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Contentious (adj., cunn-TEN-shuss)
Someone or something who's likely to quarrel or feud, or something that's controversial. In other words: Twitter.
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Link of the Day
fun. - Some Nights
I’m a bit late to the party on Fun’s Some Nights. The album from the NYC trio came out in 2012. “Some Nights” and “We Are Young” were everywhere for two years, with the former gracing commercials and the latter winning “Record of the Year” at the Grammys. I, a curmudgeon, didn’t pick up the album until over five years later.
I think it was better that way. Some Nights is an album about being 27 when you’re 30. It stares unflinchingly at the loneliness, dreams, relationships, and frustrations of the point where you’re almost, almost a full adult. Three years later, you are, and you can look back with the critical distance. But for that moment, it’s a weird time, the puzzle pieces starting to fall into place but not always in the places you wanted.
The album could only have come from fun., a trio of guys in between bands. Nate Ruess, the lead singer, was 30. Andrew Dost was a year younger and Jack Antonoff a year younger than that. Ruess was from Iowa via Arizona, Dost from Michigan, and Antonoff from New Jersey. They’d recorded a solid debut album, Aim and Ignite, and then got to work on Some Nights. One of the major influences was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (a masterpiece that deserves its own entry, but this is a school-friendly site). That album’s bombast and flow seeped into this one, causing the group to choose hip-hop producer Jeff Bhasker.
Part of Some Nights’s uniqueness is its sound. It’s pop-rock...with a lot of emo and theatrical rock...and hip-hop...and maybe indie? Whatever. It’s the music you want to make in your late 20s, when you’re soaking up all the best records of different genres. Each song on the album has a different feel. All of them work together.
But no, the main reason Some Nights is so good is because the music and the lyrics work together to paint an incredible snapshot. The swells and quiet of the music fit the often schizophrenic thrill and ache of life, of people changing, and of trying to find a relationship that can endure in the midst of it and everyone. A thread through many songs is a somewhat strained relationship with the singer and his girl. We trace it obliquely, just enough glimpse to think we know what’s going on, as they feel youth at night, deal with the stresses of life, feel the strain of being alone, have their dreams deferred, and more. By the end, Ruess confesses that he often misses his mom. City life is isolating. Security and stability is his craving. Neither he nor his partner are entirely finding it in each other, but they stay together because they sometimes feel like it’s perfect, that they’re where they should be, together. Being alone is far worse.
Ruess is a skilled lyricist and masterful singer. There’s a lot of Queen here. Ruess is no Mercury, but he’s remarkably good at finding exactly the right emotional timbre for every note, often with challenging parts. We feel each song. When we get to the end of “Stars,” the auto-tune is jarring. The emotion of the album and the first part of the song gives way to a colder, more “perfect,” more popular style. He’s grown up. The wide eyes are narrowed and the openness is gone. It’s a masterful performance and production.
(Imma let you finish, but Kanye’s “Runaway” did the same thing two years back but even better.)
Fun. never seemed like a band destined for old age. They would be the ones to burn brighter than the sun, but also to vanish, to leave the city and center of attention. Three years after Some Nights ruled the world with bar lights and pretty girls, fun. went on hiatus. I honestly think it’s better that way. Each member had such distinct styles (as has been seen in their projects since) and the album feels like a perfect alchemy. It’s a magnificent memoir. Until they come out with a better one, let their past be the sound of feet upon the ground and carry on.
Musicfun.Some NightsStarsKanye West27 going on 30Cities