NPR

On 'Tell Me How You Really Feel,' Humanity Is Courtney Barnett's Superpower

The Australian songwriter's new album charts an internal landscape that holds anger and compassion in equally stunning measure.
Courtney Barnett's songwriting relies on lyrics that can craft entire lives from precise, intimate details, then seamlessly reveal their emotional resonances to dizzying effect.

I don't remember exactly where I was the first time I encountered the phrase, "Men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them." But I remember how the idea, based on words originally written by Margaret Atwood, made me feel: I remember nodding, then burning up, then laughing. It's a perfect set-up, making you expect a trite men-are-from-Mars, women-are-from-Venus gag before gutting you with mortal fear. It's not a laughing matter, the specter of male violence women live with constantly. But the idea that our most tangible and persistent fear could be facing mockery? Now that's a

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