I Want My Music Television: 1/30/17

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (From "Fifty Shades Darker") - ZAYN and Taylor Swift


50 Shades of Grey started as a joke, it was fan fic of Twilight turned into an SnM story. Everyone who read it claimed to only doing so to see if it was really as bad as everyone said. Eyebrows were raised when it was announced to be made into a movie with big names attached. Except it ended up being Don Johnson’s kid and the dude from Sons of Anarchy. The latter of which dropped out because of embarrassment (or as he told it, scheduling conflict). But bizarrely when no one wanted to be associated with the film, somehow they managed to amass some big names for the soundtrack, most notably Beyoncé but it also spawned two hit songs and pretty muh launched The Weeknd as a pop star. The film was routinely mock upon the release and again everyone who saw it claim to do it ironically. Bizarrely they are actually doing another one and again recruited another major pop star for the soundtrack. But where Beyoncé exudes sex, Taylor Swift is very open about how she does not want to be a sex symbol. And really beside the Bad Blood video, she has succeeded at it. So it is really weird to she her parade around in her underwear in an ad for a crappy SnM movie. Meh. I am ready for her to go back to making cheesy county pop songs.

Castle on the Hill - Ed Sheeran


I always roll my eyes when conservative firebrands rail against the “mainstream media” and its anti-conservative bias (and roll even harder when normal citizens spot these same absurdities). Although I may be warming up to that bias when I recently read a headline that said (and I am paraphrasing) “Ed Sheeran fans, blame Donald Trump for having to wait until the New Year for his new album. Despite the obvious click bait headline, I still clicked on it and it turned out Sheeran’s record label had planned to release the album the week of the election but decide to delay until later because that news sucked all the air out of the room, because, you know, Sheeran fans across the world were so focused on the American election. And then since Bruno Mars already had a release date the next week and The Weeknd after that the label decided to postpone the release until after the start of the year because the crossover with these two artists and no one could possibly buy two albums the same week. No wonder the music industry is dying.

But Sheeran should have taken those extra months to try some new some new songs because the first single sounds like a cheap Coldplay rip off, complete with Sheeran walking with purpose like Chris Martin in the music video (maybe Ed should have stuck to not appearing in his videos except maybe a small cameo). But I do like him sticking to the math themed albums. I cannot wait until his eighth album differential.

Party Monster - The Weeknd


The Weeknd had one of the weirder assents to the top of the pop music. He made moody shoe gazing RnB and then out of nowhere he decided he wanted to be Michael Jackson. Now he is getting weird again hooking up with Daft Punk on his new album. But I am beginning to wonder if all his power was in his hair because I am ambivalent to his latest songs as I was towards his shoe gazing phase.

Trainwreck - Banks


I wonder if the kind of faceless men in the new Banks video were inspired by the faceless men in The Wall because that was the impression that I got.

I Want My Music Television: 2017 Artist to Watch Edition

Even though I usually check them out, I not a big fan of the Artists to Watch for the next year that pop up at the end or beginning of each year. My ears usually meet each artist with a resounding yawn. Most are not really that new, usually artists that put out albums or singles months before to crickets and outlets are dusting them off now because they have to write about something and less and less artists are putting out music in the winter. Really there are just less and less big name artists that push the needle period.


One artist that caught my ear on Billboard’s list was Maggie Rogers. Her song Alaska was somehow familiar and weird at the same time. Then the song kept popping up again and again over the last couple month until one day I heard it and realized, oh wait, this song is kind of great. So I went on a deep dive and there was a viral video of Pharrell listening to her song in front of her at the NYU Clive Davis Insitut where she talks about coming to the school as a banjo player who fell in love with French dance music, hence the “familiar and weird at the same time” vive. Maggie’s segment starts at 18:18.


What is great about the video, beside Pharrell bizarrely comparing her to Wu-Tang Clan which he manages to make a convincing argument, is Maggie awkwardly trying to sneak a look at Pharrell’s expression but clearly to scared to. And like I mentioned, she went to music school to play the banjo so clearly there is musicianship to her behind the French dance music esthetic which you can definitely her in the acoustic version of the song which turns the song into a heartbreak anthem that could have been been on one of Ryan Adams more sad albums.


