The lyrics for this “song” have been circulating around for a while now. And now there’s a video to boot. For those who thought the lyrics were actually serious, fear not. They are but a parody on the over-sexualizing in the music industry today, be it American pop or Lebanese music.
Trust me, I wanted to dismiss this as a gimmick but they do have a point, somehow, somewhere.
For non-Lebanese readers, the title “7assesne enne rkhisa” translates to “Make Me Feel Cheap,” which is how the people who did this believe music nowadays represents women.
Check the video:
I’m sure it won’t put a dent in the trend of music today. But at least people are noticing that there are less and less songs you can listen to with another person on radio without feeling awkward about their content. Case in point: Rihanna’s latest album has more than numerous proclamations of “F*** me.” Even the reviewers of that album said they felt self-conscious listening to it. I did not bother reviewing it.
Guess I’ll return to my safe country music bubble now. Good Girl, anyone?
And just when we thought the whole Lara Fabian saga is behind us, it looks like the story refuses to go away. Lara Fabian is coming for her concerts on valentine’s day and February 15th after all, according to a very heated article reposted by Lebanon Files from Al Akhbar (The article comprises the sentences: Lara Fabian not coming to the country that got Israel to kneel, etc…). You only need to read the last paragraph to see exactly how much they hate her.
Briefly, Fabian and her crew got visas to enter the country, Virgin Megastores are still selling tickets and the billboards on highways have not been removed.
I won’t go into how ridiculous and absolutely hilarious I think the statements containing “usurping entity” and “concert” in the same syntax. But this is going to be interesting to watch. And for those of us who simply can’t afford to splurge on Lara Fabian, time to bring out the pop corn and watch.
As she had hinted before, Carrie Underwood wasn’t misleading her fans. Her first single off her upcoming album is indeed titled: “Good Girl,” as Carrie announced via a video shared exclusively with members of her fan club.
Good Girl is one of the titles included in the list of songs I had posted before that Carrie had co-wrote for the 4th album. You can check the full list here. The song was written by Carrie Underwood, Ashley Gorley and Chris DeStefano. Previous hits of the former include Carrie Underwood’s own “All-American Girl” and the latter has cuts such as “Let Me Down” on Kelly Clarkson’s newest album, Stronger.
I’m personally not a big fan of the title. However, after Carrie’s own comments regarding the material on this album being darker, edgier and among the best she’s ever written, I don’t think the single will disappoint. I think the title will most probably be wordplay à la “Crazy Girl” by Ely Young Band: “Crazy girl, don’t you know that I love you… I love you like crazy, girl.” Although I do expect Carrie’s material to be much more interesting than that. Her enthusiasm about the song is enough to signal so.
I do, however, love the single cover:
Yup, Carrie Underwood’s a “good girl” and she’s flaunting it.
Here’s the online confirmation:
And the video from the Fan Club:
The song will be sent for adds on Country radio on February 23rd. And according to this description by Country Music is Love, the song is “pretty rocking.”
Or you can read Carrie’s own words about it:
“We went into the writing session thinking we need to write something that just kicks butt, and Chris DeStefano, one of the writers is — I call him a little mad scientist on all of his Pro Tools stuff — he, like, plays every instrument you could possibly think of, and he, like, started makin’ this track, and we started…we just went. It was fast. We wrote it fast, and it’s just fun! It’s upbeat, it’s fun, you stomp your feet, and you can dance to it. It’s got this really rockin’ verse, and this really, like, rockin’ country chorus. So, it’s just a really cool song.”
Taylor Swift’s follow up to her #1 country hit, Sparks Fly (check my review) is a song off the deluxe version of her album, Speak Now, titled Ours.
“Elevator buttons and morning air,” she sings sweetly as the song opens up. “Strangers’ silence makes me wanna take the stairs. If you were here, we’d laugh about their vacant stares but right now, my time is theirs. Seems like there’s always someone who disapproves. They’ll judge it like they know about me and you. And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do. The jury’s out but my choice is you.”
Then she breaks into the chorus, the background of which is a happy melody that goes well in hand with the lyrics she’s painting: “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine and life makes love look hard. The stakes are high, the water’s rough but this love is ours.”
Ours‘ highlight comes in the form of the song’s bridge, which is sort of typical for Taylor’s songs – she leaves her best songwriting skills to that part of the song: “And it’s not theirs to speculate if it’s wrong and your hands are tough but they are where mine belong and I’ll fight their doubt and give you faith with this song for you. Cause I love the gap between your teeth and I love the riddles that you speak. And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored, cause my heart is yours.”
Ours has an infectious happy melody that, like many of Taylor’s uptempo songs and whether you like them or not, you’ll find stuck in your head. You may not like the song and you may switch the channel if it comes on the radio but after random repeated plays, you’ll find that you actually know the melody to it. It’s a simple tune, it’s a happy tune. It’s a tune very easy to memorize.
Many have spoken highly of Taylor’s songwriting skills on Ours. And well, Taylor Swift is a great songwriter in her own merit. She manages to turn a subject, which most other songwriters would turn into a cliche-ridden song, into something fun, breezy and happy. Even her vocal delivery, which many people say is subpar, works for this song because it’s the type of songs that actually sounds better not sung perfectly. The little mistakes here and there, the laughs spread throughout help Ours have soul. In fact, Ours mostly works because Taylor’s singing it. Had any other artist taken on this song, it would have sounded like a big mess of sappy lyrics and forcibly uptempo melody. Ours is as it is because of Swift’s delivery.
So for all matters and purposes, Ours is a fine song. It’s definitely not the best Taylor has written and it’s definitely not the best choice for a single off an album that has songs like “Enchanted” still left on its track list. Ours lacks the freshness that was in Mean and it lacks the immediate hit that was Sparks Fly. But it’s Taylor Swift so of course it won’t fizzle away and die on country radio like the songs of almost every other female country artist (with the exception of Carrie Underwood).
Perhaps after having a good radio streak, Taylor Swift should have went for broke and released the best song on “Speak Now,” this little song titled Enchanted which no one cannot like. I find it weird that they had to revert to a bonus track on the deluxe edition of the album, which until recently wasn’t even available everywhere in the US. And the sad thing is, Ours isn’t even the best bonus track.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 