Fun is a pop rock band that consists of three members: Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, and Andrew Dost. They came together as a band in 2008 and have since released two albums; Aim and Ignite being the first released in 2009 and Some Nights being the one that got them a Grammy for “Best New Artist” in 2013.

They haven’t released anything as a band since then, which is surprising considering the success they were having. Ruess, however, did go solo for a bit. Despite not releasing anything new in so long, Fun is still my favorite band of all time. Their music gave me hope, it inspires me, and it’s just fun to listen to.

When I first discovered Fun, I was in middle school. The middle schools where I live aren’t the best and neither are the people in them. It was tough. At home, things weren’t much better. My sister had been having suicidal thoughts and the teacher at school had seen her cutting herself. She was admitted into a mental institution for months and my family didn’t take it that well. It created a huge rift in our family because she had blamed our parents for her actions.

Due to her being gone, I had no one to talk to, and I began to feel as if I let her down somehow by not being a good sister. To fight the negativity, music became my great escape; my light at the end of a seemingly never-ending tunnel. After a little digging around, I found one of Fun’s songs on YouTube. It was “Some Nights,” and I liked it a lot which led to me listening to more of their music. I eventually found their CD at Wal-Mart and that is how I fell in love with the music that guided me through a very tough time.

Fun’s music helped me because it gave me hope and inspired me to be a better version of myself. “Carry On” is the first one that comes to mind when I think of an inspirational song because of the story that unfolds throughout it. Towards the beginning, the lyrics suggest that someone is in a dark place and contemplating suicide because of a broken heart.

After that is the chorus, which is repeated three times throughout, and it talks about forgetting the issue and moving on.

If you’re lost and alone or you’re sinking like a stone,
Carry on
May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground, and
Carry on

From there, Ruess sings about how he is at a bar with friends. At the bar, they are discussing death and how everyone will die, which I assume means he is depressed. The chorus is repeated and then he begins to sing the part that is inspirational. “…Lay your clothes down on the floor…” as the lyrics go, is talking about shedding the insecurities that are holding him back.

It’s at this point where they finally realized they are strong enough to get through anything and that “…. we are shining stars, we are invincible…” I took this as a transformative moment, where he’s talking from a new perspective to the older, heartbroken version of himself, and explaining that he is perfectly imperfect and can get through anything. “Carry On” essentially taught me two things: one being that I am strong enough to make it through this if I just keep going; and two, things do, eventually, get better.

As well as being very inspirational, Fun’s music also sounds great. They use a variety of instruments in their songs, including the violin and the flute in certain songs. My personal favorite that has a variety of instruments is “Be Calm.” The violin is what opens this song and then later there are trumpets, flutes, and what sounds like a tambourine. However, the best part is really Ruess’s voice. It’s not annoyingly high pitched or super low, it’s right there in the middle. He has great control over pitch as well.

A bonus side to this is that most of their songs are upbeat and easy to dance to as well. “Stitch Me Up” from the deluxe edition of Aim and Ignite is a good one to dance to, in my opinion. Not only is it fun to dance to these songs, jumping around playing the air guitar is much better and more effective than sitting around listening to sad songs. I’m not hating on sad songs, though, because I sometimes listen to them. However, it’s good to listen to inspirational and fun music, that way it takes your mind off all that’s going on for a little bit.

If you are ever in the mood for something deep but catchy, I highly recommend Fun. I personally think that Aim and Ignite is the better of the two albums, but Some Nights is inspirational all the same. This band helped me through so much that I wish I could thank them all in person, but sadly, I never got to see them live. All the same, I will continue to sing as loudly and as proudly as I can, into a hairbrush, all the songs I mentioned here and more.