Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

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that Audio Club song deserves to be the club banging single of the year.

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:23 (nineteen years ago)

Audio Club single reminds me of Los Umbrellos (Scandinavian, big barechested black guy in cowboy hat, two blonde beauties with him), though Audio Club seems to be playing it (even) more for laughs. Think the singing is fairly ordinary sub-Girls Aloud dance pop, but the rapping is fine, swift, funny.

This posting of the video has better sound, I think:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1559688692

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see that tension in "Search and Destroy" and "Final Solution" so much as I see burnout! Better to burn out than fade away bullshit, but at least "Final Solution" is funny (whereas "Search and Destroy" is bad Jim Morrison!).

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 8 March 2007 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

OK, I see it in "Final Solution":

livin at night isn't helpin my complexion
The signs all say it's a social infection
A little bit of fun's never been an insurrection

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:22 (nineteen years ago)

Although the only thing he's admitting to there is the complexion thing. Otherwise, it could just be read as partying endorsement.

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

Ariana (here) calls herself a punk at heart and sounds like a very low-rent Paris Hilton. She lists the usual punk influences ("dance music, lil kim, madonna, trina, black buddafly, gwen stefani, shifty, electronica, hip hop, beyonce, pop, christina aguilera, britney spears, r&b, blues, ludacris, 50 cent, lil wayne, bubba sparxx, chris brown, sean paul..."). The songs don't really go anywhere, it's all pretty raw, haven't decided if I enjoy listening to it, but I'm curious what you guys might think.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 03:59 (nineteen years ago)

Misspelled her name: it's Arainia.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.kirkbytimes.co.uk/images/newsimages/paedophileinternet_danger.jpg

― bobby bedelia, Thursday, 8 March 2007 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

Warning: AI content

I've been disagreeing with Simon so much this season. I think the show is fading into irrelavance for me (not overall though, ratings are actually up this year) and the reason is SONG CHOICES. It's not enough for the judges to stack the deck with four big divas (plus Jordin too if you wanna count her), now they criticize any song choice that's not a big slow power ballad. "Haley, you sang the song well, but it wasn't a power ballad and so is therefore an inferior performance." They should be encouraging people to step outside their box, not forcing them into it.

I like Haley. She just brings some kind of ridiculous, cabaret, over the top vibe that I kind of dig. I thought she's done OK all 3 weeks, but no great performances. She's going home, and it's not entirely undeserved, though I hope she stays. Gina brings the rocker chick vibe and she's just so likeable and I liked this performance a lot. Antonella was decidedly "not bad" though clearly deserves the boot.

DIVAS: Melinda is clearly the most talented but she basically has given the same performance 3 weeks in a row. Whoever said her lounge R&B act was gonna get old is OTM I think. Curious to see how she'll do in theme weeks. Stephanie is a really great performer, though her vocals aren't always up to par. LaKisha I like OK but she's been really blah for me 3 weeks in a row now. She's got power, but does she have anything else? (Actually, I thought "I Have Nothing" was her best performance yet). Sabrina is so boring and conveys no emotions with her singing. She just overpowers the melody with runs. Go home please. Jordin isn't even really a big-voiced power diva at all. I like her. But how was her performance of "Heartbreaker" NOT karaoke? A karaoke classic done in a basically karaoke style. Whatever.

Actually, I think the guys, while less talented than the girls, are more interesting than the girls, because there's way more variety in the singing styles.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

("dance music, lil kim, madonna, trina, black buddafly, gwen stefani, shifty, electronica, hip hop, beyonce, pop, christina aguilera, britney spears, r&b, blues, ludacris, 50 cent, lil wayne, bubba sparxx, chris brown, sean paul...")

best list of influences ever, must check her out

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

"Girlfriend" by the way, debuts at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 today. It remains to be see whether it will pick up the radio airplay to sustain such a lofty position.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

