The Music of 2024: Q2
In which Taylor Swift drops a new album and I not only don't listen to it, I don't listen to any T-Swift at all.
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April
CD Rec: Idina Menzel, "idina." (2016)
I tried this once before and it didn't stick, but every so often I get mournful about the good old days when I could randomly find albums to love, so I checked this out of the library and thanks to a 35-minute drive to a book sale, SHA-BAM! I now love this, maybe not quite as much as "I Stand," but still quite a lot! I tend to skip over the slower songs, but I don't hate anything. Top 8 listed in the order I fell for them.
(side note: this is very definitely a breakup album, lmao)
16. Queen of Swords
I'm slaying like the queen of swords
Absolutely the best, bounciest, most single-like track on the album, and where I recommend you start.
17. Show Me
Balancing on a tightrope wire
Build the walls, build the walls up higher
Until you, until now
Lovely feel-good ode about meeting someone who wants to see the parts you think you should keep hidden away. In retrospect, not sure how this chorus was so quick to catch my ear, but can't argue w/ Past Me now.
18. Small World
Up here I'm weightless
No stars are famous
And the world is small
This is the point at which I was like, let's back up and listen to this in proper order. And this one is actually really cool, it's a bit slow to start and feels a little like a Broadway song ("goodbye, gravity" is definitely a purposeful lyric), but the chorus is WORTH IT. Mostly because her voice is everything; not everyone could still make this work.
19. Like Lightning
Looking for a girl I used to know
She used to walk these city streets
Going anywhere the wind would blow
She used to look a bit like me
You know how much I love story-songs about girls!! This one definitely sounds more like it's on a contemporary album (and honestly, is probably my second favorite now).
20. Cake
One man's poison is another man's cake
You hear that Taye Diggs?? Now she's another man's cake! (This one is definitely the most...I dunno, edgy? sound, but I weirdly love it)
21. Everybody Knows
Found the piece, the missing part
Found the hands to heal these broken bones
You're the key to start my heart
It's beating loud so everybody knows
Another that starts off so slow and generic-sounding that I almost skip it. But then it builds to this most lovely, fast-paced chorus, and I am delighted every time.
22. I Do
I got the pretty dress
I got the memories in a frame
It don't make any sense
Cause those people are us, but they're just not the same
Quite the bop for a technically-sad divorce anthem.
23. Extraordinary
And you might be married, and you might have moved on
But I have to ask before my nerve is gone
I debated on whether or not to include this, as yet another one that starts too slowly, but then this question of 2nd-chance romance always thrills my heart.
24. Ena Mori - Fall InLove
Take me to the sun while dancing in the rain
If we ever fall in love again
You can tell me what is wrong
It's never too late to change
So why can't we fall in love again?
Yet another song from the poll Tumblr (and yet another that the public did not appreciate). Let me tell you, there is no way I would have predicted the singer looking like this, and there is no way to correctly assume what you're about to hear looking at her. I don't even know how to describe it. It's just really good and ear-pleasing pop. It sounds older than it is (2020), but I can't decide exactly what decade it reminds me of.
Honorable Mention: I forgot to mention last time that over the course of many weeks, relentless radio play has worn down my resistance to the country/dude version of Fast Car, because it is in fact my favorite song of maybe ever, and so now I kind of like the comforting idea of people in my preferred setting clamoring for this to be played live in a bar or something.
Honorable Mention: The Girls5Eva theme song. It is INCREDIBLE! Sadly, like every other song in this series, the full version gets weird and does not hold up. It's worse than Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, honestly, because at least some of those were legit bops! These just always get...the word is "dumb."
(we'll circle back to this)
May
25. Katherine Priddy - Indigo
You were the first and the last to climb up the tree
You slept in her branches, you whispered that she
Had been there from the first, she’d be there ‘til the end
And you’d weave her your stories of myths and pretend
Someone new I'm following on Tumblr posted this as their answer to "currently listening" on one of those memes, with effusive praise, and OH HEY NEW MODERN-CELTIC SINGER?? I'm down. I haven't explored much of her work yet and I haven't even listened to this one very many times, but this is fully an RS-approved song.
