M.E. Rocks!
As most of you are aware I am a diehard Melissa Etheridge fan. I am enthralled by the emotional power of her lyrics and captivated by her music. I have all of her CDs and some DVDs and I will make the opportunity and time to play something of hers at some point during the day. I find myself identifying with so much of her music; I have a song for almost all occasions, from a bad day to doing the ironing. There are certain songs that remind me of friends and family as well as songs that have become a part of many memories. I simply cannot get enough. Her music for me is inspirational; I have written many poems with her voice crooning in the background.
Do I identify or even like her as a person? That would be hard for me to say either way. She is the type of celebrity who lives in the public eye. She is unafraid to put her personal life out there for all to see, considering of course how much of what the media reports one can actually believe. From all the interviews with Melissa that I have seen, she is not afraid to speak from a very personal level, and that is evident in her music too. But it all gets too much in the end! I’ll admit to being curious about her life, upbringing and inspiration behind her music, but now I just find the hype boring. I don’t really care about her sexuality, her relationships or her politics. How many times she marries or how many kids she has means little or nothing to me. There are so many rumours going around about her latest divorce and recent relationship that is painting her in a very bad light and giving the impression that she is a dishonest person. I say, who cares, and she’s the one that has to live with her conscience.
Melissa Etheridge is first and foremost an artist and entertainer. Her life revolves around her music and her fans, without which she would not be the “Best Female Rock Artist.” Like so many other artists and entertainers she has her eccentricities and oddities that have helped make her into the success that she is. Like all other celebrities she thrives on public recognition, and has to take the good with the bad to continue being a success. Like most song writers and poets she draws on her own life experiences to write her songs and make her music, it is this that gives so much of her music the raw emotion that wraps around you when you hear her sing. It just wouldn’t be an M.E. song if there wasn't that deep seated feelings of anger, love, confusion or joy in every note sung.
But unlike her first albums where the emotion was real and raw I am finding now that it has become a little bit forced and her songs a bit too autobiographical to be universal. I think she has begun to rely too heavily on her own experiences and is no longer writing from the heart. I think she is succumbing to the pressure to continuously perform and perhaps it’s time for her to go into hiding for a while and just breathe.
But even though her latest album is not, in my opinion, her best she has still managed to win me over. Despite her eccentricities and oddities and all the negative and over the top press she gets I still like the message she puts out there to “Speak True.” I will continue to do my housework with M.E. belting it out on my Mauritians Hi-Fi; I will turn her on when I need inspiration or to cure a case of the blues or bad mood. I will continue to buy her albums, pay my fan club membership fees and read all the gossip and news even though I don’t believe half of it.
I will continue to contribute to her success because, well, I’m just a diehard M.E. fan who cannot get enough. So in the words of one of my favourites from my youth, Michelle Shocked: “...Keep on rocking girl...”
Do I identify or even like her as a person? That would be hard for me to say either way. She is the type of celebrity who lives in the public eye. She is unafraid to put her personal life out there for all to see, considering of course how much of what the media reports one can actually believe. From all the interviews with Melissa that I have seen, she is not afraid to speak from a very personal level, and that is evident in her music too. But it all gets too much in the end! I’ll admit to being curious about her life, upbringing and inspiration behind her music, but now I just find the hype boring. I don’t really care about her sexuality, her relationships or her politics. How many times she marries or how many kids she has means little or nothing to me. There are so many rumours going around about her latest divorce and recent relationship that is painting her in a very bad light and giving the impression that she is a dishonest person. I say, who cares, and she’s the one that has to live with her conscience.
Melissa Etheridge is first and foremost an artist and entertainer. Her life revolves around her music and her fans, without which she would not be the “Best Female Rock Artist.” Like so many other artists and entertainers she has her eccentricities and oddities that have helped make her into the success that she is. Like all other celebrities she thrives on public recognition, and has to take the good with the bad to continue being a success. Like most song writers and poets she draws on her own life experiences to write her songs and make her music, it is this that gives so much of her music the raw emotion that wraps around you when you hear her sing. It just wouldn’t be an M.E. song if there wasn't that deep seated feelings of anger, love, confusion or joy in every note sung.
But unlike her first albums where the emotion was real and raw I am finding now that it has become a little bit forced and her songs a bit too autobiographical to be universal. I think she has begun to rely too heavily on her own experiences and is no longer writing from the heart. I think she is succumbing to the pressure to continuously perform and perhaps it’s time for her to go into hiding for a while and just breathe.
But even though her latest album is not, in my opinion, her best she has still managed to win me over. Despite her eccentricities and oddities and all the negative and over the top press she gets I still like the message she puts out there to “Speak True.” I will continue to do my housework with M.E. belting it out on my Mauritians Hi-Fi; I will turn her on when I need inspiration or to cure a case of the blues or bad mood. I will continue to buy her albums, pay my fan club membership fees and read all the gossip and news even though I don’t believe half of it.
I will continue to contribute to her success because, well, I’m just a diehard M.E. fan who cannot get enough. So in the words of one of my favourites from my youth, Michelle Shocked: “...Keep on rocking girl...”
I remember trying to find meaning to a later beatles song in the 60's eventually realizing there was nothing but album still sold millions because of the name. Go figure. Mum
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