Greetings from a foreign land
When it comes to the latest color in nail polish, I’m right on trend (at the moment: navy blue) but when it comes to pop music I have often lagged a bit. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to educate myself.
I turned some unexpected free time into an immersion course. You know the idea: You go by yourself to a foreign country where you’re forced to speak the new language 24/7 and eventually you become fluent.
Well I’m not quite a native pop speaker yet, but I did learn quite a lot from my five days on YouTube.
In no particular order:
- CeeLo Green is a very funny man and a pretty good singer, too.
- Sara Bareilles may be my favorite new singer: Intelligent lyrics, interesting melodies, a great sense of humor…and some fab merch. (Will someone please get me this for my birthday?)
- Music videos can be distracting, either because they’re too beautiful (Look at that single tracking shot!) or because they’re too full of rubber-masked monkey dancers. Still, they’re a great way to sample an entire track vs. the 60 seconds iTunes gives you.
- Today’s performers still appreciate older music, and can in some cases even improve on it. I never liked this song much before. Who knew Counting Crows would be the key? And then there’s Adele channeling Dylan - though I’m still partial to the Tony DeSare/Tedd Firth version.
- If you’re looking for songs with only three or four notes, you will find a wealth of material.
- If you’re looking for songs with an actual melody line…you may have to spend five days on YouTube, but they’ll be there.
