Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

Kill Hannah "I Love You to Death"
Cartoons (?) "Witch Doctor"
Turtles "Happy Together"
Simple Minds "Don't You Forget About Me"
Cascada "Everytime We Touch"
Melody Club "Baby"
Richard Hell & The Voidoids "Blank Generation"
Paula DeAndra "Walk Away"
One had her song deleted by artist, but has McFly pics as her wallpaper (she's from Denver)
One just posted the lyrics to Evanescence's "Immortal" in a MySpace bulletin
One just posted how unhappy she was to be too young to go to the Fall Out Boys show.

Whatver--if she doesn't exnay te tabloid thing, she's fucked.

Btw, Luke hasn't scored a U.S. hit since "Behind These Hazel Eyes," though he's produced and co-written a number of great tracks (and some mediocrities and duds, too).

So where do those indie influences go?

Also -- Meg & Dia placed very high in Absolutepunk polls for 2006. AP is more open-minded than AlternativePress forums, but still, co-opting that album as a punk album is a stretch-and-a-half. So maybe there's a reverse influence we haven't noticed. Last year, the intro to this forum was talking about how pop-punk (like Bowling for Soup) was becoming teenpop. But what I missed was that pop was becoming pop-punk was becoming punk. (And now I see Absolutepunk.net posted the new Modest Mouse single, which just confuses everything.)

Looking forward to what Skye comes up with.

Impossible, because she's been trying to ixnay the tabloid thing. In fact, she's arguably been less successful by resisting them than Lindsay, who has for better or worse thrown herself into it and at least topped year-end lists for "Most Annoying" or whatever else. I mean, Lindsay could even go INDIE CRED at this point if she wanted to (which she very well might do with her film career). Ashlee will probably never have cred, since by all rights she should already have it (how much more "rock" could Ashlee even go?)

Unless you consider getting a nosejob "asking for it" in terms of tabloid coverage, I see Ashlee as a fairly resistant victim of tabloid culture who in her professional life (e.g. leading role in Chicago in London) is trying to gain "credibility" and very clearly shuns tabloid coverage (she never answers questions about the n'job).

As for UK teenpop, we have Lil Chris where Sweden has Amy Diamond and I think that pretty much says it all. Even teenage popstars have to get Jo Whiley's permission these days. I do think there might be a place for a pop group aiming at under-12s though, as High School Musical has been very successful here, and hideous childrens TV show theme songs (namely LazyTown, which I hadn't even heard of before I saw the music video) can still go top 5. I think Chipz should be launched here!

As for UK teenpop, we have Lil Chris where Sweden has Amy Diamond and I think that pretty much says it all. Even teenage popstars have to get Jo Whiley's permission these days. I do think there might be a place for a pop group aiming at under-12s though, as High School Musical has been very successful here, and hideous childrens TV show theme songs (namely LazyTown, which I hadn't even heard of before I saw the music video) can still go top 5. I think Chipz should be launched here!

I was going to say something about Lil Chris, then wondered whether he wasn't really teenpop but pop for older people to think was teen? Either way, I agree wholly about the Whiley Factor. Good god, I hate that woman. Not quite as much as I hate that Sportacus git from Lazytown (which takes over TMF for TWO HOURS every morning) but still.

Also must give thanks to this thread for making me stop and check out Brie Larson finally - going by all the subcult trappings of her nonmusic activities I bet she won't be making teenpop much longer, for better or worse.

I'd like to see a heightened youth-Musical vibe to teen-pop actually. I was watching Camp again for the umpteenth time last week and my boyfriend pointed out that no-one really tends to put out songs like "Here's Where I Stand" anymore (when did they?). The closest is Christina Aguilera but her big numbers don't grapple with youth in the same way.

I guess I'm asking for more earnestness! Sorry Lex!

The teens I know here do indeed like, say, MCR, Marilyn Manson, AFI and maybe some emo bands.

Back to blindiningly obvious--when does it stop being teenpop, I mean, especially considering that most of the first wave are all growed up and all? Is it an age, a marketing idea, a concept of an age group or an aesthetic that's temprally bound or, um, what?

Kelly Clarkson - "Because of You" (January 6, 2006)
Fall Out Boy - "Dance, Dance" (January 17, 2006)
Mariah Carey - "Don't Forget About Us" (February 6, 2006)
Madonna - "Hung Up" (February 6, 2006)
Kelly Clarkson - "Walk Away" (June 1, 2006)
Fall Out Boy - "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"" (June 6, 2006)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California" (July 10, 2006)
Fort Minor - "Where'd You Go" (July 17, 2006)
Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man" (September 26, 2006)
Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland - "SexyBack" (October 10, 2006)
AFI - "Love Like Winter" (December 11, 2006)

Nothing too shocking here, Kelly Clarkson and Fall Out Boy are huge of course, as we all know. A bit surprised to see "Hung Up" and the Chilis here, but whatever, maybe it's just that the videos were great. And what's up with no Fergie-ferg. Screw you kids.

it is funny but - like a lot of their earnest material - it's funny precisely because it's over-earnest! and i love it but at heart it's a cathartic rock song which takes more cues from courtney love than anything else lohan has sung. essentially - i am fine with this being a key part of teenpop but it's ALL like this now.

