It really has been a while since I have written or published anything on JJ’s. To be honest, I had hit a serious creative block breaking down a musical concept whilst interweaving that with a real life situation I felt people could relate to or enjoy. In fact, my writing became dark, gloomy and morbid. Dissecting concepts almost as a way to have a purpose to write. These were my last drafted summary titles for example:
“Performance of power hidden behind sexual sensitivities exploiting enervation”
Or, if you were to dare to read;
“How Ludwig Göransson creates the feeling of impeding doom in his soundtracks”
As you can see, not exactly the cutest chick flick easy reads.
And that is when I started procrastinating, where my natural flow became a flood that I started drowning in. My own passionate enervation became my own exploitative impeded doom. So this time, with some twinkling inspiration from travel and reading, I decided to make this more of a personal blog of my relationship with music. And do not worry, I am not here to tell you what I think is the hottest new marketing skill on social media, how music labels are just cash cows or how we are all going to die of AI. I am facing a quarter of a century of life, so this blog will be a quick look into my top favourite songs of all time, breaking them down to my favourite lyric, chord or lyrical composition and why they have resonated so much with me throughout my time on this earth.
Without further ado, as always, my advice when reading this JOURNALISTIC analysis, is to simultaneously listen to the song to get the full experience.
THE LIST
Mariella by Khruanbin, Leon Bridges
Name of God by Mustafa
Crazy In Love by Beyonce
All Night by Beyonce
Fourth of July Sujan Stevens
Beach Baby by Bon Iver
All These Changes by Nick Hakim
Mercury by Steve Lacy
Smoke Break by Chance the Rapper
Angeles by Elliott Smith
Trumpets by BYAlexandar
Hurricane by Kanye West
Rock and Roll by Pusha T and Kanye
Mona Lisa by Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free by Nina Simone
Sweatpants by Childish Gambino
Chihiro by Billie Eilish
Give you the world by Steve Lacy
At your best - Frank Ocean rendition
Pluto Projector by Rex Orange County
Cool about it by Boy Genius
The night me and your mama met by Childish Gambino
Let it Happen by Tame Impala
Angel by sjaney (me)
the submergence of music - me when listening to these songs
Mariella by Khruanbin, Leon Bridges
In my opinion, this is the most beautiful use of guitar reverberation I have ever heard in a song. It encapsulates the spirit of nostalgia so perfectly. I can hear the steel strings echoing into the past, as though each note is looking back at itself, fantasising about the chord it has just played, as though it is reluctant to let the sound go. This song doesn't simply evoke nostalgia, it sounds like nostalgia itself.
“Running through my mind, sitting in this road.”
There is something so profoundly still about these lyrics, a moment suspended between thought and memory yet where wonder has time to flash by. The repetition of “Mariella, Mariella, Mariella” feels almost like an act of preservation. The name is sung again and again, as though repetition alone might prevent it from disappearing.
It is an attempt to hold on to someone through the very thing that threatens to make them a memory: their name. There is a quiet dissonance in this, a refusal to let Mariella slip into the past, and yet an awareness that she might already be there. I love this song because it has influenced me in so many ways. It has inspired me to create true yet ambiguous feelings in music with the repeated plucking patterns, reverberated mix and story telling through the lyrics itself without going into too much detail. A song is artists expression and for the listeners interpretation. To feel without being told how to feel. The guilty pleasure of a song becoming yours.
Name of God by Mustafa
A lyrical surrender, in the grand scheme of the world, what are we, would you do what you do in the name of God. I always go back to this song when I am disappointed or during those rare moments of spiritual stillness where I imagine the world under God’s lens, wondering if there is a bigger plan for those that spread hate and create harm. Sometimes when I listen to this song it involuntarily makes me reflect upon myself and my selfish tendencies, allowing me to find peace in surrendering my wrongdoings and acknowledging the times I’ve fallen short or failed to do what was right. It allows me to sit with the truth, and have forgiveness of the faults of the world.
All these changes by Nick Hakim
I have talked about this before, but this song makes me think beyond myself as it melodically and rhythmically reflects global warming. Nevertheless when I listen to it, I feel I sometimes compare myself as a woman moving through the world. My mistakes, my growth, moving on without people I thought were going to be in my life forever and thoughts of who I imagined I could have been.
Beach Baby by Bon Iver
The feeling of seeing someone you once loved, has moved on. You didn't mean as much to them as you once thought, but you're not bitter about it. Feeling the dissonance between sadness, somber and nostalgia. Knowing that you were a little piece in someone's whole world. When I listen to Beach Baby by Bon Iver, especially when looking out at the sea, I’m reminded of how small I am in the vastness of everything that exists, and yet how enormous my feelings can seem within that smallness. The guitar conveys everything I just said. The repeating guitar pattern feels like a memory looping, the tone feels human, the space creates room for your thoughts to sit in, remembering the feeling of something beautiful has already passed. Nostalgia lingers in the natural resonance and decay of the tone of the guitar. I love this song.
Hurricane by Kanye West
The repeat song of the century. When I’m depressed, feel like a slob, and can’t get myself out of bed, I imagine myself sprinting on the treadmill to this song until my legs give out, before heading straight to the weights and playing it on repeat between sets until I can barely see straight.
To quote the song itself: the busiest loser.
Cool About It by Boygenius
The epitome of putting yourself in someone else's shoes. A lyrical stab to the chest. You cannot save anyone, they can help, try and understand, but ultimately it is up to them. I first interpreted this song through a romantic lens, but as I’ve grown older and encountered people struggling with serious addictions, my understanding of it has deepened. I’ve become more empathetic towards the things people carry silently: their confusion, insecurities, pain, and numbness. I’ve come to realise that sometimes, what looks like self-destruction from the outside is someone trying to escape something they don’t know how to confront.
I live knowing to forgive, is to understand. When I am confused as to why people abuse substances or abuse their addictions, I imagine looking at life from their point of view. What must it feel like to inhabit their mind? What are they trying to silence, forget, or feel? What hurts so much that numbness becomes preferable to feeling anything at all? Or from a heartbreak perspective, accepting that you cannot make someone love you, so if they leave, you must let them.
‘Once I took your medication to know what it's like
And now I have to act like I can’t read your mind.
I ask you how you’re doing and I let you lie,
But we don't have to talk about it
I can walk you home and practice method acting,
I'll pretend’
To me, this song is about the quiet grief of recognising the limits of your own love.
Angel by sjaney (me)
Well, yes. My own song. Yippie. I do love this song, though..Let me tell you why.
To me, it’s about life and death: the life of a friendship, a love, a person, and the inevitable ending of them..but I don’t think it’s supposed to be sad. Rather, it’s about accepting that everything is temporary, and finding beauty in that impermanence. Life is beautiful because it cannot last forever. The people we meet, the love we experience, the moments we take for granted, none of them are guaranteed to stay.. So cherish them.
I think the song reminds me that life is fragile, and that we should hold onto the things and people we love while we still can. Not out of fear of losing them, but out of an appreciation for the fact that they are here at all. To love something is to accept that, one day, you may have to let it go. But that doesn’t make the love any less meaningful; if anything, it makes it more so.
I hope you enjoyed this more personal blog, and the brilliant feelings these songs evoke. I mean what better way to convey a theme than to feel it, hear it and experience it.
