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About This Author
I am SoCalScribe. This is my InkSpot.
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Blogocentric Formulations
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
 "The Soundtrackers Group" 
"Blogging Circle of Friends "
"Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"
"JAFBG"
"Take up Your Cross"
Thanks for stopping by! 
February 14, 2019 at 6:09pm February 14, 2019 at 6:09pm
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DAY 11
"Castle On The Hill"
by Ed Sheeran
I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Ed Sheeran the same way after he got a ginormous lion tattoo on his chest and then proceeded to tattoo pretty much the rest of his body, but the guy sure can write a song. He has a lot of great songs, but this one for some reason really sticks out to me, and is the one I find myself revisiting most often. The song is about his hometown and there's definitely a bit of a nostalgic feel to the lyrics which a lot of listeners can relate to, I think.
One of the things that always amazes me about Ed Sheeran's songs is that they're not particularly lyrical in the traditional sense. There aren't a lot of rhyming words or even large sections of chorus or refrains. A lot of his songs (including this one) are simply stories he's telling set to music. I'm sure that's part of what makes his music so popular; he's able to transport listeners to a place where he tells them an actual story with a point of view. "Galway Girl" is another one of his songs that really lays out a narrative in a catchy and interesting way.
Whatever he's doing, Ed Sheeran is clearly doing something right... he earned an estimated $110 million in 2018, which makes him the third-highest-paid musical act of last year behind only U2 and Coldplay. That's more than Beyonce and Lady Gaga combined, and well ahead of the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. 
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Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life"
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February 14, 2019 at 2:10pm February 14, 2019 at 2:10pm
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DAY 10
"Ignore Me"
by Betty Who
Well, this whole "randomly select stuff off my extensive current playlist" exercise seems to be showing me that my media player has a preference for dance-pop tracks. Fine with me, because this is a great song too! 
I first discovered Betty Who on the soundtrack to 2015's Pitch Perfect 2. Which is actually how I find a lot of my playlist, actually... from movie and television soundtracks. "Heartbreak Dream" was the song in that movie and is honestly also still in my playlist somewhere, even almost four years later. I've since gone back and fallen in love with "Somebody Loves You" from her 2013 debut EP, and this song which was released just about a year ago. She just released another single last month, but I haven't listened to that one yet.
She cites her influences as Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and Robyn... and honestly, I can totally see comparing her to the latter. Both Robyn and Betty Who have this kind of timeless pop sound that I could see myself going back and listening to years from now. (In fact, that's literally true of Robyn... her 1997 hit "Show Me Love" and her 2010 hit "Dancing On My Own" are still in regular rotation on my playlist.) Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus have some great songs, but I always see them more of the Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears type of artist where ten years from now you'll hear an old song of theirs and be like, "Oh yeah, I totally forgot all about that song. Man, I can't believe that was such a monster hit back then." Robyn and Betty Who are more in the vein of, "Oh yeah, I love this song and still listen to it! I can't believe it's 10 years old!"
Anyway, for upbeat dance/pop music, you really can't go wrong with Betty Who. Or Robyn. 
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Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life"
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February 14, 2019 at 1:51pm February 14, 2019 at 1:51pm
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DAY 9
"Electricity"
by Silk City feat. Dua Lipa
I should preface this entry by saying that, when I first heard this song, I literally had no idea who Silk City or Dua Lipa was. But it was catchy as hell and a little familiar and I couldn't figure out why, so I looked into it, at which point it became one of those "Oh, it's the singer of that song and the guy who producer that other song." If you're clueless like me, Dua Lipa's other hits include "New Rules" and "IDGAF" while Silk City is a supergroup that includes Diplo, an American DJ who if you don't recognize by name, you might recognize as being part of other combo groups like Major Lazer (with Switch), Jack Ü (with Skrillex), and LSD (with Sia and Labrinth). Silk City is his collaboration group with Mark Ronson, most famous for "Uptown Funk" with Bruno Mars. These guys definitely have the pedigree to create a catchy song like this.
This song won Best Dance Recording at the Grammys earlier this month.
I don't have a whole lot of other information on this song and honestly no real, deep reason why it's on my current playlist. It's just catchy as hell and sometimes I need upbeat songs when I'm commuting and tired and listening to audiobooks or podcasts will make me even sleepier.
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Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life"
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February 14, 2019 at 1:38pm February 14, 2019 at 1:38pm
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DAY 8
"It's Not Living If It's Not With You"
by The 1975
I've been dragging my feet on starting my blog entries for this week because the idea of blogging about my "Current Playlist" both means that I'd have to narrow down my current playlist to just seven songs, and because my current playlist has a lot of stuff on it that's not particularly meaningful to me, but rather just catchy tunes that I seem to be gravitating toward at the moment. In the end, I just decided to randomly pick seven and do my usual "a little bit of research about the song and a little about how/where/why I found it" spiel.
I had never heard of The 1975 until I came across this song on a random "Pop Hits" station on Apple Music. I got a free subscription to the music service after finding a super-old gift card that was only available for use on the iTunes store. When I went to validate it, Apple was like, "You could load $100 onto your iTunes account (I don't really purchase music anymore since we have Amazon Music and Spotify), OR you can try Apple Music for a whole year!" I opted for the latter to see if I liked it any better than Amazon Music or Spotify.
Anyway, I think this song is pretty catchy, and I love the refrain "It's not living if it's not with you." That's totally the kind of line that hooks me when it comes to sappy romantic pop songs. Apparently The 1975 is an English pop-rock band that's been around since 2002, but they didn't seem to get anything more than local attention until recently (2014 or so). Leadman Matty Healy has described the band's influences as a mix of the Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine, Michael Jackson, and the filmmaker John Hughes... which is actually a pretty apt description.
This song is supposedly inspired by Matty Healy's experiences with addiction to and recovery from heroin and benzodiazepines, and was a way for him to address his feelings and experiences in a healthy way. And not that I like to make a habit of disagreeing with artists on the meaning of their word, but the main chorus/refrain from the song is:
And all I do is sit and think about you
If I knew what you'd do
Collapse my veins wearing beautiful shoes
It's not living if it's not with you
I don't know about you, but singing about collapsed veins "wearing beautiful shoes" sure seems like it might actually be a song about a fairly intense foot/footwear fetish. But maybe that's just me.
On a side note, their album names are fantastic. After their 2013 self-titled release, their subsequent three albums are 2016's I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It, 2018's A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships, and the forthcoming Notes on a Conditional Form later this year.
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Written for "The Soundtrack of Your Life"
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