27bored

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Yeah that was weird to me as well given Gaga has been outspoken about sexual assault. At first I thought she was trying to stay out of it — and I wouldn’t blame her — but then she took that song she did with R. Kelly down, and it just looked desperate. I don’t know. I feel like the expectation of celebrities that they Speak Out is a little unrealistic. I think when people start speaking out for certain causes, there’s an expectation that they keep it up even after the moment has passed. And the thing is, they’re usually only saying something when it’s advantageous to do so. Circa 2012-13, when we still heard about “rape culture” on college campuses, and Gaga still had a pop career, she was all over that. Smash cut to a few years later, she’s older, pop career has cooled off a bit, the hits aren’t coming as quickly, and now she’s mum on speaking out about R. Kelly. And I don’t say this to defend him, but it feels a bit too easy to go after R. Kelly. He’s not keeping the lights on at a record label, business people don’t need him to keep his engagements to have a successful show, and he isn’t paying dozens of people. So it feels like because the industry doesn’t need him that it’s open season to trundle out accusations we’ve known about for decades. Whereas, back when he was abusing young girls, he was cranking out hits for himself and others, so everybody had incentive to look the other way.

Here’s a list of UOs for a lazy Sunday morning: Drake’s last three albums have been mostly a showcase for his crack team of producers than him as an artist. If he and 40 ever split, I see him faltering, not unlike Eminem did without Dr. Dre. Beyonce and Rihanna are both not hard-presses to maintain their celebrity and cultural relevance — the former not doing interviews and releasing non-commercial albums and the latter content to keep selling Avon and teasing an album that has yet to come — because there isn’t an attractive light-skinned Black female singer being pushed in the Pop lane. Speaking of which, Lizzo will succeed as long as she stays fat. The minute she goes full Jennifer Hudson, it’s gonna get quiet for her. It’s almost over for the crybully popstars of the 2010s: Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, and Drake, to name a few. And I’m referring to their moment, not their entire career. Gaga is On Something and messed up her career when she decided to take the costumes off and decided she wanted to be Shania Twain for awhile, preceded (or succeeded) by that weird album/tour with Tony Bennett. Even though she has an Oscar, it’s...kinda over. More of a prediction, but Shape of You messed up Ed Sheeran’s career. So it’s going to be a little quiet for him for awhile too. In totality, Iggy Azalea is a better artist than Nicki Minaj or Cardi B. Nicki has been treading water for years and is overhyped, and Cardi is more of an entertainer than artist and alternates between being embarrassing and endearing. But like Tiffany Haddish, it’s just going to become embarrassing. Despite the artifice, Iggy has more presence than both, and her music bridges the gap between ratchet and mainstream better than them. And I think the primary reason she isn’t as big is because she’s a white chick in hip-hop who managed to get a few hits under her belt. In that same vein, sorry, Macklemore deserved that Grammy over Kendrick. Even though it’s funny to say, the Beyhive didn’t kill Keri Hilson’s career. She just wasn’t compelling enough as a recording artist to sustain a long-term career. She’s a better songwriter than artist. The thin-voiced, light-skinned R&B sexpot thing has been tried over and over — Aaliyah, Ashanti, Ciara, Amerie, Cassie, Tinashe — and it never works out in the long-term. Especially when you’re talking smack about a popular artist. That said, even though nobody enlisted Keri Hilson to say Beyonce needed to sit down and have a baby, let’s not act like that wasn’t a common sentiment circa 2008. Thank U, Next (song and album) is selfish and self-centered and makes me not really like Ariana. And I already barely liked her. She’s always been Ariana Bland-e to me, pretty girl pretty voice no ability to entertain, but I get the feeling she’s a bird. Plus, Ariana needs one straight dude in her life to tell her he’s not unfit, he just got tired of you. Not your fault if he cheats instead of breaking up, but...maybe you aren’t as great as you think you are.

Bills final New Rule was really out of touch. Trump Fatigue is caused by the media, not Trump. It’s one thing to say Trump tweets too much or isn’t “Presidential” enough, but let’s not act like the mainstream media hasn’t spent the last three years crying wolf over every tweet or sideways ass comment he makes. Scandal-mongering didn’t stop Bush from getting re-elected, so I kind of doubt it’ll work against Trump. I can ignore Trump’s tweets by not reading them. I can’t, however, if every week I’m being inundated with media tattletales mulling over his latest diatribe.

