Denim Dreams

What do you think of when you think of blue jeans?

What could be better than the feeling of putting on your favorite pair of blue jeans? The feeling of putting on your favorite pair of jeans while you’re listening to a carefully crafted playlist.

Listen here.

1. Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen

Nothing is more American than blue jeans. What else is intrinsically American? Bruce Springsteen. This is a song that will make you want to get up and dance around your bedroom. If you close your eyes for long enough, you start to get the feeling that you’re in a montage. The world is moving so quickly around you, and you’re just trying to catch up. You can feel yourself getting lost in the idea of patriotism, your heart swelling with pride at the mention of red, white, or blue. You feel your hair slowly falling out around you, the pressure of your terrestrial body behind you. You spread your wings, and you fly dammit, you fly.

(Because you’re a literal bald eagle)

2. Blue Denim – Stevie Nicks

You’re in the passenger side of your best friend’s car. Stevie Nicks’ Blue Denim comes on the radio. You decide to just close your eyes and let Stevie take you for a wild ride. The timelessness of the seemingly endless road in front of you mixed with the inherent magic of Stevie Nicks fills you with a sense of security that you’ve never felt before. The lyrics, “Understanding me, and understanding you… Not an easy thing to do” are hitting you so hard in that moment. You feel so comfortable in your place in life, so completely understood while sitting in the passenger seat of your best friend’s car. All of the doubts that you’ve ever had simply melt away.*

*When in doubt, just be Stevie Nicks… or just listen to Stevie Nicks in your favorite pair of jeans.

3. Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans – Mac Demarco

It’s late at night. You’re wearing an oversized denim jacket and your favorite pair of blue jeans. The candy cigarette that you have is placed strategically between your middle and index fingers, as you’re leaning against the side of the club you were just in. The faded x’s on the back of your hands are staring up at you.  You feel like the embodiment of cool. You decide to start walking home, you’re walking around a town that belongs to someone else. The warm yellow-colored streetlights have never felt so inviting. Nothing in the world has ever felt so perfect. You’re living the American dream.

4. Blue Jeans – Lana Del Rey

It’s December. You’re sitting in a booth by yourself in a tiny restaurant around 2 pm, that’s when you spot them. They’re in blue jeans, and a white shirt: a classic look. You overhear them ordering a strawberry milkshake and fries, and you think to yourself, “A milkshake in the winter?” They’ve caught your attention.

You come back the next day at around the same time. They are there too.

The day after that? There again. This is the day, the day you decide to talk to them. You walk over to their table, they have noticed you too. They tell you that they have grown up on punk rock, and you say that you grew up on hip hop. You will remember that day forever, the day you met in December. You know, immediately, that you will love them until the end of time.

Written by Alijah Webb, Drawings by Alijah Webb, Photography by Mackenzie Phalen