Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread

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So anybody have any thoughts on "Nobody's Perfect" or "Make Some Noise"? I like them both OK but find them both comparatively mediocre to the best songs from Hannah's album.

― Greg Fanoe, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

via email:

Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 22:14:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Mike Saunders"
Subject: anyone else been using the BUBBLEGUM DANCE site (eurodance a la AQUA etc) that went up this winter? 60+ acts already on there

http://www.bubblegumdancer.com/index.htm

i didn't see a single mention of this site on ILM (a couple weeks ago when i checked)
it's new, and went up maybe 3, 4 months ago (late 2006) put up by a NEW ZEALAND poppy-eurodance (ie, Aqua, Toy-box) fan.

who at long last and finally gave the far-left-wing-of-Eurodance (which always begrudgingly let Aqua/etc into the far fringe end of their dumb same-4-damn-chords-forever genre, included the style on their web sites/reviews/links etc) a proper name --

BUBBLEGUM DANCE

the site is like whoa

i stumbled across it when i was trudging through the ILM "europop" laundry list (several years old now) thread (looking up/auditing it song by song with YouTube...which takes 10 mintues/song to load on my fucking dial-up! soon to be replaced by DSL/AT&T when i finally buy a new hard drive with proper memory space required to drive a DSL)

and hit one great song with
Kim Lian's #1 2003 Dutch hit
TEENAGE SUPERSTAR
checked the bio on Wikipedia
then wandered into the full page by the guy who'd put up the song's video
(since 86'd by the major label(s), who seem to do their "Youtube purges" even
in Europe! jeez)
and that led me to the wonderfully daft/catchy

DJUMBO "Undercover"
ok, i checked THEIR Wikipedia bio and
but did it through Google, which is a good habit to have because then you notice the 2 or 3 links/lookups below the top Wikipedia google page you're going to

annnd there was the BUBBLEGUM DANCER site
just days later it disappeared, and its "cached" pages started to get mulched when Google was proceding into updating the same
no explanation given on the sites "message board"

but a few days ago it came back up!

the new world musical order has now officially begun

― xhuxk, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

whoa that 'Rhiannon' video is incredible

also I looked up that beauteous little woman who was in the tim armstrong video someone posted. i'd bang her till her freckles fell off. she's legal, right?

― cankles, Saturday, 7 April 2007 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

"Teenage Superstar" in English by the original Dutch girl, Kim-Lian

"Teenage Superstar" in Spanish by Belinda

"Teenage Superstar" in Czech by Ewa Farner

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 7 April 2007 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

The Pruitt record is more cohesive, driven by a greater singer/talent, and has more expressive lyrics, but it's just not the powerhouse of hooks that the Tisdale record is. Both are great, but Tisdale's is still the 2007 frontrunner for me.

― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 7 April 2007 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

Kim Lian's excellent "In Vain" got unfairly dismissed in the Jukebox back in the olden pre-blog days. http://youtube.com/watch?v=DoZZoLli8Ec

― dabug, Sunday, 8 April 2007 01:47 (nineteen years ago)

Matt, I may feel the way you do - at least that the best of the Tisdale is thrilling me in a way that the Pruitt isn't, though the worst of the Tisdale pales out in a way that the Pruitt doesn't, either.

Btw, though I worry that today's kiddie dance/r&b is generally more boring than the teen confessional stuff it seems to be displacing, the Pruitt album demonstrates that r&b and teen confessional are hardly incompatible.

― Frank Kogan, Sunday, 8 April 2007 05:22 (nineteen years ago)

whoa that 'Rhiannon' video is incredible

Like Grace Slick fronting the Yardbirds or the Velvets, but better.

― Frank Kogan, Monday, 9 April 2007 03:51 (nineteen years ago)

I'm disappointed by the new Hilary. The move to dance doesn't bother me conceptually, but the whole thing feels very lifeless, and the songwriting just isn't there. It's not bad by any means, and I enjoy it, but it's clearly my least favorite of her albums. After listening to it today, I listened to Metamorphosis, and was reminded of how strong that record is from start to finish: vital, loud, invigorating.

