Mixtapemotions

  • "Readyfuels" by Anberlin, Saturday, June 18, 2022 (Reformatted Post)

    There were a number of Christian extreme sports shows that featured harder Christian Rock. These shows might be featured late nights on cable tv or on Christian channels. In 2003, Anberlin released their first radio hit to Christian Rock radio, “Change the World (Lost Ones).” However, around that time “Readyfuels” was included in one of those sports shows. The sport: luge racing. “Readyfuels” was the band’s first promoted single by the record label. “Change the World” was sent to Christian radio. But “Readyfuels” wasn’t a Christian Rock song, in the traditional sense. 

    GIRLS AND THE BOYS CHASE DOWN RUNNING HOT TONIGHT. “Readyfuels” is  a song that mostly glorifies the carnal nights of youth–a prelude to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Today’s song would go on to chart on even Air1, a Contemporary Christian pop radio station. Anberlin’s intention was never to be a Christian band, but unlike other Tooth & Nail staples that moved away from the Christian market, Anberlin has made a career out of being the edgy group that can say what you don’t expect in a Christian song.  While seeing luge racing to Anberlin was pretty cool, what wasn’t so cool was seeing the awful music video for “Readyfuels.” In a time when Tooth & Nail was pumping money into Kutless, Jeremy Camp, and Falling Up, Anberlin had yet to film a music video. So I wrote an email to someone at Tooth & Nail, demanding that Anberlin get a music video for “Readyfuels.” “Why does Kutless have three videos from the same album and Anberlin doesn’t have any?” I don’t remember if T&N wrote me back, but sure enough, Anberlin released a music video. 

    HELP ME TO WAIT ON YOU, HESITATE IT TOO, ‘CAUSE I’M ALONE. Two years ago in an interview with RadioU, Stephen Christian talked about the video. He says that he thought that the record label had played a joke. “No really, where’s the real one?” he asked. Needless to say, every music video was better for Anberlin after “Readyfuels.” But let’s forget about that mistake. Instead, let’s go back to the summer of 2003, between freshman and sophomore year of high school. Re-listening to Blueprints for the Black Market shows you how far this band developed sonically and lyrically. On Blueprints, the lyrics are second to the music in most cases. By Never Take Friendship Personal and Cities, the lyrics become central and the music becomes harder. Blueprints reminded me of some of my dad’s classic rock albums I listen to. But there was an Aaron Sprinkle intensity in the production that challenged my stereo in ways that few albums did before it.


    The mentioned music video. Watch at your own risk of hating the song:


    Lockdown Livestream We Are the Lost Ones recording:







  • “Can’t Go Home” by The Juliana Theory, Friday, June 17, 2022 (Partial Repost)

    Thomas Wolfe is most famous for his novel You Can’t Go Home Again which is a tome that I haven’t read. However, I did read his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, which deals with similar themes. I picked up the book in the middle of a semester from hell and an existential crisis. I found Wolfe’s descriptions of Southern life–the people in town and family members, the scenery, and the food–so comforting. The mostly autobiographical novel is nostalgic, but the protagonist, Eugene’s academic pursuits push him to see the world outside of the isolated mountain town of Altamont (Asheville).

    DEFER TOMORROW. The Juliana Theory is a band whose influence far exceeds their success. Formed as the side project Brett Detar, the guitarist of the Christian metal band Zao, when he wanted to incorporate the catchiness of radio rock bands like Third Eye Blind that the metal band listened to in van on tour, The Juliana Theory became a legendary band in the pop-punk scene. The Juliana Theory was the first general-market Tooth & Nail band, which Detar talks about on the band’s episode of the Labeled podcast, saying that being a non-Christian band on a mostly-Christian label caused the band to be neglected when it came to marketing. The band did, however, did transition to Epic Records, but after commercial failure, the band broke up in 2006. But like so many legendary bands, that wasn’t the end of the story. The Juliana Theory was one of those COVID groups that decided to try a DIY approach to make new music. First it was today’s song, “Can’t Go Home,” then “Better Now,” which was included on a project of reworked songs from the band’s career. This year, the band released an EP of nostalgic pop-punk tracks called Still the Same Kids Pt. 1. “Can’t Go Home” perfectly captures he new sound of The Juliana Theory. There are clear ties to the past sound—the driving bass and guitar. But newer pop hooks, campfire-sounding songs, and a little bit of gospel make the song infectious. 

