The Sounds of Our Lives (formerly General Music Discussion)

[vibeology]

22 hours ago, 27bored said:

ETA: I've heard people say "Run Away With Me" by Carly Rae Jepsen is one of the best pop songs in years. It's strangely addictive, but is it that good?

Yes it is. That whole album is just damn good pop music. 

[UYI]

22 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Isn't Sara Baraellies the one who sings that nonsense song Brave that they use in that car commercial? Because if so, thanks for letting me put a name to that annoyance. :-)

That's her. To be fair, she's also responsible for this:

[UYI]

On 4/4/2017 at 2:05 AM, GaT said:

Not really anything to do with anything, but I think it's interesting that Miranda Lambert got her big break on Nashville Star, & Carrie Underwood got hers on American Idol. They're both from reality competition shows.

The fact that Miranda finished third though--and of course, that NS is MUCH less well-known than AI--probably made it easier for her to avoid much cynicism towards her being a "reality show" singer. Then again, I'd argue Carrie's completely removed that label, too, and she won!

I think what has kept Miranda in the critics' better graces than Carrie is that her work is seen as largely being a lot cohesive; her albums are largely seen as having less filler--and Miranda writes more of her music than Carrie does, so I think a lot of people see her music as being more personal and meaningful. And while Miranda has gone to the pop country well to some extent over the years, she's done it MUCH less than Carrie (who has done it to the point that a lot of people think her singles shouldn't even really be called country at all, but of course, that's a problem that almost everyone in mainstream country is guilty of now; not that that's a good thing).

So even though Carrie has by far the better voice and range* (and the higher album/ticket sales overall, for that matter), I can see how some see Miranda's strengths as being the better ones.

*That said, there are times when Carrie hits high notes that make it sound like she's screaming. There's belting, and then there's full-on assault, and IMO she crosses that line a bit too often on certain songs. If there's one thing that would make me prefer Miranda's voice to Carrie's, it's that--well, that, and I think Miranda has a gift for putting the right kind of emotion into a song, even if she doesn't have the biggest range in terms of her voice. And there's no mistaking her voice when you hear one of her songs, either. 

Edited April 5, 2017 by UYI

[Ohwell]

I've always thought that "Before He Cheats" should have been sung by Miranda Lambert instead of Carrie Underwood.

[UYI]

One year later without Merle. Today would have also been his 80th birthday, I guess his death got a little bit lost in the shuffle outside the country world once Prince died a few weeks later, but I haven't forgotten.

[CaughtOnTape]

Harry Styles new solo....

Wow...wasn't expecting that.  Don't know what I was expecting but not that.  Talk about taking a risk.

It's beautiful.

[KatWay]

I quite like the Harry Styles song myself. Quite a risk to debut with a rock ballad if you look at the top 40 but it's a beautiful song (could be shorter though).

I wonder if we'll see the first time the charts are affected by a streaming malfunction, I read an article today how his song glitched on Spotify? Considering how big Spotify's influence on the offical charts is, that could be very unfortunate for him. Must be frustrating to lose momentum due to a technical error of all things.

[Dejana]

On 4/3/2017 at 9:53 PM, 27bored said:

As for Carrie, good for her. That article said her label pushed Miranda Lambert more than her? That seems...crazy. Like, I believe it's true, but why?

 

I've seen speculation that it was due to the original Idol contract--Carrie's profits had to be split with the Idol imprint label (19 Recordings), so even if she had bigger sales, Sony may very well have made more money off of Miranda.

 

 

Hearing the song and its lyrics puts the images of Harry filming the video into more context. I would say it makes sense now, except, I'm sure the look he's going for could have been achieved with green screen (and much less personal risk)!

[27bored]

That makes sense regarding Carrie's profits having to be split with 19E. I'm surprised there wasn't a similar setup with Miranda considering she came from Nashville Star, though.

