Music of the Century

Pop music seems to have taken a turn for the worst. Today it’s all about the bass and not about actually making good music. Songs are mediocre at best. Even music videos, something that is supposed to help create a message of the song and advertise it seems to be lacklustre. Have musicians just got lazy or am I missing something?

(Side note: Didn't you expect her to be fatter? I did, I expected this...

Damn I actually understand the song now)

Cheryl 'Who am I?' Tweedy Cole Tweedy Fernandez-Versini

Listen to Cheryl Fernandez-Versini's new song "I Don't Care". It is a horrible song with very repetitive lyrics. The song does have a really catchy tune and is easy to grasp, yet the lyrics seem cheap, even for a Cheryl song, "Waking up diagonal like an animal in a cold and empty bed". Really Cheryl? You are better than that! We understand you had a horrible break up and you don't care anymore, you had something with 'Fight for this Love' and 'Parachute', but this has just gotten ridiculous. "I heard you brought that girl around in half a gown and asked if I've been there, oh yeah" what does that even mean, did you already sleep with the girl before your ex got with her? It seems like our Cheryl is not even trying to make a decent song anymore.
Take a look at the music video, I'm pretty sure it has the same 4 or 5 clips of Cheryl dancing on a boat or a beach on loop. For trying to copy Taylor Swifts "Sake it off" I don't think it deserves number 1 nor does it deserve the award. I was hoping more from Cheryl.

Using Cheryl as an example most people would agree it is not a good song, so why is it popular? Why does it get awards? Why does Cheryl break UK history for an album that is so poorly done? it is an insult to the Queen? Most artists want to break into the "UK top 40", I would hardly call it that anymore. If it was actually judged on quality of the song rather than quantity of sales probably more than half of those "Number 1" artists wouldn't even be able to be called that and would still be doing small gigs. Take Maroon 5 and One Republic, both great artists who dramatically changed their sound from actually songs with a message to pop garbage. The term "sell out" should be ringing about now. If you listen to early Maroon 5 and One Republic they actually have a nice sound and songs that people actually would listen too, not just scream "THIS IS MY SONG" after we had a few tequila shots. You can argue that they are trying something new and it works since they are a Top 40 artists. I'll just use the word "Sell out" again, they sold their style to fit the popular image. Which is crank up that base and put in some Dubstep so when you hit the clubs you can hear your song.

EMA (Expected Music Awards)

Last weekend we saw the EMAs, hosted by the funny for the wrong reasons Nicki Minaj. The event went onto be dominated by One Direction, 5SOS and Arianna Grande. It was actually a great show to watch and we saw the great one hit wonder Kiesza do her hilarious dancing. We also got to see Anaconda by Nicki Minaj be performed, which was actually an obvious choice given the host. Now my problem with these "Award" Shows is that they don’t  seem to be accurate. As much as I don't like the heavily over played, very repetitive, highly irritating, past its date song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. As far as I am aware Justin Bieber has not really been on the charts this year or for as long as the other nominees seems people just vote blindly for who they like, but Justin Bieber? He is actually the Comedian musical version of Steve Carrell no talent but yet still very popular in their industry. It amazes me what people become famous for these days. *Cough* Kim Kardashian *Cough*.

 

Please don't steal my Talent

Now there is always a silver lining to all tragedies. Even though the front of the music industry is as South Park put it "Selling Sex to little girls" (Please tell me "Steal my Girl" by One Direction is not about a creepy obsessive boyfriend "I don't exist without her love" "She belongs to me". Yeah that is one step away fro stalker.) This song makes me think One Direction are he kind of guys who think they are in a relationship with a girl but when she actually gets a boyfriend they don't really understand and go around shooting up a school.

You can actually find some decent music if you search. And you get the benefit of looking "Indy" because you have a favourite band none of your other friends listen too. Now this is why I personally don't agree with Taylor Swift taking her music off of Spotify because that is actually how I found her music. Maybe have one or two albums or a few songs so you can sample the artist? I actually found a lot of cool music on Spotify that is not considered "UK Top 40 Material" although it should. Such as Shinedown, who are a Rock band from, funnily enough Florida. Imagine Dragons, Fun,  and loads of others just by looking on "Related artists" you can find yourself lost in a world you did not even know existed.

Music will always go into a flux and what is "OHMERGERD" may not be in a few years or months even. For example, what happened to Robin Thicke or Lady Gaga? He was like the shit back in 2012-13, from being grinded by Miley to having Pharrell as his music bitch. And has Lady Gaga finally been absorbed by her Gay army living on as a spiritual God?  I just hope the next evolution to music isn't simple, I pray people like Sam Smith, Adele, John Legend (potential one hit), Hozier actually raise the bar and musicians like Meghan Trainor, Sia, Magic! don't have a chance to even make it to the big leagues. Only time will tell but for now, all I can say is actually listen to the song, ask yourself "does this even make sense or is it just a catchy beat".

