Mixtapemotions

  • “Hard Love” by NEEDTOBREATHE ft. Andra Day, Saturday, August 27, 2022

    I’ve written about the parallels between Christian Rock band NEEDTOBREATHE and Alternative Rock band Kings of Leon. But despite the bands’ similar origin stories, members growing up to ministers in very conservative backgrounds, Kings of Leon left their Christian upbringing and NEEDTOBREATHE embraced it. While NEEDTOBREATHE has had general market success, their fan base is mostly from Christian Hit Radio, to which the band does their duty to push the limits on songs like “Let’s Stay Home Tonight” and “Clear” but ultimately keep the fires of sexiness under control.

    TRADIG PUNCHES WITH THE HEART OF DARKNESS. “Hard Love” is a sequel to the band’s hit “Brother.” The song “Brother” was birthed out of a family conflict between founding members, brothers Bear and Bo Reinhart. The sibling rivalry came to a head during the recording of NEEDTOBREATHE’s record Rivers in the Wasteland. Like the Rolling Stone interview with Kings of Leon, the conflict between the brothers in NEEDTOBREATHE also became violent. Reconciliation from the event that threatened to rip the band apart helped the band produce their biggest hit. Returning to the theme of that song and the difficulty surrounding the band’s 2014 hit record, NEEDTOBREATHE recorded their sixth studio record H A R D L O V E. But the titular song would be released as a single in 2017, remixed and featuring Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter Andra Day. The band also released a B-sides EP titled HARD CUTS: Songs from the H A R D L O V E  Sessions. Not only did the EP feature the Andra Day version but also another remix featuring Serena Ryder as well as three songs not featured on the record. Yet another version of “Hard Love” appears on the soundtrack to the 2017 film The Shack featuring multi-platinum CCM singer Lauren Daigle.

    WHEN THE WOLVES COME AND HUNT ME DOWN. “Hard Love” is based on Proverbs 17:3, and furthers the theme of reconciliation from immediate family to all people. The inspirational track with a “down-home feel” is an interesting piece of Christian media in its context of the so-called culture wars between the world and the evangelicals in the late ‘10s. My connection to mainstream CCM is quite limited these days, so I don’t know how typical a song like “Hard Love” is, but it seems that the sentiments raised in this song appeal to Christians and non-Christians alike, acknowledging that it is hard to love some people, but we have a Christian (or a human) duty to do so. But with such a duty comes a lot of stipulations from all sides: what about sinners, what about our fears of socialism, what about trauma, what about if the other person doesn’t accept me? Hard love isn’t about seeing eye to eye or being able to agree on anything. Sometimes it means, like in the case of NEEDTOBREATHE in 2021, that brothers even have to go their separate ways. Sometimes you can’t be around the ones you love and it’s healthy to take a break. But as Christ’s sacrosanct principle reminds us that the whole law and the prophets is summed up as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . . and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 26-40; Mark 12:30-31 NIV). The meme goes on with the Pharisees asking what about this person’s situation, and Jesus answers, “Did I stutter?”

    Read the lyrics.

    Andra Day version music video:

    Original version:

    Lauren Daigle version:

    Serena Ryder version:

  • "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon, Friday, August 26, 2022

    There was something about the music scene in the early ’00s when a rock band had to first make it the UK before making it in the US. Some music fans were confused when The Killers gained popularity in America after first breaking in the UK. But after releasing three successful records in the UK, no one would mistake Kings of Leon as a British group. The band’s lead singer, Caleb Followill and his southern drawl placed the band solidly in a lineage of southern rock. It’s not the particular type of music normally associated with British Rock, but that didn’t stop “Sex on Fire” from becoming the second most downloaded single ever in the UK.
     

