ATP! Presents: Miller's Musicbox (August 2013)
August is a good month for music.So insane. I can’t imagine the position a super star must be in when they go to release new music. There are so many expectations from prior hits, but they can’t put out the same record/ single, lest they be written off for being irrelevant. For a superstar to be timeless, their music must be close enough to their old music that they retain their identity, but fresh enough to prove that they can keep up with an ever-changing musical climate. Empowerment songs are working, rhythmically catchy vocals are working, and Katy Perry just proved she can do it as well, if not better, than anyone else releasing music now.
*side note* I found the conversation of Gaga v. Perry, "Applause" v. "Roar" very interesting. Not that sales numbers are the ultimate deciding factor, but they do provide a pretty accurate barometer of people’s interests in the two pop stars. I’d have put money on Gaga...and I’d have lost a lot of money
My love affair with Drake continues, with yet another fresh sounding, impossibly catchy, made-for-Top-40 single. I think a musician’s job is to create a feeling when you listen, and I just feel cool as fuck when I listen to this song. Try it. I promise it’ll have the same effect on you.
*side note* in the strangest but maybe most effective album roll-out plan ever, Drake put out another couple of songs this month: “All Me” with 2 Chainz and Big Sean, and he’s featured on “Live For” by The Weeknd. Both are very much worth a listen.
He just never, ever misses. It almost feels like he retreated a bit inside of himself for this album. Rather than venturing out to try to conquer the territory of other artists before him, he focused on refining the clearly defined John Mayer brand of soft rock; the style that people will remember him for for...ever.
*side note* It’s not my favorite John Mayer album ever. Not even in the top 3, probably. But I’ll take 4th string John Mayer over almost anybody else’s A team.
