Columnated Ruins Domino

New monthly thing in Stylus, one of me favorite pubs. Where is the deluge of nasty troll comments? That's the only reason I even signed on to this gig!!!

Future ideas: the Myspace phenom officially theorized a bit, a big WHERE ARE THEY NOW feature (newly featuring Alexandra Slate and Melissa Lefton, more soon), and the single greatest interview Skye Sweetnam has ever done. Gotta love that banner, I hope it's the recurring image each month.

I was also asked to try my hand at some Summer Jamz, so get ready for a 17-19 track teenpop overview, 1996-2006. Duh, of course I'm opening with "Oops! ...I Did It Again."

I wanted to clarify one point in the Stylus piece about Marit Larsen assuming the role of M2M's Jennifer on "Under the Surface"...this is an idea that was worth expanding upon but I didn't really think it was appropriate for that feature. I have two different interpretations of "Jennifer" (probably still available in the M2M Listening Report post) which is fascinating for both what it is (Marion + Marit) and for what I feel it might have been (less Marion!). What it is first: the story of a relationship on the verge of breakdown, because That Guy (meaning the counterpart in every M2M/Marion/Marit song) found someone who is BETTER than M/M. In my mind, he's found someone a lot like Marit, and is currently dating someone more like Marion, whose "voice" (both literal and writing voice) shines through on this one.

What I wish the song was is a bit more complicated...I want TG to be currently dating Jennifer, and trying to appease his most recent girlfriend that the relationship is a friendly one, just to spare her feelings. The lines "can't believe how much you LOVE her" make a bit of room for this scenario, and makes the line "it's either her or me" seem...well, kind of sad, like Marion accidentally falling into Marit mode, railing against inexorable forces. But in this version I want more Marit, more self-doubt, less assured passive-agressive digs "hope you don't hurt her, it would be a real shame if Jennifer got hurt"...something more genuinely concerned for a nice girl, Marit modesty that acknowledges, rather than "she's so great, I still want her to DIE," "she's so great, how could I hope to be as good as her?"

So in "Under the Surface," I'm seeing Marit as the "super nice" vulnerable (haha I always thought they said "wunderbar") girl who will absolutely end up with TG at the end of "Jennifer," because frankly TG just can't handle these Marion mind games anymore. But now Marit, who is clearly superior to M/M in "Jennifer," is doubting herself despite the fact that she really truly loves this guy, and knows at some level that he loves her. At the "core," she's still haunted by the idea that he loves his previous lover more -- thing is, she just doesn't realize how amazing she is, which is paradoxically what makes her songs so wonderful and heartbreaking, and why when I listen I just want to BE TG, the cause of and solution to all of (Marit's) life's problems.