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Art, Arts & Entertainment, Pop Rhetoric

Human artistry is threatened by the increase in generative artificial intelligence

by Julia Lok on

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At a 2024 auction, a portrait of Alan Turing was sold for $1.08 million USD. Although a compelling painting, it was created by the artificial intelligence (AI) robo-artist Ai-Da, built in 2019. Now the most valuable AI-generated artwork ever sold, the piece represents what most artists have been fearing: The invasion of AI in artistic spaces. 

This invasion isn’t strictly within the visual arts, though: In November 2025, How Was I Supposed to Know? reached Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay. The song was number 30 on the chart. Xania Monet wrote this song; she’s an AI-generated musician who creates AI-generated music.

Generative AI (GenAI) has been increasingly used to create or enhance art. Many are questioning the integrity of non-human-generated art, the value of the ‘art’ Gen AI produces, and how far it will go.

As AI attempts a mimicry of human creativity, the already heavy competition in the art industry has been amplified. Many GenAI image generators exist on the market. DALL·E, now DALL·E 3, was created by OpenAI in 2022, its name ironically inspired by the 2008 film, WALL-E, and impressionist painter Salvador Dali. To test the generator’s knowledge on artistic styles, Jamena McInteer, a full stack developer and UI/UX designer, tried entering different prompts ranging from landscapes to llamas, abstract to photorealism, and oil paint to gouache. McInteer determined DALL·E was successful in creating alluring images that resembled human art, but found the generator’s limits in the sometimes uncanny or inaccurate results. Despite these inaccuracies, DALL·E’s mimicry can produce a broad range of what a user might desire. If it can be thought of, it can be generated, and the quality of these creations is only improving with time.

Many artists have criticized the introduction of AI into artistic spaces. Kenneah March Dimacali, who was selected as a runner-up for the Michèle Whitecliffe Art Writing Prize under the theme ‘Artificial intelligence (AI) and the visual arts,’ wrote in her essay that art is meant to be difficult. It’s not the art itself that is the prize, but the time and effort that it took to make the piece. GenAI ‘art’ is not art because it eliminates the difficulty of the artistic process.

Fortunately, in a push-back, there’s been a rise in appreciation for human-made art. Another study conducted by C. Blaine Horton Jr., Sheena S. Iyenga, and Michael W. White made clear that human-made art is valued over AI art because of the substance and feeling behind it. It takes months or years for artists to create one meaningful piece. AI, however, only takes a couple of seconds to generate something. And, while its quality is adjustable through the viewer’s typed prompts, there is no sentient feeling behind its creation. Art stems from its human artists and is shared with viewers to produce feeling, whereas AI ‘art’ is created solely for a consumer who found an easy way to get an image. 

With products labelled as “human-made,” an anti-AI movement has begun. Past the plastic arts, the book and film industry has joined this movement. Published last year, the horror novel Shy Girl gained positive public traction from readers and critics until it was suspected that 78 per cent of the book was AI-generated. The book’s publisher, Hachette, cancelled its production. Heretic’s producers added an “anti-credit” of GenAI at the end of the film. 

Co-existing in the artistic sphere with AI is becoming inevitable, but there is a significant problem with GenAI developing too fast for regulation to keep up. Artists’ careers are at risk of being compromised. Human creativity and intelligence have decreased. With the abuse of GenAI, artistic creativity and humanity as a whole are threatened. Art is so existentially human; we need it not to survive, but to live. From the first cave paintings found in Altamira to Jeff Koons’ balloon animal sculptures, art’s purest form comes from the human hand at its centre. Even as AI hones its perfect copy, art will never flourish through mere mimicry.

Science & Technology

Think you know plants? These six fun facts might surprise you

by Antoine Larocque on

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From the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada to the stinking corpse lilies of tropical forests in Southeast Asia, plants take astonishing forms. Despite all relying on the same basic ingredients to thrive—sunlight, water, air, and nutrients—the plant world is endlessly diverse.

But what do plants mean to people at McGill? The Tribune asked students and faculty to share their favourite plant facts.

The flowering takeover – Frieda Beauregard, the academic associate and curator of McGill’s herbarium

Among the 391,000 plant species worldwide, about 90 per cent are angiosperms—flowering plants—whose diversity stems from a key evolutionary change related to reproduction. While their gymnosperm relatives—conifers, cycads, and ginkgos—can take up to two years to produce seeds, some angiosperms can complete their entire life cycle in just a few weeks. This rapid life cycle opened the door to entirely new lifestyles.

