Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

Speaking of Kelly Clarkson, her playlist on VH1.com is amusing: http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/clarkson_kelly/artist.jhtml (Click "My Playlist"). Features Britney Spears, No Doubt, Outkast, etc. with Kelly cutely talking about why she likes each video. I was amused.

<a href=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Music-Kelly-Clarkson.html>;Kelly canceled her tour</a>. I'll have to find another birthday present now.

Stupid HTML.

From Britney's Web site:

"You'll Never See it My Way,
Because You're Not Me"

Britney is asking her most die-hard fans for some assistance in order to name her upcoming album.

Possible Album Titles:

1. Omg is Like Lindsay Lohan Like Okay Like
2. What if the Joke is on You
3. Down boy
4. Integrity
5. Dignity

Members of the Britney Spears Official Fan Club can vote by clicking here!

I think these are quite funny. AOL reported this as Britney mocking Lindsay, but I think the joke's on them. Or it's on Hilary.

Indeed, I also think the joke is on Hilary.

If Brit doesn't use title #1, someone else should. Lily Allen?

Strange but emotionally effective low-budget video for Kleerup f. Robyn "Every Heartbeat." Good post about it from Kat.

Metal Mike, via email (which he attached scans of the photos of the toys to, but I don't know how to do that so just use Google image search I guess):

i pass Subway walking/running back the 2 blocks from a 1st Rep bank deposit (owner's account) at work.

= Subway $3.99@ KIDS MEALS have

3 THREE
3 THREE
THREE 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

different "Hannah Montana" toys

2 of them are actually pretty cool
the 3rd one is inconclusive

i'll hack Google and try to link it (found the 3 pics on Ebay easy)

if a free Hannah Montana cool looking junk toy (2) wouldn't work at bribe/carrot for 72+ hours of good behavior until the day after Boards, nothing would/will

(ok, pictures on Ebay where a set of three counting postage goes for the same price as the whole meal/3 toys)

of course you have to go to TWO different shops to increase the odds of getting the cool "guitar" backpack clip

or be smart and watch someone open their toy at the first Subway you walk into

orrr you could just have me to it all day on sunday june 24th until the terror monsters have 4 total to fight over which 2 diff each one gets

that would only require TWO diff shops, if one of them had the GUITAR CLIP

if i starve myself until 3pm that day i might be useful also (for food procurement/Subway).

Not from Metal Mike, but via email anyway. (I thought these people's last album was boring, unless I am confusing them with Zoegirl or Superchick):

Nashville, TN (June 13, 2007) – The wait is almost over as the three-sister band, BarlowGirl, is scheduled to release their highly-anticipated third project on Fervent Records, How Can We Be Silent, on July 24.

The new album features 10 original compositions by Barlow members, Rebecca, Alyssa, and Lauren, and showcases deeper, more mature lyrics that signify the strength of this new project. The songs are a bold approach in standing up for God and fighting for what is right, with the cover artwork featuring the group in a boxing ring. The album even sports a song entitled “One More Round,” which is one of Rebecca’s favorites.

“It was inspired by a teaching on a Focus on the Family radio broadcast,” she recalls. “The guest was an ex-football player and he talked about boxing and how our spiritual life is like being in a boxing ring. It doesn’t matter how many times we are knocked down, we need to get right back up and keep following what God has for us.”

BarlowGirl has solidified their rock stature in the Chris tian and mainstream music scene with their 2004 self-titled debut and follow-up 2005 project, Another Journal Entry. The success of these two albums resulted in sales of over 550,000, four #1 hits, nine Dove Award nominations and the mega-hit, “I Need You To Love Me,” became the longest #1 single in Chris tian Radio Weekly’s CHR chart history at a record 13 weeks. BarlowGirl has been featured on NBC News/Today show, Associated Press, Sophisticates Hairstyle magazine, winner of Yahoo! Music’s “Who’s Next” series and recently was named the 2007 Youth Ambassador for the National Day of Prayer

