Going Green: A Pop Playlist for St. Patrick's Day

I always forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. It's become a tradition. Because I like being pinched about as much as Lil Kim likes Nicki Minaj, this means I have had years of practice in the art of the creative alternative. This year I'm planning ahead and incorporating the blog (synergy!) with this playlist of songs whose lyrics include the word "green." Oh yeah. Seventeen of them, in fact.

For the record, this was not an easy task. Kermit the Frog was right.

It's not easy being green.

Meg Myers - Daughter in the Choir (EP Review)

"Oh, what it takes out of me to lay by your side!" wails Meg Myers in the finale of her new EP, Daughter in the Choir. For Myers, love and pain are inextricably intertwined, and she grapples with this dichotomy throughout the six-song set. She doesn't do so as an outmatched victim - it's clear that she's more than capable of fending for herself - she just can't shake the possibility that she likes the pain. Masochistic white female singer-songwriters aren't exactly a rare commodity, but with this splendidly crafted debut Meg Myers fairly positions herself alongside some of the best of them: Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, and even this generation's patron saint of pop/rock kvetching, Alanis Morissette.

First Listen: Kimberly Cole & Eddie Amador - "U Make Me Wanna" (feat. Garza)

When a song bears a title like "U Make Me Wanna," it's impossible not to want more information. Wanna what? Shout? Break down and cry? Make love, love, love? Leave the one I'm with, start a new relationship with you? Lala? In the kitchen, on the floor?  It could be anything, and history has hardly helped clear up the question. The question has been posed, and verbosely answered, by artists from Usher to Blue, but Kimberly Cole isn't in the mood for conversation in her new single with Atlantic/Big Beat, collaborating with Eddie Amador and Garza as on last year's "Arrow Through My Heart."

First Look: Brittany McDonald - "Notice Me" (Music Video)

If you haven't heard of Brittany McDonald, there are a few things you oughta know.

First, you're not alone. Brittany McDonald isn't a brand spanking new artist per se, but she is rather new to the pop scene, having recently defected to our side from Nashville, where she spent several years as a stellar yet under-appreciated country singer. She's also unsigned, mostly a result of her determination to team up with a label and management worthy of her considerable talent and formidable industry know-how.