Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.
In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.
Here are their love letters to records that forever changed their lives.
VOLTE – Halsey’s Badlands
My dear beloved Badlands,
It’s been almost 3 years now and you still have my heart the same way you did the day we met. Every day you continue to inspire me in ways I didn’t know possible — whether at home in bed with my headphones in or blasting you through the stereo while I’m driving down the highway. I remember the day we met like it was just yesterday. I feel like I’m constantly thanking Miki for introducing us over coffee, he always talked about how he knew we’d be a perfect match.
From the minute you started talking I found myself in a place of euphoria where I just wanted to listen to anything you had to say, the stories you told and the experiences of your past made me feel instantly comfortable being my true self around you, for the first time I had met someone who understood my past and everything I was going through in my present, without having to explain myself.
You were completely different to anyone I had met before, and definitely not who I imagined as my ‘type’. You made me feel like I had been looking in all the wrong places my entire life. For the first few weeks, all we’d do was drive, and there is nowhere I would rather have been than in that car with you escaping reality.
I remember introducing you to my friends, of whom not everyone understood you like I did, but that was ok because you understood me and that’s all I needed. Before I met you I was like them, stuck in the same place I had always been. But you opened my eyes to a whole new world and for that I will always be grateful.
5 years ago, if this is where you had told me I would be, I would have laughed and laughed, but right now I could not be prouder or be happier in where I am today. I wake up every day feeling comfortable in who I am because of you and no one can take that from me.
3 years feels like a lifetime; I hardly remember life before you. I have learnt so much from you and I hope we can continue to grow together. I will never forget the time we’ve spent together. Thank you for everything, for picking me up when I was down, for inspiring me, for saving me when I didn’t even realise I needed saving. I’m a better person because of you. Until the next time we meet under a lilac sky.
Love,
VOLTE
—
Volte is a singer-songwriter from Sydney and his new single ‘Dangerous To Love’ is out now! Listen below via Spotify
