Rolling Debutante Bubblegum Teenpop Thread 2008

Also, I'm collapsing Rolling Emo Thread into this. And, since we probably can't support it otherwise, Rolling Musical Thread. :)

Happy New Years!

Christina Aguilera performing New Year's '07 (last year):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vwfXWPWUe1c

Also, my sister is seeing (or saw?) High School Musical 2 on Ice this week. I'll get a blow-by-blow next time I talk to her. :-P

Four links at the outset of the thread. Please discuss.

TashBed's America album comes out soon, and the title song is "Pocketful of Sunshine", which was not on her British release. It's a good song: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9318frRhwNs

This is "Glorious" by Natalie Imbruglia, which was on the top 10 list I submitted to poptimists, but I'm guessing nobody else's: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fp3ehUd2odE

Wiki 2008 in Music, apparently an accurate source for upcoming pop releases: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_in_music

No discussion of Amy Diamond on last years teenpop thread! I like her new album. This is "Stay My Baby", her Max Martin penned single, which was not on my top 10 list but just barely missed: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q2YN1pxXWsk

Last year's teenpop thread.

Dave M. does a good thing on a brand-new website, here.

"A brand-new website", huh.

Comments seem to require login? Is there any way to make it more non-member friendly? Site design is looking good, though. (I guess my "New Year's resolutions" should be "resolution" since I only listed one of 'em.) Feel free to list stuff I might have missed (esp. if it's the male R&B Autotune thang, which I kind of overlooked this year).

hey shop talk off-line yo

Frank, new Simple Plan album in Feb. Who'd do you like less? Simple Plan or Bowling for Soup?

Honestly don't remember what Simple Plan sound like.

Nice girls drink petrol in lush settings; men rasp (my Pazz & Jop singles ballot 2007):

1. Lloyd f. Lil Wayne "You" - An OK singer just doing the emotive bit, guest rapper Lil Wayne amusing himself by tossing lines at the carnival barker, while an obvious sample from Spandau Ballet provides pretty scenery. Why is this totally beautiful? Plush sadness, and Wayne strolls along making shit up: funny seduction, comic irrelevancies, against a backdrop of sad yearning.

2. Miley Cyrus, "See You Again" - Teen nice girl puts a rag of petrol in her voice. A reverbed guitar bends ominously, yet the girl retains her sweet eagerness. This voice could turn into a weapon, as it gets older.

3. Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons "Beggin' (Pilooski Edit)" - Little editorial tweaks from the remixer make a monomaniacally desperate soul song (this is Frankie having discovered the Four Tops) even more monomaniacally desperate.

4. Ashley Tisdale "Not Like That" - Ashley's an actress who hasn't yet figured out that in music you have to let the music take you. She's too busy delivering the psychology of the character. So her voice seems explanatory. And the music is this round bounding thing, and it takes her anyway.

5. JoJo "Anything" - The opposite of Tisdale: JoJo is pure music, to such an extent that that I wish she would insert more personality. So, a beautiful voice atop an obvious but beautiful sample.

6. Britney Spears "Gimme More" - I still feel totally fucked-with by this song. I've written about it so much. Britney's voice is hedonistically warm, entirely self-contained, the warmth directed inward; meanwhile the surrounding sound contains snake-tongues and hisses. I'm listening to something dangerous.

7. Yung Berg "Sexy Lady" - Back to a mood of butter. Berg can veer in two ways, can sound hard and can sound pleading. The lyrics are foul, a standard kiss-off. So what's all this emotion doing in the air?

8. Paula DeAnda f. Lil Wayne "Easy" - She knows she's a hot hot shawty, wears an ache in her voice lent to her by the costume department, while she demands something more meaningful from the boys than sex and admiration. Lil Wayne drops in, tips his hat, plays card tracks, twirls his cane, skips off into the sunset.

9. Linda Sundblad "Lose You" - The voice is helpless with feeling, but Linda is one of those clear-eyed Scandinavian bombshells, and you know she's got claws in reserve. Beauty with bite.

10. Keak Da Sneak "That Go" - The man of a thousand rasps. A specter in the foreground, ghosts in the back.

7. Yung Berg "Sexy Lady"

Actually this is the seventh WORST single of 2007. FYI.

Yeah, I saw your dislike of it (and Al making snarky comments about me for liking it) over on last year's charts thread.

Omg. People have disagreements over taste???

Some people have actually listed "Bros" as the best single of 07. Like this guy: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/01/02/arts/music/03Kuochartready.html

(Brainwasher, this doesn't mean I'm not interested in what you have to say about "Sexy Lady." As you can tell from my write-up, I've got issues with it.)

