Robyn - Dancing On My Own vs Indiana - Solo Dancing vs M.O. - Dance On My Own

still don't really "get" "slow dancing" beyond those synths in the bridge

see if you like that Plant number.

also kinda straight up dislike "dancing on my own" at this point due to oversaturation purely among the people i hang out with

"dance on my own" is however fucking perfect, holy shit

see if you like that Plant number.

suddenly driven to absorb a ton of solo plant

Solo Plant is fantastic.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

also kinda straight up dislike "dancing on my own" at this point due to oversaturation purely among the people i hang out with

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, July 30, 2014 2:30 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wouldn't say I dislike it but this is OTM, I don't think i've been to a house party in the past four years where it hasn't been played. My working theory is that it combines absolute over-investment for people who are really into it with a kind of agreeable functionality for everyone else in the room.

I like both the M.O. and the Indiana a lot.

Where is Ashlee Simpson's "Dancing Alone" though?

robyn is great. she looks like an elf.

the indiana is great but the robyn song is a classic (which means it's time for people to claim they're too cool for it I guess)

I'm sure some people might, for me it's not so much a case of being too cool for it as feeling like its status as a great unifier has become a bit sclerotic. At this point I've heard it more times at house parties than e.g. "Crazy In Love". And it's not yet old enough to feel nostalgic.

It's a quandary that could have arisen from Grimes' "Oblivion" as well but that hasn't crossed over to quite the same extent.

how dare you suggest that "oblivion" could be overplayed.

holy shit that m.o. track. what thread are we talking about them on.

I'd agree that "Dancing On My Own" has reached near-wearying levels of ubiquity among my peers.

I'm not really sure about "Oblivion" as an example of a song that could attain that type of crossover - it doesn't walk that same tightrope of melancholy and celebration, plus the vocals don't lend themselves to drunken shout-a-longs.

M.O. have been mentioned in the R&B and summer jams thread. They have a better song (imo) called "For a Minute".

but playing a great song over and over doesn't make it less great. it's more likely that, say, people are ashamed (consciously or not) that they ever liked a song prominently featured on Girls.

i wouldn't for a minute suggest it's not a great song it's more of a case of "oh, this one again?" everytime somebody decides to put it on.

Girls doesn't really code as shameful for me, but it may for some people.

I'm not really sure about "Oblivion" as an example of a song that could attain that type of crossover - it doesn't walk that same tightrope of melancholy and celebration, plus the vocals don't lend themselves to drunken shout-a-longs.

― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Thursday, July 31, 2014 4:21 AM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Right, which is a big part of why it didn't crossover to the same extent - but in most other respects it hits the target market bullseye. I think I've heard it at 8/10 of all house parties the past 3 years rather than 10/10. But it's true it feels categorically different, almost in denial of its crossover status - a still-"canny" party choice that is now too regularly drawn for to deserve that description.

Maybe the other thing that distinguishes Robyn is that there always seems to be at least one person who rather loudly insists on playing her (and usually this song, and then as second choice "Call Your Girlfriend" or "Indestructible", never anything from the first post-comeback album curiously) out of frustration with whatever else is being played.

The implication is always that singing along to Robyn is the reward for putting up with other people's bullshit tastes (and if the bullshit taste is mine this usually involves Londonbeat's "I've Been Thinking About You" being unceremoniously cut short and replaced with that revving synth-chord intro), like, here is the authentic experience.

She seems to occupy a very specific role in this regard: if Beyonce is considered objectively undeniable and for everyone, Robyn is the outsider's icon who remains as such no matter how ubiquitous she in fact becomes within a particular social sphere (the fact that "Dancing On My Own" is literally an outsider's anthem only heightens the impact), and I'm always fascinated by the way people act out their personal relationship to the song in a manner that not only allows but assumes that everyone else present has the same relationship to it.

In this sense, I thought the song's usage on Girls was very perceptive, it was the exactly fit for purpose.

A key caveat to the above is the high lesbian quota at most parties I attend.

The idea of any Robyn song hitting that level of ubiquity is just bizarre to me.

It seems that since 1997 she has not had a charting single in the US. I know she had massive singles in Europe but after her initial burst of teeny bopper stuff in America it appears she has had no really significant success stateside. Unless my 10 minutes of extensive research is incorrect.

Dancing on My Own is one of the greatest singles of the last 15 years and I still haven't gotten sick of it but I'm pretty sure I don't go to as many house parties as Tim and monotony.