I can also see why Miranda would come off like a true artist rather than just a big voiced diva like Carrie, but I think Carrie...ain't Miranda, and that's a good thing. Meaning, Carrie's not a spitfire, bad-girl, nor is she a trend bucking auteur. She's always been marketed and I think content in being the new millennium Faith Hill/Martina McBride. Even when she does growl and strut, it's all a bit of play acting. Miranda looks like she'll actually cut a bitch so maybe that's more compelling.

One thing I do know about Carrie's music, and maybe this will slow down as she gets older or works with different producers, is that they love to give Carrie big productions where she kinda has to sing to the rafters. Not a lot of stark, spare arrangements on Carrie's albums. 

While I think it's smart to market Carrie with one foot in the adult-contemporary lane, because Carrie's always been an 80s power ballad singer at heart, I do think she should try for a more strictly country effort next time out. She has the fan base and chops to pull it off.

ETA: Isn't it funny that for all the talk of phoniness, Kellie Pickler wound up making the most authentic country record of the AI alums? And, though I definitely think Carrie's a better singer, 100 Proof is better than any of Carrie's records.

Edited April 9, 2017 by 27bored

[truthaboutluv]

On April 7, 2017 at 2:55 PM, CaughtOnTape said:

Harry Styles new solo....

Wow...wasn't expecting that.  Don't know what I was expecting but not that.  Talk about taking a risk.

It's beautiful.

It's definitely not what I was expecting and yes, that is a good thing. And I can definitely hear the John Lennon/Beatles inspiration. When I first heard it, I wondered how it would play to his One Direction fanbase but then I remembered that for many of these people, Harry could have just put out a single where he said nothing and they'd think it was amazing. And sure enough, it flew up the iTunes charts.

 

Quote

ETA: Isn't it funny that for all the talk of phoniness, Kellie Pickler wound up making the most authentic country record of the AI alums? And, though I definitely think Carrie's a better singer, 100 Proof is better than any of Carrie's records.

As I recall, the accusations of Pickler's phoniness wasn't in regard to her being authentically country but it was regarding her dumb blonde naive country girl schtick that became a main part of her time on Idol. 

Edited April 9, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[UYI]

2 hours ago, 27bored said:

 

ETA: Isn't it funny that for all the talk of phoniness, Kellie Pickler wound up making the most authentic country record of the AI alums? And, though I definitely think Carrie's a better singer, 100 Proof is better than any of Carrie's records.

I LOVE Kellie. She deserves MUCH more attention. She has become more traditionally country as her career has gone on, and while it hasn't equaled large record sales for her, at least she's getting critical acclaim. And maybe her vocal range isn't QUITE as large as Carrie's, but she's still a pretty damn good singer herself. 

This performance from the CMAs in 2007 gets to me every time. It's the song about her mom, who abandoned her when she was two or three years old.
 

Edited April 9, 2017 by UYI

[Dejana]

7 hours ago, 27bored said:

That makes sense regarding Carrie's profits having to be split with 19E. I'm surprised there wasn't a similar setup with Miranda considering she came from Nashville Star, though.

I can also see why Miranda would come off like a true artist rather than just a big voiced diva like Carrie, but I think Carrie...ain't Miranda, and that's a good thing. Meaning, Carrie's not a spitfire, bad-girl, nor is she a trend bucking auteur. She's always been marketed and I think content in being the new millennium Faith Hill/Martina McBride. Even when she does growl and strut, it's all a bit of play acting. Miranda looks like she'll actually cut a bitch so maybe that's more compelling.

One thing I do know about Carrie's music, and maybe this will slow down as she gets older or works with different producers, is that they love to give Carrie big productions where she kinda has to sing to the rafters. Not a lot of stark, spare arrangements on Carrie's albums. 

While I think it's smart to market Carrie with one foot in the adult-contemporary lane, because Carrie's always been an 80s power ballad singer at heart, I do think she should try for a more strictly country effort next time out. She has the fan base and chops to pull it off.

ETA: Isn't it funny that for all the talk of phoniness, Kellie Pickler wound up making the most authentic country record of the AI alums? And, though I definitely think Carrie's a better singer, 100 Proof is better than any of Carrie's records.

