Recently, Tom Petty sued Sam Smith over the purported similarities between Smith’s hit “Stay With Me” and Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” and is now reaping 12% of his royalties. The people at Funny or Die, however, noticed some similarities between Petty’s songs and other artists’ hits, and decided to let the world know about them. Surely Petty will do the right thing and pay 12% royalties to anyone whose songs came first and bare any resemblance to his?
Taylor Swift is known for enthusiastically performing her avant-garde dance moves in the crowds of numerous award shows, and last night’s Grammys were no exception. Reactions to her dancing (as is the case with anything… experimental) have been mixed, but one critic had a distinctly negative response to this year’s performance: Pharrell. It’s a good thing Swift never turned her gaze toward Williams, because direct eye-contact with that level of side-eye would result in spontaneous combustion in most humans.
Swift isn’t the only artist pushing boundaries. We all remember the first time Kanye West experimented with live criticism after Taylor Swift won her VMA in 2009, and we almost saw him attempt it again during last night’s Grammys. For better or worse he decided against this, but we do have the next best thing: the faces of the crowd as Yeezy walked up on stage. Jay-Z’s facial expressions had as many chapters as a novel, and, unlike Taylor Swift’s moves, Kanye’s almost-coup looked to have Pharrell’s approval.
Let’s end with an artistic choice that left us in such shock that it’s never even been mentioned until now: the decision to cast Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey instead of the sexual powerhouse that is Steve Buscemi. Could there be an actor better suited to portray the intense, intensely handsome and handsomely domineering romantic interest than Steve Buscemi? The Internet, thankfully, has corrected this tragic mistake with a trailer for Fifty Shades of Buscemi. Grab a bucket of popcorn and get ready for the ride of your life.