Train: "Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken...?"
Me: Yeah, I can... and
JK: ..."it's a hard pill to swallow...."
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The Grammy award-winning "Drops of Jupiter (Tell me)"is one my favorite songs by Train (of the "Marry Me" fame)... maybe, one of my favorite songs ever, too. I just love the lyrics... the melancholy that it imparts but sang so beautifully in masked sadness by the brilliant Pat Monahan in a backdrop of easy, uncomplicated, and yet, terrific music that has everything - from dramatic piano to romantic violin to a thumping rhythm section. Here, have a listen...
"Now that she's back in the atmosphere with drops of Jupiter in her hair... she listens like spring and she talks like June..."
These days, listening to "Shot Glass of Tears" (SGOT) from Jung Kook's debut solo album, "Golden"... I have these nostalgic feels that take me back to 14 years ago when "Drops of Jupiter (Tell me)" (DOJTM) was released. Although the songs are completely different in terms of music, tempo and general appeal... lyrically, there are similarities. The lyrics of SGOT and the way JK interprets it is in-your-face melancholic. And it's amazing how JK can make even the lowest register of his voice can sound so melodic... and beautiful, even when he is singing live. So gifted! His singing is quite different from Monahan's powered and nicely controlled screeches in DOJTM that show his mastery of his craft. Here, have a listen...
"She got some dangerous hobbies like chasin' after the sun and making me fall in love."
Both songs talk about one's fascination... and love... for an incredible woman. And it's beautiful... both. The lyrical genius of DOJTM is subtle and sweet, "And tell me, did Venus blow your mind? Was it everything you wanted to find? And did you miss me while you're looking for yourself out there?" So loving and indulging of one's subject of affection... and yet so tenderly longing for some affection, too. It's like a precarious balancing act between selfless love and the quiet desperation for just the smallest hint of reciprocation of one's deep affection. One can tell that whoever wrote the lyrics (and I'm quite sure it was Monahan), possesses a love that is tamed by maturity.
SGOT is a bit more juvenile in its hurried desire to let the subject of his affection know of his desperation to be healed by being loved, too: "Need something strong for the sorrow, something strong for the pain so I can wash it away. I was cold, now I'm freezin'. Stuck in permanent season, and we both know you're the reason. I'm not the same as before, I don't feel anymore."
Both songs are worth spending a Friday Night of music... lovely music - a "soul vacation".
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Video credit: The owners of the videos are indicated in the video themselves. Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
...country music and many more! And by 'more', I mean, 'Jungkookie more'!
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by PAM
Ah, it feels like a lifetime ago since I last wrote a 'nostalgic' post here. I have been preoccupied with so many things - important, unimportant depending on whose perspective... big things and small things, imagined and real... fun and agonizing, and everything in between... 'this and that'. Yep, I have been totally buried six feet below 'grown-up stuff'... including stuff that makes grown-ups appear irresponsible to some... such as sleeping. Ah, well...
There are so many things about the debut studio album by JungKook (JK), "Golden", that inspires musing and nostalgic feels... the most surprising of them all are the country music-sounding songs, "Yes or No" (YON) and "Too Sad to Dance" (TSTD), especially TSTD.
I am mostly a 'rock chick', and I listen regularly to pop music. I have soft spot for R&B. Uhm, actually, I am a sucker for R&B. I never thought of myself as a fan of country music... but having lived in the US for several years in three separate decades and in three different States (and visited a whole bunch of other States), too, without knowing it, I developed some leanings towards country music... okay, 'country pop' is probably the more accurate description of the songs that I like in the country genre, and definitely a lot of 'country rock'. Then again, even Taylor Swift is, first of all, a country music artist, too! But if you take a listen to some country songs, you gotta admit, they do have their distinct charm, and they make you suffer from "last song syndrome (LSS)...
"In case you didn't know, baby, I'm crazy 'bout you..." and I'd be lyin' if I said that I could live this life without you."
Hmmm... 'distinct charm', and that pinch of 'Americana' flavor. You would think that it is an exclusive 'American thing'. But then, even that beautiful New Zealand-born Aussiecountry music phenomenon, Keith Urban, who sings with such soulful depth can give justice to this country con Americana music. After all, he lived in Nashville for a chunk of his life. This is one of my favorite songs of his: his first Grammy award-winning song from more than 10 years ago, "You'll think of me".
"I went out driving trying to clear my head
I tried to sweep out all the ruins that my emotions left
Now, came "Golden"... it is astounding how JK - a S. Korean singer who is not an english speaker with a brain that is "hard-wired K-Pop" could sing a song that is quite obviously written for a country singer, or a country pop singer, in a way that sounded authentic country, or country pop. The song TSTD is a formulaic country: all that acoustics complete with whistling, the narrative way by which the lyrics are written, the melancholy but romantic words, and that bit about an older and more experienced person imparting wisdom to a younger person foolishly in love, etc. - it has 'country' written all over it. And yet, JK took it on... wore it, and slayed it!