From the country thread, replying to something Frank had said about Miley Cyrus's "See You Again"; should have posted this here instead:

Someone on livejournal suggested Duane Eddy in relation to the Miley song, which I can definitely hear in the guitar tone

Yeah, that's pretty blatant, now that you mention it. I forget if Frank had burned me "See You Again" on one of his mix CDs or not; if so, it somehow didn't jump out at me from them. But it definitely jumped out at me while I was listening to Z-100 in the kitchen today, and yeah, the rockabilly in Miley's vocal inflections wasn't hard to hear, either. What hell, maybe it will make my 2008 top ten singles list, since it will have more impact this year anyway. So...naive, uninformed question that I could easily research myself: Is "See You Again" off the Hannah Montana album from this year, or what? And what about "GNO Girls Night Out" (which Frank definitely did burn, and which I also like, though probably not as much)? Are they on the same album, or just spare tracks from somewhere, or what? I've got the first Hannah Montana album, which has nothing as good as these two songs on it, I don't think, but that's it. I am so out of it. (Among the other stuff I liked, very belatedly, on Z-100 today was Britney's "Pieces of Me," Fergie's "Clumsy," Rihanna's "Shut Up And Drive," Taylor Swift's "Teardrops On My Guitar" {on top 40 radio! In New York Fucking City! How weird is that? Okay, maybe not so weird after a year of "Before He Cheats"...} and some other girl-song I couldn't place, though I assume it's obvious and my ignorance is going to inspire guffaws and chortles from people who have been paying closer attention to pop radio than me in recent months: It sounded vaguely Pink-like, but definitely Pink in rocker -- maybe even slightly rockabilly too? -- mode, and I feel like it had one part that went something like "now I've got you where I want you." Any ideas, anybody?)

...Okay, yeah, just checked Amazon; both songs are on Disc 2 of Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, which also has "East Northumberland High," which has a great title and which I've heard good things about but not to my knowledge actually heard per se'. Anybody have any opinions about how good the double-disc is? Or is Disc 2 available separately in any big-box establishment exclusive? (Should I bother?)

----

EXCLUSIVE TO THIS THREAD!

Also just noticed that two of the sappy boy songs that Z-100 played today -- the apologize one by One Republic and the sorry one by Buckcherry, who I've liked before but maybe not this year -- were about apologizing. And both songs sounded pretty damn sorry to me, too! (I've been boycotting pop radio, lately, though it's hard to explain why, and it mostly hasn't been a conscious thing. I have my reasons, not least of which is I never ride in cars anymore, and keeping up was seeming like work. But this year I am commited to listening while cooking and washing dishes, which I expect will be painless.)

some other girl-song I couldn't place...sounded vaguely Pink-like, but definitely Pink in rocker -- maybe even slightly rockabilly too? -- mode, and I feel like it had one part that went something like "now I've got you where I want you."

= Paramore! Wow, cool song. I had a feeling I should have checked out their album. Guitar reminds me of "Living La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin -- not so much rockabilly as, well, surf, maybe? Or something.

Also, not sure whether anybody has mentioned this on rolling teenpop '07 or elsewhere, but now that my better half just started singing Corey Hart's "Sunglasses At Night" to the tune of Miley's "See You Again" it's fairly obvious that the two songs sound really similar. (There's also some Europop classic that part of "See You Again" reminds me of, but who knows if I'll figure out what it is.)

Poptimists year-end poll results (except for singles, where results are only partial so far, but exit polls promise strong showings for Britney, Rihanna, Girls Aloud, Robyn, Avril, LCD Soundsystem, Aly & A.J., M.I.A., and Miley).

Poptimists Poll Best To Dance To In 2007

T2 ft Jodie Aysha - "Heartbroken"
13 (26.0%)
Britney Spears - "Gimme More"
12 (24.0%)
Rihanna - "Umbrella"
12 (24.0%)
Rogue Traders - "Voodoo Child"
7 (14.0%)
Soulja Boy - "Crank That (Soulja Boy)"
6 (12.0%)

Poptimists Poll Trend Of The Year 2007

Stars going mental
16 (34.0%)
Dancing with an umbrella
10 (21.3%)
Bassline/Niche
5 (10.6%)
Emo
5 (10.6%)
Disco Re-Edits
4 (8.5%)
Balearic
3 (6.4%)
Indie getting less rockish
2 (4.3%)
Minimal
2 (4.3%)

