The good behind reality television

I admit it: I watch trashy reality television. It’s a terrible habit, I know, but there’s something oddly calming about confirming that my life is not nearly as dramatic as some people’s out there.

But in an effort to cut costs and add more to my index fund from my (meager) salary, I decided to skimp on cable and take up my apartment complex’s offer of free basic cable. That’s 25 channels, 4 of which are news and 2 of which are PBS. Needless to say MTV and VH1 (the central hub for trashy reality television — especially now that MTV officially removed “music television” from its logo) didn’t make the cut in the remaining 19. I was forced to get my fix somewhere else.

I settled for what is probably the D List of trashy reality television networks, Oxygen, and quickly stumbled upon what is the probably the last-kid-picked-in-dodgeball reality television show, Bad Girls’ Club. There’s no point to the show, no end climax or trophy prize this batch of crazies are gleaming for, but it’s like a thong hanging out the back of a girl’s jeans: You just can’t look away, no matter how revolting the image is.

But on one particular Tuesday, something good, other than my satisfaction at the end of the hour, came out of this train wreck: I found a new artist. The lyrics that hooked me?

“You look like a casualty, but baby that’s okay with me
I’ve always been attracted to natural disasters.”

I spent near 45 minutes sifting through search results trying to find the owner of those lyrics (something I do quite often) and once the mystery was solved — Delaney Gibson — I immediately bought the CD on iTunes (something I rarely do: blame Limewire).

Gibson has a faint je ne sais quoi that loosely resembles Stevie Nicks but with a spirit-lifting voice in place of the twang. She’s studied classical musical and opera since she was 9, which is evident throughout the musical ups and downs on  Hurricanes and Forget Me Nots. Her second album is a great mixture of relaxing ballads like “Kill Me Now” and “Rain or Shine,” but peppers in more radio-friendly songs like the perky, staccato-backed “La Di Da” (which claims the above lyrics and cameo in Bad Girls Club) and the band-heavy, indie-rock, “Better Version of Me.”

I’m a sucker for good lyrics, and that’s the calling card of Hurricane and Forget Me Nots. Gibson’s lyrics are quirky, bordering the line of sarcastic, but beyond her calming chords, there’s a definite dark side to the “achingly beautiful” songstress — but not as pronounced as the “quite morbid” love songs of Ingrid Michaelson. Take a look at some that stood out to me after a run through of the album:

“I wrote you a beautiful song; you said my chords were all wrong and my verse could use some structure; but I think it just means that you love her.” — Kill Me Now

“I’m trying to decipher what you meant when you sent; the message at the bottom of my birthday card; you’re writing was sloppy but I know you tried hard.” — Careful (with background vocals from Owen Bucey from Army of Freshman.

The verdict: An album worth the $9.90 on iTunes.