48 - Thursday, October 2, 2014 MUSIC FOR 'U' A record Iabel for students The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com GENDER & MEDIA COLUMN Still Allbout That VBass' Re Froi surrou its ch currict Michig a thri and specifi been inspiri Richar even n studen which two develo excitin give se to bec genera Emi indepe label, it has incline to pros chance a signi closely Music, Siegel' groupi Univer after o shapec "I class Techn SMT& how it. long p: togeth (record said HC Empty "Instea class p idea) a Empty Mug Midway through working on the class project, Phelps brought cords supports in LSA senior Meta Stange. Together, the pair was determined local artists to pursue the record label outside of the classroom, and with the By ALEC STERN August release of Empty Mug's Senior Arts Editor first compilation album, the co-presidents have finally brought n the artistically rich the project from ideation to inding city of Ann Krbor'to fruition. hallenging, comprehensive_. "We've met with a lot of people ulum, the University of to get their insight,".Stange said. gan provides students with "We were working with a lawyer ving nexus between arts who was helping us get some stuff education. For musicians set up and Melissa Levine who cally, the University has works in the copyright office for home to a multitude of the University." ng talent, from Iggy Pop, to "And from there it was just d Perry, to Madonna. And e-mailing people, getting in touch ow, there is no shortage of ... asking questions and finding it musicians in Ann Arbor, people to help you with that. And is precisely the reason people were so wonderful to us," University students have Phelps added. ped an innovative and Levine, the University's lead g organization that could copyright officer, has been veral artiststhe momentum involvedwithEmptyMugRecords ome the University's next from the beginning, informally tion of success stories. offering guidance and mentorship. pty Mug Records is an She was also able to provide key ndent, student-run record financial support in the form of a and in its short history, Third Century Grant that two of used Ann Arbor's art- her former interns had applied for. d culture as a foundation They had seen the cross-section vide student musicians the of projects that came through to develop their music in Levine's office that dealt with ficant way. Having worked copyright and wanted to reconcile with artists in School of their law school educations Theater & Dance Prof. Dick with their passion for the arts s songwriting class, the to create something meaningful is now up and running as a for members of the Ann Arbor sity student organization community. Empty Mug Records riginating last year in the grew out of that effort, as some of a class project. of the funds that remained in the was in a music business Grant were approved for transfer (a Performing Arts and to the organization as seed money. ology course offered by "One of the great things about D) last spring and that's these Third Century Grants is stemmed. We had semester- unexpected consequences in a rojects and we got a group good sense, and I think thatEmpty er and decided to create a Mug may be just that thing," d) label for the University," Levine said. "I couldn't have ailey Phelps, LSA junior and planned for that as a deliverable Mug Records' co-president. butfor it to have happened is a very ad of that stopping at the good investment." roject ... we just took (the With help from the University, nd ran with it." Phelps and Stange have managed to grow their record label into a full-service operation dedicated to helping student artists in any way they can;that includes production, distribution, designing album artwork, press photos and more. "Basically anything you would need as a musician besides literally sitting down and playing the guitar, we can help you with," Stange said. "Everythingis in-house,"Phelps added. "So everything that we do or help create, we are working on that within our label ... We have everyone from sound engineers, more business-minded people, financial, promotion, marketing and then Meta and I primarily deal with reaching out to artists specifically. But it's all in-house so everything that we do comes fromthe people who we work with directly." Because it provides so many services to its artists, Empty Mug Records is as much about the people behind the scenes as it is about those in front of the microphone. The company prioritizes creativity, collaboration andmostimportantly,inclusivity- the greater the diversity inaskillset, the greater the opportunity for everyone involved to learn and grow. In time, the co-presidents hope that the label will not only become a platform for artists but also a network for people who are interested in pursuing music in any capacity. "That's one of our main goals: to make it very inclusive and very collaborative because we want people to share their ideas if they know how