“Crash into Weird” by Tay Zonday

This song/video opens with many surprising images that I won’t give away.  This was VERY expressive, as in art.  Expression can be art and there is no need to fear art.  This style seemed to be a departure from what he’d previously done.  I had to remember not to typecast this artist.

This song seemed to be a battlecry, a protest against conformity.  “Why can’t I be allowed to be me”? is the question.  I say who I am.  This is a must see viewing and listening experience.  Even if you didn’t see the video, the music alone would transport you to a techno dance floor.  The more I listen, the more I like.  Tay’s music seems to tap into something we are conditioned not to reveal.

 

LYRICS:

“Crash Into Weird” Original Song by Tay Zonday

Sock 1: “Hey Tay! You’re weird!”

Sock 2: “Way too weird for mainstream success!”

Sock 1: Can’t you just be normal?

Tay: “I don’t know. I don’t try to be weird.
It just kind of happens.”

Hey you!
You on drugs?
How you gonna get a job?
Don’t be comin up in
Here with that attitude

Lookin’ funny
Talkin’ funny
Don’t you wanna be somebody?
Better get your look
In line with society!

Better bet
You’re a threat
People watch your every step
They get. nervous when you
don’t expect it

What you gonna do?
Cause you’re only ‘being you
They’re just scared of themselves
Cause they know they’re like you

[Chorus]
Crash into weird
Make ‘em think you’re crazy
Smash into weird
Make ‘em think you’re faking it
Crash into weird
Make ‘em think you lost your mind
Smash into weird
Make a circus act cry

[Noises]

I don’t need any drugs
This is me when I’m sober
You can’t get weirder
So pretenders move over

Is he straight? Is he gay?
Is he black? Is he white?
I’m walking every line
Like batman at night

“Sir, what’s your occupation!”
Well I’m kindof a singer
I kinda get a groove
‘N people shake it ’til they tingle

I’m a deadbeat student
Derilect irresponsible
Dying of ADD
Cause the beat is unstoppable

Too weird for a grammy
Picked by industry farts
At the mental ward you know
I’ll be topping the charts

Follow me to insanity
Uncut humanity
We’re really just normal
But the world is all craziness

[Chorus X 3]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPu4uErBFks

“Explode” by Tay Zonday

Tay wrote this song just a few hours before posting it. It has a great beat similar to some of his other songs. This is a testament to being a new performer on stage before live audiences.

 

Some lyrics:

The lights are on, The stage is set

You’re asking God if you were made for this

People stare with lonely eyes

Deliver us so we can forget our lives

You don’t know how to work the crowd

It looks so easy on the tv show

When you fail,

the sound ignites

You know the music’s gonna

save your life

Chorus:

Hey kid you’re gonna get old

You’re not gonna be a centerfold

You better blow up, you better get rich

Better be makin’ that beat explode
Hey kid, the college degree
It ain’t gonna beat back poverty
Tough kid, it’s a rough world
Better be makin’ that beat explode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca9GJ6mMxLw&feature=user

 

“Remembering You” by Tay Zonday

 

 

The chorus to this song, “remembering you makes me cry …I don’t know how I’ll survive“, hits you very deeply and is sung in a haunting way. The video opens with Tay dressed in a black jacket, hat and black t-shirt while standing in a cemetery. The bright day and green well tended grounds adds to a sense of remembrance. Even though the topic and location is sad the beat is not. There’s an incongruity to that. I felt an emotional tug of war.

Some lyrics:

Memories beating me down

Memories shaking my body running me out of town

All those times you were a phone call away

Hearing your voice on those difficult days

It ain’t fair can’t continue

People are happy and I just think of you

Tell me what to do now

Hold me like I’m two now

Chorus(2X):

Remembering you makes me cry

Don’t know how I’ll survive

 

Based on feedback, It was suggested by Tay that this song was more popular among his over forty fans. Tay works hard to execute his videos.  he filmed this in 37 degrees did four takes, got into his car to warm up, and then did two more takes.  Just amazing dedication.

