Listeners,
Chew it up and blow the biggest bubble you can!
This week on No Boys Aloud (NBA) we are going bubblegum. That super sticky, infectious sound that you’d never tell anyone you bounce to. Bubblegum pop is the kind of sound usually relegated for young artists. Yet there is something sort of spurious about it’s concept. Usually the visuals are fun. For girl groups they’re just hanging out in sorta matching outfits.
However, bubblegum pop gives way to sort of blur the line between cute and sexy. This isn’t a problem for women of age, but the purveyors of bubblegum are usually very young. Like take Swedish pop group Play for example. These girls were tweens. The youngest just 11, having a grand ole time and showing a lot of midriff in 2001. The full concept is that the girls thwart ninjas from kidnapping a boys basketball team (ordinary day for a 13 year old girl, amirite?). However then we get this at the end of the video:
Our questions today were “why do the management/image teams feel the need to push this kind of look for young girls? Is it still prevalent today? Is this something that only existed in the early aughts?” We here at NBA are well aware that women are sexualized in a variety of mediums for a variety of reason. We think women can be sexy, without being sexualized. After all it’s in their agency to so. We think there is a way to achieve bubblegum glory without becoming objects. After all bubblegum is supposed to be fun. Tell us what you think in the comments below. If you didn’t get your piece of the bubblegum fun check out the playlist. Also follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more NBA!
Playlist:
| Say You’ll Be There | Spice Girls |
| I Want You Back | Cleopatra |
| Headlock | All Saints |
| Us Against The World | Play |
| Don’t Say You Love Me | M2M |
| I Do | Blaque |
| Rollercoaster | B*Witched |
| Ugly Heart | G.R.L |
| Cinderella | I5 |
| He Loves U Not | Dream |
| How You Doin’ | Little Mix |
| Wasting My Time | Spice Girls |
| Party | Girls Generation |
| Girlfriend | Icono Pop |
| Trouble | Neon Jungle |
| Deja Vu | F(x) |
| You Got Me | Dumblonde |
| Bottle Pop | Pussycat Dolls |
| Suga Mama | Fifth Harmony |
| Rock-a-bye | Black Buddafly |
| Destiny’s Child | Independent Women Pt. II |
Until Next Week,
Jas and Dre