THE TOP 100 SONGS OF 2010: PART ONE

2010, by and large represented the comeback of the single as an event instead of merely being a tool to drive album sales. In this first part of my list, we see pop as the driving force, whether through being juxtaposed with other genres—hop/hop and chillwave primarily—with great success. Here goes: 

 81: Kate Nash   

Later On

It’s not surprising to read that Nash feels that the video for Later On is her best yet; it’s obvious that where she didn’t live up to her own hype on the album, this is the track where she did. It’s not just the fake love exuded to get information but it’s also the manner in which she conveniently parades it shamelessly.

 82: Allo Darlin’   

My Heart is a Drummer

Maybe this is the hollow feeling that modern day romance leaves one with once it’s over but it’s terribly affecting to hear a voice quivering lines like, ‘and when you call me, on the telephone my fingers will twist through the cord/ and I'll slide my feet up and down the wall/ but I know that I'm stronger than you are’, especially when they’re trying hard to convince themselves that the words are true. We already know better.

 83: LCD Soundsystem  

Drunk Girls

I could do an entire post on how disappointing the new LCD Soundsystem album was to me, or how overrated it has gotten by critics or even how hilarious the music video for this single is but let’s stick to the music only. It’s not quite Beck but it is much more; a rehash of the 70s era Bowie vibe that never stops giving. Plus, with that falsetto, Murphy’s got us sold.

 84: Vampire Weekend    

Giving up the Gun

Things change and all bands come quietly to that conclusion eventually. We could mull around the literal reference to Japanese sword culture all day but you know what’s even more startling…the fact that  rarely has pummelled-like-a-horse guitars been so fun on what is essentially a pop record.

 85: Shearwater  

Corridors

Straight-up Bowie-esque baroque pop with his trademark ripped vocals.

 86: Fionn Regan   

Protection Racket

While the debacle of Wikileaks rages on, suddenly Regan’s Protection Racket feels musically aligned to such a notion of disclosure of big corporations and their secrets. ‘Pay this man his rent’, he spits out in one couplet then follows it up with ‘these big companies are giving us the squeeze / lets raise our glasses to Mr. Onassis’. Standard procedure, indeed.

 87: Interpol    

Success

In typical Interpol fashion, the lyrics are mysterious and the production heavy-lidded and provocative. Paul Banks has been at this for years now but he always manages to elevate his brooding imagery.

 88: Caribou   

Odessa

To paraphrase Pitchfork, Dan Snaith sure has mastered one aspect of his music career, it's change. Add to that the emphatic grooviness of an electronic track. Odessa employs a heavier swathe of synths that we’re used to from him but coupled with the propulsion of irresistible beats, Snaith has conjured up a thrilling psychedelic wonder.

 89: Gorillaz    

Rhinestone Eyes

Another funky treat for the road only this time we’ve uncovered something deeper than the mere animation that Albarn has been hiding behind. It seems as if Noodle has been impersonated by a fake Noodle or, as one fanatic stated, a Cyborg Noodle. Gripping stuff that weirdly enough makes sense in this achy-break mess.

 90: The Black Keys   

The Go-Getter

Buried beneath the frame of its electronic beats, Auerbach’s voice powers the sadness that dominates The Go-Getter. You wouldn’t think so given the routine (good thing) vocal workout but when the music dips or breaks suddenly, he drops in a howl and that’s when you realize the supposed cheeriness you’ve been following was a myth all along.

 91: The Roots feat. Joanna Newsom & STS    

Right On

In a year where Newsom dropped a two-hour tome extolling the virtues of self-love above everything else, the Roots decide to rework a track from her debut and somehow this swings convincingly. It’s a standard, old-school sample riffs involved but shit sounds fresh to me.  

 92: Wavves    

King of the Beach

The acid-washed pop/punk model done just right and lead singer Nathan Williams knows it.

 93: Lonelady   

If Not Now

It’s surprising that no one much has been raving about this Julie Campbell pop number, given how vibrant its beat it, dipped in a retro vibe that is so happening across all genres.

 94: Lightspeed Champion  

Madame van Damme

I’ve always pegged Devonte Hynes as some sort of freak so it’s no surprise that his whore-as-saint song would be splitting its side with wry humour and deadpan seriousness. 

