LHM Sounds Off: Jason Derulo

     You know who he is right? R & B singer with a smooth voice and lyrics that makes girls swoon. Personally, I am not a top 40 chick. I find some stuff that I enjoy, but this particular genre is not one I usually see myself playing while I'm cruising. Enter Mr. Derulo.

     I remember going downtown for a girls weekend a couple years ago, having a night out, fresh off a breakup, clubbing and spending the night at a sweet hotel. Here was my first taste of Jason Derulo. I didn't know who sang the song at the time, but it was "Ridin' Solo" and I related with it. It started out kind of soft and sappy, then he breaks into a chorus of lines about being single, and being okay, and going out, and having fun. I loved it, danced my ass off at the club, and soon forgot the song existed (that happens a lot when I find myself loving a song on the charts, unless I fall totally in love and the band/singers whole album is promptly loaded onto my ipod).

     Some time later, I hear a song that samples a BEAUTIFUL song by Imogen Heap. Heap's song was called "Hide & Seek" and is probably one of the most wonderful, painful, brilliant songs ever written, and hearing it put into hip hop made me wince a little bit. I might have enjoyed this new song, if I didn't know the original. The original song (check out the haunting video here.)was about a woman realizing the man she loves had a whole other life, with a wife and children, and the pain of realizing she has essentially ruined a life that had been so still for so long. So, hearing it with so much autotune and silliness made me a little irritated.

     Then, about a year ago, a local band that I follow heavily (7th Heaven) played a song I had heard on the radio several times, entitled "In My Head". I, again, didn't know who sang it, and didn't care, just thought it was the most fun song ever to jump around to at the show. Follow along now, at this point, I still never knew who sang "Riding Solo" or "Whatcha Say" and don't know who sings this "In My Head" song, and really only know the lyrics from going to a zillion 7H shows.

     Continuing on (you better be paying attention!!!!),  several months ago, I hear "It Girl" on the radio, and instantly find myself tapping the foot that isn't on the gas pedal. Why? I really don't know. It sort of negates what I'm normally into, but like I have stated previously, I give everything a shot. I automatically entered it into my youtube queue that I listen to while driving, and I listen to it occasionally now. At THIS point, I hear that the singer of the song's name is Jason Derulo. I still don't know that he sings the songs I have had experiences with before, but I know I have heard his name, just couldn't tell you what else he sings.

     A few days ago, I was watching X-Factor, and I hear a song playing in the background of someones sob story that makes my ears perk a little bit. I liked it, it evoked some weird emotion in me that I enjoyed. SO, I googled the lyrics (yup, I'm that girl, and proud), and find that it's the same singer as "It Girl". I instantly realized, hey, I think I like this guy, and decided to google what else he sang.

    In comes the pouring of music I already knew, but never had a name for. Wow! I was pretty happy to have a new artist to like. Let me tell you something, most people probably already knew all of these songs and enjoy his music, but I really, really love it. I looked up some of his lesser known tracks and liked those too. And I also decided to look up the lyrics to "Whatcha Say". and as irked as I was to hear that song put into something so different, I found that it wasn't such a leap after all. He turned himself into the character that Imogen Heap had fallen in love with, and wrote the song from a different point of view. He didn't betray the songs meaning, but rather decided to give us a new way to see it. I respect that. I love motown, I love the smoothness of the Temptations and Stevie Wonder, and this guy has got it. He's suave but not cocky, he's sweet but not corny, and he has a beautiful voice.

     The point of this post is to tell you to be open with things, something that I am learning to do myself. You might find that even though you have been a metal fan your whole life, you will hear a country song that speaks to you. Or maybe you have always loved rap, but suddenly you discover The Eagles, and decide that they have a new way to express those emotions. Who knows? I am going to leave you with the song "What If" by Derulo that i heard on X-Factor. If you haven't heard it, give it a shot. I really love it <3

    

LHM Sounds Off: "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

     We all know the song, right? We all know pretty much every word, and we all know that Deep Blue Something never had another hit, not one. I wonder what their concert's would be like. I once had hope for this band, being that I loved the guy's voice and wanted badly for them to have another song to make me want to sing along to, so I bought the album (don't waste your time...puke). Yeah, it sucked. Sorry, but not sorry.
     So why am I writing a blog entry in 2012 about a song from 1995? What am I trying to do? Make you relive the 90's, make you want to turn it on, make you think I'm cool as hell that I listened to the other unknown songs from a one hit wonder? Nah (but I am pretty cool), I want to bring this song into this world's manufactured green screened light to make you understand how a song based off of something so simple can become a phenomenon, and hopefully make you see that THIS can still happen. I have so much hope for music, still, even after writing a paper for my college English class comparing 1960 to 2009, in which I introduced the topic with my rage in knowing that the number one song in AMERICA was entitled "Boom Boom Pow". ANYHOOOO, let me show you what I am talking about.

     Haven't we all been in this guys shoes? That desperation, those feeble attempts to make something work, when your closing your hand so tightly around something but you know that there is a crack or a hole in there somewhere that what you are grabbing onto is going to slip through. I know I have, and that's what this song is about. I heard it on the radio today, and I stopped singing along so that I could really listen to the pain and the words, and again....that desperation.

     He opens the song with a dialogue. She's telling him that there's nothing, no common ground. Why ARE we together? What is happening here? He retaliates (in his own head, presumably) that she just doesn't give a shit. Let's be honest here, right? She doesn't care. Because if you DO love someone, you create common ground and anything else, anything that isn't "in common" melts away, or it blends, and it becomes something you learn from the other person. I currently am dating a sports fanatic. I'm not. Not one bit. I enjoy watching a baseball game but I won't pretend to understand what's happening any further than one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game. You know. 

    So he grabs at the quickest thing he can find. Well hey WAIT, remember that movie we watched? We both loved it (I'm sorry, no, they both "kinda liked it") so isn't that enough? No, it's not. Not when someone has detached themselves from you. Like this bitch has. Maybe she's not a bitch, maybe this guy wasn't any fun, maybe he only cared about his music, maybe he never held the door open for her, who the hell knows. One thing he does know, this miniscule past memory that they held in common is his last attempt, perhaps the only attempt, and it isn't going to work. And even after this MIND BLOWING BEG, she is still seeing right past it. Poor thing...he really hates when things are over.

     And repeat. Right? That's it! THAT, my friend, is the song that was number 5 in 1996 in the US and number 1 in the UK. It's unbelievable isn't it? And it's funny how we are all so quick to cast aside (myself included) modern music in which the artist talks about things that are just ridiculous, things that don't make sense, things that are flat out STUPID, when songs like this have made us bob our heads and sing in the shower for the past almost TWENTY years. Dang. It is reminiscent of an old song you might know by The Beatles entitled "Come Together". That song made no sense. But we love it, don't we?

     The reason for this post was that I heard this song, knowing that I personally enjoy it, and realized what a hypocrite I can be regarding music. Sometimes, the simplest things can mean the most, and I know that I write off songs that I think are dumb just because I don't understand it. I want to change that. I am not going to love every song that I hear, but I know I need to put myself into that world. Knowing that the things most unseen, are the most powerful. 

     Have a good evening everyone. And if you know of any songs like this, simple yet clear emotion, let me know, I'd love to check it out ;)