They Say "Twerk Twerk Twerk". I Say "No No No".

Oh god, it’s happening everywhere! I see a bunch of girls (and guys) wearing “booty” shorts and doing this god awful trend on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. People do this on the floor and shockingly on the wall. I see a rap artist wearing a thong in this position on her album cover. I also see it happening on TV by a pop singer with short hair who seems to be dancing in her underwear with a foam finger. Lastly, and most unfortunately, this is occurring in Taylor Swift’s latest music video. This is such a tragedy! If you haven’t guessed yet, this trend I’m talking about is called twerking. 

So what exactly is twerking? Well, according to Oxford Dictionaries, a twerk is defined as a dance where “sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance” occurs. Generally, this type of dance is associated with rap music; for example, Nicki Minaj’s song and video Anaconda is about girls with “fat asses” twerking in short shorts and thongs. Not so shockingly, this trend has leaked to other music genres like pop. Miley Cyrus decides to twerk during her controversial performance at the 2013 VMA Awards. Twerking has also occurred in Taylor Swift’s Shake it off video. This was devistating because her videos don’t normally consist of these behaviors. Lastly, these artists suggest that twerking is cool which explains why people are posting themselves doing this on social media!

So why would I care about twerking so much? I’m mostly concerned about the younger generation. An article states that twerking is usually associated with strip clubs and prostitutes. It could also be an invitation to sex. Since teenagers see twerking performed by their favorite artists, they will copy them because it looks cool. This is dangerous because if these kids start twerking in videos or public places, they will catch someone’s attention in a wrong and sexual way. In order to prevent kids from twerking, the article states that some schools enforce “face to face with space” dancing at school dances. I think it’s good that schools created this rule. If you were a parent and had a daughter, would you want to see her twerking in front of some random guy? I definitely wouldn’t. 

Although I’m totally against twerking, I’m aware we can’t make it go away. Unfortunately, it has become a part of popular culture. People are going to continue twerking. A normal argument they have for anybody who speculates against them is “Fuck the haters!” – sorry for the language. We’ll have to except the fact that sexuality continues to be an element in pop music and other genres. Although twerking seems to be inescapable, you have the power ignore it. Just look away.  

Music Taste Is Something "Learned" From Others

As a child, I remember it all too well. The year was 1999. I remember seeing videos of people standing around an airplane, and then all of a sudden, these people were in a haunted house and turned into hideous dancing monsters. I remember that there were five people in this group.  This group had five distinct voices that sang the most beautiful harmonies. They had songs about fire, love, and heartbreak. I remember seeing pictures of these people all over my sisters’ rooms: on the door, on the wall, and even the ceiling. I remember my sisters asked me which one of these people were the cutest; they also asked me which song I liked the most. Lastly, I remember that they were my favorite music band because of my sisters liked them. This band was known as the Backstreet Boys. 

Now that my little anecdote is over, let’s talk discuss. When I was in elementary school, my favorite pop music band was the Backstreet Boys. Since I was just a kid, I didn’t know much about popular culture and the world around me. I just knew about the things that my sisters liked. They were obsessed with the Backstreet Boys, much like my obsession with Taylor Swift. They always had me listening to their music and watching their music videos. Since I grew up with my sisters my whole life, their interests inspired many of mine that I have today. The point of this story is to suggest that music taste is influenced by your peers and others around you. 

Sociologist Matthew Salganik and his colleagues decided to do a study where a group people would have to listen to a song and decide if they liked and would download it. Salganik also had another group where they could see only how many times the songs were downloaded. With this group, they could determine if the people downloaded a song without listening to it just because its popularity. Both groups determined the good and bad songs, but the researchers found that the highest rating songs would be the ones that received the most downloads. This study shows a fantastic example that people’s influences can impact your own. The study is also, however, not always true. 

Some people may claim that their music taste is completely original and not influenced by anyone else’s opinions (example: hipsters). I understand that people have the choice to like something that might be different from everybody else. Just because a song is very popular and has good ratings and thousands of downloads doesn’t mean that you have to like it. You may hate the song because you think it sucks. Whatever style you have, whether popular or unpopular, is great because it’s describes your personality and who you are. It makes you, you!

So going back to my Backstreet Boys story, I couldn’t image how different my life would be if I wasn’t exposed to pop music at a young age. If I didn’t have my sisters around, I’m sure I would’ve developed music taste on my own or from peers at school. Imagine if I turned into a rap lover or a screamo death metal lover instead of a Swiftie. I’m not saying that these genres are bad, but things could’ve been different if I had other influences at a young age.

Gender Stereotypes In Music Suck

Gentlemen, have you ever been told that something you like is too girly, and that it’s “gay” for you to like it? Ladies, do any of you have any interests that are more “masculine”, and are considered not feminine enough? If any of you ask yourself these questions, you might think that gender stereotypes can be really annoying. Just because you have an interest that’s slightly different than the norm of your gender, why should you be criticized for liking it? Sometimes, this is how I feel about my passion for pop music. 

Throughout the pop music industry, most of the singers assigned to this genre are female singers. For example, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga are some of the biggest names in the pop industry. Each of these girls has songs that “touch listeners by making them want to dance, have an honest message deliver, and doing it in a way that keeps the listeners involved and interested.” For instance, with Lady Gaga, most of her songs make you want to dance around and convey a message. These songs are quite fun to dance and sing around to. 

