Flashback Friday: "My Immortal" - Evanescence (2004)

Are you ready to get ANGST?

The early 2000s were, among other things, a time for broodiness and angry white boy feelings. We had Linkin Park, we had Puddle of Mudd. To an extent we had Default? Anyway, at some point there had to be some kind of counteract to all these bands. Enter the female companion for broody white girls everywhere, Amy Lee.

Evanescence's major debut in pop culture came in 2003, with the release of their smash hit "Bring Me to Life", reaching #10 on the year-end chart of 2003. Their second hit, "My Immortal", nearly equaled its popularity, soaring to #19 on the year-end chart of 2004. And it's not hard to see why. After bands like Linkin Park and Puddle of Mudd, and to an extent Default, we needed some kind of counterpart. And the brooding energy and beautiful voice of Amy Lee was the perfect counterpart to that. And nowhere, I think, is the versatility of Evanescence shown better than "My Immortal".

I should note that this version is called the "band version" or "alternate version", which was made later than the original. The original "My Immortal" did not have the band kick in after the bridge, but rather more strings and piano.

I think it definitely needed the boost of the band to really come together and make this one of Evanescence's best songs. Without it, the song's still good. But it doesn't really go anywhere at the end. While the video for the new version is kind of goofy (oh look, there's the band!) the musical idea works much better.

The song, as you might guess from the title, is about the death of a loved one.

I'm so tired of being here

Suppressed by all my childish fears

And if you have to leave

I wish that you would just leave

'Cause your presence still lingers here

And it won't leave me alone

There's still a grieving period here, as evidenced by these lines. This person is gone, but not forgotten.

These wounds won't seem to heal

This pain is just too real

There's just too much that time cannot erase

It's a very dark song. It almost gets to the point where Amy Lee seems to resent the person for not going away in her mind.

Your face, it haunts my once pleasant dreams

Your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me

I really do love this song. Amy Lee's beautiful voice come together with the beautifully dark lyrics to make it really work. Honestly, I might like "Going Under" a little better if we're talking absolute favourites by artists, but this one has everything Evanescence is good at: soft piano ballad mixed with hard rock to tell a sad story. Basically, if you've never heard Evanescence before (and if you haven't, where have you been?) start here. 

Also, as much as I made fun of the angsty period of the early 2000s, I do like a lot of music that came out of it, whether it's guilty pleasure (there is no way anyone can take that "Crawling" song 100% seriously) or because I think it's legitimately good music. Or maybe I just fit the angry white boy archetype. Whatever the case, rock on, angst00s.

"Let it Go" - Idina Menzel

So, apparently there was some movie that was really popular in late 2013?

And apparently that movie spawned a song that was just as popular, so popular that it cracked the Top Ten of the Hot 100 last week? Well, that's something I just simply can't ignore.

Okay, let's be real here: it's impossible to ignore this song. Everywhere you look, people are singing "Let it Go", whether it's former Disney characters, horribly exploited children, or goddamn Minecraft parodies of all things. But why? Why is everybody so abuzz about this song? Well, let's take a look. This is Idina Menzel.

Before Frozen, she had a career as a wildly successful Broadway performer, most notably winning Tony awards for Rent and Wicked. But she never really made it big on the pop charts, except for the occasional Glee song (ugh, Glee). Enter Frozen, a movie so monumentally powerful with a song just as powerful, striking fear into the hearts of men and pride into the hearts of women!

...Or so I'm told. I haven't seen it yet.

Yep, this analysis will be coming from a guy who has little to no context for this song. I'm sure there are better sources than me for this one, but I'll do the best I can. Bear with me.

Okay, so I do know that Frozen is the first Disney movie directed by a woman. Apparently, it's the tale of two sisters and there's a snowman, and there's no real villains, and you can't marry a man you just met, and... look, I'm doing the best I can with the material I have.

*sigh* This is not going to be easy. Well, maybe I should just watch a random scene from the movie to get the gist of it.

...

Watching random clips is not the best way to get the gist of something.

