Music Monday 122 :: M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

Music Monday 122 :: M.I.A. "Bad Girls"

How I ever discovered the link to this video on this day; I don't remember, but boy I wish I could remember.

I want to say that I don't know how I feel about this vid, but ... actually I know exactly how I feel.

Why? Why? Why?

It's so cliche in some ways; edgy in other ways.

So I had to ask myself, well, what did you or do you expect? And unfortunately, my expectations are too apparently high:

• be a role model
• be creative
• be responsible

Frankly for some reason I had more expectations for M.I.A.

What do you guys think? Because I'm just shaking my head. Oh, and here's a review from the L.A. Times.

Music Monday 15 :: M.I.A. "O Saya"

I'm pretty excited about M.I.A.'s Oscar nomination for the song "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire".

O... Saya - M.I.A.

When I saw the "Slumdog Millionaire" I knew that the movie had an element that we don't often see in films. I like it when international films do well in the States. I want us to see how other people live: their lifestyle, their struggles, their happiness.

I thought that "Slumdog Millionaire" was driven by the music. It did not take long for me to notice that. The Indian music is superb throughout the film. "O Saya" has a nice and slow intro w/the chanting and the drums before M.I.A. gets ahold of it and rips. It's not a long rap at all, more like a cameo. But her style is so assured, staccato and unapologetic.

I can say that I officially slept on M.I.A. I have one of her cd's. A friend sent to me a few years ago. I skimmed it and never went back to it. Well, not never, but I should have trusted my friends instinct. I do think that M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign, another female British rapper, have a similar style. But I won't elaborate on that at this time.

One more quick point. M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" did not garner a great deal of radio play, at least not initially. However, when it did get some mainstream play, like on Dave Letterman, the gun shots were edited out.

Just a bit more about M.I.A.:

• she 's pregnant ... due any day now (update: baby boy born on 2.11.09)
  
• she wears many hats: vocalist, songwriter, producer and more
• she's a Brit
• she's won lots of awards and was nominated for two Grammy's this year fro "Swagger Like Us" and "Paper Planes".
• a quick Q&A w/M.I.A. from USA Today
  
• check out M.I.A. on Imeem
  

So now we wait ... Sunday, February 22, 2009 to see if M.I.A. gets a statue.

Music Monday 14 :: The 2009 Grammy Recap

I did a little twittering about this year's Grammy Awards. As always I get excited about them. I like to see who arrives and I like the performances.

The pre-awards drama was involving Chris Brown and allegedly Rhianna. Don't have the details, but neither ended up showing up for the show and Brown was supposed to perform. So something is going on.

Crazy thing though is that many of the rap and R&B categories were handed out in the pre-show. Then the only R&B category was the first award. That was kinda cool though. A cleaned up Whitney Houston handed out the award w/Jennifer Hudson winning. How cool is that?

The show was packed w/performances ... I want to see more of the award winners and their acceptance speeches. Do they have the pre-show available for viewing? If not, they should. I think that they do have some vid. I'll check YouTube.

I did finally fall asleep just before the show was over, but woke myself back up to see the last award. And to see Stevie perform.

All in all ... it was a decent show. I'm trying to figure out who filled in for Chris Brown and Rhianna's performances ... ? And I'm thinking that I like the performances, but I really want to see more of the award winners. I'm still sorting that out in my mind though.

Oh ... one more thing ... I thought M.I.A. was a trooper. I mean showing up and performing on the day you are due to give birth. So brave. I thought that the baby would drop during her performance w/the fellas on "Swagger Like Us". So cool.