25 April 2024 - Paula Abdul - Straight Up

This was not Paula Abdul's first single.  It was her third.

It was, however, her first top 40 hit, the first of four from Forever Your Girl, at the time the most ever from a debut album.  Written and produced by Elliot Wolff, it would eventually hit #1 around the world - in the US in February 1989.  To get into the technical, the song is at a tempo of 96 beats per minute, which is known as a "shuffling" tempo.

You aren't here for the technical.  You're here to see Arsenio Hall.    

Did you watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2022?  Then you saw Paula Abdul, 35 years after the single's release, tap dancing and lipsyncing the song.  

She does also perform the song live for real from time to time, but really, you should be here for the choreography, because Adbul was and is a gifted choreographer.

24 April 2024 - Mala Rodríguez - Tengo un Trato

We're presently binging the Netflix series Élite. The show was originally made for Netflix Spain, and is dubbed into English for our viewing pleasure.  It's a cool show, with a lot of twists and turns.  There's also a lot of great music to discover, much of it music I have never heard.

Season 3, Episode 4 is where we are as I am writing this, and as the episode was starting, this song came on.  I instantly recognized Mala Rodríguez's voice, and this song, which was her debut single in 2000.  It set the stage for the in-your-face style that is a hallmark of everything La Mala has done.

The song's title literally translates to "I Have A Deal" and is a classic rap battle response.  For that, you need her attitude. 

La Mala is not one to forget where she came from, which is why, in 2020, she was still performing this song, with as much bravado as the first day she performed it.

23 April 2024 - Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond

This is a very, very, very long song.  

It's also a very complex song with a lot of changes and movements.  Written by David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Richard Wright, it is an opus in nine parts, and a tribute to Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett.  Appearing on their 1975 album, Wish You Were Here, it quickly became a band favorite.  

I'm going to leave this without much commetary, because the emotion of the song - the love for Barrett and the guilt in forcing him out - is enough.  

Here is the band, led by David Gilmour, performing the song in 1990.

Here's another performance, from Nassau Coliseum in 1988.

22 April 2024 - Fine, It's Pink - Did It All for You

I've been following Romanian band Fine, It's Pink since 2013.  That's when I heard their amazing cover of Phantogram's "When I'm Small".   Now, the original of that is one of my favorite song, and I'll probably fire it up on the turntable pretty soon.  

I've written about them a few times on this blog, too, most recently in 2021.  

I write this blog to tell you about the music that I enjoy, and, well, I have discovered music thanks to this blog.  It was purely accidental that I discovered this Romanian band, over here in the States, and yet I did.  

Watching Fine, It's Pink mature as musicians - watching their original songs get more adult and more beautiful - is one of the best things I have ever experienced in writing this little blog.  Their new single, out last week, is perhaps their most mature and beautiful work to date.  The song was written by Fine, It's Pink, with Ioana Lefter writing the lyrics she is singing herself.  

I hope this is the song that breaks them out of Romania and onto the world stage, because few musicians deserve it more.  

19 April 2024 - Coi Leray - Players

It's like a jungle sometimes.

It makes me wonder how I keep from going under.

No, I'm not talking about my personal struggles.   I'm talking about the Grandmaster Flash sample that the outstanding Coi Leray employs prominently through this song.

This 2022 single ended up in the Top 10, her first and at this point only trip there. It absolutely an explicit and empowering song, and I love it a lot. 

It is unusual to see a new video for a REMIX of a song, but in the case, it is appropriate, as DJ Smallz put a new spin on the song.

This remix by DJ Saige replaces the Grandmaster Flash sample with a Busta Rhymes sample.... and Mr. Rhymes himself guest stars.

18 April 2024 - Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla

You know when we feature bands with non-English characters in their names, when we have to figure out the ASCII codes for writing these non-English characters, that they must be special.

Icelandic superstars Sigur Rós, described as a post-rock band (accurately) are that kind of special.  Their best known song is this one, a song with some Icelandic and some nonsense words, about childlike fun and holding onto that spirit....

,,,which is probably why the video prominently features several elderly people pulling pranks on people, including members of the band.

The song, like a lot of their music, is beautiful and different and thought-provoking.  

Of course it's a live favorite.  Why wouldn't it be?!

17 April 2024 - Beyoncé - Texas Hold 'Em

For those who do not know, the former Beyoncé Knowles was raised in Houston, TX.  She was raised on country music.  She performed four times at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, an event she attended many times as a child.   She's performed COUNTRY MUSIC in the past, with the (former Dixie) Chicks and Sugarland.  Her songs have been covered by Reba and others.

So explain to me: why would anyone have any issue with her "going country" when she's performing (and she co-wrote) a really catchy country album?

I sure don't.  This song, released during the Super Bowl this year, is damn catchy.  She didn't even send the song to country radio, but it is getting significant airplay.  It's also getting significant airplay on pop radio, making it one of the more significant crossover songs of the last several years (miss me with that Jason Aldean and Morgan Wallen talk, kids).  

And yes, we hear it.  It sounds a lot like the Franklin theme song.