Thursdays Are My Days for Thinking.

Er, sitting around doing very few productive sorts of things.

I HAVE THOUGHTS ON NE-YO: New album is megaboring. But he loses the most points on "Why Does She Stay," in which he says "She hates that I don't do dishes / Even though I mess up the most." Look, Ne-Yo. We need to talk. I understand this song is about how she loves you through it all and blah blah blah. Whatever. But YOU HAVE TO DO THE FUCKING DISHES. That's your job. I bet she cooks everything for you. I bet you don't even help her peel the potatoes. I bet you don't even get out the dishes as she's going to serve your dumb ass. So put on a few tunes, let her finish her wine, and wash a dish. It's just not that hard. Harvey Pekar was bad at doing the dishes, too, always fucked them up. But damn it he did them! She will leave you for this, eventually, forgiving though she may be. I mean, I'd break up with you because you're just boring boring boring boring boring boring. BORING. Like, I'd rather do the dishes in silence than do them to this album. Because at least I can hum more interesting songs to myself. Seriously, Ne-Yo, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?????

I HAVE THOUGHTS ON JAZMINE SULLIVAN: Good album! Second half stronger than the first, which is a bit all over the place -- don't get the appeal of the first single at all, "Bust Your Windows" is nice but feels like a false start, the revenge fantasy is weird and a little disturbing, but not for the reasons it thinks it is. Right, domestic violence is clearly a "him or me" situation. There is no one in the world who can help you, so you have to help yourself. Ummmmmmmmmm....

But the second half is great, out-ballads Leona Lewis with "After the Hurricane," Daft Punk sampling hook par excellence in "Dream Big." And then there's "Fear," which is kinda sorta my favorite song on here. Those lyrics, in full:

I'm scared to try cuz im scared to fail
I'm scared to die cuz im scared of hell
I'm scared to kiss scared to hug
I'm scared of sex cuz I'm scared to touch

I'm scared to look cuz I'm scared to see
I'm scared of you cuz I'm scared of me
I'm scared to fly cuz I'm scared to crash
I'm scared to move on so I live in the past

I'm scared to fight cuz I'm scared to bleed
I'm scared of love cuz I'm scared he'll leave
I'm scared of drugs I'm scared to drink
I'm scared to swim cuz I'm scared to sink

I'm scared to learn cuz I'm scared of truth
Don't wanna gain weight cuz I'm scared of food
I'm scared to think that the label dropped me
I'm scared to think of my album floppin...

This may sound silly but its true
So don't pretend it ain't you too
We all afraid of something here
Cuz you ain't human with out fear

Im scared to start cuz I'm scared I'll quit
I'm scared that people wont like my shit
I'm scared of fame and paparazzi
Rumors starting the people watching

Scared to grow up cuz I'm scared to get old
Scared of the dark and being alone
Scared of war and I'm scared of jail
Scared to share a secret cuz I'm scared you'll tell

As Lex notes, there's a pretty huge disconnect between the total paranoia/paralysis in the lyrics and the "jauntiness" of the track.

Also, a few weird points: (1) fear is an emotional reaction that makes us animal, not uniquely human, though she's technically right that you ain't human without fear (though this abstract I just googled suggests that you could reduce fear responses by manipulating the prefrontal cortex). And (2), she's scared to gain weight THEREFORE she's scared of food, not "because," right? How would you even make this work the other way around?

If it wasn't obvious by now, Jazmine is totally nuts. Her album is great, too!

Straight, Chaser

New Marit Larsen album is airier and earthier than the last one, a bit less inwardly neurotic. The arrangements are still delightful, with little knives that strike tactically at yer heart. The words are cooler; the persona's something of a 180 from her last one: she's more the chaser than the chasee.

In my screenwriting class, I have to teach a lot of fairly drab theory as to how to best write characters and situations, and one thing that I liked most about Under the Surface was the carefully-spun paranoia that enveloped such lush, at turns whimsical, production -- in screenwriting parlance, Marit was pulling off a taboo type: an engaging passive character. She sat, brooded, let her mind wander to dark places. She let the conflict come to her, sneak up on her while she was sleeping ("This Time Tomorrow"), while she was at her happiest and boldest in a new relationship ("Under the Surface"). Everything happened to her; she sat back and waited knowingly. It was a profoundly sad album, and paradoxically one of the brightest and repeatedly rewarding listening experiences I've had in recent memory.

And that sadness permeates The Chase, too, but she's taken a more active role here, writing the song to win back the one she lost (NB: she chased him off because she was afraid of what would happen if the relationship succeeded); reducing her relationship to a childish game of peek-a-boo in "This Is Me, This Is You," finding small pleasures in simple, nostalgic recognition (NB: she's also suggesting that the two of them can't be together, that they're "light years apart...standing next to each other"; their separation may also destroy them, it just doesn't happen to be doing so yet). If Under the Surface was Swedish-Americana Disney [EDIT: I know Marit's from Norway, but I was thinking specifically of ABBA -- maybe Scandinavian-Americana would be better?], this one leans more heavily on those country elements, with pacing that's more relaxed, with fewer highs and lows.

Not sure how I feel about it. It's an assured album, just as bold as the last one, and I think it makes a wonderful two-sides-of-the-coin pairing with Under the Surface. But I wonder if I prefer the insulated bubble of the former; it certainly informs the direction on this one, which takes on a deeper meaning when you realize that Marit is actually learning a lot through these songs, getting markedly more level-headed about how she approaches her relationships. "I'm about to break your heart like you broke mine" -- a literal role-reversal from "This Time Tomorrow," in which Marit leaves while he's sleeping. When he wakes up, she'll be gone (she's already counted the steps). Context isn't everything here, and this holds up as a strong, coherent piece. But her history buoys the album in a way that Under the Surface doesn't "need" this one -- wasn't begging for this one to be made (one of its strengths is that it doesn't need the closure of having moved on -- "Poison Passion" is still a little poison pill at the end, a bit of sugar-coated cyanide as palate-cleanser).

That said, if you don't know Marit yet, I'd readily recommend this one on its own, much in the same way I'd recommend I Am Me to someone who hasn't heard Autobiography -- it might also be interesting to chart things backwards. (The comparison is apt, I think.) Some of the hooks here sweep you along, "Don't Save Me" being the clearest predictor of the tone. There are final flourishes with a gymnastic snap (the staccato wink closing "Steal My Heart") and audacious rug-pulling moves (the gloomy minor fake-out of "This Is Me, This Is You"). It's another small album that feels huge. I'm happy that she seems to be here to stay.