Listening to Passion Pit’s “Constant Conversations” now, it’s hard to not think that the song was ripped straight from Michael Angelakos’s personal journal. Angelakos, who in essence is Passion Pit, famously developed the musical project as a gift to his then-girlfriend. The musical project turned into an actual idea for a band. Local success turned into national/international… Read More “Constant Conversations” by Passion Pit (2012)
Post-Confessions, Usher has spent a ton of time jumping onto any trend that will have him, and his recorded output has suffered as a result. Actually, let me walk that back. Post-Confessions, Usher released Here I Stand, a really solid album that didn’t set the world on fire the way Confessions did. Then Justin (White… Read More “Climax” by Usher (2012)
Time for a little re-assessment. Bumping two songs from the last batch of four star songs up a notch. Also dropping back for two final “B” songs. “Butterfly”, on its face, is a prototypical big ‘90s Mariah ballad. That’s where the comparisons to “Hero” (which is awful), “One Sweet Day” (which is pretty bad), or her cover of “I’ll Be… Read More “Butterfly” (Mariah Carey, 1997)/ “Bye Baby” (NaS, 2012)
I turn 42 in a couple of months. That’s a mindfuck. Being middle-aged was not something I saw in the cards as recently as five years ago. Part of it is that I’ve always seen myself as a younger person. I remember turning 30 and starting to make “old man” jokes, but I don’t know… Read More “Born And Raised” by John Mayer (2012)
I’ve had hundreds if not thousands of crushes over the year. Hell, I can think of four or five people I’m crushing on this very second*. But I’ve only been in love two times in my life. Or at least “in love” relative to what I now know as “being in love.” The first time this happened… Read More “Bad Religion” by Frank Ocean (2012)
Kendrick Lamar’s “Backseat Freestyle” is the Black male ego run unchecked…and it’s awesome. In my previous Kendrick post, I mentioned how hip-hop has a swagger that, as a Black man, makes me feel unstoppable in the right context. Certain artists do that for me: Jay, Kanye, Talib Kweli. Ballers have that swagger too: J.R. Smith,… Read More “Backseat Freestyle” by Kendrick Lamar (2012)
Very interesting that “Adore” and “Adorn” appear sequentially on this list. I don’t know if Miguel has ever said it straight up, but I would be surprised if the latter song was not heavily influenced by the former song. Hell, the songs are similar enough that you can take most of what I said about “Adore” and apply it… Read More “Adorn” by Miguel (2012)
Five Star Jamz 