Pop-Eye 4/2/01

Well of course Mya is the noise you make when air kissing - which I imagine is the sound the scientists made when they finally distilled tedium and put it in this song.

I don't think it's a particularly bad song - it's got quite a strong chorus. But really there's nothing whatsoever to say about it. It's not a very interesting scenario and it's not handled with any great aplomb either. I'm hoping Tim or someone will devastatingly point out while I'm wrong.

Who are you bastards voting for U2, then?

I can't tell you how difficult it is to try to decide which Amira mix is topping the charts for me, living on the wrong continent and all. So I look it up, and the so called Sovereign mix is nowhere to be found on Napster. Which is a shame, because I have a feeling I might like it. Pink's "you make me sick" should be on there, as should the Mos Def track. I note that the Baha men are still hanging on for dear life. The new U2 doesn't even have the things to recommend it that the last single did. Mya is tricky because only in this amazing pop-petri-dish enviornment can such a track already sound competant, pleasant, even very good, but already dated. The repeated chorus sounds almost whiny -- if I was dating a girl who bugged me about my ex like that, the relationship would go south fast. On the other hand, the song works because, theoretically, every single line could serve as the hook.

Oh, my personal top five incidentally - since we don't do it on the page any more - would be the BON track, the Mos Def one, the rather excellent Genius Kru track, Destiny's Child if it's still in there, and Mis Teeq. And I should also say that I'd much rather stuff like Voodoo and Serrano were hitting big than Planet Funk, even if neither style is exactly novel.

Mya was terrible when she was singing choruses for Pras, and is still terrible to this day.

"Whole Again" certainly doesn't deserve to be a Number One - but if the Kittens had had a decent PR machine then one of their worthier singles ("Right Now", "See Ya" or "I Want Your Love" - or if they'd had the brains to release "Strangers", their best song) would have been #1's and so it's either a) ironic that a weaker song has gotten to #1 thanks to publicity, or b) fitting that they belatedly get what they deserved.

I agree that they deserve kudos for keeping U2 off #1 though - it's a bad song to start with and if you bother to listen to the lyrics and take it in context it's even WORSE.

I don't buy Ash going pop again - if that's what they're trying to do. This is the same band that wrote a tedious, lumpen, leaden piece of shit called "Numbskull", put some dubious footage in the video clip for the purposes of getting some free publicity and dared to call it a single? No thanks. I blame Charlotte, the new-ish guitarist. Ash were damn good before she came aboard.

In Defence of Mya:

"Case Of The Ex" is great because: it takes the whole minimal percusso-melodic push in r&b to its logical extreme - what are those synths but psuedo rave stabs? Also those spacey cymbal hits in the intro! Gorgeous. Mya has a great voice too - higher than most, but sort of resilient sounding. And I like my small but resilient women with high voices (see Buffy; actually the clip for this is an excellent Buffy-in-the-desert type thing).

And as I pointed out on Skykicking, what can top that line about the ex-girlfriend turning tricks?!? If there's anything at all wrong with "Case Of The Ex", it's that after hearing the sped-up 2-step version it sounds a bit slow and restrained. And next single "Best Of Me" is actually much better.

Ultimately I reckon Mya is rubbished because she doesn't have the Timbaland-pedigree of Aaliyah, or the inspired weirdness of Kelis, or the mastery of zeitgeist that Destiny's Child possess. So many people are trying to justify their liking of modern r&b by identifying the "talent". But trying to separate between the a-grade and b-grade in a genre like r&b is difficult because artists rise and fall on the strength of the material - if we judged Destiny's Child on their album ballads we'd think they were awful. When it comes down to it Mya has released an impressive amount of good stuff.

Re: Amira. The spanish guitar version is the Dreemhouse mix (as opposed to Dreem Teem mix) and the bass-heavy mix is the Sovereign one.

Okay, the Dreemhouse remix of Amira is really quit tame. Verging on Craig David before the Artful Dodger gets to work on him, but with enough flashes of the original there to make it frustrating. Reminds me of the wave of fluttery guitar crap that swept the States a few years back (cf. "I just wanna fly" and same track, part II)

erm...Am I the only one who thinks the Ash single is some kind of minor pop classic? Admittedly, on the first listen it is quite dirgey, but after that, becomes a really great song. and I don't care how stupid that sounds.(Take the point about Numbskull, though).

On a completely different note:

You know why that Toploader tune's been creeping up the charts... It's that flippin' Jamie Oliver ad on the tellybox! Looks like they're effectively re-launching the single again!!!!

Old Fart!!!! (Looking for Mya on Audiogalaxy...)

I'm going to have to agree with bill on the ash single. didn't like much at first, but it's definately a grower, i think nicking the guitar riff from my bloody valentine (in my head anyway) was a good plan. Poptastic return to form in my ever so humble opinion

mya singlehandedly saved this week's top of the pops from shiteness, although the dancing-with-sticks bit at the end was a little random. it's a good radio song - she's got a strong voice, and it's catchy as hell. what's the alternative - more u2? in my mind the choice is pretty easy...

Top of the Pops was merciless this week. What the hell was up with the Manics' getting some really uncomfortable looking blokes pretending to be 60s motown backing singers - it just looked horrible. And Ash, the Manics, U2 AND JJ72 on the same edition?? Give me strength!

Atomic Kitten at number one...it must be the Westlife factor. I appreciate that someone is finally sticking up for snow and highlighting the tyranny of weather forecasting in this country. Not everyone likes sunshine and heat ya know!! So well done JJ72.

WHERE THE FUCK IS WESTLIFE........

I WANT THERE VIDEO CLIP....

AND MYA WELL SHE IS A DYKE