Man, oh man, did I have a thing for Lisa Loeb and those glasses.

@santiago451

9 күн бұрын

Same!

@nottherealrashnar

9 күн бұрын

when I was younger, I couldn't choose between Lisa Loeb and Jewel.

@John-tr5hn

6 күн бұрын

@@nottherealrashnar Are you kidding? Yodelly snaggletooth?

@TrianglesAndCircles

5 күн бұрын

Too here

Amy, I think what you perceive as "weak" expression was seen to us at the time (I was 18 when this song hit number one) as verisimilitude. The end of the Cold War at the start of the nineties fueled a lot of introspection among both artists and the general population, not unlike what led to the development of postmodernism after World War II. (Grunge and 90s folk-rock, despite their vast stylistic differences, were two sides of the same coin when it came to how we responded to the "what now" feeling of the era.) At the time, the lyrical cadences of this song just felt REAL, both in terms of emotions and speech patterns, in a way that traditional pop/rock song structures didn't, so it had tremendous appeal to those of us who were teenagers/young adults in 1994, and still has that appeal to us today. Loeb isn't positioning the character in this song as an archetypal "wronged woman" or anything like that; she's just a confused young woman, dealing with the complex emotions of a breakup, and there is no grand closure in the song because those episodes in our lives hardly ever have real closure; we just move on.

@Zundfolge

9 күн бұрын

Much as Grunge was a repudiation of '80s hair metal, I think a lot of the folkish-pop of the '90s was a response to the excesses of the over-processed pop of the 80s (like Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc). Music was transitioning from flashy, glitzy stadiums to small clubs and coffee shops. So yes, two sides of the same coin fits.

@WayneKitching

9 күн бұрын

I was 16 or 17 at the time and wanted music to be "real" i.e. played on real instruments (as opposed to electronic keyboards) and convey genuine emotion, unlike much of music from the 80s. I guess many people's felt like that, hence. The popularity of GRUNGE, REM, the. Cranberries, Crash Test Dummies, etc. The dress sense was also toned down, with earthy colours,an and more natural hairstyles. It was funny for me in my 3rd or 4th year at university when my classmates and I were were dressed very plainly and the first years were sporting bright colours and spiky hair.

@loveandabcs

8 күн бұрын

Good response and I wrote something similar. The info in the responses below helps too.

@Johnny_Socko

8 күн бұрын

I completely agree. I was a young adult and not a teenager when this came out, but many of my peers adored Lisa Loeb for her authenticity and relatability. She wasn't a manufactured star, she was like the friend or sister who made it big on her own merits. And in terms of composition, I feel that she only went upward from here. "Do You Sleep" is a fantastic song that has more sophisticated composition than this, yet it does not stray from her core sound.

@joseaimperial512

Күн бұрын

Thanks for this response, this is exactly what I found when she reviewed Creep. It’s a little unfair without context

Suzanne Vega was doing a similar folk-pop thing in '80s tho she is still active today. "Marlene on the Wall" was her first hit from her debut album. She might be a good starting point in understanding how the younger generation took the '60s folk-rock sound of The Byrds (R.E.M.) or the poppier folk of Joni Mitchell or CSNY (Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman) and updated it for their generation in the '80s.

@Krauseminze

8 күн бұрын

Great suggestion. That would also be a good starting leading to Ani Difranco. I really hope for an Ani video at some point.

About 10 years ago, I had a landlord who worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. He was researching the impact of coffee production on birds (to inform a decision about what the cafeteria in their visitors centres should stock). Apparently 'shade grown coffee' - where the coffee is grown alongside some kind of tree - is the everybody wins solution. Not only does it encourage biodiversity compared to monoculture, but the coffee tastes better. And if the farmer uses fruit trees to create the shade, there's an additional income stream for their business.

She actually just did a video chat with another music reaction channel. Rob Squad Reactions, so she is open to it apparently.

