Love Letter To A Record: Jacob Fitzgerald On New Radicals’ ‘Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too’

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Jacob Fitzgerald speaks of his love for New Radicals 1998 album, Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based artist has just returned with his latest single ‘Shame on You’ – produced by the artist himself and long-time friend/collaborator Brent Quirk. The indie-pop offering explores a roller coaster ride of emotions amid a breakup. As the artist explains in a press statement, the song is “a heartbreak song through and through… It captures the regret; the things we’d wished we’d said and the desperation.”  You can listen below.

Jacob Fitzgerald’s Love Letter to New Radicals’ Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

Dear Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too,

Firstly, thank you for opening an album with the words “make my nipples hard, let’s go”. I think that’s simply as good as it gets and perfectly sums up what lies ahead in your beautiful record.

You have to be up there as one of my favourite albums ever. You’re definitely the record that I spin most on vinyl, for you just have it all! Launching into banger after banger filled with the perfect vibe to infect a room. Be it a party or a relaxed Sunday with a cuppa, you never miss, and I always associate you with the best of memories (mostly).

You’ve helped me wake up in the morning with ‘Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough’ (my personal fave), made me cry with ‘Crying Like A Church On Monday’ after driving home from being dumped and been the perfect good vibe anthem for both me and any other 2000s movie lover with ‘You Get What You Give’.

You’re something I can play whenever I need and not get sick of. You’re weird, wacky and full of perfect melodies, rich harmonies and slick 90’s guitar tones. Of course, being filled with some of the most wicked lyrics I’ve ever heard, I’ll always be shattered that you were never given a sequel. But maybe that’s what makes you so special to me. You’re a one-and-done, standalone, unique piece of art.

I think you’re ace, my friend. Thanks for being a part of my life!