The 2024 Presidential Election — where to begin? I am losing my mind.
But, let me ask the only election-related question I can answer: What music should we listen to come to terms with this extreme stress?
This week, I’m angry at everyone and everything. Naturally, I’m listening to a lot of Taylor Swift.
In the bridge of Swift’s song “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” she sings, “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? / Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? / Were you writin’ a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? / In fifty years, will all this be declassified?’”
As someone who has trouble putting my feelings into words when I’m emotional, it feels good to hear Taylor sing about her anger so eloquently. She also sings, “And you deserve prison, but you won’t get time,” later in the song, which hits extra hard this week.
“Losing It” by FISHER is a near-perfect insight into the pure chaos that’s been happening in my head the past few weeks. Beyoncé’s “AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM” says it all in the title, and “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon is great if everyone’s arrogance and ignorance on the internet is making you want to explode.
I also turn back to Childish Gambino’s “This is America.” Even though the song came out five and a half years ago, thinking about how little has changed since then might send you spiraling.
Out of every election-related song I’ve come up with, “American Teenager” by Ethel Cain and “100 Years” by Florence & the Machine are probably the best representations of how I’ve been feeling about American politics at this moment.
If I had to describe how this specific election has made me feel in one word, I would choose “powerless.”
In a statement to Pitchfork discussing “American Teenager,” Cain said that she grew up in a time where pop culture made her feel like she could change the world.
“They make you think it’s all achievable and that if nothing else, you should at least die trying,” Cain said. “What they don’t tell you is that you need your neighbor more than your country needs you. I wrote this song as an expression of my frustration with all the things the ‘American Teenager’ is supposed to be but never had any real chance of becoming.”
Needless to say, I’ve been listening to it a lot recently.
Florence + the Machine released “100 Years” in 2018 — 100 years after Woodrow Wilson voiced his support for the 19th Amendment. I have been hearing stories of women dying because laws are barring doctors from giving them life-saving care, and As Florence Welch sings, “My heart bends and breaks so many, many times,” when I see how much we’re regressing.
There are days where I can’t help but cry hearing Welch sing, “Funerals were held all over the city / The youth bleed in the square / And women raged as old men fumbled and cried / ‘We’re sorry, we thought you didn’t care, oh.’”
On that note, I can’t ignore how much I feel the United States Government, and most of the population, treat human rights like bargaining chips.
It makes me feel angry, nauseous and terrified. But more than anything, it makes me sad. “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA and “Nothing New (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” by Taylor Swift feat. Phoebe Bridgers are my go-to election sad songs.
I’ve talked a lot about my feelings, but this wouldn’t be a “Liv Listens” if I didn’t give any advice. I can’t wholeheartedly write that everything will be OK because I don’t believe that in the slightest. What I can do is provide a few song recommendations for calming down and garnering some sliver of hope.
I’ve had Tyler, The Creator’s new album, “Chromakopia,” on repeat. Its opening track, “St. Chroma,” features Daniel Caesar and starts with “You are the light / It’s not on you, it’s in you / Don’t you ever in your motherf— life dim your light for nobody.”
Throughout the song, Caesar sings, “Can you feel the light inside? / Can you feel that fire?” I’ve been listening to “St. Chroma” to remind myself that I’m not the only one feeling that fire. The one thing I can hold onto in political distress is my voice and my ability to make it known that I care and can demand change.
In Taylor Swift’s song, “Labyrinth,” she sings, “Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out.” The best advice I can offer for the next couple of days is to take long, repeated deep breaths.
I’ll be back with more music next week. Until then, don’t forget that I’m always here to listen.
Thanks Olivia. I needed this.