Lady Gaga Surprises with I'll Never Love Again

I'll admit it: I've underestimated Lady Gaga all these years. For many years, my view on her was that her music was OK, but she was more known for her stunts. Like that meat dress (very horrible indeed). I truly thought that, without the stunts, she would have been less special.

But maybe she should have sung ballads all along. Her latest track, I'll Never Love Again from the soundtrack for A Star Is Born, actually surprised me. Lady Gaga, without all the stunts, was actually still something special! I'm very impressed indeed.

The TaraElla song I would choose to go with I'll Never Love Again is Love Is All Around Us. The reason is simple: they are both ballads.

Taylor Swift vs Kanye West, the Ultimate Political Paradox?

Today I'm going to have a look at the recent political drama surrounding Taylor Swift, now presumed by many to be left-leaning, and her long-time critic Kanye West, now known to be a proud supporter of President Donald Trump.

Taylor the Progressive vs Kanye the Conservative? Surprise, Surprise!

We need to put this all in context. Just this time last year, Kanye West was a favourite among self-described progressives, who have seen Kanye as one of them ever since he criticised President Bush back in 2005. When Kanye started to proclaim his support for President Trump earlier this year, it disappointed many progressives. Some have even asked themselves if they should still like his music. Which is absurd, because his music has nothing to do with politics. On the other hand, Taylor Swift was often considered to be probably conservative by many people. Over the years, I have read many articles and casual comments from progressives, saying that Taylor Swift was the musical equaivalent of John McCain, whatever that meant; that she wasn't a good feminist, whatever that meant; and even that she probably didn't support gay marriage, which has been of course proven wrong last week. Conservatives also seemed to think that Taylor was likely one of their own, heaping praise on her family friendly style as far back as her second album in 2009. Needless to say, Taylor coming out to endorse two Democrats was taken as a very pleasant surprise by progressives, while conservatives have generally been disappointed. When President Trump now says he likes Taylor 25% less, I think many conservatives can't help but share his sentiment there.

But should we really have been surprised?

But let's look at all this from a cool-headed, centrist perspective, because that's what we always do here on this show. By the way, if you have any further thoughts you want to provide, please drop me a comment so we can continue this interesting conversation. From what I have observed, the fact is, we actually didn't know much about Taylor or Kanye's politics until this year. Quite a few people have assumed Taylor to be right-leaning, or Kanye to be left-leaning, based on their own prejudices, nothing more. It was always an assumption based on prejudice, based on stereotyping. The fact that Taylor did country music and presented a more traditional lifestyle didn't mean she was conservative politically, and the fact that Kanye criticised President Bush didn't mean he was necessarily left-leaning. In recent years, both progressives and conservatives have been too easily swayed by the aesthetics of personalities and ideas, and this has affected our ability to think rationally. Perhaps the twin political surprises of Taylor and Kanye are just what we need most, right now. The fact that people are surprised by Taylor and Kanye's politics says a lot about how prejudiced and irrational people have become, more than anything else.

Let's start treating Individuals as Individuals

So how can we become more rational? We need to start treating individuals as individuals, rather than stereotypes. We need to respect that individuals are unique in all sorts of ways, and that can be a good thing. This is one of the biggest themes of my work. Real freedom is based on respect for individual differences. We need to accept that the people we like aren't always going to be exactly like ourselves, because everyone is unique. For a start, progressives need to be able to respect Kanye's right to his political views without feeling differently about his music; and conservatives need to do the same about Taylor Swift. Right now, many conservatives may feel like liking Taylor 25% less, but there's really no reason to do so, because Taylor Swift is a musician, not a politician. Her politics do not matter. Furthermore, conservatives who can't agree with Taylor's politics can still praise her relatively family friendly style, like they did back in 2009. Nothing has changed in that regard. Similarly, there's no reason for progressives to stop listening to Kanye's music, if they were previously into that. His music hasn't changed.

Real Friends should have been the breakout hit for Camila Cabello

Camila Cabello stunned the world last year with her single Havana, which went to number one in several places around the world. To be fair, I acutally enjoyed Havana quite a lot, it was my song of the month last October. It was also quite a special song.

