7/12/2004
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The singer Amanda Latona was the subject of an Aug 2002 NYT Sunday Magazine story (do a find word for 'latona' on this page--sorry, this is the only free copy of the original article I could find). Well, nearly 2 years later things haven't been going that well for her. Not only did she break up with her boyfriend Backstreeter AJ McClean, but J-Records dropped her and she's still waiting to put out (no pun intended) her debut album. This is not really that interesting in itself--what fascinates me is the devotion of her fans that's still going strong 2 years later. What in particular about this manufactured 2nd-place-in-a-bikini-contest (sounds like a Community Chest card) singer reached these girls in such a meaningful way? Check the 'video' footage under the 'media' tab, a cheesy 'bikini' contest from last november 2003 that reminds one more of a hooters interview than the sugar and spice of teen pop. Also, read the 17 globe spanning comments to Amanda's bold all-caps email on the same webpage--what is going on here? It suggests the existence of some massive pop 'underground' that rivals the 'real' underground. In some ways, these girls are even more 'indie' than the pitchfork boys, I mean pitchfork only reviews albums that one can actually purchase--Amanda is so indie she's never released an album!
For more examples of Amanda fandom, do a google search--you're grow-up I'm sure you can handle it without me hand-holding your way to links. Go Amanda. Yay!
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