I like to say that I’m always on the lookout for new music, but it’s rare that I find an artist — and not just one song— that I add to my regular music rotation. Besides Taylor Swift’s entire discography, it’s rare that I’ll listen to an artist’s album rather than a playlist full of mixed songs.
So here’s proof of just how much I’ve been enjoying Maisie Peters’s music this month. For the first time possibly ever, she, rather than Taylor Swift, was my most-listened-to artist on Spotify for September.
Maisie’s official debut album You Signed Up For This dropped on August 27, 2021, and I’ve pretty much been listening to only that since. A Taylor Swift-esque coming of age album about being in your twenties? Sounds practically perfect to me.
Maisie is a huge Taylor fan herself, and it’s easy to see how the influence played into the creation of this album (especially in songs like “Outdoor Pool,” which was partially inspired by Taylor’s song “betty”).
It’s also fun to be basically the same age as Maisie (she’s 21 and only eight months older than me), making her songs that much more relatable. The opening lyric of the album — “I am twenty and probably upset right now”— is definitely going to resonate with a lot of college-aged listeners. She sings about fake IDs on her song “Brooklyn,” about immature boys who claim all their exes are crazy on “Psycho,” and about breaking up with someone who was once your best friend on “Tough Act.” No matter what your life experiences are, you’re going to find something you relate to on this album.
You Signed Up For This gives me that inexplicable feeling that truly good music provides — that gut feeling of knowing that emotions that seem so personal are actually shared by so many people. That little proof that we’re all just “lost and alone in our early twenties” together.
If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, a hopeless romantic, someone who’s ever been in love, or just someone looking for some new music to listen to in the background while doing homework, I’m willing to bet you’re going to like this album. Maybe you’ll even fall in love with it like I did.
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