Wow, I suck at blogging. To be fair, I haven't had to write anything on a regular basis in over two years, and it's a lot harder to meet deadlines without the looming threat of failing a class if I don't crank out something by a certain date. That combined with the fact that my laptop was busted for at least two months has made my goal of keeping up with my blog pretty challenging. Now that I have my computer back, though, I promise I will post here more often (because I know all two of you who read this are really anxious for me to write more). I have one piece that's just about finished-it just needs a little polishing- and a few other half-written ones that I hope to have up within the next couple months at most. I'm also playing with the idea of this bigger, multi-part project, but I don't want to say too much about that until I've gotten back into the habit of writing again so I know I'll actually follow through on it. Just bear with me a little longer and I promise I'll have some new stuff up soon!
While you're waiting, enjoy this goofy music survey:
1. Put your iPod (itunes) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS! 4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from.
IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? Live and Die
WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Love is All
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? When You're Driving through the Moonlight
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Jack Daniels (Oh, good. ITunes thinks I'm an alcoholic.)
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? The Edge of Glory
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Cruise
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Tear You Apart (I SWEAR I'M NOT CRAZY. O_o)
WHAT IS 2+2? Heart Attack (I was an English major, okay?! MATH IS HARD.)
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Mama's Broken Heart
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Ten Minutes Ago
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Help Me (Jove in Pity)
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? A Little Less Talk (And a Lot More Action) (AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Walk
WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Life is a Highway
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Chick Habit
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Sky is Over
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Clarity
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? What the Water Gave Me
WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Love Interruption
HOW WILL YOU DIE? Brokenhearted (T_T)
WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Cameo Lover
WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Drunk on You (I think this means I'm going to get married, wasted, in Vegas. DREAM BIG.)
WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? Bad Things
DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? 48 Roses
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Starships
When I heard the first verse of Taylor Swift’s
new song, “I Knew You Were Trouble,” I was pretty impressed. True, it was about
a failed relationship, which isn't exactly a new concept for her song writing,
but it seemed like she had matured a bit because, for the first time, she was
accepting partial blame for the failure. She takes responsibility right at the
beginning of the chorus: "I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so
shame on me now." Apparently, she knew she was getting into a doomed relationship,
and she owns up to that. Did this song mark a change in Taylor's writing style?
Is she evolving from the high school fairy tale view of the world to a blunt,
more mature outlook?
Nope. She tried, I guess. She
tried to write a dark(-ish)loss-of-innocence kind of song where she gets
involved with a guy who she discovers at the beginning is not the relationship
type, ignores that fact, and gets hurt as a result- but she still portrays
herself as the heartbroken victim of the big bad boyfriend of the month. Yes,
she admits that she knew he wasn't serious about her, stating that she
"guess[ed] he didn't care," a quality she liked at first. But, of
course, he's still the bad guy. He
started it. As much she insists she knew he was trouble, as much as she
pretends to blame herself, she still makes it his fault; he “got [her] in [his]
sights…and when [she] fell hard, [he] took a step back without [her].” Basically
what she’s saying is she got involved with this guy who wasn't looking for
anything serious, she developed stronger feelings that he didn't return, and
the resulting heartbreak is his fault.
Ugh.
The bridge is the part that bugs
me the most: "And the saddest fear starts creeping in: that you never
loved me, or her, or anyone, or anything." First of all: DUH. At least to
the first part: "you never loved me." Um...I thought that's what she
liked about him in the first place. And I understand that it's possible for
real feelings to develop from a casual relationship, and when it's one-sided it
can really hurt, but the fact that she acts like it's some shocking,
soul-crushing realization is annoying because she has stated several times
(though not explicitly) that she knew he didn't love her. She knew he didn't
care. SHE KNEW HE WAS TROUBLE, DAMMIT. How is it a fear if it's something she
already knew?! Also, saying he never loved anyone or anything might be a little
hyperbolic. Just because he wasn't in love with her doesn't mean he’s
completely incapable of the emotion. But no, Taylor insists that this
cold-hearted, soulless bastard has never loved anything. Her. His parents. That
pet hamster he had when he was five years old. Ice cream. ANYTHING.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m just as
guilty of feeling resentful toward a guy for not as strongly about me as I did
about him. It’s a relatable situation-a way of coping with the vulnerability
that stems from rejection- and if it had been handled better, it could have
been a really good topic for a song. Instead,
Taylor wrote another breakup song that slams another ex, and it’s extra
obnoxious because she tries to act like this breakup song is different by
making a half-assed attempt at taking partial blame that comes across as a
backhanded apology.