“All in all, angiosperms are a very diverse group and are the source of most of our food plants and are important in every (terrestrial) ecosystem,” Beauregard wrote in a written statement to The Tribune. “They have a huge diversity of life-cycles and all different kinds of pollination systems, seed dispersal adaptations, secondary chemicals, etc.”

Fascinating Sphagnum– Frieda Beauregard

Sphagnum mossesare a group of plants that are commonly found in peatlands—a type of wetland that stores large amounts of carbon.

“What I find most remarkable is Sphagnum’s ability to control and build their environment,” wrote Beauregard. “They are sort of like beavers, ecosystem engineers that create their particular wetland habitats. Mainly, they do this by manipulating the soil chemistry and holding onto a lot of water, resulting in very acidic conditions and […] specialist communities of plants [such as blueberries and orchids].”

The twilight effect – David Wees, Plant Science faculty lecturer and associate director of the Farm Management and Technology Program

After sunset, an interesting plant phenomenon occurs. During the day, red light dominates over far-red light—a range of wavelengths bordering the edge of the visible light spectrum. But once the sun sets, far-red light becomes more abundant, which acts as a signal for plant development.

“When plants are exposed to lots of far-red light, their stems tend to grow tall and skinny,” Wees wrote to The Tribune//. “To prevent plants from growing tall and skinny (with weak stems), some greenhouse growers will turn on artificial lights for an hour or two right around sunset to counteract this ‘twilight effect,’ therefore keeping their plants more compact and ‘bushy.’”

The science behind beeturia – David Wees

Plants are known to produce a range of pigments, such as green chlorophyll and yellow and orange-looking carotenoids. Since chlorophyll and carotenoids do not dissolve in water, they either accumulate in fat or are digested when they are consumed.

“Beets, however, contain a pigment called betacyanin, which is red or purple,” wrote Wees. “Betacyanin is very water-soluble and not completely digested by our body. So some of it ends up in our urine […], changing its colour to orange-red (depending on how many beets you ate, of course).”

Evolution at full speed – Cameron So, PhD candidate in the Department of Biology

When you think about lupines, also known as Lupinus, you picture the striking purple blooms that dominate Instagram posts from places like New Zealand and Iceland. Yet beyond their photogenic appeal, lupines are also remarkable for their extraordinary diversity.

The diversification of lupines occurred during the formation of the Andes, a geological event that created isolated, island-like habitats for lupines. Within these newly available environments, lupine species arose at a pace comparable to that of the famous cichlid fish diversification event, which led to the formation of approximately 2,000 species within 15,000 years. As a result, this flowering plant group now exhibits strikingly different variations.

Odd Quebec plants – Antoine Larocque, SciTech Staff Writer
In Quebec, there are about 3,000 native species. Some of the unique specimens you may encounter in your next hike are Monotropa uniflora, a fungus parasite that does not produce chlorophyll; Osmundastrum cinnemomeum, a fern species that still persists after 74 million years; Sarracenia purpurea, a carnivorous plant; and Myrica gale, a shrub with an intense aromatic flavour that acts as a natural insecticide. You should go find them.

Commentary, Opinion

We can’t all be superheroes

by Yusur Al-Sharqi on

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One year ago, I wrote an article titled ‘Disruption is the essence of effective protest,’ arguing that radical activism is more effective than catering to the politically neutral, and that fence-sitters aren’t worth engaging with. But after another year spent watching and reporting on student activism, I can see that I was wrong.

Activism has gotten louder in the past year, but it has also become increasingly insular. Inclusion in activist spaces has grown contingent on adhering to a set of expectations that aren’t always explicit, but are quickly and harshly enforced when broken. There is simply a zero-tolerance policy for error. 

This demand for perfection and refusal to compromise aren’t just unhelpful but actively counterproductive. History proves it: The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation’s COINTELPRO program exploited internal divisions within the Black Panther Party by amplifying existing tensions and spreading rumours about ideological purity—and it worked.  By the 1970s, the Panthers were spending more energy on internal purges than organizing. Similarly, Occupy Wall Street failed in 2011 because—despite the hundreds of passionate, radical thinkers—the movement demanded a unanimity that would never materialize. 

The expectation that everyone involved in a social movement must be hyper-radical is strategically self-defeating. Most people who care about a cause are not experts, nor are they willing to dedicate their lives to it. That is not a moral failure. Social movements have never been powered solely by their most radical participants; they succeed when the radical few who are willing to sacrifice everything are supported by a much larger base of people who contribute in smaller ways. Divest McGill needed both visible building occupations and slow, years-long negotiations with administrators to succeed. We can’t all do the superhero work on the frontlines. 

