On Friday, March 26th, an album I’ve been waiting months for finally dropped: AJR’s OK ORCHESTRA. Although it was announced in December last year, AJR has been dropping songs from this album since February 2020, getting the excitement high for over a year. Although I could go on and on about how much I absolutely love this album, I’ll talk about my top three songs and why I adore them so much.
A current fan favorite is “3 O’Clock Things,” and I’m one of the many who fell in love with this song as soon as it started playing. Being the third song on the tracklist, it sets the tone for how the rest of the album is going to feel. The beats are strong, the melody is catchy, and the song itself is just really fun to listen to.
“World’s Smallest Violin,” in my opinion, is one of the most fun songs on OK ORCHESTRA. The lyrics really push home the fact that, although bad things happen to everyone, it’s okay to feel sad about more personal things that you have experienced. Despite the more serious subject matter, the song is incredibly fun and upbeat. Although a lot of AJR songs are relatable to some degree, “World’s Smallest Violin” can definitely hit close to home for a lot of people. Whenever we’re distressed over certain situations, there will always be that nagging voice in the back of our head telling us it could be worse. In reality, though, it’s totally okay to be upset over negative personal experiences, even if there is somebody out there who has it worse. This song is so fun to listen to while also giving me the reminder that my emotions and experiences are totally valid.
The last of my top three is “Ordinaryish People” (feat. Blue Man Group). I think this is the song that hits closest to home for me, which could explain why I enjoy it so much. Although the instrumentation is phenomenal, the lyrics are really what got me to love this song. It focuses a lot on the fact that no matter what we do or how hard we try, there will always be people who point out our flaws and imperfections (even if they aren’t that bad). This song really reminded me that as long as I am authentically myself and I’m happy with myself, then that’s all that really matters. Other people’s opinions of me really do not matter, and if I’m content and safe, then there’s nothing I need to change.
The entire OK ORCHESTRA album is beautifully written and full of fun songs I could listen to no matter what mood I’m in. This is one group of songs I really wish I could listen to for the first time again; that being said, I definitely will keep listening to the music and love it as much as I did that first time around.