Maggie has released a new single since them with an EP coming February 17 called Now That the Light Is Fading, (she also released two albums in high school that you can find on Bandcamp if you are interested in her banjo phase). Dog Years is another great song that gives me a modern update of Laurel Canyon feel to it. After a dire year for new music last year, and really music in general, 2017 is already looking up.

I Want My Music Television: 9/13/16

Side To Side - Ariana Grande feat. Nicki Minaj


I have not watched the VMA’s since… oh my, it is been a while, I think the Frank Ocean year was the last one. But I did notice most of the performances made it on the YouTube legally I think for the first time (I have never understand why the live performance rarely pop up on iTunes to buy, but I guess this is why the music industry is on life support). Not that I had any interest in any of them beside Ariana Grande. I wondered why she was she was in some spin cycle class until the actual music video dropped the next day with its Olivia Newton-John inspired theme (though I wish they gone full homage and had the fat guys training with her). But much like every Grande song, a guest comes along and ruins what otherwise is cheesy fun.


City Lights – The White Stripes


Michel Gondry directed the Lego inspired video that put The White Stripes on the map so it is apropos that he directed what very likely will be the last video from the group (barring a new album in support of a big buck reunion tour in twenty years). The song is from a new collection of unreleased acoustics songs spanning Jack White’s entire career.


Nobody Speak - DJ Shadow feat. Run the Jewels


Holy DJ Shadow sighting! Who would have guess that guy would put out a great track in 2016? And I am guessing the video is what our government will look like after Premier Trump is sworn in. Seriously, Donald Trump just recently said Hilary Clinton slandering people was disqualifying. Seriously, Trump is mad at someone else for slander!?! And why I am being political, so the nut job wing of the Trump party keeps hammering Clinton health. That may actually get me to vote for her because if you are telling me she may not make it to her inauguration? Great, I would much rather have President Tim Kaine than Clinton or Trump.


Run – Bell Biv DeVoe


Speaking of artists not seen since the nineties, holy Bell Biv DeVoe sighting!!!!!! Seriously, BBD was the favorite group of the thirteen year old version of myself.

I want My Music Television: 8/22/16

Carry On - Norah Jones


Much like The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Grateful Dead before her, Norah Jones is a by the strictest definition is a One Hit Wonder though no one would call her that (unlike Vanilla Ice who many consider one despite two top five hits). And though most know her mostly for her sleepy debut single, Jones was one of the rare artist who got better with time, as her one hit gave her the cashe to get more adventurous with her future albums. Her fifth album The Fall was her best and the album featured Happy Pills which was number one on my list of The 100 Best Songs of 2012. But for her sixth album, it sounds like she may be going back to her sleepy sound of her debut.


Hardwired – Metallica


Rock was dying when Metallica last released an album eight years ago. So does the world really need a Metallica double album in 2016 (triple if you get the deluxe edition)? Probably not, it certainly will not resurrect the genre much like the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album who battled Metallica for biggest band in the world almost twenty-five years ago. But I do kind of like the first single. It reminds me of just a super-fast (barely three minutes) almost poppy version of heavy metal like Fuel.


Nikes – Frank Ocean


One of the few bright spots in the music industry recently is that people are not illegally downloading music anymore because of streaming; why illegally download music that will take up hard drive space when almost every song every recorded is a quick search away? Even paying the couple dollars a month is enticing. Except we are now in the start of music streaming wars where Tidal and Apple are in an arms race for exclusives (Spotify does not seem to care; neither YouTube because they know everything will be uploaded there eventually). So expect illegally to boost again as more album exclusives become the norm (unless people just stop caring about music) because I doubt there are too many people willing to subscribe to every streaming service out there. So I have not heard the new Frank Ocean album yet because it is an Apple exclusive. And based on the weird first music video he released, I may not be missing out on much aside from some pretentious journalist over-praising it like they did his first album.


Heartlines - Broods


A couple weeks ago I decried the lack of new artist in the last couple years when talking about Banks who had one of the few good debut albums of the past three years. Broods is the only other artist who put out a debut album recently that I actually liked, but much like Banks new song I was pretty meh on Broods sophomore album, granted Heartlines was one of the few songs on the second album that stood out. And if that drunk Tinkerbell in the video? I miss drunk Tinkerbell, she was the only good part of the dreadful Neverland season of Once Upon a Time.

