Scooter McGavin's 9th Green: Taylor Swift

Showing posts with label Taylor Swift. Show all posts

Thursday, August 16, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 8/16/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Lyric Version) - Taylor Swift

When Taylor Swift released that song with The Civil Wars I was hoping that Safe and Sound was the direction her next album would take. Instead she took a complete 180 with the uberpoppy crap that has been clogging the radio lately by the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and P!nk. The song was even produced by Max Martin, the guy who helped usher in the teen pop revival of the late nineties. And I’ll will let all the gossip hound dissect which of Swift’s boyfriends the song is about because I am above such silliness *cough*Jake Gyllenhaal*cough*.

Oh Love – Green Day

After two straight highly political albums, Green Day is back with a concept album about… a party. Alrighty. Apparently a Green Day party is a bunch of semi-interested models somewhat nodding their heads.

Reboot the Mission - The Wallflowers featuring Mick Jones

You would think the world does not need The Wallflowers comeback complete with a reggae infused track assisted by the dude from The Clash, and it is no One Headlight, but I kind of like it.

Save Me – Gotye

Yet another music video from Gotye where I have no clue what is going on.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 7/10/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Both of Us - B.o.B. featuring Taylor Swift

I am trying to figure out if this is a good B.o.B. song or a bad Taylor Swift song.

Let’s Go – Matt and Kim

Considering Matt and Kim have created some of the most interesting music videos of the past couple years, I kind of expected a bit more than just a dude dribbling a basketball for three minutes.

Girls Like You – The Naked and Famous

I am really hoping there was minimal CGI involved in The Naked and Famous video because I would like to think there was really a dude in each room flicking the lights on and off.

Diversity - Family of the Year

A nice play of the lyrics, “Nobody’s ever gonna take anything from me again” with strangers taking everything in the room occupied by Family of the Year, even, quite literally, the clothes off their backs. Everything but their instruments.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I Want My Music Television - 2/14/12

Taylor Swift - Safe & Sound - Music - More Music Videos

I am not sure what this whole Hunger Games thing is or what the video has to do with it, but Taylor Swift should seriously consider hiring The Civil Wars as her permanent backing band.

(Expletive Deleted) in Paris - The Throne

Note to self: next time a video comes with an epilepsy warning, do not watch it. I am going to be seeing a kaleidoscope version of The Throne every time I close my eyes for the next couple days.

Get Burned – Sleeper Agent

Also stuck in my brain: giant molesting bunnies. Thanks Sleeper Agent.

We Take Care of Our Own - Bruce Springsteen

It is weird that the older Bruce Springsteen gets, the more he morphs into looking like the love child of Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash.

Monday, February 13, 2012

We on Award Tour: 2012 Grammy Awards

It seems like the Grammys always get a major chunk of their awards wrong, but in 2011 there was no denying Adele and even with the Grammys track record, it is still no surprised that she hauled in the most awards this year. Here are some other thoughts on the night:

- I am a little shocked that Bruce Springsteen went with the new song that most people won’t even remember by next year instead of a song that highlighted a Clarence Clemmons sax solo.

- Can’t say I was ever a Whitney Houston fan (a grand total of two songs made it on my iPod), but it is also sad to see someone go that quickly and unexpectedly. But once again it shows, just like Whitney said it was: crack is wack. Another example as to never start using the stuff and if you do, it is time to get yourself help.

- Why even bring in LL Cool J as host if his entire monologue consists of a prayer and then shouting out people in the front row?

- It is never a good sign when they mentioned Bruno Mars is up for Album of the Year and I completely forgot he was. Granted the category was always Adele and the four other people since they announced the nominees.

- I can’t believe they actually brought Chris Brown back to the Grammys considering the last time the two were in the same sentence he had to cancel an appearance after brutally beating Rihanna. What’s worse (aside from not even bother to sing) was that he totally ripped off Rihanna’s We Found Love for the song he lip-synced.

Kelly Clarkson with slightly better hair

- It is nice to see after sporting bad mom hair for the last couple months, Kelly Clarkson decided to actually do something with her hair tonight. Unfortunately she passed on her bad hair to Taylor Swift.

- Couldn’t they just give an entire half an hour block to The Beach Boys? That just did not seem long enough.

- Paul McCartney, Diana Krall and… Joe Walsh?

- It was enough that they were snubbed for Best New Artist, which they should have won, but only sixty seconds for The Civil Wars?

- It is ironic that Taylor Swift performed Mean on the Grammys considering the song was inspired by the critics who had some mean things to say following her performance with Stevie Nicks on the show a couple years ago.