Lest we forget

I am a big X-Men fan and so I was really excited to hear that the new X-Men movie First Class was going to be released in a few months. The film industry spend millions on marketing and building up a huge hype proclaiming that "this will be the best movie of the year!" or something hyperbolic like that.

However, when I mentioned how keen I was to watch the movie, many friends said that it's not going to be good – even though they had not watched it yet since it was not even out in theatres. But they were adamant and loud in their opinions and advice that I should not watch it; that I should stick to movies that they recommended or liked. I did find some good reviews on Google that said "actually it was not a bad movie"; “it's an exciting and thrilling movie" and "that it went in a new direction than the previous three X-Men”. But who do you trust? The minority that says that its okay to watch this movie as you may like it or the vast loud majority that claim that X-Men: First Class was intolerable and Matthew Vaughn should be hung for directing such a bad film. So I end up thinking that maybe I shouldn't even bother watching it.

But what if I did watch the movie? What if I watched it and I liked it? Everyone is saying this movie is bad yet I liked it. Does that make me weird? Different? Abnormal? Strange? Everyone will probably say that I have a bad or odd taste in movies and I don't know what I am talking about. They will probably stop inviting me to hang out with them as we don't have the same taste in movies.

You can read all the reviews and listen to what your peers have to say but, at the end of the day, you won't know what movie you like until you tried it. And while X-Men: First Class may not have lived up to the hype, my life didn't change that dramatically from watching it. Although I did have to hear "How could you like such a horrible movie" over and over.

Just like anything, it all depends on your personal taste and preference.

I like it when some scientists say that "homosexuality is a mutation" as it makes me feel that I am an X-Man.

Being gay is similar to movies and peoples opinions of them. There are many sources that insist that being gay is wrong. They claim that it's not natural, its defies Natural Moral Law, it upsets God, it's disgusting. It is all very distressing when you think about it. But it is society that makes a big deal out of it. Out of nothing, really. 

Society dictates that if you are gay then you are a mistake. God's creation, yes, but with an anomalous result. Once a boy or a girl realises who they are, they are labelled as different, irregular and in some cases, a mistake. From my first thought of what it would be like to kiss a boy, my fear was that this made me different and being different meant that I would not be accepted into society and more important, my circle of friends. Not that I fancied any of them but I didn't want my being gay to define me or to be judged by that aspect of me. Could they not like me for me and not for my sexual preference?

The X-Men say that being a mutant does not make you any less of a human. And just like X-Men I am gifted with being different – I can either hide it and let it destroy me or accept who I am , stand proud and forgive those who hate me.

Society view what is different is automatically bad. In X-Men, Jubilee asks why people hate mutants and Storm replies "people fear what they do not understand". In X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), sets out on a mission to study, unite the human race and to eradicate mutants from Earth because he feels they are dangerous. Similarly, you can find pages and pages of (mostly) unresearched and poorly written drivel on how evil and dangerous gays are. A case in point is Craig James speeches in Texas - proving how narrow minded society really is. And this attitude is not just directed at gays but at anyone who is perceived to be different. 

Where is our Professor X who will show the Trasks of this world that, “yes we are different but we are not evil”.

God doesn't care. Why would He?

Because of one line in the Bible, many flaunt the argument that homosexuality offends God (Leviticus 20:13). I heard an argument (I think this oner was by the Westboro Church) which claims that the evil and suffering in the world today is God's way of punishing us because of certain choices some people make (homosexuality, Religious freedom, etc).

I cannot believe in a God that hates us because we are “loving thy neighbour”. Did Jesus not say "treat those how you would want to be treated"? So why does society not let people live their lives the way they want but require everyone to conform? What gives them the right to be the judge and the jury of what is normal or right? Why does two guys or two girls in a relationship threaten their status quo?

Who are we to pass God's judgement when we are all judged equally in God's eyes?

We have seen time and time again how narrow minded society and backwards thinking can lead to devastation. Hitler alienated Jews, Blacks, Gypsies, Gays, anyone who did not fit his idea of a perfect race. He claimed they were the devil, filthy vermin living off of the wealth of Germany. When in fact those Jews, Blacks, Gypsies, Gays, and anyone who didn't fit his Aryan world were just Germans, who because of a confused, angry society, lost their home and identity. Hitler corrupted the minds of millions of Germans with hate, many of whom did not even understand why they hated.

Lest We Forget

Once a year "#lestweforget" trends on social media worldwide. The hypocrisy is that while we remember those who have died, we conveniently forget the cause they were fighting for. They died fighting for our freedom to live as individuals, to not be persecuted or suppressed for personal choices, like sexual orientation and religious beliefs. But their death may have been in vain because the way some politicians and "humans" judge and hate others proves that we are still shackled to the ignorance and hate that dictates our culture and society.