Carly Rae Jepsen went from a likely one-hit wonder (for 2012’s ‘Call Me Maybe’) to one of the most critically-acclaimed pop singer-songwriters working today.
Unfortunately, major sales didn’t follow, but I get the feeling Jepsen would rather be respected than rich. Still, I’m convinced that if Taylor Swift had released Jepsen’s 2015 album E*MO*TION instead of her own 1989, it would have been an even bigger smash.
Yesterday I posted my 3,000th Song of the Day. At least I think I did.
Awhile ago I was browsing earlier posts on the blog and I happened upon a series of entries in the early 2,000’s that overlapped. Specifically, ten numbers — 2,117 through 2,126 — were used back to back. I have two 2,117s, two 2,118s and so on.
That means my 3,000th blog post was really my 3,011th. At least that’s what it means if I found the only such mistake in my 8 years of blogging.
To acknowledge my 3,000th Song of the Day, I’m featuring the song that was at #1 on the Billboard charts back when I started the Song of the Day series on July 25, 2008.
Yes, Katy Perry had just released her breakthrough single eight years ago when I first posted a Smiths song called ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ and wondered if I could keep it up for a week.
I’m currently in Denver for a work conference and unable to prepare a proper SOTD post for today, so I’m going with an appropriate placeholder.
Here’s John Denver, the man who took as his stage name the capital city of Colorado, the state he loved best.
If a prosecutor had to try Sting for pretentiousness, Exhibit A would of course be his lute album.
But Exhibit B may well be ‘They Dance Alone (Gueca Solo),’ from the 1987 album …Nothing Like the Sun. Start with the fact that the album on which it appears is named for a Shakespeare sonnet, then cite its length (seven minutes, 10 seconds), mention that it contains the phrase “Hey Mr. Pinochet” and finally point to the spoken-word interlude. The Spanish-language spoken-word interlude.
The defense would shrug, rest her case and try to make an early movie.
Today’s Random iTunes Selection is the most disturbing song ever recorded by Taylor Swift.
One of two original tracks on her 2007 holiday release Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, ‘Christmas Must Be Something More’ sounds just like a dozen Swiftian pop songs, but its message boils down to a ‘Keep Christ in Christmas’ bumper sticker.
Rapper M.I.A. is the hottest 41-year-old London-born Sri Lankan political activist to spend time on the US Homeland Security Risk List while recording a critically-acclaimed and commercially successful album. At least the hottest one I’m aware of.
Word is her latest album, AIM, is more upbeat and personal than her usual politically-charged fare. ‘Freedun,’ featuring Zayn Malik, seems to back that up.
