Amy vs. My Childhood Part 1

So during this "gap year" of mine, my main purpose in life has been to torment my freshly minted teenage sister (her 13th birthday was on the 16th) with my existence and general weirdness. However, I do like to subject her to some good things as well. Mainly, the music of the late '90s and early '00s that I hold near and dear to my heart. Though I obviously enjoy a lot of pop music today, there is just something about the music of my late elementary through middle school (and maybe early high school) years that spoke to me and many of my friends at that age. Naturally, we couldn't actually relate to it when I really thought about it (unless we were really thrown about our chick on the side telling us she had one on the way. At 14. Try explaining that one to mom and dad), and a lot of it doesn't really age well, but for what it was and for who (whom? help!) I was at the time, it was mostly perfect. So I wanted to see how it all stood up to today's tween generation's standards, represented somewhat begrudgingly by my sister, Amy (who is actually much cooler and smarter than I ever was at that age). I basically forced her to  listen to and watch a bunch of videos (while I watched them like my 8-13 year old self would have) and watched the generational gap reveal itself. So here we go! Below is a muddled transcript of our evening plus some more commentary on each song and video.

Me and Amy being casual.

Amy vs. My Childhood 

Ghetto Supastar (its really painful for me to spell it like that)

Abena: Okay, so the first video we are going to watch is Ghetto Superstar by Pras, Mya and ODB. Do you know who ODB was?
Amy: No...
Abena: Do you know what ODB stands for?
Amy: No...
Abena: Good.
Amy: (not really listening)...
Abena: You don't like this???
Amy: Why is this song in a movie about Presidents?
Abena: Why is Rick Ross's music in Django Unchained???

Revisiting this song with my 22 year old mind: I distinctly remember this as THE jam in the second grade.

how I dance when it comes on.

 The best part of watching this now is seeing David Rosen of ABC's 'Scandal' fame in the background. Oh and Mya's perfection. According to Amy's reaction, this song might not translate very well today's musical standards. I maintain that today's musical standards aren't all that high, so I reject her reaction. But to be fair, 90s rappers are of a different breed than today's rappers that tweens are exposed to. It's just a different sound that people Amy's age are growing up today with the Drakes, the J Coles, and the Big Seans. But for the most part, the song is all about Mya and the chorus. I feel like that stands the test of time, and we have Kenny Rogers' original melody for that. Islands in the Jam was a jam (don't lie, you loved it. Kenny and Dolly killed it).

M2M - Mirror mirror

Abena: This song is so epic!!
Amy: (shrugs)
Abena: Amy, when I was like, 8 or 9, this song was EVERYTHING.
Amy: (starts laughing)
Abena: WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING??
Amy: ...is that really her voice?
Abena: YES. It's like Britney. kind of. UGH. So good. (singing along as Amy just stares at me). Ten year old me had so many emotions
Amy: Why is she just lying in the grass by herself?
Abena: You don't do that?

Revisiting this song with my 22 year old mind: Okay, so Amy's dislike of this song is somewhat understandable. Today's top female singers all have really powerful voices (except for Taylor Swift). I stand by my Britney Spears comparison. And honestly, there's something about somewhat thin vocals that convey emotions strangely well...at least for me. Like, I can't imagine Christina Aguilera singing a song like "Everytime" and making it sound as sad. Maybe its because you focus more on the words and their meanings when the singer isn't all that. But then again, I'm pretty sure I listened to 'Someone Like You' (Adele) at least 80 times in a row when I first heard and and felt the pain of watching my imaginary boyfriend get married EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

never mind i'll find....

Whatever, back to M2M, the Norwegian beauties behind this song (I maintain that Scandanavians are the best producers of pop music). As far as I knew, they only had two songs: this one and "Don't Say You Love Me" from the Pokemon Movie. Listening to "Mirror, Mirror" now though, I'm still all about it (my biases are strong, i'm not sorry about it). 2:24 where the instruments drop out briefly and then come back in is a perfect pop moment. I guess their voices are somewhat annoying though.

