pop songs can be good for the soul

i love my jenny lewis and my arcade fire but sometimes i just like the POP. ya know, the kind of music you sing really loud to in your car on the way home from work when you've had a hard day and you just want to yell. (i may or may not have yelled along to my chemical romance's "it's not okay" one or two times on the way home from my old work where i was a secretary in a financial advisor's office...)

they're also the kind of songs you dance to alone in your house - i find that beyonce's "single ladies" is an excellent song to dance like an idiot to in front of your baby while they're in their high chair.

and although they're not in the mainstream pop arena, sometimes "that's not my name" by the ting tings is the best choice for dancing like a crazy person in front of your tiny helpless audience.

my latest pop addiction is lady gaga. i just spent the last couple days looking up pretty much all of her youtube videos. it's so sad, i know. she's just a pop singer but i LOVE her craziness: the makeup, the costumes, the performances. and i know she's definitely not some people's cup of tea and she's not my favorite singer, but you can just tell she knows EXACTLY what she's doing. dancing + crazy costumes + multiple catchy hooks per song + hype + rumors + crazy videos...there's definitely a formula to becoming a famous pop star and she's got it down pat. and i don't think she'll have a britney-esque breakdown from the fame and the pressure because she's not growing up in the biz and she won't go through the awkward wholesome to scandelous transition - she's already there. and i think she feeds off the fame and media and she'll just get more crazy and more fantastic.

i love her entertainment value, or her showmanship, or whatever you call it when she's performing. bascially, i just love it anytime when singers aren't boring. and, i really do think she's talented. she was a songwriter for the pussycat dolls and other pop people before she wrote songs for herself. she's a classically trained piano player and i think she's got a pretty good voice, pretty sassy.

anyways, i appreciate the fluff music because it's kind of escapist...but i wouldn't go so far as to say i like miley cyrus. that's just going too far.