to do something better than us," Phelps said. "We want to hear that to make this the best thing possible." Empty Mug Records' initial success is exactly what Levine hoped would come from the program funded by the Third Century Grant:to dispel the notion that people are either creative or business-minded. "(My former interns) proposed applying for one of the ... grants from the Provost's office to develop a program around entrepreneuria skills for humanity students with the idea ... being that many of us who are interested in the arts assume we are not interested or competent in business," Levine said. "And actually business is incredibly creative and ideally about being creative and effective withthat.So,the proposalwemade had to do with developingbusiness4 skills for humanity students." Going forward, Phelps and Stange will seek funding in the form of external grants; searching for additional funding is a large part of one of Empty Mug's departments. Currently, the group has just over 30 members, with interest growing rapidly among the student community - both regarding the organization and its music. "My moment of validation from this whole process was this fall when we were passing out flyers to come to our mass meeting and someone (said), 'Oh yeah I heard this compilation on Bandcamp.'" Regardingthe name ofthe label, Phelps admits she had a hard time making a decision. "We had to find a name right away and I was writing down lists and lists and trying to figure out what was going on and I was actually talking to one of my friends who works at a coffee shop and he actually thought of the name Empty Mug and it was kind of catchy. It's different," Phelps said. "It fits now because we are motivated by creativity, passion and coffee," Stange added. While this maybe true, Levine was a bit more metaphorical in her interpretation. "One of the challenges for student organizations with great energy and momentum is that students graduate, and so I think the symbolism of constantly refilling the mug actually gives some potential longevity to this." MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW PharrellWilliams's"It Girl"is by far the mostvisuallyinterest- ing musicvideo Ihave seen in along time. The produc- A tion combines anime-like It Girl scenes, old school video Pharrell, game graphics and even some Williams bizarre, neon Columbia inverse color- ing of a danc- ing Pharrell. Themusic videoopens up on a sandy cartoon beach. As Phar- rell begins the first verse, musing "my compass spinning baby," a compass in the sand is shown spinning onthe beach. Such continuity between the lyrics and visuals occurs sporadically throughout. The next scene is a grooving Pharrell, with his entire body flashing and filled in by bright, neon colors. The background is plastered with hundreds offloat- ing little characters and symbols of origins I am not knowledgeable enough to know. The stimulus overload from thisscene makes it absolutely off-the-wall and unique. A video game that looks a lot like Maplestory then pops up on the screen with Pharrell as the skateboarding protagonist, but then quickly changes into an anime beachscene of sorts. I could definitely see "It Girl"getting some heat for this video here, as there are plenty of younglookinggirls in bathing suits who certainlyhave clearly definedum, proportions. While this maybe typical of anime/ mangaystyle art, Pharrell lurking in the background with a pair of binoculars inspectingthegirls definitely sets a creepy vibe. The music video proceedsto alternateebetween its computer generated trippiness, cutesy video game sets and anime scenes until finally rollingout the credits in a'similar fashionto Pokomon games on GameBoy. Personally, my favorite part of "It Girl" comes alittle after the half way mark, when cheesy-vid- eo-game Pharrell buys a dolphin spaceship, goes to outer space, shoots some bad guys and visits Galactic Mount Rushmore with 'm bringing booty back / Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that." I cringe every time I hear the line - which is often, considering I've had Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" on repeat since mid- June. The song, which originally NATALIE was praised GADBOIS as body- Positive and revolutionary in an industry that rarely cel- ebrates women who aren't the size of a malnourished 12-year-old, is now under- going an onslaught of not unjustified backlash from outlets as varied as Jeze- bel and The Guardian. The lyrics, meant to empower women who rarely see reflections of themselves in the media, just as equally shame those who are classi- cally thin. (Though Trainor does quickly slide in the phrase "No, I'm just play- ing," a weak attempt to jus- tify her slight.) Perhaps even more menac- ing is the song's consistent referral to patriarchal and heteronormative ideals. You are beautiful no matter what size you are because boys wanna hold your booty at night. It's an inherently