Happy Monday!

Took a little study break today to catch myself up with Battle Studies. It just made me incredibly excited for John Mayer's next album. Then I decided to put together a little JM playlist to listen to for a little bit. It was going to be a "Best Of" playlist... but it's so long that it kind of defeats the purpose. This forced me to reminisce.

I think it's safe to say that John Mayer is my absolute favorite musician. You know when you can just hear a song and remeber exactly where you were when you heard it for the first time? The entire "Room for Squares" cd reminds me of high school. Sophomore year to be exact.

"Heavier Things".... summer of '06 in PHX. Just happened to come across it at the library. I had forgotten all about my good buddy JM from my high school days. This album reminds me of long drives to work... sitting in rush hour traffic... JM & I rekindled our friendship that summer.

Then came "Waiting for the World to Change" that same summer. Our friendship was strained as I tried to pretend that I didn't loathe that song. As a result, I had no interest in "Continuum."

"Continuum".... summer of '07 in DC. BP convinced me that the entire cd was nothing like that one stupid song and I decided to give it a try. I was floored. The cd is amazing. It was on constant repeat on my iPod. I continued this well into my senior year.

Summer of '08 was all about "Where the Light Is..." and then Dubs and I went to see him live... and he was astonishing. Absolutely amazing. The best part is that his band is comprised of these (sorry if I offend anyone) old, accomplished men. He jams with super-stars. While his wardrobe was unfortunate, he put on an amazing show! I was super-excited to re-live the experience when BP sent me the dvd for my birthday!

And then I was thinking... this is the way music should make you feel. It should be something that you can always come back to. It should remind you of good times with good people. And I love the feeling knowing that his new music will be associated with new memories.

What artists make you feel this way?

Here are my 20 top faves! Enjoy:

I Don't Hate It...

I don't hate Heidi... you all know that I really feel bad for her, right?

Ok, that being said... PopSugar posted one of her new songs this morning. Surprisingly, I like the song... but Heidi's voice just isn't strong enough. Maybe a techno-dance version by Lady Gaga or wait a few years until it's age-appropriate for Miley Cyrus? Really, just someone who won't whisper it. What do you think of this song? Could it be good if someone else released it?

Oh, Britney...

How dumb do I feel? I didn't even notice!

But I knew that I thought the song was stupid.

Thank You.

I don't know about you, but I feel like I owe a giant
THANK YOU
to the boy that broke Taylor Swift's little heart last year.
Her new CD is phenomenal.

"Did I Mention the Drive Thru?"

Something started a conversation about "Trapped in the Closet" last night... which was then followed by "Have you seen 'Trapped in the Drive Thru?'" I said, "No!" So then we watched it. Seriously. The funniest thing I have seen in a while. I was LOLing the entire time. And not just because the beginning conversation was almost identical to the one Steve and I had just had. Then we watched the "Trapped in the Closet" episode with the midget..... enjoy! XOXO.

That's My Girl!

Britney's back!!
Seriously, I haven't seen her perform like this since the '02 Britney Tour.
(Yes, I was there)

A New/Old Obsession

I love my XM radio because it reminds me of songs and bands that I like. The Pink Channel (the channel with a cause--xm 24 haha) plays a really random mix of 90s songs. I recently programmed it into my favs. I realized that I love the Gin Blossoms. I feel a little like a middle-aged woman admitting that. It's one of those things where you hear a song and you go, "I LOVE this song!" but you never really think about who sings it? I've put some Gin Blossoms songs on my playlist. Just when you thought it couldn't get more random. Enjoy!

Definition, Please?

So, picture this. You're in your car, and you're singing along to a song that you love. All of the sudden, you realize that you don't know what you're singing because you're not down with the lingo. Sound familiar? Well, that happened to me the other day. I'm singing along that "Stuntin' is a habit" (because David Banner and Chris Brown told me so) when all of the sudden, I was worried about the exact definition of "Stuntin." Can I accurately say that this is a habit of mine? Is this something I should be admitting to? So, I decided to look it up. According to the oh so handy Urban Dictionary, "Stuntin" is:

High-class flashing of your jewelry, money, riches, etc. Made famous by the Cash Money Millionaires. A person who stunts would be a "stunna" usually showing off diamonds, gold, platinum, women, cars and stacks of cash..LARGE BILLS! see "bling bling" for an idea of something a "stunna" would stun.

I feel much better about the situation now. Since I know the official definition, I can accurately say that I think stuntin' could become habit forming.

Do You Promise???

Britney Spears is performing at the VMAs again this year!! Way to go, B! I'm rooting for you all the way!

I post this not to make fun of you, but to serve as motivation:




Please don't eff it up this year.... oh, and please wear actual clothing. XOXO

I'm So Gangster.

