#but regardless of all the money and the sellout it's fine because the songs are still there.......

[junk-culture]

truly my oasis era could not have come at a worse time. it's like no i did NOT get into them because of the reunion i was here BEFORE. granted it was only 3 weeks before but STILL. also basically im now at a point in my oasis journey where like. the initial liam-and-his-eyelashes hysteria has passed and the dust is settling scales are falling from my eyes etc and im Getting it now. im accepting that liam is in fact a little bit silly and im understanding noely g im getting him. but unfortunately im beginning to appreciate him and his work at the exact same time that he is selling the rights of his songs for £200 trillion or whatever alongside his £100 billion divorce tour so it is a bit sad. he only just became alive to me and now i have to act like he's dead. very cruel. but i guess what else can we expect from a man with a pep guardiola cardboard cutout in his studio. the question is will oasis be facing 115 criminal charges for the dynamic pricing thing. ha ha . <- (football joke referencing the financial fraudulence committed by manchester city football club.).

[thisaintascenereviews]

Album Review by Bradley Christensen Lil Wayne – Tha Carter Record Label: Cash Money / Universal Release Date: June 29 2004

Lil Wayne is a rapper that people love to hate, and believe me, I understand why. When I got into music, that’s when his “sellout” status was starting. He was making terrible pop-rap songs with cheesy and awful lyrics, he thought he could play guitar, and overall, Lil Wayne was the epitome of everything that (white) people hated about rap music. I can’t blame them, though, considering I’m white, but I was still in my scene phase around that time, and I wasn’t into R&B, hip-hop, and soul music just yet, so I wasn’t expanding past “guitars and stuff.” In 2012, however, there was a growing “anti-community,” as I call it, because there were tons of Facebook pages popping up against certain bands. I saw one about Slayer, there were tons on Blood On The Dance Floor (I made one that had modest success), and there was one on Lil Wayne. Something that I’ve always heard, though, and that his fans want to attest to, is that his early stuff is really good, but in the years since, Wayne’s output has been very hit or miss (with a lot more misses, partially because he puts out so much material at any given time). I wanted to go back to an album that was almost his breakout, I guess, that being 2004’s Tha Carter. It’s the first in a series of like five sequels, but it also features a song that I kind of recognized. That song is “Go. D.J.,” because Childish Gambino used that beat for his 2014 mixtape, STN MTN. I loved that beat, and it would be cool to hear the original, so I picked up the album recently. I’ve given it a handful of listens, and it’s a pretty solid LP. I wanted to review this separately, at least from my series “Albums I’ve Been Into… This Month,” because I wanted to talk about Lil Wayne a bit more in detail. A lot of people hate him, and they use him as an example of why rap sucks (well, they used to, because now you got the whole “mumble rap” movement that people really seem to hate), but I’ve always felt like that was an unfair thing to say.

I mean, it is, regardless, because you can’t use a single artist or band to represent an entire genre, but even so, Lil Wayne’s got a legacy in the genre that you can’t dispute. After listening to Tha Carter, yeah, you really can’t, because this album is really good. It’s not amazing, and they’re for reasons I’ll get to in a bit, but yeah, this album is surprisingly solid. First of all, Wayne’s annoying auto-tune is nowhere to be found here, and his voice sounds really good. He’s not as nasally here, too, and he’s got bars. Wayne can rap, and if anyone doubts that, listen to this record. He’s not one of the GOATs, or anything like that, but he’s still good. There is evidence that he had talent at one point, and maybe he still does, but this LP is good. He’s got bars, both in terms of his flow and lyrics. The lyrics are something I have to dock points for, because they’re not that great. They’re very generic, but they are clever in spots, so I can give him that. If anything, it’s the vocals and instrumentation that carries the album, the latter more so, but Wayne is good here. The production is where the album really works for me. I love the southern hip-hop that this record has, as well as mixing a pop sensibility to it. The hooks are very pronounced, as well as awfully strong, but the southern sound still shines through. This isn’t like Nappy Roots, Goodie Mob, or OutKast, though, in which there’s a soul / R&B sound that runs through the album, too, which I like a lot more, but I’ll take it. Because that’s the biggest thing that I like about this album, as well as the only great thing, the rest of this album does wear on me with multiple listens. Like I said, the lyrics aren’t anything special, and Wayne’s not a great rapper, necessarily, but he’s still very good. There isn’t any moment of this that I thought was garbage, and it’s totally fine for what it is, so I’m happy I picked this up. It’s a bit too long for its own good, but I’d have someone listen to this record, or a song form the record if they have doubts on Wayne’s abilities.

