Battle of the marching band-themed pop songs: "Lose My Breath" vs. "Hollaback Girl"

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I am currently obsessed with "Hollaback Girl." It totally beats "Lose My Breath" at the marching band beat thing. The problem with LMB is that it takes the bombastic beat and then adds MORE bombast on top of it, what with the synth stabs and the "sexy" vocals, and it's just too much. But "Hollaback Girl" contrasts the beat with those nice light guitar/horn parts and "Oooh, that's my shit, that's my shit" crooning. Plus the always-successful "cutesy singing style used to sing excessive profanity" tactic. So "Hollaback Girl." What do you think?

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

skip lunch, buy both.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Lose My Breath, mainly because I can't stop listening to it in the car. It's so big, and maximizes everything without sounding chaotic or overly busy

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I keep forgetting to d/l "Hollaback Girl"! Man, it sounded great the other night, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll take the Turtles' "She'd Rather Be With Me" over either one.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hollaback" is ridiculous, but Gwen obviously knows it. "Lose My Breath" tries too hard to be intense and ends up being awkward and silly.
Plus... "This shit is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!" is even funnier than "take a chance you stupid ho".

― TayBridgeCatastrophe (TayBridge), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hollaback Girl" is great! Man I didnt want to play it at a house party a couple months ago...then my friends girlfriend made me put it on, and i did and every girl in the place when loco, it was fantastic. It wasnt even a single then! Everyone said the gwen album was lame but i've liked everything i've heard (what you waiting for, JLC remix if it counts, Crash, Rich Girl was aaaight except for the melody lift, hollaback girl...)

― djdee (djdee2005), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

both are classic. I can't hate on either.

But 'Hollaback Girl' wins, just because it's so... utterly compulsive, even more than 'Lose My Breath'. When Annie DJed at Cargo last week, she segued into it from 'Heart Of Glass' and a) the place went nuts, and b) some drunken fool stumbled into the bags and drinks in the middle of our dancing ring, thereby spilling the entire bottle of wine Anna-Marie and I were sharing, but because 'Hollaback Girl' was playing I didn't mind at all!

also: 'Hollaback Girl' is more fun to dance to. It's kind of tough to keep up to 'Lose My Breath' unless you're in top form, and while I appreciate that that's the point, I sometimes want to keep my breath but just stomp my feet, wave my arms and shout along.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 18:07 (twenty-one years ago)

This turned out to be a less-than-epic battle.

― n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

13-4 upset!

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

II was just discussing marching band drum songs with a friend, cause I wanted to know more 80's songs with the same sound as Kate Bush's Cloudbusting, U2s Sunday bloody Sunday and, er, Peter Gabriel's Biko. Anyone know songs with similar drums?

― Jamaican in New York, Thursday, 31 March 2005 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe The Cure's "The Empty World"?

― Seb (Seb), Thursday, 31 March 2005 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

until that 'shit is banananas' bit this song is really really great.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Monday, 2 May 2005 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I am sure I heard a version of "Hollaback Girl" mashed up with "Word Up" and it was the greatest thing in the world. Did I hallucinate it?

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 2 May 2005 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Hari OTM

if that lyric wasn't so stupid, it would be ok. if her voice wasn't so annoying, it would be ok (sort of). but together, they kill the song. which is too bad, cuz the beat is GRATE

Lose My Breath isn't remarkable, but at least they don't spell out "bananas" for you and tell you that they describe themselves as such.

― lemin (lemin), Monday, 2 May 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Lose My Breath

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 2 May 2005 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i get alex in nyc type reactions to gwen stefani

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 2 May 2005 00:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The "Shit is Bananas" bit is the best bit of the song I would have thought.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 2 May 2005 01:00 (twenty-one years ago)

miccio OTMFM.

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 2 May 2005 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

(I think its rhythms are more interesting and arresting, along with what the voices do. Nothing against "Hollaback Girl" but I don't even like it as much as "What You Waiting For".)

― Sundar (sundar), Monday, 2 May 2005 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

tim otm.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Monday, 2 May 2005 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I prefer my women postpubescent

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 2 May 2005 01:38 (twenty-one years ago)

"Lose My Breath" is godhead while "Hollaback Girl" is merely really, really good.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 2 May 2005 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

YOU ARE ALL WRONG

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 2 May 2005 13:56 (twenty-one years ago)

jaymc OTM, everyone else WRONG!

