Wide Awake

For the past 24 hours, I’ve been in a haze.

This morning, I finished packing my bags and left the prestigious summer program I’ve attended for the past month. Now, at 11:04 PM, I’m sitting in my seat at home, still unable to comprehend my urge to cry and my inability to actually do so.

The last 28 days have been the best of my life.

“Dirty Dancer” – Why Enrique Iglesias, Why?

Even his hotness can't hide his lackluster songs... (image via hdmusicvids.com)

I think I’ve lost my respect for Enrique Iglesias.

As I posted in my thoughts on his song “Tonight”, Iglesias used to produce such great songs. Who can forget this?

Something went terribly wrong. Ten years later, he’s resorting to saturating his songs with sex to appeal to the mainstream music crowd. I’m not a pop music aficionado, but at least I think that’s what he’s attempting to do – otherwise, why would he bring himself down to that level when he has the potential to do so much more?

“Dirty Dancer” is, well, dirty. The lyrics can be summarized as him singing about a dancer (see, stripper) who really wants “it”. I know, such deep and meaningful stuff. I suppose that the song itself can be catchy, as I’ve had friends and acquaintances who have gotten the song stuck in their heads, but I can’t bring myself to like it at all.

Hey, it’s just pop music, right? Who cares as long as this is confined to the clubs?

If that was the case and “Dirty Dancer” was restricted from being aired on the radio, I wouldn’t mind it as much. However, the other day my nine-year-old cousin heard this song and started singing along. Thank goodness she didn’t understand what she was saying. Unfortunately, there are pre-teens who can grasp what a “dirty dancer” is or use Google to find out. That isn’t that bad because they’re going to find out about those things when they’re older anyway, right?

Wrong. My main issue with “Dirty Dancer” is the way Enrique Iglesias presents women within the context of the lyrics and the video. He makes it seem like they’re crazed sex fiends when they’re really not – he’s just imagining them to be that way, or utilizing them in that sense for his music video. Essentially, it’s demoralizing to the female gender and that type of message should not be allowed to influence people.

I can see the slight double standard here. Why can Katy Perry and Rihanna include sexual themes in their music but not Enrique Iglesias? Isn’t that sexist in itself?

Not really, because while Katy Perry and Rihanna are singing about melting popsicles and S&M, Iglesias is doing more than that – he’s undermining women and beguiling people to believe that they can be taken advantage of. Which is clearly incorrect.

He's not doing much in the video besides sitting around and acting amused... I've seen better.

Oh, here’s the link to the video. It’s extraordinarily explicit. You’ve been warned.

What are your thoughts on “Dirty Dancer” and the degradation of Enrique Iglesias? Or do you think what he’s doing is just fine?

Kanye Ruins Katy Perry’s Song “E.T.”

I listened to this song around the time “Firework” was becoming popular, when Kanye West wasn’t featured yet. I thought it was pretty good – strange, surreal, seductive. The idea behind it is original and captivating, though I can see why it’s creepy to some. It also wasn’t overtly sexual, a big plus when songs like “S&M” by Rihanna and “Tonight” by Enrique Iglesias have been climbing the charts.

Here’s the video:

I had mixed reactions after viewing the video. I liked it because the song actually warranted weirdness – I mean, how can you make a ‘normal’ video about aliens? Hm. But the parts with Kanye West killed it. He doesn’t add anything to the song or the video. Here’s some of his rap:

“Cop a Prada spacesuit about the stars
Getting stupid a** straight out the jar
Pockets on Shrek, Rockets on deck
Tell me what’s next, alien s**
I’ma disrobe you, than I’mma probe you
See I abducted you, so I tell ya what to do
I tell ya what to do, what to do, what to do.”

Wow, talk about completely unnecessary. The song was going so well until West had to include direct sexual profanity. It detracted from the mythical, mesmerizing appeal of “E.T.”, making it all too similar to songs about sex, bars, etc. Also, in the video, he just stands (revolves?) there and, well, raps. Boring…

Overall, not a bad song from Katy Perry, minus the parts with Kanye West. His pretentious lyrics pain me to the point where I have to skip over sections of the song while watching the video or while listening to it on the radio.

What do you think of “E.T.”? Do you think Kanye’s rap contributes anything to the song?