First off, a brand new trailer for Rapunzel (a.k.a. Tangled)! This makes it look fun in a so-bad-it's-good kinda way (I hope the actual movie isn't that corny), shows off the pretty colors, reveals that Rapunzel also looks like a rubber suit, and gives us so much more to think about, story-wise, than the last trailers. Also, I hate to risk jinxing the production by saying the movie will be good...but here's a fun article that takes the risk for me (and also divulges that the final movie production nixed the corny scene where Flynn gets attacked by Rapunzel's hair - Yay!).
Now, on to the post's main event: comparing similar songs. Contrasting them. Judging them. Deciding which are better. Which will live, which will die. 'Tis a noble endeavor, to be sure. All songs are equal, but some songs are more equal than others. Just kidding. All songs are NOT equal. People are equal. To people. But songs are not equal to songs. Observe.
Paramore's The Only Exception vs. Taylor Swift's Mine.
The songs encompass the same basic concept, but Paramore does it better. Both songs are about - and Swift even said this - Finding the Exception to the fact that most relationships end. I've said before that I don't like Swift's music, but I'm doing this post anyway because it fascinates me how one song can be so alike to another and yet so much deeper.
When I first heard Only Exception, I didn't like it. I wasn't listening to the words, and the music was boring. It played often on the radio, though, and finally, one line caught my ear (I forget which), and I decided to give the song a thorough listen and not be the kind of dork who hates a song without knowing the words. So I listened, and the song struck a nerve. It conveyed how I feel about love. Like Paramore, I think that love doesn't exist. "Love never lasts." But TRUE love WOULD last! It would! So true love doesn't exist. Whatever this temporary feeling people call "love" is, it is not love. Like Paramore, I've felt this way from a young age, from watching my parents, other families, TV, the media, and true crime shows (in which spouses always kill each other). Well, I don't suppose that, as a young child, I specifically thought, "love doesn't exist." However, I never specifically thought "love exists" either, as far as I remember. I didn't have many opinions back then, but I couldn't imagine love, I didn't know what it was, I never saw it, and I didn't care. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of love God has for Creation or parents have for children. I believed in THOSE loves. I didn't believe in romantic love. When I got older, I began developing opinions and really THINKING about things. That's when I decided love doesn't exist. It wasn't that long ago, actually (and I think there was a period in between where I did believe in love). You only hear the stories about broken relationships, and those stories impacted me because I decided early in life that I would learn from other people's mistakes because I hate making my own. Later in life, I realized even the relationships you don't hear about are broken or dying or dead, or at least not crafted by true love. Even if spouses stay together, they rarely love each other.
I stopped believing in the love of friends too. I learned that all friends leave. Even if they're not trying to hurt you, they go off, make new friends, and it's like you didn't exist. That often happened to me when I tried sharing something intimate about myself, some insecurity I was struggling with. That seemed to make them uncomfortable. I think some of them would have helped if they could have, but they couldn't, so they left. I scared off dozens of friends that way. (Which is why the dinner scene from the Only Exception is so brilliant. One guy would sit down with Hayley, immediately get up, and leave. Another guy would take his place and do the same. That, with bizarre accuracy, is how it felt with my "friends." They'd leave. I'd be confused and hurt, but I'd smile and try to be nice to the new ones, hoping that each new friend would be my True Friend. But they all left.) I know, I know, I sound all pathetic and drama queen-ish, but I'm not trying to be all boo-hoo. It's true. No friend sticks around when you're suffering, or even when you're not. At least, I've never found one. From what I can tell, it's the same with romance. Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, everybody. They leave. Or they feel obligated to stay but don't love you. They don't find you special enough to help you through your suffering and love you forever. Their love for you dies, your love for them dies, and, usually, you part ways. And that's not true love.
I pride myself on being smart, and it seemed the smart conclusion to make was "love doesn't exist." However, my feelings decided this for me as much as my brain. If love doesn't last, if friendship doesn't last, I don't want it at all. I'd rather believe love and friendship don't exist. This makes me a very reserved person. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, another drama moment from Minnie. Give me a break.) I very consciously understood that friendship doesn't exist, but usually, I more subconsciously understood that romantic love doesn't exist, although it was a deep-rooted belief that went way back.
The songs encompass the same basic concept, but Paramore does it better. Both songs are about - and Swift even said this - Finding the Exception to the fact that most relationships end. I've said before that I don't like Swift's music, but I'm doing this post anyway because it fascinates me how one song can be so alike to another and yet so much deeper.
