Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

Taylor Swift's faves over at MSN. I'm pretty sure that question about Xgau was an editorial comment...she likes Fefe Dobson! Someone should email her a zip of Sunday Love.

Return of the Brie. Recommended.

Also, this sounds entertaining:

Friday Night Talent Show
Radio Disney's Friday Night Talent Show is a unique new show that allows kids to participate in a "talent show" by calling in and singing karaoke-style to popular Radio Disney music including songs from Disney High School Musical 2.

I just posted this on the rolling country thread:

Other than some decorative twangy guitar on "Who Says," I've not heard anything close to country out of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana - that is until "See You Again," which is head, shoulders, and torso above anything else she's ever recorded. A disco-ball arrangement of rockabilly menace music* (that is, closer to Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Chris Isaak than to Elvis and Jerry Lee), doomy reverb, except the lyrics are all sweet girl crush, Miley anxiously but optimistically falling in love! And there's this great bright thwomp-thwomp-thwomp disco pop chorus about being shy and tongue-tied, though with a promise of better things to come: "The next time we hang out/I will redeem myself."

*The tune reminds me of "Bad Things" from last year's Jace Everett alb, though the style is standard enough that I should be able to think of fifty better-known examples, 'cept my memory is Swiss cheese today.

The site's a fake, but right now "See You Again" is the second song posted on this MySpace site.

New York, NY (Billboard Publicity Wire) August 3, 2007 -- Billboard, the world's most comprehensive source of music, digital data and events, today announced an expansion of its Hot 100 formula to include weekly streamed and on-demand music data to the chart's traditional mix of sales and radio airplay. Keeping pace with the growth of digital delivery, Billboard's franchise chart will be supplemented by weekly data from AOL Music (www.music.aol.com) and Yahoo! Music, two of the most prominent sources of online music.

Full article here.

I wonder why they didn't include MTV, which also streams a lot of stuff.

I'm sure that the number of listens that streamed material gets on YouTube and MySpace absolutely dwarfs the listens from Yahoo and AOL combined; but there's no real way to monitor 'em.

Flipping through the charts:

"Potential Breakup Song" slowly rising on Top 40 radio, up to a not-very-impressive 450 spins, which is about where "Rush" peaked. Doing reasonably well in places like Louisville and Charleston S.C. (spins in the 30s); the only major markets where it's getting much play are Cleveland (spins just jumped to the mid 20s but on a station that no one listens to) and Milwaukee (stalling in the mid 20s). Is in the mid 20s on a well-listened to station in Providence. Spins in the 30s on Sirius satellite radio, which doesn't mean many listeners but is a sign of popular support for music that doesn't fit into regular radio demographics (Big & Rich and Miranda Lambert always do well there). Only got three adds last week, so its prospects for further improvement aren't good.

Two albums I reviewed well over a year ago, by Flyleaf and by Little Big Town, are back in the Top 100. Flyleaf's doing searing goth-pop agony, and going on the basis of sound alone, if Flyleaf can get play on the active rock stations so should Kelly Clarkson. But stations don't make decisions on the basis of sound alone, of course.

On Enrique Iglesias's "Push," which is the first Enrique Iglesias single I've given a damn about since 1999, Lil Wayne says, "Mama, I can help you get off like the weekend," which is good, especially when he manages to rhyme "weekend" with "Enrique," but not as good as Fannypack's "Get off, like a wedding gown."

Glad to see Wayne's finding some work. I was wondering what had become of him.

Those of you who watch the charts 24/7 have no doubt noticed that Aly & A.J.'s Insomniatic is at 41 on the Billboard 200 after three weeks, whereas Iglesias's Insomniac is at 83 after seven weeks.

Billy Ray Cyrus enters at 20, Tegan and Sara at 34, and BarlowGirl at 40. But you already knew that.

"Potential Breakup Song" is atop Radio Disney with 77 spins, though that's meaningless in relation to the act's long-run viability. Pleased to see that "Umbrella" is one of the eight songs in the top tier of Disney play. Also up there is a "Troy Bolton" song I've yet to hear.