And of course I sing along to it
at the top of my lungs whenever it’s on the radio. Dammit.
I work forty hours a week in a
call center for a health insurance company. I’m chained to my desk with a tangled phone
headset for eight hours a day, listening to people whine about benefits I
didn’t choose and claims that I didn’t process. Most of the time, I am not in
the best of moods by the time I get home. Thank God for Youtube. I can spend so
much time on that website, pulling up songs and music videos that can
completely transform my mood. There are
a lot of songs I could include on this list, but the following five are ones
that consistently put me in a good mood; I can’t listen to them without feeling
a little better by the chorus.
1.“Happy” by
NeverShoutNever
The lyrics aren’t especially brilliant. They range from cute but
clichéd to kind of stupid: for example, in the chorus, Christopher Drew sings “The
grass is greener on the other side”- isn’t that kind of a negative line? Wouldn’t
that mean the singer thinks that, now that he’s with the “girl he adores,” life
without her seems better (“greener”)? That’s basically what the phrase means:
what you don’t have seems better than what you do. I mean, I get what he’s
saying- being with this girl is “being
on the other side”- but …ugh, sorry. I promise I won’t analyze the crap out of
this, because I really do like this song. The title is completely appropriate; it’s
two minutes and forty-seven seconds of auditory happiness.
The thing about this song that makes me smile is how genuine it
sounds. In text, lines like “Why, oh, why did I not see this before?/The girl I
adore is right in front of me” sound like something from either a bad romantic
comedy script or a high school student’s Facebook status, but the delivery
makes me believe them; when they’re sung, I can’t help but go “AWWWW.” It’s beyond the bubbly melody, the bouncy
rhythm, and Drew’s saccharine voice (although they’re all contributing factors).
He just sounds so sincere. There are so
many other generic love songs that seem written to cater to easily-infatuated
teenagers, and while I guess this one does too, I actually believe that, at
least when he recorded it, he was head over heels for whoever it was he wrote
this about.
2.“Walk” East
Village Opera Company (Semele)
It’s funny that this song is on this list, because while it’s very
sweet out of context, the larger piece that it comes from isn’t exactly a
Disney fairy tale. It’s an adaptation of a piece from Handel’s Semele, which is based off a story in
Greek mythology. Like most Greek myths, this one doesn’t have a happy ending.
The cliff notes: Zeus has an affair with a mortal woman named Semele. Zeus’s
wife Hera gets jealous and tricks Semele into asking Zeus to prove his love to
her by revealing himself as a god. He does so by appearing to her in all of his
divine, lightening-y glory. Unfortunately for Semele, no mortal can witness
this without being incinerated on the spot. Whoops.
But yeah, before Semele met her untimely, extra-crispy demise, she
and Zeus had a pretty good relationship- or at least Handel thought so, because
one of the songs in the opera is about how Zeus loves Semele so much that he
will control nature for her: trees will
crowd around her to shade her, flowers will grow wherever she walks or even
looks.
The version of this song that I positively adore is an adaptation
by the East Village Opera Company. Anyone who has talked about music with me
for more than ten minutes has probably heard me nerd out about these guys. I
won’t go into too much detail right now, because I think I’ll eventually do a
separate piece just focusing on them. Anyway, EVOC takes classical songs and
arias and puts a modern twist on them. The first time I heard their version of
this song was that it sounded kind of boy-band-ish, but in a good way; sunny,
upbeat, the kind of song. After listening to it a few more times, it sounded
more like a mix between gospel and pop. The bright, exuberant tone of Tyley
Ross’s voice combined with the spirited instrumentals perfectly reflects the in elation in the lyrics.
3.“I Will”
Beatles (Roma di Luna cover)
I feel like I’m committing blasphemy by choosing a Beatles cover
over the original song. Don’t get me wrong-I love the original version, and
there are so many Beatles songs that I could put on this list, but there’s
something special about this interpretation. It was arranged as part of the
Minnesota Beatles Project (volume three) and Roma di Luna did such a good job
making it their own without losing the sweetness of the original. It almost
sounds like they improvised it, like they just threw the arrangement together
one day.