In 1998 Lisa recorded this song live at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York with her then sweetheart Dweezil (Ian Donald Calvin Euclid)Zappa, Frank's son. The two were a couple for 6 years or so, they wrote, recorded music and performed together. Dweezil toured with Lisa's band and they were on the Conan O'Brien show, they also had their own show on the food Network called "Dweezil and Lisa" where they went around the country checking out local music scenes and food. Lisa has performed with Dweezil's band Zappa plays Zappa as late as 2017. As far as I know they are still friends.

@loveandabcs

8 күн бұрын

Interesting, and how did I not know this!

In modern slang, I’d say this song is “a mood”. Which may mean to you- style over substance. But if style is the substance, then what? The spaces in the beginning and end and the rhythmic clutter in the middle reflect how thought and emotion can be both chaotic and contemplative. Its lack of effectiveness is kind of the point-the singer and the song are conflicted.

Pitch, & octives, as well as Lisa's expressive emotions,; are a crisp & clear representation of the highest quality! You go girl!😊

Alanis Morissette...that's who came up to my mind listening to Lisa.

@goldenageofdinosaurs7192

8 күн бұрын

I can totally see that.

@loveandabcs

8 күн бұрын

About the same timing; different musically.

@stevenhoward3358

8 күн бұрын

I think Alanis has something in her voice which makes it stand out from the crowd, it is a bit more dynamic.

Watching the video shows a lot of the allure. She was stunning and stylish.

I loved this song when it came out and I still do. I definitely thought Lisa was the cutest thing ever- and she’s still lovely today. The simplicity and sort of unresolved emotions of the song are so relatable, especially when you’re a teenager like I was when this came out. It sounds like it was a relationship that had soured and that the narrator thought she could walk away from without regret but ends up feeling bad and questioning her decision. Coming from a place of youth it makes perfect sense. And it’s worlds more self-aware than Taylor Swift, who seems to have a pattern of getting involved with famous guys, being insecure, sabotaging the relationship, blaming the dude, and then writing a hit song about it. Which if nothing else is more than paying her bills, lol. Lisa on the other hand wrote a sweet song about being young and a little confused in love, with no finger-pointing.

This song is one where the video adds a great deal to the context and mood. She is singing in an unfinished apartment as if they are both nearly moved out, and it expresses the mixed feelings and a bit of regret.

Could't agree more or be that polite about it.!

Well that's pop music in a nutshell, isn't it? The tension between poetry and the musical accompaniment. I have so many friends who say they love music but they never listen to anything that is purely or primarily instrumental. What they love is poetry. Storytelling set to music. Your channel is about a musician reacting to popular songs. I'd like to see a companion channel that is a poet reacting to popular songs. Maybe that could be an explicit part of your thinking. Taylor Swift's poetry is 10/10 for her fans. Musically, it's hard to rate any of her compositions higher than 6/10. I rate many Queen songs 9/10 musically, but the lyrics only register about 6/10 for me. How would you rate the Beatles if you made separate ratings for music and lyrics? How would you rate Stairway to Heaven?

The rhythm thing you’re talking about also sounds like “slam poetry”. Look some up if you’re not familiar with it already.

@loveandabcs

8 күн бұрын

Good insidght.

@DavidLindes

8 күн бұрын

huh. Dunno that I would have thought to make that connection... but yeah, slam is amazing (or can be).

Somebody get Amy into witness protection before the Swifties find her!!!

@katsmith3369

8 күн бұрын

LOL! My thoughts exactly, I laughed out loud at that line.

Such great lyrical expression of emotion. The first verse is brooding, but in the second, all the emotions are just coming at once, crowding into each other, and the words are so articulately inarticulate. Because that's how emotions go.

With those amazing glasses of hers, makes sense she got her own eyewear line

@johnsilva9139

2 күн бұрын

Yes. She's like a living, walking, talking (singing?) ad for eyewear. I'm guessing other eyewear companies approached her about representing their brand and she decided she might as well start her own.

