Curls

He Walks Away/The Sun Goes Down

A wonderful thing about music is that it can take on a very personal meaning or role unique to an individual alone. Sometimes a song can bring back memories as evocatively as a particular scent, be they good ones, poignant ones, humorous ones, or sad ones. Pop music in particular is useful in certain significant times, moments or events in a person's life: why else would so many couples have "our song," or wedding dj's scour the world for the perfect track for a first dance, or the recent breakup victim find solace or strength in one of any number of tunes appropriate for the desired reaction, be it sadness, anger or reaffirmation of strength.

As it happens, even the most resolutely anti-romantic smiling singles among us, including your humble blog author, can unwittingly or reluctantly find themselves, sometimes quite suddenly, in that last category, despite what seem like one's best efforts to avoid getting in deep enough that someone could have the power to place them there, even after seven solid years of comfortable conscientious objector status. As difficult and unfamiliar as the emotions may be, though, I am a pop music blogger, and damned if I'm not going to use that fact in whatever way I can to help guide me through the breakup mires as quickly and effectively as possible, and to the most positive extent it can as well. Therefore I naturally spent a bit of thought on finding a song that could most appropriately summarize, symbolize, and proselytize the whole unfortunate affair, mentally flipping first through some of the lighter ballads (I've done the heavy ballad breakup once...about seven years ago).

But not even the more optimistic laments seemed to really capture the true spirit of the moment, it being for me as rare and blind-sided as it has been; instead, my thoughts turned toward an atypically positive tune by an artist also not immediately obvious in my endeavor, and instantly I knew I had it. Sure, few singers today can warble about pain as believably and realistically as Amy Winehouse, but it wasn't one of the more despairing tracks from the great album Back to Black I knew was my winning ticket. No, if I were to sing from my heart this evening it would come out something like the amiable and knowing "Tears Dry On Their Own." Set over the accompaniment to the celebratory 60's love duet "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Tears Dry On Their Own" reads the way a rationalist who still appreciates at least the notion of (fictional) romance would approach the end of a love story.

So, like the mega-beehived British chanteuse in the song's loveable music video, I must work on getting out of the hotel room and walking down Hollywood Boulevard again with the same acceptance and open-minded hope as the track promotes. It's my cathartic way of saying goodbye to a person and a relationship I enjoyed. And why shouldn't I carry my headphones along with me as I do so?

Tears Dry On Their Own - Amy W...

"Tears Dry On Their Own"

Amy Winehouse

Back to Black

(Republic, 2007)

Lyrics by Amy Winehouse, 2006

All I can ever be to you
Is a darkness that we knew,
And this regret I've got accustomed to.
Once it was so right,
When we were at our high,
Waiting for you in the hotel at night,
I knew I hadn't met my match,
But every moment we could snatch,
I don't know why I got so attached.
It's my responsibility;
And you don't owe nothing to me,
But to walk away I have no capacity.

He walks away;
The sun goes down;
He takes the day but I'm grown.
And in your way, in this blue shade
My tears dry on their own,

I don't understand:
Why do I stress a man
When there's so many bigger things at hand?
We could a never had it all,
We had to hit a wall,
So this is inevitable withdrawal.
Even if I stop wanting you,
A perspective pushes through:
I'll be some next man's other woman soon.

I shouldn't play myself again,
I should just be my own best friend,
Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men.

I wish I could say no regrets,
And no emotional debts,
Cause as we kiss goodbye the sun sets.
So we are history.
The shadow covers me;
The sky above a blaze that only lovers see.

He walks away,
The sun goes down,
He takes the day but I'm grown,
And in you way,
My deep shade,
My tears dry on their own.

Lounger

Song(s) for the Day: Shaken, Not Stirred

Think back, if you will, to 1997, when Bond meant Brosnan instead of brooding Craig, brunette instead of blonde, chest hair galore instead of shiny smooth muscles emerging from the sea, and when theme songs were almost as enjoyable (and popular) as the films they accompanied. Tomorrow Never Dies, the second and arguably best of the iffy Bond foursome starring Scottish stud Pierce Brosnan, arrived two years after Goldeneye brought a new Bond to fruition, future X-Men star Famke Janssen (and her killer thighs) into the limelight, and the great Tina Turner title track (written by Bono and the Edge of U2), but it didn't exactly have a great deal to live up to. Still, it was an enjoyable romp, with such delights as an Asian Bond Girl (Michelle Yeoh) whose powers for once extended beyond being named "Pussy Galore;" a kickass submarine finale; Jonathan Pryce (fresh off Evita) as one of the better Bond villains not armed with a white cat; the brief scenes featuring Teri Hatcher that culminated in her being bumped off a third of the way in; and so forth.

Another gift Tomorrow Never Dies gave was addressed to the music world, and herein lies an interesting, if brief and familiar, story. David Arnold, who penned the score for the seventeenth Bond film (having been hand-picked by boss-lady Barbara Broccoli), also put his hand to writing a theme song, a theme which also would crop up several times during the film - because, after all, isn't that what a theme song really SHOULD do? But I digress. Said song, originally titled (wait for it) "Tomorrow Never Dies," was recorded by lowercase-loving songstress k.d. lang, at her sultriest and most sensual throughout. But after Tina Turner, someone decided that the new theme song should be selected through a competitive process, and a total of twelve songs were submitted from a variety of artists, including Arnold and lang's. In the end, though, it was Sheryl Crow's entry that won the day, although Arnold and lang's tune was given the opening end credits slot and renamed "Surrender," only the fourth time a Bond film would have a different opening and closing theme song.