- Katy Perry fooled me; I thought she pulled an Ashlee Simpson, although maybe she should have lip synced because it was pretty poor performance.

- After a year of hearing everyone butchering the song, it is weird hearing a great performance of Rolling in the Deep.

- Bon Iver, your Best New Artist of 2009.

- Roy Orbison’s widow gets mentions in the In Memoriam package but not Jani Lane?

- You really have to be high to enjoy electronic music.

- Can we please end the Nicki Minaj era please? Seriously, did she really work Oh Come All Ye Faithful into her abomination of a performance?

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

The 25 Best Mash Up's of 2011

It seems like every year Mash Up artists latch onto one song and like Since U Been Gone, Crazy and Umbrella before it, Rolling in the Deep got remix every which way this year including eight mash up of which I downloaded this year, a couple that made the list below. If you want to give the mash-up a listen, click its name on the first line (where you will find ways to download it most places) and if you would like to download the song that make it up, click those in the second line and it will take you to iTunes.

1. Mean Planes & Taylor Gangs - Brenton Duvall
Wiz Khalifa (This Plane) vs. Taylor Swift (Mean)

2. Runawayfully - The Hood Internet
Kanye West featuring Pusha T (Runaway) vs. Journey (Faithfully)

3. My Name Is Wopbabaluba - Jimmy Klok
Funkdoobiest (Wopbobalubop) vs. Rihanna featuring Drake (What's My Name?) vs. Snoop Doggy Dogg Who Am I (What's My Name)?

4. The Childish Games - D.veloped
Childish Gambino (Let Me Dope You) vs. Adele (Rolling in the Deep) Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Shimmy Shimmy Ya) vs. Backstreet Boys (I Want It That Way) vs. Phoenix (Lisztomania) vs. 50 Cent (50 Cent) vs. Wu-Tang Clan (C.R.E.A.M.)

5. We No Speak Cantina - G3RSt
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: Cantina Band - Songs from Star Wars vs. Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP (We No Speak Americano)

6. Johnny's 99 Problems (But The Pot of Gold Ain’t One) - DJ Schmolli
Dropkick Murphys (Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya) vs. Jay-Z (99 Problems)

7. Kiss - Norwegian Recycling
Sixpence none the Richer (Kiss Me) vs. Maroon 5 (She Will Be Loved) Bruno Mars (Just the Way You Are) vs. Savage Garden (Crash And Burn) vs. Jason Derulo (In My Head)

8. Party Man - Mighty Mike
Lynyrd Skynyrd (Simple Man) vs. Bloc Party (SRXT)

9. Eden Snow - Mighty Mike
Snow Patrol (You're All I Have) vs. Ludovico Einaudi (Eden Roc) vs. 30 Seconds to Mars (Kings and Queens)

10. Breathe and Shine - LeeDM101
John Legend and the Roots (Shine) vs. Sia (Breathe Me)

11. Extreme Ways in the Deep - DJ Y alias JY
Moby (Extreme Ways) vs. Adele (Rolling in the Deep)

12. Black Bug - Wick-it the Instigator
Big Boi and Cutty(Shutterbugg) vs. the Black Keys (Tighten Up)

13. My Bitter Cheap Symphony (Still Sweet) - Mashup-Germany
The Verve (Bitter Sweet Symphony) vs. Jason Derulo (Ridin' Solo) vs. B.O.B. featuring Hayley Williams (Airplanes) vs. 4 Non Blondes ( What's Up?) vs. Take That (Never Forget) vs. Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars) vs. Iyaz (Replay)

14. Gerry Barbra Street - DJ Schmolli
Duck Sauce (Barbra Streisand) vs. Gerry Rafferty (Baker Street) vs. Stealers Wheel (Stuck In the Middle With You)

15. What's My Name Jack - Party Ben
John Cougar Mellencamp (Jack & Diane) vs. Rihanna featuring Drake (What's My Name?)

16. Stop! Mashup Time - FAROFF
MC Hammer (U Can'T Touch This) vs. Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams) vs. New Order (Blue Monday) vs. Talking Heads (Psycho Killer) vs. Donna Summer (I Feel Love)

17. Faster, Eagle ! Fly ! Fly ! - Mighty Mike
Steve Miller Band (Fly Like An Eagle) vs Hello Bye Bye (Fast)

18. More Than a Boy - Colatron
Beyoncé (If I Were a Boy) vs Extreme (More Than Words)

19. Lights - Norwegian Recycling
Kanye West (All of the Lights) vs. Blink-182 (All the Small Things) vs. Foo Fighters (Learn to Fly) vs. The Killers (Mr. Brightside) vs. Muse (Starlight)

