Not Worth the Wait

One thing that has always bugged me about ADELE was that she never did anything to stay relevant while taking time to raise her son. Her social media presence was nonexistent, she didn’t do any covers or charity concerts, no major appearances. While I think it’s great she was able to lie low, I feel disrespected as a fan. We’re great when she wants to make money for her art but otherwise, whatever.

I do like that she didn’t do the insane amount of media hype for her new music. We found out she had a new song when the video debuted and we could download it. It wasn’t like Katy Perry doing very dramatic stunts to hype her singles and albums. There it was. Because Adele is incredibly talented, we all accepted it.

Adele said the reason she waited so long to do anything was because she was afraid of making a lackluster product. Unfortunately, I think that’s exactly what she did. There was one song on her album that instantly grabbed me like ‘Turning Tables’ and ‘One and Only.’ River Lea was not good enough to make up for a prolonged absence and an underwhelming record.

Am I saying it’s not good? No. It’s a good record. I don’t think any song on it is bad. But 21 set such a high bar that anything less is disappointing. It’s good and will probably grow on me with more plays but on the first couple of listens, 25 can’t hold a candle to 21. You can’t follow up phenomenal with something that’s just good.

May Shopfessions

Kickstarter
Little Free Library Kickstarter - $44
Rain of the Ghosts Audioplay - $25
Amber Skye EP - $10
MAE Graphic Novel - $50
Broken Frontier - $40

Books
BN - $13.70
BN -$31
Politics and Prose - $45

Clothes
Ruth Badass Ginsburg - $26.59

MISC
Nightwish album - $11.99
Inside Amy Schumer MakeUp song - $1.29
Portal 2: The (Unauthorized) Musical - $5.04

Refunds/Returns
Hot Topic + $42.59
Sold Books + $25.88

I have learned I'm just as dangerous on Kickstarter as I am on other retail sites. Kickstarter has the added bonus of helping a cause or some cool media that might not otherwise exist. I wasn't sure if all of them would get funded but everything came through at the end.

The RBG was an oatmeal unisex tank that was on sale and the last tank top I'll need for summer. After RBG's glorious showdown about gay marriage, I wanted to represent. I'm waiting until I have income again before I get a Notorious RBG shirt.

One of my 2 BN runs were with a gift card and a coupon but it still wasn't great. I felt bad enough that I wound up returning one of the books. Progress? Politics and Prose was from a night with Neil Gaiman. I paid full price for Trigger Warning and Ocean at the End of the Lane but they were autographed. I regret nothing.

My friend got me tickets for the Nightwish concert and they're touring this album. I tried to hold out to get it with Viggle points but they hadn't stocked it in the store after a month so I caved and bought it. The worst part of it was that I got food poisoning and couldn't go to the concert. BF filmed over 30 minutes of footage so I didn't totally miss out.

As for getting money back, I got a Hot Topic return processed (finally) and got a check from selling some of my books. However, there was a con at the end of this month. Inevitably, I did some damage.

Awesome Con Haul
Zorphbert & Fred - $30
Never Have I Ever card game - $25
How to Train Your Dragqueen - $22
Don't Blink Tank - $20
Curls comic - $15
The Shadow of the Gauntlet by Casey Caracciolo - $15
Live Long and Suck It tee - $15
Pirate Eye - $10
Partholon by D. Krauss - $10

Baron Syndicate - $5

Total: $167

I had a cash budget of $120-130. I didn't keep exact track but my plan as to stop shopping when I ran out of cash. This worked reasonably well until I saw Never Have I Ever the card game. I wound up combining my gift budget with my personal fun budget and gave myself some wiggle room on my credit card.

I didn't need any of the shirts but they made me smile. When vendors remember you, it definitely motivates you to spend money. I am astonished by how many vendors remember me. D. Krauss saw me when I was getting worn out and let me chill at his booth for a while. I gave him some banana chips and we talked about dogs.

This brings my grand total of unnecessary spending to $402.14. Ouch. And I just got the wireless bill and my COBRA bills. This is less than ideal timing. I really need money. I've got to hit up that vendor who wanted a pair of my earrings.