But I have to say that, Camila's new one, Real Friends, is even better. It's one that you can enjoy with your friends, sitting back and relaxing. I mean, it's kind of ironic that the lyrics are actually about the lack of real friends and the many fake people out there. But the way the song sounds, it's really made for hanging out with some real friends.

The TaraElla song that I would choose to go with Real Friends would be Beauty. They both have the same kind of relaxed vibe to them. I mean, Beauty doesn't have the kind of irony about the lyrics, but both are the kind of song that you would enjoy with your friends, sitting back and relaxing.

Chloe Grace Moretz uses Personal Experience to make a Case Against Conversion Therapy

Actress Chloe Grace Moretz, talking about her recent film in which she plays a young person forced into gay conversion therapy, has spoken out about her opposition to this practice. Specifically, she drew upon the experience of her two gay brothers, who faced a difficult time growing up in small town America.

I believe in using personal stories to make one's case. I mean, I have little patience for most academic social theories, and I don't believe in 'systematic oppression'. But I do believe in making people's lives easier, and I do believe that listening to people's lived experiences is the way to achieve that.

So good on Chloe!

Anne-Marie takes us back to 2002: Well, sort of.

Anne-Marie's latest single 2002 has got me interested. After all, 2002 was a great year for me, and it had a lot of great music.

There's just a problem: the 2002 described in the song may well not be 2002 at all. It's like the time machine malfunctioned, and brought us to another time. You see, the song included lyrics of songs supposedly popular in 2002, but from my memory none of them were actually from 2002.

Anyway, nostalgia is not a real time machine, and memory is often inaccurate. So maybe we should forgive her for that.

Now, I think I wrote this song in 2003, but since memory is often inaccurate, could it have been in 2002 instead?

Is there Cultural Appropriation everywhere, from Utah to Eurovision? I don't think so.

Israel's Netta has won Eurovision with her great song Toy. But this victory was not without controversy: as you see, she dressed in an Asian-styled costume, and her stage was decorated with Asian items. This has predictably caused some people to cry 'cultural appropriation'.

This also brings to mind a recent unrelated story from Utah, USA, where a girl who wore a Chinese-style prom dress provoked a national discussion. In both cases, none of the Asians I know were offended: most were simply bewildered.

You see, the reason why cultural appropriation is considered bad is because comedians in the US and UK used to do blackface, where they would paint their faces black and act in ways that were demeaning to black people and black culture. I can understand why black people are very offended by anything similar to blackface. But wearing an Asian dress? That's completely different. There's simply no parallel here. In fact, Asians living in Asia are arguably the most pro-cultural fusion people in the world. Every Asian I know has no problem with people of other races adopting aspects of their culture, provided that they do it respectfully. In fact, my Asian relatives quite enjoyed Netta's performance.

From my perspective, it really wasn't 'cultural appropriation'. It was just, well, special

Contrary to Popular Belief, Babe Proves that the Old Taylor Swift is Alive and Well

"The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. Why? Cause she's dead!" So proclaims the lyrics to What You Made Me Do, Taylor Swift's first single off her Reputation album released last year. At that time, even the most die-hard fan of country Taylor had come to accept the reality: the old Taylor simply wasn't coming back. If she said it herself, on her own record no less, it had to be true.

But recently, there is evidence that the old Taylor is, in fact, alive and well, just hidden somewhere. What is this evidence I am talking about? A song called Babe, a collaboration between Taylor and country band Sugarland. Not only does Taylor sing on a country record, she still sounds just like the old Taylor from the Fearless era.

Taylor, I know that you still want to make country music. Don't let the pop fashion of the day stop you from doing so. After all, you may just need a new vision:

Avicii was yet another Tragedy of the Music Industry

When news broke of the death of Swedish DJ Avicii at just 28, many of us were surprised, and of course, sad. Avicii was a musical genius: even somebody like myself, who is generally not into EDM or club music, can agree with this. His 2011 hit, Levels, was his best, in my opinion.

