Albums of 2018: MØ Makes You Forever Neverland

Neverland is such a conceptually  complex place. It is a setting where magic and youth live eternally, but at the cost of abandonment and the chance to grow up and see other worlds. In MØ’s Forever Neverland, she makes you wonder whether Neverland is the home you wish you could return to or the one you wish you could leave. Hence, this mystical dance album is one of the TOPS of 2018.

I LOOOOVVVEEEE to DANCE!. Whether I am good at it does not matter for the sake of my delusion! Thus, MØ’s record makes me blissfully happy with tracks like, “Blur,” “Trying To Be Good,” and “Mercy.” They make want to bounce around the club like a ping pong of rhythm. Stand outs, for me, are tracks like “If It’s Over” featuring the fierce, femme- pop fatale, Charli XCX, and  “Nostalgia,” which has trop rhythms and  rich lyrics on missing an old relationship, but knowing it was the right thing to let it go. The latter song brings up a recurring theme in the album that will strike anyone that has lived life: letting go of the good. 

So much music/ many people focus on how to let go of “the bad” that occurs, but what about the moment when we let go of or need to release “the good”? For MØ, “Forever Neverland” is a nostalgic, self-loving ode to the many times she had to say goodbye to something/ someone really great because it was not right. This theme is veiled by basslines that  drop like anvils of sound, but, after a few listens, you really grasp the concept of this record. Neverland is “the island” in our minds where there is no such thing as a “right time” for wonderful. There is no need let go of “good” to get better, or leave your home to find your youthful magic and happiness. In this Neverland, time does not exist because memories are frozen by delicious rhythms. 

Personally, I will never understand why people “knock” dance music. If the human body is 98% water, I truly believe that the human spirit is 98% music.  Our souls need to dance; it is how it stretches (lol). Thus, MØ’s Forever Neverland has me stretching, but also surprises me with it nuggets of wisdom on to be okay moving on from one good thing to get your next, better one. I guess, sometimes, the grass is greener on the other side. For More Information On MØ click here.