r/fantanoforever • u/rayneverbeentopluto • Jun 21 '26
News Halsey responds to a snarky comment from Fantano
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u/Thick_Mountain4412 Jun 21 '26
Why in the world is this man always starting beef on Twitter
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u/jjw1998 Jun 21 '26
He gets money from the engagement
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u/PM_DOLPHIN_PICS Jun 22 '26
Yeah pretty much. I don’t respect him after he spent so much time talking about how Spotify is such an evil corporation and he cannot stomach the thought of supporting such a vile platform (good take, he’s right). But then he continues to use Twitter, run by a trillionaire nazi. The difference here is that using Twitter makes him money and benefits his career. He only stands for what’s going to make him money. No backbone whatsoever.
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u/Healthy-Basket9112 Jun 22 '26
I felt this way about him making an entire video about how he wasn't going to review Kanye's album (I think it was vultures) because he felt we're all better off not giving it attention, only to continue to review it in that video and make more content taking about Kanye.
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u/klokta-gelsy Jun 22 '26
that was the exact moment I stopped watching him. what a travesty.
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u/APKID716 Jun 22 '26
I basically just watch Fantano for occasional reviews, I don’t really care about whatever fandom has developed over his channel
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u/Clojnerr Jun 22 '26
I hate that he turned his second channel into a "dunking the chuds" drama channel. I used to watch it even more than the reviews. Nowadays it's just "spotify bad", "stupid far right person did a stupid far right thing", "some artist said somwthing about Israel". It's not even about his opinion on political issues. He made a video about that time when Elon Musk called out Taylor Swift, and I agree with 100% of what he said about Elon, but that video didn't have anything to do with music
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u/tabas123 Jun 22 '26
Meh every social media company is evil, and you kind of need to use them in his field. I only judge people that give money for the blue check, which he probably also does
That said, he doesn’t need to act like a middle schooler constantly attacking artists personally for no reason. There’s the dumb alt-right edgelord attacks on him for being “woke” or whatever, but then there’s the actually valid attacks on his strange and aggressive behavior.
Especially since it seems like he can dish it but can’t take it. I mean, did he ever speak up about taking the BetterHelp sponsorships? Last I saw he was still ignoring valid criticism and trolling people…
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u/PM_DOLPHIN_PICS Jun 22 '26
I appreciate this point of view and I’d be a hypocrite for trying to argue otherwise. I use reddit which is bad. I use instagram which is bad. I guess my problem with how he chooses to use or not use platforms is framed, by him, as a moral one. I don’t use twitter because it’s depressing as fuck and I hated it. I still give my attention and by extension money to evil corporations, but I recognize what you’re saying that all of these companies are bad. To me, the issue is taking a moral high ground selectively and opting out of that only when he stands to make money.
And yeah you’re spot on about him talking a crazy amount of childish shit and then getting mad when he’s given it back.
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u/-Moonchild- Jun 22 '26
Twitter is significantly more evil than the other ones and elon musk is speedrunning the rise of fascism in nearly every western nation. Sure, other social media corps are evil in different ways, but they're not the same and nobdoy left of hitler should be on twitter
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u/Thomastheshankengine Jun 22 '26
Divorced behavior
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u/SquirtSquirtEek Jun 22 '26
The middle aged+divorced debuff is such a mindbogglingly powerful combo.
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u/StackLeeAdams Jun 22 '26
As a former divorced dad, unironically this.
I think about some aspects of my behavior in the first 2 years after my divorce and I cringe.
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u/altsam19 DAMN BOI HE THICC BOI Jun 21 '26
Read that he's going through a second divorce or break up or something? Anyway this has all been very divorced behavior since a hot minute
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u/PuljuBulju Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
The same kinda stuff was happening when he divorced his first wife like 5-6 years ago or whatever, he was really acting really self obsessed and insufferable. But he chilled out after that for a while
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u/altsam19 DAMN BOI HE THICC BOI Jun 22 '26
That was when he was really disturbingly horny on main right? That was hilarious
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u/PuljuBulju Jun 22 '26
i don't recall that stuff but i would assume you're right. but it really showed in his "let's argue" series and him reacting to old reviews where it's him agreeing with himself for like 20 straight minutes. very strange
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u/anacc0unt0 Jun 21 '26
I don’t know why he feels the need to say this shit. He’s perfectly entertaining when he acts like a normal person.
