On the night of the release of Kacey Musgraves’ 5th studio album Star-Crossed, my friend and I sat outside in the chilly September air waiting in anticipation for the album to show up on Spotify. We spent the next 45 minutes laying side by side, staring at the stars, not saying a word to each other but knowing exactly what the other person was thinking. We would nod when Kacey belted a note we hadn’t heard her sing before, gaped and laughed when she used a chorus to expose her ex, and mouthed a small “wow” when a lyric hit close to home. We let the last chord fade away, stunned and in awe and grateful to have experienced this moment with each other. Neither of us are diehard Kacey Musgraves fans by any means, but her music was one of the first things we talked about and it only seemed like fate that her album was being released shortly after our first interaction. Throughout my college transition, I’ve come to notice and appreciate the multitude of ways that music brings us together.
I think it’s no coincidence that the people whose music taste I share also happen to be the people I have most in common with. Maybe it’s because our parents both raised us on Carole King and Fleetwood Mac and we would both sing Yellow Submarine by The Beatles for hours on road-trips (sorry mom and dad). Or maybe it’s because we both struggled to find our feet in middle school and were grounded by the music of Taylor Swift and Adele. Even if our past relationships with music were different, we still share something in common now that brings our music taste together and fosters community. When our class group-chat was created, someone sent a link to a collaborative “class of 2025” playlist. Within minutes it was full of everyone’s favorite songs and artists: Hozier to Zayn to ABBA to Lorde. It by no means is perfectly curated. But, it is a beautifully expansive collection of everyone’s stories anonymously submitted for each of us to experience and interpret on our own terms. In my eyes, that’s what makes music’s universality so sacred and special.
I’ve always found music to be a lesson in love and gratitude, and with a transition that can be as daunting and lonely as college, I think many of us find ourselves yearning for that type of guidance. The day before Kenyon’s freshman move in, Lorde dropped her highly anticipated album Solar Power where she shares the “Secrets From a Girl (Who’s Seen it All).” Her lyrics felt more like a love letter than a mere album and the timing of its release was idyllic. While packing my bags and hugging my parents goodnight for the last time, I found it hard to not take her words of wisdom to heart. I spent as much of that evening as I could “with the people who raised [me]” and have tried to remember to “stay open” and “trust all the rays of light.” In the past few weeks, Solar Power has been the predominant album that has brought me and my friends together. It might be the perfect timing of its release, the cultural impact of Lorde, but I think the depth of it lies in the meaning of the lyrics- whether it’s a conscious recognition or not.
As I move through my freshman year, I’m certain that music will continue to be a constant in my life and connect me to new people. The lyrics and musicality of the music I immerse myself in will forever be my guides as I learn, grow, fall, and get back up again in college.