I like girls

Allow me to catch up on some girl pop I've been neglecting...

I've always thought that perfecting the art of annoying was Gwen Stefani's life's work. Now that she's revealed her inner theater dork with "Wind It Up" (making certain that "Rich Girl" was no fluke), I'm sure of it. And I kind of love her for it. I'm kind of scared for the future (what's next in this trajectory -- a Pharell beat made of mouths smacking creamy food and/or gum-popping? Gwen making those noises herself, live and in my ear?), but for now I'm content to watch her act like an exaggerated fool on an exaggerated stage in the track's bonkers video.

I wonder if it's over-confidence or straight stupidity that would lead her to releasing a dance track whose main feature is a sample of The Sound of Music's "The Lonely Goatherd." Does she think that at this point, she's so warmly regarded that she can get away with a yodeling show tune, or is she just oblivious to how ultimately uncommercial that creative decision is? The combination of her moany seriousness on the track and over-the-top mugging in the video offers little guidance. Similarly, aside from the "Goatherd," the only semblance of a hook this track has is Gwen's gym-teacher call to "Windituhhhhhh!" In other words, she is the hook. Is this hubris or a natural progression in recent pop's fascination with minimalism, right down to barely discernible melodies (and again, I ask what's next: blinking over a beat?). "Hollaback Girl," "Wind It Up"'s spiritual guide, had a chant anyone could sing along to; "Wind" has a shriek that no one would want to sing along to.

But really, I admire the audacity, that however cognizant Gwen is of how she's coming off, she's at least committed to her track. Besides, her dubious intention at least gets me thinking -- she's camp that I can't decide to laugh at or with. I don't know if she repulses me to such a degree that I find the effect ultimately fascinating, or if I find her so fascinating that I repulse myself. In the end, it's just dumb fun and not even she would dare to claim otherwise: in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, Gwen says that "Wind It Up" "isn't about anything." Whoa -- dumb pop that doesn't aspire to be anything but dumb pop? That's the spirit!

"Everybody askin' why Mary ain't mad no more," goes the first line of the first verse of Mary J. Blige's latest single, "We Ride (I See the Future)" (listen here). Everybody who? It seems to me that those who care most about Mary's lack of drama during these current Kendu years are Mary and her massive ego. Because really, if a question's bugging you then you stop answering it. You don't entertain it repeatedly, as Mary has been for the past five years (most glaringly in "Good Woman Down" from last year's The Breakthrough in what sounded more like a plea than consolation: "I'm still with you, my sisters. My troubled sisters. I still have troubles, too!"). Besides qualifying Mary's lack of drama again, "We Ride" has little purpose beyond shifting units (Brian Michael Cox just redoes what he did for the megahit "Be Without You") and even less to say. You know you're in no plan's land when the song's key refrain is "It is what it is." Then why sing about it? Why not just let it be ("it" being her bond with Kendu, which we've already heard about...a lot)?

"Ride" is the lead single from Mary's career retrospective Reflections, and like it or not (and I sure don't), it sets the mood perfectly. Here, Mary's message is less, "Take me as I am," and more, "Take me as you wish I still were."

You can soak in Mary's past woes, or just listen to Shareefa, who has drama on top of drama in the here and now. Mary's done enough cryin', whereas you get the feeling Shareefa would do some more if only she could. But in her latest single, "Cry No More," she suggests that it's physically impossible. What's more is that she tells her object of annoyance, "I seen things deeper than you," including "people shot in front of me." Ain't that some shit? I hope it's true, too, since a major theme on Shareefa's debut, Point of No Return, and the mixtape that preceded it, Got Reefa?, is realness. For example, the drops a fake friend in "Phony" and delivers one of Return's most inspired lines in the process: "Shoulda known your ass was kinda foul." Even the set's addictive first single, "I Need a Boss," (thanks to Rodney Jerkins' ability to become one with the South) is as much about what she isn't looking for ("I be buggin' 'cause all these fake thugs is tryin' to press up"), as what she is.

Shareefa is a vocalist in the tradition of Mary, which is to say that her considerable lack of technical skill is supposed to be balanced by her emotion. The post-epiphany Grinch probably doesn't have a heart big enough to compensate for Shareefa's rangeless honk of a voice, but hey, she's trying. It's easy to admire her moxie and to be charmed by her willingness to tell it like it is (on "No One Said," which is directly inspired by the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Everyday Struggle," Shareefa mentions her morning sickness and late period even though, you know, no one asked). As Reefa's image seems to be based on her lack of polish, you have to wonder if Return is necessarily her peak. Anything after this would have to be met by a more refined Reefa who's learned a thing or two from her time in the spotlight...unless she's just crazy and/or a train wreck to which I say: bring it on. Really though, I hope this isn't her peak -- she deserves better than this enjoyable but uneven set. I similarly wonder if she and her people are spreading it thick (and insincerely?) with the hoodrat angle (not that that's any worse of an angle than your typical pop star -- less commercial perhaps, but certainly just as eye-catching). But then, I think of that cranky voice, that asymmetrical hair that I love so much, that name (I mean, it's just Shareefa). If this is a put-on, it's a very elaborate, perhaps self-defeating one. Either way: props.