And perhaps more importantly, this stubborn need for a singular, perfect kind of activism conflates performance with substantive change. Telling someone to use the word ‘unhoused’ rather than ‘homeless’ is accomplished in a single breath, but when’s the last time you donated to the food bank or volunteered at a shelter? While changes at the level of language and rhetoric do carry real symbolic weight, their impact pales in comparison to tangible efforts at change. The outcomes we strive for require something much less gratifying—but much more fundamental—than correcting people from our high horse: active, sustained community involvement, and sometimes even compromise. 

Refusing practical engagement comes at a cost, one that has clearly registered at McGill. In 2024, students alleged that the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) President Dymetri Taylor misconstrued the scope of a legal injunction regarding the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine (PAGIP), suggesting that a proposed strike motion could not proceed as drafted. They argued that this misunderstanding prevented McGill students from participating in a nationwide strike. 

The frustration was justified, but the scale and intensity of the response quickly outpaced its strategic value. Students launched a motion to impeach Taylor: Hundreds showed up with pitchforks for the General Assembly public humiliation ritual, but those who called for Taylor’s impeachment perhaps hadn’t considered that installing new leadership would take a whole semester and would interfere with various other facets of student life. By fixating so intensely on punishment under the guise of accountability, we lost sight of the practical reality that SSMU is one of the few bodies capable of turning student demands into institutional action at McGill. 

In the end, the impeachment motion failed. Taylor remained president, and the PAGIP passed the following year. Yet, the hundreds of people with pitchforks are nowhere to be found today. While we were busy debating SSMU’s “delinquency of duty,” SSMU voter turnout dropped by over 50 per cent between the Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 referenda. The motion to increase the Student Services Fee failed, leaving groups such as First Peoples’ House and Student Accessibility and Achievement with less funding to support the groups we purport to advocate for. We showed up in droves for spectacle but not for tangible action. 
No effective movement has ever succeeded by reserving the right to activism to a select, terminally online, jargon-obsessed few. We’re eating our own because of our obsession with ideological purity. At some point, we must choose: Do we want to create change, or do we just want to feel good about ourselves?

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Not just ice caps: Shorter frozen seasons causing concern for climate scientists

by Sammi Lai on

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The climate crisis, painfully familiar and distressing, continues to demand our attention. Some researchers are devoting this attention to analyzing the number of frozen land surface days—days when the ground surface is in a frozen state.

A recent paper led by Shadi Hatami, a hydrologist and climate scientist at the University of Calgary and a former postdoctoral fellow at McGill University, exposes a concerning trend: Warming temperatures and diminishing snow depths are causing fewer frozen land surface days every year. 

“We used satellite observation and climate data over a period from 1979 to 2021, and we found that the [number of] frozen days are declining across a major part of the northern hemisphere. This decline is found to be strongly linked to warmer temperatures, and in many regions, it’s linked to thinner snowpacks and snow depths,” said Hatami, in an interview with The Tribune. “We are observing, and we will observe, fewer days each year with a frozen state.” 

While this metric does not capture details about the depth of the frozen soil or the transitions between frozen and thawed ground states, the number of frozen days in a year serves as a helpful, large-scale measure of how long the surface remains frozen.

The study found that over the course of 40 years, 85 per cent of the studied ecoregions experienced a significant increase in annual temperature and a decrease in annual snow depth. This resulted in a significant decrease in the number of frozen days in over 70 per cent of ecoregions. The researchers predicted that these trends would only continue. By the end of the century, northern ecoregions may see an average of 30 fewer days of frozen land surfaces—assuming that the rate of climate warming does not intensify. 

“We should, for sure, be worried about the rate of the change [….] Just one degree centigrade of warming temperature corresponds to roughly six fewer days with the frozen state, and just one centimetre decrease in snow depth corresponds to roughly three fewer frozen days on average,” Hatami said. 

While the trends are concerning, Hatami addressed a few considerations to keep in mind.

“Our frozen day metric reflects the satellite-observed surface condition, so no information about the deeper soil freeze, or the permafrost conditions, for instance,” Hatami clarified. “Another [limitation] is that future-looking estimates are based on the linear extrapolation of historical trends. They should be read as the first-order benchmark, rather than the precise future forecast.” 

