Jop Tournament Round 1.3

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

These are the other polls that should have gone up yesterday - today's fites will be up this afternoon (at about 3, if you're desperate!)


[Poll #918380]


I won't finalise the results until this round is over, but it looks like both Madonna songs, "1999", "Temptation" and the Missy record are all through.

Comments

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

Sledge vs Prince = toughest choice yet.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Seedings:

Kelly C is 21, Jacko is 13, Prince is 29. (Missy was 5, incidentally).

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Kelis vs Kelly: SO BORED of Milkshake now, its aloof sexiness has mulched into botherd drabness for me. Kelly sounds more alive with every play.

Jacko vs MIA: Not even a contest - Jacko sounds so hungry on this.

Prince vs Sledge: Very tough - not my favourite Sledge track, not my favourite Prince. I went for Sledge as R Beret is a bit too power-pop (does that even make sense?)

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

Raspberry Beret is my favourite Prince song these days. Much of this stems from hearing it in Morrisons one time and having irresistable urge to dance in the frozen ready meals aisle.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

It's my favourite too. Prince generally I don't enjoy as much as I feel I should, but "Raspberry Beret" is one of the few times when he put out a pop song to compete with Madonna and MJ at their best.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

There's much less consensus about which Prince singles are the monsters though, with Madge and MJ there are a few guaranteed singles which everyone will rally round for but opinion is more dispersed with Prince (I'd thought 'When Doves Cry' was the closest to consensus he'd come but fat lt of good that did it last time :( )

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I don't even like "When Doves Cry". The only other songs apart from RB that I would say I really love are "Let's Go Crazy", "Money Don't Matter 2 Nite" and "Get Offf".

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I had to think about what you meant by that, but once it clicked, you sold me. I have to say, though, that Sledge is generally a tad too sing-songy for me.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Kel v Kel: I feel like Tom but the other way round! 'Milkshake' has had its time off, I feel that now is its year to return as a dancefloor force, an old classic which everybody loves. Give SUBG another year or so

MIA surprisingly easy over Jacko - this isn't my favourite MJ by quite a way, and hasn't dated all that well, whereas MIA still, even after everything, sounds a bit like the future

Sledge because Prince has been repped for enough, and will be repped for well in the future.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I kind of fear that the huge glut of Prince tracks means he'll be stiffed somewhat. If "Doves" can't get through then nothing is a surety!

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Prince has had some right shit sandwich draws as well and I think there'll be more to come.

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Not everyone loves Milkshake.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Even more 'not everyone's like SUBG tho (most overrated single of the 00s, I reckon)

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

It's too early in the morning for double negatives innit. ;)

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Looks like Milkshake could be pwnt as the Americans start voting :(

[koganbot]

Interestingly, I had this thought too, and then paused, given that "Milkshake" (1) is American, (2) was a big hit in the America. So, is there something about "Milkshake" that makes it the type of song that Brit Poptimists are more likely to vote for, and something about "Since U Been Gone" that American Poptimists are more likely to vote for? And why would I think this?

(1) PoptiBrits perceiving SUBG as mainstreamish pop-rock showbiz (which it is); AmeriPopts perceiving it as Max-Luke teenpop (which it is)?

(2) AmeriPopts perceiving "Milkshake" as striking but not different in kind from a whole mass of r&b/hip-hop heavy sex sell tracks, albeit "tough attitude" division? PoptiBrits perceiving "Milkshake" as the essence of great American r&b/hip-hop attitude and artistry? [Britain less saturated in this stuff, more likely to celebrate it when it crosses.]

Fwiw, I think "Milkshake" is arresting but find Kelis's haughtiness overbearing and kinda bullshit (which doesn't mean I'd not have voted for "Milkshake" against many other opponents). But then again, I need to take account of the Boney Joan Rule ("Any reason I give for liking a piece of music will be a reason I give for disliking some other piece of music; e.g. I love Liz Mitchell's clear and empty vocals with Boney M, and I dislike Joan Baez's clear and empty vocals." I love Paris's haughtiness, have problems with Kelis's haughtiness. So I need to think further on the Paris-Kelis issue, but I won't today.) Xhuxk complains about "Since U Been Gone" being too generic, and I can see why someone might react to it with a shrug; I love its way of going low-to-high while maintaining the richness of the low tone all the way. Feels kinda hair metal. And has a wonderful Luke melody (if it's Luke not Sandberg who's mainly responsible for the melody).

