If there's one negative word that I can freely admit describes me to the letter. it's "sap".
I prefer words like "sentimental" or "emotional" or "reflective", but I can understand the intent behind it and how it applies to me.
I'm someone who relishes in two things: overanalyzing my life, and a really good ballad. When the two converge into one another, it creates one of those moments of absolute clarity, erasing whatever indecision or doubt I had about the choices in my life.
I just had one of those moments, in the Subway restaurant by my apartment, while I was listening to my Top 200 playlist. I was flipping through my Twitter timeline when I saw multiple mentions of the Sugababes. I was compelled to go to my playlist and pick the highest track of theirs on the list.
That song was "Change".
Released in 2007 from the album of the same name, I regard as one of their best singles. Not just because they sound amazing together, but because the chorus may be one of the best of any girl group ever. It all lies with that killer last line: "Ain't it crazy how you think you got your whole life planned, just to find out it was never ever in your hands...change..."
Hearing that really made me think a lot about the changes in my life, past and future. It's kind of crazy to think about how different my year would've been without the changes I made to my life, like getting involved in SGA, the dynamics of some of my friendships, and getting my first credit card. Lord knows the latter decision ended up being a doozy.
There have been a lot of changes in my life this past year, with both good and bad results. However, I know that all of them have contributed to the person typing on this iPhone at the moment. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but that person isn't too shabby considering everything.
So when I hear that last line, I think about how those changes were meant to happen. How, even if the immediate consequences were good and bad, it all worked out in the long run for me, and it will continue to do so.
I guess you can interpret that whole thing, and the Sugababes song for that matter, as a commentary on fate. Ironically, I believe in fate, but it took Subway, Twitter, and one of the best songs from a hot mess of a British girl group go help me truly understand it.
Told you I was a sap, huh?
Songs listened to while writing this post: Change - Sugababes Untouchable - Girls Aloud
There's nothing more satisfying than a good bargain, especially when it's at your favorite store.
I traversed through the Macy's Men Store twice, thinking I would find nothing, until I came upon Sean John. What caught my eye? Only a 75% off sign, sticking out of a racks of suits. With my internship at TV Land starting in a week and a half, it was like kismet. More proof of the clandestine meeting was the suit themselves, in dark blue and light grey, with blue lining, and they were 75% off!
It didn't take long before I was swiping the good ole' Citi Forward credit card, for a cool $150 (I saved $267.50!).
And to think, I was about to drop some serious cash over at the Perry Ellis and Marc Ecko Cut & Sew sections (there my go to brands).
Now I'm on the way home, listening to the oh-so-fitting "That's The Way It Is", feeling incredibly satisfied with my day. A shopping spree and a Cinnabon will do that to you. What I love about this song is it's power to just make you either feel good when you're sad, or better if you're already happy. Plus, Celine has that voice where you adapt whatever emotion she's singing, regardless of your mood. And on top of that, she is one of three best singers of all time (we'll save that for another post).
Songs played while writing this post: That's The Way It Is - Celine Dion All For You - Janet Jackson
I love the places that I go to, whether its college, home, or the mall, where I'm heading now (Green Acres Mall, in Valley Stream, which basically the slightly awkward border of Queens and Long Island). But the actual task of getting there is so irksome to me. Sometimes I just wish I had the ability to teleport, although with my luck I would probably send myself to Timbuktu instead of the mall.
The annoyance of traveling is one of the reasons why my iPhone is a crucial part of what makes the insanity that is me. When my headphones are plugged on, I can zone out the endless chatter on an already irritatingly long (to me anyway) trip to the mall. Just now, a bunch of really loud obnoxious high school student just got on the bus, but did I hear it? Nope, not really, because I had my iPhone on semi-full blast. No need to reciprocate the annoyance, right?
So what song is currently doing it for me at the moment? Ellie Goulding's "Lights". Anyone who knows me knows that I have an affection for electropop ballads, like Girls Aloud's genius "Call The Shots". "Lights" is right up that alley, except a lot more wistful and mystical. Goulding has a very soothing effect to her voice, which is pretty magical when paired with the disco-lite production. This sounds corny, even to me, but it's a song that begs for dancing and dreaming simultaneously.