    I KNOW THEY’RE WATCHIN’. The song that brought Kings of Leon to the top of the American Rock charts was “Sex on Fire” from the band’s fourth record, Only By the Night. As the song blew up, a lot of interest formed around the band. “Sex on Fire” was at home in naughties rock, a time when rock bands introduced a shocking song about sex, even if the band didn’t write about the topic very often. From the title “Sex on Fire,” the band alludes to an over-the-top sexual encounter. Hidden within the lyrics, though, are some rather depraved ideas: exhibitionism/voyeurism and receiving oral sex on while driving. The album didn’t have a Parental Advisory sticker, though, as the lyrics didn’t contain any profanity. As the band’s fame ascended, the Kings of Leon origin story was revealed in all of the major rock publications. That origin story sounded something akin to characters out of a Flannery O’Connor story, including a strict tent-revival preacher who eventually lost his faith, abandoning his family. Three brothers raised by the preacher’s ex-wife. Joining with their cousin, the family band is encouraged by a collaborator to be named like a gospel group as the “Kings of Zion,” but rather named themselves after the band’s patriarch, the band’s grandfather, Leon.

    CONSUMED WITH WHAT’S JUST TRANSPIRED. “Sex on Fire” is the kind of rock ‘n’ roll decadence the Followills would have been denied growing up in a conservative Christian context. The religious fervor of the Followills’ preacher father exhorting those who adhere to keep pure until marriage contrasts with lyrics implying irrumation, when Caleb sings “head while I’m driving.” Years after removing themselves from a religious context that wouldn’t even allow members of the opposite sex to swim together, Caleb wrote a song about his girlfriend (later wife) model Lily Aldridge. The song started out a bit more innocent, but the misheard lyrics during recording “Set us on fire” sounded like “your sex is on fire,” and so the lyrics too took on a more sexual nature, referring to being driven wild by a member of the opposite sex. The song was everywhere in 2008, propelling Kings of Leon to rock superstardom. The song is easily parodied. I remember being in the car and my friend Nate telling my friend Caleb, “Caleb, your sex is on fire!” The song always made me think about an STD, but it was also a song I would sing when I was stressed out, when my “stress is on fire!” Stress on fire actually makes more sense. It’s when stress gets so out of control, it catches fire. I mean, if something catches on fire, it’s pretty stressful. But what happens if the actual stress catches on fire?

  • “My Universe” by Coldplay ft. BTS, Thursday, August 25, 2022 (updated post)

    I’ve written a bit last year about how I’m a Coldplay apologist. I believe that the London-based band is very good at what they do. Though so many artists accomplish their sound, both musically and lyrically, better, there’s something uplifting about a new Coldplay album. Early last year, I talked about the band’s first single from their ninth studio record, Music of the Spheres, “Higher Power.” The album was released on October 15 last year. Before the release of the record and after releasing “Higher Power,” the band released the promotional single, the 10:17 track “Coloratura,” which was praised by critics for its composition and production. Then they released the second radio single “My Universe,” featuring the South Korean boy band, BTS. The song shot straight to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the second Coldplay single to top the Hot 100, the first being “Viva la Vida.”

    I JUST WANT TO PUT YOU FIRST.  The reviews for Music of the Spheres were quite low. Metacritic, a database that averages the scores by major publications, scores the album as 55/100. Most critics agreed that Coldplay’s venture into Max Martin-produced pop music was shameless, even for a band that was instrumental for inventing the late ’00/’10 pop-rock sound. “My Universe” in particular is viewed as a “cash-grab.” Recently, due to BTS’s enormous ARMY of fans, every recent single the boy band has released has headed straight to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Music of the Spheres aimed to be a comeback album for the British pop-rockers. In 2017, Coldplay was a band with a large fan-base. Only Linkin Park had more YouTube subscribers, and Coldplay was the most streamed “rock band.” However, being the top rock band, even if your definition is loose enough to call Coldplay a rock band, made Coldplay a “big fish in a little pond.” The pond of rock music continues to dry up, and the 100 Million+ selling band would be competing with streams and sales by pop and R&B acts like Drake and The Weeknd. A collaboration with one of the highest selling groups of recent years would promote the now middle-aged rock band as cool and hip. Maybe the kids would dig back into their earlier discography and maybe Music of the Spheres would sell well.

