Nashville- “Baby Come Home”

julietteonstage

I realize this is almost a week late and I would apologize but I took all of last week off from blogging because I decided that I deserved it. On the bright side, I was vacationing in Nashville for the better part of last week and therefore we can count it as research. To which I will tell you that The Bluebird Café is not a lovely wooden bar with twinkly lights and celeb status, it is a hole in the wall located directly next to a McDonalds in the middle of nowhere and you are charged 3 extra fees just to sit inside it for 2 hours. *QUIETLY* So there’s some TV magic ruined for ya’ll.

Anyway, since we’re talking about things ruined, let’s talk about how baby Cadence is the human form of a C-block. When Avery and Layla finally, no surprise to anyone, smooch on their tour bus of love, Cadence lets out a howl that says, “no one will be getting any on this bus.” Then later on, after Juliette tries her typical manipulation to get Avery onstage with her, she finally fesses up and tells him she still loves him and they should try again. At the pucker of Juliette’s lips, Cadence turns on the waterworks. Congrats you two, you created a monster. Avery found a quick way around that though when he has Emily drop the little cockblock off at Juliette’s room to signify that he’ll be having a slumber party elsewhere. Ugh. Terrible decision, Avery. Calling Juliette during sex would’ve been less mean than using your own child as a flag to wave that you’re getting laid.

In related “things that were obviously going to happen” news, Scarlett and Gunnar get stuck in an elevator because the show needed a small place for them to finally harness their sexual tension and face it head on. Their foreplay is whiskey and “If I Didn’t Know Better.” They bang and that’s obvious.

And onto our melodramatic teen that wants to, in Daphne’s sad, sad words “divorce her family”, we’ve added Teddy back into the equation, which I think is pretty lolworthy because a few recaps ago I mused if he even still existed. Lo and behold, here’s Teddy still rotting in jail, except now he’s being asked to sign off on the emancipation before Maddie takes it to court. Maddie visits her fake dad in jail and is all, Deacon attacked some guy at the club feeling me up, so you can see how unfair this is, sign the papers and side with me. Except not so fast…Teddy reveals he only signed Maddie to Edgehill because of the whole blackmailed for banging a hooker thing. Remember that? The thing that got him thrown in the clink to begin with? Well, it didn’t really help the whole lying/manipulating parents sitch, whoopsie, so Teddy has been dismissed from the show, probably forever.

On Rayna’s side, she gets to that little snake Cash and threatens her with, “I will make sure no one from music row to lower broad will ever work with you again.” Cash should be shaking in her boots because Rayna basically owns Nashville and also since I’m a recent tourist of the city, I know that those are actual neighborhoods there. Ask me where they are and I will tell you I have not a clue. At one point I discovered I was in music row because a new snapchat geo-tag showed up that said “Music Row”. I know, I’m a genius.

cash sucks

Rayna catches Maddie at a vulnerable moment and thinks she gets her to call the whole deal off, then Maddie shows up last minute at the Opry to play with Daphne for a benefit. Except it turns out she didn’t LOVE what Rayna said to Cash and the emancipation is STILL ON. She only showed up to prove that Daphne and her are still sisters even though she’s bare-handed ripping this family apart. Everyone cries, including Rayna whose singing. I wouldn’t feel fab about paying for tix at the Opry and having the lead act cry onstage. PS I’ve been on that stage, NBD but KBD. Double PS, if you ever go to Nashville, skip the Opry backstage tour because it is literal dirt, and they wheel in a TV (substitute teacher style) with Deacon Clayborne on it to read the history of their soundstage. I see him every week on my TV; I don’t need to pay $35 for it. Alright, I’m done yapping about my life. See YA next week in court.

Nashville, Television

Nashville- “When There’s A Fire In Your Heart”

CONNIE BRITTON, ALICIA WITT

So it looks like our new faux country star Autumn Chase may hang around for more than one episode and whoopsie, secret’s out, she’s kind of a Twat. Within the first five minutes on tour, The Exes watch her fire a roadie in front of everyone. But in the NICEST way possible. She’s all we’re gonna go ahead and get you a flight back to Nashville…sorry! WHAT a DIVA. Then she bullies her new openers into spilling their relashe goss. They tell her everything because they’re terrified of getting fired and she obviously blabs it to anyone who will listen. Girls’ got a point though—in what world does a guy end up in a band with the girl who turned down his proposal. When Scarlett fearfully asks Fall Autumn to cut the shit, she’s like OF COURSE THANKS FOR SPEAKING UP #FEMINISM and then gets an evil look clearly growing her talons to insert into Gunnar.

Layla’s still trying to force herself on Avery but it’s looking like nice Juliette might swoop back in for the W after all. She goes to Avery for help when she realizes that asking for Glenn to be her manager again probably wasn’t going to erase all the terrible things she did to him. The ole married couple works together to get Glenn to the Grand Ole Opry where Juliette does a surprise serenade for her “father”. Nice Juliette is REALLY laying it on thick. It works, obviously and Glenn is like a sappy lil bitch agreeing to manage and dad for her again.

Maddie’s like so blasé about her first break up. It’s all good, Colt just wasn’t her guy, she wrote about it with Cash, so whatevs. It took me like six weeks to get over the crush I have on a hot bartender…but I guess that’s the power of songwriting. Except songwriting just isn’t enough for Maddie anymore. She wants to live her own Ind3p3nd3nt lifestyle so she decides to sneak out and play a show. Why? Oh, because Cash used to do it and she basically S’s her D. Daphne blackmails Maddie to get some new clothes out of keeping quiet except that she busts the secret like 20 minutes later when Deacon asks her to clean up after herself. Typs teen.

At the “coffeehouse” that Maddie’s playing at, she’s “21” for the night. Barf on barf. Let this episode serve as a PSA to all men out there. Before you take a chick home from a club…make sure she’s not 16. Speaking of, a random guy offers to buy Maddie a drink and she’s feelin herself—so much so that she decides to make F me eyes at said guy during her performance about being a bad girl. Do you think Rayna would give her a proud hug and tell her she’s growing up now? Methinks no. Mostly because a creeper grabs at her leg while she’s singing and Deacon appears to hulksmash him, announce her age and literally drag her offstage. SOCIAL SUICIDE. Seriously Maddie should just go into hiding after this one. It’s like when my dad dropped me off to visit my sister at college and told all of her friends to remember that I’m only fifteen. I don’t think they were going to forget anytime soon…I had braces. But the mere mention of it is a REAL buzzkill. Guess Maddie’s out on the club scene! Then Deacon tells Cash to stay the hell away from Maddie. Cash shouts a lot about not abandoning Maddie when she needs her. Is this relationship getting A LITTLE too intense for teen BFFS? Somethin ain’t right.