I like Abby as well. I think the issue I have is that the tenor of the show is too focused on Democrat talking points and Trump bashing (I know that sounds redundant, but still). I think it’s difficult to get a good read on people in that context. I think Meghan on a show with other conservative co-hosts would come off more moderate and refreshingly objective. But on this show she’s just, well, NutMeg. With this dynamic, Abby is too passive to balance things out and Meghan isn’t nimble enough with the facts to argue the counterpoint credibly. Add to that the mostly left-leaning audience and you have two people who don’t come off the best.

It’s true Meghan has been doing political punditry for awhile...prior to even being in The View. She’s not responsible for the political bent of the show, the backgrounds of her co-hosts, their often silly commentary, or the dynamic of the show. Before her, it was Elisabeth who everybody hated and also didn’t acquit herself well in political dialogue. The only difference is Elisabeth was prissy and Meghan is barf emoji. I will say, Meghan and Abby are both the daughters of lowercase-R Republicans. Two men liberals would pick if they “haaaaad” to go with a Republican. Thus, they are two men the right didn’t like, in broad strokes. Too eager to throw the base under the bus on hot button topics; too eager to pander to the media; too willing to go after members of their own party to be trustworthy. So, it makes sense that Meghan and Abby fit on a show like the View where they can be center-right on paper, but only have to embody it some of the time. Since their discussions mostly center around Trump — a guy who isn’t the gentleman their dads are/were but managed to do what their dads couldn’t — they can just offer up demurrals to keep the conversation going. Thats why Meghan got hired. Not because she’s a professional.

This is getting a bit O/T, but I don't think Joy "always makes it a point" to call out Republican leadership so much as she just says things the audience will applaud her for. And even if she were speaking to leadership exclusively, she still only makes these gauzy statements with a smirk at the end. I'm not sure who in the Democratic leadership Meghan is supposed to give credit to in terms of drawing a distinction.

Meghan's the primary one to own the label of political pundit, but really, they all are at this point. The problem is, they're all pretty bad at it, and no, I wouldn't say Meghan's worse than any of the rest of them. Also, you haven't heard Ana say those things because she wants to keep working, for one, and because she's not usually in the position to have to make the pro-life/pro-capitalist argument. And I don't think it's fair to criticize Meghan for her more pugilistic comments about Democrats as if any of her co-hosts only criticize Republicans with exacting grace. I've seen male talk show hosts interview all three of those women without fawning over them. I think the thing about Sunny is she's a hypocrite, and people's lack of energy around that interview kiiiiind of speaks volumes about some of the sociopolitical happenings over the last few years.

LOL. Were you being cheeky just now or just honest? Either way that’s funny. And true. I kinda want them to come out with a BTS video game. Kind of like that Sega game they did with Michael Jackson back in the day.

UO: Anybody remember Duffy? She came out around the time Amy Winehouse and Adele did. She released one album that did well in part thanks to her song “Mercy” (it might’ve shown up in a makeup commercial or two) and then took a hiatus before making a second album that didn’t do too hot. Put a pin that for a second. Does anybody read Crazy Days and Nights (CDAN)? It’s an oddly addictive, at times bracing and quite frankly shocking celebrity gossip site. Some of the blind items seem not believable, but the site runner, “Enty” (short for entertainment lawyer), has been eerily right about some things. Like, for example, he wrote item about Lil Nas X being gay about a month before he came out. He also said the charges against Kevin Spacey were going to be dropped a few weeks before they were. Other general tidbits (all of this is alleged): - A lot of people in Hollywood do coke. A lot. Even people you wouldn’t expect. And often times people who seem like something may be wrong...are very often doing coke. - A lot of women in Hollywood engage in “yachting”, which is his way of saying they more or less prostitute themselves to rich men...who own yachts. Even some women you...wouldn’t expect. - Even though he doesn’t typically out anybody, there are a lot of men in Hollywood who are gay and have relationships that are just for their image. Again: even men you wouldn’t necessarily suspect. Even some Oscar winners. - A lot of women in music use ghostwriters and sleep with producers for songs. I heard about this a long time ago from Dallas Austin, who said Christina Aguilera did it when she was recording Stripped. She never addressed it, and he kind of apologized (I think). Still, it happens, especially with female rappers. - Several high profile deaths over the years were due to foul play, and often due to that person finding out information that could take down some powerful people. He’s written extensively about Jeffrey Epstein over the years, for example, who recently attempted to commit suicide. Just sayin’. Here’s the site: Click. Anyway, all this is what lead me to think about Duffy, and how my UO is she was a better artist than Amy Winehouse and Adele. He posted a blind item years ago about how they met and have been friends for a long time, but she’s afraid of fame and how her career has faltered because of her fear. It’s actually kind of sweet and sad at the same time. See here.

