No particular reason for that title other than the fact it is the title of a song from the Scissor Sisters' new album and happens to be the best damn track on said album. Thank God for internet leaks is all I can say - but I'm being a good little fanboy and I bought the album anyway so hopefully they can power their way to another #1. The album itself comes out on Monday, which also happens to be the day that Jonny and I are descending upon the Manchester Apollo to see Mr. Shears, Mrs. Matronic and the rest of the band live. This will make it the third time I've seen them now, which might seem a lot, but oh it'll be worth it. I know that just based on the quality of their songs, the energy they always put in to performances, and some kind of intuition. Obviously, I'm psychic (oh, how I long to be Karen Smith...)
But, yes. A blog post. This post is actually mainly a way of updating the blog, since I feel like I sort of need to do it (as I haven't done it in a while). I also know that I probably will be without any great deal of internet until Monday, by which point I'll probably have no energy to write for the blog and therefore it'll probably go the route of my many, many other failed projects. The reason for this lack of internet will be my trip to Scotland to see Manic and Ryan, alongside Davey and Alex, which shall no doubt be a fun visit (the first time I've ever been to Scotland too, now that I think about it). Suffice to say my boyfriend's decision to shave his head the day before we go on said trip will no doubt result in my verbally castrating him at some point over the weekend, but all is fair in love and war. Oh, how I love that phrase.
I'm sort of in two clashing moods at the moment, which is something I've got used to over the past few months. The main mood is the one that I've been dragging around for the better part of a month at least; the one where I feel like there's some kind of black cloud constantly hanging around my head. It's bothering me that I can't shake it off, mainly because I don't know what it is that is getting me down - when I do know, I can generally work around it or cram it away in the cracks of my mind until I have my next massive emotional breakdown. Healthy way of dealing with things, I know, but I manage to get by. Thankfully, this is being offset for the immediate time being in the fact that I've got a good few things possibly lined up: Red Bull are offering the chance for one "young" reporter to travel to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, which could be an amazing opportunity if I manage to nab it (since doing the F1 coverage is probably my dream job out of all possible journalism based ventures). I also managed to forget that sitting right on my old doorstep of MGS was a possible link to a journalist's dream, as Michael Crick, the current editor of Newsnight, is a fellow "Old Mancuncian". My old Politics teacher reminded me of this fact when I went in to school today for a visit and suggested that if I wanted, he could perhaps inform Mr. Crick of my existence and potential for some experience alongside him for a couple of weeks. So, suddenly, I've gone from having nothing to do all summer to possibly getting a whole lot more lined up, which could work very well for my career.
It's 2.18 in the morning and the cows on the field near my house are mooing. If they keep me up, I swear that I'm going to go make some burgers for a very early breakfast.
The other thing that could take up a portion of my summer would be if Jonny and I actually did apply for, and successfully be casted on Coach Trip. It'd be an amazing experience in a way, even if we would have to share a coach with a load of reality TV wannabes and several horrific old couples. We already sort of have a strategy planned on the slender chance that we were cast. "The nice young wholesome boys who get on really well with the older couples, then bitch about them to the camera." I watch too much reality TV, really, because that's something I've seen played out so many times before. Oh well, though, it gets you casted.
Anyway, blog post over, more or less. In honour of the fact that I've started playing Final Fantasy VII again (yay for PSP) and getting further than I have in a long, long, loooong time on this game, I shall tack on "One Winged Angel" for the music tastes of today, alongside the entire Night Work album. Particular tracks from that would be "Whole New Way", "Fire With Fire", the aforementioned "Sex and Violence" and the wonders of Sir Ian McKellan on "Invisible Light". Toodles.
25/06/2010
13/06/2010
Music, makes the bourgeoisie...