    THE ONLY CERTAIN IS WE CAN’T GO HOME. The Juliana Theory’s lead single from Still the Same Kids Pt. 1 is an equally nostalgic track called “Playback ‘99 (Burn the Cassette Deck).” The song’s lyrics focus on all the greatness of the late ‘90s. But one of the most interesting things about that song is the varying tempo, mimicking a faulty cassette tape. The Juliana Theory has grown as musicians. It’s not the same band from the early ‘00s, and that’s what “Can’t Go Home” is all about. In 2022, many of us are longing to get back to 2019. Many of us hold a nostalgia for a pre-pandemic world, and we’re frustrated when things aren’t returning to normal. “Can’t Go Home” takes the position that things aren’t going back. We have to move on and move forward. Besides, I recall in 2019 longing for things to go back to normal like they were pre-President Trump. Maybe we’re always searching for what makes us feel safe. Maybe we’re always living in the past, but the truth is, we can’t go home.









     

  • “Bent” by Matchbox Twenty, Thursday, June 15, 2022

    In 1999, Carlos Santana topped the Top 40 radio stations, the Billboard Hot 100, and the Adult Contemporary charts with his biggest single in years, “Smooth.” Santana’s latin guitar licks were accompanied by the sexy vocals of pop-rock frontman Rob Thomas. Three years prior to this #1 hit, Thomas’ band Matchbox 20–later stylized as Twenty–had released their debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You, which featured several hits on pop and rock radio. It was a year after the Santana collaboration that Matchbox Twenty followed up Yourself or Someone Like You with Mad Season. 

    SHOULDN’T BE SO COMPLICATED. After “Smooth,” Rob Thomas’ fame soared, and with a renewed interest in Matchbox Twenty, the band returned four years after their successful first album. The first single, “Bent” topped the Hot 100, radio top 40 singles, and several other charts, which was the only Matchbox Twenty single to do so. Although Matchbox Twenty continued to release successful radio singles throughout the ’00s until their ’07 hiatus, the band started embracing their status as a pop-rock band more than the Alternative sound that they had honed on their first record. In fact, besides “Bent,” the other singles on Mad Season, “If You’re Gone” and “Mad Season,” didn’t match the intensity of the lead single and no single the band would release in their future would compare to “Bent” as a bonafide rocker. Listening to the song today, I was both surprised at how twenty-two years ago, the heavy guitar could be heard on Top 40 radio, when today everything sounds so tame. However, that also got me thinking about how simple the guitar/drums formula on this track is. The production on the track heightens the guitar bend and the drums make the rock more intense. Furthermore, some ambient guitar or maybe early programing gives the intro a mysterious feel. The verse strips away the intensity of the intro, however, a pounding heavy guitar adds emphasis and tension to Thomas’ lines. The guitar solo is only a variation of the intro.

    STARTED OUT CLEAN, BUT I’M JADED. “Bent” is an example of music coming out at the right time when I was a certain age for me to be fascinated by it. From seeing the music video on a 4-H trip hotel room in Charlotte when MTV and VH-1 had been strictly off limits at home, I was hooked on late ’90s/ early ’00s Alternative Rock. The sound of music changed quite a bit by the time I started watching MTV or Fuse at home when my mom was out. The video for “Bent” was so cool. From the color effect, the boxy car swerving on the road, people beating up the cool lead singer–I thought all of Matchbox Twenty’s songs had to be that cool. I thought Rob Thomas was awesome with his shaggy hair cut, earrings, and leather jacket. He sang with an almost Southern accent, and although the song seemed violent, the way that Thomas sang sounded sexual, though I didn’t think too deeply about it. No, nothing the band has done before or after has surpassed that feeling of that Thomas might have actually been a successor of Mick Jagger. 

