Memes Aside, Frank's Got Something Special

Frank Ocean has always intrigued me a bit. He’s got that “too cool” yet “sensitive and approachable” vibe to him that even the best artists can’t really have. He just seems like a normal dude, you know? Still, I’ve never listened to his music because everyone seems so obsessed with him and naturally in my head this meant that he was mediocre, playing for the masses, trying to get everyone to love him. But throughout this semester I learned that my intuition about hating the music most people like is wrong (although my intuition about hating most people still holds true), so I decided to give Frank Ocean and his modern R&B sound a try.

His first actual album, Channel Orange, was released in 2012 with a lot of hype. So before this, around age 19, Ocean started ghost writing songs for J Biebs and John Legend, so you could say he was pretty much living the introvert musician’s dream. But after he and Kanye got tight, he joined that group of artists called Odd Future (with like all of the most famous hip hop dudes like Tyler the Creator). While he was chilling with them, he released a mixtape on his tumblr for free to pretty much see the reaction and people went wild. Next came Channel Orange which was obviously a hit (and the one I will be reviewing in a few sentences ;) ), but after this people literally stressed for YEARS about when his next album would drop. Here. Enjoy some memes about the stress.

When Blonde came out, I’m pretty sure everyone thought it was the second coming of Christ or something. There were good reviews from critics and regular people alike, and I think it was when I first understood that people like really appreciated Frank Ocean. But I’m always interested in how artists got their start, so that’s why I chose to review Channel Orange rather than Blonde. If you like Channel Orange, you should give Blonde a try too though.

A lot of critics have given Frank Ocean the “R&B signature of approval” by comparing him to other artists like Marvin Gaye (aka one of the best singers of all time). Pitchfork even called him “one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time”, which is pretty high praise from that blog (even I’m a little nicer than Pitchfork sometimes). Ocean kind of created this album out of nowhere, truly. He was pretty much a nothing before, and now he’s a name that most people would recognize. It’s pretty impressive to say the least.

Ocean uses his social media, specifically his tumblr, to speak to his audience, and that is really beneficial considering his audience is mostly young people. As I mentioned before, he released a mix tape on tumblr before, but perhaps more famous was when he came out as bisexual on tumblr. He was pretty much like, “yeah, when I was 19 I fell in love with a man for the first time” and everyone collectively made this face: 😱. This is because pretty much no other artists have come out in that kind of way – public and unapologetic – since, well, ever. His sexuality since then has always been talked about more than his music, truthfully, which is totally unfair, so in my blog post I’m going to try to stay away from that idea except when I discuss “Bad Religion” next because I feel like it’s not fair that people aren’t listening to his music for other things like sonic quality and stuff. Like he’s super bi, great!! I mean who cares if he uses different pronouns in his songs?? Everyone needs to calm down and just listen to his music for what it is and separate it from all of his personal stuff that doesn’t even matter to the music goddammit. Okay, angry feminist rant over.  (Honestly his sexuality doesn’t come out in his music on Channel Orange anyway because it was pre-coming out, but if you want to look at some of his LGBT kind of music check out Blonde which was released in 2016). But “Bad Religion” is about Frank getting some advice from a taxi driver who seems to be super religious. Everyone thinks that this song is about that guy he wrote about on tumblr, the first guy that he fell in love with, because it was unrequited and this song talks about a guy that he loved but didn’t love him. The only really interesting part of this song is when he says “I want him to love me”, and a lot of critics think that he’s talking about God here, because God is synonymous with being against homosexuality.

Frank Ocean, like a lot of other current and modern singers from that Odd Future group that he’s a part of (think Kanye West here), uses a lot tracks in between his lyrical and longer ones. The only way I can compare this to something I’ve seen before outside of music is the intercalary chapters in The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck (#literarynerd). Like they seemingly have nothing to do with the album because most of the time it is just background music with a person talking that isn’t even Frank, but they add to the album itself by creating a backdrop for some of the songs. Like, this whole album is literally just Ocean going through different memories of his life like he’s flipping through different TV channels, and the first track of the album “Start” is just the sounds of turning on a TV. These seemingly worthless tracks on their own add to the album as a whole and are super important to understanding the whole message behind the album itself. Like just looking at the work that was put into making this album work as a whole but also include tracks that could be considered popular singles just shows how talented of an artist Ocean really is.

