Beautiful song.
Beautiful video.
Enjoy!
Category Archives: Music
Song of the Day: Make Me Love You (by Taeyeon)
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
It’s not too much a surprise that today’s latest Song of the Day is very much Valentine’s Day or, at the very least, romance-related. The song chosen comes courtesy of Taeyeon’s ballad from her first full-length album, My Voice, which saw it released in 2017.
“Make Me Love You” actually was part of the album’s deluxe edition which was released a couple months later with the song part of a trio of new one added just for this new edition.
The song has an R&B pop ballad sound that does a great job in incorporating Taeyeon’s unique voice. There’s a reason that for many year’s now that she’s been one of K-Pop’s top soloist in addition as being part of the biggest girl group in the country as leader and Main vocalist of Girls’ Generation.
We have a song that where Taeyeon seems to almost speak to the listener. For the listener to take the leap in allowing the romance begin between them and singer. It’s a ballad that speaks to the anticipation of a potential new romance and also the self-doubt that everyone goes through whenever one should or should not make the first move, leap or step in making it happen.
Music Video of the Day: All Time High, performed by Rita Coolidge (1983, dir by ????)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today’s music video of the day is for the song that was, of course, the theme song for the 1983 James Bond film, Octopussy. Apparently, the producers realized that there weren’t many words that comfortably rhymed with the movie’s title so they tasked John Barry and Tim Rice with coming up with a theme song that would still be radio friendly. They came up with All Time High.
And I know that some people will tell you that this is a lesser Bond theme song and apparently, Rita Coolidge used to refuse to perform it in concert because she felt that it was an “unfinished” song but I don’t care. I absolutely love this song. Seriously, there are two Bond song that I simply cannot stop myself from singing along with and that’s Nobody Does It Better and All Time High.
Seriously, All Time High is a hundred times better than that song they ended up using for SPECTRE.
And it’s the perfect Valentine’s Day song! I’ll be singing this song later tonight. Actually, I’ll be singing a medly of James Bond theme songs tonight. It’s kind of a Valentine’s Day tradition….
Enjoy!
Song of the Day: Candy (by Red Velvet)
Just a day before that hallmark of all Hallmark days. Usually there’ll be a flood of Valentine’s related postings and this latest Song of the Day will not be an exception.
Today’s Song of the Day: K-Pop Edition sees the return of one of my favorite K-Pop girl groups: Red Velvet. Seen by many K-Pop fans as the younger SM Entertainment sister group to SM’s main girl group, Girls Generation (aka SNSD), Red Velvet has managed to forge their own success with a unique sound that balances their dual concept of girl crush (Red) and sultry, mature (Velvet).
The previous two Red Velvet entries as Song of the Day sees example of the group under both concepts. There’s “Be Natural” which is their first “Velvet” concept. Then a little later there’s “Ice Cream Cake” which is them in their “Red” aka girl crush concept.
With today’s Song of the Day, we have Red Velvet’s lush ballad from their Ice Cream Cake mini-album: “Candy.”
It’s a track that’s well-suited for all the happenings today and for the rest of the week as even the most jaded will try to find a semblance of romance, if just for a couple days or so. A song that talks about both the effect that love has on couples. An emotion that’s both heartwarming and bittersweet as the emotional aspect of love can also lead to an overwhelming fear of that attachment fading that ultimately leads to separation.
“Candy” being the title is the group’s play on words as the whole Ice Cream Cake mini-album’s songs has done. The title may be about something sweet and enjoyable, but the lyrics definitely shows that it is a bit more than a sweet confection.
Music Video Of The Day: Friends by TWIN XL (2019, dir by ????)
Look, it’s good to have friends.
And if your friend is just someone dressed up like a big teddy bear …. well, to quote Degrassi’s Jay Hogart: “At least there’s a party.”
This video won me over. When it started, the whole dancing teddy bear thing kind of scared me because I still have bad memories of Ted 2 and I was worried the bear was going to start speaking in Seth McFarlane’s voice. Then, when the bear was in bed, I found myself worried that we were going to enter Shining territory. (Remember the scene with the two ghosts, one of whom is dressed up like a dog?) But, no, this video is actually very cute. The members of the band are all adorable and the big teddy bear actually reminded me of this big bunny that I used to have when I was little.
To be honest, this video feels like it could be a companion piece to Saint Motel’s video for My Type. Maybe it’s because they both take place in what appears to be a rather cheap hotel room. Plus, there’s a lot of dancing in My Type as well.
