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PopGAF |OT5| We Are Bionic, So Damn Bionic

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C

Crumpet Trumpet

Banned
Artemisia said:
H&M ad featuring Beyonce song, Standing On The Sun.

The song is cute tbh, doesn't stand out as much as Grown Woman. The production is interesting though. I think with this, the tour book photos, and the Grown Woman performance we heard today, we're getting a feel of what sound the album is going for: african inspired bops.
Click to expand...
ibeJmzJbI2RV0n.gif
 
R

royalan

Member
What Beyoncé Could Learn From Ke$ha: How to Actually Humanize a Pop Star

In an interview promoting My Crazy Beautiful Life, the new six-part MTV docu-series about the glittery adventures of hard-partying pop star Ke$ha, the singer told USA Today this week that, "There are lots of things in this TV show that I don't think most people would want out there of themselves, honestly."

As the first episode unfolded, I couldn't help but think back to the last pop-music nonfiction film that got people talking: Beyoncé's Life Is but a Dream. And I suddenly understood just how right Ke$ha was.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Beyoncé's movie is produced, directed, narrated, and starred in by the Queen Bey herself (who's famously insistent on maintaining air-tight image control), while Ke$ha's is directed by her affectionate but keenly observant older brother Lagan, a former video journalist for the Financial Times. Maybe it has everything to do with that. But My Crazy Beautiful Life unflinchingly explores a universal phenomenon Life Is but a Dream didn't dare touch: failure. Life Is but a Dream depicts its subject as a well-oiled machine of a human who's always the most powerful person in the room. My Crazy Beautiful Life, though, doesn't turn its gaze away from Ke$ha at the moments when she feels rejected, humiliated, ashamed, targeted, or powerless—and so far, it's a braver, more believable documentary for it.

Beyoncé and Ke$ha are, of course, different personalities with vastly different aesthetics—Beyoncé poised, regal, and diligently gracious, Ke$ha spontaneous and bawdy. But Life is But a Dream and what we've seen thus far of My Crazy Beautiful Life find them doing many of the same things: traveling, rehearsing, performing, primping, giving interviews, and talking (sometimes embarrassingly melodramatically) about making music, being in relationships, and the nature of celebrity.

Life Is but a Dream depicts Beyoncé doing all of these things with grace, generosity, and overwhelmingly successful results—a combination that feels at best heartwarming and at worst smug. Nauseated, first-trimester-pregnant Beyoncé makes it through 48 straight hours of rehearsals without complaining and apparently doesn't miss a step, then steals the show at the Billboard Music Awards. Heartbroken Beyoncé overcomes the tragedy of a miscarriage by stepping into the studio, singing from her heart, and laying down what she calls the best song she's ever written. Tabloid-maligned Beyoncé disapproves of the fact that celebrity pregnancies are gossip fodder, but she's risen above it. And when bad things happen to Beyoncé, they are never Beyoncé's fault. They are, without fail, external disturbances that Beyoncé can and does overcome with her trademark I'm-a-survivor fortitude.

It's not that Beyoncé's moments of triumph aren't inspiring. They are. But without any visual evidence that sometimes Beyoncé fails, or flubs up, or says something she'll regret, or isn't the wisest, most noble person in the room, her glowing win-after-win montage starts to blur into one megawatt superhuman highlight reel of a life that's too victorious to bear any resemblance to those of her mere mortal fans'.

My Crazy Beautiful Life, on the other hand, makes clear early (and often) that Ke$ha wins some, loses some, and doesn't always take the high road.

Sometimes, Ke$ha's failures are the kinds she laughs at. In the first five minutes of the premiere, Ke$ha attempts a cartwheel onstage and botches it spectacularly. She then loses her balance and flails to the ground again while merrily retelling the story backstage, then snorts at the memory when she reads about her tumble in a New York Times review the next morning. Later, she shares an oh-poor-us chuckle with a friend when a hot guy whose eye they've been trying to catch fails to notice them.

Other not-so-proud moments aren't as cute, or as easily laughed off. Upon returning to her old neighborhood in Los Angeles, Ke$ha insists on taking a stealthy night drive past the home of her ex-boyfriend Harold. She makes a vomiting noise as she explains bitterly that Harold lives there with his new girlfriend, expresses dread that he's making out with her right there inside the house, and sighs, "Well, that was unsuccessful," while driving away. She's failed to move on—a humiliating, sadly familiar experience that unites us all.

Ke$ha's personal insecurities aren't a secret on My Crazy Beautiful Life, either. "Is it nice or is it mean?" she asks her brother apprehensively when he asks if she'd like to see the Times review of her show. She tears up when she talks about the barrage of criticism she's endured at the hands of blogger Perez Hilton, and even when it looks like Hilton's had a change of heart, she remains indignant about keeping him out of her life. There's no magnanimous "I'm over it" here: "I don't want him at my party," she tells her management flatly.

And yet there's also ample footage of Ke$ha charming radio DJs, electrifying audiences onstage, moving some fans to tears, and getting affectionate with a handsome guy in a bar after a show.

