As evidenced by last week's Grammys, popular music is in a sorry state. Yeah, the "Moulin Rouge" girls were somewhat successful in rivaling the original version, but as Grammy host Jon Stewart said, they did nothing more than "remind us of the days when the whore houses were about music." At least they welcomed Patti LaBelle at the end to wail as usual and lent some credibility to the group.
Train's "Drops of Jupiter" is a good song, but it epitomizes the blandness of pop music today, by which I mean it gets old after hearing it consistently for three days. 'NSync and Nelly? I don't understand this combination. Let's combine the most popular boy band whose songs all sound the same with one of the most famous rappers whose songs all sound the same and what do we get? A lot of the same boring verses.
I mentioned some exceptions. There was the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, which is excellent, and the performances by the various artists were good. Alicia Keys is awesome as well; she actually plays the piano and sings instead of lip syncing while going through some choreographed dance number. And Outkast: Dre's pink jumpsuit and white wig say it all.
These musicians are the exceptions because their identities are defined by themselves, not MTV. As much as I wouldn't mind Britney Spears being a slave for me, India Arie is the one who puts it best: It's all right that she's not the "average girl from your video." We need more artists like her to help us live outside the box and be what we want to be.
So in honor of last year's performance by Eminem and Elton John, I'd like to demonstrate my lyrical prowess and show how music can shape our lives and help us defy social norms.
What's up Ken, I'm your biggest fan
THE WCC, Ratios and IMs, you da man
You understand where I'm coming from everyday