Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would’ve done a column on who we’re dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week Deidre Dyer writes about her AiAiAi Track Headphones.
AiAiAi’s Track Headphones look like ones from my childhood, when your headphones gave you away and could’ve gotten your shit snatched on the train. Specifically, they look like the pair I got the Christmas my parents bought me my first Walkman, which, upon further inspection, was the version that came without the all-important radio. Five minutes later my brother got a Nintendo. I cried that year. Didn’t they know that I had to have my radio? How else was I going to listen to Wendy Williams on Kiss FM while sitting on the stoop and pondering the current state of hip-hop and R&B? There were Bad Boy remixes to be heard and Mary J. Blige lyrics to be memorized. My parents just didn't get me.
As if retroactively making up for that bummer Christmas, AiAiAi’s Track Headphones both look and feel like I’m hearing music as a young girl for the very first time. They've got the old school appearance of Walkman buds, but the sound quality is insane. It's like when my parents splashed out and finally bought a color TV and all my cartoons looked new again. With these headphones, I've just never heard Queen sound so huge, putting me in awe like I was as a little kid. So while I'll never completely heal from that disappointing Christmas, the pure joy I found in AiAiAi helps make things alright.