    THAT BRIGHT INFINITY INSIDE YOUR EYES. Cynicism about the “cash-grab” aside, the Coldplay-BTS collaboration may have come from a place of sincerity. Originally, Coldplay wrote the song for BTS, as many non-Korean composers have written for K-pop. Coldplay performed in South Korea in 2017 during their Head Full of Dreams Tour. The band has been evolving into a pop act steadily over the course of their career. Their 2011 Mylo Xyloto included a collaboration with Rihanna and much less guitar focus. Head Full of Dreams included backing vocals by Beyoncé; however, “Hymn for the Weekend” wasn’t marketed as Coldplay ft. Beyoncé, thus the song ran on the momentum of Coldplay fans, not Beyoncé fans. The message of “My Universe” is that love transcends distance, language, and misunderstandings. Produced in and out of quarantine, Music of the Spheres aims to bridge fans around the world together. The band began touring again, after swearing off touring during the release of their 2019 record Everyday Life until they could find a way to tour more eco-friendly. Recently, the band has embarked on a carbon-neutral tour, which aims to revolutionize the music industry. The musical concept album Music of the Spheres, may have been inspired by Star Wars in “a galaxy far, far away,” but the themes of connection, love, and the human experience are truly not out of this world.
     

    Lyric Video:




     

  • “Holding Onto You” by Jonezetta, Wednesday, August 24, 2022 (repost)

     

    Cruel to Be Young was one of my college albums. I wrote a bit about the two Jonezetta albums back in January.  Rather than being an ’80s/Killers sounding album, the band went ’70s/laid back, hippy sounding music. According to Randy Torres episode of Labeled, the inspiration behind this album was The Shins, which was another college favorite of mine. While Aaron Sprinkle and Randy Torres may have had a great time making this record, it may have been the demise of Jonezetta as fans were expecting something catchy and dancy. Interestingly my college friends liked this album, but not their debut, but my hometown friends, loved Popularity and couldn’t get into Cruel to Be Young. Jonezetta’s follow up album reminds me of my youth–being 21 years old at its release, and how cruel it was to be a young Seventh-day Adventist.

    ALL THE DIFFERENT REASONS WHY YOU SLEEP ALONE. I’ve railed on purity culture so much without giving any person anecdotes. I speak from experience when I speak about how dangerous the teaching is. The opening line of this song when I heard it back in 2008 made me think about “all the different reasons why [I slept] alone. I was 21, in a Christian college, and trying to take my faith very seriously. I was pretty introverted and didn’t know a lot of people. I had insecurities about being a transfer student, about not being Adventist or too Adventist. I found myself studying in a major that was about 70% women. I saw my friends dating, and I thought I wanted that too. But every time I asked a girl out…it was like she would say that i was more like a friend. Or we would go out and the chemistry was nonexistent. I imagined myself 30 with a beautiful wife and 2.5 kids, but i never tell you HOW I got there. How we would have “Christian dated” and fulfilled God’s plan for our lives. The closer I got to it, the more frightening it seemed. The solution until 2014 was keep faithful and wait for God to keep working on my heart.

    EVERYONE IS CATCHING ON, I’M BEARLY HANGING ON. Purity culture tells us to examine our hearts and look for the broken pieces within ourselves. If we find those broken pieces, that is obviously the flaw. For so long I blamed my loneliness on those broken pieces. I would hear teaching, like “if you aren’t meeting the right person, take time to work on your relationship with God. Then he will send the right person.” How many times I tried that. It only led to bitterness. At those times I could lay my broken pieces on my dorm room bunkbed. There was the trauma of my parents marriage. The yelling, the coldness, the being away for weeks on end, the toxic bickering. Then there was the fact that all the girls God had in mind were not attractive to me, and the ones that were were out of my league. There was the fact that I would be in serious debt for ten years after graduating college. But of course there was the fact that I had been ruining God’s plan for my life with pornography. I had perverted my taste, I thought. Then there was the one piece I was afraid to admit. Ultimately, I believed, I was in control of my destiny–follow God’s plan for my life or follow my own desires. The problem with “God’s plan” (as interpreted by Evangelical, True Love Waits, Adventist, add any flavor to the mix) was that it made no account for sexual urges. So you’ve got young men either 1) getting married far too early or 2) living in constant shame, barely hanging on. Barely hanging on.

