Teen Pop Mega Hyper Sugar Set, Jr.

A glaring ommission! D&C post later, enjoy this Pandora consolation prize...

NOT AVAILABLE FROM PANDORA: MAKE YOUR OWN TEEN POP MEGA HYPER SUGAR SET!

D&C - UGLY

The Pandora teen pop experiment hits a few snags. Rather than go track by track (there are well over a hundred songs now) I'll discuss emerging trends and major limitations of the program. Though not as major as I'd originally expected.

1. Boundaries

The most fascinating aspect of this project is to observe a semi-clinical process (most of this data is input by hand by a team of Pandora people, so it's not "computerized" in the strictest sense of the word) make both logical and counter-intuitive leaps into other genres from a pretty clearly teen pop base. The most popular "peripheral" genres seem to be mainstream R&B, cartoonish or lightweight rap (Ludacris, Black Eyed Peas, etc.), EMO, and some pop country (this may be due to additions like Miranda Lambert in my preferences).

Also interesting are some artists who have either been cited in scattered critical writing on teen pop or make sense (either working in the realm of teen pop currently or strong aesthetic link to current acts): the Go-Gos, Letters to Cleo, Ace of Base , Olivia Newton John.

2. New Finds

This is ostensibly the selling point of Pandora, and so far it's yielded some pretty good results. I mentioned Brie Larson and Katy Rose before. Others: Alecia Elliott (a leap from Deana Carter, who I hastily added without it being 100% appropriate), Beu Sisters (who apparently save their best material for Disney soundtracks), Kimberley Locke (Disneymania 3...so why aren't other artists from this comp available?), Cherie (decent find, produced by DioGuardi!), Kari Kimmel (OK song, toured with Jesse McCartney).

3. Singles =/= albums

One major problem is getting suggestions that come from albums that contain hit singles elsewhere. This leads to stuff like Alice Deejay's "Got to Get Away," a cheesy and monotonous song from the same source as "Better Off Alone," which I remember getting significant radio play several years ago.

4. Indie affirmative action.

For some reason, Pandora keeps spitting out indie that VERY CLEARLY has no reason being on my playlist. British Sea Power, New Pornographers ("Sing Me Spanish Techno"...OK, I can kind of see this, but not really), repeated PJ Harvey (which comes out of the Liz Phair/Courtney Love preferences, I guess, but I've heard "Sheela-Na-Gig" twice already!), A.C. Newman, and a song by Amy Ray called "Rural Faggot"...maybe she's referring to a bundle of sticks, but I feel like younguns plugging in Diana DeGarmo probably shouldn't be confronted with that (I should see who this person is). Other artists I was previously unaware of and might otherwise enjoy are similarly out of place.

5. Limited material

I've heard "Behind These Hazel Eyes" about 5 times (awesome) but I've also heard Aly and AJ's "Collapsed" about 5 times (not awesome). Limited selections (or increased probability of airplay) from artists like B*Witched, 3LW, and Fefe Dobson can make things tedious. (But why would "Collapsed" play instead of, say, "Rush" or "No One"? Confusing...)

6. Limited artists

The following artists are not available through Pandora:

2Ge+her; Brock, Stevie; Bryan, Sabrina; Bunton, Emma; Candice; Carter, Leslie; Cassie; D-Tent Boys; Daphne & Celeste; Diamond, Amy; Falcon, Rose; Girls Aloud; Goldo; H & Claire; Halliwell, Geri; Hampton the Hampster; Hear’say; Helen Love; High School Musical [“Troy and Gabriella,” Zac Efron, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, and Lucas Gabreel]; Hilton, Paris; Hudson, Sarah; I Eight Paste; Jamelia; Josie and the Pussycats; Lalaine; Little Angels; Los Del Rio; Louise [Nurding]; McCutcheon, Martine; Morgan, Debeleh; Partlow, Hope; Plus One; PJ & Duncan; PYT; Raize, Jason; RubyBlue; S Club 8; S Club Juniors; Silvas, Lucie; Simon and Milo; Solid Harmonie; Stevens, Rachel; Studt, Amy; Tik n’ Tak; Tousdale, Chris; Toy-Box; Triple Image; True Vibe; Ultra Sonic; VanDerPool, Annelise

Some of these I have to double-check, a few are unreliable links from Last.fm. Which reminds me, I may do a parallel version of this experiment with Last.fm when the radio function is up and running.

OK, that's all for now, more news as events warrant.