The knock on Kacey Musgraves’ sophomore album, Pageant Material is that it doesn’t stray very far from the formula that made her debut record so great.
That’s a tough criticism because it punishes the artist for doing what she does best. It’s also the sort of criticism that fades with time. Separated from the expectations of a much-anticipated new release, Pageant Material will one day be remembered as a collection of solid, enjoyable songs.
I forgot about Lorde.
Two years ago she was the biggest thing in music, wasn’t she? Her debut album was the hottest record out there and she epitomized the smart millennial mindset that scoffed at superficiality while grooving to Beyoncé and Drake.
She was cool, weird, talented and on her way to super stardom before she even turned 18.
Like yesterday, today I want to write about a song that I featured on the blog ages ago. In this case I’m going even farther back, more than seven years ago, to Song of the Day #38, Plain White T’s’ ‘Hey There Delilah.’
This song came up randomly in my car the other day and for the first time it struck me as deeply sad. Though I don’t think the text of the song implies it, I suddenly felt very strongly that the singer believes he and Delilah will never be together.
I wanted to write a quick entry on Jakob Dylan’s ‘War is Kind,’ and I was pretty sure I’d never featured it on the blog. But lo and behold, nearly seven years ago, the track was Song of the Day #129. But I won’t let that stop me.
Sitting in for Jakob Dylan is a man identified on YouTube only as swp1230. He’s a talented guitarist and singer who apparently has no interest in making his real name known.
I caught up with writer-director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Beyond the Lights on NetFlix a couple of months back and was thoroughly impressed. It’s the sort of adult drama that’s been pushed off of movie screens by reboots and superhero films in recent years.
Don’t get me wrong, I love me a Marvel movie, but I don’t think film lovers should concede that all of the small, smart, character-driven stories now happen only on TV.
