Before Anderson .Paak was the Cheeky Andy that he is today, he went by the name Breezy Lovejoy. While this old stage name has a jubilant sound to it, the music he produced didn’t. The songs he created as Breezy definitely have the same vibe as the songs on his current albums Venice and Malibu, but they have a more melancholy undertone than the funkier tracks he has out now.
His second album LOVEJOY, counterintuitively, gives off an especially doleful feel. Yes, LOVEJOY does tell stories about love, but the stories have an air of hopelessness, as if he is lost, with nowhere to go—which is how Penn’s love and dating culture feels sometimes. During the dismal winter months, people are bound to feel alone, lost in the sea of 10,000 students. The prevalent hookup culture only adds to the sense of the aimlessness of love, which the album art reflects with a boat full of flowers in an endless sea.
In addition, LOVEJOY captures the confusion that many Penn students have surrounding their futures. Breezy created this album only a year after he was let go from his job at a marijuana farm. As his music career struggled to take off, he, his wife, and his son were homeless for some time, with no clue as to when things would change.
Many Penn students can definitely relate to the sense of uncertainty that is felt in this album. Students are constantly unsure of their fates, changing their majors to figure out exactly where they want their studies to take them. Lost, these students sit in classes, classes that could in no way be relevant to their futures, as the cold February rain colors the sky grey.
In a strange place between child and adulthood, college students must begin to navigate their lives. Transitioning from the warmth of family and friends in a familiar home to a temporary one, students must find their way and make a name for themselves just as Anderson .Paak did. LOVEJOY, which captures this transitionary period through the stories of Anderson's own struggles, offers a soundtrack to the lives of the many lost and confused students on Penn's campus.