Final Shopfession of February

I'm closing out February with a Shopfession. I will maintain, if I can get it for free, it doesn't count. I got a reading of Macbeth by a theater troupe with Viggle points so I don't count that.

I splurged a little on music with $3 to finish out an album after a gift card and spending $13 on an album on bandcamp. The bands were Raining Jane (discovered on Dear Sugar), The Vespers, and Fault Lines (discovered on Welcome to Night Vale). Fault Lines is a small time indy band out of Portland and bandcamp is better about places like iTunes about more money going to the artist (as far as I've heard). 

Other than some tunes, I was doing pretty good until I started poking around on ModCloth. I need to get that blocker back on because they had a shirt in stock that I had on my wish list. It said 'Be Nice or Go Away.' If anyone can pull off a shirt like that, it's me. To follow it up I added a fox shirt that I should be able to get away with at work.

If the fit isn't perfect, I'll return them for a store credit. They have enough stuff that I can find something that will work for me and save me on shipping. I'm really hoping these shirts work obviously.

Do Girl Scout cookies count? I had a crappy day to end a stressful week and they were right outside Metro. 

Can I blame The Boy? He was totally inferior of the shirts and appreciated the cookies. I'm going to go turn that website blocker back on.

Music: Love Is a Battlefield by Raining Janes

Shopfession: Feminist Comedy and Work Wardrobe

I have another shopfession. I needed more plain tees to wear to work so I picked one up in royal blue for $9 at Target. It's simple and practical.

I also bought the album of a feminist comic for $9.99 on iTunes. Liz Miele got a lot of attention recently for her bit about feminist sex positions that is definitely worth a watch/listen. I would have downloaded it from her website or Bandcamp but it was only on iTunes or Amazon.

I've been checking out Beck post-Kanye idiocy and he's got that sound I expect would accompany me in the indie movie that would be my life. Other groups I've thought would fit this bill are Now, Now and The Joy Formidable. Maybe a little Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs.

Honestly, before Kanye decided to prove he's an egotistical man-child again, the only thing I knew about Beck was that he had a really cool music video back when MTV and VH1 used to air those. I know I like one song. I don't count this album as part of my shopfession since I 'bought' it with Viggle points.

The big shopfession I have is two dresses I got from eshakti. They make great clothes, I was bored, and everything on the website was 30% off. I got one jersey shirtdress for $56 plus $7 for customizing the sleeves in addition to this red and black color block dress for $46 plus $7 for nixing the sleeves.

The color block dress is what started this. It reminded me of Deadpool and I could wear it to work. If I 86 the sleeves it will be easier to rock them in the summer and I've got all sorts of shrugs and cardigans. While both dresses are practical, it definitely does remind why I use website blockers. I considered asking for them for by birthday but I figured if I want to embrace consumerism, I should pay for it.

I really suck at this not buying stuff thing.

Current Music: Think I'm in Love by Beck

New Music: Title

My new album for January was Meghan Trainor’s Title. After her fantastic songs All about that Bass, Title, Dear Future Husband, and Your Lips Are Movin, I was really stoked for her album. Unfortunately, the best has already been heard.

Mr. Almost and Walkashame were fun (although I got sick of hearing her say her daddy knows she’s a good girl) but most of the other songs are forgettable. Overall it’s fun but all of her best stuff dropped before the album did. Plus Trainor has a repetitive style of song with a strong consistency of her ‘retro made new’ sound made the album feel redundant at times.

Title is an album for the digital age. It has a lot of great singles that sound unique until you hear the same thing 12 times in a row. It works best split onto playlists and shuffled with other songs. 

Kesha is a good example of the repetitive lyric and song style but messes with different beats, mixes, and several other elements to make her songs different from each other. Trainor needs to experiment with different elements in her songs more to keep her songs from bleeding together. 

I look forward to what Trainor will do in the future and I'll keep rocking the best of her current efforts.

New Year, New Music

I have been using Viggle* to acquire points but they haven't had any rewards I've wanted, until now. Instead of using iTunes gift cards, Viggle created their own music store where you can redeem points for songs and albums. They email you a link and you download the MP3s. The system isn't perfect since they don't have some of the content I want but I was able to find more than a few things.

