Even with the future of society hanging in the balance, your mental wellbeing is important. Here are 10 songs that will stave off Inauguration Day anxiety.
Inauguration Day is here. No longer can we live in denial, futilely imagining that some miracle â a loophole, a change of heart, the realization that weâre dreaming â will right the universe and rescue us from the bleak days ahead. Acceptance, however, doesnât mean complacency. Rather, it means disavowing the mantra that ignorance is bliss, confronting reality, and taking responsibility for your role as a member of society. It means doing something.
But⌠how?
Thatâs always the question, isnât it? How can we move forward when despair seems like the only rational option? People cope with adverse circumstances in a variety of ways, whether by talking to a therapist or attending religious services. We at Culturess, of course, like to find inspiration in art. Far from meaningless or distracting, art can, as a man named Barack Obama said, remind us of âthe truths under the surface of what we argue about every dayâ, helping us make sense of the world and each other.
Music offers a particularly powerful tonic, relying less on narrative than pure emotion. So, we compiled a list of comforting, galvanizing, and otherwise hopeful songs to keep you company on this Inauguration Day:
10. âFeeling Goodâ by Nina Simone
Originally written for the English musical The Roar of the Greasepaint â The Smell of the Crowd, âFeeling Goodâ has been covered by numerous artists, from Julie London to Muse. They all pale in comparison, however, to Simoneâs version, which was featured on her 1965 album I Put a Spell on You. First of all, no one sings like Nina Simone. Her voice has a life of its own, simultaneously abrasive and mellifluous, fierce and soulful, never quite going where you expect (that scatting!). She turns âFeeling Goodâ into a declaration of defiance, backed by an emphatic chorus of saxophones and Bond-like violins. Now, thatâs jazz.
9. âUnder Pressureâ by Queen and David Bowie
Rapper Vanilla Ice may have co-opted the infectious opening baseline, but even he canât fully diminish the glory that is âUnder Pressureâ. Itâs the only recorded duet between glam rock icons Queen and David Bowie, their theatricality tamped down in a spare yet intricate arrangement. A palimpsest of sound â staccato vocals punctuated by finger snaps and scat verses, jaunty piano chords, a breathless drum beat â builds to a rousing crescendo, Freddie Mercuryâs blues-inflected tenor blending seamlessly with Bowieâs metallic warble. And finally, the Cold War anxiety gives way to an impassioned, boldly sentimental plea for empathy: âLove dares you to care for / The people on the edge of the night.â Hereâs to our last dance.
8. âFast Carâ by Tracy Chapman
On the surface, âFast Carâ might strike you as a bit of a downer. Drawing inspiration from her childhood, Chapman sings about a young woman struggling to make ends meet. Her father is an alcoholic, her mother left (âShe wanted more out of life than he could giveâ), and she dropped out of school to work an unsatisfying job. Rather than succumbing to ennui, however, she clings to the dream of a better future. As the narrator reminisces about driving with her lover âso fast I felt like I was drunkâ, percussion kicks in and Chapmanâs sonorous voice takes on a lively edge, and freedom seems so close you could reach out and grab it.
7. â7â by Prince
Lyrically, â7â isnât particularly special â just another ballad about eternal love. But because itâs Prince singing, it sounds like something from an entirely different plane of existence. Backed by exotic drums and bass as well as a multi-tracked chorus, the pop icon croons, âI am yours now and u are mine / And together weâll love through / All space and time,â and you believe him, damn it. Itâs romantic, intimate, and sexy all at once. As the esteemed Wesley Morris said in his New York Times tribute, âPrince was a sexual orientation. His own. And it was oriented toward you.â Case in point:
6. âAmerican Idiotâ by Green Day
Billie Joe Armstrongâs band made headlines last November when they chanted âNo Trump, no KKK / No fascist USAâ during a performance of âBang Bangâ at the AMAs. But Green Day has never shied away from delving into politics. The punk rockers are at their anarchic, angry best in the title track of their 2004 concept album American Idiot. Although intended for the Iraq War era, this profanity-laced diatribe against hypocrisy and cable news hysteria, complete with lyrics like âWelcome to a new kind of tension / All across the alien nation / Where everything isnât meant to be okayâ, continues to resonate. Itâs not subtle, but resisting tyranny doesnât exactly call for subtlety.
