camilori

In my blog post, I will be analyzing Cardi B because she is such an interesting person, and while some may just view her as a raunchy stripper-turned rapper who shamelessly flaunts her WAP, I see her as an inspirational character that has impacted sex culture, feminist culture, and POC culture. I believe it can also be safely said that Cardi B is currently an easily recognizable culture figure of the past 10 years through her chart-topping and Grammy-awarding music and unfiltered bold personality. 

Looking at how Cardi B first rose to fame, it’s already pretty unprecedented that she was first working as a stripper before starting her music career. This is interesting because stripping is not considered a “real” or socially acceptable job for women. They are constantly disrespected in the field and objectified. However Cardi B saw her stripping job as the job that “...was positive for her life in many ways: ‘It really saved me from a lot of things. When I started stripping I went back to school.’ She has stated that she became a stripper to escape poverty and domestic violence, having been in an abusive relationship at the time after being kicked out of her mother's house, and that stripping was her only way to earn enough money to escape the situation and get an education”. 

I think this helped re-form the public view of the sex industry because it shows that stripping is not a job that should be looked down upon. I think this helps strippers feel less ashamed about themselves and for others to look at them more as equals because of Cardi B’s confidence and positive view toward her experience. In fact, to add as a contrast, Cardi B was also affiliated with a gang, the Bloods, when she was in high school and she actually does not have a positive view on that experience and does not recommend it for anyone. Therefore, I think that she has made an influence on sex culture, specifically on the sex industry through her public view of stripping as the experience that changed her life for the positive, and hopefully she inspires other women in the industry as well, because she has demonstrated that she was able to achieve her dreams and transition from a stripper to a world-famous rapper. 

Cardi B also impacted sex culture with her open sex-positive messages and sexual expression in her music. The most common example everyone can think is WAP, which is already, with the title almost screaming right in your face, as raunchy as it could get. However with WAP’s debut as #1 on multiple charts and winning many awards as well, it proudly promotes Cardi B’s, as well as the featuring artist, Megan Thee Stallion’s control of their own sexuality and prowess and celebrating their womanhood. With the all-female collaboration on top of that in the music video with features of Kylie Jenner, Rosalia, Normani, Latto, and other female artists/sex symbols, the song really unites women to not be afraid to express themselves. 

Cardi B has not only impacted sex culture, but also the culture around POC and minorities, and we can see that just by simply listening to her, as her thick New York accent will immediately hit you and she never tries to hide it. Cardi B is of Dominican and Trinidadian descent with African roots, but born and raised in Bronx, New York, and Spanish was her first language. She is very proud of her roots and in her hit song, “I Like It” featuring Latin artists J Balvin and Bad Bunny, she embraces her Dominican roots through its Latin flair.

She has also incorporated her Latin side by singing in Spanish in the songs “Taki Taki” and “La Modelo” with Latin artist Ozuna.

She has become a proud role model for many aspiring people of color, especially females, to work hard to pursue their dreams as anything is possible for them. As stated by Pizzabottle news website, “She stands for female empowerment–working hard for yours, not relying on others for your success and finances. She talks to young girls in impoverished neighborhoods–much like the one she grew up in–to inspire them to reach for more, to dream big and achieve it.” So again, Cardi B not only impacted the culture of POC nor sex culture, but female empowerment culture altogether. 

It is interesting to note that while there is a lot that Cardi B has been praised for, there has definitely been a lot she has been criticized for as well, which makes her quite controversial at times. To start with, the song WAP has received a lot of criticism by plenty of American conservative commenters. Complex Magazine stated that, “...James P. Bradley, went so far to claim that 'Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure,' an immensely controversial statement, especially given that Megan’s father passed away when she was 15.” Complex Magazine also brought up a very good point that, “These ludicrous critiques show, once again, that sex is only a taboo expression in music when women—specifically women of color—explore it. Love-making, sex, f*cking, or whatever you might call it, isn’t a new theme in music… So why do we only hear criticism like this when artists like Cardi and Megan do it?” This opens up a conversation about the misogyny in the rap and hip-hop genre, which has always been male-dominated, as well as opening up the feminist culture that Cardi B is fighting for.

Another criticism of the WAP song was by Ben Shapiro, another American conservative, who analyzed the song and music video and sarcastically stated, ““Guys, this is what feminists fought for… This is what the feminist movement is all about. It’s not really about women being treated as independent, full-rounded human beings. It’s about wet a– p-word. And if you say anything differently, [it’s] because you’re a misogynist, you see.”  Below is a tweet that Shapiro posted criticizing the song, and one of the many memes responding to his strange critique.

I honestly just found this funny and I think this only publicly revealed in an embarrassing manner that he does not even understand basic female anatomy.

One artist that I have been listening to non-stop lately is a Latin artist who goes by the name of Karol G. You may have heard her name as she has become famous not only in Latin America but globally. Karol G is a Colombian artist of mainly the reggaeton, Latin trap and hip-hop genres. Reggaeton is defined as a music genre that blends Jamaican influences of reggae music with Latin American dance hall music and hip-hop influences. Throughout her career, Karol G has collaborated with many well-known artists in Latin America, but in the U.S. as well, which have helped boost her to the global status she maintains now. 

