May 27, 200916 yr Author I must say I thought she came across quite poorly in the interview for the reasons Ben stated but also the fact she seems to lack any vision or any personal aesthetic. Blinded by the major label lights and now can't really explain the quite horrible situation she finds herself in. It's almost as if she thinks she's better than forum posters or everyone else. That air of elitism, as if she isn't expecting any criticism? As if what she does is quasi-perfect? Which is strange because she's quite ALRIGHT in person. A nice girl.
May 27, 200916 yr Idk what's happened to her, I don't know if she'll even get a second album :( [/overreactionmuch?]
May 27, 200916 yr Agreed. She really needs to find some sort of artisitc identity for herself rather than this total mess of major label pressure / what she perceives a popstar should be and her style when she was recording from her bedroom. It's a complete clash that's just becoming ugly. :/ The reason La Roux and Lady Gaga are doing SO WELL is because they know what they want to be, and it's completely reflected in their look / music / artwork. Pop music is more than just catchy tunes and that's become pretty apparent with Little Boots.
May 27, 200916 yr Author 'Remedy' should save things but Atlantic MUST learn their lesson with this shambles of a campaign introduction...
May 27, 200916 yr I must say I thought she came across quite poorly in the interview for the reasons Ben stated but also the fact she seems to lack any vision or any personal aesthetic. Blinded by the major label lights and now can't really explain the quite horrible situation she finds herself in. It's almost as if she thinks she's better than forum posters or everyone else. That air of elitism, as if she isn't expecting any criticism? As if what she does is quasi-perfect? Which is strange because she's quite ALRIGHT in person. A nice girl. I think you have summed it up perfectly. Understandably she has gone and trusted the vision of her record company rather than have her own vision. Hence proving she is just another singer/songwriter/popstar and not a visionary like David Bowie, Prince, Madonna or looking around today Lady GaGa. As a result she has diluted what was so great about her which created the buzz in the first place (Who in the first place thought turning her image wise into an upmarket Diana Vickers) when she first came onto the scene 9/12 months ago with her demos and youtube videos. Whilst I agree I don't like her attitude to forum posters whom she encouraged to create a following in the first place. For all Lily Allen's faults she still does her own (publicity seeking) bloggs to show she still communicates with her fan base. Most annoying was knowing that the record company considered releasing Stuck On Repeat as the buzz single early this year after winning the BBC Sound Of 2009 Poll. I'm convinced she and the record company have chucked away a certain UK Top 3 hit which it would have surely been if released in January or February this year. The reason given for not releasing it as a single then was feeble. After all don't they remember how successful the Arctic Monkeys .... IBTYLGOT Dancefloor did as a debut before releasing a second number one single followed by a huge selling album. Whilst all the delay has done is just hand the momentum to the not as good La Roux. :wacko: All in all a very depressing read, as it is very sad to see such great potential dissolve in front of my eyes, all because promotion of this artist has been handled very badly. But from reading that piece it is clear the artist did not have an artistic & image vision to begin with.
May 27, 200916 yr One minute she's saying 'I want to be a popstar!' yet then she says 'well, I wasn't exactly trying to make a hit'. She comes off as quite indecisive / hypocritical and she really seems to lack any conviction with what she's saying. Since when was wanting to be a popstar being desperate for a hit though? She's saying that it'd be silly to deny that her genre of music is pop, not that she makes it for the pure purpose of being a smash success, but because she enjoys it, no? I wasn't a big fan of the way she tackled the situation about the video. She should've admitted it's rubbish :P She said the goal is to sell records and that she might not get a top 40 and that's not too bad :huh: She can't just say "It's rubbish". That would make relations between herself and Jake Nava strained to say the least and the label will want to maintain good relations with one of the world's premier video directors. On top of that it would be exceptionally unproffessional and unnecessarily rude to just say "He gave me a rubbish video". It would also imply she had zero input. The goal for her label is to sell records. The goal for her is presumably to carry on doing what she enjoys... It's almost as if she thinks she's better than forum posters or everyone else. That air of elitism, as if she isn't expecting any criticism? As if what she does is quasi-perfect? Wtf? Show me one thing she said which implies that she "doesn't expect criticism". Seems like you've plucked that from thin air to me... She's entirely right anyway. We DO dissect pop music too much. WE are hypocrites, people who use message boards are fickle, harsh. Why on earth should she be bloody villified for avoiding reading them herself? Strangest criticism I've ever read quite possibly. The reason La Roux and Lady Gaga are doing SO WELL is because they know what they want to be, and it's completely reflected in their look / music / artwork. Pop music is more than just catchy tunes and that's become pretty apparent with Little Boots. La Roux changed her musical style entirely when she first received label interest. She went from being an acoustic guitar singer to a pass-me-the-keyboard type. How on earth is that 'knowing what she wants to be'? Really baffling. You're all being BIZARRE about this. I think she handled what was a very tough and demanding set of questions very well. She was honest, and what more can you ask for? At least she's not a stuck-up, self-important piece of flange like GaGa or Elly.
