Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

GAH Rich Cronin...Spent half a year trying to get an interview from him; when it finally happened (in email form), he only answered, like, 6 of 10 questions, and 4 of those answers were made up of ~1-4 short sentences. Needless to say, the Q&A column sucked ass that month.

There's apparently some new Ashlee here

OMG, she might actually get away with this. Can't really tell from the clip. (Still don't recognize her.)

Oh wait, that wasn't a "clip," it was my computer messing up. Hm. Undecided. Didn't hear the rap verse first time 'round. ("I'm your sunshine concubine"?) Some Gwennish weird for weird's sake, kind of works, but it's pretty much a mess. (I imagine this would tank pretty hard if it's supposed to be a single, but who knows.)

One single dose of your medicine
You tell me to leave but I come back again
I dont see what all the fuss is about cuz I'm okay
Soon you will see that I got ability to get my ways

So don't keep me in the dark cuz I'll the find the light (find the light)
Don't keep me in the the dark cuz I'll find the light (dont dont dont)
I said don't keep in the dark cuz I'll find the light (find the light)
Don't keep me in the dark , don't keep me in the dark...

I was alone until I found Johnny
He was a good boy until he got behind me
No she didn't, yes she did!

I got a monkey on my back
He helping me get it off, he helping me get it off
I got a monkey on my back
He helping me get it off, he helping me get it off

Seriously, though, WTF is this all about, anyway?? I AM CONFUSED. Is this a good mess or a bad mess? Someone provide an opinion for me.

Music good, lyrics an in-between mess, but Ashlee can do far better lyrics than these.

The track is called "Get Away With Murder," was deleted from zshare, but is streamed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LomQFwNJJFc

(recording too soft in relation to the ad voice in front of).

Her singing is authoritative, which doesn't surprise me, fits fine with the Afro-Caribbean rhythms, actually, which does surprise and please me. But the lyrics aren't taking me very far.

"He was a good boy until he got behind me"

Well, that's risque, but so what? And mixing sex talk with implications about "good boys" and "bad boys" is very conventional-minded and doesn't impress me. "I got a monkey on my back, he helped me get it off" is a double-entendre on "get it off," but again, so what?

"My fears go black in the moonlight" is a powerful line, the one here that makes me really feel that I'm hearing an Ashlee Simpson song. Throw in the reference to "monkey on my back" and the good beats and the good minor-key eeriness of the singing, and maybe this is, like, an evocative poke of a stick at love addiction, risky passion, identity-destroying obsession. The lyrics aren't as random as I'd originally thought, nor as negligible. Maybe they matter, even. But it seems to me that I'm having to do all the work to get the mattering out of her opaque references to handcuffs and addiction and anal sex and fears and struggle. I'd rather she be articulate than that she poke sticks, rather she tell a story than toss saucy little hints, rather she be analytic than "shocking."

I suppose, if Gwen or Nicole or Madge did those lyrics I wouldn't complain, they're just words to a song and the music could be great, and maybe this is a work in progress anyway. If Bob Dylan sang them it would be a lunatic change of pace, quite refreshing. But Gwen and Nicole and Madge never wrote any lyrics remotely as great as, for instance, "Love Me For Me," and Dylan's never done a relationship song as good as that one.

(Yeah, and you could say that maybe it wasn't Ashlee who's most responsible for the "Love Me For Me" lyrics, since we don't know, but has Shelly Peiken ever had her writing credits on any other lyrics half as good as those? Well, I don't know, not having heard most Peiken songs, so I ought to be genuinely open-minded, but I'm not betting on it based on what I have heard.)

This couplet from Travis's rap is genuinely funny:

"They told me to get my muthafucken hands up
But I was handcuffed to the bed and couldn't get em up"

So, initial evaluation: music and singing good, maybe very good, much like her "Burnin' Up," which was also funny and sexy though more full-bodied and big-bosomed in its humor. Idiots who think her singing needs more "cred" and who bother to listen will probably grant it to her for this. Shows great versatility, like tracks five through ten on I Am Me. And hearing it loud and for real will no doubt make it powerful. I might give it a 7.5. Maybe more at full volume. Good solid club track. On its own terms, if I forget that it's an Ashlee Simpson song, as a tough-vulnerable-funny-sexy caught-up-in-desire song, it's good. You know, the way that something like Nelly F's "Promiscuous" is good. And it's also somewhat bullshit in the way that "Promiscuous" is somewhat bullshit. And on its own tough-vulnerable-funny-sexy caught-up-in-desire terms it quails in comparison to Corina's searing, flaming, hilarious Temptation, which actually I'd love to hear Ashlee do because she could burn it through the walls.

