Mixtapemotions

  • "I Blame the World" by Sasha Alex Sloan, Wednesday, March 15, 2023 (partial repost)

    The self-identified sad-girl Sasha Alex Sloan made a “mad record” in 2022. There was a podcast I listened to reacting to Sloan’s EP Self-Portrait. While the podcasters enjoyed the EP, they hoped that Sloan would never make a full-length record. She did Only Child is a heart-breaking masterpiece, but it pulls back from the gut-wrenching, sometimes mean-spirited lyricism of her EPs. On last year’s I Blame the World, Sloan is caustic as ever. So, this record may not resonate with you. The title track “I Blame the World” is probably the most catchy, but the other songs are worth a listen. Emo surely is alive in 2022. 

    WHY TALK TO GOD IF I AIN’T GOT PROOF HE’S EVEN THERE? When I counted down my favorite albums of last year, Sasha Alex Sloan’s I Blame the World was my seventh favorite record, which is code in my blog for I didn’t listen to it that much. I think that Sloan writes better when she’s more sad than angry. There are certainly enough things to be furious at in 2022. Sloan was born in 1995, and like all millennials, has watched the world get shittier and shittier since 2016. I Blame the World is the soundtrack of world leaders basically deciding to bring about the apocalypse, slowly. From Donald Trump’s presidency to the erosion of human rights around the globe to the threat of “Global Warming”  to the complete shit show in Sloan’s ancestral countries of Russia and Ukraine, I Blame the World feels like it should be the soundtrack to not only 2022 but for the foreseeable future. But there’s only so much anger the singer can express before sounding monotonous. “Live Laugh Love” takes the basic white girl motto and rejects the Instagram culture of “living your best life.” Sloan says, “Don’t wanna live my best life / Just wanna lay here all night.”  Pandemic lingo also seeps into the record on “New Normal” being a life without the one she loves. I still think that Sloan is one of the best pop songwriters today, but I think that I Blame the World is overwrought with negativity, which makes the record start to rely on clichés and lose the listener’s willingness to invest.

    WHY GET HIGH WHEN EVERYONE EVENTUALLY COMES DOWN? “I Blame the World” as a song sounds halfway between an ’80s New Wave track and an angry girl rock ballad from the ’90s. Sasha Alex Sloan keeps her voice in a low register throughout the song, drawing similarities to Miley Cyrus, yet never belting out the chorus an octave higher, although I had a false memory of Sloan doing that until I listened to the song to analyze it. The video for the song also draws ’90s comparisons. It’s ultra-low budget with Sloan singing into a hairbrush and two members of her band playing air bass and air drumming to the song. The trio is dressed in awful outfits that look like bowling clothes, with tacky flames on the shirt and pants. The flame seems to be related to the video of the album’s lead single “WTF,” which features Sloan singing as her apartment catches fire. I Blame the World is a song cycle of problems as unsolvable as life in the 21st century. And after a long day that’s been longer than it should because everyone is working short-staffed with no significant raise, I wonder, what really is the cost of treating everyone with a little kindness? I want to blame the world for not being able to do anything. I want to blame Elon Musk for transitioning from technologies that could save the world from the impending climate crisis to delving into right-wing politics and crashing the 747 that is Twitter into the side of a mountain. I want to blame Bezos who made more money than ever during the pandemic, yet his company threatened to fire employees who tried to flee a distribution center when a tornado hit. I want to blame every boss who says that you can work 10% harder this year. I want to blame Sasha Alex Sloan’s booking agency for bringing her to Seoul on a Monday night during the busiest time of the year for a worn-out teacher. I want to blame the world, but what comes of that? Tomorrow I’ll be more optimistic.

    Music video:

    Lyric video:

    Live on Jimmy Kimmel:



  • “Bad Love” by Key (키), Tuesday, March 14, 2023 + Bad Love track by track (reformatted post)

     

    Two years ago, I wrote about Key‘s mini album Bad Love.  I decided to reformat my original post as track-by-track, a kind of home for the songs on this record, should I write about the record at a later date. While SHINee has been the singer’s main gig, Key has managed to release music every year as a solo artist. Bad Love is my favorite of his efforts. So today, let’s look at this retro-electro-pop EP by the fashionista from Daegu.