 95: Jonsi   

Boy Lilikoi

I’ve never got the appeal of Sigur Ros but that’s because English is something they merely toy with but here lead singer Jonsi, with a dreamy sequence of Disney-esque words set to lovely music, gives a type of love letter or paean to true friendship.

 96: ceo   

Love and Do whatever you Will

A light affair sure but Sweden’s place at the head of electro-pop manifests itself in Eric Berglund’s delicious ditty. Lyrically, it’s all over the place but by the time the chorus comes in, the track cavorts into a hectic and bouncy avalanche.

 97: Grimes  

AVI

Trying to get info on Grimes isn’t exactly the easiest thing but even though she subscribes to the reduction pop school that The Knife apparently started, she at least doesn’t hide behind the music. Grimes is the project of Montreal-based Claire Boucher and her chillwave-meets-lo/fi pop music. AVI sports a propulsive riff that grooves harder than any other this year and her easy vocals wash over as if a sturdy baptism. When she croons throughout, ‘I won’t take your breath away.’ You know she’s lying because the reality is that she does.

 98: The Corin Tucker Band  

Doubt

Corin Tucker has been away too long but thankfully here is a good tide-over until the next Sleater-Kinney album. 

 99: I am Kloot  

Northern Skies

There’s something sad hearing John Bramwell repeat the line, ‘and we’re free to make the same mistakes again and again’, on a track that was already geared towards introspection.

 100: Animal Collective  

Tantrum Barb

Taken from their experimental film ODDSAC, Tantrum Barb is just as deliriously disjointed as we’d expect it to sound in this post- Merriwather Post Pavillion world. Expectations are at an all-time high but yet again the crew delivers a psychedelic stunner fit for any underground rave.

The Best New Artist of 2010 is...

 ...and we have a tie. There is no way to separate the brilliant yet contrasting styles of Summer Camp and Twin Shadow. One is a band that features two real-life lovers and the other is a man who is reinventing new wave. 

Summer Camp: together in love and music

Summer Camp is multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Warmsley and journalist Elizabeth Sankey. The duo’s love for the fuzzy, complicated world of  adolescents and gawky moments dominate their lush music. It's just six tracks but the lo-fi 80s template feels remarkably fresh and on trend. It helps that these two are lovers because it is translated in the juxtaposing of their art. Warmsley backs up Sankey's lovely vocals admirably. The key track is 'Veronica Swayer'--a reference to the Heathers character--which doubles as some feminist anthem. 

George Lewis Jr.: groove daddy

Twin Shadow: is the moniker used by one George Lewis Jr., a Dominican-born, Florida-bred composer whose varied musical misadventures have already taken him around the globe and back. And it's official: indie heads, your new messiah--your latest Bowie interpolation is here and he's a master technician already, delving confidently into the heart of new wave and connecting to its pulse.

Here are some other notable new splashes in the pop music pool this year:

clown sings the blues

Jamie McDermott: lead singer of ten-member orchestral ensemble The Irrepressibles, McDermott is lyrically dramatic and a deadringer for Antony Hegarty vocally...which is a good thing.

my band can swin

Surfer Blood: singer John Paul Pitts howls and rages in the beach-pop genre and it's a winner.

freak for headphones

Toro Y Moi is the stage name used by recording artist Chazwick Bundick. His music takes many different forms within the electro-pop fold with a whiff of chillwave.

bad-ass

 Sleigh Bells : singer Alexis Krauss and guitarist-producer Derek Miller. Signed to N.E.E.T record label and that's M.I.A new project. They're loud and smart. Treats was good although not as orgasmic as most critics would have you believe but this duo will only get better. 

Nedry: The London-based three-piece – Matt Parker and Chris Amblin on glitches and glides, electro-percussion and pitch control, and Ayu Okakita on vocals. An interesting idea. One I'm watching closely.

Darlin' Nicki

Nicki Minaj: Her debut didn't deliver the goods but it was a fairly good opening shot for the Trini rapper who looks like a younger Chaka Khan and has Lil Kim attitude in spades. Such a combination is bound to pay off soon and besides she stole the show from more enlightened company on two of the year's best singles; Christina Aguilera's 'Woohoo' and Kanye's 'Monster'.

red-head minimalism

Active Child: is Pat Grossi, an L.A.-based songwriter who layers his keening, unearthly voice over diffuse waves of keyboards. 