A thread from a couple years ago:

Barlowgirl vs. Zoegirl

Christgau on their previous album:

Another Journal Entry [Fervent/Curb, 2005]
These three Christian sisters from Illinois specialize in arena-emo love songs to that perfect Guy, who unlike so many guys forgives them when they fail Him. One exception, if I'm not mistaken--and I may be, Christian code is a motherfucker--is "5 Minutes of Fame," apparently a message song for the "secondary virginity" movement. Not that they're in need of the secondary kind themselves--they're lucky if "maybe I gave in more than I should" (for "popularity") recalls anything heavier than a copped feel. Here's hoping they meet Sufjan Stevens at prayer meeting. C-

Well, at least Everlife had the sense not to be Barlowgirl, I guess...Radio Disney doesn't seem to touch any of their original material with a ten-foot pole (they get the Veronicas' potential, like, tenth single!).

Wait, is Xgau saying that someone would wanna bang SUFJAN STEVENS???

Not only that, I believe he's saying that Stevens is some sort of Serge Gainsbourg-esque corrupter of young beauties.

I'm still struggling to process the brilliance of that Britney poll. All would be great song titles too.

Apparently, Esmee's opening for Justin in Europe.

I love the "With Every Heartbeat" video. It's so looonely

Observer Music Monthly's teen issue, featuring roughly none of the acts mentioned on this thread. Unless I missed something.

Actually, no, Tokio Hotel get a passing mention.

I think Smoosh may have been mentioned in the 06 thread as well.

Abby McDonald on Tweenpop for AristDirect. Funny, I'm still planning an essay on children's agency and related issues, but I don't think I'll be calling it "The Kids Are All Right" any more.

Excellent article, and reminded me that in doing some snoopin' around I found out there was a proto-Hilary of sorts, Mexican-American teenpopper Myra, who I know little about but would like to do some research on. She was Hollywood's first homegrown star, but never went anywhere after her first album ("Myra" in English, "Milagra" in Spanish). Can't find her on MySpace yet.

I'm ga-ga at how unequivocably unabashedly intelligent the Britney album-title poll is. I've loved some of her music but I've never paid much attention to Britney the human being, and maybe if I had I wouldn't have been surprised. After all, you don't make consistently good music with a whole bunch of different collaborators without having some smarts, somewhere. But in her last message to her fans she'd come across as a typically self-addled, self-deceiving ditz, explaining or apologizing for herself in a way that blamed everybody but herself. But the album titles just throw the darts right through the needle's eye, socially acute, just pegs it.

Britney's antics may beat anyone's actual chords and beats and melodies for my favorite musical moments so far this year.

koganbot: Unfortunately, potentialbreakup.com only takes me to "The website address you entered could not be found."

piratemoggy: That is a very harsh break up indeed.

Brie Larson shares her melody idea for a new song. Can't listen now, so lemme know how it is...

Video for "Potential Breakup Song" by Aly & A.J.

Brie song is called "Church Of What," is wordless so far, and a bit churchy - well, nice harmonies, and reminds me of the song "Three Ravens" by Peter Paul & Mary, which was old Brit modal or minor or something, though Brie being Brie she's not sounding doleful in her minor-key-ness. Sounds a bit ambitiously jazzy but not in a way that undercuts the emotion. A good strange chord she creates at the end.

Glad you liked the article!

Now, the potential break-up video... This is obviously their 'cross-over' push, and I'm v impressed with how it's being positioned. Paint splatters = creativity and spontanaity; grey-tones = mature; real instruments and studio jam = authenticity, folks; and the pouting/'sexy' dancing = 'we're not just for Christians!' Excellent management/label strategy, and what came through for me was the assertiveness/sassy elements, which is probably important in 'overcoming' the blonde sister/Disney packaged background handicap. Hence also I think the big avoidence of cute in all but the few insets.