The key is the high lesbian quota.

cherrytree/interscope tried to make "dancing on my own" work at one point as its stateside profile grew. it had a few spurts of momentary popularity -- the feature on girls and the exposure she got from performing it for like 15 seconds on some awards show come to mind -- but commercial radio didn't really bite despite the song being serviced to them. i think it peaked in the bubbling under chart.

not sure if i ever heard it at a house party. i have fond memories of hearing "hang with me" at one tho :') i much prefer that song anyway.

in any case out of these i did vote for robyn lol

lol is one of the m.o. ppl from mini viva??

@ dyl - yes

High gay / single women quota in my friendship circle are the main contributors to the Robyn worship.

^^^ this, tho for some reason, it's "Call Your Girlfriend" that has been inescapable in the last few years in Mpls.

This thread needs more Indiana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0NbhIKG3PQ

http://f.cl.ly/items/2R0k1E3C2g3z2r3n0F1B/indiana_small.jpg

I've heard it at plenty of house parties and I still cannot parse this as anything other than rationalized contempt for the kind of people who still like Robyn in 2014, sorry

lol okay I'm sorry to overthink songs i like

I dunno maybe it's an Australian thing too

The correct answer is Jessie Ware 110% by the way.

m.o decent filler as usual, not even gonna listen to the robyn as usual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g_MLocOik0

i vote this therefore

omg YES

The correct answer is Jessie Ware 110% by the way.

actually it is, good call

i like the joe goddard remix of the indiana tune better

The Joe Goddard remix was a neat closing of the circle, as Indiana's first public offering - in October 2011, six months before her first live show - was a home-made cover of "Gabriel". At this stage, she was entirely self-taught, using a piano left behind by her sister.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6twWg9iJBE

Joe Goddard is good but sometimes you just need to demolish the club.

yah, wake me up when chris lake remixes ilm

Joe Goddard is good but sometimes you just need to demolish the club.

― Tim F,

and dance on your own

I would enjoy a Hook'n'Sling remix of ILM too.

if it was indiana's unpopular b-side 'awk group dancing in a circle around our tastefully dull handbags' then j goddard may have had a point but otherwise edm bigstyle hits the solo spot

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I learned while reviewing the Indiana album that the guy who co-wrote Solo Dancing also did Gabriel and Tamsin Archer's Sleeping Satellite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beck_%28songwriter%29

Yeah, he contacted her via the YouTube comments under her cover of Gabriel, saying her version was more in line with his original intentions. That's how they started working together.

omg my vibe is so powerful look what i summoned

Retweeted by Chris Lake
Chris Lorenzo @Lorenzosbeats · 23h
In the studio with @chrislake for a few days, beats be sounding tough

I kinda want to create an M.O thread.

Do it! Dance On My Own is finally out this week. Hoping (perhaps too optimistically) that they crack the top 40.

Dance On My Own has been charting pretty well on iTunes UK - significantly better than the new Indiana, also out this week. They're on the same bill tonight in London: http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/deluxe-edition-august-27-indiana-amelia-lily-ace-wilder-rashelle-m-o-and-mnek-blimey/129915/

Yeah I'm worried for Indiana. The album's already been pushed bavk and a poor charting single won't help her chances of it being released on time.

I love all of these songs but it's hard to go past anything that samples sweet female attitude

ugh the "flowers" sample is the most off-putting and distracting bit of a pretty decent pop song, it's so try-hard and trend-chasing and tasteful. there are ways to evoke golden age of garage nostalgia that are not spelling out "PLEASE SAY WE'RE THE NEW MIS-TEEQ, TASTE-MAKERS, PLEASE" in crayon. it's not a bad song but it's really no better than any of their other sundry 7/10 singles that got no attention or sales b/c they didn't have a crashingly obvious sample dumped on them. i really want to love them but atm they're just RD version 2, RIP RD. (in fact they may actually be the exact same people for all i know.) well, better them than juce at any rate.

i'm so glad i don't go to house parties or operate in social circles where robyn is ubiquitous. i dislike "dancing on my own" a lot but i haven't even heard it since it came out and my dislike of robyn is now zen ignorance rather than active irritation.

which leaves the song i hadn't even heard of before clicking on this as the EASY best, the original's terrific and rtc is very correct about the chris lake remix. banger.

it's a bit of a year for girl groups trying to foist themselves on the world isn't it? m.o, juce, love dollhouse, fifth harmony, grl...

aw, why the Juce shade?

they're shit and boring?

The Indiana album is great. Surprised that Heart On Fire is charting so low - it's currently on the R1 A list - but I'm hoping that Only The Lonely will be her next single; she says it's getting the best reaction on stage at present.