May 27, 200916 yr Since when was wanting to be a popstar being desperate for a hit though? She's saying that it'd be silly to deny that her genre of music is pop, not that she makes it for the pure purpose of being a smash success, but because she enjoys it, no? She said she wants to be a popstar. :/ What, is that suddenly someone who rides the bottom of the charts? Of course her genre is pop, it'd be completely silly to even suggest otherwise... The goal for her label is to sell records. The goal for her is presumably to carry on doing what she enjoys... Presumably. Is making $h!tty videos with dancing homeless people what she envisioned for herself a year ago? Wtf? Show me one thing she said which implies that she "doesn't expect criticism". Seems like you've plucked that from thin air to me... She's entirely right anyway. We DO dissect pop music too much. WE are hypocrites, people who use message boards are fickle, harsh. Why on earth should she be bloody villified for avoiding reading them herself? "It was probably when someone said something mean and I thought ‘f*** off’." She practically suggests she can't take any sort of criticism, yes she can say 'f*** off' yet she now refuses to read anything about herself? Facing your critics is part of making music / being an artist. And people dissect pop music too much? Really? Yes, let's keep everything brainless and never really TALK about music shall we? What's the point of Buzzjack then? :/ Why do we even have a pop forum? It's really nothing worth talking about in your opinion. Your attitude completely undermines the existence of critics / discussion boards on music / magazines / etc. Music, ALL of its forms, should always be talked about / discussed / critiqued. What a shallow way of looking at music if otherwise; it'd all just be "well, this is nice," and nothing else. Strangest criticism I've ever read quite possibly. La Roux changed her musical style entirely when she first received label interest. She went from being an acoustic guitar singer to a pass-me-the-keyboard type. How on earth is that 'knowing what she wants to be'? Really baffling. "Her first interest in music revolved around folk music. She was particularly interested in Carole King and Nick Drake whom she discovered in her parents record collection. Her early musical material consisted of folk ditties informed by Joni Mitchell. Jackson's taste in music changed during her mid teens when she became involved in the rave scene.[3]" (From Wikipedia, which is cited so it's accurate lawlz, I'm just being lazy) Mid teens. That'd be around 2002/2003? Hardly changing for a major label is she? :/ Are you the same person as you were when you were 14/15? You're allowed to like more than one genre as well LOL. I'm sure she still listens to folk even currently. You're the one who's being BIZAREE tbh...
May 27, 200916 yr At least I'm not being personal and twisting your words as you have done mine... I said we do dissect pop music to a silly extent, or some people do. Not necessarily you and certainly not I. If you read much of what I write on here I do make a point of explaining what I like about the music I listen to and what I don't about music that disappoints me. However if you read popjustice which is presumably what Boots was referring to, some people sort of forget that sometimes, music is just there to enjoy. Some posters there place thoughts on the singer themself above what they think of the song, they're fickle and change their opinions at the click of a finger. Jeez. I think GaGa is a prick but I still enjoy the music she makes, same with La Roux.
May 28, 200916 yr Well Q certainly don't think much of 'Hands' - they gave it 2/5, in comparison to the 4/5 given to La Roux. From the review, they say that it's a bit 'messy' and that "Hesketh has been rushed into making an album that ill suits her talents". Shame. :( (although obviously one review doesn't mean it'll be awful...)
