Just Jaded Weekly

03/26/2021

Written By: Jade Zalevsky 

ARTIST REC FRIDAY

I found out about Alexander 23 while I was on TikTok in January of this year. I went to Apple Music and saw that he had put out an EP in 2019 called “I’m Sorry I Love You”. With my 2021 goal to diversify my music choices in mind, I hit shuffle. And when I say that this is the best EP I’ve listened to in a long time, I mean it. There is not one song that I skip when I listen to it. 

The EP consists of nine songs that are all different, but you feel the same energy throughout. From the opening song “Dirty AF1s”, all the way to the final song “Sad”, you can tell that Alexander 23 has a very unique sound. My best Gen Z description would be that it is extremely “main character”, meaning that when you listen to it, it makes you feel like you’re the quirky and unique main character in a movie. Some songs seem to be about a break up, but still have a beat that you can sway to, such as “See You Later” and “Mars”. Others, such as “High School”, “20 Something”, and “The Internet” are extremely relatable to high school and college aged kids, I’d say around 16 to 24. “The Internet” talks about the anonymity of being behind a computer screen, and sometimes that can make you feel like you don’t know who you are anymore. “High School”, my personal favorite, talks about a first love that happened in high school. The power of those young love emotions really shine through in his tone. It is a beautifully crafted song with wonderful vocals that I have on an infinite loop. 

I think that Alexander 23 is a perfect artist to listen to if you relate to anything that I just brought up. Even if you don’t relate to the above, I would still recommend listening simply for the unique sound that he brings to this EP, as well as a wonderful voice. He just released another EP called “Oh No, Not Again!”, which I would highly recommend if you enjoy “I’m Sorry I Love You”. 

NEW MUSIC MONDAY 

Justin Bieber - 18 time AMA winner, 19 time Billboard Award winner, with 167 million Instagram followers, 23 billion total views on YouTube, and so many more accomplishments that I could name but we’d be here all day - has just released his sixth studio album. 

Justice the album was released on March 19th, 2021, and it contains 16 tracks, which is one less track than his previous album Changes. Bieber titled the album to reflect hope that there will be justice in the world, and that shines through in the “MLK Interlude” as track 7, almost right in the middle of the album. In the opening track of the album, “2 Much”, there is audio from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 's speech where he says “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Other songs reference God and Justin’s wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber, which is a recurring theme since they tied the knot in September of 2018. 

Some of these songs had already been released as singles, including “Holy feat. Chance the Rapper”, “Lonely”, and “Anyone”. These songs held top positions on the Billboard charts, with “Holy” peaking at number 1, “Anyone” peaking at number 3, and “Lonely” peaking at number 5. 

I personally believe that as long as Justin continues to make music, he will always have an audience lined up to listen. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next, and for now, I will be dancing to “Peaches” and “Die For You”, crying to “Lonely”, and smiling like an idiot to “Anyone” (which, as my sister knows, will be my first dance song at my wedding). Cheers to Justin Bieber and Justice!

Dynamic Duos

In music, it seems that the best songs are born from collaboration. From Sonny and Cher to Simon and Garfunkel, duos have been breaking records and making history since the beginning of the music industry. Recent duos in music have not only been permanentt, but two separate artists who come together with an idea and make their combined magic for one song only. 

The first dynamic duo that has been in the front of my mind since the Grammy Awards has been Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas. Those two always put out amazing music and even more spectacular performances. I loved the Grammy performance that they did because it was so simple and yet so powerful. From their outfits to their vocals to the stage setup, they put on a dynamite show! I can’t wait to get more content and music from the duo that seems to be taking over the music industry one song at a time! 

Speaking of Finneas and duos, I want to mention his collaboration with Ashe, because it was stellar. Personally, I just found out about it, but as soon as I listened to this song, I knew it was a hit. “Till Forever Falls Apart” was released on March 2nd of 2021, and it is Ashe and Finneas’ second song together, after their first collaboration for “Moral of the Story” which was featured in the smash hit movie, To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. I’m a sucker for cute love songs, and the powerful drop in “Till Forever Falls Apart” just adds to the draw of the song, and what makes it so romantic. Their voices together just make it everything that it is, and what it is, is so magical and beautiful. 

The final collaboration that I want to talk about is a song that I can’t stop listening to these days. “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber was released as a single for Shawn’s album Wonder. If you’ve already heard it then you know that it’s about the media putting Shawn and Justin on a pedestal at a young age, and then criticizing them when they made a mistake. As two men who entered the music industry as young boys, it makes sense that they’d felt like they needed to look and act a certain way to be publicly accepted. I think that Justin was the perfect person for Shawn to collaborate with, especially for this song, because Justin is definitely one musician that knows about the pressure to be a perfect role model. The song itself gives me The Weeknd vibes, and it’s so lyrically genius, not to mention the vocals being spot on. I loved it from start to finish, and I hope you’ll go check it out. 

Thanks for reading “Just Jaded Weekly”! I hope you enjoyed it! Check out our Instagram, @jaded.productions, for more content!