I only said I was leaning that way, I don't feel as strongly about it as Kevin Davis or even Jorge probably. Please keep posting about it though, I want to know what's going on.

Look I tend to like it when artists do stuff like this as an extension of their musical expression-- Björk did that whole virtual reality exhibit, for example, which is dope -- but c'mon, this Escape Room thing seems super tacky and gimmicky. From the description in this article, it sounds like a promotional tool and very little else-- a thing for people to splatter all over social media with the #MASSEDUCTION hashtag. I won't hold it against the album, but her media campaign surrounding this rollout seems unrelentingly thirsty

I'm immediately struck by how great NIN's rollout for Year Zero was (leaving the USB sticks in random public places). THAT's how you do a cool guerilla marketing campaign that melds the recorded music with the physical environment. This thing Annie is doing would perhaps be more fitting to the Flaming Lips, assuming all the attendees were on drugs.

I'm trying not to be overly sensitive about this. I'm really am. But this is just ... "You know how you do a big, giant, massive, over-the-top, excessive, high concept, album rollout campagin... you do a small, guerilla marketing campaign! That's how!"

I mean, what?

And that doesn't even address your second point. Which also seems to... well, miss the point. I don't know. I'm probably misreading and being overly sensitive.

In one "room," we scrambled to fill fake prescription bottles with doses of "libido," "sadness" and "anxiety" before listening to "Pills;" in another, we blushed while blindly identifying various sex toys, a task that unlocked the album's title track.

It's probably not her fault. She's not on 4AD anymore. She's probably under some pressure to grow her audience.

It's entirely subjective, but in the case of NIN, I see a marketing campaign that is minuscule compared to the music; rather than overshadow the art, it adds a nice tertiary element.

In the case of the Lips, I think their music has gone hand-in-hand with the physical spectacle since day 1; and that the spectacle has certainly overshadowed some of their lesser albums, but has been a great extension of the amazing ones.

Why would she not want to grow her audience on her own, for her own reasons, regardless of the label?

Yeah, again, I think that sounds like a lot of fun and much more interesting that sitting around a big room on some throw pillows listening to new tracks. To each their own, I suppose.

Why are those the two only options?

Like I said earlier I am not against artists doing this kind of stuff, I'd just like it to be artful and interesting and not a crass, corporate cash-in on a hot trend (the current escape room fad) for maximum exposure.

Maybe she really likes escape rooms?

I've never done one. But my wife and her friends did one last year for a birthday and they all had a blast. Seems like a fun time to me.

So what's next, St Vincent paint night at the pub?

Those aren't the only two options. I just remember something like that happening for Backspacer or Lightning Bolt or one of those, so it was in my mind as one way of doing it.

I hear what you're saying. I have no beef with it, either. I think we just disagree on how this comes across. And how come if these things are done for "maximum exposure" I never hear about them until after the fact? That's not a knock on your statement, it's a legit question! I live in NYC. I follow St. Vincent on all social media platforms and Spotify. I work in Times Square. And I had no idea about this event or the House of Peroni until after they happened.

I mean, Christ! I'm so totally out of every loop. No artist will ever hit "maximum exposure" until I hear about it, I swear to god. The worst.