Poptimists Poll Best Live Experience 2007

Daft Punk Alive 2007
8 (25.8%)
Glastonbury
5 (16.1%)
Roisin Murphy
5 (16.1%)
Carter USM
4 (12.9%)
Enrique Iglesias
4 (12.9%)
Rufus Wainwright
3 (9.7%)
Battles
2 (6.5%)

Poptimists Poll Most Horrible Musical Thing 2007

Kate Nash
25 (44.6%)
Pigeon Detectives
10 (17.9%)
Westlife
10 (17.9%)
Cute Is What We Aim For
7 (12.5%)
Panda Bear
4 (7.1%)

Poptimists Poll Lifetime Achievement Award

Tony Wilson
26 (56.5%)
Britney Spears
6 (13.0%)
Girls Aloud
6 (13.0%)
Max Martin
6 (13.0%)
Les Rita Mitsouko
1 (2.2%)
Pimp C
1 (2.2%)

Poptimists Poll Argument Of The Year 2007

Is Indie Too White?
11 (26.8%)
Britney at the VMAs
9 (22.0%)
Death of Oink
7 (17.1%)
Klaxons and Nu Rave
7 (17.1%)
Poptimists vs K-Punk
7 (17.1%)

Poptimists Poll Act Of The Year 2007

Britney Spears
25 (39.7%)
Rihanna
21 (33.3%)
Fall Out Boy
7 (11.1%)
Robyn
6 (9.5%)
Girls Aloud
4 (6.3%)

Poptimists Poll Album Of The Year 2007

Britney Spears - Blackout
22 (46.8%)
MIA - Kala
15 (31.9%)
Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
4 (8.5%)
Aly & AJ - Insomniatic
3 (6.4%)
Justice - (cross)
3 (6.4%)

(I suspect that the ratio of British to American acts in the results of "Most Horrible Musical Thing" is a close match to the ratio of Brits to Americans voting in the poll (though I do know that a couple Brits voted for Cute and an American chose Westlife).)

The "Sunglasses At Night" similarity is mainly confined to the first or the first two lines of the verse, I think, though I can't say I have "Sunglasses" burned into my mind. Perez Hilton commented on the likeness, and Dave commented on some friends commenting on it, though I don't remember if he did so on ilX.

Wait, so do British pop-fans-who-think-being-pop- fans-is-a-big-deal hate Kate Nash (who I haven't heard, but I've been looking forward to hearing) for the same reasons they hated Lily Allen last year, or what? (I never figured out what those reasons were, actually, but have no doubt they must have existed.)

Poptimists Poll Best To Dance To In 2007

Rihanna - "Umbrella"

Huh? Explain yrselves Poptimists.

^^^poptomists otm

haha, xhuxk with the slaaaaaaam = not what i expected to see

"Umbrella" is at the exact tempo where it's too fast to slow dance to and too slow to normal dance to.

Poptimists Poll Argument Of The Year 2007

Is Indie Too White?
11 (26.8%)
Britney at the VMAs
9 (22.0%)
Death of Oink
7 (17.1%)
Klaxons and Nu Rave
7 (17.1%)
Poptimists vs K-Punk
7 (17.1%)

GOOD WORK GUYS, COULD NEVER HAVE TALKED ABOUT THESE ON ILM

GOOD WORK GUYS, COULD NEVER HAVE TALKED ABOUT THESE ON ILM

Most of the comments were about how much all of these arguments sucked. My vote was for "Kelly Clarkson shoulda listened to Clive," which was at least interesting in it reversed the usual terms of the authorship critique...instead of "she doesn't even write her own songs," it was "she SHOULDN'T have written her own songs," which was weird because she co-wrote plenty of her own stuff on Breakaway. Also, sticking up for Clive Davis without knowing anything about what he was actually pushing for in terms of his own vision for the album is just weird -- I still think that his one suggestion that I know of, Lindsay Lohan's already-released "Black Hole," is pretty close to the sound she went with anyway, except all of Kelly's rock songs (even the not-great ones) are better than "Black Hole."

I mentioned the "Sunglasses at Night" connection...on Poptimists maybe? But pointed out that my friends dismissing it based on that similarity were missing the fact that the chorus is the best part and the six notes in the verse (even though they're the exact same) aren't the main hook, so it's not exactly banking on the similarity. I'm guessing it was more or less accidental (meanwhile, the chorus sounds nothing like the Corey Hart song -- which isn't that good to begin with -- tho I'd be interested in what other tune the verse reminds xhuxk of).

Also, "I Got Nerve" is a pretty direct "Sk8er Boi" rip in the verse and is also a better song. (Also xhuxk, if you want I can send you a copy of my makeshift Miley comp, which has most of the best stuff from all three discs she's put out.)