5. âFirefliesâ by Caroline Herring
A folk singer-songwriter who grew up in small-town Mississippi, Herring is most well-known for her ballads based on the lives of historical figures. Her songs cover stories from a 19th-century slave (âMistressâ) to a child killed in an Appalachian mining accident (âBlack Mountain Lullabyâ). Â âFirefliesâ takes a more allegorical route. It paints the image of a house on fire serving as a metaphor for the decaying past. Herringâs plaintive, melodic vocals belie the songâs quietly feminist message, as it urges the young protagonist â and, by extension, us â to âlet the traditions burn down.â
4. âHell You Talmboutâ by Janelle MonĂĄe
MonĂĄe is impossible to pin down. A singer, songwriter, model, and (as of last year) actress, she has long challenged gender norms with her signature tuxedo ensemble, and her music blurs genre boundaries, mixing funk, soul, jazz, dance pop, and even rock. âHell You Talmboutâ comes in two iterations â one an overt protest song in which members of the Wondaland artist collective chant the names of African Americans killed by police, and the other a polished track released on the deluxe edition of Electric Lady. Plus, the latter revels in glittering, R&B-infused grooves, yet its politics are just as sharp, capturing the absurdity of societyâs apathetic response to mass violence. Obviously, itâs pure MonĂĄe: elusive, surreal, and enthralling.
3. âYou Got Me Singingâ by Leonard Cohen
If you experienced Leonard Cohen solely through film and television, you would probably think he was a one-hit wonder. On the contrary, the Canadian singer-songwriter spent half a century spinning brilliant yarns about love, spirituality, and political unrest that arenât âHallelujahâ. One recent gem comes at the tail end of his 2014 album Popular Problems. The lyrics of âYou Got Me Singingâ are relatively simple. They consist of 16 repetitive couplets. Yet, Cohen turns them into poetry, his unmistakable smoky baritone seeming to contain saintly wisdom. In the wake of his death last year, its life-affirming message is all the more poignant: âYou got me singing / Even though the world is gone. / You got me thinking / Iâd like to carry on.â
2. âWe Are the Youthâ by Electric Youth
Innerworld, Electric Youthâs only studio album so far, is basically the aural embodiment of bliss. Bookended by a pair of â80s-tinged instrumental tracks, it is all hypnotic synths and dance-ready beats, which sometimes disguise melancholy lyrics (see âInnocenceâ). âWe Are the Youthâ is exactly what youâd assume based on its title: a delirious ode to the carefree recklessness of, well, youth. Lyrics like âWe wonât age / If weâre young at heartâ might be naĂŻve. But Bronwyn Griffin seduces you with her air-light vocals. How can we resist nostalgia when it sounds this good?
1. âMy Shotâ by Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton
Between Hamilton and Moana, Lin-Manuel Miranda provided 2016 with a much-needed dose of optimism. Pretty much any song with his name attached would fit on this list. Obviously, âItâs Quiet Uptownâ would be the exception. But for unabashed pep, you have to go with âMy Shotâ, the third track on the Hamilton cast recording. In addition to encapsulating Mirandaâs interpretation of Alexander Hamilton, a man both admired and resented for his relentless ambition, it presents a vision of America ripe with promise. Even as it throws reality into sharp relief, thereâs something undeniably compelling about that vision; itâs enough to stir patriotic sentiment in even the most disillusioned listener. Our country is no longer young and scrappy, but weâre still hungry, and we have work to do.
Next: Listen to these podcasts by Black creators
Looking for some alternative inauguration suggestions? Check out the rest of our Culturess Inauguration Day coverage!
Add us as a preferred source on Google