Divas and Honeys

[divasandhoneys]

“Halfway Back to Sane” by Telling On Trixie (2007)

This is a song that I actually quite liked (it has a clear story that is easy to empathize with). Despite the fact that the band's guitarist had been a member of both Blondie AND Blue Man Group, this band and video only really came to my attention because one of the honey-nurses in the video is Jade Cole, who had just made a big splash on Cycle 6 of America’s Next Top Model.

I remember/return to this video every few years. This time, as I was bopping along, I was incredibly distracted by the honeys’ nurse-motions. Like, have they never been to a doctor? Jade is putting her stethoscope all over Derek Nicoletto in places where there aren’t things to hear, while the other nurse appears to be confusedly applying the wrong end of a otolaryngology tuning fork to his chin. It’s so laughable that it’s almost impossible to pay attention to the verses Nicoletto is singing while this bizarre pantomime is going on.

In retrospect, the only reason I saw this video in the first place is actually the very worst thing about it.

[divasandhoneys]

"Holler" by the Spice Girls (2000)

Recently, I've been listening to a Spotify playlist that someone compiled of all the songs played on TRL during its whole run. The experience has unearthed some gems, along with some things that I didn't recognize at all. One of these songs is "Holler," by the Spice Girls, which topped the charts in the UK in 2000, but didn't filter through my ears until this Spotify playlist. The song was kind of striking to include in the Spice Girls oeuvre, despite the fact that the video recycles the black leather outfits of the "Say You'll Be There" video. The Wikipedia article about the song declares it to be "more mature," because it is specifically about sex. The Spice Girls, however, sang specifically about sex on earlier albums, too ("2 Become 1," for example). So, what I can't help but feel is that their newfound "maturity" is wrapped up in their new desire to sing about MALE sexual pleasure, rather than their own sexual pleasure, or the pleasure of their female friendships. This attempt at "maturity," no doubt inspired by the successes of more explicitly sexual R&B albums of Aaliyah, TLC, Destiny's Child, and Missy Elliott, seems a bit like a betrayal of the earlier images of Girl Power that they put forward. So even while I like the sounds that they seem to be referencing, their retreat into centering male experience makes me cringe and sigh, a bit.

[divasandhoneys]

"Fuck It" by Eamon (2003)

Really digging this rhythm, but not the disgruntled misogynist language of the unedited version. Can somebody plz make a mix of this that is not as cringingly gendered?  (Of course there's a response with similarly problematic gendered language...)

[fistfulofsand]

This probably seems silly, but it is hard for me to express how important Ciara is to understanding my own queer identity. Her constant oscillation between hard femme and soft butch and the way her hypermobile gender expression and her (often critical) ventriloquization of male power is articulated so beautifully through dance and precise isolations are just so perfect. I wish she were more broadly recognized as a queer and femme icon.

[divasandhoneys]

Why I've Not Been Posting (Hint: It has to do with Spice Girls...)

Hey Divas,

Sorry, I haven't been posting recently. Grad school life is crazy. HOWEVER, it does include some pleasures. Presenting on the feminist politics of Spice World at the Critiquing Culture conference at George Mason tomorrow. First academic conference, so please Say You'll Be There (with me in spirit, at least).

[imbubblegumbitch]

[divasandhoneys]

DEEEEEVA! Shirley Manson-heavy Garbage post to come soon. Make your body ready.

[divasandhoneys]

Attention Divas!

If there's a video that you think I should pay attention to, please submit it! (If it's during the summer, I'll probably even make a post!)

[divasandhoneys]

"Creep" by TLC (1994)

Creep is a really interesting video to analyze, because as of recently, it has 2 videos.

The first video, the one that TLC-lovers are used to:

And then the newly-surfaced, unreleased version. If you haven't seen it yet, take a minute. I'll wait:

So the videos are pretty super different. The unreleased video attempts to tell the story of the song, a woman who knows her man is cheating, so cheats herself in order to get her fill of affection. It follows each of the three ladies through their boring or unsatisfactory dates, their escape, their clandestine romances, and then their slick return to their unsuspecting partners.

The original video, however, is not really much more than a dance video, but cheese and rice! is it beautiful. Love the richness of the silks, their smooth slow-jam group dance, not to mention how color weaves into black and white so beautifully. BEST OF ALL is the seriously sexy soft butch presentation on and off in the video (esp. with Left-Eye and T-Boz, though Chilli butches up a bit, too, in the group dance).

(You know you love it.)

So basically, the appeal for me in the original video is the aesthetic mixture of hard femme (boxing silks) and soft butch (men's hip hop style). It's intoxicating.

The unreleased video, on the other hand, is nowhere near as pretty, esp. since it probably never made it to final editing. However, the most extraordinary part of this to me is that while the camera follows T-Boz and Chilli acting out their transgressions with sexy male strangers, the camera shows Left-Eye lost in a pair of headphones, listening to music.

Her creeping (against a lover on the phone, conspicuously never seen, wink wink) depicts the notion that fidelity and attention do not begin and end with sex, that, as Paul Simon says, there must be 50 ways to leave your lover.

Totally awesome. I'm torn. In both, Left-Eye (RIP) is my butch queen 4 lyfe! Which do you like better?

[divasandhoneys]

"None of Your Business" by Salt-n-Pepa (1993)

Divas, everyone knows my heart belongs to S and P, so it's actually a bit of a miracle they haven't appeared on here before.

