FHSTheFlash The Flash Volume 46, Issue 6 April 2006 | Page 2

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May 2005

A Girl Like Rihanna The Sounds sound spectacular
By Sarah Zalewski ‘06

By Robb Druzynski ‘06
Flash Staff Reporter
In 2005, the world danced to the smash hit “Pon De
Replay,” and in 2006, we’ve already caught on to the
entrancing “S.O.S.” It seems as though for Robyn
Rihanna Fenty, better known as Rihanna, creating #1
singles is as easy as riding a bike. And now returning to
the music scene with her Sophomore LP, A Girl Like
Me, Rihanna is making it clear that she is here to stay.
Following in the musical footsteps of her debut
record, Music Of The
Sun, the next album from
Rihanna takes listeners
into an enjoyable world
full of hip-hop beats,
R&B rhythms, and island-influenced melodies. What makes A Girl
Like Me stand out from
most other similar artists today, however, are the personal lyrics.
“People think, because we’re young, we aren’t complex, but that’s not true,” Rihanna admitted about the
album.
Her most recent single, “Unfaithful,” chronicles the
relationship of a cheating girlfriend. The heart-wrenching thought and emotion put into the track set the basis
for the record and opened up new worlds for Rihanna to
explore lyrically. One of the more standout songs, “Break
It Off,” happens to be recorded with reggae hit-maker
Sean Paul. Like most of the album, this heart pounding
dance track will have listeners moving from beginning
to end.
A Girl Like Me in available in stores now and is highly
recommended for anyone looking for contemporary hiphop and R&B music with a twist added by Rihanna. It’s
a refreshing change in the current music world and is
sure to catch on even more in the near future.

(drums),
and
Felix
Rodriguez (guitars). These
five Swedes give The
The Sounds is an awesome Sounds their fame, talent and
band from Sweden that attitude.
wraps up rock, punk, techno
and attitude all into one.
Their CD, Dying to Say This
to You, was released on
March 21.The attitude and
talent of this band has
brought The Sounds from
Sweden to the world! They
stared on many late night
shows and they were in
many U.S. publications including the New York Times
Sunday Magazine, which is
an amazing feat for any
band. There are also many
celebrities that have come to
admire this band like Dave
Grohl, Pharrell Williams,
Quentin Tarantino, Bam
Margera and Britney Spears.
“I can’t
Their CD is full of songs really help myself on
about love, anger, hate, sad- stage.We’re not really putness, excitement and energy ting on a show; this is the
that all together makes this way we always are,” said
CD an impact to the music singer Maja Ivarsson.
world like no other. The muSo they don’t see themsic and lyrics sound very selves as the best band in the
unique and that’s what gives world but they try their hardThe Sounds their success. est on stage to make it seem
Finally, a band that did that way, to entertain their
something different and fans and show them that they
didn’t follow the crowd.
have something to sing and
The Sounds consist of, play music about. That attiJesper Anderberg (key- tude is what helps them to
boards), Johan Bengtsson show what they’re all about.
(bass), Maja Ivarsson (vo- Listening to their songs one
cals), Fredrik Nilsson wouldn’t expect a song to
Flash Staff Reporter

burst into techno after an
amazing rock beat, but it
does. It’s surprising and
shocking all at the same time.
The songs that stick out the

most are, “Song With a Mission,” and “Painted by Numbers.” They have the most attitude, are the most upbeat,
and show the most talent of
the band. All of the other
songs have a twist of any
type of music that you can
think of, ranging from classical romance to rock and
roll. It’s a plethora of songs
that send you on a “roller
coaster” of sound that makes
you want to go buy another
ticket and ride the “roller
coaster” of The Sounds over
and over again.

Dropping out has its doubts Word of the Issue:
By Amanda Dupure
Assistant Editor
Although to some it may be
hard to believe, years of hard
work are continuously being
thrown away by students
more and more often. Dropping out of school is becoming more of an option now
than ever before. The truth is
dropping out of high school
is one of the biggest mistakes
someone can make in a life
time because of the effects it
has on a students future.
At Fraser High School it’s
not uncommon to hear about
how important an education
and a high school diploma
are, yet it’s not uncommon
to hear about a student who
has dropped out, threw in the
towel, and gave up. A look
into what the future holds for
a student that makes this decision makes it doubtful
whether or not they had even
thought about it. The question is, is it worth calling it
quits?

Common sense tells most
that the answer is no, but a
look into recent statistics
makes a person wonder
where the common sense is
of the growing percentage of
teens dropping out. A current
Michigan law makes it legal
for a student to drop out of
school at the age of 16. The
problem is an average 16year-old does not have the
life skills necessary to succeed in our economy. Being
given the option to drop out
at 16 only leaves room for
regret in the future for the
majority of students who
choose to take that opportunity.
“It sounds easy to drop out
of school early,” said Zach
Smerli 09’, “but if you’ve
made it this far, there’s really
no point, anyways, I cant
make any money with out a
high school diploma.”
To counteract this current
law, Governor Jennifer
Granholm has recently

launched an incentive for
high school dropouts. They
can drop out and then be a
part of the “Learn to Earn”
centers. These centers give
high school drop outs the
chance to learn the skills that
help them succeed in contributing to the economy, but
are they contributing to their
knowledge and education?
Reasons for dropping out
include many, and the decision to eventually return and
get a diploma is not made
often. With a growing society like the one existing today, a typical job requires a
high school diploma. Without a high school diploma, a
student can’t join the military
or even be hired by the “Big
3”, which hasn’t hired a drop
out in over a decade.
No only does the decision
to drop out of school effect a
student financially for the
rest of their lives, but schools
are funded based upon the
number of students enrolled

in the district. For every student that drops out of school,
the district loses approximately $6,700.
Not surprisingly, recent
statistics show that high
school dropouts make the
lowest income of anyone.
Also, about 70 percent of
convicts entering state prisons each year were high
school dropouts. To address
this problem, future laws are
being put into consideration.
They include boosting the
legal drop out age from 16
to 18, creating smaller high
schools, and suspending the
licenses of high school dropouts. Lawmakers are drawing their attention to this issue not only because of convict patterns, but because of
the effect high school drop
out rates have on a states
welfare and unemployment
numbers.

HOBBLEDEHOY (N) :
AN AWKWARD,
GAWKY LOOKING
YOUNG MAN

What do you think it means?

Kyle Kudzia 10th grade

“I think it means to
be really happy,
right?”

Photos taken by: Jerica Pitts

Alicia Monschau 9th Grade

“A really ugly duck!”