Poor Christina Aguilera.

2010 was supposed to be her star, comeback year after disappearing for more than 4 years.  She had been hailed as having one of the best voices in pop music, and she was also one of the sexiest for a while.  For months there had been buzz about the release of “Bionic”–it had been hyped for months due to the amount of collaborators Aguilera would be working with and because it would be her return to the music scene.   With a list of producers like M.I.A., Peaches, Sia, and Nicki Minaj, it seemed like Aguilera would at least have an interesting album to return with.

Then “Not Myself Tonight” was released.

The video showed Aguilera in a number of fetish-inspired outfits, dousing herself in ink, chained up, tied up and singing about “kissing all the boys and the girls.”  There were obvious similarities between Madonna’s “Human Nature” and Gaga’s “Bad Romance” videos, and there seemed to be no cohesive theme or concept to the clip.  Every other second featured Aguilera in a new bondage-type situation and even dancing in a church.  It was certainly trashy, but in my opinion, it was also fun.  It fit in with the “fuck you” she growled in the song.

The public was not as kind.

Since it’s release the video has been voted as the worst video of the year and most of the attacks have come from Aguilera’s overt use of sexuality and how similar the sound and looks are to what Gaga has been perfecting for the past year.  While Aguilera has never been a stranger to pissing people off for being too sexual, she has never come so under fire for “not being herself.” As Entertainment Weekly said in a scathing review:

The worst part about Xtina’s video, beyond the rather unabashed unoriginality of it, is the sad stink of I’ve-been-gone-forever-had-a-baby-and-now-want-to-be-relevant-again desperation. Cue: the girl-on-girl makeout sessions! Text messaging! Fire balls! When watching, there’s wasn’t a moment where I didn’t feel like Aguilera was clawing for relevancy, in a crazy, far beyond, post-Aguilera world.

It wasn’t so much the sex that annoyed people, it was the smell of desperation Aguilera supposedly gave off.

It didn’t help that Aguilera was letting her ego get the better of her in some interviews.  When asked about Gaga in a cover story interview with Out Magazine, Aguilera brushed it off saying sarcastically, “Oh, the newcomer?  She’s fun to look at.”

Aguilera in a shoot by Ellen von Unwerth for Out magazine

Dissing one of the biggest pop stars of the moment only helped to make the public hate Aguilera more.  By the time Bionic was released, Aguilera found herself defending herself in nearly interview.  Questions about her feud with Gaga and if she felt like there was still a place for her in the current gaunt of pop stars were a constant, and the press seemed to be out for blood.

Bionic was released June 8th and debuted to dismal record sales (coming in at number 3 on Billboard) and even worse reviews.  “Vanity’ says it all,” wrote Rob Sheffield in his 2 and a half star review of the album in Rolling Stone. “Especially when the backup chorus chants the wedding march as Christina vows, “I take myself to be my lawful-wedded bitch.” Cheers to the happy couple.”  Most reviews followed accordingly in the same tone.  The press began using a loving nickname for Aguilera when referring to her: Floptina.

When listening to the album with an open mind though, it’s actually quite excellent.  The main problem that Aguilera faces is the length.  At eighteen songs, it could have easily lost four or five tracks and still be a great album.  In fact the most boring ones “Lift Me Up”, “Sex for Breakfast” and the embarrassingly immature “I Hate Boys” are the only ones I immediately disliked upon first listen.  But when she’s experimenting with a new sound or intriguing lyrics, she succeeds in great ways.

Take “Elastic Love”–a track produced by M.I.A. where the lyrics compare a lover to a rubber band that keeps leaving and coming back to her at random.  From the hard-edged beginning to the electro-infused chorus, it’s unlike most anything on the radio right now and has smarter lyrics than most top 40 pop songs from this year.  The beautiful and ethereal “I Am” is probably one of the most raw and stunning songs to emerge from the album, and possibly from any pop-star this year.  And then there’s “You Lost Me”–the biggest stunner on the album, and the one most fans say should have carried the tone of the whole album.  Aguilera’s voice is on full display here and she controls and uses it with great skill.  Even “Vanity” has it’s charm.  Aguilera is obviously not taking herself seriously when she demands everyone to bow down to her, but its great fun to listen to.  Why, I wonder, did the gays not accept this song instantly?  It’s exactly the type of song I would want to dance to at a gay club, and it’s  tartly funny.

It didn’t take long for critics to pan “Bionic” as one of the worst albums of the summer, and later, of the year.  It’s here where I have to completely disagree.  While it does feel like Aguilera is trying on a few different musical hats, “Bionic” is by no means a bad album.  In fact, it’s a pretty brave and creative album from an artist who will constantly be plagued with Gaga comparisons as long as she keeps up with the electro-music.

