Somethings in pop music will always catch my attention. Such is the case when a sassy new girl group comes across my radar, especially when they are from Sweden (Home of the Pop) and come guns blazing with some stellar dance pop. Enter Marlene, Mira & Lorena: the three ladies of Swedish pop group Ms Trez.
The group formed in 2009 and launched with their debut single "Louder" in 2011. They've released three singles since, most recently with the epic but glittery power ballad "Sweet Liar". They remind me quite a bit of some of my fave girl groups of the early 00's -- think dancefloor Play -- mashed with new-school girl pop. "Sweet Liar," for one example, sounds like a missed opportunity for a great Saturdays ballad. An EP of tunes is expected sometime soon in 2013.
You can sample more of their tunes via their SoundCloud here -- I'm quite fond of previous single "Louder," as well as dancefloor stompin' "Y.E.A.H." Several of their songs (including "Sweet Liar" and "Louder") are also available as purchasable singles on iTunes (including in the USA). For more updates, you can follow them on the Twitters via @MsTrezMusic.
Needless to say, perusal of their back catalogue has me salivating over what's to come (I feel a Mel 100% Supports Nod coming on...). Luckily for me (and you), the lovely ladies were kind enough to answer a few of my questions about their history as a group and their plans for global domination. Read on for my interview with Ms Trez below.
Tell us a little about yourselves. How did you meet up? How long have each of you been pursuing music?
Lorena: We met each other at Caribbean Dance Studios in Stockholm and found out that we all had a shared interest in singing and dancing.
Mira: After that it felt so natural to form Ms Trez in 2009. Dancing and singing have been our lives from an early age.
Marlene: Lorena started from the age of 3 performing at a midsummer festival and hasn't stopped singing since, I studied music at the University and have performed in many Swedish theatres, and Mira is a professional dancer and has performed with several well-known Swedish artists.
Where did the name "Ms Trez" come from? Mira: Ms Trez stands for independence, courage and strength. It was kind of easy because we are 3 (tres in spanish) , and it is a play on the word Mistress!
Lorena: The name (when you hear it) also draw peoples attention which is kind of funny =)
"Sweet Liar" is a bit of a departure from your more dancefloor-friendly sound. What prompted this decision? Marlene: We love ballads and when we heard "Sweet Liar" we fell in love directly, we instantly knew - this is the one! As an artist it is great to try new things, we felt that this song would show a new side of Ms Trez.
Sweden is known for its stellar power pop/dance music. Who are your biggest musical influences?
Mira: We are definitely influenced by a lot of big stars not only in the pop genre. Everything from big spectacular shows to smaller acoustic performances inspires us. Of course we are really proud to have so many good producers from Sweden.
Marlene:Loreen winning Eurovision for Sweden with a power/pop dance track was a fantastic moment of 2012. When a Swedish artist like Robyn breaks America this is great for music and Sweden.
If you could cover any song and give it the Mz Trez treatment, what would it be and why?Lorena:BLOODHOUND GANG "The Bad Touch" would be fun to do a cover! It´s a typical "men’s song" so a female version would be something else :) It´s always fun to shock people, they wouldn't expect that from us!
If you could tour with any American artist in America, who would it be?
Mira:Usher because we love his performances with all his dancers, music, and he is hot!
Marlene:David Guetta would be fun just because he always has a big audience with a really good vibe. Of course Michael Jackson had been the biggest dream.
Lorena: We think that it’s really cool to mix a girl group with a male artist so the audience can get some variation. But of course we wouldn't say no to a female artist :)
Message for your International Fanbase? Mira: To all the fans out there, new and old, that support us we want to say thank you for believing in us. We hope you love Sweet Liar and are excited for our EP out soon. We hope to plan many performances in 2013, taking Ms Trez global! Don’t forget to follow you dreams and believe in yourself. One Love, Ms Trez x
January 2013
is shaping up to be the Time of the Comeback, isn't it? Nicole Scherzinger announced a new single release in the ho-hum "Boomerang" this past week, Justin Timberlake unleashed his "Suit & Tie" (sh*t) with Jay-Z and is planning something for the Super Bowl (verdict: it's a grower and I'll probably be obessed with it by the time The 20/20 Experience drops in March -- what a terrible album title, BTW), and now the kids in Paramore have returned with their pop punk ways with their first real single release since two of its members exited the group in 2010. Spoiler Alert: it's a jam.
Not totally unlike No Doubt, Paramore has always been centered around flame-haired Hayley Williams (like it or not -- it's the main reason why two of the original members quit the band). It's clear No Doubt plays a huge influence both pre and post Farro Bros exit and that has never been more clear than with this single. Much of the lyrical presence of Paramore's material has always been an indicator of what's going on behind the scenes (a great example would be "Looking Up" from their third album, Brand New Eyes, in which Williams warbles: "Could have given up so easily/I was a few cheap shots away from the end of me//I can't believe we almost hung it up/We're just getting started"; on the heels of noted tension within the band. It was shortly after this era that the two members left.) Now forging ahead into a new world for Paramore, "Now" isn't afraid of owning up to the group's past. Instead, Hayley & Co. offer up a brash call to arms.