When I first saw the film I was no Sheryl Crow devotee (nor am I still, although that is not to say I view her in any negative light), and I felt strongly that "Surrender" was a far more appropriate Bond song in general and in terms of the particular film itself. Over time, I've learned to appreciate both for their own merits (it is certainly one of Crow's most exciting songs), and now I'm not sure I have, or need, a preference.

Which, if any, do you prefer, I wonder?

Surrender - k.d. lang

Lean Back

In Da Hood

Boom Shalaka, He Starts To Talk-a to Me

I love and welcome music suggestions from friends and readers, and take each one into consideration. But  when a friend of mine texts me that a certain song makes her "want to rape my boyfriend," I sit up and take special notice. After following this..."solid" endorsement, I find that while I have acquired no particular desires for enforced sex acts upon any significant others, I have stumbled across a pretty kickass song, and after a bit more poking around I ended up doing something I almost never do (and virtually never with a new artist): I bought the whole album.

Anjulie is, at least in my early opinion, one of the best things Canada has unleashed upon the US since health care reform. Of Indian and Guyanese descent, she also fills for me personally the huge void I have been longing to see filled in pop music by an Asian singer (I thought back in 2003 that Stacie Orrico, singer of "Stuck," was actually Stacie "Uriko," and was sorely disappointed). She has the swagger of M.I.A. and the exotic appeal of Santigold but with better vocal ability and a musical style that is more solidly pop without her sound ever seeming anything less than new and fresh.

The video for the single "Boom," from her self-titled debut album, is a whimsical jaunt through surrealism and sensuality with neither conceit coming off heavy-handed, largely due to the instant mixture of charm, likability and sensuality embodied by the caramel-colored ingenue, who appears amid colorfully dreamlike scenery without ever taking a bite. That same quality, as far as I've gotten in the album (which I plan to review in full), permeates her songs, be they mysterious and semi-erotic like "Boom" and "Heat," slinky and dance-groovy like "Rain," upbeat throwback like "Some Dumb Girl," or piano-lounge intimate like "Crazy That Way." Since I like what I'm hearing so far, and because my friend obviously needs a bit of sexual release, and because it's just a great song for a warm March evening, here is Anjulie's great first single, "Boom." (Boyfriends, beware!)

Boom - Anjulie

"Boom"

Anjulie

Anjulie

(Hear Music, 2009)

Trivia: Although "Boom" has not broken into the Hot 100 (nor have any of Anjulie's singles) and the album has reached just 108 on the Billboard 200 (still respectable for a self-titled debut of its kind), it proved a big hit on one of the narrower niche charts, hitting number 1 on the Dance/Club Play charts in 2009. "Rain" peaked at number three and the Bimbo Jones remix of "Love Songs" broke the top ten as well.

M-M-My Telephone

Don't You Know I Dumped Your Husband?

Androgyny has always been an appealing attribute in pop music vocals. Perhaps as much as the mass market consumer enjoys the vocal acrobatics of the Mariah Careys and Christina Aguileras and the American Idol contestants of the world, there's something to be said about being able to sing along to our favorite songs, and what easier songs to sing along to than those that fall in the middle range of the unisex register? It's no coincidence that the biggest names in pop music tend to fall in the tenor/counter-tenor range for males (Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Usher, Prince) and the alto or mezzo range for females (Britney Spears, Pink, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Fergie, Alicia Keys, Sade...the list goes on).

Of course, the best examples of androgyny are the ones that cause a lot of "That's a BOY/GIRL?!?! I thought it was a girl/boy!" types of reactions without diminished appeal. (While I am still attempting to account for and explain the immense appeal of Justin Bieber to the rabid young female audience prone to rioting at shopping malls and keeping the name trending on Twitter almost constantly- and believe me, I'm trying - clearly the voice has a lot to do with it, since let's face it, the kid's just not that attractive, even in a teen beat pinup sense.) One of the first examples of this sex mixup in my personal musical experience occurred in 2000 when I first heard "He Wasn't Man Enough" on the radio on the school bus home and momentarily mistook it for a curiously progressive bit of sexual role reversalism (keep in mind that my formative years in pop music were from about 1996-'99, wherein one of the big hits was White Town's "Your Woman," so I had learned early on that gender was more fluid in this brave new world). But when I found out later that the masculine lead vocals belonged to "Un-break My Heart" crooner Toni Braxton, it took nothing away from my enjoyment of the sassy single (and once I found the music video in college I knew I was in kitsch heaven).

Nowadays, Braxton is apparently in the early stages of a comeback. After years of legal problems with former labels, from her abrupt departure from Arista Records following the flop of her fourth album in 2002 (Braxton was pregnant around the time of the release and Arista refused to postpone, resulting in Braxton being able to do little promotion) to her recent release from Blackground Records after numerous disagreements with its manager and publicity nightmares including a public feud with Jay-Z and Kanye West (she claimed on a radio interview that the rappers had taken money from her childrens' college fund), the only good exposure Braxton has gotten in almost a decade came from her historic headlining gig at the Flamingo in Las Vegas from 2006-08 and an appearance on the seventh season of Dancing With the Stars and its subsequent tour. With her sixth album, Pulse, due to be released on May 4, 2010, it remains to be seen if Braxton's comeback more resembles Britney Spears' or Whitney Houston's. For now, here's an oldie but goodie from the one and only Ms. Braxton for a beautiful Saturday.

He Wasn't Man Enough (Album Ve...

"He Wasn't Man Enough"

Toni Braxton

The Heat

(LaFace Records, 2000)

Trivia: Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist in 1994, four awards for Female R&B Vocal (including one for "He Wasn't Man Enough") and one for Female Pop Vocal ("Un-break My Heart"). In addition to becoming the first headlining black performer in Las Vegas to have her show chart in the top ten in sales data, Braxton was the first (and only) black woman to play the leading role in Disney's Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.

Sunglasses Cover Up My Green Eyes