Records That Changed Our Lives: Finding hope in Tracy Chapman and 'Brand New Eyes'
Records That Changed Our Lives: Finding hope in Tracy Chapman and 'Brand New Eyes'
Paramore's Brand New Eyes and Tracy Chapman's Tracy Chapman are featured in our Records That Changed Our Lives series. Photo Illustration by Estefania Mitre/NPR/Getty Images hide caption
Paramore's Brand New Eyes and Tracy Chapman's Tracy Chapman are featured in our Records That Changed Our Lives series.
Photo Illustration by Estefania Mitre/NPR/Getty ImagesWhat record changed your life?
Last year, NPR Music asked 12 writers to answer that question as part of Turning the Tables. That's our long-running project about musical greatness, where we discuss artists, histories and lists of songs and albums that make up the popular music canon and challenge the often sexist and exclusionary way that canon has been shaped. Turning the Tables has published lists of the 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women, the 200 Greatest Songs By 21st Century Women+ and more. In last year's series, we turned the lens on our own lives by enlisting women and non-binary critics to each tell us about one life-changing record by a woman artist. This March, for Women's History Month, we're taking over All Song Considered every Wednesday to go deep with writers from the series.
Hear More Episodes In The Series
- Records That Changed Our Lives: How Kate Bush and Yoko Ono challenged us
- Records That Changed Our Lives, Teen Edition: 'Tidal,' 'Blacks' Magic,' Beyoncé's '4'
- Records That Changed Our Lives, Grown Woman Edition: Santigold and 'Muthaland'
- Records That Changed Our Lives: Defying gatekeepers with 'Uh Huh Her' and Tiger Trap
This week, host Marissa Lorusso, who edited our Records That Changed Our Lives series, is joined by two writers whose essays describe just that — how a life-changing record can create the necessary space to find one's identity. Tracy Chapman's debut self-titled album was a companion to scholar Francesca T. Royster during a turbulent time of attending graduate school and coming to terms with her queer identity. And for writer Alex Ramos, Paramore's Brand New Eyes was a soundtrack to sorting through big questions of faith and family. For both, these albums acted as powerful reprieves and as means towards self-definition.
You can listen to our full conversation at the audio link at the top of the page, and hear songs we discussed below.