It's Our Party, We Can Love Who We Want To

It's time, y'all. Miley Cyrus is playing the Honda Center tonight and Sergio and I are going and there's nothing anybody can do about that. I've really come to appreciate Miley's newest album for being exactly what you wouldn't expect based on the image she's been touting in the media lately. Also I think the outrage is entirely misplaced, although it serves her purposes well.

But seriously though. Nudity in a music video? When did everyone suddenly time warp from the 1910's to be shocked about this?

Anyway, in my tradition of honoring concerts with their own post, here is

FIVE MUSICIANS/BANDS WHO REALLY DESERVE A SECOND LOOK

Sometimes a certain band or song will jar with the public and accrue undeserved mass hatred completely by accident. Sometimes that hatred is for a style that was abandoned unnoticed by everyone decrying its failures. Sometimes a single song can eclipse the rest of a band's oeuvre. Either way, there are some musicians who have developed quietly in the background and I think deserve more respect.

And since I have this here social media platform, what better place for supporting some of my favorite artists? It's a win-win! And I understand that these genres are sometimes just not the kind that a lot of people are interested in. I get that. Not everybody can like everything.

But I beg you to give these five artists another listen before you decide how you feel!

#5 Bowling For Soup

The Song That Ruined Everything: 1985

Try This One On For Size: When We Die

Bowling For Soup has lived in the shadow of Blink-182 for its entire career, but honestly I prefer them. I guess I like my snotty pop punk with a little bit of warmheartedness underneath. Led by front man Jaret Reddick, this four piece rock band from Denton, Texas has been plugging along since 1994 (so exactly as long as I myself have been plugging along). They hit it big with 1985 and High School Never Ends, which are both fantastic and humorous songs, but BFS can strike an emotional chord just as well as a funny bone. When We Die is an excellent example of the band getting introspective and it is just as earnest as sincere as the rest of their work. 

Most of the time even their ballads are pretty funny (which I'm not complaining about), but it's important to see that these are real guys going through real experiences and expressing that in a medium they love. Their heart and soul, even though its mostly expressed in a goofy way is what draws me to them more than their singles.

Other Great Tracks: Turbulence, I Don't Wish You Were Dead Anymore, Val Kilmer

#4 One Direction

The Song That Ruined Everything: What Makes You Beautiful

Try This One On For Size: Happily

Tossed aside by most of my peers for being just another dumb prepackaged boyband (let us never forget that these are the same people who secretly perk up their ears any time *NSYNC plays at a party), the lads of One Direction are finally starting to steer their own ship and although it's hard not to describe their current status as Mumford-lite, there are true musical artists below the plasticky pop sheen and I'd say their career trajectory is worth following.

In just two years they've grown a lifetime and released three albums of wildly different musical styles. I understand this kind of pop isn't for everybody, especially those who were raised on a solid diet of Led Zeppelin and The Beatles and what have you, but sometimes isn't it just nice to just bask in the glow of a really good pop song? It's not a sin to admit that. Give Midnight Memories a listen. It's no Sgt. Pepper's. But it's also no No Strings Attached.

Other Great Tracks: Don't Forget Where You Belong, She's Not Afraid, Through the Dark

#3 Owl City

The Song That Ruined Everything: Fireflies

Try This One On For Size: Bombshell Blonde

Talk about a huge missed opportunity for everybody. Fireflies exploded like a majestic pyrotechnic and then everyone immediately stopped paying attention. Although Owl City was the biggest act on the planet for all of three weeks, there are still huge gaps in public knowledge, like the truly fantastic early EPs filled with bubbling and human electronica or the newer albums that use actual real instruments and vocals.

And then there's the dubsteppy Bombshell Blonde that's about as far from people's dippy fantasy perceptions of Owl City as the Sex Pistols.

Maybe he's just won me over with his puns, but I refuse to be the only person in the world still buying his albums. His tracks are clever and cute and invariably positive. And as much as I like Adele, sometimes I don't want my radio to make me sob in the car. 

