Music Wednsdays: Hard Out Here: Liking Problematic Music

Errata: Last week's post cited Lily Allen's newest song as "Hard Out There" it should be "Hard Out Here" I have corrected it.

Note, the first: this post veers into politics bit, feel free to skip on if you don't want to go there

note the second: I’m white (though biologically female) I acknowledge that I’m coming at this from a privileged perspective. I just thought I'd address it given that I have already mentioned the song in passing. Feel free to drop me an ask/message/email if I've said something really out of line.

Under a spoiler cut so that people who don't want to read political stuff can skip it easily

A Brief Review and Music Wednesday: Controversy and Commentary (Everybody Talks)

Hey  I’m on time, check that out!

First: a short review of Lily Allen’s  “Hard Out Here” (Released 11/12/13)
This message brought to you by the zinger of a new single that Lily Allen just put out “Hard out there”
Hard out there is a sharp edged jibe hypersexualisation in music and, more particularly at Robin Thicke’s  “Blurred Lines”  (which I could rant on for hours, but  it’s already been done a lot) it does so without sex shaming.  Hard out there“ showcase’s Allen’s signature razor sharp sarcasm and dry wit alongside smart commentary and a surprisingly well choreographed music video. (The new album is due out sometime next year)

Which brings us to my topic of the week: Social commentary and Controversy.
Putting yourself out there as an artist is dangerous enough. With a spot light on you at all times any move can catapult or decimate your career. All music has something to say and most songs have undertones that hint at something more than just the basic lyrics, which can be cause enough for gossip. Some artists take it one step further and put forth a clear-cut message. The bigger the statement the more talk, the more talk the more potential for controversy. Controversy is a double-edged sword, on the one hand everyone wants to hear what the fuss is about, on the other hand if the fans don’t like it, that can really damage your career.  Regardless, it is media mayhem, doubly so if anything controversial comes up in the video. The commentary doesn’t need to be explicit to get attention either.
Lets look at a few examples
Robin Thicke’s “Blurred lines”* has a very clear very controversial message: That there’re blurred lines between consent and non-consent. When this song came out the media lit up. Did he actually mean it to be about rape? What kind of signal was this song sending? Thicke’s response only served to fuel this controversy. He claims the song is not promoting rape but feminism because of the line ”the man is not your maker“. Most people looked at the rest of the song as being very degrading and promoting rape.
Controversy or not, this song climbed to number one very quickly and became one of the top hip-hop songs of all time.(source)
What gives? This song has a horrible message and an equally horrid reputation. Why the popularity?
it’s the method of execution is what really made this song so insidious. It is presented as a catchy hip-hop song, not one people are meant to listen to closely. It is almost as though Thicke thought that he could get always with what he was saying if it was masked in a sexualized genera and catchy.
(I am not dignifying this video with a link, I fall very firmly into the group of people who believe  that Thicke is a rape apologist piece of pond scum, to put it nicely)

Then we have a much more positive message in Rise Against’s  “Make It Stop(September’s Children)” The song it self as a very powerful, very explicit  message: We need to put a stop to the hatred and bullying that are bringing the young GLBTQ et. people to commit suicide.  It was well received, but what really got people talking was the bridge wherein front man (Dude) lists off the names of publicly known GLBTQ teen suicide victims and their ages punctuated with “Seth Walsh, age 13” as a final, sharp reminder. It was a big eye opener to a lot of people. What really makes this song work is that, unlike “Blurred Lines,” it sends a clear, honest message with no pretense of being anything else and it shows people the face of the issue it talks about. This technique can be seen as heavy handed or worse yet capitalizing on tragedy. Either way, it managed to really win the attention of many people

While LillyAllen’s “Hard Out There” has only been out for less than 24 hours, it has already garnered a lot of press. This song represents another flavor of commentary: the jab.  While the song pulls absolutely no punches, it isn’t as self-important as something like ”Make It stop“ it’s not a gut-wrencher. Rather, it uses wit and sarcasm to make it’s point accessible without diluting it. In fact, comedy and sarcasm often serve to make the ideas in a song more palatable to the audience and thereby much more readily attended to.  (Linked above)

These strategies are all powerful methods of expressing a point that work in very different was to at least get attention drawn to their cause. However, they all also have the ability to push listeners away for the very same reason. Nevertheless, they become popular very readily.

* I am trying not to let my biases get the better of me in analyzing these artists but robin Thicke gets under my  skin in a very nasty way
** This is the word that I use for myself. I do not like calling it gay because it rules out the ideal of fluid sexuality/ bisexuality. I do not mean any offense with this term.