The Top 10 Most Disappointing Albums of 2010

For clarification, being on this list doesn't necessarily mean the album was awful but it does indicate that I expected much more. Many of these artists are brilliant but somehow the artistry didn't click here or the songs simply just didn't catch fire. Here's hoping though that they'll shake off the bug and, as we say in Jamaica, wheel and come again.





1. Massive Attack 'Heligoland': the band that helped bring trip/hop to the masses returned with a type of chill music that no one could possibly chill out to.




2. Midlake 'The Courage of Others': ugh....




3. Martina Topley-Bird 'Some Place Simple': it must be a bitter irony that Topley-Bird has done an even bigger disappointing album this year than Tricky, the man whose career she helped shape two decades ago. Apart, neither has been able to do much so now, as uncomfortable as it may be, both better swallow pride and reunite.



4. Tricky 'Mixed Race': a defining voice of the the 90s, lost interminably within his own delusions.



5.Klaxons 'Surfing the Void': as if the idea of putting a cat into a spacesuit wasn't dumb enough, the band ditched its once smart, sharp ouvre for even dumber songs.



6. Les Savy Fav 'Root For Ruin': I'm still puzzled how the band that gave us 'The Equestrian' and 'Patty Lee' three years ago reduce themselves to this boring much.



7. Sia 'We are Born': Sia is not a mere pop singer but she doesn't do much here to prove that. She's not a genius but the heart-felt emotion of her previous album is undeniable and given her recent admissions, I expected some beautiful torture but, alas, it's just frustrated torture.



8. Laura Marling 'I Sing Because I Can': the feminist intent is there but it's cluttered with so much inexperience that Marling hasn't yet seen the total vision she needs to carve out and not allow the expectations of her backers to overwhelm her.


9. Lightspeed Champion 'Life is Sweet, Nice to Meet You': Devonte Hynes is a genuis but he reminds me so much of that scene in The Matrix where the Oracle tells Neo that he could be the One, just that he seems to be waiting on something. There are a few flashes on pop pleasure here once the guitars kick in but he hasn't mastered the total performance yet.


10. Xiu Xiu 'Dear God, I Hate Myself': Jaime Stewart's existential queer angst has been the dominant theme in Xiu Xiu's decade-old existence and, well, I wish he'd stop being such a pussy and wreak shit and get on with it already.

The 10 Worst Films of 2010

First, these are horrible film yet I'm sure there were others. These were the ones I saw though. Without further ado, here goes:


1. 'Vampires Suck': spoofing a franchise that is itself struggling for critical praise isn't exactly a genius move and, well, no surprise that this is infinitely worse than its source material.


2. 'I Love You Phillip Morris': just seeing Jim Carey prancing around as a bad 90's gay cliche is enough to seriously consider the merits of being viciously homophobic.


3. 'The Last Airbender': like, seriously, even with adapted material, Shyamalan can't put a decent film together anymore?!


4. 'Cop Out': stupid muthafuckers, stupid.


5. 'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief': a blatant Harry Potter rip-off but without any real heart and Uma Thurman should know better than to be caught with badly-animated snakes in her hair.


6. 'Devil': Shyamalan strikes again!


7. 'Skyline': never trust a dumb horror film where you never even get to see what the monsters look like.


8. 'Clash of the Titans': not only was the 2D to 3D transformation ridiculous but the entire plot stunk and looked cheap too.


9. 'Legion': as is angels would really squat or give a bat shit about any of the humans paraded here.


10. 'Machete': are you kidding with this crap?!

Top 10 Most Overrated Albums of 2010

Like every other year, there are some albums that got universal praise seemingly long before even being released or for some sentimental reason. This list is for only those albums that are not on my top 30 of the best albums of the year but seemingly popped up everywhere else. So, Laurie Andersons’ Homeland isn’t here because, though critics descended upon it like a holy text to be revered---it has been totally been forgotten on their year-end lists. Yes, that’s how vicious and absentminded their hypocrisy can be. Here we go:


1. This is Happening (LCD Soundsystem): even before release, one could sense critics lining up to crown this year-end winner. I had no expectations but its ordinary dance tracks seem cartoonish and I don’t mean that in a nice way. It must have hurt critics too though they won’t ever admit it but the fact that most lists have placed this ridiculous record outside of top 20 range speaks volumes.

2. Swim (Caribou): a huge disappointment given how brilliant his previous album was (Andorra). The lead track, Odessa was cool enough but from their Dan Snaith tuned me out with his non-commitment to lyrics.

