Personal Update: WHATT DE FREIICKK

A haiku:

So much stress, ragged
overwhelming my seasons
when will I see spring

I'm so busy, and I honestly don't know when I will be able to come up for air. I need time alone, and time without obligation. Every day there's another test to study for, another internship to apply for, another friend I have to cancel plans with. Although, I had a realllly fun time last night, but I can't tell you why unless you ask me in person. Let's say it was a new experience.

Even music has become blah for me. Everything's gray right now. It's such an odd juxtaposition, though, my happiness and stress squished up against each other. I love being stressed, but I hate not having time to myself. Doing homework alone in my room for eight hours does not count.

I just pray all my hard work is worth it. Clothing, obviously, has been put on the backburner, considering I'm not making enough money to spend like I used to--and, even worse, there's no way I can devote more time to working for money when all my time is spent on school.

And this was fashion week!

No matter. I just injected a slew of new French electronica into my iTunes library, of which I'll be writing about soon. When I get a breath.

Models...

New companion site, Dustin O'Neal Photography.

The VMAs, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna and T.I....at light speed!

The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was, predictably, an ass-kissing festival for Britney Spears and a chorus of other pop stars who sang and danced their way onstage to thank God for their little moon-men statues and their managers, for crafting them into good girls gone bad or celibate virgins, in the case of the Jonas Brothers. There was no edge--even Russel Brand, hilarious in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, was offensive and awkward, speaking so loudly his mic sounded like he was performing stand-up eight feet under the Thames.

There were three stand-out performances, however (of those I watched--I don't need to explain my lack of interest in the entire VMAs): Rihanna and T.I. with "Living My Life," officially the new "Good Life" and most certainly destined to become a number one hit. Like, there is no question. It will be number one within three weeks.

Christina Aguilera (dressed like Lady Gag--er, Marvel Comic's Black Cat, right) did a great job, as well, aside from her horrible lipsynching. Her new song is called "Keeps Gettin' Better," apparently, though that doesn't quite make sense considering the only bit of lyric I understood: "BITCH!" The performance was a burst of fresh air in a night of lackluster performances and ugly vocals. Even Rihanna seemed to struggle on her live performance of "Disturbia"--I've seen Rihanna live, and she never struggled to hit mid-range notes...

P!nk was amazing, but what did we expect? She's a phenomenal vocalist with a brilliant single. She's got attitude, a jagged sex appeal, and an air of authenticity when she hits the stage. Nothing unexpected or surprising--just P!nk.

(Speaking of P!nk, she's officially number one on the list of performers I want to see in the upcoming year.)

(And speaking of seeing performers, I'm seeing Yelle in October and I could almost explode I'm so excited)

Beyond the VMAs, I officially have my iTunes account back and went overboard by purchasing 10 songs that have caught my attention in my recent wanderings. One of these is Brandy's "Right Here (Departed)," a beautiful track with deep emotional appeal. Brandy is an iconic R&B artist--if you are not a fan, listen to "Talk About Our Love," an era-defining slice of piano-driven hip-hop--and her new single comes with quite a bit of baggage attached. For anyone with an actual life (i.e. anyone who doesn't read celebrity gossip), Brandy got into a car wreck a few years ago and killed a man. She wasn't sent to jail, but in the eyes of many is a murderer. That's quite a reputation going into her fifth album.

Regardless, "Right Here" is a powerful track, almost too powerful; I'm certainly not experiencing any heartbreak, but Brandy's emotive vocals almost convince me I am.

I want to keep writing about Michelle William's "Hello Heartbreak," a SICKKK club track, but I'm a bit buzzed on wine and losing my creativity...

Where did the disco go?

Last night I finally completed a photo story with my friend Leslie Davidson. I've posted pictures of her in the past, but I'm confident the following shots are some of the best I've ever taken.

MIMS Perry Remix: My Girl Kissed A Girl

I'm so overwhelmed right now. Life is so great in so many ways. School is a blast, new friends are popping up everywhere I turn, and there's a remix of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" that just may be better than the original.

"I Kissed A Girl (J-Kits Remix [Feat. MIMS])" is a feat of hip-hop enlightenment, of buttoned-up crunkonicity, of relentless sex appeal and out-of-control restraint. MIMS, a rapper that is just unimpressive to me in every way, has taken what may be the most controversial pop song of the past decade--not because of the material, but because so many people just plain hate the track itself--and reshaped the throbbing beats and layered vocals into a blazing hip hop track with production so glittery it is the musical equivalent of the Eta Carinae.

There are so many ways this track could have gone wrong. While MIMS throws down some pretty dirty verses ("My girl kissed a girl/won't fill me no details/'cause she don't kiss and tell"), his final line is delivered with such swagger, so unironically, it renders the cornier lines obsolete: "I find it/something sort of exciting/my girl kissed a girl/and guess what?/she liked it."

