Camden Welles – DREAM TOUR

In this Dream Tour segment, the alternative pop band, Camden Welles, reveals who they would want on their ultimate tour lineup. You can check out their picks, after the break.

When I look back at the artists who have impacted not just music charts, but culture and the world around them, I find they have two things in common. One: they don’t simply sing about shared human experiences, they find a way to personally address their listeners. Two: they create music that challenges their audience.

Whether it’s a lyric that makes you skip back to the beginning of the song to try and understand its full context or a sound, a production technique no one has ever heard before, artists with purpose find a way to raise the bar of what’s expected & set a new musical standard.

Billie Eilish and, her brother, Finneas’ approach to production takes nearly every rule of Pop and throws it out the window. The lyrical content unapologetically addresses a generation of kids who feel things deeply. In their search for commonality and connection, at a time when they feel alone in this world, Billie Eilish welcomed them to hers. Time and time again, Billie challenges the “casual” music listener, the melomaniac, and the modern radio disc jockey’s entire notion of what a top 40 record is “supposed to be.” She’s so fucking talented. Prince, while pioneering an entire funk/rock/synth-pop genre, oozed sexuality at a time many feared it. He was known as the Love Symbol!

Prince set a social culture ablaze with his look, his sound, his personality, and his talent – both natural and earned. Perhaps most important, after putting out 37 records over the course of his career (not including the posthumous albums), Prince had something of substance to say. I could listen to a different Prince song every night and discover something new. I could also listen to Purple Rain every night, and it’d never get old.

Growing up, all my friends watched TRL. I watched it too, but the best music recommendations came from home. My older brother was fucking cool, and he listened to fucking cool music. He was the ultimate tastemaker. One day, he put on Illmatic by Nas and my world changed. I realized how big the voice of one artist could be, and how much you could say in a few bars. I was a kid, I didn’t understand everything, but I understood enough to be hooked for life.

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