'the potential breakup song' has the er potential to be really, really massive this year.

and yeah agree w/ abby on the video's marketing strategy.

I like the video a lot, and the song, and I recognize it's only now getting its push, but I'm not as optimistic as Lex given that so far it's getting only middling play on Disney and virtually no play on Top 40 (8 spins nationally, according to Mediabase, I'd guess all on one station). I do think the success of "Girlfriend" could help it - not that the song sounds much like "Girlfriend," but the success of some pop that's neither r&b nor rock (well, obviously "Girlfriend" is rock, but it's not classified as rock) at least opens some radio-station minds. And "Potential Breakup Song" is better than "Girlfriend." But I still think there's a lot counting against it - not the Xtianity thing, which no one in particular knows or cares about outside the CCR market, but just that they're associated with teenpop, there's still something square about them, and they don't sound much like r&b. Tisdale and Hudgens never crossed over, despite having good material that was more in line with what Top 40 is playing. And radio stations took forever to finally warm to "U + Ur Hand," which was from an established Top 40 act.

"CCR" should be "CCM."

This is a totally random tangent, because I'm thinking about doing a column on it, but does anyone have some insight into Hispanic connection to the Disney media universe? From my limited research on Hollywood (the place, not the label) production in Latin America and marketing to Latin American audiences in the US, it's my understanding that Latin Americans in the US by and large stick to Latin American-produced media -- there have been few rigorous attempts to market, e.g., Hollywood films to a niche Hispanic argument, usually settling for dubbing/subtitling misadventures that routinely fail to find a substantial market.

So the failure of Myra to really take off -- along with Hollywood probably not knowing exactly what it was doing yet or understanding the cross-platforming power of the Disney brand (which seems to require something I'm tentatively calling "transmedia saturation" until someone tells me that this term already exists and/or is stupid) -- may have been that they were positioning her for the same elusive (to Disney) Hispanic market that wasn't watching their dubbed animated flicks.

This is mostly speculation, refutations or comments welcome. Hollywood (Records) is seemingly still trying to attract Hispanic audiences -- Jeannie Ortega is marketed with an emphasis on her Puerto Rican background, though I don't think her album went anywhere. (Had a cameo from Papoose on her single; that's all I really know about her, except her music is kinda boring). But I wonder how actively Disney is still trying to capture the Hispanic/Latin American market (I think they have one station in South America); Reggaeton Ninos were added to the playlist recently but they never played them, Belinda was pushed pretty hard, and I think RBD were as well -- but what's interesting is that now (as opposed to c. Myra) for the most part the Hispanic artists on Disney seem to come from outside the "universe" itself, possibly already popular and then co-opted (but never pushed that hard) for soundtracks and maybe a bit of airplay.

*haha niche Hispanic audience. Look at how confrontational I am.

See, I like this site because they'll throw in a paragraph (and accompanying crazy link) like this btw Jonas Bros CD release parties and Jordan Pruitt releasing "Teenager" as her next single:

Last week several items went up for sale as investors try to recover their losses from Lou Pearlman who was taken into custody on Thursday by the FBI in Indonesia. Many of his collectibles were on the auction block in Orlando, FL including Gold Records from Aaron Carter, Backstreet Boys, LFO, Natural, N’Sync, O-Town and more.

Lessee, weirdest juxtaposition...ah, here we go:

290 1 LOT JORDAN KNIGHT CD'S (APPROXIMATELY 500 PIECES)
291 1 FRAMED PICTURE - PARROTS

292 1 Jordan Knight CD of parrots singing New Kids On The Block classics

that invoice chock full of Aaron Carter memorabilia reminds me:

"Saturday Night" was an underrated single.

The Avril/ lil Mama track now has a video, so I guess they're pushing for an official release? It's very very cute.

