Mary Lambert's "Jessie's Girl" Cover
I know you know the song "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield. It's an 80's song, but everyone knows it. It was originally released in 1981 (and re-released in 1999 as an acoustic version on Springfield's "Karma" album) and instantly shot to the top spot on Billboard's hot 100, where it remained for only two weeks. The song remains popular today, and was somewhat recently on one of the Now That's What I Call The 80's cds.
On the complete off chance that you don't know the song, it's an upbeat pop song about a guy longing for a woman just like his best friend's girl. Actually, he wants his best friend's girl, not just someone like her. But he also gets that she is with his best friend and respects that enough to try to find "a woman like that" instead of trying to be a jerk and steal his best friend's girl.
Now, we need to talk about something. We need to talk about Mary Lambert's cover of the song. Take a listen:
Why, you ask, do we need to discuss this? Because this is probably one of the best modern love songs, and the fact that we live in a world where a gay cover of a popular song about unrequited love is a thing that exists is fantastic.
Jill Sobule sang about kissing girls in 1995, but the song wasn't huge. It peaked only at number 67 on Billboard's hot 100, and Sobule later fell into relative obscurity. I honestly can't say I remember the song ever having popularity, but that also might be because I was four years old when it came out and at that time in my life, having songs I could relate to wasn't exactly at the front of my mind.
Katy Perry, a straight woman, sang about kissing girls (and hoping her boyfriend wouldn't mind!) in 2008. Her song "I Kissed A Girl" eventually topped the hot 100, where it remained for 7 weeks. The song was popular, but remained "safe" because of the inherent straightness about it. Yes it was a song about a girl kissing other girls, but she was only "brave enough" to kiss another female because she was drunk (I got so brave, drink in hand). She reminds the listener that she's not really into girls, when she claims that the other girl is merely her experimental game and reminds her little impressionable listeners that this behavior isn't actually okay and definitely isn't what they "should" be doing (It's not what good girls do, not how they should behave). However, because of the song's popularity, Katy Perry, as much as I dislike the message of the song, helped to set the stage for Mary Lambert's cover of "Jessie's Girl" to be okay to be played on the radio.
I remember hearing of Katy Perry's song for the first time on MySpace. Matthew Lush had posted simply "I kissed a girl and I liked it." I was confused because I knew him as a popular gay youtuber and all I could think was "Matthew's kissing girls now??" I google searched what he had posted and found the song on youtube to listen to. I remember liking it at the time because it was a song I could listen to and feel like I could relate to, without raising suspicion. I also remember thinking it would never get played on the radio. I remember thinking that girls kissing girls, or boys kissing boys, was fine on the internet, but still too touchy of a subject in real life, in 2008, for pop radio to play a song about it.
I remember hearing Kacey Musgrave's song "Follow Your Arrow" for the first time last year, in 2013. I remember liking it from the very first note. I remember hearing the chorus for the first time (So make lots of noise / kiss lots of boys / or kiss lots of girls if that's what you're into / when the straight and narrow gets a little too straight / roll up a joint... or don't / just follow your arrow wherever it points). I remember thinking how we were at a time where it might be okay in pop radio, but definitely not on country radio. I remember the whole positive message of the song and being so happy to have a song like this one, and feeling like Kacey was talking directly to me with her lyrics of say what you think / love who you love / 'cause you just get so many trips 'round the sun / yeah you only, only live once. I remember the first time I heard the song on the radio, how completely stunned I was. I remember how proud I was of country radio at that moment.
And now, in 2014, we have Mary Lambert's cover of Jessie's Girl. She's changed it from an upbeat pop song to an absolutely beautiful ballad. The song is still the same, but it's also completely different. You can hear it in her voice. Listening to this song, you can feel exactly how it feels to be completely in love with a straight girl. Everything about this is perfect. Everything. When I think about how much she shows through her music, I want to cry because she is exactly what the music world needs right now. She is exactly what the radio needs right now.
Far too often, artists who cover songs sung by someone of the opposite gender will change the pronouns in the song to remain seen as "straight," even if the singer isn't, simply to make their songs more "radio friendly." The fact that she is a gay woman who has no fear of being exactly that is something that means so much to me, and to others as well I'm sure. In her song "Secrets", she sings I can't think straight / I'm so gay, and even just that little line means so much because this isn't a straight woman singing about something other than straight, it's a gay woman singing about her own real life. And somehow, that means so much more.
In regards to radio friendly music, take a listen to Matt Fishel's "Radio-Friendly Pop Song," which is pretty much the biggest screw you to pop music at the moment.
However, with songs like Mary Lambert's cover of "Jessie's Girl," there may eventually come a time when we don't need to say "screw you" to the music industry. There will come a time when it's just as normal to hear a gay-themed song on the radio as a straight-themed one. One day, it won't be a big deal when an artist such as Mary Lambert covers a song like "Jessie's Girl," but right now, it still is a big deal. And that's okay. Because we're still in the process of getting to where we need to be.