TashBed's latest effort is called "I Wanna Have Your Babies"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6jDtv5O0r8) and is the first single from her upcoming album. More uptempto, dance-ish stuff along the lines of "These Words" or "If You're Gonna Jump" as opposed to her sweet sounding acoustic stuff. Haven't had a chance to listen to it much yet, will report back when I do. I like what I've heard so far and I like the video.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES

the woman is...i don't know. i just don't know. i can't tell whether the ways she's playing with the bridget jones archetype is clever or annoying or both.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

i think i love the song though.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

though it's def more of a "!!!!!!!!!!" love than a "&hearts; &hearts; &hearts;" love

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

you know. HEARTS. however you get them to appear

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

Lex, please explain the difference between a "!!!!!!!!!!" love and a "&hearts; &hearts; &hearts;" love. I'm genuinely curious.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

!!!!!!!!!! = this is so wtf and mental that it has temporarily fused any quality control i might have - i am glad that pop stars are so mad but whether this song ends up supremely irritating me or whether i end up totally addicted to it, i cannot say

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

I must agree with Lex. Natasha song = !!!

She's actually singing about wanting random men's babies. It's cRAZY!

I actually can never forgive Bedingfield for a crime against music she perpetrated with a cover of "Wild Horses" and a music video featuring Reese Witherspoon getting fingered on a rolling coaster. But this song almost redeems her for me. Almost. (I'd love to hear Christopher Walkin do a commentary on this song - I don't know why, but I feel like it'd be hilarious.)

Also, are the lyrics actually saying she's as serious as gravy? Is gravy really serious?

― Mordechai Shinefield, Thursday, 8 March 2007 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

I actually can never forgive Bedingfield for a crime against music she perpetrated with a cover of "Wild Horses" and a music video featuring Reese Witherspoon getting fingered on a rolling coaster.

Eek, don't remind me. This video nearly ruined Reese Witherspoon for me. Though I did like TashBed's Unwritten (apart from that song and a couple others) a lot. Agree with the general consensus that "I Wanna Have Your Babies" is completely mental.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 18:24 (nineteen years ago)

Completely mental in a GOOD way. This is possibly the best 2007 single I've heard so far.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I'm unconsenting to the consensus; find TashBed's vocal stylizations on "Babies" too stylized and irritating and lacking in feeling; which isn't to say I dislike the track or don't appreciate its ambition or "craziness" or whatever, though don't see what's so bonkers about jazz showoff vocals. It still ends up on the coffee table. And "Unwritten" is the Tashi song I look forward to hearing, so I guess I'm Greg in reverse.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

I do like how on "Babies" the Tashic One is giving herself big bashing trashbin beats to wend her way around.

Also, if we're talking about the Tashbed, I guess we can talk about Tunstall a little (though unlike Tashacles, KT has never gotten Disney play); just discovered over on Poptimists that KT used to sing for a London Jewish gypsy klezmer band, prefer that to what she's doing now. Linked the band on rolling country, will do it here too. Recommend "Ladino Song":

http://www.myspace.com/oivavoi

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

oh god kt tunstall. so boring, klezmer band or no klezmer band.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

'these words' is mildly endearing but pre-BABIES BABIES BABIES BABIES SPRINGING OUT LIKE DAISIES, the only tashbed song i actively liked was 'single', her debut. and a few years later i can't even remember how it goes.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

I like the babies song. Don't hear the vocal style as showoffy.

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

Don't like the video, though.

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

"Girlfriend" still weak on Top 40 airplay over the last seven days: jumped a not very impressive 173 spins over the previous week to a not very impressive 257 spins (which incidentally puts her just ahead of a weak performing "Smile" by Lily Allen); compare to 9,669 spins for Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right." But I'll bet the digital sales will get the attention of some radio station personnel. Not sure the song fits any format very well, which could work for it (it's unique!) but probably won't. I'm cheering for it, however.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

I find it ironic that the three songs I've really enjoyed thus far this year have been batshit crazy. Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend (which is unabashedly about stealing someone's boyfriend), R Kelly's Flirt (which is unabashedly about flirting with someone's girlfriend), and Babies (which is unabashedly about wanting babies). Oh! And Stewie, the most batshit single thus far (which is unabashedly about making Stewie noises and going cRaZy!). Whew. What a year so far.