The paper further discusses its effects on local infrastructure. Permafrost, which refers to soil below the surface which remains frozen throughout the year, is impacted by declining frozen land surface days. As these soils thaw, roads destabilize to the point of being unusable, limiting the transport of resources and services to northern communities. 

“The Indigenous communities in the northern regions are closely tied to the land. Shorter frozen season and less days with the frozen condition over a year or over a specific season can affect them in several connected ways,” Hatami said. “Their access to the natural resources would be impacted, the hydrology of the region that they are living in will be impacted, and also the broader environmental system that supports their livelihood will be impacted.”

These findings add to the mountain of evidence pointing to the urgency of climate change. Alongside advocating for government action and corporate regulation, it is crucial to acknowledge one’s individual responsibility. Change will come from those who see these disheartening times for what they are: A status quo overdue for upheaval. 

“I would just want to encourage people from engineering backgrounds to look into the environmental side of things,” Hatami said. “Future climate and environment will play a very important role in all of our lives, because we can see already the impact and we can see it in our day-to-day lives. I would like to encourage people to try to look at the environmental side of things and sustainability in their future career goals.”

News

English Montreal School Board and other groups challenge Bill 21 in Supreme Court of Canada

by Sahar Jafferbhoy on

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On March 26, a four-day hearing concluded in the Supreme Court of Canada, where six groups challenged the Quebec government regarding Bill 21, continuing the debate over religious freedom, minority rights, and the use of the notwithstanding clause. The six opposing groups include the English Montreal School Board (EMSB), the World Sikh Organization, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Bill 21, passed in 2019, prohibits public-sector workers, including teachers, police officers, and judges, from wearing visible religious symbols while working. The Quebec government has argued that the law is necessary to uphold secularism in public institutions. 

In an interview with The Tribune, Elizabeth Elbourne, a professor in the McGill History and Classical Studies department, emphasized the disproportionately damaging effects Bill 21 has on individuals who wear religious symbols.

“Beyond the impact on particular individuals in their jobs, Bill 21 has arguably created a permission-giving environment for discrimination,” Elbourne said.

Elbourne said that while the law applies broadly, its effects are not evenly distributed. She referenced a survey she conducted with Kimberley Manning, Political Science Professor at Concordia University, which concluded that some student teachers chose to change careers or leave Quebec rather than work under the law.

Historically, the notwithstanding clause has been used sparingly, and typically in response to court decisions. Introduced in 1982 as part of the Charter, it was designed as a political compromise to balance judicial power with parliamentary sovereignty. 

In an interview with The Tribune, Jonathan Montpetit, a senior investigative journalist with CBC News, noted that Bill 21 marks a shift in how the notwithstanding clause has been used in the past.

“It was used preemptively […] the law did not specify a specific Charter right it was overriding,” Montpetit said. “Whatever the Supreme Court decides will have huge ramifications, not just for constitutional rights, but for how we think of the federation and indeed Canadian democracy itself.”

Some challengers also claim that Bill 21 violates rights that cannot be overridden by the clause, including gender equality and minority language rights. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, one of the six appellants, argues that the law violates the protections of the Canadian Charter.

The EMSB contends that Bill 21 conflicts with Quebec’s identity as both pluralist and secular.

“The [EMSB] argues that the English community has the right to manage its own school boards in accordance with its own values and therefore can’t be made to enforce Bill 21 in English schools,” Elbourne said.

The case also raises broader philosophical questions about democracy and the balance of power in Canada. Montpetit pointed out that the outcome could reshape how Canadians understand their political system.

“Which institution ought to have the final say in a democracy, the courts or the legislature?” Montpetit asked. “Is a democracy about respecting the will of the majority or protecting the rights of the minority?”

In a written statement to The Tribune, Kaya Scrivens, U1 Arts and Vice-President Events for the McGill Religious Studies Undergraduate Society, explained the consequences of Bill 21 for Quebec minority groups and McGill students.

“Bill 21 is a ban on religious symbols in public, but it represents much more than that, and it sets a kind of precedent in Quebec for tolerance of religious discrimination as this bill affects certain religions more than others,” Scrivens said. “In terms of the McGill students, banning prayer spaces affects Muslim students who require prayer at specific times of day more than it affects others who can pray on more lenient schedules and in places that don’t require a prayer room.”

Elbourne believes this case will have significant implications for Canada’s constitutional rights moving forward.

