During the COVID-19 pandemic, while everyone remained isolated in their homes, nervousness, boredom, and fear took hold of many people’s minds. To escape, many turned to music, singing, and art to lift their spirits during an unprecedented time. By “plugging in” to their hearts and devices, Americans rose above their negative emotions and healed their spirits. Many took advantage of this rise to influence higher purposes in the world. Artists called to action and sang about a better time with their lyrics. Social media, particularly TikTok, influenced the music industry in major ways, encouraging people to dance and create with existing records. In this way, social media offered a distraction from the hardships of 2020. Music undeniably played a crucial role throughout 2020 and 2021 as it kept people sane and gave them inspiration throughout a turbulent time in the world.
We chose to center our exhibit around the art of music because practically everyone can appreciate it during this age. In a time when music has never been more accessible, it is interesting to see what listeners gravitated towards during the difficult times of the pandemic. Furthermore, the music that was released within the past year is representative of the times we have been living in and everything that has had light shed on during the pandemic. We wanted to illustrate this and introduce people to new music through our exhibit. At the end of the viewing, viewers can leave with a new song to add to their library, along with exposure to a new artist they might not have been familiar with before.
Our exhibit focuses on visual and auditory art, and the meanings behind the lyrics. There is going to be visual art included in the exhibit, using paintings or drawings that have the theme of music and represent ideals that were brought up during the pandemic. For example, one piece is of a figure speaking into a megaphone. However, he is masked and cannot be heard. This relates to the Black Lives Matter movement, which was a major part of 2020. We wanted to include traditional visual artwork to provide a variance in the forms of art in our exhibit, and these meaningful pieces help convey our message regarding the representation of music as a whole.
Along with visual and auditory art, our exhibit will feature multiple pieces of music from times of world-wide crisis. Listening to these samples of music will highlight similarities and differences from music over history serving the similar purpose as it has shown more recently. Artists and their relationships with the world reflect the times and struggles of our generation in an ever-changing world. Being able to draw parallels in music over time will allow us to delve into the world of how life imitates art — or rather, how art imitates, or influences, life.
Furthermore, quarantine forced us to socially distance ourselves, creating a sense of isolation. With this lack of human interaction came along many mental health issues. Since the pandemic, there has been a significant spike in anxiety and depressive disorders in both adults and children. This increase in mental health disorders has caused the conversation surrounding mental health to consequently increase. In this exhibit, we’re going to explore two albums, Solar Power by Lorde and folklore by Taylor Swift. Both albums reflect the two extremes of the mental health conversation. One album shows how people found inner peace because of the pandemic, while the other shows how the pandemic presented new hardships that need to be addressed. These albums were very popular during the pandemic, so they are good representations of how people were feeling and how these albums resonated with the general public. Moreover, outside of mental health, these albums reflect other values that were hyperfocused on throughout the pandemic. During the pandemic, the conversation surrounding climate change and global warming also increased. As a result of this, Lorde refused to sell her album in CD form because of the environmental impacts. She also made her merchandise from 100% recycled materials. This was a bold move and represented a shift in how music was listened to in modern times. This shift is also a reflection of how our ideals changed during the pandemic. It’s interesting to observe the pandemic’s effect on mental health and how music is one of the first art forms to be directly affected by this.
The idea of music is important to include in the Museum of Us exhibit in that we are all represented by music in some way, shape, or form. Addressing the most pressing social issues that arose during the pandemic is crucial, and doing this through music gives these issues a platform to be heard that is accessible and interesting. We hope that the viewers of our exhibit are introduced to new artists and music that truly has made an impact on today’s society.
View our exhibit here:
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