Got up early enough today that I could justifiably spend an hour drinking tea and reading the essays.

I just went and listened to “Rolling In The Deep” on YTube, which… finally informed me which song it was, ahaha. That is, I assumed I was familiar with it by osmosis, but there was no tune attached to the title in my head (no such problem with “Someone Like You”). I’d been subconsciously classifying it as a dance track, oddly enough, even though it’s hardly similar to any of the current dance-oriented stuff on the radio. But the beat is metronomic enough to be Northern Soul, sped up a little. That and I’m dead cert the melody on the verse sounds exactly like some long-ago Moby sample.

EDIT — this seems like a good time to take a position on Lana Del Rey. I like her aesthetic, as an intentional aesthetic, and her two singles - not love, because my sad-Californian-indie-chanteuse love is exclusively reserved for Hope Sandoval (they are not similar enough that I’d complain Lana Del Rey listeners ought to turn onto Mazzy Star instead, but I’m putting it out there). She really cannot sing live, though, not even on a good day. I have a tolerance built through years weathering J-pop idols and anime voice actors, but I had to turn that shiz off. My sister does an occasional cover of “Video Games” for the Sunday coffee house gig she plays to get free brunch, and it is better than how LDR herself sings it live. It seems to me like her ascent-to-fame was way faster and less controlled/planned than advisable, or that she could have wanted, and that makes me feel bad for her, in a totally straightforward and non-ironic way.