So Troubled So Shy

Teen “All About Us”

Teeny Lieberson’s sense of melody has been strong from the start, but improves with every new Teen record, to the point that we now have a song like this which could easily pass as a Girls Aloud tune. (High praise, trust me.) “All About Us” is a rather harsh break up song that dissects a man’s unawareness of his own sexist impulses, and asks him to own up to his “lack of confidence and sexuality” rather than blame it on her. I like how blunt this song is, and honestly, if you’re going to try to get through to men who’ve convinced themselves that they’re “nice guys,” you have to be this direct and question their assumption that they’re not “that type of guy.” As much as this song can sting, I don’t think Lieberson is coming a cruel place at all – it’s more about resenting having to delude oneself to deal with someone, and deciding it’s better for everyone involved to break out of delusions altogether.

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