POLL 08: Most Interesting Pop Thing

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

The poll for most interesting Pop Thing - as with the other polls we're doing this CANON STYLE i.e. you pick your three most interesting pop things from this list of all* the stuff that was nominated.

[Poll #1314032]

*except I removed noms which were about Poptimists itself, mostly to get it down to 15.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Bassline's emergence was more in 2007 - its retreat back underground in 08 isn't all that interesting. All the bassline boosters should find time to come to Night Slugs (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=48445116803) next Thu by the way...

No 1 is UK funky house - I find the twists and turns of UK garage endlessly fascinating (and an endless source of great music), and this is an especially pleasing one, what with the soulful vocals and soca influence and deep grooves and pop choruses. Plus, it's still impossible to predict where the scene will end up - it feels like the future is emerging all around you.

No 2 is the Cassie non-album (which I am currently writing an overdue piece on EEK) - both for what it says about the industry and for her own aesthetic being endlessly unpackable.

No 3 is Katy Perry - like all right-thinking people I dislike her intensely, and I don't really find HER very interesting, but her success and the discourse which has sprung up around her is. Remember when we were all bemoaning the lack of a zeitgeisty 'Umbrella'-esque monster pop dominator? Well...we actually had one! But I can't remember the zeigeisty song of the summer ever being hated as much as 'I Kissed A Girl' was...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think Kanye West would have been my fourth choice, just cuz he's such a complex public figure. Nearly ticked Beyonce and Sasha Fierce but as much as I enjoy it, there's not actually that much to say apart from "whoa, fierce outfits". Autotune and whorepop continue to be interesting, but I don't think they're specifically 08.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

This is a good point about Katy Perry - who seems on course to win. I don't see how Cassie is different from tens of other good acts who don't get to release their records, but maybe as you say the industry is going this way more and more.

I ticked funky house - like you say, always interesting to see what that scene will do next. I also ticked autotune and whorepop - both because they're good general stand-ins for stuff that did interest me a lot (largely the same stuff) - the mechanical-human and mechanical-sexual interfaces in pop, which are kind of old stories that seem freshly relevant to a lot of what I listened to this year. I didn't want to tick Kanye because I'm really not interested in HIM as an artist/person especially.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha that's interesting, you love his album more than I do but I'm more interested in him as a persona. I mean, apart from all the conflict going on there and the frankly shamelessly needy way he flaunts his insecurities through his ego (and his BLOG), he just seems like the first pop star to become a superstar - on a Madonna/Prince/MJ/Britney/Beyonce level - in this Brave New World 2.0 of ours. And like all of them (except Beyonce!) he also appears to be going completely loopy.

Cassie's music would be fascinating even if she'd got to release her album - I could talk about it all day tbh, because it's never very apparent where the source of the power is, or why her songs are as great as they are.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

oh that's what Hoarpop means. I thought this was a veiled wobs ref or something, as in hoarfrost

actually, I still don't get who or what this is aimed at

[koganbot]

Danity Kane, Pussycat Dolls, the Stupid Shits, etc.