A BRIEF HISTORY OF "TWEE"

This week in subscribers only, we begin a series of "brief histories;" bite-size deep dives on particular scenes and sounds with an accompanying playlist. If you haven't subscribed to MixedTapes yet, what are you waiting for?

Twee (twē): excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental

When you think of "twee," your first thought is likely fashion — the 2010s Zooey Deschanel era of precious pastels and the consciously quirky. But the origins of twee are far more complex, political and subversively punk than the doe-eyed aesthetic of that decade belies.