For my final blog, I wanted to talk about the recently deceased artist Avicii. Tim Bergling, known by his stage name Avicii was a Swedish DJ and artist who began writing music when he was 18. He has had many number one song singles and top albums in his short, 10-year career and he has totally redefined what it means to be a DJ and producer. Sadly Avicii had a lot of health problems hand had to retire from touring a few years ago and just passed away at the age of 28.
Avicii had released a six-song EP late 2017.
I am honored to be able to say that I was able to go to one of his concerts before he retired, and it was one of the most fun days of my life. I was with my best friend and my dad, and I couldn’t help but dance and sing along. The atmosphere at the event was spectacular, and Avicii’s music is some of my favorite.
Avicii has written so many standout songs that are lyrically meaningful and enjoyable to listen to, and I just wanted to share my appreciation in this last blog post.
Although Avicii has passed away, his music will live on forever in everyone that listens to it.
You might know the musician Owl City from his hit single “Fireflies” off his freshman record album Ocean Eyes back in 2009, or maybe you know him from his collaboration with Carly Rae Jepsen in the song “Good Time”. But not a lot of people have actually listened to a lot of the Owl City discography, which I think is a shame since he has produced so much good music. Owl City is one of my top five favorite artists, so I wanted to talk about his upcoming concept album “Cinematic” releasing on June 1st.
Adam Young is the name of the musician who goes by the name Owl City. His music is fairly poppy but doesn’t fit into just that genre. The majority of his songs electronic based, featuring lots of synths and beat pads which Adam sings over, although there have been some guitar oriented songs with rock and country influences. Most of his songs are upbeat, although many are emotional and tell stories. Young has been making music way before his first album released with a label, he had produced multiple projects and albums before which ended up getting him the deal. Some albums that I would recommend form Adam’s early career include Owl City’s Maybe I’m Dreaming and the album An Airplane Carried Me to Bed by Sky Sailing (a different name Young went by).
While half of the new album Cinematic has not yet been released, nine songs have already been featured in three different EPs called reels to build up to the album release. As you might be able to tell from the title, but the album is movie themed and is in a sense, a documentary of Adam’s life. This project is nothing like anything he has done before, but from the released songs, it already sounds great. In my opinion, the coolest part of it is how Adam integrating past sounds and musicals styles into his new music in order to tell his stories, yet still evolving and experimenting with new sounds.
Some standout tracks that have been released so far include “Fiji Water” which talks about him signing his first record label, and “New York City” which tells the tale of Adam’s first big road trip. Both these songs have very reminiscent sythes but have a unique style which makes me want to sing along. The song The 5th of July stands out because it is focusing on Adam’s birth, which is a cool concept that I have never heard explored before. Finally, Lucid Dream experiments with a trance edm style beat that builds up to a magical chorus, this song shows how Adam has matured as an artist and expanded his sound.
Owl City has always been meaningful to me because of the beauty and magic his songs invoke, and I hope you can look forward to the release as well and share some of the positivity.
Maroon V is one of the most known pop bands across the world, with lead singer Adam Levine starring as a model and one of the head coaches of the popular show “The Voice”.
The band’s sound has changed significantly since they signed a record deal in 2001, developing into the poppy sound we can hear today in songs like Payphone, Sugar, and What Lovers Do. However, the band formed primarily as a rock and alternative band that then later into a pop music band as their popularity increased.
Their first album, Songs About Jane, is, in my opinion, their best work and features the rock elements of their music that they later lost. In fact, Songs About Jane ranks in my personal top twenty favorite albums. Don’t get me wrong, Maroon V has always had some pop music and Songs About Jane had many chill pop-rock songs, yet in their new music, they have lost their rock influences entirely to appeal to a bigger crowd. No more guitars. Their loss I guess.
Songs About Jane was still a very successful album, it was released in 2002 and became known as a sleeper hit since no one at the time knew of the band and five of the album’s 12 tracks had chart success. The album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Adam Levine wrote the entire album, inspired by his relationship and breakup with his ex-girlfriend Jane (duh right?). Levine confirmed that every song on the record was written about his past “muse”.