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

Three new songs up on Hope Partlow's MySpace page; accompanying herself on acoustic, overdubbing harmonies. Her singing is as strong and effortless as ever; I'd call the style singer-songwriter pop (whatever I mean by that). "Try" is about trying to break through to some guy she likes (an ex? a partner in a relationship that isn't working?); one can also read it as a metaphor for trying to break through in her singing career. [For newcomers to the teenpop and country threads, Partlow is a teenager with a wide vocal range and with breeze in her singing; had an album out on Virgin that didn't sell big, and shortly after it came out the fellow who'd signed her (I don't remember: was he the president of the company?) lost his job, and she was dropped by the label.] "Here To Stay" could be heard as a kissoff to an ex - "You don't know about, you don't care about, anything about me/So get out of my life, out of my way, I don't care what you say/I been losing this fight day after day, I'm now back in town, 'cause baby I'm here to stay" - but actually this one sounds as if it really is directed at the record biz. "When I signed up to play your little game/I never had expected it would turn out quite this way/You dresssed me up pretty, I was hangin' by the strings/Waiting waiting waiting for the next big thing/You don't know about, you don't care about..." My favorite of the three, "A Day In My Life," has a cabaret-style melody in the verse (that is, harkens back to '40s jazz pop) but sounds looser and less mannered than that implies; then the chorus is a rock 'n' roll type wailer, and the instrumental break goes into minor-key strumming while she puts forth with a bunch of Cossack "heys." Words are about how varied and interesting her life is, though they're not strong on specifics. I'd rank her melodies and words a bit above serviceable, except this ranking doesn't convey her ease and appeal, the knack she has for covering a lot of ground while appearing just to glide along. Whether she ever scores big hits or not, I still don't see how she can miss as a singer. She just does it too well.

― Frank Kogan, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 22:43 (nineteen years ago)

hung out with some cousins, aged 8 and 5, in d.c. this weekend. lily (the 8-year old) and i listened to her copies of the ashley tisdale album and jojo's newest on the little pink boombox in her room. (actually, her mom took her copy of the tisdale album and burned her a copy with "he said she said" removed.) her cd collection also includes hilary's metamorphosis, the earlier jojo, and the soundtracks to cheetah girls 2, jump in, and (of course) high school musical soundtrack - both regular and deluxe editions (the deluxe basically has bigger packaging and a disc of instrumental/karaoke versions.) she wants to get the vanessa hudgens and corbin bleu albums (do we know anything about the latter?)

i ordered a copy of the family a copy of the second amy diamond album - which, by the way, is now available for ₤4.99 from cdwow.com, with free international shipping (!) (for those who haven't heard it, well, it was my #7 album of 2006, if that's any recommendation.)

― rossoflove, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:47 (nineteen years ago)

that's cdwow

― rossoflove, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

oh, whoops, no, that's a pound sign

― rossoflove, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

Some finesse on chorus turnaround chords, some standard teenpop rock production applied to "Here To Stay" and it would be massive.

― i, grey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 06:47 (nineteen years ago)

Surprised to be the first to post here about Kelly C's new single "Never Again", a remix of which was leaked to the internet yesterday: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ICzvijj-Uak. On first listen it seems to have lyrics that are as dark as ever, and has a nice melody. Supposedly, the actual version is sent to radio on Friday and is very rocking, and I'm looking forward to hearing the real version. I like the remix enough, anyways.

― Greg Fanoe, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

OMG listening more closely to the Fefe album I am realizing why it was never released: lyrically, it is very sensual/sexual and she pretty much comes out of the closet on "If I Was a Guy" and "Miss Vicious," no?

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

Eppy sent me a link to the Hollywood Pop Academy, asking if there are any precedents. I don't know much about Skye Sweetnam's Pop Star Camp (she wanted to go to snowboarding camp, her mom signed her up for PSC, she covered Britney and cut a demo and the rest is history) but I imagine it was a Canadian equivalent of sorts.