Lose the battle, win the war Bringing my sinking ship back to the shore Starting over, head back in There's a time and a place to die But this ain't it... Don't try to take this from me now
In my personal opinion, "Now" harkens more toward the original sound Paramore broke through with via their Riot! album (read: the album that made me fall in love with them), and that is a very good thing.
The band's fourth official album, Paramore, is due for release in early April.
Can you believe its been more than two years since JoJo has last "released" fresh material? If her first mixtape, Can't Take That Away From Me,released in the last quarter of 2010, was an introduction to the new grown JoJo, last month's sophomore mixtape Agápē (it's Greek for the word "love," and is also the name of her cute puppy that you see on the cover) is an assertion of strength and identity.
Now 22 years young, JoJo has certainly come a long way since the now almost ten years old (!!) "Leave (Get Out)". The epitome of label mishandling, who knows when we will actually hear her proper third record (her sophomore album The High Road was released back in 2006), but with the sprinkling of these bite-sized mixtapes, fans like myself are continually clued in to Ms. Levesque's headspace.
While Can't Take That Away From Me read as an almost-album, with several radio ready cuts that simply spoke to an older JoJo fanbase ("Why Haven't You Called" is still my jam), Jo went a different road entirely with Agápē. I'd be hard pressed to call it an album in waiting, as it's quite short (more like a meaty EP, if you will). Despite being 13 tracks in length, almost half are of the interlude variety. Not totally unlike Janet Jackson before her, the interludes help keep things kind of cohesive between full cuts and set the mood. The songwriting is what really shines here and is very reflective of the empty space created in her absence in the major music game, particularly in the R&B-soaked genre.
The record opens with "Back2thebeginningagain", a not quite interlude-length/not quite song length intro that sets the stage for many of the recurring themes featured on Agápē, one being obvious discontent at her label ("Two things you gotta do to succeed/One's forget about you/And listen to me" ... "You should make some Katy songs/You should pull your t*tties out/Then I'll put your record out").
"Billions" is a sweeping love song which shows off JoJo's vocal beautiful range and a true control that many of her contemporaries lack. "White Girl In Paris" is complete with some kind of flute/recorder and sung with acoustic guitar accompaniment, lamenting being used and misused in the music industry but being feeling free in Paris, "unfettered and alive".
The big single from the project is "Andre", unarguably the most radio-ready of the set and inspired by Andre 3000 of Outkast. It's an homage to the man who isn't afraid to be a little bit eccentric and himself in a world full of people trying to fit in to status quo. As Jo sings, "I'm a sucker for a guy with a Beautiful Mind." It was an early fave simply for its easy singability (that chorus couldn't be hookier simply for that stuttered "Ah-Ah-Ah-An-Andre"). Check her out performing the song acoustically here.
However, my absolute favorite of the disc comes at the very end (save the best for last) in storyteller-esque "Can't Handle the Truth". This mid-tempo sparkler really chugs with the focus on her voice and the story she spins (something only recently making a comeback to popular R&B with the rise of Frank Ocean and Miguel), telling a story of a unfaithful chica in the face of a boyfriend who didn't appreciate what he had when he had it. This is the type of modern JoJo I really sincerely hope we get more of in the future.
Go do yourself a service and grab the mixtape now. You can download Agápē for free here.
The Saturdays (L to R): Vanessa, Frankie, Una, Mollie & Rochelle
The title for this post is so appropriate, it's almost like I've waited since this blog started in 2008 to use it (oh, wait -- I have).
"We're really in America!" That was the sentiment expressed by The Saturdays and felt by the fandom present at the Highland Ballroom in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC on Thursday night. The Saturdays are literally an artist I've followed since the very beginning of this blog (their song "Up!" was my #1 song of 2008 in my very first "official" countdown posting) and I was priviledged to be in their company while they commanded the stage in their very first headlining performance in the US's East Coast.
After surviving the wait in line outside (I'm a VIP, guys), the realization started to hit home that I was finally going to see Mollie, Frankie, Rochelle, Una & Vanessa live and in person in a mere number of minutes and by some grace of a "Higher" Power (see what I did there?) I scored a front row standing position Stage Left. I'm proud to say I didn't cry but the night proved to be incredibly memorable for a multitude of great reasons. Read on for squeeing, lots of pictures and yes, even video awaits you. (Why, Ms. Melismatic -- Welcome to 2008! Indeed.)