Miranda came in third on Nashville Star, which never as big as Idol anyway. The winner still got a recording contact from whatever label the show was affiliated with at the time, but there was never an entity equivalent to 19 getting a cut of the post-show careers of NS contestants.

Carrie seems to relegate her non-revenge anthem, non-inspirational ballads to album cuts. Her albums are a bit more varied than her singles would indicate, though she hasn't really gone the traditional country path, either, save some Opry and award show performances. I agree she's not Miranda and that's fine, her approach to music is completely different and a "deeply personal" album from Carrie would probably end up with 90% of those Hallmark-y songs she adores:

 

 

 

The song she co-wrote about her hometown as spirited, at least:

[27bored]

Quote

As I recall, the accusations of Pickler's phoniness wasn't in regard to her being authentically country but it was regarding her dumb blonde naive country girl schtick that became a main part of her time on Idol.

Eh, that is true regarding her time in Idol, but it definitely followed her to the industry afterward. I think a lot of people didn't take her seriously until 100 Proof. Kellie's always seemed more or less authentic to me, whatever that means. She seemed like a sweet, country girl -- guileless, plucky, kinda corny -- but knows how to get by in life by charming people. She had a decent, if fairly unremarkable voice, and was pretty in a teen pageant kind of way, but she wasn't poised. And given that her mom left and her dad is a jailbird, it made sense that she would learn a certain amount of grit and get-by because she basically came from nothing. I just thought, at least on paper, that she'd make a better country artist than say Carrie. I think Carrie's fairly real too, but I mean, Carrie had a major label deal on the table when she was 14, she had gone to college, performed all around, came from a relatively stable family, etc. She was way more put together than Pickler, but she didn't have to deal with the phony rumors as much. 

Plus, Carrie's music is like a strawberry margarita, if we're keeping with the drink analogy. Strawberry magaritas are good if you want to drink but don't like the taste of booze. Likewise, Carrie's good if you just want a little country in your life.

Edited April 9, 2017 by 27bored

[UYI]

I will say that I am a big fan of the songs "Blown Away" and "Church Bells". I like those two songs a lot. And yes, "Before He Cheats" is fun too, lol.

And "Something in the Water" is very beautiful.

On her last tour, she would perform "I Will Always Love You" during each show, in the manner that Dolly Parton originally performed it, and I have to say, despite sometimes being a little too yelly (I'm turning into a technical term :P) on the bigger notes sometimes, I like the way she performed this song in particular.

[GaT]

I was still watching Idol back when Carrie was on it, & I actually remember Simon Cowell saying she was going to win very early in the competition, & also that she would sell more records than any other Idol winner. I was pretty impressed when she actually turned out to be a huge country star.

[Bastet]

On 4/9/2017 at 3:47 PM, UYI said:

On her last tour, she would perform "I Will Always Love You" during each show, in the manner that Dolly Parton originally performed it,

Okay, I almost gave up on that, because the first 30 seconds or so were doing nothing for me, but I stuck with it and that was, indeed, an enjoyable rendition.  It has nothing on Dolly's (1974 or 1982), of course - but what does, other than Whitney Houston's version, which was basically its own song - but I, knowing her only from Before He Cheats (which I love) and her MNF anthem (which I don't) - liked it.

[27bored]

Switching gears for a second, I know everybody hates The Chainsmokers, but...is it okay to like "Closer"? And I also think I could possibly like "Don't Let Me Down" if it had a different female singer -- Daya is...a whole lot of heavy dark makeup and Joey Potter hair and Lourde redux -- and live instrumentation, it could be a pretty good club track.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, 27bored said:

Switching gears for a second, I know everybody hates The Chainsmokers, but...is it okay to like "Closer"? 

NO

[WendyCR72]

Hey, I like "Closer"...by Nine Inch Nails.

[Silver Raven]

3 hours ago, GaT said:

NO

Why not?  I like it a lot.

 

And no, not everybody hates The Chainsmokers.

