Sunday 11 August 2013

Whistle

“Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby
Let me know
Girl I’m gonna show you how to do it
And we start real slow
You just put your lips together
And you come real close
Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby
Here we go”

Whistle – Flo Rida

In the world’s list of silliest songs ever written Whistle ranks quite high. It’s hard to see past the lyrics which are a weak metaphor for sexual activity and this song really doesn’t beg to be analysed. It is what it is: Flo Rida asking for a blow job. At least he’s offering to give the girl a bit of a guideline on how he wants it done and he’s going to some difficulty “pull a damn hamstring tryna put it on ya”.

I  really like this song. I’m not too sure why. It’s certainly not clever nor is it the beat behind the lyrics particularly original. I only have a mild liking for Flo Rida and his music and mostly it is because his songs are catchy and a bit of fun to dance to after a few drinks. And I don’t like this song because I take a liking to “blowing whistles”. No, I don’t know quite what it is about Whistle but there is something which makes me take a liking to this song which I couldn’t possibly give you a reason for.

I feel we spend a lot of our lives justifying and rationalising our choices, decisions and tastes. And most of the time we can give a reason. We eat because we enjoy the flavours of food and go surfing and tramping because we like the thrill of adventure. I want to travel overseas because I want to explore and meet new people and improve my worldly knowledge. It makes perfectly rationalised and justified sense.


But there are other things in life we like for no more reason than we simply do. I could break down every emotion I feel when listening to Whistle and talk about every single lyric to try find something I connect to and I still doubt I could pinpoint exactly why I like this song. And what a waste of time and energy that process would be when I could be simply enjoying this song. I have observed in my time on this planet people overanalysing themselves and scrutinising every little thing. But I don’t think you need to justify why you do or do not like something. Sometimes you don’t know. Sometimes other people don’t need to know what it is you connect with. Sometimes you listen to a terribly written song about sex moves sung by a guy named after a state in America for no reason other than you want to. 


Thursday 1 August 2013

It's Worth It

“But if we keep holding on
I know we’ll get back to the surface
‘Cause it’s worth it
If we keep holding on
I know that nobody’s perfect
But we’ll work it out”

It’s Worth It – Jackie Thomas

What a ride the first series of The X Factor New Zealand was. I mused on a few blogs prior to the series about what could possibly happen, and the series was much better and slightly worse than I predicted. I could muse through many things about the show and break down each act, each song performance and each one of Daniel Bedingfield’s outfits, but that would take quite a few words. So instead I will pick up on one of the moments of the series which stood out to me.

Jackie Thomas, a 22 year old girl from Greymouth, eventually won the series. And good on her. Personally she wasn’t my favourite but I enjoyed her singing and stage performances. But her voice which nearly didn’t make it to the live shows after she was eliminated in the second round, despite Mel Blatt claiming she could win the show after singing Skinny Love for her audition. But Daniel Bedingfield and the public believed in her and she was invited back to judge’s retreats. Bedingfield then put her through to live shows where she went on to receive top votes in seven of the ten live shows and ultimately win the competition. Where will her career go from The X Factor? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what she comes out with.

There is a lesson we can all take from her journey on The X Factor and it’s one of second chances. When things go wrong in our lives we don’t often get a second chance to put things right. But Jackie did and she grabbed it. She didn’t cruise through like other acts but rather showed New Zealand she deserved to win. And we were nice enough to not only give her the second chance but forgive and forget she messed up.

We aren’t always given second chances in life. Whether it be a relationship, a job interview or a chance to take an adventure, you may have one chance to do it right. I won’t need to go into detail of what it feels like to miss these opportunities because I’m sure as you read this you are thinking about those times you could have used a second chance – and how it felt not to get it. But what is worse than not receiving a second chance is receiving one and failing to go as far as you possibly can with it; you’ll let down yourself and you’ll let down those who believed in you enough to give you another go. Giving out second chances does not come easily. It’s a risk and people don’t like to take risks. It involves trust and forgiveness which do not come naturally to everyone.


You cannot ask for a second chance and you cannot expect one; you messed up and it’s your fault. But if you are so lucky as to get one then don’t take it for granted. Take inspiration from a girl from Greymouth who won our very first series of The X Factor and proved you can win from a second chance.