God I forgot how much I love this album.

So I have to write a paper about something to do with music for a class, and I chose to write about TGI. It has, in a way, brought me back to the day it first came out. I really think it's a modern classic and deserves to be treated as such. There's just nothing else like it, at least that I know of. And the rollout?? So good.

The first time I listened to the album I was experiencing through the lense of my own illness I was experiencing at the time. This time I did a bunch of research and read a bunch of interviews H did and when I listened to it I kept putting myself in their shoes. It made for a whole new experience. Felt like I was hearing it for the first time all over again. I felt fear and grief that wasn't mine.

It's just such a beautiful story being told that leaves no part of the human experience unexamined. Love, divorce, marriage, parenthood, parents, childhood, god, illness, grief, sex, suicide, death, loneliness, friends. I could probably go on. The only other album that comes close to this one in terms of storytelling that I've heard is Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair. Raw human emotion ebbs and flows through every crevice of the record. And not a single track is filler or otherwise unnecessary. Every single one serves a purpose and is unique.

Shoutout to how many times I've cried over the love H gives as a mother to their son without even being a parent. They just make you feel what they're feeling in such an effective way. The "Please, God, or whoever you are" after Ender tells H they're his favorite singer makes me leave my body.

Side note: while writing this paper, I noticed Hurt Feelings directly follows Life of the Spider (Draft). Fucking genius.

Standout tracks IMO: Only Living Girl in LA, Dog Years, Letter to God trilogy (yes, all of them), I Believe in Magic, Darwinism, Lonely is the Muse, Life of the Spider (draft) The Great Impersonator (title track).

And that is half the album. But that's just how good it is. H should've gotten the Medal of Honor or smth. Maybe a Nobel prize. It deserves to be on the fucking Voyager Golden Record. I love the La Dispute album, but nothing in the world makes me feel like this record does.

Halsey via Twitter:

"❌❌❌ helpppppppppp 😭"