Bonnie McKee - Hot City (aka Epic Album)

[K.K. Zeno]

27 minutes ago, Ice Prince said:

I wonder if, everytime Bonnie reads how much we praise the Epic songs, she even laments the album not being out since ages ago. The way a bunch of unreleased bops is being talked about in forums (and brought PHF back at some extent) is insane.

It must be quite frustrating, if you remove the fact that she has an incredible career as a songwriter, it's quite obvious how she's been mistreated her whole career as a soloist.

Epic truly failed its work on her solo project which is crazy considering that she's literally one of the masterminds of multiple hits of the early 10s and the album was/is literally a perfect collection of what those hits are made of.

As I said before, she could have definitely become a more dance oriented Carly Rae Jepsen, an artist whose following is not extra huge yet it's very dedicated. If you think about it, Kiss (Carly Rae's second album and first "major" album) came out exactly 10 years ago. While it is definitely a bit more bubblegum pop, it has some of the spark that surround Bonnie's Epic tracks. Carly's team then managed to make her a "cult" artist among pop fans, they removed some "bubblegum" from the formula (mostly keeping it for her leads) and highlighted the "pure pop" side of the project.

While American Girl didn't make the same impact as Katy Perry's songs, it did incredibly well considering where Bonnie was coming from and the amount of promo she got in comparison to the artists she made songs for. Epic should have kept going, with the album's release to then highlight the "dance" part of Bonnie's project for the album's sequel.

Bonnie and Carly's trajectories could have been similar yet different. They're both incredible pop songwriters, and while (post-Kiss) Carly provides a more "I just want to make music" kind of aura, Bonnie has a more "show girl" kind of vibe. They could have peacefully co-existed while probably sharing a nice chunk of their fanbases.

In conclusion, anyway, the "Epic album" still sounds incredible and releasing it today would make her a bit of a one-of-a-kind type of pop singer. It's a bit of a paradox, but I'm confident if she had a real team behind her it could shine even brighter than a decade ago due to how bland and uneventful (most of) contemporary pop became.

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by K.K. Zeno

[reflection]

Bonnie if your reading this give us a sign

[Bambi101]

22 minutes ago, K.K. Zeno said:

It must be quite frustrating, if you remove the fact that she has an incredible career as a songwriter, it's quite obvious how she's been mistreated her whole career as a soloist.

Epic truly failed its work on her solo project which is crazy considering that she's literally one of the masterminds of multiple hits of the early 10s and the album was/is literally a perfect collection of what those hits are made of.

As I said before, she could have definitely become a more dance oriented Carly Rae Jepsen, an artist whose following is not extra huge yet it's very dedicated. If you think about it, Kiss (Carly Rae's second album and first "major" album) came out exactly 10 years ago. While it is definitely a bit more bubblegum pop, it has some of the spark that surround Bonnie's Epic tracks. Carly's team then managed to make her a "cult" artist among pop fans, they removed some "bubblegum" from the formula (mostly keeping it for her leads) and highlighted the "pure pop" side of the project.

While American Girl didn't make the same impact as Katy Perry's songs, it did incredibly well considering where Bonnie was coming from and the amount of promo she got in comparison to the artists she made songs for. Epic should have kept going, with the album's release to then highlight the "dance" part of Bonnie's project for the album's sequel.

Bonnie and Carly's trajectories could have been similar yet different. They're both incredible pop songwriters, and while (post-Kiss) Carly provides a more "I just want to make music" kind of aura, Bonnie has a more "show girl" kind of vibe. They could have peacefully co-existed while probably sharing a nice chunk of their fanbases.

In conclusion, anyway, the "Epic album" still sounds incredible and releasing it today would make her a bit of a one-of-a-kind type of pop singer. It's a bit of a paradox, but I'm confident if she had a real team behind her it could shine even brighter than a decade ago due to how bland and uneventful (most of) contemporary pop became.

 

We love our essay Queens!!  So many great points!

