SOUNDTRACK: SNOH AALEGRA-Tiny Desk Concert #947 (February 18, 2020).
In what seems to be a new trend at the Tiny Desk, here’s another artist whom I’ve never heard of somehow and who manages to cram five songs into 16 minutes. (I won’t complain about the length of this show because it’s not that long, but everyone knows you get three songs).
The most fascinating things about Snoh is that she is Iranian-Swedish. And that her band is enormous. And that they all have great names like: O’Neil “Doctor O” Palmer on keys, George “Spanky” McCurdy on drums and Thaddaeus Tribbett on bass. There’s also Jef Villaluna on guitar whose name isn’t that crazy,
Unfortunately her songs and albums have terrible names.
Her new album is called Ugh, those feels again and her previous album is called Feels. (and she’s not even millennial). And then the third song is called “Whoa.” Good grief,
“Whoa” is a sweet love song that is detailed but not explicit. Except the chorus which is “you make me feel like, whoa.”
The rest of her songs have a very delicate soft-rock vibe. Especially with the string section of Ashley Parham on violin, Johnny Walker, Jr. on cello, Asali McIntyre on violin and Brandon Lewis on viola.
But apparently that’s not what her music typically sounds like.
On this day in particular, Aalegra’s tracks were stripped of their punchier, album-version kick drums and trap echoes. In their absence, it’s Aalegra’s delicate vocal runs and chemistry with her supporting singers that resonated most. “I Want You Around” and “Whoa,” which usually rest on a bed of glitchy, spiraling production, felt lighter thanks to the dreamy string section.
All of the songs featured her backing vocalists Ron Poindexter and Porsha Clay, but they were especially prominent on “Fool For You” which ran all of two minutes.
Snoh seemed a little too cool up there, which did not endear me to her. Her voice is certainly pretty though, even if I didn’t like her songs.
[READ: March 15, 2020] Best Friends
This book is a sequel of sorts to Real Friends.
It continues the story of young Shannon in sixth grade and how she deals with the minefields that middle school can present.
The same cast is back–the good and bad friends, the girls and boys and all of the insecurities that are practically a character in themselves.
As the book opens, Shannon realizes that she and her friends are not really in sync. She can’t keep up with the pop songs that they like–how do they always know the newest cool song (her family doesn’t listen to pop music so she is way out of the loop).
But aside form that, things seem good. Shannon is best friends with Jen, the most popular girl in their class. And since they are the oldest grade in school, Jen is therefore the most popular girl in school.
But the girls are always sniping at each other or trying to get Shannon so say nasty things about one of the other girls behind her back (while the girl was listening). Shannon never did, though, because she is really a good person. Something the other girls could use some help with,
Shannon also loved to create fantasy stories–she liked to get her friends to make up scenarios and act them out–damsel in distress or vampire or whatever. But her friends were starting to get too old for that.
Interspersed throughout the book are excerpts from a novel that Shannon was writing in sixth grade–an epic fantasy story that she never finished.
Her frenemy Jenny proves to be the worst (still) by pretending to be friendly with her and then trying to steal Shannon’s (walking little kids home from school), when Shannon was delayed.
Basically Shannon realizes that sixth-grade friendships have rules that change and change again. It’s like a game that’s no fun. And games have losers. If she lost a game, by liking the wrong song or the wrong person, would she lose her friends?
She also learns that people you were best friends with in third grade may not still want to be best friends with you in sixth grade.
Then there was the whole thing with boys. How dd you play with boys in sixth grade? Were they gross? Were they fun? Could you ever hang out with them? Sometimes.
There was even boy who liked her, Vance. She was so excited about it and asked her sister what she should do. Her sister said to say yes to him! So she did, But when her friends asked her accusingly if she was going out with Vance, she said no. This made him an instant enemy with some embarrassing payback later.
The cover image is of a roller coaster which is figurative explanation of sixth grade and also a literal explanation of what happens when they go to a theme park later in the book. Shannon has always hated roller coasters–she gets seasick very easily. But she is too big to go on kiddie rides, so she agrees to go with the crowd on the rides she hates.
She also deals with a lot of anxiety–that her house is burning down or that her parents have died–things she can’t control or get over.
But there is some happiness. The best thing that happens is when their English teacher is replaced by Mrs Rose, a woman who believes that Shannon is a good writer and encourages her–something her previous teacher never did.
The second best thing is when Shannon tells Mrs Rose that she thinks her previous teacher Mrs Granger didn’t like her. Mrs Rose didn’t say “I’m sure she did.” Rather, she said, “maybe she didn’t. Some teachers and students just aren’t a good fit.” Which is very true.
As the book ends, Shannon ad her friends look over the 7th grade options. Shannon is very excited about some of the options–drama and creative writing! But Jen decides that they are all going to take the same classes together–ones that Shannon isn’t interested in.
If she takes the classes she wants, it means she will have no classes with her friends. Is that rally such a bad thing?
This is an affecting and sad story both for her personally and because of the overall way that girls treat each other. Although Hale does manage to sprinkle it with humor and happiness. And she includes some very positive messages at the end,
The artwork by LeUyen Pham continues in the same vein with each character being easily recognizable and with easily readable expressions.
I Just Read About That... 
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