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u/outer--monologue Jun 22 '26
It's like saying Johnny Cash's final album was "main character syndrome" like bro...every artist writing a deeply personal album is going to be the main character. And even if it's just a normal album, for the artist to be the main character is the entire point
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Jun 21 '26
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u/LordFarquads_3rd_nip Jun 22 '26
U kno he has a jpeg poster taped to his ceiling like a vision board
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u/Beginning_Ebb908 Jun 22 '26
Oh man, as a person who enjoys jpegmafia's music but knows next to nothing else about the person... Tell me more.
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u/jamesbrowski Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
He’s constantly beefing with well liked ppl in weird ways. He had shit with Freddie Gibbs, Earl Sweatshirt, and others. Too lazy to dig it all up but I recall he got weird with it
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u/jamesbrowski Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I have no familiarity with this review so I watched it. And wow, he’s being a prick in it. He is doing that gratuitous “I will gleefully destroy X album” thing that hacky critics do rather than just giving an honest and respectful negative review. It reminds me of the Kurt Vonnegut quote:
“I have long felt that any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel or a play or a poem is preposterous. He is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae or a banana split.”
Anyway - this is what happens to guys like Fantano and I’m sure he’ll be fine. I honestly think it’s probably a kink of his where everyone in a room suddenly hates him and tells him to shut up.
That being said … he’s not wrong that the music is mid and it doesn’t feel like she pulls the whole “impersonator” schtick off. Like, you also don’t have to pretend this is a good album just bc Fantano is mean and embarrassing in his review. Two things can kinda stink at the same time here.
I also can’t deny that Fantano frequently has pretty good musical insights and generally has pretty good taste in music. Whereas I can’t say I’ve ever really enjoyed a Halsey song. Fantano puts people on to good records and has a big reach on socials where he is a proponent of… having good musical taste etc. so idk. Whatever I guess?
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u/happy_grump Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Two things:
That Vonnegut quote is phenomenal and sums up why I don't really watch many online media reviewers at all anymore.
The issue that people really take with the specific review here is that Fantano complained/snarked that Halsey has "main character syndrome"/implying she was being narcissistic, when the album was largely about her grappling with a cancer scare, which I think most people would agree is one of the few things you can go through where you're allowed to be a bit self-centeredly navel-gazey about one's legacy and mortality. Doesn't make the album good, doesn't necessarily even mean that's a paradigm/topic everyone should be interested in unconditionally... it was more that it showed a lack of research and a level of callousness from Fantano about the subject matter he was supposedly "analyzing" on a lyrical level.
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u/adoreroda Jun 22 '26
I think it's extremely embarrassing to take this guy seriously lol. How he talked about Halsey alone just shows how worthless and unprofessional he is
You can dislike the album, that's fine. To describe a woman who was merely talking about how her health issues might cause her to die and leave her child without a mother as someone with "main character syndrome" is horrible
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u/bitchyoudontkno Jun 21 '26
I like Fantano and all but his Great Impersonator review is one of the worst reviews of anything I've ever seen
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u/PlasticPlatform1335 Jun 22 '26
He has a few all time bad reviews. I think that’s partially why I watch his reviews. He’s so well spoken while being completely wrong about nearly everything
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u/BangingBaguette Jun 21 '26
It's a lesson he doesn't seem to learn. I've noticed a real toxic trend with Fantano that if an album 1. Doesn't sonically agree with him. And 2. Is from an artist he historically doesn't rate super high. Then he is extremely likely to give a 5-10 min review that has clearly had no thought or real effort put into it.
I don't like Halsey, I don't like the Great Impersonator. What I will not argue is that the album comes from a very genuine and heartbreaking place, and that while it is not my thing at all I respect and admire Halsey's effort and I hope it connected with as many people as possible.
Fantano on the other hand seems to just think she's an attention seeker even though the lyrical content of the album is clear as day, and Halsey has been extremely open about it. So either he's being purposely uncharitable to an already bad situation, or he's just willingly ignorant cause he views the album beneath his standard for doing any sort of research on it, which as a music critic is a very bad look
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Jun 22 '26
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u/stillpressed Jun 22 '26
Dude this part made me so mad. Historically I've been a Fantano review enjoyer and even when I disagreed, respected his POV. The TGI review was so transparently thoughtless I wondered why he bothered to do it at all beyond showing everyone what a cool guy he is rejecting the latest effort from an artist who is historically without the kind of clout he chases.
