Japan Lover

Good day everybody!

Waiting for Karim’s parents to reach us from Malpensa (yep, they will stay here a couple of days… well, not HERE in our loft all time, cos I’d freak out, but here in Milan, yep), and after a very intense working day (where I have finally managed to get back to do some pilates though, so it’s all good ;)) I am trying to fill these pages also because in 4 days we leave and I won’t update blogs till October 13.

We have also decided that Stutter is gonna be our marriage song 😉 yep. Karim sings it too me each day and it just fits our style of lovers. 😉

Think that this same update is likely to be written in pieces so I am starting it now that’s Monday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d extend it on Tuesday and maybe even Wednesday (so check the  very likely “UPDATE Shoutouts”).

What can I do… I’m busy.

Plus there are so many things on the horizon for me it’s a miracle in the first place if I update blogs at all.

It’s just that I have a couple of words to say, especially musically, so this is going to be kinda LONG post and a bit of a rant too (not really a rant, camon… but probably a very long informative post too).

Before stepping in the music week (some would call it maybe on some aspect a “Mourning Week” but I won’t because to me what’s gonna happen has reasons that have NOTHING to do with artistry, so I’m fine with the outputs, although maybe I can have a regret or two. But that NEVER on the artistic side. You will understand me later… ;)), I have to pinpoint that YEP… in four days we leave towards California where Karim and I will get formally engaged.

I plan a small change in my online backgrounds just to make you get a glimpse of us together, but in a safe image that cannot be and won’t be spoiled or misused cos we’re not full frontal. Plus for Up’s Sake Karim’s hair are growing back (yeah… you know from my twitter this Summer he went all skin cut because he was feeling the heat. Not that he was not hot there as well, but I like to pass hands through hair so… glad his hair are getting back to be… toucheable ;).

What else?

Oh, yeah… we will go round in Cali followed by SECURITY.

This is because Karim’s parents will be around but also because this is actually the way the majority of Karim’s life has been lived like.

That is actually one of the reason he loves to live in Italy for: he has no family or status commitments of no type – or at least he has very few only – and in fact when I was like “Whoooo!!! Security for us? COOL!!!” he was just “Trust me, it ain’t a good thing… especially when you live like that since the start of your life…”.

I always tend to forget Karim’s background.

I shouldn’t but for me he’s… just this awesome man full of heart and talent and brain and sensitivity and for real all the rest disappears and for me… security shit really feels more like… a way to protect such a wonderfulness from scary people.

But yeah.. I get it can be demanding for the self to be surrounded by such things since the whole of your life.

That’s why we will live in Italy, right? 😉 (for the foreseable future at least ;)).

At the moment that I am writing NOW, with not big surprise by my side (you know from all my previous posts how I was finding IDIOTIC the type of promotional duties and timetables the guys chose to commit to in Summer for Hands All Over…) all charts are basically kickin in the guts Sweet Babies latest effort (which doesn’t mean, see my previous post with the review, this ain’t their best effort in full fact), because okay that they are entering all charts in the top ten, but that is a serious step back compared from the release of If Won’t Be Soon Before Long.

The chart of USA, which will anyway show a MAJOR decrease in selling numbers (but again, EVERY artist has experienced a decrease to 1/3 of what they were formally able to sell compared to three years ago, see Linkin Park, for instance.. that’s the state of Industry right now…) at the moment I am writing – MONDAY – is a battle with Zac Brown Band (an ass half-pop half-country band which STOLE already the Grammy of Best New Artist from MGMT last edition, and which like all Country acts benefits from the fact the Country fans still buy records and don’t rely on Torrent/eMule/Stealing music), which the Country act could easily win I believe, just because of a series of elements.

Which I am about to detail (and which have been enlightened also before in parts over these pages).

Think that while you read all this two things have to stay clear in your mind:

HANDS ALL OVER IS A PERFECT ALBUM and MY FAVOURITE of Maroon5.

