I'm starting a new project! I have always wanted to be a writer. It feels fake and pretentious to say it, to assume that I have anything worthwhile to say or add to a world that has already said everything. One facet of what I want to do with my writing, though, is to help bring new and better art into the world. I want to work in publishing, working on novels and manuscripts to sculpt them into their perfect form. Or, I want to write about music that I love, spreading the word about something that inspires me.
Oftentimes, I feel like everything that has been said about an album I love has been said about that album. And that's probably true! But it hasn't been said by me. In a strange attempt to pull a job offer or mentorship out of a cold email, I contacted Bob Boilen, the creator of NPR's Tiny Desk, musician, and creator of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. I love the Tiny Desk series, I think it's a perfect way to showcase artists, both largely popular and more underground. So I went to his website, found his email, and asked him in a long, rambling way, what I can do.
Essentially, he told me that I was conflating doing what I love with making a living. Which was true! He also said to live my reality. AKA, if I want to be a music writer, just start writing about music. I've been operating under the assumption that if my opinion on music was wanted by the world, I would be paid for it in some capacity. But, as Bob pointed out in much gentler terms and lots of ellipses, that's a naive concept of how the world works. I have to manifest the thing I want. What I want is to have an opinion or taste in music that's respected. I want to help art find it's target audience. So, here's my new project.
I made a list of 45 Albums that made me who I am, and made my music taste what it is. I'm going to write 500 words or less on all of them, and attempt to do an album a day. A lot of these albums are pretty old, or have already been reviewed to the ends of the earth, so I'm just going to speak to my experience with them and nothing else. I don't know music theory, I barely know what different instruments sound like, and I cannot play more than three notes on a guitar. So I'll stick with what I know: how the music makes me feel.
These posts will be numbered and vaguely organized in a chronological order from when they were important to me. Starting with the first album I ever loved, and ending with what I'm currently most obsessed with.
Feel free to follow along! Or don't! Ultimately, I'm trying to do this project as an exercise for my own peace of mind, not because I want validation or approval from anyone. Although that'd be a nice bonus.
My first post will be up shortly, talking about Faith and Courage by Sinéad O'Connor
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