Here's what I wrote about "See You Again" earlier in the year:

"Disney popper Cyrus--aka Hannah Montana, and the daughter of Billy Ray--takes the rhythm and cadence from Corey Hart’s throbbing ’80s hit 'Sunglasses at Night' and transforms it into a clench-fisted rocker. And then adds a lovely splash of spaghetti-Western guitars. More effortless by half than Avril’s 'Girlfriend' or Kelly Clarkson’s 'Never Again,' this may well be the sleeper teen-pop hit of 2007. (4.0)"

That's 4.0 out of 5.0. I don't know why I decided to ignore it entirely when it came around to compiling my year-end Top 40--probably for the same reason I ignored a whole bunch of other things as well (too lazy to try and include and relisten to them all). Maybe I'll see how it fares this year (I can't say I ever heard it anywhere after reviewing it). (I also don't think I know what I'm talking about re: "cadence." I must've looked it up at the time, at least to ensure I wasn't completely wrong. But I think Frank's right that the similarity is confined to a couple lines in the verse. His is definitely more disco, hers is more rock.

Bunch of new-ish things I like now and hope to include in my singles column (that I think fit here):

DAvid Guetta feat. Cozi, "Baby When the Light" - Totally vaporous disco, perfect as far as that goes, I think it's co-written by Cathy Dennis.

Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown, "No Air" - Really growing on me, this one--very pretty in a power-ballady kind of way. I thought "Tattoo" was nice, but she sounded like she was trying a bit hard. Don't get that sense as much on this one.

Cascada, "What Hurts the Most" - Euro version of Rascal Flatts song--like the slow intro much better than the dance section, but it may grow on me, and I definitely prefer it to the original (though it's helped me hear the song itself better--I just don't like the singer in the RF version).

Ashlee Simpson, "Outta My Head" - This one's really growing on me also. This is only the second Ashlee song I've listened to. Nothing to say about it yet, though.

Estelle, "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)" - Very jazzy, but not retro-annoyingly so... reminds me of another r&b one-off that was big about five yrs ago, but I can't recall who it was.

A couple I'm not liking much:

Natasha Bedingfield, "Pocketful of Sunshine" - I loved "Unwritten," but have otherwise found her a bit annoying. I'm kinda borderline on this so far, but I'm not hopeful.
Janet, "Feedback" - Exciting production, crap song, who-cares vocals.

"His is definitely more disco, hers is more rock." (I mean Corey vs. Miley here, obviously.)

Hers is pretty disco, though, too!

True--maybe I should say hers is more staccato-ey rock-disco, whereas his is throbbing synth-disco? There's not as much overt "rock" in his, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

Don't know who r|t|c is, but the poll wasn't for the best arguments on poptimists, but best arguments period, wherever they were, and probably some of the people who voted in the poptimists poll probably did argue those things on ilX. (But then, there may be some people who didn't want to argue them on ilX.)

Or am I misunderstanding your point. What is your point?

(Didn't think any of those "arguments" were particularly interesting, actually, and voted for Britney VMAs by default.)

Wait, so do British pop-fans-who-think-being-pop- fans-is-a-big-deal hate Kate Nash (who I haven't heard, but I've been looking forward to hearing) for the same reasons they hated Lily Allen last year, or what?

Except that most of them liked Lily Allen, even if some of them were grudging about the liking. And the commentary on rolling teenpop about her mockney actually didn't seem to be a big reason for the disliking. Not sure what it was, maybe Lily being too pleased with herself with her zingers? Whereas I took Lily to be more desperate than self-pleased, but I also didn't mind her self-pleasure, to the extent it was there.

(Actually, none of the five nominated acts were close to the worst things of the year. Everybody had blocked Scouting For Girls out of their minds when it came to nominating acts for this category.)

My guess is that Kate Nash will make you shrug more than she makes you grit your teeth - though listening to "Caroline's A Victim" could be an interesting test of character. I'm thumbs up on "Pumpkin Soup," but only slightly up. The thing is, "LDN" was a beautiful melody, a sweet sample, a bright splash of color. "Foundations" isn't remotely as likable, to my ears.

"Cadence" has two meanings, one having to do with rhythm - "the measure or beat of movement, as in dancing or marching," says American Heritage, first edition - the other def'n being "A progression of chords moving to a harmonic close or point of rest," which I think is used only by music theory specialists. In any event, I assume someone means the rhythm unless the context makes it obvious that he means something else.