On New Year's Day a friend posted about a band on Facebook. I looked them up, thought they sounded interesting, and downloaded the album off Viggle. It was the first day of my new shopping freeze and one of the first things in my morning but I'm holding myself accountable.

I already have an album pre-ordered for January so I won't be buying any new music until March. Since I've required myself to wait on all new music purchases, this will give me a chance to get excited about getting Abney Park's new album for my birthday. Stars in Stereo and Meghan Trainor should keep in in fresh tunes until then.

*-In case you missed my blog from 2013, Viggle is an app that gives you points for watching TV or matching songs. It is 100 points per song and 1 point per minute of TV. Certain TV shows or specials will have a watch bonus. You redeem the points for stuff like a blender, headphones, music, gift cards, etc. in their reward center.

Different Christmas Songs

It’s finally starting to feel like winter. The rain has stopped (for now) and the winter chill has settled in. The Grumpy Cat Christmas movie kicked off my season with the appropriate amount of snark and reminded me of a holiday classic I’d forgotten about: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.

As much as I love Christmas music, sometimes you want options other than the 20 standard Christmas song. Hippopotamus and Two Front Teeth are underplayed, underappreciated classics. I have a modern cover of the former but can’t listen to the latter without the whistle. If you want something totally different:

Santa’s Lost His Mojo by Jeremy Lister

Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

Christmas Day by She & Him

Christmas Eve in Washington by Maura Sullivan

Christmas Time in Tinseltown by The Big Bad Voodoo Daddies

Wish List by Neon Trees

Another Christmas Song by Stephen Colbert

Christmas Wish by All Caps

Santa Has a Mullet by Nerf Herder

The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball by The Killers

Don’t Shoot Me Santa by The Killers

Christmas at the Airport by Nick Lowe

The Marvelous Toy by The Chad Mitchell Trio (It’s a Christmas song to me)

Maybe Next Year by Meiko

Mistletoe by Colbie Caillat

Text Me Merry Christmas by Straight No Chaser with Kristen Bell

Nutcracker by Straight No Chaser

Merry Something to You by Devo

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays by *NSYNC (although BSB will always be better, don’t judge me)

Star of Wonder by Tori Amos (Her entire album is amazing so choosing just one song was difficult)

The F-Bomb Is Dropping

Feminist is becoming a very charged word despite a remarkable number of people trying to shut it down. TIME memorably said it should be banned. This backfired royally with a massive media backlash.

A variety of pop stars and actresses have come out against feminism in the recent past as I have said many times but some minds have finally started changing.

Beyonce perfectly displays how feminism isn't an all or nothing game. Find the space where you're comfortable that aligns with your beliefs.

Lady Gaga and Katy Perry both said the label didn't apply to them. After an education about the equality the word really represents, both have changed their tune. Neither will be marching in a rally any time soon but let's enjoy baby steps.

Taylor Swift hung out with Lena Dunham and realized that she was absolutely a feminist. She even had some interesting things to say about how she's often reduced to her relationships and inability to keep them. I loved how she played on this trope in her video for Blank Space.

Unfortunately, not all minds are so open. Despite several outcries, Kelly Clarkson still hasn't made any response to the ugly and ignorant things she said about feminism and feminists a year ago. I can't listen to her music anymore because of what she said. I lost all respect for her. It's a combination of the blatant hypocrisy and her breathtaking, willful ignorance.

Clarkson has been out of small town Texas long enough to figure out what the word means and how the independence she values epitomizes it. She's called out music execs for sexist behavior and the amount of attention paid to her weight but somehow she's not a feminist.

Maybe she doesn't want to alienate the conservative country crowd she's been courting so hard since she feel in love with Brandon Blackstock. It might explain why Carrie Underwood is still singing the same old song. Although country music seems to be changing its tune with Girl in a Country Song and Quarterback.

Please name any other group of people celebrities can openly misrepresent and bad mouth without media backlash? Who else can consistently be reduced to its extremists without anyone major complaining?