While Maddie is workin on her night moves, Rayna James is on the cover of Business Week for being a CEO of a company, and yet she admits that she doesn’t look at finances and spreadsheets for Highway 65. Killer CEO skills. She really just wants to go on tour so hard. Deacon declines a 10-day stint on the road in favor of fatherhood (whoa, one upper parenting, much?) At The Exes show Rayna wistfully looks at the full crowd and forces Autumn to bring her out onstage. In a sparkle star top, Rayna basks in the love of her fans and begs Bucky to let her hit the road again and forget about her business that’s barely surviving. You know, just for now. Wink, Wink. PS are we to assume Teddy is still rotting in jail? Just wonderin.

Ya boy Will has a record deal again but womp womppp he has to work with his ex Kevin to finish the record. Obvzzzz Kev has a new boyf and Will is all “we JUST broke up” Did they though? Because I feel like they broke up like 100 years ago. Was it even this season? Whatever, they loved each other and that’s that. (That’s definitely not that…they’ll probably get back togets.)

Uhhhh what else did I miss? Layla continues to annoy the shit out of me by manipulating every person over Jeff’s death. She lands a tour with Wheelin & Dealin because Luke is definitely the type of guy that gets reeeeall uncomfy around a crying girl and Layla knows that. She also knows that he’s covering up the truth about Jeff’s death but that’s neither here nor there. Since she’s still hard up for Avery (or Juliette revenge) she asks him out on tour with her as bandleader. OH YEAH….and RIFF IS MISSING ONE DAY BEFORE TOUR. GUITAR RIFF.

Red Carpet

ACM Awards 2016 Red Carpet

We went through a quick dry spell of awards shows and then had a double up with the ACM’s and the IHeartRadio Awards. It was a real toss up of which subpar off-season awards show to take in, so I decided to watch the ACM’s live and tape the IHeart’s. I can only hope I made the right decision. If you made the decision to do better things with your winter in April Sunday night, the only real thing that you missed was Luke Bryan acting like he’s never read a teleprompter before and royally stumbling every time he had a mic, including his own performance. Act like you’ve been here before, Luke. Here’s an abbreviated best and worst dressed to kick off the week.

WORST:

jason-aldean-290

I never think it could get worse with Jason and then he sneaks a mustard button down into the mix.

rascal-flatts-435

How much do you wanna bet that Rascal Flatts think they nailed this? They’re like yeah we’re edgy like 1D. The peace sign, the dad shades, and the electric blue shiny suit. Couldn’t get any more embarrassing.

katy-perry-290

Throw up everywhere. All of the throw up in the world.

dollykaty

TAKE MY EYES. AND MY EARS.

carrie-underwood-290

C’mon Carrie. Show em off.

scott-mccreery-290

Your regular “Scotty is weird and in a patterned jacket” feature. Extra cool thumbs up though. Nailed it.

BEST:

kacey-musgraves-290

Kacey! Look at you, girl. Such a dramats look.

dan-smyers-290

Go SU?!

brett-eldredge-290

Not only did Brett look hot AF on the red carpet but check out his casj suede performance jacket. Fire flames.

brett

jana-kramer-290

Jana had a baby like 30 seconds before she walked this red carpet no biggie.

dierks-bentley-290

Hot damn, Dierks! #Blessed you looked like such a babe to distract us from stutters McGee Luke.

miranda-lambert-290

Hey Blake&Gwen, Suck it.

kelsealegs

Since I’m not doing a full recap, quick shoutout to Kelsea Ballerini’s legs. I’m creepy and texted my sister about them and she replied “Yeah, great stems” so apparently drooling over female limbs runs in the fam.

RELATIONSHIP GOALZ:

It’s rare for both parts of a couple to look red carpet ready so they get their own section for beautiful people who also dress well.

jesse-james-290

Obv.

thomas-rhett-290

Not only do they dress like dimes, but Thomas Rhett serenading his wife with a love song was goals city, population: me.

Nashville, Television, Uncategorized

Nashville- “Unguarded Moments”

blondemaddie

I forgot for a while how much I hated Maddie. She was still acting like a whiny teenage turd but she was doing it by having rebellious sex and hitting the stage instead of throwing huffy tantrums and crying about how life was unfair. But alas, Maddie the insufferable teen is back and dominates last night’s episode. She kicks things off by sending a selfie to her boyfriend (I’m assuming) followed by, “I’m blonde now, do you like it?” This is how Maddie sexts…from her little sister’s phone. EDGY. Also, wasn’t she always blonde? I’m not really seeing the difference.

Colt probably wasn’t very jazzed about his maybe girlfriend’s hair being lightened by a shade because he’s now in therapy. Ya know, cause he witnessed a death and his dad is a real d-bag lately. Seriously what’s the deal with Luke? He kinda sucks now. And how did Colt get stuck with his shitty parenting? Where are the other woodland creatures that he calls children…I feel like they got the better end of the deal in that they dodged watching a man tumble to his messy death. Regardless, Colt “doesn’t need Kid Rock or a therapist, he needs a dad who gives a crap about telling the truth.” BOOM. (My dad really wanted me to add a boom after that line. All boom credit goes to him.) But actually, Kid Rock? Really? The guy who ripped the riff from Sweet Home Alabama for a shitty summer country song is going to chit chat with Colt about hip hop? Be better, Luke.

Luke doesn’t try that hard to be better when he cries about how everything is his fault (it kinda is) and Gabriella kisses the pain away without being fired first this time. I guess they’ve decided to be together and like still focus on work too. He confesses to Colt so there are no secrets (except for the massive one he’s keeping about Jeff not actually committing suicide.) Colt’s like no shit, I know everything.