  • “Let’s Get Lost” by Carly Rae Jepsen, Tuesday, August 23, 2022

    An understated track on Carly Rae Jepsen‘s seminal record E-MO-TION, “Let’s Get Lost” comes to life in Jepsen’s concerts. While most solo artists work with a revolving set of musicians, Jepsen’s core band has stayed fairly consistent, with guitarist and fellow songwriter Tavish Crowe, drummer Nik Pesut, and keyboardist Jarod Manierka remaining in her band since 2010 and bassist Adam Siska staying in the band for ten years until 2020. 

    I WAS NEVER ONE TO PUT MY TRUST IN SOMEONE ELSE COMPLETELY. In June when I was writing about Carly Rae Jepsen as the foundation of my Pride playlist, I listened to the B-Side Chicks podcast that described one of her concerts. Before going to the concert, he wondered who would be attending a Carly Rae Jepsen concert. Would it be tweens? The mostly clean bubblegum lyrics of the “Call Me Maybe” singer could warrant a younger audience. Instead, the podcaster discovers a venue filled with incredibly “hot dudes.” Even though Jepsen hasn’t replicated the success of her first hit, it’s niche markets in which she thrives. Whether it’s headlining pride festivals, playing a set for Pitchfork, of embracing her extremely dedicated fans in Japan where her music seems to be even more mainstream than any other market, Jepsen certainly has carved out a unique career trajectory. After watching several Carly Rae Jepsen concerts on YouTube, it seems that today’s song, “Let’s Get Lost,” is a concert highlight. Despite the song’s understated place on E-M0-TION, it’s keyboardist Jarod Manierka who steals the show in concert, not with the keyboard but with a saxophone. It’s the kind of pay off a retro record has been waiting for.

    YOU COULD BE THE ONE. “Let’s Get Lost” is a beautiful song about wanting to spend more time with someone. Some nights you don’t want to end, and you just want to be lost with a special someone. The speaker of the song hopes her love will “take the long way home.” But the feelings this song evokes for me aren’t about dating. Since I didn’t start dating until I came to Korea, without the daily use of a car and relying on taxis and public transportation, “taking the long way home” would mean, if anything, a longer walk, which is almost always not private like being in a car. Instead, this song brings me back to growing up in the backwoods of central New York. Getting in the car was always an adventure, in many ways. Not counting the many times our old cars and trucks broke down or the road washed out after a heavy snow melt, I loved riding in the car when I was young, just looking out the window at the overgrown forests. Some Saturdays after church, my family would drive around the county just to see where different roads went and how things changed. In high school, I was reminded of these drives when reading Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowing Evening,” when the poet says: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep.” There was something scary and exciting at the same time about being far away from home on a deserted dirt road. Not so fun, though in the winter when the car broke down.



    Live:

  • “Good Thing” by Jake Miller, Monday, August 22, 2022

    In 2016, Jake Miller released a style-changing EP titled Overnight. The south- Florida-based singer started his musical career while he was a student at the University of Miami, posting videos of his music online. Miller cut his teeth in Hip-Hop, opening for Snoop Dogg and releasing several Hip-Hop EPs and a full length record in 2013. Miller’s music always featured a tropical house melodic elements, but in 2016, Miller shifted more to singing, releasing Overnight without any rapping. The seven-track EP of feel-good electronic vibes, are brimming with youth, vitality, and sexuality. 

    YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO NOWHERE BABY. With only two minor pop radio hits, 2014’s “First Flight Home” and 2019’s “Wait for You,” Jake Miller certainly isn’t a household name. But the late summer sounds of Overnight were refreshing in a year of turmoil. In an interview with Zach Sang, Miller discusses his change in sound and his new life in Los Angeles. While explaining his change in style, Miller talks about his musical history, starting with listening to *NSYNC then growing into Eminem and John Mayer. He even mentions listening to The Starting Line and The Almost in high school. Overnight was the first project Miller released on a major label, Warner Music. After working as an independent artist and songwriter, Overnight features Miller just on vocal duty with other producers and doing the lifting. In 2022 the EP sounds a little generic. Looking at the production and songwriting team that also produced Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, Fifth Harmony, Olly Murs, and Years & Years, these acts somewhat superior to Overnight, Jake Miller is set up as a promising talent, nonetheless. “Good Thing,” is a highlight, and it has seriously infectious hooks; the harmonies on the final chorus bring the song over the top. Other than “Good Thing,” other songs have hooks, but don’t quite reach that level of catchiness.


    I JUST WANT TO FEEL YOUR LIPS AND GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER.  I could probably write a book about 2016 and the parallels between how my faith started to disappear, the struggles in my relationship as my boyfriend had begun conscription, struggles with major adjustments at work, and the toxic political climate evolving around the world. Plus, that summer I visited home and there was a lot of disconnection within my family after the passing of my grandfather. I was stressed and tired, and after my 29th birthday, aging, at least in my mind. My musical palette was evolving through all of these changes. Electronic pop music still seemed fresh in 2016, like an auto-voice could express a suave feeling whereas rock felt antiquated. I was a different person. I was shedding my puritanical views on sex and gender roles. I was susceptible to saccharine electronic pop music, particularly if it was sung by a handsome bro–seriously, it seems like a big part of Miller’s career is based on his looks. But it has to be the love of my life who introduced me to this song that’s the reason it hold’s today’s title as song of the day.  In the second year of our relationship, this song meant something, even if it’s a fading memory on our seven-year anniversary. And despite the overuse of autotune on the chorus, I’d argue that the memories are pretty good.

  • “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” by Copeland, Sunday, August 21, 2022

     Copeland’s “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” seems like a straight-forward love song. The beautiful lyrics describe love, growing old together, and death in an original, poetic way. The pre-chorus makes the listener feel small in the vastness of time, contrasting the light from stars billions of light years away and the ancient ground, which will “drag us under.” But to Aaron Marsh, this isn’t a straight forward love song.

    WHEN I FEEL LIKE I’M DEAD, YOU’RE REVIVING ME. The music video (see below) makes Marsh’s vision for “I Can Make You Feel Young Again” clear. Marsh confirms the meaning of the song on an episode of Labeled podcast. The idea of the song is a man is promised youth by a siren, but the siren drowns him. Of course reading the lyrics over and over you won’t be able to get that story from the text alone. But if we place this extra-textual interpretation onto the song, it makes sense that its the song of the siren, promising the fisherman that she can make feel young again if he only takes a swim with her. Throughout literature there’s been much speculation out of what the siren’s song sounds like as most never live to tell the tale. Just this year we’ve talked about the siren’s song. In Taeyeon’s track “Siren,” she is tempted by the siren which represents an unhealthy relationship. In Lana Del Rey’s “Dark Paradise,” the siren beckons her to join her dead lover and be eternally happy together with him in a dark paradise. 

    THIS PIECE OF MY SOUL YOUR CONTROLLING. Copeland’s mermaid makes a promise similar to the legend that fellow Floridian Ponce de Leon sought, a fountain of youth that would keep him forever young. The siren makes no such promise; she merely promises to make the fisherman feel young “before [the ground] drags us under.” Does the man feel youth as he gives in to the siren’s song? Is the promise unfulfilled?  Or is the man oblivious until the final moments? And more importantly, does this correct interpretation hinder a more straightforward interpretation or even the enjoyment of the song? The promises of a new lover making his or her case to spend time together, the siren-like fixation chemistry creates when two lovers are just in to each other—isn’t that what this song is about at it’s core? And yet, like I’ve talked about in prior posts, Copeland cannot write a love song without tension. Even in today’s song, when the listener’s guard is down, the listener must stay especially vigilant. The danger in the song, though is just missing the depth, as there is nothing deadly about missing the point.   


