#itwasdivine

Top 10 Albums Of 2020:

Hailey Whitters - The Dream.

Alina Baraz - It Was Divine.

Taylor Swift - Folklore & Evermore.

Echosmith - Lonely Generation.

Gordi - Our Two Skins.

Ruston Kelly - Shape & Destroy.

Lennon Stella - Three.Two.One.

Charley Crockett - Welcome To Hard Times.

Rachel Reinert - Into The Blue.

070 Shake - Modus Vivendi.

Okay so again it is was really difficult selecting just 10 albums out of 103 albums released this year that I listened to. I had marked 30 of those albums as potential contenders for my top 10 list. From there I managed to get down to just 15 albums and here is where it became even more difficult. I really didn't want to eliminate any of them, however after going over them again and again I managed to finalise a top 10 list. I had finalised the list and then just before I was about to post this list I came across another new album released this year that I hadn't yet come across. I listened to it and it guaranteed itself a place in this list, thus sadly I had to eliminate an album that had made the list. These were the albums that stood out the most to me, from what they did as albums, the journeys they took me on and the atmosphere these records created. These were the ones that impacted me the most and left an impression that was memorable. 

An old blog post from December 3, 2020.

Sometime around 2015 or 2016, I was introduced to this songstress via a music video playlist on Youtube and I had to find out what other works she had. The song was "Fantasy" by Alina Baraz (Feliz Jaehn Remix). At that time, I didn't have Spotify (not sure if even existed then) so I couldn't just add her to my playlist, I really had to dig up other videos online of her work. And I just loved what she has created ever since.

Alina is one of those artists that seem private online but when you listen to her albums and singles, it's full of personal life glimpses. It's almost like reading a private journal of poems. And me being the sucker for lyrics and how a song navigates those words around, it entices me more to keep listening.

Although Alina's sound has changed a bit now from the Urban Flora album, she did not stray very far with the albums that followed it: The Color of You and It Was Divine. Romantic, sensual, gentle and inviting are some of the words I would use to describe her music. It's never in your face loud and always sounds like a soft caress. That's how I imagine her music to be.

Instead of going through every song on the album, I'm just going to focus on the songs that I love from It Was Divine . Since every reviewer puts different meanings to similar songs, I will just share my own relatable feelings and impressions of several songs.

"My Whole Life" feels like taking a walk with your partner at sunset and letting the sun rays shine on both of you.

"Frank" feels like having a frank conversation with your partner about where you both want to go (literally and imaginatively).

"Endlessly" feels like giving and receiving love without an end.

"Off the Grid" is like going to the forest or literally off the grid area and listening to the silence and feeling calm. I always enjoyed her collaborations with Khalid on previous songs "Electric" and "Floating"

"To Me" is such a gem. I can relate to so many of the lyrics on this song. It's a celebration song about being grateful to all the good things in life and letting go of the bad energy.

"Memo Blue" is just a great bridge song from "To Me" to "Who Got Me". The lyrics 'I could only meet you as deep as you have met yourself/ I could only reach you from where are' is such an inward perspective song. Rings so true in any relationship.

"Who Got Me" took me a while to get into this song. Not because anything was wrong with it, it's just that "To Me" just made me not focus on the other songs. But when I started listening to the lyrics of 'Who got me like I got me' I felt it those words!

This is why I am such a fan of Alina Baraz's music. Her art is just so calming and feels like I am reading a poem or journal entry. It's so fluid and inviting.

It has taken me several months to write this album review (even though I focused only on a few songs that resonated with me). I really wanted to write a review right away but for me to give music a chance, time is needed to be open to listen intently to the sounds and lyrics. I don't like being impulsive with my opinions about the music I want to keep listening for days, months and years.

Although my birthday is still a month away, I am no longer going to be a teenager. It makes me kind of sad to think about all of the things I didn’t do, and all of the people I lost/broke contact with. It is just crazy how much I have changed since freshman year of high school. I literally don’t even have stories from high school because I never did anything. I didn’t go to homecoming dances, I didn’t go to parties...I practically forced myself to go to prom just because pretty much my whole class was there, and why not? The reason is because i’m uncomfortable with myself. I feel invaluable around people, and so I do everything I can to avoid being around large groups of people.

Freshman year in high school I decided to try new things, so I went to events, and partied a little bit. I did very well in school, which motivated me to continue doing so ... eventually getting into nursing school (yay!). I got rid of toxic friends, and although it annoys me that I didn’t see how terrible they were until I got to college and had a good group of friends. There is no way I could have foreseen any of the things that have happened to me since becoming a teenager, but i’m glad I did. Now, I am closer to adulthood than I would ever liked to be, but I am quite excited to see what’s ahead of me. I have many aspirations, and can’t believe that I am partway there to completing them. I am doing well in quarantine, but really do hope we can eventually return to some form of normalcy. The semester ends in the upcoming week, and I know after a while I am going to get very bored of having nothing to do. I have thought multiple times about giving in and buying a switch, but I don’t know... I also wanted to pick up some new skills: roller skating, sewing, crotchet, learning how to do makeup, things like that. After reading and writing several essays (in science classes, which is really weird to me..), I realized how much I actually like to read. I also like listening to podcasts and different genres of music. I have literally listened to Alina Baraz’s album like 20 times in the past week...kind of scary, but it’s good shit. Anyway, i’m REALLY procrastinating, but because I hadn’t frequented my tumblr in a while, I thought I would be productive (oh the lies I tell myself) and write something here because at least i’m not playing BitLife on my phone. I have a serious problem when it comes to that game...I played for the entire day today even though I have an exam in 3 days that I have not started studying for. R.I.P