3. Plastic Beach (Gorillaz): I love me some Gorillaz but the second half of this album dragged on for ever and left us with an unbalancing act that Damion Albarn just doesn’t pull off convincingly.

4. Treats (Sleigh Bells): by mid-way I tired of their noise and wanted actual, real songs besides the brilliant ‘Infinity Guitars’. The hypocritical view of most critics was that though they’re signed to M.I.A’s label and she tried her hand at the same stuff with her album, she got slammed while they got all praise. Something isn’t balanced there.

5. How I got Over (The Roots): or, how I continue to do the same stuff year-in, year-out but get praised for it always.

6. Crazy for You (Best Coast): it’s retro surf-rock done with female vocals basically and that’s all. And no, I don’t want to head out to the beach with it.

7. Sisterworld (Liars): this edged out of the gates early but has remained there because the low spectral quality was obvious.

8. Crystal Castles (Crystal Castles): I loved their debut but this new opus just lacked any oomph or memorable lyrics pared with production value.

9. The Monitor (Titus Andronicus): maybe it was the super serious intent that swayed critics that this was Very Important material but I can’t remember one memorable hook. It’s not awful but it is forgettable.

10. Brothers (The Black Keys): a very fine duo but even with some fine moments, at what point will their garage rock expand?

The Age of Adz (Sufjan Stevens) (2010)

The Emperor’s New Clothes


The Wikipedia page on Sufjan Stevens gives us an endearing image: him strumming a guitar with, of all things, a pair of multi-coloured wings. Given all that we now know that he has faced in the five years without proper new material, it is quite apt. For the uninitiated, those wings used to be starchy white given the universal critical love that his past albums have enjoyed. Sufjan’s appeal to indie-heads has always been a bit cerebral: a kind of intellectual nod to the unflinching Chistian-based idealism he espoused. But after a daring scheme to dedicate whole albums to the fifty states of America, Stevens has interminably broken down. While the length of this review alone couldn’t properly detail his exhaustive musical output, suffice it to say that the pedestal he was placed upon after the stunning Illinois (2005) has proved to be the breaking point.


A breaking point that threatens to rebel against his lofty lyrical eviscerations because such conscientiousness demands a sturdy personal examination on a rotating basis. It was no surprise to me then to read somewhere that he had likened his construction of the album to how Woody Allen directs and stars in any of his film, most notably Manhattan. Add the inspiration of mad-cap artist Royal Robertson and you begin to understand the mountain of neuroses and schizophrenia that Sufjan has layered the album with. The Age of Adz (pronounced ‘odds’) thus powders its face with heavy electronics and orchestration but not the quasi-spiritual overtones we’ve become accustomed to. The immediate difference between it and its predecessors is the fact that instead of interpolations of ideas, Sufjan now is sharing something apparently real, worldly things that we’ve all experienced during our lives like a broken heart or a crisis of self.


In short, he’s finally become one of us, the imperfect mass of human life-form that he always seemed above of. It is this new found relatable factor that makes the opener Futile Devices touching even amid his trademark acoustic arrangement. I Walked, the standout, starts out with a quasi-R&B beat but mutates into a mournful wall of reverb that ricochets so sumptuously that it’s exhilarating and sad at the same time. I couldn’t image any of the second tier R&B crooners around (Usher, John Legend, etc) doing anything this mournful or remotely sexy. It’s intriguingly erotic too; something previous Sufjan songs were not. Chicago and John Wayne Gacy Jr had the same template but they were instructive songs to a fault: meant to warn not inspire conflicting emotion. It’s hard to imagine that this is the same Sufjan Stevens we’ve thought steadfastly as a Bible-thumping, Jesus-loving, Republican-voting moralist the past decade. Like, seriously, what accounts for the jittery beat that course throughout another highlight, I Want to Be Well? When he croons, ‘do yourself some good/ do yourself a favour/ do yourself a turn from the ordinary’, it’s almost as if the five years have coloured his dark materials to the point of becoming a soul brother. Another gem, Too Much, turns the amps up and the studio atmospherics literally bounce off each other with a care-free kinetic energy. Get Real, Get Right incorporates all the little tweaks and quirks we’ve become used to from Bjork but Stevens unearths an even weirder type of funk within the heavy layers of textures used.


