disalarming

Summary: “Speak Now” is Taylor Swift’s third album and her follow-up to her massively successful album “Fearless” (2008)

5 Words/Phrases: Solid songwriting; some songs sound more similar than different; songs are clear examples of how Swift is growing as both a person and an artist; Swift’s tunes are as catchy as ever; not quite sure how Swift is fitting the “country” genre

Most Impressed By: The tracks “The Story of Us,” “Better Than Revenge,” and “Haunted”

Least Impressed By: The track “Long Live” is relatively dull

Comments: The deluxe version is worth getting as it has acoustic versions of some of Swift’s songs – acoustic versions of songs are my favorite!

Overall Rating: 9.5/10

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

My iTunes decided to surprise me by playing “Affirmation” by Savage Garden, a song and band that I love but haven’t listened to in ages. As the song played, it struck me just how right the song lyrics were. I don’t know what inspired the song, but if the band had been asked to write a song about the unwritten rules of life, the guys would have hit the nail on the head.

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people’s hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it’s bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I’m loved when I’m completely by myself alone

I believe in karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can’t appreciate real love ’til you’ve been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don’t know what you’ve got until you say goodbye

I believe you can’t control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom is unfair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe forgiveness is the key to your own happiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

My two favorite lines are “I believe in karma what you give is what you get returned” and “I believe your most attractive features are your heart and soul.” This song is just beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

When I get my own place in the fall, I’m going to put the lyrics of the chorus up on my wall where I can see it every day. I feel like these are good words to be reminded of on a daily basis.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

To mark my regained mobility following my recent knee issues¹, I drove my mother around to run errands. I know, I know. Driving doesn’t require mobility in the knees because the driver just sits behind the wheel, but I was able to get out of bed and into the car, which is no small victory. Besides, I like driving every chance I get when I’m home as I don’t have a car at school.

Anyway. I put on one of my CD mixes to listen to when driving as I never listen to the crap that’s on the radio. One of the songs on the CD was The Bird and the Bee’s “Fucking Boyfriend.” It’s not a foul-mouthed song despite the title, but the words “fucking boyfriend” are repeated throughout the chorus. I didn’t bank on my mother noticing what the lyrics to the song were as she usually doesn’t pay enough attention to whatever music plays in the car. Unfortunately, that seems to be no longer the case.

My mom: Is the girl swearing in this song?
Me: Uh… yes. Yes, she is.
My mom: Why do you listen to songs with swear words in them?
Me: Um. Uh. Well. It’s a good song?
My mom: But why does the singer feel the need to swear in the song?
Me: To express herself, I guess.
My mom: Do you feel the need to swear to express yourself?!
Me: …I’d really rather not have this conversation.

I’m pretty sure that my brother plays Blink-182 in the car whenever he drives it. I’m not really familiar with Blink-182’s stuff, but something tells me that their songs have more foul language than songs by The Bird and the Bee…

Are you working up to something? / But you give me almost nothing
Keep me helpless / Up to something on my knees
Would you ever be my / Would you be my fucking boyfriend?
Would you ever be my / Would you be my fucking boyfriend? ♪♫

1. My knee is far from perfect, but most of the time I can get it to cooperate so I can move around. Minus the times where I wake up in the night because I jerked my knee and the pain was so great that I woke up screaming, that is. Basically, it’s still pretty touch-and-go right now. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve been getting more and more irritated with Taylor Swift lately. Mainly it’s because I think that while she is talented, she’s getting to be more and more overrated. And after watching the 2010 Grammy Awards last night, a lot of the stuff that has been bothering me about Taylor suddenly fell into place.

Yes, she is a talented songwriter, even though her live performances are mediocre at best (at least, judging by her performances at the Grammys). And yes, she is a good role model and sends a positive message to young girls through her music¹. But is she a country singer? No. She may have been, once upon a time, but she most definitely is not anymore. Just because she plays the guitar in her songs doesn’t make her a country singer. Not when her songs are more fluffy pop than anything else.