Also interesting is that LAX Gurls (formerly LAX (I think), who are like the good Cheetah Girls but haven't been pushed on Radio Disney yet despite their incubator feature) are one of the most prominent Hollywood Pop Academy graduates. They were just mentioned over on Poptimists, possibly a track in the fascinating but hard to follow League of Pop.

― dabug, Thursday, 12 April 2007 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

I want Kelly to scream 'Does it hurt?' even louder(I'm fond of the angry Kelly(SUBG Live)). Good song and I can't wait to hear the real version. Much better than the one she sang at the nascar event.

― MRZBW, Thursday, 12 April 2007 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

Big night over at Radosh.net, where Clique -- "the youngest group in the history of popular music" -- was featured as neo-Huckapoo (Radosh.net is unquestionably the greatest Huckapoo fansite on the net). I like "The Girl Who Rules the World" OK and they're approaching No Secrets uncomfortableness (cf. "Hot") on "Worth the Wait." Stage(?) Names: Destinee, Paris, and Ariel Moore). Producer: Sal Dupree. Musical influences:

Backstreet Boys
Mariah Carey
Christina Aguilera
Green Day
Destiny's Child
Kelly Clarkson
The Click 5
Jessica & Ashlee Simpson
Hilary Duff
Miley Cyrus
Jo Jo
Fergie
Ciara
R Kelly
The Go-Go's
Boys 2 Men
NSYNC
Usher
Chris Brown

(i.e. BEST EVER)

Anyway, this also led to:

STAR GIRLS FROM PLANET GROOVE, an Australian girl group of varying quality and body type.

Tiffany Evans, featured with Ciara on the Kids' Choice Awards and kinda sounds like mini-Ciara android-diva. Has a prude-pop track a la "Dignity" and "Not Like That" called "Girls Gone Wild."

I'd like to hear this Kelly C song in its original version. Melody/mood-wise it bodes well for the album, I think, but the dance remix doesn't do for this song what "Come Clean" remix did for the original. Seems kind of at odds with her vocals, which deserve a little more agony surrounding them.

― dabug, Thursday, 12 April 2007 02:44 (nineteen years ago)

Er, Radosh.net.

― dabug, Thursday, 12 April 2007 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

Trying to find that No Secrets song and I accidentally stumbled upon the new companion video to the last Sugar Shock column.

― dabug, Thursday, 12 April 2007 02:48 (nineteen years ago)

Order I rank the five American Idol Latin Night performances I looked at on YouTube (I skipped Phil and Haley and bailed on Chris):

Sanjaya, Melinda, Jordin, Blake, Lakisha.

Seriously, Sanjaya was the only one who connected to what he was singing - which is astonishing. Melinda and Jordin got the notes and the rhythm but couldn't find a feeling, Blake seemed like a walk-through, Lakisha like an alien - which is what I'd normally say about Sanjaya, but I just YouTubed his audition segment and saw him comfortable and compelling doing Stevie Wonder. Simon generally OTM except he was inexplicably kind to Blake. Greg said over on the AI thread: "From a performance standpoint that was possibly the worst AI episode I've ever seen (up there with 00's night from season 5). Fairly entertaining though."

J-Lo was very appealing; yet as a coach she obviously couldn't motivate the performers.

Overall I'd say that it's between Melinda and Jordin, who's got a shot at an upset, but Sanjaya being the wildcard, he could take enough votes from her to keep her out of the final. Maybe I'm underestimating people's love for the big voice, but I don't think Lakisha has a shot at winning. Could sneak into second, though. I think Melinda wins but in the long run Jordin sells more records.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

I think Melinda wins but in the long run Jordin sells more records.

I'm not sure about Melinda winning - as she seems to be doing Lakisha, but less so. So maybe people will find her more physically appealing, but I don't know why she'd win and Lakisha wouldn't. I'm hoping for a Jordin upset, but the people I've been watching AI with me agree with you about Jordin's post-AI career. She clearly has enough fans that she'll sell records. Actually, I think Blake will have a sustainable post-AI career too. His voice hasn't proven to be tremendous, but he's suave and sexy - and he reminds me of a beatboxing Justin Timberlake. I don't understand why Chris, Phil, or Sanjaya are still in. I guess I understand Sanjaya's physical appeal - but his voice is gross.