― Mordechai Shinefield, Thursday, 8 March 2007 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Am liking both of the Good Charlotte singles; haven't paid much attention to the lyrics, assume Mordy's criticisms will hold, though if I understand the lyrics correctly, they would find it refreshing to tune into the radio and hear a singer go "Put your hands on my girl."

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

It's mostly the lyrics that I find bonkers about "Babies". For the record, Frank, "Unwritten" is my favorite TashBed song (it was on my top 10 singles of 2005 list that I distributed to friends).

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

Also I enjoy the symmetry of the fact that "Girlfriend" is the lyrical opposite of "Boyfriend" (by Ashlee).

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 8 March 2007 21:23 (nineteen years ago)

re: "Babies." is it just me, or is TashBed incapable of correctly pronouncing words?

First example: "hyperbole" in "These Words"

Now: "nonchalant" in "Babies"

WTF?

― electroghost, Friday, 9 March 2007 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

God. I can't get over the brilliance of "I wanna have your babies / You're serious like gravy." Greatest lines of the year. (And if that second line is something else, I don't want to hear about it.) I like the idea of Babies, gravy and Bedingfield being some kind of twisted Dada experiment.

― Mordechai Shinefield, Friday, 9 March 2007 06:05 (nineteen years ago)

serious like crazy, surely?

― lex pretend, Friday, 9 March 2007 09:41 (nineteen years ago)

Damnit.

― Mordechai Shinefield, Friday, 9 March 2007 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, Greg, I see, I thought when you said "apart from that song" you meant "Unwritten," whereas you actually meant "Wild Horses."

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 10 March 2007 06:56 (nineteen years ago)

From MTV News:

Ashlee Simpson, busy writing her next album, said fans should expect a more soulful sound. "I'm from Texas, I come from that background," she said. "It's cool because on my last two records I was writing with the same people and now I'm writing with a bunch of different people. I'm writing with my guitar player Ray [Brady] and just seeing where it goes." Simpson is eyeing an October release.

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 10 March 2007 07:00 (nineteen years ago)

P!nk's "U + Ur Hand" had a sizable jump in Top 40 airplay (a jump of over 500 spins; it's now the 20th most played song on Top 40 radio) during the last seven days. Does anyone know why? (A couple of weeks ago a Billboard columnist mentioned its long-delayed rise but didn't speculate as to why.)

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 10 March 2007 07:31 (nineteen years ago)

So, I decided that I like the Jordan Pruitt album, pretty much all of it. Wouldn't say I love any of it, but it's consistently enjoyable to listen to. None of it hits me as especially super-cliched or especially non-cliched lyrically, but then again none of it inspires me to micro-analyze the lyric sheet under a magnifying glass, and I'm not sure how else I'd figure out the answer to said question. My favorite tracks are probably a couple of the more obvious (and I think somebody maybe said cliched up above) ones -- "Miss Popularity" and "Teenager", plus "Later," which is a slow one and at first I didn't think I'd like it much but the way its melody cascades (butterfly-like? that Michael Jackson song about butterflies-like?) is really pretty, and there's something interesting about how Pruitt's vocal rhythms in it split the difference between Beyonce' and K.T. Tunstall, two singers who I can usually either take or leave. (Actually, I could be wrong about that equation, but the equation occurs to me every time I hear the song.) If somebody made a strong case for "Outside Looking In" or "Who Likes Who" or "When I Pretend" or "My Reality" (which somebody may well have done somewhere up above; I haven't checked), I could probably be fairly easily convinced that one or more of those is better than the three I named as my favorites. "Jump to The Rhythm" has some rudimentary trace of Bo Diddley or Bow Wow Wow or something in its jump. What are the singles again?

