I first heard Meghan Trainor's track All About that Bass roughly four months ago on Reddit. It was posted and celebrated in their subreddit /r/trollxchromosomes which is a haven for real women to get together and talk about real women things (like douchebag boyfriends and period shits). But since it's recent hype and number one spot in the charts, people have nothing but issues with it. I don't mean the same issues I have with it, which are that she mentions bass so much she may as well be Big Narstie, and that quite frankly, it just isn't a good song. No, these women have a problem because she referrers to her fellow bra wearing vagina people as "skinny bitches" and promotes big bums cus its what "the boys like". There's only one response to the girls who think that this is a huge issue; shuuuuut the fuck up. Okay, you're entitled to your opinion, so here's mine.
Firstly, Meghan Trainor may refer to slim girls as skinny bitches, but the following line (and catchiest in my opinion) is "I'm just playing, I know you think you're fat, but I'm here to tell you every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top" a more important message, no? Holding on to that one line to criticise the whole song as skinny shaming is like the Westboro Baptist Church believing the moral of the Bible is that being homosexual is a sin. Yeah, it's in there, but it's not the whole point, it's not even a sub clause.
Secondly, the song is more about accepting your size yourself as a grown ass woman. She tells the guys to "run along" that aren't into bigger girls because she is not a slim woman. It's actually her mum's advice that is"the boys like a little more booty to hold at night" so if you wanna criticise anyone, criticise Meghan Trainor's Ma'. But that was probably better advice to her daughter who felt down about her weight than "get on the treadmill then, you fat fuck, how dare you insult my womb by being a size 14." I'm pretty sure all of our Mum's have given us some non - PC advice at one point in our lives, we just haven't written a song about it.
I'm not sure that the song really deserves any criticism about it's message, but girls lashing out at it is still a direct indicator that we're no closer to repairing or maintaining the sisterhood. Why aren't we celebrating another woman at number one? Girls aren't going to suddenly start stuffing their faces with pizza cus they want boys to notice their jiggly bum, we do that anyway, cus we're hungry, and cus pizza. The message "be happy with your size" is thrust down all of our throats just the same amount as "bigger is better" and "thigh gaps make you attractive". I just personally can't wait for the year of the booty to be over and hope next year we see a homage to micro penises or something.
Thanks to everyone that made me just dissect that ball bag stench of a song. Now here's Damien Rice's new track, he doesn't want to change you, thank fuck.
S'up fuckers. Listen to this;
Good init. That's what over 4 million other people apparently thought of this cover, too. The sweet tones of Kevin Jordan's voice are enough to lull you into a little delicious sleep; you know, the kind where you wake up and don't hate everybody. I mean, Oli Sykes original vocals are good, really good, but there's something about a song being covered by a bearded man with an acoustic guitar that we as listeners eat up. Now tell me how many of you haven't started this video again. Cus if you haven't, go do it.
I digress (a lot), but this was the cover that got This Wild Life a lot of attention. Recently signed to Epitaph Records, the once pop-punk twosome turned acoustic band, have began making noise in a big way in the UK. Anyway, I went to The Talking Heads in Southampton (eurgh) last week to watch these two talented bastards perform. Never a dull moment in that grey city, I encountered a Spanish Catalan, a gypsy trying to steal cigarettes out of an old ashtray and quickly realised that emo ain't dead, apparently. The first support came on who's name I forget (and I'm not one to shun support acts, remember Mirror Signal?); but for the articles sake let's call them Ben Howard wannabes with less sexual tension between the lead singer and the bassist. Rob Lynch was up next who is a huge bag of talent and stage presence, joining them just off the U.S. Warped Tour where they both performed throughout. Then it got to 10pm, show time for TWL, and as I sipped my luke-warm Budweiser, remembering how much I despised it with every gulp, I was perplexed by the lack of crowd rushing into the venue in time for the guys to get on stage. Are the people of Southampton turned off by good music? Does everyone know something I don't about the Talking Heads venue? Has Ebola suddenly hit Hampshire? Whatever it was, it meant they were missing out, big time. The bromance was real, the fans were laughing, someone was shouting about tits, there was nothing not to love about the atmosphere, no matter how small the crowd. As expected for the first night of a tour, you could sense the nerves on Kevin, but he brought it back with personal anecdotes and dat whistle in Puppy Love. By their last song both Anthony and Kevin were in the full swing, and as they finished History, the crowd chanted for one more song, that they apologetically shook their heads at. Mad respect for bands that are honest about their last song. The important thing was that they left the crowd wanting more; which I'm sure with how talented these boys are, they will deliver in the new year. As I left that little venue that made me sweat more than dicks on a hot day despite the person next to me not invading my personal space, I had one thought and one thought only, these guys are gonna be huge.
To catch these guys before their tour ends, you can book tickets here.
Equally, you could tweet them some love, or buy some merch.
Regardless of whether you do all or none, just enjoy them.
Big love x
