News: Another Day, Another Booty

My name is Toyeen Balogun and I am a musicolic. Yes, I love music and I am addicted to it.

I grew up in a close-knit family of seven, four siblings and two parents and thanks to my late dad who was a lover of music and cigars, music became part of the whole family. 

Every weekend, we would wake up to the sweet melody of Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Dele Abiodun, Fela, Boney M, Abba, Frank Sinatra, Jim Reeves et al to the extent that I ended up knowing the lyrics to most of the songs even before knowing what they really meant.

Before our last girl, Shade was born, we were three girls and one boy and family members used to call us Boney M! I would always stand on a stool, hold an invisible microphone and sing along to Abba's tunes in my Yewande Memorial Primary School days.

It did not end there. In my Methodist Girls High School days, I was addressed by everybody alive as 'Toyeen Jackson' because of the love I had (still have) for the late Michael Jackson.

I had all his records, cassettes, posters, stickers and what have you and in my head I was MJ's Mrs! LOL.

Wow, what true love! What innocence!!

In my University of Lagos days, I grew up listening to Anita Baker, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Patti Labelle, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey et al.

These legends touched many hearts with their clean, meaningful songs and would perform in shows, concerts all around the world in decent attires and still get their messages across.

Even though I was extremely young then, I remember when Silverbird Entertainment brought Dynasty, Shalamar, Lakeside, Whispers, Ralph Cameron, Evelyn Champagne-King to Nigeria and they all performed (on different occasions) at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu Lagos.

When we got good grades, we would go and watch with our parents or with senior cousins and friends. My point? My love for music did not start today.

There was a time in some Restaurant in Apapa, Avondale it is (dunno if it is still running), they had this show where the band (think it was Godbless or Sharp Band) would play an intro to a song and if you complete the lyrics and name the artist, you would win things and trust me, I so nailed all the intros even as old as '60s tunes and got a few perks to the extent that other guests thought maybe it was planned but really it was not.

At the end of the night, I was not the eventual winner, sadly, but uncle Emeka and Sola who walked away with the grand prize of a flat screen TV (But me sef try no be small).
In as much as I love fashion, it's music before anything! Old school, new school, high life, jazz, R&B, pop, soul, reggae, jazz, contemporary, classic, you name it, I LOVE IT!
I will also never forget how I used to love going to Karaoke and even end up quarreling with sisters and friends if I was supposed to sing before them and the microphones were given to them or if they joined me in singing when I didn't want a duet or collabo! Hahaha.....
These days, I chillax with music reality shows like American Idol, XFactor, Project Fame and concerts and there's this thing they do to my soul. 😉

Okay, most of these were in the 90's, now fast forward to when Miley Cyrus twerked with her flat bum to Blurred Lines at the 2013 VMA, of course sticking out her tongue and exposing that flat bum!!!

Then skip
....to Shakira and Rihanna's "Cant Remember To Forget You" soft porn video,
.....to Nicki Minaj's ass-tastic Anaconda video with those twerkers of life! *JawDropping*
....to the x-rated JLo and Iggy Azalea's Booty video!

It gets worse by the day, don't you think?
I love the songs, the artists and the videos, hell YES, I don't pretend to be holier than thou, but I just kinda feel sorry for this present generation that doesn't know clean and pure music, videos and lyrics other than booties and a$$e$ unlike what we had back in the day!
(Wow, those words back in the day make me feel like some great grandma....Buhahaha!!!)
If we compare and contrast music and female musicians of those days to what we have now, Comme 7 Up, la différence est très claire!!!
What a drastic change!!! What evolution!!!
Yes, butts are having a moment. Well. maybe butts have already had their moment. Some are calling these videos pop porn. Some are calling them provocative. Some are calling them exploitative. Some are calling them empowering. But, at this point, it's kind of just boring.
Booty here, booty there, booty everywhere! 
Even Vogue published an article titled ' “We’re Officially in the Era of the Big Booty.” Then the Internet collectively ridiculed Vogue for said article. The New York Times Style section ran a big feature  on booties this week, which is how you know booties are having a moment and also how you know that moment is over.
But we're in an age, God help us, when booties should mean something, where mere objectification is no longer adequate. 

So here are the questions of the decade:

What happened to those days of singing while chilling on a stool in an evening gown and people still feeling the music? Where did dem full garbs go?

To sell musically now, must one be naked?

Have we reached booty exhaustion?
Are we tired of pop culture being assaulted by booties?

Well, I thank God I  was able to taste both sides, the goodie and the booty.
And you? To what generation do you belong?

While we wait for what's next, try twerking to Sisqo's Thong Song!!!

Still I write...........TBW.