Aww, that was a very nice thing to say from Mariah. That’s how you show class.

Way to go! Three cheers for Old Town Road!🥳 Over/under on how long it takes for someone to come out and criticize the song? Like, someone who hasn’t already said anything.

Outer space is actually round.

I hate to be a douche, but I wasn’t impressed. Maybe I’m too interested in how songs are put together, so I kinda pick stuff apart, but that sounded way too [insert verse]. By that I mean it sounds like Ed had a verse and chorus, then Chris and Bruno just added their verses to the song. One of the great things about rock posse cuts, traditionally speaking, is that they recorded these types of songs together with a live band. I enjoy all three artists, and this song could’ve been great had it been done by any of them solo, but together it just sounds a little by-the-numbers. I will agree, though, that I’ve never heard Ed rock like that. You know what I would’ve liked? This same song with him, Harry Styles, and Mick Jagger. Free A&R advice from 27bored!

Girl. Seoul Town Road?

Yeah. I think some dust got in my eye too. Sam Smith’s latest video. Something about seeing Sam being his sweet gay self is endearing. It’s like he wanted to show he can serve looks — in heels — and that he has rhythm.

Y’know, this might be one for the UO thread, but I’ve always felt like Miley’s hip-hop phase was unfairly maligned. She was a young girl, had been a cog in the Disney machine, and then did the pop star thing. I can’t blame her for wanting to experiment with her sound and do something young and fun and rebellious. And hip-hop who called it cultural appropriation were just ragging on her, in part, because she beefed with Nicki Minaj. Plus, she was kinda good at it. I think Miley messed up when she started smoking pot and acting ratchet outside the confines of her music for no reason. It just started looking like she was spinning out of control and was embarrassing herself. Exhibit A-Z: Miley, you’re standing on stage...calling strangers motherfuckers...telling them to eat your pussy...dressed like a butterfly. I just...

Lance was on Stratham and Sara or whatever that show is called showing Keke Palmer the choreography for Bye Bye Bye. I never thought Lance would wind up not only aging the best but having the most fun personality. I can’t say I even knew what Lance’s speaking voice was like from 1998 till 2009. That said, he said back in the day he was a horrible dancer (which is FACTS, but Joey wasn’t anything to write home about either), and it made me ho back and watch them perform that song live. This is why BTS seems so lame. Watch them do that song on their HBO special. Keep in mind that they’re all singing live, they’re doing the entire routine, and this is the END of the show.

Oh man, I totally agree. I’ve always thought Elton John was ass at singing. So many of his songs sound better when other people them. And by so many, I mean virtually all of them.

Me too! When I first heard this I was like, “whoa!” Not only can she sing but she has a classic dance diva voice. Big, gospel-tinged, bawdy. And at least on this song, she can flow as a rapper. If only she weren’t so problematic.

Something made me go and listen to Anna Wintour by Azealia Banks...

I wanted to cut BTS some slack and say maybe they got too big too fast. Unlike the 90s boy bands where they trained and got the vocals and dance moves right before anybody heard of them, BTS did seem to come out nowhere. But a quick Googlin’ shows that their first album came out in 2013, so...they oughta be at the height of their powers by now. I think maybe there are too many of them. I think trying to keep seven voices cohesive is hard. There’s also the issue of their numbers being not only over-choreographed, but theirs is more interpretive dance than pop choreography. N Sync’s choreography from Bye Bye Bye is a better balance — interpretive in parts, hip-hop in others. The thing I will say is, if you read the English translation of the lyrics to “Fake Love”, and you’re into poetry, woo boy. I wish American songs were that poetic. Beautiful imagery. Even the rapping in it is more pretty poetry than punchlines. And they know how to structure their songs well. They’re like Taylor Swift in that way. So, I don’t know. Maybe we’re just getting old.

