the greatest song doesn’t exi-
sometimes the moon, sun and stars all align to bring into your life the perfect album or collection of songs for whatever moment of life you find yourself in….that was a very dramatic way of introducing the subject of todays newsletter which is all things música!
to know me is to know, like many of us, how central a role music plays in my life. (i wake up with a song in my head every morning— today it was ‘need you’ by penny & sparrow.)
sometimes i let it mold to my mood, deepening the melancholic moments or heightening the bright ones (Spotify’s daylist feature has made this even easier). other times, i use it as a tool—rap music to trick myself into being productive and driven and motivated. sad music to let the tears fall.
when i asked my friends once what strengths they thought i had, Margaret said “vibe curation” and “niche taste in music.” she’s not wrong, i do bring the vibes.
all that to say, I recently (about 2 months ago) dove into the album honey by Samia after briefly meeting her at a house show in November. up until that point I had heard only a few songs by her. the catchy and lovely ‘big wheel,’ the upbeat sing-in-the-car with your hair flying ‘honey’ as well as ‘charm you’ and ‘someone tell the boys.’ i loved them all but had yet to really explore her music.
oh but then i did! and i don’t think i’ve listened to an album in its entirety, repeatedly since finch by penny & sparrow back in 2019. maybe metro boomin’s heroes & villains in 2022.
honey is incredibly layered, both sonically and lyrically. it’s grounded yet ephemeral, specific yet universal. even when i have no idea what the lyrics mean, i feel them in my soul and i mean that with total sincerity. i think that’s a hallmark of great songwriting. it’s why i love phoebe bridgers and boygenius and julia jacklin and tommy lefroy and gracie abrams so much. there may be a specificity, a story in their lyrics that the listener is not privy to or unable to decipher, but there is always a vulnerability that you can make your own.
good songs are like mirrors, reflecting back to you what you need to see in that moment. they are magnifying glasses to the parts of yourself you might be celebrating or looking away from. good songs are portals to other places and smells and times and lovers. they’re lessons. and a good album is all of these. it challenges you, keeps you on your toes without forsaking the cohesion that is necessary for any album to be re-playable, in its entirety, with no skips.
and while i do truly mean no skips, here are my favs from honey:
sea lions
dream song
kill her freak out
mad at me
amelia
(i also love love ‘breathing song’ but will add a little warning because it broke me into a million pieces when i first listened.)
obviously i highly recommend sitting down with the whole album, undistracted. I’m a little pissed the moon and the stars couldn’t have brought me this album when it came out because then i could have seen it on tour buttttt c’est la vie. everything happens for a reason i suppose?
anyway. that’s where i’m at right now. here are some other songs i am loving:
theatre - etta marcus
first person shooter mode - drake & j. cole
RNP - cordae & anderson .paak
jersey giant - evan honer, julia digrazia
the deal - mitski
mud on my superstars - keni titus
american spirit - keni titus
kid - keni titus
death deposit - garii
body - briston maroney
angelina - pinegrove
ca$h $hit - gunna
annie’s got a new car - buck raines
better - joy orbison, léa sen
tesla - lil yachty
happy listening. thanks for reading.
xoxo
liv