    1.  “Bad Love.” The title track reminds listeners of Lady Gaga‘s 2009 hit “Bad Romance,” speaking about the toxicity of a relationship that may have started under good intentions, but devolved into something toxic. The music video feels like a futuristic vision from the ’80s, in other words, looking futuristic but dated with ’80s technology. 

    2. “Yellow Tape” builds on the theme of entering relationships cautiously.

    3. “Hate that…”  a duet with Taeyeon, was also released as a single from the EP. Unlike “Forever Yours,” Taeyeon appears in the video version of the song. One Shinee fan podcast suggested that “Hate that…” was a follow up to “Forever Yours,” which frankly is depressing, showing the end of a love affair. 

    4. “Helium” is the only track in English. It was written by Clarence Coffee, Jr. The song references the ’60s futuristic cartoon The Jetsons, particularly the teenage daughter Judy Jetson. The song supports the aesthetic theme of Bad Love, retro futurism. 

    5. “Saturday Night” talks about not being able to go to the same places because of a break up. In some ways, the song seems to reflect the lazy feeling many of us got during the pandemic. Even when the world started opening up, we didn’t want to go out. We felt self-conscious about our faces and bodies. We didn’t have the energy we used to for social situations.


    6. “Eighteen” (End of My World) is perhaps the most intimate track on the record. Key describes the song as a letter to his eighteen year old self, just before debuting in Shinee. Key wrote both “Saturday Night” and “Eighteen,” whereas the other tracks were written by other songwriters. It’s a rather melancholy track. K-pop stars are shrouded in a high level of image control by their record labels. There are rarely any “Justin–Britney” or “Jennifer Lopez–Ben Affleck” relationships. Key was in one publicized relationship with Nichole Jung from KARA, but has kept a low dating profile since. “Eighteen” sounds like a song with regret about Key being unable to be himself in the spotlight.


  • “Better Now” by The Juliana Theory, Monday, March 13, 2023 (updated repost)

    Like Further Seems Forever, The Juliana Theory was legendary in the early pop-punk/emo scene. Also like FSF, The Juliana Theory has ties to hardcore. Lead singer  Brett Detar started as the guitarist for Christian metal pioneers Zao, however, as he explains on Theory’s episode of Labeled,  the band was perfectly content listening to Third Eye Blind on the radio in the van while out on tour. When Theory formed, they signed with Tooth & Nail Records but opted not to be marketed to the Christian Rock format. This decision both helped and hurt their career. On the one hand, they toured with other Tooth & Nail artists and performed at Cornerstone, on the other hand, their initial record sales were quite low. 

    IT IS GETTING BETTER NOW. Unlike Further Seems Forever, I don’t have a deep-seated nostalgia for The Juliana Theory. I heard they were a band name, but I wasn’t exposed to their music until college after the band had broken up. While some of their music was catchy, their Tooth & Nail predecessors did a better job at what they set out to do: further the emo/pop-punk genre. However, at the beginning of this year when I heard their two new singles “Can’t Go Home” and “Better Now,” I found two songs that felt on the level of their predecessors. A big factor in this new Juliana Theory is Brett Detar’s growth as a musician. After the Juliana Theory’s initial run, Detar released two country albums and composed music for films. Rejoining with guitarist Joshua Filedler, the band is now a duo, which is in line with where music is going. Last year, the band released an EP on Equal Vision Records, Still the Same Kids, Pt. 1. Similar to now labelmates Anberlin, The Juliana Theory has decided to release their album in two parts. We are still awaiting the second parts of both releases The Juliana Theory’s and Anberlin’s releases, though. 