So it's not all losing for Ke$ha, but it's not all winning, either.

Where Beyoncé's documentary clings to the narrative that Beyoncé has pushed through her struggles and emerged triumphant, globally beloved, and spiritually at peace, My Crazy Beautiful Life looks like it has thus far resisted the urge to tie a tidy happy ending onto the story of Ke$ha finally becoming a star. And as a result, Lagan Sebert's documentary looks less like a dreamy, sugary fairy tale and more like, well, a real (crazy, beautiful) life.
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X


This article just made me purchase Warrior.

God...who isn't exhibiting more balls, honesty, and creative superiority than Beyonce these days? What a fraud.
 
R

royalan

Member
I really like the production on the H&M song.

I don't like Bey's singing, though. There are parts where her singing just sounds too heavy for what the song is going for. No finesse. I think someone with a lighter voice would sound much better singing this.
 
M

Matt_

World's #1 One Direction Fan: Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you~~~
Artemisia said:
H&M ad featuring Beyonce song, Standing On The Sun.

The song is cute tbh, doesn't stand out as much as Grown Woman. The production is interesting though. I think with this, the tour book photos, and the Grown Woman performance we heard today, we're getting a feel of what sound the album is going for: african/tribal/jungle inspired bops.
Click to expand...

Much better than grown woman imo
That chorus is fire
 
Majmun

Majmun

Member
Lin Siniang said:
Second what is your avatar from, honey?
Click to expand...

It's from her Mrs. Carter tour book. I'll repost the pictures because they're THAT amazing
jbji1mIlFxXr3z.jpg

jbxFeD54jN8pTW.jpg

jOfPzt0y0ZAbh.jpg

jbcSBRJ2CT7ZLO.jpg

jieksNrJfmc1h.jpg

jbraWlqDNI4luq.jpg
Click to expand...


Artemisia said:
H&M ad featuring Beyonce song, Standing On The Sun.

The song is cute tbh, doesn't stand out as much as Grown Woman. The production is interesting though. I think with this, the tour book photos, and the Grown Woman performance we heard today, we're getting a feel of what sound the album is going for: african/tribal/jungle inspired bops.
Click to expand...

hfjhghshgjghkjhgdgh

OH MY GOD. It sounds so good. and she looks so flawlees.
This era looks and sounds AMAZING
ibyR52jKto8AQ9.gif
 
T

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
Charli XCX's album totally shits. Mehrina and the Cubic Zirconias needs to take several seats, she's been punched out of her own game.
 
D

Dr. Malik

FlatAss_
That is a very good commercial but I agree with Roy that someone with a better pop voice could have done the song especially the chorus better

but let me go give H&M some of my coins
ibhNHxS0wXwAPo.gif
 
P

PowderedToast

Junior Member
standing on the sun is a bit basic, i like the production and pseudo african influence though. that's a good direction.

hope it's only a bonus/deluxe track tbh

this new material keeps reminding me of bjork's volta. timbaland channeling earth intruders
 
D

Dr. Malik

FlatAss_
“Good Morning America” announced its sizzling 2013 Summer Concert Series lineup with an exciting and eclectic mix of all the hottest and biggest names in music today, starting with the one and only, Mariah Carey.

It all kicks off Friday, May 24th with global superstar, Mariah Carey, live in concert in Central Park. The best-selling female artist of all time will perform her new single from her upcoming album. This first concert will be a free, ticketed event.*
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x

Here we go again
 
D

DMeisterJ

Banned
Here for Sia's song featuring Beyonce's vocals. As long as Bey didn't write a lyric, I'm sure the song will be servicable. I'll get over having to hear her voice.

fiyahbey.gif
 
C

cory64

Member
Standing on the Sun has great production and a great chorus but it sounds like they spent 2 minutes working on the verses, nor does Bey's voice work with that part.
 
B

botty

Banned
royalan said:
I really like the production on the H&M song.

I don't like Bey's singing, though. There are parts where her singing just sounds too heavy for what the song is going for. No finesse. I think someone with a lighter voice would sound much better singing this.
Click to expand...

I was saying this last night. Beyonce has been bringing it production wise with this.... era?...but I am still not feeling her vocals/lyrics too much.
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
I am really impressed by Just Give Me a Reason on itunes.

For over a week now it seemed like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were poised to overtake it, but it keeps holding em off.

Could end up at 3/4 weeks at #1 when all is said and done, and possibly 5 million singles sold.
 
B

botty

Banned
Wafflecakes said:
I am really impressed by Just Give Me a Reason on itunes.

For over a week now it seemed like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were poised to overtake it, but it keeps holding it off.

Could end up at 3/4 weeks at #1 when all is said and done.
Click to expand...

Sometimes it takes a real man to keep the trash out.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
Wafflecakes said:
I am really impressed by Just Give Me a Reason on itunes.

For over a week now it seemed like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis were poised to overtake it, but it keeps holding em off.

Could end up at 3/4 weeks at #1 when all is said and done, and possibly 5 million singles sold.
Click to expand...

Keep Winning P!nk
tumblr_m8wyyxYF7Z1qcvttg.gif
 
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