As a final note, as far as Friends is concerned, I binged the whole thing last year and Rachel totally should have picked Joey.
Anyway, enjoy!
One Hit Wonders #24: “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say” by Hurricane Smith (Capitol Records 1972)
Ok, so it’s 1972. Rock music dominated the airwaves, until a nearly fifty year old English gent named Hurricane Smith blew into America with a British Music Hall-styled #1 hit called “Oh, Babe, What Would You Say” (take it away, Johnny Carson!):
Who was Hurricane Smith, you ask? Well, first of all, his name isn’t really Hurricane, but Norman Smith, born in 1923. Young Norman served in the RAF during WWII as a glider pilot, and upon war’s end set out to make a go of things as a jazz musician, without much success. By 1959, Norman found steady employment working as a sound engineer for Britain’s EMI Records, located on London’s Abbey Road.
In 1962, EMI signed four lads from Liverpool who had some potential. The Beatles recorded “Please Please Me”, and the song took the U.K. by storm:
The Beatles became a phenomenon in America two short years…
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Music Video of the Day: Filles by RIVE (2019, animation by Oriane Rondeau)
Just relax and go with it.
Amusez-vous!
Music Video of the Day: Stop This Train by Adi Ulmansky (2013, dir by Yonathan Weitzman)
Today, we have another music video from our queen, the amazing Adi Ulmansky.
As for what it’s all about …. well, I don’t know. That’s the main reason I responded to the video. The more surreal and dream-like the better has always been my philosophy and this video leaves me wondering if I should go to work tomorrow or if I should hide for a few days. The sight of someone smiling while wearing clown make-up will do that to you.
Of course, it’s possible that J.W. Dunne was correct when he theorized that there is no such thing as “now” and all time may be happening all at once. In which case, I’ve either already gone to work or I’m currently hiding in my house. Of course, I may have misunderstood Dunne’s point. To be honest, for the longest time, I thought John Gregory Dunne was the one with all the theories about how time worked but then I realized that I was confusing my Dunnes. However, John Gregory Dunne did write a book called The Studio, which is the definitive portrait of Hollywood at the end of the studio system. Dunne wrote a later book about Hollywood called Monster which is interesting just because it gives you all the details about went on behind the scenes during the production of one of the most forgettable films ever made.
Anyway, enjoy the video!
Music Video Of The Day: Cool Zombie by Adam Ant (2012, dir by Adam Ant and Adam Ross)
So, what’s going on here?
I have to admit that my initial response to this video was to make a joke about how it was a look at a typical Thursday night at Johnny Depp’s place but I actually like this video too much to be snarky about it. It may be an odd video but it’s a good kind of odd, I think You have to earn the right to indulge in the surreal but I think this song and the video have done just that.
Watching this video, I get the feeling that I’m not so much looking at the end of the world as I’m looking at the day after the end of the world. Society’s gone. All the good clothes are gone. You just have to wear whatever you can find. But the music is still playing and the boats are still drifting and that’s a good thing. It’s interesting that one thing that every post-apocalyptic vision seems to share in common is that people still desire entertainment.
Myself, I’ve already made my plans in case society collapses. It mostly involves watching movies until the Earth plunges into the sun. I’m thinking I’ll probably want to watch comedies. I mean, if you know the world’s about to end, I think you would want to laugh as much as possible before the end comes. Then again, I imagine some people would want to spend the end of the world watching movies about the end of the world just so they can brag about the irony of it all on twitter right before bursting into flame.
While the song is bluesy number about Tennessee, the title is a reference to how Adam Ant felt under the influence of his bipolar medication. Speaking as someone who shares the struggle, Cool Zombie is the perfect way to put it.
Enjoy!
Music Video of the Day: Drugs by UPSAHL (2019, dir by ????)
I just came here to the party for the drugs….
Truer words have never been heard.
I always appreciate a song that’s about exactly what it says it is. Even more so, I always like it when a video is about exactly what you think the song is about. The song is called Drugs. The song is about drugs. There’s a lot of drugs to be found in the video.
(And honestly, who has never gone to a party just for the drugs?
Seriously, watching this video made me feel like it was 2007 all over again.)
Of course, neither the song nor the video are just about drugs. They’re also about the empty banalities that most people use to get through life. It’s about being so bored with our society and our culture that you turn to something that offers up an easy escape from all the bullshit of people at parties, dropping names and searching for fame. It’s a song and a video about alienation and I absolutely love it and I’ll probably be singing it for the next few days.
Enjoy!