Things didn’t get better for Aguilera when “Burlesque”, her first feature film starring Cher, was released.  Universally panned  by critics and coming in at a dismal number three position in the US Box Office, one critic snidely remarked, “Anne Hathaway won’t have to worry about her dayjob.”  “Burlesque” was like the final nail in the coffin for critics to bash Aguilera.  News of her divorce didn’t help matters.  By December, most critics gleefully started writing catty articles about everything from Aguilera’s recent “weight gain” to if she will ever be able to regain the career she once had.  Rolling Stone declared her as having one of the worst years for pop singers.   Yahoo news wondered if her turning thirty would mean she was doomed to grow into middle age in embarrassment.  Entertainment Weekly called “Bionic” one of the worst albums of the year.  And then “Burlesque” was nominated for best picture at the Golden Globes and became a laughing stock.

Aguilera in Burlesque.

And this is where I find the biggest faults with the crucifixion of Aguliera:  Are we as a society just looking for a strong woman to rip apart, spit out and proclaim is the biggest piece of shit to re-emerge this year, and become a scapegoat if you will, or are we being fair in our criticism of Aguilera this year?  Obviously, the press (and public) is looking for a scapegoat.  Everyone loves a trainwreck, and the one thing that scares America more than a girl out of control is one who is clearly going through life with a “fuck you” attitude and has a large amount of confidence.  When men display arrogance or faith in their work–or even depict sexuality–no one flinches.  But if a woman does it, and even shows the slightest sense of “desperation”, she will immediately be ripped apart.  The exception, for now, is Gaga.  You could argue the same for Aguilera eight years ago.  It’s amazing to me that we can’t have two blonde singers enjoying the same amount of success.  Or why critics seem to be joyfully jumping to their laptops to include Aguilera at number one in their “worst of” lists.  You can almost be certain that she’ll garner a Razzie award next year.  After a while, it becomes less about the work the person has put out and more about how much of an easy target they can become for us to drag them down.

Aguilera put out a damn good album with “Bionic”, and while “Burlesque” wasn’t great it was still fun to watch.  No matter how much she defends herself or keeps her head up the public won’t accept that.  They’ve made up their mind.  Aguilera is finished.  So what did she do, America, besides speaking her mind and wearing dominatrix outfits that pissed you off so much?   Until her public incarceration is lifted, expect to find “Bionic” and “Burlesque” on more worst-of lists, and to find more articles written about the demise of Aguilera’s career.  But don’t expect to find the same for Chris Brown or Mel Gibson–both openly homophobic, abusive, and racist.  And that, is truly disgusting.

I had to take a long break from blogging because of school–frankly, I just didn’t have enough time to write the long ass posts I’ve been dying to for months.  I have been dying to return though because while I’ve been posting on Tumblr, Twitter etc it really doesn’t compare to what I would like to be writing about.  So I’m back for the time being and will be posting about whatever strikes me as interesting.  Keep reading and tell all your friends!  I’m also considering starting a new blog, or moving entirely to a new blog for movie analysis, spotlights on actors etc but I haven’t decided yet… For now though I’m keeping this one.

Until next time….

You might remember my post from a few months ago wondering where Anna Nalick disappeared to, well she’s been found and today she posted a new song titled “the Lullaby Singer” to her official website.  It’s way better than the cheesy “Shine” she released a few years ago and it’s a pretty catchy song filled with her usual tongue in cheek lyrics.

I for one am SO happy that she’s finally releasing new music and I hope that now that she’s escaped Epic she will be able to release her music faster and however she wants to.

You can listen to the song after the jump and let me know what you think in the comments…..

Since Charlie St. Cloud comes out in two days, Zac Efron has been promoting the movie like his life depends on it.  And really, if you think about it, it does.  This is his first movie that should appeal to teens as well as adults and the first one where his acting chops will really be scrutinized.  I’m not really sure how it’s going to fare, but I do think it will be interesting to see how the critics react to his acting.  As I’ve said before, Zac’s an extremely talented actor, he just needs the right script to display it.

Anyway, Zac’s been on a cross-country tour for Charlie St. Cloud hitting nearly every major city in the US (except for mine, of course) and meeting tons of fans all of which you can find pictures of after the cut.  To me, Zac seems like one of the most genuinely nicest actor working right now and even though he’s pretty much bullet proof in interviews (I think I’ve only seen his real personality about five times in the past four years), I like that about him.  He keeps up appearences and projects only the best parts of himself.  Unless of course he’s perfect and everything you see in intervies is real.