So, uh, Whitney appears on a new track by Ray J that recently leaked. The fuck? In my messageboard research, I read that it was recorded last year. It should have stayed in 2005. Whitney's merely a yes-diva to Ray's caterwauls. And not a very good yes-diva, at that. She sounds hoarse and petite. Like a Chihuahua. Which is to say: nippy.

The throwback of the week is Yo-Yo's "You Can't Play With My Yo-Yo," one of my very favorite hip-hop singles of the '90s. Yo-Yo was problematic (she spoke of women's independence, yet she rarely left the shadow of her male mentor Ice Cube; she advocated brain use, yet packed a real small gat in her purse; she called out black women for having fake hair and colored contacts, yet, she had fake hair and colored contacts), but I think that this song is ultimately empowering. She was (is? I have no idea what her politics in '06 are) a self-described "womanist," which is basically just a feminist with a fear of semantics. If that doesn't seem very progressive, consider the fact that, 15 years later, there's been no commercial rap song that's as uniformly pro-woman [see the comments section - Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y." was a bigger, less confused hit for sure -- that makes two, I guess] (besides maybe some empowerment-via-sex tracks, which are valid, but not quite the same thing). Plus, Sir Jinx's production is amazing, this rumbling and soulful beast. I wish rap still sounded like this.

This one goes out to my man the Game.

And on that note: ha!

(Double ha! if you forward to the 7:46 mark here and catch his Reasonable Doubt error -- thanks to Bill for the chuckle.)

Comments

[christy]

Although I really can't stand Gwen Stefani OR that song, it always makes me laugh to hear the little "clip-clop" of horses hooves she has in the background of "Wind it up". I like to imagine that she is galloping around banging coconuts together a la Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[James Derek Dwyer]

Poor GWEN! Her new look a la Raffaella Carra is sooo wasted on this crappy new cd... even the new Janet sounds better than this tired ole junk.

[Shot of Love]

Yo-Yo's got a touch of Bob Dylan in her with this lyric:

How many more rounds must I go
In order to let my people know
Times were hard, things have changed

That smacks of three Dylan songs that I can think of. Too bad that song isn't on iTunes.

[vida]

"Wind it Up" is a crappy MIA knockoff.

[Penny Woods]

That clip of Wendy Williams is the most useful clip of the Wendy Williams Experience ever.

[Lara]

i LOVED "the sound of music" as a kid, and now i'm excited that i get to dance to it at the club. i think "wind it up" is what it is: a catchy dance tune that means nothing.
i like it (but probably only for the next week or two).

[Christa]

I think Rich hits the proverbial nail on the proverbial head when he suggests that fascination with Gwen may stem from her nothing-is as nothing-does honesty. She's a bit mad, yes, but doesn't the radio need a little bit more spectacular nothingness to its mostly-despicable pop froth? (Rather than, say, spectacular nothingness in no-dude-I'm-like-really-serious clothing?) Besides, this is a woman who is making oodles of oodletastic money from a public image that is, nowadays, all about "being pink" -- whatever that means, yes, but methinks it's a pretty accurate summation.

Me, I'm loving the musical remix thing. A top forty princess actually referenced "The Lonely Goatherd," man. There ought to be a plaque somewhere. What's old and campy has once again been made new and campy. How postmodern, how insane, how refreshing!

Ha, it's not even her singing the clip from "The Sound of Music." She's Milli Vanilling it.

[Sophia]

I found a mix of Wind It Up that doesn't have the yodeling, and it's actually pretty catchy.

[Megan]

...made of mouths smacking creamy food...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Bwa.

[trick please]

Props on the chihuahua, nippy pun. Funny, funny stuff. I too had a WTF moment when I 'saw' Whitney on a Ray J track. I could not bear to listen. Why does it hurt so bad? Why? Clive Davis better get on it.

Mary: over her and her no more drama, non-drama.

shareefa: Quien?

Gwen: If it has a nice beat people will dance to it. But as you pointed out even she admits its fluff.

[care]

haha nippy. rich, you crack me up.
i absolutely detested "wind it up" the first time i heard it with the yodeling, etc. but now that it's resided IN MY BRAIN FOR THE LAST WEEK, i don't feel i can say anything bad about it. actually, now i can't say anything not in yodel form. thanks a lot gwen.

[xnowhereboyx]

I rock rough and tough with my afro puffs.

Geez I miss the '80s: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rv4SiMAzTGY
(Confidential to Lara -- check this one out)

Although "Rich Girl" was a poor-girl's remake of the basically unknown Lady Saw original from ten years ago (someone mixed Gwen's version with the original Lady Saw version here http://youtube.com/watch?v=oZ-GP-lmtGw -- you can close your eyes so you don't have to see some queen lipsynching the whole thing) and Gwen knew she could get away with it and come off looking like she did it first, I think using the SoM sample in "Wind It Up" is really an attempt to do something original and different in the pop music world of today. I imagine the writing session to go something like this: "Everyone's doing the '80s now. Everything's been done already. Fergie is ripping off my brand wholesale. We need something so crazy that no one else can do it without being accused of plagiarism (said without a hint of hypocrisy). Why don't we use Supersonic and call it Gwenalicious? No... I know -- let's see that Bitchess try to do a song with yodeling!!"

