Idolator
Now that Lily Allen has lost about 20 pounds and traded in the sneakers (no, I will not call them trainers) for heels, who will be cute ("real-life cute"), spunky, catchy, relatable, over-hyped, and British for us? Who will weigh at least 120 pounds, wear quirky garments, and sing to us about boy trouble over laboriously-produced and highly infectious pop hooks? Ladies and gentlemen: Kate Nash.
When I first saw the video for Nash's song "Foundations," I felt uneasy.
My instincts were telling me that I liked the rhythm, the frantic piano looping in and out of the kicky drumbeat, the snide-but-vulnerable lyrics. But my automatic counter-instincts were sending up red flags. Something about Nash and her music was instantly unacceptable. And then I realized: the new Lily Allen was reporting for duty. I brought up the "Smile" video in another tab, and it was like watching two not-quite-identical twins sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in an endless round.
The London music scene has been acutely aware of this phenomenon and served the Allen/Nash hydra a mean parody song back in April, mocking their vapidity and shameful upper-middle class backgrounds. But while these ladies are staples of the entitled London party and music scene, over here they're just the next evolutionary step after Avril Lavigne, moving from a formulaic pop-rock sound to a slightly-less-formulaic indie pop sound and giving those girls who've grown out of Hot Topic and into Urban Outfitters something to listen to in the car all summer.
Key to their success—aside from sharp producers—is the overall look, and both Allen and Nash (but Nash in particular) reek of this tasteful, yet "edgy," faux-vintage aesthetic. Take, for instance, this video for Nash's song "Caroline's a Victim," directed by go-to auteur for the bourgeois London pop scene Kinga Burza, who is also responsible for that atrocious Calvin Harris video.
Honestly I wonder if they didn't just shoot that in the home decor section of an Urban Outfitters. Also, this is the kind of song that earns resentment. Basic drum beat, synthesizers, and some vaguely nonsensical lyrics that you probably wrote to amuse your friends? I want to pull for you, Kate Nash—mostly because your name is Kate—but I am this close to skipping you altogether and moving onto the next next Lily Allen.
Comments
That last video. Too much jokey cuteface by about 1000%. She looks like she has not even heard this song before, much less like, you know, written it and meant it.
I want to like her because she seems like a sweet girl, but sweetness can't make up for a lack of any discernible talent whatsoever. I also really can't get past the affected cutesyness or that atrociously inauthentic community theatre Eliza Doolittle accent.
Kate, step AWAY from the idiots.
Ridiculous and also incredibly behind the times. "Caroline's a Victim" preceded "Foundations", and Nash's subsequent singles have been typical twee piano-pop, kind of like a chavvy Regina Spektor. I don't understand the point of criticizing things without properly contextualizing them- if you can criticize the director of her videos, surely you can look at Wikipedia for a singles release chronology, no? "Caroline's a Victim" doesn't even appear on Nash's (not that good, but sometimes quite nice) debut. Sheezy Chreezy, this post is just full of stupidity.
I stand by "Foundations": that song is an incredibly slice of pop. However, Kate Nash just doesn't have what it takes to be the next Lily Allen. Have you heard her in interviews? Charming she ain't. She can be as bitter as she wants in song, but unless she starts talking about, you know, penises and things, I'm taking Lily Allen FTW.
@kisskisskiss: I actually did know that "Caroline's a Victim" came out before "Foundations" and was not on her debut, though I fail to see what that has to do with anything. It's an annoying song no matter when it was released, and I never said it was her new song or anything.
And frankly, I was worried about how behind the times this is. But Kate Nash hasn't fully infiltrated the U.S. yet, so I figured it might be news to someone at least.
Because "Made of Bricks" is the annoying Kate Nash we're going to be exposed to. It's quite pointless, really, to discuss the even more annoying attempts at electroclash when that aspect is never going to be talked about in the States. Hating on Kate Nash should begin with the most immediate threat- say, her shouting and banging live performances of "Pumpkin Soup", or the lyrics of "Mouthwash", or even the horrendous "BITTAH / FITTAH" rhyme in "Foundations". NOT "Victim", which is over now, and will probably never be spoken of again.
With the ridiculous cred-pleas Idolator engages in with its constant missives for Pissed Jeans, it's pretty much unacceptable that Kate Nash is suddenly presented as the "new L. Allen." Especially when print sources like Spin have already started in on the Kate Nash media blitz.
At the very least acknowledge that she did a cover of the Black Kids that's been floating around the Internets for weeks. At least then you'd have some original reason for dissing her instead of the tired criticism every one else is levying her way.
@kisskisskiss: @The Intangibles:
Someone has their Kate Nash Google alerts perfectly in order, I see.
Listening to Kate's EP is, on the whole, much more enjoyable than trying to slog your way through her entire album. Yeah, her EP has the ghastly "Caroline's a Victim," but it also contains two B-sides that should have been on the LP: "Navy Taxi" and "Habanera." The former is her best attempt at a piano ballad, yet somehow it manages to sound sincere enough for me not to get pissed off at its unoriginality.
And "Habanera" is...well, it's weird. In fact, it barely qualifies as a song, unless you think stringing a bunch of Death Cab-inspired syllables together is worthy of a separate track and a title. But again, it isn't irritating enough to justify hitting "next" on iTunes.
I guess I'm damning with faint praise, but Kate doesn't quite have what it takes--not yet, at least. But "Foundations" will remain as one of the better pop songs of 2007.
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