#356: Delaney Rowe

The Paris Review, Aly & Aj’s New Album, Staying In On Friday Nights, and more.

Perfectly Imperfect is a newsletter offering “A Taste of Someone’s Taste” from guests like Charli XCX, John Cale, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Imperioli, Lena Dunham, Mac Demarco, Dasha Nekrasova, Tim Heidecker, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Mel Ottenberg, Chloe Cherry, Matty Matheson, Anna Delvey, The Dare, Caroline Calloway, Snail Mail, and more. Check out our full archive here.

Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Delaney Rowe to share a taste of her taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Delaney Rowe is a Los Angeles-based actress, content creator, and writer best known for her painfully on-the-nose skits & characters such as the insufferable indie movie protagonists, or my favorite, the female bartender in every movie written by a man, that perfectly distill the tropes she observes around her. Since her start in 2020, Rowe has built up an all-hit-no-miss catalog of characters while growing a huge cult following of over 2 million TikTok followers. She’s also a gifted writer who’s currently working on her first book and has been featured in publications including Marie Claire. Lucky for us, Delaney is here to tell us what she’s been into.

Without further ado

Delaney Rowe (instagram, tiktok)

🍕🥩🍸 Air Jordan Podcast

Deceptively named, this is a podcast devoted to the Los Angeles food scene (“food scene”, good I’m already being annoying). In fact, it’s been difficult for me to curate this list because all of my selections would be food and wine related if I weren’t challenging myself to appear “multi-faceted” even though I’m simply not. I do, essentially, only want to eat and drink wine. Which is why I love this podcast! Jordan Okun and Max Shapiro, the hosts, are two very cool dudes with exceptional taste and opinions I trust. Plus every episode starts with a clip of a song I’ve never heard which I instantly add to one of my playlists—because I also enjoy music! Because I’m multi-faceted!

😴 Staying In On Friday Nights

Bear with me. I’m newly into this, but not in a “quirky introvert” way. I promise my brand is not “I hate people and love sweatpants”. I love people and hate sweatpants (they give you baggy diaper ass). But I am now a proponent of staying in on Friday because as a woman in her late twenties, I no longer have the physical constitution to support the standard four day bender (Thurs-Sun) I participated in until age 27. My hangovers are so bad that they have their own scent. My new social schedule is as follows (I do my best): have a light Thurs (“chill” dinner with friends, maybe a drink or two), stay in Friday and cook for yourself and be in bed by 10 pinteresting, do wholesome things like yoga and crying on Saturday morning and then paint the town with some big plans Saturday night, then recover and do nothing but clean on Sunday (death to the Sunday Funday which ruins careers and lives). 

🍷🧆🧀 Eric Wareheim’s Instagram

I love people who love food. They are the best kind of people. While I’ve known of Eric Wareheim for years as the comedian and actor, I’m late to the game on his foodie life documented spectacularly on his instagram. He posts a lot which is something I’d find annoying were it any other content. But I love his food and wine photos and unpretentious reviews. I also love his wine! Las Jaras! He’s done something that I really want to do: intercept his entertainment world and his food world. And he’s done it so masterfully! God he’s cool. Not to mention his absolutely stunning, chic, chef/model wife Madi Borbely. This couple is living my dream. I bet they smell good and never fight. 

☕️🗞️ The Paris Review

So I’ve been debating which is more annoying: including this pretentious literary magazine which I authentically love OR excluding it and going with a more “relatable” choice. Performative relatability is my favorite thing to make fun of in my videos so I opted for the former! I’ve loved it since reading this piece (The Unravlers) by the amazing Stephanie Danler. It’s impossible to love the Paris Review without getting shit on for it though. My friend Rebecca saw it peeking out of my purse when we were getting drinks recently and accused me of planting it. My other friend, Michael, accused me of only liking it because it contains the word “Paris” which aids in my quest to appear chic and not from Idaho (which I am). And I said, “Michael, that’s absolutely ridiculous and also correct.”  

👯‍♀️ ☀️ 🎶 Aly & Aj’s new album “With Love From” 

Whoever did the publicity for the album needs to be fired. Did anyone else know the iconic Aly & AJ came out with a new album this year? Well, they did and I love it. It’s sort of like the  “beach read” of albums. The light-wash boyfriend jeans of music. It’s very California, very put it on your girly/romantic playlist, very think about your crush, very start drinking at 4pm-y. My favorite song is called “Sunchoke.” I’m a deep lover of sister bands (Haim, Tegan & Sara) and I feel like Aly & AJ deserve another big moment. They’re not kids anymore. This ain’t no Potential Breakup Song (which hits, don’t get me wrong). I say let’s make them super famous again and collectively support their rebrand.

♥️ 💋 💖 Having An Extremely Informal Dating Life

I’ve been single for a year and a half now and have recently had a massive breakthrough with it all. I spent a while deeply brainwashed by the horrific dating advice on Tik Tok which stipulates things like “if the first date isn’t a dinner date then he basically views you as a saloon whore” or “unless you drop into your soft feminine energy, you deserve an entire life alone, you toothless witch.” I don’t want to do either of those things. What the fuck is soft feminine energy? I want to focus on work and make videos that make people laugh and write and spend time with friends and eat and drink wine (see above) without being haunted by the viral refrain “If he wanted to, he would.” Who cares? I like meeting guys out and about! Maybe grabbing drinks. Having crushes. Flirting. Enjoying them. But I will never again sit through a Tik Tok titled “subtle ways to make him addicted to you” or “how to become a high value woman who is a prize to be won.” ENOUGH. 

🧺🍽️ Table Linens 

I am a devout lover and regular hostess of dinner parties. I recently invested in a massive dinner table that fits twelve people. As I inch towards my thirties I am becoming obsessed with table linens. How many readers did I just lose? I’m a huge fan of Laura Jackson (designer, professional hostess) who describes the love of tablescaping so perfectly in this vibey little video. For my last dinner party I actually went to the fabric district in downtown LA and picked out my own linens and MADE a runner, placements and napkins. It was extremely expensive and time consuming and dare I say not worth it. But, hey, now I have my very own, one-of-a-kind, humble little linens. These details are just for me and I acknowledge no one else gives a shit.

💇🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ Manically Cutting Your Own Hair

There is no higher high than spontaneously deciding to take a pair of dirty kitchen shears to a finger sectioned chunk of hair that you’re hastily holding between your eyes and just blindly cutting off an inch while your Uber driver waits for you outside. My motto is “how bad could it look?” Let go, let god. I’m so impatient when it comes to my appearance. You think I’m waiting for a professional to cut this hair when I literally need it cut right this moment or else I’ll die? No. Paying for a haircut might be a scam I’ve decided.

Bonus recommendation from Delaney below! 😃