Category: Music

Aprender un lenguaje secundario es agotador. No sé cómo tanta gente puede aprender idiomas múltiples mientras recordarlas también. Tengo que practicar mi español cada día para mantener alguna fachada que sepa hechos de AP Español porque no soy una habladora nativa. Durante y después de mi tiempo en español académico, la música fue la manera mejor y más interesante para practicar mi capacidad de escucha (que es todavía horrible). Hasta la fecha, hay canciones especiales a lo largo de mi vida que me ayudaran a calmarme en español, y también canciones que me guiarán a mi futuro.

• “Lo Que Siento” – Cuco

La canción que lo empezó todo. Cuando tenía trece años, una amiga mayor me dio una playlist con música que cambiaría mi gusto musical por siempre con artistas como TV Girl, Cage the Elephant, y más importante, Cuco. “Lo Que Siento” es en spanglish y era mi primera interacción con español en una capacidad personal, como no soy habladora nativa y no hablo en casa. Navegar las letras en inglés era fácil para alguien como mí que siempre he hablado inglés, pero estaba decidido aprender las letras españolas (a pesar de nunca aprendiendo español en escuela). Nunca sabía lo que significaban las letras hasta ahora, pero las aprendía no obstante. 

• “Piel Canela” – Eydie Gorme y los Panchos

Esta canción es la canción más romántica de todo tiempo y nadie puede decirme algo más. El estribillo es atrozmente pegadizo y fácil de recordar, así que es definitivamente una de mis canciones favoritas, especialmente cuando tomaba AP Spanish para calentar antes de las actividades escuchadas. 

• “Otro Atardecer” – Bad Bunny

Esta es mi canción favorita de “Un Verano Sin Tí” basado en producción y letras, pero con respecto a aprendiendo español (especialmente AP Spanish), escuchando a un acento diferente que méxicano o de España era muy útil para el examen. Me ayuda a normalizar español en mi vida diaria, y lo más importante, es una canción fantástica.
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Me gustaría decir que “Yo No Soy Celoso” era casi en este artículo, así que recibe una mención honorífica. Si mi gramática es horrible, ¡SÉ AMABLE! Simplemente envíame un correo electrónico o dejar un comentario. Espero que esta te intereses aunque es cortito… Mis artículos serán más largos algún día (con un poco de suerte).

It finally got me. The big C-19. A quick boom-bap, and I was down with both Covid and the flu at the same time. I’m currently on day 3 of my quarantine, and while I wish I could talk about how bored I am, I am mostly just miserably ill. I thought I’d be doing toe-touches and getting ripped, but I’ve mostly been having repeating bouts of fever, vomiting, and coughing like a fern ready to spew its spores. The only thing that I can do is listen to music and lay down with my eyes closed. Boy, was this the perfect time for that! I caught up on some of the past few months’ most impactful albums, or as I call them in my head, tornado albums. Know that if an album is on this list, it’s because it fits this criteria:

1. Exciting
2. Unexpected
3. Interesting

So perhaps an album might be exciting and interesting, but not very unexpected. I mean that if an album you love doesn’t end up here, it wasn’t one of these things for me personally.

• 5SOS5 – 5SOS

I was more of a One Direction girl growing up, but I was always tempted by the allure of 5SOS’s bad boy aura. They were the less regulated One Direction, the band that parents hated, the guys that teenaged fans actually had a chance with. Now that we’re both older, I’ve become a 5SOS girl, and the catalyst I needed to start this transformation was the release of 5SOS5. 

Some of their older songs were on my playlists, but I didn’t know much of their discography off the top of my head. And one day, tired of my music, I wandered over to the New Release section of Spotify and thought I’d give 5SOS5 a listen. Boy, am I glad that I did. 

On the first listen, I felt pretty positive toward what I heard despite the fact that it took me over an hour to listen to. But then I listened again. And again. And again. It became my instant choice for a sound filler: washing the dishes, doing homework, driving to school, studying for a test… All scenarios allowed for the presence of 5SOS5.

This might be my favorite album yet, with my favorites being all of them but especially “HAZE,” “Bloodhound,” “TEARS!,” “Older,” “Easy for You to Say,” and “Caramel.” The album is incredibly cohesive and the perfect example of 5SOS’s style as artists, especially with its range of intonation and tempos. In general, 5SOS has always had a distinct control over chord progression and memorable melodies, and with a masterful and consistent inclusion of all four members’ voices, it felt like the fresh product of several talented people with different approaches to how a story should be told. All other positive comments aside, Luke Hemmings has to be one of the best vocalists that has ever graced this earth. 

Though it can be a little repetitive, 5SOS5 is a pop Lord of the Rings trilogy of an album that I recommend to anyone that needs an album to help them through their day. Also, if you’re curious about 5SOS, I recommend a deep dive. You’ll enjoy what you find.

• The Car – Arctic Monkeys

I have literally never listened to an Arctic Monkeys album before I listened to The Car, so I’m not exactly an expert on what the context behind it is, but I know that I liked it! I love the way that this album moves like a candle flame, I love its jazz influence and the presence of classical instrumentation that makes it feel nostalgic and otherworldly. Though it was a little monotonous at times and I hoped for more expressive lyricism to match the backing track, I was pleasantly surprised by this album and its extremely stylized production.

• Midnights – Taylor Swift

Midnights is Prozac-requiring Lover, so it’s safe to say I enjoyed it. Though it’s not in my top 3, I have always loved when Taylor goes pop and with 1989 remnants like “Midnight Rain” and “Paris” mixed with Lover and reputation illegitimate children like “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” and “Karma,” it’s hard not to enjoy this album even just a little bit. It wasn’t life-changing for me, but it was the right album to drop at this moment in time considering alt-pop is in the gutter. Plus, the 3 a.m. songs were a tribute to folklore and evermore fans like me, so I’ve been pacified. I’m just glad she’s still releasing so much music!