Because this whole album is supposed to be completely about his life flashing before him and his different experiences, it’s obvious that Ocean put a lot of emotion and personal experiences into Channel Orange. Some of his personal experiences with money and poverty and love are the main things that Ocean talks about throughout the album, and I’ll be analyzing those in the only way I can (badly and probably completely biased).

“Super Rich Kids” is obviously the main track on the album that talks about money, but before going alllll into that, I’m going to let you in on Frank’s past life. Ocean was literally just like any other person (which is how these stories about people coming to fame usually happens. When is it my turn?? I’m also a struggling student??) He says that his musical success is from listening to some jazz music where he grew up in New Orleans. When he was in high school he started recording music and eventually moved to LA where all of his success happened (as discussed above). But he wasn’t exactly well off at all while he was growing up. He worked many jobs to try and produce his own music when he was still in high school and living in New Orleans, and he had to work in insurance when he was in LA to try and get in with a record company. So because he didn’t grow up rich like some other artists, he has a kind of humbling approach to writing about money that is evident in many of his tracks. In “Super Rich Kids” he discusses all of the good things that come from being rich at a young age, but it ends in a somber note of the character committing suicide and wishing for “real love”. It is super obvious in this song that Ocean doesn’t really respect people who grew up rich because everything was so easy for them, but at the same time he feels bad for them because they are lonely and don’t have real relationships. He seems to really hurt for those people. At the same time, in other songs like “Sweet Life” and “Not Just Money”, he shows situations from the other side of money. Like in “Not Just Money”, he got one of his friends to record this thing that sounds like a mom scolding him, mostly about how she doesn’t have the money to help him go to prom with a girl and that she has to pay the bills. Then in “Sweet Life” he talks about how rich people don’t escape their bubble of “richness” to look outside and see the people that are less fortunate. Like, same Frank. It’s really easy to relate to Ocean after hearing how he feels about money, because a lot of people (including myself) hate money and what it does to people, but also can see the luxury behind it. Like I’m drowning in student loans currently, and I feel like Frank kind of got me in some of his lyrics. It was nice hearing from someone that was so famous yet still understood the problems of not having enough money to pay rent or take a girl out on a nice date.

Frank also talks A LOT about love on this album. Literally anyone can tell that this poor dude has had some bad luck in the past. Even from those “intercalary” songs like “Fertilizer”, I could tell that Frank was like pleading with a girl to stop treating him badly (aka, stop treating me like shit pretty much haha get it “Fertilizer” and shit??). He also goes into how much he loves the female anatomy in like more tracks than I would be comfortable with tbh. Like… there were times when listening where I would turn the music down in fear of someone hearing that I was listening to this SMUT. It’s songs like “Pink Matter” that made me blush constantly, but Ocean is just being true to himself I guess and loving up on women and what he likes about them. Kudos to him for being strong enough to talk about that kind of stuff. He doesn’t just talk about romantic love throughout the album, though. In “Sierra Leone” he talks about how he got a girl pregnant when he was younger (fictional though). Yet the love he expresses in this song isn’t really for the girl herself, but his daughter. I loved how this album wasn’t just about loving someone for sex or for romantic feelings, but also for family. Frank Ocean is just full of love for all kinds of people and things and I love him for being so emotional he’s seriously the coolest.

All in all, Frank Ocean and R&B weren’t as completely mainstream as I thought they would be. I’m pleasantly surprised that I was able to relate to Frank on an emotional and monetary level, and I love that he is just primarily who he is and that he’s unapologetic about it all. I would suggest listening to Channel Orange and give it a chance. It might impact you like it did me.