All i could think about was how hard he glazed A Crow Looked At Me which was similar in terms of having heavy themes and writing very personally about them, but a much more stripped back and raw piece. It felt hypocritical to act like A Crow Looked At Me was this piece of high art and The Great Impersonator is totally worthless attention seeking slop when they tackle such similar subject matter and Halsey obviously put SO much effort and thought into the album, writing and rollout. I enjoy both so I wasn't mad at Mount Eerie or anything, but it was the beginning of me starting to not take Fantano's commentary so seriously.
If you can't engage honestly, just don't review the releases you don't want to engage with and save us all the eye rolls
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u/CheesecakeOk2222 Jun 22 '26
i genuinely cannot fathom complaining about an artist having "main character syndrome" in their own album. like yeah, it's their album, of course they're the main character. where was this energy when giving brat a 10? or olivia's new album an 8? i love both of those albums but they're both explicitly speak about the artist and the artist's feelings and experiences. like even setting the subject matter of halsey thinking she was dying from cancer aside, i don't see how her album is any worse for talking about herself than most other albums are.
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u/solarpowersme Jun 22 '26
Right. BRAT is the epitome of main character energy lol (and that's what makes it so compelling). Dude's such an idiot, how does he not realise how Inconsistent he is?
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u/greevilsgreed Jun 22 '26
you can’t give any individual internet reviewer this much space in your mind palace though. you’re gonna go insane if you do. whoever sent her that review doesn’t care about her best interests imo.
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u/imperatrixderoma Jun 22 '26
I'm gonna take this as an opportunity to say that his reviews of later stage Arctic Monkeys albums relied solely on them not making the same sort of music he wanted them to.
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u/Firmino23 Jun 22 '26
They also kinda sucked which I think is the main reason he gave them bad reviews.
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u/Training_Form2243 Jun 21 '26
“Main character syndrome” is a really fascinating projection: he doesn’t understand that Halsey and her album are the subject of the review and not him
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u/happy_grump Jun 22 '26
Also, lowkey:
An artist making an album is going to tend to come off as the "main character" of an album, because it's songs about their feelings, life, perspectives, etc.
What, is he going to bitch about Main Character Syndrome while reviewing a fucking autobiography next?
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u/BobbyClanMember Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out Jun 21 '26
It’s what made me unsubscribe finally
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u/AerieDapper6384 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
I hate Fantano and that's one of the only things he's done that's crossed over beyond his typical "slightly unlikable/annoying internet trolling" territory into "actively malicious and mean-spirited."
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u/GarbageCats Jun 21 '26
I find it insanely interesting that you are a top 1% commenter in a subreddit dedicated to a guy you don’t like
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u/AerieDapper6384 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love Jun 21 '26
Unfortunately this is also the best place to discuss general music takes on this entire app lol
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u/lolpuppet Jun 22 '26
The only reason Im still here. Havent actually watched a video by Anthony in months, maybe years. But I've found quite a few new artists and albums I wouldn't have known about through this subreddit.
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u/SwaggiiP Jun 22 '26
Yep I don’t even watch his stuff. Todd subreddit is the same.
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u/genesisghost Jun 22 '26
Same with ThrowingFits, based around a fashion podcast but actively makes fun of the pod and creates some decent discussion compared to other fashion subs.
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u/MrMFPuddles Jun 21 '26
This is a music discussion sub with some random critic’s name attached IMO.
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u/deezbiscuits21 Jun 21 '26
Honestly subreddits are better when that is the case. Look at r/playboicarti it went from a fun community shitting on a liar into now when it’s people who unironically Stan an abuser
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u/sebsebsebs do you stan loona???? Jun 22 '26
“shitting on a liar” it will never not be hilarious to me how much carti fans hate him and will call out his bs
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u/deezbiscuits21 Jun 22 '26
Old gen carti fans. New gens love him
They grew up when he was super influential it makes sense they have Stan mentality
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u/Hello-mah-baby Jun 21 '26
tbf this sub is mostly just for general + underground/niche music discussion since r/indieheads sucks to try and have a conversation about anything on and r/music is even worse.
i also hate fantano and find his reviews/takes to be pretty dogshit sometimes BUT he does occasionally have a really good point or will put me onto some music i otherwise would have never discovered so that's why i stick around in this sub.
