#damn this was a rabbit hole I didn't think I'd go down when I woke up this morning.

[discocandles]

So as I've continued my escapades through Carly Rae Jepsen's discography(read: I'm hyper fixated and making it everyone else's problem), I noticed something. A small overlap really, but I'm wondering if there's more, or if I'm just overthinking. It could be either.

So on the loneliest time, the second track is named Joshua tree. And it talks about someone leaving their home for Joshua tree, CA to have some freedom from their regular life, in reference to quarantine. Which is exactly what happened when 5SOS was making 5sos5. They all left LA for Joshua tree, CA to make their album by themselves with more artistic freedom and no set deadlines to make music.

And both things seem to have happened at about the same time, given both albums were in production in the same span of time(2020-2022) and were released about a month apart(5sos5 in September 2022 and the loneliest time in October 2022). This is the small overlap that I'm talking about, and it's making me question if one lead to the other, or if it's a coincidence.

So I did some surface level research on Joshua tree and musicians. And it's not uncommon for artists and musicians to visit Joshua Tree, California. This could be due to the symbolism the Joshua tree holds. Apparently, it is "a symbol of faith for thriving against adversity (...and) that beauty and life can still flourish in the most challenging of times and environments."

I can see why Carly would choose to reference Joshua tree, since the loneliest time is her hope for flourishing in a difficult time and environment. And I can see how 5sos decided to go to Joshua tree to make their album, as a way to grow themselves when it was nobody but them there to ease the terrain.

I highly doubt I'm the first person to notice this, but the fact these two things happened so close to one another is interesting to me. I wonder if one lead to the other, or if it was simply happenstance. If Carly heard that 5SOS was leaving for Joshua tree to make their album, decided to research it and found the Joshua tree symbolism fit well with her themes in the loneliest time or if one of the guys in 5sos heard that Carly Rae Jepsen made a track called Joshua tree for her album, decided to do some research, and proposed going there to make 5sos5, which the others then agreed to. I have no earthly idea how that would've happened, as they made the albums with entirely different producers and companies, but that doesn't mean the grapevine doesn't exist.

Anyway that's what has been occupying my brain for the last little while.