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

[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.

[glamwhorebunni.livejournal.com]

Hmm, lots of stuff to follow up on here. Have to spend tomorrow downloading... Thanks!

[koganbot]

Lots of discussion about this kind of stuff here (this year) and here (last year).

[koganbot]

Oh yeah, and Aly & A.J. are home-schooled evangelical Christians who don't believe in evolution, which disconcerts people who never realized that home-schooled evangelical Christian creationists can create music that's smart, emotionally complex, and sexy.