When I first heard Only Exception, I didn't like it. I wasn't listening to the words, and the music was boring. It played often on the radio, though, and finally, one line caught my ear (I forget which), and I decided to give the song a thorough listen and not be the kind of dork who hates a song without knowing the words. So I listened, and the song struck a nerve. It conveyed how I feel about love. Like Paramore, I think that love doesn't exist. "Love never lasts." But TRUE love WOULD last! It would! So true love doesn't exist. Whatever this temporary feeling people call "love" is, it is not love. Like Paramore, I've felt this way from a young age, from watching my parents, other families, TV, the media, and true crime shows (in which spouses always kill each other). Well, I don't suppose that, as a young child, I specifically thought, "love doesn't exist." However, I never specifically thought "love exists" either, as far as I remember. I didn't have many opinions back then, but I couldn't imagine love, I didn't know what it was, I never saw it, and I didn't care. Now, I'm not talking about the kind of love God has for Creation or parents have for children. I believed in THOSE loves. I didn't believe in romantic love. When I got older, I began developing opinions and really THINKING about things. That's when I decided love doesn't exist. It wasn't that long ago, actually (and I think there was a period in between where I did believe in love). You only hear the stories about broken relationships, and those stories impacted me because I decided early in life that I would learn from other people's mistakes because I hate making my own. Later in life, I realized even the relationships you don't hear about are broken or dying or dead, or at least not crafted by true love. Even if spouses stay together, they rarely love each other.
I stopped believing in the love of friends too. I learned that all friends leave. Even if they're not trying to hurt you, they go off, make new friends, and it's like you didn't exist. That often happened to me when I tried sharing something intimate about myself, some insecurity I was struggling with. That seemed to make them uncomfortable. I think some of them would have helped if they could have, but they couldn't, so they left. I scared off dozens of friends that way. (Which is why the dinner scene from the Only Exception is so brilliant. One guy would sit down with Hayley, immediately get up, and leave. Another guy would take his place and do the same. That, with bizarre accuracy, is how it felt with my "friends." They'd leave. I'd be confused and hurt, but I'd smile and try to be nice to the new ones, hoping that each new friend would be my True Friend. But they all left.) I know, I know, I sound all pathetic and drama queen-ish, but I'm not trying to be all boo-hoo. It's true. No friend sticks around when you're suffering, or even when you're not. At least, I've never found one. From what I can tell, it's the same with romance. Spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, everybody. They leave. Or they feel obligated to stay but don't love you. They don't find you special enough to help you through your suffering and love you forever. Their love for you dies, your love for them dies, and, usually, you part ways. And that's not true love.
I pride myself on being smart, and it seemed the smart conclusion to make was "love doesn't exist." However, my feelings decided this for me as much as my brain. If love doesn't last, if friendship doesn't last, I don't want it at all. I'd rather believe love and friendship don't exist. This makes me a very reserved person. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, another drama moment from Minnie. Give me a break.) I very consciously understood that friendship doesn't exist, but usually, I more subconsciously understood that romantic love doesn't exist, although it was a deep-rooted belief that went way back.
In their song, Paramore so clearly and poignantly conveyed much of what I wrote in the last few paragraphs: "Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul that love never lasts, and we've got to find other ways to make it alone and keep a straight face. And I've always lived like this, keeping it comfortable. Distance. And up until now I'd sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness, because none of it was ever worth the risk." That's a lot of meaning packed into one verse. Multiple insights into Finding the Exception. Then Paramore made the Sad Song uplifting with the mention of "the only exception." The one I wish I could find. The exceptional friend who wouldn't leave, who'd listen, who'd love me forever. I'm not totally convinced such a friend doesn't exist, but I don't think I'll find one. Even if I did, I don't know if I could be a True Friend back. I'm too scared now that I'm convinced everyone leaves.
The song does repeat itself an awful lot, it could be even deeper, and my one major problem with it is this line: "I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up. Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream." That defeats the whole purpose of the song, if the guy is just going to leave. But then maybe he's only going to work and he'll be back afterwards, hmm? Still, it's a fantastic song, a finer work than the following.
