Thursday, October 19, 2006
Posted at
06:40
by
Carly Carioli
It's been a long time coming, but after a long roller coaster ride the S-O-V is finally blowing up. There was a moment, back when her NYC debut ended in a puke-stained tank, and her subsequent US minitour bombed, where it looked like it was going to kill the buzz that greeted her first two batches of UK singles. And yes, we joined the chorus of doubters. But her extremely ingratiating, post-DefJam-signing gig at Avalon a few months back had us hopping back on the bandwagon. And now, with her video for "Love Me or Hate Me" sitting at #1 on TRL, the whole thing seems ridiculously obvious: of course American teenagers will go bonkers for an adorable British teenager who spits her face off over Colecovision electro beats! Don't bother qualifying it, let's just get on with the coronation . . .
Step one: read the Phoenix interview:
"I tried to get involved, you know!" pouts Sov in a cockney accent that would make even Eliza Doolittle furrow her sooty brow. "I wasn’t wanted, but I’ve done it in my own way, like. I started, like, MCing to UK garage, you know. And then UK garage formed into grime, man, and I was still MCing frew all of that, yeah. And, you know, like, I had a bit of a couple tunes out, yeah, but people weren’t spinnin’ it anyway! Like, because no one liked it! So that’s, that’s, you know, I ain’t get rejected, but I was more like the odd one out, jeknowwotImean?"
Two minutes into our brief interview, I think I do. As her comments zip from indolent to indignant to innocent and back again, Harman sounds like a conflicted teen who wants to charm the world one minute and spit on it the next, a conflict that’s united disenfranchised youth across the Pond since the teenage John Lennon was inspired by the barely post-teen Elvis Presley.
Step two: cop that shit. We've got an album track, and also SOV's people attempted to AIM everyone the new Missy Elliott remix of "Love Me Or Hate Me" but demand proved so high they just gave it to Pitchfork instead. It is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. (Remember how the M.I.A./Missy thing was kinda ehh? This is not like that at all.)
DOWNLOAD: Lady Sovereign, "Gatheration" (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: Lady Sovereign, "Love Me Or Hate Me (remix feat. Missy Elliott)" (mp3)
Step three: If you want to holler at yr girl before her Paradise performance on October 26, our bretheren at FNX are running a contest for a chance to meet the midget. To enter, hit the VWGreenRoom site and answer a few trivia questions, or if you are a text-messaging American you can text the letters "VW" to 22122 [rules gobbledeegook over here].
Bonus Materials:
PICTURES: Lady Sovereign and the Streets at Avalon
DOWNLOAD: Lady Sovereign, "Hoodie (Spank Rock Remix)" (mp3)