Her first hit was “Ahora Me Llama” (Now He Calls Me) featuring Puerto Rican trap artist Bad Bunny in 2017. She continued to produce more hits such as “Culpables” (Guilty) in 2018 with Anuel AA, another famous trap artist like Bad Bunny. There were rumors about her dating Anuel after they released that song, so by the end of 2018, the two released a song together confirming their dating relationship to the public called “Secreto” (Secret) which was another success. The two had a “power couple” status commonly compared to Beyonce and Jay-Z’s level in Latin America. Karol G continued to release more hits such as “China” in 2019, which was a collaboration with Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Ozuna, and J Balvin - all who are popular Latin reggaeton/trap artists, “Tusa” (Heartbreak) with Nicki Minaj in 2019, “Bichota” (Bad B*tch) in 2020, “Provenza” (Provence) in 2021, and she featured in Becky G’s song “MAMIII” in 2022. To clarify, these are only some of her top hits which had charted the billboards and even won her Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards, etc.

As we can clearly see, Karol G did not fail to stay relevant in the music industry since her breakthrough in 2017, with a new release or feature every consecutive year. However she did not immediately start out in the limelight when she began pursuing her music career. Karol G’s real name is Carolina Giraldo Navarro and she was born and raised in Colombia. She was first recognized for her musical talents when she performed on the Colombian version of The X-Factor in her country when she was 14 years old, and a few years later, she had her first record contract with Colombian company Flamingo Records and Puerto Rican company Diamond Music, and by then she chose her artist name to be Karol G. She released a few songs from 2007 to 2010 but they were not very successful, so she continued to study music at the University of Antioquia in Colombia. Karol G then traveled to Universal Studios in Miami, Florida where she presented her project but was rejected to be signed for a record due to her gender. Karol comments about it in an interview with PAPER magazine, "About nine years ago, I went to Miami for the first time; my parents got me a meeting [with the label]. I presented my project,’ she says, ‘and they liked it. But they said I could maybe be a songwriter, but a woman making reggaeton? That wouldn't work.’”.

This is because reggaeton has always been a male-dominated genre so not many women have become popular in the genre, with a few exceptions like Dominican artist Natti Natasha, Mexican-American artist Becky G, and Puerto Rican artist Ivy Queen, who became famous in the early 2000s and is known as the “Queen of Reggaeton”. However, it can be safely said that there are many more mainstream male reggaeton artists, like the artists I had previously mentioned. Even the “King of Reggaeton”, Daddy Yankee, who you have probably heard of before, is more globally known than the “Queen of Reggaeton”. In fact, I even asked my friend, who was born and raised in Dominican Republic until he migrated to New Jersey at 16 years old, if he knew who Ivy Queen was, and he said he did not know her, but of course when I mentioned I was writing about "reggaeton", the first person he thought of was Daddy Yankee.

However Karol G was not deterred by the rejection and continued to perform wherever she could back in Colombia with the support of her father, but by 2014 she moved to New York to try to boost her career in America again. Karol G saw an advertisement for business administration classes on the subway, which helped her learn more about the industry. From that time until she released “Ahora Me Llama” (Now He Calls Me) with Bad Bunny in 2017, Karol G released some more songs, one of them called “Ricos Besos” (Sweet Kisses) which was a hit in Colombia, and she signed with Universal Music Latino. Karol G created a strong foundation for her career which can explain how she is flourishing now as a global reggaeton icon and did not end up as a “one-hit wonder”. 

I personally admire Karol G a lot because she is a strong advocate for woman empowerment and breaking the misogynistic boundaries of the reggaeton genre, which she has demonstrated through her rise to the top of the reggaeton world with songs confidently embracing her femininity and sexuality.

From just looking at some of the lyrics from her breakthrough song “Ahora Me Llama” (Now He Calls Me), Karol G states, “Yo soy dueña de mi vida, a mí nadie me manda” (I am the owner of my life, no one controls me). Marty Preciado of NPR Music describes this song as, “A bass-heavy, unapologetic trap anthem to the power of femininity, soiled in hi-hats and heavy sub-bass, the song challenges hegemonic masculinity, singing about respect, love and sex-positive decisions… Karol G confidently states about the ownership, control and enjoyment of her life, femininity and sexuality.”

Another one of her biggest hits, “Tusa” (Heartbreak) became a global anthem for women, as the reggaeton song is about a woman trying to get over her ex and heal and to remind her to “know her worth”. The collaboration with Nicki Minaj, who has been globally known as the "Queen of Rap" for years and is never ashamed to express her sexuality and boost confidence in fellow women, makes the song an even more powerful piece of motivation to help women move on to bigger and better things.

Karol G’s song, “Bichota” (Bad B*tch) is another viral anthem of femininity where she created her own unique term from Puerto Rican word “bichote” which means “a powerful drug dealer”, to “a strong and empowered woman”. She explained further in an interview on the “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, “I wanted to create a ‘bichota’ but its meaning is going to be: a bitch boss girl, powerful, great, incredible, doing her things by herself, you know?”.

The last track that I think really shows Karol G’s support for women is not a part of any of her albums, since she was the featured artist, but “MAMIII” by Becky G is a reggaeton track about female empowerment for ending a toxic relationship, which many women can relate to. 

I think these four songs that I mentioned were really unique in the reggaeton genre because since it is such a male-dominated genre, there are not many reggaeton songs about women ending toxic relationships or female empowerment. In fact, it is a very common trend in reggaeton for male artists to over-sexualize and objectify women in their songs instead, so the fact that Karol G made all these four songs that basically diss men and motivate women into hits, shows that the genre is moving in a new direction.