Xhuxk, Lily Allen wasn't disliked enough even to get nominated for "most awful thing" on last year's poptimist poll. Sandi Thom won overwhelmingly, getting 50% of the votes to "Indie Rock In General"'s 18.3% in second place; the rest of the tally was "Before The Music Dies" with 8.3% (a movie, got my vote as most awful, and would have gotten a lot more votes if more people had seen the videoclip of the coming attraction, since it's actually offensive, rather than merely stupid, like Sandi), Arctic Monkeys 8.3%, Westlife 6.7% (the only act to make the ballot two years in a row), Muse 5%, and the Streets 3rd album 3.3%.

Hey, I liked Muse! "Knights of Cydonia" or whatever is on Guitar Hero III, do they belong on here? Thumbs up to Muse!

"Knights of Cydonia" is insanely good. Every song needs a headbang section.

I kind of liked Sandi Thom's rhythm track, too, on the awful song about being a flower child, but it seemed to stop dead in its tracks and miss a beat at the start of every verse.

Xhuxk, fyi:

Poptimists Poll Act Of The Year 2006

Girls Aloud
17 (29.8%)

Lily Allen
16 (28.1%)

Justin Timberlake
11 (19.3%)

Cassie
6 (10.5%)

Paris Hilton
4 (7.0%)

Aly and AJ
3 (5.3%)

I kind of liked Sandi Thom's rhythm track, too

That was no rhythm track, that was the sound of THE PEOPLE grasping THE POWER by the scruff of the neck and saying:

http://valdefierro.com/fted008.jpg

Poptimists Tracks Of The Year 2007
(Tom collected top ten lists and scored it on a 12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1; votes were for tracks not singles and hurrah my 1 point for "Blush" and my 4 for "Turn The Lights Off" made a difference. You had to get votes from at least two voters to make the list.)

40. FEIST - "My Moon My Man (Boyz Noize Remix)"
39. CASSIE - "Turn The Lights Off"
38. KATE NASH - "Foundations"
37. RIHANNA - "Lemme Get That"
36. CORTNEY TIDWELL - "Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (Ewan's Objects In Space Mix)"
35. ROISIN MURPHY - "Overpowered"
34. MIA - "Jimmy"
33. TIMBALAND ft KERI HILSON - "The Way I Are"
32. NELLY FURTADO - "Say It Right"
31. KLAXONS - "Golden Skans"
30. ASHLEY TISDALE - "Not Like That"
29. NATASHA BEDINGFIELD - "I Wanna Have Your Babies"
28. ALY & AJ - "Blush"
27. CASSIE - "Is It You?"
26. DRAGONETTE - "Competition"
25. COBRA STARSHIP - "Damn You Look Good And I'm Drunk (Scandalous)"
24. DIZZEE RASCAL - "Pussy'ole (Old Skool)"
23. FALL OUT BOY - "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"
22. LLOYD ft LIL WAYNE - "You"
21. THE SOUNDS - "Tony The Beat (Rex The Dog Remix)"
20. T2 - "Heartbroken"
19. MIA - "Boyz"
18. GIRLS ALOUD - "Sexy! No No No..."
17. FREEMASONS ft BAILEY TZUKE - "Uninvited"
16. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - "Someone Great"
15. GROOVE ARMADA ft MUTYA BUENA - "Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control)"
14. KANYE WEST - "Stronger"
13. BRITNEY SPEARS - "Get Naked (I Have A Plan)"
12. LIL MAMA - "Lip Gloss"
11. FALL OUT BOY - "The Take Over, The Break's Over"
10. AMERIE - "Gotta Work" (32 pts)
9. GIRLS ALOUD - "Call The Shots" (37 pts)
8. MIA - "Paper Planes" (42 pts)
7. KLEERUP ft ROBYN - "With Every Heartbeat" (43 pts)
6. MILEY CYRUS - "See You Again" (44 pts)
5. BRITNEY SPEARS - "Gimme More" (46 pts)
4. AVRIL LAVIGNE - "Girlfriend" (54 pts)
3. BRITNEY SPEARS - "Piece Of Me" (56 pts)
2. ALY AND AJ - "The Potential Break-Up Song" (71 pts)
1. RIHANNA ft JAY-Z - "Umbrella" (133 pts)

I kind of liked Sandi Thom's rhythm track, too, on the awful song about being a flower child, but it seemed to stop dead in its tracks and miss a beat at the start of every verse.

