What Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’ (10-minute version) Can Teach Us About Story Structure

Recently, Taylor Swift released the 10-minute version of a song called “All Too Well.” By far, this track has been the most buzzed-about aspect of her re-released Red album, and it even broke the record for longest runtime of a #1 song, a record previously held by Don McLean’s “American Pie.” For those who don’t follow the career of Taylor Swift, “All Too Well” was … Continue reading What Taylor Swift’s ‘All Too Well’ (10-minute version) Can Teach Us About Story Structure

Music I Want to Talk About: August 2021

Songs I Want to Talk About “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd (2021) I honestly don’t think there’s any artist currently working who knows how to deliver both crowd-pleasing radio hits and experimental introspection the way that the Weeknd does. After Hours was one of my Top 5 albums of 2020, and “Take My Breath,” the kickoff to whatever the next Weekend album cycle is … Continue reading Music I Want to Talk About: August 2021

Music I Want to Talk About: July 2021

Songs I Want to Talk About “Bible Verses” by Blake Shelton (2021) Some people might find it odd that I listen to full albums of big name artists that I don’t necessarily like. The reason why is because you occasionally stumble across masterpieces like “Bible Verses,” the final track of an otherwise pretty basic, predictable country album from Blake Shelton. I always love when artists … Continue reading Music I Want to Talk About: July 2021

Music I Want to Talk About – May 2021

Songs I Want to Talk About “Headphones Baby” by The Vaccines (2021) Imagine if Death Cab for Cutie wrote the lyrics for a Walk the Moon song. That’s essentially the masterpiece that is “Headphones Baby.” This song turned up in my Release Radar mid-May and I fell in love with it almost immediately. At first glance, it’s just a fun love song with just the … Continue reading Music I Want to Talk About – May 2021

Music I Want to Talk About – January 2021

Songs I Want to Talk About “Since You Been Gone” by Rainbow (1979) The first half of January had me in a pretty intense ’70s rock phase. The song I played the most in this phase (and maybe all of January) might’ve been “Since You Been Gone” by Rainbow. This was a legitimate hit in its day, but I didn’t learn of it until around … Continue reading Music I Want to Talk About – January 2021

Top 20 Albums of 2020: #15-#11

Welcome back to the second installment of my Top 20 albums of 2020. If you didn’t see Part 1, I’ll link that here. If you don’t want to read all that here’s a quick refresher on what I look for in albums as I’m building the list: Specialness: Is the album special? Is it making interesting choices that set it apart from other 2020 releases … Continue reading Top 20 Albums of 2020: #15-#11