You can't touch religions although Christian extremists and hypocrites are vocal enough to make this surprising. Gamergate has created a very discernible barrier between normal gamers and misogynistic troglodytes. Mormons have come out against the polygamist minority, especially since the poly folks started getting their own shows. I can't think of any group that earns such open dismissal and derision from society.

Amy Poehler said she doesn't get why people like Shailene Woodley come out against feminism. "But then they go on to explain what they support and live by -- it’s feminism exactly. I think some big actors and musicians feel like they have to speak to their audience and that word is confusing to their audience. But I don’t get it. That’s like someone being like, "I don’t really believe in cars, but I drive one every day and I love that it gets me places and makes life so much easier and faster and I don’t know what I would do without it."

A blog I just discovered has the best response to those type of women: "You are either a feminist or you actually think you should get paid less for equal work."

Until some of these women learn what it means to get their cars taken away from them, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Madonna don't need my money. Any production with Shailene Woodley, Susan Sarandon, Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dita Von Teese, or Gwenyth Paltrow can look somewhere else for their box office dollars.

I'm gonna go crank Taylor's new album and see what Bustle and BuzzFeed have to say today.

PS - Some of the above women say they're 'humanists.' It's a lazy cop-out to say they love equality but are scared of the f-bomb.

Hail Hydra: Within Temptation Concert

Last night I attended a Within Temptation concert in Baltimore. One of my favorite bands is touring the US again and are visiting locally? Yes please.

I was worried for a minute because all of my immediate go-to people for this show couldn't make it. I had to twist The Boy's arm a bit but after I played him some stuff, he was looking forward to it. Of course he got sick this weekend and I wasn't sure he'd be well enough to go. He swore he was so off to B'more to bang our heads.

I was in the merch line when the opener, Amaranthe, started and I realized two things: 1) These guys are awesome and 2) I'm too old to stand right next to a speaker. They're classified as power metal and had a great sound. I'd never heard a metal band that had a normal woman, normal man, and scream guy as vocalists. It was cool.

I was getting tired and starting to fade before Within Temptation. The second they came on the stage my energy level shot up and I was rocking out. The Boy and I had never been to a concert together before. He didn't realize I tend to enjoy them with my entire body. Who needs the gym when you can go to a concert?

Within Temptation is such a great band to watch. I love their stage presence. All of the guitar players moved around. Sharon (the lead singer) jumps and dance and twists her arm like a belly dancer during the slow numbers. The way she moves is just fantastic.

They also do a great job about connecting with their audience. You could see the different musicians and Sharon react and make eye contact with the folks in the audience. The crowd fed off their energy and they fed of the crowd's energy. There was no area they didn't perform to. They all move around the stage and acknowledged the entire audience.

Toward the end The Boy started to feel tired and achey. He told me the guitarist was making eyes at him like "Are you having a good time man?" Watching The Boy try to the rock out sign was hilarious.

I definitely felt like I connect to different members of the band more than a few times. It's one of my favorite things about Within Temptation's live shows but I think I had a few things that helped.

Ways to get the band to notice you at a metal concert:

Headbang
If you're like me and have trouble head banging, pull a Willow Smith and whip your hair around. It puts on a good show minus some dizziness.

Wear white
Everyone was wearing black including The Boy. I stood out in my white Doctor Who villain dress.

Have a better time than the people next to you
Since The Boy wasn't feeling well and I'd gotten up rather early, we opted to pay extra to get on the third level that overlooks the stage. My neighbors were there and I was rocking out like I was on the floor.

Have the time of your life
I never stopped moving. During Summertime Sadness I shimmied my hips and I maintain Sharon responded by doing so as well. She also did a reach for me during one of their slower numbers. I know one guitarist appreciated me doing my sorta head bang. They did similar stuff for one guy in the second level who was rocking out just as hard as I was.

Music: Let Us Burn by Within Temptation

B*Witching

One of my favorite girl groups when I was growing up was B*Witched. They were an Irish foursome know for rocking denim and singing bubblegum pop. 