Music Wednesday: Why Music? (Yes, it is personal)

First, Business:
In the interest of getting my readers involved, I’m opening up a tumblr wherein I am asking/encouraging you all to stop by and drop me an ask. Questions and comments welcome! It will be anon or not and asks will not post by default (though the odds are high I will post them unless you ask me not to). So ask away.
The URL is
Askthewolfe.tumblr.com

Now then, on to our topic: Why music?

Okay, so I’m not a sociologist by any leap I have very little understanding of the origins of music. While it would be a very interesting thing to research, that’s not what I’m going for here.

What I’m talking about is why I picked music as my obsession and a little bit about why other people listen to music.

Music has been around pretty much since people figured out how to make sounds. It serves as a means not only of communication but also of self-expression.  It is how we talk both to ourselves and to other people.

Most, if not all songs are built to say something, even if its something simple or something that cannot be expressed with words. Even bad, shallow songs have something to say. The beauty of music though lies in the fact that even with a very clear song no two people will interpret it quite the same way.
I’ll use a shallow example that I’ve heard other people’s opinions on so have some anecdotal evidence
Lets look at Lady Gaga’s Poker face.
I have heard the following interpretations:
1. Bouncy pop song, flirty if shallow
2. a song about reclaiming female sexuality
3. a song about rape
I made the same face you probably just did (for the curious I can go into a longer explanation/analysis if it is requested) and it took me a lot of thinking to get the idea that the song could be interpreted as being about a cold, wounded, woman who is just out for the game because someone hurt her or is hurting her.
I personally am not a fan of the rape interoperation, but I can see it.

That song got dark fast and it's a very simple song. The interpretations get more intense and complex as the songs do. I just picked a simple one to illustrate with.

Go to any music forum (Particularly check out songmeanings.com) and find a thread about a particular song I f someone says anything about what they think a song is about you will get dozens of comments about either very much agreeing with them or about how incredibly wrong they are according to the commenter. And these aren’t even toned  “I respectfully disagree” type comments, rather they are vehement, often a little insulting and very adamant that they are the right ones not the poster. The passion and conviction in the comments is unparalleled. Lest you think this is just an Internet thing, I’ve seen it happen in real life as well. Hell, I’ve been guilty of being involved in these conversations myself.
So why do we care what some random person has to say about how we listen to a song? It’s just music right?
Wrong. Very wrong.
Time and again I see comments about how music saves lives or brings people together. Hell there’s an old adage about how music soothes the savage beast. I’ve heard people declare that a particular song either saved them from suicide or pulled them through a particularly dark place in their life.  Most people are quick to say that these are predominately melodramatic teenagers, but in my experience their ages range all over the map. There’s an incurably heartwarming video of an elderly man in a nursing home and how he responds to his music(Warning: tearjerker) There are also countless testaments from young people about how music has saved them.) What’s even more interesting is what songs do it. Its not always the fearless, motivational songs or the songs explicitly meant to save lives. Sometimes it is a song that most people would write off as shallow. Not to obsess on Lady Gaga, but I recall very vividly someone explaining how a friend of theirs, after losing someone they cared about a great deal four the strength to carry on through Lady Gaga’s “Just dance.”
I can hear your eyes rolling from here. Stop that. Right now.

Because of how many interpretations even the shallowest of songs can have, music is very personal. Who am I to take trivialize something that could well have saved a life? And weather we admit it or not it stings like hell when someone shit talks a song that hit you right in the gut the moment you heard it. I tend to feel a lot like a kid with a crayon drawing who’s just been shrugged off or an angry teenager. This is why we get defensive of our music and why a lot of people trivialize music. Better to not get attached to something that’s “just a song.” lest someone hurt you. Nevertheless, ‘m wiling to wager that everyone has that one song that got under their skin and just won’t leave. That one song that speaks directly to something so deep in your bones that it is imposable to describe what it does to you. You might even keep this a guarded secret. But that song is always there, like an old friend.

And I’d  bet you know exactly what song it is without even thinking about it.
(hell if you’re feeling brave, throw it in my askbox)
In short, yes it is personal when you insult my music. And it is precisely that vulnerability that drew me to do what I do.

Not again

FOlks-- yeah,  yesterday was wednesday.  My bad. I'm working on a lot of personal crap guys,  sorry.
Thanks for being understanding
Blog post tomorrow.