I consider Coldplay to be one of my favorite bands. There’s just something about their music that doesn’t get old to me. I can go back to them day after day and still never get tired of them (usually). The song I’ve chosen for “Sex, Drugs, and alcohol” is Charlie Brown, off of Coldplay’s semi-recent album, entitled Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay’s style has changed dramatically over the years, ever since their first album, “A Rush Of Blood To The Head,” from over 15 years ago. Charlie Brown’s style is drastically different than the style of their first album, but fits right in to the album it came off of. This song has been my favorite song on and off since I’ve heard it, and I hope that I never get tired of it. (But I probably will eventually).

For the most part, I think the reason why I love this song is because of the instrumentals, not necessarily the lyrics. The song starts out with a chorus of weird sounding vocal noises, and then the guitar theme starts, which is probably my favorite part of the song. Whenever I listen to this song I like to close my eyes and let the music take me away. (as corny as it sounds). Almost of coldplay’s music has that effect on me, which I really love and try to apply to music that I write.

This song is not obviously about drugs, and honestly might not even be about drugs, I’m not exactly sure. The lines “took a car downtown where the lost boys meet; I took a car downtown and took what they offered me, to set me free” and “we’ll be glowing in the dark,” makes me think that the people in the song took a drugs from someone and are then under the influence.” This, along with the way the lyrics the second really don’t make any sense lead me to believe this. But either way, I think the song is more about letting go and being free, whether is spiritually, physically, etc. That’s really the vibe that I get from the song. I think the song makes references to drugs, but it’s really about being at peace. (which drugs can certainly induce).

I would recommend this song to anyone, regardless of what genre they like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZV0VDpakw

I can’t exactly remember when I first heard the song “I don’t want to love somebody else” by A Great Big World. I think I was trying to find other songs by a Great Big World, because I enjoyed “Say Something” so much. After hearing it I immediately fell in love with the song, and listened to it probably four times everyday. I’m not sure in particular what about the song I love so much, but it just absolutely captivates me every time I listen to it. This type of song is a bit unusual for A Great Big World, because their songs (for the most part) are much more upbeat and happy, and have both of the singers singing, and this song is slower and obviously more sad than their other stuff, and is sung only by Chad Vaccarino (which is not the person that sings “Say Something,” if you were wondering.

The song starts out with a very simple guitar part and then the vocals come in. What I love about this song, at least musically, is that all the parts individually are fairly simple, but when they are all combined, it creates something truly beautiful. I love how the moving string parts towards the end work together with the other instrumentals. The song is about some sort of heartbreak that someone has to deal with. He starts out the song by say “I built a world around you. You had me in a dream I lived in, every word you said.” These are very powerful opening lyrics. I think we’ve all felt (at one point) like someone is our entire life, and in your head you begin to build a world, even a future around them. At this point you don’t really know where the song is going, only that he “doesn’t want to love somebody else.” However as the song progresses, you begin to realize that this person he was in love with doesn’t love him anymore, or has left him in some way. He says “I shouldn’t go on hoping that one day you will change your mind and we could start again.” And despite how hopeless he feels, he keeps going to back to the line “but I don’t wanna love somebody else,” like he’s in desperation.

It’s weird. This is one of my favorite songs, but at the same time it makes me sad every time I listen to it – yet I keep coming back to it. I guess I like it so much because it seems so genuine and relatable. This song reminds me of the times when I’ve felt the same way about someone, and it hurts. But it’s almost therapeutic in a way to listen to a song that brings up these types of feelings, because it makes you more in touch with yourself.

I would recommend this song to anyone, regardless of their music taste. There’s just something about this song that I think would appeal to anyone, no matter what music they like listening to.

Also if you want a good cry then I would highly recommend this song.

That is all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgl442HpK-Q

My sister Felicia, who is 28 years old and most certainly a real life adult (and not made up), has always been a big fan of John Mayer. The song that she felt really related to her life was “Heart of Life,” off of John Mayer’s album, Continuum, which was released in 2006, when she was around my age. Although she was never a musician, or passionate about any instruments, music has always been very important to her, being a Dance Choreographer (She exists, I promise). Furthermore, I insist that these facts about my real life sister prove that she is real and also not fake.