I have to thank Steve Jobs a lot, really, for the following blog post. See, there was a time when I literally didn't give a shit about music. It all just seemed the same, kinda crappy stuff with the occasional song that I liked and I'd listen to it whenever it came on the radio. That all sort of changed back in like, 2004, when I discovered that, for some reason, my dad had got an iPod. The fact that he never used the iPod meant that I more or less commandeered it, and so began my obsession with music. Well, also my obsession with my iPods, because as many of you will probably know, I pretty much can't go out anywhere without my iPod. I have this need to listen to music, at least to be hearing something a lot of the day. I've developed the rather handy talent of being able to listen to my iPod with one earphone in, while still talking and listening with the other ear (something I proved to my great pleasure in Portugal last year). A lot of people question my music taste a lot of the time; to be fair, a lot of my taste in music is commercialised pop, but I don't care about that - I like it, that's what's important. I also have something of a female dominated musical taste: the only solo male performer in my music section on Facebook is Adam Lambert, which doesn't really say a lot (anyone who says Lady GaGa, that joke was barely funny this time last year, now it's just old and tired).
Music also has the ability to change my mood quite a bit. I also sort of have to listen to music that is relevant to my mood - so, for example, when I'm feeling oddly depressive or in some kind of relationship blue, I seem to end up listening to something like New York by Paloma Faith. For the uninformed, that song's all about her boyfriend having left her, which is a really positive thing you'd want to be hearing when something relationship-wise isn't going as planned. When I was walking around New York at the start of this year, I found myself having to actually put Empire State of Mind on repeat, because I kept on interrupting whatever song was on the iPod to change it back to ESoM. Sometimes it doesn't work, but most of the time it actually does and I end up feeling quite good. I have my "go to" happy songs too, the ones that are bound to cheer me up. There's GaGa, of course, but the main song in this category is "fairyland" by Ayumi Hamasaki. Oh yeah, I love my J-Pop, by the by. Well, to be exact, I love Ayumi Hamasaki. I have every single album of hers downloaded (the day I realised that her work was up on iTunes was a very, very happy day), but the one I inevitably end up listening to is (miss)understood, and inevitably it ends up being fairyland that gets put on. It's just a happy song, it always brings a smile to my face. Go figure.
There's a lot of music I can't stand - most rap songs and quite a lot of R&B, because I just...don't like it. I can't stand clubs and stuff that play crappy things like dubstep, which seems horrifically pointless and just tends to give me a headache. There's also a lot of bad remixes for a lot of songs that I like, so to have to suffer through them when I know the original is a far superior version is kind of annoying. The worst one was a remix of Halo which made it in to some really soulless electronic song that had nothing of the impact the original did. Of course, this may be slightly biased due to the fact that Halo helped me get through a particularly rough spot early on in 2009, when I found myself listening to a constant repeat of Halo, Run and No Floods (GaGa song for the uninformed) at night to try and keep myself going. This was also a period where I completely shut off from the world - I think there was in fact a couple of days where apart from sleeping, I just had my headphones in the entire time listening to music to try and keep my mind off much more negative thoughts.
So, yeah. Music is sort of awesome, no doubt it'll be something I talk about more in this blog as it goes on. Writing this is indeed quite...therapeutic almost, plus it gives me something to do whilst I'm trapped in Leeds on my own for the next few days >_>. For now, I shall end on the songs that I've been listening to most recently, which would be a mix of "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan (the Coca Cola song for the World Cup), "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus and "Popular" from Wicked, as performed by the awesome Kristin Chenoweth.
Music also has the ability to change my mood quite a bit. I also sort of have to listen to music that is relevant to my mood - so, for example, when I'm feeling oddly depressive or in some kind of relationship blue, I seem to end up listening to something like New York by Paloma Faith. For the uninformed, that song's all about her boyfriend having left her, which is a really positive thing you'd want to be hearing when something relationship-wise isn't going as planned. When I was walking around New York at the start of this year, I found myself having to actually put Empire State of Mind on repeat, because I kept on interrupting whatever song was on the iPod to change it back to ESoM. Sometimes it doesn't work, but most of the time it actually does and I end up feeling quite good. I have my "go to" happy songs too, the ones that are bound to cheer me up. There's GaGa, of course, but the main song in this category is "fairyland" by Ayumi Hamasaki. Oh yeah, I love my J-Pop, by the by. Well, to be exact, I love Ayumi Hamasaki. I have every single album of hers downloaded (the day I realised that her work was up on iTunes was a very, very happy day), but the one I inevitably end up listening to is (miss)understood, and inevitably it ends up being fairyland that gets put on. It's just a happy song, it always brings a smile to my face. Go figure.
