Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

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

The pop music I like has never been so stupid as to say such things.

Personally, for non-sincerity-obsessed teenpop, I'd recommend that Lex maybe start with the Aquamarine and Darcy's Wild Life soundtracks.

Beyond that, this thread has already left me in the dust, after only three short days. If I'm this far behind now, where will I be come October?

Finally, has anybody listened to the Paula DeAnda album? Sounds as mediocre and forgettable and unexuberant and unbubblegum and fade-into-the-background-leaving-me-clueless-about-why-anybody-gives-a-flying-fuck as Ciara or Cassie or [fill in the blank] to me, but I'm willing to hear any reasonably intelligent arguments otherwise.

isn't criticising cassie for not being bubblegum or exuberant a bit like, i dunno, criticising ashlee for not being restrained enough? i mean, in naming cassie and ciara you've basically named my the two popstars who've stood head and shoulders above everyone else in recent times, so i'm confused as to why they don't grab you. certainly what they're doing is interesting enough to be admired even if it's not your thing.

fwiw cassie does get bubblegum in places on her album - the album tracks are much gentler than the singles. 'what do u want' sounds like one of paris hilton's rockier numbers, and 'ditto' is charming and girlish.

it should have been obvious to all that my call for less sincerity is actually a call for less bloody guitars.

(Fwiw, the teenpop album I've probably listened to most this week is Wild Orchid's debut album from, like, 1993 or thereabouts, featuring one Stacy Ferguson, which I found for $0.80 at a Half-Price Books in Houston last week. Their followup was good too, but my copy of that is in storgage apparently. At the time they seemed like not-quite-Latin-enough Latin freestyle, but now they seem a lot closer to the Latin freestyle era than this one. Or at least to the Seduction era.)

sincerity was a red herring i think. but comparing ashlee to britney - even when ashlee's being funny, singing about parties, the fact that she's doing it over instrumentation which owes more to heavy rock than any other genre, and in a voice which is very keen to emphasise how much genuine emotion it sings with...kind of puts her on the earnest side of things. whereas britney, even when she was singing about intense emotion, did it with...froth, and plastic, such that people sneered that she didn't know what she was singing about.

I also certainly think rock music can be great dance music.

And I think it may not technically be teenpop (since no doubt they'll bill it as mature etc) but the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor song 'Catch You' (Cathy Dennis) is a) absolutely brilliant and b) something I could well see Hilary sliding towards after 'Play With Fire' direction-wise.

i am one of her few fans around here I think.

not entirely convinced yet. the song itself is great and sophie too. but her voice doesn't really seem to suit the girls aloud-like production.

Jessie's got a little conflict, but she's not going far enough with it, but there's a glimmer of something interesting: "Don't wanna leave it up to my imagination/ Everybody's got their own interpretation/ Maybe I don't deserve an explanation/ I can't tell/ Is it real or true/ What I heard about you/ That you love me"

Jessie has commentary on every song, here's what she says about that one, "What I Hear": "It's hard to believe that God loves us as much as he does. People tried to tell me over and over again of the depth of God's love but I found it hard to accept for a while even though I truly wanted to. What you first hear about a relationship with God just seems too perfect. However, in the end, he really is everything they said and more."

And hey, she has a (slight) sense of humor in her earnestness: "A jerk ex-boyfriend or Satan = two people you don't want to see ever again but somehow always seem to resurface. Whether it's feelings for an old boyfriend or the temptation of sin -- It's nothing that I want to deal with anymore." Yo, temptation of sin = feelings for an ex-boyfriend maybe? That would be a great song! She could out-"Chemicals React" Aly and AJ!

Last thing: she has an ambiguous rapture song, almost as good as "Toodaloo Earth" by Cali.

But upthread you said that your call for fewer guitars was really a call for less earnestness. But anyway, calls by the Lex for less earnestness aren't necessarily a hundred percent in earnest. Also, earnestness and bubblegum are not mutually exclusive (viz. Cowsills, Melanie, Friend And Lover, JoJo, Jonas Brothers, etc.). Also, as we've been saying and as you've been not noticing, teenpop is swamped in non-Ashlees and non-Lindsays.

Personally, I think Ashlee might do a better version of "Stars Are Blind" - or anyway, an interesting one, since her voice is darker than Paris's and so rubs differently against island beats. She recorded a charming reggae number, "Fall In Love Me," which was only available in Japan, as far as I know, but it's a sweet beach song. The accompaniment was over-clumsy (don't know if it was Shanks; dance tends not to be his forté), but the song's got a nice feel anyway.