Lyrically, Strangers has always fascinated me. When I first got the Nocturnes album, I'd never been in a real relationship, and now that I've had and lost one, I still can't quite connect to it, because I'm too angry with my ex to even consider "dancing like strangers" with her if I ever bumped into her, though certainly "I knew [her] so well" and "we used to hold our bodies tight." But I love that idea of happening to cross paths with an old love, and trying to reconcile the past with the immediate present. It's a bit Before Sunset, isn't it?
But I appreciate it most for its aesthetic appeal. Something about the backing track and the vocal production has always appealed to me. It's a bit dream-pop, but the sort of dream you wake up from feeling confused, like all the elements of the dream are twisting around you, like Winnie-the-Pooh in the Heffalumps and Woozles scene, and it feels a little disconcerting even though it was sort of a nice dream. I guess that's fitting considering the lyrics. It also sounds like the last song of the night played at a mildly seedy club, as almost everyone's filtered out and you've only stayed because you've nothing else to do and don't really look forward to going home to an empty apartment. (Surprisingly, this is not an experience I've actually had ... but only because I've never gone clubbing, lolz.)
I played Nocturnes a LOT driving to and from work my senior year of undergrad, meaning that I heard a lot of it on near-empty highways after midnight (I worked the night shift), which is totally appropriate to its lyrics and its mood. Strangers is the one that always felt like it fit that time best, along with All for You, and even more than Motorway.
The first time I really paid attention to it, though, was one night when I was driving around three different parking lots looking for just one open spot, and eventually giving up and parking in the lot a half mile from my dorm, so that's the night I always associate with it! I can totally still see the dining hall and rows of cars when I close my eyes during the chorus.
I've written commentary for a few songs that are really important to me over on Popjustice. I'm going to be posting them here for posterity. This one is from just last night.
When I first saw the song title Real Girl, my mind naturally leapt to the Mutya Buena song. But the topic of this song is quite different - rather than an affirmation that “I never pretend to be someone I’m not,” it's an outcry against the Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotype and its ilk, and a warning and plea to a partner who is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that the speaker is a real human, with all the messiness that entails. To quote Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: “I’m not a concept. I’m just a fucked-up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind.” And that... really hit home for me, way more than Mutya’s song - which I related to enough to put in a recent selfmix.
I have talked at great length about my recent breakup from my ex-partner, and guess what motherfuckers, you’re going to hear about it some more. But I have deliberately kept very quiet on PJ up till now about another part of myself, because I’ve seen more than a biT of bigotry on here around the topic. But some people here already know it or have deduced it, and I talk about it at length on my Twitter and Tumblr and my “identities” essay linked to in my signature, so I may as well open up about it now.
I say in my signature that I’m PJ’s token lesbian, which is true. But the part of that I've never explicitly stated - though I’ve talked around it in a plug.dj session or two - is that I am, specifically, a trans woman.
I’ve been on hormone replacement therapy for about nine months now, and though I have breasts, and my legs have changed shape, I still mostly look like a boy, which is a real blow to my self-esteem, because I've always hated the way I look, and I think if I could just look more like the girl I really am, I’d be happier about it. Moreover, as a consequence of that, I still present as male at work and in most face-to-face situations (and for my classes, even though they’re online, as they're tied to my name on record). In other words, I’m treated as a boy when I’m anything but, and I’m always afraid that people who do address me as female see me as less female than a cis woman, when I’m truly as much a girl as any other. “All I really need, I wanna stop pretending ... Could you treat me like a real girl? Won’t you tell me that I'm worth more?”
That lyric goes double for my ex. By the time we got together, I'd been questioning my gender identity for a while, and at the time I identified as genderfluid: occasionally male or female, but usually agender. (Looking back, I think that was a period I had to go through to arrive at who I was meant to be.) About two months into the relationship, I realized that I was much more of a woman than a man, and I needed to chemically and socially transition. She was the first person I told, even before my family or my counselor. And for a very long time, she was my #1 supporter. She treated me like a girl even more than I did, at times catching me off guard when she casually referred to me as “she” when I was still correcting myself with my pronouns.
Then that began to unravel as I came closer and closer to my coming out on National Coming Out Day, this past October. She’s panromantic and refuses to come out of the closet (or even to open the damn door), and was terrified about being with me as a woman. And I believe that, on top of our other problems (miscommunication, differing life goals, wanting different levels of emotional intimacy, different priorities...) was what led her to leave me just over a week after I came out. Although we’d been talking about breaking up for four months at that point, it was really abrupt, just forty minutes after she’d asked if we could spend the weekend together as we often did, and with no prior warning the days leading up to it. I’d thought we were doing great and starting to overcome our problems.