There's a lot of music I can't stand - most rap songs and quite a lot of R&B, because I just...don't like it. I can't stand clubs and stuff that play crappy things like dubstep, which seems horrifically pointless and just tends to give me a headache. There's also a lot of bad remixes for a lot of songs that I like, so to have to suffer through them when I know the original is a far superior version is kind of annoying. The worst one was a remix of Halo which made it in to some really soulless electronic song that had nothing of the impact the original did. Of course, this may be slightly biased due to the fact that Halo helped me get through a particularly rough spot early on in 2009, when I found myself listening to a constant repeat of Halo, Run and No Floods (GaGa song for the uninformed) at night to try and keep myself going. This was also a period where I completely shut off from the world - I think there was in fact a couple of days where apart from sleeping, I just had my headphones in the entire time listening to music to try and keep my mind off much more negative thoughts.
So, yeah. Music is sort of awesome, no doubt it'll be something I talk about more in this blog as it goes on. Writing this is indeed quite...therapeutic almost, plus it gives me something to do whilst I'm trapped in Leeds on my own for the next few days >_>. For now, I shall end on the songs that I've been listening to most recently, which would be a mix of "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan (the Coca Cola song for the World Cup), "Can't Be Tamed" by Miley Cyrus and "Popular" from Wicked, as performed by the awesome Kristin Chenoweth.
10/06/2010
The Places I've Been...
This post was originally me talking about my favourite places and me saying why, and then the ones that I didn't like, in some kind of odd ranking thing. That was the plan, of course, but then I started writing about New York and realised that, oh God, I have far too much to say on here and I'm going to need to do something different. To which, this is the something different.
There are three places I love more so than anywhere else in the world. New York City, Paris, and Cala En Porter. You'll have heard of the other two, but chances are that you'll never have heard of the latter, so I guess that's where I should start. Cala En Porter is a town on the island of Menorca, which for those of you still not in the know, is part of Spain (it's a Balearic, along with Majorca, Ibiza, and...the fourth one). It's also where my family part-own a villa, so I've spent quite a few holidays there. Oddly, (Manchester and Leeds withstanding, of course) it's the one place I've ever felt like I was comfortably "at home". Whenever I go there, it doesn't seem like anything's changed and you can just slot right back in to normal life. I know people there - I know where everything is, I can walk around to the Spar just like I can to Sainsbury's. I don't know whether it's because we actually own the villa or not, but that place just seems like it's part of me.
It's also memorable for me because of the events of my summer holiday in 2008. For those of you who don't already know this, that was the point I finally decided to come out (well, make if official at least) to everyone who was on the trip, i.e.: all the Worsley people. While I could go in to length about the hi-hi-hilarious event that was my coming out, everyone's probably heard it by now and we don't need to talk about it anymore. If you wanna know about it, ask me, I've managed to make it slightly more concise than it used to be. But it's really because of that holiday that I feel so much whenever I go back to Menorca. It meant a lot to me to finally do that and I'd planned to do it in on that holiday for about 6 months, mainly because I felt it was a safe enough environment to be able to do it. I also think it was that holiday that made me grow up quite a bit too because I sort of felt like I was "in charge" since it was my villa and all, so it all kind of meant a lot to me. Even if I did undergo something of a nervous breakdown for 72 hours or so.
