Hard being her

[koganbot]

This makes me unhappy, though for all I know it's fine or really good for all the people involved. Can't imagine it'll be great for the little one.

Also wanted Ashlee to have to surmount the artistic challenge of generating lyrics while being fundamentally happy.

Comments

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I just saw this on Twitter!

Not gonna lie, my first thought was, "Can't wait for the post-divorce album."

[askbask.livejournal.com]

That's what we said about Avril...

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Well, Avril's never had an intelligent thing to say about anything in her life, so divorce would be no different -- Ashlee's whole raison d'etre as an artist is to write songs about how, hey, life isn't quite as bad as it (very recently) was. Her songs about happiness (without the accompanying crash) aren't nearly as good! But then who knows what influence real life issues actually have on her songwriting -- I can only infer from what I saw of her show, and even then not without wildly speculating.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Well, not her raison d'etre, but what I like in her music. "Bittersweet World" isn't a terrible summation of her general moood.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

girlboymusic liked this.

[koganbot]

Wow, the Avril antagonism...

I still find "Unwanted" and "Mobile" real touching, and just because "Complicated" wasn't as complicated or interesting as the Marit2Marion song it was possibly ripping off doesn't mean that it had nothing intelligent to offer.

The thing is, Ashlee finding her footing, breaking free, finding and refinding herself, grasping the next rung, etc. are things that, while they aren't necessarily wrung dry, she no longer needs to prove she can do. Though, "this is what's going on" is likely always interesting, even if it's the same old thing.

Not that I've found my footing...

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Haha, I overshoot the mark on my Avril hate (I quite like lots of Avril, just not for specifically lyrical reasons, like 80% of the other music I like) because of how I perceive her inflated status in what I think of as Ashlee's realm.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I imagine that the kinds of thoughts that follow a divorce (or some other life event that isn't "not being a teenager anymore") have a family resemblance to breaking free and redefining yourself, but with more bitter and less sweet. (I'm kind of hoping she goes bitter after the relative sweetness -- which I liked -- of her last album, which was more about trying things out than figuring things out).

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

I actually like a bunch of songs off her first album (and am cautiously optimistic about her next album because it's supposed to be a lot like her first album) but...eh. They're still missing something. A discernible personality, for instance. An accurate and nuanced portrayal of actual human emotion. (This, the lack of a sense that there's a unique person with unique thoughts and feelings involved in this song, is also a problem I have with Kelly Clarkson and occasionally Demi Lovato, but both Kelly and Demi make up for it by being awesome and specific in other ways, whereas Avril is just a sucking black hole of vapidity from which no thoughtfulness or honesty has ever emerged.)

I don't think finding your footing, breaking free, grasping the next rung, etc. are ever things you're done proving you can do. You figure that shit out, you get about a year of feeling really good about yourself and your ability to survive things, and then something comes along and you have to figure that shit out all over again.

[koganbot]

Yeah, of course agree about never being done.

How's Demi doing, by the way? Haven't been following for the last month or so. Is she still lying low, trying to recover?

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Out of rehab, has been seen entering an outpatient treatment center in Santa Monica, no news on when/how she'll return to work.

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's what you said about Avril.

Avril has always been shit; I did not expect a divorce to suddenly make her less shitty.