Kerli
The show began five minutes early (how many times has that ever happened?) when surprise opening act Kerli bounded onstage in white-blonde pigtails and some sort of turtle-necked pink bathsuit with a flock of multi-colored neon ribbon fringe with DJ and keyboardest in tow. For those of you who aren't as familiar, Kerli is an Estonian left-of-center dance-club pop artist that is a bit like a cross of Robyn and Bjork. She is best known to the non-club scene for her early singles "Walking On Air" and "Love Is Dead" back in 2008, and for co-writing Demi Lovato's big comeback track, "Skyscraper" (it was originally set to be for Kerli's own project, still upcoming).She radiated positive energy and really got the crowd hyped up very quickly with a small handful of her bigger dance tracks, including "Zero Gravity," "The Lucky Ones" and the high-energy, unreleased "Can't Control the Kids" (title?) which includes the refrain of "Put Your Hearts Up," complete with the heart symbol made with your hands. Her sophomore album release, Utopia, is set for release later this year on Warner.
No sooner had she come onstage was she off it, however just a few seconds after that, she appeared a few feet from where we were standing exiting backstage. She walked right into the crowd of fans and took a photo with yours truly, blindsided as I was.
As we patiently waited for La Satz to grace America with their Glitter, we were informed by a man with a very large camera that they were filming for their upcoming E! reality show, Chasing The Saturdays, set to debut this Sunday -- and that there was a very real possibility of us being in the background of the shots. So there you go -- you all have no excuses to not watch as you might catch a glimpse of yours truly (just kidding...hopefully). Not long after, a keen eye behind me spotted dutty rapper Sean Paul make his way backstage inches from my person. The reception wasn't very warm (literally: "Oh, there's Sean Paul." *awkward stares*), but it became clear the ladies would be performing the version of "What About Us" with him that night. Later, rumors ran rampant that Marvin of JLS fame was also there to cheer the girls on (well, he is Rochelle's Baby Daddy after all), and proved to be pretty true.
Around 9:40PM, our girls finally took the stage and kicked things off with a bang via "Notorious." They all looked fantastic and glamorous: Una in shorts and a silver spangled top; Vanessa in a black corset with gold studs and a tight gold skirt; Mollie in a black leather skirt and a rose colored lace crop top; Frankie in a grey dress; and Rochelle, several months pregnant with a very noticeable "bump" in a tight, glittery dress with a rather daring slit up to her thigh (complete with black sneakers...or as the Brits say, trainers). The material performed was a pretty decent mixture in terms of mostly singles from all of their previous UK releases, including "Ego", "Forever Is Over" and "All Fired Up", along with some surprising B-Sides in "Get Ready, Get Set" from On Your Radar and "Chasing Lights" from Chasing Lights.
Original reactions from the girls initial Stateside performances have been slightly mixed with some side-eye looks at Ms. Vanessa, the generally agreed upon "belter" of the group, as she sounded quite a bit strained. I feel it is my duty as a Saturdays fan to say she was really on her A-Game at the Highland, warbling out those melismas like it was nobody's business.
This was especially the case when the stools were dragged out and "Issues" was cued up. Vanessa quickly curtailed the song with a glare to the audio team, telling them to play the intrumental version without the follow vocals, a clear point at the proof that she (and the rest of the girls) can sing live. At this, Una jumped right up and grabbed a guitar (on hand for the following song, "Chasing Lights") and the group decided to perform "Issues" acoustically instead, there on the spot. "Chasing Lights" was performed similarly, with both Una and Mollie playing guitar.
WATCH: Full HD vids of the acoustic versions of"Issues" and "Chasing Lights" are available via my YouTube channel (for as long as they last, anyway). They are pretty Una/Mollie focused as they were closest to me. Forgive the singing - the boys behind me were very psyched, as was I.
(Afterwards, Rochelle remarked that she, Vanessa & Frankie ought to learn to play some kind of instrument as they look a bit useless in comparison. Frankie energetically offered to take triangle, while Vanessa suggested she just play "these" and grabbed a tight hold of her bosom. Oh, UK humor. How I love you.)
But the majority of the night was all up-tempo dance tracks (with nary a "Wordshaker" in sight, I'm afraid). They closed the show with "What About Us" with a predictable entrace by Sean Paul. (Watch part of that clusterf*ck of a perf via my video here.) I'm still quite keen on the non-Sean Paul version and that performance didn't do much to sway my thoughts. The girls waved goodbye with smirks and walked offstage while the crowded demanded an encore, and they returned minutes later to perform "Higher" before truly bowing out.
My favorite moments of the night were predictibly "Up!", "All Fired Up" and "Get Ready, Get Set" (the choreo for the latter is awesomely bad and I adore it). At one point before "Chasing Lights", Rochelle offered Frankie a sip of her glass of Coca Cola (it must be noted that when a roadie placed the two small glasses on the side of the stage before the performance began, we assumed it was alcoholic and giggled about it so when Rochelle reached for it, we all almost screamed out for her to stop). Mollie asked her what she was drinking and she said, "Coca Cola -- I'm pregnant." Comic gold. (You can see this exchange in my video for "Chasing Lights".)
