I love So You Think You Can Dance for the dancing (obviously). But an unexpected side effect has been the number of songs I fall in love with too. Before I started paying attention, I would (unsuccessfully) attempt to remember lyrics after the show was over. Then I realized the website listed all the show’s pairings, dances and songs. Brilliant! And if I actually pay attention to the TV screen, I can see that they tell you the song at the beginning of the dance. Who knew?!
My song obsession from last night (the Top 14) is “Whatcha Say” by Jason Derulo (you may, as I did, find something quite familiar about it…her name is Imogen Heap).
Who doesn’t love a good Britney Spears throwback to dancing in school hallways. I found Mr. Derulo’s Michael Jackson moonwalking in empty stairwells and razor-sharp facial hair shape to be the high points of the video.
Sometimes I forget Matt Nathanson exists until I hear him playing in a Gap store, which is strange because he was a big part of the background noise of my freshman year of college. That and John Mayer’s “Comfortable,” which my roommate Dori and I agreed could only be listened to when the other one was around because the song made us sad. What can I say. We liked to torture ourselves.
And, just because I want to make you feel a little uncomfortable, or at least confused, here is some Sinead O’Connor.
I’ve always operated under the unspoken rule of friendship that when you come across a book, movie, blog or song that you love, you share it. If something brings you a lot of joy, why not let other people in on it. Especially people you like. Because that’s nice.
But my friends don’t really follow this unspoken rule. Only after I’ve discovered something and rave about it to them will they say, “Oh yeah, that band is really good.” or “I know. I thought that movie was great when I saw it two months ago.” After which I’m all “WTF. Why didn’t you tell me? I don’t have cable! I don’t have a radio! How else am I supposed to find these things in a timely manner if you don’t have my back?”
In the spirit of sharing and following unspoken rules of friendship, here’s some music I’ve been enjoying lately:
“Heartbeats” by Jose Gonzalez
Youtube actually recommended it to me. This particular video with the song is actually a commercial, which would normally make me like it 43 percent less, but I’m actually quite fond of them together. Particularly entranced by the guitar, and the perfect background for reading and writing.
“Will You Be There” by Michael Jackson (perhaps more widely known as the “Free Willy song”)
Seems everyone is blaring “Billie Jean,” “Thriller” and “Pretty Young Thing” in memory of Michael. But I gotta give this song some props. I’m a sucker for large choirs (especially when they include children). Also. It makes me want to twirl around and swim with whales. And perform the dance circa the 4:30-5 minute mark. Don’t judge.
“Windowdipper” by Jib Kidder
First heard this Thursday night on “So You Think You Can Dance” when Ade performed a solo. Holy Mother. It was awesome. The music. The moves. I had a moment. I impatiently waited until the show’s website was updated so I could find out the real name of the song (I had it in my head as “Windowwasher” and wasn’t having much luck finding it). I love the energy the song has and how the sounds are so layered (though I’m not entirely sure what’s going on in the video, especially the last few seconds).
If you have any stellar songs, I think you know who you should send them to. Because that’d be nice.
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After my eavesdropping experiment at Thanksgiving, I decided to continue the tradition while I was home for Christmas. Technically it wasn’t even eavesdropping, just remembering ridiculous things my family said so I could publish them on the internet. Except this time they knew what was in store for them. And they continued to open their [...] […]
