The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
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In the modern age of technology and social media, artists are being born every day and from every region of the globe. That story is no different for Washington-based artist, Harbor Day.
The singer released his first album, “Ursa Major” on Jun. 11 with a handful of songs being released prior to the full album in a collection entitled “Ursa Minor.” The album includes 27 songs with varying styles and instrumentations. Harbor Day also used his TikTok account to promote the album’s release by previewing songs or even showing behind the scenes style production takes.
The first thing to note about the album is absolutely encapsulates that singer-songwriter style that is so key to the early artist’s success. His songs are deeply personal, and they tell stories that everyone can relate to. In the song “Tiramisu,” the lyrical content is something that is very relatable: lying to a potential partner about liking something (specifically food) to continue the relationship. Most of us have probably had a moment like this where we’re having a good time and we just go with the flow. The trick to the song’s story is that the character ends up not really minding the tiramisu because it reminds them of the other person. The singer-songwriter genre is sometimes considered a bit of a relic of a time that is slowly fading away. However, artists like Harbor Day – young, imaginative, and thriving – show that is simply not the case.
A cultural factor about Harbor Day is that he is another up-and-coming artist that is part of the LGBTQ+ community. Harbor Day is openly bisexual and in fact, according to statements from his TikTok account, writing the album has helped him to fully come to terms with that part of his identity. The song “Call Me By Your Name,” named for the Oscar-winning film of the same name, is the quintessential song to describe this experience. In the song, he says “You can call me by your name/it’s all the same/it’s all the same to me,” implying that regardless of the character’s romantic partner’s gender, the character of the song is perfectly fine having fun with either. Visibility in popular media, especially in popular music, is fairly important and the visibility that Harbor Day provides for young musicians in the LGBTQ+ community is vital to a diverse and thriving national music community. Harbor Day could probably still be considered a local musician despite his rising success and supporting local musicians and artists is also vital to healthy communities.
The album does have a lot of songs that have a lot of variety but like bigger name artists such as Taylor Swift or Frank Ocean, the songs never feel out of place from one another. Harbor Day has found a unique personal style that is palatable and enjoyable without becoming cliché or uninspired. Harbor Day is a musician whose career should be watched with great anticipation. Harbor Day’s “Ursa Major” receives an A-plus rating.