Play - Whole Again

Abena: Okay, all you need to know is that the ginger is the best one.
Amy: That one girls dress looks like Lady Gaga's meat dress
Abena: Do you like this song though?
Amy: Yeah
Abena: Why do you like it
Amy: I dont know
Abena: See, Faye is the only one that sings. There was an uneven distribution of solos.
(we get to the spoken middle 8 of the song)
Amy: Why is she doing that?
Abena: This is an important part of the song. and then Faye kills it. get 'em Faye. Get 'em!!
Amy: This is the first song that I've liked so far

Revisiting this song with my 22 year old mind: Clearly we see now that Amy has fabulous pop music taste. This song was pop at at sugary-sweetest. This song was actually originally by Atomic Kitten, but redone by these four ladies (they changed the line "you still turn me on" to "you can do no wrong"). Also of note is that Play is basically Sweden's version of the Sugababes (reference only some will get) and Destiny's Child. Members just coming and going like nothing. But this version of Play is the definite version (most because I've never bothered with the other ones). Faye (the ginger) really was the best one, and I love that they didn't try to hide it. She basically had the Nicole role in the Pussy Cat Dolls. My favorite thing about this video is how dated the "hot guys" look already...until I realize this came out ten years ago. This is my exact reaction to their appearances/faces:

 One guy is wearing a pooka shell necklace,  one has a gross goatee and spiked hair, and another looks like Kris Humphries (and they didn't even reserve the only good looking guy for Faye like they should have because she is the best). And that poor white girl with the braids (aka meat dress girl).
 I dont know who she thinks she is (oh wait, yes I do), but that's just really unfortunate. Fast forward a couple of years and she's the only one whose solo music I actively still listen to (I would have listen to queen Faye's stuff, but I dont know where it is/I think she's rejoined the like 7th line-up of Play or something like that). Seriously, Anais (dark haired one) was always my fave when I was younger, but Faye is flawless.

3LW - No More

Abena: Oh wait. oh my gosh 3LW! do you know them??
Amy: 3LW?
Abena: Yes! 3 little women?
Amy: Oh, i thought it meant like, length and width.
Abena: ...No, sadly that's not what it is. Anyway, you'll recognize maybe two out of three of them
Amy: (starts laughing) Cheetah girls! They had their own group without Raven or Sabrina?
Abena: Yeah! 3LW. And then they didn't let that one girl in the cheetah girls
(song starts. 10 seconds in)
Amy: ...What is she saying?
Abena: You can't understand her?
Amy: No, it sounds like gibberish. What is she saying? Can you put closed captions on?
(Adrienne Bailon starts singing)
Abena: You understand her right?
Amy: Yeah. not the other one. Aqua, right?
Abena: Thats not her real name. Kiely Williams is her name. I dont know what the third one's name is
Amy: She's a good singer too. So they didn't let her do anything?
Abena: Nope, do you like the skirt over her jeans?
Amy: Was that a trend?
Abena: Nope, thats probably why she got kicked out of the group
Amy: Abena, be nice.

Revisiting this song with my 22 year old mind: Yeah everything about this song screams year 2000. THE FASHION OH DEAR LORD.

you think it's cute...but it's not.

 There's literally not much to say about this, except that Adrienne Bailon is now famous for being Rob Kardashian's ex girlfriend, and Kiely Williams...went on to make really really really REALLY poor choices. The whereabouts of whatsherface are still unknown (I can't be bothered to google her. Also, what is her name still).

BBMak - Back Here

Abena: You know BBMak right?
Amy: No
Abena: (tears) Amy, dont do this to me. They were on Even Stevens one time.
Amy: Wow they're really good
Abena: AMY DO YOU THINK I LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO DONT SING WELL??

Revisiting this song with my 22 year old mind: MARRY ME CHRISTIAN I STILL LOVE YOU.

This has been more music nostalgia, brought to you by the sisters Brown.

Beans