So along with everything else I lost when she left me – my best friend, my “life” partner, my surrogate family, my confidante – I lost the person who had given me the most support and affirmation around my gender transition. “Could you treat me like a real girl? Isn’t that what you're here for?”
But somewhat ironically, in other ways – many of the ways the song describes – she hadn't treated me like a real girl. She admitted that part of why she'd wanted to get with me had been to prove to the world that someone could find her attractive. “I’m not a fantasy, I’m not some kind of Holy Ghost.” She had assumed that I wanted just what she wanted and thought just the way she thought, because she thought everyone did. “I didn’t promise I’d be perfect, didn't promise that I’d play the game.” She had thought we could avoid ever having a fight, because she expected the relationship to be perfect, and was totally unequipped to have to put in any work. “Were you hoping I’d be flawless? Were you wishing on a movie star?”
Now, I finally got around to listening to Working Girl two or three weeks after the breakup, as I recall. And there was Real Girl, packaging up all these troubles in one song - and it was a bauxp to boot. It was, and is, exactly the right song at the right time for me.
Purchased: Some time in 2013 from Amazon MP3, when it was on sale for $2
First Thoughts: I've always really liked this one. I had heard of Tegan and Sara before, but never heard them, not being much of a rock fan. (I still haven't managed to listen to any of their other albums. Oop.) I group it in with Ellie Goulding's Lights and Nicola Roberts' Cinderella's Eyes as slightly left-of-center, arty, but still radio-friendly pop.
Playthrough:
Closer - I believe this is their biggest hit to date? Understandably so. It is a bit of a choon, though not as high-octane as it could be. I'd like to hear an Almighty-style remix of it. (I have the limited edition, stupidly expensive 12", and all the mixes are dubstep and shit.) It's really catchy and sort of an '80s throwback, but not in the obvious way a lot of recent-ish songs are. Goodbye Goodbye - This keeps up the tempo and the mood of Closer. Even though it's a breakup song, it's quite energetic and even happy - the careless "fuck you, I'm too pretty for this" sort of breakup song, rather than a sad or angry one. I Was a Fool - Whoa, the tempo drops way down on this one. It's a beautiful song, though not one that really keeps me coming back like the first two, and badly positioned on the album since it interrupts that energy. That being said, the lyrics are heartbreaking and wonderful. I'm Not Your Hero - A very good song about keeping your expectations for someone realistic. This would have followed on marvelously from Goodbye Goodbye sound-wise. I wouldn't have chosen it as a single, but it's not bad or anything. Drove Me Wild - The closest we get to a real banger on here. It would have been a great single. I like to imagine driving down a highway on a nice sunny early-summer day listening to this with the top down or the sunroof open (regrettably, my car is not a convertible, nor does it have a sunroof) and a special someone in the passenger seat. Actually, better for them to be driving and me to be the passenger. Yeah. How Come You Don't Want Me Now - If Goodbye is the carefree breakup song and Fool is the sad one, this is the angry, sort of spiteful one. The sound stands in contrast to those lyrics, though - it's just as sing-along-able as Closer/Goodbye/Wild. Very Icona Pop, actually, only with totally different production obvi. I Couldn't Be Your Friend - One of the less memorable songs on the album. The lyrics are about a relatable (especially for me) situation, but don't quite hit home the way Fool does. Love They Say - This is kind of sad for me, because I associate it with my troubled relationship with my ex, and how in love with her I was ("The first time I saw your face, I knew that I was meant for you"). It's about that kind of relationship - challenging but still loving - and how it can still grow and flourish, and in that way it's a great counterpart to the breakup songs. Musically, it's one of my favorites. The verses are lovely, and it's impossible to not pay attention to it when that chorus comes in. Now I'm All Messed Up - This definitely sounds like the start of the coda to the album. I never really remember it past the chorus, but it's serviceable. Shock to Your System - This couldn't have served as anything but the last track on the album (at least the standard version). It's quite basic and fades into the background, as opposed to the attention-grabbing Closer/Goodbye/Wild/Say. I don't even remember anything about it beyond "you got a shock to your system" and the closing "what you are is lonely."
Final verdict: It suffers a little bit from sameyness, but it's still really enjoyable. Very much a spring or autumn album. I really hope they develop and continue to go in this direction for their next album, because if they fixed the flaws here they could give us something really incredible. Let's say 8/10.
Highlight: Closer is my real favorite, because despite being a little insubstantive, it's so easy to listen to, but since everybody knows that one: Love They Say.