Rayna doesn’t really know anything because she’s been in the studio with Markus for like 2 full days while Deacon plays Mr. Mom to her little freshly bleached Satan. Something tells me Deacon is not really loving the whole parenting thing because he run, run, runs as fast as he can to that shitty bar to be named after his dead sis. To be clear, the bar is still a dumb story line that deserves no words and it’s starting to look like his friend and former sponsor Frankie is getting less and less jazzed about Deacon only paying halfsies and going demolition derby on the bar five minutes after buying in.

While Deacon is avoiding his home life by ripping dry wall, Scarlett is on the road and avoiding the fact that she has the most boring relationship in the world. How much longer are we going to put up with this? She had the dramatic hair change and now she needs to shed the high school boyfriend while she’s off at college, or in this case, on tour. They finally catch each other on the phone so that Caleb can pull the “I’m treating kids with cancer” card. Hey Caleb, youse a dick. Go away foreva.

Maybe he can join Erin the roadie when he leaves and finally allows Gunnar and Scarlett to be together so we stop getting this dumb musical sexual tension. As you might have guessed, the arrangement of keeping work and play separate is going swimmingly in that the second Gunnar gets a hotel for the night, play with Erin becomes priority. Due to the fact that little miss roadie prepped for the show by blowing Gunnar, she blows a fuse mid-show and ruins everything. That is, until Gunnar & Scarlett recover smoothly with an acoustic version lit by cell phones. The most unrealistic thing about this was that they didn’t end up blind after this song. I can’t see for 5 minutes after someone takes a picture with flash, I can’t imagine a small theater full of iphone lights burning my retinas. Anyway, thankfully Gunnar grows a set and tells Erin she needs to kick rocks because she clearly sucks at her job. She says she’ll take some pointers about running a soundboard and also will keep getting porked. UGH.

Double UGH to the breakup boys, Avery and Will. Avery is now recording commercial jingles and his life is pretty pathetic. He gossips about Will on the phone with Emily and they really need to stop trying so hard to make Avery and Emily seem like gal pals. She’s the babysitter, enough is enough. It turns out Will has been channeling his inner Taylor Swift, holed up in his bedroom writing breakup songs. This seems like a weird thing to hide so ferociously in Nashville, the songwriting capital of the world. He begrudgingly lets Avery perform one at the Bluebird but big-time shits his pants and leaves before the song. He really misses out too because Avery sheds some tears remembering when Juliette wasn’t a walking bottle of Vodka and in turn, a random blonde in the audience ALSO turns on the waterworks. Who cries at a concert?

Will gets an offer for his first written song that he thought was garbage, naturally, which is the opposite of Maddie’s sitch. She thinks she’s the greatest 16-year-old singer since JoJo and overhears that Sony wants to offer her a record deal but Rayna is like not so fast. YOU ARE RUINING MY LIFE MOM GAWDDDDDD!!!!-Me, when my parents told me I couldn’t go to a sleepover or get the latest graphic tee from Abercrombie & Fitch…also Maddie when her mom won’t let her sign a record deal with Sony. Potato, Potahto.

Rayna has a heart to heart with Markus about her kids wanting to get into the biz and he’s NOT a dick for once. It’s great. Then it moves to the couch and gets more intimate and I bet my dad that he tries to hook up with her. I know studio Rayna, and I also know that this show has a real hard time letting two people have a private conversation that doesn’t end in macking. He grabs her hand and the sexual tension is through the roof. They didn’t end up making out but Markus TOTES wanted it, so in due time, I will win this bet. (The seed is planted, so to speak, when Deacon and Rayna do the deed later and Deacon rolls over post-romp to find a text from Markus thanking Rayna for the good talk. Deacon is about to become a green-eyed jelly belly. ALSO we NEVER get to see Rayna have sex anymore. So spicy!)

Maddie tries to tell Daphne that she got the record deal because she’s an adult now and just on another level. I guess I missed the part in society where becoming a sophomore in high school makes you an adult. Das cute, Mads. Daphne is like nobody wants me and runs away crying. Apparently the force of bully Maddie also extends to her father because Deacon has literally been avoiding the house because he thinks Maddie hates him. What a wiener. In the end they call a family meeting to tell the girls they can sign to Highway 65 as a team only. As expected, Maddie’s like this is lame and I hate everything and squashes all of Daphne’s childlike excitement about having a record deal before she gets her first period. In next week’s episode, Maddie turns into the Hulk and eats her entire family because they’re all trying to stop her from being a mature adult superstar.

Playlist

Best of Nashville Playlist

Nashville is back for season four tonight and rather than dwell on the terribly predictable and overplayed story lines we have ahead of us for another full season, I decided to focus on the best aspect of this show—the music. Here’s a collection of some of the top hits from Nashville seasons 1-3. Unfortunately I’m not a huge Rayna James fan, sorry let me re-phrase, I’m a huge fan of her hair and boss bitch qualities, I’m NOT a fan of her music, so you will not find much of it here.

1. Wrong Song-Connie Britton & Hayden Panettiere AKA Rayna James & Juliette Barnes. This sassy-Deacon-tell-off is the best thing Rayna and Juliette ever collab on. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Deacon bagged them both, but this song exists as a friendly reminder that these two frenemies are also Eskimo sisters.

2. If I Didn’t Know Better-Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen AKA Gunnar Scott & Scarlett O’Connor. If I recall correctly, this was the first song that Gunnar ever got Scarlett up onstage for and from the moment they gazed into each other’s eyes, we knew we were about to get a boatload of sexual tension via open mic night. Forever my favorite singing duo on this show, I could listen to these two have breathy harmonies until the end of time.

3. I Ain’t Leavin’ Without Your Love- Sam Palladio, Chaley Rose & Jonathan Jackson AKA Gunnar, Avery & Zoey. This was the short-lived group project of “ZAG” before everyone was like why is Zoey even here? She sucks. Then Scarlett was like joke’s over guys I’m done being retired from music and swiftly took ole Zoey’s spot in the band and sent her packing to Oklahoma or something. Anywho, this song was Zoey’s best contribution to the show.

4. A Life That’s Good- Lennon & Maisy AKA Maddie & Daphne Conrad. There is another version of this song that has the happy yet quite dysfunctional fam of Rayna, Deacon and the girls but I’m partial to anything with just the two girls…they deserve all the stage time they can get with their knockout voices.

5. Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet- Hayden Panettiere AKA Juliette. This is one of my favorite Nashville songs, not even because it’s supes catchy but also because it’s a big middle finger from Juliette. Jeff Fordham tries to make her publicly apologize at the Grand Ole Opry for saying God doesn’t exist and instead she slams down this song and it’s sassy and fabulous. Also she gets fired and blacklisted from all country music labels but that’s neither here nor there.

6. If I Drink This Beer- Will Chase AKA Luke Wheeler. Rayna gets involved with Wheels Up right quick after a disastrous Deacon fall-out and we all just wait for the other shoe to drop. Unfortunately they dragged it out for an entire season and she holds out until their wedding day to be like jk I’ve been in love with Deacs this whole time. Luke takes it really well—naht—he turns their wedding into a free concert and sings this sad song about getting drunk with a broken heart.

7. Borrow My Heart- Clare Bowen, Jonathan Jackson & Sam Palladio AKA Scarlett, Avery & Gunnar. This was performed as “SAG” because S booted the Z out and then once they realized they were a fire flames band, they decided to change their name to the Triple X’s. Much better. Probably not at all awkward that everyone on this show has banged each other and also sang about it.

8. Tell Me (Acoustic)- Audrey Peeples AKA Layla Grant. I’m a pretty avid Layla hater, mostly because she almost never sings then married a gay guy, then got together with the most hated character ever and thought he loved her but putting all fictional character judgments aside, she really crushes it on this one. No pageantry, just good vocals.

9. This Town- Claire Bowen & Charles Esten AKA Scarlett & Deacon Claybourne. Scarlett and Uncle Deac, always the perfect pair of introverts both hate the whole Hollywood aspect of being a musician and feel like they don’t belong so they wah-wah about it in this great piano tune.

10. Heart On Fire- Lennon & Maisy Stella AKA Maddie & Daphne. When these two cherubs are singing it makes it very easy to forget how insufferable Maddie actually is in her angsty teen years. I believe this number is from the episode when Jeff “the creep” Fordham strikes a blackmail deal with Teddy to get Maddie signed to his label so he could profit off of her melodies and box out little Daphne. This song should stand as proof that the dream team should never be separated.

11. What If I Was Willing- Chris Carmack AKA Will Lexington. This is a country HIT from ya closeted boy, Will. One of his first songs and a sure banger, things sort of went downhill for him, probably a side effect of hiding your sexuality on a reality show with your wife, but fingers crossed now that he’s out and dating a songwriter the hits will start flowing again.

12. Have A Little Faith- Maisy Stella & Will Chase AKA Daphne & Luke. This one is included because it tugged at my heartstrings. Ever the dramatic Maddie leaves a benefit the two of them are supposed to perform at to be with HER REAL DAD, DEACON. Little Daphz is like it’s cool I’ll just hang out by myself while you two kick it with your real family and Teddy does something genuinely nice and asks Luke to bring Daphne up onstage for this adorbz duet. Also she’s like 11…that voice…damn gurl.

13. Fade Into You- Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen AKA Scarlett & Gunnar. It seemed fitting to end with another golden duet hit. We’re about to be four seasons in and these two are still not quite done with fading into each other (if ya know what I mean) so this song will forever be relevant.

JUice

Weekly JUice

Week of 7/20/15

1. Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton win runner up in July’s front page celeb divorce race.

If we’re going to rate the level of shock I was feeling at this announcement it’s probably falling around a 6, whereas my Ben/Jen shock level was at an 11. Ever since these two got married there’s been rumors of a divorce so that kind of paved the way for preparations. Don’t get me wrong they’re cute as shit together and it sucks that this happened, but in the wise words of my mother when she saw them at the Grammy’s together one year “Those two are going to get divorced right? They both seem like they want the spotlight and that doesn’t work in a marriage.” (Obviously she was forgetting about One Tree Hill…Naley <3, popstar+pro athlete=always&forever) ANYWAY it just seemed like maybe it wouldn’t really work out. RIP. Here’s hoping for some kickass breakup tunes from Miranda. Too soon?

2. Twitter Beef City, Population: Everyone. So like MTV, music videos and the PRESTIGIOUS VMA’s became relevant again this week in a big way as Nicki Minaj hopped aboard the WAHmbulance and tweeted mad shade because her music video full of buhholes (for a song that was a Baby Got Back remix) did not get nominated for video of the year. Anyway her complaint was that girls with donks don’t get no VMA love and Taylor was like excuse me but there’s no need for girl on girl hate and Nicki was like pshhh you’re not getting my point that I didn’t very clearly make in 160 characters or less and then the internet was like NICKI AND TAYLOR ARE PLOTTING EACH OTHER’S MURDERS when in reality no one was really mad at each other. They both luh and respect the other and made nice on twitter and Taylor told Nicki that she could TOTES join her onstage when she wins (cause she will.) Oh and also Katy Perry was like FOMO guys I need to also be included in this so she tweeted something incoherent with a lot of big words. Bai Katy. Go back to being a cheeto forever.

Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars (also best video of the year nominees) had a fake twitter feud to be like HAHA girls are stupid, let’s make fun of their petty internet fights. If you’re asking me for my opinion (which I assume you ALWAYS are) Ed deserves the W for video of the year. He learned how to ballroom dance like a BO$$ for this music video and it’s CRAZY good.

Although I feel like I recapped that fight flawlessly for those who missed it…you may reference the actual tweets below (well…the ones that haven’t been deleted, I’m looking at you Tay PR) for the full picture.

If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this. @taylorswift13

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) July 22, 2015

I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke. I'm sorry, Nicki. @NICKIMINAJ

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2015

That means so much Taylor, thank you. @taylorswift13 ❤️❤️❤️

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015

Yo I want in on this twitter Beef!! VMAs is the new WWF!! @edsheeran Fuck You!