• Human Overboard – James and the Shame

This might be the most tornado-like album on this list. As James and the Shame’s (or Good Mythical Morning’s Rhett McLaughlin’s) debut album, this is a torrential twister of heartfelt lyricism and old country influences– I swear, Keith Whitley is a backing vocalist on this album. I was completely blown away by McLaughlin’s range of vocals, especially since he doesn’t restrict himself to a singular threshold that leaves listeners wanting more. 

The album centers around a crisis of faith that evolves into a celebration of life with vulnerability that covers how faith can touch every part of a person’s life, whether it be love, family, or self-image. I’m a firm believer that there’s something for everyone in this album even if they’re one of those people that “listens to everything but country.” The way faith is discussed in this album makes country the perfect vehicle to convey the delicately emotional nature of the topic and how genuinely earth-shattering it can be. Trust me, when you hear the earnest instrumentation and warm vocals, you’ll let this album be an exception to the “no country” rule. 

Considering this is his first album, I am wildly hopeful for the future of James and the Shame and I truly think that his potential after this first release is astronomical. My favorite songs are “Believe Me” (which might be my favorite song on the album), “Give A Damn,” “Where We’re Going,” and “Kill a Man.” It’s interesting, unexpected, and exciting, so give it a listen!

• Rae – Ashe

I’ve been a big Ashe fan since I was 14 and I’ve loved watching her music evolve alongside her growth into becoming a well-established artist. Rae is the pinnacle of everything I love about Ashe’s music with top notch production, relatable lyrics, and endlessly unique melodies. It’s sultry, filled with every kind of genre imaginable, and brimming with drama: it’s the perfect album! 

Ashe has a knack for creating showstoppers that never leave your mind until you listen to them again and the cycle repeats. She’s blues, she’s jazz, she’s musical theater, she’s rock, she’s pop– Ashe is someone you have to listen to, and I recommend starting with the absolute extravaganza that is Rae.

My favorite songs are “Another Man’s Jeans,” “Angry Woman,” “San Jose,” and “Fun While It Lasted.”

• Smithereens – Joji

Joji knows that he makes good sad music and he capitalized on that for Smithereens; however, I love good sad music, so it’s perfect for me! He is such a one in a million producer and I’ll probably like anything he makes, but his ability to convey his emotions within different factors of his music is addictive, whether it’s through his weeping vocalization or his masterful puppeteering of piano keys. 

This album is another powerful installment of Joji’s discography and one of my favorite albums of the year so far. It’s a short, lulling ballad dedicated to those mornings when you can’t speak, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something to listen to when mist lingers on autumn mornings.

***

There are more albums that have shaken up the world recently that I’ll be sure to cover in the next few weeks, though school is kicking my butt. If you have a problem with it, address a respectful email to all of my teachers. Don’t do that, but also do that. But don’t… Wink…

With the release of a blockbuster album like “Harry’s House,” every ranking seems controversial. But when I look at so many different sources of criticism, I can’t help but wonder how controversial my own ranking is. I have always been a huge fan of the scientific method, so I might as well apply to a statistical analysis of “Harry’s House” reactions! But in order to get a full layout, I’ve collected data from 4 sources: myself, megafans, streaming services (or experts), and well-known critic publications.

BREAKING DOWN THE CRITICS’ DATA

I collected rankings from 3 websites: Billboard, GQ UK, and PopBuzz. From there, I inserted the rankings into Excel and applied a score based on the addition of their respective rankings within each website. For example, if “Satellite” was ranked 3rd in Billboard, 10th in GQ, and 11th in PopBuzz, its score would add up to 3+10+11, or 24. After finding the score, find the mean value to assign a vague final ranking. For “Satellite,” this average value would be 8, so in the final rankings for the critics, “Satellite” would be ranked somewhere near 8th. Because there are some repeat values, I judge their final ranking based on the polarity between the raw data. For example, if “Cinema” had a score comprised of 13+8+3, I would allow “Satellite” to come before it because its values are more spread out. In reality, the two ranks could be interchangeable, but for the sake of scoring, I just give them numbers in order to tabulate. 

This is the raw data of each website with the scores and mean values. This data can be visualized in this chart:

To be clear, the lower the score, the more the critics liked the song. It’s clear that the critics have a rollercoaster of preference around the album, a testament to the ebb and flow of the album’s organization.

Based on this data and my organizational methods, the critics’ rankings come out to:

1. Late Night Talking
2. As It Was
3. Daydreaming
4. Cinema
5. Matilda
6. Daylight
7. Satellite
8. Music for a Sushi Restaurant
9. Little Freak
10. Keep Driving
11. Boyfriends
12. Love of My Life
13. Grapejuice

Now, let’s talk about this because I disagree. Why in the Big Man’s name are “Grapejuice” and “Love of My Life” so low and why is “Daydreaming” so high? I get why critics would love “Cinema” and “Late Night Talking,” but to place “Boyfriends” above “Grapejuice”???? That feels targeted to me specifically. The critics are so boring! Have some fun, live a little! I mean, they really LOVE “Daydreaming.” It’s a good song, don’t get me wrong, but for it to be 3rd? It seems like they’re trying to seem fun by liking an upbeat “Treat People With Kindness-” type song, but I think they didn’t want to get ripped to shreds for putting “As It Was” so high every single time.

BREAKING DOWN THE EXPERTS’ DATA

Here is the raw data from streaming services including Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube:

When reviewing the data, context is required for some of the rankings. For example, “As It Was” had several weeks to accumulate nearly billions of streams, though by the time the album was available on YouTube, not many people viewed the video for “As It Was” if they were using YouTube to listen to the album for the first time. This difference in release explains the massive disparity when comparing Spotify and iTunes to YouTube. When visualized, the data looks like this:

Though this data isn’t quite as rollercoaster as the critic’s opinions, streaming reflects a common tendency for interest to taper off steadily as the album progresses with some of the most streamed being the first two songs and the rest being mostly viral tracks from the album like “Matilda” and “Daylight.” This data all breaks down into these rankings:

1. Late Night Talking
2. Music for a Sushi Restaurant
3. Matilda
4. As It Was
5. Daylight
6. Satellite
7. Love of My Life
8. Cinema
9. Little Freak
10. Daydreaming
11. Grapejuice
12. Boyfriends
13. Keep Driving

“Late Night Talking” appears to be THE song of the album based on it leading the past two data sets with “Matilda” following up. I am personally offended by the fact that “Keep Driving” is dead last, but at least “Satellite” is in the upper half of the rankings. “As It Was” is holding its own despite the first three being viral on TikTok, but its streams on Spotify and iTunes are ludicrous! The only reason it’s not top three is because of the low YouTube views, but it has almost a billion streams on Spotify alone!

