Seventeen (which the idea of my infant daughter reading someday fills my heart with dread already) is rolling out widgets that are complete with animated somethings and interactive whatsits, which play tracks selected by today’s biggest pop stars with sizable teen audiences. Apparently, if you are in fact a teenage girl, you could express your fandom for your favorite artist by embedding this sort of thing on your Facebook page. Instead, let’s just take a look at the artists’ choices, and validiate our existing feelings about their artistic output!
First up, Idolator’s new BFF, Pete Wentz:
THE LOWLIGHT: We get it, Pete. You’re a complex sea of emotion. But no one should have to sit through Bobby Vinton’s “Mister Lonely,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy In New York,” and a Bright Eyes track in a row. Things are going so well these days, buddy. Would it have killed you to throw Paul Anka’s “Having My Baby” on there? It would have been a nice touch.
THE HIGHLIGHT: Hands down, it’s “Young Turks.”
Next up, Panic At The Disco’s Brandon Urie–who, to his credit, didn’t just copy Pete’s list then remove its hooks:
THE LOWLIGHT: Really, who’s still listening to Bright Eyes these days?
THE HIGHLIGHT: Supposedly, these mixes are supposed to be for the summer, and at least Brandon starts off with a Beach Boys track, although one with little connection to the summer in “God Only Knows.” “American Girl,” “I Want You Back”–all fine choices, but who couldn’t have a good time at a summer barbecue where “Don’t Stop Me Now” was heard blaring from a cheap stereo?
Finally, because I’d prefer to ignore the Jordin Sparks and Rihanna lists, here’s everyone’s third- or fourth-favorite country starlet of the moment, Taylor Swift!
THE LOWLIGHT: An appearance by the official shoeless songwriter of the summer, Jack Johnson makes sense, but at this point, the 15-minute timer should be expiring on Ingrid Michaelson, right?
THE HIGHLIGHT: While I applaud Taylor Swift for continuing to head up a Better Than Ezra resurgence by featuring “Our Last Night”, my son’s favorite song, “It’s The Night Time” by Josh Rouse, makes a somewhat strange appearance. That almost makes up for the Corrs track.
It’s nice that a few decent songs are making their way to Seventeen’s readership, but there’s no need to create another generation of Bright Eyes fans. No reason at all.
Jango Partners with Seventeen.com to Create Co-Branded Celebrity Music Widgets [Business Wire]
ashlee simpson’s mix is the craziest. the knife and missing persons, hits from the mid-nineties that nobody likes today (Scream?!), and the two banes of my existence, kanye west and sublime. what a loon.
@bcapirigi: and has one of my favorite yeah yeah yeahs songs! alongside sublime, who may be my least favorite band ever. (yeah, that’s right.)
@bcapirigi: Your comment got me super excited, so I clicked on the Business Wire link.
Unfortunetly, I found out that Ashlee Simpson included the SONG “Scream” on her list instead of the band of the same name.
Whatever. I still like Bittersweet World. Yeah. I said it.
So have Widgets actually been successful for ANYBODY?
@Clevertrousers: Don’t you see all the widgets that are on Idolator’s sidebars??!? THEY ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER
Seriously, yesterday as an announcement for a certain band’s new song (coughoffspringcough) I got an e-mail with… a jpeg of a widget. As the entire message. I understand the idea behind bringing the mountain to Mohammed, as it were, but wtf?!
@Maura Johnston: In the process of writing this post, the Seventeen playlist widgets crashed my browser four times.
Jeez, Gibson, you have EVERYTHING, huh.