My real "happy place", though, is Paris. I'm like a kid in a toy store whenever I'm in Paris. The place is literally the most stunning, inspirational and frankly joyous place I know (well, Disney's probably happier, but you're not going to get that much inspiration from squealing like a 3 year old and running to hug Tigger...). This, of course, is slightly annoying in that I'd wish my happy place was somewhere in the UK. My plan at one point a couple of months ago had been that I'd be in Paris right about now, since the Eurostar was dirt cheap and I could technically get fairly cheap deals on some nice enough hostels. Finding people to go with wasn't as easy and thanks to a variety of complications it never materialised, but I still want to go at some point during this year. Paris is kind of wonderful in the sense that it's home to the only art gallery I've never been completely bored by, even if the Mona Lisa isn't all it's cracked up to be in person. That's how good a mood the city puts me in: I can stand an art gallery. Seriously, that takes a lot. I'm forever annoyed though when I go to Paris, mainly because I inevitably end up travelling with my parents and my brother, who demand we go on an open top bus and never get off it, so we're stuck just seeing places from afar.
I just have this burning desire to really explore Paris, which is something I don't really have any desire to do anywhere else. It's also why I have a desire to go there by myself at some point, since I highly doubt anyone else will want to go see all the things I do. I want to go to the 5th arrondissement and to the Roman parts of Paris to see the history. I want to go to the Moulin Rouge, if only to say I've been there. I want to go to the Lost and Found Museum because it sounds like a wonderfully crazy thing to have a museum of. I want to go to the Panthéon to get a picture and to prove to my parents that yes, it does exist and I'm not thinking of a place in Rome. The drawback to all this is that while it's all good and well me saying this, I don't know whether I'd feel comfortable going away on my own, as it were. While I went wandering around New York on my own a fair bit in January, I always sort of knew that Jonny was there too, which felt like a good security blanket. I'd also never be able to tell my parents I did this, because they would either A: lynch me, or B: lock me up so I couldn't get to Paris. Maybe when I'm a little older and a little more confident I'll do it. I'm fully aware it's something I need to do though, it's just a case of doing it. Ironically, being in Paris right now would probably help clear my head and this mood, but...eh. Que sera sera.
Finally, New York City. NYC is a glorious place. That's pretty much the only thing I can say about it, since everything else about New York is something that someone else has already said. As much as I loved going to Iceland, and while I still think that it's my favourite country as a whole, my trip to New York earlier this year is without a doubt my favourite holiday ever. Walking around Manhattan at night was one of the best experiences in my life, even if it was ridiculously cold and I felt like my face was going to fall off. It wasn't just going to Times Square or to the Empire State, it was discovering all the awesome other places that I'd never heard of. Going to the Time Warner Centre and finding the Glee Shirt. Heading to the Village and buying my Marc Jacobs shoes/belt. Going to the top of Rockefeller Plaza and just seeing this fabulous city from above. Of course, doing all this with my best friend only added to that - hell, I wouldn't have even been able to get to New York were it not for Jonny. Two of my long lasting memories from that trip are the two of us walking down 5th Avenue and going in to every designer shop along the way, as well as realising we were in front of the Condé Nast building and wondering if we went early in the morning, we'd get the chance to see Anna Wintour. Yeah, New York really did bring out the flaming gay side of me, but, meh. I think the city would expect nothing less.
If I were to wake up one morning in any of those three places, I think it would be a very good morning. There's other places I really want to go visit - I want to go to Rhode Island for some inexplicable reason, other than "I want to go". I want to go to California and San Francisco at some point. I want to go to Tokyo or Sapporo. I want to go to Botswana. I want to go to Pyongyang, for crying out loud. Those last two are probably much less likely to ever happen, but a boy can have them on his list. But if I got given the option of going anywhere right there and then, it would be one of the three I've talked about. Happy times. :D
There are three places I love more so than anywhere else in the world. New York City, Paris, and Cala En Porter. You'll have heard of the other two, but chances are that you'll never have heard of the latter, so I guess that's where I should start. Cala En Porter is a town on the island of Menorca, which for those of you still not in the know, is part of Spain (it's a Balearic, along with Majorca, Ibiza, and...the fourth one). It's also where my family part-own a villa, so I've spent quite a few holidays there. Oddly, (Manchester and Leeds withstanding, of course) it's the one place I've ever felt like I was comfortably "at home". Whenever I go there, it doesn't seem like anything's changed and you can just slot right back in to normal life. I know people there - I know where everything is, I can walk around to the Spar just like I can to Sainsbury's. I don't know whether it's because we actually own the villa or not, but that place just seems like it's part of me.