So this is my last blog post friends L I know, it’s been quite a journey. What have we learned? I guess I can still say I’m snobby, that’s been made quite apparent hasn’t it? But at least I can say I tried all of this new music. I have loved exploring new things and appreciating music of all kinds. Music is really supposed to be something that impacts you and makes you think, and it doesn’t matter what genre it is. Music of all kinds can impact your life, as it has for me on this journey, and I’m so thankful to know that when Taylor Swift actually gets a happy relationship and isn’t talking about hating boys anymore I’ll still have lots of other artists to fall back on. But really, if you take anything away from my blog, just remember that all music matters. It is all valuable. Like you can hate on country if you really can’t stand country. But give it a chance first. Everything is relative to the person who made it and the person who is listening to it. Give everything a chance. Let the music speak for itself, and try to remove yourself from the boundaries of genre.

I Really Really Really Really Don't Like Pop Music, But I Don't Hate Carly Rae Jepsen

Now that I’ve really gotten into the nitty gritty of this semester, I’ve been having trouble trying to decide what genre to tear apart. Like I don’t hate THAT much music I’m not THAT evil. So now I’m kind of moving into some stuff that I’ve obviously heard before but I still can’t stand. Because I still can’t really stand pop, but it’s hard NOT to hear pop. Like it’s short for “popular music”. It’s literally everywhere.
Pop music was the genre when I was in middle school that I blindly pretended NOT to listen to. I was too indie for pop music!!! Give me some FOB or Panic! or MCR, but if you would have dare shoved Miley Cyrus or Selena Gomez or Justin Bieber under my nose at that time in my life, you would have swiftly been punched.

                But times have changed. I’m mature enough now to at least analyze the music before hating it. Like if there’s a purpose to music existing, I’m cool with it. Let’s see if pop music even falls into that category. I think music can be validated if it has had an impact to society or its history has shaped culture in some way, so I’ll be trying to show how pop music has shaped the culture everyone knows and loves today. The weary be warned: this might make you really hate me if I end up really hating on pop music. If I haven’t made a sorority girl cry yet, this is the post to do that. Continue reading if you dare.

                I’m a good little Sociology 101 student, so I know that culture is pretty much just anything that makes a group of people feel like they belong together. So, for example, literally everyone in Pennsylvania loves this gas station called Sheetz, it’s a thing. Therefore, Sheetz is a part of our culture. (I’m pretty sure the only thing some of my fellow Pennsylvanians and I agree on is Sheetz.)

                Sheetz would technically be a part of the popular culture of Pennsylvania. Popular culture is anything that the general majority of the public is really into, and pop music falls into this category. Everyone flocks to pop music because it is generally really easy to listen to and everyone can get it. It’s like country music but for people who don’t think they’re cowboys – songs about love, life with 1^st world problems, and everything in between that will make everyone feel like they can relate to the song.

                Carly Rae Jepsen is the new artist that is sort of the definition of pop music - every one of her songs have a repetitive electronic beat in the background that supports her bubble gum-sweet voice singing about those really “important” issues like loving someone who doesn’t love you and partying with the gals. Carly Rae Jepsen, with her new album Emotion, kept up this same style that she used on previous albums gathered even more fame from the whole ordeal.

                Emotion was released during the summer of 2015, and the album itself almost screams summer. The first upbeat song of the album, “Run Away With Me”, is followed again and again (AND AGAIN, screams my inner monologue, tired of listening to the same thing over and over again) for the remaining 14 songs of the album. Carly at least knew what kind of demographic she was singing toward, because all of her songs hit that stereotypical beach song, perfect for a summer day. The pop music that people usually like of today is happy-go-lucky, high tempo and heavy on the bass, and Carly includes this in every single one of her songs on her newest album, Emotion.

                Because Emotion was released pretty recently, Carly no longer had to compete with other artists that used to be in the same category as her like Miley Cyrus or Selena Gomez or Demi Lovato. Those original Disney good girls have broken the mold that they were placed into and turned into something different that is still pop but more grown up and inappropriate. Like Carly’s songs could play at any event and not offend anyone – your grandma’s 90^th birthday party, your cousin’s 5^th birthday, an R rated movie during a fun party scene – literally anywhere. Carly has put herself into our culture as the person who can fit into any mold which is kind of cool. For example, her biggest song on Emotion is easily “I Really Like You”. The catchy, appropriate and repetitive lyrics are easy to remember (and also get in your head haha kill me!!!) so they are perfect for the younger generations, yet they have that relatable factor for the people in their 20s and 30s that kind of includes almost half of the population. And she put Tom Hanks in the music video?? That gives people over 30 a reason to at least see the music video and get attached.