20. Intro Again - Production Unit
Aaliyah (Try Again) vs. the xx (Intro)

21. Unfaithful Sex - Titus Jones
Rihanna (Unfaithful) vs. Kings of Leon (Sex On Fire)

22. Pumped up Baby - G3RSt
Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby) vs. Foster the People (Pumped Up Kicks) vs. Queen and David Bowie (Under Pressure)

23. Animus Vox - Slaptop
Nelly Furtado (Turn Off the Light) vs. Ludacris (Stand Up) vs. The Glitch Mob (Animus Vox)

24. Warwick Ghetto - Phil RetroSpector
Elvis Presley (In the Ghetto) vs Duffy (Warwick Avenue)

25. La Vida Easy - Mighty Mike
The Commodores (Easy) vs. Coldplay (Viva la Vida)

Monday, December 05, 2011

I Want My Music Television - 12/5/11

We now know what Matt Sarasen has been up to since Friday Night Lights closed up show and I do not think Julie will be happy to learn that he has been passing notes with Taylor Swift.

The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball – The Killers

It is that time of year again: a weird Christmas song and video from The Killers. This year’s installment goes for the western them in moth music and visuals. Usually I find anything Christmas media without snow an epic fail, but a dancing robot makes up for the lack of the white stuff.

How Come You Never Go There - Feist

Wow, that is a lot of hair Feist is sporting these days. And it is nice to see the Smoke Monster from Lost can still find work after the show ended.

Say You Like Me – We the Kings

Sure the latest video from We the Kings is not as creative or entertaining as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but their video game inspired video is still fairly amusing.

Monday, September 12, 2011

I Want My Music Television - 9/12/11

Maybe because the Das Racist track is pretty weak, their video tribute to Michael Jackson was not as entertaining as it should be, at least not the first last supper for dictators scenes. It does get better at the end because how can you not enjoy any morphing sequence and I swear I saw Alan Tudyk in there somewhere.

Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift

Here is a drinking game for all you degenerates out there: take a shot whenever Taylor Swift whips her hair; double if it’s in slow motion.

Marvin & Chardonnay - Big Sean featuring Kanye West & Roscoe Dash

Remember back in the 90’s all you need was Hype Williams to direct your video to break you? Ah the good old days. Although this Big Sean video stylistically looks a little too much like Kanye’s Golddigger video, I’m pretty sure I saw one of the same chicks from that video too.

Holy Holy – Wye Oak

Here is a fun video from Wye Oak for an amusement park theme. To think it has been over fifteen years since Mariah Carey flawlessly lip-syced on a rollercoaster in the Fantasy video (as if learning Pearl Jam’s Ten recently turned twenty years old last month didn’t make me feel old enough already).

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Feed Your iPod vol. LXIII: Hey Stephen

Like I mentioned yesterday, these days I spend most of my days listening to hardcore gangsta rap, Taylor Swift and bands no one’s ever heard of. I cover the latter in yesterday’s post and let me tackle the middle today. I know Taylor Swift is much maligned by pretentious music types and some of their critiques are warranted: her live performances are not always on key, most of her lyrics sound like they came straight from the diary of a middle-schooler, and she has horrible taste in boys. But let’s face it, flaws and all, if you hate Taylor Swift you hate America, and you don’t have America do you?

My favorite song of Swift’s may be the song that sounds the least like her. With every successive album her songs get more and more poppier but still have an underlining hint of country be it the addition of some banjo or fiddle, but there is none of that on Hey Stephen. The song is build on a fun groove and you can tell Swift is having fun herself singing along and the softer and smoother delivery perfectly hides any limitations she may have vocally. It is a perfect template if Swift ever wants to transition into adult contemporary, I for one would not mind if she made an entire album that fits this mold.

Hey Stephen - Taylor Swift

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

I Want My Music Television - 5/25/11

One of the fun games to play whenever Taylor Swift releases a new album is guessing who the songs are about. Joe Jonas was the rumored target of The Story of Us and I wonder if the ironic thick black glasses on the dude in the video all but confirms it because Joe has been seen wearing a similar pair lately. And the preverbal other woman does kind of resembled Camilla Belle, the rumored subject of Better than Revenge. I am really too old to have written this paragraph.

When I’m Alone - Lissie

It is a shame we did not get more scenes in the bingo parlor. But is still another great song from Lissie.

Carousel - Vanessa Carlton

It look like Vanessa Carlton’s transformation into Stevie is almost complete, just a dye job and a voice drop to be complete.

