Musical perception in 2022: Is music dead?

Musical perception: Is music dead?Music expert Rick Beato recently posted a video, “Why Gen Z Doesn’t Care About Music,” offering his opinion on young people’s relative disinterest in music compared to previous generations. He cautions that his view is a generalization. Many young people still care about music, of course. But he cites a preoccupation with video games as the main culprit in the demise of musical perception. With its focus on visuals and its addictive quality, he believes it leaves little room for other pursuits. He formed this opinion after talking to plenty of Gen Z youth and observing their habits. I don’t know whether this is accurate or not, but I do know there has been a qualitative shift. The most interesting facet is the comments that viewers have posted. Continue reading →

The 10 most beautiful, melodic languages

beautiful languagesChoosing the most beautiful languages poses a challenge. First of all, “beautiful” is a subjective term. What appeals to one person may not appeal to another. Secondly, the profusion of closely related languages makes it difficult to choose only one representative from a group. Finally, who among us has heard every language on earth to be able to winnow the list down to the top ten? For my list, I picked ten especially melodic languages. I present them alphabetically rather than ranked. Some of these are tonal, where shifts in pitch change the meaning of words and automatically produce a musical shape. Others have evolved especially mellifluous structures and sounds. Obviously, different speakers will have different vocal qualities, so these choices are based on generalizations. My concept of “beautiful” incorporates three qualities: Continue reading →

Shake up your sexy with Lovesexy Cocktail Guide

Lovesexy Cocktail GuideI love the idea of a cocktail inspired by a Prince song. Lovesexy CockTail Guide contains 138 recipes celebrating the songs of Prince. Not only does the guide feature luscious drinks, but each beverage is paired with gorgeous digital art representing Prince, along with brief commentary on the corresponding song. You’ll find obvious faves (Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret) but also lesser known gems (Beautiful Strange, White Mansion). The guide’s convenient alphabetical arrangement makes it easy to locate a song. Continue reading →

Lil Nas X infringing on copyright left and right

Lil Nas XEarlier this year, Lil Nas X and the company MSCHF produced a line of limited-run shoes in tandem with his song “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).” These so-called Satan Shoes contained a drop of human blood and sold out within an hour. Unfortunately, MSCHF had simply modified pairs of Nike Air Max 97s, thus prompting a lawsuit by Nike for copyright infringement. Lil Nas X already had the dreaded “copyright infringement” tag hanging on his name for his 2018 song “Carry On.” Three months later, in October 2019, came another infringement lawsuit for his 2019 song “Rodeo.” What’s going on? Continue reading →