Honestly, Epic's biggest mistake was that they didn't accept Bonnie for who she was as an artist, and ironically I feel like Bonnie's reputation of being the mastermind behind some of the biggest hits worked against her. Sure, on the one hand it got her the record deal, but then there was all this added pressure from Epic who kept asking her to give them her Teenage Dream and/or her Roar; it's like they didn't take any time to look into what makes Bonnie unique and different -- they'd much rather have Bonnie copy Katy's entire catalogue and release Teenage Dream Pt. II (which I'm so glad she didn't do because the GP can smell a fish and imposters) than support her vision -- and as we know judging from all the songs we now love -- she knew exactly what she was doing and had a very clear vision for the entire project. I just cannot for the life of me understand how the label heads didn't hear the smash hit potential of songs like Forever 21 or Hot City. WTF.

[K.K. Zeno]

3 minutes ago, Bambi101 said:

We love our essay Queens!!  So many great points!

Honestly, Epic's biggest mistake was that they didn't accept Bonnie for who she was as an artist, and ironically I feel like Bonnie's reputation of being the mastermind behind some of the biggest hits worked against her. Sure, on the one hand it got her the record deal, but then there was all this added pressure from Epic who kept asking her to give them her Teenage Dream and/or her Roar; it's like they didn't take any time to look into what makes Bonnie unique and different -- they'd much rather have Bonnie copy Katy's entire catalogue and release Teenage Dream Pt. II (which I'm so glad she didn't do because the GP can smell a fish and imposters) than support her vision -- and as we know judging from all the songs we now love -- she knew exactly what she was doing and had a very clear vision for the entire project. I just cannot for the life of me understand how the label heads didn't hear the smash hit potential of songs like Forever 21 or Hot City. WTF.

I like to make "essays" when I care about something, and I truly cared/care for Bonnie's lost album. It literally has everything I love about well done pop music.

Anyway I agree, but it was just incredibly stupid to expect her to blow up no matter what just because she wrote hits.
Looking back at what they did, it's like they wanted her to become a """popstar""" without providing what was needed to do it. Again, American Girl did really well all things considered, it's just incredibly embarrassing that Epic's division in charge of her didn't realize it. If they wanted Katy 2.0 they should have given her Katy's promo budget, they didn't and yet the single sold 300k. Be happy about it and release single 2 dear lord.

And, about single 2, I don't think S.L.A.Y. was/would have been a good option. Hot City, Forever 21 and I Wanna Fucking Call you are much stronger, and coherent given how "in your face" American Girl is, especially IWFY.

[reflection]

Labels are like that 60 year old grandpa that thinks iPhones are brainwashing the youth through satanism… they just don’t get it 

[K.K. Zeno]

2 minutes ago, reflection said:

Labels are like that 60 year old grandpa that thinks iPhones are brainwashing the youth through satanism… they just don’t get it 

I’ll forever feel sorry for her. And the release of this album is A REAL JOURNEY that should have it going viral on TikTok while Epic watches Bonnie making it on her own as the ending lol

[Lucas M]

I don't agree with the opinions above, guys. I think the Epic songs are great, but from now on I think she would be just fine without these A-list producers. When it comes to an artist we love and we relate to, we don't need Max Martin. What we need is a good body of work to connect to, that's all. A rocket to ride to the beat too, though. It's how it works for authentic indie artists like Marina and Lana, and we'd have that if Bonnie just released the two albums she already has ready to go. She is an amazing artist, and Bombastic is just too good. S.L.A.Y. should definitely be first single imo

Edited June 15, 2022 by Lucas M

[Lonely]

Really happy for the coming album but wasn't she supposed to have lost all her songs due to her hard-drive problem ?

[K.K. Zeno]

10 minutes ago, Lonely said:

Really happy for the coming album but wasn't she supposed to have lost all her songs due to her hard-drive problem ?

That’s a good point. Maybe she contacted someone she worked with on the album who had the files (?)

