![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/49d96ee40e585a1f1ff7cdbdff152a3e27-lily-allen-taylor-swift.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Both these people are on their computers way more than they\u2019d want you to believe.
\n Photo: Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Lily Allen has a number of choice phrases to describe the not-so-mysterious ex<\/a> at the heart of her new album, West End Girl<\/a> (\u201csex addict,\u201d \u201clittle boy,\u201d \u201cfucking broken\u201d), but none as confusing as \u201c4chan stan.\u201d \u201cWhat a sad, sad man,\u201d Allen sings in the song\u2019s chorus. \u201cIt\u2019s giving 4chan stan.\u201d A \u201c4chan stan\u201d isn\u2019t a phrase that immediately conjures a distinct image. 4chan is loosely associated with young men, and \u201cstan\u201d is a phrase that\u2019s been reclaimed by the girls and gays. Does she mean that the man in question is some kind of gooner? Someone who\u2019s into anime GIFs? Does she just mean someone who is online a lot? The rest of the song fails to answer these questions and evades reference to anything else internet-y, focusing instead on litigating receipts and affairs.<\/p>\n Allen\u2019s online song title doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum: Pop music is increasingly logged on. Taylor Swift references the ways in which fans talk online about music (and celebrity) several times on The Life of a Showgirl<\/a>, ranging from \u201cEvery joke\u2019s just trolling and memes\u201d and the \u201cbad bitch\u201d\/\u201csavage\u201d TikTok trend on \u201cEldest Daughter\u201d to the egregious \u201cDid you girlboss too close to the sun?\u201d in \u201cCANCELLED!\u201d<\/a> What\u2019s strange is that \u201cEldest Daughter,\u201d despite referencing language used in two different Megan Thee Stallion songs, isn\u2019t a diss toward Megan at all. It\u2019s a response, seemingly, to the fan response to Swift\u2019s image \u2014 that of someone who is uncool (compared to Megan, who most people would agree is cool). Lizzo\u2019s<\/a> \u201cSTFU\u201d<\/a> off her most recent album, My Face Still Hurts From Smiling, is all about telling people online to be quiet. \u201cTurn off every podcast mic in this motherfucker\u201d is the opening lyric of the song; she goes on to scold people who \u201crage-bait for racists\u201d or exhibit \u201cfatherless behavior.\u201d It\u2019s not the first year in existence that terminology of the chronically online has seeped its way into the pop landscape \u2014 Swift, for instance, is frequently guilty of this; take 2016\u2019s \u201cThis Is Why We Can\u2019t Have Nice Things\u201d \u2014 but due to some combination of digital accelerationism and everything being way dumber now<\/a>, these recent examples feel that much more (to borrow a phrase) cringe.<\/p>\n In the case of Allen\u2019s music, the phrase \u201c4chan stan\u201d quite literally makes no sense. Neither does Swift\u2019s notion of being canceled, which she seems to associate with releasing a financially successful but critically underpraised and eventually redeemed album (Reputation). Lizzo\u2019s understanding of a litany of online phrases is coherent enough, albeit overwhelming to hear all in succession. These phrases are just not especially evocative. They\u2019re not associated with distinct images or feelings. They are just things we say \u2014 or, more often, things we type, combinations of words that are representative of a strong reaction to something we see online that suddenly dissipates when we shut our laptop or put our phone on airplane mode.<\/p>\n Music doesn\u2019t have to make sense for it to be good. We all accepted Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s \u201cthat\u2019s that me espresso\u201d with little prodding. Songs like \u201c4chan stan\u201d or \u201cCANCELLED!\u201d or \u201cSTFU\u201d weaponize onlinespeak against the objects of the songs: fans, haters, exes, and everyone in between. The songs are mad at the intended listener and use the language of those listeners against them. There\u2019s often an arch detachment where the singer tries to pretend as though they haven\u2019t actually been poisoned by being online themselves. Swift\u2019s whole press tour for The Life of a Showgirl featured her insisting she wasn\u2019t logged on, despite having a keen knowledge of Reels that feature otters and\/or the woman who designed her eventual engagement ring. Allen has been logged on for most of her career<\/a> \u2014 long enough to have a cursory understanding of 4chan and why it wouldn\u2019t necessarily have \u201cstans.\u201d That singers are using this language to talk about everyone but themselves makes it all the clearer they\u2019re not sure what they\u2019re talking about. Whatever satirical angle they\u2019re going for doesn\u2019t transpose because they\u2019re not living in the reality of the language they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that all references to being logged on flop. Doja Cat, who was born out of the very forums slandered by the likes of Lizzo and Lily Allen, is always able to sneak in a reference or three, as she does when she calls herself \u201cunserious\u201d or makes reference to \u201ckhias\u201d on her newish album, Vie<\/a>. Tame Impala embarrasses himself in \u201cNo Reply\u201d when he mentions spending all night \u201coff a rogue website.\u201d Being online is sort of lame \u2014 we know this to be true \u2014 but there\u2019s no point in our pop stars pretending they\u2019re above it.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n