Music for a blissful state of mind

I've been feeling rather good lately. 
I had an amazing trip overseas, cut off my hair, got into my dream film school, turned 19 and I've been having a wonderful time catching up with friends, watching movies and reading since I've been back home. 
And of course, being the movie nerd that I am, I like to soundtrack my life. So here is what the soundtrack sounds like currently:

Saola - Beat Connection ♫

The Palace Garden, 4am - Beat Connection ♫

Rather Be - Clean Bandit (feat. Jess Glynne) ♫

Arrows - Fences (feat. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis) ♫

Fall At Your Feet - Saint Raymond ♫

The Obvious Child - Paul Simon ♫

Foreigner's God - Hozier ♫

Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac ♫

Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran ♫

Taylor Swift's 1989 album (I couldn't possibly pick one song) 

Close to Me - The Cure ♫

Free Fallin' - Tom Petty (I like to re-enact the scene from Jerry Maguire when I'm driving...) ♫

All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem ♫

Sight of the Sun - Fun. ♫

Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed ♫

5 Things

These past few weeks I have been feeling less than great. Between the incessant coughing and the rate that I go through tissues, it's safe to say that I am sick of being sick. 

As I have been spending most of my time holed up in bed/on the couch there have been a few things that have kept me entertained, as comfortable as possible and managed to put a smile on my unwell little face.

Here are five of those things:

1. This interview with Samira Wiley and Danielle Brooks from Orange is the New Black.

2. This book 

 3. Hot drinks: everything from hot chocolates, coffee, hot water and lemon, chamomile tea, English breakfast tea...

4. Warm, fuzzy socks: these are my Yankees socks that I got from New York

5. This song: A work colleague recently reminded me of Jose Gonzalez's brilliant cover of The Knife's Heartbeats and this remix is wicked.

~ Sophie ~

The Songs and Sex Conundrum

In Lorde's song 'Team' she sings the line "I'm kinda over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there..." which I believe is an ingenious comment on many (but not all) 'hit' songs today.

'Hit' songs are those ones that are always on mainstream radio, television, in the iTunes or Billboard charts. And I have to preface this post by saying THEY ARE NOT ALL BAD. I'm not one of those people that says "mainstream music is just so bad it's all autotune and no one has any real talent, indie music is where it's at blah blah hipster blah" because that's not true. 
But if there is one thing I absolutely despise about many 'hit' songs is the same old boring, sexist messages they project that, quite frankly, I am sick and tired of hearing.

The basic topics these songs cover are:
1. Trying to get laid
2. Women/men knowing that a person wants sex 
3. Women/men being good at sex
4. Sex in general
5. Being/wanting to be naked
6. Drinking alcohol
7. Hot women/men
8. Hot women/men in clubs
9. Dancing in clubs
10. Drinking in clubs
11. Being in clubs in general
12. 'Good times' (whatever they are)


Some recent examples of said topics:

"You need it, you want it
All over your body
This loving I'm giving
It's worth more than money"
Wild Wild Love- Pitbull featuring G.R.L - #10 on Australian iTunes chart
(Look if I listed every sexist Pitbull lyrics we would be here for a while)

"Face down, booty up...
...That's the way we like to–what?...
I'm slicker than an oil spill...
She say she won't, but I bet she will"
Timber- Pitbull featuring Ke$ha- #1 Billboard Hot 100 for 3 Consecutive Weeks

"You're playin' it cool right now
But I'm in the mood so I'll be hanging around
You know I can read, your mind
'Cause your eyes, they keep on askin' for somethin'
Tonight it's going down
No-one else around
I'll be on top of the world, when I'm on top of you girl
Ain't no doubt about it
I know you want it now"
On Top- Johnny Ruffo- Peaked at #14 on ARIA Singles Chart
 (Looks like Blurred Lines took a thing or two from these lyrics about sex *ahem* rape)

"Yeah I make love don't fight,
This feeling you're my type and if you want it come get it so we can go all night.
Singing wooooah, Till the AM,
Wooooah, Getting wasted...
...All the fellas came here to party,
All the ladies came to get naughty,
With the good times bout to get started,
Everybody shake shake ya body."
Everybody- Justice Crew- Peaked at #6 on ARIA Singles Chart

"So let's get undressed
Cause you look a little lonely...

...Cause I wanna see you naked"
 Undressed- Kim Cesarion- Currently #12 on Australian iTunes chart

"I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it...
...But you're a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty"
Blurred Lines- Robin Thicke featuring T.I and Pharrell- #1 in the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 Consective Weeks
(I am guilty of dancing many a time to the catchy beat of this song but since properly reading the lyrics I will dance no longer)

What is almost as bad as the topics themselves is the fact that I believe it is just lazy songwriting. It's all been said a million times before so just like Lorde said she is tired of being told to throw her hands up in the air, I'm tired of hearing songs about the same old sex-oriented topics.
 
But something I've noticed in the iTunes charts and on music television, is the growing number of 'hit' songs that don't project any such message. It has been refreshing to see artists write and perform music about something other than sex.

Here are a few examples of these non-sex-oriented songs, something I would like to hear a whole lot more of:

Rude- Magic!- 
Peaked at #2 on the ARIA Singles Chart

Happy- Pharrell Williams-
Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100

Brave- Sara Bareilles
Currently #4 on Australian iTunes Chart

Free- Rudimental featuring Emeli Sande
Peaked at #5 on the ARIA Singles Chart

Royals- Lorde
Reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of 9 Weeks

Best Day of My Life- American Authors
Peaked at #10 on the ARIA Singles Chart

 

Wake Me Up- Avicii & Aloe Blacc
 Reached #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart

What do you think of the songs and sex conundrum?