All five of the girls were so energetic and lively -- Rochelle, despite her gorgeous with-child physique, came over to grab all of our hands (which took me totally off guard as I was video filming at the time), as did Mollie. Vanessa was all smiles and general fiercitude all night and Frankie and Una both waved on their way out. So basically, what I'm saying is, we are BFFs now and I am officially the Sixth Saturday. Mission Accomplished.
Fans & Fansites: Please feel free to use anything you'd like from this post, as I'm all about spreading the love. Just please provide a little link back to MelismaticBlog.com. That's all I ask. :)
COMPLETE SET LIST:
1. Notorious
2. Ego
3. 30 Days
4. Up!
5. Forever Is Over
6. Issues (acoustic)
7. Chasing Lights (acoustic)
8. Get Ready, Get Set
9. All Fired Up
10. What About Us (with Sean Paul)
11. Higher (encore)
This one is long overdue, mostly because of the holidays getting in the way.
Quick Pop Quiz: anyone remember way back 2008 when I first started this blog and I tried to create my first "recurring" column in my YOU SHOULD HEAR posts? (No.) I only ended up featuring four artists before moving on to the next idea to jump into my OCD pop music brain. They were Mandy Ventrice (who's gone on to release an excellent indie album in 1985), Red Blooded Women (who broke up but one member went on to become Queen of Hearts), Candy Coated Chaos (again, broke up to spawn Ro Danishei and Pastele) and Nikki Flores.
Nikki is a prime example of being screwed over and unappreciated in the pop industry. She signed a deal to Epic Records at age 15 and appeared on an MTV reality show (about music! Can't you believe it?!) that starred labelmate Cheyenne Kimball (who later dabbed in the country pop group Gloriana) -- which was where I first heard about her. Poised to be the next big thing, she began preparing her debut album, This Girl, set for release that year in 2005. Her debut single, "Strike," was featured in the soundtrack to the film Aquamarine, which starred fellow musical prodigy (and another who is unappreciated in this industry) JoJo.
As is the way in these tales (to steal a line from Sondheim's Into the Woods), This Girl was shelved and Nikki exited Epic Records. Instead, she signed a deal with OneRepublic'sRyan Tedder and his label Patriotic Records. This resulted in the digital single release (and Journey's "Lights" sampling) "City Lights" in 2010(along with a handful of other jams produced by Darkchild). But just when I get my hopes up for an eventual release, again things started to stall.
Rather than be forced into becoming a budding teen queen, Nikki Flores dug deeper and instead emerged as a legitimate lyricist. Prior to "City Lights", she had already written a few album cuts for The Cheetah Girls and Raven Samone, but since, she's landed some huge coups outside of the Disney set in genres that are all over the place, all over the world. She co-wrote my fave part of KPOP idol group miss A's Touch album ("Lips") alongside producer Fuego, co-wrote and sung a song with rapper Nas, and even landed a track on Christina Aguilera's most recent album, Lotus, in the bonus track "Empty Words". She's also done some background vocal work with Demi Lovato and Rita Ora. It's safe to say this girl who could is shaping up to be a major player behind the scenes.
That's not to say I still long for an album of her own. The sheer amount of material of Nikki's that has been left unreleased is utterly staggering and totally criminal. It was her voice after all that really drew me to Nikki in the first place and therein lies why I remain so bitter about the mishandling of such a great vocalist. So imagine my utter happiness when I realized she has released more than a handful of tracks from her This Girl sessions (2005-2008) and offered them up for free consumption on her website.
You can download This Girlhere. Do it now. I'll wait.
Really, what a hefty release this is. It includes the Timabaland-produced "Suffocate" and the radio-ready (circa 2007) Danja-produced "Painkiller" with rapper Yung Berg (think Paula DeAnda). It opens with "Let It Slide", a raw and emotional ballad produced by Brian Kennedy about relationship abuse that went on to go intensely viral due to its relatable and painful content. It also includes the more introspective, piano-driven ballads "Selfish" and "Insecure" (the latter being downright Janet-esque) which I've spoken about in that YOU SHOULD KNOW blog post, as well as my overwhelming overall favorites in midtempo "Could You Ever Love Me That Way".
Basically what I'm trying to say is I could not be more proud that Nikki continues to persevere and use her gift in such a difficult marketplace. Her voice and songwriting capabilities are only getting better as the years get on and I'm proud to say I've been a fan since the beginning.
Says Nikki, "I have to say thank you to everyone reading this, from the bottom of my
heart, because somehow my fans have managed to not only stay supportive
and loyal to me, but they’ve kept me hungry while I continue to strive
for my dreams."
