Rihanna, Live?

So Rihanna came to Israel last week. This was the second time Rihanna performed live in Tel Aviv and everyone were talking about this for months!

50,000 people in the park, all waiting and exited to see Rihanna. I couldn’t make it, so I didn’t even buy a ticket, but around 4 pm they started talking about Rihanna landing here is Israel. The excitement was huge.

Well, I went to a few concerts in my life, some of them here in Israel, and almost always, the artist and his or hers entourage lands here the day before or even sooner –for sightseeing, for a bit of rest before the show, for putting the stage together, sound checks… stuff like that.

So Rihanna lending here about four hours before her own concert was a bit weird.
Then, they wrote she took a helicopter and went to swim and enjoy the Dead Sea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great place, but… again, less than four hours before the show starts!?

So, it was only expected that she was an hour late for her own show. 50,000 people stood in front of an empty stage and waited.

Then, apparently she decided not to sing live at all. She used playback throughout the entire show! I know! That is something a lot of artists do, but there are video clips of her dancing to her own playback and not even bothering holding the mic to her mouth!

And also, for some unknown reasons she went backstage every two songs for minute or two, only to go back on stage wearing the same dress, doing nothing different at all.


The crowed felt disappointed. I read about the fiasco at midnight that very night.

Now, people are trying to get together and sue the production company that produced the show. They are saying they feel Rihanna disrespected her audience here in Israel, that she never intended to have a full show, therefore had the time to go swimming before the show.

I don’t know. When you’re the biggest music star in the world right now you can’t afford being disrespectful to this amount of people. I don’t want to get to ugly places of political and racial opinions, and I don’t think this is the case here either, but it does seem weird.

The show in Israel was a definite part of this current tour, it was planned for about a year, and it couldn't just not work out for Rihanna.

Rihanna would keep on being one of the most popular artists here in Israel, and I’m sure the radio stations will keep on playing her beautiful songs, but I’m also pretty sure next time around there wouldn't be 50,000 people buying her concert tickets.

Rihanna’s got it all, she’s beautiful, she sings well, she has great songs and a great show. But maybe, just maybe, she lost something along the way. The dignity and respect to other people’s time, money and feelings.

You can call it being a Diva. I call it being rude.

A music Artist Meets a Music Icon

Growing up in Israel, I really liked listening to a singer called Aviv Geffen. Back in the 90’s Geffen was the most influential, ground breaking figure in the Israeli cultural view.

Starting his career at 16, he used to wear heavy makeup, lying on the stage floor and go against the Israeli political policy and the mandatory army service. we all liked him. As teenagers not only he was our voice calling for a change, he was also insanely talented.
Writing his own lyrics, composing his own melodies – Geffen brought something so fresh and so unique you couldn't ignore him.

The years went by, and Geffen talent got better and bigger. Israel, obviously was not enough.

In the early 2000’s I was in high school looking for some new, refreshing music to listen to.
Unlike other teenage girls, things like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera wasn't very interesting for me. I had a new favorite band – the progressive rock band – Porcupine Tree.

Up until this very day, I’m amazed by that band. The music is so sophisticated, intelligent and mind stimulating.
Porcupine Tree’s leader – The almighty Steven Wilson brought that sophisticated sound, the tranquilizing voice, the meaningful lyrics.
And then a miracle happened. My two favorite singers Geffen and Wilson found each other and created Blackfield.

I, a young girl in her very early twenties, acknowledged the fact that her local music hero is now cooperating with her international music rock star.

The result was stunning. Blackfield sounded just like I dreamed it would.
 Porcupine tree meets the Israeli Aviv Geffen. Those insane melodies, with that recognized feeling back from home.

Wilson moved to Tel Aviv to work closely with Geffen. The band took off, started preforming in London and across Europe.

It’s been a decade of creation for Blackfield and only recently they released their latest album.
My appreciation for Geffen grow even bigger along the years. Now, not only an Israeli music icon but an international famous and appreciated artist.

During the past few year I grew a bit apart from the progressive musical genre, but just recently someone reminded me of Blackfield again.

Listening to the tunes of that band takes me straight to where I was when I was falling for them in the first place.