Avicii was ultimately a victim of the music industry. All he wanted was to make music, and share it with his fans. The industry provides a route for musicians to take their craft to the next level, but being a multi-billion dollar industry, it also makes a lot of tough demands of the musicians under its wings. It is scarily common for young musicians to suffer from health problems not normally seen in young adults.

One day perhaps, no musician will need the music industry. But for now, the industry remains a double-edge sword, attractive to many aspiring musicians, even in the face of tragedies.

A Decade Later, Love Story by Taylor Swift has become a Classic of an era

It is coming up to a decade since the original release of Taylor Swift's iconic single Love Story. The first single on her second album Fearless, Love Story was released in 2008, and had entered the top 5 in the US and Canada by October that year. In early 2009, Love Story was released to similar success in other markets like Australia, the UK and other European countries, and also enjoyed a second top 5 run in North America. Many people around the world first learned about Taylor Swift through Love Story. In fact, many mistakenly believed that it was her debut single, since her first album was not very well known in many countries.

Love songs have always been Taylor Swift's main offering, and I argue that Taylor has been instrumental in the revival of romantic love songs at the last turn of decade. I mean, pop ballads were big in the 1980s and 1990s, but much of the 2000s were about hip-hop and hip-hop influenced RnB. In a way, Taylor brought romance back to the charts, even if it was not as grand as what the likes of Celine Dion, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey used to offer in the 1990s.

In the spirit of celebrating romance, let me leave you with this, well, sort of romantic love song:

American Idol is not Discriminatory, just because it doesn't have Affirmative Action

Last week on American Idol, the elimination of contestants Ada Vox and Michelle Sussett caused predictable outrage. Accusations of homophobia (in the case of Vox, a drag queen) and racism (in the case of Sussett) came flying through social media platforms. For long time fans of Idol, there is indeed nothing new here. I mean, top 7 week in Season 3 (2004), which saw the elimination of Jennifer Hudson (who still went on to have a great career by the way), provoked even greater controversy. Somehow, people always want to find evidence of American Idol (or should that be America itself?) being discriminatory.

It is true that American Idol doesn't have affirmative action. Therefore, it doesn't particularly protect minorities from being eliminated through voting. But neither does this mean that Idol is discriminatory. Quite the opposite, in fact. Idol has had many non-white winners (Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Jordin Sparks, Candice Glover), and has also been the launching pad for gay musicians like Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert. In fact, Aiken himself took to Huffington Post to say that he believed Ada Vox was eliminated simply because she was not the best singer, not because she was a drag queen. Plus, the fact that Ada Vox entered the top 10 already represents a better result than the first-ever Idol drag queen anywhere in the world, Courtney Act, who was on Australian Idol 2003 (and who later became one of the world's most famous drag queens). I'm sure Ada will have a similarly successful career.

So, calm down and enjoy idol. After all, even though Idol is often about singing old songs, it is definitely 'not that kind of retro':

Delicate is one of the Better Tracks off the latest album from Taylor Swift, but the Reputation Problem is still there

To be honest, I haven't quite enjoyed most of the tracks from Taylor Swift's Reputation album. Maybe it's a case of high expectations: Taylor used to be so cool, and her music used to be so good, a decade ago during the Fearless era. Truth to be told, once you've made an album as great as Fearless, it's difficult to come up with something better, so every following album could be in some sense a disappointment (even though Speak Now was a close second). Overall, I think that Reputation is mostly an average work. But Delicate still sounds quite special, in my opinion, even if it's still not as great as country Taylor could have been.

But there's still that problem: Taylor's obsession with her Reputation. I get that it's the title of the album, and these days artists like to insert the title of their album everywhere. But being obsessed with one's reputation is not healthy! Taylor appears very self-conscious that her reputation 'has never been worse'. I've got a suggestion for her: perhaps she should go back to being Fearless Taylor. Her reputation was quite good back then, right? (Not to mention her music was way better, or that she was actually, well, cool, and somebody people looked up to.)

Finally, let me say that I still think that Taylor is special, despite her current lacklustre form. So let me dedicate this song of mine to her:

Are Hillary Clinton, Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham White Feminists?