On the Disney Channel tonight:

6:00 PM Hannah Montana
6:30 PM Hannah Montana
7:00 PM Hannah Montana
7:30 PM Hannah Montana

OK, just listened to the Troy Bolton "Bet On It" at Dailymotion. Not bad sub-*NSync r&bish dance-pop. Will fit in seamlessly on Radio Disney. Couldn't tell if it was Zac or Drew singing, or a composite.

(Note to self: stop making the same lame lil wayne gag.)

Got my copy of HSM II about... 45 minutes ago. Which is about how long it took to listen to it. First impressions; seems much more disco/dance influenced than the first one. And there are far less love songs/ballads than the first one. Also, the Troy/Gabrielle seems to be underplayed (to much better effect), with only one duet between them (plus a breakup song), and Sharpay gets a lot more time - probably because of her success outside of HSM (contrasted to at least Gabriella - Troy is in Hairspray, right?).

Anyway, I think it's a lot more successful than the first album, and certainly much more adult. Whether it'll be as successful is a different question. I don't hear anything as 'free lunch' as "Stick to What You Know." Though, I don't know if that was the breakthrough track from the first album (it was just mine).

("Stick to the Status Quo?")

So I was thinking today about how funny it was that Devo 2.0 got away with a straight cover of "Uncontrollable Urge" on a Disney album, and listened to it again only to hear, for the first time, this VERY DISNEY edit, which (unless you wanna be super dirty about it) eliminates the ambiguity:

"before dinner, after lunch/ I get a snack attack, I need to munch!"

Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne will both perform on the 2007 Teen Choice Awards. Kelly will play her song "Never Again," while Avril will be performing her hit "Girlfriend."

The show airs on Sunday, August 26th. Hilary Duff and Nick Cannon will host.

Hm, lessee if I can think of a few celebrities who will likely NOT be in attendance...

Other celebrities who are due to appear at Teen Choice 2007 include Jessica Alba, Megan Fox, Emmy Rossum, Lauren Conrad, Miley Cyrus, Ashlee Simpson, Anna Paquin, Dane Cook, Jared Padalecki and Taylor Kitsch.

Yo Gabba Gabba lives! Premieres on Nickelodeon August 20. Feat. Mark Mothersbaugh, the Shins, Rahzel, Biz Markie, and Sugarland. In the Sunday Times Arts & Leisure section, but doesn't seem to be online yet.

Also an article online about the HSM stage adaptation. The annoying cult religion metaphor and condescending audience qualifiers (What began as a mere made-for-television movie (on the Disney Channel, yet) has grown quickly into an international phenomenon both commercial and spiritual, at least for tweenage youngsters (mostly girls).) don't go away.

Britney Spears has recruited Swedish pop singer and songwriter Robyn Miriam Carlsson to pen a track for her new album.

The singer has turned to Robyn - who is currently at number five in the UK chart with her song With Every Heartbeat - for help as she searches for the perfect comeback track to re-launch her pop career.

"I've been approached about writing a new song for Britney and I'm cool with that," Robyn told the Daily Star. "I've written for her before but it only got to the recording stages, so doing it again would be a good move for me. I'd like to think I could help."

Robyn added that she is aiming for the new track to be "fresh and modern" like Rihanna's Umbrella, which stuck at the top of the UK chart for ten weeks.

"I love Umbrella by Rihanna. I know it got on some people's nerves but there's something really fresh and modern about that song," she said. "I respect artists like Lily Allen and Kate Nash but they're not what I play on my stereo."

excellent decision by Brit.

I listened to Radio Disney for the first time yesterday. A surprising lack of new material, I thought-- almost all of it was stuff I heard 6 months ago. I presume they're simply not pushing the Pruitt and Tisdale albums, which is a shame.

GENIUS. I might be seeing J0rdin Sparks at the American Idol show this week...I was planning on giving her a CD with Robyn/Annie/The Knife/Jacques Lu Cont tracks on it (in hopes that she'd recruit one of them for her record).

They pushed Tisdale for a while. Thing is, I think the groups really do live and die by the call-in votes, even when most of the material being offered is from Disney -- it explains why Cheetah Girls (comparatively) tank while Jonas Bros. won't budge from the charts and Hannah Montana (IIRC) still has like ten out of thirty tracks in the Top 30.

