“I Feel Like Dancing” by Jason Mraz, Friday, June 30, 2023

Before "Shape of You," Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" was an inescapable song that I couldn't stand. "I'm Yours" reached its peak popularity in 2008 and early 2009 in terms of radio play. But I was still listening to Tooth & Nail CDs at that time. But I certainly didn't miss out on the song. Because the song was relatively clean it was played in college and in middle and high school when I was student teaching. It was one of those annoying songs along with "Hey, Soul Sister" that the ukulele cover squads would play along with Mumford & Sons covers on the promenade walking to class. 

EVEN IF IT'S RAINING, I'M NOT COMPLAINING. In Korea, "I'm Yours" fever carried on into the mid-'10s. Not a day at the beach could end without passing by five buskers performing the pseudo-reggae tune. Again, I hated that annoying song with its ridiculous made-up words, but thanks to friends in college, I had the opportunity to listen to other songs from Jason Mraz, and I quite liked them. And of course, I loved "I Won't Give Up," which showed a deeper emotional quality in Mraz's songwriting. Probably a big reason why Mraz was so popular in Korea had to do with the fact that he was one of a handful of pop musicians to perform here. I remember seeing him on a singer-songwriter festival bill on Nami Island (남이섬) located in the rural outskirts of Chuncheon (춘천) east of Seoul. Mraz showed an appreciation for his Korean audience, bringing his world tour to Korea whenever he could and even performed on Saturday Night Live Korea. Of course, Jason Mraz's popularity dwindled in the '10s without a hit to follow "I Won't Give Up." Pop music moved on, but Jason Mraz's sound stayed virtually and became a more mature version of his earlier music.

MAYBE TOO MUCH COFFEE DID IT.  Nothing really drew me back to Jason Mraz's music. I enjoyed listening to Yes! one day in a coffee shop in 2014. I listened to interviews and he came into my news feed from time to time, especially when he came out as bi in 2018. There was a podcast I listened to in which he talked about organic farming and being the stoner version of a Sesame Street character. But then "I Feel Like Dancing" came into my YouTube feed. The neo-disco tune uses wordplay and has all of the energy that made him famous for "I'm Yours," just awkwardly fifteen years later. The song will turn around any bad day and make you feel like dancing, even if you're in a place where it's terribly inappropriate. But the song does give me embarrassing "Dad, please stop!" vibes. I can't shake the feeling that I'm witnessing jean shorts, fanny packs, knee socks, and sandals. Yikes! While this year's Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride didn't chart on Billboard's 200 Albums nor has it spawned a charting hit (not even "I Feel Like Dancing"), I wouldn't be surprised if there was some late resurgence for Mraz's popularity. But then again, you don't need to be popular to dance!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Photograph" Ed Sheeran, Saturday, February 3, 2024 (updated repost)

Image
  Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record.  LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
Read more

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

"All of Me Wants All of You" (Helado Negro Remix) by Sufjan Stevens, Sunday, February 27, 2022

Image
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
Read more