Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread

(I will never be chosen to interview Ashlee, I guess. I'd have asked about the nosejob too. You have to. She's the one who, in Marie Claire, was profiled as working with kids on a project to demonstrate "That beauty comes in all shapes and sizes" and discussing eating disorders. And there she was on the cover with her innocuous, anonymous new nose. The dissonance screams at you. And she's the one who in "Shadow" said that the precondition for her finally being able to love her sister and parents was her realizing that it was "safe outside to come alive in [her own] identity." Not that she might not have good reasons for the nosejob, but she ought to say what they are. She's made the issue relevant. Not to mention that it's relevant to a celebrity anyway. Also, she'd probably have smart and interesting ideas on the subject. In Marie Claire she'd talked of various beauty trade-offs: as a teen, Jessica would use pliers to get into her jeans, while Ashless always wore stretch pants. If Ashlee wants to play volleyball, she can just put on a bra and go, whereas Jessica needs a fortified bra.)

Actually, now I'm wondering about a different question. What exactly makes Paris Hilton teenpop music? Because I think the question of who is listening to the album cuts to the essence of how the album is currently occuring. I know neither my sister, nor any of the other teenage girls who give me playlists, are listening to Paris Hilton. And Paris-haters, in my experience, are generally ignoring the album. After a sex video, an album is pretty inconsequencial, I'd guess.

Maybe we're just talking about the album here because it's a convenient place to discuss it, but I feel like it has less and less relevence to teenpop music every time I spin it. The teenpop I've been listening to has been emotionally ecstatic (which Hilton is decidedly not), clean-cut or a subversion of being clean-cut (while Hilton is unapologetically sexualized), and mostly lacking in irony with some exceptions (while Hilton sounds very ironic to my ears - not listening to Hilton, but the singing itself).

Not all teenpop is trying for ecstasy ("Because of You"* and "Shadow" and "Confessions of a Broken Heart," for instance), and of the stuff that does, the ecstasy is often pretty tepid, and the listeners seem fine with that. But I do know what you mean by Paris's sound not fitting. I'm not hearing any "irony," though. In what way is she drawing a deliberate contrast between an apparent and an actual meaning? Is "irony" the word you're looking for here? She may have plenty of meanings in addition to the most obvious ones, but nearly all music does that. (But I'm not yet paying that much attention to the words, so I could just be missing this.)

*Kelly is everything pop rather than teenpop per se, but she's super huge in the teenpop world, and "Because of You"

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=5534976&style=music&cart=385173247&BAB=E

(That is the wrong CD cover image, right?)

Actually, speaking of Lillix I am very confused about their album release so perhaps one of you Americans can clear this up. On Amazon it says Inside The Hollow was released in July but there's not even a tracklisting and it says it'll take 3 to 6 weeks to arrive, suggesting it is not actually released at all. Was the album originally meant for that date but put back? If so it seems strange that Amazon hasn't acknowledged this. I really want to hear the album but the cheapest I can find it to order to the UK is £16.99 and no sign of it yet on CD Wow.

Jessica, how does Hilary do it wrong? She's anonymous, but I don't think she's "wimpy," really, just...unobtrusive? Still distinct, but she gives herself over to just about any style you can throw at her. I agree that, er, poptastic-wise (as I think you're defining it), Lindsay is uneven (first less so than second album, but the more I listen to the second album, the more I like it. At least as recently as a few months ago, haven't listened since then except to "I Live for the Day").

Then there is lyrical irony as well. Like in "Stars are Blind" where she's simultaneously discussing and subverting a sort of pure love. "But you can see the real me inside" aafter "Some people never get beyond their stupid pride," implies this revelation of the true Paris. You're going to see Paris, beyond your prideful condemnations of her. But she immediately follows with "And I'm satisfied, oh no, ohh." So she's just gotten through telling us that we'll see beyond this oversexed image that we're used to, and follows immediately by changing the meaning of "see the real me inside," into a sexual phrase.

Plus, the title of the song: On one hand "Stars Are Blind" in context refers to the fates. The fates are blind, love is blind, Paris Hilton can fall in love with anyone because she's such a deep person. "Got a haert and soul and body," etc. But it also means that stars, like Paris Hilton, are literally blind. The subtext of the song is that she's literally seducing this good boy. "I'm perfect for you," reminds me of the scene in Evita where Evita keeps reassuring Peron that "I'll be good for you." So I hear this other story going on where the sexualized Hilton keeps undermining the potential good girl who wants a good guy. That she's literally blind to this condition makes it the complete opposite of the original meaning of "Stars are Blind." It isn't love that's blind, it's Paris Hilton that's blind.

I heard this a month ago and was really, really pleasantly surprised by it. Why didn't I venture into this thread before? I tend to avoid Rolling threads in general it seems. Don't know why. The size overwhelms me methinks.

Mordy, that's a great post. I guess I need to pay more attention to the words, rather than just sitting back and hope they come to me some day.