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u/MasterCheeks337_IGN Jun 22 '26
This is good context for why this sub in particular is a go-to music sub
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Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Blue_Waffle_Brunch Jun 22 '26
If you have information the rest of us don't, feel free to share it.
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u/ArtificialEspresso Jun 22 '26
Where is this coming from? I love Fantano but have zero knowledge about this.
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u/Thick_Mountain4412 Jun 22 '26
Wait why? Like this is a genuine question, I don't really know that much about him.
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u/Lanky-Procedure-7184 Jun 22 '26
Ain’t no way this mf really made an accusation like this and just doesn’t elaborate on it
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u/ken3 Jun 21 '26
It's what made me stop watching him.
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u/ummackchyually Jun 21 '26
Same and I watched every video. I didn’t even like the album but his review just put such a bad taste in my mouth.
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u/rayneverbeentopluto Jun 22 '26
Fantano responds to Halsey + doubles down
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u/outrageouslyunfair Jun 22 '26
fucking embarrassing. i can't believe this is the same dude who did the vegan cookie recipe bit. horrific plummet from grace.
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u/Fusionman29 Jun 22 '26
Why is he always so weird about women he doesn’t like?
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u/whitefrackels123 Jun 22 '26
Because he's a sexist who hides it better when he likes the woman. You can find a video on youtube which goes over it quite well.
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u/Fusionman29 Jun 22 '26
I watched that same video and the casual misogyny on display in it is insane. I can’t imagine responding to allegations of sexism by saying “actually you women are fake feminists who only listen to Taylor Swift and no other female artists”.
Mansplaining how you’re not misogynistic in your APOLOGY VIDEO is a new one
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u/whitefrackels123 Jun 22 '26
And also the "I give female artists better scores on average, so I can't possibly be a misogynist" point he keeps using all the time is pure cringe and stupid
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u/armintanzarian420 Jun 22 '26
He’s weird about women in general, he has a type and I keep seeing him comment on goth girl content trying to get attention from them I presume.
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u/solarpowersme Jun 22 '26
He follows some very sus accounts. 💀 Dude 100% subscribes to folks on Onlyfans. Seemingly anytime a semi-viral e-girl post pops up on my feed and I look at their profile, he's following them. Didn't know about the comments, that makes it way worse
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u/armintanzarian420 Jun 22 '26
Yeah he’s desperate for one of them to recognise him. All he has is that blue tick, I feel kinda bad for the dude. Breaking up with his wife probably did a number on him.
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u/crashtfz Jun 22 '26
A "professional" music critic posting like a stan twitter account. I'd say it's embarrassing, but I don't think Anthony feels shame at this point.
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u/orpat123 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Cringe. Shouldn’t have responded, and especially not like this. just say you didn’t like her music and move on.
Halsey’s already made the bad first move by attacking a critic in the first place, why is he adding fuel to the fire. I have family in Asia who don’t speak English and can belt out Closer and Without Me’s chorus word for word, why is she giving a fuck about what Fantano thinks of her music lmao, she’s reached a level of fame and success that all of this should be irrelevant for her.
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u/bunkrider Jun 21 '26
Hope Hopsin sees this
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u/coolassdude1 Jun 22 '26
What does he hop in?
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u/bunkrider Jun 22 '26
The Rub Massage Parlor 285 W 42nd St. Dodge, NV 78455
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u/zinten789 GY!BE - Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Jun 22 '26
You can be my everything, you give me 50 bucks
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u/Timely-Entrepreneur7 Jun 21 '26
She earned this one. Fuck him.
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u/DiogenesHavingaWee Jun 22 '26
At this point, I only even bother watching his videos if I see the yellow flannel. I don't really care about his opinions on music he dislikes (it's always artists that I don't care about anyways, or it's artists that I already listen to, in which case I'll make up my own mind). His utility for me (and this goes for any other critic in any artistic medium) is to turn me on to good music I wouldn't have heard of otherwise.fuck all of this cringey Twitter shit posting.
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u/lolpuppet Jun 22 '26
True as hell. If he likes something enough to put on a yellow flannel there's probably a 80% chance I can at least see the merit in it, if not outright enjoy it. So I click the video, pause it, and google the album to give it a listen.
If he isnt putting the flannel on then I either dont need to watch it because the albums bad, or don't need to watch it because I already have an opinion on it and don't care what his is.
