ART OF SONG
Robyn
“Dancing On My Own”
Body Talk Pt. 1
Konichiwa | 2010

Robyn was the reason my best friend in sixth grade came out of the closet. One summer afternoon in 1996, he and I were jumping on his enormous backyard trampoline, screaming along to “Show Me Love” like we always did. “I’ll love you / I’ll miss youuuuu / I’ll make sure everything will be alright” we belted; for some reason – maybe her refusal to appear in a schoolgirl’s uniform in videos – Robyn embodied pop music we could admit to liking, (I secretly liked the Spice Girls, but that’s another story). Even in her career’s infancy, the seeds of a rebel had been planted, and she resembled more mature disco queens like Kylie Minogue and Cyndi Lauper than the bubblegum droids of the day. And now, like Alec Baldwin’s Brando-ization, Robyn has come of age (the ripe old age of 30!) and flourished, leaving her Mickey Mouse Club contemporaries in the dust.

Enter Body Talk, an intergalactic dance triumvirate, and her second studio album since an infamous split with Jive in 2005. A friend of mine passed along the first single off the album, and I hate to say it, but it gives Lykke Li a run for her money.

Stream it here. Get ready to dance June 7th.

by Drew Citron

HATE TO ADMIT IT, BUT…
Justin Timberlake
“Sexy Back”
2006 | Jive Records

You know what the coolest thing is about modern pop songs? The fact that the singer is never the focal point. Justin Timberlake, who, in 1998, struck me as the epitome of “uncool” with that Beavis afro and membership status in Backstreet Boys v. 2.0 (aka N Sync), has managed to keep abreast of the competition all these years through perseverance, his choice of the right producers, and the unselfish habit of placing his collaborators at the front of the mix.

Take “Sexy Back,” Timberlake’s 2006 smash hit. It poured out of every speaker system for the entire summer, defining what club music looked and sounded like that year.  Given the mainstream music industry’s tendency to push singers who can’t write, play, or, in many cases, even sing, creative tricks have to be employed to keep modern Top 40 compelling – or at least commercially viable.
More on Justin Timberlake | “Sexy Back”

HATE TO ADMIT IT, BUT…
Aaron Carter
“That’s How I Beat Shaq”
Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)
2000 | Jive Records

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. In 1992, Jermaine Dupri manufactured a prepubescent pop group called Kris Kross. Consisting of two preteen boys, both named Chris, whom Dupri thought “looked like a rap group,” Kris Kross scored three hit singles (including the massive “Jump,” which topped the Billboard charts for 8 weeks) off their debut album, Totally Krossed Out.

They were fucking awesome. In an effort to emulate the Chris’s style, I was compelled on at least one occasion to go to school with my clothes on backwards – a move met by much ridicule from my classmates. Where public scorn would typically deter me from repeating a behavior (which, technically, I guess it has, since I’ve never done it again), I still, to this day, think it was fucking awesome to go to school in backwards clothes. “Jump,” and its immediate follow-up, “Warm It Up,” bounce like the classiest examples of early 90s hip-hop, but are, at the same time, totally teen-friendly, meaningless bubblegum pop songs. Even that Sprite commercial Kris Kross rapped in was cool.

This advent of kid’s rap was short-lived and, with the possible exception of Another Bad Creation, should never have happened again. For any reason. Ever.
More on Aaron Carter | “That’s How I Beat Shaq”

NOT ROCK
“I Want It That Way”
Backstreet Boys
1999 | Jive Records

I often have a hard time separating my enjoyment of things fun and things authentic. Some things are obviously both – like first grade artwork and They Might Be Giants. When something like “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys comes into the world, however, it is only natural to try and rebel against it – not only because it becomes ubiquitous and, therefore, loses some of its magic, but also because it is the end result of a giant corporate scheme to make money, not music. It may be catchy and entertaining – but is it real?

That depends how we define the term. If we take it to mean “created from the heart,” then perhaps we shouldn’t discount the songwriting team of Max Martin and Anthony Hardwood. Maybe they did, in fact, “want it that way” (I still have no idea what the song is actually about, ten years later). And I’ll even give credence to the absurd notion that the five Backstreet Boys all really believed in the sentiment as well.
More on Backstreet Boys | “I Want It That Way”

NOT ROCK
“I Want It That Way”
Backstreet Boys
1999 | Jive Records

I often have a hard time separating my enjoyment of things fun and things authentic. Some things are obviously both – like first grade artwork and They Might Be Giants. When something like “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys comes into the world, however, it is only natural to try and rebel against it – not only because it becomes ubiquitous and, therefore, loses some of its magic, but also because it is the end result of a giant corporate scheme to make money, not music. It may be catchy and entertaining – but is it real?

That depends how we define the term. If we take it to mean “created from the heart,” then perhaps we shouldn’t discount the songwriting team of Max Martin and Anthony Hardwood. Maybe they did, in fact, “want it that way” (I still have no idea what the song is actually about, ten years later). And I’ll even give credence to the absurd notion that the five Backstreet Boys all really believed in the sentiment as well.
More on Backstreet Boys | “I Want It That Way”