Relient K meet Taylor Swift. and Tyler Dean. and American Media.

And it makes it a hard sell to teenagers who are, at least in part (an indispensable part), driven by sexual attraction.

from The 9513: http://www.the9513.com/tyler-dean-taylor-swift/

I pre-ordered the new Relient K album, Forget and Not Slow Down, which awarded me $1 in free Amazon.com mp3 downloads (which is just one song). ((I ordered a textbook from Amazon.com before school and Amazon awarded me $5 in free Amazon.com mp3 downloads.)) So in my very rare freetime (10:15pm on Tuesday night) I Amazon.com’ed Taylor Swift since she is re-releasing Fearless with 6 new tracks. I was going through the results and I saw a Tyler Dean with a song called Taylor Swift.

Hmm. Initially, I figured it to be a nice play off of Taylor’s fantastically romantic Tim McGraw, ((I wish that song was about me. So pretty.)) and that excited me. However, after listening to the 30 second stream, I was unimpressed; I didn’t hear Taylor Swift mentioned. I googled the song to find the lyrics, but instead I found a website that wrote a review about the song.

Hmm. I’ve never seen a review written about a song, save for those crazy lists of the 100 Most Influential Songs, etc. ((I’m fathomed at the thought that Michael Jackson is around place 20 or 30 on those lists. I’m rather biased, and perhaps my perspective is skewed in light of his recent passing, but he was the spearhead for black America’s music — and even beyond black America. He made Billie Jean!)) I skimmed the review, and I lingered down to the part that is quoted above.

Now, the song might not be great, but that doesn’t bother me. What ticks me, irks me, tugs my nerves (axon from cell body), is that they assert the unavoidable fact about American media today: if it’s not sexy, doesn’t talk about sex, doesn’t fantasize about sex, it’s not worth your time. It’s not so much that I’m mad at them; it’s more that I’m mad that what they wrote is true.

And then they highlight that teenagers have “an indispensable part” that cannot be ignored. If I could lecture the entire American teenage population, I would lecture them on the topic of sex. It would be fire and brimstone, qua Jonathan Edwards qua Nathan Bounyong meet southern revivalism. ((Not sure if I used qua properly, but it’s a venture.)) I’m sick of the sexual influence in our corrupt culture and degenerate generations. Wake up, America. ((Miley Cyrus reference. I used to be proud of the way she carried herself, but I just saw the Party in the USA music video the other day, and I am now rather disappointed with her. Perhaps I am prude in my judgement, and I hope so, but in Miley there is another example of the sex in American appetites.))

Don’t write me off as a hopeless, star-eyed romantic (though I think, in someways, I am one — but not entirely). Don’t write me off as a staunch and ignorant Christian or a sexual claustrophobic. If you feel with the way that America has delivered sex, you’ve made sexiness messy. You’ve turned something beautiful into its antithesis: a mockery of love, attacking and repulsively turning one of love’s most intimate facets upside down.

An aside: I’m looking forward to Relient K’s new album. Matthew Thiessen is so witty, but I especially love his dramatic and melancholic works; the new album is entirely that. Buy it? I’m also looking forward to Taylor Swift’s re-release. I’m so happy that she’s doing as well as she is. I have this feeling that Taylor is making music — music that can be timeless. Her craft with her lyrics is phenomenal, and I think that is what will keep her tunes ripe as they weave into eternity. She’s my number two celebrity crush, and I’m not ashamed.