Music Stories
I believe music is more than an arrangment of sounds. Music conveys emotions that can connect to specific personal experiences. I can’t fully describe the emotions music gives me, but I can at least share my stories. Below are some of my favorite songs and my personal attachment to them.
“The Highs & The Lows”
By Chance the Rapper, Joey Bada$$
This song was first sneak peeked in Chance the Rapper’s music video for A Bar about a Bar at 1:07. Immediately the soul sample of The Five Stairsteps’ “Come Back” pleasantly caught my ears. Then Chance came in singing the beautiful hook of “The Highs and The Lows”, paired up with imagery of family smiling together and Chance running into a corner to pee. I replayed this snippet over 30 times, waiting for the song to drop. Right before I left for Europe with my family over the summer, the song dropped. At first, it was just a catchy hit I was waiting for. But the longer I listened to it, the more the message became ingrained in me: To take the Highs with the Lows. When I was feeling homesick, when I felt lonely, I started repeating this mantra and it helped me maintain composure and hope. Joey Badass has a specific line that really spoke to me.
“I was feelin’ lifeless, I had to cut my vices (I had to)
Now the feelin’ that I feel is priceless
In the spirit, want me to be righteous
But I know I might just relapse, get sucked in these devices”
Again I was initially attracted because of the vices, devices bar. But, as I thought about it while experiencing new things in real time, I began to understand what it meant to feel priceless. It’s an indescribable feeling, but there were moments where I caught glimpses of this fleeting emotion. Running across the Brooklyn Bridge, where Joey Badass is from, discovering New York. In Manhattan I even came across five billboards advertising this specific song, it felt serendipitous. Running around Milan through alleys, discovering new places while listening to “Bismallah’’ by Peter Cat Recording Co for the first time. Traveling to New York alone to watch the US Open. Sitting at the top of Arthur Ashe Stadium watching the sunset over Manhattan while the crowd roars louder than any tennis audience in the world. These are some of the moments I felt the most alive. But at the same time, during these same trips I also dealt with loneliness, family quarrels, and relationship issues. Some of my lowest moments. But this mantra helped me take the highs with the lows and the lows with the highs, realizing that both feelings are fluid and ever-changing. It’s a more realistic perspective, but it better prepares me to make the most out of the limited chances of being high and to understand that low doesn’t last forever.
“It’s Too Late”
By Carole King
I was sitting on the NY subway. 7 train towards Flushing. On my way to the US Open. The train was packed, everyone was in a rush to get to work in the morning. My face was buried deep into the kindle in my lap, paying little attention to those around me. This old lady carrying a guitar walks into the subway. She is wearing a long pink dress, with scarves draped around her body, and a headband holding her hair together. She starts singing and playing the guitar beautifully. I immediately looked up. I can’t understand the lyrics she’s singing but the melody is beautiful. She starts to walk towards me, I put my head down in my kindle because I have no cash to give her. She walks away. I look up. I hear bits of the lyrics. “It’s too late. It’s too late.” She sings somberly. “Something inside has died.” It’s beautiful, I can’t stop listening. But I arrived at my stop, Mets-Willet Point. I have to go. I scramble to put my kindle in my bag. I hurriedly type in the lyrics I remember into my phone. “It’s Too Late” by Carole King pops up. As I walk across the wooden bridge past the train station, past the Mets Citi Field, I listen to this beautiful song that I discovered because of the lady in the subway.