important or to focus on. Not in the slightest. So I started to resent words like whimsy and safe because these things did seem privileged and unattainable for me. They're for somebody else, not me. Someone else gets those things, not me. And what I'm learning now is that even if societal, economic, and hierarchical limitations are a harsh truth, it doesn't mean that I or anybody else should totally reject a search for either safety or whimsy. So let's start at the beginning. Let's get deeper into this. What is whimsy first off? I think we need to clarify some things just so we are all on the same page for the remainder of this episode. Let's start with the actual definition. Whimsy. What is it? Well, it's not quite the fairy tale fantasy land that I thought it was. It's not the Disney that I thought it was, but it is a noun describing quaint, fanciful, or playful behavior, ideas, or humor, often characterized by a childlike, lighthearted, or mildly eccentric charm. Think funny puns, think dad jokes, like that, you know, or um just when they you when they were talking about humor, I want to say that that was what they were going for there. That's my assumption, given the context. You're gonna have to forgive me this episode, man. I I'm fighting some horrible allergies, by the way. So I I don't know if the pollen is pollening or if it's it's like it's the strangest thing. I kind of have dealt with them on and off different springs. But this spring, for some reason, and you tell me if this is you two, for some reason, uh this spring, it is just it somebody opened up Niagara Falls, and I don't know who, because it wasn't me. Like the drainage is real. Just I'm gonna get graphic. The woo, nose, back of the throat, like I don't know what is going on. So Zertech has been my best friend for the last week, and it might have to be for another week or two. And I don't know if that's healthy, but is it gonna get me through this episode and everything I gotta do day to day? Yes, it will. So I think we're I I think we're just gonna accept that that's where we are. So anyway, excuse me, please excuse if it sounds, you know, a little bit rough on my end. I'm I'm I'm doing my very best. Back to whimsy. Yes, it is fairy tales and fantasy in a sense, but if you put it in that box, you're missing something. You're making it seem a lot more magical and unattainable than it really is. And that is the trap that I had to dig myself out of when it came to with this word. Let me try to put it in layman's terms. In everybody's daily use, everyday use, whimsy can mean choosing something because it feels magical rather than practical. Being drawn to charm, oddity, or a beauty for no hard reason. You just, you just like that architecture. You like the charm that house has, right? Or it's also allowing surprise and humor and softness or imagination in ordinary life. Uh, more specific examples like uh, you know, a crooked little bookstore with you know handwritten signs that are a little bit weird or off. That can feel whimsical. Wearing something dramatic, just because it delights, can have you feeling whimsical. Tiny little rituals like that, or odd collections, your little knickknacks, your you know, things like that, unexpected humor, the puns, the dad jokes is what I was talking about. That just fairy light energy, all whimsy. This is what we're thinking. Emotionally, we love talking about emotions on vigorously because they are vigorous, they do not, they do not play. Emotionally, whimsy often signals relief from harshness, permission to play, and a refusal to become entirely hardened. And this is where whimsy becomes badass to me. This is where I actually start to do a little bit of a reframe and go, you know what? I was very quick to reject you, whimsy. I was because I thought you were giving fairies and Disney, and and uh that's just not reality. And every Capricorn fiber in my being said, uh-uh, but I see how employing it, enjoying it, can actually nurture our mental health. And this is why Whimsy matters. This highlights what we're really looking for, just something softer with a little bit of wonder and surprise. When the rest of our life, you know, we're expected to have it all together and be somewhere at a very specific time and be practical and functional and support everybody else and every other thing other than us. Like we're we're just looking for a little bit of a break from that, and whimsy is one way to do it. Now, I asked this question in the beginning, and I'm asking it because I just want to give my my girlies on Instagram a shout out. Y'all have had some conversation about this man. I love this man, I appreciate this man, I came to appreciate this man as I started to do a deep dive into the lyrics. Now, let me preface this. Let me be extremely clear right now before the comments come and the questions come, and I'm sure one of them is gonna be why is this woman talking about Noah Khan when she is interviewing Kenny Hickey from Typo Negative? Um, it is because good music is good music. I am a music fan. Yes, I do tend to lean toward heavy music personally. That's just my personal taste. And hip hop, that is usually just my personal taste. More often than we'll say any type of pop or country, right? Most of the time I dive into you know the other two. But that does not mean I won't listen to anything once. I that is my personal rule. I