feels like saving the world

Oh. My. God. Becky.  Have you heard what's been playing on the radio these days?  America, wtf!  Enrique Iglesias' song I Like It - you know, the theme to the Jersey Shore where Enrique dazzles us with his penchant for it - is number three on the charts!  Well sir, I'd like it if I could make it to work without having to pull over and stuff my ears with cotton to stop the Hot 99.5-induced bleeding.

Despite the radio's best efforts - baby got back!  I found a real gem of a song - Feels Like Saving The World by Outlandish.

So far today - just on this computer - I've listened to it 23 times, which does not include this morning, when I put the video on repeat and danced stupidly around my room.  I'm 100% obsessed.  Only 160 more plays until we dethrone Miss Taylor Swift's Love Story (a black mark in my iTunes history - stupid crushes).

Hmm … how to describe this song … well, for starters the beat sounds eerily similar to Nelly Furtado’s Say It Right and there’s a little bit of rap … none of that back.seat.windows.up ... more “I could listen to this in front of my boss and not blush” rap.  About 30 seconds in, things start to get interesting … I don’t want to ruin all the twists and turns … however don’t take their use of mercy and rise as a sign that Feels Like Saving the World is Jars of Clay dressed up in a Timbaland mask.  And before you get started, know it’s not all hip-hoppy; I could completely see one of our hot little acappella groups breaking it down and hopefully directing this line my way:  

Sugar, sugar I was dreaming last night about you

Oh new song, I was dreaming about you too!  But where do we place this little ditty?  It’s as if Spanish hip-hop, all dolled up in a leopard-print dress and last season’s Snooki hair, walked up to The Fray and said “You tryin’ to smoosh right now?”.  Turns out Outlandish is an award-winning Danish rap group who have been around since 1997.  Ugh I totally missed out on this boat!  And good thing they don’t live in America or else these Moroccan-Pakistani-Cuban-Hondurans would have had a tough time filling out the ethnicity question on their Census form.

Ok stop reading and start listening.  Let's make America a little musically cultured.  Oh and don't listen to this song once.  Listen to it twice ... or 159 times.  You can borrow my computer.

little secrets

I know a thing or two about manners.  The mere thought of calling your parents by their .. first .. name .. makes my stomach tighten. As your guest, I will promptly pull the sheets off the bed at the end of my stay and can guarantee a thoughtful thank you card within three days of your favor.  I even earned the Girl Scout Manners badge in record time!  We could pretend that, as a Southerner, I was born with these habits; that in utero, they were implanted deep within my fibers among pools of sweet tea and cornbread.  Nope.  In 1992, while you were enjoying a bounty of Peeps and Mini Cadbury Eggs, my Easter basket was filled with 856 pages of Emily Post's Guide to Etiquette.  Nice way to blow your bunny cover, mom.
Maggie definitely got a Barbie.

But these days I've been obsessed with Manners, Passion Pit's first full length album.  Since the inception of this little project, I've had so many of my musical muses (Roman, Lindsay, Johnny, Kev) tell me I need to immediately sample this slice of american electronica heaven.  This genre gets a lot of play on my JesusPhone thanks to The Postal Service, but even if you're new to the area I bet you've unknowingly bopped your head to The Reeling and Sleepyhead while watching The Hills' stock footage of leggy, unbalanced lady-swarms.  Want to impress your friends?  The not-so-secret fan favorite on this album is Little Secrets.

I know in my first post I banned secrets - let's throw them to the wind with our padded spinning shorts and protein shakes!  But truth be told, I have all kinds of little secrets and now with this song I basically have a musical enabler.  Granted when you first hear this song, you're going to think Passion Pit lived the first years of its life in a clown car (I did), but give the track a few seconds and you'll be thinking the same thing:

Let this be our little secret
No one needs to know we're feeling

But I do know what you're feeling! You love this song because it indulges so many of the reasons you hit play (and repeat) in the first place- your mood is lightened, you're intrigued by all the little noises coming together so perfectly ... and if you're me, you want to put on your favorite pair of legwarmers and make more secrets just so that you can sing about them.

I'm sure these were not the kind of manners Emily Post would prefer, but if she wanted to keep herself and her girdle current, she'd better download this song stat.