"You say I've got a crack in my windshield..." 😂

This is pop music, with no guitar solos and no screaming. Simple and flat. Very suitable to be performed by a female singer. By the way, after being left by Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel, the Genesis music group changed drastically to soft rock or pop rock, for example in the song Into Deep (Collins, Banks and Rutherford). Sorry, if I'm wrong. Thank's.

Never thought about the phrasing of this song...Lisa's all right, not necessarily my tastes, but I like this song. I do like the ascension in the chord progression. There are bunch of other wonderful females artists to take a look into: Eva Cassidy, Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Tracy Bonham, Aimee Mann, Kristin Hirsh/Throwing Muses, Juliana Hatfield...and lots of others

Lisa Loeb - Do You Sleep is a bit more deep. Stay (I missed you) is radio friendly. Lisa Loeb is very wholesome, light, that writes easy to digest emotions about love and loss. She moved from doing that, to doing children centric music. She was part of a era of music where there was A LOT of very heavy, dark sounds. She was a shining light in all of that. She balanced out the grunge/post grunge era's dark, earthy, low sounds with brighter sounds. She was perfect for the era she was in.

When I was 13 in 1994, this song was magic to me. I understand it might not have the same impact on people who aren’t 13 and when it’s not 1994. 😅

Saw a video once of her singing this live and was pretty blown away by how much better the vocals were than the super overproduced studio version. I know it was a hit and everyone got paid, but whoever produced it the first time should be fined.

Taylor Swift might have not even been born when this was a big hit in 1994 or so, just before the Atlantic 1996 olympics. But I was wrong, Swift was born in 1989. That song was for years in my mind therefore called an earworm at least here.

You Rock Amy ❤🎶🎶

I never cared for this song. But, I fell in love with her album, Firecracker. The style is identical, but less jarring than this. Loeb is generally outside my preferred genre, but I find her soft voice and simple approach soothing…when I need it.

Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin & Lisa Loeb. Lilith Fair goddesses. What a powerful era of music for women.

@MattJocks

8 күн бұрын

Sheryl Crow and Jewel as well. The version of Water Is Wide with Jewel, Indio Girls and McLachlan, with its incredible harmonies, is classic.

Such an amazing song!

Oh an interesting song to hear....for a left field suggestion I'm going recommend Laurie Anderson's O Superman (For Massenet) almost zero music and I'm wondering why Massenet (an obscure classical composer) is mentioned...possibly Anderson uses some melody ?

Fun fact this was the first hit recorded on the Alesis ADAT format (which stank but that's not the point)

"Better version of Taylor Swift" Couldn't have said it any better, Amy! I saw her at a small outdoor venue in Lake Arrowhead, CA. She was promoting Camp Lisa and did a bunch of her children's songs, engaging the children in sing-alongs and answering their questions. She also performed several of her more adult songs, including this one. It was one of the most joyful, engaging and intimate concerts I've ever attended.

Sometimes it’s about a time and place. When the video premiered in 1994, I was a college freshman and the song hit hard my first time away from home. The video was presented as a one-take and I loved it. Worth checking out.

This is another genera of rock that was popular in the 90s, very different from grunge.

This is a great wee song. I used to play it in a cover band and it's a fantastic singalong piece, there's loads going on with the backing vocals. As the backing you're there to serve the rhythm for those percussive vocals to play off. It's an unoffensive groovy bop, brilliant fun to play, it all builds well. Isn't that enough? Try thinking about this Pop/Rock music through the lense of playing as a small group, a lot of the appeal comes from making a "bigger" sound than should be possible.