I have just sat down and made a list of my favorite albums - mostly ones that I consider my favorites now, but also some old favorites that I still enjoy, and not just nostalgically. I restricted myself to one album per artist (a rule I broke for Madonna, because she's Madonna, and bent for solo acts out of a group), and didn't consider compilations. Some have some great personal meaning for me; others just have great fucking tunes.
I ended up with sixty-fucking-eight. (Could have ended up with more; that was me being strict! Left out some gems like the Princess Diaries soundtrack.)
First Thoughts: I would have sworn this was from 2009. It has the sound of 2009 all over it. Luckily, 2009-2010 was one of my absolute favorite times in British music. (La Roux! Ellie Goulding! The return of Sophie Ellis-Bextor!) I always associate this album with my first year of college, especially Remedy, which I distinctly remember having stuck in my head one day in my Brit Lit class.
Playthrough:
New in Town - One of the most poppy songs on the album. I totally understand why it made its way onto a couple of soundtracks: it sounds like that's what it was meant for. Vicky's vocals are not very good at times, to the point that it makes it a little hard to listen to, but she compensates for it with great production.
Earthquake - My favorite at the time, and a worthy single choice even though it was destined to flop. It's the epitome of wonky pop, which is really what Vicky does best. Plus, it indirectly gave us this iconic Twitter exchange.
Stuck on Repeat - This is a surprisingly generic club track, but it has a great hook.
Click - This is where we really get a taste of how most of the album sounds. It's poppy, slightly atmospheric, and a little gritty.
Remedy - Yes slay me quen. Vicky's poppiest song to date. She wrote and produced it with RedOne, at the time newly famous from producing Just Dance and Poker Face. It does have a bit of the "RedOne on autopilot" thing, but it sounds like older, A*Teens-era RedOne, before he stopped trying and just started writing/producing Poker Face over and over. Her vocals are also pretty good on this one - not as good as on Nocturnes, but better than on the first four tracks. Her voice takes on a lovely sweet quality that works really well with the song. And yeah, lyrically it is Just Dance 2.0, but it manages to sound a little deeper, or at least like they tried harder.
Meddle - My absolute least favorite on the album. It's mostly just noise - it sounds like Vicky was trying to be ~artistic~ at the expense of pleasant production and melody. Which is a shame, because the hook is great.
Ghost - I think she was going for something ethereal and a little creepy, but it ended up cutesy. It's really cute, actually, which is a little strange given the lyrics about a distant partner. It's enjoyable when I'm in the mood for it, but I wasn't tonight, so I had to skip it.
Mathematics - A very typical Little Boots song, a pop melody overlaid with a lot of 2010 wonky-pop trickery. Not her best effort, and pretty fillery, but interesting if nothing else. (Interesting filler, now there's a concept.)
Symmetry - I gather this isn't popular among her fans, but I have no idea why. It's a joy! It features Phil Oakey from The Human League (one of Vicky's major influences) as her duet partner, which is great, though since his voice is so much more powerful and distinctive than Vicky's (and better controlled), she ends up seeming like the featured artist on her own song.
Tune Into My Heart - You could call this filler too, but I've always loved it. It's another more bubblegummy moment on the album. Has Vicky's stamp all over it: unusual analogy for a loving but troubled relationship. No wonder I love it, when I put it like that. It actually would have been a very good choice for a single, probably better than Earthquake. It's not at all representative of the album, but it would have appealed to a wider audience.
Hearts Collide - I barely remember how this went aside from "baaaby, when our hearts collide," but it's nice. I didn't feel the need to skip it like Meddle, Ghost, and Mathematics.
No Brakes - This is really pretty. Very similar to what she'd do on Nocturnes: a midtempo that somehow sounds like a ballad. The big downfall, again, is her voice. A stronger vocalist could carry the chorus much better and make the song even more appealing.
Hands - I think this is the first time I've ever listened to this all the way through, largely because it's a hidden track and I didn't feel like fast-forwarding through the silence after No Brakes, but partly because it's pretty shit. It's obviously Vicky's attempt at aping Kate Bush, from the vocal style to the piano accompaniment, and even evident in the songwriting. But vocal tricks that are merely annoying from Kate are downright screechy with Vicky, and the lyrics hold promise but sound totally half-assed.