The general message of the song, decrying a sexual double standard for women, is both totally awesome and also very plainly laid out. Very little subtlety here.

While totally grooving on the totally bangin', sex-positive message, the thing that has always struck me about this video is how it indicates that the song is not JUST a feminist message, but also takes a firm, if slightly hidden, stand for interracial sex and queer sex.

Having written about this already for Q magazine last year, I will keep my point brief: this song is about queers, y'all, and the way you know it is that they are Salt-n-Pepa's angry, visual chorus. Don't just take my word for it. Watch the video again and count the queer couples/figures (not to mention Pepa's always dragnificent presentation).

And this is really why I love S and P. It's not your business WHO I fuck. It's not your business WHY I fuck. It shouldn't be MY business if you butt in and don't like what you find. And none of that should be gender-contingent. Amen.

(This post was inspired by my friend @howlydogblog! You always feel me, grrl.)

[divasandhoneys]

The Writing's on the Wall

Divas, I did not know this info (though I probably should have), but a recent question on Destiny's Child's 1999 hit album The Writing's on the Wall brought me down an interesting rabbit hole that I thought I'd share. Searching for pics of DC on Google invoked a Rembrandt painting from 1635 called "Belshazzar's Feast":

 I'm sure you'll all agree, it's a pretty baller painting, but what does it have to do with the Destiny's Child album?

Apparently, the colloquialism "the writing is on the wall" originated in the book of Daniel, chapter 5, where Daniel is called in to Belshazzar's banquet to read the Hebrew that appeared on the wall foretelling the destruction of the Babylonian empire at the hands of the Persians.

This is not the first biblical allusion for Destiny's Child, who lifted their name from the book of Isaiah (although for the life of me I can't find where). Could this album title be another allusion? Perhaps the studio recording of the album was a sign for the turmoil of legal conflict and lineup changes that would immediately follow the release of the album, and last until the group whittled down to 3 with a newly seated Michelle Williams?

What do y'all think, divas?

[divasandhoneys]

Hey mara! your blog is awesomesauce!! My question is, if you had to choose between the writing's on the wall and spice world to take to a desert island, and you could only take one, which would you take? Follow up: What if it was a dessert island?

Oh god, that's really tough. If we're talking albums, I think I would take The Writing's on the Wall (post to come!), because of its emotional range. If it were a dessert island, however, I think the only way to regulate consumption to a pleasurable pace would be to listen to "Stop" on repeat, amirite, ladies?

[divasandhoneys]

Yesterday I listened to all of "Very Necessary" on cassette and thought of you.

well, those ARE my jams. will make an SnP post in your honor. miss you, ham <3

[divasandhoneys]

"Found Out About You" by the Gin Blossoms (1992)

Warning: flashing lights.

Feeling this today. The gray/brown declarations of mediocrity inherent to early 90s soft/alt rock. It's in the little things. The neckline of lead singer Robin Wilson's shirt, for example.The halo of his chin-length hair against the green screen. The belly button cut-out of the pale Shania-Twain looking honey.

Lest this sort of vibe get too romanticized, however, it's worth noting that the year after this song was released on their breakout album, the man who wrote it, guitarist Doug Hopkins committed suicide. The ups and downs of inhabiting the headspace grounded in suburban grief of the quotidian.

[divasandhoneys]

Queer lady and total babe, Frances Faye, ladies and gentlemen. This is a Soundie, a type of early music video from the 1940s. This particular one seems to be based on a Loose Lips Sink Ships type of campaign, a type of propaganda originating in World War II to keep sensitive information from potential spies. As clear as this message is, this feels so queer to me, and not nearly as straight forward as it might be. Love it.

[divasandhoneys]

"You Gotta Be" by Des'ree (1994, 95, 99)

[divasandhoneys]

"No Panties On The Dance Floor" by Waxamillion

Too hard body tonight.

(Is it just me or is one of these honeys in Degrassi: Next Generation?)

[divasandhoneys]

"You Be Killin Em" by Fabolous (2010)

I thought everyone knew this song, and I have recently been told that this is not the case. I have always liked Fabolous, remembering him more for early 00's smoother r&b/slow jam days (his collaborations on "Into You" and "Dip It Low," for example).

I love the backbeat in this, and, like I said, I'm a Fanolous, but the real star of this video is the honey, Amber Rose. It took me awhile to understand the Amber Rose phenomenon. For those of you who aren't aware, she is a model who famously dated Kanye West (as you can see in the uncomfortable Louis Vuitton ad below) and is now engaged to Wiz Khalifa. She's become sort of a general and common feminine muse for hip hop artists.

                                        Here's the thing, though. She's definitely pretty, but her appeal, I've always thought, was maybe more of an Annie Lennox style - which, I think we can all agree, is a little quirky for video honey fodder.

           But after a careful perusal, I understand the appeal, and though you barely see it in "You Be Killin Em," I am more or less convinced that it is the raison d'être for this lovely ode. One kinda hyphenated word: DATASS.

 (this is from Elle!)

Even though she's a "model" homegirl is thickythick in the best possible places and not afraid to show it off. It's taken me awhile to get there, and I'm still not AS enthusiastic about Amber Rose as I am about this song (or even about Fabolous himself), but I think we can all get behind DATASS as a national treasure to be celebrated.