Don’t Stop the Music Now

Our Staff Artist Recommendations

Dont+Stop+the+Music+Now

You got to listen to music recommendations provided by the student body in “Tuning In”, so it’s only fair you get to hear what we’ve been listening to. Our staff is comprised of so many distinct personalities and unique tastes, so you’re bound to find someone you enjoy from this list no matter who you are. So, sit back and make room for new additions to your playlists.

 

Morgan Wallen

Recommended by Lauren Curtis

Morgan Wallen is an upcoming country artist who writes your typical red-neck sings to songs with genuine meanings behind them. He has the classic, raspy, country voice that can make any song 10 times better (and his mullet and style is to live for). His songs are catchy and are fun to listen to whether it be on a road trip, or even just cleaning up around the house. For a song with more meaning behind it, I recommend “Cover Me Up”, but just for a fun upbeat song, I would recommend “Heartless”. Even if country isn’t your forte, there’s something about his music that is different enough for you to enjoy it.

 

Olivia O’Brien

Recommended by Erin Green

I’m usually not one for pop, but for Olivia O’Brien, I’ll make that exception. She has a way of putting an R&B twist on conventional “bubblegum” poppy music and is not afraid to blur the line between such different genres. I’ve been following her for a while, so I’ve watched her sound and lyrical skills mature in such an impressive and exponential way. She’s evolved to the times and grown with her audience, which is really important for artists who want to stay relevant. Her songs will either want to make you dance or make you cry, which is all you can really ask for out of a vocalist. She just released a micro-mixtape today titled “The Results Of My Poor Judgement”, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. If you’re interested, go give her three new songs a try!

 

Jaymes Young 

Recommended by Isabella McAllister

Jaymes Young is a less-known artist but writes a lot of relatable music for his audience. The music he writes is often all about things that he has personally experienced; heartbreak, being cheated on, cheating on people, and even the want to be alone. His music pours out of him, and you can hear all of the hurt and emotion in his voice. He tells his fans that despite writing about the things he has been through, he is not writing for himself. He is writing and producing music for the people hurting. He doesn’t consider himself a hopeless/ sad romantic but does believe love is the most important thing in the world. I recommend, “Happiest Year,” to listen to, and honestly this is my go-to song recently. It is about a guy giving up on a girl and realizing it is too late to get her back. He talks about how they both hurt each other, but he knows he messed up and needs her. In this song, he is thanking her for giving him the happiest year of his life. It is pretty sad overall, but the message is very relatable to many people and really just hits you with emotion. This song is probably not so much on the popular side of his songs. A more well known song is “Habits of My Heart,” which is more upbeat and not so melancholy. Jaymes collaborated with Birdy to make the song, “Best Shot” which was featured in The Fault in Our Stars Playlist, and he went on tour with Vance Joy. If you like Jaymes Young I recommend Birdy. She is a bit different style, but still follows that gentle, sad feeling behind the music. I recommend her song, “Wings” it is a soft song that talks about thinking of all the good memories with someone important in their lives. 

Mitski

Recommended by Julia Alley

One of my go-to artists is a woman that goes by Mitski. I find it difficult to describe her music because it varies in a lot of ways. Google says that she is an indie rock artist, but a lot of her songs would say otherwise. Her voice is very haunting and when I hear it I feel just hollowed out. Some of her songs sound upbeat and happy but almost all of her lyrics range from bittersweet nostalgia to soul-crushing sadness. Her newest album “Be the Cowboy ” holds so many gems of songs inside of it. The lyrics feel to me like trying to grow up and out of that unique fresh pain of childhood. Her earlier album “Bury Me At Makeout Creek” feels like that pain. Mitski is an artist that you have to listen to either at five a.m. laying on the kitchen counter or midnight in the pitch black of your bedroom. There’s no other option. The last song on this album titled “Last Words of a Shooting Star” has never once failed to make me cry. It seems like a mix of a plain goodbye letter and random metaphors that logically you may not totally understand, but at that moment you just get it. My personal favorite of her songs is “A Pearl ” which describes trying to adjust to newfound peace in your life and realizing that you don’t know how to live without the chaos that you knew before. Her voice has such force behind it in this song and you feel that she’s putting all of her pain into this song. If you’re looking for music to make you miss being your youth despite the fact that you’re not anywhere close to being old simply because you’re wasting what you have right now, I would absolutely recommend Mitski!

