Blogocentric Formulations

Carry On

Written for "Note: 48-HOUR CHALLENGE : Media Prompt Deadl..."

While this isn't my favorite song of theirs per se (I'm still partial to "Some Nights"), "Carry On" captures why I like the band fun. so much. They've got a fairly unique sound, good lyrics, and an overall upbeat sound that you don't find in a lot of other indie bands. I'm a little bummed that they haven't put out an album since Some Nights way back in 2012 (which is the album this song is from). They briefly mentioned working on a new album, and even played a new song on Jimmy Fallon's late night show in 2014, but that song ultimately went onto lead singer Nate Reuss' debut solo album Grand Romantic. The band claimed they weren't breaking up but rather taking some time to pursue other projects, but that announcement was on their Facebook page back in February 2015 and they've been pretty quiet ever since.

I've always been fascinated by musical artists who jump from project to project. Taking the time to focus on your creative interests is obviously important, but this is just one of so many bands that have a hit or start to take off and then they all go their separate ways to work on something else. Wouldn't you want to keep the success up of the group that broke out and everyone is eagerly following along with, and maybe work on your other passion projects concurrently? But so many of them just full-on put their successful endeavors on hold and change to another project full-time.

It seems to be something fairly unique to musicians too. Maybe that has something to do with the intensity of tour schedules or the cost of recording time or something, because I couldn't imagine Stephen King putting his writing career on hold so he can play his music... or an athlete going, "You know what? I think I need to stop playing baseball for a while so I can focus on golf." Every time they do (*cough* Michael Jordan *cough*), it never seems to go well. Deion Sanders may be the exception, having played both baseball and football for a while, and being halfway decent at both. But for the most part, quitting one thing to do another at the moment where you found success in that first thing seems like a bad idea.

Anyway, I hope fun. gets back together, or otherwise emerges from their hiatus soon because they've got a really great sound and a lot of potential. I'd be excited to see what they do next.