    HOLD ON. “Better Now” is an inspirational song celebrating the incremental accomplishments a person who is trying to turn their life around makes. The video depicts three situations in which individuals make a decision to improve their lives from bad situations. From a U.S. Forces veteran who regains his ability to walk, to a drug addict mother who chooses to clean up her life because it’s influencing her son, to a mother who chooses to leave an abusive marriage, the message of the video is that change is possible. As the video may be triggering, there are helplines available for various crises. While now may be bleak, music can help us believe that light is around the corner. We just need to hold on a little bit longer. But we don’t need to be in a full crisis to enjoy today’s song. We should learn to recognize and appreciate incremental change in ourselves and in others around us. As a teacher, this is important, especially when dealing with problematic behavior from students. But if we look at where we are on the journey, we can get a more complete picture. There’s hope.


  • “cardigan” by Taylor Swift, Sunday, March 12, 2023 + folklore track by track

    While I think of Taylor Swift’s first lockdown album folklore as an autumn album, I heard an awful cover of “cardigan” yesterday, which made me crave the original. Perhaps “cardigan” could be a spring song, as the video does have springtime vibes. I decided rather than reposting to do a folklore track by track post. As I’m figuring out what this blog means for me in the post-pandemic, I’m realizing that it’s a personal project rather than a hope for mainstream readership. Rather the blog is me fleshing out my thoughts on my favorite topic: music. When I write a track-by-track review, it’s about giving multiple posts a home, in hopes of expanding later. For folklore, my top album of 2020, I will give links to the posts I’ve written before. Enjoy!


    1. “The 1” opens the record, in which Swift announces that she’s “on some new shit”—though the song is probably written from another perspective, describing unrequited love. It’s a soft album opener, which is probably why I didn’t immediately fall in love with this record. But the song does set a tone and begins to place the themes in the record. Also, we see Swift’s love for numbers throughout the album. “The 1” starts us on the 1. 

     2. “cardigan” is today’s song. I wrote about it last fall. It was the lead single from the record.

    3. “the last great american dynasty” is Swift writing the history of her house’s previous owner. This song deserves its own deep-dive, and is said to be the subject of Taylor’s first theatrical film. 

    4. “exile” certainly is a highlight of the record with the Bon Iver feature. 

    5. “my tears ricochet” opens with a kind of Gregorian chant. It’s a slightly anti-climactic compared to “exile” as any song after a highlight. The song is said to be about the falling out between Swift and Scott Borchetta and how he aided Scooter Braun buying her masters. 

     6. “mirrorball” reminds me of the ‘90s female rock songs, particularly the live record by the same name by Sarah McLachlan.  The song deals with how a celebrity is often a mirror to society, rather than an artist’s expression.

    7. “seven” is a childhood memory that again evokes Swift’s love for numbers. 

    8. “august” is the eighth month and the eight track on the record.

    9. “this is me trying” feels like one of the most immature songs on the record, at least from the title. It comes from a spot when you have nothing more to give so you become self-reflective. You start making excuses and apologies for being the way you are. 

     10. “illicit affairs” isn’t a graphic song, but it deals with sexual infidelity in a frank, mature way. 

    11. “the invisible string” is another autumn-feeling track that also seems to be self-referential. 

    12. “mad woman.” Some have criticized Taylor Swift for entering the conversation about feminism late in her career. Some say that her attempts at addressing complex, polarizing issues are her weaker songs. “mad woman” feels sincere coming from a singer who has endured sexism in the industry. The lyrics of the song play on both meanings of the word mad.

    13. “epiphany” is the point of the 16-track standard edition that I’ve zoned out, so I couldn’t recall the track. It’s pretty, though, after listening to it. 

    14. “betty” concludes the teenage love-triangle trilogy. It’s Swift sounding country again through storytelling and a slight twang.

    15. “peace” is a mature love song in which Swift lays her cards on the table, explaining what she can and can’t offer in a relationship.

    16. “hoax” ends the album in a calm way. It’s a break up song in retrospect.








  • “there is a light” by Kacey Musgraves, Saturday, March 11, 2023

     

    About a month ago, I was in America. It was a Friday night at my sister’s house. My sister’s wife had just made a delicious risotto and we had a bottle of wine. We had been talking about what music we had been listening to before dinner, and as we were sitting around the TV wondering what to watch. I said that at some point I wanted to watch Kacey Musgraves’ star-crossed on Paramount+ because the film was not available to stream in Korea. 

    THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL. One of the reasons I wanted to watch Kacey Mussgraves’ star-crossed was that I thought that the film would give me more context for the songs. Kacey*, my sister’s wife said, “The film provides less context,” and “You’ll probably be more confused after watching the movie.” And half a bottle of wine later, nothing was making narrative sense. Not every track on the album is illustrated in the form of a music video, but the songs that are are treated immaculately. The loose narrative follows an unhappy Musgraves from a Kill Bill-like chapel scene opening dance sequence with the album’s opening, title track to her lament in “good wife” then an attack on the other woman in “simple times” to a car crash in “justified” and a repair of broken hearts in “camera roll.” Then in the third act, Musgraves experiences a kind of death in “there is a light” and a psychedelic kind of funeral with a dance sequence. Finally, the album and film end with “gracias a la vida,” a cover of Chilean singer Violeta Parra’s 1966 hit. With the absence of a coherent narrative—and more importantly the absence of salacious, concrete details about Musgraves’ end of relationship and divorce from singer Ruston Kelly—viewers are to interpret the themes as they appear visually. 

    THERE IS A LIGHT INSIDE OF ME. The completely camp performances in star-crossed: the film gives us an illustration of a woman who goes on a personal journey from feeling that life’s meaning was summed up in a traditional marriage. But ultimately, Kacey Musgraves finds that she will lose herself if she submits to this antiquated model. Furthermore, it seems as if Ruston Kelly had lost interest in this version of Musgraves as well. The most damning details come from the song “breadwinner,” which wasn’t adapted for the film. In the song, Musgraves explains that her ex leeched onto a strong “breadwinner,” until he ultimately grew intimidated by the relationship. As for the film? The flamboyance seems to be a rebellion against the traditions small-town Texas born and raised Musgraves has been fighting her entire career. Today’s song, “there is a light” is the epiphany that Kacey is fine as she is. Whatever she was told growing up about marriage and divorce she found to lack the truth that she learns from actually going through the process.  

    Read the lyrics on Genius.

    Lyric video:

    Scene from star-crossed: the film:

  • “This Is Heaven” by Nick Jonas, Friday, March 10, 2023 (repost)

     In 2018 Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas married in two ceremonies. The ceremonies took place in India and represented the religious backgrounds of both the Bollywood-turned-Hollywood actress and the singer/actor. The first ceremony was Christian, taking place on December 1, and the second was Hindu on December 2. In 2019, Nick and the two other Jonas Brothers released their first album in ten years. Nick’s solo career had heated up after the Jonas hiatus, but a reunited Jonas Brothers was even more commercially exciting. In 2021, Nick Jonas was back with a solo record, this time dealing with the themes of isolation due to the pandemic, but mostly about his love for his bride.