New Mandy Moore CD being streamed on AOL Listening Party (have only listened to one song so far and kinda expect it to suck; like Marit she's making the transition to singer-songwriter, unlike Marit she's going to be dumb. (But actually first song isn't awful by any means, but is vacuous self-esteem crap that the pop Mandy's now supposedly positioning herself against churns out daily; and I kinda like track two as well; hmmm, maybe this will be a good stupid singer-songwriter album. Also I'm drdounk, er durou, er drunk.. er a little tipsy.)

(Third song is terrible, however.)

Avril Lavigne f. Lil Mama "Girlfriend (Dr. Luke Remix)" video here (but it's Launch Yahoo, so they may make you sign in).

I like M.Moore's "Most of Me," very countrypolitan. Are we just calling this teenpop because she was once a teenager though? It's so much more a country record than anything meant for or marketed for teenagers.

wow how about the song where she says she hopes dude burns in hell? I ARE A GROWNUPZ

Speaking of former teenpoppers who now seem country, has anyone heard the new Bon Jovi album, Lost Highway? I've heard the title track. Ringing guitars and a nice sing-along chorus that is emphatically pleasant but not remotely as good as [insert title of any of 20 or 30 songs by John Shanks, the former teenpopper I was referring to].

MONTHS LATE:

'over it' and 'open toes' by katharine mcphee are AMAZING!

Miranda fans not fond of Caine Mutiny

Aly & AJ and Christianity? Check out this comment an Aly & AJ fan recently left on my blog, which I thought was interesting enough to transcribe here:

"I mean I picked a brio magazine (Christian magazine for girls) up some place and they were on the front cover. They had a very interesting column. Then, a couple months later I picked up another one and it had a column of what the members thought of it. Three out of the five said that they were disappointed when they saw them on the cover. One said that her and her sister were disappointed to see them on the cover because they didn’t want to see two “Disney” girls on the cover of a Christian magazine. I, of course, disagreed with it."

I've heard the title track. Ringing guitars and a nice sing-along chorus that is emphatically pleasant but not remotely as good as [insert title of any of 20 or 30 songs by John Shanks, the former teenpopper I was referring to].

Lots of autotune on the snippets of songs in the ad being shotgunned into CMT. Didn't sound bad but maybe not good enough to get me to buy it on inspiration. Lots of flogging of Jon on CMT, and -- coincidentally -- in the LA Times Calendar section, whose interest in country seems directly proportional in the past few weeks to the Bon Jovi pr campaign wrapped around the album.

I don't think its possible for Calendar to publish a story about country without either mentioning Bon Jovi or putting a picture of him or the band in the newspaper along with some caption claiming Jon and company invented something.

Well, you could claim that Bon Jovi and Johnny Cougar are at the roots of a lot of modern country, though the Cougar claim would be stronger.

When you said "autotune" I read "autoharp" and thought "Hmmm, that could be good." I'm totally incapable of telling if something's been autotuned. Not that I care. (I suppose I'm capable of telling when something for sure hasn't been autotuned, like the first Modern Lovers album.)

Currently on The Hits - a Corbin Bleu infomercial!

"What's it like to be Corbin Bleu?"

"It's neverending, it's exciting, it's... unexpected..."

Some commentary on reception so far to My December and other thangs:

Me: I also think the industry is in enough upheaval at the moment that you get a lot of weird and unexpected reversals. Like Fefe Dobson putting out an album on Island that got dropped before it was even released and selling for ~$400 on eBay! W/ seeming hoax at Amazon that you can pre-order it to arrive by 2010. Or the current Kelly C. saga, which I'm very interested to see play out in the reviews sections. It's a small album with big ideas in it, put out by an artist who wanted to do whatever the fuck she wanted to do, and I respect her for it -- just wondering how much Idol baggage will carry over this time around. Her rock stuff ("Hole" still on repeat) is probably as gritty as any other rock album that's going to come out this year, but so far the whole "controversy" hasn't really recast Kelly as legit rock artist with serious aspirations to be seriously taken seriously.

