Sentimental Albums: Music that makes our hearts sing

BY the arts & entertainment staff

“Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.” – Jean-Michel Basquiat

Throughout our time as Arts and Entertainment Editors, music has played a pivotal part of our experience. Among the thorough album reviews and lively concert photography we’ve encountered, one of my favorite examples is a longstanding tradition in the section known as “Tunes Tuesday.” Each week, writers find the one song they’ve been listening to recently and post it in our Slack channel for everyone to see. It’s been a great way to find common interests and, more often than not, to find some new music, but it especially highlights this connection between our individuality and what we listen to.

Music is a medium that can connect so many people and, at the same time, be the backbone for so many different memories and emotions. The album that reminds you of those high school late-night drives may remind someone else of their first crush. The song that brings you back to your childhood, cooking with your mom, may take someone to their graduation, where the world feels almost too big. Music can remind us of moments of love and heartbreak, of loss and redemption. The times where we were at our highest and felt like nothing could bring us down, the time we were at our lowest, yet pushed through anyway. Music is a Rorschach test that can hold an infinite number of memories for anyone who listens.

To highlight the deep, personal feelings we each have to music, we asked our writers to tell us about an album or a song that holds a special memory to them. The music that transports us back in time and the music that made us who we are today.

To underline this individuality even further, we gave all writers the freedom to express their attachment to music however they deem fit. Some chose to write personal essays; others found poetry and artwork to be a better-suited medium. Each piece is distinct in style and subject, as all our memories are distinct to us.

Even though this is coming out on a Wednesday, let this be our “Tunes Tuesday” for you all and we hope this music can be the inception for some new memories.

  – Eythen Anthony and Jackson Schneider, Arts and Entertainment Editors

'Red (Taylor’s Version)' is a nostalgic look-back for graduating seniors

'Red (Taylor’s Version)' is a nostalgic look-back for graduating seniors

Brammhi Balarajan

Hip-hop and Jay-Z’s ‘The Black Album’

Hip-hop and Jay-Z’s ‘The Black Album’

Ben Brodsky

'Time ‘n’ Place” embraces the noise

'Time ‘n’ Place” embraces the noise

Michael Blankfein

Taking the wheel: growing up with the Chicks

Taking the wheel: growing up with the Chicks

Sarah Davis

AJJ’s ‘Brave as a Noun’ captures my tribulations growing up

AJJ’s ‘Brave as a Noun’ captures my tribulations growing up

Alexandra Kauffman

I left the Mormon church during my Twenty One Pilots phase

I left the Mormon church during my Twenty One Pilots phase

Brigid May

Friendship in my 20 Somethings: SZA’s ‘Ctrl’

Friendship in my 20 Somethings: SZA’s ‘Ctrl’

Rachel Broun

Finally Full: Phoebe Bridgers’ music always hits the spot

Finally Full: Phoebe Bridgers’ music always hits the spot

Catherine Goodman

Resonant and cathartic: Grizzly Bear and the ‘Veckatimest’ sound

Resonant and cathartic: Grizzly Bear and the ‘Veckatimest’ sound

Eliot Vaughey

Why save rock and roll?

Why save rock and roll?

Danielle Mather

The time A$AP Rocky confirmed that everything would be fine

The time A$AP Rocky confirmed that everything would be fine

Gracie Evans

'Say Hey (I Love You)' exorcizes nightmares

'Say Hey (I Love You)' exorcizes nightmares

Lucy Yates

Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ shapes the ontological experience

Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ shapes the ontological experience

Noor Aldayeh

Illustrations by Danielle Mather and Anusha Kurapati