Altogether, Karol G is such an inspiring icon for women, proving that she overcame barriers due to her gender by making a name for herself in a genre that has barely been touched by women. I think it is important to recognize that she is truly changing the industry through her consistent billboard chart-topping hits, her creation of “bichota”, a new female-empowering term, and just her overall loyal global fanbase. In fact, the same company that rejected Karol, Universal Studios, actually offered her a contract 7 years later because of her global status, so I think she is living proof that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.

I would like to end this blog post with a motivating quote that Karol G said in an interview with the LA Times, “For years, I heard that women do not do reggaeton. Reggaeton and urban music belong to men, but as a woman, you belong to men. Now women are on another level. We are well prepared to lead. We've earned it and we're going to fight for it”. Hopefully we can continue to see Karol G progress with even more hits and be able to break the boundaries of reggaeton with her large influence. If you would like to take a listen to some of Karol G's music, I have linked her Spotify playlist below!

In this blog post I will be introducing Taylor Garcia, who is a member of the band Guesstimate. I have talked about him previously in another blog post of mine where I reviewed one of his basement shows, so I have attended a few of his shows to listen to his music and he is a friend of mine I met through work. However this was a great opportunity to really sit down and get to know him as a musician and what led him up to where he is now. Doing this interview with Taylor let me see that he is truly passionate and dedicated to music and he really thinks about how his music and his band. So I hope that through this interview and blog post, some other people out there can recognize his genuineness as well.

So how did you first get into music? What was the first instrument you played? And what instruments do you play now?

I first got into it in elementary school; it was when the teachers asked us to pick instruments for band class. I remember I wanted the cello at first because it looked cool but I ended up with the trumpet and really liked it. This was like in 4th grade, but I didn’t take it seriously until I was about 16 or 17 years old. Before to me, it was just something I did, but now I'm much more serious about it. The first instrument I played was the trumpet, but now I play quite a few instruments! I play the trumpet, flute, flugel horn, keys, and drums.

How did you form your band? And who are your bandmates?

So we have all been living together since August 2021 and that's how our band formed. The bass player Bobby moved in and at first it was just him and the drummer Andrew playing together a lot. Then I started playing with them a bit at some point, and we would play together on the porch a lot during the summer of 2021. There was a traffic light intersection right in front of our house so cars that were stopped at red lights would roll down their windows and give us a thumbs up so we knew were doing a good job!

After that, more people joined the band for our first show in October 2021 so there were 7 of us total. We wanted to expand the sounds of our music and add more people. However, it was hard to get a large group to commit to a project so we narrowed it down to 4 people. We officially decided on the 4 people in our band now in the middle/end of October 2021. It was like “too many chefs” in the kitchen so we had to cut down, and it has been the 4 of us since - me on keys and trumpet, Chris on guitar, Bobby on bass guitar, and Andrew on drums. Bobby is the oldest, about in his 30s, and I am the youngest - 24 years old.

How did you come up with your band name “Guesstimate”?

The name “Guesstimate” was Bobby’s idea. I don’t know how or why he came up with it, but we all agreed on choosing it for our name.

What type of music would you say your band makes?

Progressive fusion rock with psychedelic influence. It comes from 60’s music like the Beatles but their weird songs like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. In the 60s a lot of people did acid, like psychedelic drugs, so that's why there are a lot of weird songs in the 60s, and they really inspired us.

How would you describe your basement show scenes?

It is like a bargain. Getting 3 to 5 bands for $5 is a pretty good deal to me. We perform in New Brunswick, so is an interesting town because there are talented people from NY and Philly coming through because of that. Our shows are also a safer place to hang out at because you don’t really have safety concerns like getting drugged because it is more inclusive and everyone is welcome. We don’t turn people back at the door. It's a really chill vibe compared to other basement shows on campus of Rutgers, which is right nearby us; it's a lot less frat-party like.

Why do you do basement shows instead of more concert-like performances?

It’s hard to book concerts. No matter how good your music is, selling tickets and finding so many people to attend is very hard so you have to start small. Also a lot of venues don’t pay musicians very well. They expect you to pay for free. So if we post our own show, we make sure everyone is paid evenly. It removes a lot of the business side of music when you want to show yourself.

Out of your band's music, which is your favorite album and why? Our Second album “Unfortunate Prey”. It’s kind of a wordplay with our first album, which was called “Fortune Hunters”. It's my favorite because it is our newest release at the moment, and I can relate to it the most. We explore different directions musically so it’s a lot of fun and we do different stuff from our first album; it sounds more refined. Our first album was recorded live and the second album was recorded traditionally studio style.

Out of your band's music, which is your favorite song?

I would have to say “Focus” but “Mr. Majestic” is my second favorite. “Focus” is a 15 minute song when we play it live, but we had to cut the album version to 13 minutes. It has a lot of different movements and it is a good representation of what our band can do and where we can go. There are some heavy rock parts, some really slow parts, some fast parts, some singing, but mostly instrumentals - just a little bit of everything. I played flute, trumpet, and flugel horn, Bobby played keys, Moog taurus, and bass, Andrew and Christ played their regular drums and guitar. It’s very demanding to play the song, that is why we named it “Focus”!

Do you have a favorite performance that your band played and why?

So far my favorite would be our show in Ortliebs in Philly on October 1st because there was a good crowd, people really liked us, and it was our first time there so we didn’t have any expectations really, but it ended up being a lot of fun. I remember there were 2 dudes named “Leaf” and “Bugs” going crazy in the front of the audience. It was really exciting to see strangers love our music.

When is your next show?

