Music is one of the greatest, most common forms of expression, letting people display their emotions and thoughts on their everyday lives.  During the 1960’s the hippies expressed their thoughts on war and desire for world peace through music.  In the 1920’s music began to change, reflecting how humankind was starting to move on from the traditional values.  Now, women are constantly objectified in music and other mainstream media.  After all this misrepresentation some people still have the audacity to say there is equality between the genders!  If there was equality, women would not be degraded in the media as much as they are.

One song that is extremely shameful is “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.  In the music video Robin Thicke is surrounded by practically naked women; he himself in a full suit.  He is portrayed as a “big strong man” while the girls in the video are not represented as humans, but as objects.  And if this isn’t disgusting enough, the song is about the so called “Blurred Lines” between yes and no.  Lines like “But you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature,” “Just let me liberate you,” and “I know you want it” are intolerable.  This should not be in mainstream media, let alone any media!  These are not the values you want children to be exposed to.  It poisons their minds and destroys their character.  Everyone should know there are no blurred lines when it comes to consent!  Promoting rape culture is unacceptable and disgusting.  And to make it worse, in an interview at GQ Robin Thicke said, “What a pleasure it is to degrade women.”  Pleasures like this should not be in mainstream media; they make people think that things are just when they are very, very wrong.  To think that any man or woman could say such horrible things is repulsive and misogynistic.

Many music genres, such as Hip Hop often degrade women.  Some rappers and singers are constantly reducing women to nothing but objects which is unacceptable!  Many of the vocalists that do not degrade women are not as mainstream, so their voices go unheard by many.  People, such as impressionable children, may start to believe that bringing down women and harassing them is okay!

If women are going to be truly equal to men, then this has to stop.  Being portrayed less as people and more as objects is destroying women’s role in society.  “Women should be in the kitchen jokes” are suggesting that they are nothing but servants, designed to cater for others. Women are not less than men, and men are not less than women; they are equal.  If men (or women) believe that women are less, then they may begin to treat women harshly (e.g. harassment, abuse, etc.).

The oversexualization of women is getting out of hand in this day in age. Women have come so far in society and this is no time to take a step back.  Society as a whole has to fight against the demonization of women, and it is time for women around the world to speak up against patriarchy. Songs like that bring down all that we have worked for to have equality between the genders.  So I encourage you, dear reader, to act out against the inequality.

No one could deny that Miley Cyrus has definitely had her fair share in the limelight these past months.  With the public wrapped around her fingertips, nothing she does goes unnoticed.  Some of her highly controversial performances include “Blurred Lines” alongside Robin Thicke at the 2013 VMAs, as well as the releases of her singles “We Can’t Stop” and “Wrecking Ball”.  Without a doubt, the twenty year-old artist has suffered a great deal of hate.  But when it comes down to it, does Miley really deserve it all?

Many critics wonder where Hannah Montana went or wish for Miss Montana to come back.   People constantly ask, “Where’d Hannah go?” or “What happened to Hannah Montana?”.  Yes, the new Miley is a bit more spunky and bold than she was during her Disney Channel days.  But one must keep in mind that Miley started the show when she was just thirteen years old, barely a teenager, and that she will only be twenty-one next month.  Seven years is a long time- people change.  And the same is definitely true during those dramatic, memorable, and crazy teenage years.  Between the ages of thirteen and twenty, people grow up and find their true selves.  Their interests change and their personalities mature.  So to answer critics’ question, Hannah Montana simply grew up.  She won’t be back.  Everyone grows up and changes; the only difference is Miley’s changes have been documented worldwide on television and deeply analyzed by millions of people (and maybe are a teeny bit wild).

Not to argue that the “new” Miley is never inappropriate or always right, but we can’t blame her for becoming an adult and wanting to expand her horizons. It’s not uncommon for ex Disney-stars to go to drastic measures to try and to shed their “Disney Images”. We’ve witnessed this with Zac, Ashley, Selena, Demi, Vanessa, and Lindsay as well.  As stars become older, they want to take on new things and appeal to broader audiences.

Many critics also argue that Miley’s new image is inappropriate.  This may be true, but she does not deserve all that negativity for it.  Music is about expressing yourself.  In the song “Wrecking Ball,” Miley is expressing her true thoughts and feelings.  If you look past her two-dimensional image, you can see another dimension- the vivid emotions on her face.  She also claims she is trying to show her vulnerability through her attire. She was definitely vulnerable in her relationship with her ex fiancé, Liam Hemsworth, who cheated on her (which is what the song was written about).  Whether or not her image is to actually show vulnerability or is just another a marketing technique, it’s pop-culture.  One of the elements of pop culture is dressing funky and different, creating a memorable performance.  How different would Lady Gaga be without her unique outfits like her crazy meat or bubble wrap dresses?  No one will certainly forget that crazy mouse leotard Miley wore to the VMAs.  Wrecking Ball made history- breaking VEVO’s most viewed video in twenty-four hours at nineteen million, and on top of that, making #1 on the charts.

