OMG, this is not a smooth transition
Q. What does an adult male who writes science fiction, fantasy novels, and YA listen to in his free time?
Okay, okay, so this is not a question that anyone legitimately asked me to answer. If you are following along on my author profile on IG @g.gazelka.author, you can obviously see that I just shared about listening to Jackie Venson, Janelle Monáe, and Senses Fail in my free time, but what you may be wondering is where did these wildly different music tastes (blues, rnb, electronic, & emo) originate and how have they shaped me as a person or my writing.
The only emo bands that have really stuck with me since childhood are Senses Fail and Nine Inch Nails. I tried to get back into The Used for a bit briefly, but found it too much. The album of theirs that I was really into in childhood, though, was In Love and Death. This album has a parental guidance recommendation on it. Or a *please go speak to somebody you trust first if you decide to go buy that album because you read this and feel triggered.
A lot of my digital cohorts are still really into emo bands. They’re constantly resharing stories with emo music playing in the background. On one especially rough day, I ordered the Let It Enfold You vinyl for nostalgia purposes and shared a clip of it to IG on another especially rough day. This moment is actually something that helped me and my publishing editor Brittney Poindexter connect in a way we had not been able to do so before.
I’m not sure when I transitioned away from emo music. I think it was with the introduction of Florence & the Machine, Lykki Li, and Grimes into my music tastes in FL. I still listen to these artists.
I know, a lot of people might think it is cringe that I still listen to C after some of her dating choices, but I have been following her for a very long time and have seen her evolution as an artists. I literally have her entire discography. I remember all the different stories or myths behind what she wanted to name their child or not wanting to assign them a sex at birth and etc. I still hold out hope that she will send out a big X in support of the other trans daughter like Rihanna.
I started listening to Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Aluna while I was living in TN while a lot of my other friends were listening to artists like Justin Bieber. Ew. I still love these major pop icons!
Back to Grimes, I got really obsessed with her girls’ club for a bit and just had to know the gossip on it and listen to ALL THEIR ALBUMS. That’s where I first learned about Hana, Purity Ring, and Janelle Monáe.
My friend introduced me to Jackie Venson in Minneapolis. Literally. At her show. That show was fire! I bought her blues album then, which is why I am classifying her as blues, but I most recently acquired her Jackie the Robot tracks on Bandcamp and am super into it. My friend also took me to some local punk shows like the nonbinary group Vial, and I later checked out a show of a trans punk artist while he was in town who randomly liked one of my IG Storys once making a joke about how if you can’t be your body then be a pizza like a Supreme pizza because it has meat and veggies on it.
His name is Ryan Cassata. Punk is pretty cool. I haven’t been to any shows in a long while.
One last cool thing about emo bands that can be pretty cool as an adult male is that you can play songs or share lyrics from songs like Nine Inch Nails “Fragile” and really boost your friends’ spirits on a bad day. Cheers, mates!