music & me

Intro: Hey guys! I am Abby Cooper, and I am a freshman at Converse who wishes to major in psychology and eventually pursue a career as a therapist. I am from a smaller town in South Carolina about 40 minutes away from here called Pelzer. I recently graduated high school at Palmetto High located in Williamston, South Carolina.  

Music has always played an extremely important role in my life. My father would literally play the guitar at me as I was rocking in my crib as a baby. I took up an interest in singing at a very early age and found happiness in belting Ke$ha's greatest hits in the back of my dad's minivan in 2010. I also played a little piano growing up, so if you ever need to hear "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on piano, I am your girl. As I got to the end of elementary school, I picked up an interest in the ukulele. I still play it to this day, but I must say I am far better now than I was at age 11. When middle school started, I joined our school's band. My instrument of choice was the trombone (mainly because it had a slide and I was amused by it) and I have fell in love with playing it ever since. A little while later, I followed in my dad's footsteps and began to play the guitar. Though I still struggle with playing barre cords because I was cursed with short fingers, it is my favorite instrument to play. My senior year of high school I decided to join the pep drum line, and I learned a little bit of bass drum. As of today, I still enjoy belting Ke$ha (and others) privately on my own time, because I am too scared to sing in front of people even though it is something I really enjoy. Oh, and I am also really passionate about music in the aspect of collecting vinyl records, CDs, and cassette tapes. 

What I'm listening to lately: To be honest, my music taste is a little all over the place. But one of the top songs on the "On Repeat" playlist Spotify made for me is called "Petals" by the band Hole. Hole is one of my guilty pleasure bands because the lead singer, Courtney Love, has been a controversial person since the 90's due to the conspiracy that she had her husband at the time, Kurt Cobain, killed. I just cannot get over how much I love Hole's music, so lately I have had the mindset of separating the art from the artist. I have also been listening to a lot of music by a band called Cocteau Twins. Their music is really neat to me because they are known for having unintelligible lyrics. Their music sounds very whimsical to me, and because the lyrics are not interpretable, the emotion to their songs takes a spotlight rather than a literal meaning. The links to "Petals" and one of my favorite Cocteau Twins songs should be accessible below. 

"Petals" - Hole

Frou Frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires - Cocteau Twins

Music that resonates deeply with me: Music has been a form of grounding for me since I can remember. There is one specific song that brings me immense comfort every time I listen to it. I often get panic attacks, and any time I am struck with one I put this song on repeat, and it helps calm me down. It has been one of my comfort songs for the last 5 years. The song is called Rises the Moon by Liana Flores. It is soft and serene, and the lyrics are something I like to keep in the back of my mind whenever things get rough. It almost sounds like a lullaby of sorts. Side note, I am lowkey thinking of getting a tattoo that has something to do with this song.  Some of the lyrics that resonate with me go, "Days seem sometimes as if they'll never end / Sun digs its heels to taunt you / But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same / Rises the moon" and "Days pull you down just like a sinking ship / Floating is getting harder / But tread the water, child, and know that meanwhile / Rises the moon". 

I have one more song I could not go without mentioning. I apologize for the lengths of these paragraphs, but I absolutely adore yapping about music I enjoy. The next one is called "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. It heavily reminds me of my mother and my grandmother, even myself at times. It also reminds me of my nieces and nephew in a way. I dedicate this song to my family wholeheartedly. The chorus goes "Well, I've been 'fraid of changin' / 'cause I've built my life around you / But time makes you bolder / Even children get older / And I'm gettin' older too". I remember hearing my mom singing this when she thought nobody was listening the day before I moved to college and I cried silently because of how beautiful it was. Every time I play this while in the car with my parents, we all sing along and silently associate it with each other. Down below I have pictured some of the beautiful people in my life I think of when I hear this song as well as the links to both of the songs I have mentioned. 

 

rises the moon - liana flores

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac

Music I don't really enjoy: A lot of my family is really, REALLY passionate about country music and always look at me with such confusion when I have zero clue about the artists they are talking about. I respect it as a genre, and even I get excited when "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood comes on at karaoke nights, but I genuinely cannot get into it. To my ears, most of it sounds the same. I will admit, I do enjoy some of Taylor Swift's old country music, but merely for nostalgia reasons. But overall, even though I was born and raised in the south, I genuinely cannot get into country music no matter how much my family tries to convince me to. I don't wanna be too negative because that is not the kind of person I am SO here is the iconic "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood linked below. 

Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood

If you ended up reading this from start to finish, thank you! I have a lot to say about music and am excited to continue to share my musical opinions through these blogs.