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 2 May 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

i get alex in nyc type reactions to gwen stefani

that's what i call otm.

if i go postal today in a fit of absolute righteous rage, i'd like it to be known that 'hollaback girl' is responsible (and to a lesser degree, whoever decided that we have to listen to radio1). she's got an ever-expanding shittiness horizon that's quite breathtaking to me.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

What's a hollaback girl?

― Baaderonixxxorzh (Fabfunk), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

It' a girl that hollas back when you holla at her. Which Gwen Stefani most emphatically does not.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 13:28 (twenty-one years ago)

hollaback girl makes my ears bleed.

― katie hasty (katie, a princess), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:38 (twenty-one years ago)

A hollaback girl is a girl who's all talk, no action.

― The Ghost of Master Of Reading Comprehension (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

-- lauren (warmleatherett...), May 4th, 2005.

Oh thank God. What she said
X 10!

So, "Lose My Breath" because, while being far from their best song, it isn't sang by someone who makes me want to put my foot through whatever is playing it.

And "Rich Girl" was even worse.

― hobart paving (hobart paving), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

"TUSK" you knuckleheads.

― PB, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't know the GS song, but "lose my breath" is really fantastic, and sort of inspirational

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Tim and Sterling OTM, THIS SHIT IS BANANAS + spelling out of "bananas" = lyric-to-yell-to-friends-from-great-distances of the year.

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes. the video clip spells out this attribute rather well I reckon.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 05:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm with Lauren, Gwen Stefani makes me twitch.

"Lose My Breath" is totally fucking sweet. Way better than "Soldier."

― Jessie the Monster (scarymonsterrr), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Hollaback Girl only has two drum sounds. (yeah it has horns but still it needs more drums)

Fanfares wins over both though.

― lemin (lemin), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:54 (twenty-one years ago)

(Actually the true winner is "Give It Up" by The Goodmen.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hollaback Girl" is dreadful, insipid offal.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Rich Girl" is bad, "Hollaback Girl" is worse.
"Soldier is bad, "Lose My Breath" is somewhat better.

So, uh. I'll be taking lunch.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Friday, 13 May 2005 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hollback Girl" is the type of tune that were I a sadistic prison warden, I would play it in round-the-clock, high volume, seemingly endless airrings at uncooperative convicts in order to break their spirits and eliminate their will to live.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 21 May 2005 09:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Lock me up!

― jaymc (jaymc), Saturday, 21 May 2005 14:13 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the ultimate corny indie fuxx dance anthem.

It's really terrible in a not good way.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Saturday, 21 May 2005 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

popism run amok

― strng hlkngtn, Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:00 (twenty-one years ago)

that perverse guitar triad & horn drone are the pith of the song (and the neptunes are responsible for that aren't they?) but then her singing in that jocular way is just like saying "I'm not afraid of death" [death=that plaintive triad & drone])

It's one of the most affecting songs I've ever heard.

― sdfj, Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

My sister got me to admit the production is neat. And I like how her whisper of "my shit" sounds kind of like "usher, usher"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't even know the stefani song! but the destiny's child song is awesome, awesome.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

you've said twice on a thread about the song that you don't know the song. I just found it on the internet on the first page of a google search. do you want someone to hold your hand?

― ijeoprijperht, Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually think Alex is the OTM. Though, I wouldn't mind being locked up with...oh never mind.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

hollaback girl needs a remix w/ somebody else replacing gwen's shitty verses, also it is TOO SLOW - other than that it's ok but just barely

― jones (actual), Saturday, 21 May 2005 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 34 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

also blounts theorem is false because of:

http://www.musicmatic.de/Q/QuadCit1a.jpg

― strng hlkngtn, Monday, 23 May 2005 02:43 (twenty-one years ago)

(Tim, not as such, there were at my school, but they just did it because there was this idea that someone had to. No uniforms or big training, though).

In case anyone ELSE was curious about the Gwen vs Cameo mashup alluded to upthread, it's called the Zax Word Up mix and was posted somewhere about three weeks ago and is fantastisch.

