BOYLIFE’S HEADPHONE HIP HOP SHOWS THAT WE’RE NOT ALONE ON “BUMMY!”

Some days absolutely suck. A nightmare to even get up and out of bed in the morning. Ten turns to three and then when you do finally rise, it seems like everything that can go wrong, does. Other days are just fine, great even, sunshine pouring through the windows as a welcome reminder that it is a new day and anything is possible if you just set your mind to it. The problem comes when emotions run rampant and control every aspect of our existence. It’s hard to get anything done but the mere act of suffering in silence, curling up with a blanket, binge-watching a comfort show and disappearing into our shells of antisociality.

boylife (or Gelato Williams (or Ryan Yoo) really has captured what it feels like to feel bummed out with “bummy!”  Sometimes it’s casual and sometimes it's all-encompassing. I speak for myself of course, but I can only imagine many of our readers have been there as well.

There’s also a playful nature here too though, with the playful vernacular of the word bummy, the exclamation at the end of the title, and even Yoo smiling in the cover art. Some places in the song boylife feels up up up and other times he feels down down down. This is captured by the modes of rapping, which switch rapidly between verses showing range as well as clear-cut vision.

Yoo jokes on his Instagram that this song is about his bipolar disorder, but then backpedals and says it's about a friend. I just don’t see how those two ideas can’t be interconnected.

BOYLIFE - “BUMMY!”

Sometimes we feel anxious and other times we feel on top of the world. For many the range of emotions isn’t so hairline that we find ourselves unable to control which way they’re headed and how to emotionally prepare for them. Maybe we all have that one struggle in our lives that we can’t quite put a pin on how to get ourselves out of that particularly sour mood. 

boylife makes it feel like it’s okay when we’re grumpy and generally just having a bad day. Call it the more silly sounding ‘bummy!’ than depressed, because there is always going to be something better on the other side. And if there isn’t any hope in immediate sight and you find yourself sinking with your thoughts too, maybe the answer is to let them in.  Embrace the bummy.

It would be reductive to say that we’re all a little bipolar (though of course I did exactly in the headline, apologies), as it is a serious, diagnosable condition and not something we should just throw around willy-nilly.  Regardless, boylife’s “bummy!” captures feelings that are all too relatable for those of us who experience ups and downs relatively regularly. Maybe it’s just this specific cultural moment, but I’ve been feeling them now more than ever. 

This song makes me feel like I’m not so alone in that. 

From deep within the murky depths of the Los Angeles River emerged a creature: 50% raver, 50% comedian, 10% Robotcop. Kurt Kroeber doesn’t own a dog, operates Soundbleed (the world’s only dance party comedy talk show rave), and is down to party with you. Come up some time and say “Hey dude!” But definitely make sure to casually drop the secret Illuminati password.