What's the story?...

I hate that phrase they use repeatedly throughout X-Factor (in fact I pretty much just hate X-Factor in general!), 'telling the story', 'you told the story well' etc. It just seems like lazy criticism for airheads like Cheryl Cole to use because she hasn't got an opinion of her own. Of course they told the story, the lyrics tell you what the song's about, how the author was feeling at the time etc and by reciting those words back to us (along to a melody for good measure) they are in fact 'telling the story'. 

It's a term I really despise and it seems to have become synonymous with these so called 'talent' shows. As I said it's something I think any musician can achieve just by singing a song. This was until the other week when I stumbled across a cover of Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dreams' on Youtube (I was actually listening to a Goo Goo Dolls cover by the same band and for some reason decided to explore the links on the sidebar) by Boyce Avenue. I've heard this song a million times on the radio (mostly due to the station in the office played at work churning out the same 4 songs every hour!) and have never really paid much attention to the lyrics until I heard this version.

Actually quite liked the 1st verse, seems quite meaningful for a pop song/Katy Perry. I never got around to the bit at the end where the lyrics go on about skin-tight jeans, to be honest I much prefer to think of Mrs Brand (Katy Perry that is not Jo Brand or any other Mrs Brand for that matter) when I hear that line but as far as cover versions go it's not too bad. Must be the way they told the story.

And now back to something decent!