― edward o (edwardo), Monday, 23 May 2005 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

This whole conversation is really weird to me. I'm not very good at pop psychology, i think.

― deej., Monday, 23 May 2005 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

(i do hate no doubt. "underneath it all" was their "everyone is capable of one" rule.)

"hella good"?! no?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 May 2005 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

when i sang "don't speak" at indie rock karaoke this week i modified the climax verse to 'you and meee/we used to be bananas/b-a-n-a-n-as/alwaaaays' so cif theory might have some bearing.

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 23 May 2005 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"hollaback girl": i despised it to begin with. but now i love it's bared-teeth idiocy.

"lose my breath": only have the JLC remix, which is okayy

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Monday, 23 May 2005 05:18 (twenty-one years ago)

The rock girls I know can't stand the Gwen album, very strong sense thet she's er 'betrayed' No Doubt by being so eighties-drivetime-radio/90s-slow-jam/insane magpie consumerpop. They'd rather Britney or anyone else who's not being an um genre traitor. Though No Doubt were always a bit of a borderline case after Going Commercial with tragic kingdom and that.

"hollaback girl"'s coming from the same persona as "what you waiting for", isn't it? except WYWF is all 'o no i am making a solo album what do I doooo' and HG is 'j0 do not diss my solo shit, i've been through this before & you're all talk, bitchezzzz' - the three singles have been very er self-referential, these two overtly and and then Rich Girl nodding back to 'let me blow your mind'.

(i never noticed until now that when the 'few times i been around that track' line comes in it kinda sounds like drop it like its hot.)

― spontine (cis), Monday, 23 May 2005 05:34 (twenty-one years ago)

when i sang "don't speak" at indie rock karaoke this week i modified the climax verse to 'you and meee/we used to be bananas/b-a-n-a-n-as/alwaaaays'

GENIUS.

― spontine (cis), Monday, 23 May 2005 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh and I think hollaback girl is a great song.

― deej., Monday, 23 May 2005 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

it is.

Deej! I was just listening to that remix of Nina Sky's "Turnin' Me On" with Pitbull and Shawnna and thought of you, though I'm not sure why.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 23 May 2005 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hollaback Girl" only makes sense to me at discos. Except the bananas bit obv which makes sense to me all day.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 23 May 2005 14:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Yesterday I picked up a friend from the train station, and I just happened to have a bunch of bananas in the passenger seat, so I asked her to hold onto them for me. Then, a few minutes later, "Hollaback Girl" came on the radio. When the B-A-N-A-N-A-S part started, my friend looked down at the bananas in her lap and said, "Are your ears ringing? She's talking about you!" Haha.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Stupid.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh my God, that made me want to eviscerate the entirety of Orange County and I didn't even get to the bananas part.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

That dude's lats name is Stacy.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 23 May 2005 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

is tim hitting on me?

― deej., Monday, 23 May 2005 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

(that remix sounds great!)

― deej., Tuesday, 24 May 2005 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd be honored if tim hit on me!

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

haha no one said i wasnt! (shhh)

― deej., Tuesday, 24 May 2005 05:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The remix is good, the groove is the same but Shawnna is great pon the into. (it is probably good "hitting on" music)

If i could mix I would make a mix of Nina Sky related stuff like this - the "Move Ya Body" club mix which is secretly a "Move Ya Body"/"Culo" cross, the "Turnin Me On" remix, "Oye Mi Canto", "Hey DJ (Reggaeton Mix)", "If You Tell Me I'm Yours", the "Gal U A Lead" Remix...

I just love the whole International Language of Booty vibe these tracks promote.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I agree - TUSK!!! Hollaback girl makes me sick. She has the worst kind of nasal shitty vocals. It's like processed cheese on a stick

― FACEBRACE (FACEBRACE), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:12 (twenty-one years ago)

There needs to be an MIA/Gwen S collab so bad. "This shit is bananas! Ba-na-na!"

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I hate the corny indie mainstream populism of this song! You know, how it's totally catchy and definitely appeals to a widespread audience, but is also technically innovative so it appeals to the sorts that would care about that kind of thing. I hate that about this song.