  • "You Love to Sing" by Copeland, Wednesday, June 15, 2022 (partial repost)

    From the band’s heaviest album, In Motion, Copeland released songs that bore some similarities to mid-to-late ’90s rock. The sound of In Motion is a natural progression from their first album Beneath Medicine Tree. However, Copeland’s sound changed drastically after In Motion. Starting with a bonus EP recorded prior to but released with their third album, Eat, Sleep, Repeat, exclusively at Best Buy, the band reworked three of their songs from In Motion, slowing them down and using a string section rather than guitars. The three songs from this release would be included on the band’s B Sides record, Dressed Up & In Line. The band would continue to experiment instruments, synthesizers, and non-traditional rock arrangements. 

    NOT BECAUSE YOU LOVE THE SONG, BECAUSE YOU LOVE TO SING. Between the two versions of “You Love to Sing” the original is my favorite. It’s a great road trip song on a great road trip album. Grungy guitars, piano-driven tracks with guitar accompaniment, the musical-theater/Sound of Music–sounding “Kite,” to bright sounding guitar solos, the band uses musical variety to keep listeners engaged, even on the slow songs. In Motion and Beneath Medicine Tree are perhaps the most concretely spiritual albums. On In Motion, the band deals with grace on “No One Really Wins,” with acceptance on “Choose the One Who Loves You More,” with unconditional love on “Love Is a Fast Song,” and with God on “You Have My Attention.” The subject of  the penultimate song,”You Love to Sing,” though is the love of music itself. While, the singer wishes that the live of singing the songs he loves were more profitable and that he could buy his love more things, he’s content with the joy of creating art. After a music journey of stylistic changes, the instrumental section is a bit hypnotic in the car–not to cause an accident, but to keep the driver ultra-focused.  

    I NEVER HAVE ANY TIME TO PLAY. IT ALWAYS SEEMS TO SLIP AWAY. The opening line of “You Love to Sing” seems to ring truer and truer the older I get. I’m sure many of us can actually remember a boring childhood in which we stared outside on a rainy day. There was nothing on TV–maybe a Sunday afternoon when PBS had some grey-haired news commentary or worse, an 18th century period piece! And the other channels were playing golf tournaments. You sit in front of the TV hoping that at least mom will make something good for dinner, maybe ziti or Craft Mac & Cheese, but instead it’s a casserole of some sort. Nowadays there’s too much to do, both in terms of chores and entertainment. And the moment you get sucked into something on Netflix, the next thing you know it’s time to go to bed so you can get up to go to work. Taking on this blogging project for a year and a half, I’ve been able to submerge myself in music. Some days that immersion has been deeper and some days only getting my toes wet. This week has been busy because I have a guest at my house, so my blogs are as quick as I can write them. I always wonder what the future of this project is. Is it really feasible to write two hours every day post-pandemic? At some point our quarantine habits have to adjust to a more social world. I’m still pondering that question, but I know that music and writing have to be a part of my life, as does exercise and getting a degree so that I’m not in a dead-end job forever. And so, I’m pushing another month until I watch the Copeland documentary in preparation for a Copeland post. I hope to write better next week! 


    Original:


    Slow Version:


     

  • “A Beautiful Mess” by Search the City, Tuesday, June 14, 2022

    Last summer, I wrote about the opening track, “My Secrets Have Secrets Too,” to Search the City‘s sophomore record, Flight. A few days later, I realized that the song wasn’t showing up in my AppleMusic playlist (see August 2021). It turns out that the version I bought in 2013 on the iTunes Store and the version that eventually made its way back to Spotify and AppleMusic in 2020 are quite different. The version I bought has the track listing on Discogs.com, while the a-cappella intro is missing on from the streaming services and the remaining 11 tracks are scrambled in a new order.

