I can’t front: I’m really stuck trying to find something to write about. I’ve been wracking my brain for over an hour trying to think of something music-related to post. I’d sworn that I had some ideas of things to write about this week, but I guess none of them stuck, or had the legs to build an actual column around.
So I’ve decided to just write about the random thoughts relating to music that I had this week. But be warned both 50 Cent and Sufjan Stevens will be making appearances…
50’s Folly
I sort of feel sad for 50 Cent and his precipitous fall from relevancy. His new album, Before I Self Destruct, isn’t doing too well. In fact, given his history the new album is a downright flop.
And despite the fact that I feel he’s a clown with few redeeming qualities, I still feel bad for the guy. Sure, he’s a pompous jackass who has never missed an opportunity to kick someone while they were down, but he has been pretty invulnerable, sales-wise. 50 has proven that he’s a canny businessman who knows how to cater to his fans, and there was no taking that from him.
His mixtape hustle was bar-none and he knew how to market. But I’ve never seen anyone fall off quite as rapidly as 50 has. It’s sobering and a bit entertaining.
Sufjan Jumps the Shark
In the latest issue of Paste magazine, indie darling Sufjan Stevens told an interviewer that he was no longer interested in the type of songwriting on display in his critically acclaimed Illinois (which Paste crowned their best album of the decade).
I dig Sufjan. I think that he’s supremely talented and gifted. But he’s coming off as insufferably pretentious right now. I’m a big enough fan of his that I’ll probably follow him regardless of what he does; I picked up The BQE and I really enjoyed it, but I do think that his comments in that interview will more than likely turn off some of his fans, most of whom were probably introduced to him via Illinois.
I can empathize with wanting to flex your creative muscles. I understand being stifled by a nearly universally praised masterpiece. But I don’t understand shutting doors of creativity. Sufjan saying that he was backing off of his fifty-state project is completely understandable, but his rejecting of the notion of an album comes off as absurd.
And it’s off-puting. Sufjan seemed like such a cool laid-back dude before, and now he comes off as this horrible cliché of an artist.
Boo.
Mr. Lonely
This week I realized that I’m kind of bummed out by my coworkers. They’re cool people and good people too, but I can’t share music with them. And I love to share music. As regular readers know, it’s one of my joys.
Maybe it’s because, as time passes, we get more set in our ways, but it seems to me that basically everyone that I work with is locked into their own genre. There are a couple guys who live for metal. There are a couple gals who love country. And unfortunately there are a couple people who seem to believe that Lil Wayne and Drake walk on water.
My point is that there’s really no one that I could make a mix-CD for. I like sharing music and opening people’s ears to a new artist, but I can’t do that were I am. I don’t have an outlet for my musical passions.
I mean, other than this column.
And so that’s pretty much it for this week. Hopefully I’ll have something to write about next week. It’s just that it’s tough because I want to gush about some things, but since I’ll be doing my “Best of 2009” pretty soon, I don’t wait to be boring or a rehash.
Anyway, I’ll work on making next week better.