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) July 22, 2015

That Cut deep..U always know how to sheer me to the core. I can't believe we're Sheeran this in public. How dare u! https://t.co/fdYOVnlScF

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) July 22, 2015

OH part 2 of twitter feuds this week was in the rap world, Meek Mill (I think Nicki Minaj’s other half?…apparently date night for them is calling people out on Twitter) got all up in Drake’s biz and ranted about how he hates him or something and that he uses a ghostwriter, which I’m not positive but I think using a ghostwriter in rap speak is like the biggest diss in America or so it seems. Also Meek’s pretty pezzed that Drake was featured on his album and didn’t also promote it on social media. Drake responded the best way possible…with radio silence. Drake OBVIOUSLY wins. Also if he does use a ghost writer I don’t want to know. I’d like to blissfully live in a world where a man who wears colorful knit sweaters also wrote this: “I got money to blow, letting these bills fall all over your skin.”

3. Miley to host the VMA’s.

No seriously, I wasn’t kidding when I said the VMA’s suddenly became relevant again this week. Miley announced she was hosting in a very typical ughhhh Miley way and I’m not even a little bit kidding when I say that I might not be able to stomach an entire awards show with this tongue-out trashmonster at the helm. Not even for the blog’s sake. Never forget: the epic N*SYNC comeback being OVERSHADOWED by Miley and Robin Thicke porking onstage to Blurred Lines. So instead of encouraging this…I will bring us back to what was once good about the VMA’s and this is how I will get through my afternoon in the cube.

4. Brett gives us a tasty lick and other new tunes. Preview of new music from Brett Eldredge who I would looooove to have “just a taste” of. Too much? Too little? Just enough? Listen here. MKTO also snuck out a new banger pre-release style and it’s good shit.

5. If Kelly Clarkson sings Bye, Bye, Bye without choregraphy, did it even happen? JK I’ll cut her a break because she did a slower version but actually…how does one sing the words bye, bye, bye and not at least do the hand part? It’s physically impossible. Not to brag but I did this number for karaoke in my last week of college and yelled crushed it at the end as I threw the mic back to the DJ. Why did I crush it? Because I did the choregraphy. Duh.

BONUS: The Broadway version of Full House is a thing that’s happening and I’m getting all the uncomfies just from the cast pic:

Makes perfect sense that Michelle is the same age as her Uncle Jesse and also what’s so funny Deej?

And because I could never end on that note and leave you with Full House porn nightmares…please enjoy this super cute fat face baby pic from hunk Scott Eastwood.

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A post shared by Scott Eastwood (@scotteastwood)

Music, Playlist

Summer Palooza 2K15

Although technically summer started a few weeks ago, I present to you, this year’s Summer PALOOZA! Every year since roughly 2007, my sister and I would fire up the Limewire on our shared desktop computer and download our favorite current pop songs for a banging summer windows down jam mix. The summer palooza tradish hit a little snafu in 2013 when we had some difficulty agreeing on songs, had to make a 2.0 halfway through the summer and then 2014 we didn’t make one at all. We’ll refer to that as the year that summer never came. Anyway, IT’S BACK BITCHES and as the sis and I gathered round our laptops on 4^th of July weekend, bickered over songs and hand-picked this mix like a couple of losers who were totally not about to watch the movie The Duff, I decided that this should be shared with the world. Happy Summer!

Worth It- Fifth Harmony Ft. Kid Ink. A sucker for a good trumpet interlude, this was a given and a phenomenal way to set the tone of the summer.
Gold In The Summertime- Matt Nathanson. We love our boy Matty, a love that has stemmed from my oldest sister being his numba 1 fan and resulted in all of us meeting him last summer for a quick Giantomasi family photo shoot. Plus it’s rare these days to find an actual summer themed song so this new release from him was necessary to include.
Kick the Dust Up- Luke Bryan. Luke, my favorite backwards hat-tight v-neck wearin country piece of man meat is back to gyrate those hips like there’s no tomorrow with this one. FINALLY. I’ve waited far too long for another upbeat smash from Lukey and this one delivers. My friend Lindsey pointed out to me that she cringes every time he sings “let’s tear it up up” and I couldn’t agree more. I love the song but it kills me that he couldn’t have a quick round robin with the writers to find another word that rhymes with up. Then I see him turn that hat backwards and all is forgiven.
Bad Girls- MKTO. MKTO is fire flames hot. They only put out hits and this is obviously no different. These two goons have a little bad girl fetish and I respect that about them. The first step is admitting you have problem. Also bonus points for the “MKT-007” line in the rap break. So smooth.
House Party- Sam Hunt. Full disclosure this was a song that my sister and I had quite a tiff about. She was adamant about including it and I was adamant about enforcing the “new songs only” rule. I did a little research (right clicked the song in iTunes) and saw that this song was downloaded in November AKA it belongs on Thanksgiving Palooza, not summer palooza. Unfortunately, she won this round because it’s kind of a song that never gets old and Sam is a smoke so we’ll let it slide.
Nobody Love- Tori Kelly. Tori is the TRUTH. When she casually opens wide and wails a high note for like 30 seconds in the middle of the song? Holy crap. Chillz. Plus this song is so sassy it makes me want to snap and also simultaneously break-dance in the streets. I won’t…but I want to.
Lose My Mind- Brett Eldredge. Ah, Brett…YOU make me lose my mind every time I look into those baby blues. Seriously, can the walls close in when I’m stuck in a padded room with you? What were we talking about? Oh yeah, this song is good because it’s Brett and everything he does is bomb.com.
Honey, I’m Good- Andy Grammer. One time I met Andy Grammer’s talent manager when I was in Italy, hammered. Apparently he found him singing on the streets and was like YA GONNA BE A STAR. Anyway, now Andy IS a star because he puts out catchy AF tunes like this one. I keep getting ready for this song to annoy me and we’re just not there yet.
Worse Things Than Love- Timeflies Ft. Natalie La Rose. Cal from Timeflies is best known for his mashups and ability to freestyle rap like nobody’s biz, also he’s like, really pretty. Rez is his beat master and partner in crime. This is a brand new original song from them that I can’t get enough of. Check out Timeflies Tuesday on YouTube if you dig this song.
Broke- Jason Derulo Ft. Stevie Wonder & Keith Urban. No words needed for how much I slobber over every song from Jason “I only make bangerz” Derulo. This is off of his new album that is obviously phenomenal. J’s over the gold diggers and spits the truth about mo money mo problems; he also casually throws it over to Stevie Wonder for a quick sax solo (sold.)
Crash and Burn- Thomas Rhett. This little nugget has been a dark horse in the country game lately…I feel like he’s been cranking out hits the past couple of years and I love it a whole lot. Don’t know one single word to this song but that’s why we put it on the palooza, so that by August, when I’ve listened to it no less than 200 times, I have also taught myself all the words to perform solos at the stoplight.
Good Thing- Sage the Gemini Ft. Nick Jonas. Absolutely no clue who Sage is, which is pretty embarrassing for him because he starts out the song with “they already know me, S-A-G-E.” First step is confidence, I guess, but Sage, nobody knows you. EVERYBODY knows Nick Jonas though and he steals the spotlight on this one. Sing that hook, baby face. Then flash me the abs.
Brother- Needtobreathe Ft. Gavin DeGraw. Here’s a quick gospel insert for the summer. It’s our boy Gav, a tasty piano lick, and a nice uplifting group sing-along. Raise your arms up and sway with those windows down (only if you’re the passenger.)
Wrapped Up- Olly Murs Ft. Travie McCoy. Membs Travie McCoy from Gym Class Heroes? This Bruno Mars sounding beat brings back Travie along with Olly my British crush foreva. It’s fun and infectious in case you were having too many feels from the last song.
Parking Brake- Dan + Shay. We can always count on some country singers to put out a summer themed song (the very reason I can’t listen to country music during the miserable northeast winter.) These two cuties croon about macking it up in the car, summer style. Cutoffs, sweet tea, red lips, trucks and the river…they cover all the essential southern bases.
I Don’t Mind- Usher ft. Juicy J. Again, we have a winter release song, but guess what? Usher sexily serenading about letting his girl be a stripper because it means she’s bringing in her own income while Juicy J shouts stuff in the background will NEVER get old. SHE HERE, SHE HERE! Now go make that money, money, money grl and make your man proud.
Anything Goes- Florida Georgia Line. FGL basically only make summer songs because there can only be one season when you wear open vests 24/7. Duhs. This is their latest and it’s a typical FGL barn yard hootenanny of red solo cups full of liquor and dancing by the river…Fri-YAY.
Bad Blood- Taylor Swift. This was a bit of a tussle because I’m a very diehard Swiftie and the sis is a very country T.Swift ONLY fan, so when I politely asked if I could include a jam from 1989 since I was very gracious with any song that she wanted, she had to approve the one I chose. It’s safe to say she hated every single song I played for her. We agreed to settle on this one, no remix style (I’m not buying the same song again…) FTR, Blank Space over everything….I got a hard pass from my co-mix producer though. BANDAIDS DON’T FIX BULLET HOLES, SNIFFLES.
White Houses- Vanessa Carlton. When we made the first palooooza, this song was current and we loved it so hard that it earned the closing spot on every year’s mix, no matter how old it gets. I think we can always relate to mah gurl Ness losing her V in the backseat of a car at summer camp. Plus…”The summer’s all in bloom, the summer’s ending soon.” Such a poignant way to close. (That may or may not have been an AIM profile staple every.single.summer.)