“Do I look good from this angle?”

“Hai gurl”

slightly overwhelmed

look for this on eBay in roughly five hours.

Quote of the day: “Eventually I’ll be getting to adult-adult (entertainment), for real. But baby steps.”

There’s just something about Robyn that I love so much.  She’s extremely cute, a badass, and her brand of pop music is actually smart and biting.  I just got her new album “Body Language Pt. 1″ yesterday and I seriously haven’t been able to stop listening to it.  The only thing I dislike about it is that the single version of “Hang With Me” is not included…. Because it’s coming out with Pt. 2 released in September.

In support of that album, Robyn’s relased a new video for the song and holy crap is it great.  Leave it to Robyn to take the cliched touring idea and make it fresh and innovative.  The video really gives you an inside look at her personality and the spirit of being on the road.  And the song is all kinds of amazing.  So please come inside to watch….

Here’s the thing about James Franco and Freida Pinto:  I really love them (even though as of a month ago James was looking like a drug addict) but not in a Planet of the Apes prequel.  I would like to know who told them this was a great idea for their career.  Did Mark Wahlberg’s huge fail of a movie not tell them anything!?  Didn’t Davey Franco say that James told him never to do a movie for the money?!?  Oh well…

More pictures of the pair after the cut along with some guy in a CGI monkey costume… Yes, really.

source: http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/07/28/james-franco-freida-pinto-rise-of-the-apes/#more-571101

So pretty!

Like most Liz fans, I’m both surprised and confused by the news that she released a new album this past weekend.  The album, titled Funstyle, is available for purchase on Phair’s site for only $5.99 (digital or physical copies can be purchased), but it’s the music that has everyone talking.  First off, let’s begin with Bollywood–the smart, if not completely batshit, single Phair decided to release as a preview for her album.  And before I go any further, you need to listen to the song to truly understand what I am talking about.

Unlike most fans, I defended Liz until the bitter end.  Even when she released albums like Somebody’s Miracle and Liz Phair I would always say that even though this wasn’t the indie queen we all used to love, she’s still making quality music and is happy.  I never questioned her judgment or her artistic talent.  And if anything, I was wondering why the public was being so harsh on a woman trying to make a living and who was brave enough to release two significantly different albums than her fans had become accustomed to.

My dedication to Liz flared, just for a few days mind you, this weekend when I heard Bollywood.  My initial reaction was sadness.   I had always prided Liz on the fact that she was a woman who did what she wanted to do and never cared what anyone thought.  With Bollywood it sounded (and I’m still confused over this) as if she was desperately trying to be Ke$ha in order to keep up with the new queens of pop.  It made sense:  Phair had given numerous interviews back in 05 stating un-apologetically that she wanted her music played on the radio.  And with two albums that had flopped, I had to wonder if she was still hellbent on getting that hit single.  And to me, that was the biggest tragedy of Bollywood: that Liz felt like she had to sacrifice her artistic integrity for other people to possibly come to know her music again.  Even when doing so, she still sounded about twenty years outdated.  The song could have been made by Paula Abdul in the eighties and been a hit; today it’s just bizarre.

But, I had to reason.  Phair, even with two massive misfires in the public’s eye, is extremely smart.  She knows what it takes to make a hit song because she had a few with Liz Phair and the lyrics for Bollywood are extremely honest about her struggles to make a living as an aging musician.  The more I listened to it and tried to understand just what the HELL was going on with the song, it almost seemed like a snide practical joke or kiss-off to anyone who had tried to ruin her career in the past seven years.  So the question remained: Was Phair being serious with this song or is the joke on us?

While I can say, with all certainity, choosing Bollywood as the single to market the album with was a HUGE mistake I do believe Phair is smart enough to know this isn’t going to land her on the radio.  And after listening to the rest of the album, it became more apparent that there were a handful of serious, raw songs that were the most stunning and original she had recorded in years.  The album as a whole is quirky and bizarre, and unlike anything being released today.  Even though everyone is either blatantly confused or disdains Bollywood it stands to reason that Phair is getting exactly what she wanted.  It took balls to release such an album out of nowhere, and while we may never know her true intentions, it should be applauded.  This is  the most experimental and lively we’ve heard Phair in years and for that, she deserves some good press.  Gone is the gloss and half-hazard songs.  In are songs that mock soccer moms and radio stations/fans who hate everything she’s releaed since 95.