    THEY SEE YOU LOSING HOPE. I’m interested to find out why “My Secrets Have Secrets Too” didn’t make it to the streaming version of the album. The band had a lot of trouble getting the rights to their record after a lawsuit with their former manager, who claimed the rights to the record. What was hoped to be a comeback record and a reboot of the pop-punk band, ultimately became a point of contention with the band and their management. After losing the rights to their music, the album was taken down from iTunes and was only reintroduced to streaming in 2020. You can still find the album in its original version on Search the City’s bandcamp page. It’s unfortunate that this band’s career was halted by a manager who claimed the rights to their music, and because of this manager, they never got a solid second shot. But sometimes, isn’t that just life? What a “Beautiful Mess” this record has proven to be.
    YOU’RE SUCH A PRETTY FACE. Speaking of beautiful messes, I think that it’s about time to address the “fallen girl” archetype in pop-punk and emo. You don’t have to look far to find misogamy in these genres. It’s well documented in some of the most popular songs. But, as YouTuber Polyphonic points out in his video “A Love Letter to Pop Punk,” although there are some valid examples of sexism in the the ’00 genre, other genres also were subject to misogamy’s ugly head as well. And while today’s song may not be the most explicit example of a “fallen girl” trope, a conversation with another teacher about a story we teach in our curriculum made me think about how much “benevolent sexism” was part of my everyday life from church, to youth group, to Christian Rock. There’s a message about how a boy needs to tell a girl that she’s worth it and that she’s beautiful, in a similar way that we can’t know our true worth without Christ telling us that we’re worthy. Again, I admit that this may be a stretch reading into the lyrics, but talking about the Persian fairy tale of “Simorgh,” particularly the roles of women in the story, had my co-worker in a heated fury about sexist tropes in literature and movies into the 21st century. So, I thought about today’s song. Why does this “beautiful mess” need some young guy to sing about her?

  • “Paris” by The Chainsmokers ft. Emily Warren, Monday, June 13, 2022


    You shouldn’t expect too much from a group whose first single is a monologue about a young woman who is addicted to her phone as she goes out for the evening who vaguely sounds like she could be the daughter of the girl from the opening of “Baby Got Back.” But we don’t get Sir Mix-A-Lot to break up the monotony of The Chainsmokers‘ “Selfie.” But in a way, it’s great that the band started their career with their most picayune song.

    GETTING DRUNK ON THE PAST. It’s been rather silent at the frat house since the pandemic has put a damper on the party. Sure there have been some party tracks from Gaga and Charlie XCX, but it’s been a minute since The Chainsmokers seemed relevant. At one point, though, the handsome duo were the most highly paid DJs in the world. After topping the Billboard Hot 100 with their duet with Halsey, it seemed that “Closer” and the band’s string of hits was the musical tide of the late ’10s, much to the chagrin of the music critics. The band’s full-length record, Memories…Do Not Open, featured the number 6 Hot 100 hit, today’s song “Paris” and a duet with Coldplay, the number 3 Hot 100 hit, “Something Just Like This.” While the music of The Chainsmokers was immensely popular, critics panned their EPs and albums. One critic, Damien Morris of The Guardian compared the band to Donald Trump saying that the album was “shallow, always betraying its influences, with a third-grade vocabulary and ambition that runs no further than emptying the nearest wallet.”

     

    LET’S SHOW THEM WE ARE BETTER. “Paris” is certainly the basic bitch twin sister of “Closer,” and I’m not going to defend it beyond saying that there’s something comforting to generic, simple rhymes sung by a handsome boy. It represents a time in my musical life that I was just uninspired. People look at this era of music as the death of talent, and maybe that’s true. Listeners’ attention spans shortened and all we cared for was multiple hooks. “Paris” and “Closer” seem to be thematically related. It’s a millennial struggle that’s privileged in such a way that it doesn’t realize it’s privileged. Mom and dad’s money somehow got the singer and who he’s sing about to Paris. Money got a “Rover” and a “tattoo on [the] shoulder.” As for today’s song, what are we, The Lost Generation? Is this 1920s? Are The Chainsmokers tortured novelists/poets/art critics living between squalor and decadence like Hemingway and Fitzgerald? And yet, aren’t we all just trying to get away from our parents in whatever situation we get ourselves into? Okay, it’s not that deep.


