Jam of the Week

Marsha Ambrosius' Late Nights, Early Mornings

For the past couple of months, I've been listening to Marsha Ambrosius' CD Late Nights, Early Mornings nonstop, so I thought it more than appropriate to feature one of the songs on the CD as the Jam of the Week. The only problem is there's more than one worthy candidate.

I finally settled on Late Nights, Early Mornings because it is very appropriate to my budding career as a romance writer. The song is very sexy as are my books. These are the feelings I try to convey when I write. The song definitely sets the mood. ♥ :) ♥

The video also has a much appreciated safe sex message. My characters always practice safe sex and I don't appreciate it when it's not addressed in some manner in other contemporary novels.

And yeah, most importantly, I just love the song. I hope you do, too!

P. S. Oh, oh, oh! How could I forget the most important part of the video?!! The hot guy! His name is George Something or Other. He's a football player. A HOT football player. I've almost cast him as my hero a few times, but he hasn't been quite right. I'm thinking it's time that he is right. I mean, how could he ever be wrong?

Jam of the Week

Bruno Mars' The Lazy Song

I like this song because it's funny and clever. But more importantly, because I think I was his muse.

Yeah, this could be the Jam of the Week every week. Sigh. I fight my inherent laziness every day of my life. I am the Queen of Procrastination. I know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. And that's my problem. I end up telling myself I have time to do it. Most of the time, it's not that I don't want to do it (unless it's cleaning), but sitting on my couch surfing the Internet or watching TV is so much easier and requires little to no effort.

Don't get me wrong. I do get things done (I'm a perfectionist nerd after all), but not in as timely fashion as I would like. Or I end up running out of time before I can make sure everything meets my overly demanding standards. Which bugs me to no end.

Maybe one day, I'll conquer this flaw. But not today. There are websites that will perish if I don't visit them RIGHT NOW.

Jam of the Week: In Memoriam

Earlier this week, I  heard Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal on Pandora. Because I was at work, I couldn't turn the volume up to 100 and sing along out loud, but I wanted to. It has long been my favorite MJ song, and I knew immediately that it would be Jam of the Week. What I didn't realize until this morning while listening to the radio is that tomorrow, June 25, is the anniversary (is that the right word) of Michael's death, so it made my selection even more appropriate.

I've loved Smooth Criminal since I was a kid. When I was in elementary school, someone made the bright decision that the gym floors needed to be redone (varnished? Is that the right word?). Looking back, I'm confused about why they didn't do this over summer break, but whatever. They redid the floors, which meant we couldn't go in there. But we still needed to have P.E., so they made us go into the school auditorium, where the gym teacher made us watch Moonwalker over and over again. Why that movie? No idea. I do know it freaked me out. It's so weird.

Except the Smooth Criminal part. That I loved and still do. It just makes me happy to hear it. It's my jam.

Here's the superlong movie version of the video. I like this version better than the shorter radio edit video because you  can actually see what's going on.

R.I.P., Michael.

Jam of the Week

Last week, I got my hair done. My cousin/hairstylist was playing "Love Story" from Mariah Carey's E=MC2 album, and I was humming along. She said, "You must have this CD" because it was never released as a single. I said, "I have all her albums." Which is true. OK, not the Glitter soundtrack, but everything else. I love Mimi. I have for the past twenty years. When I went home, I felt the need to listen to some more of her stuff. One of my favorite Mariah songs is "Melt Away" on the Daydream album. After I listened to it, I scrolled to another song from that album - "Always Be My Baby." The Jam of the Week.

I've loved this song for over 15 years, and it still holds up, its stalker message be damned. :) It's the Mariah song that even nonfans like.

It never fails to put a smile on my face or make me bob my head when I hear it on the radio (which still happens every now and then). It's so sing-alongable.

The intro is greatness.

Do do doop Do do doop do doop da dum Do do doop dum Do do doop do doop da dum

Do do doop Do do doop do doop da dum Do do doop dum Do do doop do doop da dum

You're humming along now, aren't you? :)

Jam of the Week

I love music, especially pop(ular) music, e.g. true pop music, R&B, hip hop, rock or country. If it's playing on the Top 40 radio station, I can generally at least stand it. I thought about what my first Jam of the Week would be. I know there will be a lot of songs from the 80s and the 90s featured because that's how I roll, but I decided to go with a current song because it allows me to discuss the pop scene and what it takes (and doesn't take) to have a hit. So without further ado, the inaugural Jam of the Week is... E.T  by Katy Perry.

Yes, I'm serious. I love this song. I don't love Katy.

To be perfectly honest, she rubbed me the wrong way a few seasons ago on American Idol when she acted as a guest judge. I thought she came across as bitchy and I found it laughable that she was judging other people's vocal ability when hers is less than stellar.

But back to the point. I love this song for several reasons. It has a great beat. The chorus gets stuck in your head. It makes me want to dance. Kanye West adds a nice touch and gives the song some street cred.

Basically, it has all the trademarks of a great pop song. It's a formula that has stood the test of time and will continue to do so, regardless of the singer. Sometimes this annoys me and I find it very hard to overlook the singer's shortcomings (i.e. anything by Miley Cyrus), but if the production is great and the singer's role is limited, sometimes I don't mind as much.

Katy Perry herself is almost incidental in the song's success. Her vocals are the least important part of the song. The producers made a great decision when they replaced her sung bridge in with a Kanye rap in the radio edit because she sounds strained and it's unpleasant to my ear.

What do you think? Do you like the song? Do singers with limited vocal ability annoy you or don't you care as long as the song is catchy?