Psssssst. Hey, my name is Jana and I love pop music.

First point: Lady Gaga tickets have been acquired for January, 2013. It’s on.

Second point: Dan pointed out that I seem to constantly amaze myself when I admit I do like the sugar-coated world of beats and repetitive choruses and autotune, but I really really like it. Diehard folk music fans scoff but I CANNOT GET ENOUGH EAR CANDY.

Phew, that felt better.

I still really love songwriters and folk and country and Americana, but sometimes you just need a good beat and a bass thump that makes your windows vibrate. None of those genres provides that, and I also refuse to head in the direction of thrash metal to obtain said vibrating windows, so pop music it is.

A lot of it is harmless. It is the most scrutinized of music genres in popular culture because most of the time the artists are throwing themselves front and center…it goes with the territory. Some of it is insidious…I refuse to download a Chris Brown song and some of the messages put out there by some of the women folk are less than ideal for young people. (Yes, I’m old…see previous blog mentioning upcoming birthday).

BUT…a lot of the pop ladies are actually really good at what they do, and they’re really savvy business people to boot (or surround themselves with savvy people anyway). Gaga is of course the main one here but Katy Perry and Pink and Ke$ha are all pretty prolific in their own ways. Ke$ha writes hits for other people. Gaga employs tens if not hundreds of people under the Haus of Gaga…how’s that for good old fashioned American business building? Don’t hate the good business people just because they sing pop music.

What this all translates into for me is that while I love guitar and songwriting forever and always, I have plans to mess with pop music as my new music hobby. Remixing songs has always intrigued me, and I’ve done a miniscule amount of research on how that happens and it’s intrigued me enough to do more. It’s one of those nerd hobbies where you can sit at home and buy a program and work on your skills. Even if none of my remixes ever see the light of internet day (but come on, you know I will post something), I’ll be thrilled to explore how beats and dynamics and rhythm change a song. Boom. Mixing the hits. Maybe Gaga will pick one up one day…weirder things have happened. Like running into her in this wax museum in Vegas.

Signed –
DJ Po