POP TRUMPS: Week 8

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I'll be on a train to the Frozen North tomorrow so Pop Trumps has been shifted forward a day!

The rules are here but it couldn't be simpler. 10 is the highest, 0 is the lowest, if you really don't know then go for 5. Giving reasons for your scores in the comments is encouraged!

Stepping into the Pop Trumps arena this week is a former Mouseketeer who seems increasingly only able to make videos that feature at least one other famous person:


Justin Timberlake

Should Justin's N*SYNC output be taken into account? That's up to you!

[Poll #1157394]

Bjork ratings:
- Singing voice/musical ability: 8
- Consistency: 7
- H0TTness: 6
- Dancing Skillz/Visual: 8
- Chart success: 5
- Extra-curricular activity: 7
- Party Animal Rating: 5
- Eccentricity: 9
- Legacy: 7
- Best track: Bachelorette

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Justin was definitely a part of my 21st century pop resurgence - Rock Your Body and Senorita were SO GOOD that I totally started listening to pop music again! Even though I barely knew who N*Sync were!

Futuresexx/Lovesounds = also an absolutely cracking album, I just wish he hadn't gone and spoiled it by a) stringing it out for nearly 2 years b) making that dire Scarlet Johanssen video and ruining a perfectly good song in the process.

H0ttness-wise, he looked better with his curly mop than all shaved off. But he's still super-h0tt. Except in the Scarlet Johanssen video where he's just CREEPY.

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

This is the highest average marks I've given anybody. And it's not really that I'm that crazy about his music, he just fits the categories well. The extra-curricular I gave him points for is dating lots and lots of beautiful women. Maybe I should consider the great NSync tunes in extra-curricular. Hmm.

Can anybody convince me to raise my eccentricity vote from 0? He seems like a pretty normal dude, especially for a pop star.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

LOL re the legacy scores so far.

My marks solely reflect his Mickey Mouse Club output ;)

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

He's a very pretty boy. Glad everyone agrees that he's totally not eccentric.

Very consistent output... hardly put a foot wrong in his solo career to date.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Dude gets an average mark on singing voice/musical ability and consistency but a massive 10 on extracurricular activity.

[koganbot]

I couldn't think of what to put for best song, since the best music he's sung on so far is "I Want You Back" or "Tearin' Up My Heart," but his singing on those is kind of so-what, the songs transcending the singers. He's really much better now; his breakthrough was probably "Gone," where he was suddenly credible doing a Michael Jackson style ballad. I'd have liked it more if I liked Michael Jackson style ballads more.

I'll probably go and pencil in "Cry Me A River."

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

I was kind of astonished to write "What Goes Around..." for best song, but since I wasn't astonished that, even though I like him a lot, I don't think much of Justin Timberlake, it makes sense that most recent best song made the cut. "Cry Me a River" is pretty great, I guess. I dunno. (I didn't count *NSync since once upon a time *NSync wasn't just "Justin").

this discussion is woefully incomplete without this cover:

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

JT just still seems a bit creepy and not that great to me. He has annoying nostrils.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

DO. NOT. WANT.

And not just because he broke up *NSync, who were amazing but because he has created such a monumental aura of smug surrounding his mediocre hush-hush soft-pop that it has made all music more exciting than lunch with distant relatives feel self-conscious and not release itself. WHICH IS BAD.

Not only that but he gives people ideas that they're non-elitist because they once quite liked 'Sexyback,' even if they villify anyone who likes anything ever in the chart just because it was in the chart. Which is not the point.

Although actually I quite like his music, as a sort of mum-shock-pop thing. (As in music for mums, wot shocks them a bit because of all the Young People's Sex in it and consequently makes them feel young and edgy again which is alright I suppose. My mum hates it, mind you.)

Also, I agree with jel_bugle, his nostrils are annoying.