Miley Cyrus- Bangerz

With the release of Bangerz, Miley Cyrus decided to create an image that did not align with her album, but instead hype. While Bangerz has its share of made-for-radio ‘hits’ that perpetuate her headline-grabbing image, the LP also tells the full arc of a love story from the point of view of a young woman. Bangerz successfully covers all angles of the teenage heart, from love and romance to head-banging beats.

The stories’ arc opens with the crooning “Adore You,” a song that will likely be belted out to lovers everywhere. Its slow tempo and heartfelt lyrics are a calm hook into the album. “My Darlin’” continues this feeling with themes of marriage and monogamy, its repeated lyric —“oh my darlin,’ stand by me” —harmoniously backed up by Future, who is featured on the track. The story takes a turn midway through with the ex-Disney star’s “F U,” an enraged statement against the now ex-lover in question.

The album takes on a more personal stance, the tone being influenced by Cyrus’s public break -up with then-fiancé Liam Hemworth. The last five tracks Cyrus helped pen, and they continue with the images of betrayal, followed by independence and empowerment. The deluxe version of Bangerz contains “On My Own” and “Hands in the Air,” two songs with fast beats and the independent attitude Cyrus is currently sporting.

Bangerz contains so much more than Cyrus’ loud and controversial image. She has cleverly used marketing and notoriety to push an album that has more care and personality than her previous three studio albums. She has taken her exit from being Hannah Montana to really experiment with her sound and evolve as an artist. Her first single, “We Can’t Stop,” was the perfect prelude to the firestorm that followed and became the accompanying anthem to the Miley Cyrus movement. Cyrus has taken the time to cultivate her current feelings about her life, and reflectively the lives of her fans who have grown up with her, creating an album that hits multiple notes and can hold a connection for almost anyone.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — A Retrospective

By GJ Brodbeck

The year is 1934, and Walt Disney is looking ahead from his perch as the main visionary of animated short films of the day.  He comes up with an ambitious and financially risky plan: a full-length animated feature film.  Over the course of three years, Disney and his animators work day and night to make a film that many in Hollywood derisively called “Disney’s Folly.” Little did they know that over 80 years later, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is still considered not just one of the greatest animated films of all time, but one of the greatest films of all time, period. 

Taken from the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, the story is familiar to almost everyone.  An evil queen wants to be “fairest in the land” but finds there’s one young woman in the way: The princess, Snow White.  So the Queen sends a huntsman to kill Snow White, but he chickens out and instead sends Snow White to hide in the forest.  The Princess then comes across a cottage where the seven dwarves live.  The Queen finds out that Snow White is still alive, and transforms herself into a hag to get rid of her rival.  Snow White gets saved in the end, of course, the Queen dies, and everybody lives happily ever after.

What’s new and dangerous in the Disney version is how it looks, especially in today’s animation world.  The backgrounds and settings are mostly bright and colorful, but they can also be dark and creepy.  The forest scene was probably the riskiest move to take in this early animated film, as some of the imagery presages the forest scenes in The Evil Dead, giving off an intimidating vibe.  It showed that animation could be directed towards adults who would appreciate this kind of artistry, as opposed to the film being just for kids. 

How the film looks is one thing, but the content of the film still shines as a benchmark in the modern world of animation. The jokes still work today, as a fair chunk of them are physical comedy as opposed to wordplay.  All of the dialogue spoken in the film could still be said today and make perfect sense.  The music fits the picture perfectly, and the songs, from the wacky “Silly Song” to the serene “Someday My Prince Will Come,” are ones that people still remember to this day for good reason.

Snow White (voiced by Adriana Caselotti) is considered one of the weaker Disney princesses; she doesn’t do much, and is just there to be a pretty face.  To be fair, she is more engaging than the Prince (who has no name), whose limited input comes mostly in song.  The dwarves are everybody’s favorite characters, and Grumpy and Dopey have risen in prominence over the years. Their scenes show a lot of depth, both in drama and comedy  — take, for example, the scene where Dopey accidentally swallows a bar of soap while the others hold down and wash Grumpy.  The Queen (voiced by Lucille la Verne) is not an interesting villain, just a really vain woman.  What keeps people flocking to her as a character is her demeanor and her animation, both before and after her transformation, especially in the movie’s climax.           

