It’s crazy to think that the end of the decade is here! So much has changed over the past decade…especially in music! Spotify and Apple Music changed the way people listened to music. Kanye released an album only to constantly change it over time. And genres are living in hospice care.
On top of all that though, some of new favorite artists launched their careers; and with my 20s being quite the roller coaster, there are a handful of albums that were the soundtracks to seasons of my life. I wanted to recap some of those albums because I still love albums and prefer listening through an album for the millionth time than listening to a single. Albums are art. A body of work. A musical painting telling a story or capturing a season of an artist’s life.
Here’s a list of the albums that had the most influence on me this decade, how they did, and why.
The 1975, The 1975
In med school, I, like many others, lived in the library. When you’re studying anywhere from 8-12 hours a day, you tend not to leave very often ‘cause you don’t want anyone taking your table (seat check, PAs).
Because there aren’t a lot of great things to do during a study break in library and Galveston’s heat and humidity made going on a walk a sweaty nightmare, I constantly found myself scrolling through my Facebook’s People You May Know (still a habit to this day) and clicking on the similar artists section on Spotify.
I think I was obsessively listening to “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood when I found The 1975 on Similar Artists. At that time, I had decided to give up playing as a singer/songwriter under my birth name to create a band (a decision that led to Class Jackson). The trouble was figuring out what kind of music I was going to make having just made a JM-inspired singer/songwriter and an inspo pop EP.
I had decided on doing something that was pop with a lot of guitar that also had some R&B influence as well as 80s pop and deep and thoughtful lyrics. Whenever someone asked for an example of what that would sound like, I’d be like “I don’t know, honestly.”
That is until I heard this album! It was honestly everything I loved and wanted to make in music and from then on, they’ve been my favorite band. That summer I listened to that album 2-3 times a day from a month. That’s how much I loved it!
Favs from this album include “The City”, “Chocolate”, “Sex”, “Settle Down”, “Girls”, “Robbers", “Menswear”, and “Pressure” (aka the whole album).
Blonde, Frank Ocean & 22, A Million, Bon Iver
I put them together because they came out around a month apart from each other. At that time in life, I was studying for my second board exam and trying to decide if I was going to go straight into residency or take some time away from medicine for a bit.
It was a very stressful season in life where I was super isolated and studying 13-16 hours a day and having so many identity crises, so I listened to a lot of music.
Both albums were highly anticipated and by some of my favorite eclectic and extremely artistic musicians. Each album was very different from their prior album, which I appreciated, and had deep themes that ran throughout them.
Blonde switches from light to dark in the middle of “Nights” and had has a little theme song melody and dialogue that shows up throughout. 22, A Million has a whole number scheme with weird titles and mixes acoustic music you could imagine playing over a hiking movie scene and I, Robot’s computer and robot takeover.
Those albums gave us “Nikes”, “Nights”, “White Ferrari”, “Godspeed”, “33 ‘God’”, “29 #Strafford APTS”, “8 (circle)”, “8 (circle)”, and “8 (circle)”.
Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Honestly if I sit at a red light on the intersection of Lake Austin Blvd and Atlanta St, I hear the intro to “Perth” (first song on the album) in my head. At the end of the summer of 2012, I had just graduated college and finished an internship that ended up not leading to a job. I was pretty stressed about what I was going to do for the next year while I finished up YoungLife in Austin before I started med school the next summer.
Every Sunday morning, I would go to Austin Stone at the crack of dawn to volunteer with preschoolers for the 9 am service. And THAT LIGHT…early in the morning is green for like 2 seconds. And if you know me, I was always running late ‘cause I probably went to bed 4 hours ago, if that.
I would sit there, stressed about the next year and stressed about being late and the light adding back all the minutes I’d shaved off my ETA and listen to this album. I would just sit there and pray that God would provide and it would all work out.
The combo of those marching drums in “Perth,” the angelic blanket of “Holocene,” and the waltz of the piano in “Wash.” helped me keep chugging along.
So every time I sit at that light, I think of how I got to make my first EP and learn how to write and record complete songs, I had a job and a place to live, finished YoungLife, and above all things, God provided!
Favs from this album include “Perth”, “Holocene”, “Towers”, “Michicant”, and “Wash.”.
Mylo Xyloto, Coldplay
This might be obvious given the whole Coupe Cathedral project I’m working on (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, find out about it here.) but y’all…I LOVE CONCEPT ALBUMS!!!
I thought the colorful graffiti artwork along with the comic books attached to them were so cool!
I remember when this album came out and one of my best friends, Huey, and I would listen to with the windows down coming home from campus, headed to play soccer at the IM fields, and honestly all the time. It was a soundtrack of joy and freedom and late nights filled with Monster drinks and Sour Patch Kids (aka me falling asleep).
Plus, this album fights for the title of my favorite Coldplay album with Viva La Vida (Prospekt’s March edition, of course).
“Hurts Like Heaven”, “Charlie Brown”, “Princess of China”, and “Don’t Let It Break Your Heart” are my favs from this album! Try not to dance, smile, or bob your head when you listen to them!
YOU CAN’T!
to be continued… [read Part II here]