"dissertation" was a bad word choice, fair enough. But the idea (that you have to know why you believe what you believe, you have to know what you're actually saying) still holds true.
When Prince does sing about social issues, he does so in an honest manner, which is different than M.I.A., who does so as an emptyheaded provocateur. That's the difference. Maybe M.I.A. should sing more about sex?
All right, let's take a single album then: How about the aforementioned Controversy, with its "Ronnie Talk to Russia"?
"1999" distilled: "The world's falling apart/It's Armageddon, so we might as well fuck."
Lizzy Caplan/Virginia is becoming too saintly, too much the force on the show who is always correct, and always clairvoyant. She needs to either a) do something diabolical (for example, sabotage Julianne Nicholson), or b) fuck up.
Let's look at The Very Best of Prince by topic:
Ever read her lyrics, John? I mean, any lyric?
Hustling your emotionally personal themes and hustling your politically personal themes are two very different ballgames. But more importantly, if you're going to hustle your political themes, you've got to do it sincerely, or you may be exposed as a fraud, which she has been.
How about these descriptors for lyrics:
1. jaw-droppingly idiotic
2. hopelessly ill-advised
3. errantly misinformed
4. unwitting self-parody
5. dumb
Prince never namedropped "big" issues and then ran away from saying anything meaningful about them. Prince just sang 'bout fuckin'.
“We be makin’ TENT out of your curTENT”
It's not that she needs to provide a dissertation, it's that the things she says about globalization (it's bad) and poverty (it's bad) are so simple and stupid. She has nothing to say, regardless of whether she says nothing about """""important""""" issues. Her message is unutterably vague and meaningless—it's more or…
You're judging Maya on what you want(ed) it to be, not what it is.
To clarify: Dissertation or no, the political lyrics are shallow.
Watching this band continue to make music is like watching Weezer continue to make music.
Let's not overlook Wade's plan to romantically e-mail his wife.
Agree with SeasTooFarToReach here: The camera lingered on Jessica's face long enough to let us know that she didn't buy that wonderfully scripted and delivered Glennshit, but that she also doesn't have much choice but to acquiesce. Glenn made Jessica seem uncool for wanting affection, and, more importantly, he's her…
Buck up, man. British comedy is cringe comedy. Extras (the church basement), Peep Show (meeting the two women, cooking and eating their dog), The Thick of It (all Malcolm scenes), Human Remains (every single episode). The more humiliating, the harder to watch, the better—that's the m.o. It's all about giddily…
1. Wade's too nice to be a good main character.
2. You can't do much coke off a knuckler.