The Decade In Pop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My enormous Pitchfork piece on "The Decade In Pop" is up: http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7703-the-decade-in-pop/

Spotify playlist to go with it here: http://open.spotify.com/user/freakytrigger/playlist/6cudPLlniOyOrpX5M5Dnnz

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

"vessels" - OK, maybe you didn't care about Beyoncé's personal life (I don't think many people get to care, she's so intensely private), but surely you don't mean this in the "it could be anyone else" sense? One of the most important critical strides I've made in the past decade is, contra the received wisdom that all pop stars are blank slates and empty vessels and fucking robots, to distinguish between the minor players who could genuinely be anyone, not that this is necessarily a bad thing (Danity Kane, Rachel Stevens); and those who bring something individual to bear on their music (everyone you listed; Cassie, Ciara etc).

[sm-woods.livejournal.com]

"Vessels" is probably a bad way to put it -- talk about damning the stuff with faint praise, etc. I need to think this through some more. Beyonce is obviously a singular figure in a way Rachel Stevens isn't, but though I can only think of one Rachel song I think is pretty good (and love at least a couple Beyoncé songs, and have some affection for almost ALL of her singles), the truth is, my own ears -- at least re: r&b and teen-pop -- have definitely tended toward the anonymous-could-be-anyone side of the divide. I'm not sure why. (Unlike you, however, I would put Cassie in the latter camp. And "U & Me" is a serious contender for my single of the decade. I also don't hear much in the way of distinguished voices in Girls Aloud, Danity Kane, or Sugababes, but I like how their voices work in their music just fine.)

I did say in my first post btw that I was kind of troubled about all this!