Other Great Tracks: Captains and Cruise Ships, Hey Anna, I'm Coming After You

#2 MIKA

The Song That Ruined Everything: Love Today

Try This One On For Size: The Origin of Love

Perhaps never hated or even never as big as some of the other artists on this list, there are still solid perceptions around him as a pleasant but throwaway pop artist with killer pipes. But get this.

MIKA has swiftly become one of my favorite modern day artists based on the shoulders of his solid gold album The Origin of Love. Inspired by a lot of world music and sweeping vocals, he's like the falsetto Bastille that everybody forgot to listen to. The new album is so radically different from his earlier works that I'm not even entirely convinced it's the same person.

But if you're looking for astoundingly crafted and meaningful Europop, look no further. MIKA's soundscapes will fill your ears and make you completely forget that Lollipop ever even happened. 

Other Great Tracks: Tah Dah, Elle Me Dit, Stardust

#1 Ke$ha

The Song That Ruined Everything: TiK ToK

Try This One On For Size: Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You

Oh, my Ke$ha. Queen of the Underappreciated. It's understandable why people would dislike her debut album Animal (although I thoroughly enjoyed it for its no-holds-barred party atmosphere and clever satire) due to its largely computer-based rhythms, but each ensuing album is met with cries of "Talentless whore!" and "Autotuned garbage!" by people who have almost certainly never listened to them.

Because if they did, they'd find an all grown up K$ taking influence from her Nashville roots and her rock 'n roll lifestyle to create one of the most satisfying and experimental pop albums of the decade. She's still a ribald party girl and I wouldn't ask anything less of her, but any analytical ear can clearly hear the deft satire of her lyrics and the boldly feminist cheesy pop world she has created for herself.

Ke$ha's unpopularity is a persistent and unknowable enigma. But I guess people just need to hate something. And Ke$ha's tracks are nothing if not divisively different from the norm (in such a deceptive way that some people can't even see it). But seriously. Why hate someone so devoted to the betterment of her listeners? Katy Perry and even Lady Gaga are becoming increasingly sterile and prepackaged but Ke$ha has developed her sound tremendously and is on the verge of a true masterpiece of bubblegum pop art.

Please. If there's anything you take away from this list at all, let it be Warrior. At least click a couple iTunes previews. Thank me later.

Other Great Tracks: Out Alive, Love Into the Light, The Harold Song

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Life After Ke$ha

This is how I spent my night last night. Going in, Cassidy and I were buzzing with excitement over Ke$ha and general warmth toward Pitbull as an acceptable presence we'd have to sit through to observe the Queen.

Cassidy: "I tried to tease my hair this morning, but I got too excited and had to sit down."

I almost decided not to say anything because I'm not really a concert reviewer but then again I'm not an actual movie reviewer, so I decided to go for it. And the night was too unforgettable (for better and for worse) not to say something.

Ke$ha

After the briefest of brief opening acts (a dance crew that morphed into an awful techno band with dancing halfway through but only lasted about 8 minutes), the screens darkened, Ke$ha's voice came on the speakers, and we were abruptly thrust into a psychedelic wonderland of animals and warriors.

We honestly had no idea Ke$ha wasn't the final act of the night (or maybe we were hoping) so we were taken mightily by surprise and hadn't had sufficient time to emotionally prepare ourselves. I don't ever do this, but there were tears in my eyes. Ke$ha is an icon of fun, love, and bravery. She's not afraid to be a pop musician. She embraces it wholeheartedly and uses it to spread her message of love, acceptance, and tolerance.

"Can't we all just fucking love each other?"

I wouldn't dare censor Ke$ha, though I do censor myself. 

The show was an hour long cavalcade of drums, guitars, costume changes, inflatable whales, giant legs sticking up from the stage, a pink hippo, eyeballs, and jungle gyms.

She sang an unreleased song (Machine Gun Love) and commanded us to record it on our phones. She told us a story about getting naked at a queer bar. She used a tap dance production number to introduce Blah Blah Blah. She wore a chastity belt and used a buzz saw on her crotch, shooting sparks across the stage.

