You may press play and suddenly feel like you’ve stumbled into a karaoke bar. The person clutching the mic is painfully off-key, and you can’t help but wince with second-hand embarrassment. You’re trapped in the room with them until, out of nowhere, it hits you. What sounded awkward and tone-deaf is actually the setup to an intelligent joke. It’s clever, biting, and a little absurd. You laugh first at the delivery, but the humor lingers, digging deeper into your brain. Now you know why you’re laughing because the joke isn’t random, it’s aimed squarely at the glittering emptiness of consumer culture.
Pretty Sparkly Things hooks you with that bait-and-switch. Its satirical lyrics have your ears pricked from the start:
Pretty sparkly things, watches, and rings, Shiny bling, fancy baubles made for queens. If you want them, you could never have them. You’re too poor and sleeping on the floor.
It’s childlike in rhyme, but sharp in meaning. The track borrows the singsong quality of a nursery rhyme, then twists it into a critique of the false promises sold by wealth and status. What begins as cringe karaoke turns out to be biting parody.
The angular beats kick in. Suddenly, you’re in your head again, no longer with that karaoke guy. You’ve descended from the lofty ivory tower, feet on the ground, dancing to the protest-folk track.
Energy Whores, the New York based duo of Carrie Schoenfeld on vocals and keys and Attilio Valenti on guitar, thrive on that duality. Electro punk pop meets avant garde synths, all in service of social commentary. Pretty Sparkly Things is glitter up top, grit underneath. The joke is on the system, and you’re in on it.
