I had a weird dream the other night. But after watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World (which, by the way, was AWESOME) earlier that night, then eating some cheese bread with a glass of white wine right before I conked out, I can’t say I’m exactly surprise.

So here’s what happened in my dream: I was visiting my mom in Calgary and my friend Ian came over.

Seconds after he had told me he had recently been dumped by Rachelle, his girlfriend of 12 years, my mom came into the kitchen.

So far, none of this seems particularly unusual. Every day, couples break up and moms find their way into kitchens.

But here’s the M. Night twist: my mom was suddenly white (which is perplexing because I’m Korean).

I’m assuming this meant I was adopted, or maybe it was just an ambiguous plot point, a la The Lost World: Jurassic Park, where for some inexplicable reason Jeff Goldblum’s biological daughter is black.

But the next part was even more bizarre. She tells me that Ian and I have to leave immediately because her friend Sharon Jones is coming over.

Cut to the next scene: I walk into the living room to find my mom and Sharon Jones, minus the Dap-Kings, doing the Twist in their “Sunday best”.

And here’s the weirdest part: I wasn’t evenly the slightest bit perturbed that my mom was suddenly white, or that I may have been adopted, or that my suddenly white, possibly adopted, possibly lesbian mom was besties with one of soul music’s finest.

No, the thing that really irked me about this particular dream is that my friend Ian and his girlfriend Rachelle had split up, because I always pictured those two to be together… forever (cue Rick Astley).

I’ve always believed in the Power of Love, even after hearing the Celine Dion song, and seeing this very belief shattered before me was upsetting.

But there is a greater reason why I brought this up to begin with, and it has nothing to do with romantic love or friendship or even adopted lesbian moms.

I wanted to talk about how our willingness to embrace a particular song or album can often rely entirely on our mood at the time.

On the way to work I was thinking about the dream and I decided to give Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings latest album, I Learned the Hard Way, a second shot.

I’ve been a huge Sharon Jones fan ever since I heard her breakthrough record, Naturally, so When I picked up the new record back in April I was a little geeked-out, to say the least.

My expectations were inflated and my patience was rice paper thin (kind of like that Common track “The Questions” where Mos Def inquires “how you got high expectations but got no patience?”).

So when I rushed home and gave the record a couple of spins, I eventually wrote it off as a lacklustre, uninspired effort.

But listening to the album for the first time in four months, devoid of any expectations or preconceived notions, I was able to give the music the room and attention it deserved.

And I found myself falling in love with it again for the first time. Songs like “The Reason”, “She Ain’t A Child No More”, “I’ll Still Be True”, and the album’s high note, “Window Shopping”, which she played on Craig Ferguson a couple months ago, prove that Ms. Jones has established herself as the new Queen of Soul.

Sometimes records deserve a second or third visit - a lesson I ultimately learned the hard way.