Dance Druggie "Noun, Slang.
A person who is addicted to habitually moving their body, feet or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps especially to the accompaniment of music by Hans Inglish."
It's been a second since I've checked into the indie world, and who better to catch up with than Hans Inglish. This week marks the one year anniversary of myself becoming acquainted with his material from an alternate persona that you may recall from this blog as Flawless. Now known as Hans Inglish, he has employed his penchant for catchy beats and a dance structure with witty rhymes toward a whole new (and very much pop) approach for 2013. The result? The radio-ready funkfest that is his brand new single "Dance Druggie."
Somewhere out there in the ether, Far East Movement is jelly jelly. "Dance Druggie" employs all of the dance fever quotas (oh-wha-oh! oh wha-oh!) that are so popular at the mo' at the hands of one dude without losing his lyrical edge.
For all the Dance Druggies out there (I see you), you can download the song gratis thanks to Mr. Inglish himself here. "Dance Druggie" is the first single from the upcoming Inglish 101 EP. For more on Hans Inglish, you can follow him on the Twitterspheres via @HansInglish or 'like' his ish on Facebook.
2013, are you f*cking serious right now? 10 days in and you're already kicking 2012's ass. Actually, you're kicking 2010, 2011 and 2012's ass (I'd thrown in 2009 for good measure but that was the year I found KPOP). How is it possible that three artists who truly shaped my teens (and in one case, my pre-teens) are all officially on the Comeback Trail? Well, technically(read: not really technically) we could call it four artists if you include Girls Aloud's pending tour (even though its not coming remotely close to NYC) because my copy of Ten only just arrived in my hands (angry face) and the epicness of "Something New" and especially "On the Metro" just can't be denied.
(This isn't even taking into account that in the UK, Five , Atomic Kitten, Liberty X and B*Witched are all reuniting for a television program. I suddenly don't feel so old anymore, fam -- my childhood is returning to me!!)
DESTINY'S CHILD
We already knew we'd be getting new music from Blue Ivy's mama Beyonce in 2013 (complete with a SuperBowl Halftime Show that will surely be legendary) but the announcement that she will also be reuniting the Children of Destiny with her cohorts Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams was a truly pleasant surprise. Queen B stated on her Facebook that DC3 will be releasing Love Songs, a compilation, on January 29th. What I would like from them would be something like this, although another "Bootylicious", "Survivor" or "Say My Name" would be awesome, too. It will be the first new material heard from them since 2005's "Stand Up For Love" (and let's call a spade a spade -- that was kind of a disappointment, wasn't it?)
UPDATE: The reunion track "Nuclear" does sound a bit like a leftover reheated, now doesn't it? Well, I suppose it will grow on me.
Ahhh, the year 2000 was such a good one, wasn't it?
MUTYA KEISHA SIOBHAN
True the comeback of the Originababes is not exactly news but after what feels like eons of excitement, the product of their Pending Amazingness finally broke via "Boys". A video of the girls singing a bit of song acapella has landed on the YouTubes and if we can believe what PopJustice says, the real thing will be incredible. This bodes well.
The UK's Vocal Vamps have returned. TRIUMPH AND BEHOLD.
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
Deep Breath, Mel - you can do this.Nope. I can't. Can't. Remain. Calm. Dear Justin Bieber/One Direction fangirls (in fact, let's thrown in just about every KPOP boyband fangirl, too, because damnit, it still applies) -- it's time to take a seat. It's been almost six years since my childhood celebrity crush last graced the stage (no, Timbaland, Ciara, Madonna and Esmee Denters features DON'T count) and it quite possibly might be the most hyped moment of my 25 years of life on this Earth. Hyperbole? Shut the f*ck up. Justin's back. (Well, hopefully -- today he dropped a somewhat pretentious "video" to YouTube of him simply stating "I'm Ready". I suppose that could mean any number of things but so long as it's not another attempt to be a movie star, I will roll with it.) I really don't know where to even begin with this but if we were to get something like this...
Or, I don't know...something like this...
Or something like this...
(I was at that show, actually -- so technically that video is of both Mr. JT and Melismatic)
...your girl might just break into a million glittery discoball pieces of sugar, bubblegum and BOP magazines. I really can't be held accountable for my stanship when it comes to (the real) Justin, ya'll. We have a relationship that dates back almost 15 years. This one is very personal.
What. A. Day. My feelings can be expressed in the gif below, basically -- just please don't stop.
UPDATE: One of my fave jams, "Animal," is currently being offered as the free 'Single of the Week' over at iTunes (USA) so make sure you take advantage, Americans.
The iHeartRadio Theatre, previously known as the P.C. Richard & Son Theatre, in the Soho neighborhood is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots for its sheer intimacy (read: it's really small). It played house to UK sensation Conor Maynard on Tuesday night, the very same day his debut US album, Contrast, was released in the US (it was released to his home country this past July).
