Catch up post #2. I haven't decided if I'll get them all done tonight or not.
It seems like there are a lot of trends happening right now in the music and movie industries. I've thought about it before, but never had enough observations or examples to write a full-fledged post on. We got to talking about the music trends on the way back today, so that's why I decided to try to point them out.
Being so close to Chicago, we usually get the newest songs released on the radio, and a lot of our generation is interested in listening to R&B, hip-hop, and pop. It seems like lately in the hip-hop world that it's a good idea to collaborate with someone. Not just anyone, but with someone from the pop world. The hits that I hear hourly, sometimes twice or three times, are "Airplanes" by B.o.B. featuring Haley Williams from Paramore, "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem featuring Rihanna, and earlier "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that are the forerunners for some of the other singles that are coming out. Enrique Iglesias just released a single where he collaborated with Pitbull. Most of these collaborations are with people you wouldn't really expect to get together and record something. Granted, Timbaland has been on a lot of peoples' tracks, but usually it's a small part. I guess he was the one who originally started the idea for this generation's collaborations trend.
Lately we've also been getting back to throwing your hands up in the air. "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz has people throwing their hands up in the air and saying "ayo." DJ Khaled sings about how every time he "goes up in a building everybody's hands go up and they stay there/ Up down up down up down" in "All I Do is Win." In "DJ Got Us Falling In Love" by Usher he sings about "Hands up, and suddenly we all got our hands up." I don't know why throwing hands up is suddenly coming back. We used to laugh at people who danced with their hands up only all the time. Maybe it's because of the fist pump popularized by Jersey Shore.
Those are just the songs. I've been noticing a growing trend in movies as well. It seems like about 90% of the things that are being released in theaters are either remakes or based on books. They've been talking about remaking a lot of movies lately; the Halloween movies, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Fame, Alice in Wonderland, The Karate Kid, just from the last two years. The Last Airbender is a remake, as well.
There have been so many book to movie releases now: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Eragon, The Lovely Bones, Dear John, Twilight, Ramona and Beezus, Angels and Demons, and Eat, Pray, Love, just to name a few from the past few years. There are a few that I don't mind seeing on the big screen; in fact, there are a few times when I'm interested in reading the book based on the trailer, and sometimes even the movie itself.
But the point of this is that it seems like Hollywood doesn't really seem to have a lot of new material to produce, and I'd like to hear about new movies coming out that have new ideas. It feels like at least once a month there is a movie that's either based on a book or a remake for the past year, at the very least. That's when I noticed the growing trend. But I guess we've finally produced so many movies that there's no new ideas.
As I was writing "Love the Way You Lie" and "Airplanes" came on the radio. I don't really have much to say about the musical trend there, because it seems like a lot of people are liking these collaborations. Personally, I like the idea because it brings in a whole new group of listeners. I like the way the rap sounds against the singing, and the two different voices when they overlap. I like mixing two different genres, especially when there are powerful lyrics, or music that you wouldn't normally associate with rap.
I could do with a little less throwing hands up, though.
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