But as an Ashlee Simpson song, who needs Ashlee Simpson to do high-quality club tracks that don't express her complicated soul, when she's already put more fire and feeling into a single couplet like "I'm the one who's crawling on the ground/When you say love makes the world go 'round"?

(Which isn't to say that she can't do higher-quality club tracks that either do or don't express her soul, and this is good enough to make me think that her going "dance" won't be the total mistake I'd feared.)

Dave, you left out the rap and the bridge:

Rap:
They told me to get my muthafucken hands up
But I was handfuffed to the bed and couldn't get em up

[Then a whole bunch more that you can't make out behind the voiceover]

Bridge:
I'm your sunshine, sunrise.. (you're my sunshine)
you make it sound easily for me to cry (so easily for me to cry)
I'm your sunshine, come get by
My fears go black in the moonlight

'Cept I got those from that stupid website, and I'm pretty sure she's singing "sunshine <i>concubine</i>" not "sunshine, come get by</i> (and Hazel R. thinks so too, so this isn't just my mind). And she's definitely singing "easy" not "easily," and it's don't keep <i>me</i> in the dark, and Travis was told to <i>put</i> his mothafucken hands up.

Hope Hazel doesn't mind if I report from our livejournal convo that she originally heard the line in "La La" as "I'll be your fresh meat when it's meat you're looking for."

But anyway, JORDIN SPARKS. Yes, I was rooting for her, to the extent I was rooting for anybody this year. So, "Tattoo," I like the singing quite well, it combines sweetness and heft; song is like Faith Hill pop country but prettier, no big fuss to it, but I wish it had some hook or twist; nothing about it is lodging in my brain after it's gone, at least not yet. And nothing in it approaches the mammoth emotion she got out of "I Who Have Nothing" last March on Idol (though I don't suppose it's trying for that).

The Ashlee song is sticking; fifteen plays on, its gentle tune and island lilt are getting real easy to live in. Good music. And someone online said that someone said that Ashlee says this is a very rough version and she's miffed it leaked and the record company is trying to catch the culprit. So I underrated it, maybe an automatic defensive way of trying to forestall the pain I'll feel when she eventually breaks my heart. The lyrics still seem cut and paste, though there's something pleasingly goofy about all that "behind" and "concubine" stuff, actually.

I stopped rooting for Jordin when the stuff came out about her knowing the judges beforehand and her holding certain Evangelical beliefs that I can't personally stomach. I don't know if that's fair... but I switched to rooting for Blake near the end.

about her knowing the judges beforehand

Huh?

So, how fucking HOT is that new Britney Spears song "Gimmee More"? Danja totally laced her with a great track, I totally didn't see this coming at all.

Quickest link I could find, Tape Store, but I'm sure there are better pieces about it: http://www.buddytv.com/articles/american-idol/is-jordin-sparks-american-idol-6436.aspx

Mordy, here's another related article, but those accusations seem pretty weak, or not particularly relevant (I mean, do you seriously think the judges were favoring her over Melinda and Lakisha?), though I'm not sure I understand what the accusations are, exactly.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/300279_tv19.html

As for her religion, she's an evangelical Christian, she wears a purity ring (meaning she's going to save herself for marriage), and she's sung at anti-abortion rallies - none of which makes me think she's a bad person (or a bad singer), but then I don't know the details of her beliefs, or her personality, for that matter, after a thirty-minute Google search. I looked but didn't find anything anti-gay. Is there anything specific about her that you had in mind?

Britney's "Gimme More":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqY5JJHAVIE*

Good, sexy, Britney. I'm thinking I might want more song in the track, though maybe the voice as it is, embedded in the rhythm, is sufficient. Might take a while to sink in.

*Assuming this is the right track; there are a number of fakes posted on YouTube today.

OK, better sound quality here, and it's seeping into me the more I listen:

http://concreteloop.com/2007/08/gimme-more-britneys-back

Britney song is great, still undecided on Ashlee, will just wait until it comes out properly.

this silly bipolar chick needs to get her life in order before she makes a comeback….SHE’S NEEDS TO SETBACK AND LET JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!

Since when do pop stars need to get their act together before they go into the studio? (This is one of many examples on that site, among plenty other places.) Is this a relatively recent audience reception development thingy?

