“Safe and Sound” by Taylor Swift, “Give Me All Your Luvin'” by Madonna, and “Glad You Came” by The Wanted

Here are my thoughts on some recently-released pop songs. Feel free to comment on whether you agree or disagree with my views, or if you have anything else to add!

1. “Safe and Sound” by Taylor Swift: I described this song in an earlier post about Taylor Swift as “emotional, haunting, and memorable.” The video validates this critique of the song, as it adds another layer of complexity to what is a pretty clear song. There’s an air of eeriness and uncertainty as Swift progresses through the video – the setting evokes a chilly and uncomfortable (in a good way) feel, and it’s powerful in its simplicity. Swift appears striking despite not wearing any makeup and plays the part of a ghostly, pure young adult well.

In an interview Swift stated that they shot the video in a cemetery, the grave site of a couple who died in the nineteenth century. And here she is, sitting on a gravestone...

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Time to Laud Taylor Swift (thoughts on “Enchanted”, “Mean”, and “Safe and Sound”)

So I’ve been planning to write a post in defense of pop music, but after watching Rihanna’s uncomfortable music video and this gaudy music video from LMFAO, I’m not sure I can anytime soon. I like “You Da One” despite my inner grammar freak’s distaste towards its title (“it should be “You’re the One”! “You’re the One!”), but it would’ve been nice not to have been constantly exposed to Rihanna’s crotch-thrusting. As for “Sexy and I Know It”, I’m capable of comprehending why the song is catchy (its beat), but the plain raunchiness of it perturbs me. I’m glad Youtube added the age block to it, because I was scarred after seeing the first minute of that video – I don’t recommend you watch it unless you want some serious sexuality displayed on your computer screen.

How does this lead me to Taylor Swift? I’ve already sung her praises (get it? she’s a singer? anyway) in this post, but due to my lack of commentary on pop music lately, I’ve decided to publish some mini-reviews/thoughts on her latest work. I’m not her hugest fan, but I respect how she keeps her work clean yet still catchy and relatable. Not that I have anything against slightly sexual music, but there are limits – limits that were clearly broken in LMFAO’s most recent video.