There have been fewer weeks more exhausting than last week. Thursday was the one month marker until graduation, the end of finals, and beginning of summer. We have been in school for almost 8 months now and are burnt out. On top of that, our country has been coping with multiple traumatic events including the Boston marathon bombings, a fertilizer plant explosion in Waco, Texas, the failure of a gun background check bill in Congress, and the virtual shutdown of Boston during a manhunt for the bombing suspects. While I have not had any personal connections to the tragedy, it is still exhausting to have checking your Twitter feed every two hours for potential breaking news to become a daily routine.
During these obsessive social media breaks, I’ve had the pleasure of accidentally becoming involved with the buzz revolving around the release of Daft Punk’s new album, Random Access Memories. There had been vague rumors surrounding the duo’s resurgence but this weekend made their “comeback” official through trailers being shown during Saturday Night Live commercial breaks and a synchronized, random preview at Coachella’s first weekend. Every day after that has had music blogs reeling over whether these “leaked” versions of the first single, “Get Lucky” (featuring Pharrell Williams and guitarist Niles Rodgers) are real or not. Until Thursday, all versions had been tracks created by looping the existing samples from the trailer and faking Pharrell William’s luscious vocals.
On April 18th, the official version of “Get Lucky” was released and made available for purchase on iTunes. Go. Download it now. This song is a callback to old school disco with the classical sexuality that Pharrell enticed listeners with during some of his work with N.E.R.D. It is basically just Pharrell singing about him hanging out at a club all night so he can “get lucky” backed up by the body moving beats of Daft Punk.
This song is what we need right now. We don’t need protest songs on acoustic guitars with perfect harmonies. We don’t need patriotic country songs to remind us of our strength as a country. We don’t need punk rock as an exhaust vent for our anger towards the hate of last week. We don’t even need Beyonce as our bedazzled lady liberty right now… who am I kidding, we could always use some motivation from Queen Bey. Right now we need some non-triggering, happy, electronic music that makes every part of your body dance. We can forget our troubles for four minutes and get lost in the fantasy of being in Studio 54 with Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, and Beyonce & Jay-Z.
“Get Lucky” isn’t going to bring this country together. However, if we devote four minutes a day to listening and dancing along to this funky and catchy song, we might be able to stay sane. So, maybe Daft Punk just isn’t your thing. Find another “Pocketful of Sunshine” to act as your breath of fresh air in these weeks of insanity. Do me a favor though: listen to “Get Lucky” on full volume once and try not to sway your hips the entire time. If you succeed, it’s time to go for a run (or as I like to handle stress, eat some pizza) because you are still not stepping away from everything. We’re almost done with this semester. You can do it. If you need help there’s always Daft Punk, Netflix, and friends to help you forget your worries.