I'm sorry, but somehow Taylor takes the same idea as Paramore and makes it shallow. As the greatest factor in this, frivolous phrases make up about 90% of the song. 90% of the song has nothing to do with anything important, the kind of material Paramore gave. 90% of the song is wasted on meaningless how's-the-weather-type observations, like "You were in college, workin' part-time waitin' tables. Left a small-town, never looked back." Who cares? That tells us nothing about your Finding the Exception issue. Taylor continues, "I say can you believe it, as we're lying on the couch? The moment, I can see it. Yes. Yes. I can see it now." None of that tells about Finding the Exception. What does sitting on the couch have to do with ANYTHING? Furthermore, the entire chorus is made up of frivolous statements that have nothing to do with The Exception: "Do you remember we were sittin' there by the water. You put your arm around me for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing that's ever been mine." Who CARES if she was sitting by the water or he put his arm around her? The "rebel" line could only vaguely pertain to Finding the Exception. And, ok, he's hers. That also tells us nothing about Finding the Exception, since so many others have been hers and she probably though they were "the best" when they were around. And then there's this line: "Flash foward and we're taking on the world together and there's a drawer of my things at your place." This makes me confused, as I thought Taylor was for abstinence (which is great), and having a drawer at his place implies non-abstinence. This line follows, "You learn my secrets, and you figure out why I'm guarded. You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes." This might actually mean something if she told us WHAT her secrets were or what her parents' mistakes. As it is, it's pretty dull. "But we got bills to pay. We got nothing figured out. When it was hard to take, yes, yes, this is what I though about." Bills tell us nothing about the emotional struggle of Finding the Exception. Emotional struggle is usually worse, and a heck of a lot more meaningful, than bills. Bills happen to everyone. They're boring. Why would you mention them in a love song? "And I remember that fight, two thirty AM, as everything was slipping right out of our hands. I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street. Braced myself for the goodbye, 'cause that's all I've ever known. You took me by surprise. You said I'll never leave you alone." Okay, so we know that she found the Exception, but the impact of this is diluted by all the meaningless foam in there. Who cares if it was 2:30 AM, and she ran out crying, and there was a street out there? Why does she redundantly write that he took her by surprise when it's obvious he did since she expected him to leave and he stayed?
The song does repeat itself an awful lot, it could be even deeper, and my one major problem with it is this line: "I know you're leaving in the morning when you wake up. Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream." That defeats the whole purpose of the song, if the guy is just going to leave. But then maybe he's only going to work and he'll be back afterwards, hmm? Still, it's a fantastic song, a finer work than the following.
I'm sorry, but somehow Taylor takes the same idea as Paramore and makes it shallow. As the greatest factor in this, frivolous phrases make up about 90% of the song. 90% of the song has nothing to do with anything important, the kind of material Paramore gave. 90% of the song is wasted on meaningless how's-the-weather-type observations, like "You were in college, workin' part-time waitin' tables. Left a small-town, never looked back." Who cares? That tells us nothing about your Finding the Exception issue. Taylor continues, "I say can you believe it, as we're lying on the couch? The moment, I can see it. Yes. Yes. I can see it now." None of that tells about Finding the Exception. What does sitting on the couch have to do with ANYTHING? Furthermore, the entire chorus is made up of frivolous statements that have nothing to do with The Exception: "Do you remember we were sittin' there by the water. You put your arm around me for the first time. You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter. You are the best thing that's ever been mine." Who CARES if she was sitting by the water or he put his arm around her? The "rebel" line could only vaguely pertain to Finding the Exception. And, ok, he's hers. That also tells us nothing about Finding the Exception, since so many others have been hers and she probably though they were "the best" when they were around. And then there's this line: "Flash foward and we're taking on the world together and there's a drawer of my things at your place." This makes me confused, as I thought Taylor was for abstinence (which is great), and having a drawer at his place implies non-abstinence. This line follows, "You learn my secrets, and you figure out why I'm guarded. You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes." This might actually mean something if she told us WHAT her secrets were or what her parents' mistakes. As it is, it's pretty dull. "But we got bills to pay. We got nothing figured out. When it was hard to take, yes, yes, this is what I though about." Bills tell us nothing about the emotional struggle of Finding the Exception. Emotional struggle is usually worse, and a heck of a lot more meaningful, than bills. Bills happen to everyone. They're boring. Why would you mention them in a love song? "And I remember that fight, two thirty AM, as everything was slipping right out of our hands. I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street. Braced myself for the goodbye, 'cause that's all I've ever known. You took me by surprise. You said I'll never leave you alone." Okay, so we know that she found the Exception, but the impact of this is diluted by all the meaningless foam in there. Who cares if it was 2:30 AM, and she ran out crying, and there was a street out there? Why does she redundantly write that he took her by surprise when it's obvious he did since she expected him to leave and he stayed?