So November 12th we’re recording at Leesta Vall Studio in Brooklyn for customized vinyl records, which is the first time for us and pretty exciting. But our next show is the 19th at 10 or 11pm at Crossroads venue in Garwood, NJ.

Altogether, if you could not tell already from this interview, Taylor is a really chill person to talk to and he had some interesting things to say about his bandmates and their music. I focused my interview more on getting to know how his band started and where they have been headed musically so far. Although they only started recently last year, it's great to see that Taylor truly enjoys what he does because I think that kind of passion is what it takes to produce good and unique music. I enjoyed doing this interview with Taylor and just getting to know the details about his journey and his insight on his own music/band so I hope you as the reader did as well. If you would like to listen, Taylor's band Guesstimate's Spotify is linked down below so feel free to check them out or check out their next show on November 19!

We all have heard of the country, South Korea, as well as its capital, Seoul. Seoul is a city with vibrant districts and incredible street food, but most importantly to us, the birthplace of the K-pop music scene. If you don’t know what K-pop is, K-pop means Korean pop music, so it is mainstream music in South Korea, but since the 1990s, due to what is called the Hallyu Wave, or the Korean Wave, K-pop started to become popular all over the world. 

Some of the first K-pop groups to pioneer the genre include the group “Seo Taiji and the Boys” who performed on TV for the first time on April 11 of 1992. They were the first group to introduce rap into K-pop, which became a staple in K-pop groups and songs. In fact, there are positions in K-pop groups specifically just for rapping parts of their songs. “Seo Taiji and the Boys” influence led to the formation of the now notoriously top 3 K-pop entertainment companies, SM Entertainment (in 1995), JYP Entertainment (in 1997), and YG Entertainment (in 1998) - all based in Seoul. These 3 companies have been dominating the K-pop entertainment market for the past 2 decades and are recognized by any and every person in South Korea and just any global K-pop fan. 

However interestingly enough, “Seo Taiji and the Boys” would not even be really considered the first K-pop group established. The place holder of that title would be “H.O.T”, which debuted in 1996. Their song “Candy” is a well-known hit that truly started what K-pop culture is today, and as you will see while watching their performance, how different it seems to be from the performance of “Seo Taiji and the Boys”.

It is more childlike, upbeat, and just overall light-hearted, giving off “pretty boy” vibes, while the former gave off more “bad boy” vibes. We can compare this to popular K-pop hits like “Gee” by SNSD, “Call Me Baby" by EXO, and “TT" by Twice. 

These 3 groups all debuted and made music in different years, and they are listed in chronological order from their debuts. So from watching these, it must be obvious that there is an apparent consistent pattern of an upbeat, energetic vibe to K-pop. Some distinctive features of K-pop are the rigorous and perfectly in-sync choreographies and the typically bright-colored, eye-catching outfits in their music videos and performances. Like I had also previously mentioned, there are designated roles in K-pop groups such as the rapper, the lead singer, the lead dancer, etc. 

Although I have been talking about the upbeat, bright, and cheerful side of K-pop that every fan would know and love, there is definitely a dark side to the K-pop scene as well. As it is well known, nothing is perfect. And although these K-pop groups are made to look perfect with their in-sync choreographies and lovely vocals all while giving a great big smile, there is an entirely toxic culture behind these performances. These K-pop stars are constantly on strict schedules practicing their performances for hours daily with very little free time for their friends and family, are on a strict diet constantly watching their weight, and they also have to face harsh scrutiny from the general public. This does a lot to their mental health, and in fact, K-pop artist Jonghyun from group SHINEE had committed suicide in 2017, and 2 famous female K-pop artists, Sulli from group F(x) and Goo Hara from KARA had also committed suicide in 2019 due to their mental health issues. 

A Korean culture critic, Kim Heon-Sik, commented on these issues saying, “Since then, people started perceiving those struggles, especially regarding mental pain from hate comments, as a real issue and vocalizing a public dialogue. Another factor is that the level of workload and stress that K-pop idols face today is much more intense than before. Now they have to entertain fans not only in Korea but all around the world. Due to the development of social media, there's even platforms that offer one-on-one chatroom services with idol stars. That's a large load of emotional labor.” These idols are put under a lot of pressure to maintain a certain image, which is specifically a happy friendly image, which can definitely be unnatural at times to constantly put on, because as humans our emotions simply do not work like that and we will have good days and bad days.

However I think that if we are put under constant surveillance and the slightest mistake can ruin your career, which constantly happens. For example, a female member, Jennie, from the K-pop group “BlackPink” was discovered to be dating a member, Kai from K-pop group “Exo”, and dating scandals are a big no-no to the general public, so this had a lot of backlash toward the two K-pop stars and definitely would not have benefited their mental health.  Thankfully, because this was a more recent scandal in 2019, the times have changed and the general public has seemed to become more understanding toward K-pop stars, as an article from Koreaboo (K-pop news website) states, "A lot of fans also expressed their concern about haters that could give Jennie and Kai a hard time." This is referring to the hate that some hardcore "fans" will display toward their K-pop idols for doing something out of their "image" and they lose members of their fanbase because of that, which is unfair because obviously, they are just people.

You may have heard of the artist name Rosalía a lot recently, as this certain artist rose to fame with hit songs, "Malamente", "Pienso en tu Mira", and "Con Altura" over the years. She is a Spanish-speaking artist that has been known for incorporating flamenco, a traditional Spanish art style based in folk music, with hip-hop influences. In March of 2022, she released her album “Motomami” (roughly meaning “biker chick” in English) which she described as a more personal album because it relates more to her personal life experiences. One of the tracks of this album relates to her experiences dealing with fame once she started becoming globally famous. This track is the one I will specifically be analyzing called “La Fama”, which translates to “The Fame”, also featuring Canadian pop singer The Weeknd singing fully in Spanish. 

