Alabama Shakes strike a beautiful balance between the deeply personal and the globally applicable in the narrative of their debut single.
Holy [censored]... this post marks the 100th day of this blog and of my Senior Year Soundtrack.
I think my reaction is a testament to a) how much I've enjoyed doing this project, as well as b) realizing just how quickly time has flown and how I'm under two weeks away from the end of the fall semester.
Now, the end of the semester will be something worth celebrating... but I've got to be motivated enough to get through my essays and finals, and that's no easy task. Thankfully, I know that certain types of music will help me get pumped up for what I have to do and power through this next week and a half. Today in particular, I motivated myself with the music of Alabama Shakes, and particularly their debut single, "Hold On." It may not be their most complex track, or even my favorite by them — that's actually a really hard choice for me — but its simplicity and uplifting message really spoke to me today when I needed something extra to power through the day.
I often see and hear the 2010s being described as the weakest decade in the history of rock music, going all the way back to its mid-century inception. In terms of pure 'rock' as opposed to more pop-friendly alt and indie styles, that sentiment does ring true for me. I mean... the Billboard decade-end "Hot Rock Songs" chart speaks for itself in multiple ways.
However, the '10s did still see the rise and success of some brilliant rock outfits, and Alabama Shakes might be my favorite of the bunch. Their style takes heavily from mid-20th century R&B and Southern rock, the latter of which can particularly be heard on "Hold On" through Heath Fogg and Brittany Howard's guitar lines and clean tones, as well as the pounding piano which appears near the song's end. The band's name has helped lead to comparisons to the Muscle Shoals sound of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, something I can definitely hear, though Howard claims greater influence from hard rock acts like Led Zeppelin.
Howard is also Alabama Shakes' show-stopping frontwoman, with a big, raspy, soulful delivery that falls somewhere in between Bon Scott and Janis Joplin — Howard especially recognize Scott and AC/DC's influence on her singing. Her voice the perfect type for the simple, but earth-shaking roots sound of "Hold On," and it seems to gain even greater power as she sings deeply personal lyrics about the harrowing life she'd already lived before penning the words at age 22. In particular, the death of Howard's sister Jaime from retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer, has shaped not only "Hold On" but Brittany's entire life and career. With this personal narrative in mind, I hear the "somebody up above" to whom Brittany refers as a combination of a religious higher power and the memory of Jaime, which in tandem speak to her to "get back up" and "hold on" while they watch over her.
While Howard's lyrics have deep personal meaning, they also remain vague enough that, even with the lyrics referring to Howard herself in the third person, their message of receiving motivation from above can be taken to heart by any listener. In addition to praying and channeling my faith, I for one definitely think of those in my life I've lost when I need inspiration. As of late, I've particularly been thinking of both my grandfathers, with whom I wish I'd been able to spend much more time before they died in 2016 and 2018 respectively. While I unabashedly get emotional when they come to mind, I do everything I can to channel that emotion into productivity, because I know they always wanted me to succeed. If I can't "hold on" for myself or anyone else living, I have to do so for those who can't hold on for themselves anymore. It's that sort of memory that drives me to push forward even when I feel depressed, and it's worked enough times that I trust it to work again when it matters.
The duality between personal and wide-reaching lyrical narratives is a difficult one to capture, but Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes did so expertly on "Hold On." In the process, they created an uplifting anthem with multiple layers of motivation, which carries as much meaning for those who play the song as it does for those who listen to it.
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