I count only three times in this entire song that she actually mentions the struggle of Finding the Exception. "Why we bother with love if it never lasts," and "You learn my secrets..." and "Brace myself for the goodbye." I don't know much about writing songs, and it might be really hard, but Paramore's song is proof that you can pack a lot more meaning, and a lot less drivel, into a song than Swift has done here.
Also, the video...Yeeeaahh, not so good. Frankly, it's laughable to see Swift acting out all these situations she's obviously never been through, like being a mom. Really? She still looks like she's sixteen. It's ridiculous to see her playing mom when she looks like that. I'm sorry, but it just is. Same goes for the leading man. He looks way too young to be playing the disgruntled, suit-wearing husband and dad. Like they're playing dress-up in clothes too big.
Also, the video...Yeeeaahh, not so good. Frankly, it's laughable to see Swift acting out all these situations she's obviously never been through, like being a mom. Really? She still looks like she's sixteen. It's ridiculous to see her playing mom when she looks like that. I'm sorry, but it just is. Same goes for the leading man. He looks way too young to be playing the disgruntled, suit-wearing husband and dad. Like they're playing dress-up in clothes too big.
Marina and the Diamond's I Am not a Robot vs. Miley Cyrus's Robot
Again, we have two songs based on the same concept: the performers are not robots. They're human beings. Yes, they are, and let me say that I know this of Miley, Marina, Taylor, and Paramore. They're human beings, and I respect THEM, even if their work is not so good. But Marina still does a better job of this song.
Marina mentions many traits that seem to put people at a disadvantage. True, some of these traits are unseemly, but they ultimately mean we're human, not robots. I sometimes wish I could do everything perfectly, be efficient and secure, and never get shaken up. But if I could be that way, I'd be a complete robot. Marina says, "You're vulnerable. You're vulnerable. You are not a robot." And that's true. If you're vulnerable, if you get shaken up, you're human. She continues encouragingly, "You're lovable, so lovable. But you're just troubled." And that's also true. Human beings, when behaving like human beings, are lovable, even when they mess up. They're flesh and blood. They're warm and adorable, like kittens. When they're being human. I wish I could see that in myself when I mess up: how messing up and experiencing emotions makes me lovable. This song points that out, that and so much more.
Miley, on the other, hand dishes out the classic misunderstood-celebrity song. It's not that this song doesn't contain some truth. It's just that it's somewhat shallow and largely cliche. Typical. It's about Disney, or anyone else who tries to create an image for Miley and force her to sustain it, to sell their product. They tell her where to go, what to feel, what to wear, etc., operating her like she's their puppet or robot. Isn't that the classic celebrity dilemma? This song contains no original or unusual truths or imagery, unlike Marina's song, which has many. I admire the vocalizing at the start, but the rest of the music is mediocre. Robot isn't that bad. It just isn't good.
Again, we have two songs based on the same concept: the performers are not robots. They're human beings. Yes, they are, and let me say that I know this of Miley, Marina, Taylor, and Paramore. They're human beings, and I respect THEM, even if their work is not so good. But Marina still does a better job of this song.
Marina mentions many traits that seem to put people at a disadvantage. True, some of these traits are unseemly, but they ultimately mean we're human, not robots. I sometimes wish I could do everything perfectly, be efficient and secure, and never get shaken up. But if I could be that way, I'd be a complete robot. Marina says, "You're vulnerable. You're vulnerable. You are not a robot." And that's true. If you're vulnerable, if you get shaken up, you're human. She continues encouragingly, "You're lovable, so lovable. But you're just troubled." And that's also true. Human beings, when behaving like human beings, are lovable, even when they mess up. They're flesh and blood. They're warm and adorable, like kittens. When they're being human. I wish I could see that in myself when I mess up: how messing up and experiencing emotions makes me lovable. This song points that out, that and so much more.
Miley, on the other, hand dishes out the classic misunderstood-celebrity song. It's not that this song doesn't contain some truth. It's just that it's somewhat shallow and largely cliche. Typical. It's about Disney, or anyone else who tries to create an image for Miley and force her to sustain it, to sell their product. They tell her where to go, what to feel, what to wear, etc., operating her like she's their puppet or robot. Isn't that the classic celebrity dilemma? This song contains no original or unusual truths or imagery, unlike Marina's song, which has many. I admire the vocalizing at the start, but the rest of the music is mediocre. Robot isn't that bad. It just isn't good.
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