BREAKING DOWN THE FANS’ DATA

In order to get diverse data, I asked three fans that I know personally to give me their rankings knowing that each had very different tastes in Harry’s music. All three have been massive fans of his since the One Direction days and share similar tastes pre- “Harry’s House;” however, when it comes to this album, they couldn’t be more different. Here’s the raw data:

I personally thought it might be extremely similar to the streaming data, but I couldn’t have been more wrong! I forgot to factor in the fact that the more pop-heavy songs would have more streams based on the radio, corporate soundtracks, and commercials. This is the visualized version of the data:

Though this is somewhat similar to the streaming graph, it has major key differences, specifically for “Grapejuice” and “Keep Driving.” “Late Night Talking” and “Matilda” continue to lead the way, though “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” makes an interesting comeback. Ultimately, the rankings are:

1. Keep Driving
2. Grapejuice
3. Matilda
4. Late Night Talking
5. Daylight
6. Music for a Sushi Restaurant
7. As It Was
8. Boyfriends
9. Satellite
10. Cinema
11. Daydreaming
12. Love of My Life
13. Little Freak

Why does everyone not like “Love of My Life?” It’s the perfect ending to the album and it’s gorgeous! “Little Freak” being at the bottom surprised me, but it feels right considering it’s the most One Direction-y and without Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to carry the harmonies, it feels empty.

LET’S PUT IT ALL TOGETHER!

My ranking is:

1. Satellite
2. Grapejuice
3. Love of My Life
4. Daylight
5. As It Was
6. Keep Driving
7. Late Night Talking
8. Matilda
9. Cinema
10. Little Freak
11. Music for a Sushi Restaurant
12. Daydreaming
13. Boyfriends

Yeah, that’s right! “Satellite” is my number one! I can’t believe the slander it’s endured thus far. Let’s see all the data together:

The numbers represent the final rankings, so when all of this is graphed, it comes out to this masterpiece:

I mean, my God. It’s just a mess. Both my ranking as well as the fans’ ranking seem to diverge intensely from the seemingly more moderate critics’ and experts’ rankings. It reflects a mild conformity of the critics’ to the whims of what streaming numbers imply, meaning they’re slightly afraid as journalists to incite bias that may seem illogical to others. I personally don’t feel the need to explain why I love “Love of My Life,” even if it often ranks low, but the critics’ went with several safer picks and what anyone might expect to be the more critically-acclaimed songs that represent technical and songwriting-based nuance. It’s like how Rotten Tomatoes really liked the live-action “Mulan” remake when literally everyone else hated it and didn’t ask for it.

The song that wins the day because of high streams, safety in numbers, and an amicable reputation among fans is “Late Night Talking” with the loser being “Boyfriends.” I do really like the song but I genuinely cannot relate to it at all. 

I hope this statistical analysis was insightful and helpful for you, whether you’re a fan of the album or not. It took me a tragic amount of work and time, but I’ll be darned if I don’t remember general Statistics when I got a 95% on the final after studying for like 6 hours. Don’t be afraid to do some research on statistics, because in the end, we can conclude that critics are boring, streams are predictable, fans are biased, and I am controversial. What’s your ranking of “Harry’s House”? Is it contrary to my data? Disprove my experiment!

For the 1 year anniversary of my blog, I planned to write an article re-ranking Quadeca’s album, “From Me to You,” as that was my first ever post and I thought it could be a fun way to kick off my anniversary week. Instead, I found that I could not quantify my love for the songs that I have lived with for a year and a half. This discovery has brought me to my knees in a wave of relief as I let the ability to number my favorites drift out of my hands as partiality takes root within me once and for all. I’ve known and loved this album for too long to be able to mold it numerically, and for this epiphany, I would like to change the nature of this article. 

Instead, I will be explaining my love for the hodgepodge collection of albums that I have gleaned the life out of after infinite listens and replays. These albums represent a timeline that has led me through learning to swim, learning to race, morning practices, stories unshared, classes taken, wages earned, weight gained, muscles lost, haircuts, driver’s license tests (only 2), fires, floods– through it all, they remain, my albums of soul, my collections of atoms replayed as each year passes and my identity morphs to adhere to the passage of time. Here, they remain. Just a few of the albums I know forever, no matter how long I’ve known them. A few of my core albums, as silly or random as they may seem. My albums.

• Dream Your Life Away– Vance Joy

This was the first album I ever purchased on iTunes with a $10 gift card that my older cousin had given me after I’d said I liked “Riptide” when she’d played it in the car on our way to IHOP on Thanksgiving morning. I spent the entire next day listening to “Riptide” over and over before slowly branching out to the rest of the album and falling in love. I was nine! So tiny! 

It was the first time I’d ever liked an album that my sisters hadn’t played or I’d heard on the radio. I felt so grown up, like my older sisters and their friends that went to concerts and had posters in their rooms. In fact, my second concert ever was a GA balcony view of Vance Joy’s first world tour, and by then I was 10. I could barely see the stage so my mom stole a chair from a closet we passed and I stood on it to see. 

Those songs played through my first pair of headphones, they played in the car every single time I had to go anywhere, they would pass through my lips in the endless situations when I had to sing to myself so I wouldn’t panic. They were wholly mine, my secret prayers. I think I ranked them once here, but it’s all arbitrary in the end, because with every nostalgic mood, every need for comfort, there is a song to sing me to sleep.

• Taylor Swift’s entire discography

It may be basic, and yet her music means so much to me. For two years, from ages 7 to 9, her debut album played through our old giant car on a CD from a thrift store (original “Picture to Burn” lyrics included). “Mary’s Song” was my favorite, admittedly. I always substituted whoever my crush was at the time in the little daydream I’d made up for the song, a habit I don’t think I’ll ever kick.

