Try - Colbie Caillat

I'm off from work today and tomorrow, but a couple of work songs have been nagging me. I've been working about 35-40 hours a work, which is great, but of course that means more exposure to terrible music. Boo-hoo. haha. I end up with some songs stuck in my head and I'll annoy my husband by singing them terribly. That's carried over from work where I'll also more or less speak the lyrics, resulting in the usual "don't quit your day job, Kristin" type of comment. haha.

I HATE

"Try" by Colbie Caillat is played about 3 (incidentally, it took more "songwriters" than than to write this crappy song) times a day. It's a terrible song and to me just screams ROUGH DRAFT. The song seems so unfinished and has "in the meantime" or "holding place" types of lyrics. The repetition of a single word isn't always a downfall of a song, but the execution here really hurts the supposed message lurking underneath.

I sorta understand the sentiment to the song. It's referring to that teenage girl trying their best to get guys to like them or making friends and pretending to be something you're not. That constant need to have people like you, even if it means sacrificing your own sanity. I don't understand the "Try, try, try, try-yy..." remark though, because it sounds like a put down, as in why bother trying? It's a weirdly backhanded the song, mostly in the words chosen to express these fleeting emotions involved in one's self-esteem and view of themselves in this difficult world. I'm also perplexed by the "get up-get up-get up" line the song. Wait, what? The poor girl has already taken her clothes off so guys will like her, she maxed out her credit cards (is she old enough to even have said cards?) to buy "cool" clothes (which nowadays are all horribly unflattering anyway). I think she's done more than her fair share of "getting up". Which one is it?

This song is supposedly about Caillat's own personal struggle with image as a pop star. The video resembles a Dove soap ad, with various women in white tops looking at the camera. It apparently features a cornucopia of bland ("The Blend") artists such as Sheryl Crow, Christina Perri, and many more. It's the epitome of accessible feminists patting themselves on the back for their mainstream contribution to society. I guess that's a harsh thing to say. I'm sure they're nice people and everything, using their notoriety to help their young fans cope with the trials and tribulations of being a woman or really just a human (no one has it easy). Maybe they're just trying their best to put to rest some of the stereotypes women have been trying to shake off for centuries. I suppose any positive change made (whether fueled by popularity or not, which comes off as the ultimate irony, feminist ideals are trendy) is step towards the right direction. It's just too bad, positive message or not, this song is just terrible.

As for her background, Caillat is a California native and her dad, Ken Caillat, co-produced the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac record, "Rumours". She also sings other "work song" hits (ugh) "Realize", "Falling For You" and possibly some others I'm not aware of. You sorta wonder about the supposed "struggle" that these "artists" go through if they're from southern California and have a music producer in their family. I'd say it shouldn't matter, but sometimes its a bit annoying when these music careers are seemingly handed to some. I think I'm just saying this because, while Colbie's probably a really nice person and everything (already said that), but someone like her in say a small town on the other side of the country would probably never reach these same heights. I like California, but I hate that location is so important to one's success, despite how much talent they have. That's why New York and Los Angeles are over populated. I sure wish that would change. Talent is talent no matter where you're from or reside.