It used to be that the fall season was dangerous to my wallet because it marked the start of a book publishing wave. It still does, and I still have a really long list of upcoming books that I want to read, but… I’m older. I’m more wiling to wait. More willing to not own the books, but to borrow them from the library. Part of this is simply that I live in a small house and THERE IS NO MORE ROOM FOR BOOKS.
However; music seems to have stepped up its fall release game. I ended up purchasing four new albums this month. Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS. Madison Beer’s Silence Between Songs. Morgan Wade’s Psychopath. And ZZ Ward’s Dirty Shine.
Somehow I picked up Madison Beer’s Life Support and was startled at how much it stayed in my listening rotation. Only one song was an absolute oh god, no, I don’t like this. I’m not sure how I feel about Silence Between Songs yet. The latter half of it is definitely stronger than the first. But I do not approve of orchestral arrangements added to pop songs where the entire point seems to be adding just…. swoopy strings. Do MORE with an orchestra, please.
GUTS is… oh I love it. It’s super fun, and for me, it’s the best kind of nostalgia–new nostalgia! Rodrigo really evokes the teenage feelings I had while listening to Avril Lavigne, but it’s new material, so a win. I love pop-punk-princess music and there just isn’t enough of it around to suit me. I want to keep listening to new music, not just stagnate in the music of my teens. Plus, frankly, a lot of it doesn’t hold up. Duran Duran does, though. I will die on that hill!
Morgan Wade’s Psychopath was the one I was anticipating most, and on first listen, I was disappointed. It feels like there’s too much “stuff” obscuring her voice and the heart of her songs. Plus, there are the damned swoopy strings. That said, this album has grown on me a lot and I’ve found myself looking for reasons to put on my headphones and sing along. “Losers Look Like Me” is both catchy and bitter–which could really be Wade’s brand. Both she and Olivia Rodrigo end their albums on a note of personal despair. Morgan Wade struggling with the struggle to stay clean and sober and alive; Olivia Rodrigo with the expectations she has of herself and her fear of failure.
ZZ Ward is an antidote to all of these albums. The other three are all very confessional, and ZZ Ward’s Dirty Shine is more of a story record. It’s full of attitude and bravado and criminal behavior. It’s a Bonnie & Clyde sort of album with a mash up of musical genres. I think I listened to it for three days straight, and find myself humming bits and pieces of all of it. GUTS might be my favorite album of these four, purely for the teenage nostalgia feeling, but ZZ Ward’s Dirty Shine is super and I bet I’ll be using her songs as soundtracks to my writing for a long time. Also, for some unaccountable reason, her album has a video trailer that’s all about werewolves. And her video for On One has spaghetti western zombies in it.
lane robins 