Remember when I talked about loving the new Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City single, “Good Time”? Well, the duo has come out with a video for the song and…it’s pretty cute. Aside from being one long Urban Outfitters ad, the music video is fun and age appropriate! The writers over at Jezebel describe the two musicians as “Catchy pop monsters” and Owl City as “Emo haircut/musician.” Sounds about right.
Btw, does anyone else notice how the musician of Owl City looks incredibly awkward throughout the entire video? Kind of adorable. Poor guy is out of his element, right? And— knowing he is notoriously shy—he might be a tad bit overwhelmed by all the pretty girls in the video! (His awkwardness, of course, means I immediately think he is adorable and definitely crush-worthy.)
I told you all the 90s are back. This generation has f-f-f-finally realized how great the era is (duh). To add to the 90s revival, Matchbox 20– a popular 90s pop band led by frontman Rob Thomas–is releasing a new album! You may remember Matchbox 20 from “Push” and “3 am”. Now the boys of Mbox 20 have a new fun pop-rock single out called, “She’s So Mean.” If you exercise or hit the gym, you will want to download this song ASAP! Mbox 20 definitely has a new sound!
They’ve released their own lyric video for the song–interesting marketing, right? And they hired Rob Thomas’ stunning wife to star in it! The color pink and bright lollipops fill the video, but the actual song is bittersweet–something akin to Maroon 5′s single, “This Love”. In fact, there is a whole slew of songs that follow the narrative of “the supposedly innocent, good guy in love (or in lust) with the bad girl.”
How about Third Eye Blind’s “Never Let You Go?” “There’s every good reason for letting you go. She’s sneaky and smoked out, and it’s starting to show.”
Or, Beastie Boys’ “She’s Crafty”, where fictional Lucy steals all the band’s stuff? ” The girl is crafty like ice is cold….when I woke up late in the afternoon, she had taken all of things inside of his room….She had taken the bed and the chest of drawers. The mirror, the tv…she robbed us blind!”
In the “She’s So Mean” video, you see a pair of woman’s legs rocking bright pink hot pants and red lips eating candy behind the lyrics, ”For an angel she is a hot mess.. She’s like a one way ticket/cause you can’t come back./ Yeah, you want her, but she’s so mean!”
I don’t love the connotations of this song…… but I like listening to it. The song equates women with candy (women objectified for consumption? annoying), candy stores (women as something to be bought? really annoying), and childlike innocence with hot pants and candy (okay, women are all adults and don’t need to be taken care of. super annoying). However, I somehow feel better by recognizing its faults? And knowing what it’s portraying? I think we all recognize that there are tons of GREAT books, movies, and songs that are problematic: racist, sexist, gendered, and so on. A great example would be the movie Gone with the Wind. The unnamed Black Americans in the movie were portrayed as the nineteenth century US stereotype of the “Mammy”: a jovial, mother-like, enslaved woman who is happy and complacent with her oppressed condition. This “Mammy” type figure in fact loomed large in 19th century US culture–in stories, poetry, and periodicals–as justifying rhetoric of why slavery was a “positive-good” for the community as a whole. (Did I mention I am an expert in 19th century US popular culture? BB loves pop culture!!) Knowing this, I can still say Gone with the Wind, in some aspects, is a well-made film, but definitely tempered with racist undertones that can’t, and shouldn’t be, ignored. Make sense? There’s today’s pop culture lesson! Cheers!
The word burlesque, from the 1860s to the 1940s in the US, refers to a type of variety show–entertainment that consists of a set of differing acts that include everything from drama, comedy, and even the bawdy or illicit (the strip tease). Think of this blog then in the same sense: every day I’m giving you differing posts of entertainment, culture, fashion and cooking, all wrapped up in showy “burlesque baker” style!
Here’s yet another fun-to-run-to musical act (that just so happens to be two chic women): the JaneDear Girls.
While some days I don’t love getting out of my warm bed to exercise, I do like being able to listen to some of my favorite music while working out. This includes mainly dance and pop music; however, the Scottish band The Fratellis, a rocking garage band, I also love! I absolutely adore this band.
The lead singer Jon Fratelli (Jon Lawler) has a speech impediment, which lends itself to the uniqueness of their sound.
He is also married to a curvy Scottish burlesque dancer, which of course I love.
from the Sun (UK)
In fact, many of their videos include pin-ups and burlesque themes. Here’s a video sampling! Enjoy! (And I recommend you download some of their sexy rock songs for your workouts!)
Carly Rae Jepsen–a Canadian pop protegé of Justin Bieber–just came out with a new single, “Call Me Maybe.” I may be nearing my 30s, but even I can see that this song is not only catchy, but ADORABLE. Jepsen is pining for her boy-next-door in the video. Even better, she imagines herself on the cover of a romance cover with her beloved. Download this song for your next workout, or just watch the video for a laugh!
