"Generation Gaga doesn’t identify with powerful vocal styles because their own voices have atrophied: they communicate mutely via a constant stream of atomised, telegraphic text messages. Gaga’s flat affect doesn’t bother them because they’re not attuned to facial expressions." -Camille Paglia-
It's true. My generation's voice is physically stunted by our electronic communication. Even when you do manage to catch someone face-to-face, their iphonic berry is buzzing and whirling away, jerking their attention away from human facial exchanges. Everyone's always texting about future (or past) plans. Meanwhile, the present moment is treated as a second-hand thought. While Gaga embraces (some may say satirizes, but I think that's up for debate) the chilly techno-takeover, Robyn fights the computer power in "The Girl and the Robot."
While Royskopp's instrumentation couldn't be more cold (and well robotic ), Robyn's vocals couldn't be more emotionally raw. After she moans a bit about her unrequited love, the robot's monotone voice responds "so you want to understand me/you just see what you want to see". This sums up my generation's entire problem with written-only communication. You can infer any kind of vocal tone to the written word! I've done it. My friends have done it. Over and over again we are wrong, but we continue to spruce up flat words with emotion...from our own minds. Like right now- you really can't tell if I'm sad or happy. maybe? maybe! ...maybe. We do know how to squeeze some juice out of a question mark or exclamation point though.
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