"So last night I went to the club
Had a couple too many, threw up
Now, everybody's laughing at me
'Cause I'm way too sad, way too sad to dance
I'm way too sad to dance..."
See? C'mon, you can say it! It's good, right? It is. I love it! Some friends of mine in the US who hailed from country music-inclined rural America cannot believe that this country pop song, TSTD, that has thin slices of 'Americana' meat, was sang by a K-Pop artist who is unable to guest on American talk shows without an interpreter in tow. That is not a bad thing... it a great thing, and I'm so proud of JK! 💜
Here, this is one of those country songs (well, country rock, to be exact) that I like... I even sang it live with a band on stage at some point in my crazy life! My band and I prepared hard for it... and we did quite well (c'mon, a girl can dream!). 😉😅 It's "Play It Again" by Luke Bryan - a 10-year-old song that I only discovered about six years ago while on a roadtrip in rural Idaho, USA.
"She was like, 'oh my God, this is my song
I've been listenin' to the radio all night long
Sittin' 'round, waitin' for it to come on, and here it is.'
She was like, 'come here, boy, I wanna dance.'
'Fore I said a word, she was takin' my hand
Spinnin' me around 'til it faded out
And she gave me a kiss."
That was fun, right? Ah, I love it... and singing it live on stage with a full band and a big crowd was one of the highlights of my craziness! Uhm... I did sing "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift live on stage, too, at some point in this crazy life of mine! Haha... I had so much fun!
And then I heard JK's, YON. I knew right away that, after "3D", YON will be my biggest favorite from the "Golden" album, but I do like all songs. YON isn't country, it's really a pop song... and yet, the lyrics do give a 'country feels', and the beautiful way that JK sang it can actually compel hardcore country fans to add it in their playlists, and it's great! Here, have a listen...
"Everybody in this club so faded, I'm trippin' over getting lost on you
If we forever started out as strangers, I think my ever after just came true...
...and I gotta know, are you feeling the rush?
If so, then I think I know what's goin' on.
Are we falling in love? Say yes or no..."
I definitely know what's goin' on here. JK just won the world over. Are we falling in love? Damn, do you really need to ask? But if you insist, the answer is a definite and a huge, huge "YES"! So, yeah, let's keep listening... going back and forth between nostalgia and what is fresh and current - JK's music, that is.
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Video credit: The owners of the videos are indicated in the videos themselves. Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
Just a few minutes into the New Year, the BBC via YouTube has gotten us 'all-nostalgic' and 'sappy'... but 'happy-sappy'... and party-mode happy as well.
One of the biggest hits of the '80s, "Never Gonna Give You Up" (or simply NGGYU) by the incomparable, Rick Astley, was featured by BBC to close 2023 and usher in 2024... and, oh, boy, what a treat it was, indeed!
🎶"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you..." 🎶
Ah, would you believe that that song was from the '80s? It still sounds good and fresh, right? And, you can't help yourself, you just gotta stand up, and dance. It has that power to get anyone into party mode - a very apt New Year's Eve party song. Love it! Rick's voice is so fantastic... he still has 'it' after all these years! And, he looks good, too... maybe, even better than how he was back in the days, huh? Ah... '80s guys, they mellow so awesomely and so beautifully!
Trivia: Rick A. is just a few years older than me. 😉😊 We are in the same age bracket, and yeah... our love for music - in all its fun and happy variants - is as strong as ever. I love it that he is still around... and doing what he does best!
NGGYU is not just our party-party song back in the '80s. It's a 'love song', too. Guys back in the days would use it to express their love and devotion to their loved one... while keeping it fun and not all that sappy. If you're a girl back then pursued by someone through NGGYU, you'd feel like you're special, loved and fun 'cause the pursuit is done on the dancefloor. It was always fun to watch the guys trying to be cool or make a complete fool of themselves on fun note with what they believed were their cool moves. By the end of the song, you know whether the guys are cool or lame. Whatever it is though... girls always had fun. Well, we all did!
Back to 2024... these days, NGGYU has an equivalent - a song that is also professing love and devotion. It's a song by Jung Kook, "Standing Next to You", or simply "SNTY". It is the main cut in JK's now epic debut album, "Golden". Like NGGYU, it is also a totally danceable song. It's just a bit more difficult to sing because JK totally flexed his wide range of vocal strength in SNTY. Nevertheless, SNTY is a worthy party-party song as well. Here, see/listen for yourself...
🎶 "... they can't deny our love They can't divide us, we'll stand the test of time
I promise I'll be right here."🎶
Aww, so awesome, right? Yes, it is! My recommendation: celebrate 2023 with NGGYU and get into the 2024 groove with SNTY. If you feel all great and awesome, then you did it all right! Happy New Year!
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Video credit: Video 1 is owned by BBC while video 2 is owned by M-Net. Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
