John Mayer's new album "Battle Studies"

The charismatic John Mayer has produced another album of eleven songs about sadness, lust, anger, and frustration, but surprisingly the album fits into Mayer’s collection without being annoyingly repetitive. As a John Mayer fan I hoped that his creativity with melody and lyrics would differ from the catchy, but sometimes-similar songs from previous albums, and I am pleasantly surprised.
The theme of the album entitled “Battle Studies” incorporates themes of fighting to make a relationship work, and undergoing difficult break-ups. Songs that inherently portray these topics include “Heartbreak Warfare”, “Assassin”, and “War of My Life”. The first has a catchy melody and interesting lyrics such as “clouds of sulfur in the air/ bombs are falling everywhere”, which evoke imagery of war, paralleling a difficult break-up. “Assassin” introduces a melody that varies from Mayer’s traditional style but fits appropriately with lyrics that liken the singer to a murderer of relationships. And the latter song is stylistically similar to the singer’s previous albums, but is equally appealing to “Heartbreak Warfare”, with simple lyrics and hushed, low vocal tones.
Mayer collaborated with pop-country star Taylor Swift on the song “Half of My Heart”, which fits amazingly into John Mayer’s collection of songs because of its upbeat melody and overall lyrical creativity. However, Swift barely contributes to the song, acting as a back-up singer regurgitating lyrics. The song itself is quality, and easily a hit, but it fails to represent any cooperation between the performers, which could have resulted in an amazing duet.
A song that has become a hit, though controversially, is “Who Says”, which portrays themes of drug use in a clever and funny way. Mayer attaches an unexpected melody with the topic to keep the song simultaneous humorous and serious.
But, clearly the most thoughtful song on the album, is “Edge of Desire”. The song evokes passion in a creatively sincere way as evidenced by the lines “just a great figure eight or a tiny infinity”, and “Wired and I’m tired/ think I’ll sleep in my clothes on the floor/ or maybe this mattress will spin on its axis and find me on yours”. The smart, heartfelt lyrics epitomize Mayer’s style as an artist perfectly. Overall the album is entertaining and with Mayer on tour throughout the beginning of 2010, these songs will definitely enhance his set list.

Jingle Ball '09

On December 12th I attended a concert with the most eclectic variety of performers. With such headliners as Shakira, The Fray, and Timbaland, Jingle Ball ’09 was bound to please a wide scope of Y100 listeners. The entire line-up performed as follows: Leighton Meester, IYaz, Jason Derulo, Colbie Caillat, 3OH!3, Flo rida, LMFAO, Jordin Sparks, Timbaland, The Fray, and Shakira. With each of the 11 artists playing a few songs, the concert was a five-hour event that was exciting from beginning to end.
IYaz and Jason Derulo played their hit songs “Replay” and “Whatcha Say”, while Colbie Caillat performed three songs including “Fallin’ for you”. 3OH!3 performed “Starstrukk” and “Don’t Trust Me”, followed by Flo rida who chaotically sang “Sugar” and “Right Round” while throwing his shoes into the audience and offering his gold chains to fans. Afterward, LMFAO sang “La La La” and “I’m in Miami Bitch”. Jordin Sparks sang prior to Timbaland’s performance in which he promoted his new album “Shock Value II” and brought out surprise guests JoJo and Brandy. Guest hosts, Leighton Meester and Adam Lambert, announced the final performers of the night, while Lambert sang a verse from a song on his new album “For your Entertainment”. The Fray and Shakira wrapped up the event beautifully, with the latter performing “Over my Head”, “Never say Never”, and “How to Save a Life”. Finally the nearly 33-year old danced while singing “Hips Don’t Lie” and “She Wolf”. The event was long, but with several breaks between performances (during which, the arena’s speakers blasted “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha, “Somebody” by Kings of Leon, and “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey) the show was a once in a lifetime experience.