Saturday, February 20, 2016

Oh, gosh...

...I need a break, I'm not kidding!
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by PAM

Alright, I'm going to have to drop whatever it is that I'm doing right now, or I swear, I'd drop cold and dead this very second - right here, right now... wherever is 'here', I'm not even sure where!

One full week of heavy schedule, with three extremely busy ones before it... and now, this week is as grueling as the previous one.  My calendar shows another heavy schedule next week.  Just looking at it is enough to make me want to throw up from exhaustion. Oh, my!

And because I haven't even checked one fourth of my 'bucket list', I refuse to just drop dead now.  At the risk of sounding self-important, many of the things I do are quite important, I think, but none of them would warrant forgetting about my 'bucket list'.  In other words, none of these things in my schedule in front of me is worth dying for!   Therefore, I'm dropping out of it all for now.  I'm taking a break this evening... to dig through iTunes for something pleasing to the ear, and forget about work!  Dang, I owe it to myself!

So, I found this... uh, ahem, to be more precise, I looked for it, and found it. :)  Yep, it's "Drag Me Down" by One Direction.  I gotta say, it's quite easy to find, too... it's all over internetdom!



"With your love, nobody can drag me down!"


Yeah, not so bad, huh?  What is surprising is, I tried re-arranging the songs in my iTunes playlist to accommodate this song... humming, counting the beats, considering the quality of voices of the singers... and, guess what?  I found DMD between "Don't you (forget about me)" by Simple Minds and "Affair of the Heart" by Rick Springfield.  I know... I had to blink a few times, too, to check and re-check.  I tried fitting it into the Taylor Swift and 'the likes' cluster... but it just sounded odd with those songs.  Heck, it even sounded odd with the old 1D songs!   

Okay, let's see... what's with Simple Minds and Rick Springfield, anyway?  Why should it be remarkable to find one's song in between theirs?  Well, Jim Kerr, SM's lead singer, is the pop singer with the voice of a rocker dude while RS is a rocker dude with pop music followers (just because he is too 'pretty' for most rock fans to admit a liking for him).  There is some raspiness in the voices of the lads now, especially that of Harry's, quite 'delicious, I must add.  And they sing with some precision in their notes that makes the song sound surprisingly 'clean'... sound mature, and 'legit' even when the lyric is not as brilliant as those from the "British Invasion" era.  Yeah, they sound a bit serious now... and yet, the relaxed and playfulness quality is still there... especially, in the accompanying music video.  At least, they're not pretending depth.  So, I imagine, while they stop 'mature' music enthusiasts to have a listen, they still make the girlies scream in such abandon and 'religious' adoration.     

So, what does this mean, is One Direction jumping that gaping distance between pop-pop-ish music-for-the-screaming-little-girlies music and the seriously-they-sound-legit-artists music?  If they are, good on them, right?  Of course, they started as a 'money-making machine" for Simon Cowell... and, at their age then, it was kind of tragic... although, of course, I imagine, with the money they made, they could live the life of an indolent now, and will never starve.  However, even with that option, they're trying to actually make music now... and, I imagine, it isn't "walk in the park", too.  You gotta give it to the lads. To be honest, I started getting interested in the music of these lads when I heard them sing this more than a year or so ago...


"...everythin' that you ever dreamed of, disappearin' when you wake up...
...even when the night changes, it will never change me and you."

I thought they sounded good.  Naturally, I did not understand all the bashing that they get for allegedly sounding like crap.  So, I searched their old music videos and, truly, there was a big difference from how they sounded then and now.  In fact, I thought it was worth it to spend money to watch them perform live in Manila!

Legit music or not... whatever it is they make, you gotta admit, the lads are entertaining.  It's relaxing to see them perform... and to watch their music videos.  They can even be hilarious in their interviews... yeah, Brit brains, truly! :)

Oh, and, uh, I almost forgot to mention, Zayn Malik's decidedly best voice among the five lads' is no longer in the 'new' 1D music.  Hmmm... I almost did not notice, fancy that!  Then again, perhaps, that's why they sound different... even better?  Ouch!  I do not wish to anger Zayn and his fans (not that they're paying attention to my blog), but the four remaining lads' voices seem to blend with similar sharp and raspy quality about them, which Zayn's voice did not have.  Zayn's voice is soulful and as smooth as silk... beautiful, especially with the right material... and, you gotta admit, his brooding sort of personality does not blend well with the 'fun craziness' of the remaining four lads'.  And, it's nice that they seem to enjoy what they do... while Zayn would've brooded his way through the videos, looking mightily taxed... while, I imagine, it would always be heaven for the girlies to see him smile a sincerely happy, and even simply amused, smile though it all.  But, hey, you gotta do what makes you really happy... being one of the quintet, no matter how great it may sound to most, no longer thrill Zayn.  So, let's leave him alone and wish him well.  Goodness gracious, I'm speaking like a fan here! :)

Alright, this kinda got me breathing in the right rhythm now, but... I'm still taking the rest of the evening on a break - from work!  But, my goodness, what in Pete's name is this?!  It's Saturday night, why do I feel guilty for not working?  I'm doomed, I just am!

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Video credit:  Thanks, YouTube for the video links.

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