In recent years, more and more self-identified feminists have condemned some fellow feminists as 'white feminists'. The precise definition of the term, however, is unclear. Does it mean feminists who happen to be white? If that's the case, then most of those doing the accusing fall into this category too. Therefore, this cannot be the real meaning of the term. Alternatively, does it refer to feminsts who are white and racist? Or at least white and don't care about non-white women?

Let's first look at who the term is actually being applied to. Hillary Clinton, Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham would have to be three of the most common names I have heard in association with 'white feminist' in the past two years or so. First of all, there is no evidence at all that any of these three are racist in any way, quite the opposite in fact. Therefore, 'white feminist' can't be just referring to racist feminists. As for a broader definition of feminists who are white and don't care for women of colour, I don't get that vibe from any of these three either. Finally, are these three any different from other feminists in their feminism? Do these three share some particular characteristic that 'good feminists' don't share? I don't see any.

So there you have it. The 'white feminist' label is meaningless.

What's the opposite of 'white feminist' then? The standard answer is, 'intersectional feminism'. Intersectional feminism is supposed to be the 'good feminism', the kind that cares about the intersectional disadvantages that ethnic minority women and queer women suffer. So how do the aforementioned three supposedly 'white feminists' measure up here? First of all, all three appear to be very queer friendly. Hillary Clinton may have come later than Barack Obama to the marriage equality table, but at least she got there earlier than many other progressive feminists, including even former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Taylor Swift even made sure there was trans representation at one of her concerts; how many other musicians have actually done the same? As for caring about ethnic minorities, these supposedly 'white feminists' aren't deficient either. In fact, Lena Dunham in particular really, really cares about being sensitive to ethnic minorities, and I have even cringed at hearing some of what she had to say about cultural appropriation in food. If Lena Dunham isn't left-wing enough in this area, I don't know who is.

But then, intersectional feminism, as it is often practiced, is effectively GLIF (gatekeeper limited intersectional feminism), where self-appointed gatekeepers decide what's in and what's out, and perhaps just as importantly, who's in and who's out. I don't exactly know how the gatekeepers decide who is a good intersectional feminist or not, but it may have to do with their own political views or personal likes and dislikes. For example, Hillary Clinton has arguably become the most prominent representation of the moderate wing of the Democratic Party, and some socialists strongly dislike her. Taylor Swift is very, very rich, and again some socialists may not like that. Alternatively, her relationship history has made her unpopular with some women. As for Lena Dunham? Some people just strongly dislike her, for whatever reason.

In conclusion, if Hillary Clinton, Taylor Swift and Lena Dunham are 'white feminists', then the label effectively means 'feminists that some other feminists don't like', and is therefore effectively meaningless. We should all probably stop using it.

Storm in a teacup: the Mystery of Who Bit Beyonce

This is how a storm in a teacup started. In a recent interview in GQ magazine, Tiffany Hadish revealed that she saw a unnamed female celebrity walk right up to Beyonce and bit her on the face, at a party she had attended. The female celebrity was probably on drugs. It is not even clear which event Hadish was talking about, but some speculate it to be a Jay-Z concert from late last year. Anyway, somehow people got interested, and media outlets have been asking celebrities and their representatives about the incident, of which most responded that they knew nothing about it.

Several celebrities, including Lena Dunham, even took to twitter to post their denial of being that unnamed celebrity or having any knowledge of that incident.

Which sounds like the perfect storm in a teacup. I mean, Hollywood has never been about serious stuff, but in a time when the world is facing multiple crises and there are lots of debates to be had on various issues, this is what you want to waste your time on? I mean, come on!

Taylor Swift can't seem to Shut Up about her Reputation in Endgame. It's really unhealthy!

Taylor Swift's evolution is getting weirder and weirder. Once upon a time, she only cared about making good music, she didn't seem to care about her reputation at all. I mean, this was the good old days of You Belong With Me. In those days, she actually had a reputation of being a good musician. Nowadays, I really don't know how I feel about Taylor's reputation. Not that I would naturally care, but apparently she really wants us to care! In her recent single Endgame, there really was a lot about her 'reputation'.