That was no rhythm track, that was the sound of THE PEOPLE grasping THE POWER by the scruff of the neck

Aha, so you're saying the unsustainability of Thom's beat reflects the unsustainability of Social And Cultural Revolution decried in her lyrics. Every generation's Revolution (and Verse) must start fresh, without the preceding generation's (Chorus's) momentum. And of course, when we listen to Thom we think of the unorthodox way in which she got her record deal, endemic of our current Online Music Revolution, which, by extension, will someday seem quaint as well.

So what, the Poptimists don't go for wry meta-textual commentary?

I think the top 3 on the Poptimist list are pretty perfect. I wouldn't put them in that order (Piece of Me before Umbrella, PBS third), but that's a solid list. Tho I'm surprised Girlfriend made it onto the top 10 - it's lost some appeal for me since I first heard it last year.

The more I hear Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown (which I probably like a lot more than love, even if my somewhat obsessive listening to it these last couple days suggests otherwise), the more I hear a mammoth attempt at a Roxette-style ballad ("Listen to Your Heart" or "Must HAve Been Love"), or maybe something like T'Pau's "Heart and Soul." All sorts of tinkling prettiness on top of a bombastic stage.

I've really only listened to the one single by Kate Nash, "Foundations," the music of which I thought was pretty great (esp. the unexpected gospel-house interjection) (second verse?), but I'm middling-at-best on her--a bit cute about "taking the piss" perhaps? Some of her rhymes made me cringe, though maybe not the words per so so much as her delivery of them (the "bitter"-"fitter" rhyme, I'm thinking--HATE the way she pronounces "fitter").

I said on a poptimists thread that "Piece of Me" is not in my top half of the Britney album. That inspired me to come up with an approx. ranking:

1. "Gimme More"
2. "Heaven On Earth"
3. "Get Naked (I Got a Plan)"
4. "Radar"
5. "Piece of Me"
6. "Freakshow"
7. "Toy Soldier"
8. "Hot as Ice"
9. "Break the Ice"
10. "Ooh Ooh Baby"
11. "Perfect Lover"
12. "Why Should I Be Sad"

Ah, so it is in the top half after all, barely.

Radio Edit of "Love Like This" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Official Video version

Cassie tracklist?

1. Turn The Lights Off
2. Sometimes (featuring Ryan Leslie)
3. In Love With The DJ
4. Is It You?
5. When Your Body Is Talking
6. Irrelevant
7. Hurting
8. Can't Do It Without You
9. Take It
10. I Know What
11. Free
12. Long Way 2 Go (International Bonus Track)
13. Me & U (International Bonus Track)
14. Would I Lie (iTunes Bonus Track)

Just wrote a paper for a Social Psychology course titled "The Faces of Celebrity" that basically uses Britney as a test case for discussing the role of persona in the presentation of celebrity in every day life. Goffman + Spears, in other words. If any of you are interested, I'll upload it and link to it. About 2,000 words or so.

instead because his singing really is extraordinarily sweet and he's even more at ease as a singer than Brooke is - despite botching "I Should've Known Better" this week

Well, he should've known better than to sing that song, but it was "We Can Work It Out."

not amazed at all last night. ultimately, liked Chikezie more for what he was trying to do rather than what he actually did. and brooke = nice, but zzzzzzz

david cook is getting a big push, why?!?!??!?! he wouldn't reach daughtry level, right? whatever.

I think Brooke stole the show. She's one of the few people in the history of the show who can sing a song like "Let it Be" and actually mean every word. It felt like you were actually seeing a PERFORMANCE, instead of karaoke, in much the same way that Mcphee's best performances did. And unlike Mcphee, it was amazingly natural.

But kudos to Chikezie for giving the show some oomph.

the vocal melodies on the dupre song just aren't good enough. And the lyrics are awful; interesting (weird?) lyrics were part of what made Paris' record so fun.

Nice production though!

That Kristy Lee Cook performance is so mindblowing. The instrumentation is SO FAST. Who decided on that?! Is it a sped up recording or was the band over there shredding away?

Ashlee Simpson in Us Weekly, re: those pesky nosejob rumors: "anyone with two eyes should know the answer."

Billboard:

Second Lil Mama Hit Ushers In New Album
Lil Mama

March 21, 2008, 11:30 AM ET

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Having scored a second big hit without the benefit of an album, teenage rapper Lil Mama's debut finally has a release date. "VYP -- Voice of the Young People" will arrive April 29 via Jive.

The set has already spawned the No. 10 Hot 100 hit "Lip Gloss" and this week, second single "Shawty Get Loose" featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain exploded 92-19, the biggest gain on the tally this year.

"Shawty" is benefiting from further exposure in commercials for the MTV show "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew," on which Lil Mama is a judge.