  • "Bad Love" by Key + 2022+:AppleMusic Edition, Sunday, June 12, 2022

    This is certainly a gimmick to publish more content, but I was listening to 2022+ on Spotify on Friday and on a lark, I thought that I really wanted the AppleMusic version. Also, it’s been half a year since I talked about the playlist directly, and it’s undergone quite a bit of alteration since then. I tried to arrange the songs into a cohesive playlist, but when I’m working with different genres, it’s a little hard. Also, I made a few deliberate choices to change the songs to offer more variety to the playlist. So instead of “Sine from Above,” I included “Babylon” by Lady Gaga. I hope AppleMusic listeners enjoy this list. Maybe a YouTube list is next instead of a repost from last year.



    1. “Bad Love” by Key is today’s song. It’s an infectious dance song that I wrote about last year. It’s worth a repeat. 

    2. “Shivers” by Ed Sheeran 

    3. “Babylon” by Lady Gaga
    4. “Sometimes” by MUNA
    5. “Licht” by Nena
    6. “As It Was” by Harry Styles. I might do an album of the year ranking in December. I wonder where Harry’s House will land?
    7. “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift. It’s been surprisingly silent from Swift’s camp this year so far. Taylor’s version of “Wildest Dreams,” though makes us wonder if an updated 1989 is on the way.
    8. “Type Three” by Anberlin. Anberlin recorded and released reworked versions of all of their seven records during lockdown. The band is said to have new music coming out soon.
    9. “Monsters” by All Time Low ft. Demi Lovato and blackbear
    10. “Zombie” by Watashi Wa ft. Anberlin
    11. ” Follow Me” by Imagine Dragons
    12. “The Great Adventure” by Kevin Quinn, Bailee Madison, Jahbril Cook, & the cast of A Week Away. 

    13. “Don’t Give Up on Us” by Nick Jonas. I think “This Is Heaven” is the best song from Spaceman, but I’ve included it on so many lists, I decided to give the other track I blogged about a chance to fit in on a playlist.
    14. “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo
    15. “What’s It Gonna Be?” by Shura
    16. “Dead Weight” by Pvris. Use Me is becoming one of my favorite albums at the moment.
    17. “Siren” by Taeyeon
    18. “Wasted Nights” by Acceptance
    19. “Coffee” by Copeland. A few weeks ago, Copeland announced a symphonic reworking “greatest hits” album and a concert in a cave with a full orchestra. Even though I haven’t blogged about this version yet, I thought I’d include it.

    20. “Animal” by Kye Kye. The latest from Kye Kye after their lengthy hiatus is rather cynical. The lyrical style is more aggressive on Arya rather than the etherial last two records.

    21. “Hallelujah” by Underoath
    22. “Sinner Dressed in Saint Laurent” by Goody Grace
    23. “Cold Heart” by Elton John ft. Dua Lipa. What a weird reworking of “Rocket Man.” 
    24. “Video Game” by Sufjan Stevens. When you’re a 45-year-old folk singer, why not try to write an electronic pop hit?

    25. “High Line” by Tyson Motsenbocker. The opening track to Someday I’ll Make It All Up to You is a beautiful acoustic track about a landmark in New York City.
    26. “Butter” by BTS
    27. “Afterthought” by City of Auburn ft. Stephen Christian
    28. “Blinding Lights” by Kurt Hugo Schneider ft. Sam Tsui
    29. “Leave Before You Love Me” by Marshmello ft. The Jonas Brothers
    30. “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” by The War on Drugs. This was the post that kicked off the 2022+ playlist. I’ve also included it in a playlist called Pseudo-80s.