Final verdict: As you can probably tell, the absolute biggest problem with this album is Vicky's voice. She sounds fine (though still not great) on Nocturnes, but I had honestly forgotten how bad she sounded here. But honestly, that's a testament to how good the songs are, at least for the most part. It's a shame that Elektra was so wrapped up in presenting her as the British Lady Gaga - although it gave us some great stuff like Remedy, I think ultimately it cramped her creativity and led to the songs not being as well developed as they could have been. Then again, it seems to be what pulled her away from the total left-field thing heard on Meddle, so we should probably be thankful for it. As long as you can do with the shaky vocals, this is a tremendously solid album that's unjustly overlooked and even maligned. 8.5/10.
Highlight: I'm gonna have to go with Remedy. It's an obvious choice, and not the most truly Little Boots, but it is definitely the best thing here.
Purchased: Hahaha. Acquired just under a month ago.
First Thoughts: This was the first K-pop thing I ever downloaded. The kind of sad thing is I think it's actually better than The Best of Afterschool.
Playthrough:
Rip Off - Very generic club banger. Perfectly acceptable, but nothing I'd go out of my way to listen to.
Flashback - Their most popular song, and understandably so. It's still a little generic, but it has the fantastic "b-b-b-boy I miss you" hook. Sounds a lot like Girls Aloud's On the Metro and Every Now and Then. And I'm always a slut for dubstep breakdowns.
Eyeline (Nana solo) - Sounds like a Dannii song. Like Rip Off, not something I'll probably ever seek out, but very enjoyable while it's playing.
Sonmoksigye (English: Wristwatch) - This is absolutely gorgeous. I have no idea which ones are singing lead on this, but they do a beautiful job with their lovely, smooth voices (Gloria Estefan teas). Beautiful melody too. I can imagine it as the closing song of a Princess Diaries-type teen romcom.
Timeless (JungA/Raina duet) - This reminds me of something, but I'm not quite sure what. It's more MOR than the rest of the EP, but that's not a bad thing at all. It's a nice midtempo that shows their flexibility.
Final verdict: It doesn't have anything in particular that no other album has, but it made for a very nice introduction to the group. I like it better than 90% of the K-pop I've heard. 7.5/10.
Purchased: My dad got a free promo copy since he wrote for the All Music Guide. Well, by this time he didn't anymore, but Disney apparently hadn't realized it.
First Thoughts: God, I love this album so fucking much. It was the album of my fourth to sixth grade years, even more than Teen Spirit. Actually, I knew the Spanish version, Milagros, a little better, because I lost my copy of the English version for several months. I am soooo looking forward to revisiting it. Let's get started...
Playthrough:
Lie, Lie, Lie - This doesn't sound exactly like your typical The Matrix song, but I'm not complaining. This was one of my very favorites. It's more urban-sounding, for lack of a better term, than the rest of the album. The middle 8 is especially incredible, especially that "I wanted youuuuuuu" at the very end. The accompanying key change absolutely made my nine-year-old life, even though I was years away from even knowing what the fuck a key change was. I preferred the Spanish version, as I did with, uh, almost all of the songs, and I still do, but the English version is still a 10.
Candy Boy - Faintly ridiculous lyrics about a candy metaphor, which got even worse in translation to Spanish, when they just became generic lyrics about "mi bailador" (my dancer)... I guess you could call it filler, but it's a total sugar high, to steal one of its lyrics.
Like a Girl in Love - Not as exciting as most of the album, but that minor key is a great touch, and the acoustic guitar at the beginning is one of the album's most remarkable moments. I imagine this is/was a favorite for a lot of people, just not me.
Miracles Happen (When You Believe) - Myra's one and only hit ("hit"), which so many people from my generation rightly remember fondly from its usage in The Princess Diaries. I listened to this on repeat for fucking EVER at the time, to the point that my dad complained about it just as incessantly. Five minutes seems incredibly long for a pop song to me now, but it doesn't seem long at all. By the way, it was written by two incredible pop songwriters: Eliot Kennedy (who's worked with Dannii, Atomic Kitten, the Spice Girls, S Club 7, and Céline ... but most importantly Billie Piper on Day & Night and Something Deep Inside) and Pam Sheyne (who's done stuff for Xtina, The Sats, M2M, Point of Grace, and God knows who else, and was the vocalist behind Rochelle on Almighty Records). It deserves every bit of praise it's ever gotten. The only pity is that the dancier "Miracle Mix," used for Myra's cameo on Port Charles, was never released except on an incredibly rare promo CD single.
Bye-Bye My Love - By no means bad, but a definite dip in quality. Christina-lite. I liked it at the time; I usually skip it now, just to get to the incredible next track.