― crazy eights, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

corny indie mainstream populism

What does this even mean?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Mr./Ms. Eights explains it in the next sentence.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

ah, yer right

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

There needs to be an MIA/Gwen S collab so bad. "This shit is bananas! Ba-na-na!"

I love MIA and all, but this is the worst idea.

― lemin (lemin), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

YES - anyway it would only happen if gwen was allowed to round up some other cute sri lankans, call them "tamilgoogoos" or some shit and then talk about them like they were her pets

― jones (actual), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the ultimate corny indie fuxx dance anthem.
corny indie mainstream populism

Are there, like, only 37 songs in total that don't get tagged "corny" "indie" now? That would be the only explanation for calling "Hollaback" either.

Though the "fuxx" part is probably apt.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

there are, like, only 37 songs that ILM obsesses over that don't get tagged "corny" "indie".
no, wait, 26.

― ()ops (()()ps), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 18:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I need crib notes on what those songs are really badly.

― L'Histoire d'Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 18:35 (twenty-one years ago)

can i restart the bananas part vs. the non-bananas part argument from upthread? because the bananas part is clearly the best.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I have realized i can keep a straight face to Hollaback Girl when i actually hear it playing. it's really just in hindsight that it's the WORST SONG EVER

― lemin (lemin), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

The bananas part is indeed the best. Conversely, the "Ba-na-na" skit on the M.I.A. album is pretty annoying. In terms of fetishising the construction of the word "Banana" in a musical context, Gwen is clearly the more credible artist.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 23:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I think Gwen's album is, in general, better than MIAs. Doubt I'll get much agreement on that around here, though.

― deej., Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I still haven't bought Gwen's album but on the strength of the songs I've heard (about 3/4) I wouldn't be surprised.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Most people (men) I talk to hate the album. The songs they mention as "exceptions" to the gwen's-album-is-bad rule - the one with andre 3000, for example - were the ones i ended up disliking the most.

― deej., Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the reason I like HBG more than LMB is because "girl" seems so much more participatory and gwen's persona is so much more girl-next-door or girl-i'd-have-a-crush-on.

― deej., Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Beyonce, though - out of my league.

― deej., Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually love "Bubble Pop Electric," having only heard it a few days ago for the first time. But deej, I don't know any men who've even HEARD the album! Er, I mean apart from the ones on this thread!

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait -- unless you're talking about "Long Way to Go" ft. Andre 3000? I haven't heard that; I didn't realize there were two songs that featured him (altho "BPE" actually only features "Johnny Vulture").

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah i meant LWtG. I might be wrong though, i have to listen to it again. BPE was goodish, i think.

― deej., Wednesday, 25 May 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Johnny Vulture = Andre 3000. 'Bubble Pop Electric' is great, 'Long Way To Go' is terrible. I probably prefer LAMB to Arular too but only slightly, not really by enough to quantify meaningfully. It is a very girly album, yes: it works best when you're getting ready to go out, and when that process actually takes the length of the album or more.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 07:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Teeny OTM. 'Blowin' Me Up' > 'Lose My Breath' > 'Hollaback Girl', with 5% margins in-between.

― The Irrelevant Man (Negativa) (Barima), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 09:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Comparing Gwen's album to MIA's is so hard. I love how dirty and lo-fi MIA's production is and I love how pristine Gwen's is. They both have technically annoying voices, but both know how to use them in such a way as to produce good songs.

btw No Doubt needs to end forever.

― crazy eights, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

eleven months pass...

I couldn't decide which one I liked either hence why I made a remix of the 2 and mashed them both together. I called it "Hollaback Breath" and it certainly works ;)

― SoundOfFaz, Monday, 1 May 2006 14:40 (twenty years ago)

http://www.citypaper.com/music/recordreview.asp?id=9464

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:45 (twenty years ago)

"Lose My Breath"

― Grand (grand), Monday, 1 May 2006 14:57 (twenty years ago)

I love you, everyone on this thread who hates Gwen Stefani.

― horsehoe (horseshoe), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 03:50 (twenty years ago)

I can't really handle Stefani's Betty Boop vocal stylings on this song, so Lose My Breath.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 03:57 (twenty years ago)

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