Blackfield to me is the prefect music fairy tale. A music artist meets a music icon. The rest is history.

I Found Something New!

Something really nice happened to me this week. I saw an article somewhere about a new artist called Lorde that I knew nothing about. A few days later, YouTube suggested me some new and popular videos. One of them was Lorde’s song – Royals. Knowing that someone had already written about that girl, I was curios. I started playing the video and really liked everything about that girl that I knew nothing about. Then, I found out I’m watching a 17 year old girl!

How can a 17 year old be as talented as this?!!? She looks amazing! She sounds amazing! And! She’s writing her own music! Today, in the “Miley Cyrus” era, this is incredibly unusual. I kept listening to a few of her other tracks and kept on being excited about my new discovery. I do have to admit Royals is by far her best single yet, but with that amount of talent she’s going to be huge!

It also appeared that Lorde is around for quite a while without me even noticing which is really weird for me, but then again, better late than never. One thing I learned from this encounter with a new favorite artist – try to take YouTube suggestions a little more seriously next time even if it has a weird agenda of showing me thousands of cats jumping in and out of boxes. (not that I have anything against cats)

Anyway, now that I know of her, I’ll keep track of her and I’m so sure this girl is going to hand us with some pretty good things to listen to in the future. So if, like me, you’re reading this without any clue who that girl is, do yourself a favor. Listen to Lorde. A true story of a new found glory for young beautiful teenage singers that keep their clothes on and music alive.

Oh, Miley...

I've been talking about Miley Cyrus here a few weeks ago without even knowing what's about to happen!
Yeah! I, too, was thinking Miley Cyrus went completely overboard with her nudity/provocative acting, and apparently, I wasn't the only one thinking that.

In case some of you missed the drama of last weekend, here's what happened.
Miley Cyrus released her new video clip for the single "Wrecking Ball". In the clip, she's licking hammers, sitting completely naked on a swinging wrecking ball, takes her tongue out (the way she knows how), and basically being provocative in a very uncomfortable way to the viewers.
Let's just say, that if I had kids, I would be extremely uncomfortable knowing they watched it.

And I wasn't the only one.

Remember Sinead O'Connor?
A few things happened to her in the past twenty years since she had the clip "Nothing Compares to You". Getting closer to god was one of the things.
Getting mentally sick was the other.
"Wrecking Ball" was supposed to be a tribute to the classic "Nothing Compares to You" clip, and I guess Sinead O'Connor didn't really like it.

At first, Sinead O'Connor sent a very touching letter to miss Cyrus via Facebook. A very caring, worried letter about the entertainment industry,
it's interests and the bad things she knows Miley Cyrus is going through. She advised Miley Cyrus to stop letting her managers and consultants get her un-dressed.
she talked about the long term damages her provocations might put her through.

I read that letter. It was a very sincere letter. A very motherly advice. It really seems that she meant no harm.

I don't know what went through Miley Cyrus's head when reading this letter, but I can only imagine that a person that goes through what she's going through needs to find he's own justifications
to keep on going that path. those justifications were what made her come to the smart decision to respond to Sinead O'Connor's letter by insulting her publicly on Facebook. She found and re-posted Sinead O'Connor's statuses
From two years ago, while being under a nerve meltdown. cruel.

Sinead O’Conner was insulted and threatened to sue her.

 So the girl who was once the adorable Hanna Montana (which, by the way, only recently Cyrus have declared was murdered. because it makes sense), is now a provocative, wild and unleashed naked superstar. Yup!
Kids grew up with her, and now they can watch her swing naked. What a classic lady.

I hear a lot of people ask what's the difference between Miley and Madonna. there is a difference. A huge one actually.
Madonna was groundbreaking. She swept her crowd after her with her provocations that included leather suits, and a white wedding dress on a virgin. That’s who she was. Who she still is.
Miley Cyrus was a children figure, a Disney child, a doll. The change was too extreme and too harsh.
Everyone has to grow up at some point. Not everyone who grows up becomes a prostitute.
Someone should tell Miley Cyrus the world is a better place than what she thinks.

The Justin Experience

We’ve heard quit a lot about Justin Timberlake’s new album “the 20\20 experience” over the last few months.