Okay, let's start over. "Let it Go" is a song about being yourself. About "letting go" of your inhibitions and letting your true self out to shine. Say, isn't there a long-marginalized group of people to whom this song could easily apply?

No, it's not flags... oh yeah, gay people.

Yes, the song has been widely adopted as a gay anthem, which makes sense. It does have some relatable lines:

Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know

I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway

I’m never going back,
The past is in the past

Vaguely relatable, but relatable. Of course, because society hasn't progressed as much as we'd like to think, this made some controversy surrounding the movie rise. Oh, no! Can't let the gays have their own song! Then they might think that they're scoailly acceptable! Can't have that!

It's sickening that people still think like this, but anyway, back to the song. I never really understood the song or its hype until I really looked at the lyrics like this. Now I can definitely see why it's Oscar-worthy and Billboard-worthy alike. We need more songs like "Let it Go". Pushing the envelope in clever ways to make people angry, but also make them uncertain as to what they're really angry about. Makes me laugh. But seriously, good song. Really good song. If you don't like it, well... just let it go.

No, of course I'm not the first one to use that joke.

Flashback Friday: "Have You Ever?" - Brandy (1999)

No matter how intrusive you think teen stars are these days in music, they were always around. You got your David Cassidys, your Tiffanys, and in the late 90s, you had... Brandy and Monica.

Oh yeah, I guess those guys were around too. Anyway, Brandy and Monica were some of the hottest names in R&B in the late 90s. Despite my preference of Monica, today we're going to look at a Brandy song, because... well, have you ever?

Specifically, have you ever loved somebody so much it makes you cry? Have you ever needed something so bad you can't sleep at night? Have you... just listen to the song.

This is a pretty obvious song about heartbreak. That's kind of the thing with R&B: they don't exactly hide their big emotions. But how good of a song is it about heartbreak?

I think it's a good song. It seems to push the vocals just enough to convey the right emotions. Maybe a little more could have been done, but for what it is, it works. The lyrics do a pretty good job too, telling conflicting emotions:

Have you ever been in love
Been in love so bad
You'd do anything to make them understand
Have you ever had someone steal your heart away

You'd give anything to make them feel the same

Brandy wants this person to understand what she's feeling, and she also wants to make them feel the same way. And later, she would do just about anything to look into their eyes. But really, this song isn't about her. It' about you. Yes, you, and your ability to connect with Brandy's heartbreak? Have you ever felt this way? Well then, you should be able to connect.

I still prefer Monica, just because I think she has a slightly stronger voice. But Brandy was pretty good too. In any case, they should have outshined the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Each of them had more talent than the both of those acts combined. Brandy yeah, Britney nah.

"Show Me" - Kid Ink ft. Chris Brown

I'd like to think I'm a pretty optimistic person, that very few things faze me to the point of losing faith in humanity. But if there's one thing that makes me lose that faith, it's Mega-Douchebag Chris Brown coming back to have yet another hit.

I thought we were done with this guy! I thought he fizzled out in 2012, never to return! Why is he back? Who wanted this?

Okay, to be fair, it's not technically a Chris Brown song. But it may as well be. He makes up more than half of it. Who's this Kid Ink guy, anyway? It's not like he really tells me through his lyrics. He sounds like every other generalized terrible rapper today.

Can't see no time on the Rolex

Get it? His watch is studded with so many diamonds he can't even see the time on it! Well, then it's a pretty crappy watch. It's like a diamond-studded hat with sharp spikes on the brim digging into your head, which is also an accurate simile to illustrate this song. Let's start with the real "star" of this song: Chris Brown.

Babyyyy

Yeah

Mustard on the beat ho

Wait, what?

Mustard on the beat ho

Mustard on the beat?

Okay, so thanks to Rap Genius, I've discovered that they're referring to DJ Mustard, who produced this song. Wish I cared, but at least it makes sense now. Wait a minute! Exactly how much production work did this guy do? The entire song samples a slowed-down version of "Show Me Love", with some artificial claps and drum beats thrown in. That was worth mentioning in the song? Of course, maybe it's up to the producer.