I walked into this showcase relatively blind regarding Conor's background -- I head heard his singles in the Ne-Yo-assisted "Turn Around" (Ne-Yo is also credited as his "mentor", the one who discovered Maynard after he and his people viewed some of Maynard's YouTube covers), the bombastic "Vegas Girl" and the pretty Bieber-esque "Can't Say No". Everything was firing and hitting but to me, there was a slight disconnect (a Contrast, if you will -- not funny?). Maynard rose to fame performing cover versions of popular songs on YouTube, many of them being in balladized form. Of the teen idol acts, especially the ones coming out of the UK, I would be so bold as to argue he has one of the strongest voices (I'm looking at you, Cher Lloyd). So imagine my chagrin that my favorite original song by this singer was the slick-talking, uptempo "Vegas Girl" (it namechecks Keri Hilson, Rihanna, Beyonce and Alicia Keys in one breath -- guess we know his "type", eh?). I wasn't sure how he was going to play to the stage since the Bieber comparisons are so obvious (discovered through YouTube, plays instruments, writes his material, not from America, cute white boy, black R&B artist as a mentor, I mean come onnnn), but after Tuesday night, while I'm not quite convinced of his immediate star power Stateside, I definitely see the potential.
Aside from the Ne-Yo connection, it also bares noting Contrast features two songs co-written/produced by Pharrell Williams in a pretty clear attempt to channel another Justin -- Timberlake. The record also features guest vocals by fellow UK hype artist Rita Ora.
Photo Credit: MelismaticBlog.com
While waiting to get in to the theatre, when observing the demo that Conor attracts, it obviously skewed very female and very young (again, Bieber comparisons). My friend and I quickly summarized we were probably the oldest folks there not with a parent (score!) and contrary to what you might have heard, I don't exactly like spending my Tuesday nights watching girls ten years younger than me with painted faces that would make Christina Aguilera jealous stare around the room with sour expressions wearing ripped tights, see-through neon green lace "shirts" and denim cutoffs. It's just not my scene. Prior to Conor hitting the stage, a plethora of demo-specific Top 40 shook the theatre room (and by "shook", I mean literally -- the floor was a bit spongy so it literally trembled under our feet whenever the crowd jumped or generally "fangirled" out at all) including Taylor Swift, One Direction and yes, a handful of Bieber tunes. Many of the girls there were loudly singing along and yes, there was a bit of screaming.
Finally, the music cut out and a DJ from Z100 announced Conor's pending arrival making a crack about his "perfect hair" and then the 20 year-old Brit popstar bounded out on stage among a "live" band. He performed a ten-song set that opened with my new favorite Conor jam, "Animal", which will soon serve as the disc's fourth official single. It quickly segued into "Take Off" (recommended as a spotlight by my girl over at One of those iPods) which was another highlight. Prior singles "Can't Say No", "Turn Around" and especially the closer song "Vegas Girl" were very well received amongst the small throng of fangirls present. Other spotlight moments included his ballad-ized cover of Swedish House Mafia's "Don't You Worry, Child", as well as album cuts "Just In Case" (in which he dabbled on the keyboards for about half the song) and the Pharrell Williams co-write/production "Glass Girl".
However, there were quite a few awkward moments, namely the inclusion of the album song "Mary Go Round" which features an strange Looney Tunes-esque sample (wut?) halfway through his set. Also, it's very clear Conor is still in the beginning stages of his career as he lacks polished commentary throughout his performance ("Let's just say...you're in a situation where..."). I'm of the firm belief that although some of his uptempos are fun ("Vegas Girl!"), he looks a bit lost in terms of feeling the song and his trademark warrior-chop dance got a bit stale as the set wore on. His vocals were on point throughout the set and if he wants to stand apart from those Bieber comparisons he really should be showing off how strong of a vocalist he is over the slick pop theatrics.
Overall, I was quite pleased with Conor's performance. While his material doesn't immediately jump out to me, certain cuts really pop and his vocals really do shine through the obvious slick veneer. His album, Contrast, is available for perusal on iTunes and Spotify. Check out the latest single, "Animal", below. My thanks to iHeartRadio for a fun night.
PS - I recently got myself an Instagram account (as you might be able to guess from the pictures above), so if you'd like to follow your girl, my account is @melismaticdiva. Lots of concert and New York randomness is to be expected.
First post of 2013 and it's about Girls' Generation?
Yup. Sorry, haters. SM Entertainment's requiste Sex-shi Soshi's have returned to Korea with a bouncy pop jam that's quite literally all over the place. Upon first glance, I had the same feelings many have had in KPOP fandom, which was: what the hell did I just watch? But with closer inspection (and a few more spins minus the video), I found it literally impossible to not stand up for these chicks for trying to up their ante and found myself actually (gasp) digging the song. (I did not however, appreciate the tweets by some rude folks I'll decribe as "anti" fans. Get a life, ya'll.)
