A year ago, I was sitting in the library, cursing the academic gods that it was only the second week of sophomore year and I was already confined to the poorly lit Santa Clara University library, designated as an arena of academic valor but more appropriate as a social watering hole. Amidst the whispers and giggles of my fellow peers, I put in my headphones and browsed Spotify for a playlist consisting of something other than the summer’s hot 100. I selected “Mood Boost,” which seemed fitting considering my low spirits. I pressed shuffle and listened to song after song of the same poppy beats and lyrics over and over and over again.
Then, as I struggled through my sixth skill set for statistics, a class which no English major should ever have to take, a song caught my attention. It had that upbeat tempo I needed to motivate me, but there was something different about the quality of the singer’s voice and the words he was saying. I broke my already shattered focus to look at what it was: "Brand New" by Ben Rector. I’d heard his name before, but like most, I’d been hesitant to break away from my classic repertoire of artists. Considering how much I liked the song, I decided to listen to more of his stuff. Little did I know, that fateful night in the library would change my life.
Yes, I realize that it’s extreme to say that a single musician can change a life, but truly, Ben Rector did that for me. Sophomore year was terrible for a number of reasons, but it didn’t seem so bad when I’d listen to "Fear" on a run. The sky seemed a little brighter when I listened to "Favorite Song" with the windows down on the way home from work. My love life didn’t seem so hopeless when I listened to "Forever Like That." I didn’t feel so lonely when I listened to "When I’m With You." Something about the lyrics felt so real--and it helps that Ben Rector’s voice is like something women dream about when they imagine they dream man.
But of course, he has a perfect wife and their love is so purely documented through their music. They’ve been together for seven years and his music makes so evident his devotion to her. It makes you want that kind of love, that "Ordinary Love," that he immortalizes through the strains of his simple, but perfect, music. It’s hard to describe his music to convince you, dear reader, to go to YouTube or Spotify or Apple Music or whatever medium you have to go and listen to any one of his songs. There’s something genuine behind his music that makes you know that he was the one who sat down and painstakingly ordered each word and phrase perfectly before sitting before a guitar or piano and pumping out those melodies that make my heart swell when I hear them in a coffee shop or on the radio.
Ben Rector, if, by some miracle, you are reading this and probably thinking to yourself, “Wow, this girl is psychotic and if she ever comes to a concert, there will be a huge security detail on her,” well, that’s fair. But all jokes aside, I can’t thank you enough for having the dedication you do to your music and to your fans. I’ve been anxiously waiting for you to announce your California tour dates for months now and you can bet that when you do, I’ll be the first one buying tickets to your San Francisco performance. You show me and all your other fans that in this world of electric music and raunchy rap lyrics, there’s still music that has meaning. There’s still music to be heard that is more than money-hungry music executives sitting around a table thinking to themselves how much they can capitalize on some big name’s next hit. You prove that music is still an art. You prove that music is still so, so important.
There’s something about music that you find during a hard patch in your life that makes it all the more important to you. Even now, as things in life are leagues better and I think to myself every day that I’m living my best life, Ben Rector’s music still has a place in my every day. His music still brings a smile to my face and I can’t help but sing along to my favorite songs. Music is healing and transformative and no matter who the artist or what the genre or how the tune, it’s important to find that music for you. You can carry yourself through hard times on the refrains of those songs.