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Frank Kogan ([personal profile] koganbot) wrote2006-09-05 03:13 pm

Surely there needs to be an Indie Teenpop Award

Surely there needs to be an Indie Teenpop Award. Eligible for the award will be: (1) performers who are going for a teenpop sound but are on indies or who are strictly MySpace or CDbaby, (2) performers who are somewhat or formerly teenpop but are also going for a somewhat indie sound, whether they're on indies or not, (3) performers who are not necessarily eligible under 1 and 2 but whom we talked about on the teenpop thread for who knows what reason and who aren't obviously too old or too NOT teenpop and who can be rationalized as having indie elements or who just, you know, seem eligible.

Also, they need to be pretty good. You can be teenpop by association. You can be indie by association. I've put qualifying criteria after the performers' name.

These are potential nominees, but I will hear arguments as to who else should qualify and who else should be disqualified. Here's a list:

Lily Allen (3)
Fefe Dobson (1)**
Flyleaf (3)
Jonas Bros. (2)
Jena Kraus (3)
Marit Larsen (2)
Brie Larson (2)
Lillix (2)
Megan McCauley (2)
Meg & Dia (1)(2)
Hope Partlow (1)**
Marion Raven (1)*
Sammy & Sasha (1)
Skye Sweetnam (2)
Lucy Woodward (1)(2)

Some of these should be bumped by performers who are more obviously eligible. I decided that Jonas Bros.' kiddie-punk tendencies and the fact that they're promoted by Girlie Action make them eligible until we can find someone more eligible. I decided that the fact that Megan McCauley was so obviously goth up to 2 minutes ago makes her a wee bit indie, but she is quite bumpable as well. Probably all the others in category 2 are bumpable except Brie, and the category 3's as well. It's hard to argue that Marit is teenpop anymore, though she has the pedigree. And Flyleaf's teenpopness can be challenged, and Skye's and Lillix's indieness (though I don't know how secure Lillix's status is at Warners, now that Maverick is no more).

[livejournal.com profile] skyecaptain will most likely provide more nominees.

*Yup, Marion is on an indie; she broke with Atlantic, who never released her album in the U.S., where she now lives. E.P. due in about a week, alb due next year.

**Getting dropped by your label makes Fefe indie, I'd say, or at least the fact that she has no label and her unreleased music is being bandied about the Net. But I'm not counting Christina Milian since I'm assuming she'll make her way back to a major, and her music is out there on a major. I don't know if I should count Hope Partlow, either, since the only music we know of hers came from a major label and I don't know if she's got any new current music. In January she said, "I needed to get out of the house so I got a job! I'm a waitress at a local restaurant!! I'm really loving it!" In March she said, "I will be back on tour, hopefully to promote a brand new album."

I will decide a final list of contestants sometime or other. There will probably be 12, unless there are 16. I don't know when I will actually get around to this.

Re: Lil Chris?

[identity profile] skyecaptain.livejournal.com 2006-09-11 05:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Just posted about this, I should update a bit. I think I excluded Rose Falcon (actually I may have just listed everybody, but I don't think she makes the cut). Of your ineligibles, I would argue for reinstating Lillix. (1) They sound like the Killers now (major label indie) and (2) they've been at least as big a flop as Brie. I reluctantly accept that Skye probably doesn't count in 2006 (she'd be a shoe-in for the 2004 awards, or even 2005 with a year lag, when production could have qualified her despite being distributed on a major). If one-year lag counts, which I think is reasonable on a case by case basis, I would tentatively include Hope Partlow on the Brie Flop Clause, but tough call.

Of the probably not good enoughs, I only really like Go Betty Go. They're on Side One Dummy, same label that put out Gogol Bordello's last record, and their new album comes out tomorrow. But they have a new lead singer now and everything I know by them is older material, 04/05 (might want to check em out here).

Re: Lil Chris?

[identity profile] skyecaptain.livejournal.com 2006-09-11 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Er, shoo-in.