    I’M ON MY KNEES AND I CAN’T STOP NOW. From the moment I heard Nick Jonas’s second single from Spaceman, “This Is Heaven,” on his Saturday Night Live performance, I started making connections to what I knew about the Jonas Brothers’ religious upbringing, particularly the story told by the 2019 documentary film Chasing Happiness. The film discusses the hard years in between the Jonas fame and Kevin Jonas, Sr. losing his job as the pastor of a church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Reflecting on that moment, Nick, Joe, and Kevin’s own faith was shaped by that disappointment in the church. Still, as teenagers, the Jonas Brothers were squeaky-clean Disney Channel role models to evangelical teens. They were even played on Christian radio stations and once shared the stage with Michael W. Smith singing “Place in This World.” But little by little, the evangelical Jonas Brother image unravelled. I certainly can’t speak to what the Brothers believe now, but it’s interesting how the brand has changed. Nick embraced his role as a gay icon to the point that some in the LGBTQ+ community accused him of “queer bating.” There are many other aspects that the morality police of my past  (the Christian music industry, etc.) could say about the Jonas Brothers/Nick Jonas career arch, but they would just rather forget that they were a part of it, albeit a very small part. 
    YOUR BODY, MY MOTIVATION.  I was thinking about something Dan Reynolds said in the episode of Song Exploder about “Follow You.” He said, “I worship [my wife]. This is my religion because religion hasn’t worked for me.” Similarly to “Follow You,” “This Is Heaven” speaks of Nick Jonas essentially worshiping his wife. One thing I remember when I went to church was the talk about why men stopped going to church. The solution was usually about “butching up the church”; however, it seems that the actuality of the need for this solution may not be the truth of the matter, at least from the two singers mentioned before. I think about my own Sabbath school Bible studies that persistently warned us not to be “unequally yoked.” This meant for Seventh-day Adventists to marry other Seventh-day Adventists. Then I think about when I threw all of that out the window in frustration when I realized I couldn’t fit into who the church said I was supposed to be. At one point, though, I did try to do the “gay version” of my upbringing, trying to find a Christian way to be gay, trying to date only gay Christians. But having been in a longterm relationship with someone who wasn’t raised Christian, I’m always interested to see how differently he sees the world. “This Is Heaven” doesn’t send him back to Bible studies past, and I think that’s a good thing. 

    Lyric Video:


    Saturday Night Live Performance:

    Chill version:


  • “Mulberry Street” by twenty one pilots, Thursday, March 9, 2023 + My Favorite Album from Every Year I Have Been Alive

    Today, I’m going to present an evolving list. Last year, I chose an album of the year. In 2021, it was difficult because so much music was re-releases and nothing seemed dynamic enough to be album of the year. I finally settled on Scaled and Icy by twenty one pilots, but I actually didn’t listen to it much in 2021. It seemed that 2021 was a year for good music outside of my immediate band preferences. Like many music listeners, my tastes are evolving, and I’m continuing to discover or just listen to older albums, which may change today’s list. However, I’m going to try to present a list of the best albums from every year that I have been alive. I get this rank based on how much I’ve listened to the album, rather than by critical reception. Enjoy!

    1987 The Joshua Tree by U2. This was arguably when U2 became a cultural phenomenon. The first four tracks are the biggest hits from the record. The band always tackled issues of faith and doubt, but The Joshua Tree brought the conversation to pop and rock radio. The album’s opener references a blessed hope in “Where the Streets Have No Name,” but is immediately followed by doubt in “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” I actually first heard P.O.D.’s cover of “Bullet the Blue Sky” before U2’s version. The song is one of the best critiques of Reagan’s foreign policies, especially giving a liberal Christian view as the Religious Right was beginning to wield power. 

    1988 Forever Your Girl by Paula Abdul. I actually haven’t listened to this record, but of all the music in my Apple Music library, I thought it was “Straight Up” the best. 

    1989 Foreign Affair by Tina Turner. Speaking of “The Best,” Tina Turner’s Foreign Affair was also the best 1989 record in my Apple Music collection. I haven’t listened to it or a lot of other music from this time, so it might change. 
    1990 Pillow Lips by Modern English. I just know the song “Melt with You.” Sorry music fans. I don’t know much music from when I was 3.

    1991 Out of Time by R.E.M. An indie rock band trades the guitar for a mandolin and writes their biggest hit.
    1992 Rockeye by The Outfield
    1993 Republic by New Order
    1994 Jars of Clay
    1995 Lemon Parade by Tonic. I listened to this album the day after a break up in 2015. Other than that, the hit “If You Could Only See” was my only point of reference to the record. “Mountain” is my favorite track.

    1996 Take Me to Your Leader by Newsboys. Long before “God’s Not Dead” and Michael Tait and the CCM missteps, the then Aussi-American band wrote some weird hits with Steve Taylor. 

    1997 Urban Hymns by The Verve
    1998 Supernatural by dc talk
    1999 Mezzamorphisis by delirious?
    2000 Kaleidoscope Superior by Earthsuit
    2001 Satellite by P.O.D. This record sparked P.O.D.’s radio career with three massive singles. 