    31. “Easy on Me” by Adele. I blogged about this song last year and this year. It’s my favorite Adele song of all, though, I’ve had a harder time getting into 30 than previous Adele records. 
    33. “Dead Flowers” by Demon Hunter
    34. “Art & Vida” by Ian Mahan ft. Aaron Marsh
    35. “Sprite” by COIN. This band has been making lots of music since the pandemic. This song first appeared on Blue/Green.
    36. “Am I the Only One” by SF9
    37. “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd

    39. “Rose” (English version) by D.O. I’ve talked about how D.O. might have one of the sexiest voices in K-pop. “Rose” is a sweet ballad. The English version is a little too Americanized, so I’d recommend also listening to the Korean version of this song.
    40. “Three Hour Drive” (A Color Show) by Alicia Keys 
    41. “love in summer” by george
    42. “How Do You Sleep?” by Sam Smith. The song came out in 2019 but was include on the singer’s 2020 Love Goes record. It’s a different sound from the singers first two records of Gospel-influenced R&B.

    43. “My Bad” by Shaun & Advanced ft. Julie Bergan. This track is better in its original Korean-language form, but I included the English version for a mostly English-speaking readership.
    44. “River of Music” by Denison Witmer, from his 2020 record American Foursquare.
    45. “Me to You” by Tim Be Told
    46. “Better Now” by The Juliana Theory. I got reconnected with this band last year. Their 2019 single “Can’t Go Home” and this 2020 single have an interesting rhythm that’s both a throwback to classic pop-punk and something new.
    47. “Lilac” by IU. Dancy IU is never a bad thing.

    48. “Higher Power” by Coldplay
    49. “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Anchor & Braille

  • “Writing on the Wall” by Paper Route, Saturday, June 11, 2022

    You never know what to expect when you get a new Paper Route album. The protean band has evolved from a quartet of multi-instrumentalists playing indie rock Americana to a pop group with a fetish for synthesizers by the EP Are We All Forgotten, which proceeded their major label debut, Absence. The band’s sophomore record, The Peace of Wild Things, the band became even more of a pop group. So when listeners heard the choral “Intro” on the band’s third record, Real Emotion, immediately followed by the dirty, distorted guitars of “Writing on the Wall,” we wondered, are we getting a rock Paper Route record?
     

    I FORGAVE YOU ONCE/ THEN AT TWICE/ I TOOK CONTROL. But Real Emotion was Paper Route’s most diverse record. “Writing on the Wall” is arguably the closest to a straightforward rock song that Paper Route has ever performed. Much of the record reverts back to the solid pop tracks on The Peace of Wild Things. But Real Emotion‘s sixteen tracks, complete with interludes, compared to the concise ten tracks on the standard edition of Peace allows Paper Route to experiment as a band and explore the relationships between seemingly dissimilar tracks. The tracks on Real Emotion don’t seem to have an explicit theme, which was clearer on the band’s sophomore record. Rather, the choral introduction reprised in the song “Untitled” makes the theme of the urgency of appreciating loved ones before hard times come one of the complex emotions explored on the record. Color is a motif on this record, reds, blues, and blacks are mentioned frequently in the lyrics and even in song titles, and references to art, literature, and the Bible play into the collage of the emotional trip that Paper Route takes their listeners on through the album.

    Depiction of Daniel 5 in Belshazzar’s
    banquet hall. Painting by Rembrandt.     Source.