I CANNOT CARE LESS OF CHARTS, especially in days like this where shit generally rules anyway.

All that being said, let me detail my view about the “demise”… Factors that troubled this whole release were:

1 – As I wrote before: Country acts are still BOUGHT by their not tech savvy fans. In this, Country right now is the hugest and more marketable products in USA.

On the opposite side of the mountain, Maroon 5 fans are of the category that has no trouble downloading their songs illegally, being the usual melting pot of pop, urban, mainstream listeners (I give to their more rockish and r’n’b fanbase, which still part of their audience, a more driven will of going out and actually BUY their stuff still… but we all know from the datas of the sharing sites that Hands All Over has been majorly listened and downloaded way before its release… see again my previous posts disgust about this all).

Then this Zac Brown Band record is the second of an hyped band (they got the nuber feature in Billboard on the week of release of the record actually, which tells you some doesn’t it?), and we all know how much that works well, because in 2007 Maroon5 were media darlings as well.

Advantage ZBB, regardlessly of the quality of offering. That is watered down country at best, but ehi, I don’t like Country in first place myself, not even if Maroon 5 perform it actually… And moreover really, Zac Brown Band is a very watered down pop country crossover, nothing as great as Dave Matthews for instance, more of a bastardized version of that.

Again on the opposite side, the press about Maroon 5 and the general consensus has been moderately cold. A part of the spectrum has reckoned that this is actually their most complete record and easily their best, while the majority has expressed doubts about this all given the fact to ditch the sound so marketable and uniquely theirs of Songs About Jane, after all the world was asking them to put it back, would have been not well taken by the wide majority of their fanbase (which someway has happened, but this is because that fanbase cannot accept a growth artistically of the band. And there, sorry, I don’t follow the “common fanbase” at all.).

And let’s face… hype of the market is NEEDED in these times of downhill music sales (phenomenon which will keep going on and on till all we are gonna have will be huge debuts, and then quick disappear of lots of “new acts”, unless they won’t follow religiously all steps of planning heads at their record HQs…).

2 – A complete WRONG pick up of the singles to come up with by the babies (a thing that I will honestly NEVER understand, and probably they underestimated too… Okay that you may feel out of touch with contemporary taste, but… THIS much? I have no idea how such a mistake could be made…).

Without a great driving first single, you just cut off any chance of your album to be a best seller, and this especially if you’re an established act, because you instantly gather the feeling from “environment” that you might just not be in tune with common sense anymore (which is awesome if you are the alternative hipster, and way less marvelous if you are meant to be super mainstream).

You know I was skeptical about the tone of lyrics off Misery for being the first single (see all my previous posts about this topic), even though I loved the happy musical dress of the song, which I was thinking was suitable for the Summer. But by the time I was guessing all that, I didn’t know that in the record there was a song like STUTTER.

For Christ’s sake… what were they on to to NOT picking that up as first single?????

That song was perfect for Summer: groovy, unescapable, boosty, HAPPY (yep, an happy song, that is what people want to hear in Summer and especially if it’s a comeback single…ARGH!!), very power pop, totally Maroon5 and sexy at the right level…

The video would have been SO awesome too (imagine Adam and Anne in that song… camon it would have been AWESOME!!!!), and overhall Stutter would have been IN SUMMER a fantastic hit pretty much all over the world.

Guaranteed.

Give A Little More would have been a good single choice as for number two, even though for me I Can’T Lie is far superior and moreover it would have showed that kind of retro’ sound, mourning but still happy in its sonic perception, that Maroon 5 fans off the first time LOVE.

Yes, because where is clear that the sound has shifted from Songs About Jane (I see it as an evolution, but we know legions of fans are actually let down by the fact they forgot R’n’B because that was in their eyes the uniqueness of Maroon 5 – to me it’s only partially true, but I can understand that point – ), truth is that I Can’T Lie would have content a lot exactly those kind of SAJ fans.

