The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

buzz’s Guilty Pleasures

Dido – White Flag (Official Video)

Dido – White Flag (Official Video) Listen on Spotify – http://smarturl.it/Dido_TopTracks Listen on Apple Music – http://smarturl.it/Dido_Essentials Amazon – http://smarturl.it/DidoGH_Amazon Follow Dido Website:http://www.didomusic.com/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/dido Twitter:https://twitter.com/didoofficial Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/dido/ Lyrics I know you think that I shouldn’t still love you, Or tell you that. But if I didn’t say it, well I’d still have felt it Where’s the sense in that?

Hands down, White Flag by Dido. I feel like what sets it apart from most guilty pleasures is the fact that nobody was really expecting anyone to remember this song. Sure people will remember songs from Nickelback because they’ve become notorious, while Dido on the other hand is just a pop singer who had her peak in the early 2000s and didn’t really have much past that.

After doing more research on this song it seems like maybe it’s not exactly a bad track, but it certainly hasn’t aged well. There is an infinite amount of sad love songs people would much rather listen to instead. I don’t even listen to it that often! But whenever the thought of the song pops into my head, it’s suddenly something I have to listen to. Once I start listening I estimate it goes on repeat for about a week. The lyrics have very little substance behind them, to the point where I don’t even remember any of the lyrics besides the chorus.

I think the only acceptable time to listen to White Flag is when you feel sad, but you’d rather not think about it. Where you just kind of lay there and don’t really shift your mood in one way or the other. You just put it on in the background and let Dido keep you in that emotional purgatory for however long you want. -Billy Galant

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One Direction – Best Song Ever

One Direction – Best Song Ever (Official Video) Follow on Spotify – https://1D.lnk.to/Spotify Listen on Apple Music – https://1D.lnk.to/AppleMusic Listen on Amazon Music – https://1D.lnk.to/AmazonMusic Listen on Deezer – https://1D.lnk.to/Deezer Listen on YouTube Music – https://smarturl.it/OneDirection_YTMusic Check out One Direction’s 10 Year Anniversary website here: https://1D.lnk.to/10YearsOf1DWebsite WATCH STORY OF MY

I found myself singing along to One Direction’s “Best Song Ever” as soon as it was released. I would play it in my car, sing it into my hairbrush-microphone, suffice to say, you could find me jamming to the “Best Song Ever” all summer. I would shamefully hit play and start singing (so long as no one could see or hear me doing so) at any moment I could. “Best Song Ever” is one-hundred-percent, no doubt about it, my guilty pleasure favorite.

The lyrics of the song are ridiculous. “We danced all night to the best song ever,” they sing, the chorus repeating over and over. It was nothing original, but quickly became an earworm of mine. It didn’t matter how stupid the lyrics were, I just needed to press repeat over and over.

Now, One Direction is no longer what you’d call a guilty pleasure band, but most people wouldn’t be caught singing along to their cheesier hits. I mean, would you be embarrassed if you were shouting the words to “Kiss You,” or “What Makes You Beautiful” at the top of your lungs, in public? I know I’d be, if only just a little bit. “Best Song Ever” is the same. You might tell your friends that it isn’t that great and insult it regularly, but then, when no one’s looking, you’ll turn your volume up all the way and press play, singing along with Liam, Harry, Niall, Zayne and Louis to the “Best Song Ever.” -Zoe Stein

Drake – One Dance (Explicit) feat. Wizkid & Kyla

Drake – One Dance (Explicit) feat. Wizkid & Kyla

“Baby, I like your style,” says no one when I put on “One Dance” by Drake on the speakers during the night. Even when I promise the apartment that it’ll only be for ‘one dance,’ nobody wants to hear it – the song has become almost as harangued as puns (putting the two together in this article was at a Kanye level of self-indulgence).

