Defend the Indefensible: Macy Gray

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One trick pony, says me. Plus, she's stoned out of her mind 23 hours a day.

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:43 (twenty years ago) link

Can't stand her.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:45 (twenty years ago) link

"DEMONS", GODDAMNIT

― Nate Patrin (Nate Patrin), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:46 (twenty years ago) link

i liked "why didnt you call me?"

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:46 (twenty years ago) link

The "My New Album Drops of X date" dress was a real classy move too. Blecchh!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:51 (twenty years ago) link

it is going to take the entire verbal might of the ILM massif to pull Ms. Gray's fat out of the fire on this thread.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:52 (twenty years ago) link

I LIKE Macy Gray! It's all about that laryngitic rasp which I find very soothing.

(I'm not being sarcastic)

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 10 July 2003 22:57 (twenty years ago) link

My wife always misheard the lyric "My world crumbles when you are not here" in "I Try" as "I wear goggles when you are not here". Apart from that image, I find nothing worthwhile in her music.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:02 (twenty years ago) link

I thought she was ok. That one single was great.

These "defend the indefensible" threads are a bit presumptious in a "when did you stop beating your wife" kind of way.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:07 (twenty years ago) link

Macy Gray is Gay?!?!?

And she beats her wife?!?!?!

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:08 (twenty years ago) link

the video and song "Sexual Revolution" was just sad, sad, sad. I mix up "I Try" and "I'm Like A Bird" in my head all the time. Once the rasp stops being novel there really isn't much there from what I can gather, though I really haven't heard much.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:09 (twenty years ago) link

Come on! "Why Didn't You Call Me" is awesome awesome awesome!

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:31 (twenty years ago) link

macy gray plundered the larynx from lady day's strung-out corpse, and even their names rhyme. bah.

― Elmo Oxygen (elmo oxygen), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:47 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not being sarcastic

Sorta wish you were.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:49 (twenty years ago) link

I can't entirely defend her on the basis of the music -- although I like the singles on the first album -- but I can defend her on this ground: At a paper I worked at, we got a bunch of free tickets to a Macy Gray show (it didn't sell very well and the promoter wanted to fill seats). So I went, along with one of my co-workers who also brought his 9-year-old daughter. His daughter was very excited at the possibility of actually seeing someone in person whom she had seen on TV (her dad's periodic appearances as a commentator on local news shows apparently didn't qualify him as famous for her). She stood on the seat next to me during the whole show (she was small for her age), jumping up and down, and when Macy sang "I Try," she belted out every word right along with Macy, punching the air with her tiny hands. It was one of the cutest things I've ever seen, and pretty damn rock'n'roll too. So when I think of Macy, I think of that, and it makes me smile. Verdict: Defensible.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Friday, 11 July 2003 00:33 (twenty years ago) link

totally fuckin love the premo ive committed murder remix with mos def, bouncily tight murder ballad and mos KILLS his verse!!

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 11 July 2003 02:28 (twenty years ago) link

also one of the first arguments i remember ever having with tom back in 2000 was defending the then-new i try, it remains a very pretty single i think... if i recall he thought she was 'too british' ?!?!

― trife (simon_tr), Friday, 11 July 2003 02:32 (twenty years ago) link

'plus she's stoned 23 hours a day' huh? eat my fuc

― dave q, Friday, 11 July 2003 06:58 (twenty years ago) link

"Relating to a Psychopath" annoyed me because I think the use of terminology was sloppy. From her description of herself in the song, I think she meant "Relating to a PSYCHOTIC" (ie somebody who has no contact with reality), not a 'psychopath', who by definition has incapable of empathy and thus is incapable of 'relating' to *anyone*. Unless the title was supposed to be a 'paradox' which would be cool I guess (unfortunately, presence of Beatles sample rules that out)

― dave q, Friday, 11 July 2003 07:02 (twenty years ago) link

She's alright! 'I Try', 'She Ain't Right For You', 'When I See You' and 'A Moment to Myself' are wonderful.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 11 July 2003 10:45 (twenty years ago) link

trife right agin...

but she just cancelled her tourhere and we got the press and its lying aroung and people keep saying "o...macy gray cancelled" and i'm like

YOU CARE?

― gaz (gaz), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:01 (twenty years ago) link

'when i see you' wasn't bad, Bugs In The Attic mix better tho

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:03 (twenty years ago) link

Gang Starr remix of 'I've Committed Murder' is great too

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:04 (twenty years ago) link

"Something something something, or shit's gonna get Macy Gray ugly" is probably the best rap lyric I've heard this year. Can't remember who the fuck it's by, though.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:05 (twenty years ago) link

When she stops trying to sing low and goes into her comfortable range, she's actually a pretty great vocalist. (IE, the beginning of the verses to "I Try" are DIRE, but that ending is GLORIOUS.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 12:36 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

She should be drawn and quartered for her latest commercial for Sony, wherein she takes a viscuous runny dump all over Aerosmith's "Walk This Way".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:24 (nineteen years ago) link

She made me NOT like an ODB song. Dud de dud dud dud.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 27 August 2004 01:26 (nineteen years ago) link

My wife always misheard the lyric "My world crumbles when you are not here" in "I Try" as "I wear goggles when you are not here". Apart from that image, I find nothing worthwhile in her music.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), July 11th, 2003.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― Al (sitcom), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:08 (nineteen years ago) link

Macy Gray is an
easy target, true enough.
But her last one rocks.