I love reading your entries on music because your wit just keeps hitting the spot. "Feminism without the semantics" made me tingle and the Mary J Blige part made me cream my jeans.

[Tom]

The thing about Gwen is, and I believe one of the main reasons why people are so attracted to her, is that she is probably the only mainstream artist that doesn't take herself seriously. She's out to make fun dance music with these two solo albums, and god bless her for it, because in a sea of other pretentious artists she is our only saving grace for that fluff we really need. While The Killers are comparing themselves to David Bowie, and Justin is comparing his sophmore album to 'Thriller' and Christina is failing miserably recreating a genre nobody cares about, Gwen really is our Sweet Escape.

[Tom]

The thing about Gwen is, and I believe one of the main reasons why people are so attracted to her, is that she is probably the only mainstream artist that doesn't take herself seriously. She's out to make fun dance music with these two solo albums, and god bless her for it, because in a sea of other pretentious artists she is our only saving grace for that fluff we really need. While The Killers are comparing themselves to David Bowie, and Justin is comparing his sophmore album to 'Thriller' and Christina is failing miserably recreating a genre nobody cares about, Gwen really is our Sweet Escape.

[lpiel]

I haven't heard the yodels mix anywhere--I probably would've lost my jaw on the changing room floor if that'd been the version stuttering out of H&M's speakers.

Seems like the track's hit the mainstream yodel-free.

[Tremayne]

While we're on the subject, do you remember a female rapper named Boss? She was like REALLY gangster and kinds scared me as a child. Whenever I ask people about her, I get blank stares and google searches are too broad and ultimately give me nothing. Is there a Boss or is this just a figment of my overactive imagination???

[xnowhereboyx]

"from what I remember about the whole Boss thing, ya know she came out all hard like she was from the streets and she was this and that, and came to find out she went to damn prep school, and she was raised in the suburbs...she was in other words a "studio gangsta"..."

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=6344

http://www.amazon.com/Born-Gangstaz-Boss/dp/B0000024IY

[Jelinas]

I don't care much for Gwen's solo stuff (in spite of my undying love for No Doubt), but I do have to give her ups for not trying to be all relevant and stuff. That's my biggest beef with pop music in general: most pop "artists" are light on the talent and even lighter on the substance, however poignant they try to be. Those who are big on the talent (Xtina and Kelly Clarkson actually have ossom voices, I must admit) are way light on the substance, which just makes me cry out, "Kelly! Why are you wasting all that talent on crap??"



Whatever happened to the good ol' days of Mariah Carey? She crazy, but girl can write a song. And saaaang.



That's why I like artists like Gwen and Weezer. They're fun and don't take themselves too seriously and poke fun at those who do. Kinda like Rich. ;-)

[JH]

Yo-Yo was ace, and I totally miss 70's soulful samples in rap songs.

Gwen's going for a Peggy Lee kind of look but, as per usual, is reading more as a Lorraine Gary!

[Jenn]

I read this blog all the time and I've never commented. So, I figure there is no better time to say that I love it.

Second of all, when I first started reading this, the first thing I thought was to ask if you had ever heard of Lily Allen (I'm assuming you have). I rarely find myself truly liking pop music, but right now I'm addicted to her, my favorite songs being "Not Big" and "Friday Night". I mean, who wouldn't like a song about threatening to "tell your friends your rubish in bed"? There is also that mention of crackwhores in one song that catches you a bit offguard.

[Joe]

The first time I heard Rich Girl, the "na-na-NA-na-na-NAAA" chorus was stuck in my head so badly, I thought I was gonna go fucking *insane*. Thank God, the Harajuku Girls are gone - I just thought they were there for set dressing and to give blah Gwen the vibe of "exotic". I like Wind It Up - it's fun, danceable and allows drunk queens on Halsted to shriek "WINDITUP!!!" and spill their Long Island Iced Teas all over the damn place. This is precisly what Gwen intended.

[Todd]

I've been a big Gwen fan since No Doubt, but unlike most I like her better solo. She's 100% committed to making a crazy, moronic, fun as hell albums and I love her for it.

I've heard The Sweet Escape, and while there are definitely NO stand out singles like Hollaback Girl (seriously, Wind It Up might just be the most commercial song there) its serious fun. My faves are "U Started It", "Early Winter" and "Don't Get it Twisted" (in which she procalims 'this is the most craziest shit ever', gwen's bringin bad grammar back).

I hope to see a sweet escape review here!

[Tanith]

San Fernando Bjork.

[Lindsey]

Gwen is scary looking now and "wind it up" sucks...

Anyway have you seen this?
http://community.livejournal.com/howtheylooknow/352928.html#cutid1

:( :(