“The challenge won’t overturn the notwithstanding clause, even if successful. Nonetheless, if the court places clearer restrictions on the use of the clause this will shift balance of power back to courts and charter rights somewhat, albeit within limits.”

Arts & Entertainment, Made at McGill

Student artistry: Made at McGill, yet advanced by artists

by Dylan Hing on

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Watching a show in Tuesday Night Café Theatre’s (TNC) space, the first thing you will notice is that the separation between crew and audience—or cast and audience, if the director so decides—is almost non-existent. The small theatre at Morrice Hall, whose seating can be configured as the director wishes, creates a fluid, warm atmosphere that serves as a meeting place for McGill’s artistic community.

For McGill students who wish to participate in the creative arts, whether it be in visual arts, dance, drama, journalism, or other disciplines, several clubs and student societies exist to fulfill this need. Organizations such as the Visual Arts Society and the Photography Students’ Society, as well as a plethora of dance and drama companies like Alegria Contemporary Ballet or TNC, provide students—beginner and advanced alike—the opportunity to explore the arts.

However, these opportunities operate within a university that, outside the Faculty of Music, offers little in the way of support for artists hoping to develop their skills professionally. Notably, McGill’s lack of a studio art program has forced students to look elsewhere, as there is no serious institutional alternative on campus.

This persists in the sphere of theatre. Though opportunities to get hands-on experience are diverse in scope, preparing student actors for careers outside McGill is a challenge. In a written statement to The Tribune, TNC production manager Megan Siow, U2 Arts, outlined the issues that student theatre groups face in establishing themselves as serious alternatives to professional drama programs.

“We strive to create an environment where, regardless of experience level, you can get involved and become part of the community. However, in terms of preparing students for arts outside McGill, TNC only really has the resources to support to a certain extent,” Siow wrote. “TNC is, and cannot be, a place geared toward people who want to seriously pursue a career in the arts [.…] There is nowhere at McGill that is a place for emerging artists who are serious about pursuing theatre.”

There is no doubt that student societies have opened doors for students of all backgrounds to get involved in the arts, yet, as with any club, not all members have the same level of commitment. As Siow affirmed, these clubs do not have the resources to be both a society for students to try out new interests and a pre-professional placement.

It is disappointing that, among the three anglophone universities in the province, McGill provides the least institutional support for the arts despite its international renown. Concordia, just two metro stops away, boasts an incredible selection of professional programs in its Faculty of Fine Arts. Bishop’s University has the only English-language musical theatre program in Quebec. 

Student-run groups do not hold the same power or prestige as academic programs, making it more difficult for artists to navigate bureaucracy. Siow pointed to the difficulties in making the TNC space available to other groups.

“New policies in the last year have made it so we have to go through [Arts Undergraduate Society] AUS and/or the Islamic Studies [IS] Department to approve other groups using the theatre. Adina [Sigartu, IS Administrative Student Affairs Coordinator] and the IS department have always been very helpful, and we are immensely grateful for their support, but certain bureaucracies undermine TNC’s mission to create accessible theatre.”

McGill artists, while creating impressive work on their own, deserve the opportunity to hone their skills through professional programs. Courses such as the Department of English’s Stage Scenery and Lighting and Costuming classes for the theatre are a great example of the fruitful possibilities that McGill could foster, but McGill should be doing more to connect its artists with industry professionals.

The lengths to which McGill’s artistic community will go to express their creativity deserve further support from the university, which continues to neglect its artists. The current offerings, made by students for students, are endeavours that contribute to the vibrant and diverse community we call home, but they are not enough. Emerging artists who wish to attend McGill should not be shut out due to its artistic impracticalities; instead, McGill should listen to its student culture by nurturing creative arts.

Student Life

How to avoid a messy move-out

by Laura Pudane on

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When finals season finally ends, you might have thought that the last of your worries would be gone. Instead, you’re faced with the final test—having to figure out how to transport your whole personal ecosystem somewhere else. To make the transition easier, The Tribune has put together some pointers that might come in handy. 

Less is more/

As someone who used to grieve throwing away everything—from raggedy socks to shards of broken dishes—my first move kickstarted a journey towards minimalism. The sight of all my belongings laid out on the floor transformed me into a memories over possessions advocate, so much so that the only decor in my room now is a single framed picture. While there’s no need to adopt such an ascetic lifestyle yourself, a good pre-move decluttering won’t hurt anyone. During the process, it’s important to be mindful of the size of your new place, especially if you’re moving to a less spacious area. A good selection criterion is assessing the potential value of each item rather than focusing on its past worth.