Since I can't very well dance on the Q85 (yet these high school girls in the back of the bus can scream at each other, go figure), I just allow myself to go the journey in my mind the song takes me.
Side note: these girls screaming in the back are certified hot messes.
Even though these kids, and this ride, should make me want to strangle someone, I'm not the least bit bothered. When you have Ellie Goulding "lighting" things up for you, there's no need to be.
And then there's those times when the music stops and the screaming and cursing slips through the white earbuds.
Songs played during this post; Lights - Ellie Goulding
Welcome to my first iPhone Follies post series, where I share some silly musings about my life and how the music I'm playing on my iPhone at that moment is thrown in the mix. Hope you guys enjoy the read
I'm not going to lie: I hated the Country Road Version of Lady Gaga's #1 hit "Born This Way". It just seemed really cheesy to me, and wholly unnecessary.
But I never listened to the song while driving down North Conduit Blvd, which my purchase of the deluxe edition of Born This Way from iTunes allowed.
Call me crazy but I felt like I was driving in a truck down a dirt road in Texas. Granted, I was in a Hyundai by the Belt Parkway, but humor me. It was a pretty awesome feeling to have, more awesome that it came from Gaga. The pop star has made me feel many things in her three years of pop dominance, but I could've never guessed one of them would be feeling like a card-carrying member of the Lone Star State (Texas readers, ain't that a kick in the head?). One other use for the southern-styled version of the song? A wonderful buffer between me and my mother while shopping at BJ's out in Valley Stream. My summer breaks at home can drive me crazy, especially when I'm stuck in a car with my mom for what seems like an eternity (it's only 15 minutes). I usually sleep, so letting my imagination run wild via Gaga was a nice change of pace.
Songs played while writing: Government Hooker - Lady Gaga Born This Way (Country Road Version) - Lady Gaga You and I - Lady Gaga Notorious - The Saturdays
Are there any songs that take you to another place? Leave a comment and let me know!
To change things up a bit, I have decided to join Tumblr!
No, I'm not quitting BWU at all. In fact, I'm hoping Tumblr will enhance the experience. For those who want to know a little bit more about my life, then you can head over to my Tumblr blog lifeofbl.tumblr.com
Some of my BWU posts will be up there, but it's mostly what's happening in my own life.
If you're so inclined, take a look, even follow me. If you have one, I'll follow you back. I'm still working on it, so don't be surprised if it a mess.
To all my readers, thanks so much for sticking with me as long as you have. Trust me, it's nowhere near over :)
After a pretty long, self-imposed hiatus, I can surely say that I am back to writing on Best, Worst, and UNbelievable!
I decided to take a break to get re-adjusted to life at college, but I found myself full of stuff I wanted to write (a lot happened since the end of January). Plus, this month marks the blog's two year anniversary, so it's a better time than never to begin writing again.
As a reminder, the blog's fancy new URL is www.brandonsbestworst.com. If you haven't updated your bookmarks, you definitely should. If you have any questions, opinions about my posts, suggestions, or anything you would like to know, feel free to email me at brandon@brandonsbestworst.com. I always look forward to hearing any kind of feedback.
To my readers who have kept with the blog, thank you SO much for your support, and it is truly great to be back!
The last few months of 2009 were flooded with "best of the decade" articles and posts from all over the publishing world, regardless of niche. I love those kinds of things, and I wanted to throw myself in, but I found it really hard to choose a list of the best songs the past decade had to offer.
Now the first decade of the new millennium has past, I looked through my ever-expanding iTunes library and decided on the one song that was worthy of mention. It is the song that completely changed how I viewed pop music, and if I never heard it, there was a good chance that I would not have discovered and downloaded 75% of the music that I did in the two years since its release.
And, as of 1:29 am, I have played this song 837 times.
The song I am talking about is "Call The Shots" by Girls Aloud.