    Read the lyrics on Genius.

    Twin version:

    Twin and original version mixed:

    Music video:

  • “Goddess of the Dayspring, Am I” by Falling Up, Saturday, August 20, 2022

    There had been hints and tendencies listeners could pick up on from earlier Falling Up records. There was the occasional strange word choice on Crashings. There was esoteric storytelling on Dawn Escapes. There were the made-up words on Exit Lights, the remix record. And for the band’s third studio record on BEC Recordings, Captiva, Falling Up delved into Greek mythology and science fiction. But for the band’s fourth record, Fangs! Falling Up presented a full concept record, this time without Bible verses in the album notes. This time fully indulging in world-building.

    SOME OF US HAVE SEEN GOLDEN ARROWS POISED. Working with frontman Casey Crescenzo of cult-status progressive indie band The Dear Hunter, the sound on Fangs! steers the band away from the electronic and Nu Metal influence Falling Up had previously embraced. Before releasing the record, lead singer Jessy Ribordy shared the story behind the concept record. Ribordy explained that the story is a prologue to the album, and the album is about what a traveler from another planet encounters. The record’s lyrical content, even being tuned into the backstory, is obscured with new vocabulary, almost coded like an Elon Hubbard novel, not that Falling Up will start a new religion. Fangs! was a polarizing record, signaling a mass exodus of fans who had witnessed Falling Up’s change in status from a massive mainstream Christian Rock band to a niche sound of sci-fi/fantasy, even stoner rock. 


    Ophelia by John Everett Millais. Source:
    Wikipedia Commons.

    HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ME FOR FLOWERS IN YOUR HAIR? In this C. S. Lewis/ Greek mythology/ Hamlet space opera of Fangs!, we come to one of the catchiest tracks on the record, “Goddess of the Dayspring, Am I,” the ninth track on the record. In the verse, the song is kind of an Odyssey retelling of the story up until this point, with the traveler recalling the adventure accompanied by an up-tempo guitar tremolo. But the chorus slows down; it’s a lament because the Goddess of the Dayspring has died. The traveler runs his hands over her dress; his hands touching her lifeless body, pleading with her to come back to life. The goddess is partially inspired by Shakespeare’s Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover who takes her life by drowning in a river after losing her sanity. When I was listening to this record in college, I always pictured Sir John Everett Millais’s painting depicting Ophelia’s corpse floating in a calm stream with flowers surrounding the body. Jessy Ribordy’s delivery of this loss feels authentic, despite the song being a complete work of fiction. But there’s no time for the grief to last; the song picks up with rapid drumming as if the traveler runs off past the mourning courtiers to investigate. 






     

  • "Amelia Jean" by Jack's Mannequin, Friday, August 19, 2022

    It’s no surprise that Andrew McMahon lists Billy Joel as one of his biggest influences. Though separated by nearly decade from when Joel released his final record of original songs in 1993 and when McMahon’s piano-based pop punk band Something Corporate debuted in 1998. But McMahon’s Billy Joel influences seem to come alive on McMahon’s second act, Jack’s Mannequin, and their third record People and Things. 
    AMELIA JEAN, YOU WENT AND MARRIED A SOLIDER. Jack’s Mannequin’s People and Things is full of storytelling. According to an interview with Meet the Musician, People and Things is the record on which McMahon processes his survival from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although his previous record, The Glass Passenger, deals with survival, particularly on songs like “Swim,” People and Things deals with the aftermath–the thoughts on the road trips McMahon took across America. However, McMahon wrote several of the songs that ended up on People and Things when he was writing for The Glass Passenger. “Amelia Jean” is a song inspired by a road trip McMahon took in the middle of recording Jack’s Mannequin’s second record. Driving from California to Richmond, Virginia, picking up a thrift store keyboard along the way, the lyrics for “Amelia Jean” came to McMahon at a hotel in Richmond. The storytelling of the song is pure Americana: throwing in landmarks like “the grave of Buddy Holly” and cities and states, Nashville, “Texas wind,” “Richmond.” 

