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- June 25, 2022
ALEC BENJAMIN’S NEW ALBUM “(UN)COMMENTARY” IS LIKE THERAPY FOR THE SOUL
Stop what you’re doing besties and listen up. I found the new, go-to, chill summer album to add to your playlist. It has calm tunes, charmingly authentic lyrics, and the cutest male vocals you’ll ever hear. I’m talking about Alec Benjamin’s newest album (Un)commentary. The Phoenix-based heart-throb teamed up with Sir Nolan (Kehlani, Selena Gomez), Sam de Jong (Lennon Stella, Gary Clark Jr.), and RØMANS (Mary J Blige, Khalid) to create an album that feels raw and personal while addressing some seriously touchy subjects that anyone can relate to. The album with its many relatable pondering about life’s ways is almost like a therapy session for your soul. The 13-track, sophomore album (Un)Commentary includes the new heartfelt single “Speakers” and the previously released “The Way You Felt,” “Older,” and “Shadow Of Mine.”
The song was co-written by Alec and GRAMMY-winning songwriter Dan Wilson (who worked with the likes of Adele, Taylor Swift, and Leon Bridges). The track holds out hope for a relationship with Alec weighing in, “I often think about the way you’ll think about me when we’re old / I always thought we could be the greatest story ever told.” If you say you haven’t had these same exact thoughts at some point in your life daydreaming about your crush/boo/ex/fictional character, then I don’t believe you. We are all softies at heart just like Alec. The music video starts from a single cassette tape and song tugging at our heartstrings and revealing how music leads to a lifetime of memories.
This one is for you, yes you. You know who you are: The dreamer who idealizes a failed relationship, the kind heart who fell for the wrong person who keeps on hurting them, the blind friend stuck in a toxic relationship. Alec is saying it straight out as it is: “The devil doesn’t bargain, he’ll only break your heart again”. This is the song you need to hear to open your eyes to the bitter truth. Let the calming guitar cords and captivating tune help you get your strength to quit dancing with the devil.
With summertime approaching, we get excited for longer days and warmer nights. But with the beginning of summer, we also face the end of other things. You finish high school, graduate college, or need to move to find a job. If you’re 24 like me and about to finish your studies, then you will understand just how relatable “older” is to me. Things change as we get older and we learn to live our lives and tbh it’s scary as heck. Alec Benjamin is no different than you and me in this case, but he manages to capture all that anxiety, fear, and excitement that comes with growing older and packaging it in a lovely melody that gets you all teary-eyed. (Who’s cutting onions in here?)
Throughout (Un)Commentary, Alec transforms his experiences with life into catchy and heartfelt songs that are universally understandable. It just makes you realize how although we feel alone in such moments, we are all going through the same things and sharing one life. Alec gives us that uncompromising clarity, infusing every song with an irrepressible hope. It’s like he’s telling us to hang in there because things are changing but they will get better. This album feels like a friend is holding your hand and guiding you through everything.
Alec is currently on the 2nd leg of his North American tour with 20 additional headlining shows as well as his debut performances at the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The 20-city trek kicked off in April in Spokane, WA, and concludes on May 15th in Portland, ME. These new dates follow an already completed 1st leg of his 2021 tour that had Benjamin playing over 20 sold-out shows in cities like Philadelphia, Seattle, Boston, Denver, and Nashville to name a few. In addition to this, Alec will continue the remainder of his tour this Summer with 23 cities across Europe on June 28th in Paris with stops in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, and many more. See below for a full list of U.S. tour dates, and purchase tickets here.
