Wednesday, November 25, 2009

John Mayer - Battle Studies.


Freedom, originally uploaded by La Bella Sandra Photography.

"Who says I can't be free from all of the things that I used to be?
Rewrite my history, who says I can't be free?
"

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster.

Note: this post might kill your browser what with the videos and all... I don't have much to talk about due to the lack of a social life. So, I'll just talk about what I know best.



I'm totally in love with this album. It may only have 8 new songs, but every single one has a different theme and a different feel to it. Lady Gaga is a genius and I'm honestly not afraid to admit that I'm a total and complete fangirl.




"Speechless" is probably my favorite track off of the album. It's such a poignant piano-rock ballad and a complete turnaround from what Gaga usually does. Plus, her performance at the AMA's was NUTS. Cray cray she may be, she knows how to write a kick-ass song.




Gaga's performance of "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" at the American Music Awards.
Y'all should watch before it gets taken down. 

GODga. srsly.

Rating for The Fame Monster: 5/5. How can you not love an album filled with songs that make you want to dance?



John Mayer's new album "Battle Studies" is another one that I'm really impressed with. He's deviated from the bluesy "Continuum" as this album is much more pop-rock oriented. There's also a appearance from Taylor Swift in the song "Half of my Heart" which is a beautiful tune in it's own. The perfect album to play on that drive home or while you're reading a good book. His new music video is also one of the first to use Augmented Reality, so it's pretty awesome. "Assassin" is a stand-out track on the album, in my opinion. The song has the deepest lyrics ( I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen / I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing / I'm an assassin and I had a job to do / Little did I know that girl was an assassin too ), the best guitar work on the album and a catchy hook. 

Rating for Battle Studies: 4/5. The only downside to this album is that it lacks the magic that "Continuum" had. It falls short of itself with only 11 tracks, some sounding a little too much like the other.




Kris Allen's debut album is really good too. He stays completely true to his pop-rock-acoustic roots and it translates well from the Idol stage to his own original material. "The Truth" is my favorite track off the album. I have no idea why, but it just popped out at me when I first heard it. The second I heard the chorus, "Trying to be perfect, trying not to let you down / honesty is honestly the hardest thing for me right now / while the floors underneath our feet are crumbling, the walls we built together tumbling / I still stand here holding up the roof / 'coz it's easier than telling the truth", I just felt an emotional connection to it that I can't quite explain. Basically, it's just an extremely beautiful song and the rest of the album is filled with catchy hooks that would make you want to bop your head despite a few weaker tracks.

Rating for Kris Allen: 3.5/5. It's a pretty solid post-Idol debut album. But, it's bogged down by too many songs sounding wayyyyyyy too much like the other. Plus, the "new and improved" version of "Heartless" took ages to grow on me. I liked the original take he did while on Idol more.

I've also been hearing rave reviews about Adam Lambert's debut album "For Your Entertainment". Time to download it and be amazed.

That is all. Goodbye. I hope you weren't too bored by this.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Taylor Swift - Fearless.

I wrote this like a week or two ago, so it's pretty backdated. Figured I should post it or else it would've just rotted in my drafts.

I was at vocal class the other day and I saw this girl of probably about 14 or 15? I'm making a rough estimate based off the way she looked. Judging from her uniform of green and white, I gathered that she was from the private school a short walking distance away from my class. Anyway, I wasn't really bothered about her because I was pretty busy playing Peggle and Cake Mania on my phone. Addictive stuff, let me tell you that. Difficult too. So there I was minding my own business until I saw something that caught my attention.

This girl walking in was closely followed by her maid who was carrying this girl's guitar case in for her as though it were just oh-so-heavy-and-difficult to "lug" around. I'm using the word "lug" very loosely. here, by the way. Then she proceeded to place it down on the floor with much care and carefully opened said case while this girl just sat around acting as though the world owed her everything.

The hammer on the nail? Even after her maid had done all this, this girl just walked into the room for class  totally nonchalantly, her nose in the air (figuratively, not literally) while her teacher got up to fetch the guitar for her.

The first thing that struck me when I saw this was a mixture of feelings consisting of  15% disgust, 30% shame and 55% disdain for this young girl's behavior. Then the second thought that ran through my head was that my mother would probably smack me from side to side like a rag doll, yelling, "No hands or legs, ah?" if I ever acted like that.

Scary stuff.

Later while I was relaying the story to A, who hardly ever goes a day without listening to my random outbursts of nothing. He only had two words to say about the issue.

"Pampered much?"

Far from eloquent, yes, that's my A. But, it's so true.

Are the younger generation so sheltered, so pampered to a point where it becomes so difficult for them to become independent? Will they be able to stand on their own two feet in the near future when they finally have to venture into the real world far away from the comfort of mommy and daddy?

It's not something I understand... the whole act of protecting a child from anything and everything. Treating them as though they can't do things on their own. I grew up learning that my mother will never be there for me forever, yet I'm still struggling with finding my footing in the world. I'm perfectly aware that I'm far from being the perfect poster child of independence or responsibility, but it's just something that escapes me. Why make someone else do something that you yourself are perfectly capable of doing on your own, with your own two hands?

Another thing, kids now are so goddamn STUPID. I doubt that I was THAT stupid or naive back when I was 13 or 14. Hearing the stories my sister relays to me about her classmates is hilarious, I'll give them that, but it's sad all at the same time. Some of them don't even know who Hitler is for crying out loud. Book smart some of them may be, but they have zero common sense and life skills.

I just don't get it. I don't think I want to even try to figure out how these kids are going to survive on their own in the future.

Am I just getting "old" or am I reading too much into this?

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Orianthi - Suffocated.

Is it worth it for me to keep investing so much emotion and passion into everything?

Damn.... I thought I finally got over those feelings.