Trying something new that I think I’ll eventually make into a paid (!) option for this newsletter. It’s a midweek dispatch of music (and articles and poetry and other art) I’m listening to (reading, internalizing, consuming) right now. Feedback is appreciated!
This week has been all over the place in terms of genre, but mostly I’m listening to music that leans a little bit country. For example, the new MUNA single and accompanying video:
There are no skips on Sheryl Crow (1996) by Sheryl Crow. Absolutely none. Can you believe she had the nerve to serve up a sucker-punch with “A Change Would Do You Good” and then absolutely annihilate the perfect guitar ballad “Home” immediately after? Kick me while I’m down, Sheryl! Please enjoy this sweet profile that just came out regarding her documentary, as well as this text that I sent through the tears I worked up while reading said profile:
I have lots of opinions on covers, foremost being that I would like to one day be famous enough to make a cover record. While I have a soft spot for the original “Breathless” by the Corrs, this version is inspired, visionary. When she does the little electric guitar thing with her voice I feel something move around in my chest, I swear. I’m seeing Caroline again this summer and I can’t get enough of her work right now. Genius, angel, chef’s kiss.
For a long time, I’ve been sitting on this song, unsure of how to use it in a playlist. The answer, of course, was country. It’s one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs, a diamond among lumps of coal (I wish I had a more nuanced opinion on this album but so much of it is so bad). The video is unhinged and so cringe it’s (almost) fun—is it Christmas themed? Is this the only Taylor Swift video to ever feature a person of color? Is there something to unpack there?
I am once again on an Arcade Fire kick. I will die on the hill that Everything Now (2017) is a good record, or at least features some truly fantastic tracks. “We Don’t Deserve Love” is such an emotional song, holds so much in its six minutes:
If you can't see the forest for the trees
Just burn it all down, and bring the ashes to me
Apropos of nothing, it’s linked in my mind to this beautiful, heart-wrenching poem by Frank O’Hara.
I need to write about Bonnie Raitt soon, but I just have so much to say… For now, I’ll just leave you with this perfect creation. It makes me feel so good! Try to listen to this song without smiling, I dare you. Sheryl Crow mentioned Bonnie Raitt as an inspiration in that interview linked above—real recognize real.
I would love to see this become a regular addition!