However, a guy who only listens to pop music is not considered masculine. I noticed a pattern that my guy friends tend to listen to a lot of rap and rock songs while my girl friends favor pop songs. After spending time sampling other music genres such as rap, this genre has different sounds and meanings compared to pop songs. Sometimes with rap songs, I have no idea what they are saying. Without knowing what they’re saying, you can’t possibly come up with a meaning. Perhaps men like this music type because the beats are more masculine as opposed to some of the “bubble gum” pop songs that we hear today. This is unfortunate there’s an assumption that only girls should listen to pop songs.

So do I ever let this stereotype get to me? Of course not! I may listen to rap music sometimes because my friends like it, but I’m not going to abandon pop music. I think my love for pop music makes me different than most guys. Also, I’m not going to stop liking it just because it may not be something normal for a guy to like. I want to stress that it’s okay to be different and you have the power to step out of your gender stereotype.  

A New Anthem For The Gay Community

Monday. October 27th 2014. Midnight. At this time, the most exciting thing will happen in the history of pop music. Taylor Swift's first official pop album 1989 will release! During my last few posts, I gave some mixed feelings about the album, but overall I’m super ecstatic about her new sound and beat. I realize that this might not be so exciting for some of you, but for my fellow Swifties, this day will be the start of a new era.


During the last two weeks, Taylor released a few of the songs from the album. In one of the songs, she offers insight on something that she has never fully addressed before in her previous songs. She announces that she is an advocate for gay rights.


Welcome To New York is the first song on the album that depicts the feeling of arriving in the bright, hustling and bustling New York City. Taylor originally lived in smaller towns such as Wyomissing,Pennsylvania and Hendersonville, Tennessee. Moving to a larger city such as NYC is a great change. She mentions that there are new sites, different people, and bigger opportunities to take in and be a part of. You probably wouldn't find these things in small country bumpkin towns. In the second verse of the song, she mentions that “you can want who you want” including “boys and boys and girls and girls”. At first I didn’t really think much about these lyrics, but after stumbling upon some research, I read that these simple lyrics have a greater meaning.


According to an online news article from time.com, Welcome To New York is considered a new anthem for the gay community. The article mentions that the song isn’t about a “cry for marriage equality or an end to bullying”. This is true because the lyrics don’t talk about these specific topics. Instead, the message conveys the thought that you have the freedom to love anybody that you want. It’s okay if a guy has a boyfriend and, it’s okay for a girl to have a girlfriend. Throughout her discography, Taylor only wrote songs that depicted heterosexual relationships. I was surprised that she stepped out usual story of a boy girl relationship.


So why would I care if Taylor writes a song about gay rights? Well, since I believe that I’ve been personal with some stories throughout my posts, I will admit that I am gay. I like guys. According to Taylor, this is something that’s okay.  I really appreciate her for writing about something that, sometimes, can be an issue in my life. Some people judge others who are in homosexual relationships because this is not a norm for society. It’s true that it is widely accepted, but there are still naysayers. In this new era, Taylor addresses that you can be in any type of relationship that you want and that you should ignore the people who prevent you from having something that you want.


On that note, I suggest that you all should listen to Welcome To New York and see if you get the message about Taylor Swift supporting gay rights. It’s a truly euphoric feeling when you see that your favorite artist supports a kind of lifestyle that you live. After hearing this song, I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album now more than ever.

Taylor Swift Doesn't Only Write Breakup Songs

So if you guys know anything about Taylor Swift, you probably just think, “Oh, all she does is write a bunch of breakup songs.” People around me always say this phrase, and it just irritates me. Yes, I’ll admit that I become very defensive if anyone talks trash about Taylor Swift. I can’t explain why, but I’m always like, “Don’t you dare talk about my girl like that.” Anyway, I’m ranting just because I want to show you, my fellow readers, that Taylor doesn’t just only write about breakup songs.

I’m sure many of you are saying, “So what, who cares? I don’t care about Taylor Swift, so why should I read this?” Well, I’m sure most of you have a favorite artist and would hate to have anybody talk trash about them. What if I told you that your favorite artist is stupid and has the worst songs ever? You probably would get defensive and wouldn’t like me at all. When my friends call Taylor a “swifter mop” or a horse, I just let it go and pretend I didn’t hear anything. 

So now that I got that out of the way, let’s talk about some of her songs that aren’t about breaking up. From her first album, she has a song called Tied Together With A Smile. In this song, she talks about her friend who is suffering from bulimia. She wonders about how someone so beautiful can have so much pain. In a song called Ronan, she sings a song about a four-year-old boy who dies from cancer. In her most recent song called Shake It Off, she sings about that it’s okay if you don’t fit in with everybody else and that you should express yourself even though you don’t look “cool”. Two out of three of these songs are not very popular and well known songs. I feel like her most popular songs seem to be about her relationships and breaking up. 

So the next time you hear the name, Taylor Swift, don’t think about the term “breaking up”. It’s important to know that she likes to sing about her feelings and life events. I guarantee that you will find a song that you like that isn’t about breaking up with someone. Who knows, you might even become a full blown Swiftie.