Annemarie
I can’t believe it’s already time to write my first Fuzzable blog of 2018! I wish I could say I’m a *new me* and that I wrote this in advance, but the truth is that I’m starting it on the evening of January 26th. Did I really expect anything different? Anyways, despite failing to write this blog ahead of time, I actually came up with a neat idea a while back. All of my Fuzzable blogs in 2018 are going to be named after a song relevant to the topic I’m writing about. I already have some songs and corresponding ideas planned for other months and I’m really excited to write them!
The song behind this month’s blog post is actually one of my favourite Cher Lloyd songs: “Behind the Music”. This is also relevant because Cher just announced her pregnancy and an upcoming album. I’m so happy for her and I can’t wait to finally hear CL3! (Side note- I just discovered Anjulie’s version of “Behind the Music” while writing this and it’s amazing?! How did I not realize that existed this entire time?). This post is also inspired by all of the amazing music that came out this month. I got a Camila album, a Fall Out Boy album, two Troye Sivan songs, and a Dodie song. Needless to say, I’ve been in heaven.
https://twitter.com/rietherie/status/955850405774286848
So, to start the year off, I thought I’d begin with the theme of 2018 for my blogs- music. I’ve had an odd relationship with music. I think I got into it much later than most kids do. I only started downloading my own music onto my iPod nano when I was around 11. Before then, I would listen to the “cool” pop music station, on an actual radio in my room. I remember I went through a phase where I had to listen to the Top 40 Countdown with Ryan Seacrest for like 3 hours every Saturday morning. And, brace yourselves, because this next bit is so weird. I used to get a sheet of lined paper and write down every song as Ryan announced it, from #40 to #1, and record how many spots it had moved up or down. Why? I have no idea. I was a strange child.
But even before then, I grew up listening to my dad’s favourite albums that he’d play on the stereo in our living room every Saturday night. It was mainly classic jazz, artists like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Louis Armstrong. When I was a bit older, sometimes I would fight my brother for the right to choose the CD to play during Saturday dinner. The local jazz music station was also constantly playing in the car and at home. As much as I pestered my dad to change stations, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss Wave 94.7 since it got taken off the air a few years ago.
But when I got the opportunity to discover my own taste in music, what did I listen to? Slightly before I entered the realm of digital downloads, I bought my first few physical albums. I actually only own about 5 CDs, which is pretty sad. But some of my best memories came from those CDs, most of which I played on the same little black radio I’d use to listen to Ryan Seacrest’s Top 40.
The first albums I remember buying were Taylor Swift’s Fearless and Speak Now. I’m not exaggerating when I say these albums *literally* shaped my childhood. I’d listen to “Hey Stephen” and dance crazily around my room. I practiced my best sassy lip syncing with “Better Than Revenge”. I’d sit on the floor and pretend I was in an overly dramatic music video while listening to “You’re Not Sorry”. I would pour over the album booklets and piece together the hidden messages. I loved every single song on those two albums. I was overjoyed when Taylor Swift put her entire catalog on Spotify earlier this year. I hadn’t listened to those songs in ages and I got a huge rush of nostalgia when I heard some of them after so long.
At another end of the spectrum, I had developed a strange interest in The Black Eyed Peas. I had most of their album The Beginning memorized at some point. But the first group I remember becoming completely and utterly obsessed with was, you guessed it, Little Mix. It was the summer of 2012, I was 11 years old, and I discovered “Wings” while browsing through the iTunes charts, sitting at the same table where I’d listen to my dad’s jazz music every Saturday. I remember that I listened to the song out of annoyance. I had kept seeing the words “Wings” and “Little Mix” everywhere, and I never found out what the hype was. Then, I was hooked. I listened to DNA on repeat during the drive up to my summer vacation spot. I spent a week learning how to tell the difference between Jesy and Jade, but finally got it down pat. I even picked a favourite member (Jesy). I was a full-on Little Mix fangirl in no time flat. But perhaps that is a story for another post…
For the next few years, I faithfully kept buying iTunes gift cards and downloading the songs I deemed most worthy onto my little violet iPod. My tastes from about aages 11 to 14 remained mostly mainstream pop. I had a few powerhouse female artists I really liked during that time: P!nk, Avril Lavinge, and Kelly Clarkson were like my holy trinity. Unfortunately, I kind of missed the boat on the whole One Direction phenomenon. I liked most of their singles and music videos, but I never really became as obsessed with them as others did. It certainly did not nearly measure up to my Little Mix addiction at that point.
Eventually, as I entered high school, I grew into my slightly emo phase. This began with Panic! At The Disco and the release of their album Death of a Bachelor. While the thought makes me laugh now, I remember being taken aback by how intense some of their songs were. I was actually scared listening to “Emperor’s New Clothes” for the first time. Anyways, this led me to discover similar artists, most notably twenty one pilots, Paramore, and Halsey.
At this point, I had transitioned over to Spotify. This is what truly helped broaden my taste in music. I don’t have to be completely sure I love a song before I save it, so I now save entire albums or even just random songs I think I might like. While this does make my library super messy, I love discovering awesome songs buried 10 tracks deep on an album.
That brings us to today, where when someone asks me what kind of music I like, I still don’t really know what to say. I usually just name a couple of my favourite artists and turn the question back to the person asking. This is mostly because I don’t know myself! Most the songs I like can be labelled as pop, but I also don’t like a lot of pop songs on the charts. I definitely like some alternative music, but not enough to know the obscure band the person asking me would probably reference. So, I guess I still have a strange relationship with music. Maybe one day, I’ll have an organized Spotify library, playlists for every mood I have, and a perfectly formulated answer to that dreaded question.
Well, a girl can dream.
Cher doesn’t have a music video for her song and I’m now obsessed with this version of the song, so, Anjulie it is!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this long, rambly post about music. This doesn’t even touch on all of my failed attempts at playing instruments. That’s a whole other blog right there.
I’ll be back in February with another song-titled post!
-Annemarie
(#27)
Share your music journey with us on Twitter @Fuzzable, or watch me tweet about all the wonderful music that’s come out in January over on @rietherie!