Came here to post that Hilary Duff has been covering Depeche Mode and Pat Benatar in concert. Duffeche Mode - Personal Jesus (clearer-sounding but shorter clip). And Duff is a Battlefield (no, I don't expect that to stop being funny).

(I think she's just sampling "Personal Jesus.")

"You Are the Music in Me" is a great song.

Coincidentally, I finally heard the Tisdale album for the first time yesterday. It's, um, solid. Few surprises until the end - the opening to "Suddenly" was unexpected and I would have liked more in the way of exposed singing of that sort. I expect more spins will bring out further highlights though.

More laffs from Brie Larson.

A somber statement from JoJo, via Idolator:

If you feel overwhelmed by what you are about to read, I am with you. When I take a step back, I sometimes feel ashamed by my materialistic nature as a young American and as if there is nothing that I can personally do to put an end to the monstrocities going on in the world, specifically in The Sudan. And I also find it alarming that we, as a nation, seem to be more concerned with a hollwood party girl's latest panty-less escapades than with the hateful and destructive plans of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan's evil dictator. With so much wealth, opportunity, peace, and security around us as citizens of the United States, its so easy to forget that there is a whole world out there who does not live like we do. People inhabiting and assisting in The Sudan and surrounding countries live in CONSTANT FEAR. Not fear that us American children have, ( boogey-man under the bed ... Fear that the tooth fairy might only leave $1...) I mean the fear of having limbs blown off from random bombings, schools and entire villages being burned down, running to a supposed UN airplane ( they bring food and other vital supplies) which are painted white but discovering that it is infact a Janjaweed aircraft that was posing as the United Nations(it is illegal to have an aircraft painted in that fashion unless it is a UN craft) and being killed by the militants, being raped and expected to bear the product of a hateful conception, and other very harsh realities.

As I drove home from the gym tonight I realized that in the scheme of things, I have absolutely no idea what fear truly is. It is impossible to justify what is going on in The Sudan and just as impossible to relate to what the victims of the tragedies endured. But what we can relate to is that we are all HUMAN BEINGS. Living, breathing people with hearts, and feelings, and potential to change the world and evoke change in each other. Hope should not be lost.

New term: "psycho-bling," which is what happens when your brain short-circuits altogether and you say things like this. I had a psycho-bling moment when I was writing an essay about Paris Hilton. I just needed a glass of water and encouragement not to publish what I'd written.

But she's right!

Well, not about American children not knowing what fear is, but some of the other stuff.

(Not that I know how my paying less attention to Lindsay Lohan is going to help Darfur.)

(That was what I was referring to -- deleted a panties joke. Her stuff about Darfur seemed accurate, and I don't think she should <i>ignore</i> it, just wonder how she plans to follow through with her concerns.)

(Hm, someone at Idolator wrote: "Wow, do you all have the drive to snark so bad that you can't give her a straightforward 'well said'?" and now I kinda feel like an asshole. So apologies to Jojo, but I'm also not going to stop thinking about panties.)

GENIUS. I might be seeing J0rdin Sparks at the American Idol show this week...I was planning on giving her a CD with Robyn/Annie/The Knife/Jacques Lu Cont tracks on it (in hopes that she'd recruit one of them for her record).

Please do it!!!

American Idol Season Six winner Jordin Sparks, the show's youngest winner ever, has signed to 19 Recordings/Jive Records, becoming the first "Idol" winner to join the label group.

Her first single, "Tattoo," will be released to U.S. radio on Aug. 27. Her debut album is due out in November. "Tattoo" was produced by the hit-making duo Stargate (Beyoncé, Ne-Yo) and co-written with Amanda Ghost, whose impressive credits include James Blunt's "Beautiful" and "Beautiful Liar" with Beyoncé and Shakira.

Have you guys spoken about this yet?:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=PxOaZiHw0Xo

I've never heard of half of these people. You can stream the rest of the soundtrack here -- nothing new that's better than that Prima J track that I can hear, but I can say (1) nice to hear so much teenpop throwback stuff in one place, even if most of it's pretty forgettable (dopey boyband NLT "oh baby she's heartburn!," dopey pop-punk with Sean Stewart, slight shades of Hoku in Chelsea Staub) and (2) do NOT say anything bad about Clique Girlz (formerly Clique, mentioned way above somewhere). They sound better than they used to after signing to Interscope, but their fans (and possibly family members) rigorously google them.