3 – The detachment from the moment they started to surface back with the singles and the time the album was released.

Hewl… way too long gap. Way too long. They had MONTHS to start to create a campaign for this all, and dunno why, they decided to take it so easy they were basically living under the radar.

It’s a choice, sure, they are entitled to it, but this was bound to take a HUGE toll.

4 – The complete let down of the rest of the world as for promotional duties during the pre-release time.

Okay this is something I have expressed concern, regret and disappointment all over and I’m not surprised at all of the outputs it has brought.

I hope they aren’t either because I cannot see how they could expect anything different than from what’s happening in the world-round charts.

You can think it’s not important as long as America works but that is so untrue: in a world so connected, the buzz in the REST of the world shows up is actually a boost and a comfort ALSO for your main market.

And unsurprisingly, the opposite effect drives your main market too (which is happening).

Relevance is a strong formula but gotta be worked over; now don’t get me wrong: to me charting relevance especially nowadays with all the marketing tricks and the general awful taste means a very little, so in myself I don’t really complain about anything because Hands All Over is a magnificent album: but I do believe if they’d just operated differently in launching it and takin more time to also explain what was about that record that they felt worthy and mattering this showdown in charts wouldn’t have been of this register.

As simple as that.

5 – The overall wrong assumption (this time actually by the fans) that Maroon 5 are easily marketable and easily “mainstream”.

You know from my previous posts I love them exactly because of their richness in sound, so variate and so different, so for me that is actually NOT a minus. Their richness and versatility, which they have made SHINE in this record, is actually their best feature, and the reason they should gain praise for (like in the All Music Guide Review).

This is the measure of their artistic merit and the reason I personally couldn’t care less about their charting power (I never did).

But this is also what makes them have such an hard time making people rate them as greatly as they should been rated.

A rich, variate, educate taste such as the one a music of Maroon 5 deserved, is RARE.

It takes way more than your average pop listener to appreciate that, even though in the end they make “pop”, but “pop” in the Beatles way: EDUCATED pop that merges together all influences in something sonically pleasing and allegedly “natural” to the ear.

Heck, their VERSES are more melodic and hooking up than the wide majority of other musicians’s CHORUSES!!!

But sure, this ain’t easy to make people acknowledge because they are and will be forever overlooked (unless they don’t go back to a full R’nB sound, which would make the world go in awe for, but which would simply NOT be them artistically… It’d be JUST a PART of them and they don’t want to get back there. And I respect that. A lot.

6 – The lack of sexiness displayed openly in the lyrics this time.

This is one of the tackiest and most stupid critic I’ve heard about this record.

I have addressed it in my previous post because I was sure others would have, and I stand by that: these lyrics are actually BETTER, more crafted, more real and more deep than those Adam used to write before.

They are more manly in the sense you can perceive it’s a man writing them and not a kid; and he SINGS them with way more passionate soul than ever before actually.

But again, in this quite shallow way to hear supposed “pop” music (it’s that a disease?), if you are not explicitly quoting sex you’re not sexy enough (NO WAY… , and a way to sing can be way sexier than the most open lyric, which anyway Adam gave room for anyone else to feel comfortable with, so I don’t see why if he felt these songs weren’t meant to express that, he should have got back to an old trick just because everybody expects that from him all the time…).

So okay… whatever happens tomorrow I’m fine with, and I so wish they’d be too, avoiding idiocities like declaring (I actually doubt they did THIS way) to that they’re gonna stop singing about models (this can’t be a sentence out from Adam… he has probably said in their next VIDEOS there will be less face to face action – too bad if any… – ), but I can’t really see why he should stop writing about love and love in his life.

Maroon 5 ain’t gonna be political writers as Muse.

They cannot be some philosophers à la Radiohead, nor nerdy weirdos (in the best possible way) à la Vampire Weekend.

They sing about love and ehi, there’s freaking NO problem with that.

Beatles, Police, Stevie and tons other sung ALWAYS about that.