“La Fama” is not the first collaboration between Rosalia and the Weeknd, as they have recorded the track “Blinding Lights” together before. However while “Blinding Lights” was an 80s-inspired electro-pop song, “La Fama” is a sultry unique fusion of bachata, electropop, and experimental elements. It was Rosalia’s very first attempt at using bachata in her music. She stated for Rolling Stones, “I wanted to write, in my own way, a bachata with a little story around ambition.”

Before I go on, I will first quickly explain that in bachata, it almost always has a sensual and rhythmic vibe to the track, and it creates sensual love songs with percussion and guitar instruments. I will be mentioning three main instruments in this track throughout my analysis. The first one is the bongó drums which maintain the tempo. The second is the güira, which is a Dominican percussion instrument consisting of a stiff brush brushing over a metal sheet that makes a rattling noise (kind of sounds like maracas to me). The third is a requinto, which is the lead guitar, a smaller version of a classical guitar. These instruments combined maintained the true essence of what makes bachata bachata and it was a wise decision for Rosalia to not mess around with that too much in my opinion. 

In the track, it immediately starts with some sort of electric guitar sounding instrument (but I'm not totally sure) repeating the same snippet for the rest of the entirety of the song at the same pace, following the most recognizable bachata introduction of percussion instrument güira rattling playing for only about 2 seconds to introduce the first verse. 

Next we hear Rosalia’s amazingly smooth vocals singing “Lo que paso” (What happened) in a very seductive way and the beat is dropped right after that part with bongo drums and a requinto playing very low notes as the bass. Then there is a slight pause and then the güira is rattled and that same electric guitar snippet could be heard and then The Weeknd comes in strong with the chorus and fluent Spanish vocals. Again, the electric guitar snippet is still being repeated but at the end of each of his verses of the chorus there is a small almost “woo-hoo” sound from an electric guitar(?) afterward. 

The pattern repeats for the whole chorus and when it ends, the güira is heard rattling again and there is a slightly longer pause with no music at all. Then The Weeknd sings the bridge part with “Lo que paso” (What happened) just like how Rosalia did in the intro and the same electric guitar snippet repeated but toward the end of the stanza right as he says “Puñala'itas da su ambición” (It stabs at your ambitions), the electric guitar pattern stops and replaced with the güira rattling. When he finishes singing, there is a slight pause of no music and then Rosalia comes in to sing the chorus this time with the electric guitar snippet accompanying her and the “woo hoo” electric guitar sound played after each verse again. This time, right after she sings “yo nunca le confiaré” (I will never trust her), the güira is played.

And right after she finishes the chorus, the whole song seems to slow down with the electric guitar snippet gone and slow long keyboard(?) notes are played in the background instead. Some faint background singers join in, kind of reminding me of a slow harmonious church choir, and then the pace picks up with the electric guitar snippet playing on repeat again and the background choir singing a little louder. The Weeknd joins in singing a bit but then the background choir sings a few more high pitch notes, fading into the background. This gives way for the electric guitar to gradually get louder again and The Weeknd sings the first half of the chorus and then Rosalia the last half, with the güira and the electric guitar “woo hoo” snippets accompanying them in the same previous fashion. The song ends right when Rosalia finishes singing, with no lingering music at all - simply an abrupt stop.

From listening to this track, I liked that the pauses weren't too long so I wasn't left in suspense for too long waiting for the beat to drop. I also think that the electric guitar really mixed well with the traditional bachata instruments like the güira and the bongos. I think there was a really natural flow to everything and I was able to listen to the lyrics clearly without being distracted. Also I think that Rosalia’s entire choice of featuring the Weeknd (whose first language is not Spanish) was great because honestly had I not known this fact about him, I doubt I would have been able to guess because of the fluency in his words. It doesn’t sound forced, and his voice really suits bachata, and kind of reminds me of Prince Royce's smooth voice, a well-known bachata artist, so I think this was a pleasant change from his usual pop and R&B style.

Now looking into the lyrics of “La Fama”, the track tells the tragic story of two lovers who choose fame over true love between them. However, on a deeper level, the lyrics can also be interpreted as fame being personified as one of the “lovers”. This can be seen in the chorus (translated in English):

“Fame is a bad lover and she’s not going to love you for real

She is too treacherous, and just as she comes, she leaves

She knows that she will be jealous, I will never trust her

If you want, sleep with her, but never marry her”

So Rosalia's track is referring to fame being a two-faced traitor. To your face, fame will shower you with love but it has an ugly side to it where it can’t truly be trusted and will ultimately betray you. Again, since this is a tragic love song, bachata was just the perfect choice with the güira to emphasize the certain heartbreaking verses and the classic bongos and requinto to add the sensual touch.

However, one critique I have heard about Rosalia regarding this track is that Rosalia is “trying” to be Latina by using bachata music, since bachata is Dominican (so Latin) and she has also previously worked with other Latin artists, such as J Balvin and Ozuna. Rosalia is of Spanish nationality, so she is European, not Latina. It may be confusing since both people of Spain and Latin America speak Spanish, and Rosalia speaks Spanish, but this is purely due to the fact that Spain colonized Latin America so the subject is definitely sensitive to many people and many would be offended by a Spaniard trying to appropriate themself to be Latino/a.