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

With Kelis the haughtiness seems like laziness--she seems capable of doing a lot more, and haughtiness doesn't let you do as much with your voice as, say, passion does. With Paris, haughtiness is pretty much all she's got, which is charming in a way. You also can't really take Paris' haughtiness as seriously as you do Kelis'. Kelis doesn't seem like she would allow anyone to make fun of her, say.

I assume the British thing is a guitars/not guitars issue.

[(Anonymous)]

Kelis's haughtiness seems like muscle flexing. Paris's haughtiness... hmmm, I've never quite found the words, and I don't really know much about her (in comparison to what I'd know if I had a TV), and I think I'm trying to maintain an image of her based on little information, and trying to avoid counterevidence... her haughtiness is much more opportunistic and joyous and - for what it's worth - it's not upper-class, despite her being an heiress. Actually, the person I've decided to have her remind me of is Robert Mitchum. I'm basing this entirely on one sentence of hers: she was being interviewed on a visit to Vienna, and she said something along the lines are, "I love the Austrians; they pay me to go to parties."

[koganbot]

That was me. Forgot to log in.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Also 'Milkshake' may have been a big hit in America, but Kelis herself is a bigger popstar in the UK. And there's a definite Poptimist trend of voting for the popstar rather than the song, I think. Kelis has a solid record which makes her, overall, a Good Thing to UK poptimists; Kelly has one song, for all that UK poptimists are concerned.

(Not sure that the being less saturated thing works - I'm as saturated in sex-r&b as most American poptimists and I still think 'Milkshake' stands out.)

[koganbot]

Kelly has one song, for all that UK poptimists are concerned.

I suspect that this is correct, but the key phrase is "for all that UK poptimists are concerned." Fact is that Kelly and Kelis have each had four Top 10 hits in the U.K., and my guess is that if complete U.K. radio play numbers were added together, Kelly's "Because Of You" would far out-total "Since U Been Gone."

You're right that Kelis's visibility in the U.S. is smaller than Kelly's. Btw, I do think that U.K. Poptimists would quite like "Miss Independent," which reached #6 on the U.K. charts back in 2003. Very dance-pop.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that "Miss Independent" was originally written for and partially co-written by Xtina. (like "Breakaway" with Avril). (Xtina didn't record "Miss Independent" herself because she decided to do "Fighter" instead at the last minute).

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

These were all no brainers: Kelis, MJ and Sister Sledge. Sorry to see "Galang" knocked out, but the idea that "Don't Stop..." hasn't dated well is :o levels of mentalism.

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

What I was going to say - Don't Stop is easily my favourite MJ track, and always grabs me every time I hear it.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I do like SUBG but listening to the Neptunesy tracks on the nu Gweng album has made me realise how much better Kelis was at the gloopy-gloopy-bing! stuff.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

And of course Galang = Justine F's finest hour!

The question is

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

Just what sort of beret was it exactly

the answer is

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

raspberry (the clue is in the title)

Re: The question is

[boyofbadgers.livejournal.com]

The kind you buy in a secondhand store?

Confession

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I can't even remember how Raspberry Beret goes and I still voted for it to try and knock We Are Family out of the running.

Which is a shame as I ended up voting against all the Prince songs I really like, albeit with a heavy heart.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I'm genuinely disappointed by the results of the last round (specifically, "1999" making it and "When Doves Cry" not making it).

This was a tough round.

1. "Since U Been Gone" holds up better and was more influential and is just a genuinely better song. Fairly easy tick over "Milkshake" tho that is a great song too.
2. "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", easy.
3. V. tough choice here, but I went with "We are Family" over one of my less favorite Prince singles of the 80s.

Eek

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The umpire might have to step in and stop the second bout here. Poor MIA.

Re: Eek

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

She was looking so good with that early 5-4 lead too :(

Re: Eek

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

If I had ever knowingly heard the Michael Jackson track I suspect I might have voted for that, since I have no particular fondness for Galang.

Re: Eek

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

I think we're all a little burned out on that one. Maybe I'm just saying that because it was in a car commercial and on the Girl Talk album, but still.

Re: Eek

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

(Now if it was $10 or Hombre or something it might have been a different story...)

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I couldn't vote in 2 or 3, as I've not heard 75% of the songs.

Kelly should be thrashing Kelis.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

The first one was a tough one for me - I love Kelis, but this is far from my favourite of hers, so Kelly edged it. Michael Jackson was an easy winner. I hesitated over the last one thanks to memories of a private preview a dancer once gave me of her new routine to Raspberry Beret, but really when it comes to music almost no one can compete with Chic, for me, even Prince.