Rather than fitting herself into a certain culture like some artists do (Taylor Swift with mid-20s awkward-in-love gals, Beyoncé with strong, empowered women, Justin with girls that want to have sex with him), Carly created an image that places her literally anywhere, and I found that really cool as I started listening to her music.

Carly, and along with a myriad of other behind the scenes people, wrote Emotion because they knew it worked. Like I love avant-garde music as much as anyone else, but why mess with something that you know works? I guess I can’t say that I exactly love Carly’s music, but I can see why she continues again and again to release the same kind of music every couple of years – it never goes out of style. Maybe in a few years she’ll pull a Miley and go totally berserk on us, but I don’t think that will happen. She knows her audience, she knows what her audiences feels strongly connected to, and so she sings what they want. I guess if I was an internationally known artist with millions in my bank account rather than .23 cents, I’d do the same thing.

REVISED No Longer Paranoid About Heavy Metal

This week, I'll be looking at the genre of heavy metal!! I postponed looking at this genre FOR THE LONGEST TIME (@BillyJoel) because I was seriously scared. I can honestly say that I thought listening to heavy metal music would be like being thrown back into Hot Topic in the early 2000s. Hot Topic is actually the first thing I thought of when I chose heavy metal music as the next genre for me to tear apart because the music they used to play was my only definition of "metal". And I was really scared of Hot Topic back in the day. Middle School Mikayla just wanted to buy some nerdy Harry Potter shirts, but I was constantly assaulted by the screams that blared throughout the store and the piercings of the employees. So therefore, I always thought that heavy metal was piercings and screaming.  And maybe you did too. But after reading this post, you’ll probably realize that metal music isn’t all just incomprehensible screaming with some scary background music, as I once thought. This is a candid of what I thought listening to heavy metal all weekend would be like:

It wasn't that painful thankfully. 

I think it’s pretty obvious that it takes a lot for me to really and wholeheartedly enjoy music (in case you haven’t noticed from my past blog posts oops). I feel like it really needs to mean something, it needs to hit me in my heart and give me a new opinion of the world or some fluffy crap like that. Heavy metal may seem like it doesn’t have that oompf that other genres have, but I’ve realized after researching a bit (ugh) that most of the oompf for heavy metal comes from its past.

Heavy metal is a really complex genre, actually. It was really just a transformation from the late stages of rock, think Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, etc. Most critics of the genre agree that the first band that was actually “heavy metal” was Black Sabbath. This comes from like multiple blogs and also in a book by Scott Wilson. After this, some other bands in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s started to appear like Metallica and Megadeath etc and made heavy metal music the most popular it would be. The genre relied on being loud and distorted and different from other genres that came before it which really led to its rise in popularity until it branched off into different subgenres like screamo, death metal, thrash metal and nu metal in the ‘90s. 

As popular heavy metal and rock blogger DestroyerofHarmony stated in 2014, "each band in each metal genre needs to create a song that hits us on the first listen". A few paragraphs ago I talked about songs hitting me, and when I read this off of a really creepy metal blog, I realized that heavy metal can hit you. I don’t think DestroyerofHarmony necessarily meant that heavy metal hits you in the heart all the time like I really like music to do (probably because he’s all strong and cool and wears black clothes and I compare myself to Taylor Swift on the daily), but like heavy metal can hit you in the gut (loud and kind of painful) or in the mind (think Pink Floyd here maybe), or yes even in the heart sometimes I guess. So heavy metal is obviously a very powerful kind of sound, but in a different way. Most heavy metal tracks, unlike other genres like country or pop, use the background music to really get into people's faces and make their ears bleed. Pop and country use things like a powerful melodic line or some really cool vocals to get their powerful image across (I'm thinking Ariana or Adele here). Heavy metal tracks could also hit with really powerful and introspective lyrics, or even some relatable lyrics that come close to home. Heavy metal hits the listener in multiple body parts (gross this probably needs reworded but oh well) and ways, and soon you’ll see if the band I listened to, Black Sabbath, hit me or not.