― xhuxk, Saturday, 10 March 2007 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

xhuxk, singles are "Outside Looking In" and "Jump to the Rhythm" and wikipedia is listing "Teenager" or "Miss Popularity" but who knows on that.

Eloquent case for "Outside Looking In" (this is xposted from my blog, about 7 months ago, which means it's long):

Some discussion of Jordan Pruitt on the teenpop thread, and I'll repeat here what I wrote there: I am really loving her song "Outside Looking In". In addition to a really nice vocal performance by Jordan Pruitt, and a nice laid-back melody, I really love the lyrics. It deals with the issue of teen rejection/loneliness (which isn't all that different from adult rejection/loneliness) in a way that totally works, and I don't think I've quite seen used in another song. Rather than attempting to paraphrase, let me quote directly from what I said on the teenpop thread:

"...one thing I really love is the "You don't know how it feels..." aspect to it. Of course, the reason the song works is that EVERYBODY knows how it feels to be on the outside looking in. But that feeling of loneliness can, in my experience, create a kind of self-pity, "Nobody has ever had to face this before me, I'm all alone" feeling. So not saying you don't know how it feels in an accusatory way (a la Tom Petty's "You Don't Know How It Feels to Be Me") but in a self-pitying way. I would guess this feeling is especially prevalent in the more self-centered teen world, which is why I think it works better as a teen pop song than it would in other genres."

Even though the verses have a really accusatory feel to them, like I said that's not how I interpret the chorus. I interpret speaking directly to her tormenters, the ones who are rejecting her, "YOU don't know how it feels..." in a way that feels just so real and raw. Not in a way of trying to blame them or make them feel bad, just trying to show them how much they've hurt her, and self-pitying as I say in the quoted passage above. I think this song is so great because virtually anybody can probably relate to the song, not just as the speaker, but also as the accused. Who here has not felt rejected/alone or made other people to feel rejected/alone? Not only that, but Jordan totally sells the vocals. Jordan's only 15, and her album comes out in early 2007, written entirely by her and her two co-writers on "Outside Looking In". I'm looking forward to it.

― Greg Fanoe, Saturday, 10 March 2007 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of "Outside Looking In", here is the "Outside Looking In" contest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ibL_lWgNRM

Whoever had the best story on what the song means to them and how they've felt on the outside looking in. "Don't be afraid to tell us your thoughts and feelings". Hah, the best videos uploaded to Youtube will be personally interviewed by Jordan Pruitt for a 30 minute documentary on the making of the song. Should be interesting.

― Greg Fanoe, Saturday, 10 March 2007 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

Are the Fratellis still teens? They are close, I think. They are also apparently the "best new band in Britain," according to the NME. And they have a song called "Flathead" in both an ipod commercial apparently (not that I've seen it, seeing how I don't watch TV) and in the U.S. Hot 100 (or at least it was there last week.) Also they apparently start rows in the loo, or something. Not that you can actually hear any row-starting in their music (just like the Libertines before them and Oasis before that.) Album, which I lasted through a few songs of, shambles in a politely energetic way at times. It's better when they try to music-hall than when they try to rock, though not much better. Best thing I can say about it is that I didn't hate it as much as I expected to.

― xhuxk, Saturday, 10 March 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

Fratellis have a couple of tracks entering, leaving, and reentering the British charts; I listened to "Whistle For The Choir" a couple of weeks ago and then forgot what it sounded like, but fortunately I took notes: "This isn't terrible. Lennonesque melody, acoustic." (What's a Lennonesque melody? I probably meant the late '60s, slightly aggressive slightly pained tunes like "Instant Karma" rather than the early '60s exuberantly pained tunes like "Not A Second Time." Assuredly I did not think "Whistle For The Choir" was as good as either of those two.) "I feel that I am recognizing this song's merit rather than liking it. The way the singing Fratelli goes 'A boy like me is irresistible' has a nice 1920s feel, but it would be better with a 1920s arrangement and a 1920s (or 1890s) singer, someone capable of a singer totally at ease with offhand show tunes like 'Yessir, that's my baby.'" (So a think that's my thumb sitting on its thumbs rather than it being a thumbs up. Of course, I'd go listen again if I were more conscientious.)

