2021, Beauty In The Silence- SOJA ,
Songwriter： Sasualei Maliga , Jacob Hemphill,
Taumata Grey ,
🌊 SOJA — Soldiers Of Jah Army — have been making reggae out of Washington D.C. since 1997, when they were just a group of teenagers who grew up together and decided to start a band. That origin story matters, because it explains something about how they sound: there's a groundedness to SOJA's music, a sense that the people making it have known each other long enough to mean what they say. Their 2021 album Beauty In The Silence is one of their most inward-looking records, and "It's Funny" — the second track — might be the most layered song on it. It brings in two Pacific-rooted voices to help carry the story: Common Kings, the California-based reggae pop group with roots across Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga, and Eli Mac — born Camille Velasco — a Filipino-born, Hawaii-raised singer who blends island reggae with R&B and hip-hop in a way that feels completely natural.
🌺 That combination of voices is the first thing that makes this song work. Common Kings bring that warm, sun-soaked melodic energy they're known for — part soul, part reggae, part something that just feels like open water and good weather. There's an ease to them that's hard to manufacture. And then Eli Mac steps in and shifts the whole atmosphere. Her delivery is relaxed but purposeful, and she has that rare quality where sincerity doesn't sound like effort. You don't feel like she's performing. You feel like she means it. The three acts together create a sound that's layered but never cluttered — everyone has room to breathe, and the song is better for it.
💭 The theme at the heart of "It's Funny" is something most people will recognize, even if they haven't put words to it: the slow, strange drift away from who you used to be. Life starts with a certain kind of openness — feeling things deeply, caring about other people, the sense that everything matters. And then somewhere along the way, without really deciding to, you get practical. You turn inward. You start optimizing for yourself, and you stop noticing things you used to notice. The song looks back at that shift with a kind of gentle, bittersweet irony. "It's funny" — meaning both actually kind of funny, and also kind of heartbreaking, depending on the day you're having when you hear it.
🎶 What's worth noting about the production is that it never lets the heaviness take over. The reggae rhythm keeps things light and moving, and the melodic lines from Common Kings give the whole thing a warmth that stops it from becoming a lament. You're listening to a song about losing your way, but it doesn't feel like a sad song. That balance is harder to pull off than it looks, and SOJA manages it without making it seem like they're trying.
✨ But the song's real turning point comes when Eli Mac steps forward:
"You gotta stand up for your rights And never give up on the fight You know the only thing to do is keep going And when you're going, you got to keep growing"
🌱 It's not a complicated message. But sometimes the most useful things aren't. Keep going. Keep growing. Those four lines land differently when they're delivered in Eli Mac's voice — not like a motivational poster on a gym wall, but like something a person actually believes, and genuinely wants you to believe too. There's no performance in it. It just feels true. And for anyone who's been navigating a rough stretch — feeling stuck, second-guessing themselves, wondering what the point is — that kind of straightforward encouragement from the right voice at the right moment can mean a lot more than a complicated verse ever could.
🎸 One more thing worth mentioning: there's an acoustic version of this song, and it's equally good — maybe even a little more raw and direct. Without the full band arrangement, the lyrics carry the whole weight on their own, and the three voices weave together in a way that's somehow even more intimate. You can hear every inflection. That's usually a reliable sign that a song is genuinely well-written: when you strip it down and it still holds up, you know the core of it is solid.
🌙 "It's Funny" is the kind of song that meets you where you are. If you're feeling a little lost, it acknowledges that without making you feel worse about it. If you need a reason to keep moving, it gives you one without overselling it. And it does all of that with good voices, a good groove, and something honest to say — which turns out to be a harder combination to pull off than it sounds.
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SOME ALBUMS FIND YOU. THIS ONE WAITED FORTY YEARS.
There are records we hear, and records that hear us — that somehow know we aren't ready yet, and hold their secrets until we are.
Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants is that kind of record.
When I first came to this sprawling 1979 double album, I was looking for the Stevie Wonder I already loved — the architect of Innervisions, the genius behind Songs in the Key of Life. What I found instead stopped me cold: something vast, unhurried, and deeply strange. Music that seemed less composed than grown. I didn't understand it. I put it away.
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If you've ever returned to something years later and found it transformed — or discovered that you were the one who had transformed — this book was written for you.
Available now on Kindle. Free for Kindle Unlimited members.
The most profound music never rushes. Neither does the reader it's waiting for.
— Toshiro Mori
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https://px.a8.net/svt/ejp?a8mat=3Z8Z7S+8DUSHE+348+1BS1AP
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