Reviews

By Bee Bielak

SECTION EDITOR

There's no place else quite like Mom's Spaghetti. A partnership between rap singer Eminem's team and a local restaurant group resulted in this hit restaurant based off of a lyric from Eminem's “Lose Yourself.” One bite of this pasta had me wanting to stand up with the real Slim Shady. After looking over the website, I was skeptical of Mom's Spaghetti. With only three things on the menu, and a tiny location, I had set the bar low. Finding it was a bit of a struggle. Being wedged in an alley right next to The Fillmore in Detroit, it is quite easy to look past this establishment. However, once you do find it, it's quite the sight. The walk up window was surrounded with a mural of twisted noodles, and a bright heart logo with the name of the restaurant on it and a fork through it. I can see this alone being a hot spot for Instagram photos with the iconic restaurant in the background.

I chose to use the walk up window to order, as the inside of the eatery was full. There is very limited seating, but the entire place has a homelike quality, with checkered tablecloths and comfortably spaced out seating. Outside, I waited by the window for an awkward three minutes before being noticed. When the worker did acknowledge me, she had a bit of an attitude taking my order. Nothing too intense, but it really felt like she couldn’t be bothered to serve me. I got their spaghetti with rabbit balls, the vegan option. I was pleasantly surprised to see this even being offered, although it was a bit pricey at $14, with the cost of their standard

spaghetti with meatballs falling at $12. For a quick walk up place, this felt pretty steep. But, my food was ready remarkably fast, and I left excited to dig in. Despite the poor service, and high cost, my interest was piqued.

When I got home and peaked into my bag, I was a bit surprised. The spaghetti came in an open takeout box, topped with the rabbit balls and a piece of warm garlic bread. A quick warning: consider closing the box before loading into your car. I can see this easily becoming a disaster of spaghetti all over the bag. The bread was nice, but very mediocre. It was nothing to write home about, but not bad. The spaghetti itself was delightful. It was nothing fancy or unique, but it tasted impeccably homemade. They somehow nailed the taste of a mom's spaghetti. The rabbit balls were surprisingly good as well, a nice blend of proteins and veggies to top my spaghetti. The portion size was huge, making up for the price. One order can easily feed two people, or leave enough for leftovers the next day. I went with the second choice, and it reheated quite well for lunch the next day. Overall, Mom's Spaghetti is perfect for quick food if you're in the area after a concert at The Fillmore next door, or a baseball game across the street at Comerica Park. It's definitely worth experiencing at least once for any Eminem fan. It may not make my knees weak, and my arms aren't heavy, but I give a soft recommendation to Mom's Spaghetti, and give it 4/5 stars.

NPR

SECTION EDITOR

Taylor Swift’s album "Red" came out on Oct. 22, 2012, making the Billboard list for seven weeks and gaining nominations for awards such as the Grammys in 2014. This album was under Big Machine Records and, for legal reasons, did not entirely belong to Swift. Nine years later, Swift decided to release her own version of the album, titled “Red (Taylor’s Version),” in order to secure the rights and money from her ground-breaking album. The two hour and eleven minute masterpiece includes the songs that were originally in Red, just rerecorded, additional versions of two original songs, and nine new tracks “From the Vault,” essentially songs that Swift wrote in 2012 but never released to the public. Now, with 30 songs to choose from, Swifties everywhere are getting back into their “Red eras,” just as they were when they first listened to the album in 2012. Swift brought justice to her old album both through the music and vocal aspects of her songs. Although she kept the beats similar and vibes intact, she demonstrated a fuller, crisper, and more mature voice. Hearing her 31-year-old voice sing about breakups and love stories she wrote about almost a decade ago brought much nostalgia and memories to fans everywhere. "Red (Taylor’s Version)" perfectly captures the heartbreak and emotional response Swift experienced years ago with the same anger, urgency, and innocent desperation.

In addition to the re-recordings, Swift also released a ten minute version of her personal favorite track “All Too Well.” This song, originally only five minutes long, was regarded by Swift fans as a mournful and angry breakup track about her ex-boyfriend, actor Jake Gyllenhaal. In the ten minute track, Swift combines the lyrics of her original song with new lines that unlock another level of anger and resentment towards Gyllenhaal, exposing more information about their relationship and how he broke her heart so severely. In the line “I was thinking on the drive down, any time now // He's gonna say it's love // You never called it what it was,” Swift expresses the disappointment she felt after confessing her love for Gyllenhaal while he never fully reciprocated the feelings. Swift also nods at Gyllenhaal when she compares his desire for secrecy about their relationship with the loyalty she promised to him in the line, “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath.” Additionally, she makes a reference to the age gap between her and Gyllenhaal, as he was 29 and she 20 when they dated. This final insult came in the line, “I was never good at telling jokes but the punch line goes: I'll get older but your lovers stay my age,” essentially mocking him for having a tendency to date women much younger than him. Besides the addition of comically slandering lyrics, Swift’s ten minute version of “All Too Well” differs from the original song because it is explicit and contains a line of Swift swearing, something she has only begun to do in her music recently. To top it all off, “All Too Well (Ten minute version)” was paired with a short film released on Nov. 12. This evermore emotional film starring actors Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink made fans feel like they were “The Lucky Ones.” It recounts the sad but powerful Gyllenhaal-Swift relationship by confirming rumors and displaying the famous red scarf, which Swift has made references to in several songs throughout the album.

Not only did Swift re-record her famous hits with great success, she also released nine unreleased songs from the original Red album. “Nothing New” features fellow singer Phoebe Bridgers, an up-and-coming artist enjoyed by many Swift fans. In one line, Swift and Bridgers reminisce about innocent teenage love and high school experiences, singing “It's a fever dream // the kind of radiance you only have at seventeen.” The song “I Bet You Think About Me” features Swift singing with her Nashville twang and country accent. This song also has a music video, which was released on Monday, Nov. 15 after Swift surprised fans with an announcement on Instagram on Sunday afternoon. All in all, Taylor’s Version of "Red" perfectly recreated the tracks from 2012 while also introducing fantastic new songs and evoking emotions Swift fans are still coping with. Although many things have happened in Swift’s career and the world since the original "Red" album was released years ago, the nostalgia and memories brought back by this re-release have shown that not “Everything Has Changed,” and I give it 5/5 stars.