I get that her album and her tour are titled 'Reputation', and she probably thinks repeating the reputation theme over and over makes business sense. But I can't agree here. I mean, a good musician should care about their music, not their reputation. A focus on reputation cheapens the music. Moreover, confident, secure people don't tend to care about the judgement of others. Yet here is Taylor Swift, telling her millions of fans that she really, really cares about her reputation. What kind of message is that to send to our young people? I am really disappointed, Taylor. You really have gotten too involved in this game of celebrity.

Some may say that Taylor's reputation talk is just an ironic response to those who have been trying to damage her reputation over the years, citing her relationship history. But I can't agree here. If Taylor wanted to tell the world she couldn't care less, she could have done so more directly. Like this:

Selena Gomez Takes a Stand Against the Beauty Myth, Amy Schumer joins in too. Good on you people!

Selena Gomez recently took a strong stance against the so-called beauty myth, after suffering some more body shaming from the media, something which unfortunately she is no stranger to by now. According to Selena, the beauty myth is 'an obsession with physical perfection that traps modern women in an endless cycle of helplessness, self consciousness and self-hatred'. I can't agree more, actually.

Amy Schumer also joined in, adding that we shouldn't strive to be another version of ourselves, and that we should love ourselves just how we are. Again, I couldn't agree more.

I actually feel like, with more and more voices like these, the beauty myth has already lessed in its grip on our collective imagination over say, the past ten years. So keep up the good work, people! Of course, we still have a long way to go, seeing that the media still likes to body shame, and that rates of anorexia and other eating disorders are still way too high. I guess the promotion of alternative beauty standards, and perhaps a relaxation in the strict binary view of gender, will be helpful in the road ahead.

Zedd and Maren Morris are unexpectedly good in The Middle. Does this mean Maren will be the next Taylor Swift?

Zedd the EDM DJ. Maren Morris the country singer. I would have imagined that these two would go together like custard and onions. In fact, I would never have imagined them working on a song together. And if I was told they would work together, I would have imagined something really, really weird.

Which means that I was quite pleasantly surprised by their latest hit, The Middle. Maren's vocals was very suitable for the song. On the other hand, the song showcased Maren's great vocal strength, perhaps even better than her own country hits have been able to do so, to date. Perhaps Maren should try to do more than just country music in the future. Perhaps she may even be the next Taylor Swift.

The TaraElla song I would choose to go with The Middle is Your Love Makes The World Beautiful. Well, not the version I recorded and released in 2014, but I can imagine the combination of Zedd and Maren Morris doing a cover of it, and making it sound really spectacular. If only I could get them interested in doing such a cover. But if you agree with me here, perhaps you can help suggest that they consider doing this cover?

That 'Times Up' Tattoo, and Questioning the Feminism of Emma Watson again

Emma Watson, who recently displayed a 'Times Up' temporary tattoo on her arm at the Oscars, was the talk of the town among some of my feminist friends. And not just because the Times was missing an apostrophy. (By the way, both Times Up and Time's Up have been used to refer to the movement, so Emma isn't quite wrong here.)

More interesting was the question of why Emma chose to use a tattoo to express her support for the movement, when other celebrities at the event were content with using pins. This predictably brought up the question of if Ms Watson just wanted to stand out, to grab attention. One of my friends even accused Emma of doing this whole feminist thing for her own publicity, which of course predictably caused fans of Ms Watson among us to list all her feminist achievements to date.

It really seems strange that Emma Watson is such a controversial figure in the feminist world, again and again, without her even saying anything particularly controversial. (By the way, I still have something more to say later about her Vanity Fair photo from last year, now that the dust has settled on that matter.) But which feminist isn't a 'controversial feminist' in 2018? It looks like being seen as controversial is probably the price one has to pay for being a feminist icon in this day and age.

Anyway, I think that Emma was just displaying her individuality. And unlike what some may think, a feminism without individuality would defeat the whole point about feminism, and would be a feminism not worth having. At least according to this liberal feminist.

So, the bottom line: I remain a fan of Emma Watson. We may not always agree, but I appreciate her individuality. Emma is indeed something special.

