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Not self-indulgent in the least.

Monday, July 11, 2005

L.A.M.E.

Gwen Stefani is going Jackson on us. Her music videos for the L.A.M.B. album are just plain weird, and her songs—while they sound cool—are lyrically lacking. At best, her lyrics are confusing; at worst, they’re embarrassing. She took liberties with the school-cheer theme in “Hollaback Girl;” the result is a very simple song that is surprisingly easy to do an interpretive dance to. My main beef is with the song “Harajuku Girls:”

The language of your clothing is something to encounter
A ping pong match between Eastern and Western
Did you see your inspiration in my latest collection
Just wait till you get your little hands on L.A.M.B.
'Cause it's super kawaii, that means super-cute in Japanese

WHAAAT? When did it start being okay to hawk your merchandise in your songs? It reminds me of DVDs that don't allow you to skip the previews. It's just wrong to abuse a captive audience like that. Perhaps shameless mid-song ads are the norm in Japan, but I can't help but see Gwen's lyrics as alienating her American listeners and subliminally manipulating her Harajuku Girls. When this song comes up, I skip it in an act of defiance.

P.S. Her clothing line is pretty bomb though.



posted by Alli @ 5:51 AM  

2 Comments:

  • At 5:58 PM, Blogger Alli said…

    I see your point. I think maybe I'm reacting to her new sound as well as her overblown commercialism. For what it's worth, her clothing line used to be heavily couture... mostly stuff nobody would wear. Now it's more hip-mainstream, so she is pandering to the consumer a little bit. But yeah, this is commercial America. I guess I hold her to a higher standard because of those Tragic Kingdom halcyon days.

     

  • At 6:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ok, Gwen Stefani's new albun is just as good as the other ones. Just because you don't like two songs and her videos (its not even about the videos, its about the song!) doesnt mean u have to hate her!

     

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