poptimists | The History Of Jop Part 26 aka You leave me broken shattered I lie

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freakytigger.livejournal.com posting in

2004 is now THREE YEARS AGO (sort of) - our possibly penultimate pazz and jop ponderations will let you relive that golden or otherwise era. You get THIRTEEN from thirty-eight picks: Alicia Keys "You Don't Know My Name" and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Maps" turned up last time so are omitted this.

[Poll #902705]

Poptimism Of Times Past - 2003 Edition

1. Crazy In Love (43 votes)
2. Milkshake (37)
3. Cry Me A River (35)
4=. Ignition (Remix) (31)
4=. Hey Ya! (31)
6. Move Your Feet (30)
7=. Hurt (27)
7=. I Luv U (27)
9=. In Da Club (24)
9=. Danger High Voltage (24)
9=. Rock Your Body (24)
9=. Pass That Dutch (24)

This scientifically confirms my empirical findings at the work Xmas party viz that "Crazy In Love" is much loved again but that people are bored of "Hey Ya". This one will run and run.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

koganbot

I'm not sure there is much of an audience left for Ashlee and Hilary. And Hilary specifically did try a Kylie-like dance-club sound this year, and it stiffed.

In early 2001 the Top 40 stations stopped playing Britney-*NSync-BSB teenpop, and teenpop became a more distinct and less lucrative market, though with occasional big Michelle and Avril crossover (Pink and Destiny's Child were crossing the other way, from pop and r&b to teenpop). R&bish dance pop is back in a big way on Radio Disney (never really left; is what B5 and the Cheetah Girls were doing all along, is what Vanessa Hudgens is doing now, is what Jordan Pruitt and Jesse McCartney are turning to, etc.). And it's not so different from the 1999 sound, problem being that most of the tracks are mediocre. But the 1999 sound we're talking about still moves differently from Girls Aloud. The rhythmic motion of Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens (and even Sugababes, though they're closer to r&b) isn't the same as the U.S. r&b or r&bish dance pop (even the Martin-Rami '99), whether adult or kiddie version. R&b moves crablike, going sideways to move forward, while Eurodance usually doesn't. Radio Disney itself does play house-techno-Eurodance stuff as oldies, and the "Cha Cha Slide" is on permanent play. But Disney would have no reason to play Rachel Stevens unless she hits the U.S. mainstream first, seeing as she's not currently acting in a Disney comedy or movie.

I suppose that Girls Aloud could get dance-club play and dance airplay - but that's a measly nine stations in the entire country; those stations do play Justin and Christina without playing much other r&b, but Justin and Christina get their big bucks from Top 40 and r&b. You don't have many (any?) acts breaking from the dance stations to Top 40 or r&b, though you do get records going the other way, club mixes of rock and r&b hits.

From:

koganbot

And it's not so different from the 1999 sound, problem being that most of the tracks are mediocre.

That is, problem being that most of the new kiddie r&b tracks are mediocre.

From:

alexmacpherson.livejournal.com

This is all v interesting, thanks - I guess the only way the UK pop acts could ever hit in America is if there was a pre-existing reason for America to care about them as pop stars (eg Disney movie). Which there isn't; they are not Posh Spice, but Posh Spice is not them.

(How did Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head' become the hit it did? I gather it was a pretty big hit, from someone with no prior track record in the US at all - how did it do it? Because both soundwise and profilewise that's the territory we're dealing with.)

(Do you think the success of Confessions On A Dance Floor is a total one off, simply because it's Madonna, or will its sound trickle into...other pop? Although if it has with Hilary already, and failed, that probably answers that.)

From:

justfanoe.livejournal.com

Like Frank said, there's some space for this, just about 1 or 2 songs a year. The Sugababes actually saw one of their albums released in the US, and one of the tracks was a hit on the dance charts, but otherwise it made no impact. Confessions was a hit, but not a massive hit. "Hung Up" a big hit but all the other singles flopped. Why Kylie? Who knows. Why Cascada this year? Americans seem to just pick one seemingly at random and run with it. FWIW, "Locomotion" was a huge hit in America too though I doubt that had anything to do with Kylie's later success.

Speaking of Posh Spice, Spice Girls huge here of course too, though with some delay from the rest of the world.

There HAVE been some big crossovers from Britain in America lately. Notably, "You're Beatiful" hit number one and Natasha Bedingfield has had a couple of big hits, biggest being "Unwritten". Of course, these are not of the dance pop genre we have been discussing.

From:

koganbot

Madonna gets attention because she's Madonna: her first album got to number 8, every album since that wasn't a soundtrack went top 5, usually 1 or 2. But she doesn't get nearly the airplay she used to.

Kylie'd hit in the U.S. 13 years before "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" w/ "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Locomotion," but nothing in the interim. And the fact that she hasn't been able to break through with a followup may prove my point. ("Love At First Sight" did OK, other stuff does well on the club and dance airplay charts, which as I said barely register nationally.)

I wouldn't say that Girls Aloud have absolutely no chance, but their sound isn't getting played on hip-hop/r&b stations (six years ago those stations were a bit more open; Bloodhound Gang and "Blue Da Bee" got r&b play as novelties, for what that's worth), and it's hard for a dance act to cross Top 40 without any particular constituency. Shakira can do it because she owns the Latin charts and gets automatic play on the video stations.