― Frank Kogan, Sunday, 11 March 2007 00:17 (nineteen years ago)

"someone capable of a singer totally at ease" - to make sense of this, delete the phrase "capable of a singer."

― Frank Kogan, Sunday, 11 March 2007 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

A teenpop threader creates a Platinum Weird fansite.

― Frank Kogan, Sunday, 11 March 2007 05:56 (nineteen years ago)

Re: Jordan Pruitt. At least in Outside Looking In, I hear something in her voice I like. There's a tremble, like it could almost break that reminds me of Dashboard Confessional. But my friend said it best: Her voice isn't strong enough to carry on with so little accompaniment. I'd only addendum that slightly: If the lyrics were just a bit better, just a bit more diverse and interesting, she could've pulled it off. As it is now, the only really interesting thing is that quiver in her voice, and the potential that it could turn into something more. I suppose there could be something interesting in terms of the reaction to the song (the way that the people she's referring to in the song hear the song) and that kind of reminds me of Jimmy Eats World's The Middle. (Particularly Greenwald's critique of the music video for The Middle in Nothing Feels Good - he writes that it's about isolation, but it speaks to everyone. It lets everyone feel that isolation, but is still a mainstream, cross-denom phenomenon. At least, that's what I remember him saying.)

― Mordechai Shinefield, Monday, 12 March 2007 06:42 (nineteen years ago)

Rolling RD 3-12-07: Year 3K takes the top spot, Hilary stalls around 25-ish (haven't checked against KDIS airplay yet), in the Incubator is an Xtian pop band with some kinda link to Jump 5 (they share a Svengali or something), Pure NRG label MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/ferventrecords, "Live My Life for You"...elsewhere AnnaSophia Robb has a boring ballad from that movie whose name I don't remember (Narnia-ish) and in the Mailbag is the Truth Squad doing a Peter Pan song. Veronicas get as close as they'll ever get to RD with Everlife's cover of "I Could Get Used to This." Not finding a heckuva lotta reasons to listen very much lately.

― dabug, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 03:11 (nineteen years ago)

Way tardy thoughts on "Chemicals React" (been lost in multi-features-ville.)

The opening Linn drum kick and Roland 120 chorus guitar makes me wonder if those sounds, utterly emblematic of the 80s, are now official pop kitsch quotation tones ala a Shaft wah-wah figure.

The guitar approach: An interesting gambit, making it wall of treble with almost no mid-rage. one assumes the idea was to make room for the snare and the vocals, which it does. And to render what's basically a Ramones sort of guitar attack sound less offputtingly punk. But the buzzzz treatment also robs the chords of some of their piquancy, and these are mighty tasty chords.

Vocals: Brilliant! The harmonies are using the robo-simulacra effect of Paris' vox to super smart effect--their sheer robo-ness is a lovely sonic and conceptual spar with Aly's impassioned, very bio lead vox. I have to wonder if somebody in the control booth is a major Beatles fan--the hold-the-root-note thing with occasional switches to thirds is class Fab Four and delightful; in this unexpected context.

The final fist-pumper vocal vamp is a delight: it's like the arena rock Bic-lighter thing trimmed to 2:46 seconds of pep.

Wondering how the lyrics jibe with the whole Christian thing.

Whatever--a terrific song, rendered in the main terrifically.

― i, grey, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

The thing about the babies song for me is that, while it does sound like "a nice summery hit," there's something lame about the casualness with which she's talking about the subject. I can't help hearing it as being kind of phony.

― Tim Ellison, Tuesday, 13 March 2007 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

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