In a touch of hip hop brilliance, every time the chrorus kicks in the bass line dimishes, synths flaring out of pitch like shooting stars. Perry's importance in the song is decidedly reduced--something about the distractingly good production--but the message is still clear and still sexy. In all honesty, this is a more mature version of the original. I cannot image a preteen girl jamming out to this and actually enjoying it: this remix is simply too dirrrty.

But for me and my friends, speeding down 5th in a Lexus with the volume on max, there's nothing closer to ecstasy.

MIMS would want you to download the track for free here.

New York Fashion Week, Britney, and The Cool Kids

...starts today.

This has been one of the most academically stressful and fulfilling weeks of my life. Ironically, it's also my first week at UT. Coincidence, I think not.

Musically, nothing's changed. I lost my debit card two weeks ago--new one on the way, thank God--and thus lost my ability to iTune. However, I have great friends with great music taste. For this brief period of time, I have adopted their music libraries, and I'm thrilled with some of my discoveries.

"88," by The Cool Kids, a Chicago-based hip hop group, offers a refreshingly minimalist interpretation of mid-90s rap and dance. I'm a huge fan of music in the early 90s--and late 90s, for that matter--when bands like No Doubt, Sublime, Sugar Ray and Salt-N-Pepa took the musical concepts of the 80s (synthesizers, music without contextual meaning) and engineered them for a modern, Clinton-era audience. Women were confused about their place in society ("Push It," Alanis Morisette's "Ironic") and in personal relationships; academic success took second place to occupational success (becoming a lawyer, a doctor...); the economy was prospering (Madonna's "Ray of Light," the rise of 14 year-old girls as an actual musical force); and, of course, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair ruptured a major valve in America's value pipeline. ("Isn't the president supposed to be our moral leader?" Sadly, Reagan's trickle-down policies don't quite work here...)

Regardless, "88" is a total blast musically, and I appreciate the clever lyricism and great tone of their lead vocalist. At first listen, The Cool Kids could be Lupe Fiasco with Pharell Williams as producer, but it's a bit too low-key and simple for Williams' ambitious energy.

I was going to talk about Spoon, a band I have inexplicably bought albums of and never listened to, and how I think I've finally reached the right age to appreciate their talents (or, at least their 2007 single "Don't You Evah"), but something else has hit my radar courtesy of Perez Hilton. Britney Spears just may be coming back. I'm no Britney Spears die-hard, but I find her an interesting social experiment indicative of 21st century America. (Amy Winehouse is more the British version, except is actually talented and may actually not survive her next album.) Whatever. "Blackout" was a fine pop album, if you can ignore the image of Britney Spears jiggling and drunk at the VMAs in 2007, with standout tracks like "Get Naked (Got A Plan)," "Radar," and the underrated "Break The Ice."

A video surfaced this afternoon of what appears to be Britney Spears practicing a dance routine to a new song, I guess for a next album--the kind of album they rush out so we forget the last one--but also, possibly for a performance at this Sunday's VMAs. Could it be true? Obviously it's Spears dancing in the video, and dancing very very well (to a very very cool song), but is the Spears' camp really bold enough to present Spears, who was the veritable trainwreck of the century just this June, to the public once again? What's so interesting to me is how Spears was so out on the pop radar that to own her last album was to own the album of some underground band. To know her songs, tracks like "Radar" for instance, was to know undiscovered pop songs of an artist years gone by. It was treated like the latest Hot Chip album, discussed among hipsters in American Apparell--she was so underground she was almost "in," a radio outlaw and newly-minted underdog.

However, with her body back in shape, her children under court protection, and her (least we forget) bipolar disorder under control, (maybe we should forget.) her career is evidently ready for a reboot. I'll be paying attention, because this trainwreck just so happens to be the defining figure of my generation.

"I'm an f***in' red neck!"

The above quote is by Sarah Palin's daughter's babydaddy. Yeah, I'm reallllly feelin' McCain's choice for VP--but not for the same reasons the RNC.

(I'm thinking the babydaddy's quote needs to be put on a tee-shirt right away. Like, now. And then "McCain/Palin 08" on the bottom. I would wear that schniz all day long.)

So, random stuff today.

1. Britney Spears got hot.

2. This is hilarious.

3. We all knew it was coming. Kanye, Jay-Z, and T.I. ripped off M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and crafted a sick track called "Swagger Like Us." It's not even on iTunes--not to mention radio--so you'll have to figure it out downloading it on your own (wink), but I highly recommend you do. The production is dirrrty and reminiscent of T.I.'s King album, with the M.I.A. sample just odd enough that the track retains some authenticity. The lyricism is, naturally, the track's greatest asset: "I can wake up and be the shi*t and the urine." I don't need to tell you who delivers that one.

Awkward moment: Jay-Z...uhh...sings "Ho-o-va" after his verse, sounding like an animal you'd shoot on a safari.

4. The reemergence of "Ma Ya Hi" by Numa Numa. Rihanna's singing it, rappers are sampling it...it's It.