No Excuses is yet another familiar sounding track from Meghan Trainor. It's time she raised her game.

Meghan Trainor's latest single, No Excuses, is proving to be another major hit for her. As you would expect it to be - radio friendly, catchy, and all that.

It also sounds familiar. Overly familiar, to be honest. I mean, firstly it's just more of her usual style. It reminds me too much of No (2016), for example. Or Dear Future Husband (2014). I do like her style, but perhaps it's time she introduced a bit of variation. Secondly, it also sounds too much like the generic radio-friendly upbeat song, which means you get tired of it after a short while. She's been a musician for several years now, I really hope she can take her game to the next level, to be honest.

Don't get me wrong though, No Excuses is actually quite good. The TaraElla song I would choose to go with it is The Real World is Overrated. It has the same upbeat style, plus both songs manage to complain about something and yet sound happy about it. If only every time somebody whinged about something in real life, they could sound this happy.

With Heaven (from Fifty Shades Freed), Julia Michaels has proven that she is no One Hit Wonder.

Last year, Julia Michaels burst onto the scene with her debut single Issues. Well written both lyrically and musically, it quickly became popular. It also introduced us to Julia's superb vocals. However, her next two hits were, in my humble opinion, much less spectacular. I was ready to put Julia Michaels down for a one hit wonder, to be honest.

But the release of the Fifty Shades Freed movie earlier this year brought us yet another Julia Michaels song, Heaven. And this one was surprisingly good. I mean, it's far from my usual style, but even I can appreciate it. Her vocals were really suitable too. And while the song's version of heaven is definitely NOT my version of heaven, it sounds really good, especially if you ignore the lyrics (which I don't agree with, sorry).

As for the TaraElla song I would pick to go with Heaven, I guess I'll go for a strong contrast, picking The Princess's Spirit. I mean, Heaven sounds very dark, and The Princess's Spirit is pure light. Also, while Heaven may be some people's version of heaven, The Princess's Spirit is close to my version of heaven.

Was Katy Perry a bad friend? I don't think you can judge her this way, seriously.

Apparently, Katy Perry can't even remember the face and name of her friend. This apparently means she's a really bad friend, some are saying.

In a recent interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, one of Katy Perry's old friends was there on the show to give her a surprise. Before the friend came on, Kimmel asked Katy to identify her friend from a choice of six pictures - which Katy got right the second time. However, she also got the name of the friend wrong.

Well, to be fair, it's an old friend from years ago. So you'd have to forgive her, right?

You seriously don't expect celebrities to be perfect people, do you? Celebrities actually live in the real world too. I mean, nothing in the real world is ever perfect.

Medicine must be one of the best Kelly Clarkson songs ever. Seriously.

For me, A Moment Like This will always be the best Kelly Clarkson song. However, Medicine should come close, or at least not too far behind.

I mean, the songs sound very different: A Moment Like This was a slower ballad, and Medicine is very upbeat. But they are both passionate and emotional. And passion and emotion make for great songs. Medicine also has the more interesting lyrics: saying that a bad relationship is 'not my medicine' is surely quite a novel way of putting it. The question is, will this saying catch on in the wider world?

As for the TaraElla song I would pick to go with Medicine, it's a difficult choice, but Not That Kind Of Retro is the one that comes to mind. I mean, both have the 'not' factor: 'I'm not that kind of retro' vs 'you're not my medicine'. Both are novel sayings, as we don't (yet) hear both phrases being widely used in everyday life. Both are also upbeat songs.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence was Nice. But maybe I was Wrong.

I always thought that Jennifer Lawrence was one of the nicest people in the entertainment industry. But maybe I was fooled.

Her recent feud with reality TV star Lala Kent was, well, an unpleasant surprise. And it appears that J Law started it herself, by saying bad things about Lala on the Andy Cohen show.

Very disappointing indeed. Now I don't really know if J Law is really nice (except towards a few people), or just plain fake.

By the way, can't we all just get along? Can't there just be more, love, around us?

Happy New Year

Here's wishing you all a happy 2018!