Music, Television

CMT Music Awards Recap

Well guys, it’s here. Country season has arrived. It’s finally an OK time to listen to songs about sunshine and trucks and partying outside and feel good about it instead of trudging through snow and hating every single person in the south. Country season is short-lived in the Northeast but it’s pretty glorious. And there’s no better way to kick it off than with me sitting in my bed for 3 hours with my laptop on my chest watching a ratchet livestream of a bunch of cool as shit country performances happening in Nashville, where I am not. But whatevs, TAN LINES. JOHN DEERE. MURICA. LET’S DO THIS.

(It’s rare that you hear me say this, but for the record this was an overall entertaining show. Props to CMT.)

Highs

-Lady A kicks off the night with “Long Stretch of Love”, including a mid-song interlude into the land of EDM as Zedd drops some knowledge from his beat laboratory. It was entertaining at best to see the country stars at a loss for what to do with their hands for this breakdown while all the fans moshed. ALSO Hillary looked like a smokeshow slutty Sandra Dee with leather leggings, jacket and hot pink pumps. Sexy, Can I? Real talk though HOW do country singers stomp (literally stomp their feet) all over a stage in stilettos. Get back to me on that.

-I love a good blurring of fiction and real world, which always comes with an appearance of cast members from Nashville. Deacon and Will Lexington introduce Reba and hawk Season 4…where Will teases “Some of us are coming back…good luck pal.” YEAH RIGHT, GUYS A REALLY SMART BLOGGER ALREADY PREDICTED DEACON’S COMING BACK NEXT SEASON, SO HA.

-I can ALWAYS get down with the camera panning to someone who flubs the lyrics. Last night’s most memorable was Jason Aldean’s girlfriend/mistress/wife(?) getting an audience shot during his performance and singing the wrong words. I relish in these moments. It’s the little things.

-The jockey that rode American Pharoah into history at the Belmont last weekend gets an appearance just cause and introduces Ron White. The three words he’s allowed to say into the mic are pretty incoherent but this was already hilarious because they put a baby jockey next to Erin Andrews and the height difference was glorious. Love wittle cute jockeys.

-The boyz of FGL have been somewhat listening to me. Blazers, man. So classy. I like what I’m seeing (until the whoutfit performance…see below. HAD to ruin it.)

-Kristen Bell gets a few cameos, bits about advice from last year’s host and such and these are funnier than anything she ever did as a host, and I’ve come to the conclusion that hosting forces jokes and over the top bits that make people unfunny. Epiphany. Watch here

-LUKE.BRYAN.IS.BACK. Look, I understand that as an artist, Luke wanted to show his range and put out a few snoozers that were really deep and not just about girls shaking their asses and I was patient. I waited for Luke to release a new banger that would guarantee a gyrating performance. And it paid OFF. He performed new song Kick the Dust Up which allowed for full hip movement. We’re going to momentarily forget that he was wearing a stupid shirt with red leather shoulder pads because there was shaking, there was a baseball cap and every time there’s a baseball cap it gets flipped backward halfway through the performance when cocky Luke comes out to play. I guess you could say my friend Lindsey and I enjoyed it…

-Lady A wins for their Bartender music video which included Kate Upton and Charles immediately announces, “You have to put Kate Upton in a video to win!” in very typical guy fashion. #Tits #Merica Hillary tries to prevent a PR snafu and is like um no that’s not true…but realistically it probably is and this awkward moment was pretty gr8.

