27 + Straightforward

“WE WEREN’T POOR. WE JUST DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH. WHEN YOU GROW UP LIKE THAT, YOU END UP SHOWING MORE THAN YOU NEED TO. I DO THAT IN MY MUSIC. INSTEAD OF MAKING UP A PRETTY LITTLE LOVE STORY ABOUT SOME GIRL I LIKE, I END UP SINGING ABOUT MY BOYS IN JAIL AND HOW I FEEL. IT’S EASIER FOR ME TO BE HONEST ABOUT WHO I AM THAN TO START MAKING UP SOME FAIRYTALE.”

- Lukas Graham

Yesterday, I had to take my headphones out. 

Every pop melody that played tasted like cake - sweet at first, but I ended up sick after too much. These dime a dozen hooks have zero nutritional value - just like cake. However, I keep listening and the radio keeps playing. I feel the sugar cloud my veins and I am left hyper, but without heart.

"Car Radio," by Twenty One Pilots came on and the room stopped spinning for a moment. Music did that thing again- it told me I wasn't alone. Please go listen to it. https://open.spotify.com/track/5cbpoIu3YjoOwbBDGUEp3P

They perfectly illustrated what I am bumbling about...

"I ponder of something terrifying
'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it's that we're all battling fear
Oh dear, I don't know if we know why we're here
Oh my, 
Too deep
Please stop thinking.

I liked it better when my car had sound."

It's nothing new - I've talked about our need to feel the silence until I am blue in the face.

 However, I am excited about these artists who are calling it out and wanting to do something to remedy it. How refreshing.

One of those artists is Lukas Graham. You've heard his song, "7 years," on the radio. Graham is from a community in Copenhagen called Christiania. Lukas is a window - letting people see into his past 27 years. His home is known as a commune - "a freetown" without police or cars within town limits. The difficulty and beauty this freedom brought is evident in his latest album. It's perhaps the reason he feels liberated to say what is real.

At age 60, Lukas' dad died - but he lives on in songs like, "Happy Home." 

Most people are quiet about their loss - but Graham is an open book. He says waking up everyday knowing he has to live without his father is painful. If you check out his video interview on Youtube - you'll get a glimpse of that. 

Graham now lives right outside his hometown. Having spent the money and tasted the wine of fame - he's watering his roots instead. It's funny how there are oceans between us - but we're still people. People fighting silence, coping with loss, and finding the garden within our own context.

Lukas is just a 27 year old who is telling it like it is.

Grab a fork and knife - these songs are the steak your musical diet has been needing. Nutritional notes, right below. :) 

https://open.spotify.com/user/12133207458/playlist/0WhNzqOO5bsr1frkTJ0udq

"I hope you know you're not alone in that hell
And there ain't, no
No one can change it
No one can do it better but yourself."

"Better than Yourself," 

Lukas Graham