(Song) Out Of The Box - women of NZ Pop

Consider some of these images of pop divas

Janis Joplin

Annie Lennox

Nico

Joan Armatrading

Kate Bush

Nina Hagen

Patty Smith

Björk

What are the intentions behind these portraits? What are they saying about these women as artists?

Which of these artists also have quite a flamboyant or theatrical way of making music?



Publicity images of New Zealand female artists:

All artists, whether they like it or not, end up forging a public image. A lot of artists use portraits very consciously to try to shape that image. What do you think these New Zealand female artists, or their publicists, are trying to say through these pictures?

Listening: 0:00 - 4:00

Discussion

1. What has APRA (Australasian Performing Rights Association) introduced?

2. Why is Jessie Moss always watching the stage?

3. What proportion of APRA members are female?

4. Why does the presenter bring up the word "visibility"?

5. What are female musicians's not supposed to have on their hip?


What do you think about people going to pop music concerts with clipboards?
What about quota systems for the music industry? 

On Feminism - and the meaning of the name Lorde.

Watch the two versions. What's different?

Royals - U.S. version

Royals - International / non-U.S version

Graeme Downes dissects 'Royals'

1. Graeme says Royals is put together in an unusual way. What examples does he give?

2. "I've never seen a" ( the rhythmic hook) happens on beat ___

(NB: This is an anacrusis)

3. "diamond"  - happens on beat ___

4. "trippin' in the" (the rhythmic hook) happens on beat ___

5. "bathroom" happens on beat ___

("we'll never be" (the rhythmic hook) is on beat 3 and "Royals" is on beat 1 again)

6. In the chorus where hear "it don't run in our blood" the rhythmic hook is longer and begins on beat ___ 

That's the unusual bit.

Graeme refers to Burt Bacharach as a song writer who likes to shift the hooks around (creating repetition and variation) in a similar way.

Here's another classic example repetition and variation through the shifting and stretching of a hook. Notice the way the lyrics and melody are arranged around three syllable phrases and how a three-note hook is both stretched and shifted onto different beats of the bar. 

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday

Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be
There's a shadow hanging over me
Oh, yesterday came suddenly

Compare this with Royals. Like Yesterday, the words in bold are sung as triplets (the rhythmic hook). See how the triplets keep recurring, stretching and shifting.

And we'll never be royals
It don't run in our blood
That kind of lux just ain't for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler, you can call me Queen B
And baby I'll rule (I'll rule I'll rule I'll rule)
Let me live that fantasy

Other elements Graeme mentions:

7. Most importantly: the w______ (what the lyrics are saying)

8. Marrying this with

pr______
In______
t______ you sing the words
r______ of the voice


9. Why is Royals a punk song according to Graeme?

10. What's the message of the video (and the song) according to Graeme?

11. What does a sparse song need in order to carry itself off, according to Graeme?

12. What makes the Royals melody "anarchic" compared with most pop songs?

13. Graeme describes lines like  "Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece" as using an a crude "nick-nick paddy-wack" rhythm. 

He believes this is a kind of musical "criticism" of standard pop music. What is it that convinces him of this?

14. What makes a chorus sound like a chorus, according to Graeme?

15. What should song writers do when they hear a great song, according to Graeme?





Look at a few more images of Kimbra

What do you think of her image?

Kimbra - Settle Down

I wanna settle down

I wanna settle down

Won't you settle down with me?

Settle down

We can settle at a table

A table for two

Won't you wine and dine with me?

Settle down

I wanna raise a child

I wanna raise a child

Won't you raise a child with me

Raise a child

We'll call her Nebraska

Nebraska Jones

She'll have your nose

Just so you know

I wanna settle down

I wanna settle down

Won't you settle down with me?

Settle down

Run from Angela Vickers

I saw her with you

Monday morning small talking on the avenue

She's got a fancy car

She wants to take you far

From the city lights and sounds deep into the dark

Star so light and star so bright

First star I see tonight!

Star so light and star so bright

Keep him by side!

I wanna settle down

I wanna settle down

Baby there's no need to run

I'll love you well

I wanna settle down

It's time to bring you down

On just one knee for now

Angela Vickers is a socialite in the film A Place in the Sun (1951). She seduces and leads astray a young man.

Think back to Graeme Downes' anatomy of Royals:

1. What is the opening rhythmic hook of this song?

2. Is it a great piece of writing?

3. What does the singer do to enhance the words?

4. How does the production and instrumentation enhance the song?

5. Does the rhythmic hook of the song get shifted around as in Royals?

6. What's the main melody? How does the singer develop it in the Angela Vickers verse?

7. What makes the bridge section ("Star so bright" etc) move the song forward? Would the song have worked without it?

8. What is happening with the chords and the main melody in the last verses?

9. What do you hear being sung over the verse chord before the song plays out on the bridge?

10. What instrumentation is added in the final section?

11. How many basic melodic ideas would you say there are in this song?


Make some notes on the video. What are some of the messages in the following things?

Kimbra's wig, make-up and dress
The age of the other female actress
Use of colour
The mechanical sounds and mechanical feeling in the dancing
What's going on between the two young female characters?
Why the fire?

