I can't believe a lot's so complex when I just want to sit here and want you on dress.

What does it mean for an album to change your life?

That's the question we asked some of our favorite writers last year in a series of essays

and are ongoing turning the tables project.

In that project, we set out to challenge assumptions about what matters in music and what makes

music great by centering the voices and stories of women and non-binary artists and writers.

This is like PJ Harvey, whose song This Is Love Change the Life of One of Our Guests today.

I'm so excited for this conversation because it's all about how as music fans and critics,

we internalize those hierarchies and we make assumptions about what kind of music is good

or important in response to what other experts historically often men think.

But what if you love an album that other people think is trash?

What if you're attracted to music that others call silly or soft?

And what changes if you say, screw it?

This matters to me anyway.

I'm Maris Aluroso, I'm an associate editor for MPR Music and an editor for our Turning

the Tables project and I edited the essay series about life-changing albums.

You can read all those essays and everything else we've published as part of Turning the

Tables at npr.org slash Turning the Tables.

Everyone's day in March, we're talking about those life-changing albums with writers

from the series.

I'm joined today by two of those writers and two of my personal favorite current music critics.

First we have Laura Snaps, who is the Guardians Deputy Music Editor.

...