Country? No thank you.
The lyrics? I didn't get it.
But the video-hit me hard.
A coworker just shared it with me randomly after a meeting.
And I'm so happy she did.
The country with the lyrics and the video--NOW it all makes sense. And now I'm holding back tears at my desk.
Side note: I feel Avicii picked the location of their "awakening" to be UMF just for me because that's where I had mine.
3 years ago I lived in a world where people were mean.
Everyone was against me.
I had to protect myself.
I had to perfect myself.
Nothing was enough.
I was not good enough.
I didn't know that another world existed. Another way of life. Until I went to Ultra Miami 2012.
Thin as all hell, driven by a self-hatred so deep it consumed my thoughts and I couldn't separate a good day from a bad one, I traveled to South Beach having no idea what was about to happen. I was sober at the time and exposed to drugs, drinking, and partying on another level.
I was scared, I was uptight, I was confused. How do people do this? Rigid, tight, and frozen I went through the first couple of days of Miami Music Week mostly miserable.
And then I walked into Ultra and I saw bodies of all kinds. I was smiled at by girls that I were sure should glare at me. I was offered food, kandi, water, and genuine kindness. What did they want I thought. This can't be real. And slowly I softened. My heart opened to the idea that people can be inherently good, that I could not only receive their kindness but that I deserved it.
Wake Me Up tells my story to a "T". I didn't know I was lost. I felt so out of place for so long. I was surviving through life, not living it. But at UMF for the first time I felt at home.
Once I had a taste of PLURR and electronic music I couldn't stop. I came home with my kandi, my bracelets, my tan and my new attitude and I wanted everyone to know--THE WORLD IS NOT SCARY.
And that's something I've lost sight of this past year. Not always but overall yes. I've been hardened again by traumatic experiences, being a grown up, and caught up in myself. And I feel so blessed that today, on the day I get to see Kaskade on his Automatic Tour, that I was reminded what this music really means to me.
My mindset was all about how I would look, who I would see, would I get home at a decent hour for work tomorrow. And now I just can't wait to be surrounded by likeminded people who are looking for the same thing I am: peace, love, unity, and respect.
