let me repeat that: i want my STUFF BACK

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This is the second best single of the year, after Umbrella-ella-ella-ay-ay-ay.

Watch on YouTube

The tune is killer, the vocoder touches neat, Aly & AJ deliver their lines with pizzazz, but what I love best are the lyrics: it's really well-crafted as a narrative, each line revealing an extra aspect to the situation; and it's concise, like Aly & AJ are tying a knot. It's an ultimatum which leaves the guy they're addressing in no doubt that they mean what they say and that they're not going to take any bullshit any more, but also leaves room for what they secretly hope he'll say in response with the neat twist at the end. Which will it be?


It took too long
It took too long
It took too long for you to call back
And normally I would just forget that
Except for the fact it was my birthday
My stupid birthday

I played along
I played along
I played along, it rolled right off my back
But obviously my armor was cracked
What kind of boyfriend would forget that?
Who would forget that?

The type of guy who doesn’t see
What he has until she leaves
Don’t let me go
Cuz without me, you know you’re lost
Wise up now or pay the cost
Soon you will know

You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ with me
You’re not winnin’ till you’re winnin’
Winnin’ me
You’re not gettin’ till you’re gettin’
Gettin’ to me
You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ for me

This is the potential breakup song
Our album needs just one
Oh baby please
Please tell me

We got along
We got along
We got along until you did that
Now all I want is just my stuff back
Do you get that?
Let me repeat that:
I want my stuff back

You can send it in a box
I don’t care, just drop it off
I won’t be home
Cuz without me, you know you’re lost
Minus you I’m better off
Soon you will know

You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ with me
You’re not winnin’ till you’re winnin’
Winnin’ me
You’re not gettin’ till you’re gettin’
Gettin’ to me
You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ for me

You can try, you can try
You know I know it’d be a lie
Without me you’re gonna cry
So you better think clearly, clearly
Before you nearly, nearly
Mess up the situation that you're gonna miss dearly, dearly
C’mon

You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ with me
You’re not winnin’ till you’re winnin’
Winnin’ me
You’re not gettin’ till you’re gettin’
Gettin’ to me
You’re not livin’ till you’re livin’
Livin’ for me

This is the potential breakup song
Our album needs just one
Oh baby please
Please tell me

This is the potential make up song
Please just admit you’re wrong
Which will it be?
Which will it be?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

NB: This is the first song I've heard by Aly & AJ which I've totally, totally loved, though I like some of their older stuff (pace Poptimists who've been into them for ages).

NB: I actually hate them at the moment because I've been suffering writer's block all weekend trying to write up a piece on them :(

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

You should write about twin syndrome (although they are not twins are they?) where they're wearing the same clothes but must have distinct differences like hair straightening. Or, err, not.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

They're like the fundamentalist Christian face of goth, innit? Goths who you are allowed to like even if you are not allowed to have sex before marriage. Maybe that's it- sexless goths. When they're not being a bit pseudo-incestuous-lesbian, anyway. :/

This song took ages to grow on me but I now like it a lot. Is it being released in the UK?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I hope so! The Aly & AJ UK marketing strategy = low-key release of their first album a couple of weeks ago, then full release of their new one (which this is off) in October (coinciding with its US release). When I first spoke to their PR the other week I mentioned how AMAZING 'The Potential Breakup Song' was and he was like "WTF no one is supposed to know that song even exists", but when I spoke to him a few days ago he said that the feedback has been so positive that they're lobbying the label really hard for it to be the big single in August or thereabouts.

The impression I get from this song is that Aly & AJ thought, well, we sell thousands upon thousands of records, but we're still niche and no one knows who we are unless they have a 10-year-old daughter. Let's take over the world. (ie they're less gothy and you wouldn't be able to tell they were Xtians at all.)

[koganbot]

I don't hear goth at all (though maybe I'm dumb and there are some obvious visual cues; I'm a visual retard). Even Hilary - the eeriness of "Fly," for instance - has more goth touches (and then OMG there's Kelly). I would call this new wave, which is to say power pop with synths, and their previous stuff reminds me of pop-derived punk like the Ramones (though with way better rhythm than the Ramones, and not [yet] veering towards the Ramones comic-book nihilism).

Also, I don't hear or see sexlessness at all. (Anyway, chastity and sexlessness are not similar concepts. "Chemicals React" is about visceral attraction after all. And I wouldn't jump to conclusions about their views on premarital sex, either, unless they tell us.)

[koganbot]

Unfortunately, potentialbreakup.com only takes me to "The website address you entered could not be found."

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

That is a very harsh break up indeed.

[koganbot]

The type of guy who doesn't see
What he has until she leaves
Don't let me go

This is the Aly & A.J. I love most, the "don't let me go," where the song shows that its own armor is cracked.

This is the potential breakup song
Our album needs just one

Because if there were more than just one, the album would be tipping towards agony (which they're never willing to suppress anyway)?

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Maybe the potential break up situation will decide the mood of the rest of the album- either they are going to make things about what a bitch it is to be in a relationship or what a bitch it is to have broken up with someone?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I heard that as album, as in photograph album, ie something charting memories - I like the idea of that applying to pop albums too (though it's not uncommon for a pop album to chronicle a relationship). (I'm also thinking that physical photo albums have been rendered obsolete by Facebook and so on, ie sites which you can upload audio and video to, so to Aly & AJ's generation of course the traditional "photo album" concept would include their songs!)

Anyway that interpretation means that that line is another subtle hint as to what she hopes will happen: if the complete album is a chronicle of a full relationship, there'll be one potential breakup song on it, either a) a bump in the road typical to all relationships which they'll work through, which will make them stronger, and which they'll look back on and laugh about one day; or b) the final chapter, the actual breakup. Which will it be?

