8.28.11 Adam News & Info

Yeah, I think that's a good point, too.

Chunkey, I think the main reason the choice of word seems odd to me is the way in which it abandons the branding metaphor that's just sitting there for the taking in favor of something much harsher--but I agree--rot in hell is also a much-used expression.

Sorry to go on, but as this is really the only concrete ADAM-2 thing we have to discuss, here are some further thoughts on "rot" and OOL...

I really do love the song, and have been trying to pinpoint what I like so much (aside from Adam's beautiful voice singing that lovely melody), because in most ways it really isn't "my kind of song" (whatever that means, which is limited)...

And I think what I love so much about it, lyrically--what makes it so interesting to me--is the way in which it is built of unusual and interconnected juxtapositions. These are hard to identify perfectly but, for the sake of argument, I'll say they're the juxtaposition between low-brow and high-brow, the juxtaposition between overstatement and understatement, and the juxtaposition between kitsch and earnestness. And thinking about it, it occurs to me that "rot" is an important player in each of those juxtapositions.

What do I mean by all that drivel? I guess what I mean by the "low-brow" elements of the song is the way in which it plays with certain themes that in fiction would be what critics call "genre" themes--outlaws, good-guys and bad-guys, doomed lovers--the kind of figures who show up in comic books and romance novels (and I mean that in a good way--it's stark and interesting, and entertaining). This is also where the "kitsch" of the song lies for me--it echoes elements of 80s "hair metal" imagery, in a way that's similar to a lot of Gaga's new album, but it updates them in this crazy and unexpectedly real (#realness) way that she hasn't quite managed (based on limited superficial listening).

"Outlaws of Love," as both a lyric and a title, is to me kitsch at its finest. It's also overstatement: melodrama, thick outlines, strong narrative, the kind of self-focus that makes so much angsty teen poetry so bad, but that successful (and good) pop-music exploits so wonderfully and expertly. (Katy Perry does this a lot, too, to mixed effect, but generally quite well, I think. For me, Bruno Mars does it less well, at least in his big radio hits.) "Rot in hell" has that element of melodrama and angst to it--that overstatement for the sake of effect, that teen-love-letter feel (I don't mean to trivialize the real ugliness of the social sentiment that inspired it, but in terms of a lyrical statement, it's pretty stark).

But what do Adam and his co-writers do next? They completely turn that melodramatic, kitschy, romance-novel mood on its head and write, in a melodic down-beat, "I don't think we will." The ultimate casual understatement delivered almost conversationally. It's my favorite moment in the song, but all the verses, which are really "high-brow" in their lyrical styling, make a similar switch from the pop-art chorus. They play out on a realist field, not on the standard lofty grounds of pop love songs. And then of course there is the slow, pretty, wandering melody itself, which chooses fewer notes and less drama just when you think it will demand more, and which, even including the climax in the final delivery of the chorus, is completely divorced of 80s rock bombast.

I don't think these quieter moments would be nearly as convincing if their weight wasn't balanced, their muted colors off-set, by the kitsch and pop-brightness of rot in hell and the other similarly low-brow moments.

YMMV, natch.