Music's in My Soul

Greetings followers! (what's left of you).

It's been a minute. This is my first comeback post. 

“How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?” ― Jane Swan

                           Print by Michael Tompsett

First, I would like to preface this by saying I am not a music critic. I am not well-trained. I don't know how to describe music artfully. I just know what I like and what shaped the person I am. 

Here I am, sitting on my couch, a loss for words about this thing that's made our lives. I just listened to the new Jonas album and saw Rocketman this week, so I felt the need to make a post about music. So what do I do? I turn on the Beatles. The genesis of modern music. My boyfriend is Beatles-crazy, but I'll admit I haven't connected to them much in recent years. Of course, the Paul McCartney Carpool Karaoke reignited Beatlemania when that came out, but other than that, I was content with seldom listening to the Beatles.

 by Ahmad Nusyirwan 

But then I was just watching a video Paul McCartney shot for GQ where he discussed the origin of his most influential songs, and I remembered why I was so taken with the Beatles at 13, 40 years after they were first famous.  My mom used to have the "Number 1's" album and she would play it in her car, much to my sister's and my chagrin initially, then delight. My independent performance "career" started when I choreographed my own routine to "Eight Days a Week" and dressed like an OG hippie.  When I took voice lessons, one of our recitals was ALL Beatles. I sang a solo to "Eleanor Rigby," which looking back is quite odd for a 15-year to sing a solo about a lonely spinster. I guess it appealed to my lonely spinster side (doesn't every woman have one?) 


My music obsession manifested when I was 2, around the same time I learned to read probably (I was an evolved toddler). I had a Playskool boombox and a pretty rad collection of tapes. I would lay on the floor at my aunt's house with my (now) uncle and listen to music on that thing. I took it with me at 3 years old on an 8-hour flight to London and listened to the original Cinderella soundtrack the entire time. (Sorry 1995 passengers).


I had a Walkman at around 9, and an iPod at 13. I would listen to everything from Shania Twain to "Accidentally in Love" (my teen angst song) to Disney to the Beatles. Music provided solace for my troubled, sad heart. 

     to 

Okay, enough nostalgia. It's time for some reviews. 

It's been a week since the newest Jonas Brothers album came out. I just listened to most of it last night. It was quite a comeback. The different melodies and sounds are different but stayed true to their sound. I feel like I'm listening to a refined version of the pop-tastic band I fell in love with at 15.   I remember when they first released "Sucker" and did #LateLateJonas in March, I was concerned. I was like "They are men. Husbands. Fathers (well Kevin is). Is this really necessary? Do they have it in them?" Then I watched Jonas Carpool Karaoke and their performance of Sucker. (Spoiler alert: they're back.) If you watch the talk show interviews, Nick has totally become the leader. In their Disney days, Joe was the leader. Interesting paradigm shift. I'm quite excited for August 9th when my amazing friend is taking me to their concert. 
 P.S. Yes, the name of this post is taken from a Jonas Brothers song (Play My Music). 

It's been about a month since Rocketman came out. I just saw that on Wednesday. Again, from the opening scene, I remembered why I loved Elton John at 15. (Side note: the little kids at the beginning of the movie should win Junior Oscars.) They seamlessly incorporated Elton's most powerful songs in all the key events of his eventful life. Taron Egerton absolutely SLAYED, and I love the actor who played Bernie, Elton's writing partner. I just don't even know what else to say except that even my picky film critic boyfriend loved it. I will say the movie was VERY stark. Samoa banned it for gay sex, and I was slightly freaked out by the snorting. So there's those 2 caveats. 

"Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours." 
- Elton John 
Read more at  https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/music

                                                   
                                                      Design by furzzy15

* I find it interesting that all the artists I featured in this post have done Carpool Karaoke lol. It's prolific. 

What are your influences of music? What are your memories? Leave some thoughts in the comments. 

Stay tuned for my next post (I promise it will not take a year to come out! 🙈)

Audrey's Academy Awards Analysis

As I sat there watching the Oscars last night, here are some random thoughts in my mind. 

- I think I’m the only 11-year-old who sat through all 3 hours of The Sound of Music. As such, I’ve always loved Christopher Plummer and I’m thrilled he’s still acting. 

- Gary Oldman is a damn chameleon. I'm glad the makeup artists and he himself won awards. 

- Tiffany and Maya are DREAM TEAM. They were CRACKING ME UP. 

- The montage was great! I am an avid moviegoer and my dad and I were name-dropping the movies. 

- COCOCOCOCOCOCOCOCO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost cried that it was so well-recognized. (I'm a Disney junkie also in case you haven't noticed).  Lee Unkrich is such a visionary! 

- I'm an old lady, so needless to say, I fell asleep way before they ended. Is anyone really surprised though, that Shape of Water won Best Picture? 

- Frances McDormand is a badass. 

I'll probably post something else after dinner, but I hope you enjoyed Audrey's Awards Analysis (yes, I like alliteration too. Can't you tell from my blog name?). 

Btw, special shoutout to Jordan for the positive feedback! Thank you for reading and responding! I had no idea how this was going to go but it's such fun!  

QUOP: Film is one of the three universal languages, the other two: mathematics and music.- director Frank Capra