Rolling Teenpop 2006 Thread

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That's gotta be a pretty relative scale. And Pink sure acts like a *kid* with her license plate reading No. 1 Superstar and her comparing her life to Vietnam because her mom's going to change her last name and her family won't pretend they're all really happy. I didn't hear Try This, though.

Fr Kog: links at the bottom of this page should prove more amenable.

How is this sort of thing perceived in Britain? As just more indie poprock, or is the Hi-NRG dance sound recognized?

(Yeah, I know

Now, I won't pretend that Messina or Pinson are teenpop, but I bet lots o' Brit teens and teeny-weenies go for the Kaiser Chiefs. My impression is that their official category is "indie" (though they're major label).

Interestingly, I was just listening to the NEW Buzzcocks album *flat pack philosophy* today, and what's clear to me is that Pete Shelley's voice just doesn't hold up; he seemingly can't get it high or nasal or swishy enough to convey his old sweetness and manic excitement anymore. which might not be that big a surprise, except that i actually liked the buzzcocks's *modern* album in 1999 (or at least i did at the time; maybe if i pulled it out now, i wouldn't be so impressed.) band still sounds like they might be fairly tuneful, if not nearly as energetic as they once were. without shelley's voice, though, it just doesn't matter. i gave up after five or six songs.

I've got to get this message to the press
That every day I love you less and less

It was refreshing after all that country be-a-tough-babe/this-is what-makes-a-man bullshit, and all that earnest romance.

xpost

Well, he's basically using a rock beat on this album, in keeping with contemporary teenpop, though he's not particularly trying to rock out. But that I heard Justin and Darren when I heard him might indicate that MJ-type soul could work.

actually this might be true but I meant I'm not sure what the MOVIE'S about (though I'm guessing it might concern going to the beach. Matter of fact, one of the 3 girls on the CD cover is a mermaid.) xp

Smoosh - "Rad": It is a well-known scientific FACT that a key ingredient of Great Pop is YOUTH. Smoosh back this up nicely. They are sisters Asya, 13, and Chloe, 11, and on 'Rad' Asya raps charmingly about how you should be a little happier and if you want to play then GO PLAY over insanely melodic electric piano. I am sure all Poptimists will take Smoosh to their hearts with no further prompting, but should you need further convincing here are some TEAM ANECDOTES: 1) While recording their album, relations between Chloe and the band's producer got so fractious that she had to be locked out of the studio, whereupon she scrawled "DO U WANT A FIGHT!" on a piece of paper and pressed it to the window; 2) They were once told by an over-excitable interviewer that they could be "as big as Led Zeppelin", to which they replied, "Is that big?"; 3) When I went to see them at Cargo a couple of months ago I got to the venue early to find them playing tag amidst all the bemused punters. CUTE!

actually her Aquamarine song "Connected" is not bad, and not really all that sensitive, and even slightly boppy, though I'm not sure what I think of its self-help lyrics about soulmates.

My fave song so far (and by far) on the *High School Musical* OST is "Bop To The Top," which reminds me of early Conga/Dr Beat-era Miami Sound Machine almost. (Or really, I guess, of MSM a little later, when Gloria was doing that 1-2-3 song.) More on this soon I'm sure.

Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez Red Dog Tracks, Brad Paisley Time Well Wasted, Sara Evans Real Fine Place, Aly & AJ Into the Rush. I'm looking forward to listening to them - I'm especially eager to hear Red Dog Tracks, since I've never heard Uncle Chip's actual singing voice.

My favorite Mariah is the early Mariah, "Somebody," "Can't Let Go," "Make It Happen" era. After that she helped pioneer a bury-your-voice-in-the-r&b-mix style, which I'm not against in principle (is one of the things that helped her also to pioneer the thug'n'hug mating of hip-hop guys and r&b chicks, which I usually don't love but have nothing against in principle), but it knocked down her exuberance, and "We Belong Together" is far more conversational and less melismatic in its approach - again, I've got nothing against the principle, but all of these things toned down her natural exuberance, which may be the conditions of her staying acceptable to r&b but is too bad.

Anyway, I just heard "Stay the Night," one of the album tracks from Mimi. Reminds me a LOT of Teena Marie, which from me is a high compliment: the rhythm has more or a '00s push and counterfunk than Teena's had back in her prime, and Mariah works the voice well against the rhythm. I'll wait to say more when I listen more. It isn't in what's necessarily my favorite of Teena's various styles - kind of jazzy, Riperton fly the breeze - but the voice does move.

("We Belong Together" isn't bad; it never really sticks for me, though, despite its having living atop the charts for months and months in mid '05.)

--at least one song from the *high school musical* OST, "breaking free", sounds as much like a pop-country power ballad to me as a teen-pop power ballad (isn't that one of the big download hits? i think so, since it's one of two tracks with a "karaoke instrumental" version at the end of the CD. and come to think of it, the instumental - which i I kind of like; when I first heard it, it was in my random CD changer, and I guessed it was by either tea leaf green or the tossers! -- sounds somewhat rural or pastoral or whatever as well.) the non-karaoke rendition is said to be sung by leading man troy + leading lady gabrielle.

despite tracks i mentioned above, i should note that i'm pretty sure *high school musical* isn't a very good CD. most of it, i'd classify as "lame show tunes." i'm guessing the music is closer to *rent* (which i've never heard) than to *fame* or *grease.* and i'd rather hear almost any Radio Disney star than the singers on this thing. A couple okay tracks, though.

Might be why B5's version of "Getcha Head in the Game" seems to be more popular than Troy and whoever's version (as well as "Breaking Free") on Radio Disney. I thought this might be an interesting phenomenon in the Disney to Top 40 tradition, but it seems to be a downloading fluke.

Whether that fits on this thread or not I don't really know, but I just thought I'd let you know. 'Valentine' is one of the best things on the album, but its ambition is definitely matched elsewhere.

(I don't suppose this is the thread to discuss it, but I can't fathom why Reynolds would say, "Because its internal socio-cultural dynamics force it to keep on generating freshness, black music has never really needed to borrow from white music." History of 20th century to thread? (But not this thread.))