MIXED MESSAGES IN MODERN SONGS

     At work, we get to hear various channels on the MUZAK service the store subscribes to. We recently got a new box so we were finally able to get it off of FM1, a good LiteFM-like channel, but three years in a row of it got exhausting. When it's on HITLINE, I get to get a taste of the current popular songs.

     I don't listen to music radio much anymore. It's not a hatred of music or anything. I just spend too much of my time listening to the Opie & Anthony Show on Sirius/XM and have little time to expand my musical horizons. That's what work is for now. MUZAK, despite its association with elevator music (which it does play), actually plays a decent variety of songs for its dozens of provided stations. It really puts any radio station to shame.

     Of the modern songs, though, several catch my attention negatively for various reasons. It's not an "I hate all new music 'cuz it's new" type thing. I find Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" to be catchy as I do with Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA". Several Lady Gaga songs have grown on me as well. Since I have a lot of down-time at my job, I can listen to these songs both musically and for their lyrics.

     Currently I hate "According to Him" by Orianthi. It's just one of those songs that at first sounds very girl-powery. I'm fine with that. That's cool. It was only after I started listening to it that it struck me just how anti-girlpower this song actually is.

     First of all, she's singing to the wrong person. She sings that, "According to you, I'm stupid, I'm useless, I can't do anything right" and continues on in that vein until the chorus which changes from the 2nd person object to the third: "But according to him, I'm beautiful, incredible, he can't get me out of his head." She names numerous other qualities before concluding the chorus with "He's into me for everything I'm not...according to you."

     Okay, so far the song comes across as a "fuck you to my ex" type variety. That's fine. We've all heard our share of revenge songs but this one strikes me as particularly stupid. Why is she singing to her ex? More importantly, why does she feel the need to sing to her ex in the first place because that's who she's talking to. It's not the new guy. If it were, the you's and he's would be switched.

     There's also this nagging sense throughout the song that Orianthi has no value for herself instead relying upon the opinions of and seeking validation from others, specifically her current lover and her ex. But she makes up for it because by the end of the song we learn that "According to me, you're stupid, you're useless, you can't do anything right". That'll show him! Yeah! She's turning his words against him now. Wordplay! BOO-yah! Orianthi does have thoughts of her own... Awesome!

     Orianthi is not out of the woods as just a verse or two earlier, she again reveals that she is clearly not over her ex when singing, "Why can't you see me through his eyes? It's too bad you're making me decide." What the fuck? She wants her ex to have these qualities rather than have a new boyfriend who has them. It's sickening.

     And to top it all off, the music of the song is this over-the-top heavy metal sound which doesn't jibe with the way she's singing. The music is more powerful than her voice so there's this disconnect. Plus it feels forced. Rather than making her lyrics sound even more powerful, the music makes them sound more like a bad joke. The whole song is a joke as far as I'm concerned and I'm embarrassed that I will be linking it here offering Orianthi another page view from my reader.

     Orianthi's "According to Him" is simply a bad song that makes a mockery of the notion of girl-power. If that was her plan all along, then BRA-vo.