Thing is (as I've been saying), I actually love the sound Paris and crew got out of her voice. It's like husky butter, whereas I bet unaccompanied and single-tracked it's just a husk.

And maybe I'm coming to think that that voice is a personality, after all.

Hola

We've been getting many messages asking about our US release date recently, so I thought I'd take this chance to give you all an update. So far NO US RELEASE DATE has been scheduled, but we can tell you it will be sometime early next year. Fingers crossed, if all goes well! Our label Maverick is no longer in existance, and we are now only on Warner. This has caused a bit of a setback as far as the US goes, but don't worry, we still plan on releasing Inside the Hollow and touring "south of the border" :)

For all of our glorious wonderful fanships living outside Canada or Japan, you can order Inside the Hollow online from www.lillix.net or www.maplemusic.com.

(Ad on MySpace.)

Which in a way, is the perfect Paris vocal--100% processed and in every way an assemblage of parts recpnfigured by code.

If the context were more what passes for post modern, if there were a knowing smile somewhere, or, well, anything, it could be sickly brilliant.

But as is, it's the perfect audio for Maxim readers--the only imaginable audience. And even they might be put off by the plastic.

This sounds like I don't like Hilton--it's not that. I do find 'her' faintly scary, like some strange devolution, or the result of some mad labs' persona stripping experiments.

Obviously, Lee has a swell voice--so if even she gets that frequency-beating effect--like most folks--no, all folks--do, then Hilton's must be corrected for that silky rayon sound.

And the punch-ins--well, the songs' melodies are very punch-in-friendly, and while I'm guessing, I can't imagine Hilton would be able to do entire takes--and really, why bother trying. That's not a dis on her; it's just a way of making stuff.

According to Perez Hilton and Jessica P and Myspace, fan_3 is in a new band. They didn't write the track of the year. Shut Up Stella...listening to "Country Lemonade" now, kind of a nice silly c. 2000 teenpop throwback like Daphne and Celeste with...I dunno, B*Witched maybe in the chorus + some funny fan_3 verses ("I'm gonna get so Big and Rich -- shit -- and get high with the Dixie Chicks") OK, maybe this is the best thing ever.

"What sets the group apart from the status quo is their wide range of musical influences. The combination of Fan_3s hip hop background, Kristens SoCal punk rock and Jessies singer-songwriter world gives their music a refreshingly unique and surprisingly catchy edge, as if someone laced an Eve and Green Day sandwich with a healthy dose of Spice."

A very healthy dose of Spice, if by Spice they mean the first wave of post-Spice teenpop.

I'm not sure exactly what my problem is with Hilary because she seems in theory to be a great pop star but there's just this sense of trying too hard which I find kind of embarrassing. Like many US pop acts, she has good intentions with her pop-rock and electro-pop singles, but somewhere along the line something is going wrong because she's doing the kind of music I love and I am just not interested at all. I've nothing against Hilary herself, although she could do with being a bit more 'rough around the edges', but I just don't connect to her music at all. Some of her songs I don't mind listening to eg. Come Clean and Beat of My Heart, but I've never made any particular effort to listen to them. It could just be my personal taste doesn't match with her musical output, but it seems strange when I usually love electro-pop and rock-pop and I wouldn't consider myself particularly fussy. I just think for such a big star she really is not making as good music as she has the power to do. Her greatest hits was a US no.1 so it can't be difficult to get good producers on board, but for some reason she's never made a song that I've downloaded and played more than once immediately. I don't know if it's just me or if I'm right and she really isn't as good as she should be.

PHONECALLS ARE GREAT
here are some highlights from the one I just had with Sir Mimster.

G: I hate you.
B: I can't stand you.
G: No, I can't stand YOU.
B: Well, I'm sitting down.

or also.

B: Dude, there was 18,000 people there.
G: Shit.
B: I KNOW. I did a show once for 6,000 people and it was too much for me to handle.
G: Thats like, more than double.
B: Well, its closer to "less than triple"
G: Yeah.
B: Yeah.
G: Hey, ISN'T it triple?
B: No.
G: 6,000 times 3 is....
B: 18,000.
G: Right.
B: Oh uuuuhhhhh. Shut up.

In other news. I like:
1.) the sound of pennies falling.
2.) my armpit smells like dogfood.
3.) "pool's gone."
4.) friend request from The Morning Benders.
5.) the beast.
6.) diva eating dunkaroos.
7.) distance has no way of making love, understandable.
8.) blue.

[I didn't get a chance to read the piece, however. The headline was in a sidebox on the cover of I forget which tab, so one can predict that the article is approximately a paragraph and doesn't tell us a whole lot about Ashlee. Oh, and Us Weekly believes that Jessica has a new boyfriend.]

Singer John Mayer, who's currently on tour with Sheryl Crow. There's some tab headline about how "a friend says he makes her heart flutter" or something like that.

http://www.tommy2.net/2006newsgraphics/alilohanearly.jpg

Still haven't heard any Platinum Weird outside Myspace.