So Much Fun in the Music World

Yesterday was a fun day in the world of music. It was the perfect day at Syracuse for a music lover like me. The day started off with Juice Jam and ended with the VMAs....oh and one more announcement.
This year Juice Jam brought in The Cool Kids, Jack's Mannequin and Girl Talk...a pretty solid line up. I would like to applaud the organizers except the order of performance. Who starts off with The Cool Kids??? My line up would have been Jack, Kids, Girl Talk. The Cool Kids were awesome and then you get Jack's Mannequin up there singing about emo stuff and I wanted to slit my wrists....not an action before I want to jump up and down for Girl Talk. C'mon Organizers!!!!
I understand that Jack's Mannequin may have a bigger following than the Cool Kids but the order of energy just doesn't mash well. I was so depressed that I left even before Girl Talk got on stage. Probably a poor decision on my part, but I just wasn't feeling it. It's a good thing I've seen him before, but it would've been nice to see him again....oh well.
The thing that did make it all worthwhile was meeting the Cool Kids. They're mad chill. So here's the story:
So after the performance my friend Edwin and I walked over to the fence and I was like I should just yell and see if he'll [Chuck] will come over, so I yelped out this puney scream of "Chuck" and Edwin said C'mon I know you can do better and I refused so he yelled and Chuck actually looked over and motioned to us....ah-mazing!
So Chuck comes over and I tell him I'm the girl who tweeted him the night before about going to Chucks and he was like "so you're that girl." Saying it in a weird tone and I responded "Yeah, I guess I'm that girl." So were just chatting, we take a photo and then a crowd starts to form. We could tell Chuck was a little peeved, but he was chill about it. After a good 10 minutes of craziness, Mikey came out to the crowd. So Edwin and I are just chillin there and letting the crazy people take their photos and this cracked-out-girl says "What's his [Mikey] him?" and I bluntly say, " Are you serious?!? He just did a whole song about who he is and what his name is!" she says, "oh i must have missed that!" After another 10 minutes we finally talked to Mikey..told him about chandelier. Too bad they we're leaving by 5 or I think we could've gotten them to chill with us.


Needless to say the crowd was crazy and it wore me out. At least I got to rest before the madness of the VMAs.
OHh the Kanye incident, Lady Gaga trying to prove she's not a guy with her outfit, Lil Mama ruining the ending, Hov and Alicia Key's awesome performance, and we must not forget the awesome MJ tribute that almost made me cry...I'm trying to stay strong here. If you didn't watch the VMAs catch some clips at mtv.com. It's one of the only music things MTV shows now so I feel like it's necessary to give it a watch.

OH and the announcement!!! John Legend is coming to Cuse on the 23rd to speak about his Show Me campaign. He responded to me on twitter last night and I went crazy...I'm that big of a fan. So look out for more info on that.

Where Has All the Female Talent Gone?

So I've come to the conclusion that there is a lack of good female artists these days. In the late 80s and 90s we had Whitney Houston, Celine Dion (wow can't believe I'm writing about her), Mariah Carey, and Christina (before she went through all her weird stages). Some may question these women, but lets face it they can sing their butts off. Now who do we have? I mean yes, there is Beyonce, but she got her start from being in a girl group. And there are a lot of people out there who do not like her (anyone see Chelsea Lately the other night?). Britney is a definite no. I mean she fully capitalizes on the use of Auto-tune for sure. Then you have the occasional song from Ciara where she can kinda sing, but then she doesn't really give me that girly vibe that the old ladies gave me. There's Keri Hilson who does surprise me at times. Her litte oooh and ahhs in turn me on do make me cringe and want to mute the song though, but all around she's ok. 

If you want to look in other genres there's Vanessa Hudgens and all those Disney girls. Which I don't even really want to get into because that can be a whole other post. All I have to say is, who writes a song about their sneakers and going out for the night? If you don't know what I'm talking about click here and you will understand the horror.

Sometimes I sit and listen to the radio and think to myself maybe I should become a singer. I'm not saying I have a great voice, but if Cassie, Britney, Miley Cyrus, etc can be successful why can't I? I can actually read music and can tell when I'm off key and fix it.Woah what a shocker right? 

Anyway...On the brighter side we do have Alicia Keys. Now there is a talented female. I have respect for anyone who can play the piano. Then you add her voice and range on top of that. woahhh! I'm a lifelong fan. I just wish she'd come out with something new or maybe collaborate with more people. There has to be tons of artists who want to.

The females that stick in my mind that are brand spanking new and good  are Adele, Emily King, and Janelle Monae. I don't even think a lot of people know who these women are. 

Adele is a Brit with an an amazing voice. It's sexy, guttural (i don't even know if that's the right word I was going for), and with a tint of accent. I'm pretty sure no American can duplicate it. If you haven't heard her click here or here for my favorite songs. 

Emily King is from New York. I don't know if she's all that new, but I only found her at the beginning of the school year. I love her because she has an old jazz flair, but with new upbeat feel to it. Close your eyes when you listen to her because her voice definitely doesn't match her look and I love that about her. I frequently belt out to her songs when I'm alone. She actually has collaborated with Lupe so you know she's going places. Listen to her right here.

Janelle Monae is a little different, but everyone needs a lil spice in their life. She is linked to OutKast if that tells you anything. She has this futuristic voice that is masculine at times, but then switches to a classic female voice. I don't think I've really ever heard any other female that sounds like her. My favorite songs are this and  Mr. President, but I can't find it on youtube. If you're interested let me know and I'll send it to you

Well there's my midnight rant. If you can show me more talented females I'm game. I want more songs that I can belt along with that are actually meant for women to sing.