Stop thinkin there’s a mistake there because those telling you guys there is are probably into metal and they’re not exactly the type of people who’s gonna give a shit about you anyway.

Right?

RIGHT.

And by the way, just enjoy the music cos this music is really awesome (and no disband… no way ;))

Okay… after these words random (not really), prepare cos I have so much to fill the page with it’s gonna be like a feast of eyes and ears.

I mean.. there’s a LOT.

There is a series of videos from Japan shows starting with Misery:

Then going on with Sunday Morning:

Then Makes Me Wonder:

And finally Give A Little More:

Yes… we have MORE than a bunch of stuff (gotta keep you busy for two weeks or something so I’m keen enough, am I not? ;))

For instance listen to this interview for Y100:

Just put all pieces up will take me a whole day… But anyway Karim’s mum and dad arrive very late in town (tonight they’ll sleep here actually).

Tomorrow they log into… well.. Grand Hotel De’ Milan of course ;).

But stop with my stuff and listen then to this piece from French Radio (more about France later):

Lovely Anne in the maintime is really enjoying Italy, where she came back after she also left Naples to reach London first for the catwalks there, too.

She rocked Gilles show in all glittering glory and a pair of incredible colors and faces on her nails 😉

I guess by Tuesday 28th September she should be moving to Paris for its Fashion Week, bust so far she’s just shone in Naples last week and then after that London Fashion Week series of duties she went back to Italy for OUR Fashion Week (btw, talkin back about Naples times… boy, watching Adam and Anne together in person is a bliss).

They so totally totally shine… I would have never bothered any of them in the hotel, but watching them is like watching Peynet. Their babies could be so beautiful… I know I’m fixed with that sentence but maybe it’s my state of future bride, I don’t know… they just inspired me so well it’s unreal ;).

Talkin about that, and the fact public display by public people can be commented over ANYWHERE, one of Psycho’s frankly freaky friends (oh, btw… Psycho WROTE me emails again… I even answered, in a fluke of humanism… BAD IDEA. I guess she’s still compulsive, but if she really wants to take my advices and move on, I’m sincerly wishing her to find a safe place and a safe pace to cope with her obsessions. I truly wish her to recover… just I don’t wanna her to write me ever anymore, anyhow though thanx…) had the brilliant idea to question me about THIS the other day:

(if that’s recall you that weirdo DeliaDobbs fake twitter, is not by case…).

Of course these people are way too obsessed, and way too stupid to understand what stays in this blog is a collection of PUBLIC messages out for anybody to know about by KNOWN people.

But I can do all, Psycho’s friend (this one here btw is NOT Psycho… she’s just part of a creek of similar crazies and obsessed people like Psycho is):

I can do all I want with the messages THE ENCRIPTED PEOPLE let us know about right?

Not that these obsessed weirdos that mock like 8 years old other people online could understand anything that exhiles from their 18 hours online lives, of course, all full up for cyberstalk (creepy people. Honestly.)

See, if I were obsessed like you all crazies, last week in Naples I would have followed Adam and Anne and bothered them, I would have taken tons of pictures of them from my privileged position and hotel stay and then I would have shared them all over the web.

BUT I DID NOT BECAUSE MY LAST WILL IS TO CRASH THEIR REAL AND PRIVATE LIVES or to display things they would never wish to display (learn something here, please).

I just enjoyed their sight together when it was displayed publicly in the place they were at.  And kept the memory of the beauty they share around, without attempting any paparazzi-like move (I despise that attitude, also in the fans, deeply).

All that they don’t share for first, or that other news sources with status of media sources don’t claim about them doesn’t belong to web or to any other beside themselves well, and it WON’T EVER BE SHARED HERE… because it’s THEIR PRIVATE LIFE and I do respect it so totally, totally much (I do. You don’t crazies, because you keepon talkin HOURS online about them don’t you?).