    I DROVE TO NASHVILLE WHEN YOUR SISTER CALLED, CONCERNED.  The central figure in “Amelia Jean” like Amy from “Amy, I” seem to be ghosts. Are these real girls with whom McMahon was acquainted? They certainly are not names Amy or Amelia, as Aaron Marsh wrote about his ex-girlfriend Paula on Copeland’s debut record, Beneath Medicine Tree in the song “When Paula Sparks.” Are they stories told when you’re talking to your sister on the phone about a girl you used to date back in high school? Is Amelia a real girl or an idea or even an ideal? Is it a contemporary story or is it a tale told by your father about an old flame who made a few wrong choices. Whoever this girl is, she or her story blows in the breeze on the open road. The speaker broke her heart. Amelia Jean goes and makes a choice that doesn’t include the speaker in the last verse: “gone and married a soldier.”Whatever happened to her, she her ghost haunts the speaker. Who she became is irrelevant to her memory. And she sits in the speaker’s car like a glass passenger as the speaker drives across the country to figure some things out. 

     

    Music video:

    Track by Track commentary:

  • "Dreamworld" by Rilo Kiley (Repost), Thursday, August 18, 2022

    Composed of former child actors Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett, Rilo Kiley was an indie rock band from Los Angelos but signed to Warner Brothers  for their final album, Under the Blacklight. The band’s song “Pictures of Success” was featured on the mixtape I wrote about last year. Jenny Lewis often serves as the band’s lead singer; however, on this track, Blake Sennett takes the lead vocals.  Under the Blacklight is the band’s final album with the exception of a rarities compilation. After the release of Under the Blacklight and their subsequent tour to support the album, the band went on hiatus, which later turned into a break-up. 

    YOU’RE THE GIRL WHO WANTED MORE. One of singer Jenny Lewis’s most remembered roles on TV as a child actress was an episode from a season 3 episode of The Golden Girls, in which she plays the role of a Sunshine Cadet, a kind of Girl Scout, who volunteers to help the women with some house work. Blanche accidentally gives Daisy, the Sunshine Cadet, Rose’s teddy bear, for which Rose still has sentimental attachment. When Blanche and Dorothy try to persuade the girl to give the bear back, Daisy acts like a sad little girl who would miss the bear too much to let it go; however, as the two women try to persuade Daisy, Daisy turns to extortion, asking for gifts. And as the it becomes clearer to her how much the bear is worth to Rose, the price goes up. The story comes to a conclusion with Daisy threatening to destroy the bear, and Rose feigning defeat, only to push Daisy out the front door, grabbing the bear from Daisy’s hands. In the same year, guitarist and singer Blake Sennett was playing minor roles on Highway to Heaven, Family Ties, The Wonder Years, and Boy Meets World, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Lewis would go on to do voice acting and play small roles during and after her tenure with Rilo Kiley, whereas Sennett stopped acting. One of Sennett’s best know roles was playing Joey the Rat in Boy Meets World. 

    NECKING WITH THE BOY WHO COULD ONLY GIVE HER LESS. “Dreamworld” deals with denial and escapism. Delusion is a coping mechanism, but the song also gives the fact of the matter that the characters Sennett sings about are trying to escape from. Dreams are very important to singer/guitarist Blake Sennett, as he has made several accounts for how the band come to be known as Rilo Kiley. The first he claims he had a dream that he was being chased by a sports almanac. When he was caught, the book was opened to a page of a 19th century Australian football player named Rilo Kiley, who only existed in the dream. Another account of the band’s name origin was a dream in which Sennett met a woman who told him when fellow bandmate, Jenny Lewis, would die. The person in the dream was Rilo Kiley.