Music OR Lyrics?

Music or lyrics? Preferrably both. But which is more important? If song lyrics are very cruel or stupid or immoral, I'll hate the song no matter how fun or compelling the music is. However, if the lyrics are merely mundane, I can listen over and over to a song of catchy music (think Dynamite by Taio Cruz). Contrariwise, if the music is mundane, I adore a song of profound lyrics (think One Day by Matisyahu). In fact, I'll love a song of profound lyrics even if the music is downright awful. Therefore, lyrics are more important.

By the way, Music and Lyrics, the movie, is one of the few romantic comedies that are actually funny, and I enjoy it.

I'm Rethinking My Idea to Use "Facts" in Every Blog Title

This very generation, on this very day, at this very moment, on this very Earth, by a very unfortunate stroke of doom and irreversible fate, for no particular reason, I am not willing to put much work into a post. Not just now anyway. So, instead, I am going to give a short list of my favorite songs at the moment.

Dynamite - obviously fun.








The Other Father Song from the Coraline soundtrack - every track from Coraline is gorgeous actually.






Trust in Me - Selena did such a wonderful job covering this song from Disney's The Jungle Book that I actually like her version while I find the original version somewhat boring (it doesn't help that all the other Jungle Book songs are phenomenal). Selena sounds so hypnotic.







Bang a Drum - This song should have been a much bigger deal. It's just as good as, if not better than, Just Dance. Yeah, probably better. What a great drum beat!







Zoobi Doobi from the 3 Idiots soundtrack - Sooo fun!







Make History - Someone said this song was corny. No! I mean, it's optimistic, but not annoyingly so. It doesn't obsess itself with boys or dancing or needing the right couple song. THOSE subjects are corny and laughable (but enjoyable if set to good music). This song is about the big picture, history. It's encouraging people to, well, make history and change the big picture. It's about thinking BIG. I like that.

Facts on a Music Video

Well, I've written two, long, personal posts in a row now, and I'm a bit tired. It takes a long time to write posts, edit them, and make them the best they can be. (My posts could still have used some work.) So, today, I'll post a music video I came across a month or two ago.

I'd never heard of Sky Sweetnam before, and even now, I've not had time to listen to her other songs. But this song is inspirational. "We're only human, seperated by our thoughts." How true. We go around complaining about having to deal with other people and generally treating them not only as strangers but also as a completely different species. We don't know them, so we think they must be scary or weird and we avoid them or dislike them. Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, and so on. We're very similar, very human, God's children, descendants of the first two people. We should treat each other like family, but because we THINK we're so different, every second of every day, other people seem unpredictable, unknown, and dangerous. We can't imagine what's going on in their heads, if anything. It's like they're robots or giant walking carnivorous plants or empty corn husks. It's like, "They don't have feelings like me, so who knows if they have any feelings at all?" Because of this, we treat each other with distance and coldness. Our thoughts separate us. The rest of the lyrics are meaningful too, about how media and marketing and such influence us. The music is enjoyable.

The video is delightfully dark. I like the futuristic, dystopian, time-machine, people-turned-animals feel of it. I like Sky Sweetnam's outfits too, except for the word A$$ on her pants. This is the only version I could get the Embed off of, so you have to wait through a short intro.

Facts Critique Swift's Music

Let’s get something straight: I do not hate Taylor swift, and this is not a post about Taylor Swift the person. This is simply a short critique of her work, which I find boring, both music and lyric-wise, but that does not mean I hate her. Honestly, she’s alright, but I’ve never heard a song of hers I liked. I don’t like country music to begin with, but we shall ignore that for a moment.

Taylor’s voice is alright but often almost monotone and overly "country," and the music itself all sounds the same, tuneless, beat-less, and slow even when it’s fast. The lyrics sound like an eight-year-old wrote them at the peak of her prose creativity. “You be the prince and I’ll be the princess.” “I really, really hate that stupid old pickup truck.” “You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset.” They’re not beautiful, unusual, creative, witty, or anything. (And how many times have we heard the Prince/Princess bit? A lot.) I’m all for lyrics being understandable, but they could be stated more beautifully than everyday speech.

But the CONTENT of her songs is all typical country (and even non-country) material: I’m in love, I have a boyfriend, my boyfriend broke up with me, my boyfriend cheated on me. The last two themes bring tears to my eyes, but only as they play. After they’re done, I don’t know them from static. They don’t say anything meaningful or change my already dismal outlook on romance and other relationships. Taylor sings a song or two about high school, family, and dancing in the rain. Nothing original, meaningful, or deep. It all gloms together in one lumpy gray mass of songs that mean nothing to me, and I just don’t care about them.

I first heard Taylor Swift without knowing she was famous, and I thought she was just another obscure nobody who would never get noticed, because she writes the same stuff as everyone else. I was wrong, but I don’t understand why. I guess some people appreciate that her work is clean, and I appreciate that too, but having heard songs that are both clean and profound, I find Taylor’s songs totally inconsequential.