Erick Oscar’s album It Sucks Getting Old is a highly personal work influenced by reflection, grief, memory, and the actual experiences associated with growing older. The album stems from his close relationship with his father-in-law, Joe, who often employs the expression that provides the record with its title. Since he is 77, Joe has suffered the loss of his wife due to cancer as well as the death of a number of close friends, which gives the project a true emotional basis. Instead of viewing aging as merely the passing of time, Erick examines it through the experiences that make a lasting impact on a person’s life.
The album also shows the musical journey which has shaped Erick Oscar as a songwriter; his father was a singer who exposed him to love songs and ballads when he was a child, and over the course of more than 35 years playing acoustic guitar with his church worship band he has maintained a long association with songwriting and performance. Having written over 1,200 songs during that time, his creative process has evolved through many years of expressing his personal thoughts and experiences in his songs. His recent work using music-production software has extended that process, enabling him to construct arrangements and explore various ways of bringing his compositions to life.
Erick’s background contributes an additional aspect to the album’s character. Since he was born in Panamá and has resided in the United States for 34 years, he has also carried out work in many countries throughout Latin America. The variety of styles found in his music includes country, pop, ballads, salsa, merengue, bachata, flamenco, vallenato, reggaeton, and mariachi. He composes and performs in both English and Spanish, and country music is especially important to him because of its deep, raw, and pure characteristics. This wide range of experience offers a background that helps to explain why this artist strives for each of his songs to convey something meaningful.
The emotional focus of the album It Sucks Getting Old eventually shifts towards reminiscence rather than merely concentrating on loss. The reason for this is that Erick wanted to recognise the difficult experiences that people go through as they get older, while concluding with a positive outlook based on the memories that are made over a lifetime. The idea that music has the power to affect people and to inspire them is something that underlies this project personally. Because of its links with family, grief, ageing and precious memories, the album is another chapter in a songwriting journey which has been going on for over three decades.
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