I Want My Music Television: 7/18/2016

Good Girls (from the "Ghostbusters" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Elle King


Before I get to this actual video, let me first mention another song off the Ghostbuster Soundtrack that was released that hasn’t gotten a video yet: Fall Out Boy’s version of the classic theme is just pure hot trash. Instantly a contender to challenge Panda as Worst Song of 2016 (though I have managed to not hear it yet, just based on the title MILF $ by Fergie is also in the discussion). Wisely Elle King went with an original and did not try covering another song from the film (actually is there another song from the film?) but I cannot say the video made me all that excited for the new film, but hey, it was not as bad as the first trailer they released.


Somebody Else – The 1975


Yeah, I will admit it took me forty seconds before I had to skip ahead, what a completely useless preamble to a music video. But isn't this the fifth single that failed to hit from The 1975? There was a big marketing blitz when the album dropped but none of the songs really had much of a dent on pop culture so far this year.


(Expletive Deleted) With Myself - Banks


I am on a neverending search for new music but the last couple years it has been far and few in-between with new acts maybe having one great song and everything else on their album being mediocre at best. Banks was maybe the last new artist to put together a solid debut landing five songs on my Best Songs of 2014. But I am just not feeling her new song that much. And the hairless version of herself is just freaking me out.


I Forgive It All - Mudcrutch


Well that was kind of depressing. Yet director Sean Penn’s anger issues still crept in at the end of the Mudcrutch (AKA Tom Petty’s band before The Heartbreakers) video.

I Want My Music Television: 7/13/16

Bury It – Chvrches featuring Hayley Williams


The chick from Paramore jumping on a track by Chvrches seems like the most random collaboration since, well, the chick from the Civil Wars appeared on a Paramore song.


I Want it That Way – Alabama Shakes and My Morning Jacket


It seems like a yearly occurrence now that Chipotle can get credible artists to provide a cover to soundtrack a kind of creepy cartoon promoting their brand (Willie Nelson covering Coldplay; Fiona Apple doing Willie Wonka), but Alabama Shakes and My Morning Jacket teaming up for a Backstreet Song is the weirdest yet.


Cleopatra – the Lumineers


The sophomore The Lumineers album reminds me of the second Mumford and Sons album in that it just sounded like outtakes from their debuts (but here is hoping The Lumineers do not go electric on their next album). Even their new music video is derivative and the road theme seems like their Stubborn Love video complete with the five second cameo from the band.


Scares to Your Beautiful – Alessia Cara


Alessia Cara came out of nowhere with a great debut single, it is a shame the rest of the album was a big giant bore filled with boring pop songs just like others are making these days. This was her token self-empowering anthem that everyone has to make, but like all the others, at least it comes with a powerful music video.

I Want My Music Television: 7/5/16

Sledgehammer – Rihanna


In a post monoculture world you need a big hook to get your music in front of a lot of eyes and ears. So Rihanna released her new music video as the very first one ever shot in IMAX, apropos for s song from the new Star Trek movie. It does look cool enough for something that could fill an IMAX screen though I have no desire to actually go to one. This was not even the only big music video event Rihanna stared recently as an atomically correct lifelike doll of her popped in Kanye West’s Famous video which I will not be sharing, not because I am offended by the graphic nature but I was offended by how boring it was. Seriously, ten minutes of fake people not moving? Yawn. My big complaint of the Rihanna song though, is you cannot have a song entitled Sledgehammer without making people think of Peter Gabriel much like when Fifth Harmony released a song of the same title a couple years ago. Ironically the both came out with songs named Work this year though Fifth Harmony ended up changing theirs to Work From Home to avoid confusion even though both songs still chanted Work obnoxiously.


Heathens – twenty one pilots


Patrick Carney of The Black Keys once philosophized that the reason rock music was dying was because we let Nickelback become the biggest band in the world. So what does that mean twenty one pilots is now the biggest band in the world? I at least got Nickelback, it was frat rock. Who exactly is listening to twenty one pilots? But I can ask that about half of the top forty (seriously people, Panda?!?). But hey, we get a couple new images from Suicide Squad. I have said it before, but DC should scrap their five year Justice League plan and just start doing Suicide Squad standalone movies, which they may actually do as word on the internets is there are mulling over a Harley Quinn female antihero team up movie. Then after the standaloine, bring the Suicide Squad back together to fight the Injustice League headed by Black Manta.


