Album review: Some Nights by fun.

Let’s face it, all I do on this blog is either gush or rant but this, this post is going to be the epitome of gushing on my side.

I was first bullied into listening to fun. by a bunch of my friends in the summer of 2010. It was their debut album, Aim and Ignite and in a nutshell, it was probably the only thing that helped me cope with an unbearably tumultuous and stomach-crushingly tense summer. Hell, between Ra Ra Riot and fun. my summer vacation actually remained a summer vacation. I am emotionally attached to fun.

So when Some Nights came out, I was really, really excited. I loved We Are Young and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the album. The excitement waned when I actually listened to it the first time around; I didn’t really give them a chance, I was so enamored with the style of Aim and Ignite that the sudden barrage of auto-tune at the end of Some Nights made me cringe. I couldn’t listen to more than one song and about…15 seconds of another. I was sorely disappointed.

I went back to it a day later. And I listened to Why Am I The One. And then I listened to Carry On. And I kept listening the album the next day, and then the day after, and now I can’t stop.

The album is about the different faces a person takes on through the course of a night and while, at first, I didn’t really see it, it hit me. The melody in each song is not stationary, each song goes through the stages of the night and leaves you wanting more. Nate’s voice is perfect for the sound of the album and, contrary to what I’ve heard, the auto-tune is most DEFINITELY not to cover up the flaws in his voice of which there are none but it is to enhance the artistic feel of the album. And, ladies and gentlemen, THIS is how you use auto-tune. I look forward to each auto-tune moment in the song, with my favorite towards the end half of Stars, where Nate’s voice is just this thrilled and yet anguished scream, pleading desperation, and the auto-tune provides a drunken gargle that just sends goosebumps all over my body. Haven’t we all had that moment of desperation, where we’re just inwardly BEGGING someone, anyone, to save us contrary to our self-sufficient exterior. And then the moments of uplifting marching band melodies, as in the beginning of One Foot, that is both angry and triumphant and each song has such a cacophony of emotions that play side by side that you, as a consumer of music, are left utterly overwhelmed and yet satisfied.

You miss your parents. Independence isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You miss your parents and you need your friends, you need someone to carry you home. Ruined dates and opportunities, seeing someone you’ve loved and lost across the bar from you and wanting to talk, but things interrupt every attempt to do so, and people keep trying to save you from the fires of hell and making you atone for your sins but it gets better, even when you’re all alone, it’s all alright, because Janelle Monae is a damn good singer and she’ll hold onto all the stars when you’re just trying to carry on.

The album is, in its entirety, everything everyone has felt at night. It’s something to relate to. It’s sheer genius. Also, it’s got Janelle Monae in it.

Don’t judge the album on your first listen. Listen once. Listen again. If you loved Aim and Ignite and hate Some Nights, believe you me, it’s going to hit you like a sledgehammer at some point and then you will NOT be able to stop.

Now click the picture below and go listen.