[UYI]

14 hours ago, 27bored said:

Switching gears for a second, I know everybody hates The Chainsmokers, but...is it okay to like "Closer"? And I also think I could possibly like "Don't Let Me Down" if it had a different female singer -- Daya is...a whole lot of heavy dark makeup and Joey Potter hair and Lourde redux -- and live instrumentation, it could be a pretty good club track.

If Todd in the Shadows could name "Closer" as his number one pick for his Top Ten Best Songs list last year (oops, spoiler alert if you haven't seen that video yet), you can like this song. And so do I.

(And trust me, he got a LOT of blowback from his fans for doing that, but he did it anyway.) 

It's spelled "Lorde", though. No "u". :)

Today is Loretta Lynn's 85th birthday, and yet she just announced that she's releasing a new album! She will live to be over 100, and still be recording, I'm calling it now.

Edited April 14, 2017 by UYI

[Hanahope]

I think "Closer" is ok, its just getting overplayed, like so many other songs.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Heard this on Music Choice for the first time today, and was very surprised to find that it was actually not Trace Adkins.

[UYI]

I was a little late in listening to it, but Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" is legitimately good, good enough that an honest to God real rock song has a shot of being at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 again. It's been a very long time (as in decades) since that's happened (I don't count Maroon 5 or Coldplay as rock bands personally), Harry Styles being a former teen pop star may just actually be the shot in the arm that mainstream rock so desperately needs, one he can provide on a wider level that an otherwise good but still underground rock band might struggle to do. 

Actually, I'm curious if the song will find airplay on alternative rock stations, too; it would be a shoo-in if it were by someone less mainstream. 

[cpcathy]

I was impressed by Sign of the Times, like, sincerely impressed. I think Harry will go far on his own. I don't think he's rock though.

[Silver Raven]

2 hours ago, UYI said:

I was a little late in listening to it, but Harry Styles' "Sign of the Times" is legitimately good, good enough that an honest to God real rock song has a shot of being at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 again. It's been a very long time (as in decades) since that's happened (I don't count Maroon 5 or Coldplay as rock bands personally), Harry Styles being a former teen pop star may just actually be the shot in the arm that mainstream rock so desperately needs, one he can provide on a wider level that an otherwise good but still underground rock band might struggle to do. 

Actually, I'm curious if the song will find airplay on alternative rock stations, too; it would be a shoo-in if it were by someone less mainstream. 

twenty one pilots were number one for a while there.

[UYI]

18 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

twenty one pilots were number one for a while there.

Not on the Billboard Hot 100 (and of course there's debate as to whether or not they count more as hip hop than rock--it's complicated, if you ask me). They only reached number two with "Stressed Out." Maybe they reached number one on the ROCK charts (such as they are these days), but that's a different thing. And Hozier's "Take Me To Church" in 2014 only made it to the bridesmaid position, too.

I GUESS fun.'s "We Are Young" and Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" both hitting number one in 2012 back to back are borderline examples, but the latter at least strikes me a bit more as Indie Pop than rock. 

Edited April 20, 2017 by UYI

[27bored]

I heard Dont Worry About A Thing by Tori Kelly. Love her, think she's about the closest thing we have to a young Christina, but...this song needs better production. It sounds like a pop remake of a 70s R&B song, and that doesn't work. It needs more lyric singing and less scatting. I like jazz groove, but the rhythm and groove doesn't keep up through the whole song.

Also, as a pop music nerd with a weird memory, Tori's scale-climbing run in the middle of the song sounds eerily similar to Cuando No Es Contigo by Christina Aguilera. 3:44. I'm sure Tori's heard it, so I don't know if it's a total coincidence.

Edited April 26, 2017 by 27bored

[AimingforYoko]

21 hours ago, 27bored said:

It sounds like a pop remake of a 70s R&B song

Covers are tricky. You shouldn't do a note-for-note reproduction, but unless you're realllly confident, you probably shouldn't stray too far either.