Yes, Ke$ha is a pop princess, but she's also a rock 'n roll queen. Her songs were recreated on electric guitar (Blow was nearly unrecognizable and hardcore), she ditched the autotune (out of necessity, one would suppose, but she can handle herself), and even grabbed a guitar sometimes herself. There were dance breaks, Ke$ha drum solos, and dirtified lyrics (Blow - "Tonight, we're taking names / cuz we don't fuck around." Gold Trans Am - "Get in my.... vagina").

"The first time I was ever at the Hollywood Bowl, I was a little kid sitting in a guitar case as my mom played onstage. The second time, I was with a guy named Harold and we snuck in to see the Rolling Stones. The third time, I had eaten too many mushrooms and was kicked out because I took off my pants. I'm so excited to be here tonight, I have so many weird and wonderful memories here."

Ke$ha is the dance commander + she commands you to dance.

I want to rate this show a perfect 10 like the good little fanboy I am, but two things are holding me back. One, Pitbull unfairly ate her set time (more on that later), and the performance felt truncated. I'd rather see her on her own headlining tour, though it was an honor to see her at all.

Two, there was a palpable tension between Ke$ha and her touring partner. She did not mention Pitbull's name a single time in her set and he only mentioned her offhandedly as an opening act. They never once appeared onstage together. Her obvious distaste at being paired with him (whoever made that decision is hopefully working at a Dairy Queen now) and the impassivity of the Pitbull fans in the audience led to a devil-may-care attitude that actually worked within her show, but there was something decidedly uncomfortable about the whole thing.

8/10

Pitbull

I really don't know what to do about this one. Before Pitbull came on, I told Cassidy. "Let's be nice. The Pitbull fans were buzzkills who took the fun out of our show, let's at least be courteous and not do the same to them." Plus, I even like a lot of his songs, although I've never considered him a good writer. I enjoy his raps for their absurdity and view them kind of like my beloved 80's slasher movies. Not good in any way, but they try so hard to please you that you like them anyway.

We survived about half an hour into his 80 minute set before sitting down in indignation. A Top 40 enthusiast might note how Pitbull is what amounts to the featured rapper on most of the songs he performs, even the ones on his own albums. Oh, he'd do his rap part alright. It was there. But he played full recordings of the other artists singing the rest of the song. And he didn't sing along. He didn't freestyle underneath. He just stood there and pelvic thrusted. And when he wanted to mix it up, he'd swivel his hips.

And then he started playing songs that weren't even his. And again. He wasn't covering them. He wasn't freestyling. He wasn't adding anything to the songs, he was just playing recordings to fill the 80 minutes he stole from Ke$ha. While pelvic thrusting.

A brief list of songs Pitbull requisitioned as part of his act:

Feel So Close, Calvin Harris

Hello, Martin Solveig ft. Dragonette

Sweet Child O' Mine, Guns N' Roses

We No Speak Americano, Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP

Barba Streisand, Duck Sauce

(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party!), Beastie Boys

Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne

I Gotta Feeling, Black Eyed Peas

Loca People, Ska Noel

Eye of the Tiger, Survivor

I Love It, Icona Pop

I swear there was a period of ten minutes where he didn't even rap at all. A solid 25% of the show was this BS right here.

Good job, Pitbull. You got people to pay $80 for this. Now take off those freaking sunglasses.

I know Cassidy and I swore not to be buzzkills, but it was beyond boring and we had parked in the stacked parking so we were held captive until the end of the show with nothing to do but sit back and think about how terrible his lyrics really are. They're survivable on the radio, but when you're tied down, ears open Clockwork Orange style, they're pretty unbearable. I don't trust my night in the hands of somebody who thinks that Tonka trucks and Holiday Inns make for compelling songwriting.

I mean, I'm not exactly defending some of Ke$ha's lyrics, but her songs are at heart a knife edge satire. Pitbull believes 100% in what he's saying. 

"I'm a genius / I mean brilliance" - Feel This Moment

At two separate points, he just stood there shouting out a list of countries. In between songs, he'd spout his incoherent pseudo philosophy about turning negatives into positives (obviously something he'd thought up long ago and found it so brilliant he just kept going with it) and at one point told us:

"Forget about all the negative sh!t of 2013 and move on to the positive of 2014!"

