“Ginger Cola” by Gold Stars for Everyone: Warm, Wistful Indie Rock

“Ginger Cola” by Gold Stars For Everyone is comforting and nostalgic. No matter what, it will make you feel something, whether it makes you reflect on life, channel a memory, or think about the future. In my listening experience, I’ve found that this song has the ability to do all three of those things.

The song itself is reminiscent of guitar-driven 90s underground rock as well as the post-grunge pop-rock sound of the early 2000s. It’s not necessarily a power pop or angry song, but rather slow and mellow. As a result, we throw ourselves back to our good times while also feeling emotional from the nostalgia channeled by the song’s sound.

“Don’t hang the pictures on your wall // You’ll be moving in a moment // There’s no room to take them all”

This lyric hits hard when you’re making any big transition in your life. It’s easy for us to want to bring every single memory of yours along with you throughout the ride, but realistically, there are always going to be some things you need to leave behind in order to make room for the new experiences and memories you will have in this next stage in your life.

“Lay down the weapons in your arms // Take a look at all we’re fighting”

I wouldn’t be shocked if this lyric was written with our current circumstances in mind. In our difficult, harsh, and dare I say it – famous “unprecedented” – times, all we want to do is fight. It’s easy to be angry at the world from time to time. But this song and this lyric urges us to just relax for a bit. We tend to waste a lot of energy sometimes over things we have no control over.

“Hold on to what you know”

We are urged to hold on to what we know, but not necessarily in a physical manner, because as we already know, there’s no room to bring all the photos. Rather, it is important to remember all of them because the memories are the things that are most important, after all. Our memories and recollections serve as the basis of storytelling since the start of humanity. The physical markers of memories may not always be present, like tangible photos, videos, objects, etc., which is why it’s so important to live in the moment, as the band implies. Memories are intangible.

“Ginger Cola” serves as the closer to their 2022 EP Fame, which contains four other older-sounding songs. I love hearing old sounds from new bands, so I’m looking forward to what else is in store for Gold Stars For Everyone.