Sunday, January 06, 2008

Hell is Other People

Alert readers may recall that earlier in the week I was nattering on about the transcendent awfulness of Rihannna's "Umbrella," until commenter TJWood reminded me that, against the odds, 2007 had disgorged an even worse song -- Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly."



Jeebus, that's fricking bad. Seriously -- it sounds like the kind of confessional singer/songwriter stuff Joni Mitchell would have written if she was a moron.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my god. Thank you. I thought it was me.

Feist. Colbie Caillat. A couple of others whose names escape me and that are driving me nuts. All these keening, borderline bubblegum Norah Jones knockoffs who are inexplicably popular with the few radio stations that I can still listen to--for how much longer?--with any regularity.

steve simels said...

I quite like Feist, but this one is beyond the pale...

Anonymous said...

Was this a hit?

Being that I don't listen to any music radio except college radio, NPR and sports radio, I have no idea if this was actually popular.

Enlighten me. Beyond this I will keep my mouth shut as I don't want half my comments on this wonderful blog turning into rants on the current (last 22 years) state of popular music.

steve simels said...

Yes, that song was a hit. As is the wretched album from whence it springs....

steve simels said...

Album went platinum, the single was top five.

Can you fucking believe that?

Anonymous said...

Lyrics straight out of the Shania Twain school. The toes/crinkle my nose couplet may actually surpass the transcendent awfulness of Twain's "rub my feet/bring me something to eat." Truly cringe-inducing.

Anonymous said...

This is sad, very sad!

Steve, your favorite critic from the NY Times must love her!

Kid Charlemagne said...

That song makes me long for a new single from Edie Brickell...

TJWood said...

It's called "Bubbly"? Now it just became even more irritating. Colbie Callait is, from what I've been able to gather, a MySpace discovery, which will make me wary of future such discoveries. In terms of the transcendently awful, IMHO, it's only running neck and neck with the Plain White Ts and Fergie abominations for Most Overplayed Irritating Song of 2007. But that title and that stupid lyric line do make it a viable candidate for the "Seasons In The Sun" of this decade.

steve simels said...

According to Wiki, her dad is actually famous as an engineer on some Fleetwood Mac albums, including the astoundingly brilliant "Tusk."

I hope he's very proud of his hellspawn....

Anonymous said...

Can you fucking believe that?

What makes it even more despicable is the fact that it's a shameless ripoff of an otherwise decent song--Ellis Paul's "The World Ain't Slowing Down"

Kid Charlemagne said...

Richard Dashut? The guy that produced Shoes?

steve simels said...

From Wiki:

Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Tusk albums; Caillat recalls being around the likes of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie as a child

Phil said...

Geez, what hysterical overreactions to a slight, charming song. I wouldn't want to hear it all the time, but I only want to eat candy corn a couple of times a year too. I'd rather hear this than having Amy Winehouse's faux-Cher slurrings continually played and passed off as soulful.