Joni Mitchell- Blue

Today in class we listened to Joni Mitchel's album, and it was definitely a breath of fresh air from the music we have listened to in the recent past. Although I know some people like it, I am not a big fan of the noisy, metallic punk rock that many people created in the 60's. The first thing I noticed with her music was very eloquent and beautiful background music. To me, backup music isn't as important as the voice and song of an album, but I liked that unlike the rough, I thought unnecessarily noisy crashes of the punk music, it actually added to the song and made it even more complex and pretty. My favorite thing about it was definitely her voice, as I agree that it just seemed effortless for her to make amazingly high notes. I also really like how her voice isn't rich and deep (although I like that too) her voice was really light and refreshing. Lastly, I like how her songs were complex and not
just nonsense or repetition. I really liked the album and will actually probably go look up some of her songs tonight!

My Problem With Disney Singers

Let me start by saying I have always and will always love the songs and movies of the origonal Disney, and I can sing from memory pretty much every song from movies like the lion king and any other princess movies. That said, I have a pretty big problem with most present day Disney Channel stars. Of course, there are exceptions such as Ariana Grande or the girl from Good Luck Charlie (as I have blogged about in the past), I feel like now they take their "actors" and "actresses" and make them sing, regardless of weather they are good or not. Then they just autotune it until it sounds remotely good, and then publsih it all over the place and on kidzbop 700000 or whatever they are at now. Even now they are going as far as re-recording old fairy and princess songs and trying to make them more poppy. I personally think that it is easier for a musician to be transferred to an actor then vice versa, because musicians are used to entertaining a crowd while singing is a talent that pretty much you have or you don't. Above is an example of one of the not even costar but another random actor from Hannah Montana that decided to make a song when I don't think he sounds good or natural at all.

Led Zeplin 4

Even though I am on the fence about whether or not I like Led Zeplin, I actually enjoyed their fourth album. I could do without the high pitched screeching parts, but I felt that the beat of the drums and up beat tune made the music go by surprisingly fast. Also, I liked how the music would get up and really exciting (especially the hint of jazz) and then would calm down then forte up again. I also like how the longs aren't repetitive and boring, but they kind of feel like the link and fit together well. I was most surprised that although some of the songs were long, like Stairway to Heaven were so long, but it didn't drag on the way some songs would if they were that long. Maybe it is because the complex guitar and drums keeps my ears entertained, but I thought it was cool that the album went relatively quickly. I am looking forward to hearing more from him, because he seems to have a lot of different ideas and creative tunes.

Ariana Grande

It never fails to amaze me how many young talented singers are discovered by the Internet and through sites like YouTube. That is how Ariana Grande was discovered. I first saw her in one of Nickolodean shows "Victorious". I definetely don't like the singers that come from Nick and Disney, because I feel they take their so called "Actors" and make them sing and autotune it till it sounds good. However, I think Ariana Grande is an exception, because their are YouTube videos of her just singing on the camera, and she is phenomenal. I really like how powerful and strong her voice is especially for a person that young.

Carrie Underwood Temporary Home

I really like Carrie Underwood, because I really like her mix of pop and country, but one of the things I really like about her is that her songs actually have meaning and are deeper than the latest breakup or the newest clothes. Her songs, and her music videos really get to me and open my eyes to the struggles of life. This song is one of my favorites, not because of the music (because honestly I like the music of anything she sings because her voice is gorgeous) but because the song is so deep and strong. Also, a little confession I totally cried when I watched the music video. Overall, I really love that she sings about real issues and songs from the heart.

Rip Remix Manefesto

Last class we watched the documentary about the struggle between the copyright owners of music and the upcoming generation using old music to make their own. When we finished watching the documentary, if you would have asked me how I felt I would have immediately said that the corporations were being greedy and needed to loosen up and let kids be free and improve on music. However, as the ideas of the video started to sink in, my views started to change. The video was really pervasive and I commend it for that, but I felt that the actual facts that they used so support their ideas weren't exactly good. I think there is a reason for laws to be there, and the reason they used for breaking it are stupid in my opinion. They say that the big corporations take all the artists money and keep it for themselves, and yeah a while ago that happened, but now there are laws to protect that from happening. I understand where the video producer is coming from, but I'm sure a documentary about the artists that hve their music taken away and turning them into broke, people would take that side. Sure the video was persuasive, but I think the facts and the idea behind the documentary isn't true.

Lady Gaga

In class a while ago, we were talking about the appeals that kids had to new artists, and kind of what kind singer is desirable. We started talking about that it was someone who was kind of "different" from the rest of the crowd, and someone a little dangerous. This kind of reminded me of the popular pop singer Lady Gaga. When she first came out with the song "Just Dance" I really liked it, but then I felt her music got pretty boring and repetitive, but she continued to grow in popularity. Why? I think because of her crazy outfits and downright wierd music videos, people liked that she was different. She really played that up, always being the wackiest dressed and having the weirdest songs, but it seemed to work for her. I don't think her music would have made it alone, but her strangeness made her desirable.

Black Sabboth

Today in class we listened to Black Sabboth. I am not, in general, a very big fan of metal rock music because I don't like the harsh sounds and the twisted lyrics, and listening to Black Sabboth didn't really change my mind. I liked at the beginning of the first song ( I think it was a little conceited to name it after themselves but oh well) I liked the rain and other odd sounds, and I likes the beat of the music for a while, but then I felt it just kinda became repetitive and boring. The lyrics were interesting to call the least, and honestly I don't like songs about sadness and death. His voice also kind of bothered me for some reason, I don't know that is probably just a personal preference. I did like how in the middle of the song the beat changed, and the strong guitar solo got me reinterested, but again I feel the song was kind of same. I did however like the strong and powerful ending where it had loud music and then suddenly got quiet. Although I don't really like the instrument that started the second song (I think the harmonica or something) it was a nice change. I definitely liked the second song more, but overall I found them just ok. I like peppier songs like the Beatles, but as metal rock go's, they are pretty good.