I was poking around on iTunes when I discovered they'd released new music. I promptly downloaded in and started looking into what happened with the resurgence. It all started as part of a British TV show called The Big Reunion. Six of the top UK pop bands of the 90's and early 2000s will be reunited for one big concert and one dramatic reality show. I've been watching it on YouTube.

I knew about a few of these bands but these were the days of dial-up internet. If the marketing machine never made it state-side, there wasn't a lot I could find out. Atomic Kitten and Five made it stateside but they weren't as big as B*Witched.

When I fell in love with B*Witched I was 12 and media literacy existed in academic circles. With the rise of smartphones and constant communication, media literacy is a common topic of discussion. I often take apart the media I'm consuming now but I've never taken a look back at the media I consumed growing up.

It's so strange to hear about how the leads on songs were shared until one of their handlers decided they needed a lead singer. They weren't supposed to be seen outside without their 'uniform' of denim. Keavy had an extremely hard time adjusting to living in her twin's shadow. Lindsay felt like she didn't have a voice. When the band was abruptly dropped from their record label, Edele wanted to find another label and make it work. Sinead was ready to call it quits. She and Edele had become so close that she wanted to figure out who she was on her own. Both describe it like the end of a marriage. 

It was so bizarre to hear one of my favorite bubbly girl groups who are always delightful in interviews was dying inside. When Keavy had a minor breakdown on a family trip, their team was worried about the band, not the woman. Edele said "We were a product." 

Looking back at it, those kinds of issues were inevitable. In the Big Brother-esque world of media today, it's harder to hide those issues but it still happens. You can still see the media controlled corporate pop machines like One Direction. They seem like lovely lads but I assure you those boys are walking hormones.

I'll always loved B*Witched and have a soft spot for their music. You don't hear bubble gum pop like that these days. I have a new respect for these women and how hard it was to do what they did. I hope things in the new band are more balanced. I'd like to see them thrive again.

Music: Champagne or Guiness by B*Witched

This One Time at Bandcamp

I think I love bandcamp. It's a great place to discover new and unknown artists or for independent artists to get their stuff out there. 

You can stream all musical content for free. I absolutely love this since I need to spend less money but have that annoyingly human thirst for novelty. My brain loves the fun chemical rush of a new thing. Now I can just get it for free.

If I ever did get around to downloading, most of the download costs are very comparable to iTunes. It may be better than iTunes since your money is going right to the artist instead of some corporate machine and the man. (Picture me in a flannel shirt and grumbly for that last part and it gets even better.)

Michael Cera quietly dropped his new album from there. I discovered Dessa and Eliza Rickman from Welcome to Nightvale weather. I love the unique and ethereal sound of Rickman's music. I discovered The Smittens while poking around on their discover section. A friend told me about Margot MacDonald who's a local artist with some serious talent. She reminds me a tiny bit of Emmy Rossum on her first album.

You can follow artist you like and add CDs you don't want to buy or download right away to your wishlist (done it). I swear if I get more money and start downloading things from here I'll turn into such a hipster. 'I'm listening to this awesome indie band you've probably never heard of.'

It's not all indie stuff, although that does seem to be a majority of stuff I'm finding. I've seen metal, electronic, rap, devotional, classic, and comedy. I've got so much exploring to do.

Music: Ruth by Michael Cera

PS: If you're not listening to Welcome to Nightvale, wtf are you waiting for???

Rock Out

BuzzFeed had this bit of fun where the internet randomly generates your band name, album title, and cover art.

My band is: Street Fighter Alpha
I totally sound like the latest alt-rock band that will try to generate buzz by releasing a free single on iTunes. I hope we at least have a little edge with a name like that.

Our album title is: Change and All the Patterns Alter
As if there was any doubt to our alt-rock nature. We'll have thoughtful lyrics but our singles will be either be bouncy or rock out and catchy as hell.

Our debut album:

Girl in a Country Song

A new single just dropped from a new country duo Maddie & Tae and I'm madly in love. Both Maddie and Tae realized that women have no agency in popular country music and it would suck to be them. A soon to be hit single was born.