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDR0HwdfI94&feature=user

“Chocolate Rain: Benefit Power” remix album

After “Chocolate Rain” was released, Acid Planet had a remix competition. For the one year anniversary of “Chocolate Rain”, Tay Zonday teamed up with Aimestreet to release a remix album. This album was a nice surprise with sixteen different remix versions of the song “Chocolate Rain”. There are dance, techno, jazz, R&B, and hip hop remixes to name a few styles. No two versions sound the same. I think this album will appeal to a diverse group of music lovers. Especially “Chocolate Rain” fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1M3ykxFQuk

“I Know Your Secret” by Tay Zonday

Tay is back with another original song and also his trademark white tee shirt. I love the beat to this. It’s very danceable. You just want to “bop” to it. Even though I haven’t memorized the words, I find myself humming it. It is very eighties-like.

 

Lyrics:

Hey now, you don’t think you can just leave like that

(laughter) You lost your mind

You said you were longing for me

But then you just started to ignore me

I thought you might be stressed

You were making me all depressed

I didn’t know what to say

I wanted to pretend that things were the way

they were when I first laid eyes on you

Thought maybe I should go to the doctor

Thought maybe it was just me

Melancholy needing therapy

My friends would ask about us

I’d lie and they could tell I was lying

Then yesterday you told me you were gone

 

 

 

You thought you were big, you thought you were hot

Running around naked with the rest of the town

It must have been good, it must have been fine

Livin’ it up on my sweet de-nial

Tossed me aside like yesterday’s kill

Like a load full of burden a load full of bills

You thought we were done, you thought that was it

But you’d better pay up ‘cause I know your secret

You’ll do what I say ‘cause I know your secret

 

[I’ll tell your secret to everybody

I’ll tell your boss

I’ll tell your mama

I’ll tell all of your friends on the internet]

 

I thought the universe was backward

Couldn’t figure out why the pieces of my life did not fit together

I hoped that it would boil over

If I just waited out like a trooper

Hurrying in there praying for better days

It walked like a duck and quacked like a duck, but

I saw an angel in you

Ignored all the signs never imagined you weren’t true to me

But how times change

You gonna see a side of me that you’ve never seen

“Cause I know, I know all about you

 

 

 

(2X)

You thought you were big, you thought you were hot

Running around naked with the rest of the town

It must have been good, it must have been fine

Livin’ it up on my sweet de-nial

Tossed me aside like yesterday’s kill

Like a load full of burden a load full of bills

You thought we were done, you thought that was it

But you’d better pay up ‘cause I know your secret

You’ll do what I say ‘cause I know your secret

 

You’ll do what I say ‘cause I know your secret(3X)

 

 *This video has been privatized.  A Youtube search may come up with a copy.

 

 

 

 

 

“Start Me Up” an approved cover of the rolling Stones by Tay Zonday

 ”Start Me Up” is Tay Zonday’s contribution to YouTube Music’s new “Living Legends” feature which will first celebrate the “Rolling Stones.”  I have watched other covers of this song and just about everyone who does it tries to emulate Mick Jagger.  Tay did not try to be Mick, but instead did it in his own style. In the video, Tay starts out with a very deep ”Yeeaaa” and jumps up with some interesting head gear on.  He then uses a key as a prop as though starting up a car.  He performs in front of a “green screen” with graphics in the background.These combinations make for a captivating visual which adds flow and movement.  My biggest surprise was that I never knew what the lyrics were until Tay sang them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4H5FhZ9ZCs

“Dreaming of Uhura” Life Lesson spoken by Tay Zonday

Tay has a great speaking voice. He could do the lecture circuit. He chose Nichell Nichols as his topic. Wonderful for us Star Trek fans. I could not believe it when I realized that I have her memoir,”Beyond Uhura”(1994). Pags. 211-213 speaks on the movie in question, “Truck Turner”.  A special premiere of that movie helped purchase a much needed $10,000.00 fetal monitor for a black hospital back in the day. If this book is still available, it should be a must read.  Many surprises. Tay said that this was an allegory to his own journey as an artist, but no one got that and it had to be explained.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGk1kNJYcy4&feature=PlayList&p=8122B419530B1AA7&index=4

“A Real Slow Drag” interpretation by Tay Zonday

Wow. Once again Tay Zonday has given us something special. This was Tay’s interpretation of one of his favorite Scott Joplin pieces. He worked on it for a few hours until he was satisfied with it. He also played from memory. “It is the finale of his Opera “Treemonisha” in which the cast dances an allegory for Afro-American salvation in the hard times of aborted southern Reconstruction.” Tay said. Those of us who have no background in music recognize this type of music from the old movies, usually silent. It’s called Ragtime. I could picture myself with no tv or radio and just enjoying a live performance on a piano. This was needed. It reinforced to me the importance of music education and how it relates to our history and culture. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to immediately look up Scott Joplin. Another fine performance by Tay Zonday.
According to wikipedia, “in 1972, Joplin’s opera “Treemonisha” was finally staged at Morehouse College in Atlanta.”