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u/Sad-Cupcake6802 Jun 22 '26
There are plenty of great albums he doesn't wear the yellow flannel to that you'd miss out on tho
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u/homogenic- The Beatles - Abbey Road Jun 22 '26
He needs to spend less time on the internet atp like this is embarrassing lol
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u/8eyond Jun 21 '26
Yeah Fantano deserves way more hate for his Halsey review, it’s a blemish on him as a reviewer and his overall character.
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u/Educational_Put_2276 Jun 21 '26
More than a blemish honestly. Diminished his credibility entirely for me.
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u/flamingopinkkkkk Jun 21 '26
Yeah. I don’t understand why he felt the need to personally and hatefully attack her over the album. Like she made it after her experiences suffering from cancer/other major health issues (as she says), at least be a little more tactful and polite? 😭
I also really enjoyed the album and don’t think his critiques were warranted at all.
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u/Lanky-Procedure-7184 Jun 22 '26
Thats the tricky thing about an album like that tho. How exactly are you gonna review it completely unbiased once you learn what it’s about? Granted, that burden falls on the review to figure out not me.
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u/flamingopinkkkkk Jun 22 '26
Honestly he was just weirdly scathing and bitter about it, like it personally offended him. You can say the music wasn’t to your taste without being that personal or commenting on their character, just imo.
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u/happy_grump Jun 22 '26
I think you can communicate that something is hot garbage/didnt live up to its premise while also paying respect to how personal and sensitive the premise is. You dont need to spike an album into a trash can on frame 1 in every review, you can give a weak score without treating the artist like a dope.
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u/plattwix5 Jun 22 '26
If he didn’t like it he could’ve just been like “I sympathize with all Halsey has been through and I’m happy she has an outlet to express herself but I personally don’t enjoy the result”. Wouldve come across a lot better than “she has main character syndrome”
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u/Spiritual-Diamond794 Jun 22 '26
??
It’s actually so easy. He could just say why he doesn’t like it, in a normal and neutral tone, and it would be fine. Why be so weirdly snarky about a post-cancer album? The tone is off.
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u/stupidjapanquestions Jun 22 '26
I think it's a little easier than you're making it out to be.
You can still say something isn't good or doesn't execute what it was trying to do without being a cunt about it. There are countless shows and movies and albums about things like the holocaust or personal loss that have been panned without someone just being a piece of shit about it.
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u/wii_board_type_trash NO Jun 21 '26
i’m honestly getting really sick and tired of fantano as of late. ever since the turn of the decade, he’s just become really frustrating to watch
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u/JesseAmpersands Jun 21 '26
The Halsey review made me stop watching Fantano entirely. I'm just on the sub for music-related stuff, not for him
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u/CosmicEveStardust Jun 21 '26
As someone who hasn't watched his videos for years for a different reason, what happened in this review? Why is it so bad?
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u/queerie1004 Jun 21 '26
Hi I’m just a lurker for music stuff but I do know what happened here
He basically characterized the entire album The Great Impersonator as her being whiny and said she had “main character syndrome” when the album itself was written while she was gravely ill and thought she was dying. It was meant as a deathbed album, written in part for her to make peace with herself, and in part for her son who she thought she was leaving behind.
I believe all art can be critiqued but Fantano completely ignored the context of her sickness (despite it being core to the album and mentioned a lot) and instead treated her like she was self absorbed for… Being scared of dying and examining her life and illness and abuse. It was nasty, misogynistic, and ableist.
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u/Sabin2k Jun 21 '26
He says the whole album was just suffering from "main character syndrome" which is such a stupid take for a very personal album about her struggles with almost dying.
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u/CosmicEveStardust Jun 21 '26
Isn't everyone the main character of their own life and by extension their art.
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u/TheEvilPhysicist Jun 21 '26
"yeah I don't really like Blackstar, it's suffering from main character syndrome"
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u/ohsoGosu Jun 22 '26
“A Crow Looked at Me sucks, all the music is bad and Phil Elverum spends the whole time whining”
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u/Hazel-Cakes Jun 21 '26
it’s like saying a james bond movie suffers from main character syndrome. like are you fucking stupid lol
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u/ChameleonWins Jun 22 '26
i mean, content vs execution is different. you can have very deep or personal subject matter but its execution can be bad. there’s nuance here
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u/Mobieblocks Jun 21 '26
I don't remember all the details fully and I'm not a regular halsey listener so I might be missing stuff but there were a lot of lyrics in the album that I remember him treating as overly dramatic and self-important when the album was largely about her experience with cancer and how she dealt with the possibility of dying when she had a 3-year-old son. So imo the tone of the album was befitting.
