"Woodside Gardens 16 December 2012" Released:December 16,2020
"52 Blue Mondays" Released:January 21,2021
Teen Week is the second extended play (EP)[a] by the American musician Jane Remover. It was self-released under her former name Dltzk on February 26,2021,before she came out as a trans woman in 2022. Following her debut EP,No Words,Just a Picture of Me,in 2020,Remover released Teen Week's two singles—"Woodside Gardens 16 December 2012" and "52 Blue Mondays"—in 2020 and 2021,respectively.
Teen Week is a digicore EP inspired by the electronica and electronic dance music of the musician Porter Robinson;some tracks feature 16-bit or 8-bit music and the Amen break. Its lyricism pertains to personal growth struggles,as well as themes of adolescence. It was positively received by Pitchfork,who considered it one of the best progressive pop albums of the year;The Line of Best Fit deemed it one of the best hyperpop releases of all time. The EP has later been recognized as a milestone in digicore by audiences and a pioneering release in the genre by publications. After voicing her frustrations with the EP,Remover released an abridged version via DeadAir Records in 2022.
Background and release
In early 2020,the American musician Jane Remover started to create digicore music,[3] and released her debut extended play (EP),No Words,Just a Picture of Me,in July 2020.[2] On December 16,2020,she released "Woodside Gardens 16 December 2012",the lead single for her next EP,Teen Week.[4] It was followed by the second and final single,"52 Blue Mondays",on January 21,2021.[5] The EP was self-released on February 26,2021,[6] under her former name Dltzk,before she came out as a trans woman in 2022.[1] After its release,Remover's school counselor called her into her room after one of Remover's classmates wrote an essay about "52 Blue Mondays";the lyric "I feel like dying every season" made the counselor want to check if Remover felt okay. In an interview with Pitchfork in January 2022,Remover said she would rate the EP "a 4 or a 5 out of 10",and she could no longer listen to some songs from the EP.[7] After announcing her gender transition,she expressed her disapproval of Teen Week and mentioned she would release an abridged version.[8] The abridged version was later released by DeadAir Records,only consisting of four songs compared to the original eight.[9]
Composition
Teen Week is a digicore[10] EP inspired by the electronica and electronic dance music of the musician Porter Robinson.[7][10] It incorporates popular underground production elements,including bitcrushed and robotic vocals,breakbeats,breakcore sequences,and stuttering electronic instrumentals.[7][10] Its production also contains jungle beats and an Avril Lavigne sample.[11] The EP is largely about leaving behind people,past places,and previous versions of oneself,[1] as well as themes of adolescence.[11] Some moments of the EP depart from breakbeats for 16-bit sounds and lyrics about high school struggles,such as self-comparison and quarantine isolation.[12] Multiple tracks contain the Amen break and samples of "Blue Eyes" (2019) by Ecco2K.[1]
"52 Blue Mondays" features multiple sound elements, such as samples of screaming, synthesizer waves, and snapping drums. It also showcases Remover's robotic vocals that are shown across Teen Week.[1][10]
Teen Week's opening track, "Let Down" draws inspiration from Ecco2K.[1] It is followed by "Homeswitcher", a hyperpop song with guest vocals from Kmoe. The song is driven by a synthesizer lead that carries the song's melodies and is accompanied by breakbeat drums and fuzzy bass.[13] A digicore song, "52 Blue Mondays" features multiple sound elements, such as samples of screaming, synthesizer waves, and snapping drums. With its bitcrushed vocals, the song features ambient-sounding noise, utilizes the Amen break, and dissolves by the end. "Dysphoria" is also inspired by Ecco2K, and is followed by "Cartridge", a ballad about being upset after reading a tweet that reminds Remover of her father. She sings the line "Sorry I'm not what you wanted, I know you can't try again" repeatedly, over an 8 bit instrumental reminiscent of an older Pokémon video game. Pitchfork's Mano Sundaresan described the two track run of "Beast Friend" and "Woodside Gardens 16 December 2012" as "electric". On the latter, its frenzied two-minutes buildup climaxes with an Amen break.[1] The final track, "Seventeen", begins with an opening line of "I hate everything 'cause everything hates me too".[7] The song was written about Remover's feelings of jealousy toward her friends, who are more popular musicians than herself, and being looked down on at school. Sundaresan wrote that the line "I wish I blew up like yesterday" is "less about material aspiration than it is about becoming".[1] The theme of adolescence is shown on the track, with the line "Go to college, have a shit time / I'll get a job and I won't be happy / But if you ask I'll say I'm fine".[7]
Upon its release, Teen Week received a positive review from Pitchfork. Sundaresan wrote that Remover "has a strong ear for motion" and each track "push[es] this genre further from its roots towards something more complex, more definitvely of its own substance". He also wrote that "52 Blue Mondays" "tore through the digicore scene like a comet". Though, he felt the tracks "Let Down" and "Dysphoria" were "limp imitation[s]" of Ecco2K's sound.[1] The EP was included in Pitchfork's list of the "Best Progressive Pop Music" of the year; Cat Zhang called it "an explosive ride through adolescence".[11] Following its release, Teen Week has been viewed as a milestone in digicore by audiences,[12] and Zhang called it a "lodestar of SoundCloud's digicore scene".[7] It was considered the 14th best hyperpop release of all time by The Line of Best Fit; Noah Simon said the EP was the first digicore release to set new standards and shape the sound of future projects in the genre. He lauded its ability to showcase the many key elements of the digicore sound, and felt Remover "perfected" them. He further stated, "It displayed the potential for what a digicore album could be. It was a full artistic statement, not just a loose assemblage of chaotic singles".[10]Business Insider's Kieran Press-Reynolds called it Remover's "first major break".[3]
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