― nameom (nameom), Friday, 12 January 2007 04:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Friday, 12 January 2007 04:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Anyway, speaking of Charlotte, she says that 'Waste My Time' reminds her of Moby + Gwen Stefani doing 'South Side.' I hear what she means, in terms of Alexz Johnson's voice sounding like Gwen's in the chorus.
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Friday, 12 January 2007 04:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Friday, 12 January 2007 04:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Friday, 12 January 2007 05:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Friday, 12 January 2007 06:54 (seventeen years ago) link
Most of the music on the first series (which is all I've seen any of) is ace, especially '24 Hours.' Some of it is hilarious. There's a fourth series coming out soon I believe.
― Hazel Robinson (Moggy), Friday, 12 January 2007 08:16 (seventeen years ago) link
Not really; he only wrote "Getcha Head In The Game," which was more a group song with (if I recall correctly) Corbin Bleu rather than Zac leading the singing; and the version that got airplay was B5's. Seeley did sing on all the Zac Efron songs, but what I read in Billborad was that Zac sang when the register was low enough but Drew did all the high register lines. So Drew's the one who's soaring and flying. Drew rather than Zac performed at the HSM show in Madison Square Garden.
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Friday, 12 January 2007 22:46 (seventeen years ago) link
Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil: s/d and c/d.
They often write as a team, with Gerrard usually handling the production. They did two of the most popular tracks from HSM ("Start of Something New" and "We're All In This Together") and a whole bunch of the tracks on Cheetah Girls 2, which I saw last night. The thing is, their tracks are usually the ones I like least. My favorite song on HSM is "Breaking Free" by Jamie Houston, the two somewhat good Cheetah Girls singles are "Strut" and "Amigas Cheetahs," also by Jamie Houston. "Dance With Me" is on the soundtrack but performed by Drew Seeley and Belinda and written by Ray Cham (who cowrote "Getcha Head In The Game") and Charlene Licera, is heard in the film as a track that Sabrina and the teen count dance to.
But Gerrard actually has one of the better tracks (and one of the not better tracks) on the Vanessa Hudgens album, a good, somewhat dark-sounding dance track appropriately called "Let's Dance," and he co-wrote "The High Road," which is a nice (though below average for that very good album) track on JoJo's The High Road. (Crucial credit on that track, however, might be Jonathon "J.R." Rotem, who wrote and produced LeToya's really good "All Eyes On Me.") Gerrard also cowrote (w/ Avril Lavigne) Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway," which is a good song despite having a line about spreading one's wings (but again overshadowed by other stuff on the album). Also wrote an unheard-by-me Lindsay Lohan track on the soundtrack to Confessions of a Teen Drama Queen, and one of my least favorite Hilary Duff singles ("Why Not"). He has something to do with the Bratz. And a lot more, I'm sure. Robbie Nevil had success as a singer in the late '80s, early '90s.
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Friday, 12 January 2007 23:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Saturday, 13 January 2007 00:17 (seventeen years ago) link
I wasn't a fan of Cheetah Girls 2 either, Frank. Still, it was better than the original.
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Saturday, 13 January 2007 01:54 (seventeen years ago) link
Life is a work of art/ You gotta paint it colorful,Can make it anything U want/ Don't have to stick to any rulesYou don't need a high IQ/ To succeed in what you do,You just gotta have no doubt/ Just believe in yourself.
(Nope, Gerrard wrote a different one. Jamie Huston is on this soundtrack, too, wrote "A Day in the Life" which I haven't heard)
― nameom (nameom), Saturday, 13 January 2007 02:04 (seventeen years ago) link
And Jamie Houston wrote "Pumpin Up The Party" which is almost inarguably her worst song (at least, as far as I am concerned). So Hannah Montana turns the Disney world UPSIDE DOWN.
Then again "J. Lurie" (acc to Allmusic) has cowriting credit on my two favorite Hannah Montana songs, "I Got Nerve" and "This Is The Life". F. Lurie is cowriter on "If We Were a Movie"
Whoops, I take back what I said about V above. It's a good album, but I definitely like the Hannah Montana OST more. Neither are top 20 albums of the year.
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Saturday, 13 January 2007 04:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 13 January 2007 05:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Saturday, 13 January 2007 15:03 (seventeen years ago) link
A few recent articles about the HSM concert tour: One pretty good on Tom Breihan's VV blog, one not so good from NYT.
― nameom (nameom), Saturday, 13 January 2007 21:12 (seventeen years ago) link
"Jump to the Rhythm" was by Robyn Johnson and Frank Fitzpatrick, not her normal songwriters, and nobody I've heard of.
