(#16) / Album: “Speak Now” / by Taylor Swift / (Music)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Album: “Speak Now” / by Taylor Swift

ASIN: B003WTE886 / Big Machine Records

67 minutes / $11.88 (Amazon)

2010

Body of Content

Summary: The album includes the following titles, in their album order: “Mine”, “Sparks Fly”, “Back to December”, “Speak Now”, “Dear John”, “Mean”, “The Story of Us”, “Never Grow Up”, “Enchanted”, “Better Than Revenge”, “Innocent”, “Haunted”, “Lass Kiss”, and “Love Live”.  The album contains 14 tracks – all written by Taylor Swift herself – along with Nathan Chapman collaborating as producer (Amazon, 2011).

The album stays within the genre of Taylor’s earlier works – still containing her female, twang-inspired voice – with country music instrumentation written – with pop melodies and music theory applications.  As such, the album regularly receives airtime on both Top 40 pop radio stations as well as country-devoted channels.

The album is Taylor’s most successful yet – having sold one million units in its first week alone.  Overall, in less than a year after its release, “Speak Now” has sold over 5.5 million albums globally –with 3.7 million coming from her domestic market (Wikipedia, 2011a).

Critique: Swift’s style includes love and relationships as the lyrical premises to the majority of her songs.  These lyrics – half self-discovery, half self-inspired – feature love ballads that many teens find identification with and semblance towards.  Content-wise, the lyrics are not very deep or meaningful to larger contexts.  But for commercial purposes, Swift knows her audience.

Consider the lyrics to “Mine” – notably the second verse:

            “Do you remember we were sitting there by the water? /

            You put your arm around me for the first time /

            You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter /

            You are the best thing that’s ever been mine” (Metrolyrics, 2011a)  

The lyrics are more about the promise and the hope of love – than they are about the resolution and fulfillment of love.  As teens are searching for love themselves – often finding relationships that are short-lived in duration – Swift writes songs that register with her teen fan base.

Or examine the lyrics to another song, “Sparks Fire”:

            “Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain /

            Kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain /

            ‘Cause I see sparks fly /

            Whenever you smile” (Metrolyrics, 2011b)

Like the aforementioned blog entry (cf. Owl City), Swift’s lyrics have a light-hearted approach to them.  “Sparks Fire” continues this trend – positive, hopeful lyrics.  But other titles on “Speak Now” – like the songs “Dear John” and “Better Than Rejection” contain a slightly more angled message – dealing with rejection and betrayal.

Teaser: Taylor Swift releases a new album – filled with 14 tracks – all embodying her soft, country sensibilities. 

Information about the Author: Swift is one of the young stars of country music – and one star who has great crossover reach into more contemporary pop markets.  Releasing her first album at the tender age of 16, Swift’s first album (self-titled) produced five tracks reaching the Top Ten.  Although industry professionals discovered her in Nashville – a city that her family relocated to – Swift is originally from Pennsylvania.  Her second album (“Fearless”) went platinum – with “Speak Now” following with similar numbers.

Taylor also co-starred in the ensemble comedy “Valetine’s Day (2010) – a film by Garry Marshall – with Swift additionally contributing two songs to the movie’s soundtrack (MOG, 2011).  The 21-year-old performer represents a very successful musical artist, as Swift recent ranks (according to Forbes) indicate: 2009 earnings of $18 million, with 2010 and 2011 earnings of $45 million for each year (Wikipedia, 2011b).

Supplemental Material

Genre: Country / Pop

Curriculum Ties: Sociology/Psychology – relationships, pop culture, music business culture  

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Which songs on the album refer to real-life relationships – experienced by Taylor Swift? 2) The album length is over 67 minutes – how does that compare to Taylor’s two other albums?

Reading Level: Mostly a female audience – broad age demographic – though mostly ages 15 through 19.  

Challenge Issues and Defense: Hard to cite reasons against inclusion.  If any arise, the album’s strength is the high-demand/popularity of the album – along with Swift winning several industry awards.

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I wanted to include a different genre (i.e. country) to balance out my allowance of three musical entries.

Last Thoughts

References:

Amazon. (2011). Speak now [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Speak-Now-

Taylor-Swift/dp/B003WTE886/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322358773&sr=8-1

Metrolyrics. (2011a). Mine lyrics [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/mine-

lyrics-taylor-swift.html

Metrolyrics. (2011b). Sparks fly [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/sparks-fly-

lyrics-taylor-swift.html

MOG. (2011). Taylor  Swift: Bio [Webpage]. Retrieved from

https://mog.com/artists/bio/mn289042/taylor-swift

Wikipedia. (2011a). Speak now [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_Now

Wikipedia. (2011b). Taylor Swift [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Taylor_Swift

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Hillsong United / Album – “Aftermath”   

(#14) / Album: “Brand New Eyes” / by Paramore / (Music)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

