5. Tracy ChapmanTracy Chapman / New Beginning
I first heard [Chapman’s 1988 self-titled album] when I was doing O levels. I can’t remember how I started listening to it. Obviously ‘Fast Car’ was huge, so probably through that. ‘Fast Car’ is on here, ‘Baby Can I Hold You’ is on here, ‘She’s Got Her Ticket’. Oh my god, this album is so good.
And then when New Beginning came out, I fell in love with the song ‘The Promise’. I was leaving Lahore to go to Berklee, to go to college – taking this really big risk leaving behind everybody and everything that you know, to pursue music. You’re going really, really far away to do this all on your own. And that’s kind of crazy, it’s like you’re risking it all for this; my love for music was kind of telling me to leave everything else behind and take this very extreme leap. That song, ‘The Promise’ was something that kind of held me together in a really soft and beautiful way. But the self-titled record just has all the bangers on it.
