Day 15: Five Albums That Impacted My Life.

Dear, guys – welcome back to Letters From Liz!

For many of us, music is one of those powerful things that can ultimately impact a person’s life. Whether or not a certain song or album came to your life during the right time or if that song or album is just your most favorite, the music we remember the most has an impact on us. So, I asked myself a question that my Americana Literature professor asked my class 3 years ago in his class: What are five albums that you would take with you on a deserted island? 

Here are my top five picks, ladies and gentlemen.

1.) Kelly Clarkson’s My December

 

What can I say about this album besides the fact that this is my ultimate favorite album of all time? Although this album didn’t do great with sales due to poor promotion from her former label, this is undoubtfully her most personal album. I know every single word to each song on this album, and the album just symbolizes something about me that just perfectly explains where I was, where I’ve been, and even where I am currently. If I had to pick three songs off this album that will always hit me in the feels hard, it would be “Sober“, “Maybe“, and “Irvine“. Irvine is a song that Kelly herself never performed live because it’s her saddest song to date, and it resembles one of the darkest places in her life. Still, the song is just so perfectly written and the melody is just haunting. Even though this album is 12 years old, it still hits me like it did the first time I played this CD in my CD player being a 13-year-old girl.

2.) Demi Lovato’s Tell Me You Love Me

Don’t try to convince me any other way, but this was Demi Lovato’s best fucking album. Fight me. I say this because this is the type of music that she was meant to make! This album, in particular, was soulful and much different than the pop sound she had going on in her previous albums. While I love me some pop Demi, soulful Demi is my favorite, and her voice just holds so much power when she does this genre of music. I actually have a post on the blog on my thoughts about this album when it was first released back in 2017, so if you’d like to check out some of the songs that I like off the album, you can read it there!

3.) Rihanna’s Good Girl Gone Bad

This was definitely the album where we got to see a more edgy, mature-sounding Rihanna. This album holds a special place in my heart because this was the first album I ever bought on my own. When I tell you I played this album so many times when it was first released, it is not an exaggeration. I knew every single word on this album, and almost every single song on this album was so good! Of course, my favorite Rihanna song still to this day is “Don’t Stop the Music“; it just reminds me of my 8th-grade prom, dancing with my closest friends, having a blast. Simpler, happier times. Some other favorites on this album are”Push Up On Me“, “Breakin’ Dishes“, “Lemme Get That“, and “Question Existing“.

4.) Spice Girls’ SPICEWORLD

I sometimes wish I was just a bit older so that I was really allowed to get into my full-blown Spice Girl aesthetic. This album came out in 1997, and I believe my sibling’s friend lend them this CD because we were just completely in awe of the songs on this album, and the rest is history. I was throwing up the girl power peace sign in every single photo in the late 90’s, my mother had to buy the Spice Girls movie from Blockbuster because we kept on renting it over and over, and we just were obsessed with the Spice Girls. This album holds a special place in my heart because this album was truly the introduction of music to me. My mother was a big music player when I was younger; music was always playing around the house, and I think that my interest in music definitely peaked when I found myself enjoying an artist that I got to discover on my own, without my mother. Despite the ultimate smash hits on this album, some of my favorite B-sides are “Never Give Up On The Good Times“, “Do It“, “Denying“, and “The Lady is a Vamp“.

5.) Jonas Brothers’ A Little Bit Longer 

Remember the days where you downloaded illegal music on your computer because you didn’t want to pay a dollar a song on iTunes? I wasn’t that girl. Instead, I spent practically 15 dollars to buy almost every song on this album because I became the biggest Jonas Brothers fan in 2008. This album was certainly iconic for the guys, as well as for me. Even though they still had their pop-rock Disney sound on this album, you can definitely see that they were experimenting with more mature lyrics and ideas to fit the life that they were living. From what I recall, they wrote and recorded this album while touring on their Look Me In The Eyes Tour. When the title track was first played, I nearly cried, obviously. The title track, “A Little Bit Longer” is a song about Nick’s experience being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13. To that date, it was one of their most personal songs they’ve produced and written. Some other favorites despite the iconic “Burnin’ Up” were “Lovebug” (my ultimate favorite JoBros song), “Pushin’ Me Away“, and “Got Me Going Crazy“.

And those are five picks! What are some of the albums you would take with you on this so-called deserted island?