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Gotye + fun. + Sia + Kimbra = refreshing change to the Billboard Hot 100
Published: 4/19/2012 2:13 PM
Last Modified: 4/19/2012 2:18 PM


Australian artist Gotye performs during the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

I am an unabashed fan of air-headed pop music.

It energizes me, in a way -- especially when I'm exercising. My running list (i.e., the track list I'd use were I actually to go for a run) consists of mostly pop and dance stuff, like Britney Spears, Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Beyonce, with a smattering of upbeat rock, country and alternative stuff.

But my heart belongs to the Top 40 -- or, at least, it used to.

Much as I dread coming off as an old fart, I don't connect with most of the rap-oriented, party pop that seems to flood Billboard's Hot 100.

So imagine my surprise when this little jewel hit No. 1 this week:




Last week -- and several weeks prior, right? -- it was fun.'s "We Are Young" with the uber-fabulous Janelle Monae. Now it's this trippy little tune by Gotye, whom I'd NEVER heard of before a few weeks ago. Same goes for Kimbra. And, now, I love 'em both.

But the "alternative" influences of other acts (what the heck does alternative mean anymore these days?) are seeping into other, more mainstream ones, like Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" featuring Sia, one of my ALL-TIME favorite artists.

Of course, Adele ushered in this newest wave of music going against the pop flow with last year's "Rolling in the Deep." I think it's just a sign that people are wanting the audio equivalent of fresh air or a clean palette.

Not that we'll abandon the bubblegum pop and urban infusions still crowding the Top 40; but it's refreshing as an ice cold sweet tea to have something come on Pandora and make you go, "Hmmm ..."

Peace, love and Gotye ... XOXO


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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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