I love rap. Let me tell you why. I love rap because the lyrics are just so darn witty. Rappers really are the great poets of our day! In 100 years, Kanye and Luda will be common household names just like Shakespeare and Keats. Last week I was listening to the radio and they cited a list that was released about the dumbest song lyrics ever. Some of them were pretty stupid. You might be surprised to find that not many of them were rap. Why not? Because rappers are brilliant! In honor of that list, I came up with my own list of my favorite rap songs (based entirely on lyrics). Enjoy!

My favorite 10, in no particular order (because I couldn't decide)!:

Nelly "Hott in Herrrrrrrre"
("Checkin' out your reflection and tellin' your best friend, like, girl I think my butt's getting big!" Hey! Who told him that we talk like that?!)

Jibb "Chains"
(Some songs require no explanation.)

Ludacris "Moneymaker"
("Took your momma 9 months to make ya. Might as well shake what your momma gave ya" really put it all in perspective for me. I need to shake my moneymaker in order to show my mother that I appreciate what she went through!)

J-Kwon "Tipsy"
("One--here comes the two to the three to the four..." Educational.)

Baby Boy "The Way I Live"
("I stack my money lay low and chill. Don't need to work hard. That's the way I feel, I feel. This is the way I live." Hmm... I like this idea. This man is a genius!)

Mike Jones "Badd"
("I'm looking for a dime that's top of the line. Cute face, little waist, with a big behind." Hello? Here I am!)

Jay Z "99 Problems"
("If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you, son. I've got 99 problems but a b* ain't one." I'm glad to see that Jay Z has his priorities straight. Jail? Drugs? Those problems are nothing compared to b* problems!)

Mims "This is Why I'm Hot"
("I'm hott 'cuz I'm fly. You ain't 'cuz you not." How much simpler can he make it, people?)

50 Cent "In da Club"
("I been hit wit a few shells but I don't walk with a limp." He's been shot. He's gangsterrrr.)

Kanye West "Kanye's Workout Plan"
("Thanks to Kanye's Workout Plan, I'm the envy of all my friends. See, I got me a baller man... and I ain't gotta work at the mall again!" Amen, sister friend. I need to get me a baller man.)

Why Wait?

In excitement for the John Mayer concert this week, I purchased his newest live album. LOVE it! I love his acoustic set. Anyway, I was listening to disc 1 last night and it ended and my CD player automatically rolled over to disc 2. The first song on disc 2 is "Waiting on the World to Change." I've had a love/hate relationship with this song from the beginning. First, it is indisputably the worst song on "Continuum." Second, I don't like my music and my politics to mix. Mostly because I disagree politically with many of my favorite musicians, but also because they often have no idea what they're even talking about.

So anyway, I understand the concept of this song. John doesn't feel as if people take "our generation" (haha, Holly!) seriously enough for us to make a real difference... so he's waiting on the world to change. I find that to be a rather negative and somewhat defeatist approach. "Someday our generation is gonna rule the population, so we keep on waiting on the world to change." To that I say, why sit around and wait? Situations don't change without action.

So John, you can wait on the world to change and in the meantime, I'm going to go out and change the world.

Too Much Time to Myself...

There is nothing that I love more than music with good lyrics, whether they are describing how I'm feeling or just plain funny. If a song doesn't have good lyrics, the beat can only do so much. So I drove round-trip 20 hours in the car by myself in the last few days with a dead iPod and only one really good CD. Finally, I really could focus on the lyrics of my favorite songs for the summer. Holly tells me that I take lyrics to literally. I can't help it. It's in my nature, I suppose. Remember "Four Minutes?" Anyway, these are some of my comments on the lyrics of some of my favorite summer songs:

New Kids on the Block (Finally!) "Summertime"
Lyric: "Hey girl can I get your number? I remember what you told me, too. Not to call after 10, but I did 'cause I couldn't stop thinkin' bout you."
I'm proud of this girl for setting standards. My mom always tells me that when boys call late, he only wants one thing. She never did tell me what it is....
Lyric: "...as long as we was together."
Just out of spite, I sing this line the grammatically correct way... "as long as we were together." Some artists use artistic license with grammar for a better flow or meaning. Really, this doesn't change the meaning or flow at all. Would it have been so hard to make it grammatically correct?

Estelle ft. Kanye West "American Boy"
Dear Kanye: Buy this chick a map of the US. Make her plan out an itinerary ahead of time. She clearly has no concept of how big the country is and is clueless of the geographical locations of our large cities. If you really have to go from Chicago to San Francisco to New York, Miami and LA in that order, you're wasting a lot of travel time. XOXO.

Carrie Underwood "Last Name"
Lyric: "I'm not sure how I got here and this ring on my left hand just appeared[...] They say what happens here stays here. All of this will disappear... there's just one problem.... I don't even know my last name..."
Chances are that if you just woke up married after a crazy night in Vegas, your last name would still be the same. The changing of your last name is not part of the wedding ceremony. Once you get home, you can easily find out who you're married to and get that annulled. Even Britney figured that out. Next time be more responsible, please.