As I searched through eMusic’s top-downloaded albums, I came across something I found (relatively) interesting. Nestled at number 5, with surrounding competition the likes of The Tallest Man on Earth, Sufjan Stevens, and Beach House, was “Raise Your Glass”, Pink’s latest single. This, of course, immediately reminded me of the past few weeks that I spent at home in Texas, driving from place to place and listening intently to the radio. Considering that I never get the chance to experience the airwaves in New York, I’m always very curious to see how I’ll adapt. Here are a few observations:

1.  I have trouble continuously listening to songs about drinking and dancing at a club if I’m not ACTUALLY doing that. Yes, when I’m out in the thick of things, Usher and his peers can easily draw me out on a dance floor, but frankly the motivation just isn’t there when I’m awkwardly driving with my little sister to the mall. Much to my dismay, though, the theme of (literally) every other song played on most Houston stations has a pretty clear message. Get drunk. Get down. Get dirty. And do it at the club.

2.  I love Katy Perry. The “Peacock” song, I’ll admit, is really weird and mostly stupid, but the previous singles off Teenage Dream have been my not-so-guilty pleasures for most of the year. I will always unabashedly roll the windows down and blast “Teenage Dream”, particularly when it embarrasses my passengers.

3.  The 80’s were a terrible, wonderful, adventurous, yet predictable time for music, and I wish I had been allowed more than three years of my life to be a part of it. When I’m worn down from club music and Katy’s not on the mix station, I will ALWAYS turn the knob to the 80s jams. As a whole, they’re not the deepest tracks in the world, but Duran Duran, The Cure, Big Country, Depeche Mode, New Order, and their friends did a damn good job of making people feel happy for a decade (or at least trick them into feeling happy).

4.  I can, in fact, listen to Taylor Swift. I found myself…just…not changing the station. If Bob Lefsetz can love her, then I guess I can too. I cannot handle Ke$ha. It’s not so much her music (I haven’t minded some other tracks), just the lyric about being “sick of being so serious”. Ke$ha, WHEN HAVE YOU EVER BEEN SERIOUS! YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH WHISKEY!

5.  I felt as though I had entered an arranged marriage over the break. There was one song played ever half-hour, on the half-our, on just about every station not jamming classic rock. That song was “Raise Your Glass” by Pink. At first, I was angry, confused, and upset. Lyrics like “party crasher, panty snatcher”, “what’s the dealio”, and “don’t be fancy, just get dancey” don’t really seem to hold any artistic appeal. Soon though, that ceased to matter. I was singing along, texting lyrics to my friends to annoy them, and legitimately enjoying it. I guess repetition is sometimes the recipe for success. Congrats on number 5 Pink. Congrats.