I know I'll get some remarks like I'm forever sipping the SM Entertainment kool-aide (your point?), but at least hear me out and then make a decision regarding SNSD's latest single, "I Got A Boy".
Not totally unlike with Super Junior, it's difficult to get all nine of these chicks in one screen cap. Top Row, L to R: Taeyeon (leader), Sunny, SooYoung, Jessica; Front/Bottom Row, L to R: SeoHyun, HyoYeon, Yuri, YoonA, Tiffany
Anyone who knows me, tweets with me or reads this blog in general is probably aware that when it comes to KPOP, I am all about two things: 1) Boy Bands (hnggggg); 2) Girl Groups with Attitude. When I think of the later, Girls' Generation usually doesn't rank very high on that list. I would think 2NE1, I would think Brown Eyed Girls, I would think KARA -- hell, I'd even say Wonder Girls have more swagger than SNSD (SONEs, no need to attack me just yet -- let me make my point).
If you're well versed in popular Korean Idoldom (Is that a word? It is now.), you're very aware that SNSD is a Goliath in the KPOP mainstage, known for their cuteness and (Korean) sex appeal. Hence the fact that, to me, too many of their songs sounded like I would need to also buy Pepto-Bismal to make it through them sane ("Gee", "Kissing You", "Oh!"). Their shining moment came with "Genie (Tell Me Your Wish)", and while Korea might not have known it then, it was the beginning of GG's transitional phase into not a Girls' Generation but a Woman's Generation, or at the very least, a Young Woman's Generation. They were attempting to evolve beyond that cutesy tag that seems to follow them everywhere they go, and those "evolution" pop jams tended to be the ones I gravitated toward ("Run Devil Run", the Japanese "Bad Girl"). The battlecry of "I Got A Boy" came as no surprise to me as on the lyrical surface, it still seemed very cutesy, but the packaging comes across as something totally different, and in terms of GG back catalogue, totally unique and refreshing. The beats are not what we've been beat over the head with for the past few months and are quite more akin to what we hear here in the West.
Despite this, the song hasn't even been out in Korea for more than a week (it came out on New Year's Day), and it has already created the most bipolar of reactions. You either love it or you hate it, and as usual, I sit somewhere in between (sigh). Even SONE fandom, a fandom well documented (and often chastised) for hyping up everything these girls do, being so ride or die it's literally all or nothing (not hating -- the Cassies, ELFs, Shawols, VIPS, etc. are guilty of it, too), has given a mixed and sometimes negative reaction with the song.
Here I've chosen to break apart the main reasoning for why this song gets such a bad "rap" (get it?) and why I think it's not nearly as bad as you're fearing. In fact -- it might just be one of my favorites from the group. What now?
1. SNSD are NOT rappers and therefore shouldn't be rapping.
I'm with you on this, fam. 110%. Girls' Generation is kind of a red herring in the KPOP world because despite being nine members strong, they don't have a real requisite rapper(s) like most KPOP groups do. So the fact that the song opens with SooYoung smirking saying, "Ayo GG!", does not bode well for fandom. Did it make me feel waves of second hand embarassment? Yeah, a little.
That being said, I don't really equate much of what's in "I Got A Boy" to rapping -- perhaps because I'm coming to you from a Western perspective. If anything, it sounds a lot like fast chit-chatting, not totally unlike a style highlighted by one of the USA's most revered modern girl groups, Destiny's Child in the likes of "Say My Name". The "rap" sections themselves read more like a converstation between members (see more on that later). If you are like me and don't speak the language, it's quite easy to pass it off as posturing when it's simply not the case.
2. The song is all kinds of disjointed.
Well, yes, but that was the point. All of the girls have little short vocal parts in attempt to broadcast the song as a "girl talk" between girls. On a deeper level (yes, I can't believe I'm going there but it's true) -- it is exactly how girls talk. We talk fast, we talk slow, we disagree, we hype each other up -- and a lot of times we talk super-de-duper fast.
Random Spotlight Mic Dance Time!
A loose translation of YoonA's "rap" (around 2:39): "So shocked/My brain's collapsed!/He says he wants to see my bare face with no makeup/I love him completely/Should I accept defeat and show him?" {Westerners: In Korea, to share your "bare face" with no makeup is a really big deal.}
HyoYeon's part is right after is basically a response (around 2:47): "What?/Of course not!/Am I right? Am I right?/We must defend what is ours/Am I right? Am I right?/Until the day I own his heart completely/I will not forget this fact"
Setting aside all the little conversations that make up this song, it feels disjointed because the music video is so utterly disjointed visually -- and therein lies the issue, especially if you don't speak Korean. When you watch the music video, the song jumps from one room to another, one dance sequence (with a different tempo) to another, to a sudden dark scene with a spotlight and Tiffany working the mic in an orange wig. As YoonA said, "Menbungiya!"
