Giving Your Ears to the Living

For years I listened to the same music: 90s hip-hop, Fleetwood Mac on repeat, an embarrassing amount of 80s pop. If you'd asked me why, I had a ready answer: modern music just isn't as good. The classics are classics for a reason.

Then a few months ago, something shifted. I don't remember exactly how it started. An Aurora song in a playlist, maybe, then Pomme, then Lana Del Rey. Properly, not just the singles I'd half-heard years ago.

These artists blow me away. You can hear that the songs cost something to write.

I've been listening while I work, for months now. And I've enjoyed my work more than I have in years. Not because the music makes me productive, but because it makes me feel something while I'm working.

The old music is still great. Rumours is a perfect album, Biggie is untouchable. But those artists had their time. They got the arenas, the magazine covers, the decades of cultural real estate. They've been heard.

The people making music right now haven't had that yet. Some of them might never get it. And there's something that feels right about giving your attention to the ones who are still building.