2013 Song of Fall

It seems like every year, music sites and companies declare the song of the summer. Last year, you couldn't avoid Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe which was the undisputed 2012 song of the summer. According to Billboard, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell was the summer song of 2013. However, have you ever heard of anyone talking about the biggest song of the fall? Although fall only started last week, I'd like to formally declare Royals by Lorde as the Fall Song of 2013.



I'm sure that folks will say that it's too early to declare a song of fall. Others may argue that Katy Perry (Roar), Lady Gaga (Applause), Miley Cyrus (Wrecking Ball), Bruno Mars (Gorilla) or Avicii (Wake Me Up) deserve this title. I disagree. Lorde and Royals didn't have the hype of the first four songs/artists. Actually, these first four artists could release songs of them singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and they would reach the top 10. Anyway, Royals has been building slowly and it somewhat reminds me of Goyte's Somebody That I Used To Know in that it doesn't sound like anything else on the radio. Oh, the song is also now receiving airplay on nearly all radio formats.

So join me in congratulating Lorde for Royals, the 2013 Song of Fall.

Call Him Maybe

With the Super Bowl over, it's time to turn our attention to hockey, college basketball and even baseball's Spring Training. Dan, who formally announced his retirement from blogging and one of the people who inspired me to start Sean's Ramblings, passed on this story from last week:

Anaheim, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Angels and reliever Kevin Jepsen have agreed to a one-year contract worth $1,181,000, avoiding arbitration with the hard-throwing right-hander.

The Angels announced the deal Tuesday night.

Jepsen went 3-2 with a 3.02 ERA last year, returning to an important role in the Angels' bullpen after missing much of the 2011 season with a knee injury. He has been a steady presence in Los Angeles' bullpen for the past four seasons.

It's too bad that Jepsen didn't sign with another team. He could have easily said to the prospective team, "Hey I just met you. And this is crazy. But here's my number. So call me maybe."

I really hope "Call Me Maybe" ia played when Jepsen comes into the game from the bullpen.

Sean on Pop Culture

I like to think that I am not only aware of but knowledgeable about pop culture. For example, Jessica Simpson let me know that she is pregnant (again!) before announcing it to the world. I also subscribe to Entertainment Weekly which I enjoy for the pictures, I mean, interesting articles. However, based on EW's recent Best & Worst of 2012 edition, there are a few things that seem to be missing from my pop culture world.

- Channing Tatum appeared in approximately 129 movies in 2012. I saw none of them.

- Carly Rae Jepsen is 27. 27! She doesn't look like she can drink legally, even in Canada with a lower drinking age. In case you're wondering, Jepsen is older than Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Robert Pattinson and Lindsay Lohan.

- Frank Ocean may have been the top musical artist in 2012 and he's nominated for 6 Grammy Awards. I don't think I have heard one of his songs.

- The Master and Zero Dark Thirty are both strong contenders for Best Picture at The Oscars. I don't know anyone that has seen either of these movies. (Yes, I realize that Zero Dark Thirty just got released nationwide recently.)

- The Lumineers are from Denver. My guess was that they were from Ireland or the UK.

- I have not seen The Avengers or any movie featuring any character from the movie including the Iron Man films.

- Calvin Harris is from Scotland. My guess was that he was from Denver.

- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was one of the biggest books of 2012. Again, I don't think I know anyone that has read this.

- Finally, it took me a long time to realize that Downton Abbey was not Downtown Abbey. Maybe I'll start watching this show in 2013.