(Which I guess I always am, which is a good thing, in my book.)
I am always on the lookout for new good music, new good videos, and new good dancey songs. I was reading in Entertainment Weekly's "25 songs to download before Grammy Night" and I was curious about a few of them. Number 5 on that list is Ana Tijoux's "Shock." The descriptor states "This Chilean-French MC...raps en espanol, laying her seductive staccato rhymes over violins and Latin brass. Don't worry if you don't understand the words: It's probably just Spanish for 'sexiest South American hip-hop record ever.'"
I love sexy ladies! It's probably a club song.
Let's find the video.
Wait. That's not sexy. That's political and important. What are the lyrics?
A selection:
Venom: your monologues,
your colorless speeches,
you don't see that we AREN'T alone,
millions from pole to pole!To the sound of a single chorus,
we will march with the tone,
with the conviction that THE THIEVING STOPS!!Your state of control,
your corrupt throne of gold,
your politics and your wealth,
and your treasure, no.The hour has struck, the hour has struck
We will allow NO MORE, no more your doctrine of shock
Courtesy of LyricsTranslate.com
Wow. Okay.
So Entertainment Weekly COULD have talked about the political importance of Ana Tijoux, or her lyrical smarts, or that she's been praised for "exploring sensitive matters devoid of violence", a fact I found on a 2-second Wikipedia search. Or watched any of her videos to see that more appropriate words to describe her are "powerful" "strong" and "badass."
Instead, they LITERALLY brushed all of that off, and chose to praise her for being sexy.
I wonder how Ms. Tijoux would feel about that being the message that a major publication is putting out about her and her music.
Poor form, Entertainment Weekly. Poor form.
