A twentysomething's life

So I'm twenty one. About now is when you really think about the decisions you make in life. Especially when university is coming to a close. The fear of uncertainty grapples with hope for the future, and turns your mind into a mush of thoughts and feelings. The nonchalant choices before have now suddenly become so sincere, and every single turn starts to have real consequences.

There are two ways to approach this in my opinion. Either take the easy, structured way out. Or dive headfirst into life and see where it goes. Of course, there is a myriad of in-betweens, but to turn this into something more simple, let's stay with those two.

Personally, I'll take the latter path, and it seems that our artist today, Jamie Cullum, agrees.

I found out about this artist fairly recently from a friend of mine. At first I wasn't too enthusiastic about this guy, but this veteran musician surely knows how to free up his music.

His sound has two elements I enjoy: piano, and jazz. With those two I certainly knew that a song couldn't go wrong. Now, I'm a fan.

What really draws me in, is that every single one of his songs have a distinctiveness that identifies with each of them. Even his covers of other songs have such a character of their own that it would be believable to say that they were all his songs to begin with. For example, I present this cover of the commonly performed song, "I get a kick out of you."

And here's the live version.

That bang, when he slams his heels into the piano, was so unexpected when I was watching it that I almost jumped from the seat. Not that it was loud and sudden, but because you just don't expect someone to push his boots into the keys of a precious grand piano. However, it certainly made for a good show, and that's what Cullum does. He leaps into action when he wants to.

Jamie's style of playing reminds me of a free-flowing wave. Sometimes high, sometimes low, but never constant. There are always uncertainties and twists that come in. You can't expect what note to come after the other, because his music simply is like that. It's unpredictable, and it's beautiful because it's so full of to-be-discovered wonders.

So if you're a twentysomething, or feeling like one, and in need of some adventure, give a try to Jamie's music. It might give you that spark of action that will compel you to think less, and feel more in this world of cold knowledge and harsh realities. Follow those feelings, and believe in them. That's the advice I can give, although I'm still working on that advice myself.

With that I give you my favorites from his album twenty something!