Haroinfather

Recommended by Cade Campbell

 I listen to a lot of Haroinfather, a small artist who takes small samples of songs or beats and puts it in the background of his music, which adds a unique flair to his style. On top of that, he adds a slightly lo-fi/hip-hop beat that mixes with his lyrics (which is usually 100% about a romantic relationship, happy or sad) but kind of goes against the sample in the background. His songs are short, with his rapping, if you choose to call it that, usually in the middle of the song, with the beginning just being 20 or 30 seconds of the sample. He also samples quotes or lines from tv shows or movies that go along with them, so occasionally you’ll hear voices from “That 70’s Show” pop up. He also provides an aesthetic vibe, and references a lot of pop culture from the past decades, employing a nostalgic vibe as well. He’s very relatable in his topics, either talking about dream dates, heartbreak, lovers not texting back, spending time over facetime, and other things that each one of us generally feels on the daily. Some of you may recognize his song “Tunnel of Love” which was popularly used on Tik Tok for a little bit, but I’ve got to say my favorite song of his is probably “Forever”, even though it’s extremely short, it still manages to hit my heart, for better or for worse, each time I listen to it.

OneRepublic

Recommended by Maxie Eller

 I don’t really have a favorite artist or a favorite song. My music taste seems to span pretty much across all genres and categories, but I do have a few artists that I listen to more than others. Recently, I have been listening to OneRepublic. I used to listen to their music when I was younger when it would come on the radio, so when one of their songs popped up on my playlist, I just had to listen to it. Their music really isn’t just completely country and it isn’t completely pop. It has its own sort of feel to it that makes me smile. It’s important to me that the music I listen to makes me feel something, and OneRepublic definitely does that. My favorite album that they released is called “Native”. I like that most of the songs are optimistic and give me hope as I listen to them. “Counting Stars” and “I Lived” are definitely my two favorites because of their messages that the future is going to get better. I would totally recommend that you take a minute to listen to them. 

Gorillaz

Recommended by Sarah Haylow

An artist that I’ve enjoyed for the past three years is a band called Gorillaz. They’re a band that debuted in the early 2000’s and I really enjoy them because I find that they really have a unique sound and look. They are very different from your typical band, as the band itself technically doesn’t have actual members. The band consists of four virtual characters who all have backstories, personalities, and looks. If you look too much into the virtual band’s lore, your head will probably spin as it is very chaotic. The band was created as a way of standing against the fact that most music created lacks substance and that music nowadays is successful due to only the beat or the pretty face behind it. They set out to make music that was both impactful and visually pleasing, but without using actual people. The music videos are all animated beautifully and tell a story and the art style is unique and satisfyingly gritty. The music itself is amazing as well, as a lot of it speaks about serious topics. Their style isn’t easily identifiable, which is due in part to the fact that a lot of artists collaborate with the band for each album. The genres they are most associated with however are trip-hop, rap, pop, rock, R&B, hip hop, and alternative. Each of their songs is refreshing and none of them sound the same. Each album brings with it a new “phase” where the characters grow older and the themes and style change. I think the band is incredibly unique and original in its conception and the purpose behind why it was originally created back in the early 2000s. As a fair warning, their music isn’t for everyone. The band itself has some quirky aspects and some of the songs can be a little explicit (I usually don’t listen to those myself). My personal favorite songs from them are Andromeda (a beautiful and soft sounding techno type song with a beautiful visual to go along with it), On Melancholy Hill (another absolutely beautiful and soft sounding song), DARE (a fun and catchy 80’s style song that is sung by the female member of the band), Saturnz Barz (a unique sounding reggae-style song that is a mix between the lead singer’s vocals and a guest artist), and Feel Good Inc (their most popular song by far with a pretty chorus and a hip moving rap section).

Abhi

Recommended by Liam Smith

Abhi The Nomad is an up and coming artist with only about 60,000 followers on Spotify. Abhi does an amazing job and blending hip hop with sad boy music, while not coming off as cheesy and pity driven, like some similar rappers. Marbled is easily his most successful album and the one I can recommend the easiest. My personal favorite track is: “Planes’ ‘ which features many other young artists. Abhi has vibed a plenty and I cannot recommend him enough.

 

To see recommendations from the student body, go to this link: https://theroarhhs.com/3730/opinion/tuning-in/