    IT’S A BITTER CUP/ FILLIN’ UP/ BABY, LET’S DRINK. “Writing on the Wall” is a fairly common idiom in English, meaning that there are signs of doom. Perhaps “Writing on the Wall” is a metaphor about the lengthy hiatus, possibly break up, that Paper Route would begin in 2018 and was officially announced in January 2019. A band plagued with personal conflicts and perhaps bad or inconsistent marketing, Real Emotion perhaps may be the last thing we ever hear from the band, despite Apple Music and Spotify constantly mislabeling a rapper by the same name in Paper Route’s feed. Whenever I hear the phrase “writing on the wall,” my Sabbath School/Arthur Maxwell The Bible Story upbringing takes me back to the story of Daniel in Babylon  (Daniel 5). In the story, the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, holds a feast. During the feast, Belshazzar orders his servants to bring the golden goblets that his father Nebuchadnezzar had stolen from the temple he ransacked in Jerusalem, starting the first Jewish diaspora. But, according to the scriptures, this action was not a mere solecism, but the final blow which invoked the vengeance of the God of the Israelites. In the middle of the drunken debauchery, a hand appeared and wrote in Hebrew on the wall. Needless to say, this mysterious hand stopped the party. Because no one could read the language, they called Daniel to read the language. Daniel said that because of how the Babylonians had disregarded the God of Israel, that very night the city would be handed over to the Medes and the Persians who had infiltrated the walls by reversing the flow of the Euphrates River. It’s a very scary story for a kid, and there was always a warning, don’t piss God off too much, or something awful will happen. I’m sure not everyone feels that ingrained religious guilt whenever they use idiom!

    Live performance:

    Studio Version:


  • “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran, Friday, June 10, 2022 (Updated Repost)

    If you make a list of the most iconic singer-songwriters, the list would include all of Ed Sheeran‘s influences. In fact, many would have had no problem putting Ed Sheeran on that list, if it weren’t for his huge mainstream pop hit “Shape of You.” If it weren’t for the 2017 song, Ed Sheeran would still have been a driving force in the music industry, penning verses for pop artists and singing semi-acoustic ballads and rapping a few bars here and there. Some listeners are still scarred from the repetitive chorus with its contrived masculine rhyme, so much so that they would prefer not to hear the song’s follow up. It’s unfortunate enough that I couldn’t take songs like “Perfect” or “Castle on the Hill” seriously. And when Ed Sheeran announced that he was back in June of last year, I was less than thrilled. But in September, thanks to musical algorithms, AppleMusic played “Shivers” when playing similar songs to Jax Jones ft. Years & Years‘ “Play.” Time heals all wounds, I guess. 

    EVERY TIME YOU COME AROUND, YOU KNOW I CAN’T SAY NO. Between projects, Ed Sheeran has been known to go on social media breaks. In December 2019, he announced that he would be taking a year off to write his next album and spend time with his family and welcome his new daughter into the world. The timing of his hiatus was perfect, not only because the singer had come off of his most successful album cycle but also because of the pandemic which paralyzed the music industry. Starting at the end of June, listeners have a taste of the next Sheeran project with the three singles the singer has dropped. The lead single, “Bad Habits” quickly rose to number 1 for 11 weeks in the UK. Sheeran told James Cordon that he originally wanted to release a slow song as the lead single, but decided on the upbeat “Bad Habits.” He said, “I don’t know if the world needs a depressing sad, slow acoustic song when it’s all opening up.” The second single “Visiting Hours” is a throwback to the singer’s roots on  + and X. The third single “Shivers,” written at the end of the singer’s Divide tour, sounds dancey, like “Bad Habits.” “Shivers” replaced “Bad Habits” atop the UK charts upon its release. 

    MY BAD HABITS LEAD TO WIDE EYES STARE INTO SPACE. Everyone has a bad habit. When Sheeran talked with Mario Lopez, the singer didn’t get explicit about wild drug addictions or alcohol binges. Instead, the thirty-year-old singer said that he wanted to adjust to becoming a father. “I don’t want anyone else to drive [my wife] to the hospital,” he said. The single cryptically alludes to addiction. The listener can assume that a pop star like Ed Sheeran has had some experiences, but ultimately, listeners are left staring into the maws of their own beastly habit. Is it that one too many drinks you take when out with your friends? Is it sleeping with that person you shouldn’t? Is it staying up all night watching something when you really should get a good night of sleep? Is it saying, “I really shouldn’t, but what if I just eat this block of cheese?” Sheeran and Lopez talked about the compounding effect of bad habits and how they can get out of control with friends. The song’s music video explores bad habits with the metaphor of vampires. Sheeran said that his love for old episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired the video. Like vampires, bad habits come out at night and they disappear when the sun rises. The “bad crew” whom Sheeran hangs with in the video disappear when the sun comes up. One runs into the shadows, another runs into a building, another jumps under a parked car, and one is dissolved by the light. Sheeran, however, transforms into his usual less-than-kempt persona. The face paint fades; the fangs disappear; the pink suit turns into a casual sweatshirt and jeans. The singer ends the video playing an acoustic guitar, seemingly unaffected by his nightlife. But as anyone with a bad habit knows, he only appears normal in the light. “Bad Habits” is a fun shame anthem, whether you’re trying to quit or shamelessly indulging. 
    Music video:

