Abdurraqib Highlights Willis‘s Nuanced 1969 Elvis Review as a Model of Music Criticism
New York, NY – In a recent essay for The New Yorker, writer Hanif Abdurraqib revisits Ellen Willis’s 1969 review of Elvis Presley‘s Las Vegas performance at the International Hotel, praising her ability to chart a personal critical journey and her insightful observation of Presley’s evolving artistry. Abdurraqib argues Willis’s piece exemplifies a rare skill: focusing on what an artist is doing, rather than what they meen, a distinction he finds “deeply romantic.”
Willis, then a young writer for Rolling Stone, noted Presley’s physical conversion – “sexy, totally alert” yet sporting a newly dyed black hairstyle, abandoning his signature ducktail. However, her analysis moved beyond surface-level observations, recognizing Presley wasn’t attempting a youthful recreation. ”He knew better than to try to be nineteen again,” she wrote, appreciating his maturity and the “quite enough to offer at thirty-three.”
Abdurraqib emphasizes the power of Willis’s writing style, describing it as guiding the reader “through an unfamiliar tunnel” to a surprising revelation. He connects Presley’s ability to absorb and reflect audience projections to contemporary pop stars like Taylor Swift, identifying him as one of the earliest “blank-slate pop stars.” Willis’s review, Abdurraqib contends, captured Presley’s continued vitality and the ongoing spectacle of his performance, even as his image evolved.He points to her ability to see, in Presley’s performance of “In the Ghetto,” “a white Southern boy’s feeling for black music, with all that that implied.”