Yeah I'm worried for Indiana. The album's already been pushed bavk and a poor charting single won't help her chances of it being released on time.

i think it's bizarre if she's actually being held to that kind of hitmaking standard before she gets to put her album out. "solo dancing" is already a bit of an unusual song to have become a moderate hit. i mean, even delilah was allowed to release her album even tho "go" was the only actual hit on it (it performed similarly to "solo dancing" -- and was similarly unusual [and great]). to be fair i don't remember if delilah's album got any pushbacks, but it was released after several followup singles charted poorly and it still managed to do reasonably well.

I actually don't think that's the case with Indiana. The decision to delay the album release was made a couple of weeks before the new single even came out, and the reasons she gave me were more to do with upcoming promotional opportunities (including TV), which fall nearer the new date. Also, her UK tour isn't until early November. I also think the label are being OK with her re. hitmaking pressure; Solo Dancing was her fourth single, and her first hit.

it's a bit of a year for girl groups trying to foist themselves on the world isn't it? m.o, juce, love dollhouse, fifth harmony, grl...

I love girl groups and it saddens me that not one of these can compete with the best K-pop girl groups right now. Neon Jungle killing it the most though.

Like they're all kind of decent-ish but soo anonymous

might I direct everybody to the thread of little mix

In terms of vocals, Juce is basically a solo act, and there are few singers in pop at the moment with a full-bodied, throaty, deep but still feminine voice as Chalin.

Sonique fronting 90s-style disco imaginings is an intriguing enough premise for me, plus their "Burning Up" video looks like paradise.

Little Mix are the best anglo girl group around at the moment for sure - Fifth Harmony seem like an American attempt at replication but I recall reading something about one of the girls being a horrible racist, so I've kind of ignored them. I'm cautiously on board with G.R.L's singles even if they are merely the Pussycat Dolls 2.0. I like Neon Jungle's fierceness and quirks, and hope they get to a second album. Need to hear more from Love Dollhouse before forming an opinion.

that first sentence doesn't make any sense. blergh.

Basically Chalin is the lead vocalist and her voice is unusual enough in current pop contexts to pique my interest.

do little mix somehow code as interesting to non-british ears because of their foreignness because despite getting lots of things right in terms of what they're aiming for, their own inherent boringness/desperate fixation on likeability sinks them for me. it's pretty sad that the one official single from the half-year of danity kane's unmaking the band project trumps all these other girl groups' big launches

god this indiana single is the BEST THING though! so so into it

just international popjustice crepes as per usual no

i really want to love them but atm they're just RD version 2, RIP RD.

i nearly forgot about them, "got me burnin'" was so good

had mks done 'got me burnin' last year it would have been a straight fire #1 guaranteed

which is not to say that it would have been superior or that i'd have preferred their hypothetical success to rd's, just that the tide of amped nostalgia meeting the correct tune would have been irresistable

would honestly far rather geeneus and katy b threw in the towel for a while and wrote for others at this point

http://mp3days.com/download/PqURng9Dce/07-move-mike-delinquent-remix.html

on the subj of little mix did i ever mention how much of a belter mike delinquent's mix of 'move' was btw

i'm relistening to "got me burnin" and would like to apologise to RD for suggesting that MO are anywhere near their level yet

MKS would've had a hit with "lay down in swimming pools" if kendrick had let them release it tbh

I'm with Lex re: Little Mix - I like "Wings" and "Move" a lot but as a group, they're sort of personality-less and it really shows when they do tunes that call for straight up fire/attitude like "Salute". It's infuriating how good that song could be, but LM's performance on it just seems so rote and uninspired.

It amuses me that they're managed by the same people as 1Direction because while LM has all the tunes and talent, 1D has all the charisma.

xpost thank you for that remix, rtc - so good!

Indiana's album has been pushed back to January. ;_;

Not the right thread, perhaps, but I don't understand why JUCE are being ignored just about everywhere. This is genius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFz_EBJlp5U

yeah this song is awesome and underrated

the Juce EP is really good. There's a Dev Hynes thing with them in the works so critics might bother to fk with them after that drops. I think Indiana's album is out now? Haven't heard it yet though.

Sorry to go on about them but this is amazing as well, but this is amazing as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNWFqQsGS8

ILM veterans, which would be the appropriate thread (other than this) to continue sharing my enthusiasm?

… I mean, they're not doing anything different from the original but it sounds great.

call you out is fantastic and the ep is pretty good, it would be a shame if dev hynes shit all over what they do.

I'm genuinely excited about it. I seem to be one of the few people who still likes Dev Hynes around here... not everything, of course; he's very hit and miss.

the indiana album is really good! love how committed it is to its sombre, muted thing.