Discovering My Old Music in a New Country

One of my favorite pastimes is discovering new music. In the US, there is so many ways I go about it, but the collective outcome is a crazy mix of good artists and better stories. I was afraid that by coming to France, I would be behind the ball. I know I definitely am by US standards, but I am discovering whole new niche genres of music, reliving some songs that peaked in 2009, finding the top 40 along with the rest of the country (who listens to more American than French music by a large percentage). It has been a nice change to not be on the forefront of that field so constantly, but also a little exhausting to try to catch up and keep up with this country’s music. I love it though, and I will continue to enjoy classics like La Vie en Rose, crazy French music videos my French teacher Baptiste shows us involving bananas, albums my Grenoble host sister gave me in January 2009 (Asa, Renan Luce), and the new stuff I’m hearing everywhere I go.

I have also been listening to some old albums (old as in not the past 3/4 months), like John Mayer’s Continuum, Brittany Spears’s Femme Fatale, and Young the Giant’s self titled album. Songs have different meanings that relate to your life in completely new ways than when you first held them dear, replaying them on your iPod till your friends were sick of the track blasting in your car, begging you to move on to anything but Vampire Weekend’s Giving Up the Gun.

My partner in music crime, Margaret, studied abroad last semester in Spain, and with my busy work schedule, we both dropped the torch on our co-written music blog, but lately I have just been sharing, versus feeling the pressure to write long-winded posts every time. If the desire to write accompanies a certain song or artist I’m posting about, sure! It’s good to take time for music though, and develop your tastes, whether that includes scouring the dark corners of Youtube or seeking “related artists” to some of your favorites, discovering and sharing quality work is a really great feeling. So share the music you love, with me or your friends, just search and find something new that you love. Your social media followers will thank you. Music is the best, and across countries and across the world it is truly the thing that unites us, makes our hearts beat faster as the pace increases or smile softly as the piano swoons with the violins.