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The Misunderstood Beauty of Midwest Emo

The Misunderstood Beauty of Midwest Emo
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The darkness slowly swallows the sun at 4:00pm and there’s a chilly breeze, which means it’s slightly more acceptable to listen to midwestern emo music now. 

Midwestern emo is definitely subjective, which makes it even more amazing. As a lover of this genre, I can understand why people think the music is bad. 

Lots of songs are random titles like “How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?” and “dude, benson is gonna be so pissed!” or single words like “Bunnyboy”.

Most songs pierce your ears with bad whiny singers or a 22 year old guy who is just speaking into a microphone. If you’re lucky, the song might start with a 30 second monologue from an old cartoon or a sad rant from the singer about the girl that never really loved him. This is followed by the most beautiful melodic guitar riff, so it makes up for the scratchy voice that sings “the more that I drink, the more that I feel broken”.

Although this genre stemmed from white teenage boys who grew up as outcasts in their small rural towns and spent their saturday nights in a 7-11 parking lot, it’s also for the kids who grew up with a hatred for the Chads, Brads, and Britneys of the world that made you feel like you weren’t good enough. 

It’s so bad that it’s good. The twinkly, glittery, math rock sound but still minimalist and simple instrumental sound is something that separates this music style from every other subgenre in emo music. 

To put it simpler, Midwest emo is kind of like a ‘boys who are sad’ type of sound. 

A large debate is whether or not the region the band is from makes them a midwest emo band. I think what makes a band midwest emo is the unique style and sound. 

Some of the most popular Midwest emo bands aren’t from a small town that’s surrounded by miles of dirt with a population of 3,000 people. A handful of the biggest midwest emo bands are from urban areas like the bands Modern Baseball from Philadelphia, Mom Jeans from Berkeley, The Front Bottoms from New Jersey, and Free Throw from Nashville, but what allows them to still be considered midwest emo is the unique style and sound. 

What brings all these artists and listeners together is the shared feeling of sadness and anger that we’re forced to keep to ourselves. 

As a genre, it captures a melancholia unique to the region of the flatlands, resonating with souls that feel betrayed, alienated, and too far away from anything meaningful. 

Midwest emo is one of the only genres that is so painfully honest with itself, a pain of being disappointed by dreams that were disappointing to begin with. 

Midwest emo did so much for the mental health of a confused, frustrated, and lonely generation of kids than anything else could’ve. 

So many teenagers can resonate with the lyrics in these songs because they are so emotionally raw and from the deep depths of real people’s pain. 

Midwest emo music has the unusual skill of making your misery and self pity into something that you’re not alone in. The lyrics in these sad songs understand the feeling of rotting in your bed while everyone else is hanging out without you.

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