Hope Old Town Road does make history. I kind of love the wrongness of that happening. Lil Nas X isn’t really that compelling on a talent level. He’s got two things working against him in hip-hop: he’s gay and he’s from the new school of SoundCloud rap that’s moreso AutoTuned singing that rapping. Like a Travis Scott knock-off. Plus, he came in on a scandal. But then he teamed with Billy Ray Cyrus, a past-his-prime country singer who hasn’t had a hit of his own in over twenty years. And together these two score a cross-platform hit that is not only perfection in both of their respective genres, but makes history. I’m excited for both of them. Especially if they take down Despacito. I never once tried to listen to that song but it was everywhere. Just that 1-800 song with Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid and Girls Like You by Maroon 5 and Cardi B. Speaking of whom, how do you guys feel about Ed Sheeran releasing the remix of “Shape of You” with Camila Cabello and Cardi B? [checks notes] Oh, sorry. I meant “South of the Border”? The triple entendre being that he’s singing about sex, collaborating with two women of Caribbean heritage (Cuba and Dominican Republic), and going on vacation. Get it? It’s good, huh? Huh? Yeah, no. That whole Frodo Baggins-meets-Jason Mraz, Hi-I’m-A-Busker-With-Unkempt-Hair-And-Dope-Rhymes-For-A-White-Guy thing is wearing suuuper thin. You don’t sound like a lover man; you sound like you’re proposing to take a girl out to lunch.

Of course. My point was just that Taylor has probably made the money she’s going to make from her past work. She’s come out the other side of a record deal and multi-millionaire. Her work will always be out there, but my point is, people tend to move on more quickly than they used to. Taylor seems smart and has good people around her, so I think she can understand that. Why give up a substantial amount of wealth now in the hopes you’ll recoup that back off your old work? And if you were that concerned, why not re-up with the label that made you a star and at least own your work at the end of the day? Which is probably more BS spin from her side, because if the entire reason she left is to bet on her future in part because she knew the company was going to be sold, how did she not have a chance to buy the label if she had the means to do it? If she could get some investors to outbid Scooter, the shareholders would’ve been obligated, née legally required, to consider her bid. She’s playing dumb because she hates that Scooter Braun owns the label and thus her masters that she was fine with leaving behind. I can understand her consternation over her masters. I think Scott had a fully legitimate reason to not just sell them to her, because catalog is bread and butter to any label but especially an indie label, and I think she’s being disingenuous because the unwashed masses don’t know how the record industry works or how business in general works, but still...I get it even if I can’t side with her. The “I didn’t have a chance to buy the label” bit is just ridiculous, and it kinda makes me question her purse even more. It’s possible they gave her a price, she couldn’t negotiate it down and couldn’t raise the money, so she had to negotiate to own them conditionally (hence the idea that they said she would earn her masters one by one if she re-signed) but their offer still wasn’t good enough.

That doesn’t contradict what I said. Taylor would’ve had to put up a lot of money to buy her masters outright. Even if we assume she has access to that much cash, and no one was trying to outbid her, you have to think a few steps ahead. There’s no guarantee she’s going to make all that money back, even if she does well at Republic and continues to collect on her back catalog. That’s why I said she probably couldn’t afford to do it even if she had the money. And furthermore, owning masters used to be more lucrative than it is now, because there are so many more artists, major label acts going indie, people not buying albums like they used to, and radio not being as big as it once was. Michael Jackson and the Beatles and Madonna and Elvis have catalogs that still make a lot of money to this day, but they’re of a different time. Taylor Swift is a big artist, but let’s take a slightly cynical view for a second: how many of Taylor’s old songs do you care about hearing again? And I mean in a way that would net her some serious cash, like product placements and whatnot, not if you really like “Mine” and go listen to it in Spotify every now and then. Ahem.