Seems to be specific to people like Britney. I don't think anyone's said it about Keith Urban, for instance. (But I have no idea if he's gone back into the studio since rehab. And to be fair, the posters on that site might be worrying - fed by the tabs - that if Britney tries to come back too fast she'll hurt her chances to pull herself together personally. Some of 'em are also upset about her opening the VMAs, as they seem frightened of what she might do. Makes her seem pretty riveting.)

Musically I'm fine with both the Ashlee (new stream here, as they've taken the other two down) and the Britney, may even prefer the former, just disappointed in Ashlee's scattershot lyrics, because she's Ashlee Amazing Simpson and she should do better.

However, Nia, who has more penetrating eyes and ears than I, points out that Travis in his rap, in the parts that are hard to decipher, says "we could get diplomatic immunity," also says "curiosity killed the cat," and claims that "OJ's my favorite Simpson" (!), and then Ashlee's singing about getting away with murder, so there's more unity than I'd said, though that's mostly from the rap, and I still think she's basically throwing implications around for the fun of it. (She also thinks Ashlee's singing "my tears turn black in the moonlight," recalling "so easy for me to cry," which makes sense, though I still hope it's "my fears go black in the moonlight," since that image is more novel and intense.)

Skye's new single, "Human," is getting some airplay on various Canadian radio stations. Haven't heard it yet.

It's September, and the school year just started...It feels like the year just shifted, so I thought I'd re-evaluate 2007 tracks...

Obviously Missing Stuff and Likely to Change:
1. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z – Umbrella
2. Kleerup feat. Robyn – With Every Heartbeat
3. LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
4. R. Kelly feat. T.I., T. Pain – I’m a Flirt (Remix)
5. Lil Mama – Lip Gloss
6. The National – Fake Empire
7. Kelly Clarkson – Never Again
8. Pink – Who Knew
9. M.I.A. – Paper Planes
10. Lloyd feat. Lil Wayne – You
11. Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson – The Way I Are
12. Lil Wayne – La La La
13. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend
14. Panda Bear - Bros
15. Natasha Bedingfield – I Wanna Have Your Babies
16. Mahjongg – Those Birds are Bats
17. LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great
18. White Rabbits – The Plot
19. Taylor Swift – Teardrops on My guitar
20. M.I.A. – Bird Flu
21. Arcade Fire - Intervention
22. Grinderman – No Pussy Blues
23. Mighty Infamous – Turn the Radio Off
24. Kanye West feat. T. Pain – Good Life
25. Shirrelle C. Limes and the Lemons – A Toast to the Month of July
26. Battles - Atlas
27. Avril Lavigne – When You’re Gone
28. Natasha – Hey Hey Hey
29. Britney Spears – Gimme More
30. Justice – DVNO
31. Jordin Sparks – Tattoo
32. Cassie – Sometimes
33. M.I.A. – Jimmy
34. Jens Lekman – And I Remember Every Kiss
35. Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado – Give It To Me
36. Aly & AJ – Potential Breakup Song
37. The Go! Team – Flashlight Fight
38. Bjork – Innocence
39. Cassie – Is It You?
40. Rapper’s Delight Club –When We Were Kids
41. R. Kelly – Double Up
42. Pink – U + Ur Hands
43. Carrie Underwood - Before He Cheats
44. Ciara – Like a Boy
45. Robin Thicke – Lost Without U
46. David Lynch – Ghost of Love
47. Chaka Khan feat. Mary J. Blige - Disrespectful
48. Kanye West feat. Chris Martin – Homecoming
49. 50 Cent feat. Robin Thicke – Follow My Lead
50. Fabolous feat. Ne-Yo – You Make Me Better

**FutureSex/LoveSound singles disqualified in 2007, 'cause I don't want three JT tracks in the top 15

"A song by a new band called the Gossip." This piece in the New York Times Magazine about Rick Rubin represents everything I hate about journalism. Has maybe three paragraphs about the supposed subject of the article (what Rubin hopes to do to save the record company, which is to promote subscription services and to get people to manipulate word of mouth by blogs among other things); the rest is just reams of rot, as she swabs the guy in sugar and cream.

(Actually, this type of puffball writing represents only half of what I hate about journalism. The contrasting style is just as bad: sneering snarky saracasm; ignorant toughies casting a cynical gaze and playing to the reader's prejudices while pretending to moral courage.)

