MUSIC
marriage to Russell Brand.
We can believe her having to find her gutsy roar
and ability to stand up for
who she is.
But somehow, her conviction gets lost in her new
single “Roar” (released
September
5,
2013),
which lacks the unaffected, heart-felt candour we
once found in her earlier
work, regardless of her
jungle attire.
Perhaps it is because
she has lost touch with
her roots or perhaps
it is because her single touches a universal theme that some
accuse her of copying a less famous artist,
Sara Bareilles, who sings
about similar issues in
her single “Brave”. Yet
the alleged steal is not
as overt as Roar’s direct
melodic reference to the
Lumineers song “Ho Hey”,
which surprisingly, no critics have expressed. All
the attention seems to be
on Sara.
Whether plagiarism was
intentional or not in Perry’s
songwriting crew, we will
never know. What both
artists share is an exploration of issues about selflove and self-confidence
-- and that is hands down
a healthier direction for
their teenybopper fans
than listening to any
bump and grind.
But no one artist has hit
a soul-filled, roaring ex-
pression out of the park
recently more magnificently than Macklemore.
When he shares his bold
and courageous rhymes
with listeners through his
new hit single “Same
Love”, the world is drawn
to stillness and people are
brought to their knees.
Macklemore shook things
up through his hit single
“Thrift Shop”, released
earlier in 2012, encouraging people to look at
material goods differently when shopping. A
thrift shop was to this artist a land of opportunities:
someone else’s garbage
was another man’s treasure.
In “Same Love”, he
once again asks us to
question and rethink
our preconceived notions about life, helping people realize that
gay love is no different than straight love
and is not something
one can change. Despite his rise to fame,
he continues to bare
his soul in a provocative and evolving way.
May his creativity continue to grow and may other artists be inspired by his
grounded sense of self.