Solution? Listen to it without a visual component. In my case, the song passed in a blink and I wanted to hit repeat because there was so much unique auditory bits and pieces that each time I listened, I heard something new. This new style of "mashing up" songs seems to be the modus operandi for SM Entertainment -- we first felt it very distinctly last March with SHINee's "Sherlock (Clue + Note)" and to be fair, no one else is going this route. Given that SM is often slammed for regurgitating past hits (I'm sorry, Super Junior, you know I love you), this is their way of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks and in this case, it works.
To be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if SM released longer "remix" versions of "I Got A Boy" that explore each of the 'vingettes' and tempo changes in more length, not totally unlike with what they tried to do with SHINee's "Clue" and "Note" and "Sherlock (Clue + Note)". In fact, I think it would go over very well as many people I've talked to about "I Got A Boy" quite like the "chorus" or the "sparse beat bit" or the "spotlight slowed down bridge", etc. etc.
Had the song come out first, the video would have made a bit more sense. But because it was the other way around, it felt overwhelming. Many have compared it to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- and while it's a very lofty comparison, I understand the point of it. Unlike many of GG's prior hits, "I Got a Boy" attempts to tell a story, not just through the video "plot" but through the song itself. That is something we haven't really seen in a pop song in Korea from a group of GG's magnitude and I would be so bold to say as it reminds me of the quirk and tongue-in-cheeky-ness of Xenomania's Girls Aloud.
3. SNSD is biting off of 2NE1's swag/SNSD thinks they are "hood".
OK, this one is laughable. I was not aware 2NE1 owned the KPOP swagger corner. True, they were one of the first girl groups to have a bit of an "edge" both visually and sonically, but just because another group does it, doesn't exactly mean they are trying to rip off 2NE1. Girls' Generation has been straddling this mindset of cute and edgy for years now; "I Got A Boy" is simply more edgy than cute, but it's still very cute (Did anyone else notice the overwhelming amount of pink saturation in the cinematography? Just me? K.). And might I point out the choreography is a constant reflection of that mindset! They go from hip swaying and bending forward to aegyo-ing it up (read: acting nauseatingly cute/innocent) and back again within a few seconds. This is all keeping in line with Girls' Generation's well-known image and is not anything new.
I've already stated why the "rapping" isn't hood at all ("Should I wear makeup in front of my cute boyfriend? Do I dare to not wear any makeup all in front of him?//Girl, you so crazy! Wear that makeup mask!!"...yes...it doesn't get more hood that that right there). The clothes themselves are quite reminicent of style they have employed before via "Bad Girl" (or at your local Forever 21). Many of the girls have candy-colored hair that is quite popular here in the US amongst fashionista chicks (although -- Sunny....girl...get that wig in check. It's.got.to.go. Aqua is NOT your color.)
Translation of SooYoung/Yuri's "rappy" intro bit:
SooYoung: Oh, my Gosh/Just look at her/What made her decide to go cut her hair, huh? Yuri:Oh, my Gosh/Look at her now!/Her style has changed from head to toe!/Why did she do this?/I'm dying to know/Why did she she do this?/Just tell me why
Spoiler Alert: SNSD is trolling you all. They so meta I can't even.
And really -- if we're gonna talk ripping off, why isn't the obvious mentioned? Labelmates and little sisters in f(x) rocked in similar apparel, colored extensions and makeup-related choreography in one of their biggest hits, "Nu.ABO,"and the music video featured a clearly recycled SM set that re-emerges here with "I Got A Boy"! I mean, come on, fam. We all know f(x) is SM's red-headed, neglected stepchild, so for their cashcow in SNSD to show up in a similar style and the f(x) fans not be in a total uproar about it? That confuses me.
Besides, you know in the repackage they'll come back as SM's Angels of Cute.
And finally -- my favorite remark from the SONE fandom...
4. SM dropped the ball because the video is so lame.
On behalf of the Cassie, ELF and Shawol fandom, can I just say: SONE's got their nine girls wearing a bunch of different attractive outfits, an actual man in the video with them (although you don't see his face) who isn't a member of another SM group, multiple vingette stages that are not just dancing in a CGI box, good choreography, lots of screen time for each member and an actual "plot". How exactly is that dropping the ball? Did you see the "Mr. Simple" or "Electric Shock"videos? Well, did you?!?
So there. Haters to the left. ::drops the mic, Jay-Z style:: WUT.
Girls' Generation's "I Got A Boy" as well as their full-length album of the same name is available for purchase now, including on US iTunes.
Melismatic is a pop music editorial blog. For more information about me, Mel, and how to contact me directly, please see the 'About Mel' and 'Submit' tabs at the top of the screen.
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