Also, when Rosalia dropped a sneak peek of the track along with her own small bachata dance on Tiktok, it unfortunately happened to be on October 12, the National Day of Spain.  

@rosalia♬ sonido original - La Rosalia

This is the tiktok video of Rosalia's sneak peek of "La Fama" featuring her dancing bachata and lip-syncing to the track, posted on October 12, which rubbed people the wrong way, including strong Rosalia fans.

This is the tiktok video of Rosalia's sneak peek of "La Fama" featuring her dancing bachata and lip-syncing to the track, posted on October 12.

This is a tweet referring to Rosalia's sneak peek of La Fama on Tiktok and basically saying that all the Latinos will be fighting her if she mainly focuses her "Motomami" album on bachata music.

Personally, although I am not Latina myself, I wouldn't consider what Rosalia did to be “cultural appropriation” because she seems to be well educated on the origins of bachata and respectful of it. She had said herself that she was inspired by one of the first founders of bachata, Romeo Santos, and he had even reached out to her while she started working on this track and helped her out by sending her an extensive playlist. Rosalia also commented, “Taking as a reference the lyrics of Ruben Blades or Patti Smith and the songs of Aventura, I ended up writing a story of romance with fame.” Aventura is a very famous bachata group and Ruben Blades is a famous Latino artist as well. 

If I were to pick a playlist that I resonated with most last year in 2021, it would have to be Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album “SOUR”. Her album is nothing but filled with depressing and melancholic songs, but I believe that so many people, if not everyone, can relate to her music at one point in their lives. To get a little more personal, I remember when this album first was released and I wasn’t very much interested in Olivia Rodrigo and her new music. I had only heard about her through High School Musical: The Series since she was the lead actress but other than that I wasn’t interested. However, a few months later I wasn’t in the greatest place mentally because I had gone through a really bad break up of a toxic relationship. One of her songs on this album popped up on my recommended queue of music, and eventually I explored the rest and it became my go-to “sad girl playlist”. 

The first song I chose for this playlist was “traitor”. This was the first non-main stream song I heard from this album and was the one that first piqued my attention to check out the rest of the tracklist. It talks about the perspective of a girl who felt betrayed by her ex because he started dating the girl that “he told her not to worry about” while they were dating right after they broke up. Therefore she is calling him a “traitor” for not being genuine with her. I especially love the part of the song where Olivia says,

“God I wish that you had thought this through

Before I went and fell in love with you”

I think that a lot of girls (and boys) can relate to this emotion of heartbreak from their own personal relationships. This song focuses on the raw emotion of heartbreak and I always imagine screaming that verse with full emotion and tears as therapy.

The next song I chose for this playlist is “favorite crime” because this reflects on a past relationship where the ex used and took advantage of her but she still loves and cares for him, so this is her perspective. For example, looking at these lyrics:

“You used me as an alibi

I crossed my heart as you crossed the line

And I defended you to all my friends

And now every time a siren sounds

I wonder if you’re around”

I think this is very relatable to those in toxic relationships because your friends and family will warn you about your partner and tell you to break up with him but you would defend him and make excuses for him, even if it’s hurting you. And I liked the analogy to the siren sounds because it is implying that police cars are chasing after the ex since he is a criminal for “breaking her heart” and probably doing other bad crimes.

The third song is “enough for you”. This song is about the perspective of the girl opening up about how much effort she had put in to try to impress and please her boyfriend but she was never “enough for him” and he left her for another girl. My favorite part of this song is:

“But don’t tell me you’re sorry, boy

Feel sorry for yourself

‘Cause someday I’ll be everything to somebody else”

This entire song is obviously heartbreaking but I like that small glimmer of hope implied in this stanza, which although the thought of being with someone new feels awful at the time, sometimes we just know deep down that we deserve better than how we are being treated. And that all of these bad experiences from this toxic relationship will just turn into past memories that we can look back on and learn from. I like that Rodrigo has this in her song to plant into other girls’ minds who are in toxic relationships because it is truly hard to leave relationships like those because of the emotional attachment, but it’s a gradual slow process.

The fourth song is “happier” and this is also about a girl talking about her ex who had already moved on 1 month post-break up with a new girl - similar to the message in “traitor”. However this song is more focused on the attachment issues in her. Looking at the main chorus of the song:

“Oh, I hope you’re happy

But not like how you were with me

I’m selfish, I know, I can’t let you go

So find someone great, but don’t find no one better”

Again, this song is relatable in the aspect that she has probably somewhat accepted that they have broken up, but she can’t stand the idea of her ex being genuinely happier than how he was with her. It’s her selfishness that wants him to constantly think of her and regret the break up, rather than wish for him to move on from the past. Attachment issues in relationships don’t want our exes to truly remain as exes, but the mature thing to do is to find peace with this. However this song expresses that selfish immature feeling of not wanting to let go of our exes.

The last song I chose for this playlist is “1 step forward, 3 steps back” and I wanted to save this song for last because it holds a lot of meaning to me. I remember this song was the last song I listened to on the album and when I first listened to it in the background while studying, I didn’t think much of it and didn’t think I would listen to it a lot in the future. However, the second time I listened to it, I was also reading the lyrics to it on Spotify, and these specific lines hit me hard:

“I’m the love of your life until I make you mad

It’s always one step forward and three steps back”

This is honestly because up until that point that I had read and understood those lyrics, I was in denial of being in a toxic relationship. But just reading those lines made me realize that they perfectly describe how my relationship was. In fact, the entire song did, but I related to these lyrics because I didn’t realize that such unpredictability of emotions from your partner and lack of positive change in the relationship was the definition of toxic. It was like this song was finally telling me what the definition of toxic was and how it feels, and if I could relate to it, then that was my wake up call. And this entire album really was my wake up call. It helped me get through a lot emotionally and mentally and became my music therapy.

