Okay, so I made the huge mistake of watching the MTV Video Music Awards last night. This was something I used to thoroughly enjoy, but now it feels like one huge hoax. It's a given that everything in media is intended for publicity and sales, but it all feels so in-genuine and forced. The entire time I felt like I was watching a really terrible beauty pageant for toddlers. Everyone chomping at the bit for camera time, the MC (Chelsea Handler) pulling any borderline shocking comment out of her ass and laughing about it in the hopes that other people will laugh along with her (instead of at her, like me), little girls having crying fits over Justin Beiber who let's face it, looks like a pre-pubescent Hillary Swank, wannabe Jersey Girls throwing out their "Bumpits" because Snooki retired the poof. What a waste of 3 hours of my life!!! It was sad, really. People act like it is the most historic and important evening in the world. Oh, and I realized that the only thing I have in common with Taylor Swift is our singing voices - pitchy and whiney. I think Taylor would have a great career as a songwriter, but America clearly cannot differentiate a good voice with a shit one. The one good thing (there is one, I promise) I will say about the VMA's this year is it was genius to have Eminem open the show. He has so much fire and passion in his performances, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He's an incredible lyricist and I found the messages in many songs on his new album very real and honest. It was reported that this year's VMA's were the highest rated VMA's since 2002, which I find incredibly ironic considering how cheesy and predictable it was this year. The whole thing left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
All of this VMA's talk brings me to the real point...today's music is pretty disappointing. Anyone can sound great with an auto tune harmonizing the vocals on a track. Anyone can write a song - all you need is an ability to rhyme. In time. It ain't a crime. To feel so sublime. Ya get me? There are people out there making millions of dollars writing terrible songs about love, sex, big booty bitches, college, being drunk and stoned...it's pathetic. Give me something more! Tell me how you really feel about your giant facial mole or the trials and tribulations of never being picked for a kickball team at gym class or losing red rover. I mean that stuff sticks with you when you are 8, 9, 10 years old - you carry those things your whole life whether you admit it or not. Okay now I'm going off on a tangent, but the on the surface bullshit songs are getting old. And it's sad, really, because there are so many talented artists out there who go decades long in the game and never get the recognition they deserve. If I could have my own VMA-style awards show, the following artists would be there for sure:
Adele - "To Make You Feel My Love"
Ray Lamontange - "Trouble"
Arcade Fire - "Keep The Car Running"
Vampire Weekend - "A Punk"
Kings of Leon - "Radioactive"
Gorillaz - "On Melancholy Hill"
The National - "Mistaken For Strangers"
The Black Keys - "Tighten Up"
Band of Horses - "No Ones Gonna Love You"
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - "I Learned the Hard Way"
MGMT - "Kids"
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - "Home"
Of Montreal - "Suffer For Fashion"
David Gray - "Ain't No Love"
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