UPDATE ON CONSOLE: It turns out I had to go to View > Debug > Activate Console to get the durned thing working again! (Why it stopped working in the first place is anybody's guess...)

The original question, if anyone is curious, is posted in the comments below:

struct Result: Codable {
    //these are some of the properties sent back from iTunes
    var trackId: Int
    var trackName: String
    var collectionName: String
}
struct Response: Codable {
    //our view model
    var results: [Result]
}

struct ContentView: View {
    @State private var results = [Result]()
    @State private var username = ""
    @State private var email = ""

    var body: some View {
        List(results, id: \.trackId) { item in
            VStack(alignment: .leading) {
                Text(item.trackName).font(.headline)
                Text(item.collectionName)
            }
        }
        .task {
            await loadData()
        }
//      DOES NOT SHOW UP IN CONSOLE, PART ONE:
        .onAppear(perform: {
            print("well, it appeared")
        })
//      Why not man?  (because the console was turned off!)
    }

    func loadData() async {

//      DOES NOT SHOW UP IN CONSOLE, PART TWO:
        print("inside loadData function")
//      Why not man?  (because the console was turned off!)

        guard let url = URL(string: "https:::://this url is soooo invalid") else {
            print("invalid URL")
            return
        }
        do {
            let (data, _) = try await URLSession.shared.data(from: url)
            if let decodedResponse = try? JSONDecoder().decode(Response.self, from: data) {
                results = decodedResponse.results
            }
        } catch {
            print("invalid data")
        }
    }
}