My neice was addicted to In Sync back in the day. I’d like to get her a CD, but I’m not sure what those youngsters are listening to. Any of you parents of teens have a kid who graduated from In Stink to something else? I could sure use some ideas. Thanks in advance!
Bump.
Have you asked her parents what she’s listening to lately? I don’t think that there’s anyone at the moment who’s so huge that *every * kid is listening to them. And lets not forget the extent to which teenagers establish identity through musical tastes. Is she a hip hop girl? An emo kid? A straight up top-40 listener?
For that matter, have you considered a gift certificate? Especially if there are any cool music stores in her area? My daughter *loves * going to the record store, and can spend hours there.
Justin Timberlake, the former frontman for N’Sync, has moved on to a critcially and commercially respectable solo R&B career since the group disbanded and his most recent album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, was just released in September.
What bands have the cutest boys?
I thought of suggesting this as well, but the lyrical content might not be appropriate for 13 year olds. Even if it’s nothing she hasn’t heard before/seen on Animal Planet, her parents still may not appreciate it. Am I making sense?
I understand the non-radio version of “SexyBack” has the word ‘motherf*ckers’ in it. :dubious:
Their friends saying who’s getting the fattest?
I may end up going with the gift certificate. I know their tastes change so rapidly at this age. I was hoping for some names I could take a look at. I don’t think she’s into hip hop. In fact, I’m not sure she’s even a hard-core music fanatic at all right now, though with high school just around the corner, I expect that to change.
Why don’t you get her an iTunes gift card? That way, she has a massive collection of single songs to choose from OR could get an album if she wants. You don’t need an iPod to use/appreciate iTunes.
You DO need a credit card to appreciate iTunes - unless you’ve got a gift card. She also won’t need a ride to the store.
If they had something like iTunes when I was a kid, I’d be stoked to get a gift card from there so I could buy all of the popular singles kids are talking about at school without having to spend $13 on a whole album and without having to ask to use my parents’ credit card.
By the way - if you have CoinStar machines anywhere near you, you can turn in your change for iTunes gift cards without paying a counting fee. Even better, if you have Giant Eagle grocery stores around you can earn 20 cents off per gallon of gas at Get Go gas stations for buying a $50 iTunes gift card with your Giant Eagle card.
That’s a great idea, however, she doesn’t have a computer so she’d have no way to download them.
Definitely not NSync. Buy a CD at Wal-Mart if her parents don’t let her listen to “Parental Advisory” CDs.
A 13 yo could like country, rock, R&B, whatever. Give us something to go on. A couple suggestions:
Fall Out Boy (rock)
Chris Brown (R&B/Hip Hop, he’s a fairly young kid from VA)
Rihanna (R&B/Hip Hop)
Sugarland (country)
Rascal Flatts (pop country)
Evanescence (pop goth)
If her parents don’t care what she listens to, try these:
Fergie (Hip Hop)
Black Eyed Peas (Hip Hop)
Akon (Hip Hop)
Speaking as a thirteen year old girl, albeit a very odd one, Neko Case, The Beatles, and a lot of weird Japanese pop- Utada Hikaru, mostly. Not the stuff she released in America as ‘Utada’, that’s not as good and some of the lyrics are a bit explicit. If you’re looking for pop, a friend of mine really likes a group called A-teens. Not really my personal taste, but it’s okay.
Buying CD’s for someone whose taste you don’t know isn’t a good idea… unless she has an Amazon.com wishlist, which would make it much easier. Ask her to make one if she doesn’t-- it’s kind of fun, and you don’t have to buy the CD’s from Amazon, just view the list.
I’m going to have to concur with Peaceblossom on the odd Japanese pop bands. My thirteen-year-old daughter is always watching something Asian and incomprehensible on You Tube.
She also likes My Chemical Romance and the Dresden Dolls. And several other groups whose names slide off my mind like oil over marble.
Yeah there’s no reason to assume that someone is going to have poor musical taste just because she’s 13. While it’s true that the younger listeners gravitate to the groups with cute boys and overt sex appeal, there’s no reason why your niece has to be subjected to “goth-pop” or any other kind of musical atrocity.
My musical education began with the Beatles. As Vincent Gallo writes, “The Beatles were the perfect band for a seven-year-old to get interested in music.” I would recommend the Beatles. On the other hand, I would recommend almost anything that’s good music. I don’t think you need to be any specific age to listen to any kind of music. If I had a young niece I would give her the same stuff I listen to, no matter how obscure or out-there.
Of course, not everyone has the same tastes, which is why if you really want to make this girl happy maybe you should ask her what she likes? 13 is a bad age for surprise gifts.
By the way, I’m not trying to be snarky to control-z about “goth-pop.” I hate that kind of music but I acknowledge that that kind of stuff is what a lot of the little ones like to listen to. I personally think that a middle school student can and should have a musical catalog that goes beyond flavor of the month R&B, radio rap and raunch-rock. I did listen to Eminem in 7th grade but I listened to The Beatles too.
Definitely either find out what she likes from someone who’d know (not necessarily her parents, unfortunately) or go with the gift certificate. When my daughter was 12, her step-grandmother gave her a Backstreet Boys cd, because everyone knows that girls that age love boy bands. The cd still sits, its wrapper unopened and covered in dust, on her shelf.
I’m so unhip-yet-lame, I know nothing about youth music of today that doesn’t have the word “Disney’s” in front of it (the soundtracks from the telefilm High School Musical and the TV series Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus and her famous father Billy Ray, both made headway into #1 on the Billboard charts in early and late 2006, respectively).
When we were kids, our first record was Meet The Beatles. Her mom has tons Beatles, so she’s exposed to the good stuff. I guess I’ll have to ask her what she’s into. I think she likes stuff she can sing along to. She was into Brittany Spears years ago as well, but I doubt that’s still the case.
Okay…my sister says Pain In The Disco and AFI. Are these good bands or am I going to have to invent names like Pain In The Ass-co to tease her?