The Zeitgeist Chronicle: July 17-July 23
This week: a clandestine, second Trump-Putin meeting, the world’s heart breaks with the loss of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, and new albums by Tyler, the Creator and Lana Del Rey.
Welcome to the Zeitgeist Chronicle. Every week we catch you up on the past week’s most culturally-significant and newsworthy events. If you have a fear of missing out, or you just want to know what’s going on in the world, we’re here for you. This week:
Trump and Putin’s Secret Meeting

A few weeks ago, Trump and Putin finally met at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany. Much was made about their long-awaited meeting, and coming away from the meeting, most saw it in Putin’s favor.
But as has been the case for almost every instance involving the Trump administration and Russia, there was more to the story than we were initially told. This week, news broke that following their initial, publicized meeting, Trump initiated a second, more clandestine meeting with Putin in which the only other attendee was Putin’s translator.
This is a problem because it means that there is no American account of the meeting, so Putin could, theoretically, spin their meeting in any way his heart desires, and there would be no way to disprove it. Trump was essentially the suspect in a movie who was either too naive or too arrogant to have his lawyer by his side while being interrogated by police.
On top of that, Trump’s Press Secretary and Saturday Night Live inspiration Sean Spicer resigned from his post this week. Spicer reportedly did not like Trump appointing his friend Anthony Scaramucci as the White House Communications Director and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, which some would argue, should’ve happened a long time ago.
Rest In Peace, Chester Bennington

On the morning of Thursday, July 20th, the body of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington was found in his home. The cause of death: suicide by hanging. Chester was 41, married, and the father of six children. His death shook the world, with artists and celebrities from all corners of the world mourning the loss of a man who’s voice defines a band who defines this generation.
As an early 20’s millennial, Linkin Park was my first musical love. My taste in music is quite diverse (as the next section would probably indicate) and I credit it to Linkin Park, who’s ever-experimental music blurred genre lines and introduced me to different genres of music. The band’s tough sound backed by vulnerable themes was ahead of its time, and much of it can be attributed to Chester. Rest in peace, Chester.
New Music: Tyler, the Creator and Lana Del Rey


Two of Music’s biggest names — Tyler, the Creator and Lana Del Rey — dropped new albums this Friday — both their 4th studio albums — and while they appear like polar opposites on the surface, one performs chaotic rap and the other melancholic pop, they may actually share more similarities than differences.
In Flower Boy (originally called Scum Fuck Flower Boy), we get a more mature Tyler than we’ve seen. On his debut album, Goblin, Tyler uttered homophobic slurs a grand total of 213 times, an average of about 14 per song. Now, six years later, the biggest story of Tyler’s new album is that he might be coming out of the so-called closet, or “Garden Shed” — like Frank Ocean, who is featured on the album, once did.
Tyler’s relationship with sexuality is complicated by Hip-Hop’s general, but changing, attitude toward sexuality and masculinity. Lana, too, has also had a complicated relationship with her genre of music.
When her 2012 debut album, Born to Die, and then 2014’s Ultraviolence — my personal favorite — came out, Lana was a bit of an outcast. Her music was brooding and crooning — her biggest hit was entitled “Summertime Sadness” — which, in her own words, meant she did not fit into “that pop [music] box.” In Lust For Life, we see a new side of Lana: she departs from singing about drugs and alcohol, she doesn’t shun Feminism, and she smiles.