Fake My Own Death – Sum 41


I will admit it, I have a couple Sum 41 songs in my library, like a lot of songs from the punk-pop era; those early songs were dumb fun. But like many other acts from that era, that act got old fast. The band always had a heavy metal side and it is probably wise to embrace that side but I am just not that into it. And Weezer already did a way past their prime music video where they took on internet memes and did it much better than this.


Bored to Death – Blink-182


Speaking of punk-pop band still at it, blink-182 was the one of the few of those bands that made it a decade of being relevant. The may be down a core member (apparently guitarist Tom DeLong is too buy rating about UFO’s) but this sound sounds like it could have been in a time capsule for the past decade, for better or worse.

I Want My Music Television: 6/16/16

Kill Em with Kindness - Selena Gomez


Supposedly Selena Gomez just released a new music video but really, this is just a logo away from being a shampoo commercial.


Honky Talk Rules – Public Enemy


The only song that stood out on the latest Public Enemy album was this The Rolling Stones sampling song. How weird seeing Chuck D in a cowboy hat. Kind of look the dude from Hootie and the Blowfish who went country.


Remedy – Zac Brown Band


Man, that opening was dark, that is the very reason why I do not watch Teen Mom. Really this is less a Zac Brown Band music video and more a really dark short film because we barely hear the song at all. This was listed as part one, I may skip part two whenever it comes out.


Boyz n Poizn - Phoebe Ryan


A baseball themed video with mascots should be cool but really, had they not waited all that money on the aerial shot, maybe Phoebe Ryan would have had enough money to field a whole baseball team.

I Want My Music Television: 5/31/16

Into You – Ariana Grande


I pretty much trashed the new Ariana Grande album last week, but I will say this is one of the least bad songs off the album. It helps that it just her and not one of those embarrassingly bad guests she had on the album. The video reminds me of like a less drug filled version of Rihanna’s We Found Love video; that may even be the same dude. But that pretty much sums up her career, despite naming her album Dangerous Woman, Grande comes off like a less dangerous version of Rihanna.


Lake By the Ocean – Maxwell


Cake by the Ocean was one of the songs that you hear and go meh, and move on. Except that it starts getting more and more airplay and the more you hear it, the more you hate it to the point where I see Maxwell has a new song out called the similarly titled Lake By the Ocean and my first thought was ugg. Which is a shame because it actually is a good song that should go in the Babymaking Playlist, but man, I really hate that Cake By the Ocean song.


Spiral – Eric Clapton


Kind of a cool concept for a music video for a song entitled Spiral but the problem is that Eric Clapton does not really have any distinctive visual periods. I would call myself a fan, but I really could not name the corresponding period to each picture in the video.


Hell No – Ingrid Michaelson


I have never done a list of the worst music videos of the year list, but if I did, Ingrid Michaelson’s social media filter themed video would definitely be number one. There is nothing more annoying than scrolling through Instagram and your feed is flooded hot chicks using whatever the new annoying filter is. (Um, not that I have an Instagram account solely devoted to following hot chicks or anything.)

I Want My Music Television: 5/24/15

Send My Love (To Your New Lover) - Adele


Adele gets a bad rap for being too boring, it is probably because she is the biggest artist right now and people would rather have the biggest artist on the planet be a bit more exciting but hey, she is better than when Katy Perry or Lady Gaga wore that crown. Okay, Adele’s music video can be described as boring. The new one is just Adele standing in one spot and after realizing she is no D’Angelo, they thought, maybe we should just layer other takes over the first one.


Up&Up – Coldplay


Well that was one trippy Coldplay video.


In Common - Alicia Keys


After soft sales of her last album (granted I liked it), it sounds like Alicia Keys is jumping on the Caribbean dance trend that is going on right now that I am already ready to end. And those double jointed people are freaking me out.


Let Me Love You – Ariana Grande featuring Lil Wayne


Ariana Grande’s last album was just cheesy fun, but her latest, oh goodness, it is just pure hot trash. She just spent too much time trying to make everyone think she is an adult even though she still could pass as fourteen. And somehow the guests are even worse: Future, Nicki Minaj, and uggg, Lil Wayne shows up on this track which is one of the more annoying. Oh, Ariana, please go back to being cheesy because you just cannot pull off being some grown up sexpot.