And some of the songs are brilliant.  Take “You Should Know Me” or “And He Slayed Her” and they hold up quite well against some of her most legendary tracks like “Supernova” or “Girls! Girls! Girls!”  The songs are essentially bare-boned with only Phair and her guitar featured, and are reminiscent of the Girlysound days.  Even in her most unlistenable moments, Funstyle is still miles ahead of Somebody’s Miracle because of it’s sheer brashness.  On nearly every song, Phair has a point to make and she makes it very clear. Admittedly, there are a few songs that I still don’t understand.  And one or two I can barely manage to listen to, but there’s something endearing in their strangeness.

Over the weekend I was talking to one my best friends who grew up with me listening to Phair sing about wanting to be a blowjob queen about this and she made a statement that’s stuck with me over the past few days.   “I have this theory,” she said.  “That no matter how awful anything Liz Phair releases is, it’s still going to be awesome because I know it’s exactly how she wanted it to be.”  And that, in essence, is maybe how we should look at an album like Funstyle.  It’s completely self-produced, released, and written and for the first time in probably twelve years we’re finally hearing Phair.  Loud and brutally clear.

UPDATE!! LIZ PHAIR POSTED THIS MESSAGE ON HER WEBSITE ABOUT THE ALBUM:

How To Like It.

You were never supposed to hear these songs. These songs lost me my management, my record deal and a lot of nights of sleep.Yes, I rapped one of them. Im as surprised as you are. But here is the thing you need to know about these songs and the ones coming next: These are all me. Love them, or hate them, but dont mistake them for anything other than an entirely personal, un-tethered-from-the-machine, free for all view of the world, refracted through my own crazy lens.

This is my journey. Ill keep sending you postcards.-Liz

Despite Scrubs being canceled, I still stand by my statement that Dave Franco is awesome and will prove himself to be a great comedic actor.  And even though I was totally resiliant in my efforts to NOT get Scrubs canceled apparently America has other priorities.  Whatever.  Eff all yall.

But luckily Davie’s still getting work and his next appearance will be on the big screen with Zac Efron (playing his best friend) in “Charlie St. Cloud.”  I’m kind of worried about St. Cloud in general because it seems almost cloyingly cute but I’m hoping for the best and I’m sure Dave will be one of the more memorable aspects of it…  The movie opens next month and will be a major test for Efron on whether he can continue to transition smoothly into adult roles.  In the meantime, Dave spoke with Access Hollywood about the experience of working with Zac in a brief clip that can be seen after the jump! 

It’s a fabulous day to be me because Jenny Lewis has released a new song with her boyfriend Jonathan Rice called “Scissor Runner” AND they’ve announced a tour together which means I WILL GET TO SEE HER LIVE! I’m pretty freakin excited as I’m a huuuuuuuge fan of Jenny and I’m really hoping she plays some songs from Rabbit Fur Coat during the set.  Anyway, “Scissor Runner” is available for a free download at their site if you sign up for their newsletter and you also have the option to buy their new album, released later this summer, in a number of packages.  The song definitely has some Fleetwood Mac undertones and is one you can’t listen to just once.   Tour dates after the cut!

2010 Tour Dates:
09/01 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theater
09/02 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
09/03 – Oakland, CA @ The New Parish
09/05 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
09/06 – Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot
09/08 – Salt Lake City, NV @ The State Room
09/11 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
09/12 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
09/13 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09/14 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
09/16 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
09/18 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena *
09/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Williamsburg Waterfront *
09/21 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwells
09/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
09/23 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
09/24 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
09/25 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
10/03 – Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Palladium #

* = w/ Pavement
# = w/ Belle and Sebastian

Most are on sale either today or tomorrow.

I’m seeing the New Pornographers Sunday night and it makes me almost giddy with excitement to know that Neko Case hasn’t lost her fire and is unafraid to threaten to fight every person in a show’s audience.

Because that’s exactly what she did at Boston’s House of Blues last week.  After a fan threw a CD directly at Pornographers frontman Carl Newman, Case was quick to remind the crowd that she’s “a piece of sh*t white trash” and then proceeded to declare war on whoever the culprit was.  Via AV Club:

Case showed her polemic punk-rock roots when she chided the audience, ”I will go to jail—I don’t give a shit. I will fuck you up. I will fight every single fucking person in this room. Seriously, don’t pull that shit again.” The CD remained unharmed. “It’s still good,” Case said, “we can re-sell that.” (Hat tip, @riotactmedia)

Video of the threatening can be seen after the cut.  

It just fills my heart with joy thinking of all the fun their show is going to be Sunday.  I am HUGE Neko fan and she is the main reason I’m going to see them (I missed her on her last solo tour sadly) so I am pumped.