I had first encountered the British girl group in early 2007, when their song "Something Kinda Oooh" (the second most played song on my iTunes) was used in a YouTube video about Melrose Place I was watching. After doing my research, I found their song and quickly began playing the heck out of it. I only added one song of theirs after that, "I Think We're Alone Now", choosing not to do my usual thing where I become obsessed with them and quickly burn out on them a month later.
In November of 2007, I was on YouTube again when I saw a link to Girls Aloud performing on X Factor, the British show that I only knew as Leona Lewis' origin. I watched the video, where they performed their new single titled "Call The Shots". Besides the little issue of Sarah Harding being a hot mess, everything about that performance was fantastic, and I immediately sought out the song. When I found the studio version, I fell head over heels in love with it.
I thought it was one of the most perfect pop songs I ever heard. It was a ballad, but the wondrous synths gave it an undeniable energy. The production, provided by Xenomania, was flawless in its mixture of melancholy, resilience, and hope, and it made me realize that synthpop could be more than just a dance floor filler. I fell in love with Nadine's voice, which sounded so powerful as she sang one of the most addictive hooks I ever heard (and ballads aren't supposed to have addictive hooks). The lyrics, although a bit confusing in the first few listens, have one of the most mature, adult outlooks on relationships that pop music has ever had, while maintaining its Europop style (again, the "call the shots" hook still gets me to this day). The song would end up being one of their biggest hits, peaking at #3 on the UK charts (behind Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and Take That's "Rule The World") and spending seven weeks inside the top 10. It is also one of their most critically acclaimed records, with Popjustice declaring it the best pop song of the 21st century and their best song ever. Even though seeing the song's success was nice, it was the song that truly commanded my attention. After years of listening to current mainstream R&B slosh, my ears were touched by a whole new, much more attractive, sound.
My musical tastes would never be the same.
So, what would come of my love of "Call The Shots"? Well, my Girls Aloud hesitation quickly abated, and I gathered as much music as I could from them. My scavenger hunt for all things GA ultimately brought my attention to other British artists, which immediately included Sugababes, George Michael, Take That, and Westlife. It was also the song that helped my curiosity about Leona Lewis, the X Factor winner, develop into being a huge fan of hers. For awhile, in fact, "Bleeding Love" and "Call The Shots" were duking it out in my iTunes library for most played song of the year. Girls Aloud ultimately exposed me to a whole new country to find music. I soon began realizing that British music tended to be a lot more satisfying than pop in the States. Since 2007, a lot of my music has been influenced by what is successful in Great Britain, which allowed me to be ahead of the curve when it ultimately arrived here. Although it would be really hard to be exact, I can safely say that British and American music have a near equal bearing in my library. As you could expect, my life for British music poured over into a love for British culture. I became fascinated by everything Brit; their TV, their government, their newspapers, even their celebrities. To this day, when I make my daily internet rounds, I always stop at The Sun or The Daily Mail to see what's up across the pond. It allowed for a different perspective, which I think is necessary as you are growing into an adult.
I also credit "Call The Shots" for elevating my pop senses. Before, it would be really easy to fall into the crap traps that were the one-hit wonder pop songs that seemed to flood the decade. With a solid example of what good pop music could be, I found myself evading certain music that ended up smashes, like "Crank That" or "This Is Why I'm Hot", or, more recently, the R&B pop male triumvirate ("Replay", "Whatcha Say", and "Down", for the most part). I became a smarter, more thoughtful pop music listener, and I credit it to that song.
Without "Call the Shots", I have absolutely no clue where my tastes in pop would lie. Without that song, my view of the entertainment world would be vastly different. It may seem doubtful that one song could be so transformative, but I can honestly say that it did. For those reasons, and the because it is inarguably one of the best British pop songs of the last 25 years, "Call The Shots" is my best song of the decade.
If you haven't heard of the song, or them, do yourself a favor and check out the video below.
If there's one negative word that I can freely admit describes me to the letter. it's "sap".
That song was "Change".