What is displayed here is simply a collection of known facts they as well let us know about being public people, collected in timely flow with the help and interest of at least 10 more persons beside me, and displayed on my page just because it is of interest for me being a lover of music and a lover of fashion and a lover of beauty to see my favourite singer together with one of my favourite models.

This is my prerogative because this blog detailes my likes, which they are part of, but it displays that in a very light way.

Now you stalker people stop mirroring my pages, or at least when I wear you off and out don’t go weep: my lawyers are always happy to meet yours anytime YOU FUCKING CREEPY LOSERS.

Go out of web for a while and do some sexually pleasant stuff: I bet this way you would stop spending more than half of the day online, creepy obsessive nerds.

I pity your sad lives with all my heart. No wait: I don’t: I laugh my ass off thinkin at your sad lives actually.

Okay, so let’s go on with the real things, while you keep reading and watching and hearing material out from the very fullfilled past week of Maroon 5.

This is a behind the scene radio piece that talks about the record again:

And another one from Fuse mid show:

There are gems, but my two very favourite things are BY FAR the awesome cover they did on Howard Stern Show of the immortal classic “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green :

Click here to listen the download of that performance, which was so awesome even the not expected-to-like-Maroon5-type of audience swooned at the rendition:

Then anytime the guys are on Howard Stern the “comedian factor” in Adam raises up above sky 😉 LOL…

And then the fabulous interview Adam did with OUT Magazine, which is so honest and see-throughable which made me feel totally empathic again with anything he said:

And page 2:

I advice you to click on the shots because along the interview on their site there is also a wonderful video.

I love every single word Adam said there.

He’s so himself there and I like that he likes Gaga, too ;).

Sincerly, he’s so adorable. People who don’t get him really are mistaken about him. He’s a shining soul.

And no matter how simply ignorant people comments about him can get, I love that he has his friends and he’s totally down to Earth about that.

Gay concern?

Just read what he wrote back and forth with Austin Nichols two days ago… No gay concern at all because if anyone had, they’d  NOT tweet anything like this right (and they truly are hilarious that way…)?

Somebody like this is just a shining soul (and he talked about Jakey G. because OUT is a gay magazine, you twits pouring venom over that… World is full of idiots, prudes, homophobics and douches, but Adam ain’t part of any of  it FOR SURE…).

Now take some from Letterman (I saw the Italian rerun like 10 times already ;)):

Beside the various appearances that you see and hear here as well of their release week (and more are about to come, like Chelsea Handler or Jimmy Kimmel live, where we wait for Adam to display his supposed amazing skill at Pop-A-Shot… which we honestly can’t wait to witness as well!) there have been showcases and parties (excellent choice… Le Bain… I mean, it’s awesome!!! And talkin about awesomeness, I would SO LOVE Adam and Ne-Yo to collaborate as soon as possible!!)

I also found awesome that the resident DJ for Le Bain party was Questlove, who actually had the album with John Legend drop the same day? AWESOME 😉

And there have been also a couple of erm… bright ideas about promoting the album release while some others honestly left me perplexed (gifting away one of your HarleyD, Adam??? Not really convinced about that…) on the side of album promotion (naw, not my thing, sorry. Keep the Harley and think still about babies honey, thanx ;)) not to mention a couple of lovely, lovely shoutouts from cutie Sara Bareilles which I cannot wait to applaude as well when they will bring her along in the three european dates that I am gonna check. I so love when they are reciprocally cute with one another…

I’m such a lightweight I know (so imagine the effect of THIS shoutout as well… but I liked them all really!)

In New York there has been another moment where they actually performed the Al Green Cover .

You know how I tend to consider the material they cover like a phase of Adam’s life so I am delighted about Let’s Stay Together choice.

I find it really beautiful, tender, romantic and the way he sings it truly makes you get how he FEELS the lyrics. :).

The special show at Hard Rock Cafe has therefore another try there (though the Stern’s one is superior. Man there they were so flawless they impressed a very unexpected portion of the audience, which is a great thing).