― Mordechai Shinefield, Thursday, 12 April 2007 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Frank, I entirely agree with that ranking of the 5 performances.

1) Sanjaya, 2) Melinda, 3) Jordin, 4) Blake, 5) Phil, 6) LaKisha, 7) Haley, 8) Chris. Chris and Haley were godawful, though Chris was inexplicably praised. Even Sanjaya was just OK. Agreed with Simon a lot more than usual last week, other than his love of Blake and Chris. I suspect LaKisha is in for a "shocking" early elimination, a la Jennifer Hudson.

Next week is Country Music week, which is always interesting, as Simon hates country music, and there are no country singers this year. Martina McBride the celebrity vocal coach. Jordin seems likely to adapt well and Chris's nasaliness shouldn't hurt him here, as he can find plenty of touchpoints for nasaliness in country. I suspect Melinda will do a technically flawless but boring rendition of some old country tune, Jordin will do Faith Hill or Shania, Chris will do Rascal Flatts, Blake will do some alt tune or Gary Allan.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 12 April 2007 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

The reason I think Jordin has a shot to upset here is that she seems to have the most adaptable voice. She seems like she could do a credible job at almost any genre and at music from almost any time period, whereas Melinda and LaKisha (and everybody else to some extent) seem much more beholden to one particular singing style.

The reason I think Melinda will go farther than LaKisha is that, IMO, she is a better singer and more skilled interpreter.

― Greg Fanoe, Thursday, 12 April 2007 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

Simon doesn't necessarily hate or love any kind of music, he notoriously predicted Carrie Underwood's success. He just loves $$$$$ and country music is a good way to get that cash baby.

― Dimension 5ive, Thursday, 12 April 2007 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think Melinda is always boring; she takes risks with tempo and sometimes she'll put her phrasing against the expected rhythm. So she could do something with country, which has material that veers towards soul.

If Blake has sense he'll do "King Of The Road."

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 21:08 (nineteen years ago)

LAX Gurls (formerly LAX (I think), who are like the good Cheetah Girls but haven't been pushed on Radio Disney yet despite their incubator feature)

From their look they're more aiming to be the Pussycat Dolls; 'cept musically on "Forget You" - the song they're pushing on MySpace and radio - they're a band of JoJos, and though none of them has JoJo's rhythm or feeling, the song comes closer than I'd expect to pulling it off: not as good as "Too Little Too Late" but up there with Katharine McPhee's "Over It." Does shimmering high-pitched pain very well.

― Frank Kogan, Thursday, 12 April 2007 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

New McFly single: Bubblegoth. Well, more like bubbleQueen, actually.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, hadn't actually listened to the new LAX single until now, wasn't at all like what they had in the incubaTor feature (also very good!). Now I can't find their old audio sample at the Diznee site...hm.

Also love the McFly single and the video is GREAT, especially if it's supposed to be completely out of sync for the concept (can't tell on Youtube)...question: is this Queen via MCR? I'd love if some of the pomp-emo stuff got (further) bubblegummed up and sold to, oh I dunno, Disney. Fall Out Boy came closest with their fun cover of "This Is Halloween" which I think was narrowly picked in the Mailbag but never made it into rotation.

― dabug, Friday, 13 April 2007 13:21 (nineteen years ago)

*that's "also, the new single is very good, much better than I remember their other one being."

― dabug, Friday, 13 April 2007 13:22 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, it was "What's This?", which also has some Queenish harmonies.

― dabug, Friday, 13 April 2007 13:27 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I heard MCR too, but crossed with Europop. I love that song, it hops a ridiculous amount of genres without falling apart.

I haven't been watching AI, so maybe this is a "duh" thing, but when I went to the website I noticed they're also having a songwriter competition, with the winning song to be played at the finale. Could be interesting.

― Eppy, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

The LAX Gurlz are offering a free download of "Forget You".

