(Almost) Everybody Loves Pop Music.

Westlife.

It all started innocently enough. As I herded my girls into the car, ready for another (long) day of chauffeuring their lucky behinds to various summer camps and sports/music practices, I announced that I had downloaded a new song onto my iPod. This is a fairly unusual event, because I am pretty lost when it comes to new music. I just recently realized that I kind of like Kings of Leon. They are probably broken up by now. At least I actually have an iPod, and not just a Walkman (although I do still own boxes and boxes of tapes.) I was very excited about my new musical acquisition, and couldn't wait to share.

N: You downloaded a song? Really? What song? 

D: You better not have used the iTunes cards we got for our birthday.

After assuring them that no, I bought the song WITH MY OWN MONEY, thank you very much, I turned up the volume.

N: YOU DOWNLOADED THIS SONG???? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU TWELVE?? (No, and you aren't twelve either. Not for another two years.)

D: MOM! UGH! Turn it off!!! It's too...bouncy! UGH! STOP!!!

And on. And on.

The offending song would not be a surprise to anyone that knows me well. (Ok, ok. I will admit it. "One Thing" by One Direction. Happy? Yes! Laugh! I'm used to it.) What can I say? I am an enigma. I gravitate toward darkness. I cried through The Dark Knight Rises. I YouTube the saddest parts of my favorite (sad) movies when I need catharsis (Look! It's Katherine dying in a cave while the Count walks across the desert, trying to save her! It's Harry, besieged by the spirits of loved ones who perished trying to save his ass! It's Viola saying goodbye to Will  before she is shipped off to the Americas!). A lot of times, the music I like induces suicidal ideation. I really do like a lot of different things, and am partial to moody singer/songwriters, loud rock, and Motown. But! The music I truly love, more than anything in the world, is pop (with a special place in my heart for boy bands.)

I don't know why. I can't explain it. Anyone who scrolls through my iPod is usually horrified ("Debbie Gibson?? WTF!???!!). I don't care. I really don't. It is cheesy, and horrible, and absolutely wonderful. My cooler friends shake their heads, perplexed. One of my younger brothers, an architect who gets to spend a lot of time discovering new music WHILE WORKING, is  thoroughly disgusted by me. "You don't even try!!" he laments. (Ok, Mr. Bel Biv Devoe. You weren't always listening to obscure Icelandic bands.)

Pop music, particularly recent stuff, is pretty formulaic. Just ask the Spanish National Research Council, which, in a recent study,  discovered the genre was too loud and all sounded the same. If that's what their scientists are working on, no wonder the Spanish economy is in the toilet. But I digress. "One Thing" does sound just like the 90's staple "I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys. But there is something comforting about that formula to me, something never-endingly endearing about the inane lyrics and catchy beats, something to while away the time and make you forget, just for a moment, that wars are being fought, most of us will never have the body of an Olympic athlete, and that people are using fried chicken as a metaphorical symbol of the decline of western civilization (Chicken as Text. As if I don't have anything else to worry about.) 

So I will soldier on. I'm counting on my children to introduce me to new musical horizons, eventually. I only hope they won't disown me before then. No matter. Juice Newton will comfort me in my perpetual state of uncoolness. 

One Thing - One Direction

If I Let You Go - Westlife

Twist and Shout - The Beatles

Shape of My Heart - Backstreet Boys

The One That Got Away - Katy Perry

The End of the Road - Boyz II Men

I Think We're Alone Now - Tiffany

I Open at the Close (or, Back to Black).

Before I begin, I would like to address this photo. It is of a sign on a little side street in Spain. I am not sure what it is, really. Here are a few ideas:

1. School Zone (BORING! But probably accurate.)
2. Beware of Businessmen (in shorts?), They Steal Girl Children
3. CrossFit Class Ahead (don't they carry those kettle weight things?)

So, back to the business at hand. Thanks to my children (yes, I am blaming them), I have seen The Deathly Hallows 2 twice in the past week. At the first viewing, I sobbed so hysterically my husband started to elbow me energetically (even though he had been warned that I would be crying, and would not like to be disturbed). He is uncomfortable at displays of emotion, which is quite inconvenient considering that he is married to perhaps the most emotional person on the planet. The second time I saw the movie, I was also unable to have complete catharsis due to the interjections of the ragamuffin sitting behind me. At EVERY sad or supposedly scary part in the action, he would burst into uncontrolled laughter, yelling out, "That was SO FUNNY!"

And I needed that catharsis. It has been a rough week in general, and add to that the kidnapped boy in Brooklyn, the bombings in Norway, and even the death of Amy Winehouse (no, I am not surprised, yes, it's still sad) - it's enough to make me want to want to crawl under the covers and never come out. See? I warned you that I was sensitive! To prove it further, here is a list of Three Things That Will Always Make Me Cry (But Not The Notebook, Which Was Really, Really, Stupid.)

1. Love deferred, then ultimately denied. These are the kinds of movies and books I love! Couples torn apart by circumstance (preferably World War II) and a. never seeing each other again, or b. seeing each other again, and then one of the lovers coughs into a handkerchief and sees blood and you know it's only a matter of time before they are dead.

2. Men crying. (I can't even think of this without feeling queasy.)

3. "The Song Remembers When" by Trisha Yearwood. The song is about...a song. More specifically, the power of memory, and how hearing a particular song can take you instantly back to a time and place you either remember fondly or would rather scoop out of your head with a grapefruit spoon. I promise the lyrics are more poetic than that. If I had to list all the songs that make me tear up, this would be a long, long list, so I just picked one that encompasses all the rest.

What is it about crying? Why do some people tear up at just about anything, and others are able to play things closer to the vest? That said - I am glad that I am a crier. It can be embarrassing and overwhelming, but you will always know how I feel.