I’ll be listening to the band that is commonly credited with creating heavy metal, Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath started after lots of oppression because everyone in England was tired of the economy sucking. Most of the members of the band Black Sabbath actually worked in factories, the main job of the time period in England. Their darker sound is accredited to the main guitarist, Tony Iommi losing two of his fingertips in a factory accident which made him loosen his guitar strings. Loosening the strings made it easier for him to still play guitar. By loosening his guitar strings, he changed the key of the instrument (fondly called drop d tuning by many people currently because apparently like no one plays in standard tuning anymore) and it changed the sound of the band. Heavy metal really relies on the distorted electric guitar just because of Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath. Also, the lead singer of Black Sabbath was Ozzy Osbourne like pre ALLLLLL ABOARDDDD HAHAHAHAHAHHHAHA crazy train era. His voice and strong accent set him apart from lead singers of previous bands.

 Most of the songs on the Black Sabbath album Paranoid have long electric guitar features by Tony Iommi. You can think of this when you listen to “War Pigs/Luke’s Wall” (because if I had to listen to this album, you have to try too). Like the whole first minute of the song is just guitar playing. It’s obvious that the beginnings of heavy metal music focused more on the sound of the background music than the lyrics or melody. The melody in every song, especially the title track from this album, is the same thing repeated over and over again. The only things that differ in songs are the intense electric guitar solos or the drumming sequence. It seems like Black Sabbath just really wanted their music to be felt not listened to, if that makes any sense. Every song on the album hits the main points of the trends of heavy metal set down by experts because Black Sabbath WAS the original heavy metal band. They created the genre so what they've included in their first album IS the genre. It's hard to try to fit Black Sabbath into a certain mold because they created the mold. The seemingly short 8 track album is something special because each of the songs stays on the heavy metal brand.

It seems like the band used a lot of technology to make some of the special sounds on their album. For example, in “Planet Caravan”, Ozzy’s voice sounds far away and almost underwater. This sonic effect allows the listener to feel like the band felt when they wrote this song – lost in nature and themselves. Other songs, like “Electric Funeral” use some sort of distortion machine for the guitar, making the sounds it produced all drawn out and sloppy. This gives kind of a lazy yet knowing sound to the guitar, perfect for this song. A good many songs, like “Paranoid” and “Iron Man” don’t play with these elements, and the band truly just sticks to what they know (some really cool, really powerful songs).

So yeah, like I said before I’d let you guys know if Black Sabbath “hit”. Black Sabbath DEFINITELY hits. I guess it’s something that you’d just have to experience, but the band really does make it their mission to get into the body of the listener and make them feel like they are experiencing something different and new and wonderful. Black Sabbath mostly hit me in my gut and my mind, which is truthfully usually not the way I like to be “hit”, but they did it so well that I almost don’t mind. Please. Listen to this album. I don’t think I’ve ever actually wanted someone to experience music more than I do now.

Like thanks Black Sabbath for cracking my hard exterior that hates to be wrong. This album is definitely something you need to not only listen to, but like look up the lyrics. Find the inspiration behind the songs. Every single part of this band, their history, the members, their lyrics, their sound, everything is interesting and deserves to be appreciated. If I can appreciate heavy metal, then anything is possible pretty much. 

I am God's vessel too, Kanye!!

     I've never really been a fan of Kanye West personally because I feel like he’s a jerk and self-centered and obnoxious because of the whole Kanye 2020, "I'll let you finish but.." and the recent Famous music video. So I always had just assumed his music would be jerky and self-centered and obnoxious. And let’s be real here: I’ll always love Taylor more than anyone she screws over. So Kanye was never really my forte and I’ve never taken him seriously. To be completely honest, I’ve actually never given any rap or hip hop album a chance because I always write them off as inappropriate to women or unintelligent.



     So this week I’ve been putting myself through the task of listening to Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I decided to review this album of West’s because everyone’s always like “I miss the old Kanye!” and this was pre-"Yeezy" phase. 

