This past week (February 18-24th) I listened to one album. I guess after watching 5 movies in one week I needed a bit of a break. I’ve also been struggling to finish some of the books that I’m reading.
Before I share my thoughts on this album, I want to talk a bit about who recommended this artist to me. I think of this blog not only as a place to share my thoughts about books/albums/movies, but also as a sort of diary where I tie the art I consume with my own life, including the context for why I decided to read/watch/listen to something.
With that, let me tell you a bit about my high school experience. I recently reconnected with someone I knew in high school. We were never really close friends, but we had friends in common and I always thought she was really cool. I’ve become more confident throughout the years, but back in the day I was painfully shy and insecure. By the time I reached my junior year in high school, I didn’t really feel like I fit in or like I had any friends at school. To begin with, it wasn’t even my neighborhood school and most of my closest friends from middle school had gone to a different high school.
My parents had decided to have my sister and I enroll at this particular school because it had better academic programs. This school was in a more well-off area and it felt like most of the students had known each other since middle or elementary school. I guess it felt very clique-y and I didn’t feel like I belonged. I had been in band in middle school, but I wasn’t in marching band in high school. I mainly hung out with some of the band/choir/artsy kids, but I wasn’t in any of those cliques myself. Finally, while I wanted to be one of the “smart kids” and had been in honors classes and at least one AP course, I felt like I couldn’t compete academically with my peers. I eventually decided that I needed to stop taking honors/AP classes and not peruse an IB diploma after I experienced my first panic attack due to school-related stress.
Looking back, I don’t think I should have blamed the school for my feelings of isolation. Truly, I don’t think I made an effort to reach out to those around me and build relationships with my peers. I was constantly yearning to be at a different school with my middle school friends. I was also wishing my family had the funds to pay for me to attend the private school that my then-boyfriend went to.
What I’m getting at is this: throughout my first three years of high school, I was too busy being unhappy and wishing I could be somewhere else that I forgot to look around and appreciate what was there. There were great people around that were willing to be friends with me, and I just wasn’t willing to cultivate those friendships. Now that I’ve reconnected with this old classmate, I wish I had made an effort to be friends with her back then. She shared with me that she too felt isolated during our junior year in high school, and I regret not making an effort to become her friend. I hope that now that we have reconnected, we can stay in touch and build a good friendship.
I have learned that putting yourself out there is scary. Vulnerability is scary, but human connection is so worth it. Nowadays, I feel like I would rather get shut down 100 times than to miss out on opportunities to build a genuine connection with another person. I am grateful that now that I am entering my 30s I have a “village.” I have people in my life that I know are there for me, but I also know that this isn’t the case for many people. I’ve heard that young people are going through a “loneliness epidemic.” I am grateful for the people I have in my life, but it took nearly 7 years of living in a new city for me to build some of these friendships. So if any young adults are reading this, I just want to encourage you to be vulnerable with those around you and make it clear that you want to build a friendship or whatever kind of relationship with others. Yes, it hurts to get turned down, just as it hurts to get turned down by potential romantic partners, but loneliness kills, and so putting oneself out there is a risk I think everyone should take.
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Album: Obsidian (2023) by Naomi Sharon
My Thoughts:
Obsidian is Caribbean-Dutch singer Naomi Sharon’s debut album. Sharon is the first female artist signed to Drake’s independent record label: OVO Sound (Garrett, 2023). To me, Sharon is very reminiscent of Sade and Buddha-Bar music. Her sound is chill and ambient. I also get a hint of Caribbean rhythms in her music, but for me this album is just the kind of music that you might listen to in a lounge while sipping on a cocktail. Sharon’s voice is velvet smooth and intoxicating.
While Sharon’s voice is very pleasant and the songs are soothing, I feel like the songs in this album do blend into one another in a way that can make it hard to distinguish them from one another. The album is cohesive, but only a few songs stand out to me. Overall, I think others should still listen to this album and I look forward to more music from Sharon.
My Rating:
Favorite Songs:
References:
Garrett, U. (2023, October 20). Naomi Sharon’s Leap of faith. BET. https://www.bet.com/article/3683ij/naomi-sharon-leap-of-faith
One Per Week 
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