In June. I think he mixed up his script with the New Year's Eve show.

You wanna know the worst part? His fans lost their freaking minds. They went CRAZY.

Now, I don't think it's fair to judge people on the music they like. I don't hate, dislike, or even mildly judge anybody for being a Pitbull fan. I'm not one myself, but I can see the appeal. And clearly I'm in the minority for thinking his show was insipid pabulum. I'll just have to accept that his popularity is one more entry on a list of inexplicable things that I may never understand about the world.

I can't find any other pictures that don't look exactly like this one.

While Ke$ha reminded me of driving on the highway with the top down, Pitbull reminded me of sitting in the corner at prom.

Ke$ha sang about sexual liberation and freedom to be yourself. Pitbull wants you to take you to a hotel room and crack open your treasure chest.

Ke$ha wants us to love each other. Pitbull wants us to love him.

Ke$ha: I love it here in LA. I've lived here a lot of my life, I have a lot of memories here and I love the people. Thank you so much for coming and supporting me.

Pitbull: Los Angeles, you are my target market!

OK, a break from the invective. There were enjoyable parts of the show. Unfortunately, they were the parts where Pitbull wasn't actually doing much. See, the Los Angeles show was a special night, and sometimes Pitbull turned off the recordings and brought out a special guest.

Marc Anthony came to sing his hit collaboration with Pitbull.

Jennifer Lopez performed and yes, she has abs of steel.

Enrique Iglesias sang "I Like It."

Chris Brown was also there, but I'm not gonna comment on that.

The final song of the night, "Give Me Everything," was a avalanche of stagecraft, with smoke pouring from every direction, confetti cannons, a laser show, and a full firework pyrotechnic display. You couldn't even see Pitbull through the haze. It was my favorite part of the night.

"Thank you to my band and my guests, without them there's no Pitbull."

There's hardly a Pitbull as it is.

Cassidy (à la Gretchen Wieners): "Ke$ha is just as pretty as Pitbull. Ke$ha is just as smart as Pitbull. We should totally just stab Pitbull!"

2/10

Also, somebody wearing glitter was assaulted in the parking lot on the way out. I'm just saying that would never happen at a Ke$ha concert.
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Who Could Write on a Day Like This?

It's hard to focus today, because in less than 12 hours I will be at the Hollywood Bowl with the Angel Cassidy trying not to faint so I can watch Ke$ha perform in all her glittery fabulousness. Also some rapper will be there.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

So in honor of the day (I'm prone to inventing holidays. Life's a party.), I leave you with this.

The 5 Best Unreleased Ke$ha Songs

1. Best Friend's Boyfriend

I never said these songs were good, per se. But this is one of my favorite songs to shout along to in the car. It's just so full of the young energy and trashy fun that made Ke$ha a star. Also I love those two synth blasts in the middle of the chorus.

2. Goodbye

Ke$ha can sing! Ke$ha can sing country! Although she has definitely less need to prove her talents at both vocal work and songwriting now that we have access to her sophomore album, Warrior, this song is Ke$ha in tip top artistic (and moody) shape.

3. Bad Dream

This is one of those songs that didn't get cut because it was bad, but merely because it didn't fit in with the image they were going for. Most of Ke$ha's out of character songs ended up going to other artists (including Britney Spears' Till the World Ends), but unfortunately this one wasn't picked up.

4. Feels Like Rain

Proving once and for all that Ke$ha can Natasha Bedingfield better than NB herself. *mike drop*

5. Boy Like You

Again, this one isn't actually super good, but it's just so Ke$ha. This one was actually later recorded by Austrian pop artist Charlee, but was never released in the US.

BONUS: True Love, Katy Perry feat. Ke$ha

Katy Perry and Ke$ha are actually friends, and Ke$ha is featured in her video for I Kissed a Girl. Whoever decided to pull this glitzy confection of collaboration should be fired. Until the problem is rectified, we have to survive on this underproduced but still fab version.
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