Anna Coddington

Runner

1. Read the lyrics alone

I’m running on empty, trying to take a long view

hoping that my happiness is on my way toward you

run out of feelings, nothing left for you

I made a mess of them with somebody before you

I’ve wasted my heart throwing love down a wishing well

now I can tell when the bottom’s near

so I keep running and the further that I go

the more I love to be on my own

I’ll stick around for the fun, but baby I’m a runner

Coz you might be the one or just another lover

I’m here now for the fun, but baby I’m a runner

Coz you could be the one or just another lover

I’m running on wishes promises of all new

beginnings and everything I felt when I first saw you

running on the feeling that just around the corner

is the pay off for all of the hell I went through for ya

I’ve wasted love throwing my heart at a lost cause

and all because it seemed easier

but I kept running and the further that I got

the more I realized that it’s not

2. Listen to the song without watching the video

Notice the classic pop structure

Intro vamp
Verse 1
Verse 2  
Turnaround
Chorus
Verse 3
Verse 4
Turnaround
Chorus
Bridge (new turnaround x 2)
Chorus
Outro refrain

1. Listen closely to the drum fills. When exactly do they happen? 
2. When is the first cymbal crash?
3. When do the clap sounds come in?
4. When do the backing vocals come in?
5. What happens in line three, verse two when she sings "I keep running"?
6. What happens to the clap sound in the turn around?
7. Just before the chorus, what happens to the snare?
8. What sounds are introduced in the chorus? Can you hear any additional percussion?
9. Verse three returns us to the basics, as in verse one. Why? What is the signature drum fill for this song?
10. What new element makes this bridge distinct enough to be a bridge?


3. Listen to the song and video together

What do the visual surprises in this video add to the meaning of the song?

(The playboy scene Apocalypse Now)

Perfect Blend

Hey, man

I really need you back again
The years are plenty

Somewhere
I have a watercolour you did

I saw you walking on the sand
In Thailand

I used to watch you from the van
It was your band

Don't let us bully you, baby
Got problems of the heart
And you're the perfect blend

Can't seem to let you off the chain
That is our name

A few of your letters came from Limoges

She's gonna struggle day to day
But she deserves a place

You and walking in the sand

And you're the perfect man
You're the perfect man
You're the perfect blend

ode

noun

1. a lyric poem, typically one in the form of an address to a particular subject, written in varied or irregular metre.

   • a classical poem of a kind originally meant to be sung.

Boney M - Brown Girl in the Ring (1979)


Brown Girl

I'm more than the colour of my skin

I'm a girl that likes to sing

All I know is what's within

Not just a brown girl in the ring

Go to school and learn their ways

Told how to think and what to say

While my mother says to pray

I pray for better days

God, please help them see

They ain't no different from me

Not above, not beneath

Teach them equality

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

I'm more than what they think of me

More than the colour tones that they see

More than urban, R&B, more than a slang that I speak

Close your eyes, don't say your word

Don't speak about what you seen or heard

Let's pretend that it's OK

Just the way the devil likes to play

Look in my eyes, look in my eyes

I can't lie, I can't lie

All these years of my life

I'm judged from the outside

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

And if you don't know by now

Time will show you what I'm talking 'bout

Said if you don't know by now

Time will show you what I'm talking 'bout

I'm talking 'bout

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

I'm not just a brown girl in the ring

I'm a girl that likes to sing

Aardanha refuses Hip Hop Award

Coco Solid is Jessica Hansell. This song features Disasteradio.

Slow Torture

Watch the video and catch all the witty texts and visual jokes.

Lyrics: (I've done this by ear)

Queen:
Give me forget-me-nots
I'll forget you quite a lot
Mixed message like a game
Does she not know your name?
Hands are tied up for me
Beside yourself I see
You don't know what to do
That must be hard for you
A cross for you to bear
Don't bore me with despair
It's not that I don't care
But who said life was fair?

Slow torture

Queen:
Not what I had in mind
And so I'm so unkind
You meant a lot to me
you talk catastrophically
I cannot (sweat?) for you
But I connect with you
And we could drag this out
But you know what I'm about
Inside a vacuum vast
you know this cannot last
you ask where this will lead?
I cannot meet your needs

Man:
I'm just a man
won't you tell me what you want to do
give me a sign
otherwise you've gotta set me free

I'm just a man
won't you tell me what you want from me
give me a sign
otherwise you've gotta set me free

slow torture

Man:
I'm coming for you

Tiny Ruins

Winter Garden


This song is about an elicit love affair.

Listening guidance questions:

1. How many instruments are playing in verse 1? How many acoustic guitars are playing?

2. What instrument enters in verse 2? Keep listening out for that instrument - when does it resurface?

3. What happens with the vocals from "us and our time bomb"?

4. What are the drums played with? Why have they only come in here and not earlier?


Lyrics:

I await the day when I work at the museum

With you across the way in the winter gardens

So young and so warm

We'll storm, we'll swarm

The parks on our lunch breaks

We'll lie on the lawn

Smile so stealthily

Buttery and brief

We'll lie through our teeth

Shock all the cavalry

Statues watching on

Us in our time bomb

Nobody feels old at the museum

Nobody feels cold in the winter gardens

We'll roll on and roll on

Cutting it fine with the clock on

We'll persevere

Carry on working there

Me in the museum

And you in the winter gardens


5. Consider the use of rhyme and assonance in these lyrics.

Production


Compare and contrast the production (the mixing and microphoning) of this song with the production of Perfect Blend.


Discuss:

1. Overall, what are some of the things these artists have to say?

2. How are they trying to overturn discriminatory ideas through work?