So enjoy:

and then part two:

And there you go, again Al Green :

While we were talkin about Europe as well in the above lines, please check (even though it’s in French) this lovely review about the Westin showcase the guys did in Paris the other week, and that you know from my previous posts too:

It’s so true that having the blissful experience of catching hem live is kinda a trip into a senseful, erotically charged yet elegant dimension.

I can see their new songs somehow might be difficult to strip down fully on that level, although to me it could be easier with these songs than any out from IWBSBL actually.

While we are on the French time subject, take these videos to detail as well:

And then this one:

This one with Jesse and Adam part 1…:

And the part 2 again with the dynamic duo:

When they were back in New York, Babies did a cute chat for Z100:

And then they were at the Today Show:

and also along a very cute interview and piece from a MySpace feature:

There was then some more footage that they shouted about from the VEVO show;

Okay… let’s round it up and off now.

Know that on September 30 Maroon5  will play for Facebook Head quarters (yup, where Kanye also did); then enjoy the awesomeness of Maroon5 iPad and iPhone app (oh, boy… there are videos of them as kids… Adam’s hilarious school reports, and tons of worthy things that just made me melt!!! Even my mum went mad 😉 LOL!)

Then talkin about videos, check this one out of the guys thankin us 😉

If you haven’t gotten it yet, of course guys are back on the West Coast and Adam’s all delighted about it (wonder if he went to Lakers Training Camp… I will!!!) which means lovely Frankie has her daddy back again.

Oh, Frankie... you’re SO cute >>>

Allegedly her daddy Adam still a bit in his Peter Pan phase though, because he just shared this awesome pearl hours ago 😉 (isn’t he lovely?… Oh, he is).

Jesse has enjoyed AGAIN Muse this time At Staples Center and I just can’t avoid to keep praising on his musical taste (which is practically MINE…) 😉

Before the close up of the post, please, let me have a moment of Country Pride as well (Country in the sense of ITALY, right?) because as I told you Anne has enjoyed firstly my Milan, took the advices I gave for her during eating times there (hopefully those about shopping too) and loved the style of our offerings.

Ended her working commitments there, but not her Italian time, she moved in Karim and I FAVOURITE TOWN, namely FLORENCE!!!

All degrees of awesomeness, really, because she just considers Florence the same Karim and I do 😉 (and we all have traveled the world, so it means something doesn’t it?) 😉

As per usual Anne is just adorable and friendly, and I always end astounded at the way she genuinely endorses and love our food (a model who eats… it’s wonderful and refreshing ;)), so take these because… because I like it (and her):

Beside these communications, I had a great Fashion Week as well past week in Milan (beside missing due to rainstorm C’N’C, which was cute anyway they said me), where I have been going to shows and enjoying catwalks and parties and yep… I love beauty and style in all forms, so don’t blame me for being  fashionista because for me it’s all about being an esthete ;).

But don’t expect private pics again 😉 sorry 😉

What else?

I say nothing else for a while.

Unless as I said I won’t have to slightly update THIS post tomorrow or the day after (not a new one though).

I just hope my babies are fine and well with themselves because truth is they are progressing artistically and they have nothing to regret on the artistic side.

Then I hope they will never change A BIT humanly… they are so true and unique…especially that little hyperactive cute punk who wakes up and start to tweet improbable things just as I suppose he wakes up and start to talk with his brain that always rushes in no peace (and that’s adorable, although yep… sometimes certainly embarassing a bit ;))

I wish them joy and to keep their pace.

I like that.

I adore their music.

And I’m feeling better due to it (and I am a very happy person in myself, so imagine what specialty has to be the one which can make me feel even HAPPIER).

Enjoy your days folks.

Next time I’ll write here a new post (and not a small update onto an already written post) I’ll be and engaged gal.

Whoooo-Haaa.

Wind of change.

INDEED 😉

Luv, Z. 🙂