This was then replaced by “Fearless,” which I had downloaded onto my hand-me-down completely broken Mac laptop that had a CD slot and weighed 25 pounds. I used it to write stories (since it couldn’t connect to the internet) thinking I could sell them for a ton of money when I was older and hopefully famous, but only one of those things has happened so far. I listened for hours and hours, dreaming of the day I’d be 15 and I’d believe someone when they told me they loved me. I couldn’t even think of what high school would be like, just that I’d be competing for a boy’s love against some girl that was the cheer captain. 

Skip ahead and “1989” changed me forever. I felt I knew what music should be. I felt so indie for my favorite songs being the two deluxe tracks, “You Are In Love” and “New Romantics.” “You Are In Love” was a hymn to me, something that I believed had to be the pinnacle of love and romance. I’ve been yet to be proven wrong, but my love life has also been extremely limited. It’s the album that laid the foundations of my tween taste in music, my love for synths and drama. I wore a fedora when I saw her in concert for the 1989 tour. I was stupid and I was young, but I knew I loved this album and for that I was genius and prodigious. 

I had a dry spell for a bit until I was 16 and unmedicated. She’d announced the re-records and I’d been dabbling in my own personal classics when I caved and listened to “folklore” (and I mean really listened). I was reborn in the image of Taylor’s newfound world. I was religious in my devotion. I relished “mirrorball” and “this is me trying” like someone had finally listened to me. “Evermore” was not too far behind as “champagne problems” and “ivy” and “evermore” and “tis the damn season” and “dorothea” and “marjorie” and “right where you left me” tore me apart and put me back together. It accompanied me on my first time going into Trader Joe’s, which may not seem that important, but it marked a shift of Better in my life when I could possibly, maybe just fend for myself.

“Reputation” started the path to being okay. Every song had its moment in the spotlight, especially since I was comfortable driving by then. To this day, every time I am home sick from school, the first thing I watch is the “Reputation Stadium Tour” special on Netflix. It makes me feel ALIVE.

Next was “Lover.” “The Archer” is still probably my favorite Taylor song of all time, though that may be slightly controversial. Its era was cut way too short when crowd pleasers like “Lover,” “Cruel Summer,” “False God,” and “I Think He Knows.” It’s so romantic it makes me want to vomit. I rode the “Lover” wave into junior year and I got medicated soon after, leaving me all stable and able to process my emotions or whatever.

“Red” re-release dropped and I finally entered my first ever real “Red” era. It’s my favorite CD for my car now since I never have to skip any songs, and it just reminds me of the panic all of my friends and I went through on the day it came out, trying to listen to all of it before school and screaming when we heard the 10-minute-version for the first time. I wore a red tutu, a red cape, and a crown to school in order to celebrate. I wasn’t dress coded. 

I now wait for the “Speak Now” re-release in order to fully appreciate it. I know many of the songs well and love them dearly, but I know them disjointedly, through the radio. I hope that it will guide me through my senior year, though I don’t think it’s the next one to be released. Maybe when I’m in college?

• Handwritten– Shawn Mendes

My older sister bought me this CD for Easter one time and I’d had my iPod taken away so I was using an old school plastic boombox with janky Target headphones to enjoy music. Considering this was one of my only CDs at the time, it got its fair share of loops. At this point I think I was 11 and had been following Shawn Mendes since NBT on Disney Channel, but boy oh boy did this album ruin me. I think this made me a misogynist for a second because I almost started listening to the Magcon boys and considered shaving my arm hair if Shawn ever needed 11-year-old me to be his rock when grappling with childhood fame. I just wanted to be woman enough for him.

All jokes aside, I do truly love this album. It’s peak singer-songwriter bedroom pop angsty teen boy music. Think the Vamps or Cody Simpson but just guitar. It’s all handwritten, acoustic to the max!

• Dopamine– BORNS

Another alum from the CD slot in our old family car, this album is one of the main adhesives to bond my sisters and I for a brief moment of agreement on what to play when we’re all in the car together. If I was ever in a situation where I had to recite an entire album from memory, it would easily be this one. I believe that several of my intuitions regarding language when facing imagery or poetry stem somewhat indirectly from the lyrics in these songs as the prose is unique and stylized to fit exactly the atmosphere set by BORNS. It deifies femininity often and shrouds life itself in a vintage filter that mirrors that of a faded ‘70s edition of Vogue. To this day, I only listen to this album when I put the same CD I used when we were younger into my own car radio, as it only exists to me in the iridescent layers of plastic shaped like something sweet and doughy. 

• Newsies– Original Broadway Cast Recording

I don’t have a single explanation for this. There was a period of my life from grades 6 to 7 minimum that I watched “Newsies: Live” on Netflix every day. I wish I was exaggerating, but here is a quote from my older sister about this time in my life, considering the only TV I had access to was the one in our living room and this meant some frustration for my older sisters:

“Morning or night, every time I came downstairs into the living room, “Newsies: Live” was playing. Whether it was 11 AM or PM, I knew my TV privileges were overruled.”

I will know all of these songs forever and I wholeheartedly proclaim Jeremy Jordan to be the Supreme Jack Kelly since Christian Bale just doesn’t do it for me in the original movie.

• From Me To You (Deluxe)– Quadeca 

Other than some of Taylor Swift’s new stuff, I’d consider this the most recent edition to the albums that I consider a tenet in my life so far. I first loved this album for its larger than life production that made me feel like I was experiencing some kind of epic tale. It was easy to get lost in and convince myself I had more confidence than I actually did just by looping it over and over again (which is what I did since Quadeca was my number one Spotify artist last year). As I get older, its meaning to me changes with me. The songs I hadn’t loved before just became a part of the story I loved to get lost in, irremovable from the compilation I considered to be (for better or for worse) a solace or a mirror from my emotions. I just couldn’t bear to rank it since each song’s place is subject to whatever I’m feeling or how much nostalgia I’d like to experience at the moment. This album got me through a really tough time in my life which lends it partiality, but bias aside, I think its extremes and intermediates represent a gradient of explosive production and vulnerable lyrics that mark it as a one-in-a-million narrative of emotion and passion for music.

