Dear Shazam,
Can I call you “Sha Love” or “Zambastic?” What about “Shazam Ranks” in a tribute to Shabba? Shazam just feels so formal and stiff.
Especially for my favorite app of all time. I love you so much that, in Quitter, I even wrote about the brief falling out you and I had.
You, my friend, are like voodoo. It hurts my brain when I try to understand how you work on my iPhone. I hear a strange song on the radio or in a clothing store that is so hip I’m surprised they even let me in. I press your big blue button of goodness and hold you above my head like a musical rebel.
In mere seconds, you buzz and tell me the name of the song and who sings it. When I was a kid, if you didn’t know the name of a song, well then too bad. Who told you life was fair? Just walk to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways, and shut up.
Actually, it wasn’t hard being a kid. And, in most cases, if I heard a song playing in our house, there was an 87% chance it was James Taylor. My parents loved them some Sweet Baby James. To this day, in my mind I’m going to Carolina.
And as a kid, I thought there were only two Christian musicians alive. I grew up in Massachusetts and didn’t have access to Christian radio. As far as I knew, the only two people on the planet singing about God were Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. They were the first concert I went to, a joyous moment I would recreate in complete awkwardness years later when I met Michael W. Smith on a plane.
The point is, I didn’t know Christian music existed, and sometimes I think you don’t either. I don’t want to start a conspiracy, unless it would dramatically improve my blog traffic, but it seems like when I’m listening to Wally on WayFM and try to Shazam a song, you can’t help me out. I get this sad screen below:
But hip hop, top 40, that music you always know the name of. When I Shazam a song on a pop station, like “5 0’Clock” by T-Pain and Lily Allen (which I can totally listen to because of this post), you instantly know the info about that song.
You can’t wait to tell me who sings it and where I can buy it.
Tell me I’m wrong. Maybe I’m the only one with that issue. Maybe I need to use all my social media influence and ask that Christian musicians actually send you the information you need. (My influence is actually pretty small, but I could probably get someone from the David Crowder Band to send you their info since they once did a guest post on SCL. Although they broke and joined Hillsong. It’s a whole thing.)
If you’re reading this Shazam, let me know what you think. I love you so much that I wrote about you in Quitter
Sincerely,
Jon
Question:
If you use Shazam, what’s the last song you Shazammed?