-Jake Owen debuts new song “Real Life” and his super hot short hair for the first time in a while and I’m loving it. Anyone who rides up to the stage on a bed gets my support. Drool. The chicks doing high kicks on inflatable pizza slices, however, can see themselves out. That is NOT real life.

-In other awksies moments, Nikki Reed presents award for Male Video and reads a very scripted joke off of the teleprompter “It’s time to finally honor a forgotten minority…men.” Aaaaandd CRICKETS. The joke bombed so hard she was forced to nervously laugh at it herself. Someone got fired.

-The bit that seemed to work the best was a pre-recorded knock off of Uber with “Guuber” where celebrities drive other celebrities around Nashville. The idea’s pretty stupid but it played off of star power with Steven Tyler as a driver and of course, the punk who needs to be included in everything, Biebz. He and James Corden express their love for Luke Bryan and his sapphire eyes, which I can always get on board with plus a sing along to Country Girl Shake It For Me. Luke lapped that shit right up when he accepted the award for male video and declared welllll Bieber loves me soooo…

-Sam Hunt performs banger “House Party” (unfortunately still in that white tunic shirt) and realizes that his star power is his ability to make girls swoon and take selfies with them. Get it, Sam.

-Queen Carrie brings it with the outfit changes for “Little Toy Guns” performance. Flawwwwlezzzz.

Lows

-The hosts Erin Andrews and Brittany Snow are mostly lame, as most hosts are and pretty awkward together. The bits that fell flat were Erin’s lesbian crush on Carrie Underwood and a small Pitch Perfect Nashville Bella’s performance in the beginning.

-It’s gotten to the point where I think every time Reba hits the stage she’s performing a medley of old songs like “Fancy”…turns out she’s actually making and performing new music and it all just sounds the same to me. Snoozes for Reba always. Sorry bout it.

-Apparently Whoutfits are the new cool thing of country music? What. This is not flattering at all. Knock it off.

-Oh hey Billy Rae Cyrus, it’s so nice of you to drop in after getting a blowout to promote your new show and make me want to puke everywhere.

-There’s a bit with Joe Dirt in it…is it 1997?

-Joe Dirt very truthfully pointed out while introducing Keith Urban that he’s so close to a mullet why doesn’t he just do it? And I actually agree with this very trashy fictional character. Seriously Keith, your hair gets woofier every time I see it. Enough with the soccer mom cut. Grow it long for a dirty man bun or keep it boy length but either way this in between, almost mullet, almost “I drive a Dodge Caravan” style is reaaalllyyyy gonna need to go. (PS he performed a new song “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16″….COULD THAT TITLE BE LONGER?)

-Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Arnold were on the show WAY too much. I don’t get the Arnold thing. His accent sucks and it isn’t funny. Plus did we all just forget that he banged his nanny and had a secret kid with her just because he’s the Terminator? Anyway, him in a cowboy hat spitting out incoherent sounds was downright painful.

-Mike Fisher (Carrie’s other half) is the Taylor Swift of crowd shots and he doesn’t even know it. For whatever reason, every country awards show, the camera is fixated on Mike in the audience half of the time and yet he doesn’t have reactions. Why are we watching him? Because he’s pretty…but also out of a group of drunk country boys I think we should be able to find someone more fascinating to take Tay’s place. Let’s work on that. Petition for Brett Eldredge to be his replacement?

Full Winners List

Collaborative Video of the Year: Miranda Lambert & Carrie Underwood “Somethin Bad”

Breakthrough Video of the Year: Sam Hunt “Leave the Night On”

Duo Video of the Year: Florida Georgia Line “Dirt”

Female Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood “Something in the Water”

CMT Performance of the Year: Bob Seger & Jason Aldean “Turn the Page”

Group Video of the Year: Lady Antebellum “Bartender”

Male Video of the Year: Luke Bryan “Play it Again”

Best Video of the Year: Carrie Underwood “Something in the Water”

Red Carpet

CMT Music Awards Red Carpet

We’re back in the swing of a country music awards show for every network, unfortunately this network is no longer a part of my cable package (elitist Comcast) so I really committed hard to delivering some bloggage. You better ‘preciate it. Probably the most difficult part of my night wasn’t watching an awards show on my laptop like a poor person, but it was trying to find enough people for my best dressed list. YIKES what slim pickins. Anywho…

Worst Dressed

WHAT THE HELL, SAM?! DON’T STRAY FROM THE HOT COUNTRY BOY UNIFORM. JEANS, VNECK, SMILE. DAS IT.

JT Hodges wore more sparkles than his wife. That’s supes embarrassing.

Jason Aldean will forever be stuck in the 90’s. Sweet corduroy jacket and flares.

Listen I want to throw the boys a bone here but they did a lot of this shit…looking good on top and then throwing on a pair of boots that ruined everything.

Going for a quick hike after this, Chase? Cmon guys, it’s not that hard to make my best dressed. Figure it out.

Not even joking here, is she alive?

This is literally the pattern of one of those rubber sun catchers you could color in from Joann Fabrics. #craftdress

How the hell did Brooke Hogan get an invite to these awards? Think they were scrounging or something…Anyway she wore her best Deb prom dress, with a side of nip slip. Keep it classy, grrrrrl.

I’m guessing Aubrey Peeples/Jeff Fordham’s worse half rode to the red carpet on her broomstick.

The shiny pattern mixed with gold prom heels wasn’t Kelli’s best.

Cute jumpsuit Jamie-Lynn but you’re on a red carpet, not bowling with your pals on Zoey 101.

Ugh. This dress isn’t doing things for Hil. She redeems herself with a white hot performance outfit.

Meh.

Best Dressed:

Take notes, boys.

Dierks gets it. Guys can literally wear an undershirt and some tight jeans and still crush a red carpet.

I ripped this off Brett’s snapchat like the creep that I am but there weren’t any pics online and I just know he looks like a dime.

Jana could do less with this look but the color looks good on her and obviously respect tha hell out of that bod.

LBD never fails, JJD keeping it simple and still looking like a smoke.

Svelte look for KPerry

Just enough skin to keep it elegant.

There’s a reason she’s married to Magic Mike.

Both hosts delivering on the red carpet with classic black and white.