But does Snow White still work in today’s animation scene?  Much like The Wizard of Oz or Where The Wild Things Are, Snow White is a movie fuelled primarily by emotion.  The movie gives you what your emotions want; it brings viewers back because it reminds them of the first time that they saw it and stays true to the fairy tale. And, like fairy tales in general, the film still works today because it tells a story to help people in real life as well as entertain them.  That is what Disney wanted to bring to the story, and this still stands as one of his greatest achievements.

Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die

Lana Del Ray/Born to Die
By Haley Twist

With the release of Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, America has yet another glimpse into the life of a troubled young starlet. Going a different route from what the country has seen with Lindsay Lohan’s DUIs and Paris Hilton’s sex tape, Del Rey’s poetic lyrics paints the picture in a less in-your-face — and more instructive — way.

A self-made music video of Del Rey’s first single, “Video Games,” went viral in 2012, exposing the singer’s love for grainy vintage film clips and deep, throaty vocals. It was after this when infatuated YouTubers and music bloggers demanded more from the self-described “gangsta Nancy Sinatra.”

But when Born to Die debuted late last year, harsh remarks surfaced about the winged-eyeliner-clad musician, with most of the criticism coming from mainstream music websites like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Del Rey’s songs are mostly melancholy indie pop tunes that tell the tales of those longing for something or somebody they have lost.The reviews spoke of Del Rey’s depressing melodies and warned listeners that her messages were out-of-touch with modern America.

Maybe it was the dark lyrics that turned off these listeners, or Del Rey’s perverse notions. But the album is pure, deeply-rooted Americana, and is truthful about what often lies behind the locked doors and underneath the fake smiles of today’s youth: what the singer calls “the dark side of the American dream.”

Backed with soft synthesizers and string instruments, Del Rey’s choice words encapsulate her in the rawest form through the entirety of the album. She exposes her thoughts with no regret, telling the world her darkest secrets. Her blunt confessions, “I wish I was dead” and “I don’t want to wake up from this tonight,” offer a sanctuary for those who, as bluntly as the musician, have an equally messed up way of looking at things.

We hear the singer’s unsettling introspection in “Off to the Races,” a favorite of audiences at live shows because of the song’s rare upbeat rhythm. But while it’s a fast-paced song with sultry vocals over an excited synthesizer, the lyrics are another example of Del Rey’s disturbing thoughts. She begins with low, mature vocals and delicately sings about a girl with intoxicating affection for someone she calls her “old man” who loves her “with every beat of his cocaine heart.” While this could be a twisted father-daughter relationship, the lyrics hint that the song could also be about a young prostitute, as she talks about collecting “gold coins” for her pimp.

At its core, “Off to the Races” depicts a dependency on a father figure, which could be Del Rey’s way of working out daddy issues of her own with a father who sent her to boarding school at the age of 14. Although in an interview with Grandland, Del Rey hints that these issues she so often sings about could simply be a part of her persona.

As the album progresses, Del Rey appears more and more unstable. Almost as if she is changing her mind as the songs come and go, Del Rey primarily insists that she has gotten everything she ever wanted before coming to the wavering semi-conclusion that her fame is meaningless without those she has loved and lost.

In “Radio,” the singer ironically flaunts a look-at-me-now attitude with the lyrics, “Now my life is sweet like cinnamon, like a fucking dream I’m living in.” On “Without You,” she claims “Everything I want I have: money, notoriety and Rivieras. I even think I found God in the flash bulbs of the pretty cameras.” More a tearful cry for help than a statement about her success and independence, she sounds like she is trying to convince herself of these claims.

Even with those self-assuring lines and the many times she refers to her life as “paradise” throughout the album, she contradicts herself by saying, “They think that I have it all, I’ve nothing without you.”

Because the tracks express the depression of the musician behind them, Del Rey’s messages throughout the album are not out-of-touch at all, but instead highlight the raw aspects of youth and young adulthood that so many are ashamed of. Not every relationship is perfect, as enforced by the singer’s sad lullabies.

Del Rey’s melodies not only express her depressions with life and love, but also those of people all over the country. And that’s the honest take on American young life that makes Born to Die a hit.