The first song on the album, Harder To Breathe deals with the breakup and how it was an ugly end to the relationship. Yet after the relationship is over the two realize how much they had been relying on the other. The song which features a catchy guitar riff also subliminally criticizes the music industry for suffocating artists and forcing them to produce music too quickly.
This Love was the second single from the album and actually charted in 2004, almost two years after the albums release. It reached number five in the US and one in many other countries. The song, which again discusses Levine’s turbulent breakup also became the band’s first grammy award for Best Duo Vocals Performance. Levine stated in his acceptance speech that the song was written during the end of the breakup and that it was an emotionally trying time.
She Will Be Loved was another single that gained much success long after its release. It is my favorite song on the record and discusses Levine’s appreciation of his ex after they broke up, singing about the good times and how she supported him.
Sunday Morning was the song that got Maroon V their first record deal. Although it was not as successful as the previous two singles it still became very popular and was a critical success. The song has a happy beat discusses the relationship again in a positive light, mentioning the good times he had.
A Shipwreck in the Sand was the Canadian band Silverstein’s (named after Shel Silverstein) fourth studio album released in 2009, and one of their most successful albums to date. Silverstein is a heavy band, infusing elements of rock, punk, and hardcore music to establish their own version of the “post core” genre, which many other artists have now mimicked from Silverstein’s success.
The concept alum actually tells two stories, one overlaying tale with another story in the middle, and both stories follow the same theme of betrayal and problems with the world around them. The album is divided into four logical chapters based on the storyline. The small story in the middle of the album is contained in the title track, A Shipwreck in the Sand, which describes a captain of a ship sailing for a new land and begins a new world, but when he is unsuccessful the crew stages a mutiny against him. This short is a metaphor for the entire album storyline of failure and betrayal, which depicts a failed relationship between a family. The man is sick and cannot afford health care and realizes that his wife has betrayed and is cheating on him the first chapter, in the songs: A Great Fire, Vices, and Broken Stars. In the second chapter, it displays the main character’s anger at his family and the world around him for putting him in the situation he is in, while he has not done anything to hurt anyone. This chapter called Liars, Cheaters, Thieves gets political as the character criticizes the American dream, corrupt politicians, and war for the trouble it had caused the world and the character himself. He feels hopeless and angry because it appeared like life was ending.
The next chapter, Fight Fire with Fire, describes the main character’s rash reaction to everything going on in his life, where in a fit of rage he lights his own house in the fire with his wife and child still inside. This fit of blinding rage is described in the heaviest song of the album, I am the Arsonist. However upon doing so instantly rightfully regrets his action and runs into the burning save his family, especially his daughter who was caught in the middle of the conflict. The last song on the chapter, You’re All I Have, is a song targeted at his daughter as he saves her, explaining how she is the only one who hasn’t hurt him.
The final chapter, Death and Taxes, cuts directly to the character in court for his crimes in the song We Are Not the World, where his wife calls him crazy and he loses custody of his daughter. The second verse of the song again attacks the American government for putting the character in the position he is in. The next song, A Hero Loses Everyday, tells the story of the main character the night after court. He is defeated and has given up on everything, and eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, the song makes the listener feel sad for the protagonist, even after the crime he committed. The final and best song on the record, named The End, features Canadian singer Lights. This semi-acoustic duet is a conversation between the husband and the wife, as they apologize to each other, reminisce, and admit that they will miss and love each other forever, for what that is worth.Although the main character dies in the track before, The End is the perfect ending track as it fills in the gaps of the story and incorporates thematic and stylistic choices heard earlier in the album, unifying it. The End is the final conclusion to the metaphor of betrayal on the record and the sad, chilling chorus perfectly evokes the emotions onto the listener.
This album is really interesting because the protagonist is not a good person, just a miserable one who made a rash decision based on the horrible things occurring around him. At the end where he loses, you still feel bad for him.
