Unraveling Obsession: Inside the Haunting World of The March Xness Anthology
Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music: The March Xness Anthology (Split/Lip; March 2026) is a collection of forty winning song essays from forty-two writers (as two of the essays are tandem written), with five essays per each of the book’s eight chapters that correspond to the eight themed tournaments listed above. The anthology’s title borrows from Laura C.J. Owen’s brilliant essay titled “Don’t Tell My Heart,” which is included in the March Fadness chapter:
Parts of me can be trusted, the song suggests: my eyes, my lips, my arms, my legs. But then, some parts of me just can’t bear to hear the truth: my brain, my ol’ achy breaky heart. Most of me is okay: parts of me aren’t. Do I contradict myself? Sings Billy Ray Cyrus: I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes. MULLET-itudes if you will . . . . ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ always made me think of the online Awkward Yeti cartoons in which the sensible-but-neurotic Brain is in constant odd-couple conflict with the whimsical, vulnerable Heart. ‘I love this song,’ Heart instructs Brain, ‘Play it until I hate music.’