      Here's some background on Kanye's life when My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. This was after he was a total jerk to TSwift at the VMAs in 2009 but also pre Kim and their beautiful children. He was actually dating Amber Rose at the time, an ex who he now attacks like on the daily. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was Kanye's 5th album so at that point he already had some fame and knew the consequences and benefits of it.

     One of the first things I noticed as a beginner in Kanye’s world was his number of featured artists. Literally none of his songs on this album are just Kanye. And they aren’t just rappers, either. Sure, he picked up Nicki Minaj and Kid Cudi and Jay-Z, but also featured are Beyoncé, Bon Iver and John Legend. It seems from the beginning that Kanye isn’t just putting out an album, he’s making his own little production. Of course, he’s playing the lead, but he knows he has to have some people in the chorus to back him up so he goes even higher. Most of the featured artists Kanye brought in on this album spent a lot of time in the studio chillin with Kanye while he wrote and produced the songs so a lot of their influence went into the tracks too. Bon Iver was actually in the studio the entire time Kanye wrote this album, and he and Kanye apparently wore tuxes every day. Although Kanye calls himself a great artist, it seems that at least on this album he relies on other artists to express himself in a better way by not just being featured in the song but also helping create them.


       Kanye's album can be broken down into three main concepts. Or at least I think it can because I went to a public school and all I've done since elementary school was make thesis statements to summarize things!!! Anywho, the three concepts are power and race.

       Kanye actually does something kind of fantastic on the majority of the album. He takes what could only be called "sick beats" and just layers the voices of the featured artists he brings in underneath his voice which flows on the top. This happens especially well in his tracks like "POWER" and "All of the Lights". He brings in powerful brass instruments to compliment his whole idea of being strong and cool. "Monster", my favorite track on the album, also does this. Jay-Z, one of the featured rappers on this track, apparently once said that a monster refers to a really great song so Kanye probably took this little tidbit from his BFF and created a song out of it. "Everybody knows I'm a motherf*ckin Monster!" Nicki Minaj is also featured on "Monster" and her verse has been given great reviews for her use of different accents and way of rapping.  Nicki kind of became huge after this feature so without Kanye we might not have been graced by the "Roman Queen" herself. So I'm pretty sure when Kanye wrote and recorded this album he looked up the definition of power online and was like okay that's what I'm doing and it turned out to be really amazing.
        Another amazing thing about this album is the way Kanye tackled the topic of race. The last two tracks on the album, "Lost In The Woods" and "Who Will Survive in America" are the two songs that do this best.  "Who Will Survive In America" is actually a spoken poem from Gil Scott-Heron's album Comment #1 from 1970. Kanye added the background music to make it more interesting and relevant to some of his listeners probably. I think it's really cool how he actually used Gil Scott-Heron's voice instead of his own because that just added more history to it. Kanye was trying to say here that issues that faced the black community in the 1970s still face the black community today so this speech is still relevant. One of the best lines from the speech was "Democracy, liberty and justice were just revolutionary code names".


        Kanye West is definitely not someone I thought I would say this about, but he created an intelligent, interesting and truly great album with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I was talking with some Kanye fanatics actually, and I found out that the Kanye we know and I hate of today with Yeezus and Famous happened after this album was created. It seems that he either took his break up with Amber Rose super hard or he just saw a way to make more money and took the opportunity. Either way I'm just super glad he put out like five albums before his "Godlike" alter ego emerged because this album is fantastic and now I can say I'm a fan of Kanye West. Can you believe that???

REVISED When You Think Tim McGraw I Hope You Think Of Me

So my sister is COUNTRY. And because I’m the younger sister I have that natural “I don’t want to be like my sister” sentiment so I’m NOT COUNTRY. Still, I had to ask her what album I should do for my least and her favorite genre.

Tim McGraw is actually a pretty cool guy. McGraw has made fourteen albums so far (and he’s still going) which either means he just keeps repeating the same thing over and over again or he’s a really creative guy. But according to the many awards he’s won (3 Grammys, 8 CMAs, 6 Billboard Awards and many more), most people seem to think it’s the latter. I’ll be reviewing Live Like You Were Dying which was written in 2004 because it seemed to have the biggest fan following.