It is very nice, cute almost perfect pop song. I actually think that is has it owns unique style. It does a bunch of unexpected things although it may sound simplistic. It is very hard to write a song like this. If it was easy, everybody would do it.

she's similar 2 paul simon's spouse edie brickell who came along a 1/2 decade earlier

The K9 Bowie lover below my comment states what I have commented before; in modern music it is often about (can be very small) artistic choices that creates emotion, a vibe, a mood, that makes the entire song, musical play difficulty, or compositional strength, or sophistication of arrangement doesn't matter, a simple effect can make a song. To some that may be what this song is but it's not what makes this song. This song's popularity, 90% of it's target are women, 10% are men who want a certain woman to like them, is it's lyrics. This is simply a storytelling that many women can dig and resonate with. I am with Amy, it sounds like Taylor Swift plus 10% more musical quality (and how many male Taylor Swift fans do you know?) More serious is the "I miss you" line and the way it is sung, it sounds deceptively the same as a song by (don't know which band formation) but a song by John Waite in which he ends each segment with "I miss you" sang in the same tonal quality. YEARS AGO! My girlfriend really liked my stereo system, she liked the sound of it and maybe she liked it in the same way she liked wearing my dress shirts around my house! I really liked for people to NOT touch my stereo (but you learn that relationships are about giving and sacrifice, in other words, you learn to put up with it) She would come over to my house while I was working and clean. Very nice of her and I didn't think that my house needed more cleaning. And she would turn my stereo on and listen until her heart was filled with happiness! And leave the Nataly Merchant CD in the tray of my CD player. Now I love to listen to 1 or 2 Nataly Merchant or 10,000 Maniac songs, she is great, but to listen to a whole album of this sappy female relationship drabble is too much. It is women's territory. Men have their Pink Floyd and in the 80's college girls learned that if they wanted to keep, not loose that hot boyfriend they let them have their Pink Floyd and act like they like it as well, and women have their Taylor Swift, Nataly Merchant and...this stuff. In relationships the question is; during long road trips who gets to have command over the car speakers???.............well, it is MY car!!!! 🙂

This was also of a very specific time, Gen X in the early 90s, Reality Bites

I appreciate your honest assessment. She does sound a lot like a Swift copy...to me, but, of course, Lisa may have come first. Each decade, there seems to be be a dominant artist, whose style is reproduced by many others. I noticed it first hearing a few Neil Diamonds who weren't him, and now with Ed Sheeran.

@DavidLindes

8 күн бұрын

Loeb definitely came first. :) Swift was about 4 ½ years old when this song got released. :) (Not a critique, just filling you in.)

Absolutely perfect song.....wonderful lyrics, composition, arrangement, production.......genius.

Rather than answer your question at first, let me say that I love the idea--the vision--of all of those Taylor Swift fans instead listening to Lisa Loeb's works. (I am not a fan of TS's music at all--too old and have heard way too much variety, seen so many bands live--but am happy for her political message, i.e. world view, to be reaching so many teens and young adults.) To your question, I think the answer has to do with not following a path already taken, but trying a new path. I saw you listening to Nirvana. Grunge was a style completely new, although of course made up of many other styles, but definitely infusing something new. There is an "I don't care about anything that was done in the past," feel with it. You do miss that when you simply listen to one or two songs by an artist without, as I have done, lived through the evolution of this music. I mean really lived in it and experienced these evolutions, which take months and years to happen. That doesn't answer your questions, but I think points you in a direction of things to consider. Reading some of the other replies below, I see much good and similar insight.

Taylor Swift and her 100s of writers could never write a Song this good.

@john-531

8 күн бұрын

To be fair, they are equally mediocre.

modern pop country could be a great description... although she sounds modern, the song obviously is a lot older than that, maybe she created the genre!

I think keeping "cuz I missed you" simple helps drive home the point of the line.

@Johnny_Socko

8 күн бұрын

She sings it like a simple statement, then she immediately repeats the line with much more emotion. My interpretation is that we are hearing her come to that realization. "I guess I miss you. *Yeah! I miss you!*"

A few bars in and I immediately thought of Taylor Swift. And not in a good way. So I agree with you about this singer and song but it seems whatever song is suggested to you we can still learn a lot from your remarkable analyses. P. J. Harvey, Kate Bush, Aurora, Susanne Sundfor, Carole King, even Madonna (from Ray of Light) please?

