Okay, so I saw this post over at Jezebel that will surely make some people around here’s heads spin, and I’ll just leave it at that because I don’t want to incur the wrath of certain somebodies. But I’d like to discuss a different song. Does the song According to You by Orianthi bother anyone else as much as it bothers me? The lyrics go:
According to you I’m stupid, I’m useless,
I can’t do anything right.
According to you I’m difficult, hard to please,
Forever changing my mind.
And then:
But according to him I’m beautiful, incredible,
He can’t get me out of his head.
According to him I’m funny, irresistible,
Everything he ever wanted.
Um, how about according to you? What do you think of yourself? Why is this whole song based on what other people think of her? Don’t get me wrong, the song is totally catchy, and I generally leave it on if it comes on the radio, but I think it wrongly gives the impression that it’s a strong girl power song (given the tough rocker chick way it’s sung) when it’s pretty much exactly the opposite. Okay fine, later on she does sing:
According to me you’re stupid, you’re useless,
You can’t do anything right.
Um, okay, but you’re still not letting us know that you think you’re awesome too. And if she thinks this person is so stupid and useless, why was she dating him in the first place? That just doesn’t make sense! And frankly, pop songs need to make perfect sense like they did in the good old days of Slave 4 U. Now I know not every song has to be super girl power to the extreme (given my adoration of Slave 4 U, you should already know that) and this is the only song I know from Orianthi, so I’m not placing judgment on her, just the song. I think it just bothers me that the song is trying to come across as one thing, but the lyrics are saying another. ZOMG did I just write a music post?
I think this song does embody the spirit of girl power. Girl power at it’s inception, not it’s maturity. No one begins thier journey being totally strong. It takes awhile to get there.
Perhaps she is just coming to realize that she is powerful. She has a choice and can empower herself to make the move that will result in her being treated the way shre deserves to be treated.
I don’t see her as cheating. SHe has met someone new who has opened her eyes to the mistreatment has has thus far allowed. She loves the current boyfriend, but cannot continue to allow herself to treated badly.
The seed of girl power has germinated and is reaching towards the sun.
Then again, maybe too much is being read into all of this. It could just be a crappy pop song. I love pop songs but many have very little to say. It is incredibly cathy and catchy songs tend have have lyrics that leave something to be desired.
I know this song. It is catchy. But I had never heard of Orianthi. For some reason I thought it was a Kelly Clarkson song. I guess I don’t have my finger on the pulse of pop music like some people do.
I never gave the lyrics much thought, as I mostly just heard it as background music while driving.
I think some people are just WAY too desperate to be in a relationship, ANY relationship, so long as they feel connected to someone. I guess I am just not like that.
I would MUCH rather be single than in an unhealthy relationship. I suppose I tend to fall for specific people, rather than situations. However, I can certainly commiserate with falling for the WRONG people. The first guy I fell for was so perfect, BUT…
Our hearts are complicated worlds.
Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. You only have a 1% knowledge of non-Spanish subjunctives? You’ve been deprived, my boy!
“Other” Justin — you’ve made a very good case for the alternate, shall we say, “Poltian” view. Nice blog, btw
Oh, and Ryan, my request for that bumper sticker still stands. If you’re going to come up with a pithy aphorism you’re on the hook to provide people with bumper sticker versions of it. That’s just the way the world works, baby.
This song sucks. The best feminist song I ever heard is called “Beat Me Up” and it’s by Allison Iraheta. It goes:
Baby even though you beat me up, beat me up
I still love you ’cause you heat me up, heat me up
And that’s why every time you hit me up, hit me up
I come running ’cause you fix me up, fix me up
Oh baby! Just beat me up!
And stop fighting about music everyone! Polt can keep listening to Barbra Streisand if he wants and Josh can listen to “Terrified.” And Craig, stop being rude
And I(ee)I(ee)I’m in loooooooove wiff Enr(ee)r(ee)co cuz he looooooooves “Terrifiii(ee)iii(ee)iied!”
Ahhhh, yes. The young’uns do fancy themselves so very ironic and jaded and worldly wise, don’t they? “Ha ha” on the cynical “best feminist song” joke, Enriquierz
Thanks, though for injecting a much-needed “can’t we all just get along” sentiment. The Polt-and-Josh feud needs to end before we all start crying!!!