I'll be rating the songs based on cowboy hats (🤠🤠🤠🤠🤠 is the best, 🤠 probably means I vomited in between listening to the song and reviewing it)

How Bad Do You Want It

As soon as I pulled this song up on my Spotify, I immediately felt that same feeling I always get when I listen to country music – OH NO STOP TURN IT OFF. The twangy “gee-tar” in the beginning paired with just Tim’s voice allowed the song to start off slowly and lead into the rest of the song which is louder and country-summer-stadium-tour Powerful. But, Tim does sound like he’s telling a story throughout the song which was cool because I’m a sucker for lyrics that *~mean something~*. 🤠🤠

My Old Friend

This song didn’t make me sick to my stomach. Good for you, Tim! Honestly without the addition of the banjo this would have sounded like one of those acoustic indie songs that everyone is obsessed with. It had that classic storytelling element as well (which is maybe what country is all about!) and seemed to actually mean something to Tim as he sang. His voice was softer and yet more assured throughout this song, as if he knew what he had to say but didn’t know how to say it. So I’m pleasantly surprised. 🤠🤠🤠🤠

Can’t Tell Me Nothin’

I “can’t tell you nothin’” about this song. Haha! But seriously, I guess it was catchy. Not in a good way, though. Let’s just say if Tim would’ve sang the phrase“can’t tell me nothin’” one more time I would’ve stolen the bow from his obnoxious violin player and STABBED HIM WITH IT. 🤠

Old Town New

Ah yes. Every country album has to have the sad, “I’ve lost love song” on it. Yet Tim seemed to make it something more, actually. It wasn’t just oh I’m sad and she left me and it’s over. He was actually the one that was losing his love but couldn’t leave his, I’m guessing wife?, because everything reminds him of her and he knows he still wants her and doesn’t that just make your heart beat faster, gals? Does Tim have a single brother by any chance? Lol anyway, the build-up of this song was great too. It followed the idea of him first not realizing he needed a change with just him and a guitar but when the violins came in he KNEW he had to fight for her. And the climax was him going to her, every instrument wailing out the same question, do you still love me? Ahhh romance. Gross. 🤠🤠🤠

Live Like You Were Dying

Ok, this song actually made me emotional. Long story short, it’s about Tim's dad that finds out he’s dying from cancer and Tim’s dad says he's not afraid of dying because he already lived a full life. The only place where the instruments in the background mattered was during that AMAZING key change. I love key changes especially when they make the hair on my arms raise and this was that kind of key change - a seemingly simple half step higher yet it made Tim's voice SO MUCH BETTER.
“Like tomorrow is a gift/And you’ve got eternity to think about what to do with it” is the line that I think spoke to me the most. We worry about education and jobs and money when we should be focusing on the times we spend outside of that zone – with family and friends making memories. This song did make me think, so if you’re looking to ponder your existence, give this track a good listen!!🤠🤠🤠🤠 🤠

Drugs or Jesus?

“Everyone wants to do drugs and *I* want to get high on JESUS!” Calm down, Tim. If you honestly think Jesus didn’t smoke a blunt at the last supper you’re just fooling yourself. 🤠

Back When

This song was really whiny. Tim misses the old country music. You know, when he sang it “before it was cool”. “I miss back whennnnnn”. So do I. Like before I started listening to this song. 🤠

Something’s Broken

"Something's Broken" is what I expected to listen to when I started playing this album. Tim's voice is deeper and has a rougher sound to it. Which is good considering he's talking about his lady leaving him. It sounds like he's trying to make himself sound tougher. Either way, this different is a good different. It really shows how great of an artist Tim really is. A lot of artists just have a progressing sound between each album, but he was able to do it between songs. It shows growth and maturity as a singer. Still the song was super country so I personally give it 🤠🤠

