In the first-ever bonus episode of Marxists at the Movies’ monthly spinoff Marxists at the Music, we dive headfirst into Jolin Tsai’s bold, bizarre, and subversively pop 2018 album Ugly Beauty. What does it mean to call something “ugly” in a beauty-obsessed system? How do we decode glamor when the spectacle is the prison?

From the ironic bubblegum of “Hubby” to the gothic rage of “Lady in Red,” this album isn’t just a collection of bangers—it’s a fragmented manifesto from a pop star confronting the monster the industry made her become.

We break down the album track by track, exposing the commodification of the female body, the alienation of fame, and the terrifying freedom in rejecting perfection. Jolin doesn’t just make pop music—she weaponizes it.

This is Mandarin-language cyberpunk cabaret for the post-human capitalist nightmare—and it slaps.

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