I Owe Discover Weekly Everything

"Who's your favorite artist? What's your favorite kind of music?"

The two questions that every music major hates answering.

My music taste depends completely on my mood or location. I too suffer from finding a song I like and listening to it until I no longer like it anymore. I also made a pact with myself on my way to college to never stop finding new music.

I love being the music friend.

It was almost like Spotify heard me when I made this pact and in July of 2015, Discover Weekly answered my prayer. Every Monday like clockwork, I had a new set of songs to judge - old songs I forgot about, new indie artist making there first debut, and new lyrics that spoke exactly what I was feeling at the beginning of that week. For me... it's the lyrics. You know that super cheesy music quote by Dave Grohl that still rings true:

“That’s one of the great things about music. You can sing a song to 85,000 people and they’ll sing it back for 85,000 different reasons."

Recently, for me, it's been the lyrics girlies for me and my discover weekly has yet again answered.

DEVON COLE

I can blame Discover Weekly on Spotify for this girl. She was born and raised in Calgary, but currently resides in Canada. The first song I heard from her was called Alive and after being in a relationship for 4 years, I avidly SEARCH for love songs that are upbeat and still encapsulates how I feel about my boyfriend. Whenever I'm doing dishes or cleaning the apartment I put on music like this and he comes and dances with me. I can thank Devon for keeping us "dating" eachother.

On the flipside, she also writes some of the best girl anthems and independent woman lyrics that I've ever heard. One of her newest songs, W.I.T.C.H (Woman In Total Control of Herself) will make you feel powerful, sexy, and proud to be a woman. The lyrics start:

"Rumor on the street is that her apples are delicious. The jury said she's charming, but her exes say she's wicked. I swear to God, I saw her howling at the sky, she ain't out to getcha, but she's better on your side."

So, if you're looking for a song to dance to in the kitchen or you need a little woman empowerment - Devon Cole is for you.

LIZZY MCALPINE

Lizzy McAlpine, an artist that everyone and their mom has probably heard of now, but one of my favorites. Some people know her from her most recent album, specifically Ceilings, that went viral on TikTok earlier in 2023. Maybe, like me, you know her from earlier in 2020 when she posted her from her unreleased song, You Ruined The 1975, which I loved and connected with so much. God, I wish she would have realized that song, but as I was preparing for a trip, newly in love, I went on Discover Weekly and found Pancakes for Dinner:

Oh, and to tell you is too scary, so I'll just say something else And I wish that you could hear me. When I talk to myself, but this plane might not land safely. So, what the hell do I have to lose

If I just tell you?

I wanna eat pancakes for dinner, I wanna get stuck in your head. I wanna watch a T.V. show together, and when we're under the weather we can watch it in bed. I wanna go out on the weekends, I wanna dress up just to get undressed. I think that I should probably tell you this.

In case there is an accident, and I never see you again. So please save all your questions for the end, and maybe I'll be brave enough by then.

I honestly adore all the different ways she sings about love - whether it be past tense or not. Orange Show Speedway, Reckless Driving, and her newest album Older are all something to put on your list.

MAISIE PETERS

I found Maisie Peters in 2015 at the prime of my Discover Weekly finds with the song Feels Like This and now... she's opening on the Eras Tour. This song was a great example of Dave Grohl's quote above. I heard this song right after a my-life-is-over breakup (it wasn't) and honestly I realized that the guy I was with didn't make me feel the way that these lyrics portrayed love - so I'd wait for a guy that would.

Who cares about star signs?

I'm hardwired to be with you

You're like a sunrise

and I'm scared that I'll never get enough of you

Nobody called it a starfall

Come out the blue

I'm all butterflies

I'm sky-high for you

When it feels like this, like a light came on. And you look at me like I'm all you want

I got everything at my fingertips

How can I resist when it feels like this?

ORLA GARTLAND

One of my favorite Irish ladies, that I almost missed. Discover Weekly gave me Heavy, I put it in my liked songs and didn't listen to it all the way through. Scrolling through instagram a couple days later, a musician friend of mine was playing a piano cover of her single, I Go Crazy and I fell in love with the lyrics... so I went back to Heavy.

I've been trying to train my mind to put you in another category

But it's still not coming naturally

After all this time

So tell me

Why this has to be

So heavy

Tell me

Why this has to be

'Cause I really thought that we'd be cool

Some exception to the rule

But honestly

I think it has to be this heavy

Another fantasic lyric driven breakup song. Gartland perfectly encapsulates the sadness in her breakup songs and you feel the yearning in her love songs. The perfect mix.

LEANNA FIRESTONE

As a musical theatre girl that loves good pop music, Leanna was a great find. Discover gave me Diet Coke and led me to Two Week Notice:

And you gave me a two-week notice, even if you didn’t say it explicitly,

you gave me a two-week warning, you didn’t have to tell me- I knew that you would leave, for better hours or better pay,

better management at a better place, and if retail has taught me anything, if people wanna go,

you should let them go

I love when artists give a song layers and you hear the title thinking one thing and end up with a completely different experience by the end of the song.

Moral of the story, lyric ladies run the music industry and discover weekly, I thank you for introducing me to some of the most empowering, creative ones.