Jamie Houston did "Vertical" which is kinda mediocre.
Gerrard/Nevil did "Push It to the Limit" and that Keke Palmer song which name I forget, which are the two pretty good songs from the movie. I'm starting to kinda like "Push It to the Limit", after initially hating it.
On another note, I'm not digging Ashley Tisdale's singles very much. "He Said, She Said" is OK, but I'm not into "Be Good To Me" (and does anybody know the songwriters on that?). Course I might change my mind on this, but neither is really grabbing me.
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Sunday, 14 January 2007 04:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Luke Slater (Alan Bean), Sunday, 14 January 2007 10:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Sunday, 14 January 2007 17:24 (seventeen years ago) link
This is from one of Frank's posts on last year's thread. Just mentioning it because according to my Pandora station, it counts as teenpop! Updating it today, they've added a lot of artists recently. They even have Leslie Carter's "Like Wow!" and Daphne & Celeste's "U.G.L.Y." but no other D&C.
― nameom (nameom), Sunday, 14 January 2007 20:05 (seventeen years ago) link
Does Bextor count as teen pop, or is she now artpop like Kylie?
― Matthew E. Armstrong (gensu3k1), Sunday, 14 January 2007 20:17 (seventeen years ago) link
Aliana Lohan released her Xmas album while ILM was down and it's...pretty strange. Video for second-most-resoundingly-"kicked"-on-RD-last-year single (don't know which was #1) "Christmas Magic" is actually kinda disturbing, watch for the weirdly sinister reindeer and snowman at the end that coulda been stand-ins for the dog-suit guy in The Shining. More interesting/WTF is "Lohan Holiday" feat. Lindsay somewhere in the background (I think?), available here.
― nameom (nameom), Sunday, 14 January 2007 20:39 (seventeen years ago) link
I listened to/reviewed a whole boatload of teenpop Christmas songs this December. Here are links to some of the more notable ones:
Hilary Duff - "Santa Claus Lane"; Hilary Duff - "What Christmas Should Be"; Christina Aguilera - "Christmas Time"; Mariah Carey - "Miss You Most at Christmastime" (presumably you all know "All I Want For Christmas Is You" already, so I won't take the time to get a link); Cheetah Girls - "Five More Days Til Christmas" (This is the best Cheetahs songs that I've heard - er, sorry about the sound quality though); 'N Sync - "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays"; S Club 7 - "Perfect Christmas". Those are all the songs that I reviewed that are worth listening that I could find on YouTube.
I wasn't a big fan of Hannah Montana's "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree", as I found that her voice didn't work well for the rocking tune they were going for. Maybe after she matures and her voice fills out more she'll be able to pull that stuff off, but right now it didn't sound great. Jordan Pruitt had a Christmas song too, and it was a really good little tune called "Santa Don't Stop", but for the life of me I can't find a free version for listening anywhere online.
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Sunday, 14 January 2007 21:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Sunday, 14 January 2007 22:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Sunday, 14 January 2007 22:06 (seventeen years ago) link
Anyway: Was this album in production during HSM? And is it a Disney album? Who is writing the songs? I'm curious if this is a product of her (her manager, whatever) impetus V. the Disney machine's. Obviously for each of these Disney stars there's a point where they have to distinguish themselves from Disney - but I hadn't heard anything about Hudgens before HSM, so this sudden departure from the script feels... well... scripted.
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Monday, 15 January 2007 04:48 (seventeen years ago) link
*Also seen him spelled "Arnthor."
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 06:54 (seventeen years ago) link
Kidz Bop - "Chicken Noodle Soup"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjr-bP-sSgs
(I jest. It's cute.)
― The Reverend Rodney J. Greene is false metal! (R. J. Greene), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:01 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:15 (seventeen years ago) link
Also, Frank, rereading your initial post in this thread (looking for a possible comment on Hudgens) I noticed you said: "Teen newbie Taylor Swift is on the country stations with teen confessional sounds and concerns and may have the talent to match Aly & A.J. if not Ashlee (yet)."
What I heard from Swift makes this statement really confusing. Obviously you aren't comparing styles, or genres (or even a vocal comparison)... is it just the confessional style?
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:28 (seventeen years ago) link
Now that you mention it, her voice strikes me as almost having some of Amy Diamond's phrasing/affectation, the obvious difference being that Ali's way way more subdued (but not bad). I just can't imagine what the general idea behind this production was, since it doesn't seem to be in conversation with any recent music, teenpop or otherwise (maybe background music in a Hallmark commercial, but I bet even Hallmark's moved on to indie rock by now). Do keyboards even have those synth presets anymore? Ditto the costumes in that video...were those all lying around in some wardrobe closet somewhere near the shoot, or did someone actually design them?