Even the cagey ideas have a specialty to them that lets one know that Stevens has given us his best album to date. Now That I’m Older drags through six minutes of atmospherics but once his vocals chip in, it turns utterly mesmerizing: in effect, working a short yet clever trick until it’s done. Even when he retreads (Vesuvius) it sounds heightened, exalted even because there’s a worldly conviction behind it now, not just a theoretical one. The ambitious 25- minute closer Impossible Soul somehow works mainly due to the jarring horns awaiting us almost at every turn. They work to prop up his electronic synths and direction as it morphs itself into a separate EP’s worth of ideas. It’s more that twice the length of Joanna Newsom’s titular track for her album this year but both know how to cleverly spin a tale: she lyrically and he musically. His title track here bleeds electronic dissonance while being, at heart, a love letter. All for Myself proves that both Jaime Stewart and Antony Hegarty have been slacking off in the baroque pop terrain and are approaching irrelevance.


Sufjan’s ideas here aren’t exactly unprecedented—musicians have always been meant to question themselves-- but he’s made a great sonic record about losing faith and juxtaposed it with the result of what happens when the disillusion lifts. Like the cover art for the album, one senses that there is a new Sufjan emerging from the principles that has always guided him. The majestic emperor figure sketched decades ago by Robertson is regally robed but there is a red colour applied almost as if to highlight some inner turmoil slowly becoming external. The effect is pretty yet effective: ladies and gentlemen, the questioning section of the Sufjan Stevens career is over.


Where does it stand in the annals of 21st century popular music? Is it better than Kid A or will it have the same long-lasting effect? Honestly, I have no idea but Pitchfork loves it and it will feature prominently on most year-end critics’ lists. I reckon this is the new decade’s first great introspective album. It may take some time for his old fans to appreciate its change of direction and his loss of ideological innocence but no one can say that Sufjan hasn’t blown a huge load all over us with this brilliant album. I’d be a damned liar if I said I wasn’t here still gasping for breath listening to it while reaching for the hand towel…

RATING: 8.75/10

Project Runway Season 8 Recap

In Defence of Gretchen Jones:


In the few minutes right after Heidi Klum declared Gretchen Jones the winner of this season’s Project Runway, it was near impossible to keep track of the status updates on the show’s Facebook page. Not surprisingly, the messages were not congratulatory to the Portland designer for a hard-fought victory but instead to overwhelmingly reject the outcome. Fans of the runner up, Mondo Guerro, have been all over the internet with multiple claims that he was robbed so persistently that it must be an uncomfortable feeling for all parties involved since the show’s two hour series finale.


They say everything works better in hindsight but as a critic I prefer to look ahead and make all of my bets. When I originally picked Jones to win the season (see Bookends, October 10th edition) I had only the first five episodes to base such a decision on. That was after she won the first two challenges, something unprecedented in the show’s history. Guerro hadn’t become the second designer ever to string three challenge wins together nor revealed his HIV positive status yet. However, by the time my piece came out I had edited it to reflect those changes. I still stuck with Gretchen though to win the entire thing.


To understand how Project Runway operates one must take a look at its judges. In an interview even before Season 8 began, Michael Kors exclaimed that hats were the current accessory of choice and that floral prints were decidedly ridiculous. Kors has been a wunderkind since he was nineteen and still is the pre-eminent ladies-wear designer in America. Both he and Nina Garcia are graduates of the esteemed Fashion Institute of Technology and she oversees fashion trends at Marie Claire and Elle magazines. For fans of Mondo to turn against their insight just for choosing Gretchen, shows a type of fickleness that has no place in fashion. As one neutral blogger rightfully pointed out, both are heavily invested in and influence American fashion. Quite frankly, I’d take their expert opinion over Klum (a model & active wear designer) and Jessica Simpson (a pop singer) any day. Heidi deliberated on an emotional level while Simpson seemed ill at ease or constipated whenever the camera focused on her during the finale.



Another misnomer this season was to think that Gretchen was a total underdog. Though she only won two challenges, the judges had consistently held her styling and taste-level high. Their criticism of her was the superfluous type that betrays a genuine likeness for her designs. In essence, she was never in any danger of being eliminated. The same applies to Mondo, who started slower but once he came out of his shell then his invigorating style unleashed some memorable pieces on the runway. His tremendous talent became even more personal when we learned of his struggles.

