April Fool: The first was a Friday… Coincidence?

So last time I critiqued several films I’d watched in theaters. Mainly because several of these films did not measure up to my level of expectation, and when I’m disappointed, I'm inclined to rant.

Well, folks, I’m back, and I’m here to criticize a different entertainment medium:  the music industry.  Particularly, the lyrics of so called “music” nowadays.  If the screenplays and dialogue of some recent movies have been lackluster (and the performances as well, but moving on), it is nothing compared to the sorry state that lyrics have been reduced to in today’s songs.

I’m pretty sure you know the specific song that brought this entire subject to my mind. It’s been recently mocked and parodied by everyone over the last few weeks.  If you haven’t heard it yet, I apologize in advance, because once you listen to it, you can never “unhear” it:

That’s right. It’s Rebecca Black’s tribute to banality:  the monstrosity aptly titled Friday.

It’s a song where in the bridge the lyricist found it necessary to list the order of certain days of the week.  And unless one’s target audience is composed of people from a planet other than earth, this is rather excessive and, frankly, insulting to a person’s intelligence.

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday

Today is Friday, Friday

…

Tomorrow is Saturday

And Sunday comes afterwards

The number of bash-worthy elements in this music video is endless (vocals come immediately to mind, but I digress).

Another trend in the music of today’s pop culture is to make other pop culture references.  This is nothing new and it has been done ad nauseam. 

Take for example the movie Inception.  Yes, I loved that movie and it was awesome (don’t judge me), but why must all these songs be singing about it suddenly?

Jennifer Lopez – On the Floor

I’m loose
And everybody knows I get off the train
Baby it’s the truth
I’m like inception I play with your brain

Black Eyed Peas – Just Can’t Get Enough

Honey got a sexy all steamin’

She givin’ hotness a new meanin’

Perfection mama you gleamin’

Inception you got a brother dreamin’, dreamin’

Another thing these songs love to mention is new technology.  However, in a few years from now, listening to a song that references checking your facebook or listening to your iPod is going to be as dated as listening to a song that discusses a VHS tape or a record player, etc.

Iyaz – Replay

It’s like my iPod’s stuck on replay

(Newsflash: It’s a “repeat” button not a “replay” button.)

Black Eyed Peas – Imma Be

Imma, Imma, Imma be rockin’ their iPod to the infinite

Also, because originality and creativity are no longer things artists strive for anymore in their songs, many popular hooks and choruses are simply a remix of older ones.

No Love – Eminem (feat. Lil Wayne)

Remind you of anything? Maybe Haddaway’s What Is Love?

Black Eyed Peas – The Time (Dirty Bit)

Remind you of anything? Maybe (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack?

will.i.am and Nicki Minaj – Check It Out

Remind you of anything? Maybe Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star?

(And yes, as sad as it is, I was convinced that the backup singers’ “ooh, ooh” originated from the will.i.am and Nicki Minaj version. My boyfriend had to convince me that they actually “borrowed” it from a preexisting song.) 

He also dislikes the Eric Prydz song Call On Me…

Because it’s just a rip off of Steve Winwood’s Valerie.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I may be bashing some of these songs that I’ve used as examples, but I’m willing to admit that I have fun listening to some of them despite the fact that they may not be as good as the Beatles, Michael Jackson, or whatever “fill-in-the-blank-artist-or-group-stands-as-the-paradigm-of-musical-genius-in-your-book,” etc.

Even my boyfriend rolls his eyes every time I jam to Katy Perry’s new song E.T. because he thinks the lyrics are just God awful. And yes, her songs are not necessarily masterpieces when it comes to the lyrical department. And yes, the song is crammed to the max with space-related lingo to the point that it reaches the ridiculous.

But that doesn’t change the fact that I have fun jamming to Katy Perry...

 Boy, you're an alien
Your touch so foreign
It's supernatural
Extraterrestrial

In other words, maybe I should just stop criticizing music because everyone enjoys different styles and even I like lame stuff sometimes, right?

Nah.