Associating the events of my life in the context of what Alex G album I was obsessed with during that period of my existence, and other unnecessary tangents

(idea inspired by @ashleywilkie)

This is me coming back to the top of the page after I’ve finished writing this to let you know in advance how sorry I am for sounding so obnoxiously annoying but I honestly don’t know how else you can sound when you're writing about some artist you’re obsessed with. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy and I hope at least one person can relate.

I think I have an interesting relationship with Alex G’s music. I became a fan long after 7 of his 8 albums had been released. Without sounding corny or obnoxious, I felt with my whole heart that the music was just as fresh as it first sounded when it was released nearly 10 years prior. I remember the first Alex G song I ever listened to; Hollow off his 2014 album DSU. It was the first time I had gotten that pit-in-my-stomach feeling while listening to music that I have now become very familiar with. I was a senior in high school, in my opinion late to finally find music that speaks to me in the way Alex’s does, but it felt special all the same. I had always been a music fan, but never like this, and I just didn’t know what to do about it. This is when I began my deep dive into his discography.

Rules (2012), was the first Alex G album that I was fully enthralled with. Come Back was the anthem of my life my first part of senior year (and still is my favorite Alex G song). I had just gotten super involved in the local music scene in Phoenix, was getting super, super close with my new best friend at the time, and pretty much all I did was go to shows every night after school and a few hour shift at a coffee shop. Something about Come Back felt so profound and special to me.

“Made my promise and I’m keeping it for kicks, yeah I really didn’t think that it would stain like this, yeah I really didn’t think that it would stain like this.”

Those lyrics were so real to me at the time as I was navigating- what seemed like- my last year as a kid. My actions seemed to have realer consequences, and I realized that nothing was ever gonna be the exact same as it was, ever again. I know that all sounds like a major dramatization, but I was so dramatic at the time, real life hitting me like a ton of bricks, and experiencing depression for the first time. Rules seemed like the only album that could and would get me through all that. That whole album is the definition of melancholy and regret, but in the sweetest way, and it will always have such a special meaning to me.

When I listened to Race (2010) for the first time, it blew my mind. It was the first time I ever felt that an album was mine. I don’t know how to describe that feeling exactly, but I think listening to Race is what ended up shaping what my music taste is today. I feel so thankful that I was able to listen to Race as a depressed senior in high school, because I think that’s exactly what the album represents; that’s exactly what Alex was when he wrote the album. During this time in my life, I was changing a lot. I know that goes for every other teenager ever, but I definitely felt as though my life was starting to fall into place. I was finally listening to music that felt so personal, I was finally surrounded by people just like me, and it felt so so bittersweet, just like Race. I specifically remember it being spring-time when Race was my favorite album. The lyric from House

“When you’re young, you’re a loaded gun”

Is the truest thing ever. I just love how the song captures the exact reckless playfulness of high school I was experiencing at the time. I loved Race so much, when someone told me they vividly remembered the song they listened to on their drive home from their last day of high school, I immediately knew that I’d choose Gnaw. I did end up listening to Gnaw on my way home that day, and I do truly think I’ll never forget.

I was so obsessed with Alex G at this point in time, I had become super active in the online Alex G community. I had made so many friends from TikTok (and even discord) from all over the world who shared the same love, obsession, as I did. I felt part of a community, and honestly felt less crazy because I knew so many other people felt the exact same way as I did about Alex G. I will be forever grateful for all the people I met (especially Matt, Griffin, Lillian, Avery, Liza, Rex, and Gray- hi if u guys are reading this) on the online Alex G community because I was struggling so hard with feeling lonely at the time. I just didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere else. Even though me, a few months prior to all this, would have probably made fun of anyone for having “online friends” they’re really who supported me in those super confusing times. I accredit a lot of that hope and perseverance I found to Race.

