A kung fu fighter in a disco

I know technically next Monday will also be in January but a) this is four weeks' worth b) by the time I get round to posting the poll it will be February anyway. My poll, my rules!

From:

jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

I am actually glad about this early poll cos now I can go:

YOU GUYS! LAST TRAIN TO PARIS! DOO WOPS AND HOOLIGANS! ADELE SINGLE! OMG! 2011 IS ALREADY 10X BETTAH THAN 2010!!

At this rate, I may have to apply re-join

poptimists :-o

From:

koganbot

2010 was fine, but then Last Train To Paris was 2010 here in Vespucci Land.

From:

piratemoggy.livejournal.com

Owing to how great Last Train To Paris is, it's been essentially all I've listened to for the last three weeks. I had a brief burst of the recent Scissor Sisters, too. Must listen to some actual new things.

Is the Britney single properly out then or is this just dodgy cover versions?

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It is proper. They brought the release date forward after everyone whinged at Sony (or whoever her UK label is) a bit.

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I hate Eliza Doolittle. This is all

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I suspect I'm in a minority, but I've liked both her singles.

At album length I suspect she would get very wearing though.

And there was no excuse for the bit where she tweets.

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Hang on, wut? She actually tweets mid-song?

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She's hoping eventually Stephen Fry will reply to her. (Oh I am so funny! :/)

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She actually goes "tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tw-tw-tw tweet tweet" in the lyrics. That's the bridge of "Pack Up".

I presume it is a reference to Twitter, because the lyric as a whole is about not giving a shit about what people say about you on the internet. Or at least I think it is, tbh when I hear the song I am mostly just hearing "bouncy bouncy happy twee yay" in my mind. Except that I like it. In controlled doses.

From:

koganbot

Also, she tweeted you last July but you didn't get the message - i.e., it's a re-entry; at the time I said Eliza's feathers were too leaden to be ruffled, but I've grown to have somewhat warmer feelings towards the chick... er, towards the lass, which'd put her up on the borderline but I don't tick retweets.

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Or her name. NO EXCUSE AT ALLLLL!!!!

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Allegedly it was a childhood nickname, because Eliza is her actual name.

But yeah, no real excuse.

From:

jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

Her stage name is terrible (but tbf she has actually been called that since she was wee).

I wuv her music however.

From:

I've ticked H.A.M not because it is any good at all but because thanks to Kanye & co I have finally worked out what HAM stands for (because they say it afterwards). Now Pill's 'Trap Going Ham' makes more sense. Though actually that means I like 'Trap Going Ham' slightly less. *unticks Kanye out of spite*

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Does Ham not = piggy based foodstuff?

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Well that's what I thought but apparently not. You see, the chorus of 'Trap Going Ham' is "Trap going ham, we got pies flying out" which seems very much foodstuff based to me, though I later learned the second half is about DEALING DRUQKS which sounds v naughty indeed. The first half was still a mystery though! UNTIL NOW.

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I think "going ham" just means "going mad/crazy/rage-filled" and such?

From:

koganbot

Was disappointed that Aggro didn't give us his contact information again, since I found that endearing last time. Also surprised that Kimberley didn't lift her leg, but I suppose she's now housebroken. Anyhow, the track knows it's bubblegum and goes for it, gets over the borderline, but could have used more aggro and more candy.

I have a love-hate relationship with "Hold It Against Me." This doesn't surprise you. I'll love and hate at greater length on my own lj.

Have a like/dislike relationship with "Hello"; think there's tune and talent, wish Solveig/Dragonette wouldn't get all messed-up in their mannerisms. But maybe the mannerisms are the psychological condition for their tunes and talents.

Am I the only one who was disappointed that the "Grenade" video wasn't more illustrative? (Perhaps this explains why so far I'm the only one to tick the song.) Did like the video, however; definite influence of Un Chien Andalou, what with priests and piano schlepping and the like, though I note the absence of a razor blade.

The Glee "Telephone" has an overrated Filipina bawler and a lot of clamor but's the clamor what gets it across.

Think Taio is finally pulling it together, actual good, coagulated prettiness rather than a mess of dynamite (which I also liked, but this is a keeper).

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What does Bruno Mars mean when he says he'll catch a grenade for you?

Okay first up: catching a grenade is not an inherently productive activity. The act of catching it doesn't stop the explosion; nor is it likely to dampen the blast radius, or significantly alter the centre point of the explosion. If, having caught the grenade, you then fell on it or threw it away, that might actually save some lives. Just catching is suicidal, yes, but a meaningful sacrifice no.

The problems only get worse a bit later in the lyric - Bruno would also jump in front of a train, or take a bullet through his brain. What could either possibly achieve? Bruno Mars isn't a superhero - the train would roll right on, to say nothing of the bullet. So "for you" doesn't mean "to save you"; unless we're meant to post some absurd hypothetical where a moustache-twirling villain offers our musical hero the choice between the named death or the death of his love.

So what does "for you" mean? Does the video provide answers? In it, the love-scorned Bruno hauls a piano to serenade his love only to be spurned further and, heart broken, takes the piano to a rail track, where he is promptly run over.

The UK #1, ladies and gentlemen!

Erm.

Presumably we are meant to weep at the Shakespearean tragedy of it all. But Romeo and Juliet killed themselves because they knew (or thought they knew) their lover to be dead. Bruno's paramour is very much alive.

We are forced to conclude that Bruno hasn't topped himself for you at all. He's done it for himself, for his own pain. "Take take take it all/but you never give" sings Bruno, remonstrating with his lover for her selfishness. But suicide is selfish; perhaps the ultimate selfishness. Suicide takes one's own feelings, one's own pain and refuses to reconcile them with the rest of the world. In some circumstances, with painful, terminal illness, there may be no reconciliation possible. But Bruno just got burned by a relationship gone wrong. He could, and should, work to get over it.

Life and death hyperbole has a long tradition in love songs. Presumably (we hope) Bruno isn't aiming to incite anyone to kill themselves over a bad break-up. But here, the imagery rankles anyway - the vocal is too anguished, the lyrics too bitter, the piano too triumphalist, the overall intent too... noble.

Suicide is not inherently noble.

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I am not sure precisely why this particular song raises my hackles in this way where any number of other "I would die for you" songs have passed me by... I think there may be a reason but I am struggling to articulate it.

From:

jeff-worrell.livejournal.com

Surely this isn't like other "I would die for you" songs precisely because he already knows she won't reciprocate. It's not a love song at all (and we know he won't carry out his threat really - he's just trying to show her up). That doesn't necessarily make the sentiment particularly attractive, I agree. But you gotta admit that taking emo sentiment and turning into a massive R&B barnstorming production number is an interesting idea.

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It's precisely ehat tension between the R&B-love-song-presentation and the emo-goth-i-will-stab-you-creeper lyric which disturbs me so much. It's as if I'm watching a romantic comedy in which the hilarious attempts by the male lead to woo the female lead include him getting into a thigh-slappingly-hilarious mix-up where he goes to paint his name in his own blood on her door but GETS THE WRONG DOOR HAHAHA.

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