Also, why is Chris Brown addressing this to a "ho"? Why does this woman he's trying to pick up care about who's producing the beat? And if she does, how does that help your game? She'll just go for DJ Mustard! *resists urge to make wiener joke*

But if nothing else, this intro sets the tone for the song: Stupid and charmless. Let's keep it going, Chris:

Baby let me put your panties to the side

*eye twitch*

So, we've reached a new low in pickup lines: the I'm-too-impatient-for-a-pickup-line pickup line. This isn't even clever. This is just "Hey babe, you should take your clothes off, because they're blocking my penis from reaching your vagina."

Of course, this beats what he says in the next few lines:

Mami you remind me of something

I don't know what it is

You remind me of something

You gotta show me

*eye twitch*

So, we've reached a new low in pickup lines: the THIS CAN'T POSSIBLY BE A PICKUP LINE pickup line. Would anybody fall for this? Moreover, why are we still letting Chris Brown make sex songs? Why are we still letting him make music?

God, maybe Kid Ink saves this song. Almost anything would.

Uh, so tell me what your name is
I don't really care who you came with

Uh... is it just me, or does this line sound unnaturally aggressive? And it's not even a line from Chris Brown.

I don't really care who you came with
Unless you got a couple friends look like you

Classy. Anything else?

My bad if my ex try to fight you

Haha, catfight! Catfght! All guys love a good catfight!

Why not? It only adds to the sleazy tone of this song. (By the way, Seinfeld is awesome.)

Listen, let go of the tension
If I get a minute, I put your bad ass in detention

So... her ass is just going to sit there, thinking about what it's done? Not exactly the friskiest image, but okay.

As I thought, Kid Ink does nothing to save this song. If anything, he comes off worse than Chris Brown, which is a feat all on its own. So, I don't understand why this is popular. Somewhere, there must be a market for douchebag rap anthems. But it's not here. Show these guys the door.

Gotta end on a high note sometimes.

Flashback Friday: "Le Freak" - Chic (1979)

Ahhhhhhh.... FREAK OUT!

Now here's a song that you can dance to. No more of this "Harlem Shake" nonsense. This song was huge. It ranked #19 on Billboard's Hot 100 songs of all time. That's pretty huge. Of course, it was beaten by such classics as The Macarena, but we'll just ignore that for now.

This dance song has an edge, and for good reason. It originally was a song to lash out at Studio 54, a nightclub with long waiting lines and rude doormen. The original lyrics were not "Freak out!" They were "Fuck off!"

I can only assume that "Le Fuck" just wasn't commercial enough a title.

So the song ended up being about a new dance craze called "Le Freak"... which they never actually teach you how to do, despite hinting at it:

Allow us, we'll show you the way

Filthy liars.

Unless the dance is just clapping... because that's pretty much all they're doing in the video.

Despite that, it's a really catchy, really dancey dance song. What with The Dougie and Cat Daddy and Harlem Shake, that's apparently a lost art. What a shame. Almost enough to make someone... ahhhhh... FREAK OUT!

I have no real complaints, this song is awesome. I can see why people of the late 70's were listening.

"The Man" - Aloe Blacc

You know, if there's one thing I can begrudgingly praise about "Wake Me Up!", it's that in between the bad lyrics and the mismatched production, Avicii snagged a pretty good vocalist in Aloe Blacc. And it's nice to see him with a hit song of his own! Stepping out of Avicii's shadow, making a name for himself, establishing a personality...

Zzzzzzz...

Okay, maybe Blacc isn't really establishing a personality, other than blandness. I mean, there's nothing quite wrong with this song other than it's bland. Blacc might be able to pull off a "look how far I've come and how awesome I am for coming this far" anthem later in his success, or maybe with more conviction. But not now, and not with this little conviction. Even the lyrics aren't that great:

I believe every lie that I ever told

Paid for every heart that I ever stole

So... you didn't steal them, then.

