pop

I stumbled upon Jeremy Messersmith this past week, and his lighthearted indie pop sound is right up my musical alley. In addition to the sound, I’m a huge fan of the album as a whole. So far I’ve just been listening to one album, Heart Murmurs, on repeat. Am I crazy, or it is incredibly unique?

Most albums about love track one person’s love story, usually the singer him/herself. But Heart Murmurs is a short story anthology in musical form, and unless I’m just loopy on obsessiveness, I can’t think of any other album like that. Messersmith uses his sweet, sweet voice to tell wildly different stories: a guy wrestling with unrequited love all the way until her wedding day, a guy offering to be his best friend’s rebound after a girl breaks his heart, and a married man playing out an “If You Like Pina Coladas” schtick as he propositions his wife with a one-night stand. The only way he could be more diverse is if he sang from a woman’s point of view.

Usually I’m a fan of long narratives. I prefer serial shows like LOST to procedural shows like Law and Order. Give me a massive novel over an anthology anyday, and heaven knows I don’t want Taylor Swift to take back 1989. But somehow, Jeremy Messersmith is converting me! I’m super into his chameleon songwriting, and I can’t wait to be over Heart Murmurs long enough to dive into his death-themed pop album The Reluctant Graveyard.

Favorite songs: “Bridges,” “Steve,” “I Want to be Your One Night Stand.”

Growing up, I had a lot of internalized misogyny. I was convinced that boy things would always be better than girl things, and this definitely included musicians. I loved Ben Folds Five and *NSYNC, but female singers? Ew, they sang so high. They couldn’t carry the weight of an emotional song like a man could.

Lies!

So many lies that kept me from loving some really wonderful female singers. Thankfully, I’ve grown out of that internalized misogyny, and now I’m free to love both male and female musicians. Which is fantastic, because there are some truly phenomenal girl pop creators making my kind of music right now.

1. Taylor Swift. Four months after 1989 came out, I still listen to the full album at least three times a week. I cannot stop! I was never much into TSwift as a country singer, but when she made the switch to pop, she stole my heart forever. I love every song on her album (with the occasional exception of This Love, which is sometimes too slow for my preferred car jams). I mean, seriously, the amount of times I say, “This one is my favorite! No…this one is my favorite!” is ridiculous, considering I’ve had four months to decide. Taylor is queen of pop, and I’m a happily devoted subject. Continue reading →