It's also memorable for me because of the events of my summer holiday in 2008. For those of you who don't already know this, that was the point I finally decided to come out (well, make if official at least) to everyone who was on the trip, i.e.: all the Worsley people. While I could go in to length about the hi-hi-hilarious event that was my coming out, everyone's probably heard it by now and we don't need to talk about it anymore. If you wanna know about it, ask me, I've managed to make it slightly more concise than it used to be. But it's really because of that holiday that I feel so much whenever I go back to Menorca. It meant a lot to me to finally do that and I'd planned to do it in on that holiday for about 6 months, mainly because I felt it was a safe enough environment to be able to do it. I also think it was that holiday that made me grow up quite a bit too because I sort of felt like I was "in charge" since it was my villa and all, so it all kind of meant a lot to me. Even if I did undergo something of a nervous breakdown for 72 hours or so.
My real "happy place", though, is Paris. I'm like a kid in a toy store whenever I'm in Paris. The place is literally the most stunning, inspirational and frankly joyous place I know (well, Disney's probably happier, but you're not going to get that much inspiration from squealing like a 3 year old and running to hug Tigger...). This, of course, is slightly annoying in that I'd wish my happy place was somewhere in the UK. My plan at one point a couple of months ago had been that I'd be in Paris right about now, since the Eurostar was dirt cheap and I could technically get fairly cheap deals on some nice enough hostels. Finding people to go with wasn't as easy and thanks to a variety of complications it never materialised, but I still want to go at some point during this year. Paris is kind of wonderful in the sense that it's home to the only art gallery I've never been completely bored by, even if the Mona Lisa isn't all it's cracked up to be in person. That's how good a mood the city puts me in: I can stand an art gallery. Seriously, that takes a lot. I'm forever annoyed though when I go to Paris, mainly because I inevitably end up travelling with my parents and my brother, who demand we go on an open top bus and never get off it, so we're stuck just seeing places from afar.
I just have this burning desire to really explore Paris, which is something I don't really have any desire to do anywhere else. It's also why I have a desire to go there by myself at some point, since I highly doubt anyone else will want to go see all the things I do. I want to go to the 5th arrondissement and to the Roman parts of Paris to see the history. I want to go to the Moulin Rouge, if only to say I've been there. I want to go to the Lost and Found Museum because it sounds like a wonderfully crazy thing to have a museum of. I want to go to the Panthéon to get a picture and to prove to my parents that yes, it does exist and I'm not thinking of a place in Rome. The drawback to all this is that while it's all good and well me saying this, I don't know whether I'd feel comfortable going away on my own, as it were. While I went wandering around New York on my own a fair bit in January, I always sort of knew that Jonny was there too, which felt like a good security blanket. I'd also never be able to tell my parents I did this, because they would either A: lynch me, or B: lock me up so I couldn't get to Paris. Maybe when I'm a little older and a little more confident I'll do it. I'm fully aware it's something I need to do though, it's just a case of doing it. Ironically, being in Paris right now would probably help clear my head and this mood, but...eh. Que sera sera.
