I’ve long been a fan of Jason Mraz. It was the feel-good upbeat of his Wordplay that caught my ears and it was the crazy wordplay of his Geek in the Pink which gave me the impetus to buy his album Mr. A-Z (which spells M-R-A-Z, in case you missed it). It was his blogging that made me decide to blog as well, and my attempts to find beauty and something good out of everyday is largely due to him (not to Hofstadter, as people might judge).
Around two years ago, he released his third studio album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things. Two years ago was the time I entered UP and his were the songs I sang as freshman life went by. I still recall singing the energy out of Make It Mine after grueling sessions from the best CS11 class ever. Details in the Fabric calmed my nerves after my skirmish that is Math17.
It was a good album all in all; I ripped 8 out of the 12 songs included into my playlist. After all, it had I’m Yours, which took Rona, and also Love for a Child which is a very nice song from the onset to the moment you finally listen to the lyrics. It also had the bestest torpe song I’ve heard so far in the form of If It Kills Me. And most of all, it had A Beautiful Mess.
A Beautiful Mess is a very nice song to sing right but very disastrous to get wrong (largely because its large fanbase will make you pay for your murder). It has a certain kind of poetry to it, one that makes you pause and feel the moment the notes and words register into your gray matter. I remember describing it to my sister as soundtrack-esque, meaning, I find it a song very fitting to play as the closing credits of a cathartic movie rolls. But I’ve said too much; I might be boring you.
I’ve been a fan of A Beautiful Mess for two years now and it is only recently that I’ve made sense of its message. I’ve always thought it was about how life isn’t perfect but because you are here it is the best of all possible worlds. I now find that interpretation a little off mark.
It is about relationships.
It is about being you and I and we all at the same time. No matter how messy things may get, it is still beautiful by the mere fact that here we are, related by things so simple you’d find it stupid they can connect people at all; things like smiles and greetings and back-slaps and high fives and kisses. We. Indeed, tides may turn and hearts disfigure but that’s of no concern when we are wounded together. Now I know why that line moves me so.
I am reminded that beauty is something you choose to see and create much like how love is something you choose to be. It seems to me that life is made up of choices, even in the most mundane of things. We are related because we chose to be in this together not because the gods wanted us to be. Things have always been up to us.
Wherever you may find yourself this coming rainy season, I hope you’d find yourself able to believe that the sun still waits behind the clouds. Or, if you aren’t really feeling very sympathetic towards the sun especially after his summer wave, why not put your umbrella down and dance in the rain? Across rocks and imaginary boundaries I’ll be dancing with you.
And do yourself a favor and be Mrazmerized by a performance of A Beautiful Mess. Here are my favorites:
- A Beautiful Mess @ Royal Albert Hall
- A Beautiful Mess @ Nobel Peace Prize Concert
- Rip-off from the Live DVD Jason Mraz’s Beautiful Mess – Live on Earth
The rip-off from Live on Earth has the best quality among the three and the one from Royal Albert Hall has the lowest (it is but a bootleg). Nonetheless, I enjoyed the one from Royal Albert Hall the most. That performance has this tendency to make me feel empty and filled at the same time. It even moved Jason Mraz to tears. The one from Nobel has him singing alongside a full orchestra, which in my opinion, magnifies the catharsis inspired by the song. Much like in relationships, beauty, and love, the choice is yours. Watch none, watch one, watch all or search YouTube for your own favorite. Again, the choice is yours.
Namaste,
Your Skymeister
P.S. I’ve rolled out some new code for the tags of this website. They should be working well but if they dontplease tell me. Thanks.