Today: Mar 29, 2024

blackbear’s album touches on youth culture

Jessica Guerrucci Editor-in-Chief

It’s been a little over a year since Blackbear released “Hot Girl Bummer” and it was easily a hit – so the expectations for his album “Everything Means Nothing” were high – and it didn’t disappoint.

The entire album encapsulates what it’s like to be part of a generation stuck on their phones, navigating emotions and heartbreak with album promos showing Blackbear literally being “stabbed in the back” with knives, and all of that is wrapped up into an upbeat pop album that charted No. 1 in the nation upon its release.

Matthew Tyler Musto, who is known as “Blackbear,” released six of the songs mid-July and the rest of the album on Aug. 21. “Hot Girl Bummer” already had become a hit and platinum certified, followed by the two other singles “Queen of Broken Hearts” and “Me & Ur Ghost” that helped set the tone for this social media focused album.

Blackbear told Apple Music that he had made the three singles in the same three days and they were all representations of feelings and views associated with the Internet.

“I think social media breaks hearts in a way,” said Blackbear to Apple Music. “We put so much emphasis on where our profiles are and where we’re sitting and what our friends are doing and a fear of missing out.”

This take is relatable amongst a digital generation with lines from “Me & Ur Ghost” saying, “Tell me what I’m supposed to do with all these pictures on my iPhone,” resonant of a breakup and from “Queen of Broken Hearts” saying, “Block my posts and my story,” something that an older generation just would not get.

The album is almost a critique on love also in the modern generation, because it touches on how social media dictates how we navigate relationships and can even break them. In “Clown,” Trevor Daniel, who is well-known for his song “Falling,” sings “In my old phone, goin’ through my old habits,” to show how people cannot move on because social media traps them.

Part of what makes this album great are some of the collaborations, beside Daniel, for the first time Blackbear collaborated with Lauv, whose most popular song “F***, I’m Lonely” also depicts love in the age of social media.

They worked together on “If I Were You” an “easy listening” song as Blackbear described to Apple Music, it’s catchy and light and fits the mood of the album, but overall, the collab makes sense.

The songs “I Feel Bad,” “I Feel 2 Much” and “I Felt That” are a fun trio as well, with “I Feel Bad” having a fast-upbeat tempo, unlike “I Feel 2 Much” which is more reminiscent of Blackbear’s older music. Still the song names alone are relevant to youth culture.

The album overall is fun, upbeat and a clever commentary on social media and love in the age of technology. It’s the type of music people sing too loud in the car with the windows down not only because it is relatable, but also because Blackbear created something that is great.

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