• 25– Adele

This was the first Adele album I was sentient enough to remember coming out and I wrung this album dry. I listened to every song, jaded by the unreliability of my love life and yet hopeful for the fleeting relationships I could take comfort in. I was 11.

You all have this album to blame for my drama. Life has taught me to subject myself to the grandiosity with which Adele constructed her third album, to feel the pull of her voice and the tides of the sheer scale this album presents. I am who I am because of all of the Vines about the “Hello” music video, and yet I am made up of nothing else.

• Title– Meghan Trainor

Yet another family car vet, this album is yet again one that unites my sisters and me in our quest to delegate AUX with no bloodshed. This album is WAY too underrated in terms of iconic pop of the 2010s. When I’m ancient (like 40) and there’s a chance I have some children and they ask in their little annoying voices “Mom, what music did you listen to when you were my age?” and I just need them to stop talking for half a second, I’ll throw this on and hope for peace. I consider this album to be an epoch of the 2010s. It changed lives. It healed disease. It reset the calendar. It reset the evolution of homo sapiens to homo neanderthalis. As a society, we were reborn, if for but a brief moment, in the eyes of Meghan Trainor’s turquoise oasis of funky lil tunes. I would like to start the movement to replace our boring national anthem with “Lips Are Movin” because it would be way more fun to sing at random sports games for all ages. 

• One Direction’s entire discography

This was the first music I almost ever remember actively listening to for fun. “Take Me Home” has a special place in my heart, but “Made In the AM” is my current fave because I like being controversial. I remember blushing whenever Harry Styles, Niall Horan, or Zayn Malik made eye contact with the camera in any music videos and then being ashamed immediately after because I knew I shouldn’t give them that much power over me. My favorite was the “Kiss You” video, but then the “Best Song Ever” one came out and the world shook. They made up my entire childhood. They were my first concert at age 8 when 5sos opened. It was pearls before swine since I was barely a functioning human being. I couldn’t appreciate the enormity of what I was experiencing, and yet it lives within my DNA, by ancestral memories powered by the melange that my children will experience. I was nearly in the utter back of the stadium, but I was there. And in that moment, I felt the swift tendrils of obsession take root in my young beating heart as I sold my soul to Harry Styles for the price of one moment of eye contact all those many yards away.

***

There are probably more that eluded my memory as I laid out the few I could snatch from the cobwebs up there and I suppose I could do another part one day. I think this ordeal has been a lot for you, though, so I’ll give you some time. No one chooses their foundations and yet if I had to, I’d choose them all again. They are me, and we are indivisible.

When “Mona Lisa” first introduced a new era of mxmtoon shenanigans, I knew from the moment I heard that song that I was going to love the album. Lo and behold, I am yet again a massive fan of her latest LP, rising. I saw her in concert the day after this album dropped, and it made all the AP exams and finals clawing at me for the entire month of May disappear for a few hours (it also didn’t hurt that Chloe Moriondo was a great opener). 

Though I’ve mentioned it previously in other articles featuring my opinion on mxmtoon, I’d like to add for context that she was one of the instrumental in my realization of the fact that I am not straight, so I may be incredibly biased in the lens of her being one of the most beautiful people on the planet. Don’t act like you aren’t influenced by someone’s face when you consume their media (I won’t lie, if anyone else but Harry Styles dropped the song “Cinema,” I would make fun of it). 

At least in the case of mxmtoon, it only adds to her appeal since I genuinely do love her music, so don’t worry, I am a trusted, unbiased source of input on the incredibly gorgeous, talented, show-stopping, iconic mxmtoon that if she were to ever find this article a restraining order would be placed on me and I would just be happy that she knows that I exist.

1. Scales

I don’t know what it is about this song but it’s like coolant for my little brain goblin. I’ve always related to the struggle of finding balance in many things, and it’s a driving force of my personal experience of growing up so far. Because this album revolves around revelations on getting older, it’s nice to find a song that mirrors my own difficulty in finding the ability to establish equilibrium in my life (but with a danceable beat).

Though I know that patience will result in resolution for most of my teenage woes, being a young adult is defined by the experience of having no concept of balance at all. It’s the source of slammed doors, heavy eye makeup with eyes underneath that roll way too much, and the feeling of invincibility that comes with the wonderful imbalance of being a young person, and it’s an aspect of growing up that isn’t often touched on in music. As a menace sponsored by Prozac, this song is easily my favorite and a unique takeaway from musings on growing up.

2. Mona Lisa

This song is for secret little dancing that you can’t help but succumb to wherever you listen to it. I love this spot of sunshine so dearly and love that it’s still a little melancholy and hopeful throughout the verses. The way the melody builds and releases over and over until the tension is broken by the chorus is so addicting. I’m also a hopeless romantic that loves to write, so this song was without a doubt written with me in mind and not at all based on her personal experiences. This is my song and you can’t have it! But you should still listen to it.

3. Haze

“Haze” is a bit more emotional for those that like for their crying seshes to have a beautiful soundtrack, so it’s perfect for crying in the car after you failed a test and are waiting for the person at Starbucks to give you your fourth peppermint hot chocolate of the week despite the fact that it’s only Tuesday and you studied for several hours while you think about a time in the future where you wouldn’t have to take math classes. Or something. It’s not like that’s what I did, it’s just a suggestion. My antics aside, it’s a gorgeous song with fantastic pacing and rhythm that I highly recommend!

4. Florida

I wish I could say I did anything more sob grossly when I listened to this song for the first time, but alas, that is exactly what I did. It’s a beautiful tribute to the people that are precious to you and it’s already one of my favorite songs of hers ever (which is saying a lot considering all of her songs are my personal faves). Her music has such palpable sincerity, though the care that went into the emotional melody and the gorgeous keys make this song so unique to me that I just want to hold it close to my chest whenever I hear it. Whenever you listen to it, make sure to give a loved one a hug!