A good final step of sustainable spring cleaning is donating used, but functioning goods. Thrift McGill and Renaissance Quebec accept a vast array of items for donation. Remember to check their lists of accepted items, and don’t forget to clean and wash your things beforehand! 

This one’s heavy

Talking business now, if you are a proud owner of furniture but want to downsize your collection, consider your options based on the time and resources available to you. List your items for free on Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji if your main goal is to clear your space out as soon as possible. If you’d prefer to sell your items, remember that during this time of year, many other renters are posting their furniture. Keep this increased supply in mind when setting your price points. As a last resort, Welcome Collective is a paid service that can pick up all the unwanted furniture you weren’t able to get rid of yourself.

Think outside the box

Even though a stack of moving boxes creates the perfect photo-op for an aesthetic Instagram story, those pile-ups of cardboard monstrosities are impractical, especially if you are coordinating the move yourself. Boxes take up a lot of space, and they are hard to carry, especially if they’ve been packed to the brim. Instead, opt for something like an IKEA FRAKTA bag: They’re loose, have handles, are less prone to water damage, and have zippers for extra security.

Update your address

Beyond the physical move, updating your address everywhere is one of those tasks that’s easy to put off and tedious to do, but saves you real headaches down the line. Start with the essentials: Your bank, your phone plan, and any necessary student and government records. From there, work through the less urgent but still important ones—like Uber or Amazon to avoid missing out on your next food delivery or taking a trip across town to pick up a 4×4-sized package. A good strategy is to sit down and make a list of every service you can think of, then knock them out in one session rather than discovering them one by one over the next three months.

Practice gratitude

After all the rigorous cleaning, heavy lifting and sighs of frustration, remember to properly part ways with the walls that were present through all the joys and hardships of your academic year. Take one last moment to observe the empty space and think about the lessons and memories you wish to take with you. Rejoice in the fact that the moments you’d rather forget can be left behind. If you shared the space with someone, contemplate the future of your connection. A symbolic gift or one last shared meal can be a good way of memorializing the shared journey and signalling interest in maintaining contact. In the case of a less fortunate roommate relationship, a simple farewell message can be a respectful conclusion. 

Arts & Entertainment, Music

‘ARIRANG:’ BTS’s most divisive and misunderstood album

by Alexi Fuentes on

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On March 20, the South Korean boy band Bangtan Sonyeodan (BTS) released its first group album in nearly four years: ARIRANG. Long-awaited and highly anticipated, the album sparked an influx of online debate after defying some listeners’ expectations, quickly becoming one of the group’s most divisive projects. As someone who has followed BTS’s releases for the past 10 years, the discourse and noise are inevitable, but experiencing this album is so enjoyable when individual expectations are not projected onto artists’ work. Despite pushback, BTS’s musical ventures and choices for this album—from genre diversity, to English lyrics and an unexpected lead single—feel natural to their artistic journey. For 13 years, the group has pushed boundaries, delivering new songs that reveal unexpected sides to the artists. 

The album takes a more experimental turn than their previous releases, featuring tracks written and produced by Mike WiLL Made-It, JPEGMAFIA, Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, Teezo Touchdown, El Guincho, Diplo, and Flume, among others. Some listeners were surprised by the number of collaborations with Western, namely American, writers and producers. But this is nothing new for BTS, whose music, like the K-pop genre in general, draws heavily from Black American music and culture. 

ARIRANG takes its name from the centuries-old traditional Korean folk song and unofficial national anthem “Arirang.” It has around 3,600 variations and about 60 versions—reflecting the contributions made by generations of Koreans who continue to create and add new lyrics, adding to the song’s cultural and musical diversity. The significance of this song deserves its own deep dive, as the history of “Arirang”’s first official recording inspired the artistic direction of the group’s new album. 

In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Kim Namjoon, the leader of BTS, explained the song’s importance and meaning.

“It’s the song that represents Koreans the most [….] It includes lots of emotions in it, it could be joy, it could be sorrow, longing, sadness, […] resistance,” he said. 

These emotions are depicted throughout the tracks in BTS’s ARIRANG alongside love, separation, and nostalgia, as the group reaffirms and pays homage to its Korean identity.

The album is structured into two parts, with “No. 29” marking the transition from the high-energy first half of the album to the softer, more mellow second half of the album. The track contains the sound of South Korea’s 29th National Treasure, “Divine Bell of King Seongdeok,” adding a multitude of layers of meaning to the album.

