Moments In Song №009 — Alejandro
Alejandro shares a playlist full of songs both old and new, that speak to his current mood. He tells us about the role Limewire played in his search for music, and what song reminds him of the obstacles his grandfather overcame as an immigrant.
Julian: Can you tell me the thought process that went behind making your playlist?
Alejandro: “You told me to give 10 songs, so I gave you 10 songs.”
[Sighs in frustration] What made you pick those 10 songs?
[Laughs] I honestly had a bigger list, and then narrowed it down. It was more like stuff that I listen to regularly. Power songs, stuff from the past with a bunch of nostalgia, and a sprinkle of new stuff.
What helped you narrow it down from the bigger list you had, to the 10 you have now? What were the deciding factors?
Data [Laughs.] I looked at the songs and was like, ‘Which ones do I listen to most?’ and kind of learned a little bit about myself. So I picked the songs I listened to the most in the past 30 days.
Is there a theme to your playlist?
There’s not a theme. It’s just the songs that speak to me. And I can tell by just looking at the order they came in, it matches the mood I’m feeling with what’s going on around me, along with stuff I’ve always loved. For example, ‘Through With You’ by Maroon 5. I loved the Songs About Jane since it came out. And I could honestly put the entire album on here.
Do you listen to that a lot? Is that a go to album?
Oh yeah. I bought the vinyl when I was in high school.
Wait what? Did you even have a record player?
I didn’t. I just wanted to have it.
Dedication. That’s love. Could you describe your taste in music? I see you got a lot of different kinds of music on here. You got the poppy Maroon 5, Hip-Hop with Mac Miller and Kanye, and then some Spanish songs on there as well.
I mean with anything in Spanish, I ‘ve always liked the old stuff better. Just because in my opinion, that was the golden age of music in Spanish.
[Laughs] You sound like an old person.
I am yo. 23 is getting hard. But I just like a lot of the stuff I grew up with, like a lot of the salsa and meringue that people listened to. Like when “Suavemente” comes on and everyone is like ‘Ahhhh!’ But when some of this new shit that’s coming out drops I’m just like, ‘Noooo.’
You don’t bump “Despacito?”
No I don’t bump “Despacito!”
Even the original without Justin Bieber?
Fuck “Despacito.”
Ok we have that on record.
I just don’t like Luis Fonsi. I fuck with Daddy Yankee, but I just don’t like Luis Fonsi’s music. Plus I think it sucks, but that’s just me. But yeah I think a lot of old stuff sounds better to me than the new stuff. The new stuff is very electronicy, and it’s trying to ride this new electronic wave, and I just don’t like it.
Yeah that’s a lot of music now.
Yeah there’s a lot of autotune. That’s for someone, but it ain’t for me.
When did you start really start searching for music on your own, instead of listening to what was on the radio, and whatever people played around you? At what point were you like, “Hey I like this song, and I’m going to look up some more like it.” Or “I like this artist, I want to follow up on them and listen to all there stuff.”
When I got Limewire [Laughs.] The Limewire days.
The good days.
Hey man you would download something, and it wasn’t what you thought [Laughs]. Yeah I think that was it. I think it was late middle school, early high school when I finally got one those mp3 players that had the digital dash. When I got one of those I think that was the time I was able to get into music. Because before then, what the hell was I going to do, carry a CD player around?
That’s what I did.
That’s what you did?
Yeah I had a CD player and all I played was T.I.’s, King, and Late Registration by Kanye.
Yeah those were definitely late middle school days. It was actually my cousin who showed me how to download music.
He showed you Limewire?
Of course. Because I was like, “I don’t know how I’m going to afford all this music.” He hit me and was like, “Why you paying for it stupid?” He put me on, and then I kind of developed my own taste once I had something to play with and I got something to download with. Before then I wasn’t as committed. It was just stuff that sounded good, or stuff that you’d catch on the radio. It didn’t matter back then. I was mostly into video games and snacks.
You mentioned it briefly earlier how the songs you selected represent what’s going on around you in life. What do your choices on this playlist say about your relationship with music?
I think my relationship with music now is that I don’t want to be confined. Because now you have people that are either a rap head, just into Hip-Hop, or you’re into Alternative and that’s all you listen to. I don’t want to be put in a box. That’s never been me. I’ve always listened to whatever I thought sounded good. Growing up, and still now, there are a lot of people that are like, “Oh if you don’t fuck with this kind of music what are you doing with your life?” I like what I like.
Can you pick one song on your playlist and give us the story behind it?
So “Latinoamerica” by Calle 13 is a very political, very Latino song. It’s been out for a while; I think it came out in 2011. As soon as I heard it I loved it. The story behind it is that it reminds me a lot of my granddad. Full disclosure the song is in Spanish, and it’s a pretty slow beat in the beginning. But growing up in Ecuador, when the chorus hits it reminds me a lot of those sounds. It’s a really empowering song because it reminds you of the struggle of being an immigrant and moving through those challenges, and it makes me appreciate the chance I got. Like bro, I grew up in a little town in Ecuador, thousands of miles away, walking to school in a little village, and I’m in Baltimore now. It’s a big transition. So I give thanks to my granddad. That song always reminds me of my granddad, because a lot of the song talks about how immigrants overcame these obstacles and I think the person that overcame the biggest one was him. He worked for years, him and my grandmother, and I will be forever grateful to both of them for giving me this chance. So it reminds me a lot of them. So when I’m having a bad day and when I’m being stupid, saying I’m going to give up easily, I just listen to the song and I’m like, “Damn.”
It hits. Right in the feels.
Right in the feels man.
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