What do Billie Eilish and Pink Floyd have in common?
They both play music.
Music is a strange beast. It can mean nothing to some, and everything to others. At it’s essential core, it’s just a bunch of sounds put in a specific order. For some that order will make it sound wonderful, for others it will sound terrible. An incredibly subjective artform that is arguably one of the most accessible artforms. It has existed for millenium, why do we love it so much?
I have had a strong relationship with music since I was a kid, my parents raised me on it. Music has been with me through my deepest lows and soaring highs. I use music as a form of communication between my peers, trading in songs on the playground. By the time I became a teenager I sought pride in finding underground or “new” artists on MySpace and playlists shared on the Urban Outfitter’s Blog and Limewire. I care deeply about my preference in music and seek out friends who have similar values around music. As much as I might try and downplay it, music is incredibly important to my identity. I have carried it around like a badge of honour ever since I declared The Beatles were my favourite band at age 6.
Perhaps that sounds arrogant. Cool story bro, do you want an award or something? You like music, so what?
Well, I think music is really important for us as humans. Regardless of the language people have music, it comes in so many forms for so many societies. People have always come together around music. It’s a part of most ceremonies, isn’t it? The good ones and the bad ones…
I think I’ve listened to music more during this current climate than I have in a long time. Music has been like a blanket to me, comforting me in ways I didn’t know possible. I realize that since March I have listened to specific artists for specific reasons. Apart from when I am working on creative writing, I have had two general moods to music as of late; I either want to lean into the blues (or mean reds as Audrey Hepburn would have said), or push right ahead with an aggressive upbeat outlook on life, happiness for happiness sake as one might say. There has been no in between for me.
A lot has changed, in a short amount of time. It’s unclear for all of us what’s down the road and that’s alarming. Our mind wants to go to the worst case scenario, it’s understandable we want to protect ourselves, but we can’t guarantee anything right now, that’s terrifying to even comprehend.Needless to say, I have leaned heavily into music and how it makes me feel.
I want to switch things up on Fridays and share something with you, this week I want to share with you a playlist of one of the strong feelings I’ve had during this time in isolation. This week it’s a bit of a downer I’ll admit but these are the tunes I have been consuming on the regular when I want to lean into the darker emotions I’ve faced during this global pandemic.
Does music connect with you in the same way?
I promise I listen to happy music too, I’ll make you another one of these next week to prove it. Until then let me know what you think of this one.
Take care,
Amanda
Title Image by Sunshineandadd Blog Blog from Tumblr
Image of me re-taken by me, I should probably stop taking photos of other photos.
