Just to get it out of my system.
I've been meaning to post this for about a month, but haven't been able to think of a reason for liking it long enough for a post. Maybe this is why I end up liking/turning over analytically (the difference? sometimes a thin line, especially in a summer providing TOO much time to think and a stunning lack of confidence in what might otherwise be simply PERSONAL TASTE) so many either overplayed or overly poppy songs--I'm looking for an underdog that's not too obvious. Meaning, a strange reverse psychology of music appreciation: like what's bad, because something good's hiding inside. What about what's good?
Well, this song spans this divide. It's still pop; not too much going on musically aside from the bubbly and spastic electronic punctuation (danced well by a boxed and oddly sexy Robyn), but its got enough going counter to the mainstream (compare with the other blonde European I posted this summer) and along with what I feel is RIGHT ON (lyics) to avoid what has become a characteristic dredging of bad pop from the pits of overproduction and meaninglessness in an attempt to shine a hopeful eye on what the masses "didn't get," cause this one shines on its own.
OK OK! Maybe it's not that deep. But sometimes, all you need is a little line like "you can't handle me," coming from an underdog of fashion, time ("Show Me Love" came out in 1993--how old can she be? Girl's pushing Annie Lennox territory), and the European/American divide (she's fallen firmly on the former), to make you feel a little bit better in a world of "narcissistic psychofreaks". Thank you Robyn: this term is straight out of an eighth grade note-pass (or!), but applies readily today, perhaps more than ever.
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2 comments:
i know i already told you this, but i think her high-pitched, almost shoulder shrugged-but loaded with knowing resignation-delivery of "i don't really feel you've got my back" is the perfect looping connector through out the song. it's just a suspicion, but a sad one that's carried by smallness, and simultaneous implication--a confident self doubt--with an air of modesty that helps her win the fight. also, what do we think of her animal squeak "alright" at the song's start?
The animal squeak is key. Reminds me of Paris Hilton's coy, asiatic "yeah's" (there's got to be a better spelling for her pronunciation, but can't figure it)at the outset of "Turn It Up". Deeee-lish.
Discussing this post with a friend who continues to NOT POST and only relay feedback on phone (more painful), he asked me, "Why do you keep posting about all of this early 90's pop shit?" Well, still not sure. In terms of some kind of unifying musical principle (between Robyn and Annie Lennox?), the answer is laziness (radio) and pure pop inclinations, yet to be understood completely...
Searching for Robyn on YouTube was kind of like Googling a PoPuLaR middle school crush's name, and in that analogy, finding "Handle Me" was like finding out he'd grown out of (fleeting!) teen beauty, social status and become an accomplished tour guide at the local zoo. Humbled socially, gaining definite quirk, and best of all, still AROUND.
Next up: Brandy? LFO? Naw. Thing is, we know there's nothing there. Clues to the Robyn gamble (dirt cheap): haircut that told us she was still a little New Wave, successful European interpretation of "street" + "alt" (=low rent Calvin Klein ad? See "Show Me Love"), and of course, the squeak.
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