Rules Of The Game #20: Fleshy Women, Slimy Men, Smart Teens

[koganbot]

Robyn, Paula, Enrique, Beyoncé, Heidi Montag, Mira Craig, Beth Ditto, Yung Berg, Ashley Tisdale, and lots about Aly & A.J.

The Rules Of The Game #20: Fleshy Women, Slimy Men, Smart Teens

Two questions: (1) Of all the songs I've been championing, why is "Potential Breakup Song" the one that's struck the biggest chord with you folks, that's become our miniature cause célèbre? (2) Why do some of us care so much that it gets airplay and breaks through to the general pop audience? What does it represent? What's at stake?

I read this column to the people in my writers group last night, some of whom got excited when I quoted the line from "Potential Breakup Song," and thought the song was terrific when I played it for them (at least the women did). My friend Ken said that it's got elements that remind him of Del Shannon. (When I think about it I can hear a family resemblance between its opening riff and the opening to Runaway. And PBUS's bass line does have something of a rockabilly boogie in it.)

EDIT: Here are links to all but three of my other Rules Of The Game columns (LVW's search results for "Rules of the Game"). Links for the other three (which for some reason didn't get "Rules Of The Game" in their titles), are here: #4, #5, and #8.

UPDATE: I've got all the links here now:

http://koganbot.livejournal.com/179531.html

Comments

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think one reason its struck a chord with poptimists is that a big part of the Poptimists' "hero story" is 'we are open minded and seek great pop wherever it may be found', and the stuff that might be turning the wider market off A&AJ - their Christianity, evangelism, blonde Disneyishness - is stuff we can feel proud of ourselves for looking past.

(I am stretching 'we' very wide - this is just a, slightly cynical, theory.)

[koganbot]

Well, yeah, but you can say something similar - not the identical characteristics, but the turning off the wider market - about lots of songs I've been championing, e.g., Paris Hilton's "Nothing In This World" (which I think is even better than "Potential Breakup Song," and though Paris got her plaudits here as argument of the year, she barely competed as artist or album of the year, unfortunately). And there's been nowhere near the general interest here about Ashlee Simpson, whom I've been pushing and discussing more than emphatically. On the other hand, Ashlee's only new single during my time at poptimists has been the mediocre "Invisible." But nonetheless, I've not been noticing anything like the spontaneous enthusiasm for her that "Potential Breakup Song" has been getting. (One can argue that the groundwork for this spontaneous enthusiasm was Jeff's writing about "Greatest Time Of Year" here and me and Dave and Mike Barthel saying lots about "Rush" and "Not This Year" over on rolling teenpop, at a time when at least a few of you were still reading it [and Dave and I and Mike were posting there far more regularly].)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I wonder if with Ashlee yr comparing her to Dylan may have turned off the Poptimists!

"Potential Break-Up" song is dance-pop, too (so is "nothing in this world", I grant you - but Ashlee isn't)

She has no place

[koganbot]

I don't know how many poptimists ever saw that Dylan comparison.

(For people's info, here's one version, though note that in this particular instance I wasn't only comparing Ashlee to Dylan, I was comparing Dylan to her:

Like Elvis before him, like Ashlee Simpson now, Dylan simply did not know his place - meaning both that he was uppity ("How much do I know / To talk out of turn / You might say that I'm young / You might say I'm unlearned") and that he was lost, that he had no place.

Also, some Dylan comparisons here.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think Paris got her plaudits! Maybe not that single in particular but 'Stars Are Blind' certainly, and 'Screwed' got played at the last Poptimism.

'Boyfriend' would have got just as many people behind it as 'Potential Breakup Song' had Poptimists been then what it is now. And I think because of your pushing, Ashlee's next single - proper single to lead her next album rather than random mediocre-quality leak - will get at least lots of attention.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I'm more concerned at Poptimists' insistence on not getting Ciara :(

[koganbot]

But if it's "Murder," well, I don't know what I think of it yet, maybe I'll end up liking it as much as Britney's "Gimme More," which I like more than "Potential Breakup Song" (speaking of cause célèbres). I'm still pissed at the evasiveness of the lyrics (in which regard maybe she'll end up resembling post-1966 Dylan, I hope not).