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:27 (nineteen years ago) link

No it doesn't. There is no rock involved.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I would like to punch her in the face

― ())(())()()()(()(LASER)()()()LA(Z)E(R)()()()((L)()()(A)(S(E)R()()()) (ex machina, Friday, 27 August 2004 02:40 (nineteen years ago) link

which dirt mcgirt?

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:48 (nineteen years ago) link

I reiterate my comments from above.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:50 (nineteen years ago) link

GOD, that Sony commercial makes me want to CHEW BRICKS.

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:52 (nineteen years ago) link

The Sony Commercial makes me dance.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 02:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Demons is great. The video is good too.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Friday, 27 August 2004 03:05 (nineteen years ago) link

That bootleg mash-up that puts the vocals for "Demons" over some Rammenstien gramophone is a flippin' ACE!!!!!! In reckon she would be a really good singer if she were in a hilariously overblown German metal band!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Friday, 27 August 2004 10:41 (nineteen years ago) link

"I Try" is going to sound great as a one-hit-wonder forgotten oldie in ten years. Trust me.

― briania (briania), Friday, 27 August 2004 11:34 (nineteen years ago) link

She's from my hometown of Canton!!

― Mr. Snrub, Friday, 27 August 2004 11:37 (nineteen years ago) link

she had some great songs on the first album. lost interest since then but cant believe the hate shes getting here. i try, ive commited murder, and a few others i cant remember right now were great.

― dickvandyke (dickvandyke), Friday, 27 August 2004 11:40 (nineteen years ago) link

She sounds a little bit like the singer from 'Fox'. Nina Stush or whatever she's called.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 27 August 2004 11:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Lady Stush???????

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 13:02 (nineteen years ago) link

"I Try" is going to sound great as a one-hit-wonder forgotten oldie in ten years. Trust me.

Ten years? It already sounds like that (only without the 'great" part). Just like Dionne Farris, Billie Myers, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 14:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Steeped a long, mellow decade in deep vats of Lethe, however, and the hatred will be transformed into wondrous draughts of "Oh, yeah, that!" Or not.

― briania (briania), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Hating on Dionne Farris is a sign of severe mental instability.

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

Ahh, I don't hate on Farris. I was just mentioning that she's become a one-hit wonder. "I Know" wasn't bad. I mean, I didn't buy it, but I wouldn't rush to turn it off either. She was much better than Macy "Goggles" Gray.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Jesus, I just said "hate on" without being ironic. Someone kill me.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link

ONE OF US! (Completely OTM re Farris vs Gray, though.)

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Dionne Farris' bit in "Tennessee" by Arrested Development ("won't you help me...") was the best part of that song (countered by that ridiculouos part about playing horseshooooooooooeeees!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 27 August 2004 15:22 (nineteen years ago) link

four years pass...

I find her inoffensive. That's too bad.

― Kevin Yates, Phys. Ed. (u s steel), Tuesday, 26 May 2009 09:25 (fourteen years ago) link

I am no fan of R&B, but I did like "I Try".

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 26 May 2009 09:26 (fourteen years ago) link

Can't wait for the late 90s revival. Those poor bastards have Macy Gray, Moby's "Play", Ibiza Trance and Limp Bizkit to look forward to.

― ch4rlie fr4m3, Tuesday, 26 May 2009 09:37 (fourteen years ago) link

This is one of those things that I had an argument with someone about back in 1999 and we never finished it. Or something.

― Kevin Yates, Phys. Ed. (u s steel), Tuesday, 26 May 2009 09:37 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Macy Gray asks fans if she should boycott Israel

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110120/lf_nm_life/us_israel_gray

― buzza, Thursday, 20 January 2011 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link

1700 comments!

― buzza, Thursday, 20 January 2011 18:29 (thirteen years ago) link

Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, for example, canceled his planned concerts in Israel last summer because of what he called the "grave and complex" sensitivities.

^what an asshole

― The Curse of Dennis Stratton (Bill Magill), Thursday, 20 January 2011 18:37 (thirteen years ago) link

one of my fav. memories is when i was in a falafel place in soho in ldn and the guy at the counter put on sweet baby and these girls kindof looked at each other and the universe seemed sortof complicit w some private moment of rightness we were all having

― plax (ico), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link

israel seems like the only type of place where macy gray would have fans in 2011

― iatee, Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:34 (thirteen years ago) link

i'm sure she was the subject of the best observer food monthly discussion ever.

― djh, Thursday, 20 January 2011 23:28 (thirteen years ago) link

five years pass...

Ive just heard I Try in a pub and I thought it was amazing. I remember really liking her in an age when I was not around her as radio 2 fodder and I was just interested as someone who had like gangstarr remixes and erykah badu features; worthy of a reapparisal?

― plums (a hoy hoy), Friday, 3 June 2016 20:15 (seven years ago) link

And here I thought the bump was due to her feature on Ariana Grande's new album.

― MarkoP, Friday, 3 June 2016 20:19 (seven years ago) link

Ive not listened to it yet! I was turned off by that single that was like a gym spin class instructor shouting at you but i know i will still like it

― plums (a hoy hoy), Friday, 3 June 2016 20:35 (seven years ago) link

five years pass...

on how life is is a really good record

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:41 (two years ago) link

bought a best of a few months ago in a sale and quite enjoyed it.

― Stevolende, Thursday, 20 January 2022 13:46 (two years ago) link

i always thought "sweet baby" was nice fluff. weird to hear an erykah badu cameo, but sure why not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeiSE9Jn9wE

― get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Thursday, 20 January 2022 16:25 (two years ago) link

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