By Katherine Witts

When I think of October, the first thing that comes to mind has to be Halloween and the beginning of the spooky season. However, October just passed and it will forever be ingrained in my head as the month that Tumblr came back. Why is that, you ask? Well, three of the biggest artists of today, and that era, all dropped new albums! Who were they, you ask? Well to start there was The 1975’s new album ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’, then Dr. Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’, and lastly ‘The Car’ by the Arctic Monkeys. In just this month we’ve arguably seen some of the best albums of the year.

To begin, the first of the three to be released was The 1975’s ‘Being Funny in a Foreign Language’. Only in the past few years have I begun to thoroughly enjoy their music, with the release of ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’ being one of my favourite albums of all time. Therefore, I have been eagerly awaiting their latest album. The group released four singles in total: ‘Part of the Band’, ‘Happiness’, ‘I’m In Love With You’, and ‘All I Need To Hear’, none of which disappoint! Of the singles released, I would have to say, ‘I’m in Love With You’ is my favourite’, having the most upbeat sound and Phoebe Bridgers being in the music video only further solidified my love for the song.

The rest of the album continues the upbeat feel, not including the soul-crushing ‘All I Need To Hear’, and iconic 1975 conventions; such as not understanding what they’re saying for the first few listens and a lot of self-references to previous songs. One example is how ‘About You’ is a continuation of ‘Robbers’ from their 2013 self-titled album. I would have to say my top songs on this album has to be ‘Wintering’ due to its beautiful storytelling, ‘About You’ for making me cry, and finally ‘Oh Caroline’ because how can you not when a sad song is actually incredibly upbeat?!

Moving on swiftly (see what I did there), I am unapologetically a massive Taylor Swift fan, I do have to say her new album is my least favourite out of the three. Not to say that her songs didn’t fail to make me fall in love with the lyrical genius all over again. Having not heard any of the singles due to Swift not releasing any singles from this album, in comparison to the 1975, I was both a little underwhelmed but equally as intrigued by her new style. At my heart I am a folklore/evermore girl, those albums hold special places in my heart, therefore the jump in genres was not particularly to my liking. However, Swift didn’t fail to incorporate a range of genres within this album truly showing her diverse musical talent and genre-jumping, something she is renowned for.

I would say my top songs of the album have to be the pop anthem which is ‘Anti Hero’ along with karma which had a ‘reputation’ to it and finally ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’, the saddest song in my opinion. As a special surprise to fans, she also released a ‘3am’ version of the album that included an additional 7 songs. Personally, I preferred this edition and fell in love with all 7 exclusive streaming songs, my absolute favourite being ‘Bigger Than The Whole Sky’ which did bring a tear to my eyes.

Finally, my surprisingly favourite release of this bunch – Arctic Monkeys’ ‘The Car’. This one took me by surprise as I haven’t been as big of a fan of their music in comparison to the two other artists. However, the almost jazzy, dreamy, vintage sound of this album made my mind go blank in the best way possible. I knew from the first song, ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’ this album will be played whenever I just need pure blissful sound injected into me. My boyfriend and I just led down on the bed listening to the album in outer silence, for the most part, it’s like we were truly lost in this album.

Personally, the feel and sound of this album would most certainly be related to how David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’ makes me feel – utterly transported into a whole new world. I couldn’t possibly recommend just listening to a few songs of this album, truly the best way to experience this stunning album is to listen to it back to front, in a dark room, and close your eyes. From the guitar solos to Alex Turner’s dreamy voice, this album is sure to be in my top 10 of this year!

Original Review Upload: https://katherinewitts.wordpress.com/2022/10/20/october-2022-the-month-music-made-tumblr-kids-regress/