Written By: Jaidyn Gayman, Staff Writer
LOUD: No matter if you like pop, rock, or hip-hop, music brings us all together.
We can all thank Tik Tok, Stranger Things, and many more platforms for bringing hot new songs to our playlists this past summer. I think we can all mutually agree that the music scene has been nothing but refreshing and relatable over these past couple of months. Rising star, Steve Lacy, released his third album in the midst of July and is only growing in popularity. After “Dark Red” began to seek some attention and praise from the public, Lacy did not disappoint with the release of this album, Gemini Rights. This is a beautifully written story on themes of Lacy’s first real experience with heartbreak. With some genius lyrics like, “Little of heaven/ Little unpleasant/ I don’t know/ Little pleasure/ Little depression/ I don’t know,” in “Mercury,” Lacy paints us a perfect picture of the emotions he was feeling at the time. Lyrics aside, the music is just simply mesmerizing. The album’s genre is R&B/Soul but continues to give tones of jazz and hip-hop throughout. When asking the student body of Poly their thoughts, Christian Cuellar (12) states, “Gemini Rights is a refreshing take on the alt-pop genre. With his classic mellow jazz feel in ‘Amber,’ to the Spanish sway in ‘Mercury,’ he gives an exciting and inventive experience.”
Overshadowing Gemini Rights is the third installment album of Harry Styles’ career. Ever since the release of Fine Line, Styles is all you see everywhere and anywhere. He is on the rise in popularity amongst all ages, but especially teenagers. He shows a healthy range in genres and tones in his music. But as of the release of his latest album, Harry’s House he continues to showcase a little bit of everything. The beginning of the album starts with his usual pop like “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” and “As it Was” but still manages to bring something new to the table in the genre. However, as the LP progresses the lines between genres begin to blur as deeper moods become more prominent with “Matilda” and “Boyfriends”. When asking more Poly students their thoughts if the album was overrated, Claire Kunzman (11) happily gave her opinion. “Personally, I don’t think it was overrated, but I do think people had a completely different expectation of what the album was going to be like. At least for me, I thought it was going to relate to his past song, ‘Kiwi’. That song is very upbeat and high-energy, which is why I was so shocked to see how calm and mellow this new album is. I still love it, it was just a little unexpected.” Most students seemed to agree that even when the album’s sound wasn’t exactly expected, it still surpassed all we had in mind.
There are so many other albums that deserve to be mentioned, but these were the most popular amongst teenagers all over. Even if you disagree with these choices and their skyrocketing popularity over the summer, the most beautiful thing about music is that it provides room for conversation and opinions. So what will be the album that makes you think about the summer of 2022?