Quasi-CD Rec: Girls 5Eva soundtracks s.1-2 (2021 & '22)
I've watched the first two seasons now, and because S2 was more recent in my memory that's the one I looked up on Spotify first, and honestly, this is as much room as I have in my heart for Pure Nonsense Songs right now, so season 1 will have to wait. But I'm VERY FOND of these right now:
Quick link to season 2 playlist as long as it lasts. If I didn't list a song, skip it.
26. Larry's Song (Sara Barreilles/Busy Phillips)
Now we're at the wheel
You can take the bus
'Cause everything we do belongs to us
Honestly? Favorite of the series! Gorgeous harmonies (it's like a 2-for-1 song honestly), and even the silly lyrics are more delightful than dumb. Why is it only two minutes long??
27. At the Beep (full group: Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps)
Wanna hear your voice but you don't answer anymore
Still we call you up sometimes to be sure
WHY DOES THIS SONG MAKE ME SO EMOTIONAL ("Leave a message if you love me" EVERY TIME, TEARS). (the random "I did a lot of cocaine / so much cocaine" line could and should have been eliminated for full effect, especially since there's only one real verse, but such in the curse of the show)
28. Momentum (full group)
Intensity: we're tens in the city
We're outstanding: ding! we stand out
Fun opening track.
29. Bend Not Break (full group)
Why don't we bend, so we don't break
Why don't we lean on each other to carry the weight?
Probably the single most normal song, lyrically, this season.
30. New York City Moms (Ingrid Michaelson)
Because kids weren't exactly the mission
When you've got a shower in the kitchen
It's silly, despite being kind of a cool message (it's fine to be an older mom), and it's ukulele-based but I'm still stupid addicted to it help. (You see, the problem is I love her.)
31. Can't Wait To Wait (Busy Phillips/Andrew Rannells)
You don't have to carry shrimp to be a super-cool waiter!
Oh I fully hate myself for this one, but it got stuck in my head for hours so now it's here. It's so stupid and awesome. (St. Peter don't let no sleaze get by! honestly a banger. and let's not forget, Dingus Duck didn't wait...which is why you've never heard of him. He died of STDs, from doing SEX ON A WHIM)
June
nothing new *emoji shrug*
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April
CD Rec: Idina Menzel, "idina." (2016)
I tried this once before and it didn't stick, but every so often I get mournful about the good old days when I could randomly find albums to love, so I checked this out of the library and thanks to a 35-minute drive to a book sale, SHA-BAM! I now love this, maybe not quite as much as "I Stand," but still quite a lot! I tend to skip over the slower songs, but I don't hate anything. Top 8 listed in the order I fell for them.
(side note: this is very definitely a breakup album, lmao)
16. Queen of Swords
I'm slaying like the queen of swords
Absolutely the best, bounciest, most single-like track on the album, and where I recommend you start.
17. Show Me
Balancing on a tightrope wire
Build the walls, build the walls up higher
Until you, until now
Lovely feel-good ode about meeting someone who wants to see the parts you think you should keep hidden away. In retrospect, not sure how this chorus was so quick to catch my ear, but can't argue w/ Past Me now.
18. Small World
Up here I'm weightless
No stars are famous
And the world is small
This is the point at which I was like, let's back up and listen to this in proper order. And this one is actually really cool, it's a bit slow to start and feels a little like a Broadway song ("goodbye, gravity" is definitely a purposeful lyric), but the chorus is WORTH IT. Mostly because her voice is everything; not everyone could still make this work.
19. Like Lightning
Looking for a girl I used to know
She used to walk these city streets
Going anywhere the wind would blow
She used to look a bit like me
You know how much I love story-songs about girls!! This one definitely sounds more like it's on a contemporary album (and honestly, is probably my second favorite now).
20. Cake
One man's poison is another man's cake
You hear that Taye Diggs?? Now she's another man's cake! (This one is definitely the most...I dunno, edgy? sound, but I weirdly love it)
21. Everybody Knows
Found the piece, the missing part
Found the hands to heal these broken bones
You're the key to start my heart
It's beating loud so everybody knows
Another that starts off so slow and generic-sounding that I almost skip it. But then it builds to this most lovely, fast-paced chorus, and I am delighted every time.
