2017: > Bests, worsts, and everything in between Joshua Toevs Columnist ere isa list of lists and superlatives for the year that was 2017. Music’s Best New Act: Cardi B This is really just an excuse to praise the rise and cultural impact of Cardi B. In less than a year, the stripper-turned-reality- star-turned-rapper has shaken the musical landscape to its core. With the release of her hazy trap banger, “Bodak Yellow,’ Cardi reached heights that female rappers haven't hit in years. The song oozes confidence and glistens sonically. The song is constantly played at parties and the club but even more importantly it found charting success, halting Taylor Swift from a lengthy stay at the top of the Billboard Charts as Cardi found herself sitting at number one for seven weeks. Cardi at number one marked the first time a female rapper had a solo number one record since Lauryn Hill's “Killing Me Softly,’ and she has translated that to greater successes. While we have yet to see an album from her, she has released a number of great features and the sky is the limit for the young rapper. Most Interesting Story of 2017: Kim Kardashian has receipts In 2016, Kanye West released a song titled “Famous, a song in which he says he could A year in music probably have Swift romantically because he made her famous. Kanye claimed that Swift gave her blessing for that line and everything seemed okay. A little while later, Swift refuted this claim and stated she would never give the okay for something like this. Usually everyone would just side with Swift, but unbeknownst to her, Kim Kardashian West had video evidence to refute her claims. Kanye recorded all of his conversations and on one faithful night, Kardashian went on Snapchat to play the recordings of Swift giving her approval. It was a big deal in that we rarely see holes in the Swift armour, and for one of the first times we were able to see Swift as less than perfect. Comeback Record of the Year: Paramore’s After Laughter After Laughter presented a new sound for the veteran rockers of Paramore. Gone is the edgy and abrasive pop punk production and in its place are silkier guitar strings, softer drum compositions, and electronic overtones. It is a welcome new sound as the music is fun and easy to listen to. “Hard Times” is an up-tempo bop, “Told You So” is a groovy electro-rock mishmash in all the right ways, and “Tell Me How’ is a crushing ballad. There are so many different styles and sounds that blend so well together without ever feeling too uniform. If this is a sign of things to come for Paramore, then I am personally excited. Have an idea for a story? M arts@theotherpress.ca We take a break from the superlatives for some lists! Interesting Hip Hop Albums 1. Big Fish Theory by Vince Staples 2. Saturation I by Brockhampton 3. Saturation II by Brockhampton 4. Still Striving by ASAP Ferg 5. More Life by Drake Five Albums You've Probably Never Heard Of 1. Brick Body Kids Still Daydream by Open Mike Eagle (hip-hop) 2. Rina EP by Rina Sawayama (pop) 3. Semper Femina by Laura Marling (singer-songwriter) 4. Now That the Light is Fading by Maggie Rogers (singer-songwriter) 5. Ash by Ibeyi (art-pop) Five Albums So Boring, They Might Help You Sleep 1. Everybody by Logic 2. Relaxer byalt-J 3. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom by Halsey 4. Trip by Jhene Aiko 5. Reputation by Taylor Swift Most Disappointing Album of 2017: Haim’s Something to Tell You ‘You're a classic... Mr. Grinch’ > The 60th anniversary of ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ Clive Ramroop Columnist ¢¢]-very Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot...” Can you say the next line? Yep, that’s what I thought. By now, virtually everyone should know this story and its distinct imagery from the mind of Dr. Seuss—the overloaded sleigh on Mount Crumpit, Max the dog with an antler tied to his head, Cindy Lou Who, and, of course, that familiar guy in green whose heart was two sizes too small. This enduringly popular children’s book by Seuss is now 60 years old, having spawned adaptations into an animated Christmas TV special, a live-action Jim Carrey film in 2000, and a CGI film coming next year with Benedict Cumberbatch voicing the title character. However, the story of the Grinch goes further than that. Seuss’ first use of his Grinch character was in a 32-line poem titled “The Hoobub and The Grinch,” originally published in the May 1955 issue of Redbook magazine, predating his Christmas story by two years. Unlike the more familiar malevolent Christmas hater, this early version of the Grinch is a con artist who meets an everyman-esque Hoobub relaxing in the sun, and swindles him into buying an otherwise useless piece of green string. In archetypal used- car-salesman fashion, he aggrandizes the scant “virtues” of the string and exaggerates the natural dangers of excess solar exposure en-route to a successful sale—a parable-like critique on marketers aggressively (and deceptively) pushing items on the public that they don’t need. Seuss began writing How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in early 1957, with his wife Helen Palmer Geisel as an uncredited editor despite suffering a mild stroke, among other health problems. According to the 2004 biography The Seuss, the Whole Seuss, and Nothing But the Seuss, the Grinch story was “the easiest book of his career to write, except for its conclusion.” Seuss wrote most of the story in only a few weeks, but toiled over the ending for three months, trying to explain the Grinch’s change of heart—or increase in three sizes—without feeling like a “second-rate preacher or some Biblical truism.” Desperate to finish the book, Seuss gave up on bothering to make a statement and simply had the Grinch return the stolen loot to the Whos without any karmic consequences whatsoever, and as a result become the guest of honor to carve the roast beast for their Christmas banquet. The completed story was first published in Redbook magazine that fall, and released as a stand-alone book by Random House in time for the Christmas season. Other Grinch trivia: -The inspiration behind the story came from a grimacing reflection in the mirror while Seuss was brushing his teeth the morning after Christmas ® a, \ o- 4 (¥ This year in animated films (¥ What to play when you're sick of ‘Jingle Bells’ (Y Thick as thieves And more! aN The California trio released Days Are Gone in 2014, which featured beautiful melodies, rocking chords, and great rock songs that were reminiscent of bands of yesteryear like Fleetwood Mac. In 2017, Haim returned with an album that was anything but. This album is lyrically flat, sonically boring, and features changes to the sound that just don’t make sense. They incorporated electronic samples try and bring their sound into 2017 but it sounds manufactured and shallow. Where Days Are Gone was a love letter to the 70s without sounding dated, Something to Tell You is a bargain bin reject. Favourite Album of the Year: Run the Jewels’ Run the Jewels 3 The hip hop duo EI-P and Killer Mike does it again with their third album as a duo. The production is denser and in your face, mixing newer, fresher sounds with the timeless boom bap beats. The lyrical content is more politically charged given the landscape while also keeping with their bully attitude. Songs like “Legend Haas It,” “Talk To Me,’ and “Hey Kids” are hard- nosed and aggressive, while “A Report to the Shareholders” is a dark, sombre look at the world during the Trump era. Run the Jewels takes more risks and are more introspective on this record than previous efforts, and as a result it is my favorite album of 2017. 1956. Compounded by his own dislike of the commercialization of the holiday, he wrote the book “to see if [he] could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously [he’d] lost,” he said in a 1957 Redbook article. -The Grinch was Seuss’ first main character in his books to be an adult, as well asa villain. -Some observers including Seuss himself have pointed out common links between the Grinch and Seuss’ real-life self, one of which being the two having the same age. He was 53 years old when he wrote the book; in the story, the Grinch complains that he’d suffered through the Whos’ celebrations for 53 years. -Seuss’ car had a license plate that read “GRINCH.” -Aside from the animated adaptation of the book, the Grinch also appeared in two other TV specials: Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977) and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982).