I had an interesting affinity for listening to House of Sugar (2019). I think I liked the album at the time because it actually made me sadder. I associate HoS with driving to school in the winter time of that same senior year, my friend Lukas I carpooled with would say “you’re playing this album again?” to which my answer would always be something so insufferable like “you just wouldn’t get it.” After a while, he would actually sing along to the songs- I think I won him over. Hope was the one I’d play the most. It gave me such a gut-wrenching feeling that I was just utterly obsessed with. Alex sings about a friend he’d lost to fentanyl. I had never, ever experienced pain like that, but I somehow felt as if I understood (I literally didn't). Gretel was my most played song that year. I’m not really sure how to be honest, although I do love the song. “Good people gotta fight to exist” would constantly rattle around in my head when I felt the lowest.

(The longer I write this the more and more I understand why Alex G fans have the reputation of being insufferable and annoying.)

I guess I should insert how I even started listening to Alex G. My friend Gage would always play unreleased Alex G songs while we’d be hanging out and although I genuinely liked what I’d hear, honestly I let my ego get the best of me because I always thought people who listened to unreleased music were pretentious and I didn't wanna be like that hahah. Randomly one day my friend Ben had posted the aforementioned “Hollow”, on his instagram story and I was finally like “Let’s see what this Alex G guys all about.” I’ve always had a super obsessive personality- things I loved I loved a lot -they would consume my whole life. Before Alex G, it was Cage the Elephant- which probably says a lot about me but oh well. I think Gage secretly regretted recommending me Alex G because I just simply wouldn't shut up about him.

Beach Music (2015) was an album that took a while to click. I immediately loved songs like Snot and Bug, but I don’t think I really got the rest of the album for a while. It’s now one that I really love, and its twinkly guitar riffs and dragged out vocals make it a perfect rainy spring album.

Trick (2012) and DSU (2014) kind of go hand in hand for me. They are the two highest praised albums of his, and I can understand why, but they are definitely not albums that ever felt super personal to me specifically. People might disagree with that take, but honestly after half of trick blew up on TikTok, that album just kind of started to annoy me. I can admit Trick is a no-skip album though, and Adam was one of my favorite songs for a long time. Obviously Hollow was and always will be special to me, and I love Black Hair and Boy on DSU too (Alex G has like no bad songs).

Rocket (2017), my now favorite Alex G album and the album I ended up having on my birthday cake last year, is so very special to me. When I first started listening to Alex G, Bobby was the first song that I became obsessed with and kept playing on repeat, Come Back then being the second. I remember even my parents asking me “What’s that song?” when I’d play Bobby. There’s really no other way to describe that song but “sweet.” Alex and his girlfriend Molly singing the harmony and melody feels like the perfect touch to an already perfect love song.

I was so intrigued by Alex’s use of characters in his music- Bobby being a perfect example. I understood how it could be easier to sing about your feelings and problems by personifying them, and that’s a trick that I’ve taken with me into my own song writing. I don’t really know why Rocket captivates me so much. I am a sucker for songs with that folk twang, and I think all of Rocket has a little of that, but I think mostly what I love about that album is how he sings about longing and what could be or could’ve been. I think what makes it all the more personal is how none of what Alex sings about on this album is obvious, it almost seems like each song is a coded message the listener has to solve as he/she listens. It gives each song a different, personalized, meaning to each person who listens to them.

I remember exactly where I was when the "We're All Going to the World's Fair" Soundtrack came out. I was in the hot tub in the back yard waiting for it to be midnight so I could listen. I didn’t know what to expect at all, but I loved every second of it. After watching the movie (and admittedly not loving it), I realized how well he’d captured the curious eeriness of the movie’s spirit so well in these songs. End Song is still one of my favorite Alex G songs and definitely one of his genuinely sad ones. I also love and still listen to You Are In Trouble and Main Theme.

God Save The Animals (2022) was the first actual album of his (aside from the soundtrack) that had come out while I was an Alex G fan. It was my first semester of freshman year of college and I was not doing well. I had an awful roommate, felt so out of place in my friend group, and honestly just felt like I was outgrowing everything around me. Loving Alex G was the only thing that stayed a constant during that time. I was sooo excited for the album to come out that September, especially after I had heard some of the songs off the album live that past Summer when I saw him in Paris. I immediately loved the album when I first heard it. It was so different for him, and I loved the juxtaposition of the seemingly fun songs like Immunity and S.D.O.S., with the more heart felt, emotionally motivated songs like Miracles and Forgive. Runner was on repeat for months, ever since it was dropped as a single that June. Overall it was and still is an amazing album and I was so excited to see him live that upcoming October.