They're calling out bro country for objectifying women and treating them as props in their story. I tweeted about this but I was careful to use #YesAllWomen instead of the equally accurate #feminism. 

These are things that feminists have been saying about women in all forms of media for decades. Unfortunately pop stars which have a more liberal target audience have been denying the f-bomb including Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, and Taylor Swift (who has barely been country since her second album). 

Country caters to a more conservative crowd. Even though feminist values and ideals are what make this song amazing, calling it such seems like a losing battle not worth starting. It's better to see women responding so strongly to the message of the song. Once they're on board the whole equality boat we can tell them what it's been called the whole time.

To really sell the point of how revolutionary this song is for contemporary country music, here's some of the more empowering, BS-calling lyrics,

I hate the way this bikini top chaffs. Do I really have to wear it all day?

I got a name and to you it ain't pretty little thing, honey or baby.

Like all we're good for is lookin' good for you and your friends on the weekend

We used to get a little respect and now we're lucky if we even get to climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along like a girl in a country song

There ain't no sugar for you in this shaker of mine

Sure I'll slide on over but you're gonna get slapped

I ain't your tanned legged Juliet

Can we put on some real clothes now?

I only regret I haven't yet found a video to share with you. 

Music: Girl in a Country Song by Maddie & Tae

Christmas Presents

Because I’m still unemployed, I’m doing jewelry or mix CDs for presents again this year. I’m using my ability to make a great playlist or some pretty shinies to make awesome presents. Here’s what I posted on FB:

If you want something shiny give me a type (earrings, necklance), colors, and any general opinion on chain maille stuff if you have one. If you want a mix CD, this year’s selection is below:

Before Part B (The Party Mix)

2013 Holiday Mix

Life and Stuff

Love Is (mix of heartbreak, over it, and love songs)

Random

Nerd Jams

No Words

Rock Out

Original Christmas Songs

The last one was added by popular complaint of constantly hearing the same Christmas songs over and over again. 

I’ll post the playlist for Original Christmas Songs here since that seems to be a universal problem for folks.

Music: Maybe This Christmas by Shane Dawson

PRISM Isn’t So Shiny

Katy Perry’s new album dropped today and it has been hyped like carzy. There were promos for the first single and music video only to sound very similar to Brave by Sara Barielles. Many of us were a little disappointed. For me, that trend continued with the actual album.

I was hoping for a really interesting record since Perry went through a divorce that had her contemplating whether or not she should go on. Unfortunately Perry saw her new love John Mayer as better material than a divorce that pushed her to the edge. There are 16 tracks on the deluxe album. Four of those tracks are about loss, the difficulty of relationships, self love, and bouncing back. It’s five if you count Ghost but I found that one to be fairly standard. Eight are fluff-tastic love songs.

Of the love songs, Dark Horse has a new and interesting sound that suits Perry well. Unconditionally is lovely if a little sentimental for my tastes. This Moment is very good because the lyrics are slightly more multi-faceted. I found the other five to be fairly forgettable.

I found the darker songs so much more personal and interesting. Everyone sings about how wonderful love is but what the other side? I loved hearing about owning your role in the demise of a relationship or how you have to choose your battles. Apparently Perry or the label didn’t because those tracks are only on the deluxe album.

I like the stuff about the demise of her marriage so much more than the sugary love songs. It’s more personal, more interesting, and pretty original for pop music. After being promised a darker version of Katy Perry and being handed 50% lovey-dovey nonsense, I’m really disappointed.

The other tracks were likeable but Firework is a better anthem than Roar and Part of Me is a better ‘over it’ song than Ghost. The silly/fun songs This Is How We Do and International Smile don’t apply to anyone who noticed the recession. They’re also less interesting than California Gurls, Last Friday Night, or Peacock.

Despite how it sounds, I do like PRISM. However, I think Teenage Dream had a more cohesive sound and was, overall, a better record. I’m not sure any record could have stood up to the expectations and publicity. The more you hype something, the more it has to live up to that hype.

For the mega-publicized, darker side of Katy Perry, PRISM is fun but doesn’t deliver.