And I think she is capable of doing well w/ Timbaland, using her dark guttural throat, but it's still not what I want from her.

Still, Lex, the general question, what do you think is at stake here, our wanting so bad for "Potential Breakup Song" [and other stuff] to hit?

[koganbot]

And what do you think of Del Shannon? I love his falsetto.

Handyman

[koganbot]

Another really good Del Shannon song

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with you on the Del Shannon intro! My old band used to do a cover of Runaway... *sigh*

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure there's anything to this other than that most of the songs you have championed over time have been rock songs and "Potential Break Up Song" is an electropop song. No surprise poptimists goes for the electropop.

Paris Hilton was also dance, but people found her so distasteful that they couldn't get past it. Aly & AJ are apparently completely agreeable people in real life, and great interviews, and seem fun to hang out with. They are likeable, and that help.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to think through why I care so much that good stuff becomes hits and bad stuff doesn't. Just seeking validation of my own tastes? I dunno.

[koganbot]

I like Yung Berg's "Sexy Lady" and Lloyd's "You" even more than I like PBUS but barely cared that they became hits - I suppose this is because stuff like that becomes hits anyway; but also, I've really not got much emotional caring about them or any kind of identification with what they're doing. I don't know if I've got a huge identification with what Aly & A.J. are doing on PBUS, but I do love them, whereas again I barely give a thouht to Lloyd or Yung Berg.

When is Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" going to become a single?

Also interesting that "Potential Breakup Song" signifies dance - which it does - since it's not really so different from their other songs, most of which I'd call "rock."

I don't think the general public notices that Ashlee and Aly & A.J. et al. are primarily "rock." I also don't know if I notice, if I think there's a hell of difference between "Potential Breakup Song" and "Bullseye," or between "L.O.V.E." and "La La."

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

"See You Again" is probably my favorite song of the year to this point, and if I were submitting a year-end singles list to anywhere, I would seriously consider including it in there, even though it isn't really a single. No idea why something like "Girls Night Out" got released before it.

OK, so in your conception, we are rooting for Miley and A&A to be hits not for us but because we like Aly & AJ and want them to be successful because they deserve it? Maybe it's that I want others to see what I do in Aly & AJ because I've gotten so much enjoyment from their music.

The difference between "Potential Break Up Song" and "La La" is that PBUS is synth based and the others aren't. Of course, "Bullseye" is electric guitar based, but has there really been a poptimists outpouring of support over Aly & AJ in general or just PBUS.

Ashlee Simpson's best singles were released prior to what I perceive to be the peak (in popularity) of poptimists, and definitely prior to me joining the group. I think I like Aly & AJ better anyways.

[koganbot]

I'm not sure what I'm saying, actually: maybe the fact that I love Aly & A.J. makes them representative of me in that they represent something I love???? But probably the fact that they seem to question themselves makes them - actually - a fine pair for me to identify with, though this questioning is less exemplified "Potential Breakup Song" than by "Not This Year" and "Chemicals React" and "Blush" or the accidental tension between "One Of Them"/"Sticks and Stones" on the one hand and "Rush" on the other are the ones that bring that out in me. But I suppose I identify well with the musical restlessness of "Potential Breakup Song" - like, let's see what we can do with synths, with Andrews Sisters type melodies, with wordplay.

(By the way, the evangelical Christians I happen to know irl tend to be smart and questioning etc. As are the nonevangelical Christians and the nonevangelical non-Christians.)

[koganbot]

Oh, and for the lurkers, Miley Cyrus's "See You Again" is produced and co-written (w/ Miley) by Antonina Armato and Tim James, who produced and co-wrote (w/ Aly & A.J.) "Potential Breakup Song." "Blush" is written by Aly & A.J. alone.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

They also co-wrote "Not This Year", which I like even more than "Potential Break Up Song" and maybe even more than "See You Again". Do they have any non-Miley, non-Aly&AJ work?