Here I must point out that Project Runway is a show that centers on Fashion Week and the collections presented by the three finalists. It’s a total experience, one geared to expose designers to the pressures and idiosyncrasies of the business. Based on what we saw on the finale, both Mondo and Andy South had issues controlling their collections whereas Gretchen was in command and relaxed. This plays a huge part in the perception that a designer is at one with the pieces being sent out.


The final collections by all three designers were uniquely theirs but Gretchen’s underwent the hugest transformation. Whereas Mondo kept everything as was and Andy only substituted his previously shown lavender bathing suit for a grey one, Jones actually saw wisdom in the critique she got the week before and changed things up. Gretchen’s ego had often clashed with the judges but she humbled herself to an alternative idea. When first presented, I hated the three pieces she showed and the hideous brown texture that Nina Garcia cutely called ‘crunchy granola’. The clothes looked inexpensive and in dire need of accessories.


I’m not sure why Mondo had all his models in head-pieces but they looked slightly ridiculous with the colored party hats and I think if he had omitted them, he’d have won the show. Garcia had warned Mondo that he ran the risk of not being taken seriously as a designer if he couldn’t edit more sternly from his print template. I think she went against him too when she considered that Mondo’s ‘Day of the Dead’ theme was a single season feel and not as sustainable as Gretchen’s. His outsized prints are sheer genius but there was definite design overkill and its best he hears objectionable criticism from a professional than blind praise from a casual fan. Gretchen’s first look was met with silence but the preceding designs were simply stunning. The silence at that point was provoked by admiration and one could see all three judges nodding in approval. When the granola dress came out she had wisely cut out its middle to reveal skin and the accessories were easy and sprite. She incorporated different hues and the wild hair and hats added a depth I didn’t know she possessed. The final piece somehow pulled off two hideous colors and made it work. It did lack an outstanding piece but the cohesiveness of the look reads more relevant in these times. I feel if she had used basic black and made the apparel tighter-fitting then it’d be even more stunning. In fact, when I first viewed the collections two weeks ago online, hers immediately registered and I’m sure it was the same for both Garcia and Kors.


Still, Mondo fans maintain that he was robbed even though, from a professional standpoint, Gretchen’s look has been overwhelmingly embraced. On the show itself he won only one more challenge than her if you don’t count the finale. If you do then they were tied. Winning challenges isn’t everything: season 1 champion, Jay McCarrol didn’t win any en route to victory over Kara Saun who had won four challenges, including the last one just before the finale. Season 2 saw Daniel Vosovic win even more than Kara Saun (5) yet he too was upstaged at Fashion Week by eventual winner Chloe Dao. Those are real upsets in any scenario.


Finally, in order to press their claims, Mondo’s fans have smeared Gretchen as the bitchiest person ever on the show and the least talented. That is laughable because those people clearly never watched Wendy Pepper or season 6 champ Irinia Shabayeva who went as far as to accuse her runner-up of copying her design at one point. Besides, there were no angels this season including Mondo. He was initially derisive of Michael Costello before they made up. April Johnson unleashed her cattiness by episode 2 by deriding both Gretchen and Jason. On the contrary, Gretchen started by praising Valerie’s designs and helping out Cassanova when others wouldn’t. Gretchen gave her opinions on design, not personality. Ivy constantly dug into Michael Costello’s character without proof. Costello himself was disingenuous with Gretchen but no one has seemed to mind this or called him out on it. While I don’t totally buy Gretchen’s strong woman bitch slant, she has a point in that a defined female perspective always toes the line. Ever since the Team Luxe challenge when her leadership qualities became obvious, women bloggers in particular have been nothing but negative towards her. I found her to be calculating and naïve more than anything else. I never heard her say anything personally disrespectful to anyone on the show yet here she is now subjected to vicious, unsubstantiated claims. Maybe it’s because she isn’t suffering from some ailment or didn’t style a shoe in a model’s hair why we don’t care enough to humanize her existence. When she called Andy’s design ‘student work’ early on, it was totally inappropriate even though I felt the same way. It’s not like she tapped him on the shoulder and said it to his face during the finale though. She hasn’t learned how to be politically correct yet but she must if fashion is to totally embrace her. I also disagree when it’s said that Gretchen’s designs were boring. Her two challenge wins were daring and if the experts could see that then that’s all that really matters. She delved into earthy tones to present designs well styled and tasteful. This was evident to me, a fashion neophyte, but it was on that basis I was sure she’d triumph. Here’s to hoping that she has a long and successful career ahead of her.