I had it in mind to talk about my wonderful friend Beth in this blog post because I got to see her last weekend. But in conversation over (more than) a few drinks, Beth brought up a very good point, which I will get to shortly.
First, a few words on Beth: She's from New Zealand, she's hilarious, she's amazing, she's the reason this blog exists, and it's her birthday tomorrow. She's also currently traveling in Europe, which is how I got to see her last weekend and this weekend. And I got to meet her fiance, who may not be so funny in real life, but he makes up for it by being hilarious online and having a formidable beard.
Beth is a food blogger of some repute in New Zealand, and we were having a chat about how everybody expects her to be a food snob. Which led us to discussing music snobbery. Now, I will be the first to admit that I'm a music snob. It's one of the first things I tell people the first time I have a discussion with them about music. I will absolutely judge you based on your musical taste. That's not to say I won't like you if I think you have horrible taste in music (That sentence should have ended with me saying something like "but I will like you less," but when I thought about it, that's not actually true. Some of my closest friends have horrible taste in music, and I like them despite that. So I guess I should say that I will judge you based on your musical taste, but in reality it will have no bearing on how I feel about you. But it will make me like you more sooner if we've just met.).
Generally speaking, snobbery would involve turning your nose up at anything you deem below you. So you would think that I hate pop music. And it's true, I do. But (and here comes the confession...) I recognize that there is a time and a place where pop music is enjoyable, and there are even a few pop songs that I really, really like. See, it's only a confession of sorts, because I didn't even confess to liking pop music. Only to tolerating it and being ok with it in certain situations.
This conversation with Beth was in part spurred on by me talking about seeing ?uestlove do a DJ set at a club in Shanghai a few months ago. I went with a friend, and when we first got there ?uestlove was playing old school hip-hop and soul music, which is what you would expect of him. But as the night progressed, he transitioned into pop music. To me, it was weird to see such an influential figure in hip-hop playing anything but what he's famous for. However this is an illustration of the first scenario in which I find pop music acceptable: clubs. And so does ?uestlove, which made me feel much better about feeling that way. Also worth mentioning is that ?uestlove was enjoying tea during his set, which he would very daintily pour from a teapot in between mixing songs. See photographic evidence herein.
The song during his set that really drove this home is We Found Love by Rihanna. I don't dislike Rihanna, I think that as far as pop music goes, she's actually not bad. And I do like this song, though I think it was ?uestlove playing it that made me finally ready to admit it.
And actually, that song Stay with Mikky Ekko is great. That song I like a lot and have even sought out on Spotify.
Another situation when pop music is acceptable is karaoke. Pop music is always great for karaoke. Pop music and classic rock anthems. And the more you drink, the better karaoke gets, and the more fun pop music becomes. At the moment, this is my favorite karaoke song:
God I hate Ke$ha, but that song is fun. Very, very fun. Generally you'll find me on top of chairs or tables or anything available jumping around and stomping my feet during this song. I even find myself lingering in stores if this song is playing so that I can enjoy it without anybody knowing, because if it ever came on while I was in public, I would probably change the station. And I don't think I would ever voluntarily seek it out and listen to it.
If I had to choose, though, I'd say my favorite pop singer is Katy Perry. I've got a soft spot for Katy Perry. I don't think she makes good music, but I like her music. You would never find me listening to it of my own accord, but if it came on, maybe I wouldn't change the channel, even if other people were around. And if I was drunk at karaoke, I would most definitely be singing along at the top of my lungs.
Despite it's horrible, horrible lyrics, Firework is probably my favorite song by her. Or maybe even more so because of it's horrible lyrics. Hard to say.
And one last confession, which is that there is one Taylor Swift song I like. I hate Taylor Swift, she may be one of my least favorite artists out there. But I really like this song.
That was very difficult for me to admit. I hope you all appreciate that. And I hope you appreciate the Portuguese subtitles, because for some reason I couldn't find a normal version of this video.
It looks like once again I've written a blog without talking about Milagres. So again I will say, go listen to them. And don't expect any of the songs on today's blog to end up on my Spotify 2014 Blog playlist. They won't.
 |
| BETH BRASH!! |
Beth is a food blogger of some repute in New Zealand, and we were having a chat about how everybody expects her to be a food snob. Which led us to discussing music snobbery. Now, I will be the first to admit that I'm a music snob. It's one of the first things I tell people the first time I have a discussion with them about music. I will absolutely judge you based on your musical taste. That's not to say I won't like you if I think you have horrible taste in music (That sentence should have ended with me saying something like "but I will like you less," but when I thought about it, that's not actually true. Some of my closest friends have horrible taste in music, and I like them despite that. So I guess I should say that I will judge you based on your musical taste, but in reality it will have no bearing on how I feel about you. But it will make me like you more sooner if we've just met.).
Generally speaking, snobbery would involve turning your nose up at anything you deem below you. So you would think that I hate pop music. And it's true, I do. But (and here comes the confession...) I recognize that there is a time and a place where pop music is enjoyable, and there are even a few pop songs that I really, really like. See, it's only a confession of sorts, because I didn't even confess to liking pop music. Only to tolerating it and being ok with it in certain situations.
 |
| ?uestlove sipping tea while DJing |
The song during his set that really drove this home is We Found Love by Rihanna. I don't dislike Rihanna, I think that as far as pop music goes, she's actually not bad. And I do like this song, though I think it was ?uestlove playing it that made me finally ready to admit it.
And actually, that song Stay with Mikky Ekko is great. That song I like a lot and have even sought out on Spotify.
Another situation when pop music is acceptable is karaoke. Pop music is always great for karaoke. Pop music and classic rock anthems. And the more you drink, the better karaoke gets, and the more fun pop music becomes. At the moment, this is my favorite karaoke song:
God I hate Ke$ha, but that song is fun. Very, very fun. Generally you'll find me on top of chairs or tables or anything available jumping around and stomping my feet during this song. I even find myself lingering in stores if this song is playing so that I can enjoy it without anybody knowing, because if it ever came on while I was in public, I would probably change the station. And I don't think I would ever voluntarily seek it out and listen to it.
If I had to choose, though, I'd say my favorite pop singer is Katy Perry. I've got a soft spot for Katy Perry. I don't think she makes good music, but I like her music. You would never find me listening to it of my own accord, but if it came on, maybe I wouldn't change the channel, even if other people were around. And if I was drunk at karaoke, I would most definitely be singing along at the top of my lungs.
Despite it's horrible, horrible lyrics, Firework is probably my favorite song by her. Or maybe even more so because of it's horrible lyrics. Hard to say.
And one last confession, which is that there is one Taylor Swift song I like. I hate Taylor Swift, she may be one of my least favorite artists out there. But I really like this song.
That was very difficult for me to admit. I hope you all appreciate that. And I hope you appreciate the Portuguese subtitles, because for some reason I couldn't find a normal version of this video.
It looks like once again I've written a blog without talking about Milagres. So again I will say, go listen to them. And don't expect any of the songs on today's blog to end up on my Spotify 2014 Blog playlist. They won't.
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