Groke: Very bad review from The Guardian, by Caroline Sullivan. I can't work out what the first sentence of para 2 is even TRYING to mean!

"Kelly Clarkson has made enough of a career for herself - her last album sold 11m worldwide - that she no longer needs the prefix "American Idol winner". This has given her the authority to dictate the shape of her third album, and she has opted for rock. That's not rock as in "ROCK", obviously, but the wipe-clean kind that begs your pardon for making noise.

Paradoxically, Clarkson has been hailing the "intimacy" of the self-composed songs, which were written during an introspective period that followed her winning no fewer than 21 music awards in 2005/06. She writes in bland generalities, though, rarely equalling the directness of the opening Never Again ("I hope the ring you gave her turns her finger green/I hope when you're in bed with her you think of me"), and uses her opulent voice as a battering ram. The spooky ballroom-waltz of Irvine just about saves things, and hints at what could have been."

Worst word: "obviously", obviously.

Me: "uses her opulent voice as a battering ram"

This is OTM! I love that about her voice. I think my next column is going to be about "My December" and symbolic torture. It's very intense, and also an excellent rock album (I don't have any idea what she means by "wipe-clean," some of this stuff is absolutely brutal!).

Scott W: "Paradoxically, Clarkson has been hailing the 'intimacy' of the self-composed songs, which were written during an introspective period that followed her winning no fewer than 21 music awards in 2005/06."

I think what she's trying to say here is, this is a "personal statement" album, though her use of the word "paradoxically" is odd--it's like she thinks there's something paradoxical about performing "intimate" songs in a "rock" vein. That old intimacy-must-equal-Joni-Mitchell assumption?

A more interesting paradox, maybe, is the "not rock as in 'ROCK'" line--a paradox given that her use of scare quotes kind of unintentionally turns her point upside down, doesn't it?

"Or the current Kelly C. saga, which I'm very interested to see play out in the reviews sections. It's a small album with big ideas in it, put out by an artist who wanted to do whatever the fuck she wanted to do, and I respect her for it -- just wondering how much Idol baggage will carry over this time around."

Hmmm... this is precisely the stuff that will make me not want to read the reviews of this record. I need to think about why, though.

Eppy: Guardian review is interesting in that it makes an ostensibly "popist" criticism (i.e. "why doesn't she just stick to being a popstar instead of trying to express herself") in the context of defending "'ROCK'". At the end of the day it's this sorta stuff I ultimately don't like, the closing down of borders, the insistence that artists stay exactly what they are and proceed in expected directions when they do change (i.e. towards "respectability"). That's what pop sorta symbolizes to me. It's like a [pivot chord], the venue where you can change over. Because any genre can have poppiness, but only two genres can have pedal steel. If it's already poppy, it can also be whatever genre you want.

Oh and from my research interests around the "pulling a Mandy" move, I think the pressure on mainstream pop music-makers tends to come from their fellow musicians introducing them to "real quality stuff" which is always fairly boring. Musicians like VERY BORING MUSIC.
There's a perception that mainstream pop fans will ALWAYS start liking less mainstream stuff, that it's a phase you grow out of. The arguments against mainstream pop are so ingrained in our discourse about music that indie/underground partisans feel they don't even need to make a solid case. "How can you even like that?" is what it comes down to.

A few months ago, dabug rattled off a few forgotten (or soon to be forgotten) teenpop acts. That's how I discovered the insanity that is Gemz.

One of the other ones was The Valli Girls. And the Valli Girls confuse me.

I was only able to download 2 songs, a dull ballad off the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie (Always There In You) and a mindbending single- Don't Gotta.

Don't Gotta is amazing. It has an extremely lame chorus-- "Don't Gotta Have Sex, babe, if you want to be sexxxxy!"-- and the verses are a nonsensical melange of female empowerment, but the song is an assault of hooks. This song has it all: monstrous chord progression, huge bass, beautiful vocal harmonies and fills, a rap solo, a soaring guitar fill, and even a tire screech for good measure. I love it.

