Trend Alert

I may know nothing about fashion, but I do know that everyone who is anyone these days is wearing some form of fuzzy animal ears on their head.  Snoop Dogg, Ke$ha, P!nk, Rihanna, & Katy Perry have all been spotted dressed up like childish cartoon animals.  

Even everyone's hipster daydream, Zooey Deschanel, is rockin the animal accessory.

So advice to any aspiring singer-songwriters: if you want to be taken seriously, you better run to Urban Outfitters for some bunny ears.  Fast.


Unapologetically,


Minna

2012 Questionables

Questionables:

(Decidedly Undecided? Duh!)

Santigold - Master of My Own Make-Believe
Santigold burst on the music scene with awesome songs like Shove It, the ultimate danceable diss ("we think you're a joke / shove your hope where it don't shine").  But 4 years later, her newest track, Big Mouth, sounds way to much like M.I.A.'s Kala album for us to really get revved up for Master of My Own Make-Believe.

Ke$ha - Untitled
Can Ke$ha keep it fresh & save rock 'n roll?  We'll have to wait & see... (Minna really hopes so, but Gregory isn't so certain).

Of Montreal - Paralytic Stalks
These guys have been making experimental POP for so long now, they're practically its godfathers. Front-man Kevin Barnes apparently wrote some pretty dark songs for the band's eleventh studio album (damn- eleventh!) & dark POP is certainly thriving these days. Could Paralyric Stalks be as epic as the Hissing Fauna album from back in 2006? Minna's always down for some psychedelic POP rock, so we shall see...

Sean Paul - Tomahawk Technique
Can Sean Paul come back full-throttle? We're conflicted. Got 2 Luv U had us hopeful, but She Don't Mind made us come crashing down. But Seany-boy is working with super-stars like Stargate! Benny Blanco! Kelly Rowland! And the Top 40 charts need some dancehall! Oh well; if the album flops, we still have Mohombi. 

Christina Aguilera - Untitled

Christina with an X (say what?) is back! Rumor has it that her first single will be produced by Max Martin! We're hoping for POP perfection. Some allege that Dr. Luke may be lending a sonic hand to some of the other tracks. After enveloping our ear buds with gems like "Hot'N Cold" and "Party in the USA," Luke better give Christina something better than You da One. That was a downer. Like, way waY wAY WAY down...you get it.

The Far East Movement - Dirty Bass
"Dirty Bass." Hmmm.  Well, if this album is anywhere near as infectious as Jello (yes yes yes), it could stand a good chance on the charts.  We really would like to see the LA-based Asian-American POP achieve great mainstream success in 2012, so a tune-up & some big, bad, dirty bass miiiiiiight be just what they need.


MGMT - MGMT 
Minna is praaaying that indie POP princes MGMT can get it together this year & produce something as epic as Oracular Spectacular. If so, perhaps the world can forgive their last album, Congratulations. C'mon guys, you can do it!

Unapologetically,


Gregory & Minna

Ke$ha-Bo-Be$ha

Holler!

I read a super-interesting post by our blogger friend Vertigo Shtick, titled Dr. Luke & the Women. In it, he writes about Ke$ha and how, through a great deal of research, he's come to the conclusion that she will last in this business. I'm sure he's far more well-versed in Ke$ha knowledge than I am or ever will be, but I don't completely agree with him. I've always believed that Miss K-dollah was a book-smart chick. After all, she got a 1500 on her SATs and used to attend history lectures at various colleges in Nashville while she was in high school, not for any sort of credit, but purely to feed her curiosity. With that said, I do think she's a bit ignorant, using offensive terminology like "tranny" in her tunes.

Her music is a whole other ballgame, though. Ke$ha's songs have always seemed like a creative orgasm for her infamous producer, Dr. Luke (who I reckon might be a bit of a Svengali in the way that Clive Davis was with Whitney or Tommy Mottola was with Mariah). Some call her style "turbo-POP," and I understand why. It's electronic, beat-driven, and has a million different layers sliding together simultaneously, as if Dr. Luke threw all these different elements in while thinking, "why not?" That's pretty cool of Luke, but in doing so, he's pigeon-holed Ke$ha in such a way that will deem her irrelevant in the years to come. Of course, Ke$ha has been just as much a part of pigeon-holing herself, because while Luke has constructed her sound, she's built her aesthetic as a bratty-grungey-hipster (but with glitter, because hipsters hate glitter, right?). It was cute at first, but now it's just kind of annoying, and the unfortunate thing is that no matter how hard she may try to escape that image, it will stick to her like glue in a way that Madonna's early look never did. Madonna utilized image to sell records, but she never looked like her music sounded, whereas Ke$ha appeared just as we expected her to, covered in shiny dirt like a slightly filthy, bratty POPster. Ms. Let's party and get glitter in our hoo-ha is the female equivalent of LMFAO. It's cute... until it's annoying. (Don't get me wrong - I'm a fan of glitter glitter everywhere, but not when it's been dipped in mud. That can cause in infection.)

I view Ke$ha in the same way I do Avril Lavigne. Ke$ha is essentially the 2010 version of Avril. They're both bratty, party POPsters, except the latter came around when POP-rock was predominant, while the former made her debut during the electro-POP era. I do think Ke$ha will always be around, but she'll never again be as relevant as she has been because she is the spitting image of her music and of the last two years. She is a moment in time, and times change. Avril will never escape 2002-2004. She may have a hit every once in a while, like 2007's Girlfriend, but no matter how good the songs are (I LOVED What the Hell, which is basically a more melodic Girlfriend), she'll never outgrow what she was (in our minds, anyway). Another example is Alanis Morrisette. She came out at the perfect time, and will forever be remembered as the rebellious 20-something singing songs from her iconic 1995 album, Jagged Little Pill. Despite the fact that she has the occasional hit every now and then (like the gorgeous Thank You or Hands Clean), Alanis will never be as big or relevant as she was. These POPsters are not as timeless and versatile as Mariah, Madonna or Michael, or even Britney or Beyoncé, all of whom have maintained their A-list status.

This is not a reflection of Alanis, Avril, or Ke$ha's vocal or songwriting talent. Ke$ha can certainly hold a tune, as this video of her singing the Rolling Stones' White Horses at a Hollywood party proves. Still, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, and even Justin Bieber all have the potential to last because their music is a bit more timeless - and their images are not a precise projection of their sound. Lady GaGa may not be the biggest POP star in the world forever after, but she'll always be among the leading pack and will be venerated in later years, like the aforementioned legends. Sorry, K-dollah, but I just don't believe you'll ever be one, regardless of whether or not you deserve to.

Unapologetically,

Gregory