Oh, Shamir...

Oh, I really like Shamir. I've been a fan for awhile now and I even dowloaded his first EP. I think it's the voice, so distinctive, and the lyrics, that are grounded and somehow colloquial. Also, I guess I like listening to songs sung by men who sing in a high register. There's so many male singers I like that sing in a high register that I could probably create my own playlist of favorites. Men who sing in some kind of falsetto have been around for decades in music. There's been articles written about it and even tons of studies that tell us of the many men with high voices that sing the songs we like.

Falsetto, which comes from the Italian word for false voice, has been around for a very long time. However, there have been few attempts to track its popularity in pop music. We teamed up with the Pudding to change that. We analyzed 20,000 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 using vocal data sourced from Pandora’s Music Genome Project to figure out just how popular falsetto singing actually is.

VOX

Apparently, a high register IS very popular. So I'm not alone. But I imagine this one song goes beyond the voice because when I heard it it kind of hit a little bit too close to home. You see, I'm one of those silly people who basically fixate on the lyrics of songs and then cannot take them out of their heads. And lately, some songs get to me more more than others. I think it's my overall state of mind.

I used to think that love was fleeting
You'll just end up hurt
But it's a cosmic game of meetings
That may never work and I think
Maybe I deserve a little more
And life will get easier
But I don't believe in love anymore

So how's that for some Pandemic angst? And it kind of applies to me right now. You see, I have created this situation I'm living in all on my own and I wonder how sustainable it is. So the question is, is it better to keep the status quo and stay as we are right now in our own little bubbles or should we try and get ourselves ready for when (and if) things get back to the 'new normal'? Suddenly, Steven's posts totally made sense.

I always thought my heart was freezing

And I'm just cold

But I refuse to fucking suffer

Just to feel whole now I know

Maybe I can find the one

The more I rid myself

Of thinking I can't love anyone

Even if it's the devil himself

I think I have basically entrenched myself in this position, wallowing in my own ways and refusing to move on in what concerns some aspects of my life. Pretty standard 'Better the devil that you know' and all that Jazz. I blame the Pandemic. Well, that and the fact that I'm stubborn. Têtu, say the French. Opinionated, you may chime in.  I don't know if that's a byproduct of the self-imposed isolation we have have adopted to save our lives or maybe just a strategy I've deployed to avoid being hurt.

Whatever it is, this Shamir song brought it all up and now I'm in a slightly melancholic mood. I'm not sad. I'm just disappointed, I guess. Disappointed with some aspects of my life and slightly mad at myself for not being able to do without the status quo. Funny how a song can work better than therapy for stirring shit up, no?

But don't worry. I'll be ok. Been here before. Done better at the end. The thing is, can I keep my cool and just sit pretty while the dust settles and things look better? There's no question about the wait. The problem is the sitting pretty. I'm not good at that.

XOXO

P.S. here's Shamir trying to make me feel better. He may succeed at the end.