[MyAimIsTrue]

On ‎4‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 9:34 PM, 27bored said:

I heard Dont Worry About A Thing by Tori Kelly. Love her, think she's about the closest thing we have to a young Christina, but...this song needs better production. It sounds like a pop remake of a 70s R&B song, and that doesn't work

I've never heard of Tori Kelly but that most definitely is a 70's remake as the song was originally done by Stevie Wonder, and it's one of my favorites by him.

[27bored]

Duuuude. So, I'm being totally serious when I say I didn't know that that was an actual song. Right after I posted that, I watched the video again and read some of the comments. One of the commenters said Stevie Wonder wrote it and I was like, "oh cool. Stevie Wonder wrote a song for "Sing" and they got Tori Kelly to sing it." I didn't think that was one of his songs. It sounds like one of his now that I listen to it. I'm dense.

I still stand by what I said with that run, though. I think Tori straight jacked that from Christina.

[WendyCR72]

"Don't Worry 'Bout A Thing" was used in Silver Linings Playbook when Tiffany and Pat had their dance competition. Funny that it is a Stevie Wonder tune since, ironically, in the movie, Pat would go batshit crazy if he heard My Cherie Amour, a song associated with his ex-wife.

In the book the movie was based on, the song was different. In the book, the song Pat flipped his lid to was..."Songbird" by Kenny G. I guess that didn't translate to film.  :-P

[27bored]

What are some criticisms/advice you have for the music industry? Why do you think they can't sell music anymore? Why do you think streaming is taking over? Why can't artists make any money except from touring?

I have many things to say about this subject, but I'll start with what I think is the biggest impediment to selling music: ageism. The industry has spent decades trying to figure out what the next big thing is for the kids, but they haven't realized that the Internet is the great equalizer. Now you need to know what the next big thing is PERIOD. They need to stop trying to market music to the 18-24 demographic so heavily as though people over the age of 30 don't listen to music. All they have to do is look at the success of Adele to see that that's not the case. It's hard for new artists to make in-roads because they're so busy trying to get the "kids" invested. Not only do they market to the demographic with little to no incentive to pay for music  -- because they've grown up in a world where that wasn't a thing -- but they're marketing to a demographic who couldn't afford it anyway.

[AimingforYoko]

13 hours ago, 27bored said:

It sounds like one of his now that I listen to it. I'm dense.

No, you just need to get off our lawn.

[MyAimIsTrue]

On ‎4‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 8:59 PM, 27bored said:

Duuuude. So, I'm being totally serious when I say I didn't know that that was an actual song. Right after I posted that, I watched the video again and read some of the comments. One of the commenters said Stevie Wonder wrote it and I was like, "oh cool. Stevie Wonder wrote a song for "Sing" and they got Tori Kelly to sing it." I didn't think that was one of his songs. It sounds like one of his now that I listen to it. I'm dense.

You're not dense, I'm old!  But seriously listen to Stevie's version as it's a masterpiece in my opinion.

[WendyCR72]

It was just announced today that SiriusXM is launching a McCartney/Starr-approved all Beatles Channel, starting on May 18th! Think it will be Channel 18.  :-)

[Sandman87]

On Sunday, March 26, 2017 at 7:00 PM, 27bored said:

Oh geez. So now everybody wants to be gay for Katy Perry? She really has hypnotized everybody with her big stupid boobs. It's my fault for not impressing upon everyone the gravity of the situation.

 

I see what you did there.

[MyAimIsTrue]

15 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

It was just announced today that SiriusXM is launching a McCartney/Starr-approved all Beatles Channel, starting on May 18th! Think it will be Channel 18.  :-)

This might be what pushes me over the top to buy SiriusXM!! 

[Snowball II]

Miley Cyrus seems to be changing her sound and look.  In fact, now she dresses more like Minnie Mouse...

http://people.com/music/miley-cyrus-responds-backlash-hip-hop/

Okay, so, did Miley "wear hip-hop culture like a costume" the way some of these people say, or was she being genuine at the time?  Is she changing because no one cares about her anymore, or am I just being a cynical old lady?