I think the comparison to Taylor Swift is warranted. Taylor took this one song and has spent the past 20 years rewriting it.

There is a modern tendency to use a conversational tone and rhythmic vocal delivery within a quite restricted melodic range. I think it comes from the influence of rap and hip-hop where melody can be entirely absent and the 'track' is precisely a vehicle for the verbal 'flow'. There are some highly creative and expressive examples of that genre (Braided Hair by 1 Giant Leap, Weapons Of Mass Destruction by Faithless, and pieces you have heard by Hi Ren). However its third-hand influence on other genres of popular song is more like weak coffee 😅. Although I agree this is much better than Taylor Swift IMO. BTW the main guitar figure sounds like it is played on a high-strung guitar where the 4 bottom (lowest pitched) strings are replaced with those of an octave higher, making it a re-entrant tuning with the highest note (g') on the third string. It makes a pretty and delicate sound known as Nashville Tuning.

I don't hear that same-note thing that you went on about. I hear at least a half step up there. ??

@DavidLindes

8 күн бұрын

Right? "missed" seems at a higher pitch to me... my ear isn't well enough trained to say how much, but it seems higher to me, at least.

@apk257

8 күн бұрын

@@DavidLindes Yes, exactly.

You are a real teacher ms Amy .. you have got me listening to your long videos everytime i have a chance while studying medicine ... But i really want you to listen to this .. a version of comfortably numb by Rogers Waters himself 2022 .. i think this Waters version suits more on the vibe and aura and the sequence in The Wall album .. i remember whenever i heard to the original i feel like it is a separate song from the entire album musically not lyrically and i remember there was a conflict between Waters and Gilmour about this song and the way it should appear on the album kzread.info/dash/bejne/a36AsJdxYbS9qMY.htmlsi=TpUWvi5TvhVGiKuf

Have you done Shakespeare's Sister?

@BrendanAshton

8 күн бұрын

If you are examining folk rock you should try some British folk rock such as Fairport convention ( with sandy denny on vocals (I’d recommend the song Tamlyn or Marty Groves) or Eliza Carthy (songs like Good Morning Mr Walker) or False lights Skewball they all have great energy and emotion

For some reason my brain jumbles this song and "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer together in my head.

@fnjesusfreak

9 күн бұрын

They have similar voices.

@goldenageofdinosaurs7192

8 күн бұрын

I think LL started off a bunch of those soft, wistful voiced singers.

@fnjesusfreak

8 күн бұрын

@@goldenageofdinosaurs7192 Lisa Loeb was definitely ahead of her time in 1993/1994.

"This sounds like a better Taylor Swift" Yup, because it is.

I think the popularity of this song at the time was how unique it was compared to everything else at the time. It was put in front of an audience on MTV as part of the soundtrack of Reality Bites, otherwise it might not have been noticed. You could probably do a whole series on the Reality Bites soundtrack. Another example is The Juliana Hatfield Three “Spin the Bottle” and if you look it up on KZread it’s actually MTV introducing the song while talking a lot about the movie and who’s in it. I think it’s definitely marketing.

Okay - it's somewhat catchy....but really such minor music compared to the Beatles. It is so interesting watching how Amy responds to this as compared to her obvious awe when hearing a "new" song by the Beatles (as well as Sounds of Silence).

@jem77469

8 күн бұрын

Yea, but maybe 147 songs from the Beatles is enough...?

"A better version of Taylor Swift". With all due respect to Taylor...truer words were never spoken.