ARIRANG opens strong with “Body to Body,” which fuses pop, hip-hop, and national Korean music. It lets listeners experience traditional music without feeling overly patriotic—a worry that some members of BTS had when choosing whether to include “Arirang” in this track.

The next four songs pulse with vibrant and upbeat energy that echoes the group’s musical roots in hip-hop. “Aliens” features a hard-hitting beat with lyrics that project BTS’s pride in their culture and identity, whilst sharing their experiences of othering and alienation. Its lyrics make culturally specific references and draw on BTS’s lived experiences, resonating with those who understand what it’s like to be labelled an “alien” in a foreign country.

Moving into the second part of the album, “SWIM”’s mellower style and completely English lyrics made it an unexpected choice for a lead single. Its appeal lies in its approachable melody, with lyrics open to different interpretations and a message about swimming forward through hardship. “Merry Go Round” is one of my favourites, both musically and lyrically, because of its beautiful, melancholic melody and ‪introspective lyrics about the pain of being stuck ‬in a loop or cycle. “Like Animals” is another standout track in an alternative rock style new to BTS, with piercing vocals and instruments. I also have to shout-out “Please”—an R&B track with addictive vocals. 

The album finishes strong with “Into The Sun,” which evokes the perfect feelings for a finale. It uses a vocoder for the first half of the song, adding an interesting vocal texture that fades out at the end when their voices, free from the distortion, sing “I’ll follow you into the sun.”

For all its context, wit, and creative nuance that cannot be fully encapsulated in this review, this album is for real music lovers and those willing to search for the various meanings and references in its samples, lyrics, wordplay, and musical arrangement. This album is bound to be misunderstood when listeners lack a full picture of the creative vision, especially in the meaning-ridden lyrics. I encourage readers to experience this album for themselves to form their own opinion.

Know Your Athlete, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Loïc Courville-Fortin

by Ivanna Zhang on

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At the U SPORTS National Swimming Championships, held from March 12 through 14, Loïc Courville-Fortin, U2 Science, won one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals, rewriting his personal bests and breaking McGill and Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) records. This is only the beginning. Courville-Fortin has his eyes set on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Courville-Fortin started swimming at the age of seven, partly due to his parents’ insistence. After training three times a week, mostly for fun, he soon realized how much he enjoyed spending time in the pool. In an interview with The Tribune, Courville-Fortin explained the journey that led him to join his current swimming club, CAMO NATATION.

“In the middle of high school, I decided to move to Montreal to train with bigger clubs and teams,” Courville-Fortin said. “I trained at the Olympic Stadium for two years while finishing high school. Then I joined CAMO, which is the club I am still training with right now.”

After graduating from Ahuntsic College, Courville-Fortin knew that he wanted to stay in Canada for university. For him, McGill had the best of both worlds: A fast swim team and a great STEM program. Courville-Fortin has been balancing his aquatics accomplishments with his academic commitments his entire life. Not only is he a professional athlete, but he is also an Honours Biochemistry student and an undergraduate researcher at the Luedtke Lab.

“I wanted to have research opportunities at [university], and I also wanted to have the best [swim] team,” Courville-Fortin said. “I love learning. Unfortunately, it’s true that my sport affects my grades. It’s really planning-wise, knowing when to pull off a bit on training. For me, I just need a lot of sleep, which is hard to achieve for student athletes sometimes because of studying and training, but I try to be really careful with that.”

To balance time in the pool with time in the lab, Courville-Fortin trains with an innovative regimen that prioritizes quality over quantity.

“[My regimen] is on the really low side in terms of the number of practices, but every practice I go to, I’m always going 100 per cent,” he said. “I would say that my result didn’t improve because of something I changed. It’s more of the constant work. Everything we’re seeing now is based on the past three years of work.”

In his first semester at McGill, Courville-Fortin trained with the rest of the McGill Swim team, which allowed him to bond with head coach Peter Carpenter and his teammates. He currently trains with CAMO NATATION under Coach Greg Arkhurst and represents McGill for university-level swim meets. He attributed his success to Coach Carpenter, Coach Arkhurst, his teammates, and athletic therapists Catherine Matthews and Romain Bouyer.

“My first year allowed me to get to know [Coach Carpenter] and actually be able to work with him properly right now,” Courville-Fortin said. “When I joined the university circuit, it was a premier bonus. My goal was to have an opportunity for me to race more often in the same events, which you don’t really get to do outside of university.”