[theprattleronline-blog]

You Hate Taylor Swift, and That’s Okay

Sage Kelley

You Hate Taylor Swift, and That’s Okay

I heard Taylor Swift’s new song the other day “Look What You Made Me Do”. The production was sparse and clean, keeping a dark sound throughout. The lyrics followed, brisk, straightforward, and pseudo-edgy, the “Look at how dark I’ve become” facade. It’s not necessarily catchy, and the vocals become a bit awkward in timing. The chorus sounds too similar to pop of the early 90’s, and the overall focus seems a bit too early-two-thousands Hot Topic. Then, the bomb hits. Or what Swift would like to consider said bomb.

Taylor Swift answers a call. “I’m sorry. The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause she’s dead.”

Dramatic drop.

I gasped, then followed with laughter. Gut busting laughter. Chuckles. “This can’t be serious?” I thought.

Apparently the internet felt the same. Despite having over 245 million views on Youtube and being number one on Billboard’s Top 100, people don’t seem to be too happy about Swift’s new “gritty” single. There are various posts on social media mocking the intensity, claiming her sell-out status, and calling her a snake. 

I'll be honest, I don’t usually keep an eye (or ear) on Swift. I get the situation. A naive country singer sells out and becomes a pop-star. She occasionally speaks out for social issues. She dates a plethora of famous men. Seems fairly cookie cutter to me. But, after a few minutes of internet crowdsourcing, I realized: people absolutely hate Taylor Swift. Articles upon articles, posts upon posts, people tearing down Swift for various reasons. This peaked my interest. How could a pop-star be so polarizing? How could some innocent blonde from Pennsylvania have record breaking singles and tours, yet be so collectively hated? I journeyed down the rabbit hole that is the Taylor Swift Chronicles and learned, it’s totally okay to hate Taylor Swift. In fact, I might have a bit of disdain towards her now as well. 

Swift’s music is a bit of a toss up. I understand that some see her as a sellout. She came onto the country music scene with hits like “Teardrops On My Guitar” and sold herself as a little country girl, lost in the post-pubescent world of love. Then she switched up her style a bit, becoming more mainstream. She dropped the country twang and acoustic guitar for synth beats and electronic drums, eventually growing into a pop artist with her 2014 album 1989. The album sold 1,287,000 copies in a week. Taylor may have sold out by switching genres, but it paid off. Her music is catchy. It may all focus around the same idea of “innocent little me hurt by a boy” but she seems self aware in that aspect. It’s what sells, and I certainly can’t hate her for wanting money, to an extent. Pop is pop, and if done without the intent of being “Popular”, and more with the intent of using the genre as an artistic platform (Prince and Michael Jackson) then it can create for amazing music. But, if only done to earn radio play, it becomes monotonous and braindead. As her last few singles show, it seems as if she’s making music for the latter. 

But wait, there’s more.

Taylor Swift’s new tour has created an issue with Ticketmaster. In order to get a better chance at tickets, you have to participate in “boost activities” including: buying merchandise, preordering the new album, promoting her on social media, and watching various videos. This is not a joke. Swift wants more money in order for fans to buy expensive tickets that will ultimately spike the overall price of leftover tickets. That is selling out. That is money hungry. Taylor’s net worth is 280 million as of August, 2017. The concept not only reeks of desperation, but seems like a bit of a “screw you” to dedicated fans. Okay, so she’s a sellout. A bad sellout. So why does everyone call her a snake?

