Therapy
is too expensive for me
So, I’ll eat my feelings
and drown out my sorrows to Lana Del Rey at home with my covers over my head
it’s a good thing I chose other addictions as outlets
because if I were an alcoholic
by now I’d probably be dead
Tag: music
New Blog!
Hi everyone!
As a fun side project, I’ve created a pop culture blog that will focus on 2000s and Today. I just recently wrote a review of The Spirit Room album by Michelle Branch, and I plan on doing a lot of other albums, books, movies, tv shows and etc. over there. So, if you would like more content from me, you can find it and 2000sandtoday.wordpress.com. So I’m looking forward to sharing some of my other interests with you and hope you’ll drop by.
-Cambria
Music to Write to: Bleachers ‘Stop Making This Hurt’
Chances are, if you’ve heard pop music within the past decade its been a Jack Antonoff song. Maybe not necessarily sung, but produced by. Antonoff has teamed up with everyone from his notable partnership with Taylor Swift, to Lorde to Lana Del Rey and to many more to name.
He is a certified audiophile, who both loves playing and making music. But prior to jumping into the producers seat he was known for his band Bleachers.
Released last week, “Stop Making This Hurt” has everything you’d expect from an Antonoff song. Synth, nostalgia, and waxing poetic on an American dream that doesn’t exist. Oh, and a saxaphone. It sounds exactly like something that should be played on the little jukebox at the diner that Antonoff so happily dances around in for the music video.
Music to write to: ‘Sour’ by Olivia Rodrigo
Unless you’ve been living in under a rock, by now you probably have heard of Olivia Rodrigo. The Disney star from High School Musical The Musical Series has already shown off her talents with original tracks written for the series. She also took the internet by storm with her deeply confessional, epic single ‘Drivers License’.
The single took the internet and SNL by storm. Since then, she has released two other songs off her debut album ‘Deja Vu’ and ‘Good 4 u’.
The teen songstress has talked in depth about her love of Taylor Swift, confessional lyrics, and 2000s punk. But prior to the album being released, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Disney popstar.
‘Sour’ is an emotional powerhouse from start to finish, that even with its quieter moments, will leave you sobbing by the end of the record. Rodrigo opens with ‘brutal’ which sounds like the love child of Garbage and Courtney Love.
The dreamy girl from the two debut love songs we’ve heard sings, “I’m so sick of seventeen/where’s my fucking teenage dream”. At first, the anger seems out of place. Olivia Rodrigo’s known for her sweet, bubbly personality. But then I remember the world her generations been brought into.
Riots. A previous presidential administration that was intent on making anyone ‘other’ their enemy. The earth dying as we know it. Racism. Sexism. COVID. Yes, it is BRUTAL OUT THERE as Rodrigo says and its the perfect opening track for Pops new Princess, as it were.
Angry, and disenfranchised, as their generation as more than a right to be.
The album itself somehow manages to come together, despite the fact that Rodrigo plays with sounds and genres. No one track sounds the same and yet the common thread of good songwriting and storytelling links them all together.
A decade ago, an album from a Disney star would have been met with derision. We have come a long way from the likes of Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez sitting in a studio with someone writing songs for them.
These new artists are a generation raised listening to songwriters, and the importance of words, and craft. They’re not just making radio friendly singles to sell. They’re making art, and it shows.
Rodrigo might be sour, but her album is a sweet, pop songwriter delight. And I look forward to what else she has in store.
Give Peace A Chance
There were four lads from Liverpool
who played music and sang to everyone
from the people in pubs to the Queen
and when they laughed, or talked or breathed
everyone watched and so did everyone change
they wrote songs about small people
dying all alone in a church with no name
and songs about big things
but when you talk about destruction
don’t you know you can count me out
and the simplest of these was a song
that said Love is all you need
and how cruel it is then
that one of the boys that sang such lovely things
and used his time to sit in beds and talk of peace
was shot down, dead, in the end.
What I’m Listening To: Still Alive by Alexz Johnson
If you are like me, you probably know Alexz Johnson from her days on Disney Channels So Weird or the CTV/ Teen Nick series Instant Star. Johnson debuted her singing skills as a teenager with the poppy “Dream About You” which premiered in the So Weird episode “Carnival”. Johnson would then go on to have several other songs on the supernatural, musically themed show as well as entire television show soundtracks for Instant Star.
What’s interesting about Johnson is that instead of taking the House of Mouse route, which she could have easily done, she decided on her own path. She’s always experimented musically, making sure her own sound is different than any of her television counterparts. She writes her own songs, and in each album, her personality shines.
A serious artist, dedicated to her craft, and never putting out the same thing twice. Stand out tracks from Still Alive include the following:
Living Colour
Swallowed
Lost and Found
Running With the Devil
The whole album is a dreamy, indie pop thing that will have you humming along to the whole thing.