Anthony Fantano, the Internet’s Busiest...Misogynist?

by Sloane D

Words can’t describe the envy I feel for people who are blissfully unaware of Anthony Fantano. Since he got his start on YouTube with The Needle Drop in 2009, he’s gradually and catastrophically become the leading voice in music criticism. He has overtaken magazines like Pitchfork as The Pretentious Music Bro Tastemaker, shifting online music circles in the direction of shithead dank meme cynicism and winning the hearts of white boys everywhere. He’s found himself embroiled in controversy on countless occasions—in 2017, he was accused of having ties with the alt-right (which he’s always vehemently denied), and he’s been battling misogyny accusations for years now. In June, Fantano responded to accusations of sexism after giving Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department a negative review, and fans generally reacted positively. The general consensus was that he was fairly criticizing her music, and that his negative feedback had nothing to do with Swift being a woman.

Now, though, Fantano has come under fire again with his review of singer-songwriter Halsey’s new record, The Great Impersonator, uploaded to YouTube on October 29. Fantano gave the album a score of 1 out of 10 and wore his infamous red flannel in the video—a garment reserved for his most negative reviews. The comments section is rife with disappointed fans and angry passive viewers accusing Fantano of being mean-spirited and using personal attacks against Halsey rather than offering the fair criticism expected of him.

Throughout the review, Fantano is blisteringly dismissive of Halsey and The Great Impersonator. He uses a mocking voice to refer to the title of the record, then criticizes her throughout for her attempts at impersonating her influences. On a track paying homage to Stevie Nicks, Fantano snidely remarks, “She wishes.” In one of the most excruciating moments in the review, he reads a verse from “Dog Years” in a jarringly vitriolic tone, then laughs a sardonic “Jesus Christ!”

Perhaps most egregious of all is Fantano’s use of the phrase “main character syndrome” to describe Halsey’s songwriting and artistic process. The Great Impersonator was written during and about Halsey’s struggles with postpartum depression, chronic illness, and cancer, as well as her harrowing experience with medical misogyny. Her lyrics also deal with trauma and abuse—topics that are certainly not exclusive to Halsey but are deeply personal. 

Of course, artistic merit doesn’t exclusively derive from authenticity and emotion, but Fantano’s declaration that Halsey’s autobiographical lyricism is “main character syndrome” reads as unusually cruel and personal. Most popular songwriters write in the first person, and write lyrics that are informed by their experiences and emotions. The day after the Halsey review was uploaded, Fantano gave Tyler, the Creator’s new record CHROMAKOPIA a glowing 8 and praised Tyler’s songwriting—which is also decidedly personal in its discussion of mental health and difficult decisions in relationships. Is Tyler, the Creator not also exhibiting “main character syndrome” when he writes about his hardships? Where male songwriters are hailed for being vulnerable and authentic, women in music are belittled for being self-centered and, as Fantano puts it, “dark and tortured and edgy.”

It would be kind of silly to argue about whether The Great Impersonator deserves a more positive score—criticism relies on subjectivity, after all—but the cruelty directed at Halsey by Fantano is unequivocally undeserved. Instead of analyzing the record in good faith, Fantano looks down on Halsey for being extremely vulnerable about gravely serious personal issues. And this time, his negative review absolutely reads as misogynistic.

As I’m writing this piece, Fantano has not responded to the current backlash, but other YouTubers have offered their thoughts. Most notably, YouTuber D’Angelo uploaded a video titled “no, halsey does not have ‘main character syndrome’” where he calls out Fantano and Pitchfork for their “being stabbed with the point [of the album] repeatedly to the verge of death and then still ignoring it.” He points out the irony of a bunch of men telling a woman who’s experienced life-threatening medical misogyny that she’s being “edgy” and implying that she’s somehow overreacting. The comments section is largely in agreement.

To be fair, Fantano has championed women musicians throughout his career, too. He’s always been a vocal fan of artists like Charli XCX, St. Vincent, and Megan Thee Stallion, and fans have cited this when he’s been accused of misogyny before. Now, though, as he leans into the all-too-familiar patterns of dismissiveness and derision that plague female artists, the evidence looks far more damning.