“The album Lover, is something that I’m so proud of because it really feels like such a special album because it’s the natural continuation of the story of my life … My last album, Reputation, I really looked at that album as- I always do ... visuals, and aesthetics in my mind of what an album represents. Reputation, for me, was, like, city-scape, nighttime, darkness, ahh, like, full swamp witch. But, this album, for me, felt aesthetical and from an energetic perspective very daytime, very sun-lit fields …. I pictured this and wrote music from a much more open very free, romantic, whimsical place." It’s also her first (and only) album that she owns the masters of. Wonder why? Try these articles:
“I don’t know if you guys know this, [but] I have a thing with 13… it’s a very little known fact about me, no one knows it, I’m not obnoxious about it, at all- but, in the 13th year of my career, I really wanted to do something exciting and retrospective and nostalgic." She dug up her old journals to inspire her, starting at age 13, and read some exterpts aloud. It’s super sweet. It comes along with the deluxe version of the album (trust me, it’s already on my Christmas list).
Here are some of my thoughts on each song.
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Taylor Swift's new song, "You Need To Calm Down" is hella awesome and a total anti-hate anthem- I love it! Also, her music video is perfectly dramatic and wonderful and GAY. So, here, watch it!
Grace VanderwaalGrace Vanderwaal is a singer who won America’s Got Talent with her own songs and her ukulele in 2016, when she was 12-years-old. In her first televised audition, she got the golden buzzer and was called, “The next Taylor Swift,” by Simon Cowell. I can’t help but agree. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and, in my mind, her simple background and instrumentation. As of yet, she has 1 full album, 1 EP, and 3 singles out. She headlined for Imagine Dragons in 2018. I recommend listening to all of her songs, by the way. There aren’t many musicians I feel this passionate about. She is incredibly talented and will be going far. I love that she wears so many flower crowns. I saw a video of an outdoor performance where she got stung by a bee and laughed and said, "Yo, that thing stung me!" and kept dancing (barefoot). Love it. "Stray"The song starts with a haunting tone. She builds in intensity throughout the song, but holds onto that quiet, deep soul feel. Her lyrics describe the struggles of songwriting and also emotions, in general. The first lines are: I wanna write a song One that can explain my loss I wanna write a song That you can hear and [pause] Know how my heart yearns The song is led by guitar (different from most previous songs with her ukulele), a steady, simple, drum beat, and simple harmonies of her own voice on top of the melody. Her songs all tell moving stories. Some are about growing up, others about finding yourself, and the fear and uncertainty that comes along with that. I can relate. SingabilityNote: I’m not great at singing (that’s okay), but I love it. I’ve made my peace with this. It’s way too much fun to just stop. Besides, Opequon taught me that there is no such thing as a bad singer. You can make noises with your mouth? Congrats, you can sing. Thanks, Elaine.
Her songs can be difficult to sing, but most of them have the ukulele, which makes them fun to play. And this one feels sort of in my range, so that's cool. I find only certain songs work on the ukulele. The more electronic the song, the flatter it sounds with just me and my uke. I wanted to learn how to play this song particularly badly. I’ve tried some of her other songs, and it’s gone okay. Also, it’s always easy to find chords for her stuff. When I found the chords, there were two things I did not like. First off, the original version starts with a capo on the fourth fret (makes it a bit harder). The second was the E chord. Ugh! Like most songs, it has four chords (Am, F, G, E), which should be easy enough. Except, I’ve worked very hard to avoid practicing the E chord. It’s just hard. E and B chords often are, but I don’t know enough music things to understand why. But, this song was worth it. There are two lines, later in the song, that I want to point out. “I keep only seeing rain” and “I wanna feel the way I used to.” Hit me like a ton of bricks, man. Love it. Let me know if you want to hear more reviews about music, especially since reading isn’t happening for me at the moment. Singers, albums, or individual songs? PS. Grace Vanderwaal is a literal goddess, guys, pass it on. Dodie Clark is a British singer-songwriter who started as a Youtuber. She vlogs (video-blogs) to talk about writing, music, and about her own life. She writes some pretty silly songs and parodies, but also some legitimate lyrics that I think are pretty mind-blowing. Her songs are soft and sweet, usually accompanied by her ukulele, but sometimes also her guitar or piano. Most of the music I listen to is of a similar genre, sort of on the edge of indie and lo-fi. It's relaxing to just let the chords roll over you.
Inspired by this lovely video, I created a Spotify playlist with all of the songs I could find between these four artists. I haven't stopped playing it, so I'm going to leave this here if anyone is interested :)
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