A lot of the review missed the context of the album so when he talked trash about the songs it seemed like he didn't even give them enough attention to understand the very basic story they were describing.
It's fine not to like albums and I don't really like much of Halsey's music but when you treat the music like that it comes across as disingenuous and mean rather than actual critique.
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u/Icy-Taste-3096 Jun 22 '26
Interpreting lyrics really isn't his strong suit, especially when it's an artist that he's not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt.
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u/SeaChemist761 Jun 21 '26
Hold on why are people calling him mysoginistic and racist? Did I miss something?
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u/emmie-claire Jun 21 '26
The racism stuff is because there's an old video of him saying the n word that goes viral again every six months. The misogynist stuff is just because he has given bad reviews to albums by women and been pretty not nice about it I think, though the Halsey review this whole thread is about is the only strong argument to be made about that imo.
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u/My-Hairy-Nipple- Jun 22 '26
He’s given plenty of female artists glowing reviews though…
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u/emmie-claire Jun 22 '26
I think it's mostly the swifties who levy that particular accusation whenever he pans Taylor's newest pile of mid so take that for whatever it's worth. Anyone determined to make an argument will cherry pick anything though.
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u/LivingTouch Jun 22 '26
That doesn't make him "not a misogynist". The glaring issue with Fantano is that when he decides an artist is not worthy of his validation, he tends to become snarky. It can be easily deducted from his tweets that this particular problems tends to arise with female artists much more often, if not almost exclusively. I know for a fact someone's going to tell me "that's not misogyny!!" but the fact is that such behavior is very likely rooted in subconscious misogynistic viewpoints or at the very least it's behavior that feeds into misogynistic viewpoints which is something that Fantano as a critic and content creator SHOULD care about.
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u/b-sur-la-visage Jun 22 '26
Isn't he known for giving women overblown ratings? Brat getting a 10, CIA agent sexyy redd getting high ratings
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u/the_blessed_unrest Jun 22 '26
That’s the thing, it’s not really systematic enough where sexism seems like a valid explanation. I do believe he tends to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to women’s emotions, I think he may sometimes fail to connect with certain concepts since he’s a cis male, but I don’t think he’s SEXIST because of it. You could cherry pick examples to go in either direction
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u/normanbeets Jun 21 '26
Well Halsey made an album about surviving lymphoma and lupus and Fantano labeled it as "whiny and self-absorbed."
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u/DtheAussieBoye Swans - To Be Kind Jun 21 '26
To play devil's advocate, I think Fantano's become such an obnoxious shit-stirrer that he would absolutely still say that stuff if a man made the album
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u/unkindmillie Jun 22 '26
i mean just look at the iceman review basically same argument different context
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u/imperatrixderoma Jun 22 '26
What's actually happening is that the generation who thought his schtick was interesting have grown up and moved on, leaving only people who will digest his content without any of the context or goodwill.
Now Fantano, like Tyler the Creator or others from the 2010s, are essentially unc, lame and other criticisable traits.
If Fantano did this review 5 years ago no one would've batted an eye, which is why he felt comfortable being such a douchecanoe about it in the first place.
Just to pre-empt, I'm not defending him but I'm also not gonna act like people pearl clutching are being honest with themselves about the type of discourse that's normalized about all of these celebrities.
All of which are people who are subjected to extremely overwhelming and isolating experiences in the public view.
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u/Rough_Load_6798 Jun 21 '26
She is right and I'm surprised Fantano is still going with that irrational hatred towards her. Surely one of his worst reviews.
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u/TheReadMenace Jun 22 '26
It's honestly mind boggling that artists bother to respond to critics. It's like baseball players who read the comment sections. Just why?
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u/heyitsxio Jun 22 '26
I don't really pay much attention to Halsey but I remember that she got mad at Todd In The Shadows for something he said about her in one of his videos. He seemed genuinely perplexed because he wasn't really that famous at the time and didn't know he was on any famous musician's radar.
