The Key’s Year-End Mania: Skye Leppo’s top five artists to follow on Instagram

Friends forever. Sorry about Dirt, @kurtvile ! Never again.

A photo posted by Sharon Van Etten (@sharonvanhalen) on Dec 10, 2015 at 10:29am PST

Year-End Mania is the Key’s annual survey of the things below the surface that made 2015 incredible. Today, Key contributor Skye Leppo recaps five Instagram accounts she was hooked on in 2015.

Usually when people ask me what my ideal career is, I can honestly look at them and say I have no effing clue, except that I want it to involve social media and music. On that note, I decided to combine these two loves of mine for my Year End Mania post for The Key, so without further ado these are my top five favorite musicians to follow on Instagram.

1. Sharon Van Etten (@sharonvanhalen)

Above SVE’s insta-personality, I love her tunes. But her IG account just makes her all the move lovable because hey, she’s just like us. She posts things like stupid/cute pictures of her shoes (cough cough, just like this Key Contributor, cough cough) and silly pics geeking out about a donut or selfies with her best friends, whether it’s her mom or a cas snapshot with Kurt Vile. Beyond that though, I love that she posts what artists she’s currently digging or is proud of for reaching certain goals (hey, friends! woo!), or what books she’s loving at the moment, or what paintings she saw that made her cry. It’s cool to be a real person and have real conversations on social media about what you love and help your fans and friends discover something new just because you said you liked it. I think she rules, and let’s be honest, that IG handle is work of art when it comes to playing with your last name. Way to go, SVE.

Love my new summer shoes! Thank you, @refinery29 & @troentorp_usa ! A photo posted by Sharon Van Etten (@sharonvanhalen) on Jul 9, 2015 at 2:48pm PDT

2. Tycho #ALLFILTER (@TychoMusic)

Have you ever listened to Tycho’s “Dive” and thought, “Wow, if only my life looked the way a Tycho song sounds?” Well, guess what – his Instagram account DOES totally look like that. It’s every bit as dreamy and “indie” and new age-y as you’d imagine, and I bet it’s probably fair-trade approved, too. Mountains, boardwalks, soundboards and cityscapes all side by side, good gooly. Synthmaster Scott Hansen may or may not take all of these photos but he curates one hell of a daydream. Can I live there? Please?

Good to be home, excited to get back to work on the new record. Will miss traveling though, seeing India was a really moving experience. A photo posted by Scott Hansen (@tychomusic) on Dec 15, 2015 at 12:34pm PST

3. Isabella Machine (@isamachine)

She’s Florence Welch’s best friend and, fun fact, she’s the MACHINE part of Florence + the Machine (for those of you who don’t stal- I mean, don’t read about them as much as I do). Her random assortment of pictures from life on the road, life in cars, life in the studio, life in a fur coat are, life in a Rangers jersey are lively with just a touch of grainy. The girl’s got a strange style and oozes rock and roll, but she’s also got a penchant for dorky/awesome motivational quotes like your average basic betch or a Jon Voight poem that’ll make you want to dig up your creative writing notebooks from college. And then she posts something as fabulous as this and I’m intrigued all over again.

WE LOVE YOU Dave Grohl .! ! Get better so we can lol in festival car parks again – Until then …….HERE WE COME GLASTONBURY what an honor thank you so so much wtf this was meant to be my 24 reality check in london love all of you @ouhoh @luv_hannah @maireadluv @9billionnamesofgod @thekidhayden @markinthegreen @tom.moth @rusty_bradshaw YESSSSSS LETS GET MUDDY

A photo posted by isabella (@isamachine) on Jun 18, 2015 at 3:57am PDT

4. Lykke Li (@lykkeli)

I’m not going to lie, this is the second time Lykke Li’s made my YEM list and it wasn’t even intentional. The Swedish songstress’s Instagram is every bit as dark and twisty and avant garde as one might expect, and after flicking through enough of these you might want to be tempted to call your ex and ask if they think you’re going to end up alone, too. With a feed that inundates followers with #dark lyrics in ALL CAPS and black and white images of palm trees, she’s got an edgy glamour that hearkens back to Hollywood’s more noir days. I dig it. Mostly I just like the ALL CAPS BECAUSE WHY NOT EMBRACE ALL YOUR EMOTIONS. FOUR FOR YOU, LYKKE LI. KEEP UP POSTING THE CRYPTIC LYRICS AND CLOSE-UPS OF ONE EYEBALL.

 

EVERYTIME THE RAIN FALLS, THINK OF ME; ON A LONELY HIGHWAY…..

 

A photo posted by Lykke Li (@lykkeli) on Apr 7, 2015 at 7:02pm PDT

5. Frank Turner (@frankturner)

What a dude. Look at this video.  The guy knows how to connect with his fans present at every show, whether he’s playing to 20 or 20,000, and most of the time that tomfoolery ends up on IG. I also love that he shamelessly posts selfies doing quirky shit with his friends, and is usually pretty faithful to documenting which show each picture is taken at – at the time of publication, he’s posted a photo from his 1807 show, which is a pretty neat way to chart your tours and travels.

@fillmorephilly tonight. Doors at 7, show at 8, support from Beans On Toast & @skinnylister – done by 12. Some tickets left at the door!

A photo posted by Frank Turner (@frankturner) on Oct 2, 2015 at 9:25am PDT

So there you have it. This social media junkie’s fixes usually result in a spell of daydreaming or crying, courtesy of the Instagram accounts featured above. Follow one or two and maybe – just maybe – you, too, will find yourself in a clickhole of #rockstarlyfe.