Frank, I think what I bought into with Jordin was her innocence and her youth. Now, even after that particular revelation - she's still young and she's still just as (or not as) innocent. But it felt much more tainted by industry and inside-dealing than before the revelation. I guess the narrative of the aw-shucks big-voiced girl does more for me than the big contest winner who went in with the deck stacked. Of course, she's still aw-shucks, but it seems disingenuous now.

TapeStore, none of the New Pornographers tracks? I'd think Challengers would be up your alley.

Wonderful new DaHV track called "Suburbia Disturbia." Just as goofy, but DaHv is growing fangs (I think she's like fifteen now).

Suburbia disturbia
Suburbia disturbia

There once was a teen from suburbia who had a little case of disturbia
She pulled her shirt up for all of the boys in her classroom

There once was a man from suburbia who had a little case of disturbia
He came home drunk and drove his car into my bedroom

CHORUS:
These are the people in your neighborhood, most of them have kids
They babysit, they carpool and do pilates (5,6,7,8)
These are the people in your neighborhood, shopping at the GAP
They drive around in SUVs and are always full of crap

Starbucks is the place where divorcees and soccer moms stand on common ground
(Finally!)
There are mini-mansions in suburbia
But the mortgages are disturbia
Yet they always find a way to have a party

CHORUS

There once was a mom in suburbia, who had a little case of disturbia
She ran off with the pool guy and now lives in Brazil (real nice)

The Veronicas would like to be t.A.T.u. - y/n?

No: Endearing accent only occasional. Actual sisters. Not pretending to be in love with each other. Interested in men; this does not cause a great crisis in their relationship (a la "Loves Me Not").

Yes: Hair color now differs. There are two of them. Touchy-feely videos. Wrote a t.A.T.u. song.

I think "no" wins out.

I think the new Britney would be like the 8th best song on Dignity. I'm disappointed.

best of pop 2007 (so far):

1. R. Kelly feat. T.I. and T-Pain- I'm A Flirt
2. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z- Umbrella
3. Jordan Pruitt- Over It
4. Ashley Tisdale- Be Good To Me
5. Natasha Bedingfield- I Wanna Have Your Babies
6. Aly & A.J.- Potential Breakup Song
7. Amerie- Take Control
8. Ashley Tisdale- So Much For You
9. Ashley Tisdale- Goin' Crazy
10. Avril Lavigne- Girlfriend
11. Hilary Duff- Outside of You
12. Audio Club- Sumthin' Serious
13. Robin Thicke- Lost Without U
14. Musiq Soulchild- Buddy
15. Timbaland feat. Nelly Furtado and JT- Give It To Me
16. Ashley Tisdale- Over It
17. Sophie Ellis-Bextor- Catch You
18. Justin Timberlake- What Goes Around (a 2007 single, I believe)
19. Ashley Tisdale- Headstrong
20. Katherine McPhee- Over It
21. Fergie feat. Ludacris- Glamorous
22. Rihanna- Shut Up and Drive
23. Jordan Pruitt- Jump To The Rhythm
24. Enrique Iglesias- Do You Know
25. Gym Class Heroes- Clothes Off!

Dave: They dress in same girlschool clothes as t.A.T.u. And the touchy-feely stuff seems... I don't know... edgy? (Unlike, say, Aly & A.J.'s.)

ok if you're talking about "gimme more" this is wrong.

the production alone on "gimme more" runs circles around basically anything on dignity.

xpost
"Gimme More" gets stronger with every listen, brilliant, a work of art, though maybe I want something warmer and better than a work of art. The This Is A Sexy Dance Track attitude is irritating me under my skin; I can't say why I'm irritated, though, given that I've heard several million This Is A Sexy Dance Track tracks in my life and I have nothing in principle against sexy dance tracks or even sexy Britney Spears dance tracks. Also "irritating me under my skin" may not always be an aesthetic drawback. In fact, may have to do with the sexiness being in your face rather than seductive, and given that basically I wanted her to come back as a punk, this is may be her way. Lyrics (which the unreliable Wikipedia says she did not write) are exhibitionist and I hear an anger in it, "You want more, I'll give you more," but then I've been priming myself to hear anger from Britney so maybe I'm just hearing this the way I want to.

Mediabase reports "Gimme More" getting 766 Top 40 spins in about 4 days, which isn't spectacular but she's getting many of 'em in major markets like NY and L.A. Will probably be somewhere in the 30s in airplay after the first seven days.

Look, someone has linked to a radio rip of the new Skye Sweetnam single.

Uh, did she just say "you're gonna get raped by what's surrounding you"???

