hollaback girl

gwen is 35, and was at most 34 when she recorded "hollaback girl." which is not quite the same thing as 40.

and the album madonna released the year she turned 40 did anything but tank. it was, commercially and critically speaking, a ray of light.

What does that have to do with feminism?

why did madonnas albums tank and LAMB doing so well--is it because madonna is growing older lyrically, is it because she has been so public for so long ?

No, it's because Madonna's last three albums fucking SUCKED.

more shocking then the racism of her japanese chic is its delibrate lack of fashion--isnt hurkaki girls so 1994?

What? "the racism of her japanese chic"?

Oh.

Yeah, I guess I can buy that.

What does that have to do with feminism?

What Anthony said. I think that he's referring to the idea that women are acceptable as childlike voices, without their own opinions, etc etc. I would say that the idea that older/mature womens voices are excluded leads to the 'emasculation' women but that wouldn't really fit. (; Someone needs to give me a better word here. IE childlike female voices => not strong, not worth taking seriously, so if those are the only representations of women that you see, you're (popular culture is) discriminating against women.

I think that this a commen idea even within feminism, at college a lot of women who considered themselves feminist were suspicious of looking too girlish/wearing makeup or heels or skirts- this comes, I think, out of the 1970s version of feminism, and is kind of interesting from a gender identity point of view. If your call yourself a feminist and dress like a girl, are you reclaiming that role or fooling yourself? For another example besides Gwen Stefani, see Courtney Love and babydoll dresses in 1994ish, and the debate surrounding that.

as opposed to all the old ugly men tearing up the "TRL" chart?

Yes, it made me want to eat a bullet.

On the other hand, my two-year-old LOVES the song, and when we are in the car she says "Dada! Pay dat hawback grr song!"

Yes, it's cute as all hell.

what do you mean, anthony, when you say her voice is "explicit"?

why is it a "high school anthem"? (because it sounds like high school for some reason, because it's "about" high school, because it is played in high schools?)

how is her "japanese chic" "racist"?

as signifier of what?

Well, it's not really a contrivance on Gwen's part; it's not like she has another register and only dips into the boop-y one when she wants to hit a demographic ...

this somewhat reminds me of a fellow college radio dj coming up to me at a party, wearing a very concerned expression, and asking me if i'd ever noticed how so many of the singers who are popular are also very attractive--and did this bother me? i wonder what that dude is up to these days and if this still upsets him.

can anybody confirm if this is really the case?

S.

-- Amateur(ist) (amateurist@gmail.com), July 21st, 2005 10:36 AM.

well having 4 japanese girls follow you around like puppies and contractually not allow them to speak english in public.

no, not racist at all.

or read on here.

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2005/04/09/geisha/index_np.html

It's not only Stefani whose big kiss to the East ends up feeling more like a big Pacific Rim job.

However, Gwen's harajuku entourage is fucked up and creepy, yeah.

it's basically a marching band cadence done with synths and drum machines with a gigantic load of nonsense on top of it and some massive subwoofer stabs... and America went apeshit for it

this song was a fucking plague.

yeah this is one of my most-hated songs

http://open.spotify.com/track/6RcQOut9fWL6FSqeIr5M1r

b-a-n-a-n-a-s

like weirdly i doubt it would have been half as big a smash without the load of nonsense -- the most plague-like aspect of it -- but i bet i would have actually enjoyed it if someone had done something with it other than shout a lot and seemingly free-associate gibberish when not shouting.

pretty sure this and hey ya and crazy were the three biggest moments when my taste and americas violetly diverged over artists id previously loved or at least liked.

gwen stefani and big gay al are basically the same individual. am i the only one who feels this way.

haha gwen stefani's entire musical career is a plague afaic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuKKTWic_c&feature=related

big gay al would be a step up

I love this song irrationally. I don't like Stefani or No Doubt but this was just such a slab of silly that I couldn't resist.

i really like 'early winter'

...in the last decade, i should have said.

heard this recently & still love it fuiud

never heard early winter before, watching video on youtube, hilarious flouncing in wedding dress as rose petals fall, oh gwen stefani i can't stand you.

