The Album 'Malibu Nights' by LANY is a Shot Through the Heart (Times One Million)

It's been a while since an album has made me... feel things. Like really feel things. Like how the Backstreet Boys' self-titled album made me long to watch them live. Or like how Boyz II Men's album 'Cooleyhighharmony' made me feel like my puppy love high school relationship was the real deal. Or like how the 'Queen of the Damned' soundtrack really made me feel understood.

This morning, when I turned on my Spotify, I was notified that there was a new album "I might like", LANY's new album 'Malibu Nights'. While I like LANY's songs that I hear on the radio, I've never actually exerted any extra effort to really get to know them as a band or to delve further into their music.

Today, I decided to listen to the entire album on Spotify during my 4am run. Wrong. Fucking. Move.

try to tell me we’re not the most artistically thoughtful band in the world. “malibu nights” october 5th pic.twitter.com/nXwIvfS3Tc

— LANY (@thisisLANY) September 29, 2018

In 'Malibu Nights', Paul Klein sings about love and longing amidst the loss of a lover after a heartbreak. And the lyrics are so on point, I got so lost in them to the point where I started visualizing all sorts of suicidal scenarios while standing gobsmacked under the bright lights of a 7-11 down the street.

I forced myself to keep moving, but the more I moved and the more I listened, the more I started imagining myself buying a pack of razors or maybe a bunch of sleeping pills and whiskey, depending on which song would come on. (I have a mental problem, but don't worry... It mostly just involves me imagining these things. Like a lot. But I don't actually do them.)

LANY really shows raw vulnerability in the songs in this album and all of the lyrics are realistic, relatable, and downright heart-wrenching.

The song 'Malibu Nights' itself talks about the alcohol-drowned spiral one goes through after a breakup, where everything feels empty, including your walls, your life, and yourself. It goes deeper than that, though, with lines that ask things like, "I feel my body giving up. Can I hold on for another night?" It sounds so simple, but to me, it's incredibly relatable given my fragile mental state. All of the songs are amazing, though.

From 'Thick and Thin', depicting a picture of a petty argument gone wrong (man, would I love to hear someone do the girl's side of this song); to 'Taking Me Back', 'Let Me Know', and 'If You See Her', beautifully painting a picture of the desperation we feel after a breakup; to 'I Don't Wanna Love You Anymore', basking in the pain and reminiscing about the good times; to 'Valentine's Day', perfectly showcasing our failed attempts to move on; to 'Run', which naturally not everyone will be able to relate to... BUT I DID. Lol.

'Thru These Tears' is the only song in this album that actually has a relatively positive connotation to it - like there's hope at the end of the tunnel; but still, it hurts to listen to it.

The album is brilliant if you're a masochist like me, but I still need to let out this PSA: Do NOT listen to this album if you're currently going through or have just gone through a breakup. I repeat: DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY GOING THROUGH OR HAVE JUST GONE THROUGH A BREAKUP. It will ruin you. It will leave you lying on your ceramic tile floor for five hours listening to it on loop as you stare at the ceiling and ponder on your newly-broken relationship's life. You have been warned.