One random day in August 2022, I was at my job with my coworker who was on the same shift as me, and I was complaining to him about how I had never been to a basement show and I wanted to go to one before the summer was over. He told me that his band holds basement shows and I should definitely watch one of his. I agreed and told him to let me know about his next show, which ended up being on a Friday night, August 12. I wasn’t sure at all what to expect since it was my first basement show ever, and he had only vaguely told me about his band and his bandmates before, so I did not even have much to go off of. In fact, I didn't even know the name of his band until he had told me that his show was on August 12. 

The name of the band is Guesstimate and the name of my coworker is Taylor. He is the trumpet, flute, and keyboard player of the band. The rest of the members are Andrew, who is the drummer, Chris is their guitar player, and Bobby is the bass player and vocals. Unfortunately, Bobby was injured that night so I was not able to see him perform, but the show still went on. Their type of music is progressive rock and fusion jazz with psychedelic influence, which is very different to the pop and R&B type of music I normally listen to. However, this by no means did not mean that their music was not worthy of listening to. 

My good friend came along with me and we both arrived at Taylor’s house, right off of Rutgers campus where the show was held and walked around to the backyard. We were greeted by band member Andrew, who was really friendly, and he took our $5 admission fees and led us down a steep stairwell into their basement. The basement was very clean, which apparently is extremely rare for basement shows, according to my experienced friend that came along with me. It was so well maintained that there was no dirt on the floors to be seen. Guesstimate was one of the last acts in the show, so when I arrived, the opening act, Curly, was performing. 

Curly was a solo performer, who was singing acoustic songs/covers with his guitar and ukulele. He seemed to be more new to the music industry with a still small and growing presence as he did not have a large audience. There were about 10-15 people, mostly older adults past college age, who were just standing around and not doing much while listening to his music performance. To be quite frank, the audience was dead and it felt awkward just standing there with no one else vibing or dancing or even moving around. This performer also attempted to do some kind of interaction with the audience by throwing his stuffed bunny doll around to each person in the audience without it falling to the ground but that was not much of a success. I believe he was trying to get the audience to interact more and hype them up, but it was as they say, a "tough crowd". Although I see flaws in my experience with Curly's performance, I do think that he was still pretty talented in his acoustic music and it was enjoyable to listen to. 

Once it was Guesstimate’s turn to play, the audience grew a bit more, probably to around 20-25 people, and it was definitely a lot more lively. There were more people vibing to the music and actually moving around, making the experience a lot more enjoyable. Guesstimate performed their tracklist of their album, Fortune Hunters, which is linked below.

Their music was almost entirely instrumental, with little to no words, as lyrics do not seem to be the focus. Their instruments, the trumpet, the keys, the drums, and the guitar, are the focus of their music. I liked that all of these instruments complimented one another and still created a listening experience just as enjoyable as concerts with songs that did have lyrics. My favorite songs were Saturday and Three Amigos, because they were upbeat songs that were easy to dance to. I also enjoyed Taylor's Delay, which centered on Taylor's trumpet performance, as hinted by the title. Not only did I enjoy seeing Taylor play the trumpet live in person, but I also saw that he would switch and play the keyboard within seconds too, so it was fascinating to see him playing two instruments at the same time.

This is a small bit of Taylor's trumpet performance in the song "Taylor's Delay", including personal commentaries from my friend and I.

Ariana Grande, now recognized all over America and even globally, was first only recognized as “Cat Valentine” from the popular Nickelodeon TV show, “Victorious”. Ariana Grande acted as the character Cat Valentine, who was a ditzy yet adorable side character on the show. She had several singing performances on the show, but it can easily be said that her potential was not anywhere close to fulfilled at the time.

However, Grande's main obstacle was not being taken seriously as a music artist and only viewed as  Nickelodeon character “Cat”. Grande did overcome this issue once she signed with a record label. One can even say it was in a similar way to how Miley Cyrus broke away from her childhood Disney persona of “Hannah Montana” through her own music career launch with promiscuous music videos “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball”. Although Grande did not bombard the world with controversial “adult” songs and music videos like how Cyrus did, Grande created her new persona as “Ariana Grande the music artist” by first proving her vocal talent and then gradually shifting away from the “innocent childhood” persona through her subsequent albums.

Grande launched her music career with her debut album “Yours Truly”, which had a retro 90s R&B style encompassed in an innocent and refined way, still maintaining her young teenage persona, as the entire tracklist consisted of love songs, specifically a young girl in love. However the purpose of this debut album was to not drastically change Grande’s persona already, but to showcase her amazing vocal range. Looking at the track “Baby I”, the song has a 90s R&B vibe and bubbly lyrics and the music video is simple and innocent with Grande dancing on the street in a top and shorts, but her impressive vocal performance in the song can easily be compared to that of Mariah Carey.