And although the track list for "VYP" is still coming together, it is expected to include songs produced by Swizz Beatz, the Runners, Nate "Danja" Hills, Scott Storch, Cool & Dre and Dr. Luke, among others.

"VYP" will also be available in a deluxe edition with bonus tracks and a DVD, with details to be announced.

As previously reported, Lil Mama will join Soulja Boy for a spring U.S. tour, beginning April 11 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Ashlee Simpson gets no love from Radio Disney, whose call-in types KICKED "Little Miss Obsessive." Still not sure how I feel about the song myself, actually, though I'm glad she's still doing work in the Shanks/DioGuardi vein.

"Duri Duri" original version by Click

"Duri Duri" remake by María Daniela Y Su Sonido Lasser

Official tracklisting for Ashlee's new one

1. Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) (Prod. by Timbaland, Royal Court & Jim Beanz)
2. Boys
3. Rule Breaker (Prod. by Timbaland, Royal Court & Jim Beanz)
4. Can't Have It All
5. Little Miss Obsessive ft. Tom Higgenson
6. Ragdoll (Prod. by Timbaland)
7. Bittersweet World (Prod. by Timbaland & Jim Beanz)
8. What I've Become
9. Hot Stuff
10. Murder ft. Izza Kizza (Prod. by Timbaland)
11. Never Dream Alone
12. No Time For Tears

Promotional website has a preview of Bittersweet World which is kind of reminding me of an inverted S.O.S. or Tainted Love or something.

Curious to see how far afield of "Ashlee" this album goes in an attempt to rehabilitate her career. Boys, Obsessive and Ay Ya Ya point to at least something successfully new. I'm not sure what this is.

has there been a thorough discussion on Rolling Teenpop thread about the Disney self-perpetuation machine? (radio that advertises music that advertises TV that advertises products that advertise movies)

also explains why this shouldn't be surprising:

Now clocking in at #28 on the Radio Disney Top 30 countdown -- a little-known track from the Hannah Montana soundtrack called "See You Again."

-- dabug, Saturday, February 9, 2008 4:07 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

TEENPOP DUDES:

explain how miley cyrus and hannah montana are alter egos. i dont understand. is this some david lynch type shit?

Curt1s, I think you've got my reasoning backwards. What I was surprised about in February was that they didn't put it in their playlist sooner -- it worked its way up radio charts (debuted in the top 100 on Mediabase sometime at the end of October 2007) long before Disney ever played it on Radio Disney even once. As far as I can tell, this model for a Disney-originating track is unprecedented -- occasionally there's crossover from Disney to radio airplay, but almost never the other way around (that's excluding tracks Disney imports that don't originate from Hollywood or Walt Disney Records).

I've talked a lot about the self-perpetuation machine here and elsewhere -- actually, I've noticed in the past few weeks there's been a bit less of a Disney-product overload on their charts. And they're playing "No Air" a lot (and no HSM2 songs that I saw), so maybe I should check it out again.

Has anybody here heard of/listened to Savvy and Mandy, who are now on the RD top 30? Or heard the Mitchel Musso or Lucas Grabeel songs also on the top 30?

Hannah Montana is the secret blonde drag queen persona of Miles ("Miley") I think.

Yeah, Curt1s, we'd been talking anywhere and everywhere for the last six months about Radio Disney not pushing their own song. "See You Again" was getting massive iTunes downloads and unexpectedly breaking big on Top 40 radio while Radio Disney was pretending that it didn't exist, the song apparently hitting despite the Disney machine not because of it. Very strange. So anyway, Dave's comment about the "little-known track" was obviously sarcastic, which was evident to anyone who was paying the slightest attention to the discussion and to pop radio.

And we've been talking for a couple years now about how Disney's dominance was potentially narrowing the field.

Alex, I think the photos in the I Am Me booklet and the stylistic variety on that album ("Burning Up" especially, and a Japan-only bonus track called "Fall In Love With Me," both reggae but with vocals that come from show music and pop and disco) foreshadow what she's doing now: a lot of role playing and exuberant comedy, which provide cover for playing around with vocal styles, and she still manages to end up as her passionate, hurtable, uneasy self. For a while her plan was to do the new album as the fictional "Vicky Valentine," a gangster's moll bad-girl type. "Murder" and "Rule Breaker" are pretty obviously in that persona. I'm surprised at how well she's doing the rhythms - seems quite at home, and "Outta My Head" beats the crap out of most of Timbaland's own album. The melodies to "Boys" and "Bittersweet World" fall short, and none of the lyrics on the leaked stuff pack the emotional wallop of her first album's, but "Outta My Head" and "Little Miss Obsessive" manage beauty and passion and humor with a nice light step. Definitely an achievement, even if the earnest Ashlee of Autobiography is my favorite Ashlee.