    2002 Audioslave 

    2003 Fallen by Evanescence 
    2004 Crashings by Falling Up
    2005 Phantoms by Acceptance. I’ve written about this record so much and how it influenced my junior and senior year of high school. 
    2007. Cities by Anberlin
    2008. Great White Whale by Secret & Whisper

    2009 Forget and Not Slow Down by Relient K. This album didn’t hit me in 2009 but rather in fall of 2011.

    2010 Teenage Dream by Katy Perry
    2011 Until We Have Faces by Red
    2012 Born to Die by Lana Del Rey. This is probably the foundational album in the sadgirl sub-genre of Alternative pop. I became a fan of this record in 2015 when I was embracing a different lifestyle. 
    2013 Heart Throb by Tegan and Sara. 
    2014 Lowborn by Anberlin

    2015 Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen helped me fully embrace my love for sugary pop music. No shame.

    2017 After Laughter by Paramore
    2018 Erase Me by Underoath
    2019 When We Were in Love by Mike Mains and the Branches
    2020 folklore by Taylor Swift
    2021 Scaled and Icy by twenty one pilots. Today’s track comes from this record. 
    2022 Milk Teeth by Tyson Motsenbocker. Enough nostalgia and regret made this the album for sitting around the house as I contemplated the future.














  • “A Day Late” by Anberlin, Wednesday, March 8, 2023 + Never Take Friendship Personal Track by Track

    On February 1, 2005, Anberlin released their sophomore record, Never Take Friendship Personal. I started listening to Anberlin  since Blueprints for the Black Market, which had been one of my favorite records when it was released. I bought the record on February 6th, Super Bowl Sunday. My sister and I stopped by the Family Christian bookstore on a shopping trip before watching the game with our youth group. I listened to the album before buying it, noticing how much more aggressive NTFP was compared to its predecessor, almost as if the band that had created BFTBM had disappeared. It was an emo record and I was junior in high school, driving my first car. It’s not a classic for everyone, but it was the right record for that time, and when I listen to it, I’m transformed back to 2005.


    1. “Never Take Friendship Personal.” This is the only occasion that Anberlin has named a record after a song. The song begins with aggressive guitars before launching into a classic Joesph Milligan guitar arpeggio. The track contains uncredited unclean vocals from Ryan Clark, who also designed album’s artwork. Anberlin talked about how this song, and partially this album, were inspired by the ending of a friendship in the band. Anberlin’s former rhythm guitarist, Joey Bruce, didn’t mesh with the band mainly for his partying lifestyle on tour, which affected both the band’s “Christians in a band” and their ability to play songs with an unreliable guitarist. But the song certainly transcends band life and is perfect for when fighting with a friend.


    2. “Paperthin Hymn.” The second track is an Aaron Sprinkle technical masterpiece in terms of how all the tones are processed to make an ultra modern sounding rock song. It’s one of my best examples of how a minor key can simultaneously be heartbreakingly sad and aggressive. The song is about the loss of guitarist Joesph Milligan’s sister to cancer. Lead singer Stephen Christian also lost his grandmother around the time of writing the song. It’s a song about the grieving process when life is busy. In Anberlin’s case, chasing the dream of being professional musicians while life and death happen. It’s a song about the torn feeling about being on the road and missing out on major events. I’m getting teary. I’ll stop.


    3. “Stationary Stationery” is one of the most skippable tracks on the record. During their livestream Tear Us Apart, Stephen Christian said, “We don’t know why we put this song here. We literally could have picked any other song and it would have been a better choice.” This song is one of the least mature songs on the record, but if it wasn’t after “Paperthin Hymn,” it would have been okay. 

    4. (The Symphony of) “Blasé.” This is another skippable track for me.  Originally titled “Amsterdam,” the mellow track has to do with breaking up with someone. 

    5. “A Day Late.” Today’s track takes a worldlier approach than the previous track, in which the speaker calls out to God to calm his heart after a break up. In “Day Late,” the speaker entertains breaking up his relationship after an unrequited love pops back into his life. It’s tricky to read the tone of the song. Is it sarcastic or is it the prequel to “The Feel Good Drag?”