Although this blog post has been highlighting that Grande has been maintaining an innocent persona throughout the debut album, its lead single “The Way”, which actually reached Top 10 on the charts, did show a subtle maturity to Grande. The featuring artist in the track, Mac Miller was her boyfriend at the time, and so the lyrics of the song implied they had a more “mature relationship” than what was shown to the public. Taking a look at some of Mac Miller's verses talking about Grande:

"I make you feel so fine, make you feel so fine

I hope you hit me on my celly when I sneak in your mind

You a princess to the public, but a freak when it's time

Said your bed be feeling lonely

So you're sleeping in mine"

This is a subtle transition for Grande out of her TV character as Cat Valentine because the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” was aimed for a young adolescent audience, therefore relationships were kept PG and the most that was shown was on-screen kissing. Not to mention, Cat Valentine was also portrayed as an innocent young girl herself, so it would have been a surprise to the world to see her in a sexual way. This can be compared to how the public reacted to Vanessa Hudgens’ scandal of her leaked nudes to her boyfriend at the time, Zac Efron, as they were both co-stars of the popular Disney movie series, High School Musical. The world was shocked that the “innocent Disney actress” would be doing something sexually active and that shattered their innocent image of her and it even negatively impacted her by almost losing her role in the movie series. I believe that to avoid the possibility of her career failing due to this, Ariana Grande kept it safe by making the changes subtle to not “shock” her listeners.

However, with Grande keeping it safe, my one critique with the album “Yours Truly” is that it was a little “too innocent”. Each song was so innocent and bubbly that there didn’t feel like much variety, as they were all predictable love songs, which gets boring after a while. This can make the album seem a little “bland” since it doesn’t take many risks with lyrics/message or tone. One commenter from another blog review on the album “Yours Truly” stated that “Ariana's problem is that she has no musical identity. There wasn't a flat out bad song (besides Popular Song) on the album, but they all did sound very samey. I think the problem here is that she is trying to emulate 90's R&B too much, down to the formulaic vocals that Mariah popularized with it.” With this album alone, Grande did not have a surprising or eye-catching entrance into the music industry, as she solely relied on her vocal talents, which although very impressive, just simply not something new in the music world with many other preceding amazing female artists, such as Mariah Carey.

R&B artist Summer Walker's album "Still Over It" is an album that a lot of women who have been through messy toxic relationships can relate to. The artist herself is throwing some serious shade at the man from her own personal relationship of 2 years. This man, London on Da Track, was not only her boyfriend, but also her music producer, and the father of her child. After listening to this album myself, I feel that it consists of the various emotions in the process of undergoing and accepting a bad breakup. It consisted of deep anguish about her sadness, but also contempt and insults toward her ex, and also motivating short speeches and prayers for healing and self-love.

I enjoyed Summer Walker's vocals in this album as well as the message she was trying to send to her listeners, specifically for the women who have been or are currently in similar positions she was in. I thought that it was a nice touch that Summer Walker included features from other women to give empowering messages, such as Cardi B and Ciara.

The main element of Walker's album is conveying sadness, of course, as that is the strongest and rawest emotion during the entirety of a toxic relationship, from the start of the toxicity lasting until even long after the relationship has ended. Summer dedicated several songs with a melancholic slow tone to describe these emotions.

For example, looking at the lyrics from her song, "Broken Promises" they describe Walker's pain in her partner's betrayal and lies toward her.

I just don't know how I can take it 'Cause my heart is breakin' I've been mistaken You're not the man I thought you were And they tried to warn me Yeah, they tried to warn me, me (warn me)

These lyrics clearly describe the heartbreak that Walker is feeling because of London, and they show her realization of her friends and family having "warned her" about him, and her ignoring them and choosing him instead. In fact, Walker has talked about this and once again, sent a message to her listeners out there in an interview: “Take this opportunity to learn from my mistakes. You don’t have to guess if something is love. Love is shown through actions. Stop making excuses for people who don’t show up for you. Don’t ignore the red flags. And don’t think you have to stay somewhere ’cause you can’t find better—you can and you will. Don’t settle for less—you don’t deserve it and neither does your family.”

Another emotion that Walker conveys is contempt toward her ex, which is another strong emotion after being the victim in a relationship. Looking at the lyrics from another song in the track, "4th Baby Mama", Walker opens the song with more of an offensive stance toward London.

I wanna start with yo' mama, she should've whooped yo' a** Know you ain't sh*t, but she don't care 'cause you lit

This was definitely an entertaining way to embarrass London for his mistreatment, and the viral memes demonstrated her success in doing so. I think the frustration expressed in this song is something a lot of her listeners can relate to feeling, including wanting to insult their partner's mothers for the way they raised them.

However something that I saw a bit off with this album track was the inclusion of the song "Ex For a Reason" because the message behind it did not fit in with the rest of messages from the other songs in the track. It was released as a single, but interestingly enough, it is also still offically a part of the album which to me does not seem to belong there. This is because "Ex For a Reason" is an upbeat song talking about how the speaker is comparing herself to her partner's ex and insulting her.

Looking at the chorus of the song, the lyrics say:

That b*tch your ex (your ex), for a reason though (reason though) Try me, trespass Guaranteed to beat yo' a** (oh, oh) That b*tch your ex (your ex), for a reason though (reason though) It's too much for her heart to take I give no f*cks 'bout what she gotta say (no, woah)

Although this song is very catchy in my opinion and a nice change of pace from the flood of slow depressing songs in the rest of the album, the lyrics simply leave me confused after hearing the messages about a toxic relationship from the other songs. In these lyrics, Walker is clearly putting down her boyfriend's ex by calling her a "b*tch" and even threatening to beat her up. This is ironic to me because it seems like Walker would be the toxic partner here, yet her album is calling out her ex London for being toxic. Therefore, although it is a great song, I felt that its placement in this album may not have been fitting.