[NutMeg]

I think the craziness of sex-and-drugs-and-rock-and-roll is very much a thing of the past in most cases because most artists actually work on their image rather than letting an image be put on them. Reading about singers/bands of yore, I think the current bunch is much less colourful, which is probably why they work hard to project and "edgy", and/or "rock and roll" image. Singers today look the part of the talented but misunderstood artist, while being anything but. Image over substance. Even the most talented of the young bunch are so painstakingly working at their image in order to look "bad", which is ironic, as real rockers of the past were loved despite being "bad".

Lady Gaga is an interesting case and probably a (lone) exception. She worked on her image like the best of them for a while, until it was so high that she could afford to be and do anything she wanted to, and finally showcase her vocal pipes if and when she wanted to. I think her image management is up there with the best.      

[truthaboutluv]

2 hours ago, Hrairoo said:

Okay, so, did Miley "wear hip-hop culture like a costume" the way some of these people say, or was she being genuine at the time?  Is she changing because no one cares about her anymore, or am I just being a cynical old lady?

No, you're not being cynical. You're just wise to her little con game. Don't worry, many called it during her Bangerz era when all her little fellow white minions defended her and accused black people of being racist when they called out her appropriation of hip hop/urban culture for profit. But that more importantly that her idea of hip hop/urban culture was extremely vulgar and sexually outrageous, as if that is what hip hop and urban music automatically equated to.

And many predicted that once she was done exploiting it for her benefit and no one cared anymore, she'd revert right back to the comforts of her white privilege. As soon as it was confirmed she and Liam were back together, everyone saw the writing on the wall. That slowly the outrageous outfits would go away, the hair would change and eventually we'd hear about how she'd evolved and grew and that little "black" phase would be over.

And sure enough, in her new interview, she's deriding hip hop and rap music with this sweeping, generalization comment:

Quote

But I also love that new Kendrick [Lamar] song [“Humble”]: “Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks.” I love that because it’s not “Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.” I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock” -- I am so not that.

First, I love that she of course references Kendrick because he's the most lauded and respected hip hop/rap artist out right now. In other words, she probably has never listened to an album or an entire song of his but to pretend she actually knows what she's talking about, he's the easy reference to make. But the worse part of this statement is the gall of Miley to talk about being over the hip hop scene because of its offensive elements when this is the girl who not only embraced but basically perpetuated every awful, misogynistic and sexually offensive aspect of what some view hip hop/rap to be.

All in the name of her expressing herself and owning her sexuality and "just being Miley and real". She shook her non-existent ass every chance she got, simulated oral sex on stage, fingered herself on stage, talked about her weed, molly and ecstasy and basically perpetuated every negative stereotype of hip hop and urban music while laughing all the way to the bank when her fanbase of equally white privileged girls ate it all up. And suddenly now that she's back to embracing her "roots", she wants to talk about the offensive aspects of the genre and culture?

I rarely get so fired up about celebrity stuff. But as a black woman who watched as Miley pulled all her shit and so many other white people ate it up and accused black people of playing the race card when they tried to explain why what she was doing was so offensive and problematic, I sincerely say that Miley can kindly go fuck herself.  I hope her "returning to her roots" album flops hard and she and her nasally, annoying ass voice disappears. 

Edited May 6, 2017 by truthaboutluv

[Snowball II]

Whatever happened to the album Miley released for free?  I don't remember anyone talking about it.  I would assume that even if it wasn't being promoted for financial reasons people would still talk about it if it was any good, but I never heard a peep.  Was it even released, at all?

[UYI]

37 minutes ago, Hrairoo said:

Whatever happened to the album Miley released for free?  I don't remember anyone talking about it.  I would assume that even if it wasn't being promoted for financial reasons people would still talk about it if it was any good, but I never heard a peep.  Was it even released, at all?

It was streamed online.

I'm definitely somewhat cynical about this lifestyle change, but I'm also open to hearing her new music. I do think she's a genuinely talented singer, and while some of her quotes about country music were a bit...shallow, I'm still interested to see how things turn out. 