problematic message we are teaching to girls; you are al'wo'rthvhile, bt'ionily in relation to what-boys think of you. You all are beautiful (because being beautiful is very very very important), but this beauty can only be seen through male eyes. It's insidious, negative and downright concerning. But I don't care. I'll repeat it: I still fucking love this song. I'm known to be a pretty vigilant feminist. My friends often feel the need to temper their language and stories around me so as not to risk pissing me off. (In other news, I am the worst to watch Superbowl commer- cials with.) Because of my reputation, multiple people asked me what I thought about this song, if I agreed it was problematic. It's hard to honestly answer in the affir- mative when my rallying cry at every pregame is "Play 'All About That Bass' again, please!" (Usually without the 'please'). Should I feel guilty for loving this song? It's a question that often troubles activists - if one part of something is problematic, do we need to disregard all of it? When I find cheese with a bit of mold on it, I throw the whole damn thing away - no need to take an unneces- sary risk. But my grandma just slices that mold right off and acts like the cheese is as good as new. Can we just as easily slice off the sexism and negative stereotyping in "All About That Bass" and still appreciate the song? Last year Dove released a video called "Real Beauty Sketches," as part of its ongo- ing self esteem campaign. The video had a sketch artist first draw women based on how they describe them- selves - strong jaw, round face, too many freckles. The same artist then drew these women based on how other people described them. Unsurprisingly, the women were much harsher when describing themselves - these images were consis- tently "uglier" than those described by other people. The campaign was praised for shedding a light on the crushing self-consciousness so many women feel about the way they look. It was also decried for promoting the beauty ideal - being beautiful means you are thin, symmetrical, with prominent cheekbones and clear skin. The campaign was dis- tinctly imperfect - acci- dentally upholding some of the norms it meant to deconstruct. But at the end of the day the intent was wholesome - remind- ing women that they are all beautiful. And for every scholarly article I read about how the Real Beauty cam- paign was problematic, there was another girl posting on Facebook about how that video had, at least for a little while, made her reconsider how she viewed herself. The question at stake becomes, what is more important to furthering social change? Political correctness, or widespread individual impact? Back to "All About That Bass." What I know about this song: It's surprisingly sexist and disappointingly one-dimensional in what it defines as a real woman. It also is openly celebratory of women who aren't size twos, as the first verse so proudly proclaims, and the resonance of this statement can't be overlooked. In fifth grade I worshiped Carmen from the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," not only for her candor, but because I looked more like'Wr'han most teens I had sen ibTV or in the movies. Even in this, the 'Year of the Booty,' what other songs (or TV shows, or movies) openly celebrate bigger or even just regular-sized women? Even if they exist, how many have enchanted as broad an audi- ence - and had quantifiable industry success - as much as "Bass"? Even if other peo- ple are talking about body- positivity, finally everyone is listening. I don't care. I'll repeat it: I still love this fucking song. Throughout the summer my 15-year-old cousin Kelly would send me texts each time "Bass" would move up in the charts. Together we screamed the lyrics and learned the dance moves from the video and tried to teach our dolthead brothers why the song was important. Beyond actual blood ties and general anatomy, Kelly and I are quite different - she's outgoing where I'm awk- ward, pretty and primped while I wear Chacos and pajama pants to buy boxed wine, the Homecoming Prin- cess to my Vice President of the Harry Potter Club. But we both were drawn to and powerfully buoyed by "All About That Bass." Ifa three-minute pop song has the power to make two such different girls, at completely different stages in our lives, feel good about ourselves, then it contributes immea- surable value. Not to say that we should stop talking about why it's problematic. But Kelly and I aren't going to stop dancing. And I don't think anyone else should either. Gadbois is never going to stop dancing. Send encouragement to gadbnat@umich.edu. I I Pharrell'sface (and hat) chiseled in. Even from the start of the music video, it's clear that the computer-generated animations and effects of "It Girl" allow for fantastical outside-of-the-box thinking that makes this pro- duction well worth five min- utes of your time. -KENNETH SELANDER 1