Open Season On My Heart

Let’s just say that I could’ve written this back in 7^th grade when I thought I was going to be famous someday. It follows the ABAB rhyme pattern and consists of the same four chords. Normally I wouldn’t judge artists for following a trend that sounds great, but after listening to the first 8 tracks, I know Tim’s better than this. 🤠

Everybody Hates Me

I SO WISH I would’ve hated this one so I could’ve sassily said “yeah, because you made this song”, but I like it!! It almost makes me want to buy a red pickup truck, drink some cold beers from the bottle and own a tractor. Almost. 🤠🤠

Walk Like A Man

If Tim didn’t have the country sounding voice that he does, the beginning would’ve seriously sounded like a slow jam pop song. Unfortunately, that only lasted for 30 seconds. But this song was chilling. Yes, it had the same beat and instrumentation and probably chords of his other slower songs, but the lyrics in contrast made it all the better. It was pretty much about how his dad was a screw up and his mom wanted more for the son. I guess country boys have daddy issues too. Still, Tim showed great depth here. If only more country artists sang about real issues. 🤠🤠🤠

Blank Sheet Of Paper

Another whiny and unimpressive love song. 🤠

Just Be Your Tear

This was "You Belong With Me" by TSwift except for boys. Seriously a jam. I can see myself embarrassingly dancing in my room to this song when I get a crush on someone I can't have. Taylor writes about Tim McGraw in her first album when she tried to be country (take a look at the title), and I'm guessing she was probably super inspired by him just by listening to this song. Thank God for Tim, because if he brought me Taylor I owe him my middle school self's life. 🤠🤠🤠

Do You Want Fries With That?

No words for the hate I have for this song. That's all. 🤠 

Kill Myself

Hi this song is grimly dark. Again Tim tackles a tough topic while still keeping the same sound. The song still has the usual enjoyable country feel to it but the lyrics penetrate your soul. Seriously profound stuff from this guy. I love how he puts aside his image to write something different from any other country song I have heard. 🤠🤠🤠🤠

We Carry On

Zoom in on Tim McGraw's huge stadium filled crowd. Everyone is swaying in unison and raising their lighters up in approval. I feel like this is the song every *true* Tim McGraw fan gets down to. "We Carry On" is that song you hear in your head when you're having that moment that you know is going to be an amazing memory and you stop to look around at all of the love in your life and time stops. A fantastic portrayal of love without having to say it. 🤠🤠🤠

This album has opened my eyes a bit to the potential country could have. I know I'm never going to like ALL country (who likes all music from a certain genre?), but I can at least say I don't hate it anymore! Perhaps it isn't just people singing about tractors and corn fields and beer. If you've never given country a try, give this album a listen. 

About Me!!!! (because you totally care!!!!!!!)

       Hey guys, my name is Mikayla, and I'm a student completing this project for a super rad English 102 course. This isn't an ordinary music blog, trust me on that. Because I'm not ordinary, and this blog is me: every character, punctuation mark and space is a thought that has gone through my probably less than mentally sound head and has been metaphorically barfed onto this page for all of you to enjoy! Hooray! 
       What are you getting yourself into? I have dedicated this blog to review albums from popular genres that I have never taken the time to seriously listen to: country, hip hop, techno and MORE! I'm going to review six different genres during this journey. I want to show that although we might not listen with meaning to every song and genre and artist available to us, we shouldn't bash what other people like because we might just be surprised by what we hear. 
        So why would I put myself through the task of trying to change people's opinions on something as complex as music? Let me let all of you in on a little secret: I'm a super snobby person (read as: a normal young adult). I have name brand jeans, I delete Instagram posts if they don't get over 70 likes, and before starting this project, I thought I KNEW music, like wholeheartedly. I mean, I always knew other types of music existed, but they weren't good enough for my superior tastes. So if my snobby opinion can be changed, yours can too. 
         If you're crazy enough to read, you'll get to see all of my super sarcastic reactions, and maybe something I'll even enjoy. I'm hoping to inspire you to do something crazy too and listen to these different genres. Perhaps we'll all be pleasantly surprised. Or they'll totally suck and I was right all along (probable). So if you want new music and want a super cool girl to tell you about it, you've come to the right place. Welcome aboard, it's going to be an interesting ride.