Finally, New York City. NYC is a glorious place. That's pretty much the only thing I can say about it, since everything else about New York is something that someone else has already said. As much as I loved going to Iceland, and while I still think that it's my favourite country as a whole, my trip to New York earlier this year is without a doubt my favourite holiday ever. Walking around Manhattan at night was one of the best experiences in my life, even if it was ridiculously cold and I felt like my face was going to fall off. It wasn't just going to Times Square or to the Empire State, it was discovering all the awesome other places that I'd never heard of. Going to the Time Warner Centre and finding the Glee Shirt. Heading to the Village and buying my Marc Jacobs shoes/belt. Going to the top of Rockefeller Plaza and just seeing this fabulous city from above. Of course, doing all this with my best friend only added to that - hell, I wouldn't have even been able to get to New York were it not for Jonny. Two of my long lasting memories from that trip are the two of us walking down 5th Avenue and going in to every designer shop along the way, as well as realising we were in front of the Condé Nast building and wondering if we went early in the morning, we'd get the chance to see Anna Wintour. Yeah, New York really did bring out the flaming gay side of me, but, meh. I think the city would expect nothing less.
If I were to wake up one morning in any of those three places, I think it would be a very good morning. There's other places I really want to go visit - I want to go to Rhode Island for some inexplicable reason, other than "I want to go". I want to go to California and San Francisco at some point. I want to go to Tokyo or Sapporo. I want to go to Botswana. I want to go to Pyongyang, for crying out loud. Those last two are probably much less likely to ever happen, but a boy can have them on his list. But if I got given the option of going anywhere right there and then, it would be one of the three I've talked about. Happy times. :D
06/06/2010
Defending the Lady...
As the previous blog appears to have been cast in to the cyber graveyard (thanks, Google!), I figure that I might as well attempt to kickstart another one. I'll even try to update this one more than twice in its duration, how about that? Anyway, this first post is actually something that I always planned to do on the old blog, but never got around to writing. Needless to say, whatever mood I've been in for the past few weeks now isn't going away any time soon, so I figure that trying to break it by writing stuff might help. I suppose I should warn you all now, however, that this post is about none other than the one biggest fanboy-ism that I have:
GaGa. Of course it was going to be her (even if the title didn't give it away). Needless to say, anyone who knows me even in the slightest will know that above all else, I love GaGa. My obsession with Miss Stefani Germanotta is bordering on unhealthy at times, mainly because it results in people attacking me for supporting her as much as I do (not that I'm going to go naming any names...yet...). I think part of the reason I love GaGa as much as I do is because I found her almost by accident, and about a month before everyone else in the UK had first heard Just Dance. The BBC's "Sound 0f 2009" poll released their shortlist in December of 2008, which you can see here; actually, looking at that list, it's kind of interesting to see that a great number of those artists and bands have had quite a large amount of success. Anyway, I was immediately sure that Florence and the Machine had it won (as every critic etc. loved Florence like mad at the time), which annoyed me greatly since I kinda hated her work at that time. That's something I no longer agree with, since I count a great deal of songs on Lungs as being very, very strong. That's something for another post, though. Anyway, I looked through all the profiles and immediately kind of...stopped when I came to GaGa's. Needless to say, the phrases "New York party princess" and "She has also written songs for Britney Spears" were all it took for me to listen to Just Dance. And with that, the obsession began. About a day later I'd downloaded The Fame and within a week I knew all the lyrics off by heart.
I don't know what it is about GaGa's music that is so appealing to me. I just...love it. The fact that she's so different and unique only strikes more chords with me - everything just works for me. When I found out that she didn't even make the top 5 of that "Sound of..." poll, I flipped a little, to say the least. What did make me laugh was that two days after Little Boots was announced as number one in that poll, Just Dance entered the charts at #3, quickly storming to the top a week later. In terms of trying to work out the root of the obsession and why it's gone on for so long, I guess it's a combination of things. It helps, of course, that I love the music so much, but there's more to it than that. The fact that I "discovered" her before everyone else did probably means I had more of an affinity when she became successful, because I felt like I'd jumped the gun on everyone else. Her personality, the quirky randomness, it worked for me. The fact we share the same birthday helps, too (you have no idea the amount of squealing and clapping that went on when I found that out). Overall, it's just...there, this love for GaGa. Which means that when people criticise her, I do tend to go a little bit mad and start defending her with gusto. Of course, I don't just go a bit mad when I'm defending her:
Case in point. The fact I spent about three nights working on the GaGa shirt says it all (R.I.P GaGa shirt, by the by).
