I may be extra hard on the mainstream drivel but somebody seriously needs to explain how or why Beyonce is so highly regarded as the Queen on the pop scene right now? Her music has hardly improved from when she was in Destiny's Child and the only reason I can see is because she got with Jay-Z that suddenly boosted her profile? I'll admit that her live performances are flashy, if not over the top but her songs are seriously quite rubbish. 3 off the top of my head.. the one which goes "To the left to the left", Single Ladies, and Sweet Dreams, all crap. I mean who seriously can listen through Sweet Dreams? Her vocals are nothing special, the beats nothing new, so why? Is it because of her Divaness? You tell me.
Moving on to Taylor Swift, this one is not so mind-boggling as she is manufactured to sell CDs to tweens and teens with songs moms would approve of. But seriously? Nominated for Grammys? I mean, how can anyone take her music seriously? Every song sounds so similar even in the chords used and don't even get me started on her singing ability. I believe that has been covered many times over by other writers out there. Just look around for her live performances.
And then there's this:
Record of the Year: Beyonce's "Halo," Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me."
Make of that what you will. That's the state of the music industry now. IT'S THE GRAMMYS btw. The only decent song in there is Use Somebody and we all know it's just there to make up the numbers.
This is an award that has been given to truly talented artists and we can just look through the past winners to see what mainstream music has become.
In the 50s and 60s, winners included Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, and Tony Bennett to name a few.
In the 70s, we had the Eagles, Billy Joel, Carole King, and Roberta Flack
In the 80s, along came Michael Jackson and Tina Turner.
And in the 90s, we still had Eric Clapton, Whitney Houston, Nat King Cole, Phil Collins and Celine Dion.
After the Millennium, winners included U2, Coldplay, and Norah Jones.
All the names I've listed out are respected proper talented artists. Closer to today though, names such as Green Day, and Amy Winehouse have managed to bag Grammys, god knows how. Then again, I remember last year, we had the Jonas Brothers perform at the Grammys and suddenly it's all a little clearer.
Anyway enough of the Grammys, I don't think anyone, even in the music industry takes it too seriously anyway. Look on wikipedia for what Maynard James Keenan has to say about it for example.
No, today I'm here to give us a bit of hope. You might have heard of her and seen her video on MTV by now, but I'm still sure the majority haven't even heard of her and I think that's an injustice when we have hacks like Taylor Swift at the top of the charts. Anyway, I present you, Orianthi. She's released an album now and her video, According to You is on MTV, you can search for it on Youtube as for some reason I can't embed it. The song isn't great but it's a smart way to penetrate the market to lead them on to what she is actually capable of.
Santana has been one of the few people who have backed her and she was the guitarist on MJ's This is It tour. The girl can ACTUALLY play guitar and is damn good at it. Anyway here are some clips.
Santana on her and some clips of her live.
Orianthi - According to You Live.
This one is a compilation but mostly of her playing guitar.
Yesterday is history,
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is a gift,
That's why it's called the present.
Tomorrow is a mystery,
Today is a gift,
That's why it's called the present.
