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Support for KUTX’s Love Austin Music Month coverage comes from Eldorado Cafe, embracing a community of folks who believe sharing food and music feeds the soul.
It’s not difficult to compare the economic turbulence of 2026 to 2009 – and Marlei, a Houston-born, Austin-based pop/R&B artist, thinks of that time often. In 2009, Marlei was a fresh-faced postgraduate, and she remembers that time of her life as a simpler, carefree period, despite the loneliness and stress of the era, in her upbeat, confessional song, “2009.”
With sinuous vocals and bouncy trap beats, she paints her 23-year-old self with a compassionate brush, contrasting her quarter-life anxiety and depression with her youthful optimism and ambition. With rich details of biking around town and watching TV late at night, “2009” is sure to remind you of the time of your life when your opportunities are only rivaled by the weight of the world on your shoulders.