This isn't to say I don't find GaGa perfect. People tend to be surprised when I say that there are GaGa songs I don't like. Of course, I can count them on one hand; Eh Eh is just horrible, I'm afraid to say, and I can only ever listen to it in the Pet Shop Boys' remixed form. Then there's Starstruck, which is just a bit bleh (I'm looking at you for this, Flo-Rida). Some songs on The Fame were a bit samey-same (Money Honey and The Fame itself, although I still like them). Ironically, I don't even really like Just Dance that much these days, mainly because it doesn't really sound like a GaGa track. The only Fame Monster song I don't like is Monster, because it just doesn't go anywhere. But for all of those songs, there are the ones that virtually no-one will have heard: Fashion (featured in Confessions of a Shopaholic, then butchered by Heidi Montag), Vanity (performed in The Monster Ball Tour, to my delight), No Floods, Honest Eyes, Second Time Around...the list goes on and on. In fact, No Floods is probably one of my favourite songs, if only because it helped me get through a particularly tough time last year, where I pretty much spent every night listening to it, along with Halo and Run. So, yeah, it's pretty special to me.
I also hate it when people say things like "she can't write songs/she can't sing/she mimes". Because...seriously, no. Alright, yes, I'll admit it: Poker Face is a lot of "muh-muh-muh-mah" and repetition. Telephone is a bit like that, too. But that's sort of what makes them great. I've yet to be in a club where, the second that Bad Romance comes on, nobody starts to sing along with the "ohhhhhhhh..." at the start, quickly followed by "Ra, ra, ah ah ah" (I'd post the rest, but you all know it anyway, and you know you do). She can't sing? Go ahead and listen to that No Floods video above, or the Honest Eyes one. She sings live all the time, as the Honest Eyes video proves, but there's plenty of other examples of this. GaGa is a performer, and she does what she does amazingly. The videos for Paparazzi, Bad Romance and Telephone are awesome...aaaaand now I'm going in to uber fanboy mode. My point is, no matter how much people may say they hate GaGa, I've yet to find anyone who doesn't like at least one of her songs. As much as people may wish to hurl violence and insults upon her, she's here to stay and that's something I will be happy about for a long, long time.
I have a few other things I want to write about, although the one problem I do have is the fact that trying to open up to just one person is an uphill struggle for me that I can't really face half the time, let alone doing it via a blog for everyone to see. Plus, the fact that I generally have three-four different groups of people I know doesn't really help that, since something one group of people may know the other won't. Still, you only live once, so...we shall see.
Oh, also: Miley Cyrus, Can't Be Tamed. Sort of an awesome song, when it really, really shouldn't be.
GaGa. Of course it was going to be her (even if the title didn't give it away). Needless to say, anyone who knows me even in the slightest will know that above all else, I love GaGa. My obsession with Miss Stefani Germanotta is bordering on unhealthy at times, mainly because it results in people attacking me for supporting her as much as I do (not that I'm going to go naming any names...yet...). I think part of the reason I love GaGa as much as I do is because I found her almost by accident, and about a month before everyone else in the UK had first heard Just Dance. The BBC's "Sound 0f 2009" poll released their shortlist in December of 2008, which you can see here; actually, looking at that list, it's kind of interesting to see that a great number of those artists and bands have had quite a large amount of success. Anyway, I was immediately sure that Florence and the Machine had it won (as every critic etc. loved Florence like mad at the time), which annoyed me greatly since I kinda hated her work at that time. That's something I no longer agree with, since I count a great deal of songs on Lungs as being very, very strong. That's something for another post, though. Anyway, I looked through all the profiles and immediately kind of...stopped when I came to GaGa's. Needless to say, the phrases "New York party princess" and "She has also written songs for Britney Spears" were all it took for me to listen to Just Dance. And with that, the obsession began. About a day later I'd downloaded The Fame and within a week I knew all the lyrics off by heart.
