Music Review // LovelyOcean "Depression on Tour"

https://open.spotify.com/album/2vELTUCIRBLqygEni0SzKL?highlight=spotify:track:5TFIuGLpySTS2c9tFCc7Zm

Seeing the song title "Depression on Tour" made me think right away that this would be a song about mental health- which it is- but I was not prepared when listening to it for it to be delivered as a hip hop anthem and the lyrics are just point blank and honest.   As we're eight months now into the country lockdown in the United States due to COVID-19 and the holidays approach, songs about depression can be a tricky subject.   Whether or not you think the country will be in a better place in a few months or even this time next year depends upon whether or not you're an optimist or pessimist.  

The way LovelyOcean creates hip hop which sounds like Salt-N-Pepa (who really don't get enough credit for their non-radio songs), Linqua Franqa, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul just make me feel good about the song even though the lyrics are about depression.   On one hand, I feel like if you're going to write a song about depression and it sounds like doom and gloom then you're going to make something which people might not want to listen to or perhaps even shouldn't listen to as it might influence them if they have mental illness.

At the same time, I feel like the serious content of these lyrics paired with the rather upbeat and just lighter feeling of the music (that hip hop you found on cassettes with a slight hint of R&B) represents how a lot of depressed people are: smiling on the outside while suffering on the inside.   So, for me, the balance between the music and its lyrics is a line which you have to tread carefully but LovelyOcean does it perfectly.  

For me, part of living with mental illness that has helped me cope has just been knowing that there are others out there who are going through the same thing.   So when you approach a song the proper way, which LovelyOcean has done, it really can bring people together to know that we aren't alone and we can sing this song together.   It also will hopefully bring more light to a subject those without mental illness might not know exactly how to broach.   And as important as I feel that these lyrics are, I'd still listen to a full of cassette of songs by LovelyOcean because the music itself is that damn good.