(That's the Bratz movie soundtrack, btw.)

YEAAHHHHHHH. The American Ido1 PR people are freaking me out...But yeah, it looks like I'll get to talk to her for a second time...Bad news is I have terrible selection for said CD...

If anyone can help me out with "Chewing Gum," you'd be a major pop hero (I have "Heartbeat"). Also, I can't find ANY of my favorite Jacques Lu Cont remixes (I like "What Else Is There," but it's definitely not my favorite). Here's what else I have (suggestions? I have lots of stuff on CD...this is just from my tiny mp3 collection):

Robyn - "Be Mine!"
Kleerup feat. Robyn - "With Every Heartbeat"
Annie - Heartbeat
The Knife - Heartbeat
The Knife - Silent Shout
The Knife - You Make Me Like Charity
Royksopp - What Else Is There (both Trentemoller/Thin White Duke remixes)
M.I.A. - Jimmy
M.I.A. - $20
M.I.A. - Boyz
The Field - Everyday
The Work - Givin' It Up
The Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (Soulwax Nite Edit)
Mahjongg - The Rrabbitt

ooooh. I should put some DFA stuff on here, amirite?

ANONYMOUS AWESOME ILXOR HELPED OUT/SAVED THE WORLD. THXX!!! :)

Does this look OK? It gets especially messy towards the end.

1. "Since I Left You" - The Avalanches
2. "With Every Heartbeat" - Kleerup feat. Robyn
3. "Heartbeat" - Annie
4. "Heartbeats" - The Knife
5. "Be Mine!" - Robyn
6. "Jimmy" - M.I.A.
7. "Boyz" - M.I.A.
8. "Chewing Gum" - Annie
9. "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" - Cansei De Ser Sexy
10. "Fix Up, Look Sharp" - Dizzee Rascal
11. "How Long Do I Have to Wait For You" - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
12. "Pull Shapes" - The Pipettes
13. "Panis Et Circenses" - Os Mutantes
14. "Digital Love" - Daft Punk
15. "Power is On" - The Go! Team
16. "Lazy Line Painter Jane" - Belle & Sebastian
17. "Teardrops on My Guitar" - Taylor Swift
18. "A Toast to the Month of July" - Shirrelle C. Limes
19. "Poor Old Soul Pt. 1" - Orange Juice
20. "The Rrabbitt" - Mahjongg
21. "I'm a Flirt (Remix)" - R. Kelly feat. T.I. and T. Pain
22. "What Else Is There?" (Thin White Duke Remix) - Royksopp
23. "If I Were Your Woman" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
24. "Silent Shout" - The Knife

Why are you trying to turn Jordin Sparks into a hipster? lol

To un-hipster it, I now offer the following songs as possible replacements:

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends
The Rapture - House of Jealous Lovers
Justice - DVNO
Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends

If Jordin covers the hipster favorites, won't she de-hipster them herself?

lol wait mahjongg? i'm v. confsued.

also, giver "huddle formation" over "the power is on!"

OK, so, with some help from another ILXor savior, I added a Dolly Parton track...I changed a few others, too...

1. "Since I Left You" - The Avalanches
2. "With Every Heartbeat" - Kleerup feat. Robyn
3. "Heartbeat" - Annie
4. "Heartbeats" - The Knife
5. "Be Mine!" - Robyn
6. "Jimmy" - M.I.A.
7. "Chewing Gum" - Annie
8. "House of Jealous Lovers" - The Rapture
9. "How Long Do I Have to Wait For You" - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
10. "Pull Shapes" - The Pipettes
11. "Panis Et Circenses" - Os Mutantes
12. "Digital Love" - Daft Punk
13. "Bottle Rocket" - The Go! Team
14. "Lazy Line Painter Jane" - Belle & Sebastian
15. "Chelsea Morning" - Joni Mitchell
16. "Teardrops on My Guitar" - Taylor Swift
17. "Coat of Many Colors" - Dolly Parton
18. "Big City" (Merle Haggard cover) - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
19. "Postcards from Italy" - Beirut
20. "A Toast to the Month of July" - Shirrelle C. Limes
21. "Poor Old Soul Pt. 1" - Orange Juice
22. "What Else Is There?" (Thin White Duke Remix) - Royksopp
23. "If I Were Your Woman" - Gladys Knight and the Pips
24. "All My Friends" - LCD Soundsystem
25. "Silent Shout" - The Knife