Her most popular instance of being a snake (i.e. being two-faced and deceptive in order to maintain her image) was her feud with Kim Kardashian-West and Kanye West last year. Now, Taylor was a victim when Kanye interrupted her VMA award in 2009. She was gracious when she accepted Kanye’s apology for the interruption and awarded him with the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 2015. Then Kanye dropped the line “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous” on his cleverly named track “Famous.” Apparently, Taylor stated that she was fine with the lyric and thought it was humorous. Kim Kardashian-West went to Snapchat to post a video of Kanye talking to Taylor about the lyric. In the video, after Kanye reads her the line, Taylor says “It’s like a compliment,” and “I’m really glad that you had the respect to call and tell me about it. That’s really nice.” You can hear that it is her voice over the phone.

Here’s the snake part: Once the lyric stirred up controversy amongst Swift fans, Taylor did a complete turn-around, having her publicist state that Kanye did not ask for approval and she cautioned him on his song being seen as misogynistic. She then went to make a Grammy speech stating “There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.” She completely backtracked on everything, and despite proof of her acceptance, lied about disliking the line. 

Swift then released countless songs, “Look What You Made Me Do” included, that seem to be jabs toward Kanye. There are countless other stories of her being two-faced. Taylor Swift is willing to do whatever it takes to uphold her long-lost reputation as America’s Sweetheart. She went back and forth with her ideals in order to stay with the consensus opinion. 

In 2015 Taylor Swift filed a lawsuit against DJ David Mueller for allegedly lifting her skirt. She went on a women’s rights kick, and eventually won the lawsuit and charged Mueller a single dollar. A symbolic dollar to show that woman shouldn’t be objectified and gaslit to feel as if sexual harassment was their fault. Awesome. I can’t say anything negative about the case, and it strikes a point in Swift’s “okay with me” category, but what followed became a bit unsettling.

At this point, with her fame and fanbase, Swift began using her popularity to share opinions on women’s rights. She can easily sway opinions, and was becoming a strong leader amongst a generation. Then the election happened. Donald Trump was, well, making blatant misogynistic statements. Swift became silent. Maybe she was working on her new album, diving deep into her artistic work. But it’s not hard to send a single tweet, or post a picture that displayed her opinion. Why didn’t Taylor continue her fight for women and take a stand? How many people would be informed and moved by her opinion? She has 85.5 million followers on Twitter. And in an equally severe, but more concentrated case, when Neo-nazis began using Swift in their propaganda, she stayed silent. She has still yet to make a statement on politics, and though she posted a photo of her at a voting booth, she never said who she voted for. Surely, can give her the benefit of the doubt, but being silent usually means negative things. As someone that had spoken so clearly about her opinions before, being silent can only mean that she was afraid. She had an extremely symbolic lawsuit against sexual harassment, but didn’t speak out about the notorious groper who was clearly en route to becoming the leader of the country? This warrants a few snake emojis.

After the Kanye lyric gained negative attention, she pulled back on her approval because it’ll make her seem misogynistic. Then, she disclosed her political views because, regardless of her stance, such would provoke negative attention. Now, wants fans to spend money, simply for a chance to get her concert tickets. And finally, she continues to make enemies with other stars in order to feed her “gritty” song concepts. People like drama; naturally they’ll listen to songs about drama.

Everything lines up to one conclusion: Taylor Swift is a sellout. She’s willing to change her views, denounce her friends, and rip-off her fans to maintain her image. She takes the moral high-ground until it alienates her fanbase, and with this, she doesn’t stand for anything with concrete footing. She changed her sound to become more pop-oriented. I can’t necessarily bash this idea, for most musicians usually do the same (I’m looking at you, Maroon 5). If you’re not making enough money in your genre, switch. This isn’t uncommon in the music world, and will continue to happen after Swift. Artists will do whatever it takes to stay relevant. Some, like Kanye, use negative publicity as a means of becoming infamous. Taylor does the opposite. The victim, even in her music. She has and always will be the “wronged”. It’s all an act. It’s all to get people talking. No one needs to spend time reading countless articles about a pop singer. I’m not very happy that I just did so for hours. 

You can hate Taylor Swift’s desperation for attention and money, that’s fine. Or you can ignore these things and just like her music, that’s also fine. It’s all pretty catchy anyway. But if there’s one thing I will say, her new music is terrible, and regardless of her persona, she’s still a musician, and that’s all that matters. 

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Illustration by Hua Chen