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

I could be wrong, but are there any breakup songs at all on the first Aly & AJ album?

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

1. Um, awesome video.

2. Lex, if you need any more American Radio Disney insights let me know. Greg Fanoe (justfanoe on LJ) follows this stuff pretty closely, too.

3. p-mog, I wrote an OK essay on twin-pop last year that was talking about it both in terms of marketing/appeal to "inside" audience (a la Olsen twins -- coupling of production insight with star power) and its more ambiguous sorta-literary appeal to me and its "confessional shortcuts." Irony in the fact that the "shortcut" to "I" also makes the "I" (potentially) less believable and less relatable. M2M confounds all of my theories in this line of inquiry, tho. Article's here (http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/pop_playground/sugar-shock-003-pieces-of-i.htm).

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I have to finish the piece tonight so any further info would probably tip me over the edge (though thanks for offering) - the problem really is that I'm not on the spot, and therefore don't feel comfortable talking about it, and no amount of info would really help that.

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

where do i start w. aly/aj?

The lights are cool but they burn out

[koganbot]

Rush

Then, listen to these two back-to-back to illustrate my contention that every Aly & A.J. song has an equal and opposite Aly & A.J. song:

Greatest Time Of Year

Not This Year

I try to grow up but I'm chased by my fears

[koganbot]

And this one (the antithesis to "Rush"):

I Am One Of Them

[koganbot]

I wonder who leaked the vid. It doesn't get its premiere until tomorrow, on MTV. (Also, Aly & AJ MySpace confirms that the album hits stores in the U.S. on July 10.)

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

totally meant to put this on the last poptimism podcast, but going on holiday meant i rushed it all. it's still current so i'll put it on next week all the same :-)

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

Ooh I didn't know there was a podcast- how exciting I am going to go and subscribe now what with having iTunes these days (dangerous, have bought five albums since installing it two months ago) and everything.

[glamwhorebunni.livejournal.com]

This is good! Although I didn't catch what any of the discussion above means. HSM and stuff.

[koganbot]

High School Musical, a made-for-TV musical that in the U.S. ran on the Disney Channel in January (?) of 2006 and got huge ratings and something like six songs (I'll bet justfanoe has the numbers on the tip of his tongue) into the Top 40 on the following week, at least two in the top ten, entirely on the basis of downloads and play on Radio Disney (that is, with absolutely no support from Top 40 radio). Disney Channel and Radio Disney are basically aimed at 6 to 12 year olds, I think, maybe veering a bit older these days. Aly & A.J. are two sisters who've acted on Disney sitcoms and are on Disney's label, Hollywood Records, but their sound is much much much closer than HSM is to the confessional rock of Michelle Branch and Pink and Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson and Kelly Clarkson and Lindsay Lohan, whose fan base is older and has much more to do with MTV and TRL than with Disney. I actually like HSM, though with lots of reservations, but I think its popularity has had a bad effect, in a sense cutting off the younger audience from actual teens and Top 40 etc., and - what I said over on the teenpop thread - it leaves great people like Ashlee out in the cold, given a choice of either dumbing their music down for the kids or dumbing it down for the adults. And so far Aly & A.J. have only had tiny success at getting Top 40 airplay, and so far they're only getting middling play on Disney for "Potential Breakup Song" and virtually none on Top 40. But perhaps the video release tomorrow on TRL will give the track a boost.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I was just reading skycaptain's article and it occurred to me:
1) Have the Olsens ever released any music?
2) Is it any good?

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

1) Yes!

2) No!

Anyway, I heard someone play a MK&A "single" back to back with "Blueberry Boat" by the Fiery Furnaces and "A Quick One" by the Who and I almost didn't make it. I think he cut off the Olsens right before it was over. Which reminds me that I once stopped "I Am One of Them" right before it was over on a radio broadcast and said "I JUST CAN'T LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW!" and went on an aimless rant about how terrifying the song was. Should have let it finish.

Anyway, will post a bit about how the Olsens, and how Disney/Hollywood, missed the point they were already starting to grope toward back in the late 90s/early 00s -- basically, they didn't quite understand how to cross-platform. Which didn't stop the Olsens from selling soundtrack-type albums (closer to Kidz Bop, no originals IIRC), but did stop them from going for...uh, transmedia superstardom, to awkwardly coin a phrase.

[koganbot]

Ach, we've broken the 50 posts barrier. Is this the longest poptimists thread ever for a Sunday?

olsens

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

1) a bunch of sing along kids (like 6 yr old kids) albums, and soundtracks to the straight to video tapes.
2) no. it kind of has a processed cheese/outsidery charm, but really not worth seeking out.

Re: olsens

[anthonyeaston.livejournal.com]

http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Kate-Ashley-Greatest-Hits-3/dp/B000069RIM

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Oh, also, they can't sing at all. My friend got back to me, the "single" was called "The Noise About Boys." And yes, you can watch the weird low-budget video here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=NmZv2n8_2Mo). Wish they'd just gone with the rap! No idea when this is from, but they use "New York Minute," which was the name of their first feature film (which tanked).

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

New York Minute was far from the Olsen twins first feature film. 'Twas released in 2004-ish, and I can think of at least two films they had released to theaters before then ("It Takes Two", which was released before I was in high school which means 1996 or earlier and "Our Lips Are Sealed"), not to mention countless straight to video releases and TV movies. I did all that without looking anything up which fills me with a mixture of pride and shame.

The point is, if this was really released after "New York Minute" that would place it at within the past 3 or 4 years.

BODACIOUS FACEPLANT

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I'd Rather Be Surfing! (http://youtube.com/watch?v=aYu96SvBTH8)

Re: BODACIOUS FACEPLANT

[koganbot]

I've heard worse (I'm surprised at how bad the dancing is, however).