Courville-Fortin also stressed the importance of having a team of students around him who also have to balance studying with competing. At CAMO NATATION, he trains with full-time athletes, including Olympians Mary-Sophie Harvey and Katerine Savard.

“They [don’t] really have anything else outside of training, which is understandable when you are at that level,” Courtinville-Fortin explained. “Right now, having the [McGill Swim] team allows me to get closer to people who have a similar reality in terms of school and training. I think it’s really helpful to have people encourage you. The team aspect goes beyond the pool.”

As for his future plans, Courtinville-Fortin hopes to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics while continuing his education by applying to a Master’s program at McGill. Despite his ambitious outlook, Courville-Fortin emphasizes the importance of balance.

“Even if it’s a hard choice to step back for most athletes, [because] you want to do as much as possible to be the best, sometimes you need to be smart about it and take a step back. Maybe train a bit less, but take care of yourself a bit more.”

Behind the Bench, Sports

Shame as a market inefficiency: The rise of prediction markets

by Will Kennedy on

More in Behind the Bench:

Prediction markets began in the 1980s as an academic research tool at the University of Iowa. The aim was to see if collective wisdom could predict political outcomes more accurately than traditional polling. This idea appears to have merit: While polls viewed the 2024 U.S. election as a coin toss, prediction markets saw a clear Donald Trump victory, which turned out to be true.

However, prediction markets have since become highly profitable tech companies with little to no social utility. Services like Kalshi and Polymarket offer truly outlandish bets, such as which month U.S. forces might enter Iran. These markets also offer bets that resemble traditional sports betting, such as outright winners of sporting events, or spread betting. Sports dominate wager volume on prediction markets, accounting for nearly 35 per cent of Polymarket volume and nearly 80 per cent of Kalshi volume.

Despite similarities to traditional sports betting, prediction markets argue that they are not a gambling product but rather a financial marketplace to trade futures contracts on events with meaningful economic consequences. They make this argument to avoid the expensive and lengthy process of setting up a gambling product state by state, instead opting for federal regulation. Their success in skirting regulation as a gambling product has essentially created legalized sports betting in all 50 states at a time when roughly 10 per cent of men report gambling-related problems.

Despite this, sports leagues are jumping at the opportunity to partner with prediction markets. Major League Baseball (MLB) just announced an exclusive deal with Polymarket in what commissioner Rob Manfred called “proactively managing the new and rapidly growing prediction market space.”

National Basketball Association (NBA) commissioner Adam Silver said of prediction markets: “I don’t think it’s one where you can necessarily turn the clock back,” acknowledging they are part of the mainstream now. Silver still noted that prediction markets pose risks beyond traditional sports betting. While nothing is truly predictable in traditional sports betting, every sporting event still has randomness and events beyond any one person’s control.

Prediction markets allow bets to be placed on knowable outcomes, as demonstrated by the recent Giannis Antetokounmpo controversy. Leading up to the NBA trade deadline, Antetokounmpo repeatedly made remarks to the media suggesting he no longer wanted to be a Milwaukee Buck. Antetokounmpo’s words led to $23 million USD in futures being traded on Kalshi about whether he would stay in Milwaukee. The day after the trade deadline passed, it was announced that Antetokounmpo was a shareholder in Kalshi, meaning he stood to gain from the bets his own comments prompted. Antetokounmpo had the power to manipulate market volume, and those closest to him likely knew the final outcome, creating an opportunity for insider trading. Chris Murphy, a U.S. senator from Connecticut, cited this example in an interview with journalist Pablo Torre, where he raised concerns about prediction markets. Murphy is seeking to pass legislation that will ban all knowable events from being offered on prediction markets. 

Murphy spoke about sports leagues embracing these prediction markets and the threats they bring: “The leagues know exactly what they’re doing here. They are knowingly corrupting the game in order to make more money.”

Murphy added that leagues may not realize prediction markets now have more sway in Washington than the leagues themselves, as they curry favour through hiring Trump family members as advisors and setting up free grocery stores.

Beyond legal and ethical concerns, Murphy expressed a frustration with the over-financialization of culture. Sports are a sacred part of society that provide people with purpose, a sense of connection—when your favourite team is doing well, you are doing well without any personal financial implication. There are parts of society that ought to serve no purpose other than joy or human connection, and those seeking to financialize them ought to feel immense shame. Unfortunately, as Murphy tells it, “shame is a market inefficiency,” and something the robber barons of the prediction markets do not feel as they continue to prioritize money over humanity.

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