22. I Do
I got the pretty dress
I got the memories in a frame
It don't make any sense
Cause those people are us, but they're just not the same
Quite the bop for a technically-sad divorce anthem.
23. Extraordinary
And you might be married, and you might have moved on
But I have to ask before my nerve is gone
I debated on whether or not to include this, as yet another one that starts too slowly, but then this question of 2nd-chance romance always thrills my heart.
24. Ena Mori - Fall InLove
Take me to the sun while dancing in the rain
If we ever fall in love again
You can tell me what is wrong
It's never too late to change
So why can't we fall in love again?
Yet another song from the poll Tumblr (and yet another that the public did not appreciate). Let me tell you, there is no way I would have predicted the singer looking like this, and there is no way to correctly assume what you're about to hear looking at her. I don't even know how to describe it. It's just really good and ear-pleasing pop. It sounds older than it is (2020), but I can't decide exactly what decade it reminds me of.
Honorable Mention: I forgot to mention last time that over the course of many weeks, relentless radio play has worn down my resistance to the country/dude version of Fast Car, because it is in fact my favorite song of maybe ever, and so now I kind of like the comforting idea of people in my preferred setting clamoring for this to be played live in a bar or something.
Honorable Mention: The Girls5Eva theme song. It is INCREDIBLE! Sadly, like every other song in this series, the full version gets weird and does not hold up. It's worse than Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, honestly, because at least some of those were legit bops! These just always get...the word is "dumb."
(we'll circle back to this)
May
25. Katherine Priddy - Indigo
You were the first and the last to climb up the tree
You slept in her branches, you whispered that she
Had been there from the first, she’d be there ‘til the end
And you’d weave her your stories of myths and pretend
Someone new I'm following on Tumblr posted this as their answer to "currently listening" on one of those memes, with effusive praise, and OH HEY NEW MODERN-CELTIC SINGER?? I'm down. I haven't explored much of her work yet and I haven't even listened to this one very many times, but this is fully an RS-approved song.
Quasi-CD Rec: Girls 5Eva soundtracks s.1-2 (2021 & '22)
I've watched the first two seasons now, and because S2 was more recent in my memory that's the one I looked up on Spotify first, and honestly, this is as much room as I have in my heart for Pure Nonsense Songs right now, so season 1 will have to wait. But I'm VERY FOND of these right now:
Quick link to season 2 playlist as long as it lasts. If I didn't list a song, skip it.
26. Larry's Song (Sara Barreilles/Busy Phillips)
Now we're at the wheel
You can take the bus
'Cause everything we do belongs to us
Honestly? Favorite of the series! Gorgeous harmonies (it's like a 2-for-1 song honestly), and even the silly lyrics are more delightful than dumb. Why is it only two minutes long??
27. At the Beep (full group: Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps)
Wanna hear your voice but you don't answer anymore
Still we call you up sometimes to be sure
WHY DOES THIS SONG MAKE ME SO EMOTIONAL ("Leave a message if you love me" EVERY TIME, TEARS). (the random "I did a lot of cocaine / so much cocaine" line could and should have been eliminated for full effect, especially since there's only one real verse, but such in the curse of the show)
28. Momentum (full group)
Intensity: we're tens in the city
We're outstanding: ding! we stand out
Fun opening track.
29. Bend Not Break (full group)
Why don't we bend, so we don't break
Why don't we lean on each other to carry the weight?
Probably the single most normal song, lyrically, this season.
30. New York City Moms (Ingrid Michaelson)
Because kids weren't exactly the mission
When you've got a shower in the kitchen
It's silly, despite being kind of a cool message (it's fine to be an older mom), and it's ukulele-based but I'm still stupid addicted to it help. (You see, the problem is I love her.)
31. Can't Wait To Wait (Busy Phillips/Andrew Rannells)
You don't have to carry shrimp to be a super-cool waiter!
Oh I fully hate myself for this one, but it got stuck in my head for hours so now it's here. It's so stupid and awesome. (St. Peter don't let no sleaze get by! honestly a banger. and let's not forget, Dingus Duck didn't wait...which is why you've never heard of him. He died of STDs, from doing SEX ON A WHIM)
June
nothing new *emoji shrug*