I Want My Music Television: 5/16/16

Ain’t No Man – The Avett Brother


I do not know if this The Avett Brothers attempt at a pop song, but that is a weirdly danceable bassline. I do not know if this will get them on the pop charts but I kind of dig it and am really looking forward to their next album after their last one was just okay. What I a, looking forward to is whatever the continuation to this video ends up being. Seriously people, stop it with the “To Be Continued…” nonsense.


Rise Up - Andra Day


When I saw M. Night Shyamalan directed the new music video from Andra Day I thought weird and kind of random. But instead of a big twist at the end, it came at the beginning when we learned the guy was paralyzed (and no there was no twist at the end where he rises up). Though the timing is a bit weird because the theme mirrors exactly the new Daenerys Targaryen movie whose trailer is been in heavy rotation recently where the raven-haired Khalissi becomes the caretaker (and then probably more) to a paralyzed man.


Better Place - Rachel Platten


Wow, Rachel Platten certainly has very culturally diverse fan base. I am glad I was not invitred because I would have just starred creepily for a minute before the other person left. Actually, I probably would have been the person who brought a dog with me.


Go Insane – Lucius


Interesting concept from Lucius, 3107 photos making up the video, but I guess there is not much difference between this and stop motion animation, at least the effects were weird and interesting.

I Want My Music Videos: 5/9/16

Burn the Witch - Radiohead


Paranoid Android was one of the weirdest music video ever to get heavy rotation on MTV. MTV may not actually play videos much anymore unless you happen to be awake in the middle of the night (though they have constantly been airing some in the morning recently, sure the videos they show suck, but hey, it is a start), but Radiohead continues to put out weird stuff. Burn the Witch looks like the kind of stop-motion animation we see every Christmas (minus the snow) but more warped.


Daydreaming - Radiohead


And if that was not enough Radiohead for you, the band released another video last week, this time with Thom York randomly walking through doors. Not as creative as stop-motion animation but equally as deep, or so my pretentious friends tell me.


Crown – Run the Jewels


Those Radiohead videos were cool and all but, Run The Jewels may hve released the best video of the year, a 360 degree video which you can rotate with your mouse. Okay, there was a learning curve because the first time I watch, I spent half the video rotating their shoes before I figured I could move the camera up.


100x – Tegan and Sara


Tegan and Sara were indie darlings for years before going ultra-pop on their last album which even garnered their first legitimate hit. They have a new album coming out that is sticking with that euro-trash pop type sound. Two weeks ago they released Boyfriend which I was pretty meh on. Same with U-Turn that came out last week. They dropped a third video this weekend and I am still pretty bored with the actual music, but c’mon, the video features windblown puppies. Though dying the one’s ears blue was a step too far.

I Want My Music Television: 5/3/16

Needed Me - Rihanna


Another Rihanna video and another Rihanna video where she wears a see-thru top. Why even wear clothes at this point.


Get You Back – Mayer Hawthorne


So we have reached the end of the Mayer Hawthorne noir trilogy and, well, it ended like every noir tale ever made, with him turning on the femme fatale. Guess I should have see that coming.


She Burns – Foy Vance


Putting hot chicks as a stand in is a music video staple, but Foy Vance (not to be confused with Vance Joy, the Riptide guy; not that I made that mistake or anything) could have done better than Aria. Should have tried to get Hannah instead.


Trash - Tyler Glenn


Rock music has slowly been dying for years and pop-rock is also nearly nonexistent anymore. Which makes it even more surprising that Neon Trees have managed multiple hits this decade. To the surprise of probably no one, lead singer Tyler Glenn came out as gay last year despite being a Mormon. His faith and sexuality are in stark contrast to each other in his first solo song and music video. I am just disappointed as catchy as the best Neon Trees songs are, this new song just sounds like every crappy dance-pop song that is making top forty unlistenable these days.

I Want My Music Television: 4/27/16

Vroom Vroom - Charli XCX


So exclusive music videos are becoming a thing (even though it did not work for MTV when they tried their Supervideos a couple years back). Beyoncé dropped her video album over the weekend but you need an HBO subscription or shell out twenty dollars a month at Tidal to watch. Pass. Apple Music is the only place you can see the new Charli XCX video but at least you do not need a subscription to their service to watch. On the negative side, the video was choppy for me, something I never have a problem with while watching YouTube. As for the song, I find it extremely annoying, and kind of catchy at the same time and cannot stop hitting repeat.