 At first, every blog and music site talked about how incredible this album is, how talented Justin Timberlake is, what a masterpiece etc. Then the first single came out – “suit and tie” and everything became totally different. People started commenting and talking about how bad this song is, how incredibly wrong that went. If you ask me, I totally agree that Justin Timberlake might have chosen the wrong single to come out with.
 Later on, another single named “mirrors” came out, which was much better. The critics called it “the best song of the 2013” and got a bit carried away with the compliments, but the song is good, even if it reminds “cry me a river” a bit.

 Why am I telling you all this?

 Because I really like Justin Timberlake. I do. I’ve liked him ever since he was that cute boy from N’ Sync, I’ve liked him through that awful Britney Spears breakup, I too, thought he was too good for her… and I still do.  I thought Justin Timberlake’s first solo album “Justified” was a true classic right from the beginning, and “cry me a river” and “what comes around... Goes around” are still some of my favorite songs.
When I heard Justin Timberlake is coming back with a new album I was really excited, and really happy to know the music industry already likes it… but the truth was, I too got disappointed. Justin Timberlake’s “Suit and tie” is one of the worst songs I’ve heard this year! To be honest, it took me quite a while to like “mirrors” too… Justin Timberlake has a very distinct style. That interesting, ground breaking style was what made him such a big hit in 2004. That exact style is what made “the 20/20 experience” less good. You get to know artists throw-out entire decades, and they evolve, they get older, you get to grow older and to evolve with them.
 I think the evolution of Justin Timberlake has yet to happen. That’s why it’s hard for the fans to accept the latest album. I know that I’ll be there the next time Justin Timberlake releases an album, because I believe that he will evolve… and I still wish we can grow old together... ;-)

High School Soundtracks

So, September just started and that means pretty much the same thing in almost every place around the world – school’s back!

Fortunately for me, I’m going back to school myself this year, and a second before everything starts again I’m taking a moment and reminiscing on my all-time favorite soundtracks of school movies.

So… my first and ultimate all-time favorite school movie is… The Breakfast Club!!

I think I've watched it for like 26 times by now… I still don’t know what I like more about this movie… the rebellious spirit, dancing in the library or just looking at Molly Ringwald…

Anyway, this awesome motion picture includes this wicked song by Simple minds – Don’t you (forget about me).

Second runner up, is of course… Ferris Bueller’s Day off! The movie about the naughty high school boy who decided to take the day off… and also the car… with a few friends. Again, an 80’s masterpiece equipped with one huge hit by The Smiths – “Please, please, please let me get what I want”.

This great song also became a part of the movie “pretty in pink”, another high school all –time classic, with my beloved Molly Ringwald.

And while talking about high school experiences we just can’t forget about American Pie! Maybe the biggest classical of the 90’s! With huge actors like Jason Biggs and Natasha Lion and big punk hits like the beautiful song by Hole “Celebrity Skin”

Happy going back to school, everybody!

My Thoughts on Katy..

Katy Perry’s back with a new single!

Katy Perry’s “Roar” is out for only three weeks and is already second at billboard charts for two weeks.

I really like that girl. Her first single “I kissed a girl” was really good, with girly fun vibes and feel.
Ever since then, Katy Perry keeps on going, and she’s doing it right with almost every single. Not a lot of people know that Katy Perry was born and raised as a devout Christian.
Her parents never allowed her to listen to pop music, and the only thing she was exposed to is gospel music.
Katy Perry is actually Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson’s stage name. Her debut album wasn’t even a pop music album – it was a gospel album by Katy Hudson.
Only later, in 2007, the Katy Perry we know came to prominence in her stage name and with a brand new pop album.

Knowing Katy Perry’s history makes you adore her a little bit more.
Imagine not being aware of the entire pop industry for the majority of your life and only at the age of 24, become a pop superstar.

Katy Perry’s personal life is full with romantic dramas, relationships and breakups, marriage and one very ugly divorce story.
Again, to me, Katy Perry came a long way from being that little Christian girl to where she is now and how she manage her life.

I guess I takes a lot of courage, ambition and tons of talent to make it the way Katy Perry did in the pop industry with her background.

and cover our young kid’s eyes.