The one criticism I have is that the intro sounds a little clunky.
I understand that’s part of their spin on it, and once the vocals start are
added to the mix it works, giving it a casual, carefree feeling, but before
that it just sounds like the musicians weren’t sure when they were supposed to
start playing. It’s not awful, but it lasts just long enough to leave a less
than stellar first impression. Fortunately, Channy Moon Casselle’s voice makes
up for this. It’s not that she has a stunningly beautiful voice or an
incredible range or anything-although it is pretty, especially in the chorus-but
it makes the whole spontaneous feel of the song seem more cheerful than
unrehearsed, like she’s so happy that she can’t help but sing.
4.“Emmylou”
First Aid Kit
Oh, God. I don’t know what it is about this song, but I get choked
up every damn time I listen to it. As soon as the chorus hit my eyes just start
welling up with tears. It’s just the combination of how pure and strong sisters
Johanna and Klara’s voices are, how sweet their harmonies are, and how simple
but poignant the lyrics in the chorus are: “I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be
your June/If you’ll be my Graham and my Johnny too/No, I’m not asking much of
you/Just sing, little darling, sing with me.” It’s just such a straightforward of
expressing love, and it always gives me the warm fuzzies.
5.“Cameo
Lover” Kimbra
Unlike most of the songs on this list, “Cameo Lover” didn’t make
the cut because the lyrics make me happy (with the exception of a few lines).
Most of the lyrics are directed toward Kimbra’s “cameo lover,” who, honestly,
kind of sounds like a douche. He’s noncommittal, “only here for a moment or
two”; he’s a player (“You’ve got two arms, baby/They’re all tangled up in
ladies”); and he’s a downer (“I’ve got high hopes, baby/But all you do is take
me down to depths that I never knew”). Kimbra is determined to change all that,
though. Apparently, all the guy needs to do to become less of a jerk is “open
up [his] heart,” a plea Kimbra repeats throughout the chorus. It’s just one simple
line, but it’s so effective when combined with the jubilant, almost celebratory
instrumentals; near the end, it almost sounds like parade music, with all its glorious
brass and strong rhythm.
I should start this by saying that I am not a musician. My musical experience amounts to five and a half years of choir, four years of voice lessons, and a year and some odd months of piano lessons, and the majority of this experience was in high school-nothing worth bragging about. I should also mention that I’m not exactly a music junkie; there aren’t a lot of bands that I obsess over, I don’t go to tons of concerts, and the amount of classic songs that I’ve never even heard is kind of embarrassing.
I may not have much of a musical background, but I do love music. I love hearing a great song on the radio, cranking up the volume, and filling my car with the glorious, window-and-dashboard-vibrating sound. I love singing songs I’ve had memorized since I was a kid at the top of my lungs (as long as absolutely no one is around to hear me). I love how the right combination of well-written lyrics, gorgeous voices, and the right instruments can completely transform my mood-reduce me to tears, send the best kind of chills up my spine, make me feel like I can fly. As clichéd as it sounds, music is magical.
I also love writing, although I haven’t done much of it in quite a while. I guess being out of school for a year has made it difficult; before, I had to write all the time for class, from research papers to screenplays, so it was easy to do it for fun because it was already a part of my routine. Lately, though, I haven’t had much time for it. Whenever I do have a chance to write, I can never think of anything to say. Inspiration hasn’t struck in a long time. I need motivation.
That’s where the music comes in. I might not be a music buff, but I still have a good amount to say on the subject. If I’m going to get back into the habit of writing on a regular basis, the best place for me to start is a topic that I can ramble about.
This blog will be a mix of different types of posts. There will be a few top five lists (because I’m way too easily distracted to write anything longer), reviews of specific songs and musicians, and blurbs about shows I go to. I’m not sure how often I’ll update, but I will try really hard to have one new post up every two weeks. Yeah, I know it’s not a lot, but I do have a full time (soul-sucking) job that takes up most of my time, and I’m still getting back in the habit of writing regularly, so it’ll have to do for now. I have a couple pieces already partially written, so I might have something new sooner than two weeks from now, so keep checking back here for updates!