[Silver Raven]

Somebody has taken the entire "Sergeant Pepper" album, rewritten lyrics, and added clips from the original Star Wars film.  They call the entire thing "Princess Leia's Stolen Death Star Plans", after the first song in the list.

"Luke is in the Desert and Whining" makes my laugh, and "He's Leaving Home" makes me cry.

Link to the entire playlist:

[27bored]

Re: Miley: I also saw the change coming from a mile away. She wasn't going to be B.A.P.S Miley for long. It got old; it never was interesting. But that comment about Kendrick was stupid AF. First of all, if you don't want to hear the stunting and "misogyny" in rap, then how about listening to rappers who don't rap about that kind of shit. Plus, that's such an out-of-touch thing to say for a girl her age. The top rappers right now are Drake, Kendrick, and J. Cole and none of them rap like that. Even someone like Future isn't entirely about that as he's pretty big too. So WTF?

For fun, let's watch Miley embarrass herself by shouting "My Neck, My Back" (one of the most vulgar rap songs of the past twenty years) at a mostly disinterested crowd dressed as a butterfly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCqcCGq1k0g

[Bastet]

8 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

But I also love that new Kendrick [Lamar] song [“Humble”]: “Show me somethin’ natural like ass with some stretch marks.” I love that because it’s not “Come sit on my dick, suck on my cock.” I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock” -- I am so not that.

Oh, that's rich.  You've explained why better than I ever could, so I won't try to add anything, but this makes me so angry I have to echo, beyond awarding a "like" to your post, the WTFery of Cyrus now denouncing the sexism of hip hop and rap a) after going all in on, and thus joining in on profiting from, the worst of it, and b) behaving as if sexist lyrics are inherent in, and unique to, those genres.

[GaT]

10 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

No, you're not being cynical. You're just wise to her little con game. Don't worry, many called it during her Bangerz era when all her little fellow white minions defended her and accused black people of being racist when they called out her appropriation of hip hop/urban culture for profit. But that more importantly that her idea of hip hop/urban culture was extremely vulgar and sexually outrageous, as if that is what hip hop and urban music automatically equated to.

And many predicted that once she was done exploiting it for her benefit and no one cared anymore, she'd revert right back to the comforts of her white privilege. As soon as it was confirmed she and Liam were back together, everyone saw the writing on the wall. That slowly the outrageous outfits would go away, the hair would change and eventually we'd hear about how she'd evolved and grew and that little "black" phase would be over.

This is nothing new for her, when "Party in The USA" was huge, Miley admitted that not only had she never heard a Jay Z song, she didn't listen to pop music. 

Quote

"I've never heard a Jay-Z song. I don't listen to pop music," Cyrus answered. "['Party in the U.S.A.'] is not even my style of music. 

[UYI]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

This is nothing new for her, when "Party in The USA" was huge, Miley admitted that not only had she never heard a Jay Z song, she didn't listen to pop music. 

Jessie J wrote that song--she actually said once that that song paid her rent for three straight years, I'm assuming before she started to take off as a singer--so I guess the Jay Z part was all her.

I do think Miley has always been a Britney Spears fan, though--Britney was the other singer mentioned in the song. 

The Party in the USA thing bothers me less than the hip hop stuff, though, in large part because she was still a teenager (and a seemingly shamelessly one exploited by adults who should have known better, at that--much like Britney before her). 

Edited May 7, 2017 by UYI

[Silver Raven]

I hope nobody is trying to claim that Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood's new song is anything close to country.

[UYI]

15 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I hope nobody is trying to claim that Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood's new song is anything close to country.

 

Silver Raven, meet Trigger from Saving Country Music. He had this pegged back in February:

http://www.savingcountrymusic.com/keith-urbans-the-fighter-is-the-most-non-country-country-song-ever/

For what it's worth, I've seen "The Fighter" compared to THIS song. And with that, I guess I just Rickrolled the thread. Sorry. ;)

Edited May 8, 2017 by UYI