I don't know what it is about GaGa's music that is so appealing to me. I just...love it. The fact that she's so different and unique only strikes more chords with me - everything just works for me. When I found out that she didn't even make the top 5 of that "Sound of..." poll, I flipped a little, to say the least. What did make me laugh was that two days after Little Boots was announced as number one in that poll, Just Dance entered the charts at #3, quickly storming to the top a week later. In terms of trying to work out the root of the obsession and why it's gone on for so long, I guess it's a combination of things. It helps, of course, that I love the music so much, but there's more to it than that. The fact that I "discovered" her before everyone else did probably means I had more of an affinity when she became successful, because I felt like I'd jumped the gun on everyone else. Her personality, the quirky randomness, it worked for me. The fact we share the same birthday helps, too (you have no idea the amount of squealing and clapping that went on when I found that out). Overall, it's just...there, this love for GaGa. Which means that when people criticise her, I do tend to go a little bit mad and start defending her with gusto. Of course, I don't just go a bit mad when I'm defending her:
Case in point. The fact I spent about three nights working on the GaGa shirt says it all (R.I.P GaGa shirt, by the by).
This isn't to say I don't find GaGa perfect. People tend to be surprised when I say that there are GaGa songs I don't like. Of course, I can count them on one hand; Eh Eh is just horrible, I'm afraid to say, and I can only ever listen to it in the Pet Shop Boys' remixed form. Then there's Starstruck, which is just a bit bleh (I'm looking at you for this, Flo-Rida). Some songs on The Fame were a bit samey-same (Money Honey and The Fame itself, although I still like them). Ironically, I don't even really like Just Dance that much these days, mainly because it doesn't really sound like a GaGa track. The only Fame Monster song I don't like is Monster, because it just doesn't go anywhere. But for all of those songs, there are the ones that virtually no-one will have heard: Fashion (featured in Confessions of a Shopaholic, then butchered by Heidi Montag), Vanity (performed in The Monster Ball Tour, to my delight), No Floods, Honest Eyes, Second Time Around...the list goes on and on. In fact, No Floods is probably one of my favourite songs, if only because it helped me get through a particularly tough time last year, where I pretty much spent every night listening to it, along with Halo and Run. So, yeah, it's pretty special to me.
I also hate it when people say things like "she can't write songs/she can't sing/she mimes". Because...seriously, no. Alright, yes, I'll admit it: Poker Face is a lot of "muh-muh-muh-mah" and repetition. Telephone is a bit like that, too. But that's sort of what makes them great. I've yet to be in a club where, the second that Bad Romance comes on, nobody starts to sing along with the "ohhhhhhhh..." at the start, quickly followed by "Ra, ra, ah ah ah" (I'd post the rest, but you all know it anyway, and you know you do). She can't sing? Go ahead and listen to that No Floods video above, or the Honest Eyes one. She sings live all the time, as the Honest Eyes video proves, but there's plenty of other examples of this. GaGa is a performer, and she does what she does amazingly. The videos for Paparazzi, Bad Romance and Telephone are awesome...aaaaand now I'm going in to uber fanboy mode. My point is, no matter how much people may say they hate GaGa, I've yet to find anyone who doesn't like at least one of her songs. As much as people may wish to hurl violence and insults upon her, she's here to stay and that's something I will be happy about for a long, long time.
I have a few other things I want to write about, although the one problem I do have is the fact that trying to open up to just one person is an uphill struggle for me that I can't really face half the time, let alone doing it via a blog for everyone to see. Plus, the fact that I generally have three-four different groups of people I know doesn't really help that, since something one group of people may know the other won't. Still, you only live once, so...we shall see.
Oh, also: Miley Cyrus, Can't Be Tamed. Sort of an awesome song, when it really, really shouldn't be.
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