will listen to a piece of music once, any piece of music once. And if it, you know, doesn't capture me, fine. If it does, great, and there's probably a reason for it. So I don't really play favorites when it comes to genre. I just don't. I I happen to have more contacts in the rock world. I happen to have a natural look that I guess kind of fits the whole aesthetic. So that's why these things just kind of find me. And I I just tend to naturally have a little bit more interaction in, you know, the realm of heavy music more than I do anywhere else. So that's why, yes, it seems like I might be favoring things. However, I really try not to. I really try not to, and I do want to keep this open because my personal taste is open. I will have, you know, Sublime On with Sade in the same day. That is just me. So I hope you can understand that. I I know that we've built quite a lovely metal following here, and that presence will not go anywhere. Sometimes it may be lighter than others, but I just want to clarify that right now. The love has not gone anywhere. And I want to appreciate all types of music, and that does include Noah Khan. Sometimes music can help us find whimsy, and this is where Noah comes in. I think sometimes artists are playing with sounds that they enjoy, and they're sharing it with us fans, going, look what I did, like an excited child. And some of them really genuinely are that excited, and I love seeing that. Sometimes artists are running about whimsical moments in history, or creating concept albums, or lyrics based on fantasy realms and fantastical ideas. Some more recent examples that come to my mind. I mean, Castle Rat created a whole realm uh for everything that they're doing. That's in their lyrics, and it's in their live shows. They have a whole bit, a whole story based on what they're doing. Macedon created a giant desert world ruled by an emperor of sand as a metaphor for cancer almost 10 years ago already. I can't believe that album is almost 10 years old. It's been done many times, is what I'm getting at. Is this neither of those were the first instances that any artist has done anything like this? So recently I've been hearing and seeing a lot of Noah Khan. And I believe that Noah is the person that is right now helping us embrace Whimsy. I know he just put out an album not too long ago. It is called The Great Divide. It is good, and I know that that is why we're seeing a lot of him lately. It does seem like he's everywhere. He's made it to my algorithm, like even though I am a metalhead, he he found me. And I think that that's because, at least in my world, I'm seeing that he is resonating with other millennials and Gen Z. And it's it does seem to lean women, but I could be wrong about that. I just happen to see women talking about him, but that's just my algorithm and me. Um, they're posting about him, they're the ones that are posting about him. So shout out to my girlies on Instagram that are doing that. And what I'm also seeing is that his fans do appreciate the weathered wonder mixed with, you know, Americana aesthetic created in a way only somebody from Vermont could do it and could understand. I would imagine that like when you come from a place in the US that, for lack of a better term, is as isolated. And I'm thinking the rural parts, the you know, the the parts that are not always on someone's bucket list to take a trip to. You know, those parts. The people who live there are gonna have a much different understanding of daily life, and they're gonna have a much different set of values. And Noah is sharing this with all of us and giving us examples of this. We love, let's talk about his music, okay? Let's we love listening to spoiled and going, damn, Eldestanders syndrome. There it is, there it is. Because those lyrics are possibly what it sounds like in a parent's mind when they're deciding who they want to raise and how their decisions are gonna, you know, impact that child. Or we also love, you know, comparing any other track to any other similar idea. We can do that because Noah has mastered what I will call mature whimsy, which we'll detail a little bit later. So let's take some more lyrics, for example, as we deep dive into the music, the reason that we're here. No, there ain't nothing new to report, but I hope you're bored and headed north. I know I can't connect with you, but I'm attempting to anyway, even if it doesn't land, that is my translation. Uh, this is a lighter perspective on what is a sad situation while leaving room for a surprise. Because reciprocated contact would be a surprise. Whimsy. There it is. Let's take paid time off, for example. I had the brains for a city job, but you got it the taste of a country cop. I chose the whimsy you see in our hometown and being with you, and that is what makes me happy. That's how I'm translating that lyric. So paid time off hits with me because I did leave my hometown for work. And normally I encourage other people to do the same thing, but correct me if I'm wrong, anybody else in the same situation, sometimes I wonder if that sacrifice was worth it. And I'm sure anybody that's been through the same thing has moments where they doubt themselves too. Noah obviously is having one of those moments there. So there's some, you know, there's some whimsy there when you start to appreciate what was and look at things a little bit differently. Look