I have very fond memories of driving home from elementary school to the soundtrack of Miranda Cosgrove's "Kissin U", the first and only single from her 2010 debut album "Sparks Fly". For about a month, I listened to that song so much that it became somewhat of a ritual; every afternoon, I would crawl into the back seat of my mom's big Lexus SUV with a juice box or a stick of string cheese, and Miranda Cosgrove's floaty, saccharine vocals would lull me into a peaceful sleep.
Back then, there was a specific audience for Cosgrove's music: the thousands of children worldwide who tuned into Nickelodeon's hit sitcom iCarly, the show that enabled Cosgrove to ascend to the upper echelon of child stardom. If it weren't for them, there's a solid chance that the album never would have gotten off the ground in the first place.
I'm not ashamed to say that I was among this demographic. In fact, the first time I ever heard a track from "Sparks Fly" wasn't even on the radio. It was on an episode of iCarly, during which Carly Shay, played by Cosgrove, sang her song "Shakespeare" alongside costars Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor, and Jennette McCurdy. It was this intersection of Cosgrove and Carly that made "Sparks Fly" so brilliant; to that early 2000s childhood version of me, "Sparks Fly" wasn't just Miranda Cosgrove's album — it was Carly's.
Musically, it's about what you'd expect from a 2000s pop record: deliriously sweet vocal melodies over sunshiney guitars and thumping, synth-driven bass lines. While the majority of the album is deeply rooted in pop, Cosgrove also manages to weave in elements from adjacent genres such as rock, pop punk, and R&B. The album's standout tracks — namely "Kissin U" and "Shakespeare" — are undoubtedly the more conventional pop songs. However, there are also a couple hidden gems further down the track list. "Daydream" is a mid-tempo pop punk-tinged love song co-written by none other than Avril Lavigne, and "Disgusting", an ethereal, synth-heavy anthem, features musical contributions from Kesha.
While it's true that the charm of Miranda Cosgrove's "Sparks Fly" cannot be overstated, there's also a certain melancholy and nostalgia that comes with listening to the record today. Ever since iCarly's final episode in 2012, Cosgrove, along with her music, has faded from the spotlight, and the largely adolescent cult following the album gained in 2010 has graduated onto more nuanced and complex music tastes.
In today's musical pantheon, there's hardly any room for the 2000s bubblegum pop that "Sparks Fly" is so influenced by. So, while the soaring melodies and twinkling major chords of Cosgrove's debut album are meant to evoke a form of teenage positivity, ten years later, they're also reminiscent of a bygone era: a different time, a different place, and a childhood we'll never get back.
The world was simpler then — and so were we.
I'll never forget those afternoons spent driving home from school in the back of that old SUV. I'll never forget the sweetness of the juice boxes or the creaminess of the string cheese — or the way that, on Fridays, sometimes my mom would bring me both. Most of all, though, I'll never forget reaching over to the front seat, switching on the radio, and letting "Sparks Fly" melt my worries away.
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