material_boy

LOVING IT

I'm a firm believer in "death of the author," and I think it applies to all art -- not just literature. Authorial intent just doesn't have to anything to do with interpretation. I'm not into twinks, but this is a ridiculous and needlessly mean-spirited comment.

I always thought Troye was OK -- maybe a bit overrated by the YouTube tweens. "Wild" came along and I thought "OK, he's pretty good. But the stuff he's released from this upcoming album is flat-out brilliant. "My My My" was very good, "The Good Side" was fantastic, and now "Bloom." I haven't been this excited for an album ages. August can't come soon enough.

Troye said that it's about giving up your anal V-card for someone special. He even launched the song with the hashtag #bopsaboutbottoming. But everyone's interpretation is valid, of course.

I'm kind of stunned no one's posted this yet: Love this song. Love that there's a pop song about bottoming that's gonna smash. Love the looks in this video. Love the "Vogue" homage: I thought this guy was OK early on, and his stuff got pretty good around "Wild," but this new song and video are spectacular. I'm becoming a super fan.

Perfection. He'll always be my #2 behind M.

Agree that pop is feeling very stale right now. There were a lot of exciting things happening this decade, with lots of genres and sounds being blended into pop music, from blues and soul (Adele's "21") to folk (Mumford and Sons) to dubstep and EDM (Srillex, Diplo). It wasn't like there was one trend waxed while another waned -- it was like there were six trendy things happening at the same time all the time for years. Top 40 radio was really exciting to listen to for the first time since the 90s. But everything now just sounds like watered down versions of what we were getting five years ago. (If Ed fucking Sheeran comes on in the car again, I'm going to drive into oncoming traffic.) This is the first time in a long time that there is nothing on the radio that's exciting and new. There's a big opening right now for someone to come out with something totally different and light the world on fire.

I did not watch, but I just read that he made a joke about Nipplegate during his performance? (Apparently played the song right up the lyric where he ripped off Janet's clothes and then yelled "Stop!" and smiled?) What a fucking ass. I do not understand how he managed to get invited back to do this show, and I do not understand how they managed to announce this during the #metoo movement and not get railroaded out of fucking town. Seriously, Madonna gets more shit for kissing Drake that this guy gets for ripping off Janet's clothes and ending her fucking career. Unbelievable.

I'll admit he has a some good songs, but Timberlake is such a sleaze. His aw-shucks nice guy schtick is such an obvious act. He launched his solo career by tearing down Britney, he left Janet out in the cold after the wardrobe malfunction, he stole basically all his moves from Michael Jackson -- he even tried to take credit for writing "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" on "Ellen." He's just a spoiled straight white boy trying to take credit for more talented people's work. I hope the social justice warriors blow up about this thing and the NFL drops him for someone else.

Yeah, she really fell apart with that fourth album. Totally uninspired. Such a shame. YES. "The Globe Sessions" is one of the best albums of the 90s. And same on not being blown away by "TNMC." It has a couple great tracks -- "Strong Enough," "Leaving Las Vegas" -- but not much else. Second album was a big improvement. And "Globe Sessions" even better than the second -- by a mile. There was a Madonna list-serve in the mid-90s and the loons were just freaking out that "Secret" was stuck at #3 behind "All I Wanna Do." They were so sure it was a #1 hit and couldn't accept that it got stuck at #3!

Prince is my number 2 all time favorite artist, after M. I can't believe he's dead.

I stand by my ranking from this summer, with the exception that I'm moving from "Rebel Heart" from the second tier to the first (though still keeping it at four overall): PERFECT: Music Like a Prayer Ray of Light Rebel Heart EXCELLENT: Erotica Like a Virgin True Blue Madonna Bedtime Stories GOOD: Confessions on a Dance Floor (I'm Breathless) MEH: American Life Hard Candy MDNA

Best single in more than 10 years for me -- best single since "Music!" "LFL" might be in my all-time top five singles list. LIFT ME UP UP UP UP! We need a matador smiley face. I would paste it five times right now.