But the audience doesn't seem to be there for it. "Outta My Head" got airplay in Phoenix and Tucson and parts of Texas. "Little Miss Obsessive" is getting played in Peoria, Honolulu, and Burlington. That seems to be it. Maybe the album will start strong with support from longtime fans, but I'm not even expecting that.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THE FUCK MILEY CYRUS AND HANNAH MONTANA ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT LITTLE GIRLS?!?!!

chaki it's just a tv show fantasy thing that little girls believe/engage in

endulge*

BUT I DONUT UNDERSTAND

you see, hannah montana is miley cyrus' stage name. So in the day she's miley, normal high schooler Miley Cyrus, but when performing she is Hannah.

It's a little like Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton.

is she a superhero, or

I wonder what will happen in the very likely event that the new Ashlee album bombs. She's still very famous, and has a boyfriend with major connections in the industry. Can she get another album made just because she wants to? Will she pay for it largely herself?

She's a brilliant songwriter, and the whims of the marketplace killing her career would be a shame.

They're both superheroes.

Wait. Seriously?

you see, hannah montana is miley cyrus' stage name.

BUT MILEY CYRUS IS DESTINY HOPE CYRUS' STAGE NAME WHAT THE FUUUUUU

on the show, is her character's name miley cyrus? is billy ray cyrus her dad?

Yeah, that's what's confusing me here. What is the normal (non-superhero) character's name on the show itself? Hannah Montana?

(wait, or are they really both superheroes?!)

Matt, my guess is that Ashlee's got huge support from Ron Fair, who's president of Geffen, though that's based on reading a few quotes and seeing one interview with him where he was about to break into tears when he discussed how unfairly she'd been treated by the media. (I agree about the unfairness, but on the other hand she got a leg up in the first place, 'cause of her sister and her dad.) And of course Geffen is under UMG and - not that I know anything about this - may not be all that independent of Interscope anymore, so I can't imagine that Fair has free rein. If the album is a complete and utter flop, I'd think the record company would feel they have to ditch her, but if it does so-so they might keep her because they like her.

on the other hand she got a leg up

Hmmm. I'm mixing my metaphors.

do her dad and friends know that miley is also hannah montana?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_montana

PS I can't believe you got me to post to the teenpop thread, argh

i cant find any info on that page. cant someone just answer me? this is confusing!@?

This is Miley: http://webpages.csus.edu/~jak43/angry%20cat.jpg
This is Hannah: http://guidance.net.nz/images/happycat.gif

dont be a doof.

I'm not!

those are cats, dude.

What?????

How the hell did that happen?

ARRRRG..CAN SOMEONE (NOT 'HI DERE') ANSWER ME ABOUT HANNAH?

who the hell is destiny hope cyrus, btw?

is that her sister i think?

That's Miles' little sister, played by Emily Osment. She's a sad girl into phallic magical Hentai stuff :(

This whole show is pretty homoerotic with lots of restful brainless anal probing

????????????????????????????????????????

Chaki, I think you'd have to watch the episodes "Achy Jakey Heart" which feaures Miles' self induced colonic irrigation after Jake's rejection of his homosexual advances to understand what I'm saying better. The underlying metaphor is all about rising twin tides of globalism and consumerism, equally floating all boats.

yeah and how does hobbes work on calvin and hobbes? is he, like, magic, or is it all in the little boy's imagination?

thats a cartoon!

you are

So wild, standing there, with her hands in her hair
I can't help remember just where she touched me
There's still no face here in her place
So cool, she was like jazz on a summer's day
Music, high and sweet, then she just blew away
Now she can't be that warm with the wind in her arms

Valerie, call on me
Call on me, Valerie
Come and see me
I'm the same boy I used to be

Love songs fill the night, but they don't tell it all
Not how lovers cry out just like they're dying
Her cries hang there, in time, somewhere
Someday, some good wind may blow her back to me
Some night I may hear her like she used to be
No it can't be that warm with the wind in her arms

Valerie, call on me
Call on me, Valerie
Come and see me
I'm the same boy I used to be

So cool, she was like jazz on a summer's day
Music, high and sweet, then she just blew away
No she can't be that warm with the wind in her arms

Valerie, call on me
Call on me, Valerie
Come and see me
I'm the same boy I used to be

I'm the same boy I used to be