    Lyric Videos: 

    Performance video:

    With Bring Me the Horizon: 

  • “Babylon” by Lady Gaga, Thursday, June 9, 2022

    In a true Pride month fashion, we return to Chromatica, Lady Gaga‘s 2020 master class in Dance Pop, this time to the epic closer, “Babylon.” Recall, last month, we talked about how Chromatica is actually a concept record that needs to be experienced in one listen, despite how much you might find yourself re-listening to the tracks. If we make it to “Babylon,” we’ve already been propelled through a “Wonderland” of ’80s and ’90s-inspired keyboard dance music that seems to emit the metallic pinks, greens, and blues seen in fashions from, say 1992. In a surreal way, we’ve gotten a better sense of who Lady Gaga is–a tragic pop star craving “Stupid Love” and dealing with her inner demons on “911.”

    WE CAN PARTY LIKE IT’S B.C. Then we’ve come to the end of Chromatica, and yet by the time we get to the saxophone on “Babylon” we feel like the party is only getting started and that we’re in it for another spin. The track opens with a loon call. Our friends at Switched On Pop, in their analysis of the track tell us that the loon call appears on many ’90s house tracks because it was a recorded sound on a popular ’90s keyboard. “Babylon” is a heavily coded track with historical, religious, and queer references. One aspect that is often talked about with this track is Madonna‘s “Vogue,” particularly in reference to the Lady Gaga-robot voice heard throughout the album, but most clearly on “Babylon.” The critics on the Switched On Pop podcast point out that “voguing” Madonna appropriating queer culture, particularly gay men imitating the way that drag queens talk. When Lady Gaga imitates Madonna and gay men sing along to Lady Gaga or Madonna, there’s a sort of mirror-within-a-mirror effect, amplifying the significance of the original culture. 

    via GIPHY from Madonna’s “Vogue” music video.

    “The Tower of Babel” painting by
    Alexander Mikhalchyk. From Wikipedia
    Commons.

    WE ARE CLIMBING UP TO HEAVEN. On Gaga’s sophomore record, Born This Way, the singer had a controversial single, “Judas,” a song that, in retrospect, seems more nuanced than I received it back when it came out. Nope. Lady Gaga’s gone too far, and I wouldn’t revisit her work until A Star Is Born. But in 2020, Lady Gaga releases an infectious dance track “Babylon,” which references building the Tower of Babel, and I have to listen to it again? Sermons about the wicked sexual practices of heathen cities in the Bible and human sacrifices come to mind. The preaching that society is heading to that “B.C.” style and that the world is trying to drag us into it with drugs and dark night clubs also come to mind. And yet, I think about the most upset I’ve ever seen my Bible students, back when I was a missionary, was when we talked about the Tower of Babel, which according to Adventist theology, God sabotaged by creating a language barrier in order to halt construction of a tower to reach heaven. “Why would God do such a thing?” One of my students asked and couldn’t accept the answer that the church gives: “because people would be too powerful if they worked together like they did before the flood.” In the staff room, after that lesson, I asked why we were here teaching English, when God had scrambled the languages so that we couldn’t band together. This greatly offended a coworker who stormed out of the room. My question maybe came off as racist, but I was starting to question the programming of Adventist theology. The problem was the world seemed like such a more friendly place than the elitist church. You just need a can of bug spray to scare away the scarabs.