Posts by Robyn Gallagher
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Over on Twitter, Judith Collins tries really hard to celebrate Lorde's number one:
@JudithCollinsMP Lorde hits No1 on US Billboard chart RT...Great news and she keeps her clothes on too.
It's probably intended as a diss against Miley Cyrus, but let's not forget that Kimbra wasn't wearing any clothes in the video for the global hit "Somebody That I Used to Know". Oh, Judith.
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This piece would have been a lot stronger if you'd deleted the first six paragraphs. 250 words to say that you don't care about Lorde? I'd rather just read about the rockquest!
It’s proof that New Zealand’s Got Far More Talent than silly TV shows would have you believe.
And then...
It’s hard to compare his against his ‘competition’, Khona Va’aga-Gray from McAuley High in Manukau. “I wrote this song for a dear friend of mine,” she began, “who just celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary.” Her Nana? No, a primary school teacher, “and this is about the journey that love takes.” I have chills remembering those words, followed as they were by a soulful, heart-felt original piece.
Interestingly enough, Khona made it to the second day of Bootcamp on The X Factor. I'm glad she's gone on to even better successes.
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Normally with Sir Bob's ravings, you can just dismiss them as deliberate provocations of an attention-seeker who loves shit-stirring. But then I read Dylan's jury experience and I think, no, this isn't the same as Sir Bob saying he doesn't respect people who wear sunglasses on their heads. There will be people who read his column and think, yeah, he has a good point. It's those same people who could easily end up on a jury. And what if at the next trial there aren't other jurors who are as firm in their stance as Dylan and the other two jurors at that trial. How depressing.
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'Royals' is catchy, yes, but also weirdly stark and restrained compared to almost everything else you'll hear on pop radio.
You know who else has this sound? Kanye bloody West. Yeezus is stark-as, which was apparently an underground thing in hip hop about a year ago, with Kanye bringing it into the mainstream. But it's a big jump to go from serious hip hop to the world of teen pop - but that's what Lorde 'n' Little have done. I suspect we'll hear similar production used on even more mainstream (but dull) pop in the next year, which will at least make a change from the excesses of EDM.
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The story itself is tremendous: authentic, insightful and, I think, the best thing Duncan's written.
It's brilliant writing. Like, as far as longform music journalism goes, it's RollingStone quality. Sometimes it's sad thinking about the state of the music press in New Zealand, but then stuff like this happens and it's clear that good music writing is alive and well.
I was inspired by a quote from the interview where Lorde talked about not having NZ On Air funding for her music videos, saying the NZOA logo as "negative power" for her generation. So I had a think about what the logo signifies and wrote down my thoughts.
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Hard News: Friday Music: The Story, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
The bloke on Jools Holland last night was Willy Moon. Anyone know anything about him?
He was born in NZ but moved to London when he was 18 and that's where his music career has been based. He's not part of the NZ music scene. He has this one song that was used in an international iTune commercial, which you might recognise.
He was also the first guest performer on The X Factor NZ which prompted a flood of "hu iz he? neva heard ov him. get maisy rika" on The X Factor's Facebook page. I'm tempted to call him a one-hit wonder, but who knows what the future will bring.
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It occurs to me that people with an eating disorder will find excuses not to eat, whether or not there are food-deprivation-based charity events. For example, in the UK at the moment, the "5:2" fasting diet is very popular. It's based on the idea that you fast for two days a week, eat normally for the other five. There is a bit of science behind it, but I'm sure for other people the appeal is it being - wahey! - a socially acceptable excuse not to eat. "No chips for me, thanks - this is one of my fasting days."
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As a pleasing postscript, Duncan Grieve's longform profile on Lorde in the October Metro is well worth a read. Partly he wonders the same thing that Sweetman wondered - is it really possible for a 16-year-old to have achieved all this without being a puppet? The answer: hell yes. There's also a delicious description of Lorde's reaction to the Sweetman 'review' - which I won't spoil. The girl is on top.
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Donating to support PA feels good!
I'm very excited about foody posts. I've been doing a lot of cooking in the past year or so (when previously I did not cook) so I'm well into it as a topic of interest. Hurry up and get that food blog happening!
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Weight loss was the goal of the girls at my school and I am pretty sure that there were very few of them gave a sweet damn about the poor, hungry kids they were supposed to be helping.
Bloody hell. I feel so naive reading this. I did the 40 Hour Famine a few times when I was at school (aged 11-14) and it never occurred to me that I could use the not-eating as a weightloss tactic. In fact, my memory of it is being thrilled at all the Just Juice and barley sugars I'd be able to have during the weekend. And then there was the particularly dark 40 Hour Famine of 1987 where I snuck off and had a Creme Egg - cruelly, the Creme Egg selling period always coincided with 40 Hour Famine weekend. But the idea of being slimmer at the end of the weekend? It didn't even cross my mind. On the other hand, helping starving children wasn't a big concern of mine either.
I like that the 40 Hour Famine now lets people deprive themselves of things other than food - like no internet for 40 hours. That's a lot more sensible.