God made my mold different from the rest

Then he broke that mold so I know I'm blessed

Either your mold was different or he broke the mold with you. Not both!

Wait a minute, who exactly wrote "Wake Me Up!"?

Okay, now the pieces are starting to come together.

Sorry Aloe Blacc, but I don't think your music and my taste were ever meant to be. You do have a good voice, but the lyrical strength isn't there. Maybe it's just because I'm not the man. Who knows?

Flashback Friday: "See You Again" - Miley Cyrus (2008)

So, Miley Cyrus: Where is she now?

From what I can tell, she's getting into stupid feuds with Katy Perry and failing to stay relevant in music. Maybe she should just go back to her Hannah Montana days! Today, we're looking back at those early days of Miley to see if she was ever any good. Here's "See You Again"!

This was actually Miley's very first single, off of her Meet Miley Cyrus album. Indeed, we all met Miley Cyrus. She would not go away. You all know my feelings on Cyrus as a whole:

"Seriously, this is the modern-day suicide song."

"Oh, why do the bad ones never go away?"

"Um... holy crap, I think I actually like this."

Er... ignore that last one. The early days of bloggers are a dark, dark time.

So, it's obvious to see that I have a certain distaste fro Ms. Cyrus and her music. But that's new Miley. What was old Miley like?

Well, she still couldn't sing. She never could. That's the thing with "my daddy is famous" stars: they tend to not be any good. Also, her dad is Billy Ray Cyrus.

So she was pretty much doomed from the start, is what I'm saying here.

If I'm to be fair here, old Miley is better than new Miley. The cutesy pop singer persona fits Miley a lot better than the raunchy party girl persona. But she's just not talented. Like, at all. She's an average singer at best, which, like I implied, runs in the family. So, Miley Cyrus was always bad, but she should have stayed in her safe zone, or at least fizzled out after the whole Hannah Montana thing did. But she didn't, and now I think she's starting to become yesterday's news, without going out on a semi-decent note. She came in like a wrecking ball, and I think that wrecking ball might have destroyed her career.

"All of Me" - John Legend

Apparently, a way to really make it on the Billboard charts is to horribly butcher a Beatles song during their 50th anniversary.

Okay, to be fair, performance-wise, this isn't either artist's fault. And I'm in the minority here; a lot of people loved this performance. But my opinion of covering "Let it Be" is "don't". This is a song very personal to Paul McCartney; "Mother Mary" is his mother, not Jesus's. So no, guys. Mother Mary is not calling to you. Choose any Beatles song to cover but this one. Thanks.

ANYWAY, it's this performance that I can only assume sparked any interest in John Legend. In fact, enough to get his newest single, "All of Me", to the Top 10.

Honestly, I think John Legend's been unfairly snubbed from the charts, really having only one other Hot 100 hit (most likely riding the coattails of André 3000). Yeah, he's kind of boring, but if this piece of nothing can make it into the top 10, John Legend should be able to crack it. And as far as piano ballads go, he can pull them off with a great voice.

Looking at this song, it's okay. Just another love ballad with somewhat clichéd lyrics.

What would I do without your smart mouth?

Drawing me in, and you kicking me out

...or not.

Look, I just assumed because this is the chorus:

'Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

By the way One Direction, that's how you should have done "Little Things". Or maybe you should have just not done it at all. Either would have worked.

Anyway, it looks like this song isn't quite as sappy as I originally thought. In fact, it's quite poignant, detailing the struggles of love as well as the triumphs. It's a really sweet song.

Risking it all, though it's hard

This song is real. It's not manufactured garbage, and it's not manipulative bullshit. No, love's not perfect. But if you find that someone you can go through thick and thin with, then it's all worth it. I think that's the message of this song, because it's not all happy. But overall, it has an uplifting tone. I might dismiss this as boring if it was just another meaningless love song. But this love song has meaning. And if a misguided Beatles cover is what it takes for this song to become popular, so be it.