I always liked this tune, but I understand why your are grappling with its impact, or why it was a hit. For me, it was a slight departure from the prevalent sounds of that era, and a bit of an interlude. Perhaps, a rest area on pop music's highway. An intermission, if you will,

I recommend making a reaction to one of the best vocalists in the world. Meet Diana Ankudinova! May 31, this beautiful girl turned 21 years old. Diana has the title - Queen of Goosebumps. Challenge yourself, can you resist the charm of her voice? Comments under the video from the last 24 hours: "What perfection, it's out of this world, not even to explain how extraordinary her voice is." "It is definitely the most beautiful voice in the world❤" 1) super unique voice (dramatic contralto with rich polyphonic overtones); 2) the most complex vocal techniques, a bewitching voice; 3) Diana sings in 6 languages : English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic and any musical genre; 4) incredible charisma, artistry and living of any song; 5) a vocal range of 4 octaves; 6) a large army of fans around the world; 7) an independent artist, without producers and labels, only with the support of fans and reactors like you; 8) more than 20 thousand reactions (all collected in my playlists). The incredible fate of a girl found with a broken collarbone at a bus stop and ended up in an orphanage.

@monolit73

9 күн бұрын

One of the most famous hits of the king of rock 'n' roll Elvis Presley in an unrivaled gorgeous, phenomenal performance by Diana Ankudinova ( 18 y.o.) Video title: Can't help falling in love (Stereo) - Diana Ankudinova @ ShowMaskGoOn, 1 ep. VERY IMORTANT, the video must be original (duration - 8.56m) from Diana's channel, NOT a short pirated copy from "brocoli". 15.9 million views 345k likes 16 thousand comments - total 1412 reactions to this performance by Diana. ❗ATTENTION: Videos from TV shows are often blocked by KZread and video EDITING is required. MV, live performances are available for unlimited reactions WITHOUT EDITING.

It's a good song, but i wished the drums were more subtle. A good drummer should serve the song without distracting from it in my opinion. I'd prefer a more "unplugged" version. I heard this record when it came out and thought: less is more. I want to Feel what the singer is singing. Too commercial for it's own sake. Strip it down and it could be more impactful for me. The lyrics are great though. Production... Not so great.

@mojorider8455

7 күн бұрын

agree. to me, the drums sound very much of it's time, the pattern. very 90s-ish. The mark of a well produced song seems to be that it can fit in well with any era, ages well, not revealing when it was recorded.

Agree, a better version of TS. A typical contemporary pop-song, just a song with crafted underlying, musically boring - at least it's not drowned in synth-strings carpet sound, though quite compressed. Edit: I'm surprised that it's a thirty y.o. song. This may tell a lot of the difference between Europe and USA: Here's another song called "Stay" from 1992 (by Shakespears Sister), two years before but musicailly lightyears ahead!: kzread.info/dash/bejne/i3eNw6OFl7qeYMY.html

A better version of Taylor swift you made my day 😅 so can we go back to ROCK now? This channel need another challenge, it's been goin pretty easy listening for the past videos, just a thought, looking forward to Amy getting into some Maiden, Priest, more heavy scorpions, Def Leppard, Quiet Riot, Sabbath, purple, uria heap, thin Lizzy, UFO, kiss, ACDC, etc

A lot of words in the video and comments to say "This should have been a different style/song". Nor great criticism imo.

Amy, I suggest you listen to Amy Winehouse, she is (was) the most talented, unique (male or female) artist of the last 20 years.

Not really my cup to tea. Quite a sweet voice, some good lyrics, fairly predictable accompaniment. A bit Alanis as I've seen other people say.

If that is rock music, I have just munched my trilby. I don't think there's anything new in this, it is very formulaic and her voice whilst nice and inoffensive doesn't provide much of a spark of point of focus. It is a good recording though.

You never heard this song before? You been living under a rock since 1994?

Check Rick Beato....he hates this music.....

Polished nothing- boring (song not reaction). Wasting of time to dive into that.

Yes, but does it have a good beat and can you dance to it? 😂

To me, this sort of style comes across as "glib" or "shallow".

Cute, but banal, song.