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:59 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't been watching AI, so maybe this is a "duh" thing, but when I went to the website I noticed they're also having a songwriter competition, with the winning song to be played at the finale. Could be interesting.

Couldn't produce worse results than whatever method they use to write winning songs now. ("Inside Yr Heaven" was OK).

― Greg Fanoe, Friday, 13 April 2007 16:18 (nineteen years ago)

Well, the real version of "Never Again" is posted to Kelly's myspace (
http://myspace.com/kellyclarkson). Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet owing to being at work, but I'm going out of my mind in anticipation here.

― Greg Fanoe, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

Here, this link works: http://www.myspace.com/kellyclarkson

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:20 (nineteen years ago)

I have learned my lesson to not put links inside parentheses

― Greg Fanoe, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

I have learned my lesson: I like this song very much.

― Dimension 5ive, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

"Never Again" is not a surprise to me as it's in the basic dark tenor of "Low" and "Addicted" and "Hear Me" but revved up like the second half of "Maybe". But it will surprise a lot of people, I think, that it's so loud in its anguish and anger. Don't know how Top 40 and AC radio will handle this, though Evanescence should have cleared the way for it. And I assume that the rock stations, as usual, will shun it. The dumbasses. (I think "Maybe" is even better, and I'm afraid that this being a single will mean that "Maybe" can't be, given that RCA wouldn't let her release "Addicted" as the followup to "Because Of You," their claim being that the tone was too similar.)

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

It's not really doing it for me right now--that chorus sounds a little too much like recent dour hard rock stuff. Maybe I need to hear it on headphones. I love the bridge though.

― Eppy, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

I think "Maybe" is a very different song from this, though.

― Eppy, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

In the time it took me to play "Never Again" once, MySpace registered another 400 plays.

"Maybe" has more dynamics - and more of a tune - but the same guitar crunch. (It's at least as close to "Never Again" as "Addicted" was to "Because Of You," the latter being a ballad and "Addicted" being a rocker.)

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

It is very much like recent dour hard stuff. And that's fine with me, 'cause I love the way her high pitch still sounds full and emotionally deep. The lyrics seem to hitting standard targets - breaking up by letter, trophy wife, etc. "I hope that when you're in bed with her you think of me." (Nothing as idiosyncratic as "Maybe"'s "I don't need to be found - I'm not lost"). So this doesn't have the analytic twists I'm hoping from Ashlee. (I mean, a more interesting lyric would have someone saying to Kelly what she's saying to the guy in this one. But then I'd be asking to turn into Jagger or Lou Reed, which isn't likely.) And maybe you're right that there's a musical promise in the verse that the chorus doesn't live up to. I don't think I can explain why musically. But this is very powerful.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

seems to BE hitting standard targets
But then I'd be asking HER to turn into Jagger or Lou Reed (I turned into them long ago).

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

So this doesn't have the analytic twists I'm hoping from AN Ashlee.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 19:45 (nineteen years ago)

Does anyone know the writing credits on "Never Again"? Wikipedia lists the producer as David Kahne. He seems to have done many and varied pop things (Wikipedia lists Bangles, Sublime, McCartney, Sugar Ray, among others).

Speaking of Wikipedia, that's the source of my saying that RCA scotched "Addicted" as the fifth single from Breakaway; but there's no citation by the statement. ("Initially, 'Addicted' had been planned for release as a fifth single, but was cancelled when RCA deemed its dark tone and message too similar to that of her previous two singles.") Kelly must like the song, since she used it as the name of her 2006 concert tour.

― Frank Kogan, Friday, 13 April 2007 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Frank, I spent way too long that I should have spent working this afternoon trying to figure out the songwriting credits, with no luck. On the plus side, I did determine that "One Minute" is Kelly Clarkson, Kara Dioguardi, and Raine Maida.

― Greg Fanoe, Friday, 13 April 2007 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

Lex interviews Ciara. (Among other things, the piece is very witty.)

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 14 April 2007 00:00 (nineteen years ago)

Never Again (Dave Aude Remix) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Never Again.

― MRZBW, Saturday, 14 April 2007 01:08 (nineteen years ago)

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