Tape Store, the Taylor Swift I'd choose would be "Should've Said No." If you aspire to less hipness you could try Travis Tritt's "Too Far To Turn Around" and Deana Carter's "The Girl You Left Me For."

tape store, tag the album as yr phone number.

OK, in regard to the JoJo paragraph: she's being very lovable and very teenage, which is to say that she's questioning the reality of her own experience in comparison to that of someone who's suffering seems unimaginably more intense than her own (and in doing so she's unintentionally exalting the suffering of the black children in Darfur); and she's doing it in a good cause, trying to motivate us to do something about the suffering. Still there's an insidious self-destruction here, her saying that her own fears and our culture doesn't rate in comparison to the suffering in Darfur - and a very interesting irony in her seemingly arbitrary reference to celeb crackup culture. (How is Britney's no-panties thing any more of a distraction than worrying about the price of gas or talking about art and literature or watching a tennis match or discussing your child's grades? How are these things distractions at all?) The irony is that Lindsay Lohan's life expectancy might well be worse than that of a black child in Darfur, and her suffering and fear may be greater. At least, it's a failure of the imagination not to consider this.

Which isn't to say that Lindsay's pain makes her of any more interest than you and I are. But then, you and I are of interest; but then again, without Lindsay's pain she wouldn't be in the tabs.

I gave it to her...had to cut a couple songs...She now has my contact info.

I deserve credit for her forthcoming "House of Jealous Lovers" cover.

New Veronicas single, "Hook Me Up" -- written by the V's, Shelly Peiken, and Greg Wells -- is really great. Dark electro, kinda "Sweet Dreams"-ish, confessional lyrics (the second dance song this year that's about not really enjoying going out to clubs). Seems like UK/Euro dance stuff might be the path to angst-rock lyrics these days (Hilary, Ashley Tisdale, new V's single).

But I really came here to post 17 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ASHLEE SIMPSON:

1. I'm really grumpy in the morning.
2. I'm a huge fan of female singers like Etta James and Courtney Love.
3. I don't like going to the dentist, so I listen to my iPod while I'm there.
4. My first TV appearance was a Kohl's commercial.
5. I have three closets in my bedroom.
6. My favorite snack is Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, yellow cakes with vanilla and chocolate-striped frosting.
7. I collect handbags (my favorite is Yves St. Laurent) and hats.
8. I dyed my hair orange when I was 11!
9. I'm really good at the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game.
10. I want to design a clothing line one day -- a Marc Jacobs-meets-vintage look.
11. My favorite drink is an ice-blended vanilla coffee.
12. I can do a front handspring.
13. My favorite vacation spot is Hawaii.
14. My first celeb crush: Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
15. I never wear matching socks (except when I'm doing a photo shoot)!
16. My favorite movie is True Romance.
17. My best guy friend is my guitar player, Ray Brady.

Not a great interview (from Seventeen), but when asked about how she learns from heartbreak, her answer is "For me, I write, but everyone can find little things to do to make them feel better." When asked what she does with her girlfriends, she says, "I have a balcony outside, and everybody sets up her little station and we all paint. It's so funny to see the different styles of your friends' painting. Mine's usually pretty...dark. Abstract stuff, faces, and things like that. I'm not good, but I just do it 'cause it's fun and it's a release."

New Tommy2.net headline: JONAS BROTHERS OUTSELL KELLY CLARKSON.

So Tape Store, what's Jordin like?

A.R.E. Weapons are totally absurd. I mean, they're beatniks. They romanticize teenagers ridiculously (hence their eligibility for this thread). They play this godawful shitty garage rock. And most of the time it's GOOD godawful shitty garage rock, at least on their new one, Modern Mayhem. I'm listening to "Have You Ever?" - these scuzz pulses, while the singer gargles earnestly in front of them. Quite engaging, somehow.