Move Me – Sara Watkins


Two years ago Nickle Creek had one of the rare comeback records that did not suck. It probably helped that all the members of the band had been steadily recording during the group’s hiatus. After thaaqt album Sara Watkins already released an album with her brother and later this year is putting out another solo record. Judging from the first single it is a huge departure from anything she has done before with her ditching the folk rock she has been known for with something more alt-rock. Move Me sounds like it could have been released during the mid-nineties at the height of the genre. And I kind of wish I was invited to that dinner party, everything on that table looks great.


A Change of Heart – The 1975


Are The 1975 officially in their pretentious rock phase? I mean, c’mon, dancing clowns in black and white for a video they are completely absent?


America’s Sweetheart – Elle King


It is time for one of my favorite running segment in One Hit Wonder Watch. Ex’s and Oh’s was an extremely catchy hit for Elle King last year (though it was only my list of the Best Songs of 2014). When her album came out I remember Ex’s and Oh’s sticking out not just because it was the best song but it was one of the few songs that did not sound like it was trying to be a cheap Adele rip-off. Apparently there was another rock tinged song on that album that I forgot and though I doubt it will have much dent on the pop charts, it could be a niche hit on adult contemporary stations.

I Want My Music Television: 4/19/16

In Bloom - Sturgill Simpson


In my never-ending search for new music I go through Spotify’s Ne Music Friday playlist they update ever week with, appropriately, new singles and songs off of new albums. I usually get through each two hour playlist in about a half an hour, basically skipping all the horribly bland EDM songs that seems to just blend into each other anyway. This week was one of the rare times where I had to stop and go, what the frack is this? I did not give it much thought at first, the song sounded like another country singer who wants to be a soul singer which is apparently a thing these days for whatever reason. But then the dude starts singing, “He’s the one that likes all the pretty song.” I know that line. Is Sturgill Simpson really turning a Nirvana song into a slow jam by way of country music? Apparently yes. Sturgill Simpson even threw in some Stax type horns in for good measure. This song may very well be the first song ever to make my lists of Best and Worst songs of the year.


Yellow Eyes – Rayland Baxter


Sometimes I find new songs on the Spotify playlist, and sometime I find songs listening to my only library. I am not entirely sure when I downloaded this song by Rayland Baxter but it recently popped up while I was listening to my library on shuffle and was glad I did. It also bizarrely sound like it was influences by folk and RnB songs.


Chronic - Phoebe Ryan


I am all for a transformation storyline, but Phoebe Ryan’s band actually seem goofier after their transformation. And I kind of like her better with the glasses and afro puffs.


Motel – Meg Myers


Meg Myers has yet to release a song that I would say is great but for some reason I cannot take my eyes off her whenever I click on a new music video. It is a shame she was not born earlier because she may have been much bigger if she came around during the alternative boon in the nineties at a time when MTV still showed music videos.

I Want My Music Television: 4/16/16

Nutshell – Phife Dog


We lost the great Phife Dog recently but there is one last solo album coming soon. I kind of wish the part where they sample great Tribe classics was a bit longer.


New Romantics – Taylor Swift


In what seems to be a trend with Taylor Swift, her last music video off an album is just a tour retrospective. But that really should have come about two or three singles ago because she ran out of good songs a while ago.


Boy Problems – Carly Rae Jepsen


When Call Me Maybe was released, you could have told me Carly Rae Jepsen was as young as fourteen and I would have believed you (she turned out to be in her mid-twenties). With her new album it looks like she is aging five years with every passing video. Whoever told her that mullet was a good look should be fired. But at least she can no longer be confused with a teenager.


Moving Mountains – Skylar Grey


At the end of the end of the last big singer-songwriter era last decade there was a new artist named Holly Brook who put out a decent album. Then singer-songwriters went out of vogue, Brooke changed her name to Skylar Grey, hooked up with producers more known hip-hop music and started to make darker music. It is interesting that her new single sounds more like something that would have been on that single Holly Brooke album than anything under her new moniker.

I Want My Music Television: 4/4/16

Dangerous Woman – Ariana Grande


Ariana Grande is just cheesy fun but I really do not like it when she tries to be sexy because it just comes across as a middle schooler playing dress up.


Kiss it Better – Rihanna


Now for an actual dangerous woman who does not need to try to be sexy. And for the second video in a row, Rihanna opts for the see-through clothing which actually leaves even less to the imagination than the Work video.