Album: “Brand New Eyes” / by Paramore

OCLC Number: 431300605 / Fueled by Ramen

 $10.40 (Amazon)/ 40 minutes

2009

Body of Content

Summary: The eleven songs from the album, in order, are the following tracks: “Careful”, “Ignorance”, “Playing God”, “Brick By Boring Brick”, “Turn It Off”, “The Only Exception”, “Feeling Sorry”, “Looking Up”, “Where The Lines Overlap”, “Misguided”, and “All I Wanted” (MOG, 2011).  The band features a rock-heavy sound – with a well-processed studio production.  For many of the songs, the guitars are heavily compressed – providing a well-polished sound that is probably difficult to duplicate in live performances.  Fans of Paramore will once again recognize that the majority of the songs feature upbeat rock anthems – much in the same style as previous albums.  Tight drum work – well-executed with quick fills – again ring familiar.  The songs do offer a few lighter tracks – in particular “The Only Exception” (featuring acoustic guitar) and “Misguided Ghosts” (featuring acoustic guitar with more ethereal vocals).           

Critique: The band is a rock band – most assuredly – but they contain elements of punk rock.  The speed (i.e. tempo) is consistently north of 120 beats per minute.  But the tempo does not – for the most part – reach levels of complete “thrashing” like speed metal or pure punk rock bands.  The instrumentation is pretty consistent – bass guitar, two distortion guitars, drum kit, and lead vocals.  Supporting orchestral instruments or miscellaneous solo inclusions are absent on the record – as many emo/punk bands represent bare-bones instrumentation.      

The lyrics also contain a punk theme of self-dependence and general rebellion – which might explain their interest among teen listeners.  Granted, Paramore’s version of lyrical rebellion contains a subdued message compared to early 80s acts in the same genre.  That general, undefined teen angst is embodied in songs like “Ignorance”:

            “Where’s your gavel? Your jury? /

            What’s my offense this time? /

            You’re not a judge, but if you’re gonna judge me /

            Well, sentence me to another life” (Metrolyrics, 2011a)

Or consider the song “Playing God”:

            “You say that I been changing /

            That I’m not just simply aging /

            Yeah, how could that be logical? /

            Just keep on cramming ideas down my throat” (Metrolyrics, 2011b)

The difficult part with angst lyrics – particular borderline emo/punk acts – is that the verses come across somewhat whiny and self-entitled.  The true spirit of earlier 80s punk is more chaotic and anarchist.  Paramore’s lyrics contain angst as a general sentimental – more loathsome than a rallying cry for punk-inspired world change.  The band is a rock band with punk traits; but they are not a full-fledge punk ensemble.    

Teaser:  Haley is small in appearance, but her voice has the power of someone three times her size!

Information about the Author: The band’s current lineup includes Jeremy Davis (bassist) and Taylor York (guitarist) along with Haley Williams (lead vocalist) – filling out the roster with tour musicians for live performances.  The band did have two founding members – both brothers – Josh and Zac Farro – leave the band recently (Paramore, 2011).  Paramore has released three albums to date: “All We Know Is Falling” (2005), “RIOT!” (2007) and “Brand New Eyes” (2011) (MOG, 2011).  The band claims various other bands as influential into their signature sound – including Jimmy Eat World, Sunny Day Real Estate, Thrice, Death Cab for Cutie, and New Found Glory (Paramore, 2011).

The band is based out of Franklin Tennessee.  Critically, the band received a Grammy Award nomination for “Best New Artist” – receiving notice after “RIOT!” – which sold two millions copies globally (Paramore, 2011).  The band is a rather young act – and at the time of the conception, only Davis was older than 18 – notably, Haley started as a 13-year-old charter member (MOG, 2011).  Arguably, their most successful song is “Decode” from the Twilight soundtrack, which has received over 56 million hits on YouTube (2008) – although the band does have six songs above 19 million view counts on the site (YouTube, 2011). 

Supplemental Material

Genre: Rock / Alternative

Curriculum Ties: Music – studio production, guitar technics, female vocal range  

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Have you heard the tracks off their latest studio album – from the same band that brought us “Decode” from the Twilight soundtrack?

Reading Level: Currently, as a very popular rock band, Paramore caters to Top 40 rock sensibilities – with teen interest mostly grades 9 through 12.   

Challenge Issues and Defense: The album does contain some language – but the album is not considered explicit.  Either way, that detail will not stop most teens from listening to the album if they like the band.  I could not find edited versions of the album/songs – if the library finds the case necessary.  

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: This is one of the few modern rock bands – emerging over the last five years – that I actually enjoy.