Still, Drake’s “One Dance” stands as one of my most played guilty pleasure songs, even though I have yet to memorize any of the lyrics he raps/sings and probably increase my friends’ annoyance with my sole rendition of “baby I like your style,” whenever the line comes up (the only part Drake doesn’t sing/rap).

You know you’re smitten with a song when you listen to three minutes of Drake’s svelte mumbling purely to belt out that one line off the top of your head. It’s a simple, fun, upbeat song perfect for a night out, so the next Tuesday your friend hauls you out to Cly’s stay positive with these two things in mind: the wine will be cheap, and you’ll definitely have a song to request to the DJ. -Jamie Hahn

 

Hannah Montana – Nobody’s Perfect

Music video by Hannah Montana performing Nobody’s Perfect. (C) 2007 Walt Disney Records

While my days of watching the Disney Channel hit show, “Hannah Montana,” are long gone, I still turn to Miss Montana for a certain guilty pleasure song, “Nobody’s Perfect.” Especially with finals season right around the corner, this song ends up being a study break jam to jump around the room to.

I am even known to share this song with friends on Snapchat – I play the song on my laptop while I click through Ryan Gosling and other handsome male celebrity study memes during finals to keep everyone pumped up since we are all dying in Grainger.

The crux of the matter is that the song is the perfectly crafted brand of Disney-cliché not really meant for anyone above the age of 12. However, the song’s up-beat tempo and overly positive message are great for finals and other times when you need to just feel better, or want to dance around your room.

I understand many consider listening to this song to be simply egregious. At the same time, you will not find me blasting this for the world to hear, because I recognize that no one else wants to hear this but me.  At the end of the day, is it really that bad if the song makes you happy? -Nessa Steinberg

 

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I feel no guilt when it comes to what music I like. And why should I? If some artist was truly so terrible that I should be embarrassed that I could even stand to listen to them, they wouldn’t sell records, and they wouldn’t be well known enough to be the ire of people’s wrath. It’s the way of the world.

That being said, I do feel a twinge of shame whenever I listen to “Words” by F.R. David, because, in short, it’s not a very good song. It has poor lyrical content, like a poem a high school student would write as part of a poorly planned prom-posal. It’s a truly bottom of the bucket 80s European pop song, never really peaking in the United States for good reason and good taste.

So then why risk whatever little street cred I have by listening to this song? Well, sentimentality for one: growing up, my mom loved this song, and it was a repeat offender on car rides both long and short. It lived within a compilation disc of 80s one hit wonders in the glove-box, seeing the light of day in between Boney M and Limahl.

“Words” permeated my entire childhood, with its simple and repetitive chorus that only a child or a hopeless romantic could love. It’s comforting to play this track whenever I miss her, to have a shared connection with this crappy ode to romantic love. Hearing the opening beats fills me up with warmth, enveloping me like a hug that probably should have ended a few seconds earlier. In the end, isn’t that all we really want? -Elani Kaufman

 

Let’s Get This Terrible Party Started! – NSP

SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE MUSIC PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/join/nsp MAILING LIST: https://laylo.com/ninjasexparty MERCH: https://goodmerchonly.com/collections/ninja-sex-party TOUR: https://ninjasexparty.com/tour/ SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/3EfHuNE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ninjasexparty/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ninjasexparty FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ninjasexparty TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@nspband Written, composed, and performed by Ninja Sex Party Directed by Egoraptor Edited/Effected by Kelly Brickner Props by Mort3mer Starring: JonTron as Main Party Invitee Kristin Ige as Amazing Girl Hanging out with NSP Evan McGee, Rubber Ross, Michael Hill, and Zan Alda as D&D Nerds Alex Kramer, Barry Kramer, and El Cid as Shalom on the Range Martin Cohen as Bilbo Shwaggins Marty Benson as “Amazing” Lena Nicole Thomas as “Awesome” Lyrics Oh shit!

The band’s name got everything that humans like: Ninja, sex, and party, and their name is on a par with their music in terms of derpiness.