25 Hours a Day - Sure, the lyrics are ridiculous, and it sounds totally out of place on the album. It's a breezy, Please Yourself-era Bananarama / Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me-era Gloria Estefan type song. Luckily, that's the exact kind of song I have a soft spot for if it's produced well - and this is produced incredibly well. Again, the Spanish version far exceeds the English version, but it's comparing a 9.5 to a 10.
Wishing on the Same Star - Ugh, fuck off, Diane Warren. The requisite ballad. It's a really pretty song, but the production leaves so much to be desired. I had no interest in hearing Myra do something like this when I was nine, and I'm not that much more interested now.
Dancing in the Street - Ah yes, my first encounter with Myra, from the Recess: School's Out soundtrack. Like Miracles Happen, I played it relentlessly, though I eventually tired of it. Better than the vast majority of covers of this classic, and miles better than Atomic Kitten's version, which the UK got instead as a single for the Recess soundtrack. It sounds totally modernized (well, modern to 2001). A really good example of what you can do with a cover.
Where You At? - This is where the album enters its darker section, both lyrically and musically. I mean, it's not dark by any means, it's just not as ebullient as what comes before. Listening to it now, it strikes me that it's an attempt to ape Britney, but honestly it's better than 90% of what Britney shat out on her first three albums. Very cool electronic touches. This one could genuinely have been a single to mainstream radio. It's a bit Stacie Orrico.
Girls Like Boyz - Echh. I almost always used to skip this one (the Spanish version is slightly more bearable, mainly because I can't understand the lyrics as well), and it's the most fillery thing here. Truly, truly vapid lyrics and an uninspired melody. My tendency to wipe this one from my memory explains why I made the "darker section" comment, since it's much more in the vein of Candy Boy than Where You At?
As If - This sounds so much like something I know, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Another old favorite, though it hasn't held up quite as well for me as Lie and Miracle. It's still a great song, though. Mikaila wishes she'd had something like it. Also, maybe the only song on the album where the English version is significantly better than the Spanish version.
Hanging Up on You - Oh my godddddddd. I loved this one so fucking much. That pre-chorus - "Now I'm so onto you... Am I getting through? Guess what I'm gonna do..." - is still incredible, with its little electric guitar riffs underneath it. I still don't understand what the second verse is supposed to mean (her friends were trying to set her up with her nasty ex? Huh?), but this is legitimately the catchiest thing on here. Btw, I always associate it with my mom's comment that she always expected the last line of the chorus to go "So I'm hangin' up... You're dead" (to rhyme with "everything you said") instead of "So I'm hangin' up... Goodbye!" which in fairness is a pretty bad lyric.
Dreams - Okay, the other slowie on the album, which if memory serves was originally going to be the title track (pretty sure I saw an ad in another Disney CD mentioning "her upcoming album Dreams"). Unlike Same Star, though, it's pretty convincing. It actually does a better job of showing off her truly impressive voice despite having less vocal acrobatics. It's very "soft AC radio," but also very "last dance at junior prom." I enjoy it.
Japanese bonus tracks:
Step Into the Light - This was used in a Japanese shampoo commercial, which is random, but it's a worthy addition to the album. More rock and not as electronic as the other songs, which makes it stand out a little (at least they had the grace to stick it on as the first track). I imagine if she'd made it to a second album this would have been the lead US single. Forever bitter she didn't get that second album...
You're the Dream - The theme song for the 2001 Japanese Special Olympics. How random. It's not very good. Obviously a rip on Gloria's Reach, and a totally uninspired one.
Lie, Lie, Lie (Main Stream Mix) - This is great. Makes it into an A+ dance track.
Lie, Lie, Lie (SCHWEITZER Remix) - More trancey/bigroom than the Main Stream Mix, but just as enjoyable and anthemic.
Lie, Lie, Lie (DJ Akim in the 90's Mix) - Not nearly as effective in making it into a freestyle-ish track as the two other mixes are in making it into their respective genres. Still, a bit of a bop.
Final verdict: I mean, this is well and truly one of the milestone albums of my life, so I'm probably not able to be as objective as I'd like. But listening to it now, it still sounds just as fresh and invigorating as when I was younger. There is not a single bad song here - Girls Like Boyz is the worst, and it's still a 6.5/10. Besides, most of the songs are 9+. It literally set the template for the Disney girl albums to come - but it did it way better than any of them have, even including my beloved Metamorphosis and When the Sun Goes Down. In short: fucking incredible. Its total lack of recognition is a mark of the true evils of society. 10/10.
Highlight: YOU SHOWED ME FAITH IS NOT BLIND, I DON'T NEED WINGS TO HELP ME FLY
