It won 11 Tony awards. Tickets have been sold out for months. It's becoming one of the biggest crazes of the year. What is it? Hamilton. A hip-hop Broadway musical about the life of one of our nation's Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton. It's not exactly what you would expect everyone to have on their playlists, but as you go through the stages of listening to Hamilton, you realize what all the hype is about.
Stage 1: "What even is this?"
This is your first introduction to Hamilton. You've never heard anything like it, so you're not sure if you quite enjoy it or not. All you know is that you're not especially into musicals or hip-hop, so why would you like it? And it's about the Founding Fathers? That just sounds kind of odd. It's not terrible, but you don't understand why all your friends like it, and you tease them about their obsession on the daily.
Stage 2: "Oh no, it's stuck in my head."
Your friends have disregarded your feelings toward Hamilton, so you listen to it whenever you're with them. You don't actually know more than three words of any particular song, but the music is so catchy that you find yourself singing "Work work, Angelicaaaaa" or "I do, I do, I do, I doooo" throughout the day. You still have yet to listen to it on your own accord.
Stage 3: "I think I kind of like this."
You still haven't heard the entire musical through yet, and you're not completely sure what the plot line is. However, there are a few songs that you've learned most of the words to, and you can jam along whenever you listen to them. You may have even added some songs to your playlist (just to add more variety of course).
Stage 3: "Okay I need to know exactly what's happening now."
You finally sit down and listen to every song from Hamilton in order with the lyrics in front of you, so you actually know what's going on. You suddenly realize how intense every song is, and you get quite emotional when you hear "Blow Us All Away" and "The World Was Wide Enough." You've finally become emotionally invested in Hamilton, and there's no turning back now.
Stage 4: "I'm officially a Hamilton fan now!"
You've heard it all, you know what's going on, you've decided to jump on the Hamilton train. You probably still don't know most of the words to the songs (especially those cabinet battles, whew), but you know the choruses and important parts. You can dance along to any of the songs from the musical now, but you probably still listen to some of your other music too. You're dedicated, but you haven't quite reached maximum capability.
Stage 5: "SOS, help, I have a Hamilton problem, and I don't know what to do."
That's it. You're obsessed. You don't want to listen to anything else but Hamilton. You're trying to learn all of the words to every song, especially including the rap battles. You're looking up how much tickets for a production in six months (WITHOUT Lin-Manuel Miranda) would cost and trying to plan a trip to Chicago when they start performing there. You openly talk about Hamilton at all times, even to people that don't listen to it. Anything slightly related to Hamilton makes you giddy. It's official. You've gone #Ham4Ham.