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZr36KU9rw

“Chasing Eden” by Tay Zonday

This video was a great surprise.  It was posted on Super bowl Sunday.  I must say this video was strange to me. It made me feel unsettled. The background graphic is Hieronymus Bosch’s “Triptych of Garden of Earthly Delights”. It is great to look at, but combine that and Tay’s black suit, I felt like I was in a church listening to a sermon. If that was his goal, mission accomplished. Tay took inspiration from a Bay area poet named Jason Bayani.

This song has been misconstrued as a religious allegory when in fact it is historical in nature.  Those being the intertwining of the modern world to the ancient with the setting being the middle east.  An analysis of the lyrics sheds light that this is an allegory of the present war in Iraq.  This song generated such heated religious discussion that Tay had to go back and clarify the meaning.  After studying the lyrics, I “got it”.  I guess that unsettled feeling is when a truth hits home.  Something to ponder.

 

Excerpts from lyrics:

“They say Eden was a great place
But that serpent had a sweet face
When people gained the knowledge
Eden died

But they saw Eden rising
In that fertile crescent lining
And off we marched to
make the story right”

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deXAEN70CDY

“You Tube Holiday Card” by Tay Zonday

A very thoughtful thirty second holiday greeting for his fans. Thank you Tay.

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNTF2AGrHHQ

“Cherry Chocolate Rain” by Tay Zonday and Dr. Pepper

Dr. Pepper made “Cherry Chocolate Rain” which is a slick rap video with beautiful girls draped all around Tay. They play up his youthfulness and even spray him with chocolate. The setting is in a mansion. I enjoyed watching this.  It was a fun song. It’s a very tame rap video. I read that this was an all day shoot. 5:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.

Excerpt from lyrics:

“It was Chocolate Rain
Wrote a song about that history
Chocolate Rain
Now I’m paid a hefty hefty fee

Chocolate Rain
Listen to the funky rhymes I weave
Chocolate Rain
I move away from the mic to breathe”

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2×2W12A8Qow

“Amazing Grace World Trade Center” sung A cappella by Tay Zonday

This was a very reflective song. On his visit to New York, Tay records the view of “ground zero” from the Millennium Hotel on the 46th floor.  As he sang, he said he could still hear construction sounds.  No need to say more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQjGkUr-KKI

“Too Big For You” by Tay Zonday

This is one of my favorites. It’s very R&B and Tay’s workin’ the voice. He looks dapper in his hat and overcoat and the location of filming is fantastic. I guess he’s recording it himself, but it looks professional. This song makes me want to travel. He prepared us for his dancing with “Do the Can’t Dance”, but this is his style and it suits him. You notice his great smile in the close ups and he’s having fun. The outdoor settings really suits him.

 

Excerpt from lyrics:

(Chorus)
“In these shoes I’m going to Cairo
In these shoes I’m going to New York
In these shoes your love I refuse
Cause Baby these shoes
They’re too big for you”
(Repeat)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjD6iigdB-g

“Someday” by Tay Zonday

This is a beautiful song. It sounds like a waiting song. Waiting for someone to come back. This is the type of song that under the right circumstances would make you cry. It was recorded with a white backdrop and Tay dressed in black with his trademark white tee shirt showing through. It all compliments the black and white keys on the keyboard. The overall affect is an understated visual allowing you to “feel” the mood of the song.

