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Paedantic Basterd · 12-09-2016, 04:31 PM

Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up (2015)
Power Pop / Indie Pop / Pop Punk

We are all due for an identity crisis roughly every fifteen years. Mine is right on schedule: the appearance of white hair, the stiffness of joints, the crippling loss of understanding of self. They prepare you well enough for puberty, but nobody prepares you for adulthood. Nobody told me that at my age I was going to find myself bankrupt, depressed, and moving back into my mother’s house while I struggle to get back on my feet against the overwhelming strength of unexpected misfortune. This is not the experience of adulthood that has been advertised to us, with its stable careers, its long-term relationships, and its self-sufficiency. That adulthood is a ghost, a legend. Historically, a 4-year college degree guaranteed you a career. At present, not even a doctorate with two or more post-doctorate residencies holds the promise of steady employment. This inability to attain stability results in the delay of all kinds of milestones, from marriage to first house to children. Adulthood as traditionally defined is more of a privilege than a rite of passage at this point. What this means for the near-30-something is an identity crisis not unlike that which we experience in adolescence.

I could not have predicted the size and scale of the loss that 2016 held for me. Revoked funding. Dental emergencies. Family emergencies. Residential moves. Car difficulties. Loss of employment. Such misfortune has come to define adulthood in this generation. I’m 27 years old with a lifetime of debt, a degree I can’t use in a professional field I don’t believe in, and enough anxiety to justify a meltdown of child-star proportions. This is the context in which I heard Colleen Green’s I Want to Grow Up.

I Want to Grow Up treads the fine line between perpetual adolescence and attempted adulthood. At first naïve and nearsighted, Green’s Californianesque brand of power-pop brings to mind mainstream pop bands of the late 90s like Weezer, Sum-41, and even the I’m Just a Kidness of Simple Plan—a band laughed at for performing songs about the trials of adolescence well into their 30s and 40s. But there’s something more wry, more experienced about I Want to Grow Up, whether or not you were aware that Green released it in her 30s. The youthfulness of songs about insecurity, impulsivity, and watching too much television are belied by the bitter observations beneath Green’s frosting-covered power chords.

TV describes a woman who finds it easier to make emotional connections with sitcom characters than real human beings, the tragedy here being that she feels like a greater participant in friendships she can only observe from outside. Deeper Than Love elaborates on this intimacy-avoidance, fuelled by fear that true love is a ruse perpetuated by society and the media. Things That are Bad for Me Pts. 1 & 2 and the titular track I Want to Grow Up describe a lifestyle of impulsivity and insecurity that the protagonist understands she’s outgrown, yet, she finds it impossible to embrace responsibility.

I Want to Grow Up satirizes adulthood by drawing parallels to the misunderstood and disenfranchised music of adolescence. The album serves as a touchstone for individuals that find themselves trapped between their teenage years and their adult lives. It is for people who, for whatever reason, are stunted and unable to become who they, or anybody else, thought they should be. But there is comfort in I Want to Grow Up. The same way we bonded with the embarrassing music of our teenage years, Colleen Green allows us to feel that our experiences are normal. They aren’t a reflection of our weak-minded constitutions, of being spoiled in childhood, or of not working hard enough. They’re just another developmental minefield that we will navigate however we need to, as we’ve all done before.

Spoiler for Choice excerpts under the cut:

12-09-2016, 04:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up (2015) Power Pop / Indie Pop / Pop Punk We are all due for an identity crisis roughly every fifteen years. Mine is right on schedule: the appearance of white hair, the stiffness of joints, the crippling loss of understanding of self. They prepare you well enough for puberty, but nobody prepares you for adulthood. Nobody told me that at my age I was going to find myself bankrupt, depressed, and moving back into my mother’s house while I struggle to get back on my feet against the overwhelming strength of unexpected misfortune. This is not the experience of adulthood that has been advertised to us, with its stable careers, its long-term relationships, and its self-sufficiency. That adulthood is a ghost, a legend. Historically, a 4-year college degree guaranteed you a career. At present, not even a doctorate with two or more post-doctorate residencies holds the promise of steady employment. This inability to attain stability results in the delay of all kinds of milestones, from marriage to first house to children. Adulthood as traditionally defined is more of a privilege than a rite of passage at this point. What this means for the near-30-something is an identity crisis not unlike that which we experience in adolescence. I could not have predicted the size and scale of the loss that 2016 held for me. Revoked funding. Dental emergencies. Family emergencies. Residential moves. Car difficulties. Loss of employment. Such misfortune has come to define adulthood in this generation. I’m 27 years old with a lifetime of debt, a degree I can’t use in a professional field I don’t believe in, and enough anxiety to justify a meltdown of child-star proportions. This is the context in which I heard Colleen Green’s I Want to Grow Up. I Want to Grow Up treads the fine line between perpetual adolescence and attempted adulthood. At first naïve and nearsighted, Green’s Californianesque brand of power-pop brings to mind mainstream pop bands of the late 90s like Weezer, Sum-41, and even the I’m Just a Kidness of Simple Plan—a band laughed at for performing songs about the trials of adolescence well into their 30s and 40s. But there’s something more wry, more experienced about I Want to Grow Up, whether or not you were aware that Green released it in her 30s. The youthfulness of songs about insecurity, impulsivity, and watching too much television are belied by the bitter observations beneath Green’s frosting-covered power chords. TV describes a woman who finds it easier to make emotional connections with sitcom characters than real human beings, the tragedy here being that she feels like a greater participant in friendships she can only observe from outside. Deeper Than Love elaborates on this intimacy-avoidance, fuelled by fear that true love is a ruse perpetuated by society and the media. Things That are Bad for Me Pts. 1 & 2 and the titular track I Want to Grow Up describe a lifestyle of impulsivity and insecurity that the protagonist understands she’s outgrown, yet, she finds it impossible to embrace responsibility. I Want to Grow Up satirizes adulthood by drawing parallels to the misunderstood and disenfranchised music of adolescence. The album serves as a touchstone for individuals that find themselves trapped between their teenage years and their adult lives. It is for people who, for whatever reason, are stunted and unable to become who they, or anybody else, thought they should be. But there is comfort in I Want to Grow Up. The same way we bonded with the embarrassing music of our teenage years, Colleen Green allows us to feel that our experiences are normal. They aren’t a reflection of our weak-minded constitutions, of being spoiled in childhood, or of not working hard enough. They’re just another developmental minefield that we will navigate however we need to, as we’ve all done before. Spoiler for Choice excerpts under the cut: Last edited by Paedantic Basterd; 12-13-2016 at 03:51 PM. Reason: Updated graphic.