{"id":15963,"date":"2021-03-02T17:14:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=15963"},"modified":"2021-03-02T17:14:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T22:14:37","slug":"milelong-mixtapes-ep-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2021\/03\/02\/milelong-mixtapes-ep-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Milelong Mixtapes: Ep. #5"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMile-Long Mixtapes\u201d: Ep. #5<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Older & Feeling Younger<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

by Kellie M. Beck<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWoke up, I\u2019m in the inbetween, honey.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

All the hope I had when I was young,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I hope I wasn\u2019t wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jack Antonoff\u2019s Bleachers sophomore album, <\/span>Gone Now, <\/span><\/i>\u00a0begins with a whisper and grows quickly to a roar; <\/span>Dream of Mickey Mantle <\/span><\/i>sounds like the kind of song that starts off a coming-of-age movie with teen heartthrob, \u201cEnter White Suburban Male Name Here\u201d, but it echoes throughout the rest of the album as a call to arms– a call to let go and accept our past selves.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I guess that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been trying to do lately.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In isolation for a year, facing college graduation, and hoping and praying that theatre gets back up on its feet in time for my Brooklyn move this August, I\u2019ve been thinking about who I\u2019d be if the pandemic hadn\u2019t happened. I know we\u2019re all sick of it– sick of talking about it, sick of dealing with it, just <\/span>sick<\/span><\/i> of this sickness. But anniversaries are nostalgic, and I\u2019ve been hungry for an explanation of how I\u2019ve changed over the past year– maybe if I can define it, I can live with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gone Now <\/span><\/i>came out in 2017, three years after Bleachers\u2019 debut Album <\/span>Strange Desire. <\/span><\/i>Antonoff has been candid about his first pass at an album– he has explained in several interviews that the album has a lot to do with learning to accept and cope with his sister\u2019s death. But <\/span>Gone Now, <\/span><\/i>despite its recognition of grief, feels optimistic. I\u2019ll take a crack at <\/span>Gone Now\u2019s <\/span><\/i>thesis– growing up means accepting that things– sometimes <\/span>horrible <\/span><\/i>things– will happen to you. Growing up is accepting that who you are is who you\u2019ve always been. And that most of our life will be an attempt to undo the ugly habits that those horrible things have caused in us. But if we can accept the horrible things for whatever they are– that is, random and inevitable, and yes, often quite painful, then they don\u2019t have to become a part of us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It helps that Bleachers gets this message across in a series of anthem-esque, 80\u2019s reminiscent tracks. <\/span>Everybody Lost Somebody <\/span><\/i>is, in my opinion, one of the albums strongest tracks in terms of concept.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think pain is waiting alone at the corner,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019m trying to get myself back home, yeah,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Looking like everybody,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Knowing everybody lost somebody.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The undercurrent of Antonoff\u2019s album is a deep desire to move on. I think it\u2019s important to differentiate the difference between wishing to start over, and wishing to move on. Perhaps that\u2019s the biggest difference between his two albums. <\/span>Strange Desire <\/span><\/i>wishes certain things never happened. <\/span>Gone Now <\/span><\/i>wishes to not be hindered by them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So how do we accomplish Antonoff\u2019s lofty goal?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He offers us a hint in the above excerpt, and in just about every track on the album. Despite our current isolation, it is important to remember that the human condition is something we have all lived. And although the details of our lives may differ, <\/span>everybody <\/span><\/i>has lost somebody, something. Every problem we have has likely been had before, by someone, at some point. <\/span>Let\u2019s Get Married <\/span><\/i>says it plainly (over and over again, in the chorus): \u201cdon\u2019t wanna walk alone\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The long winter\u2019s ending. A terrible thing has happened to all of us over the past year.\u00a0Whatever comes next, I don\u2019t wanna walk alone.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve been walking circles<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Lost on Sunday morning<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Tryna find my way back home<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

‘Cause I know I’ve been a stranger lately<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I’ve been a stranger lately<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I know I’ve been a stranger lately<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Everybody passing<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Can’t make out their faces<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I’m tryna find a way back home<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

‘Cause I know I’ve been a stranger lately<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I’ve been as tranger lately<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I know I’ve been a stranger lately.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMile-Long Mixtapes\u201d: Ep. #5 Getting Older & Feeling Younger by Kellie M. Beck   \u201cWoke up, I\u2019m in the inbetween, honey. All the hope I had when I was young,\u00a0 I hope I wasn\u2019t wrong.\u201d   Jack Antonoff\u2019s Bleachers sophomore album, Gone Now, \u00a0begins with a whisper and grows quickly to a roar; Dream of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2232,"featured_media":15964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15963"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15965,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15963\/revisions\/15965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}