5. Learn to love you

I understand the relatability of sad girl pop and delve into it often; however, as someone that is constantly suffering from various mental illnesses, sometimes I want a break. That take seems lukewarm, but trust me, if you know what’s hip/what’s cool/what’s trendy in school, you listen to earth-shatteringly tragic music 24/7. I personally like to think I’ve got the 411 on what the kids are getting jiggy to these days, but I need to not listen to sad music all of the time. Like maybe 20% of the time, but any more than that and it’s going to wear away at my medication. Thank god someone made some decent happy/self-love music that isn’t reminiscent of 2014 and was produced by the Chainsmokers. Mxmtoon has such a magic hand with harmonies and combined with the upbeat message of the song, it’s a chill but smile-inducing track about self-confidence that I think will make your day. 

6. Coming of age

I love this song. I love this song. I love this song. Oh my god, I love this song. It’s unbelievably catchy to the point where I am insufferable when introduced to even a note of this song is played within a square mile of me because I will never stop singing it (ask my sister, she’s my main victim). I adore this idea of saying goodbye to the ‘coming of age’ part of your life and beginning to get to know and accept the new older self that you’ve become. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a sad process, and this song highlights the fact it’s healthy to embrace the fact that you change as you get older with super fun lyrics and production.

7. Dance (end of the world)

I love that this song feels like a credit scene in an early 2000s rom-com for young adults (Ella Enchanted, Bring It On, etc.), like the credits would run alongside a dance montage of the main cast with cheesy smiles and bloopers. It’s perfect. Mxmtoon’s melodies are inventive and easy to participate in for listeners (a trait often neglected as beneficial in indie pop), allowing for this song and her other catchy tunes to be relentless earworms filled with gorgeous vocals. 

8. Victim of nostalgia

This song is so summery and textured in nostalgic strings that it feels like sunlight through a linen sheet. I love her lower register in the verses of this song because it makes it feel a bit moodier and more adolescent, only for her to then raise her register for the reminiscence of her memories as an adult. It’s almost like the song is built around a wistful sigh as the song diffuses again and again, and the song is merely a trophy of her songwriting proficiency.

9. Dizzy

“Dizzy” takes the common frustration of feeling too young for your age and turns it into a melancholy observation on the superficiality that adulthood often entails. The lyricism in this song veers toward both interpersonal connection and vulnerability, a combination featuring self-awareness that often makes the work appear contradictory; instead, she manages to aptly acknowledge the confusion of growing up and the irrationality of having patience for others but not yourself. If you’re ever frustrated because you feel like everyone around you read some manual about how to be a certain age, this song is for you. 

10. Sad disco

I wish I had a ton to say about this song, but what I have to say is complementary and appreciative! It’s a super fun song meant for dancing in your room with whatever microphone you can find and was a perfect single for bringing in a new mxmtoon era that encourages not taking yourself too seriously. I love the aesthetic of the song and the production is masterful as always. I love the vocoder layers that help build through the verses and the release of synths once you enter the chorus– overall, it makes for an excellent dance party song and is a total crowd pleaser.

11. Growing pains / Haze / Frown

I like both of these songs equally and am therefore placing them together. Some call it laziness but I call it efficiency. “Growing pains” and “frown” are fun, flirty, fresh, fruity, and fun again, and I would totally name these crowd pleasers (just not as much as “sad disco” since that one is so much fun to dance alone to).

***

Despite the fact that there are numbers next to the titles of the songs, I truly love all of these songs so much and I don’t know if the numbers even mean anything because they’re all my favorites depending on my mood. This album was so worth the wait and I super recommend it for fans of pop/indie pop artists like Wallows, Gracie Abrams, Alix Page, or Taylor Swift. As long as mxmtoon keeps making music, I will continue to be insufferable and in love with her and both seem to be continuous afflictions to society for as long as the eye can see. For that I apologize and ask you to accept my apology in the form of listening to rising. Happy listening!

Someone I consider to be a British deity dropped a fantastical wonderland of red lipstick and black velvet, and that woman is none other than Adele herself. Her commercial hiatus started with 25 (sans Skyfall), her latest album is the masterpiece 30. This album did not get the hype it deserved. People were like “OMG Adele, you’re back this is great we love Adele,” and while that’s good, everyone just kind of forgot that she came back with an album and not just with a weight loss. 

This album is gut-wrenching, honest, hopeful, and self-aware. She knows what she wants to change about herself, but she doesn’t know if she has the strength to do it; however, she’s going to try for her son and for herself. It may have been critically praised, but its public popularity is not at the exponential level it should be: I am here to single-handedly inspire around the dozen people that read this to maybe listen to this album, please!

• To Be Loved

“To Be Loved” is the pinnacle of this album and Adele’s growth as an artist. Her first album features her runs and belts like no other, but as she grew into her musical style, she began to find the perfect places to swap out tricks for her lower register and instead use her specialties as cherries on top of a technical rollercoaster.

Artistically, it’s more mature and makes perfect sense for an album called 30 where she no longer feels like having the tumult of people’s 20s. Now, she wants to longer feel tired when searching for love, she wants to feel unconditional love. What’s different than before is the presence of her son, as she now knows that true, infallible love is very much real and possible. “To Be Loved” features the best of Adele’s range and is lyrically magnificent. It’s dripping with vulnerability and lets people take a peek into the reclusive life she fights so hard to keep private where we see healing carnage rather than what the press would often paint as celebrity gossip. I personally think that this song is the best item in her discography but that’s not the article I’m writing today, so I won’t go much further past that statement. 

• Love Is a Game

It’s very end of a rom-com featuring a couple in their late 20’s that have been in a “will-they, won’t-they” situation but they shed all of their insecurities because all they want to do in the moment is be with each other. The backing vocals are magical. Ma. Gi. Cal. Her leading vocals are powerful and mature: she knows exactly what she’s doing and she’s good at it. It feels like a playfully sulky conversation with a friend on a dumpy sofa where all you can do is spill your guts and let fate take you. It’s the perfect ending for an album about redefining what love means to you and finally living the truth that you’ve hidden from yourself, even if that truth isn’t so glamorous.

