Music is something very personal and individual to the listener. It’s something that many people, including me, use as a form of expression, escape or even therapy (it can’t replace the real thing though). The ability of musicians to capture an emotion or concept in their music allows millions of people to listen and relate to those experiences. This lends a hand to obsessive tendencies by fans and listeners with both the musician themselves and the music.
Like a siren call, some musicians have experienced extreme, fast-paced fame, because of their music and their fans’ behavior. I’m sure we’ve all heard of the chaos of the Beatles and the “Beatlemania” expressed by fans. Like the fan fever of One Direction, fans will fixate on their ‘favorite’ band member or artist and run with that idea. Personally, although I didn’t experience a One Direction phase, I have fixated on a few artists, especially during my teenage years.
Currently, one of my artist obsessions is Peter McPoland, and I promise once you listen you’ll be just as obsessed as me. Peter McPoland is a 20-year-old Columbia Records signed artist with over 1,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. I first found Peter on TikTok, when he was posting the beginnings of his newest release, “Sh*t Show.” I also immediately resonated with the lyrics, which is rare for me because I often just listen to the beat of the song. Well, Peter got me there too. Everything about his music really seemed unique and relatable to me. This was about five months ago and it’s safe to say I’ve both grown my own obsession and roped my friends into an obsession with him and his music.
Since that initial listen, I’ve looked into his other music, including his unreleased songs on TikTok and released songs on Spotify, and I implore everyone reading this to do the same! His range is perfect for really any listener. I swear I’m not sponsored. He has some songs that will make you sob uncontrollably like “Eloise.” According to my roommate, some songs, like “Sh*t Show,” will make you want to scream and sing it alone in your car.
And I know, a lot of musicians have range, but if you add in his voice and his personality, he’s so unique! Oh, my goodness, just do it! I promise he is worth a listen. Like I said, his voice is amazing, it is so raw yet very controlled, and you can really hear the talent. He’s a cutie pie too, to be honest. We all know looks add to the obsession, so I’m just stating a fact.
However, I do feel an obligation to warn everyone about something. My roommate and I agree that we think he has grown a little pretentious in his sudden rise to fame, which is not very becoming for a seemingly small town, homegrown artist. But, I will continue to sing his praises (get it) and convince the whole world to stream his music.
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