Last Thoughts

References:

Metrolyrics. (2011a). Ignorance [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/ignorance-

lyrics-paramore.html

Metrolyrics. (2011b). Playing God [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.metrolyrics.com/playing-

god-lyrics-paramore.html

MOG (2011). Pararmore [Webpage]. Retrieved from https://mog.com/albums/

mn33257063/paramore/brand-new-eyes

Paramore. (2011). Paramore bio [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.paramore.net/bio/

YouTube. (2011). Search results for Paramore [Webpage]. Retrieved from

            http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=videos&search_query=

paramore&search_sort=video_view_count

YouTube. (2008). Paramore: Decode [Official video]. Retrieved from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvnkAtWcKYg

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Sanctus Real / Album – “Pieces of a Real Heart” 

(#10) / The Blind Side / (adapted from book) by Michael Lewis / (Movie)

Opening

Bibliographic Information:

The Blind Side / (adapted from book) by Michael Lewis / 
(directed) by John Lee Hancock

OCLC Number: 501073267/ Alcon Entertainment / Warner Bros (DVD)  

$9.49 (Amazon) / 129 minutes

Release date: 2009 / Rating: PG-13

Body of Content

Summary: The inspirational movie tells the story of a homeless, teenage boy by the name Michael Oher.  Coming from a broken home, Oher bounces around living dynamics – between foster homes and friend’s houses.  Ultimately, a friend’s family can no longer afford to provide for him and Oher becomes homeless.  The previous family manages to enroll him in a private school – given his athletic prowess in both basketball and football – and that is how Oher’s life intersects with another family from the school – the Touhys.  When the Touhys find out that Oher sleeps in the school’s gymnasium at night, they offer to “put him up for a night”.  As days become weeks, the question becomes how permanent is this arrangement?  The story centers on Oher – who is a shy, African-American, teenage boy – with Mrs. Touhy as the direct opposite – a talkative, white, middle-age, woman.  In a moving narrative, The Blind Side provides the story based on the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens starting left tackle.     

Critique: Thematically, the movie is about charity as much as it is about football.  The movie depicts two individuals – Oher and Mrs. Touhy – whose lives, under any other circumstances, would likely never cross. 

The Touhys take Oher into their household and treat him just like any other member of the family.  Many of the students at school refer to Oher as “Big Mike”.  Mrs. Touhy detects his aversion to the nickname and decides to call him “Michael”.  When, as an under-experienced driver, Oher is involved in a car accident with the Touhys’ youngest child, the parents do not blame Michael for the accident, but instead, praise him for instinctively protecting S.J. with his free arm.  On more than one occasion, Mrs. Touhy defends Michael – as “her son” – whether it is in front of parents from rival football programs, well-intentioned but judgmental lady friends, or a case worker trying to follow the letter of the law. 

Bullock’s performance clearly was recognized by the Academy because of her strong ability to communicate subtle items of charity to Michael.  But the story is, as Mrs. Touhy expresses, not about how much Michael learns from the Touhys, but about “how much he [Michael] is teaching me”.  I did not find the movie cliché – and overall, I’m not one for inspirational films.  However, I found that the kernel contained in Michael Lewis’ book became a well-designed adaption on the big screen.      

Teaser: How could a homeless teen ever become the starting left tackle for a professional football team?

Information about the Author: Michael Lewis specializes in writing stories which revolve around finance and/or sports.  The one-time beat writer for the Oakland Athletics eventually penned the book Moneyball – which, in itself, recently received a film adaption.

John Lee Hancock is primarily a film director and screenwriter – with some work experience in movie production.  His other well-known films include the inspirational tale My Dog Skip and another sports-inspired movie The Rookie (Wikipedia, 2011a).  His next film is one titled The Goree Girls – which is a musical set in the 1940s about a group of inmates who form a country band (Wikipedia, 2011b).    

Supplemental Material

Genre: Drama / Sports

Curriculum Ties: Sociology – race relations, homelessness, class warfare, private schools

Booktalking Ideas: 1) Where would you go – if you were homeless?  Who could you turn to? 2) Why is the left tackle position so important in football?

Reading Level: The film is rated PG-13 – with some adult themes – namely, “for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references” (Worldcat, 2011).  This film is viewable for grades 7 and up – easily.  But the lead character is a high-school student – and interest in the film is easily transferrable and appropriate for high-school-aged teens.

Challenge Issues and Defense: Anytime that a film/book represents racial issues (cf. To Kill a Mockingbird), there exists the possibility of challenges on a wide range of objections.  Still, the film deals with the issues well – and the film produced some awards, including Bullock’s performance – which received an Oscar for “Best Actress”. 

Personal Reasons for Inclusion: I have read some other works by Michael Lewis and loved his interviews on shows like The Daily Show.  This film presented itself as an opportunity to work him into the blog project.  

Last Thoughts

References:

Wikipedia. (2011a). John Lee Hancock [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

John_Lee_Hancock

Wikipedia. (2011b). The Goree girls [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

The_Goree_Girls

Worldcat. (2011). The blind side [Webpage]. Retrieved from http://www.worldcat.org/title/blind-

side/oclc/501073267&referer=brief_results

Listening to (Music):

Artist – Hillsong (Live)/ Album – “A Beautiful Exchange”