(It was "I Like Christmas" that got kicked, can't find the number one most hated of the year yet.)
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Mordechai Shinefield (Mordy), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Mordy - Taylor does softer rock than Ashlee or Aly & A.J. or Kelly, but some of her songs make her emotional growth and personal experiences the issue; e.g., "A Place In This World" starts off, "I don't know what I want, so don't ask me/'Cause I'm still trying to figure it out/Don't know what's down this road, I'm just walking/Trying to see through the rain coming down/Even though I'm not the only one/Who feels the way I do." And the chorus - its melody and harmony - runs very close to "Behind These Hazel Eyes." Her vocal twang and the banjo or mandolin running through the chorus of "Should've Said No" doesn't make it any less a wailing rockin' teen rager on the order of Ashlee's "I Am Me." And "Tim McGraw" has smart smart smart lyrics. Not that there's no precedence for this in country: Deana Carter is a singer-songwriter precursor. (Not an age thing; Deana was already in her 30s before she hit with "Strawberry Wine." "Tim McGraw" is a variation on the first-love reminiscence of "Strawberry Wine." Strange that young Taylor is doing a reminiscence song. Also strange that the lyrics may be better than those in any of the hundred other first-love reminiscence songs in country since "Strawberry Wine.") I'll see if I can hunt down some of my December posts on Taylor from the ad hoc rolling country-in-email-exile substitution for a thread.
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 07:58 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 08:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Monday, 15 January 2007 08:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:23 (seventeen years ago) link
the jojo album is VERY good, having listened to it all weekend...
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― xhuxk (xheddy), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Greg Fanoe (JustFanoe), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:17 (seventeen years ago) link
I wrote something about her current album here, if you're a)interested or b)very bored.
― Hazel Robinson (Moggy), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― zebedee (zebedee), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link
"Authentic soul" tedium for grownups with "good taste"
yeah she's pitched as this to various quarters because that helps her shift units. doesn't mean that's what she is.
and her single is about not being able to stop drinking or taking drugs, apparently, so that makes her Billie Holiday
no one's claiming she's billie holiday, and the single isn't so much about how she can't stop drinking boo hoo, it's that she's not going to stop drinking fuck you. ie what hazel said. (a side point about the drinking: i think we're pretty much past the moral censure of famous women who get pissed, in the uk, apart from the more right-wing newspapers. when chaz church and girls aloud go on benders, it's reported luridly, but there's a sense of "good strong healthy specimens of british womanhood" about it all. with amy winehouse it is different because...well she's probably approaching lohan levels of self-abuse here. there's no "apparently" about any of it, girl does need help.)
And what makes her authentic is that her singing strains all the life out, so see, she's obviously on her last legs and therefore highly moving.
the singing in 'rehab' is jaunty and jolly and cocking a snook at everyone who thinks she should be on her last legs! at no point does winehouse even try to move us with tales of alcoholism - the booze is incidental to what she does try to move us with, the heartbreak and vague self-loathing. she succeeds because she's genuinely witty - not waving a big HELLO I'M COMEDY sign around a la lily allen or mike skinner, but smart and self-aware and self-deprecating and assured. listen to the way she sings the couplet "i don't ever want a drink again - ooh, i just need a friend", the wink-wink at the audience of the first line undercut so effectively by the pathos of the second. and 'you know i'm no good' - which is basically my favourite song right now if only because it's a spot-on depiction of a situation i was in a while back - is all about how harmed/harmful she is, but it's full of references to, like, chips and pitta and stuff.
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link
Jan 15, 2007 - Top 30: Usual suspects, plus new Ashley Tisdale at 30 with "Be Good to Me," "Kashmir"-pop. Corbin "Sacre" Bleu at #1 for the second or third consecutive week. Only major airplay discrepancy are two Keke Palmer tracks and Slumber Party girls climber "Countdown." Mailbag: Prude-rap wannabe and former incubatee Lil' Josh KICKED at 53%. Incubator: LAX (as in "Strap on your seatbelts and hang on, because LAX is cleared for take off."), very Cheetah Girls. (Last week was milk carton cover girl Britney Christian, does-a-body-good campaign crossover rock + power ballad "Make It Go Away" which might be about milk's power to combat calcium deficiency.)
― nameom (nameom), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:25 (seventeen years ago) link
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Monday, 15 January 2007 22:29 (seventeen years ago) link