Album Review

An Activist’s Anthem: Death of an Optimist

By: Chau-Anh Nguyen

As someone who was ranked in the top 0.05% of listeners of Grandson’s music on their Spotify wrapped 2020, let me start off by saying that this article is obviously going to be biased.

However, I’d still like to say that Grandson’s (also known as Jordan Edward Benjamin) new album, Death of an Optimist (abbreviated DOAO), is so well-crafted that it would be loved from the objective angle as well. Released on December 4, 2020, the alternative artist’s debut album consists of 12 tracks that total up to 38 minutes worth of music. Anticipation was high among Grandson’s fans (dubbed “Grandkids”) for the past six months when the artist began dropping cryptic clues, such as mysterious barcodes, sudden poetry, and even a leaked number.

These random posts with seemingly no context at all confused and left fans on their toes, and many had to become creative when piecing the puzzles together. For example, because the barcode in the picture above did not scan, the grandkids deducted that there must be a hidden meaning in the numbers listed. Some of the most common guesses include, “DOA001, [meaning] Death Of America Part 1? . . . ,” “June 1st, 2021,” or some variation of both song/ album titles and release dates.

The phone number only allowed these sentiments to spur and grow, with many speculating if he even meant to leak the number at all. In fact, one fan who called the number commented about his odd experience: “Welp, I called the number [. . .] So, it was talking about FBF Distribution Services, [and] then it gave an area code.” Eventually, the phone number was revealed to be an automated text message system where Grandson shares “some updates, snippets of new music, . . .” and hints regarding the upcoming album concept.

This article would be too lengthy if we were to cover all of the in-depth details but to simply summarize, over the course of the six months, Grandson’s trail of mysterious photos, random codes, odd voicemails, and cryptic website updates caused such upheavals of intrigue that the entire Grandkids community even formed full-on forums (one of the most popular being an entire DOAO discord) to collaborate with other fans and piece the clues together.

As theories popped up throughout the months, Grandson built upon the excitement and began unveiling the ideas behind his album: an anthem of cautious optimism in the current political climate. The Death of an Optimist album, according to the artist, falls on a “spectrum of hope,” taking shape in the form of a conflict between Grandson and a new, emerging alter ego (dubbed “X”) that represents the musician’s inner doubts in the midst of political turmoil. As more DOAO singles were released to cultivate enthusiasm for the album’s upcoming release, the struggle between the two characters continued to be portrayed through cinematic music videos and black-and-white-esque photos.

Interestingly, unlike his previous songs, Death of an Optimist caters to a different demographic. In his Kerrang! interview, Grandson reflected and expressed how he has spent “a long time” creating “angry music for people who don’t understand those issues of responsibility—or rather, have no interest in helping to combat them.” While his A Modern Tragedy volumes and series of collaborative singles serve as an outlet for those upset at the current injustices, his Death of an Optimist album is “ . . . for the people who are already here in that fight . . . struggling to continue to find hope, struggling to continue to find that purpose.” Death of an Optimist hops from passion to weariness, from rage to numbness, and most fascinatingly, from interpersonal retreat to collective action. “This yo-yoing is indicative of our current collective state of mind. To win, it’s evident we all have [to make] the right moves at potential personal cost.” Death of an Optimist isn’t just a comforting hand that serves to make changemakers feel less alone, but it’s also an art piece that focuses on prompting those already angry into action.

Grandson continues to describe in the Kerrang! interview, “There’s such a line to straddle between wanting to, as a collective, take on these big lofty problems, and then wanting to retreat inward, and go into our own expression, and you see that in music as well. Like, when I make songs that are very clear, pointed political messaging, I receive a lot more pushback and a lot more challenge than if I write songs about my thoughts and feelings. And it is easier sometimes to retreat inward in some way and avoid taking on these problems and get lost in some form of escape and some form of contentment.” He states, “I just hope that by electing more young people, we can amplify those messages . . . There’s gotta be somewhere in the middle between completely giving up on it and moving away . . . But, . . . it can’t just look like posting a black square on Instagram. Like, that’s not gonna do it.”

Grandson’s X represents the pushback that activists face in the line of their work. In a sense, he’s the parent that encourages you to stay silent in order to obtain a perfect picket fence lifestyle, he’s the skeptics that doubt the possibility of deep, systemic change, and he’s the exhaustion that threatens to overtake activists in the height of stagnant progress. [Side Photo Above: Kerrang! Photoshoot of X in his usual attire: a clean, uptight suit with slicked-back hair.]

Out of the entire album, perhaps the song where this concept really becomes the most profound is in the DOAO interlude, where Grandson sings, “I wanna be the change, I try to make my feelings vocal/He’s in my head, he makes me sick, he makes me antisocial/I try to do my part, I vote, I sign all the petitions/He tells that there ain’t no way that I’mma make a difference . . .” It is here that the rock hip-hop fusion artist’s message of cautious optimism really emerges into light: through Grandson’s fight against X that subsequently symbolizes the continuing search for resistance against the urge to fall into pessimism. While the temptation to retreat inward and find solace in escapism is strong, Grandson expresses—to both activists and angry citizens—how we must continue to stay engaged. “You can’t give up, because it’s the right thing to do.”

In the end, Grandson’s Death of an Optimist is a composition of socially aware music that explores the duality of hope and cynicism in activism. It is a special album that provides support for the politically engaged and delivers criticism towards the angry but inactive. It inspires, comforts, heals, and propels—and it is one that I can undoubtedly rate a 10 out of 10.

JANUARY 2020

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The Deadline team will continue to work hard and come up with new ideas! We hope you will come along with us on this journey! Until the next issue, stay fiery Dragons! Senior Editor: Chau-Anh Nguyen

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