Excerpt from lyrics:

“Someday I
Must say goodbye
Will you believe in yourself
When I’m not at your side”

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD5_GUovjiM

“Say No to Nightmares” by Tay Zonday

 

 

This song was posted on September 11, 2007. I think we all have vivid memories of where we were that original day in 2001. This is Tay at his best. The song has a very nice beat and rhythm. I found my self responding as though it was a hymn. Maybe it was. It starts out slowly and then the tempo speeds up. It was recorded in black and white and Tay wore all black. This is the first video in which I’ve seen some special effects. You know this has somber memories for some, yet the song is very reflective. (This song warranted me using some musical terms)

Excerpt from lyrics:

People near Ground Zero
Some put down their sword
But people in the heartland
Were more scared than in New York”

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHwKTZ14oFY

“Do the Can’t Dance” by Tay Zonday

 

 

“Do the Can’t Dance” came after a lot of internet praise for his song “Internet Dream.” I noticed also that some of the comments on “Internet Dream” were from people pressuring him to do some cover songs. I guess Tay didn’t want to get off track and decided to continue doing his music the way he likes. It took me a while to like this song. I always liked the beat but then I finally “got it.” Tay says it’s about loving yourself. It’s also liberating. A lot of us can’t dance. Does that mean we should hide the music that’s inside?

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3aA1Hy17A8

 

“The Only Way” by Tay Zonday

 

 

In August 2007,Tay did a song called “The Only Way” which he later removed. Apparently there was “backlash” because his song was being misunderstood and perceived as being a “cocky brag track.” It seems to me that he was just having fun, but Tay claimed a deeper allegorical meaning. (see Tay’s Myspace blog).

Lyrics:

Attention all peoples . . .

Tay Zonday has arrived

I’m the piper of record

Beloved and respected

Mack Daddy of all the

Down and rejected

I’m the talented tenth

The chill in your spine

The glimmer of hope

In the back of your mind

I’m the rising aquarius

Galaxy patriot

Space is the place

Where I’m riding my chariot

Fightin’ for lovin

Fightin’ for dance

Fightin’ to give

More people a chance

Ain’t comin’ from the east

Ain’t comin’ from the west

I come from the heart

I come from the best

 

Chorus (4X):

The only way, way, way, way, way

Is Tay Zon-daydayday

 

I’m the silent majority

No one’s priority

Craving deliverance

When they stop ignoring me

Wishing on candles

Praying on stars

Hating on promises

Licking my scars

None for the people

It’s trickle up cash

Pay more for bottled water

Than I do for gas

To subsidize a system

With oblivious victims

Makes me work so hard

That I can’t resist’em

The bread and circus

Makes me desert us

I party away

All the violent urges

Revolution?

I’m watching my sitcom

Playin’ Nintindo

‘Til Kingdome come

Waiting for a leader

To make me believe

That there’s more to life

Than what they say I can be

I’m aimless dangerous

When I start to learn

That I’m not served by

Next quarter’s return

Holdin’ back history

The jetson’s a mystery

Buildin’ new electric rail

They had in 1880

If it ran on gas

I’d have a flying car

Human progress?

Gotta look where we are

We consume for profit

And we run in place

Or we build a rocket

And get out of this place

 

Chorus (4X):

Cause the only way, way, way, way, way

Is Tay Zon-daydayday

 

Little man

With an alien voice

Changin’ the world

By makin’ some noise

I’m hydroelectric

Always eclectic

Fighting disease

Cause I’m antiseptic

Staccato mulatto

Everyday a new motto

Makin’ music in my crib

When I ate from a bottle

Ain’t wearing any label

Cause I wasn’t able

To see myself

In the master’s fable

Daddy was from venus

Mama was from mars

Don’t know about you

My flag is the stars

And it ain’t just fifty

More like fifty billion

Cause the rest of the galaxy

Ain’t doing what we doing

Hatin’ each other

Killin’ their brother

They sent me here so

We can teach each other

Ain’t any excuse for the privilege I have

Drivin’ SUV’s

Buildin’ third world debt

But the thing to get

Is the kid who sweat

To make my tee shirt

In Bangladesh

We’re both being screwed

We’re both being used

I get the bouncing car

She gets no shoes

But neither of us

Has political power

‘Til we come together

And face that hour

 

Chorus (8X):

Cause the only way, way, way, way, way

Is Tay Zon-daydayday

 

 

 

www.myspace.com/tayzonday

 

“Internet Dream” by Tay Zonday

I’m not sure, but I assume by this time Tay knew that he had become famous on the ‘net. There is such exuberance and reality to this song. The tune is catchy and I think most of us can relate to it. He’s saying this is what I usually do, just like millions of other people. We log on, hours go by, we log off. For, some a lot can happen between logging on and off. I don’t know if this was his internet dream come true or not but, It’s now his reality. I like to support success. I think he will go far.

