Ti Amo by Phoenix
Over the last decade we were blessed with two Phoenix albums. 2013’s Bankrupt! was never going to live up to the success of their 2009 breakout album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, which catapulted the French band to superstardom.
One of the most endearing things about the album was that it was never trying to be another radio and commercial friendly hit machine and instead is a criminally underrated concept album. Something the band would try again another four years later to even greater success with Ti Amo, which the band described as their fantasied version of Italy and with the songs focusing on simple and pure emotions like love, lust, and innocence. That’s what makes the album truly memorable. Its innocence and simplicity in a time when the world was neither of those things.
Check out Al Mannarino’s Photos of Phoenix at The Fillmore in Philadelphia from 2017.
Back in 2017, it was tough going online or turning on the news without feeling like all hope was lost (nothing much has changed btw) and finding any sort of escape was few and far between.
When Ti Amo dropped it was all I could listen to. It was so fun and positive that it made forget how much the world had gone to shit. And just like Bankrupt!, I couldn’t just listen to one song from Ti Amo and then go about my day. I would have to start from the top and listen to the album the whole way through. Ti Amo is the perfect example on how music can absolutely make an impact on someone’s life.
-Al Mannarino