• All Night Parking

This interlude shows so much care for the flow and sequencing of her album. She’s exploring the fullness of this new phase in her life with a playful and modern homage to the doo-wop rhythm and blues of the American ‘50s, and she does so with a new usage of her lilting voice within the leading vocals and the supporting layers deep in the production that is reminiscent of the Chantels or Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. I think it establishes an impressive parameter for the range of her album and is insanely catchy.

***

• Strangers By Nature

Where am I? Am I a Disney princess walking through a wonderland fantasia as birds tweet around my head and Adele’s vocals swell around me like a tsunami? Oh, wait, sorry. I was just listening to this song. It’s a mastery of production and a ballad to lost love: LISTEN TO IT ALREADY.

• My Little Love

This song is the heart of this album. Her son is in the center of her life at 30, and at this point, finding love isn’t just for her– it affects him. Her journey to find love is bigger than finding someone for herself, and she knows that; however, it terrifies her that heartbreak could hurt more than just her. It’s heart-wrenching, raw, dripping with love, and a true ode to the happiness of her son. 

***

• Woman Like Me

This is the turn-around from her other albums. She’s had several songs about facing herself, her insecurities, what she believes to be her own short-comings in a relationship; however, the table turns and she sees time wasted rather than focusing on her own mistakes. It’s a powerful shift in narrative backed by a terrifyingly monotone progression.

• I Drink Wine

I thought this would be a millennial lol-quirky-wine-mom-tee-hee song based on the title, but it’s a soulful ballad to wages earned and lessons learned. She’s passed superficiality, she’s passed the glitz and glamor: she knows her priorities. It’s a reminder to herself that she’s grown more than she realizes, and it’s a song that favors Adele’s lower range beautifully. Those deep notes bring maturity and soul to a song that reaches the depths of a person’s insecurities.

***

• Oh My God

It’s something fun and silly for the kids. Even though it’s more upbeat and optimistic than some of the other songs, it’s still cohesive with the rest of the album. It’s a perfect post-release single and 

• Easy On Me

It was the best way to open the new era of new beginnings and mourning endings. It’s not my favorite song on the album, but it’s gorgeous and allows for Adele to express her apologies with kindness to herself.

• Hold On

The lyrics and build of this song are unforgettable, and with relativity to the rest of the album, it fulfills the need for an epilogue of hope. 

• Cry Your Heart Out

A girl needs her catchy tunes, and don’t worry, this song has your back. The rhythm and progression of this song are addictive, and with its positive message, it’s ready to replay over and over again.

***

• Can I Get It

I have little to no feelings about this song, none positive and none negative. It is just a song for the radio and for drunk 22-year-olds to twerk to at clubs, and I’m totally okay with that. This song just isn’t meant for me. I know my place.

***

This album’s artistry was too quickly lost to the tides of diet culture and playlists. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I really recommend listening to this album in order and consecutively whenever you get the chance. The sequence tells a wonderful story that shouldn’t be lost to shuffle just like how this album’s success was overshadowed by the fact that sometimes, bodies change. Give Adele the credit she deserves and really give her most recent masterpiece the careful listen it deserves.

When I was in 7th grade and walking around at my club swim meet with my knee length competition suit and my parka on, I thought I was hot shit. Would you like to know why I thought I was hot shit despite my raggedy, chlorine-filled hair and the fact that I was barely 13? It was because of the tunes powering my walk around the pool deck as my fourth pair of wired headphones that year indicated my indie-cool-manic-pixie-dream-girl status. Those tunes? The Regrettes.

I’ve loved this pop-rock band for about four years now, whether it was during “California Friends-” filled swim meets, listening to “Seashore” after my first (and currently most recent) relationship ended in 8th grade, or listening to “Holiday-ish” every Christmas as it’s one of the only Christmas songs I can tolerate. They, like several artists dear to my heart, have grown up with me. Now, as I approach the summer leading up to my senior year and a whole mess of change, all I asked the universe was that I could have a hot-girl-pop-summer-palooza soundtrack for the summer in which I can now drive, get a job, make bad decisions, fall in love, and eventually purchase scratchers. The Regrettes kissed the top of my little head and tucked me into bed, only for me to wake up to their latest album, Further Joy.

Though I will likely only do two of those things in the penultimate sentence of my last paragraph (take your pick), I will do it all with the Regrettes as my guardian angels. Ever since the album came out, I have been streaming it almost non-stop. It plays while I get my iced chai with vanilla cold foam and one pump of brown sugar almost every day because I am crawling to the finish line of this semester. It plays when we’re given free-time in Chemistry and I write articles like this while listening to music instead of doing my homework. It plays when I almost accidentally run over a biker while going 60 in a 30 because I’m trying to get home fast enough to take my afternoon nap. This album is a part of my life now, and it’s here to stay.

The resounding tone of this album is that of 1989 and Lover combined, making it a pop masterpiece for the ages. Each song is distinctive, catchy, and filled with care for the smallest details. Lydia Night’s vocals are to die for in every song and her voice will never get old to me. There’s a song for every mood, which is a staple in the longevity and shelf-life of a pop album. Further Joy is a triumph of the intersectionality between personal story-telling and mass media where the collaborative personality of the band shines through evidently throughout the entire album while still carrying a cohesive sound that could appeal to a majority of listeners. 

I believe it was Lorde that once approximately said that the magic and art of pop music lie in its ability to express the emotions of a wide group of listeners, and that’s where artists delving into the pop side of their sound can lose their grip on what makes them artistically unique. When artists try to make a song that maybe isn’t happy, their attempt to turn it into a cohesive and digestible track often makes it lose its integrity as a genuine expression of emotion; however, the Regrettes are earnest with their offerings of emotions. This earnestness allows for an honest listening experience where the listener doesn’t feel like a consumer but rather the benefactor of the artist-fan relationship. 