Hell, I wonder what would have happened if NSP came out in the 20th century.When I first met my roommate, he showed me a bunch of CDs that he brought in a shoebox. I flipped through some classic albums like Radiohead and Coldplay and there was a Ninja Sex Party album, which I first suspected as some sort of eccentric Japanese pornography.

When my roommate immediately pointed out that Ninja Sex Party is actually a band, it almost gave me a wrong misconception of American’s music taste. It still remains a mystery that a dude that likes Radiohead is a big fan of Ninja Sex Party at the same time. But I have to admit they are perverted, yet not creepy. I revisit their songs from time to time whenever I need a stimulus to get my craziness on, as I am constantly worried that I am being too introverted sometimes.

Plus, Danny Sexbang gives me a little bit of envy for his last name, because I hate my family name, Kim, since it is too common. A dude that has a nice family name deserves his music to be heard. -San Kim

 

Christina Aguilera – Come On Over (All I Want Is You) (Official Video)

Official Video for “Come On Over (All I Want Is You)” by Christina Aguilera Listen to Christina Aguilera: https://ChristinaAguilera.lnk.to/listenYD Watch more videos by Christina Aguilera: https://ChristinaAguilera.lnk.to/listenYD/youtube Subscribe to the official Christina Aguilera YouTube channel: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/subscribeYD Follow Christina Aguilera Facebook: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followFI Instagram: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followII Twitter: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followTI TikTok: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followYx Website: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followWI Spotify: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/followSI YouTube: https://ChristinaAguliera.lnk.to/subscribeYD Ask your voice device to play Christina Aguilera!

I am an unapologetic lover of throwback Christina Aguilera. I’m talking self-titled, 1999, debut album Christina. Much to the dismay of every party host and Uber driver who has ever given me the aux cord, I will always play “Come On Over (All I Want is You)” at any given opportunity.

The single, which was remastered from the original to become the hit we all love today (okay, well maybe just me), reached number three on the Billboard Top 100 in 2000. 17 years later, it is still my go-to feel-good jam. I will continue to take the heat from every friend and every stranger who doesn’t feel the same, and I will continue to understand why I lose aux privileges after 3 minutes and 24 seconds, but I will never stop listening. -Kayla Brown

 

Taylor Swift – Mean

Music video by Taylor Swift performing Mean. (C) 2011 Big Machine Records, LLC. ►Exclusive Merch: https://store.taylorswift.com ►Follow Taylor Swift Online Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/taylorswift Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/taylorswift Tumblr: http://taylorswift.tumblr.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/taylorswift13 Website: http://www.taylorswift.com ►Follow Taylor Nation Online Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/taylornation Tumblr: http://taylornation.tumblr.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/taylornation13

In a world where side bangs were the norm and not having braces glued to teeth made one a minority, I too was a die hard Taylor Swift fan. It really began when my mom bought me her first CD; for an adolescent girl, dancing alone in her room Lizzie McGuire-esque style was the only true way to appreciate Taylor’s gooey ballads about football players and her best friends.

But there are values that the country singer’s first wave instilled in me that have stuck with me since my junior high days. Like in the song “Fifteen,” where she breaks free from high school gender roles and expectations by outgrowing the relationship with the star quarterback, or in “Mean” as she rips some riffs on the banjo and gives a sassy shoutout to all her haters, and everyone who thought she wouldn’t find success.

So maybe it isn’t so embarrassing, or too guilty of a pleasure that I know every word to Swift’s songs that predate her “Red” album. Or that I saw her twice in concert. Or EVEN that I wore my “Fearless” shirt with her profile printed across it for when I got my first tattoo…I figured it went with the theme.

A guilty pleasure should be unexpected and unlike what you tend to listen to now that you’re you know, like grown and stuff. But some ties to music never fully lose us, and I gotta say, the old Taylor and I probably would’ve been the best of pals, which is a thought that helps keep me warm at night. -Jess Peterson

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