Music Review: Taylor Swift

Hey guys! Audareya here, with TWO, that’s right, two brand new song reviews. And because of the release of the very popular country/pop singer Taylor Swift’s new album, I figured I would cover two of those bestselling singles. Get ready for a review of “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”was one of the first singles Taylor released from the album, and it was met with huge success. This song would probably be classified as pop with a little country, and it’s a little outside her original country genre. It’s the kind of tune that will get stuck in your head for days.

  The lyrics however, are exactly the same; Taylor singing her heart out about how she and her ex will never get back together, no matter what he says. "I remember when we broke up the first time/Saying, 'This is it, I've had enough,' 'cause like/We hadn't seen each other in a month/When you said you needed space. What?/Then you come around again and say/'Baby, I miss you and I swear I'm gonna change/Trust me/Remember how that lasted for a day?/I say, 'I hate you, we break up'/You call me, 'I love you.'"

 The lyrics are very typical of Taylor. The song is entirely based around the fact that she and her ex keep getting back together, but this time, it’s over. The tune itself is catchy, but the lyrics are meaningless. It’s really just another breakup tune with a catchy beat. Don’t get me wrong, I like the song, but not for the lyrics. Just a side note, I enjoyed the music video, if only for the fact that it was done in all one take. It was very interesting. Taylor, in that one take, even had to have 5 costume changes within the video. Her band dressing up as animals was a little strange, though. The link for the official video is below, if you want to check out what the song sounds like.

“I Knew You Were Trouble” is another single released by Taylor about 2 weeks ago, and since then it has had huge success, becoming one of the most popular tracks on her album. The song, however, is completely not Taylor’s usual style. She usually sings country; this is full-fledged pop/rock.

The song itself is yet another breakup tune, where Taylor blames herself for falling for him. She sings, “I knew you were trouble when you walked in/so shame on me now.” Taylor is basically saying that she knew the guy was trouble and would probably break her heart, but she just couldn’t resist anyway. Is that the message that she wants her fans to hear? The sad thing is that the tune to this is really catchy, and would be great to dance to. This song has actually become one of my favorites, but not for the lyrics.

The majority of Taylor’s songs are all about breakups, and these two are unfortunately no exception. When she was 16 and singing about all of her boyfriends, it was bearable, but now that she is 22 years old, she should have learned better. Taylor really stepped out of her country genre with these two pop songs, and while some are angry, many people like the switch. Let’s just hope that future tunes have some more uplifting messages.

Thanks for reading! If you want to hear both songs and watch the music video for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the links are below.

Keep on Rocking,

Audareya :)

"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64

"I Knew You Were Trouble" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IOMdVpZig

OCTOBER 24!

Arielle here. It's been a long time since out group has posted something. We are sending an apologetic note to our viewers who have been wondering what's going on! It's called midterms! Thankfully, our fantastic girl, Audareya, will be updating our blog soon about a lot of people's favorite singer: Taylor Swift!

Thanks and God bless you for your patience,
Arielle

The Wedding Promise Review

Greetings,

This is Arielle, writing a review on her now most favorite book in the world.

The Wedding Promise

     The Wedding Promise, written by: Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer- Authors of the Cape Light novels- is a Christian story for ages 13 and up. Underneath these words are many beautiful passages and inspirational messages that touch the hearts of every generation. Such as, “Love is patient; love is kind, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4–8). Happily reading this story, there is a feeling of warmth when Liza Martin, new homeowner of the inn, takes over for her deceased grandmother. Her life begins to advance towards new outcomes she never thought possible. Knowing the Mysterious Daniel Merritt, trying to dissect their relationship, and taking over the inn are work enough. When naturally beautiful Miss Bennett arrives inquiring if she could have June Wedding at the inn, everything becomes tossed into one huge jumble as the preparations are put into order! Throughout this Novel one particular message stood out among the rest spoken by one of the main characters Clair, “Nothing is perfect this side of heaven. But lovely nonetheless.” (243). Portraying true Christian faith, Kinkade and Spencer together produced one of the most enjoyably, satisfying novels of this time.

This book went beyond my expectations. I love reading, but from the first page, personally I could not put the novel down, because as you read the story, everything is written so proportioned that it is like you have just arrived on angel island and are right their playing along with the characters.  

Hi,

I'm Callie.  I recently had the opportunity to attend a seminar taught by Andrew Pudewa.  Mr. Pudewa is the director of Institute for Excellence in Writing or IEW.  His seminars help transform reluctant writers and teachers.  The purpose of this seminar was to teach high school students how to write an essay for the SAT test.

IEW is a proven format to help you write in a clear concise manner.  Four important steps to writing an IEW paper include an outline, intro, body, and a clincher.  When writing the body, openers, dress-ups, and decorations are needed.  Using these composition techniques help polish your IEW paper.

Some interesting tips on writing the essay for the SAT test include the following: knowing who you audience is, deciding what position you stand on, writing smart.  Eighty percent of the judges grading the essays are women.  They become tired of only reading examples of men in the student’s essays.  You can receive a higher score by just writing an example of what a woman did in history.  When writing the essay it is important to stay on topic and write only the perspective you have decided on.  Also, use as much time possible writing your essay and only proof read it once.  If you include all of these tips in your paper, you are guaranteed to get a high score on your essay.

Psalm 19:14 – Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

This verse is an example of how we need to write.  Using the IEW techniques helps make our writing in this way even more effective. 

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Mr Pudewa speak, I HIGHLY recommend it.  He will inspire you to write to the best of your ability!

Callie