Real People – Ice Cube and Common


Who would have guessed in the early nineties that Ice Cube would be on the same track as Common? And the track would come a quarter century after they both started for a crappy movie, and the song actually does not suck?


I Need Never Get Old – Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats


Aw, studio hijinks from Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. And since they bring it up, I kind of wish the song actually had cowbell.

I Want My Music Television: 3/17/16

Left Handed Kisses – Andrew Bird featuring Fiona Apple


Simple music video from Andrew Bird. But I do wonder if Fiona Apple’s allusions to You Can Call Me Al were intentional or not.


California Kids – Weezer


Just last week I was mentioning how I kind of liked Weezer's new song even though the music video was embarrassingly bad. The new video just plays of the cringworthy videos they have produced from this album cycle but the song is almost as embarrassing.


This One's For Me and You - Johnny Gill featuring New Edition


Okay, not a full New Edition reunion because there is no Bobby Brown and it is technically just a Johnny Gill song featuring the other guys, but I will take it. But oh my, Biv is looking old, I fear he can no longer smack it up, flip it or rub it down.


Love Like That – Mayer Hawthorne


The second installment of Mayer Hawthorne’s noir music video anthology has arrived and it is already running thin. Why is he singing about wanting a love like that why developing crime scene photographs?

I Want My Music Television: 3/9/16

Best Fake Smile - James Bay


I am not entirely sure James Bay is not just John Mayer changing his name in hopes people forget some of his hotter hot takes that put him in the public’s doghouse (somewhat unfairly; what he said was stupid, not a shunnable offence… but anyway). After a bunch of midtempo songs, this is his first upbeat single, and though catchy, cannot say it is very memorable.


LA Girlz – Weezer


A lot of Weezer’s output over the past decade has mostly been embarrassing but this song does kind of sound like their old self. Okay, and outtake or B-side, not an actual album cut or even a single. Unfortunately the music video is very chringeworthy.


Been To the Moon - Corinne Bailey Rae


The “moon” Corinne Bailey Rae goes to looks a lot like the planet Simmons went to on Agents of SHIELD. Well, without the blueish-grey filter.


Daughters – Lissie


While watching Survivor, it is sometimes easy to forget, that the lack of access to quality drinking water is a reality for large segments of the population. And it is still hard to put it in perspective because even though we know the contestants have to walk to watering hole, then boil the water, we do not see just how long that takes, and then we know that after a month they get to fly home where they can just turn on the faucet to get water (unless they live in a city like Flint or near where fracking takes place where the water is just as poisonous) But there are no plane rides home for those that live in Africa. Though it is hard to put into perspective the 40 billion miles women in Africa have to walk a year for water. I kind of wish Lissie would have done a per woman average to give us a better idea the struggle for water on that continent is.

I Want My Music Television: 3/3/16

The Sound - 1975


I never really liked Jimmy Kimmel's Mean Tweets segment because it jut feeds the trolls and instead of shaming these idiots, all you are doing is encouraging them to do it more. I am not sure if the critiques if are actual mean tweets or just up by the band or director but it just comes off as cringey. Though I did laugh at "Robotic Huey Lewis" despite making no sense. I guess it is a good thing I never got around to sharing my thought of The 1975's Saturday Night Live performance which was basically a Fameera David Bowie rip-off mixed with a cheesy disco song where the lead singer was trying way too hard to be the lead singer of INXS. And I kind of like that song, and this one too.

Work - Rihanna featuring Drake


Artist make multiple videos for the same song all the time, but this is the first time I remember anyone releasing two aat the sme time in the same video file. But listening to this song back to back only reminds me just how annoying that chorus can be and no matter how see-thru Rihanna's top is, I really cannot sit through it twice.

Fire Away - Chris Stapleton


Alchol has become so ingrained in country culture it has become a cliche, so kudos to Chris Stapleton, who has been flipping the genre on it heels since the release of his last album, for reminding us that there are negative consequences with the drug, especially when dealing with depression and mental illness.

Spirits - The Strumbellas


It is a rare feat to get song stuck in your head after on listen but The Strumbellas did just that with their first song because that chorus has not left my head since. For the past decade or so there has been a weird indie song that somehow manages to become a big mainstream hit, if there is any justice, that will be Spirits this year. Of course if that happens, I may be sick of it by summer.