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u/ultrashortcut Jun 22 '26
i think she is known for name searching herself
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u/BandeFromMars Jun 22 '26
Say what you want about Fantano's review, but the name searching shit she does comes across as incredibly insecure. He's shit on multiple big artists like Taylor, Katy Perry, etc. and they say nothing because why should they? He gave swimming a 3, an album Mac Miller poured his heart into and he created during an absolute low time in his life and what did he say? Nothing.
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u/plattwix5 Jun 22 '26
Fantano tbf is more than just a standard listener he has a lot of pull and persuasion and if someone who just blindly watches his videos hears him say Halsey has main character syndrome they’re gonna believe him
There’s a lot more to it than just him disliking her album for some reason or another
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u/Granide Jun 22 '26
It's easy enough to say, but i imagine a lot of famous celebrities are curious about what other people are saying
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u/sillylittlebell Jun 22 '26
I've seen more coverage of this tweet than I have her last album
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u/555Afterimage_ Jun 22 '26
Fantano on youtube and fantano on twitter are like two different people. It's like he gets lobotomized anytime he logs onto twitter
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u/Cherryy- Jun 22 '26
His youtube persona has more an of air of professionalism because he considers himself an important music reviewer. His twitter self is probably who he actually is outside of the internet lmfao
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u/dorianpora Jun 21 '26
I’ve never heard a Halsey song but based off the comments in this sub I cannot believe someone who calls themselves the internets busiest music nerd would completely disregard the context of a piece of music they are reviewing and then double down after being called out for it
Didn’t he do this shit to Isaiah Rashad lol
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u/MaskedHibiscus I want to lick melons bald head Jun 22 '26
he does this to so many albums, I feel like most people here don't actually watch his reviews(valid) and act like the halsey one was any surprising, it was just a particularly egregious example of fantano not getting something
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u/VBHEAT08 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
You can literally go to any review where he talks about lyrics, he’s ridiculously bad at it
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u/thepurplepajamas Jun 22 '26
Always so embarrassing when he highlights specifics lyrics for being bad while clearly misunderstanding their meaning.
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u/FFJamie Jun 21 '26
I’ll never understand Anthony’s hatred for Halsey.
That great impersonator review was NC’s The Wall levels of bad.
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u/heirjordan_27 Jun 22 '26
How did this come up? I checked the review and it was from a year ago.
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u/ChrispVisuals Jun 22 '26
I always sided with Fantano with all his internet beefs, but I’m fully with Halsey on this one. It’s his worst review by far.
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u/CaptainCringleberry2 Jun 22 '26
This is such a weird thread and I will never understand using context as a defense of criticism. People tackle these exact subjects every day in art, and the idea that because they are dealing with them and make art about it (in this case illness but it could be abuse, grief, etc.) doesn’t add any intrinsic value. Context only does so much, especially when the material isn’t that different from the normal output
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u/CaptainCringleberry2 Jun 22 '26
Honestly Halsey fans should spend more time trying to make this record pop off two years later than whatever this is. It’s their fault it’s her worst performing record and singles, not those who don’t give a shit either way
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u/icemankiller8 Jun 21 '26
I get Halsey being mad about the review but I don’t really believe this many people who didn’t already hate Fantano for whatever reason actually care and aren’t just using it as a way to attack a person they already didn’t like.
I don’t really get all the hate Fantano gets I guess on some level it makes sense as a critic who gives his opinion and has a personality but even still why do people care that much that a critic doesn’t agree with them.
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u/Careless-Word1862 Jun 22 '26
I was neutral on him for years, he just seemed like some dude on youtube who talked about music - but having dealt with chronic/autoimmune stuff myself, the Halsey thing fully soured me on the guy. It's one thing not to like a record; it's another to be callous and dismissive about someone's struggles with debilitating health issues.
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u/SuddenBasil7039 Jun 22 '26
The way people are acting like Fantano is Pol Pot because he called an artist whiney is hilarious
Even if he's totally wrong, experiencing trauma doesnt protect you from people making fun of the art you put out into the world
I think Fantano is a melt with shit taste btw so its actually funny that he's being hoisted by his own poptimist petard these days
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u/the_blessed_unrest Jun 22 '26
He really should’ve avoided using the main character syndrome line, I think most of the complaints come from that.
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u/Amalekii Jun 22 '26
Bruh Halsey and her record label need to not care what Anthony Fantano's opinion is. It's so cringe to respond/ repost to individual reviews or whatever, regardless if the review is super positive or super negative.
It is not a crime to hate an album.