And I don’t think Craig is EVER rude. Though he is sometimes Cheeky
Justin: The other 1% comes from an item in Reader’s Digest explaining why “If I were a rich man” is correct.
Coincidently, the strongest part of what remains of my Spanish is saying what I would do if I were rich: si tuviera un millon dolares, compraria pasteles para todas de las personas Puntabulous.
Aww. That’s so sweet of you! Do we get to pick our preferred flavour?
In any event, oddly enough, I don’t think I ever learned the rules of the English subjunctive in school. It — weirdly enough — seems to come naturally to me. And I’m talking about the form where you drop the “s” in the 3rd person singular. To me, it just sounds weird to say “Would you prefer that she selfishly ignores the sexual satisfaction of the guitar?” because by putting an “s” at the end of that verb, it sounds like you are ASSERTING that she IS selfishly ignoring. By leaving the “s” off (which is a subjunctive form), it makes the verb no longer an assertion of fact, but a conjecture, with a meaning more like “If she WERE to selfishly ignore” and less like “since she is selfishly ignoring”.
I don’t know why that kind of usage (the subjunctive one) seems SO natural to me and when people use the non-subjunctive one, it sounds very odd to me, like they are asserting as fact something which they really only meant to say as something hypothetical.
This kind of usage (dropping the “s” in third-person singular verbs) is JUST an American thing, though (at least amongst affected and pretentious Americans). Which seems VERY counter-intuitive, since we tend to think of the British as more “proper”. This subjunctive form USED to be used in England, but it died out a long time ago (maybe even more than a century ago over there).
To the contrary of popular opinion, in fact, the American dialect actually preserves quite a lot of archaic usages from 200+ years ago which died out in the UK. The word “gotten” in Britain may sound to some people as archaic and weird as “prithee” or “zounds” — it doesn’t exist there anymore (they just use “got”). The word “fall” instead of “autumn” is also an archaism over there. The American dialect has many holdovers from Elizabethan English — it is British English in fact that has changed more over the past 200 years.
Man I’m rude.
I meant to say.
Man I’m a NERD.
Maybe that makes me rude, too. Boring everybody with my nerdiness.
Traditionally, nerdiness is reserved for Tuesdays, but I’m not sure the particulars of the subjunctive is appropriate for a guest Teach Me Something Tuesday guest post.
Is there a Schoolhouse Rock vignette on the subjunctive?
TwoPi — there SHOULD be. I think though that it would end in violence. With the cartoon character trying to teach the subjunctive beng stuffed upside-down into a trash-can as the cooler cartoon characters go their merry ways.
Ryan — if there’s a Teach me Something Tuesday guest-post spot open, I’m full of boring things to teach
What’s Teach Me Something Tuesday?
Oh right…
Justerz: Don’t worry…we all lurrrve each other. Fights come and go wiffout much remembrance around here. Very much like Shakira’s latest album did (sadly!).
Josherz and I are feuding? really? Oh well then we’ll just have to kiss and make-up…as long as I can avoid the retaliation from the dreaded davidasaurus.
And Craiggers is sometimes cheeky, sometimes cranky, never rude, but ALWAYS cute.
HUGS…
Yes he is. And in fact a friend of mine seems to be developing a little bit of an online crush on Craig. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t mention to me how adorable he is.
Or should I say aDORKable?
Just watched the video in the post. The Steve Vai poster [0:17] caught my eye, and after a bit of surfing it turns out she’s sort-of a protege of Vai.
Her playing is certainly credible. Fans of the genre will appreciate it. But yeah, the lyrics are horrid. She should follow Zappa’s advice to “shut up and play yer guitar.”
She was slated to be the lead guitarist in Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” tour. Not an easy gig to land.
[Conceptual continuity: Vai got his break working as Frank Zappa's stunt guitarist. And he apparently appears on Orianthi's album.]
Justin: tell your friend, sorry, but the position of Craigger’s stalker is currently filled!
HUGS…
I-I-I-I-I dunnoooo, Poltsky-doodles. Maybe we should let Craiggleslerzes pick his own stalker?