Miley has suffered a lot of unnecessary hate these past months.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and certainly does not need to agree with everything she does, but she does not deserve so much negativity for it.

Everyone has their own tastes in music, but it’s important to know about a genre of music before having a solid opinion on it. Electronic dance music, affectionately termed EDM, has been an underground set of hundreds of genres for decades before surfacing.  The term EDM is now used to cover a list of several hundred genres and subgenres of electronic music, some of the most well known being trap (Bauuer – Harlem Shake), dubstep (Nero – Into the Past), drumstep (Pegboard Nerds – 20K), techno (Dog Blood – Next Order), moombah (Skrillex – Bangarang), and especially electro house (Ylvis – The Fox ).

Are you listening to music that has connections to EDM? Yes. No matter what genre(s) of music you listen to, every one has either influenced EDM or has been influenced by it. Without a doubt, you have heard Gangnam Style, the only music video with over one billion views. This song, and many other K-Pop tracks, is heavily influenced with its electro house roots. The largest company in Korean music, S.M. Entertainment, has created a group (S.M. The Performance) devoted solely to dancing to different genres of EDM. The company has realized that the electronic music industry is a great investment, and even offered the German producer Zedd several million dollars to gain rights to his electro house track, Spectrum.

Other examples between connections of EDM to other music include almost every single pop song using EDM instrumentals, and several artists influenced by electric guitar riffs. (e.g. Boys Noize –  Shred Sled) Savant has mixed in 8-bit Nintendo styled sounds, jazz, and baroque music with various genres of EDM to create a bravely unique style. Groups like Pendulum actually have a singer in them (Rob Swire), who sang the vocals for deadmau5 –  Ghosts n’ Stuff. Skrillex’s music was influenced by his days in the rock band “From First to Last.”

Zedd played a huge role in bringing EDM to the mainstream, as his newer songs (in Clarity LP) are more radio friendly than some of the other EDM tunes. Rap and Hip-hop have influenced the growing genre of “trap” which surfaced mainly because of just one song, Bauuer – Harlem Shake.

Though EDM is embedded in or contains elements of almost every other genre of music, not everyone has positive opinions on it. Many describe it as being “talentless” with no real instruments – made with the push of a few buttons. Others, though supportive of the genre, claim to be fans of only the most mainstream (Various Skrillex) EDM, which is a poor representation of the musical class as a whole. Even worse, some self-professed EDM fans will tell you “Skrillex is terrible noise; listen to some real electronic music.”

Each of these opinions really disappoints me for their own reasons. First of all, EDM is extremely difficult to produce.  Some artists work for a few years before finding their signature sound, only to later find out “it was getting old”, and that they would have to make a new one.

Secondly, EDM is not entirely Skrillex. Though he is with no doubt a talented producer, there are so many other great EDM artists out there; many of them have not yet surfaced.  Lemaitre, Savant, Mitis, Exige and Uppermost are only a tiny fraction of these talented underground artists.

Lastly, for the people that claim EDM to be “harsh noises,” most of EDM is not harsh, but the harsh sounding ones were the first to go mainstream (pre-Harlem Shake). If you realize this, but still have problems with Skrillex in particular, try listening to some of the older tracks he made under the names “Sonny Moore” or “Twipz” (Bells EP, Make Things for Smile, Follow Me (Cloud) etc.). In addition to these, there are three whole albums (LPs!) of material that Atlantic Records would not let him release, solely because his “dubstep” (not actually dubstep) was more popular.

Moore (Skrillex) initially had no intention of making music without his vocals in them. It wasn’t until his vocal surgery when he was forced to give up singing. If it were up to me, I’d rather have had Sonny’s solo singing career take off, not even letting Skrillex be born. Though I appreciate the EDM released under the name Skrillex, I feel that the works from his solo singing career are better in many ways (all of them also consisted of electronic instrumentals).

According to deadmau5 however, misunderstanding fans are only a part of the problems for EDM, and the bigger threat lies in pop music “watering down” EDM to the nonexistent genre it was twenty years ago. This however, I don’t agree with, since mainstream pop music using EDM instrumentals only makes EDM more well-known, actually helping it more than hurting it.

Whatever your opinion is on this category of music, or how you feel its future will be, EDM has, with no doubt, had a heavy impact on the music industry as a whole. Learn more about any genre of music before you make judgments.