On the complete off chance that you don't know the song, it's an upbeat pop song about a guy longing for a woman just like his best friend's girl. Actually, he wants his best friend's girl, not just someone like her. But he also gets that she is with his best friend and respects that enough to try to find "a woman like that" instead of trying to be a jerk and steal his best friend's girl.
Now, we need to talk about something. We need to talk about Mary Lambert's cover of the song. Take a listen:
Why, you ask, do we need to discuss this? Because this is probably one of the best modern love songs, and the fact that we live in a world where a gay cover of a popular song about unrequited love is a thing that exists is fantastic.
Jill Sobule sang about kissing girls in 1995, but the song wasn't huge. It peaked only at number 67 on Billboard's hot 100, and Sobule later fell into relative obscurity. I honestly can't say I remember the song ever having popularity, but that also might be because I was four years old when it came out and at that time in my life, having songs I could relate to wasn't exactly at the front of my mind.
Katy Perry, a straight woman, sang about kissing girls (and hoping her boyfriend wouldn't mind!) in 2008. Her song "I Kissed A Girl" eventually topped the hot 100, where it remained for 7 weeks. The song was popular, but remained "safe" because of the inherent straightness about it. Yes it was a song about a girl kissing other girls, but she was only "brave enough" to kiss another female because she was drunk (I got so brave, drink in hand). She reminds the listener that she's not really into girls, when she claims that the other girl is merely her experimental game and reminds her little impressionable listeners that this behavior isn't actually okay and definitely isn't what they "should" be doing (It's not what good girls do, not how they should behave). However, because of the song's popularity, Katy Perry, as much as I dislike the message of the song, helped to set the stage for Mary Lambert's cover of "Jessie's Girl" to be okay to be played on the radio.
I remember hearing of Katy Perry's song for the first time on MySpace. Matthew Lush had posted simply "I kissed a girl and I liked it." I was confused because I knew him as a popular gay youtuber and all I could think was "Matthew's kissing girls now??" I google searched what he had posted and found the song on youtube to listen to. I remember liking it at the time because it was a song I could listen to and feel like I could relate to, without raising suspicion. I also remember thinking it would never get played on the radio. I remember thinking that girls kissing girls, or boys kissing boys, was fine on the internet, but still too touchy of a subject in real life, in 2008, for pop radio to play a song about it.
I remember hearing Kacey Musgrave's song "Follow Your Arrow" for the first time last year, in 2013. I remember liking it from the very first note. I remember hearing the chorus for the first time (So make lots of noise / kiss lots of boys / or kiss lots of girls if that's what you're into / when the straight and narrow gets a little too straight / roll up a joint... or don't / just follow your arrow wherever it points). I remember thinking how we were at a time where it might be okay in pop radio, but definitely not on country radio. I remember the whole positive message of the song and being so happy to have a song like this one, and feeling like Kacey was talking directly to me with her lyrics of say what you think / love who you love / 'cause you just get so many trips 'round the sun / yeah you only, only live once. I remember the first time I heard the song on the radio, how completely stunned I was. I remember how proud I was of country radio at that moment.
And now, in 2014, we have Mary Lambert's cover of Jessie's Girl. She's changed it from an upbeat pop song to an absolutely beautiful ballad. The song is still the same, but it's also completely different. You can hear it in her voice. Listening to this song, you can feel exactly how it feels to be completely in love with a straight girl. Everything about this is perfect. Everything. When I think about how much she shows through her music, I want to cry because she is exactly what the music world needs right now. She is exactly what the radio needs right now.
Far too often, artists who cover songs sung by someone of the opposite gender will change the pronouns in the song to remain seen as "straight," even if the singer isn't, simply to make their songs more "radio friendly." The fact that she is a gay woman who has no fear of being exactly that is something that means so much to me, and to others as well I'm sure. In her song "Secrets", she sings I can't think straight / I'm so gay, and even just that little line means so much because this isn't a straight woman singing about something other than straight, it's a gay woman singing about her own real life. And somehow, that means so much more.
In regards to radio friendly music, take a listen to Matt Fishel's "Radio-Friendly Pop Song," which is pretty much the biggest screw you to pop music at the moment.
However, with songs like Mary Lambert's cover of "Jessie's Girl," there may eventually come a time when we don't need to say "screw you" to the music industry. There will come a time when it's just as normal to hear a gay-themed song on the radio as a straight-themed one. One day, it won't be a big deal when an artist such as Mary Lambert covers a song like "Jessie's Girl," but right now, it still is a big deal. And that's okay. Because we're still in the process of getting to where we need to be.
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