I was going to say something about Lil Chris, then wondered whether he wasn't really teenpop but pop for older people to think was teen?

i think this is correct, he seems pitched very much at an older popjustice demographic. anyway don't get me started on lil fucking chris, everyone i know loves it but it just fills me with horror. more proof that pop has forgotten a key First Principle ie "we dance to disco and we DON'T. LIKE. ROCK."

I must say I don't really understand the rock/pop dichotomy Lex appears to use here much - at least not in relation to teenpop. "U + Ur Hand" is a good example of the murkiness of the divide at the moment: yes, the chorus is the big earnest rock soar, but it's simultaneously the big pop manoeuvre within the song (conversely the "mature" "Nobody Knows" is like Pink's rapprochement with Christina Aguilera).

Of course I'm sure no-one at this thread would be pleased if rocky teenpop came at the expense of stuff like, say, "A Public Affair", but as per Frank I don't think pop is currently so dominated by one idea that this could happen. The success of Fergie and Nelly Furtado last year show this - "Hollaback Girl" has become a pop sub-genre now in the same way that "Sk8ter Boi" became a pop sub-genre in 2003/4.

Lady Sovereign's "Love Me Or Hate Me" triumphed on TRL, but this didn't result in radio play; Pink's "U & Ur Hand" got only minor radio action; ditto Paris's "Nothing In This World."

Looking up the current TRL voting list, the first act I've found is a teen r'n'b boyband called 2Much. They're similar to B2K, who I know were successful - would we call this teenpop or is it just r'n'b marketed to a younger audience (or perhaps the usual audience, just with singers of their own age)?

Anyway: I loved Camp.

(Wikipedia: Got to #12 on Hot 100 in its second week, stayed in the charts from April to July, "Soundtrack to Your Life" hovered in the 50-ish range.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcEfQr4J6yo

The Corbin Bleu song is pretty likable, I think, but pallid not only in comparison to - say - JoJo or Chris Brown, but also in comparison to old *NSync and New Kids In The Block.

Jordan Pruitt, she of "Outside Looking In," a quite winning bit of teen-sensitive alienation, is now heading towards dance pop: "We Are Family" and the new one, "Step To The Rhythm" - which is not an amazing song, but her timbre is excellent in a way that I can't think how to describe. It's got enough burrs and bumps to give it character, but it still basically flows. Album due February 6. "Teenager," on her MySpace, has stereotypical words about supposed teen concerns, but the voice gives it feelings that the words only wave at.

Speaking of rock bands, Enter Shikari seems to be the big one for the UK in 2007. Their concerts often end in ambulances being called, so that will attract all the young lads who like to show off their bruises.

I think music for British teenagers is so much a badge of identity, that predicting who they'll like is just like predicting fashion trends. It's all part of the tribal thing that seems to be more prevalent than ever in schools. When I was there (and that wasn't long ago) I didn't have to choose whether to be a chav or emo, and now if you're 14 and you don't fit into one or the other you'll probably get beaten up by both sides. It's like hippies and punks and mods and rockers, and yet I don't feel any of the revolutionary spirit that was supposedly surrounding those tribes. I don't think these kids are going to look back in 20 years nostalgically at being emo... or am I wrong? It all just seems very negative, hating themselves, hating other people. A lot could be read into it sociologically.

Frank, I love Jordan Pruitt. And I agree that she's a really great singer (and not just good at singing but good at framing and phrasing the lyrics, if that makes sense), but that some of the songwriting is not up to snuff. Fortunately, "Jump to the Rhythm", her worst written song in my opinion, is not written by the team (Robin Scoffield and Keith Thomas) that are writing the rest of her record. "Outside Looking In" and "Teenager" are. Give this girl some great songs and that could be an outstanding album.

I have been a-scouting for the Jukebox, and have turfed up a fair amount of teenpop from Germany that I might get around to putting in here - none of it's wonderful, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYdc3-Kfu_Y

rolling US charts 2008/talk about "pop" here

I suggest: Rolling Bubblegum Thread '08. (But it's too late now, maybe.)

2008 isn't for another few hours. But if no one starts it before 12:01 AM EST tonight, I will.

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Bubblegummy goodness continues: Rolling Debutante Bubblegum Teenpop Thread 2008

http://imagechan.com/images/ce23a7a05b38e01bc7b38672b72f258b.gif

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bye thread