Excerp from lyrics:

“Winning the race
For your digital fix
Living your life
With a clickity-click
(Repeat)

“So every day I swear
I’m gonna go to bed at like eleven.
And all of a sudden its 4AM . . .
And I was just watching Youtube and
reading Wikipedia for five hours.
It’s like MAN . . . you ask me the
next day. I can’t even remember
what I was doin. Crazy.”

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mSKBgvHdoE

“The Things they Carried” by Tim O’Brien - spoken word by Tay Zonday

 

 

Sometimes Tay still had to prove that his voice was real so he’s reading an excerpt from this book. Some of us believe, but just like hearing it all the same.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLiBKAtOvps

“Blue on the 4th of July” by Tay Zonday

This sounds like “Lifetime Limbo”, but the lyrics are different. It is obviously a lament of the time of war that we are in and what it must be like for someone with a loved one who’s away. They would be even more missed and thought about on the Fourth of July. This is a perfect example of the poetry which can be found in certain songs.

Lyrics:

Tonight a soldier falls asleep
Dreams along a lonely street
Soon he kisses Ma goodbye
Tastes her famous apple pie

Flies old glory by his door
Loves the land he’s fighting for
Says “Mama Mama don’t you cry,
Ain’t so long ’til I’ll be back.”

[Chorus]
Marching off to serve my country
Blessed are those who sacrifice
Think about me in July
It’ll cheer you up inside

Morning breeze of Uncle Sam
Blows heritage into his hand
Churches singing high and loud
He’s a’gonna make them proud

The children form a motorcade
To give the boy a serenade
As the tarmac looses contact
He can see the welcome parade

[Chorus]

Down the road a Mama cries
Tries to see her baby’s eyes
Celebrate the Fourth of July
Underneath another sky

She holds a picture to her chest
Prayers to God racing through her flesh

Says “Love my country, yes I do.
I’ll ask it in Red, White, and Blue”

Why am I just blue
on the Fourth of July?

Love the soldier.
Love the soldier.
Loving and blessing
So proud of every soldier.

But something ain’t right
On the Fourth of July

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDxpWXYoBg

 

“Love” by Koobydotnet featuring Tay Zonday

Tay’s voice is smooth in this song.  I could imagine a great music video with this. This would be great to play on Valentines Day!!  This was a collaboration between Kooby.net and Tay Zonday.

“Give me kisses give me style
Take my heart ‘n run the mile
Never knew another you
Never knew another truth”

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgSA-ErKd8c

“Demons on the Dance Floor” by Tay Zonday

(remix- Elijah Lucian and graphic collaboration - Pookieftw)

 

I loved this remixed version of Tay‘s original! I jumped up and danced. It’s a song that you can easily visualize.  

“(Chorus)
Yeah she got her demons on the dance floor
‘Doin the devil’s duty to defeat her
‘Stompin out her demons on the dance floor
‘Kickin all her sorrows out the back door”

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L9sq9ZhhPo

“Motherless Child” sung a cappella by Tay Zonday

 

 

(not an original-but I’m sure Tay was testing his Robeson-like voice)

 

This song brought back memories of the summer I was enrolled at Hampton University. I stayed on campus and went to the chapel there. Their choir is amazing in carrying out the traditional singing style of “negro spirituals”. I also was privileged to participate in a talent show there. Remember, I don’t have any music education, but I can sing a little. I was told by the choir director that I was a soprano. I sang the soprano leads in “He ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”. Thank goodness this was a cultured crowd and the “sandman” with the hook never came out to get me. A lot of people say Tay sounds like Paul Robeson. I’ll have to agree. Just close your eyes and hum along.

 

 

“Chocolate Rain” original song by Tay Zonday

 

 

This song had been post analyzed before I discovered it.  This video was shrouded in all things mysterious from the web. After studying Tay’s very interesting video performance, I next looked at the lyrics. First, the song is self explanatory. It’s not “cryptic” if you read the lyrics. Second, I learned that this was submitted so that **** aka Tay could get some feedback from his YouTube friends presumably so he could catch up on the missing parts of his music education. He’s admitted unashamedly that he has no formal training in music or voice.  He is self-taught.  This song/video was not meant to be a finalized piece. He even used lumber, bed sheets, bright lights and music equipment to make his own studio.  This song has gotten double-digit millions of views on YouTube.  After provoking questions during it original release, it can be concluded that Chocolate Rain is indeed a lyrical discourse on the topic of social justice and race.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&NR=1

“Get It Back” original contest entry song by Tay Zonday

Apparently, this song was in response to a Turbo Tax contest. He raps beautifully. This was positive and upbeat. Everyone can relate to this.