    6. “The Runaways” takes the album back to high school. It’s about being ambiguous relationships that end in the “friend zone.”

    7. “Time and Confusion” is another reason why Never Take Friendship Personal isn’t a perfect album, but it might make a great case for being a perfect Emo album. An Emo album should cause the listeners to feel a range of emotions, and “Time and Confusion” is a sudden climb on the emotional roller coaster after “The Runaways.” “Time and Confusion” is a beautiful song about working hard to achieve your dreams with your best friends.



    8. “The Feel Good Drag” was the track convinced me to buy Never Take Friendship Personal. The grungy guitars, the purity culture lyrics, the scream on the bridge–this encapsulated high school and all that was cool. It was storytelling minus a few incriminating details. There’s been debate whether or not New Surrender version of “Feel Good Drag” is better or if it was even necessary. I thought “Dismantle.Repair.” should have been the band’s introduction to radio, but the guitar solo on New Surrender‘s version was worth having in the universe. But “The Feel Good Drag” on NTFP is a perfect, grungy moment for the record.


    9. “Audrey, Start the Revolution!” The lyrics to this track weave Audrey Hepburn, teenage rebellion, and morality into 3:24. It’s a subtly Christian song with a neat guitar riff.

    10. “A Heavy Hearted Work of Staggering Genius.” This instrumental was written by Joseph Milligan and dedicated to his family after the loss of his sister. The title takes its name from the similarly named memoir by Dave Edgers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. 

    11. “Dance, Dance Christa Päffgan.” The album closer references 1960s-’80s culture, especially examining the life of the German singer Nico, born Christa Päffgan. One Christian reviewer said that this song left the album feeling spiritually dry. I think that’s the point. Never Take Friendship Personal flirts with spirituality, but mostly it’s a secular record. “Dance, Dance” is a cautionary tale of a rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle that has swallowed rock stars since Mozart died at the age of 35 in 1791. It’s a lifestyle Anberlin tried to avoid with firing Joey Bruce. It’s what caused Stephen Christian to hire his pastor as the band’s tour manager. And certainly this song needs it’s own post.










     

     









  • "good 4 u" by olivia rodrigo, Tuesday, March 7, 2023 (repost)

    “My my, hey hey/ Rock ‘n’ Roll is here to stay” declares Neil Young in his 1978 song.  Rock music has had a lasting presence in pop culture since the age of Chuck Berry and  Little Richard. At some points in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and ’00s the genre took the primary spots on radio charts outside of the genre. However, around the end of the ’00s, Hip Hop decimated the genre. The rock bands left standing mostly traded their axes for acoustic guitars, keyboards, EDM beats, or Trap rhythms. Much of the rock music was indistinguishable from other genres, and that trend continues into the 2020s. However, just as rock bands crossed over to the pop charts, the late 2010s to 2021 saw pop singers experiment with rock music. From Miley Cyrus performing with Metallica to rappers like Post Malone and Machine Gun Kelly flirting with emo, some may argue that Rock is seeing a mainstream resurgence. Enter Olivia Rodrigo‘s “good 4 u,” the first guitar-driven song to top the British pop charts for more than four weeks since 2003’s “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence. 

    YOU BOUGHT A NEW CAR AND YOUR CAREER’S REALLY TAKING OFF. Disney Channel star-turned-musician Olivia Rodrigo released her debut album Sour back in May this year. The album is one of the biggest of the year for several reasons. Critics loved how self-aware Rodrigo’s lyrics were for her late teenage years. Musically, listeners and critics loved the genre-bending of the songs. Rodrigo was influenced by pop, synth-pop, punk, and metal. The album’s second single, “good 4 u,” taps into the angry girl rock song, popularized in the ’90s by Fiona Apple and Alanis Morissette–critics even calling Sour the Jagged Little Pill for Generation Z. While modern “sad girl” music influenced by these ’90s stars, artists like Lana Del Rey, Lorde, and Billie Eilish, has tended to avoid heavy guitars and drums as if it were an embarrassing trend, Rodrigo leans into it on “good 4 u.” Many listeners have cited a similarity between Rodrigo’s second chart-topping hit and Paramore‘s breakthrough single, “Misery Business.” Rodrigo admitted to taking the inspiration for parts of the song and eventually gave writing credits to Paramore’s Haley Williams and Zac Farro.