As I referenced earlier, I got to see Alex G play a solo show in Paris Summer of 2022. I’ll try and make a long story short, but basically I got the chance to stay with a family in Raizeux, France (right outside of Paris) for three weeks my senior year summer. I was going with my coworker and her boyfriend, and literally a week after we booked the tickets, I woke up one morning to see Alex G was going to be playing a solo show in Paris (for free!!??!) one of the days I was going to be there. I literally couldn’t believe it. I instantly texted my friend Liam (apart of the family I was going to be staying with) and told him that I had to get to that show. He without hesitation said that he would make sure I made it there (knowing how much I loved Alex).

Once we got to France and I realized how truly close we were to Paris, I knew that it actually would be easy to make it to the show, so all I had to do was count down the days. We had a blast the first week of the trip, and about halfway in it was the night of the Alex show. Everyone ended up coming with me (6 of us total) to the show, and we got there about 45 minutes to an hour before the show started. (I figure I’ll just tell the whole story because I haven’t really posted or talked about the story much since it happened). We figured the line would be short since it was a solo show, in a random arrindismont that wasn't super busy, and it was literally at a record store that didn’t regularly have shows. Well, were we wrong. When doors initially opened, my French friend Victoria lets me know that the bouncer was announcing that the show is 18+. I was sooooo bummed because I specifically searched everywhere to make sure it wasn't, since I was 17 at the time. Immediately I start thinking about what I should do. She tells me to just keep my mouth shut and not say how old I was, this was relevant because under-age people were trying to bargain to be let in, and so I did just that. The line was down the block, and by the time the show started, I wasn’t even in the doors yet. At this point Alex had started to play and the bouncer was telling the rest of us in line that the venue was at max capacity. I was upset, but weirdly still had hope. At this point the guys in our group had given up and went down the street to a bar, since I had insisted on waiting until the show was over as they were saying we’d be let in after the show was over to purchase merch. My friends Jennah and Victoria were waiting with me, when about 2o minutes into the show, a group of about 4 or 5 girls left, and the bouncer yells “room for one more”, grabs me and pushes me through the door. I hesitated because of my friends but they insisted, and so I went in all alone. I remember Sandy was playing when I first entered the venue, and I was all shaky from thinking I wasn’t gonna be let in, and ended up just having a blast singing along to arguably the best set list ever. I didn't even care that I missed half of the show.

When the set was over, Alex came down off the stage and was talking to fans. I was next up to talk to him when someone came up telling him it was “time for his interview” and he was pulled away. Again, I didn’t even care. I was just happy I saw the show. I met my friends down the street at the bar, ordered a drink, and was just beaming. As if it couldn’t get any better, 10 minutes later I see Alex and some friends sit down at the bar across the street. Immediately my French friend Anthony grabs me and says “you’re meeting him.” I was terrified, but nonetheless went up to him as Anthony asked Alex in broken English if he would take a photo with me. Alex agreed, and was just utterly kind. I wish I could bare more details, but in all honesty I sort of blacked out. I literally pointed at my shirt and went “your names on my shirt” like why would I say that? Meeting your idol is such a crazy thing to experience, but it’s more than what I would’ve hoped it to be. I left Alex with a “enjoy Paris!” and that was that. The rest of the time we spent at the bar I could see Alex across the street laughing and drinking with his friends. It really made me realize that he’s just a person too.

At the end of the day, I don't think my brain will ever fully comprehend meeting him. But I love his music and genuinely don’t think I’ll ever stop. No matter how corny or genuinely annoying I sound, I'll always talk about Alex G and about how every part of the last 2 years has a specific Alex G song or album attached to it in my head.

Thanks Alex G
- An annoying first blog by Sage Sakala