[koganbot]

Yes! Hoku! "Another Dumb Blonde" and "How Do I Feel (The Burrito Song)." Here's the BMI list of Tim James' songs (which is incomplete), but it's a pain in the ass trying to find out which artists did them, since you have to then search each song by title, ticking "artists," and then (if there are a lot of songs by that title) scroll through each one.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Research reveals:

"Once Again" by Frankie Jordan, "Bigger Than Us" by Hannah/Miley, "Bet On It" from HSM2, "Come Back to Me" by Vanessa H, The Dressed Up As Life album by Sick Puppies (who??), "Driving To California" by Still Pending, and some Cheetah Girls stuff, and probably some other stuff too, I dunno.

[koganbot]

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Hudgens, which of course was all over Radio Disney. Sick Puppies' MySpace. They play what I call "executive-trainee emo." (Well, I just made up that term.) You can hear similarities in the melody of "My World" and the melody of "Chemicals React," except the singing and playing of "Chemicals React" is way lighter and vastly more appealing. I just don't like the Sick Puppies' kind of male vocals (constipated emoting), but I do think there are good tunes inside.

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

"executive-trainee emo."

You missed the ILM coinage of "cubicle indie."

[edgeofwhatever.livejournal.com]

Heidi Montag!

Regarding "Potential Breakup Song," it's the meta that does it for me. (Part of the reason I love "Don't Talk" so hard is that when I first heard it, I thought she was saying, "don't talk or this song will end, I promise.") It has an awareness of itself as a song, which (a) gives me hope that they are as clever and analytical as we like to think, and, most importantly, (b) has a coldness and strength to it that I like, especially combined with the strut of lines like "you're not living till you're living / living with me." (Which has the same kick as "stick around, I'm not the kind of girl you wanna leave.")

I'm trying to figure out exactly what it that strikes me as so cold and exciting about that awareness, and I think maybe it's the control: we know that the singer/writer is in control of the song, so by explicitly presenting the situation as a song, we know they're in control of the situation. Without the meta, PUBS is basically "Irreplaceable," like, "you suck, and I don't need you." But with the meta, they're more sure than "Irreplaceable." They don't need him, they have a song either way, and they get to decide what kind of song it will be (or, in my misheard Hudgens lyrics, whether it will be at all).

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I heard the Hudgens song that way, too, but I didn't give her enough credit to be that self-aware, so I assumed it was "this all will end, I promise." Although that one has continued to grow on me the more I realize how strange the situation she's describing is, and how much of a power trip she's on! Talk about control!

[koganbot]

Lyric Websites seem to be split 50-50 between "the song will end, I promise" and "this all will end, I promise." I can hear it either way.

Control/not in control seems to be a big issue with A&A. "Chemicals React" is such an ambivalent song. In A.J.'s verse: "You make me feel out of my element/Like I'm drifting out to sea/Like the tide's pulling me in deeper/Making it harder to breathe." But they cannot deny how they feel inside. (And the song is completely noncommital as to whether they, you know, did it.)

This is what I wrote about "Bullseye" over on Jukebox:

Wordplay, desire, guitar crunch. She wants to want, she wants to be wanted, she wants to be selective, she wants to be in control, she wants to be overwhelmed. Complicated - even more on "Blush" than on this one - and she likes the complications. She finds them sexy. And they also give her room to maneuver. So wordplay is foreplay for this evangelical Christian girl(s) who's probably been taught to wait for marriage. [8]

Wordplay, puns, can be a way of asserting (the illusion) of control. Her feelings may not always cooperate (those unruly chemicals), but at least she can create a word dance that can analyze and dazzle and even - almost - obscure the point.

[koganbot]

Drifting out to the sea.

(My proofreading controls seem to be malfunctioning.)