|
|
|
Comment |
Sorted by
Date Written |
One more comment. (Reply to this comment)
by madaer
Sorry, I wasn't finished with the first one. When Hollaback Girl was first releases, I actually called my husband at work and told him "You have got to hear this song, i is quite possibly the worst song I have ever heard; and it is going to be a smash hit." He happened to hear it on the way home. He's a music purest, and a very talented musician, so naturally, he was once again disgusted.
Thanks for writing this.
|
Jun 19 '06
10:10 am PDT
|
|
Gwen Stefani (Reply to this comment)
by madaer
You are so right. My husband and I were just talking about how she is way over rated. We also think Madonna is over rated- that may get us lynched, but it is what it is.
You are soooooo right about Gwen.
|
Jun 19 '06
10:07 am PDT
|
|
Good boy... (Reply to this comment)
by whisperscream
I know you'd be smart enough to put Ms. Green on the top shelf. That album is perfection. Period.
Small quibble: On her messageboard, she made it CRYSTAL clear that she was NEVER married. She wants all her fans to know she was engaged but decided against marriage to her fiance.
That is all.
J.
|
Dec 30 '05
11:54 pm PST
|
|
Re: Just to be clear (Reply to this comment)
by tigger500
Oh it's worth clarifying further. Kelly Clarkson's album still isn't all that great. If i had the energy to review it, it'd get 3.5 stars barely. LOL. But I think she's finding herself, or at least willing to look. And that gesture of resistance should be acknowledged.
|
Dec 29 '05
1:52 pm PST
|
|
Re: I love you (Reply to this comment)
by tigger500
I love you too, ma!
Hey, I feel you on most of what you said. Re: Gwen. You can't divorce politics from consumption. We've been told you can, but that's the trap of living in America. You aren't supposed to look for the lil man behind the curtain. Because if you do, you might find yourself uprooting the power structure. And they don't want that.
Re: Kelly Clarkson.
I really should have made it more clear that I'm talking entirely about her work on her sophomore disc. I'm with you on her first record, which is unmitigated tripe. But with Breakaway, she caught me. She's derivative, but not offensive. So she gets love.
Re: Mariah
Again, I'm discussing the work, not the voice. Yes, I know Beyonce came after Mariah. But the way Mariah pimps herself on this album is pure Beyonce. Yes, there are a few good songs on it. But not enough to warrant the critical lauding she's received. To adore her voice is not to lie about the deficiencies in the songs. Mariah's music gets a critical pass because her voice is so good. The songs themselves are trash.
I want her to grow, but if she gonna be sexy, the music should be sexy. Janet grew into sexy, it wasn't (in the beginning) inorganic. Mariah's music is the same, both melodically and lyrically. She hasn't deepened her lyricism, she hasn't figured out how to use her lower 2 octaves. But her image changed. Thus, incongruance. I'm not anti-sexual imagery (peep the love for Truth), but Mariah's music isn't sexual or even sensual, so lookin like a cheap hoe is not necesary. I don't want her to be a power balladeer anymore, she's past that. But she has done good stuff before. Daydream was brilliant. Breakdown from Butterfly was brilliant. But one or two songs, does NOT an album make, and I'm adamant about that.
|
Dec 29 '05
1:42 pm PST
|
|
Just to be clear (Reply to this comment)
by cletta1201
As noted, I did not spell check and I can never spell genius right.
|
Dec 29 '05
1:26 pm PST
|
|
I love you (Reply to this comment)
by cletta1201
Seriously - I have to preface my comment by saying that I love you because you're so matter of factly yourself and nobody (NOBODY) holds a candle to you in that respect. Now, having sufficiently softened my blow - on to the review :)
" Amerie is a producer's dream. Vainglorious and shallow, she pimps a hot beat like the Beyonce clone she's supposed to be and that makes her both adored (a Lady of Soul award for Entertainer of the Year!!!!?????) and loathed (the album tanked, justifiably so)."
Amerie to me is so trite. Okay, I liked 1 Thing but I'd ahve liked it better if they'd sold it to J.Lo (yes, I love J.Lo damnit). And seriously, Rich Harrsion is like the poor man's Pharrell. Can he make an original beat? And why (moreover) is he always working the thin-voiced singers like Mya and Amerie? Over. Him.
"Lina is the most criminally ignored woman currently working in black music."
Umm, behind Meshell N'degeocello kthanx!
"Leela James, A Change Is Gonna Come"
Another one who fell victim to the I'm so full of music I need to make a ridiculously long album that nobody could ever listen to in one sitting (do you hear me Janet Jackson?). Seriously - 10 songs, 12 at max, make them all good and quit it with interludes, preludes, intros, outros and filler. But her cover of Don't Speak (from the hollaback girl you love to hate) - might be my favorite cover song.
"MOST UNDERRATED--Kelly Clarkson"
I can't help but feel conflicted over some of what you said and you saying this. Bastard!zing soul? Have you heared her first album>
"BEST SONGWRITER—Raphael Saadiq"
People just don't get him and he's so genuis. I just said to Roheblius the other day, even though The Breakthrough is SO GREAT, I'd have loved it more if Saadiq produced the whole thing.
"No self-respecting self-loving black person should have purchased Gwen Stefani's album."
Sometimes, I think we have to put aside trying to make everything political. Okay, so the harajuku girls were a little much. But that album? It's damn great and I'll give her credit where it's due. This black girl, she loves Love Angel Music Baby, although I do think Gwen needs to give Jean Harlow her image back.
"I am happy Mariah is back and successful, but no, I'm not gonna pretend like the windblown album cover and staccato light vocal arrangements weren't cheap attempts to Beyonce-fy her image."
I could maybe (not really) co-sign on this if Beyonce could hold up Mariah's right implant. But as much as she tries, Beyonce is not Mariah. We must remember who beget these R&B chicks, her name is Mimi ;)
"Jermaine Dupri is gifted but he hasn't done right by Mariah by turning her into a cheap knock-off of an artist nowhere near her vocal league."
See, the thing that irks me the most about stuff like this is that over her last few albums, people have been b!tch!n like crazy for her to make another album like Mariah Carey, I'm sorry but this is not 1990. And then when she gives the public an album that is what they want, purists (such as yourself) balk at her. Music changes, time changes, artists change. Allow the woman a little bit of growth. There are some real gems on Mimi despite the fact that some of what was on her album could have easily been songs for Beyonce - she's still in a class by herself.
" Blackalicious' and K-os' latest albums are cold and boring"
K-Os' album was GREAT. Blackalicious? They always bore me. But so does much of what is supposed to be "intellectual" Hip-Hop - then again Hip-Hop bores me these days.
" Kanye West tried to radicalize his image and was met with indifference"
Kanye is the new Roots for white kids. That's not a diss (to the white kids at least), he is. He tries to be something he's not (deep) and sells himself as some kind of noveau negroe down good - he makes me want to scream.
Okay, enough is enough.
|
Dec 29 '05
1:23 pm PST
|
|
|
|