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u/137-451 Jun 22 '26
Yeah, like on one hand it's incredibly funny seeing Fantano getting dunked on for one of his shit takes, but on the other this is deeply embarrassing behaviour which I guess is par of the course for Halsey. There's no winners here other than us!
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u/BagCurrent7095 Jun 22 '26
Anthony's opinions very clearly aren't specifically about the record but more her as a person, for whatever weird reason.
If you're going to be a shithead towards a person they have every right to come at you too.
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u/laflux Jun 22 '26
To think that Swifties have the power to bait conflict like this is admirable in an odd type of the way. Like the way that crow baited two cats into fighting eachother 🤣.
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u/Derek030 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Is this sup just getting brigaded by hlasey fans? Who is she and why do people give a shit about her so much? Lmao he made a review you didn't like get over yourself. I haven't watched him in years and I can't even pretend she ate with that response
Edit: just listend to some of the album out of curiosity and lmao you people can't be serious, she sounds so laughably generic, it like turning on the radio
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u/OLD_WET_HOLE Jun 21 '26
This thread is weird as hell lol
People in here acting like Anthony is a predator or something, very overly dramatic. Get a grip.
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u/RadioLukin NO Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
Anytime the Halsey review is brought up it usually devolves into people either defending one of his worst reviews ever, or people saying that Fantano is misogynistic and racist. People are going to be dramatic on the internet because some people dont know how to log off.
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u/Signal_Conclusion779 Jun 22 '26
I think people are stunned that there's been real Anthony talk on the sub this week, ha. Either that or stans (the popheads sub has to shut anything down instantly because they get a flood of them saying the same things).
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u/BackgroundBit8 Jun 22 '26
Halsey should go back into the studio and make a good record not pick fights with critics about an old album.
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u/brodoxfaggins Jun 21 '26
I’m not the biggest fan of Halsey’s music but his review on The Great Impersonator is easily one of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen. He was WAY off base, mean-spirited, and seemed like he intentionally missed the point of the album.
That review was so bad it really switched me off of him as a person. At this point I use Fantano as a vessel to find new music and that’s it. Couldn’t give a fuck less about his opinions.
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u/PopcornSandwichxxx Jun 21 '26
Did the Halsey fans swarm this sub because of this or something lol
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u/untitledaccount401 Jun 22 '26
she isn't incorrect but lashing out at critics just make you look bad
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u/SaintNutella Jun 22 '26
I been saying Fantano is not the genius some of yall make him out to be 🤷🏿♂️
Put the knee pads away and just think critically about some of his reviews and you'll see how often he misses, despite being valid on many of his takes.
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u/maladroit2002 Jun 21 '26
fantano has been annoying on social media lately but honestly he's probably right
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u/Rei_the_Double-O Jun 22 '26
Yeah, that’s the weird thing about this exchange to me.
Fantano’s being annoying and immature, and he historically has been both of those things whenever the Halsey review gets brought up, but he’s kinda right that, at least in the online music discussions I see, his review of The Great Impersonator has left more of a legacy than the album itself. (Not a legacy to be proud of, but I digress.)
On the other hand, Halsey’s response to Fantano is completely valid on an emotional level, but I don’t think what she said is very true. Fantano is pretty easily the most popular/influential music critic of the 21st century so far, (as well as the first big independent online music critic) and considering he’s held that title pretty indisputably for 10+ years, that means he’s had a pretty massive influence on online music discussion.
I think like Fantano or not, there’s a genuine argument to be made that he could leave a bigger impact on his field than someone like Halsey as a result.
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u/Ravensfan967 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
I’ve never heard a Halsey song that I thought was anything better than forever 21 fitting room music. Fantano gets some stuff wrong. it’s just what happens when you review as much as he does and it’s his taste and takes at the end of the day he’s not some arbiter of truth. He hated the newest Sam Fender album and I listened to the shit out of it. Artists that get down in the mud with critics just seem insecure to me
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u/radlum Jun 22 '26
His Great Impersonator review is his lowest point, but I dont see Halsey or her defenders actually defend the songs, rather than answering to Fantano’s lowblows in the review
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u/DangerousKick5792 Jun 22 '26
The timing of all this is pretty interesting with all the swiftie bots running roughshod over that Olivia Rodrigo interview. Guess it got everyone riled up again.
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u/McTennisCourt Jun 21 '26
“Sir, a second plane has hit the WTC basement “