 

Tay Zonday - Get It Back

“Dying for the Deadline” original song by Tay Zonday

I love the fact that Tay used a common melody and baseline he calls a “call-and-response blues progression”. It really emotes the “Blues” feeling some experience leading up to tax preparation time. Fortunately, I have a brilliant tax preparer and I never get the tax blues.

My favorite lines are:

Got a tax, got a fax

Got the bank book on your back

The clock’s ‘hittin three

Before you get to ‘hittin the sack

The boss has a temper /Power ‘trippin over the time

(Another rain reference): “ Roll your windows up in the rain”

 

 

 

 

“Dying For The Deadline” Original Song by Tay Zonday

 

“Lifetime Limbo” original song by Tay Zonday

 

 

This song was easy to hum to. I got the same feeling that I get while humming “Pure Imagination” from the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. I could picture doing any household task with this song in the background while bobbing my head from side to side. Listening to the lyrics, you realize it could be a background song of life. Any phrase in this song could be a backdrop to a day in your life.. . . “Bosses who just laugh at you”

. . . “Seeing your baby’s face again”

. . . “Stomp your feet and glorify”

. . . “Ain’t no other place to eat”

(Foreshadowing?) There is a reference to “getting soaked by ancient rain”.

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doo9Bb98aDg

“Canon in Z” original classical arrangement by Tay Zonday

 

 

 

 

 

 

What can I say. Just beautiful. Hearing this makes me want to learn the keyboard just to play this. What a beautiful first intro to YouTube.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSCzMT8IMME

Tay Zonday

Fact: Tay likes to do original music.

Fact: Tay is very serious about not infringing on copyrights.

Fact: Tay can do most anything. So do not try to typecast him. Go Tay!

Fact: Tay is part of the new revolution of talent rising from the internet.

 

Interviews:

http://www.hhnlive.com/features/more/322

http://www.thedeets.com/2007/12/19/tay-zonday-on-current-tv/

http://daily.mahalo.com/2008/01/03/md030-tay-zonday-interview/

 

Appearances:

2007

Numerous televison appearances.

Played clubs in Minnesota.

Demonstrated video editing at a CES convention in Las Vegas.

Played the Europa in NY.

Performed in a Firefox video

“Cherry Chocolate Rain” commercial

Last Laugh 07 for Comedy Central

In 2008

Maury Povich Show

Lily Allen Show in London, England

Appearance for web-streamed weddings from the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas

 

 

Awards:

Awarded a YouTube Award for “Chocolate Rain”

Awarded a Webby Award for “Chocolate Rain” 

 

 Tay Zonday was a true enigma. In interviews you find that he preferred to use

www.creativecommons.org for his song rights, gave away his music for FREE, apparently naturally talented, was exposed to only classical music, and is a home-grown keyboardist/songwriter/vocalist. While not having radio and MTV exposure early on, Tay discovered Napster as a teen, and got to choose his music. This seems to have helped develop his ability to create originally and not be influenced by other music styles.

The “Cherry Chocolate Rain” video rained vitriol. I kept reading comments like sell-out, talentless, weird. Now this was interesting. Apparently some in the online community aren’t about, friendship, fans, and musical collaboration. Some seem to be extremely jealous when someone in the “community” does well.Question? How could Tay be a “sellout” if he wasn’t considered a real artist by some anyway? He was unsigned and never expressed a disdain for money. The whole “starving artist” thing went out ages ago. Talentless- Ha. He sings, writes, plays keyboard, does his own audio and video, maintains his various web sites, and built his own little studio. Who knows, it may even be in the Smithsonian one day. Weird - Well, for some, they can’t seem to be able to listen to his music unless they can typecast him. So he looks younger than he is. Tay is not your average interview subject either. He seems to be sharp and focused. Some of his songs have layers to them, others are just fun. He seems to aptly move through the worlds of academia, music, social commentary, online lingo and still have fun. This can be seen in “The Can’t Dance” and “Too Big for You” videos. You can also see glimpses of a 20 something guy having a great time in his vlog on his You Tube visit. His poise at public speaking shows experience gained from his other life in academia.