Dig the different dress style, could’ve really used a sassy pony with it to seal the deal.

Fun sparkle mini on Danielle Bradbury

Girl is pulling off the jumpsuit and it’s unlike anything else on this red carpet.

Best Look of the Night…

I mean obviously. When did she have a baby? This morning? Those legs though.

Music

The 50th ACM’s Recap

Ya’ll, first and foremost I’d like to thank Jesus Christ my Lord & Savior for the opportunity to watch every country artist thank Jesus Christ their Lord & Savior last night. Second I’d like to ask what cameras to look at when I thank them. No but actually, obviously a round stage means there are several spots to stand in and I don’t doubt there were no less than 10 cameras surrounding it, but REALLY? you couldn’t give ANYONE a quick memo or flag which camera to look at? If I drank every time a winner announced that they didn’t know where to look followed by a shout out to their boy JC I would’ve been blackout REAL quick. Without further ado, here are the things that were fabulous about last night’s show and the things that were less than fabulous.

Yay:

-Kicking off the night with a pan to a random person singing the wrong words to the opening song by Keith and Eric promptly followed by a T. Swift crowd shot. The two things I enjoy most about award shows within seconds of each other, people getting caught not knowing the lyrics and Swiftie’s awkward dance moves. (PS: IS SHE THE TALLEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD?)

-FGL performs without a whisper of a disgusting vest or overdone tassel. They’ve grown up before my very eyes and I’m just so darn proud of them for wearing normal people clothes. They best keep it up.

-Miranda Lambert showing women of the world that not all pantssuits have to be for an interview at the White House. Never ever thought i would use sexy and pants suit in the same sentence but here we are. Also performance corset. Damn, girl.

-Sam Hunt performs “Take Your Time” in red hot pants, yes please. (By perform, I obviously mean just the chorus because he’s a n00b and apparently hasn’t earned performing time yet. For shame.)

-Tony Jokes on Jokes Romo throwing a pass to Luke Bryan and then tells a quick LOL about deflategate by saying “We’re the Dallas Cowboys, we have real balls.”

-The most real mushroom cut I’ve ever seen on this guy from Alabama.

-Kelly Clarkson introduces Mommy in Law Reba and goes, “…basically what I’m saying is I have the coolest mother in law and you also can suck it.” A girl after my own heart.

-T.Swizzle gets a full on montage about how perfect she is then her mom presents the 50th Anniversary Milestone award. Andrea gives us a quick peek at Tay’s pre-star years when apparently she was a real loser in school whose only friend was her mom (poor T) and she also wrote Love Story because her parents wouldn’t let her date a guy who clearly was a turd. Then Mama Swift gets choked up so obviously I get choked up and Tay accepts and thanks the country community for being graceful and the bomb.com with her transition to pop.

-Blake Shelton sings a song about sangria mouth and all I can think about is this and have a giggle fit.

-Dan & Shay team up with Nick Jonas and sing Jealous AND Chains. Nick Jonas struts that shit and owns the damn performance, my panties melt away and I barely even notice the two country goobers with stupid identical hairstyles onstage with him in his shadow.

-Lady A performs a new banger song and wins for one of the VERY few upbeat performances of the night.

Nay:

-Lee Brice gives a quick shoutout to Randy Travis in the audience and I’m very concerned that it’s a little too soon for him to be making public appearances after his stroke/millions of health troubles because he LEGIT doesn’t move a muscle and I had to question if he was still alive.

-Most performances were medleys of the singers greatest hits and I was all in on that. Nothin but the hits, nothin but the hits, nothin but the motherf’ing hits.

-Martina McBride sings a song from 11 years ago. Way to keep it current, guys. She looks like a dime piece though.

-Luke performs “I See You” and wears a golf polo and I’d like to submit a formal petition that Luke only wears v necks with a backwards hat and shake it at least 10 times per performance. Don’t stray from what works, Luke. I don’t handle change well.

VS. (jus sayin)

-Rascal Flatts and Xtina perform together and I have not the slightest clue what song they’re singing because it’s just a bunch of sounds and vocal runs aka it’s so Xtina it hurts. I don’t remember hearing one coherent lyric in this performance. But she wore a jean jacket. Cause that’s SO country.

-Because this show is in TEXAS. Did you hear it’s in TEXAS? Well they use the Dallas cheerleaders as stage ho’s. No seriously, all they do is stand onstage when someone wins an award. Good work.

-Kenny recalls his first ACM’s when he actually had a record deal and they still sat him in the nosebleeds. Could it possibly be because he refuses to wear anything other than a cut off tee? Clean it up, Kenny.

-The amount of times that a country star introducing another star not so discreetly points out that they’re buddies or friends is exhausting. Hey, you’re all country stars who love to drink and sing about the same things. I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re all friends. No need to give AIM profile shoutouts at every introduction.

-Dr. Phil was given a mic and I wish that he wasn’t cause he shouts into it because his natural vocal decibel is always set to megaphone.

-Brooks & Dunn are performing togets for the first time in 100 years or something…Brooks (or Dunn?) is scarin me with his face though.

-My dreamboat of all dreamboats, Luke Bryan wins Entertainer of the Year again (rightfully so) and the minute he starts his acceptance speech, someone who I’m sure was immediately fired starts playing him out with Miranda’s song “Over You.” Yiiiiikes bet that made his moment real special.

Bottom Line-Real MVP’s of the night were the man candy underdogs of country (&Nick Jonas):

GIVE IT TO ME.

Full Winners List:

Song of the Year: “Automatic”- Miranda Lambert

Vocal Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line

50^th Anniversary Milestone: Miranda Lambert, Most Awarded Female in Country

Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town

50^th Anniversary Milestone Award: Reba

50^th Anniversary Milestone: Taylor Swift

Album of the Year: Platinum-Miranda Lambert

50^th Anniversary Milestone: Garth Brooks

New Artist of the Year: Cole Swindell

Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert

50^th Anniversary Milestone: Kenny Chesney

Single Record of the Year: “I Don’t Dance”-Lee Brice

Male Vocalist: Jason Aldean

50^th Anniversary Milestone: Brooks & Dunn

Entertainer of the Year: Luke Bryan, duhz

The Salty Ju

#NoFilter

Tag Archives: Country