Uh, this is pretty good! It's kind of missing a bit of the snarl and charm of the best Skye stuff. Perhaps my hand-wringing about an end-o'-the-decade teenpop lull (goin' up on Stylus on Friday) are premature tho.

"Brainwashed by what's surrounding you," possibly.

If this is missing snarl and charm, I may have to cave and finally listen to the rest of Skye's stuff.

The verse of "Human" isn't altogether un-Britney, is it?

Questions About 2007 Emo Songs:

1. If I hate Cute Is What We Aim For as much as I claim - why do I keep listening to "Curse of Curves"?

2. If I didn't like "Swing, Swing" the first time around, why do I like it when Boys Like Girls rewrites the lyrics and sings the song as "The Great Escape"?

3. If "Hey There, Delilah," came out 3 years ago, how come it's only become very popular this year? Can I count it on my list of favorite songs of the year?

1. Because they aimed for cuteness and got a train wreck? (Which might make it extra-irritating/interesting, because usually trainwrecks are the result of loftier aims. It'd be like watching Icarus indulge in a bunch of shitty wordplay and then just trip and drown because he sorta <i>looked</i> at the sun and couldn't see where he was going, because he's a MASSIVE UGLY TOOL...i.e. doesn't even earn its trainwreck.)

2. What, What? Who Like Who? The What What?

3. Yes.

1. Have you seen the video? It makes the song even more hatable.

2. What Dave said.

3. Yes.

If you're interested, I wrote about "Gimme More" in my column for the Las Vegas Weekly (and wrote also wrote about Britney a couple of months ago.

And I did columns about Ashlee here and here.

Tomorrow's the last installment of the Bluffer's Guide to post-2000 teenpop over at Stylus. All the mixes are up for a limited time at my blog as well if you wanted to hear some or all of the music.

Hey, I like my first Vanessa Hudgens song a little. Sort of. Maybe. I dunno. Let's Dance (not a cover).

<I>But, for the most part, teenpop only believes in the promise ring, believes in eternity, believes in heaven.</I>

I really liked that line!

"Don't Talk" is magic, Dave.

I'm eagerly watching this thread for its speculation on the Vanessa Hudgens' porn (well, naked photo) leak.

Well, now that it's been brought up, the naked photo leak is bad. Very bad. Is it "Drop her from High School Musical" bad? I dunno, 'specially since if they drop her there's a pretty good chance Zac Efron will drop out as well. And if there's no Vanessa and no Zac, that's HSM in name only. FWIW, I listened to Radio Diz for the first time in months this morning, and they played "Say OK" (which I still love).

I haven't seen the photos (photo?) and have no idea if they are real or whatnot, but apparently her reps aren't denying it.

I'm eagerly watching this thread for its speculation on the Vanessa Hudgens' porn (well, naked photo) leak.

What actually happened?

I've been waiting for the Disney stars to get sucked into the 'bloid circuit (while still popular with Disney audiences), but I wouldn't have guessed this would be the way. More likely partying/drugs on the part of some of the older stars. (I think they're all signed on for at least two more HSM's at this point, but (1) I can't imagine them getting through it without someone doing something bloidworthy and (2) I doubt HSM will still be a phenomenon by its 3rd and 4th time out, success of the sequel notwithstanding.)

Looking up "Don't Talk." Nia, for some Skye snarl, try "It Sucks" (my gf's favorite) and "Shot to Pieces." For charm try "Sharada" and maybe her "Heart of Glass" cover (or her "Wild World" cover).

(HOLY CRAP "Don't Talk" is awesome. Deserves a better singer/more distinctive personality, though. Well, I dunno. She's kind of like what a lot of people wrongly but kind of understandably claim Cassie is, which is just totally <i>nothing</i> vocally. Maybe it works for the song -- also a bonus track, I'm seeing a trend here.)

PS, I think Idolator has scooped the teenpop thread like thirty times in the last couple months. Pic is apparently real.

Yeah, rolling teenpop ain't the beacon of timeliness it once was (or beacon of much of anything else, as ilX goes from first stop to last stop to no stop on many people's Web journeys). Actually, was it ever a beacon of timeliness? Was basically me trying to catch up with 2004.

My interest is more that Idolator is skewing more teenpop than the teenpop thread these days!

And crap, I'm gonna probably buy the Baby V album for that bonus track. Or, uh, buy the bonus track. Or see if someone left it by the side of the road somewhere (ding ding ding ding).