Rambling Thoughts About Music

I tend to go through periods of listening to one particular artist, album, or song. My earliest memory of this is when I made a mix CD in middle school with a bunch of songs and proceeded to only listen to "Here (In Your Arms)" by hellogoodbye. I remember putting it on a loop and listening to it to the point where it somehow made me physically ill. I remember becoming nauseous whenever I heard the first few notes. I don't remember how long that lasted but it was a pretty memorable experience.

Although I haven't reached that point of listening to something too much since then, I still make good use of the loop function. Right now, I'm in a J. Cole's The Fall Off phase. I've listened to "I Love Her Again" so many times since it was released. I love music that tell a story. I like the nod to Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R". I wasn't familiar with Common's song before I read the comments about it, but I really like it. Both are allegories (I think) in which "she" represents hip-hop as a genre and the events that occur represent the evolution of hip-hop. I think it's thoughtful and purposeful (not that I necessarily believe art has to be purposeful).

Speaking of purposeful art, I've heard a lot of great music and poetry these past few months. Being here, knowing what we know, feels awful right now. Sometimes it feels like there's no justice in the world and things will be awful forever, but the art keeps me hopeful. This will pass eventually. We got through Covid, we can get through this.

Somewhat related but I really enjoyed listening to and analyzing Taylor Swift's music a while back. I liked the story-telling and the "what if this is actually about this" ideas, but it feels different now. I hope I can have a "I Love Her Again"-like experience with her music someday in the future. I thought it was a lot of fun.