A Year In Pop: 24

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Back to Mondays for the duration of the Pop Open - it's this weeks pop records for your dissection and delectation. The return! of reality TV contestants. The return! of bands who seem to think getting a download single in the charts is a major statement. The return! of the new music that's taking over the country. AND MORE!

[Poll #1005169]

Also, use the tag, if you will, to go and tick last week's poll, if you didn't: very poor turnout there.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Never Again' is awesome. Tom otm ages ago about how it's PJ Harvey gone pop - I don't understand why she's getting so much flack at the moment, 'Never Again' was pretty immediate for me (though having said that 'Sober' is pretty awful). It's dark and moody but hello this is what K Clarkson does now. The video is brilliant too, and I like the lyrics.

'When You're Gone' is like the only track on the Lavigne album which ISN'T any good at all. Why is she releasing a shrill, gloopy ballad when there is so much more to mine in the bratty punk vein of 'Girlfriend', and indeed a couple of genuinely affecting ballads, on the album?

I haven't heard 'Listen Up' despite having owned The Gossip's album for 10 months. Maybe I will be bothered to dig it out tonight.

I don't think I need to bother with the rest. What a disgrace this country can be.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The MSTRKRFT remix of "Listen Up" was risible, sub-baggy nonsense - there might be a good song hidden beneath though.

Haven't checked out the Avril yet. Not feeling up to checking on Editors, Maximo, Koopa etc. - apologies if these bands (and indeed Marillion) have broken the habits of a lifetime.

NEVER AGOTH: I find it a bit too grim and thick-set for continuous listening but it has a hard granite-y emotional force that isn't quite like anything else in the charts.

Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye. (NB: I have a long history of being non-plussed why anybody likes her records, even - actually, especially - "Since U Been Gone")

Lex OTM about the Avril, but I ticked it anyway.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I just did! Hard granitey emotional force innit.

I like the fact that she's so serious all the time and I think her voice is really rich and just right for the righteous histrionics she tends to trade in. She's like the mope-rock Celine!

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Secular goth, meaning she's got the eerie heights but isn't playing the ice queen. That said, on this single both she and the arrangement are trying too hard (so it'll probably end in my top 40 for the year rather than my top 10) in comparison to the last album's "Hear Me," which was just as desperate without all the bats and castles, just vocal shots of longing against a Clif Magness magma metal landslide. There are about five tracks on the last alb and at least three on the new that are better than this.

Lyrics do a good job of the hell-hath-no-fury thing but don't add any interesting twists, and I'm weary of that theme, even if it is eternal.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh I like the "give me that Sunday school answer" line a lot, mostly to do with how she delivers it, even though it's probably a bit meaningless under closer scrutiny.

What's v good about K Clarkson's voice is how she manages to capture the PJ/Alanis/Tori edge of hysteria while actually being able to sing conventionally (and not annoying and gothy like Evanescence girl) - ie she takes the extreme emotional catharsis of Amos et al and situates it in the realm of the girl next door as opposed to the distant tortured artist.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

And also, when she wants she can turn around and nail r&b-based diva pop. "Walk Away" is strong delivery of a so-what song, but "Miss Independent" is scorching and dancey and extravagant and fun, and "Low" is catchy pretty heartbreak, and she's as good at the catchiness as the broken heart.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know "Miss Independent", but dancey and extravagant and fun sure sounds more appealing than secular goth / mope-rock, so I'll try and check it out.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Well, Kelly's ex David Hodges had the reputation of being the one in Evanescence who was trying to push them into more evangelical Xtianity, so "Sunday school answer" probably means that he's going to give her some proper contrition-apology for how he mistreated her, but she's not even going to bother to read the letter 'cause she knows what it's going to say and doesn't believe it and doesn't give a damn.

Re: Pls expln appeal of K. Clarkson kthxbye

[koganbot]

Btw, the "Never Again" video is kinda the reverse of "Low"; in "Low" he's haunting her, in "Never Again" she's haunting him, with bits of Les Diaboliques thrown in.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

Avril is shit at releasing ballads as singles. I mean, why release "Nobody's Home" off the last album when she had "Slipped Away"?

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Ha I don't remember either of those. Isn't 'My Happy Ending' a ballad though? That was great. And I still think a ballad is her best ever single ie 'I'm With You'.

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

MHE isn't a ballad. It's too perky. "Slipped Away" was not a single, it was the last song on the album and is effectively "I'm With You" with a piano and either less cello or no cello at all.

I fucking LOVE "I'm With You". It's def her best single. "Girlfriend" is terrific but it's at least a league under IWY.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

This must be the first time I have heard the bitter and despairing 'My Happy Ending' described as perky! I suppose "let's talk it over, it's not like we're dead" is a perky lyric though. It is a bit volatile to be a ballad, you're right.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

"When You're Gone" and "Keep Holding On" are the two worst songs on the album and now they're 2 of the 3 singles. I mean, if you have to release a ballad, why not "Innocence" or "Hot". And even better, just release one of the upbeat songs like "The Best Damn Thing" or "Everything Back but You".