[reflection]

All she really needs is a song list & contacts with the producer

[reflection]

is this interview real? She says a lot of… questionable things in it (including the t slur…) but the entire interview is written really weirdly and out of character. the thing is she also liked this tweet linking to it on twitter and follows the blog on instagram (though they always comment on her ig posts)

The blog as a whole seems sketch to me and has a lot of weirdly written interviews. I assume it’s a tweet Bonnie saw in passing, liked and didn’t really read? Idk I couldn’t imagine her saying things like this. Or liking the tweet linking it.

someone who’s friends with her or something ask her cause I’m kinda shocked

 

here’s another blog post with her  https://coucoujolie.com/index.php/2015/09/21/the-a-list-with-bonnie-mckee/ this one seems normal though?

also another thing to note, the blog has 600 twitter followers but 190k IG followers… kind of weird

Edited June 15, 2022 by reflection

[Ice Prince]

3 hours ago, reflection said:

Bonnie if your reading this give us a sign

*PHF collapses because she sues us*

Yeah, that's her sign.

 

[chimera]

1 hour ago, reflection said:

is this interview real? She says a lot of… questionable things in it (including the t slur…) but the entire interview is written really weirdly and out of character. the thing is she also liked this tweet linking to it on twitter and follows the blog on instagram (though they always comment on her ig posts)

The blog as a whole seems sketch to me and has a lot of weirdly written interviews. I assume it’s a tweet Bonnie saw in passing, liked and didn’t really read? Idk I couldn’t imagine her saying things like this. Or liking the tweet linking it.

someone who’s friends with her or something ask her cause I’m kinda shocked

 

here’s another blog post with her  https://coucoujolie.com/index.php/2015/09/21/the-a-list-with-bonnie-mckee/ this one seems normal though?

also another thing to note, the blog has 600 twitter followers but 190k IG followers… kind of weird

Seems skecthy, the format is odd and it's not a safe website? not totally sure

[chimera]

totally random but here are some art works I've put together for my iTunes

[Bambi101]

10 hours ago, K.K. Zeno said:

I like to make "essays" when I care about something, and I truly cared/care for Bonnie's lost album. It literally has everything I love about well done pop music.

I know sis I'm the same way! Wasn't trying to throw shade 🌞

10 hours ago, K.K. Zeno said:

Anyway I agree, but it was just incredibly stupid to expect her to blow up no matter what just because she wrote hits.
Looking back at what they did, it's like they wanted her to become a """popstar""" without providing what was needed to do it. Again, American Girl did really well all things considered, it's just incredibly embarrassing that Epic's division in charge of her didn't realize it. If they wanted Katy 2.0 they should have given her Katy's promo budget, they didn't and yet the single sold 300k. Be happy about it and release single 2 dear lord.

And, about single 2, I don't think S.L.A.Y. was/would have been a good option. Hot City, Forever 21 and I Wanna Fucking Call you are much stronger, and coherent given how "in your face" American Girl is, especially IWFY.

And that's on PERIODT! 

I still find it incomprehensible they had such high expectations of her yet the budget must've been so miniscule that she was forced to use her own house for the American Girl video shoot. It's really commendable how much she was able to do with so little looking back. 

As for S.L.A.Y. not being the best choice, I guess we'll never know how it would fare 😭 Personally, I see a lot of potential with the anthemic sing-along spelling bee gimmick and the LGBTQ+ community would embrace it as well.

 

9 hours ago, reflection said:

is this interview real? She says a lot of… questionable things in it (including the t slur…) but the entire interview is written really weirdly and out of character. the thing is she also liked this tweet linking to it on twitter and follows the blog on instagram (though they always comment on her ig posts)

The blog as a whole seems sketch to me and has a lot of weirdly written interviews. I assume it’s a tweet Bonnie saw in passing, liked and didn’t really read? Idk I couldn’t imagine her saying things like this. Or liking the tweet linking it.

someone who’s friends with her or something ask her cause I’m kinda shocked

 

here’s another blog post with her  https://coucoujolie.com/index.php/2015/09/21/the-a-list-with-bonnie-mckee/ this one seems normal though?

also another thing to note, the blog has 600 twitter followers but 190k IG followers… kind of weird

I think it's legit..  But I don't think there were any ill intentions behind the T-slur, sounded to me (when I read it) like she just threw it in there as a spur-of-the-moment wannabe facetious remark. I wouldn't read too much into it  

This is the problem with straight or allegedly bisexual people who are 'down' with the LGBTQ+ community and hang around certain circles with our people.. she might've heard someone use the T-word in an empowering manner similarly to how we use faggot and might've thought it's ok for her to do it as well not realizing what implications that has when someone from outside the community does it