Dang, we’re getting old, lol
The game plan today was just to listen to the “Right where you want me” to close out my work day.
I wound up bringing “Departure” and “In Technicolor” into the fold as well.
Beautiful Soul has its big 20 years anniversery in the fall, so I figured I could skip out on it for now.
I’d say that RWYWM is my quintessential JMac album. My personal all-around favorite. The one I get the most nostalgic about. It’s been with me at various stages in my life like a really good friend.
I’ve played video games along to it. Hung out in my college dorm listening to it between classes. Some of the songs even inspired fake songs in a Prince fanfiction story I wrote in the early stages in my fandom.
In spite of all this history, I only have the special attachment I have to it in maybe 9 of the 12 songs. “Invincible” is a little too sad to listen to all the time and the final song… I don’t like the attitude he has in that song. It’s more in the school of “typical teenage boy with raging hormones” and the Jesse I know in my heart of hearts is more of a gentleman than some of the lyrics in that song suggest.
“Blow your mind,” I’m not crazy about either because the lyrics are suggestive, but the music kinda rocks in Maroon 5 way so I let it play and I don’t really pay close attention.
Those aside, I ran into several moments where I just got swept away, taken back to another time and place. Back when Jesse was my guy in music and how I miss the way things used to be.
His more recent music is still good, the little I’ve heard it so far, but not as much of it holds that special place for me as his older music still does.
As I jumped from one album to the next, I managed to configure things so the only time I’d have to switch tracks on my CD players was from one song to the next. I left RWYWM at track 10, went into Departure at track 10, then went from track 11 to the next album.
It’s a silly thing to be excited about, much like timing an album on a commute so it ends just as I get into my driveway, but that’s how I roll sometimes.
Somewhere during “Departure,” I wondered again about a line from his New Stage track “Yours.”
“One album flop away from being done…” I’ll always believe that “flop” album was Departure, whether there’s statistical proof or not.
I’ve come a long way since I first got it, but I’ll always sort of resent it for being the most not-Jesse album of all his albums. Objectively, I can say that he was trying to be something he wasn’t, trying to chase the Justin Timberlake R&B trend.
Subjectively, I don’t like a lot of it because it’s not “my” Jesse. He leaned more into the sexually suggestive songs. Plus working with hip-hop people, in my head, it just didn’t work.
Having seen one of his recorded concerts from this era, I’ve eased up on that judgement a bit. His two back-up singer/dancers complement him well.
I only planned on listening to a couple of songs but as I ran through, more and more were springing to mind. I wound up starting with “Runnin’ away”, going backwards for a few songs in a row, jumped to “It’s over” and “how do you sleep”… then “my baby” and “freaky,” track 11. Skipping all the cheesy, sexy hip-hop stuff I can’t stand in the process.
One odd thing about Jesse that I’ve noticed for years… my favorite songs of his tend to be the sad songs. The ballads with the really strong vocal performances. Two of my favorite “Departure” tracks have this in common. They’re also songs he had songwriting credits on, which wasn’t the case for much of the album.
“How do you sleep” has a synth part that struck me the first time I heard it. It was on GMA and they were going to a break as it played. So when the album came out, I knew it’d be a song I’d been looking out for. I’m still a little spooked by how on point the lyrics were, as if they were directed at me specifically. At the time I’d been listening exclusively to Prince for a year- and the first line was “it’s been about a year now, ain’t seen or heard from you, been missing you crazy”… Then at the very end, “not your enemy” wasn’t as specific to my situation. But I’ll remember it as the thing I needed to hear exactly in that moment. A reason to not give up on him like I’d done with several other singers before him because they went in a different musical direction.
Today, I didn’t listen to it… because I knew I’d be listening to “The Other Guy” on Departure and there’s no way I could handle those two songs back to back without turning into a hot mess.
And I ended everything with “So Cool”… one of two bonus tracks on “In Technicolor” but the only one I like listening to. The whole vibe of it is very exhilarating. I’d say it’s “coming home” feeling, but it literally is. I’d get to this song as I’m coming up the hill back to my house after my commute.
Hopefully soon I’ll get around to listening to more of his newer music. Had this been 10 years ago, I’d jump at the chance. But I guess it’s just a matter of finding the time to do it. Even if it’s just listening to them on YouTube and not purchasing the mp3’s
The Musings of DreamyPopRoyalty 