John Mayer’s album Continuum, is almost entirely inspired by his breakup, and how it affected him emotionally, and everything it taught him about life. The “Heart of Life,” is in my opinion, a wonderful song, and one that I also love. It’s a rather simple song, with just a couple guitars and some other background instruments. The fact that the instrumentation of the song is simple adds to the feeling of the lyrics. The lyrics are really powerful, and I like how the music doesn’t distract from it. The song is partially about a breakup, yes, which my sister Felicia has experienced on numerous occasions, (it’s a shame though because I really loved one of her boyfriends. He played a baseball video game with me!), but it’s more so about how fear can deter you from living your life to the fullest. Fear comes in so many different forms and can stem from so many different things; fear is all around all us, and whether we know it or not, we experience it everyday. My sister’s favorite line in the song is “Fear is a friend who’s misunderstood, but I know the heart of life is good.” Felicia really connects to this line. In her life, Felicia has experienced countless heartbreak and failures, which can make someone want to give up out of fear – the fear of failing again. It didn’t happen right away, but Felicia learned to use this fear to drive her and motivate her to keep trying, even if things aren’t necessarily looking up. She is currently working three jobs, and countless hours to make a living, but she always stays optimistic about the future and believes that her hard work will pay off and she’ll be doing something she loves one day. She is no longer deterred by fear, which I really respect.

This was definitely a different side of my sister that I’m normally used to seeing. She is usually very loud and peppy, but I’ve never heard her open up about anything before, so this was a really positive experience for both me and her. She would reccomend this song to anyone who likes low-key music.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnmayer/theheartoflife.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4m71L2oAT4

“Car Radio” by Twenty One Pilots is one of my all time favorite songs, ever since my junior year of High School. For me, it was one of those that you don’t really like that much on the first listen, because it isn’t very catchy or too melodic, but once you start listening to it more and more, you begin to see  all of the amazing qualities of the song. The more I listen to it the more I like it, even today. This kind of music is the kind of music that Twenty One Pilots has always been creating. Twenty One Pilots makes mostly songs that incorporate and rap and singing, and in my opinion he (Tyler Joseph) is phenomenal at both.

“Car Radio” starts off with just piano, and a tapping on the hi-hat. After the first verse, some strings come in, and then bass and more drums, until finally the instrumental melody comes in, and the song is at it’s most intense couple minutes. The song finally ends with essentially the same instruments is it started with, with the exception of slightly more percussion and drums. For me, however, the beauty of this song is not necessarily in the music or instrumentals, it’s in the lyrics. Not to say that I like or appreciate the music in the song, because I love the chords and piano and synth string/sawtooth lead part, but I find the lyrics to be so incredibly well thought out and meaningful. I love lyrics that aren’t obvious or give a blatant meaning, I like lyrics that you can interpret for yourself and input your owning meaning onto. That way, it can be relatable to anyone, which I think is really important if you want people to connect to your music. If people can’t find a way to relate to a song, then it’s hard for them to understand the emotion that was put into the song. That’s why I think it’s sometimes not the best to make a song very specific to one situation, because then no one will be able to relate to it, and in a way it almost loses it’s meaning. There are many different interpretations of “Car Radio,” and there’s probably an intended meaning and a personal meaning for Tyler Joseph, the person who wrote the song. My interpretation is this:

Someone is having a hard time getting through life, maybe having a problem with depressing or depressing thoughts, but have managed to get through it all this time somehow, because of something else; maybe it was a distraction, maybe it was someone else. . .But either way this person relied on this thing, and even hid behind it, but not that it’s gone he/she has to face the reality of the situation. The whole song is about how he’s dealing with being on his own now and how’s that’s affected his life.

What I love about these lyrics, is that Tyler Joseph never really mentions anything I stated above, he uses a metaphor of a “car radio” and “sitting in silence.” The “car radio” represents the “thing” that he relied on to distract him, or “provide some background noise,” but now that it’s gone, he has to face what’s going on head on, aka “sit in silence.”

I would recommend this song to anyone, no matter what genre they enjoy, because I think the song has so much meaning behind it, and that it has such much to offer the listener. I don’t that everyone should love the song, because not everyone has the same music taste, but I think that this is a song that people should hear and appreciate regardless of whether they’ll like it or not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KCMeR26yAs