Rooskin – Long For Nothing (I Got You)
We all know what musicians can achieve when it feels like the whole world is against them. You don’t even have to personally know one of these hard-done-by artists. Most of the music biographies that are out now, and that Hollywood will continue wanting to put out in the following years, begin with the scene of your favourite rockstar staring despairingly towards the sky.
But what about the musicians who are filled with confidence? What about those few artists who get all of the validation from the world that they could have ever desired? Surely, they’re more likely to produce material that can inspire the world in the same way that a person leading a healthy lifestyle is more likely to be beneficial to those in their community.
Miles Davis famously said that he never considered playing the blues (not really!) because he’d had a wealthy father and a good-looking mother. Rooskin come from a similar street of privilege on “Long For Nothing (I Got You)” and they feel no shame in enjoying the Summer or using up all of the energy and confidence that audiences have given the group. At the end of the day, who’s going to say “No!” to a lovely Summer drive jingle?
Calista Garcia – Entertaining Children During Wartime
Nobody wants to start any trouble. Not any more. Not since they’ve seen what happened to the last pop stars who did it. They ended up in court, or worse, being mocked by millions on some sleezy social media platform.
With so much at stake, the majority of modern pop stars just put their head down, learn their dance moves and go and collect their checks at the end of the day. But if courage is what worked for the likes of Sinead O’Connor, it is what Calista Garcia seeks to find for her own music.
The fact is that pop songs are never just pop songs. People may think that they can just hear and forget them. Cynical critics may think that they’re disposable. But pop songs travel the world, define eras, and, for the most part, are the only thing that kids will be open to hearing. Why not load them up with some truths?
It’s not safe to compare artists, I know. But allow me one exception when I say that if you’re wondering what Taylor Swift might sound like were she to acquire a cause and a sense of humour, it is likely that she’d sound a lot like Calista Garcia’s “Entertaining Children During Wartime.” This is a lovely pop song that acknowledges the fact that it’s written and delivered to the world in a time when so much is going so wrong for so many.
The pop stars who appeared at all those benefits during the 1980s didn’t disappear. They were paid off! Thankfully, that’s not possible with someone like Calista Garcia.