I absolutely love all of the more pop-focused songs like “Barely on My Mind” and “Monday,” but my favorites are a strange array of the more stylistically unique songs. I think my top songs are “Homesick,” “Better Now,” “Nowhere,” and “Anxieties,” but I genuinely listen to every song on this album daily with no bias. It’s tragic how underrated this band is, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to their tour. This album is about appreciating love, reviewing life lessons, and being a hot girl that is stressed sometimes. I can relate to at least one of those things.

I now have a PSA for the Regrettes. 

Dear the Regrettes,

If you have somehow found this article, I have a message for you. First of all, you’re all hotties. Second of all, I have a proposition for you. As a superfan of all of your music (especially Further Joy), I am offering my services as an Almost Famous-esque journalist to chronicle your band’s journey as musicians for no fee: I would just like to watch you guys perform. I am writing this article on April 18th because I have been studying for AP exams, and after a quick Google, I realized that today is the day you are performing in Pomona, which would have been the best show for me to go to. If the roadie/journalist application falls through, I would like to offer my 18th birthday party happening at the end of this summer as a gig where I would hand over my college fund, since I missed the Pomona show. I hope you’ll offer serious inquiries through the blog’s gmail account that can be found on the home page. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Anna of Anna-log.

If you read that and you’re not a part of the Regrettes, you’re a freak. It is my constitutionally given right to maintain privacy, and you just violated it. I will only not contact my attorney if you listen to Further Joy on all music streaming platforms.

This year has been fabulous for music so far, but I am an overachieving student with mental illnesses and a short attention span. What I mean by this is that when new albums drop, I rarely remember to listen to them. When I do listen to them, I rarely finish the entire thing, even if I’ve been looking forward to it for months. I’m pretty sure the only LP I’ve listened to this year is Wallows’ Tell Me That It’s Over, and considering I listen to the same old music for months at a time, this will probably last me until May (possibly longer, though good music is set to drop in May).

However, my only fix to this character flaw is keeping track of new singles as little snacks to eat in between dry spells, and may I say, there have been some giggity gems if I do say so myself. 

• “mona lisa” by mxmtoon 02/08

This single represented a beacon of hope for me for many reasons. For one, it gave me the hope that there would be a new mxmtoon album in the future (dropping May 20th!!!!!!!), which was enough to keep me going until then. For another, this song is SO good.

The premise of always being the one writing the odes and arts for others hits a little too close to home considering you’re probably reading this on a blog written by a single teenager with no prospect of romance awaiting, but the song is so freaking amazing. The production feels so intentional and neat with fabulous layered vocals that could make Mark Zuckerberg cry his first tear and lyrics that reflect a coming of age within her experiences with romance. I will never get tired of mxmtoon’s voice and I don’t want to wait another second for her album to drop!

• “King by Florence” + the Machine 02/23

I have loved Florence + the Machine ever since I was a wee nine-year-old listening to “Dog Day Are Over” under the covers of my bed with my headphones on because I thought that my sisters would make fun of me for listening to something so indie and dramatic. She has followed me through my adolescence and into my awkward, acne-filled years where I began being proud of listening to something so cool and that no one at my tween age could relate to, which made me super interesting and unique. Now, we both grow together, she musically and me… well, I think I’ve grown some way, so the sentence works.

When “King” first dropped, it made me so happy that Florence could accompany me into the tumultuous later teenage years of my life. I was happy about this before the song dropped, but I was even happier after I listened to it. It’s classic Florence: it’s ethereal, it’s fantastical, it’s epic, it’s symphonic, it’s FLORENCE. It feels like a shift in her music to mold around her own ambitions as an artist, and I’m excited to see where this path will take both her and me as we both get older.

• “I’m Tired” by Labrinth and Zendaya 02/28

Hearing this song (and the endless slew of TikToks I’d been getting) convinced me to finally watch Euphoria after it being popular for so long, and BOY was I behind. Obviously I loved the show, but I was seriously missing out on the extent of Labrinth’s talent as someone supplying most of the soundtrack within the supplemental parts of the show.

This song is an absolutely incredible tribute to soul and and choral influence on music production, and to leave this single out of this article would make me eligible for conviction. Zendaya’s vocals are ANGELIC, and the way that Labrinth’s voice brings so much cohesion to the song and its backing elements is undeniably magical.

• “At the End of the Day” by Wallows 03/04

I will never have enough good things to say about this song. I would say I was a Wallows fan to an extremely novice degree before I heard this song, but I hate those three young men for making a song that makes me want to go to prom simply in order to dance to that song and then leave. Prom dresses are expensive, you know? I have also convinced my parents to love this song, and if they approve, everyone should.

It’s a fabulous song that sounds like strobe lights meeting disco balls, and I’ll never get enough of it. I am a terrible dancer, but you can thank Wallows for the heinousness that occurs when I hear even a second of this song.

• As It Was by Harry Styles 04/01

I love nothing more than being a basic teenage girl, and I am not ashamed in the slightest at the adrenaline that pumped through my body when I listened to this song for the first time. If anything, it only heightened my senses, therefore making the experience better. It felt like bedroom pop, and I’m excited to see a newer type of style from him as his first album was extremely acoustic and “Fine Line” played with a bit more productional tricks. “As It Was” feels like a child of his two previous albums along with some more confidence in his abilities and I’m thrilled that he’s finally putting out new music.

Perhaps I am not a true fan of Harry for saying this, but I have been personally resigned from the Fine Line era since halfway through quarantine when I’d listened to the album endlessly to the point where I can’t hear “Adore You” without getting nauseous. Did I scream it when I was in my nosebleeds during the tour? You bet your bottom dollar I did, and I’d do it again. But Sir Harry only has two albums out for me to peruse, and at this point, I am on my third phase of his self-titled album. That phase will definitely last me until May 20th, so I won’t complain as much, but I Taylor’s nine albums will keep me going (I know where I stand in the divorce).

****

There’s never a shortage of new music these days, and I’m sure I missed a few world-shifting singles considering I only included five, but I love finding new music and will take any suggestions in the comments! Which singles have made your year better? I know I might have snubbed a few of my favorites, but I’m a busy gal and five singles is all I have time for with AP exams coming up! Give these fabulous songs a listen and leave me some recommendations if you feel so inclined.