at things as though it has some charm, not take it for granted. This lyric saw the world from up close, it ain't much to look at compared to you and your work clothes waving hello from the driveway. That's on we go way back, and it is another lyrical example of appreciating the ordinary and finding whimsy in it. I never thought anybody could make work clothes feel exciting or sentimental to me, but Noah did there with how he worded that. And I like this lyric too. You know, I think about you all the time and my deep misunderstanding of your life and how bad it must have been for you back then, and how hard it was to keep it all inside the great divide. Now, that is an emotional roller coaster that really is embracing the drama and dynamics in a relationship that cut pretty deep. That's from the heart. But like I said, there's a certain element of whimsy in it because you also can hear an appreciation for the trauma and dynamics involved in that relationship. And this is how I'm gonna link Noah with Whimsy and suggest that he is helping us in our search here for it. I don't think it's a stretch to say that there's ways Noah refers to Whimsy in his music, not explicitly maybe, but spiritually. It's there. What makes Noah Khan especially relevant to a conversation about whimsy is that he does not give listeners whimsy in the obvious sense, not you know, fantasy sparkle, escapism. He gives them something a little bit closer to what I will call weathered wonder. Beauty found inside the ordinary pain, seasonal change, memory, small rural images. That distinction matters, and this is where you know the mature whimsy thing comes in. His songwriting often does take emotionally heavy subjects on depression, guilt, hometown grief, family strain. Takes our guard down before addressing them as people and and frames them through a very tactile, almost storybook details. You know, Vermont roads, porch lights, snow fields, village distances, leaves, old houses. You know, just that kind of imagery that creates a quiet enchantment, even when the lyric itself is devastating. Like you you I can I I picture Belle from Munion to Beast frolicking about in some of these songs. You could probably make a music video to that, Noah. You're welcome. So, in terms of the search for whimsy, I'm gonna say that Noah's music helps because he does restore emotional meaning to ordinary objects. He makes landscape feel symbolic and important and something to marvel at. And then he allows melancholy and tenderness to coexist. He gives people language that feels intimate without becoming theatrical. There's the maturity. Noah Khan isn't necessarily offering whimsy. Escape, but I think what he is offering is permission to notice beauty while still telling the truth and while being respectful and mindful of what's going on within yourself, too, emotionally. This is why audiences are connecting with him right now. In a culture that feels overstimulated and exhausted by repeated hurt, disappointment, frustration, outright dismissal, and erasure. I mean, take your pick. We have been through it. I again I think that this is why he's resonating right now. Because he's getting us through the middle of all that by reminding us of these things. And, you know, while I empathize and sympathize with my, you know, with the reality and acknowledge it as such, and I do commiserate with my fellow millennials on that, I find myself wishing that the rest of the world knew one thing. Because I think sometimes millennials, anybody younger, sometimes we get criticized as immature. We get that label. And I wish the world just I wish they knew one thing. We're not looking for whimsy because we are immature or unprofessional or uneducated or uninformed. Maybe we know all about the harsh realities of life. And if you're listening to this, likely the harsh realities of living in the US. Okay, we all know about that. So we know what it is like to struggle financially while expectations dictate that you need to put out a facade, that everything looks good and sounds great. And it is frustrating as hell when someone chooses to drink the Kool-Aid and refuses to acknowledge their privilege or lacks situational awareness in the middle of all this. I think that's why we give Neppo babies and billionaires a hard time. They're called out anymore. And we're demanding quality, authenticity, and intention from our influencers and leaders, and we uh rightfully so. I think we want to say, do your best, but recognize that you and other external forces have an impact. And because of this, be careful and be kind. Don't be a dick. My golden rule. That's it. That that might be the millennial golden rule, really. We are not failing to recognize how hard things are, or failing to step up when we need to. We're there. We're here, we're present. We know all about this. We're just asking for some softness in the middle of it all. And when we have that, that is where we find whimsy. And I hope you find some this week. And I do hope you enjoy Noah's album because it is good. Shout out, Great Divide. Thank you so much for joining me for another week on this. I know I was excited to put this episode together. I really hope you enjoyed it. We'll do more like it. You let me know how you like this one. Like, subscribe if you're on YouTube, all that good stuff. Leave a comment anywhere else. We'll chat again soon. Bye.