    I’VE SPENT THE NIGHT CRYING ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR. “Good 4 u” captures the grief of the “loser” of a breakup. This is in contrast to the “victor” who is doing great with someone new. While some breakups occur completely mutually, that kind of breakup doesn’t make good rock songs. Keane‘s “We Might as Well Be Strangers” takes a sad approach of two people who don’t know each other anymore. But in “good 4 u” the listener is either 1) passive aggressively rubbing the speaker’s face in her success or 2) genuinely misses the other person and is even looking for her affirmation. Either way, Rodrigo calls him a “damn sociopath.” Today’s song isn’t just sour; it’s as spicy as a jalapeño. Rodrigo’s hit takes a few jabs at her assumed ex, co-star Joshua Bassett, who reportedly got famous, according to Rodrigo, on the coattails of her success. The lyrics of the song use sarcasm, even including a singing laugh more commonly heard in musical theater than in pop or rock music. Whereas the lyrics are about rage, the video is pure revenge. Some may feel a similarity to the “Misery Business” video. The video shows Rodrigo burning down a house, losing her mind with rage, yet looking cute and pretty all along the way. 

    Read the lyrics on Genius.


     

  • “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus, Monday, March 6, 2023

     

    January wasn’t too soon to start thinking about an Endless Summer Vacation, at least for Miley Cyrus. The singer’s eighth studio album is coming out this coming Friday, and the first single, “Flowers” was dropped in January. The single builds on the theme of her last LP, Plastic Hearts, and its lead single “Midnight Sky,” in which Cyrus declares “I don’t belong to anyone / I don’t need to be loved by you.” In “Flowers,” Cyrus realizes that she can buy her own damn flowers rather than accept a half-hearted gift from a lackadaisical lover. The singer’s target, of course, is ex-husband Liam Hemsworth. 


    WE WERE GOOD, WE WERE GOLD. Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met on the set of the 2010 Nicholas Sparks film adaptation of The Last Song in 2009. The two dated on and off until getting engaged in 2012. They broke off their engagement in 2013 on good terms, dating other people until 2016 when they announced that they again were engaged. The couple married in 2018 but announced their separation the next year and the divorce was finalized in 2020, the couple citing irreconcilable differences as the reason for their divorce. In “Flowers,” Cyrus claims, “I didn’t wanna leave you, baby / I didn’t wanna fight.” But in the end, she realizes, “I can love me better than you can.” Cyrus realizes that she doesn’t need the spark of a romantic gift when she can take care of herself. It’s better to “hold [your] own hand” if your partner isn’t there for you completely.

    I CAN BUY MYSELF FLOWERS. In January when Miley Cyrus first released “Flowers,” avid pop music listeners caught a reference to Bruno Mars‘ “When I Was Your Man.” Liam Hemsworth had reportedly dedicated the song to Cyrus when the two were married. Cyrus, though, takes Mars’ weepy ballad about a lover’s regret and turns it into a revenge anthem, even releasing it on Hemsworth’s birthday, January 13th. The song references several incidents in their relationship, including their lost Malibu home, which burned in 2018. The Mars’ track focuses on the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” of lost love, almost as if the listener were a victim of his ineptitude. Cyrus, however, refuses to be a victim. Self-love is better than whatever she was experiencing, and in the case of “Flowers,” the biggest expression of self-love is revenge. But it’s not a “good 4 u” kind of revenge. It’s perhaps more damaging to the ego of certain men in a hetero-normative relationship. The subtle jabs at using birthdays as release dates and wordplay about meaningful events reinforce this, but the true revenge is, “Sorry Bruno, I don’t need you. I can do it myself! In fact, I’m growing my own flowers in the alcove garden of the expensive home I bought with my success!”