Most of the music I listen to is classified by my favorite people as “sad bastard” music. I’d say that’s an accurate representation considering my playlist tends to circle around Ben Folds, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Duncan Sheik, Nick Drake and others of that sort (really digging Alexi Murdoch and Joshua Radin lately).
Anyway, I’ve bought some music on the iTunes store lately that falls outside the aforementioned category for a couple reasons:
- The singers are overwhelmingly female
- While not universally true, the songs sound joyful
Who are these “joyful pop singers”? you might ask…
In order of purchase: A Fine Frenzy, Sara Bareilles, and Regina Spektor. I think I heard about A Fine Frenzy on a news channel who was featuring her (AFF is one singer, Alison Sudol). I heard Sara Bareilles on a commercial initially and Alli told me how much she liked the song. (I think I bought the album for her, but haven’t really let her listen yet.) Regina Spektor…I think I first saw her video for “Fidelity” on VH1 where it’s all stark colors and then all of a sudden she and a dude are throwing what looks like ink toner on each other.
Anyway, the point of this post is to state that I’m branching out of my “sad bastard” listening and moving onto something a little more joyful. If you’re into Singer/Songwriters like I am and are wanting something that makes you happy, I suggest giving these three ladies a try. I’d start with Sara Bareilles. Thus far, she’s my favorite.
you forgot the mother of all sad bastard music in your list up there. coldplay. and when you say “joyful pop” you mean “gay” right? just kidding. just seems like you listen to lots of female artists. cough, cough sarah mclachlan. not that there’s anything wrong with that. hehe.
Try Nicole Atkins, listen to some tracks on her my space. Just google her.
The wife has a Regina Spektor CD. I want to put it in our shredder.
My rental car doesn’t have an aux port, so I went to Best Buy and bought Lupe Fiasco’s “the Cool” and Matt Costa’s new CD. Decent stuff.