Sister Wife - Alex Winston

Sometime all it takes for me to check out a new video is its name. Such is the case with Sister Wife from newcomer Alex Winston where I wondered if the song was actually about polygamy and it turns out the answer is a resounding yes. And the video is so absurd I just had to keep on watching.

Monday, May 09, 2011

I Want My Music Television - 5/9/11

One thing that always struck me about this song is how Taylor Swift spends four minutes taking some dude to task for being mean, but then calls the dude a liar and pathetic and alone in life, which is pretty mean spirited itself. And isn’t that the chick from Ramona and Beezus in the video (um, not that I actually saw the movie, um, let’s move onto the next video)?

Sadness Is a Blessing - Lykke Li

It’s videos like this that make me want to sit in on some pitch meetings. “Lykke Li, you are going to be in a swanky restaurant taking shots for two minutes, keep in mind we will not start the song yet, and by the time we start the song, you will spend the rest of the video doing weird music.” “Sure, but how about we throw in a dramatic pause in the middle for no apparent reason.” “Brilliant, let’s start the casting.”

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. - Noah and the Whale

This by Noah and the Whale is one of those songs if it was released in the mid-late nineties it would have been heavy rotation on MTV along with Harvey Danger, Marcy’s Playground and Cake until teen girl came along and ruined the channel. I miss those days.

Poison and Wine - The Civil Wars

Last time I posted The Civil Wars' first single and here is their latest which is my favorite off their album because it is just heartbreakingly beautiful.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I Want My Music Television - 1/18/11

I though the ten degrees and a foot of snow were bad here in Northeast Ohio, but at least the snow hasn’t come indoors like Casa de Taylor Swift. Though I am not entirely sure what is going on with random dude walking across small town winter landscape.

Rolling In the Deep - ADELE

I get the feeling the production crew just asked for three random situation and they came up with dude fighting in a room full of chalk, someone breaking dinnerware, a room full of glasses, and a drummer playing in a corner. To which the director goes, “not random enough.” “well how about adding miniature city going up in flames,” “brilliant, film it.” Ladies and gentlemen, ADELE’s latest video.

Monster – Kanye West featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj

It looks like Kanye West was also a fan of The Walking Dead, and sadly, Twilight. And I wonder when someone is going to point out that Jay-Z just latches on to great beats and really hasn’t spit a great verse since his un-retirement.

Radio - Raphael Saadiq

Not sure what is with the metallic Lady Gaga looking person, but I am excited for the new Raphael Saadiq album.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The 25 Best Live Performances of 2010

1. Wake Up – John Legend and the Roots (Unstaged)

2. King of Anything – Sara Bareilles and the Backbeats (The Sing-Off)

3. Runaway - Kanye West and Pusha T (MTV Video Music Awards)

4. Breathless - Taylor Swift (Hope for Haiti Now)

5. You and Me – Dave Matthews Band (2010 Grammy Awards)

6. Need You Now – Adele and Darius Rucker (CMT Artists of the Year)

7. Hard Times Come Again No More – Mary J. Blige featuring The Roots (Hope for Haiti Now)

8. Blame It – Jamie Foxx, T-Pain, Doug E. Fresh and Slash (Grammy Awards)

9. Dog Days Are Over – Florence and the Machine (MTV Video Music Awards)

10. Shutterbug – Big Boi and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

11. Lean on Me – Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, and Keith Urban (Hope for Haiti Now)

12. Down on the Corner – Streetcorner Symphony (The Sing-Off)

13. Peace / Crazy / Love Train – Yusef Islam, Ozzy Osborne and The O’Jays (Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear)

14. Alone and Forsaken – Neil Young and Dave Matthews (Hope for Haiti Now)

15. Earth Song - Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Smokey Robinson, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, and Usher (2010 Grammy Awards)

16. Breakeven – The Back Beats (The Sing-Off)

17. Chasing Pirates – Norah Jones and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

18. Yesterday – Neil Diamond and Herbie Hancock (Stand Up 2 Cancer)

19. The House of the Rising Sun – Jerry Lawson and Talk of the Town (The Sing -Off)

20. Mine – Maroon 5 (CMT Artists of the Year)

21. We Shall Overcome – Bruce Springsteen (Hope for Haiti Now)

22. Won’t Back Down – Eminem and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

23. Straight Outta Compton – Ice Cube and the Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

24. Send Me and Angel – Alicia Keys (Hope for Haiti Now)

25. Gone – Ben Folds and Streetcorner Symphony (The Sing-Off)

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The 25 Best Albums of 2010

If you interested in buying any of the albums below, click on the album title to go to Amazon and the artist name to download it in iTunes. Also check out my orginal album reviews in the link under the album where for those I reviewed.