Monday, April 6, 2015

Postmodern Fairy Tale Music

These songs go against happily ever after and deconstruct fairy tales.

1) After Ever After by Jon Cozart



Jon Cozart bases various Disney films in a more realistic setting and shows the tragically funny results. My favorite is Pocahontas since the film is so good, but incredibly historically inaccurate. He sings in four part harmony with himself with impressive intonation and timing. I love this medley of irreverent reimaginings of these classic tales.

2) Shalott by Emilie Autumn



Emilie Autumn takes the classic Tennyson poem, The Lady of Shalott and adds her own perspective. The poem is about a woman cursed to weave images without actually seeing the world. She then sees (and falls in love with) Lancelot and leaves, but dies before she gets to Camelot. That's a pretty screwed up tale and it's nice to see a modern perspective. Although it's about Arthurian legend, there are typical fairy tale stand bys here: spinning wheels, curses, a tragic woman, and a handsome man.


3) Fairy Tale by Sara Bareilles



This jazzy song shows how happily ever after isn't all it's cracked up to be. Fairy tale love isn't anything close to reality and wouldn't have turned out well in real life. I especially like the Rapunzel verse where she just wants to be alone. Sara Bareilles shows a variety of fairy tales in the video with a theater flair. She ends the song in modern clothing with just herself and the piano on the stage, without the false trappings of fairy tales.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I already knew Shalott and Fairy Tale - both of which I just adore (and I love Sara's video. Some of her expressions are priceless). Never heard of Jon Cozart before but he's very talented and that song is absolutely hilarious. (A bit disturbing, too, but that goes hand-in-hand with over-thinking fairy tales.)

Misty said...

The first one always cracks me up.