Good morning, friends. Hope you’re doing alright out there.

Let’s talk music for a minute—and not just any music, but the kind that sticks with you. The kind that makes you stop what you’re doing and say, “Who is this?” That happened to me recently, and it’s been bouncing around in my head ever since.

Like a lot of folks these days, I use an Amazon assistant device to play music. Not because I think it’s the best music service out there—Spotify, Apple Music, you name it, they all do similar things—but because I went all-in on the Amazon Kool-Aid a while ago when I started automating my house. When you live with a disability, it’s not always convenient to get to a light switch, so voice control just makes sense. And as a bonus, you get Amazon Music.

So, when I’m not listening to WORT (which is still my default and preferred “radio,” thank you very much), I just tell Alexa to play some music. Whatever she throws on becomes the soundtrack to my morning coffee, my emails, or the general chaos of daily life.

And like anyone else in 2025, I scroll TikTok from time to time. Usually it’s just noise—another platform filled with songs that sound like a copy of a copy of a copy. But every now and then, something cuts through. That’s how I stumbled on a track by Teddy Swims. The song is called “Lose Control.” Point is: the guy can sing. The track grabbed me. It had soul—that rare kind of grit and vulnerability that made me stop, look it up, and play it again. And again.

Naturally, I wanted more. That’s what we used to do, right? You hear a song you love, and you go dig for the album. You want to know what else the artist has to say, what the whole story is.

But here’s the kicker: more often than not, there isn’t more. Or what’s there doesn’t have the same weight. It’s like artists now are pouring everything into one track, and that’s it. Is that by design? Are they just chasing streams, hoping for one viral hit and moving on? Or are they pouring their soul into one song, crossing their fingers, and not worrying about crafting a full album?

I genuinely don’t know. But it bugs me.

I grew up in the age of albums. You sat down and listened from beginning to end. You absorbed the whole experience—the highs, the lows, the transitions, the hidden gems on side B. Now? Kids don’t just not listen to records—they don’t even know what a record is. (That’s a whole other post for another day.)

But this shift—we’re all living in it. It’s not just about nostalgia. It’s about the idea that art can and should be more than just one catchy hook that makes people nod their heads for 60 seconds before swiping to the next thing.

So here’s my question to you, dear reader and fellow listener:

What happened to the rest of the record?

Why is it so rare to find an artist with more to say beyond that one hit?

Are we in an era of lazy musicians, or are they just playing the game the industry demands now?

Maybe you’ve got answers. Maybe you’ve got theories. Or maybe you’ve found some artists still making albums the old-fashioned way—start to finish, with something to say.

Let me know. Drop your thoughts in the comments—here on the blog, not on social media, please and thank you.

And yeah… I’ll probably be asking Alexa to play that Teddy Swims track again tomorrow. But damn it, I still want the rest of the record.

For those who haven’t heard it yet, here’s the track that started this whole train of thought:

• Spotify: Lose Control by Teddy Swims
• YouTube: Lose Control – Teddy Swims (Official Music Video)

Give it a listen, and then let’s talk about what comes next—if anything does.