Thanks for noticing me...

Eeyore on the set of "All the Things She Said"

1. Aw shucks, no comments for the twin-pop column that Emily cleaned up with just enough time to spare deadline-wise. There is no good writing, only good rewriting -- no, good editing. Editors get no respect, and copy editors really get no respect. That said, a grammatical error was edited into the essay...grrrr, I should write an angry letter.

Y'know, I'm thinking more and more about twin-pop, feeling that what I wrote still didn't really cut it...so I'm going to try to do a Youtube-heavy post at some point (links, not embedded players please) exploring the ways in which twin-pop is visually represented, whether or not it complements or is at odds with musical representation. That's one thing that was edited out of the column; twin-pop is aural, not visual, so references to "seeing double" were for the most part cut. That said, I hadn't seen the tATu video for "All the Things She Said" recently, if ever (pretty sure I've seen it before). But one thing that struck me is how the explicit lesbian performative aspects undermine the strange relationship being described in the song. The aspects of alone/together, the secret sharer stuff, come through in the lyrics and to some extent in the not-exactly-subtle video, but the kissing -- or at least the general audience response to the kissing -- makes the kiss itself the focal point, when it's the relationship that's most important in the song...this is about two women who are in love but can't express their love publicly. The voyeurs in the video are blank; they aren't getting off on it, merely witnessing it. The idea of the song isn't so much for the cage to disappear, but for it to be concealed. They want isolation, they just want private isolation. [EDIT: Ya know, I don't mean for my analysis of tATu to be entirely straightfaced, it's not like they aren't playing into the idea that audeiences will read this as provocative; I just kind of like the ideas that come from a straight, tongue-outta-cheek reading of "All the Things She Said," even if it's not a totally appropriate way of analyzing it...]

And yet the private is public; the struggle, whether or not it's literally tATu's struggle "outside" the persona, is a social struggle. Where M2M usually relegate any sexual attraction or animosity to subtext, tATu makes it the focal point of its persona (particularly in this song and video). It's not more or less effective than M2M, it just uses different tactics to convey ideas as old as twin-pop -- we struggle alone, together. That "sex" and "love" are for the most part indistinguishable in M2M's work suggests that they're close to tATu's subject matter, they just aren't ready for love/sex while tATu have been waiting for it, need it, but for whatever reason can't have it (not without flying to an island somewhere first). The point is that, whether onlookers are OK with it or not, they're in love with/want to have sex with each other -- tATu is in love with itself(/wants to have sex with itself? Hm...). But aren't the Veronicas in love with themselves? Isn't M2M? The "boys" are placeholders, pretty much without exception. That tATu's struggle is widely interpreted as a marketing ploy or baiting, or as something "fake" (as if one [or two] could actually "fake it" when consciously assuming a role -- even if it's supposed to be about "faking it," why isn't that a valid role? Ashlee is about faking it, Bob Dylan is about faking it, according to Paste) tends to reveal more about its audience than it does about tATu, who remain a confounding, fascinating performing entity -- and who also, for what it's worth, aren't particularly sexy.

2. Speaking of Paste, I finally picked it up to read koganbot's Bob Dylan piece. I'd love to see more about the Dylan/Ashlee connection in essay form, but the one reference was obviously enough for this essay. I appreciate that it refuted the article about Before the Music Dies, which sounds like a load of crap. The author sort of calls the film out, but I would have liked a more pointed challenge than, for instance, this:

[...]Shots of clumping teenage girls huddled outside an Ashlee Simpson show -- screaming and hugging each other, declaring undying devotion to their favorite singer -- are positioned as silly and ridiculous. Simpson may not be revolutionizing pop music, but it's awfully condescending to dismiss -- as Before the Music Dies does -- this adoration as any less legitmate or immediate than the glee Bob Dylan's fans feel.

There is much to be said about the disgraceful corporate practices that have systematically homogenized the airwaves, but it isn't the music that's being homogenized; it's the outlets for music. I would love to see (or make) a film about independently produced teenpop that demonstrates how all artists are excluded from radio's corporate hegemony, and that so-called "assembly-line pop" isn't created on an assembly line. And, incidentally, that much "non-assembly-line" pop is boring (maybe I'll eave that part out so as not to insult Dave Matthews or Erikah Badu). The idea that the limited playlist affects all performers supposedly comes through in the film, but I'm suspicious. I'll probably just save myself the agita and skip it.

Hey, Paste, did you know that one of your "artists to watch" has been in the RADIO DISNEY INCUBATOR? I don't mind (well, I sort of do, because Sonya Kitchell is the least interesting incubaTor artist ever featured on RD, but whatever), just thought you'd like to know.

3. Skimming over Tom Ewing's Popular has been great, I'm sorry I missed out for so long. Seems like it might make a nice book compilation one day (massive undertaking, but probably worth it), comments included, maybe as footnotes or something, or a comment highlights appendix. As I read over some of these entries, I can't help but dwell on how difficult it is for me to write about music, I always feel like I'm hopelessly scrambling at catching up. I would like to try a copycat project, though, where I discuss the Radio Disney Top 30 since '96 (not nearly as daunting), but I'm not sure that there's a definitive chart guide. I think Mediabase might provide the info I'd need, but it wouldn't match online results.

4. It's official: no cigars for the Pipettes or Lily Allen. Cigar to Lillix. Processing Scott Walker (destined never to emerge from "processing," I think) and the Guillemots. Still not seeking a heckuva lot of albums, hmmmm... [EDIT: Well, I just got Cheyenne Kimball and Nerina Pallot and Kristy Frank, so we'll see. Albums are starting to slowly pile up...]