I love this song irrationally. I don't like Stefani or No Doubt but this was just such a slab of silly that I couldn't resist.

― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Friday, September 23, 2011 11:14 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

Ditto.

the secret it to watch youtubes of lyrics that some teenager put up (this goes for everyone fyi)

xp

Gwen was totally insane and bizarre in her solo career, remember "Wind It Up"?

http://open.spotify.com/track/1GeECVH4Msg1zLm8DExkbH

half her singles appear to be based on a dare

"I bet you can't get a song based on a 'Fiddler on the Roof' sample in the pop charts."
"I'll take that bet!"

Someone should run with that idea for the next ilx comp.

stefani's solo career was so odd - like, LAMB was basically packed with such a huge range of hits (loved "hollaback girl" at the time, inevitably it's the one that i basically never revisit), then the follow-up was just such a damp squib, lonely goatherd samples notwithstanding, and then...nothing since. it's like she invested all her energy into making one great pop album, tossed out the offcuts as a follow-up, then didn't care any more

or... she decided to focus on her kids (born in 2006 and 2008) for a while

lol i had no idea. kmt parenthood killing pop careers

this song is great fuiud

or also she went back to No Doubt and they did a tour around 2009 or 2010.

Also funny enough with Lex mentioning about parenthood killing pop careers:

http://popdust.com/2011/09/22/beyonce-pregnancy-not-illness-baby/

we’d love to see Jay take on the role of stay-at-home dad in 2012. He is supposed to be retired.

:D

http://rlv.zcache.com/challah_challah_back_girl_tshirt-p235185920627732966qiuw_400.jpg
http://www.bangitout.com/uploads/24challahback_MED.jpg
http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/d5/9/AAAAAogwEZgAAAAAANWTYA.jpg%3Fv%3D1203964551000

I would so love to see Jay taking the kid(s) on a playground with a backwards cap, shades, and timberlands pushing them on the swing. I've seen this get up in real life and it's both amusing and endearing.

BLINK 182 BE OLD

― OLD SPICE® CHEMTRAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (ex machina)

Originally did not hear Gwen pronounce that final "l" and thought she was saying "hollabacker", like a linebacker or something.

it's basically a marching band cadence done with synths and drum machines with a gigantic load of nonsense on top of it and some massive subwoofer stabs... and America went apeshit for it

well, when you describe it that way, OF COURSE America went apeshit for it

let's be real, if I had never heard hollaback girl before and I read DJP's description of it I would have thought that it was going to be a pretty great song

lol @ that family guy

I wasn't intending to give a BAD description, I was intending to give a description of something that seems like it should have been firmly out of the mainstream's comfort zone but clearly wasn't.

it really wasnt any weirder than any other neptunes beat, it just had a peppy white girl a lot of people already liked shouting a couple "knew these would haunt you for the rest of your life from the first time you heard them" gibberish hooks on top.

yeah it felt more garish than weird at the time imo, and since then any lingering weirdness has been stripped away by a neverending parade of similar hits by ke$ha, fergie, etc.

yeah i never got this track. def preferred 'rich girl'

preferred "What You Waiting For"

i think i would have liked this if "b-a-n-a-n-a-s" was left on the cutting room floor.

preferred "Cool" and pretty much the whole of No Doubt's oeuvre over her other solo singles

"Cool" is cool. I never hear it anymore.

gwen stefani's most impressive achievement is proving that you could collaborate with sublime and still go on to have a successful musical career

'cool' was another good one yeah.

i think i would have liked this if "b-a-n-a-n-a-s" was left on the cutting room floor.

― call all destroyer, Saturday, September 24, 2011 2:47 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark

smh

^

I cut "Hollaback Girl" and "Rich Girl" out of L.A.M.B. after a week or two, and was left with a damn good album. Of course, you couldn't escape "Hollaback Girl" no matter where you went.

you cant do tasteful cheerleading man. the rest of stefani's career is wretched, but u can never take this artistic triumph away from her...

"chart-topping courtney love diss track" is hilarious as an idea but the song just kinda sucks on every level imo