When Taylor performed her rendition of You Belong With Me featuring Stevie Nicks, there was something not quite right about the song. It took about a verse for me to figure out why the song sounded so strange. Why, she reworked it so that it actually sounded like country music rather than pop! I’m not saying it was a bad rendition of the song; it was fairly enjoyable. But what bothered me about it is that country music is supposed to be Taylor’s niche. She markets herself as a country artist but has a chart-topping album full of guitar-infused pop songs and seems to only sing country-style music when performing with other country singers at music award ceremonies. Hmm, what’s wrong with this picture?

There was a lot of what I saw of the Grammys that had a lot left to be desired and frankly, most of it has to do with Taylor Swift. But what annoys me the most is that Taylor won Best Album of the Year. Lady GaGa should have won that award, hands down. Lady GaGa had four #1 singles off her debut album and she lost Best Album of the Year to Taylor? Give me a break.

ETA: “The Surprised Awards Show Faces of Taylor Swift” made me LOL. :P

1. Although by the way she keeps ragging on Joe Jonas over how the pair broke up, I’m not so sure. But that’s a different argument entirely. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I remember the media (or the US media, at least) had a field day when it was announced that Nicholas Sarkozy’s new wife, Carla Bruni, was an ex-fashion model. Prior to Bruni’s marriage to Sarkozy I had never heard of her, but after she became First Lady of France I heard a few things about her here and there, mainly about the media scrutinizing her wardrobe when on diplomatic visits with Sarkozy or other useless, trivial news¹. I also heard bits and pieces of career as an ex-model when nude photos of her surfaced, but not once did I hear a peep about her singing career. So when I discovered that she has not one, but two recorded albums released (one in French and the other in English) and that they are really good I was incredibly surprised!

Without a doubt, her song Quelqu’un M’a Dit, which translates to “someone told me,” is quickly becoming one of my favorite songs, and the other songs on her French-language album (also titled “Quelqu’un M’a Dit”) are also superb. I’ve always wanted to add more French music to my iTunes, and Bruni’s songs are a great find. I just wish I had known about her music career sooner. If the media hadn’t been so focused on her ex-modeling days and her marriage to Sarkozy and talked a little bit about her music then I wouldn’t be so late on discovering the magic of Bruni’s songs like Quelqu’un M’a Dit!

I wonder, though, that if I had known Bruni had a music career in addition to being an ex-model and the wife of the President of France, would I have given her songs a try? Probably not. I stumbled across Quelqu’un M’a Dit on the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack and hadn’t known who sung it the first time I listened to it. When I realized it was sung by Bruni, though, I was shocked for two reasons: I hadn’t known she was a singer, but I also didn’t realize she had actual singing talent (unlike the majority of singers out there these days)!

1. Yes, it is important to know that Sarkozy was on a diplomatic mission with so-and-so country. Is it important to know what designer his wife chose to wear for the rendezvous? No. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

I’m the kind of person that can listen to a song on repeat for hours on end if I decide that I really, really like it. Usually there’s a reason behind why I like a particular song enough to listen to it on repeat for ages, such as I really like the lyrics or the song really reminds me of someone in particular. Not everyone I know is like this; it drives my roommate crazy whenever I get into one of my “phases” with a particular song and I have to bring out the headphones so she won’t have to listen to the song on repeat!

Currently, the song that I am listening to on repeat is “Wonderwall” by Oasis. I’ve always loved this song; I love Liam Gallagher’s voice and the lyrics are so meaningful, yet open to personal interpretation. Last week, I had a lovely evening out with my friends, and this song was played. It was the perfect song for that moment, and now I can’t stop listening to Wonderwall because it brings back memories not only of that night, but of my friends that were there and how amazing that night was, and how I wished it didn’t have to end.

Question of the Week: What song(s) are you currently listening to on repeat?

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.