Ah, yes. Finally.
I am writing this post with regards to Sir Jon McLaughlin,
Marquis of Promises. Oh, sorry. I’ve been much too engrossed with Historical
Fiction these days that I just can’t help talking ridiculously in English.
Anyway, I write this post now in great haste, contrary to
the state of it these past few months as it was doing naught but sit in my
drafts folder. I have attempted, or rather, have been attempting to write this
post for so long now. I think I have started to type some during December or
November of last year. I really didn’t think it would have held up until now.
During that moment of composition I was quite passionate, in
a negative way. That first attempt in writing reeked of rage and disbelief and
disappointment. And as I have thought, the things I were about to discuss that
time were but the beginnings of it all. J
I have refrained from posting it, more because of my mere
lack of negative words to throw at Jon (rather than petty expletives and
exclamation points y’all might have been exasperated to read) than my helpful
insights about the matter. Oh my, you might want to read that sentence again.
Where was I? Oh yes, well, now I am mustering up all my
courage to post this as the fruition of the issue at hand was just released, in
VEVO no less.
Okay, so before you let your imagination go awry, I must
start at the beginning. Let’s stop this formal thing, it’s getting to me. And I
don’t promise an improvement regarding the expletives and exclamation points
I’ve been telling you about either.
Well, it all started
that one afternoon that I was browsing through my emails. As you know, I have
signed up for Jon’s mailing list for updates. Because, by Jove, I care about
his updates even if they’re about albums I can’t buy and concerts I can’t
attend not to mention the fact that I extremely adore reading “Dear Nikka” at
the beginning of every post.
Ahem. So, I was reading through one of these, the most
recent one, at that. He was talking about the release of a single on iTunes,
his song ‘Summer Is Over’ from his album Forever If Ever that he recently
released as well. But it was different because he collaborated with Sara
Bareilles on this particular one. At first my reaction was “BAAAH, bigaten si
pareng McL, Suma-Sara Bareilles si kuya.” And I was particularly happy. And
feeling a bit proud above else. I was trying to get over my Obsessive
Possessive disorder that time, you see. I was trying to share his joy because I
sincerely liked him and I wanted to be supportive. But upon reading the rest of
the update, my feelings just began to sink.
WHOO, listening to Jon McLaughlin while doing this is not
easy, mind you. But it helps refresh my memory of my non-too-pleasant feelings.
He talked in passing about his UPCOMING album. UPCOMING,
mind you. That really got me suspicious. I thought at first it was Forever If
Ever but HELLO? He just released the thing. My mind just couldn’t comprehend
that he’d be releasing an album mere months after he released that one. Heaven
knows how long we’d have to wait for that one to come along! And that was
because he was working independently, meaning, he didn’t have a producer or a
record label or something. He produced the thing on his own. I really thought
he would let that sit and seep in us, for a good while at least. Gad, oh but am
I agitated. SIGH.
But I wasn’t feeling all intense that time. I just had that
sinking feeling. Haven’t confirmed anything you see. I was pretty wary. And he
had little details to give away, didn’t he? I knew then that the perfect way to
know about this is through the fans and where better to find out than Tumblr
where fanatics are more than insane and very informative. And as I thought, a
good number of people mentioned about the new album. Some were as incredulous
as I. I also found out that this album release was due to the fact that Jon
eventually found himself a record label to accommodate him. Okay, that sounded
condescending. Sorry. What I meant was a record label to support his musical
endeavours. So there, he was going to do a re-release of Forever If Ever but
under the title Promising Promises which is the title of one of his song in the
album. I found this amusingly appropriate as the song Forever If Ever was
merely a BONUS track in the previous album. I really didn’t get that. AND it
was released, sometime AFTER the album was released, for free on NoiseTrade. At
least Promising Promises was a part of the original album. Jon is a most
peculiar thing.
UPDATE:
This is Jon
http://jonmcl.com/news/2012/03/the-four1one/ Read it.
I felt really betrayed by him. That is my whole point. I
don’t know why. Maybe because I was rather very proud of his indie state. I
was just infected by how happy HE was! During that release he was pretty proud
of himself y’know! Sigh. I guess perhaps one really needs a label to make it
big in the industry. It’s a blessing to him and it is just probably proper of
him to welcome it and thank for it. I guess I’m pretty much not over my
OPD. Or maybe I felt betrayed because I
didn’t get to know this was happening. I felt like it happened right under my
nose and I didn’t know about until it was already being shoved at me. And now
that the music video for Summer Is Over (the only song from the album I have
grown to love, except for Forever If Ever) is out, I am overcome with jealousy
of Sara. It’s seeing her in that video with Jon. No, it’s more because that
video showed the Jon I always have imagined. The homey, comfortable, at-home
Jon. And it was Sara frolicking there with him. If it was Amy, I would have
probably thought it very sweet
Well? Have you found my little anecdote rather amusing? Me
too. Whether your answer was a positive or a negative.
SIGH. This post has been a bit depressing huh? You might
already be thinking that I loathe this Jon man. Oh but that is just the thing--I
don’t. As I sit here writing this and listening to his music, my heart is
swelling just hearing his voice and reading into his lyrics. He is a rather
sweet and romantic man, I realize. And he has the ability to translate that
into his music. What a man.
Even if he proved to be incorrigible, he is still amazing to
me. Thus, I am going to share some thoughts on two of his songs that are the
only ones left in my current playlist.
See next post please :)