So then I visited their myspace page. It hasn't been updated in 7 months. The band is seemingly defunct, without ever putting out a record, but you can stream basically an entire album.

The descriptions of the band itself on the myspace, and their label's website, are unbelievable:

"Costa Rican native Houghton is the band's powerhouse vocalist. Guitarist Danielle Haim-who is endorsed by Gibson guitars-was schooled on Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton and "all three Kings-Albert, Freddie and of course, B.B." Danielle's sister, Este-the most outgoing and boy crazy member of the band-brings the slappin', in-your-face bass to the party. The classically-trained, Japanese-American, Ally Maki works her magic on the keyboard. Although she is the youngest member of the band, Lil' Nix plays seven instruments and brings slamming drum beats with a hip-hop attitude."

"Lil Nix can quote any Notorious B.I.G song VERBATUM (sic). Try her. She never disappoints. She also happens to be ridiculously punc tual (sic)! Jeez Nix! Raquel Houghton is our fearless lead singer who always brings the funk when we're jamming. Plus she has the best reflexes of anyone in the Valley. Not sure what that means but its gotta be good. Pura Vida. She also hails from Costa Rica. Sweet. Danielle Haim rocks out on her guitar and puts all the boys to shame with her mad shredding skills. It has been witnessed. Please do not attempt unless you would like the shredding of the skills up close. Don't mess with her, she knows Kung Fu. Ally Maki is our resident Chopin/Keytar player, who also has the most vast knowledge of the Chanel clothing line EVER! Not to mention she's pretty handy with a pair of scissors and a needle and thread. Ally really needs to be in the next installment of Charlie's Angels. Just a thought. Este Haim enjoys slapping things, among them is the bass. She also has a kick ass sense of humor and always keeps us laughing. And no....she's not crazy........ all in all, to us its all about having fun and playing our music! that's all for now folks!"

I mean, seriously. WHAT? Is this for real? Or is it all a Monkees-like act? The gorgeous lead singer with chops, the quirky bassist with a more rock voice, the cute asian keyboardist, the spunky rapper/drummer. It's all a little hard to believe. But... I want to believe.

Do they actually play the instruments on the records? Because, indeed, the drumming on the records IS awesome, and the bass is great too. And I mean, fuck, a KEYTAR?!?!!?

And the songs, the songs! Why didn't they ever release the record?

Born to Lead- Minimalist R&B with synth riff. Somehow related to a Cosmo Girl promotion

It's a hair thing- Fun Disney Channel rockpop with the INSANE lyric "Welcome to the Trollz World," and the awesome lyric "Conquer evil, then go shopping." Apparently from some Trollz related cartoon.

Don de esta Corazon- Latin ballad. Why not? Effective chorus, yet again.

Keys to the hummer- AWESOME lyrical hook in chorus. "don't want to be the fun for your summer, just give me the keys to your hummer" Novelty subject matter should have resulted in a hit, I think. Feisty, ultra-simple guitar fill that warms my heart.

Amazing- Maybe their high point. The chorus has a vocal run that is delicate, subtle and irresistible. But listening to this song, you'd think it was not from a band, but a solo pop singer. That's a striking thing about their songs-- each one is dramatically different.

Never Say Never- Enjoyable ripoff of Complicated. Like that song, has fun rhythmic adventures in the verses.

I would appreciate any and all further information about this unusual band that the board can provide.

Resistance is futile (Fergie conquers Kelefa).

that's a great article on fergie ferg - definitely reflects how my initial suspicion about her total WRONGNESS was replaced by the realisation that this wrongness is what makes her great.

Guardian review is interesting in that it makes an ostensibly "popist" criticism (i.e. "why doesn't she just stick to being a popstar instead of trying to express herself")

still haven't got round to the kelly c album, but a lot of the dismissal of it from pop outlets eg popjustice is the same...