My piece on La Roux's single "Bulletproof" + SoundProof's Year-end Extravaganza

SoundProof's year-end and decade-end list extravaganza is now neatly rounded up into a huge package which you can access by clicking right here. There's a lot of stuff on there and anyone wanting to catch up on the more important releases of the year/decade would do well to spend some time checking out any of the music they haven't heard, and reminiscing about the music they already love.

Also, my write-up on La Roux's track "Bulletproof" didn't make it into the week's "Honourable Mentions" so I get to post it as a blog exclusive (probably...).

Read it after the jump.





Synth-pop duo La Roux were already stars in the UK when they released “Bulletproof” in North America but it's just as well that we waited because it's probably the best song off their self-titled LP. There are plenty of things to love – the characteristically sunny synths, the vocoder solo and the memorable chorus among them.

Personally, I never paid attention to the words in “Bulletproof” until I heard a low key live performance on CBC's Q back in July, and my own feelings about the lyrics were echoed by Jian Ghomeshi when he commented, “so there's break up songs, there's obsession songs, and then there's 'I'm gonna fortify myself and you'll be sorry'...” 

Singer Elly Jackson quickly squashed any potential for attaching a deeper personal meaning to her catchy little song by replying, “none of them are really break up songs, I just think people have said that, like, journalists have said that. I've never actually broken up with anyone....Well, I've never really been with anyone either.”

Fine maybe it's about something else, but it's our song now and it's about whatever we want it to be about, so I'm gonna say it's the “I Will Survive” of 2009.