May 28, 200916 yr New In Town down to #12 in the midweeks today :nocheer: Keri Hilson is ahead on iTunes too.
May 28, 200916 yr I wish people would stop being pricky and such dickhead to her (I'm not talking about people on here, but more generaly) and would just enjoy the song for what it is, a great song. I love "New in town" and the few other songs I've heard from her, that's what matters, and I'm really looking forward to listening to the album when it's out. I have hopes she peaks in a few weeks with the single, cause I won't be satisfied with a #12 placing, and hopefully the album will do quite well too.
May 28, 200916 yr The Times' review: --- In another age, the battleground of pop on terrestrial television was, inevitably, Top of the Pops. Even for the teenager of an “alternative” bent, Thursday evenings presented a chance to reinforce allegiances. And besides, there was always the chance that the Jesus and Mary Chain or the Smiths might be on. Such fleeting aberrations seemed positively subversive. Who, at the time, could have guessed that within two decades this state of affairs would have become completely inverted? By the time Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, made her TV debut last year, there was no Top of the Pops. Amid the musical chop-fest that was Later, it was Hesketh who seemed subversive — sitting at Jools’s joanna and propping a small flashing gizmo on it that provided the stuttering loop of a melodramatic digipop gem called Meddle. Three months later, the 24-year- old from Blackpool won the BBC’s annual Sound of 2009 poll. People who like to theorise about pop as much as they listen to it will like Hands. But that shouldn’t detract from the fact that they’re not its primary audience. Barely a song goes by without some reference to hearts and their compatibility. Hesketh’s lyrical debt to Europop is so sizeable that there are times — for instance, on Remedy and Earthquake — where it’s almost impossible to believe that she isn’t acting as a Trojan horse for a 48-year-old gay Italian songwriter. Far from being a problem, this may well be the kernel of her charm. Hesketh’s dogged desire to believe that love is just a question of two uniquely interlocking pieces finding each other may be naivety or rampant denial. On Mathematics (“Nothing can divide a heart plus a heart”), Click (“I thought we clicked like two parts of a puzzle”) and a Phil Oakey double-hander called Symmetry (“Only you can make me feel complete”), it’s by no means clear. Elsewhere though, the album’s very best moments depict a marginally more complicated picture. Written around a Teutonic synth motif, Stuck On Repeat is love as Stockholm syndrome with added arpeggiating synths, sung with exquisite vulnerability. Ironically though, it’s the hidden track that reveals the most. In eschewing the bells and whistles of electropop for a lone piano, Broken Heart switches the emphasis from Little Boots to Victoria — in the process revealing a wearier familiarity with the vicissitudes of love. By allowing the mask to slip, albeit momentarily, she lends sharp relief to the 12 preceding songs. 4/5 --- Good stuff. The excitement is growing. She had exceptional feedback from her Heaven gig tonight too.
May 28, 200916 yr One of my friends went to that Heaven gig, I was going to go with him but couldn't. I'll kick myself if I missed a treat. :(
May 29, 200916 yr Author I WENT IT WAS VERY GOOD WE COULD HAVE MET ALY AND HAD SEX IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT
May 29, 200916 yr Author ROFFLE MY FEATHERS!!!!!11 :wub: We must catch up sometime. It's been longer than usual :o
May 29, 200916 yr OH MY. That interview makes me (metaphorically quobv) WEEP. What has she become? You can tell behind the tone of it all that she recognises slightly herself that she's become something she isn't at all as well which is quite upsetting, given her persistent denial... FXKUATLANTIC. Silly bitch should have Polydored it and maybe she might have gone in for the smash a la Roux :(
May 30, 200916 yr New In Town is #17 in Ireland That's not too bad for Ireland considering she hasn't done much promotion over there. What does everyone think is a realistic peak for the album now? I'm thinking low top 10
May 30, 200916 yr Author I'd delay the album until after "Remedy" and build the buzz but I think it's too late for that now. Distribution, production etc will have started. Studio version of "Remedy" is sublime...
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