Feminism in Pop Music

I love my girly pop. After I escape from work it feels great to roll down the windows and crank Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Kelly Clarkson. I’ve seen Katy Perry’s movie and it made me like her better. I think it’s incredibly sweet how in love Kelly Clarkson is with her fiancée. I did some random Googling that made me think less of all of them.

Each of these women has publically said “I’m not a feminist.”

Katy Perry was home schooled in an extremely Christian environment so feminism was probably a dirtier word than MTV in her house. Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift are both from southern towns and market to country radio. Both hip-hop and country music are notorious for being racially monotone, male dominated, and homophobic. Not exactly conducive for women’s empowerment.

I understand none of them grew up with it but if people keep asking “Are you X?” wouldn’t you want to find out why people keep asking instead of always saying “Nope. Not at all.”

Some people have said that the snark and condescension of declared feminists may be turning people off the movement. Each of these singers says they’re not feminists because of antiquated or erroneous ideas of what they think feminism is supposed to be. I’d bet money none of them have made any effort to find out what modern feminism is actually about.

Feminists would probably be less snarky if people would actually do their homework before saying hypocritical crap like “I’m not a feminist but I believe in the power of women.” If you choose to be ignorant, we can choose to be annoyed by it.

The broadest and simplest definition of feminism I’ve ever heard is “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too.” There are as many versions of feminism as there are women.

You can keep your make-up and heels but think the wage gap is BS. You can believe in the right to choose and still be married with kids. You can be Christian and be morally opposed to abortion and campaign against domestic violence and date rape. You can perform in glittery candy underwear or a lacy dress and talk about the lack of women in government.

Both Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift have never performed in barely there outfits. They wear cute costumes that flatter their figure but they don’t want to perform in their underwear. Some might consider that a feminist statement because they are sending the message to young women that you don’t have to be defined by your body to be successful.

Katy Perry constantly changes her hair color and wears crazy costumes. While many of them are sexed up, she has her own ideas about fashion. She has fun with it rather than wear some simple LBD to a red carpet event. Not conforming to the expected style could be seen as a feminist statement that she’ll do what she wants thank you very much.

I think if someone talked to a few of these women about what feminism actually is, I know at least one of them would change their tune. I’m choosing to believe that otherwise I’d have to find some other tunes to crank before girls night.

Music: Applause by Lade Gaga

Mixing It Up: So Over This

Now that you’ve grieved, mourned, wept, wallowed, and re-entered the world, it’s time to get angry. I admitted defeat on avoiding big chart toppers. The reason they’re so darn popular few others say it better.

I Don’t Care (feat. Adam Gontier) – Apoclyptica

Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson

What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger) – Kelly Clarkson

Tonight I’m Getting Over You – Carly Rae Jepsen

Blind – Ke$ha

Baggage Claim – Miranda Lambert

My Life Again – The McClymonts

Nothing That You Are – Mandy Moore

Without You – Hana Pestle

Part of Me – Katy Perry

Best Days of Your Life – Kellie Pickler

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift

It’s Alright, It’s OK – Ashley Tisdale

Undo It – Carrie Underwood

Goodbye to You – The Veronicas

Alternates:

There’s More to Me Than You – Jessica Andrews

The War Is Over – Kelly Clarkson

Say No More – Innosense

Don’t Trip on Your Way Out - Joanna

I Can Do Better – Avril Lavigne

Bridge You Burn – Reba McEntire

Get Over Yourself – SHeDAISY

Stronger – Britney Spears

Delete You – Ashley Tisdale

I dated someone who talked about what a good break-up song I Don’t Care is. I played it a lot after we were done. It’s also the only male singer anywhere on here. I don’t know if male artists don’t sing these sorts of songs of if I’m just missing them.

I did manage to unearth a few relative unknowns. Mandy Moore’s later stuff is quite good. Hana Pestle has a fantastic voice. Everything else got play somewhere, even if it was in a birth control ad (The Veronicas). I just discovered the Kellie Pickler song in the last month and I love it. It’s her bestselling song on iTunes so it was easy to find.

If anyone has any suggestions for any of the mixes, I’d love to hear them. I’m sure there’s a bunch I didn’t find for this one.